Weekly Review October 11 '08

Is anybody else having trouble trying to listen to General Conference online? I can't get the new media player to work--it gets "hung up" every couple of seconds. I am sad because I want to listen to all the talks again. We didn't get to hear as much of Conference on Sunday as we wanted to hear--Seth didn't go down for a nap like we hoped he would. At least I can read the talks now, though.

The first part of this week wasn't terribly eventful. The main thing that occupied us was helping Tanner get homework done. Not only did he have to catch up on a lot of work that he missed while he was sick last week, but on Monday he also brought home his interim report card. Yikes! He is doing great in Language Arts and Social Studies, but his math report said he is "in danger of failing" and science said he "was failing". The main reason for his bad grades is assignments that he hadn't turned in. Apparently Tanner knew he was in trouble a few weeks ago, but he didn't tell us. We had to have a chat about how he needs to talk to us and his teachers if he needs help! Anyway, a lot of e-mails went back and forth between me and his teacher, and by the end of the week all the missing assignments were turned in. But he spent every night doing homework all evening in order to do that. Not much fun for him, or for me.

I helped with Cub Scouts on Wednesday evening because a couple of the den leaders couldn't make it. They were making a little movie of a story that they had written last week. It didn't make a lot of sense, but it included pirates, a wild tiger, an army truck, a jet plane, and lots of explosions and shooting. The boys loved it and had a great time, of course! Tanner had scouts also, but Scott did not because they had a lawn aeration fundraiser today instead.

Thursday was a busy day. The boys were out of school that day for Yom Kippur, so I decided to get a few things done that I needed to do with them. This included picking out Halloween costumes and haircuts for everybody, including Seth and I. The boys also had to clean their rooms and I had the usual laundry / grocery shopping / vacuuming to do as well. We were trying to get it all done before I left to drive to the airport to pick up Mom & Dad. We did get
most of it done!

So yes, Mom & Dad are here! We are so glad to have them with us for a few days. So far, Seth will only "flirt" with them--he won't sit on their laps or anything like that yet. But he is getting more comfortable with them. He sat down right next to Mom this morning. I ended up going to pick Mom & Dad up by myself because Seth was taking a nap. So I left the older boys home to take care of him; Frank wasn't home from work yet. Mom & Dad's flight was right on time and I was able to pick them up at the curb after only a short wait. We had a little trouble getting
home, though--I missed the exit to get onto I-695 and we ended up in downtown Baltimore. I pulled over and Mom helped me consult a map; after that we managed to find our way pretty easily to I-95 which took us where we needed to go. By the time we got home it was almost time for Jared to go to soccer practice, so Frank took him while I finished up dinner.

Friday was busy also. Scott had an appointment with the orthodontist that morning so as soon as I took the other two to school, I went back to the high school to pick him up (he was able to go to Seminary and most of his first class by then). Scott had a band put on one of his back molars, so it was a longer appointment than most. Seth did well, though--they have a lot of toys and books for the kids in that office which helps. When Scott was done, they came out to talk to me and told me that he needs to have his bottom wisdom teeth pulled. I'm not too thrilled about
that since not only will it be no fun for him, but also I'm sure it will be expensive for us. I knew he'd have to have that done eventually, but I didn't think it would be this soon. I was thinking more senior year in high school, or right before his mission.

Friday evening Jared had a birthday party and the rest of us went to a cook out. Some good friends of ours were in town and the cook out was held so that some of us would have the chance to visit with them. (The friends are Peter & Darin Nielson--they used to live in our ward but moved away about two years ago. Darin was the RS president and I was one of her counselors.) My friend Starr (who was the secretary of the RS with us) arranged the cook out, and it
was held at her parents' farm. It's very beautiful out there, and we had a good time. I think I spent a good part of the evening following Seth around making sure he didn't fall into the campfire, but I did get to do a little bit of visiting also. We were all anxious to hear about how Peter's brother Christian and his wife (Stephanie) are doing--they were in a private airplane crash about 2 months ago and both were severely burned. They still have a long, long way to go before they will be better. Stephanie was burned much worse, and she still has only a 50%
chance of survival--but she's made it this far, at least. Anyway, Tanner and Scott both helped with Seth. Tanner took Seth for some rides on a little 4 wheeler they had out there which he particularly enjoyed. Frank took Jared to the birthday party, so he got to the cook out late and when he arrived he realized he had a flat tire. So he spent a good part of the time trying to take care of that. Unfortunately, the tire had to be replaced, which Frank did this afternoon.
Scott and Frank were gone a good part of the day helping with the lawn aeration project--they met at the church at 7:45 this morning and got home around 2:30. They were tired and sunburned, but they got all the lawns done. I am not very happy about the fact that they were some of the very few that actually helped--most of the leaders and other boys thought they had more important things to do. So did we--but we didn't get to do them. I'm sure I'll get over it, but right now I am mad about it!

Dad and I took Jared and his friend Sage to their soccer game this morning. Seth came too, so I didn't get to watch much of the game because he was much more interested in all the balls lying around and the dogs people brought than he was the game. Jared's team lost 3-1. His team is struggling a lot this season--they have only won one game so far. But they seem to be having fun, at least. Jared seems to be pretty unruffled about it. We didn't do much the rest of the day, but it was nice to relax and visit a little. I wanted to try to get some family pictures taken, but we just didn't have the time (and Frank and Scott were too tired). I hope we can get that done before Mom & Dad leave.

The weather was beautiful today. Seth wanted to be outside all day, and I can't blame him much. I took him for a walk down the street and he was fascinated by the neighborhood pets and Halloween decorations.

That's about it for this week--I need to go sweep & mop my dirty floors!