Church Cleaning, High Tide, and Songwriting

When we went to clean the church this morning we accidentally stumbled upon another ward's "Dads and Doughnuts" activity...so the church was filled with dads and doughnuts and children. They invited us to join them (and we did, from the sidelines). My kids weren't terribly upset about getting "second breakfast" before pitching in to clean.

The church has been filled with strange messes, some of which we've known about and some of which took us by surprise. One surprise was that someone had spilled a carton of chocolate milk in the chapel...and then just...left it...fermenting in the carpet. Super awesome. 

Some of the messes we knew about were: a urn/flower arrangement delivery box left over from a funeral that happened months ago that has been sitting in the chapel. Some banker boxes that someone left in the hallway (again, months ago). I made the unilateral decision that these were destined for Rachel to pack her college stuff in.

I threw away some things that our co-op left behind (again, months ago now). 

And I finally put a poster up in the YM room that had been put behind the piano in the YW room (again months and months ago).

It can be difficult to keep the church uncluttered when so many units are in there because no one wants to throw away anything that belongs to anyone else. But...given the unclaimed nature of these things...I don't think they were going to be claimed any time soon. 

So, it took us a while to get through with our cleaning, but it was a pretty good morning.

*****

When I got Phoebe dressed this morning she was still in a bit of an early-morning daze so I was helping her pick out her clothes (which she ordinarily does on her own).

"Do you want pants or shorts?" I asked.

"Shorts," she said.

"Okay, here you go," I said, handing her a pair of blue and white striped shorts. 

"Thanks," she said, "But I want to wear my high tide shorts."

"Your high tide shorts?" 

"Yeah! They're right there!"

She meant her tie-dyed shorts. And then, of course, we had to find her "high tide" Grogu shirt to go with it. Here she is in her "high tide" outfit:

She was delighted to see Rachel and Miriam (she hasn't seen them since Sunday night because they've been at camp...and then even when they were sleeping at our house they were coming home after Phoebe went to bed and leaving the house before she woke up so she didn't even realize they were "home"). We were happy they were home to help us clean the church!

She delighted us on the drive to the church by singing "Once There Was a Thunderstorm" (to the tune of "The Wheels On the Bus"). She had sung the first verse last night at dinner and you should have seen us all lean in as she got closer and closer to the last line of the song because no one was sure what she was going to do to resolve her song. She simply fell back on the traditional ending for "The Wheels On the Bus." 

Here's her song:

Once there was a thunderstorm,
A thunderstorm, a thunderstorm.

Once there was a thunderstorm...
All through the town!

So she sang that in the car for us and then went seamlessly into a secret second verse:

The thunderstorm made the power went out,

The power went out, the power went out!

The thunderstorm made the power went out...

All through the town!

Did she past-tensify too many of her verbs? Absolutely. But that's okay. 

I recorded her singing it later and she corrected her over-past-tensification to say "the thunderstorm made the power go out." 

It was fun to listen to her improvise this little autoethnographic ditty about her experience last night.

Power Damage!

As the evening progressed, it became clear that our 40% chance of thunderstorms had increased to about, oh, I'd say ninety-nine-pointy-one. When the storm hit us, it was raging: the thunder was loud, the lightning was constant, the rain was...wet. Our power flickered a few times in the midst of everything, but it didn't go out until after we thought we were through everything.

We'd just gotten Alexander and Phoebe into their jammies and were about to gather for scriptures and prayer when...everything went dark. It was still light enough outside that this wasn't a huge deal, but Phoebe thought it was the best thing ever!

Benjamin's woodworking class

Andrew posted online about a swim meet the other day and someone commented on his post something like: "Lord, if I have but one day to live, let there be a swim meet, because those things last forever!"

With two swim meets this week, it has felt like this week has been at least two weeks (three swim meets within eight days). 

Add in the girls going to YW camp, a heat wave, the girls being sent home from YW camp, daily swim practices, class, work, and everything else...it feels like we've lived an entire lifetime since last week. 

Oh, and Benjamin had his woodworking camp this week as well! It was every afternoon from 1 to 5. And I think everyone had a good time—from the youngest boy up to the oldest teacher. Here's Benjamin when I dropped him off on the first day:

% Chance

We were driving home from Benjamin's exhibition evening at Woodcraft. Grandpa met us there and took Zoë and Benjamin back to his place for a sleepover. Alexander is feeling exhausted from the late night at the swim meet yesterday, so he'll be staying home this evening. The older girls are finishing up their last day of camp activities. And, of course, Phoebe was with us.

"That cloud looks menacing," Alexander observed. 

"Yeah!" Phoebe agreed. "Dad, is it going to rain?"

"It might." 

"Before you said it was going to rain!" she objected.

"No, I said there was a 40% chance of rain, which means that if we lived this day over 100 times, it would rain on 40 of those days," Andrew explained.

"What about ninety-nine-pointy-one cent chance?!" Phoebe asked, which is a sure sign you're being raised by a statistician of sorts (not that Andrew is a statistician by trade, not precisely...but he teaches stats and that's pretty close to the same thing).

Ribbons galore!

As you can see, the kids did well at their swim meets this week!

Benjamin had a whole fistful of blue (first place) ribbons:

Coach Heidi approached me about the possibility of him swimming on the high school team, which he's super excited about! He wouldn't be a star swimmer (to start out with; he'd probably be in the slowest lane), but he's showing a lot of potential and she'd love to have him when he graduates from middle school. He'll be heading to the county meet on the freestyle relay.

Last meet of the year!

We did it! We made it through the swim season! 

Our final meet was tonight and it was a little...touch and go in the beginning. A thunder storm rolled in just as we were setting up so we spent the next 1.5+ hours waiting it out. We got our meet started at 6:30 pm and the officiants really moved through things quickly!

It's. Hot.

On Tuesday the kids spent all afternoon in the neighbour's kiddie pool. This picture is just Phoebe...because at this moment all the other kids were sitting in front of the fans (they hauled up from our house) in the garage, dripping wet. That must have felt good! 

We've got the spirit

 Yes, we do! We've got the spirit!

How 'bout you?

Happy birthday to me!

My birthday was on Sunday. 

I turned 40, which seems impossible and also just about right.

Our ward choir performed, which meant we had to be to church early to practice. Phoebe had been a bit of a...stinker...in the night and did not want to wake up in the morning. Here she is stubbornly asleep at 7:45 (we needed to leave at 8:00):

Make-up Meet: A Boon for Benjamin

It was a scorcher today, but as hot as it was, tomorrow is supposed to be hotter! 

Poor Rachel and Miriam are off to YW camp, where they'll have to suffer through the heat all week (their cabin has electricity, so they've each packed a fan and have a few more items to help keep cool). 

The rest of us only had to suffer for a few hours at the swim meet this evening. Everybody was dripping—either from having just climbed out of the pool or from sweating to death on the sidelines—but we had a really great meet!

It was such a busy day between morning practice and Benjamin's woodworking camp in the afternoon. I changed into my blue shorts but somehow forgot to change into my white top (which I have to wear as a stroke and turn official) until I was walking out the door and Alexander said, "Oh, cool! You can wear navy blue and purple to judge now?"

No—I cannot! Good thing he said something! I had time to go back and change before heading to the pool. Andrew picked Benjamin up from his woodworking camp and brought him straight to the pool...it was chaotic.

But so good!

I worked with Alexander on his backstroke last Friday. I haven't been working with the kids as much this summer—in part because Rachel and Miriam haven't been around to help with Phoebe, who is still pretty hands-on in the pool, and in part because I've had bronchitis (have I mentioned that?)—but on Friday I did pull Alexander aside and we worked on getting his arms windmilling up-up-up into the air and down straight behind his head before pulling through the water. 

And just look at how high his arm is, whizzing by his head just perfectly:

Fun Friday and the end of babyhood

And it was a good meet after all! 

The kids had some tough events, swimming longer and harder sequences, so they were pretty exhausted (which meant they didn't always break their speed records in their regular events), but overall they did just great!

Alexander walked away with several speed breakers for his backstroke, 25 free, and 50 free—he is making great progress! His freestyle relay came in 6th...of 6...but since they had Alexander (7) and Atlas (6) swimming up with the 9/10 year olds...I think they about got what they paid for.

Zoë got 4th place in her IM, 5th place in the 50 yard free, and 3rd in breast stroke. Her medley relay got 3rd (and her freestyle was DQ'd). Benjamin got 4th place in his IM, 3rd in his 50 yard free, and 6th in his 50 yard backstroke. His medley relay came in 3rd and his freestyle medley came in 2nd. 

Amazing Andrew

To clarify: I'm doing pretty well right now. I'm completely overwhelmed by June—with working and taking classes and juggling a handful of writing projects on the side and...swim team. But I'm currently—and perhaps finally—doing fairly well. 

Poor Andrew has been picking up the slack lately. 

I'm telling you—I pulled (or strained) a muscle in my back at the beginning of April and it's just been one incapacitating thing after the other since then (barring my week at the beach, where my back had only just begun feeling back to normal...but, like, then Rachel kicked me in the head and fell on top of me in the waves, as you recall...so that took some recovery as well). Most recently I had a pretty severe case of bronchitis (like so, so bad). 

Should I have gone to the doctor? Maybe. 

Miriam did. 

Right before she left for Europe we took her to the Instant Care (as is our tradition) and they prescribed her some antibiotics since she was still sick weeks later while everyone else got over their sniffles in a day or two. They worked great for her.

I was sick the entire time she was in Europe (because I refused to go see the doctor). 

I'm feeling better now...finally...but it's seriously been just weeks and weeks of me being pretty much out of commission (six weeks recovering from a pulled muscle, three weeks with bronchitis). 

Andrew's been incredible. 

Swim meet

We spent 9 hours at the pool today...which was...a lot. But we had another great meet tonight!

Home from London

Rachel and Miriam arrived home from London on Monday. 

Grandpa and Darla stayed behind to do a bike tour through France and Germany, so Rachel and Miriam travelled home alone. They all went to the airport together—both Miriam and Darla got pulled aside for extra security—before going their separate ways. Poor Miriam had applesauce in her liquids bag and apparently it didn't pass the vibe...so after running it through several tests, security had her toss it, and then gave her a pat down. She was rather upset by the whole ideal (especially since she had brought the applesauce from the States...bug couldn't take it back to the states). 

Anyway, the girls had quite the journey—their flight ended up being delayed, and then they were switched to a new flight, and then their flight switched back. They finally arrived home about four hours after they were supposed to. 

We made a poster to welcome them home:

Phoebe takes the diving board

I swear we were at the pool for at least six hours today, between swim practice and recreational swimming. It was hot this afternoon, so we went to the pool and friends kept coming and wouldn't stop coming (to loosely quote Smash Mouth), which made it rather hard for us to make an exit. At one point we had about a dozen kids from swim team at the pool (most of the homeschoolers, too). 

They played Wax Museum, Go/Go/Go/Stop, What Time is it Mr. Shark, Sharks and Minnows, Refrigerator, and all kinds of things. Sometimes my kids were among the youngest there—and Benjamin and Zoë were particularly delighted when some older (more teenager-y) friends ordered a pizza, had it delivered at the pool, and then offered a slice when they realized they wouldn't finish. Other times Benjamin was the oldest one there and was delighted that he was the uncatchable one during Sharks and Minnows (because that wasn't the case when the older swimmers were at the pool). 

Phoebe got bored of it just being me and her in the shallow end and requested to play in the deep end. She has never done this before. She likes to stay where she can touch if she needs to (if only on her tippy-tippy toes) and we've had to coax and encourage her to believe that her swimming skills are the same in any depth of water (if you can swim in 4 feet of water you can swim in 10 feet of water...or 40 feet of water...or whatever). She hasn't yet willingly gone to the deep end this summer, but today she did. 

The kids were having a diving contest and she decided she wanted to participate. 

"Sure, you can go off the diving board..." I told her, though I didn't believe she would.

She has always chickened out before (or has needed a lot of assistance to make it off the end of the board—like, having me lower her down while someone catches her at the bottom). Not today!

Today she walked right out there and jumped in the pool. She pulled herself up to a floating position on the surface of the water and started swimming to me like a champ!

And then proceeded to do it about a dozen more times!

Here's a video Benjamin took (while the teenagers were eating pizza, and before pizza was offered to Benjamin):

She did great today! 

And then she was moved to play in the 3 feet zone with the kids when they were playing Wax Museum and things instead of staying in the 2.5 feet zone where she's played the past few years. 

Soon she won't need me in the pool at all! What will I do without a baby to play with at the pool?!

I'll have to start...swimming laps again...or something...

Nothing personal

While Rachel and Miriam have been "across the pond," we've been having a fine time here at home.

On Monday morning last week, Zoë came home from swim team practice and immediately began making cookies. She's determined to learn how to bake...and whipped up some delicious oatmeal raisin cookies...while wearing an apron over her still-damp swimming suit. 

No Kings Protest

It's been a while since we've joined in a protest. 

And today just felt like a good day to protest. 

Today while Israel bombed Iran and Iran bombed Israel. Today while we waited to hear anything from anyone in Gaza. Today while a manhunt is underway for an assassin who shot and killed Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband (and made an attempt on the lives of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife and had a list of several other targets).

And that's just today (let alone the past few weeks). 

So we decided that we should show up, be counted, and make our voices heard. Even if all we were doing was screaming into the void...it was nice to do it together for a little while.

The kids helped make signs in the morning. I didn't know what to write on my first sign (there is so much—too much), so I settled on "UGH" and let Phoebe scribble on it.

Swimmer of the week and pool drain discoveries

The kids were worried about what Fun Friday would look like after our cancelled swim meet last night. No ribbons! No speed breaker splash-the-coach privileges! Would they even give out "swimmer of the week" awards?

Yes, they do! Because look who's the swimmer of the week—it's Alex! He was selected because he's always willing to help set up and take down lane lines. 

Cancelled Swim Meet

These are the faces of some very disappointed children whose swim meet got cancelled this evening: 

I don't believe it! I'm on [page 24] of a magazine!

I had a dentist appointment this morning and when I walked into my exam room (following the dental assistant), I was shocked to find the room full of people. My dentist waved a magazine in the air. 

"I didn't know you were famous!!" she squealed.

Everyone clapped...and then dispersed and went about their business.

It was very embarrassing. Our dentist is...a really fun and wonderful person.

"My daughter went to UGA so I get this magazine! And I was reading it and I was like, 'I know her!' I highlighted your name and everything! It's just too bad that you're not showing your beautiful smile..."

Honestly, I'm a little crushed that of all the pictures the photographer took of me that is the one that they decided on...but...you know...whatever...it's fine. 

I had no idea my picture was in there! I saw the online copy that did not have my picture, so I was as surprised as anybody to see my face in a magazine! The copy with my face is also online, but in a different place. I only looked for it after I saw the magazine, which my dentist let me read (but not keep because she's keeping it).

And then tonight one of Andrew's colleagues at BYU (who was previously at UGA) emailed him a picture of that very same spread! So I really am famous now, I guess.

Flying to London and Fireflies

On Sunday afternoon, Rachel, Miriam, Grandpa, and Darla piled into Grandpa's car to head to the airport. Andrew was their chauffeur. 

They made it to London without a hitch...except for the fact that their accommodations fell through. 

Benjamin's 13!

Benjamin celebrated his birthday at camp this year—along with two other boys. Their camp leaders threw a little party for the three of them, complete with cake and candles. The highlight of Benjamin's time at camp was canoeing on the lake. He's also proud of the fact that they put four kids in a ten-man tent and stuffed ten kids on a two-man canoe—getting all into the stats side of thing. 

He was a little bummed that he missed the last swim meet (especially since Zoë did so well and he didn't get any ribbons at Fun Friday...because...well...he didn't swim), but he's excited that he gets to try swimming an IM at this coming meet (that's and "individual medley," where he'll swim butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle).

We opened presents after Fun Friday (so Benjamin is in his swimming suit). Phoebe wanted to have the best seat in the house right beside the birthday boy. And is she still in her pyjamas? Why, yes, she is! 

Recent Snippets

While helping Phoebe get dressed this morning...

Phoebe: I love my Harry Potter shirt.

Me: I love you!

Phoebe: Oh. And I...love my Harry Potter shirt.

*****

Yesterday while we were playing Ticket to Ride, Phoebe (who was playing with extra train pieces from Mexican Train so she felt included) picked at a mosquito bite and made it bleed. Andrew got a bandaid for her. After he put it on she was still sitting there with her little lip quivering. 

"Will it feel better by...the day after tomorrow?" she finally cried. 

*****

Zoë wore a bracelet to church yesterday and Phoebe decided she needed it in the middle of sacrament meeting. This conversation took place in very passionate (on Phoebe's part) and very annoyed (Zoë) whispers...

Phoebe: Is that bracelet for me?

Zoë: Ummm…no. It’s for me. 

Phoebe: How can you be sure?

Zoë: Well…it’s on my arm, so…

Phoebe: Then it could be for me. 

Zoë: Not really. 

Phoebe: But maybe...

*****

Alexander: *playing a song on the recorder on repeat* 

Zoë: Ugh. Is Jingle Bells the only song you know!?

Alexander: No.

Zoë: …

Alexander: This is Mary Had a Little…

Zoë: UGH!

Auntie K pointed out that if he'd learn Baa, Baa, Black Sheep he could also answer that he was playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or the alphabet song. And Uncle David pointed out that Jingle Bells and Mary Had a Little Lamb are really quite similar tunes, so if he can play one he could probably learn the other without too much trouble.

More swimming news

As we suspected Zoë had quite a few ribbons waiting for her at Fun Friday this morning. Uncle Patrick asked if she had robbed the ribbon giver—but, no! These ribbons were all hard-earned!

Early this afternoon Benjamin opened his birthday presents (more on that later), but we also got fun packages for most of the other kids that I felt kind of bad giving to them, considering we're technically celebrating Benjamin...but there the packages were nonetheless. 

Zoë, the girl on fire! (and Alexander, the comic relief)

Well, Phoebe woke up around 3:00 in the morning today. 

When it became clear she wasn't going to go back to sleep I let her get up...but made her unload the dishwasher. And then we folded a load of napkins together (she was actually getting quite good at it by the end). And then we did a reading lesson. 

At some point she asked if she could go back to bed, but was unsuccessful at falling asleep. 

So we got up again and put in a load of laundry. 

And then the kids got up for swimming practice, so they all had breakfast together. I made Phoebe play on her own while I did some work and when the kids got home, I went down for a long nap. 

Phoebe...did not. 

She played in the basement with Alexander and Zoë. 

I left for the swim meet early with the kids (and still had to park on the street quite a distance from pool) and got them settled in "the bullpen" and checked in for my volunteer shift—I actually switched shifts with someone else. I was scheduled to be stroke and turn judge for the second half rather than the first half, but I just didn't know that I would have the stamina to make it through the second half (given my track record this week—cough, cough, wheeze, wheeze). 

Zoë sang the national anthem (as she has for every meet we've hosted for the past two years—I think she's up to five times now...but she'll probably sing next week as well, bringing her total to six). Considering she's also coming off a cold, I think she did well! That official was so nice (I'm not sure what his name is, but you can see that he tries to step in when Zoë lost her place in the song—and that wasn't the only nice thing he did today, either!)

Up with Phoebe

Last night Andrew put me to bed at 9:00 pm. 

This sickness has wiped me out, but I finally think I've rounded the corner. I slept so well last night and woke up feeling much better. I took the little kids to the pool for a little while in the early afternoon and managed to finally get a draft written for a writing project. 

"Did Phoebe sleep well?" I asked Andrew when he came home from taking the kids to swimming in the morning...because not only did he put me to bed at 9:00 last night, he also got up to take the kids to their early morning practice.

Except for Benjamin, who is away at camp this week...missing out on his birthday...which was today. 

"Not at all!" he said. "You should know! You got up with her around midnight. And then I took over and sent you back to bed and she didn't really go back to sleep until around 4:00 in the morning."

"I got up with her?"

Paying the piper

I remember years and years ago—approximately 30 years ago—the Schwartzbergs (the parents of my friend Jade, who had recently moved to Canada from South Africa) spoke in sacrament meeting. One of them—I believe it was Jade's dad—spoke about the importance of keeping promises to our children, even the silly little promises like stopping at McDonald's for a Happy Meal. He spoke about being called on the carpet for that one, with the kids reminding him that he had promised that if they _________ then he [would take them to McDonald's].

This was an amazing story to me because McDonald's was a luxury was rarely promised in my house growing up. We experienced it as a spontaneous surprise, perhaps (and, actually, Uncle David somehow had an impressive "Happy Meal Toy Collection" growing up), but I feel like it was a rare experience. 

Somewhat reluctantly, I recall, Brother Schwartzberg made a stop at McDonald's to make good on his promise. 

I'm trying to remember the exact gospel connection here. I'm sure it was something about how our Heavenly Father makes good on his promises. Maybe Matthew 7:9–11?

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Whatever the case, I think we should all be impressed that I was paying enough attention during sacrament meeting to recall any details thirty years later. 

What's up, Doc?

One of Phoebe's favourite treats to get at the store are the bags of mini sweet peppers. She loves them, will help herself to them, and chomp on them with breakfast, lunch, and dinner (as well as in between meals). But she went shopping with Daddy on Saturday and came home with a new treat—fancy carrots—and has been eating those like they are the best thing in the world.

Half our house is sick right now, so I (sick) stayed home with the sick kids and Phoebe (who is mostly better since she was sick early in the week) while Andrew (not sick because he was also sick early in the week) took the healthy kids to stake conference (and simply didn't want to battle Phoebe).

We (the sick ones) watched a few Friend to Friend broadcasts instead. And Phoebe ate like half a bag of carrots or something, getting increasingly creative with how she was eating them as time wore on.