Merry Christmas

 We've had a busy month.  The black car died just before Thanksgiving.  We were able to borrow Grandma L's car to be a back up car.  Then on Tuesday the van died.  Fortunately it was a broken temperature causing the radiator problem, not a broken radiator.

We had dance concerts, band concerts, choir concerts, ward choir, homeschool group, ward and branch parties, neighborhood caroling and bike parade, band party, tuba Christmas, light house, friends for dinner, 3 funerals and a trip to Gtowne.  It was an exceptionally busy month.

Santa

 We have never encouraged the children to believe in Santa.  We treat it like Micky Mouse, a character that you may occasionally see someone dressed in costume of that character but you don't believe in them.  I empathize with this letter writer.  With our youngest 7 I think we are close to done with the drama.  At a dentist visit recently the boys were asked what they wanted Santa to bring them and they just stared, perhaps confused, at the hygienist that asked.

This year P had a chance to dress up as Santa and go surprise the band kids.  M didn't realize it was her dad until KS told her.  It was funnnnnnny!

 

Tuba Christmas and Choir Concert Day

 A few weeks ago we had M's friend and her family over for dinner.  The moms of each family grew up in the same town but attended different schools.  P was in the tuba studio with the mom.  Both dads were band directors.  Both older daughters played horn.  So much in common.

Mom A invited us to go to Tuba Christmas with her which was the motivation we needed to do something we'd wanted to do but hadn't prioritized.  I haven't played in a tuba christmas since Utah!

There were 189 tuba/baritones there.  There was also a drummer on a full kit in the center which made everything move together and kept tempo from dragging.  

We went to lunch and had a nice audience for the concert.  I'm so glad we got to go and get to know the B family better.  Great people.

We came home for a few hours then I took B and lP to their concert downtown.  Traffic was the worst I'd ever seen.  We wound up parking on Old Mission Rd.  0.7 miles from the venue.  I'm always boggled by so many people choosing to come into crowded situations like that.  No thank you.  I wish this concert could happen some other night of the year, but I have enjoyed having the children involved in it.  The acoustics are beautiful.  The children sound great.  The traffic and parking and crowds are the price you pay for them to sing this concert.

Night of the Luminary

 

We went to the lighthouse for the luminary tonight.  This is an annual event with music, booths, and free admission to the light house.  Our first time 11 years ago was right after we bought our home (halloween 2011).  G was 6, M 4 and lP 1.  It was crowded and I remember trying to nurse lP in some corner.  We had gotten into the car in the garage and didn't realize it would be colder on the island.  I can't think why we would have even gone that night, but we did. 

 

 

M, lP and B have sung in the children's choir there for the last 7 years.  Last year was the first time I climbed the lighthouse.  L was tall enough to climb this year.  At 219 steps, it is surprisingly easy to climb.  You get exhilarated and loose track of the effort as the spirals get closer and the top comes into view.  The view from the top is beautiful.

We always get a spot at the Rex Cox parking lot.  The kids enjoy playing at the park in the dark.  It has been a beautiful tradition for us and I'm glad we made it one last time.

Buying a Goat!

 

Tonight for FHE we went downtown and bought a goat from the giving machine.  It was a great night.  G rode directly from school and met us at the parking garage.  We brought dub dubs and swiss cake rolls (thanks B!).  After buying a goat we went to the swing park which is recently opened.

Busy Week!

 Our small car died last week so things got busy!

G didn't have regular classes but he did have Aerospace.  Monday and Tuesday looked like:
Drop off lP
Drop off M
Pick up lP
Drop off G
Pick up G
Pick up M

Additionally G had a blood draw and we went to the Alligator farm somewhere in there.

Wednesday G got his wisdom teeth out.
Thursday we went to Gtowne for Thanksgiving.

L made this rainbow jello with me.

Friday I took lP, M and G to the temple then on to Ladies' camp-out at Rock Springs.
Saturday we came come from the camp-out and P and I went on a grocery store date.
Sunday G signed the national anthem for the Jaguars game and received a calling to serve on the seminary council for deaf, North America.

It has been a busy week!

Scheduling miracle

 G needed a CBS prior to getting his wisdom teeth pulled on Wednesday.  It takes 7-10 days to get an appointment at the local Quest so I scheduled an appointment at the next town over.   Last night as we discussed scheduling at family council we found a tangle.  It turns out that appointment would conflict with his school (1 school still meeting the week of Thanksgiving) and P's foot appointment.  But we needed the appointment and so we were having G miss school and hoping we could still get P to his appointment.  

This morning the spirit prompted me to look and see if there was another appointment at some location that would not have the conflict.  The local location popped up with a 7:40am appointment (at 6:55am when I was checking).  I quickly grabbed the new appointment. 

I'm trying to get better at recognizing the spirit in my life.  This was definitely a prompting to look for a new appointment and I'm grateful for the spirit.

Watching movies

 I like to know what happens in movies but I don't always have time to see them.  My solution is to watch the trailer and read the plot summary on wikipedia.  I do really enjoy watching movies. 

Blast off!

We got to watch Artemis launch this morning around 2am!  This was the launch that G told me months ago that he would like to miss school for, and I told him I'd like him to get an A in pre-calc.  He earned his A and then the first launch date was scrubbed, coinciding with our case of covid.

 

  Grandpa S and Aunt E and L met us down at our campsite.  The host gave us the tip to drive to a nearby marina to watch the launch. We could see the rocket across the water!  It was beautiful.  G captured this image of the Orion capsule under the Orion constellation.

 

 

We stayed at the Forever Young farm which was in Mims, north of Tutusville.

This morning we broke camp at 6:20am and hustled G to school.  

The outhouse was way outhousey, but truely the best outhouse I've ever used, and way better than no bathroom.

The pole vault set up was pretty awesome.

new camera

We got a DSLR so now I can take fancy pictures with the background blur.  Exciting.

 

real s'mores

 We have 2 grills, a black round one, and a propane grill.  We use the black one to make campfires and cook s'mores.  A few years ago we brought someone's discarded Fir tree home and chopped it up for firewood and fireworks.  The needles make a big flame even 2 years old!  There are a lot of downed branches from the storm so we have a lot of fuel to enjoy frequent fires.  I love these times with the children happily cooking their marshmallows and enjoying the fire.

We've learned that putting a piece of foil under the fire keeps a lot of nice fiery bits from dropping down out of reach.

These are the tools of success.  Tray of graham crackers pre-loaded with chocolate (I melt almond bark and put it on with a spatula.)  Butane torch to light the fire.  Hair blow dryer to get the fire really burning.  Hatchet, also loppers, to cut branches into nice sizes.  Marshmallows, and roasting sticks.

I finally made my pair of hymn books costume.  I've been working on this for 2 years!  I borrowed a cricuit from a friend right after halloween 2020.  In 2021 I forgot to get the green shirts.  Finally this year I had the shirts, got the vinyl picked and finished the shirts in time for the trunk or treat.  P and I were both there but not at the same time.

Hurricane Happenings

 The day progressed in good ways.  The kids woke up and mostly did their school work.  I made pancakes for breakfast then Boudzus for lunch/brunch.  I had some turkey in the crock pot that I planned to make into dinner.  We lost power around 2 and fortunately I had just put the potatoes into the hot pot of other soup things and they were able to keep cooking.  I had a batch of bread dough and was just about to get it cooking on the grill when the power did come back on around 2.

While the power was out we hung out on the porch and had a lovely time together.  Geoff made PB candy.  M made jewelry.  I picked the turkey.  P read a book.  lP, B and L ate some veggie straws with gusto.  

We took a bike ride down to the bridge and there was a tree leaning menacingly.  My friend Lynn was there and advised us against riding under it.  The boys already had so I went under as well and called them back.  Not 10 minutes later the tree did fall down to rest on the branches and block the road.  The boys had ridden home and I had loaned my bike to Gary to go get cones to mark the hazard.  I heard a pop sound and saw the trunk of the tree move a little as a pick up tree approached the gap.  I shouted "It's coming down!"  They stopped and the tree did slouch down another 10 feet.

The tree is still there but 911 crews have removed enough of the canopy to let 1 way traffic go through.

lP asked me to cook some of the bread on the grill.  I used 2 cast iron pans and cooked 1 flat loaves.  It was nice.  I wouldn't mind doing it again!

Hurricane Nichole and mini smores

 Last month we had Hurricane Ian which changed course and strengthened to a Cat 4.  We put down all the shutters, cars in the garage, bikes in the shed etc...  This time the kids are off school, there is a king tide, and we didn't do any prep.  DST recently ended so I'm up at 6am in the dark and the wind sounds loud.  I wish I could see the trees thrashing in the 30mph wind, but also I'm glad I can't see. 

On Saturday we drove down to Washington Oaks to enjoy the rocks.  It was closed but another beach just south was open.  There was a newly created dune out of orange construction dirt/sand.  There were big batches of seafoam that the kids enjoyed playing in and with.  I suspect the foam was caused by whatever was making the new dune so orange.  LP had been disappointed that she would miss a livestream boadcast by going to the beach, but we insisted and she had a good time.

 On our way back we stopped at River to Sea. The long boardwalk was mostly closed off because the sand was washed away 2 feet below the stairs revealing huge coquina boulders.  B had stepped in fire ants at the previous beach so we didn't pursue playing, just the sight.  

On Monday M and I went to Vilano and the rocks there are submersed in 3 feet of sand.  Just the pointy tops sick out.  This picture from 2015 shows what the rocks usually look like.

Here they are barely sticking out of the sand.

In other news, I was in charge of treats for FHE and assembled mini smore kits for the children.  I even let them toast them over candles, a rare play with fire inside moment for them.

Great people at the library

 When I was a kid we watched the show Cheers.  This show centered on a bar and the regulars, staff and the lives they were taking a break from in the bar. 
  My bar is the library.  They always know my name and are always glad I came.  I'm grateful for the library.

Gratitude and technology

 I have a lot of people to be grateful for in my life.  I read an article about bullying and thought of my own wonderful high school experiences.  People were so kind and helpful to me.  I felt prompted to give thanks to a girl who included me in her general kindness to all.  I looked her up in facebook and found that I had written to her in 2015.  Hurray!

college application stress

 Wow.  G is applying for early decision to BYU and UF.  He has not worked on things for the last 3 months that we were telling him to.  So now it is incredibly stressful trying to help him out.  We will know better for our other 4 children.  We've done so many extreme things to keep G alive and help him thrive.  So it comes to something many more kids face, and we accidentally thought he should be more on top of it.  Last minute essays, recommendations, ecclesiastical endorsement, oh the stress...  Then today, the deadline, the site crashed.  So he got another 3 days for that application.  Oh...

Ladies camp-out

 We'll be having our 4th annual Ladie's camp-out after Thanksgiving.  Our family doesn't really camp.  We sometimes sleep in a tent, but it is usually just a way to save money.  We usually come in after hours and leave before the check-out desk is open.  We rarely use the fire-ring.  The boys get to go on semi-annual camp outs with the stake or ward.  Even with scouting done away, the men still gather this way.

For our ladies camp out we cook dinner on the camp-fire and make breakfast using a camp stove.  We stay up late playing cards and sing songs.  This year we will be camping at the springs and I hope we get lots of time in the water, and hiking up to the head of the springs several times.

We don't do sleep-overs but are inviting friends and family ladies to enjoy this outing with us.  Hurray!

Coast to Coast

 We have thought it would be fun to do a sunrise/east coast and sunset/west coast trip.  Sunday we did it!

 

We watched the sunrise at Butler Beach at 7:20, went to church, visited grandma, ate turkish delight and brownies, then watched the sunset on the west coast.  

 

We camped at Rainbow springs Sunday night.  We were in areas with no cellular signal and I forgot to call and get the code for the camp-site.  Just navigating to the park was hairy with no cellular.  P walked into the park and we waited at the gate in case someone came with the code.  We prayed that someone would come through.  Around the time P was finding the camp host, a pizza man came through and gave us the code.  Hurray!  The kids and I prayed in gratitude for the pizza man was kind, and that someone ordered pizza.

In the morning we broke camp and went to see Rainbow Springs.  It was beautiful!

 

We left at 11 to visit Homasassa Springs.  Lu the Hippo was much bigger than I remembered.

We drove back to Gainesville to visit with P's friend AL and his family.

We departed in another hurry to get back to town for M to give a piano lesson.

It was a great trip.

Animals we know

 I was reading Jan Brett's book "Noah's Ark" recently and was amazed at all the animals we knew because we had actually seen them.  We've been to the Jacksonville zoo every year for 10 years.  National Zoo 3-4 times.  Alligator Farm 10+ times.  Santa Fe Zoo.  Homosassa Wildlife Area.  Hogle Zoo. 

The book was beautiful and made me so happy for the childhood our children have had.

Yes, Mom

Sometimes I tell the kids to do something.  They sometimes respond "I know!"
I tell them "I think you meant to say 'Yes, Mom."

And if they are complaining about something not being as good as they wish  I will say "I think what you meant to say was "Thank you, Mom."

P is awesome at training the children to be nice to me.

Lessons from the Oregon Trail

 I heard a story on the radio about a teacher who did Oregon Trail with her class.  They learned math and history and had fun.  I thought it would work nicely for our homeschool group.  I never played the Oregon Trail game so I've had to do some research this week.  I've played 5 times and made it to Oregon twice.  

I've learned to never attempt to ford a river.  Someone dies every time!

You can only carry 100 lbs of meat to the wagon so don't shoot a buffalo.  It's so wasteful.

Stop for rest when people are sick!

Go hunting often and don't let your food go below 400lbs.

Save some money for tolls.

You can't buy supplies in every stop and they get more and more expensive as you go.

Don't give your company members real names.  It's so sad when they die.  And they die.

This is the first time I've played a role playing computer game.  I did play Dungeons and Dragons once a few years ago.  I'm generally not into a game that takes more than 30 minutes.  

I hope to teach the children some geography, math, hand working, and who knows caution.

busy

 Sometimes I'm so busy I have to make a list with specific times that things need to happen.

2:00-3:00 groceries and bike tire
3:00-3:30 make dinner
3:30-4:30 pick up M
4:30-6:30 B to piano
6:45-8:30 Kids to youth activity
8:30 Scriptures and Prayer
9:00 Bedtime with L

Yesterday was one of those days.  I am so fortunate to have a husband who values all the things I do.  All the things! 

In past years I have met cool people and wished they had time for me in their busy lives.  Now I'm in the busy life and it's tricky to coordinate time to see people.

Perspective change for the better

 I recently heard the idea that if your kids were someone else's, you'd want your children to hang out with them.  That is absolutely true.  My children are awesome.

Chores

 We have a monthly rotation of chores for the 5 children.  Someone helps with each area of the house, and specific tasks are somewhat balanced.  Each of them is more or less able to do each task.  M is hardly home!  L does his chores as part of his daily work chart.

2022 Family Duties

Bathroom  Wipe down counter  Keep towels stocked toilet paper stocked  Empty Trash Sweep Floor

Kitchen Sweep Load Dishes Unload Dishes Clean Counter

Front of house Towels on shoe shelf Sweep Vaccum Pick up in front room

Big room shoe shelf clear table clear under table tidy floor vacuum

Firepit and back of house tidy floor vacuum blow leaves bathroom towels

beach!

We went to the beach Saturday.  It has been too long since we all went.  I've often seen people taking pictures in this spot around sunset.  I'm so glad we got this picture!  Now we have to get the one of all of us jumping on the beach.   : )

Going to the temple

 It had been a while since I went to the temple.  At a stake leadership training someone said you've got to put it on the calendar.  I've heard that before but this time I did it.  I put 2 Saturdays on the calendar.  The first one August 26 inspired me to take a covid test since I didn't want to risk that.  I had covid so that appointment did not happen.

This month my appointment was for September 24.  This past week has been hectic with B, M and me all needing Dr. appointments.  Then last night P's car broke down.  It was touch and go about if this would be the straw, or this be the last straw.

I went and it was great. 

Boundaries of Anxiety

I'm learning that good parents do not burden their children with their fears and anxieties.  This is kind of new for me, though I've read stories where the parents didn't tell their kids things, knowing it would only make them upset.

 One of my formative stories was that I, as a 4 year old, got child protective services called on our family.  My mother would retell this story with no regard for how I would perceive my responsibility.   Our neighbor B, K and many others were amazing.  When we moved away for 1 year I had no concept of neighbors you can't trust.  When someone got hurt I went to our new neighbor M who called the police rather than help.

For years I had anxiety that the police would show up and take my children.  I didn't understand until recently that this originated with that childhood trauma.  I wish my mom had told the story differently, or not at all. 

I tell the children my fears too often and I want to stop that.  I have anxiety that if I don't tell them all the dangers they will fall prey to something horrible.  But then they are afraid.  No good.

Stake Conference