Extra-Curriculars

I have been feeling for a while that the kids needed to be involved in extra-curricular activities. Not necessarily because I wanted to drive them to stuff, but because I want them to be well-rounded children who learn new skills and discover hobbies and activities that bring them joy. Luca chose swim lessons and Dude chose Chess Club. I signed Luca up for more swim lessons at a local gym and Dude up for an online chess club. It seemed to be going well until it wasn't. 

Luca's swim director opted to change the policy to not allow children in the pool unless they were actively working with the teacher which meant being cold and wet on the side of the pool for the better part of an hour. Since we were only there for fun, because she already can swim and not die, and because it stopped being fun, we pulled her out. Luca's second option was cooking club. Once a week she and I spend time together making whatever she wants. So far we have made caramels, chocolate pudding dirt cups, and marshmallows. I am kind of loving it, especially since I find I can be a lot more patient helping her with her cooking schemes than I am with her helping me with mine.

Dude liked the idea of his chess club, but when he spent most of the time playing chess with online robots instead of the other kids in the group and was miserable the entire time, I couldn't see the point in paying for my child to do something he could really do for free at his own leisure. So I let him quit. Now he and Matthew have agreed to do their own chess club together.

I kind of love it and I kind of think that this was what Heavenly Father intended for our family this whole time. I personally love that we aren't ruled by a schedule. I love that the kids have loads of unstructured play time. It's what they want and what I want for them, truth be told. But I also love that they are learning new skills while building meaningful relationships with the people on this earth who love them most.

I'm not saying that extra-curriculars are inherently evil or we are better or even more lazy because we have chosen this route for this time in our life, but I do feel strongly that for our family right now, these are the extra-curriculars we are meant to have with our children.

Celebration Plates

 I have a bunch of old dishes no one wants, so I decided to transform them into celebration dishes. Everyone gets to paint their own to use anytime we have anything to celebrate. I'm kind of in love.

Matthew Visits His Parents

My darling Mother-in-Law has cancer. All last summer and into the fall she was in the depths of chemotherapy. After successful chemo and a successful surgery in December her oncologist decided to continue with a 4-week radiation regimen. Independently, both Matthew and I felt he should go over and spend a couple weeks with his parents helping where he could and taking her to her daily appointments on the other side of the island. He booked his flight and flew out. For Matthew I think the trip was a success. He missed us, of course, but was grateful to have one-on-one time with either of his parents (something he really hasn't had since he was 3-years old.) He took walks on the beach with his mom, went for bike rides with his dad, and worked in the morning while everyone was asleep. So thankful for a job that enables him the flexibility to work remotely.

As for the kids and me, we did great, for the first week and a half. Heavenly Father managed to fill my schedule with enough to keep me so busy that I didn't have time to miss my dear one. But by Wednesday of the second week, it was a different story. I went on a 10 mile walk that day and was tired, was emotional with PMS, and just all around ready to have my husband back. After dinner that night I went to lie down before packing everyone up to head to the youth activity (one I couldn't get out of). An hour later when I emerged, the kids had put dinner away, cleaned the kitchen and had gone upstairs to play nicely until it was time to leave. At the activity they sat on the stage playing on their tablet and otherwise being perfect angels the entire time. I was overcome with gratitude for these beautiful blessings of mine. So grateful that I picked them up from school the next day and took them to Jamba Juice and offered to cuddle with a movie after we tidied the upstairs. But when we got home, I couldn't bring myself to do anything but be a snuggly vegetable with my babies. I'm pretty sure in that instance we chose the better part. We survived two weeks without dad. Then was not the time to be productive. That was Friday's job. 

Friday (since the kids didn't have school), we cleaned the whole house until it practically shined with joy. The kids had a belated-valentine's day party with some friends and then, when we were ready, we headed up to Portland for dinner and the hotel where we would be spending the night. Matthew got back at midnight so instead of getting him and going home we opted to stay in a hotel next to the airport and make it a grand family adventure. Which it was, until it was time to sleep. Then everyone was Goldilocks mixed with the Pea Princess and no one slept very well.

Saturday we were mostly tired and cranky, but Sunday was a beautiful day reveling in being a whole family again. We are grateful Matthew was able to serve, and we are grateful for the tender mercies while he was gone. We are also grateful to be a foursome once again.

While Matthew Was Away

While Matthew was away, visiting his parents, we had a few minor incidents at home. 

1. A few days after Matthew left, our toaster oven died, not that long after we purchased it. I quickly got a replacement promised but it was a sad week or so living without it.

2. The same day, I pulled out our ladder to finally get to a bulb all the way in the vaulted ceiling of our stairway that has been burned out for the last couple of years (ladder didn't help, I finally needed to borrow a specialty bulb changer from a friend). But while I had it out and was feeling all gung-ho about home projects I finally poked at the brown spot in our ceiling. The brown spot that appeared a few years ago when we found out that the bathroom right above it had a leaky pipe. Thankfully we got the leak fixed and the brown spot hasn't grown anymore, but I've been curious about it. So with my handy ladder, I poked it. I poked the brown spot and got crumbling drywall as my recompense. But hey, now I could at least verify that the leak really was fixed. It was. 

When the kids came home from school and we now had a hole in our ceiling and a busted toaster oven, all days after their father left, they were convinced we were doomed for the next two weeks. 

The kids HATED looking at that hole, Dude kept asking if we could tape a piece of paper over it.

But look at that beautifully-lighted stairwell.  I love looking at that.

3. Maybe that's why Dude was so willing to help with dishes. I told them that with their father gone I was going to need some help with doing the dishes, not just emptying the dishwasher of which they are already in charge. Dude was all over it. Eager to get in there and get a chance to be on the other end of the dish duty. I was so grateful for his helpful attitude. But while he was all enthusiasm it was clear he needed guidance; that just watching his father do nightly dishes for the last 9 years of his life, and emptying the dishwasher for the last 3 years, didn't make him any more aware of the process.

Dishes were heaped into a large pile in the top rack of the dishwasher. Dishes that were claimed to be handwashed were not all the way clean. I really did appreciate that he didn't complain about the extra task, and he genuinely seemed happy to help, I just realized that there was still training on my part that needed to happen. Somehow it was a mom-fail, a mom-win, and a mom-teaching-opportunity all in one.

4. Last year for Christmas, Matthew bought me a couple of diamond art kits. Last year I completed both of them and then they proceeded to sit unattended until I figured out what I was going to do with them. I finally figured out what I was going to do with them! I covered them in mod-podge, bought frames (one of which I had to stain first), secured them in said frames, and finally, mounted them to the wall. So many tasks, and all completed. I think I might have been more proud of actually getting them officially done then in the day by day work on them.

5. The last project I attacked was opening the locked drawer in Dude's dresser. It's an old dresser with a cool lockable drawer, but either we lost the key or the key we had was no longer working because that drawer was a vault. 

I took my problem to facebook and got all kinds of advice. I looked up videos on lockpicking and tried implementing what I saw. I tried a credit card. I tried a handsaw. All solid forms of picking a lock. None were effective. But the handsaw gave me the idea to try my trusty sawzall (a birthday present from a few years ago). Within mere seconds the lock was cut and access to the contents (a couple of pokemon cards and legos) were made available to my darling boy.

 

I felt a bit bad for the dresser, but I also felt invincible and like mother-of-the year. 

2. a. When Matthew got home he was nervous about fixing that large of a hole in our ceiling. But with enough researching and youtube videos he was willing to attempt it. True to Matthew form, what starts out as all anxiety and a desire to hire out eventually ends with him and all of us so proud of what he accomplished. We will be handy homeowners yet.