Family ties

I went up to Laurel today to see Ehlyvia. She took me to a really cool mall kind of place called Savage Mill and we did some thrifting/antiquing. I took one picture all day and it was to check the price of the encyclopedia set she ended up buying  

We went to lunch at Ivy on Main and then I helped her organize her little nook storage space and we got a lot done. That is one of my talents, I do like to organize. We chatted for a bit and then on my way home I grabbed Delaney from ballet. Where I discovered she hadn’t done some of her homework or eaten dinner. 🤦‍♀️

Hard with Jesus

Matt and I walked to the wharf this morning and walking back I was so grateful for this in between time. I got an impression to enjoy it and not think it worry about what’s next. Slow Sunday mornings have been chefs kiss and I am enjoying them so much. 

I gave the girls space during the party but did check on them a few times. They made pipe cleaner flowers and they turned out so cutely!

Christian is with Zach Davis and crew for his bachelor party weekend and they enjoyed a hockey game. #raysalwayswin 

My cute nursery friends were busy being cute nursery friends. And cherrisa put together the cutest lesson. ❤️

Frankie had fun putting all her birthday stuff on her birthday vanity. Looks so cute!

We had a late lunch together and then weren’t hungry for dinner. I love noon church, but our meals are thrown off a bit. Then tonight was the RS broadcast and it was so good! I especially loved President Johnson’s message about doing the hard alone or doing the hard with Jesus, and how when we do the hard with Jesus He can make the hard holy. Amen and amen. So beautiful. Lana and McKenzie lead the evening and the refreshments were good and it’s so precious to get time together with the sister saints. Sarah and I rode together and it was nice chatting with her too. A+ Sunday. 
 

Freshly 16

Today has been fun and also I’m glad to finish it up. 

Delaney and Matt headed out early to buy a second pair of pointe shoes before the spring recital. She felt like her first pair were too narrow, so she needed to be fitted again and since we’re heading out of town, it was best to get it done now. I knew I’d be too busy with Frankie’s party, so Matt got that joy.

Frankie and I worked all day on her party prep. She made her banner and blew up all the balloons and set up the basement while I cooked and did dishes and repeated that about 5 times. 

Delaney went to the middle school play and Matt and I went to the hospital so Matt and Richard could give Jackie a blessing. 

Adi pitched in and made the strawberry muddy buddies and practiced piano for tomorrow and laid low with cramps. 

At 3:30 Matt, Adi, and Delaney headed to meet the youth for Chicfila and a special fireside with Elder Nash. I gave a training one time and took a lot of info from a leadership training video he participated in, so I always think of that when his name comes up. 🙃

At 5, 10 cute girls showed up to par-tay! I love the shoe piles. 

Gotta arrange the gift table cutley! 

I set up all the food downstairs and have made myself pretty scarce. I did go down to take some pictures though. 

She invited two sets of friends - the cheer girls,  

And the other school friends.

She came up for happy birthday and presents. I love these girls because they love a picture as much as I do!

Wild that this girl will be 16 on Tuesday. She’s been such a gem lately, just sweet and steadfast and hard working. 

One time at one of Adi’s parties one of her friends had to leave early but wanted to see her open their present, so we did it just with them and I got pictures of the giver and the birthday girl and I loved that! Opening presents in a big group can be so awkward and overwhelming for the birthday child, and also I love acknowledging the giver with a special hug and picture. 

Anyway, I made these girls do the same, except she did open everything all together. 

They each quickly and happily went up and posed.  

These girls might be a smidge shallow, but they love documenting with pictures! And they are sweet girls. 

And they know Frankie really well and gave her such thoughtful gifts! She’s a lucky lady!

This was my first 16th birthday party since Alexis and Adi both took the trip option. 

Frankie requested, and I made - flower cupcakes - except I thought the flowers would be easier to pipe abd I was wrong and did not have the time today to practice, so they’re just kind of flower-esque, shrimp cocktail (so good, like the Texas ones I first tried and loved!), buffalo chicken dip, strawberry muddy Buddy’s, a fruit platter, hot Cheetos, Cadbury eggs, Reese’s cups, and then some random appetizers - pizza, poppers, and fried cheese. 

While the girls partied I cleaned up, again and then even had time for my Saturday chores. It’s wild to have a Saturday night pretty much to myself since Matt has the girls and Frankie is occupied. 

The party goes till 10 and Frankie has been sticking to the agenda I made her write out. 

I would happily host more hang outs. These kids need to spend more time with friends. At least my girls do.  

Oh yeah, they also had a dirty soda bar with our fun balls of ice and sugar cookie, vanilla, and sweet cream add-ins. 

They’re making pipe cleaner flowers (TikTok) and watching Pitch Perfect. Pretty sweet 16!

Today

These two, I swear! 🥹🥹🥹

Today:

*Matt went to the MVA in an attempt to register our truck that had been registered in Maryland since 2009 but for some reason became unregistered last May. We noticed our registration had expired and we hadn’t been reminded to renew, so that’s when we went looking. So very dumb. 

*I met with the AP at the middle school to talk teacher appreciation. 

*party prep continues. Frankie’s freshly 16 birthday bash is tomorrow and she is very excited and a very good artist. 

 Ruby and Jeanne made it to the Pools house and everyone loved baby girl! Henry was standing at Damian’s foot pulling on his shorts to be picked up too, so Emmett got in on that action.

Kathy and I went ministering to Carol and Matt worked at getting all his travel expenses submitted and the girls  are working to make sure they’re caught up on everything since they’ll miss 4 days of school while we’re gone. 

And a sunset shot from my walk. Cause one thing about me is I’m always gonna take pretty sunset/sunrise pictures.   

2 thumbs up

Firstly, I forgot to write about Delaney’s friend. On Monday night she came to me and said her friends were worried about another friend because she had been talking about harming herself and she wasn’t answering texts anymore. She lives in Clarks Rest, so they asked Delaney if there was any way she could check on her. It was already dark, but that sweet girl was like “I can walk over there just to make sure.” 

We stopped and prayed and then off she and I went. we talked on the way over about what to say and she was brave when we got there and voiced her concern. The mom answered the door in her nightie robe and was very friendly and invited us in, where we immediately saw the friend sitting on the couch. 

When Delaney said we had come to check on her because their friends were worried the girl just kept saying everything’s fine, everything’s fine! The mom looked at me and was like, what happened, and so I told her about the self harm and she was shocked. I tried really hard to just mom to mom, heart to heart, just express our genuine concern and love for her child. The mom thanked us and promised she would take care of things and now there is another difficult experience under our belts. 

We’ve had some good talks about mental health and friendships and how sometimes our friends lift us up and sometimes they don’t. And then when we got home we all talked about self harm and feelings and it was just real and honest and needful. I wish I could take all the hard and hurt away, but that’s not why we’re here on earth, so instead I try to be a soft place to land. For all the people in my life. Kind and firm and soft and strong. Two things can be true. 

Jess came over this morning and we talked about angels and spiritual confidence and leadership and it was really, really sweet. At Inklings I had expressed some of my questions about the angels all around us and she so graciously offered to chat with me and share her experiences. What a blessing to know so many good women. So grateful to be striving right along with ma sisters.  

Christian has been in NY house hunting where he put an offer on a cute 100 year old house and today on his drive back south he came through the county. He was able to lend Jeanne’s car to her bestie who is in need of a car right now, and hitch a ride with Pablo for Zach’s bachelor golf weekend this weekend. Jeanne and Ruby are driving from Alabama to South Carolina to hang out with Lexi and crew and then pick Christian up after his fun weekend  

So glad he was able to pop in!

Unfortunately only Delaney and I were home since the big girls had piano and Matt had a meeting. And then D and I had to leave for ballet, but only 10 minutes before he had to leave anyway.  

In the first shot - Christian had been doing thumbs up, but then stopped, and Delaney had seen him doing a thumbs up, so then she went for it. In the second pic I told her, bubbas not actually throwing a thumbs up, but then he was all, thumbs up? Sign me up! And in the last shot it was all about the normal hands. 

Anyway, I’ll hug my baby boy for 30 minutes if it’s all I can get!

Lana sent me this funny memory. I had bought that dress at a yard sale and when I wore it to church she told me she had the same one. We knew it was only a matter of time before we twinned, and we were delighted when it finally happened! Aaaaaaand, I still have that little ditty. And that is why I’m going through every piece of clothing I own and if it doesn’t spark joy I’m putting it into a pile and at the end of my sparking joy experiment I’ll double check that it’s still not sparking joy (it’s real hard for me to get rid of things!) and then send it on its way to a new life. 

Mean green machine

From most recent to least. 

Our fancy dinner movie tonight was The Princess and the Frog. 4/5 of us enjoyed Tiana’s New Orleans Refreshers. I can’t quite figure out the glass situation  I’ve picked up some cool ones at the thrift store for .50-$1, but am I going for an eclectic feel? Trying to collect a set? Idk  🤷‍♀️

I accidentally printed the menus 2 sided, so I’ve been white tracking them onto the same cardatock. So it doesn’t look great but is easier for me. 

I went the easy (biscuit dough) beignet route. Listen, I’ve made homemade beignet’s before and just didn’t had the time today. 

Loved the cheddar jalapeño cornbread but it was the tiniest bit too spicy for my wimpy self and I got a lil heartburn. 

Ditto the gumbo. And you know we all said “Daddy! I’m making guuum-bo!”

D said this one and beauty and the beast are tied and Adi still loved the shawarma. Frankie declined to vote I guess.

It was a day for loving on my family because I also surprised them with St. Patrick’s Day milkshakes. Who needs shamrock shakes when you can make your own for a fraction of the price. 

Delaney told me about the milkshake and the gumbo “this is actually really good!” The surprise in her voice.🙄 Frankie stayed after school for conditioning so got hers later. 

We had inklings this morning and the I ran errands for 3 hours. We got new fiber internet and Matt made it home around 3am. We are both very tired because we are both very old and it doesn’t take much to throw off our sleep schedule. I was actually so sleepy that I took a car nap while I waited for D at an appt. Because <4 hours of sleep is really half a night and I was so tired and needed to drive. I’m spirit of the law, baby, so my Lenten goal is still good.  

Finally, Amber sent me this sweet picture and I just love my nursery friends so much. ❤️

Tornados or bust

Bust. After letting the kids out of school 2 hours early, cancelling all afterschool activities, ballet, and my blood donation, we got a lil rain and no wind, lightning, or anything more severe. Not complaining, way better safe than sorry! 

After cleaning rooms, practicing piano, and a delicious stacked sweet potato dinner, we are ending the night with Zooptopia 2 and looking forward to Matt coming home tonight!

Senior Sunday

We broke out the do-a-dots in nursery today and they loved them! And then at the linger longer I swear Calvin mouthed “I love you!” to me and blew me kisses. My heart! ❤️ 

After the LL we went to the Darrow’s to play games. Our hubbies out of town schedules matched up for two days for the first time ever!

We played 3 new to me games and ate chips and cookies and Gris and tenders. 

I’ve been keeping an eye on this severe weather for tomorrow and finally St. Mary’s called for an early release. 

I brought in some loose items and moved things around to be more protected and hopefully nothing develops and we’re all good enjoying a few extra hours with our kiddos tomorrow. 

I was looking for Senior Sunday pictures and this one is so cute but maybe too much for the book, but perfect for the days. 

The rage in suffragette

 Christian and Jeanne are in full moving mode. They’ve already got renters and Christian drive to NY to do some house hunting on Thursday. On his way he dropped off Dorothy and Maggie with Alexis and crew and all parties were excited. So this is how it started.

This is how it’s going:

It seems like maybe Carter is allergic! I say “seems like,” because they had a cat up until a few months ago, and also visited C&J many times and he never had problems. In a case of 1st grade schadenfreude, Emmett called, specifically to talk to Adi, who is also allergic to cats, to let her/us know “I thought Carter wasn’t allergic to anything, but now he’s allergic to cats!” Emmett is allergic to horses. 🤣 

Adi and I went to the dermatologist Friday morning and we were excited to wish them a happy national dermatologist day! They hadn’t known before, so we were sprinkling sunshine all around. 

A sister Delaney and I minister to needed help cleaning out her storage unit in Prince Frederick. She told me we would definitely need help because some of the bins were heavy. I shopped around for a priest or 2 to come (no school Friday - hooray!) and Chelsea said I could have all three of her boys. Imagine my surprise when we opened her storage and found like, 12 bins inside. 🙃

I felt a little bad about having the Dorns drive all the way out to help us, but since the complete excursion from driving to PF to unloading at her apartment took 2 hours, and we’re all just doing our best, I forgave myself. I’m good to me. 🤣 And proof of an empty and clean unit, just in case they try to pull anything on her. 🤷‍♀️

We’ve been all decked out for Easter and St. Patrick’s day for awhile now, and my bunny topiary’s came in last week. I love them! Then I was searching for a tool in the shed and found these cute buckets that I had been looking for. I put weight in the bottom and then wrapped the base in beach towels to secure them in the bucket. They had been blowing over in the wind on Friday because it was wild and gusty. 

The rest of Friday proceeded as normally scheduled. Delaney had dance and Adi had friends over and in an uncharacteristic move for me, I went to bed early. 

To add to our wild weather rollercoaster,  NOAA issued us a level 4/5 extreme risk for severe weather for Monday. My weather guys who don’t get hyperbolic(they’re not me) are saying this is a big deal and has the potential for tornados, damaging winds, lightning, and then some snow for good measure. Obviously, Matt is scheduled to fly in on Monday. 🙃

Saturday was an adventure day. To the girls delight we left the house at 7:45. First stop Amish made Coffee Run Donuts. Which is funny now that I think about it because there was no coffee, or even any other drink to speak of. 🤣 Anyway, we got in a long line to wait for our deliciousness. 

I was trying to covertly get a picture of them frying away back in their kitchen, not my wad of one dollar bills, but you know. We got 6 donuts, a pretzel, and a pretzel dog and all were delicious! Delaney didnt love her s’mores one, she thought it was too sweet, which it was very sweet, but still delish. 

Funny little donut shop in St. Mary’s County! We love new to us places.

This gal powered through a large pretzel, donut, and then at the point of this picture, her second donut. I was impressed. Notice the leaned back making room in the belly stance. 

Our next stop was Washington DC for a DC Suffrage Tour with Diana Smith who taught at our Women’s Conference. The 5 of us organizers had plans to meet up and since Adi loved her class, I brought the girls along. Poor Elizabeth went to the wrong reflecting pool and Trish’s brother came for an unexpected visit, so Chantelle and Rebecca and I caught up (and learned about cool Mormon suffragists!). 

I love spending time in DC. ❤️

The tour was really fabulous. We walked from the Capitol reflecting pool to the Capitol to the Supreme Court with a few more stops in between and she gave us questions to ponder before we left each stop and had us “vote” a few times to really make us think. She even brought us cookies. Gingerbread for those of us who would have stopped protesting and fighting for the right to vote during WW1, and sugar cookies for those that would have kept the pressure on. Neither is wrong, but with my military boys facing the very real possibility of leaving their families right now, I couldn’t choose against supporting the Red Cross, though Elizabeth and I talked about how we contain multitudes and could very much do both.

They continued on to a different museum, but the girls wanted to go to the Natural History, so after a few more minutes of catching up and hugs, I peeled off.  

Adi and I checked out the gems while the other girls checked out something else. Hope diamond love. 

We lightly perused, which is pretty much the way I like a museum. 

I did a terrible job taking pictures as I didn’t get any of the girls and I or anything else after this shot. 

We left DC and checked out Home Depot for a Frankie birthday gift, Goodwill where we managed to spend $60 but had the most fun, and finally 2 Caniac Combos to share at Raising Canes. We got home 10 hours after we left and it was truly such a wonderful day with my girlsies.