2022 :: week 38

September 18

Dad makes bedtime more fun...and a little dangerous. Just the way we like it.

September 19

The Pink Thunder practiced under a gorgeous sunset Monday night. Signs of pending fall are all around us, the shorter days being the most obvious. In the past I've always felt apprehensive about the shorter days, but this year I am here for it. 

September 20

I went over to the Wilson's at 5:15am and they headed off to the hospital for Emily's scheduled C-section. By the time I dropped the boys off at school baby Calvin had arrived, weighing in at a whopping 9 pounds! The Crane family is now up to 15 grandkids--11 boys and 4 girls.

September 21

Our stake hosted a youth service night Wednesday evening at the Stake Center. Will worked on making blankets for foster children with friends from the stake. Six months into the boundary realignments and we feel that it has been great for Will. Initially we were a little concerned because his two closest church friends were moved to a different ward, and most of the boys in our new ward came from the same ward and all go to the same different school than Will. However, he has really hit it off with them and enjoys going to church more than ever. 

September 22

Miles is very into letters right now. When he isn't stashing baseball cards around the house he is laying out his letter flashcards, dumping the Bananagrams, or requesting Letter Factory shows.

September 23

Lauren marched with the OPC Student Council in the SMS Homecoming Parade Friday afternoon. Anthony, Miles and I picked up Will and Knox from Indian Woods so they could watch too. That evening Lauren spent the night camping at the zoo with her Girl Scout troop. Anthony took Will and Knox to the football game where the Raiders lost 63-7. Yikes! Miles and I watched Elliott's baseball team where Elliott got two great hits. It was a busy, fun evening.

September 24

We have wanted to go the Slovene Festival with the Ules for years, and this year the stars finally aligned. It was held at the Holy Family Church in the Strawberry Hill neighborhood in KCK. We ate a Slovene dinner--kranjska klobasa (Slovenian smoked sausage)with krompirjeva solata (potato salad with oil, vinegar and onions), strocji fizol v solati (green beans with bacon and onion) and kruh in maslo (bread and butter). Then the kids played carnival games and had the best time of their lives. Seriously, look at Will's face and the three 2 liters of soda he won the *first* time he played the ring toss. We ended up taking seven 2 liters home. The games were simple and prizes were generous. There was live music and we did a little dancing before heading home. We had a great night!

2022 :: week 37

September 11

Our garden has really hit it's stride this week. Our tomato plants are starts we got from Dana and include a few new-to-me varieties. The big round tomatoes are pineapple tomatoes which are sweet and look like a pineapple once you cut into them. The pear tomatoes are yellow, shaped like a pear and taste a lot like cherry tomatoes.

September 12

Anthony says that Lauren is a relentlessly self-driven person and I would tend to agree with him. On Monday she came home with a library book about finger knitting. She found the book to be a bit lacking so she searched up some youtube tutorials on my phone and within half an hour, viola! She had figured it out and completed a chain stitch. In the process she realized she was more interested in crochet and started practicing that. I don't know how to do any of the above so I couldn't offer her any advice. Both have always been hard for me so I was pretty impressed.

September 13

Miles loves playing at the park after school with his buddy Gabriel. They like to play "ice cream shoppe" in this area under the play structure and pile up the wood chips. 

September 14

Miles likes to run to the corner and then tell everyone coming behind him--usually me--to "stop!" Occasionally his large hand gestures make drivers nervous, and they stop too. 

September 15

My dad got four tickets to the Chiefs / 49ers Thursday Night Football game from his work. He decided to take Matt, Tyler and Will and the four of them had a fantastic time. Will had a hard time falling asleep the night before he went because he was so excited about going, and he had a hard time falling to sleep the when he got home from the game because he had such a great time. Suffice it to say, Will's fandom has only grown after this experience.

September 16

While attempting to come home for lunch Anthony's car got stuck in reverse. He was able to utilize the emergency break, then watched some youtube videos and figured out how to put the transmission in park so he could turnit off. It turns out the bushing on the shift cable had worn out and popped off. It is a pretty small, relatively inexpensive part, but requires removing the center console. We tried to replace it with a bushing Anthony picked up at the Kia dealership, but it was too rigid to fit. We found a bushing online that was slightly more flexible, but took several days to get to us. My parents let us borrow my mom's van for a few days while we waited for the park. Once we got it Anthony was able to pop it right in. It was a good learning experience, and we imagine we saved a fair amount of money replacing it ourselves. However, there were several moments of serious frustration as we attempted to put the rigid bushing on to no avail.

September 17

Lauren and her Girl Scout troop spent the morning at KC Scraps making sock kits for the unhoused (socks stuffed with personal hygiene items and shelf stable snacks). Anthony and I had a disappointing day attempting to fix the Kia and then watching the BYU / Oregon game. That evening things got better when our friends the Moss family came over for Anthony's smashburgers and sauna. 

2022 :: week 36

September 4

Elliott did a great job giving a talk in Primary. His topic was trusting in the Lord and he shared how our family has been learning a lot about trusting the Lord this year after Memaw had her stroke. Elliott didn't need any help reading his talk, but he did want his dad standing with him to help feel less nervous. 

September 5

We spent Labor Day evening where we spend most Labor Day evenings, closing down the pool for the season. We used to meet up with church friends, but most of those friends have moved or stopped buying pool passes. This year several friends from our neighborhood joined us and we had a great time. It was chilly earlier in the day, but the sun came out just in time for a fun farewell to summer. We ate pizza and cookies and had a grand time running through the sprinklers and going down the slides.

September 6

Elliott played catcher for an inning at his baseball game Tuesday night. He did a good job, even though he much prefers playing short stop or first base. After the game I dropped Elliott off at home and headed over to spend another night with my mom. My dad traveled to Idaho for a week to attend his sister's funeral. Aunt Eve passed away on August 28th. Jill, Emily and I have been taking turns staying with Mom so dad could go to Eve's funeral and spend a little time in Bennington.  Part of Mom's evening routine is watching an episode of Midsommer Murders before we go to bed. I really loved spending this companiable time with my mom.

September 7

It's funny how siblings can be so different from each other. When Will was little he was so scared of  hand dryers and was wary of even using public restrooms that had them. Miles delights in setting them off and seems to enjoy the warm air on his face. In other news, Miles is doing a great job of letting me know when he needs to go to the bathroom, even when we are out and about.

September 8

Miles and I were with Memaw while she received speech therapy Thursday afternoon. Her SLP is great and really encouraging. I have noticed that since she has been home her memory is much clearer. She is much stronger too, but her shoulders and knees have a lot of pain which make it hard for her to stand up on her own. While we were at her house we found out that Queen Elizabeth had passed away. It felt very fitting to be with my mom when she found out. Her mother was born and raised in England and grew up admiring the young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret (my grandma is only 18 month younger than Princess Margaret).

September 9

In the morning I walked up to the park to help with "Donuts with Grownups" before school. Since we we up and ready to go and the weather was gorgeous Miles and I decided to visit the zoo. It was our first visit just the two of us and we had a lot of fun. Miles set the pace and agenda with only a few suggestions from me (I did make him take a potty break). We rode the train and carousel, visited the penguins and the goats. Highlights were hearing the tiger growl from only a few feet away and watching the sea lion show. 

September 10

We had an open Saturday morning and were able to visit the Spinach Festival for the first time in years. It was even better than we remembered. The lines were relatively short and we were able to ride the paddle boat twice. The boys went fishing and both Will and Elliott (with help from TJ) caught a few. The kids played several intense rounds of gaga ball and I was proud of them for not cheating even though many of the kids playing pretended like they weren't out when they clearly were. The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed catching up with the Throssells and running into other friends as well.

2022 :: week 35

August 28

Sunday evening we celebrated my parent's 40th wedding anniversary. They've been through a lot in their forty years. They entered their marriage with a lot of differences, but have done a pretty good job of making things work. My dad grew up on a farm in rural Idaho while my mom lived less than two miles from the beach in southern California. When I was growing up I thought it was cool that my parents came from such different places and liked to claim both as my heritage. This year their anniversary also marks 90 days since Mom's stroke. Looking back it is amazing to see how far she has come. I'm so grateful that she survived her stroke and is trending a bit better every day.

August 29

Monday started hot and humid and ended with a huge storm. When I met the kids at the park after school it was bright and sunny, but the storm blew in pretty fast. Before we ran home to beat the rain Elliott showed me his ever-improving monkey bar skills. He can add skipping a bar to his list of accomplishments. 

August 30

Now that he's in school Miles is sleeping much better at night, though he still avoids naps. Tuesday after school both Miles and I were feeling tired. Miles rarely snuggles with me, so I was happy to watch a few episodes of Daniel Tiger with him.

August 31

Like most of America, soccer is the sport in Johnson County. There are more teams than available fields, so now that Lauren is "older" her soccer team practices are late--from 7:30-9pm. 

September 1

This week we had two incidences where the kids broke something moments after I asked them to calm down. I don't know if something was in the water, or if it was just back to school blues because this is very out of the ordinary. 

September 2

Lauren had the time of her life at her friend Daphne's birthday party Friday. Lauren and Daphne used to be in the same gymnastics class, but Lauren has too many extracurriculars now that she has soccer practice twice a week. Friday evening was quite busy for our family. Anthony hosted a fantasy football draft at our house while I spent the evening with my mom.

September 3

Saturday Jill, Emily and I got together with Mom to celebrate Baby Boy Wilson due September 20th. It was the first "girl's night" we've had since Mom had her stroke.