Thanksgiving

We have been so busy that time is just flying by.  Thanksgiving is already over and now Christmas is on the way!  For Thanksgiving we reserved the church again, as last year, and invited anyone who needed a place to go or didn't want to do it with just their family alone.  It was a lot of fun.  We ate, watched the Detroit Lions game, and played board games for hours.  We had missionaries join us and 4 other families.  I didn't think to take a single picture other than this one - Peter willingly playing with someone his own age!!  It took about 2 hours for him to warm up enough to talk to anyone, but then he played until we left.  It was so fun to see.

Before the big day, Peter and I took part in a tour of the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade Factory.  The Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade is the 2nd or 3rd (depending on who you ask) largest annual parade in the country and the floats are absolutely spectacular.  The people who make them have set up business in an old Chevy plant in Detroit and in order to raise money for the supplies, they give tours all year round of the floats, the creative process, etc.  We went with Peter's school and I thought he'd have fun but he pretended not to know anyone the entire time we were there and spent the two hour tour begging to go home.

I, on the other hand, had a fabulous time.  It was fascinating and ended way too soon for my taste.  At the end we were all given clown noses and that seemed to cheer him up.

Bella also participated in a tour of the same facility with her school group from her graphic design class.  She loved the tour too.  I think next year we may need to rethink our Thanksgiving traditions and take a trip downtown to see the parade.

While we were downtown, Peter and I stopped at the Light the World Giving Machine our church set up.  It's a vending machine that allows you to buy things for other people to benefit local charity organizations.  We did this in Indianapolis last Christmas and it was fun to have one so close to us.  Peter selected to buy a "Safe Birth for a Mother."  I thought that was sweet.  He didn't like the idea of taking a picture, though.

Peter can be a stodgy old man sometimes, but he's also incredibly sweet.  I find notes like these all the time.

Although, sometimes notes like these:

                                    (Chris is playing too loud and I have to cover my ears)

He never calls him Chris, but I guess Christian was really too long to attempt.  This was given to me during Christian's saxophone lesson.  :)

Peter's school had the whole week of Thanksgiving off so we took a trip to the zoo one day.  The Detroit zoo is really great if you're interested in doing a lot of walking and not seeing a lot of animals.  We took comfort in the fact that it was such a sunny, beautiful day and we had the place nearly to ourselves - just like Peter likes it.  We spent the most time with the penguins and the butterflies - the animals which are enclosed and visible.  And one of the birds in the aviary dropped a large, beautiful pink feather right where Peter could grab it and that made him so happy.

Sunday was the first advent, and so, per tradition, we put up the tree and took out all the fun, festive stuff.  Bella is never happier than when we're prepping for Christmas.  She wanted to be sure to be the one to put up the star and it was so fun to see how excited she got about it.

Christian has been working so hard in everything - robotics, school, piano, saxophone, applying to MSC - the STEM program in high school he wants to enter, etc. that he hardly has time to sleep.  Not to mention keeping up with the Lions and the rest of the NFL!  :)  This was a project he did for school - a cell cake.  Make a cake that looks like a cell with all it's different structures and organelles using candy.  I had to laugh because I had done the exact same thing in Biology class when I was in school.  They chose to do a plant cell and I think it turned out really cool.  Green frosting and purple cookies courtesy of me.

Illness and Injury

 October wasn't exactly our best month to date.  Christian got sick first, then I did, then Kelly.  I had it the worst. Christian had it the longest.  Fever, muscle aches, loss of appetite, fatigue, vomiting, headache, congestion, etc etc etc.  When that started to clear, then came the cough that never quit.  Christian and I were both diagnosed with pneumonia, Kelly's lungs luckily stayed liquid-free but his cough could really strike fear into anyone who heard it.

Then, as if that weren't bad enough, on a day when I was trying to rally and be a good mom rather than a tired lump, I broke my finger.  Christian had wanted to play football and I figured  as long as I'm not currently hacking up a lung (although I did have a fever), I should go get some fresh air and toss the ball around.  The pass went wide but I went for it anyway.  Big mistake.  It hit the tip of my left ring finger, overstretched the tendon causing it to tear away from the bone, taking a little bit of bone with it.  (A textbook "mallet finger injury" leading to "bone avulsion" for any of you who'd like to google it.)  Christian has not let me live it down that I'm so weak a football broke my finger.  I remind him that I know where he sleeps and he better knock it off.

In conclusion, October has been the month of gratitude for modern medicine and good health insurance as nearly all of us have visited at least one doctor and been on at least one round of antibiotics and I'm now sporting a fancy new made-for-me finger splint and have multiple follow-up x-rays and appointments scheduled.  On to November and hopefully better things....I typed that as Peter coughed violently from his bedroom.  Great, another one bites the dust.

Some pictures to brighten the mood:

Halloween and my 47th birthday - that morning I was at the doctor getting another antibiotic, but later in the day we carved pumpkins, decorated sugar cookies, went trick-or-treating (only Peter this year - the kids are all getting so old!), and delighted in the spoils.  I coughed the entire evening, but managed to avoid it while on people's porches.

This cutie has become a reading champ.  He's reading beginner chapter books and loves to read the scriptures with us in the evening, often needing very little help when his turn to read comes around.  This is how I find him many times during the day.

His school picture wasn't worth ordering, but definitely worth downloading from their website.  (Don't mind the watermark. hehe)

He's still loving his new room and bed.  He'll frequently go to bed in the middle of the day with extra blankets and call to me, "Come take a picture of how cozy I look!"

Bella had her fall band concert.  She sounded amazing.  She always practices so hard.  I'm so impressed.  I only wish I could see her better during the concerts!

She also spends a lot of time with friends.  Here she was headed to a dance with some girls from church.  I love the athletic shoes with dresses fashion trend nowadays.  Why couldn't that have been a thing when I was that age?!  So much more comfortable!

End of the Season

Bella's band season and Christian's cross country season have come to an end.  It's been a lot of fun and they have both done wonderfully well.  Christian came in lower than he'd hoped but ran a great last race.  45th out of hundreds of runners.  He's an amazing runner that's just a little too cautious to really push to his limits and so he often ends the race with a lower place and with a lot of energy left.  He gets really frustrated about it but that's something that he'd learn if he had more practice.  It really doesn't bother me.  It's so fun to see him run and remember that little 7 year old who ran the 10k race with me all those years ago.  He was so committed to training and giving it his all and it took every thing he had for those little legs to keep up with me.  Now it would be reversed.  He could leave me in the dust.  He is really amazingly fast.

June 16, 2018:  First place in his age division in the 10k.

The marching band's final concert is always indoors.  The announcer always makes the joke, "it's the only marching band concert where the audience has seat backs!"  It's fun to hear all their songs and cadences and cheers in comfort.  I'm sad it's over.  The season really goes too quickly.  It's all consuming and then it's over in a blink.  Only one year left!

The Peter Report

Peter continues to struggle socially but in all other ways he's the very best kid I could ask for.  He loves to go to museums, the zoo, and to bowling.

He loves to do school work and play math games I make up.  He's reading at a late 1st grade level, so where a 1st grader should be at the end of the school year, but his math isn't as proficient.  Therefore,  we've been working on that.  His favorites involve the math cubes or when I put math problems on hot wheels cars and he has to solve them to drive them around.  Today I put the answers in parking spaces on the floor and he played valet, moving the cars into the spots where the answer matched the car's problem.  Then we timed him to see if he could get faster.  He was so happy when he did!

He's also finally moved into Benjamin's old room.  We had to dismantle Benjamin's large bed and plaster and repaint the walls so it took a while.  Peter has been very happy to have a place upstairs and a new "big boy" bed.  Christian has been so happy to have a room to himself again.  Now he can finally get dressed for school early in the morning without a flashlight.

I just wish I could more effectively help him adjust to being with people.  Any effort to coach him in social situations is met with stern looks and a complete refusal to comply.  Hopefully that cute face will win him some points at times, even if that refusal to speak is off-putting.

Some pictures his teacher sent from school:

They were talking about and building incline planes in their unit on simple machines.

This is Jayden, who gets mentioned the most in his after school reports.  From what I can gather, he's one of those kinds of kids who is friends with everyone but with no particular tie to Peter while Peter really admires him but has no idea how to socially engage.  Maybe it'll come.

He Made It to Kansas!

Benjamin finished up at the Mexico MTC this week and headed off to Kansas.  His first flight out of Mexico was canceled and he had to wait a very long time for someone who'd been up and traveling since 1am.  However, he finally made it to Houston and then without issues on to Wichita.

His time in Mexico was wonderful.  He had great teachers and got along really well with the other missionaries.  I'm so happy he enjoyed the MTC.  I remember my experience as one of the best of my life - everyone united in purpose and focus, striving to come to know our Savior and sharing news of Him with the world...and he got to do that in Mexico while I had snowy Utah valley.  Lucky guy.

His mission president and his wife picked Benjamin and all the other new missionaries up at the airport and took them to their respective apartments and areas. 

Benjamin spent the night in a hotel near the airport and then made his way to Dodge City, KS, on the western side of the state, the next day.  Dodge is 65% hispanic, so hopefully he'll have lots of opportunities to speak Spanish.  I don't know his new companion's name yet because I haven't actually heard from Benjamin other than a quick "I made it" email, but I have airtags in his suitcases and the mission maintains a facebook page for families and they posted some pictures of the "train the trainers" meeting during which Benjamin, his first companion, and all the other trainers and greenies shared a meal and some training.  It's fun to see him settling in and getting to know people.  I can't wait to hear from him and hear stories from when he actually starts teaching.

The New Normal

With the school year in full swing, Benjamin gone, Kelly in a new job at Ford as Associate Director of Capital Strategy, and me teaching early morning seminary, we are slowly finding a new rhythm.  Benjamin seems to be doing the best of all.  Every week we get happy emails, photos, and some really great calls.  We are so proud of him.

He is having eating contests (who can eat the most tacos/ice cream bars/etc) during down time, but mostly he's staying quite busy and learning a lot.  He has been made zone leader and even willingly got another hair cut!  He's definitely growing and changing.  When we talked on the phone he even spoke some Spanish with me which was so fun to hear.

I think about him all the time but I no longer get weepy...actually that's not true.  One time I cried - when I attended the school district's marching band showcase.  The showcase is where all three local high schools come together to perform.  For the last four years Benjamin was right there in the middle - tall, blonde, with his giant drum, and even bigger smile, leading the cadences, keeping the beat.  He was never happier than when he was performing in marching band.  Unless he was playing video games. :) This year, it was his friend Evan.  It was Evan's name that was announced as drumline captain and Evan that led the band in cadences.  Nowhere was my handsome boy in his red uniform.  I couldn't help crying a little.  It just seemed so wrong.  I just kept reminding myself that Benjamin was doing something infinitely better.

Bella and Christian were in the showcase this year, which was wonderful.  Bella always looks so good out there.  She's got the perfect posture, perfect marching steps.  She really stands out.  I was so happy Christian could join too because the high schools invited all the 8th grade band students to join them for the national anthem.

Peter is slowly adjusting to being in school.  He only goes Tues and Thurs and that's already way too much he says.  I really wish he'd enjoy other kids more.  We are struggling to get him to make friends and socialize.  He is just absolutely opposed to talking to or playing with others.  Whether at the library, the play ground, swim class, or school, when there are other kids, he becomes supremely uncomfortable. We have been working on just smiling and saying hello when greeted.  I tell him you don't have to play with everyone, but just smile and say hello.  Baby steps.  He's trying.  The other day a 17 year old girl told me she smiled and said hello to him in the hallway at church and he awkwardly smiled back.  She said it made her day. :)

I took him to the cider mill/apple orchard last week.  It's an amazing place with all sorts of things to see and do, but it was also very crowded.  He was miserable.  I couldn't get him to do anything he'd been excited to do before arriving, because of the other kids.  Only when he could manage to do something all alone was he finally at ease.  He went home declaring it had been a terrible day.  Alas, buddy, the world is full of people.  You're going to have to get used to it.  

Bella and I did another service project together last week.  We worked with a group called Life Remodeled that transforms neighborhoods here in Detroit.  They spearheaded an effort they called their "6 Day Project" where thousands came every day and removed blight through various activities, predominately yard work.  We came on the last day and helped clean up and winterize everything that was used.  Bella and I worked for hours doing this and she was a champ - never complaining or standing idle.  Just kept moving and working.  My job was to drain the gasoline from 350 lawn mowers.  What a job! When we had 6 mowers left, my partner, Dave, decided to go get a bagel!  I couldn't believe it.  We'd done hundreds and he stopped with 6 left!  So I did the last 6 and when I was on the very last one, another volunteer came over and said, "I'm going to take a picture of you working so hard and Dave just standing around eating a bagel!" 

I thought it was very funny.  Dave was a good sport about it too.  He happily jumped into the picture.  He's actually a very hard working guy.  He's been at several of the projects Bella and I have done together this past year and we secretly call him "Chainsaw Dave" because that's what he uses most when he gets a chance.  It was nice talking to him when there was no chainsaw blaring.  I've really enjoyed getting to know all the people in these various service projects Bella and I do.

A tradition at Kelly's work is that when you sign your last deal, you get to wear the Golden Jacket.  He sent me this picture last week on his last day at his old job.  A surprisingly emotional day.  This job came 5 years ago the same week as he was called to be bishop.  It was a job that has taught him a ton and also was the absolutely perfect job for a bishop - lots of flexibility.  And just as its time to be released from his responsibility as bishop, he is also switching out of that job.  There are no coincidences.  God was in this from the beginning and knew just what he needed.  We have been so blessed.