News bits

James cooked scrambled eggs for himself and Matthew this week. It was his school-at-home day and he felt like eggs for lunch. He asked first, and I supervised, but he really didn't need any help. He's got this just-try-it personality that goes with the flow. It's a refreshing (and sometimes explosive) contrast to his elder brother, Robert. James ended up spilling some raw egg under the stove element, which led to some really, really stinky (and fiery) meal prep on the burner later on, but a fun lesson to learn together. 

I had some friends over Friday night for a campfire and fancy s'mores. It was a good experience, but not exactly what I had expected. I laughed a lot. That was good. I also got to hear how they and their families were navigating the Covid restrictions and such. It turns out, our family is kind of an anomaly. We're much more cautious than most of my friends. It got me thinking about risk tolerance. And everyone else there personally knew someone who had been diagnosed with Covid-19. Maybe that's part of their ease with it...they know folks who have gone through it...it's still a big, scary unknown to me. One of my friends has even decided not to be vaccinated. I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it in-depth yet. Anyway, they were all accepting and non-judgemental of my risk tolerance. Totally supportive. After the fact, though, I realized that I was looking for empathy, not supportive acceptance. An important difference, there. 

Our dishwasher broke recently, and each of the kids picked an evening of the week to help me with the dishes. I kinda liked the new routine. Now that we have a new dishwasher, I've kept it up. The kids have taken it in stride, mostly, with only a little grumbling :) I give them plenty of options...1) clear the table and sweep the dining room, 2) load the dishwasher, 3) hand wash what's left, or 4) wipe the kitchen counters and sweep the kitchen floor. Matthew gets a slightly modified list.

Matthew's super power is ending up in your lap or your arms without you even noticing that you picked him up. He wants to call it "Mathew-itis", but it's not really a frequent source of frustration for him like Susan-itis and Bobby-itis tend to be. Mommy-itis is overstuffing everything all the time. Daddy-itis is not seeing something you're looking for, even though it's right in front of you.

We had fancy s'mores again tonight for Family Home Evening Treat. James and Robert liked chocolate chip cookies with Reese's peanut butter cups and marshmallows. Matthew preferred chocolate chip cookies with Andes mints and a marshmallow. Alice just wanted burned marshmallows. I tried Oreo thins with dark chocolate/almond/coconut bark and a marshmallow. Meh.

Bobby turned 42 this week! We celebrated with dinner from his favorite BBQ place (Black Dog) and a couple of fresh strawberry pies. We knew that most of the kids liked BBQ brisket, but they sure eat a lot more than they used to! And they like it for lunches later. Leftovers just don't last as long as they used to :( which is kinda fun and frustrating at the same time. Our trip to the gulf coast next week was cancelled unexpectedly, but Bobby decided to keep the days off anyway. I don't know exactly what's happening at work. He works from home, though, so I can tell you that we hear a lot more "Grandpa Evans sighing", consternation, and frustration coming through that office door lately. I wish there was more I could do to help.