Bronner's

Monday Steven had a half day but the other kids did not. When he got home, I asked him if wanted to go running with me and surprisingly he agreed right away. Maybe he likes running more than he will admit? Of course he toasted me- he was about a minute faster and he took a slightly longer route. It was fun. I also convinced him to go with me to pick up groceries afterwards- more like guilted him by telling him he'd miss doing this with me someday ;)

On another note, we have Ward Conference coming and part of that is that I get to visit families with the Stake YW's President. Monday night we went on our first visit. This was to a family that comes on Sundays but the girls do not come Wednesdays, even though they could. It was a really good visit- a lot of fun getting to know the girls but also a good talk about the importance of Wednesday night activities. I am not sure anything will change, they didn't come this week, but it was good to get it out in the open. Also afterwards, I had a good conversation with the stake YW's president about some of the obstacles I have been facing. She was very supportive and it's good to know I can come to her with problems.

Tuesday the kids had off of school for Voting Day. I decided this would be a good day for our annual trip to Bronner's to pick out ornaments. It was a little busy but not too bad. We did our annual picture taking with all the fun photo ops outside and in.

Then came ornament picking time. Penny had a few she wanted- a hedgehog, a cat, a dessert one...In the end she picked the hedge hog with the Santa hat. Steven wanted a candy/food one (and was further encouraged by a couple from our Ward that we ran into there- they informed us that they have a Christmas tree with 600 candy themed ornaments on it). He ended up picking the yummy looking chocolate ice cream one. Lucy wanted a unicorn one but anytime I pointed out one she wouldn't want it- she informed me she didn't like when I told her which ones she should look at. Miss independent. She ended up with a unicorn carousel. And sweet Ben picked a penguin on a polar bear. He was undecided until the couple we ran into said that it was a winner. Honestly their feedback was super helpful in getting my kids to make decisions. I am glad I ran into them.

Tuesday night there was more YW's drama. A group text with the mom's of the yw and a certain mom was suggesting to us that we do better with parent contact. I felt that whole conversation would have been suited for more of a private setting but nobody seems to be up for that. I feel so emotionally drained from it all. I wish people could nice and respectful and patient with me as we figure things out. I also wish instead of just the negatives I could get some positive feedback. Is there not one thing that I am doing well?

Wednesday night I got to rake leaves with the YW. We had an awful turn out of only 3 YW. Probably because it was sooooooo cold. The picture below shows 2 of my layers but I put on another 3 after that. Everyone else had on like 2 but I don't regret my 5 layers one bit. I was not even a tinge cold. 

Thursday I was feeling particularly emotional and worn down so I decided to text a friend to see if she was up for me coming over to unload. It was a good choice. She's a real good friend and helped me feel better about things- if only for that moment. 

Thursday evening Lucy got a belated birthday gift from our friend, little Lucie-a bed tent! She absolutely loves it!

Friday I had a sub job. Friday seems to have become my regular sub day and honestly, I love it. It works good with my schedule. The class was overall good- no major issues so the day went well. The only thing was that I was asked to sub for PE while my class was at technology. I have never subbed for PE before and I was not excited about it. It went pretty well except I overly exhausted a kid. They were doing this obstacle course and I was timing them at one point. And half way through he threw himself onto the floor and cried. I don't know if it was because he was embarrassed for taking so long or just so exhausted. I didn't force anyone to do it, I had just encouraged him and now I regret encouraging him. 

Saturday morning was Super Saturday at church. Tyler was teaching a class on 72 hour kits so we all got to head to the church. I took a class on Midwest vacations which was very informative on future vacation ideas. I also took a class where I put leaves in a picture frame and then wrote fancy on the glass. It looks nice. After that super Saturday fun I went to see "Last Christmas" with my friends, Melissa and Caroline. The movies was good, not quite what I was expecting though. Really it was just nice to hang with friends.