Punkin'

Maize Maze

Topher's one Fall goal was to visit a corn maze. On Friday, we made his dream come true.

Robotic

Knowing that the glowsticks wouldn't work in the daylight, I added Christmas lights to the front of Topher's costume for his school costume parade. Then, the day before the event, Topher came home and announced that his teacher said they were all old enough to put on their costumes without adult help for the parade. That's great, except Topher's robot arms were held on by binder clips which he could not attach himself! I began to brainstorm a solution. The morning of the parade, I had an idea. I used duct tape to create a strap that went across his shoulders, holding the arms in place. He practiced putting the whole thing on, arms first, then the body, then the hat. The shoe covers I made disappeared and were never found, so we made do with his light-up shoes.

Guys, I might be a genius. I'm way prouder of that arm solution than I probably should be.

Did he get the costume on by himself for the parade? Yes!

Were the arms upside down so the strap was on his mid-back instead of his shoulders? Possibly!

Was it still a totally awesome costume? Also yes!

Topher was solidly in character while we walked the parade route. Some of the moms that attended the parade told me afterward that they tried to get Topher's attention while we walked past them. He turned his head toward them with a robotic movement, then made some beeping and booping sounds, and kept walking. He might be a method actor.

Mr. Robot

We went to a trunk or treat party tonight and Topher won second place in the costume contest! He was surprised and delighted! The announcer had each kid say who they were dressed as. Topher used a robot voice when he spoke into the mic and said, "I am a ro-bot." I think that probably helped.

Feeling Green

I've been busy painting. Now that we have three kids at home, our kid to room ratio has changed. Everyone gets their own room! I even told them I would paint their room a color of their choosing, within reason. I did veto Topher's original pick. Sorry to my friend Elise who loves orange, it felt too bold for walls. He went with this spring green instead. Now that it's done, he calls it his earth room. He seems pretty pleased with the result.

I Will Walk With Jesus

Yesterday was our congregation's annual primary program! The kids spent all year learning songs to share with the ward, plus each child wrote their own speaking part based on a prompt I gave them. They all did a great job! A lot of work goes into making this Sunday happen and I'm so glad the kids were happy with it.

Here are the songs the kids sang for the program:

I Will Walk with Jesus
Kindness Begins with Me/I Will Follow God’s Plan
Holy Places
He Cares for Me
Close as a Quiet Prayer
I Have Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
Gethsemane
Because
This Little Light of Mine
Choose to Serve the Lord

Topher was the first speaker. I'll share the prompt he was given and what he wrote (and then delivered from the pulpit) in response.

Prompt: This year in primary we sang the song I Will Follow God’s Plan. Who is your favorite old testament hero who followed God’s plan? Why? In under one minute, tell us about a time you followed God’s plan.

Topher: My favorite Old Testament hero is David. He killed Goliath when no one else even dared to do it. He was just a young shepherd boy and he had a lot of faith in the Lord. He followed God’s plan by trusting the Lord and having faith. One time I followed God’s plan was when I got baptized and confirmed. I’ll never forget that time, even when I’m an old man. And I also read the scriptures and I pray and I always follow God’s plan. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

In-House Costume Department: Halloween Mode

Sawubona

Topher gave his first real (as in, not during testimony meeting or the primary program) talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. He took notes during General Conference, which provided the outline for his remarks. On Saturday afternoon I typed while he dictated, then I asked follow-up questions and typed his responses. This talk is 95% him and 5% me.

And, even though he was very nervous, he did a great job delivering it.

Sawubona is a phrase from southern Africa that means “I see you.” I know this phrase from a talk in General Conference. The person who said it is the new General Primary President named Rosemary K. Chibota. She said, “This greeting is much more than a simple “hello.” It is an acknowledgement of another person’s worth and humanity. It communicates “I recognize you, I respect you. You matter.”” Close quote. Jesus was really good at this. He saw the woman at the well and He told her that He was the Messiah. He saw the blind man and healed him. Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan who saw a child of God instead of an enemy. Someone who saw me as a child of God was Brother W. because he let me give this talk and I’ve always wanted to give a talk in sacrament meeting. He saw I really wanted to do this even though I’m little. My testimony is that you can see others for who they really are, children of God. You can practice by saying “I recognize you, I respect you, and you matter“ just like Jesus did. We are all children of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Walk On

I got to watch Topher at his Fitness Walk yesterday. He had fun and did a good job following directions. I wish I'd gotten a picture of him throwing a football through a hula-hoop, his aim was great!

Examine Your Feelings

This morning while getting ready for school, the following conversation took place.

Topher: Mom (said with a big sigh), I'm feeling obnoxious.

Me: Oh?

Topher: Yeah.

Me: You're feeling obnoxious?

Topher: (another sigh) Yeah.

Me: What does that word mean?

Topher: I don't know, that's just how I'm feeling.

In the Quiet, Misty Morning

We finished our fourth week of school today. I celebrated by waking up with a horrible headache, possibly due to starting each day at 6:00 in the morning, pushing myself to keep working until bedtime, and then going to sleep somewhere around midnight.

I do not recommend this schedule.

Bryan handled all the morning work of getting the kids to school while I laid in bed in my dark room with my hand over my eyes, trying to get the pain to go away.

And then I slept for most of the morning.

The purpose of this post is not to complain, though I've definitely done that. My goal in writing about my early mornings and late nights is to say, yes, it's hard and I'm exhausted. But I really like having a little bit of time with each kid before school. I sit and talk with Phoebe while she waits for her ride to seminary. I sit in the car and talk with Sophie while we wait for the bus. I have nearly an hour of one-on-one time with Topher after Sophie leaves and before he catches his bus.

We have mornings that are rushed and chaotic and contentious. And we have peaceful, calm mornings. Which we get depends largely on how late the kids (even the grown-up kids) were up the night before.

Yesterday morning I was waiting for Sophie to be ready to leave when I looked out at our backyard. This picture doesn't do justice to how beautiful these trees were. It is autumn, but none of these leaves have turned orange yet. That's all early morning sunlight turning the green to gold. It was so lovely that I stepped outside into the chilly morning and took this picture. I would have missed that if I hadn't been up earlier than I wanted to be. And I would miss the time I'm getting with each kid. I think that's even better than watching the sunrise on the trees.

Sleep Is Contagious

Sometimes Cooper puts more than Topher to sleep at bedtime.

Nice Work If You Can Get It

On the short drive to the bus stop this morning:

Topher: I don't think I'm going to get a job when I grow up.

Me: (pondering how to both listen without judgement and inform him that he will likely need a job): Oh? Why?

Topher: I just want to spend my time being with my family.

Me: Well, that's very nice, but I think your siblings will probably go off to college and start lives of their own.

Topher: No, I mean spend time with my own family. I want to get married and have kids and not have a job so I can watch movies with them and play games and have picnics.

Me: That sounds like a really fun idea, but how will you pay for things like food and housing?

Topher: (thinks this over for a moment): I'll just marry someone rich.

Homeworking

Pucker Up

"Smoochy kiss is a kiss on the lips, a kiss is a kiss on the cheek or the nose." - The laws of romance according to Topher.

See the Need

I mowed the lawn today. This is usually Cooper's job, but between all the hours he's been working at Chick-fil-a and the crazy rainstorms we've been getting, he hadn't been able to get to it for a while. It took me five hours to do the whole thing, and that's after Cooper had put in about 30 minutes mowing before work.

Our lawn is not flat. The main part of the lawn has some gentle sloping. We also have a significant swale in the back. All of it had to be mowed today. This meant sometimes while mowing uphill, the lawnmower was higher than my head. It was hard physical labor.

By the time I finished at 5:00, I was exhausted and I ached all over. While I was nearing the end I noticed that Topher had come out onto the deck. He set-up some camping chairs, then brought out plates and his water bottle (mine was already on the deck). When I turned off the mower for the last time today, Topher informed me that he'd prepared a picnic for us. "I made you a corn tortilla! I got out a quesadilla from the bag and put cheese on it and cooked it for you."

I did not point out that some of those words were swapped. I love that he saw me working hard and wanted to show his love through an act of service. After I put the lawnmower in the garage and washed my hands, I joined him on the deck. It felt good to sit after such a long day. The company was pretty sweet too.

Back on the Bus

The last time I sent only three kids to school was ten years ago. Here's proof of that. It was Phoebe's first day of Kindergarten, Cooper's first day of 3rd grade, and Peter's first day of 5th grade.

And here we are again, but this time with Phoebe in 10th grade, Sophie in 7th grade, and Topher in 3rd grade.

Until seminary starts, the girls will be on the same bus in the mornings.

Everyone reported that they all had a great first day!

Lost in a Book

Making Faces

I subbed for our ward choir director yesterday after church. While Cooper and I were in choir, Bryan counted tithing in the clerk's office and the girls were in a leadership meeting. Where, you may ask, was Topher?

He was entertaining himself in the nursery with the playdoh.

All the Books

We spent all day back to school shopping yesterday. It was tiring, but productive.

We did have one big distraction though: we walked by the books.

Phoebe snapped this picture of Topher reaching for his favorite book series. When he turned and saw all those books he gasped and ran to them, then asked if he could please spend his school clothes budget on books instead.

It made my reading mom heart happy.