October General Conference 2020 Edition

 

The weeks galloped away from me! I neglected to narrate last week because we had visitors from Arizona to entertain us. 

Our school week was quite strange! I photographed 80 children for Homeschool-School Photos. I used sign-up genius to organize the event. I had kids coming every 15 minutes for most of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a few scheduled on Tues/Thurs mornings. School, of course looked a bit different. Evelyn did her math, spelling, and phonics work in the garage between photo slots. I had the boy's work scheduled out so they worked quite well on their own. They were even able to get their online classes working for science and history. Amelia was a huge help managing Josie and Evelyn when needed. Amelia completed 2 weeks worth of school work in 4 days. Once you get into the groove it's easy to get ahead. She finished so quickly I also asked her to compile a family class on voting and the Electoral College. By the end of the week the kids completed all their work! Yee haw. I had a huge pile of 80 kid photos to edit...but the editing was so light because the photos were studio style and meant to be candid. I did have a couple of kids with acne or wearing eye glasses, so that took a few moments to fix. Evelyn had another massive tantrum. I locked her outside until she calmed down a little. She decorated the glass door with water in an attempt to get me upset. We are in a pickle with that girl. Her counselor suggested we try a psychologist instead of a child counselor. It would be nice to test her for ADD and such. 

So Phillip is in this moment where he constantly talks nonsense. He will approach me and say "My name is cheese-man and I like to eat my beef in a hot dog made of toes." His current name is hotdog-tortellini-hippo-dolphin. Phillip dump the garbage, response: "I like to eat beef and cheese in my brain." What does that even mean?  "Apple sauce." Phillip, go do your school work, "honk, honk" with crossed eyes and a stupid look on his face while flapping his hands.  Mia, I'm sweating apply juice out of my forehead, you will sweat apple juice out of your toes. My computer monitor turns off, "mom, why does it do that?" I don't know. "Well, that makes a good hotdog roasting system." Anyway, I cannot even begin to capture his normal conversations and personality. Just know it's epic. 

Justin got the boys new fishing poles last week. We took a family evening to round up the kids and go fishing. The ponds were stocked that day so we hoped for a better than usual result. Rounding up kids is an exercise in frustration. Justin's face was bordering on psycho before he finally got into the truck. Sharing 3 poles proved an exercise in patience. Still, the night was cool and the pond quite lovely. Several hundred ducks and water birds shared the pond, it was quite noisy at night! We were way too noisy to catch any fish. Everett and Phillip caught several hooks full of pond weeds so that was exciting. Mia and I scoped the area as a possible photo op location. Fall is proving is gorgeous colors! 

Wednesday I found a gal selling a lot of American Girl sized toys. We drove out to her home with the intent to buy her almost new schoolhouse (like Emmie and Penny have). We walked out with a bag of clothes/shoes, a laundry system, a vet set, a camper, jeep, and travel set...drumroll...all for $60. The schoolhouse alone used is over $60. I gave her an extra $10 because she was totally underselling the toys. The kids came home and unloaded the haul into the front room. The Ostler's came over for a very exciting evening with the new toys. Next day I organized the toy closet and made room for the new toys inside the closet. I am thrilled the girls have amazing role-play toys to use. Josie and Evelyn are spending hours up in the closet playing dolls. While thrifting for Halloween stuff Mia found a Cactus Joe costume, man-sized onesie, for Phillip. Phillip is completely thrilled with that find especially since cousin Everett loves cactus man. 

Josie is in love with Jo-Jo Swia. This child icon is quite annoying with her shows, songs, and fan apparel. Her signature look is bright funky colors with a huge bow on her head. Josie found Jojo shoes at Walmart, a shirt and a bow to complete the outfit. I think Josie looks way cuter than Jo-jo...she is OUR Jojo. 

Conference weekend was amazing. The kids worked on embroidery during the sessions. I traced designs on tea towel material for the boys to work on. Everett had a monkey design and Phillip chose Stitch. Evelyn and I worked on a pre-designed unicorn set. Amelia traced a cute baby Yoda design. She later water-colored inside her stitches and wrote, "when they say no more chikky nuggies." I worked on a floral design. Quiet work helps me listen and concentrate...except when the kids poke me every two seconds for help. In a nutshell, the speakers focused on unity, overcoming prejudice, being recommended to the Lord, being prepared, having hope, and finding joy in Christ. Each talk was amazing. We noted how many times 4 Nephi and President Nelson's April closing talk were referenced. Feels like the end scenes are closing in faster and faster. In between sessions we worked on deep cleaning our house. The baseboards were looking grubby. Work slaves! Work! Justin whipped up conference crepes between sessions on Sunday.