Weekend

It was a really great weekend!  

Friday was Art Day at school, which is something I made up for one of the end of school days which are kind of wonky anyway.  We study artists and do some art and listen to music and I love every minute of it.

They did research on some artists, wrote the facts they learned on sticky notes and stuck them in a section of the whiteboard where that artist was named.  Then they did an "Artist Study."  They kept running up to me and saying excitedly, "Teacher!  Did you know....?"

We had some deep discussions.  One girl raised her hand and asked, "Why is the Mona Lisa such an important painting?"

It felt like we were in an art appreciation class instead of a third grade.

We discussed.

They were floored to learn she was an actual person.

When one of them declared Vincent Van Gogh "crazy," we had another discussion about mental illness.  We talked about that not being a kind description just like we would not call someone a name if they had a disease like diabetes or a broken leg.  That led to talk of people they knew who had various forms of mental illness.  One brave girl raised her hand and said, "I have ADHD and I take medicine every morning."  We talked about how sometimes you can't always see what people are struggling with.

Besides that brief foray into kind of a heavy topic, it was a fun day.  They loved it too.  In the afternoon I let them "craft" if they wanted to (their name for it).  I had coloring pages of famous paintings but a lot of the girls used the blank paper I had fanned out on my desk and tape and glue and scissors and created 3D houses.  One of them used a sticky note for a blanket for her little paper doll and it was very clever.

One girl asked, "Is it OK if I read instead?"

Guess what I answered?  (Children asking if they can read is my love language!)

The good day only got better.  Braeden got there from BYU shortly after I got home.

He saw a plate I recently bought at a vintage store hanging on the wall.  He said, "I want to inherit that plate!  Where's a Sharpie so I can write my name on it?"

I said I thought I probably had about 30 more years at least before we needed to start deciding what people would inherit around here, but he persisted like only Braeden can persist.

I told him where to find a Sharpie.

All three kids eventually arrived.  Although we missed Anna and QE, who were still in California, it was wonderful to be together, laughing and talking over each other and just having a fine time.  Before we ate, Braeden FaceTimed with Anna and I loved to hear the wonder in QE's little voice as Braeden panned his phone around the room, "Nana!  Papa!  Emma!  Uncle Mark!"  She was mostly excited to see her dad though.

I looked across the table at my three all grown up babies and my heart swelled several sizes just like the Grinch's.  After dinner we played Quixx (while listening to yacht rock because that is the only way we know how to do it).  Braeden and Mark made me laugh so much I had to lay my head on the table to recover.  

Their aim is to try to make me hyperventilate and they are good at it.

I went to bed before everyone which is me living my best life.

Saturday morning Braeden wanted to mow the lawn for his dad, but Adam wanted him to be able to visit with me instead.  Braeden said, "I will do whatever you want me to, Mom."

Where was that attitude when he was 15 years old?

I enjoyed visiting with him though (which is of course what I picked).  I started to make him a smoothie for breakfast and our blender started smoking and smelled awful.  Braeden went to the freezer and pulled out some chicken tikka masala from Trader Joe's.  I told him he was a weirdo to eat that for breakfast and I said, "You still need to drink this smoothie."  I was attempting to finish it with the immersion blender.  

He said, "I am planning on both!"  He's always been a good eater.  That hasn't changed since he was 15.

Adam and Braeden and I drove to the Draper Temple to meet Emma.  

The garage door wouldn't close so Braeden jumped out to enter the code.   Someone (me) hit the garage door one time when backing out to take Mark to junior high.  Ever since, when the sun hits it just right it won't work from the car.

Entering the code reminded Braeden, "Hey we hacked into your Roku last night."

If there are kids in the world who don't eventually figure out all their parents' security codes I didn't give birth to them.  I don't think Adam and I would be very good spies with our easily guessed codes.

(Braeden also wouldn't be a very good spy because he cheerfully tells us everything he does.)

He said, "If it makes you feel better, Mark didn't think we should do it."

(How does that make me feel better?)

I want to always remember our temple trip.  I felt kind of awful with a headache, we were running late (the whole smoothie incident had set me back in my timing), Adam and Braeden had thought we were doing an endowment session and Emma and I had thought we were doing a sealing session and we had diverse appointments.  Besides that, there were a lot of weddings happening at the temple and no place to park.  Adam dropped us off to go find parking.  The ordinance workers were very kind to us, despite how disheveled we felt.  I explained that Adam was still coming and that I was sorry we were so late, etc.  A kind man looked into my eyes and said, "I'm so glad you're here today.  And you're in the temple!  Just breathe."

We all united finally for sealings and it was wonderful to be in the temple together.  It does feel easier to breathe when I'm there.

We met up with Mark for lunch.  We always have the limiting factor of gluten free options in choosing where to eat.  I suggested Red Robin.  Adam said that was kind of far for Mark to drive from Provo and Emma and I both said, "Mark won't mind."  He didn't.  He would probably have driven twice as far for Red Robin.

Braeden asked our server for the sauce that is kind of orange to dip fries in.  She said, "Fry sauce?"

I said, "Tell me you don't live in Utah without telling me you don't live in Utah...."

Braeden said, "Well it isn't exactly like fry sauce...."

During lunch, the broken Roku code came up and I said, "Braeden took two steps too far."  I told the others about the Sharpie and the plate.

Emma's eyes widened like they do at her brothers' antics.

Mark immediately reasoned everything he would inherit since Braeden would only get the plate.

Braeden said smugly, "But it's a really great plate."

Mark also said, "If it makes you feel better about the Roku, I didn't think we should do it."

(How does that make me feel better?)

There is an absolute audacity to Braeden that probably stems from him being the very center of my universe until Emma came along.  Those were formative years.

He was gathering his belongings before flying home and snapped his name tag under a magnet on the side of the fridge.  He smiled impishly and said, "I'm sure you'll want this."

He wasn't wrong.  I'll take any I was here reminder from our children that I can get.