April

 Spring Break was the first full week of April.  It was also the week leading up to Easter Sunday.  It ended up being a pretty low-key week for most of us.  Eden came down with a stomach bug Monday morning and was sick all day.  The three days after her sickness she always complained off and on of a stomach ache and it took her a while to get her appetite back.  Lincoln and Annika came down with the stomach bug on Friday just as Eden was feeling better.  They were sick all weekend.  Lincoln and I stayed home from church on Easter Sunday.  I was disappointed to miss church on Easter, but I still had a wonderful spiritual study at home celebrating my Savior.  I thought Annika was well enough to attend school on Monday so I sent her back to school.  Oops!  I had to go and pick her up from school because she got sick there.  Lincoln woke up Tuesday morning with energy and an appetite.  He felt "amazing"!  Annika finally felt amazing and ready to return to school on Wednesday. It was a long sickness, but I'm so glad the kids are old enough throw up into a bucket without making a mess!

A few fun Spring Break activities:

Dying eggs

Indoor water park

Joseph and Kimball left for the Second Annual Coffey Golf Classic in Arizona.  They spent two days golfing all day with Spencer and Jonathan.  They had a great time and seemed to think their golf game improved while they were gone.  Joseph said it was nice albeit intimidating to golf on really nice courses.  Joseph and Kimball have been golfing less than a year.

Kimball loved all of the new plant and animal life that he saw.  

Those were the pictures of Joseph and Kimball's trip.  These were my pictures from the same four days: 

We were supposed to have some fun adventures while Joseph and Kimball were gone.  Since we were stuck at home I still went out and bought milkshakes and slushies for the kids.

Lincoln didn't care about his Easter basket at all.  He didn't touch any of the candy until days after Easter when his appetite finally returned.  The girls did a mini Easter basket hunt.  It didn't take too long, but they enjoyed hunting.

This was our best attempt at an Easter picture.  Lincoln took it from the ground because he didn't feel like he could stand.  

Annika had to have two teeth pulled to help with the crowding in her mouth.  She was a champ and I was SO proud of her.  I don't like visiting the dentist.  I had a fabulous dentist growing up, but I had to have two teeth pulled and the pain from the shots I received lingers in my memory.  I was probably more nervous than Annika was for the extractions.  She handled the shots really well.  The fourth and final shot started to bother her, but she made it through.  She instantly started getting numb and that was a new and different sensation for her.  Her teeth were too crowded for her baby teeth to fall out, but the roots had basically dissolved so the dentist just gave a few tugs and her teeth came out.  We were out of the office within 30 minutes of arriving.  We stopped for popsicles on the way home! 

Kimball LOVES cycling.  He loves it more than just about anything currently.  I drove him to a park about 30 minutes from our house so he could go on a ride with the Onondaga Cycling Club.  Kimball was the youngest rider by many decades...probably at least four decades.  He had a good time, but realized he needs a much better bike.  Boy did he make that new bike happen!  A week later he and Joseph went to Massachusetts for a bike race.  Kimball was doing really well and was on course to come in second in his age division and fifteenth overall.  Unfortunately, the rider in front of him started to lose control going down a hill.  Kimball didn't want to crash into this rider so he had to break and that resulted in Kimball crashing into a tree and flipping over his bike!  His bike was totaled, but thankfully Kimball just walked away with some bruising and very sore muscles.  It has taken him 2 full weeks to be able to attend track practice and ride his bike.  Kimball was SO upset about the loss of his bike. Joseph was able to find a used Trek bike in good condition, so he and Kimball went and bought that bike.  This new bike is 18 years old, but it is much lighter and nicer than the bike that crashed.  Kimball is happy to have a bike again.

Riding with the OCC (Onondaga Cycling Club)

Kimball's external injuries didn't look too bad, but he was sore internally!

A trip to Sweet Frog for frozen yogurt was supposed to be one of our fun spring break activities, but we had to postpone it since the kids were sick. We went a few weeks later.

Kimball received a surprise package in the mail! (Thanks, Jonathan!)  One of his track events is the Steeplechase.  This event is a combination of long distance and hurdles.  Not every track meet has this event, but Kimball enters it when he can.  Unfortunately, with his quad injury from his bike race he hasn't been able to run the steeplechase yet this season.   He really hopes he'll be able to run the race at the home invitational in a few weeks.  

The four younger kids still have art in school, and all of them had art projects in the Festival of the Arts.  Eden and Annika also had another project in the festival, we just didn't know about it until they brought home an extra project.  That ended up being four projects for Annika and two for Eden.

We had three days with temperatures in the mid-80s.  That is WAY too hot for Syracuse in April, and very abnormal.   The elementary school doesn't currently have air conditioning, so it was pretty warm in the school.

March

March is always a good month for us. 

Rebecah and Joseph joined the youth from church on a snowshoeing adventure.  Rebecah was cold, but had a lot of fun.  We had a very mild winter, but most of our snow fell in March this year.  Our snow has all melted now and we are looking forward to spring.

Kimball was ordained to the office of Priest.

Rebecah was very busy this month with musical practice.  The first three Fridays in March are long dress rehearsal days.  The kids practice from 3:00-9:00.  I volunteered one evening to help serve the kids dinner.  Rebecah was disappointed that I was only needed one night.  She wanted me to help at all three dinners.  We took a picture with a few of her friends.  I love getting to know Rebecah's friends.

This month when I volunteered at the school I helped the kids make two different crafts.  One was a stained glass tulip.  I love how they turned out.  Eden is always so happy when I'm in her class.

We had a mini St. Patrick's Day celebration with gold wrapped candy and green sugar sprinkle cookies.  Lincoln did this activity at school and I thought it was so sweet.  Kimball was honored that Lincoln loves him so much.  I believe Kimball's exact words were "That kid means the world to me!"

Joseph took Lincoln and Annika skiing again.  Rebecah didn't want to go because she was too tired from musical practice.

We had another bout of Covid in our family.  Rebecah started feeling sick on a Monday and we tested her on Tuesday and she was positive for Covid.  She stayed home from school for four days.  She was devastated because the first two performances of the musical were during her quarantine.  The musical director emailed Rebecah and asked her to have me talk with the school nurse and see when Rebecah could leave quarantine.  The hope was that Rebecah could leave quarantine for the closing night of the show.  I talked with the school nurse and she was very kind and said Rebecah could end quarantine in time for the last show.  There were cheers galore in our house after that phone call.

Joseph and Lincoln went to the opening night of the musical.  Rebecah wasn't there, but we had already purchased our tickets, so we used them.  Lincoln and Joseph enjoyed the show.  Annika and I went the next night.  I'm always amazed at how professional these shows are considering the cast and crew are 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students.  Annika and I had third row center seats so we could see really well.

Our favorite night of the show was Saturday when Rebecah was in it.  She gave it her all since it was her only chance to perform.  I loved seeing her happy smiling face as she sang and danced.  She wore a clear mask during the performance, but she didn't seem bothered by it in the least.  She was just happy to be there.

Joseph and Kimball took a little road trip to Vermont.  Kimball entered a gravel (biking) race.   Unfortunately, Kimball suffered a mechanical malfunction on his bike and by the time he got it fixed and found the route again it was too late to continue with the race.  It was very disappointing for him.  He had followed a group of 10 riders thinking they knew the way....they didn't.  After ten miles the group realized they were heading the wrong way.  On the ride back to the actual route Kimball suffered his mechanical malfunction.  By the time he fixed his bike the other ten riders were long gone and Kimball was uncertain how to get back to the race route.  Cell phone service was spotty, so Kimball had a difficult time contacting Joseph and ended up calling ME for help even though I was 3 hours away.  It all worked out and I was able to help Kimball and Joseph find each other. 

Eden learned how to put her hair in a ponytail this month!  One day she was in tears of frustration that she couldn't figure it out.  A few days later she came to me smiling and showed me her hair in a ponytail.  She was SO happy she figured it out.  

Joseph and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary this month!  Our anniversary was on a Sunday so our celebration was fairly quiet.  We did enjoy some yummy ice cream sundaes!

February

 I feel like we had a full month, but I don't have many pictures.  Busyness picking up and dropping off kids usually isn't worthy of a picture!

Rebecah's musical is in full swing.  She has practices almost every school day.  

I was able to help out in Eden's classroom for Valentine's Day.  She loved having me there and the other kids did, too.  I brought balloons and made balloon hats for all of the kids.  I also helped Mrs. Corl with the snack for the kids.  It was a fun time.  

I made a yummy red velvet cake for Valentine's day and we just gave the kids some candy.  Joseph and I went out to lunch at a yummy place that focuses on healthy food options. 

Rebecah had a district band concert that we attended.  The music was really good. 

The kids had a week off school for Winter Break.  Most of the week was low key with time spent relaxing at home and going to appointments.  Rebecah had musical practice, too.  We did hang out with friends one evening and that was fun.  We also went to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester.  We had been there once before and the kids wanted to go back.  We had a good time and the little ones loved it.  Rebecah is three years older now from the last time we went so I don't think it was quite as magical as she remembered it being.  

Kimball now spends his time after school "training" on the school stationary bicycles.  He has decided to devote more of his time and energy to cycling.  His plan right now is to enter as many local races as he can.  He registered for a race at the end of March in Vermont.  He doesn't plan to play football in the fall and just wants to focus on school track and cycling.  It's a good hobby for him and we'll see how he does in the races he enters.