April

 April was a full month for us.  We started the month with General Conference.  We love General Conference and hearing from our Church leaders.  My kids love the fun food, too!

The kids had April 8th off from school so we could experience the total solar eclipse.  We had a few unused snow days so that made the decision to cancel school easier.  Unfortunately, it was pretty overcast during the eclipse.  At times it was so cloudy we could look at the sun without the protective glasses because the clouds blocked so much of the light.  It DID get really dark and when the clouds would part for a few seconds we would put on our glasses and look to the sky.

I was able to go with Eden on her school field trip to the bowling alley.  When I was in school we went to the zoo or the Science center.  I think it's interesting that these kids went bowling.  It was fun being with Eden and her friends, though.  Everyone had bumpers, but Eden rocked her second game.  She threw two strikes and ended up with the top score in her class with a 103.  I'm lucky to get a 103 with the bumpers up!

Here is Rebecah's report on her fancy Neurolens glasses.  After having her new glasses for a month Rebecah thinks they help a lot, but not quite as much as we hoped.  She is still experiencing symptoms that we hoped the glasses would eliminate.  Rebecah still says that the benefits outweigh the cost even though she isn't 100% improved.

Kimball's track meets started this month.  His first meet of the season he qualified for sectionals so that was super exciting.  He has since PRed in the 110 m hurdles and has beat the time below.

Lincoln was invited out to dinner with Lucas and his family to celebrate Lucas's birthday.  Lincoln was SO excited to eat out and be with Lucas.

I took the three elementary kids to the school carnival.  We stood in line for almost an hour for some special glitter hand painting.  If I had known we would stand in line for so long we would have skipped that activity.  The kids still had fun playing games and seeing their friends.

Festival of the Arts

Rebecah, Lincoln and Annika all had artwork in the festival this year.  Lincoln was on an outing with Joseph, but we still found his picture.

Kimball had a Rotary retreat/orientation the second weekend in April to prepare for his exchange trip.  He had a lot of fun hanging out with the other outbound students.  The retreat was 3 hours away so Joseph decided to make a weekend of it and Lincoln went with him.  Joseph and Lincoln did some hiking, hung out at the hotel and went out to eat.  The next morning they attended church before picking up Kimball.

Kimball received a "Northstar Pride" award.  It's basically an award for good citizenship at school.  I loved reading the positive things his teacher wrote about him.

Joseph's violin student [Maddy] was baptized this month.  She is our neighbor and my kids play with her and her sisters a lot.  Maddy asked Rebecah to play the piano and Lincoln and Annika to be the witnesses for the baptism so our family participated a lot in the service.

Lincoln reading the cereal box!

During Spring Break we took a quick trip to Cleveland.  Our first stop was at Top Golf.  It was a chilly, windy day, but the outdoor heaters kept things fairly comfortable.

We stopped for some Mexican food for dinner on the way to our Airbnb.

The boys decided to fulfill one of Kimball's dreams of attending a baseball game at Progressive Field and see the Guardians play.  They played against the Red Sox.  The Guardians beat the Red Sox the day before and the day after this game, but when Kimball was actually in the stadium they lost 8-0.  Kimball was disappointed, but still happy to be there.

We made sure to drive over the Hope Memorial Bridge and see the Guardian statues.  This was another Cleveland bucket list item for Kimball.

MY favorite part of the trip and the inspiration behind the trip was our stop at the Kirtland Temple!!  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently acquired this temple from the Community of Christ church.  We stopped for a tour on our way home.  I hadn't been inside this temple and it was lovely!  I loved seeing inside this building since I have learned so much about it from Church history.

An original window

On the third floor of the temple there are 5 classrooms.  They all looked fairly similar.

This was the second flood assembly hall.  

Melchizedek Priesthood pulpits.

Aaronic Priesthood pulpits.

This was was first floor assembly room where the dedication of the temple was. It was more intricate in the woodwork.  I really felt the Spirit in the temple knowing that Jesus Christ, Moses, Elias, and Elijah had all visited this holy place!

Melchizedek Priesthood pulpits.

Aaronic Priesthood pulpits.

The weather was great for taking pictures!  I loved the blue sky against the white temple and green foliage!

The last weekend in April, Kimball attended a Rotary conference.  This conference was only an hour and a half away and it was Friday evening to Sunday afternoon so I dropped him off and picked him up.  He drove there and back and he is close to getting his driver's license. 

We are now in the home stretch of school.  The big kids have six more weeks of school with a week and a half of Regents testing after that while the elementary kids have 7 1/2 weeks of school.  

March

 March didn't feel quite so busy as some months!  It was wonderful!

Rebecah was discharged from physical and occupational therapy.  She wasn't discharged because she is better, unfortunately, but discharged because the therapists have done all that they can for her.  She was also discharged from the Concussion Center and placed in the hands of a neurologist for the same reason.  Her brain has had plenty of time to heal and now she is just learning to deal with reoccurring headaches.  These headaches come from noise, visual stimulation, stress, etc.  We hope she eventually has fewer and fewer headaches.  As we were walking out the door at our last Concussion Center appointment the practitioner did tell us about Neurolens.  They are specialty glasses that help with eye misalignment that can cause headaches, neck and eye strain, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, etc.  Rebecah has almost all of the symptoms so we decided to have a Neurolens evaluation.  The doctor thinks Rebecah is a good candidate for these lenses.  Her lenses are ordered and should arrive soon.

Rebecah at the therapy facility.

Tired from a busy day at school and her headache medications.

This pie is all that Joseph and I have to show from our anniversary celebration.  We went to a play, Murder On The Orient Express and we both enjoyed the production.  We had lasagna for dinner and I made a Reese's peanut butter pie which was delicious! Nineteen years of marriage.  Next year will be the big 2-0.

Joseph joined a local orchestra earlier this year and they had their spring concert.  The little kids and I were able to attend his concert.  Joseph is very excited to be playing with a group.

I love Easter!!!  Holy Week is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  I decided we needed a few more decorations, so I added these pictures this year and the wooden Easter scene.  I loved looking at the hearth and seeing our Easter decor. 

On Palm Sunday the kids and I made hand print palm fronds. I saw the idea from two of our female church leaders and I thought it would be a great idea for our Primary.  I gave all of the Primary children the supplies to make the fronds.  These were ours.  I think they turned out really well and it was a fun way to remember Palm Sunday.

I tried to do special things most of Holy Week.  We made the palm fronds, we had homemade tortillas on Thursday to remember the first sacrament and on Friday I made hot cross buns.  It was my first time making them and I think they turned out fairly well.  For breakfast on Easter Sunday, I made resurrection rolls, which is a family favorite.

We had a nice Easter and I didn't take a single picture!  We attended our Easter service at church and then watched Bible videos about Holy Week.  For dinner we had baked tilapia, which was really good, and carrot cake for dessert.  It was a great day remembering the gift of our Savior's life, death and resurrection.  

February

 February was a great month!  It was SO warm.  We had very Spring-like weather and there was no snow on the ground for most of the month.  We have missed our snow this year!!

I took Lincoln and Rebecah to Green Lakes and we walked 3 miles.  My favorite outdoor activity with my family is to walk with them! 

While we were walking Joseph took Eden and Annika to a community acting class at the theater in Syracuse.  They had a lot of fun and were also able to see a short production.

Rebecah attended her first youth dance.  It was in Palmyra and she had a lot of fun.  My friend Amy sent me these pictures and I was so glad she took them and stepped in as the "embarrassing" mom to take them.  I'm sure Amy got away with it easier than I would have.

Annie, Annie's friend from school, Rebecah, Brooke

Rebecah had a band concert.  She is still unable to play her clarinet without her concussion symptoms returning, so she handed out programs and watched backstage with earplugs.

Rebecah and Melanie

We gave Kimball the Netherlands flag and the Rotary International symbol congratulating him on his Netherlands placement.  Grandma and Grandpa Coffey sent him the Netherlands hat he is wearing.  

Quinn, a friend from school, invited Lincoln and Annika to join her for "buddy" week at Karate.  They had fun doing fun karate activities and they knew a few other kids in the class, too.  

We had Winter Break the third week in February and the kids were off school all week.  We tried to do some fun activities.  We went roller skating, ice skating, played in the gym at church, had play dates, and Joseph took the little girls sledding.  Lincoln got sick on sledding day so he had to miss it.  

Eden's skating has really come along.  I know this next picture is terrible, but Eden was SO independent while we were skating and she didn't need my help!

Taking a skating break.

Ice skating.  

It was COLD in the rink.  My Raynaud's was flaring up even though I had taken my medication and I had dressed warmly.  The ice was very smooth and it was probably the best ice I have skated on over the years.

On February 27 we had temperatures that reached 70 degrees.  On the 28th we were in the low 60s.  On the 29th our high was 27 degrees and we had a surprising 12-15 inches of snow fall on Wednesday night!  School was canceled.  It was Mother Nature's way of enjoying Leap Year.  She only has an opportunity to snow every four years on the 29th, so she made sure it was a big snow fall.  On March 1st we were back to temperatures in the mid 40s.  

January

 I love January.  It always feels like such a calm month after the hustle and bustle of December.  It was still an exciting month for us!

We celebrated Rebecah's 14th birthday.  It's hard to believe that she is 14; although, most people think she is older than she is.  It's not uncommon for people to ask if she is driving.  Rebecah loves the color orange so she had a white cake with an orange buttercream frosting.

Rebecah continues physical and occupational therapy, but the end might be in sight.  She had a follow up with the vision specialist and all of Rebecah's tests were in the normal range, except for one.  We were SO surprised and grateful.  She is still working on focusing up close, but every indication points towards improvement in that area, too.  The specialist even said she didn't see a need for another appointment.

Another "fun" fact about Rebecah....she is suddenly lactose intolerant.  In December she started complaining of stomach and digestion issues after drinking milk.  This has been an adjustment for her because she was finally enjoying milk.  She also likes all other dairy products like yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and cheesecake!  She now drinks almond milk and doesn't eat what the rest of us eat.  It's amazing how many meals I make that have either milk or cheese in them.  

This fun girl is Melanie!  Rebecah's BFF since Kindergarten.  Melanie was a "wife" in the school musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.  Rebecah and I went to support Melanie during one of her performances and she sent us this picture.  It was a fun night for Rebecah and me.  We stopped for French fries on the way home because ice cream and milk shakes are now off the table.

Grandma Bev had a birthday!  She's 84!  The kids and I took her a card and a piece of red velvet cake.  We love Grandma Bev and she's such an important part of our lives.

Indoor track ended for Kimball this month.  He did very well in his meets.  He scored personal records in every meet he competed.  He's now eager for outdoor track to begin.

It was a big month for Kimball.  As many of you know, he applied to be a foreign exchange student in October.  He was officially accepted into the Rotary International Foreign Exchange program in January.  He will be going to the Netherlands.  He will be there from the end of August 2024 to the end of June 2025.  We are very excited for him, although, we will miss him a lot, too.  The day he received his placement he and I started learning Dutch on Duolingo.  He is already better at it than I am.  I have made two traditional Dutch foods and Kimball has enjoyed trying those.

The other big news for Kimball was that he finally got a job.  A new Mexican restaurant opened three minutes from our house and Kimball applied for a job there back in December.  The boss kept putting Kimball off, but finally called him after a really busy night when the restaurant was swamped with customers.  Kimball LOVES his job.  He is the only non-native Spanish speaker that works there so he speaks Spanish.  He said his Spanish speaking abilities have improved a lot.  His boss finally admitted that he didn't want to hire Kimball because he thought Kimball wouldn't be a hard worker.  He told Kimball that he "works like a Mexican" which was high praise for Kimball.  

Annika attended a roller skating birthday party for Emily.  Annika LOVES to roller skate, so she was thrilled with this party venue.

In other news, the three little ones switched rooms at the end of December and the new room assignments are working out great!  Annika and Eden now share the big room.  I was worried that Eden might be too messy for Annika, but she isn't.  Annika encourages Eden to clean up when needed, and they are getting along so well.  They play a lot more together than they did before becoming roommates.  Lincoln now has his own room and he loves that.  We moved a lot of his toys to the basement so he would have less stuff to keep up with.  His room isn't as tidy as the girls' room is, but he has managed to keep it much cleaner than ever before.  

Sadly, we have had very little snow this month.  The ground is bare outside.  Joseph especially is feeling the loss of the snow.  He can't ski, snowshoe, or build a snow fort, but he also can't go biking or golfing.  He has practiced his violin a lot this month and done a fair amount of reading.