Hi everyone,
News from the week! I have no time to do anything more than a boring bullet-point rundown. So, basically the same as usual. I feel like I write by far the worst of the family letters. Sorry!! :-)
Monday: School lessons, then flute lessons. Brigham decided to go along to flute. As I was driving past the house, I saw the front door fly open and Mosey come running out-- he wanted to come, too. "Do you think that baby will be there again, mom?" I can't remember if I wrote about Mosey playing with Joseph's flute teacher's 5 month old baby girl the last time we went to flute. It was so cute, Mosey played with that baby, pushing toys back and forth, for a good 30 minutes, and wanted to play with her again this week. Too bad she wasn't there! Maybe next time.
Tuesday: School lessons, then Mosey's first speech therapy session for the semester. He has a new therapist, and, at least some of the time, will be doing group therapy with another 7 year old boy. It was interesting watching the two of them and the therapists (I watch the video feed from another room). The other little boy doesn't stutter much at all-- I only heard a couple of occasions. Made me wonder why his parents are even bothering. It's interesting to see the differences between Mosey and this other child. In some ways Mosey seems a lot older, but in other ways a lot younger. Or at least less culturally literate. :-) The other kid started talking about Katy Perry and Justin Bieber and Mosey didn't have a clue. :-) It will be fun to see how he progresses and interacts with this other boy this semester.
Wednesday: School lessons, then piano lessons. I went to the Gladys Knight concert that night with my friend Traci, so Ben picked up the boys after piano lessons. The Gladys Knight concert was really fun. I listened to the concert, trying to experience things as someone who isn't a member of our church might (I think a pretty good portion of the audience was not Mormon). I thought it was really great, and I would have no problem inviting anyone, Mormon or not, to this concert. The music was wonderful, of course. Gladys Knight talked a lot about her membership in the church, and was very direct in talking about how she knew people's views of her must change when they find out she joined the Mormon church. But the tone was way more explanatory than preachy, and I don't think anyone would have left the concert feeling preached to, or feeling pressured to talk to missionaries, etc. There was no salesmanship, in other words. But Gladys is genuine enough and engaging enough that I'm sure any non-Mormon would have left with a positive view of the church, and perhaps some curiosity about it. I can see why her concerts generate lots and lots (sometimes hundreds) of contacts for the missionaries. So, if she comes to an area near any of you and you have the opportunity to ask a friend to go, do not hesitate. Afterward, we went to The Cheesecake Factory, and I had the best vegetarian burger I've ever had. It was better than a regular hamburger, I think. If you ever go there, get it!
Thursday: School lessons, then art. Mosey slept in until 9:30 this morning!! I was worried he was sick, since he always gets up with his brothers, so I let him sleep and sleep. He woke up feeling just fine, but was consequently pretty behind in his schoolwork the rest of the day, and into the next. Oops. Mosey and I went to Office Depot to make a bunch of copies for the other kids in the class, and to buy more toner for the printer. I like going places with Mosey, he's such a fun little kid to be around. And he's a very good helper. I know it gives other people a kick to see my boys with me, helping me carry things and opening doors, etc. Our art class went well. I think I'm organized enough now that from here on out I *won't* have to stay up until 1:30 AM the night before pulling things together. :-) At least, I hope so. T
Friday: I woke up to find Joseph and Brigham already up and busily doing schoolwork. They wanted to finish early so they could have most of the day off. I can't tell you how happy this made me! It is awesome to see my boys finally realizing for themselves the benefits of getting stuff done FAST, so they have more time for fun things. And Joseph and Brigham did finish lessons early-- even before we went to Ben's company picnic. The picnic was pretty fun for the boys. There were free snow cones and game booths where they won cheap Oriental Trading Co. prizes. Mosey won a mini beach ball, which entranced one of Ben's coworker's almost-18-month-old, Gabrielle (good name!). Mosey was so cute with her, throwing the ball back and forth, and then going back to the booth so he could win another ball to give to her. I wish so much that I could have gotten a picture of him playing with her, it was sooo cute. Mosey really is good with younger babies, which surprises me because it wasn't long ago that he was pretty intolerant of "crazy babies," not being used to having little kids around him. After we went home, Mosey went visiting teaching with me, and then to the grocery store, and then home for the official start of the weekend!
Saturday: The boys went with Ben to the Tae Kwon Do carnival-benefit thing for St. Jude's hospital. Joseph and Brigham didn't really want to go at first, but when they got home they were all really excited about it. Joseph broke a whole bunch of boards, including several with his hand! I took Brigham to horseback riding, and then when we got home, Ben got the boys involved in cleaning the deck, getting it ready to stain again. I went to the women's broadcast in the evening. As I was heading toward the garage, I looked in the backyard and saw all 3 boys working so diligently on the deck. So maybe, just maybe my boys *are* learning how to work? I enjoyed the broadcast, especially Pres. Uchtdorf's talk. It is well worth the 21 minutes to listen to it. It's always a hassle getting out to the stake center, especially when I get there a couple of minutes late and there are NO close parking spaces. But if I had only heard President Uchtdorf's talk, it would have been worth it.
As I left, I observed how a whole bunch of women from my ward were leaving together, and remembered belatedly that I could have carpooled with some of them. That would have been fun. I have NO time for any social activity to speak of, at least nothing that isn't directly related to my church calling or homeschooling, and I do get lonely for friends. I know I need to try harder to be connected to people. There are occasionally social things I am invited to-- girls' nights out, etc., but by the end of the day, I'm usually so worn out that the thought of driving somewhere, parking, walking who knows how far to who knows where, and then not being able to move around freely, is pretty daunting. There was a reception before the women's broadcast with food, etc., which I thought about going to. But I feel so dumb sometimes at things like that, because I can't walk to the tables and get food for myself (because of the unfortunate fact that I have only 2 arms and 2 hands, and they are both occupied in using my crutches to walk), and so I'm dependent upon asking someone else for help, and sometimes I just am not up to that. I don't like being forcibly reminded of what I can't do. It doesn't make me feel good. And then, when I sit down, that's pretty much where I have to stay. Everyone else can walk around and talk to various people, but I just sit there, hoping people come to talk to me. It makes me feel way too much like a junior high girl, hoping that someone will notice me and come and be my friend. :-) I hate that silly, immature, insecure feeling, and so I guess I too often find some reason not to attend social things like that (unless I'm in charge of them like a Relief Society activity! :-)).
Today: Sunday. Relief Society committee meeting in the morning, planning for activities the next few months. Then home to find Ben making cookies with the boys, a good lunch cooking on the stove. He is such a good dad. Ben had to go to church early to play the organ, so I went in my van with Brigham and Mosey. As we got to the church, Brigham realized he only had one of his Sunday shoes. Oops. So we sat in the foyer for the Sacrament, and then went back home to get the shoe. We got back in time for the last 5 minutes of Sacrament meeting. I felt so bad for Brigham, because he is very diligent about getting ready for church and always wanting to be early, and he felt bad. He had had a sort of terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-half hour or so before church as he was rushing around trying to take a shower and get dressed for church. The upstairs shower was misbehaving, and he could only make the shower stay on when the water was on hot-- and it was way too hot. When he tried to make it colder, the shower attachment turned off. So he came downstairs all dressed for church, with some shampoo left in his hair. And I was rushing around trying to get my own stuff together, and snapped at him for not being ready, which made him feel even worse. And then to forget his shoe after that! Poor boy.
After church Ben took Mosey home teaching, Brigham made a cake after which I did an impromptu photo-shoot with him in the front yard.
And that's it!
Have a great week, everyone!
Love,
Gabrielle
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