Enjoying a Bit of Normal While We Can

Hello, hello. Our schools haven't been closed down yet, or even moved to a hybrid schedule. None of our kids have even been quarantined, which is really surprising. They talk about how sometimes half of their classes are missing, and as few as 5-10 students are in them due to being quarantined. I'm afraid to say anything for fear of jinxing us. I know it will happen at some point, but we are sure enjoying feeling like life is moving forward, even if it's hobbling along. 

Swim team is crazy busy for Addie. This girl went from zero to 100. They have 6 am weights/yoga, and practice after school every day. This last Friday night, they had a swim marathon, where they swam 200 laps between 10 pm-midnight. She seems to be enjoying it, which is really awesome. 

We got permanent Christmas lights on our house! Nils installed them himself in order to do a video, but the company we got them from installs them for not that much more, relatively speaking. Anyway, this is exciting stuff. Nils is so happy to never have to do it again, and the lights are totally customizable via their app. We can have lights for any occasion. Sa-weeeet! 

The Saratoga Springs temple is coming along! It's just about a mile away from our house. Watching it progress gives me hope for all the things. Can't wait to be able to go to the temple again. 

I had my foot hanging off the bed during Come Follow Me, so the girls had to turn it into a team spirit thing. I do love my girlies. They love each other and are really good to each other. 

Sometimes when we go to my mom's house for dinner on Sundays, things get a little weird. :) I bought her this flag to be funny, because she's become a fanatic. Our neice-in-law, Emily, came upstairs wearing this shark costume and it was just a perfect setup. My mom has grandkids living with her, so that spices up her life a bit. 

Work on the trailer continues. Nils has got a lot of it stripped down, and it looks a lot tidier. We've thrown so much away. It's like therapy for him. When he's frustrated with the kids, or his job, he can go out there and work for an hour. He comes back in the house in a good mood. There's a pool noodle on that cabinet, because of head bonking. It's placed really poorly. Nils bonked his head a few times, and one day I hit my head incredibly hard. I was bleeding, and I cried like a baby. It hurt so much! It was tender for weeks. Anyway, we'll need to revisit that whole setup so no one else cracks their head. 

Oh Pip. She's getting worse and worse when it comes to cutting her hair and nails. I have pills that are supposed to put her to sleep, but all they do is make her a sloppy, angry drunk. She has this special duck-bill muzzle she gets to wear as well. She sure is an adventure. Look at those sleepy, angry eyes. 

Sometimes I have to put notes like these on the bedroom door. 

Ava got to cheer and perform at half time for one of the high school games. They did a great job, and were pretty darn cute. She's having a lot of fun with cheer. It keeps her busy a couple days a week and is giving her new opportunities. 

Anders is working about 27 hours a week, in addition to school, so he's pretty busy. He's starting to think about the future and what it's going to take to tackle life. We broke down some expenses for him so he has a little better idea of what he's in for. It will be interesting to see where he is and what he's doing a year from now. We really have no idea, and neither does he. We see signs of promise and are holding tight to those. :) 

Aani is doing well in school, enjoys playing the violin in orchestra, and hanging out with her friends as much as possible. She's experienced a lot of drama with the friend group she hung out with all summer, so some adjustments have had to be made there. 

Big news around here: we decided it's time to take the plunge, and do YouTube full time. Nils gave notice at his job, and I go back and forth between being ready/excited, and terrified. He will work until the beginning of November. It seems totally crazy to quit a good job during the pandemic, but we've been planning for this for a long time and are ready. It's still terrifying, though. Our hope is that a year from now, we look back and wonder why we waited so long. Nils is so very ready. We are very, very thankful for good jobs for the last few years that have helped set us up financially so we can do this. So, there it is! The dream is coming true. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.