Fall Arrives, then Leaves...ha ha ha

I had all the intentions to write over Conference Weekend, didn't happen. Instead we enjoyed a nice weekend listening to the words of our leaders. So here I am two weeks late struggling to recall what happened, I'm relying on my poorly managed calendar. 

Phillip got away from school for an hour for a little cavity he was growing. His face was completely numb on one side, it was quite the new sensation for him to experience. Amelia decided the Jazz class was not her thing, the teacher and other students were going to fast. She did not have enough experience to keep up after so many years away from dance. She really wants to try Ballroom dancing but those classes are too far away from us to make it work this semester. Evelyn is now taking hip hop dance so she can have a class of her own. It's working out well for her. The YW activity last week was painting a fence for the Salvation Army office with the missionaries. Looks like the girls spent more time painting each other! 

Evelyn earned Student of the Week on 26 September! She was moping around over the weekend complaining about never getting recognition at school! Hooray, she did it! Evelyn is struggling with school, it's boring most of the time and hard all at the same time. Evelyn feels like a failure in spelling, writing, and math. She comes home smelling like sweat if we forgot morning deodorant. I messaged Mrs Gingerich about Evelyn's attitude at home toward school. She sent me back the sweetest reassuring message! Mrs Gingerich wrote that Evelyn is a model of kindness toward others that are having a hard time. Last week one little girl was really missing her Dad, Evelyn switched her seat to sit next to her classmate and held her hand. Evelyn has such a sweet and gentle heart we often miss here at home. I am learning to listen to Evelyn instead of dismissing her words and offering trite advice. 

Friday evening Paula organized a neighborhood gathering. Our newest neighbors came, they moved in over the summer. Amy Freeman and family couldn't come because their dogs caught Parvo, three out of 5 of their dogs died because of the disease. So sad. We sat out in the cold eating desserts. My dessert turned out rock hard, the recipe said to bring to a boil...I did then accidently let it boil for over a minute which caused the syrup to turn into hard candy. Tasted good but was hard enough to break a tooth! Dusty and Sara left at 7 to spend the weekend with her family for Conference. 

Conference was amazing. The overall feel was one of hope and joy, a couple hellfire talks really perked me up. I worked on my gnome cross stitch for one session. In between sessions the girls helped me decorate for fall. I also tackled the hall closet and laundry room. The boy's room was a disaster area because I found a new dresser for their closet. Everett's old plastic drawers are now in the hall closet for gloves and hats. Justin helped the boys fix a couple items on the dresser. Sunday they lugged it upstairs and managed to squeeze it into the closet with only an inch of wiggle room! We worked hard to sort out two large garbage bags of clothes and shoes, stuff they would not wear or was too small. Amelia and I finally got the perler beads sorted into colors, Phillip and Everett helped out here and there. Amelia has worked on that project since Spring. I replaced the fire detector batteries upstairs, it blipped last week completely freaking out the girls. In between sessions on Sunday Justin cooked up the crepe batter I whipped up the night before. We tried out a pumpkin pie filling...it was divine with freshly whipped cream. 

Conference Notes:

New "For Strength of Youth" pamphlet released. This is an exciting change from specific behaviours to a focus on values, principles, and doctrine! I love the subtitle: A guide for making choices. We all loved the story about the dog refusing to perform at a show, his owner later discovered a severe injury causing the dog's abnormal behavior...an example not to judge someone, we may not see their wounds. 

Sister Browning delivered a powerful talk about finding Christ in our lives. Excitingly, she is the first black woman to speak from the pulpit as a presidency member! To help us to remain fixed and heading in the right direction, the Savior invites us to see our lives through Him, in order to see more of Him in our lives.

Elder Renlund spoke about how to receive revelation from the Holy Spirit: scriptures, purview not prerogative, harmony with the commandments, and trust/openness.

President Nelson delivered a powerful talk on "What is True" that from the pulpit today and tomorrow we will hear truth. Satan tries to blur the line between truth and error, God is the source of truth. Abuse is not tolerated in any form, it is an abomination to the Lord. The Savior lifts us above the pull of this fallen world by blessing us with greater … rest.”

I cannot even sum up all the talks, there was a powerful feeling during the sessions. President Nelson seemed to say goodbye during his last talk on Temples. He showed clip of the new Book of Mormon season, where the Savior appeared to the Nephites. Holy smokes, that shook me to my soul. He ended announcing 18 new temple sites. 

Preschool music! Our first class went really well. I had 5 cute little kiddos show up to learn about Clocks. We sang some songs about beats and rhythms, read Hickory, Dickory, Dock, used rhythm instruments to make some fun sounds. It was 30 minutes of magic! I found a fun lady from the UK offering affordable and easy lesson plans for preschool music. It was worth the investment. I even made a Grandfather clock with Everett's trombone box. 

This week we had some fun firsts and one last. Everett ran in the last middle school cross country meet out in Mountain Home. He ran the course in 17m24s, coming in at 73rd place! He shaved off 6m23s from his first meet to his last meet. Not too shabby at all. I had a giggle Thursday morning, went in to wake up the boys...only Everett was awake, dressed, and ready to head downstairs. He was very, very excited for the last meet. He is ready to be done, ready to rest and enjoy more downtime after school. Amelia skipped MCO this week because her first Chamber Choir performance was Thursday at 7 pm. She played the drums for one of the songs. The choir sounded amazing for only 6 weeks of practice. The two of us met up with choir nerds for ice cream after the concert. Mia looked darling in her concert dress. I was relieved Mrs Sene found another pianist, I am actually a terrible pianist! I don't play by the rules, can sight read relatively well but never progress past mediocre. Apparently, finding pianists is hard to accomplish. 

Friday Amelia conducted the choir singing the National Anthem at the Homecoming Game. Phillip was also at the game attending as a future marching band member. The Drumline kids attended to play back up drums for the HS band. He got to stay the entire game. By the time we picked him up after 10 pm poor kid was starving, he had no money for snacks. Amelia did not want to attend Homecoming. All the girls in History class only talked about the shallow aspects of Homecoming like dresses, critiquing the couples, and weekend plans. She was not impressed. I missed hearing the choir and seeing Phillip because we didn't want to pay just for a glimpse of the kids. I hear they enjoyed the game...which Columbia won. We did drop by and watch the game for a few minutes from a school balcony, the kids loved that. Amelia is LOVING her photography class. She checked out a camera over the weekend to practice her skills. 

I enjoyed a few hours shopping over the past week for possible outfits for family photos. I loved thrifting options at DI, Goodwill, and Idaho Youth Ranch. I also searched Fred Meyer and Kohls just for more variety. I originally wanted bright jewel tones with no one matching, but that entailed new outfits for everyone. Before hitting the thrift stores I went through all the closets to gather clothing choices. The cheapest route ended up being a sage green, gray, and cream theme. I only needed a sweater for Justin and Phillip, maybe light pants for me, and a shirt option for Evelyn. Amelia and enjoyed the process of mixing up all my purchases to find the best combination. We made a late-night run to Walmart just to find a shirt for Evelyn because the one I thrifted was too small. Yay! 

We arrived to Wilson park a bit early, enough time to grab some kid photos. Rebecca Bledsoe met us to capture the family groupings and fun photos of each kid and I, plus Justin and I. Dog Vader even tagged along with his matching kerchief. I had a family session at 10 am with a family I am so impressed with. The kids are adorable! Amelia stayed with me to play with her borrowed camera and help out with Jaxon, the ornery toddler. All he wanted was to chase the duckies. Justin headed right over to drop Evelyn off for her birthday party, which was actually the next week...oops. The dog barfed all over Evelyn's lap on the way home, Justin is lucky Everett did not explode with barf as well. He found a piano keyboard at a garage sale but had to cash. It was very stressful trip home with barf, cash finding, keyboard buying, birthday party date snafu. Just a normal Saturday...ok..NOT. Wilbur, the peach tree, pumped out 30 amazing peaches this year! We are eating peaches right off the tree, still warm from the sun and juicy sweet deliciousness. Sunday we enjoyed Stake Conference, another break from stressful Sunday stuff. 

Phillip got a used Pearl Roadtrip drum kit I found on FB Marketplace. He is very excited to practice on a functioning set up. Once at home we learned the high hat needs replacing but the rest is in great condition for $250. Justin discovered some brain boogers on Phillip's Kindle after church. He needs to find better outlets when bored, hopefully he will improve his choices and realize that his brain is asking him for adrenaline. I am so impressed Phillip used great choices for a good 10 months, one brain booger episode does not negate all his hard work. We just need to make sure his freetime is not so boring. Justin, Phillip, and I came up with the code word "Brain Boogers" he can use when I am with piano students and for his privacy.