2022 :: week 8

 

February 20

The kids were dying to play some more One Night Ultimate Werewolf, but it gets a little old when you only play with five people. We took it with us to Memaw & Pepaws house and played with more family after dinner. It was the first time we got together with everyone at my parent's house in over a month! We celebrated Dana's birthday a bit early since so many of us will be traveling for Uncle David's funeral over the weekend. 

February 21

School was out for President's Day and the weather was gorgeous! The high was 70 degrees and the last of the snow melted. The kids spent much of the day with friends. Lauren went with Hailey to Urban Air in the morning, and then spent the afternoon playing at her house. Will and Elliott met Gunnar up at the school playground to play basketball. Then then came to our house for lunch, a homerun derby, jumping on the trampoline, a few video games and more basketball. The evening was busy as Lauren had her first soccer practice of the spring season! Elliott had basketball at 5pm, Lauren had soccer at 6pm and Will had basketball at 8pm. Thankfully we only have two weeks of triple-practice-Mondays!

February 22

The weather has been up and down all month, and keeping with the erratic weather theme, the temperature dropped almost forty degrees overnight. Tuesday we met a bunch of friends at the community center pool and pretended there weren't snow flurries outside. Knox and Will mostly played basketball, while Lauren and Elliott played with their buddies. Miles and I waded around the shallow end and threw a ball back and forth. 

February 23

We had a nothing going on Wednesday evening (our ward does mutual and primary activities the first and third weeks of the month), so we decided to play a few games. Clue Junior and Uno are on heavy rotation. Miles desperately wants to play too, so he rolls the die for me when it is my turn.

February 24

Elliott came home from school with these pictures he drew of himself and his siblings. I love the simple details he included. The chain on Will--that he only wore for his Halloween costume, Lauren's pink thunder jersey--and that he remembered that she wore #12, Elliott saying, "Let's Go!"--something he says all the time, and Miles wearing a Salvador Perez shirt--and that he gave Miles brown hair.

February 25

Friday afternoon the 7 original Cranes headed to St. George for attend a memorial for my Uncle David. My parents, Jill, Emily and I flew together from Kansas, Melanie (and Rosalie) flew from Boston, and Laura (with Trevor and Hannah) drove from Salt Lake. The travel was rather pleasant. We stopped and got In-N-Out for dinner and made Emily's dreams come true. The weather in Boston was awful, so poor Melanie's flight was delayed five hours.

February 26

Saturday morning was Uncle David's memorial service. Several LeBaron cousins attended, as well close family friends. My sisters and I sang "My Way," together. The lyrics reminded our family of how Uncle David lived his life. People shared memories of David and it became obvious that David was an independent, charismatic, gentle, creative man that had to ability to make people feel good about themselves. Afterwards we met at Uncle Steve's clubhouse for a light luncheon and were able to visit with family and friends. It is always sad when people pass away, but I do love how funerals almost forcibly bring loved ones together. I inherited some barstools that David reupholstered for my grandparents decades ago. They were barstools my mom had in her house growing up. I like having these tangible pieces of family history in my home, and knowing that my children are nourished on the same seats that their LeBaron progenitors used. 

2022 :: week 7

February 13

When Lauren and I went to Target last Thursday they were already sold out of Valentines! On February 10th!?! We decided to go the homemade Valentines route because I didn't want to guess and check at various stores around town. Will opted to not exchange Valentines this year so we only had to worry about making Valentines for Lauren and Elliott. For both kids we cut pieces of construction paper into squares. We got out our collection of stickers and Elliott put a sticker on each paper and then signed his name. Then I taped a Starburst on each one. Lauren personalized her Valentines by drawing a simple picture for each classmate. She drew soccer balls for her soccer loving friends, a stack of books for her bookworm friends, etc. Then we taped a few Starburst to each card. I feel like other parents have ruined this holiday for me. After spending $15 on ring pops and stretch pop toys for class gift bags my kids wanted me to spend more money on treats to pass out with their Valentines, and were disappointed that I would only buy one bag of Starbursts. 

February 14

When Luke and Gemma dropped off a Valentine for Miles Monday morning he was thrilled!  

February 15

When we gather to do Come Follow Me, or are all sitting together on the couch, it is almost guaranteed that Elliott and Miles will fight over my lap. I enjoy it more than I would like to admit. As our time with very young kids is winding to a close I am appreciating more than ever the sweet feeling of little bodies on my lap. All our kids are very sweet, but Elliott and Miles are probably the most cuddly. We sometimes joke that if there is two inches of space on the couch between people, Elliott will do his best to wiggle his body into the space. Over the past few months Miles has become increasingly territorial of my lap real estate. I held a baby for a friend a month ago at church and he ran from across the room and yelled, "I'm the baby!" at me. 

 

February 16

The most "exciting" thing to happen to us this week happened on Wednesday. After a busy lunchbreak helping a member of the ward avoid eviction Anthony got word that the bumper was ripped off his parked car. Apparently as a larger car attempted to leave the parking lot, it clipped the bumper and ripped it completely off! He told Anthony it sounded like tinfoil. Eeeks! Our car was towed to a body shop and we are awaiting news as to when it will be repaired. In the meantime we have a rental car, both things being covered by the insurance of the man who did the damage. We feel pretty lucky, all things considered, but it is discouraging that even when the responsible party does all the right things, it is still terribly inconvenient and time consuming to deal with the aftermath.

February 17

We were told we'd get a snowstorm and we got a pretty big one! I was a little dubious when I got the text that school was cancelled when it was 65 degrees and clear, but the schools made the right call. We never put out a ruler, but neighbors reported between 6"-8" of snow. It didn't start snowing until a little before sunrise, but it snowed until lunchtime. I don't remember the last time we had that much snow fall so quickly. We had a pretty quiet family day at home as Anthony didn't have to work either. We played several rounds of One Night Ultimate Werewolf in the morning and sauned in the afternoon. I baked some chocolate mint cookies, which we ate while we watched Olympic figure skating in the evening. It was a very cozy day.

February 18

Friday Anthony had to go back to work, but the kids had another inclement weather day. The Wilsons came over for a bit and more games were played. It was much warmer on Friday and a lot of the snow melted. That evening life was "back to normal," and we were able to go watch Elliott play in his weekly basketball game. 

February 19

When I got home from the gym Saturday morning I was a little confused as to when the Primary Friend to Friend was going to be on. I forgot that the listed time was for the Mountain Time Zone, and so I had the kids re-watch the previous Friend to Friend. Lauren was really enjoying the drawing instruction and decided to keep drawing. She drew this picture of Elliott referencing a picture I took of Elliott earlier in the week. Our kids are much better artists than I ever was.

2022 :: week 6

February 6

Weston created a Pokemon kahoot (quiz) and invited his Pokemon-loving cousins to take it Sunday afternoon. We got on zoom and the kids could see the quiz questions and also hear what their cousins were saying., it was really fun. Lauren was pleased to come in 2nd place. Elliott struggled to keep quiet with his answers. Miles was just happy to be there.

February 7

The first half of the week we enjoyed some gorgeous weather. Miles and Lauren ran around the tennis courts while we played at the park after school on Monday. 

February 8

Will and Elliott each had a buddy over for about an hour after school and they all shot hoops together for a bit. A lot of basketball is happening at the John house right now.

February 9

Miles has recently taken notice of the various security feeds at stores and loves seeing "Momma and Miles on TV." When we were at Hy-Vee this week he started making funny faces towards the feed. When we walked out of Hy-Vee I walked past our van and towards an almost identical--but much cleaner--van. When I realized the filthy vehicle was ours we drove straight to the car wash and got the most comprehensive wash. Then we spent close to an hour cleaning the inside. We vacuumed, threw out tons of trash, scrubbed the hard surfaces and washed the interior windows. It felt so good as we drove home, I love driving a clean vehicle. 

February 10

Something Anthony wanted to do when he became bishop is meet with the missionaries on a weekly basis. They come to our home and he talks with them about how things are going--how are they doing, how are their investigators doing, how is the ward doing at supporting them, etc. Once a month they have this meeting in the sauna, much like Tony did on his mission to Finland. He currently meets with the missionaries on Thursday evenings at 8pm, but over the course of his bishoping has met with them at different times. He met with them on Saturday evenings for the first few years he was bishop, which I didn't like as much. I have had mixed feelings about this "extra" meeting that he has decided to hold, on top of his other required responsibilities, but as we reach the tail end of his time as bishop I can see that it is a good thing. Missionaries in our ward report high levels of satisfaction with serving in our ward and I know that Anthony is genuine in his desire to help. We occasionally hear that OP2 is a coveted ward to serve in the mission because the bishop is so awesome. In this photo are Elders Hansen, Barney, Hawk and Hansen (yes, 2 Hansens).

February 11

Tara (Landon's mom) took a group of OPC boys to the SMS basketball game Friday night. They also went and watched a basketball game at the middle school this week. Will and his friends are all in on basketball right now. Friday was a busy night with Will, Lauren and Elliott each having plans of their own. Elliott had a basketball game and then a birthday party at Main Event. Lauren had a Valentine Party with a few friends from church. We did a lot of driving that night, and I know that we are just starting the era of our kids having more weekend plans that Anthony and I do. It makes me happy that our kids have such good friends and can enjoy fun activities together.

February 12

Saturday we got to participate in Tyler Wilson's baptism. One of the greatest benefits of living close to some family members is that we get to celebrate special times together. This year we have four other cousins getting baptized--one already has--and we wish we could be there with them too. (Adelaide in VA in September 2021, Camille in UT in April 2022 and Derek and Nolan in OR in April 2022).

2022 :: week 5

January 30

Dana stopped by with a belated birthday gift for "the good bishop," as she refers to Anthony. She knows his vices well. We are only a few weeks in, but having church at 10:30am after a year of 12:30pm is wonderful. Our afternoons as so much more relaxed!

 

January 31

There's nothing like that fresh-from-the-dryer-softie-blanket feeling. Miles gets very excited when we pulled his fresh blankets out from the dryer. Actually, he gets pretty excited when we pull any of his clean clothes out from the dryer.

February 1

Meteorologists around the metro were forecasting a big winter storm would hit Tuesday night. I spent the day preparing for the potential snow day ahead. Miles and I ran a few errands, including a trip to the library where we picked up a Boss Baby movie that he has been requesting. We stopped at Home Depot to pick up a toilet fill valve for our basement toilet, and picked up an shovel too. We are inexplicably missing one of our shovels. We also filled up on gas and picked up an extra gallon of milk so our milk guzzler (Miles) could survive. While Miles took a nap that afternoon I did a quick cleaning in our garage. I swept out some debris and threw away a few things that had collected over the past few months. When the crew was working on our kitchen they kept a few tool in the garage and now that they are done we didn't have to have stuff quite so squished together. It feels good to have extra room to move around in there again. 

February 2

I got the text that school was cancelled around 7:30pm Tuesday night. All the districts in our area were closed Wednesday. Anthony's work is also cancelled when Blue Valley Schools close for inclement weather. It was nice to know ahead of time that school was cancelled so we could all sleep in, though no one really did besides me and Anthony, and we were both up and out of bed before 8am. We had a truly relaxing day. I read most of a book and lots of video games were played. In the afternoon the kids went sledding with the neighbors. Anthony took the big kids to piano in the afternoon and I shoveled the driveway. It was nice to veg out most of the day, but my body needed to move!

February 3

School was cancelled again on Thursday. It seems a bit of a stretch to me, but the kids already had Friday off for Parent Teacher conferences, so it wasn't a big surprise when the "no school" text came. We met the Wilsons at the OPC parking lot and went sledding at the hill between OPC and Holy Spirit. It isn't the best sledding hill in town, but it is great for our kids. We lasted about 30 minutes--it was very windy and the wind was cold!

February 4

Miles and I picked up a jumbo box of graham crackers while we were out shopping on Tuesday and suddenly graham crackers and milk have become the snack du jour at the John house. Good thing we picked up the extra milk!

February 5

The kids like to pile on Anthony. He is a fun dad and will usually wrestle upon request. Not related to the picture, but I made enchiladas for dinner on Saturday. The kids don't really like enchiladas, but Anthony and I do so I only make them about once a month. I told the kids they could use their own money to buy a hot dog from the concession stand at Will's basketball game if they didn't want to eat the enchiladas, and ALL THREE of the big kids chose to do that. Oh well, more for us.