The last weekend

Our life has been full of a lot of "lasts" lately. This weekend was our last weekend in AZ as official residents. We close on our AZ house on Tuesday and close on our LV house on Friday. Of course, the absolute worst part about leaving AZ is leaving friends, but mostly family. On Friday, we met up for one last park date with cousins.

And there's also Zoe. Zoe has been a good friend for 4-5 years now. I drove her to and from school for a few years. She is at our house a lot and gets along with everyone.

There's 1 person with whom she has had a bit of a rough relationship.

In the past, when we wanted to make Elijah flaming mad, we would tease him about Zoe. 

He disliked her even more than he disliked having 3 sisters.

Lately, through not-so-subtle flirting, Zoe has weaseled herself into his good graces.

I made sure to wear appropriate climbing shoes.

\

And last night, one last trip to Bahama Bucks.

Iris spent her third Saturday in a row with her BFFs.

Escape room:

And Soda Jerk:

I didn't get a picture with Elijah and Ethan, but they spent Friday/Saturday together. Those 2 have a special bond. I have a picture of them (can't find it now) when they were 2 years old. Elijah was on top of Ethan and Ethan wasn't quite sure what to think. The two continue to wrestle every time they see each other. Ethan fills the brother void that Elijah has been burdened with his whole life (that kid has it rough).

And guess who is on a plane headed this way...

This maternal manly man:

They weren't able to summit Chimborazo due to risk of avalanche.

We are grateful to get him back on 1, unfrozen piece

for all of one and a half days.

 We will all be living together soon, but not soon enough.

 

You can do anything in this world

Yesterday Sybil wanted to go to the park. We went, accompanied by juicy reading material...

Getting out of the house does my soul good.

Yesterday there was a little too much sibling junk going on:

"Mom, I'm not being negative, I'm just telling the truth."

Hence the trip to the park while older 2 were at soccer 

and the extra-lengthy scripture study when we all got back. 

At the park, I told Iris to take a selfie with the native wildlife. 

She came back with a few pictures.

Specimen #1 (there's a duck swimming out of her nose):

Specimen #2 (an extra-wild native):

And here's a very small sample of the string of memojis Iris sends out these days:

Elsewhere, David is on top of the world. 

This is from a few days ago:

He sent a shirtless, masked video from the summit with the following message:

"I'm at the top of Cotopaxi, approximately 19,437 feet, slightly higher than New Orleans. I just want to send a message to my nieces and nephews who I love very much...that if you eat sugar, candy, and cereal, you can do anything in this world. Love you!"

The birth of a motivational speaker:

Tonight he will summit an even higher peak. I think it will be the highest he's done. 

King's to you! Rock it with your hairy chaps and hairy chest! 

Last time

This is the last time I will wear this uniform.

I wish I could have worn it more, although I'm not sorry to say goodbye. 

Today I volunteered in another simulation lab with a graduating medical student. We took care of a patient who went into septic shock from a diabetic foot ulcer. I felt utterly unprepared to be a nurse. 

At the same time, I was energized by the density of acquired information. There is nothing that can replace on-site learning, of which I have experienced a major deficit. Thanks covid.

Now off to fluff up my skinny resume...

 

Perfect start

This morning, as I was taking Sybil to school early, I saw Elijah crossing the street.

 He was walking from seminary to school with a group of friends. 

Elijah heard Sybil scream his name, rolled his eyes, turned around, and pretended he didn't see us. 

But as I was driving away, I yelled in my mommy voice, 

"Elijah, you're so cute!" 

He may have hated me a little.

Worth it!

That was the perfect start to the week.

Until he jumped out at me when I walked in the house from picking up the girls this afternoon. 

I may have hated him a little--my startle reflex is extremely over-developed.

Chasing the sunset:

David will summit this tomorrow night:

 

Too much fun

This weekend was almost too fun.

We started off Friday hanging out with cousins. 

This guy provided moral support while Leah helped Claire made a carrying tote for her drumsticks.

... which naturally turned into a sleepover.

When the world doesn't revolve around Sybil, she comes to me for a break from the world. 

So we practiced some acrobatics. 

She liked it so much that she came back shortly after and said, 

"Mom, I need you to make me happy again."

Claire did some homework in the morning and then had a friend over.

I took a picture to immortalize Elijah's aim with the cereal; 

makes it near the bowl every time.

Iris and her 2 BFFs went on a lunch and mall date. 

The money Iris earned from bird-sitting last week went towards fancy soaps 

and a "fidget popper" which is the newest trendy item.

They decided to have semi-matching outfits.

Sybil chose to get "best friends" necklaces for her favorite person. 

BFFs at the train park:

The teen party was that night. 

I picked up this crew, dropped them off at the mall, 

picked them up and then dropped them off at 7-11. 

They walked back here and hung out.

Can't have a teen party without a fine line between crazy/stupid. 

I put the kibosh on it after a few jumps.

Elijah and Claire went a few times each.

Chillaxin

This is the church crew. It's so beautiful outside lately and our Sunday tradition is to let the kids play after church. Today we were there for a full hour which means I skipped the second hour which was via Zoom. Next week will be the last Sunday in our ward and it will also be the first week that we will go back to having 2 hour church in over a year.

That's Sybil with her dress over her head.

Elijah throwing a baseball with the boys.

The Elijah and Sybil fort:

Elijah is apparently getting a butt massage in this photo:

FaceTiming David

Afternoon trip to Gilbert:

 Full week ahead: lab day tomorrow, Sim lab with a med student on Tuesday, pediatric test ands lecture on Wednesday. I gotta go to bed!

Dirty underwear

When David and I were living in Michigan (pre-kids) we went to someone's house to watch a movie with a group of young, married couples. One of the couples had a small child. During the movie, the child ran into the hosts' bedroom, grabbed some dirty underwear out of the hamper, and sprinted between the guests while waving the underwear above his head like a flag, as if he had just won an olympic medal. 

Over the past few weeks I've started a few bitter blogposts but haven't been able to hit the "publish" button partly bc my feelings are fleeting and partly because this isn't an appropriate forum to wave my dirty underwear. 

David's usually in Vegas, but most recently in Ecuador for 10 days. We are moving in 2 weeks. I am studying for final exams and a national nursing certification test while working a part-time job and corralling 4 kids for whom I'm trying to provide multiple opportunities to say goodbye to their friends and cousins. 

 It's only when I get an occasional picture like the following while I'm in the middle of dealing with a tandem teenager and a not-so-toddler temper tantrums that I feel slightly, maybe a teeny pinch of jealousy.

The interesting thing is that despite the confluence of factors, I'm not very stressed. In both of my university classes I got the usual 100% as a final grade since crafting 5-paged pieces of fecal matter is my specialty. The fact that I've stopped caring about my other classes paired with just finishing a big editing piece on the evolutionary mismatch of urinary incontinence and our Paleolithic ancestral heritage helps relieve a good amount of stress.

Today I decided to disconnect. No Sunday movies. No organizing (what I had previously hoped to do). I needed a break especially after Elijah threw a full cup of water on me (I may have just thrown a cup of water on him because he keeps calling his sisters "Karen," which is apparently the biggest possible insult these days). After the water incident, I didn't say a word because even though I had it coming and would have given him a noogie under other circumstances, tensions have been running high. Locking myself in my room was the best option until I unlocked it for a screaming Sybil. We snuggled and slept.

Right now, Claire is at a friend's house, Iris is coloring in her room. Elijah and Sybil are making a massive fort with every pillow, blanket, and piece of furniture in sight. They just came in my room, Elijah brandishing his loaded airsoft gun, to inform me that I have to pay $5 per 5 minutes to gain access to their fort. 

I'm off to lose $5, but not before I tell them that I cannot pay my manservant nor maidservant on Shabbat.