Week of Projects

 

Thank heavens we had a boring week. Evelyn was in a terrible mood for a few days because she was missing her cousins and Mia left for camp. I about lost my mind by Wednesday...the summer "mom loses her mind" finally caught up. Evelyn threw her dirty clothes on my bathroom floor, I politely requested she pick them up and put her clothes in the dirty pile. She flounced off. I threw her clothes into the bathroom trash can. She freaked out when she saw that. I told her she could take her clothes out if she put them in the dirty clothes. Tears. I went downstairs to eat breakfast. She started throwing tiny pieces of corn chips at me then demanded I make her eggs. Once again, I requested she pick up the chips first. She screamed bloody murder at me then ran upstairs and locked my bathroom door from the outside. Once I discovered this I locked myself in my room while I worked on unlocking the door. She went berserk! I told her I was in time-out because I did not want to spank her and regret it. A few minutes later she apologized after picking up her chip mess and her PJs. Still, I was all charged up and emotionally tired after only an hour into the day. We got our snuggles on and apologized. She did write Justin a note that said, "I Hete You." He corrected her spelling and got a new note spelled correctly. The next day I got a note saying, "I Hate You" in ugly handwriting and "I love you" in curly writing. Guess she is ambivalent about her feelings right now. She wants to sleep in our bed every single night for some reason. Instead she is falling asleep in bottom bunk snuggled next to me. It's ok to feel all the feels! 

Everett endured his electronic isolation for 3 days without complaining. He spent several hours mastering the game of Cat's Cradle with whomever he could convince to play with him. He wrote out a plan to deal with his anger at home and school. We talked quite a bit this week that anger is not a true emotion, it's an emotion driven by other deeper causes. He made a goal (for the youth program) to control his anger for three weeks. He does not want to go visit Utah because he feels left out when everyone else has a cousin near their age. This prompted some discussion with Phillip protecting his brother and making sure Everett is included. Justin wants to make t-shirts that say "Bros before Dinos!!!" Being a parent is hard! Everett had a friend over on Thursday, he ignored his friend for an HOUR while he chatted with Ronald from AZ. I was livid he treated someone the same way he was just treated last week. Argh! Do they never learn?

Josie and Oliver made $8 this week selling rocks they chipped into pieces, the chipped pieces were quite sparkly. I dug into my pockets and bought two pink/white quartz rocks for $1.00 plus two kinder eggs. Those two were outside for 3 days manning their rock stand. It was cute. The red sunset one evening was freaking Jo out, Oliver set up umbrellas to protect her from the deadly rays. She also used makeup to make herself into an Elsa Superhero. Punch, punch, bam! Evelyn seemed to hurt every part of her body this week from her ankles, to her ears, to her fingers, to her knees, and on. Every day she is complaining about something new hurting. I cleaned out her ears several times this week, her earwax blockages finally came loose on Thursday. Thursday we visited a new park with a splash pad and cool sand/water area. The older kids were bored in about 15 minutes. We managed to stay 90 minutes because of prayer and patience. 

Mia had a great week with the young ladies from our ward. We dropped off her gear Tuesday night for the leaders to take up early. Wednesday she went to seminary then got picked up for a day at Eagle Island State park. The girls met up again for dinner and water games. The Stake arranged to provide breakfast early Thursday morning before the girls left for camp. I hear she had a great time at camp. She did not miss her phone at all! (ha ha ha). The girls enjoyed some games as an ice breaker. They explored City of Rocks on Friday along with some rappelling. She was dropped off Saturday mid-afternoon to relax before going swimming for the evening. I hope she was able to forge amazing bonds with other girls in our ward. 

I worked on refinishing a mirror and bench to match my bedroom decor. The little girls helped me paint the frame and stool a fun reddish-pink color. I sold the dining set, much to my delight on Thursday. The little girls went with me to DI and Salvation Army where Evelyn spotted a cute IKEA craft table. I refinished that as well since I had the supplies out. Sara and I took a night off for dinner and shopping at Joann's for fabric and beads. Thank you to the guys for taking over for a few hours. Our mental state was in need of a break. 

Saturday was a busy day. I made 6 quarts of raspberry or blackberry jam, fresh bread, and homemade spaghetti sauce. In between the kitchen stuff we watched the Ostlers, ferried girls to pick up girls and go swim, worked on the furniture projects, and ran several errands. Justin worked half the day as things at work are quite busy once again. The boys drained the pool and moved it closer to the house by several feet because it was slowly slipping into the lawn! Our patio is at a slight decline, so the water movement was inching the pool off the patio. The boys got a lesson on ironing their church shirts! Phillip loved how smooth his shirt was. Everett mastered the iron like a pro. I'm not sure they understand that now I'll expect ironed shirts for church?! 

Evelyn looked adorbs for church this morning. She wanted to wear her new Pioneer outfit in honor of Pioneer Day. The kids sang in church so that was a bonus surprise.