the new year

We got home on New Year's Eve and pretty much spent the evening unloading the trailer and playing with toys. On the way home, Cori and I got struck by a fancy of making our own sushi and stopped at the store on our way into town to pick up provisions. That night, the children went to bed around 9 and Cori and I stayed up with a Redbox selection. Rebels!

The sushi factory has been cranking it out ever since - though, our last batch saw the end of the sushi rice, so we've had a few days off. :) I'm really good at prepping the ingredients, and Cori is really good at making the rolls. The kids don't care for it at all which works out well for me and Cori. We have a bunch of legit materials for sushi construction that we got from Sara when she was in Hawaii years ago.  It has been fun to finally put it all to use.

The rest of Grace and Grant's break from school was quite nice. I'm lucky that they play well together (for the most part). And not until the very last day of break was I looking forward to the return of the school schedule. I gradually got Christmas packed up and the kids kept each other busy. Grace is always ready for a project, and Grant enjoys them too as long as someone is doing whateveritis with him. 

They got to choose their clothes and their hairstyles everyday. This was a big deal. We made only one outing. It was to the library. And Gracie would sit and read to Grant and Eden for as long as they would listen. 

In the course of putting Christmas decorations and acquisitions away, we seized the opportunity to do some cleaning out. We cleaned out the guest room closet which had become a bit of a junk dumping ground. Then we cleaned out the loft where we have all the toys, games and movies. Then we set our sites on the closet that is underneath the stairs. At the very back of this closet were two large dish pack boxes which we have moved around with us and never unpacked since we first got married. These boxes contained my Grandma W*'s hand painted china set she got in Japan when she, my grandpa and my dad lived there as part of my grandpa's military service. It is an enormous set - service for 12 including full tea service, 3 sizes of plates, 2 sizes of bowls and an assortment of serving platters and bowls. I was very grateful to inherit it and have never unpacked it because 1) I was terrified of breaking anything and 2) I had no idea where to store it all. I reorganized some of our kitchen cabinets to make room and then spent nearly two hours unpacking the boxes. It makes me happy to open those cabinet doors and see the neat piles of dishes that were so special to her. 

All the cleaning out of that week put a little bee in my bonnet and I've tried to keep the energy going, deep cleaning something here and cleaning out something there. Usually, we have had a move by now that has forced this kind of thing on me. It is nice to face the task with some internal motivation instead.