Halloween 2020 - Thanksgiving 2020

We definitely found more festive fall fun in Utah during the pandemic than we would have in Washington, but Halloween back home was still pretty great. The kids got to Trick or Treat at their virtual learning camp the day before, then on Halloween day we took our Elsa girl and Triceratops boy up to Arlington for our ward party. They held an outdoor drive-in get together at Cascade Park where our family won "best overall pumpkins."

I think our win was mostly due to people being impressed with our tall pumpkin and our variety of pumpkins, but I did put quite a bit of effort into my "Happy Halloween" carving. I honestly don't believe I'd ever carved a pumpkin before. I'm not very artistic with my hands, and I have a pretty big fear of knives. Well that day we had a page of templates and small, cheap carving tools, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Unfortunately the "most difficult" template was the only one that would fit a pumpkin this size, and this particular type of pumpkin has extremely thick flesh, but after about an hour I managed it. It's not perfect, but I felt proud and exhausted. I also carved the orange pumpkin next to it, which was yellow when we picked it but had turned orange by Halloween. That one took me less than 10 minutes. The template was easier and the flesh of the pumpkin took much less effort to carve through. 

Here are some of Tyler's Halloween art projects and Rich Davis's dinosaur display at the ward party.

I'd found a map of Arlington homes that were decorated and/or giving out candy, so we looked up the most dense areas and made the most of it. Many people had candy chutes, tongs, or simply left goody bags out to help make things as safe and contact free as possible. I don't think they'll feel this Halloween was in anyway lacking compared to other years (though they might remember trick or treating with their masks on).

The kids found a neighborhood playground and wanted to play on it in the dark. One of the homes had a really decked out house entry.

Even with less people participating we still ended up with a huge haul, which the kids spent the next morning separating and organizing. Tyler was thrilled to be able to spell out the word "Snickers" in miniatures.

Several of the boys in Allison's virtual preschool class have long hair, so she keeps assuming they're girls. Here's the awkward conversation that followed. 

Me: No honey. Some boys have long hair and some girls have short hair. Wouldn't you still be a girl even if you had short hair?
Allison: Yes!
Me: (sensing she needs a little more understanding but not wanting to discuss genitalia) Girls can have babies in their bellies, just like mommy had you and Tyler in her belly. Daddy couldn't have had a baby in his belly because he's a boy.
Allison: (touching her belly) I can feel my baby now!
Me: Not yet honey. Your body's too little to make a baby yet. And you'll need help from a boy before you do...

After that I just let it trail off and was relieved when she didn't ask any follow up questions.

Here are some of the kids' fall projects during distance learning. Tyler even used some of Allison's extra materials to make a Thanksgiving chain. Tyler often puts a lot of time into his art. That hand on the left took him around an hour. Allison's been more crafty lately thanks to preschool, but her projects tend to only last a few minutes. She's more an active, social girl who wants to play.

For two blissful weeks we re-enrolled at the YMCA since they had child care again. Then our state reinstated more restrictions and now we can't go anymore. It was great while it lasted. One night was super rainy, but the kids enjoyed stomping in this "pool puddle" as Allison calls it.

After camp one Thursday I took the kids to a playground in Snohomish they'd never been to.

Allison found some little friends around her age. Tyler had fun climbing up the structure and coming down the pole and slides. It's so good to see them playing and having fun outside, even when it's chilly.

There was a huge pile of leaves under a big tree nearby.

We definitely got our fall fun on!

Here are the kids playing "the floor is lava" for Tyler's PE class.

We've been appreciating our cats more since we returned from our Utah trip. Just before Thanksgiving Fry continued his customary tradition of sitting on all things holiday by sitting on Tyler's turkey projects.

We had an excellent socially distanced, pandemic Thanksgiving! Since I knew the kids probably wouldn't eat much of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and since we couldn't be with our families and friends, we wanted to have some additional activities to help it feel more like a holiday for them. Oscar had us all go on a turkey trot by running three laps around the Mariner High School track. The kids and I pretended to be turkeys running from Chef Gourmand (a villain on their favorite show "Wild Kratts"). 

Then I made a Cornucopia Hunt for them with sugar and waffle cones filled with fruits, vegetables, and clues to find the next cornucopia. Most of the clues were recycled from our Easter egg hunt, though I don't think the kids ever realized it. I had enough new ones in there to change it up a bit, and the cornucopias were filled with produce instead of candy. They learned about being grateful for a successful harvest, they ate quite a bit of the fruits and veggies while we played, and at the end they got a prize bucket full of dollar store goodies. 

For the dinner itself we made mashed potatoes, homemade candied yams, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and a Turkey en croute from Trader Joes. It's like the turkey version of beef wellington. A friend traded me some of her homemade bread in exchange for some of our turkey en croute, and Oscar made a gourmet mac and cheese just so we could make sure there was something the kids would eat. I think we made the most of Thanksgiving in the time of Covid.

The week before Thanksgiving President Nelson challenged us to flood the world with gratitude. I put a lot of thought into these Facebook posts so I'm copying them here too to preserve them. 

Gratitude posts

Day #1 I am grateful for President Nelson. As a server at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building I was able to meet him several times. Apparently people like inviting him to their wedding receptions. He literally shines, and this was 15 years before he became the prophet. I nearly knocked over the slice of cake I was trying to serve him because I was so drawn to his light. I'm grateful for his timely message and the hope it brings me today.

Day #2 I am grateful for my husband Oscar. Shortly into the pandemic I found a meme that said "Ladies, marry the funny one. You never know when you're going to be quarantined together." I couldn't agree more. Laughing with Oscar keeps me going when the days are rough. In addition to being a great companion he is a good provider, super handy around the house, and an awesome daddy.

Day #3 I am grateful for my Tyler boy, and not just because he made me a mommy after 7+ years of infertility. I am grateful for everything he is and everything I've learned from him. Though distance learning has come with its share of challenges, I have loved being able to see him learn and watch his brain at work. Look at his recent artwork. He puts so much thought and effort into it. Some of his art, like the one with the hand and all the colors, takes him well over an hour of being hyper focused solely on what he's doing. I never would have put this much detail into my artwork at 7 years old. One of the benefits of doing school from home is that he has more time to work on his projects rather than being forced to move on to the next subject with the rest of the class. 

Tyler is also naturally receptive to the Spirit. Even as a baby we could see its effects on him. He thrives in a church at home environment. The more effort we put into our Come Follow Me and FHE lessons, the more responsive he is. Lately I've been teaching Tyler a new Christmas carol every night before he goes to bed. He asks so many questions I've ended up teaching him a lot about the Christmas story and a lot about how music works. The other night I told him "I'm not always great at teaching school to a 2nd grader. Your teachers have gone to college and taken classes to help them teach 2nd graders far better than I ever could. But there are two things I know a lot about - the gospel and music. I teach those things better than I teach anything else. I love singing these carols with you because I get to teach you about both of my favorite subjects at the same time!"

Day #4 I am grateful for my delightful little Allison. Her smile lights up any room. She's pure concentrated joy in the form of a child. She is a natural born performer with an innate sense of excitement and passion. No one plays pretend better than she does. She loves to roar, stomp, and bite like a Tyrannosaurus Rex and then run back and forth in front of the house wearing her fairy wings pretending to fly. Though she'll happily ride whichever roller coasters she's tall enough for at a theme park, she's equally thrilled sitting in the tester seats pretending to ride the ones she's too short for. She's a total social butterfly who's struggled a bit wishing the pandemic could be over so she could get back to all her favorite places, but she's still rocking her virtual preschool class. Her teacher told me her mission is to develop a love of learning in all of her students, but that Allison already has that in spades. 

Allison's energy can be a lot to handle. Her immense joy is equaled by her frustration when toys/electronics/people etc. don't do what she wants them to do. She's used to adults putting her in time out because she won't stop certain negative behaviors. For that reason she was incredibly touched by the scripture "“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." She enjoyed hearing about how the disciples initially told the people that Jesus had too much important work to attend to, but that Jesus rebuked them and encouraged the children to come to him. She lit up during our Come Follow Me lesson and talked about all the fun things she would play with Jesus. She's asked me to repeat the story to her several times. She knows in her heart that Jesus loves her unconditionally.

Day #5
I am grateful for my cats. We adopted two kittens, Fry and Leela, in 2006 and another kitten, Nibbler, in 2009. All are sweet and affectionate. Nibbler in particular is so lovey we joke around that he must be part puppy. He's the type of cat you can just pick up whenever you feel like it, and he'll immediately start purring and nuzzling. Even people who don't particularly care for cats often find themselves charmed by our cats. 

Our cats were our babies before we had babies, then through no fault of their own they were demoted to pets after the kids were born. They took it in perfect stride though. Nibbler would often find a spot on me while I held my babies. Since the pandemic began I've been appreciating their presence in our home that much more. Their soft fur and rumbling motor purrs are soothing to my soul. They are very tolerant of children, even before we had any of our own. Allison can be very rough with them (she's seriously like Elmyra from Tiny Toons), but they never get aggressive with her. I've noticed after we return from vacation they're even more tolerant of her than usual. It's like deep down they realize while her love may not be their favorite kind of attention, it's far better than no love at all.

They're getting old now, which is bringing out all sorts of new emotions in me. This is my first time seeing an animal go from the flower of its youth to suffering from the frailties of old age. Leela was a sweet tiny kitten with boundless energy. Now she hobbles around with arthritis. Fry is her exact same age, yet he doesn't have arthritis. In fact when he went missing for 2 months and was brought into the Everett Animal Shelter, they examined him and estimated him to be 3 years younger. It seems so unfair that Leela has to suffer from this ailment when Fry doesn't and they've lived identical lives. She was such a jumper! It breaks my heart to watch her struggle with tiny jumps when she used to jump to the top of my closet several times a day. Some of my friends have had to put their cats down around Leela's current age to relieve them of their chronic pain. I broke down in tears the other day watching her wince and wondering at what point we'll need to do the same. Though it makes me sad sometimes, I'm grateful for it. It gives me a glimpse into what it must be like for Heavenly Father to watch us grow up and struggle with age too. 

Fortunately Leela still has a few more years left in her. In fact she made some impressive jumps at the vet's office exploring her new surroundings trying to find a safe place. Turns out she can still jump pretty well horizontally.

Day #6
I am grateful for connections, both with people and with nature. Our great great grandparents were blown away by the invention of the telephone. Suddenly they could call people who lived several miles away. What a miraculous achievement! Telephone reach has come a long way since then, but those of us over 20 can still remember when long distance phone calls were incredibly expensive. I'm grateful I can call my family in Utah anytime I want to and talk to them for as long as I want to without needing to worry about cost. If I so desired I could instantly send video to someone on the other side of the globe completely free of charge. My friend Amy and I have even figured out how to play shared board games together with the help of Google Duo and a tripod. Though social media can easily become a vice (I've certainly struggled with managing it in moderation), I would have long lost contact with many friends from high school, college, and my mission if it weren't for Facebook. And while I'd vastly prefer in person worship services and school, I'm grateful for conference apps like Zoom for making virtual church and virtual learning possible. I'm grateful to my kids' teachers for exploring these new outlets and making the most of what they have in this unprecedented situation. If the Covid-19 pandemic had to happen in my lifetime, I'm glad it's happening now and not 7 or more years ago. It's amazing how far technology has advanced in just these past few years since my kids were born.

I'm also grateful for waterfalls and how revitalized I feel after spending time in the great outdoors. I've noticed I cope with the isolation better the more I can get outside. It's why parks, beaches, and hiking trails being closed from March through May was so rough on me. The kids did not do well with taking walks around the neighborhood early in the pandemic, but their stamina for walks and hiking has improved since then. Their appreciation for the beauties of nature is also increasing, particularly in Tyler. During the pandemic we were able to hike with them to Ponytail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge, Twin Falls in Northbend, Wa, Cascade Falls on Orcas' Island, and the Living Room lookout in Salt Lake City. Before we had kids we hiked to over 100 waterfalls and other beautiful scenic lookouts. I've missed it, but it wasn't worth the frustration of throwing off their sleep routines to try hiking with them while they were babies and toddlers. I'm looking forward to exploring and adventuring with them more in the future.

Day #7
Many of you have noticed I haven't published any Theater Thursday songs for about a month. The bad news is today will be no different. I'm postponing all Theater Thursday recordings until after the new year. The good news is I've been hard at work practicing and recording Christmas music! I've even been making music with someone else for the first time in nearly a year. Meledie Knopf, who played the piano for me at the Arlington and Bellevue Nativity Festivals from 2017-2019, happily agreed to work with me again for a virtual nativity festival. We'd already performed around 30 songs over those three seasons, so we figured why not post one each day and make a musical advent Calendar out of all of them. I'll post the first one tomorrow and will continue to post a new one everyday through December 26th.

And on that note, I am grateful for music and how much it's enriched my life by getting back into it regularly (you can read more about that here). As much as I'd still enjoy performing big roles on a big opera stage, it's not my main motivation anymore. Now I sing purely for the love of singing and the joy that making music brings me. For years I talked myself out of posting my singing (read this and the above link for a more detailed explanation about why). The first video I posted was made while I was singing through a challenging opera aria I hadn't touched in 10 years wanting to hear what I sounded like singing it now. As I listened I realized it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be, and I shared it on Facebook simply to let you all know how happy singing again was making me feel. It was incredibly well received, more than I ever would have predicted. Many requests came in urging me to post more songs. This reignited a spark in me I hadn't felt in years. This was early in April when stay at home orders were at their most stringent, and here I'd found this wonderful way to connect with others. Maybe it would have been different if I'd been making these videos before the pandemic, but in that lonely period of time these videos helped people feel like I was inviting them into my home to share something special with them.

I was especially affected by the comments I received from people I'm sure had never intentionally listened to opera in their lives. I felt honored to be bringing classical singing to those who would have otherwise never known they could enjoy it. For many people it's more pleasant to view my short videos on Facebook than it would be to come and see me in a 2-3 hour performance. Operas are long for a reason. They catered to their audience of the time. People would travel by carriage many miles away to see an opera. They didn't want it to end quickly. We live in a different time with our entertainment catered to shorter attention spans, and our popular music is enhanced by ever evolving technology. The art of producing a sound that can be heard and enjoyed from a long distance away has become less necessary since the invention of the microphone. While that may be true, that doesn't mean it can't still be appreciated and enjoyed. When I sing in church people often remark how impressive it is that I don't use a microphone, which I don't do to impress people. I do it because a microphone would throw me out of balance with the piano, and my high notes could potentially cause painfully piercing audio disturbance. This and other outreach efforts (like the Ballard Opera Man who puts on concerts from his front lawn) have shown me there's a much wider reception for classical singing than I ever imagined. I believe we in the classical singing community need to find different avenues to bring our music to those who are unlikely to ever show up at a concert hall. I'm grateful the pandemic has provided this opportunity for me to share this beautiful art form in a more accessible way.