2022 :: week 15

April 10

Dad is in the pews! Miles has been a little confused at what to make of Dad sitting with us at church, but he's getting used to it. The first week Anthony was so accommodating and eager to help with everything, I enjoyed sitting back and listening without distraction. This week Anthony was called to be on the high council. The Stake assigned him to the ward that meets in the same building as us to minimize Sunday distance. Anthony and I were also called to teach the Stake Youth Temple and Mission Prep class together. We will teach that in the afternoons on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. There is no set curriculum, so we are excited to come up with lessons to help the youth prepare for adulthood. We plan on drawing from The Power of Everyday Missionaries, Preach My Gospel, the church's emotional resilience course, Gospel Topics essays, etc. I will be released from my Sunday School calling.

 

April 11

I saw this sports rack/organizer thing on an amazon lightning deal and impulse bought it in the hopes of keeping our ever-growing sports supplies in check. One week in and we are doing pretty well. The kids have been great about putting their stuff away. Having the stuff easy to see and accessible instead of buried under a pile makes preparing for practices and games much smoother. It has been especially nice to have all of these things out of our front room. Now to clean out and organize the garage...

April 12

Miles was in a mood Tuesday afternoon. My attempt to snap him out of it was to go outside and draw with chalk. Miles has been really into drawing on the driveway lately. My artistic skills are limited so we drew a scene from the PBS Kids show, "Peep and the Big Wide World." Miles loved it so much we redrew it the next day after it rained overnight. Lauren drew a few Daniel Tiger characters on the driveway for Miles later in the week. 

April 13

We are still getting to know our new ward. Only two young men moved from the previous OP2 to the Oak Park ward. There are about six deacons now, and Will is making some new friends. At this point he is known for being good at basketball. After the planning activity the boys played several rounds of knockout and Will was in the top three every game. 

April 14

The highlight of the week was Lauren's performance as Camper #4 in the OPC 4th Grade Play, Camp Fanada. The fourth graders did a great job. The entire grade danced to three musical numbers, a few smaller groups performed skits and then eight kids had short monologues. The kids have worked hard on this all semester and it was fun to see it come together so well. The weather cooperated, and though it was a bit windy, it was a nearly perfect evening. 

April 15

There was no school on Friday, and Lauren and Daphne had their spring craft sale. It was extremely successful--they made $70! In other less financially exciting news, I took our van into the dealership for its 100K mile maintenance/tune up and new front tires. Unfortunately for my wallet, I left a few thousand dollars poorer. Our van has given us a wonderful 6.5 years, and hopefully many more in the future. 

April 16

On Saturday we introduced a new gadget into our household, behold Dobby Roberto. Sweeping is one of my least favorite chores, and with our darker floors and four active kids the floors constantly need to be swept. I was influenced by a few friends talking about their robot vacuums. It was pretty awesome to be sitting on the couch, working on my lesson while "Dobby" cleaned my floors. 

2022 :: week 14

April 3

We spent most of Sunday socializing and watching conference. In the morning local family members and Dana came over for a pre-conference brunch. We ate orange rolls, bacon, fruit, scrambled eggs and hash browns. While we watched conference some of painted. Lauren painted this paint-by-number picture of Jesus Memaw gave her. After conference we invited a few families from our new ward over for cookies. The weather cooperated and we were able to mostly visit in the back yard while the kids played. 

 

April 4

Lauren was the mystery reader for Elliott's class on Monday. She was supposed to go last week, but Elliott left school early because he was so tired. I love that my kids want to see each other while at school. Lauren wants to be a teacher when she grows up, and volunteers in a first grade classroom during her free time a few times a week. Seeing this picture of her, I can envision her teaching her own students some day.

April 5

Will and I finished reading the Doctrine and Covenants together this week! It has been very rewarding for me to read the scriptures with Will in the evenings.

April 6

The kids school has a minimal homework policy. Basically, besides the occasional project and reading for 20 minutes a day, the kids are given enough time to finish most of their work. Will loses some of his study time because he goes to band twice a week. He had a substitute for math and was a little unsure about some of the algebra, so Anthony helped him while we were preparing dinner.

April 7

This has been a week of strange weather. The tail end of March and early April has felt a lot like February this year--cold and gray with a variety of precipitation. 

April 8

The Pink Thunder had another decisive victory Friday evening. It wasn't as cold as we feared, Lauren has toughed it out under much colder conditions at practice! The forecast said the temperature could be below freezing with high winds. It was still close to freezing, but not nearly as windy as it had been earlier in the week. Miles has had a runny nose this week, so Tony stayed home with him while I took Lauren to her game. The Wilsons took Will and Elliott to the Brookridge carnival. Later, Anthony sauned with his Man Book Club friends.

April 9

Saturday evening we headed down to the Plaza area. I didn't realize until we got there that we are in the throes of prom season. The entire area was bumping with groups of formally dressed teens! I wanted to get a picture of my kids with one of the Plaza Easter Bunnies, so I bribed the kids with shakes from the Shake Shack. Plus, Will and Lauren performed their piano pieces and took theory examinations as part of the Federation Festival at Bell Hall on Mid American Nazarene University campus earlier in the day, so they deserved at treat. After we drank our milkshakes and got the bunny photo we walked around the grounds of the Nelson Atkins. The glass maze was open and despite many parental pleas, two children bonked their heads hard. It was a gorgeous night and fun to spend time exploring KC together. 

2022 :: week 13

March 27

Sunday evening Pepaw shared some of the swag he acquired at recent conferences with the grandkids. Think pens, notebooks, reusable bags and squishy animals. Pepaw gave Elliott this book mark thing that has fuzzy yellow hair because it reminded him of Elliott and his fuzzy yellow hair. This was a good reminder that Elliott is past due for a trim.

March 28

As we were walking out to our van after a trip to Hy-Vee I was struck again with the realization that I am phasing out of the little kid era of parenting. Miles gets so excited to ride in the car cart, but even Elliott is pretty ambivalent about them at this point. If I ever need a reminder that my kids are getting older I just look at my planner. Elliott has baseball practice at 5pm on Monday nights and Lauren has soccer practice at 6:30pm. And that's not our busiest night of the week. We also have piano, honor band, church youth activities, softball for Lauren and baseball for Will. I was visiting with a friend about how when my older kids were young my days felt so long and I looked forward to my evenings, when I could veg out and watch TV. I now have much more flexible time during the day and my evenings are usually dictated to me. I think I write about this a lot, but it is something that I think about almost every day. My life is so different now than it was five years ago and I am struggling to adjust mentally.

March 29

I didn't have to drive the honor band car pool this Tuesday, which meant extra time at the park after school. Elliott had a ball climbing and playing with his three best buddies--Nicholas, Cole and Ian. 

March 30

This week I have finally started to get serious working on our 2021 photo book. In the evenings Anthony and I have been watching the American Crime Story Impeachment while I work on formatting, downloading photos and putting the pieces together. I know there are more efficient ways to make family journals, but I like how my books look and so I am sticking with it for now. After we finished watching Impeachment I relisted to the Slow Burn podcast about the same topic while I worked.

March 31

Miles now goes down slides! It has been a mystery to me that while he is very comfortable climbing quite high, he has generally avoided slides. Last week he went down the slide and I wondered if it was a fluke, but then he did it again when we met up with Fitz at the Lenexa Rec Center this week! We had to leave early because while we were there I got a call from the school nurse that Elliott had fallen asleep in class! He told his teacher and the nurse that his little brother had woken him up at 3am jumping on his bed. He's not lying, now that Miles is out of his crib he has turned into a nighttime terrorist. We picked Elliott up and let him nap for a bit.

April 1

It's the most wonderful time of the year for the John men. March madness and fantasy baseball drafts with opening day and the NBA playoffs around the corner, what could get better than that?! Friday evening Anthony and Will participated in a fantasy baseball draft. Anthony got them large soda's at McDonald's before the draft started, per tradition. Will is entering his second season as a fantasy baseball manager. We've lost count of the number of seasons Anthony has been a manager, but his involvement in fantasy sports predates his time as my significant other.

April 2

Saturday afternoon Lauren and Will participated in the Silfverberg Studio's Spring Recital. This recital is really a dress rehearsal for the Federation Festival competition next weekend. Both John kids performed well! Lauren was very stressed about her pieces beforehand, but played each one perfectly. The look of relief and accomplishment on her face as she walked back to her seat was worth every penny we've paid for lessons this past year. 

2022 :: week 12

March 20

Sunday marked the final day of the Overland Park 2nd Ward. That evening in a stake-wide meeting the Stake Presidency announced the new ward boundaries which more closely align with the area high school boundaries. Tony was officially released. Due to such major boundary changes many ward names changed. The former Overland Park 1st, Overland Park 2nd, Indian Creek and Lenexa Wards are now Overland Park, Oak Park, Woodland and Mill Creek Wards. We are now members of the Oak Park Ward and will continue to meet at the Allman building. Church felt a lot like high school graduation, as we said good bye to friends we still love but won't get to see as easily or as often. 

March 21

Papa treated us to yummy dinner at Joe's KC Monday night. Dinner was delicious, me knocking over my nearly-empty water cup all over Papa's plate being a low-light. Besides being embarrassing to me and obnoxious to Papa, it also marked the fourth time the Johns spilled beverages at fast food establishments on this visit with Papa and Nana. TJ spilled Dr. Pepper at McDonald's, Elliott and Will spilled two cups of Sprite at Hardee's, Miles spilled chocolate milk at Chick-fil-A and now this! After dinner we went to the OPC open house. After not being in the school for two years it was extra fun for the kids to show off the school and their classrooms to their parents. 

March 22

With the big kids at school Miles got some extra time alone with Nana and Papa. On Monday morning they walked with him to Target to buy some mints, a power cord and Goo Gone. The mints were a treat for Miles, but the power cord and Goo Gone were to help me with a few projects around the house. They helped us tame the mass of cords around our TV and clean some stickers in our basement. Miles and I drove them to the airport Tuesday at noon. It started to rain while we were driving. The rest of the day felt pretty blah. After the fact Tony told me he was under a tornado warning in New Orleans and had to leave his hotel room and shelter near the elevator. Everyone was really tired and I made everyone go to bed early. After Papa and Nana left it really fell like spring break was over. 

 

March 23

Tony got back on Wednesday! Everyone got plenty of sleep for the first time in awhile and we enjoyed a quiet night together at home. Miles and Elliott got into a wrestling match on my lap while we were sitting on the couch together. 

March 24

All three big kids got together with friends after school Thursday. Will had Knox over, Lauren had Daphne over and Elliott went to Nicholas' house. Lauren recently figured out how to use the preprogramed stitching on my sewing machine. She and Daphne cut Easter egg shapes out of felt and then "decorated" them with the fancy stitching. Anthony had a conference call with SMEs (subject matter experts) to work on item review from 5-9pm. Since he wasn't around at dinner time I went with simple and made quesadillas. 

March 25

I spent several hours Friday working on the 2021 edition of the "John Journal." I got lazy with uploading our photos to my computer last year and my photos are woefully disorganized. I am now more resolved than ever to stay organized in 2022! Thank goodness for audiobooks and podcasts to listen to while I worked. The latest Maisie Dobbs book came out this week, A Sunlit Weapon, and I enjoyed finishing that. Then I listened to Presidential, a podcast that came out several years ago where each episode focuses on a specific president.

March 26

Anthony had to work 9am-1pm on Saturday, which wasn't that big a deal considering we have no spring sporting events scheduled for this weekend. Next week the busy season begins. Lauren is starts softball in addition to soccer, and Will and Elliott begin their baseball practices as well. We met the Wilsons at the park after dinner and visited while the kids played (and climbed all over each other). The sun was out, but it was colder than I expected, so we didn't stay too long.

2022 :: week 11

March 13

Big changes ahead! On Saturday evening our Stake sent out an email letting members know that boundary realignments would be announced at a special meeting next Sunday and four new bishops would be called. Anthony will be traveling for work next Sunday, so it was his last 'normal" Sunday as bishop. It is hard to remember what life was like before Anthony was bishop, our family has changed a lot since he was first called. We took this group photo of our family in the bishop's office when we went back up to the church to clean out the office. I'm pretty sure it was the first time all six of us had been in the office together, the last time we were all in the office together was when Anthony was set apart, but Miles was not yet born. Anthony spent a lot of time in there during his 6 years, 4 months and 3 weeks as bishop. Anthony and I were asked to share our testimonies with the ward before he was released. As I was preparing for church I heard the song "Love is Spoken Here" and the words at the end of the song will forever remind me of the time when Anthony served as bishop. "I can often feel the Savior near, for love is spoken here." One of the great blessings of my life is getting to witness the many quiet acts of service members of our ward have performed, and it is humbling to think that so many people have prayed for our family over the past 6.5 years.

March 14

Lauren and her friends took another sewing class at Harper's Fabric in Downtown OP. The girls learned how to make shorts with an elastic waistband. I love that the girls enjoy being creative and making new things. It was very rewarding to see how proud each of the girls looked when we came back to pick them up. 

March 15

Tuesday afternoon Nana and Papa arrived from Salt Lake City, and as soon as Anthony picked them up from the airport we immediately set off for a spring break trip to St. Louis. Grumpy Miles does what he does best, which is fall asleep in the car anytime we drive anywhere after 3pm. We had a relatively uneventful drive, arriving at Kristine and Mark's beautiful home (friends of Nana and Papa who generously offered to put us up for our trip) in the Central West End of St. Louis around 10:30pm.

March 16

Miles has been talking about going to the St. Louis Zoo with Nana and Papa since we first mentioned plans for their visit last month. Wednesday the big day finally arrived! We had a delightful time at the zoo. Our first four stops to see the grizzly bear, polar bear, orangutans and seals were among my favorite, but we saw many cool animals on our visit. That evening we made personalized pizzas in Mark's gas-powered pizza oven. They were so delicious the pizza oven is now on TJ's birthday wish list. It doesn't hurt that on the Ooni website it mentions that one of the co-founders is Finnish.

 

March 17

City Museum was at the top of our list for Thursday! I learned that I am more claustrophobic than I thought as I squeezed myself into tight quarters. It was very busy, and we were grateful for the 1:1 child to adult ratio. It is spring break in Kansas City, and it was funny to see KC-related clothing all over the place. Clearly we weren't the only people that decided to head east for spring break! That evening while most of the family watched basketball (and Miles was in bed) Lauren, Elliott and I watched the movie Heavyweights in the Hagsplund's theatre room, complete with a popcorn machine. Another fun day!

March 18

Friday morning we packed up and then headed to the Science Museum. It was a drizzly morning, so it turns out we picked the right days to do the right things on this trip. We were all a bit tired from staying up late talking and watching basketball. A highlight of the museum was the animatronic dinosaur and this collaborative Super Mario Bros game. After the museum we hit the road and headed back to KC. We were grateful to arrive safely at home after seeing several car accidents on I-70. That evening we watched some more basketball and ate pizza, as one does in March.

March 19

Saturday morning the kids had fun with their grandparents. Papa bought the boys some baseball cards and they had a "draft." The older boys allowed Miles to have a few of the least desirable cards. Nana and Lauren worked on a stuffed animal sewing project together. Nana and Elise made one recently and Lauren was excited to have a matching bear. Anthony left Saturday afternoon and headed to conference in New Orleans for work. In the evening Nana and Papa took the kids to the park so I could work on my Sunday School lesson. We are enjoying the lighter evenings, though it did make dinner a bit late as I am going to have to adjust my it's-time-to-prepare-dinner cues now that the sun is setting an hour later.

2022 :: week 10

March 6

We were finally able to celebrate Miles Sunday evening. Memaw got him a cookie cake and we sang to him after dinner. Unlike last year, Miles loved the attention and when we sang the birthday song for him. Miles received a lot of great presents--a basketball hoop, boogie board, dinosaur cars, play doh, Darth Vader vest and mask, and stormtrooper action figure. Miles is a growing into a fun kid! He is resourceful and clever, with an impressive memory, fun sense of humor and very strong will. In his mind, his older siblings are absolutely his peers. He wants to be involved in everything anyone is the family is doing, and he is always the first to demand a "John Hug!" or "CAMEL-W" after we say our family prayers. (Sidenote: CAMEL-W is what we call family hugs, it was the best "word" we could come up with the letters of our first names.) Miles loves to go to the park and is great at climbing, though he rarely goes down slides. Miles' hero is Elliott and he wants to do everything Elliott does, though he will fight him for a seat in my lap. Miles likes to eat whatever is on someone else's plate, but frequently requests hot dogs with ketchup. If dinner isn't up to snuff he usually manages to scavenge something. Miles likes Star Wars and Pokemon and Elmo. He likes Miles has a fun personality and makes us laugh everyday (when he isn't making us want to pull our hair out!). 

 

March 7

Miles dragged various items from the house into the front room so he could dunk on his new basketball hoop from Memaw and Pepaw. When I said Miles was resourceful, this is what I was talking about. He was so pleased for me to see what he had come up with. 

March 8

Tuesday morning Miles had his three year well child check up. He clocked in at just shy of three feet (2' 11 5/8") and 30 pounds (29.4 pounds), which seems apropos for a three year old. This was his first well child check up where they took his blood pressure and he didn't have to strip down to his diaper. He's a big boy now, and this random milestone made me feel a little sad. Our family is growing up! After his appointment we stopped at IKEA to pick up a shelf and I found myself much more patient with Miles and his wanting to do everything by himself. I can feel his babyhood slipping through my fingers, and though I know it is time, it makes me a little nostalgic for my babies. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to glamorize babies, they are relentlessly exhausting. But babyhood only lasts for such a small slice of our existence, 

March 9

Wednesday morning Miles and I were able to head up to the OPC playground to witness the 6th grade hot air balloon launch. Will worked on his project with Knox and Peter. Their balloon suffered a rip during the launch from the strong winds, but it still took flight and traveled a short distance. Miles was upset I wouldn't let him join the kindergarteners playing on the playground (it was their recess), but Elliott came over and said hi and that eased his frustration. Lauren's class was outside too, and it was fun to see her and say hi!

March 10

Thursday the kids and Anthony had a snow day. The day started off cold, but the roads weren't bad, so I went to the gym and ran errands in the morning. Lauren spent most of the day with a friend and the boys spent a lot of time playing video games and playing on Miles' new hoop. Anthony had to go up to the church and he took the boys with him so they could play basketball. Miles had fun trying out his new birthday presents this week. He liked to "scare" people with his new Darth Vader mask and vest. Initially I thought it was stupid they cancelled school, but when I went to pick Lauren up from her friend's house I slid three times in my less than a mile drive.

March 11

Friday was the first official day of Spring Break. Lauren went to another friend's house to build with Harry Potter Legos and play Harry Potter Clue--they have bonded over their mutual love of Harry Potter. That evening my parents watched the local grandkids (thank you!) and Jill & Jake and Emily & Matt came to our house and we solved a Cold Case mystery. It was a lot of fun and I'm already looking forward to doing it again. 

March 12

Lauren's girl scout troop walked in the Overland Park St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday. I was hoping to go, but woke up with a bad headache and decided standing outside in 20 degree weather wasn't in the cards for me. I stayed home with Miles while Anthony took Will and Elliott the the parade. They got gobs of candy and St. Patrick's beads. Anthony treated the kids to Buffalo State pizza in downtown OP. In the afternoon Stevie came over and helped us hang up shelves and blinds. It was a fun Saturday.

2022 :: week 9

February 27

Sunday was a long day of travel and I was so happy to get home that night. I had a lot of fun with my sisters and parents, but I missed my kids and Tony too. Tony said Miles was a little disoriented without me around. 

February 28

I spend the day Monday getting back on track after being out of town. Tony did a good job of keeping things going while I was gone, but Monday is always a busy day of odds and ends after the weekend. Elliott and Will had their final basketball practices, and Lauren had soccer practice in the evening. Elliott made this picture for me to welcome me home. He wrote that "Mom loves" the church, made beds, water aerobics, kit kats, the family, reading and Maisie Dobbs books.

March 1

The first Tuesday of the month admission to the Overland Park Arboretum is free. Jill and I took the boys and we all had a great time. Miles and Arthur had a lot of fun climbing on the caboose in the train garden. We also spent a lot of time exploring the model of downtown Overland Park and pointing out the various elements. It was such a pretty day! We ate a picnic lunch and then ran around a bit more before Arthur had to head to preschool. 

March 2

Miles and I met up with a few friends from the ward for a park playdate Wednesday. Miles loves to climb and he climbed up this curved ladder over and over. I have been reflective this week as we approach Miles' birthday. I felt a wave of nostalgia as we walked around the park. I spent a lot of time with Will and Lauren at this park when they were in the preschooler/toddler phase and Tony traveled a lot for work. Those days were so exhausting, but as the kids have gotten older and we are busier than ever I find myself longing for the how much more simple things used to be. In a lot of ways I feel like at 38 I am the mom I desperately wanted to be at 30. 

March 3

Miles got to start his birthday celebrations a little early when his buddy Gabriel brought over a gift for him. Miles received a Paw Patrol backpack with lots of fun accessories. Gabriel was too interested in our other toys, but the big sisters were happy to help Miles open his gift. 

March 4

Parents are finally allowed back in the schools! It has been almost exactly two years. On Friday Anthony got to be the first Mystery Reader for Elliott's kindergarten class. He brought in The B Book by Jan and Stan Berenstain. He got rave reviews for his animated reading. 

March 5

Miles turned three on Saturday and Lauren celebrated by scoring 3 goals at her first soccer game of the season! It was Lauren's first hat trick...and no one from the family was there to see it. :( Anthony's boss passed away Sunday and her funeral was at the same time in KCMO. It was the busiest day of 2022 so far and I'm still feeling a bit tired. 

2022 :: week 8

 

February 20

The kids were dying to play some more One Night Ultimate Werewolf, but it gets a little old when you only play with five people. We took it with us to Memaw & Pepaws house and played with more family after dinner. It was the first time we got together with everyone at my parent's house in over a month! We celebrated Dana's birthday a bit early since so many of us will be traveling for Uncle David's funeral over the weekend. 

February 21

School was out for President's Day and the weather was gorgeous! The high was 70 degrees and the last of the snow melted. The kids spent much of the day with friends. Lauren went with Hailey to Urban Air in the morning, and then spent the afternoon playing at her house. Will and Elliott met Gunnar up at the school playground to play basketball. Then then came to our house for lunch, a homerun derby, jumping on the trampoline, a few video games and more basketball. The evening was busy as Lauren had her first soccer practice of the spring season! Elliott had basketball at 5pm, Lauren had soccer at 6pm and Will had basketball at 8pm. Thankfully we only have two weeks of triple-practice-Mondays!

February 22

The weather has been up and down all month, and keeping with the erratic weather theme, the temperature dropped almost forty degrees overnight. Tuesday we met a bunch of friends at the community center pool and pretended there weren't snow flurries outside. Knox and Will mostly played basketball, while Lauren and Elliott played with their buddies. Miles and I waded around the shallow end and threw a ball back and forth. 

February 23

We had a nothing going on Wednesday evening (our ward does mutual and primary activities the first and third weeks of the month), so we decided to play a few games. Clue Junior and Uno are on heavy rotation. Miles desperately wants to play too, so he rolls the die for me when it is my turn.

February 24

Elliott came home from school with these pictures he drew of himself and his siblings. I love the simple details he included. The chain on Will--that he only wore for his Halloween costume, Lauren's pink thunder jersey--and that he remembered that she wore #12, Elliott saying, "Let's Go!"--something he says all the time, and Miles wearing a Salvador Perez shirt--and that he gave Miles brown hair.

February 25

Friday afternoon the 7 original Cranes headed to St. George for attend a memorial for my Uncle David. My parents, Jill, Emily and I flew together from Kansas, Melanie (and Rosalie) flew from Boston, and Laura (with Trevor and Hannah) drove from Salt Lake. The travel was rather pleasant. We stopped and got In-N-Out for dinner and made Emily's dreams come true. The weather in Boston was awful, so poor Melanie's flight was delayed five hours.

February 26

Saturday morning was Uncle David's memorial service. Several LeBaron cousins attended, as well close family friends. My sisters and I sang "My Way," together. The lyrics reminded our family of how Uncle David lived his life. People shared memories of David and it became obvious that David was an independent, charismatic, gentle, creative man that had to ability to make people feel good about themselves. Afterwards we met at Uncle Steve's clubhouse for a light luncheon and were able to visit with family and friends. It is always sad when people pass away, but I do love how funerals almost forcibly bring loved ones together. I inherited some barstools that David reupholstered for my grandparents decades ago. They were barstools my mom had in her house growing up. I like having these tangible pieces of family history in my home, and knowing that my children are nourished on the same seats that their LeBaron progenitors used.