2024 :: week 21

May 19

Sunday evening Anthony and I joined the John Family adults for a discussion about the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. We had a good conversation about the various concerns we have for the increasingly digital/online world our kids are growing up in. We shared examples (both good and bad) of ways we've seen digital childhood (verses play-based childhood) affect our families, and tried to brainstorm ways to help our kids be as successful as possible in navigating this new frontier.  

May 20

Will enjoys plants and has been watching Creative Explained--a life hacks account--online and got the idea to attempt to grow blueberry, apple and strawberry plants from seeds. He has dutifully been watering them for the past few days and is hoping to see some sprouts soon.

May 21

Tuesday evening was Lauren's 6th Grade Promotion. It was a simple program, a few kids gave brief speeches, then each of the kids was recognized by their teachers. Lauren's soccer coach compiled a slideshow with both a baby and recent picture of each kid. The slideshow also highlighted the 8 sets of twins in their grade. The class of 2030 at OPC is made of up 94 kids! It is bigger than all the other grades by at least 20 kids. Afterwards there was a reception with cake and popcorn and lots of picture taking. Lauren has had a great experience as an OPC Husky. She has had wonderful teachers and made friends for life. 

May 22

Wednesday afternoon was Will's final band concert of the year. They scheduled it early--4:30pm!--because the gym gets really hot and the district graduations were happening that night. Anthony attended the concert for our family and for the first time had a good angle on Will. He could tell that Will was playing the correct notes. Their big finale was a compilation of Michael Jackson songs. Meanwhile, Elliott had a baseball game at 6pm. He played well, though his team lost by double digits. Lauren went swimming with her friends at Brena's house. Later that night I went up to the church for a "donation swap." Several ladies in the ward and I saved up our stuff that is still usable, but that we don't need anymore. We brought it to the church and then let the others "shop" our stuff. At the end of the night we loaded up the extras toys to donate to a daycare and the other stuff to be taken to Savers. After the boys were in bed Anthony met some friends to play pickleball. It was a busy night for the John family!

May 23

Thursday was Will's 8th grade recognition night held at the high school. Will and I went (Lauren had YW and this wasn't an event for Miles or Elliott). Will was recognized with a "certificate of scholarship," "Presidential Award," (awarded to students with a cumulative GPA above 3.75), and "Science Award," (awarded to students in the top 10% in the advanced science classes). Will is a great kid! All the time Anthony and I feel like he's spoiled us into thinking we are great parents because he makes parenting pretty easy. He knows who he is and is comfortable with himself. He has chosen great friends--his BFF since 1st grade was given one of two grade level awards for citizenship. After the ceremony Will and I went to CFA to get nuggets and I had such a great time with him. 

May 24

School is winding down, the weather is great and the kids have been spending a lot of time with friends at the park after school. I have enjoyed visiting with other parents and avoiding making dinner for as long as possible. That evening Kendall came over to play with Elliott and Miles, then TJ and I hung out with Stephanie and Spencer for over and hour when they came to pick her up.

May 25

Saturday was a work day! Tony has been working on updating our bedroom for my birthday off and on over the past few months. This weekend we had no games, practices, graduation parties or church commitments so he was able to finish most of the painting. He worked on the ceiling and walls while I specialized on the trim. The Svezias had Elliott over for most of the day, while Will spent the day mowing a few yards and then hanging out with the Bensons. In the evening Miles and Elliott asked TJ to push them on the swing along with neighbors Steffi and Mable.

2024 :: week 20

May 12

We had a pretty quiet Mother's Day. I got to sleep in, then Anthony made me scrambled eggs, toast and a yogurt parfait for breakfast. At church the primary kids sang and Miles not only went up with the other kids, but he sang! Anthony bribed him beforehand and told Miles he would make him a dessert of his choice if he would sing. The kids did great! I was proud as both primary president and mom. I took a bit of a nap when we got home and then we went to my parents' house for dinner. I feel like I am entering a new phase in my "mom-ing." I am proud of the responsible, capable kids Anthony and I get to parent. But as they get older and more independent they need me less (while at the same time my own parents need me more). For the better part of the past fourteen years I have had at least one very young child around me most of the day that relied on me to meet many of their needs. In a few months Miles will be starting all-day kindergarten and my days of getting things done with a toddler in tow are over. I used to look forward to the kids bedtime as the beginning of some "me time," but now my older kids go to bed around the same time I do. Any time I get to myself is during the day while they are at school. I guess the point of all of this is to say that the only constant is change and I while intellectually I know that to be true, I think I am finally starting to really believe it.

May 13

Lauren and several of her friends walked to our house after school to play some knockout. It seems that basketball has become the activity of choice during recess for the 6th grade girls. Most of them have never played on a team before, and they are having fun learning how to dribble and shoot together. 

May 14

Will's appetite has really grown this past year. Most nights between 9 and 10pm he starts jonesing for a snack. He often settles on either a huge bowl of applesauce, several ounces of cheddar cheese, or three slices of bread slathered with nutella. Sometimes he has more than one snack. But he always eats them while watching baseball on his phone.

May 15

Miles and I met Stephanie for lunch at Costco Wednesday. We've enjoyed many lunch dates at Costco over the years, and as the school year is coming to a close realized this might be the last one with just the three of us. Undoubtably we will meet up this summer, just with more kids. And when school starts up again Miles will be gone all day too.

May 16

Thursday after school Miles and I met Jill, Henry and Claire at Wonderscope and had a great time! It wasn't too crowded and the boys were able to play at most every exhibit.

May 17

Friday night the John family was spread out. Anthony took Will and the Benson twins to the Royals game. The boys paid for everything themselves--including Anthony's ticket!--with money they have earned mowing lawns this spring. Lauren spent the night at the Hagmans. Elliott had baseball practice, and Miles and I hung out at the park visiting with friends and playing. Afterwards we got McDonalds and paid a quick visit to Memaw and Pepaw. At bedtime Miles was sad and said he didn't like it when the whole family wasn't home together. 

May 18

Saturday morning I went to a baby shower for my friend Amanda. I am so grateful to be part of such a great community of moms. I love them and their kids. In other news, Anthony worked on painting the wall in our bedroom and Will went to a four hour training at Bluejacket for his cashier job.

2024 :: week 19

 

May 5

This year the primary children are singing "Mother, Do You Love Me?" in Sacrament Meeting on Mother's Day. The kids are singing the first verse, and Barbara is singing the "mother" verse. To make practice more engaging Kasey brought hats for each of the kids to wear while they sang. Each hat represented one of the many hats a mom has to wear--a graduation hat because mom's are smart, a police hat because mom's have to lay down the law, a ball cap because mom's spend a lot of time watching their kids play sports, etc. 

May 6

Cat and Sally came over for awhile after school Monday. Lauren crafted "nails" for them out of tape. Silly, creative girls.

May 7

Tuesday afternoon Miles and I met Jill, Henry and Claire at the Arboretum after school. The first Tuesday of every month the arboretum offers free admission, and because of this, these first Tuesdays are very crowded. I wasn't in the mood for so many people, but it was nice to be outside and enjoy the sunshine. I actually got a little burned on my neck, but the SPF in my face lotion did it's job and my face was fine.

May 8

Our flowers are starting to look pretty good. The excessive rain we've had this past month has made our yard look extra beautiful. The flowers look especially good against the bright green lawn. I finally got around to weeding our beds while I talked on the phone. Now we need to get new mulch and repaint the fence. 

May 9

Thursday evening was the first annual Indian Woods History Fair. Each of the 8th graders in Advanced Social Studies picked a historical topic to reseach during the 4th quarter. Kids chose things like Genghis Khan, Alexander Hamilton, the Battle of Verdun, the Chernobyl disaster, etc. Will chose the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The kids had to have "artifacts" that represented their event. One of the artifacts Will used was a boot because when John Wilkes Booth jumped out of the presidential box and onto the stage his spur ripped the Treasury Guard Flag. He also printed some theatre tickets and "aged" them. He read Chasing Lincoln's Killer as part of his research. I read the book many years ago and remember enjoying it.

May 10

When Miles and I are out running errands, one way I try to curry favor with him is to let him climb in the van via the trunk. He likes to climb over the back seat and then up to his chair. It is quite possibly the least efficient way of executing this task, but that seems to be the way he likes to do things lately.

May11

Graduation season has begun, and this weekend we went to two graduation parties. In the morning we went to Derek's, and in the afternoon we went to Spencer's. My favorite part of graduation parties (besides celebrating the graduates), is running into mutual old friends. The snacks are fun too. In the evening I took Lauren shopping at Turn Styles and Plato's Closet to find some new shorts. Will mowed a lawn. TJ caulked our basement shower. It was a good day.

2024 :: week 18

April 28

Sunday evening I insisted on taking a quick photo of the boys with their freshly cut hair. Over the weekend I cut Anthony, Miles and Elliott's hair. Tony took Will to Great Clips for his cut because his style requests exceed my abilities. 

April 29

It is rare to have an evening go by when some combination of our boys aren't outside playing a quick game of baseball. Miles is starting to hold his own when he's up to bat too. It makes me feel so happy when I see the boys having fun together. I know I'll miss this when they're older and have more going on.

April 30

In 2020 Dana gifted me this clematis plant for my birthday. Every year since it has only produced one flower. This year it has already bloomed three flowers and there are a few more that look ready to blossom in the next week. I love spring flowers!

May 1

Miles loves to swing! I love watching him swing and I also love that he can pump and have a good time on the swing without me having to push him. He is becoming increasingly independent, for better and worse. I love the swing independence. I do not enjoy his insistence on buckling his own car seat independently at all. 

May 2

Lauren and the OPC choir performed Thursday evening. They sang four songs. "Are You Ready," "Let it Be," a Taylor Swift medley created by their choir director/music teacher, and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," in round. They did a great job! Choir has been a bit of a grind this year. They meet Wednesdays and Friday before school from 7:30-8am, whereas last year they met after school once a week for an hour. Their choir director is very young and has a pattern of biting off more than she can chew. They spent so much time working on the Taylor Swift medley that they had to scrap their fourth song and sing "Row Your Boat," which many of the kids were upset about. 

May 3

Friday evening I took Will to KCK to cut our friend's lawn. A few months ago Will and his buddies Jude & Adrian came up with the idea to start a lawncare business to earn money to go to Royals games this summer. They made a flyer and website, and handed out flyers to neighbors in both our neighborhood and theirs. Anthony and I shared their flyer on facebook, and they posted their flyer online at Nextdoor and on the community board at the library. We love their initiative and willingness to work! They have been pretty successful too. This weekend alone Will worked on 3 lawns and earned over $100. 

May 4

We had a busy Saturday morning. I went to water aerobics. Anthony went to our ward EQ's "Men's Conference." Will had training for his pool cashier job. Elliott had a baseball game (he went 2 for 3, scoring twice and also pitched his team to victory). Saturday afternoon was the final hurrah for the Pink Thunder. We met at the green space behind Indian Valley Park for one last families vs. team scrimmage and picnic. The scrimmage was intense, with John family members scoring on both sides (Lauren-2, Dad-1), though ultimately the girls came out on top. There was plenty of delicious food, including two large plates of chick-fil-a nuggets that the John boys happily devoured. Genny's mom Heather collected photos from parents and "favorite memory" cards from the girls to make scrapbooks for Coach Luke and Coach Travis. Being a member of the Pink Thunder soccer team has been an amazing blessing and experience for Lauren. She has really grown as a soccer player. He coaches pushed and her and helped her gain confidence in herself. Her teammates have become great friends. I have learned a lot about soccer, including the rules. Pretty much the only rule I really knew before Lauren started to play was "no hands." Pictured in the team pyramid photo are Bottom--Genny B., Grace D., Kenzie M., Mattie S., Allie C., and Lauren. Middle--Taylor P., Annabelle R., Madelyn W., Reese P., and Sofia C. Top--Ella S. and Dailey F.)