Random October Happenings, Part I

Here are some fun things we did during the first week or so of October 2020:

Oct 1

Silly Gabe too this picture, which makes his already-long arm even longer!

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Oct. 2

Erik taking the Nintendo Switch away apparently has had profound psychological impact on Ian. If anything though, it shows how creative Ian is and I think its good that Ian writes and draws his feelings/emotions instead of acting out aggressively. 

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Oct 2

Boo-boo in a box! Ian had fun playing in the mini refrigerator box.

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Oct. 3

Just having a snuggle with my favorite little guy!

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Oct. 4

This is how I feel every time I watch General Conference. Lol.

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Oct. 5

Gabe and Elisa started school! Yay! I was finally free haha. All three kids rode the bus together for the first time. Also pictured is Elisa with her new BFF that lives down the street, Christina.

Here is the picture of Elisa at school that her teacher sent me a few days later. I love it when teachers send me pictures of the kids!

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Oct. 9

I sold all of Elisa's Disney toddler dolls for $30. Most of them I found at Goodwill, so I think I came out pretty well in the end. Too bad Elisa thinks she's too old for these dolls; I think they're so cute. But I'm glad another girl can enjoy these instead of them sitting in a box indefinitely. 

Random September Happenings, Part II

Here are more fun things we did in the last half of the moth of September:

Sept. 12

A picture sent to me from Elisa's learning pod. She's on the lower left side.

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Sept. 13

Ian being his silly self!

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Sept. 14

I made myself this shirt, after drafting a dolman-top pattern from another pattern. I actually do wear it, I'll probably be sewing more and more for myself since Elisa doesn't wear the stuff I make her.

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Sept. 17

Elisa decided to be a fox for Halloween this year. Hopefully she won't change her mind at the last minute. We ordered her costume extra early from Amazon.

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Sept. 20

I have to hide chrome books, tabs, the Switch, and remotes from the kids because they can't tear themselves away from screens otherwise.

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Sept. 21

Another picture sent from Elisa's education pod.

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Sept. 21

Monday morning I went to grab a frozen waffle for breakfast when I noticed it was soft. Then I noticed that everything was soft in the freezer. So I called an appliance repairman immediately. He came within a a couple hours of my calling, but he said their was a leak in the sealer system and it would be over a grand to fix, so we should either put that money towards a new fridge, or call LG and get it repaired from them since the fridge was under warranty. The repairman also said that the fridge would give out later that day, and he was right. We considered buying a new fridge right then, but decided against it since we had matching appliances and didn't want to have an odd one out, plus the fridge (being only 3 years old) was still under warranty so it should be no cost to fix it. I had to ask my neighbor to see if she had extra room in her freezer. Well I asked two neighbors, one said no she didn't have enough room and the other said yes. She was quite helpful. Erik also went to Lowe's and picked up a little fridge that looked like it belonged in a kid's playhouse, which we used for an entire week until the LG repairman came to repair the fridge. That was a pain living for a week with a teeny-tiny fridge. But its all fixed now and we didn't have to pay anything for the repairs so I'm glad we didn't buy a new fridge. 

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Sept. 21

Nothin to say other that doesn't this girl look adorable?

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Sept. 22

I splurged and ordered Yankee candles from their website. I had a BOGO free coupon, so I ordered four. One of the candles I ordered wasn't in stock, so the company charged me for only 1 candle. So I got 3 candles for the price of one!

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Sept. 24

Ian finally started in-school Kindergarten! On a Thursday, oddly enough. I dropped him off the first day even though he's a bus rider. Even with being mask-muzzled all day, Ian really enjoys Kinder and his teacher is great! 

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Sept. 26

I took Elisa to her friend Makayla's swim b-day party. She was being stubborn/weird and claimed she didn't want to go so she made herself 20 minutes late. But she had fun swimming anyway. I stayed the whole time and just chatted with some of the moms.

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Sept. 29

Ian's first time getting on a school bus since preschool abruptly ended.

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Sept. 30

Ian's last day of gymnastics. I had him going to the Wednesday class at 2:50. I had to take him out of school early for the last day, since I already paid and didn't want him to miss out on class. Unfortunately since Ian's school started up I wasn't able to put him back in gymnastics. Ian is on the waitlist for Saturday mornings but Ian is 7th in line so hopefully they'll open up another class, but with covid still running rampant their hand are tied for the time being.

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Random September Happenings, Part I

Here are some fun(ish) things we did in September:

Sept 1

My talent for sweating is not one I want to share, so I went to the doctor to get a prescription for deodorant. They were nice enough to allow me to take Ian (unlike the dental office). There was a large computer screen that he liked drawing on, with his finger of course.

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Sept 2

Elisa's education pod people sent me this picture of Elisa making smoothies. This girlie sure had fun!

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Sept 2

I put Ian back in gymnastics, since I had credit leftover. I was glad that he didn't have to wear a mask. And since he was doing online school and wasn't able to attend an actual PE class, this was good exercise for him.

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Sept 3

Ian is so funny! He "sniffs" the beats. He cracks me up! I just switched Ian and Gabe over to the Faber Piano Adventures method, after 10+ years of using the Bastien method. I like the songs better in the Faber, the progression is more gradual so the kids don't get overwhelmed by a new, hard song (that happened soooo many times with the Bastien books), and the duets are so much better. Some of those songs in the Bastien books...*shudder*...just plain awful. Gabe and Ian seem to be enjoying the Faber books so much better since I've switched them over.

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Sept 3

Poor Gabe has been wanting this blue Yoshi for awhile. He tried to by one on Walmart.com, but they gave him a different MarioKart figure instead, and he was upset about that. I finally found one at Walmart one day and he was so excited to have it. 

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Sept 4

My 5" knife broke clean in half when I was trying to cut rice krispie treats. They don't make things like they used to, seriously.

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Sept 6

I don't remember why Ian wanted me to take this picture of him. But how could I ever say no to that cute face??

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Sept 6

An ambitious and delicious dinner I made one Sunday evening. We ate lasagna for almost an entire week.

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Sept 6

Sunday scripture study. Ian is only 5 and reads fluently. We are so proud of him!

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Sept 11

Those California fires were crazy. The residual smoke haze could be seen here in AZ in my own backyard. Craziness. This has been one of my least favorite years of all my life.

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Sept 11

Ian had a few science lessons on extreme weather, and he loved it and obsessed over tornados, hurricanes, droughts, and floods.  I got asked A LOT of questions about hurricanes and tornados by Ian. If any year deserves a second look at extreme weather, its 2020. 

Random August Happenings, Part II

August 14-30

Here are some more fun(ish) things we did the rest of August:

August 14

Erik brought these home for us after work. He got them from Karl's German Bakery across from the hospital. Aren't they fun? They sure were cute to look at...but as far as taste goes, they were just okay.

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August 17

It happened again. His friend couldn't play. I told him to just stop going over there. Poor Gabe.

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August 18

I made another cake, to make up for the disaster of a cake I made a week or so before this. This cake didn't last long!

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August 19

Poor Erik got a gum procedure done because he had receding gums. You'll have to ask him how the procedure went, but all I know is he couldn't eat hard or crunchy foods or any foods with seeds for weeks, and that was probably the hardest part of the whole ordeal.

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August 20

With my spelling help, Ian wrote this all by himself! He's such a good kid.

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August 20

After 4 years of living in this house, I finally bought some curtains (Walmart) and got them hung up in the front room! I still need to find some for the family room. It makes the front room a lot home-ier

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August 20

 Elisa was having such a hard time not only getting her assignments done, and she'd even refuse to do her class zoom meetings. If she was in her room with her Chromebook, I'd catch her on YouTube instead of doing school. If I had her downstairs, she'd wander over to where Ian was doing his school work (always the kitchen table) and bug him. Every day was a fight with her. I saw this ad on FB and immediately called. This place was a God-send, even though it was not exactly close (an hour of my day to drive there and back, twice) nor was it cheap ($170/week) but it was worth it. Its just a family that runs this childcare business out of their home, and they are a super nice, quality people (as far as we were concerned, anyway). I dropped Elisa off in the mornings and she'd do all of her zoom meetings there. Then the people would help her with her assignments. So when I picked her up in the afternoons, she would be all done with her work and free to play. She got almost all A's in her classes. And I got some sanity and was able to work with Ian on his online school instead of fighting with Elisa all morning. 

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August 21

Silly Ian found some fangs

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August 21

One of my friends/piano mom had a surprise birthday party thrown for her and we were invited. I don't have any pictures of the party, just a screenshot of the shirt I bought for her, since she loves Anne of Green Gables. We had a good time at the party, the kids had fun and we won a jar of peanut M&M's. I enjoyed chatting with some anti-maskers (very brave of them) and eating pizza.  

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August 24

Erik made us some yummy cinnamon rolls

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August 24

I took these pictures of Minnie because I was considering selling her on craigslist, but I haven't yet and I'm not sure if I will. She's kind of a brat, but she's calmed down a lot so I'll give her more time to settle in. I read that it can take up to 2 years for a guinea pig to settle.

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August 25

Ian did so well with his online learning. I bought him green headphones to wear to his zoom meetings.

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August 26

Sleeping beauty doesn't like to get up in time for her schooling

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August 27

The folks that run the education pod sent me this picture. Elisa seemed to really enjoy her time there.

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August 28

Poor Ian. At least he somewhat enjoyed being home with me

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August 30

I found this floral knit fabric at Walmart, in the value bin. It was surprisingly quality fabric that wasn't too thin, so I made me and Elisa some matching Sunday dresses out of it. I only paid $8 for all the fabric.