The Monday after

Yesterday was quite a day.  

I got the most bizarre injury ever.  I was simultaneously eating lunch and talking to Braeden on the phone.  I was having lasagna from the night before and it wasn't exactly hard, but I was cutting into it with the side of my plastic fork and the handle broke in a jagged fashion and cut my finger.  I think I'm the first person in the world to get a plastic fork and lasagna injury.

I told Braeden, "I'm really multi-tasking here.  I'm bleeding and eating and talking to you."

He said, "Why don't you get a bandaid?"

I said, "I'm starving."

Priorities.

I eventually got a bandaid and I have one on the other hand too because I cut a finger cleaning the church on Saturday.  I don't know.  Imagine how it would be if I led an actually dangerous life.

In winter I always spring a lot of leaks because my skin gets so dry and thin and now I'm jumping the gun and struggling to type with all these bandaids.

My students were either sneaking candy or being sort of naughty all day.  One boy was downright defiant.  I didn't enter into a power struggle with him.  I'm hoping things will improve when he's not strung out on Halloween candy.  If they don't, I'll have to take my mom's advice that she gave me once concerning a certain unnamed offspring.  She said, "You need to take the day off and show them who's boss."

I may need to with this student.

Sigh.

My class wondered what happened to Dreamer, Box and Dan.  They asked if I took them home.  I said yes.  It seemed like a more acceptable answer than the truth; I'd stuffed them in a bin on the shelf.  Better they think they are happy at my house.

They want me to do an elf on a shelf for Christmas.  I have different plans with my little elf door I got from IKEA.  (Also I bought a tiny wreath for the door at Hobby Lobby on Saturday because elves have to decorate too.)

One of my cranky students who is the 3rd grade embodiment of Eeyore said, "We'd better not do the elf letter thing at Christmas time."

I said, "I don't know what that is."

He said, "Good.  Because I hate it."

Of course he does.  He hates everything.

After school, I went to the office and asked Jami, the principal, a question about an app where you can send messages in different languages to parents.  (I needed Vietnamese.)  He hadn't used it and said, "Maybe you can ask the other teachers at the faculty meeting."

I said, "When's the faculty meeting?"

He said, "I forgot to send the email!" and he ran out of the room.

The faculty meeting started about ten minutes later.

Mondays are hard.

People sometimes kindly, undeservedly, unknowingly tell me that I'm doing a good job as a teacher.  Then I grade assessments like I did after school.  It didn't go well.

I need to reteach and then reteach some more.

Mondays are hard.

I came home droopy and Adam told me 1) he would make dinner and 2) there was absolutely nothing I could do last night that would make a difference.

And he was right.

But I told him I'd make dinner.  He still had miles of work to do and we'd already established I wasn't going to make any difference last night.

So I made dinner.

And I'm ready to try again today.

Unrelated, but here are some pretty pictures.  Because the world is lovely.

On Sunday Adam and I took a walk on the hill behind our house.

Then we sat by the fire pit and talked to Braeden and Anna on the phone.  We didn't have a fire, but it was still pleasant in the golden sunshine, under the red tree.

Tis the season

Yesterday when I walked into the kitchen for our daily breakfast and CNN 10, Mark asked, "Are you ready for Spooktober?"

Then he grinned because he knows that I like October just fine, but I don't like Halloween.

I changed the leaves on the tree on my classroom door to fall.  The next morning, they had literally fallen.

What can you do?  They're living up to their expected potential.

I didn't become an elementary teacher to not decorate for the seasons, so I gave a little nod to Halloween:

Mary Engelbreit helped soften the blow of the ugliest holiday.

My students were thrilled that it was a real pumpkin and amazed by how tiny it is and think it would be perfect for a baby to carve.

Which is why you don't usually put third graders in charge of babies.  "Here's a knife; have fun!"

Grateful Friday

Here are some things I'm grateful for:

It finally--for real--feels like fall.  There are leaves swirling and it's jacket weather and we've had some wild and dramatic thunderstorms.

It is General Conference weekend!  Braeden and Emma are coming home for the weekend and that is my favorite.  There is nothing cozier than the five of us, snuggled under blankets in our comfy clothes, enjoying the good word of God.

One of the students I work with at school asked me if she can call me Mrs. Curly.  (She has curly hair too.)

I got MD (Mark's Doppelgänger) to write!  About half a page!

I've started thinking about Christmas gifts for our kids.  When gifts are your love language, Christmas shopping feels like paradise.  (Also the lists!  How I love lists!)

I found some pretty pumpkins.  They complete me.

A happy Thanksgiving

So far so good on the cougar front.  We did see enormous tracks in the mud when we took a Thanksgiving afternoon walk though.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Busy.  Exhausting.  Fun. I didn't take enough pictures. (It wasn't in the Thanksgiving Binder to take pictures apparently.)

I did take this shot of our table the night before:

The table is my favorite part of hosting a dinner.  Followed by dessert.

It was fun to have a house full of college kids.  Mark was the only one who has never gone to BYU.  The food all turned out pretty well.  Towards the end of the preparation, when it was all sort of coming together, I was a little surprised that it had actually worked.

There's magic in a binder with page protectors.  (I'm not saying it was the page protectors that made it happen, but I'm not saying I could have done it without them.)

We went to Coco last night.  Wow.  I cried.  And also I think there should be a link to Family Search at the end of that movie.

I love Thanksgiving.  There are many things to be grateful for in my life, but mostly I'm grateful for my people.  I'm grateful for my grandma, the grande dame of Thanksgiving.  She always created magic and on a scale that I can only aspire to.  I'm grateful for my mother and mother-in-law.  I thought about them yesterday and all the work they have done to create wonderful Thanksgiving meals I've been able to enjoy.

I'm grateful for Adam.  He not only washed a million dishes (ballpark figure) over the last few days, but he can make everything fit in the fridge.  He might be a wizard.  I'm grateful for Braeden.  He brings a party wherever he goes.  He's always up for anything and his sunny disposition and booming laugh make everything better.  I'm grateful for Emma.  It's so nice to have a girl.  When I mentioned nude nail polish the other day she was the only one who knew what I meant.  Everyone else sort of sputtered "what?!?" and Emma and I looked at each other with solidarity.  Also she is a great consultant on everything (table linens for example) and helpful in the kitchen.  I'm grateful for Mark.  He gamely goes along with whatever is happening.  When our guests arrived yesterday, in the first awkward minutes when you try to get a disparate group together, I told Mark to go find someone to talk to who was by themselves.  And that's exactly what he did.

And now for Black Friday!  (It should be called Red Friday around here because it's when we start opening up all the Christmas boxes.)

Grateful Friday

Adam snapped this picture with his phone last night at that perfect moment right at sunset. 

This has seemed to be a particularly lovely autumn.  I love the colorful leaves everywhere you look.

Also last night, Mark was reading during our family scripture reading time.  He read this:

For I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God...

Alma 5:40 

When he read that, I thought of sunsets and autumn and all the beauty and goodness in the world.  I'm grateful for all the loveliness God freely gives to us.

The upside is we love Provo

We have been beating a path between here and Provo.  Too many trips.

Thursday, we went and had dinner at Mother Cannon with our kids.

Friday, I met my parents for lunch and Braeden and I went to the Provo Temple together.

Also on Friday, Braeden decided to stay the weekend so he drove Loki here. (His friend/former mission companion stayed Saturday night too--I love filling the house up a little more from time to time.)

Saturday, Emma's ankle, which she had sprained, was hurting.  I wanted to take her ice packs and an ace bandage so we went again.

We decided to take Loki to her so she could come for Sunday dinner.

She decided not to come for Sunday dinner.

So we had to go to Provo Sunday night to return Braeden.  After dropping Braeden off we walked around campus a little.

How long has this been there?  Adam and I had never seen this sign on the side of campus behind the Maeser Building.

An alternative to the Big Scary Tree.  The one we used as a meeting spot back in the Pax Thelma (which is what we're calling the time Adam and I were at BYU) closer to the library is gone.  I'm glad there's another one for the next generation.

 

Autumn is my favorite season and BYU is one of my favorite places on earth and walking around campus holding hands with Adam it didn't feel like going to Provo too many times after all.

 

Puttering

I am still trying to get used to what my life is like without being a homeschooler.  I keep adding things and saying yes to good things and meanwhile all the projects that have been patiently waiting for me at home aren't getting done.

Low on the list was pulling out my boxes of autumn decorations.  It is less important than reorganizing the kitchen pantry, which is sometimes a life threatening proposition when you try to retrieve something, or boxing up some of Braeden's tchotchkes in his room that are just going to be collecting dust for the next two years.

It was low on the list, but I did it anyway.

Because I wanted to.

It didn't matter that Adam would be home soon and I didn't really have time to tackle the project before I needed to make dinner and we started on our evening plans.  I wanted to feather my nest a little.  I had been on the go all week and I wanted to do something that is good for my soul.

For me, that means arranging the mantle.

Emma was in her typical Friday afternoon comatose state (she burns the candle from both ends all week and then crashes) so Mark was my helper.  We hauled boxes up from the basement gathered all the summer stuff to put away.

Here's what I found inside a lantern on the mantle:

When Braeden didn't leave his socks on the floor, he'd stash them somewhere I couldn't see.

It's confusing to miss someone that makes you so crazy.

I pulled out the season's throw pillows and Mark...arranged them.

Mark and I got really serious and pulled out two ladders (because the first one wasn't tall enough) to tweak some of the things on the high shelf between our windows.  Mark is highly opinionated on the placement of every object so there was a lot of debate and reworking.

I bought some battery powered candles to perch on the shelf (complete with remote control because this is the sort of world we live in).  Mark was in charge of assembly and batteries because he knows where every battery is in the house and the status of its lifespan.

I took this from on top of the hearth where I spent most of the time.  I texted Adam the shot as in "fair warning, things are in disarray here."

Then I climbed up and down from the hearth thirty times to assess the placement of each item.  Emma woke up and lent her opinion.  I climbed back up and made adjustments.

And then I felt completely refreshed.

I'm telling you, nothing is quite as restorative as vase placement.

And nothing makes me happier than these pillows:

They used to be in my grandparents' house.  They even survived the fire and have the scars to prove it.

Halloween--the highs and lows

Another Halloween come and gone.  This was better for me than usual because I saw only a handful of gruesome decorations the whole season.  I just don't think I get Halloween.  I am drawn to things that are beautiful and light and uplifting.  Halloween is mostly dark and excessive and ugly.  I do love little kids in costumes though.  They're excited and cute and I can appreciate that.

And the chocolate.

Our kids celebrated the holiday in various ways.  Braeden and his fellow PBS costumed friends won first place in the drama department's costume contest.  I was trying to understand.  I asked, "Now was that for the whole school or just the drama department?"

Braeden said, "It was just the drama kids but when you win best costume in the drama department, you pretty much win it for the whole school."  I guess that's fair.

Halloween night, Braeden and 30 of his closest drama friends dressed up as zombies and took over one of his friend's cul de sacs.  They danced to Thriller and chased kids (Braeden said they eased up if kids got scared...most kids seemed to love it.  I'm not most kids.).  Braeden's favorite was a little Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle who chased him with a sword.  I think that kid's my favorite too.  That took some courage to chase a 6 foot 3 inch zombie.

Braeden came home and said it was his best Halloween ever.  He'd never had so much fun.  (Then Sunday he was terribly homesick for Washington so don't rest on your laurels too much, Utah.)

Emma went to one of her friend's house and a group of girls had a Pirate's of the Caribbean movie marathon.  We made her come home after the third one because it was past midnight.  She had a lovely time and was quite shocked when Adam woke her up the next morning for yard work.  Adam pointed out that he'd had to stay up late too to give her a ride home.  I pointed out she could go to bed early that night.  She went out with her friends again though.  Who is this girl?

Mark's Halloween was less stellar.  We went to a trunk or treat which was in our ward and neighborhood because they are definitely the same thing.  A street was blocked off and the whole thing turned into one huge trick or treat venue.  His two kind-of friends weren't there and he didn't really meet up with anyone he knew.  It didn't help that they were all in costume.  We left early, sort of in defeat.  In an effort to cheer Mark up, we told him we would do something fun.  After vetoing a few of his ideas, he said, "So let me get this straight.  I'm Hong Kong and you're China?  I can do whatever I want, as long as you approve?"

I told him that was correct.

We ended up going to Kneaders for dinner.  It was delicious and will probably be a repeat affair.  We came home and received our favorite trick or treaters:

Then we watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman with our best-loved redhead. It was a good movie and we had fun.

One thing about the roller coaster that has been this move is that it has only made us closer as a family.  We stick together when there's nothing else to stick to.

The chalkboard doesn't lie.

Cause for celebration

This picture was taken late afternoon, from our bedroom window.  More fall loveliness than my eye can hold.

Yesterday morning, like every morning, I walked out of my bedroom and looked out the windows towards the valley and was amazed by the beauty.  October.  The weather is perfect.  Anytime I remember to look out the windows and soak in the landscape and consider the blessing it is to be able to see such a sight every single morning, I know it will be a good day.

Then we signed over our old house.  It is bittersweet because it's our house!  But now it isn't.  It's also a huge relief.  Two mortgages don't do anyone any good.  It felt wonderful to be able to check that off our list.

When Braeden got home, he did his homework outside on the trampoline in the glorious afternoon.  Who needs a desk?

Last night Emma had a choir concert at school.  Wowzers.  There are a lot of talented choir kids at that school!  There were five choirs--three audition choirs--and each choir had at least 40 people in it and the biggest one had over 100.  Emma is in the lowest audition choir and they sounded great.

In this picture one of Braeden's friends, Andrea, is conducting the choir.  She's a senior and is the intern for the Advanced Women's Choir because she wants to be a choir teacher someday.  How great is that?

Here's Emma after the concert.  Notice the expertly hemmed dress.  No don't.  I didn't do that great of a job on it.  Luckily I'm not a perfectionist and it isn't that noticeable.  Also, why didn't we turn on some lights before snapping the picture? 

Clarissa was with us for the concert and joined us for some celebratory pumpkin cake that evening.  It was that sort of day.

Pretty great.

Oh October!

August was hot.

September was hot.

Our air conditioning bill was high.

October to the rescue.  October for president!  If this is October, sign me up!  We have had neither our heat nor air conditioning on.  Every day is sunny and warm.  Every night is cool and breezy.  The moon is showing off, it's been so bright and lovely. 

Every day the mountain has more leaves colored.  Yellows and reds and oranges.  This is the view from my kitchen window:

It almost makes me wish I had more dishes to wash.

(I said almost.)

Our hymn of grateful praise

There was a lot to love about the weekend:

Braeden had a party with a whole bunch of kind and well mannered and dramatic kids.

We got to hang out with Clarissa a lot.

We had dinner with Melanee and her kiddos.  I love getting to know Melanee better than before when it was just once or twice a year.  She's quality.  No wonder Ammon married her...

We had ice cream and cookies when Adam and Ammon and Braeden joined us after their meeting.  It was about time I saw Ammon.

We got to watch General Conference.  It was, as always rejuvenating and wonderful and the best possible way to spend our time.

Then there was the little Sunday hike we took and the drive on the Alpine Loop...

It reminded me of my favorite hymn.

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the sky,

For the love from which our birth
over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flow'r,

Sun and moon, and stars of light,

Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

We were driving in the car at the time of these pictures.  I'm not sure seat belt laws were being properly observed.  Naughty children!  Also, Mark found Braeden's thrift store leather jacket in the back.  Mark said it made him look "fly."

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

(cousin too)

Friends on earth, and friends above,

For all gentle thoughts and mild,

Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

Sing a song of seasons

Earlier this week, I had a dream about decorating my house for fall.  I wanted to decorate it (so much so that I dreamt about it) and it was buried in the deep, columned list of things to do.  I don't know about you, but things are pretty busy around here. 

I really and truly enjoy decorating for seasons.  The very process makes me happy.  It's not a Have To though so that's why it kept getting kicked to the bottom of the list.  Finally, I decided it sort of was a Have To.  Here's why.  It gives me pause.  It reminds me of beauty.  It reminds me of the passing seasons.  This weekend is oh so busy.  You too?  It might be easy for me to forget all about the beauty that is everywhere if I keep my nose too much to the grindstone. 

Autumn Fires

by Robert Louis Stevenson (from A Child's Garden of Verses, 1885)

In the other gardens

And all up the vale,

From the autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes,

The gray smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!

Something bright in all!

Flowers in the summer,

Fires in the fall!

So here's my autumnal still life, my singing of seasons:

And then here's my song, the redheaded fashionista who wears ensembles like that to school and cuddles metal goats:

Someone should get that poor child a real pet...he just can't keep it here.

Life is busy, but it's also really good.  Bring it on, weekend.