Two more weeks of hybrid learning

 After the first week back to school the COVID numbers in Pima County jumped back up to "red" level, so I worried that they would make us go back to remote learning, but it was all cases at the U of A, so they said we were safe continuing hybrid school. Thank goodness. It has been so nice for everyone to have a step towards a return to normalcy. Even though it's still far from normal.

In July Annie had an allergic reaction to something that caused hives and itchiness for a few days. She's sensitive to a lot of things, but this one was bad enough I decided I'd like to find out definitively what she's allergic to. And the answer is: Tucson.

She had an scratch test with all the top allergens, plus a lot of the fruits that usually cause her face to get red and blotchy after she eats them. She is super allergic to mesquite and palo verde trees, all 3 types of grasses they tested her on, and several other seasonal things. Luckily over the counter meds seem to work fine for her, so we'll just make sure she's on them for the months when those are especially bad. She didn't react to any of the fruits they tested, but the doctor said she probably has Oral Allergy Syndrome, which is basically that her body reacts to raw fruit like it reacts to other allergens. If the fruit is processed at all (cooked, frozen, mashed) it usually changes the proteins enough that the body doesn't react, so getting a scratch test to show is impossible, since you have to process the fruit to make it into a liquid to scratch with. But it's not serious and all she needs to do is be aware of it, and she can either avoid fruits that cause her problems, or keep doing what she has been and rinse off after she eats them, since it mostly just causes itchiness on her face (though apples cause itchiness in her mouth). It's nice to know what exactly is bothering her, even if it doesn't change her behavior much. 

It's a good thing we keep getting more of these blocks. We have 900 of them and the kids get them all out and build with them multiple times each week. 

This is a common sight these days. With the kids using at least one, sometimes more masks each day at school, and of course having some disappear on a regular basis, we have to stay on top of laundry, usually washing masks at least twice a week. I use a lingerie bag to hold all the masks so they don't get lost and so it's easy to get them all after the washing machine to lay them flat to dry, because drying them in the dryer makes them unwearable, coming out crumpled or bent in weird ways.

Usually on General Conference Saturday we take a bike ride on the Julian Wash trail in between the morning and afternoon sessions. But two days before conference Annie's bike snapped it's brakes. Add that to the fact that it is the hottest summer ever and the highs are still hitting 100 consistently even though it's October, and the mid-day bike ride wasn't going to happen. 

Ryan, however, came up with the idea of a fun run. So he organized it and got his cousins and grandma to sign up for it, and put it on in the morning before conference. The route was around 1 or 2 blocks (participants could choose their distance). 

The kids did a great job. Megan came in first (running the 1 block distance) and Sammy came in second (biking the 2 block distance) and both were very happy to get the medals Ryan had prepared out of string and a big button. After the fun run they did the "none run" which involved no running, just biking the same route. Fun was had by all and we had burned some energy to help us sit for hours listening to prophets' voices. 

After a while the kids got a little squirrely (notice Ryan below): 

The did great listening and taking notes and I think we all got something good out of conference. I know it seemed especially applicable as there were many talks about all our trials and how to endure with faith. I'm sure that applies to a lot of people going through COVID-related trials right now, but it felt especially applicable to us right now with the trials and heartaches our family has been confronted with lately.

After conference the kids got around to a craft I thought they would do during conference: making dragon flies. The library had these kits for the kids when we went to check out books earlier in the week, and they all enjoyed making them.

The kids love to gather around Jake when he has the ipad ready to show something funny. They love listening to Hank the Cowdog audiobooks, watching funny videos, or Smarter Every Day videos, or in this case, watching a silly songs with Larry video.

Peyton and McKenzie had fall break last week. Since the rest of the kids have fall break this coming week and the following week, they did a couple hours of work every morning so they can have less work to do this week and have some time off to play with everyone else. They did, however, get to do fun things to make fall break more exciting. Their favorite was playing Beat Saber on Todd's VR set. 

They also learned how to use a knitting loom and got part way through sewing their own skirts. We'll finish this week. 

Thursday we got out some Mad Libs, which everyone thought was hilarious. Afterwards Ryan led everyone in a writing game where everyone writes a sentence or two, then passes their story along to the next person to continue the story with another sentence or two, passing the paper all around the table. By the end everyone has a silly story to read. They all got quite a kick out of it.

Friday afternoon we took the kids out for ice cream to celebrate their hard work for quarter 1. They all deserve it for persevering through such a strange and difficult way of doing school. 

Saturday morning everyone loves the chance to sit around and watch cartoons:

After they watched for a while Savannah invited us to join them to ride bikes to the park. Peyton has been working on her biking skills and seemed ready to join us even though we'd be riding along Rita Road for most of the ride. She did great and proved that she has mastered braking and steering. Yay! 

The kids played at the park for a long time, enjoying the playground a little, but mostly running around playing some boys vs. girls game.

The ride home was hot since it was 90 degrees by then, but we made it. After lunch the girls built the tallest tower ever before heading over to play VR at Todd's house for a while. 

Today we were back at church with the whole ward invited to come. Up until now we had been alternating weeks, half the ward going one week, the other half going the next week based on our last name alphabetically. So today was the first time we've gone with the Grandma and Grandpa and Todd's family since March. Except of course for all the times we did at home church together. It wasn't very full today, but that may be because of Fall break. It sure is nice to be making our way back towards life pre-pandemic, even if it's just in baby steps.