It was all fun and games.... until it ended with a broken elbow.

 

In Lacey's soccer game yesterday, she and the goalie both went after the ball at the same time.  The goalie, who was overly aggressive in my (and the coach's) opinion, came in hard at Lacey causing Lacey to fall down hard on her left elbow.  She was taken out of the game and an hour or so later, she was still cradling her arm and couldn't move it properly.  So, we took her to Urgent Care where they x-rayed her and said she most likely broke her elbow. 

So, now she's all splinted up and we have to take her in tomorrow to meet up with an Orthopedist to come up with a game plan of where to go from here.  Such a bummer!

Luckily, earlier in the week, she was able to have some fun kayaking with her youth group from church.  Definitely need both arms for that, so glad she was able to squeeze that in before her left arm was deemed temporarily out of commission 🛶

Tanner had a big week too.  He advanced from his Red Belt to his Bo Dan in Tae Kwon Do

Advancing to Bo Dan is a bigger deal than most other advancements because you leave behind the last of the solid colored belts before black and spent the next year training for black belt.  So, both he and his TKD buddy Kelsey got big trophies to recognize this achievement.  

After getting his belt advancement on Thursday, Tanner headed out the very next day for a weekend long Boy Scout campout to Calvert Cliffs State Park.

And found lots of fossils (for which this place is known)!

Trying to start a fire in the misty rain with wet wood is not an easy feat!

Boy Scout (and sailing camp) Buddies Owen and T.

Matthew, Owen and T

Searching for fossils.

We are so grateful that T can resume boy scout campouts (which he loves!) but one of the Covid restrictions in place is that each boy has to sleep in his own tent.  Tanner is not a fan of this rule as he thinks one of the funnest parts of campouts is sleeping in a tent with his buddies.  But alas, it is what it is.  So, he would take a pic of himself in his tent each night and send it to us.

And Riley and Ella had fun playing at the beach with Riley's soccer team.  They played sand soccer all night long during Riley's Team Party last night.  

Ella (in the middle with the pink shirt) held her own and did a great job keeping up with the big kids.  She was in heaven since her own soccer game was canceled due to rain. 

And that's the Strom week in a nutshell!

TGFS: Thank Goodness For Sports!

 

Well, we are officially being held hostage by the Maryland State Education Association and the teachers unions.  This was printed in both the Baltimore Sun and our Governor Larry Hogan's social media account.  My kids have not stepped inside a school building for 6 months and 8 days with no end in sight. Many days, at least one of them ends up in tears of frustration.  Today it was Tanner.   For many households, there is only one parent and/or both parents have to work outside the home, as is the case for us.  In these situations, parents are blowing through their vacation time in order to stay home with their kids and/or blowing through their savings to try to hire sitters, tutors, etc.  We're all just band-aiding our way through, but it is not sustainable.

We've juggled our schedules thus far, but we've come to the end of what we can do, so starting tomorrow, our kids will be alone at least 1-2 days a week.  And it kills me.

Which is probably why I found this sign, sitting on the lawn of our locked elementary school, a little ironic and sad.

But we still try to head up to the school grounds during lunch once in a while to play outside and see our friends.

And we have our moments when all seems ok.  Like today when Ella proudly showed me the picture she was making in Art Class.

And when I walked in on Riley doing a "brain break."

In addition to still not being able to go to school, cleaning supplies are still extremely hard to come by.  I took this picture at the store today and this is frequently what I find in the cleaning supply section of most stores.

So...... thank goodness for sports!!!  All four kids are in sports and loving it!!

Ella (#17) had her 2nd game on Saturday and her team scored 3 goals.  And..... she scored all three of those goals!  She is seriously so much fun to watch!  She's feisty, aggressive, competitive and just a little 50# fireball running up and down the field.  I hope she keeps up that spunk and competitive drive 🔥⚽!

And Tanner got to pitch in his baseball game this weekend!  This was their third game, but the first time his Coach put him in to pitch.  Tanner was thrilled!!  And their team walked away with a win which was icing on the cake. ⚾

And we've had AWESOME weather the past few days which has been so wonderful!  So amidst all the things that are still hard, we try every day to find the good.  And today, I am so grateful for my kids being able to play sports and for weather that is absolutely perfection. 🌞

We're famous

 https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-09-07/byu-navy-annapolis-latter-day-saints-foottball-192093

A couple weeks ago, we were contacted by a Journalist from the Church News that wanted to do a piece on the season opener Navy football game vs BYU.  He wanted to feature BYU grads who lived in Annapolis to discuss their divided loyalties.  He came to our house, interviewed us and took some pictures.  And recently, it was published.  Accepting autographs for a limited time 😉🏈

Girls Trip to Rehoboth Beach

 

Months ago, my friend Stacy (on the right in the orange) put together a "girls beach trip".  After much planning and discussion, there were seven of us that agreed to go and we all decided on a weekend in July that would work for everyone.  We booked the hotel and thought it was a done deal.  The weekend approached and low and behold, Stacy contracted COVID-19 and we had to cancel the trip.  We paid for the hotel in advance and it was non-refundable, so we tried to come up with another weekend that would work.  We all had busy schedules, so it was a full two months before we could find another weekend that worked for everyone.  And then, as the weekend got closer one by one, people started backing out for various reasons.  So, when all was said and done, it became just the three of us.

Rehoboth or Bust!

We drove up on Saturday and back home the very next day.  It was a 33 hour getaway when all was said and done, but a fun little girls weekend filled with shopping, eating, beaching and gabbing. 

Walking around the downtown area.

#maskson

Perusing the boardwalk.

Covid beach vibes.

Sunrise, sunburn, sunset repeat.

Our last treat before we left were cones from the famous "Ice Cream Store" with hundreds of flavor options.

I chose "I don't give a fork" flavor with African vanilla ice cream, brownie pieces, pretzel pieces, crushed oreos, cookie dough and mini chocolate chips.

Goodbye Rehoboth!  Until next time.....🏖

And a big thank you to Dave who picked up Tanner from his weekend long Boy Scout Campout in Pennsylvania (his first in person scouting adventure since Covid hit in March!  Yay!! So happy they can have scouts again!! Tanner is a bit bummed that each kid has to have their own tent since he loves tenting with his buddies, but as per my mantra, we take what we can get right now!), watched Riley in her soccer game, Ella in her soccer game and Tanner in his baseball game (which was scheduled for just a couple hours after he got home from his camping trip - busy weekend for T!).  Lacey had a soccer game too, but I was able to squeeze that in before I left.  And it was a nail-biter, heart break of a game.  The teams were so evenly matched and went the ENTIRE game scoreless.  Then, at the very end, literally just a few seconds before the whistle blew to call end of game, the other team scored.  It was painful!

First Day of (Virtual) School

 

Twas the Night Before School......

Merry First Day of School!

Lined up and ready to see their cones!

Oooohhhh, what's inside?

Ella discovered new school supplies, Unicorn headphones and some treats.

Riley discovered notebooks, folders, markers, crayons, treats and hand sanitizer 😄

Tanner discovered school supplies, treats and new pair of batting gloves.

Lacey discovered new school supplies, a flamingo luggage tag and a hydro flask.

First day of 2nd Grade!

First day of 4th Grade

First Day of 7th Grade

First Day of 8th Grade.

I cannot believe my baby girl, who I just brought home from the hospital a split second ago is entering her final year of Middle School.  Big sigh......

Is her outfit spot on or what?  School outfit from the waist up and pj's from the waist down!

School's in session!

Lacey set up her own area and designed all this art work to go with her work space.  She did a great job!

Here we go....!

Never in my wildest dreams did I think 6 MONTHS AGO, in the beginning of March when a "2 week break" was announced due to COVID-19, that the kids would come home that day..... and never return for the rest of the school year...... and not be able to start school the following school year.  Dave took the day off work today and I made arrangements to go into work late.  I am working from home for the first time in my life tomorrow (we'll see how it goes....) and then Dave is taking work off again on Thursday and then I will stay home with them on Friday.  But it's not sustainable for us to keep our employment and have one of us home with them all the time.  I'm trying so hard to not be envious of all the stay-at-home and work-from-home parents as that is not an option for us.  I want so badly for them to be able to return to school, to be taught in person by their teachers in their classrooms, along side their peers, going to PE, participating in clubs, etc, etc.  But there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, so we are going to take it day by day and try our best to stay positive! 🎒🏫🍎✎