Beard-i-topia

I stayed home Monday from school mostly to catch up on the pile of dresses and pants needing tailoring for CHS Choirs. Mrs Sene said she had about 20 dresses for me to hem, the pile was 32 in total! It’s quite the process to trim the fabric (evenly), serge the raw edges, and then pin and sew up the hem. Took me 6 hours to sew the hems on the 32 items. I was relieved to put my machine away. Ambree brought me another 10 items that were missed during choir rehearsal, darn it! I finished up those items plus a couple MCO attire bits like the boy’s new pants. Everett and Evelyn moved up this year so they both got new attire. 

I went to work on Tuesday (feeling very tired, my ears all plugged up). McGrath showed up for 5 minutes then went home because his leg muscles were sore from hunting over the weekend. If I didn’t need a Dr note to stay home another day I would’ve split. I felt upset, or jealous, that he went home…guess who got to cover his classes? Me. Ugh. 

The girls were very excited to get our house decorated for Fall. For some reason all activities were held on Tuesday this week so we had some time on Wednesday! It was time to open Beard-i-topia, there is a map on the whiteboard upstairs if you’re curious. I got the bins down and the girls set up the store where I can buy my own decorations with gummy bears and gummy worms. Beardy was the store manager and dooter gnome kept track of how many treats I was spending. The girls also decorated a part of the house for 2-3 worms just because. Evelyn did an amazing job decorating the living room table and one in the piano room. I love the fall vibes we had in our home, just in time for conference and a change in weather. 

Admin had the great idea to host a Fall Field Day! Hooray. Guess who got to cover the event? Yep, the paras. Here, let’s do something fun by throwing 250 kids on a field with 6 adults to entertain them for 3 hours! Yes! So much fun. I am eternally grateful for the few parents that showed up to lend a hand at some of the stations. It was a gorgeous day outside. I followed Josie’s class around most of the afternoon just for fun. Everett’s $200 light saber FINALLY came in the mail. Carson ordered a neo saber on a special, order one get two (cheap) ones for FREE! Everett’s wanted a Neo saber for several years now. He was happy to part ways with his hard earned money for a light saber you can actually fight with! HI discovered him in the garage on Wednesday watching YouTube all by his lonesome…on a school day. He blanched when we made eye contact, caught ya you booger. He caught an earful for vitamin “L” and gave himself a decent consequence of no devices all weekend. Good thing he had that saber to entertain himself over the 3-days of no devices. Phillip bought one of the “free” sabers from Everett. 

Phillip reached his limits with Mr Geisler and his history class. Wednesday Mr Geisler assigned a 5-paragraph essay due the NEXT day about the impacts of the American Revolution on America. To most of us that is a 20-minute project. To Phillip it was a Mt Everest. Justin told him if he did not finish the essay he would not be able to go to Utah with the band. Justin was coming down with my same cold so was acting beastly at the time. Phillip went catatonic, he was drooling, crying, shaking, stemming with his hands, and verbally unresponsive. After an hour of crying we went on a walk around the block, hoping to snap him out of his mood. Phillip told me that he feels like he cannot ever win in that class, he is always behind and is failing at life. I about smacked him! Phillip…has all A’s except for the history class with a stupid teacher. After all the work he did to finally get caught up he was still behind. I dictated an essay that Phillip typed as we discussed what he learned. The essay was golden. Stupid teacher only gave Phillip half points because it was a day late. I sent a very frustrated email asking him to reconsider the essay and give Phillip a better grade based on effort and content. We followed the rubric exactly. This class is just highlighting what I already know: Phillip struggles getting his brain to work with his words and hands (at least with words). Justin and I are on schedule to speak with Phillip’s counselor and the school psychologist. I also found a psychologist, Austin Hansen, who specializes in ADD treatment. I hope Phillip uses this experience to advocate for himself and learn how to do hard things even when he hates it. 

Phillip finished his work in time to earn the Utah trip. He left for USU with his mates early Friday morning. We got a silly phone call from him sounding like a Smurf after screaming on a roller coaster ride at Lagoon. CHS Marching Band took 3rd in their division this year. I hear the song Mr Mac chose is very complicated with rhythms and technique. Nampa High took first place! Mr Sene is the band director at NHS, amazing work Mr Sene. Phillip said marching in the rain threw everyone off their game. It was not just sprinkling, it was pouring rain! 

We had a lovely conference weekend with some rain and overcast skies creating a cozy feeling inside. Everett worked on a pizza crochet kit for most of the conference. I crocheted Josie a chicken, now named Penny. We had Legos out to amuse us while we listened to our leaders. We felt the loss of President Nelson. The air was on the somber side after losing him and the recent attacks on LDS meetinghouses. I sure enjoyed Elder Brown’s talk, on testimony. He is a Jamaican power of God. I loved Sister Browning who spoke about the truths in Primary music. Elder Holland made me tear up when he sang “I Stand All Amazed.” We laughed over “not mom” and “add more Tony’s and add more Jesus!” (Elder Amos). We missed having Phillip and Amelia at home over the weekend. Everett was gone Saturday afternoon until 10:30 pm at a dance production for his Social Dance class. He went to see a ballroom dancing competition. He was also able to perform a dance his class danced. Sister Bledsoe watched the class dance for the HS assembly on Thursday, she said Everett was very confident in his dancing. Love that! We had pumpkin pancakes with pecan topping for dinner on Saturday and breakfast sandwiches on Sunday. Guess I had breakfast on my mind.