Another First Day

Yesterday was the first day of school. We thought we would be in the new house already, so the internet was turned off in the morning.

Cyber school without internet is tricky.

We had hotspots turned on and positioned as close to windows as possible, in an effort to pick up a better signal. There were parts of the day when no one was doing school and everyone was cleaning or moving stuff. Thankfully, the kids have two days to complete their introductory work and the new house does have internet.

To the Grindstone

We have our final walkthrough for our townhouse at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning.

We are not ready.

Tonight there will be no rest for the weary.

Progress

 

Blue Skies

Cooper is an excellent painting helper. He's thorough and takes his time and did a great job helping with Topher's room.

Cooper captured the reveal when Topher saw his blue room for the first time.

He likes it.

He also liked painting it. I had to stand close by to prevent too much active self expression with that paint brush.

I really like the final product. This color is called Charismatic Sky and it really does remind me of the sky.

On the drive home, we had this conversation:

Me: Topher, is your room beautiful?

Topher: (pause, nervous chuckle) Oh, I think you mean is your room cool.

Me: Is your room cool?

Topher: Yes. And fabulous. And super speedy.

The Watcher

On Saturday Cooper and I painted Topher's room. When it was nearly done, I left Cooper and Bryan at the new house, drove home, and got Topher so he could have a hand at painting as well. Phoebe, Sophie, and Peter stayed behind. As we drove there, the following conversation took place.

Topher: (sounding genuinely worried) Oh, I hope the kids will be okay at home.

Me: Oh, I think they'll be okay.

Topher: (more worried this time) I just hope they're okay.

Me: (realization dawning) Topher, have you been watching the kids at home all these days that we've been working on the house?

Topher: Yes. I've been watching them and keeping them safe.

And this whole time I thought he was the one being watched. Well, now I know.

The Best

Near the end of our Sacrament Meeting broadcast on Sunday, I looked over at Bryan and Topher and saw this.

As I quietly raised my phone to take a picture, the others kids looked as well. They all smiled and Peter said, quoting Elder Uchtdorf, "Church sleep is the best sleep."

Sunday Contributions

A few weeks ago Phoebe and Sophie provided the talk and scripture for Primary. Since our family is still virtual, I recorded their contributions and sent them to the Primary president. Bonus: now you get to see them too!

Make Your Mark

Today's project: painting the girls' room a lovely light purple shade that they picked out called Foxglove.

They were excited to help.

This is how far they got by the time we needed to head home for a bit. Phoebe was content and didn't want to paint anymore. Sophie wanted to paint more, but when I came back to finish it was later in the day and I wasn't sure how long the process would take. I told her she could help me paint a different room on a different day. She was okay with that.

This was a good choice, because between taping, cutting in, rolling, and going back over some missed spots, it took me six hours to finish this room. Yes, that is a ridiculously long time. I plan to go faster next time.

Here's the final product, with some wet paint still glistening.

Peter was my helper for the bulk of this project. It turns out that when he has his headphones on with music playing, he is very good at focusing and getting to work.

I'll do the trim later.

Work, Work

This is what home ownership looks like for us, so far.

This tree is Phoebe's favorite part of the house and yard.

Me, happy with a much bigger kitchen, including two ovens!

Changing old gold locks for new antique bronze locks.

Removal of nearly thirty-year-old carpet from a nearly thirty-year-old house.

Masks are good for keeping both COVID-19 and gross carpet dust out of your respiratory system.

Day two brought us a flooded basement. This was not a happy thing.

We think this is the path the water took into the house.

Each of the four big kids have put in time on the house.

It was not easy work.

Now back to the house to prep for painting!

Ten Years In the Blink of an Eye, Part Two

Part one of this post is here, this post starts where that one ends.

11 Years Later:

One of our only professionally taken family pictures, South Jordan, Utah

12 Years Later:

The day after Bryan's MBA graduation in Provo, Utah, expecting Sophie

13 Years Later:

After Phoebe's first dance recital, in Vancouver, Washington.

14 Years Later:

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

15 Years Later:

Philadelphia Temple Open House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

16 Years Later:

Visiting the Space Shuttle Enterprise, New York, New York, expecting Topher.

17 Years Later:

Our first family picture with all seven of us, Pennsylvania

18 Years Later:

Ithaca, New York

19 Years Later:

Near our home in Pennsylvania, during the COVID-19 quarantine

Today, 20 Years Later:

In the backyard of the first home we've ever bought, that we closed on today.

Home.

Happy anniversary, indeed.

Rapunzel, Almost

It had been months since either of the big boys had let me cut their hair. Bryan wasn't cutting his hair, so they decided they didn't need to either. The major difference of course was that Bryan took excellent care of his hair, Peter and Cooper did not follow his example. We warned them we would need to cut it soon. There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, but the day finally arrived.

I started with Cooper. This was the before shot. Cooper has lots of thick hair, just like Bryan.

I asked him to smile.

This was after the first major cut.

This was when I thought I was done, but he came back after I trimmed Topher's hair and asked me to take two more inches off the top.

The actual final product.

Then I moved on to Peter's hair. Peter's hair is much finer than Cooper's, but there's a lot of it.

And it was even longer than I had realized.

We were both happy with the end result.