Thanksgiving week

 We had plans to celebrate Marie's birthday on Sunday at the same time as Rachel's birthday, but she had been exposed to a patient who had tested positive for COVID at work so she opted to stay home and asked us if we could keep the girls here longer than normal, at least until she got tested Monday. We said of course. 

This is the nightly view after personal scripture reading. The 3 girls reading on their own for 20-30 minutes every night. 

Marie's test on Monday came back negative so we made plans to bring the girls home Tuesday to do school, but thankfully Marie changed her mind sometime overnight as they got a couple more cases of COVID showing up where she works. She got tested again on Tuesday and this time it came back positive. Because the girls hadn't been in close quarters with her since the previous Friday we felt pretty confident that she was not contagious at that point (I think I've read that people can be contagious a couple days before symptoms start). She started to feel tired on Tuesday, and by Wednesday had a cough and couldn't taste or smell. She mostly slept for a couple days straight and by Friday was feeling a lot better. We took the girls in a few times to talk to her through the window while she stayed inside and they stayed outside. They miss her, but Facetime and in person visits have helped. 

It's unfortunate that it was precisely over Thanksgiving break that Marie was sick and had to miss out on the traditions. 

We did our 3rd annual turkey trot. Grandma and Grandpa Campbell came down to join us for Thanksgiving, and Grandma joined in on the turkey trot, too. 

The kids are troopers and B and Megan came in first (since they were both on scooters), and Ryan was the first kid to make it running the whole way. He is quite a runner. He was on a very fast pace for a kid with legs that short. I don't remember what Savannah said his pace was, but I'm thinking maybe under 9 minutes per mile? 

After the turkey trot the participants got these turkey cupcakes some of the kids helped Grandma Knight decorate the day before.

Just before Thanksgiving dinner was served we had a piano recital. Since Ryan, Annie and Rachel all take piano from Sister Bauer, and we couldn't do a regular recital with all her students at the same time because of COVID, she asked us to pick a time when the kids could play for an audience. It turned out well. I don't think they were quite as nervous as they would have been in front of non-relatives, and maybe didn't practice quite as much as they would have otherwise, but they still did a good job and it was nice to hear their lovely performances.

Thanksgiving dinner was an outdoor affair with lovely weather. Afterwards the kids enjoyed classic Donald Duck cartoons for quite a while. It was a great Thanksgiving.

The following day Grandma and Grandpa Campbell headed back to Utah, and we pulled out the Christmas decorations to begin transforming the house for the season. 

Rachel topped the tree with hardly any help since she has gotten so stinking tall.

For lunch we headed to Reid Park for a picnic and some outdoor playtime.

The Knights joined us at the park. After playing and eating I took Peyton and McKenzie up the street a bit to visit Marie again for a while before we came back and picked everyone up to head back home. 

Saturday was Ben's baptism. After the baptism the kids headed to Grandma's to decorate some Christmas ornaments from Color Me Mine. 

They enjoyed painting, then Savannah took them on a walk to play in the tunnels underneath the car bridge to Mesquite Elementary, then back to her house to watch a movie. With all the kid-free time I went to a couple stores, then Jacob and I put up some outdoor Christmas decorations. Now Christmas has come to our house and we are done decorating and ready to just enjoy the season. :) 

Rachel is a teenager!

Rachel turned 13! We officially have a teenager. Because of COVID she didn't have a friend birthday party, and didn't really want a family birthday party other than some cake at our normal Sunday dinner with everyone. 

Because her birthday was on a Friday all the kids were home for the day (hybrid learning has Fridays as remote learning for everyone so the teachers can have time to make videos for remote learners and connect with them through conferences). Rachel opened her presents right after family scripture study to get the most important part of her day taken care of early.

She was very happy with her new Mathemachicken shirt (which has a picture of a chicken doing math on a chalkboard) and her new Llamas Unleashed game. New books and mint M&Ms were a big hit, too. 

Her friend, Eliza brought by a couple more bags of mint M&Ms as a gift later that day. Since we would be celebrating Ben's birthday that evening with pizza, Rachel got to choose lunch, and I was happy to comply with her request for Panda Express. 

She mentioned that it was her best birthday every because she didn't have to go to school, got Panda Express to eat, and extra screen time that day.

All she wanted to do to celebrate birthday was a Ninjago marathon. She watched a season and a half over the course of the following day (Saturday). We did make everyone get up and go on a bike ride to get a break from the TV, which she was unhappy about. Later the kids went over to Todd and Savannah's to play, and Rachel stayed and watched Harry Potter 7-part 2 (HP8?) with me. 

Sunday Rachel wanted to decorate her own cupcakes, so she made a variety of designs, including one just piled with frosting because frosting is her favorite. 

Grandpa Knight got her some *lovely* dangly clip on earrings. They actually looked better on her than anyone expected. I guess her long hair and dangly earrings go well together.

Rachel is turning out to be a great teenager. I've been looking forward to having a teenager for a while (though also not looking forward to it at times when my kids remind me of their stubbornness). I've had previews over the last year of how fun it is to have a teenager living in our house, with her sense of humor, fun friends, her creativity, ability to babysit and hold down the fort when needed, and having a buddy to watch more mature movies with (not always cartoons). I look forward to the coming years as she learns and becomes more independent and capable and hopefully ready for the real world. In the meantime, we'll enjoy her humor and what a great big sister she is. I'm so thankful to have her in our family.

"I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees!" 
 

November

 November has been a pretty low key month for us. (Ignoring the tumult and tension in the country because of the election.) We've gotten into a new groove with McKenzie and Peyton doing school at their house all week now, then staying at our house over the weekend while Marie works. So I go help on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Grandma helps on Mondays, and Michelle (Marie's roommate) runs things solo or with Marie's help on W, F. So I have had time without any children in my care for 5-6 hours in a row twice a week (M, W) for the first time since the pandemic started in March. It has been good and productive. 

Everyone had the day off of school for Veteran's Day, so we went to Saguaro National Park for a hike.

We hiked along the Cactus Forest Trail up to the Lime Kilns. We found a super tall saguaro, too.

The weather was lovely.

Savannah took a picture of all of us at the lime kilns. 

In all we hiked about 3 miles. It was perfect and lovely to get out in nature.

Look! A screen! As soon as the kids hear something that might indicate a video being played on the computer they are drawn to it like a bug to a light. They mobbed Jacob in this instance because he was watching Studio C.

Annie got a lunch/shopping date with me as part of her birthday gift. After a bit of shopping we headed to Eegees for lunch together. It's always fun spending one on one time with the kids.

Happy Anniversary to us! We're celebrating 14 years of marriage this coming week. Usually for our anniversary we use it as an excuse to buy something that's a little pricier than we would spend on an every day purchase. This year we took advantage of Prime Day being later in the year and ordered a new exercise bike that is big enough to fit Jacob. It arrived well before our anniversary, but we finally got around to putting it together a week ago. Jacob modeling the styrofoam that came with the stationary bike:

Yay! It's big enough for his long legs! 

Friday morning President Nelson exteneded an invitation/challenge to be grateful by 1. posting on social media for 7 days what you're grateful for, and 2. sharing your gratitude in prayer. Since our kids don't use social media we used our driveway as their social media to share what they're grateful for. 

(Yes, that says "farts" below the E. Bet you can guess who wrote that one.)

I'm grateful for many blessings, most especially the gospel and my family. I feel so blessed as I reflect on what a joyful and fulfilling life I have with my family and because of my understanding of the plan of salvation and my Savior.

Annie's birthday

 Annie is 10! She loves having her birthday so close to Halloween, since it's the holiday all about candy and she has such a sweet tooth. Since we weren't doing friend birthday parties this year, we did a two part family birthday party. Part one with all the cousins and adults in the family, then part two when just the girl cousins would stay. She planned the whole evening out. She also decided to decorate her cupcakes as witch hats and pumpkins. They turned out very cute:

For the whole family portion we had a pizza dinner to start things off.

Then we headed inside for a game of pin the eye on the monster, and some candy fishing in place of a piñata. Annie attached the candy while the other kids threw the fishing line over the back of the couch.

Then it was on to presents. She was excited about this shirt that was wrapped up in a huge box (in a smaller box, etc). It says something about just wanting to eat candy and watch cat videos, I think.

She was also very excited about Grandma's gift certificate to Candy World. 

Then it was time for cupcakes and the end of the whole family portion of the party. 

After the cupcakes the boys headed to Todd and Savannah's house while the girls (and Jared, who managed to convince her to let him stay) watched The Greatest Showman. Jared left after the movie was done so he didn't get sucked into any girly games or activities like painting nails. I think they mostly just played some games and watched Studio C, though, and enjoyed staying up late. 

Annie is growing up. She is very responsible, though she also has anxiety that likes to kick in when dealing with germs or a lot of school work. Remote learning, and sometimes the home portion of hybrid learning can be a bit stressful for her when she sees the workload. She always manages the workload in less time than she thinks it'll take, but she would rather just get an assignment at a time than to see them all laid out in front of her at once where it seems so overwhelming. She is a caring girl and notices when those around her are sad or worried and is the first to respond and offer love and try to cheer them up. She is a leader and while that is a good quality she is developing, it can sometimes have its drawbacks. All our children are "leaders"--it is sometimes hard to have so many people trying to be the leader-aka being bossy- at the same time. :) We love seeing her developing her talents and her caring nature and having her in our family. The last few months have been particularly stressful with a lot of change and while it has been tough for her, she has handled it like a champ.

End of October

 Back to school for the last week of October. Routine is always nice. Tuesday night we had a little glasses party to welcome McKenzie to the glasses-wearing club. Those of us who have glasses (even if we hardly ever wear them) got our glasses on for some group pictures.

Wednesday we decided it was time to carve up the pumpkins for Halloween. There was a virtual pumpkin carving contest put on by the primary so we had a deadline of Friday, so we got to work. Annie, McKenzie and Peyton worked together on one pumpkin, using a combo of their design ideas.

Rachel and Megan teamed up, but Megan wasn't keen on getting messy and trusted Rachel's carving skills, so she contributed some ideas that Rachel implemented. Ryan was going to be in their group, but did not like the design idea, so decided to carve his own mini pumpkin from among the mini pumpkins our backdoor neighbor, Joanne had given to us. 

Rachel and Megan's:

Annie, Peyton, and McKenzie's:

Ryan's:

We decorated (instead of carving) the remaining mini pumpkins and put them out front as a family.

On actual Halloween we kept it low key because of COVID. I hope this becomes the new tradition because I enjoyed this Halloween way more than past ones. Rachel dressed up as Samurai X from Ninjago, Ryan was a ninja, Megan a pink witch, and Annie was Luna Lovegood.

We went over to Todd and Savannah's where they had made their house nice and spooky for trick or treating, and all the kids trick or treated at the various bedrooms. 

Then back to our house for more bedroom trick or treating.

We wrapped up the night watching the new animated Addams Family and pigging out on candy. 

It's the day after Halloween and I think Rachel is all the way done with her Halloween candy and some others are coming close. And Ryan and Sammy have hardly touched theirs yet. Halloween at its finest.

Fall break

 Vail's fall break did not overlap with Kenzie and Peyton's fall break, but during their fall break the week before they did some work every morning so they could be done with school early the whole first week of Vail fall break so they could have fun with all the cousins together. It worked pretty well. 

Peyton and McKenzie had started sewing their own skirts during their fall break. We finished the skirts and since we had the sewing machine out Annie decided to make a purse, and Kenzie and Peyton decided to follow suit. More practice with the sewing machine and they are starting to get better at it.

Savannah invited us to join her family on a street car adventure. The street car that runs between the U of A and downtown is free right now because of COVID (I think so no one has to handle dirty cash). So we parked at the LDS Institute at the U of A and hopped on the street car at the stop just down the street.

The kids thought riding backwards, standing up while it was moving, and being able to walk around on a moving vehicle was very exciting.

It was a bit hot, so when we got off to walk around at the Mercado San Agustin some of the kids were ready to get right back on. We eventually got off at downtown to follow some of the walking tour there, but most of my kids were ready to be home, and not interested in walking more, so Savannah continued on, and I took my car full home via the McDonalds drive thru for McFlurries.

McKenzie bought a really cool LEGO set with a dragon. She spent a lot of time putting it together while Rachel and Annie just watched her build. 

There were several afternoons of swimming at Grandma's back yard. The weather during Fall Break continued to be record setting with the latest day that it has hit 100 degrees, so the pool was put to good use by some of the kids.

Puzzles have become a big hit lately. There is always a puzzle being worked on. It makes it hard to use our big whiteboard (I think I know what we're getting for Christmas), but it's good to have something everyone enjoys doing together. 

They'll often turn on a Hank the Cowdog audio book and work for a long time on it. 

We've gone through all of our 300 piece puzzles and are no to our 500 piece puzzles. We'll have to get more soon.

The girls piling up at Grandma's:

Rachel set up this awesome mic stand for Megan's microphone she got from our treasure box. For a couple of days I would walk in on one or more kids singing their hearts out to whatever music they had playing, singing into the mic.

They'll be stars one day.

A screen turns on and everyone flocks to see it. This time it was the Silly Song with Larry: Belly Buttons.

To wrap up Fall Break we decided to go on a very close vacation. Jacob wanted to go some place green, but since monsoon season was a bust this year, and Mt. Lemmon caught on fire, there's not anywhere within 3 hours that is super green. We decided Madera Canyon would be our best bet, so we found a hotel in Green Valley and headed there for an overnight adventure.

Friday Jacob took off from work early and we headed south. Before heading to our hotel we stopped at Tumacácori National Historic Park. With the 4th grade national parks pass it was free to visit (though with Covid, it apparently was free anyway). They had some cool buildings built hundreds of years ago by a mission sent to teach the natives about Christ. 

Some of the kids were super impatient to get to the hotel, so after walking around for a while looking at the church and other buildings we headed to the hotel. The water was super cold, but the hot tub made for a great place to warm up after the kids got too cold in the big pool.

After Chipotle for dinner the kids settled in for movie night at the hotel. We had two adjoining rooms.

We had two adjoining rooms with two double beds in each. Not super spacious, but good enough for one night. And of course the kids loved it. Even Rachel, who normally doesn't like sleeping in a hotel, or anywhere away from her own bed. 

We were up at at 'em early and after a pretty good hotel breakfast we headed up to Madera Canyon. We went on a hike that was a little stressful for some of the kids at the points where we were walking along the side of a steep mountain. The trail was plenty wide to be safe, but seeing the ground dropping off quickly to one side made some of the kids a bit nervous. But we survived.

We did about a mile hike up to the next picnic area where we found an amphitheater. Some of the kids put on a bit of a musical talent show before moving on to climbing a big rock, then hiking back to our original picnic area. 

On the way back we saw two deer, then when we were at the picnic area we saw a squirrel (or maybe a few squirrels), 3 deer including one nursing deer, and some wild turkeys. This inspired Annie, McKenzie and Ryan to build a home for some critters out of rocks and sticks and leaves.

Megan and Peyton explored and had fun off on their own.

Ryan commented several times how much he loves being in nature and that he would like to spend more time in nature. I agree.

On our way home we saw the 3 deer again just down the road. It was a fun trip.

Since we had cleaned the house before we left we were able to come home and veg out watching a movie and playing with cousins for the rest of the afternoon, a perfect way to end Fall Break.