What They Missed- August 16

Sunday- August 16
I woke to the sound of a child throwing up. Poor kid. I don't know if it was the heat, not eating enough, too much screen time on his device, a stomach bug (from where I don't know), or what. Did the poor kid stay up too late the night before? Lack of sleep makes me sick to my stomach sometimes.
We missed Music & the Spoken Word. I didn't want to disturb the sleeping child. We watched it on YouTube later.
Lucky was a huge help with Jet, getting things for Jr. Jr., setting up TV/movies for a distraction for the sick kid, being Jr. Jr.'s scribe when Jr. Jr. wanted to type on the computer but I wouldn't let him because I didn't want him getting his germs on the keyboard, and watering the dying/dead zucchini plants.

We watched The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and talked about the symbolism of the Atonement. We also likened it to the stripling warriors who were young but were asked to fight on God's side and how youth nowadays are also asked to fight on God's side, not with swords but with their testimonies.
The sick child was up and moving around and enthusiastic while talking with his brother by the end of the day. He had no problem with the food he ate or what he drank. Phew. He also felt up to going out to feed the birds. By the time Jet and I got up there, the boys had already finished. They were quick.
We added some orange halves and called it good.

What They Missed- August 15

Saturday, August 15-
I got a decent amount of dishes washed.
We went out for a drive. I originally planned to recycle glass but I forgot to put it in the van so we drove around for a while. At one point I stopped at a trailhead for the Murdock Canal Trail and asked if the boys wanted to get out and walk or just head home. Lucky wanted to walk and Jr. Jr. wanted to just go home. I suggested a compromise. What if we headed toward home then go on just a short walk at a place closer to home. They agreed.
We stopped at the elementary school and walked to where the boys would be lining up before school. It was sunny.

When we got home, the boys put away the dishes. They asked to use the phone.
Jr. Jr.: We're just taking pictures of my beautiful tower creations.
Lucky made some, too.

 
I mixed potato, green beans, and beef together to give Jet kind of a shepherd's pie. He was not a fan.

This is the same picture from the day before but it's worth repeating since he made the same face when I tried to feed him that food.

It was National Relaxation Day and at one point, Lucky said to me, "Playing games is relaxing for me."

We fed the birds and refilled a feeder we hadn't before.

When heading back, there was a trail of ants on the sidewalk. Lucky and Jr. Jr. were having fun hopping over them.

Lucky: Mom, how are you going to get over the ants? Because you're a mom and moms don't jump very good.

So I told Jr. Jr. to get pictures of me jumping over the ants.

I also decided to take a picture myself.

Later, after Lucky was done buttering a bagel-
Lucky: Can you put away the butter for me, please?
Mom: Yes. I appreciate your good manners.
Lucky: I learned it from you, Mom.
Mom: Aww. I'm glad you learned something good from me.

Lucky helped with dishes, Jet, and getting Jr. Jr.'s blanket.

That night Jeremy and I texted.
Jeremy: I miss you.
Kristin:

Does that help?

What They Missed- August 14

Friday, August 14-
I spent some time on the phone with schools that day to get things figured out before school started. It's going to be a crazy year for everyone.
Jr. Jr. and Lucky had fun building things while helping dry and put away dishes.

Here's a bunch of random things from that day:

Jet was not a fan of the new food I gave him. Po-ta-to.

 Lucky using the force.

Plastic egg shakers.

Boys rock the world.

This is what I look like after bath time with baby. He sure likes to splash.

Here's a list of Lucky's service: Fill water bottle, put away dishes, entertain baby, did a good job wearing a face mask, laundry, giving Jr. Jr. his blanket.

What They Missed- August 13

Thursday, August 13-
I had another rant I wrote down on this day's notes that I am again not going to put on here. Instead here is a sculpture Lucky made out of puzzle blocks.

It's a person sitting on a couch watching TV. It even has couch cushions.

We sat down to dinner of sweet and sour chicken (since Jeremy wasn't there and he can't stand pineapple but I love it) and talked about The Food Nanny and sitting down to dinners together (as a family, not with the food nanny).

We also talked about a little riddle thing from the Gospel Living app. It was originally from The New Era magazine from June 2017.
You figure out a word that fits two different clues with different meanings. The example they gave was "1/60 of a minute and a silver medal." The answer is "second." Get it?
Jr. Jr. got creative after we went through all of them and came up with a few of his own. They all ended up being about bowling but that's just fine. He's clever. Themes are fun.
Here's what he came up with. See if you can figure them out and I'll put the answers at the end of this post.
1. "Water comes out of me when it rains."  "Dang it! I missed all the pins."
2.  "Could you leave a few cookies?"  "Yes! I got the last two pins."
3.  "Ow! That really hurt. You hit me with a bat."  "Yes! I got all the pins in one try."

After dinner, we celebrated Alfred Hitchcock's birthday with cupcakes. We put a candle in one and took turns blowing it out after singing "Happy Birthday" to Alfred Hitchcock each time. I took pictures.

I had too much fun trying to get different angles with the knife and reflections, not unlike how Alfred Hitchcock would direct the cinematography in his films.

I also watched three different versions of The Lady Vanishes (one of my favorite Hitchcock films). One in the middle of the night/early morning, one in the middle of the day, and one late that night/early morning.

We fed the birds at sunset and saw the evening star while it was still pretty light out. The evening star is actually a planet- it's Venus. That's always fun.
We didn't stick around or come back out to look for meteors or UFOs that night.

Did you figure out the answers based on Jr. Jr.'s clues?
Here are the answers.
1. Gutter
2. Spare
3. Strike

What They Missed- August 12

Wednesday, August 12-
I feel like my one accomplishment the whole time Jeremy and the oldest two were gone was getting the kitchen table completely cleaned off.

That and taking the boys out to feed the birds... most days.

I had a rant written down on this day when I was taking notes. I don't want to write it on here. I'd rather write about Middle Child Day. Jr. Jr. was excited because now he is the exact middle child in the family. With the two oldest gone, Lucky was the middle child of the two that were left. So we celebrated them both. I had Jr. Jr. figure out the menu plan for dinner, though.
We had pizza, dried fruit, and root beer. I taught the boys a trick of using a red vine for a straw in their cans of root beer if they bite the ends off first. Red vines dissolve easily in pop, though, so we had extra sugary root beer.

 
That night we went outside in the dark in case we could see any shooting stars. Before we got very far, though, the neighbors' porch light came on and the boys started playing Shadow Wars. They were cute.

We went in the backyard to look at the sky. We didn't see much in the way of shooting stars since we were still in the city. I think I saw a couple, so does Jr. Jr. We did see UFOs, though. That was cool. Jr. Jr. explained to Lucky that UFOs are Unidentified Flying Objects so if you can't tell what is, it is unidentified and therefore a UFO. When I first saw one it was floating across the sky. It looked like the shape of one of those elongated parachutes that people use to jump from Point of the Mountain. My next thought was... some sort of stealth jet you could only see the outline of if you were trying? We all watched it as it continued along then watched it change shape. Well, there went my stealth jet theory. It was weird. Was it a group of bugs flying in formation then changing formation? We saw these UFOs a few times so it was either several groups or individuals or it was the same group or individual going around again. It could have been eerie but we found it interesting.
We also saw several planes and helicopters flying around flashing green and red.
While we were out there, we sang a bit of "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail just in case Jeremy was out looking at the same stars from a few states away.

What They Missed- August 11

Tuesday, August 11-
I needed a do over that day.

I managed to make a larger mask for Jr. Jr. because we realized the one he wore the day before was not sufficient for when he moved his jaw to talk (talking is kind of important when you go to school). The smaller one would work for Lucky.

I also washed a few dishes.
Dinner that night ended up being whatever we could scrounge together because I didn't feel up to what was on the menu plan. Sigh.

What They Missed- August 10

Monday, August 10-
I took the pieces I cut out the day before and sewed them into a mask for Jr. Jr. that morning.

The boys found a snail outside by one of the windows so Lucky moved plants out of the way so Jr. Jr. could take pictures with my phone. Not bad, boys.

Then it was time for a... Road Trip!

Road trip... to the library. We had items to return so we dropped them in the outside return then kept on driving. As we were driving, Lucky told me a good idea would have been to use hand sanitizer after touching the book return. I let him know that I actually did that. I even used hand sanitizer before touching the book return, too. Thinking like that will serve him well in returning to school.
Since Jeremy and the oldest two took snacks on their road trip, we took snacks on ours, too. And of course we made sure to have our water bottles and used them. It is Summertime after all.
We practiced wearing masks at Bridal Veil Falls and walking along the trail. It was Jet's first trip to the falls, though he's been in the van going passed them a number of times.

Here's a picture Lucky took as we were going along.

After Bridal Veil Falls, we decided to head up to Big Springs so back on the road through the canyon we went... and missed the turnoff at Vivian Park. I realized this when we reached the tunnel. So after the tunnel we turned around and went through the tunnel again. I got in the turning lane and realized I was turning too early. The turnoff for Vivian Park was farther up the road. So I pulled into this area and turned around and headed back to the main road noticing the right turn only sign. So we turned right onto the main road and through the tunnel again, turned around and drove through the tunnel yet again (luckily the road to Sundance is just after the tunnels and a good place to turn around). This time I paid close attention and turned into Vivian Park at the right place then drove up the road to Big Springs Park.
At this point Jet was asleep and I didn't have the Snugli anyway, just the stroller, so we didn't do any hiking, just walked around. I suggested we play Pooh Sticks at the bridges. Unfortunately it looked like the water under the bridges was not right for that game- too much debris for the sticks to get caught on. Too bad. The boys had fun throwing things in the water anyway and finding walking sticks to use which I wouldn't let them take in the van.

Jet woke and was content to look up at the trees instead of me or the phone when I tried to take a picture of him.

Baby's Eye View

When we got home, we fed the birds and had to use the leftover water from filling the birdbath somehow.

When we got to the door, there was a humongous (to me) wasp/hornet/bee thing (not a murder hornet) nearby. We had to go around it to get inside and every time we moved, it would rotate to follow our movements. I don't usually get freaked out by bugs (mostly just when they jump out at me) but it was intimidating how aware it was of us. It wasn't just doing its own thing.

I spent so much time searching the internet trying to figure out the bug, I didn't get as much done as I was expecting. It was National Lazy Day, though.
As best I can tell, it was something of the genus Tachytes. I think the neighbors may have stepped on it or something later when they brought a package down to leave on our doorstep because when we opened the door again, it was dead.

At one point during the day, Lucky was looking for something-

Lucky: Where are the beans? You know the beans that are shaped like organs?

Me: The kidney beans?

Lucky: Yeah.

For Family Home Evening, Lucky gave us a lesson on how having faith leads you with light. He had Jr. Jr. lead us with a walkie talkie light all the way to the living room while the lights were off like faith. For treats we had S'mores for National S'Mores Day. For the activity, the boys each had a turn playing a video game.