Day #175 and #176

On Saturday we loaded up everything but the kitchen sink and headed to the beach. We usually go on Labor Day but figured Saturday would be a little less busy. We got there and the beach was full, but somehow they decided to let us in. Lucky day! We had already all gotten out of the car, so Delaney got to hold Emmi as we slowly drove down to the beach. 

Emmett loved the water!

I moved him through the water and he laughed and laughed. 

It was so sweet!

I don’t love me in these pictures, but I do love how happy he was and how much fun I had playing with him. Being a mimi is the best and I’m so grateful for this time I get to spend with him. He’s such a sweet boy. 

It wasn’t the warmest day, but it was still a great day at the beach. The big girls took 3 kayaks out to a far inlet and stayed gone for a long time. Frankie and Curtis loved taking the big paddle boards out, and the little crew took the little boards out and also played in the sand. Everyone stays busy and we generally have no fighting. Delaney and Adeline (I think?) got stung by jellyfish, but it wasn’t bad and the complaints were minimal. We disposed of a handful of jellies, but it wasn’t bad at all. 

Even Alecia, Sarah, and I took kayaks/paddle boards out and stayed out for some quiet time. 

We stayed all day and i still wasn’t ready to come home. It’s so much work and also it was a really nice day.

The only bummer was that Matt had to work. He’s picking up all the extra days he can trying to finish a qualification. Also, he got Sailor if the Quarter for the 3rd time. That’s 3 of the last 4 quarters. I’m so proud of him, he’s been working so hard, both at home and with both of his jobs. It’s a lot and he does it without complaint. So grateful for him. 

This is the one picture I took all day. Matt had asked if we were still at the beach and I sent him this reply:

Lexi had papa pick her and Em up early because he was super sleepy. She sent me this. Love his cute curly mug. 

This is accurate for right now. 

Delaney came down for at home church and she looked so pretty and grown up. Her face is changing. She’s losing her baby face and becoming a big girl. We are in such a perfect time as parents. 💕

Matt and I tag teamed Sunday dinner. He cooked the bbq chicken on the camp stove (listen, idk why), while I made the sides, and since I was hungry I went a little overboard. We had mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, cantaloupe, rolls, and I even made kool aid because it all sounded so good. Then we made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies that lasted till this afternoon. Not even 24 hours. 🤷‍♀️ I snagged this shot of my favorite through the window. 

Addie and I set up a new non-school Gmail account so papa can be her story editor/ELA co-teacher. She found this pretty picture on Etsy and made this her profile picture. She’s super grown up lately and is developing this dry, quirky humor that i love. She still marches to the beat of her own drummer and is also kind and helpful and smart. 

Papa took some porch pictures of Lexi and Em after dinner. They (we all) miss Cade a ton and we all wish he could have come to visit too. Pesky jobs. 

I love that Em smiles with his whole face. He gets super excited and squeezes so tight, he gives the best hugs! Lexi is such a good and patient mama to him. He hasn’t been sleeping well the whole time they’ve been here, he knows she is in the room with him, so in the middle of the night he wakes up and wants attention. It’s hard to be pregnant and missing sleep and she is doing an amazing job. 

His hair is getting longer and there is a definite strawberry blond tint to it and some curls to boot. What a lucky guy!

Frankie is the best Em helper. She’ll play with him for hours, long after the other girls have lost interest. She even took him out on the kayak on Saturday. She is working hard at reading and focusing and generally stays positive and willing to work. 

Christian works, works, works. They love him at crabknockers and they have talked many times about him working to buy the store. They’ve been doing a lot of work making their workstation out back, and bubba especially enjoyed the electrical work they did. He’s so smart and handy and will do a good job at whatever career he lands on. He’s got a good head on his shoulders for sure. 

Day #174

A friend from the ward has been going through a difficult time and needed to talk. We had made plans to meet at their pool, but we didn’t realize it’s closed until 4 because school started this week. Plan B, we went to their house and set up some baby pools and slip and slide. We got to take this cutie with us, and he loved it. 

He loved watching the big kids running back and forth and sliding down the slip and slide. Other than his high pitched scream, he’s just about perfect. 😂

He’s so woke he loves princess pools. 

We had a good chance to chat and share struggles. Covid life is hard, and yet life keeps going and people keep experiencing really difficult trials. I’m hopeful the weather  cools down, the covid numbers stay low, and we can visit outside more frequently. 

Addie and I made Bishop Darrow’s pizza dough last night, and made the pizzas this evening. They were pretty darn delish. Then the new Mulan for family movie night. Papa bought it for all the grands to enjoy. Popcorn and a movie after a long first week of school.  Tenkor supervises pizza making. 

And finally i got a picture of our last unicorn jello cup. So cute. 

Day #173

Home school hijinx. 

I got Emmi up from his morning nap and Addie heard us playing and came in for a pic. 

Then Frankie heard all of us and came in. 

And then D. Em is such a lucky guy. 

We had a great day. We did laundry and schoolwork and lexi and Laney made potato soup and croissants for dinner. Papa came over and everyone gave the soup two thumbs up. D shared her ice cream with Em and then they shared a bath. 

A+ ordinary day. 

Day #172

Alli taught the girls how to make presentations in Keystone this morning. They worked on them quietly for a long time and they turned out so cutely!

Delaney did hers on the most dangerous animals and has shared the fact that mosquitos are the most deadly “animals” in the world. Our iPad is synced to my phone, so I always get their saved pictures. 

The girls went to the library today and D got her first Playaway. She listened to it the rest of the day, she was just in heaven. 

Alli and I ran to Wally for a few things. While we were there our fav school secretary texted that she officially withdrew our girls. Sadness! But also we had a great day, so it’s good. 

The girls each logged on to school and got right to work. I still have questions and decisions to make about how to set everything up, but so far, so good.

We have had several people come look at our yard drainage issues and give us estimates. The one today was double what last weeks was. Next up, a real engineer. We’re hoping to gain knowledge from each person that comes out and to make the best decision with what we find out. Decisions are hard. We want to do it right, I just wish it was easier to know the right path. In so many things in life. 

Speaking of the right path, I saw the LP ward is doing this for September and really loved it. I texted it to Chelsea and Carolee and we felt like we should share it with our ward. I love preparing for conference with greater focus and intention. And today’s talk was so perfect. 

There are a lot of people in this house right now and there are lots of feelings and some of those feelings, and anxieties, and tensions overflowed this evening. Elder Renlunds talk brought so much peace and was another reminder to get the girls involved in family history. 

Maryland is preparing to enter stage 3. Yay! I am cautiously optimistic. It would be so amazing to be back to “normal,” or “new normal,” or even less anxious. Phasing back feels weird and I don’t know if I’m totally ready, but I am excited for good news and better days for our country. 

Day #170-171

Monday, August 31 brought our first day of school! Frankie saw this cute dress and jacket and fell in love with it. She’s pretty cute!

We found the same style for addie and delaney, and they both agreed they would wear their first day of school outfits and wanted to keep them. 

#pinkbootsforever

After much thought, prayers, back and forth, questioning, and repeat, we decided to withdraw our girls and homeschool them. There were lots of reasons. 

I hated school in the Spring. I know that was survival mode, but I really didn’t want to go back to that. I felt like the virtual school through the district brought all the negatives of homeschool, namely the kids being around all the time, and none of the positives, namely learning together, field trips, personalizing education. As the emails from teachers and the 2 schools started pouring in, I became ore convinced home school was right for us. Then Sarah withdrew her girls, then Colleen, and they made me brave. Not so brave that I withdrew them before the first day, but still. 

The decision didn’t come with an assuring peace though. I still feel anxious about it. We really love our school. Frankie and Delaney were put into classes with teachers Addie and Frankie had before, and they were wonderful teachers. I don’t want to take money from our school budget in years to come. I don’t want anyone to feel judgement for their choices. We’re all doing what we feel is best for our families, and that will look different for everyone, even those making the same general decisions. And its all ok. We’re all gonna be fine. 

Since it took so long to make the final decision, I was not prepared to start with any curriculum on Monday. The first weeks of school are really spent getting to know each other and figuring out procedures anyway, so we spent the morning talking about what we wanted from our home school experience. 

We were all just sitting on the couches and then one of them moved the ottoman to be her “desk,” and the other 2 quickly followed suit. And don’t mind our lovely dog comforter on our couch. We love Tenkor, but her hair is out of control.  

We came up with a lot of good ideas. Frankie asked that we take plenty of breaks for snacks and resetting our brains. We talked about field trips, PE, art, respect, and maybe above all else, flexibility. I’m pretty excited, I think it’s going to be wonderful. 

To finish off our first day we read a book about Anne Frank and watched some short documentaries for kids. They love learning about strong and smart girls, and it actually lead into talking about the importance of journaling (one of our daily writing goals) again. 

D has been producing newspapers like crazy. First it was called The Daily, but then switched to The Weekly because she decided she didn’t want to do it everyday, except she has published it every day. It’s a fluid name. 

Also, one of her stuffies is missing, so she hung missing dog flyers. 

This sweet picture of me and my papa came up on my timeline yesterday. He died when I was 7, so I only have fuzzy memories of him. 

We went to the Aina’s to learn about their homeschool program. Since I don’t know any different, we’re just going to piggyback on what they are doing for now and we’ll see how we evolve. Emmett loved playing and all the girls loved holding him and following him around. 

Until he fell and hit his head on the table. Then he was sad. 

He gets over himself pretty quickly, thankfully. 

Frankie and I made a brekkie dinner - pancakes and homemade syrup, and sausage and eggs. In closet news - we have light! Our old ugly light had just burnt out, so it was perfect timing. Also, we’re waiting on our third set of cleats and praying they are the right size. We know several people that used easy closets and had no problems, I don’t know why we’re so special. By the time we’re through we’re going to have enough extra pieces to do one of the girls closets, which we just might do. 

#girlmom

I finally grabbed a pic of the girls and auntie Alli’s fancy jello’s. 

Today was dads birthday. I went grocery shopping and made his requested meatloaf, baked potatoes, corn, and chocolate cake. 

I don’t believe I’ve ever made meatloaf, but it wasn’t bad. 

We said “Covid who?!” and he blew out the candles in the shape of “72.”

He loved his gifts and we are currently watching 1776 with him. It’s not Hamilton, I’ll tell you that much. 

It’s his favorite cereal. 🤷‍♀️

The girls worked on research projects today, so they presented their projects as we ate cake. Frankie did a PowerPoint on Anne Frank. We’re going to work on adding more words. 

Addie presented on disasters - mostly Chernobyl which is her favorite disaster. She even had movies linked, it was really good.  

Christian and Alli worked together to put together her new chair. Sitting on a computer for 8 hours a day is rough. 

We had a good day celebrating papa. We’re sure glad he’s so close and we can spend time with him whenever we like. I’ve given myself a week to get things organized for school, so we’ll be slowly easing into our new routine.