Family – Page 11 – Terry Family Shenanigans

May…or was it April Happenings

It is about the middle of May. The Kansas state wide stay at home order ended May 4th. Our county extended for another week. Bringing our areas stay at home order to last a whopping 52 days. Now we are in Phase II of the Covid 19 recovery plan. I believe phase IV is when things are supposed to be back to ‘normal’. The media and politicians are a mess, it is ridiculous to listen to everyone basically bicker and fight and make things up to get their own agendas across. The original idea of slowing the progression of the disease so health care could get prepared has now been changed to-no one should leave their house again until their is a vaccine or cure discovered, and if you think differently then this you are a selfish, hateful, evil person. We will not be done with Covid 19 until NO ONE ever is at risk of dying from it again. Interestingly enough the people I see against moving forward all have a guaranteed paycheck and other than socially their lives haven’t been disrupted that much. People on both sides of the argument have started protesting. The research and numbers from across the United States and other countries-excluding China who had obviously lied from the start, is coming back that while this disease is very contagious, it is not as deadly as first thought. The number of people that have or had Covid is way higher, I’ve seen reports that say 22-44% higher than the numbers show. So deaths are said to be between 4-10% are actually less than 1%. That is using the current death number which is suspected of including anyone that has died since March 13 whether it was from Covid or not. It is really hard to figure out what is fact or fiction on the news end of things. That is what the media is shoving in our faces. The impression I get and see and feel in my little world is that people are wanting to continue to be cautious but are ready to get back to their lives. There are risks all around us everyday. It is impossible and ridiculous to think you can eliminate and control them all. It is also quite evident that there are emotional and economical issues along with other consequences that I think are going to start causing a lot more problems than Covid, the longer things are put on hold.

We have done our best over that last few weeks to make the most of our situation and keep life happy and normal as possible. We have been blessed that Ryan has still been able to work from home. We have not had to worry about food or water or toilet paper or meeting financial obligations. We have been blessed with peace and calm in our situation. All of us have had struggles on occasion emotionally and socially. People are social and emotional beings and we have learned how important our needs in those areas are and require more attention then one might think. Luckily we have all been healthy for the most part as well. Ryan’s arm has started bothering him again, but he was able to get into Physical Therapy and is hopefully on the road to recovery. My finger was the only other trip to a doctor we have needed.

We decided to put in a basketball goal. This turned out to be a bigger project than planned. We ordered the first one and had Matthew dig the hole. Then we set the post and filled it with concrete. A few days later when we went to finish it we discovered there were missing and broken parts. So we tried to get a new one but the people we ordered it from were unable to tell us when that would be possible, if possible at all. So we returned as much of the old one as we could then ordered a new one from someone else. We got that one and it was the wrong one. Instead of a nice sturdy goal it was a cheap crappy one. So we returned it again and got the right one. This one was a square post instead of round so we had to dig a new hole and set the new post. Then dig out the original one enough to put dirt and grass in the area again. Finally we were able to get a basketball hoop in and we have all enjoyed it. Matthew taught me how to do a lay up too.

Matthew learned many new skills with this project. Including how to use a jack hammer.

I finished a project that I have had on my mind for a while. I did a picture wall in my basement. I have tons of frames I have collected over the years and plenty of pictures that I like to look at. I love the idea of a picture wall but I was worried about it not being my usually clean minimalist style and getting on my nerves after awhile. I settled on doing it in the basement because I knew it was going to be busy, but I wouldn’t have it in my face all the time so it wouldn’t bug my clutter avoidance side. I liked the way it turned out and I put a lot of my favorite snap shots over the years up. Just FYI the top far right picture has since been fixed so it is not crooked and taller then the rest. I promise.

We have gone on many walks over the last 52 days. Most around our neighborhood and on the near by walking path but we also explored several new areas too. I don’t know exactly I have just been told that Olathe has over 100 miles of walking paths to explore. We saw lots of animals on our walks including many different kinds of birds, frogs, snails, fish, cranes, squirrels, dogs, cats, spiders, rabbits, turtles and more. Matthew snorted a large bug up his nose on one of our walks. It took several minutes and lots of sneezing to finally get it out. I did not take a picture of it. My brother and his family came to see us for a few days on their way from Connecticut to their new home in Oklahoma. We went on a walk with them and saw a village of fairy houses that had been set along the path.

Ryan and I also celebrated our 18th anniversary. I got a little excited and told everyone that it was our 19th anniversary, but Ryan showed me the math. LOL. We will plan on celebrating together later in the summer. On the actual day I went back to work for the first time in a few months, and Ryan traveled to Wichita for the week to help catch up on some stuff. Also his first time ‘going’ to work in over a month.

This is our favorite new recipe we discovered over the quarantine. Everyone liked it. Matthew said it is like eating at Chipotle.

The elementary teachers all drove by in a car parade to say hi to the students. This was so exciting and a high light of our day.

A few weeks into the quarantine I got around to going through the kids back packs and putting them away for next year. I realized waiting this long was risky and when I opened Allison’s first and saw her lunch sack I was very nervous. Luckily she had emptied it at lunch her last day so when I opened it I was not accosted by rotten moldy food. The rest of hers and Emilee’s back packs was uneventful. I was about done with Matthew’s when I felt a lump in one of the side pockets. I dug it out and pulled out a potato complete with a face and hair. When all the kids saw it they were very excited to see “Beth” again. Apparently it had been several months since the last time they saw “Beth”. She was much more wrinkly and had grown some extra arms and hair. Thank goodness Beth didn’t turn into a pile of mush while tucked away in the dark pocket of Matthew’s bag. Apparently Matthew had made her for some project at school and when he brought it home everyone had met Beth on the bus then he forgot about it and left it in his bag. He even had a picture of Beth with one of his friends that had made a Rapunzel potato. Weird.

Beth as a young potato with her Rapunzel friend.

Most nights we tried to have a family activity before the kids went to bed. We would play a game, or watch a movie, or hang out and visit. One of our favorite games we ended up playing most nights is called ‘Cover Your Assests’. It’s perfect because even Emilee can play. She is actually pretty shrewd and does a good job. Matthew on the other hand is known for having the worst poker face ever and most often looses the game in spectacular fashion because he doesn’t use much strategy either. It was always fun though.

Emilee wanted a picture of her extra big win for one of her hands.

Hair salons have been closed long enough for people who rarely get haircuts to miss one. For Matthew and Ryan who prefer to have their haircut every month they have missed a few. The girls have taken full advantage of their longer locks and enjoyed trying different styles for them. Both have been good sports about letting the girls have fun with their hair. Ryan has also grown his beard and let it grown until this past weekend. Then he decided to have some fun and shave a Hulk Hogan style mustache to gross us all out with. We went on a walk and much to Matthew dismay and my embarrassment drew far to much attention from passerbys. He has also gone to the store and a few other public places sporting his new look. Most people don’t know it is a joke and just think he is a gross weirdo, but his friends have all chimed in with their two cents. He is keeping it to get a reaction from his co-workers tomorrow on his video calls. Then I’m sure he will shave it and come up with some other creepy style. Matthew just looks at him and shakes his head and says, “How do you expect me or anyone to take you seriously when you look like that?!”

I went back to work last week. I am filling in at an office that opened the first day the stay at home order was lifted. It was a little stressful at first. One of their hygienists called and quit the day before because she couldn’t deal with the work and stress of coming back to work. The assistant had a panic attack about 15 minutes after being there. I had a pretty good mental battle of my own between rational and fear based anxiety. I think it will be a real problem for the majority of people when they start going back to work. After the first patient or two there we were able to get the flow down with the new safety precautions and procedures that we will have to do for an unforeseeable amount of time. It was nice to get out though and interact with people. I am going to be working there Monday and Wednesday until they find a new hygienist.

It is interesting to see the price and availability or lack of availability on certain items with all this going on. My kids always enjoy a fun slip-n-slide in the summer. I used to find them for 5-20 dollars. Granted they never last the summer but they can use them enough that I feel they get my money’s worth from playing on it. Pools opening up are still in question for summer so they have been begging me to get a slip-n-slide. When I started looking if you could find them you had to plan on paying anywhere from 100-250 dollars! They were heavy duty ones but they are still made of plastic. Good grief! I was able to find a ‘deal’ on one and told me kids they better take good care of it because this is the last slip-n-slide I will ever be buying. They have used it many times so far and love it. They best part is they can set it up and clean it up themselves.

April General Conference 2020

President Nelson: Welcome to conference. After Sunday morning session we will have a Hosanna shout together.

Elder Ballard: Reviewed history of early life of Joseph Smith and Hyrum and Joseph Smiths sacrifice of their lives for the Savior.Think of an offering you can give to the Lord in the next little bit. Then do it.

Elder James R. Rasband: Story of Alma. He repented and mourned for himself, but also those that he lead away. He was not able to right the wrongs and heal and restore for all those individuals. That is what the atonement is for. To heal and repair the wrongs and mistakes we can not do ourselves.

Sister Joy D. Jones: During a time of uncertainty a woman’s influence on others can be increased ten fold. “The Lord loves effort, because effort brings rewards that can’t come without it.” (President Nelson) Effort. Hard work. Study. Learning is integral to progression.”I plead with you to improve your ability to receive individual revelation.” (President Nelson) Use the spirit to know which of our many hats we should wear and focus on. We can’t wear them all at the same time. Seek personal revelation

Elder Neil Anderson: During times of difficulty in our lives, the Savior will bring moments of confirmation of love and spiritual assurance of past experiences of the Holy Ghost witnessing truth to us. Listen for and be aware of those spiritual defining moments in our lives. Seek and remember moments of personal revelation. Embrace, record, and share (when appropriate) our spiritual memories.

Elder Douglas Holmes: The purpose of the Children and Youth program is to help get the gospel and its principals deep into our hearts. Relationships are important to help and support each other along the way. Develop by gathering, listening, spending time, speaking and sharing with others in our lives. Spiritual experiences are essential to our progression. This will fuel our desire to become more like the Savior through repentance and change. Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to just do what is right, he wants us to CHOOSE to do what is right. Engage in the gospel-ACT.

Elder Henry B. Eyring: The work of the gospel will require all the energy and skill of the saints. We don’t know everything but we do know- we will share the gospel with the world, we will gather together. We do this by growing in spiritual power through repentance, live the commandments, praying in faith to seek personal revelation. Ask ourselves- What would He (Savior) have me do? Prayers of faith like- Joseph Smith and Enos will provide us guidance in our lives. Find joy in the work we are asked by Him to perform.

Elder Ulisses Soares: Retold story of Joseph Smilth seeing Moroni, getting the plates and translating them. We should each gain our own testimony of the Book of Mormon by reading and pondering the words and then praying to Heavenly Father and ask with a sincere heart and pure intent in faith if the words you are reading and studying are true.

Elder John A McCune: Our ability to help others come unto the gospel will be reflected upon by the example we set ourselves in living the gospel. When Lehi invited his family to come to the tree of life, he didn’t leave the tree to get them. He stayed and beckoned them to come to him.

Elder Dale G. Renlund: Story of man that needed a heart transplant. His grandson was in an accident and his heart became available to his grandpa. After the surgery he lived 13 more years. Don’t seek to change God’s will. Seek you have your will aligned more with God’s will. Act on the commandment to “Hear Him”.

Elder Benjamin Tai: Just like a regular physical checkup with our doctor, we should do regular checkups on ourselves to evaluate our spiritual heath. Study the Book of Mormon according to our circumstances (story of man that studied the children’s Book of Mormon and using dictionary to understand as best he could because it was not available).

Elder Gary E. Stevensen: History of the building of the Salt Lake Temple. Steps that are being taken to strengthen the temple foundation from earthquakes. We should evaluate our personal foundations and evaluate ways we can strengthen and renew our personal and family foundations. Family prayer, scripture study, temple attendance and gospel study with Come Follow Me.

Questions to help make sure you have a sure foundation in the gospel.

Do you have faith in and a testimony of God the eternal father, his son Jesus Christ and the holy ghost?
Do you have a testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ and of his roll as your savior and redeemer?
Do you have a testimony of the restoration and gospel of Jesus Christ?
Do you sustain the president of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as the prophet, seer and revelator and as the only person on the earth authorized to exercise use in priesthood keys?

Elder Gerrit W. Gong: Hosanna and Hallelujah. Easter represents a physical and spiritual restoration.

Sister Jean Bingham: Adam and Eve had same goals and desires even if their approach was different. Families are essential unites of eternity. Satan tries to pit men and women against each other to drive a wedge between them and assist in the downfall of the family. Desire the happiness of your spouse more than your own. Help pick up the slack when one of you is struggles. Work to change and improve areas of personal shortcomings.

Elder Henry B. Eyring: Doctrine and Covenants Section 110. VS 4- I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father. (The Savior has many names and descriptions. Advocate is one of my favorites. I tell my kids that I am their advocate. I remember a talk discussing the significance of the word advocate verses a friend or something else.) Whenever we perceive to solve one problem and receive revelation, we open the door to receive more revelation. The Lord has seen everything coming that is happening and has prepared things for us.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks: The power of the priesthood is used in the church and in the family. In the temple women do not hold an office in the priesthood but are given authority to help with ordinances. Parents should encourage more priesthood blessings in the family. Mortals bodies can be full of light or darkness. What we do and allow into our minds is what determines if we are full of darkness or light. By your fruits ye shall know them.

President Nelson: Began by reminding us why it is important to call the church by the correct name. The Church of Jesus Christ. Introduced the new symbol of the church. It will be used as the official identifier of official church information. Fasting. Asked everyone to join again in a fast on April 10th for the relief from the pandemic, the economy and healing throughout the world.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband: Reviewed and shared many prophecies from ancient prophets and Joseph Smith that have or are being fulfilled. The essence of pure religion is what draws people to the gospel. We must be prepared in heart and mind to receive the Savior whenever the Second Coming happens. NO unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. The truth of God will go for boldly faithfully and independently.

Sister Bonnie H. Cordon: Intentionally shine your light so others can see it and know where to find the truth.

Elder Jeffrey R Holland: He asked himself the question- If I lived 200 years ago, what would I feel is missing? In response to the prophets challenge to prepare for this conference. He would have been looking for God to be speaking and providing guidance and love like he did in ancient times-Prophet of God. He would have hoped for evidence that Jesus is the Christ-The Book of Mormon. Hope for someone with true priesthood authority to fulfill needed ordinances and covenants. Ordinances available for those that lived and died without the knowledge of Jesus Christ could be done for them.

Elder David A Bednar: Our hearts denote what our inner desires are. The gospel santifies our hearts and “turning the hearts to the fathers and the children to the fathers” changes our hearts and brings us closer to our father in Heaven. The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. In 1924 when President Nelson was born there were 6 operating temples. There are now 168 operating temples, 48 additional temples announced or under construction. The work is accelerating and growing. Prophets of all ages have looked forward to our day with anticipation and delight and the work that will be done for the salvation of the human family. This latter day work will destroy the darkness of evil and bring about the salvation of the human family.

President Nelson: Every time they showed a shot of President Nelson during this conference he has been smiling and almost bursting with excitement and joy. He is a true prophet of God and his countenance alone brings hope and comfort when I see him. What does the restoration of the gospel to the earth mean for us? It means families can be sealed together for eternity, it means we can be baptized by one with authority and have the constant companion of Holy Ghost, it means we are never left comfortless or without access to the power of God to help you, it means the priesthood power can bless you as you make and keep sacred covenants. The Lord communicates simply quietly and with stunning plainness. When we have fear and uncertainty Heavenly Father knows that is when we need to hear the Savior’s voice. Hear Him. As disciples of Jesus Christ our efforts to hear him need to be more intentional and purposeful. Hear Him in the scriptures daily. Hear Him in the temple. Increase your time in family history work to hear Him. KNOW HOW THE SPIRIT SPEAKS TO YOU. Do whatever it takes to increase your ability to receive personal revelation. Hear Him by heading the words of prophets, seers and revelators. You will be blessed with power to handle stress and evils that come our way. Today I will be reading and releasing a new proclamation to the world titled, The restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ a bicentennial proclamation to the world April 2020. Then he led all of us in the Hosanna shout. “The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ would take the slums out of the people, and then they would take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.” ~Ezra Taft Benson

Elder Dallin H. Oaks: In ways that have not been revealed, our actions in the spirit world effected our time here in mortality.

Elder Ricardo Gimenez: All of us will have storms or moments of stress in our lives at one point or another. No matter what kind of storm or the duration. The only refuge for a storm is the Lord Jesus Christ and his atonement. To one with faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.

Elder Deiter F. Uchtdorf: Our part is to love God, as we do that he will provide us with things that we need.

Elder L. Whitney Clayton: Fine homes are established by 1. Quality of spirital attributes in the inhabitants. The reflection of Christ in their countenance is seen by others. 2. Make time to study the words or scriptures and prophets every day. Remodel your home if needed to have family and personal studies. 3. Follow the blue print created by the Lord for the temples. Compare this to keeping the commandments, steady discipleship. Use our temple recommends as often as possible. 4. Refuges from the storms of life. Those who keep the commandments of God will be prosperous and be able to weather storms in life on their own. Faithful living will provide strength, fortitude and peace through their trials.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson: Love, example, and use of the Book of Mormon are how we should share the gospel with others. “Do not burn my book. Go to your room and read my book.”

President Nelson: Reminded us of the new Proclamation, the church wide fast, and all other guidance we were given through the talks of this conference. Even with the temples closed you can still draw upon the power of your priesthood covenants made in the temple. Apostolic blessing: Bless you with peace and increasing faith in the Lord, bless you to repent and draw closer to the Savior each day, bless you to know that Joseph Smith is the prophet that brought the restored gospel, bless you with healing. There were 8 new temples announced including one in Shanghai China.

The themes that stood out to me for this conference is the blessings of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The importance of seeking, recognizing, listening and following personal revelation from the Holy Ghost. Learn how to hear Him.

April Fool’s Day

This is a day that I usually prefer to pass by unnoticed and then pretend to be disappointed when someone remembers we missed it. Most of my family seems to be on the same page with my opinion, with the exception of Allison. She anticipates it for months and has almost the same giddy excitement she has for Christmas or her birthday when it gets close. With the entire Nation on stay-at-home orders I think in general most people paid more attention to it this year, simply because of lack of other things happening. Allison had a long list of tricks ready to go.

She placed a piece of card board in all the toilets. Thank goodness she hasn’t discovered other ‘options’ for this classic trick, that I will not even mention here because she does eventually read this.

She put tape across several doorways. This happened to be the day I did laundry and often was carrying things in front of me so I couldn’t see as well. So I personally ‘fell’ for this one at least 5 times and so did others. She was very pleased with herself.

I also found tape covering the faucet when I turned it on in my bathroom.

The one she did that made me chuckle the most was drawing on Emilee’s arm while she was sleeping. Emilee came in and said, “Mom, I don’t remember drawing any of this on my arm.” She still draws on herself enough that it was a total possibility she did it, but was confused she couldn’t recall it.

Allison’s pride and joy prank for the day was getting a hold of Matthew’s cell phone and changing her contact to “Campbell” who is Matthew’s crush. She then texted him like she was Campbell. Matthew figured out pretty quickly that it wasn’t Campbell but he thought it was her sister. He even told Allison about it and she was giggling while she sat right next to him and continued to text. He figured it out shortly after that. Then I helped him change it back and change the password on his phone so she couldn’t get into it anymore.

The winning prank of the day was by me though. Thanks to my neighbors. They pranked me first with the following pictures.

This is the Governor of Kansas. I was shocked when I saw the schools would go through July.

Once they new they got me they said they were looking it and would send me more info when they found it. A minute or so later she said here is what we found. and send me this.

I was still a little confused and thought it was not very appropriate of the Governor of Kansas to do something like this. Then I saw the subtitle-the Hogan’s are the neighbors that sent it to me. They got me good. Then I decided to pass it forward to my kids.

Allison was mad for a good 30 minutes before she calmed down. 🤦‍♀️

We don’t quite get it.

There has been some videos on the news of people that live by hospitals coming out to their balconies at shift change time (which is usually 7am or 7pm) and clapping and cheering for the doctors and nurses and other health care staff that are working so hard right now helping all the patients with COVID 19. It is very touching and it is great that the people living by the hospitals show support for them.

Our neighbor across the street has apparently also seen these videos and is trying to get a neighborhood nightly ritual going. They have been posting on FB and texts to the neighborhood asking to have people come out at 7pm every night and clap for one minute for the health care workers. Might I point out that there are no actual health care workers.

The first time they did it, we were not aware of what they were doing. Ryan and Matthew were playing catch in the street by the front yard. All of the sudden their whole Stutzman family came out and without saying a word start clapping and cheering. Ryan and Matthew didn’t know what they were doing and thought they were clapping at them for some reason. They stopped and looked at them and then after the minute ended without a word they all turned around and went back in their house.

The next night we got a text from a different neighbor explaining what was going on and said that it was going to be something that happened every night at 7pm. We forgot and missed it that night.

Tonight we set an alarm because we got more text invites and didn’t want to be the stick in the mudds. So at 6:59 I dragged the kids to the front porch and told them we were going to clap for 1 minute for all the healthcare workers. At 7 o’clock sharp the Stutzman family came out and started clapping…our family and one other family were the only other families I could see. We all clapped for a minute then at 7:01 the Stutzman family stopped and walked back into their house. The entire time we were clapping my kids repeatedly asked me questions like, “Why are we doing this?” “When are the doctors coming?” “Why are we clapping if no one is here?” “Can the doctors and nurses see us and we just don’t know?”

It was a little weird. Again, if they were actual people to clap for I would be all for it…but since there isn’t…I think it is strange for people to come out on the porch and clap for a minute with out any converstation and then go back inside. At least say hi and wave or something.

We might be busy at 7pm most nights.

Who broke a mirror or walked under the ladder?

The last 24 hours have been a busy one for our little neighborhood area. They say things happen in threes but we might be going for three sets of threes.

To start it off, yesterday I was doing some lawn work and trimming up some bushes for Spring. I was using our electric trimmer and the automatic shut off switch that is supposed to release when you take your hand of the power button got stuck and I wasn’t being careful enough so I cut my middle left finger through the side into my nail. I had a glove on and was hoping when I pulled it off that it wouldn’t be bad enough to need stitches but could tell immediately that was not the case. So I went in to wash it off and was debating with myself to just super glue it instead of going into the doctors with all this virus crap. Ryan saw it and said I had to go get stitches. I told him to call my regular doctor instead of going to the ER. He tried calling Steve to see if he could stitch me up but he didn’t answer. My doctor wasn’t in but another doctor said he could do it. Ryan drove me there but he couldn’t come in. Everyone was wearing masks, and by that I mean the skeleton crew that was working. I didn’t see any other patient. I had to fill out a bunch of paper work to screen me for any possible sign of Covid 19. Then there were only some chairs labeled that I was ‘allowed’ to sit in. Talk about feeling like you are in some apocalyptic movie but it is your actual life. The doctor said it needed one or two stitches. While his two nurses where getting the room ready for ‘the finger lady’ they had a very loud conversation with each other about how it is ridiculous that people can’t follow directions and stay home and not do unnecessary things. Then they specifically mentioned that yard work and house work are not necessary. They were sure to leave the door open too in case I couldn’t hear them through that. I was pretty ticked. The doctor numbed me up and gave me my stitches. When he left the nurse told me to come back in a week to have the stitches taken out. I told her I could take my own stitches out so I didn’t have to come back and put up with her poor bedside manner again. Then I walked out. That was a lot nicer than the other things going on in my head. Give me a break. I know lots of nurses and health care workers that are caring and compassionate. It is kind of part of the job. Why go into healthcare to help people in stressful hard situations if you are that unpleasant of a person.

Later that night we had a really gnarly thunderstorm and shortly after a loud crack of thunder a bunch of sirens came over by us. Someone’s house had been struck by lightning and caught fire. I don’t know how extensive the damage was before they were able to put it out.

Matthew’s friend a street over had the fire department show up at his house today. His older brother ordered a new battery for his phone. When he put it in, it started getting really hot, he dropped it on the floor so it wouldn’t burn him and it caught the carpet on fire! They got it out pretty quick so it is just a small area of carpet they will have to replace.

Tonight Ryan and I went on a walk after dinner. We started hearing all kinds of sirens around us. When we got around the park we saw a bunch of lights in the school playground. The neighbors that were out watching said it was some kind of a medical emergency. We kept going and headed back in the direction of our house.

When we turned the corner there were a bunch more police cars blocking off the roads. We had to walk that way to get back to our house. We asked the neighbors in that area what was happening and they said that there had been shots fired at “Crazy John’s house” which is on the next corner up from where we were. We walked back home and there were police cars across the street from us in our neighbors back yard blocking off the house from that direction. Then we could hear the police announcing over their speaker, “This is the Olathe Police Department, John come out with your hands up.” They said it about five times. Then he must have come out because shortly after that they all left. I haven’t heard if anyone was hurt of not.

The black circles were the fires. Yellow circle is the medical emergency. Blue dot is our house and location of the hedge trimmer incident. Blue circle it the shots fired area where “crazy John” lives.

Lots of craziness. Hopefully it is done. You can tell that some people are starting to get a little crazy with all the changes because of the virus. I don’t know if any of these were related or not, just reports and posts I see on the internet are starting to have some crazies coming out. We were worried our kids were going to be panicked when we got home with all the police cars around. A while back our neighbors had a fire truck come to their house while we were gone because of a medical emergency and the kids were freaking out about it. Luckily when we got home tonight they were all in there evening electronic comas and where none the wiser to the whole situation.

Quarantine…Day 12

This is going to get weird. It already is weird but when I stop and focus on it, it feels even more weird. It is like I am in one of those movies where someone is stranded or lost at sea and they start counting the days. It has been 12 days since they asked people to so a 14 day self quarantine. They announced yesterday that starting this Tuesday at noon there will be an even more strict 30 quarantine going into effect. Basically all businesses that are not essential are to be closed and other than emergencies, no one should leave their house unless it is to go to the bank, grocery store, hardware store, or doctor office. I have also heard that they will start fining people that are not following the quarantine and multiple offenders can even get up to 6 months of jail time. I have not verified that so I don’t know if it is true or not. This is when things could start getting ugly.

Matthew and Allison seem to be doing ok so far. I can tell Emilee is stressed, the past day or so I can tell she is getting some pent up energy and she keeps asking a lot of the same questions over and over. Maybe I will start a rating system for how we are all doing mentally.

We had church today. This is the first time in my life that I have ever had to have the sacrament done in my own home. I thought is was a really good meeting. I could feel the Spirit. It is a huge blessing and comfort that we have the Lords gospel and it is organized and clear how to do things. Even when new situations that haven’t ever really happened before come up there is a clear process and way to do things. We kept it pretty simple and did an opening song,prayer,business, sacrament song, Ryan blessed the sacrament and Matthew passed it, then we read scriptures and had a closing song and prayer. Our Primary pianist and chorister made a video for the kids to watch for singing time so we did that afterwards. We assigned out some parts for next weeks church.

We had a planning meeting today also for this upcoming week. We talked about making sure all our bodies needs are met-physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually. We discussed things that each of us need to do each day like;

Switch off between exercising and stretching for 45 minutes each day
Personal prayer and scriptures
Family prayer and scriptures
Read for fun for a minimum of 30 minutes a day
Go outside everyday
Daily chores
Laundry helper (kids will rotate each week)
Cooking helper
Practice piano minimum of 20 minutes each day
Teaching life skills with mom ~2 times a week
Hygiene habits with mom ~2 times a week

There is other things that vary a little bit but those are the things that will be standard each week. School stuff will get added in there too when the school stuff is out online from the district more. Life skills and hygiene habits are short little sessions with mom that review some aspect of hygiene (like using a q-tip) or life skills (how to sweep a floor) that they already know or should know but need a review. For example today we covered how to shower. They thought it was hilarious and were mortified that I had a stick figure drawing to help illustrate but all of them discovered 2-3 things that they were forgetting or not doing right.

Allison is going to get a little garden started this week with her dad. She is hoping to be able to do a salad garden with lettuce, peppers, and carrots. She wants to take over the whole back yard but I told her she has to start small and if it goes well she can expand.

Ryan is going to build the shelves in the basement bedroom closet. Emilee and I are going to finish condensing the toy room and her room while I finish getting the basement bedroom converted from a toy room to a bedroom. Matthew is planning on focusing a lot on his hitting and throwing for baseball.

It is all just odd. The world we lived and worked and socialized in less than two weeks ago has completely changed. Basically it has been canceled. There is nothing to prepare or get ready for, nothing to go to. It is a weird feeling. No reason to go to bed, no reason to get up in the morning. No plans. At. All. I can see how isolation can get to people. I wouldn’t say it is getting to me yet. I am pretty good at being alone but I have always had the option to change that when I decide I am not good with it anymore. I have my family too, so technically I am not alone. People that are single or live alone are in for a long couple months. Ryan is lucky to still have a job to work at home from too. So many people have been let go or had to close their business and that starts a whole other train of people that become affected as well. The economy was strong-growing and thriving in fact but this is a huge set back to recover from. I wish they would just implement a ‘pause’ in all of the financial stuff until this is over so people don’t have to declare bankruptcy or lose their job. It is going to be a job to get everthing ‘back to normal’.

I am sick of social media. The memes are funny but the rest of it just drives me crazy. Lots of rumors, misinformed or uniformed people ‘explaining’ things, people criticizing others. There is lots of good stuff going on as well. Many businesses and people are donating supplies or food or services during this time. I have taken a break from pretty much all of the news for the next little while. Ryan will let me know if I need to know something.

The icing on the cake today it that we found another gift from our crappy builder this morning. It has been raining a lot and one of our living room windows has water dripping inside from somewhere. We are thinking it is probably flashing or something but…getting it fixed is going to be a pickle. It might just be a ‘caulk the crap out of it’ until all this is over fix.

Unprecedented…

“Navigating these unprecedented events” Ugg, that is the buzz phrase you hear within ten seconds of listening or reading any type of news right now. The Coronavirus or COVID 19 for short that hit China in December 2019 and has had them in quarantine for almost 2 months has now spread to the rest of the world and been declared a global pandemic and things have been starting to get a little crazy.

Reports about things going on with the virus were in the news and it was a common topic but it wasn’t until about mid week last week that things started to escalate quite a bit. They announced that international travel was shutting down and started to cancel events for the next upcoming week or two. Our Spring Break was supposed to start this week. Ryan and Matthew were headed to Arizona for Spring Training with the Royals. It included a stop in Oklahoma for a NBA game and New Mexico to visit the Albuquerque temple. They were going to leave on Friday but by that time college and professional basketball had been canceled, temples were closed and baseball was postponed indefinitely. They ended up not going. The girls and I were going to go to Oklahoma for a few days to explore Tulsa a little bit but decided to hold off as well. Things were changing almost by the hour so we didn’t want to get somewhere and then get stuck without any supplies or have to move in with someone else and use their supplies.

This was the beginning of our quarantine. We were still including friends.🤦‍♀️ The kids were trying to make themselves a human table. There were four chairs under each of their bums and then we took them away one at a time until it was them supporting themselves.

Over the weekend they said that they would let us know if school would resume or not after spring break. They ended up announcing they were going to extend school closing through April 5th-an extra two weeks, but the next day the Governor of Kansas said all Kansas schools were closed for the rest of the school year. Our district is hoping to have some online school stuff available for the kids to do starting in April. Tons of people on social media are freaking out about doing home school and posting about what they are doing. I don’t feel the need to jump right into that boat since this is our original Spring Break anyway. I have plenty of life skills that I can teach and review with them in the absence of school. We are currently focusing on close quarter social skills, maintaining a clean environment, expanding our ‘things I can do without a screen’ knowledge, color sorting and linear folds with laundry, cooking basics and above. We have daily review courses in personnal hygiene, germ transferring, and washing your hands. Our trampoline has been used more in the past week then the last year and we are planning on going through all of our games and puzzles too. I have offered piano lessons but no one has taken me up on that. I have been getting lots of practice in though. I have also been doing lots of reading.

Local and federal governments have requested everyone to self quarantine themselves with their families for two weeks. EVERYTHING is closed. Everything that is entertainment I guess. Movie theaters, any indoor play areas, restaurants are drive thru only if they are still open. The stores have been cleared out of any staples including milk, eggs, bread, rice, beans, toilet paper, and anything that kills germs like clorox wipes or hand sanitizer. All sports or extra curricular activities are canceled or put off until summer. Everyone that can is supposed to work from home. Most businesses are closing so those people are out of work until further notice. Church has been canceled. Dental offices have been asked to cancel all non emergency appointments. If you are out for some reason everyone is requested to use ‘social distancing’ another buzz phrase that will be forever etched in everyone’s brain. It means to not touch anyone and keep a minimum of 6 feet away from people at all times. All of this is to “flatten the curve” which means to lessen the exposure and keep the numbers of people needing treatment down so that hospitals and doctor offices are not overwhelmed and unable to treat people.

If I remember right there are five different phases that a pandemic will go through before it is considered over. It is estimated that we are still in the first phase, which means we have not reached the peak of individuals that will be infected and numbers are still expected to increase exponentially.

How is this for a knowledge tree. Ryan’s bosses, girlfriends, son is an aide or secretary on Air Force Two, which transports a lot of secretary of state or defense government officials. He said that they are very close to shutting everything down and allowing no travel or people to leave their homes at all. A few states have shut down all non-essential stores and businesses and I am sure more will follow. The only way I can see them not allowing people to leave their homes at all is if they declare martial law-which is INSANE.

On top of that there was a 5.7 earthquake in Salt Lake Utah yesterday. DeAnna and her family are ok. Hopefully there aren’t anymore of them.

Changes like this, especially so quickly naturally bring panic and worry with them. It is wonderful to have a living prophet to help us be prepared and ready for things so we can be calm and not stress as much as we would if we weren’t prepared. The prophet has been telling us for years to get prepared by having a month up to a year supply of food, water, and money in case something were to happen. This has definitely been a reminder for how fast things can change. One a Wednesday evening we were at a Girl Scout meeting, doing home work and gymnastics, business as usual. The next day stores are out of everything and people are going a little crazy getting ready to quarantine themselves for two weeks. The Prophet also implemented a new home based church supported curriculum a little over a year ago in our church so we can even continue right on with our spiritual study without much of a hitch even though church has been canceled. It is very comforting to know that there is a sure place to look for guidance when life starts getting crazy.

This is a screen shot of one of my favorite meme’s going around right now. There is a lot. I have decided to take a social media break for a while.

Finishing Pre-Spring Break

Saturday was busy with Girl Scout Cookie Booths, baseball practice, basketball games, and a friends baptism. As we were finishing up the last activity we had scheduled for the day Grandma and Grandpa Terry arrived to stay for a few days.

The rest of Saturday through Monday we made our house the gathering spot and the kids played and had fun together. Grandma had brought her usual stash of candy and crafts or other activities for the kids to do. They had a lot of fun art projects to decorate their rooms with (or sell was Allison’s plan). Grandpa was recruited to read or make up his own stories too.

Emilee went to work with her dad one of the afternoons. She has been begging to go with him for awhile so Ryan took her. She actually loved it. She brought her lunch and they ate in the kitchen together and she sat next to him at his desk and helped or watched a movie on Netflix.

To feed everyone I went with my favorite winter meal planning for dinners-soups! Chicken noodle, broccoli cheddar, potato, and chili were all part of the menu.

Tuesday the kids went back to school. Roger and Rhonda visited with me for the morning and then went to look at houses for a bit before everyone met at Matthew’s basketball game. He had a good game and enjoyed showing off his skills he has been working on the past few months. After his game we decided to do a ‘traditional’ dinner out together for our last meal with all of us before Grandma and Grandpa Terry headed back home.

The past few years when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit we have been going to a place called Steak-N-Shake for dinner one of the nights they are here. It has a variety of options for adults and kids so everyone is happy. It is a fifties style diner so it is casual and a fun environment. It isn’t usually to busy so all 12 of us can get a table together pretty quick, and the food is decent and pretty cheap as well. The best part is they last part of their name…the Shakes are delicious and there are many choices. We have gone there probably a dozen times at least in the past few years.

However, each time we go we are always a little surprised to see that Steak-N-Shake is still actually in business. The service is ridiculously awful. Not intentionally, which is why instead of never coming back we usually joke about it instead. They are very polite and try their best it is just…silly. This time we discussed it might really be time for us to find a new dinner place when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit. Here is how our last dinner there went.

Once we all got situated at the table our waiter arrived about 10 minutes later, which is much faster than usual. We estimated he was maybe 15 years old, maybe I am old so everyone seems young to me but I don’t think anyone working there including the cooks looked like they were older than 18. He took our drink order (11 waters and 1 coke) and disappeared to fill it. He made several trips back and forth between our table and the kitchen but eventually successfully got everyone something to drink. He then left. A few minutes later we flagged him down and asked if we could place our food order. He apologized for the delay and says yes but then realized he didn’t have his pad or pen he needed to take our order and runs to get it. When he returned with his pen he made the announcement that he was a little flustered because he was new. Brand new. We were his first order. We were not surprised at all because EVERY time we eat there the waiter at some point or another tells us they have been working there for less than a week. We don’t know if this is true or a tactic they are trained to say to get more leeway with their horrible service. In this young mans case I think he really was taking his first order. Whoever the person in charge was, thought giving the new guy a table of 12 people for his first go as a waiter was a good idea.

He went around the table and took each of our orders. He was very thorough and asked a lot of questions. When he was all done he asked if he could repeat it back to us for accuracy. When he did this we thought he didn’t know how to read his own handwriting but found out that the restaurant uses its own short hand or abbreviations when taking orders to make it ‘easier’ for everyone to understand. However, our waiter (I’m just going to call him Ben from now on) didn’t quite have the abbreviations down so when he tried to repeat it back to us he wasn’t sure what he had wrote and he basically had to take our orders again.🤦‍♀️ Eventually he got it down and once again headed back to the kitchen to give our order to the cooks.

When Ben gave us the receipt to pay for our food, he also handed us the papers he wrote our orders on. I was almost sassy and asked him if he wanted to keep them in memory of his first day on the job. Instead, I kept my mouth shut and decided to take a picture for my own memory of our fun time-probably the last time- eating at Steak-N-Shake. We tried to figure out whose order was whose but we couldn’t.

This is about the time we get nice and settled in because we know we aren’t going to get our food for a while. I often look around at this point and do a little people watching in the restaurant. There is usually one or two other tables. One of them has often placed their order sometime before we even arrived but hasn’t got their food yet. Sometimes the mom might be reminding everyone to be patient, “It can’t possibly take to much longer.” The dad sometimes will be muttering about his irritation at the wait. Often at some point people start comparing with other tables about how long they have been waiting.

Since the kids are older now, it isn’t to big of a deal for us to wait. Especially since they each have a cousin to interact with while we wait. About 15-20 minutes go by and Ben comes over to check with us. We tell him we are doing fine. He tells us that the cook ‘flipped out’ when he saw our order but it shouldn’t be much longer. We kind of laughed and said something about we hope that means he doesn’t spit in our food, to which he replies, “Oh no, I don’t think he would do that.” 🤦‍♀️ In the mean time the shakes we ordered are ready so he will bring them out. Seven of the 12 of us ordered a shake with our meal. They only brought 6 shakes and of those, only three were made correctly. After figuring out what was ordered and if anyone wanted to switch their order for what was actually brought they had to remake two of the shakes.

While the new shakes were being made they brought out the first few trays of food. I was watching Ben the hole time and saw it happen but still couldn’t figure out how. About half way to our table the top half of one of the burgers just rolled right off the tray to the floor. Ben tried to catch it but just hit it and flipped it around a little more before it hit the floor. I don’t think he realized how close he came to dumping the other four plates of food still on the tray while trying to save the burger. Luckily it just teetered a little and smacked the lady at another table still waiting for her own food to arrive in the back of the head. Ben decided to leave the burger on the floor and come set down the tray he still had (very smart decision Ben). He told us that HALF of one of the burgers had not made the trip from the kitchen to our table so he was getting that fixed. Then he gave everyone else a plate of food. When he left to get the new ‘top half of a burger’ we all switched plates and gave it to the correct person who ordered it. I was the lucky winner of the half cheeseburger plate. I watched Ben like a hawk to make sure I actually got a new burger and not the same one that had been brushed off. Instead of a whole new burger he quickly brought back a new cheeseburger on a top bun with lettuce ketchup and mustard and slapped it down on top of the bottom bun and tomato that had survived the first trip with all the grace you would expect from a 15 year old on his first day on the the job.🤦‍♀️

After a few more trips to the kitchen and back we all ended up with our orders. Jovee was in the mood to be a problem solver instead of waiting for Ben so she went to the kitchen three times herself to request items we were missing once we had our food. Once for silverware, once for napkins, and once for spoons because the silverware didn’t come with spoons.

It was about a 1 1/2 hour ‘fast food’ meal by the time we were ready to leave. We all got a good laugh about our experience and enjoyed our meal together. That is not the end of the story though. You still have to pay for the food. It doesn’t seem the restaurant has a clear plan for how to check someone out when they are ready to leave. You have to stand in front of the register and announce you are ready to pay about three times before someone comes over. Then they always seem to find the one person that appears to have never seen a cash register before, let alone used it. It takes FOREVER. We have all found things to entertain us while we wait. Roger is sweet to pay for everyone. Ross assists Roger because he usually has some combinations of coupons he insists we use that complicates the process for the already frazzled cashier. Ryan and Rhonda recalculate and sneak in an extra tip at the table without Roger noticing. The girls beg for quarters for the candy or toy machines they have. Matthew and Ethan pretend they are too cool for the candy machines by explaining they are designed to take your money without giving you a toy but if the girls have money they will help them get the toys, and Lauren and I try to figure out what this sign directly above the checkout counter means.

We did our best to guess but couldn’t figure it out. We weren’t sure what the second letter was. We thought it was maybe another language so we cheated and googled it. Google said it is TAKHOMASAK. A ‘famous’ saying created by Steak-N-Shake encouraging customers to take a sack of burgers home with them when they leave. We were still confused until we said it out loud. Get it… Takhomasak=take home a sack.

Fun times at Steak-N-Shake! Hurry in and have your fun time before the health department visits and shuts them down, it burns down because they have five new untrained teenagers running it every week, or they go bankrupt because no one knows how to run the cash register.

Patterns

This is the third year that I have been writing my blog. I just had the 4th six month volume printed and delivered last month. The kids like to look at them and I feel like one of my goals for having a blog has come to fruition. I have started a family journal that is documenting our family and helping us remember the fun, mundane, silly, happy, great and not so great memories of our lives while we have these years all living together that might seem like the permanent normal but before we know it will be history.

This being the third Winter I have blogged I have also started to notice some patterns that seem to happen in our family each year. We all seem to get some illness to varying degrees at the end of January beginning of February. It started last this past week for us. Allison got it first, then Matthew, Ryan and I have a very mild version that is hardly noticeable, and Emilee is now taking her turn. It was Matthew’s turn to get it the worst. Since he has asthma it is often his turn. Allison took the longest to recover, but all in all it wasn’t a bad year for sickness. I know a lot of other people that have had it pretty bad. I am jinxing myself and knock on wood we don’t have a round two but I am counting it as a blessing and hoping to keep my streak going of, “No cleaning up puke in 2020!”

Another annual event in February is the pre-Spring Break in preparation for the actual Spring Break next month. I don’t actually count because I really don’t want to know, but between the already short month, teacher conferences, snow days, and holidays if the number of school days isn’t less than the number of days off, it certainly feels like it. I didn’t even count sick days in that either. They had a half day Wednesday and now don’t go back to school until Tuesday.

So far we have been keeping busy. We ate lunch with dad yesterday. Then they all invited a friend or two over.

Emilee had Jovee over so that was business as usual. They played great together and watched Frozen II and went to bed without any issues.

Allison invited a friend over and they played, made slime, and entertained Peanut but I told her she could have a sleepover a different night. She asked Leah to spend the night tonight.

Matthew had two friends over. One had spent the night before but the other hadn’t. Two boys is a lot different than three and boys are a lot different than girls. Me being a girl, I always feel a little more…out of my wheel house with boys. I usually have Ryan check on them most of the time. I always monitor them and screen any movies they watch and collect all electronics/phones at bed time and tell them when it is time to go to bed. I feel like I am pretty good at thwarting possible problems. When the new friends mom dropped him off she talked with me a lot about electronics and sugar. She wanted to know my policies on both. Like I said I watch them but I felt like she wanted a written contract spelled out. After the conversation she had me a little stressed out. Then as she was headed out the door she “warned” me that she had found one of them awake at 4 in the morning when she had the two (not Matthew her son and the other boy) stay at her house one night. I thought, “How often was she checking on them to know they were awake at 4am) I felt like she wanted me to be sitting with them at all times during waking hours and at least hourly during sleep hours. Then I started worrying if it was because she was worried about her son doing something, my son doing something, or just general worry. So I was paranoid and got a crappy night sleep on the couch upstairs because I thought there was going to be some catastrophic event at any moment. They were fine and other than making the basement look like pigs had lived in it for the last year (which I made them clean up), they went to bed when I told them slept until I woke them up at 9:30 for breakfast while rubbing the kink in my neck. Uggg.

Sleepovers are not my favorite but with cousins around they love to have them and it is nice that they can. I felt like a bit of a hypocrite saying they could only have sleep overs with their cousins and no one else so while I don’t suggest them myself, I let them have them on occasion.

I am going to go down a little bit of a rabbit hole here, then get back on track with my original thought process. After worrying and having a crappy nights sleep last night I started evaluating myself a bit. I’m not mad or annoyed at the mom for asking about how I do things with electronics. I am glad that other mom’s are concerned and watch out for things like with kids. And good for her for straight out asking. Most of the time I am not that brave. The more eyes the better. I am mostly annoyed that it made me question myself. I do that a lot. I can get stressed and confused trying to guess what other peoples expectations are and live up to them instead of being confident in my own decisions and expectations. It is something that I am consciously trying to work on. It seems to me like some people are really good at thinking through what they think and feel about things and forming an opinion ahead of time before a situation arrives. I remember in church they told us that a lot when I was growing up. Decide what you are going to do in a situation ahead of time so when the time comes you aren’t put on the spot and you have already made the decision. I think that is good advice and I tried to do that with bigger obvious decisions that might come up in my life. I don’t know if I am just not as creative as some people but this is not a natural thing for me to do. A lot of people I talk with seem to be very good at this. Some people do this with EVERYTHING and that actually annoys me and I think it is exhausting and if it isn’t true it at least appears that they are impossible to please if others don’t know or agree with their opinion. I guess I should say with inconsequential things this annoys me like ‘how to empty the dishwasher’, ‘how to correctly replace a toilet paper roll’. That stuff is inconsequential and it seems trivial to me to think about how I like every single thing to be in my life. Yes, we can have preferences, that’s different. The bigger, more important things I tend to find myself having a general thought about something but until I actually do it myself or am confronted with something myself I generally don’t form a solid response or opinion. Another way to look at it is I guess I am not the best on the spot thinker. I do better at either being able to take a step back and take time to think, or if that isn’t possible afterwards evaluating how it went and then if that situation happens again I have a much better handle on what I want to do. But sometimes in life- a lot of times in life we have to react on the spot. When this happens to me instead of trusting myself, I often find myself trying to guess what the other person is wanting me to say or do and then my people pleaser self tries to please them. It is easy to see how this can get stressful pretty fast, as I can not read minds. My point to this tangent is that I am trying to make a more conscious decision to remind myself when those new situations come up-like a mom asking what my electronic/sugar policy is-that I can and should trust myself to just say what I do then taking her feedback, instead of trying to guess exactly what she wants me to say and then hovering over the boys like a weirdo all night. I am biased but I have a pretty good head on my shoulders. The longer you live the more experiences you have and there is a lot to be said for life experience. Which brings me to another point. Pay attention and read this next part closely my children. This isn’t anything you haven’t heard before. Your dad and I tell you and try to help each one of you on a daily basis with our own life experiences. You will be very familiar with what I am going to say…something in the language of- “The reason we are having this conversation is because we are trying to share what we have learned with you because”… we have ALREADY done it or something similar to it most of the time. And if we haven’t, all the other experiences we HAVE had will help you more than all the experiences you HAVEN’T had yet. The older I get the more I appreciate life experience, mine and others. One of my favorite quotes right now is, from Socrates. He is getting the credit if it wasn’t him. It sums up a lot of what I have been rambling on about.

Smart people learn from everything and everyone. Average people from their experiences. Stupid people already have the answers. ~Socrates

I have been all three of these. Most of the time I’d like to think I am an ‘average smart person’ but I hope I’m at least leaning more and more towards a ‘smart person’ every day.

That rabbit hole was longer than I thought. Where was I…After our sleepovers everyone went home then I picked up the rest of the cousins (we already had Jovee) and went to the community center and swam until they were all exhausted. Then they paired up and split out among each others houses to spend the rest of the afternoon playing. So we have had a successful two days of pre-Spring Break so far, and a fun low key Valentine’s Day. Three more days to go!

Tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa Terry are coming to stay for a few days. I will wait to blog about that until it happens. 😁

New Year’s Eve 2019

It was a laid back New Year’s Eve for our family this year. That is just the way we like it. I asked the kids several times what they wanted to do. None of them had any ambitions except Emiliee. She wanted to have a sleep over with Jovee. They had plans at their house so she joined them.

The rest of us stayed home. We got some snacks and treats for the evening and then we played games, watched movies and put puzzles together. All while wearing my most comfy pajamas and slippers. About 5 minutes before New Year’s we turned on the count down and then celebrated at midnight.

Doesn’t sound very exciting but I thought it was a perfect night. For New Year’s Day we all slept in of course and then had a big breakfast. Ross and Lauren and their family came over and we spent the rest of the day playing games and enjoying each others company.

Bring on 2020!