Grateful Friday

 One reason I do Grateful Friday posts is because sometimes I need to remind myself to be grateful.

I do not need the reminder today.

These three in the same room is a joy bringer.

Braeden ate dinner, I watched him do it.  And he liked it.  He told me over and over he did.

Later, he said, "Mom, I'm hungry...."

It's a scenario that has played out countless times in my life.  

I said, "Well, there's leftover dinner in the fridge.  You can make a sandwich."

He said, "I'll find something."

He landed on cereal.  He is why I used to buy 6 gallons of milk every week.  He pulled out a bowl, left the cabinet open and his sibling gathered around him laughing and talking.

The good life.

And that's not even mentioning QE, who is the queen of goodness.  She wanted Nana to go up in her room with her.  (I brought a basket of books and a little chair to the family room for her, but she likes the room.) We inspected the stuffed animals and tucked them into bed and read books and tested if the stuffed orca could fly because it "has wings."

Braeden came up and she said, "No Dad, not you."

Then she shut the door.

No more joiners.

Emma yielded to the gravitational pull of the piano that calls her every time she is here (to my delight).  Braeden and Mark stood behind her and they sang while she played and I heard the three of them blending their voices while QE and I wrapped scarves around stuffed animals and told them to have a good nap.

The good life.

We FaceTimed with Adam, and QE saw his face and said, "Papa!" in her joyful way.  Then she said, "Where are you?"  I'm so glad he'll be home tomorrow!

Stella and Ardi came home from Roots Tech, having had a great time.  When it got quieter in the evening and the kids had gone home and QE was sleeping, Ardi told us her conversion story and we talked about the temple.  They're going to go to the temple while they're all here.

Braeden said, "I just need someone to babysit..."

Well, I guess.  If you twist my arm.

Good times

 Yesterday was a pretty good day at school.  It was not so much how many students were absent as who was absent....

It made for a good day and I'm just going to leave that there.

I zipped from school to my math fluency class (squeezing in a quick phone call with Marianne).

I zipped from my math fluency class to meeting our first wave of guests, Stella and Ardi, at Kneader's for dinner (squeezing in a quick phone call with Braeden).  Braeden told me that I would like Ardi and he was not wrong.

We had a nice dinner, chatting and figuring out tomorrow.  I texted Adam in Texas to ask him how long he thought it would take for them to drive to Roots Tech in the morning.

We came home and I unboxed the steaks and burgers on the doorstep from Omaha Steaks that Stella had had sent.  I got them settled in the basement, cranked up the heat, because they keep their houses much warmer than we do, and went to bed.

I woke up very early, stressed about all the comings and goings (me: Piglet).  Today I'm back at school and then Emma is picking up Braeden and QE at the airport and the fun continues!  Braeden is the salve that soothes all my stress and QE is just plain delightful.

Doing what I can

 Monday night Braeden and Anna called.  Braeden said, "I need to talk to my mom."

We talked about the disorienting/harmful/embarrassing/choose-your-adjective events happening in our country.  Some of it directly impacts them and people they know.  I don't think I had any great wisdom for them, but I did say that the things that matter most are completely fine.  We have that to hold onto.

Braeden said that he heard recently that people should choose an institution they love and do everything they can to support it.  He said, "Like a library."

I thought about his words yesterday after we came across the word diversity in our phonics lesson and no one knew what it meant.

I said, "Here's a hint, if everyone in the class was exactly the same, we would not have diversity."

They clamored with hands raised, "Diversity means different!  We look different!"

"Yes," I said. "It's more than just how we look though.  Diversity is great because we get new ideas and new solutions and life is more interesting."

We started talking about food and where it originated from.  I said, "If we only had food originally from Utah, what would we eat?  Deer?"

A girl raised her hand and said, "Deer bacon is actually very good."

I will have to take her word for it.

It was the kind of rare and magical time where they were all engaged.  They were super interested that pasta went to Italy by way of China and Marco Polo.  They loved that chocolate was originally from America (but European chocolate is way better).  I looked into their faces, ranging from black to very pale and about 15 shades of brown in between.

I hope they remember that when they were in 3rd grade, Mrs. Davis thought diversity was great.  

They are my institution to love.  I will continue to throw my all into what I can do.

Skin of my teeth

 Yesterday was something.

This was on my desk:

Someone's tooth in a tiny bag....

I opened my plan book to this:

If that doesn't put fear in a teacher's heart I don't know what does.

Every week I plan the future week, but last week I was gone for three days and the days I was there, I felt pretty sick and was more surviving than thriving.

I did as much as I could before school, tidying and changing the calendar and the schedule and the weekly jobs.  I pulled together a day's plan.

It more or less worked out.

I asked who the tooth belonged to and they said it was a student's who moved in December.  I said, "I don't think it is his."

They insisted because they found it on the floor where his desk used to sit.  In December.

Not wanting to offend any of their tender sensibilities, I waited until school was out and then threw it away. 

We had the teachers vs. 6th graders Battle of the Books and happily, the teachers won.

For one thing, we need to maintain our street cred and for another thing, it's getting to the time of year that 6th graders are very much too big for their britches.

I got through my discombobulated day, staying until almost 5:00 to get things sorted and planned.  I went straight to the Orem Library book sale which has been on my calendar for months.

There was a convivial atmosphere there and let me tell you, people at the Orem Library book sale are my people.  

One woman said to me, "I need to stop; I can't carry any more."

I was about at that point too, but there were still books I wanted!  Finally, I decided I really was at max capacity (my arms weren't long enough for a bigger stack).  Genetic predisposition for Egbert loads notwithstanding, I couldn't carry any more.  I spied some boxes under a table and asked a librarian if I could have a box.  She said, "Sure!"

I finally decided I was done and scooted my box along in the line with my foot.

It was books for me, books for QE, books for my classroom, and one for Emma.  The woman in line behind me had both arms full.  She said, "I was not anticipating getting so many books."

But we did it!  

Weekend

Saturday was a special day.  It was the day we got ready for company.  We had four guest rooms to ready and lots of sheets and bedding and pillows involved!  Stella and her friend Ardi are coming on Wednesday and Braeden and QE are coming on Thursday.

I used my grandma's sheets to make QE's bed.  I just want to be like my grandma at every opportunity!

 I washed them so they don't smell like her house so much anymore (very faintly), but they delight me.

I halted my preparations to go to a baby shower for Liberty in Provo.  It was nice to get together with people who love Liberty and celebrate her and her new baby--arriving next month!  Desi was the master of ceremonies and did an excellent job.  Carolina decorated adorable little cupcakes and it doesn't surprise me that Marianne's girls know how to throw a party.

I went back home and continued my to do list.  My energy was seriously flagging from being sick so I probably took as many breaks as not in the afternoon.

Adam nobly did the grocery shopping.  There was a lot.  

Mark came over and we drove to Sandy together.  Mark and Adam were having a kind of intense discussion in the car about politics and I told them they had to stop before we met Emma because it would make her cry.

"True," Mark said.

"OK," Adam said.

2/3 of our kids can take the heat of disagreement and 1/3 cannot.

We met up with Emma for dinner and then we went to a show at the Hale Centre Theatre in Sandy.  (You can tell it's fancy because or the "re" instead of "er"...). 

We were FaceTiming with Braeden and Anna and QE right before the restaurant and we said we had to go and QE said, "I miss them."

Same, sweet girl.  Same.

We had a lovely time together.  The tickets for The Prince of Egypt were from Geri for Christmas and it was such a perfect gift for us.

Emma took some pictures to text to Geri.

The picture has weird lighting and shadows on our faces (Mark looks like he has measles, but HE HAS BEEN VACCINATED and that is just the lighting).  We were happy as clams to be in a beautiful theater together.

I got super sleepy because it was late and my body still wants to be sick, but I also loved the show.  Live theater is wonderful.

Sunday I continued on my feel-better trajectory and I'm grateful for that.  Adam is maybe getting sick and is maybe just tired.  Emma had a devotional yesterday so she didn't come to dinner.  Mark tried to convince her to come anyway and she said, "This is like in a primary lesson when you have to decide if you should go to the devotional or not."

The girl went to primary so she picked the devotional.

Mark texted Sunday afternoon that he wasn't coming, which didn't surprise me.  Often if one of them isn't coming, the other one cancels.

I get that I'm a lot of mothering in a concentrated dose....

Also we're seeing Mark tonight for Mark Monday (even without the Emma buffer).

When Adam got home from his long church day, we went for a drive and talked over last minute adjustments to our plans for our guests.  You never met such a nervous hostess.  Imagine Piglet having guests for a week.

Today I'm back at school!  I am happy about it!  I'm starting the morning with the teachers vs 5th-6th Battle of the Books team.  I'm on the teacher team and I'm a little nervous.  Those kids are smart!  The teacher team is all wearing Dr. Seuss shirts and I even have a stuffed red fish to go with my One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish t-shirt.

It's hardly a team without a mascot.