Well Loved Books Are Like Dear Friends

Robbie Coltrane, the actor who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, passed away today. Hearing that sad news made me feel nostalgic, so we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for movie night tonight. Well, we watched a good chunk of it before bedtime hit and we paused the movie to finish another day. I did not expect Topher to be so engaged, but he was hooked. 

After he and Sophie went to bed and the boys were working on other activities, I invited Phoebe to watch the Harry Potter reunion with me. I hadn't seen it yet and had baskets of laundry to fold, so I needed a distraction. She happily joined me, even with the spoilers that came at the end of the special since she hasn't seen the last two movies yet. It was lovely and we both ended up in tears. Hogwarts still feels so magical, twenty years later.

I think it's time to go back and reread the story of the boy who lived.

Paparazzo

Me: Phoebe, your hair is looking so shiny and pretty tonight.

Phoebe: Oh. Are you going to take a pic-

Me:

The Happiest Place on Earth

Libraries are great for books

and toys.

Hooray for libraries!

All the Words

Fun fact about Cooper: he talks all the time. ALL THE TIME. He talks so much that we have to remind him to stop talking long enough to eat food. That's what's happening right now. He came downstairs for a snack before bed and I have to keep pointing to his plate of almonds so he continues consuming them. I'm really thankful that he's a teenager that talks to his parents and wants to share what is in his brain. I'm also thankful when he takes a break to eat and sleep.

Fitting In

"Oh yeah, this totally still fits." -Topher, in response to a jacket I had deemed too small during my annual family outerwear evaluation.

Germs Make a Comeback

Today's post was going to be my General Conference recap from last weekend. I'm going to save that for another day. Instead, I'm going to share this picture that Bryan sent me this morning.

After two and a half years of not catching germs from other people because we were isolating all the time, most of us have colds. Bryan caught it first, last week. It didn't seem to get passed on to anyone else, until early this week. Cooper missed seminary Wednesday through Friday because he was so sniffly. Wednesday afternoon my throat started to hurt. I actually thought I was feeling better on Thursday, until it was time to go to sleep. That's when I stayed awake until nearly 3 o'clock in the morning because I kept having to blow my nose. I slept in while Bryan took Topher downstairs for breakfast. And that leads us to the picture. Topher had no energy at all. When I came downstairs I discovered he was running a fever of 101.5, the only one of us (as far as we know) to run a fever with this sickness.

The good news? All four of us have taken COVID tests and gotten negative results. Peter seems fine, maybe because he's spent the majority of the week away from us? Topher rested for most of the day and was feeling well enough by the afternoon that he was back to jumping off the furniture.

Sophie and Phoebe, as of this evening, have mild sore throats. Poor Phoebe was supposed to go to a friend's birthday party tonight but had to stay home because of our germs.

I guess it's a good thing we've had so much practice doing at-home church, because I think we may need to revisit that method this Sunday.

Where I'm From

For her Language Arts class, Phoebe was asked to write a Where I'm From poem and given a very specific template to follow. She had to interview family members for the information and Bryan and I were her subjects. I love her final product. I think it's especially cool that both of her grandpas are mentioned, one by name and one by action.

Where I'm From

by Phoebe

 I am from books,

From Kindle, and Starbursts

 I’m from wandering and traveling, never staying in one place, roaming, moving, not settling down.

It felt like adventure, it seemed so free.

I’m from the great rocky mountains, the middle-aged maple in the back whose slender branches extend like outreaching arms. 

I’m from Christmas Eve soup and the noisy and bookish.

From Gilbert and Henry

I’m from the loud and loquacious and over-explaining.

From please be quiet and you’re very sweet.

I’m from reading your scriptures and saying your prayers,  from Book of Mormon Stories, and Scripture Power.

I’m from Utah, Norway, Denmark, California,  the Mayflower, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, the Powhatan lands, Scotland,  England,  the Isle of Jersey, and potatoes and corn.

From the science fiction paperback in Grandpa Marc’s back pocket, the fixing cars before you can drive them,
I’m from The Blog and photo albums.

I am from reading and writing, from creating and questioning. I am from answers and love, articulate and kind. I am from all around, and from here right now. I’m from joy and hope, and from hugs and kisses. I’m from love.

The Piano Man

Today was a big day. After a year of listening to a severely out of tune piano, a skilled piano tuner came for a visit. He was very chatty while he worked. We learned that the piano was made on March 11, 1961 and is made of spruce. We also learned that it was so out of tune that it couldn't be tuned all the way without breaking the strings. He tuned it so that it sounds beautiful, it's just not giving true pitches yet. All the notes are just a little lower than they should be. He said if it didn't bother us he could leave it like that, but then he found out we have singers in our house and recommended we tune it all the way up. I agreed, so he'll come back some time in January to tune it the rest of the way.

I'm so happy to have a tuned piano! With as much as the kids play it, I bet the neighbors are happy too!

Bling

We had told Phoebe she could get her ears pierced when she turned 10. Well, that date happened in 2020, so we delayed. And delayed. And delayed.

Until yesterday.

Before:

After:

She feels very grown-up.

Live and In Person

Today was Peter's first day of high school, in person. The anxiety that he felt last week grew over the weekend. By last night he was coming into our room every few minutes with questions about how the school day would go. Bryan took him to seminary and school this morning and took this picture at my request. You can always tell when Bryan is the photographer because he and Peter are eye-level with each other. I have to point up to take Peter's picture.

He had a really good first day back. Several friends knew he would be at school today, which helped calm his nerves. He got at least one handshake and one hug. Several kids recognized him from the four years he attended school with them in the before-times. Some of them said he'd gotten handsome, some said he looked the same, and one person said he no longer smelled like soup.

That's right, soup.

Let's hope day two goes as well as day one.