Weekly Review October 23 '10

Happy (early) Birthday, Jared!

Eagle Scout project preparations

Helpers

When I look at my planner for this week, there is a long "to do" list on every day. I won't bore you with the details, though! I'll just summarize and say that in addition to all the usual house cleaning, shopping, laundry, and so forth I also spent a lot of time sending emails to my counselors (Primary program, concerns about the nursery, callings we need to fill, Priesthood Preview set up, Trunk or Treat, and a muscial number we're doing for a training meeting next week--yes, we have A LOT going on right now!). Thank goodness my back has been feeling a lot better this week! It was very painful on Sunday morning but I managed to make it through church. After I got home from church I decided to take a nap, and when I got up it felt a lot better and has been better ever since.

Besides all the Primary stuff, I was also helping Scott do some preparation for his Eagle scout project (which is going to be done in 3 shifts--some preliminary preparation today and the bulk of the work on November 6th and November 20th), I had book club on Tuesday, I made visiting teaching appointments, I visited my friend Starr, went to the library, volunteered at the school, and oh yeah--I decided to have Jared's birthday party this week, rather than the first week in November! So yes, there were a lot of things to do.

I never would have decided to have a party last minute like that except I know from experience that planning a 12 year old sleep over party is not very difficult. All I had to do was stock up on junk food, make sure we had plenty of movies and games, and order pizza. Easy! And besides that, I also know that a bunch of 12 year old boys are not going to care one bit if my house is clean or not. (In my earlier, less wiser days, I used to clean my house meticulously before my kid's parties. And then clean up again afterwards, of course, because it would get "trashed"!)

Frank had another one of those "all night" jobs Wednesday night, so I got the boys to the church and back for YM / scouts. Frank was very tired on Thursday, of course. He came home in the morning and got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep, but that's not much, especially when you've been working for 27 hours straight! Frank was busy as usual this week. In addition to all the hours he put in at work, he also visited 3 wards on Sunday to update their computers.

Tuesday evening Jared had soccer practice but he missed it because we all had a chance to go see a blimp up close, so we did that instead. Frank's cousin Phillip is a mechanic for the Met Life blimp and they happened to be in Frederick for a few days this week, so he invited us to come see the blimp, which was moored at the Frederick County Airport, just a few miles from our house. Here are some of the pictures from our little adventure:

Seth in the blimp's "cab"

The boys and I with Frank's cousin, squashed together in the blimp. (That's our reflection in the mirror.) Frank was on the steps--couldn't fit all of us inside at once!

Yeah, it's not very big!

All my boys pose next to the blimp.

Cousin Phillip and Frank

Jared, Tanner, and Seth playing around

Far away shot

Doing the limbo under the blimp--silly boys!

A last look as we're leaving

Seth playing with Cousin Phillip (or is it the other way around?!)

Seth poses by an airplane. He said "It's just my size!"

Speaking of funny things Seth says, one day this week I asked him who is at home when he gets home from school. He immediately and very matter-of-factly said "Monster and all his friends". ("Monster" is his imaginary friend.) I expected him to say "Mommy and Snickers"! He has quite the imagination!

Jared's party went well. He invited 7 friends, but only 4 of them could come. It was a nice size group for our little house, though. Scott and Tanner had a sleep over at their YM president's house, which made it nice for Jared--he and his friends could have their fun time together without his older brothers interfering. They played games, ate pizza, watched Iron Man 2 (with tons of "movie candy" and caramel popcorn), opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. They were a good group--Frank and I went to bed around 11:45, and we didn't hear any noise after that. Apparently, some of them stayed up pretty late, but they were quiet and didn't disturb us. In the morning we fed them banana fritters (everyone loved them, Mom--thanks for the recipe!), bacon, and OJ. We gave each boy a treat box with candy, a glow stick, ugly teeth, and some silly bands. Pick up time was supposed to be 10:00, but some of the parents overslept, so the last boy didn't get picked up until close to noon. One other boy needed a ride home, so I took him home after that. Jared and Seth came with me; we stopped at Wal-Mart on the way back so I could buy treats for the Primary kids (we always give them a treat the week of the program) and to look at their Halloween costumes. We got the treats, but Seth was still very unimpressed with all the costumes. After we got home I thought to pull out costume ideas I've saved from magazines over the years and I think I've convinced him to be a cat. We'll see!

Meanwhile, Frank left here around 9:45. He wanted to do some preliminary work on Scott's Eagle scout project, so he had arranged with the YM president to meet him at the Aviary, and he brought most of the YM who had slept over (including our two boys) with him. They worked for a couple of hours and managed to level off the spot where the turtle cage is going to be located, as well as dig a trench that will help drain rainwater away from the cage. After Scott got home, I helped him make a flyer to announce the other two days they want to meet to finish the project. Now he is gone again--there is a Barn Dance for all the youth in the stake (14 and up). Frank is gone, also--he's helping to cook the food for the dance.

I'm feeling less stressed than I was a week ago. I really worked hard this week and got a lot done. Besides that, the party is behind me, the Primary program will be over tomorrow, and Scott's Eagle project seems to be coming together (I think the project has been stressing me more than anything else!). I feel like everything is going to work out fine. (Just pray that the weather will cooperate and not get too cold before the Eagle project is done!)

It was quite cold this morning, but it has warmed up nicely and is really a very beautiful mellow fall day--I love that!

Weekly Review October 16 '10

Ahhh....Jared and Seth enjoying their "day off" from school.

Professional relaxer!

Jared the boy scout

Part of the campground at the park.

Seth came home from school one day this week with his face covered in dirt! It doesn't show up in the picture very well, but we tried to capture it on film. It was so funny!!

This week I paid for my ambitious basement cleaning of last weekend. My back was hurting all week! I guess I did a little too much lifting and bending. Tuesday was my worst day; by Wednesday evening I felt almost normal again. But then I guess I did too much because Thursday and Friday I was hurting a little bit more and this morning I am sitting on the heat pad again. I have to be very careful what I do. In spite of my back hurting, I'm grateful that I was still functional and able to do everything I needed to do this week (except I skipped cleaning bathrooms!) I didn't end up flat on my back, as sometimes happens.

We had lots of appointments this week. I had my annual check up with my cardiologist on Tuesday morning. I also had to get clearance from him to have surgery next month. My heart looks good. As a matter of fact, I haven't felt my heart "flutter" in a really long time. The cardiologist did say that I will probably have more trouble with it if I don't keep in shape and suggested I exercise regularly. Well, I'm trying to do that anyway, but I couldn't exercise at all this week because of my back.

Scott had a dermatologist appointment Tuesday afternoon. His skin has cleared up a lot, but the dermatologist decided to prescribe a cream that is a little stronger to help clear him up completely. I also got a recommendation from him for an over the counter acne wash since the prescription one we've been using is not covered by our insurance and has been costing us big bucks.

Tuesday evening Jared had soccer practice and then I took Scott over to the church to meet with the Eagle project advisor for our council. He got his approval for his Eagle scout project, so we can finally get started! We are running out of weekends before it's going to get too cold to do it, so we are trying to get the supplies (Home Depot may donate some of them) as quickly as possible.

Besides all those other appointments, Jared also had his interview with the bishop Wednesday night so that he can receive the priesthood in a couple of weeks. The older two boys helped with another boy's Eagle project Wednesday night and Scott had a meeting with the rest of the priests Thursday night to plan an activity.

Frank had a busy work week, as usual, but his hours were pretty erratic. He worked at home most of Monday, but had some work he had to do Monday evening until late. He thought he'd be done by 10:00 or 11:00, but it ended up being 1:00 am before he got home. Wednesday he had a job that lasted from 6:00 pm to 7:30 am. We did family night on Tuesday evening since Frank was gone Monday evening.

I admit I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately. There are just a lot of big things coming up: the Primary Sacrament Meeting program on the 24th (the first practice on Sunday was chaotic, but overall went well), Primary Trunk or Treat activity on the 30th, Auxiliary training meetings also on the 30th, Jared's birthday on the 28th, eye surgery on the 11th, Thanksgiving (we're hoping to go to NC for that), Tanner's birthday, Christmas!!! Somewhere in there we need to get Scott's Eagle project done and Jared gets a birthday party this year, also. I don't see much of a let up until New Year's. I hope we manage to get it all done, without losing focus on the most important things!

The boys were out of school on Friday for some kind of state-wide teacher training. Tanner spent the night Thursday with a new church friend (Seth). Tanner and Jared both had a camp out last night. It was a huge district event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of scouting. Tanner didn't want to go since it was just the 11 year old scouts and deacons who were going to go, but then two of his teacher friends (Seth and Ryan) decided to go also, so he was a lot happier. He is almost out of deacons, of course, and he is much older than all the other deacons, so he doesn't like hanging out with them very much. They are kind of an immature group, and he is usually pretty mature for his age, so I can understand how he feels but we are trying to encourage him to be tolerant as well as to set an example for the younger boys. Jared was excited to go.

After we dropped off Jared for his camp out (Tanner went directly there from Seth's house) Scott, Seth, and I went shopping. We got a suit for Scott and looked for a Halloween costume for Seth (but didn't find one). Then we took a copy of Scott's approved Eagle scout project to Home Depot since they need that before they will agree to donate any materials. By then Frank was almost home from work, so we met him at a buffet place for dinner. It was pretty quiet last night with just Scott & Seth here!

When Frank was home on Wednesday morning (because he worked all night Wednesday night) he came with me to do some shopping / pricing for the upcoming Primary activity. Then we went to pick up Seth from school and took him to look at Halloween costumes. There were very few choices in his size, though, and he didn't like any of the things that came in his size, so we didn't get anything. We also pulled out our box of costumes but all of them are still too big. Since then, I have heard Seth say (in a resigned way) "They don't have any costumes my size, so I am just going to be me, Seth, for Halloween". Well, hopefully we will find something he likes somewhere else! He cracks us up all the time with funny things he says, but I can't remember them long enough, usually, to put them in a post. I do remember last week, though, that one day when we were at the church and he was playing in the nursery that he told me he had "put the baby (doll) in the microwave (part of a play kitchen) so that she could 'get nice and hot and go to sleep'"! We told him to never, ever do that in real life!!!

Today Frank and Scott moved the couch in Seth's room down to the living room so we have more seating down here. We want to get a different couch eventually, but probably won't be able to do that until spring, so this will work until then. Frank and I went to get Jared at his campout and took him to his 1:00 soccer game. We didn't have far to go, because the campout was held at Baker Park, which is the same park where Jared plays his games. Several of Jared's camping buddies walked over to watch the game for a while. Jared's team won the game, although not as decisively as they have been winning most of their games this season. The final score was 5-2. We were really happy that they won in spite of several really bad calls by the referee. It was really frustrating to watch the game with that happening, but in the end Jared's team prevailed. After the game, we went back to the camping area to pick up Tanner and his friend Seth. Now all the boys are playing games together.

We had beautiful warm fall days at the beginning of the week. Then on Thursday morning it started to rain and rained hard all that day. Since then it has been a lot cooler, but today is sunny again and it's fairly pleasant, although quite windy. We are finally starting to see some fall colors and the leaves are starting to fall. (I'm constantly having to sweep the front steps; they get covered with leaves and then everyone tracks them into the house.)

I finished reading the book Son of Hamas this week. It is an interesting and remarkable book and a quick read. If you want some great insights on the Middle East conflict, I recommend reading it. I was really impressed with the author's last words. He basically said that the only way to really resolve the conflicts there is for more people to live as Jesus lived. Pretty amazing, coming from someone who was raised Muslim!

Happy birthday to Daniel, Gwen and Emily this week! (I hope I'm not forgetting anyone.) Until next week, then...

Weekly Review October 9 '10

Pumpkins!

Pansies I planted (I know, our lawn is sad...lots of dead patches.)

Jared helping defend the goal (He really isn't scratching himself!)

Playing defense

The ball is coming his way...

Running down the field

I feel like I spent this week "catching up" after being gone last weekend. It was worth it, though! I wasn't just catching up on work...I was catching up on sleep, too! Saturday night I stayed up all night. That wasn't intentional...we were just talking, and didn't stop. Rebecca fell asleep sometime around 4:00 or 5:00, I think (there wasn't a clock in the room) but Marci and I were talking until 7:00 am! I feel a little bit hypocritical after telling my boys not to stay up late every time they spend the night with friends. Then my crazy brain woke me back up at 9:00 am, and I stayed awake all day Sunday (even through both sessions of General Conference!) so my body has been feeling pretty sleep deprived and trying to make up for the punishment I gave it. Oh, well...I won't have the chance to do that again for a long time, and I feel like it was productive, healing time for both Marci and me. The whole weekend was so good for all three of us, I think. I'm really glad I got to go. It's kind of strange to realize how much has changed in our lives since we were "sewing buddies". Rebecca is going through a difficult divorce and Marci is a widow now. It leaves me feeling very grateful for the blessings I have and I am so impressed by my two amazing friends who are so strong and dealing with their trials so well.

On Sunday after General Conference, we went to see the animals at a farm (Marci's daughter, Haley, has a boyfriend (Evan) who lives on a farm.) We saw horses, goats, sheep, llamas, and alpacas. It was fun, but it was also too cold to enjoy being outside for very long. Then we went inside to see all the cool things that Evan's mom has made from all the fibers she has woven and dyed from all the animals. She had done some pretty amazing things.

The drive home Monday was pretty uneventful, in a good way. Just more talking and the same beautiful scenery. The weather got colder and cloudy on Sunday, and when we got back to Frederick we found the weather the same here--quite cold and cloudy. This weather continued until Thursday. I was starting to think we'd never see the sun again! But on Thursday the sun came back out and the temperatures warmed up nicely, too. We are really enjoying the nicer weather while it lasts, and I think appreciating it more after several cold and gloomy days.

Tuesday started off with a bang--Scott threw up in the night and Seth wet the bed (he did that 3 times this week, for some reason...) Then when Jared got up, he wasn't feeling well either, so both he and Scott stayed home from school. Fortunately, neither one of them got very sick, and they both were able to go back to school on Wednesday. Snickers was feeling under the weather that day, also--we discovered he had pooped in his crate (which he has never done) as well as thrown up in there a few times. Yuck! That was a fun mess to clean up. Tuesday was busy because I was trying to get 2 days' worth of work done. I also did some weeding in the front yard and planted the pansies we bought last week. I can't remember everything I did; I just remember by the end of the day I was really tired! I was glad Jared wasn't up to going to soccer practice that evening.

I was busy Wednesday also. I had a presidency meeting that evening while the boys were at scouts. Seth came with me because Frank had a lot of work to do. We got the write up for Scott's eagle project done and both his scoutmaster and the scout committee chair signed it, so now we need to get it to the eagle advisor for the council so he can approve it.

By Thursday I felt like I was starting to get caught up on things. I helped take kids from Seth's class to the library; that's always fun. That evening Frank and I went on a little "date"--he wanted to go to the bookstore to look for a book that just came out. He ended up getting more than one book, and I got a couple also. I told him afterwards that we need to remember that going to the bookstore is not a "cheap" date!

Frank had to be at work at 4:00 am on both Tuesday and Thursday, so he's been tired this week also. We slept in a bit Friday morning--thankfully, I woke up in time to go get the boys from Seminary to take them to school. I decided to exercise that morning since I hadn't had a chance to take a shower yet. It always feels good when I get the chance to do that; I wish I found the time to do it more often Tanner went to his school's football game that evening, but the rest of us stayed home and watched Iron Man 2 on the new Blue Ray player that Frank bought.

Today we all went to help clean the church at 10:00, then Jared had a soccer game at noon. I took him to that; his team dominated the game as they have been doing all season and won 6 (or maybe it was 7) to nothing. I actually remembered to take the camera to get some pictures of him playing, but it wasn't the best day to do that since he was on defense almost the entire game (his request--he hurt his leg last week and it was still bothering him.) Scott and Tanner took Seth to the park while I was gone. It was definitely a nice day to be out--warm and sunny. I love "Indian Summer" weather! This afternoon Frank and I did some cleaning up in the basement. He worked on his office space while I worked on the laundry room / storage room. We made some progress, but we still have a long way to go. We threw out tons of stuff, though, and have a decent pile of "give aways" also. Unfortunately, I threw away a lot of food storage. I haven't been good about rotating it the way I should--mainly because it was so messy in there that it was hard to gain access to the food storage shelves. Now that I can get to them a lot easier, I will be a lot better about rotating the food storage. The boys helped us a lot by carrying loads of garbage out to the dumpster, and Tanner also kept an eye on Seth for us. This evening we had the missionaries over for dinner.

I hope Shellie had a happy birthday this week--we were thinking about you!

Weekly Review October 2 '10

October already! Where has 2010 gone, anyway? I am not feeling very ready for the onslaught of the holiday season, but I guess it is going to come whether I am ready for it or not. Don't get me wrong--I love the holiday season! It's just such a busy time of year, though.

I was up bright and early on Sunday because Ward Council was at 7:00. The beautiful sunrise that morning made it worth being up early, though. Frank spoke in Sacrament Meeting and he did a great job. I had a little bit of trouble hearing him, though, because the young children in the audience seemed to be particularly restless--especially a particular young child named Seth. They forgot to bring his quiet book to church, and believe me--I noticed a difference! Anyway, Frank spoke on the power of the priesthood (based on President Packer's talk at last General Conference) and from what I heard, it was a very good talk. I had choir practice after church, so it was kind of a long day, but nice.

The "out of the ordinary" things that happened this week--Monday I got my hair cut and colored. I'm back to being brown with a little bit of red mixed in; quite a change after the blonde highlights I've had all summer! Tuesday I took Seth to the library. I've had four books on hold at the library for a while, and they all came in at once, so I have a lot of reading material right now! Tanner and Frank went home teaching that evening. Wednesday morning Frank went with me to Lowe's to price gravel for Scott's eagle scout project (they forgot that part when they went last week). We got a couple of pumpkins and some pansies; if I ever get a chance to plant the pansies and it stops raining long enough to mow the lawn, the yard will look quite nice! Tanner had an eye doctor appointment Wednesday after school. His eyes haven't changed at all, but his prescription is only good for a year and he was almost out of contact lenses, so I had to get him a new prescription.

We've had a lot of rain this week; especially on Wednesday and Thursday. It started to rain Wednesday evening and it came down hard all night and well into Thursday. We were under a flash flood watch, and the streets were certainly quite wet! We had rain on Monday and Tuesday also, and rain earlier in the day on Wednesday as well, so it was a very wet week.

Frank planned to work from home Wednesday because he had to help set up a computer system and put in a server at a client Wednesday evening / night. It didn't work out that way, though, because an emergency came up with another client. He ended up leaving here around 10:00 Wednesday morning and he didn't get home until 7:00 Thursday morning. Yikes! By the time he finished with the emergency with the first client, it wasn't worth coming home--he was supposed to meet to help set up the computer system at 9:00, and with traffic that day (it was particularly bad because there was a serious bus crash on I-270) he would only have been home about an hour before having to turn around and go back. Setting up the system was supposed to take until between 1:00 and 3:00 in the morning, but it ended up taking until 6:00 am. Frank was supposed to be at another client's at 6:00 Thursday morning, but (wisely) he postponed that appointment and came home to sleep instead! I feel so bad that he has to work so hard, but I do appreciate all he does to be a good employee and to provide for our family.


Frank only slept about 4 hours Thursday morning, much to my surprise. Then he was up and working again, although he worked from home. Later in the afternoon, after it quit raining (finally!) he went outside and cleaned out his car, so I could take it on my trip. (Item: there would not have been room for more than one person if he hadn't cleaned it out!)

I was also busy this week getting ready for my trip to Kentucky as well as trying to get Scott's eagle scout project write-up turned in for approval. We had to get the park ranger's signature before we could turn it in, and that turned out to be trickier than we'd planned because she's been out of the office for over a week. When we finally got in touch with her, she said she'd sign it and leave it at the park office for me, but when I drove up there on Wednesday afternoon, the office was locked and no one answered the phone, either. We got in touch with her later that afternoon and arranged to meet her at the library (she was going to be there with her son) so we finally got it signed. By the way, I wasn't too upset about the fruitless drive up to the state park, even though it was about an hour round trip, because it was a beautiful drive. The leaves are starting to turn colors on the trees. Seth enjoyed the drive, also. We have not been able to get the write up turned in yet, but hopefully that will happen this week.


Wii update: I managed to find and pop all 20 balloons in the free ride bicycle course. I know, that doesn't mean anything to you if you don't have a Wii, but trust me: it's quite an accomplishment! Ok, to be perfectly honest, I only found 19 of them myself. I was having a hard time finding that last one, and I mentioned it to Frank, and he went online and looked up where the last one was. I have the type of personality that I never would have looked it up myself--I would have kept looking until I found it! But since he was so nice to do that for me, and he even printed up a map for me...well, it was just too tempting not to look!

My left shoulder was really hurting me this week. On Monday I was holding Seth when I stepped backwards and ran into a laundry basket. I nearly fell over backwards, but managed to stop myself--but in the process I must have pulled some muscles back there. My shoulder really started hurting on Wednesday, and at first I couldn't figure out why, but then I remembered my stunt on Monday. It was very sore on Wednesday and Thursday, but thankfully started to improve on Friday and is quite a bit better now.


So Friday morning, after getting the kids to school, my friend Rebecca and I took off to visit our other friend, Marci, who lives in Kentucky. When we were going over schedules on Sunday and I reminded the kids that I was going to be gone this weekend, Jared said "Wow, it's going to be weird to have Mom gone. Mom NEVER leaves." So I started thinking about it, and realized that the last time I was away from home for a night (not counting 2 nights in the hospital when Seth was born and 6 nights in the hospital with heart problems--which doesn't count, right?) was when I went to girls' camp in 2001--over 9 years ago! So maybe not never, but close enough! Anyway, I am really glad that Rebecca was able to come with me. That would have been a very long 9 hour drive without her!! As it was, the time seemed to pass pretty quickly as we chatted the whole way. We went through some very beautiful country on the way, also.

It's been fun to be here--like one big sleep over!! We've mostly just been talking, but today we also went to a store called Hobby Lobby, which was a lot of fun. Last night we took Marci out to eat to celebrate her birthday (which is Tuesday, but we won't be here then). It's been a lot of fun, but I miss all my "boys" also. (That includes Frank!) I've talked to Seth on the phone a few times; it's a lot harder to understand him over the phone than in person!!! (I "talked" to Seth's friend, Monster, also!) I will be glad to be home again, but I am enjoying this time with my friends.

At home, Frank reports that Jared's team won their soccer game today, 7-1. Tanner spent the night with his friend Ryan last night. All three of the older boys went to the priesthood session this evening with Ryan's family. (Frank couldn't go, since he was taking care of Seth.) Apparently, Snickers is missing me--Frank says he is spending a lot of time waiting by the door. Hopefully the rest of them miss me, too!

Weekly Review September 25 '10

Our week began with Stake Conference, which was great. Frank and I attended the adult session Saturday evening, which we really enjoyed. Before the meeting we went out to eat. We used the gift card that Frank won from work. The restaurant is one of the nicest (and priciest) restaurants in Frederick; we had a $100 gift card and used almost all of it! That's definitely not something we could afford to do normally, so it was really nice to have that opportunity without worrying about the cost. The food was delicious!


Frank had to be at the Stake Center Sunday morning at 7:00 to help set up all the cameras and televisions, but that meant he was able to save us a seat in the chapel on the soft benches, which was really nice. Our new stake presidency is going to be great! The visiting general authorities gave great talks, also. All the boys (even Seth) behaved quite well. (I'm so glad I finished that quiet book!) After conference was over, we were able to enjoy a quiet afternoon together. Our friends the Koettings, who usually come for dinner afterwards, were not able to come this time. We missed them, but it was nice to relax as a family for the rest of the day.


I have nothing written on the calendar for Monday, so I don't remember what I did. I'm sure I didn't lie in bed eating chocolates, though! I always manage to squeeze a lot of errands or chores into the couple of hours that Seth is at school. For family night we played Apples to Apples, which was fun.


I had book club Tuesday. I was not able to read the new book we switched to, but we did talk a little bit about the book I read also. We always have really interesting discussions and the food is always really good also. There is a new member of our ward attending book club now, and she has a 4 year old boy named Logan; Seth really enjoys playing with him! Jared had soccer practice Tuesday evening, so I took Seth with me to that. Seth had to use the bathroom about an hour into the practice, though, and there are no restrooms at this park (can't figure out why--it's one of the biggest parks in the city) so I had to run home with him. Thankfully, Frank was almost home from work by then, so he was able to pick Jared up on his way home.


Wednesday I had a presidency meeting in the evening. I can't remember what I did during the day other than making a lot of phone calls to set up various appointments. I remember it was a productive day where I got a lot done, but no details (and they'd probably be boring anyway). Frank had an exceptionally busy work week, which explains why he was coming home at 7:00 on Tuesday when Jared's soccer practice was ending. He got home just after dinner on Wednesday, but then he got a phone call and had to go somewhere else, and he didn't get home until after the boys and I got home from scouts at the church (about 9:00). That meant that Seth came to presidency meeting with me, but he behaved really well, so that wasn't a problem.



Thursday was a very busy day. I took the boys to school and then stayed for about 25 minutes to help take two groups of kids in Seth's class to the school library. I will be doing that every other Thursday. When I was done there, I ran home to pick up Snickers in time to drop him off at his grooming appointment. Then I did some shopping since there wasn't really time to go home and get anything accomplished before it would be time to pick up Seth. I got Seth at school and we went straight from there to a visiting teaching appointment. Then we had a few errands to run on the way home, so I didn't get home long before Scott & Tanner got home at 2:30. By then it was time to pick up Snickers--Scott went with me to do that so he could drive. After that I had a few minutes to relax before it was time to start making dinner--the missionaries were coming over that night. In between all that, I also did several loads of laundry! Frank was able to be home for dinner, but then he had to go do some more work for a client here in Frederick, and he didn't get home until after midnight. The boys did not have school Friday, so we stayed up later than usual watching the movie The Prince of Persia. Jared was the only one who had seen it already. It was really good; we enjoyed it. There was a lot of fighting, but they didn't make it too gory, so it was fairly kid friendly. After the boys went to bed, I waited up for Frank--I folded all the laundry and watched some HGTV.


The boys were out of school on Friday for "Fair Day". We opted not to go to the fair, though. Scott had an overnighter at one of his leader's cabins and Tanner had a camp out that night. Jared had a soccer game that evening, as well. During the day I got some work done and took Scott to Wal-Mart in search of a new Sunday suit (he's outgrown his Sunday clothes again); he also wanted to spend some birthday money. He found what he wanted, but we didn't have any luck with the suit. We found pants, but no suit coats. It's really hard to find pants that will fit him, also.

I ended up taking Jared to his soccer game last night while Frank did some work (it was another busy work day for him). Jared had a game today, also. His team won the game last night 3-2. I thought after playing last night that his team might be kind of tired today, but I didn't have to worry. They won their game today 7-0. His team is really looking good this year. They are doing awesome teamwork--making great passes to each other. It is really fun to watch them! Jared scored one goal last night and today he scored one goal and assisted with another. He says he can't really take credit for the goal he scored today because one of his teammates attempted a goal, which the goalie managed to stop by diving for the ball, but then the goalie lost control of the ball and Jared just ran up and tapped it into the goal. On the goal he assisted, he made a beautiful pass to a teammate who made another beautiful pass to another teammate who kicked the goal. After the game they had team photos taken.

Tanner got back from his camp out while I was at Jared's game. (Scott won't be back until late this evening.) Tanner reports that he went rock climbing and it was terrifying, but he did it. (He takes after his mother--he's scared of heights.)

I'm looking forward to going to the General RS meeting tonight. Our stake is having a short meeting with dessert before the broadcast from Salt Lake City starts.


It may have been the first day of fall this week, but the weather has mostly been feeling like summer! It was cooler at the beginning of the week, but by Wednesday we were having temperatures in the 90's. Very unusual for September! I am not complaining, really, but I would prefer the 70's of autumn--much more pleasant! Today we are back down to the 80's, which feels nice.

Seth has been going around singing songs that he is learning at school. They have a song for each letter to help teach them what sounds the letters make. This week he's been singing "Barney Beaver builds his dam. With his tail he says b-bam!" to the tune of the first two lines of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It's really cute. He is also adding new words to his vocabulary. This week I asked him a question "Do you mean...?" and he answered with a very emphatic "Exactly!" I didn't even know he knew that word.

Our rocking chair, which has been coming apart for weeks, finally self destructed completely this week. That means both the chairs we bought about 18 months ago are gone. We really need to get another couch or some chairs, but haven't had time to go shopping.

At book chat on Tuesday I loaned The Chestry Oak to a friend. She called me Friday afternoon to tell me that she had just finished it, and that it is "one of the most beautiful books I've ever read". I guess she had a bad week and she said she really appreciated me loaning her the book because it was a real bright spot in her week. See mom, you have great taste! I'm so glad she liked it. She thought we should read it for book club, but since it's so hard to find copies of that book, we won't be able to read it together. I'll probably end up loaning my copy to each person, one at a time.

I hope Curtis and Paula both had nice birthdays this week!

Weekly Review September 18 '10

We are having Stake Conference this week end. Tomorrow we are getting a new stake presidency. We've had the current presidency for nearly 10 years. It's kind of sad, but I think a change will be good, also. Anyway, having stake conference means we didn't have any church meetings or activities all week except special stake conference-related meetings. We were encouraged, as always, to go to the temple as much as we could this week, and then Friday night there was a special "7th floor" session at the temple. It was nice having a week where we could focus on the temple, although there were things going on at school and in the community to keep us busy and a little distracted.

I was not feeling too great on Sunday, but thankfully I was feeling well enough to go to church and do what I had to do there. Frank was not so lucky--he was really feeling miserable, so he stayed home. I had to be at the church at 8:30 for one last song practice--all the Primary teachers sang a song in Sacrament Meeting that day. It turned out really nice, actually, and I really felt the spirit while we were singing. I heard some nice comments afterwards. (We sang a song from the children's songbook called "How Will They Know"--it's a beautiful song!) The choir has been on "summer break" since July, but that is the third time I've sung in Sacrament Meeting in the last 6 weeks! The stake primary president came to our primary on Sunday to do sharing time (we had invited her to do that) and she did a fantastic job! She also came to our Sacrament Meeting and heard our song, so now it looks like some of us are going to be singing that same song for our leadership training meetings in October.

We had beautiful weather on the weekend and the beginning part of this week--gorgeous "Indian Summer" days. I kept thinking it was too bad that I wasn't feeling better so I could enjoy it more. As it was, I didn't have much energy and stayed kind of "holed up" inside. I got a little better every day, though, and I'm grateful for that. Frank has also improved and was even better enough on Monday that he was able to put in a full day of work, which is a great blessing.

I can't remember much about Monday, but I know I was busy. I spent a couple of hours doing some research so I would have a better idea who to vote for in the local elections. For famly night we got Dunkin Donuts--the boys each had a coupon to get a free donut from there.

There wasn't any school on Tuesday because it was primary election day. I decided to take advantage of the fact that I had babysitters at home and went to the temple. I almost didn't go--I woke up later than I'd planned and I was worried that I might have a coughing fit or two in the middle of the session--but I wasn't coughing nearly as much Tuesday morning as I was Monday morning, so I decided to try it. I'm really glad I did! Although I coughed enough that the sweet temple worker gave me a small bottled water, I never had a major coughing fit and it was really wonderful to be in the temple again. I stopped on the way to the temple to vote, so I felt like I got a couple of worthwhile things done that day. Frank had a very busy work day and didn't make it to the polls before they closed. I told him he should think about doing an absentee ballot next time, since he never can predict when he's going to have a day like that! He seems to have days like that more often than not, lately. Jared had his first soccer practice of the season that evening. I took Seth with me to that, and he enjoyed running all over the park. After we got home, Jared had a big project for school he had to finish up, and I ended up staying up late helping him with that. I didn't get my normal "Tuesday chores" done, but it was definitely a busy and productive day.

Wednesday was busy also, since I was getting caught up on the things I was not able to do on Tuesday. Even though I was up late with Jared, I still woke up at 5:00 and couldn't go back to sleep, but that turned out to be a good thing since I had so much to do. We were interested to see the election results--we had a good friend who was running for the Board of Education--but unfortunately he didn't make it into the general election. A lot of good people did move on, though. The boys didn't have scouts that night and Frank was going to take Scott to the store to price the materials needed for his Eagle scout project, but he ended up working late enough that he wasn't able to do that. He took him on Thursday night instead, while I went to "Back to School Night" at Jared & Seth's school.

Thursday was also busy with trips to three stores as well as to the library. In between all the chores, I did manage to get more exericising done and I did a lot of reading also. I finished the book for book club, but they decided late last week to change books so once again I'm not going to get the book we're discussing read. I tried to get it, but there is a wait to get it from the library and book club is on Tuesday. They decided to switch books because one of the other women who had finished it said it was boring and didn't end well. I was far enough into it, though, that I wanted to find out what happened. It definitely wasn't the best book I ever read and it did kind of fall flat, but I did enjoy it at times. (It's called La's Orchestra Saves the World, by Alexander McCall Smith). It started raining Thursday afternoon and we had a small thunderstorm in the night.

Frank and I went to the temple Friday night for the meeting I mentioned earlier. We left early enough that we were able to go through an endowment session before the meeting. I had a headache before we left and started feeling a bit nauseated on the way down, so I was a little worried about making it through a session. But once we got to the temple and I was able to get a drink and eat a few pretzels I started to feel better so I was able to do the session as planned. We were some of the last people to get to the session, and the room was full. It was really awesome to walk in there because almost every face in the whole session was familiar--members of our stake. The meeting afterwards was really great also. I particularly enjoyed the remarks made by Elder Tingey, the temple president. On the way home we stopped to get some dinner. I continued to feel a little funny the rest of the evening, but never got sick; I'm grateful for that! Today I feel a lot better.

Today has been busy with homework and scout stuff. I helped Jared do some things to pass off Tenderfoot and 2nd Class. He has done most of the requirements for Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, and 1st Class, but has a few things to finish up in each area. For Scott, we are trying to get his project description finished up so we can get the signatures we need and submit it for approval. We are hoping to get it submitted this week. It's been a busy morning, and tempers have not been idle, either!

Now Frank is with Jared at his first soccer game of the season, Tanner is working on homework, Scott is playing at a friend's house, and I am going to take Seth to the park. Later, Frank and I plan to go to the adult session of stake conference. I've kept Seth waiting long enough, so I'd better post this and go!

Weekly Review September 11 '10

Seth thought his old formula dispenser was a flag stand!

Mr. Ham posing for the camera

A "fort" the boys built on Sunday, from the outside

The fort from the inside; Scott resting

This was kind of a strange week because the kids were out of school on Monday and on Thursday. (Thursday was Rosh Hashanah--we get out of school for several of the larger Jewish holidays.) Since last week end, I've been battling a headache / congestion / sore throat off and on. Some days it's worse than others, so I alternate between having productive days and days that I lie around as much as possible. I hope whatever it is, that it goes away soon!

Sunday was really busy. It started out with Frank staying home from church with Seth, because Seth's left leg was hurting again. He started complaining about it on Saturday evening and it still hurt Sunday morning. It didn't seem to be as bad this time, and by Sunday evening he was doing much better, so we didn't go to the doctor again, but we are still wondering what's up. The older three boys and I went to church as usual, but afterwards I had a song practice and then two visits for Primary children, so I didn't get home until after 3:00. (And we have church at 9:00 am now--just started that on Sunday also.) The highlight of the day (for me, anyway) was when Scott got up in testimony meeting and bore a very sweet testimony about the feelings he had at the baptism on Saturday, how he feels about being able to use the priesthood to be a witness for those baptisms and for blessing the sacrament, how he loves how he feels at church, how he is grateful he chose to be baptized at age 8, and how he appreciates the examples set for him by others and how he knows now it is his turn to be a good example to others. It was awesome! As a parent, it doesn't get much better than that. I was just sorry that Frank wasn't there to hear it, too. There was a fireside that evening for the YM and their parents to introduce the new Duty to God program. Frank took the boys to that. In between, we had family night and I talked to a friend on the phone, so that day was pretty full.

Scott and Tanner both spent the night with friends from church Sunday night. On Monday, Frank and the older three boys got a chance to go play paint ball, so they did that and had a lot of fun. By the time they got home, Tanner was very tired and not feeling very well--he was quite congested. I was surprised (but glad) when he still got up and went to Seminary and school on Tuesday. On Wednesday he didn't go to school, though--his stomach was upset.

Anyway, back to Monday--Seth and I enjoyed watching a movie together while everyone else was gone. Then we had a cook out for dinner and actually ate outside--it's been much too hot to do that for most of the summer, but the weather has cooled down this week and been very beautiful for the most part--breezy, sunny, and pleasantly cool.

Tuesday and Wednesday were fairly productive days. I got errands run, chores done, and exercised while Seth was at school. On Wednesday I also got Jared's merit badges attached to his sash (I love that merit badge magic stuff!), made banana bread, and made a Christmas pillow case for Seth. The other three boys still have (and use!) their Christmas pillow cases that Aunt Julia made for them. Last Christmas I realized that by next Christmas Seth would be old enough to notice that he didn't have a special pillow case, so I decided I'd better make him one sometime this year. It turned out really nice and it was super easy to make. I'm really pleased with it! I enjoyed that little project so much that maybe I'll make some more for Frank and I!

On Wednesday I also went to a local used book store in search of a book that I was supposed to get for my birthday (I ordered it online with all the others, but after the place sent me the wrong book 3 times, I gave up and asked for my money back!) I didn't find the book I was looking for, but I found a lot of others for really cheap--between $1 and $3 each. I came home with quite a stash of childhood favorites and Newbery awards winners. (I'm still trying to read all of those.) I knew going to that store would be dangerous! (I've been there before...) It is fun to have a lot of new reading material, though.

Before YM on Wednesday night, I met with one of the boys who has been working on his Personal Management merit badge, so he could pass that off. After YM, Scott went to a movie at the dollar theater with some of his friends. They were supposed to get rides with some of the older kids who can drive, but that fell through so I ended up driving them over and picking them up. (Frank had to get up early for work, so he went to bed.) I didn't get to bed until after midnight, but luckily no one had to get up for school Thursday morning and Seth slept until 7:00, so that wasn't too bad. Thursday was one of the days that I wasn't feeling very well, but I worked all morning to get laundry done, vacuuming, groceries purchased, and also made a trip to the library to pick up my book for book club. After that, I collapsed and tried to relax most of the afternoon (as much as you can with a 3 year old who needs something every couple of minutes!) Seth got books at the library also, and I enjoyed reading them to him. The boys took him to the park for a while in the evening, also. Tanner started feeling better on Thursday, so he was able to go back to school on Friday.

I wasn't feeling too great on Friday, either, so I tried to take it easy. I did get some work done while Seth was at school, but after he got home I did a lot of reading and not much else. Unfortunately, by evening Frank was starting to feel just as bad as I was. Scott went to spend the night with a new friend from church whose name is Seth. His family moved here recently from South Carolina. When I went to pick him up this morning I was chatting with Seth's parents and discovered that they go to Brevard, NC (Frank's hometown) to camp pretty often.

Today I have been feeling better than yesterday (not great, but better) but Frank has been very miserable all day. It's too bad because it was a very beautiful day--sunny and the perfect temperature! I did manage to get my very dirty kitchen floor mopped and Tanner mowed the lawn, but other than that we weren't very productive. We watched some of the 9/11 memorial coverage and it still makes me cry! Partly out of sympathy for all the people who lost someone they loved, and partly for the beauty of all the acts of heroism. It is truly amazing to see how terrible things can bring out the very best in human nature.

Hopefully we'll all be back to being healthy again soon. This coming week we have stake conference, so it's going to be busy!