I am determined to catch this blog up to the present … hence “September Summed Up.”
Billy’s teacher asked if I’d accompany his class on a field trip to the bird preserve – I said yes! Billy approved!
Here is Billy getting up close and personal with a caterpillar …
As far as field trips go, it wasn’t the most exciting. I’ve taken the boys to this bird preserve, so Billy already knew the ropes. He did learn a few things from our guide and I tried pushing him into the marsh, but he didn’t think that was a good idea! Heehee
Billy is not a fan of sandwiches (unless they are meatball subs), so for his sack lunch, he got leftover fried chicken! He was absolutely happy about that. It was good to spend some time with Billy. I sure love that kid!
Sometimes a cat just needs to climb into the recycling stack and lick his nose. Didn’t you know?
We have a closet full of games and most of them never get played the “right”way. Take this game, Carcassone, Rusty would much rather create his own map and place his people where he wants than to take turns and have to create the map randomly! Such silliness! He likes to take pictures of his maps once they are done …
When you are all dressed up cute for church and your momma wants to take a picture, that is when you run and hide behind the trash can. Everyone knows this.
Kevin is the Elders’ Quorum president in our ward (church) and was in charge of a dutch oven potluck in September. The weather was perfect all day. The weather was still perfect at this point of the evening. About 30 minutes into the dinner, the winds blew and the rains came. Everyone was cleaned up and gone 59 minutes after the opening prayer. Shortest ward dinner in our ward’s history!
Bobby went with me to my stylist to get a hair cut. His little toy Marshall dog came, too. Marshall needed his own seat because he didn’t feel like sharing.
We went on a double date to CLAS Ropes Course with our friends the Bucks.
It was a “couples retreat” event. We did ropes course challenges and discussed how they can help us in our marriages. We also went canoeing at the end.
I had taken our church youth here for a youth conference 7 years ago and always wanted to go back with Kevin so he could see some of the neat things we’d done then. When I saw that we were available the weekend of this retreat I jumped at it. My mom was good enough to stay with the boys – we were gone 8 hours since the course is in Provo and that is just a bit too long for Ricky with all his brothers.
We rode a zipline. We did a tightrope challenge (below) where you gradually get farther and farther from your partner while only holding on to each other. Kevin and I were actually really good at this one!
I just went into my zone and Kevin was willing to lean farther than most of the other men. We reached the end both times we tried. We were the longest married couple there, which felt weird because sometimes I forget we aren’t newlyweds.
Ah, the rock wall. My humbler. Someday I will reach the top. But it wasn’t this day.
I think that Kevin and I have a pretty solid relationship. We laugh, we have heated debates, we love, we have faith in each other and in our God … but neither one of us has any interest in making a creation out of toothpicks and marshmallows!
My favorite activity was the giant swing! I love it! I loved it 7 years ago and I loved it more now. I love flipping while swinging and … just everything! This time I got to love watching Kevin go on it, too! I’m really, pretty sure he doesn’t love it like I do, but he’s an awfully good sport!
And he was really good at the climbing wall, too.
One day while making strawberry jam, the immersion blender and I had a disagreement. I thought it was off, it decided to have tension on the blade, it attacked my finger. I was home alone with Bobby and while I wasn’t scared, I didn’t know what exactly to do. I initially called a neighbor to help, and she was wonderful – she told me I had not cut off the top of the my finger and she bandaged me up. But 10 minutes after she left, when I went into shock, I didn’t want to call her back because she had little people at home.
I’ve never gone into shock like that before. Hyperventilating, pounding heart, non-stop tears and shaking – I was a mess! And I couldn’t reach Kevin at work, so I was even more a mess. After scrolling through my contact list several times on my phone, I was finally clear headed enough to remember my dear friend whose husband is an ER nurse and who was probably home right then. A few shaky texts later, they were on their way to take care of me.
Her husband patched me up a little and confirmed I needed stitches. We dropped Bobby off at my friend’s (the initial one who bandaged me), the ER nurse back at home with their kids, and my friend took me to an Instacare and stayed with me. Kevin met us there. The shock had subsided and the adrenaline rush taken its place – I was slap happy and so funny! At least, I thought I was so funny. I’m sure I was just obnoxious and loud!
While I was being stitched up, my friend’s little girl was giving Bobby a dance lesson.
Just 4 stitches, but it cut through my fingernail as well. All the strawberries were thrown away and no jam was made. I have used my immersion blender since then – not going to let a little accident keep me from my cooking!
On days when Bobby naps, he often tosses and turns a lot before caving in. He is adorable.
The end of September brought Ricky’s first Scout Court of Honor. He got his Tenderfoot (and he should have had his 2nd and 1st class, but there were some miscommunications) as well as 11 merit badges.
It was also Billy’s Pack Meeting night where he got another belt loop. I love my scouts!
PTA sponsored a community meeting about the procedures our school and sheriff’s office have for Lockdowns and Lockouts. It was the third time PTA has held a meeting like this, the first one this year. Turnout is never as high as I would like, but the message is so important. This year I really wish more people had come. We held the meeting on a Wednesday. The following Monday our school went into Lockout. There was a lot of panicked parents. A lot of calling the school and people not understanding what that even means. It means, there might be a threat in the community near the school, so the students and staffed are kept inside doing their usual thing – everyone else is locked out! The school is the safest place for those kids in that situation. It was opening weekend of the duck hunt and a popular place to hunt is not far from the school. The “threat” was a hunter on the street with his gun. Absolutely nothing to be nervous about and I wasn’t nervous. I understood exactly what was going on. I just wish more people would have come to the PTA meeting so they wouldn’t have had to be nervous either!
Kevin had a birthday, shout hurray!
He doesn’t always like me taking pictures of him — but he’s so cute! He doesn’t ever want much for his birthday, so we didn’t give him many things. He got lots of hugs and kisses and cards from his boys, though. ‘Cuz we love him!
Rusty was the star student of the week in his class in September. He got to hang up an “about me” poster, read the class a favorite book, and do a “show and teach” session on Friday. Rusty chose to bring his pet rabbit, Red, for his show and teach. Red was well behaved and Rusty had looked up lots of facts about rabbits to share with his class. I was worried about taking a bunny to school, but it worked out great!
And there you go!