August 29, 2021
We had a great full week of school this week since no kid was too sick to attend. I had some sore throat agony but it disappeared as mysteriously as it had arrived. Could be all the horrible pollution combined with some kind of cold. Hinckley had a friend over Friday night to watch Rango for a late-over, a reward for earning enough respectful/responsible points. That has been working pretty well, and this week I’ve been excited to see some clear moments that he took a deep breath rather than shouting at Addie when she is teasing and calling him names.
Addie invited both Kassie and I to come to her tea party in her room, where she was delighted to have living guests. She thrives on the gift of individual time with people and unfortunately, there is never enough of it. A friend's mother sent a message through her teacher that her daughter has been praying and hoping for a friend and so it was so nice that Addie has been kind to this student in class. That made her feel really good to learn her friendship has been meaningful to another young girl! Greyson had a successful first night in regular undies. We officially no longer have any kid in diapers or pull-ups and it is a strange thing! He has earned some stickers this week for staying in his bed all night which has led to better sleep for everyone. Yay! Let's hope that trend continues.
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| Addie's tea time with Creamie (pink bear) |
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| Helping Mom make cookies |
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| Brother Lego time |
We went to Splash Summit (used to be 7 Peaks) as a family on Saturday and everyone had a great time. Hinckley didn’t want to go on Free Fall or Sky Breaker this time but was emphatic that he’d do it next time. I wonder if Cannibal at Lagoon took some of his risk-taking tendencies down a notch! We had a great time and he got to go with Kas down a few tube runs as well. Addie and Greyson had a lot of fun between the Lazy River, the Wave Pool, and the kiddie slides. Addie was able to get to the point where she could go down those without needing an adult to be at the bottom of the slide waiting.
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| Hinckley and Kas ready for tube runs |
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| Family ready to plays |
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| The littles |
August 22, 2021
This week was back to school for Hinckley and Addie. After a slow and sickly start, Hinckley was able to make it to two days of school this week (I had to bring him home on day 1 after he threw up 3 times), but Addie was only able to stay for the first day before going out on sick leave. It was a different kind of week for sure. Hinckley seems to really enjoy his class and teacher thus far, and he has come home in a good mood and eager to build armor out of cardboard. Greyson was most sick last Sunday and slowly recovered across this whole week. There have been some hard moments, but he has started up his "gymnastics" routines again meaning we turn on "cool boy music" and he runs around breathlessly doing various moves and lunges.
Luckily everyone seemed healthy enough to go to two big activities this weekend. On Friday was the Weave new building grand opening in which we did a "virtual ribbon cutting" from home first and then went to the building for a carnival they put on. It was a pretty amazing event complete with a Ferris wheel, rides, food trucks, and even a Zebra and kangaroo to pet. The kids had a blast doing the various activities and though we stayed much later than intended and tempers were running hot it was all in all a really great thing. The next morning everyone woke up at the exact same early time and threw huge fits about Dad making pancakes. Who knew that was such an awful thing, right?
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| Hogs and Dogs |
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| Hinckley's finished armor project |
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| Addie's makeup job on Greyson |
August 15, 2021
My first attempt at sourdough turned out great! That has occupied some of my dreams and worry space a bit over the past week or two, but it was really good.
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| The first attempt is a success! |
We had a very full and enjoyable final week of summer. Kassie's Parents John and Naomi arrived Sunday evening and have been here all week. Addie had a happy 6th birthday on Monday, she had been counting down with a paper chain and was very excited about everything (especially the presents). We had chocolate lucky charms with chocolate milk for breakfast, and then she went to JDogs for lunch. Everyone went swimming while I worked in the afternoon and I think they had a really fun time there. In the evening we had a princess cake Kassie and Naomi put together and then presents (after a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs).
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| Birthday breakfast with brothers |
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| Birthday presents! |
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| Princess cake with Mom and Grandma |
John led the charge in cutting down 2 of our trees half-dead trees and removed another stump which is really helpful. I was able to do a dump run with him in which we finally got rid of some old lumber and stones left by the previous owners (as well as say farewell to the Desktop computer we got at DI that Hinckley has taken apart). Hinckley and Addie took turns staying the night with the Burnsides in their trailer this week too which they really enjoyed.
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| Tree chopping with Grandad |
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| Ready for berry picking |
Kas and I watched Attack of the Clones with Hinckley one evening this week and made it through it. He had a blast biking around the neighborhood with Henry Haws and it filled me with joy to see him red-faced and sweaty coming in for a drink. I hope that he can continue building relationships with the boys around here, there are a ton!
We celebrated 10 years of marriage on Thursday! We all went up to Lagoon and had a really fun day going on rides and playing there. Hinckley and Kassie went on Cannibal as their very first ride. That looked really scary! He decided he wasn’t going to do that again anytime soon. I went with Greyson and Naomi to the bumper cars and a bunch of kiddie rides which he loved. He made many exclamations such as “That was SO fun Dad!” Though he really wanted to go on “Terror Ride” which he finally did with Kassie (right behind Hinckley and I) and when he came out he said “That was SO SCARY!” That was Nuts.” I am not sure what had him so desirous to do on that, as when we almost went on a different scary ride (Dracula’s Mansion) he decided to turn around when he saw a talking owl…We all went on the log run ride together and after that Greyson yelled that he never wanted to do that again. So, everyone’s getting some good experiences. Hinckley loved it all, and was in heaven in the roller coasters and at the water park. Addie was pretty anxious around the roller coasters but was able to find many rides that she enjoyed going on with Granddad and later Kassie and Naomi. All in all, it was a really great day and didn’t get too miserable or anything.
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| Baptism time! |
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| Post baptism family picture |
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| Some baptism guests |
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| Lunch with two Grandmas and Logan |
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| Lunch with Shepherd (and conversations about nursery) |
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| Getting lunch |
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| Elsa cousins |
Kas and I have finally started watching The Chosen and finished the first season this week. It's so great! I has had me reflecting more on my discipleship as I reflect on the various followers of Christ and what it means to truly follow Him.
August 8, 2021
On Monday Kas and I went to 7 Brides for 7 Brothers at the Scera Shell outdoor theater while Mom and Dad watched the kids. It was a beautiful evening after a day of rain, we enjoyed it! The kids were really into playing “Spies”, a game they made up where they tried to steal stuff from my office as I worked, without being seen or caught. They really got a kick out of that! Then they wanted to wear masks and Hinckley spent a long time making special masks from some characters in his Zelda game. Greyson was very tired but enjoyed wearing one of the dress-up masks we have. He insisted on wearing it to the park with Nana and Grandpa as well. We heard he had quite the fit coming home from the park after we left, complete with his legs “not working” and his throwing himself to the ground like a pro-flopping soccer player.
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| Date night at the Scera Shell |
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| Masks 1 |
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| More masks |
Greyson has been working on refining the art of the fit this week, but he has had some very cute moments as well. He was extremely excited to show me how he has learned how to climb the exterior of his "bonk bed" (bunk bed) and performed the feat in the nude multiple times. Addie has been eagerly counting down the days until her birthday, each morning announcing how many days left after she has removed another chain from her paper chain we made nearly a month ago. Kassie got a bike this week and she and Addie had a fun ride around the park where Addie demonstrated some of her cool "tricks" she can do such as removing one hand from the handlebars and standing up on the pedals for 1-2 seconds. Addie also fell for my distraction request to make us "dinner masks" out of paper during the witching hour (4-5 pm) and it worked! She had a blast creating masks and having Greyson and I put them on for dinner.
Kas and I watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace with Hinckley this week for which he has been waiting for nearly a year. He had so many questions the whole time and I don’t know if it made much sense to him as we couldn’t hear very well (something with our old TV), but all in all, it was pretty fun. He had his last days of sports camp at the Rec center and we are now entering the last week of summer break! I can’t believe it. Kassie took the kids to many fun activities this week including the Thanksgiving Point Dino museum, swimming at the AF pool, and Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point (where they all had a ton of fun riding on little ponies). On Saturday Hinckley and Kas went on a date to hike the Y and eat at Waffle Love and after they returned we watched Anastasia for “Daddy Movie” while eating some of my Father’s day popcorn and candy. I also picked up some Home Depot kid kits when I went to buy another toilet lever for what felt like the 4th time this year and they had fun putting those together. Squeezing in a lot of activities before the summer ends!
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| Hinckley on Bella |
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| Addie on Trigger |
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| On top of the Y with Mom |
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| Waffle Love |
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| A day at "The Beach" |
We learned that due to the Delta variant my return to Weave offices on Aug 30 is not firm, we can continue working from home for the foreseeable future. I’m not sure about it, and may still return at that point but will figure that out as we get closer. I don’t want to return if I need to wear a mask all day, but it would be nice to get out of the house every once and a while. I tried riding my bike there this week just to see how that would be and it was a very pleasant 20 min bike ride! So that seems promising for if/when the day comes that I go back to the office. I've been stress texting Mom and exchanging emails with James this week as I got some sourdough starter with dreams of baked goods on a regular basis. Sunday morning will be a great test to see how my first attempt turns out.
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