I is for Imagination

Bookmobile Wednesdays we meet up at the new library. The kids always play group games. 

Usually they play Among Us...here they are playing red light, green light.

While I puzzle, the kids play around me at the table. 

Sometimes they make up their own story lines, and sometimes they imitate a show.

This lego creation is a theater. 

This is a jail with three different tiers of confinement. The police officers would take turns sitting up at the look out, watching for escapees. 

While we were painting, all the furniture was pulled out. 

Evan went on a "treasure hunt" and dug around in the back of the piano. 

He found these items plus lots of cobwebs. 

The Sonic tattoo is so old. I bet it's from the 90's. That baby nesting doll is also an old treasure, whoever owned the piano before us is probably looking for it. 

These creations were so great. The characters were having a building competition. 

He wrote the names of all the structures:

The Freakin Beakon

Lion Station

Donkey Rider

Fade Smoke

Police Station

The Great Grassland

This is "Donkey Rider".

For sure a lot of my kids' imagination is wasted (shaped?) by devices. I try not to let it take over their whole lives. 

 

This day Andrew was playing "Titanic" with the markers. 

I'm not sure exactly what was going on here, but Andrew directed me to throw something on the floor, 

but then he handed me this "ticket". 

I was in big trouble. 

I love that they love to write stories. 

See me and Andrew in the back there? He is telling me what to write for his book, "The Sassy Sassy Weener". It's so great. We are almost done with chapter 8. 

Here is a sneak peak into The Sassy Sassy Weener.

I have to sneak pictures of them playing because they get bashful about playing pretend.

Here they are reinacting A Christmas Carol with the Koopalings. 

"guess the scrunchie"

This is my favorite.

Early in the Fall, Avery wrote a screenplay. 

All our friends have parts, and it's a really great story. 

They have big plans for where the scenes take place, and all the action and stuff,

but it's having a hard time really happening because the kids are too shy to act in front of each other. 

I will be so sad when they stop playing pretend with each other. 

G is for Good Food, Good Friends

Wednesday night I worked on the pies.

 I have been watching a lot of the Great British Bake, so it was extra fun. 

I made pumpkin, banana cream, and chocolate. 

The chocolate was a bit stodgy. 

Thanksgiving morning Lisa and I went for a run at Point Whitehorn. 

We found this rock and I love it, so I put it in my pocket. 

Since the beginning of Covid, the trail has been blocked off because there was a bit of a mud slide. But everybody jumps the barrier, and now there are modifications to the caution sign:
"NOT BAD" etc.

haha 

After us gals got home, Jim and Joe went mountain biking. 

Jim had the turkeys in the smoker, and I made some Jamie-brussel sprout salad and some Brandon-woodpecker potatoes. 

Avery and Bailey worked on the place settings and table. 

I love what the girls came up with. I love that they are on just white computer paper, and the names are just ordinary old chicken scratch. They were up in her room working forever on it! 

Turns out having assigned seats is the best! Everyone knows where their silverware and cup are, and you can arrange it so that the knuckleheads are strategically placed. 

The food was so so good. We ate and ate... 

and then pulled out the "Thanksgiving Bed". 

Our couch has a pull out bed, so after a half hour of moaning and sitting uncomfortably in our tight waste bands, I pulled it out and dimmed the lights. We got our proper lounge on. 

Andrew loved the idea. He came down with some extra pillows and joined us in the Thanksgiving Bed. 

So you know the turkey cup that all the kids put slips of paper full of things they are thankful for? 

One of my favorites was Evan's. He wrote: I'm thankful for Heavenly Mother.

Haha it cracked me up, but also it made me happy that he just knows and assumes there is a Heavenly Mother without being taught - or UNtaught about that topic. 

I'm thankful for Heavenly Mother too. 

On my paper I wrote: You know the saying "if you're the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room"...well I am definitely in the right room. I have the best friends who are all so smart. I literally learn something new every time I am with them. Jim too. He's always teaching me new things and new words and new ideas. 

Gratitude has been a big topic in our world the past week, not only because it's Thanksgiving, but also because of Pres. Nelson's message about the healing properties of gratitude. It's not just for funsies, it can HEAL. 

I have been listening to this great, smart lady, Mandy Green (podcast). Today she talked about the ten lepers and discussed how they were all healed of their infirmities, but the one who came back in gratitude was made WHOLE. 

She discusses it better than I, but as I was walking around the stodgy forest with Koda, listening to it, it all came together. I love when everything around me feels in sync. It makes me feel like I'm walking down the right path. 

S is for Saturday Project

Saturday we painted and painted and painted. 

There's only a few pictures here, so you might have the impression that it went fast and easy, but it was SO MUCH WORK. Some people say they don't mind painting and they paint all the time. Well that is not me. It is the top hardest job there ever was. 

Since we painted white over the Revere Pewter, it took a lot for the paint to not look streaky. 

We just blasted the playlist and went to work and work and work.

Although it's such hard work, it's secretly kind of fun doing a project together with Jim. 

It was like we went to war together. 

Now Jim is doing some detail work - making faux beams between the rooms. It's look so great. I'll show you when it's done.

We also took a break to enjoy a non-rainy day. 

Look at this teal colored fungi.

There was a root system with two dog bowl sized holes full of water. They drank. 

Sunday morning as I drove to ward council, Mt Baker was so pretty with the sun rising. 

K is for Killer Day

Good morning November 17, 2020.

The boys always get up before anyone else. My alarm goes off at 7:00, and I get Andrew ready.

He is the only one going to brick and mortar school for now. 

They are already watching Christmas shows. He can't take his eyes off. 

I make him some breakfast and a school snack.

They aren't feeding kids at school, so you send them with a hearty snack. 

Eyes still glued...he eats his toast and orange. 

They are watching the old Disney one we would watch on Christmas Eve. My eyes are also glued.

"OK! a cake of soap, a cake of soap, a cake of soap..."

7:25

I take him to the bus stop. 

Oscar's dad there is a hispanic man who owns a Mexican restaurant in Bellingham. As we walk back to our homes he says, "We just got shut down again. Another month...we will see what happens." 

Ugg. It's so stressful. 

We read some scriptures. The Brother of Jared and his family cross the many waters. 

When we talked about this on Sunday, Avery was so super excited to tell us about her epiphany: bad things happen to help us recognize the good in our life - "Covid made us all so thankful for school, when before we would grumble about school." 

Then we watched Drawn In, and there was the exact sentiment: the wind that caused the vessels to sink and be tossed around were also the exact winds that led them to the promised land. 

We go and get Koda out of her kennel in the garage. Look at that streeetch. 

Evan feeds her breakfast. 

I feed them breakfast: egg on the toast. 

Then they go get ready for some computer school. 

8:20

online school starts

Evan starts brick and mortar on the 30th.

We entertain Koda with some things she can destroy and gnaw on. 

Puppies are far, far below the mendoza. The good news is, she will grow into an adult dog and be a smidge above the mendoza in a few years. 

But look how cute.

Me and Jim discuss Christmas wish lists. I order some stuff on Amazon. 

10:30

It's recess time, so I go out with the kids on the street, then take Koda on a walk in the puddles and rain. 

Our forest trail is such a bog. You must wear rubber boots. 

She wanders near me as we walk around the forest. If she gets hung up on sniffing something and too far behind, I call "Koda come!" and she comes running. It's so fun. 

I have to hose her off when we get home because she gets so wet and muddy. 

In between chores and all the things...I puzzle. 

Guess what? Koda eats puzzle pieces. 

It's a problem. I've done a LOT of puzzles this fall, and each one has at least 2-3 pieces just GONE.

This day she took the puzzle box to the floor and ate 21 pieces like it was kibble! How do I know 21 pieces? Because I finished the puzzle and that's how many toothy gaps there were. I just sat on the floor and whimpered. 

Remember that day in the spring...about a week after we got Koda, but I still hadn't told anyone we got Koda because I was frozen in panic? Well that one day in the spring my mom called me (randomly - we usually text), and she asked how I was doing (she was worried about how the pandemic was going to affect Allegiant). 

She said "how are you?"

and I moaned "not good..."

and that freaked her out, "oh no..."

and I say, "we got a puppy."

and she started laughing real hard at me.  

It's a good problem to have, having a puppy. 

They are terrible. But a good kind of terrible. 

I clean my bathroom. 

It's a no makeup kind of day. 

Avery takes a break from school to visit the puppy. 

I have a nice little snack of queso and chips and diet coke. 

I made yogurt yesterday. Today we are in the straining stage. I usually strain for 2 hours. 

It is a super windy day. 

We hear Koda barking like crazy outside (nothing new),

and we find that she's barking at a tree that broke off in our back yard! It just broke clean off near the middle of the trunk and impaled the ground before tipping onto the makeshift Koda fence. 

Smooth, creamy yogurt and a jar of whey I use for pancakes. 

12:45

It's time to go meet Andrew at the bus stop. 

The bus pulls up and we all wait for Andrew to emerge, but he's fast asleep. Someone has to wake him up. 

I feed lunch (frozen taquitos). I sure do appreciate processed, frozen food from Costco these days.

I feel like it is a nonstop revolution of eat, clean, eat, clean since school got shut down in March. 

Eat eat eat.

Also there are so many dishes. The kids have to empty the dishwasher every day. Sometimes twice a day. 

1:30

Avery has made "writing prompts" for Andrew on her computer. 

He answers the prompt and she types it for him. 

They do about three of these today. 

Andrew loves making stories. He often paces back and forth and just "writes" a story by saying it out loud.

He'll say things like "Chapter Four: Late For School", and then proceeds with the dialogue. 

He's currently "writing" a book called The Sassy Sassy Wiener and the Wedgie Dedgie Devil. 

At one point Andrew describes a wind storm as "an ACE wind storm came through",

but Avery talks him out of using that adjective for a wind storm and they use the boring old adjective "a CRAZY wind storm came through." 

I try and remind her to let him use his own words...try and remove your vocabulary from his story.

2:00

It's time to exercize. 

Does anyone know how to spell exersize? I never know. It's always underlined in red. 

I still love Sydney Cummings on Youtube. She kicks my butt every single time. 

3:00

The kids play around upstairs. 

The boys bought these koopalink plushies with their own money, and they play pretend with them all the time. 

It's about 3:30, so it's time to think about dinner. 

Here's how much thinking I do: unwrap and insert into oven. 

For two hours the house smells like tomato, cheese and noodles. 

It's my favorite recipe. haha

Avery is writing "things I'm thankful for" and putting the papers in the turkey. This is the third year Avery has spearheaded this Thanksgiving activity. Lots of that going on all day. 

Around 3:00 I get a text from our boxing teacher (the 19 year old kid in our ward) that says boxing is ON for 4:00, and I look around at the boys playing on devices and just hanging around the house most of the day, and decide that YES to boxing this week. 

Andrew reminds me that he "quit boxing", and I remind him that his best bud Hunter will be there, so he should go.

They grab their giant gloves and we pick up the Black kids,

and I drop them off at Jeb's house.

Remember this house? We lived here for a year. 

I take the quiet, scenic route home. 

We enjoy a quiet boy-free house for an hour. 

5:30

Lisa brings the boys home and we eat a delicious lasagna. 

Jim is on the exersize (SP?) bike in the garage. I've giving myself permission to not feel guilty about eating dinner at the bar. For crying out loud. 

The kids are already SO excited about Christmas. 

They "practice" Christmas morning by reinacting what it looks like on Christmas at our house. 

There are the pretend Santa presents. 

While they play, I clean up.

BEFORE

AFTER

6:00

Then they go upstairs and do some homework. 

I write a blog post about Koda's final off leash test. 

7:00

Lisa and Joe come over to finish installing the garage heater.

They study the house plans because we are tinkering with the idea of adding on a master bedroom down here. 

We test out the garage heater. It's nice and toasty in no time.

Koda LOVES Joe. 

Andrew talks and talks and pretends with his plushie. 

That look on Joe's face is the look adults always give to Andrew: perplexed amusement. 

We talk about lots and lots of stuff, but what I can't stop thinking about is the conversation about chocolate. Something about a baby sized Toblerone. 

So after they leave, I go to the store and fetch some chocolate. 

8:30

We have a bed time snack. 

Mmmm dang. Now I want chocolate. 

9:30

Time for bed. Let's put the baby to bed. 

She drinks and pees.

Then she wanders sleepily into her kennel. She loves her kennel. I love her kennel. 

The end.