Sun Sep 05 2021 10:14 Math Magician:
Me: if we spent $202 on groceries, and $44 was for Tressa, how much were our groceries?
Arthur: 158
Me: So close! It’s $168. …
Sun Sep 12 2021 06:58 Drama This Week:
Maggie auditioned for the school musical (Matilda). They didn’t get a part, which was expected. We mostly had Maggie do it for practice. Maggie also expressed interest in the theater class’s reading of War At Home, followed by a screening of Come From Away, so John, Maggie and I went to that. I liked the musical even better than I remembered.
Maggie also finished physical therapy this week.
Sun Sep 12 2021 06:59 Saturday Plans:
We spent Saturday morning at Soak City with friends. It was great to have so many adults and big kids that like doing stuff, and no little babies. Arthur can only do 3 sets of the water slides, but it worked out well between everyone.
Mon Sep 13 2021 20:56 Spiritual Experiences:
A few weeks ago, I donated blood successfully for the first time. I lay there the whole time without my phone pondering my mortality (and that of my friend’s niece who recently had a blood transfusion, which is what inspired me). It’s been a long time since I had such a spiritual experience.
That same week I read The Book of Longings, which was fabulous. By the time I got it from the library I had seen it recommended from five or six different sources. Toward the end of the book, the main character (Jesus’ wife, whose main longing is to have a voice in this world) writes a hymn to Sophia, the Greek incarnation of the feminine divine. I was spellbound by the bits of poetry she sings. And then I read the author’s note and learned they were from an actual poem found buried, presumably written by a woman. So I looked up the poem and read the entire thing. Thunder, Perfect Mind. The resonating of the poem in my heart was shocking. It describes opposites in everything and So Much Power. The novel, and that poem, have imprinted on me.
Wed Sep 15 2021 21:19 Oh look, Basketball:
Tonight John took Dalton to a YM pickle ball activity. Except the leaders didn’t plan ahead and the courts were all full so… they played basketball instead. Shocking, I know. Dalton was SO disappointed. We’ve already complained about the quality of the YM activities, so doing so again won’t do much. We’ve been trying to vote with our feet, but John is the deacon’s advisor and is trying to be supportive. Perhaps they should have asked him to be supportive by reserving a pickle ball court, or helping plan activities that aren’t dodgeball, volleyball, church cleaning, career night, repeat. Argh.
The YW learned an after school snack recipe and Dalton said he’d have much rather done that. I know, buddy.
Tue Sep 21 2021 22:55 Birthday Weekend:
For my birthday, we took the whole family parasailing. We loved it! It was so gentle and fun. John and I tried a new Mediterranean place for dinner. Then on Sunday, we went for a hike, did my new puzzle, and had friends over for ice cream cake. A great birthday weekend.
Last week, I went out with a bunch of friends for tacos. It’s been a long time since I went to a birthday dinner friend group dessert party thing. It was nice to be doing that again. After tacos, we walked half a mile in the dark in search of a dessert place. I love that I have friends who are up for such things.
Sat Sep 25 2021 11:04 Sienna Talks:
I had a zoom meeting this week, graduating Sienna from speech therapy (for sh, ch, and j sounds). The teacher asked me to stay on after and do her parent teacher conference really quick. Basically, she enthused about how Sienna always had something to contribute and that it was valuable, and was just so fun and the best, and she needs to work on subtraction facts, and then she detailed entire conversation about Sienna’s hair that had occurred one day after school when I had fixed it in pigtail braids.
Sat Sep 25 2021 11:05 Better Late Than Never:
The phrase “better late than never” has replaced “meatloaf” as Arthur’s latest arbitrary phrase he says all the time. It’s more likely to be accidentally accurate.
Wed Sep 29 2021 20:00 Paddle On:
Leonard and Rachel surprised me with paddle board for my birthday. Arthur and o tried it out for the first time today. We went to Newport Dunes. He climbed on the whale and played on the playground while I inflated it, and he happily sat on the nose with his life jacket while we explored around the lagoon. We didn’t go far, but we had a good time paddling around. It’s very comfortable to sit on cross-legged - more so than a kayak - though I don’t have the right kind of paddle for sitting. It was lots of fun. Can’t wait to take it out more.
Yesterday I took Sienna and Arthur to Downtown Disney to do a pumpkin scavenger hunt and get some treats. Sienna loved the scavenger hunt, but Arthur got bored and grumpy after an hour there. He was way more fun and cheerful at the beach today.