House O' Sullivans

Here's a glimpse at the past month: epic ski days with the kids at Alta and Brighton, more Monday Math Club sessions culminating in our big event at a cabin up Little Cottonwood Canyon featuring dinner and fractal math with our friends from Virginia, friends' recitals, me on the big screen at our Stake Women's Conference, a day up in Francis with homeschooling friends, lots of homeschool club days (Liberty Girls for Soph and Hal and Henry and Mudge Club for Zeke), skiing with friends at Brighton, Shakespeare performances at the Utah Children's Theater, and gatherings with lots of friends. To this we add church callings, Sophie's ballet classes, Hallee's gymnastics, my tutoring schedule, my education discussion group, the Wasatch Waldorf School that I'm working on several projects with, Soph and Hal's church Activity Days and everything else in between. We have a lot going on but still get to spend ample time together as a family.  (Hurrah for homeschool...

Today was the best Sunday the Sullivan household has seen in a very long time.  Somehow we convinced Sophie and Hallee to take a nap with us in the basement while Zeke slept upstairs.  Hallee eventually bailed and went to play alone (but quietly) while the rest of us enjoyed a delightful nap.  Oh, the glorious bliss!  Here are a few glimpses from our week: As I surveyed the scene on the couch earlier this week, I remembered a night in Paradise.  Paradise, Utah (near Logan), that is.  I was with my friends Sarah and Carlynn at Carlynn's sister Cathy's house.  We were having a sleepover, anticipating an early start with Cathy and her husband Scott and two others, headed for the Wind River Range in Wyoming on an epic backpacking adventure to the infamous Gannett Peak.  Cathy and Scott have four kids.  At that time the kids ranged from maybe twelve down to four years old.  Before they went to bed, I found t...

We were lucky to have Great Grandma White (aka GG) in Salt Lake for a couple of days.  The kids especially  loved reading books with her.  The Tuesday after GG arrived, we had an impromptu family gathering at our house with my parents, the Walters, the Andersons, and Casey's parents.  Grandma also made us loads of granola, which we are still enjoying. Hallee and Zeke play together often.  Some of the sweetest moments are when they sit together and quietly talk and "read" books together.  This particular day, Hal had her little arm around her brother and was patting him and loving him as they read together.  Heaven! My friend Kimberly had a birthday this month.  I was in charge of dessert for the celebration dinner at Ali's house, so I made a large volume of homemade magic shell and dulce de leche for frozen yogurt sundaes.  It was so good!  Casey and I found this Magic Shell Recipe  a few years ago and were...