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. 

2022 :: week 7

February 13

When Lauren and I went to Target last Thursday they were already sold out of Valentines! On February 10th!?! We decided to go the homemade Valentines route because I didn't want to guess and check at various stores around town. Will opted to not exchange Valentines this year so we only had to worry about making Valentines for Lauren and Elliott. For both kids we cut pieces of construction paper into squares. We got out our collection of stickers and Elliott put a sticker on each paper and then signed his name. Then I taped a Starburst on each one. Lauren personalized her Valentines by drawing a simple picture for each classmate. She drew soccer balls for her soccer loving friends, a stack of books for her bookworm friends, etc. Then we taped a few Starburst to each card. I feel like other parents have ruined this holiday for me. After spending $15 on ring pops and stretch pop toys for class gift bags my kids wanted me to spend more money on treats to pass out with their Valentines, and were disappointed that I would only buy one bag of Starbursts. 

February 14

When Luke and Gemma dropped off a Valentine for Miles Monday morning he was thrilled!  

February 15

When we gather to do Come Follow Me, or are all sitting together on the couch, it is almost guaranteed that Elliott and Miles will fight over my lap. I enjoy it more than I would like to admit. As our time with very young kids is winding to a close I am appreciating more than ever the sweet feeling of little bodies on my lap. All our kids are very sweet, but Elliott and Miles are probably the most cuddly. We sometimes joke that if there is two inches of space on the couch between people, Elliott will do his best to wiggle his body into the space. Over the past few months Miles has become increasingly territorial of my lap real estate. I held a baby for a friend a month ago at church and he ran from across the room and yelled, "I'm the baby!" at me. 

 

February 16

The most "exciting" thing to happen to us this week happened on Wednesday. After a busy lunchbreak helping a member of the ward avoid eviction Anthony got word that the bumper was ripped off his parked car. Apparently as a larger car attempted to leave the parking lot, it clipped the bumper and ripped it completely off! He told Anthony it sounded like tinfoil. Eeeks! Our car was towed to a body shop and we are awaiting news as to when it will be repaired. In the meantime we have a rental car, both things being covered by the insurance of the man who did the damage. We feel pretty lucky, all things considered, but it is discouraging that even when the responsible party does all the right things, it is still terribly inconvenient and time consuming to deal with the aftermath.

February 17

We were told we'd get a snowstorm and we got a pretty big one! I was a little dubious when I got the text that school was cancelled when it was 65 degrees and clear, but the schools made the right call. We never put out a ruler, but neighbors reported between 6"-8" of snow. It didn't start snowing until a little before sunrise, but it snowed until lunchtime. I don't remember the last time we had that much snow fall so quickly. We had a pretty quiet family day at home as Anthony didn't have to work either. We played several rounds of One Night Ultimate Werewolf in the morning and sauned in the afternoon. I baked some chocolate mint cookies, which we ate while we watched Olympic figure skating in the evening. It was a very cozy day.

February 18

Friday Anthony had to go back to work, but the kids had another inclement weather day. The Wilsons came over for a bit and more games were played. It was much warmer on Friday and a lot of the snow melted. That evening life was "back to normal," and we were able to go watch Elliott play in his weekly basketball game. 

February 19

When I got home from the gym Saturday morning I was a little confused as to when the Primary Friend to Friend was going to be on. I forgot that the listed time was for the Mountain Time Zone, and so I had the kids re-watch the previous Friend to Friend. Lauren was really enjoying the drawing instruction and decided to keep drawing. She drew this picture of Elliott referencing a picture I took of Elliott earlier in the week. Our kids are much better artists than I ever was.

2022 :: week 6

February 6

Weston created a Pokemon kahoot (quiz) and invited his Pokemon-loving cousins to take it Sunday afternoon. We got on zoom and the kids could see the quiz questions and also hear what their cousins were saying., it was really fun. Lauren was pleased to come in 2nd place. Elliott struggled to keep quiet with his answers. Miles was just happy to be there.

February 7

The first half of the week we enjoyed some gorgeous weather. Miles and Lauren ran around the tennis courts while we played at the park after school on Monday. 

February 8

Will and Elliott each had a buddy over for about an hour after school and they all shot hoops together for a bit. A lot of basketball is happening at the John house right now.

February 9

Miles has recently taken notice of the various security feeds at stores and loves seeing "Momma and Miles on TV." When we were at Hy-Vee this week he started making funny faces towards the feed. When we walked out of Hy-Vee I walked past our van and towards an almost identical--but much cleaner--van. When I realized the filthy vehicle was ours we drove straight to the car wash and got the most comprehensive wash. Then we spent close to an hour cleaning the inside. We vacuumed, threw out tons of trash, scrubbed the hard surfaces and washed the interior windows. It felt so good as we drove home, I love driving a clean vehicle. 

February 10

Something Anthony wanted to do when he became bishop is meet with the missionaries on a weekly basis. They come to our home and he talks with them about how things are going--how are they doing, how are their investigators doing, how is the ward doing at supporting them, etc. Once a month they have this meeting in the sauna, much like Tony did on his mission to Finland. He currently meets with the missionaries on Thursday evenings at 8pm, but over the course of his bishoping has met with them at different times. He met with them on Saturday evenings for the first few years he was bishop, which I didn't like as much. I have had mixed feelings about this "extra" meeting that he has decided to hold, on top of his other required responsibilities, but as we reach the tail end of his time as bishop I can see that it is a good thing. Missionaries in our ward report high levels of satisfaction with serving in our ward and I know that Anthony is genuine in his desire to help. We occasionally hear that OP2 is a coveted ward to serve in the mission because the bishop is so awesome. In this photo are Elders Hansen, Barney, Hawk and Hansen (yes, 2 Hansens).

February 11

Tara (Landon's mom) took a group of OPC boys to the SMS basketball game Friday night. They also went and watched a basketball game at the middle school this week. Will and his friends are all in on basketball right now. Friday was a busy night with Will, Lauren and Elliott each having plans of their own. Elliott had a basketball game and then a birthday party at Main Event. Lauren had a Valentine Party with a few friends from church. We did a lot of driving that night, and I know that we are just starting the era of our kids having more weekend plans that Anthony and I do. It makes me happy that our kids have such good friends and can enjoy fun activities together.

February 12

Saturday we got to participate in Tyler Wilson's baptism. One of the greatest benefits of living close to some family members is that we get to celebrate special times together. This year we have four other cousins getting baptized--one already has--and we wish we could be there with them too. (Adelaide in VA in September 2021, Camille in UT in April 2022 and Derek and Nolan in OR in April 2022).

2022 :: week 5

January 30

Dana stopped by with a belated birthday gift for "the good bishop," as she refers to Anthony. She knows his vices well. We are only a few weeks in, but having church at 10:30am after a year of 12:30pm is wonderful. Our afternoons as so much more relaxed!

 

January 31

There's nothing like that fresh-from-the-dryer-softie-blanket feeling. Miles gets very excited when we pulled his fresh blankets out from the dryer. Actually, he gets pretty excited when we pull any of his clean clothes out from the dryer.

February 1

Meteorologists around the metro were forecasting a big winter storm would hit Tuesday night. I spent the day preparing for the potential snow day ahead. Miles and I ran a few errands, including a trip to the library where we picked up a Boss Baby movie that he has been requesting. We stopped at Home Depot to pick up a toilet fill valve for our basement toilet, and picked up an shovel too. We are inexplicably missing one of our shovels. We also filled up on gas and picked up an extra gallon of milk so our milk guzzler (Miles) could survive. While Miles took a nap that afternoon I did a quick cleaning in our garage. I swept out some debris and threw away a few things that had collected over the past few months. When the crew was working on our kitchen they kept a few tool in the garage and now that they are done we didn't have to have stuff quite so squished together. It feels good to have extra room to move around in there again. 

February 2

I got the text that school was cancelled around 7:30pm Tuesday night. All the districts in our area were closed Wednesday. Anthony's work is also cancelled when Blue Valley Schools close for inclement weather. It was nice to know ahead of time that school was cancelled so we could all sleep in, though no one really did besides me and Anthony, and we were both up and out of bed before 8am. We had a truly relaxing day. I read most of a book and lots of video games were played. In the afternoon the kids went sledding with the neighbors. Anthony took the big kids to piano in the afternoon and I shoveled the driveway. It was nice to veg out most of the day, but my body needed to move!

February 3

School was cancelled again on Thursday. It seems a bit of a stretch to me, but the kids already had Friday off for Parent Teacher conferences, so it wasn't a big surprise when the "no school" text came. We met the Wilsons at the OPC parking lot and went sledding at the hill between OPC and Holy Spirit. It isn't the best sledding hill in town, but it is great for our kids. We lasted about 30 minutes--it was very windy and the wind was cold!

February 4

Miles and I picked up a jumbo box of graham crackers while we were out shopping on Tuesday and suddenly graham crackers and milk have become the snack du jour at the John house. Good thing we picked up the extra milk!

February 5

The kids like to pile on Anthony. He is a fun dad and will usually wrestle upon request. Not related to the picture, but I made enchiladas for dinner on Saturday. The kids don't really like enchiladas, but Anthony and I do so I only make them about once a month. I told the kids they could use their own money to buy a hot dog from the concession stand at Will's basketball game if they didn't want to eat the enchiladas, and ALL THREE of the big kids chose to do that. Oh well, more for us. 

2022 :: week 4

January 23

Wicked lit a fire inside Lauren and she was reminded how much she likes musicals after we went. He music teacher decided that the 4th grade will put on a musical this spring and she spent the week preparing for the upcoming auditions. Lauren decided to make posters for a few of her "favorites" musicals over the weekend. These are all the musicals she has seen, though she has only seen Hamilton on Disney+. She saw Annie at Tuchahan this past summer, and we saw it at Theatre in the Park a few summers ago as well. Our family has also seen Matilda,  Newsies and Joseph... at Theatre in the Park (though she opted not to make a sign for Joseph because she said it was too hard).

January 24

The boys' basketball league is run through a local Baptist church. Each week at practice they have a devotional and each week during the devotional I get worried at what Elliott might say. He often makes comments and I heard him reference the Book of Mormon at least once. I generally don't want my kids to hide themselves under a bushel, but this doesn't really seem to be the time to "let your light so shine."

January 25

It got cold again and on Tuesday I had to jump Anthony's car again. We had the missionaries over for dinner so I went and picked him up from work when it wouldn't start, then after dinner we drove back to his work and jumped it again. Wednesday morning he took it to an auto shop he likes after the clerks at AutoZone said they wouldn't help him install a new one. I also took our van in for its 100K mile tune up and found out it needs $3K in maintenance. Who said adults have more fun? Side note: the third floor of the building in the background is where Anthony works. 

January 26

Miles wants to be do everything Elliott does. I found him Wednesday afternoon on my bed wearing Elliott's Royals hat, reading Elliott's weekly reading assignment. 

January 27

Friday marked the 100th day of school (for Kindergarteners). With Will and Lauren I was so on top of this milestone and we had their 100th day projects done days in advance. With Elliott I had to run to Target to pick up some M&Ms after dinner on Thursday. 

January 28

Miles had a runny nose so we laid low on Friday and I tried to clean our my closet. I was pretty pleased with how organized my closet was looking until I walked into the TV room and saw that Miles had made quite the mess. Two steps forward, one step back with a toddler.  

January 29

The weather was gorgeous and the kids spent a lot of time playing outside on Saturday. A neighbor's granddaughter who drove on our street a few times came to our house and requested to speak with me. She said she had seen the kids playing in the road and not looking while they crossed the street. I was pretty sure it wasn't my kids who were playing unsafely in the road, but they were playing in our driveway. I had to remind myself that I am glad she cares about the well being these children she didn't know, and that it must take courage to confront a stranger and give them negative feedback. I also told the kids to play in the backyard after that because I just didn't want to think about it anymore.

 

2022 :: week 3

January 16

Sunday was Stake Conference. Between the freezing temperatures and omicron cases on the rise, we opted to watch from the cozy comfort of our basement. The visiting authority was an Elder Firmage who we discovered is second cousins with Anthony (both descendants of Harvey and Lorena Fletcher). 

January 17

We invited the McCalls over to sauna with us on Monday. Anthony was off work and the kids were out of school. We had to sauna in shifts because there were so many of us! Will and Chase got so hot they ran up to the school to play basketball. The younger kids ran around in the snow and a few attempted snow angels.

January 18

Our neighbor stopped by Tuesday afternoon to give me six boxes of mixed gummies. He works in a plant that had overstock and he wanted to share his extras with us. While I talked to him I felt a pang of guilt. In Stake Conference one of the speakers talked about not judging people, and I certainly have judged this neighbor in the past. 

January 19

Miles has been making this scrunchy-faced smile recently. He has so much personality! I have been going to the gym a few times a week. I love water aerobics and this gym is one of the only gyms in town that offers both aqua classes and child watch facilities. We usually go in the late morning to avoid big crowds.

January 20

Thursday night was "Back to the Woods," the night where 6th grade families across the SMS area visit the middle school. Students and their families are able to tour the middle school, attend a short presentation about what the middle school day looks like, and visit booths showcasing the extracurriculars available to 7th graders. I haven't been very excited at the prospect of Will leaving elementary school, but being at the middle school, amongst his peers from across the district I could see that it is going to be a great place for Will. 

January 21

Elliott had quite the cheering section at this game Friday night. He has eight games this seasons, all on Friday nights, from 5:15-6:15pm. Knox and Gunnar came to cheer for Elliott and Elliott loved the extra fans. The boys took videos of Elliott playing and sent them to other 6th graders. There is a very affordable snack bar at the games and our kids and their friends have enjoyed cheap candy. 

January 22

I made this cross-stitch for Dana and finally framed it. I wanted to make her a cross-stitch that reflected her personality and Dana loves to be outdoors, spade in hand, amongst plants. Every time I work outside with her she is pointing out the species of bird or butterfly, and the scientific names of plants. When she ran her own landscaping business it was called 'The Garden Guru.' It was a fun project for me. I used my Stitch People book to figure out the ratios on her figure, and looked online (mainly on Pinterest) to figure out the ratios of plants and birds. 

2022 :: week 2

January 9

When I tried to start our Optima before church on Sunday it wouldn't start! I was pretty sure it just needed a jump, but Anthony had left a few minutes earlier and I wasn't able to get ahold of him. My dad was able to come over and the car easily started after we jumped the battery. I think the last time we replaced the battery was in 2016, so we are probably due.

January 10

Mondays are my busy housework day, when I work on laundry and tidy up after having the family home all weekend. Miles enjoyed having unfettered access to Elliott's Legos while he is away at school and I am distracted with housework. 

January 11

Most Tuesdays I drive a carpool of kids to the middle school for Honor Band. In the past the honor band was by invite only, but this year all band students are invited to participate to make up for lost instruction time due to Covid protocols. I drive Will, Liam, Ira and Tristan, and Ira's mom drives them home. The timeline is a little tight, picking up the boys and getting them to the middle school before they get out at 3:45pm and the parking lot becomes insane with jaywalking middle schoolers. 

January 12

Lauren and I had such a great time at Wicked on Wednesday evening! The play was held in the Music Hall downtown, across the street from the Marriott. Thankfully I am familiar with parking on that part of town so were were easily able to find a place to park. We got there early to pick up our tickets at the box office. With lottery tickets you have no idea where they are located until you pick them up. I asked an usher to help us find our seats and we were delighted to discover we were assigned orchestra seats,  on the front row and slightly right of center. We could look down and see the musicians in the pit and could easily see the expressions of the actors on stage. Lauren and I had such a fun time! Lauren loves musicals, and has fallen in love with the soundtrack. Her favorite song is "Popular," though I don't think her brothers care for that song anymore. 

January 13

Bath night! Miles has taken to wearing Royals hats. He frequently tell us he wants to go to a Royals game. I told him we can try to go in the spring and now he tells me, "go to a Royals game in the springtime," several times a day.

January 14

Elliott had his first basketball game Friday evening. He did great! They don't call traveling in his league, and there was a lot of traveling...but it was still fun to watch. The coaches are on the court with the team, reminding them of things they talked about at practice, telling them which direction to go, and stick to their person when they are on defense. Elliott was on cloud nine afterwards. He is a real competitor. 

January 15

Will had his first basketball game Saturday afternoon. Anthony had to speak at the leadership session of Stake Conference, so he was unable to attend. I took a few pictures to send to him. I was proud of how Will played. Some of the kids are pretty physical, and this league is fairly hands off with the reefing. Will is smaller than most of the kids, and despite his height disadvantage he was able to juke his opponents and hit layup after layup. He was the highest scorer in the game.

2022 :: week 1

 

January 2

I made the kids take a picture after church while we were waiting for Tony for finish talking to a few people. We don't typically all drive together, but it felt safest to travel in the van. It was very cold and the roads were a slick, so many people opted to stay home and participate via zoom. There weren't enough teachers there to staff primary, and second hour was cancelled. Normally I would be all for that, but I had spent a lot of time preparing my Sunday School lesson and was excited for the potential discussions. 

January 3

Because the boys were going a little stir-crazy, I sent them to shovel the driveway Monday afternoon. We have had a great break from school! We've done lots of fun things together as a family with Anthony was home for a solid week. Usually when he takes that much time off from work we travel somewhere, so it was nice to enjoy some relaxing time at home. However, by Monday afternoon the kids had really started to bicker and bounce off the walls. That night Elliott and Will had their first basketball practices. I totally dropped the ball and remembered Elliott's 5pm practice at about 5:30pm, but he made it and is excited.

January 4

Another witching hour, another picture of my boys outside expelling some energy. Over the past month Miles has really fallen in love with jumping on the trampoline. It is his favorite thing to do, especially with Elliott.

January 5

Just some Dad/Elliott/Miles wrestling. Like I said before, the kids are going a little stir crazy and Dad is good for a wrestling match now and again to distract the boys while I make dinner. The big kids went back to school today. They were excited, but it was a little disorienting for Miles to be stuck with just mom all day.

January 6

I snapped this picture of the kids hanging out on the couch after dinner. The kids have started watching Phineas and Ferb, and it is a pretty clever show. They are enjoying being back in school and seeing their friends, but struggling to adjust to their comparative loss of free-time. 

January 7

When I saw that Wicked was coming to Kansas City I wanted to go, but wasn't willing to pay $100+ per ticket. I decided I would enter the lottery and if I won tickets we would go. On Friday morning I got a text that I did! I was able to buy two tickets to the show at $30 a piece. 

January 8

We had a pretty quiet Saturday. I ran some errands and in the evening we watched the Chiefs game. Lauren and Tony spent some time in the afternoon reconstructing Lauren's Lego set. They are almost done collecting the pieces of the Hogwarts castle from the Whomping Willow Lego Set she received a few years ago. Now that she has the clocktower she can connect the section of Hogwarts in this set to the section of Hogwarts in the clocktower set. They have spent hours digging through our Lego bins searching for pieces. Sometimes I read to them  while they are searching. Lauren and I are currently reading A Grimm Warning, book 3 in the Land of Stories series.