We Made It to Family Pictures

 

Sneak preview of our family pictures we had taken this week.  We haven't gotten them back yet, so I don't know how they turned out, but I think they went well.  Which is saying something considering the week we had leading up to the pictures.

On Monday afternoon Abe and I went to the Dr. to have this lipoma surgically removed from the back of his neck.  

Surgery went well, and yet it ended up being more invasive than we expected.  If you are squeamish you might not want to look at this next picture.

Four days later the bruising was really something.

As soon as Abe and I arrived home from his surgery, the kids ran outside to tell us that Peter had gotten hurt riding his scooter.  We took one look at his funky wrist and said, "Get in the car, we're headed back to the hospital".  The Dr. at the Instacare agreed, "It's not a question of if it's fractured... It's what kind of fracture and one bone or both.

And poor Peter was in pain and had gotten himself worked into quite a frenzy.  He was rather in hysterics.   He kept crying and saying,  "I love you so much, Mom!"  So sad but so sweet.

Once he got temporarily casted and splinted he was a happy camper once again.

That evening Abe's brother Stuart and some of his kids came over to watch the National Championship basketball that Gonzaga  (in Spokane) was playing in.  His cousin Grace had recently broken the same two bones in her left forearm, so of course we had to get a picture of the broken and entirely adorable cousins together.  

I loved this moment when Faith was so thoughtful to make a card holder out of cardboard for Peter to use during card games since it's hard to manage a hand of cards with only one working hand.  

How sweet that his good friend, Kate, brought him some donuts and a card.  His friend Eric also brought him a little get well package.  No fun to break an arm, but so nice to feel the love.

The night before family pictures Cannon took a spill on his scooter and banged up his nose and lip.  Darn it.

I don't have pictures of it, but George also wiped out on his scooter this week at the skate park and bit his tongue pretty badly.  So yeah, not our best week for injuries.  We were happy that everyone made it to the photo shoot in one piece-- more or less:)

Here's a few more---

Elinor did some senior pictures

And Bethany got some mission pictures.

I guess selfies with Abe were a thing:)

After pictures it was time for the much anticipated next installment of Foxes go to Godfather's Pizza.  

Easter and General Conference Weekend Spring 2021

 

Last weekend was quite lovely-- Easter and General Conference and family.  It doesn't get much better than that!  One of the great things about having a large span of ages of children, is that the older ones still get to participate in their childhood traditions long past the age that they otherwise would, because we keep doing the traditions with the younger ones.  The Easter morning line-up-- similar to the Christmas morning line-up, is a tradition that, thankfully, no one has outgrown yet:)

The mad dash down the stairs.  It would be interesting to graph the data from the pictures of children dashing down the stairs over the years, showing what ages of children are most likely to push past other siblings to the front.  My guess would be the aggression peaks around 10 and 11 years old.  George in this picture, for example.  Not only is he the most likely age to push past younger siblings, but he also has the strongest collecting/hoarding instincts--- followed closely by Bethany.  

The highly anticipated chocolate foil wrapped Easter egg hunt awaited them in the living room.

See what I mean about the collecting instincts?

Elinor working her height advantage.

I see you there, Bethany-- 

Let the Easter candy trading commence.

George reigns as Lord of the Peeps once more!

Peter and Greta are enamored with Clark and Alexa.  I think Greta feels a real connection to Alexa because they both have blonde hair.  Greta was recently overheard to say, "I'm so glad God gave me golden hair!"  

Alexa is so patient in so often letting Greta brush her beautiful golden hair.  

Awww... how cute.

I'm not sure what Cannon is showing off in his basket-- it appears empty.  Cannon isn't much a sweets eater and he's quite generous by nature, so he rarely comes out ahead in the trading game.  Perhaps that explains the empty basket.

At one point in the morning, George asked, "Why is it an Easter Rabbit?  Why isn't it an Easter Rat?" We all had a really good laugh about the idea of the Easter Rat.  

So Faith put her mad photoshopping skills to work and we introduce to you the new Fox family tradition-- the Easter Rat!  Ha ha ha!!!!

Brother love

Easter dinner with the family plus Jacob and Jeremiah.  

Sunday walks with the family.  I like Greta up ahead on her tricycle.

One of the best things about Bethany coming home for the weekend is getting to hear the latest songs she has composed.  She is heading into a studio this Thursday to start recording her first album!  So exciting for her. 

It was pretty groovy to hear these three collaborating in the basement.

Daddy-Daughter Trip to Utah State University

 

Saturday afternoon Abe, Elinor, and Faith drove up to Logan to bring Bethany home for a 24 hour visit.  Not nearly long enough, but so good to get her home for a little Easter/ General Conference visit.   Here they are at the monument for Abe's great-grandfather-- Ebenezer Kirkham who wrote "The Scotsman" (a USU fight song).

They visited the creamery for ice cream.

Elinor is pretty excited to head up to Logan this fall.  I don't know why Faith is kneeling in this picture.

Checking out Bethany's apartment.

They all had a pretty great time and it was well worth the drive to all get to be together this weekend.  

Spring Break 2021 Part 1

 

Because our school district had spring break this past week and many of our extracurricular activities have spring break next week, we are getting the best of both worlds.  Sort of.  We are doing partial spring breaks for two week and we are still doing much of our regular school work.  How's that for being non-committal:)

We spent quite a bit of time at skate park.  Greta spent her time riding around introducing herself to any new comers to the park.  When someone new arrived she'd scooter off saying, "I better go meet them!"  We may have some work to do about "stranger-danger".  But I also love her friendliness and bravery. 

This was kind of a fun moment at the skate park when these good police officers asked if we'd take a picture of the kids hugging me to kick off  their "Hug Your Mom" campaign the police department is doing with kids this summer.  We love our city!

Cannon was well-prepared as we headed off for an afternoon of sunshine at the park.

It's not so fancy, but a couple Little Caesar's pizzas and our city park makes for a very happy Fox family.

Faith has been helping Greta learn to ride a two-wheeler with no training wheels.  I am regularly impressed by and grateful for Faith's devotion to Greta.  She is like a mother to her-- quite frankly, she's probably a better mother than me!

Scooter ballet:)

Gymnastics in the front yard with a friend.

I like this action shot of Greta's braids flying up.

An Easter lily has made the house smell so good.

Greta found this dirndl (German dress) in my closet.  It was my dress when I was a little girl.  When she wears it we call her Greeta-- a totally made up German version of her name.  Then she was playing restaurant and Faith made this sign that very roughly translates to Greta's Cat Eat.  She walked around with her notebook and pencil taking orders.

She had a little tummy ache this week so she ended up in our bed quite often.

Like I said, we did get a little school work done.  This picture captures pretty well how George feels about long division:)

One of our favorite outings is a Fox siblings dinner our together.  Usually we do not sit in couples-- all the menfolk are at one end of the table and the womenfolk at the other.  The ladies say it is because the gentlemen talk too loud-- which is true.  We've also found it's best if we go places where we can be seated in a private room.  It was a very enjoyable evening.