Little Update

Well, we survived the first week and a half of school!  To be honest, I'm frustrated with Jill and Michael's bus situation.  On like the second day Jill threw a fit on the ride home because she couldn't sit by her friend.  Michael tried to make her sit somewhere else, which struggle ended with Jill getting off the bus crying and wearing only one shoe and one sock.  And so the bus driver now won't let Michael sit by Jill.  Another time Jill apparently bit someone.  And also, the bus driver will no longer let Michael get off at Jill's school.  He was getting off there because it's a lot closer to the cafeteria than his school, and so now he doesn't have time to get breakfast at the school.  What good is it to have discounted meals if we can't use them?

It's been kind of a rough time all around for Michael this year.  I'm sad about that.  He was so excited to go back, and now he's sad about going.  I feel like there's something he's not telling me.  He reminds me so much of me.  He has a hard time saying what's wrong.  I wonder if he has the same huge inner battle when someone asks what's wrong.  I don't know.

We got Michael a clarinet.  I hope it'll work out!  He wants to play the tuba, but his band teacher says first he has to learn clarinet, then bassoon, then tuba.  He's excited to learn, though, so that's good.  We bought kind of a cheapo clarinet online because it was cheaper than renting, and he's not going to end up sticking with clarinet anyway.  I guess we'll see.  It's red, and he likes that.

Benji goes earlier to school than anyone else most days.  Some days Timmy's bus is early because they don't pick up preschoolers on Mondays or Fridays, and on those days Timmy's bus comes about the same time as Benji's.  Benji was hoping to do snare drum this year, but Kei has him helping train somebody on bass drum and other stuff.  That's frustrating to me!  At Benji's concerts last year two guys switched off with the snare drum while Benji basically just sat there for the whole concert.  Apparently he has to be good enough at drums to move up to snare, but how will he have a chance now?  I don't know.  I guess I need to take the whole mess with band and the bus and drop it because stewing about it won't help. Benji really likes school so far, and I'm so glad.

Jill has such a great teacher!  Mr. Gifford is really nice and really funny.  I'm so thankful she got him!

Timmy's also doing well.  The thing he struggles with is figuring out what day it is.  Weekends kind of mess things up.  The funny thing is, he has an idea about days of the week, and he knows we don't play computer games on Sunday.  So if we tell him it's Sunday he'll argue that, no, it's Wednesday, or it's Saturday.  Ha, ha!  And on Saturday he doesn't like that he doesn't go to school.  I'm so glad that he likes school.  I made him a little story book about Mario the other day, trying to help him learn some words, and he LOVES it.  I'm so glad!  I sat and pointed out the words while I read it to him, and then he did the same.  He's got it pretty much memorized now.  I hope it helps!  He's definitely ready to read!

Hyrum and Joshua are starting college classes today.  I've been so stinking excited for them!  It's kind of silly.  I finally figured out that maybe why I've been so excited is that I had such a great time at EAC, and I figure they will too.  And I also, I really want to go back to school.  Maybe I'm living vicariously through them. ;) Anyway, I'm also really nervous for Joshua.  I'm afraid he'll be in over his head, but I'm trying to have faith that he'll be fine.  It's not that I think the subjects will be too hard.  He has a basic math class and a kind of basic computer class, and then a drawing class.  Easy peasy.  I'm just worried about him understanding about assignments.  He's got so much going on in his head I'm afraid he'll miss instructions like he often does at home.

Hyrum was all worried this morning about classes.  He was grumping around while he waited.  Nothing fits in his backpack and this is wrong and that is wrong, and he has to unload the whole thing to find his class schedule.  Ha ha!  I can't help but laugh a bit when he gets grumpy like that.  I know he's worried about the first day of classes.  I think he's going to do fine.  I think he'll really miss being home so much. At least he'll be done by lunch time most days.

We're going to have an interesting semester, to say the least.  Jeremy didn't get hired at BYU-I.  Really, that's OK right now.  We don't have the means for him to do only part time there, and they don't offer full time.  For now, he'll be teaching some classes in Globe again.  That means that he'll be staying at his mom's house once or twice a week.  I am nervous about that.  It's like his life is already all about work right now.  I'm going to miss him.  And I'm a little worried about keeping it together when I don't have him home in the evening.  Semesters pass quickly, though.  We'll get through it.

Bubby really needs to be potty trained.  I think that will help him so much with a lot of different things.  It's just the logistics, I guess.  Mind over logistics, right?!

Henry's been teething.  I've been spending a lot of time sleeping in that chair again.  That means neck aches, headaches, and overall tiredness.  It's poopy.  He did get one tooth out, though!  He turned 8 months old yesterday.  He thinks he's so big.  He prefers standing to sitting, but he can't do it on his own yet.  He loves us to walk him around, and he loves his walker.  You should see how he gets around in that thing!  The other day Bubby was riding his tricycle around, and Bubby was running right after him.  It was so cute!  He also just learned to pull up to stand.  He's not quite crawling yet.  He gets on his hands and knees and just kind of bobs there like he's not quite sure it's safe, and then he flops onto his tummy and just rolls around.  He doesn't like being on his tummy, though, so eventually he gets mad about that and needs rescued.  He's perfecting picking things up with his forefinger and thumb.  Yea, little fella!  Except, boo because the floor doesn't get vacuumed enough!  Ha ha!

Did I mention on here that we had a leaky roof just recently in the middle of the night?  That was exciting!  We had a leak right after we got the AC installed almost a year ago, and the ceiling never got fixed.  And then we had the leak in our bedroom a couple of weeks ago.  We called insurance and filed a claim.  The adjuster came out and gave us a check, and we've been getting things fixed.  We got a guy Paul suggested to come out and fix the drywall.  Jeremy patched the roof with tar for now, but we're going to get the roof redone.  It's handy having Paul around.  He's already suggested people a few times to help with this and that.  I'm thankful that it's all being taken care of.

Things are moving right along with the sale of our house in Globe.  I'm so thankful!  The way it's working isn't quite conventional, but it should work out good.  I'll be so thankful to have that taken care of!  It'll be so nice to have that loan paid off!  One less payment each month!

We've had a lot of rain lately.  I love it!  But it also means allergies are in full bloom.  A friend of ours had her son in the hospital with allergy induced asthma just recently.  Jeremy's also been feeling it.  He's been using those Chinese herbs, though.  They are miraculous!  They have kept him out of the hospital, and that's something to be thankful for!  I've been sneezing and rubbing my eyes, but that's not too bad.  I'm thankful that I found some allergy medicine that helps me!  I don't have the twice-a-day inhaler anymore, but I have this medicine that's for allergy induced asthma, and it seems to help with both allergies and asthma.  I haven't needed my inhaler in quite a while.  Hooray for that! :D

Well, I think that's enough for now.

Fingers crossed that we get through the semester in one piece!

Thinking

It's silly to be doing this right now, but I can't sleep.  I have all sorts of thoughts swirling around in my head.  I suppose it's partly because sooner or later the portion of my book I'm working on now will be complete, and then I move on to the storytelling part, and I'm a little worried about that.  Stories are different from dates and places.  They're just different, and part of me is worried about telling the stories wrong.  It's so very important to me to have it right.  It's silly, though. If I make mistakes I can just fix them and reprint it, right?

It's funny how this book has become such a huge thing in my life.  It kind of weaseled its own way in, you know, and now I work on it most weekdays.  It's a big deal to me.  Is it just because I needed a project, or is there another reason? One thing I do know is that learning about all these people has made me feel more than ever the weight of all my ancestors and the groundwork that they laid and all these things that they did for their descendants.  That's me!  I feel that if I'm going to apply myself to this work, I somehow owe it to them to make it accurate.  The heritage they left me is HUGE!  You bet your boots I am thankful!

But some days the work goes so frustratingly slow.  On those days I just want to read Facebook or a book or play a game instead.  Today I downloaded an update for Rift, which I haven't played in months, just because I wanted something different to do, but the update ended up taking too long and I never played.  Who knows when I will again?  I don't!

And I guess tonight my thoughts have turned again to this guy.

This is my Grandpa Badger.  All my life he has been such a big mystery to me.  I'm not sure how to write about him, and he's the first one on the list.  I draw upon what I know.  I know that he had many hobbies, just like my dad.  He polished rocks.  He made ceramics.  He crocheted.  I know that he loved his family.  He made each of his grandchildren a ceramic bunny for Easter when I was just little.  He also made us each a mug that looked like jeans with our names on the tags.  I still have that packed away somewhere.  I know that he served in the Army in Belgium during World War II.  

I was only 10 when he died.  How he died has always been kind of a big question mark in my head, but I only remember asking about it once, and I was too young for all the details.  I remember the night when Daddy sat us all down and among other things said, "You might as well know that Grandpa died," in that calm, comforting voice that he just naturally has.  I remember that Mama told me later that he inhaled some car fumes and passed out and threw up all over.  I was so confused.  I couldn't figure out how that would make him die.  I imagined him walking down the street and accidentally inhaling fumes from a passing car and then dying.  Ever since then I've been pretty wary of car exhaust.  

Over the years, and especially in the last few years, I've stumbled on more pieces of the puzzle.  When he and Grandma divorced I was told that he had done something wrong and wouldn't repent.  Anyway, from the pieces I've gathered, it's pretty apparent that he died because of some bad choices that he made, even if I'm not 100% clear about what those choices were (I do have some idea, though, and I kind of wish I didn't).  That makes me sad. And it makes me  think how it must have hurt my grandma and my parents. Those pour guys. 

So sad. 

I love my Grandpa.  I still miss him, even if he grouched at us for getting in his camp trailer and was kind of absent at times. I know he loved me. He sent me birthday cards. And he was my grandpa. I am sad for all the things he missed. I'm sad that he never finished making afghans for all his grandchildren. I'm sad that he never held his great grandchildren. And it all makes me kind of reflect on my life. Am I making good choices? Am I doing things my children and grandchildren will be sad about? And am I truly building on the foundation my ancestors laid down for me?

Yeah, it's probably pretty apparent that I need some sleep, right? Ha Ha! Well, I put some thoughts down, so now I bet I can.

I took the children to the dentist, and then I went too. Everyone but Michael has cavities, but Michael has other problems. Ha! Gonna be expensive.

In other news, we are negotiating a deal on our Globe house. They are hoping to close before the end of the month. It's a single mom and a few little boys.

Also, Jeremy applied for a job teaching online for BYU Idaho. It's only part time, but it's teaching, which is exactly what he wants to do. He got an interview. I guess we'll see how this plays out.

First Day of School

First day of school for Benji (7th), Michael (5th), Jill (1st), and Timmy (K), and first day of Seminary for Hyrum and Joshua. Joshua doesn't like pictures, so this is the best I got of him. And don't let Michael's non-smile fool you. He's been looking forward to today since the last day of last school year. He was just annoyed that the bus wasn't there yet. I think it'll be a good year. I'm so glad for them! Meanwhile, I have 2 at home, and it's super quiet!

Benji

Hyrum and Joshua

Michael, Timmy, and Jill

Here's Jill at the meet at greet last night with her new teacher Mr. Gifford.  He's fun!  I think she's going to really enjoy being in his class. :)

Here's Jill waving to Timmy as he got on the bus.

So this morning Hyrum and Joshua left right around 7:00, and a few minutes later Benji's bus came.  Then about 7:20, Timmy's bus came, and then Michael and Jill's bus came a few minutes later.  It worked out good. :)

Gettin' Ready for School

School is starting on Wednesday.  Crazy!  I knew the summer would go by fast, and I don't really regret what we did, but I'm going to miss it and my kiddos.

I didn't take any pictures, but on we invited Aaron and Kenzie over on Saturday for a back to school feast.  I've wanted to do one for a long time, and I always forget.  I made kind of a banner that said back to school.  Jill told me I needed to write feast under it.  Ha ha!  And I made a paper lotus flower, and I put some pencils and rulers in some jars, and those were our centerpieces.  We wanted to make meat loaf and mashed potatoes, but Aaron and Kenzie are on the Whole30 diet, so we had to rethink our whole menu.  We ended up making gizado.  Basically it's all the ingredients for stew, but fried in some butter.  But since dairy is a no-no on the Whole30 diet I cooked it in olive oil.  And we wanted to use Styrofoam trays like at the school, so we baked the potatoes separately from the rest of the gizado so as to cover more holes.  Ha ha!  And instead of milk we had little bottles of water.  It worked out just fine, and it's always fun to get together with them. :)

I taught Timmy's Primary class yesterday.  They were so wiggly!  And it turns out that Timmy is no longer the only one who needs special help.  There's a new guy in there who gets distracted pretty easily.  He's funny because he gets right up in your face and says, "What did you say?"  And the whole time, Timmy was drawing on the chalkboard (cuz that's what he do), and Henry was squirming, and Jill was also drawing on the chalkboard.  She faked sick so that I'd take her in with the class I was teaching, and then she perked right up.  Silly!  I was so glad that Sister Hunter was there!  She said she wasn't sure she was going to come, but she did, and I'm so glad!  She held Henry for a while and ran to the library for things I forgot.  It all worked out.

We did back to school blessings last night.  I think that as they get older the blessings get so much neater, you know?  It makes me excited for them!  I think it'll be a good year.

And speaking of blessings, Hyrum has a recommend and a date to get his Patriarchal Blessing!  I wish he could have gotten it when he was 12, but maybe he wasn't really ready then.  Well, he's definitely ready now!  I'm really, really excited about it! :) It'll be next Tuesday evening.  In Globe Stake they couldn't get one until they're 16, which is dumb because isn't it against the church handbook to make a rule like that?  But it wasn't my idea and there was nothing to do but move. Ha ha!  Just teasin'.  But anyway, I don't think Benji is quite ready either, but Joshua might be. We're kind of leaving it up to them, but we also kind of leaned on Hyrum to get it done because he needed leaned on.  He's excited too.

Henry is on the verge of crawling.  He's getting around all over the floor, but it's like he can't decide if he wants to crawl or just scoot like Jill did.  He also is really, really good at getting around in his walker!  He loves that thing!  It gives him some independence I think.  It's funny how they already want to be big at such a young age.  It's pretty fascinating to watch him, though.  Also, when he catches my eye he smiles so, so big, and it just melts my heart.  Hyrum squeals about how Henry is so cute that he melts your face off.  Yeah, pretty much. :)

I keep thinking about how I'm going to do the first day of school.  Hyrum and Joshua will only have Seminary that day because their college classes don't start until the 22nd, but school starts for Michael, Jill, and Timmy about the same time, and Timmy is in Pima, and Benji is a little earlier.  I think I'm going to just put them on the bus instead of taking them for the first day like I usually do.  It ought to be interesting.  At least we can go meet their teachers and find their classrooms the night before for the kiddos going to Thatcher schools.  I need to figure out today when the buses come.  Benji's school will start earlier and go later than the other guys.

Also, back to school means back to finding socks, and I don't wanna!  And it means I've got to get around to folding all those clothes I've washed and wash even more, and I definitely don't wanna!  Wah!

Pictures

It always kind of cracks me up how my leg makes a great seat for my babies.  It's just high enough for their little legs to hang down just right.

The Monday after the boys got home from the Badger Family Campout we had some leftover sparklers and poppers, so for FHE we talked about being a light to others, especially with school coming up, and then we used the sparklers and poppers.  It was fun!  I hope they'll remember that little lesson!  The funniest part was when I was nursing Henry on the porch swing.  Jeremy was looking for the matches while the kiddos did poppers.  I handed Jill a bag of poppers, and she couldn't get it open.  Finally it ripped open and sawdust and poppers flew all over the place.  There were a whole bunch of pops, and I got a whole bunch of sawdust down my shirt. XD Good times. This picture is Joshua.

Benji

Papa lighting sparklers for Michael and Timmy

Michael

Hyrum conjuring a fireball. Ha ha!

Bubby

Henry sleeping in the stroller at the library

Timmy got a bloody nose one night at bedtime, and Jill ran over to him exclaiming that she knew how to take care of a bloody nose.  She grabbed some toilet paper and sat him down.  She pinched his nose and patted his back and told him it was going to be OK.  She did great!

Joshua and Michael watching something

He's just so cute!  I couldn't pick just one shot. ;)

Breakfast time at Safford Middle School

There's free food up by the splash pad once a month.  A friend of mine kept telling me to go, and finally I did.  We got so much great stuff!  I was so thankful!  I made more homemade tomato soup.  It's a little crunchy and has a bunch of basil and celery in it. Yum!  And there were lots of raisins and dried cranberries, spaghetti, soup, melons (too bad we don't like honeydew.  Seriously.  We had like 18 of them, and no takers when I offered them to people.  They all went on the compost pile.  But the rest has been so great!  What a blessing!

All summer long Timmy has kept the living room covered in paper.  He's used pencils, crayons, and watercolors.  I keep finding little treasures like this laying around when I clean up.

Here's one thing he made.  It's a Gumball mask from The Amazing World of Gumball.  We love that show!  It's silly and makes you shake your head and say, "What?!"  But I love it. :)

We went to the Victory Fellowship Theater to see Rio 2.  I wasn't too interested in seeing the movie, so in the end I volunteered to watch the squirrelly ones (Timmy and Bubby) while Benji, Michael, and Jill went and watched in the 3-D room.  It was quite a fiasco.  I vowed I would not take them for any more movies this summer.  I feel bad leaving them, but the movie was so much more enjoyable!  They last as long as the popcorn lasts. ;)

Here are Timmy and Henry in the lobby of the theater where Timmy and Bubby ran me ragged.

The guys were taking care of the trees out back.  We're starting to have some grass too. :)

Here's another mask from The Amazing World of Gumball.  It's the dad.  Ha ha!

A couple of people in our ward gave us a whole bunch of clothes for Jill.  It's so great!  She basically has a whole new wardrobe.  Here's the cute girl with our cute baby. :)

I don't really like this one.  I almost took it off this post, but I didn't.

Here are some more of Timmy's creations.  This particular day he lined them all up on the table and left them to dry.

I believe this one might be Johnny Bravo.  Or maybe it's a guy on Roblox, this computer game he likes to play.

Cute baby sleeping at Grandma Burk's house.  Here's a crazy story.  Jeremy and I REALLY wanted to see the new World of Warcraft movie in the theater.  It was here and gone before we knew what happened.  Our only choice was to go down to the valley to see it.  It had been a while since we'd been on a date, and we weren't sure how much longer it would be at that theater, so we just went ahead and went.  It required some finagling.  It was a Wednesday night.  We left the kiddos at Grandma Burk's house.  She was up in Utah at the Burk "campout," though.  (We did ask for permission.)  Joe and Bre were supposed to be taking care of the dogs while they were gone, but I'm not sure if they did anything other than feed them.  Jeremy showed up before we did, and he was shocked at the mess he found.  There was garbage and dog poop all over the place.  He hurried and cleaned up as much as he could before we got there, and then we left the kiddos (except Henry) with some food to cook.  It turned out the oven wouldn't come on, so they had to use the microwave.  At least they found a movie they all liked!

The movie let out late, so we'd arranged to sleep at Grandma's.  Well, it turns out she has a roach problem like we used to.  And I culdn't sleep because of that and the HOT.  And Bubby wouldn't settle down to sleep, and as he wandered around he found a piece of poop that had been missed in cleanup and started licking it.  Argh!  Sure makes you wonder if that particular date night was worth the price.  I'm glad we saw the movie but... no.  Probably not worth it.

Sweet boy!

Jill stole my phone and took a bajillion pictures.  I like this one. :)

Here's one of Timmy's things from school.

We spent the 24th weekend with my parents.  The morning we were supposed to leave we needed to make some quick trips to the store.  Hyrum was supposed to drive Jeremy to Home Depot, but he kept falling asleep.  Jeremy just let him sleep in the end. :)

We had to go the long way around because there was an accident just outside of Globe.  It took forever!  Jeremy was glad to lay on the grass and be done driving when we got to St. Johns.

Henry was also happy to be out of the car. :) This was his first trip to Grandma's house.

And of course, Timmy wanted to play puzzles with Grandma first thing.

In the morning we went to the parade.  It was kind of short, but it was good.  We got to go see the family history center where Grandma works too, and we had bubbles to blow while we waited for the parade.

Timmy got candy!

Bubby watching the horses

Jeremy watched kiddos while Daddy, Mama, and I took the three older boys to the Temple to do some baptisms.  It was sure great. :) Here's Hyrum after we were all done.

Benji

Joshua did not want to do pictures.  I caught this one of him touching the Temple.  He said, "I touched the Temple, and then I put my face on it."  It made me think of the Conference talk that said we should encourage our children to touch the Temple, and in turn it will touch them. :)

Hyrum and me

Hyrum and Benji

Papa gave Hyrum a ponytail, and Grandma bribed him with $20 to let her cut his hair.  Hyrum didn't like the ponytail.  Ha ha!  Poor guy.

And then Papa wanted a piggyback ride.

The Legos are a definite favorite every time we come.

Bubby blowing bubbles :)

He's just so darn cute!  I love my Bubby!

Aaaaand eating breakfast again.  I must admit, I miss it already.

Grandma made them take one more picture before we left. I'm so glad!  (I stole this one from my Mama) 

You can also see Hyrum's new haircut in this picture.  (Shh!  Don't tell, but last night Hyrum said, "I like this haircut.  It looks good!  I told him if Grandma knew he said that she'd get after him about it if we let his hair grow out again: "Remember you said last time that you liked it and it looked good?"  Ha ha!  Don't tell Grandma. ;) )

More Jill pictures

Bubby likes to go to the library and play with this computer they have set up for little guys.  It's just right!

I went to the bathroom one morning and came back to find this. :)

This is Timmy's bottle of bubbles.  Don't you love the warning signs?  I think he copied it from his actual bubble bottle.

Kiddos invaded the bed.  Again.

I saw this balloon on the horizon as I was driving to Walmart, so I hunted it down.  It was at Safford Middle School.  I watched it for a while and then it flew away.  so cool!  It looked really pretty.