octoverload

october where art thou? hunker down, this is long. * author's note. i tried to write this post over 5 days. as in, "it took me 5 days of dealing with interruptions to get this done", not "this post was artfully and painstakingly crafted over 5 days." you can tell because at the beginning i am trying to have deep thoughts and toward the end it devolved to the literary equivalent of a grunt describing the pictures.

october always means starting out with general conference. as a family we tried to watch as many sessions as possible from our own couch.it was controlled chaos. the big kids are typically pretty good about staying occupied during the talks, but i had forgotten how time consuming a little baby can be when you are trying to pay attention to something important. 

as per usual,  general conference gave me the answers and reassurances i needed, or didn't even know i needed. something that has been on my mind a lot as of late is teaching my children. elder l. tom perry gave a great talk a few years ago during conference about teaching our children in our homes. i was very touched by his words i've tried to heed that counsel as much as possible. this was before i knew what an undertaking it would be to teach a child who has some special needs when it comes to learning and comprehension. lately i've been quite stressed and discouraged about my efforts in teaching my children. i normally spend around 2 hours each day after school working on homework with reagan. it's not as glamorous as it sounds. i have learned to enjoy it but it doesn't make it easy and i often wonder how worth it it is. so when i heard elder perry speak again about educating our children, my heart was filled with comfort, knowing that our Father has heard my prayers regarding reagan. i felt renewed in my efforts. 

"parents must resolve that teaching in the home is a most sacred and important responsibility"- l. tom perry

i love his use of the word resolve. resolve- "to come to a definite or earnest decision about". that's how i feel about teaching. it's not my fave and not everything can be fun but i know it's important. and i will do it. 

another quote from elder perry that spoke to my heart was about strengthening my family:

"Our strengthened family cultures will be a protection for our children from “the fiery darts of the adversary” (1 Nephi 15:24) embedded in their peer cultures, the entertainment and celebrity cultures, the credit and entitlement cultures, and the Internet and media cultures to which they are exposed constantly. It will help our children live in the world and not become “of the world” (John 15:19)."

 i worry about the things my kids will encounter in the world that are wrong but will be confusing to them because they will be portrayed as normal or good or that they should have no remorse in doing bad. this quote reminded me to carry on teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to them at every chance i get so that when they find evil, they will recognize it and know it for what it is and be protected from it.

on a lighter note, i've decided that i'm going to start making a decadent dessert for consumption during conference weekend. this year was "knock you naked" brownies from the pioneer woman.

they were pretty good after chilling in the fridge for 24 hours. then they were excellent after 48 hours chilling time. i omitted the nuts because nuts are gross,

i wasn't knocked naked after eating these brownies, but my pant's button was definitely popped open. 

we also had the opportunity to clean our chapel one saturday in october. the kids always think this is so fun.  this is our disneyworld.

whilst we were cleaning, some of the young single adults from church were showing up for a weekend conference. a couple of the ladies went up to thomas and introduced themselves. i'm very proud to say he's still got it.

thomas is a great dad to his kids. he makes such a great effort to play with them. and he's good at it. i find that when i play with them i have to train my face to look nice and smiley. thomas just smiles naturally. my fun is practiced. his goodness is innate. 

everybody has one fun parent and our's is not me. but, thomas always backs me up when i declare it is time to clean something up. our exercise ball now lives on the tramp. the step from "the firm" workout is the step stool for the kids to climb on the tramp. we also have a rusty wagon that greets you when you enter the backyard. we are "those" neighbors. 

this dang dog needed a bunch of medical attention in october. don't let that pathetic face fool you. he had an ear infection, an infection between his toes, weight issues(you can't even call a dog fat anymore) sensitive skin and all around old gross dog smell. merry christmas kids. 

for fall break we took a trip to waycross. the 6 hour trip down ended up taking 10. all part of the package deal.

have you ever nursed a screaming baby strapped in a carseat, driving down a very crowded highway? i have. i should have charged the other cars for the show.

and old pizza farts was in the back, rounding out the delightful crew.

waycross is always lovely this time of year. they are just finishing up summer and the weather was 80s the whole time.

scarlett was tricked into work by making real lemonade

we drove over to wild adventures in valdosta for  the day. one recurring themes was, "big man in a little ride".

it was funny every time. 

we convinced reagan to go on the flying carpet ride because we thought it was going to stay like this.

and then it ended up doing this and the poor thing was gripping that handle for dear life. no seatbelts or anything!

thomas and i went on our first date in months with a 5 minute roller coaster while mimi susu watched the kids. 

at the end of the month we had our trunk or treat at church. 

scarlett was a cat with items found in her dress up tub. thomas asked if she needed pants and i said no. mostly because the ones i wanted weren't clean. so that's that. and reagan was the pig from word world. he made his own costume out of contruction paper and tape. thankfully his pants were clean already/

more fun for other, less fun for some.

pumpkin masterpieces i carved minutes before trick or treating. the kids tried to paint them the same time i was wiedling cutting tools. author's note- pumpkins that are starting to soften and turn are WAY easier to carve than a nice, firm ripe pumpkin. almost like cutting butter with a hot knife. easy peasy lemon squeezy. smells good too.

grunt grunt grunt. the end/