Brooke

Here are some things about Brooke lately:

• She's pretty self-motivated with her school work. Since we've been forced into doing homeschooling because of coronavirus, it's been interesting to see how we both have been doing with that. Most of the time, I tell her to get going on her schoolwork, and she'll get her school stuff and start working on her own. Maybe one day a week, she'll have a hard time staying focused on school, so it'll take her hours to get it done. But mostly she knows that if she buckles down and just works on it continuously, she'll be done in 45 minutes or an hour, and then she's free for the rest of the day. 
• She's a good big sister. Most of the time. Obviously, she has her moments. Who doesn't? But mostly, she likes to play with her siblings, she's kind to them, and she'll help them with things when they need it. She's especially good to Jack. She has taken to giving him piggy back rides everywhere. She loves doing it, and he loves getting the ride... and the attention. She'll sometimes say, "I need to go have Joojoo time." And she and Jack will go somewhere by themselves and play. She and Camille say that about each other as well. "We're having sissy time," they say. And they'll lock themselves in their room and play together. They fight, frequently. But they also love each other and love playing together.
• Brooke is an avid reader! I can hardly keep this girl in books! The girls and I are always into a book together, which I read aloud to them. Recently, we read A Cricket in Times Square, some Barbie book based on a movie (that I found particularly painful to read, but they picked it so...), Poppy and Ragweed by Avi, and some Frozen books. I'm always thinking of and researching good books to read aloud to them. But Brooke loves reading on her own, and she just tears through books (she stays up late reading books a lot, which doesn't make me particularly happy ... I'd like her to get enough sleep ... but I also feel like reading is really, really good, and the fact that she WANTS to stay up reading is great! So many mixed feelings...). She just finished the Ralph S Mouse series by Beverly Cleary, and she's reading the 1st book of the Heartwood Hotel series AGAIN (she's read it at least twice already, including once with me and Camille). She's pretty good at reading and comprehension, and she just loves it.
• Since Brooke is getting older, she's starting to develop a more mature sense of humor, which I've noticed coming out and which is delighting me. She will sometimes laugh at the jokes I make, whereas usually they just go over the kids' heads. And sometimes she'll say the funniest things. I'm just loving her grow up and develop her own little personality. 
• Brooke likes to play with her Hatchimal collection, especially with Camille. They have both been given little hatchimals, and they have quite a few now. And they'll play with them together. She also loves building things with legos, playing outside pretending she's an animal, and riding her bike. She likes to draw and color and craft, and she's always planning something or other. Today, she was drawing up plans to make her own Heartwood Hotel. She drew out the floor plan, complete with rooms for each kind of animal, underground tunnels and rooms, perches for the birds, a kitchen and lobby, and storage rooms. I think she and Daniel will build it soon. They'll love doing that together. 
• She's a helpful girl. She's always been the more consistent of the 2 girls at doing her chores for the family economy. Well ... I guess I can't really say that. They both have times when they're on top of it, and times when they aren't. But over the past few months, I've noticed that she tends to be more consistent about it than Camille. Recently, both of them have stopped working so much around the house, and with the quarantine and the baby coming, I thought maybe we'd take a break from the family economy for a couple of months. Just so that they both understand that they have to work and help out around the house simply because they are part of this family and because they live in this house. It's not just mom's responsibility to clean up messes. They can, too. We had a whole family meeting about it. So we came up with a new temporary system. They have to do their morning things (get ready, make bed, say prayers, brush teeth), and then they come to mom and say, "I need a chore" or "what's my chore today?" And I give them something new to do. Now, mind, we've only had this going for a week. But they've both been AWESOME! Camille needs a little more prompting than Brooke, but I just attribute that mostly to her being younger. I've been having them dust the rooms, vacuum things, clean bathrooms, clean the basement and their bedrooms, washing windows ... they've been so good about their chores and they're learning about taking care of our house, which makes me very happy. Plus, I think it's helping to build their confidence in themselves. They know that they can do things themselves! I think it's been good for them to put the economy on hold so that they can learn more skills and so they can learn that we work together because we're part of a family. Brooke is so good about getting her morning stuff done and coming immediately for a chore. And yesterday, I told the girls to help Gramma Fern bring the groceries in from her car, and they didn't hesitate, they didn't complain; they just cheerfully went outside and started helping. It made me so proud. The other thing we've started doing is what we call "reset". Basically, it's home reset -- we clean up and tidy and put away the main floor of the house. I do the kitchen (dishes, wipe counters, sweep floors), and the girls and Jack (when he helps ... he's not consistent yet) pick up toys and put them away, throw trash away, put the couch back together, clear off the table and counters ... Basically, we get the main level of the house clean for the night, right before dinner and bedtime. And they've been pretty good about that, too. Although they try make everything "fair" by leaving things for someone else to do. I don't love that, and we might have to have a talk about it. But mostly, things get done with minimal complaining. 
• She and Camille love watching Lion Guard together on Disney+. She also loves their show Unlikely Animal Friends. Those are the main things they like watching, aside from our Friday Movie Nights, where I put on a new movie they haven't seen before to watch together as a family. They LOVE movie nights. Lately, we've been putting a blanket down on the family room rug and having a picnic dinner while we watch our movie. It's been so fun.
• She's enthusiastic about oh, so many things. She's very loud sometimes (most of the time), especially when she's playing or excited about something, and she's a very joyful little girl most of the time. 
• She loves her family. It's pretty obvious she thinks we're pretty cool.
• She makes a big deal when she gets hurt. Whereas others of my children tend to get upset and shake it off less than a minute later, Brooke tends to milk it. She makes a big fuss, crying, wailing, holding whatever got bonked, etc., and needing immediate loves and cuddles for a long while. She doesn't just shake it off, she lingers in it. And most of her incidents are extremely minor -- no blood, no scrapes, rarely bruises. It both amuses and infuriates me. 
• She's so excited about the baby. She keeps talking about how much she's going to help with the baby and all the things she's going to do for him. She often rubs my belly, or pushes on my belly to feels bumps and knobs. It's cute. She loves to feel him moving around in there and feel all the little baby parts. And she and Camille are so curious about the whole thing, asking questions about labor and delivery, about how the baby grows in there and asking all sorts of fun anatomy questions. Fortunately for me, they have NOT asked how the baby got in there in the first place. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to answer that question, but I also feel fairly strongly in answering their questions frankly and honestly, so ... I'm just praying that it'll be a number of years before they get too curious about that particular question.
• One day, I told the girls I really didn't feel like making dinner that night. So Brooke piped up and said, "I'll make dinner tonight!" She decided she wanted to make everyone sandwiches. She made turkey and cheese sandwiches for me, Daniel and herself, and PBJ for Camille and Jack. She even made them fancy by putting olives on toothpicks through them. And she made lemonade as well. Everything took an abysmally long time, so dinner was quite late and I'm afraid I made some comments about it (which I feel bad about, because she did an amazing job making the food by herself, and I'm sure she was feeling proud of herself about it ... and these are the types of things I want to encourage her to do!! I need to be better about holding my tongue). But it was really lovely of her, she did a great job, and we all had a pleasant meal of her making.

Brooke is getting so big, I can hardly believe she'll be 8 in a few months. She growing up to be an intelligent, helpful, independent, motivated, hard working and loving little girl, and I couldn't be more pleased with her. I love her and am starting to rely on her a great deal. She's wonderful!

Back to Cuba

Let's finish this trip up.

We got back to Havana and to our airbnb Wednesday night. We had planned to go on another little excursion on Thursday to Vinales, a mountainous area west of Havana. But we decided we wanted to spend more time in Havana, getting to know our family. Plus, I'm really glad we didn't go, because I was feeling pretty poorly on Thursday.

In the morning, I tried to accompany my family in their activities. We went back to that little cafe that Dad and Daniel and I had gone to on Monday, in the morning, just before lunchtime. The music group was there performing again, and we ordered a few little snacks. Dad saw a little drum not being used, and he jumped in and joined the band, playing the bongo drum. It was so cute.

I was feeling really badly, so mom and I took a taxi back to the airbnb to rest. Daniel and Dad went back into Havana and visited some more historical sites, including a museum about the revolution and the government. And Mom and I slept for a few hours. Mom accompanied the boys out for dinner that night while I stayed in and tried to sleep and eat and drink. It was still proving difficult to recover from that illness, though. And I still couldn't eat very much.

Friday, Felix offered to take us around Havana and tell us some things about the city and the country. It was really neat going out with him and having a native Cuban tell us all about things. He took us to Revolution Plaza and gave us some history. He took us to the Havana cemetery, where we got a look at the Fernandez Family plot. It was so awesome and fascinating. Then he took us to central Havana to a restaurant for some lunch, where we met up with Alina. They took us to one of the nicer restaurants in the city, probably owned by the government, but they said it was one of their favorite places to take people to. We ordered and chatted, and they taught us a lot about Cuba and their history and the revolution, and I mean, I did eat and drink a bunch ... or at least I felt like I had. But towards the end of our lunch, I started feeling really lightheaded and faint. I told Daniel that I thought I was going to faint, and he just told me to lay my head down on the table. I drifted out of consciousness while everyone was talking and getting ready to leave.

I had this weird dream while I was in a dead faint; there were taxis everywhere in a big city, and Scott was there with me. Coming to was such a painful experience. Not physically painful, but I knew that I was gaining consciousness, and I knew that being awake was not going to be as pleasant as being asleep. And ALL OF ME wanted to stay asleep. But I started hearing things break into my dream -- Mom saying that I would be alright, that they were all there for me, and that we'd be going home soon; someone holding my hand (Daniel), and someone else stroking the hair back from my face over and over (Dad). My eyes were still closed, and I was laying on the ground, with my feet propped up on something. I was crying, and my tongue hurt really badly. Mom said that I'd had a seizure, but that they'd take care of me and everything would be alright. I said something like, "no wonder my tongue hurts. I had a weird dream." And Daniel chuckled and said, "That sounds like you."

After some time, they helped me sit up, and then Alina and Felix insisted on taking me to the tourist hospital, saying the doctors were really good and they'd feel better about it if I went. Felix took us all to the hospital, and I was admitted to a Cuban hospital. There were several doctors that attended me, asking questions and discussing what had happened -- a general doctor, an OB, a neurologist. They hooked me up with an IV to get some fluids and electrolytes into me, and we stayed at the hospital for a few hours before they said we were good to go home. They checked the baby -- he was fine; I was messed up. The doctors left me with instructions on what to eat and how, so that I could rehydrate and get better.

It was quite an interesting experience. The hospital wasn't nice; the equipment they had seemed a little old, and it was rundown, like just about everything else in Cuba. The doctors seemed capable and knowledgeable, and they were kind. But they did things very differently than we do here in the States. Whereas here, the doctor comes in by him or herself and meets with you privately, and they consult with one another aside, away from the patient, in the Cuban hospital, the doctors (all of them, like 4 or 5 at a time) all congregated in the room with us, all chatting and discussing my problems together, right there with us. It was kind of funny ... and fun, actually! Like a big medical party! Also, whereas here, they are sticklers for hygiene, wearing gloves and washing their hands endlessly, nobody in Cuba wore gloves. Even the medical assistant who got me hooked up with an IV didn't wear gloves. It made me the tiniest bit squeamish, but mostly I chuckled inwardly. It was difficult to communicate with them about what happened. Thank goodness Daniel, Alina and Felix were there to help.

We made it back to our airbnb, and Felix and Alicia came over that night, bearing chicken noodle soup for me. They stayed for a while with us, talking and visiting. I ate a whole bowl of the soup, forcing myself to stay at the table until I'd finished it.

The next day, Saturday, was our return flight home. We packed up, met with our airbnb host, and went out to get breakfast before our taxi showed up to take us to the airport. We got through security in Cuba and made it onto our flight, which was difficult for me. We got to New York, made it through Customs (although Mom got flagged ... she's so shifty), ate some dinner, and made it onto our flight back to Utah. Another difficult flight. I was feeling better by then, but having to sit for so long was so hard, with being pregnant and sick. I was so glad to make it home.

We had a great trip, despite the little sickness adventure I had for half of it. We learned so much about Cuba and about our relatives in Cuba. It was AMAZING to meet them and get to know them. I'm so glad that we could go and experience the country, the culture, and the people.

 

 

Jack's 3rd Birthday

Jack turned 3 last month, and I can hardly believe it! It was a good day, even though we couldn't get together with our family or go anywhere to celebrate. I was still busy all day with birthday preparations. I woke up early to do a tiny bit of decorating. I put up some orange and blue streamers around the dining area, and I bought him a couple of balloons, because he loves balloons so much. He and the girls were so excited about the decorations. It was the best $5 at the dollar store I've ever spent.

Later during the day, I let him watch some truck videos and he got to eat whatever he wanted all day long. I put him down for a little nap, and while he was sleeping (or not ... I can't remember if he actually slept), I wrapped his presents and worked on his cake. I made him a construction site cake. I made 2 chocolate sheets cakes (just from a box mix ... I had no desire or energy to do it from scratch, and the kids don't really care) -- one for the cake, and one to break up to act as dirt on top of the cake. I made a chocolate frosting to put on the cake before I crumbled up part of the second cake on top for the dirt. I put a few of Jack's construction truck toys in the "dirt", and put some "dirt" in the dump truck and the bulldozer and excavator buckets. I also added some multicolored nerds as "rocks", and the girls and I made some construction site signs to stick around the construction site. It ended up a lot cuter than I thought it would, which was good.

For Jack's birthday dinner, he wanted chicken nuggets and fries, and I added grape tomatoes and cucumbers. I made salads with cooked chicken strips for Daniel and I, because we didn't really want chicken nuggets. I just adjusted Jack's dinner a little bit for us. After dinner, we sat on the couch while Jack opened up his presents. He got some construction truck books from Gramma Fern, a lego set from Mom, Dad and Brooke, and a new set of magnatiles to add to our collection from Mom and Dad. A few days later, Gramma and Grampa Holbrook sent him a set of farm trucks (tractors, pickup trucks, water trucks, etc.). I don't think he was as thrilled with his presents as I thought he'd be, especially since the girls commandeered his lego set and sort of adopted it. He loved getting his farm trucks a few days later, though. He was really thrilled.

We sang to him and had cake last. He and the girls had fun just playing with the construction trucks in the cake dirt. It was a pretty good birthday overall, I hope.

 

Here are a few things I'm loving about my Jack Boy right now:

• He still obsesses over trucks and cars. He has such a big collection of cars and trucks, of all varieties and sizes. He plays with them every day, and he has to sleep with a couple of them at each nap and bedtime. His new favorite thing to do lately, since the weather has changed, is to take his construction trucks and cars out to the side yard, where there's a pile of dirt, and play out in the dirt. He loves to ask Alexa to play truck tunes -- a collection of songs all about different kinds of trucks. And he asks me to sing songs about trucks every night at bedtime -- some truck tunes or Blippi songs, or sometimes, he just asks me to make one up on the spot.
• He says "Sanks" or "Sanks, Mom!" almost every time I do something for him. It's the cutest thing ever, because I don't really expect him to do that yet. 
• He's such a sweet cuddly boy. He asks Daniel or me to cuddle with him on the couch almost daily. This usually includes his whale blankie and a truck or two. 
• He loves being tickled, and his most ticklish spot is on his back, along his ribs usually. 
• He still needs a nap, and he still takes naps, although not regularly anymore. Some days or even weeks he doesn't nap at all. But he'll still fall asleep at least half the time, if not more. And I figure, even if he doesn't sleep every time, a little quiet time won't hurt him. It'd only help. He's always been our best sleeper, anyway, so far. He does better than the girls at bedtime, too.
• He's our little funny man. He likes being silly and making everyone laugh. And he has some great facial expressions. He's also our little dancer. He loves music, and sometimes when we put music on, he'll go into the living room, make some room, and start dancing to the music. 
• He loves Brooke and playing with her. These 2 have always seemed to have a bond. Even when Jack was a baby, Brooke liked playing with him and making him laugh and smile. They still like playing together, and usually they are considerate of each other.

Easter Week

Our Easter week was really incredible this year. It basically started for us the weekend before Easter, when we had General Conference. It was a special GC this April because it was the 200th anniversary of the First Vision. The speakers spoke a lot about Joseph Smith and the First Vision, and there were many mentions of how we can "Hear Him". The Saturday evening session, which normally would've been the Priesthood Session, ended up being a normal session. I think they called it the Adult Session of Conference, and they even had a couple of youth speakers, which was different. On Sunday, during one of the sessions, they had a Hosannah Shout, that they usually do in temple dedication. President Nelson shared another proclamation that the 12 and the Presidency wrote about the Restoration of the Church and the First Vision. It was just a really special conference.

Because of Covid-19, this conference was different in other ways, too. It was a purely digital conference. The conference center was not open for conference, and, in fact, they held conference at a different, smaller location. Only the speakers were allowed to be in attendance, and all the chairs were set several feet apart. The music was all from recordings of the Tabernacle Choir from previous conferences and events. None of the church buildings were open for broadcast, either. People could only watch conference online or on tv at home.

Anyway, General Conference was the perfect thing to kick off our Easter Week. It was a spiritual high to begin with. To add to our Easter week, I prepared mini devotionals for our family scripture study each night, focusing on one event from the last week of the Savior's life each day. I had pictures to illustrate the story, and I summarized the story and how it fit into the last week of His life.

On Thursday, we had our own little Last Supper, or what I'm calling our Jerusalem Supper. It wasn't like a Passover supper; just a dinner eating only things that they would have eaten in Jerusalem at that time. We had lunch meat (because I didn't get a roasted chicken), olives, dates, tomatoes and other veggies, pita bread and hummus. And during dinner, we talked about the Last Supper and about other events from the Savior's last week, and how it would've been for us if we had been there. It was really special. I think I'll keep this tradition and add to it in years to come, and maybe look for other foods that we can add to our meal.

Friday night we dyed our Easter eggs. I hardboiled almost 30 eggs for us to dye, and somehow it didn't end up being enough! Camille was so much faster with dyeing her eggs that she got to do way more eggs than the rest of us. Next year, we're gonna have to give everyone a specific number of eggs to dye, otherwise it'll be problematic like it was this year. We still had fun, though, and our eggs turned out so pretty!

Saturday morning, the kids found their Easter baskets on the table, filled with hatchimals and legos, a few pieces of candy, some crafts, some cars, some writing things. I think they were excited. We also did our Easter Egg hunt that morning. Daniel went out and hid all the eggs, and we had the kids stagger their start time, with Jack going first and Brooke going last, so it would be more fair. They were so cute to watch looking for eggs. Camille did get a little upset at one point because she wasn't finding as many eggs as the other kids. She and Brooke have been all about things being "fair" lately, which has been driving Daniel and I crazy, because they are always making a stink about something being "not fair". And that's what happened during the egg hunt. Brooke and Jack found more and it "wasn't fair". We eventually got it worked out.

Sunday was Easter. We had a special Sacrament meeting at home, where Daniel and I each gave lessons, about the Atonement and Resurrection. Later on, we went to visit the Lehi cemetery, where Daniel has relatives buried. We walked around, looking at the gravestones, the names and dates of the people who died. We found his relatives and talked to the kids about them. The kids, meanwhile, were very intrigued by all the things we found at the gravesites. People had left all kinds of things on the graves -- balloons, flowers, pinwheels, toys, Easter candy. And we had to explain to them that we don't take the things from the gravestones. When we got back, we made raspberry rolls for dessert, and I made a special dinner -- chicken pesto casserole, salad, grape sparkle, and deviled eggs (because that's how you eat a ton of hardboiled eggs). It was a really nice Easter.

I think this Easter week was so special for me, because I focused so much on Jesus Christ. The nightly devotionals about His life, the coming right out of General Conference as the week began, the Jerusalem Supper, and our at home lessons on Easter. It just felt so much more centered on Christ and the Resurrection, and it was so wonderful!