Two Front Teeth

While Tanner was at the dance Saturday night, we had a little excitement here at home too.  Bridger's been wiggling his two front teeth for weeks now, and he was pretty sure one was ready to come out.  I pulled out the floss to try a trick I had seen, and sure enough that tooth popped right out!  The next day while I was still at Church for Bishop's Youth Council, Tanner convinced Bridger to let him pull his other tooth as well.  So I came home to another big surprise.  Bridger looks so different and even sounds different too.  We're all still getting used to his new look, and I'm trying to wrap my head around my last baby losing his two front teeth.  Eek!  They're all growing up WAY TOO FAST!

 

Tri-Stake Dance

It's almost incomprehensible to me that Tanner is old enough to be attending Church dances.  Being on the spectrum brings with it some challenges that we face on the regular, and this dance definitely brought on some serious anxiety.  Poor kid comes by it honestly....his parents weren't the best at dances either.  But I couldn't be more proud of him for going anyway and facing his fears.  I knew if I went to the dance he wouldn't interact with any of his peers and just spend the night with me, so I carefully orchestrated rides for him and avoided going at all.  I had some spies keeping tabs on him for the night, and although he didn't ask anyone to dance, he did some of the line dances and spent the whole evening with the young men and young women from our Ward.  He even came home saying that he *may* have had some fun.  If you know Tanner that's as close as we'll ever get to him admitting that it was a great night.  Hahaha!  I'm so grateful for awesome friends (Savannah who kept him company all night at the anti-dancing table) and the Mitchell's for driving him.  Baby steps to one day actually dancing with a girl!  Hahaha!  

Chili Cookoff - And a Sleep Study

We haven't had a chili-cookoff in years thanks to good old Covid-19.  After receiving some ghost pepper flakes from Uncle Jake this past summer, chili has become Tanner's jam, so he was super excited to finally get the chance to make chili for the cook-off.  Weeks into this anticipation, we realized that he was scheduled for a long awaited sleep study that same night.  Bummer!  But that didn't stop Tanner from making his super spicy chili to send anyway, even if he couldn't actually be there.  The Young Men and Young Women were going to be the beneficiaries of the dessert auction, so they spent the evening before making a bunch of goodies to add to the auction.  I brought the supplies for chocolate covered oreos, chocolate dipped strawberries, and chocolate dipped pretzels.  After the youth dipped all the things, I brought them home to package them all up to look their best for the auction.  I also made a German Chocolate Cake and some not-as-spicy chili to contribute as well.  The three younger boys and I went to Landon's band concert and then hurried over to the Church to catch the end of the cook-off.  We managed to make it for most of the dessert auction and the youth ended up making $1117!  We were thrilled!  So it was a crazy night with our family in a million directions.  And a LOT of pre-prep to make sure everything went smoothly, but it was a smashing success.  And Tanner ended up winning the "Spiciest Chili Award" and we'll know results on his sleep study in 3 weeks!

  

Chili Awards...."Beaniest" (tums, gas relief pills, and whoopee cushions)...."Spiciest" (Big Red Gum, Hot Tamalies, and Hot Sauce)...."Best Chili" ($100 Grand Bars and some spices)

Tanner even designed this label for his chili complete with nutritional facts on the back.  He's definitely my kid!  Hahaha!

Our auctioneers for the evening....Brother Bernard and Brother Yovich.

The award winning chili maker himself!

Landon's Spring Band Concert

Landon hasn't had an in-person band concert since he began band two years ago.  Thanks to Covid they've all been video clips submitted by each student.  So it was great to be back to in-person concerts this Spring.  Unfortunately, it landed on the same night as Tanner's long awaited sleep study, and our Ward Chili Cookoff.  So his cheering section was a bit smaller this time around, but he did awesome and we loved rocking out to their sweet beats.  We're looking forward to next year when he joins the Jazz Band.

His small but mighty cheering section!

This kid may or may not have forgotten all his music and caused serious panic....luckily Dad came to the rescue and ran it out to the school in time.

Proud of this kid.  He's worked hard to learn the trumpet in some very less than ideal circumstances.  He's quickly become one of Mrs. Wilson's favorite students, and she even wanted him to join the 7th and 8th grade band for the concert.  In the end he didn't perform with them because he didn't feel he had enough opportunities to practice with them to be ready for the concert, but he's doing great things and we couldn't be prouder.  Love you Lando!
 

Another Round of HP

 

I tried reading Harry Potter with Braddock and Bridger a couple years ago and they just weren't quite ready for it.  Take two and we've all been loving it.  There's something about that magical world that brings us all together.  Their big brothers even pop in sometimes to catch a bit of the fun.  We're almost done with book one and are grateful there's still six more to go!

Spring Break - Sonic 2

Our Spring Break was short and sweet.  A virtual day Thursday at home.  Then we got Friday and Monday off.  Not quite what we had hoped for, but I think we made the most of it and made sure to work hard and play hard, and even Dean mentioned what a good job I had done at making the break special.  Monday was bad weather again....it's been one crazy spring, so we hit up the movie theatre for some indoor entertainment.  To be honest I was exhausted and still trying to kick the cold I'd had so I had the best $7 nap as Dean and the boys watched Sonic 2.  Hahaha!  They were baffled that I could sleep through that, but it wasn't exactly my first choice of movies.  And that evening Dean and I managed to sneak away to run a few errands for some kidless time and the boys got to have a little down time to do whatever they wanted.  One more month of school and then we're all looking forward to SUMMER!

Spring Break - Easter 2022

The week before Easter we sang "Gethsemane" as a family in Sacrament meeting.  In honor of our musical debut, I pulled out the matching outfits a week early. I had the genius idea to snag the Easter family photo that week too.  Man was it nice when Easter rolled around and we didn't have to convince everyone to go smile for a photo.  Singing as a family was an experience.  Let's just say we aren't quite the caliber of Jared and Genevieve's family....yet....and likely not ever.  Haha!  But it was fun to work together as a family to prepare a musical number.  Bridger pretty much stole the show as he belted his part louder than everyone else combined.  Later that day I got a phone call from the counselor in the Bishopric and was asked to speak on Easter Sunday.  I've been struggling a bit with mental health issues and finding motivation to do more than just what *has* to be done, so I quickly said yes to the request knowing I could use something to force me to get things done that week coming week.  But man was it a blessing to focus on the Savior and to be given the responsibility of properly honoring Him as we celebrated His miraculous resurrection.  I referenced a talk by Elder Uchtdorf, "Behold the Man."  Go read it!  You won't regret it!  How grateful I am for our Savior and the chance to help my children to come to know Him and love Him as well.  

Lately I've tried to be more intentional in how I decorate, and what things we have in our home.  I pulled out all our Easter decor and realized most of it isn't even my style or taste anymore, and a previous Andrea would have held on to it anyway, but instead I donated a lot of it and changed up some of the things I already had to be more "me."  The bunnies used to be white and they got a make-over.  I love how they turned out.  And the banner used to be multi-colored pastel, but I was craving neutral simplicity so I changed that too.  It was nice to craft and work on something that was fun, when lately all I can make myself do is things I have to and it's always for others.  And of course I love that the decorations keep the focus on the real reason for Easter front and center on our mantle. 

Spring Break - Mini Cakes

With a crummy weather forecast, and sickness bouncing around the family, I wanted to come up with some things that would be indoor, low key, and loved by all.  So mini-cake decorating was the perfect plan.  After the rainy soccer games we spent the afternoon decorating cakes before dinner.  Tanner whipped up a bunch of fondant and Landon made the buttercream frosting and then they all went to town making their own unique cakes.

Spring Break - Egg Hunting

Saturday morning is traditionally our Easter Egg Hunt, but we had Braddock and Bridger's soccer games bright and early so we opted to have it downstairs and just keep everyone out of the basement until we had time to fit it in.  There was an hour break between games so we quickly did our egg hunt before heading back to the fields for a VERY wet game for Bridger.  There was even water dripping off his earlobes, but they played hard anyway and it was definitely memorable.  It was a fun day and the boys were excited with their spoils.

The surprise was a new trampoline!  We scored one on clearance and our old one was thrashed.

I love that the teenager is even still on board with hunting for eggs!