Photo heavy

I didn't post this last week, but this was taken in Virginia Beach on the boardwalk. There is a law against swearing. 

Before we got married, I knew that Jacob would be a good dad (or stepdad or whatever you feel like calling him). I knew he would be able to handle the daily grind and would bring a lot of strengths to the table. I wasn't prepared for the ways that he was a superior parent than myself. Not that I think I'm great, which I don't, just that I've been the one calling the shots for their whole lives and now there is someone who does some things better. Like homework and getting good grades. I have a laissez-faire attitude about school and both girls have really needed Jacob's help with study habits, turning stuff in, talking to the teacher, etc. As a side note, both kids received an award for Citizenship (being well behaved) and are hoping for honor roll next term. Yes, second graders are given letter grades. School here is the real deal. None of this Mapleton/Santaquin fluff. It's an adjustment, but I can already see tremendous growth in both of them.

The school also has us very involved. You don't really volunteer to come in and be a room mom or run the book fair. There are scheduled days to eat lunch with the kids (shown below with Leah), come to their awards ceremonies, etc. They also aren't shy about asking for money, in fact, this school was the United Way #1 fundraising school in the nation last year. Even without the fundraising, there are a slew of money opportunities every month. Field trip? $5. Class party? $5. After school science club? Bring snacks and a ream of paper. Chorus concert? $25 for tshirts (no joke here). There was even a "Frozen" movie night--$5 per person! AND you buy snacks at the door. AND you can bring your Elf on the Shelf and buy Frozen themed outfits for it!!! NOOOOOOOOOO. I put my foot down on that one.

We'll let the cat take care of the elf. I want to say a word about Elfing. It's controversial and it doesn't need to be. My mom started it with the girls a few years ago while we were in Mapleton. The kids LOVED it. It's fun to wake up and find the elf in a new position that morning. We hit a snag when it was discovered that Santa wasn't real, which meant the elf wasn't real....so that was a bit of a bummer. However, the elf never did 'naughty' things. It was just a fun tradition that was light-hearted and didn't cause a lot of damage or weirdness. I don't understand why people are writing long blog posts about why the Elf is the devil of all Christmas traditions. Bah. The end.

Cat helps himself to any position, any time.

I've become quite fat. Look at that spare tire. I can't even believe how much weight I've gained the past few months. It's horrifying and I can't even bring myself to share the family picture we had taken Friday (it was terrible anyway). Don't worry, I didn't buy this dress. This is why I take pics in the dressing room-to save myself later. 

This weekend we went to a friend's house to babysit her two kids while she and her husband went to a work party. She's one of my favorite people here in Florida and her kids are AWESOME. It's hard to see in this picture but their view is really stunning. It's interesting to visit her and spend time at her apartment (I've been a few times) because it gives me a feel for what city life/city living would be like. We live in the city of Miami but our neighborhood, which I love deeply, is more of a burby feel. It's interesting to visit her because there are white people there and I get surprised to see them (keeping in mind that my kids get called 'blonde' and our neck of the woods city is 80% Latin).

We had a stake primary activity on Saturday morning. I can't describe the amount of decoration and pomp that went into this and really wish I had some good pics of it. Try to imagine the most overblown ward party you can think of and triple it. Everyone had to dress up like shepherds or sheep. The best part? People came. Lots of them. The place was packed. We go to church things here because it's the only family we have. Everyone else feels the same way (with a few exceptions). We have each other, so going to a ward activity takes on a new meaning than it does in Utah. I'm not anti-Utah or anything, so please don't think I'm going to bash. But there is a marked difference with church stuff and I don't know anyone that would disagree with that. 

*Health update: 

I woke up Monday morning with no symptoms. I feel none of the problems that have plagued me for the past two months. Whoever you are that has a direct line to heaven and called in a favor, please accept my sincerest gratitude. I have a lot of residual back pain from atrophied muscles and really low tone, I have a 15 pounds that I'm probably going to obsess over, and I have a super messy house. Well, super messy bedroom. I've contained it to one room. :) We feel an enormous sense of relief ( I say 'we' because my health was truly affecting the rest of the house) that my symptoms are gone and I know we're all secretly hoping that was the end of it. I feel changed, though. I'll probably have to write about that another time when my thoughts are more formed. 

A quick note on Jacob--he finished his internal medicine rotation and will be home for the next few weeks studying for the IM test. Then he starts psychiatry on January 5 and that lasts 6 weeks. 

So....it's the Christmas season, right? It's still 75 degrees here. It did dip down to 55 the other day, and I'm not kidding, people were wearing wool hats. I think we're all a little apprehensive about spending Christmas alone here. I've really tried to make it festive and fun. It's hard with school demands, but hopefully by Friday we can start doing some fun holiday stuff, like gingerbread houses and baking. So I can get fatter. I know the girls are really disappointed to not be in Utah and I don't know how to help them. The things is, if we were in Utah, they would be with their dad and I don't know that they would love that very much. It's all so sticky :(.