Weekly Review December 12 '09

It appears that winter has finally arrived in Maryland, and I think it’s here to stay. The snow we got last Saturday didn’t last very long, but we got a little more on Tuesday evening and wow, is it cold! Thursday and Friday were particularly cold, as well as windy. Brrrrrr! Most people thought we were going to have a delayed opening (if not school closed entirely) on Wednesday because we were supposed to get rain / freezing rain Tuesday night. It did rain with a little bit of ice mixed in earlier in the evening and then not long before Frank and I went to bed it started snowing very hard and everything was covered with at least a half inch of snow before we went to bed. However, some time in the night it warmed up enough that the snow turned to rain and washed away all the snow and ice on the roads, so school was held as usual.

It was a busy week for all of us, but I don’t think I’ll have a lot to write about. I had all the usual work to do, plus several extra things like mailing packages and Christmas cards, giving the dog a bath, ordering photos, scheduling visits and preparing a special presentation for Primary, going through all the coats in the closet to weed out old ones and figure out who might need a new one, and taking Scott & Tanner to buy boots, gloves, long johns, etc. for a camp out they had this week end. Since it is so cold, I wanted to make sure they had adequate warm clothes! All of that added up to long lists of things to do each day and a lot of running around. I feel like I got a lot accomplished, though.

Frank was gone Tuesday evening until pretty late because he was working on his MCNE class with his boss. On Thursday evening he was even later because he had volunteered to help with the Festival of Lights down at the temple grounds. They always ask the local stakes to provide male volunteers to help with directing traffic and so forth. Frank was at work by 6:00 that morning and he went straight from work to volunteer from 4:30-9:30, so it was a really long day for him. He was also out in the freezing cold with the wind blowing most of that time, so it wasn’t pleasant but he was happy to help. He saw Scott that morning before he left for work, but the other boys were still asleep when he left, and in bed before he got home, so he didn’t see any of them at all that day.

Wednesday evening was my night to be out—we had our Relief Society Christmas program and dinner. It was very nice. The program was focused on what Christmas was like in Joseph Smith’s day. A couple in our ward dressed up like Joseph & Emma and they shared stories and read journal entries from that time. The dinner was fabulous—we actually had prime rib, along with creamy mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, rolls, fruit salad, and corn casserole. All of it was delicious! After I got home we stayed up a little late to watch a show called Top Chef. We haven’t been watching all season, but we’ve been hearing about the show a lot on the local radio station because two of the final three contestants are brothers who grew up in Frederick (both graduated from the same high school that Scott attends now) so we were interested to see who won. It did get down to the two brothers as the last two contestants, but the younger brother, who doesn’t live in Frederick anymore, was the one who won top honors. The older brother still lives in Frederick and actually owns a restaurant downtown, so maybe we will have to go check it out sometime. (Although I’m sure it’s pretty expensive!) Anyway, it was fun to see a couple of people from Frederick do so well.

Friday evening was quieter than usual, with Scott and Tanner gone. After we got the boys to bed, Frank and I watched the movie “Julie & Julia” which we really enjoyed. I also finished a book I was reading all week called Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope. It’s more of a young adult book, but a friend offered to loan it to me when I told her I’d read another book by the same author (The Sherwood Ring) and loved that book. I liked Perilous Gard also, although I liked the Sherwood Ring better. Both books are historical with a bit of fantasy thrown in, which is a fun combination.

Today has been a busy day. I spent all morning making 2 batches of brownies and 2 batches of cookies, and putting them on the plates for the Primary teachers that the kids made a few weeks ago. Frank made a run to the store and also put up the Christmas tree (it’s not decorated yet). When I was done with the cookies, I got Seth down for a nap and then took Jared to a couple of places for Museums by Candlelight, which is an annual event here in Frederick every year. (Many local museums & historic places open up free of charge and usually have activities for kids as well. After dark, they all light up their buildings & grounds with candles.) We went to a place called Rose Hill Manor as well as the Roger Brooke Taney house (he was a resident of Frederick who was also a Supreme Court Justice in Lincoln’s time). I think the part we enjoyed most about Rose Hill Manor was the carriage museum. They had probably about 25 old buggies, wagons, carriages, and sleighs—very interesting! At the Roger Brooke Taney house, they had a lady singing songs in one room, a couple of crafts in two other rooms, hearth cooking, and (Jared’s favorite part) cookies and hot chocolate. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the camera with us, so we didn’t get any pictures.

After Jared and I got home, we made dinner; the missionaries came for dinner also which is always nice. Scott and Tanner arrived home while we were gone to the museums. They were very tired, but they said they stayed warm, so all the effort to make sure they had warm clothes was worth it! Scott was really crabby, though, and ended up going to bed before dinner. Frank was able to get Seth’s new bed set up; he is very excited about it. Frank had Seth help him take down the crib. When they were done, Seth came running down the stairs and said (very excited!): “Guys, guys! Come look! Daddy broke my crib!” We all got a laugh out of that. After dinner, we cleaned all the floors and then watched a Christmas movie on the Disney Channel (Eloise at Christmastime). It was a cute movie. Now we are going to bed!