Detroit, Fredrick Meijer Garden, Raptors

One of the perks of homeschool is that we get to set our own schedule and do our own breaks. Midwinter break for public schools is the worst because it's always cold outside which limits what you can do so we skipped midwinter break. And knowing that we had those days still, we decided to take this past Monday and Tuesday off. It was needed. The kids and I were driving each other bonkers. Monday we started off our day picking up cookies at the Detroit Cookie Company. They had lots of fun flavors like one with circus animal cookies, and another with brownies and oreos...

After we cookies we got our cookies we drove over to the Detroit Riverfront where the kids gobbled up their cookies. Then we walked over to the Dequindre Cut. This was a nice paved trail with some fun murals/graffiti. The art was cool and the kids enjoyed taking pictures with it. We also talked about how art has a lot to do with whose looking at it, not everyone thinks the same things are beautiful. It was a pretty decent walk but they didn't complain too much about getting tired which is good since they haven't gotten out that much lately. Also, my kids think it is hilarious to pick noses in paintings.

Tuesday we went to Grand Rapids to visit the Fredrick Meijer Sculpture Garden with the Mays. We first met at their house and swapped kids. I got Peter and Andrea and she got Steven. Everyone had a buddy to hang with in the car and that made the 2 hour drive much better for all. The weather was warm so we weren't the only ones who had the idea to go enjoy it there so there was a pretty good line to get in but it went quickly. The inside was super busy so we headed outside first to the children's garden. The kids had a lot of fun playing and we ate our lunch there but it started to get real peopley with little ones so we headed out to see the statues. 

Caroline and I had a lot of fun reading the names of statues and trying to interpret the meaning of the abstract ones. The kids had fun running around and posing with statues and just being together. They are all such good buddies. You'll notice Steven and Ben are missing from the photos because they embarked on their own adventure and we didn't meet back up with them until the butterflies. We did see them once but as soon as they saw us they ran off in another direction. Teenagers.

After the statues we stood in line to see the butterflies. It was about a 40 min wait but the line wrapped through all different plant rooms so the kids had fun checking all the plants out. Also at the end of the line they had really awesome little houses that had chrysalises in them. Some even had butterflies that had hatched from chrysalises. The kids loved these and I was amazed out how beautiful a chrysalis can be. 

At last we got into the butterfly room and there were butterflies EVERYWHERE. Butterflies are my favorite. I especially loved the blue ones but they would never stop moving so I couldn't get a good picture of them but I was able to capture this butterfly here. 

Wednesday we got back into homeschool. If only, we could just go on adventures all the time. But I have found that I am not really one who likes to use our adventures to teach- I really just like the break from the normal. After school Ben got to go to Beck's house so I wa able to have a little chat with Beck's mom when I dropped him off. That was nice. And I also had a meeting with the RS Presidency that afternoon. We are coordinating a combined activity with the RS. I think we figured out something that might make be fun for all ages. We shall see.

That evening I had my young women's activity and it was not the smoothest. The girls in charge of the pictionary game came up with clues but didn't put any thought into how to run the game and weren't so good at making decisions. It is so hard for me to watch and not just take over. Painful.

Thursday after homeschool we took Jacob and met the Mays at the Leslie Science and Nature Center. Caroline had signed us up for a tour of the Raptor birds they have there. It was really good....and disgusting. We got to watch all the birds tear apart their food (mice/rats). But we also learned a lot of cool facts and got to see the birds up close. I think my favorite was the owl. It was one of their oldest animals and she didn't really like people and so she hissed at the kids when they got up close- I felt like she was my spirit animal ;)

Friday we had homeschool, piano lessons and Penny lost her front tooth! She was very emotional about losing but gosh, I love those Jack-O-Lantern smiles.

Saturday the girls had their first online Cheer class. It was really cute to watch them cheer and they seemed to have a lot of fun. The teacher was super bubbly and really good with them.

Also last weekend Steven and David went walking to seven eleven and Steven came back with candy for me, that he bought with his own money. That was really nice and unexpected so I feel that needs to be documented.

And will end with a funny Penny story. We were talking about Emma Smith and how she put together a hymn book. When I asked the kids if they know what hymns are, Penny said "Boys!". She, of course, was thinking "him."

A Walk and a Haircut

 Last Saturday the weather had warmed up (we're currently in the stage of bipolar weather, temperatures are constantly changing) and so I took the 3 youngest kids on a walk across the street. It's funny to see my kids walking in the snow hardly dressed for cold weather but 40's and 50's just don't seem that cold after you've been in the teens. I had a moment during the walk as I watched them surrounded by tall trees and patches of snow on the ground where it just hit me what an idyllic childhood they have. I think they are so blessed to be able to hop across the street for a walk in the woods and to be able to experience the changing temperatures. And side note- Lucy reminds me so much of my Grandma Palmer, always eating the snow.

Before we went on the walk Ben built a snowman but with the warm temperatures it didn't make it very long. When we came home it had already lost its head.

Sunday the boys got much needed haircuts from Tyler. As a joke Tyler cut Ben a mohawk... but then we decided to let it stay. We both feel like it's such a disconnect to his sweet personality that it's just kind of funny. Grams informed us that she saw some other boys with a similar haircut so it must be in style. We shall see how long we let it stay.

We were pretty big homebodies for most of the week. The kids got into perler beads again so we did have to get out and get some more beads. When I went to get them I discovered Hobby Lobby is no longer offering their 40% coupon- that was disappointing. I loved using that coupong to get my puzzles. 

Lucy also started a new project with our neighbor Sharon. Lucy found a pattern for making a Minecraft stuffie and she decided she wanted to make one. I told her to see if Sharon wanted to help her and she did. We are so lucky to have a neighbor that's willing to help my kids do projects and other misc things. I feel like she's their home ec teacher sometimes and I am grateful for her. Here's Lucy's progress so far.

Wednesday was our one day where we got out and did something. It was another warm weather day (after some bitter cold days) so we met some friends at Scarlet'a Park. We spent a couple hours their just relishing the great weather. Steven and his friend David walked down to Seven Eleven and got some junk food. I sat and chatted with Caroline and a friend from the neighborhood, Julie. Julie is really trying to create a homeschool community so she had invited a bunch of people- some people she doesn't even know. She is much more outgoing than me. I also saw a mom from Penny's former Jr Kinder class. We had always chatted while we waited for the our girls to get out of class. It was nice to see her again.

Wednesday night we had an activity at the church. My friend Caroline taught the girls the YW's theme in sign language. That counted as a spiritual activity so we were able to have it at the church. Unfortunately only 3 girls showed upand 4 girls joined via Zoom. I was bummed that we didn't get more girls there. I think people are getting too used to being able to join activities from the comfort of their home. Regardless, it was a good activity. I thought it was kind of beautiful to see the signs for the theme and it also really helped me to focus on the words and the messages of the theme.

Friday night I had some friends over to puzzle- Caroline, Ashlee and Melissa. Julie was going to join us but ended up cancelling last minute. They all came a half an hour late which made me feel kind of disgruntled- you know me and punctuality. And I just have felt sort of off in general lately so it just wasn't a great night. There was a lot of baby talk. A lot. And I know Ashlee is pregnant so that's to be expected but I feel like Melissa just kept bringing up the subject. I feel like I can handle baby talk in doses but too much just gets to me. And then they talked about my friend who is still not talking to me and that brought up more disgruntled feelings. So like I said, it was an off night and not really enjoyable. I think as we approach all these dates that are year markers of my loss of Issac I will probably not be my best self and I am thinking I might need to take a break from girl's night so I don't scare all my friends away with my sour puss attitude.

And I'll end with a picture of Steven just to prove that he is alive despite him constantly pushing my buttons. He loves to hang out in the guest room, laying on the bed and throwing a ball up in the air and catching it. My teen is weird. 

Winter

Not too many exciting things happen in the winter in Michigan. On Monday our highlight was that we went out to dinner at Red Robins. We had a gift card given to us ages ago that we finally used. We discovered there that our kids are not huge fans of onion rings. I also reaffirmed the fact that Red Robin's NEVER settles well; which is probably why I procrastinated using the gift card. On a better note, Penny was so matchy matchy that I had to take a picture of her cute, pink self on the way there.

Wednesday Penny and I had a smoothie date at lunchtime. We got one for us to share and one that we dropped off for a friend in Milford. It was a lot of driving so she made for good company. That evening I had a virtual yw's activity which was kind of a mess. It was supposed to be doing typing games because a few of the girls had goals to be better at typing. Unfortunately the girl in charge didn't really put in any effort to find games and so there was a lot of scrambling. Oh well, maybe the girl in charge learned a lesson?

Thursday we had my friend's kid over and she was just a typical toddler, taking all the things out. But she's a pretty even tempered kid and good listener so I don't mind watching her. I was glad to be able to help my friend out. That evening I met my friend Stefanie in Milford and we sat in her car and chatted about all the things. We are both going through our own struggles and it was nice to be able to commiserate with one another and have a good cry together. She is such a good friend.

Friday Ben and Lucy had their second paino lesson with my friend Caroline. We are trading services, she teaches them piano and Tyler teaches her son coding. She is much better at teaching it then me and I hope we can stick with it. She stayed for a bit after and we had a good chat. That evening I picked up some bundt cake. I was getting one for one on my young women and so I had to get one for myself too. Penny came along with me and we picked up some socks at Walmart after we got the cake. She was in a silly (and loud) mood. When we walked past the underwear she shouted "Undwear!?Disgusting!" And when we left Walmart I complained that I had just spent $40 on socks (I had to get socks for the whole family). She shouted "Forty dollars on stupid socks!?"

Also, this week, Penny decided she wanted to look like a ballerina so she got all dressed up and I did her hair. Then she pranced around the house.She's a cutie.

 

100 Days and Belated Valentine's Party

Monday was the hundredth day of school. That means I have been homeschooling for a hundred days now. Sometimes it feels like it's been a lot more. I have such a mix of emotions with homeschooling. There are things I really love about it. I love knowing exactly what my kids are learning and how they are progressing and being able to adjust according to their learning speed and style. I also love the flexibility, being done by 2pm, not having to leave the house on cold and snowy days, and not having awkward social interactions with other parents. But there are some things about it that are just hard too. I don't like how upset they get when something is hard or when they make a mistake. I don't like dealing with attitudes when they don't want to do work or come back after taking a break, and I absolutely hate teaching math. So I would say that I definitely have a love/hate relationship with homeschooling. To "celebrate" 100 days the girls did a few 100 activities, like rolling die until they got to 100, and writing about what they would buy if they had $100 (Lucy would get Shopkins and a giant stuffed unicorn and Penny would get a LOL House).

Wednesday I had a zoom activity in the evening with my young women. We played some online games that were pretty fun. One involved writing jokes and another making up definitions for made up words. I wasn't super successful with making up jokes but I did pretty well at making up definitions. Mittrux= a truck that catches baseballs. After my activity I went over to Corinne's house (we are officially done quarantining). We had a good chat about all the things and she gifted me a very late Christmas gift- the new YW's theme framed- love it! She is busy doing a vast amount of home improvements to her house because they will be moving this summer. I think that has to be a bummer to fix something up to your liking, just to sell it to someone else.

Friday evening I made Tyler take me out, I needed to escape. We went to Texas Roadhouse and we're actually able to dine in. I love that we can dine in at a restaurant full of people but for yw's activities we can't have people from more than 3 different families. Covid regulations are nonsense. Afterwards we ran some errands. When we were checking out at Walmart, a lady put a $20 bill on the scanner and said she was paying it forward. Honestly, that day I had been feeling really down and had been praying to my Heavenly Father, trying to feel His love. This felt like an answer to my prayers, like God was telling me that He was there and He loved me. Tyler and I want to use to give a big tip to someone the next time we go out to eat. 

Saturday we decided to do a belated Valentine's Celebration since we had had to cancel it last week. I spent the morning cleaning and preparing for the party. I really shouldn't have bothered cleaning because the house was pretty much destroyed within minutes *sigh* But the party itself was a lot of fun for the kids. There was pizza, bag decorating, Valentine exchanging, Nintendo Switch playing and cookie making and eating. 

And funny story- Steven was being a stinker so I gestured to him to come sit on my lap so we could have a chat. His response, "You're not Santa."

Steven's Birthday

 Last Saturday I spent the afternoon with my new counselor and secretary (Moly and Melissa) delivering Valentine's gifts to our young women. We actually made contact with 10 out of the 15 girls which I thought was pretty awesome. It was nice to see them in person and be able to check in on them. I am also grateful to Moly for driving us all because the roads weren't super and she was a much better driver than I. It was a good way to spend an afternoon.

That evening I had a puzzle night at Caroline's with Melissa. I was feeling super exhausted (I just haven't been sleeping well) but it was still nice to be with my friends and share in some good laughs. 

Sunday I had 2 meetings after chuch. One was the Bishopric training the new class and quorum presidencies. They talked too much and covered too much and honestly it was super boring to me so I am not sure how much my new class presidency got out of it. I also had an awkward moment where I thought I muted myself so I yelled at my kids, only to find out everyone heard everything. First time I did that and it was so embarassing. It took me awhile to turn my camera back on. 

I think my second meeting went better. I did some of my own (much shorter) training with my the new class presidency and we did some planning. They were really good at contributing ideas and making decisions- this meeting went much more smoothly than some first meetings we've had in the past. The only crappy thing is that after our meeting, the stake set new activity guidelines that totally ruin some of our planned activities. Looks like we aren't even allowed to do outside activities now. So dumb.

Also on Sunday we found out that our neighbor, Jacob, tested positive for Covid. He had had a fever Wed and when they took the rapid response test it came back negative. I guess she had decided he was fine because he was over at our house Thursday (I had no idea he had had a fever the day before). Then they got the results of the longer Covid test Sunday that he was actually positive. Hopefully I didn't unknowingly share anything with all the many people I had been in contact with Saturday. 

With this news we decided to cancel all our plans for the week and quarantine. Ironically this was a week where I actually had quite a few plans and was feeling overwhelmed with them. I had prayed for help to go through the week and maybe this was my help, lol. So no more bringing a meal to my friend who had just had surgery, no watching my other friend's kid, no Valentine's day party with friends and no birthday party for Steven. It was a pretty big bummer for Steven especially but I fixed things by offering to give him his birthday off school and let him play video games all day. I think that helped ;)

SO our week ended up pretty uneventful--and also none of us seem to have come down with Covid. No fevers, no coughs. Either we're asymptomatic or we just got lucky. 

Tuesday I made Steven's birthday cake. I hate making cakes, it stresses me out. I was also in an exteremely irritable mood that day so not helpful. 2 things I learned- making frosting black (and not just gray) is hard, and don't tip the cake pan because the cake will slide right off (and into the microwave). Oh and also, probably wasn't wise to frost the 2 layers together before putting the wings between the layers. Lots of dumb mistakes but it turned out ok. The wings were made from melted lifesavers and then I sprayed the top of them with silver food spray. Tyler also helped cut the fondant face because at that time I was just done.

Wednesday,Steven had his amazing day of no school and lots of computer/video games. Honestly, it was amazing for me too because everything seemed to go faster with one less kid to homeschool. Maybe I will send him back to public schools next year and just homeschool the younger 3. Steven enjoyed playing online with his friends and chatting with them on the phone while playing. I think it was a good day for him. His friend Max also dropped off a present for him which was really thoughtful. Steven is lucky to have such a good friend. Especially since our gift for him was late coming and didn't arrive until Thursday. So besides two cards with money from grandparents, this was his only gift to open Wednesday. Max gave him Amiibo's (which give him stuff on Nintendo games) and he used perler beads to make Mariah and Pearl.

For lunch he had Subway and then for dinner I made waffles using a new Belgian Waffle Maker. Grams Hatch had one and he really loved the Beligian Waffles so the maker was kind of a gift for both of us. That night we had cake and ice cream. Only Steven doesn't actually like cake so he just had ice cream. I am not sure why I fuss so much over a cake he doesn't even eat.

Thursday,Steven's birthday gift came. It's a recurve bow that hopefully we can get him to use. It's just hard right now because a lot of indoor archery places aren't open because of Covid and the outside is just too cold.

Friday we didn't get to have our Valentine's Party with friends as planned so we just did a few Valentine's themed activities for school (color by number hearts, soaking conversation hearts in different liquids, writing about someone who lights up our life...) and then we decorated heart sugar cookies in the afternoon.

Saturday was spent mostly me being productive around the house and the kids using time they saved up during the week to play video games. They did get out for a little bit and did some sledding with their dad.

I'll end with two funny stories. On Friday I was checking the list of things kindergarteners need to know and I saw that plural nouns was on there. So I was asking Penny about plural nouns and asked her what you add to cat to make it more than one. She replied, "A kitten?" 

At dinner we were talking about Ben wanting a Zelda birthday and then he said he wanted to be Link for Halloween because he already had big ears.

Back Home

Transitioning back to life in Michigan wasn't super smooth. The kids struggled with the time change (and so did I). Sunday night I had a meeting with my new YW's counselors and secretary and it look a couple hours because we had lots of training to do (they are also all very positive and excited about being yw's which is good but also hard when I feel less than positive and had to work hard not to be a debbie downer). Anyways, the kids had promised they would get themselves ready for bed at 8pm but that did not happen. They were messing around and being crazy all during my meeting- even after I muted myself a couple times so I could yell at them. Then it took at least an hour after my meeting (and some more yelling) for them to finally go to sleep. And after that, I struggled to get to sleep myself. It was a rough night for all.

Tyler made it back 2am Monday morning so it wasn't a super fun night for him either. Gratefully he made it back safely, despite some less than favorable weather. So Monday morning was overwhelming with all our things to unpack and homeschooling that needed to be done. Plus I had groceries to pick up (which took an hour because they are not efficient and only had 1 person working and lots of orders to bring out). It was a rough day but somehow I taught all the kids, got all the things unpacked and got the groceries.

Tuesday things calmed down and I was also able to help the neighbor out by watching Jacob in the afternoon (it was a half day and she works). The kids were happy to be reunited with their friend and he keeps them entertained so it actually helps me out.

Wednesday, the May family came over after we were done homeschooling and that was another happy reunion. Caroline and I did a 300 piece puzzle and finished it before she left. It was nice to catch up while we puzzled but I still have some anxiety about our common friend who is unhappy with me because she was released from yw's. And my conversation with Caroline, if anything made me more anxious. I wish I didn't care what others think of me. And honestly I wish this angry friend wasn't part of my friend group because that makes it harder. I know it's silly, but I worry she'll turn the rest against me. Gosh, that sounds so ridiculously high school. 

Wednesday night one of the girls made a fun Kahoot quiz based on a questionaire she gave everyone. It was fun to learn new things about my yw and one yw I hadn't seen for awhile came and another 2 of my yw had their camera on for the first time in forever. I was a little too excited to see them and hope I didn't scare them off with my crazy happy reaction.

Thursday Lucy had a well check up and Steven had his second round of a vaccination and the visit went really well. Steven didn't even cry, just got real hyper. I am so grateful for this new office and their patience and kindness with my anxious kids. The dr also prescribed some medicine that is supposed to help with Lucy's constant throat clearing. So far I haven't seen much of a change but maybe it just takes times to start working?

Thursday night Tyler and I went on a super exciting Costco date...with Lucy ;). We got some needed things and also...a Nintendo Switch. The kids and I had a lot of fun playing it at Mike's house and we just decided it might be a fun thing we can ALL play together. Also, I did my taxes that day and I we typically buy one fun thing with our refund and then pack away the rest. This was our one fun thing. So far we've had a lot of fun playing Super Smash Brother's against each other.

Thursday night we got a few inches of snow so we spent Friday warm and cozy indoors. I also think the kids have needed some just at home time after so many adventures in Arizona.

On a fun note, I learned how to draw families, in the way that is super trendy, this week. Essentially you take the photo and trace it on another layer and then clear the photo layer. I always thought it was so amazing that people could make them but now that I realized it's mostly tracing I am slightly less amazed, ha ha. But it still is fun and when I shared the pic I did of my family, a friend from high school enlisted me to draw theirs so that made me feel pretty special.