Weekly Review September 20 '08

Our week started out with Stake Conference Sunday morning. Frank had to be there early (8:30) to help set up the television cameras (they have televisions broadcasting the meeting in several rooms throughout the building). That meant I got to get everybody ready and out the door by myself, but it also meant that Frank could save us a seat in the chapel. We were almost late because at about 9:00 I realized that we had forgotten to have Tanner and Jared take showers Saturday night, so they both had to take showers before we could go. We got there just in the nick of time. I had asked Frank to save us a seat at the back of the chapel, so we could leave easily if Seth got fussy, and that worked out well. The nicest thing was that we had soft seats--those hard folding chairs get very uncomfortable after 2 hours! The meeting was really good; I especially enjoyed the remarks made by one of the couples in the temple presidency as well as the remarks from the mission president and his wife. The Washington, DC temple presidency is about to change. We will really miss them! But I'm sure we'll love the new presidency.

The boys did really well during the meeting. Seth got restless, of course. Frank took him out for a walk and tried to get him to go to sleep also, but he wasn't successful. Then I took him out for a diaper change and I could tell he was really sleepy, so I just stayed out in the hallway listening and walking around with him and he went to sleep after a few minutes. He slept the rest of the meeting (about 20 minutes) and all the way home. As usual, our ward was supposed to help put away chairs after the meeting, so all the boys helped do that.

We had invited our friends, the Koettings, to come over for dinner after Conference. This has become a tradition over the years, and we all look forward to their visit. They didn't make it this time, though, because their oldest son, Joey (Scott's age) was playing with a pocket knife in the car on the way to conference, and he managed to cut his thumb--a very deep cut! So they ended up going to the hospital instead of to conference. We missed them! I hear they were all pretty disappointed about it, too. Joey is doing ok, by the way. I talked to his mom a few days ago and she said the doctors decided to use that new super glue stuff instead of putting in stitches. The wound has come open a few times since then and bled some more, so they probably should have done the traditional stitches, but she thinks it will heal ok in the end.

Seth had one of his rare bad nights that night--he woke up about 3:15 and didn't go back to sleep. (I'm sure it is the trash truck that is waking him up--it comes Monday and Thursday mornings around 3:00 am, and it is so loud!) After Scott left for Seminary and Frank left for work (around 6:30), I managed to get Seth back to sleep. He slept until 8:30, which was perfect since that's about the time I have to leave to take Tanner and Jared to school. I couldn't sleep that whole time, of course, because I had to make sure Tanner & Jared got up and ready for school, but I did lie down for about 20 minutes which was better than nothing!

That was a long day, which ended up with a blow-up between Scott and Frank right before family night (seems like if we have to have a big disagreement, it always happens right before or during family night--I don't think that's a coincidence, actually) so I don't think any of us went to bed very happy that night, but there were apologies on both sides the next morning, and things have been better since then.

Frank has been very busy and under a lot of stress this week because the other senior IT technician has been out of town since last Saturday. That means Frank has to handle anything that comes up with any of their clients which equals a lot more work for Frank. He's been gone more and when he gets home, he has more work to do every night.

Jared, Tanner, Seth, and I have all been fighting some sort of cold this week--runny noses, coughs, scratchy throats. Not enough to keep us in bed, just enough to make us feel a little miserable as we go about trying to get things done. Between all the regular things, I've been doing a little more Christmas shopping, working on Sharing Time, and working on some scout stuff. I signed up to be a merit badge counselor for several different badges, mostly so I can work on them with my boys. But the scoutmaster asked me if I would do the Personal Management Merit Badge with all the boys in the ward, so I said I would. I'm going to YM on Wednesday evening to work on it with them. I think I can get about half of it done that night. The trick is making it interesting! I'm trying to be creative and find ways to present the information in a way that will hold their interest. Wish me luck! I've also been reading my book for book chat; I got a late start on it, so I have a lot of catching up to do since our meeting is this Tuesday.

I was supposed to have a Cub Committee Meeting on Tuesday evening, but I found out that almost none of the leaders could come (even though they helped choose the date!) so I cancelled the meeting and just had a talk with the Cubmaster over the phone instead. That worked out well since Frank ended up getting home really late that night. Wednesday evening was RS Quarterly Enrichment Meeting. I thought about skipping it since I wasn't feeling too well, but I really wanted to go and I had signed up to bring lemonade, so I went and I'm glad I did. We talked about creating a nurturing climate in our homes and related it to a garden--what we want to cultivate, what "seeds" we want to plant, how we can nourish our "seeds", what "weeds" we need to pull up, and what our "harvest" will be. Some of the things that were said were things I really needed to hear! I've been feeling pretty discouraged lately about the amount of contention that seems to always be in our home in spite of all my best efforts. This discussion was a good reminder that it's important for me to keep trying to do the best I can, and that my family will be influenced by my good choices even though I can't control the choices everybody else makes (for the most part). I left feeling more hopeful and definitely feeling grateful that our leaders are inspired to do things that help me and my family.

At the meeting on Wednesday night I found out that there was a playgroup at the park the next morning. I wasn't really planning to go, since Seth really isn't at the age where he plays with other kids yet, but one of the other moms talked me into it. Seth does love being outside, so he did have a lot of fun and I enjoyed a little bit of socializing (but mostly I was chasing Seth around). Seth was most interested in a little plastic horse they had to ride (you know, the kind with the big spring, so it rocks back and forth a little bit). He loves animals of all kinds, especially dogs and cats, but this week he seems to have figured out what a horse is. He has several books that have pictures of horses in them. He was looking at one and I pointed out the horse, then he got out another one and turned to the page with the horse. I told him he was right; that was, indeed, a horse. Then I got out another book that had a page with lots of animals on it, including a horse. I asked him to point at the horse. He paused, looked over the page, and then pointed to the horse. It was cool to see him do that!

Jared had a field trip on Thursday. They went to visit a place called "community bridge", which is close enough to their school that they walked to it. It is unique because the bridge itself is made of cement, but a local artist painted it all over with a special technique called "tromp de l'oil" (or something like that; I need to look it up) which means that the painting part looks 3-D. He painted it to look like it's made of stone. He also got input from people all over the community and painted all kinds of images on it that represent our community. I actually have pictures of it since we went there as a family back in July, so here are some pictures. Maybe you can get an idea of what I mean from them.:

Scott is the tall guy under the bridge.

Close up of some of the detail--the vines are painted on, too.

Close up of some of the stones--this image represents the Frederick County Fair

The bridge is located in a little park along a creek right in the middle of the downtown historic district. On one side is the library and a bunch of shops, and on the other side are a lot of very pricey condos. Here are a few more photos we took that day--very pretty little park!

Another bridge

The library

The expensive condo side--they do have a nice view!

Anyway, Jared said he enjoyed the field trip. The son of the artist is actually in Jared's class, and the wife of the artist was their tour guide for the trip. Jared had a busy day that day because after school he went home with his friend Sage and went with him to soccer practice that evening. He didn't get home until after 7:00.

The boys did not have school on Friday--it was "Fair Day". The county fair has been going on all week. I always want to go, but it is so expensive that we usually don't. I told the boys we would go just to see the animals and other exhibits if they wanted (admission is free for kids on Fair Day) but all they are really interested in is the expensive rides. I had a lot of work to do at home anyway. We did take an "exciting" trip to Burger King so the boys could spend their allowances on fast food and play on the playground. All of them are really too big for the playground (except Seth) but nobody else was there so they weren't bothering anyone. Seth loved it! Frank got home late; everybody else watched Lord of the Rings while I made dinner.

Jared had a soccer game this morning. His team lost again, but only by one point. The score was 3-2. His friend Sage kicked one of the goals. Jared played defense most of the game; I thought he did really well. Frank was cleaning out his car this afternoon and he hurt his hand--scraped it up pretty good. Tonight we are going to a wedding reception for a couple in our ward. It's a dinner reception and the whole family is invited so I don't have to cook dinner--nice!

It's been cooler this week, mostly. We are enjoying beautiful early fall weather. This is my favorite season!

We're glad Ben & Dee made it back to their house ok, and that the damage was pretty minor. We hope life gets back to normal for them and everybody in the Houston area as soon as possible! It was pretty interesting to me to watch the coverage of Hurricane Ike because my book club just read a book about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane a few months ago. (Isaac's storm) It's amazing how similar the results of the two storms were, although thankfully a lot fewer people died this time. (The flooding that occured even before the storm got there, the whole island basically being covered with water, the houses being destroyed, the roads to the island being impassable, the lack of food or water afterwards, etc.) I think if everybody living on Galveston now had read that book, they would have evacuated! The stories told by the survivors of both storms are remarkably similar.

I still have lots of little things to get done this afternoon before the reception, so I'd better post this and get going on those!