Henry Turns 9

Henry turned 9 on Thursday! When planning what to do for the day, he had to make an option A, B, and C depending on what we could do. Option A was to go to Provo Beach. Option B was Coin Crazy. Option C was to go to either grandparent's house and play on their swingsets. Provo Beach wasn't open but Coin Crazy was so that's what we did. He wanted to invite a bunch of friends but we compromised and brought Wayne.

The birthday spread.

 Justin leaves for work before 6 nowadays but Henry really wanted him home for presents and birthday breakfast so we compromised and all got up at 6:45. Henry helped make his birthday pancakes.

 While Justin manned the griddle, Henry opened his presents. He got mostly food. Cookies, Pringles, a case of orange Fanta.....

 Doritos

 Reese's Puffs cereal and some Kit Kat bars

 A new sleeping bag (his small one got handed down to James)

 And a tent. He also got a couple of Calvin and Hobbes books.

After breakfast Justin left for work and they put up the tent nearly all by themselves.
 They dragged their sleeping bags in and played games for awhile. After lunch we had cousins Allison, Maddie, and Nathan over and it felt like a party!

Meanwhile, I got to work on Henry's cake. This is the mock-up he gave me.

An earlier edition included sprinkles so I had bought Jazz colored sprinkles and I still wanted to use them. We blended the two ideas and came up with a sprinkle basketball in the center with the numbers around the sides. This is my stencil for the sprinkles.

I told him I wasn't very good at writing letters and numbers in frosting. His reply, "I'll do it!" So he did.

 He did so good! He has really good handwriting anyway so I'm not surprised. He was so proud of himself so that's all that mattered.

Justin brought home Wendy's for dinner per Henry's request. Justin's parents came over too and after we finished eating we went to Coin Crazy and invited Wayne and Madison across the street. After 2 months of not playing with friends, Henry was in heaven!

First up, laser tag.

We paid for James to play too because we knew he'd want to carry a gun.

Nothing funnier than watching little Erica in her dress run around shooting people.

I shot her a lot. I don't feel bad.

Then we played some games. Erica got a little intense with this claw game. She played so many times to get a handful of candy. Arcades give me a glimpse at what my children would be like in a casino and it's scary.

James and Sarah played a racing game a few times.

Because James is too impatient and won't let me help him select the settings, he ended up driving this in a race.

Henry and Wayne played mostly shooting games.

Then we went back home and my parents came over for cake in the backyard. 

 He got a birthday card with money from my parents.

 

 A new basketball from Wayne. These two can resume their all day, every day basketball playing.

 And a new scooter from Nana and Papa.

 Then it was cake time!

 Justin is back there dribbling.

 "The candles are lit, Dad!"

 I don't know what he wished for. He said this was the best birthday ever.

And then they slept in the tent that night (except for James). They got lucky--no trains came by.

9 years I've had this kid! So crazy. Here are 9 things about Henry.

1. He loves video games but we don't own any. He plays at a couple of friends' houses and his grandparents' and cousins' and that's plenty.

2. He loves to cook. He's our designated pancake flipper and he has just learned to make his own toasted cheese sandwich.

3. He misses sports so much. He's been watching highlight reels on youtube. Up until his birthday he and Wayne socially distanced throwing a football to each other across the street.

4. He plays with Erica the most out of all his siblings. They hang out in her room a lot. It's almost cliquey.

5. He is still my early riser. I think part of it is wanting to get to the TV first but he likes to get up early to do anything.

6. He likes to read the books he likes (13-story Treehouse series, Garfield, Calving and Hobbes) but it's really hard to get him to read anything new or without tons of pictures. It has to be funny or he has no interest.

7. He has a really bad attitude about getting ready for church and home church. It's a battle every week and we have to remind him dozens of times of all the privileges that are contingent on his participation and good behavior. He's always been a booger about it and Justin and I think he will always be like this.
8. He needs friend interaction more than my other kids. Social distancing has been the hardest on him. Sarah has been able to chat online or do video with most of her friends, Erica is a homebody anyway and James doesn't have friends so he hasn't cared. But for Henry, playing outside with friends is what he gets up for and definitely the reason he does his chores.

9. He is my moodiest child. You know the nursery rhyme by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

There was a little girl who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good, she was very good indeed

But when she was bad, she was horrid.

That's Henry. Minus the curl and girl part.

 He also was a Student of the Month. He said he was going to keep the card from his teacher forever.

And here's his All About Me page.

Mothers Day 2020

As my kids get older, it's funny to see them get into mother's day a little more.

Here's a banner Henry made me.

Sarah made these flowers to look like my favorite calla lilies.

And per my request, they filled out some questionnaires. I love reading their answers.

Erica:

Favorite food is definitely not tomatoes.

 James:

Erica:

She was right, we did meet at "colig" (college). 

Henry:

"Housely jobs" has to be my favorite answer ever.

Sarah:

I am so happy they all know I love cinnamon rolls.

 Sarah:

 Henry:

Not sure what Australian food is but I'm sure I'd like it. For the record I do not like fish and chips.

 Erica made me this cute card.

 Then we had french toast for breakfast which is probably my favorite breakfast (after cinnamon rolls, of course)

It was super weird not going to church. We still get our church clothes on for home church so after everyone was ready, we took our traditional picture with mom outside. I can't pick a favorite (because someone is always looking goofy or eyes closed)

 What is James's face??

 The boys are done.

 I think we're all done.

One more try....

The end. Sure love these little weirdos.

We went to dinner at Justin's parents house and dessert at my parents' house. One of the perks of them living a mile from each other.

This is what I gave my mom. It's my siblings and I as kids.  My friend's daughter drew it for me. We texted back and forth for a few days and she made exactly what I wanted. It turned out so cute and a couple of them look exactly like the real people.

Here are my top 3 things about mothering.

Least favorite:
1. The fighting. "I am not a referee! But if you don't give that back you're going to bed right now!"
2. The messes. "I just cleaned up in here!"
3. The lack of privacy. "I'll be out in a few minutes. Can you just go downstairs and wait for me?"

Most favorite:
1. The funny things they say. "Mom, don't look at my bowl. I took way too many Cheezits."
2. When they get along and play for hours. "Now let's pretend I'm the dad and you lost your puppy."
3. When they take the initiative to get their chores done. "Mom, I just finished my room. What's my job?"

These are my peeps.

Making our own fun

Last Saturday we were ready to leave for Logan but couldn't because there was a bird stuck in the garage. Then it flew into the house and it took some finagling to get it out of the house.

We took our first trip out the county in months and visited my brother and his family in Logan for the day. This day also happened to be the day they pulled their shaved ice shacks out of storage and relocated them in town in preparation for opening this weekend. We volunteered our car to tow them so they didn't have to rent a truck. It was pretty cool (and a little slow and a little dangerous) to see how they are transported. 

But first things first--shaved ice in their garage. We hadn't even gone inside to see their new house before Lisa and Kyra were pulling out flavorings and starting up the ice shaver.

Then we took a tour around their new complex. We'll definitely be coming back when the pool opens.

Then we went to Old Grist Mill for some sandwiches. I have been craving a sandwich from there since the deepest days of stay home orders. I hadn't been that despondent about a food craving since I was pregnant. Their sandwiches are so good. We need an OGM in Utah County.

Then off to the storage unit! It takes a couple of jacks and several people working the jacks to get one side of the shack up to put the wheel on the axle and then repeat on the other side. Then you put the tow bar in the front and then attach that to the hitch on the back of our car. Then we had to drive 20 mph to its summer home at a Nibley carwash and then undo all that.

After the first shack, we departed ways for a little while. Sarah stayed behind to help the shack people and Justin and I took the other 3 kids in Matt's Tesla for a drive around the valley. We then met up at the parking lot of the second shack and helped unload that.

The roof you can see is my old house. We are down in what used to be a gravel pit. But now the whole area down there is raised up and mostly developed. What was once a pretty steep drop-off behind our lot is now a gentle slope. It's so weird.

So many cars honked and waved. I think everyone is excited for summer.

Then we had a bbq at their house where Matt introduced us to Bluey on Disney+ and played pickleball. We got home at midnight. It was a long and fun day and felt sooooo good to go somewhere and do something new.

Erica misses her friend Finley the most. Watching the two of them videocall is hilarious and annoying. After their cute niceties and over-sharing it devolves into making each other laugh with the effects and filters. After about an hour, they have to call it quits because it's just so much giggling and no interaction as Erica is just making herself laugh.

Henry wrote this sweet note to Wayne across the street but then Wayne came home so Henry didn't want to leave him a note, he wanted to tell him in person.

I don't even like Coin Crazy but I'm excite to go.

Big day in the Dye household. James graduated to a booster seat. He's older and bigger than the rest of the kids were when they made the transition. He didn't have a baby coming along kicking him out of his carseat so I kind of forgot he was big enough to be out of it. His favorite feature is unbuckling himself and getting out of the car all by himself and does it super fast. It's nice not to have to unbuckle him or hear the kids argue over who's turn it is to help him.

 

Erica and Henry dressed up as grannies after watching the Grannies episode of Bluey. It's the funniest one we've seen so far.  It's a show that we all watch together and the kids aren't allowed to watch new episodes without us.

We saw 8 National Guard helicopters fly over my parents' house yesterday. They were so loud and awesome. Kind of made up for the air force jets being so far away last week.

Some thoughts on life being so weird:

- March seems so long ago. April was so stressful but kind of went by fast.

-I am so tired of shopping at Walmart and Costco and grocery stores. Amazon is slow. I want more stores to open up!
- I have yet to wear a mask. I will have to next week when I go to Costco.
-There's a near constant ache in my heart over lost school experiences.
-I don't seem to be comfort baking as much was I was. For awhile there I was making bread and cookies out of boredom and to compensate my feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. "Life can't be that bad if we're eating chocolate chip cookies."
- There was a day after general conference that I realized the virus wasn't living up to the hype and food shortages weren't happening and it wasn't going to get any worse than it already had been.
- The only thing we have scheduled this summer is swimming lessons and that ends June 5. It's gonna be a long summer if playgrounds are closed and friends are off-limits and fireworks keep cancelling.
- I'll let my kids play with your kids.
- I wait for the new cases and new deaths stats every day around 12:30. I think the virus has turned us all into statisticians.
- I'm kind of tired of eating out. Apparently once a week is too much for me. I'm ready to go back to once a month but I won't.