Lances Visit, Last Week of AZ School
Josie is quite taken lately with crafts and art. I caught her painting a hippo eating trees for Daddy. The way she sticks out her tongue in concentration is so adorable. The kids favorite evening game is to play big chungus, we all had a similar childhood game. Our game was "fat man." Everett made an appearance Thursday night with his PJs so stuffed there was no way a zipper would work. His bum was huge! Thank goodness for comic relief. We amused ourselves taking slow motion vids of Everett and Josie walking. We had a couple days with 80 degree weather...so the kids went swimming in the 60 degree pool water. Phillip, Ronald, and Everett all got wet. The little girls donned swimsuits but only dipped toes in the water. Josie insisted I set up the sprinkler another warm day. Brrrrrrr.
Miekka, Seth, Jacob, Lia, and Grandma Mary came for a last AZ visit. A chance to enjoy the lovely "winter" with our 70-80 degree days. I told the kids my college roommate was coming to visit us. The grumbled and complained while cleaning and such. Those grumbles turned to joy when they realized my roommate was Aunt Miekka. Josie talks about Seth all the time, wanting to go visit. They arrived with enough time to pull out chairs and take in a lovely evening.
I was quite grateful for their helping hands Saturday (Feb 29th) to clear out the shed. I worked on getting bulk trash to the curb from the garage while Miekka and the boys worked on the shed. We had some largish animal residing in the shed! It chewed holes in all the plastic items (chemical containers, coolers, yard play items, tools, etc). We found a large nest and more poop than I ever want to see again. I asked Justin multiple times to clear the shed before he left and when he visited. I called him to report on the rodent situation. He made the mistake of laughing and joking about it...yep...hung up on him. An hour or so later a delivery of flowers arrived. That was a really gross job. In the end we piled lots of stuff at the curb for pick up. I also posted some larger items for sale like the sectional couch, elliptical, bike trailer, and loose barnwood. We only worked a couple hours. We decided to have a picnic for lunch. The park I had in mind was closed due to a baseball Spring training game, didn't want to spend money to park or fight the crowds. Pioneer park across from Mesa Temple was our next destination. I had to laugh at the row of Lances sunning themselves on a bench! The play structure was so big and fun with ramps connecting different parts of the park. Course my kids liberally used the cold splash pad. Phillip, Everett, and Josie are attracted to water in most forms, Evelyn played about but didn't get wet. The ladies went thrifting more than a couple times. Amelia grew out of her clothes so I was looking for better fitting clothing.
We introduced Lia to our Squishmallow craze. She bought two medium and one large squishmallow, Mia got another one as well! The girls named two of their new additions waffles and pancakes! For dinner on Sunday we had our last Call Family dinner at Spenser's house. We had to say our goodbyes to Tyler, Madi, and Cailin. The cousins had an epic laser fight at the park. Cailin used her stink face to ward off some older boys at the park.
Monday was a bit boring since my kids went to school. Seth and Jacob amused themselves for a couple hours playing Beyblades! I was amused at their amusement! Those at home went to lunch at Backyard Taco, it was ok for fast food. Amelia had a choral concert. She donned the hated purple polyester dress with the rippled hem. I thought she looked cute but when compared to the other outfits the 7th grade got the bottom of the pile. Amelia sang a short solo!!! She was a bit nervous as is expected. I am one proud mommy!! After the concert Mia was holding Josie in front of her, she tripped over a parking concrete stopper thing. Poor kid landed on Josie's bum and back and her own elbows. Both kids were banged up. Josie fell asleep crying in her carseat. She bounced back the next day. The dang hamster got loose overnight on Sunday. I charged Seth and Jacob to find the little rodent. The boys became "Hamster Hunters Extraordinaire!" They enlisted the help of an unhelpful Dog Vader. No luck finding the stinker until Tuesday night...Jacob found crunchy under the bunk bed.
The kids at school celebrated Dr Seuss's birthday all week. The younger kids all got to dress up and do crafts each day. Evelyn wore her cute Seuss dress to school the same day she made a "Cat in the Hat" Hat. I took the boys to school on Wednesday for Muffins with Mom! Amelia's school had Armageddon the last half of the week. She got a dress down day and wore her legion shirt on the competition days. I hear she got to play Quiddich! Mostly she had to sit and watch the competitions. Thursday we turned in all her books and Chromebook.
The Lances helped me pack up all the loose food cans under the beds! Sister Johnson found the #10 can boxes at the Bishop's Storehouse for a $1 per box. That was helpful to get that exact size box. I was feeling a little apprehensive about our food storage situation until I saw it all boxed up. I had a fun first birthday session with Eleen Kaur at Riparian. We did the session at 11:30 pm, like the worst time of day. We made it work with some searching about. Evelyn snapped my glasses in half when her heel smacked the ridge of my glasses. I was pushing her on the swing at the time. Terrible timing! We had less than 5 days before the big move.
Miekka decided on an impromptu Disneyland trip Thursday. They left a day early without telling the kids. Lia did not figure out the surprise until they pulled up to the hotel. At home we all felt a bit depressed, faced with the task of moving. Thursday Everett came down with a high fever and Strep. I took him to the Dr with a 104 fever. Poor kid lived on the couch for a few days until the medicine worked. Josie started an eye infection around the same time. STOP!!!! Everett was so sad he missed singing and his part in the 3rd Grade performance.
Friday was the last day of school in AZ for my kids. Everyone was a mess of tears after school. I took Everett in 30 minutes before school ended to clean out his desk, hug Mrs Sanders, and bid his classmates goodbye. Phillip was depressed because his only friend who cared was Ryan and his teacher. Amelia was in tears because Zoe completely ignored her all day at school then walked away off the bus without a word. Rude! I'm glad Chloe was not a stinker. I was given the task of renewing Dog Vader's rabies shot at Petco's walk-in clinic. I was not amused to stand in line with 20 other dogs while my dog acted like a barking maniac. He calmed down after 20 minutes of waiting. Justin owes me! Evelyn cried for a couple hours once back at home. She had a Polaroid memory book to remember her time at Montessori. She was heartbroken to leave her three teachers behind (Nikki, Lindzie, and Bri).
I got new glasses on Friday, the prescription was so strong I had an instant migraine for the next 4 days. Everything looked blurry, my depth perception was totally off as well. I went back the next day only to learn the optometrist was out until Monday. I got a less powerful prescription and different shaped glasses come Monday. I picked up the glasses moments before we pulled out of Gilbert for good.
Justin arrived home late Friday night to help us move. We worked on Saturday in the garage. Spenser bought our sectional couch so we delivered that on Saturday morning. Got more hugs from the Calls! Took Justin and I most of the day to work through the garage. We had a fun goodbye dinner at the church. Those who couldn't attend pitched in for a cute basket of blue snacks! Towards evening I busted through the laundry so we could get bags packed for our Utah and AZ days before we end up in Idaho. Our last day of church was quite bittersweet. I'm glad we got to say goodbye. Sunday we started to make a huge pile of stuff going the van. Monday was swiftly on it's way...MOVING DAY.
Coronavirus is making huge changes all around us. We are hearing more each day about how contagious this virus is. Conference was changed to broadcast only, preaching to the choir. At the time of our move folks were advised to stay home and not travel much. The great toilet paper and hand sanitizer shortage of 2020 was caused by folks stocking and price gouging the items on Amazon or Ebay. All stores reported empty shelves of toilet paper. Crazy! A virus causes a shortage of paper! Seems like every day the church reports a new change or closure...minutes later we hear of similar restrictions to our normal life.
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