A busy week

Zoë had her first day of gymnastics this week. She was worried she was a little too old for starting, but I told her that I was her same age when I started gymnastics and that helped her feel a little bit better. She had a blast!

She also played in her first organ festival this week, which meant a few trips to Johns Creek United Methodist Church to play on their spectacular organ. Here she is with her teacher on Thursday:

And here she is with Miriam supervising on Friday:

Phoebe's greatest desire has been to play at the park. But Monday we had to go to campus. Tuesday I had to finish baking a cake. Wednesday we had dentist appointments and gymnastics (a middle-of-the-day class). Thursday we had organ lessons (at JCUMC) in the morning and then I had a class in the afternoon. So Friday was our day—the older girls didn't have to be at the church until later in the afternoon, running a bit into a meeting I had to attend, but that's okay...because Zoom meetings can happen anywhere.

The morning was ours and the playground was calling!

Phoebe was so excited and immediately planned out what she wanted to pack in her lunch. 

"I want three things!" she said. "A sammich, some 'stachios, and some dino crackers."

So that's what she packed—a sandwich, some pistachios, and some dino crackers.

(What—no fruit? No vegetable? Meh—she had zucchini and yellow squash and carrots and peppers with dinner. She had a banana for a snack before we left the house. So if she didn't pack a fruit or vegetable in her lunch...she'll survive. It's all about balance. Plus, the dino crackers have secret vegetables in them...shhhhh...don't tell.)

Andrew (who had a two day workshop so was out of house-help commission for most of Thursday and Friday, but who was around while we were packing lunches Friday morning) lamented that she calls sandwiches "sammiches." How ordinary! The rest of our kids called them "sang-wiches" because that's how Rachel started to say it and then it simply...trickled down through the rest of the kids. But Phoebe's so far apart from everyone else that they were all say "sandwich" by the time she started picking up on words and so she came up with her own mispronunciation—sammich—which happens to be the most ubiquitous mispronunciation. 

I think—as I've been thinking about it—that she also frequently said "wa-wa" for water, which is also the typical little kid mispronunciation for water. 

How dull of her, considering we lived through years of (1) Benjamin say "augie," oddly similar to "agua," and then (2) Zoë saying "la-lo," oddly similar to "l'eau." And I can't remember what Alexander said, but I feel like it was also...something unusual for an English-speaking toddler to select. 

Anyway, at least we've got "be-bove" and "below" to cherish for now. Phoebe was just telling Rachel today how Zoë used to sleep bebove her, but now Alexander sleeps bebove her. She used "bebove" about a dozen times in her explanation and...I'm not mad about it.

So...we went to the park on Friday mid-morning and stayed for lunch, which all the kids packed for themselves (though I did help Phoebe construct her sandwich). Most of the kids chose to leave their lunches in the car while we played, since we often do a little "park hopping" at this particular venue since there are many little playgrounds in the sports complex. They didn't want to have to carry their lunches around if we moved playgrounds. But Phoebe thought it was very important to bring her lunchbox with her, so we did.

And then all of a sudden Phoebe was running around with a toy puppy of hers and I was like, "Hey! Where'd you get that puppy?" Because I'm not big on taking stuffed and animals and things outside of the house (they get left places, kids get sad, they are better left in easy-to-find locations like bedrooms).

"Oh, I packed a puppy in my lunchbox!" she explained. 

"Phoebe!" I repeated. "You packed a puppy in your lunchbox!?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. 

"But you just said..."

"I packed three puppies in my lunchbox!"

That's a sneaky way to get to take your puppies to the park!

We did the only thing we could do—and let her take them on a little turn on the swing:

Alexander was looking cute and old at the park.

Facebook for some reason prompted me to pair a picture of Alexander at the park eight years ago...

2017 Alex

...with a picture of him at the park currently. The difference is quite incredible!

This also reminded me that we haven't yet taken his 8-year-old pictures yet so that I can make invitations to his baptism (which we also have to plan, and which I somehow thought would be a good day to hold the day after Halloween on the same day as the ward Halloween party). We'll get stuff done. 

It'll be fine.

Here's Phoebe calling out for help, having climbed up the outside of the ladder, and not wanting to step over the gaping hole to the platform (though she did just fine with a little bit of coaxing).

Here are all my kids (that came with me to the park) swinging (more or less):

And here they are getting their lunches out while I read an article about "the intersection of work and family," which I thought was funny...except that the article is written precisely about people like me...so it was probably simply fitting that I was reading the article at a park while my kids ate their lunches.

We had a fun time at the park, made even more fun because we were treated with a rehearsal by some Korean drumming group. They even drummed along to "Soda Pop" from KPop Demon Hunters, which the kids thought was pretty awesome!

Let's see...this morning the girls had to be back at JCUMC for their organ/piano festival. They played their pieces first thing in the morning, since they were the only organ students competing, and then they stayed for the rest of the day to help assemble a Do-organ from Orgelkids and do demonstrations on it all day long. They enjoyed doing this...though Miriam said her arms sure were tired from pumping for Zoë, who did most of the playing...and as an added perk, they got to attend a catered lunch with the rest of the teachers!

While they were at their music festival, Benjamin was getting ready for another swim meet. He swam a 200 IM for the first time, which he was rather excited to do!

Andrew dropped the girls off in the morning and then came home. Then Andrew took Benjamin to his swim meet and Grandpa drove all the way down here to pick up Zoë and Miriam so that I didn't have to! It was very kind, and meant that I could work on my projects and spend time with Alexander and Phoebe without worrying about driving. 

I have two very big projects due next week (and here I am blogging instead of working). 

I also just found out I won a research award, so that was exciting news!

Rachel called in the afternoon just as we were finishing up playing outside with one of our neighbours. She must have really wanted to talk because we were on the phone with her for three hours! She talked to me, and then Grandpa came by so she talked to Grandpa, and then I left her with Miriam so that I could talk to Grandpa, and then Grandpa left and I started dinner...and she and Miriam were still chatting away.

I thought this message that popped up from Andrew was funny:

He was telling me that he was going to find a spot to sit on the pool deck where it was a bit warmer than the gym where he had been sitting, but the preview cut off at "war..."

And here's Phoebe insisting on whispering in Rachel's ear:

Even after I showed her where the microphone is, she insisted on whispering more into Rachel's ear. After she had exhausted what she needed to say to Rachel she kept on whispering, "whisper, whisper, whisper" into her ear. It was pretty funny.

Phoebe was an excellent conversationalist, though! She kept asking Rachel questions like:

• What did you have for brekky (breakfast)?
• What are you going to have for dinner?
• What is the man in the window behind you? (They have a cardboard cutout in their window)
• Where are your roommates?
• What is your favourite colour?
• Can I see where you keep your pyjamas?
• Where is your bedroom?
• What shirt is that and why didn't you pack any pyjamas? (She did pack pyjamas)
• What is your third favourite animal? (Phoebe's answer was easy: Cats. Dogs are first, chickens are second—that was news to me—and cats are third. Rachel was unsure about her third favourite animal)
• Can I see where you keep your pyjamas?
• Why is there a little trampoline in your house? (a roommate joked to her mother about needing a trampoline to get into bed...and the next day a package showed up on their front door: it was a trampoline)
• Can I watch your roommate jump into her bed again?
• Can she do it again?
• Can she do it again?
• Can she do it again?
• Can I please just see where you keep your pyjamas?

After dinner we went for a walk and Phoebe was pleased as punch that the sky was pink.

She put on her Bluey sweater all by herself (backwards, but we're calling it a victory) and her Grogu pants are size 18 months and still going strong (as capris, really).

By the time I had all the kids-at-home showered, Andrew and Benjamin arrived home from the swim meet, we had scriptures and prayer, and sent kids to bed, and...I'm rather glad this marathon of a week is over! 

Next week should perhaps be a bit chiller. Perhaps.