2022 :: week 17

 

April 24

Sunday we taught our first Youth Temple & Mission Prep class. Since it was our first class we brought our kids and introduced our entire family. Then we split the kids into randomly assigned pairs, had them interview each other and then present their partner to the class. The kids weren't excited about the random pairs, but they mostly went along with it with only a little pushback. Then Will came into the classroom dressed up like the Easter Bunny, and we had the kids go outside and hunt for Easter Eggs. They seemed to have a good time and a few stayed after to talk to us more. That evening Anthony flew to Phoenix a work conference.

April 25

Memaw warmed Miles up at Elliott's baseball game Monday night. It was sunny and pretty warm, except when the wind blew. Elliott kept us entertained with his gratuitous sliding and celebrations, but he also got a few very good hits and made some great defensive plays. It is fun to see him participate in activities he enjoys so much. 

April 26

We had what felt like the perfect afternoon Tuesday. The weather was gorgeous and I opened most of our ground floor windows. I could hear the kids and their friends laughing, playing basketball, and having fun together while I prepped dinner. Elliott had a playdate with two of his favorite friends who live a few doors down from each other, Lauren had a few friends over to our house, and Will and Knox worked on their book report in his bedroom and then played outside. Miles went back and forth between Will and Lauren and their friends. 

April 27

Wednesday was a busy day getting ready for our trip. Anthony arrived home from Phoenix in the wee hours of the morning. I packed and ran various errands. I made stir fry for dinner, in attempts to use up some of our veggies before we head out of town. One of my goals this year has been to eat more vegetables, and I have been pleasantly surprised with not only how well they have eaten them, but how little complaining the kids have done. 

April 28

Thursday morning we woke up early and flew to Washington DC. For years we have talked about visiting DC again during the temple open house and when the time came, it worked out that we were able to. We decided to go before school got out because the price of plane tickets were half as much right now. After a relatively uneventful flight, we landed at DCA, purchased 7-day unlimited metro passes and headed to our hotel. We stayed at a Residence Inn in the Rosslyn neighborhood in Arlington, VA. That afternoon we took the red line towards the temple, then boarded the church's temple shuttle. Miles--who refused to take a rest--fell asleep on the shuttle, and Anthony had to carry him fast asleep through 1/3 of the temple tour! 

April 29

Friday was a busy day! We started the day with a visit to the Museum of African American History. We visited the museum in 2017 and went to the history galleries below ground, this time we went upstairs to the "Sports: Leveling the Playing Field," exhibit. The kids were excited to see athletes they had read about before, and both Anthony and I could sing along with a Michael Jordan Gatorade jingle from the 90s. Next we went to the American History Museum. Dorothy Gale's Ruby Slippers, dresses worn by First Ladies, and various presidential paraphernalia were highlights for our family. We were disappointed that Kermit the Frog and R2D2 were part of an exhibit that is closed and undergoing restoration until this fall. That evening we took a commuter train to Baltimore to go out the eat and then watch an Orioles game with the Tame family. Tony and Kevin are good friends and roommates from their college years. 

April 30

Friday was a busy day where we walked about 9 miles. We started the day slow because we didn't get home from the Orioles game until around midnight. Thank goodness the hotel served breakfast and hour later on the weekend! We rode the train to McPherson Square and walked to by the White House. Construction and gates kept us from getting as close as we have in the past, but it was still cool to walk by the Executive Mansion. We ate a few snacks in the ellipse, then ventured back to the Smithsonians, this time checking out the Museum of Natural History. We bought lunch from the food trucks along Constitution Avenue, then met up with the Merrills. Nikki and I were roommates during my final years at BYU and it was fun to reconnect with her while our families walked the monuments together. We started at the World War II Memorial--where the boys dunked their heads in the rainbow pool. Then walked along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Monument. A family of ducklings crossed in front of us and then swam along the reflecting pool. At the Lincoln Monument Elliott *purposely* slid of the side and scraped his chin. We walked all around the monument and of course took a few photos. Then we headed on the the Korean War, Martin Luther King Jr. and FDR memorials and walked part of the way around the Tidal Basin. Dave generously picked us up and drove us to a metro station so we could head to Chevy Chase and visit with the Salazars. The Salazars treated us to pizza and yummy s'mores on the back patio of their new house. The outside is gorgeous, and the inside will be soon (currently lots of construction). It was so fun to see Hillary and Ben and Lucas again, and to meet Mateo for the first time. It felt so nice to sit and relax and visit after a long day on our feet. Hillary gave us a lift back to our hotel, which not only saved us time, but walking. We all passed out and fell asleep so quickly that night. 

2022 :: week 16

April 17

Easter Sunday was a little chilly this year. I made the kids take a quick picture before we left for church, and thankfully I did, because it rained off and on for the rest of the day. Church was more crowded than usual and I taught the Sunday School lesson for the last time. I spent a lot of time fretting about it during the week because I didn't feel inspired by the CFM source material. Nothing was wrong with it, per say, but our Sunday School is now meeting in the cultural hall. The size of the room is not conducive to good discussions. Also, people in the new ward are still getting to know each other better. Based on an "Easter around the world" entry in the Friend magazine I ended up asking people to share Easter traditions that are meaningful to them. Then we went over the timeline of the last 7-10 days of Christ's life and talked a bit about the significance of those events. I had planned to talk more about the Mary Magdalene Easter week study guide and Sharon Eubank's fabulous talk "The Light that Shines in the Darkness," but we were short on time so we only touched on a few points. I closed the lesson with one of my favorite Easter messages, Sunday Will Come. In the evening mh parents hosted a delicious Easter dinner followed by Memaw’s famous Easter Egg Hunts (she fills her eggs with quarters and candy).

April 18

A big 2022 goal for me is to serve and eat more vegetables. Miles cracked me up with how much ranch he was using on his cucumber slices. 

March 19

We finally got to have our annual family egg hunt Tuesday night. As usual, Tony hid the eggs around the backyard. Tony and I make a good team, I buy the candy and fill the eggs, then he carefully hides them around the backyard. He is especially good at finding clever ways to camouflage the eggs. Later in the week Tony was amused to find two eggs the kids missed. I tried to get the eggs cleaned up and put away, but Miles found an empty egg that had rolled under the couch and was quite displeased that it was empty. 

 

April 20

The OPC Huskies are back in action! Elliott had his first baseball game of the spring season Wednesday night. Miraculously the whole family was able to attend, who knows if we will all be able to make to another game this season. Highlights included Elliott making some great throws from third to first, Elliott's improved swing--straighter instead of up, and gratuitous sliding into home plate. Also of note, Elliott's new thing is giving a thumbs up in pictures.

April 20

Miles and I got a nice dose of Vitamin D Thursday. I cleaned up most of the leaves and debris that collected on the east side of our house over the winter. Leaves in this neighborhood are no joke. Miles drew on the driveway while I worked. 

April 21

Thursday evening Miles spiked a 101 degree fever. When he woke up Friday morning he still had a mild fever, so we laid low. Anthony worked from home in the morning so I could run a few errands. I made soup for a friend who's family had recently come down with covid. Miles is usually busy climbing on furniture, playing baseball in the front room, jumping on the trampoline, sorting cards, or getting up to some sort of mischief. The whole day felt weird with him willingly taking naps and quietly watching shows. 

April 22

Saturday was a busy sports day, bookended by 8am and 8:15pm games. Lauren and the Pink Thunder played in their first ever tournament. They lost their first game, but it was the toughest most cohesive game of soccer the girls have ever played. They played again at 1pm. That evening Will played in his first baseball game with his new team, the Pythons. It was a rough outing, where they also lost. Will is playing up, in a 7/8 grade league this year. Tony was a trooper and took the kids to all three games as the crazy wind gave me a headache. Sleep came easy that night.

2022 :: week 15

April 10

Dad is in the pews! Miles has been a little confused at what to make of Dad sitting with us at church, but he's getting used to it. The first week Anthony was so accommodating and eager to help with everything, I enjoyed sitting back and listening without distraction. This week Anthony was called to be on the high council. The Stake assigned him to the ward that meets in the same building as us to minimize Sunday distance. Anthony and I were also called to teach the Stake Youth Temple and Mission Prep class together. We will teach that in the afternoons on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. There is no set curriculum, so we are excited to come up with lessons to help the youth prepare for adulthood. We plan on drawing from The Power of Everyday Missionaries, Preach My Gospel, the church's emotional resilience course, Gospel Topics essays, etc. I will be released from my Sunday School calling.

 

April 11

I saw this sports rack/organizer thing on an amazon lightning deal and impulse bought it in the hopes of keeping our ever-growing sports supplies in check. One week in and we are doing pretty well. The kids have been great about putting their stuff away. Having the stuff easy to see and accessible instead of buried under a pile makes preparing for practices and games much smoother. It has been especially nice to have all of these things out of our front room. Now to clean out and organize the garage...

April 12

Miles was in a mood Tuesday afternoon. My attempt to snap him out of it was to go outside and draw with chalk. Miles has been really into drawing on the driveway lately. My artistic skills are limited so we drew a scene from the PBS Kids show, "Peep and the Big Wide World." Miles loved it so much we redrew it the next day after it rained overnight. Lauren drew a few Daniel Tiger characters on the driveway for Miles later in the week. 

April 13

We are still getting to know our new ward. Only two young men moved from the previous OP2 to the Oak Park ward. There are about six deacons now, and Will is making some new friends. At this point he is known for being good at basketball. After the planning activity the boys played several rounds of knockout and Will was in the top three every game. 

April 14

The highlight of the week was Lauren's performance as Camper #4 in the OPC 4th Grade Play, Camp Fanada. The fourth graders did a great job. The entire grade danced to three musical numbers, a few smaller groups performed skits and then eight kids had short monologues. The kids have worked hard on this all semester and it was fun to see it come together so well. The weather cooperated, and though it was a bit windy, it was a nearly perfect evening. 

April 15

There was no school on Friday, and Lauren and Daphne had their spring craft sale. It was extremely successful--they made $70! In other less financially exciting news, I took our van into the dealership for its 100K mile maintenance/tune up and new front tires. Unfortunately for my wallet, I left a few thousand dollars poorer. Our van has given us a wonderful 6.5 years, and hopefully many more in the future. 

April 16

On Saturday we introduced a new gadget into our household, behold Dobby Roberto. Sweeping is one of my least favorite chores, and with our darker floors and four active kids the floors constantly need to be swept. I was influenced by a few friends talking about their robot vacuums. It was pretty awesome to be sitting on the couch, working on my lesson while "Dobby" cleaned my floors. 

2022 :: week 14

April 3

We spent most of Sunday socializing and watching conference. In the morning local family members and Dana came over for a pre-conference brunch. We ate orange rolls, bacon, fruit, scrambled eggs and hash browns. While we watched conference some of painted. Lauren painted this paint-by-number picture of Jesus Memaw gave her. After conference we invited a few families from our new ward over for cookies. The weather cooperated and we were able to mostly visit in the back yard while the kids played. 

 

April 4

Lauren was the mystery reader for Elliott's class on Monday. She was supposed to go last week, but Elliott left school early because he was so tired. I love that my kids want to see each other while at school. Lauren wants to be a teacher when she grows up, and volunteers in a first grade classroom during her free time a few times a week. Seeing this picture of her, I can envision her teaching her own students some day.

April 5

Will and I finished reading the Doctrine and Covenants together this week! It has been very rewarding for me to read the scriptures with Will in the evenings.

April 6

The kids school has a minimal homework policy. Basically, besides the occasional project and reading for 20 minutes a day, the kids are given enough time to finish most of their work. Will loses some of his study time because he goes to band twice a week. He had a substitute for math and was a little unsure about some of the algebra, so Anthony helped him while we were preparing dinner.

April 7

This has been a week of strange weather. The tail end of March and early April has felt a lot like February this year--cold and gray with a variety of precipitation. 

April 8

The Pink Thunder had another decisive victory Friday evening. It wasn't as cold as we feared, Lauren has toughed it out under much colder conditions at practice! The forecast said the temperature could be below freezing with high winds. It was still close to freezing, but not nearly as windy as it had been earlier in the week. Miles has had a runny nose this week, so Tony stayed home with him while I took Lauren to her game. The Wilsons took Will and Elliott to the Brookridge carnival. Later, Anthony sauned with his Man Book Club friends.

April 9

Saturday evening we headed down to the Plaza area. I didn't realize until we got there that we are in the throes of prom season. The entire area was bumping with groups of formally dressed teens! I wanted to get a picture of my kids with one of the Plaza Easter Bunnies, so I bribed the kids with shakes from the Shake Shack. Plus, Will and Lauren performed their piano pieces and took theory examinations as part of the Federation Festival at Bell Hall on Mid American Nazarene University campus earlier in the day, so they deserved at treat. After we drank our milkshakes and got the bunny photo we walked around the grounds of the Nelson Atkins. The glass maze was open and despite many parental pleas, two children bonked their heads hard. It was a gorgeous night and fun to spend time exploring KC together. 

2022 :: week 13

March 27

Sunday evening Pepaw shared some of the swag he acquired at recent conferences with the grandkids. Think pens, notebooks, reusable bags and squishy animals. Pepaw gave Elliott this book mark thing that has fuzzy yellow hair because it reminded him of Elliott and his fuzzy yellow hair. This was a good reminder that Elliott is past due for a trim.

March 28

As we were walking out to our van after a trip to Hy-Vee I was struck again with the realization that I am phasing out of the little kid era of parenting. Miles gets so excited to ride in the car cart, but even Elliott is pretty ambivalent about them at this point. If I ever need a reminder that my kids are getting older I just look at my planner. Elliott has baseball practice at 5pm on Monday nights and Lauren has soccer practice at 6:30pm. And that's not our busiest night of the week. We also have piano, honor band, church youth activities, softball for Lauren and baseball for Will. I was visiting with a friend about how when my older kids were young my days felt so long and I looked forward to my evenings, when I could veg out and watch TV. I now have much more flexible time during the day and my evenings are usually dictated to me. I think I write about this a lot, but it is something that I think about almost every day. My life is so different now than it was five years ago and I am struggling to adjust mentally.

March 29

I didn't have to drive the honor band car pool this Tuesday, which meant extra time at the park after school. Elliott had a ball climbing and playing with his three best buddies--Nicholas, Cole and Ian. 

March 30

This week I have finally started to get serious working on our 2021 photo book. In the evenings Anthony and I have been watching the American Crime Story Impeachment while I work on formatting, downloading photos and putting the pieces together. I know there are more efficient ways to make family journals, but I like how my books look and so I am sticking with it for now. After we finished watching Impeachment I relisted to the Slow Burn podcast about the same topic while I worked.

March 31

Miles now goes down slides! It has been a mystery to me that while he is very comfortable climbing quite high, he has generally avoided slides. Last week he went down the slide and I wondered if it was a fluke, but then he did it again when we met up with Fitz at the Lenexa Rec Center this week! We had to leave early because while we were there I got a call from the school nurse that Elliott had fallen asleep in class! He told his teacher and the nurse that his little brother had woken him up at 3am jumping on his bed. He's not lying, now that Miles is out of his crib he has turned into a nighttime terrorist. We picked Elliott up and let him nap for a bit.

April 1

It's the most wonderful time of the year for the John men. March madness and fantasy baseball drafts with opening day and the NBA playoffs around the corner, what could get better than that?! Friday evening Anthony and Will participated in a fantasy baseball draft. Anthony got them large soda's at McDonald's before the draft started, per tradition. Will is entering his second season as a fantasy baseball manager. We've lost count of the number of seasons Anthony has been a manager, but his involvement in fantasy sports predates his time as my significant other.

April 2

Saturday afternoon Lauren and Will participated in the Silfverberg Studio's Spring Recital. This recital is really a dress rehearsal for the Federation Festival competition next weekend. Both John kids performed well! Lauren was very stressed about her pieces beforehand, but played each one perfectly. The look of relief and accomplishment on her face as she walked back to her seat was worth every penny we've paid for lessons this past year.