Jonathan & Lindsey's Family Blog

February 22, 2021 – Silas
March 1, 2021 – Kieron
March 22, 2021 – Avery

These are the days our school-aged children finally returned in person – on a hybrid schedule, of course, but we took what we could get. Silas was going four mornings a week, Kieron was going four afternoons a week, and Avery was putting in full days every Monday and Thursday. Kieron and Silas were not on the same schedule because I wanted to keep continuity with his teacher, and that was the only way to do it. Keep in mind, Layla had also had preschool every Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. It was a crazy few months, but it was better than nothing and it all worked out in the end. Thank God it’s over!

The last day of in-person learning… March 12, 2020!

March 1, 2021 – Kieron

March 22, 2021 – Avery – Happy Birthday!

Jonathan’s new low: reheating school lunches. They were free, and we’ve got four kids to feed, we’re not passing up free meals here!

Silas turned nine this year! At nine, Silas is as sweet, precocious and inquisitive as he ever was. He’s still positive, optimistic, and upbeat, but now he’s a bit more fiery. I think it has a lot to do with being the third son and often feeling left out or picked on by his bigger brothers, who he longs to be accepted by. The past year was tough on Silas being home so much, but he proved resilient.

Silas is very social and has a lot of friends. He’s not super sporty, although he’s willing to try anything – he really loves engineering and science (specifically figuring out how things work) and is still pretty artsy. This kid loves music. He practices piano without any trouble and he’s always finding new songs and artists on Alexa. He’s really into DJ Marshmallow these days, so we threw him a DJ glow party.

Suki photobombed the first attempt

Biscuits and gravy, per his request

A DJ Board!

He was so excited to mix some music on it

Kieron helped with the German Chocolate Cake

Frankie’s Pizza!

More music mixing

Party Time!

Bode, Deacon Sulaiman, Silas, Mason, Ethan, Ronit & Townes

Playing charades

Here’s what we were up to in February:

Silas enjoyed creating projects on the scroll saw

Silas loved receiving his Kiwi Crates in the mail to build

Phoebe likes to stay warm on the vents

Brownies!

Warming up by the fire

Tiny Dancer

An outdoor boy scout event at the YAC (Youth Activity Center)

We came home from Scottsdale to this:

Fortunately, Jonathan is pretty handy and was able to do the repairs himself (and didn’t take long doing it, either.)

Here he is checking the skylight

Incidentally, here’s the view from our roof

We also found this!

The snow was more fun for the kids this year than it was for us

Jonathan, Avery and Kieron went to visit Nana and install bookcases in her family room

Before:

And after:

Pinewood Derby time came around. We got Silas’ picture with his trophy before the race. He came in second this year and passed the trophy onto the next winner

Layla made a car to race too

I got to watch on Zoom

Goofin’ off

The kids spent a lot of time in the woods building forts

We got a new sofa, and when we moved the old one we discovered Layla’s secret stash!

Here’s the new sofa – much better fit for us!

Phoebe wasn’t sure what to do once she got up into the kitty condo

First day of in-person learning! Whoo hoo!

Sweet big brother braiding little sister’s hair

While Jonathan and the big boys were at Nana’s, Silas, Layla and I had a sleepover with Ethan, Clare & Caroline

The girls did a spa night

We joined in on the face masks – creepy!

Meanwhile the boys did some gaming

Then we all had a dance party – it was a fun night!

Last night as an eight-year-old

Over mid-winter break we went to Scottsdale with our friends, the Lotts. Despite a minor hiccup in the beginning, we had a lot of fun and an overall fantastic time together. Great way to spend snowy February!

Suki tried to go as a stow-away, but no such luck

Goodbye, snowy Seattle!

First Stop: In-N-Out Burger

Upon arriving at our Airbnb, we noticed pretty quickly that something was amiss in the pool. No bueno for Seattleites escaping the snow and rain. Long story short, the owners tried to fix the problem, but were unsuccessful. They refunded us the remainder of our money and we scrambled to find a last minute deal and make lemonade out of lemons.

In the meantime the kids kept busy playing put-put

And the grown ups played some pool

We saved the day and got a last-minute deal on an amazing water-front place with a working pool!

Avery was so excited he jumped in the lake before checking the depth… which was only about four feet. Oops! Thankfully he didn’t dive and was alright. Lesson learned!

Chillin’ in the pool

Jonathan set up our hammock

We did a hike one afternoon

The kids: Brooklyn, Silas, Kieron, Layla, Avery & Hayden

Jonathan, Lindsey, Jacqui & Phil

Double date in downtown Gilbert

Pool fun

Cannonball!

Kayaking around the lakes was

Jacqui and I took a day trip into downtown Scottsdale

Layla loved this little neighbor kitty who was very friendly. There were two who came and went during our stay. This one was very friendly and the other was more skittish. We named them Lost and Found.

More pool pics:

A merman!

A neighbor kitty came to say “hi”

A couple pics of our place…

Headed home

We were in Scottsdale for Valentine’s Day, but the day before I had surprises ready for the kids so they could celebrate.

I also have a tradition of leaving a note on each of their doors in the days leading up to Valentine’s.