March Madness

Things just never settled down into routine this month.  It doesn't help that we have 3 birthdays and this year Easter also, but it was even crazy beyond that. 

This has been a hard homeschool year for Brandon and me.  It has weighed heavily on my heart to see him unsatisfied.  We have tried lots of different things, but I couldn't seem to ever make a difference.  It was easy for me to feel down on myself and doubt my abilities as a homeschooler.  After yet another week of discouragement, things seemed to be coming to a head.  One Friday I learned that Brandon was fasting.  While Dallin and I were on our date, we discussed the issues, and both ended the conversation feeling more frustrated and discouraged than when we started.  Later that evening, I was nursing the baby and thinking about homeschooling.  I was thinking about mentors and thinking about all of the interviews I have had with Brandon.  One thing he said was that on of the only things he really looked forward to studying was the scriptures.  I decided maybe we needed to follow that a little and started thinking of who would be a good mentor.  My dad popped into my mind and I realized that he would be needing help this time of year for tree trimming.  My dad is also a family history expert, and that is something Brandon said he has been feeling inspired to learn more about.  I called my mom and found out they would be coming through on their way home from Arizona in just a couple of days.  When I talked to Brandon it seemed like a great idea for him, so we prepared to have him spend a couple of weeks in Idaho.  That was a relief and answer to prayers. 

The morning of his birthday, I drove him to get his drivers license.  His friends attend a charter school next to the DMV so I dropped him off there to spend the day with them.  We invited a bunch of Brandon's friends over for a "surprise" party, but he surprised the friends by getting home early! That evening, we opened presents and had some treats when my parents got into town.   I think it was a fun day for him.  The next day we ate out with my parents and they headed home with Brandon. 

I started to feel a sore throat that night, but it seemed minor, and only on one side so I thought it was just stress.  It still hurt the next day and seemed to be getting worse, but didn't seem like strep.  Finally, on the 3rd morning, I knew it was strep and got some antibiotics.  But by then it had a pretty strong hold on me.  I ended up being down with that sickness for about a week.  Not a good thing for a homeschool mama.  Things got pretty dark and difficult when on top of that Corban was not sleeping well.  I was completely physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted.  Thankfully I had several people come help and bring dinner.  Our Home Teacher's wife came and took the girls shopping on Sullivan's birthday.  She also came in and cleaned the kitchen and stayed with the kids for awhile while I rested.  Another neighbor came and got my laundry and brought it back folded that evening.  I felt so cared for and blessed! 

I got better just in time to sing at a musical production created by some women in our stake called "You Are Enough".  It was beautiful, and such a message that women need to hear in these days when Satan tries so hard to drag women down with lies about their efforts and their worth.  I was really grateful to be a part of that. 

We were blessed to have our friends the Wells from Las Vegas come stay a night with us.  It is always so much fun to catch up with such a good friend.  We stayed up really late talking, but it was worth it!  She also homeschools a large family so we always have a lot to talk about. 

The Provo City Center Temple dedication was on Dallin's birthday.  He was pretty excited about that because it meant no bishopric meetings and because he was born in Provo and has enjoyed watching the progress of the temple there. 

We squeezed one more good day of school in the following week and attended our group violin lesson before we packed up to go pick up Brandon in Idaho.  Cousins up there were on Spring Break, so we packed up our violins and went to Grandma's.  It was a nice break from the whirlwind that had been going on here. 

Something we had been preparing most for was a birthday party for Aunt Melissa.  She has the perfect personality to bond and unify the older cousins in the family.  She recently got excited about unicorns, so we planned a unicorn party for her.  My kids saved their money to buy her some unicorn stuff, and I emailed all the cousins and asked them to draw a unicorn picture to make a book for her.  It was great fun, and I think she loved the gifts!  Nathan also made her a One Direction T-shirt with her face photoshopped in.  It was really great!

We helped Grandma get the graduation quilts going for the 4 kids who are graduating this year.  That felt good to help her out a little after all she does for us.  It is always such a treat to be with my parents.  Literally, too, because they took us to some great restaurants while we were there, too. 

After a few days with Grandma, we headed up to Shelley to be with Millington cousins for a baptism.  Dallin and Nathan met us there Friday night.  We had a wonderful visit.  I always feel so grateful to Karami and Kevin for their example and friendship.  She gave me some great things to think about for homeschooling and it is so nice to lift one another and help each other along the path of discipleship.  The baptism was great, and it was fun to catch up with Kevin's siblings that we haven't seen for awhile.  We heard a great story about a candy snitch accidentally eating a real robin egg when he tried to steal his brother's candy. 

I came back really excited to have a great homeschooling week and get back into life.  Monday was pretty good.  We got a lot done and enjoyed learning together.  Tuesday got completely hijacked.  It started with Daisy waking up feeling miserable with a sinus infection. She is prone to sinus troubles, but I could tell it was different this time.  It was affecting her vision.  I helped some less than enthusiastic littles with violin before heading to the doctor.  We got her some antibiotics and made it home just in time for Simon's boys class.  I thought I was in charge of the lesson and we were just going to have to make it a play day, but the other mom was all ready to go.  They finished up a really big requirement for scouts and we headed out to watch them enjoy their creations.  I was so excited to sit in the porch swing and just visit for a few minutes and catch my breath.  I looked over and noticed our cat was in the crate.  That seemed unusual so I peeked in at her and saw a gaping hole on her side.  Then we were off to the vet.  I think some other things happened that day, but it ended and I tried to redeem the rest of the week.  Things did not seem to be much improved with Brandon, but I didn't even have a chance to talk to him about it because I was constantly putting out fires. 

We had marshmallow catapult wars for our family activity on Thursday as a part of our medieval studies.  It was way more fun than I even imagined.  We stacked up cups on either side of the racquetball court and tried to knock the other team's "castle" down first. 

I was kinda sad we had to end early and eat a quick dinner before I went to perform in another "You Are Enough" program.  Dallin got to come with me this time, and it gave us a lot to think about and talk about.  Each program starts with a mental health professional giving a short talk.  Throughout the program, women from the ward or stake share personal experiences where life didn't work out the way they hoped and what they learned from the experience.  It was really powerful.

We had a few people come give us bids for replacing windows in our house because we had some leftover tax return money.  We ended up only having about half of what we needed. We considered getting half the windows replaced, but then reconsidered when I got sick.  We started wondering if it was time for me to try surgery to fix some of my nasal/sinus issues.  I wasn't feeling great about that idea, but knew we should probably decide what to do with the money so it wouldn't just get spent on dumb stuff.  The kids had started asking about our own Spring Break.  Dallin would be home for the week, and we were thinking we would just stay home and get some projects done and relax.  I had this little crazy idea that I wanted to take the kids to the ocean before Nathan leaves home.  A couple of my kids had mentioned never seeing or not remembering being at the ocean.  It seemed like too big of an idea on too short notice, but somehow after our date on Friday night we found ourselves looking at vacation rentals in California.  But that's a story for April.