Back to School Feast 2020: Good Timber

Last night, we had our traditional charcuterie Back to School Feast!  I shared the poem Good Timber, and couple of talks including one about care for the trees in the Sacred Grove. (Links below. Wonderful talks!) 

When the underbrush was cleared away, eliminating the competitive struggle for nutrients, space, light, and water, the trees became complacent, and paled in strength in comparison to the trees what were left to fight their own struggles to greater heights and light. Opposition is necessary for us to fill the measure of our creation and all things work together for our good and to give us experience. There was also a talk about tree rings and seasons of growth, rest, and survival and I gave each family member a little wood slice key chain and a laminated bookmark copy of the poem, Good Timber. 

 “Good timber does not grow with ease, the stronger wind the stronger trees. The further sky the greater length, the more the storm the more the strength. By sun and cold, by rain and snow, in trees and men [and women] good timbers grow.”

I decorated with wood slices from Burke Decor that are an absolutely absurd, but I scored them for FREE as a gift from the company because I bought a sofa in February, it arrived almost 4 months later with a hole gouged in it and it’s replacement still has not arrived due to covid shipping delays. They gifted me a store credit...except everything in the store is so expensive I couldn’t actually afford to BUY anything with said store credit. Except these wood slices 🤣 which are something one should be able to go out into nature and procure for free. But hey! They’re perfect and now I have a little set of pretty and over priced wood slices. Lol. I also got some evergreen/fern boughs and bottle brush trees that will make a reappearance at Christmas time. Pretty dishes are from my mom’s kitchen cabinets. 

This year’s charcuterie spread was extra good because we had some dr pickles and some craft fair dips (dill ranch, zesty buffalo, and baked potato). I also had fresh salsa with chips, lil smokies in sweet baby ray sauce, veggies, meats, cheeses, grapes and crackers. And homemade chocolate creme brûlée. 

I made chocolate creme brûlée and then remembered I no longer own a blow torch 🤣 oh well. I topped them with strawberries and dessert was still pretty delish even without the crackly burned sugar top.

Links for talks: 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2014/12/lessons-from-the-sacred-grove?lang=eng

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2010/10/of-things-that-matter-most?lang=eng

Homeschool CoOp

It was my week to host CoOp day. 

I love being a teacher, and I am an excellent one, to boot. Thursdays are fun because once we finish up some oral language and take a spelling test, we focus on social studies and science. And we PLAY. 

We took our insect life cycle study on the road, Friday, and hit up the Ozark botanical gardens in Fayetteville. The butterfly house was jumpin’ and we spent the better part of an hour hunting for larvae and hanging pupae, and watching giant butterflies lay eggs, collect nectar, then swarm all around us! It was spectacular. 





When we arrived home, one of our caterpillar eggs had hatched and a very TINY and hungry caterpillar was searching for food. 

I loved watching the kids apply their insect life cycle book study to art...and then experiencing all the stages in the butterfly house with them the following day was next level amazing. 

That is Sloane’s life cycle on the bottom right. The only thing I did was use the glue gun to attach her leaf and caterpillar. Seeing a live caterpillar that looked just like the one she painted blew her mind, 



Another great treasure was getting to bring Reese along with us! Virtual students have one class on Fridays. Her work load will pile up soon, but today she got to come with us! She loved it! It was a fazillion degrees outside but we didn’t care. Friday Adventure Day! 

Celebrating Soren!

Soren will be 8 years old, tomorrow!  To celebrate him, we had the neighborhood boy gang plus 2 buddies over for Star Wars games and Kona Ice!

Minutes before the Kona truck was scheduled to arrive, the sky turned black and thunder roared. I called everyone inside from the backyard and the boys played a game while it started to rain. 

L-R Jordan G, Max M, Harlow M, Sawyer and Jacob F, Corbin, William G, Harlow M and the birthday boy, Soren! Dean S also came by, but I didn’t get a piture!








The boys are their fill and the siblings and neighborhood came by, too!  Birthdays are so much fun on Primrose lane! These are the days. 






Happy Birthday, Soren! 

First Day

Back to school is just weird, this year. 

I didn’t even go out for donuts with anyone. 

I don’t have a photo of Reese yet, as she has dodged my camera “I have to show my face to a bunch of people on zoom all day. Just take a pic of the back of my head since that’s all you’ll see of me now.” 

I love her cynicism. And the same snarky child let me tuck her into bed tonight with a lullaby, so I will let it slide that she’s too grown up for the camera. 

Corbin is a virtual 6th grader. We had some technological hiccups, but we’re figuring it out. 

I think his teachers are wonderful, but 7 hours of virtual school is draining. He is more desperate for human connection after screens all day than he was during quarantine with zero peers around.  Definitely not a preferred method for his  learning style, but he was dying after 45 minutes in a mask during his one in person orchestra class...so virtual it is. If it weren’t for his two buddies Luke and Dan in his 6 person orchestra class, he would opt to just homeschool this year. He reeeeeeallly doesn’t like the google classroom method, but he’s doing fine with it for now. I miss his company though. Corbin has always been a mama’s boy and I miss my sidekick. He is such a good son. When he finished school today, he mowed the back lawn and when he joined us outside during his recess break he kept us all laughing because he never runs out of jokes. 

Homeschool is exceeding expectations across the board. They love it. I love it. Sloane, my reluctant child who opposes structure of any kind is thriving. The twins don’t ever stop talking ever ever ever ever, so it’s been a dance to work in opportunities for quiet learning for Soren, but they are attending preschool twice a week, so it has been a good week, so far.  We’re using the Good and the Beautiful for language arts and math, history and science unit studies that my friend Jill S and I put together, based on the kids’ interests and state grade requirements, and we have a handful of other ongoing things. Among other things, there are spelling lists, copy work, 2nd grade fluency passages, weekly letter writing/pen pals, dream box and night zookeeper, piano lessons, and always a read aloud. I can’t believe how much content we whip through in just 1-2 hours, and felt guilty that we aren’t doing more “work”.  The learning doesn’t stop, but the desks and scheduled rigor does and it’s beautiful.  Last night we drove over to a friends’ house in west Bentonville at 8:45pm to collect some fennel and caterpillar eggs—because we could!  I still make 4 trips to Bentonville every day, and even though it’s not THAT far, it’s still a time suck that I wish I could avoid.  But therapies are necessary and Q needs transportation so on we go, and I’m learning to adapt lessons around my part time taxi gig ;) 




Q had a horrible first day of school. I’d say it’s one for the books, but it’s one of those first day trauma stories that will need to remain unrecorded in our family life book. Truly everyone’s nightmares, though. I ended up checking her out of school early and she resolved she was not going back. And when a new day arrived, she pulled herself up by the bootstraps and faced another day, I’m so proud of her. I even blared Elton John Still Standing the whole drive to school to pump her up. My beautiful daughter has some beautiful GRIT.   

I got in an extra snuggle with her tonight as well abd it was the best. Being a mom to teens is fun because I usually forget most days that I am not a teenager. So it’s like I’m with my own kind...except they’re more mature than I am sometimes 😂. I loved tonight’s pillow talk with my big girls. 



My little kindergartener 😍

These extra hours and days learning with her are such a gift to us both. 




Tomorrow, two friends are coming over for co op day and I will be Mrs Meg from 9-1. 

Soren did a watercolor of our garden today while I read Charlotte’s Web to him and Sloane. I can’t believe he is going to be 8 on Sunday! I love this special boy so very much. 


When I look back at everything that accounted for the day, it makes me tired. We had 2 caseworkers and CASA come over for a home visit after dinner tonight and they walked through every room in our home, amped up the twins, and stayed for a two hours berating us with questions.  

Is Advocate Fatigue a thing? I have it. Every August/September I say “this is not sustainable! Something must change!” And this year is no different. Except I DID change everything within my power. I always make it to May, and I’m confident I will make it this year, as well, and perhaps with a bigger smile in tow. 

Back to school 2020 really just looks more like: 

Mothering Leveled Up 

I’m here for it. 

Have a great school year, Willies! 

Back to school feast/theme night coming soon! 

Bedtime conversations

“Dad, when you pray, and ask questions, do you hear Jesus whisper the answers in your ear? 

I do. He whispers to me.” 

-Adrian 8-26-2020

The Not-Big-Cedar Cabins Day 3

Today we took a scenic drive into Branson, Missouri. It’s such a kitschy, strange tourist town. We checked out a few Scenic overlooks and the outdoor exhibits at the Ripken’s Believe it or Not building. 

We found pizza to go and then Aaron took the big boys on a date at Big Cedar to play at fun mountain. 

The littles took naps and the big girls went in the hot tub. We played a round of apples to apples and hit the little pool at the cabin before dinner. After dinner s’mores and “the last movie night” (truth be told, we’ve had a 6 month run of basically every night being movie night for the teens😂.)  tonight’s feature: The Biggest Little Farm...a documentary about a couple of farmers in California and their trials and errors of learning to farm. 

And even though we made our s’mores in the oven and  Had already bathed everyone, Aaron is a fun dad and built a fire in the little fire pit on the back deck. Corbin kept everyone updated on the Lakers game. 

I saw a meme the other day that said, “I can’t believe spring break is almost over.” 🤣🤣 so true. Is this really coming to an end? Are we really starting school on Monday?   

Deep breaths until then. 

Goodnight, Day 3