Bloopers:

I’m feeling like butter spread over too much bread.  You nailed that feeling, Tolkien.

“Is a treadmill a type of animal? Because you said it needs lots of running.” – Jack when we told him we were getting a treadmill.

I gave in to repeated pleading to avoid arguments this week.

Do tears count as a shower?  This is so hard sometimes.

Tears are messier with my newfound make-up bag.

I said, “I don’t know” more than my 6 dozen per day quota.

I ate four chocolate chunk cookies and a maple donut all in the same day.  It did make me feel a little better (shhh, don’t tell Every Herb).

Highlights:

Dave and I watched our kids slip and slide and jump off porches trying to leave secret elf gifts for our neighbors.

With combined grunts and effort we muscled the treadmill up the stairs and almost through the doorway.  A little disassembly and time handled the rest.  It is an item in high demand around here!

We went to the festival of trees together.  When Simon and Jack started to get tired, Dave took them to watch a performance and the older boys and I enjoyed reading the personal stories associated with the entries.

While Burton was gone we rallied together to give him a burst of love.  We shopped, cleaned his room and left him a candy-gram on his bed.  Then we waited in his closet for him to get home.

Burton taught Simon and Jack the pledge of allegiance.

I remembered how to tie the bow on my dress straight not crooked just in the nick of time.

My phone didn’t die on my way to Dave’s work dinner giving me directions with 1% life to spare.

We talked about the life cycle of stars and how perfectly timed the star of Bethlehem was after millions of years in the making.

I took the kids to a Christmas Around the World international dance concert at BYU.  It was good for me to see the loads of buses and streams of kids.  It gave me renewed perspective of my precious little band of learners at home.

Twice this week I got a much needed change of scenery with my mom.  She is always an inspiration and joy.

We stopped by Krispy Kreme …purely for educational purposes.  My kids don’t remember ever going before.  Just before we left (after testing a few for research) we were able to watch the process of the donuts rising then dropping and flipping in the oil before their icing rinse.