Benjamin's very churchy weekend

Benjamin was asked to give a talk on July 12—the Sunday we were busy at county—so I asked if there was another week he could possibly speak. We only have 10 youth speakers (on a good year) and 52 weeks in a year, so it's pretty easy to find an open week...but although I was told they'd try to rearrange things, we never heard back. He wasn't on the schedule the following week (which was good because we ended up going to Sam's homecoming instead of attending our own ward) and then we just didn't hear and didn't hear and didn't hear about anything this week, so we figured Benjamin was off the hook (since next week is fast and testimony meeting, which has no assigned speakers). 

But then the ward bulletin was sent out on Friday and, lo, Benjamin was on the intended program. 

So he got to work writing and came up with a decent draft. I read that draft and discussed it with him, noting areas he needed to explain things better, craft some segues between ideas, and more clearly develop the theme running through his talk. He was miffed, but sat down to write a second draft, which was much better than the first. I read that draft and discussed it with him, noting areas where he needed to back up huge claims (such as "the phrase 'fear not' can be found in every book of scripture"—do you know that? Or are you just saying it? You're just saying it...okay...perhaps do a little more research before saying it) and tell enough of a story that people can understand what's going on and glean the message from it, but without reading the whole thing verbatim. He was quite upset about this feedback but agreed to give his talk another round of edits. 

You can imagine how he felt when I sent him back for a third round of edits. Pretty darn frustrated, that's what! Let's not even talk about the fourth...

There was a little churl...

 

I'm kidding! I'm kidding! But it is kind of surprising how curly Benjamin's luscious locks get when they get lengthy. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't believe in combing his hair so it eventually ends up getting chopped. Lucky for all of us, it'll grow back.

I saw this picture of Benjamin and thought again of the poem about the girl with the curl and my brain immediately inserted the word "churl" for "girl" (but churl is a little too negative of a word, don't you think?):

There was a little churl,

            Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of his forehead.

            And when he was good,

            He was very good indeed,

But when he was bad he was horrid.

So I tried it out with lad. Not sure I'm satisfied with it yet.

There was a little lad,

            Who was never very bad,

Whose hair had grown wavy and wild.

            His mom cut it short,

            Cut it very short indeed,

While the child just impishly smiled.

His smile is particularly impish here (I'm not sure why he decided to smile that way). 

And because of the way my brain works I then jumped to mashing together twit and twist. But twit isn't very kind either, so I defaulted to scientist...but I suppose any -ist word could work here (though a lot of -ist words are negative as well...plagiarist...racist...narcissist...maybe my brain is just negative today because I'm sure there are more positive -ists out there).

There was a scientist,

            Who had a little twist,

Right on the top of his noodle.

            He thought up ideas

            Thought up several indeed,

And counted them oodles by oodles.

I am no Longfellow...

County! County! County!

 

Swimming is an interesting sport because we spent approximately 15 hours at the pool over the past two days (5 on Saturday and 10 on Sunday) to watch our three children swim a collective grand total of approximately 5 minutes.

It was certainly a marathon...for the spectators!

Fortunately, they do allow swimmers to leave after their last event and they always schedule relays first (at regular meets they are last) which meant we got to leave "early" after Zoë's relays. Still, it was a lot of hours at the pool!

I took this top picture because it shows our coach (Amy) as a child swimming for Gwinnett county and now as an adult coaching for Gwinnett county. There are 5 coaches featured on this slide for the same reason (and there seemed to be multiple slides of this nature). Such a thing is unfathomable for me (I currently live 2221.66 miles, as the crow oryx flies, from where I first joined a swim team) but is apparently the reality for many people. The Census Bureau claims that in the United States "nearly six in 10 young adults live within 10 miles of where they grew up, and eight in 10 live within 100 miles," while this Pew study claims approximately 40% of people remain in the community within which they grew up.

Anyway, Andrew and I were both surprised by how many coaches in the Gwinnett county swim league were also young swimmers in the league.

Last Fun Friday

Phoebe was as pleased as punch to get her ribbons from last night's swim meet—especially her speed breaker ribbon (because it's rainbow coloured). She did not want to "spend" her ribbon to pie a coach in the face (even though I explained that she would still get to keep her ribbon).

Benjamin is 14!

Benjamin turned 14 at Young Men's camp this year, so I sent him to camp with some hastily-made (at midnight), unfrosted (at his request) cupcakes to share with his friends (as you can see his friends were super pumped about this). 

Birthday Buddies

Our family has (in my opinion) a surprising  number of birthday buddies! 

Growing up, my grandfathers (my mom's dad and my dad's dad) shared a birthday (September 8) so I was used to the idea of sharing birthdays. And then, of course, they also shared that day with my grandpa's twin sister (on account of being twins). 

Later, my brother David and Andrew's Grandpa Frank would share a birthday (they're not related, but they're on my mental calendar together).

Then my sister Kelli had twins, so they share a birthday. 

All of that doesn't feel too cluttered or unusual. But then...

• Our cousin Carter was born on our cousin Kayl's birthday 
• Alexander was born on Auntie K's birthday
• Ethan was born on Naanii's birthday
• And just recently Chloe was born on Benjamin's birthday!

Those last four feel particularly funny to me because whereas before all the shared birthdays had been either through marriage (in-laws with the same birthdays) or twinship (sharing a womb), all of a sudden we have a spate of blood relatives sharing birthdays through random happenstance! 

Of course, my extended family is ginormous and there are lots of birthday buddies when we start counting, like, second cousins and things. But among first cousins? We didn't have so many people overlapping!

Here's a picture of Benjamin in the wee hours of his birthday (he stayed up late playing Hand and Foot and then left for scout camp in the morning, so we haven't really celebrated his birthday yet, although I did send him to camp with cupcakes).

And here's my brother David holding his third baby, Chloe, who was born in the afternoon on Benjamin's birthday!

What a wonderful birthday present!

(C)Rafty Kids

After many months of planning and research and milk jug collecting, Benjamin and his friends got together this afternoon to build a raft. And I'm so happy for them! 

They're making plans for its maiden voyage in the lake near J's house—they've got lifejackets and everything. And, like I said, I'm just so happy for them. 

Life moves pretty fast: Swim meet countdown

The summer swim season has officially begun!

We had our mock meet last night, which means we only have five weeks of swimming left the season (minus the county competition). Swim meets have always marked the passing of summer, but this year their passing (which hasn't even truly begun because we, uh, haven't had an official swim meet yet) feels a bit more ominous because it's also more or less counting down the time we have left here in Georgia. 

We. Have. So. Much. To. Do. 

But last night we just sat for a few hours and watched the kids swim.

Our competition pool (which isn't our pool but is a pool within our cooperative swim team...we take turns practicing at our pool ad at this pool) got a new deck addition this summer, which is nice because the past couple of years they haven't allowed us to put children on that side of the pool so we had to clump all the kids on the other side of the deck and put the other team out on the parking lot...and neither place was particularly suited for this purpose.

We're glad we don't have to do that anymore. The new deck is much nicer. And "I'm kind of liking the jail situation we have going on," Miss Julie, our team manager, joked. 

We call the area the kids hang out the "bull pen" anyway, and it honestly is rather helpful having it be an actual pen rather than having the kids sprawl out all over whatever nook or cranny of the deck they can find!

Swimming Awards Banquet

This afternoon we got to go to Benjamin's swimming awards banquet. He's had a really great season and has improved so much, so it really was no surprise when he was called up as the most improved swimmer on the silver team.

"And while he's up here, Ben's also our practice champ. Ben is always there, ready to work hard—even asking for more work!" Coach Harrison told everyone. 

He's on task, he's cheerful, he never complains, he helps others stay on task...he's just great!

The kids' trip to DC! (March 8-13)

Before Grandpa and Darla got married, Grandpa had talked about taking Benjamin and Zoë up to Washington, DC, as he had done with Rachel and Miriam. Last year was the year he decided he was going to do it, but just before it was time to head out...Grandpa had a medical emergency. So the trip was postponed for six more months, but just before it was time to head out...the government shut down.

So the trip was postponed again until March of this year, a kind of final hurrah before Grandpa and Darla leave for their mission (which has been a whole nother circus of events requiring patience and adaptability because they were first assigned to Jordan and then to the UAE somewhere and now to...nowhere in particular...but definitely in Salt Lake for a while). Anyway, they did finally make it on their DC trip. 

Grandpa sent me this itinerary:

Benjamin's DC report (a guest post by Benjamin)

This is the first time I went to Washington DC with the capability to remember things. I have gone before, most notably in 2014, and 2016. I also went in November of 2012, but I was a tiny baby then so I really don’t remember anything at all. Rachel and Miriam have taken this trip before with Grandpa.  Their record walking distance was ten miles. We did not walk ten miles in the blazing hot sun as Rachel and Miriam did, but we did walk 6 miles the first day and 8 the next, which brings our total to 14, which is higher than theirs. This trip was the third time we planned out the dates. We had originally decided to go in September of 2025, but Grandpa had surgery and couldn't go. The second time we planned it, the government shut down for 43 days–both breaking the previous record and closing all the museums we wanted to go to. This third time, however, was not postponed, so we were able to go.

Washington D.C is our nation's capital. It's where the seat of government sits and it's where many people live in and travel to. It was founded as “Compromise Capital”, as the government wanted a place to be outside of an actual state. My Grandpa said that L'Enfant Plaza is called that because it has so many museums and kids love going to museums. Which is true but I think he was joking because it was actually named after the architect who designed the city on land that New York and Maryland donated whose name was Pierre Charles L'Enfant. It is built on the Potomac for many reasons. The first being that no one wanted that land because it was swampy and gross so that's why the states donated it. And the second is that it helps with defense because an attacking army can only really invade from one side. That second reason however is posing problems as the city expands as it makes commuting harder for those who live across the river. As there are only so many bridges and metro lines for commuters to use to get to work. Speaking of the metro, we used it to get around everywhere. So I will talk about it next.

The Metro

The metro in Washington DC is not the best in the world that goes to multiple ones in Asia but it tries to be clean and a thing that people want to use. We mostly used the blue line train because it's the one that we needed but we did use orange and silver sometimes as well. I loved using the metro and not touching the car for a week. I have many funny stories but the best one is when Zoë got stuck behind the gate. She swiped her card and then grandpa said Zoë! Over here she went over and tried to swipe her card on the other side but she could not go to the other side twice so grandpa had her go in front of him and he succeeded! But right as she went through it closed on him! And so he had to hand Darla his card so she swiped it on one side and then gave it to him and then he swiped it on the side that he was on and finally went through. We then went up the stairs and to the spy museum.

Lincoln

Lincoln was our country's 16th president. He was the first one assassinated and has left a mark on our history.The Lincoln memorial uses stone from all across the country to symbolise how Lincoln brought unity to the states. The terrace walls and lower steps comprise granite blocks from Massachusetts, the upper steps, outside facade, and columns contain marble blocks from Colorado, the interior walls and columns are Indiana limestone, the floor is pink Tennessee marble, the ceiling tiles are Alabama marble, and the Lincoln statue comprises 28 pieces of Georgia marble. The statue is 19 feet tall and one hundred and seventy five tons. The Gettysburg address is carved into the wall on the right of the Lincoln statue and his second inaugural address is carved into the wall on the left of the statue.

The entire monument is based on the Parthenon in Ancient Greece, which was once the largest temple of Athena in the world. 

YMCA Championship Meet

First thing in the morning, I registered the kids for swim team. I had to be fast so I could be sure to secure a spot for Phoebe on the "futures" team, since space is limited in the "futures" program. Benjamin is applying to be a "futures" coach again. So we're gearing up for another busy summer full of swimming. 

We left for church an hour early so we could go to choir practice before church. We are just barely starting our Easter music...like today. It's rather late to be starting Easter music, but choir has been...to put it delicately...going through some hurdles...recently. So we're starting Easter music now. It'll be fine.

Grandpa joined us for our meetings this morning and then took Benjamin home from church ahead of us so that Benjamin could get changed and pack up some dinner for himself. They were just leaving for the pool when the rest of us arrived home from church. We met them at the Georgia Tech pool at 3:00 for Benjamin's championship meet.

Here's Benjamin diving into the water for his 50 yard freestyle (lane 9, closest to the audience there):

Puddling and Panopticon

We did, in fact, make it outside to play in the rain. 

Alexander and Zoë got up at 6:30 this morning and finished all their (individual) school work by 10:00 this morning, so they were free to go outside and play. Benjamin slept in a bit so he had to do math hour.

Sometimes we have issues with...accountability...at our house. 

But I was talking to my friend Bekah in class on Tuesday and she mentioned that the teacher she's observing has this, like, surveillance screen on their computer where they can see the screen of every child in the classroom at once to know whether they are on the appropriate screen or not. And I was like, "Ummm...what program is this, precisely??" 

She told me, but it is not priced for private use. It's more of a thing a school district buys. 

But I was telling Andrew about this and so he, of course, came up with a solution—screen-casting through Discord! Apparently a lot of people do this for study groups and things, just for an accountability measure. And it seems to work for a lot of people. So Andrew made a channel where the children can stream their screens and I can see them all at the same time. That way I can easily see whether they're working on their math lesson (or whatever) or whether they're watching a YouTube video (or whatever).

And because the kids don't know whether or not I'm watching...they act as if I'm always watching.

The potential of being watched is motivation enough. 

Andrew initially called the channel "Panopticon" and we explained to the children a bit about what that was (some of them had listened to a 99% Invisible segment on Panopticon so they already knew about it), but he was like, "We can rename the channel to be less threatening...like "study hall" or something instead of the foucauldian panopticon. School-time to match gaming-time..."

So he changed the name to boring ol' "school-time" and there was quite an uproar about that.

It's back to Panopticon. 

Here's a shot of Benjamin looking at his own screen through his own screen through his own screen through his own screen through his own screen...

Screen-ception

Ice storm: before and during church

We woke up to a world glazed over with a thin layer of ice (not the half inch we were predicted to get, which is probably for the best). Our power went out a time or two in the morning (and about a dozen more times throughout the day), but only momentarily. We were quite lucky on that front. 

Some of us had a hard time sleeping last night because they were so excited about the storm, and so perplexed about the weird noises frozen rain makes (yet somehow she is sleeping through all the ice crashing onto the roof this evening—make it make sense!). When Phoebe woke up she wanted to explore the ice. 

She found that it was interesting.

And tasty. 

Benjamin's swim meet

Today I got to take Benjamin to his swim meet (because it was at our own YMCA and I...can drive there). I parked myself in a seat in the viewing deck (which was the hallway), pulled out my laptop and worked on a presentation and did some research in between his events. These meets are way more chill than the summer events, which always feel like pure chaos to me.

Probably helps that I've only ever signed up for ribbon duty. 

Benjamin's coach was quite ambitious this meet—he signed Benjamin up for a 50 free, a 200 IM, and a 100 fly in addition to two relays! Benjamin took it all in stride, though! He dropped time on his free and IM events. This was his first time racing a 100 fly.

Here he is doing the fly portion of his IM:

Swimming and Organ Awards

Saturday, as mentioned earlier (I think), was a busy day, but the kids have come off conquerers!

Here's Benjamin with his ribbons from his swim meet:

Both his relay teams won first place (he swam a 50m leg of breaststroke in the medley relay and a 50m leg of freestyle in the freestyle relay, as one does). He got second place in the 200m IM (individual medly—so 50m each of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle). He got third in 100m backstroke, and fourth in 50m freestyle. So not a bad day for him!

Happy birthday, Andrew!!

Andrew turned 41 on Friday. He was at a conference for most of the day and Zoë and Alexander went to a church activity in the evening and didn't return until much later than we thought. A friend of mine gave them a ride since I had to get Benjamin to swim practice and couldn't be everywhere all at once. 

Phoebe was so excited when Daddy got home because she's had such limited time with him the last couple of months. She was really looking forward to him opening his presents (she loves birthdays) and was very upset when he decided to initiate bedtime before the kids come home.

"But Dad!" she wailed. "Mom said presents before bed!"

Lucky for Phoebe the kids arrived in time to rescue her from her having to wait one more day for Daddy to open his presents. 

Mattress coils

When we exchanged Phoebe and Zoë's old bunk bed for Benjamin's new loft bed, we were left with a couple of old mattresses on our hands (because Benjamin's new bed frame is a full not a twin). They were rather inexpensive mattresses in the first place, so were never very comfortable, but various children have used them for...at least 13 years...so they'd...been through some...stuff. 

I won't list all the bodily fluids they encountered. And, I mean, we used mattress covers...but they got gross anyway. 

I don't really blame anyone for not wanting them. 

But—goodness sakes!—do you know how much it costs to dispose of a mattress?

Luckily, I know a guy!

The kids in Utah

At this time last week we were either all weeping as we drove home in the rain...or were off to Kroger to do a snack run for a long road trip. 

The older kids have now been gone for a week and their whirlwind trip to Utah is just about over. Tomorrow is their last full day there (except for Rachel, who will be there for longer). 

Miriam has been enjoying her time at the organ workshop. She had a private lesson with Joseph Peeples (a tabernacle organist), which I assume went well. My mom went with her to that (because Miriam is a minor she was required to have an adult present at her private lesson).

Before a trip...

At our house, asking a child to do a chore somehow stimulates their bladder.

"I...have to go potty first!" they'll say.

And then I'll say something like, "Well, good thing I ask you to help out around the house, otherwise you'd never remember to go potty!"

*****

This is like that but it's like "good thing we send these kids on trips, otherwise we'd never take care of them."

I jest, of course...but this morning as we took Benjamin off to the doctor to finally fish a splinter out of his finger (that he got at YM camp the first week of June, wouldn't let me pull out, and assured me it would work its way out on its own...only to come to me the other day with a swollen, pussy finger...as if I'm the one who should have been keeping track of it all summer) so that it could be healing instead of festering while he's on his trip, I couldn't help laugh. 

We've taken Miriam to the urgent care twice before a big trip—once for a broken arm and once for an illness. 

It's not precisely that we plan these things, but it might seem like we only take them to urgent care immediately before sending them on a trip.

Here's Benjamin getting ready for exploratory...digging about: