Hello!
A Monday edition of the email. I am elated to be writing this in a quiet house, with some classical piano music playing, my lunch beside me, with no one but Ziggy to interrupt me! I have adjusted VERY nicely to all the kids in school! Though, I will admit, I got a bit teary eyed on Friday morning watching Rachel and Gretchen take off for school. They have walked to school every single morning, with the exception of the first day, and I love it, though Friday it did tug at my heartstrings as I watched Gretchen walk behind Rachel, her little legs and big backpack. They grow, and my heart simultaneously breaks and leaps for joy.
We have had a great last week, the first full week of school, with only a handful of hiccups and snags here and there. The first of which began last Monday morning at 6:00 am. Richard and I had gotten up at 5:00 am, each working out in different spots in our house. At 6:00 am, Richard walked upstairs to get ready for work and came right back down to tell me Gretchen had just thrown up and had diarrhea all over the bathroom. Not what anyone wants to hear! I dashed upstairs, and there the poor girl was. Bless her little Bear Cub heart! 95% of the mess was contained to the bathroom (thank goodness for tile). I felt so bad for her, no one wants to start their third day of the school year with the stomach flu! I got her cleaned up first and she slept off and on all morning on the couch. I spent the rest of my day cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, sanitizing anything she might have touched and doing laundry. By early afternoon she was doing quite a bit better. She had some energy to run :) and she and I played a game together. Despite her telling me she was hungry, I really limited her food and she was a good sport about all of it. Sweet girl. She made it through all of kindergarten without a stomach bug but has had it twice in three months. She handles it so well though and has recovered quick both times. As for the rest of us, it was a good Monday! Richard worked, the other three kids went to school, Marshall had cross country after school, Bridget worked at the farm, and Rachel is back to dance. Yay! She was so excited to go back and had a blast Monday afternoon/evening. Just like last year, she is going to be so busy with dance, but one thing I learned about her this summer is that even though she needs downtime, she does so much better with routine, structure, and things to keep her busy with downtime here and there. So, she is back in her element and thriving!
Tuesday morning brought a completely recovered Gretchen who was so excited to return to school. Yay! I always hesitate to send my little kids back to school the day after a stomach bug (what if disaster strikes again?!) but she was so eager to go, I couldn't say no. I sent her off, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best and that is exactly what we got. Whew! Marshall had his first cross country race that morning as well, so it was nice to have Grizz at school, though I did worry about her the whole time I was up in Layton. The heart of a mother-it is in as many places as you have children! Anyway, going back to Monday evening real quick, it was just Richard, Marshall and I at the table for dinner on Monday. He had just gotten his cross country uniform and was talking all things racing with Richard. It was hilarious to listen to. I just sat back and took it all in. He vacillated between talking like he is definitely planning to do this for four years and wanting to smash all of Richard's times, to this is the worst thing we have ever made him do and he just wants to be done! In the end, he got some good strategy from Richard and decided his goal was to just beat Richard's time from his first race as a freshman. I dropped Marshall off at the high school on Tuesday morning just before 8:00 am and off he went on the bus. It was the pre-region meet, so it was all the high school's in Viewmont's region and they ran the same course they will run at region in several weeks. All the runners, JV and varsity ran in one group, so it was all the girls first, and 45 minutes later, all the boys. I got there about halfway through the girls race, so I was able to get my bearings and figure out the course and the best spots to watch Marshall. I have never been to a cross country race before, and I will tell you, I got emotional watching those girls run and listening to everyone cheering. I have never been a spectator at a sporting event where everyone is so positive! I noticed that the parents were cheering for every single runner who ran by them, it didn't matter if they were from their school or not, they were cheering. The boys, as they waited to race, were cheering on the girls and encouraging them on. It was next level and I started to cry! My goodness. It was so cool to see. After crying through the girls' race, I was nervous what I was going to do while Marshall was running, but with him I was just excited, though extremely discombobulated with the camera! Marshall smashed his goal of beating Richard's first time, which was 21-something. Marshall came in at 19:42. I was so proud of him! Viewmont also did exceptionally well overall, taking first in both boys and girls, by a very big margin. It was a fun morning to see, and I am so grateful Marshall could be a part of it. The only things we had that evening were dance for Rachel and soccer practice for Marshall.
Wednesday was also a pretty chill day. Cross country and YM's for Marshall. The teacher's quorum went mini golfing at Cherry Hill, but the weather did not completely cooperate and the thunderstorm caught up to them on the 14th hole, so they had to end early. Bridget went to horseback riding and then was supposed to do water balloon volleyball for YW's, but the rain ruined that too, so she and some friends went to one of her friend's house to play games and Bridget had a great time. Rachel and Gretchen didn't have anything going on, and it was fun to just have them home. We enjoyed the rainstorm, the vibrant sunset when it was all done, and seeing a double rainbow! It was a magical evening outside in the sky and experiencing it all with Rachel and Gretchen and Richard.
Richard's work shift on Thursday was 3:00 pm-10:00 pm at home. It was so great to have him home and around! We have officially hired an architecture firm, and after some back and forth via email and a virtual meeting, the two architects on our project came over on Thursday morning and it was so great! They spent over two hours here and we cannot wait to see what they come up with. As of right now, we are planning to completely remodel our primary bathroom next spring/summer, remodel the main floor in two or three years, and then giving the outside of the house a major facelift in maybe five years...but we will see. They are drawing up plans for all of it though and we cannot wait to see the magic they will work, especially on the main floor. While Richard worked that afternoon and evening, the kids were busy, which means I was too! Marshall went straight from school, to cross country, to soccer practice and then came home and did homework for approximately three hours-proud of him! Bridget and Gretchen didn't have anything going on, but Rachel was back at dance and had so much fun, per the usual.
Friday Richard worked 5:00 pm to midnight, again, at home. That morning he had to take his car in for a little work and then he and I worked on our poor peach tree. It seems we are slowly killing every single growing thing in our yard. This year, our peach tree, I swear, produced 1,000 tiny peaches and broke four branches in the process. We clearly are not giving that poor tree and time and attention it needs. We pruned as much as we could fit in our dumpster and literally picked up hundreds of peaches. The good news, it looks better, the bad news, we get to do it all again this week after garbage day! Poor tree. We ran some errands before picking up Rachel and Gretchen from school. That afternoon, I spent time with Mark Erickson. He is a disabled man in our ward, who helps with the music in primary. His mom asked me to come over last minute to sit with him for a while so she could visit her husband who is in a care center. I readily agreed, and once I got there Mark told me it was his parents' 56th wedding anniversary and that his father has decided to go on hospice and they expect he will pass in the next several days. It made me even more glad that I told Joyce I could come. Such a tender time for their family. Richard held the fort down here at home and even helped with dinner prep. Bless him. Rachel and Gretchen got their jobs done that afternoon so they could both have late nights with friends. Bridget stayed after school for the Welcome Back dance and then went to Claire's house to hang out with friends until 6:30. She came home with some wild junior high dance stories. Gosh. We were riveted as she told them during dinner, and inside I was also terrified. What a world. Marshall had cross country after school, again. :) All I will say about Friday night is that I brought it all on myself, it was crazy, nine girls in a house is too much, there was a bathroom accident, Richard was so glad he was working, and I was so relieved to send everyone home at 9:30 pm and fall into bed.
Saturday dawned bright and early. Richard was in bed at 12:30 am after work and I was up at 4:45 am and Marshall was up at 5:00 am. I fed that cute runner a good breakfast and then dropped him off at the high school at 5:55 to get on the bus for another meet. Richard and I left the house at 7:00 am and picked up my parents to go cheer on Marshall! This race was a bit longer than the one on Tuesday and had way more hills. Marshall's time was 20:45, still so proud of him! We were able to talk to him for a few minutes after he finished and tell him good job and then we left. He stayed for the rest of the meet and got back to Viewmont about noon. Richard and Marshall spent the rest of their afternoon at my parents' house for the annual boys activity. They had lunch, made pies, and played games! I will admit, Marshall was not looking forward to going, but he ended up having a fantastic time! He has not stopped raving about his apple pie he brought home and he even made snickerdoodles all on his own yesterday! Ha! A chef in the making! While the boys were gone, the girls and I went running/walking at Freedom Hills and then grabbed lunch from Chick-Fil-A. Bridget worked at the farm that evening and hung out at Cambria's house after. The other kids chilled at home and Richard and I went to a wedding reception and had the best time eating delicious food and visiting with friends and neighbors. I told Richard we have a handful of years to get our yard ready to host a wedding reception for at least one of our kids...we need to figure out how to help things grow and not die! Good grief.
We had a great day yesterday. Sleeping in, church, and a pretty laid-back afternoon. As I mentioned, Marshall made snickerdoodles all on his own, and then the girls made a second batch. :) Clearly, one cannot have too many cookies. We grilled dinner and ate outside before going to a neighborhood dessert night.
And here we are, in a new week. It will be a busy one. A soccer tournament for Marshall and Gretchen kicks off our birthday week on Friday. I cannot believe she will be seven. Another heartbreak is around the corner for me.
Love each of you!
Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel and Gretchen :)
Oh, two random things I cannot forget! Marshall has moved Ziggy down to his room for sleeping, so Ziggy's crate now resides in Marshall's room and it is going quite well! It is fun to see their little relationship flourish...it has only taken three years. :)
The running bug has found its way into our family. Bridget wasn't able to go to any XC practices this week, so I told her to just try and run twice since she is going to do a race on September 16th. She and Cambria went running Thursday evening, but it took them awhile to coordinate that, and during all of that coordination, Gretchen decided she wanted to go to. She even went up to her bedroom and changed into her "running clothes" and came downstairs and told Bridget she was ready to go. It was the sweetest thing. Bridget, being Bridget, told Gretchen that she would take her on a 20-minute run through the neighborhood before Cambria came to pick her up and then she would take her again on Saturday. The sweetest sister. Gretchen was on Cloud 9.
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