2019 :: week 38

September 15

Sunday afternoon Tony played the piano. Lauren likes to sing along, and if she doesn't know the words it's not a problem. She just hums and harmonizes. Miles loves to hear the music and be close to the piano when Tony is playing.

September 16

Our garden is finally hitting it's stride. I am gathering this many tomatoes off the vine every other day now. Two of my tomato plants have failed to produce any fruit this year, which is a big disappointment, but the other three are doing so well I am eating tomatoes daily to keep up.

September 17

Will got his first "job." Our neighbors are paying him $5 a week to take their trash cans out Monday evening and then pull them back in after school on Tuesday. That is a much more generous wage than he is getting for doing the same thing for me. Nevertheless, I am excited for him. He has his sites set on earning enough money to buy games for his Nintendo Switch.

September 18

Miles is such a good sport. Most days he spends over and hour in his carseat as we drive his siblings to and from school and then to their various activities. In addition to that he usually accompanies me on my various errands. When we get to the park after school I am quick to get him out of his seat and let him move around a bit. He is such a sweet little guy and I am so grateful for his patience.

September 19

Our basement is really starting to come together. It is so exciting! Most of the major work is done, and now the guys are working on finishing touches. The floor is officially down as of today.

September 20

Will has been playing "hockey" on the tennis courts with his friends after school. One of my favorite things about our neighborhood is the things the kids come up with to entertain themselves at the park after school. I also think it is really neat how kids from all grades play together. Of course kids gravitate towards their own classmates, but Will routinely plays with kids in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th grades.

September 21

It was a rainy Saturday and the kids got a little stir-crazy. Nothing a little baking soda, vinegar and food coloring couldn't solve. About a week ago Elliott did a some science experiments at school with vinegar and baking soda and since then we have gone through two bottle of vinegar and a full box of baking soda. All three kids got in on the action.

2019 :: week 37

September 8

We hosted a BYD at our house Sunday evening, so the kids stayed up much later than usual. When we start our bedtime routine late the kids tend to push even harder against getting in bed. It is almost like they think, "they already let us stay up an extra our, why not make it an hour and a half?"  Lauren and Elliott like to have Anthony carry they upstairs to bed, so Anthony was much obliged to carry Lauren up to hasten the process. It make me nervous when he carries her upside down and backwards, but she loves it and no one has ever gotten hurt so I just bite my tongue and pray the kids don't accidentally do something to affect Anthony's grip.

September 9

Elliott and his buddy Nicholas eat their lunch "leftovers" at the park after school. I'm starting to suspect that Elliott purposefully doesn't eat most of his lunch so he can eat at the park.

September 10

While we were waiting for Elliott's 4 year well-child check-up at the pediatricians' office Elliott drew Alex Gordon--complete with his hat, goatee and KC on his hat and jersey.

September 11

Lauren had a great soccer practice Wednesday evening. It was quite hot, so the girls got a few extra water breaks. They worked hard on their drill and seemed to have a really great time. I attempted to walk a few laps around the pond, but didn't last as long as I would have liked because I forgot to bring water for myself.

September 12

Miles has a tooth! We worked hard for that baby and I am proud of it! It is one of his two center bottom teeth. I am confident the other will cut through the gum within the week.

September 13

Friday evening we went to the Diggins house for dinner and had such a great time! I was having a  long, hard week and was feeling discouraged when Carrie texted me and asked if I wanted to get together soon. I quickly invited our family over for dinner and I'm so glad I did. It was just what I needed to get out of my funk. The adults had fun catching up and reminiscing about old times. Three of our kids match up perfectly age-wise and they all got along marvelously throughout the evening. Before we left they kids were making plans for our next get together at our house. Poor Cami (Carrie's 11 year old) was the odd woman out. Miles was perfectly content to be held or take a nap in his car seat.

September 14

Saturday was a busy day! We started the day by going to the Cidermill, eating donuts and playing in the corn crib. The jump pillow was out of order, much to the disappointment of our crew. In the afternoon we went to Lauren's soccer game. Lauren played great and her team won. It is so fun seeing her growth as a player. On the way home we stopped at Costa Vida for dinner. That evening I met up with my ministering sisters for Freezing Moo.

2019 :: week 36

September 1

September 2

Our Labor Day looked much like it has for the past few years--ward picnic in the morning, followed by chores in the afternoon, and an evening of swimming. We like to order pizza for dinner and stay until it closes. The pool was more crowded than I remember it being all summer. We ran into several friends, and each of the kids had a great time. We gave Will's buddy Knox a ride home. These two kids are such good boys, they make me smile.

September 3

Lately, while we are out and about Elliott loves identifying Kia Souls. He has an eagle eye and it is amazing how often he correctly identifies them when he is in the car. He claims to hate them, though I'm not exactly sure how he started to feel so strongly about them. Most likely because Will is into cars and comments on various makes and models when we are driving too. For the record, Will really likes Mustangs and Teslas. While we were out running errands we parked next to a green Kia Soul and we took a quick selfie to mark the occasion. May Elliott always be so easy to please.

September 4

Wednesday my sister Laura arrived for a quick visit. Originally she was going to visit at the same time as the Allreds, but life interfered and she came a week later. That evening my dad took Laura, Emily, Miles and me to the Royals game. The weather was great, the Royals played well, and we had a fun time catching up and visiting. Jorge Soler hit his 40th homerun.

September 5

Thursday evening we went bowling with the family. It was the first time we have ever all gone together. I have taken Will and Lauren before, but it was Elliott's first time bowling himself. We all had such a great time, especially the kids! The last time I went bowling was while I was pregnant with Miles and it is amazing how much a big belly impedes your game. My mom ordered some breaded mozzarella balls and they were very tasty.

September 6

Most days we stay and play at the park for a good 30-60 minutes after school lets out. Elliott and his friend Nicholas save parts of their lunch and have a little "picnic" together pretty regularly.

September 7

Laura, Emily and I went to the Backstreet Boys concert at the Sprint Center Saturday night. It was so much fun! So much nostalgia. Amazing people watching. Great boy band dancing. Hilarious outfits. I was excited to go and had an even better time than I expected. Thank goodness for sisters who keep me young.

2019 :: week 35

August 25

We went to my parents' house for dinner on Sunday and had fun visiting with the Wilsons and Allreds. It is fun to see the family grow--there were seven grandchildren in attendance--as much as the original Crane family. In her usual fashion, Lauren spent most of the evening playing with Arthur. But he never sits still! They took turns pushing each other on this toy car.

August 26

Monday morning Elliott, Miles and I joined the Allreds, Emily and Mikey on a trip to the Nelson Atkins Museum. It ended up being extremely rainy and we got soaked as we walked inside the building. We typically just visit the outside installations, so it was fun for me to look around inside. Here is Miles viewing his first Monet.

August 27

Tuesday morning I went over to my parents' house to watch Mikey while Emily took some family pictures for the Allreds. When they returned from the photo shoot Arthur and Miles played together for a bit. Or I guess, to be more accurate, Arthur played around Miles. I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of the best parts of living close to my parents is that we get to see family when they are visiting them.

August 28

Since we are already in the middle of some housing upgrades I decided to update our TV room too. It is a classic "If you give a mouse a cookie" situation. I wanted to paint the room and get a new fan, but when we took an old shelf off the wall it left a hole. It was difficult to patch the hole because the walls are faux wood paneling. One thing led to another and now we are taking the beams down and replacing the paneling with drywall. We will not be able to use the room at all for about a week, with another week of limited use. In the meantime, our TV room furniture has been re-homed to our front room, making things nice and cozy. Here were are in our front room, sitting on our TV room couch, watching a video on my phone as part of our Come Follow Me discussion.

August 29

With all the drywall dust in the air our HVAC filter was overwhelmed, causing the coil to freeze, leak into our control panel and short out the system. Apparently this is a thing, so if you are ever getting new drywall put up keep a good eye on your filter. Even though we changed our filter at the end of June there was too much dust and it was overwhelmed. Unfortunately we were in the middle of a heat wave while all this was going on, so after an incredibly hot night Wednesday I stayed out of the house as much as possible Thursday until it was repaired. Thursday night I packed a picnic for dinner and we spent the evening at the pool cooling off. It was a great choice! We all had fun and by the time we got home the house had cooled down to below 80 degrees. At it's worst our house got up to 84 degrees.

August 30

Miles is just a delight. He is sweet and smiley and starting to sleep well again. He picked up a "back to school" cold a few days after the older kids started school and became very congested which made it hard for him to nurse and sleep for extended stretches through the night. When he is awake he is busy chewing on any and every thing he can get into his mouth. He is experimenting with his voice all the time, and regularly make Anthony and I laugh after we put him to bed and can hear him cooing and grunting as he falls asleep.

August 31

Saturday morning Emily took some pictures of Lauren for her baptism invitations. We drove to the rose gardens at Loose Park and got some really beautiful shots. It is crazy to think that she will be baptized in less than two months. We spent the rest of Saturday working on various chores around that house that have been put off with family in town and the construction in the basement and TV room.

2019 :: week 34

August 18

We planned on blessing Miles in church when the Johns were in town but then our Stake had to schedule Stake Conference. We decided to bless him in our home that morning before church so Doug and Tina could get on the road. Anthony gave Miles a beautiful blessing. That evening Will and I went for a walk Sunday evening. Walks with Will are some of the most valuable time I get with him. He opens up more about things he is thinking and feelings he is having. We had a great talk Sunday night and I felt so grateful to have him as my oldest child. He is thoughtful and wise and tries so hard to be good. I am so grateful for each of my four children and the things they help me learn.

August 19

Monday night we went up to the park for the 4th grade kickoff. The three fourth grade teachers invited all the fourth graders and their families to the park to meet and greet the teachers and enjoy popsicles and games. Will spent most of his time playing wiffle ball, though he did manage to each a few treats. Lauren found a friend to play with and I talked mostly to boy moms. Anthony stayed home with our little boys.

August 20

Cub Scouts ended its summertime hiatus with a splash Tuesday night--water games and cookies for the boys and their families. It is a weird time to be involved in Cub Scouts, while the church is transitioning away from the program. When leaders move they aren't replaced and because most of the boys are not continuing on with other scout troops they are only working on supplemental badges.  A few boys have stopped attending because they have joined school troops. The boys are also only meeting every other week. As a parent it is more convenient, but I know Will is disappointed. He loves playing basketball with his friends (especially Seth) when scouts is over and he is waiting for Tony to get done. 

August 21

Elliott starting doing better with drop offs and participating in school as the week went on this week. After a very rough drop off on Monday (he kicked the principal!) we made a game plan for Tuesday. When I drop him off we squeeze hands three times to say "I love you!" Then if he goes in without a tantrum he gets a lollipop to eat in the van on the way home.  His teacher takes pictures and posts them on the Seesaw app and we enjoy checking them out in the evening after school. They help facilitate better discussions about his day too, because I can ask better questions when I have a hint to what he's been up to.

August 22

On Thursday I got to live my best mini-van mom carpooling life and give Elliott's classmate Eliza and our neighbor Bennett a ride home from school. Elliott has taken a recent interest in 90s country--specifically Garth Brooks and the Dixie Chicks. We shared his "no tantrum" lollipops with his friends and rocked out on our way home.

August 23

The basement project is really coming along and I wanted to take a some pictures of the walls before the sheet rock was installed. The crew came over at 8:30am Saturday morning and got the entire basement covered that day. It is so exciting to see the progress!

August 24

My dad got tickets to go to the preseason Chiefs game Saturday evening and so Will and Anthony went to the game (along with my dad, Matt and Jake). Will and Uncle Matt are big Pat Mahomes fans and were glad they got to see him play, even though he only played in the first half and the Chiefs ended up losing the game.

2019 :: week 33

August 11

Sunday was Elliott's fourth birthday. He has been looking forward to "August 11th" for a very long time and was so excited when it finally arrived. Waiting until after church to open his presents was torture! For dinner we got together with the Wilsons at Memaw and Pepaw's house and ate yummy ham sandwiches. Elliott is wonderful. He is a ray of sunshine and jokester who makes us laugh every single day. He has strong convictions and loves his buddies--especially Nicholas, Tyler, Blaise and Bennett. He has an amazing imagination and keeps us entertained—whether it be dancing like the Greatest Showman, playing baseball like Whit-Whit Merrifield and Mookie Betts or telling us tales of his imaginary grandpa Tomás and his son John Blakely.

August 12

For the first time since we've had kids at OPC, school started on a Monday! Will is in Mrs. Votava's 4th grade class and has good friends Knox and Landon in his class. Lauren is in Mrs. Martin's 2nd grade class and has good friends Cat, Caroline and Hailey in her class. Everyone was up and ready to leave by 7:45am. We walked up to school and Will drifted into the crowd, so we just walked Lauren to her classroom and left. My babies are growing up. We got to meet Elliott's teacher Ms. Amanda at a "getting to know you" conference Monday afternoon. He is anxious to start to school Wednesday.

August 13

We moved Elliott to the top bunk in Lauren's room Tuesday night. He fell asleep and slept fine, but had an accident for the first time in about six months!? We are ready to move Miles out of our room and want to move him into the room Elliott has been sleeping in and move Elliott into Lauren's room with her, but now I am not so sure. Managing bedtime needs, routines and preferences is much harder than I ever imagined it would be.

August 14

Elliott looked both so big and so little when we walked him into school Wednesday afternoon. His school goes from 12:15-3pm each day. Anthony came home for lunch and drove with us to the school. It was very crowded and we had to park at the back of the parking lot. Elliott did a great job when we dropped him off and was all smiles when we came to pick him up. As we were walking into school we realized that our neighbor Bennett is also attending this preschool. After I talked to his nanny about carpooling we found out that Elliott has a lot of anxiety about riding in other people's cars and both Thursday and the following Monday were rough days with him and school.

August 15

Nana and Papa arrived Wednesday afternoon while I was picking up the kids from school. They are driving from Boston to Utah and after stopping for a few days in VA with the Gessells stopped to see us for a few days. Thursday while the kids were in school and Anthony was at work they visited the World War 1 museum. Friday they took Elliott to Crown Center to play at the Clifford exhibit and get lunch at Fritz's. Each night Papa ready a few Bob Books with Lauren.

August 16

Will has taken up riding his bike again. I love watching him grin as he races around the block and coasts down steep diveways. Oh to be young and experience the freedom of a bike!

August 17

Saturday morning we went with our neighbors to a church in KCK to serve a free hot breakfast. Many of the recipients were homeless or really struggling to make ends meet. Will and Lauren did such a good job of helping where needed and having a positive attitude, despite the heat. We brought Doug and Tina along as well and they were a big help! Doug washed dishes in the hot, humid kitchen for the entire 3 hours we were there.

2019 :: week 32

August 4

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, miraculously all arriving on time at 9am. It made me smile to see the kids play on the rock in the parking lot that their dad played on when he was a kid many years ago. That afternoon Nana and Papa did a Come Follow Me lesson about baptism and then we went for a walk around Mount Auburn Cemetery. It was beautiful and good for the kids to burn some energy.

August 5

Late Monday morning Nana and Papa took the Nielsons to the airport. It was hard for the kids to say goodbye to their cousins. I am glad they like each other so much. That afternoon we went to Kimball farms where the kids got to ride the bumper boats a few times. It was exactly like bumper cars, but on these little boats. The older three kids really enjoyed themselves. After we got the ice cream that Kimball Farms is famous for Doug mentioned that the Royals were playing the Red Sox that night and that it might be fun to go to one last game before they moved. We decided that Doug, Anthony and Will would go to the game and the rest of us would stay at the house. Tina worked on packing their stuff, I worked on gathering up our stuff from around the house and getting it packed, and the kids watched the movie Up! It seemed to be a very fitting way to end our trip (and Doug and Tina's tenure in Boston).

August 6

Tuesday morning we flew back to Kansas City. I made the kids and Anthony take one last picture on the porch of Anthony's childhood home. Anthony's parents bought it in 1988 when they moved to Boston for Doug to practice podiatry. It was harder than usual to say goodbye knowing that even though we'd see Nana and Papa again, it wouldn't be here. Tuesday night would be the last night they slept in that house, leaving town Thursday. We had a relatively smooth flight home and were able to go to the pool in the afternoon. We went to my parents for dinner to celebrate Emily's birthday.

August 7

I don't remember much about what went on Wednesday. We finished unpacking, did laundry and went grocery shopping. Miles had another physical therapy appointment. Blaise came over and played with Elliott for a bit. They made treasure maps and asked me for snacks many times. Often when I tell Blaise he should ask his mom for a snack he replies, "She said no, that's why I'm asking you." These two boys are a little crafty.

August 8

The OPC Back-to-School night was Thursday. We were thrilled when we found out who their teachers will be for the upcoming school year. Lauren will have the same teacher Will had in second grade, Mrs. Martin. He had such a great year and we credit her for much of that. She is wonderful. Will will be in Mrs. Votava's 4th grade class, and after meeting her Thursday, I think she will exactly what he needs. She has a lot of energy, is super positive and enthusiastic about learning. As an added bonus, both Will and Lauren will have a few of their closest friends in their classes with them too.

August 9

We have started feeding Miles solid foods. The verdict is still out on what he thinks about it. I'm not sure how much he actually swallowed, but he didn't seem upset during the feeding so I'll take that as a good sign.

August 10

We celebrated Elliott's birthday a day early with pizza and cookies at the pool. Anthony was doing a workshop during the day, so had friends meet us at 5pm. Elliott is such a great guy and he loves nothing more than parties and treats and buddies. Tanner, Nicholas, Tyler and Blaise are pictured with him.

2019 :: week 31

July 28

Elliott has wonderful primary teachers. Sisters (Debbie) Scott and Tay (Givan) do such a good job with the Sunbeams. It is a small class and they make it so fun. This Sunday the topic was missionary work and Elliott was so proud of his name badge. Apparently he got a lot of comments while he was wearing it around the chapel looking for me after our meetings were over. He also told me that he was going to be the bishop after dad.

July 29

Monday evening we boarded a flight to Boston! We wanted to take the kids one last time while Doug and Tina are living in their home. We booked an evening flight so we spent the early part of the day cleaning and packing and getting ready to leave. We had a pretty good flight, the kids played games and watched shows on their kindles and I read my book club book (The Butterfly Garden). We now take up two rows, though Miles was a lap child and didn't get his own seat.

July 30

To say we utilized every moment of our time in Boston would be an understatement. We coordinated with the Nielsons and overlapped six of the seven days we were there. On Tuesday morning we spent the morning at Walden Pond. We swam and played in the sand and tried to avoid getting sunburned. While we were in the area we went to the Minuteman Visitors Center and learned about what was going on in the area in the days and months leading up to the night of Paul Revere's midnight ride. After forced quiet times where most of the kids refused to actually sleep we headed into Boston to watch a Red Sox game! It was a good game and all the kids did great. We knew we were pushing Elliott, Miles (and even Lauren) a bit to stay up this late after such a long day, and they were great! The ice cream we bought them may have helped.

July 31

We slept in a bit the next morning, but then we took off for the beach in Ogunquit, Maine. It was Miles' first time at the ocean, and I think he liked it. The older kids jumped in the waves and the younger kids ran around and everybody played in the sand. We originally were going to go to lunch at the Oarweed, but decided we should head back so the adults--Carly, Daniel, Anthony and me--could get to the play Dear Evan Hansen on time. At Tina's recommendation we went to see the play that evening downtown. Anthony and I enjoyed both the play and going on a double date with the Nielsons. It almost felt like we were young again and unencumbered couples again like we were when we would hang out at BYU until Nana let us know that Miles refused to take the bottle we had left for him and so we didn't go out for dessert afterwards. Kids!

August 1

Thursday had us heading into Boston. We first visited Boston Common where we stopped to take a cousin picture on the iconic ducklings before riding on the swan boats. Then we got on the Freedom Trail and logged a lot of steps. We stopped for a pizza lunch at Quincy Market and then said goodbye to Daniel. He left for the airport to head back to Utah to begin camps and recruiting. After we refueled we forged on followed the trail to the North End. It was hot and after we visited Paul Revere's House and the Old North Church we decided to head back. We stopped for refreshments at Dunkin' Donuts and then headed back home. That night Anne and Peter came over and the grownups stayed up late visiting into the early hours of the morning.

August 2

At this point we were all feeling very tired. On Thursday we took things slow. Anthony and Carly took the kids to the park. They were going to go to a park that had super long slides, but apparently they were very hot, so they left there and went to Joey's Park in Belmont instead. They played for a few hours and Anthony saw his old friend Jon Bowen. That night after the kids went to bed I went for a walk with Carly and Tina. Even though all the adults were tired we still stayed up late talking.

August 3

Saturday we went to Castle Island Park. We visited there back in 2017 when we visited and Will and Lauren requested a return trip. Even though it was probably the coolest day of the trip we had fun at the beach collecting rocks and creating designs with them on the sand. We got lunch there and then walked around the fortress. It is so cool to walk around the back side of the island and see the ships in the harbor. That afternoon Anthony and Carly took the older kids to the Science Museum while I stayed back with Miles. That evening we made smoothies with fruit that Nana and Papa were trying to use up before they move.