This week was lovely.
I adore that it’s starting to cool off at night making nice
mornings. I felt good this week. Early in the week I moved offices to be with
my new (old) team. I took down all my
personal stuff, mostly pictures, to move them to the new cubicle. I have about 1,000 pictures up at my desk. A few in frames, lots covering my bulletin
board. I have artwork the kids have made
me and little notes stuck up reminding me of scriptures, promised blessings,
and attributes I have/want to have.
Listen, I don’t think it comes as a shock to anyone that sitting in a
windowless cubicle is the way I want to spend 9-10 hours of every day. I miss being home so much…although at this
point, I’ve spent more than twice as much time working away from home than I
ever did being in the home. My cube, my
personal work space, reminds me why I’m here, it keeps me going; makes me
happy. It reminds me of my very favorite
episode of The Simpsons “And Maggie Makes Three” (if you've never seen this, see it, I cry every darn time). A new work environment is always
energizing.
The girls had Activity Days on Tuesday and had so much
fun. We had mutual on Wednesday at the
cannery, but I didn’t go since I had the kids home with me. While we were out in the backyard this week, I found quite
a few ants, I traced them out of the yard to the neighbor’s and did what I
could to poison the trail and while I was out there noticed termites on the
neighbor’s house. Great! I had the pest control people out Wednesday
afternoon, and sure enough we had the very beginnings of termites on the outside
of the house too. So we’ll be having them
come back to treat the house next week.
I’m hoping we caught it early enough and there won’t be too much damage.
I feel like I'm swimming in school projects. Both girls had projects they were working on this week that needed some help and supervision, so my evenings were wrapped up in that. Felicity has recently gotten into the Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events books and has been reading ravenously. She is also really starting to enjoy the flute more now that she can consistently get good sound from it. Helen and I are reading The Chronicles of Narnia (which I love, love, love). We are about 3/4 of the way through The Magician's Nephew and even though Felicity has already read them with me, all three kids sit in rapture on the couch as I read. I adore that! I love to hear, "just one more chapter, Mom". Most people have read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but if you haven't read the other six books in the series, you should consider it, they are so beautiful. I think The Voyage of the Dawntreader and The Last Battle are my favorite.
Friday night the kids went to Jeff's and I got to have a girls weekend! So much fun, I can't tell you how much fun I had. I met Lindsey, Aly, Gretchen, Abish, and Sadie at Lowe's Ventana Canyon resort a little after 6pm and we had dinner down in the lounge. It is amazing how much riotous fun six grown women can have! We went out in the hot tub for awhile when we were done. I came home a little early on Saturday morning to get a head start on my chores and to pick up around the house. I attended the General Women's Meeting at the Stake Center at 5.
Friday evening, while sitting in the lounge at the resort (with lounge music in the background, no less!), the Stake President's secretary called me and asked if I'd be home Saturday evening that the Stake President and a visiting General Authority would like to meet with me. I gladly accepted and President Hardy and Elder Heyman, an Area Seventy, came over at about seven. We had such a nice visit and I was so grateful for the Spirit they brought into my home. It was a unique and uplifting experience, one for which I'm grateful for. I will be very honest in that my initial reaction to being told they wanted to meet with me was one of discouragement, actually. I felt like once again, the sad, sorry, single sister. If I was "normal", if I had a "normal" life and "normal" family, General Authorities wouldn't be interested in meeting with me. As I tried to be humble through our visit I felt the spirit strongly and those feelings started to turn toward gratitude. We talked about my family, the kids, my interests, girls camp, so many things. He promised that we always get through the valleys even when it starts to feel hopeless. That its part of the plan for our happiness. That our capacity to enjoy the blessings that will come is magnified by the extent of the depths of the sad and difficult times. As they were getting ready to leave Elder Heyman said in effect that it was no accident that they had come to visit me. That of all the people in our Stake, the President purposefully felt inspired to come see me and that it was Heavenly Father's way of telling me that He and the Savior are aware of me and my struggles and knew I needed a sure witness that they loved me and was aware of all I was going through. My heart is filled with gratitude and love.
It was a good week.
The kids are enjoying school and doing so well. It was a pretty busy week though. I made an effort to run in the afternoons
again. I had become complacent over the
summer, but I know that I feel so much better physically and emotionally when I’m
active every day. I ran 30 minutes a day
and it was pretty slow going, but it felt so good. I would recommend running to everyone. I am excited to be hovering just ten pounds
above my ideal, never thought I would get there, goal weight. It feels so good! I’m hoping that by running again I’ll be able
to battle that last ten off. Wish me
luck!
We did work and school.
Arlo had a couple of really good days at school where he was helpful and
kind and then we had a couple days where he was less than ideal. Ah! I have transitioned back to engineering and
working in software testing again. I
enjoyed the time I spent working in operations with the production factory, but
am excited for change. Felicity and I
have completed her hunter’s education online classes and are ready for her
exam, but are waiting for a field day to come available before we take the
test. She’s so excited! So far, the only thing on her Christmas list is
camo colored. We’re hoping to be able to
go shooting with Papa soon.
I was off on Friday and was able to get all the final
preparations ready for Helen’s baptism.
I made the cupcakes and picked up the printed programs. The programs turned out so beautifully, I
sent them to PostNet by Fry’s on Rancho Sahuarita Blvd. and they did such an
amazing job printing my design! I got
food ordered for the luncheon and Arlo came with me Friday night to set up the
chairs and display table at the church.
I had a couple of pictures to put up and my mom got a lovely bouquet of
flowers. Arlo was helpful at first and
became increasingly less helpful as we went!
We were up early Saturday morning and over at the church by
nine to take pictures and get ready for the baptism. Helen was giddy with excitement and
anticipation. I don’t think I’d ever
seen her quite that happy before. The
pre-program as so great. The music was
lovely and Melynda’s talk on baptism was amazing. When it came time for the baptism Helen literally
left the font room for the hallway skipping and spinning. In the bathroom I took her little face in my
hands, she was glowing she was so happy.
I told her to remember the way she felt.
She practically raced down the steps into the water at which point I
realized she had un-snapped the bottom of her dress. I made a dress for Felicity to be physically
baptized in and sewed a line of snaps along the bottom so it wouldn’t float up—Helen
was wearing it and had showed me that she snapped it up earlier, but at some
point must have unsnapped it. So I took
a few moments to snap the bottom back up and away she went. She went right down in the water and came up
smiling. She was mesmerized and Troy hugged her from behind because she was too
busy looking around at everyone to remember to turn around. The rest of the program was just as
beautiful. I spoke on the Gift of the
Holy Ghost and she was confirmed. In her
confirmation blessing she was blessed to keep her sweet, special, bubbly spirit
about her to be a light to her family and friends. She was also blessed to remember to seek
comfort from Heavenly Father through prayer when trials and frustrations
happened. It was a special occasion.
Following the baptism we had sandwiches, Eegees, and
cupcakes on the pavilion behind the church.
The kids eventually ended up playing in the water and my kids ended up
soaked. It was such a great baptism,
Helen said so many, many times and I’m glad; I hope it will be a day she always
remembers. In the afternoon I took the
kids to my mom and dad’s and I headed into Tucson for a date. Yes, you read that correctly, I had a
date. I drove to the Ali Baba restaurant
on Speedway where I was meeting someone I connected with online. I had never had Mediterranean food before, it
was pretty good. The date itself was
alright, I imagine most first dates/blind dates are a little awkward. I didn’t feel much of a connection and while
it wasn’t a bad time, I don’t really anticipate it’ll go anywhere. Better luck next time I suppose. I picked the kids up and we were home about
nine. Church was nice on Sunday. Helen spoke in Sacrament meeting. She gave a quick talk/testimony about the
fourth Article of Faith and did a great job.
Arlo was a sweetheart during the meeting and I was so proud of how
nicely he sat. The rest of our meetings
were good and we enjoyed the rest of our quiet Sunday. I’m grateful for a day to recharge! I’m also glad to now have the birthday party
and baptism behind me! Halloween
costumes next then it’s downhill to Christmas.
This week was such a blur.
I enjoyed my day off on Monday and picked up the kids in the
afternoon. Helen ended up getting sick
overnight and so I was up with her. She
and I stayed home on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tuesday we baked some cookies to take to Bruce for his birthday. In the evening we had a combined young
men/young women’s activity. We had a “Napoleon
Dynamite night”. It was fun, I even
sported a side pony for the event! My
kids had just about as much fun as the youth!
Arlo is really enjoying school and we’ve seen some
improvement in his behavior too. I am
grateful for his teacher and her intuition in working with him. I check in with her directly whenever she’s
still there when I pick him up. She was
saying that he is very eager to participate and he’s very intent on finishing
his work and taking his time. He is,
however, very willful. For instance: in
the morning during “circle time” he has a square on the rug that is for him to
sit on, he sits just off the rug. In the
afternoon he’ll sit on the rug, but in between the squares. She said that as long as he’s engaged and
participating it doesn’t really matter and she picks her battles with him. I’m grateful for that. I wish he was just obedient and compliant,
but I know there is a reason he is the way he is, if for no other reason than
he fought valiantly for his free agency before this life! The teacher uses an app called Class Dojo
which is fun, it allows her to send me text messages and pictures directly and
I (mostly) enjoy getting those throughout the day. It lets me know how he’s doing and if he’s
had a rough day, I get to hear about that too.
Felicity had a consultation appointment with the
orthodontist on Thursday. She was pretty
excited. They took pictures and
x-rays. I was surprised, but while going
over her images it was clear that she really only has a cosmetic need for
orthodontia. She has plenty of room,
doesn’t need any teeth pulled or adjusted too drastically. The orthodontist said that she still has
quite a few baby teeth that need to fall out so that it would be best to wait
another year and then reassess next summer.
Felicity was disappointed, but it was a good appointment.
It was the kids’ weekend with their dad again and so I was
alone Friday night. I was feeling down
and anxious so I drove into Tucson and visited the Tucson Temple construction
site. The progress they’ve made is
incredible, I can’t wait until its finished!
It will be so nice to be so close to a temple. Just sitting in the car in the parking lot
helped me feel better. My heart draws me
to the temple when it aches.
Sunday I was released as the Young Women’s Secretary and
called as the 2nd Counselor in the Young Women’s presidency. It was a quiet, uneventful Sunday. I was grateful to pick the kids up in the
evening.
I appreciated a slightly less involved week! We had a nice Family Home Evening lesson
after dinner Monday night and then headed to Walmart for our activity. Helen wanted to spend some of her birthday
money and Felicity and Arlo wanted to help.
So we roamed the isles and played with the toys and tried things
out. In the end she picked a couple
small things, nothing really worth mentioning.
We had fun though. See, not every
FHE has to be a big production!
We spent time in the garden this week. The kid’s new favorite thing is to climb the
tree. And believe it or not, I love
that. I planted the mulberry (yes, I
know you’re not supposed to plant mulberries, I’m a rebel like that) maybe five
years ago and it is now truly big enough to climb. I love looking out my kitchen window and
seeing legs dangling down from the branches. The only problem is my kids don’t seem to
understand that it’s not socially acceptable to use their high perch to spy on
the neighbors, going as far as engaging the neighbors in conversations from the
tree. I love them. We also planted some
new seeds for fall crops in the garden beds.
I was off on Friday and used the time to run some errands
and get some things done, then I had a hair appointment in Tucson. It is nice to spoil myself every now and
then. It’s great to chat, gossip, and
catch up while having my hair trimmed.
In the evening the kids went to their dad’s for the long holiday
weekend. Their family makes tamales for
Labor Day and since I didn’t have any specific plans, I thought the kids would enjoy an extra few days with them this month.
I ended up going shopping on Friday night. I am at an all-time low in my weight loss and
have been in need of a few new things, so I went shopping. It was nice to spend money on myself and buy
a few new things. I need to plan ahead
so that I can invite friends to go with me.
I got chores done Saturday and continued to work on
Christmas gifts. I was pretty reclusive
all weekend. I think I went to Walmart a couple of times,
and certainly Circle K at least once, but in the middle of the night. Somehow I managed to get my days and nights
mixed up this weekend and was up most of the night and then actually managed to
sleep through church on Sunday. Like the
alarm must have gone off and I turned it off in my sleep because I woke up at
1pm Sunday afternoon with no recollection of it. Sometimes I feel like a total basket case
when I don’t have kids home to manage. I
don’t have work on Monday so I’ll be extending my crazy, couch occupying,
Netflix watching, crocheting binge one more day! Judge at will.
It’s nice to have the school year back in swing. We are settling into homework and the routine
again. Monday we went into Tucson as
part of Family Home Evening, and to stop by Instrumental Music. Felicity had the opportunity to choose an
elective this year for school, and she chose band. I was pretty happy as you may imagine, and
then she told me she wanted to play the flute!
It took some time for that idea to grow on me. I played trombone and a variety of other
brass instruments, but Felicity and I are not the same person. She really is much more of a flute
player. The plus side is also that a
flute will fit right in her backpack which will make it nice since she has to ride
the bus home and she’s so small.
We went
to the instrument shop and picked up her flute and then went to Eegees for
dinner. Yum!
I was able to get Helen’s baptism announcements in the mail
this week, they turned out so pretty I think.
Her baptism is set for Saturday, September 17th at 10AM. She is
very excited. It’s funny, but I swear
she has been more defiant and a pill in the last few weeks than she has ever
been. I remember the same thing with
Felicity when she turned eight and approached her baptism date. Just an observation.
Friday night I went to Lindsey’s for a girl’s night with
some of her friends and had so much fun.
We had dinner and treats and tried facials. We ended up chatting it up past
midnight.
Saturday morning I was at the
stake center for a volleyball tournament.
It was a lot of fun, I’m glad I got to participate. We didn’t advance very far, but I enjoyed
myself anyway. I spent the rest of the
day doing chores around the house and getting ready for the week. I spent some time crocheting in the evening trying
to get ahead for Christmas. I also
worked on preparations for Helen’s baptism and luncheon.
I survived! What an
incredible week. Let’s start with
Monday. Helen was scheduled for her well
checkup Monday morning so I let her stay home from school in the morning. Felicity told me that she wasn’t feeling well
and wanted to stay home too. As it turns
out, Felicity wasn’t sick at all, she just didn’t want to go to school without
Helen. Silly girl. So the three of us dropped Arlo off at school
and went into Tucson. Helen’s well checkup
went well, she’s healthy and happy and sassy.
She’s 4’1” (26%) and weighs 60 pounds (60%) which seems odd to me that
she’s shorter than most kids her age, but about the same weight, as she isn’t
overweight at all. She’s just perfect
for her I guess. When we were done we
went to Boot Barn and smelled the boots and tried on hats and looked at
clothes, the girls were in Heaven! We
went to the mall and wandered around and played in the jewelry at Old Navy,
then we had lunch at Chipotle. We
stopped at the party store on our way home to look for things for Helen’s party
and of course had to try hats on!
Arlo got to bring “Ellie”, a stuffed gecko, home from school
this week to visit us. The first place
he wanted to take her? The ranch, of
course! So we made a quick trip to the ranch
to pick up the sisters Tuesday afternoon.
We snapped a picture of Arlo and Ellie and then were on our way for a
quick stop at Walmart. We had Activity
Days, Mutual, and an interview with the Bishop Tuesday night. Helen met with the Bishop for her pre-baptism
interview. It went well and she is very
excited. She was also ecstatic to get to
go to her first Activity Days now that she is 8!
Thursday evening Helen and I went out to Gates Pass with
Mindy to take pictures for Helen’s baptism announcements. She had such a fun time and I am so grateful
to Mindy for doing that for us. We got
some really great shots. Helen wore her
new boots with her dress and it was just perfect!
The kids were practically bouncing off the walls Friday
night in anticipation for Helen’s party.
I finished getting the house clean and most everything prepped. We had a few things to do to get ready
Saturday morning, mostly decorating, but were ready when our guests started to
arrive Saturday afternoon. It was a full
house, all but one guest that was invited came and because Helen’s primary
class is all boys except for her, there were a fair number of little men running
around the house.
To start things off while we waited for everyone to arrive,
the kids made their very own wands.
These were really simple and yet so realistic looking. I included a little certificate of
authenticity from Olivander’s with each wand describing its wood and core. Then we were sorted into our houses by the sorting
hat. Once in their houses the kids went
on a horcrux hunt. I adore the way the Marauder’s
Maps turned out that I made for the scavenger hunt. I had hidden horcruxes (and other magical
items) around the house and yard for the kids to find. They had a blast! Then we took a break for some authentic
butter beer and snacks: cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties, troll boogies, and Hagrid's rock cakes.
We played a fun game where each of the kids was given a
Harry Potter character’s name on their foreheads (which they couldn’t see) and
then the rest of the children gave them hints about who they were. It would have been a lot more fun if more of
the kids were familiar with the books or movies! The ones who were familiar had such a good
time though. We had cake next. Helen had requested (for the third year in a
row) a flower pot cake. This essentially
is a chocolate mousse with cookie crumb topping. So I had to get creative to pull this
off with a Harry Potter twist. I made a flower pot with the mousse
and then a fondant mandrake poking out of the top. Helen thought it was the coolest thing ever,
it was by far the ugliest cake I’ve ever made!
We had a dementor piñata and a Sirus Black wanted poster photo booth. We opened gifts and then the kids ran around
the house and yard dueling with their new wands until their parents came to get
them. It was a huge success,
they seemed to have fun anyway. Each kid
got to take home a cauldron with Bertie Bott’s beans, a chocolate frog, jelly
slugs, fizzing whizbees, butterbeer, and Harry Potter glasses. It was a lot of fun.
We took it easy Saturday evening after cleaning up from the
party and enjoyed our meetings on Sunday.
The leaders and young women sang during Sacrament meeting which was
lovely, we did such a good job. We
visited Nana and Papa in the afternoon and then got ready to start the next
week. Now I have Helen’s baptism to
prepare for and then Halloween costumes to make and then its downhill from
there until Christmas!
The first day of school came this week and it was a lot of
fun! Everyone was up early and
dressed. We had a nice breakfast and
took pictures and got to school a little early for some more pictures. It’s nice to have both girls at the
Intermediate school now, so it’s one less stop in the morning for drop
off. Felicity is in 5th
grade, honestly, how did that even happen!?
Helen is in 3rd grade and Arlo has one more year of preschool
(thank goodness). The girls very
graciously let me walk them to class and take pictures outside their classroom
doors.
We had cookies for Family Home Evening and enjoyed a movie
together. Felicity managed to lose two
teeth this week, I didn’t even know she still had baby teeth in there! We were able to get back into the swing of
things fairly well, including getting up in the morning. We even managed to be ready in time to ride
the bus…a couple of times.
Thursday
evening we went out to dinner for Helen’s birthday and she got to pick a
dessert for after her meal, she was so excited.
She got a new pair of boots for her birthday and various other little
things. She is such a sweet girl, I’m so
lucky to have her.
I continued to work on preparations for Helen’s upcoming
birthday party. I’m having a lot of fun
with it, although I’m finding that every time I come across a new idea I try to
incorporate it! I printed, cut, and put
together boxes that look like the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans boxes from the
Harry Potter movie. They turned out so
cute! I’m going to fill them with
Jelly-Belly beans and they will go in the party favor cauldrons I have
planned.
I also found time in the evening to make Helen’s baptism
dress. I had bought the material and
even cut out the pattern when I went digging in my fabric stash for something and
came across some white fabric I liked even more than what I had purchased, so I
cut the dress out of it and started over.
I am so glad that I did, it turned out beautifully. I noticed when I got it all together that it
reminded me of the dress I had made her for her baby blessing and sure enough,
when I laid them side-by-side, they were very similar. I am really pleased with how it turned out!
The kids went to their dad’s for the weekend and on Saturday
morning I spent time cleaning up the yard.
I have been neglecting it for weeks now and it felt good to get out and
weed and pull things up and clear the beds and mow the grass. I figured the tortoises would be frightened
by all the noise and commotion and hide in their hole (they’ve dug an
impressive tunnel and hole under the swing set) but they were actually quite
intrigued by what I was doing and followed me around as I worked. They enjoyed the grass clippings and leaves
from the plants I pulled up out of the garden beds including the carrot and
beet tops.
Sunday was very nice and in the evening we had a youth “Standards
Night” that we as a Young Women’s presidency had helped to plan. I picked up the kids after that and was happy
to hear about their weekend.
