Here Comes Halloween

Last week we got fancy and crossed state lines to attend Bryan's work's drive-thru Halloween event. Here's a peek at the kids' costumes.

Artist's Eye

Cooper grabbed my phone yesterday and ran outside to take some pictures. These are my favorites.

Tea for Two

Cooper walked into the playroom where Topher was playing a few minutes ago. I heard the following exchange take place.

Topher: Cooper! Are you almost ready for my tea party?

Cooper: Maybe. Will you get some Sleepytime Vanilla tea ready for me?

Topher: (in a disappointed tone) Oh, I can't. I already got pepperoni tea.

Dance It Out

Virtually There

Yesterday was the annual Primary program for our congregation at church. This is Phoebe's last year in Primary and we were both heartsick at the thought that she would miss participating in the program. The Primary president reached out to me and asked if the girls would like to record their parts in advance to be shown in between the live talks given by the other kids.

A few Saturdays ago the girls wrote their talks, got into their church clothes, then practiced. Because we needed to do both talks in one single video, we had to practice entering and exiting and speaking slowly. It took about twenty takes (not full takes, just lots of starting and stopping), but we finally got one that both girls were happy with.

I got messages from members of the ward about how happy they were to see Phoebe and Sophie up on the big screen. While we still wished we could have been there in person, we were happy that the girls could be part of the program in a small way.

Sophie, Phoebe, and Topher all joined the Primary for the closing song, I Am a Child of God.

Love Letters

Phoebe has a writing assignment for today that she hasn't finished yet and a massive case of writer's block to go with it. This is what she wrote instead.

Dear Brain,

    Why can’t you come up with any ideas!?

Sincerely,

Phoebe

Dear Phoebe,

I am on vacation.

My condolences,

Brain

Dear Brain,

You can’t go on vacation, you're my Brain!

Come back right now,

Phoebe

Dear Phoebe, 

No.

Apologies,

Brain

Dear Brain, 

Why?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

See you soon,

Phoebe

Dear Phoebe,

Because.

Warmest regards,

Brain

Dear Brain,

That’s not a reason.

Answer me,

Phoebe

Dear Phoebe,

It is in my mind.

Best wishes,

Brain

Dear Brain,

Wait, you have a mind? Or are you your mind? 

Whaaaaaa,

Phoebe

Dear Phoebe,

That’s off topic. I need to go now. I won’t respond.

Bye bye,

Brain.

Dear Brain,

…

No reaction,

Phoebe

She's going to attempt the assignment again tomorrow, after a full night's sleep.

Fall In My Backyard

Sophie has spent the last two weeks slowly and carefully creating a paragraph about the fall season. In the past writing has caused big negative emotions for Miss Sophie, but this year she's going the extra mile to stay calm when faced with writing. She did a great job working through the many steps on this particular assignment. Here's her final product that she submitted yesterday.

Fall is the season of jumping in the leaves. Climbing the tree is also a thing I love to do in fall. Raking, raking, raking you always have to rake the leaves. The leaves make a "crunch" when I stamp on them. The rustling of the leaves in the trees when I climb is loud. Fall is my favorite season ever!!

Cars

Topher and I were driving yesterday during the late afternoon/early evening when lots of people were on the road. At one point he exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! This traffic (pause) has so many cars!"

True story.

Photo credit: Sophie

Artists in Residence

I Call Myself

Phoebe used the label maker yesterday.

In case you can't read it, her label says "Phoebe is AMAZING!!!" The other kids followed her example. I didn't get pictures of their forehead labels, but I did read them. They said (and were attached to the correct child):

Sophie is so cool.

Cooper is not a robot.

Peter is adequate.

And I guess that describes how they each feel about themselves.

Good News, Bad News

I realize I haven't updated on the state of the new house for a while. Here's how things have been going:

Good news: We've ripped out the moldy walls from the basement and it smells much better on that floor now.

Bad news: We found mold in the master bathroom, plus a subfloor so damaged by water that it easily flaked away when I tried to pull up the linoleum to check for mold.

Good news: The kids bedrooms are 98% finished and can actually be used as bedrooms. Topher is sleeping in his bedroom instead of the master bedroom.

Bad news: Because we found mold in the master bathroom, no one can sleep in the master bedroom. I still have a cough from sleeping in there for several weeks. The boys kindly agreed to keep bunking in the girls' room so that Bryan and I can sleep in their room.

Good news: I've slept better during this week in the boys' room than I have since moving into the house.

Bad news: I'm still so exhausted that I've taken two naps this week and I'm still completely dragging.

Good news: I've nearly got the playroom in order and Topher loves having the space to play.

I could go on, but I'll leave this post on that good news note.

Like the Big Kids

Lists

I made a To Do list on Monday to help us remember what we needed to get done. 

When Topher saw what I was doing he grabbed another whiteboard and asked me to make a list for him too. He was very specific about what he wanted it to say: my candy, water bottles, marshmallows. I'm not sure if this is a To Do list or a shopping list, but Topher seemed happy with it.

Decked Out

Too Many to Just Pick One

Now that all the talks from last weekend's General Conference are available online, I feel like I can share my favorites. We still have not reached the magical age where all my kids are quietly listening and taking notes so I can actually hear what is said during each talk. I suspect that will coincide with Topher moving out. In the meantime, I listened as much as I could and will relisten over the next six months. Here are the talks that I loved:

• Elder Holland's The Greatest Possession
• I always love Elder Holland's talks, but this one had a different feeling to it. He was so understated and yet so direct and earnest. His message could have been difficult for some to hear, but I could also feel the love behind it.
• Elder Soares' The Savior's Abiding Compassion
• I loved his reminder that the Savior treated others with compassion and charity and that we should always look to the Savior as our example and show that same compassion and charity. 
• Elder Kopischke's Addressing Mental Health
• Elder Kopischke's story about his son's mental illness was so honest and tender. I think we all need to remember that many people who appear to be fine on the outside are actually falling to pieces on the inside. This was another talk about withholding judgement and choosing instead to love those that are hurting.
• Brother Wilcox's Worthiness is Not Flawlessness
• I have loved listening to Brad Wilcox ever since I was a Freshman at BYU and he came and gave a fireside in the cafeteria for our dorms. I've listened to several of his books and talks and think he is so insightful and engaging. His professional experience as a speaker certainly came through in his first General Conference talk. But beyond his delivery, his message about repentance and realistic expectations for ourselves and others was unexpected and welcome.
• President Johnson's Invite Christ to Author Your Story
• I loved that she talked about writing the narrative of our lives, that metaphor resonated with this bibliophile. And her focus on the Savior as the author and finisher of our story spoke to me deeply.
• Elder Renlund's The Peace of Christ Abolishes Enmity
• Elder Renlund is quickly becoming one of my favorite speakers. He is not afraid to talk about hard subjects and he does so kindly but directly. I was so touched by his story about the Finnish and Russian Saints coming together for Temple work.
• President Nelson's The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation
• The video he showed as part of his talk about the foundation of the Salt Lake Temple and the updates that are taking place helped me connect his teachings to myself. Yes, the Temple is strong and beautiful and important. And it's important to keep it that way by making sure the foundations are strong. Likewise, working on my own foundations doesn't mean I'm faltering in any way, it means that I recognize that a strong foundation on the Savior requires continual reinforcements.

All of the talks I loved were focused on the connected themes of love God and love your neighbor (which means you need to love yourself) and build your foundation on Christ.

Doppleganger

We were looking at pictures that were taken this week from the last several years on Google Photos. We made it back to 2008 and this picture popped up. This is Peter sitting at the kitchen table of Bryan's grandparents' house.

When we asked Topher who was in the picture, he was adamant that it was him. We told him it was actually Peter, but he wouldn't hear it. "See that gray hair? That's the same as this gray hair." He pointed to his own head. Also, brown and gray are the same in his mind.

Handy Mommy

Today I learned the difference between an oval head screw, a flat head screw, and a truss head screw. And I learned what machine screws look like. By the time this house is livable I'll be able to fix (or at least identify) all kinds of construction related things.

School Daze

The Name's the Thing

Near the end of her school day today, Sophie burst out with the following:

"I just LOVE MY NAME! I LOVE IT! The swoosh of the S, the curve of the O, the swoosh of the P, the H, the I, the E! It's magnificent!!!"

And then she spontaneously composed a musical number all about the wonder of her name and how it perfectly fits her.

It was awesome.

General Conference Amidst the Chaos

Slow Motion

The kids had fun running and jumping off the deck this week. One of them asked me to take slow motion videos of them so they could see what it looked like. Somehow this turned into practicing death scenes...I'm not sure how we got there. Cooper was part of the fun too, he just isn't in this video. Watch until the end so you can see Topher's contribution.