The girls have Halloween costumes all picked out and ready as well. They both want to wear the costumes they wore last year: black cats, both of them. Fortunately, that's actually going to work. Sure, Camille's black cat costume is quite tight, and Brooke's is far too short in the legs. But we'll make it work so I don't have to figure out whole new costumes for both of them this year. I lucked out another year! Someday, I won't be so lucky, and I'll have to make costumes for everyone.
Jack and I are dressing up as Mrs. Parr and Jack-Jack from the Incredibles. And Daniel, I think, wants to be Miguel from Coco and paint his face like Day of the Dead masks.
Since the day we got all decorated for Halloween, life has been kind of same-old-same-old. Brooke had a couple of days off for "Fall Break" (the school schedule here is so weird). And we hung out with friends for both of those days, which was kinda fun. Daniel has been applying and interviewing for jobs, some of which haven't panned out, and others which are still in the works. We'll see what happens, but poor guy is so done with his current job, he's pretty anxious to be good and done. I hope he finds something good soon, for his sake more than for any of the rest of us. I've been reading a lot, cleaning up my eating (which has been feeling so good on my body, really), working out as much as I can, and taking care of my clan. We're still adjusting to having Brooke in school. It's not been an easy adjustment. I've also been recently called to be the choir pianist in our ward, which brings my calling tally up to 4, haha! I can't complain -- they're all relatively easy callings and don't require that much outside preparation for them: ward organist 2x a month, primary pianist, Relief Society activities committee member, and now, ward choir pianist. I actually love playing for choir, so it's been really nice preparing the pieces and going to choir practices.
Just this past weekend, we had General Conference, and it was so incredible! Daniel and I didn't get to focus on too much of it, because, ... kids. And we had a birthday party to go to as well, of a kid in our ward, so we missed most of the afternoon session of Saturday. But so many big changes have been happening/are coming soon, it feels as if the Lord is moving His church and making changes rapidly to prepare for His coming! Last conference, they announced that the men would all be meeting together, instead of breaking up into Elder's Quorum and High Priests. And they also changed Visiting and Home Teaching to just Ministering. They are also dropping the Boy Scouting program at the end of 2019. And this last weekend, they announced that starting in January 2019, we are moving to a 2 hour block schedule of church and emphasizing more gospel teaching in the home! What?! That's gonna be so crazy and strange, at first, but probably so good in the end. It goes right in harmony with what my patriarchal blessing says: that I need to really make sure I'm teaching my children the gospel in my home because the world is getting worse and worse by the day. I just hope that I'm up for the challenge.
This conference, more than ones in the past several years, has shown me that I really need to up my game. I have a lot that I need to improve on and change in myself and how I run my house if I want to be successful in raising up good, stalwart kids. And myself, too. If I want to remain strong in the face of temptation and all the bad in the world, I need to do better and be better. Mostly I'm thinking of my personal scripture study and Family Home Evenings. I could make those more effective, and I think that'd make a big difference. Problem is, where do I even start? It feels overwhelming, but it probably doesn't need to.
Life is good. I feel grateful every day for the life I get to live. A lot of hard things are happening to people I love, and it makes me feel so sad for them, and also wonder that, thus far, I've been spared from those trials. My cousin, Jennifer, lost her oldest son to alcohol poisoning recently. And my friend Jen Tavelli just had her baby girl 16 weeks early! She's survived, so far, but it's touch and go when they come that early. And of course, my sister Julie is still in the midst of great struggle, and my sister, Mary, is so confused by the world, she seems to be turning every which way to find meaning in her life. I continue to pray for my people. But it still makes me sad for them.
Also on Sunday, we went to Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob's house for dinner. We love getting together with them. They're such good people, I love being with them. And, of course, Brooke and Camille love playing with Ava and Elle. Brooke and Ava put on a little trampoline show for us after dinner, which was funny and cute. And as we were leaving, we saw a rocket being launched a ways off into the sky. It was so incredible to watch!
The Extras:
- Jack sings "Let it Go" all the time and "Try Everything" by Shakira. He's really latched onto certain songs and sings them all the time.
- Camille's been drawing more and more, and her little drawings are so cute. That's been one of my favorite things about parenthood so far, is watching their little drawing skills emerge. Little primary drawings are some of my favorite things ever!
- I have also loved hearing Brooke talk about school or come home singing a new song she learned. Her teacher sends home these diagrams that Brooke draws on, outlining a story they read in school. She asks that Brooke come home and use the pictures she drew to tell us the story they read. Last night I had Brooke do one of these for me, and I just loved watching her and hearing her tell me about it. She got so into telling me the story, laughing at the funny parts and telling me all the pieces of the story. It's been pretty fun watching her learn so much.
- Jack sucks his left thumb, and over the past few weeks, I've noticed his thumb starting to get red and swollen and the skin starting to peel. It's so sad, and I'm not sure what to do about it. It's his comfort solution, to suck his thumb when he's tired and such.
- We have these singing and dancing Halloween toys that Mom has given to us, and Jack really loves dancing to the music of those and playing with them, just like the girls did at his age.
- Camille has started becoming this little angry person. She's been blaming me for almost everything that goes wrong for her, even if I literally had nothing to do with it. And up until recently, she's started saying that she hates me all the time and that I'm stupid. "You're stupid, mom!" Which I just ignore. But about a week or so ago, we had a family meeting about using kind words and helping others to feel good, and that behavior has gone down significantly. She still gets really super mad about stuff, but she's been more kind in her language which is good. Just don't get on that girl's bad side!!!
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