In the morning I spent some time listening to Ammon read his first chapter book to me!
Then we all headed over to Pleasant Grove because the Marshalls had rented out an entire theater for the twins’ birthday. We thought it was the best birthday idea of all time! They had breakfast for everyone and we all watched Wakanda Forever, easily my new favorite Marvel movie of all time. I loved every minute, and so did all the kids!
singing to Carter and Camden. They are such sweet boys.
After the party we went to Harmons, dropped off Mary at a play date and dropped off Lydia at a birthday party for the twins in her class.
At home later in the day we discovered these legos in Ammon’s mug. We think he was inspired by the plot of Wakanda Forever and submerged them all in water because of it.
Then we came home and Abe went running with Basil. I spent some time on the phone working out some details about The Little Mermaid with Tom and Suzanne who will watch the kids while Abe and I are in D.C.
After all the working out this week I took a long nap and then worked with the kids on their instruments before giving Lydia a long-promised massage before bed.
On Friday we finally caught my mom in a good spell and were able to go out to dinner with her. We have been eating Fat Daddy’s pizza for a long time but have never actually been to the restaurant. It was a fun experience and they happened to be taking footage for their website so they got a lot of videos of Ammon and Abe playing in their mini arcade.
Ammon threw up again in the morning but energy wise and cough-wise seemed to be on the mend. I spent a lot of time practicing piano and reading with him. I also did an hour of piano in the morning with Mary.
I also did another hard interval workout on the bike, tidied the house and tried out a new curling iron which blow-dries and curls at the same time. It took a while but my hair has never held curl so well.
Abe is working so hard at work because it is 4th quarter and business seems to have quadrupled over night. Sales is such a roller coaster.
Ammon has been getting better but still throws up randomly, so he stayed home again. Lydia was also recovering, so she took it upon herself to advance his education. She told him he needed to write a story about Thanksgiving, and that he was only allowed to ask her how to spell one word. He was allowed to ask Alexa how to spell five words.
We were absolutely astonished to discover Ammon can write a story! It was so good. Thank you, Lydia, for being such an incredible teacher to him this day!!
Clarissa taped a googly eye to her forehead and was being so silly and cute.
In the morning I did two workouts and Abe did the 500, and in the evening we went on our first pickle ball date! Abe has played before but this was my first time and I absolutely loved it. We just played to see how many volleys we could get. Abe saves us in those because I love the sound of the thwack and tend to hit the ball way too hard, so he chases all of my crazy balls (which are mostly out) all over and lobs them back at me. We got to a high of 45 thanks to his hustle. It was so fun!
Also because it was my third workout I burned over 1,000 calories during the day and felt so great about that. I hope we play pickle ball every week. It is just two blocks from our house. While we were playing we talked about how our lives are so perfectly set up for thriving in our exact location, and it would be impossible to replicate this anywhere else–especially with these high interest rates!
I also did a lot of tidying up, folding laundry, and made a salad of roasted butternut, pomegranate, gouda, apples, nuts, and mixed greens for dinner.
On Wednesday Ammon threw up again so he stayed home. Clarissa went to school and so did Mary, but Lydia woke up with a flaming red throat and a sore stomach, so she was home too.
Ammon busied himself continuing his Coco inspired banners. The banner turned out beautifully!
Abe spent some time with Ammon letting Ammon show him his process for making his creative cutouts.Clarissa was thrilled to join in on the crafting action when she came home.Abe did Clarissa’s reading lesson while I worked with the kids on their music. At one point Clarissa was supposed to be reading “mud,” but she was only making the “m” sound. Abe kept encouraging her to finish the word and she got confused and started crying. This is her asleep after the effort of learning to read.
I made a pumpkin lasagna with fontina béchamel sauce and some salad for dinner. I think I also did some laundry and started listening to Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Demon Copperhead, which is amazing.
Ammon was still coughing like crazy so we kept him home. He and Clarissa played happily together the whole day.
Clarissa made these adorable slippers. She was so proud and excited to wear them! The kids worked together to make a banner they had seen in the movie, Coco. They did such a good job on it and I love the end product. The mess did kind of take my breath away a little.Wowsers.
Yesterday I was scolding Ammon for making a mess upstairs and he was trying to be contrite but kept smiling. Finally I asked him why he was smiling. He said it was because they were playing hide and seek and he had just found Clarissa. She was in the laundry basket right next to me and I had no idea!
Mary made this comic for her school project. So proud of her.
I am starting to engage in unhealthy behaviors and I think it is because Abe is gone. Today I spent a lot of time just scrolling online clothes imagining that if I owned said clothes maybe I would actually start getting dressed in the morning.
Here are Abe’s pictures from his time in Singapore.
Abe just loved the friends he made in the Qualtrics office. He loved having dinner with Sunil.They spent the evening in Little India.
On Wednesday Clarissa stayed home sick. We spent the entire morning at the doctor for Mary’s physical and then the hospital where she was going to get blood tests done. She has always been in the 4th percentile for weight but the doctor wants to make sure she doesn’t have celiac’s or something like that. Anyhow I forgot my health insurance card so we waited all that time at the hospital for nothing. We have to go back for that test later next week.
In the evening I went to the basement and logged into a Zoom meeting about the Great Salt Lake. I am so concerned about the lake and think about the effect of its disappearance every day. I wanted to hear from our policy makers and scientists what the health risks of living here are, but they deflected my question. Abe has a friend who founded HEAL Utah so hopefully he will be able to answer my question soon. But in the meantime
I did learn some interesting things in the meeting. It makes me think they will actually fix the problem (in a decade or two), but in the meantime I have to figure out if it is responsible to raise kids here or not.
Abe’s mom sent him this photo of himself today. So cute!!! I miss you, Abe!!!
On Tuesday I dropped off all the kids at school except Clarissa, and then we picked up my mom and she spent the morning with us. We played two full games of memory, which was so fun! After we were all very tired so we took my mom home.
I struggle to remember what else happened that day. I think I might have gone swimming in the evening when all the kids were home. I believe I wasted a lot of time online shopping. I have noticed I do that when feeling depressed, so maybe all the time without Abe affects my emotional charge.
In the morning our newest seven year old woke up and opened his presents while FaceTiming with Abe in Singapore. He was very excited about his new Lego sets.
Then I went to the grocery store and picked up my mom for breakfast. Casey and Cora joined us for breakfast in the morning, which made Ammon soooo happy. Ammon opened his present from Nana, which he LOVED. She gave him a knight costume to go with some of his medieval stuff he got in France.
After breakfast I worked out, showered, dropped my mom back off, and then drove everyone to SLC to see The Lion King. Ammon didn’t want to get in the car and leave his Legos behind, but once the play started he realized it was amazing and he was thrilled. We were all wowed by the the show!
After the show we got in the car and drove to Olive Garden. They have little screens on the tables that Ammon had been wanting to play with ever since we went there last. He was so happy to be able to have the screen all to himself.
After we walked to Cold Stone for ice cream. It was a little chilly but everyone was so happy.
After dinner and ice cream, we came home and Ammon played with his legos until 10:30 pm. Mary and I walked Basil together and it was delightful to be able to spend one on one time with her. She wanted to talk about Prop 2, favorite animals, places we’ve been, and how babies are made.
And here is Ammon recounting the events of his birthday:
After I tucked the kids all in, Abe and I chatted on the phone for a while. I was excited for him to go out and explore Singapore, but it was also nice to talk. I miss you, Abe!!
Lastly, Ammon is now seven. I can’t believe how the time has flown! I can still so clearly remember him as a baby, drooling all over his bibs and waving hi to every single person in the grocery store. He has always adored people, and at seven he loves them as much as ever. He loves talking to strangers especially, and he is constantly charming them with his friendly overtures.
He is incredibly affectionate, fearless, and exuberant. He loves landmarks, math, meeting challenges, singing, dancing, talking to strangers, playing with Legos, coloring, traveling, playing imagination games with his sisters and friends, snuggling in his shark blanket, and getting back “scratchies” before bed and whenever else he can convince us to give them to him. Lately he loves it when I tell him stories from when he was a baby.
Abe and I both love dropping him off at school because he gets excited every single day by the sight of his friends and teachers and can barely contain himself when he sees either. He practically falls out of the car calling, “Hi Tessa!! Hi Mrs. Blake!!” and running to catch up with them.
We love you, Ammon!! Happy happy birthday, Mr. Man!!
Here is a quick addition from Abe:
Happy Birthday Ammon! I love your joy, love, warmth, gregariousness, and giving heart. I’m so glad you had a good birthday and I’m sorry I missed it! While you were celebrating your birthday, I was working hard in my hotel room getting caught up on work. But I also found some time to explore Singapore in the evening. Here are some pictures and videos from my day:
I’ve been eating a lot of my meals at a large food market right next to my hotel. In the evening they shut down a road next to it, and lot’s of pop-up food shops open up and there are tables and chairs in the street for people to gather and eat. It’s quite the scene!
Also, today I got to explore Merlion park. The Merlion is mascot of Singapore and this is a famous fountain.
Later in the evening, I made it back to the bay and watched an incredible light show.
The bay is absolutely gorgeous and its stunning at night when it is all lit up.
This is the apple store at the bayThis is a giant mall with lots of very fancy shops. When I arrived in Singapore and asked my taxi driver for recommendations on what to do he said, “eating, shopping, eating, shopping.”The mall with the famous Marina Bay Sands building. I think it i a hotel, and that long plank on top is an infinity pool.The mall
In the morning Clarissa and I did our reading lesson, had story time, and played a number game. Then she played by herself while I biked and showered.
As soon as I was showered, I took her to the duck pond to feed the ducks and play on the play ground.
She loved the big swings in Nielson’s Grove, even though they seem rustier to me than the last time we were there.We also went to the pumpkin patch one block away. They had the cutest billy goats and some fun activities. No one was there so Clarissa just ran all around trying everything.
After the fun we picked up siblings and let them play in the park by Foothill while I continued to ponder next steps for our family.
Then we came home, ate dinner, and got everyone ready for bed. The kids watched the new Pinnochio while I did TSOS.
After TSOS I ran across town to pick up 10 more “no to Prop 2” signs and gave them to my neighbor friend to distribute.
Then I put the kids down and researched what it’s like to live in different regions of the country until way too late. Clarissa came down in the middle of the night to cuddle, which I love while Abe is away.
Speaking of Abe, he is working 10 hour days in the office and then goes straight back to the hotel to work another 6. He is really really working so hard. But he in enjoying India and loves the food.
