December of 2021 was a great time for our family. Just the right amount of activities and responsibilities where we were not consumed or overwhelmed. Covid rates surged during this time and everyone laid low a lot more than previous months, so it helped relieve a lot of pressure for us.
Primary Activity decorating cookies!
Teaching in the Kinder room at McKinley. We did the Nutcracker music with our ribbons and had a blast. Although looking back at this, I can't help but remember how limiting it was to use one of the kinder rooms, where there's not much space for skipping and dancing and no access to the smart board.
I taught the 4th graders Alabama Gal to support their Gold Rush unit in social studies. It was a big deal for them, coming out of COVID, to have partners and make hand bridges and dance in front of others with all eyes watching. So I tried to make it special on our last day of the unit by dancing outside and making a little certificate on the cement for each class to sign their name.
Here is my oven filled with toilet paper rolls. I cooked 125 rolls, which took several batches on several different days, on my own time, in my own home. It was to insure that the items were sanitary for my 1st graders to put their mouths on for a music project: making kazoos.
This project directly connected to the students' science unit about animal mimicry, showing that scientists AND musicians get ideas from nature that we try to imitate. The kids had a lot of fun trying to sound like bumble bees with the instrument that they had made, we sang several bumble bee songs, and also listened and danced to Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky Korsokov.
This was a custom-made unit that I created specifically for this school, and it makes me sad looking back on these pictures, realizing that while I did have some great support from a couple of admin, there was really no one who worked with me at the school that took the time to understand or fully appreciate the level of time, expertise, and passion that I gave to enhance learning and growth for the students. Sigh.
Jeremy's hard work on the premium tuna cans and other products.
Dallin made himself a fun breakfast. He was getting really confident in the kitchen!
And on the piano!
Tanner was regularly going to therapy.
Dallin off and on wetting the bed. Jeremy always cleans it up, which I appreciate very much.
SoNo Fest. I was excited to attend and promote the event since the fundraising was helping pay me for my job. I think this was the 10th one that the school had hosted.
Such a cute kid with style!
Church nativity
Ice Skating with Matt and Johanna at Liberty Station
I think this was the first time since the boys had been ice skating in MN, so there was a big learning curve for them. They hugged the walls for awhile and struggled. But then they finally got the hang of it!
We grabbed the free food every Friday from the school.
Some music maps that I did with the 3rd and 4th graders.
I organized a service project for the ward as part of our Fall ward activity where we wrote letters to the citizens that receive Meals on Wheels. In December, we received a really nice thank you note about it.
I'm not sure why we took pictures of this meal, but maybe Dallin helped make it?
Decorating the tree!!
Somehow these pictures were posted in reverse order, so you'll have to view it like we are rewinding back in time. Both boys really wanted to put the star on the tree, so Jeremy said he could probably lift both of them. Here's how they did it in reverse order. It took forever to get the star to stay...
Dallin had a lot of fun setting up all the nativities this year.
I love the way he bites his lip or sticks out his tongue a little when he is concentrating.
The star fell off, so Dallin was selected to reinstall it.
Tanner was very upset about a score he got on one of his math tests. I encouraged him to write his teacher a letter explaining why he felt his grade should be different. He made a really great argument and she was convinced to change his grade.
In case the pictures don't come out clearn, here is what the letter said:
Dear Mrs. Mills,
On the mul
I think the boys got ahold of the camera one day. They took a picture of the view from the parent's bed and a lego creation.
We went to go see lights around San Diego. We ended the evening at the temple.
One of the houses we saw was a big dedication from a dad to his two sons that are autistic. The lights flashed out the words "Cure for Autism." Tanner was very surprised by this and was still in his tracks watching it. "Mom, why does it say cure autism, I thought you said Austism isn't bad?" After a minute or two, he asked if we could leave, so we did. We talked about the sign on the way home. It was a great learning opportunity for our family in that words are powerful and they carry meaning. Tanner felt strongly that people shouldn't be saying that they want to cure autism because it isn't a sickness, and how it is hurtful and doesn't help people learn what it's actually like. He also didn't like how the dad was making these signs instead of the kids. I completely agree with Tanner, and asked him that if he could change the sign, what would he like it to say. He decided that the best words would be "Understand Autism".
I shared this experience on my FB feed to help bring awareness that trying to find a cure for Autism isn't necessary or helpful and what it does to people who are actually autistic and can understand what messages like that imply. A few days later, our neighbor brought over a sign he was making, and asked the boys to help him finish it. It said "Understand Autism."
Tanner's new haircut. He told Jeremy exactly how he wanted it. I am really proud that he has been experimenting with different looks to find what he is most comfortable with.
During Winter Break or an early out, I took the boys to the zoo with our passes.
Tanner worked really hard on a school project, which was to write a journal as if you were someone traveling West to California. He chose a real historic person from the Mormon Batallion, and went way above and beyond. Mrs. Mills says it was the best project she had ever seen. I agree 100%. Here are just portions of it. It was a FULL book of writing- and it was all in cursive, which required extra focus and effort since he normally doesn't write in cursive. I was so proud of him!
House is all ready for our Wassail Party. We ended up doing two different nights again, to help reduce the crowd sizes. It was a great success!
Christmas Sunday at church was really fun! I brought all my scarves and the kids got to help tell the story of Christmas that took place on both sides of the world. I had Tanner help narrate because he was upset that he didn't get to be a narrator for the ward Nativity.
At the time, I had been primary president for almost 3 months, and my counselors were Atalie Collins and Tiana Swank. As you can see everyone had to wear masks indoors still. We had about 12-15 kids in all of primary. We met together for singing time, and then split into 2 or 3 classes for scripture lessons.
Writing this two years later is pretty amazing to see how much the ward has changed in such a short amount of time, how many answers to my prayers have come to pass already for these children, (and how some of my prayers are still waiting to be answered), and how much the kids in these pictures have grown up. Now, we have 45 kids in primary, meeting as junior and senior primary for singing time. In 2024, we will have 8 classes for the scripture lessons!
The boys were wearing matching clothes on Christmas Sunday.
Jeremy and I looked really good.
Making gingerbread houses with Grandpa Bob Davidson and Grandma Sharon was super fun. This ended up being one of the last times (maybe the last time?) we were in person with grandpa before he died the following summer. It was a really treasured time and lots of smiles were had by everyone. Grandpa's hands were a little shaky, so he hired Tanner and Dallin to be his contractors.
Tanner like the idea of making a home destroyed by a blizzard.
Grandpa had some really thoughtful gifts for the boys, and Jeremy put together a bag of tuna items for Grandpa. He thought the tuna gifts were the nicest thing. He said that his grandkids don't usually give him something for Christmas and that it really meant a lot to him.
During the break from school, Tanner got busy with Fort TOD.
Playing on the ripstick from uncle matt in the park by the school.
The 2nd Wassail Party!
Jeremy took the boys on a hike with people from work. Owen came, too!
We made ornaments with our 3D pens.
I helped resurrect a tradition at the school with caroling. COVID meant we didn't do it the prior year. It was really fun and simple. We had about 20 people participate.
We had a wonderful visit with Beverly. She painted with the boys and we visited.
Cozy evening playing piano and eating pancakes with the family.
Tanya and Clay gave us tickets to ice skate at Hotel Coronado. The rink is right next to the beach. Pretty surreal!
Christmas EVE!!
We had a lovely dinner and then acted out the nativity together. It was a very special evening. Tanner and Dallin gathered up all the costumes and decided who would be who. Tanner read the scriptures and Dallin was Joseph. I think it was the first year he got to be Joseph.
I'm not sure who Jeremy is, but he is hilarious.
What the gifts looked like after we set everything up while the kids were sleeping.
Christmas morning!
Dallin really got in the spirit of giving this Christmas. He was so excited for Jeremy and Tanner to see what he had gotten them.
Both boys secretly made a treasure hunt for the other without knowing that the other brother had made a treasure hunt for them. It was so adorable watching them prepare and write out all their clues and asking me if they think their brother will like it. On Christmas day, they giggled a lot when they found out, and they had so much fun doing both treasure hunts!
A little different twist to eggs benedict
This year, Christmas was on a Saturday, and then Sunday was Dec 26.
I played a duet of Silent Night with one of my piano students.
Birthday cake for Jesus this year was a due pair of cakes. One featured the place of his birth and the other featured the place of his death and resurrection.
A few days after Christmas we went downtown for a college "battle of the bands" event. It was really exciting, but the boys couldn't see that well.
We enjoyed the rest of our winter break hanging out, going to the trampoline park with basketball friends and choosing how we want to spend our time. I asked the boys what they wanted to do and then wrote up little schedules to help us all know what was going on. This was a big help especially for Tanner who wanted to know what was going on and be sure that he could spend time doing things he liked during his last few days of break.
New Year's light show at the Zoo.
Tanner's style going into 2022.
