HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy Haunting all you ghosts and ghouls.

I'll put up more pictures and tell you about our scary day tomorrow. Way too tired right now.

Piano lessons...

Oh, my. It is interesting how my perspective has changed, becoming a parent.

My older boys started piano lessons about 6 weeks ago.

I took piano lessons for many years growing up. I remember having crying fits at the piano because my mom was the MEANEST MOM IN THE WORLD for making me practice EVERY SINGLE DAY.

And when I got older and my mom had more kids in piano lessons, she didn't have time to sit with me to practice every day, and I had to be responsible for myself. So I just didn't practice. Well, I'd practice frantically the night before my lesson (usually), but other than that I really didn't practice.

I had no idea how responsible a mother feels when her child doesn't do so well in a lesson. I'm SO sorry, mama!

A few times at lessons I'll be sitting in the other room listening, and one of my boys will be having trouble with something and the teacher will ask, "Did you forget to practice this part?"

And I'll just want to shout from the living room, "We DID practice that! He played it perfectly 10 minutes before we got here!"

And I also had no idea what torture it is to practice with stubborn kids just starting out.

One of my boys in particular (I'll let you guess which one) is quite sure he knows far better than I do exactly how to practice. I'll be trying and trying to gently help him, and he will refuse to listen to me, and finally he'll break down in frustration and start crying.

So then I'll gently ask him, "Sweetie, I'm trying to help you. Why don't you listen to what I'm saying?"

And I'll get a lovely reply like this screamed back in my face: "YOU AREN'T TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!! WHY AREN'T YOU TELLING ME WHAT TO DO??"

Oh Lord, please grant me patience.

My other boy is a little easier on me, but only a little. He'll also get frustrated, playing something the wrong way over and over again, and I'm trying to help him along. FINALLY, he'll get it right, and I'll be all trying to give him positive reinforcement, saying, "VERY good! That was perfect!"

And he, still frustrated, will yell out, "I WAS PLAYING IT LIKE THAT THE WHOLE TIME!!!"

Yeah. And I'm just sitting here telling you over and over again that it's not quite right, just for fun.

If we can get through ONE day of practicing without one of them (or myself) breaking down in tears, I'll be very happy.

Someone, please tell me it will eventually get a little easier.

500th post

Well, this is my 500th post and I got... well, kinda nothin'. Just some more pictures of pennies.
Did you know that vinegar and copper react to form copper acetate crystals? It's pretty! Adding salt to the vinegar solution makes it even prettier. Try using old pennies (before 1981) because they contain more copper.

(this penny was in the vinegar solution by itself, no salt. It still formed crystals, but not as pretty as the others).

Flying practice

Oh! I forgot the biggest news of the weekend! After months and months of practice, all three boys finally mastered the art and sport of broom flying! Harry Potter, you've got competition!



Joseph was the first to master the technique.



He was whizzing around the room in no time on the traditional, but very reliable Cobweb-Catcher 1992.



Brigham wasn't too far behind. He preferred the more modern Kitchen-Cleaner 3000.



Mosey is still working on his form. He did get his feet off the ground, but we really didn't have the right size broom for a flyer of his size. We'll have to pick up a smaller model next time we go into Quality Quidditch Supplies. Hmm, I wonder if they do online sales?

scary, scary stuff

Ward TRUNK-R-TREAT!!!



Rooby-Rooby-Rosey!! (This was a pretty expensive costume, but totally worth it to see the delight he's taken in putting it on every. single. day. since we got it 2 weeks ago.)



The brave and handsome Sir Brigham. In our mad rush getting ready, we couldn't find his sword. He was a little teary, but pulled it together and had fun anyway. He decided having two hands free meant he could carry all the more candy!



Joseph was all about the gruesome. Lovely, eh? I've told him next year we are NOT doing gross. But he is pretty sweet, you know, as far as zombies go.



And here you can see the exposed ribs and rotting internal organs that really make this costume one for a mother to be proud of. (By the way, isn't my farmer's tan super-cute?)



I think I killed Joseph with this kiss. Getting kissed in public was probably, no, definitely, the scariest part of the evening for Joseph. (On a side note, see how my hair is finally growing in? Not quite enough to go hatless (Ben says I am, but I say otherwise. When I have enough hair that my scalp isn't showing through, then I go hatless.) But for now, I have graduated from "Bald Mommy" to "Furry Mommy." Well, at least it's progress!) I failed to get a good picture of Ben. He was wearing his "This is my costume" shirt and scaring kids with the trick bowl of candy (it has a built-in-glove to put your hand in so when kids reach in for the candy, he grabbed their fingers-- it was pretty funny).

Well, from the pictures you sort of get the gist of our weekend. But here's what the rest of it involved, since I'm sure you're all dying to know:

• The boys had TWO soccer games IN A ROW on Saturday morning. Man, that was pretty intense for those little kids. They lost one game (a very sad loss as one of our little players got carried away and accidentally scored a goal in our goal...), and tied the other, 2-2, which was thrilling for the kids, as they were down 2-0 at one point.


• Ward Trunk-r-Treat. This entailed: 1) Getting kids costumed (of course); 2) Making two elaborate centerpieces for the dinner (the primary had told the kids they could make centerpieces if they wanted, which of course my boys did, and it involved a trip to Walmart and a few hours of labor-- I forgot to take pictures so I'll reassemble them tomorrow and take a few shots for posterity, since I know my descendants will care. A lot.); 3) I was in charge of the "Photo Booth", so I had to get all my photography stuff from upstairs and loaded into the car (and since I can't get upstairs this meant me yelling upstairs to Ben as he's rummaging through my photography things trying to determine which black fabric is the backdrop I want, what random assortment of equipment is the correct tripod and backdrop stand, which baskets and buckets I want for props, etc., etc.); and 4) Trying to get to the church by 3:30 PM. We made it by 3:55, so technically it was before the Trunk-r-Treat started. And Ben was a hero and lugged everything from the car into the church and, thanks to Mormon Standard Time, I was all set by the time little costumed people started wandering into the Primary room for photos.
  
• Getting kids to bed after said Trunk-r-Treat. Sugar overload. Need I say more? Anyone with kids around Halloween knows exactly what I'm talking about. And we've got at least another week of this sugar madness.

God smiles on Texas

So I was driving down I-35 yesterday afternoon (on our way to the ill-fated Wonders and Worries group) when I spotted this amazing scene. It had been dark and dreary all day, and then the clouds parted, spilling light down onto the Texas State Capitol building. I groped for my camera in my purse, turned it on, and snapped this picture. Yeah, not so safe. But it was rush-hour and we weren't going more than 25 mph, and really, how often do you see a scene like this? Darn it, that stupid light pole was right in the way when I snapped the picture. Oh well. So, everyone knows Texas is the most famous Red State. Does this mean God is a Republican?

And this is just for fun. The boys went to the dentist yesterday. No cavities and no tears, so it was a rousing success. Here's Joseph with the snake he picked from the treasure box after his appointment.

Fly, Batty, Fly

Yesterday Mosey was singing a little song he made up. Joseph was very taken by it, and went upstairs to collaborate with Mosey. He came down stairs with the following song written in blue colored pencil:

Batty fly fly fly

All the bats are out

They fly and fly

In the night sky

All the bats are out

In dusk they come

In dusk to hunt

They look like a river

They flap and flap

Through the night sky

Very poetic, no?

As a followup to last night's post about Joseph, I still don't know what happened. I went to mutual, and Ben picked the boys up. I called him on the way home, and he said he'd talk to me about it when I got home. But when I got home, I ended up falling asleep with the three boys in my bed, and never got a chance to talk to Ben (our whole sleeping situation is another post altogether-- I'm just to the point where I'll let them sleep anywhere, as long as they sleep).

And today we haven't had a chance to discuss it either. Joseph told me he ran out the back door and ran around the building and hid in a bamboo tree and the lady was trying to find him. He didn't eat and didn't play any games. But he did draw a quite inspiring picture of Saphira (of Eragon fame). So it didn't sound too good. But he wasn't particularly traumatized. I'm not sure how the director feels, though.

Ugh. Joseph is the one who has certainly suffered the most from this whole transplant/mom being gone for 2 months ordeal, and he is the one who is the most resistant to being helped.

Well. That stunk.

I took the boys to a group tonight called "Worries and Wonders." It's a group for kids of parents with serious or chronic illnesses. The group had been recommended by a friend. I thought it would be good for the boys to see that they are not the only kids in the world with a disabled/sick mom. It is a drop-em-off deal, they feed them dinner, play games, talk, etc.
Brigham and Mosey were fine. They went right in the room and started playing games. Joseph did not. He didn't want to stay, didn't want to participate, didn't want anything to do with it. The lady in charge finally told me just to go, and she'd help Joseph along. I've worked in nursery enough to know that is often the best approach, so I left, only to have Joseph chase me out to the parking lot. The director came out there and tried to persuade Joseph to come back in, but it ended up with me driving off, watching Joseph screaming, tears rolling down his face, struggling to get out of the arms of the lady. About ripped my heart out, no kidding.
I drove just around the building and then pulled over, just to make sure Joseph didn't run out into the street or something (I know how strong he can be). One of the other moms drove by in her car, saw me pulled over, and stopped to tell me he went inside. So I left. Ben's picking them up. I hope he did ok.
Joseph is the one who needs the help more than the other two boys, and yet he's the most resistant. I don't know if this was a good idea or not. It sure felt horrible driving off.

Remember this?

I don't know what to do. This is the job that will not end.
I started doing drawings for this lady about a year and a half ago. She has four kids, and 3 of the 4 drawings were just fine. The 4th she didn't like because she said it didn't look like her child for some reason. I draw from photographs, but none of the photographs of this particular child were very good for drawing purposes-- I couldn't use the body from any of them for example. So I'm trying to draw the child's face and put it on a body that I'm making up myself, and I guess my first attempt didn't look natural. This is my first attempt:



So I told her I would give it another shot. This time I used one of the photographs, and didn't change anything. I drew straight from the photograph, body and all. Here is that drawing:



Well, she liked the face on that one, but didn't like the fact that you couldn't see the baby's body, and she didn't like her husband's hand in front and her daughter's face in the background. So I told her I would try ONE more time. Here's my latest attempt:


So now, she says she likes the body of this drawing, but the face of the second drawing, and could I please try one more time? We're sooo close, she says.
Sigh... What she may not realize is that each drawing takes me many hours of work. Hours I really don't have anymore. I have laundry that needs folding from a week ago. It is 9:00 PM and this is the first time I've been able to sit down and do anything that didn't involve teaching lessons, cleaning up, or making meals. I do NOT have time to do a FOURTH drawing for this lady (especially since I'm only getting paid for one-- my hourly pay is down to about $2 an hour).
So I wrote back to her and explained all this (nicely, of course), and she hasn't replied to me in about 2 weeks. Is she mad? Did she get my email? Should I write again? Should I just suck it up, do the fourth drawing and chalk it up to a lesson learned (namely, charge hourly rather than per-job)?
I'm such a pushover, and I hate confrontation and disappointing people, I'm on the verge of just doing the 4th drawing just so she'll be happy and this job can finally be put to rest.
I like doing this, especially since I can't really do photography anymore, but this particular job is getting pretty annoying.

Oh dear...

Why is English such an irregular language? No, I don't really want an answer. I know there must be some really great reasons, but it ultimately doesn't matter. It is just really hard to teach little kids to spell when English seems to have so few rules!
How to explain why "crowd" is spelled with an "ow" while "loud" is spelled with an "ou?" Or "flown" is spelled "ow" and "sewn" is spelled "ew?" Why is "out" spelled "ou" and "doubt" is spelled "oubt?"
Ugh.
Someone tell me that my kids will eventually learn to spell!

Caught red-handed

We were trying to round up the boys for bedtime, but couldn't find Mosey. Finally, we found him here. Hiding with a big tupperware full of candy (reading and math treats, reserved for school lessons only!)



When confronted with evidence of the crime, Mosey insisted he didn't eat any of the candy. It was all Mr. Nobody. Ahhh, isn't the honesty of little children refreshing?

What we did this weekend

First, the boys did this:



They won! 1-0. The other team had an obnoxious parent. Why do they do that?



Then we went to the Austin Maker Faire where we saw this:



A total blingified car. Must have been tens of $1000's of bling. Amazing!



Then we saw this:



Hundreds of coordinating "Big Mouth Billy Bass"-es and "Rocky the Singing Lobster"s all wired to sing along to the Halleluia Chorus (and other songs). The sign on the door said, "Sashimi Tabernacle Choir." It was awesome.



An astro-turf covered car? Inside and out? Why not? This is Austin, after all. (Oh, and Mosey hasn't been going anywhere without his trusty light saber (or light-saver as he calls it)).



Then we saw this, a purple chalkboard-paint-covered truck. Someone at the fair felt the need to put into words exactly what is wrong with America today! (The Maker Faire was a totally weird and cool combination of Geek-Meets-Hippie-- very, very Austin-like).



Then we went inside and saw this. Two huge tessla coils shooting electricity into a hanging electric guitar, also set to music:



But our favorite thing was this: the Robot wars. Totally awesome. My favorite matchup was "The Judge" (you see the giant hammer mid-swing) versus "Vladiator." Vladiator won.



The boys were doing this the whole time:



Then we went to a friend's house where we watched this:



Once the biggest part of the inferno died down, the boys busied themselves doing this: Mining for... rocks. With croquet mallets. I love boys.



When it got dark, we did this:





Until the fire died down to this:



Then we went home.

The end.

Change

Think this is the kind of change Barack is envisioning? :-) (click on it to see it bigger)

I will try not to have any more overtly political posts in the next little while. Politics on personal blogs is kind of stupid. I'm not changing anyone's mind, and I'm probably only alienating others. But sometimes I just can't help myself.

Amen

I have my fair share of disagreements with this guy, but this article? He's got it right.
I'm trying to stay out of politics because this is exactly what makes blood start shooting out of my eyes, and my hemoglobin is kinda low and so I need all the blood I've got, but what the heck, here's the link anyway.

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/081017light.html

Awesome

The boys and I did an experiment today, learning about surface tension. We used a dropper to see how many drops of various liquids we could fit on the top of a penny without it overflowing. It was so cool!

Mystery solved

The email address I was given for "J" was incorrect. The person who got the email, instead of just telling me I got the wrong address, decided to have a little fun! Yeah, very funny.
But maybe it was better than just ignoring the email. I would have waited and waited for a reply, never knowing J didn't receive my email. So I sent another one today and we'll see if I get a reply.

What the...

Ok, I can't make heads nor tails of this email exchange. As a background, I had originally signed the boys up for Town and Country soccer, to the tune of $350. You've heard the story of how competitive the league is, and how inappropriate for my very-beginner boys. So I'm trying to get a partial refund of our registration fee. This is the email I sent to the soccer commissioner:

Hi J,
I enrolled my boys, Joseph and Brigham Turner in U8 soccer this season. After the 1st game was cancelled because of Hurricane Ike, the schedule was revised and it turned out that half of my boys' games would be on Sundays. We cannot participate in Sunday games or practices, for religious reasons. My boys' coach also scheduled practices on Sunday afternoons. When it became apparent that my boys wouldn't be able to attend half the games and half the practices, I took them off the team and we joined another league that only has games on Saturdays.
My boys went to 2 practices only, and no games.
I'd like to get a partial refund of their registration fee, considering that the circumstances making my boys unable to play were beyond our control. I was not aware that the games or practices would be held on Sundays.

Thanks,
Gabrielle Turner

So this is the email I got in response:

Mrs. Turner,

I’m sorry, but I can’t do that at the moment. I used the excess money to purchase my children a new Wii system. They really love it. I too enjoy the sports games and would hate to give it up. I’m sure you understand.

J

Umm, ok? So here's what I just sent back to him:

I assume you're not being serious about this? (not that I would blame you for buying a Wii, they are cool!) :-)
I understand of course that a full refund will not be possible.

Gabby

I don't even know what to say about all of this, I'm kind of speechless (which says a lot about me).

Our ward got split

We've known it was coming for a while. There's not even enough room even with the cultural hall completely full.
Still, it's a bummer.
We've lost a bunch of our Young Women. Nearly all the auxilliary presidencies are now broken up.
And a bunch of people who have become my friends, or who I wanted to be friends with, are now in the other ward.
Now, most of the families with little kids my boys' age in the ward are down in Steiner Ranch, but is about 25 minutes away. There were lots of younger families in an area of town much closer to us (like only 2 or 3 miles), but they've all been split into the other ward.
Not that I really had much of a social life before, but still.
I know it was necessary, and eventually it will be normal, but it was pretty sad at church today, everyone looking around and figuring out who won't be around anymore. I love our Gospel Doctrine teacher, and now he'll be in the other ward. My good friend Stephanie (who has been my personal chaperone ever since my sisters had to go home) is in the other ward.
Boo hoo.
The Stake President, the bishop, and the new bishop of the other ward all talked up the change, and it is true that this change represents big growth in the church in our area, and new service opportunities, both of which are very good things. But I still saw a lot of tears.

My family

Photo courtesy of Tyrasha Peterson's mom (sorry, Tyrasha's mom, if you're seeing this, I can't remember your first name!! I'm horrible)

At my sister's wedding last June, my family (meaning my mom and dad and siblings) got a family photo made, the first we've taken in 13 years. This was one of only a handful of occasions we've all been together in all those years. Five of my siblings have been on missions since that time, and a sixth will be leaving the MTC for Zurich, Switzerland in November, so we needed to do it then, or wait for another two years. Aren't we all just soooo good looking?! It's funny to see myself with hair. I'm getting used to being bald.
From the bottom, left to right, we are Rachel (the bride), me, Eva (youngest 14 year old sister), Naomi (just younger than me), Rosalynde (just older than me and the boss of the lot of us),
Christian (senior in high school, giving my parents fits), Christie (my angelic mom), Russell (my saintly father), Brigham (my handsome brother who just qualified for the Boston Marathon today), Abraham (in the MTC now), and Benjamin (recently returned from his mission in Germany). Missing are our two brothers, Jacob (Rachel's twin brother), and Isaac, our baby brother. Someday in the eternities we will get to have a family picture taken with all of us.

Soccer!!!

The boys had their first game today! Their team name is the Lightning Bolts, and they played against the Green Dragons. Joseph wished his team could have been named the Dragon Riders. (Actually, he originally lobbied hard for the Titans, but oddly enough, none of the other 6 and 7 year olds knew what a Titan was).
The game ended in a tie (the best way for these little-kid games to end as far as I'm concerned). Unfortunately the tie was 0-0, so none of the kids got to actually make a goal. Joseph and Brigham played fullbacks for much of the game, and they made a great little partnership out there sending the ball back down the field whenever the other team got too close to the goal. (sorry Mama, I know how much you just love soccer talk. I promise to try to keep my play-by-play commentary to a minimum)
The funniest part for me was after the game, listening to Joseph and Brigham talk about it. Here's about how it went:
Brigham: "I can't believe the ref didn't call the other boy when he picked up the ball with his hands!"
Me: "Maybe he didn't see it, the ref can't see everything you know."
Joseph (argumentative): "No, he was standing right behind the kid!"
Brigham (outraged): "Yeah, and he was looking RIGHT AT HIM when he did it and he didn't say anything!"
Me (placative): "Well, sometimes you disagree with the ref's calls, but you know, the other team probably saw you guys break some rules that the ref didn't see either."
Joseph (indignant): "We didn't break any rules! And there was another kid who did a high kick and the ref didn't call him either."
Brigham: "Yeah, and it was a dangerous high kick!"
Joseph: "Yeah, a dangerous high kick and he did it on purpose!"
Brigham (disgustedly): "The ref should have thrown him out of the game."
Me (trying hard not to laugh): "Do you guys know what the word exaggerate means?" (yes, they do...)



Here's Ben giving the kids some last minute instructions before the game.



Joseph striding toward me at halftime.



Brigham after the game.



Mosey's technically not on the team, being just a couple years too young. But we had an extra jersey, and since his daddy is coach, he got to go out on the field for about a minute (literally) before halftime. He felt a little intimidated with all the bigger kids, as you can see (he's the one with his too-big soccer shorts down past his knees just standing there watching the action).



Mosey spent most of the game admiring his new favored possession, a real walkie talkie. The boys already have some toy walkie talkies, but there are only two (a slight problem when there are three boys who each desperately need one. It gets really old refereeing whose turn it is). Plus they didn't work very well and made really annoying screeching sounds whenever the boys pressed the call button, which was all the time. So we went to Fryes last night and got the boys some real walkie talkies (four of them), so they could all play. They actually work very well and the boys have had fun playing with them all day, hiding in the back of the hall closet and making Dad try to guess where they were (he had the 4th walkie talkie), and other fun games.



We attempted to get a quick group shot before the game, as several of the parents brought their cameras. Well, Joseph being his usual self would not smile, and instead stuck out his tongue and hunched over like Quasimodo. Cute. It's funny to see the kid standing just behind Joseph looking at him like, "What the heck are you doing?"



So I yelled at Joseph to put his tongue back in his mouth, for heaven's sake! He obeyed, instead giving the camera a baleful glare, but my instructions backfired as now you can see that two other children thought sticking their tongues out would be a good idea! Ya can't win.