2021 :: week 37

September 5

Due to Stake Conference and a 5th Sunday it had been a month since I last taught Sunday School. I am enjoying teaching gospel doctrine much more than I anticipated I would. I've always been interested in church history and am really enjoying the deeper dives I do in preparation for each lesson. No matter how early I start preparing I always start to feel very stressed Friday night and most of Saturday. 

September 6

We made our annual Labor Day visit to the pool. Several good friends from school and church were there as well and Tony made a big pizza run to feed everyone dinner. At least six of Lauren's good friends were at the pool. Knox came and played with Will, (and Elliott too). An hour before the pool closed they turned the water fixtures on full blast. The kids had fun running through the sprinklers. It was pretty disappointing that Bluejacket was closed this year, but after a summer with no pools, each visit to the public pools felt like a gift. 

September 7

Miles looks forward to meeting the big kids after school. At the beginning of the year he wanted to stay and play at the park, but this past week he has wanted to walk with Will when he leaves. Will is a very patient and gentle older brother. I often stay at the park for a bit so Elliott can play. I trust Lauren to play at the park without an adult, but Elliott still needs adult supervision. This means that Will spends the first half hour of his post-school time looking after his 2 year old brother. Miles loves going up to Will's room with him to check on George or heading to the kitchen and getting a snack mom probably wouldn't have given him.

September 8

Guess who's back? Back again? Pokemon's back, tell a friend. Blaise and Luke got some new Pokemon cards and the boys have dusted off the binders and started trading again this week. Elliott and Blaise made a few trades this week that then had to involve parents and trade-backs so now all trades are off limits. Miles has been the excited recipient of all the "trash" cards the older boys no longer want that were cluttering up space in their binders. Never before have such useless cards brought so much joy to a little boy.

September 9

The OPC Huskies played two games this week and Elliott did great in both of them! On Tuesday night the entire family was able to go, as well and Memaw and Pepaw and the Allreds. He is a lucky boy to have so many people to support him. Thursday night just Lauren, Miles and I were in attendance, but Elliott still had fun. Thursday he got to play catcher, which is the position that his Papa played so he was very pleased with himself. At this point he might have the best throwing arm on the team. Elliott continues to keep us entertained while he plays with his MLB-highlight-reel style of celebration when anything positive happens to his team.

September 10

Friday morning Miles and I went with Emily to walk around the World War I Museum. Emily is going to take our family pictures at the end of the month and we were scoping out venues that might work. Miles enjoyed walking around and "jumping" on the many steps. We saw a few firefighters climbing the many steps around the memorial in remembrance of the 110 flights of stairs in the World Trade Center. It was so humbling when we realized what they were doing and why they were doing it. Friday was an exciting day for Anthony because BYU officially became part of the Big 12. 

September 11

Saturday afternoon I took Elliott to a birthday party for his new friend, Camille, at Meadowbrook Park. Elliott has made a lot of new friends since school started and it is getting harder for me to keep track of all of our kids, their friends and their desired social engagements. We are trying to savor all the outdoor social time we can while we can before it gets cold. Who knows what the upcoming winter has in store? I have everyone but Tony scheduled for a flu shot within the next month.