Feels Like Fall

Sunday morning was nice. I was able to enjoy a slow morning and even go on a walk before Conference started. Some moms are big into baking special things on conference sundays but I really enjoy the slow pace of the day.  The General Conference talks Sunday felt like they were more what I needed and other Michiganders might have needed. I felt like this time around there were some good talks about finding joy and healing in challenges. After Conference we had some amazing chicken kabobs that Tyler had made. He often cooks on Sunday and it always something time consuming and delicious. My only complaint is he cooked the chicken on my griddle stove top and totally ruined it with the grease. He ended up scraping off some of the black coating on the griddle and now I am hesitant to use it for pancakes and french toast.

Monday after we finished our homeschool work, I finally was able to join the Commerce Ward Playgroup with the girls at Clara Miller Park. It is probably mostly a me problem but I felt like such a misfit. These moms are late 20's and early 30's with families full of littles. I am also the only weirdo that homeschools so I was the only one there with older kids (Lucy and Penny came to play pickleball at the courts). I was able to join in some conversation but I just feel like I bring a different and maybe not appreciated vibe/viewpoint. Mostly though, I spent the time chasing Ruby around because she really didn't have any desire to hang with the other toddlers. It wasn't a great morning out.

Monday night Ben had his last soccer game. It was in Howell so only Tyler went. It was probably a good thing because he did not get any play time which is a big bummer for a last game. At least his team won.

Tuesday while the girls were at school I decided to wash everyone's bedding. It ended up turning into a horror story when I found crumbs on Steven's bed and then bugs on his mattress. I was terrified they were bed bugs, but after googling and using an AI bug identifier I found out they were carpet beetles (I think in the larvae stage). Still horrifying. The discovery led to a massive cleaning of their room. I made Steven clean out the guinea pig cage, and there was vacumming and scrubbing down furniture. Thankfully the only other place I found them in their room was in Steven's trash can. And thankfully there were none in any of the other upstairs rooms, but I will still be extra cautious for awhile (checking mattresses) and extra dilligent with vacumming and washing. Boys are gross. And what's worse is Steven could care less that he had bugs in his bed. He thinks they are no big deal because they only eat carpet and fabric. So dumb. 

Wednesday after we finished homeschool, Poppy took us girls out to Burger King for lunch. The girls really love their trips to Burger King with Poppy and Ruby gobbles down all the food with no complaints which is nice.

After Burger King we grabbed Grams and went to Target. The girls wanted to look at some things and I needed a couple things. Target was having a lot of deals this week and with all my spending I did, I managed to get Target Circle for free. Tyler told me it was probably a scam and after only a few days I might agree, lol. They gave me a $10 off a $10 or more purchase of Halloween decorations so I ordered a 3 foot skeleton for $10 off. Wouldn't you know that it went on sale the next day for only $1 more than I paid (and you can't use the coupon on top of sales anyways). I feel like the coupon was not that great. Lame.

Wednesday evening the kids all went to the church to set up for the coat drive. Tyler went with them because the leaders wanted extra adults at the building to help the kids feel more safe. I was happy to just stay at home with Ruby. When they all came back Tyler and I talked about our anniversary trip and recently I had been looking at destinations other than England and was falling in love with the idea of Rome. We ended up buying plane tickets for 2 weeks in Rome in February (off season and a little cold but still 20 degrees warmer than Michigan). A total change in plans but the prices were decent and tickets fully refundable. I feel excited and also guilty for spending money on plane tickets when I should be getting my kids braces or other important things. But also, I know this trip is going to be an amazing experience. Now I just have to figure out an itinerary and decide where in Italy we will go besides Rome. It's intimidating.

Thursday morning, after I dropped the kids off at school, Julie came over with her boys. Asher and Ruby have a love hate relationship but I am glad that she has a friend to practice sharing with and that I have a friend that can relate with being old with a toddler, lol. After she left I cleaned the house- I feel like that's all I do lately. That night I went to take my mom on some errands and the girls wanted to come with. Penny decided to run down the stairs because for some reason she always thinks I am going to leave her, and she slipped and rolled most of the way down the stairs. I was so scared that she broke her arm again but thankfully she hadn't. Unfortunately though, she landed on her back and got winded. She was very emotional the rest of the night. I think she was slightly traumatized by the whole thing. 

Friday morning we had our homeschool co-op. They had picture day and I decided to get pictures but only for the older 2 girls. The lady was nice and offered to take Ruby's picture for no charge but Ruby refused to cooperate so she took a picture of me and the girls with Ruby instead. That was frustrating because I would love a nice updated picture of just Ruby. What's funny is later someone else came to take Ruby's picture for her ID badge and she gave them a big fat smile, no problem. Such a stinker. Our toddler class itself went ok. There was a lot of cleaning up after kids (we had popcorn kernels in a sensory bin and those things really pop) and a lot of breaking up fights over things because sharing is hard, but I think that's all just to be expected. Mostly I think they had a good time doing all the things (reading stories, singing songs, playing with toys and sensory bine and making crafts). I love this class for Ruby but the older girls are still not enjoying their classes. They think the classes are boring and that's probably because they still haven't made friends. I feel like we need to drop out next semester but I feel bad doing that to Julie.

Friday afternoon the boys had a dentist appointment. It feels so silly to take my teenage boys to a pediatric dentist but it's also easier than changing dentists. However, Steven turns 18 next year so this was his last visit there. He has at long last graduated from their services. The visit was fine. No cavities but some starts of one. With my luck, they will both need fillings next year. I always feel guilty at the dentist for not having fixed Ben's crooked teeth. I wish it wasn't such an expensive service here.

After the dentist, I made the boys stop at Costco with me so we could get pizza. Steven griped the whole time and was rude to me and Ben. It's funny because at the dentist he was chatty and kind to the hygentist. Why is he so mean to us?

Friday Ruby met her best friend- Chad Jr. The skeleton I had ordered from Target had arrived and she loves him. She tried to feed it pizza, asked if it wanted to go outside and swing, then put socks on it and pushed it on the swing. At one point she even told Chad Jr that she loved him. So so funny.

Friday night Lucy had her middle school dance at Renaissance. The dance was Western themed. She was saucy to me when I commented her dress might be too short (she had shorts on underneath and the dress didn't quite cover them in the back. Then she was saucy when she wanted me to do her hair but didn't like the way I did it. She can be exhausting but also we had a nice conversation to and from the dance where she talked to me about friends and things. I appreciate when she opens up to me. I think she had a blast with her friends that night as well. I am glad she has good friends at Renaissance.

 

Saturday morning Penny had another early morning soccer game. It was cold but both Tyler and Grams still made it out to watch her (and of course, Ruby and I came). Once again they won 2 to 1. If they win next weeks game they will end the season undefeated. I truly think her coach is awesome. He doesn't get nearly as intense as the other coaches, and he gives everyone a chance to play and he takes time to teach the kids. It's been another good season.

After the game I had to endure going through clothes with Ben and then writing a Young Women's lesson with Lucy. Both are tasks they hate to do so both were painful. 

Also that day I went out to lunch with Tyler, did some clothes shopping for the kids with Grams, Penny took Chad Jr and Ruby for a walk, and we checked on our pumpkin that is growing in our yard. The amazing thing about that pumpkin is I have done absolutely nothing to help it grow. We left our pumpkin to rot their last year and now we have this. It's a miracle!

Shopping, Soccer, Conference

Monday night Ben had an away game. I did not go but Tyler did. It was not a good game. They lost 1 to 6 and unfortunately Ben was responsible for one of the 6 goals- he was trying to kick it out of their goal but kicked it in. He came home really sad and defeated, it was heartbreaking as a mom to see him look so down. Thankfully most of his team was not mean to him about it.

While he was having his awful soccer game, all us girls went to Target (including Grams). I was looking for a couple Halloween pillows and I managed to find some cute ghost pillows that now reside on our couch. I also found some Crayola mess free marker packs for 70% off which made my day because Ruby loves to color but is so untrustworthy with regular crayons and markers. Our table, chairs and her own body are all a testament to that. 

Tuesday morning we hit some insane traffic on the way to the girls' school. It took us an extra 15 minutes to get there and we never even hit an accident or construction so who knows why it took so long. Thankfully we left early enough that we were not late. While they were at school I ran a few errands with my parents. They had some things they needed and I was looking for a Halloween blanket. I managed to find one for 40% off at Kohl's. I really love a good deal. 

Tuesday, after dinner, I finally met up with Rudi and her 2yo daugher Rosie (they live in our neighborhood but I met her through a facebook post). We went on a short walk and then did some sidewalk chalk at my parent's house. Rudi was nice and Rosie and Ruby are cute together. Rosie is also super strong and pulled Ruby in the wagon for a good stretch of the walk. Rudi is a decade younger than me though and she is renting and living with her boyfriend (so probably not here forever) and one of her past jobs was at a weed dispensary so though nice, we are very different and I don't forsee us being besties or anything but at least our daughters can maybe be friends.

Tuesday night Lucy and I went to pick up some $5 boots from someone on fb marketplace. She had a country themed church activity she was going to with Claire and then she has a country themed dance next weekend for school so the boots were needed but I didn't want to spend too much on something she would only wear twice. After we got the boots we happened to be driving by a Salvation Army so I decided to stop to see if they had a cowboy hat for her. It was kind of fun shopping with her for once- often she gets bored thrifting with me but she actually seemed interested in browsing. We didn't find a cowboy hat but we did find a kid size picnic table for my parent's house so Ruby doesn't have to sit on their tall bar stools to color anymore. It was a good night.

Wednesday, after we finished homeschool, we walked to the library with Poppy. I am grateful we live close enough to do this and that the weather has been nice lately. Wednesday evening I took Penny to soccer practice and then Ruby, Grams and I hung out in Milford. Ruby played at the park (Ruby is still obsessed with the swings) and then we went to Kroger's because I needed some cashback for a mini trampoline for Ruby. I finally found one on facebook marketplace in good shape, for a good price. After Penny's practice we went and picked up the trampoline. At that point it was very dark and I could not see the house numbers and it was tricky to find the house but we found it and were lucky enough that the trampoline fit in our trunk. Ruby loves bouncing on it but she also loves laying on it and eating on it and trying to color on it...she really has been a lot lately.

Thursday I ordered some fun things from Amazon for my friend's family that had been in the church shooting and sent them anonymously. I will be honest, I like getting recognized for doing things so I was trying to do something without that benefit for once. Unfortunately I was not sneaky enough I guess because she immediately messaged me when she got it and asked "Did you send the Legos?" I turned to Google AI for what to do and ended up responding "That's so thoughtful of someone! I'm glad you got it!" I did not say yes and I did not lie so I still feel good about myself, lol.

Thursday morning I went to Julie's to plan for our next co-op group. She is always very ambitious and wants to do lots of crafts which I am not quite sure they are old enough for yet, but I will let her take charge of the. My goal was just to make sure we have lots of different stations for the toddlers to play at. It should be fun. While we were hanging out Asher was having a bit of a difficult time with sharing and things and she blamed it on other kids he had been hanging around. I wonder if she realizes Ruby is one of those kids that has been a bad influence, lol. Honestly, though, he's just exhibiting normal toddler behavior... 

After our hang out with Asher, Ben was off school (Steven was too but he was working) so we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch with the grandparents. Ben had a giftcard from seminary that he had never used so he helped pay. It was nice to have lunch with him and Ruby. He's a good kid and really sweet to Ruby, even when she is super obnoxious to him.

Thursday night I went and picked up some dr pepper for Caroline and dropped by her house because she was having a rough week. Her car had broken down permanently, Lizzie has to get daily hormone injections because she is not growing properly, and her city had been under a boil water advisory. I am glad I dropped by- we had a good chat and I felt like I helped cheer her up some.

Friday night I went to Grace's so we could make our thrift store paintings spooky. Nahoko came as well. It was fun to get artsy (and a little intimidating because my painting was so big) but I felt like if I wasn't leading the conversation, no one was talking and maybe it was comfortable for them but it felt awkward to me. So that left me constantly searching my brain for topics we could all chat about. I think I am a little more filtered with Nahoko so that was some of the problem with coming up with conversations. I also think the group is a bit more fun with the husbands there or maybe with a game that keeps us chatting. It was still a nice night though. Here's the before and after:

Saturday morning I woke up and realized that I had down the time of Penny's soccer game wrong and it was at 9 and not 11:20. That meant I needed to get ready a lot more quickly than I had thought. Not the best way to wake up. So Ruby, Poppy and I went off to Penny's game that morning. It was another good game by her team. They won 3 to 0. She is really getting better at getting in there and defending the ball. It's fun to watch.

Right after her soccer game, we went to Ben's soccer game. While Penny's game was nice and cool, by the time we got to Ben's game the sun was shining hot and in our eyes. It was not comfortable and at half time I went to my car for sunglasses and an umbrella. The umbrella was a good help for my parents but Ruby would not have it. We spent a lot of the game under the bleachers where it was cool. Ben's team won 2 to 0 and he got 14 minutes of play time. He did some nice ball touches and I feel like he redeemed himself a bit from Mondays awful game.

After all the soccer crazy, it was time to settle down and watch General Conference. Ben went to the Bloomfields house for all of conference (they are his seminary teachers and hosted both sessions for their seminary students). Steven unfortunately had to work so he missed all of conference. Grams and Poppy came over and watched with us. Ruby was a monster for the first session- lots of tantrums. I think all the time in the sun from the soccer games had made her irritable. In between sessions she got a nap and was much better for the second session. Although she just wanted to hang out and color in the guest room (she is so obsessed with coloring!) for the second session so I ended up watching General Conference on my phone in the guest room with her. There were some good talks at conference and a lot of people talking about making sure we are welcoming to everyone who comes to church and making sure that we are peacemakers. That is a good thing but maybe not helpful for those who just experienced a traumtic shooting in a church building. I wish there had been a little bit more for those saints. I did however love the passion of Elder Brown when he talked about having a testimony. That was a very powerful talk.