General Conference View: October 2023 Edition

Traditional Saturday morning Conference breakfast:

Viewing party:

Sunday walk between sessions:

Tomorrow

Remember the children's choir concert we had a few weeks ago? Sophie and her friend Gemma sang this fantastic rendition of Tomorrow from Annie. While I'm sharing this with all of you lovely readers, I suspect the grandparents will be particularly interested.

Self Discovery

Today marks one month since school started. Now that I've had a month of being at home while the kids are at school, I've learned a few things about myself that I probably already knew.

• I'm really good at staying busy
• I'm not great at making myself rest when I need it
• I want to let the kids be responsible for their own chores
• I also want to jump in and help them with their chores when they're busy
• I'm much more bothered by the house falling apart than they are
• I can either spend my day picking up the slack from them not doing their chores, or I can work on my own projects that need to get done, I can't do both
• I often have more projects to do than energy to do them
• I wake up early to help the kids get out the door
• I still stay up way too late, usually sitting with a kid who has procrastinated their homework
• I am not taking enough naps
• I need to schedule time during the day to see and speak with other humans
• I miss my kids when they're at school
• I appreciate the quiet house when I'm the only one here
• I really love getting to talk with Bryan during the day, uninterrupted
• I like listening to audiobooks directly from my phone and not having to use my earbuds all the time
• I like chipping away at the to-do list I've held for so long
• I wish I could chip away at it faster
• I go on much faster walks by myself than when I walk with the kids
• I'm taking way fewer pictures of the kids than I used to
• I don't mind driving to pick them up from or deliver them to after-school activities
• I do a lot more listening than talking now

I wonder what revelations about myself will come from the second month of school.

It Adds A Different Vibe

We usually don't decorate for Halloween until General Conference weekend (which is only a few days away!), but I let Phoebe make our house spooky a little early this year. She put up the pumpkins and candle in this picture. We don't know who put up the doll leg. No one has owned up to this creepy bit of decor.

Food In Another Form

Topher is exceptionally picky when it comes to food, especially at dinnertime. He often announces that he hates the food in front of him, usually without taking a bite. This leads to a lot of frustration and hunger.

He started down this path on Sunday evening. I had prepared chicken drumsticks, rice pilaf, and carrots. Topher was ranting about how awful the food was. I stepped away to get something and when I came back I heard him say this to Bryan, "Wait, you mean this (indicating the chicken leg) is made of chicken nuggets?! I love those!"

And then he ate the chicken.

Tonight at dinner we had pasta with tomato sauce and lots of melted mozzarella. Someone told him it was basically just pizza in a different shape. And then he ate the pasta.

I need to figure out how to expand this to more meals.

Bedtime Selfie

Action Shots

Photo credits for the first three go to Cooper.

Out and About

One year ago today Topher was fully vaccinated for COVID. That means it was one year ago today that, after two and a half years at home, we returned to attending activities in person. It was overwhelming and surreal at first, but it got easier as the days and weeks went on.

Today I made three round trips between our house and the high school (a total of thirty minutes there and back) in the space of three hours. Instead of feeling grumpy and put out that I had been in the car for so long, I felt thankful that my kids are able to have extracurricular activities that happen in person and not just over a computer screen.

The New View

The big drama at our house today (for me at least) centered around watching the yard across the street go from this:

To this:

I know that I have no say over what my neighbors do to their property, but I already miss those big beautiful trees. Peter pointed out one benefit: now when we walk by we don't have to wonder if there's a bear hiding amongst the branches.

Homemade Royalty

Topher came home on the first day of school and announced that he had a new best friend and her name was Madison. He's mentioned her a few times since. This morning I helped him finish making a crown for her. He designed and drew it, I just helped with the tape. He gave it to her at school and we got a an email and a picture from his teacher exclaiming that "Topher is so sweet!"

When asked why he made the crown he replied, "Because I love her."

That prompted my follow-up question, "You love her like a sister?"

He responded, "Yep."

Just checking.