Thanksgiving.

We hosted 19 people at our house this week for Thanksgiving. I have zero pictures of the people, but I do have pictures of the set-up.

10 adults!

7 kids!

And two kids were in high chairs.

I made a gratitude wall:

(which no one really cared about).

I made a pumpkin chocolate bundt cake 

 which really just tasted like chocolate cake.

It was a chaotic and fun day! I issued a dessert challenge, and only one person accepted it. She ate one serving of all 7 desserts available and even lived to tell about it.

Also, I took the girls and a friend to see the Nutcracker the day after Thanksgiving. We've done it two years in a row, and the girls want it to be an annual tradition.

 It was a youth production, and it was decently good. There was one part where the prince almost dropped the Sugar Plum Fairy. The whole audience gasped at the same time, and I felt a real bond.

Earlier in the week, we decorated a friend's house while they were at the court house finalizing the adoption of two boys they have had for almost two years. What an exciting day!

The library sold graham cracker house kits for $5 a piece, and the kids were delighted to decorate them.

And today's Sunday photo. Yes, that is an extra stocking for June's favorite stuffed animal dog, Rescue.

This is the most boring post of all time.

The end.

Let's Do This. Primary Program.

Three months. It's been THREE months since I've updated. Sunday is my usual blogging day, and every Sunday for three months I've thought about updating but others things have seemed more important. I'm sure other things really are just more important but to me blogging is incredibly important. I'm a family history flunkie in many respects, so blogging is one of the only things I do to help my family in that area. June and I have a goal to do family history together in 2022 though, so hopefully that will change.

This photo is from last week. I have been getting over a little cold so June, Beck, and I stayed home from church today.

Last week was the primary program. I have this inherent belief that kids should memorize their parts for the primary program, so of course I started having the kids do this as soon as we received their parts three weeks before. Gwen's part was easy. "Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ help me when I don't know the way, like when I am lost." She had it down pat the first day and would say it to me any time I requested it.

Harris' part was "My own Sacred Grove is when I am outside. This is where I feel Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love for me." He took a little more prodding, but he slowly memorized it. But my heart told me that he would get up to the microphone, act like he didn't know it and wait for the nice primary lady standing beside him to whisper it in his ear, word by word. I was correct in this assumption.

June's part was gargantuan. It was:

Joseph was led by God to an ancient record of people who lived thousands of years ago. This record is filled with stories and testimonies of prophets all testifying that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. This record was translated into English by Joseph through the gift and power of God, into what we now know as the Book of Mormon. This book is another witness of Jesus Christ and it teaches us more about Christ’s gospel. It is used hand in hand with the Holy Bible. It was said that a person “would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” I love this book! The Book of Mormon has brought me closer to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father by helping me know His way.

Now June is a pretty good memorizer. We have memorized a lot of poems and other things for homeschool, but I knew that this would be tricky. Lots of complicated sentences, replete with details. Lots of sentences that started in a similar way but then diverged into another thought. But you know me, I'm a pusher. So I pushed. We worked on it and worked on it. I recorded myself saying different sections, and June would listen to the part on repeat. 

But really, it was too hard. Not a lot of progress was made. And because of this, June was discouraged and started to resist. Discouragement --> Resistance --> Contention

Finally, like so many great mothers before me, I gave up. I told her to just get up there and read it. Unfortunately, even this seemed too much to ask. She would barely even read it for me at this point.

Beck was his usual maniac self as the program went on, screaming that he wanted a turn at the microphone. Dan took him out, but managed to watch from the back of the room. Which begs the question--When was the last time Dan and I both sat through an entire Sacrament meeting? I think it might have been in 2015, right before Harris was born.

But anyway. As I predicted, Harris (wearing his new favorite train sweater) reluctantly ascended the steps of the rostrum and waited for the sweet primary lady to prompt him. The rest of the program he could be found in the front row, hanging over the partition while everyone sang, squirreling around until hitting his head on the piano behind him and then being soothed by the aforementioned sweet primary lady.

Gwen's turn. Sweet Gwen marched right to the front, dazzled the crowd with her smile, opened her mouth and confidently stated, "Heavenly Father . . ." and then forgot the rest of her over-rehearsed part. She said "Heavenly Father" a few more times until finally the sweet primary lady whispered the next word into her ear, at which point Gwen rallied and finished her part, the smile on her lips turning quickly to an expression of pain and agony until she could finally descend from the rostrum and slink back into her seat. That poor girl. She didn't deserve that. I was sure she was going to burst into tears, but she held strong and finished the program well.

Then came June's part. I knew she would read the part just fine. June had her part in her hand, but didn't look at it as she looked straight out into the audience and delivered her part, memorized and without missing a beat. I was shocked. She even had a presence about her, emphasizing thousands of years ago in a hushed tone to give a spooky ghost story effect. Which isn't really how I think of that story--but I do love some theatrics! Halfway through her part, she did need to look down to see the next sentence. I thought for sure this would mean a huge break so that she could find her place, but it was seamless. A few nearby friends reached their hands back and gave me a little squeeze because we all knew that we were witnessing major growth in June. I didn't tear up. I bawled. Sobbed. 

As I'm writing all of this, I'm thinking--it's the primary program, Heather!!! Why are you even writing about it? Why did you make such a big deal?!?

There's a very simple answer to that. It's because I'm ridiculous.

But then I'm guessing if you are my friend and reading this, you probably already knew that.

More Beaches.

We're still in Florida, and the water adventures continue.

First off, Aunt Steff (note: not a real aunt but has attained aunt status anyway) took us to Egmont Key. This was the most amazing and yet most difficult day trip in recent memory. Steff thought we were going to a ghost town on an island but we quickly discovered that the ghost town was quite a long trek out with many small children so we headed to the beach instead. The beach was amazing--clear blue-green water, very few people, and the island is also a wildlife preserve, so there were tons of birds and turtles and other animals to see. But while we were dressed and prepped to get wet, neither of us was really prepped to spend three hours at a beach with our children. Plus, on Egmont Key, there are no roads or stores or anything of the kind. I was extremely ill-prepared but we had so much fun anyway. 

Our ferry captain looked exactly the part. He even went by Captain Zip. He had a totally beachy surfer/hippie vibe and let my kids take turns steering the boat. We saw dolphins and loggerhead turtles while we sailed. Sailed? Ferried? Boated? Pontooned? Onwarded ho? Land ahoy-ed? I'm really quite the expert at these nautical terms.

The funsters. Beck couldn't be bothered by being in a photo because June was holding m&m's. All you will find pictured is his outreached hand.

Egmont Key was used as a fort in the olden days so we were able to look through several batteries on the island.

What's that sound you hear? Why that's none other than the sound of my checking off another day on my homeschooling tally. That's right, folks. This ended up being a totally educational field trip, and I didn't even mean for it to be. Check check check.

We finally made it to the beach, and it was basically empty because it was a Monday and very few people had chosen to ferry/sail/climb-aboard-the-ship-of-Captain-Zip themselves over.

Now when I say was unprepared, what I mean is:

The List of Things I Did Not Bring:

A stroller (and we walked forever and Beck was soooooooooooo heavy)

Goggles

Puddlejumpers

Dan 

My Sanity

Bug Spray (I have soooooooooo many bug bites. So do the kids, but I'm mostly concerned with myself here.)

A phone that is connected to a good network (I went to an uber cheap network a year ago. No regrets, except for that one fateful day on Egmont Key where I wasn't connected to anything and couldn't even connect the rest of the way home and had to figure out how to get back to Sarasota an HOUR away without any GPS and I did it and I'm so proud of myself because I regularly get lost going to my own backyard)

And then yesterday, we headed back to the same area to beach it up at Fort DeSoto. This time, we were super prepared, and Dan came, and all was well in the land, er . . . ocean. Gulf, really.

We found these hermit crabs, but they were just so hermit-y and all defense mechanism-y and wouldn't come out and say hi, so back into the water they went, followed quite closely by June "Jane Goodall of the Waters" Jolley. Dan bought June some snorkeling gear, and she swam closely behind these guys for a good chunk of our beach time, observing every move they made. She said they were quite fast when they weren't freaked out by a bunch of humans forcing them into a small blue bucket.

June is the most interesting kid. It can take her 9832432 hours to finish a math problem because she is SOOOOOOOO distracted, but let her follow her own interests, and she is the most focused child I have ever seen. Those interests are: reading, animals, drawing, and the water.

Fort DeSoto really did have the most amazing shells, and it's not even known for that. Every year we visit the beach, I tell everyone I am going to make something for our wall at home with the cool beaches we collect. I have never done this, but this is the year.

And of course, church today:

The End.

Long Time, No Blog. And Red Tide.

The hardest thing about starting to write my blog again after taking a three-month hiatus is coming to terms with the fact that so many noteworthy things have happened this summer that I will never write about. I used to tell myself that I would attempt the "catch-up" game of trying to scour my brain for the minute details of events long past, but I know what it would really be:

Picture.

We had swimming lessons. The girls liked it. Harris did not.

Picture.

Gwen went to tennis camp. She liked it.

Picture.

We went to church.

Picture. 

We went to church again.

And so on.

Let's not bore ourselves with that.

So here's what we are up to right now, in August 2021. We are in Florida again. We had a month-long trip here last year and had so much fun that we repeated it this year. We had a family reunion in Fort Walton for a week and are now in the second of four weeks in Sarasota.

Our view in Fort Walton:

Does it get any better than that?

I don't have any pictures of my extended family, but I promise they were there. I'm not making this reunion up!!!

And now we are in Sarasota.

The BUMMER of the trip is that we made sure to rent an AirBnb right next to our favorite beach, Siesta Key, but all of the close beaches in our vicinity, including Siesta Key, have terrible red tide right now.

What is red tide? Really big and bad algae blooms in the water that smell and kill fish and just make the beach rather unpleasant. Humans can safely swim in it, but it does tickle your throat and make you cough.

We heard varying reports from friends about what it was like to go to the beach in these conditions. "It's not that bad" some friends would say while others said they avoided it. 

We didn't have the chance to check it out right away. We hosted a few friends for a swim party, and then it rained for a couple of days. At first, I was glad to avoid checking it out, but with time my anxiety built toward the unknown. One gray afternoon, I decided to take the kids to walk down the beach and see how bad it really was.

Here are pictures from our lovely beach walk. Before we arrived, I tried to describe the conditions to the kids, but they just got excited. "Can we take a dead fish HOME!??!" Gwen asked on repeat.

Here is a dead puffer fish. Of course, June was excited to see a puffer up close, so there's that. 

Another little guy. These were all up and down the shore.

It was gross, but I was still in the denial phase (more on that below) so I came home and told Dan that we should try a beach day the following afternoon. Dan is a way easier person to please than I am, so I assumed that he would tell me that it was fine and that we could tough it out. He didn't. 

In fact, each family member's personality traits came out STRONG during that short afternoon at Siesta Key.

June--walked along the shore and mourned the loss of each and every fish she encountered. Could be heard to say things like "Look at the metallic color on that one. So sad she's dead now" and "what a waste of beautiful scales!!!" The worst was when she found a crab. That pushed her over the edge.

Gwen--so grossed out the whole time and could only talk about going home. Still made a friend though.

Harris--jumped around and worked on his fear of water that he doesn't really have but feels like he has the first 20 minutes of any swimming expedition.

Me--feeling responsible for this whole terrible predicament, I went into full-on Mom Mode (aka "Let's Make the Best of It" syndrome) and acted like it was all no big deal and that we could ignore the terrible smell, incessant coughing, numerous dead fish and have fun anyway.

Beck--Not going along with my "just ignore the problems" plan, he walked along the shore and pointed to every. single. dead. fish. And would not move on until I acknowledged the dead fish by saying "dead fish". Then he would repeat "dead fish" and then we would walk until the next dead fish, where I would say "yes, dead fish" and then he would say "dead fish" and so on and so forth. And then he stepped right on a dead fish. And then my life was over.

Dan--True to character, Dan gave it the ol' college try but also gave me his "sunk cost" speech, which he gives me on a monthly basis. For those of you who didn't study econ in college (or marry someone who did like I did), a sunk cost is unrecoverable and thus should have no bearing on your future decisions. In this case, the money we spent to get here is "sunk", meaning we aren't getting it back, so we don't have do gross activities just to make us feel like we got our money's worth. Cut your losses and move on.

So when even Happy the Clam Dan was giving up and moving on to his "sunk cost" speech, I knew that I was being nutty.

That's what made me realize that I have been going through some ridiculous 1st world problem version of the stages of grief over this silly red tide.

I have been in denial ("We'll tough it out! Other people are wimps, but we're Jolleys! We're used to gross things!") and have gone through major shame and depression ("I should have KNOWN red tide would hit!!! Why don't I pay attention?? We drove all of the way down here and spent so much money and for NOTHING"), to anger (When Dan gently suggested to me that we don't have to tough it out and can just find other things to do, I let him know of his betrayal) to finally acceptance. Now I know that we don't want to go there and have adjusted accordingly. We drove 90 minutes south to Sanibel Island yesterday and had a fantastic beach day.

The End.

Aunt Linz, Harris Bday, Gettysburg, and Everything Else.

Harris turned 4!!!!!

As per usual, the name pancakes. Though Dan has decided that my efforts to create the letters from the batter are futile and thus has decided to cut the letters out of existing round pancakes with a pizza cutter.

He's kinda right. That does look a lot better. You can actually read his name. Though it does crush me at the same time. I look forward to trying to flip over a ridiculous letter every single time. H's are really hard, for example.

I made my famous chocolate cake again, except only two layers instead of four like for June's birthday. Because we ate June's birthday cake forever.

Presents!!

In other news, we finished up our school year. YAYAYAYAYAY!! The last three weeks of school, we did nothing other than math. Because we need lots of math help in this house. So we spent all day everyday doing math. Math math math. It was exhausting. I ended every session needing a nap. BUT. We did it. The girls each finished their last lessons, and then on the final day they each had to take a (1) chapter test, (2) unit test, AND (3) and final test, encompassing what they learned over the whole year. June got 100% on that final test, and Gwen missed one. I almost cried. Tears of joy and tears of exhaustion mixed together with snot from allergies did not a pretty Heather make, but no matter. It's over. (For now. It's never really over.)

June's last chapter was on reading gauges which was a welcome change after many weeks of 4-digit and then 5-digit subtraction with regrouping. Reading gauges was the best chapter ever. June made this last gauge into a pie for fun.

Except pie is rarely fun. Rarely. Not fun to make or eat. In the fruitcake category.

Dan came home from his workout at the YMCA the other day to inform me that a free soccer clinic was starting that day for kids Harris's age. Free is my price, so I signed him up and actually had the forethought to ask if Gwen could come as well. Gwen was supposed to start soccer last year but then her season went online with Covid. As you can imagine, online soccer is the worst. So they let her join in on Harris' group, which was awesome because of course Harris refused to actually participate. My favorite drill of the workshop was the one where I had to drag his comatose prostrate body off the field so that other excited and willing-to-play soccer participants could actually, you know, play soccer.

Gwen was one of the willing. She loves to play. She and Harris go every week, and Gwen runs and kicks and plays and Harris whines and sits and lies down. 

More amazing Come Follow Me lessons by Dan. Dan is a huge fan of the explaining the organization of the church using cups like he did on his mission, and so these red cups he labeled for our own family get a lot of use.

I didn't know what to expect with this portion of the lesson with a tent and Dan carrying a lot of balls, but he ended up talking about the hard challenges we face in life, calling examples out by name, while pelting the balls at the kids. "War!" Pelt. "Disease!" Pelt. "Loneliness!" Pelt and pelt. Effective. And scary.

Aunt Linz came into town, and it was the best. We had a visitor! It always feels special but especially after this past year. It was so fun. We went to Gettysburg, Amish Country, and just hung around the house.

It was somewhat chilly but sunny as we drove to Gettysburg, and then suddenly a snowstorm hit. Five minutes later, we had blue skies and no sign of the snow. It was a crazy drive.

At Devil's Den at Gettysburg. (No, I don't generally have my kids wear masks outside. June just likes wearing a mask whenever she thinks it smells bad. Which, when you live in rural Pennsylvania, is kinda often.)

Right after going to the museum:

Linz said that the film shown was amazing. I am hoping to see it one day, but if Beck's with us, it won't be that day.

Beck! 

Beck is a total KOOK. We thought we were setting records for how early he needs to be taken out of Sacrament Meeting, but now we have to take him out before it even starts. He's LOUD and ZANY and MISCHEVIOUS. If you say, "Beck, come here!", he looks back at you with a devilish grin and runs away faster. He hits. He bites. He is very very cute. He's all of it at the same time.

And I had an early meeting today, so Dan got the kids ready AND even remembered to take a picture. What a guy.

THE END.

Back It Up.

 I have a lot to catch up on. 

But first, I had to document this pivotal moment in Harris's life this past week when he scaled a mountain by himself and needed help getting back down. Here is that dangerous mountain:

After he climbed up and realized how high up he was, he screamed and cried and begged for help. Of course I, being full of compassion and motherly love, couldn't get my laughing body off my bed to help him. I kept calling out, "Just step down!" and he would yell, "I can't!!!" This went on for awhile, I'm ashamed to admit. It was just the laugh I needed at that moment.

In other news, the weather is getting so much better. SPRING! And with Spring, we have been doing many outdoorsy things.

First off, hundreds of thousands of snow geese stop at a wilderness preserve about 20 minutes from our house every spring on their way back home from their winterly migration. And with the hundreds of thousands of snow geese come hundreds of thousands (not really, but lots) of Pennsylvanians to watch them fly around.

Yes, I was partially covering my head because I was afraid they would poop on me. That has happened to me before, both literally and metaphorically. 

Entire green hilltops looked like they were snow-capped from all of the white geese sitting on them. It was fun, it was beautiful AND this homeschooling mom got to check the box for science that day with ease. 

Because we all know that I'm amazing at science.

We have also done many, many trips to the park and creek by our house. The first time we went after it turned warm, June was doing what she does--observing nature. And so the second time we went back, she came prepared with rain boots and jars and a backpack full of "equipment". She waded out into the creek and collected shells and water samples and cattails and a bunch of other things. That girl IS a scientist through and through.

We also were able to dog-sit for 45 minutes one day. VERY exciting.

I'm beginning to feel myself cave on the dog front. I have so many people telling me NOT to do it because they are so much work, and I have a plethora of small children that already need help. But I could see a dog being extremely beneficial to June. Thoughts?

Also, we bought a butterfly kit on Amazon, and after two weeks all of the caterpillars formed their chrysalis:

Here you can see all of them in the chrysalis except for the one on the very left, who hadn't formed it yet but was in the preceding J-shape. Wouldn't it be amazing if they emerged on EASTER DAY!!?!?

Science lessons? Check check check. I've found that I am not the best science teacher but I'm a decent science facilitator. I will provide the experiments and the materials and the books. Luckily, my girls are both very self-motivated in this area.

Last week, we studied about the armor of God, and of course Dan went all out.

June turned 9! Gwen made her a birthday crown.

And Gwen and Harris and I made her a candy bar poster.

I feel like birthdays should be fun and spontaneous and full of adventure, but I came up with an idea that kinda kills all of those ideals but also guarantees a good experience. I made up a worksheet for each birthday kiddo to fill out at the beginning of the month where they can pick their family activity, type of cake, type of presents, and what they would like for birthday dinner.

June picked to go to the movies. Of course, we are lucky to have a best friend living next door and he's always up for our shenanigans.

And she had her favorite dinner of shrimp, cheesy grits (which were burned and yes she did notice), corn on the cob and a super duper chocolatey cake.

Which means I have been a mom for 9 years. What in the world. 

The End.