On Monday Addie had her lip tie surgery and while she was in a lot of pain for about an hour afterward, she did really well. It is amazing how swiftly they did it, and they didn’t have to completely knock her out. I gave her a blessing in her room this morning and Hinckley nudged one of his Blobbys by the door inside his “mars rover” (cardboard box creation) to offer her comfort as well. She took him to the surgery. She did really well the remainder of the week, even with the lip stretching exercises we have to do for her (push and pull her lip in the area the surgery took place so the skin doesn't grow back where it was lasered off).
Addie recovering from lip tie surgery
Hinckle's lego creations
Hinckley had his first Boys activity without Kassie as one of the leaders, and it went really well. We walked over there as a family to drop him off at the house of the new leaders and then walked around the neighborhood a bit as it is perfect weather right now. When I got Hinckley after the event he raved about how much fun he had. "We played like young boys do you know? like tackling each other and stuff". They did obstacle courses in the backyard and were full of young boy enthusiasm.
Saturday we drove up to SLC and hiked Ensign Peak. There were many beautiful sunflowers facing up and out and together they created a stunning carpet of yellow across the face of the peak. All three kids hiked up and down despite a few moments of difficulty (I asked Addie not to point at people as they walked by and she had a breakdown). We had a great time. Addie played "I spy" with me on the way up and Greyson chattered to me about everything he was seeing and observing on the way down. He said, "we are in the sky!" as we got higher up.
Greyson poses with the flowers
At the top of Ensign Peak
More flower posing
Many of the blossoms blew off today and we are nearly fully leafed here, and with just 4 weeks left of school, it feels like summer is actually almost here. This week there was lots of jumping on the tramp, playing at the park, and fighting too.
Spring time funny faces
April 25, 2021
Kas and I both have our second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and we were fortunate enough to not have any side effects. Though Greyson did wake up twice this week with a bloody nose and take significant time away from bed which had us feeling a bit exhausted. We aren’t sure how to help those bloody noses beyond what we’ve done with petroleum jelly, a humidifier, and water. He was shrieking at the top of his lungs about “macaroni chunks” in his nose. Yuck! After an hour of screaming, I gave him a blessing and it subsided and he went to bed. Kassie took Greyson to the dino museum at Thanksgiving Point on Saturday and she said he was scared for much of it as he felt like there were real dinos around every corner. But overall they had a really fun time too.
Greyson happy dancing
Hinckley's tinkering in his workshop
Mom and Dad came and watched the kids while Kas and I went to play pickleball and get some Thai food. It was a nice outing despite some strong wind. I took Addie out on a date ice skating in Provo with some ice creaming at the Creamery on 9th. She really enjoyed it, and I did too. Addie had her last day of music for the season today, she has really loved it! Her teacher gave her a little bug collection kit and she and Hinckley were very reluctant to come in for baths in the evening as they continued digging around in the dirt for the right balance of materials for the kit. The kids all went to the dentist this week, which they actually enjoy given the amazing technology and entertainment pediatric dentists have these days. We discovered that Addie will need minor surgery on her gums so her new teeth can grow properly. After some initial fear, she was pacified with the dentist’s explanation so we’ll see how that goes next week.
Second dose along with Addie and Ariel
Podcasting studio
Dad and Addie date ice skating
Games with Mom
Goof ball meal time
Hinckley has been reading a mile a minute and also got creative this week in drawing some Minecraft full-color pictures and building a radar tool from some of the computer scraps in the garage. He also made some efforts as a peacemaker by seeking to soothe Addie’s many crying moments with the help of the Blobbies. He has been having some bouts of unexplainable sadness in the evenings for a few months now, including his stomach and head hurting. We aren't sure if he is anxious about something or what is going on, but continue to try and help him feel loved. I gave him a blessing this week and have been telling him stories each night as we connect before bed. It is difficult to now know how to help your kids.
April 18, 2021
This week we got back to normal after our off-routine spring break last week. The kids have really picked up using lots of rude language and name-calling lately and we are trying to figure out what to do about it. It is so frustrating, and yet I don’t think we should expect perfection. Sometimes I wonder if I’m overly serious about it all, and other times I wonder if I should be taking it much more seriously. It is hard to know when you are in the thick of it, being too close to see clearly.
The sprinkler situation
In testing out our sprinklers I was greeted by a big water bubble under the turf in one of the few areas on our backyard with good grass in it. With a heavy heart, I made a small crater with the shovel and discovered a cracked pipe due to some big roots and such. Unfortunately, I didn't warn the kids about this hole, and in a moment of daring Greyson rode his little red trike straight into the whole and was in there head first with just his legs sticking out! Luckily he wasn't hurt too bad. He only got a very small "goose egg" on his head and there won't be "any gooses flying out".
Biking with Hinckley and Addie near the lake
Seeing the fish at the Tulip Festival
With cousins at the Tulip Festival
Tulip Festival fun
Addie's colored rock she made
We enjoyed the tulip festival with Nana and Grandpa and the Kays and are soaking up the springtime weather. The tramp is getting used and Kassie is continually experimenting with ways to grow the garden. Hinckley and I screwed pieces of an old DI computer he took apart to some wood and he and Addie put on a puppet show using the spaces in between. The Blobby slippers of course were the primary actors.
April 11, 2021
We had a full and fun Spring Break week! On Monday we enjoyed the last day of visiting with the Burnsides and the kids and Kassie enjoyed seeing Raya and the Dragon in the theater. On Thursday we headed down to St. George for a really fun family trip! Here are a few highlights:
Pioneer Park picnic and climbing
Eating Cafe Rio at a cool park despite getting caught in the sprinklers a couple of times (Greyson has added sprinklers to his growing list of water traumas)
Swimming at the hotel
Hotel breakfast, COVID style in our room (no spilled hot chocolate this time!!)
Snow Canyon, the sand dunes were a huge hit and no on wet themselves despite some close calls
Eating Sweet Roll Tacos (like sub-zero ice cream but more expensive and takes longer for them to make haha)
Thunder Junction Park, the most amazing public park that offers splash pads, playgrounds, a volcano picnic area, and 1 dollar train rides
Dino museum where we saw real dino tracks and Addie found her lost gem in her pocket after an agonizing 10 minutes of searching
Snow Canyon near St. George
Sand dunes in Snow Canyon
Hotel swimming
At a park in St George near I15
Moss walls in Snow Canyon
Lunchables and TV, the American Dream
Sweet roll tacos - avocado ice cream taco
On the train at Thunder Junction park
Tears were shed and hearts were broken, but cartoons were watched and chocolate milk and fruit loops were guzzled, and there was no shortage of smiles and laughter too. Coming home was a hard reality but we've made it and are grateful for such a great memory and time together as a family.
April 4, 2021
Happy Easter! It is a beautiful morning here in Lehi, and many daffodils are popping out, with trees beginning to bud. Our crabgrass and weeds are also eager to sprout too haha.
This week Addie slowly overcame a cold and cough and Greyson took the baton of sickness. There were some tough nights that reminded us all of the blessings of a good night's sleep. Hinckley finished his website sites.google.com/view/solarsystemawesome which is pretty cute, he is hopeful that his teacher will let him show it to his class.
Kassie and I went with Greyson to the movie theater at Thanksgiving Point to get our first vaccine for COVID. We got the Pfizer one, and it was surprisingly easy. No line, no wait, and no hassle. Greyson brought the new bunny he got for Easter of which he has named “Things that Go”, and the staff pretended to give the bunny a shot and gave him a bandaid too. It was really cute. We sat in the movie theater for the required 15 minutes afterward and Greyson was really entranced by it all, I think it was his first time in a movie theater which is funny because he had no idea what it was for.
COVID vaccine at the movie theater
Hinckley had all sorts of goals to pull off some April Fool’s joke but was sad when he couldn’t find any pure white toothpaste or cookies he could put that on. He ended up doing a more kind joke on Addie by moving all his Blobby’s “house” (a ton of cardboard stuff from his closet) onto her bed which delighted her. He and I had a good jump on the tramp while he brainstormed jokes he could pull off.
Kassie's parents and sister are staying with us this weekend for Easter. We've had some great festivities already which will spill over into next week with Spring Break. We love you all!
Life is good! Maybe our trials have changed our attitude or maybe things really have gotten better. Either way, 2014 is already looking happy, bright, and beautiful! Greg LOVES his new job. The environment is great and he likes all of his co-workers. Plus, he gets to make films for work! As a media arts major, it is pretty hard to land a job with a steady paycheck right out of college. This one just kind of fell into Greg's lap. The stark contrast between his previous job as a teacher and this one is like night and day. And believe me, the ripple effect of this has spilled over into our home; it's like a breath of fresh air! Hinckley has been very active lately and is already starting to assert his independence. He is 17 1/2 pounds and 28 inches tall. He just discovered how much he loves rolling over, so he does it all the time now. I think he would like to be running and on the move if he only knew how to do it! He also loves food. So far he has only eaten rice cereal
Tomorrow is our baby's due date! We don't think he will come tomorrow, but one never knows. Here are some pics from this week. School is going pretty well for me, though I transition to writing/reading from doing math for the past two weeks so I am a little nervous about that. The view from the bus just before I get off and start teaching for the day. Usually I am barely awake at this point. Awesome panorama of our classroom. It has taken a lot of work to get all this stuff up, but it could still use lots more! Here is a view of the front of the classroom, along with our space ship behavior chart and so forth. I decided to see what would happen if I didn't shave during the week This was the result. Kas is feeling quite big, and ready for the man child to come out! This week Kas learned how to make homemade yogurt - or at least how to extend the yogurt you already have. The latest creative masterpiece from Kassie is this little elep
The final product of "make me a match" that I labored over exceedingly. I was actually sort of unhappy with it all not because of the performances of anyone but mainly just the story. We had to write all so quickly and the re-write it time after time and then storyboard it and really break it down. In all this rush I didn't realize till I was actually shooting it that I really didn't care much for the story as a whole and thus my motivation suffered greatly. I don't think I need to tell epic dramatic tales to care about them but I do want to have a strong point and also a specific conflict or issue that is approached and resolved. I am starting a screen writing class tomorrow and possibly I will gain some insights as to how to develop good stories. Ones that I care about. I don't know why I feel so interested in telling stories - particularly in that I haven't felt very confident with the stories I have come up with. It is extremely hard for me to come up
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