Thursday, February 29, 2024

February

Back to Starr! We saw the girls play basketball. Adorable. Plus made lotion. Plus collected a million eggs. Plus all the usual animal fun. Plus a new baby donkey was born the night we stayed. So magical. One of my children likes the farm life a lot more than the other. 

 

 

Funny story... I was putting Rory and Lizzy to bed and they wanted to listen to Mrs. Gorf from Wayside Stories so I say, "I hope she does turn you into apples!" The next morning I discover that they had gotten up, put apples in their bed and proceeded to sleep in the bathtub so we would think they had been transformed. Might have been genius except 1- Sleeping in the bathtub sounds like torture and 2- They got up in the morning and came tromping in the room before we could even realize their prank. 

Upon returning home it was a Monday of high highs and low lows because Silas got into his middle school program (250 applied for 100 spots!) and Rory got in the elementary one whose campus adjoins! (Lottery- but who knew if there would even be an opening in the 2nd grade cohort.) Thrilled about each individually but both was a long shot dream! Then I found out that Julianna's baby donkey didn't make it, so that was devastating and I spent the rest of the day airing my grief by being a huge nag to all my students. 

Rory requested a scavenger hunt as an activity recently so I worked something up for Valentine's Day. I should have gone for "Here is a clue, go look in Dad's shoe." But no, I set up a whole scenario where our Valentine gnome turned bad and tried to get them to join his mischief gang, only with apparently vague clues and vocabulary because they were confused through the whole thing. I had to keep yelling at them to "Read it again!" Pretty sure Rory still had no idea what he had just (barely) participated in when he found his gift tied up in the oven.

I read my old copy of Jillian Jiggs and we made our own pigs with Rory's class. I felt like my 6-year-old self would have been proud. He also got his artwork displayed at the district office! (pumpkin)





The last exciting thing of note was attending USC's Engineering Day. They had about a million cool stations and the boys got to add a pin to their lanyard at every one. They had trains, plane flying simulations, running across oobleck, landfill pudding, rock layers, earthquakes, hydroponics, coding, cell models, pulleys, dna, rocket launches... It was like every science lesson all in the same day.



Thursday, February 15, 2024

January

Rory (finally) lost his front tooth! That guy had been dangling for weeks. Silas had his interview for the middle school program he is applying for. I was terrified but held it together for the good of the cause. The cousins spent a long weekend with us. We hit up the state museum on dollar day to make up for Rory's missed field trip. We got to see my cousin, Nevin, get married virtually! I was generally in a poor mood due to lots of holocaust reading. Writing from February and this is already all I can remember.



 







Sunday, December 31, 2023

December

We had a very joyful Christmas! I mentioned earlier being a shopaholic. Psychologically it probably has something to do with providing a sideways sense of accomplishment, checking something off my list that I just made up that I needed one minute ago when I saw it on Amazon. Such is excitement in my boring life. BUT...my kids have played with and enjoy almost everything to the point that I do not regret it. Silas's whole Christmas was pretty much Harry Potter and hoodies. I made him a trunk and packed it with his Hogwarts supplies. Rory had an Indiana Jones theme with a whip, hat, satchel, grail, and snakes. I figured it was two for one because I will use all the items for party decor when summer rolls around. We also got dwarf hamsters! And they are great! I kind of thought they were mostly for me with the excuse of my children but they have generated much excitement all around. Daron even is a fan. They are named Lightening Lu and Hazel. Hazel is rarely seen except at 9:00 PM when she, like clockwork, does her morning exercises. Lu operates like an insomniac. Most likely due to Rory manhandling her throughout the day. It is probably mousal abuse but I give her extra treats. He is loving setting up Magna Tile houses and mazes and little carts that he pulls her around the house in. They nibble fingers upon extraction from their home, but once they are in hand, they are resigned and friendly. We have adopted the toilet roll elevator method for lifting them out and it has proved to be a pretty solid solution.









Other December happenings don't seem too exciting. My favorite thing we did was go to a live nativity at a local church. It was so well done! We had to pay our taxes, got to go through a Bethlehem market, see baby Jesus and a whole slew of animals, and hear an angel choir. Adorable. 

Rory missed his field trip to the state museum with a stomach bug. Silas almost missed their big immigration experience, but made it to relative health just in time. I think spreading disease probably just makes the reenactment more historically accurate anyways.

We got together with the extended Hofts, Nixons and Webers at Top Golf, which the cousin crew loved. 

We got new couches. I also bought the hamsters a couch. It is hard to say which I like more.









We celebrated the new year with the Williamsons. Since we have last seen them they have added donkeys, baby piglets, baby bunnies, and sheep to their farm. The turkeys were funny and didn't leave each other's side. One never gobbled where the other didn't chime in. It was like a turkey club. (They jointly gobbled their appreciation for this joke when I told it in their presence.) The baby bunnies were so snuggly and sweet. Their whole little town is pretty charming. The visit felt like I was in a Hallmark movie getting won over to the simple pleasures of life. Also, Julianna told me to read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and I did and it was the best book ever. Like literally in my top 5. The boys cackled...I cried... it was precious.