Month: September 2021

Abe felt really bad that we didn’t do a special breakfast on Mary’s birthday, so he made one today. (On Mary’s actual birthday morning I had to take Basil to the groomer and Abe had work.) Mary, we love you!

Happy Birthday Mary!

Today Mary turned 9. Mary wanted to have a pig themed birthday, and I think that wish came true! We celebrated Mary’s birthday at Color-Me-Mine. Lily ordered her a pig cake from the Sweet-Tooth-Fairy.

We had 14 friends come help Mary celebrate her birthday. Everyone picked out the statuette they wanted and started painting.

When people started to finish painting, we had yummy Jimmy John’s subs, carrots, jicama, figs, chips and drinks. Mary didn’t want to have pizza, and I think dinner turned out fantastic (thank you Lily!).

After dinner, Mary blew out her candles on her pig cake.

After cake, Mary opened presents from her friends. They gave her such wonderful gifts!

At home Mary opened presents that Lily picked out for her and she got more pig themed things like a pig pillow, and a pig-shaped glasses holder.

Mary, we adore you and we are so profoundly grateful you are our daughter. My favorite thing about you is your deep desire to be good. You are helpful, kind, loving, creative, artistic, sweet, smart, forgiving, thoughtful and hard-working. Even if you weren’t all those things, we would still love to the ends of the earth because you are ours, and always will be. But thank you thank you thank you for being such a wonderful child. You, Lydia, Ammon and Clarissa all make us so so so proud!

One more sweet thing to note about Mary is how much she loves Lydia. I started a practice within our family that starting on our kids 9th birthday, the pick one value per year that they want to proclaim as their own, so that they will have ten self-proclaimed values by the age of 18, when they are ready to go off into the real world. For example, Lydia chose determination on her 8th birthday and fun on her 9th birthday (incredible values Lydia!). Mary revealed today that her value is…..(drumroll)……Lydia! I thought that was so cute, and sweet, and also very deep. Mary is very connected to Lydia, and loves her immensely, loves her to the point of it being one of her core values. Those sisters truly have a bond.

In other news today, Basil got shaved, and now looks like a beagle, pointer, dalmatian mix. He was also incredibly hyper today and chased his tail more than I think I’ve ever seen him do. I love that dog!

Mary’s Birthday Celebration with the Marshall’s

Mary baked and decorated her own birthday cake. More on that later!

Yesterday I was exhausted beyond belief recovering from the work week. Today, Lily felt sick (sore throat, very tired and generally feeling ill). Fortunately, I had some good energy today. I got up around 8AM and worked steadily on the house until about 1:30, when I picked up Basil and ran some errands.

About that time, Lily started being more active. Even though she still wasn’t feeling great (she has a hard time not being active), she got up to help Mary bake her birthday cake, and help clean the house.

The cake, as you can see above and below, was a complete masterpiece! It makes me so happy looking at it!

My dad and Suzanne were going to join us for dinner, but my dad is sick and it seems like it might be Covid, so they didn’t come. Dad, I hope you get feeling better!

We wanted to still make it feel festive for Mary by having a somewhat large gathering, so we sent out some texts and happily for us, the Marshall’s were available to come over!

We had the most wonderful time chatting with them. Derek’s mother passed away recently which was very sad, but he and the family seem to be doing well. Also, their dog passed away recently, but they bought a new puppy that looks just like their previous dog (Red Golden Retriever) and they brought her, Dakota, to play with Basil. See below!

For dinner we had Lou Malnati’s pizza (ordered and shipped to our house), salad, cake, and cookies that the Marshall’s brought over. It was delicious!

I had fun making a number 9 out of cucumbers. I’ve been craving vegetables and this salad really hit the spot. It had some of the last tomatoes from our very productive tomato garden this year. I took down the plants to prepare for our upcoming travels.

We had such a great time with the Marshall’s! Here is everyone singing to Mary!

When the Marhall’s left, Mary opened some presents that she got from Georgia over Facetime. They were two sketch-pads and a book about how to draw. Thank you Georgia!

After all the festivities, Mary and I took some pizza and cake to Cindy, our friend across the street. Lydia and Mary love talking to Cindy and they have become friends with her. We invited Cindy to the party, but she didn’t make it because she was working on a contract for selling her travel trailer. When we dropped off the food, she had a gift bag for Mary with water-balloons and a 3-D puzzle in it! Thank you Cindy!

It was sooooo fun celebrating our sweet Mary today. She is creative, helpful, sweet, responsible, smart, hard working and so adorable. Here is something I photographed while I was cleaning. She made it a few weeks ago:

Mary did this on her own for fun after everyone watched Wonder Woman and Lily taught the girls about WWI history.

I also want to mention Lydia did an amazing job getting her harp finished off for the week without anyone asking her, and for getting her homework done before looking at screens. She’s really on a roll!

Mary’s piano competition and The Secret Garden

While Mary spent the morning practicing and playing for friends and family over Facetime, the other kids dressed up and danced to Dance Macabre by Saint Saens. Major shout out to Lydia who did their face-painting! They first started dancing to it earlier in the week and then spent the whole morning listening to it again and again while they danced and acted to it.
While Abe took Mary to her first round, I turned on Saint-Saens’ piano concerto no.2 and the other kids danced and acted to that. Here is Ammon after going over a musical waterfall and Lydia attempting to revive him.
This is Mary during round 2! Out of her division, six children were chosen for the finals. Here she is playing beautifully.
She got third! We were all so, so proud of her. Way to go, Mary!!
After the competition we drove to Salt Lake to return some things. Some returns took time so the kids played on the sidewalk while Abe and I took turns going into the stores.
After our errands we went to the Doghaus for dinner because Mary was in the mood for burgers.
And then we went to a bakery for dessert.


While out and about, Abe and the kids had a lot of fun rapping together. See below:

In this clip and the clip below, Mary is on beat-box. She was feeling too shy to rap.

After the bakery we went to the Hale Theater in Sandy to see the Secret Garden, where I neglected to take a single picture. It was an incredible play, though, and we all enjoyed every minute. Well, Clarissa was a little wiggly and tired, but the rest of us were riveted. Such a good show!

Fall Festival

In the morning after dropping the kids off at school I took Basil on an eight mile walk in Provo Canyon. It was a beautiful morning.

On my walk.
It was a Star Wars theme.
We ate our dinner on the playground. Abe was both taking this picture and restraining Basil from stealing his favorite food–pizza!
Ammon played in the bubbles.
Ammon all covered in bubbles.
Ammon was not allowed to ride the ponies because he was so wet.

After the festival we dropped by my mom’s so Mary could play her her competition pieces in person. It was fun to see her, and Mary did a fantastic job. She has really prepared a lot and no matter how she does during the competition we are all so incredibly proud of her.

Mary’s birthday date with Dad

After school Abe picked up Mary for a special Daddy-daughter date. Their first stop was the eye doctor. They have both improved since their last appointment!
After the doctor, they did an errand for our car. Then they ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Mary quietly colored a beautiful picture while they waited.
Mary loved the chameleon she was coloring!
Meanwhile, the other kids were busy dancing to Saint-Saens’ Dance Macabre over and over again.
Finally, Abe took Mary to the new Peter Rabbit movie.
Abe and Mary did a photo-booth, but it broke while they were using it so they never got their prints. In this picture, they are recreating their favorite pose.

Fire truck excitement

While I was blow drying my hair in the morning the fire alarm went off. Since the carbon monoxide alarm also went off, the Vivint people thought it wise to send over the fire department to make sure everything was in order. We had to leave the house and it has gotten chilly in the morning, so we are all bundled.
The kids thought the fire truck was exciting.
In the afternoon the girls had their last tennis lesson of the season. We have all become friends with the Eastmans. Their children are all the same ages as ours and the girls had so much fun playing together. I looked forward to chatting with Amy every lesson while Ammon and Clarissa played happily on the playground. These afternoons have all been perfect weather too–parts of the day I always looked forward to, and I will miss them!

beautiful Monday

After dropping the kids off at school, I took Basil on a six mile walk in the canyon. It was another gorgeous morning.
In the afternoon the girls had tennis practice, which meant Ammon and Clarissa got to play in the park while I chatted with my new friend, Amy Eastman.
Abe took a selfie while tucking in Clarissa.

Last perfect day in Chicago

On Sunday the girls and I woke up and got breakfast at a cute little nearby cafe.

Then we walked past Buckingham Fountain on our way to the Shedd Aquarium.
On our walk the girls wanted to touch the lake.
Admiring the Amazon River exhibit at the Shedd.
Sharks.
Our favorite creature there, a kind of alligator snapping turtle. He was hairy, had a piggy nose, and was exceptionally animated.
See that nose?
Belugas. Swoon!
After we watched a 4D show on octopuses, we happened to catch the dolphin show! The dolphins did all sorts of tricks.
On the walk back to our hotel.
We packed everything from our room and then checked our bags at the luggage storage in the hotel. I wanted a picture of the girls in the hotel lobby.
On the way to luggage check.
Then we took a taxi over to Water Tower Place so we wouldn’t miss Lydia’s appointment to get her ears pierced!
She was so brave.
And she looks so beautiful with her sparkly earrings!
With Ms. Skyler, who pierced both Lydia and Lydia Jr.’s ears.
Then Swathi, the girls and I headed to the Drake for high tea.
After tea we walked back to the American Girl store so the girls could look more at the doll displays and I could ship everything to Utah so I didn’t have to lug it all around. Then we taxied over to Lincoln Park Zoo. It was near closing time but we still saw some interesting things.
Meanwhile Abe and the kids were celebrating Olivia’s birthday with David, Olivia, Baps and Bapa!
In a termite house.
Our favorite animal at the zoo was the pygmie hippo. He kept floating up even though he appeared to want to stay grounded underwater.
After the zoo we wandered over the bridge to Clark Street beach. The girls played in the lake and sand for 45 glorious minutes. We walked 9 and a half miles this day, so my ankle and feet loved the break in the sand. I loved watching my daughters love the lake.
Candidly caught.
They got soaked, but changed after our walk back to the Drake (via the Gold Coast) and then a taxi to our hotel.
Mary, Lydia, and Lydia Jr. before takeoff. The girls slept the whole way home, which was great because there was turbulence that they would not have enjoyed if they had been awake. I spent the time reading a phenomenal issue of the Economist on the illiberal left.

This was the best trip I have taken in my life. I adored every minute of my time in Chicago with my beautiful daughters. I kept pinching myself that this was our life. I loved watching them fall in love with the city, and I loved enjoying it alongside them. The weather was perfection, the city was gorgeous, the pizza was yummy, the walks by the lake and along the Gold Coast were so fun, the Shedd was marvelous, and the pygmie hippo made us all laugh. We had the best weekend. Thank you, Mary and Lydia, for being such fun travel buddies. You both are the very best. I love you!

This is now Abe briefly reporting on what I did with Ammon and Clarissa today.

We woke up at my mom’s and she fed us breakfast. Then we went to church. Then I tried to connect with my cousin Alex, but I wasn’t successful so I spent time with my dad and Suzanne and saw their new shed and some of the updates they are working on at their house.

Then we visited David and Olivia with my dad and Suzanne for Olivia’s birthday. It was so fun watching Basil and Willow play together!

Then we went to my aunt Andrea’s house for a delicious peaches and ice-cream desert. I have a soul-connect with Andrea, and always love talking to her. I also learned about my Greek lineage in preparation for our upcoming trip to Greece!