February: Concoctions, Mono, and Valentine's Day

A TASTY CONCOCTION

Hyrum has the cutest little friend group. They are always together and always talking a hundred miles a minute. They are all smart and creative, so they get along marvelously. Every couple of weeks, Hyrum begs for Peter and Calvin to come over to play. We don't live in the same neighborhood, so it's a little trickier than just having them walk over (it's about 5 minutes away by car), but we make it work. 

One day during school lunch, Hyrum called me over to the table they were sitting at and told me they had come up with a delicious concoction that they NEEDED to try. He described it as mac and cheese inside a biscuit with goldfish and pringles crushed up as seasoning. Ha! It definitely sounded like a 10 year old boy's dream food. I wasn't so sure that it would really work, so I dragged my feet for a few weeks, but they just kept talking about it. Finally, I gave in and bought all the supplies they would need. They all came over on a Friday afternoon and put their creation together. To my surprise, it actually turned out decent. The mac and cheese biscuit balls could have used some salt or other seasoning, but they were edible, and the boys were thrilled! They named them Cheesy Calvinis.

MONO

Back in January, I was sick for almost an entire month. My throat ached, and my lymph nodes were so sore that I could barely swallow. When I finally went to the doctor, they tested for strep, Covid, and mono, but everything came back negative. They sent me home with some nasal spray and said I should eventually get better. By mid-February, I was finally feeling better, but it lasted a LONG time. Fast forward three weeks, and Andrew came down with the same mysterious illness. His throat wasn't as sore, but his lymph node was HUGE. His neck was so swollen that he didn't even look like himself. Christian mentioned that if Andrew ever got fat, that is what he would look like. It was rude, but kind of true. It was hard to get a good picture, but if you look closely, you can see the lump on the left side of his neck. 

We took him in to the doctor, and they ran all the same tests they had done for me. The mono test came back faintly positive, so they weren't sure if he really had it or not, but the doctor said when he sees lymph nodes that big, it is almost always mono. The diagnosis led to a lot of kissing jokes, a new nickname of "Mono Boy," and watching an episode of Studio C (monologue). Brothers can be pretty cruel, but Andrew played along with it well. After a few days, the swelling went down, and he started to feel much better. He is still very tired and lethargic, but I don't know if that can be attributed to mono or just being a teenager. 

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VALENTINE'S DAY

Valentine's Day came around again, and it was really only Hyrum who wanted to celebrate with cards and treats. His creative mind was working overtime, and he came up with a plan to create a papier-mâché shark Valentine's box. I was too overwhelmed with everything going on to want to commit to such a big project, but luckily Jonathon jumped in and saved the day. They googled it and came up with a design where cardboard was wrapped around a small trashcan and then covered in papier-mâché. They started the project not knowing how it would turn out, but as they went, it got better and better! The pattern they were following was very simple, so they decided to expand it and add fins and 3D printed teeth. Hyrum painted it all by himself and added the eyes as the finishing touch. Their project was way cooler than the original. I was super impressed!

To go with the theme, Hyrum wanted to give out blue gummy sharks. Christian and I created bag toppers that said, "You're a Fin-tastic Friend" and You're a Jaw-some Valentine." Everything turned out so cute, and Hyrum was so happy to take them to school to show them off. I need to remember that even though Hyrum is the youngest (and his mom and dad are older and more tired now), he still wants all the cool things that the older boys got. When I wasn't working back in the day, I went all out for their parties and activities, so maybe Hyrum is missing out a bit. Sometimes going the extra mile is worth it to help him feel special, and this was one of those times.