Well Prepared or Funny Children

When I went to tuck Blythe into bed last night, this is what I found along her floor.  It is everything she needs to get ready for school in the morning.  Underwear, trousers, socks, shirt, hairbrush, hairbob, glasses, earrings, necklace, backpack.  The girl is set!

The Book of Mormon

We finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family on Saturday.  This is our second time through, Yahoo us!  I told the children we could go for frozen yogurt to celebrate our accomplishment, and tonight we went, after family home evening.  When we finished and had read Moroni's promise in Chapter 10, I said to the children, "I would encourage you to take Moroni's challenge and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true."

Blythe immediately said, "Why would I do that?  I already know it's true."

"Yeah," added Brandt.  "Me too."

I was delighted to know they felt this way about the Book of Mormon.  I, too, know it's true and find strength and direction in studying it.  I'm glad, as parents, we're doing something right.

Responsibility

Both the Johnsens and our neighbors the Daws are out of town for Thanksgiving.  We're watching their dogs.  Kila is with us, but Hound is staying at his house.  He's chained up in the backyard during the day, and we've been putting him in at night.  Both dogs have needed regular walking, and Brandt has been very good this week at seeing our furry friends get out and about.  Hound is a big, strong dog who is always keen to be going, so walking him is no easy task.  Kila is very accommodating, as she she is a bit nervous around Hound, is good to stay right by us as we walk.  Here we are, out for a morning stroll, headed up the street.  The title of this picture: A boy and two dogs.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving came early this year.  Christopher and Tysen and Guy and Mikayla were going to be gone, and Eugene and Sharae were going to be with the Cleverlys, so we decided to give thanks on Sunday.  We gathered at Christopher and Tysen's house for delicious food and lively conversation.  The children ate rolls and two pieces of turkey and then played and played with cousins.  Kent and I lingered with the adults and talked as we ate.  We talked about how blessed we are, how good our lives are, and what overwhelming abundance we enjoy.  We've got it better than good.

Here's the one picture I've got of this gathering,

a photo of the food taken by Mikayla.

It was delicious.

On actual Thanksgiving, we hosted a small group of people at our house.  Mom was going to do a whole Thanksgiving at her house with Bryan and Missy, their kids, and Jeff Russell.  She wasn't going to have much help.  So I suggested that they all meet at our house as we were going to feed the missionaries and Richard Ledford.  Mom didn't think Bryan would want to come with the missionaries there, but I assured her that they would not get preachy about anything and that all could safely eat together.  Everyone was open to meeting at our house, so we gathered.  Mom came over early to help prepare food which was super, super helpful.  It was nice to have quality time with her, mostly just the two of us, talking as we worked together.  I don't get much time like that with my mom, and it was great to preparing together in the kitchen.  The children and Kent set the table with the fancy plates, silver, and stemware, and we had a lovely and delicious meal.  Bryan and Missy took off fairly quickly after dinner, but Mom and the missionaries stayed and played Mexican train.  It was so nice.  Once again, I only got pictures of food, although I did take a picture of the missionaries which I texted to their families.

Bacon wrapped sausages called chipolatas.

Sarah Westerberg makes them and they sounded delicious.

I gave them a try.

Unfortunately, I overcooked them.

We still ate all but three.

It's pretty hard to resist pork anything.

Pecan pie.

A++

The list of things I'm grateful for is long.  My life is about as good as it can get and I'm beyond fortunate.  While I don't want to eat like we do on Thanksgiving every day, I do want to have a thankful heart every day.

While I didn't take many pictures today, I discovered that Blythe took a couple of herself.  She's a funny girl!

She's wearing her pajamas in this picture, so it must be early-ish in the day.

When Blythe doesn't have to go to school, she is frequently in her pajamas until nearly lunchtime.

A Greek Play

Brandt's most recent social studies unit has been about the Greek gods.  He's learned all about Zeus and Hera, Poseidon and other minor gods.  He's shared all sorts of fun stories with us, including all about Cyclops and Odysseus.  He drew a Grecian urn with Cyclops on it.  The culminating activity for this Greek unit was a Greek play, complete with memorized parts, scenery, and costumes.  There were different plays and Brandt got to be in Vanity Fair: the story of Echo and Narcissus.  He was Scene Sprite 2 and had one line, which I must say he delivered with confidence and clarity.  His line was, "Scene Two: Talk Isn't Cheap."  The kids did a great job, it was super fun to see them perform, and Brandt looked great in his laurel crown and toga.  Brandt is having a great time in sixth grade.

During the performance

 After the performance. 

This is the sign Brandt made, and I don't know why he didn't get to use it during the play.

He brought it home.

Our very own handsome Greek hero.

A Last?

Brandt spoke today in Primary.  He did a fine job preparing, coming up with the ideas and writing most of it, with a bit of fine tuning help from me.  I'm wondering if this will be the last time he speaks in Primary.  Maybe not.  His birthday isn't until July, but there are a lot of kids in Primary, and this may be it for him.  The next time he speaks in church it may be in sacrament meeting!  Here's his talk.  The theme was "I can be a missionary now."

Full-time missionaries leave home for two years or 18 months to serve where they are called.  I'm not old enough to go a mission right now, but I can be a missionary now. 

Missionaries serve others.  I can serve my family, neighbors, and friends.  Some of our family and friends don't have the gospel.  Service is a kind deed that makes others happy and helps them.

I can invite people to scouts.  The scout motto is "Do a Good Turn Daily," and "A scout is friendly."

I can set a good example.  When people see our good example, they will want to know more about what makes us happy and kind.

I can also study the gospel.  I can read the scriptures and conference talks, and pay attention in my church classes.

Finally, I can ask people if they want to know more about the gospel and pray for them.

I know the Church is true.  I know Joseph Smith was a prophet.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

A Playful Visitor

Mikayla had an appointment today, and I had Cora and Kal.  Brick was at pre-school.  I had warned the children that Cora and Kal would be with me, and suggested they put away anything they didn't want them playing with, including a bunch of Legos they had all over the floor.  Blythe's action to my suggestion was to put her Lego house creation on the library table in the office.  Here's the thing about that; Cora is tall enough to see the Lego creation sitting on the library table.  It's bright, inviting, and easily accessible.  I came into the office to find her playing, moving little bits around the house, taking parts off and putting them on elsewhere, and generally having a marvelous time.  She looked so happy, I couldn't make her stop.  So I took a picture and steeled myself for the fallout I knew I would get from Blythe when she got home.  For that cute Cora, I'm willing to take the heat!

She looks so guilty in this picture.

So darling and cute, but so guilty!

Rank Advancement

Tonight at a scout court of honor, Brandt received both his Scout and Tenderfoot rank advancements.  His leader, Casey Decio is the one giving him his award.  I'm pleased that Brandt is making good progress in the scouting program.  He's got good leaders who've been helping him along.  Brandt likes scouts and I think he's learning good things.  To receive his Tenderfoot, he had to go on a campout, prepare food while there, show how to care for and use a knife, know some knots and first aid, show some fitness improvement, know how to raise and lower the flag, do a service project, and show some scout spirit.  What fine skills to be developing.  It's been fun for Brandt to have Kent with him too.  Hoorah for scouting!

Helping to Move

Eugene and Sharae bought a new house that has been under construction for many months.  They moved out of their old house in April and into my mom's house, and have been watching their new home come together.  This weekend, after a delay of a couple of weeks, they were finally able to get in.  Yahoo!! We're so happy for them.  It's a larger house with a better layout and much better space for them to be.  It's just great.  

Today we helped them move stuff in, mostly the stuff that has been at my mom's house for the past six plus months.  We filled a large moving van, and then, gratefully, had ward help in the unloading.  We went up and down stairs many times, but got everything in so that they should be able to sleep there tonight.  I'll go over again tomorrow and help unbox stuff.  Mikayla came to help, along with her children.  Brick and Collin played together, and Cora followed them around, but Kal quickly tired of being in his car seat and wanted to be out moving around.  Mikayla tried to make a "fort" to keep him contained in the corner of the room, but determined to be free, Kal scaled boxes to get out.  Here is the end result: an exhausted Mikayla holding Kal's foot so he doesn't escape.  You can't really see his face, but he's crying because he's not happy about being held down.

Morning Glorious

This sky greeted me as I came out of the gym this morning.

WOW!

Mother Nature's got it going on!

Cousins

Blythe hung out at Mikayla's house today.

She snuggled with Cora and Kila while watching a movie.

Cuteness overload right there!

SEPs and Yogurt

This week the kids are out early the last three days for SEPs (student, educator, parent conferences).  I went with each of them to get a report on their school progress, and was very happy to hear how well they are both doing.  They are good in class, learning wonderful things, and performing well.  Blythe isn't enjoying math and continues to give both us and even Mrs. Harrington a bit of grief about it.  We need to continue to work on her fast facts.  Reading wise, however, she's got over 100 AR points which is stellar!  Brandt's teacher said that her class this year are not readers, but that we certainly can't say that about Brandt, who is reading well.  He needs to work on his reading aloud fluency, but that's an easy thing we can have him do with us.  Overall, I was so pleased, I bought everyone frozen yogurt to celebrate school.  Mikayla and her crew came with, because who doesn't like a bit of frozen yogurt on a Thursday afternoon?

An Email to Charles

As the title says, this is an email I wrote to Charles, and I like the brief but fairly thorough run down of what's happening in our lives this minute.  So here we are.

Good morning dear Charles,

It's just after 7:00am and Brandt and I are up.  Kent is out of town.  He's gone to his aunt's funeral in Reno.  This is an aunt I don't think I've ever met, it's an 8 hour drive, and someone needs to wrangle the children, so I stayed home.  Brandt was put out that he didn't get to go until I told him the trip consisted of 16 hours sitting in the car, an hour and a half sitting in a funeral, and sleeping in a hotel room with three other people.  He was glad he stayed home.

Speaking of Brandt, we just measured him this morning.  He is 5 feet tall.  I can't snuggle him very well anymore, he's big, but he's a great kid and I'm glad he's growing up as he should.  He informed me this morning that he's the nicest kid in 6th grade, and that's just the way I want it.  He's learning to play the trombone and blarts around the house.  He'll have his first concert at the beginning of December.  We can hardly wait!!  He came home and performed a science experiment, melting and evaporating ice cubes in a pan.  Very scientific!  He is in scouts, and fortunately, Kent is his leader.  They go off together on Wednesday evenings to do thrifty, preparedness stuff.  On Saturday they met at a nearby park and did orienteering.  

Blythe is enjoying many parts of fourth grade.  However, when talking about what she likes about school, she said, "I don't especially like math."  She's struggling a bit with her multiplication fast facts.  Her reading, however, if fantastic.  Kent and I read aloud to the children each evening, and sometimes she can't stand the wait from day to day and reads ahead.  Warms my heart, but leaves me behind in the story sometimes.  She has decided she wants to take horse riding lessons from her Aunt Alisa, and has begun begging hourly to sign her up.  She also posted her Christmas want list on our bedroom door this week.  It's lengthy.  I fear she's going to be disappointed come Christmas morning.

The weather has turned cold.  We got wispy snow yesterday, though nothing stuck to the ground and by the afternoon, the sun was out.  We had our roof replaced last week which has needed to be since we moved in.  We've had a leak which was getting worse, and I'm glad that's been fixed.  It's expensive and a house project that very few, if any, people will notice or ever comment on.  It would be much nicer to use that money to do something inside the house, like redo our bathroom or kitchen or the basement.  But it had to be done, so there we are.  And it got finished before the weather turned foul.  

Brick, Cora, and Kal came to be with us for a bit yesterday.  Cora always wants to eat and goes right to the kitchen counter as soon as she comes in the house.  Brick wants to play with "nunchuks" and goes immediately to Brandt's room to find them.  Kal is crawling now and made a beeline for Brandt's Legos which were out on the hearth.  I had to move him clear across the room and then speedily pick them all up, but he's fast and made it back to me before I was actually finished.  They are funny kids.  I love having them here.

Eugene and Sharae are moving into their new house today.  Yeah!!!!!  It's a lovely home, with much more space, and I hope it will be wonderful for them.  I hope they can take care of it better than they did their old house.  I will go down today and help them.  I think Sue will be happy to have her house to herself.  It's been a long time.

Brandt is sitting on my lap as I write.  Remember how I said he's not little and snugglable anymore?  My legs are falling asleep.  Not only that, I need to get Blythe up so she can get to school.  So I will end here.  I'm sorry we didn't get to see you last month.  I hope you are doing well.  Consider joining us for Christmas.  We'd love to have you here.

Love you lots and lots!!!

Date Night

This evening, Kent and I went to see Joshua Bell accompanied by Alessio Bax at BYU as part of the Bravo Arts Series.  BYU brings in really fantastic performers and for relatively little effort, we can see and hear wonderful music and plays and art of various sorts.  Both Bell and Bax played divinely.  We were transported by their music.  And I got to be with my favorite date.