Chinese New Year

There was a Chinese New Year celebration at the school on Thursday. I had to work but Don, Sean and Milla went.

On Saturday we wrote our names in Chinese. I had to work Saturday too so we didn't have our Chinese dinner until Sunday.

Milla had Chinese banners and names all over the house. They put signs on different things, like a sign on the rice so we will always have rice.

Sean seems to think he needs more computers. Don had some signs on his car. I think it was needing more car parts, not cars. He needs a new job. His contract ended with the VA and he didn't get hired on by the company that was awarded the contract. It's disappointing it has been a really good job. He's been able to work from home for most of Sean's elementary years. It's made it real easy to take care of him. One of us is always home. My other concern is insurance. We will have to COBRA. I don't know how much that will cost. I don't know if Obama care is even going to be an option in the future.

Milla and Ming Ting cooked up a storm on Sunday.

The United States has lost it's mind

Trump is really making a mess of things. I just can't believe the United States has gotten itself in this mess. Trump has put a ban on refugees from 7 countries, all of which are predominantly Muslim and none of which he has business dealings. The countries where he has business but are still predominantly Muslim have no ban. His mental instability, narcissism, and misogynist view points are horrifying. Congress is repealing Obama Care (Affordable Care Act) and they have nothing to replace it. Congress is trying to ban abortion while at the same time shutting down planned parenthood and taking away peoples access to birth control. They want to make sure every baby conceived is born yet once a child is born they don't want to do anything to support it. If the refugee's were still in utero congress might be more compelled to help them but since they are already born it's up to them to find their own way. I guess that's not exactly true because they don't want to offer assistance to the pregnant woman they just want to make sure she gives birth.

I had four refugees in my last class, two from Somalia (in the picture), one from Libya and one from Nepal. With the new ban on refugees only the one from Nepal would be allowed into the country.

When Trump flat out lies his old campaign manager and now consultant says he is not lying he is presenting alternate facts. What the hell, a fact is a fact. Fact's are objective not subjective. It is making me crazy. I can't believe this lunatic is the president of our country. I can't believe people I know and respect think he is a good human being.

Candy

This kid cracks me up. She does this funny sniffing thing. I put aquaphor on her lips and nose and she didn't like it. She was sick with a fever and really bad wheezing. This was her second shot of steroids for wheezing this winter. Khloe had steroids for her hives so there has been a lot of steroids in their house this winter.

Kylie and Brie came over. Brie ended up having a fever and I had to work on Saturday. We didn't do much but we did make lollipops.

Khloe didn't like the actual lollipops but she liked making them.

Poor sick baby.

Val is semi mobile. She can scoot forward to get what she wants. If it's too far, she rolls and wiggles. It's fun to watch her and Khloe's relationship. Khloe is always cute with her but now when she takes something Val has Val gets mad. She is learning to swap with her if there is something she wants.

New car and AJ's new job

I started looking at new cars after AJ and Steph were in the accident. I was thinking I would get a new car and let them have the Jeep. I love my Jeep. It's a couple thousand miles short of 200,000 and it's been a great car. I wanted something with fewer miles, 3 rows of seat, 4 wheel drive, a trailer hitch and a back up camera. I decided on a Dodge Durango. I spent a couple of weeks looking at cars, driving new and used. Ultimately I decided on the 2017 because it had 0% interest. If I bought a used I would either have to take a ton of money out of my savings or get a loan with interest. The car is awesome, it has everything I wanted and things I didn't know I wanted. The radio can be controlled from the steering wheel, the steering wheel is heated. It doesn't have a key it has a fob. I keep the fob in my purse and just open the doors with the handle and push a button to turn the car on. I have to remember to push the button to turn the car off. It's pretty fancy. We've had a lot of snow this year. It does a good job in it. I test drove it in the snow to see before I bought it. I hope it does as good a job as the Jeep.

AJ started working as a P1 at Walmart. I took a couple pictures while he wasn't looking. I thought it would embarrass him to yell out his name.

No more stitches and Tim and Kim come to visit

I got the stitches out on Monday. It felt so good to have them removed. They were really tight and itched awful. If I forgot and rubbed my eyes it was really painful. 

The swelling and bruising are almost gone.

I decided I really liked the whole plastic surgery experience. Maybe I will get a mini face lift in the fall.

Tim and Kim were in town. They are going to a basketball game at UVU. Brad and Teresa came over and we had dinner.

Valley Girl

I was going to start watching Valley most days and we started on Monday. Steph went over to Buddy Bin to give them a calendar of the days we needed Valley watched and they told her they didn't have any openings for infants so back to her old daycare she goes. The daycare was happy because the Grandmother there loves taking care of Valley. Who couldn't love that cute face. She does this funny wrinkle, sniff thing with her nose.

I bought a Johnny Jump Up and she really took to it.

She can bounce and turn a complete 360.

Captivated by Baby Bum songs.

Just a cool picture of ice on our bedroom window. In addition to the snow we've had some hail and freezing rain.

Doing her thing.

They didn't miss a beat

We've had a lot of snow. Don is tired of shoveling but Sean isn't tired of playing in it. He loves the snow days at school when they get to build forts and slide at recess. We had so much snow that Thursday was a 2 hour late start date. That doesn't happen very often. I think the kids have had more cancelled school from wind than snow.

Jake was back in Utah visiting his dad. He came over and played two days and it was like they had never been apart. The six months they hadn't seen each other disappeared. 

Sean even spent Friday night at Jake's house. Sunday Jake flew back to Georgia. Hopefully Clayton can keep the house and Sean and Jake can play when he comes to visit. I would think he should be here for a couple of weeks in the summer.

Vanity and my Bleparoplasty

I was really becoming annoyed by my sagging eyelids. First world problem I know but I decided during the summer I would going to get a bleparoplasty.  I researched a couple of surgeon's and chose one who was board certified in plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery. He does a lot volunteer work in Guatemala. Probably to compensate from making so much money off middle aged vain women. He also did the surgery in his office under local so it didn't require anesthesia. I really liked that aspect. It saved money and I hate anesthesia or deep sedation. It just makes me feel barfy. 

This is me leaving the office. It really didn't hurt. I looked funny like someone put on some really bad mascara. We went to Sills for breakfast afterward. I was feeling good.

Later in the day it started to swell and looked worse.

It looks worse than it feels. The swelling is less today but the bruising is more. It looks like someone beat the crap out of me. My right eye is really black. It's funny to watch people try not to stare at me. It doesn't hurt but it itches and if I forget and scratch it I pull the sutures and that really does hurt. I have to teach Sunday, I should be beautiful! It's weird how much more bruising there is on the right eye as opposed to the left. The right eye had more of a droop but he took the same amount of skin from both eyes because he said everyone is naturally asymetrical.

Happy New Year Tica Style

The ticas' had a last minute New Year's party at AJ and Steph's. Don didn't want to go so me and Sean went. Don, Sean, Carter and I had gone to a Brazilian restaurant for dinner earlier. Sean and I went to play and Don stayed home and played on the internet. Sean had fun making crafts. I didn't think I was going to make in until midnight but we did! I don't think I've stayed up until New Years since we were in Costa Rica four years ago. 

Making glow in the dark shirts.

Face mask

He's a party animal. He really liked the silly string and the poppers.

Khloe was not a fan of loud noises like balloons popping.

2017 is here. I'm hoping that our future president does not turn out to be the total disaster I anticipate. There are lots of people who think he's a good choice. I don't get it, I have no respect for the man but I have respect for some of the people who support him and I am hoping they know something I don't.