Tuesday

Tuesday was back to school night.  Seth's teacher had a fun photo booth set up for the kids. Jer is coaching Seth's soccer team this year.  Seth is pretty excited for that.  He said, "Dad you've never been my coach before!" Evelyn is signed up for the Ballet 2 class again like last year.  They want to make sure that with her skewed feet she doesn't cause any injuries to herself by trying to go to Ballet 3 too soon.  She's sad that she has to leave her friends that are all advancing, but I think it's wise.  She did get into the advanced acrobatics class though.  That's the one that she really enjoys out of the two anyways.  She's been trying to convince Seth to join acrobatics.  They both miss the fact that they wouldn't be in the same class if he did join.

Ada is officially an 8th grader.  You can tell that she's feeling grown up and not afraid of anything at this point.  She's been getting up early to read her scriptures and run with Dad in the mornings.  She loves to draw, is excited that they get to write in her English class this year, loves choir, and somehow ended up in an intermediate math class instead of an advanced one like they had said at the end of last year. She also somehow ended up in the concert choir instead of Bella Voce like her choir teacher had said last year.  Apparently the new choir teacher and her new school counsellor misplaced all of the note on Ada this year.  I asked Ada to meet with them today and we'll see what schedule she ends up with.  She's getting into some fun piano music too.  I was impressed to see her challenge herself on so many levels. She's signed up for her first Coed soccer team.  So far she's the only girl on the team, but she says she doesn't mind.  I'll be there cheering for her.

Sam I think is getting the hang of 7th grade.  He was pretty anxious, but I'm proud that both he and Ada have agreed to wear masks at school and that he is slowly finding fun things.  He likes his drama class and band.  He's going to be learning how to play the flute and is pretty stoked.  I love how excited he gets over learning new things.  He told me, "Mom, they would let me practice before school or during lunch in the band room!"  I'm crossing my fingers that he can start seeing some of his friends as closer friends so that he chooses to spend time with them as well.  Sam has a great soccer coach this year too. I'm hoping that will help him get out of the funk he's in.  (Since he split his heel open, he's been hesitant about physical things). He's a good and sweet guy.  I love seeing him grow, I hate seeing his anxiety over that growth when I know that he'll be just fine.... maybe that's just part of being on the other side of it alread? 

 

Monday

 

Monday was Sam's 7th grade day.  They have only the 7th graders so that they can explore the school, meet teachers, and experiment with lockers.  Sam was really grumpy (as he is with most new things), but when I asked about each thing he could tell me something he liked about it.  He loves the library, loves the options for lunch but is non plussed about how they actually taste (he threw away two lunches and was trying for a third before someone caught on and told him he's only allowed one lunch per day), he has several boys from our neighborhood in his classes, and he likes band and math.  The bus comes VERY early in the morning though.  Apparently the district is in need of 50 new bus drivers, so each bus driver that they have has to drive 2 separate routes.  I sure hope they're getting paid double as well. I have a friend that is so angry right now.  She's a single mother and wants to take her kids to two different schools for different programs.  Every school has something she doesn't like, but now she's saying that Utah schools are not set up for having single parents.  She's made that there isn't before and after care so that she can work. But every job has something wrong too.  It makes me wonder how much is Utah's system and how much is her own discontent over her personal situation.  She could be a bus driver, a lunch lady if she's worried about hours, a reading interventionist, part time somewhere while her kids are in full time school... It does say something about opportunity vs desire.

Our James and Emily cousins are in town for Education week.  It's so good to see them.  We only see them about once a year, so I'm glad for the opportunity.  The kids swam and chatted. I chatted with Emily, Judy and Emma on the porch.  I definitely didn't want to leave. The next day, we found out that James and Henry in Maryland tested positive for Covid.  So all of the rest of the kids and Emily went to get tested.  Their rapid result test came back negative, but they did a longer PCR test and Dunccan came back positive.  So now we're waiting the 6-7 days and we'll go get tested as well.  If we catch it, we aren't communicable until Sat or Sunday, so the schools said to let the kids come to school in masks. I've made all the arrangements to miss Sunday and for my partner to take the daycare on Monday or until we get our results back. I found a place that will test us on Saturday and hopefully we'll get our tests back the same day or by Monday. And hopefully they come back negative, but if not.... it was still good to see our cousins.

Evelyn loves Peter so much!

Sam's first day of school...

Legos

 

As part of putting our house back in order after construction, we had some lego sets that the kids and Jer wanted to reconstruct as well.  So our living room has become the lego room.  It's been fun, but there are legos EVERYWHERE!

first day of school

It's the first day of school for these two nuttos. Evelyn is starting 5th grade and Seth is starting 2nd. Seth says that he already likes his teacher. Evelyn is super excited because her teacher used to be her coach. I feel good about this year and all the things that they're going to learn. Seth is excited that his best friend is in his class this year. Evelyn is friends with everyone so when we went to back to school night she kept saying hi to everyone in the hallways. My kids are some of the only kids wearing masks at the school but we explain to them why we want them to wear them and both of them said they would. I know Evelyn is very good at wearing masks and Seth keeps them on his face but has a hard time keeping it above his nose. We had debated whether or not to send them to school this week anyway. Our cousins that we were visiting with on Monday are covid positive. So we have to wait until Saturday or Monday to test and see if we are positive or negative. I called the school and they said that we should send the kids with masks on which we were planning on doing anyway. And to only take them out of school if they come back positive. We'll see how this goes.

This week

 This week has been a kick back week.  Me and my partner had closed the daycare because both of us had family reunions.  Our family reunion was supposed to be camping at Bear Lake, but with the biggest recorded fire of California's history, a large fire in Oregon and a 1000 lbs of hay burning not far from us.... our air was measuring horribly.  The harmful particles in the air were 5 times more than the WHO deems safe. I didn't want to camp in that, so I hemmed and hawed about going.  The air finally started to clear up and Evelyn started to throw up.  Then Sam and Seth complained about stomach aches.  So instead of camping with the flu, we stayed home.  Jer and I are putting together soccer schedules and organizing all the little things that were still boxed up from painting the house.  I'm starting to feel normal again.  

Bowling

When I asked Seth about an activity for his birthday, he said he wanted to go bowling.  I asked who he wanted to invite and he said Collin and Jack.  Jack is at his Dad's house on the weekends and his Dad never brings him to things like this, so we just invited Collin's whole family.  It was so fun.  Very relaxing not to have to organize a party.  And Seth said that he loved bowling.  I think it's the first time he's ever been.  Another plus is that Collin's family kind of lines up with ours.  Ada and Austin have been friends for years, Sam and Logan have been friends for a while and Seth and Collin have been friends since the beginning of kindergarten.  Added bonus on top of that.... I went to school with both the parents and was friends with the mom in High School.  They are a sweet family and even their oldest girl was fun to talk to while bowling.

Bowling was a little challenging for me.  Even though I'm a decent bowler, I couldn't slide my right foot to the side like you're supposed to.... when I tried to I hurt myself.

 

Seth's birthday

 

Seth is 7.  He's such a tender hearted boy that loves his siblings more than anything.  He's bouncy like tiger and cuddles whenever possible. He loves music and electronics.  He's playing soccer again this year and can't wait to teach his friend, Jack, to play. He LOVES babies.  Every time I have a baby in the daycare he can't be kept away.  He loves making flying ships with legos and jumping on the trampoline.  He loves riding his bike with Evelyn and knows exactly how to push Evelyn's buttons.  He's a very good reader and every time he's eating at the table, he has a book in front of him.  For his birthday he asked for pancakes and bacon as well as Jer's yummy chocolate cake.

This cute girl knew that Seth wants to be a ninja, so she made origami ninja stars and ninja sword and sheath for him.  He loves them and has colored them and stored them in his room so that they won't get ruined.

For our present to him, I found a velcro axe throwing set.  He LOVES it!  So does Sam.  You just hang the target on the door and they throw axes for hours.  It's funny because you can hear THUMP, THUMP all the way through the house while they're doing it.  Jer bought him Luigi's Mansion, which has been one of Seth's wish list items for about a year and a half so he was pretty ecstatic.

Tidbits

These two have really been into dress ups lately.  They are so cute, but I keep having to tell them to pick it all up and put it away when they're done.

Evelyn and Seth had eye exams done for the year.  Evelyn's nearsightedness is improving but her astigmatism is worsening, so new glasses for her.... Seth is seeing 20/20 but is colorblind. He sees red colors differently.  My Dad is green and blue colors, so between the two of them....

My parents took Seth and I shopping for our birthdays. (We never got around to mine in the spring).  My parents got me a pair of pants and a dress.  Seth got a Batman dress up toy.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  It was fun walking around and talking with them more than anything else.  I love people's time. 

 

Finishing up construction

Seth and Evelyn were asked to break up the Styrofoam and put it in the trash before the garbage man came the next day.  They had a blast breaking it into the littlest pieces possible.... and then I sat on the grass and made them pick up every single little piece because they weren't actually putting it into the can.

Here's the after.  Jer put all the speaker wires inside the walls, moved his office to the basement, new paint, new carpet and a new entertainment center.

The carpet installer ran out of carpet 3 steps from finishing. He ordered some more, but for now we have the before and after comparison for everyone to see.

 

Space camp

 

While Ada was at grandparent FSY, we had Lance stay the week with us and Sam, Evelyn and Lance went to space day camp. They had a blast.  Sam was a little upset that when he was captain, Lance decided to sabatoge Sam.  He liked the second one where he wasn't in charge anymore.  They all said they would love to do it again.  I felt comfortable with them doing it because the missions are with 5/6 people... so they made up half the group.

Grandparent FSY

 

So since the Church's FSY launch was postponed because of COVID, (Ada was one of the few that participated in the pilot program) my parents chose to put on their own FSY.  They had all 4 of their 13 year olds spend the week at their house and they did all sorts of activities.  They had gospel studies together, painted my parents doors, axe throwing, horse back riding, hiked, road bikes in the rain, made food together, ziplining, kayaking at Deer Creek, made hygiene kits for the food bank, saw the movie 'Jungle Cruise' and went to Hang time; the trampoline park.  They absolutely loved it and I'm so glad they had the opportunity.

Rae, Aubrey, Grandpa, Devin and Ada