2020 :: week 9

February 23

Lauren and her Activity Days group "Heart Attacked" the bishop's office Thursday night. I made her take a photo next to one of the hearts she made. I am currently serving in the nursery and am going to have to talk to some of the families about picking up their children on time. There is one family that routinely takes 10-15 minutes to come pick up their kids. I have four kids I have to wrangle after church by myself and hanging out in the nursery while I wait for them to pick up their daughter drives me nuts.

February 24

Miles has been such a delight lately. He is sleeping well, eating well and communicating more effectively every day. Naps continue to be a problem, as Elliott's school schedule makes it hard for him to take a nap for more than 90 minutes in the afternoon. I am trying to troubleshoot the problem, but the timing of Elliott's school is hard to get around. Maybe we can get in a better groove this summer?

February 25

Every year I compile my blog posts and make them into a book I call "The John Journal." I have been lackadaisically working on it for the past few months, but when I got a coupon code for 40% off that expired Tuesday I kicked it into high gear. Previously I have cut it really close, staying up until midnight and barely making the cut, but I was pleased that this time I was all done by 10pm.

February 26

It was my turn to host "preschool book club" Wednesday morning and it went fairly well. The theme was "Around the World" and the kids had fun playing games from Mexico and Brazil. Elliott has really come to enjoy these get-togethers. He clearly had some sort of social anxiety at the start of the school year, and though he still exhibits a few strange behaviors in group settings, he seems to be thriving.

February 27

STEM Night is one of the most anticipated PTA events of the year by parents and students alike. Though I am in my fifth year as an OPC parent this was my first time attending the STEM Night. The PTA committee does a great job of getting various representatives from a variety of community groups to come to the school and show them how STEM is used in the "real world." The first two years it felt like too much to take three kids by myself because Anthony was either out of town or had a meeting. The next two years Anthony took the kids. This year the stars finally aligned and I took all four kids by myself.

February 28

Two months after Will's birthday we finally got around to having a few of his friends over to celebrate. With his birthday so close to Christmas I told him we'd host a birthday party for him in the New Year. Will invited three of his closest friends and Anthony took the boys to Main Event for some fun right after school got out Friday afternoon. They did the ropes course a few times and then fit in as many arcade games and rounds of lasertag  they could in about three hours before heading to our house for pizza and donuts. After they ate they headed to our basement to play games on the switch until their parents came to pick them up. It was the perfect party for Will--lots of fun and junk food with his best friends. He had a great time!

February 29

We lucked out with a really gorgeous day Saturday. Anthony and Will wanted to host and "end of the season" party for their basketball team and Will really wanted to be able to play knockout with his friends. They played several rounds of knockout and then came in to eat some pizza. Some of the boys went back out to shoot hoops or jump on our trampoline, while a few went to the basement to play the Switch. Our house was full of energy with all these boys and Will, Lauren and Elliott loved every second of it. My family loves hosting events, it is usually me holding us back. I feel like I am finally out of the newborn haze (it's only taken a year!) and up to hosting gatherings at our house more frequently. This month alone we had a group of people over for the Super Bowl, two families over for dinner, one family over for a sauna night and two groups of boys over to celebrate with Will. We are also having friends over for dinner tomorrow.