Fall

Sunday we had our first primary program practice in the chapel. I'll be honest, I was a little anxious about playing the piano in the chapel. It just feels so official. Caroline,  who is the primary chorister,  wasn't there so her husband subbed for her. He was not up for the task. First he forgot the stage they stand on, then he forgot the pictures to show where they would be, and then he did not know 2 of the songs. The not knowing the songs caused issues for me. He skipped a repeated verse in both of them and I had to explain to him  that he was the one goofing, not me. I did have a big goof of my own at the end. I really did not want to turn pages so I put all the sheets of music out but as soon as I started playing, they all started to fall down. It was a disaster and they were singing a capella until page 2. I really wish they would just fire me.

Monday it was back to homeschooling the girls and then when we finished our work, we visited both the libraries near us. I like when we can just spend an afternoon at the library. There is usually another toddler around when we go to the Commerce library so it always fun to watch how Ruby interacts with someone her size. She is not always nice so it's a good opportunity for me to teach her to be nicer, lol. Later that day we went to Ben's soccer game. Mariah came, as well, with her kids. My kids always end up entertaining her kids so I have to be more active in watching Ruby which I selfishly don't love. But that game Ruby was actually pretty good and didn't wander off too far. The only issue was my IBS was acting up at one point and I did not want to make a big deal so I took her with me. Super fun having IBS issues with a toddler in the stall with you. Also that game. sat by a mom from my Ward and I found out her family is moving. My girls like her girls and Ben gets along well with her son, so I am sad they are leaving. I feel like our ward just gets smaller and smaller.

Tuesday after the girls finished their school work we went to Hobby Lobby because Lucy has been obsessed with going there for some reason. I think she just wanted to look for birthday party supplies because they have stuff there that fits her theme. I did end up getting her a couple things for the party. We also stopped by Old Navy because I want to get her a new romper but we had no luck there. It can be really hard to find church appropriate rompers in stores. I ended up just ordering her one online and it actually fits-yay!

Wednesday we were back to having one car. Tyler had fixed the Suburban but Tuesday it broke down on his way back home from work so apparently it was not fixed. He had to get it towed home. With the girls having class at Renaissance and Steven having college classes and Tyler needing to be at work- it was a juggling act. I ended up taking Tyler to work (after dropping off the girls) and picking him up so that I could have a car. After I dropped him off at work, Ruby and I stopped at Milford Park to play for a bit. That park is a little more "dangerous" than the one by us- lots of drop offs- so I really had to monitor her there. She discovered wobbly bridges while we were there and almost took a tumble when someone ran by her while she was on one. She also discovered the joy of long slides and made me go down with her twice.

Wednesday night all 4 kids had an activity at the church in the evening so Steven drove everyone there and Tyler and I took Ruby with us for a Costco date. We were running low on some stuff so it was a good opportunity to stock back up. Unfortunately people went a little crazy because of the recent port strike and there were no Costco brand waterbottles in stock and we had to buy the more expensive ones. Toilet paper was all out too but thankfully we didn't need any of that. 

Thursday Lucy went to Grace's salon to get her haircut. Her hair always looks so great after a fresh cut. It was nice to chat with Grace, it always is. Her daughter, Etta, is training to work the front desk the and was surprised that I didn't need to pay. Well I do pay but ecause I am a family friend I can just Venmo Grace the money- the salon doesn't take a cut. But instead of saying I Venmo, I said "Oh I get the family friend discount" Which was stupid and made me sound like a cheapskate. The things I say sometimes....

Friday, I picked up an extra large amount of groceries because the port strike made me realize we don't have as much as we should if an emergency happens. Now we have a better stock in our basement.  

Friday after school, Ben had his friend Andrea over and since I wasn't busy, we watched an old movie together. We watched "Gremlins" and that was really weird and slightly gross at parts but we joked that it should be our new movie to watch every Christmas because it takes place during Christmas time. I think I should get it for him for his Christmas countdown box. 

Saturday we had 2 soccer games in the morning. I went to Penny's and Tyler went to Ben's since he was announcing. Unfortunately as I left, I realized that the squeak had a flat tire so I had to switch cars and Tyler had to fill up the squeak's tire and drive dangerously to the high school. We are now down to 1 car because it needs a new tire and that won't happen until Monday. Why do we have such bad luck with cars? At least Tyler was able to find out what is wrong with the Suburban this weekend so now he can focus on fixing it. Anyways, Penny's game was a fun watch. The other team had a great goalie and although her team made many shots at their goal, they only scored 3. Still they were happy to win this time and Penny got some good kicks in. She is really good at defense. Ben's team also won and he got 9 minutes of play time. That was his last game and with all our car issues, I am releived soccer is over for Ben. Although Archery and Volleyball are strating soon hopefully we can get everything fixed.

Saturday afternoon Penny had a playdate with Mimi and they had such a good time. Meanwhile I chased around Ruby and chatted with Mimi's parents. They really are very nice people. And throughout Saturday I watched Conference while I could. There were drop offs with the car and then getting Steven to work so I didn't get to watch all of it. But there was one really great talk I liked about God's love. Steven said I just liked it because the man had a British accent- ha! Ruby was also cute during conference and was trying to do Steven's hair.

Saturday night Grace and Caroline came over and we painted craft pumpkins. Well actually, Grace and I painted and Caroline carved one and stuck cute flowers in it. We had a lot of deep conversations about our religion, on the role of women in our religion, on how they feel religion has affected their life choices....it was some hard conversations and I don't think I could change either of their opinions on things but I felt proud of my self for the way I was able to articulate some of my thoughts and  opinions- I am not always good at that. I wonder if soon, I will be the only one still attending church.

And to end with...Ruby is still inconsistent and giving me a few great nights of sleep and then nightmare nights where she wakes up and won't go back to sleep. A few nights ago we kicked out Lucy and Penny from their room and are having them sleep downstairs in the guest room. Our goal is to just let Ruby cry it out and hopefully then she will sleep through the night but no joy yet. The first night she slept no problem. The second night she woke up a few times and fussed for a minute but then went back to sleep. The third night she woke up at 5am and cried on and off for AN HOUR. She did not stop. Tyler gave up and went in with a bottle and rocked her back to sleep. It took him a good 20 minutes to get her to sleep. I do not know what to do with her. During the day she naps so well. No matter when I put her down she sleeps like a champ. And she is fun and learning signs "more" "please" "food" "out" But nights are just awful. She won't sleep this terrible forever right?