2023 :: week 12

 

March 19

Miles snapped this selfie during church. I don't let the kids use any electronics during Sacrament meeting, so he must have snuck it out of my bag when I wasn't looking. Tony spoke in our ward this week for his monthly high council speaking assignment about the purpose of belonging to the church.

March 20

After a few too many mornings when mom and dad didn't get up early enough to make scrambled eggs for breakfast, Lauren has taken it upon herself to prepare them. The large servings are for her and Will, the smaller portion is for Miles. Elliott does not care for eggs. In our defense, Tony and I have not been sleeping well lately. Miles has been waking up at night, coming into our room and waking us up, only for him to quickly fall back asleep while to two of us struggle to do so. Miles has really regressed in the sleeping department ever since he turned 4.

March 21

My goal for the remainder of the school year is to declutter our house. I often feel frustrated with the clutter in our house, and one way to cut down on clutter is to pare down on belongings. The school district is running a clothing drive this week and I spent hours going through the kids old clothes and donating the extras to the clothing exchange. 

March 22

Lauren's soccer team practiced at OPC this week because their other field was unavailable. Lauren has gotten really good at throwing the ball in quickly and down the field. I was impressed with how much farther and accurately she is able to throw the ball now.

March 23

Miles spends a lot of time playing basketball in our front room. Like his brothers before him, he has spends hours each week playing imaginary sporting events. 

March 24

The motor on our garage door has been struggling over the past few months and this past week it finally bit the dust. As with many things in this house, it was well maintained by previous owners and outlived its life expectancy. The technicians at Overhead Door couldn't tell us exactly how old our previous motor was, but it didn't have the associated sensors required with all new installs starting in 1993, so we know it was at least 30 years old. Friday our new motor was installed and it is so sleek and quiet. Seriously, I had no idea how loud our garage door opening and closing was until we had the new one. I have accidentally opened and then closed the door because I didn't hear open. We also now have a garage door key pad and two remote controls! 

March 25

Over the past year Will has gotten into baseball card and sports memorabilia collecting. He saw an ad for a baseball card show in Belton, MO, that he was interested in attending. Anthony agreed to take him and the others boys excitedly tagged along. Unfortunately, when they showed up the show had been cancelled. They were not the only people there who had hoped to go to the show so we know it was a real thing. Anthony looked up card stores on his phone and found Coach's Corner also in Belton. They decided to stop by and had a great visit! The owner was very friendly towards kids and gave each of the boys two free packs of old baseball cards, as well as mini binders to hold the cards. Miles especially loves the binder. 

2023 :: week 11

March 12

Anthony and I taught our youth class this Sunday. This week the topic was gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. At one point in the lesson we had the kids divide into small groups and find scriptures in that testified of Christ. Class attendance is up this year (about 25-30 kids per class). I let Tony do most of the prep work for this class because I spoke in Sacrament Meeting after being asked on Wednesday night.

March 13

I didn't plan much out of the ordinary for Spring Break and I was already paying for by way of "I'm boreds," and "there's nothing to dos," by Monday afternoon. I took the kids to the library to pick up some books and DVDs and while we were there Will helped Elliott and Miles fill out their brackets. It was hard to tell who was having more fun filling out the brackets, Will or the younger boys?

March 14

One of my goals for the week was to check off a few longstanding items on my to-do list. A few weeks ago we set up Lauren's new book shelf, and she had been patiently waiting for us to build the drawers that went inside. I started this cross-stitch of the Salt Lake Temple around Christmas and needed to stitch the French knots that would be the flowers on the bottom. There was a lot of water build up on the glass in our sauna and so I deep cleaned the sauna seats, floor and glass. I also applied another coat of RainX to keep the glass clear longer. Mikey requested a letter M shirt based off  Alphabet Lore on Youtube. I used freezer paper stenciling and patience to get it done. Each task took less than 90 minutes, and I felt so good after getting them accomplished by the end of the week I have some positive momentum towards more time consuming projects I've been putting off around the house. 

March 15

A few years ago my mom started taking the kids on a one-on-one birthday shopping trip for their birthdays. This past year she was out of commission, but lately has been feeling good enough to get out of the house more. Wednesday after her OT appointment we met up at Target for Elliott, Lauren and Will to do their 2022 birthday shopping trips. Squishmallows, sports cards, and Lego Sets were purchased, along with a book and pack of gum each.

March 16

Thursday we got together with the Diggins family for the first time in almost a year! Carrie made us pancakes for lunch and her and I chatted for a few hours while the kids played. We only scratched the surface of things to talk about. 

March 17

Lauren had been asking all week if we could decorate sugar cookies. I was more focused on getting jobs done than starting something new, and finally got around to it Friday. When the Ules came over Lauren and Daphne went through out cookie cutters and had a lot of fun decorating the various shapes. The littlest brothers saw how much fun their sisters were having and decided they wanted to decorate too. Friday marked Miles' first official playdate with Gabriel and they did awesome. Elliott and Nicholas played at the Ules and were happy to partake of the freshly decorated cookies when Jolie came to swap kids.

March 18

The John boys watched a lot of basketball this weekend. The first weekend of March madness has so many basketball games and now that Will and Elliott are invested in their brackets basketball is on even when TJ isn't home. This week Anthony worked a few evenings (including Saturday) working with SMEs to work on item writing for tests. 

2023 :: week 10

March 5

Miles is 4! It's hard for me to believe that he's that old. It's hard for him to accept that he's that young. In the months leading up to his birthday he wanted to turn seven like Elliott. Miles is one of a kind. He is very social and loves being around people, but he's also shy and does not like getting too much individual attention. He has a fantastic memory, and regularly catches me off guard with what he recalls. Miles loves sports--basketball, baseball, soccer--basically whatever the older kids are doing. Miles is fascinated by mascots and can tell you the name of every mascot in the MLB and many in the NFL and NBA. He looks forward to 3pm every weekday so we can meet the big kids at the park to play for awhile. Miles has recently decided he wants to say every prayer every time our family prays and he gets quite upset when we let anyone else take a turn. When Anthony drives Miles to school in the morning they listen to "Daddy's music," which has lead to him requesting "they're going for speed" aka "The Distance" by Cake and a variety of Beatles songs. Miles hates going to bed, probably due to his terrible FOMO. You can't blame him for feeling like he is always getting left out of stuff because he siblings do do a lot of activities. Miles has a fun sense of humor and loves to laugh, but he suffers no fools. 

March 6

Spring was in the air on Monday and it felt amazing! Elliott, Miles and I met up with several ward friends at Meadowbrook park after dropping Lauren off at choir. The boys had a great time running around and playing with their friends. Unfortunately, as often happens to me when there are dramatic temperature swings, I had a pretty bad headache by the time we headed home. That night I had to lie down while Anthony drove Lauren to and from soccer.

March 7

Matt has been traveling quite a bit for work over the past three weeks. I have been going to the Wilsons once and sometimes twice a day to help Emily walk her dogs. Sometimes I stay at the house and keep an eye on Calvin or else I push Calvin in the stroller and walk with Emily. If the kids are home from school Elliott and Miles like to join me and play with Tyler and Mikey while Emily walks and I watch Cal. Tuesday afternoon it got chilly and wet, but that didn't stop Elliott and Tyler from building nature "beds" out of the Wilson's woodpile.

March 8

Wednesday evening Will played in a band concert. The concert was fairly short because only the 6th and 7th grade bands played. Will switched to playing the euphonium because there about twenty trumpets. He is the "first chair," of the seven euphoniums. Apparently when he was in 8th grade Anthony played the baritone for a few songs. 

March 9

Thursday night was the OPC Open House and 5th Grade Wax Museum. The fifth graders spend the third quarter working on their "American Hero Project." The project entails researching and an American citizen that is a positive role model who is known for making the world a better place. The kids prepare a two minute speech they memorize and deliver to their class and then the school community at the open house while dressed up as the hero. Due to covid-related precautions this was the first Wax Museum at OPC since 2019, which means that Will didn't get to do it when he was in 5th grade (he still did the research and delivered the speech to his class). Lauren chose Eleanor Roosevelt as her subject and did a great job capturing her determined and compassionate spirit.

March 10

Friday was the first day of '"spring break." It was overcast and cold and all I wanted to do was read my book, but the kids were expecting more. They were sorely disappointed in my lack of plans. We ended up having a fun day.

March 11

We have been working to revamp Lauren's room and Saturday afternoon we went shopping to pick up a few things to help her organize. Organizing is one of Lauren's favorite pastimes. A new Five Below just opened up and Lauren was excited to check out the new location. 

2023 :: week 9

February 26

Tony's good friend Beth Guterman-Chu was in town Sunday. She was staying at the Westin, so we met her in the lobby and then walked to Crown Center. The kids played and ate ice cream while the adults caught up. That evening Anthony and I went back downtown to watch Beth and the symphony play at the Kaufman Center. My favorite part of the concert was Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony. I had never heard it before, and am not familiar with the poem on which it was based, but could feel the range of emotions. Beth and the other musicians were so talented, it was a privilege to hear them play.

February 27

Miles and I found a spot along Indian Creek to throw rocks after running several errands. The weather was gorgeous and I wanted to do something fun with Miles after he accompanied me on several less fun to-dos.

February 28

On Tuesday Anthony and Elliott visited  Allen Field House for the first time with friends Stevie and Nicholas. The Jayhawks defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders 67-63. Elliott had a blast, but said his "ears were crying it was so loud." He said his favorite part was the fact that everyone was jumping up and down and having a good time. And that Anthony bought him a hot dog and large Gatorade.

March 1

I could not find Miles at the park after school and momentarily panicked. I was afraid he had started to walk back home by himself, which he has done before. I didn't even notice him sitting with this group of 2nd grade girls. His two main playmates--Gabriel and Hudson--weren't at the park so apparently he made some new friends. Miles let these girls read him a book every day after school for the rest of the week.

March 2

Jill and I took the boys to Science City Thursday afternoon. In the three hours we were there we visited almost every indoor exhibit the boys. Miles has fun with this cousin-buddies. 

March 3

Friday night was busy! Will went with Knox to watch some state tournament high school basketball. The rest of us went to Lauren's first soccer game of the spring season. Lauren's team moved up a division, and though they played well, they lost 5-1. A girl from our stake played for the other team. Lauren scored the Pink Thunder's only goal of the night at the end of the game to avoid a shutout. Her coach had her playing both forward midfield. After the soccer game we picked up Dana and drove to Strawberry Hill for Sarah's house warming party. It was fun to see her new place as well as run into a few friends. We also met a friend of Sarah's who served his mission in Finland, is from the Boston area (Hingham) and has kids that go to the same high school ours will. 

March 4

Anthony and Lauren went to a Daddy Daughter dance put on by a girl in our ward this weekend. They had fun. Lauren and her friends danced together and got the crowd going. Tony injured his knee while doing some solo interpretive dancing (he wanted Lauren to dance with him but she was more interested in dancing with her friends). While they were gone and after the little boys went to bed I worked on making Miles a birthday cake.