Mother Nature's Practical Joke

You know how March is supposed to come in like a lion and out like a lamb? Both the beginning of March and end of March this year were kind of meh.

But the beginning of April? Mother Nature decided to play an April Fool's joke on all of us. After such a mild Winter, we got snow the beginning of April. And of course I didn't take pictures. And that's okay.

It cleared up and we've had some sunny days since then. 

I don't have pictures of the weather, but here is a picture of Jr. Jr. learning how to pass juggling balls with me. 

It's a lot more effective when I'm not trying to take the picture and juggle at the same time. Tee Hee.

That was not a sunny day as you can see. 

I'm a Helper

Saturday, February 7, had nice weather. I'm glad of it because I walked over to someone's house in the neighborhood to help paint platforms for the school play... twice. Base coat in the morning, texturing in the afternoon.

It was Play Outside Day. It was nice to get out for that short walk (four times because of back and forth) because I have just gotten over a cold so I haven't been out for walks much lately.

Between trips to do that service I made sure to eat ice cream. It was Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Several people in the family celebrated.

Sadly I was too tired to take anyone to the library for Take Your Child to the Library Day. Oh well. 

It was National Fettuccine Alfredo Day but we didn't have any fettuccine so we had rotini alfredo. Mmmm. I love the homemade alfredo sauce we always use. It's from ourbestbites.com and it uses ingredients I always have on hand. Guiltless Alfredo Sauce.

Saturday was a good day.

Service and Burnout

We did so much that first week of December. I wanted to get things in before the tradition of being sick during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Actually, nobody was sick for that this year. Yay. We did enjoy watching it together.

In Sacrament Meeting that morning, our bishop talked about doing simple acts of service, which as you know I've been thinking about and trying to do lately. He shared an experience where he offered to throw away somebody's trash for them because it looked like they were done eating. Simple acts of service. I offered to take someone's cart back for them in the Costco parking lot. I was already taking mine back and he had one arm already full. Simple acts of service. At church, I complimented a couple men on their ties because the Christmas season brings out some awesome festive ties. Simple acts of service.

I also took some time Sunday afternoon to make paper bag puppets with Jet. He loved it. 

So I tried to do service. I tried celebrating. Then Monday and the burnout came. I had my nice little breakdown, feeling the overwhelm. I managed to clean and vacuum the living room. I did not manage to catch up on dishes. Did you know baking uses a lot of dishes? I still haven't caught up on the dishes. I'll just admit that right now. And I want to do more baking (read that with a whiny voice).

I still managed to do service when a couple people asked me to help with things. I mean, when someone needs a balloon blown up and you have access to balloon pumps... 

Monday evening, I dragged the kids (a couple were grumpy and didn't want to go- everyone's feeling the burnout and overwhelm) over to the mall for something new. 

They had a live nativity. Students from one of the local high schools were the performers. I knelt down with Jet to explain who the different people represented. When we get to the different groups (shepherds, wise men, etc.) in our family scripture study, I'll be able to remind him of what we saw. 

We also got hot chocolate and brownies there which we were excited about because December 8 was National Brownie Day.

Jet wanted to go inside the big Christmas tree while we were there. It is so cool looking inside.

 

We enjoyed the holiday lights (including the lights of the fountain). 

Here's a funny story. We sat down by the fountain to let Jet eat his brownie because he was just carrying it around for a while. While we were sitting there, Lucky handed me his napkin which he had shaped like a flower and said, "Here's a pretty flower for the lady." Awwww. When Jet finished his brownie, he handed me his crumb covered napkin and said, "Here's a napkin for when you finish your brownie." Ha Ha Ha Ha. I think he did it in a similar voice to what Lucky was using which is what made it hilarious. Have I mentioned I love my kids?

 

We got to see live animals as we walked back to our van, including a camel.

The weather was so good that day. We were really fortunate. I think the student performers were also really fortunate because when Nichole went to the mall just a couple days before that, it was so cold.

The grumpy kids didn't stay grumpy very long which I am grateful for and Jet was very well behaved.

We talked about how many years ago (November 2017), most of us got to ride a camel, so when we got home, Jet got on his brother's back and told us, "I'm riding a camel."

Since it was also Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day, we had "fish fingers and custard" at home.

Huh. I guess going to a live nativity also works for that holiday because we went back more than 2000 years to when Jesus came to Earth as a little baby.

 

Yesterday, December 9, was National Llama Day so my mom said I could share a couple pictures she took of her neighborhood llamas. She shared some llama thoughts with me as well. I love that my mom helps me celebrate. 

School Lovers Love School

A few days before school started, a couple people from the junior high came by to drop stuff off for Jr. Jr. and let him know they were excited about having him back for the school year.

Then we had back to school nights/meet the teachers. Teachers asking Jr. Jr. how he feels about school starting. Mixed feelings. Teachers asking Lucky how he feels about school starting. He would rather be at school than at home. Sigh. 

Speaking of back to school nights... the high school and junior high had overlapping schedules for that night so Jr. Jr. had to come with us to the high school to meet Jr.'s teachers. And it just so happened there was a big rainstorm. Like big. We luckily didn't get flooded and missed the flooding that was on State Street. We did get soaked just going from the high school front entrance to the van and we did get to see rainbows on the road as we were driving. We were able to drop Jr. off then head to the junior high and luckily it had stopped raining because we had farther to walk to the school from the van. It poured down again while we were in the school.

Jeremy unfortunately had an outdoor show in the rain. Sigh.

When we got home, this was the view from one direction and from another. So different.

 

At the elementary school back to school night, the students were given a punch card to make sure they took care of certain things (find out where your class lines up, make sure your student info is up to date, visit your teacher) then got a prize for completing it. One of the punches was to take a back to school selfie so Lucky took my phone and got his selfie.

 

The boys didn't have rain on the first day of school. I did get pictures before school. Yippee!

 

When I dropped Jr. Jr. off at the bus, he and I had this conversation-

Me: You good for the day?

Jr. Jr.: Just a sec.

(Comes to my door and gives me a hug)

Jr. Jr.: Now I'm good for the day.

Me: Awww.

Besides the snuggles I got from Jet while the boys were at school, I also baked bread because nobody had bread to make sandwiches. Sigh. See how organized and put together I am?

When Nichole started classes a few weeks later, she remembered to send me a first day of school picture. Yay! That's my girl.

Valentine's Day 2024

I made plans on Valentine's Day since Jeremy had the day off. They were kind of surprise plans for him and the kids helped me out.

At the beginning of the day, I put "10 Things I Love About You" notes around for all the family members. I put them in places they would see them (sticking out of backpacks or scripture bags, sitting on Jeremy's wallet). Since Jeremy saw Nichole that day, he brought her my note and brought her a treat and Valentine. 

The "10 Things I Love About You" notes were printables from Jordan Page at funcheaporfree.com

Lucky created a fun penguin box for his class Valentines out of a cardboard box and balloons (and a little bit of construction paper). Jeremy helped just a little bit to give him instruction and get him started but Lucky did the majority himself.

I made heart shaped pizza dough for the boys to make pizza. Jeremy made me a Valentine.

After the boys got home from school, Jeremy and I headed out on our date (see me wearing my "date" shirt?). We tried a new birding spot- Powell Slough Wildlife Management Area- which is not very far from where we live. We were able to get half the birds needed for that location for this year's UCB challenge. Woohoo.

We skipped going to a crowded restaurant on Valentine's Day but did go to Winco to pick up our traditional date food- salads. Then we found a spot near the lake to park our van and eat. It was too dark to see the water or any birds by the time we got there but it was still nice and we could see city lights. After we ate I pulled out some conversation jelly beans to read and eat together and we also talked a lot. We always have plenty to chat about. I love that about our relationship.

When we got home we found a card that Lucky made us along with a bouquet of cookie flowers the boys made (I asked them to do that as part of the surprise for Jeremy). They also turned on relaxing romantic piano music for ambience.

Then it was Jeremy's turn to surprise me. After I changed my clothes I came out to find a bouquet of actual flowers (roses), an amber necklace to go with my Jurassic Park shirt (amber- Jurassic Park, get it?), and chocolate. He's a sweetheart.

It was a beautiful Valentine's Day. I love my family.

This is an example of the Valentines Lucky gave out to his class (and Nichole). There were three different sayings with the same picture.

 

I am glad the weather was good for birding on Valentine's Day because the next day we got lots of precipitation.

The next day was also National Gumdrop Day. I ate a few gumdrops.

End of School Days

Some school things that happened in May:

Lucky did a report and project on the Arctic. He made a diorama showing animals and plants with the Northern Lights in the background.

I took Jr. Jr. and Lucky to say Goodbye to their principal who retired. Coincidence that they all matched the decorations?

 

Jr. and Nichole had their last concert at the school. Nichole composed two pieces that the combined orchestras performed and she conducted. She got a paper plate award for it.

The weather was gorgeous when we got out of the concert.

 

Jr. went to his last official day of classes. It's hard to know when school ends at the high school because it kind of fizzles out every year. But I got a picture of Jr. on his last day of classes.

Nichole had another orchestra festival that day. Busy busy.

 

Nichole had an awards night at the high school.

I went to see Jr. Jr. and Lucky at their dance festival. Good job boys.

 

Because, like I said, chaos, the last day of school came up for the elementary schoolers and I had completely forgotten to help them do anything for their teachers. So last minute, they wrote cards and took apples to their teachers. Sigh.

 The end of school was crazy but we all survived.