Night on the Town

Having bigger kids is amusing. Phillip is a very interesting child. Most mornings when I come in to wake him up he is sleeping with his feet under his cheek...try to imagine that. He makes strange sounds while cranking his head back, a sort of moan/growl/shriek combination. Phillip got a drum kit...it doesn't fit in his room. I asked him for a solution and he suggested the spot in the garage currently taken up by a table I want to refinish. He can have the space IF he helped refinish the table. My hands can't take the vibration from the sander so it was a win-win situation for me. I walked into the garage to find Phillip wrapped in plastic, a mask on, gloves, and the leaf blower running...all to dust the table. He named his drum set Foot Sticks. It is glorious to have a real garage band with Evelyn on vocals, Everett on trombone, Mia on ukulele, and Josie on violin. We're hoping to start touring with our family band one day. Phillip is obsessed with his hair, he carefully fixes it with gel each morning. He is also a very good smelling boy, the Old Spice event was successful. 

Mia delightedly worked on her cute witch costume for Halloween. She and Lia are both Owl House inspired characters. Amelia had specific costume requests: Peter Pan collared shirt, suspender skirt, black hat, elf ears, etc. She even spent a couple hours mastering her face paint and makeup. After school each day we hear Amelia singing, singing with her ukulele, and tickling the piano keys. 

Everett was tripped by a big 8th grader, poor kid face planted his nose right into the hard hallway. The mean kid stuck out his foot to trip Everett then told him to suck his balls. I detest bullies...Everett is fine but his tender heart was hurting for a few days. He is more scared to tell his story to the bulking, football level vice-principal on Monday about the incident. Everett worked very hard in school so far, he is thrilled to have straight A's so far. His first band concert is tomorrow evening. He stayed home from school on Wednesday with a sore throat. I took him out for shrimp tacos as a reward for his awesome Cross Country season. Later he got frustrated with his chess set, he can never win. During our Mom and Everett time he wiped my nose with chess, winning in 4-5 moves. I don't even know how to cheat. 

This week we started the Great Artist Program. Friday morning I taught Josie's class about Matisse and his Goldfish painting. She walked into class bent over with a huge pumpkin in her arms! A local farm donated enough pumpkins for each kid. She is doing better with her violin and still working on piano. She was crying Tuesday night about how hard school is and frustrated she feels with several disruptive kids. Josie takes general criticism very personally, often cries or withdraws inside. I had a nice conversation with her teacher, who reiterated several times that she does not yell at the students (one of Josie's complaints). Mrs Campbell is only 4'8" tall so uses her powerful voice at loud level to command attention, not yelling. Josie decided to use a "L" hand signal when she needs to take a water break or work in the hallway. Josie said she did not understand math at all...her teacher said Josie scored the highest in the grade with her most recent math test. Silly bean. She just needed some cuddles and reassurances. Wednesday night she coaxed me to climb the tree and play koalas for 20 minutes. 

Evelyn and I went to get speciality doughnuts, we really miss Bosa doughnuts...or any delicious doughnuts because Walmart's don't cut it. Yum, she was enticed with the eyeball doughnut. I just wanted a lovely maple bar. We finished listening to The Secret Garden this week then watched the movie...mmm, maybe that was last week. She is trying her best to communicate her needs before she blows up. That is very nice. 

Sara and I spent 24 hours away from home recharging our mom batteries. Justin and Dustin took the kids out for dinner and to the Halloween store, Ambree and Phillip have aspirations to be inflatable dinosaurs this year. Sara and I had dinner at a Teppanyaki place in Boise, we took a walk instead of waiting 45 minutes in the car. Then we headed downtown to see Freak Alley and walk the main avenues. Our hotel was fancy, with two beds, and a large bathroom. We watched Triple D and then Dancing in the Rain. I finished a nerd book. Next day we shopped for hours returning some items at Kohls, visiting 3 craft stores, and looking for shirts that fit Evelyn. Sara almost died from all the activity, I am a beast. I revived her with some Chik-fil-a. Our last activity was spent at Kathryn Albertson's park for a family photo session. My mom-break was much more enjoyable with a friend, last year I felt almost depressed. LOL. 

Justin and the boys finished sanding the table top on Saturday. I am not sure what I want to do with it yet. My ideas include A. teal stain on top, red bottom B. natural top terracotta bottom C. natural top red bottom. It's hard to make design decisions. Justin is crazy busy at work, he is still dealing with the repercussions of John Bankhead leaving in January. John worked with the leases, buffered all the drama that leases cause. Justin is trying to delegate more work to his team, trust them to do the work so he can come home and spend more time with us. Nina suggested Justin carve out more time to be present with Phillip during his teen years. Agreed. Justin often gets mad at me to just doing the dishes instead of getting the assigned child to assist. He finally noticed that he does the same thing with his team, does the work because it is easier than delegating...and the redoing the crappy work. It's nice when someone finally understands. 

The kids gathered up a large leaf pile! Our leaves are gorgeous right now. Phillip decided it was a good idea to fill his shirt with leaves...then use the leaf blower to empty the shirt. We love making leaf piles. The little girls changed their clothes 2-3 times because the leaves felt so itchy. Warmed my heart when Evelyn insisted I use my large camera to record the fun.