Grateful Friday

 Our fun is drawing to a close.  Braeden and Anna and QE will fly home tonight.  We kept her up strategically for a later nap and all the fingers are crossed that it will keep her happier on the late night flight.

She's such a little champ.  She happily goes along with whatever is happening.  We went on a few errands this morning, returning some Christmas gifts for Braeden and Anna.  We went to IKEA to look at chairs for our cabin and then we had lunch at Slim Chickens.  Adam and Braeden were engrossed in a college football game on the TV by our table and Anna and I were entertained by QE using her chicken as a spoon and slurping up fry sauce.  She is endlessly entertaining.

We had pikkujoulu last night and I think it is the first time I took zero pictures.  We also didn't have our treats.  We were all tired and I think tired of treats.  Treats lose their appeal if you've had them in excess for a month. 

We ate our clam chowder and bread (not bread bowls, but GF bread and sour dough bread) and fruit and cheese and QE loved the clam chowder.  (Anna had cleverly put chunks of bread in it to thicken it up so she could eat it easier--they are such good parents!)

Adam did his scripture reading and Braeden did a reading and Mark read what Adam had written on Christmas Eve so Braeden and Anna could hear it. 

It was low key and none of us were sad about that.

We went to the basement and started on the huge lego set Adam bought.  I didn't want to buy it and zero people were on my side.  I said that we have a finite amount of space for huge lego sets and zero people were on my side.

I guess I'll have to be satisfied with the areas where I do have say so.

I'm grateful for this time we've had being together.  I am over the moon about being a grandma.  When she says "Nana!" and runs to me with outstretched arms I feel like it's Christmas morning and my birthday and I won the lottery all at once (I'm guessing, having never won the lottery).  I love to read to her and laugh with her and answer her questions and see her process new information.  I love when she says,"Nana read" and backs up to me, ready for me to scoop her and the book onto my lap.  I love when she says, "Nana play!" and "Sit down, Nana!"  Yes.  And always.

She also loves Uncle Mark and Auntie Emma and Grandpa Papa which is my favorite name for Adam ever.  

He's a good Grandpa Papa and I'm so grateful to be doing this life together.

That day Adam drove fast

Yesterday was, in balance, a nice day.  It had a little more excitement than I prefer though.

In the morning, we walked around UVU campus to show Braeden and Anna where Mark is going to school.  Unfortunately, every single door we tried was locked so we toured the outside of UVU.  At least the sun was shining and it felt good to get out of the house, even if it was a little chilly.

We went home for lunch and QE's nap.  While she was napping, Adam and Mark took the van to get washed and went to get Mark's allergy shot.  He's been getting allergy shots for months with zero bad reactions.

Yesterday was not that day.

He came home and was fine.  Everyone (except me) got ready to go swimming.  We were about to leave when Mark came to me and said he had hives.  His face was getting increasingly, alarmingly swollen.  He said he was having a hard time breathing.  Adam gave him Benadryl and I called the allergist.  They didn't even listen to my description of how he was doing.  They said, "Bring him back."

Adam and I took him in Adam's car and Braeden and Anna and QE took the van and went to BYU campus (where buildings were open).  

Adam is a careful and law abiding driver.  He drives like a Washingtonian.  When we see a policeman and I inevitably warn Adam (because I would be above the speed limit and would need the warning), Adam is inevitably not speeding.  It aggravates me sometimes when we are running late.  Just. Go. Faster.

He needed zero amount of urging to go fast yesterday when we were driving Mark back to the allergist office in Provo.  He zipped through a light that had very much turned red.  He weaved between cars.  He went fast.

Mark's throat closing up will be the difference between Adam speeding and not speeding it turns out.

We hurried in to the office while Adam parked.  You go in and sign yourself in typically so there is no receptionist.  I saw a worker and started, "He..."

They took one look at Mark and whisked him back.  They immediately started taking his vitals while someone else quickly gave him an epinephrine shot.

I don't love it when multiple medical people are urgently clamoring around someone I love, but I appreciate their efforts.

They had us sit in a room for about thirty minutes and the doctor sat across from us and casually chatted, but I could see that he was eying Mark closely the whole time.

As if by magic, the hives gradually disappeared and Mark became less swollen.  His blood sugar wasn't even impacted by the whole situation which sort of surprised me.

Mark was there in his swimsuit and a t-shirt and I asked the doctor, "We were about to go swimming.  Is that still OK?"

He said yes and just don't be too crazy.

We met the others at the pool and Mark went a lap or two in the lazy river and then sat in the hot tub.  QE did a lap or two in the lazy river, but once she found out about the play area in water that was about knee deep to her, she was done with that!  She wanted to climb and go down the slide and she loved when the bucket above filled with water and tipped over on her.  I watched her splash around, completely soaked and surmised she is pretty much our favorite grandchild.

She loves to be read to for me and she loves swimming for Adam.  It's like she was custom made.

Emma met us and we went to Via 313 for dinner.  (Part of Geri's gift to us was a gift card to take everyone out to dinner.  We loved it!)

We tried to keep QE busy with random things from my purse, but they weren't cutting it.  I sent Braeden for crayons and a paper from the front desk and that got us until dinner arrived.

I need to up my purse game.  

We came home and Mark said he wanted to go curl up in a ball and listen to a podcast.  His adventure had taken it out of him.  

The rest of us watched videos of when Braeden turned two and after Emma was born and Adam's graduation from Yale, when his parents were there.  It was fun to compare QE to Braeden.  Some of her expressions and actions are just the same.  They had watched videos of Anna at the same age and said that QE talks constantly like Anna did, but she is a lot less serious than Anna was.  She is a lot less smiley and constantly cheerful than Braeden was at that age.  A mix.  A delightful mix and in case it wasn't obvious, we are pretty obsessed with her.

Grandma goals

Adam writing a Christmas memory about his grandparents on Christmas Eve, prompted me to recall a Christmas with my Grandma.  

I know she stayed with us the first year we were in our new house and I can't remember if this memory is from that first Christmas, or another subsequent Christmas.  

At around 4:00 AM, my sisters and I were awake and excited and scrabbling around.  It woke my grandma up.  We were old enough to feel regret about that.  She said, "Oh, it's OK. I'm a light sleeper," like it was not our fault at all, but hers.

She went downstairs and fetched a present from under the tree.  It was the game Aggravation. While my parents and brothers slept in the next rooms, she taught us how to play. The novelty of playing a board game in the predawn hours on Christmas morning will forever be in my memory.

When my grandma visited, she brought the fun (and also fun size Snickers bars and black cherry Shasta soda).  We played games she taught us around the table.  She sang to us and with us.  She admired every inane thing we ever created.

I loved going to my grandma's house during the Christmas season.  It was always decked out in holiday cheer.  I inherited a few of her glass ornaments that I didn't put on our tree.  They are too precious especially when I have a toddler around.  I also ended up with all the Christmas gifts I gave her and she mostly wanted things that lit up or played music.

Yesterday I wound up a little train/snowglobe/music box situation and held it for QE to see.  She marveled at the falling snow and said, "bugs."  No, little California girl, snow.  She pointed to Santa on the train and said, "Ho ho ho!" and "All aboard!"  She bounced a little to the music and waited expectantly for me to wind it again when the music stopped.

I understand why my grandma wanted Christmas decorations that were more spectacular than serene.  It was for her grandchildren.

And I aspire to be like her.  If QE ever wakes me up early on Christmas morning.  I hope I'll have a game ready.

Under the same roof

There is a cozy, all is right with the world feeling when all of us are under the same roof.

Braeden and Anna and QE came yesterday and right now I'm sitting alone in a still house waiting to hear QE.  An advantage of having roughly the same sleep schedule as she does (I go to bed way earlier than everyone else) is that I get morning time with her.

(And I don't think her parents mind.)

We had a wonderful Christmas time.  Christmas Eve was nice.  Mark looked snazzy in his suit, complete with a pocket watch he bought himself.

I think he is aspiring to look like his grandpa.  He said he just needs a mustache.

We played games and I made cinnamon rolls and Adam and Mark wrapped last minute gifts.  In the evening we read stories to each other (including one Adam had written that day).  He doesn't write that often (besides for work), but  I'm always glad when he writes.

I love this picture of Emma reading to us which Mark holding his favorite Christmas bear.  When he was little, he'd always hold his bear so he could see the book.  He still does.  I guess it is muscle memory.

(The little tree was for QE.)

We had a mini testimony meeting around the candlelit table and it made me feel happy.

I asked Mark if we were going to watch Charlie Brown Christmas and he asked, "Well, is it December 24?"

He is very good at being the youngest child.

Christmas morning we had a late call time (I had been up for hours).  We enjoyed our gifts and had happy surprises.

Then we tidied up and made ready for our guests.  

I may or may not have been watching out the front window.

QE was happy to be at Nana and Papa's house.  She started calling him papa and I finally realized it is because that is what Braeden calls him a lot.  We are happy to be Nana and Papa.  She was quick to hug us but then equally quick to want to be set down so she could explore.  She gently touches Christmas ornaments (and nothing breakable is down low) but she is mainly interested in books.  She didn't want to be read to, but perused all the books herself.  Later in the evening, she wanted to be read to and knew which books were the ones she wanted.

Smart girl.

She took Adam upstairs to play in the nursery (that room has been rebranded many times) and later she took me.

We are helpless when she grabs our hand and pulls us where she wants to go.

"Sit down, Nana.  Sit down."  What's a girl to do? I sat down and pretended to drink milk and water out of the little cups she would present to me.

I had pulled out the Little People and there was a princess doll in there that was from something else.  QE immediately named her Princess Anna.  (Pronounced like the princess from Frozen.)  She has never seen the movie (she doesn't watch any screens besides FaceTime with her grandparents) but they have a Frozen book and she is obsessed.  

Braeden and I marveled at the power of Frozen.  Emma was more captivated by it than anything else as a little girl.

We had our Christmas dinner and read stories then QE went to sleep and the rest of us showed each other funny SNL clips until I went to bed early.

I am looking forward to the week ahead!

Grateful Friday

No more homework!  No more books!  No more teacher's dirty looks!

Even though I am the teacher, it is so nice to have Christmas break.  When you are a teacher, you have the same elation at school holidays you had as a kid, which is pretty great.

Yesterday we had the Jingle Jam which was something Matt brought to our school and it was really fun.  We used to have a practice Christmas Sing for the rest of the school.  Instead of that, this year we had the Jingle Jam.  The kids could wear pjs and we gathered in the gym, somewhat in a circle.  We stood up and performed for each other where we were seated.  It was fun to see the other classes and in between we had Minute to Win it games for the teachers.  Miriam and I won at Pictionary which was very exciting because I am abysmal at that sort of thing except Pictionary.  The only coordination I have mastered is my left hand holding a writing implement.  The third grade as a whole lost their minds cheering for us.  Such an easy crowd.

After everyone went home for the day, Miriam came in my classroom and we cried together for a minute because she had found out more tragic news of a student's family.

It is heartbreaking because we care, but I am so grateful to work somewhere like that and with people who care so much.

I'm grateful Mark came about an hour after the students left with lunch and helped me take down my Christmas decorations and carry things to the car.  While climbing up on a chair to reach the top of the bulletin board, he said, "You know how sometimes high school students help in elementary classrooms?  They should have the basketball players do that.  It seems like a good match to have someone with an 8 foot vertical reach."

He's not wrong.

After a month off while an insurance snafu was resolved, I had physical therapy yesterday.  I'm grateful I could resume.  It makes a difference.

I'm grateful for the next week.  I'm going to love spending time with our family.  

I'm grateful to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel gives me hope and purpose and belonging and peace.  The older I get the wider my net of worries seems to be cast.  When I can back up and remember where my faith is, it helps.

Merry Christmas to you and yours dear reader!  

Kindred spirits

Yesterday I took Jamie's gift to school.  It was a set of rainbow gel pens and a bundle of transparent sticky notes.  (When I found out transparent sticky notes were a thing, I thought, Jamie needs those!)

I wrote a note:  In a world of black and blue pens, you are a rainbow gel pen.

Yesterday Jamie came into my room and gave me another gift.  She said, "That other one was just for you.  I'm giving this to all the teachers."

It was a little bag of good chocolates (because Jamie) and a pencil that never needs to be sharpened (because Jamie) and transparent sticky notes!

A gaggle of girls had gathered (school was just starting) and they wondered why Mrs. Riddle was giving me a gift.  "We're friends!" I said.

And I hugged Jamie and said, "Wait until you open my gift and you will see."

Jamie turned to my students and said, "When you get older and have the great privilege to read Anne of Green Gables, you will understand what a kindred spirit is."

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

        L.M. Montgomery

     

Trying to hold it all (and sometimes dropping it)

There is a juxtaposition of effervescent frivolity and heaviness at school.  It's a lot to hold.

On the one hand, we've got Christmas coming!  We did Christmas mad libs, which they loved.  I answered the question 5 million times, "Now what is a plural noun?"

"It's more than one of a noun. Like desks.  Or puppies."

"Ohhhhh."

We did the Christmas Sing and I mortified my students by dropping all the cue cards (they're slick and laminated) while we were leaving the stage.  I was also gathering up all the big pink peppermints and trying to get one of my students (who hadn't gone on stage, but had instead been curled in the fetal position on the other side of the stage) to come.  It was more than I could manage.

Matt was standing right there and he helped pick them up and two moms scurried up from the front row and picked up cards and it was less 30 seconds and didn't embarrass me at all--I clearly was just trying to hold too many things--but my students were embarrassed.  "In front of our parents!" they moaned.

It made me laugh.  

It also made me laugh when I was having them write letters to Santa during writing time.  They were supposed to pick a villain and then make up reasons why he or she wasn't really so bad and Santa should give them a present after all.

They were excited by the project and I was playing Christmas music and we were all having a fine time.  One of my students came up to me with an urgent question.  She had written her letter in her newly minted cursive.  "Can Santa read cursive?"

I said yes.

They wondered if they could deliver the letters to the villains.  I said, "Well, they aren't actually...real."  (Most of them were Disney villains like Ursula or Scar.). 

One student said, "If it was live action, we could give it to the person who is playing the part."

I said yes.  Do that.  

They entertain me.

And break my heart.  I have two students who have just felt off lately.  One suddenly has sort of a different personality and one has school work that has just tanked.

I went to the office to ask Camie, who knows everything, if she knew what was up.  She did.  Their families are in crisis.  Both families.  So much crisis.  You can add that to my other perpetually struggling friend. And it isn't just my class.  Miriam and I tear up sometimes talking about some of their stories.  It fractures me a little.

For part of our curriculum we learn about different cultures so Christmas traditions are a great way to do that.  When we talk about our own Christmas traditions, some of their faces cloud.  They aren't sure about gifts or a tree.  "We don't eat anything different for Christmas."

I know there are students at our school who aren't looking forward to the holiday.  They prefer school where there is food and warmth and predictability.  (Even when your teacher humiliates you by dropping all the cue cards.)

It is a lot to hold.

I saw this by Lisa Jo Baker:

I doubt it was a silent night...

Mary, a first time mom stranded far from home likely wailed in pain.

What I'm saying is...

You are in really good company if your Christmas includes pain and tears and homesickness.

Because there was also - "A thrill of hope"

I was wondering how we can do silly things like Christmas mad libs and our advent calendar and Christmas Sing when so many of them are experiencing such hard things in their lives.

Then I wonder, how can we not?

For unto us a Child is born.  Unto us a Son is given.

It's the best news for everyone and a very good reason to celebrate, especially when things are tough.

A weary world rejoices.