A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

 Happy Friday, y'all!  And what a happy Friday it is!  The Thanksgiving break is upon us, and I for one could not be happier.  I figured I should commemorate that happiness by blogging about EVERYTHING everyone has been up to for the last several weeks.  Because everyone likes a photo/story dump of a post, right???  Let's take it from the top...

ETHAN 

• Finally finished up all those college essays and applications!  
• Fun Fact:  Without even knowing, he wrote one of his BYU essays on the exact same topic -- playing the piano -- that I did more than 20 years ago.  How's that for solidifying his place as my mini-me?  Hahahaha.

(He's such a good kid to humor my ridiculous requests.  In this case it was to wait to press send on his BYU application until I could take a picture of him doing it.)

• Successfully convinced me last weekend to put up the Christmas decorations.
• I mean, 2020 has been a dumpster fire of year, so why not start spreading some Christmas cheer a little earlier than we normally do??  I think the kids were surprised that I agreed so readily to their request, but we really do need a little Christmas now.  :)

(The perfect addition to my little Christmas village.  😍)

GRACE

• Has blossomed during this election season into a real political activist -- if by activist we mean creating baked goods to commemorate her favorite candidates and then DM-ing them with pictures of the final product.  Hahahahahahahahaha. 
• (Truth be told -- I get quite a kick out of Grace.  Hahahahaha.  She certainly makes life un-boring.)

• Continues to rock that home CEO life, posting schedules of important Zoom meetings on her door to make sure everyone stays out (and stays quiet).  
• In all seriousness, though, she's been doing school from home quite a bit these days.  She's had really bad headaches off and on for the last several weeks and I've taken pity on her and let her stay home (but still getting school done virtually) on more than one occasion.

SOPHIE

• Giving Grace a run for her money on the political baked goods front, Sophie has really come to play as well.  Hahahaha.
• All three of the girls have become VERY politically aware over the last couple of months and it's been quite a vibe.  I mean, I love how much they care about our country and want to be in the know of what is happening around them.  I don't love quite as much that they get most of their "news" and information from TikTok.  But we all have room for improvement, right?  Hahahahaha.

• Has discovered a latent talent for fashion design.
• I'm not even sure what class these drawings were for, but I was beyond impressed when I saw her sketches.  Sign this girl up for Project Runway!  (Fun Fact: the high school here DOES actually have a Project Runway class.  I'm trying to convince Sophie to sign up for it next year, but we'll see how that goes.)

JANE

• Has really mastered the art of the selfie.  
• (Or at least the art of swiping my phone constantly and taking pictures of herself and occasionally others.)

• Has been feeling her feelings on an all new level these days.
• Being 11 is rough.  (For both the 11 year old and the ones around her.)  I can't tell you how many times this week I've wanted to call my sister Sarah -- the third-born of the first three girls in my family -- and apologize to her for whatever I may have done to make her life miserable as her older sister when we were kids.  Because I'm really hoping that Grace and Sophie will have a similar impulse in about 20 years or so.

ALEX

• Got his braces off this week!!!
• FINALLY!  He was just doing a phase 1 treatment for now (to make more space for his back molars to come in), but it still seemed like it took forever for the gap in his front teeth to completely close.

Before

After

• Learned a lot about the electoral process at school.
• (I'd say more, but I promised him I'd stop talking about it because I made the mistake of telling Grace about one of the slides he filled out for an assignment, and she mentioned it to him and he flipped out because it made him feel so self-conscious/embarrassed.)

What do you think makes someone a good presidential candidate?

ALEX:  If they do the stuff they said they would and be nice

What question would you ask a candidate at a caucus?

ALEX:  Why do you want to be president

Why do you think we have these requirements to vote?

ALEX:  Because if we didn't kids would be able to vote and everything will be messed up

ISAAC

• Desperately needs a haircut, but won't let me touch his "crazy hair."
• Hahahahahaha.  That kid.  But seriously -- the hair is crazier than it's ever been.

• Thinks he should totally get a phone for Christmas since he's 5 now.
• As if!

Can you guess which one Isaac likes the best because his face "looks the coolest" in it?

(It's Pose 2)

ME

• Basically falling apart these days.
• Maybe it's because I turned 40 this year and I'm just sliding down the other side of the hill, but I've had so many random aches and pains the last month or so and I don't like it!  Ever since I had Covid, my left shoulder has bothered me (weird, I know, but I had weird random joint pain while I was actively sick and I think I somehow tweaked my shoulder during that time and it's never gone away); I threw my back out last Sunday when I bent over to pick something up; AND I've had major wrist pain the last couple of days that I think might be tendinitis, but I don't know for sure.  Womp womp.  Hahaha.

SCOTT

• Still winning that bread and bringing home the bacon, too.
• Poor Scott, he's probably more in need of next week's Thanksgiving break than any of the rest of us.  Work has been stressful lately (what with the pandemic and all), but he keeps on keepin' on, and I'm extra, super grateful for that.

And that's a wrap!  With Thanksgiving coming up next week, I've been thinking a lot about gratitude while reflecting on this past year.  We had a family activity a few weekends ago, where I felt impressed to challenge everyone to think about and share some of the things that have been GOOD (or even great) this year that only happened BECAUSE of Covid/quarantine.  It was a really helpful activity!  We have certainly been blessed in interesting and unique ways that wouldn't have come to pass if this had been an ordinary year.  For instance, after we realized back in March that we weren't all that prepared, Ethan was able to create our food storage system (aka "The Rations") from scratch; over the last several months, Sophie has become a bread-making expert; Grace and Sophie have both became master cake decorators; I mean, I wrote a book; we've had PLENTY of family bonding time -- which, yes, has had its moments of aggravation, but has overall been a blessing, especially knowing that this is our last year with all the kids still at home; not having to go anywhere or do anything for the bulk of the year has been marvelous; and finally, having church at home each Sunday was beautiful, and I loved it.  So, yes -- there HAVE been good things happening right alongside the bad this year.  And isn't that life in a nutshell?  I believe it is.  

And with that, I'm out!  Happy Friday everyone!!!