Valentine's 2022

Valentine's Day was such a great day for us. Amelia and I set out the fun treats and cute squishmallows the kids chose a few weeks back. Evelyn was the only kid without a squishmallow, I found a cute shaggy llama at Walmart that was right up her alley. We all got a fun bottle of Japanese marble soda (original or strawberry flavor), large hershey kiss, some kit kats, swedish fish, sour hearts, and a mom-made valentine heart. Boom! Evelyn and Josie woke up before 5:30 am excited for the day. I made them lay back down for another hour and a half. The kids lined up just like it was Christmas morning! So cute. Josie was delighted to be reunited with her unicorn named Valentine. She checked the closet every couple days to make sure her chosen squishy was still there. Evelyn was feeling much better, I called the school and asked if she could go to school a day early. She was allowed to go! Yay! She popped on a cute pink and red outfit for school. I fixed up her hair with a heart pony on one side. We had a very relaxing and quiet day with Evelyn at school. Dad took the boys at lunch to get the girls flowers. I suggested the little girls would love a balloon if the store still had some in stock. When they got back home we had to turn around while they arranged their surprises. Awwww, the girls got cute little bouquets of flowers, a candy, and a soda. THEN...my brain thought, wait guess there were no balloons. Wham, Everett busts out of the bathroom lugging a 4.5 foot tall mylar balloon. That thing was massive! I laughed so hard, that ridiculous balloon was the best gift of the last year. So much joy! Josie loved that the balloon was taller than she was. Everett's teacher dropped off his bag of Valentine's on her way home. He felt so loved and appreciated. Josie was ticked she had to wait for her class valentines. For dinner Evelyn requested Bulgogi, yes ma'am. Justin grilled up the skirt steaks over charcoal. Dinner was so delicious...the kids remembered halfway through dinner that they wanted to eat by candle light. Maybe next year. I rented Sing 2 which we watched after dinner as a family. We ended our night with homemade cheesecake and strawberry compote. The best part was the sunshine and warmer temperatures.  Josie lost her first tooth right before bed. Her front left bottom tooth was growing in, the baby tooth barely hanging on. She was brave (after much crying and negotiating), allowed me to try the floss trick but her tooth was too slippery. A firm tug literally popped that tooth right out. She was shaking from the stress of going through that experience. She may have a tendency to faint at the sight of blood. Josie recovered and snapped back to normal while I helped her make a paper envelope and note for her tooth. By the time she had the tiny envelope in her hands she was gushing with excitement to get that under her pillow. The tooth fairy actually came and left her a couple dollars, those first teeth are special. Josie said a special prayer asking the tooth fairy to leave her envelope but give her money so she could take it for show and tell. The tooth fairy complied. 

I sent the rest of the kids to school on Tuesday. Everyone was feeling much better and by my amended calendar we spent roughly 10 days at home. I was most worried about Everett and Josie, those two were still struggling a bit. Everett was sort of pale Tuesday morning but he perked up after an hour at school. I had a very quiet day with everyone gone. Sister Flake requested we try piano lessons at the church, that felt a little strange to me. Tuesday feels like a long day with non-stop piano lessons from 1 until 8 pm, with a break for dinner. Phillip and Everett got haircuts afterschool from Sister Young, we are trading some piano lessons for haircuts when needed! 

Finally made it back to the gym after two weeks, phew, that easy workout was harder than it should be. I ran right from the gym to Walmart for some birthday cupcakes to share with Josie's class. Rushed home to shower and then rushed onward to the school for two hours of Art in Action. In Everett's class we learned about Miro and his Dancing Fish. Everett looked much improved on Wednesday, in hindsight he could have used an extra day at home. Everett helped me carry supplies back to the teacher's area before I headed to Josie's class. Her class learned about Degas and his Ballerina series. Drawing those ballerina figures are about the hardest concept to teach. My ballerina looked like a strange gorilla with long skinny arms, a huge tutu, and one fat leg in a cast. The kids were smart enough to not exactly copy my drawing instructions. Josie knew exactly what to do when it came time to celebrate her birthday! She hopped up on a chair while the kids sang to her. We passed out tiny cupcakes on cute napkins for a fun treat. After Josie finished she helped me pass out foam squishy toys to her friends.  Hooray for late birthday celebrations. Justin made time in his really busy schedule to attend youth activities as the youth picked a pioneer name for trek to research. Amelia chose Sarah Ellen Ashton (Beckstead) and Phillip chose Anson Call. I wish there was an easier way to find one's pioneer relatives. FamilySearch only pulled 20 names, most I did not recognize. I know there were many more, especially names like Joseph Stacey Murdock. I felt prompted to listen to Brother Wilcox's Oct Conference talk, Worthiness is not Flawlessness. The more mature family members all felt the spirit. His message is perfect for our family: "When you feel like you have failed too many times to keep trying, remember Christ's Atonement and the grace it makes possible are real."  Also that we are not hypocrites because we have bad habits we are trying to break, a hypocrite hides, lies, and blames others for those bad habits. Being honest about our actions and taking steps to move forward makes us diciples. That is a powerful concept. 

Thursday morning Amelia called me in tears right around 8:30 am asking to be picked up from school. She would not say what the reason was so I rushed over to the HS right after dropping off the kids. She was still in tears when I checked her out. Amelia is dealing with a personal problem that started back when she was 12 or so years old. When she told me what was weighing on her mind I almost laughed, my first response was relief. This? We can deal with this sweet girl. My mind was going through all sorts of other avenues from abuse to bullying to who knows what. Amelia got a mental health day to think about her situation and make a plan. I went to food shop and get her a treat. I was back at school teaching art in Evelyn's class right after noon. Amelia helped me teach art, this time we studied Escher. The kids got to make geometric shapes with scratch paper. Amelia was able to tell Clare what was weighing on her mind, Clare urged Mia to talk with her parents. I am grateful Amelia has a good friend to lean on. Phillip is doing awesome since we discovered his most recent struggle. No relapses and he is making strides to pray and replace those urges with better things. Everett almost threw up at choir practice, his coughing got worse and he nearly passed out. He was quite green around the gills when Justin picked up the younger kids. I stayed for a mandatory parent's meeting at 7 pm. Brett talked about philosophy, told stories, and promoted the grass roots effort of the choir. The regional director brought down the rod, no more parking in the lot! I have to drop off the kids and leave unless I am volunteering. Also, no using the bathroom if the kids are not in their rehearsal. It's for the safety of the kids and parents. 

Justin is crazy busy with work right now. He is working 12-14 hours each day including Saturdays until the deadline next week. I get a feeling for his crazy as I listen to his various meetings throughout the day. Lots of talk about consummation (of leases), earnings, millions of dollars, amortization, and excel talk. Sounds exciting. 

The kids had Friday off for a teacher work-day. We started the day at the Rec Center swimming for the kids and exercising for the Amelia and I. Everett stayed home sick so Phillip was on his own. He is hilarious to watch, that kid really knows how to play and entertain the kids. I missed taking Josie Downtown for her birthday photos. Friday was THE day! I invited the boys but Everett was sick again with a headache, cough, and runny nose. He slept in until past 11 am. Phillip was not interested in hanging out with a bunch of females. I charged to boys to be good and keep watch on each other. We left, music blaring, in the cool mini van. Our first stop was to Lakeshore to laminate more paper stuff. Then to Target down the road for cute outfits Josie could wear in her photos. Amelia and I enjoyed collecting all the cute outfits we wish we could wear! She helped me spend more money than the one outfit we went for, one turned into 4. Ha ha ha. It was getting towards later afternoon so we headed for Boise's Freak Alley. I parking the van next to a fun Fan Art store we just HAD to check out. Inside was a fun eclectic collection of movie and TV show fandom. Amelia bought two cute Hufflepuff stickers and a local artist's print of Mabel from Gravity Falls. We skipped down the alleyway to the next block of alley where Freak Alley started. Essentially, it is a block of alley that local artists have decorated with street art. Josie wanted to wear her normal clothes, aka comfortable sweats. She basically lives in comfortable, soft clothes or zippy PJs. Amelia's choice was a pair of overalls, striped shirt, and daisy hat. It was the favorite outfit of the day, besides the comfy one. Evelyn kept herself amused looking at the art and turning numerous cartwheels. The girl's loved the artwork done with three cute frogs, very anime. We walked, skipped, ran, along the main avenue. The area is blocked off to vehicle traffic so we could run in the streets. I showed the girls the fun splash pad plaza. We returned to the van to put more coins in the meter and fetch our scooters. We scooted down to the Capitol Building, heard some guy terribly rapping his x-rated poetry on a loud speaker. Interesting. Josie rode on my scooter since her scooter has tiny wheels. Evelyn struggled to keep up on her scooter for the same reason. I lead the way to the Jump! building so we could admire the Valentine's decorations up around the facility. We were all starving by this point but did not want to spend lots of money on a fancy dinner. We ended up back at the van ready to forage for some dinner. Amelia and Evelyn chose Noodles and Co, a favorite from our Denver days. I loved spending all that time with the girls! We enjoyed every second! Phillip finally messaged me around 8 pm asking when we were coming home?! Poor guy was tired of watching TV...we arrived home not long after her messaged. Justin was even later coming home than the party girls. We all went to bed by 9 pm after a long and very fun day...at least for some of us. 

Saturday Everett woke up even worse than the prior day. Josie started with a fever soon after Everett. These fevers were terrible, 102 plus with little relief even with Tylenol. The kids caught some kind of nasty cough, runny nose, sore throat, headaches, chills, etc...again. Everett grossed us out with his excess saliva problem. Amelia caught him drooling/spitting on the floor after a 3 hour bath. Later I caught him spitting on the couch armrest. When I called him on his behavior he gave me a blank look, seriously his brain was not activated. I handed him an anti-bacterial wipe, he looked at me asking what it was for. Germs? Spit and germs? That was a strange side effect of whatever illness this was. Sunday Everett stayed home from church with Josie. I ran home in between to check up on Josie. Our Sunday was not very exciting. Over the next couple days the rest of the kids dropped like flies. President's day was essentially a non-stop TV day with half the kids moaning on couches. Justin is working like mad with work, the filing deadline is coming up soon. 

We've had lots of drama coming up in our family. Seems like this is a great chance to strengthen and fortify our sanctuary. Amelia watched Hunchback of Notre Dame, MCO is singing God Help the Outcasts. The words of that song are in my heart. Sanctuary!!! Justin and I made time on Sunday to meet with each kid and check on their goals. We also asked several hard, probing questions to each child. We are very invested in our family zone, I pray the kids can feel that. As we study Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob my mind is continually turned to the Lord's precision. His method is gratefully simple and repetitive. The gospel is on one end very simple, as we travel the road of discipleship we learn and grow trading "milk" concepts for the "meat" concepts. I am learning bits of ancient Hebrew as we study the Old Testament. I am astounded at the concepts lost between Hebrew and English.