Add Another Candle

Cooper turned 15! The birthday itself was lowkey and included opening a few treats, then having a huge dinner of sushi and potstickers and stir fry and orange chicken and noodles. In other words, most of Cooper's favorite foods. We ended the night with a neapolitan cake and ice cream. We'll have a birthday adventure later in the month to complete the celebration.

Happy birthday, Cooper!

Who Will You Be Today?

Last week I learned that Peter hasn't grown too old for wearing costumes around the house, just for the fun of it.

The next day I found out Cooper hasn't either.

Mistaken Identity

Sophie has been working on a clay project for her art class over the last few weeks. I admit, for some reason I thought was a swan's head and neck reaching over the edge of this bowl. It wasn't until she painted it this week that I discovered I was wrong.

I think her leaping dolphin turned out nicely.

Math Support

Cooper, doing geometry at my desk, needed help. Peter sat down to aid with the math dilemma. Topher saw them and pulled up a chair. He said he needed to do math with his brothers.

Almost a Doppelganger

This sweet picture popped up in my photo memories yesterday. At first glance I thought it was Sophie. I quickly realized I was looking at Bryan's youngest sister Kate when she was eight years old, holding a two month old Peter.

I found this picture of Sophie from last year when she was about the same age. Can you see the family resemblance?

Speed Sonnets

At about 11pm on Friday night, Phoebe came into my room with her school computer open. Her bedtime on Friday is 10pm, so I was surprised to see her. She said she had recently learned about a poetry competition that she wanted to enter, but the deadline was midnight and she hadn't written anything yet. I put aside what I'd been doing and invited her to sit with me.

She said the poem needed to be a sonnet, but she had no experience with sonnets. She and I did some quick Google searches to learn/refresh our memories about correct sonnet structure. She was getting anxious because she wasn't sure what she should write. I pulled out my own computer and said we could do the same exercise we'd done when she had to write a sijo poem. In other words, we could try speed writing sonnets together. She took me up on my offer and we jumped in. She submitted her finished poem with minutes to spare.

Want to read what we wrote? Here's Phoebe's:

The page, so blank, yet full of life and love.

Whole worlds lay at my fingertips, unknown.

The feathers as white as those of a dove,

With many characters to soon be shown. 

But there cannot be highs without the lows

No stories come, my mind has hit a wall.

All while my lack of motivation shows.

The chasm too wide, and I jump, but fall.

You’d not take water from a dried up well,

You will find nothing more than stale, old, air.

So neither should you force the mind to tell

Such a story that has no thought or care.

And at last pen meets paper, sparks burst through,

You’ll find a tale, created thus by you.

And here's mine:

A room of wonders stands before my face,

the shelves as tall as pirate ships, their sails

unfurled and poised to carry me through space

and time and love and war and tears through tales.

They beckon me, these walls of words with wings,
as I draw near my fingers start to hum.

Each spine a well-worn testament that sings

adventure to my soul, and whispers, “Come.”

But how to choose which voice will grab my brain,

and how to haul the stack I can’t turn down?

Ignore advice, the oft recalled refrain,

I pick the books by cover, full arms round.

The library holds magic for my mind,

a haven safe for people of my kind.

What We're Made Of

All the classes the kids attended at our one-day FSY were great, but one stood out to them. We have a woman in our ward who is a marriage and family therapist. She taught a class on self-compassion that resonated with our kids. On Sunday night the topic of hugs came up and Cooper said the teacher had encouraged them to learn how to give hugs. I guess she had also taught about positive self-talk with phrases like, "You are loved" and "You matter." The boys demonstrated but the words got a little tangled.

Cooper: (after giving Peter a big hug, then stepping back to look him in the face) You are matter.

Peter: Thanks, you are too.

Enough Is Enough

While the older kids and I were at the FSY activity on Saturday, Bryan had the younger two at home. He planned some fun activities for them. That morning, before I left, I heard the following exchange.

Bryan: Topher, do you want to do something fun today? Should we have a movie party with candy and treats and maybe play MarioKart?

Topher: No.

Bryan: (surprised) Why not?

Topher: (totally straight-faced) It's too much.

He changed his mind later and joined in the fun, but I guess even four-year-olds have their limits.

Food, Fun, and Fancy Feet

Our ward put together a one-day FSY experience for the youth. FSY stands for For the Strength of Youth and is a weeklong spiritual and social feast. The shortened version consisted of four speakers, dinner, swing dancing lessons, dessert, and so many snacks. I was asked to handle dinner and dessert, mostly because Peter probably wouldn't eat it if anyone else made it. I was given a budget, a main course that the youth had voted on, and told to prepare for 40-45 people.

I'd never been in charge of a meal like this, so I went heavy on the research and planning. Topher and I spent most of one day last week driving to multiple stores and recording prices of ingredients so the budget would stretch as far as possible. Then I made my shopping plan and spent Friday gathering my supplies.

The kids had asked for Walking Tacos, which I had only had once. For those that haven't had them, a Walking Tacos consists of an individual sized bag of Doritos (or Fritos) with various taco toppings dumped into the bag on top of the chips. It's then eaten with a fork right out of the bag. When I ate them before the only meat option was ground beef cooked in taco seasoning. It was okay. I wanted to give the kids a few more options, so in addition to the taco ground beef I cooked chicken in green enchilada sauce and made instant pot refried beans. They also had topping options like cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and salsa. I kept the sides simple and stuck with red and green grapes and carrots and celery sticks with dip. I also got ice cream and root beer for dessert.

This project took the majority of my Saturday and I was on my feet for most of it. One of the other moms in the ward hung out with me in the kitchen and helped me set up beforehand and wash dishes afterward while the kids attended their classes. I'm happy to report that it was a success! Peter ate everything that was offered at dinner, a rare event for a church activity. The other youth seemed to enjoy it as well, even the slightly overcooked chicken. It was a long day, but rewarding. And I loved getting to chat with my friend while we worked.

Because we have twice as many young men as young women, the moms of the boys were invited to join the dance lesson so everyone would have a partner. I snapped this picture of the instruction before Cooper's partner switched out and I jumped in. Can you spot Peter, Cooper, and Phoebe? It was fun to do swing dancing again after so many years, though this was the first time I've done it to country music.

It was a great activity and I loved getting to be part of it!

Don't Look Up

After the blessings on Sunday morning, we drove back home so a few of us with coughs (not COVID) could rest and recover. Once home, I noticed a weird dark patch on the ceiling above our dining area.

That's never good.

I touched it to see if it was wet and couldn't tell if it was spongier than the surrounding ceiling. I hoped maybe one of the kids had thrown some greasy food and it hit the ceiling. Unfortunately, when I pointed it out to Bryan he determined that it was in fact wet and set to sawing it out.

Guess who found mold in their ceiling?

We now have a hole above our heads about twice as big as the one in this picture. Bryan thinks he got all the damp drywall (oxymoron, eh?), but isn't exactly sure where the leak came from. The tub is right above the hole, but we don't know if it came from the hot water line or the p-trap. I guess now we'll have a great view to observe the source of the leak.