Week 15
Monday was a fun day. We went to Elms beach with our crew and it was a beautiful day. I don't think there is a much better way to spend a day than playing at the beach, especially with friends. There was lots of swimming, some kayaking, playing on boogie boards, lots of talking, eating snacks, playing in the sand, exploring, and a few run-ins with wildlife. We loaded up and left just as a big storm hit, we came home and made BLTs and had family night.
Tuesday was a cleaning day and a bit of a rest from our fun the day before. I taught a few piano lessons and everyone had two cleaning jobs. We did laundry and vacuumed the car and it felt good to restore some order to the house. Then the girls both had dance back at the studio so I dropped them both off, went to BJs, picked up Emma, put the food away and got her and Brandon in bed, then went back for Lily. Their show is this weekend so I'm glad they got to go back to the stuido at least for one week before performing. Josh was busy with church phone calls so it made it a bit hectic and I missed our relief society activity, which was disappointing
Wednesday was another beautiful day. We went to Annemarie Gardens with our crew and sat in the shade of lovely trees while the kids played for hours and hours. We did the walk through the sculpture garden and found fairy houses too but the majority of the time they played in what is called the fairy lolly and they loved it. It was so pleasant and the trees smelled good and it was relaxing and wonderful day. We got home in time for a quick dinner and then Lily and Josh had their church activities. I am kind of over the zoom activities and appreciate that they are trying to keep the youth connected but it is summer now and a break from the responsibility would be nice. They all should have been at camp this week and that is a little sad. It would have been Lily's first year and while she isn't disappointed, it is because she doesn't know what she's missing. I always loved girls camp, although we always did it by stake and here we do it a lot by ward. Although I am not sad that Josh didn't have to go camping again this year. He is saving up a lot of vacation time so maybe next year we'll just take the summer off to go exploring.
Thursday was a fine day. It was rainy so we got our work done quickly and then watched Harry Potter 7. We finished part 1 and started part 2 before I was supposed to have a piano lesson, who never did show. Then I took Lily to dance for her last rehersal and the little kids to the pool for a bit. After dinner we finished part 2 and it made me sad. We started watching all of the movies back in March, then had to wait forever for the second movie to get here because our disc was scratched and Amazon was so slow, but now we're done. Unfortunately, the pandemic still goes on and I am so tired of it all. I have also been sad because a young man from our stake, his fiance and my friend's nephew all passed away in a tragic car accident on Saturday. I don't even know any of them but I haven't been able to stop thinking about the poor fiance left behind and the devestated parents and extended family and mission compainions and roommates and friends who are all so sad. Thank goodness for gospel truth and an understanding of the plan of salvation but even then, 22-year-olds with such a bright future and so much to give being taken away is just sad for those left behind. There is great comfort in temple convenants and knowing families can be sealed together for eternity but I feel their loss and my heart feels heavy for them.
Friday Lily had one last unofficial dance rehersal that the class mom organized at her house. They live 25 minutes away and I was going to have to take all my other kids too so I wasn't super stoked about it and almost didn't take her. But she really needs to make friends with these girls and I wanted her to feel as comfortable and as confident as possible for the show so we committed and went. The girls just practiced out on the lawn and I took the other kids to a nearby park we'd never been to before (because it is so out of the way). We had a really lovely morning. No one else was at the park, I sat under a shady tree and read, it was warm with a nice breeze and it was quiet and beautiful. We stayed two hours, went and picked up Lily then went home. Josh had a cyst from his neck removed so he can't get it wet or really move his neck very well right now but he and the kids made pizza for lunch and then we went to the pool. He and I just talked while the kids swam and it was nice. We even saw two families from our ward there and that was nice. Curtis was especially happy to see his pal and they talked for hours; it was cute. We watched The Post and had popcorn for our date night after the kids were in bed.
Saturday was busy! At 10 am Emma had her dance recital. Our studio built a stage right out in their parking lot and had all the little kids come in the morning for four different shows. There were four dances in Emma's show and it was cute and short and easy. She did a great job and I'm glad she got to perform. We went to the store for flowers and doughnuts and then had a cleaning blitz in the kitchen. Then we went to the library for our book pick up (so exciting and the guy even commented on how many we had) and then we watched Return of the Jedi, which is one of my favorites. I really like the ewoks and Endor and it is nice to end on a victory for the alliance for once. So that means we have just three Star Wars movies left and we're already done with Harry Potter so then what?
Well, then we had dinner and got Lily ready for her show. She was dancing at 6:30pm with the two levels above her. It was not as amazing as it would have been in the theater with the artwork projected up on a screen like they were planning to do but it was still wonderful. Every year it is an original ballet and this year the story was Madeline at the Museum. They had a Miss Clavel and the 12 little girls and one was Madeline. They go to the art museum and Madeline is able to make the paintings come to life so then each dance was a painting. It was so creative and beautiful and I was so proud of Lily. She was really nervous about her pointe dance but she nailed it and I totally cried. It was so beautiful and I love watching my kids learn things and work hard.
The other amazing thing about this show is that when I heard there was going to be one on Sunday too I was really nervous it would be us and we would be faced with the dilemma about what to do. We don't do activities like sports and recreational stuff on Sunday in our efforts to keep it as a holy day so we've said no to plenty of things for that reason. I thought about emailing the director and explaining and asking to be put on Saturday but that didn't feel right. They were already so stressed about making it all happen that I didn't feel like I wanted to add to that burden by making a scheduling request. So I prayed. I prayed fervently and often that my girls could dance on Saturday. If they had been assigned to Sunday, I suppose we probably would have let them do it because of the extenuating circumstances and just as a one-time thing, but I didn't want to be put in that position and continued to pray that it would work out. When the schedule was released and both my girls were in the Saturday shows, I was so grateful. The pattern wasn't normal because everyone else was in order by level but for some reason Level 4 danced on Saturday and Level 3 got put on Sunday. I know it was a direct answer to my prayer and it was comforting that God is watching out for us and is willing to help us keep the commandments when we ask for His help.
Today we had a good Sunday school discussion about spiritually defining moments in our lives and then in primary we learned and reviewed the first four verses of Follow the Prophet. It was fun to review Old Testament stories and sing together. Then we had sacrament meeting and talked about being good missionaries like Ammon and Aaron and I was impressed with the insights our kids picked up from our sciprture reading this week. Now Josh is off helping with a baby blessing and my kids are painting and I am trying to figure out how to have a fun July 4th. It is my favorite holiday but without friends, fireworks or being able to visit any historical sights, it is looking a bit dim.
Tuesday was a cleaning day and a bit of a rest from our fun the day before. I taught a few piano lessons and everyone had two cleaning jobs. We did laundry and vacuumed the car and it felt good to restore some order to the house. Then the girls both had dance back at the studio so I dropped them both off, went to BJs, picked up Emma, put the food away and got her and Brandon in bed, then went back for Lily. Their show is this weekend so I'm glad they got to go back to the stuido at least for one week before performing. Josh was busy with church phone calls so it made it a bit hectic and I missed our relief society activity, which was disappointing
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| Emma loves immitating this statue |
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| His fairy house was in the trees |
Thursday was a fine day. It was rainy so we got our work done quickly and then watched Harry Potter 7. We finished part 1 and started part 2 before I was supposed to have a piano lesson, who never did show. Then I took Lily to dance for her last rehersal and the little kids to the pool for a bit. After dinner we finished part 2 and it made me sad. We started watching all of the movies back in March, then had to wait forever for the second movie to get here because our disc was scratched and Amazon was so slow, but now we're done. Unfortunately, the pandemic still goes on and I am so tired of it all. I have also been sad because a young man from our stake, his fiance and my friend's nephew all passed away in a tragic car accident on Saturday. I don't even know any of them but I haven't been able to stop thinking about the poor fiance left behind and the devestated parents and extended family and mission compainions and roommates and friends who are all so sad. Thank goodness for gospel truth and an understanding of the plan of salvation but even then, 22-year-olds with such a bright future and so much to give being taken away is just sad for those left behind. There is great comfort in temple convenants and knowing families can be sealed together for eternity but I feel their loss and my heart feels heavy for them.
Friday Lily had one last unofficial dance rehersal that the class mom organized at her house. They live 25 minutes away and I was going to have to take all my other kids too so I wasn't super stoked about it and almost didn't take her. But she really needs to make friends with these girls and I wanted her to feel as comfortable and as confident as possible for the show so we committed and went. The girls just practiced out on the lawn and I took the other kids to a nearby park we'd never been to before (because it is so out of the way). We had a really lovely morning. No one else was at the park, I sat under a shady tree and read, it was warm with a nice breeze and it was quiet and beautiful. We stayed two hours, went and picked up Lily then went home. Josh had a cyst from his neck removed so he can't get it wet or really move his neck very well right now but he and the kids made pizza for lunch and then we went to the pool. He and I just talked while the kids swam and it was nice. We even saw two families from our ward there and that was nice. Curtis was especially happy to see his pal and they talked for hours; it was cute. We watched The Post and had popcorn for our date night after the kids were in bed.
Saturday was busy! At 10 am Emma had her dance recital. Our studio built a stage right out in their parking lot and had all the little kids come in the morning for four different shows. There were four dances in Emma's show and it was cute and short and easy. She did a great job and I'm glad she got to perform. We went to the store for flowers and doughnuts and then had a cleaning blitz in the kitchen. Then we went to the library for our book pick up (so exciting and the guy even commented on how many we had) and then we watched Return of the Jedi, which is one of my favorites. I really like the ewoks and Endor and it is nice to end on a victory for the alliance for once. So that means we have just three Star Wars movies left and we're already done with Harry Potter so then what?
Well, then we had dinner and got Lily ready for her show. She was dancing at 6:30pm with the two levels above her. It was not as amazing as it would have been in the theater with the artwork projected up on a screen like they were planning to do but it was still wonderful. Every year it is an original ballet and this year the story was Madeline at the Museum. They had a Miss Clavel and the 12 little girls and one was Madeline. They go to the art museum and Madeline is able to make the paintings come to life so then each dance was a painting. It was so creative and beautiful and I was so proud of Lily. She was really nervous about her pointe dance but she nailed it and I totally cried. It was so beautiful and I love watching my kids learn things and work hard.
The other amazing thing about this show is that when I heard there was going to be one on Sunday too I was really nervous it would be us and we would be faced with the dilemma about what to do. We don't do activities like sports and recreational stuff on Sunday in our efforts to keep it as a holy day so we've said no to plenty of things for that reason. I thought about emailing the director and explaining and asking to be put on Saturday but that didn't feel right. They were already so stressed about making it all happen that I didn't feel like I wanted to add to that burden by making a scheduling request. So I prayed. I prayed fervently and often that my girls could dance on Saturday. If they had been assigned to Sunday, I suppose we probably would have let them do it because of the extenuating circumstances and just as a one-time thing, but I didn't want to be put in that position and continued to pray that it would work out. When the schedule was released and both my girls were in the Saturday shows, I was so grateful. The pattern wasn't normal because everyone else was in order by level but for some reason Level 4 danced on Saturday and Level 3 got put on Sunday. I know it was a direct answer to my prayer and it was comforting that God is watching out for us and is willing to help us keep the commandments when we ask for His help.
Today we had a good Sunday school discussion about spiritually defining moments in our lives and then in primary we learned and reviewed the first four verses of Follow the Prophet. It was fun to review Old Testament stories and sing together. Then we had sacrament meeting and talked about being good missionaries like Ammon and Aaron and I was impressed with the insights our kids picked up from our sciprture reading this week. Now Josh is off helping with a baby blessing and my kids are painting and I am trying to figure out how to have a fun July 4th. It is my favorite holiday but without friends, fireworks or being able to visit any historical sights, it is looking a bit dim.
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