Labor Day 2026

Our home is filled with squeaky little voices and tippy tapping toes this weekend! Jeremy and Yulia are here visiting for the Labor Day weekend. Watching the chaos of kids under age 8 is like watching reruns from our life a few years ago. 

Our week was pretty normal. Everett, Evelyn, and Josie are struggling with allergies or head colds this week. The funk is catching up. The new first grade teacher spent this week setting up her classroom and meeting students, she will start on  the 8th…thank the heavens! I hear she will be gone for 6 weeks due to a surgery she needs but at least there will be a substitute and smaller class sizes. 

Justin went to Ginger Fuhriman’s funeral on Tuesday. I made 2 peanut butter sheet cakes for the luncheon after the funeral. Sara said there was an expected 200 attendees to feed. Ginger is Fawn Baerwaldt’s mother. Justin said he learned more about Ginger at the funeral than we’ve learned about her in 6 years. They are private folks. 

The weather is turning, it started out HOT and sultry and is now cool and rainy. It’s nice to enjoy outside time without roasting your toes off. I am loving the sound of rain right now outside my window. 

Phillip rearranged his bedroom all by himself. He took the initiative to move his bed because he wanted to access the window better for light and getting on the roof. I helped him hang 4-5 pictures and Justin helped him move the bed. Other than that he did the rest himself. I was very impressed! I had to laugh when I opened the closet door to find a mountain of clothes piled up, at least the clothes were in the closet. Way to go Phillip. 

Everett is now the lead actor for the Hounds of Baskerville because the lead actress broke her foot, he was the understudy. He is feeling quite tired with the extra hours after school now learning the play. He is also working on the Driver’s Ed online work before he starts the road classes on Saturday. He said driving for the first time felt very tense! Justin brought home a story about Everett. The Cranberries’ song “Zombie” came on, Everett started singing “Dobby” instead of Zombie. Then he said in a Dobby voice, “Master gave Dobby a Glock, Dobby its truly gangster.” Justin made sure to yell embarrassing things at Everett after dropping him off. 

Evelyn is struggling with life lately. She is constantly feeling tired and overwhelmed, which shortens her temper fuse. She doesn’t want to go to school but will also not stay home. She went to school on Thursday when she was feeling crappy because she was afraid of falling behind. Justin and I met with Nina on Friday for a very instructive 45 minutes. We relayed our concerns about her behaviors to gas-light and cause contention. Recently, she started blaming everyone else for her behavior, using ADD as a reason to misbehave. Justin revealed that he reacts with anger and frustration because Evelyn’s behavior reminds him of how his ex-wife acted. He goes into fight and flight, Evelyn goes into fight and flight, then the whole family walks on eggshells. Sheesh! Mom and Dad suggested implementing a “no yelling” rule. At this point we might be too late, but it’s also worth a try. I have a few ideas floating around using humor to enforce a “no yelling” rule. Evelyn is an amazing cousin. She played with the littles all weekend, even let the girls play with her dolls. 

Josie finally got her dream of short hair. She detests brushing her hair, hey…I get it! I had Kymrah cut a cute a-line for Josie’s new style. It looks adorable. Josie is thrilled brushing only took three swipes of a brush. Josie told me last night she knows what it feels like to be a big sister now with her little cousins. She loves carrying around Misha or Nata. Saturday she had the kids in our wagon pushing them around wearing her roller blades. 

We get to talk with Amelia on Sunday nights now for an hour because a lot of parents cannot talk during P-Day hours. Tonight will be our first Sunday chat. I think that’s a lovely idea. This weekend I built my birthday Lego, the Gnome Fall Scene. Last week I enjoyed building a succulent Lego with Phillip’s help up in my bedroom. We built Legos and talked for an hour. I couldn’t help squealing a few times over the little details like a meat cleaver inside the gnome house, a cuckoo, and interchangeable trees. I mean, so cute. 

The CHS Marching Band had their first public performance of the year at the home football game Friday evening. He was very excited that Jeremy et al were able to come watch the game and the half-time performance. I felt quite popular with lots of students coming to say hello and hang out! Pasha and Everett went on an adventure for food. We had dinner just 20 minutes before leaving, guess Everett was still hungry because he came back fisting a hot dog. Ksenia, Nadia, and Nata kept Evelyn and Josie running back and forth to the bathroom. The band sounds pretty darn good! They are almost finished with the 2nd and 3rd movements, we got to hear the 1st movement. It was a little chilly outside! Felt awesome to snuggle with Misha and a jacket. I picked up the game Dutch Blitz at Walmart (of all places) earlier that day. Everett, Yulia and I played several hands. It is a really fun game. 

Saturday was a really big day for Everett. He had his first foray out on Nampa roads with a Driver’s Ed instructor. He came home rizzed about the experience. The kids kept us busy playing in and outside. Ksenia voluntarily poop scooped, she is quite the little mommy. The adults went out to lunch at Red Fort Indian restaurant. It was divine. Justin forgot his phone in the van, we had his undivided attention which was a pleasant change. The older kids amused the babies taking them to the park, feeding them Mac n’ cheese, and then watching PAW Patrol. I sat outside in the cool breeze watching the kids scoot around on scooters and Josie pushing her cousins around in the wagon. I even had a few lovely moments reading some of Book 9 in the Wheel of Time series. I anticipate finishing the series before I turn 55. Ha ha. I had a brilliant moment sitting on the porch next to my goose. I need to get another goose so I can speak porch-u-geese. Ha ha, get it? After naps we drove out to Discovery Park for an hour. Misha enjoyed drinking gross water from the sand area.  His immunity should vastly improve now. Everett was pooped from his stints on the parkour set and letting the littles chase him about. Evelyn and Josie patiently built sand creations. After dinner we introduced Jeremy and Yulia to “The Hunt for the Wilder People.” Seth and Lia passed on a new legacy that we are kindly passing on as well. 

The new 2nd hour schedule is quite fun! I will enjoy having both classes each week. I subbed in Primary for Sister Finch as the Primary Chorister. A few of my most squiggly kinder students made the connection that I was also their computer teacher. Little Quora piped up, “hey! That’s my teacher at school. I am pretty naughty in her class too!” At least she’s honest. Phillip wanted to play Carcassonne with Jeremy and Yulia. Jeremy kicked our trash earning over 150 points for one city, we gave up after he claimed that city. There was no way anyone else could catch up. We enjoyed chatting with Amelia. She got to talk with her baby cousins and Jeremy and Yulia. We were quite dismayed to learn that Miguel did not get baptized. He decided not to give up his affinity with prayer to the Virgin Mary…maybe one day Miguel!