Me and my Peeps

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Piano recital

The kids had their yearly piano recital. I think it's important as a pianist to have chances to play in front of other people. The kids usually have no problem playing for other people.... Ada, like all teens, is going through a stage where it's emotionally hard to make mistakes in front of others. She did not want to play her song. She was playing Far Far Away from the hymn book. That's a challenging song. Half of the students only played one hand and even though Ada could play both hands with just a few mistakes, she chose to play just the right hand so that she wouldn't make mistakes in front of everyone. Silly girl. No one cared if she made a mistake except for her. I just hope that she doesn't get hung up on this. She did for a while with her singing. She has a lovely voice, but she wouldn't sing in front of anyone for almost three years. This Christmas, she joined me in the Ward Choir and sang in public for the first time voluntarily in a long time. Maybe the piano thing will pass too. I know this is probably a stage, but it presents a very real challenge. Seeing this, I wonder how often we put our own limitations on us by our own perceptions and not by anything that's really happening. How often do we limit our own spiritual growth for fear of making a mistake?

Evelyn was the first of the piano students to have her Christmas song memorized. She was really proud of herself. I love seeing when they accomplish something hard.

These nuts did a great job. My parents both came and my mom was really sweet. She recorded it to send to Judy.

pre-Christmas party

Right before Christmas, the lady that takes Seth to school backed into on of my daycare kids' car with our van. Our van is really banged up, so an extra scratch doesn't bother me, but the damage to the other car will be $650 to fix. Luckily my friend said that she'd pay for it out of pocket so it doesn't ding our insurance. Whoops. I think it was actually all three of our responsibility. If I had texted my friend 15 minutes earlier to make sure she was on time instead of running late, they wouldn't have been there at the same time. The daycare mom shouldn't have parked behind my van, but why would it be pulling out when I'm watching kids in the house? She wasn't there when my friend walked out and got into my van, but my friend should have checked the mirror before backing out. Perfect storm.

These guys have been the cutest buddies. They go everywhere together and play all sorts of things. Computer, board games, dolls, etc.... Seth told me that he wished that he had an "American boy doll" so that he could pretend to be Harry Potter and Evelyn could be Hermione.

After Margaret, Jim and James all dipped leftovers from the chocolate party, we finished dipped what would go bad and bagged it all up. Ada especially had fun. I think that she's going to follow in Dad and Grandpa's footsteps.

On Christmas Eve, Grandma Robertson had her last Chemo treatment. She still has her 2 surgeries and her radiation, but I think that the hardest part is behind. To celebrate, we had a little sing in. We sang out of the same music book that we do every year. I suggested that we Sing Hey Hey Ho for Grandma and Jer absolutely refused.... so there's that. We're so glad that Judy's doing so well. I'm sure she doesn't feel like she is at the moment, but I think she looks very strong and healthy for having just been through two rounds of chemo! Her friend said that her hair should start growing back in about 3 weeks, so I'm sure that she's excited for that. My daycare kids had RSV going around, so we stayed away from Grandma and Walter for the last 2 weeks. (I was really sad to miss the Hansen's Christmas party at their new house, but I just had a friend whose 12 year old died from complications from the flu.... his colon died and he passed away right after surgery. That made me want to be extra cautious with both Grandma and Walter. We love you guys enough to stay away!)

Friday, December 20, 2019

Sam's Arrow of Light

When Sam earned his Weblos they told me that he wouldn't have time to earn his Arrow of Light. I looked at the requirements and he had earned everything he needed except for one or two things. He spent twenty minutes on it and he was done. Then he ehleped his friend, Logan do the last two requirements to get his Weblos before the end of our involvement in the Scouting program.

Jeremy's birthday

Since Jeremy's birthday was super busy, he made his own buttermilk pancakes, sent Evelyn off to dance and Sam to his last pack meeting where he received his Arrow of Light. My sister, Janelle picked up Evelyn for me..... I'm so glad to have Jer. I love him so much. I'm so proud of Sam and all the work he puts in.

The two hardest things for me in life are being organized and asking for help. The last month I've had to do both, but it's still working out okay. It's good to be humbled and to go through adjustments.

Light the World

This is the Young Women's group. I couldn't go because they chose to go at 4 pm to miss the crowds and I have daycare kids until 5:30. They had a great time though and I'm so proud of the efforts they are making.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

daycare update

Tester was a little rough. I had gotten into a routine and then had two unexpected kids brought right as I was getting kids down for naps. Then my partner called and asked if her after school kids come come for an hour because she had to go to her niece's wedding... So I ended up with 10 by the end of the day. Plus my 4. It was a little chaotic but no one died and most days aren't like that. It just happened to be when one of the babies is teething and wanted to be held all day. Today was much easier. I had 4 plus mine. They've all come down with a cold so we've been doing lots of nose wiping and hand washing. We ended up watching a movie because they were all so tired from being sick.