Social Distancing

We are moving into the second month of social distancing, the third week of homeschooling the kids, the fifth week of them not going anywhere, the fourth day of Dr. J sleeping in the travel trailer because he is now on the team treating covid patients.  I take one grocery trip a week.  Last week we started wearing mask at the grocery store.  Today I announced at dinner, "It's possible I'm depressed."  Man I feel for my kids. There are thing I love about this time.  I've enjoyed spending more time with the kids that isn't filled with rushing places.  We play more games, have more time for reading, and do way more projects and crafts.  It has been nice to see some places I can help them with school work.  Home church is actually short and surprisingly sweet.  My youngest loves not going to preschool and having all his older sibings home.  I love not rushing to dance, soccer, all the extras after school.  My two oldest are bindge watching Parks and Rec with me.  We laugh so hard.  I've gotten to talk to my siblings far more often then normal.  These are the things I will cherish from this time.  Things I miss.  Hugging people.  I'm not even a hugger but I miss it.  Even Dr J and I rarely hug now and we never kiss.  We are just trying to minimize exposures.  I miss seeing friends.  I miss eating out at restaurants and going to movies.  I miss date night.  I miss not feeling fear when my husband goes to work and having fear for the health of people.  I miss not worrying about job loss, but that of my siblings and just the broader world in general.  I miss vacations, appointments, the ability to make any type of real plans.  I feel for the kids.  They are all missing so much right now.  In our house we've had tears over missed friends, performances, events.  They are acutely aware of the pain the rest of the world is going through.  Life goes on, but sometimes it feels like it will never be the same.

The Power of No

I've been very protective of my time lately.  As my kids get older I find that rather then having more of it, I seem to have less.  Sunday this came to a head when our hometeacher asked at church if he could come over at 4:30.  I said yes but in the back of my head was thinking this was not going to work well.  My kids had been invited to a neighbor party until five and our house was a disaster.  We got home from church and my middle kids headed over to the party. Meanwhile at home I was trying to get my older kids and husband to frantically help me clean while also stressing that I wasn't getting Sam over to the party.  And then I just said, "Stop."  I texted my hometeacher and told him we were busy at a neighbor party and couldn't meet.  My older kids relaxed.  My husband took a nap.  I headed over to the party with Sam.  The house never got clean but the day was stress free and enjoyable and it was totally worth it.  No spiritual message would have been worth the stress I was putting on my family.  Sometimes no is the right answer.

Where's The Fork

All of my daughters have struggled with their speech, and two in particular have struggled with the letter R.  Yesterday my youngest yelled out, "Where's the fork?" J, Captain E, and I immediately turned toward her.  "What did she just say..." I mouthed to J and then we just start laughing hysterically as it dawns on all of us she was asking for a fork but what all of us over 14 heard was "What the F@#$." "You need to watch The Good Place," I squeak out between peels of laughter to J.  We really need to get those R's in there quick :)

Silhouette Studio

One of the cool things they had at the Orem Colonial Fair was a Silhouette Studio.  I'm a sucker for this type of memorabilia.  The artist had each of my kids sit on the chair and then cut a silhouette for them.  We did two pictures.  One of the girls, one of the boys.  It was fun to watch him do this.  Apparently he also does this as Disneyland on Main Street every Saturday.  So if you are looking for a cool collectible, look no further.  I got a picture of him doing everyone but my youngest.  I had to hold him and he did not want to cooperate.  After he cut them he glued them down and framed them for us.  I love them so much.  Aunt Nik also got one.

4th of July

I love 4th of July.  The last couple years J has tried to be off because he knows how much I enjoy it.  There are parades and picnics to attend, fireworks and this year we went to a colonial fair.  I think it is a perfect time to reflect on what this country should stand for.  This year I actually started my day reading "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," by Frederick Douglass.  Sometimes you need a gut punch.  The truth is that when this country was founded it wasn't founded for the majority of the people living in it.  But you know what we learned, and slowly, oh so slowly we started to apply the principles on which the country was founded to all the citizens who live here.  It hasn't be perfect and the truth is I've come to realize that it isn't something you can assume as a guarantee but it is definitely something worth striving for.  So I remember this day with reverence, the reverence for those who sacrificed for Independence and the reverence for our my in staying true to the ideas of hope this country was founded on.  

We like to go home to celebrate.  It is fun to be around family and also truth be told the fireworks are just better in Utah.  

 We started our day sorting out our entertainment for the night.  Uncle Rob went to the parade but he had to be there at 5am and most of us just had zero interest in waking up that early.  Instead we went to the colonial fair with Grandma and Grandpa.  Here Cheetah and Grandpa are meeting Ben.  A kid asked him what his real name is.  "Benjamin Franklin." he said.  I'm going to be honest I wouldn't be surprised one bit if he has legal changed it.  Also I couldn't look at him without thinking about that saucy Ben Franklin in The Office. 

They had lots of activities.  There was a museum of clothing from the time period, food to buy, rope makers, candle makers, story tellers, brass sellers, a blacksmith, stores to buy antiques, just lots of really fun stuff.  They also had a mission the kids could do where they could be spies for the

 In the afternoon we went back to Grandpas and the kids looked for fossils in some fossil gravel we brought back from Montana. 

 Then it was time for the show.  There were three families putting on fireworks shows on the street.  It gave us plenty to watch and my kids all enjoyed lighting stuff off this year.  We for the most part were safe.  The family to the left of us were a little idiotic and more than once they had a firework tip over and shoot into their crowd.  Luckily no one was hurt. 

A Couple Phrases

My sugar baby just keeps adding to his vocabulary.  A couple days ago he was trying to get himself some cereal.  I tried to help him by grabbing the box and he yelled at me "Let go."

I got a pedicure recently and my toe nails are bright orange.  When he saw them he said, "oh tiny toes."

The 3rd of July we were hanging out in my inlaws back yard and someone set off fireworks.  He ran toward the fence, reached his little arms up and yelled, "look at that."

2018 Dance Photos

This year Peach did ballet, jazz, and tumbling.  Tumbling was her favorite.  She's been working on hear cartwheels, her back handstands, and her back flips.  Cheetah did ballet.  Next year is the first year her teacher will allow her to pick up another dance.  I'm hoping jazz is on the right day.  The show this year was Bambi.  Peach was snowflakes and hunting dogs.  Cheetah was a skunk.  Just kidding.  She was obviously a flower!