My birthday and other happenings

 I turned 38 this year. It feels pretty weird. I don't feel any different than when I was in my early twenties, although I certainly hope I am more compassionate and understanding. My birthday gift from Michael was a whole day to myself, which I enjoyed by going into the office to catch up personal items--the blogs, my journal, pondering what path I'm taking in life, planning for the fall, catching up with kind friends and family who reached out with birthday wishes, etc. Then the family surprised me with replacement dishes of the ones the kids have broken ;-). It was lovely.

The family birthday pic.

Michael and the boys made this sweet birthday banner for me. You can see in the background the patio work, which I'll share in a separate post.

I was concerned for Clara this year with virtual schooling, but mercifully she is able to attend her Zoom classes from the high school so she can have teachers there to help her with schoolwork as needed. It is going as well as could be expected.

At the bus stop waiting for her bus.

Henry took this pic of us unbeknownst to me while we were at Robbie's first soccer game watching his team play. Initially Robbie's team didn't have a coach, so Michael has kindly stepped up to be coach (I am the "support parent") in addition to being a bishop, orthodontist, husband, and father. I have helped a bit by looking up practice plan suggestions and reaching out to other soccer parent families. 

We had our first "family media plan" discussion a few weeks ago, something that will be an ongoing conversation, particularly with Robbie doing virtually learning at home (I still need to get a photo of him diligently focusing on Zoom with his class). Since I know I can't just ignore technology, I want my kids to be empowered users and not feel fear or be misinformed about it. I certainly love it in some respects and want my kids to be safe and wise. I am constantly combatting my own temptations to be on my phone instead of doing other more worthwhile things.

Henry is able to be in-person this year at Little Oaks preschool. As a June birthday, we could have put him into Kindergarten, but we prayerfully felt it was the best choice to give him another year of preschool. It is more rigid than I would like regarding mask-wearing, plexiglass dividers, and social distancing, but he seems to be enjoying it and it certainly helps to have him engaged while Robbie is doing his work at home.

This giant old-school slide at a park in Timberville was attractive to Benjy, who felt excited until he sat at the very top. However, I reached up my hand and he could barely touch it as he went down. He was proud of himself.

This year I expanded my applesauce efforts to buying two bushels of seconds at Showalter's Orchard. 

With Michael's help on a Friday night, we canned 18 quarts. I also made crockpot apple butter, instant pot applesauce, and apple pie filling for two pies. I bought the Ball Canning book and it has made me excited to can other things . . . this season of my life isn't exactly canning-conducive, but my hope is that next year I can can pickles and salsa since my refrigerator pickles earlier this summer were really yummy.

Clara got her wisdom teeth out last week! She has been super nervous about it and we've discussed it daily (often several times daily) for the past two months. Despite fighting the anesthesia (which made them have to give her a lot) and puking lots and lots the whole first day, she has been recovering really well so far, which is a great blessing.

I was excited that my efforts to collect donations for a program for at-risk first time moms went well--we collected 71 blankets and my goal was 75, along with tons of diapers and wipes. Pretty awesome.

Smoothies are good to the last drop, right Benjy?

September was a good month and I'm grateful to be getting into some sort of rhythm, although I confess I'm not quite there yet. If I could accomplish my goal of being asleep by 9:30pm, I think I'd feel better. Well, Michael and I are trying to get off our devices at 9pm to connect first. I have different things I'm trying to work on with each of the three older kids (family history work with Clara weekly, but when?, reading the Book of Mormon with Robbie each morning before Henry gets up, which is going pretty well, and working on smooth talking with Henry each day--also having a hard time finding time to do it), and I don't feel like I'm quite getting the most important things done, but I'm trying. I am trying.