Cross Country, Soccer, Work, and Parties!!

Josh joined the high school Cross Country team. I am really happy about that! It was quite a bit more expensive than I remembered though! They train every morning at 6:00 so Josh has to get up at 5:30 in order to ride his bike to the school for practice. I am proud of him for being disciplined enough to get up on his own and get there. I went to the parent meeting and was so impressed with all of the coaches and the overall feeling of the team. In fact, the meeting was so motivational that I decided to start running again too! (Just not at 6:00 a.m.!)

Josh also tried out for club soccer again. Both teams (05 and 06) offered him a position on their team but he decided on the 06 team instead of "playing up." They suggested that he double roster on both teams but I was worried about him being too busy -- especially if he is also doing Cross Country and maybe track. He usually C-passes on the 05 games anyway.

Josh had a belated birthday party (Pickleball party) Friday at 9:00 a.m. He made it early so that it wouldn't be too hot. Jared agreed to supervise, so I didn't even have to go, ha ha! They then swam at our house and then went to one of the other boy's houses to continue the fun. So they partied all day long and well into the evening! These boys are all the same age -- as you can see Josh is the smallest one in the group. What he lacks in height he makes up in speed and agility! Hopefully he has a growth spurt within the next couple of years! 

Jaiden went to Mariposa's birthday party -- swimming at her cousin's house. They then watched a movie Friday night.

Jenna had TWO birthday parties today. Her friend, Clarissa, and her friend, Lindsey, share a birthday and so they always have to coordinate their parties every year so that they aren't at the same time! Lindsey's party was a High School Musical Party in the afternoon and Clarissa's was a glow stick party in the evening.

Rick and I went on a date -- dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe, some errands, and then watched a movie together. It was really good -- "Mao's Last Dancer." Josh and Jenna might find it interesting because of the Chinese language and culture.

Other events: Jared got a job at Caption Call (even though we had some reservations -- some like it, but others hate it). Jared is so social and so good with people that this type of work (monotonous and behind a screen) might not be the best fit for him, but at least he can start earning money and then later he can look for something else when the economy has recovered somewhat. Janelle has been working a lot at Papa Murphy's and Jaiden applied for a couple of jobs.

I started back up at one of my jobs -- just a few hours a week. This quarantine has really hit the deaf and interpreting community hard and there has been almost no work available. So I am grateful that one of my jobs started up again and that it will be continuing throughout the summer. I had trouble finding a "communicator mask" with a clear plastic window so that the deaf person can see my lips, and so I was grateful that Janika connected me with someone she knew who could make some masks for me. Thankfully it does the trick -- although I hate wearing a mask! Wearing a normal mask is annoying enough -- wearing one with plastic is even worse! But at least I am able to work a few hours a week!  

The neighbor boys are loving having Jared around again to play with them! 

Happy Birthday, Josh!!

Josh is 14 years old today! He was born on Easter Sunday just 7 minutes after I arrived at the hospital! Josh loves soccer and is anxiously awaiting the re-opening of the soccer season so that he can both play -- and ref!! Josh independently keeps up on all of his school work and is a 4.0 student. 

He loves to play pickle-ball and was disappointed that we had to cancel his "Pickle-ball Party" this year due to the social distancing mandates. However he has been learning new skills with ping pong and has been making an AWESOME video of ping pong trick shots. I can't wait to see the finished project! He misses his wood shop class but has been making his own cool projects in our shed -- even though we don't have many tools to work with. Josh is an awesome kid and we sure love him!

This morning we had Josh open his presents. He had actually gotten his presents early (shoes and couple pair of soccer shorts and a whistle and timer since he was planning on becoming a ref for Ivins soccer this year). So the only thing he had to open was a soccer ball. Since we couldn't have his friend party Jaiden had the idea for all of the brothers and sisters to pitch in $5.00 each and rent an "in-theater movie." Since no one can currently go to the movie theaters Amazon and other companies are renting out new movies for $20.00. It is expensive, but less money than taking your whole family to the movie theater. Jaiden said that Josh really wanted to see "Trolls World Tour," and so she headed this up and it was a nice surprise for him.

So tonight we had a nice dinner of Crock-pot chicken and salad and veggies, along with a pizza that Janelle got him from Papa Murphy's. The kids and I watched the first Trolls movie, since I had never seen it and then after brownies and singing "Happy Birthday," we all went to our basement theater to watch "Trolls World Tour." It was cute, but different. I liked the first one better. Josh also wanted us to play soccer for his birthday, but we didn't have time and so we made plans to do that in a few days.