Petersons Never Give Up: Updates

Life has been so weird lately! Restrictions from corona virus have been lifting a little and so we have been doing some more "normal" things. But there have been other things going on in the world with a black man being murdered by a police officer and the civil unrest that has come from the protests and riots about that crime. We are coming up on a governor and presidential election in November and the politicians are campaigning hard core. Meanwhile the virus continues to spread and take lives. I can't remember a time of so much stress and anxiety about our world. I have found a lot of comfort reviewing the most recent general conference addresses and trying to study the Come Follow Me scriptures. I have been listening to the news a lot more and feel a lot more informed about many things in the world.

School ended and we were all very ready to stop the online schooling. There is a lot of speculation about what will happen in the fall with schools. Who knows? Sean thinks the schools will open in September, but will close again when flu season hits. In a lot of ways I love having the kids home with me, but it is hard to see them miss out on so many fun things that public education offers. We have a Disney trip planned for November and I'm a bit skeptical about whether it will happen or not.

Sean has been working hard with all the corona virus testing. We are very grateful he wasn't furloughed even with his clinic slowing down a lot! Things have started to pick up a bit now that restrictions are easing. He has also been practicing piano a lot and has picked a new piece to learn called The Voyage. He trained really hard for the half marathon this year. The event was moved to virtual because of the virus, so he and Neil ran it together on the Jordan River Trail. It was a very hot morning and it was pretty miserable to run, but they are glad to be done. He's been working on Lucy's Christmas stocking and tending to our garden and yard.

I started a new job at a place called The Minky Corner. It is about 15-20 min from my house and seems like a much better position than the last place. I pick up the blankets on Thursday night and sew them at home then deliver them the following Thursday. It pays better and provides all the thread (I had to provide my own thread before). I am working on my third batch of blankets this week and its been a lot of fun to have sewing to do again. The kids spend a lot of time playing with neighbors or each other and I get a bit bored in the afternoons, so its nice to have a hobby that pays =) I ran the 10K and shaved 10 minutes off my time from last year. Pretty sure that was purely because I ran on the treadmill and watched a halmark movie.

Brett is a great kid! He rocked online schooling and did such a great job at adapting to all the changes the pandemic has thrown at him. He learned a lot in third grade and is very excited for a break. His karate class started up again last week and he is enjoying getting back into that. There are only 4 kids in the class right now so he is getting lots of individualized attention. He loves to play with Eli. They do Beyblades, board games, switch games, and play with the water or the tramp or the swings. He also loves his puppy. He is getting very dependable which is nice. I feel comfortable leaving Liz and Alana with him while I take Oreo on a quick walk, and I even paid him to babysit Lizzie for 2 hours the other morning because I needed to get a rush job done for work. They played with magnatiles and stuffed animals the whole time. I could hear their cute conversations as I sewed and I loved when Lizzie mentioned that the stuffed animals should fall in love and Brett was like NO WAY! They settled on having he different animals run restaurants. He told me after that he thought I paid too much because he actually had fun! He just started reading Harry Potter 2 days ago again and is zooming right through it!

Alana is doing well. She had a more difficult time with online learning and didn't want to participate as much. I have to find the right balance between making her do things and letting her choose. She finished well though and is *hopefully* ready for first grade. I worry about her willingness to stay there all day. I also want to work with her on reading this summer so she can start the year nice and strong. She is a wonderful artist as ever. She did a summer camp last week at a neighbors house where they learned to draw mermaids, fairies, and unicorns. She LOVED it! She will have another one later in the summer. Alana is very into stuffed animals, magnatiles, barbies, and playing outside. I am so impressed with her ability to play recently. I feel like kids with anxiety struggle with finding joy in free play, but Alana has been loving making up all kinds of fun and games with Lizzie, Brett, and Grace our neighbor. Alana got a little trim off her hair but still hates getting it brushed and done. I have to pick my battles, but I struggle with the desire to do her hair constantly. Every now and again so will let me and I get so so excited!

Lizzie is growing and is becoming very opinionated. Sometimes it is difficult to reason with her. She likes to scream when things aren't going her way and she can scream very loud! We are working on that! She got a haircut and looks so cute. She loves to play with anyone who will play with her, but especially loves Brett and Alana. She like Oreos, chocolate chip pancakes, and hot chocolate, notice a pattern? I have a hard time convincing her to eat other foods. She loves all her stuffies, unicorns, barbies, and magnatiles. She loves to help me cook and bake and likes to boss Oreo around. She loved preschool and is excited to go back in the fall. She also got to do the Fairytale camp last week. Hers was from 9-10 while Alana's was from 10-12. She had a great time and is a very skilled artist! Its fun to see how great she is at sitting for long periods of time and creating the things she wants!

Oreo ate snow whites foot!

The zoo!

Sean spoiled me with new earrings and pajamas for Mothers Day

Brett babysitting Lizzie

Lizzie loves to be a dinner helper. She grabs all the foods she likes and puts them on the table

Rock Star penguin by Alana

sleepy ipad watching

Alana drew a dog on Grandma's pin cushion.

Alana's teacher Mrs. Hansen sent us a little picture of her and asked us to take pictures of our kids doing things with Mrs. Hansen.

I made 100 masks for project protect.

Alana doing an assessment with Mrs. Hansen

Beyblades!

Lady bug

The kids have about 600 nick names for Oreo. One is Galaxy Eyes which I think is well illustrated in this photo. Others include Prince Puppy, Ruby, Saphire, doomalooma ding dong, tonsils, measels, and taunst pianst. I can't pronounce many of them let alone spell them!

The kids brought me flowers =)

We have made beignets 3 times now and Brett says they are his new favorite food!

They smell good, the look pretty!

My sister and I love these no bake cookies! I made some and missed her.

I let Lizzie go to Lowes and walmart with me a few weeks ago and she thought it was magical. They haven't been to a store in a long time.

The Ellis family got a new puppy named Chewie

The bare roots rose bushes I planted died so I bought some new ones.

More zoo fun

Mrs. Hansen went to the zoo with us

One day Brett, Alana, and Lizzie built 3 different hotels and then ran a track between all of them.

Oreo is now 42 lbs and super compactable or expandable
=)

Brett built this helmet thing in a classroom zoom one day.

His last day of school assignment was to read a book about a dragon going to school on the last day, draw a dragon, and then show the class during zoom.

We got a post card from Uncle Brian in France. He sent some fun stickers!

Tickles with daddy are the best!

I dragged the kids to watch Sean and Neil finish the half marathon. I didn't give them food or water before we left (best mom of the year right here!)