The Road to Healthy Living

The good news is that Sophie is finally on the mend. She still has a cough and a stuffy nose, but they're much better than they were. Phoebe also appears to be improving. She came home early on Wednesday because her sinuses were so angry and active, but today she was much less drippy. I'm exhausted and dragging with a dry cough, but I seem to have had the lightest case so far. Cooper only has a cough left. Bryan is dragging and may be getting sick, but has still been able to function. Peter is so busy I'm assuming he's not home enough to catch anything.

Unfortunately Topher missed school on Monday because of a fever. He came home early today because of a headache and a stomachache. I'm not even sure if he has the same thing the rest of us got or if a new strain of something has been introduced into the household.

That said, I'm cautiously optimistic that we may be heading toward better health.

Mr. Clean

"Mom! I'm mopping the ceiling! Take a picture and put it on the blog!"

The Essentials

Cooper is taking photography this semester and has already learned some fun things. Among the not-so-fun things I learned today: he needed to have taken 50 pictures on black and white film by tomorrow. Did we have black and white film for his camera? No, no we did not. Did his camera have a working battery? Also no.

Something else I learned: the nearest photography supply store store is about 30 minutes from my house and had everything we were missing. Now he just needs to take the pictures.

Down For the Count

You know how last week I wrote that everyone was sick?

I wasn't.

And now I am.

I guess it's good that they're all at least well enough to function now, because I certainly am not.

Maybe they'll all come take care of me while I'm sick...

Almost as Majestic as a Turkey

On Thursday after school Phoebe showed me what they worked on in Art Club that day. We live in a tiny school district. The three elementary schools each have their own mascot. However, the only intermediate school (grades 5-6), middle school (grades 7-8), and high school (grades 9-12) all share the same mascot: the blue eagle. It's really a bald eagle, but I guess they wanted to incorporate the shared school color into the name. Thus bald eagles are kind of a big deal here. I actually saw one flying over my car on Monday, so they're even native to the area.

I think Phoebe's pencil sketch of an eagle is stunning.

The Days of the Week

On Monday we had no school for the holiday.

On Tuesday everyone went to school.

On Wednesday Sophie stayed home from school because her throat hurt and she had a cough.

On Wednesday Cooper came home from school and fell asleep on the couch because he was running a fever.

On Wednesday afternoon Sophie was feeling well enough to chase Topher through the house and was told she would be attending school the next day.

On Thursday Cooper stayed home from school.

On Thursday Phoebe called home and asked to be picked up early from her rehearsal because her head hurt so much and she was coughing. She came home and slept until dinner, then fell asleep on the couch soon after dinner was over.

On Thursday Sophie had a doctor's appointment and tested negative for strep throat, COVID, and the flu. But she was diagnosed with acute bronchitis and the beginning of an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics.

On Friday Phoebe and Sophie will both be staying home from school. I have no idea what everyone else will be doing.

How's your week going?

Just Dance

Our ward had a family dance last Saturday night. Peter and Bryan both had to work, but the rest of us went and danced more than just about everyone else. On the way home I asked the kids these questions:

Me: Did I dance too much?

Cooper/Phoebe/Sophie: No.

Topher: Yes.

Me: Did I dance more than any other grownup?

All four kids: Yes.

I think it was clear which families have dance parties at home and which families do not.

Cooper did a lot of dancing, including this double-decker version. This is two priests versus two teachers. I'm not sure whose idea this was, but they all had fun. 

In My Own Little Corner

Last Friday evening was the elementary school talent school. Sophie was determined to participate. She signed herself up and picked her song. She was nervous when the performance arrived, but I think she pulled it off beautifully. As one of our neighbors texted me after the performance, "Sophie wins variety show." 

She really did.

Foxy

Sophie noticed that we had a visitor napping in our backyard today. We could kind of see him from the kitchen, but had a better view from upstairs. This little fox slept happily in our yard at least until the sun went down. We couldn't see him anymore after that, so who knows how long he stayed.

You've Got a Little Something On Your Face

Topher enjoyed the leftovers from Sophie's birthday party, especially the sprinkles.

A Budding Artist Party

When Peter was five-and-a-half he had his first ever birthday party. We chose the half birthday route because having a birthday the week between Christmas and New Years lowers the likelihood of friends attending an event. (This is also why his 18th birthday party was in February.) We followed this fifth birthday party tradition with Cooper, Phoebe, and Topher. (And apparently I haven't written about Topher's party yet. At least I can't find the post.)

But poor Sophie was in the unfortunate situation of having a mom that couldn't put together a party when she turned five. For years I couldn't figure out why I wasn't able to. The very thought of organizing a party made me feel like I was drowning. Lots of Mom guilt followed, and then we had a global pandemic and two and a half years of isolating at home, which pushed her party out even more. 

I finally realized that I had had a significant case of postpartum depression after Topher. I felt like I was drowning because in many ways I was. That sort of helped with the guilt, but I also determined to finally throw Sophie a birthday party. Since ten is a multiple of five, that seemed like a natural time. Just like with Peter, Sophie's December birthday did not lend itself to a party with friends. So we pushed it to February.

On Saturday, the day after Peter's party, we held Sophie's very belated first birthday party. The benefit of having two parties two days in a row was that my house was already really clean and ready for guests. The downside was that we had to clean up from the first party fast, switch out all the decorations quickly, and do both of those things without having had a full night sleep. And really, our calendars are so full, these are the only days that could have worked.

When she was five, Sophie had wanted a unicorn party. I did lots of research and have a unicorn party board on Pinterest. But by the time her actual party came around, she chose an art party instead. After more research on Pinterest, I had some decorating and activity ideas. The trickiest part was that she wanted to paint at her party. My ministering sister at church happens to be a professional painter. I've attended paint tutorial parties she's given, so I asked what she would charge to teach a dozen ten-year-old girls how to paint a picture. She generously offered to do it for free, and that became the central activity of the party.

Here's a sampling of some of the decorations. My favorites are the suspended paint cans spilling "paint" everywhere.

I don't have any pictures of the setup for the first activity. We put up our big folding table in the great room and had the girls decorate canvas bags with fabric markers and stencils. They needed something to take home their party swag in and I figured this was a good way to include another art project. This was our gathering activity while we waited for everyone to arrive so we could start painting at the same time. Bryan had a loop of Bob Ross clips playing on the TV in the same room. I was a little surprised that all the girls knew who he was. One had even studied him in school. 

This is Sophie's decorated bag.

I worked hard for the week prior to the party cleaning out the basement because I thought we might paint down there. And then I realized the kitchen was warmer, had better lighting, and was closer to a water source for any spills that might happen. So we kept the basement closed and I setup the painting in the kitchen. My friend had come over the day before and prepped all the canvases with the outline of the fox to makes things run a little smoother at the party.

As of the morning before the party, seven friends had RSVPed. That meant we only needed ten canvases, if we included Sophie, Phoebe, and Topher in the final count. I asked my friend to prep twelve canvases, just in case. That afternoon another friend texted to say they were coming. Then, the morning of the party, I got a text from another mom asking if it was too late to send her daughter to the party. That took us up to twelve and I replied that she was welcome to join the party. That same mom dropped off her invited daughter and her older daughter, which was a last minute surprise. Phoebe graciously gave up her canvas and sketched instead of painting, so all the guests got to paint.

The girls LOVED painting. Sophie had picked a painting of a fox she found online and my friend did an amazing job teaching the girls how to recreate it.

Topher enjoyed getting to paint too. He didn't make it all the way through the painting process, but he got more done than I expected.

While we waited for the paintings to dry, we moved on to the next artistic endeavor: decorating cupcakes. I had seen the idea on Pinterest to use painters palates as cupcake plates, but with sprinkles instead of paint. I found some small palates on Amazon and they worked great. Sophie and her friend Gemma (who was at our house early for the party) took on the task of adding all the sprinkles to these plates. I couldn't have been ready in time without their help. They also put up several of the party decorations.

They just fit around the island. Everyone was happy to pile on frosting and sprinkles and even happier to eat their creations.

I had planned to have everyone make bracelets next, but the girls all asked to watch Sophie open her presents instead. This is not something that usually happens at East Coast parties, so I hadn't made time for it. But I decided to skip the bracelets and we moved back into the great room for the gifts. There was lots of cheering and Sophie handed out a hug after each package was opened.

As parents began arriving I snapped a few quick pictures of the paintings. I think they turned out great.

I knew that I needed several supplies to make the painting possible, but I didn't want to keep a dozen small wooden easels and lots of aprons after the party was over. That's when it occurred to me to make them the party favors. Everyone went home with their decorated bag, their painting, the easel they had used, and their apron.

My favorite part of the day was watching how happy Sophie was. Her friends really love her and they were all excited to celebrate her.

And now I guess I'm off the hook for birthday parties until Cooper turns eighteen.

Love Day

We did some Valentine's Day celebrating and these are the only two pictures I took today. Sophie asked for festive butterfly heart hair.

Both Topher and Sophie came home with lots of treats from school. The big kids had no such parties at school, but they did have a special combined youth activity at church. They ate heart shaped waffles and played a version of family feud where all of the questions were about them. And Sophie had a Primary Activity Girls gathering tonight. They painted jars in pink, white, and red.

I also made what was meant to be a fun holiday dinner with pasta and meat sauce and crusty bread and salad. But we had to rush to eat it in order to get to the activities at church and didn't have time for the activity I had planned. We were each going to write something we loved about every member of our family. I explained it and showed them the papers. Now we all have Valentine's Day homework and are supposed to fill those out over the next few days.

My favorite part was getting Valentine's from Topher and Sophie and a big, beautiful bouquet of roses and lilies from Bryan.

All the Snow

We woke up to a world of white and a proper snow day. Bryan picked up a fun breakfast last night after we got the call that school would be canceled. Nearly everyone slept in (Topher was up earlier than usual) and spent the morning resting and playing.

I learned today that Bryan has been watching The Great British Bakeoff with Sophie and Topher. They had a baking competition today using kitchen toys and Magna-tiles. I was instructed to keep coming to their stations and asking about their progress. I also had to call out how much time was left. Sophie told me I needed to make more jokes while doing all of this. I didn't.

Right after I declared a tie to the bakeoff, I realized I didn't feel right. I made it upstairs in time to discover I was starting a migraine. I spent the early afternoon sleeping it off while Bryan took the kids outside to shovel snow and play. I was extremely thankful that I didn't have to take them outside, though I would have preferred to not have a migraine in its place. This was Phoebe's first time shoveling snow. She's not in the pictures, but she was out there.

Some of the kids were hoping for a second snow day, or at least a two-hour delay tomorrow. Unfortunately for them, the roads all looked clear by the time the sun went down.

Nail Biter

Cooper was very into watching the Super Bowl this year. I have to admit, it was an exciting game, even for this football neophyte. As much as he enjoyed the game, he did not enjoy the result.

Teenager Energy

After many weeks of rescheduling due to snow and school dances and various other conflicts, Peter is having his 18th birthday party. Ten of his theatre friends are here and they are not a quiet bunch. After helping me welcome our guests and make pizza, Bryan retreated upstairs with the younger two. They had their own movie party in our room while the big kids have watched the Spider-verse movies. I'm the adult presence on the main floor. Things have gone pretty smoothly, though I did just have to break up a pillow fight.

This is our first teenager party.

They eat a lot of food.

They're really loud.

And Peter is really happy that they're here.

Portraits

Phoebe is doing a project based on The Greatest Showman for school. She's spent several days drawing some of the characters. I snapped the pictures before she was finished, so these are still works-in-progress. I think Zendaya's character is my favorite of this set of her drawings.

The Great Outdoors

The weather warmed up to 48 degrees today and Topher begged to play outside or go to the park. I was engaged in making dinner by this point and most of the big kids had homework. Cooper threw his shoes on and agreed to play with Topher in the backyard for fifteen minutes. While they were outside, Bryan came downstairs and I told him about the great wish of Topher's heart. After very little sleep and a full day of work Bryan grabbed his jacket and shoes and called Topher to go with him somewhere. Topher, not knowing the destination, went with him.

And then Bryan took Topher to play at the park.

It got cold fast, but Topher loved it.

Thanks to both Cooper and Bryan for making this sweet boy's day great.

Watch It On Repeat

Topher learned about Groundhog Day last Friday while at Kindergarten. He came home ready to perform this song for me.

Man In Black

Peter attended the Seniors only Black and White Ball on Friday night with a group of friends. It was a formal dance and we tried to find a suit that would fit the occasion. Did you know that it's exceptionally hard to find a suit made for someone that's 6'3" and has a 31 inch waist without paying an arm and a leg?

Instead of a suit, he opted for slacks, a dress shirt, and his favorite jacket.

The best part of the evening for Peter? When they stopped at McDonald's after the dance was over.

You Are Fifteen Going On Sixteen

Cooper had quite the glow-up yesterday. Bryan took him to an eye doctor appointment, which included trying contact lenses for the first time. Then Cooper got a haircut on the way home. He's anticipating turning sixteen next month and being able to date...

Come With Me to Primary

For the last month I've been serving in a new calling at church. After six and a half years as the choir director (minus the two and a half years we were home during COVID), I've handed that role off to someone else. I found out two days after our Christmas concert that I was being released and I spent a decent part of that week bursting into tears. I'm okay now, but I do miss it.

I had to be released because my new job requires a significant amount of my time. In our church the children age eighteen months up to eleven years are in the Primary. These kids spend the second hour of each Sunday singing together and learning about Jesus. They're divided into classes based on their ages and each class has two adult teachers. The seven to eleven year-olds also have mid-week activities twice a month where they work on personal goals they've set, like learning to play pickleball or baking a cake or fixing a bike.

I'm now in charge of the Primary in my congregation. As the president I'm responsible for all the moving parts required to teach the kids each week. I'm also supposed to minister to the kids, their families, and the teachers. It's a lot. I have a really wonderful presidency and am already a huge believer in delegating, so I'm not carrying this work load on my own.

Sundays are a whirlwind. We're the first ward in the building, so we need to set up the chairs and get the Primary room ready. We've had some help, but there was one morning that Sophie and I missed most of the first hour of church because we were setting up chairs. I finally took a picture of the setup this week so I can remember what it's supposed to look like from one week to the next.

We're four weeks in and so far it's going pretty well. We still don't have all the teachers we need (my presidency has been substituting each week) and I've forgotten at least one thing each week, but the kids are doing well and paying attention, so I think that's a win.