Headshot

Cooper needed to submit a picture for the virtual 8th grade moving up ceremony. We had a late night photo shoot last night. It only took 45 pictures, but we got one we both liked.

Self Expression

"Mom! I'm a tiger!" -Topher, who, for a period of time yesterday morning, was a tiger.

Time's Up

I wish I could report that we're all moved in after so many months in this house, but I cannot. We're mostly moved in, but there are little piles and pockets here and there of stuff that hasn't found a home yet. Topher was looking at one of those spaces yesterday and found one of our many cheap IKEA clocks. He walked into the kitchen, held it out to me, and said, "I found my clock!"

I asked if he wanted to decorate it before we hung it in his room. He said yes. He picked out various marker colors for me to use while he found some stickers to add. All four of the stickers he picked were from the fun Valentine's Day stickers Nana Shari made and sent.

Topher loves his new personalized clock!

Spend Wisely

"I'm worried about being an adult. I just know I'm going to waste all my money on Wheat Thins." -Peter, pondering his spending future.

Dance!

There was a massive, multi-state church Prom on Saturday night. Phoebe and her best friend are the only YW in our ward that were too young to go. Phoebe would have stayed home anyway, but her friend would have gone if she could have. So while the older girls were dancing in New Jersey, Phoebe, her friend, and Sophie had a virtual dance party. 

First they got really fancy. They're both wearing my clothes and my jewelry.

And then they boogied.

The Three Brothers

Colorful

We had spring break a few weeks ago. It was lovely. We rested, had a few outside adventures, ate big breakfasts, and generally enjoyed the time off. The first activity of the week was making tie-dye shirts. We had planned to do this for Phoebe's birthday right after we moved into the house, but things were a bit chaotic then and the supplies got put away for a later date. 

We unintentionally picked a windy day for this project. That made things exciting. Some of the shirts were so saturated with dye that it took them several days to dry. And, even though I wore gloves most of the time, I still ended up with very colorful hands that stayed very colorful for more than a week.

Renegade

Phoebe had another chance to put together a costume, this time for school. She had to choose a character from a book she liked, then she had to put together the right look for that character. She picked Nova from Marissa Meyer's Renegades series. I've read the books and I can confirm, this definitely looks like Nova.

And yes, those are my boots she's wearing.

Awake

A few nights ago I was asked about my sleep habits. I said I don't get much sleep, and that I have trouble falling asleep, but I'm pretty good at staying asleep.

That was dumb, I should not have said that.

On Sunday night Topher reminded me that he often will wake up in the middle of the night because he wants to snuggle. And then sometimes it takes him a long time to go back to sleep. Monday was a long day because of our middle of the night hangout.

On Monday night I was in bed by 10:32, the earliest I've gone to bed in ages. I stayed awake for awhile, but I think I finally drifted off. I think. Maybe. Around 2:00 in the morning I was wide awake (even before Topher called to snuggle) and not very rested. I was a very grumpy human. And I stayed awake until 7:00 in the morning. It was not a pleasant experience. When Sophie and Topher woke up I invited them to eat bagels while sitting on my bedroom floor and watching cartoons on a phone. Maybe I've trained myself to only sleep while Paw Patrol is playing quietly in the background?

Today has also been a looooong day. Bryan and the kids keep asking me what's wrong. My answer has consistently been, "I'm really tired." I guess I make weird faces when I'm crazy exhausted.

Here's to hopefully sleeping tonight.

Sunday Stroll