Hello All! Happy Monday. We are coming off a busy weekend, hence the Monday email, but I did not want two weeks to escape me without one! So here we are. It is February! I am not one who detests January, so when we flipped our calendars on Tuesday, I was a bit in shock that the first month in 2022 is already behind us. Time flies. Speaking of time flying, here is what has occupied us this last week...
Last Monday, Richard had the day off because he had worked the weekend. It was great to have him around in the morning, I am pretty sure he ran errands for me. Bless him. I hate running errands, and I am so happy to have married someone who loves to do it! The kids all went off to school for the first time in a week, all masked, because we were still in our ten day Covid window, but they were all happy to be returning to school. Monday afternoon, Richard went and got his new Intermountain ID badge and went to training for his new job. It is getting real! We were able to have dinner as a family and then Marshall went off to soccer practice.
Tuesday, Richard was at home again...I will say, this will be an adjustment when he starts his new job in March! Between the ever-changing pandemic and work schedule and the fact that he no longer has any academic responsibilities, we have gotten real spoiled with having him around a lot more than he is gone. March is going to bring a very different reality in some ways! Gretchen had Genevieve over to play that morning and was in heaven. She was so happy that Richard could finally meet her! Rachel was able to return to dance that night after missing all the previous week. She was so happy to be back. I have a goal to do puzzles this year. I am trying to slow down my life some and practice sitting and being, and I feel like a puzzle is a good way to do that! Tuesday evening I pulled out a puzzle that we bought for Christmas when we still lived in Wisconsin and we had never opened it. Never. This tells you how long I have been trying to slow my life down. Haha! It is just a 300 piece Mickey Mouse puzzle made out of emojis. It was a great starter puzzle for us. We started it on Tuesday evening and had it finished by Friday evening. Bridget was quite taken with it, and she even involved Gretchen. It was fun to just have it set up in our big family room and people could spend time on it whenever. On to a new one this week!
On Wednesday, Richard finally returned to work after not being in the hospital for a week and a half! I think he was happy to go back. :) The kids all went to school, and I was alone, for the first time in days. I celebrated by running errands. Gag. Marshall and Bridget had piano lessons that afternoon, Rachel had dance that evening, and Marshall went to a YM activity.
Just a note about Marshall here that I want to be sure to record. On Thursday, Marshall participated in the school STEM fair. Marshall and Richard had been working on his STEM project since the beginning of the school year. His project was due for class in January and he had to put together a powerpoint presentation and write notecards for his presentation in class. He did a great job and his teacher selected him, along with a handful of other students from her 7th grade honors science classes to move onto the school STEM fair. In preparation for that, he had to print off his powerpoint and arrange the slides on a big board that would be displayed. He went into school early two Wednesdays in a row to work on this and this last Wednesday he also had to stay after school. He texted me to let me know he would be staying late, and then about 4:00 he told me to come pick him up. He walked out of the school with his big board and told me he needed to finish up two things at home. On our drive home, he told me that he was so stressed out that morning at school about getting everything ready that he thought about texting me to tell me he was too stressed out and didn't want to do the fair. But, he said he just kept working, and then realized he didn't have that much left to do, and that he could do it and the more he did, the better he felt. Now, if you know Marshall well, you know this is HUGE. One, he chose not to run away from a stressful situation. Two, he recognized that his stress dissipated as he kept working and stayed in it. And third, he was able to put words to all of this and articulate it to me. Boom! HUGE! And on top of that, he came home from school, worked on homework until piano, came home, had dinner, went to YM, and then came home and did more homework and finished his board. He never freaked out. Another win! I took him to school on Thursday morning so he didn't have to navigate the bus with his big board. He had to pack nice clothes to change into at school, and while I could tell his emotions were a bit elevated that morning, he kept himself in check. All the 7th and 8th graders who were participating in the fair were excused a bit early from their last period class so they could change into nice clothes and get their boards set up. Judging began at 3:15 and was only supposed to last an hour, but it lasted until 4:50. During that time, the students had to stand by their project and present to the four judges who came around individually and asked questions. My Mom was so kind and really helped out that day by picking up McDonalds for Marshall and taking it over to the junior high for him. She got there at 4:30 and kindly waited until he was excused from the gym. She said at 4:50, the students came bursting out of the gym yelling, "Freedom!" Haha! Marshall was over the moon about McDonalds, even though it was hardly warm! Richard and I got over to the junior high at 5:30 when they opened up the STEM fair to everyone. We found Marshall in good spirits, still very happy about his McDonalds dinner! We walked around and looked at all the projects and my parents also came at 5:45. At 6:00, they gathered everyone together and gave awards for the top 3 7th grade projects and top 8th grade projects. Marshall won 2nd place for the 7th grade and moves onto the district STEM fair the end of February! We are so thrilled for him with this accomplishment, but even more thrilled with how well he handled everything leading up to it, especially Wednesday and Thursday. It shows such huge growth in him, and that is the biggest payday.
Okay, onto the rest of our Thursday. On Thursday morning Richard gave his last lecture to the residents. It was definitely bittersweet for him. The thing he will miss the most about leaving the U is his interaction and teaching the trainees. On the flipside though, he will not miss staffing them out on the weekends and early morning hours and fixing their mistakes! That afternoon I baby-sat a crawling baby boy. Ziggy was stressed out of his mind. Literally. It was equal parts sad and hilarious. After school, I went to music class with Rachel. After dropping her off at home, we left Bridget in charge of doing dinner for herself and her sisters and then Richard and I went to the junior high. Bless Bridget. She is so reliable and fed everyone and did a great job.
Friday afternoon, Cambria walked home from school with the girls. Gretchen might have been more excited about this than Bridget! Gretchen was literally counting down the minutes until those girls walked in the door. They are always so kind to involve Gretchen and everyone had fun. The girls created an entire farm in the big family room and they ran wild with their imaginations until dinner time. Rachel went and played with Sara for a couple of hours that afternoon. Marshall was on a roll and came home from school, did his homework, practiced the piano, and did some jobs. I was in shock. After dinner, some of us watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics and the younger girls watched another show. Just before 8:00, I dropped Marshall off at a friend's house for night games and I went to my Foxboro book club. It was great catching up with those women, eating a most delicious chocolate mousse and of course, discussing the book. :) It is actually one of my favorites that I have listened to three times now. Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan. Great little gems of life's lessons in there.
Saturday morning was spent sleeping in, thankfully! After breakfast, the kids semi got going on jobs. Marshall went to Hayden's birthday party that afternoon from 12:00-2:00 and had a great time there. It was all boys, except one girl. When I picked Marshall up I teased him about it being his first boy/girl party. He was hilarious. He threw his head back and rolled his eyes and said, "Mom, stop!" An epitome of a classic teenage moment right there. Richard had to work from home on Saturday and I squeezed in a walk with Ziggy and a nap on the couch before going to the farm with Bridget. She was assigned to feed the animals that evening, and to speed things up, I went with her. Six new baby goats have been born and are now old enough to be outside. She was so happy to see them, and I will say, they are darling. If I knew they would stay that small and fluffy and cute, I would finally give in to Bridget's begging for a goat. But, I now know the strength and stubbornness of adult goats and I have ZERO interest in that! Bridget did great at the farm, and I even handled it better than two weeks ago, I wasn't quite as disgusted. :) Speaking of Bridget and animals though, on Saturday morning we paid the kids allowance and helped them figure out their tithing and savings. In doing this, Bridget discovered that she actually has a hefty sum of money in her wallet. That immediately got her wheels turning and she honestly spent all morning begging me for a mouse, rat, hamster, gerbil, vole, ferret, and pretty much every other rodent under the sun. It was exhausting. I kept trying to tell her that Ziggy is one hundred times better than any rodent and way more fun, but it was hours before she let up.
Saturday night was one for the books. For Christmas, we gave Marshall, Bridget, and Rachel tickets to go see Hamilton with me. We were supposed to see it in January, but too many people in the cast ended up with Covid, so it was postponed until now. I am so glad it still worked out for me to take them! They appeased me and stood in line so we could take our picture with the Hamilton backdrop behind us and then we found our seats. We were on the third to last row of the highest balcony, so far away, but we were right in the center. It was phenomenal. Marshall and Bridget were captivated the entire time. The show didn't start until 8:00, and I was a little worried about how Rachel would do. She did love it, but she fell asleep and was out cold halfway through the second half. She did love it while she was awake though and I had to silence her singing a handful of times! The man who played Hamilton was stellar and I loved the actor for Aaron Burr. I did not love the Aaron Burr Richard and I saw in New York, so I was pleased this guy did such an amazing job. The Room Where it Happens remains one of my favorites-it is amazing! So, to sum it up, it was a great evening out and a fun adventure with my three oldest. Richard also had a great night. Months ago he bought tickets for the BYU Gonzaga basketball game. When Hamilton ended up falling on the same night, he invited Ricky to go with him. He had bought seats way up high, but an hour before he left, the guy who we refinanced our mortgage with months ago gave Richard two tickets to the game, free of charge, on the 7th row, right behind the BYU bench. Richard was so happy! The good seats and his evening with Ricky overshadowed the terrible BYU loss. We all pulled in just after 11:30 and said a huge thank you to my parents who had come to stay with the little Bear Cub.
Sunday was a day of church and all of us being excessively tired! Ha! Richard also had church meetings and then worked from home a good chunk of the day. We had a delightful evening though. We invited Xavier and Madie over for dinner. We know Xavier from the Milwaukee City Branch. We hadn't seen them since the summer of 2020, so this visit was long overdue. They are about to have their first baby so we are so grateful we could catch up with them. It was just great to have them over.
I have to end with two cute things Gretchen has said. The other day she asked me, "Are pigs made out of meat?" And today, before she got dressed, she asked, "What is the degree like today?" It cracked me up.
Alright, that is it! Love to each of you!
Love,
Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)
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