December 30th

I love Sundays. Just a quiet day to relax and enjoy the family.

This morning I washed Lina's hair in the kitchen sink. My mom used to do that for me quite often when I was growing up. I loved it. But I don't know how my mom did it! It was so hard trying to reach around Lina's head and make sure all of the shampoo was rinsed out. And I had to stand on stool just to be able to reach! But her hair sure looked nice and clean today :)

Miranda wanted to straighten her hair today. Her hair is getting so long! It is almost to her waist when she straightens it. It looked really pretty and she wore her new dress that we got for her at Nordstrom Rack the other day. She is growing up too fast!

We went to church at 11am.  Today was the last day for the kids in their Primary classes. Next week they will move up to the next class. They are curious who their new teachers will be. Merek has had Justin and Kelly for teachers since Nursery so I'm a little nervous to see who he gets. He told me tonight when I put him to bed that he was being silly in class and had to sit next to his teacher. :|

Lina is looking forward to her new class because she is sure that they will combine the 10-11 year old girls. This year she has been in a class with just one other girl and 6 boys.

Krish and Bird have both had fabulous teachers this year. I hope they have good ones next year as well.

The new rector was announced for St. Michael's today, too. She will begin on Palm Sunday. We are looking forward to meeting her when she arrives in March. Next Sunday is Mother Ann's last Sunday as the priest.

During Relief Society today, one of the Primary teachers came in looking for a little girl's mom. The little girl had got her finger caught in a folding chair and it was bleeding. I don't know why, but I jumped up and went into the hallway to help. Her pinkie finger nail was just hanging on by a stitch. I took them into the kitchen and had her fun her finger under cold water. There was no ice in the freezer. Mara (the little girl's aunt) went to get the first aid kit. I held the little girl while her mom wrapped some tissue around the fingers to help stop the bleeding. The nail hanging there was really unsettling for the girl. I asked her mom if she wanted me to pull it off. She said yes. I talked to the girl through the whole thing, trying to distract her and help her take her focus off her fingers. Her ring finger had also gotten a little smashed and was bleeding as well. I got the nail off and then we put some antibiotic medicine on it along with bandages on both fingers. Blood doesn't bother me a bit. I guess having had finger injuries myself and with my kids my instinct just kicked in to help. I'm thankful for that, and for the first-aid training I have had to help in situations like that.

After church, we had leftovers for lunch. Puzzle, Seahawk game, making cards . . . just a quiet afternoon. We went out in the backyard for a bit since the sun was out. Brad and I peppered with Miranda's new volleyball and I peppered with her a bit, too, giving pointers on setting and passing the ball. Brad threw the football around with the boys and also playing catch with Krish with the baseball.

Brad made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner. Yum! Merek kept telling me he did NOT like potato soup. I said it was fine if he just ate his sandwich. Lina just had the soup, said she didn't want the sandwich.

After dinner, the girls watched Miranda's new Samantha movie. The boys played Star Wars Lego Complete Saga with Brad. Merek watched Dora the Explorer up in the toy room while I worked on mom and dad's calendar. I'm hoping to mail it tomorrow after I pick up the pictures from Costco. I ordered them tonight so they should be ready by noon.

We called Victoria to sing Happy Birthday. Just got the answering machine but we still sang. I talked to mom for a little while on the phone, too. They went over to Tonya's today to take Desiree and Sarianne back home, and to be there for Eliott's ordination. He turned 12 on Friday.

The kids made a list of the things they want to get at the store tomorrow for our New Year's Eve party. We have a family movie night and stay up until midnight. I think maybe I'll try to get everyone to take a nap tomorrow so we can have some quiet down time, too.