2023 :: week 20

May 14

Mother's Day 2023. While it is hard to believe this is my 14th Mother's Day with kids, it is also hard to imagine my life before and without these kids. They have stretched my body, heart and sanity in ways I never expected, and none of those things will ever be the same. This year Mother's Day felt a little extra heart wrenching because of my own mom's stroke last year. You always think things will go on like they always have indefinitely, but life has no guarantees, and I felt that more than ever this past year. I am very grateful for my mom and the progress she has made. Miles wasn't really feeling the post-church picture. 

May 15

Monday was the annual end of the season family verses Pink Thunder soccer practice. Will and Tony were the representatives for the John family, and though they put up a valiant effort, the Pink Thunder remains undefeated in the family games. 

May 16

Miles and Gabriel had their first official playdate that was just the two of them on Tuesday afternoon. Miles was a little nervous for me to leave without Elliott or Lauren there, but he did fine and the boys had a fun time. It is fun seeing him grow up and become more independent. Before this all the playdates Miles has been on he had at least one other sibling was there. 

May 17

Miles was up in the night coughing and even though he wasn't feverish we knew we needed to keep him home from school. I was sitting with him trying to help him rest and noticed that his breathing seemed off and his chest was retracting. I called our pediatrician who was able to fit him in for two breathing treatments within the hour. Her best guess is that he picked up a virus and that combined with allergies overloaded his system. She recommended we keep him inside the rest of the day and as much as possible over the next week. He was back to his normal self by the time the kids got home from school. Miles is the first of our four kids to receive a breathing treatment or to be prescribed an inhaler.  

May 18

After some initial disappointment that our azalea bushes didn't really bloom this year, I am loving the other flowers that are blooming in our front yard this spring.  

May 19

Elliott has had a great year in first grade. His teacher sent me this picture of Brecken, Carter, Colby and Elliott. These four have become very close this year and their silly friendship has probably (definitely!) driven their teacher crazy. 

May 20

Anthony had to work Saturday morning, so I took the kids to watch Mikey's soccer game. The Allreds came to, so we snapped a KS cousins picture. It was right next to where Lauren's team had received their championship medals the previous weekend, so she enjoyed telling the aunts and uncles about her tournament and the goals she scored. It was a busy Saturday for Will. He went on a 10 mile bike ride at SMP with the YM to prepare for their upcoming high adventure, and then played in a baseball game that evening. 

2023 :: week 19

May 7

Miles was in a mood during church on Sunday. He gave Will and Lauren a hard time when they tried to put him to bed Saturday night and we all paid the price. 

May 8

Breakfast for dinner has been on repeat at the John house in 2023. We eat it at least once a week, with a few variations on the theme. Smoothies are a must, as are mini tater tots. For protein we usually have eggs and sometimes I'll cook bacon or sausage. We recently made waffles, but sometimes only have time for pancakes. As I write this I'm thinking we are overdue for some French toast... 

May 9

Even though middle school is a notoriously tough time in life, Will has really thrived during his first year at Indian Woods. He received a superior rating on his science fair project at the district R&D Forum and made the Principal's Honor Roll three of the four quarters of middle school (and was literally less than a % away from straight As all four quarters). I was a little apprehensive about what the potential horrors that would enter his life as he moved away from elementary school and it hasn't been nearly as bad as I feared.

May 10

This was the week of Field Trips! On Wednesday the Junior Raiders Choir got to perform for three of the South area elementary schools--Trailwood, OPC and Rosehill. Lauren was pleased they got to visit OPC. I don't think of Lauren as being short, but compared to Simone and Caroline she is! Both of them are already taller than me.

May 11

Thursday I got to go to Science City with the fifth graders of OPC (and about 700 other students from around the metro). In our group was Breanna, Lauren, Joshio, Caroline, Kris and Alex. We had two hours to explore and do as much as we could. Two hours was a little too long for how crowded it was that day, but we still had fun. It rained all morning so the outside area was closed, which was disappointing because these kids had energy to burn. I was pretty impressed with how unflappable Lauren's teacher was, managing so many 5th graders, and her classmates for going with the flow when the rain limited their plans.

May 12

Friday both Anthony and I accompanied Elliott's class to Mahaffie Farm. This was my third time going on the Mahaffie field trip and it was by far the best weather. Elliott's class is pretty small (only 16 kids!) so with the seven parents it was easy to keep tabs on everyone. I have two favorite memories from the trip. 1-Elliott asking me if Pepaw (my dad) played this stick game when he was growing up. I laughed, but texted my dad and asked him and he replied, "yeah." 2-As we were waiting to ride the stage coach the docent told us to be relatively calm and quiet around the horses as not to spook them. Tony noticed his bugle and the docent told him he could take a look at it. Anthony proceeded to blow in the horn and all of the adults chuckled about him forgetting to stay quiet. All in all a fun visit.

May 13

We had a crazy weekend of sports (starting Friday). Six games in three days! On top of a regular season soccer game, Lauren's team played four in the Midwest Mother's Day Classic and ended up winning their division! Lauren scored a goal in each game they played. Each season the Pink Thunder gets more exciting to watch. Will and Lauren played in baseball and softball games at the same time Saturday evening, so we divided and conquered with Anthony taking Will to his game and me taking Lauren to hers. It was one of the hottest, muggiest evenings we have had so far this year and it seemed to be making people go crazy. Will's game ended in a memorable triple-play by Will's team. The outs were the result of the pitcher catching the batted ball (first out) and then terrible base running and runners forgetting to tag up (outs two and three). The assistant coach of the opposing team got so upset he shoved the ref and is no longer allowed at the J! Meanwhile, at Lauren's game her coach asked the ref to enforce pitching rules against the opposing team because their ace pitcher repeatedly took an extra step off the rubber before pitching. The pitcher struggled to adjust and couldn't throw strikes unless she took the extra step. She was understandably frustrated and started to cry. The other team accused our coach of bullying and then some of the parents waited for him to leave and then verbally assaulted him in the parking lot after the game! 

2023 :: week 18

April 30

I am currently obsessed with our lilac bush. It is in full bloom and so fragrant. You can even smell the lilacs in the front yard when there is a breeze. The bush is on the Southeast side of our house, next to the backyard fence.

May 1

It has really started to heat up in these parts, and the kids routinely request freezie pops when we get home from the park. I make them eat them outside in case they spill. Lauren and Miles have been spending a lot of time together in our backyard lately. It is fun to see them enjoy each other's company. A few times Lauren has walked home from the park and brought a batch of freezies and a pair of scissors back to the park to share with her friends. 

May 2

Lauren’s YW class learned how to make pasta from scratch at Sister Benson’s house Tuesday. Lauren had fun, but said she likes “regular” pasta better. Regular = Store bought 

May 3

Elliott, Miles, Blasie and Luke were talking about Dude Perfect nerf wars and the next thing I know the neighborhood boys were outside having a nerf war themselves. These four boys have had a lot of fun together this week.

May 4

Miles has gotten more adventurous with his climbing. He makes me nervous, but I think that is his calling in life. :)

May 5

Friday night Will camped with the YM at Shawnee Mission Park. As usual he had a great time. Will and a few of his buddies went exploring when they first arrived and again around midnight until the leaders made them go to bed. The boys saw some wildlife--a box turtle, wild turkeys and a copperhead snake. Will said it was the largest snake he'd ever seen in the wild. I am certainly glad I didn't know about it in real time. Will shared a tent with Nate and said after they went to bed they "had a feast." They ate fruit snacks, pop tarts, jellybeans, goldfish, gum, you know, just what you need at 1am. It was short campout with with minimal sleep. The turkeys woke the boys up at the crack of dawn in the morning, then they made breakfast and headed home.  

May 6

Tony won lottery seats to see Les Miseables at the Music Hall on Saturday evening. Because tickets to the Broadway Series plays are so pricy if there is a play we're interested in seeing I will enter the Lucky Seat Lottery. If you "win" you get the opportunity to buy 2 seats for $30-$40. When I enter the lottery I often enter for any showing that we could possibly make work to increase our odds, but this time we won seats to the showing that worked best for our family. I had a bit of a headache all day, and debated sending Will or Lauren with Anthony, but thanks to a long afternoon nap and prescription strength headache medicine I felt good enough to go. The play was wonderful and very moving. The actor who played Jean Valjean (Randy Jeter) at the performance we went to is an understudy and he was so good. He has an amazing voice. Apparently JVJ is such an exhausting role they often have the understudy do one the shows when there are multiple performances the same day.