Angry Eyebrows

Last Sunday we had our special Stake Conference and got our new Stake President. He is from our Ward and we know him well, President Day. He's a good guy and will make a good Stake President. Tyler's biggest concern is now that someone in the stake knows us, we have more potential of getting stake callings. I don't know, nothing has come to us yet so only time will tell. I was actually, weirdly hopeful that we could become the new Seminary teachers since this was President Day's  previous calling but apparently we aren't in a good location in relation to all the high schools. The early mornings would be rough but I would love teaching with Tyler so I am feeling bummed. I think I am just ready for a calling change.

Monday we had nothing going on in the evening so I decided we should go for a nature walk at West Bloomfield Nature Preserve. I was craving some family time. As we got ready to go out, everyone was grumbly and not wanting to go and fighting and I was really regretting my decision. The drive was not much better. But once we got there I am glad we chose to go. The weather was beautiful, the woods were gorgeous, and we saw a bunch of deer. Then the kids discovered these happy faces someone had made on rocks and decided to add angry eyebrows to all of them. It ended up being a lot of fun despite the rocky start.

Can you spot the deer in the background?

Tuesday I finally got my permanent crown so now I can eat all the sticky foods again without any worries. I had my hair braided in 2 pigtails that day and oddly got a compliment on my hair from the lady up front and from the Dental Assistant. So apparently I should try to make myself look more youthful more often. The Dental Assistant was kind of awkward about it (he's a young guy) and asked me if I did something different with my hair- I've only seen him twice- before he complimented me. 

Wednesday for our young women's activity we helped at a local church's garden. Since we haven't had a ton of girls lately, we invited a few of the ym (Steven,Dax and David). Unfortunately the ym's program has been pretty lax lately and they do not have frequent activities so I was glad that Steven could come to ours, even though he was super grumbly about coming. I do think once there, they all had a lot of fun hanging out and planting pumpkins. Afterwards I arranged for us all to go to McDonalds for ice cream (which was sort of breaking current activity regulations) but it turned into an epic flop. The line was giant and once we got through- they told us they were out of ice cream. It was super depressing. So now we totally owe all the yw an ice cream treat.

Thursday the weather was cool so we met up with the May's at Scarlet's Park. I have been grumbly about things lately so it was good to get out with a friend and get some fresh air. I am glad we enjoyed the weather that day because Friday was super cold and rainy. On Friday I got to go see "The Quiet Place 2" with Ben, and Steven and their friends David and Andrea. It was entertaining but I don't feel like it really answered any questions from the previous movie and it just added to the plot holes. But still worth watching and the boys really enjoyed it.

Friday evening I took Alissa (our yw's class pres) over to Aleahna's to wish her a happy birthday. We ended up taking her to get hot chocolate (per her Grandma's suggestion). She never attends anything so it was good for her and Alissa to spend time together, I think they had a lot of fun. I mostly felt like the weird adult chaperone trying to play it cool. 

I cleaned the house Friday evening so I could be a complete bum and sleep in Saturday. It was a good choice. After I finally got out of bed it was time to take Steven to a birthday party in Milford. I decided to take all the kids with me so that after we dropped him off, the rest of us went to the park and the bakery. The weather was still cool but not too cold so it was a great day to be outside eating cookies and playing.

And let's end with a funny story....I made this Tex Mex Pizza for the first time, which was actually really tasty but of course, my picky kids didn't love it. Lucy's comment was "My worst nightmares are everywhere"- this was in reference to the black beans that were on it. I decided to take a picture of her and letter it. Turned out real nice ;)

A dress, A Concert and Sunny Days

 Another week has flown by, it's crazy how my life has picked up in speed. Sunday we had in person church which was ok, I was feeling kind of anti-social so we took off afterwards. I did Penny's hair with my new 3 barrel curling iron for church so I figured I should document it. These were the poses I got, that last one she looks like she's in pain but I think she was trying to be thoughtful ;)

I also had a presidency meeting Sunday and one of my counselors made me a little batty. She first complained about the lack of masks for ym and pointed out that my child was constantly pulling his down. Oh Steven. Then she complained about how frustrated she is with the "standards contract" for Girl's Camp. It is basically just your regular church rules but she said they were worded too harshly. I didn't see it but we spent a good deal of time talking on it...when I really just thought the meeting should be over. Especially since I am not the one who made this standard contract, that's a stake thing. 

Monday I made the mistake of eating skittles on my temporary crown. I had this horrible moment when I realized that crown was off and I quickly spit everything out. I brushed it off and stuck it back on and it stayed until the next morning when the dentist was able to reattach it. It was a bummer that my permanent crown wasn't in yet, so I still have to make another trip out there to get that done.

One of my yw had a birthday Tuesday so I went by her house to drop off a gift and ended up spending an hour talking with her mom outside (in the burning sun, I got totally sweaty). Her mom is having health issues and her mom also has her parents (my yw's grandparents) living with her, and they both have cancer. So essentially things are really hard and she needed to vent. We had a good talk and in some ways I could relate to her feelings, that lack of understanding of God's plan and wondering why God doesn't just heal her. At the end of our conversation, the birthday girl came home and I was able to talk to her real briefly,I got the sense she was not interested in talking to me and I can feel her pushing against the church. That makes me sad but hopefully my birthday visit will at least help her to know we still love her.

Tuesday evening Caroline and I went kayaking. It was a good time but it did give me a workout. The funny thing with my lake is it really seems to have a current, even though it's not connected to a river. Paddling out is really easy but coming back is always rough. Afterwards we ate ice cream on my porch and she confided in me some difficult things her son is going through. It seems like her life is a series of tough things and I love her and hope that someday she can find some rest.

Wednesday for yw's we went on a hike at Proud Lake. I love being out in nature but my girls aren't really chatty with one another so I always feel like I have to be the one making conversation with everyone and helping everyone to feel included and loved. It get's exhausting. Especially trying to figure out topics to talk to teens about and trying to relate to them when one feels so old compared to them. 

Thursday I went dress shopping. We are going to get family pictures in June and I usually get the clothes for the kids but often just scrounge up things for me. I decided this time I was going to start with my outfit. Well at Target I finally found a bunch of modest summer dresses but the big problem was that there dressing rooms are still closed because of Covid, so dumb. So I picked the one dress that had the most potential and then had this genius plan that I would buy it, try it on in the restroom, and if it didn't fit I would go back in line and return it. The girls were with me so we got in the handicap stall and I tried it on. Only I got stuck in and I could NOT get out. I was begging the girls to help me, feeling panicked and stressed,I was a mess. Finally I decided I had bought it, I could pull off the tags and just leave the store with this bright green dress on. So I walked out of the store, sweaty, with bright red marks from where I tried to pull off the dress and trying to avoid eye contact because I had this unfounded fear that a security guard would stop me and I just wanted to go. The girls also seemed to think I was doing something totally illegal too and were acting shifty. Thankfully I made it to my car in peace and then I had this a-ha moment. I decided to look at the side zipper that had done little good and with a much clearer head I realized that the zipper went further down, it had just gotten stuck. I was not stuck in the dress forever. The whole thing was such an embarassing fiasco that my girls got to witness. And now I feel committed to this dress ;)

Thursday evening I went to see Abbie (one of my yw) perform in a Pop's Greatest Hits Concert. She performed a solo and did fantastic, there was a lot of talent that night. All in all it was good, just a little long for my attention span. I went with my counselor (and friend) Melissa and her daughter Alissa and Alissa's counselor Renee. I think it really made Abbie's night to have all of us there supporting her. Afterwards we grabbed cones and fries at McDonald's and listened to music loudly. I also ended up in Renee's neighbor's driveway instead of hers which was slightly embarassing (both her and her neighbor have driveways attached to the main road, that literally only lead to their house). I had a hard time getting out and onto the correct driveway but we all survived.

Friday the May's came over and after piano lessons the kids all had a water balloon fight (except for the teens who have apparently become too cool for such things). It has been so dang hot. I feel like we never got to experience the joy of 70 degree temps and we jumped right into humid high 80's. Boo. That night Tyler and I went out on a date and found this fun little diner in Novi, it was good food too. Then we went to get a bug-a-salt gun for one of Steven's friends. Lowe's had it in stock but we had a heck of a time finding it and then when we did everyone wanted to know what the heck it was. It made us very popular.

After a busy week Saturday has been a catch up day for me and that's been much needed. Tomorrow we have our big conference to find out all the changes that will be happening in our Stake. Caroline has been speculating so much on who the new Stake Presidency will be and I just don't care that much. Seeing how no one has met with Tyler, it ain't going to be him so I just don't feel like it affects us so much. But who knows, maybe it will more than I think.

Soccer, Potter Park Zoo, Baby Shower

 It was a week full of things. Monday Ben had his last soccer practice so I decided I should probably go since I hadn't been to one yet. Also, they had the parents play against the kids so I wanted to go support Ben defeating his dad ;). Most of the parents played nice, except for Tyler. Tyler had a lot of fun talking smack talk and he was also super sore the next day. The girls and I huddled under blankets and tried to stay warm, it was a chilly spring day. I didn't take any pictures, I have kind of failed at that lately, but I do have this pic of his team that they posted on facebook awhile back. Him and his friend Jacob were probably the oldest on the team. Ben has really been enjoying soccer so we signed him up for a summer league. It is a little more pricey and polished (professional coaches instead of volunteers) so we will see how it goes.

Tuesday I had the meeting for the homeschool hybrid school in Farmington Hills. I left the meeting excited and thinking we would try their homeschool option instead of their hybrid option. In the homeschool option you pick any 4 classes they offer and I was under the belief you went to these classes twice a week. But after a phone call with the director, I learned that these classes only meet once a week and math is not a class option. So I went back to the hybrid option. 4 core classes and 2 electives, meet in person twice a week and do virtual/homeschool the rest of the week. I have officially signed the kids up and I feel pretty good about it. They have small classes (12-16 students), they have teachers that teach a specific subject that they're qualified for, the curriculum is really good with no liberal stuff in it, this school was able to stay consistent during covid, the kids will wear uniforms, the only cost is registration (no paying for homeschool curriculum) and hopefully this will be the support I need so I can handle homeschooling. I really do like the idea that I will have 2 days with no kids but still have my kids the rest of the week, seems like a good mix. Anyways we have committed for the next school year and if we had to drop for any reason, we would have to pay $1000 per kid to get out of it (has to do with funding) so I am hoping I made the right choice. 

Tuesday evening I went to a Bunco friend's surprise party. We really only talk at Bunco so I was surprised I was invited but I accepted because I desperately needed a girl's night and who can pass up free food?? It was really nice to be out, eat yummy food and socialize with growns up. The only thing is that I am finding myself in the minority when it comes to not being vaccinated for Covid. There was only one other person there who hasn't been vaccinated and isn't planning to, everyone else was so excited about it and planning to have their teens vaccinated. I am just not comfortable with it. We don't know the long term effects and that makes me nervous. A lot of people who have Covid are still getting vaccinated and I know the CDC suggests you get vaccinated even if you have had Covid but they really have no rationale or logic for it. Neither having it nor the vaccine can protect from all the strains. Most people who had Covid and got the vaccine are saying they got it because they wanted to be able to do things again. I don't like that reasoning. Anyways I am struggling with what is the right decision in all this. But enough of that, here is a picture I stole off Instagram from the party.

Wednesday Steven had a ym's activity cheering on a friend at his track meet. Because I haven't had to go unknown places where parking could be tricky, I got super anxious about taking Steven. Anxiety can really turn molehills into mountains. It turned out to be not a big deal and we found parking no problem and his ym leaders no problem. Later that night I had my activity at the park. We just learned to read and write cursive for indexing purposes. The weather was perfect and it was fun watching the girls try to figure out how to read super old and messy cursive. 

Thursday we went to Potter Park Zoo with the May's to celebrate Andrea's birthday. We swapped kids for the drive there which always helps alleviate cries of boredom and once there, David and Steven split off and did their own thing- which apparently consisted of aggravating a howler monkey and watching geese flirt. It's a small zoo and they had all their buildings closed because of covid so it didn't take long to walk the whole thing. We ended up spending a good chunk of time sitting at a picnic table while the kids played. I really do love how well our kids get along. Afterwards Ben went with the May family so he could get a special birthday dessert with Andrea on the way back. It was a massive shake so he had an extra good day.

Friday the weather was really good so Lucy and I decided to go on a bike ride to the library. On the way there I easily got my bike over a pipe that was on the path. On the way back I got stupid and decided to go at it fast. Well my bike didn't go over it but I did. My whole body still hurts from that dumb mistake. Lucy laughed at me and told me she knew that was a bad idea. Ha, thanks a lot.

Friday evening I hosted my friend Ashlee's baby shower. I knew it was going to be hard and it was. So much baby talk and I did mostly ok with that but I struggled when they all got to talking about how they never wanted to have another baby. I know she's had a really hard pregnancy but oh man, how I wish I could get pregnant. But it really wasn't all terrible and I am glad I was able to do that for her. I even made a watermelon "cake" that was pretty yummy and looked cute- too bad I forgot to document it. 

Saturday I spent all morning filling out and uploading documents to registed the kids for this hybrid homeschool. So much work. Really, really hoping I made the right decision. Then we all went as a family to Ben's last soccer game. Ben's team got creamed but good old Ben scored a goal (literally their only goal) so I was glad I got to see that. 

Dream Houses, Ice Cream and Flowers

Sunday I was looking into hybrid schools for the kids for next year (ones where they go on site to a school for 2 days and then do homeschool for the rest of the week). I happened to come across one in Oxford that sounded really promising but Oxford is 45 minutes away. So while I was googling I looked for houses for sale near the school and came across this BEAUTIFUL HISTORIC house. 

For once I got real spontaneous and called up my real estate agent. Quite honestly I immediately had regrets because I knew the price of this house was above my comfort zone but I figured it wouldn't hurt to go look. And it was good we went and looked because even though the house was really beautiful, the location was not good- right off a busy 4 lane road and the neighbors were questionable. The location was enough to help me properly let go of my dream house. The house also has a tenant in the upstairs for another year so that would have meant for a rough first year, only being able to live on the first floor. 

But looking also seemed to inspire something in Tyler and he's talking about how he should get all his projects done this summer and then maybe we can think about moving for reals. I'd be ok with a new location, I have kind of been itching for a change in my life. And I would love to find a house with a garage, bigger kitchen and a master bathroom- just a few of my requests ;) 

On Monday the girls and I read a book about Sneezy the Snowman, learned about solids and liquids, and made ice cream in a bag. It actually turned out really yummy and I think in the end the girls decided it was worth the hard work of shaking the bag for ten minutes.

Tuesday night Tyler and I decided to go on a date, I really needed a night out with him. We went to a Chinese Restaurant that a friend had introduced to him and it actually was really good- not super greasy food like some can have. And then because he loves me, we drove over to another hybrid school that I had been looking at in Farmington Hills. This one is only 25 minutes away but seems a little more polished than the one in Oxoford that seemed more homey. And it was slightly nicer looking from the outside. After our drive by, he took me to Dairy Twist and bought me a cookie ice cream sandwich. It wasn't nearly as good as the cookie sandwich place in Arizona but I had to give it a try.

Wednesday the flowers for our youth fundraiser were delivered to my house and there really weren't as many as I was thinking there might be so it wasn't too difficult to unload and then to sort them with the young women that night. But unfortunately the picture below shows all the ones that people still have to pick up and I have been struggling to keep them alive in this awful Michigan weather. It's been 30's at night and 50's during the day. I covered them at night to be safe but had about 4 flats that just didn't make it. Which means we had to replace them and that cuts into profits. Super frustrating. On top of the burden of keeping them alive I have had to deal with our Bishop who is making me batty. He made arrangements for us to keep someone's flowers for longer than the 3 days without consulting me (or even telling me at all about it, I heard when someone else was trying to arrange delivery) and then he tried to cover up by telling me had asked my counselor to hold on to them- he hadn't. He apparently has lost his job again and unfortunately when he is unemployed he is all up in my business and trying to micromanage me and I am just not sure I can continue to respond nicely to the things he does.

 Thursday I had my dentist appointment to a crown fixed and cavity filled. I felt super anxious about it and so I probably wasn't a super pleasant customer. But thankfully it wasn't too awful and it hasn't been bothering me since.

Thursday night Lucy suddenly lost the ability to straighten one of her legs. She didn't fall on it, bump it, hit it....anything! I'm not sure what's going on and if anything really is at all. All I know is she has been limping around like an invalid and I am hopeful that maybe it is just mild growing pains that she is exagerrating. She does seem to be walking around better today (Saturday).

Today I have been just working to get all those flowers out of my care so I am no longer responsible for killing them. I only need one more family to come and pick up. Of course that one family made a big stink about how difficult this was for them. They literally have to pick up the flowers from my house and take them to 2 houses. That's it. And then they have earned money for their youth to go to camp. And one of their teens can drive. Seems easy enough. But it always end up being the same small group of people that do all the work because people try to weasel their way out of things. Super frustrating.

End with a story... Penny and Lucy had gone to Sharon's house (our older neighbor across the way) and were playing Uno. Penny reported "I won twice and Lucy won twice. But Sharon never won, sadly." She felt so bad for Sharon, sweet girl.  

Catching Up

After a good night's sleep it was right back to life in Micigan. We had in person church that morning where we are now able to meet in a group of 100 (instead of 75) so that was nice to see more people. Then we had our YW's lesson virtually which ran kind of short but that's ok because after it I met with the presidency so we could dole out assignments for our flower fundraiser. It took two hours to assign everyone. So much work trying to consider locations and abilities of the youth (and their families). Since the meeting ran into dinner time, Tyler was nice enough to grill up some hamburgers. 

Monday it was back to homeschooling. Tyler had told me how great the kids were while I was away- no complaining and hard working. Ha. They were pretty much their usual selves but it was nice to be back at it. The girls and I read a book called the 10 Little Rubber Ducks and then watched a video about the real event that it was based on- when a storm happened and 29,000 ducks fell off a cargo ship and into the ocean. We had a lot of fun learning about the real event and they actually didn't seem to mind too much writing about it. Steven started using an app called DuoLingo, that my aunt introduced to me, for learning Spanish and seems to be enjoying it (and hopefully learning Spanish in the process). And Ben and I started reading a book this week called All Thirteen which is about a Soccer Team that got stuck in a cave. It's been super interesting and good bonding time for us. I am really trying to work on being a more involved mom- spending more time with the kids instead of hiding away in my room on breaks.

Tuesday I had a dentist appointment. I hate going to the dentist. My teeth have not been bothering me so I was hopeful that meant everything was ok, but of course not. I have  crown that needs to be replaced and a cavity that needs a filling. I am already feeling anxious about getting that work down. All the tastes, sounds, and uncomfortableness. Boo.

That afternoon I grabbed Caroline's kids and took them to the park. She had been in ER the night before for a stomach issues so she needed some rest. Most of the kids play so well together but watching Lizzie is rough. She barrels everywhere, doesn't look where she is going and will push kids that get in her way. After chasing after her for awhile at the park I got tired and there was another mom at the park that I knew so I started chatting with her. Penny happened to be playing with Lizzie and when I went to see how things were going she asked me if she would get paid for watching Lizzie. Well played. I promised her a treat if she would continue to watch Lizzie. That was worth the cost of a treat. She did good and I had a good chat with my friend. After awhile all the kids got hot. Spring weather is so crazy. The day before had been in the 40's so when Tuesday's temps almost hit 80 we were all melting.

Wednesday Steven had to write an epilogue to a story he had read and you would have thought it would kill him. It took him several hours to write two paragraphs. It was a brutal school day. That evening we had a combined ym and yw activity at a park. It was so nice to be in person with everyone. They took turns answering different questions that people had about our church. They are making a video for the missionaries' Facebook page. Meanwhile we all got to socialize and learn just how awkward we've all become at it since quarantine began ;)

Thursday afternoon I ran errands with Penny who is always such a character in public. Loudly commenting at things and throwing out evil cackles for no reason. She said to me at one point, "Do you know why I said I would come with you?" I said, "Because you wanted candy?" (Usually an outing with a parent equals a treat) She said, "No, because I wanted to keep you company." I was glad for her company. Even though the errands took much longer, it was fun to have "her company":).

Friday Caroline came in the morning and after a month long hiatus from piano lessons due to covid and traveling, the kids finally had a lesson. I will be so glad to finally hear them play some new songs. She also left her boys for us to watch for the weekend because Andrea had a dance competition 5 hours away. It certainly was a noisy day but I did get the Steven and David to walk down to Kroger's and get a gallon of milk, that saved me a trip! And mostly they all play well together so that's nice. That night Steven, Ben and David stayed up and watched "The Village." They joked around during most of it so I don't think it scared them much but it was a fun evening.

Today, Saturday, Ben is off at soccer and then this evening I am having a little graduation party for my yw seniors. The weather looks windy and a little chilly so I might be evil and hold it in my house, even though that is a no no with the church. But since I am buying the dinner maybe we will just not call it a church activity and it's just me having some friends over...? 

And a pic of Penny being crabby when I took a picture with her...