Monday morning was Labor Day and Lucy had asked Tyler if we could all go kayaking. He hates kayaking because of all the effort loading and unloading kayaks and paddles- I get it, I hate that part too- but he was nice enough to comply. We went to the Huron River because it's close and it's not super deep. Penny once again got to ride along with Tyler and the rest of us had our own kayaks. The outing itself had some goood moments but it also had some really rough moments thanks to 2 surly boys that didn't want to be there. Steven just did not want to come and Ben wanted to hang out with Jacob instead. I guess we've reached the time where family time is torture for half our kids. Thanks to the boys' negative attitudes they spent quite a bit of the time scowling and picking fights with each other. Tyler and Penny, on the other hand, had a blast ramming into everyone with their kayak. Those were probably the fun moments. The worst moment was near the end when Ben accidently fell in to the dirty water and burst out into tears and then Steven laughed at him and it pretty much just escalated from there. I was feeling so emotional and so I broke down too. Not the best outing. Afterwards Tyler treated them all to seven eleven and that just made me more angry. I felt like they were being rewarded for being buttheads. But anyways, here's some pics from the beginning of the outing.
Afterwards we had a stake picnic at central park in Milford and my emotions were still on edge. I ended up crying in front of my friends about the events of the morning for a minute(definitely PMSing). Thankfully my friends were cool about it and I had a good conversation that brought me back to Earth. Sometimes it's easy to think your teen is the only one that acts that way (like a sunshine killer) but talking to my friends, helped me to realize how normal he is. They had similar stories to share. It was comforting.
Tuesday was our first day of seminary. We had 3 students added to our class last minute so we now have 14 kids (although 2 have yet to register and probably won't ever come). We finally got to do our "nailed it" activity with our seminary class. They did not get super into it- it was 6am in the morning- and they all finished in 10 minutes or less. But it was still fun to see thier results. I ended up having more time for a lesson than expected but I made it work. We had a good talk about how our job as teachers it to provide the info each day in seminary and their job is to "make the most of it". Similar to how we provided them with decorating materials and had them make the most of them while making the cakes.
Tuesday all the kids were at school and I had the joy of cleaning the house with no interruptions. I kept getting side tracked with cleaning projects and ended up going through all our canned food and boxed goods and rearranging some kitchen stuff. I feel guilty for all the food that I had let go bad, such food wasters but my kitchen feels a lot better now. Cleaning and organizing basically took my whole day.
Wednesday felt very long. Seminary in the morning, a lesson on why we "sacrafice" for the Lord. I'm employing some new methods that helped with participation (think-pair-share, everyone write answer on their clipboards, etc). After seminary I drove the kids to the high school, did my work out, worked with younger 3 on their school work (tears from Ben because...work?), and went on a bike ride to Seven Eleven for candy. Then it was time to pick up Steven and a teammate and take them to a match in South Lyon which had a hard to find tennis court. Conversation was sometimes awkward but I survived the 35 minute drive. Then there was an hour of waiting for the game to start. This match was the first time Steven actually played doubles against a team that seemed to also be beginners. Steven and his partner won 8-3- his first win! He needed that! After he won, more waiting since we are supposed to stay until everyone is done. Then we rushed from the match home so we could all get to the church for activities (still just 1 car, I'm not sure I'll ever see my car again). After the church activities Tyler and I met with one yw to encourage her to some to seminary. It was sort of awkward and she definitely made no commitments to come. We tried. And then home where I had to clean up dinner dishes and prep stuff for seminary and make sure Steven did his homework. Like I said, a long day.
Thursday morning we talked about good fruit and bad fruit behaviors for seminary. Someone wrote "Kill Someone" as a bad fruit behavior, should I be worried? Another day without kids and I wasted the morning strolling various stores because sometimes it's just nice to window shop. Then I spent lunchtime and beyond rooting through piles of junk that have formed in our house over the summer. After that I took Steven to another match and gratefully Caroline picked up the rest of the kids from school since the times collided. I am so lucky to have her at the same school. But I will also be so happy to have another car, I'm dying always needing to arrange rides. Plus Ben had soccer so I was rushing from tennis to home to soccer to tennis to soccer. Blech. But miraculously everyone got to where they needed to be at the right time and then back home. Steven did not win this match, he was creamed. 0-8.
Friday we had our graduated seminary student, Jake, guest teach- I thought he did great. We had some good discussions on things the world teaches are good, that are not. However, one student did not think LGBTQ should have been listed on the board as things the world calls good and had some words with me on the way to school about it. She seemed shocked that the church does not support that lifestyle and then went and told her parents that we were teaching people to not love and respect the LGBTQ people. So of course I got some strongly worded texts from her parents. I eventually just resorted to playing somewhat dirty and said that I was hurt that after all this time that we have known her that she could think we would support bigot behavior. It worked and she backed down. But honestly...I was hurt..,and this feels like it's going to be a looooooong school year.
Friday afternoon Penny wanted to go on a bike ride and I did the stupidest thing ever for the second time this year- just different door and different finger. As we were leaving I went to shut the sliding door and slammed it shut on my index finger on my right hand. This is my second blackened nail and I really hope this doesn't lead to another lost fingernail. One was enough. It throbbed so bad and that night I could not sleep. Tylenol and advil weren't helping and neither was an ice pack. It wasn't until I wrapped my whole hand in a cold, wet towel that I finally slept.
Saturday Ben had his first soccer game and his team won, 4-1. He didn't make a goal but he did assist in making a goal. His Deacon's leader came with his family to watch the game so that was nice. The girls were happy to have friends there to play with because they are not fans of just watching the game. The weather was wacky. Random sprinkles of rain mixed with burning sunshine. I was grateful for my shaded chair. The girls were grateful for an umbrella.
Also this week, my friend Corinne was a month off and wished me a happy birthday on September 8th. It was a pretty funny conversation- she even sent me some succulents that hang on my fridge. Let's see if I can actually keep these ones alive.
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