Weekend in Review

Good morning! I thought I’d get started on this because I thought I had almost ten minutes until time for Amena to get on the bus and waking boys up. I obviously forgot that the clock in the dining room is off by five minutes. Amena just left on the bus and now it is time to get the boys up. Still, it is a lovely day out; a bit cooler and it feels like quite a bit less humidity. I’ll check as soon as the boys are awakened and I’ve got their lunches under control.

Yep. The temperature is currently 42° and the humidity is at 64%. I can’t even say I like Kalispell’s numbers better because it’s 50° and 80%. Over the mountains it looks like 48° and 93% in Bonners Ferry. Holy crud, guys, is it raining?

Saturday morning the breakfast was pretty good. There were three or four kinds of muffins, three or four kinds of breads, sausage, pancakes and fruit. My only complaint was that most of the fruit was melons. Amena got two awards for art which was really cool. Amena wanted to sit with her friends Jayden and Abby. That was fine. When Amena got her awards for art, Jayden’s mom commented on Cedric’s artistic abilities (she was his 3^rd grade teacher). I think Seth has some as well and it’s hard to tell for Joseph yet.

A couple of cute former Tiger Scouts.

Seth is having a terrible time getting up this morning. He often does but today is ridiculous. It’s already after 7:00 and he isn’t up, hasn’t gotten dressed, hasn’t eaten. He might be going to school in his pajamas today. I guess this is what happens when they get to stay up until 9:00 to watch Despicable Me.

On the way to the school Saturday morning, we had two unusual occurrences. First, we saw Sam and her mom standing on the side of the road; it looked like they were having some kind of conflict. Their vehicle was on the other side. I looked at Amena and she shrugged. The second thing was a near miss. As we were nearing the Stetson school, a car was going to turn. This car was in front of us and did not have a turn signal on and we came within inches of hitting it. Fortunately, the brakes were working well and we missed not only the car but the rock wall on the side of the road. I told Amena that was our excitement for the day.

Building the bridge.

As we were leaving, the art teacher had the winning artwork for each student who won an award at a table. It probably was there when we were on our way in as well but I know I didn’t notice it and if Amena did, she didn’t say anything. Anyway, on the way out Amena picked up the two pictures she had there and the art teacher was telling me about the silver key that Amena won; I guess it’s not a common thing and she’s never had a student who has won one or it’s been a while or something. I mentioned that Amena has a brother in 5^th grade who is very artistic as well; I think she’s excited for that prospect. I turned around and asked her about Daniel because he always said that he didn’t like art and that he wasn’t very good but the things that he brought home were really rather good I thought. She agreed.

Bridge finished.

Amena and I were talking as we were walking out to the car and as we drove away, an idea began formulating in my mind. I think it’s partly because of the books that I’ve been reading; I know that the author of Swallowed by a Snake mentioned a project that someone did although I don’t remember all the details. My first idea was to interview Daniel’s teachers from 7^th grade. Then, as I thought more about it, I thought about interviewing classmates as well. I think it would be a really cool thing to do and would give me a better idea of what life was like for him at school; more than his patented answer of “Boring” to my question, “How was school today?” anyway. I like the idea. I might write a letter to the principal today if I have time. If not, it is something that I definitely would like to get done this week. I’d need to write a letter to the high school principal as well, since the students I’d want to talk to are all in high school now. I fully expect it to be a painful experience, but I also expect it will be a good one.

Cedric moving up to Boy Scout.

In spite of having a hard time getting going this morning, the three boys managed to get ready and were out for the bus. It just took off with them.

Misty out with the kittens.

Today is the first day of a Biggest Loser competition that I am doing so I need to think about what I’m going to have for breakfast. I don’t want to eat until I weigh; the problem is that I like to do that as I’m getting ready to shower and I won’t be doing that until later because I need to do some cleaning today. Maybe I’ll go weigh with clothes on and then weigh them later. Not that they make that much difference but I like for all the conditions to be the same every time.

The grey girl.

Devon came over and helped Paul with the lights on the truck Saturday. Paul explained what was wrong with them but other than fuses and wires, I don’t remember any specifics other than the plow had something to do with it. The important thing is that they work now so Paul just needs to get some body work done and the truck should pass inspection. That will be a good thing.

This little guy was chasing Amena's feet.

I spent the afternoon making a potato salad and cutting up rhubarb and apples. The potato salad was for the Pack Meeting and the rhubarb and apples was for a crisp for Sunday. The salad was done and the boys got ready and were very anxious to go. Amena wanted to spend the night at Abby’s house but there was no way I could take her over at 5:00 since the boy’s thing started at 5:00 and we needed to be there early. We ended up not being very early because I couldn’t find my planner (it was on a basket full of towels on the couch) and I really do not like to drive without my license. Other than Joseph disappearing for about 20 minutes, it was all good.

Joseph disappeared after we ate and I couldn’t find him anywhere. A couple of other leaders helped look and finally he turned up in the outhouse. He’d had an accident because he didn’t know where a bathroom was. We got him situated and I sat with him in the very back so that no one would see him. By the time it was his turn to go up, he was pretty much dry and the only way you could tell anything was off is if you were close enough to get a good whiff of him.

They started out with the Webelos 2 crossover ceremony. That was pretty cool. Then they started at the youngest and worked up so Joseph was in the next group and Seth was in the last. I didn’t get any pictures of Seth or Joseph because I had to be up with them and I didn’t think to ask anyone to take pictures until too late. The whole thing took longer than I thought it would and we got home after 8:00. Still, not a bad evening.

Yesterday was pretty good. I had to pick Amena up from Abby’s house. I looked it up on Google Maps before I left and it didn’t look to be too hard to find. However, between the time I looked and the time I got there, I’d forgotten one critical part and therefore couldn’t find the road. Since Joanna had taken her over Saturday night and neither Amena nor Abby was answering a phone, I called Joanna to find out how she got there. I’d just forgotten one road. Once I had that piece of information, it was a piece of cake.

 It being Ward Conference yesterday, people from the Stake taught. Our lesson in Young Women was really good. Pat Burdick, the Stake YW President taught and she’s really good. Before she joined the church she was Catholic and was going to become a nun. What a change. She led the discussion about testimony and there were some really good points brought up about how they grow and develop.

After church there was the potluck that I’d made the crisp for. Since there was potato salad left over from the Pack Meeting, we took it as well. They were both gone by the end but I forgot to get the dishes from the kitchen. On the way home we saw Paul offering Jared a ride and then he didn’t get home until around 5:00. He did call but the volume on my phone was still turned off from being in church so I didn’t hear it. We did Family Home Evening, had family prayer, read scriptures, and then the boys went outside to play. It was a beautiful day. It was about 7:30 when I told them it was time to come in and as Paul had just started Despicable Me, they all wanted to watch which is why they didn’t get to bed until around 9:00.

We also Skyped with Laura in there. That was fun except I really do not like the way I looked. Looking in the mirror isn’t so bad but on the phone I thought I looked awful. Laura looks good though. And Joanna ended up working all day. She worked in the morning in Gardner and then in the evening in Tewksbury because they didn’t have enough people there. I think they need to plan better. Joanna didn’t mind too much, I don’t think, because Zak was closing.

And such is the story of our weekend. I just went upstairs to get my phone so I could get the pictures off of it and I weighted and got dirty towels out of the bathroom instead. Oh my. Anyway, Scooter seems to be coming out of her funk over having another dog around. Misty was having a terrible time doing her poops and pees outside but I didn’t find any in the house this morning so hopefully things are improving. Misty went out earlier when I helped Cedric with the goats. Scooter went out too but she went to scavenge in the goat pen for anything she deemed worthy of ingesting. Misty went out in the field with us and was running around. Kitty actually followed as well. When we were done, Misty finally pooped. Much better outside than in.

So, I have my phone now; I can download pictures. Before I do, I’m going to go outside and take some pictures of the truck and maybe the kittens.

Have a fantabulous day!