September Fun

 Some friends in the ward passed along some random arts and craft supplies. We opened a bottle of what we thought was slime for all the kids (including the neighbors) to play with. Turns out it was NOT slime. It was just straight neon pink Elmer's glue. Did that stop anyone? Not at all. 

Juliana & Elise, covered in pink glue

Elijah and Juliana in the glue.

Side note: it is really, really hard to get neon pink glue off your driveway. I even tried some hydrochloric acid to no avail. I'm assuming rain+sun+time will eventually do the trick! Hopefully there are no HOA rules about pink driveways...

We were super excited when our local dairy farm/ice cream shop hosted a paw paw festival! We planted several paw paw trees in our backyard (with middling success) so we wanted to take everyone for a taste. Unfortunately the lines were CRAZY long and the hornets were out en masse. Said hornets really, really liked our paw paw lemonade and diligently tried to crawl inside our drinks. Jon flicked on off his drink and (unintentionally?) straight at Catherine, resulting in psychological trauma that will probably require therapy eventually. But the paw paw ice cream was delicious and we are excited for future paw paw eating! 

Elise the zebra swallowtail butterfly at the paw paw festival!

Aaron's Birthday Interview

 (It's now the end of February and I'm realizing I never did your birthday interview this year (facepalm). So here's your birthday interview at 9.5 years old!). 

Aaron's 9.5 Year Old Birthday Interview

(Before I even ask a question): "My favorite color is deep red.

What's your favorite food? "White shells."

Who is your best friend? "One of the Knoxes." Which one? "How 'bout...Luke."

What's your favorite movie? Or a movie that you like? "Some type of movie that's a horror movie."

    -Me: "You've never watched a horror movie!"

    -Aaron: "Yes I have."

    -Me: "What was it?"

    -Aaron: "I forgot its name."

    -Me: "What happened in it?"

    -Aaron: "I forgot what happened, too."

    -Me: "Why is that your favorite movie, then?"

    -Aaron: "Okay. Okay. Fine. Umm, I don't think I actually know what my favorite movie is. Or a movie I like."

How about a favorite show? "Gravity Falls."

What's your favorite thing to play with that's not a screen? "I'd say an equal amount of my imagination and drawing."

What's your favorite screen to play on? "Computer."

What do you plan on your computer? "Usually Bloody Battles, sometimes Tower Battles [Roblox games]."

What is your favorite not-computer game to play? "Draw."

    -Me: "That's not a game. Like a game that we would play together."

    -Aaron: "Umm, Splendor."

What's your favorite snack? "Apples with caramel."

What's your favorite animal? "Dog."

What do you want to be when you grow up? "An engineer."

What's your favorite song? "The song where it used to be in Bloody Battles when you raged with a shovel."

What's your favorite Primary song? "(very long pause) Umm...I'm a Child of God. How 'bout that."

What's your favorite book? "That math book (library book). No! Harry Potter, Harry Potter."

What's your favorite thing to learn about at school? "Math."

Anything else you'd like to tell us about 9.5 year old Aaron? "I'm better than everyone else in my family at Geometry Dash."

Aaron at Nine

Dear Best Friend,

You've made lots of big changes this year. You've decided to try out public school (which I'm still not sure is going to work for you, but I'm excited that you're excited). You also decided to try out soccer: your first sport! I love that you are ready to just try anything--you don't get anxious about new experiences or places. 

Which is funny considering how anxious you are about sharing things you eat off of. If anyone uses your fork or your plate before you're finished, you freak out and refuse to touch any of the rest of the food. I can't actually blame you too much, but it does seem a bit disproportional since you're totally fine with eating raw cookie dough. 

You still love screens and would spend all of your time there if given the chance. Current favorites are Roblox, Minecraft and Geometry Dash. You and your cousin Elliot have sent each other letters full of your respective stats on Geometry Dash. You also like designing your own levels of the game. 

When you're not on screens, you still give us some great drawings. This one happened after you were stung by a wasp while playing on the hill with Bennett:

(You were planning to sell them to our neighbor, Mr. Chris. Thus the price tag). 

You have a small fan club of your drawings. I send your best work to Anna Knox, who shares them with all of her friends. 

You also go through game phases where you just want to play board/card games all the time. Or design your own games. 

You still love math. And gems. And nonfiction books. And you still question us about black mold occasionally. 

You are still my only kid who consistently remembers to clear his spot, or put his shoes away, or do all of his jobs after school without being reminded. You make my life easy. 

You are still waiting for a best friend. Bennett is sometimes your buddy, but he likes to suddenly declare that he's only friends with Elise every few weeks. It makes you really sad and mad (and me, too). You're hoping that going to school will help you meet someone who could be your buddy. Otherwise we're just going to have to move next door to Elliot. 

I'm still in love with your hair. Every time I cut it I cut too much off and then I'm sad until it grows back out again. 

You like things to be black and white. You like rules and you want everyone to follow them. And you like to act as the police when someone breaks the rules. Which is really fun for everyone since Elise and Elijah LIVE to break rules. 

I finally moved you up to size 8-10 clothes after two years in size 6-7. They're still a bit big, but we were both tired of the same clothes. You definitely follow the scrawny genotype like your older sister. 

I always feel like I'm neglecting you because you are just so easygoing and make so few demands of me. Your favorite thing is when I tell you I'm going to spend one-on-one time just with you for part of an evening. You like to watch me play Geometry Dash because I'm just awful at it. 

Thank you for your hugs, your mellow sweetness, and your awesome drawings.  I need your gentleness in my life more than you know. I love you, Best Friend. 

Love, Mom

Aaron's Birthday Party

Aaron's birthday parties are always super fun because the weather is so nice! He invited several families to come play games, eat dinner, and just hang out together for an afternoon/evening. 

First, there was a fun game of soccer:

Followed by a scavenger hunt, run by Jon:

I'm not sure exactly what the rules were, but the best part was watching a couple of kids haul a huge chunk of a tree trunk into our yard. It's actually still sitting out by our swingset five months later...

The theme, of course, was gems.

I bought edible gems off Etsy. 

They were not delicious, but they looked cool!

Getting ready to sing to the birthday boy:

Opening gifts with assistance from Paul, Blake, Elise, and Bennett:

Of course you have to have ring pops at a gem party!

What I failed to notice is that some of the ring pops were designed to stain your tongue.

Or your entire face:

I'm not sure who had more fun at Aaron's birthday party: the adults or the kids! It was such a lovely evening with really lovely people. 

Aaron Turns 9

 

Aaron chose Krave for his birthday breakfast!

And we got two boxes because one is just not enough for these kids anymore!

We also decorated with sparkly construction paper gems.

It's kind of lame when your birthday is on a school day, but at least it was a Friday!

After school it was time to open gifts!

Most of his gifts were things like books about gems or a pickaxe.

Or candy. 

Aaron was very specific about his cake: cherry chip.

And it turns out you can't find cherry chip box mix in the store anymore.

So I got to make my own and it turned out pretty delicious!

Very pleased with his cherry cake!

Cherry cake, but this time with candles!

Most of his birthday was spent on screens (just the way he likes it), but eventually they headed outside to try out his coolest gift: an actual bow and arrows from Grandma Cathy & Grandpa Russell! This has been a huge hit with all the kids (and neighbor kids). 

Happy 9th, my best friend!

A Little Bit of Yijah

When you refuse to nap, but still actually need a nap, things like this happen.

I guess reading Dilbert upside down has strange side effects.

I have no idea why, but for several weeks, this plastic chicken wing was your favorite toy:

The Knoxes were heading to DC for an air show and Emma was SURE you needed to come. I wasn't sure the Knoxes needed to add a toddler to their crew, especially for a long day in the sun, but they insisted it would be fun. And so Elijah hopped happily into their van to go watch the jets!

They were smart and asked us to send headphones for Elijah

Emma and her Elijah

The Knoxes said you were a dream baby, even falling asleep in your stroller at one point. You came home very cheerful. When I asked you about the show, all I got was "It was LOUD!" So...success??

All the best hotels have room service delivered even when you are in the bathroom and not at all expecting a delivery. Nor were you quite expecting the wait staff to have such unique uniforms:

I don't know how or why, but you were wearing Catherine's hoodie and it was adorable:

One evening we were cleaning up from dinner when we were suddenly attacked!

It was the dread knight, Sir Lackspants!

(You were actually quite vicious as you whacked our legs with your sword).

And, finally, ALL THE BLANKETS:

I'm not actually sure when this started, but you are now obsessed with your blankets. You love to snuggle with them. You love to rub their tags. You love to carry them around. Our new favorite activity is hunting down all of your blankets before bed every night.

New favorite saying: "I not a baby! I Yijah!" You also refer to yourself by your full name: "Yijah Mark Blood." We sure love you, Yijah Mark!

Some other Elijah gems:

-"I go nursery today?" (when I answered yes): "No, thank you."

-(After I had been gone all day at the DC Temple Open House): "No, Mommy. Stay on Yijah's grass. No church grass." (This is basically a command to stay home). 

-"Oh, thank you, Mommy! Thank you get me out a my car seat!" Your politeness kills me every time!

-You have fallen in love with trains and will spend hours constructing and driving trains on the wooden toy tracks in the basement. 

-Your nursery leader is Sister Blomquist. But you only refer to her as "Blomquist." Every week as soon as sacrament meeting ends you go hunt down Blomquist and stand at the end of her pew until she takes you to nursery. She adores you!

-Every time I return home, you have the door to the garage open before I can even turn off the car. You quickly run to the car and announce, "Mommy, you home! I miss you!" It's sweet to be so loved!

Ancestor Celebrations

I've been wanting to do something to help our kids feel more connected to their ancestors, but I wasn't quite sure how to do it. I finally decided to copy my friend Catherine, who would celebrate their birthdays with a treat that was significant in some way. I finally got my nonsense together and we decided to start in September (which ended up being kind of a doozy--six people had birthdays in September!). 

We read their life story, look at their pictures, and then enjoy some sort of food that reminds us of that person. Cherry cake was not a favorite, but honey cookies were. And we learned that ginger beer is supposed to be used as a mixer, not drunk straight from the bottle (it BURNS us!). Oops! I have loved getting to know ancestors that I didn't know (or know very well), plus I've loved getting to tell some of my stories about those that I remember. 

The hardest part has been collecting the information. Sometimes it's as easy as logging into FamilySearch and finding a life sketch to print out. But usually I have to dig through census records and birth certificates and photos to patch a story together. But it's like a mystery I get to solve! And I've gotten to connect with lots of family members who are helping me collect information. So all around it has been a wonderful experience. 

Celebrating Ruth Cornick Cox, Jessie Lucetta Cornick, and cousin Lance Weirich

Eating Sno-balls for Grandpa Bud's birthday.

 

Elijah enjoyed one the next evening, but it had to have a candle in it first. 

I'm grateful I finally managed to get everything sorted so we could make this work. We have been blessed with strong people in our family and I hope my kids will recognize and appreciate that strength.

First Day of School!

Getting ready for the first day of school takes a lot of prep work. Like making sure your hair is dyed the appropriate colors:

Still the pink tips, but this time with a purple streak!

Better view of the pink and purple:

And then it was time for the first day!

Seth leaves for school around 6:45 in order to arrive before the 7:25 start time.

Unless he has seminary that day.

Then he's out the door by 5:55 am.

Totally ready for high school. 

Seth's schedule this year.

We're a bit nervous that he'll be overloaded, but hopefully it will be okay!

Next out the door is Catherine, who gets on the bus at 7:20 am:

Off to middle school!

Catherine's schedule:

She requested to be put into pre-algebra, which is the highest math level available. I'm proud of her for being willing to put in the work she needs to in order to do well in that class (and in all of her classes!). 

These two catch the bus at 8:15:

Ready for first and third grade!

And Aaron's first time in public school.

First time riding the school bus.

So what do you do when it's just you & Mom for the first time ever?

You make bread:

After years of homeschooling, it is very weird to have just Elijah at home all day. And very boring for both of us. I am not very good at playing cars and Elijah is not very good at helping me with house projects. We miss having everyone around. But so far things seem like they're going well for everyone, so fingers crossed it's a successful year!

Random August

Outback Elijah modeling Jon's new hat.

When the DC Temple is rededicated and two members of your family can't attend the broadcast, you resign yourself to attending the afternoon session while Jon takes the kids to the morning session. But then, who should volunteer to take the younger ones so you can actually attend with your spouse?? The always-awesome Uncle Timmy!

I do not know what we would do without Timmy.

Probably cry a lot.

Much less impressive picture of Seth after attending the afternoon session with me & Jon.

I just needed to have documentation that he actually attended for future scrapbooking.

We've gotten some weird orders from Walmart before, but this one was extra special:

Seth is almost, ALMOST tied with Jon.

Although if you count the hair, he's totally winning:

I don't have any idea how this happened, but I found it in the shower and it's my new favorite:

Sometimes you play so hard and nap so little that dinner is just...

 I don't have any pictures of this, but Aaron, Elise & Bennett (our neighbor) spent almost every day on the hillside behind our houses. They were building a campsite there. Or a factory. Or a mine. All I know is that it involved things like hatchets. And requesting me to come light their tiny campfires, which I tried to do when it was dusk so no neighbors would call the fire department. I love that they are making these fun memories together!

Youth Activities

Because a campout just isn't enough fun for one month, we also had a dinner making activity at the Mattsons with with older girls and priests. Summer & I were in charge of the rice pudding. We totally rocked it.  

(We were a bit lacking in the priest department that night)

Sitting down for some delicious food

Elise is so done.

Julia provides comfort.

Elise was so done with most things by this point in her life.

And then another round of birthday telegram singing!

This time to Tessa:

Tessa did not know she was going to be serenaded by Taylor Swift x 5!

I also forced Seth and several other youth to attend a dance.

It did not go well.

It was extremely loud and dark and crowded.

Thankfully they did have a game room which we took advantage of:

Also food.

Which Seth took advantage of.

The young women and leaders saying goodbye to Julia K, who was heading off to college.

Sometimes working with the youth feels overwhelming. It's a constant mental load of activities and mentoring and teaching. But I treasure my friendships with the girls and women I get to work with. I consider myself very, very blessed to get to serve with them.