Saying goodbye to Auntie K

At the risk of getting political...or sharing, like, my immediate lived experience and point of view on a personal mommy blog with low readership...

My sister's visit did have to end at some point...apparently...and it did on Saturday evening.

Research across the aisle indicated that while my sister had ample free time while she was between positions, she did have to return home in time to honour the contracted "start date" of her new position. 

Miraculously, Phoebe agreed to sit on Auntie K's lap for a picture prior to going to bed. Sources say this sudden display of affection could have been bought with the gift of a Bluey blanket. There is photographic evidence of the alleged gift, and our gift unit is still investigating this exchange to determine whether or not it violates our household emoluments clause.

Long Hunter State Park

During quiet time/nap time one afternoon, Auntie K took us to Long Hunter State Park so we could do the Storybook Trail. We got off to a bit of a rocky start because we made it to the visitor's center just as it closed for lunch—and they were very serious about closing for their lunch break. We could see them all in there...and they could see us...but there was no way they were going to ask us if we needed help with anything. 

The bathrooms were locked from the outside, only accessible through the main entrance (which was locked). We had a map, but weren't quite sure what we were looking for because the Storybook Trail wasn't on the map. 

So we had our lunch and waited for the doors to open. 

An Amazon delivery person came by with some packages and they opened the door for them and while the door was open I passive-aggressively made a remark about how I couldn't wait for the next five minutes to be up so that we could finally take our toddler to the bathroom...

And the lady working inside must have heard me because after the five minutes were up and she finally unlocked the door for us, I took Phoebe to the bathroom and the lady made a point of finding Kelli to tell her that the bathroom doors were open, should we have needed to go. 

They weren't. 

But that's okay. We went potty and figured out where to go (kind of). When we got to the right parking lot we just had to find the "hidden" trailhead for the Storybook Trail. It, again, wasn't on any of the park maps. But we were pretty intimidated by the bulletin board, so perhaps we didn't look closely enough...

At Rosie's House

One of the best parts about Rosie's house (according to the little kids, at least) is that it is brand new, so brand new that the rest of the neighbourhood is still being put up right in Rosie's backyard!

Why nobody lives here?

Miriam found Cannonsburgh Village while she was researching things to do around Murfreesboro. It has historical buildings that have been moved to the site or replicas of historical buildings (often made of reclaimed materials so they look as if they're from the time period). 

Here are the kids working on some of the "backpack program" materials...

Ruby Falls with Auntie K

Zoë writes: 

My favourite part of Ruby Falls was finally getting to the falls. The falls were beautiful, even more so because of the lights and music put on.

Beautiful Butterflies at Cannonsburgh Village

This morning we took the kids to Cannonsburgh Village, a little tour through history constructed to celebrate the 200th Independence Day back in 1976. It was a pretty neat place to visit, I think! They had all sorts of buildings—a telephone operator's house, a school, a chapel, a blacksmith shop, a mill, and more. They had live chickens. They had checkerboards. They had about a million organs (just about every building had an organ in it, I think). 

For right now, I thought I'd share pictures of the kids by this butterfly wing backdrop:

 

Zoë holding Oaklyn

To Tennessee with Auntie K: In which we explore many playgrounds

While Auntie K is here she wants to take each of the kids on an individual outing. She tried to give Rachel the gift of a mani-pedi when she was out here last time, but Rachel flat-out refused to entertain the thought of allowing a complete stranger to touch her feet. Miriam similarly declined the invitation this trip. But Zoë...is a horse of a different colour. She was quite excited at the prospect of having her nails done. She loved sitting in the massage chairs and being pampered—they even gave her an ice cream cone! 

She came home with lovely sparkly green nails...and a new outfit as well! Auntie K took her on a little shopping spree (and she had the time of her life). They also saw a cute little ghost dress while they were out and picked it up for Phoebe (who won't be going on an individual outing because she's...fussy...but who is very much picking up on the Halloween spirit (something Auntie K also appreciates)). 

Here are those three girls in their new outfits on Sunday (Auntie K found a dress for herself as well):

Pool day

This morning we did some school work while Auntie K went grocery shopping for herself. She has celiac disease and...so we let her be in charge of what she eats. She made shepherd's pie for dinner this evening (for all of us), for example (and it was delicious). 

After lunch we headed to the pool. It's a bit cooler than we're used to, but as the afternoon warmed up it felt better and better. We had a lot of fun playing catch and "piggy in the middle," which my kids all call "monkey in the middle," despite my best efforts to make them adopt my way of speaking. There are many names for the game. 

Here we are the first few minutes at the pool, getting used to the water:

Busy evenings, matching dresses, and a sister visit!

I wrote a draft last week about a particularly busy Tuesday, when Andrew had to be on campus so I had to do all the driving children hither and thither by myself. And it was chaotic. Today was no better. 

It's a Thursday and Andrew had his first day of teaching today—how rich for him! I've already started working on my third week of content. 

My sister Kelline flew in for a visit as well and, as luck would have it, her flight landed at 6:50 and Andrew's class let out at 7:00! Campus is only a few minutes from the airport, so he went to pick her up after he go out of class (she offered to ride MARTA out to us, but...it was just as easy to pick her up). 

Benjamin had swim practice at 6:00, so we quickly ate dinner and then everyone hopped in the car to take Benjamin to the Y. And then we drove to the library to pick up a hold for Miriam. Then we drove to the park to drop off the glass recycling we amassed over the summer and I had promised the little kids they could play at the playground for a little while, but...the parking lot by the glass recycling was all full because of baseball practice, so we had to go park in the next lot—by the outdoor hockey arena (iceless)—and then walk to the glass recycling.

We were laughing because the baseball parking lot was completely full—people were parked on the grass and just...all over the place—yet the hockey parking lot was nearly empty and it's honestly just as close of a walk from the hockey lot to the baseball fields as it is from the baseball lot. 

Parking lot -- baseball fields -- parking lot -- hockey arena.

It was not the same distance for us to carry our glass to the recycling receptacle, however. We had to carry our glass through the parking lot, the baseball fields, and another parking lot to get there. But that's okay. 

Alexander, Zoë, and I each took a box (I took two, actually). Miriam carried a big plate of glass from our fridge (from a shelf that mysteriously broke...no one knows how) and helped steer Phoebe in the right direction. The kids had fun throwing the jars into the bin. 

And by that time, unfortunately, it was about time to turn around and pick Benjamin up. Phoebe had so been looking forward to playing at the park, however, so (after clearing it with Miriam) I gave the kids a couple of options. They could either all pile in the van and we could pick up Benjamin together, or I could go pick up Benjamin alone and leave them at the park to play (under Miriam's supervision). 

Surprise, surprise—they chose to stay at the park. Miriam took a few pictures for me while they were playing (because we unearthed the 4T panda dress that matches whatever size Zoë's in now...that Zoë and Miriam used to wear simultaneously, though I can't find a picture of that right now):

Zoë and Phoebe, August 2025

Grandpa Frank's funeral

Here we are after dinner with our Lindor truffles, to celebrate (with) Grandpa Frank, who loved Lindt chocolates:

Uncle Matt said that the last time he took Grandpa Frank shopping, Lindt chocolates were high on his list of necessities, so his kids decided they should have a bowl of Lindt chocolates for the funeral attendees to enjoy. We didn't get to go to the funeral, but we did get to watch online...and Andrew picked up some chocolates while he was out grocery shopping.

Reading lessons and other things

Working so much on pronunciation with Phoebe has naturally led to phonics, so we've cracked open Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons again. So far we've done about 10 lessons and then started back at square one. And then we went through about 20 lessons and then started over again at lesson 10. And now we're just past lesson 20 for the second time, and it was perfect timing because the letter we added today was c and what sound does c make? 

/k/...which Phoebe just figured out how to produce! 

The poor thing was struggling so hard with the word "cat" today (she keeps saying "tac" instead). Typically she has substituted /t/ for /k/ so "cat" would be "tat." I suppose "tac" is a step in the right direction. We worked for a while on saying /k/ first and /t/ second, but it was a real challenge for her. 

At first she wasn't a huge fan of reading lessons but now she often asks me for lessons (even over the weekend when we don't "have to" do schoolwork). 

The other day she decided to pull out her reading lesson book so she could give one of her baby dolls (one of my baby dolls) a reading lesson. Here they are skipping way far ahead:

Voicemail

Going through old voicemails from Grandpa Frank made me wish (1) that I had answered my phone less often so that I could have more of these gems (because believe it or not I do answer my phone sometimes), and (2) that I was brave enough to leave messages as charming as Grandpa Frank's always are.

Here and there

Our homeschool "not-back-to-school" party drew a pretty small crowd this year, perhaps in part because of how "chilly" it's been. The little hint of autumn didn't stop us from enjoying the pool, however! It was good to see so many of our friends—and to get to meet a few new families. 

(Tall) Tales, Stuffed Animals, and More Cousins

Rachel is 18 now...and it's kind of hard to think about my child being an adult. 

It's hard for Phoebe, too. Alexander (jokingly?) told her that adults don't get birthday presents and so when Phoebe saw Rachel this morning she was like, "Happy birthday...sorry you're an adult now..."

"Uh...why?" 

"Be-tuz adults don't get birthday presents."

Phoebe was rather relieved when Rachel did get birthday presents after all. 

Anyway, we'll write about Rachel later because for now I will share some thoughts about Phoebe (who is still a child, and who wants the exact presents that Rachel got today for her birthday when she turns 18, which I suppose simplifies our shopping). 

Not only did Phoebe have a very cousin Saturday, but she also got to have a video call with some more cousins today. We made an effort to phone my parents a little earlier in the evening so the kids could talk with them (so often I call after the kids are in bed, simply because we're a few hours behind all the happenings in the west). Phoebe had a great time talking (and talking and talking). 

She would start off each story with a little nugget of truth like, "The other day we found an Easter egg and it had actual candy inside!"

That is true—we found an Easter egg that we had not found during our Easter egg hunt. It had a few Robin's Eggs inside and I think Alexander, Zoë and Phoebe each ate one. 

"And then I went upstairs and my bed was all the way filled up with candy and I had to eat it all and it was so good!"

That is not true, actually. 

A very cousin Saturday

Rosie's family moved to Tennessee in June, which means that we really, truly are close enough to visit now—no excuses! Except that we were supposed to get together for the 4th...but Rosie's girls got hand, foot, and mouth disease...and then soon after they recovered they got fifth's disease...and we've been battling our own viruses down here in Georgia. But this weekend we managed to finally get together!

Because they're living in a short-term rental until their house is ready for them, they made the trip down to us! They arrived on Friday afternoon and the kids played hard in the basement until dinner (but I left my phone upstairs and didn't take any pictures of them—we were just having a fun time catching up).

Rosie took this picture of the kids playing on a teeter-totter downstairs: 

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. 

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.

Garage Fridges, Grandma Dresses, and Dandelion Puffs

After being away from my kids all day on Friday, I didn't really want to leave them to go to the Relief Society "Super Saturday" but I went anyway (mostly because Miriam and Rachel wanted to go, but also because I could get rid of that tied fleece blanket you see in the corner behind Alexander and Phoebe, which I meant to donate in, like, November). 

When I left, Alexander was busy reading Fancy Nancy with Phoebe:

Male Researchers

Uncle Patrick messaged me to say that he had a couple of t-shirts to send back to the States with Josie (who is in Austria visiting him for a while). They're too small for him, but he figured my boys could grow into them—they say "Male Researcher" on the back.

"Hey, I could wear a shirt like that," Rachel mused. "Not because I'm a male researcher, but because I'm researching males."

I told her that she could wear it while presenting Uncle Patrick's slides: "Non-Invasive Dating Techniques" from a male researcher.

I also sent her little quip along in the family group chat. Uncle Allen was particularly taken aback by her remark and told my sister to tell me to tell Rachel that that remark was a little racy for Rachel to be saying and that she's far too young to be researching males. 

Rachel retorted that it was all in the name of science.

Uncle Allen was rendered speechless (to make him feel better, although Rachel is at a dance right now, she never actually been on a date—her dating pool is rather shallow out here).

Uncle Patrick wondered whether the freshmen males at BYU would survive her sarcastic wit. 

Time will tell.

All the conferences

Today my brother Patrick sent a picture of himself presenting at a conference in Dresden (I'm pretty sure). His paper title is hilarious: Non-invasive Dating: A New Methodology.

It's about how to date paper not people, but it always takes people a minute to get there.