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Friday, February 07, 2025

The little mermaid

I promised Phoebe that we could go to the playground this week and unfortunately we just didn't make it there. But today we went to hang out at the church, which was almost like playing at the playground (though Phoebe would be quick to remind me that it was not playing at the playground). 

Miriam needed to practice the organ, however, and there's really no playground near the church (plus technically Miriam isn't supposed to go to the church building by herself). Anyway, the kids had to just suck it up and play at the church. 

We brought scooters and frisbees and all sorts of things. They managed to have fun—and they all managed to injure themselves (Benjamin even put holes in the knees of the new pants he got for Christmas)—even if it wasn't the playground.

Phoebe found this stick and gushed, "Wow! This looks just like a mermaid tail! If I wear it I will look just like a mermaid! Can I be a mermaid for Salloween?"


(She's been replacing /h/ with /s/ recently for some reason). 

You have to admit—she makes a pretty good mermaid!

Thursday, February 06, 2025

Wild things

For your viewing pleasure, here is an elephant that Phoebe created this morning: 


She used paint, markers, glue, and googly eyes.

New hair, who dis?

This afternoon while I was trying to get some reading done and Phoebe was feeling too scared to play outside with her siblings because there were dark, angry storm clouds gathering in the sky (that just sailed right on by without a spilling a drop), I let her put about a million barrettes in my hair. 

Valentine Exchange (and a poem on Executive Orders)

Not only did we have the excitement of getting a bearded dragon to contend with this morning, but we also had to walk Luna (which we usually don't have to do on Wednesdays, but needed to do this week), and we had to walk her early because we had to get to co-op early for the Valentine exchange that we had beforehand. 

It was a busy Wednesday...and then got busier with piano for Zoë and organ for Miriam, and activity days for Alexander and Zoë, and a temple trip for Benjamin, Miriam, Rachel, and Andrew. Luckily it was just as crazy for our friends the Fitzes—they dropped their youth off at our house and Andrew drove all the youth to the temple and they picked up Alexander and Zoë for activity days since they're the activity day leaders, which left just me and Phoebe at home. On Tuesdays we hardly see each other at all, but on Wednesdays we are stuck together like glue, Phoebe and I.

We haven't participated in a Valentine exchange since exiting the public school system, so I was sorely out of practice. We signed Valentines for Family Home Evening on Monday and it was a real slog, let me tell you. Approximately 30 children participated in the Valentine exchange, which meant my four co-op children signed approximately 120 Valentines between them. It was...taxing. 

But I have to say—we came away with a lovely haul. 

I remember feeling like a bit of a curmudgeon about Valentine's Day back in 2019. To be fair, that was our first Valentine's Day after Karen passed away...and Valentine's Day is her birthday...so none of us were feeling super pumped about Valentine's Day.

But also! The. Amount. Of. Candy. my kids came home with. It was absurd!

Not so in our homeschool group! We had a few rice krispy treats, some muddy buddies, an orange...some erasers...stickers...pencils... Our family put a little frisbee in each Valentine box (they were leftover from the Anderson family reunion...in 2015...so I figured it was a good time to finally offload them). It was a lovely. I mean, a few candies here and there might have been okay. 

But nobody needs 10 boxes of conversation hearts. 

Anyway, I'm just saying, we ended up with different things at this Valentine exchange than I imagined we would. And it was lovely.

One little boy even crocheted a little whale for everyone. He made thirty of these things! And they were a huge hit. Everybody loved them. And he felt so happy that he was able to spread so much joy (even if his fingers were aching). Here's Phoebe with her whale:

Gary

We did our best to be productive this morning. It was a co-op day, first of all, which always makes it difficult for us to get all our "work" in (as ridiculous as it might be for me to even feel that we need to get all our work in and go to co-op...where we also learn things). Second of all, we had a surprise coming that morning and the kids were buzzing with anticipation.

But they really did do their best to get some work done (some being the key word).

Here's Alexander reading Phoebe some stories on the bed while I got a little work done this morning:

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Who's that wonderful girl? Could she be any cuter?

Zoë got some hair chalk for Christmas. 

Phoebe found them the other day and gave herself a makeover.

Tuesday, February 04, 2025

And now for something completely different!

Last night we waited to have dinner until after my class. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. It depends on how the day goes, who is making dinner, and the level of everyone's hunger. My class gets out at 6:00 so it's not like it makes for a super late supper, but sometimes we like to eat earlier. 

Anyway, Zoë made dinner all by herself while I was in class. She greeted me precisely at 6:00 to tell me so.

"Mmmmm," I said, sniffing the air. "Smells like spaghetti."

"Well, it's not spaghetti!" she said. 

"Oh!" I said in surprise (because it really smelled like spaghetti). "What is it?"

"Something different!"

"But what?"

"You will just have to find out!" she sang, practically dancing out of my bedroom/office.

I followed her downstairs and found a steaming pot of...cavatappi...on the table. 

Cavatappi is a noodle shape. 

So essentially spaghetti.

And it was delicious.

Sunday, February 02, 2025

Wild Robot

Rachel and I left the house...when it was still dark...to spend the day on campus...on a Saturday...because I had a meeting for the Georgia Children's Book Award. It was a long day!

When I got home, Zoë happily chirped that the books she'd ordered had arrived and she'd already finished reading Wild Robot and that Daddy said we could have a movie night to watch it tonight even though no one else had read the book yet. 

Phoebe and Daddy had spent the day in the kitchen making pretzels (each one got a kiss from Phoebe, but don't worry because after the kiss they were boiled and then baked) and some, like, babka or something (almost cinnamon rolls, but not quite), so the house smelled delicious, and anything sounded good for dinner after our Friday evening YOYO fail. 

I came home from the meeting carting a wagon full of books—library books that I'd checked out and kept away from the kids so I knew I'd have them all for our meeting, and a couple extra books from our meeting that I was able to take home. And then Andrew was nice enough to run to the library for me to return some books that were due soon and to pick up my holds that were expiring soon, while I took the kids out for a walk to stretch our legs and our eyes, even though all they wanted to do was sit around and read. 

They're like little book vultures.

Saturday, February 01, 2025

YOYO*...oh, no.

Our dishwasher broke this week (because...why not?). 

Was I grateful for that dishwasher? Immensely. 

Was it my favourite dishwasher in the world? Not remotely. 

So when we got an estimate for how much it would cost to fix it versus how much it would cost to simply get a new machine...guess what we went with. 

Is that environmentally friendly? I honestly don't think so. 

Do I know why manufacturers make machines that aren't easily repairable? Absolutely not.

I mean, I understand that it ultimately means more money for them, but it really feels like it would be better for everybody if these things were simply...easy to repair. 

*****

We're about a month into the semester and things are heating up. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is once again an absolute marathon. 

The dishwasher broke on Monday—and for once not after I had touched it last (both the stove and the washing machine died after I touched them last but the dishwasher is not on me!). 

On Tuesday (my long day on campus), Andrew ordered pizza for dinner.

On Wednesday we had leftovers.

On Thursday we had leftovers.

On Friday our new dishwasher was delivered and installed and...we had leftovers.

Friday, January 31, 2025

Razzle Dazzle

Phoebe got into one of her favourite things last night—Zoë's purple lip gloss. She figured that if that purple sheen was that dazzling on her lips, surely it would be dazzling everywhere!