It's all good . . .

A Special Date with Arthur

Saturday found Lily and Derek at the high school all day in the throws of "Tech Day" for their musical, Beauty and the Beast, which meant that we had the whole day with only Arthur at home.  Since we know how much Arthur looks forward to spending Saturdays with his siblings (including the special time when Kevin and I are gone for our date night), we decided to plan a special date with Arthur.  

On Saturday morning, after each one of his chores was finished, we would give him another hint as to where we were taking him. (1. It is in Baltimore, 2. An activity we usually do outside, but were going to do inside instead, 3. It involves a club, 4. There are strange lights, 5. There is a ball involved, 6. There are usually 18 parts of it.) It was so much fun.  When he finally finished up all his work, we revealed to him that we were going to "Monster Golf" and he was beyond excited.

The mini-golf course was a glow golf course with a crazy monster theme, and Arthur loved it.  I loved how the eyes Cappy hat he was wearing glowed in the black light - good times.

We had a blast, but my favorite hole was one where we had to spin a wheel to see what our special handicap would be.  My "handicap" was having one of the people in my party place themselves on the course as an obstacle, so Arthur volunteered, which was awesome. When it was all said and done, Kevin beat me by two strokes - of course.  Ha ha!

After golf, instead of going to dinner at McDonalds, like Arthur suggested, we went to a fun place called Wayback Burgers.  The food was fantastic, and they had wonderful milkshakes, which meant that Arthur was in heaven.  It was the perfect way to finish off our fun date with our little guy.

Life in March

March started out with the really fun activity of guessing where our nephew, Payton, was going to go on his mission.  Arthur guessed Egypt, Derek guessed Germany, I picked Australia, Lily chose our mission - Baltimore Maryland, and Kevin picked Brazil.  His actual call was to Peru (more specifically the Peru Trujillo South Mission), but Kevin was the closest by at least picking the right continent - haha!  And it wasn't until just now that I realized that we each picked different continents.  Nice.

Another exciting thing about the beginning of March is that spring in on the horizon.  It has been such a cold and snowy weather, that seeing highs in the 60's coming our way is like a massive reprieve. I am so happy, and have enjoyed even the days when it has gotten up into the 40's - that it is how cold it has been this winter.

Our family loves to play games, and over the past few weeks, we finally pulled out the game that Lily got for Christmas, "Dutch Blitz," and it is so much fun!!  We immediately bought the expansion pack so that Arthur doesn't have to have a partner.  It is pretty quick paced, and I even won it one of the times!  Wahoo! Winning is difficult to do in a family with Kevin and Lily, just saying ;).

One other thing I have been up to the past couple weeks, has been taking all the headshots for Derek and Lily's musical, "Beauty and the Beast" (as well as for the second production the high school is doing, which is "Frozen").  That meant that that I got to see a glimpse of their rehearsal, and it sounds amazing!!  I can't wait to see the whole production when they stream it in April!
The first week of March also brought something new for Arthur - basketball camp.  It is every Monday evening, and they work on different skills.  He loves it, and I was so impressed with how he gave 100 %, even though he is probably the least skilled in the group.  The coach is awesome.

And speaking of Arthur, in the weekly email from the school district, Kevin and I both noticed this picture of Arthur - we would notice that head and his favorite red sweater anywhere.  So cute!

Kevin has been working on his golf swing in earnest over the past few weeks, especially now that it isn't freezing.  I gave him a really cool simulator thingy (the tiny red and white thing on the ground to the left of him), and so he can track his ball speed and distance, and so he has a virtual driving range in the garage.  He even had me hitting balls, which was really fun.

On Sundays, one of my favorite things is our weekly family Come Follow Me study - we take turns giving the lesson, Becky joins us, and my mom joins in on FaceTime.  I love it.  This past Sunday, Arthur was in charge of the lesson, and he taught about putting on the whole armor of God, and then we acted out throwing "fiery darts of Satan" at Derek, who we dressed up in the armor.  Good times!
Sunday also just happened to be "Pi Day" (3.14), and so, of course, we had pie.  Pizza pie for dinner, and then a chocolate cream pie for dessert.  We even took some over to our missionaries for them to get in on the fun as well.

March has also found me working some more on my Christmas tree skirt project.  So far I have the stable and Joseph finished, and Mary started.  It is hard work, but it is so fun seeing it all come together!

And after most of January and February having snow days ruin my sub jobs, I have been subbing a lot - especially for PE at our neighborhood school.  It is especially fun, because I am always getting to teach neighbor kids or the children of my friends, like when I taught Brianna's little girl today.  Pretty awesome.

And so March is starting out just great - a little busy, but wonderful.  And although some of the things look a little different this year, I am so grateful that unlike this time last year when we were in full lockdown, at least we have things to do - plays, basketball, school, and so much more.

A Fabulous Visit with Melanie and Family

Last week, I was super excited to get a text from my niece, Melanie, to say that they would be coming back from visiting her in-laws in Virginia, and could they come and visit.  Of course, I said yes, and we had the best less-than-24-hour-visit.  They arrived on Tuesday night around 7:45pm, and sweet Ellie ran right into my arms and cuddled with me and read books until her parents were unpacked and ready to put her to bed.  Then Melanie, Nathan, Kevin and I stayed up way past our bedtime talking.  It was fabulous, and we sure have missed them!

After the kids were at school, or in Lily and Derek's case, having their "asynchronis day," Melanie and I took Ellie out to enjoy the gorgeous weather and have an adventure. (We left Nathan behind, because he was working remotely in our basement all day.) Our first stop was the nature center at Nixon Park, and Ellie just loved getting to see all the animals - even the bugs. I am so glad it was open for us to go through, because it is such great little place, and only five minutes from my house.

Then it was time for a "hike" on one of their many trails.  Unfortunately, we were not thinking about how the warmer weather melted all the snow and turned everything to mud - oops!  We managed to keep Ellie from getting too muddy - mostly, but it was quite the task.  Oh well, we still had fun.
Then we were off to Perydell to see the baby cows, which was just another five minutes down the road.  Ellie was in heaven, and she loved getting to pet the cows.

After visiting all the little calves, we cleaned up and were ready for my favorite part, their ice cream.  It is so very good, but I usually only allow myself a baby cone, which tends to be the perfect amount. Ellie approved.

It was such a fabulous morning, and when we got back to my house, we had lunch and then all three of us took naps.  After that, I helped Melanie and Nathan make landscaping plans for their new house.  It was so fun to talk to them about different ideas and different plants and flowers. I love helping people, but especially with things that I am passionate about.

When Ellie woke up from her nap, she played outside with Derek for a while - he is so awesome with her.  And by then, Uncle Kevin was home for her to cuddle with.  We had to get their picture together - it's tradition.

Sadly, they had to leave by 4pm, because they had to get back to Ohio for some important stuff, and we were so sad to see them go.  I made them an early dinner, and then they headed out, but not before Ellie managed to fill her little purse full of the tiny gravel they spread on the roads when it snows - ha ha! She had been finding and keeping rocks all day, but the handfuls of nasty gravel took the cake - ha ha! Luckily, we were able to secretly get rid of most of it before they put her in the car and drove away.  It was such a wonderful visit, and we truly love them and love when they come to see us!!

A Wonderful Birthday!

I love birthdays, I love celebrating and I love my birthday.  I used to throw a big party with friends every year, and although because of the craziness of our times, I have had to let that tradition go over the past two years, I still love to at least celebrate with my family (and maybe still sneak in a lunch or two with friends if I can). Luckily for me, this year my birthday was on a Saturday, which meant we were all home, and other than Lily having to work in the evening, we didn't have anything on our schedule.

Kevin knows how much I love my birthday, and so he really did a fabulous job of making it special for me.  He even decorated our bedroom door with streamers, just like I do for the kids for their birthdays. I got to sleep in that morning, and after I woke up (around 7ish, which was still way too early for him) he got the kids out of bed and had them sing me happy birthday.  So sweet!

For my birthday workout, I decided to go 4.3 miles, since I turned 43 - pretty fun. I also loved having the chance to workout with no rush and nothing pressing on my time.

For breakfast, Kevin had another wonderful surprise - fancy bagels from a shop in Washington DC, and amazing raspberry cream cheese from Brown's Orchard.  It was so good! And a rare treat, as I usually have protein shakes for breakfast.

For lunch, we decided to go down to Maryland to eat at the Iron Rooster, but unfortunately they were packed, and so instead of waiting  1 1/2 hours to get seated, we got takeout and ate our chicken and waffles at home instead.  Not the same as having it fresh, but still fun.  

After lunch, it was time for presents.  Kevin spoiled me with fun stuff, including this awesome electronics spin mop that I had wanted.  It is awesome!

The kids loved watching me open my gifts, as they had no idea what Kevin had bought me, and Arthur especially loved the giant box that my mop came in - ha ha!

When presents were opened, we decided to start watching the series, "Wandavision", which was super fun. We got in a couple episodes before Lily had to leave for work, and then it was time for cake. For dessert, Kevin surprised and spoiled me once again, as he went to Georgetown Cupcakes in DC to bring me by birthday dessert.  Wow!  It had been too long and they are so good!! The kids each got one, I had a red velvet for myself, and then Kevin and I split all the rest of them so we could enjoy all the different flavors.

It was a wonderful birthday, and I am so grateful for all the friends and family who reached out to make it a special day, and especially for my husband, who made it the best day! We finished the day off with him making me steak nachos and he and I binge watching "Cobra Kai" while Derek babysat Arthur. What a great birthday!

Arthur Adventures

With two teenagers, one who is getting to leave the nest, and the other only a few years away, I am so grateful that we have our Arthur, who is young and still in the midst of all the fun kid stuff.  Like recently when they had their 100th day of school, and was so very excited to wear the 100-bead necklace he made in kindergarten.  I love it when his teacher sends us pictures of them doing things at school, like when they had science stations one day.

Or even more fun, was when their class got chosen to use the book vending machine.  They were each given a token for the machine, and then they got to choose a book.  Arthur had picked his out ages ago, and got the new "Bad Kitty" book, which he loved getting to read and add to our library at home.

One thing that Arthur has really missed this past year, has been primary.  They have had a few short zoom meetings over the months, but it has been so sad for these kids not to get to meet together.  Recently though, there was a worldwide primary meeting for the kids, and it was amazing! It was hosted by primary kids, they did activities, had songs, the prophet spoke, as well as the Primary General President.  It was so heartwarming to watch his enthusiasm as he participated, and I loved every minute of it.

Another really fun thing with Arthur, is when I get to teach at his school.  It doesn't happen a ton, and sadly a bunch of the days I was supposed to teach there ended up being snow days, but it all got made up for when last week I not only got to sub for the librarian at his school, but I got to teach his class that day.  He loved it! (I actually ended up teaching at his school every day that week, as the librarian was injured, and so I helped out every day - except for the one day I was teaching art at his school instead.) Arthur really loves the extra time he gets in whatever room  am subbing in, but the library took the cake, as he had unlimited access to all the books.  He was in heaven.
And then yesterday, he was in heaven again, as not only was I teaching at his school once again, but I was teaching music, which meant that he got to have access to ALL the instruments, and he made sure to play every single one.  He even got to test out the brand new floor keyboard that the secretary gave us to bring to the room and told him to try it out.  So much fun!!

Arthur also reads aloud with one of us each night - sometimes it is me or his dad, and sometimes one of his siblings.  When he and I read together, he will sometimes read to me instead of the other way around, and when he does, he gets cozy on my bed, and then tries to sneak in an extra chapter of reading.  The other night, I had to take a picture because he had created a fort around himself of the throw pillows from my bed.  It was awesome and such and Arthur thing to do.

His newest activity he started last night - basketball.  Sometimes in all the activities and business of the older kids, he gets lost in the shuffle, and so I have to make sure he still gets to do the things that they did as kids, and so basketball it is.  He knew he would be starting next week, and so he asked his dad to go outside and play with him.  I came out to watch for a second, and was just in time to see him make a basket - awesome!

I know our little guy is growing up fast, but we are making sure to soak in all the fun and all the cuddles while he is still young.  We sure do love our Arthur.