Good Weather

Sunday was more General conference. Tyler made himself a mohawk out of air dry clay between sessions. It was a beautiful day so after conference we were all outside playing soccer and volleyball and all the outdoor things. Ben ended up scratching his knee on the fence so Tyler wrapped it up. Ruby wanted a "wrap" on her knee like Ben so she went inside and put on Lucy's volleyball knee pad. The older kids were having fun showing Ruby how to fake getting hurt in soccer. At one point I decided to trim Penny's little side bangs. Everyone laughed when I cut them so she started crying but I really didn't do an awful job. They just needed to be blended into the rest of the hair better. I ended up asking Grace if she could help touch them up. She was amazing and had us come in Monday morning and now Penny's hair looks fantastic. She trimmed my bangs too and I really should always have her do it- she is so much better at it than me since she actually knows what she is doing.

Monday Penny got a sports physical so hopefully she can do archery with the middle schoolers. She is thinking of leaving Renassiance and this feels like a good way for her to meet some kids that go to our local middle school. Tyler thinks he is a cool enough coach that he can introduce her to the kids. I hope it ends up happening and is a good help for her to make a decision for schooling next year. 

Tuesday my dryer died so that was a bummer. Even worse, the new one we ordered isn't coming until next week, Wed. I'm grateful to my mom who has been doing my laundry in the meantime. 7 people make a lot of laundry and she has been helping me keep up on all of it. She even ironed my boys' dress shirts which is something I never do. She definitely wins extra Grandma points for that.

Tuesday we had lunch at Burger King with Poppy. They had some pretty awesome Halloween decorations up.

Tuesday after lunch, Ruby and I met Kara at a park we hadn't been to before. It had a great play structure- so great that when Kara and Amelia came, Ruby did not want to go for a walk around the grounds. She was really unhappy about me making her go so it wasn't the best walk but we did have a good talk about all our ailments (she has arthritis issues and me and my dumb leg pain- she inspired me to schedule a PT appt). After the walk Ameila and Ruby swung on the swings- until Ruby had to pee. The bathroom was soooo far from the playground and I about died rushing her there but thankfully she made it. When we went back to the playgroud, Ruby started playing with some other kids. She led her own made up "lava" game with the kids- it was very reminiscent of a game my dad used to play with us.

Tuesday night Ruby, Grams and I went to Ben's Soccer game. Ruby was having poop issues so I almost didn't go. She is making me crazy with getting poop smears in her underwear. I tried making her go bare butt around the house and it sort of helped but was also slightly terrifying. Anyways she ended up pooping in the potty so we could go to the game. At the beginning of the game Ruby saw Ben and shouted "Ben! I see you!!!" until he turned around. It was super cute. In the end, Ben did not get any play time and his team lost so not the greatest game but it was nice to get outside and support him nevertheless.

Wednesday both Penny and Ben had orthodontist appointments, but thier appointments were not at the same time. I'm glad the orthodontist is only minutes from our house. Ruby came with me to the second appointment because she always likes to see what movie is playing. We also all went out to lunch with grams and Poppy that day. Some of us got subway, some of us got tropical smoothie. The subway people brought their food to tropical smoothie so we could all hang out. Even Steven came so it was a good family outing. 

Thursday's playgroup was not a success this week. As I was driving to the indoor playground that we had planned to meet everyone at, I got multiple texts from people saying that they wouldn't be able to make it. Only one person said they'd come and they said they would be an hour late. I had rushed out the door to make sure we would be there on time for basically no reason. That was frustrating. We got there and it was a really cool indoor playground but it was a tall playground and Ruby was too anxious to climb up in it by herself. She ended up just playing in the toddler area. An hour after being there, Kelli showed with her girls and shortly after Sam came. Sam pretty immediately pretended I wasn't there and gushed about how excited she was to see Kelli and didn't allow me to part of conversations- talking quietly, showing pictures to only Kelli. I felt pretty excluded from my own playgroup and it didn't help that Ruby wasn't clicking with their kids and was being very needy. It's weird because Ruby usually makes friends with strangers. Anyways,I'm pretty sensitive when it comes to being left out and Ruby wasn't having a great time so I decided we would leave. I tried my best to act not upset when I told them we were heading out, I'm not sure if I was successful. It was easy to get Ruby to leave because the church that this indoor playground is in offers free drinks so I just promised her a chocolate milk on our way out. We sat at a window while she drank it and then left. I felt pretty disgruntled by it all and I'm not sure I have it in me to continue this group.  

Thursday Steven helped me make sloppy joe's for dinner without complaint. This week I have seen him making small changes in his behavior, for the better, and I hope he continues on this upward trend. 

Friday was a pretty chill day. After school work we went for a walk to 7-11 for slushees. It was a beautiful day and I always enjoy walking and talking with my kids. We have some good conversations on these walks.

Friday night the girls had a dance at Renassiance that night. It was Penny's first dance and it had a country theme. They both came back saying it was super fun- even if they don't actually dance with anyone. 

While they were at the dance, Tyler took Ruby out of the house so I could clean. I'm actually really enjoying this new routine. I like being able to plug into a show and get the house clean with no one around to bug me. 

Saturday at lunchtime Ben had a soccer game. Ruby got there and immediately started whining for candy. I thought it was going to be a rough game but she got over it pretty quickly and even made a friend. Ben got to play for 20 minutes so that was really awesome. And even better, his team won.