A new phone for Reese

After 2 months of a phone that doesn’t work and 2 more months of a phone in and out of the shop and back and forth with Apple care, we gave up on the “warranty” and just replaced Reese’s phone. 

She has been out of contact with her friends for most of quarantine. She’s pretty happy to be able to communicate with us again, and has been busy playing with the camera feature. 

Sewing Pillows with Eunice

Esme has graduated from the crib to a big girl bed. Eunice brought her sewing machine over during naptime, this afternoon, and together we repurposed the crib sheet into two euro pillow shams. The crib sheet matches the wallpaper in the little girls’ room, and it cost a small fortune (but come on, a perfect match?  I saw it and bought it immediately, shouting, “Shut up and take my money!” at the Amazon cart), so even though it brought me 6 months of joy, I’m super happy to be able to reuse the fabric. 

I also loved the time spent with Eunice sitting across my kitchen table. We measured and cut and pinned and stitched and talked about important things like homemade salsa, California, Hank (her doggie), libraries, books, and Danish modern furniture.

 I love her. 

Pics of the finished products to come as soon as I get the pillows stuffed into them.  Everything is so much more enjoyable when done with a friend, isn’t it? 

Hufflepuff

I’m a Hufflepuff! I would have guessed Ravenclaw. But lives hard work and justice. 

Quincy is Slytherin with a king snake patronus. 

Reese is a Ravenclaw with a dolphin patronus. 

I don’t know what my patronus is....apparently I need to take another quiz for that. 

Home Tour: Classroom

The kids have been helping me “upgrade” the basement classroom to fit home learning for 2nd grade and kindergarten. I had two other moms lined up to do a weekly CoOp with. Some recent changes have me wondering if that part will happen after all, but I am optimistic that everything will work our exactly how it should! There will probably be a dozen more changes before school officially starts.  In the waiting, I am preparing what I can. 

I found these desks for a steal online, and added fun lights and bulletin boards. Right now it looks pretty sterile, but once I set up an art table, the kids will give their spaces some life. The chairs I bought were intended to go around a square table we have in the dining area for playing games and eating, but I’m going to use them down here instead...if they ever arrive! 

I miss my library children’s books. Classics, science, history, everything was covered. I’m slowly categorizing what we have and I’m realizing I’m missing a lot of the classics (no brown bear brown bear, no hungry caterpillar, or imogene’s antlers, or giving tree or rainbow fish or caps for sale. And my science books are lacking, too.  I will do some replacement shopping when I know what science and history units we will be doing. 

I found some vintage giant alphabet flash cards at the Rhea Lana  sale, and they’re so cute pinned on the walls. I’m pleased that they are getting good use, already. 

Every year, when my children have “meet the teacher” night, I thank their teachers for giving their lives to education, and then I tell them how lucky they are to get to spend the day with my kids. I’m feeling particularly blessed that it will be MY turn to be the lucky teacher! Soren curled up with me for a few chapters of our read-aloud today and I got a glimpse of the many great moments to come. 

Part of me is annoyed that I spent hours reorganizing something that I once already had. The other part is happy to have the time to put order to a space that’s been neglected since we moved back in. 


One room, one day at a time. 

I do really believe that learning can happen always and anywhere. We don’t really need desks or a map on the wall, or even a schedule. But since I have the classroom anyway, I’m enjoying making it a space that is specifically for my kids. 

Night games for the 8th Graders

Quincy is the only Willardson who opted to return to school in the fall. Amber S and I decided to help pool together some 8th graders for an hour and a half of outdoor games at a local park. 

Zack Shefchik called up Lance and Neal Ratsachak, Ethan Van Slooten, Luke Douglass, and Henson B

and Quincy had Bailey Grover, Avery Duersch, Phoebe Sperry. Reese and Sarah Van Slooten helped MaKenzie run the show.  Jr High can be such an awkward season. Quincy was happy to bring some girls to integrate with her “cello crew” of Henson, Zack, and Lance. The kids played a few water gun games, (thanks to bro Shefchick who hauled several buckets of water up to the park pavilion from the creek). Then they had some water relays, played ultimate frisbee (with a few onlookers tossing around a beach ball and spraying welcomed squirt guns at the group, and baseball with a waterball, and ended with an epic water fight. Phoebe scored her first ever home run, Ethan sprayed his sister in just the right way to give the appearance of peed pants, the boys worked together in adolescent fashion to water log a spider dangling from the pavilion, the older girls managed chaos, the kids did a pretty ok job staying socially distant, old friendships were strengthened and new friendships formed, and most importantly, everyone just laughed and PLAYED.  I was off my hospitality game abd didn’t even bring snacks. I literally did nothing but send a couple text messages and drive some buckets and water guns to a park. The kids had a blast and my girls are still talking about it today. Hopefully renters re-entry to Jr High will go smoothly and these kids will build each other up and always have each other’s backs. Good kids, good, simple fun and memories. I love you and all your fun friends, Quincy! 

YouTube for the win

It’s a silly thing, but worth noting so that later in life I can remember where the time went. What you are looking at here is the bottom shelf of my fridge, that I successfully disassembled and cleaned after a jar of freezer ham spilled and seeped under the edge between the plastic and the glass on that white strip down the middle.  This is the second time in as many months that I have had to remove the shelf and MacGyver precariously remove tiny plastic clips and prongs with screwdrivers and delicate force without breaking the glass. The last time, it was raw chicken juice from a thawing bag that leaked. Gross.  How is there no better way to clean out this segment? Or how is it not sealed so that inevitable fridge spills cannot get trapped in there? Either way, after watching a YouTube tutorial (it’s not in the manual btw...do they not expect anyone to need to clean out their fridge?) I figured out how to remove the lock for the shelf, clean that, and then remove the clips and glass, clean the glass, and reinstall. 

It’s more difficult than it looks and if I accomplish nothing else I will still feel like I won the day. 

Meg Reads: How to be an Anti Racist

“Only racists shy away from the r word. Racism is steeped in denial.” -Ibram X Kendi  

When I heard those words in this audiobook, it cracked my mind open in a challenging way. It is difficult to ask ourselves if we are part of a problem or helping/supporting a solution. 

I ask my children often (so often they joke it will end up on my epitaph), “are you helping or hurting?” 

I had to ask myself if my words (or my silence), my actions (or my inactions), and my thoughts (or my buffering time ignore and remain unfeeling in ignorance) are “helping or hurting”. Sometimes it’s both. Helping myself stay comfortable and “right” hurts someone else. 

I’ve felt defensive and take  offense to the pain, grief, fear, or injustice of others so many times and I’m trying to check myself and consider why.   Why did O feel more threatened or angry about people’s responses to social injustice than about the injustice itself?   

Examining my own programming again and again and again, and then being willing to get uncomfortable with what I discover has been embarrassingly eye opening.  And then right when I felt like I was doing “ok” because I was doing the work to know better and do better, I saw this post and it challenges me again. Learning is a good step. But it can easily just be a step right back toward white centering. Really, that’s ALL it is without any action. Just like faith without works is dead, so is anti-racism.  

I’ve taken a few bold steps. I called a friend of mine and asked her, “what would you have your white friends do?” And she educated me and extended a charge to speak up and act.  One occasion where I had the opportunity to do just this was calling out a friend for a series of racist posts on their social media account.  I almost said nothing, because they have are entitled to their own opinions and I hate to stir up contention. But it’s not just fb drama..this was legit racist garbage under what I assumed was the guise of “trying to understand”,  so I called bull on it and offered some understanding that this kind of speech is hateful and racist and spreads white supremacy.  

Surprisingly, a good healthy discussion (after me being called “woke” by another mutual friend), with the original poster led to them appreciating my bold and honest commentary, and letting me know they were deactivating their social media accounts to take time to reconsider their thoughts and process feelings on social justice issues. 

   

So I am still in the self-examination/trying to improve phase of this important work, but it’s a step, and I’m determined to match my steps with actions that create a better world for my Black and African American friends.  I used to do nothing and say nothing because I was afraid to say or do the wrong thing. Kids, when you read this, know I didn’t list about it to feel good about some awesome deed. I post because I want you to know that change starts with yourself, with your reactions, thoughts, feelings, and actions.  It took three promptings before I was brave enough time jump in on the conversation and call it what it is. I guess what this book has done is taught me to accept that I probably WILL do and day the wrong things, and learn that I need to humble myself and listen and learn. I am no longer more afraid of being called racist than I fear actually being racist. Still lots of learning and changing to do. 

This book was not one I wold recommend as an audiobook. You need the hard copy. Everyone does. And a highlighter and sticky notes.  It’s a textbook to refer back to again and again while we change our hearts and join the learning process and continued efforts to be an anti racist. 

Willy Etymology: Jeeker

When you have both teens and toddlers, sometimes the toddlers regurgitate an unbecoming vocabulary word or ten.  

This time, the insult of origin is jerk(adj): one who rudely and/or obnoxiously annoys another. 

The toddler version of jerk is “jeeker”, which arrived on scene about a year ago, and took us several weeks to figure out what they were calling each other.  It was usually after a toy was taken or someone got up in someone else’s personal space. Example: “Get out of my bubble, you jeeker!” 

In the case of this word, “jeeker” has now replaced “jerk” in our home and is being used by the teens as well, and it’s kind of funny. Name calling is not ideal, of course, but if nothing else, it’s still preferred to hearing the original word tossed around in my home. 

 A jeeker is someone purposely standing directly in front of the tv when you’re trying to watch a show. A jeeker is the sneaky stealer of your seat when you get up only momentarily to do a task. It’s the car who cuts you off or won’t let you merge over on the interstate. “Ugh! Jeeker!”  

Back to the grind

We came home to a very healthy garden and happy chickens.thank you, Kasey and Bob and Shelly for taking such thoughtful care of everything while we were gone!  This was our first time returning “home” from a trip since we moved back in.  We’ve  missed having that “ahhh we are home” post vacation feeling since before the fire. Returning to the rental after our road trip last summer just did not have the same welcome, because there really was nothing of “ours” waiting for us there.  It felt good and right to come home yesterday.  Soren and Esme got right to work picking produce and digging up a batch of potatoes. Corbin is firing up the lawnmower.  Quincy has a date with her cello, Reese will spend a few hours doing her BYU economics class.  I have emptied the van, swept out the garage and driveway, picked up the mail, watered thirsty indoor plants, unpacked, ran nonstop loads of laundry, and created a grocery list.  I am oddly exhilarated by the common sound of my children going in and out the door to the yard.  Yes, they let flies in and air conditioning out, but there’s just a sweet comfort to returning to a familiar rhythm of life. Not much has felt “normal” or “routine” since Covid closed down the world. Only Quincy will be returning to brick and mortar classroom learning, this fall. 

Learning from home by choice will be a new and different experience for everyone, and virtual school for Corbin and Reese presents its own challenges, but I’m so thankful for these walls we live within. They are also new and different in their own ways, but I’m thankful that returning home to them yesterday enveloped us in a comfort and familiarity that we have been yearning for. We have felt displaced for so long that I really didn’t expect to find it returning home. That peace is a tender mercy. 

Utah 2020 Slurpees and last hurrahs

In the morning, Reese Quincy and I met up with Taylor in Salt Lake City to shop at the Lakeshore Learning store. Aaron took the boys over to play Splendor with cousins one last time. 
Then we bid farewell to Grandma Lynda and Grandpa Rob and had an epic water balloon fight in their front yard. 











We found Peeps flavored Slurpees at 7-11 (a treat since these convenience stores are not to be found in Arkansas) and then Jana and Janae’s families joined us for one last swim over at my brother’s house. My parents came out for a dip, too, my dad in the hot tub and my mom showed us the way of true relaxation by setting up a chair under the umbrella in the kiddie depth area. Perfection! I’m pretty sure all other pools are ruined for us, now!

The Utah desert landscape just outside our airbnb neighborhood. 


New game the cousins love playing together 

After swimming and dinner from Village Bakery (delicious!) we planned to just go home and go to bed because we had very early flights, but I hopped in a car with Jana and we met up with Janae and a couple of their Willardson cousins Kate at Jenny for a spontaneous girls night at a little bistro on Soda Row in Daybreak to celebrate Janae’s birthday.  

We are so thankful for every opportunity to connect with our families this trip. 

Somewhere over DFW. Headed home again home again.

Utah 2020 and the coolest basements ever

Aaron had a pricing/inventory crisis and to work most of Monday. I took the kids over to Mark’s to see my parents and play so Reese and Quincy could babysit and I could slip away for lunch in Provo with my dear friend Kristi Aase.  Uncle Marker hooked the boys up in gloves and the Rocky soundtrack and they worked out some aggression 🤣🤣

The kids watched the new live action Dora movie and Yogi Bear cartoon in the theater with Grandma and cousin Garrett.  


Kristi and I caught up at Zupas and then We masked up and Kristi got me onto the closed BYU campus (where she works) to meet up with some independent study program directors And talk about online education options for my older children, incorporating 504 plans, and transferring credits back and forth between independent study and public school. It was so helpful! 


Back in American Fork, the children didn’t mind the absence of their parents one bit. (Well the twins did, because change in routine is never an easy or simple thing for them, but the rest of the crowd lived their best lives playing. 




Cousin Zachary is serving a mission and recently returned to the field (Covid sent many foreign serving missionaries home to their native countries for a few months of quarantine). He is now on a stateside reassignment in Dallas Texas! 

Reese, Quincy, and I were able to slip away for an hour of shopping at DownEast and found a bunch of cute dresses and school clothes. It’s so nice to find a whole store where everything is cute, affordable, and modest and we aren’t limited to a small handful of choices that meet our preferences for dress.  

Aunt Melinda blew the boys’ minds and took them next door to her sister Andrea’s house, where she has a full on arcade in her basement and storage room. 

I won’t lie, the rest of us went over for a few minutes that turned into an hour and we easily could have been sucked in for several more. The wizard of oz pinball machine was the coolest pinball machine I’ve ever seen. Andrea and Melinda are such fun and hardworking sisters (and what a dream to live next door to each other!) and are so kind to let our kids take over their homes and play! 

Corbin and I ride am with Mark and Melinda to pick up dinner from Slims. Mark channeled his inner 11 year old boy on an empty side street, and delighted Corbin with how fast his Tesla can go in a manner of seconds. I lost years off my life and added a few grey hairs. Even Melinda admitted her stomach flip flopped, too. I am no adrenaline seeker! We ate outside because Utah air is dry and bug free and it cools off in the evenings. Aaron took the 3 littles home to bed and I stayed with the big kids to visit another hour.