All That Was

I feel like I should have written something really important on here this month.  We had enough happen, but I didn't really feel like writing about any of it.  Mainly because every piece of down time that I have feels like it should be used elsewhere.  We have home projects coming out our ears, I'm taking an on-line BYU course that needs to be finished by an approaching deadline, and then there are all the normal things to do.  But so you don't miss out on my entire (exciting) life, here's a sum-up for October:

1 - Miciah Turned 12!

Miciah loves those zebra pajamas.

I feel like I should write something profound about this experience, but profundity escapes me.

I put Miciah's youth activities for church into my iPhone calendar.  Paying attention to church announcements that relate to "youth and parents of youth" is strange enough (that's always been someone else), but putting in 2020 as the "end repeat" for Miciah's Young Women's activities?  That's crazy talk!  2020.  That year isn't even real.

2 - Primary Program at Church
As always, this program was a pleasure, but this year it was especially fun because it was the last year all 3 of our kids will participate.  Miciah turned 12 a week and a half before the program, but was coaxed into participating by a lovely Primary leader who made Miciah feel special and important by giving her the Narrator role.

Afterwards Miciah said she was nervous.  I told her that public speaking gets easier the more you do it.  She said, "I know!  That's why I agreed to be the narrator!"  That's my girl.  Slowly conquering fears.  Woo hoo, Miciah!

She also earned an award at church for 4 years of activities focused on personal growth.  The Bishop told Rob and me congrats after giving Miciah the award, and I said, "We had nothing to do with that.  Miciah is a self-motivated person.  She did it all herself."  Miciah's a great kid.

And our other kids were cute in the program, too.  :)

3 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
For a while now I've been saying to Rob, "I need you to take me somewhere.  Anywhere."  He travels all over the place, and I've been feeling the need to just get up and go.  So when he said that he was staying in a resort spa, right on the beach, and would I like to go with him, the answer was YES!  Yes, I do.

View from the hotel room

It was fun.  Rob and I, we're not much into drinking and partying, so it was pretty tame for us.  We hung out in the hotel room watching the ocean.  We walked along the beach.  We ate at yummy restaurants, including a Greek place that served AMAZING hummus and lamb chops.  We walked through the nearby State Park and saw more spiders than we could count (creepy*).  We toured the historic Bonnet House and saw more orchids than we could count.  We went to church on Sunday.  Just kinda normal-ish stuff, but it was nice to spend time with just Rob doing something different.

This guy was as big as Rob's hand

Yellow orchid house.  I need me one!  Except I'd keep other plants, too.  All kinds.

I did decide that after this trip, I can be done with Florida.  You'd think that I love the place, for as often as I've been there in the last several years.  But really, there are about 49 other states that I'd rather visit before I take a trip down to Florida again.

(*Short aside about those spiders.  At first, we found one, and I was like, "Let's take a picture!"  I love spiders and I think they're fascinating and beautiful creatures.  Then we saw another.  And another.  And another.  And then we realized they were EVERYWHERE.  There were webs within webs.  Webs attached to webs attached to webs.  They were strung across huge spaces, up high, down low, all over the place.  In one small garden area maybe 20x30 feet, we estimated there were literally hundreds of them.  It was like something out of a nightmare.  Not that my nightmares typically include spiders, but after this experience, they might.  We were glad the kids weren't with us, because we nearly freaked out, and we're level-headed adults.  Both of us by the end were ready to get out of there.)

4 - Cuddles Takes a Field Trip
Miciah's science teacher, Mr. Ryan, is TERRIFIED of snakes.  The other teachers tease him about it and do things like put fake snakes in the fridge next to his lunch, just to hear him scream.  I think that's hilarious.  Miciah loves Mr. Ryan and she tells me stories almost every day about all the funny things he says.  She came home one day and told me about his pet lizard.  I then suggested that we could bring in our adorable snake and the class could watch him eat.  Miciah thought that was a great idea.  Since this seemed science-related, I told Miciah to ask Mr. Ryan if that would be okay.  Mr. Ryan freaked out just at the thought of a snake being in his classroom, but he agreed to it if another teacher, Mrs. Stokes, would keep Cuddles in her room.

So Rob brought the snake in at the start of the day, so all the classes could at least see him.  Miciah and the teachers had fun with him.  With Mrs. Stokes' blessing, Miciah brought Cuddles to another class, wearing him around her neck, all casual, like this was something she does every day.  The whole class gasped in shock, as expected, and then this other teacher kinda flipped out.  "Miciah, what are you doing?"  "Uh, bringing my snake to class?"  "No, really.  What are you DOing?"  Miciah smiled, the class laughed, and the teacher's voice kept rising in alarm.  Shortly after, Mrs. Stokes entered the room laughing her head off.  "You should have seen your face!"  Ah, middle school is fun.

We came in at the end of the school day and Mr. Ryan's and Mrs. Stokes' classes got to see Cuddles eat a few mice.  The Principal even came in to watch.  My favorite part was when I brought the snake around for everyone to touch, before we started feeding time.  The kids were generally a little timid, but the adults were jumpy!  I always get a kick out of that, since I know how gentle Cuddles really is.  And I have to hand it to Mr. Ryan, he stayed in the classroom and watched Cuddles eat.  For someone who flinches at the mention of a snake, I thought that was remarkably brave of him.

5 - Balance seems achievable
Things seem to be evening out lately.  Rob travels some, and we make it work on the home front.  I work some, and they manage without me.  All the kids seem happy and healthy.  They seem to be doing well in school.  They have friends, and they are good friends with each other.

I no longer feel so torn up, like I'd been feeling for a while.  Things seem good, like this is how things are supposed to be.  I like work, and I like that it doesn't consume me.  I like being home with the kids most evenings, and talking to them and playing with them and getting to know them better.  I like taking classes towards my bachelors, but I like taking it slowly.

Things seem do-able.  Balance seems like it's out there for us, and we're not too far off!

6 - Stuffed Bell Peppers
The great part about having a garden is you have to figure out new ways to use the same old foods.  For instance, I am in love with bell peppers, so we planted 5 plants this year.  In previous years we planted a few less plants and got next to nothing.  This is because apparently rabbits love to eat young bell pepper plants.  This year we planted more AND put a little mesh fence around the garden and viola!  Way freakin' too many bell peppers for me to single-handedly eat with ranch dip.

The upshot is we found this amazing recipe, and the kids love it.

The last harvest of peppers, right before the first frost

Try it.  (Oh, and if you do try it, make extra of that sauce.  It's the best part.)

7 - Miciah, again
This post is kinda mostly about Miciah, and I feel like I could write a lot more about her.  She has really been stepping up and taking charge of her life and her schedule.  For example, she connected with our library branch's newly hired teen librarian, and she's been attending all the events there.  This means that once or twice a week Miciah is attending a free library function.  Miciah loves it, the librarian loves it, and I love it!  The librarian just so happens to be a lovely person whom I know: she's also a sign language interpreter! It's a small world, eh?

One of the events Miciah attends is Sign Language Club for an hour a week.  I told Miciah that every time she goes to the library, she has to sign at least one sentence to the librarian.  It's fun for the both of them, and fun for me to help think of sentences for her.

Another event she attended was a one-time event.  Teen Fear Factor.  Miciah got further than she thought she would in the competition.  She ate some really random stuff, but nothing too disgusting.  She was out when she nearly puked after drinking some coconut drink something or other.  It was like a clear liquid with coconut chunks suspended throughout it.  The winner ate dried worms and bugs and stuff.  Eww.  Miciah's sentence that day was I DON'T-WANT EAT GROSS FOOD.  (That's how ASL is written, FYI.  It's called gloss.  You write down the signs in all caps.  It ends up sounding like broken English, mostly because ASL doesn't have 'to be' or a lot of those smaller words that we think are necessary for meaning, but really aren't.  Like that ASL sentence I wrote:  I DON'T-WANT EAT GROSS FOOD.  Did you have any trouble understanding it without the 'to' in there?  No.  You didn't.)

I really like that Miciah has found a place outside of school and church where she feels comfortable, and I like that this adult is a wonderful person who is great with kids and just so happens to know sign language!  Awesome, awesome awesome.

(I would like to mention that my favorite sentence that I've taught to the kids is one that I taught Tank the other day:  I WILL KILL YOU.  Something about watching a cute little boy sign that with a smile on his face is freakin' adorable.  Rob was thrilled that I taught him such an uplifting sentence.  I just giggled.  (Tank is actually pretty good at sign language, and he remembers stuff.  He'll sign to me when I'm on the phone, and he's usually spot on.  Miciah has taken to signing random sentences everywhere she goes.  And Elijah.  Elijah just makes up signs, pretending they mean something, and this really, really crawls under my skin.  Sign or don't sign, but don't make crap up.  It's a language, kid!  If you wanna use it, learn the words!))

...  And that's life here!