Leake Family: The Leake's Week-March 27, 2023

Hello!

A Monday edition of the email...and not only that, I am writing this while sitting in front of our fire, while snow falls down around us. School has been cancelled, my kids are running around wild, I am having flashbacks to remote learning days of spring 2020, and trying to take deep breaths. :) Good thing I set my intention for the day as having patience and flexibility...little did I know how much I would need those two attributes today when I breathed those words in at 6:00 am! Haha! I cannot believe how much snow is on the ground and how much snow continues to fall. At about 8:00 am we measured the snow on our deck and we had almost ten inches. I am certain by now we have another inch. Richard, so thankfully, is working from home today 3:00 pm-10:00 pm. We are both so glad he doesn't have to get on I-15 today. And I am SO glad he is home to snowblow! I am kicking myself for not getting this email out yesterday. Soon, my computer will be commandeered for remote learning for the three girls, so I am going to have to write this in shifts. Here we go!

We had a really, really wonderful week last week. It was just our normal busy and not a thing more and it felt so doable and even laid back at times! Ha! Here are the details..

Last Monday I went to music class with Gretchen. She and I both love it. Rachel had dance. Marshall had soccer practice. Bridget had the farm, and the best news of the day is that I did not have to go with her! Praise be! Melanie took the girls and I cannot tell you how glorious it was to be home on a Monday evening. I even got to pick Rachel and Sara up from dance, and I was thrilled to do it just because that meant I was not at the farm!

Tuesday morning I had a dentist appointment, just a cleaning, only to find out I need a crown on another tooth! Ahhh!!! I think I am just at the beginning of getting crowns on a few teeth, so I just better brace myself and hold on. The good news is that no root canal is needed. It is just old childhood fillings wearing out. The dentist said it was not urgent, just sometime in the next few months. But, looking ahead at my calendar, I would just rather get it over and done with instead of being on a trip, biting into something wrong, and then being in excruciating pain! So, I go on Wednesday afternoon to begin that glorious process. Many prayers will be said by me on Wednesday. Anyway, after surviving another dentist appointment, I went and helped in kindergarten, always fun. We had Charlie and Jackson over for lunch. Gretchen had fun playing with them and the weather was even decent enough that they got to play outside for a huge chunk of time! I pruned our burning bush and talked to Jessica and Camie outside...almost felt like spring! That afternoon when I picked the girls up from school, Rachel did not look great and was quite cross. She finally told me she was not feeling well, but because she just had the stomach flu two weeks before I was certain it was not that. I did some Googling and thought she might have heartburn! I found some tums, gave her one, and within 30 minutes she was up and running around! So nuts! Because of all of this, she did miss dance, which she did appreciate the extra downtime. None of the girls had anything extra on Tuesday and they had so much fun together. The girls have an elaborate Barbie set-up in the loft right now and those three have spent every minute they have together playing up there. I have loved listening to them, and I so love that despite Bridget being 12 years old, she is fully in on this. Marshall went straight from school, to track practice, to Johnny's birthday party. He didn't get home until almost 9:00 pm. Not going to lie, this was wonderful. :) Johnny's party was supposed to be the day Marshall threw up at school. They were so, so nice to postpone the party. Johnny's mom took the boys to Cafe Rio for dinner and then bowling. Marshall had a great time and came home so happy! Despite Rachel's heartburn and my bad news at the dentist, Tuesday was a great day.

Wednesday was horseback riding for Bridget. Wednesday afternoon was, I bet you guessed it, a snow storm. What's new?! Bridget was actually less than thrilled about going in the snow, even though they ride inside, she still has all the work before and after outside. But, despite me dropping her off in a bad mood, I picked her up in a happy mood and she had had a lot of fun. Rachel had dance that evening, Bridget had YW's, and Marshall had soccer.

Thursday morning Bridget had DARE Graduation. I ran down to the school for that and brought cookies for treats. There are a lot of 6th graders in our neighborhood and it was fun to cheer them all on. I cannot believe Bridget is in 6th grade, so grown up. That afternoon, Gretchen had dance class. As I was driving her to dance, we had music playing in the car. She hates when I sing in the car, which takes all the joy out of listening to music while driving! So, I was singing, trying to get a bit in before she told me to stop when she yelled, "No! You are not singing it properly!" Haha! I cracked up when I heard her say properly. That girl! After school, Rachel had piano and Marshall finally had track practice on the high school track. Due to after school sports schedules and the weather, all the junior high track practices have had to be at the junior high, with most of their workouts happening inside. When I picked Marshall up at Viewmont he was worn out! Yes! They have to walk from the junior high to the high school and then they did time trials for different events. Because Marshall is one of the faster ones, the coaches had him keep running different events. I think in the end he did the 1600 once, the 800 twice and the 400 once, plus the normal track workout they had planned for the day. Work that kid! The good news of all of this is he is now firmly committed to eating lunch each day. The boy finally realized one needs energy and calories to run. :)

Friday I volunteered at the Charger Store...still loving it! Gretchen went home with a friend after kindergarten and had a blast spending the afternoon over there. Fun tidbit...this family used to live in Foxboro. The last year we lived there, I taught Marshall's primary class with the mom. I had Gretchen, and she had a little baby named Hannah. We moved that June, they moved the next September, and now our kids go to the same elementary school and Gretchen and Hannah are in kindergarten together and have become great friends! Rachel walked home with Eily after school, and Bridget was a good sport and walked home alone because she had a piano lesson. :) After piano, she had Claire and Cambria over to play in the snow and sled for two hours. Those girls had a blast and I was happy to see that someone was having fun in the freshly fallen inches of snow at the end of March. :) That night, Richard and I made dinner for the kids and then took off on a date. I told Richard to pick the restaurant and he completely caught me off guard by making reservations at the Mandarin! I have eaten at the Mandarin no more than five times in my entire life and the last time I was there was when Richard and I came up from Provo with a bunch of friends to eat there...we weren't even dating at the time, so this was a VERY long time ago. I am happy to report my taste buds have finally matured and I actually liked every single thing I ate. When I was growing up, my parents went to the Mandarin all the time...or so it seemed. They always brought home leftovers and stunk up the fridge. I loathed it. That is not an exaggeration either! Anyway, of course, Richard and I came home with loads of leftovers on Friday night. The kids were all in the family room watching a movie when we got home and we walked by them to put the leftovers in the fridge. Gretchen immediately exclaimed, "What smells like a skunk?!" Cracked me up! I could totally relate to her at that moment. Richard and I had a great evening out. It was so nice to sit and catch up with each other. And don't worry, while we were eating it started snowing again so Richard had to clean off the car before we drove home. So nuts!

Saturday was a semi-busy day, but also equal parts relaxing and productive. We cleaned the church at 8:00 am and then picked up bagels for breakfast...a great incentive. :) We spent the rest of the day playing, napping, and doing jobs. We had an earlier dinner and then Bridget and I left for the farm just before 5:00. Bridget and Cambria had a huge incentive to work hard and fast without distraction because Cambria needed to leave at 7:30. The last time I was at the farm with the girls it took four hours so I was completely prepared to be there for a long time with just Bridget. Those girls cranked it out and finished every single thing in 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was on Cloud 9 and could not believe it. I told them now they have to do this every time because now we know they are capable of it!

We had a great Sunday yesterday. Richard only had one meeting, we went to church, and then we forced our three oldest kids to have a sit down goal session with us. Bridget is the only one who loves these planning meetings. Marshall and Rachel just grit their teeth and get through it. :) We also went to Toney FHE at my parents' house, which is always a wonderful time.

And now here we are. It is now Monday late afternoon. I honestly felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack from 11:00-3:00 as I was going back and forth between all four kids helping with remote learning. I am beyond glad Richard is home. He started work at 3:00, and he was so helpful. He picked up the groceries and got lunch for everyone. He helped Bridget and Rachel on the computers while I was helping Gretchen on Zoom. And he mopped the kitchen floor from a very unfortunate spill while I helped Marshall make band video after band video trying not to bang my head against the wall! I was very quickly reminded how much I loathe McGraw Hill. Who makes that program?!?! Idiots...that is who! Ah! I feel my blood pressure rising just as I type this! But, it is one day, not the rest of the school year, so I will survive! I need to spend a little more time with Gretchen doing school stuff later today. She would have been done earlier, but we only have three computers for four kids so that has been tricky. One high point of the day is that we all did sit down to have lunch together, which is nice because only half of us will be here for dinner. We were talking and laughing and then all of a sudden Gretchen got up, walked over to our kitchen Google and said, "Hey Google, show me pictures of Hawaii." We cracked up! We hadn't even been talking about Hawaii or vacations or anything like that. Just eating lunch with 12 inches of snow on our deck and snow still falling and Gretchen asks to see pictures of Hawaii. Perfect timing! Let's go!