Sunday splash

So we took the kids to the beach.

 

St. Andrew's State Park (a good park for the Sabbath because it's named after a saint)

We had the option of attending church in person at 10:00 in the morning, but the girls' friend Jessica was giving her mission farewell talk so we decided to Zoom into our ward. Our home ward meets at 9:00 AM, which is already early enough...but we're in central time currently so that meant church was at 8:00 AM for us (which felt really early to have church during vacation, but it was a wonderful service). 

After church we packed a picnic lunch and got ready for a visit to St. Andrew's State Park. Grandpa doesn't feel we should swim on the sabbath, so his plan was to not to. We had no problem making alternative-to-the beach plans with him, though I don't have the same qualms about the beach on Sundays. I mean, we don't typically go to our pool on Sunday—because we do other things to keep the Sabbath holy that day—but the beach feels different to me somehow. 

Maybe I would say no to the beach if we lived at the beach, but we don't live at the beach so...it feels okay to me to marvel at God's planet on the sabbath...even if we happen to get wet doing it.

Anyway, we went to St. Andrew's after church and hiked a little trail by Alligator Lake (where we saw only one gator). Phoebe got to ride on Grandpa's shoulders for quite a while, which she was very happy to do.

Infantry Museum

We left for our trip quite uneventfully. Alexander and Zoë rode with Grandpa and Darla. Our van was quiet with the rest of the kids in there. We listened to Hamilton until Columbus, where we stopped at the Infantry Museum (which has been declared America's #1 Free Museum for several years in a row). It was a pretty good stop to make, especially on such a rainy day—we had plenty of space to stretch our legs inside and by the time we were ready for our picnic lunch things had dried up a bit.

Favourite things

Phoebe and I were snuggling in bed the other morning and I decided to ask her about her favourite things. Just to make conversation. 

"What's your favourite colour?" I asked. 

"Umm...all of them!" she said. 

"I feel that," I said...because she seems to have inherited my own dis/satisfaction with everything in the world. I simply don't understand how to choose a favourite colour. That feels like too big of a commitment. I admit to feeling drawn to certain colours of certain items at times, but I don't feel like I often seek out specific colours for things...if that makes sense. All colours are beautiful. 

"What's your favourite animal?" I asked next. 

"Ooooh! Dood question...all of them!" she said. 

"All of them?" I asked.

"All of them—dogs, cats, horses, giraffes, lions. Just all of them."

"So what about spiders?"

"Not spiders! I do not like spi...well...nice spiders. I still like nice spiders."

"And snakes?"

"If they're nice."

"So you just like animals in general?"

"Yup. Hey, Mom—you know, like November, January, February, April, June, May, July and August?"

"The twelve months of the year? Yes, I'm familiar. Should we sing them?"

"Yes. But first, what's your favourite schedule?"

First week of swim team [check]

Phoebe just ran up to me and said, "Mom, can I...actually, not you!"

And then she ran down the hall and said, "Dad, can I play Minecraft?"

She knows precisely who to ask for what. And she's brave about asking about things as well. 

*****

At swim practice this afternoon she noticed the team manager getting out some freezies when we were walking toward the restrooms.

"I want a pop'skull!" she sang. 

"Those are for the kids..." I said (like the dream-dasher that I am). 

"I am a kid!" 

"Oh, she can have one," said Ms. Julie (the team manager/popsicle lady).

Official Canucks!

Something else that has been taking up a fair bit of my time lately has been getting all our paperwork in order to apply for proof of citizenship in Canada for the kids. They've all been citizens since birth...I've simply never registered their births with the government...if that makes sense. So they are Canadian by right...but had no evidence of it.

It was not unlike the process we had to go through to get Miriam her American citizenship of birth abroad record. She was never not American, but she doesn't have an American birth certificate. She has a record of birth abroad. Her birth certificate is Egyptian. But she doesn't have Egyptian citizenship.

I submitted her birth abroad certificate when I applied for Canadian citizenship, but that didn't count. I had to send in her Egyptian birth certificate (along with a translation...and an affidavit from the translator...who was Andrew). It worked out fine.

Other than that we had to provide:

• my birth certificate
• our marriage license
• birth records (ideally certificates of live birth) for each of the kids
• (digital) passport pictures from the last six months
• an affidavit or receipt from the photographer proving the photos weren't manipulated
• copies of our passport ID pages
• along with copies of any stamps/visas inside
• a second form of government ID
• driver's licenses for the girls
• a valid immunization record on Georgia letterhead for Benjamin

And then I had to fill out a million forms online. It was quite a bit of work, but it all came together!

I was only able to do the three oldest kids (because you can only have three applications open online at a time), so I'll do the younger kids in a bit (after their older siblings are all official and before their passport pictures "expire"). 

Benjamin's application was the first to be approved. He was rather proud of that!

All the important information is on the back of the certificate (sorry, scammers)

Giant beaded lizards

To say nothing of Andrew's work schedule (which doesn't always populate on my calendar), today...

• I had a meeting from 10:30 to 11:15 
• I had a meeting from 11:15 to 11:45
• I left with the boys and Phoebe for the pool around 2:30
• Zoë had piano at 2:45 
• Miriam had piano at 3:45
• Zoë and Alexander had swim practice at 4:30
• Benjamin had swim practice at 5:00
• The big kids had mutual at 7:00
• The medium kids had an activity at 7:00
• Alexander had his baptism preview event at 7:00
• We had to record a song for my mom at 8:30

It was a busy day and—aside from "leaving for the pool around 2:30"—that is just the official stuff that made it onto the calendar. We did other "stuff" as well!

It was also the last of a lot of stuff, which is why I don't mind sharing our calendar publicly. Swimming, piano, and church activities will all get switched around beginning next week...so this is the last day we'll have a schedule like this. And it may have been the first day we've had a schedule like this. 

Swimming

It's not unusual to see some swimming regression in young children at the start of the swim season. Typically I've made my kids pass a little "swim test" before I unleash them in the pool, but with a season of competitive swimming under their belts, I wasn't too worried about Benjamin, Zoë, or Alexander this year. In fact, I told Benjamin that he's 100% in my worry-free zone (along with Rachel, Miriam, and honestly Zoë). Alexander was a bit of a grey zone for me, but he jumped in the pool and started swimming like a champ so I think he's fully confident.

Phoebe, on the other hand, who has been asking "When's it gonna be May?" and begging to go to the pool since the beginning of October (the pool closes at the end of September), was a little less confident when she dipped her toes into the chilly water earlier this month. 

And then we had a spate of unseasonably cold weather that prevented us from going to the pool at all...so we've only been to the pool three times this month (maybe four)!

The first day Phoebe would hardly do anything. Yesterday she saw some of her little friends from co-op (who are a bit older than her) doing things like bobbing under water to look at each other and they invited her to join in their game...and she did! They'd count out—1, 2, 3!—and then all the little girls would go under water, blow some bubbles, and bounce back up to yammer about how good they all were at holding their breath. It was cute and really helped Phoebe feel brave again.

Today she declared that she "can swim now!"

And she's really doing pretty well—she even held a back float for a few seconds!

Driving at midnight

Once a minor gets their license in Georgia they gradually earn more driving privileges. For the first six months they have their license they can only have immediate family members in the car. For the next six months they are allowed to have one (1) non-family member in the car. After that they can drive up to and including three (3) non-family members around. Also, they are forbidden from operating a vehicle between the hours of midnight and 5:00 am (with no exceptions—Rachel told me in the driver's education course she took they said they would take your license from you on the spot and cut it up right in front of your eyes). 

Tales from the garden

My garden has been neglected this spring. 

A very wise mentor of mine recently told me to leave myself room to fail—and I have! I have approximately 72 square feet of failure in the front yard (plus, you know, the rest of the yard)!

Sure, the annuals we planted have been pulling their weight. And little bits of zombified compost have popped up through the soil, reanimated tendrils lurching toward trellises—they're sure to offer us a surprise harvest of sorts. And friend who started too many tomatoes offered me her leggy cast-offs.

So it's all chaos out there, but that's okay because it's a beautiful, wild failure.

*****

The same friend who gave me the tomatoes gave me some clustered mountain mint last year.

When I say friend, you should know that this friend and I met on the Buy Nothing Group and our entire friendship is just...the exchange of plants and advice. And it's mostly me taking because—let's face it—my garden is pathetic and I need all the advice I can get.

She's been trying to increase the number of local plants in her garden—mountain mint being one of them. 

Like most mints, mountain mint is a prolific spreader, but it's less of a problem because the shoots it sends out tend to not root very deeply, so it's controllable. Also, it's native, not invasive. 

That mountain mint took to our hillside like it was coming home after a long day and has spread significantly since I planted it at the end of last summer. And that's fine by me. Bees love it—wasps and butterflies, too. It smells delicious.

"Is it edible?" Rachel wanted to know.

"I don't know," I told her. "Most varieties of mountain mint are, from what I've researched. But some aren't and..."

Long story short, Rachel picked a leaf and ate it. 

And she didn't die. And she didn't get sick. 

You tell me

Yesterday we were going around the table, asking the kids what they'd learned in church that day. Phoebe was first. And sometimes (like yesterday) she's just not in the mood for discussion.

"What did you learn at church today?" I asked.

"I dunno. You tell me," she retorted.

"I can't tell you what you learned, because I don't know what you didn't know before. Only you know that."

She eventually told us that they played a game in class, but she doesn't know the name of the game or how the game goes. And she didn't want to mention a favourite part of the day, either. So...we moved along to Alexander...

In which I take a mother's day nap and Phoebe discovers "burst mode"

Phoebe had some iPad time while I was taking a nap after church. Technically Daddy ended up having a nap after church as well (only he napped on the couch).

She took many, many pictures of the carpet before deciding that she was a better subject—not in a vain way, I'm sure, but in an artistic, self-exploratory sense. Probably.

Her curls...still smite me...

In which half our family speaks in church

Today Alexander, Miriam, Andrew, and I all spoke in church. Miriam also played the organ. And I led the primary children in singing a song. So...it was...busy. Rachel sat with Phoebe (and the rest of the kids) on our bench and they all did great. I joined them after the primary kids sang because...I had to move places to conduct the primary, anyway.

Miriam did beautifully. I trembled like a leaf. Andrew made on-the-fly adjustments to fill the remainder of the time left in sacrament meeting. And Alexander spoke a little later in primary and did just great!

Also—fun fact!—I used the word "been" nine times in my talk and apparently that it is real tell for a Canadian. I say it so that it is homophonous with "bean," not "bin." To me it rhymes with "seen," not "sin." And apparently that's a dead giveaway!

Here's what Miriam had to say:

The-lone-orphan

By the time I rolled out of bed this morning we'd:

(1) been hit by the atmospheric river, which is apparently a thing—it's still raining

(2) experienced an earthquake, kind of—technically it was in Tennessee

(3) arranged for Rachel to babysit for a friend whose car was totaled earlier in the week, and who wanted to go look for new cars without her twin preschoolers in tow

Busy morning. 

But, Alexander and Zoë had taken Phoebe downstairs, pulled the baby gate (the international symbol for "don't go upstairs," typically used during meetings but also for needed naps), got her breakfast, and then started a game with her using the magnatiles and teddy bear counters.

It was very nice to have a sleep in. 

When I went downstairs the kids rushed over to meet me at the bottom of the stairs, telling me about some "weird pink milk" in the fridge.

"Weird pink milk?" I repeated.

"Yeah! We tasted it and it was disgusting!"

"Well, was it very...old?" I asked.

"No! Come and see! Come and see!"

Rachel's Graduation

Turns out graduating is pretty low key when you're a homeschooler.  

To be fair, I skipped my high school graduation...so I'm not really clear what all the fuss is about. And Rachel tends to be pretty laidback about these kinds of things. 

Georgia's Museum of Natural History and other campus things

While Andrew was in his meeting on Monday afternoon I walked the kids up the street from my building to the natural history museum (after sending Rachel outside to wait with the other kids while Zoë helped me in the book room for a little while). 

It's a pocket (of a) museum—a tiny little space—but the kids had a good time and learned some things. 

Zoë and Alexander did the little scavenger hunt they have for kids:

Botanical Gardens: Everything but the graduation pictures

As I suspected, the playground at the botanical gardens was a huge hit with the kids.

An amount

 

This afternoon Phoebe was recounting our trip to campus...

"Yesterday our whole entire family went to Mommy's campus and there we saw an amount of bugs!"

Graduation! Graduation!

Seminary graduation was held early this year—May 4th! 

The girls have been attending seminary in the Roswell Stake. We're in Lilburn Stake, but are geographically closer to a lot of buildings within the Roswell Stake than we are to buildings in the Lilburn Stake and when it comes to early morning seminary, commute time matters. Plus, these seminary kids were kids that we met when we first moved here (before we were split off of their ward and then off of their stake), so...anyway...

Last year was the first year Rachel and Miriam attended in-person seminary. Grandpa was their teacher, along with Brother Moser—who is being released at the end of this year after four years of teaching early morning seminary. This year it was Brother Moser and...someone else.

Here's Rachel with Rachael:

Burning...Burnaby...Bertram...

On Saturday night the girls had (almost) all the young women in the ward over to play games. It was a little difficult for Benjamin to be excluded (but if he wants to plan a games night with the young men, he's more than welcome to do that). Rachel and Miriam have just felt like the younger young women were in need of some...fellowshipping...so that guided their invite list. 

We had a big storm that evening. 

Phoebe woke up when most of the girls were leaving (and so many other times—she hardly slept that whole night, I feel like, so the night's events were even more of a surprise to Andrew and I, the guardians of the night, who took turns putting her back to bed and putting her back to bed and putting her back to bed).

Anyway, Phoebe woke up when the girls came up to the entry way to put on their shoes. 

"Goodness gracious!" she whispered to me from her bed. "They are going outside right now?! In a thunderstorm!!"

"Well," I explained. "Yes, but only because they're going home. Their moms and dads have come to pick them up so they're just...running from our house to their cars really quick. They're not going out to play."

"Okay, good!" Phoebe said. "Because that would not be safe. 

It was very thundery on Saturday night. And Phoebe, as I mentioned, had an awful time sleeping. 

Getting up for church on Sunday morning was a real drag, especially because I woke up earlier than my alarm when I heard the power shut off. I checked the area to see if there was a power outage, but nothing was mentioned, and soon enough the power came back on. 

We got ready for church and headed out the door. 

Our neighbour texted me just before I went in to primary to tell me that Filthy (Fil) the Clown's house had burned down! She had driven past on her way to mass. 

Evidently, Andrew and his phase of church-goers (the prelude players) had seen firetrucks and things. 

My phase of church-goers (the stragglers) really didn't. Or at least I didn't. My passengers report seeing a few vehicles. 

We drove home that way on our way home from church and were shocked—shocked, shocked, shocked! It was so much worse than I imagined. There's just...nothing left inside. 

Easily excitable (or, finding joy in the small stuff)

 Once upon a time (within the last year) we were driving to Grandpa and Darla's house when Phoebe excitedly squealed, "Ooooh! Lookit that parking lot!"

We were, at that moment in time, driving by the parking lot of a golf course. It wasn't the most exciting thing should could have pointed out, but we have enjoyed sporadically pointing out parking lots to each other ever since. 

*****

Today we had a BLFA (big long family adventure), which culminated with a trip to campus so that Daddy could use my office for a meeting that he couldn't miss and for me to meet with one of my professors. 

Soon after we crossed the street from the parking lot (!!!) Phoebe gushed, "Oh, yay! Dumpsters!"

"Dumthurth" not being on my mind, I wasn't quite sure what she had said, so I asked her to repeat herself. 

"Dumthurth!" she said, pointing. "Look!"

*****

All that is to say, I suppose, that life itself is such a wild adventure for little kids. You don't have to concoct wild, magical adventures...though those can be nice as well, sometimes. You just need parking lots and dumpsters. 

And hopefully some ladybugs and cool leaves, too. 

Field Day

On Wednesday morning we finished reading our last school novel for the year, and a few of the kids had to finish up some lessons, and I had to do some work on a few projects...but Phoebe also wanted to know if I would read a story to her in her little tent.

"I don't know that I'll fit in there with you," I said. 

"It's okay with me if your legs stick out," she said.

Pool Season is Open!

It's the first day of the pool season, so of course we went to the pool! 

Rope swing kind of day

After field day, a friend took us into the woods to show us where the much-raved-about rope swing is. We've gone walking in these woods before but have never found the rope swing...for whatever reason. I'm honestly not sure why. But here it is in all its glory:

2025 MFECOE Poster Contest

A few weeks ago we/I/my class learned about the poster contest hosted by the MFECOE's Office of Research and Graduate Education, which all graduate students were encouraged to participate in...but which apparently none of us knew about. Dr. Misha encouraged us to use some of our creative ethnography from class as a basis for our paper, so we started looking into it and even though the turnaround time for this project was lightning fast, we managed to pull something together. 

The graduate school will print our posters for us—for free!—which is pretty cool because when Andrew was at BYU and Duke we had to pay to print posters. They want four business days to print a poster, however, so you have to plan at least that far in advance. 

I needed to pick up the poster on Friday, which meant we had to turn it in by Tuesday of last week. That's one week exactly to the day from when we first heard about it! We planned to submit it by Monday, just to give us a cushion. So we met about things on the afternoon of Good Friday and I put the poster together over the weekend and submitted it to be printed last Monday, picked it up on Friday as planned. And then presented today.

Yellow Flamingos

Today I was reading Can You Dance Like a Peacock? with Phoebe and she got really excited about the flamingo page. 

"Can we get some flamingos at the store?" she asked. 

"I...don't know...that you can really get flamingos at the store...?" I said.

"You can!"

"Where?"

"Just at the store! They have them! But not usually pink flamingos."

"Yeah, see...I didn't think they had pink flamingos at the store."

"They have yellow flamingos. Can we get those?"

"Yellow flamingos?"

"Yes! I love them!"

Frog update

The kids and I were outside looking at the tadpoles, some of which are more like frogs than tadpoles now. We've determined that perhaps they aren't bullfrog tadpoles after all. A wood frog, perhaps. Something smaller than a bullfrog.

This little guy is developing some impressive jumpers:

Benjamin holding the froglet

Maypole

Me: It's math hour. And I need to finish writing a paper. You guys need to be focused on your work right now so I can focus on mine.

Also me: I wonder if we can fashion a maypole out of items we have in our house...

Math hour is still going. I would say "going strong" but that might be overly optimistic. 

But also we have a functional maypole! 

Easter Sunday

We had to be at church early last Sunday to rehearse for the Easter program, which went well. The primary children sang, and then the young women sang a piece Miriam selected and which they learned all on their own, and then the ward choir sang a few pieces as well. 

Miriam stayed to play the organ for the Spanish ward. Rachel stayed to drive her.

Then when she got home we had to leave for Grandpa and Darla's for Easter dinner, which was lovely. But we didn't get home until it was nearing bedtime. And the Easter Bunny had not stopped by yet.

Our children were incredibly patient about this. They hardly asked when or whether the Easter Bunny was going to come. Benjamin and Zoë did drop some hints about their expectations, like, "Gee...if we took the little kids down to the basement to play for an hour do you think the Easter Bunny might how up thing?" But they were very mature when I turned down their "offer," reminding them that their older sisters weren't at home and the Easter Bunny probably wouldn't drop by when it thought it might get caught by children coming home. 

Anyway, Rachel was in charge of dessert for Easter dinner and she needed to put some frosting on the carrot cake after she got home from church (which took her forever...wink, wink), but the kids were already getting anxious to leave for Grandpa and Darla's, so we told them to each grab a book and head out to get buckled in the van. They did. And then they waited while Rachel first iced one cake, which Andrew brought out to the van, grumbling about how long Rachel was taking in the kitchen. And then Rachel got the other cake ready (she'd also made a lemon-glazed vanilla dessert). And then we finally, finally got in the car to head to Grandpa and Darla's. 

We ate, we visited, we played some catching games in the backyard...and then we headed home and...the kids were so surprised to find that the Easter Bunny had come! Phoebe thought it was magical while Benjamin, Zoë, and Alexander were perplexed about how we managed to pull off a surprise like this. 

I am not a very surprising person, it seems, so this was a smashing success.

Georgia Botanical Gardens

I had to go to campus again today on a two-fold mission: (1) to attend the awards luncheon for my program (I didn't win anything this year...but they wanted people to come support those that did), and (2) to pick up the poster I had printed for a conference on Tuesday. 

The awards luncheon was at the Botanical Gardens and...wow!

I mean, we've seen the signs but we just...never knew. It's like Duke Gardens...but better somehow? Except that it's not connected to campus directly so it's a little less accessible. But it's pretty awesome. 

They have beautiful plants...

Turns out...

Yesterday Phoebe wanted to go to the park, but it was too wet for that. In the afternoon when we went for a walk, however, there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky. 

"It's a rainbow for real life," Phoebe told us.

Phoebe and Alexander on campus!

One of my earliest memories—or perhaps one of my earliest memory of a memory—is attending a horticulture class at BYU with my mom. 

What I remember remembering is that I was sitting under a desk eating Froot Loops from a little cup. The classroom was dark, except for a screen at the front, which was showing slide projections of various plants. 

That's it. That's the memory. 

After verifying this memory with my mom, I learned that I would have been about two years old when that memory occurred. The teacher of the class was Dr. St. Clair (who I would later work for in the Integrative Biology (or "InBio" as it was then called) department shortly after Andrew and I got married). 

I wonder why that memory stuck with me so firmly through all the many years that it did—and the feeling of the memory as well...just of...feeling content and safe. 

And I wonder what memories my children will take with them moving forward. 

Will Phoebe remember getting to come to campus with me today? She was terribly excited to get to come...only to be required to be still and quiet. She played with her felt boards and drew on her drawing pad quite happily through most of the poetry readings.

2025 Easter Egg Smackdown

Eggs. Boy, I dunno...

They're about $6 per dozen right now. We boiled 25 eggs for Easter this year, so it cost us about $12 for an afternoon of family fun—and that included dinner! Not too bad. 

Do I wish eggs were cheaper? Certainly. 

But I also think there are bigger fish frying here and that in spite of—*waves hands vaguely*—all this it's good to be together, it's good to enjoy each other. I got to read some of Delores Williams' Sisters in the Wilderness over the Easter weekend and particularly enjoyed this passage: "the text [scriptures] suggest that the spirit of God in Jesus came to show humans life—to show redemption through a perfect ministerial vision of righting relations between body (individual and community), mind (of humans and of tradition) and spirit" (p. 146). 

Righting relations. What a beautiful summary of everything the Saviour asks us to do—to love others, to mourn with those that mourn, to find what was lost, to just...go about doing good...to make things right. That's it. That's the message.

I'm not sure where to go between this point and the next, so before I tell you the first (and perhaps only) miracle of our 2025 Easter Egg Smackdown, I'll tell you that this week was Easter Sunday, so we only had one hour of church. Last week was our ward conference (and the week before that was General Conference), and two weeks before that was the week Benjamin spoke in church. 

Anyway, a major highlight of his day last week—during ward conference—was that the bishop quoted him in the middle of his talk. Bishop Dallin said, "As Benjamin Heiss advised us all a few weeks ago—do what you can do!"

That also happened to be the message of Andrew's underwear talk during FHE this evening. 

But I digress...so now I suppose I can tell you the miracle of the 2025 Easter Egg Smackdown: not a single egg was cracked during the egg dying process. No one dropped one or accidentally put all their weight on one or knocked one off the table or anything. We usually lose quite a few in the process of dying...but I guess the kids are growing up or something and now they all (mostly) know how to treat eggs with care (that is, we are no longer quite as outnumbered by chaos-makers as we once were).

Everyone got three eggs to decorate (with one egg designated the emergency back up egg...which we didn't even need).

Phoebe Narrates the Easter Egg Hunt

"Take, take, take, take, take!" she said as she gathered the shiny plastic eggs (that were expertly hidden by the young women earlier that morning).

Good Friday

Phoebe and Zoë wore matching dresses for tonight's Good Friday concert. They're dresses that Darla's girls used to wear when they were younger.

Benjamin On Campus

After all the chaos that was today (though we're not even finished yet because the reason I went to the dentist was to have my attachments be put back on my teeth—they've been off the last couple of weeks because I had a tooth that wasn't tracking so I had to get new trays fitted to try to get that tooth to move...but two of my new attachments have popped off and I'm a little sad about it because it means I'll have to go back in again), Rachel, Benjamin, and I were finally able to leave for campus. 

Murder on the Orient Express was playing at UGA, we knew...because we saw it being advertised when we were looking for shows Rachel could go to for her class. We went to John Proctor is the Villain and Rachel really wanted to go to Murder on the Orient Express as well, but since it's just playing now and her semester is over...it wouldn't really work for her class. So she and Miriam and I went to The Addam's Family at a local high school. It was decent...

But then one of my classes hosted an outing to Murder on the Orient Express this evening so I thought I should go. And Rachel would go as well. And then I decided Benjamin should come along as well. 

At first, the outing was going to cover the cost of my ticket. But then I was told we'd have enough to cover Rachel, too, and I then thought for sure that I'd have to buy Benjamin's ticket...but no! They had enough tickets for him as well, so we sure lucked out there! 

We went to campus before rush hour traffic and had enough time to go on a little hike near campus along the Oconee River that Rachel and I have been wanting to try. We'd walked as far as the graveyard before, but pressed on until we came to these rapids by Easley Mill Dam—that was a treat to come upon:

"I really wanted to hit a widow with a baseball bat"

I realized that I completely missed out on making a joke about spring break! Because last week is technically when we took our spring break (though we're also almost through all of our curriculum so we're on, like, "school lite" right now...plus it's, like, the crunch time of my semester, so...). We had such a good spring break our spring broke!

Apparently that's an important bit, but it's all together again!

Surprise...surprise!

"You're going to want to sit down for this..." the plumber said on the phone to Andrew last night. 

Our water heater had stopped working. The plumber asked what year our water heater was installed. 

"2005..." Andrew said, and that's when he was told to sit down. 

Evidently the life of a water heater is not typically so long. The recommendation: a new water heater. 

Of course. 

So the plumber came this morning and he was like, "Wow! I haven't seen you guys in a long time!"

And I was like, "Thank goodness for that!"

It's been about two years since our last plumbing emergency. Our plumber laughed and said, "Yes—plumbers, dentists, lawyers...all people you never really want to see!"

So, as of today we have a brand new water heater. It's smaller than our old one (which was massive—75 gallons), but is function (which is helpful for running a household of this size). The price tag was a bit of a yikes (which is why we downsized) but, you know, we were living on borrowed time with that thing, I guess. 

These surprising and costly fixes are...getting a little less surprising as time wears on. 

Just Mommy and Me

We went to the library, just Mommy and me. 

"Yay! No kids!" Phoebe cheered.

That meant she got to feed every book to the hippo and choose every book from the shelf. 

FHE

Phoebe is our default FHE conductor. She just assumes that giving everyone the agenda for the evening is her responsibility...and she loves it. 

"Welpum to faminy night!" she'll announce. "I'm going to choose the song..."

Of course she's going to choose the song (like there's any other option).

"...and Mommy is going to say the prayer. I choose...Once There Was a Snowman!"

She used to always choose How Much is That Doggy in the Window, but we told her it had to be a primary song. Technically, Once There Was a Snowman is a primary song. It's just not a very reverent one.

So we sang that song while she twirled around in circles, shaking her little egg shaker, and having the time of her life. When it was time to get ready for prayer, she ran over to kneel by Daddy. 

She's so glad he's home!

Lavender/Lilac

Phoebe wanted to make soup for dinner, using some rosemary she picked in the garden. She even got out a pot and put it on the stove with the rosemary in it, but I got out a bigger pot and started dinner in that. We had a head of cauliflower that we hadn't gotten to yet, so I decided on cauliflower soup and even found a recipe for rosemary cauliflower soup...which I loosely followed.

We decided on a whim to add some red cabbage to the soup. Quite a lot, actually. Because one head of cauliflower isn't going to feed a family of seven and we had some red cabbage in the fridge. 

Plus, it was bound to turn the soup a delightful pinkish-purple, which felt very springy, very Easter-y. 

Phoebe was very pleased with the light purple we ended up with after everything was blended together. But then I decided that it could use a little more acidity. So I grabbed a lemon and squeezed it into the pot and...

While the cat's away...

Last Saturday Phoebe asked me when Daddy was going to be home and I wasn't quite sure, so I texted him to ask, and in response he Facetimed so he could speak with Phoebe. 

She was sitting on the potty—her question to me had been some potty-time chatter—but she's pretty open about her bathroom habits, even demanding sometimes that people (specifically Andrew or I) watch her while she's in the bathroom. Thus the reason I was sitting and chatting with her in the first place. So I figured she'd be okay talking to Daddy while sitting on the potty.

She seemed happy to see him but was very pithy about things—giving him yes or no answers only. 

Book of Mormon Read-athon

When I was in Young Women, our YW president was amazing. I still hang on her every word...and can...even have thousands of miles between us and have gone decades without seeing each other...because she's a wonderful author.

One of her most recent books—Buffalo Flats—spoke to my very inner being, brought me back to my roots, and was simply the most beautiful embrace of a book. 

I've been thinking about her a lot lately because when I was in YW she planned a Book of Mormon Read-athon. My memory is getting less reliable these days, in a way I never thought it would. I seem to have too many thoughts knocking around inside my brain to keep them all straight, but here is what I remember:

We began after school, probably on a Friday. 

Was I homeschooled then? Or was I attending the high school? I honestly can't remember what year we held the read-athon. But I do remember that I walked to the church from the dentist office, where I'd just gotten a cavity filled. My mouth was numb for the first little while, but that was fine.

We started out doing a pop quiz on the first few chapters, since everyone has read "I, Nephi..." a billion times. I remember there was a question about Sam and whether he was Nephi's older or younger brother and...I was one of the few who got that question correct. 

I remember that we were often in the primary room. We had a line of tables set up and a number of readers would come up to the tables to sit; they would each read one paragraph and then relinquish their seat to someone else. 

We accomplished a lot of our reading that way.

Somehow—magically—food would appear for us to eat in the gym. I'm sure there was an entire army of volunteers I was unaware of. I have no idea what we ate, only that we did. 

Sometimes we were broken into groups to read sections of the Book of Mormon. At one point we had to make a skit to present to everyone else about a chapter or two. 

I don't really know what happened on Friday versus Saturday. But at some point—late in the evening, probably 10:00 or so—we went home to sleep. 

In the morning people came around to pick everyone up—carpools had been organized to get us all to the church. My friend's dad dressed up like a gorilla and was "kidnapping" kids from their houses. 

We read and read and read. And discussed. And ate. All day Saturday.

And at the end we had read the Book of Mormon. 

It was exhausting. And long. And at times difficult. 

But it was also beautiful and uniting and good. 

I'm positive it was a lot of work...because we're hosting a Book of Mormon read-athon at our house right now. 

Sitting in the hallway

On Tuesday I didn't see Phoebe at all. 

She was a stinker on Monday night and had a rough time falling asleep and staying asleep. And then she insisted that Andrew stay in her hall while she worked to fall asleep at 2:00 in the morning, even though he had a plane to catch on Tuesday morning. I tried to convince him to just let her suffer through me sitting in the hallway, but he felt bad doing that because...well...it makes her angry to have me in the hallway.

"Mommy and I are just going to say our prayers and then one of us will come back to sit in the hallway for a little while," he reassured her. 

"One of you...but not Mommy..." she said. 

"Well," he hedged. "I have an early flight in the morning so..."

"Please not Mommy!" she begged. "It makes me angry to have Mommy in the hallway! I just want you!"

So he caved and sat in the hallway while she fell asleep. 

Then he woke up early and left for the airport. 

Rachel milestones

Rachel submitted her last paper for her last BYU-Idaho class (and thus her last class for high school graduation) on Wednesday morning. That means she's now officially a high school graduate!

On Tuesday morning Andrew flew to Utah for a week-long workshop at Utah State University. He took along a suitcase of stuff Rachel will need when she moves out there...including this temperature blanket that she finally finished. She started it in 2023, and I believe she finished it in January of this year, so it took her about two years to finish. It's long!

They were in my drawer!

Years ago—I can't find the post right now, though I know it exists, Rachel walked into the house after school loudly complaining that her pants were uncomfortable.

I looked at her and gasped because she was very clearly wearing Miriam's pants. 

This is less of a big deal now that they're about the same size of people. But back then (when Miriam was a teeny preschooler and Rachel was already in school) they were sized considerably differently. 

"Now wonder!" I said. "Those are Miriam's pants!"

"Well, they were in my drawer!" Rachel retorted. 

And that line...is one that frequently pops up at our house. Most recently it popped up last weekend when Benjamin got dressed to go for a walk between conference sessions. 

"Man," he said. "My 6T pants are finally getting too small for me! These things are so tight!"

"6T?" I said. "Those can't be yours! 6T is much closer to Alexander's size than..."

"But they were in my drawer!" Benjamin protested.

"And who puts your laundry away?" I asked. 

"Good point."

Clearly a pair of Alexander's pants had gotten mixed in with Benjamin's pants at some point. Benjamin swears he's been wearing them regularly...but I disagree. I think the reason they were "suddenly" much too small is because they've been too small for years and have belonged to his little brother for a while now. 

Rachel points out that Benjamin's confusion over pants is "much worse" than her confusion over Miriam's pants because (1) Benjamin is five years older than Alexander and she is only two years older than Miriam, and (2) her mistake happened when she was in the early years of elementary school...not the end of middle school. 

A morning at the playground

As I mentioned, we spent the morning at the park. Did it rain last night and I just missed it? The weather history says no...so perhaps they just sprayed the pavilion? Whatever the case, Phoebe enjoyed splashing in these puddles while her siblings completed their morning work.

Early literacy

On Wednesday while the boys were in their co-op classes (Zoë didn't come with us because she needed to go to piano lessons and Andrew wasn't here so Rachel had to drive Zoë in when she took Miriam), Phoebe decided she wanted to learn how to write her name. 

Here is one of her attempts from Wednesday:

J'ai voté!

I'll admit I was a little worried when I didn't get a confirmation email...

I got one email from Elections Canada saying:

Your application to vote by mail has been received.

An Elections Canada representative will contact you if your application is incomplete or cannot be approved.

If your application is approved, you will receive a confirmation email and a special ballot voting kit will be sent to the mailing address provided on your application. 

I didn't get a second email. But today when I opened up the mailbox, my ballot was there! 

We're here to burgle your turts!

Phoebe slept in her own bed—and stayed dry!—until 6:00 or so. I helped her go potty and then we climbed back into bed for some morning snuggles and ended up falling back to sleep. She woke up hankering for a trip to the park.

I had a meeting in the early afternoon, but we decided we could do our writing time at the park and our math when we go home (we've finished with our science curriculum for the year and the kids have been working on reports for social studies). So we got up and started getting ready to go right away.

We had fun at the park, and I'm sure the kids would like me to share pictures of the cool stuff they did (and I will) but this post is about the turtle-y awesome walk we went on just before we came home. We decided to just take our ordinary stroll around the pond to see how spring is coming on (very nicely, if I do say so myself). 

Suddenly Zoë screeched, "Is that a turtle?!"

"Is what a turtle?" I asked. 

"That!" she said, pointing to the sidewalk. "I thought it was a rock...but it just moved..."

Potty training progress...and things

There are days when I literally don't care that Phoebe wears a pull-up to bed. And there are also days where I do care because I honestly never had a child in pull-ups before. For the most part they potty-trained over night quite easily. Benjamin was reluctant...but he managed. And he wasn't angry about it.

Phoebe is reluctant. And angry. 

Like, having to get up to go potty in the night just makes her so mad. 

Andrew usually wakes her up to take her potty because she tolerates him at night. When I weaned Phoebe some switch in her brain went off and she just finds my very existence to be beyond annoying at night. I think she was a little bitter about weaning (it's been eleven months now!) and she just was kind of like, "Well, what good are you to me now?!!?!" 

So Andrew has been waking her up to go potty at night. 

This has been our method for the rest of the kids, except for Alexander who I just said, "Okay, no more diapers." And he was like, "On my honour..." and literally never wet the bed (except for one time when he was five). But the other kids we just would put them to bed, and then wake them up consistently for several nights. And then they'd typically start waking up on their own to use the potty and then we could stop waking them up to use the potty and pretty soon...presto!

Phoebe...is taking a while. Her sticker chart is full because she can stay dry. She even has stayed dry for five consecutive days (at which point I thought, "Phew! We did it!" but at which point she thought, "Cool. Did that. No need to do it ever again."). 

So she's off again, on again. 

Eatonton and things

On Saturday we headed out to Eatonton to visit the Georgia Writers Museum as well as the Uncle Remus Museum. The Georgia Writers Museum was right downtown, across the street from the Putnam County Court House (or the Pvutnam Covnty Covrt Hovse, as the children liked to say).

Here's Phoebe and Alexander with a little statue of children reading outside of the museum:

 

Too much water for Phoebe

This is just a preamble while I gather my thoughts on our day. It's been a long time since we've gone on a family adventure! Rachel wasn't sure it was wise to join us because she had a few assignments to finish before this evening, but we convinced her that she could work on things in the car—she even got to ride in the front seat so that she wouldn't be bugged by her siblings. She finished with plenty of time to spare. 

On living in a somewhat geriatric neighbourhood

When Miss Penny died (about two years ago now), I wrote a poem—an abecedarian. It's doubtless that it will ever be published anywhere but here, but I thought it should be published somewhere...so here's good!

So far it's untitled:

An awkward sight in the afterglow of day, she stood,
bathrobe open, slippers on, spreading birdseed on the
cement for wild city creatures: bunnies, chipmunks,
deer. She doted on them and they came to trust her,
expecting an evening feed. Thus engaged when we
first saw her, she gave a friendly wave, guffawed:
“Guess I’m Snow White, all grown up!” Ever after
her house became known as “Snow White’s House”
in the juvenile collective imagination. In general, her
job—neighbourhood invigilator—just meant watching
kids play, gathering gossip, keeping an eye out for
languishing souls. “Hullo, there!” she’d holler, loudly.
Make no mistake—if you were melancholy she meant
nobody but you. “Now, why don’t you make your way up
onto my porch?” She’d offer stories meant only for your
pretty little ears, help you practice observing in order to
quiet your mind. Quite the lady, Penny was. I don’t
recall registering her absence until I saw the sign: “Estate
Sale.” A childless spinster school teacher, retired and
tired of everything but sitting in her rocker, watching the
universe unfold between the balustrade posts, it was not
very obvious when she vanished. Not too long ago we
waved to her while out on a walk. Then warmth gave way to
extreme cold (a poor excuse), we stayed away, and she said
yes to the past tense, to turning into yesterday, leaving the
zoo on her front lawn wondering where she got off to.

*****

A few Sundays ago, a clay creature Zoë and her friend had made broke. We'd already had dinner and the sun was rapidly sinking, but Zoë wanted to run up to her friend's house to hold a funeral service for their little clay creature. I told her to run along (remember how whenever I'm in charge of bedtime, we're always late getting things done? Yeah...it's a real problem for me).

She came back much sooner than expected. While they had buried their broken creation and held a brief service for it, their mourning was cut short by the arrival of an ambulance. They stood in shock as they watched Miss Anne be wheeled out of her house on a gurney.

"And I don't know if she's a live or dead!" Zoë panted, trying to recover from her sprint home in darkness punctuated by flashing red lights. 

Phoebe-Q

Phoebe found some lip gloss this morning, and having liberally applied it (+/-) to her lips declared herself "boo-i-ful." 

She insisted on wearing two skirts to the library.

I warned her that it might be a little chilly for a skirt, but she insisted she'd be fine. We came home and took Luna for a walk and when we came home Phoebe decided she'd rather wear pants—it was a little chilly with bare legs. So she went upstairs to get some pants.

I watched her awkwardly waddled down the stairs, but couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong with her.

"I think something's wrong with your pants," I said. "Let me see..."

The issue she was having is that she was wearing not one, not two...or three...or even four pairs of pants. She had put on five pairs of pants. 

Jump start

On Wednesday last week, Rachel drove the kids to mutual and everything went fine. But when they got in the car to come home...it wouldn't start. So Andrew drove down to the church to rescue them. Fortunately it was a battery thing, so he gave them a jump and Rachel was able to drive home just fine.

And she went to seminary the next day. And the next. And then on Friday she drove to Athens and home again. And on Saturday she drove to Andie's house (to get a ride to a dance). And then drove home from Andie's house after the dance.

And then drove to seminary on Tuesday. 

And every time she turned on the car, it started a bit rough. It was just a little...hesitant to actually start...which was concerning. But we had a plan in place to fix it...but not until Wednesday. 

We just had to get to campus on Tuesday first...

So on Tuesday after Rachel got home from seminary, we hopped in the car, which choked to life, and started on our way to campus. 

We had to stop to fill up on gas, choosing a different gas station than we ordinarily do because...

Two little peas

This morning while Benjamin, Zoë and I were discussing the book we'd just finished reading together (The Red Pencil) and how they might engage with it further (analyzing specific characters or events, brainstorming about alternative titles/covers/endings, and so forth), Alexander and Phoebe were working on a Scratch project together.

Really Alexander was working on a Scratch project, and Phoebe was nestled up beside him, leaning on his shoulder like they're best buds (and they are).

They're so sweet together.

Woke up this morning feeling...enfranchised!

Thing I learned!

In 2019, Canada changed its voting rules for citizens living abroad. It used to be that if you had lived outside of the country for five years or longer you were ineligible to vote. But that is no longer the case. 

Now you can register to vote if you have lived in Canada at any point in your life, regardless of how long you've lived outside of Canada. 

Somehow or other Trudeau was prime minister for ten years, which means this law came into being during his term (terms aren't fixed, but are at the pleasure of His Majesty (King Charles)...and, technically, I would say the people as well, because a vote of no confidence can be called quite easily compared to just having to sit around for four years...or more...). I didn't vote for Trudeau in 2015 (could not have voted for him—believe me...I checked), so I was surprised when I checked the voting laws again today (just to make sure—because you never known when you'll wake up to find yourself enfranchised...) and found that I could vote in the upcoming election.

Did I register to vote today?

Absolutely I did.

Did I tell my Canadian-abroad family members to register to vote as well?

Absolutely I did.

I am awaiting my ballot, brimming with excitement.