Surpise! I'm Behind Again....

We are slowly adjusting to home life without Rhaevyn and Aeva.
At times I feel I've adjusted, and then there are other times I still tear up and miss them so terribly!
I love the phone calls that I get from them out of the blue. It makes my mamma heart smile just to hear the happiness and excitement in their voices, to hear them able to laugh even though they may be struggling with the format of a class/ brutalness of a professor, or tell me something really fascinating that they learned.

I take a lot of pictures and videos of Molly to send to Rhaevyn because Rhaevyn misses Molly so very much.

Yep! I did it; I got my Dog Mom shirt.

 

Molly got all pretty this past Friday. I love it when she has been groomed. She looks and smells so nice! She always runs around like a Tasmanian devil when she gets home from the groomers.

 

  We have discovered that she loves to chase this ball. Rhaevyn loved getting to see this.

 

 Here I am cradling a cat. This was before we left to take the girls to Utah. While holding this cat I could almost picture  myself having one, but I am against owning pets that shed.

 

 We are settling into the routine of school nicely. Here is our first craft of the school year for the little girls:

Elsa made a butterfly:

Meg made a ladybug:

I got crafty too! I needed to spruce up my pen and pencil holder.


Rhaevyn sent this picture to me the first week of classes at BYU. She titled it "The dog has been replaced!"

The grasshoppers are apparently humongous! Above all, in this picture, I treasure the smile on Aeva's face.

Meg learned a new trick at the dinner table:

Myles had to say goodbye to Sister Lee. She moved to Pennsylvania. She came over for one last visit before she left. They both did their best not to cry. They will miss each other greatly!

 Elsa and Myles have really blossomed in the cooking department. Rhaevyn isn't here to  make them delicious things, so they whip out her cookbook and do the baking all by themselves.

  Myles made cottage fries with potatoes from his garden. They were delicious!


 

 

 

Myles helped Elsa make Rhaevyn's version of Chow Mein. Myles was very sweet and patient with Elsa. It was so sweet to watch them.

 

 

 

 The white in my hair was not having the highlighting effect that I was hoping for. I think it is time to brighten things up a bit. I bought this sweater on our trip at a cute store that I went to with Mom Lindsay. I was thrilled that it was finally cold enough to wear it, and I love the soft pink color and how soft and cozy it is. And on the plus side, it has pockets!!!

 All three kids outgrew their shoes at the same time. Since I didn't have any older girls to go with me Chris came along to help us shoe shop. While we were there we got smoothies with bobba and took a picture for Rhaevyn since this was a favorite thing of hers. She and I got one on our last date together before she left.

Orange Cream and Honeydew

 Myles updated his mobile in his room.

 

 Myles has also been busy making several airplanes out of foam board, to which he attaches an RC motor. Then he flies them when he can on Saturday mornings with a group of others. His last airplane crashed and burned.

While Myles and I were doing history last week, Molly decided to just plop herself down on what we were reading. Silly doggy!

 The little kids had their eye exams last week. These were some of the frames that Elsa tried on. I think she had about 12 frames. Myles picked out two. We had a good laugh about that.

 The good news is, Meg has great eyes like Rhaevyn. The other two still need glasses, but their prescription remained the same. Yay!

Meg made sure to ask for sunglasses. She absolutely hates getting her eyes dilated.

 

Their new glasses:
Elsa's remind me of strawberries and chocolate.

 Myles's glasses arrived about an hour after we had picked up Elsa's.

 Out with the old:

 In with the new................along with hat head.

 Not a lot of difference. No sense in changing what you like I guess.
While we waited for Myles to be done Elsa and Meg helped me try on some glasses.

I could match Elsa.....

Meg is so excited that she has her very own library card now. She got to pick out a library card holder at the library.

 It is that time of year....
getting out the boxes of hand-me-downs.
I just about cried over this moment.......

 Meg is wearing a pair of pants that Rhaevyn wore in Kindergarten. I can picture distinctly Rhaevyn wearing them when ice skating. I sent the picture to Rhaevyn, and she sweetly told me not to cry. It is just unbelievable that my first baby wore them and now my last Kindergartner is wearing them.


These pajama pants were Aeva's. Only I think she wore them when she was 7 or 8.

 Hanging out with Miss Meg:

 All ready for church:

 Elsa in charge of craft time:

 I got released as First Counselor in Young Women's. This was my last activity with them. Our Miamaid advisor taught a class on water colors. It was super fun, but leaves are hard to do.

 

I tend to always think I don't make a difference, but it was very touching that so many of the girls were so sad that I had been released. Even ones that are Laurels and Beehives. I got sweet notes and lots of hugs. This Sunday they called me to be the Young Women's Secretary. The girls were all so thrilled that I was not leaving Young Women's. I got even more hugs, but with lots of smiles this time😀

 I did some highlights. Not entirely satisfied with how they turned out, but it's doable. In honor of Rhaevyn I spoiled myself with new eye shadow and red lipstick. Rhaevyn loves red lipstick, so I took this picture to send to her.

I'm having lots of fun sending the older girls fun, silly, and uplifting letters. It reminds me of being a teenager, and I would write my friends who lived in Washington. 

 Elsa is so excited to be learning cursive this year.

Elsa was really sad to not have Rhaevyn as her violin teacher anymore. She was very nervous to have a new teacher, but she has grown to really enjoy her new teacher and loves practicing her violin and coming up with her own songs.

 The interesting, great, and awesome news from my world, as a mom, is that Myles has asked for a clothes basket because and he made the request to do his own laundry. Also I came into the living room the other day after a trip to the little girls' room and found this going on. I needed to actually document it because if you didn't get a picture or video it didn't happen.

And there you have it folks. I think that I am officially updated so far as I can tell.

Oh wait, one last thing:
Before Rhaevyn left, our eye doctor and his wife (Rhaevyn cleaned for them on a weekly basis and sometimes babysat their children) bought her two tickets for a dance show at BYU. Their only stipulation was that she could not take Aeva. She has been busily trying to find someone to take with her. She asked one young man and he said "Ya, I think I can come." Then last Wednesday she tried to confirm, asking him to meet her at a certain time and place so that they could be a bit early to their seats. His reply was "Ya, I'll try and make that." To say that she was getting frustrated and worried is putting it mildly. I talked to her Thursday afternoon. She was worried that he was not going to show up, but in her fairy tale world that would be okay because when she got to the dance show there would be a young man whose date had canceled on him. They would be each other's date. Rhaevyn called me Friday night after the show. She said she had the best seats, and it was such a great show. Her date did in fact cancel at the last minute, which she did see coming. She had texted Aeva, after getting ditched, to see if she wanted to go. Aeva never replied, so Rhaevyn went to the show by herself. While waiting in line to get in a young man approached her asking if she happened to have any extra tickets. She told him that she did have one. He asked if he could have it because he really wanted to see this show, and this was the only night he was available to see it. All the tickets were sold out for that night. So, they sat together. He was very nice. She learned his name, where he was from,  his major and minor. She said the best part was the fact that she had really wanted to go with someone who was as excited about the show as she was and that happened. So, she was sent a wonderful date for the dance show. What a story to share, huh???? Our eye doctor and his wife enjoyed hearing about that from Rhaevyn.

Okay, now I'm done 😊