2023 :: week 8

February 19

One of the perks of your dad being a high councilor is that you may be called upon to speak with him on semi-short notice. The ward they spoke in was my parents ward that is filled with many of our friends from our old ward so they boys had a friendly audience. All three John men did a great job.

February 20

Monday the kids had the day off school, but Anthony had to work and I had a late morning PT appointment so we were limited in what we could do. Lauren got invited to go swimming with a friend, so the boys and I went to the zoo. To say it was crowded would be an understatement, I have never had to park so far away from the entrance. Elliott predicted he would see three people he knew and we did in fact see three people he knows and a few others as well. We got to see the crocodile, which both Miles and Elliott were excited to see because they have been enjoying the new Lyle Lyle Crocodile movie on Netflix. 

February 21

The gorgeous weather continued and the boys played for over an hour at the park after school on Tuesday. While we were there someone from the city showed up and went into the pool office. He told us they are planning to open Bluejacket this summer--yay!

February 22

I went to a water aerobics class at Matt Ross on Wednesday and the instructor took a picture and posted it on social media. Not the most flattering photo of me, but water aerobics has been a big part of my life over the past ten years and it is fun to have a picture of me in the water. My kids and grandkids or whoever looks at these photobooks I make can see where I spent many hours of my life exercising. 

February 23

Thursday night we went to OPC for the Kindergarten and 1st grade music performance. Each class sang one song, Elliott's class sang "Teddy Bear." After the performance Anthony took the big kids to a multi-stake youth devotional about religious freedom and I walked home with the little guys. The moon and Jupiter and Venus were so bright! The school sits on a bit of a hill and we could see them very well from that vantage point. It was a bit of an adventure because even though we've walked this route many times before, they've never walked home when it was so dark. Miles especially was nervous.  

February 24

Calvin hasn't been sleeping well. Friday afternoon we watched Calvin for a few hours so Emily could take a totally uninterrupted nap. In keeping with our theory that kids are usually worse behaved for their parents than other adults, Calvin was pretty easy for us. Calvin enjoyed watching Miles play basketball and laughed when Uncle Tony tickled him.

February 25

Another busy Saturday. Elliott played his best basketball game of the season in the morning, scoring 12 of his team's 24 points. Lauren went to her friend Ethnie's Harry Potter themed birthday party. When I picked her up from the party we stopped at Hy-Vee where she inadvertently ingested hazelnut that was in a sample. I gave her Benadryl right away and watched her like a hawk, but aside from a stomach ache and tingly lips she had no other symptoms. In the afternoon Anthony took the kids plus cousin Tyler a Lego exhibit at the Central Library, the Baseball Card Store and Collectors Cache. I went to my parents are prepared my mom's pill minders for the next two weeks. In the late afternoon we drove to Kaw Point Park, a park in KCK where the Kansas River joins the Missouri River. If you look closely at the photo you can see the converging currents. It is also one of the places where the Lewis and Clark expedition camped on their 1804 expedition. The kids have had elevated interest in learning about Lewis and Clark because many of the clues in the National Treasure tv show centered around the expedition. I thought we would spend most of our time walking along the trails, but the kids really liked skipping rocks. Miles liked throwing rocks in the water so much he threw a bit tantrum when I made him move on.

2023 :: week 7

February 12

I took this photo when the Super Bowl was over and Chiefs were *officially* Super Bowl champions again. Will was screaming into the bean bag and Elliott was jumping for joy. It was a very happy moment in the John house.

February 13

I got an unexpected call from the nurse Monday afternoon. I assumed it would be about Lauren, who had been sniffling the night before, but it was about Elliott. During recess he had been playing a hide and seek type game and hit his head on a bolt holding the playground equipment together when he was "found." There was clearly a lot of blood even though he was pretty cleaned up by the time I came to get him. Apparently the teachers made everyone vacate that section of the playground while they waited for the janitor to come clean the area and Lauren said she heard from her classmates who went to the nurses office after lunch for their afternoon pills that the nurses office was temporarily closed because there was so much blood. When I washed out Elliott's red shirt in the sink the water turned very red. That afternoon evening I got several texts from concerned parents of Elliott's friends, wishing him well. Rumor spread that he had been sent straight to the hospital. Elliott loved his 15 minutes of 1st grade fame. Thankfully he had no signs of a concussion and didn't need stitches. The wound healed relatively quickly, but we didn't let him play any contact sports for the rest of the week to make sure it healed. 

February 14

Miles was super jazzed about his Valentines bounty, and I felt a little like a cheapskate, after preschool on Valentine's Day. I feel like every year the Valentine's candy and toys get bigger and bigger. 

February 15

Wednesday was a "Red Snow Day," or the day they cancelled school because so many people would be at the Chiefs parade. Because we elected not to go this year, we felt like we needed to let the kids do something fun instead. Will invited Jude, Adrian and Elliott W over for smash burgers and sauna. Anthony made smash burgers, then the boys used the sauna and ran outside in the cold go cool off. After they finished using the sauna they watched sauna competitions on YouTube until their parents came to pick them up. I think they played video games too. 

February 16

We haven't gotten much snow this  year. Miles was jumping for joy that he could "make footsteps" aka footprints in the snow.

February 17

One of the ways our new ward is fostering friendship and unity is facilitating optional dinner groups. Anthony and I met with Greg & Barbara and Greg & Andrea for dinner at Texas Roadhouse Friday night. We had a fun time, even though we got paired up with two couples we know rather well. The Githins live in our neighborhood and Greg served with Anthony in the bishopric. Will has become fast friends with the Benson twins and we've gotten to know their parents pretty well through that association.

February 18

Saturday was the end of the Stake YM basketball season. Will's team was the lowest seed and we expected them to play one game and then be done. However, their first opponent forfeited. No one from that ward even showed up. They just scrimmaged and waited to play a game in the second round. The team they played in the second round had beat them handily during the regular season. However this time a kid from our ward hadn't been able to play in the early season games was there and with his defensive work was able to keep the game competitive. At the end of the game our ward team was up by two point and the other team quickly fouled Will to get the ball back. Will--the youngest and shortest player on the court--sank both of his free throws, ensuring that his team would win. He was super excited, but I don't know if I have ever seen Anthony so proud. The Oak Park Ward boys went on to the win the championship game that afternoon.

2023 :: week 6

 

February 5

During Sacrament meeting Elliott made a list of his current favorite primary songs to sing, which is very similar to the list of songs we sing with the boys at bedtime. We rotate back and forth with Elliott and Miles getting to chose a primary song we sing together each night. "I Lived in Heaven," and "Gethsemane" are chosen the most frequently.

February 6

Lauren participates in an honor choir that meets weekly at the high school. Typically I drop her and a friend from our ward off at the school and his mom brings them home. However, next  week they will practice at Indian Woods, then sing the national anthem at the beginning of the boys basketball game that evening. 

February 7

This semester Will is taking P.E., which he really enjoys. Recently Will and his handball team came in first in the handball tournament. Phoebe and Landon are fellow OPC kids.

February 8

Even though skating was a big part of my childhood, I have done a poor job passing on the love of skating to my children. When both Lauren and Elliott wanted to go to the school skating party on Wednesday night I couldn't say no. Both kids endured some painful falls, but I was proud of them for getting back up again. I spent most of the night working with Elliott and by the end of the evening he was able to make it around the rink a few times without my help (still using the aid of the skate mate). I took a few laps around the rink myself which was a lot of fun. I think I might need to go skating more often this year. 

February 9

When I got up Thursday morning I had no idea it was a snow day. It wasn't until I got a text about needing to rearrange plans that I figured things out. Luckily we hadn't done too much to get ready for school yet and were able to have a relaxing morning. It rained overnight and the rain froze in the early hours of the morning, so the roads were very icy from approximately 5-9am. After that the sun came out and melted things rather quickly. Our school districts really should look into implementing late starts. Regardless, we had a fun "day off." We met up with some ward friends at the church for a Valentine's Party. Then we met the Throssells for lunch at the Costco food court. Then Kendall came over to play with Elliott and Miles, Will and Holden traded cards at Collectors Cache, and Lauren went shopping at Target and Old Navy with Gretchen and Stephanie. 

February 10

Everyone but Will had the day off from school Friday due to parent/teacher conferences. After I got home from visiting with Lauren's teacher Tyler came over to play for a bit. In the afternoon we spent some time with Memaw. Lauren and Will walked to Target together by themselves to buy some candy and soda.  In honor of Tyler's birthday, that evening we watched his basketball game.

February 11

Another busy Saturday. The day started off with two basketball games--Will's at 8am and Elliott's at 10am. Both boys enjoyed themselves, despite their teams coming up short. Elliott had a tough defensive assignment, he was matched up with a second grader a full head and shoulders taller than him. In the afternoon I made some cookies for a RS service project and Tony took Lauren to IKEA to pick up some new shelving for her bedroom. We spent the evening with my mom, eating stir fry and watching Star Wars. 

2023 :: week 5

January 29

I love technology. While the rest of the family watched the Chiefs/Bengals game, Lauren visited with Elise. We had a busy Sunday. Church, then Anthony and I taught our first youth and temple prep class of 2023. After the class we dropped of Lauren at her YW leader's home to watch the Worldwide Youth Devotional. They also had root beer floats and played games after the broadcast. Will went with Uncle Matt to watch the AFC Championship game with their fantasy football league. Anthony stayed with me and the younger boys and ate dinner and watched the game at my parents. My dad is out of town for work, so I spent the night with my mom. Tony did lots of driving back and forth.

January 30

Since January Anthony has been busy working on creating job analyses for the eight positions his company certifies. There are many steps to creating these certification exams, this is step one of many. Two days a week for the past three weeks subject matter experts have gathered to KC from across the country to work to together to make sure the various job analyses are accurate as they prepare to update the content on the exam. Tony and his fellow psychometrician Neil have spent so much time together lately, they showed up in matching outfits totally unplanned.

January 31

Tuesday we met Hudson, Gabriel and their moms for lunch to celebrate Hudson's 4th birthday. The boys had a ton of fun playing in the play place--climbing up the slide, playing hide and seek and driving the cow car. 

February 1

I took Elliott to the library after dinner Wednesday evening to pick up a few books I put on hold for him. Even though I have taken Elliott to the library many times throughout his life, he was full of wonder when he saw the stack of CatNinja books. That night Anthony started reading the first book to Elliott and Miles complete with accents. 

February 2

Lauren and Will went to the temple with our youth group on Thursday evening. There were 33 kids in attendance--quite a change from our old ward! Afterwards the leaders took the kids to Freddy's for ice cream.

February 3

A woman in our stake teaches an exercise class at the church on Friday mornings. I have been meaning to go for several weeks but for one reason or another wasn't able to make it work. Last week I totally forgot about it and regretted it because Miles really needs things to do on the days he is home from school. Bored Miles=Destructive Miles. This week we went and both had a good time. My legs are sore from all the squats we did, but it felt good to move. Miles loves bouncing balls and running around on the stage in the Cultural Hall with the other kids. After the exercise class one of the mom's does a Music Makers class. Miles acted like he didn't want to participate, but he had a fun time doing that too. 

February 4

Saturday was a busy day and I took very few pictures. Saturday morning Tony took Will to his church basketball game while I took Elliott to his Upward game. After basketball I took Will to get his hair cut. The Great Clips was right next to Collectors Cache (card store) so we quickly popped in for Will to get the free Pokemon packs they give out for good grades. He also decided he wanted to sell some of his Pokemon cards for cash, so Anthony took Will and the younger boys back to the Cache. Lauren and I ran a few errands, then her friend Caroline came over to hang out for a few hours. Will went to a birthday party for his buddy Knox. In the evening I cut Elliott, Miles and Anthony's hair. Then we roasted marshmallows with Renee and her kids.