Overheard

While eating lunch today, Joseph and Brigham had a very interesting conversation.  They were discussing what to be when they grow up.  Apparently they have decided that they want to have a business together, and they were brainstorming ideas.  Joseph said to Brigham, "Maybe you can become an expert in fission or fusion and we can have a company that does that."  Then followed a great little exchange in which Joseph described the difference between fusion and fission.  He got it right!  And then Brigham said, "I don't understand how making two atoms fuse together can release energy.  If splitting atoms apart releases energy, then doesn't making them go together take energy?  You can't make energy out of nothing."  Hooray, some of the things we've been learning about the last couple of years are sticking!  It's actually a great question, and I'm too far removed from my chemistry days to give him a very good answer.  :-) Next, Brigham said, "I'm going to find a way to make a new kind of steam engine and get rich."  He is forever coming up with some Rube Goldberg contraption, often involving steam engines.  :-)  But Joseph shot him down saying, "Steam engines aren't energy efficient."  Some other ideas they had: a company making army tanks.  An oil company.  Starting a new car company.  Making a satellite company.  "I bet you can make a lot of money by sending satellites up into space!" 
I loved overhearing that conversation!  And I can't wait to see what they end up doing with their lives.  :-)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2011

Weekly letter from October 2

Hi Everyone,
Late night again, tonight.  I should be in bed in 20 minutes, but I know it isn't going to happen. 
Here's what else happened this week:
Monday:  Lessons, tae kwondo.  Visiting teaching in the afternoon. 
For FHE we went to Walmart (so spiritual!  :-)) in hopes of finding a pattern and fabric for the boys' Halloween costumes which they have been "reminding" me about.  Frequently.  :-)  Anyway, this was the only Walmart in the area with a sewing department, and I was really dismayed to see it moved around, and greatly reduced in size.  No pattern books, just a few generic costume patterns on display.  And their $1 and $2/yard fabric section is gone.  I think there are still some good prices, but they mixed all the fabric up, and you have to search through each bolt to find the price.  Grrr, boo, arrgh!  I'm so disappointed.  First of all, Walmart was way cheaper than Hancock Fabric (the only other fabric store near me), and also Walmart has the ride-on carts.  Hancock Fabric does not, so I have to lug my wheelchair there, and then I don't have anywhere to put bolts of fabric because I can't push a cart, so I have to bring one of the boys with me to push the cart, and there's really nothing 8-10 year old boys love more than browsing through a fabric store with their mother.  :-)  Oh, well.  I don't sew that much anyway.  But it's still annoying.
Tuesday:  Lessons, Mosey's speech therapy appointment.  It was cloudy all day, and it actually rained a little bit!  Not much-- barely enough to get the driveway damp, but enough so that the boys ran outside and attempted to take pictures of the rain falling.

 
It was windy and blustery, with big dark thunderclouds piled up all across the sky.  But that one little sprinkle of rain was all we got.  In the evening, it was blowing and gusting and I thought for SURE we'd get a big downpour.  Nothin'.  Boo.  But, one good thing was that my friend Caroline from back in my Rice days came over!  She was here doing a deposition (she's an attorney in Portland), and so stopped by for dinner.  It was so fun seeing her.  So hard to believe how long it's been since we were at school together.  We video-chatted with her husband Adrian (one of my sophomore year roommates).  I got to see her two kids, and they played a little piano recital for us.  I didn't take even one picture with her.  What's wrong with me??  We had grilled shrimp and vegetable kabobs that were really good.  Actually, I can't take much credit because Brigham and Joseph did most of the work.  I had to take Mosey to speech, and I knew I wouldn't have time after I got back to get the dinner ready.  So I left Brigham and Joseph with instructions to peel the shrimp, put them in the marinade, then chop up vegetables and put them in the marinade, then clean up the kitchen and playroom.  And they did it!  It's so hard sometimes seeing how fast they are growing up, but also so awesome sometimes.  :-)
Wednesday:  Lessons, tae kwon do, piano lessons, violin lessons!  Joseph is such a funny boy.  Not exactly ha-ha funny (although he is that, at times).  After being really enthusiastic about tae kwon do over the summer, he's been giving me a hard time about it.  He claims he didn't understand that I was signing him up for lessons through December.  He thought I was only signing up Mosey.  It's not true, and he knows it, but whatever.  Anyway, the deal is that he needs to go twice a week.  He can choose not to go, but then he needs to reimburse me $8 for the lesson.  He's taken me up on this offer once.  The thing is, almost every time he goes, he has a good time!  I tell him to remember how good he feels so that next time he won't be so reluctant, but he can't retain the feeling, I guess.  He is so, so afraid of the teacher "yelling" at him.  But truly, the teacher does not yell.  He sometimes corrects, and sometimes uses a stern voice (although never to Joseph as far as I have been able to observe).  He comments when students come in late-- makes them stand at the back of the class instead of according to belt rank, but even then he is not angry and doesn't yell.  We've been late (by only 1-2 minutes) a couple of times, and now Joseph is petrified of being late and
"yelled" at.  Once we went, he went inside and saw people in the class already stretching and warming up.  He thought the class had started and he was late, and so he ran back to the car and refused to go into the class.  He wasn't even late!  Argh.  Anyway, he didn't want to go this time (again), but I finally talked him into it.  He had a great class, and on the way out, the teacher said to me, "He had a great lesson today-- he's doing really well."  I was so glad he said that-- I pointed out to Joseph that I've never heard him compliment another student specifically like that after class.  I really hope Joseph can develop a little more emotional toughness.  It will help him so much in life if he is able to take criticism, even chastisement now and then without it devastating him.  Is this something he'll just grow out of, or should I still keep trying to give him opportunities to experience that sort of thing so he can learn how to process and cope with those feelings?  I don't know.  We'll see how TKD goes tomorrow-- if he gives me a hard time about going again.  In general, he's doing really well, though.  I'm proud of how he is growing up.
Piano lessons were fine.  Brigham had his very last violin lesson with his teacher.  I'm sad!  This was a good teacher for Brigham, and I still haven't lined up another teacher yet.  I think his teacher was sad to leave, too.  I have a feeling that Brigham was one of his more favorite students.  He came to our house, since he was staying at a friend's before actually moving out to Boston, and lingered quite a while after Brigham's lesson, giving him advice and saying goodbye. 

Brigham and Mr. Eversole

Thursday:  Lessons, cello, art, flute, Relief Society activity!  Phew! Busy day!  Mosey's cello teacher finally came back.  He's been gone for 2 weeks dealing with the death of his wife's grandmother.  Such drama involving his wife, an estranged aunt, a grandmother who disinherited her children in favor of her granddaughter, and then a subsequent murder investigation instigated by one of the disinherited children against the granddaughter (it was nothing-- pure spite, and was quickly dismissed).  Boy am I glad I have such a (relatively) sane family!  :-)
Art class went well.  I even got Joseph singing!  "The Ants Go Marching" is another good song for this age group.
We had a RS activity at our house-- a woman in our ward who is a registered dietitian did a workshop on nutrition.  I'm always paranoid no one will come.  But about 20 people showed up, which was great!  Especially because we didn't have a single chair or bench or stool left in the entire house for anyone to sit on.  And Jacqui (who gave the presentation) was really good at deflecting the occasional controversial comment.  :-)
Friday:  Yay, Friday!  Joseph and Brigham had worked hard to get extra work done on Thursday so they didn't have as much to do on Friday.  I got my hair cut (much needed) in the afternoon.  When I got home, I found Mosey on the back porch making pottery.  We have a little toy potters wheel that doesn't work very well, but it didn't stop Mosey.  He made two little vases and painted them.  Natasha (one of two girls in our art class) invited the boys to her birthday party on Saturday, and Mosey decided to make her something.  He carved her name in one of the vases, came inside, found a gift bag and a birthday card, and got the whole gift ready by himself.  He's such a sweet boy.  After Ben got home, he took Brigham and Joseph to a ward member's house to watch the BYU game.  They came back halfway through, not wanting to stay for another BYU defeat.  The host is a former BYU football player and is rather... intense about all things BYU football.  Mosey and I went to Hancock Fabric and he was very good about pushing the cart and helping me find things.  :-)  We came home to find 10 minutes left in the game, and Ben completely disgusted.  I went into my room to fold laundry, and was shocked when Ben came in a while later to tell me about the miraculous turn around.  I feel sorry for the original quarter back.  Great turn around for BYU, but a rotten night for that guy, I think.
Saturday:  Conference!  Yay!  I love conference weekend.  My boys really love it, too, which I'm so happy about.  I remember not really loving conference when I was their age.  Maybe it had something to do with having to go and sit for TWO HOURS in the darkened Stake Center with absolutely nothing to do but listen to talks I didn't pay enough attention to to understand.  My boys are much more mature than I was, and played on the floor with blocks while listening to the talks.   Mosey spear-headed another craft project for the boys.  He decided he wanted to make a bracelet for Natasha, too, and Joseph and Brigham joined in.  They got out all my bead stuff and spread it out on the kitchen table, and spent a good hour and a half designing and stringing bead bracelets for Natasha.  So sweet, I could barely stand it!  :-) 

They went to the birthday party between sessions, came home for the afternoon session, and then helped Ben stain the deck for an hour or so before he had to go to the Priesthood session. 

So they had a great day!  I spent most of the day doing laundry.  Folding laundry is a pretty good listening-to-conference activity.  I tried to go grocery shopping, only to discover that our garage door opener is broken.  The big spring broke, and I could not get out of the garage.  Ben was able to muscle it up when he got home, and wedge boards under it to keep it up.  What a pain.  I'll have to get that fixed tomorrow.
Today:  More conference!  The boys were so excited when all three of the hymns they're learning on piano were sung in the various sessions.  Praise the the Man, We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet (that was an obvious one), and Now Let Us Rejoice.  Mosey ran over to the piano when the choir started singing We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet, but was sad to discover they were singing it in a different key than how he learned it.  Otherwise, how fun for him to accompany the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!  I made a good Sunday lunch (almond parmesan tilapia, green salad, and roasted pine nut cous cous), and then we took Ben to the airport.  Closing session of conference, then a fun google video chat with Mama, Daddy, and Eva, (in which the boys performed a little piano recital of their hymns), then a super fancy Sunday dinner of cold cereal, and to bed! 
I really enjoyed conference.  I'm not sure which was my favorite talk.  I really loved Elder Anderson's talk.  How I wish I could have another baby.  Siblings of mine, you all need to have one extra one for me, OK?  :-)
That gets me all caught up, I do believe.

Love,
Gabrielle