2024 :: week 17

April 21

Sunday evening Anthony introduced Miles to the fine art of armpit farting. If the picture doesn't make it obvious, Miles thought it was hilarious. He was close to weeping, he could hardly contain his joy.

April 22

Monday evening Anthony helped Lauren with some difficult math homework because she was feeling very frustrated. Lauren is in the integrated math class and was tasked with figuring out surface areas, but had not yet been taught the Pythagorean Theorem. Anthony taught it to her and then she was able to get the correct answers. The next day her teacher confirmed that they needed to use the Pythagorean Theorem to get the correct answers and that the questions were in the wrong section of the textbook. 

April 23

Elliott has me bring a bat, ball and glove up to the park after school. If I am not there waiting at the bottom of the hill he and his friends come running to find us to get said baseball equipment. Elliott has a great group of buddies to play with at the park after school this year.

April 24

Miles and I met up with Leo and his family at the zoo after school on Wednesday. It was a gorgeous day, so of course it was crowded. We had to park the farthest away I've ever parked. We still managed to have fun. Our zoo experience included riding the train, playing at the playground, trying to feed the goats and being told they weren't doing that for the time being (some new zoo policy), feeding the camels instead, and riding the carousel. 

April 25

Wednesday evening Will played his euphonium at the South Area Band Festival. This is the biggest concert of the year, all the bands associated with Shawnee Mission South get together and perform in the SMS gym. The elementary school bands, middle school bands, and various high school bands all get a chance to play. This year Will's band played "Semper Fidelis," and a Michael Jackson Hit Mix. They also played "America the Beautiful," combined with the other bands. 

April 26

Friday evening marked the end of an era. The Pink Thunder played their final competitive game together, winning 7-1. Several of the girls scored, including Lauren, who scored a goal towards the end of the first half. With this win the girls secured their  A handful of the girls and a few of the parents were in tears as the team walked off the field together for the last time. Being part of this team has been a great experience for Lauren. Immediately after the game we headed to OPC for the annual carnival and had a blast. It was the best OPC carnival in our 9 years of attending.

April 27

Saturday morning Elliott played his first official game of baseball for the 2024 Spring Season. His team is playing "up," which means they are second graders playing against third graders. The kids are pitching for the first time, which always changes the nature of the game a bit. He was the starting pitcher, and pitched well. He gave up 2 runs and several hits (though there were a few fielding errors that allowed players to get to first base). He went 1 for 2 when up to bat, but didn't score. Elliott had a great attitude and I am excited to see how he develops this season. There was a mix-up with his uniform and he had to wear an orange shirt of Lauren's to match his team. We were out of town when they handed out uniforms, and then the head coach was out of town this week.

2024 :: week 16

April 14

We spent most of Sunday driving home after making a slight detour to Hewitt to attend the Hewitt Ward Sacrament Meeting. The kids had pretty great behavior on the trip. We stopped at the Fort Worth area Buc-ees for a late lunch, then again at a gas station on the NE side of OKC for gas and a bag of candy each. At some point I restarted my phone and it reconfigured my google maps to the "avoid tolls" settings. As a result we spent about 30 mins avoiding I-35 and driving 55mph on Kansas State Highways. Everyone had a pretty good attitude about that too, though we were all pretty anxious to get home. While we drove Anthony and I listened to the audiobook The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. We stopped it several times on the drive to discuss what we were learning. 

April 15

The kids had no school on Monday and we took it nice and slow that morning. Around 10am we went to CFA to get the free "mystery breakfast item" of the day, which was a 4 count chicken mini. I also bought a greek yogurt and hashbrowns to share. On the way home from CFA I needed to pick up an order from Target, so I dropped the kids off at the back of the parking lot so they could run home. In the afternoon Jude and Adrian came over to hang with Will, while Townes came over to play with Elliott. It was a nice slow day to recover from the trip and ease back into regular life. 

April 16

Cat and Sally came over to hang out with Lauren after school. When Charlotte came to pick them up we ended up talking for close to an hour, even though we told the girls we wouldn't talk because the Hagmans had a busy night. Oops! This is a picture of our backyard--where the girls snuck off to via the front door because the parents were chatting in the kitchen. While we were gone our backyard neighbor to the left replaced their section of the fence.

April 17

Wednesday evening we attended our final Kindergarten round up. Miles was very excited to go, a little nervous when we first got there, and absolutely beaming when we went to pick him up. The incoming kiddos were assigned a kindergarten classroom where they did a few activities and met the specials teachers while the parents filled out paperwork and listened to introductory spiels from the principal and school nurse. I laughed out loud at one of the questions on the ASQ (ages stages questionnaire). It asked, "is your child too friendly with strangers?" This child is rarely friendly with people he knows! Though a lot of that is his about being shy instead of being rude.

April 18

Elliott is in his grade's advanced reading group. This month they have been working on "research projects" about famous inventors. Elliott chose to research his great-great grandfather Harvey Fletcher, the inventor of the early hearing aid. 

April 19

Friday morning was the annual 6th grade balloon launch. Lauren worked with Allie and Osmar, though the girls did most of the work. I think the weather was better suited for the launches this year than when we went up for Will's launch back in 2022. Their balloon went really far! It went up over the playground, and landed on the other side of the trees in the park. I was so proud of them!

April 20

I had big plans for Saturday, but a headache got the better of me. It has been so windy lately! And the pollen count is so high! We went to IKEA to pick up and a new dresser and then bought lunch. While we were sitting in the bright cafeteria my head really started to hurt. I ended up needing to go home and rest for a few hours. I recently started taking a new migraine medication (Nurtec) that I like better than sumatriptan. I took one of those and my headache went away, but so did my energy. Elliott got invited to Carter's birthday party in the afternoon, and they invited the younger siblings to come and use the bounce house at the end of the party. Miles counted down the minutes until we could take him over. In the evening we zoomed with Nana & Papa. 

2024 :: week 15

April 7

General Conference has been a bit of a struggle for our family lately. It is hard for the kids to stay engaged without lots of candy incentives, but then all the candy leads to hyperfocusing on how to get the candy, not conference. Then there is usually worse behavior after all the candy is consumed. Elliott and Lauren worked on making church-related Lego builds during the morning session. Elliott built this first vision scene, with a temple in the background. Lauren built a model of the KC Temple. In the evening we invited over a few families in our ward to hang out and eat dessert.

April 8

Monday afternoon Miles and I went over to my parents to watch the eclipse with my mom. I brought out a colander and made a rudimentary eclipse viewer so we could see cool shadows. Miles kept saying that the sun "looked like the moon" because all we could see (from our glasses) was a little sliver. We experienced 89% totality, but it was still quite bright. It felt like an overcast day, or early evening when the sun is still out, but not high in the sky. 

April 9

Miles and I spent the day getting ready for our trip to Texas. We stopped at the library to pick up books and DVDs for the drive. One of the books we got was a collection of BOB Books. BOB books are great for beginning readers. I was shocked at how much he was able to read on his own. After the library we went to Costco to get our tires rotated and balanced. We bought a few snacks for the road, but didn't have to wait long for our van to be ready. I was impressed that Miles was able to read most of the book with little help from me.

April 10

Wednesday morning we headed to Texas. A few months ago we decided we wanted to visit some more baseball stadiums. Elliott's buddy's family went to Texas last summer and so that got us thinking. I would much rather visit Texas in the spring than during the summer. The kids had a four day weekend this week, so we decided to tack on a few extra days and make a road trip out of it. Over the next four days we traipsed across Texas to visit baseball stadiums, presidential libraries, and a few other points of interest. Our first stop was a Texas Rangers game in Arlington. The defending World Series Champion Rangers were playing the worst team in the MLB, the Oakland As. It was dollar dog night, but the family in front of us had connections to an employee from the catering department and they shared lots of great snacks with us--fries, chips, Powerade, cotton candy, cracker jacks, etc. We made friends with most of the people sitting around us, and several people were happy to point out their connections to KC star and Colleyville native Bobby Witt Junior or "Junior." Will and Elliott both wore Bobby Witt Jr. Royals t-shirts. The people in Texas really are quite friendly. Lauren carried Elliott on her back for the entire mile walk from the stadium to where our van was parked.

April 11

Wednesday morning we got up and headed to Dallas. I have always wanted to visit the site of the JFK assassination. While researching the area I came across the Sixth Floor Museum and decided we needed to go there too. I definitely have a better understanding of how the assassination was executed, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend the museum for families. It was expensive, crowded, and not at all geared towards kids. A fun moment was when Anthony overhead a father and daughter speaking Finnish. Anthony being Anthony he greeted them in Finnish and proceeded to have a ten minute conversation with them. After the museum we said goodbye to Dallas and headed to the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco. That museum was much more kid-friendly, and even included a complimentary soft drink prepared by a soda jerk. I can honestly say it was the most delicious root beer I have ever tasted. We got back on the road and stopped at Buc-ees for a late lunch. That place is huge! We arrived at our hotel in Austin and the kids hit the outdoor pool almost immediately. In the evening we drove into Austin and ate at Hopdoddy, which was delicious.

April 12

Friday was another full day. Our first stop of the day was the LBJ Presidential Library on the campus of the University of Texas. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but when I asked Miles what he liked best about the visit he replied, "none things." Clearly my positive feelings weren't universal. LBJ was president during a tumultuous time period. I feel like I see variations on the same issues going on in the world again today. We hit the road and headed for Houston with a quick detour to Brenham--the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream. I was sorely disappointed we didn't make it there in time to go on the observation deck and watch them prepare and package the ice cream. We did each get a huge scoop of ice cream for $1 each, so it wasn't a total bust. We drove on to Houston, dropped our things at the hotel and then headed into the city for the Astros game. The game was really fun! They were hosting the Texas Rangers in the "Silver Boot Series." I felt like it was a little less smart to wear Royals gear to this game, being that the Royals swept the Astros in the three games leading up to this weekend, but Will and Elliott were pleased to proudly wear their KC gear. The fans got really into the game! Will said Minute Maid Park is the only place Jose Altuve doesn't get booed. Adolis Garcia garnered a fair amount of boos every time he was up to bat. After the game they opened the retractable roof and put on a fireworks show to the music of Taylor Swift. It was the perfect end to the evening for our family, and a great treat for Lauren who likes baseball just fine, but isn't nearly as into it as her brothers. We were exhausted by the time we crawled into bed just before midnight.

April 13

Saturday we were tired and reevaluated our plans for the rest of the trip. We decided to pare back a bit and spent most of the day in College Station. We drove up and first visited the George Bush Library on the campus of Texas A&M. This was the consensus favorite presidential library of the trip, it was much better suited for kids. Elliott was excited he got to touch a part of the Berlin Wall. After the library we drove around town to visit some personal history landmarks. My family lived in College Station from August 1986-April 1992 while my dad attended A&M. We visited the two houses our family lived in, the institute building my parents cleaned, the church building we went to and both of the elementary schools I attended. As we were driving between Rock Prairie and our Bluestem Circle house I gasped when I saw the pool my family spent hours at while we lived there. My love of swimming and summertime expectation of pool attendance was nurtured right here. Of all the spots we visited in College Station, this one was the most fun. We weren't able to book a hotel in College Station because it was parents weekend so we decided to start the drive back home. We stayed the night in Waco. Lauren mentioned that she was in the mood to watch National Treasure 2. We checked into the hotel and turned the TV on. We saw that National Treasure 2 was scheduled to come on in about 90 minutes. That gave us just enough time to go swimming, then watch the movie while we ate pizza in our room. It was a perfect relaxing end to our time in Texas.

2024 :: week 14

March 31

Happy Easter from the John family! Our ward's Easter program was really nice. The primary kids sang "Jesus is Risen." The music was great--3 vocal solos, a saxophone solo and 2 choir numbers. A member of each presidency was asked to give a 2 minute talk/testimony about Easter related topics. I was asked to speak about the purpose of Easter. I came across Elder Uchtdorf's talk "Behold the Man!"while I was preparing and found it to be very moving. That evening we had a traditional ham dinner at my parents' house, followed by the grandkid egg hunt. It was a full, fun Easter.

April 1

Miles wanted to use the quarters he got from Memaw's egg hunt to buy some mini Funko pops at Five Below. He got the Donald Duck for his birthday, and I put the Pluto in his Easter basket. He chose the Mikey and Minnie to buy, but then cried and was quite upset with me when he had to hand his money over to pay for them. He accused me of "stealing his money" as we left the store. So...I've got lots of lessons still to teach him about how the economy works. We all want to have our cake and eat it too.

April 2

Some weeks I feel more motivated to meal plan than others. This was a good week. On Monday we had corn chowder made with leftover Easter ham. On Tuesday we had chicken tikka masala. Wednesday was cold and and I changed up the plan and made Willy chili. Thursday I made breakfast casserole for both us and a woman in the ward that was recovering from surgery. There was a miscommunication and the woman is out of state, so we ended up with an extra casserole. We had enough food leftover from the previous two nights that we divvied up the remainder Friday night. Saturday we had creamy chicken and rice--a perfect meal to come home to after Lauren's soccer game ended at 4:30pm. 

April 3

Wednesday evening we did our John family backyard egg hunt. Anthony is really good at hiding the eggs. The kids were happy with their haul--mainly Kit Kats, Hershey's eggs, Twix and Laffy Taffys. 

April 4

I'm in this weird mental space with my life right now. In less than two months the kids will be out of school for the summer. In 4.5 months Miles starts kindergarten and the chapter of my life as a full-time stay-at-home-caretaker-mom will be over. Knowing that my daily one-on-one time with Miles is coming to a close is very bittersweet. In the meantime I am trying to make the most of the time we do have. For the most part I have few regrets. Of course there are things I wish I had done better or more, but I realize that I only have that realization because of experience and that helps me be at peace. I usually like to know exactly what I'll be doing day to day six months from now, but feel at peace that it will all work out.  

April 5

Lauren joined her fellow 6th graders from OPC on their field trip to TimberRidge (located near the Ernie Miller Nature Center) in Olathe. The kids were divided into groups of about a dozen. Parent leaders could not lead their own children (Lauren was in Charlotte Hagman's group) as to not handicap their ability to be push themselves. They participated in the low challenge course for four hours. One of the challenges had three platforms and two boards and the group had to figure out how to get the entire group across without touching the ground. In another challenge the group stood in a circle with a ball everyone had to touch once, but you couldn't throw it to someone next to you and the person who started with the ball also had to end with the ball. Pictured above is a spiderweb where the kids had to get through without touching the string. According to the website this program is built around "team success and reflection." Lauren seemed to have a good time. 

April 6

It was a beautiful spring Saturday. Elliott was ecstatic when he got invited to his buddy Townes' house. His brother had a friend over too, and they boys had a lot of fun playing sports together. Basketball, home run derby and trading baseball cards--Elliott was in heaven! Will had a productive day doing lawncare for Mark with the Bensons and for Sarah with Tony. Lauren played well in her second to last soccer game with the Pink Thunder.