I is for Imagination

First thing this morning, there was a caterpillar crawling in my room. 

I called for Andrew to come fetch it; he's our resident critter getter. 

He said "Now we can't rush this, we have to do it gently" as he scooped it up. 

"you can't just fling it around out side." and he placed it gently on the dirt outside.

One time he was in charge of putting our neighbor Lilly's garbage can out to the sidewalk.

When he got back, I checked to make sure he accomplished the task (he often forgets mid-chore what he's supposed to do). 

He said "yep and there were two worms hiding under the garbage can, so I relocated them back under the garbage can in the new spot."

He just got a new/old Nintendo DS, so this weekend he made a game case out of the piles and piles of cardboard in our garage (we made an IKEA closet!)

The front,

the back.

I hope you can read that. He's such a salesman. 

Neighborhood whiffle ball.

He is by far my most creative child. It actually trips him up sometimes when he is supposed to be focusing or accomplishing a task. At parent/teacher conference we discussed this point. 

It's the same song and dance every single teacher has said about Andrew: 

so creative! so likable! so much in la la land!

This time Mr. Higgins shrugged his shoulders and said "he's highly capable."

(ps he is super smart at math)

This weekend Evan got out the Lego train. 

He has big plans to make it run around the Christmas tree. 

It wasn't working, so we trouble shot and realized the battery pack was corroded. Some baking soda/vinegar cleaning later, and it works great! 

It's been a while since these boys have been on the ground pushing wheels around. They no longer have knee calouses. 

Evan is such a drummer. He drums all day every day.

He really wants to play the quad-tom when he is an upperclassman, so he practices on these four yearbooks. 

Also! he made the freshman basketball team! (there were not cuts). I am so happy he has an activity every day after school. 

He's a Teacher, so we get there super early to prep the sacrament. 

For some reason I love this. I love the secret cubby hole they transfer the stuff through. 

Andrew has been asking lots of questions about how it all goes down because he starts passing in January!

I don't have pictures of Avery using her imagination. 

But she does. 

She is the smartest girl ever. She gets math so easily. She gets it all - the social world, teachers, relationships. Evan admitted that she is a good driver. 

This weekend she went to Wicked with her friends and she loved it.

(the reference to Ariana Grande being handicapped is from the Nikelodian show Sam and Kat. She acts for real like she shouldn't be living on her own. She acts like Amelia Badilia. It drives me crazy. The kids know I hate that show because why does she have to act like that. 

Anyway....

We love our new TV room. We watch movies together almost every night. 

Last night we watched A Christmas Story. 

We are watching the kind of mid, fringe Christmas movies while it's still November. We are saving the "good" ones for when we get back from Fallon for Thanksgiving!

 

G is for Glorious

Look at this glorious waterfall.

 It's only active during rainy season. 

I have been on this trail many times and have never seen it in action. 

Today was windy and stormy, but also sunny. 

The lighting was so pretty.

Close enough to feel the spray, which is the best. 

And then a warm barley tea party.

On our way hiking out, Roxanne asked if we should cold plunge in the lake?

I said, "no I hate you" because I knew that we were going to have to do it.

We walked out on a slippery log, 

wherein I slipped and fell, halfway in the water,

then slithered all the way in to my shoulders so that I could then scramble the heck out of that freezing water. 

It was not graceful. And I have some road rash from the fall,

but my body felt so zingy and glorious. 

We stood in the sunshine to dry off. 

Woodstock Farm on our way home,

And as if all of that wasn't enough,

there was this glorious rainbow on the drive home.

S is for Somehow

The week I moved all the kids around into their new rooms, 

I also did a deep clean and purge of each room. 

I pulled out all furniture and vacuumed and wiped all the baseboards. 

Stuck to the back side of Evan's dresser thingy was this post it note:

"why is mommy acting kind of mean"

Can you even handle this? I can't. 

I can't believe they used to call me mommy. 

Andrew was the first to call me just "mom". Then the big kids followed. 

I guess one day when I was out of patience Evan needed to process, so he wrote it on a note. 

I guess one day I was just "kind of mean". So, not totally mean. That's good.

This makes me want to go scoop him up and hug. 

Do you know when I wake him up for seminary, his cute little sleeping face as a teenager looks the same as it did when he was little? He's a nose breather, like a good boy.  

So, I think about this almost every time I'm at the school campus: 

How my kids' schools have opened up to my brain-map little by little -

like how on a video game...you can only see a small part of the "world", and then as you beat certain levels, new continents open up, and you build and build as the map reveals new lands. 

You know what I mean? 

For a while I only knew the Primary School. I was there so much as a helper and a sub.

Then Avery moved on to the Elementary and I got to know that building, and I was intimidated by it at first.

Then I subbed my first middle school job to see what that world was like before my kids entered it. 

And before you know it they conquered that building (Andrew is still working on it.)

And now somehow they have opened the grand realm of High School. The whole map has been revealed. 

I can see all the lands. 

Somehow they grew up. 

 I can't think of a more cliche thing to say - how does time go so fast? - but it's a real question.

How did they grow up before my very eyes and yet I don't know how it happened. 

I mean, I was here THE WHOLE TIME and I don't know how it happened.

I wonder what day and what age it was that Evan found a pencil and paper and vented about me being a meany. What made me so impatient that day? Because right now I would love to go back in time to when he called me mommy and find out what dumb little thing caused that.

I'll tell you what - today I was "kind of mean" to 14 year old Evan. 

And here's why:

He was cleaning the bathroom, and I was in there telling him what needed done:

take everything out, vacuum the floor, wipe the baseboards and toilet/tub seams. 

"so go get the vacuum"

*he walks downstairs and gets the vacuum, but only the canister part. not the wand part*

*he shows me that he got the vacuum*

*very passive aggressive, very complainy *

*I play his game and say "ok go ahead and vacuum with that"*

*he pulls the trigger and swipes the canister around the floor*

*I yell at him in an explanation to go get the WHOLE vacuum, don't be DUMB!*

*he goes down and gets the rest of the vacuum and does a floppy job of vacuuming the nasty bathroom floor*

So yeah, I get being "kind of mean" in the moment when it actually is NOT A BIG DEAL. 

But it's kind of a big deal because watching boys clean a bathroom is EXCRUCIATING. 

So...yeah. 

K is for Kelli Votes for Trump

Not that it mattered one bit, living here in Washington,

but we voted anyway. 

Everyone. What a wild wild year it's been politically, right? 

For posterity, here are some highlights:

1. President Biden was OBVIOUSLY senile in his old age, and the democrats and the media acted like we were all CRAZY for pointing it out. 

2. During the debate it became impossible to deny (we finally beat medicare!).

3. So they performed a coup and put VP Harris in as the nominee. No one voted for her - (which spoiler: will end up being an obvious reason for why she lost so badly).

4. Trump got shot at, somehow didn't die. 

5. Being a democrat takes more mental gymnastics than ever before. It makes NO SENSE why they think a bunch of stupid celebrities have any sway on reality. And that is just the tiniest of examples for why the left has completely jumped the shark. 

6. I don't vote for the personality of Trump, but for the policies and the team he will assemble. There has been so much ink spilled on why he won so decisively. But it feels SO GOOD to see what the majority of the country supports. 

Specifically for me - KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN'S SPORTS AND SPACES!

Geez Louis, why is that even something you have to defend. 

I've turned MAGA. I've been radicalized by the media and the stupid things going on in our world.

For future reference, here are some of my favorite essays/podcasts/substacks on the situation:

Bari Weiss

Konstantin Kisin

Spencer Klavan

That last substack by Spencer Klavan was strangely comforting in the pre-election apprehension:

"Something Will Happen. 

Something Will Be Learned."

Then he went on to say:

The outcome will certainly change our lives materially, in ways welcome or disastrous. But whatever happens, all-consuming as it will no doubt seem, will really only be the backdrop of the main event, which is the formation of our souls. 

What Screwtape said of romantic love he may as well have said of this election: “Like most of the other things which humans are excited about, such as health and sickness, age and youth, or war and peace, it is, from the point of view of the spiritual life, mainly raw material.”

 

N is for Nephi's Courage

Sunday we had our primary program. 

It was the best.

I'm so so proud of these kids. We have a small rag tag primary, but you wouldn't know it. 

They sang so strong and clear, and had such enthusiasm for the whole thing. 

The majority are boys - you know how difficult it can be to get boys excited about singing for a crowd?

The secret to success this year is: 

the great songs 

plus 

Wild Bill 

(that's his name, the boy in the sweater vest to the left)

 who, when he's not doing back flips off the stage, brings the hype for the whole choir.

His energy is contagious, and they suddenly all wanted to bring the drama. 

The first song we sang was Book of Mormon Stories, with groups of kids singing the individual 

verses as a solo.

Wild Bill, Hudson, and Andrew sang the Ammon verse as a trio. 

This is a huge deal because a year ago Andrew and Hudson REFUSED to sing. For every performance they would stand there acting tough and not singing. 

Now they are up there belting out songs about the TREE OF LIFE and their OWN SACRED GROVE. 

It was amazing. Charlotte and Allegra also carry the team. They sing strong and beautifully. 

This is my favorite calling ever, please don't ever release me. 

 

A is for All Done

It's so crazy how the end of Fall sports and daylight savings happens the same weekend. 

Our fall routine and days suddenly shifts to a completely different routine. 

District playoffs this year was so intense.

The first game against Meridian:

We tied and went into overtime. 

Then a penalty kick shoot out. 

We won after the 7th player finally put the winning shot in. 

Celebration. 

Then we tied LC, which is something that we have NEVER done. They always kill us.

But then we lost in a shoot out. It was a bummer

One last shot - a game against Nooksack. A team we never lose to. A team we beat once this year. 

And we lost 0-3.

The girls were so devastated.

And Thursday was the last Football game. Last time getting to listen to Evan in the band for the season. 

It was a fun fall of everyone being busy and active. 

Now we are onto the season of dark, gather inside, legos, cold, holidays.

 

H is for Hot Spring

One Friday we went to a hot spring near Mount Baker. 

It was the most perfect weather:

pouring rain

low clouds

fog

fall leaves all around

We sat in this beautiful hot water that smelled like eggs,

with cold drops of water falling on our head.

Bubbles of steam, pockets of extra hot.

T is for Trick of Treat

Caramel Apples!

They keep talking about how much they don't really like caramel apples, but that it's a mandatory Halloween activity. 

They're just sooo messy.

But that one year I cut up apples (braces!), they secretly hated me. 

Avery was Bruno Mars this year.

This is her soccer team at school.

This is Bruno at a Halloween party.

Pumpkin Carving!

One hundred percent of the time we carve pumpkins, there is the happiest atmosphere in our home. 

It's kind of the worst, but also the best activity. 

You know what makes these activities so precious? Is when the kids are getting so old and in no time at all Avery will be launched to college. Why are they so big and old? 

Trick or Treat!

I am Baby Yoda. My kids cringed pretty hard. 

Andrew's crew.

Evan's crew. 

He said all the people would open the door and say stuff like "wow you're all so tall!"

Lindsay slayed it with this Moira costume. 

Lisa was a Tesla and sat in there for like an hour. 

Oh goody. So much candy. yay.