2019 :: week 46

November 10

Anthony and I ended the weekend together on the couch, discussing our plans and commitments for the upcoming week. We aren't always good about having weekly planning sessions, but our weeks go so much better when we do. Earlier in the evening Anthony hosted a BYD where he encouraged the youth to cultivate an attitude of gratitude and showed part of a Ted Talk by Brene Brown.

November 11

A cold front blew in on Monday and when I say cold I mean COLD! It felt like it was 6 degrees outside, even though it was actually 21 degrees. After the gorgeous weekend it just felt wrong. I didn't want to leave the house, but Elliott's preschool was putting on a literacy night and he really wanted to "go to the party at [his] school!" The teachers and support staff put a lot of effort into making fun activities for the kids so I am glad we went. Several people recognized Lauren from her time as a peer model and she liked being remembered.

November 12

This was the week of Elliott wearing a baseball shirt everyday. He wore Will's old Alex Gordon shirt Friday, but I didn't get a picture of that. This is what I posted on instagram: When this kid goes all in, he goes ALL. IN. Last winter it was Greatest Showman. He requested the soundtrack daily and wore his top hat and red shirt on the regular. Recently, during the MLB playoffs he started requesting baseball hype videos on YouTube and started to smuggle his glove, bat or ball with him whenever we leave the house. When I asked him why he doesn’t ask for Greatest Showman music anymore he replied, “Mom, I’m not that guy anymore.”

November 13

On Wednesday we went to the Smith's house for  the "preschool bookclub" Heather organized. Twice a month we get together to read a few books, sing a few songs, do an activity or craft, and play. It has been good for helping Elliott be less clingy with me. His friends that participate are Gideon, Kendall, Grant, Ethan, Neal, Mikey and Penelope. In this picture Rachel is reading one of Elliott's favorite Thanksgiving themed books, Turkey Trouble.

November 14

It was my turn to host book club Thursday night. Our basement is almost finished, so I gave my friends a tour before we got started. Here we are all in the sauna. Anthony's sauna definitely gets the most "buzz," when we talk about all the updates, but the whole thing is really amazing. Sometimes I can't believe we have all of this additional intentional space! We discussed The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I had read before many years ago. This time around I listened to the audio-book and found it delightful. I am loving audio-books this fall. I have listened to nine audio-books since school started, mainly listening while doing chores and driving.

November 15

We had Lauren's birthday party late-over at our house Friday evening. Lauren planned the event with great care and attention to detail. She may have a future in event planning. Guests were asked to wear comfy clothes and bring a pillow and blanket. When the guests arrived they were greeted with the Kidz Bop Pandora station playing in the background and a table full of coloring pages and crayons. After they set up their stuff in the basement they came upstairs to color. While they were coloring and after everyone arrived I explained how we were going to decorate sugar cookies. Each girl got six cookies and we had several cups of frosting, candy toppings and sprinkles to share. When they were done with the cookies they washed their hands and headed to the front room to watch Lauren open her gifts. While she did that Will and I cleaned up the cookie mess and set out the plates and drinks for dinner. We had pizza for dinner and then went down to the basement to watch Descendants 3. The girls sang along and danced and had a pretty good time. I was so tired when it was all over though. She originally wanted a sleep-over, I can't imagine how tired I would have been if we had had 14 girls spend the night!

November 16

Saturday evening we had our inaugural family sauna. Elliott got too hot pretty quickly and played Smash Bros on the Switch while the rest of us sweat it out for about half and hour. It wasn't that bad. I tried stretching in the sauna once my muscles were warmed up and it felt pretty good. Who knows, maybe I will be converted to the sauna after all?

2019 :: week 45

November 3

Our trampoline is temporarily out of service. Sunday afternoon Elliott was playing in the backyard and asked Tony and I separately if he could have a knife to make "pumpkin pie" out of one of our Halloween pumpkins. We both told him no. The neighbor friend he was playing with went to his house and snuck a knife out of his kitchen. A third friend then stabbed it through the trampoline mat about thirty times.

November 4

Spending quiet mornings with these two boys is mostly wonderful. Their sweet smiles remind me of how blessed I am to be living the life I've always wanted to have. Since school has started I have been feeling frustrated with myself because I used to be able to "accomplish" so much more than I am currently. I know that having healthy, well-adjusted children is more important than checking things off my to-do list, but it is hard for me to get to the end of the day and not have tangible things to show for it. I'm much less "productive" than I was at this time last year. I have a baby that needs to nap three times a day and Elliott attends half-day preschool four afternoons a week, requiring me to spend thirty minutes driving him each way. My days are choppy and it makes it hard for me to volunteer at the elementary school, do meals on wheels or exercise like I was previously able to do. I am working on being okay with taking things slow and savoring the gummy smiles and snuggles.

November 5

Miles is 8 months old! The biggest changes that have happened in the past month are that he sleeps in his own room now and he is starting to ween himself. Unfortunately on top of only wanting to nurse when my milk is letting down and it is flowing fast and freely, he refuses all bottles so I have had to resort to feeding him formula with a medicine dropper on a few occasions. Most night he sleeps for about twelve hours with one 7-10 our stretch. I am getting more sleep and feel like a new woman. Miles can sit for long periods of time and only falls over when he gets off balance trying to look at something. He rarely scoots forward but I often find him several feet behind where I left him on the floor. He puts EVERYTHING possible in his mouth. He even tries to put the zipper pull on my jacket in his mouth when I am holding him.

November 6

The weather went from warm to cold and back to warm again this week. Between the shorter days and colder temperatures I have started taking daily mental health walks. I am trying to go in the morning before getting the kids ready for school, but go in the evening too if possible. Wednesday evening I was struck by the beauty in our neighborhood and how much I love where we live. I walked to Target to get some new bibs for Miles and then ran into some friends playing at the park. Tuesday I walked to Holy Spirit to vote, later in the week I walked to the library to return some books and our kids are able to walk to and from school daily.

November 7

Miles seems to really enjoy sitting next to the piano while Anthony plays for him. Anthony has been playing and singing more recently and we all like it.

November 8

Lauren came home from school Thursday afternoon running a fever. She had a headache in the morning, but her temperature was normal so she went to school. When we got home she laid on the couch all afternoon and was asleep in bed by 7pm. When she woke up Friday morning she was feeling great and her fever was gone. We kept her home and she and Elliott had such a fun day together. She made him worksheets--Elliott wants to learn to read--and they played with perler beads, colored popsicle sticks and organized their remaining Halloween candy together.

November 9

Saturday was busy! Next week is a busy week and we made a long list of things we needed to get done to get ready for it and we did almost everything. A big thing that we needed to get done was winterizing our yard. I cleaned out our garden and put stored the trelis, tomato cages and hoses until next year. Anthony worked on leaves and used the weed wacker to tidy up the edges of our yard. We cleaned out the garage and filled up both our trash can and our neighbor's (they are out of town until May and they let us use their can when we have overflow). Anthony took Elliott on a date (McDonalds and then baseball at the elementary school field) and Will and I went on an epic shopping trip to IKEA and Hy-Vee. By the time I got in bed that night my feet were aching, but I love checking things off a to-do list so I felt very satisfied.

2019 :: week 44

October 27

Elliott and Papa played catch Sunday evening. Elliott is a lot of fun, but not exactly consistent in his imaginative games. The game of catch represented the Red Sox playing the Patriots and the score was 200-2, or something like that. Papa also wrote out some baseball word problems for Will to solve. He worked hard and had fun learning new ways to divide. I think I can handle batting averages, but WHIPs (walks plus hits per inning pitched) give me a run for my money.

October 28

Monday was a cold, gray day. During the day the kids had school and Doug and Tina helped me with some grocery shopping and child care. That evening we went out for some bbq at Jack Stack's. When we came home Nana played hangman with Lauren and Will for quite a while. They had such a fun time coming up with phrases for each other. I think my favorite phrase was "BYU is an average team." After the kids went to bed Anthony and I enjoyed visiting with Doug and Tina for a few hours before we finally all went to bed. We had a great visit with them, despite the fact that we were busy with a variety of commitments while they were here (parent teacher conferences,birthday parties, ward activity, practices, games, etc.).

October 29

Aunt Laura flew out for the baptistm and was scheduled to fly back to Utah Tuesday afternoon. The little boys and I stopped by to say goodbye before taking Elliott to school, and just before we got there she found out her flight was cancelled. If flying west in the winter it is best to avoid layovers in Denver! It meant a lot to me and Lauren to have Laura at Lauren's baptism.

October 30

In the morning, Elliott and I walk the big kids to school and Anthony reads his scriptures and plays the piano with Miles. I love seeing that little guy perched on his dad's lap. Sometimes he tries to "sing" along.

October 31

If Halloween costumes aren't posted on the internet, did they even happen? All three of the school kids had classroom parties at the same time Thursday afternoon, which was a bit of a logistical struggle. I understand why they have them the last half hour of the day, but that made it tough to pick up Elliott. Luckily Anthony could take a late lunch break get him. I am the room parent in Lauren's classroom and unofficially "required" to be at her party. That evening we went to a party our neighbors threw, complete with hot dogs and a hayride. Tony took the older kids and Knox out trick or treating while I stayed home and passed out candy with the little boys. Miles was ready for bed and Elliott was not interested in going out. Maybe next year?

November 1

Nursing Miles has taken a sharp turn for the worse. Things started going downhill when he started biting me. I thought if I sharply told him, "No!" and stopped feeding him for a few minutes he'd get the message. Unfortunately, he keeps biting me and now my milk supply is struggling. Anyone who has breastfed knows that this can be a circular problem. Friday morning Elliott and I went to Target to buys some bottles and had the good fortune of parking next to this Kia Soul. Elliott was wearing his Salvador Perez shirt in honor of the 4th anniversary of the Royals winning the World Series (and because his Mookie Betts shirt is in the wash).

November 2

Lauren and Miles have a lot in common, including eczema. Lauren is a great helper when it is time to give Miles a bath, holding him in the tub while I wash his hair and body. He much prefers being in the big tub to bathing in the kitchen sink. After they bath in baking soda and water we pat them dry  we moisturize with CeraVe, and apply prescription strength hydro-cortisone to the bad patches.

2019 :: week 43

October 20

Memaw and Pepaw have been traveling for the better part of the past two weeks, first to Idaho, then Utah. They arrived back home on Saturday night just in time to help us celebrate Lauren's birthday. In honor of her birthday they let Lauren plan the menu for Sunday dinner and she choose spaghetti, garlic bread and salad. Aunt Emily is always a big help with Miles. He loved smiling at the man in the mirror while Emily was holding him.

October 21

Happy Birthday, Lauren! Lauren is an wonderful person, and each year we get to spend with her is better than the last. Lauren is a thoughtful friend, nurturing leader and creative playmate. She works hard to achieve her goals--like skipping bars while crossing the monkey bars--and has the calluses on her hands to prove it! She is a bright light in our family and we are so grateful to have her. After school Memaw picked her up and took her on a special shopping trip to Target. Post shopping trip we had Memaw and Pepaw and the Wilsons over for dinner and doughuts. We had a great day celebrating our favorite daughter.

October 22

The happiest part of my Tuesday was that Miles slept great in his own room! Due to a mix of procrastination and struggle to rearrange the bedrooms, Miles has been cohabitating with his parents for the past 7 months. I was beyond ready for a change, but finding a spot for Elliott proved to be difficult. He is going through a difficult-to-share-a-room-with phase. It's hard to articulate what makes him such an undesirable roommate, but it seems to boil down to the facts that he wakes up earl and likes to play with the toys his siblings don't want him to touch. Will and Elliott are temporarily sharing a room until we think Elliott and Miles can share. This seems to be the best solution because Will is also an early riser and has fewer tiny things for Elliott to explore.

October 23

Lauren had her final practice of the season, and keeping with tradition the Pink Thunder girls hosted a scrimmage against parents and siblings. Anthony, Will and Elliott got in on the action. Elliott held his own and even got to throw the ball in at one point. Lauren grew a lot as an athlete and soccer player this season, and I genuinely enjoyed watching her play.

October 25

Papa and Nana arrived Wednesday afternoon and brought with them a box of Anthony's old baseball cards. To say that Elliott has LOVED going through them has been an understatement. He doesn't know who most of the players are, but he can recognize most of the team logos and he likes organizing them into piles by team.

October 25

Friday the kids were off school and Papa and Nana took the older three kids to Science City. While they were getting their science on, Miles and I ran a few baptism related errands. That evening the kids got dressed up in their Halloween finest and we went to the OPC trunk or treat. Will was Whit Merrifield, compelte with dark eyebrows and goatee. Elliott was Mookie Betts, complete with eye black and gold chain. Lauren was a jaguar and painted her nose and whiskers on by herself. Miles was a zebra. On Saturday evening we went to our ward trunk or treat. At that event Anthony, Miles and I dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite characters. Anthony was Napoleon, I was Rex Kwan Do and Miles was Tina the llama.

October 26

Saturday morning Lauren Jean John was baptized by her father, Anthony. It was a beautiful service that reminded me of how very blessed I am. Lauren is a planner and she planned a program full of females. Two of her maternal aunts (Laura and Emily) served as witnesses and both grandmothers spoke (Memaw on baptism and Nana on Holy Ghost). She invited several of her friends from school and was very pleased that most of them came. I felt very loved as the room filled up with our friends and neighbors. Both times my children have received the Holy Ghost I have been struck by what seems to me to be a symbol of protection when they are surrounded by righteous men who love and care for them. I hope the covenant that Lauren made this day along with the companionship of the Holy Ghost will help her make wise choices in life and protect her from the pain and sorrow of sin. She is naturally very nurturing and has been doing many of the things that she has now covenanted to do--she keeps the commandments, sets a good example and is compassionate with others.

2019 :: week 42

October 13

Elliott and I went for a walk Sunday afternoon. I took some pictures of him on my new iphone 11 to see what the camera was like. My phone had been acting weird for several weeks before basically quitting on me at the beginning of the month. It was acting like a tablet--I could send texts when I was connected to wifi, but the cellular part of my phone, the part that makes it a "phone" would only work sporadically. When we were in Mexico Anthony's friend Tony offered to get anyone an apple phone with his employee discount so I finally bit the bullet and bought a new one.

October 14

Lauren's friend Theo got a new puppy and the kids at the park were enjoying playing with him at the park after school. My kids say they really want to get a pet, but I don't think any of us are ready for that.

October 15

Anthony was in Miami for the week at the annual ICE conference. I made the kids take a walk with me after dinner. It feels like fall and I like it!

 

October 16

I spend so much time driving. On this day I drove Elliott to and from school, picked Will up from Math Club and dropped Lauren off at soccer practice. It is a good thing I like our van. Poor Miles is so patient with the amount of time he spends in his car seat.

October 17

I love history and US history is one of my favorite areas to learn about. I have been listening to Accidental Presidents through audible and am enjoying it so much I am looking for mindless tasks to do so I can listen more.

October 18

I never know exactly how Elliott gets into something, but his current "thing" is Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox. He asks me to paint eye black on his cheeks, puts his Red Sox hat on, grabs and bat and suddenly he is "transformed." He requests Mookie Betts highlight reels on youtube over and over. He decided he wanted to dress up as Mookie for Halloween so I ordered a shirt for him to wear. He put it on the moment we opened it.

October 19

Miles and I took a walk Saturday evening. I am still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I have four kids. He is such a good-natured little guy and I love him so much.

2019 :: week 42

October 13

Elliott and I took a walk around the block Sunday afternoon and I tried out the camera on my new phone. I got an iphone 11 after my phone started to randomly stop working a few weeks ago. It was essentially a tablet--only occasionally allowing me to make calls. Anthony's friend Tony works for Apple and when we were in Mexico he offered to get me a phone with his employee discount. I finally bit the bullet and got one. It is so much money, but also so hard to be without a functioning phone. The nicer camera is a bonus.

October 14

We have settled into a pretty nice weekday routine. We play at the park for about an hour after school each day. I like to head home around four so I can have a few minutes to think before I start making dinner. It is nice that so many friends come to the park. Several of our friends have dogs they bring as well. Lauren's classmates Sammy and Theo both have puppys and the kids were fascinated with them and how playful they are. The boys were nice to let the girls take turns with the leashes.

October 15

Anthony headed to Miami for the annual ICE conference. I made the kids take an after dinner walk with me. The weather is starting to really cool off and you can feel fall in the air.

October 16

I spend so much time in our van these days. Driving Elliott to preschool, picking up Will from Math Club and taking Lauren to soccer were my destinations today. Miles is a patient baby, logging many more hours in his car seat than I'm sure he'd prefer.

October 17

I have been listening to the book Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen this past week and I am obsessed. I have been looking for more chores and mindless things to do so I can keep listening. I have always loved history and been especially fond of learning about US presidents and this book has so much interesting information.

October 18

Elliott's current obsession is Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox. He had been telling me for at least a month that he wanted to be Slugger for Halloween, but then a few weeks ago he changed his mind to Mookie Betts. I'm not sure what triggered the Mookie fever, but he all in on Mookie, or Mook as he calls him. I ordered him a shirt for his costume and he put it on right away.

October 19

Miles was a bit irritable all day, so I finally took him for a walk after dinner. It is hard being the baby in a busy family, and he does a pretty good job of putting up with us. When I think back to how I scheduled my days around Will's naps I feel a little guilty at how things are for Miles. I regularly lay Miles down to take naps when I know he isn't quite tired enough to really want to sleep, but know that the window of opportunity is short before we have to pick up Elliott from school or drive an older sibling to practice.

2019 :: week 41

October 6

We spent a majority of the day watching General Conference. The kids built a "fort" on the side of our house using the steps to our garage and various material they foraged from the back yard. It was actually pretty impressive. I love watching them be creative together.

October 7

One of the many cool things about playing at the park after school is the mixing of ages. In this picture there are girls from 4th grade, 2nd grade, 1st grade and kindergarten playing together. These girls carried this stick around the park for a good 15 minutes. Who knows what they were doing, but they were getting along and having fun, so I'll take it.

October8

Our windshield wipers were in a bad way. I bought new ones at Costco and attempted to change them myself. Thanks to the magic of youtube (and a little help from Stevie) I was able to do it!

October 9

I came across this idea in the book I was reading (The Behavior Gap) and thought it was worth remembering so I snapped a picture. "We often resist simple solutions because they require us to change our behavior...We'd rather look for a magic bullet: something to save us from the day-to-day grind of simply doing the work that needs doing."

October 10

The older Miles gets the more I think he reminds me of Lauren as a baby. Her baby pictures really look like him. She sure loves him, and is a devoted big sister. She helps me get him going in the morning and dotes on him after school and in the evenings.

October 11

I love this kid. And he loves to cuddle with me. The kids were off of school Friday so we had a mostly quiet day at home.

October 12

On Saturday I went to a lecture at the library given by Helaine Olsen, author of The Index Card. She talked about women and their relationship with money. She didn't say much that I didn't already know, but it was exciting to hear about topics I am extremely interested in. Now that I am coming out of the newborn fog I am looking for ways to get more engaged in the community and involved in family finances and education.

2019 :: week 40

September 29

Sunday was the last day of our trip. We planned on leaving at 10am, so we got up early and took one last quick walk on the beach before we had to pack up and leave. Miles was not sure what to make of the waves. He never seemed upset, but he had a quizzical look on his face most of the time we had his feet in the sand and water. We drove back to San Diego with the Tames and the Curries and enjoyed visiting with them in the sketchy white van for a few final hours. We had a relatively easy flight home that unexpectedly ended up landing in KC 45 minutes early. We had a such a wonderful time on the vacation, but it was great getting home to our kids and sleeping on our own beds.

September 30

I had piles of pictures and school papers to go through on Monday. I found this picture Will drew of our van going on a roadtrip. When I asked Will about it he said he was jealous of our trip to Mexico and wanted to know what our next roadtrip is going to be. We don't have anything planned--time to plan one!

October 1

It was a gorgeous morning and Elliott and the neighborhood gang played outside for close to three hours before Elliott and Bennett had to go to school. Elliott loves playing with his friends and I love that they entertain each other so well. It certainly makes my life easier!

October 2

Wednesday morning we met Stephanie and Kendall for a free puppet show at the community center. Afterwards we had a little bit of time before we had to drop Elliott off at school, so we made a quick stop at Target and saw a black Kia Soul in the parking lot. Whenever Elliott and I see a Kia Soul we get excited. Sometimes if we are in a parking lot we take a picture to send to Anthony or Aunt Emily. Since we have taken a few picture of this type I got "fancy" with my photography.

October 3

Thursday was my dad's birthday. After piano we went to my parents' house to celebrate. My dad is a great Pepaw, dad and friend. He has generously spent HOURS working in our yard this year. He is supportive, kind and keeps things entertaining.

October 4

We went to the pre-homecoming SMS Kidfest on Friday evening. Will invited Knox and Porter to come with us, and the boys stayed with Tony for the game.We brought some pizzas to eat and the kids had fun playing the carnival games. Lauren and Elliott spent a lot of time in the bounce house while Will and his friends played the soda ring toss over and over. I think they collectively won a dozen small bottles of soda. Tony said the boys drank all the soda and then wanted to buy skittles at the game. So much sugar!

October 5

Saturday afternoon we went to Bennett's birthday party at SuperKidz Club in Mission. It was a rainy day, so an indoor play place was the perfect place to spend a couple hours on Conference Saturday. Even Miles had fun in the "baby zone." When we moved into our house Will was 19 months old and I was pregnant with Lauren and the next youngest kid on the street was in kindergarten. Since then eight kids have been born to families on our street. It can be chaotic at times, but I am so grateful for these kids and the network of parents we have on our street.