Snow and studying and stuff

I remembered and then forgot and then remembered and then forgot and then remembered...that our library books were due soon and that we needed to go to the library this week.

It's supposed to snow tomorrow morning. I got an email that the temple was closed tomorrow. And then I got a notification that Gwinnett Public Libraries would be closed tomorrow as well...which helped me remember that we needed to go to the library today. 

So we gathered up the books and waited for Daddy to get home from campus so that he could be around to help with the oven (Benjamin had banana bread going), but we ended up taking the banana bread out just as Andrew got home.

I debated waiting until it was time to take Benjamin to swim practice, but while I knew I'd be brave enough to exit the library parking lot turning right during rush hour (the direction needed to go home), there was no way I'd be able to turn left during rush hour (the direction needed to pick Benjamin up). 

So I just left with the kids and we decided Miriam would take Benjamin later. And no one would have to turn left out of the library parking lot during rush hour. 

Andrew closed the garage door for us. 

And that was that. Zoë, Alexander, and Phoebe had a great time choosing books. 

Phoebe wanted to check out all the early readers, and that was fine with me (except that I only let her check out as many as she could carry, which was twelve...not all of them). She's been somewhat disinterested in reading lessons lately. While she can read through the stories without much trouble it takes her ages to get through the word banks. She just doesn't like doing it, drags her feet, makes it last forever. 

Zoë was similar, Andrew reminded me...kind of. 

When I was talking to him about Phoebe's...behaviour...he asked me how many kids managed to make through the whole book. 

"Well, Rachel, as we all know, couldn't get through five lessons," I said (she hated it that much). "That made Miriam determined to get through the whole book...because she's Miriam. Then Benjamin had to go through the whole book—but in a different way—because he's Benjamin. And then...Alexander made it through the whole book, too. He was very proud about finishing in a very Alexander way. But I know there was someone who didn't finish the book because they just didn't want to...but who still got pretty far. Like they learned all the basics and then were like...yeah, no, thank you. Who was that?"

"Uhhh...Zoë?" Andrew said. 

"Right! Zoë!"

How could I forget Zoë? She was the one who got through the basics and then was like...meh. 

And Phoebe seems to be following that path. So, we'll keep reading stories together. And maybe we'll revisit the reading lesson book. And maybe we won't. 

Either way, here is Phoebe with her dozen stories all lined up:

Except getting them into the house wasn't so simple because I couldn't get the garage to open as we approached the house. I pressed the little garage button in the van...and nothing happened. I pressed it again—nothing. I held it down real hard...nothing.

I know that sometimes I'm not very good with that button. Or the reception is somehow finicky. Or whatever.

So right at the top of the driveway I tried it again. No go.

I drove down the driveway and sat directly in front of the garage door. It would not budge.

So I pulled out my phone and tried to open it using the app we have for it (which is super handy). It told me it was trying and trying and trying and trying to open the door but that it could not. 

Finally a message popped up: "Garage door is obstructed."

I texted Andrew to see if he would get the door for me so I could park in the garage. He gave me a thumbs up through the window on his way to the garage. Then I assume he went into the garage. 

Nothing happened. 

Eventually he popped out the front door and gave me a thumbs down, so I turned off the car and unloaded the kids and the books (with their help). 

The arm of the garage door opener had lost a bolt, so it had popped off the garage door and thus couldn't lift it. 

Andrew ran to the hardware store to get a new bolt/nut for it. 

(At this point in the story, Miriam—who had been taking Benjamin to swim practice while this was going on—gasped and said, "But how did you get to the store if your car was in the garage?!" The whole point of the story is that the van was not in the garage, which she quickly figured out.)

And now the garage door is working again—hail the conquering hero!

*****

Speaking of conquering heroes, this week was quite exhausting for Miriam, who had several quizzes and tests and assignments to do and felt a little overwhelmed with life. 

She felt like she did rather poorly on her "natural disasters" lab work (and, truly, she got a bad grade) and was so upset about it. We told her that it was early in the semester and that things would even out. I assured her that the teacher would have ways to be lenient—they want to keep kids interested and motivated. We told her that if she studied hard she'd do just fine on the midterm. 

She was disconsolate. 

And she cried about "math in the real world" in my office on campus on Tuesday. 

And she feel frustrated about "fashion design."

And she has to finish reading Macbeth for her Shakespeare class. 

And...it was all so much!

But then she learned that her natural disasters teacher was doing a study session for their mid-term and they would get five extra credit points just for attending! So she was going to make sure that she went to that on Wednesday. 

But then she went to mutual and forgot. And then came home and remembered. And then went down to her room and started reading Macbeth and forgot. (I feel that because I did my fair share of remember and forgetting the same thing over and over again this week). By the time she remembered again it was too late. 

She was rather bummed out because she felt like she needed that extra credit. 

But then her teacher sent a message saying that she'd post a video of the review session and that if anyone missed it they could still get the extra credit points by sending her a picture of the notes they took while watching the recording. 

So Miriam did that. 

She took the test today. It was a proctored exam and Miriam was very nervous about it.

She even cleaned her room. She made sure to go to the bathroom before she began. She told Zoë to do what she needed to do in the bedroom and then to get out. She told us she was going to lock the bedroom door. She warned all the kids to not come into the basement or to even make loud noises upstairs (to be fair, she started the exam at 9 PM so it wasn't like they needed to be wrestling or anything at that hour). 

She had two-hours to take this test. 

We wished her luck. She went downstairs. 

Benjamin put on an audio book and started doing the dishes. Andrew got Phoebe into bed and I sat down with Alexander and Benjamin to read from our novel together after we'd done some tidying up. I was about two pages into the chapter when Miriam came bounding into the room.

"I did it!" she sang and then she danced around a bit.

"You finished already?!" I said. 

"Yes..." she said sheepishly. 

"It's been like...fifteen minutes."

"Yeah...I guess I didn't need the two hours."

"How'd you do?"

"100%!"

So she's doing just fine.