October Little Things

Matthew had a chance to accompany me to another corporate gig this month. I worked for Intel's Corporate Offices during their Fall Fest and brought Matthew along as a line manager. He was so excited to come along and was a great helper getting our station set up. I was told to expect around 500 guests during our 4-hour gig, but the event was surprisingly much slower than expected. Most of the time, Matthew didn't have any clients to interact with, so he became frustrated that he couldn't do his job. Luckily one of his best friends arrived with his family, and our friends invited Matthew to join them in the festivities. Boy howdy was he excited to spend a day enjoying the carnival games with his little friend. From my vantage point near the office, I could see the little group of boys running from one activity to the next, enjoying cold slushies, winning cool prizes, and sword-fighting in the obstacle courses. It's nice to take along a child with me when I work; I love the opportunity it provides for one-on-one time during our commute.  On our long drive home we were able to chat about so many things: his interests, his concerns, his hopes.

In October our family painted mini pumpkins for one of our FHE activities. It was such a delightful evening together, crowding around a table that was loaded with paint supplies. Everyone was so creative and we used the pumpkins as decor all month long. Matthew was particularly attentive to Joseph and helped Joseph with many aspects of the project. My heart thrills when I see my Littles helping each other, and I cherish these little glimpses of love in action.

Daniel mostly enjoyed mixing colors. He'd keep adding new colors to his palette and mixing them all together until he ended up with brown. He had a great time watching the swirls of color blend together.

The pumpkins were lined up along the windowsills of our front windows, peeking out at any guests arriving for the day.

Unfortunately many of our little pumpkins were eventually damaged by little toddlers using them for bowling balls, so only a couple were still picture-worthy at the end of the month. Here we are:

I LOVE Sarah's pumpkin on the right, painted with a spooky cemetery and bats. These were such fun to create. 

I need to mention Sarah's amazing babysitting skills. She is such an excellent babysitter and really throws her heart into her job whenever I hire her. She always plans out the funnest season-appropriate crafts to create with Joseph, so they always have projects to show me when I get home from a date night with my sweetheart. This is what they created during my last temple trip:

There is a hand-print spider with wiggly eyes, skeleton hands made with Q-tips glued onto white handprints, and a puffy ghost made with cotton balls. Joseph is always so excited to show me the neat creations he makes, and he just adores Sarah. 

One time I came home to discover a little special necklace created from one of those round, lidded plastic containers that delivers prizes out of cheap vending machines. You know the kind I'm talking about? You buy a little ring and it comes out of the machine in a little bubble-shaped plastic container. Anyway, Sarah cut a slit in the lid and threaded pretty ribbon through it so the plastic bubble hung like a medallion around his neck. Then they went outside and caught the most perfect roly-poly bug they could find. The bug was carefully placed inside the plastic bubble, and Joseph was able to wear his pet bug all afternoon. He felt so in love with this little bug and named it (although the name he chose currently escapes me). He carried it all over the house and would hold his necklace up high so the bug could have a better view of his tour. Sometimes they would open the necklace, take out the bug, and play with it in their hands for a while before carefully putting him back inside his temporary home. After a few hours, Sarah encouraged him to let the little bug go free again so it wouldn't die. Oh what a heart-breaking thing this was! Joseph was so disappointed to see his little buddy disappear again, and he wept after the bug was gone. When they later made a craft octopus, Sarah asked him to name the creation. He excitedly chose to name it "Roly Poly" in memorandum of his little friend. 

Another night for FHE activity, we played Scripture Charades. This is a game we created where a person mimes any scripture story of their choice and the family tries to guess it. What a delightful activity this is! We laugh together at each other's antics and enjoy each other's company. I'm so grateful for FHE and the way it provides regular opportunities to create lasting memories, instruct our children in Christ's teachings, and strengthen our friendships. What a blessing it is!

I haven't really posted anything about my art classes on this blog, but wanted to mention it. I am teaching four art classes one day a week while Joseph attends preschool at a nearby church. This semester I've taught Art 101 (a class exploring a variety of mediums: ceramics, pastels, painting, collage), Beginner Acrylics, Advanced Acrylics, and another Art 101 class. I haven't remembered to take pictures of the class projects most of the semester, bummer. I finally remembered to snag a snapshot of a couple of paintings before they went home with students. These two students are aged 6 and 8, and their art looks so fantastic. I love seeing what these little girls can create. 

Thursdays are my Crazy Day, when I really have no down time from sunup to sundown. After I help the Littles get ready for school and packed off with Dad into town, I spend the morning cleaning up from last  night's DI disasters. 

Our DI team meets at my house on Wednesdays after school from 4:30-7:30, so there is no time for my Littles to do their regular chores that day. They squeeze in their homework time after DI and before bed, but there's no time for anything else (other than family prayers and scriptures). And there is no time Thursday morning for chores due to an early-morning orchestra class that begins an hour before school starts, so the kids leave for school at 6:40 AM. There's just enough time to eat breakfast, pack lunch, and get ready for school. 

I clean for 2 hours to get the house ready for clients, then they arrive. I scheduled my classes back-to-back so I can maximize the hours Joseph is in preschool. Each wave of students arrives just as the previous ones leave. I usually don't have much time to eat breakfast or lunch on Thursdays, so I usually fast until dinner or grab a quick bite between classes while I'm cleaning up from one class and setting up for the next one. It's pretty busy. After the third class, I pick up Joseph from preschool and head into town to pick up the Littles from their school. We drop off carpool friends and arrive home just in time for the next art class, and I teach another hour while my Littles either join in the class or babysit Joseph or work on homework. After the final class ends at 5:30, we have one hour to eat dinner, finish homework, and do chores. Then at 6:30 we head into town for the church youth activities (Sarah attends Young Women's and the boys attend Cub Scouts). We arrive back home around 8:45 PM, past the kids' bedtime. To maximize our commute time, we usually listen to an audio recording of scripture stories on the way home to speed up our evening routine for bed. We walk in the door, everyone quickly brushes teeth, we say family prayers, and tuck everyone in bed. Whew! (Next semester I've switched the art classes to a different day so it won't be the same night as the church youth activities- that should make things MUCH easier!) 

And here  is a late post of the First Day of School picture. I realized I shared it on Facebook, but not on my blog. And since I keep intending to print my blog into a hardbound family journal, I need to share it here as well. This year the kids are attending a charter school based on the classical education model. Daniel is entering third grade; Matthew enters fifth grade; and Sarah begins sixth grade this year. 

Here are other Facebook notes I've rediscovered that shared Little Things that I don't want to forget: 

Today I had the most lovely time Visiting Teaching an elderly sister in our congregation. I love visiting her home each month and helping her understand how much God loves her. I can't really put it into words, but our souls connect in a very deep way, and I just feel overwhelming love for her. We laugh together and pray together and read scriptures together (and occasionally I can convince her to let me help with the dishes). I am so thankful for the inspired Visiting Teaching program and how it perfectly helps us do as the Savior asked and 'feed His sheep' by serving and loving people one-on-one. Today was beautiful beyond words.

Oh heavens my heart is full today. I feel full of peace and God's love for all His children. I love the power of the Spirit when I help do family history work! It's such a blessing to me. Today I had the privilege of finally printing off my accumulated research so I can take it to the temple this week. I am joyful beyond words for these precious souls, and I feel such a connection to so many of these people that I've been blessed to serve. I hope you have a truly wonderful day!

Fun thing...Joseph just had a HUGE epiphany. He realized there are ABCs all over the house, not just in books. He's squealing in delight and running room to room, pointing out with ecstasy all the letters he's finding on things. And singing the ABC song on the top of his lungs. He just screamed/laughed crazily when he found letters "even on my BICYCLE??!! MOM! They're EVERYWHERE!!!"

We picked up two violins today after school for the boys' orchestra class that starts next week. Matt is already busily watching online tutorials and learning how to play a song. I'm surprised he is so excited about playing violin- I hope the novelty doesn't wear off any time soon!

Blech. Today I'm feeling so sick. I'm staying in bed with Joseph, reading to whatever books he picks. When I made this suggestion, this sweet boy squealed in delight and begged me to read illustrated scripture stories. I love his choice of literature. Maybe I'm doing something right as a parent after all.

I'm driving down the road. A nice new truck pulls up next to me, matching my speed. I glance over at the driver, and it's a teenage boy (who must think he is cool since he was shirtless?). His body language and revving engine imply he wants to race with me. I roll down the window and ask him: "Really?!" Yep. Lucky for him I like games. I left him in the dust. I felt a little bad he had a cab full of friends: they all saw him get beaten by a 'soccer mom' in a minivan full of kids. Suh-weet.