November 2023 - Agua Hedionda with Tiny, Ever's Sixth-Grade Camp, and Other Tidbits

 Another interesting writing by Wren, coded in some fashion.

Ever's soccer team, with Coach Madeline in the center.

Missy had a hard time getting the black tough-girl paint off her face. We tried the exfoliate-with-sugar trick, and it was ineffective. 

Jim finished building what we call the "mud room" in the garage, where the girls can put their shoes and backpacks. They have been terrible at keeping it clean, but it's better than having all that stuff in the house. 

After the backpack hooks went in: 

Ever went to sixth-grade science camp Monday-Thursday in early November. Full of optimism before they left:

L to R: Ever, Emalyn, Lucy, someone I don't know, Leela, and Grace

L to R: Grace, Ailana, Lucy, Leela, and Ever

The same girls, plus Hana and Rio and a couple other people thrown in there.

Ever's science teacher, Ms. Glancy, e-mailed photos in the evenings. 

The bus from camp arrived back at school on Thursday about an hour and a half before the rest of the kids got out, so I took Ever and Leela to Chick Fil-A. 

They said camp was pretty awful, except Ever loved the food, surprisingly. They had a tyrannical counselor. Kids were crying and calling home and begging to leave early. More than one (including Lucy Bowen) was picked up early. These kids are so incredibly coddled, it's ridiculous. I really believe modern parenting is ruining kids today. I don't know what to make of the kids' complaints, but I can't imagine it was that bad.

In case my children ever want to look back and see what their school or soccer pictures would have looked like had we purchased them, here are the proofs. 

Sometimes the Littles just spontaneously do cute things together.

Ever and Ella Rondo went to Sister Latteier's house with me for a Relief Society "foodie" night, where Sister Latteier and her friend taught us how to make tamales. (Turns out tamales are way more trouble than they're worth.)

The Littles found giant walking sticks on a trail jaunt by our house.

I went with Tiny's class on a field trip to Agua Hedionda. First stop was a fun little erosion exercise. I mostly like this video because it shows how micro Tiny is compared to her classmates. She is very appropriately nicknamed.

Then one of the workers did a show and tell with some animals. Tiny with her besties, Kaia Johnson and Maya Phillips:

I was pleased that Tiny touched the snake.

Mrs. Haseyama with the class

Maggie Long invited us to do Thanksgiving with them. Then no concrete plans were made. I was a bit confused because if I'd been in charge, I would have contacted her to plan what dishes we were each going to make, etc. Then about eight days before Thanksgiving, she texted and said that Al's aunt had invited them to Thanksgiving, and they were feeling like they should spend it with them, and they hoped we didn't hate them for changing plans. It was totally bizarre. I couldn't believe they would bail like that. It was so late by that point that I didn't feel as if I could ask Rebecca if we could join forces with them, so I resigned myself to doing the whole Thanksgiving meal alone. And then I piled on by inviting the missionaries and the Scottish soccer coach, Kenny, who was soon going to be moving in with us for about a month.

Tiny helped me make the rolls. (Check out the highlights in her hair.)

The turkey looked golden and lovely early. I stuck the thermometer in and thought it was done, so I took it out. Then right as people were coming over, I discovered that the turkey was totally raw. And then Kenny the soccer coach said he has an onion aversion, so that was a problem for the cheesy potatoes and I forget what else. We cut off a little tiny bit of turkey that looked done and started eating a meal of side dishes with a bite of turkey. I had called Rebecca in a panic when I learned that the turkey was not done, so she gave us a plate of extra turkey. By that time, everyone was done eating, but at least the missionaries were able to make up plates of leftovers that included turkey. In sum, Thanksgiving was a total disaster. 

I took the girls bowling with Cikaneks. 

Coach Kenny moved into the guest room. He was super nice, but I realized immediately that it was pretty weird to have a man living here while I am home (usually alone) all day every day. I wanted him to be comfortable and help himself to the kitchen, TV, etc., but he mostly hid out in his room. It was slightly less sad for him when we put a TV in the guest room for him. I didn't know how much to invite him to join us for things. Did he want to eat with us? Watch movies with us? Super awkward. I think these temporary coaches' favorite setup is when somebody has a guest house or other private space for them. Our house is not that. Anyway, he coached Wren's all-star team, and he was really great. He went on a Sunday afternoon walk with us early on. Jim loves little neighborhood libraries even though they generally contain terrible books. 

I loved the golden light.

And we had a beautiful sunset.

Wrenzy was dreaming about having her own room, to the point that she drew up plans for this room she'll never have.  

Ever's classmate at JCS, Grace, had a birthday party at Moonlight Beach, and all the girls from their class were invited. Grace's mom had supplies for them to make dried flower bouquets. It was really cute.

The mom of Ever's soccer teammate invited the girls for soccer golf. Only a few of them could make it, but it seemed like a fun outing. 

Little tiny Ever, Alina, Kendall, and Aubrey

Maya's mom, Melissa, texted during a playdate she was hosting and said the girls were having so much fun, playing outside the entire time - swings, climbing trees, jumping on the tramp. I said those were Tiny's favorite things, and Melissa responded, "I almost had a heart attack when I saw her climbing up too high in the trees!" That's our Tiny.

Parenting Frustration - November 2023

This is contemporaneous record of a power struggle that really got my goat. (As I read it now, I think I've had worse. But it reflects the great dilemma of how to handle disobedient children.) I wrote it down because I think some of the frustrating parenting moments should be documented so that I don't forget that it's hard and tell my kids I don't understand why their kids aren't perfect, as mine were.  

In sacrament meeting today (11/5/23), I tried to give some lip balm to Bear because her lips were so dry. She didn't like the kind I gave her and refused to put it on and just sat there holding it. Ever asked her for it. Wren wouldn't give it to Ever "because she would make it even more disgusting," and she wouldn't give it back to me. I told her it didn't matter if Ever made it more disgusting because she wasn't using it anyway, and either use it and give it to Ever or just give it to Ever or me. She wouldn't give it to anyone. She wouldn't let me take it out of her hand. She just had to win the battle. It made me so irate that I moved away from her, down past Tiny and Jim on the pew. I want my kids to listen to me. I think they should obey me because I am the parent. In the olden days, parents just beat their kids. Now it's all about "gentle parenting," and I just can't figure it out. 

The Rest of October 2023

At the park across the park from Miss Amber's house, the girls did some more high climbing after piano lessons.

Tiny gave me a sweet birthday present. I tried to reject her money, but she made me take it. She's so sweet and generous. Front:

Back:

Wrenzy also gave me a beautiful card and candy. 

Ever had to take pictures of her assignments and e-mail them to her teachers before turning them in the next day. I did not understand this ridiculous requirement, but it means I have photographic evidence of the fancy way she insisted on doing every assignment. Note the title "Homework" in block letters with cursive over it, and then the fancy shading of "Notes" and "Work" in this first specimen. I could not convince her to stop spending time making her work pretty. So much extra time.

Tiny got a medal for being nominated by her coach (Dad) as a soccer all-star. (So did Wren, but I don't have a picture of her.)

Wrenzy's classmate, Fiora, had a birthday party at Sky Zone Glow, followed by Legally Blonde (totally inappropriate for nine-year-olds) and a slumber party. I took Wren to Fiora's house for the latter part of the pre-Sky Zone festivities; we were late because Wren had to go straight from her all-star thing. When we pulled up outside Fiora's house, the girls ran out screaming "Wren!" and hugged her and were so excited. It was really nice. 

Because I am mean (slash the only mom around who has any clue or concern about the sort of entertainment my children ingest) and would not allow Wren to watch Legally Blonde or sleep over, I picked her up from Sky Zone at 9:00. She seemed OK to be missing the rest of the party. (Also those girls were going to be up all night long.)

I took pictures of the girls for their skiing season passes.

Tiny arranged her clean undies and jammies on drawer handles during her bath. 

Then she got an armful of bubble. I don't know how. One huge bubble film.

I found a list of goals by Bear. What an aspirational third-grader. 

Tiny went on a campout with her Girl Scout troop. I took her straight from all-star soccer tryouts. (They do all-star recognition day, which is when everyone who is nominated tries out for all-stars and gets a medal. That was the day of Fiora's birthday party. Then they do this "pool play" thing, when all the all-stars play so the coaches can figure out how to arrange the teams. Tiny had to go very late to the campout, straight from the pool play.) So Tiny was not clean upon arrival, but she was sweet and happy. 

The next day, they did crafts and spent some time by the river. 

Girl Scouts has not been ideal for Tiny because she goes to a different school and doesn't know any of the girls, and they haven't done a great job of integrating her. But after this campout, she told me she made a friend, whose name she didn't know. I was happy to see these pictures of the two of them together. I have since learned that the girl's name is Madison, and she seems to be a big Tiny fan. Who wouldn't be? 

I stumbled upon original song lyrics (I think?) by Bear.

I chaperoned Bear's class on a field trip to the gallery by the Dove Library in Carlsbad.

Bear, James, and Fiora

Mrs. Shimizu always has us kill the rest of a field trip day at the park; she seems to have some aversion to going back to school and doing any schoolwork after an outing. So we spent a really long time at the park lunching and playing and waiting for it to be late enough that we could go back to school for pickup time. It was incredibly cold, and I was so sad to be wearing slippers. My feet were freezing for hours. One of the moms made all of us plus Mrs. Shimizu pose for a photo.

We did a Friday Sky Zone play date with Tiny, Maya, and Kaia (and Kaia's big sister Stella.) I thoroughly enjoy Courtney Johnson, Kaia's mom, so it's always a pleasure to chat while the girls play. (Melissa, Maya's mom, works on Fridays.) Before we left, Courtney suggested a picture. 

Stella Johnson, Tiny, Maya Phillips, and Kaia Johnson

Ever got a special invitation to participate in the Rondos' extended-family Halloween gathering. She and Ella made very pretty cats (courtesy of Kristi, who made them up).

We carved pumpkins a couple days before Halloween. The girls added fun leaf-and-flower wreaths to their jack-o'-lanterns.

I am the least festive mother, and I have rubbed off on my children. No effort goes into costumes. This year they were all witches, using costumes we already had. Dreamy for me. I took a bunch of pictures before we left for trick-or-treating, but I didn't get a single one where they were all looking at the camera with a normal expression. Tiny, in particular, likes to be a real weirdy in pictures.

We collected the Cikaneks and headed out. 

I got an e-mail from Ever about her student-led conference. Those conferences sound like a good idea in theory, but they are a total waste of time. This irks me extra because we live so far from the school, so extra trips down there are not my fave. Anyway, I enjoyed Ever's personalized addendum.

Ever says "I love you" more than any child in the history of the planet, I bet. This may be jumping ahead because I am writing this in February 2025, and I know how Ever is now and has been in recent months but don't totally remember October 2023. But she never leaves the house or gets off the phone with me without saying, "Love you." I was in the shower recently, and she came into the bathroom to ask me something. I answered the question, and then instead of saying, "K, thanks," she said, "K, love you" and left. We probably say we love each other 100 times a day. It's very sweet.