Lucky Number 8: Do You Remember Dancing in September?

The boys rediscovered their jackets one evening and paired them with their school headphones. Then they just needed a pretend cell phone for their complete transition into "teenagers." Watching my kids pretend to be teenagers is my absolute favorite game they play. It doesn't happen often, but it's hilarious when I get to peek into their brains to see what kinds of things they thing older, cooler kids would be into. On this day, these imaginary teens were mostly only into their cell phones.

When I asked Lincoln what he was playing, he said, "Well, first I was a tee, then I was a nager."

Lincoln seems to think teenagers start as "tees," progress to "nagers," with the final step of their adolescent transformation finally landing them at the coveted, complete title of "teenager."

The kids have found playing with their Lego bricks is a great way to procrastinate schoolwork, cleaning, and bedtime. They also seem to have discovered that if they use their procrastination efforts to make cute things for me, I can't help but not be mad at them when they're up 2 hours past their bedtime. Carson created this adorable heart, complete with instructions for me to keep it.

One of my corona coping mechanisms is to mindlessly browse Amazon and impulse buy whatever seems like it has the potential to make my life easier or more exciting as we trudge through month six of being homebound.

So yes, this disco ball was in fact an impulsive, desperate attempt to inject some fun into our current mundane routine. I knew I needed it as soon as I saw it, but I didn't know it would become a weekly tradition until school started and we were all in need of a pick-me-up to shake off the week and welcome the weekend come Friday night.

At the close of each successful distance learning week we endure, we celebrate by handing out movie theater candy boxes to everyone as soon as our assignments are in for the week. Then we zone out with a couple hours of video games, chow down on pizza for dinner, and finish the night with a disco dance party. Each person picks a song to jam out to, and it's been the perfect way to let go of the week's stresses.

Then we're right back to it come Monday morning. Carson's teachers encouraged him to try a science experiment of making Ooblek. Lincoln was eager to join in on the fun.

I still remember making Ooblek at school and how cool I thought it was that my teachers let me take some home in a little bag. I still remember sitting on the bus happily playing with the goo. I was glad Carson didn't miss his 3rd-grade Ooblek memory.

Carson unwinds every night by drawing pictures before bed. We love waking up each morning to his new creations. This one was one of my favorites because of all the adorable details. When I asked him what it was, he told me, "It's what would happen if babies took over a house. The bottom part is what the outside of the house looks like--a normal, nice house, but inside there are babies going crazy!"

I loved the melted ice-cream cones, the nod to our disco parties, and the Little Caeser's pizza boxes. So cute!

Vegas is finally cooling down to bearable temperatures! Especially when we escape to the mountains. Jeff and I get sad sometimes because our kids don't have a backyard to run wild in. Both of us had great backyards growing up where we could run around and feel like free, wild adventurers.

When we look at the 6-foot by 6-foot backyard full of rocks that our kids are growing up in, we can't help but feel it lacks in the wild and free adventure-beckoning category. Thankfully we live close to a mountain so we can take a quick drive up the mountain to give our kids bursts of exploration.

THIS is what being a kid is all about! Especially after being locked up at home all week, it was refreshing to escape it all in the mountains. Maybe we do have a nice, big backyard. We just have to drive a little bit to get to it.

The boys collected logs for 2 hours to build a fort. They never did build the fort, but they expended a week's worth of pent up energy, so we all went home happy and content!

Eli taught a night light lesson last week all on his own. He did such a great job! He taught about having the light of Christ. He made a little puppet with a flashlight that would get brighter when the puppet did kind things and dimmer when the puppet was unkind. He focused on the fact that the light can always come back if we say sorry. I love hearing my kids' interpretations of the gospel and watching as their testimonies slowly start to grow.

The kids got into a charter school this year. I probably would have done homeschool if it wasn't for this school because it's kind of hard to get into and I didn't want to lose our spots once we were in.

I applied to get all three kids into the school, but only Lincoln's name was chosen from the lottery. I was planning to send Lincoln alone, hoping that the other two boys would be able to get in the next year. Our main concern was sending Eli to the local junior high because we haven't heard great things about it, so we really just needed to get Eli in a charter by 6th grade.

Once one of your kids is in the school, the other kids get bumped up on the waiting list. About a month after Lincoln got it, we were notified a space had opened up for Eli. And then two months after that, a space opened up for Carson! We had a lot of uncertainty thinking about how to handle having kids at different schools and how they would feel about it (back when we thought they would actually be going to school), but thankfully we didn't have to worry about any of our initial concerns because they all ended up getting in. I was so grateful for that!

We feel really good about this school, especially now that all three of them are "there" together. The school has been very organized, realistic, and accommodating through distance learning, and we have been impressed with all of their teachers. Bonus! They have uniforms. I hated uniforms when I had to wear them in junior high, but as a mom, kids in uniforms are just to die for!

This was their first time in uniforms for picture day last week. They ran into the school just long enough to get their picture taken and then they were shooed right back out.

My mom gets mad if I don't include Jonah in my school-related updates. She'll probably be upset I didn't buy him a uniform to fit in with his brothers, but his time will come soon enough, Mom. In the words of Eli, "Chillax" and here's a picture of the little dude to appease you.