2023 :: week 4

January 22

Miles was asked to give the opening prayer in primary and ended up being too nervous to do it, so Anthony said they prayer while holding him. Miles wasn't very excited to stay in primary after that, but he loves music and was willing to stay for singing time. I snapped this picture when I saw him and his classmate Leo holding hands and walking to the classroom. I helped out in the CTR 4 class.

January 23

I can't remember exactly how I came across the book Our Only May Amelia. I was scrolling on instagram and a person I follow was talking about how life changing winning a Newbery Award can be for authors. I started looking at past Newbery Award winners and came across this book I had never heard of that was a Newbery Honor book in 2000. When I read in description on our library website I knew Lauren and I had to read it. "As the only girl in a Finnish American family of seven brothers, May Amelia Jackson resents being expected to act like a lady while growing up in Washington state in 1899."

January 24

Jill watched Miles for me while I went out to lunch with some friends from my ward. I did next to nothing social in the ward in the months after my mom's stroke, and am just finally feeling like I am genuinely friends with women from my new ward. We met at Twisted Fresh and visited for almost two hours! Miles had a great time playing with Arthur and Henry and keeps asking me when he can go back. 

January 25

Wednesday was a snow day. We got less than an inch, it only stuck to the grass (none of it stuck to the roads/sidewalks/driveways), and it was about 30° F. The snow day didn't really make sense, but it was nice to have a "day off" from normal responsibilities. I had a PT appointment in the morning, and when I returned home the kids were watching the National Treasure show and I found a pile of books that Miles had cut the covers with scissors. I decided we needed to get out of the house ASAP. After eating a quick lunch and prepping some chicken for dinner we headed to Science City. It was almost empty. The kids could do whatever they wanted without having to wait. We spent several hours doing everything--I don't think we missed a single exhibit. We even went outside for about two minutes, but it was too wet to safely climb and when the wind blew it was quite cold. It was my most favorite visit ever, and I was in such a good mood that when the kids asked for Frosties on the way home I couldn't say no.

January 26

Soni was in town from Chicago and Miles and I met up with her and Naomi at Chick-fil-A. Miles was too grumpy about leaving to be in the picture, but he had a great time too. It is always great to catch up with longtime friends, and now we have even more in common with aging/ailing parents to worry about. 

January 27

Elliott has been playing a lot of football with his buddies after school. Miles reminds me we need to bring "Elliott's football to the pa-wk" as we leave to meet the kids after school. We had gorgeous weather Friday--around 50 degrees--so the kids spent most of their after school hours playing outside. The temperature would drop 30 degrees overnight. 

January 28

Saturday was full of friends and basketball. Both Will and Elliott had basketball games before lunch.  Lauren went to her soccer teammate's (Kenzie) house for a few hours. Elliott went to a stake primary activity, then Tyler came over to play for a bit. Will had Jude and Adrian over for basketball, sauna and videogames. Miles joined in on the fun as much as he could. It made me laugh when the boys walked upstairs to go outside and cool off and Miles trotted up the stairs and marched outside behind them.