Troubadour

Sophie was invited to participate in an open mic tonight. I was her ride and stayed to watch. She brought her ukulele and ended up singing four songs. She sounded amazing!

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.

Group Chat

It's really special having two missionaries out at once. It was extra cool on Monday to get to talk to them at the same time.

What Does the Fox Say?

Art Club applications were due this week at the middle school. Everyone had to submit a piece of art to get in. Sophie stayed up much later than was wise and created this beautiful fall scene with oil pastels. The fox is my favorite part.

The Badge

His tags finally came! He was already official, but now he looks the part.

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.

Set Apart

Cooper was set apart as a missionary tonight! He starts home-MTC tomorrow morning. This is all suddenly very real. I've definitely been giving him more hugs, trying to fill up our hug buckets to last for two years.

I'm so happy he's made the choice to serve a mission.

Nearing the Starting Line

Cooper is one step closer to starting his mission. Today he got the yellow fever vaccine. It's an immunization that you get once in your life and is required for his mission. The doctor, who specializes in vaccines required to visit other countries, also recommended a typhoid vaccine since he's going to Brazil. So Cooper got two vaccines for one visit.

We had to wait for ten minutes after the shots to make sure he didn't have a reaction. I took this picture during that waiting time.

Sleep Is Contagious

Sometimes Cooper puts more than Topher to sleep at bedtime.

Peter: Week 7 in Pictures

 

This is the only picture he shared from last week. Well, there was one other, but it was of street names, so I'm not going to post that here.

And with that we're caught up!

Crazy Days of Summer

I took this picture of Sophie after church on Sunday, she fell asleep while drawing. 

School starts on Monday. This summer has been so busy, going back to school might feel more like a rest than work.

Based on the picture, I think a rest is needed.

Lost in a Book

Bump, Set, Spike

Sophie spent Monday and Tuesday evening trying out for the middle school volleyball team. Tuesday night the coaches made the first round of cuts and Sophie was invited back to continue trying out on Wednesday night.

On that final evening, the coaches sent all the girls home with a letter in an envelope telling whether they made the team or not and told them not to open the letters until they were in their cars.

This is what Sophie's said:

She is thrilled! When she read the letter she cried happy tears. Each night she came out of the tryout and said that playing volleyball brought her so much joy. I'm so happy that she gets to play this season!

She had her first practice yesterday and this is the selfie she took afterward, the happiness is pouring out of her.

After her practice we attended a volleyball family booster dinner. Her coach came over and introduced himself. He enthusiastically praised Sophie's tryout and told us that for every four girls that tried out, only one got in.

Well done, Sophie!

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.

Making Music With My Friends*

Sophie and I had a ukulele gig on Saturday. We played in a room with really amazing acoustics.

It's such a blessing to sing and play with this group and I'm so glad we're both in it.

It fills my soul.

*This is a line from one of the songs in our concert set, does anyone know the song without Googling it?

When In Rome

I had a great time tonight with friends watching a Shakespeare production I'd never seen or read. Coriolanus was very well done. For me, a mark of good Shakespeare is how easy it is to understand. The actors did a great job making the meaning of their words clear. I was also pleased with how quickly my brain switched into Shakespeare mode. It's good to know that knowledge still exists in my brain!

Rain, Rain

We've been in a drought this summer. A Pennsylvania drought looks different than a California drought or a Utah drought. The grass is still mostly green, but it's not the vibrant green it usually is. We've had a few storms, but not as many as usual.

The storm we're having today feels like it's trying to make up for all the rain we've missed.

The youth activity for tonight was cancelled because roads are flooded.

I had to drive through the storm multiple times.

It felt biblical.

This picture doesn't do it justice.

Library Day

Photographic Evidence

"Topher, what's on your neck? Is that chocolate? How did you get chocolate on your neck?!"

Sometimes when you sneak chocolate chips out of the pantry, there's evidence.