One more sleep (and Rachel's concert)

The fact that Nevada is on Pacific Time really threw me off because for some reason that extra hour really makes a difference. By the time I was finished with conference stuff for the day it would be past bedtime for Phoebe, so I didn't get to talk to her until this weekend. The very first thing she wanted to know was how many sleeps she had left until I was coming home.

"You are coming home, right?" she asked.

"Yes!" I said. "Of course!"

"Thank you!" she sighed heavily. "How many sleeps?"

"Three."

She spent the duration of the (video) call hopping into the frame to verify "Three more sleeps?" every chance she got.

"Yes, yes. Three more sleeps."

On the first day I was gone she asked how many sleeps it would be—seven—and then proceeded to diligently count down until 7:00, which she felt was ample time for Mommy to be gone. She misses me, but to be fair, she's had a great time with Daddy! She's stayed in her jammies a lot (she does that with Mommy, too), she's eaten lots of carrots, she got to help make applesauce, she's had way more screen time than usual, and she hasn't had to do any reading lessons! Life is good!

*****

Rachel was in University Chorale this semester (and she plans on taking it again next semester). She didn't tell me about her concert (although it's good to know that it's broadcast—Andrew ended up being able to watch as well) but Naanii knew about it, so when she realized my trip would align with Rachel's concert she went and bought an extra ticket for me! 

Rachel also didn't tell us that she'd be singing in devotional today, at least not until, like, yesterday or something. But my mom and I were able to make it, along with Rachel's supervisor, as I perhaps already mentioned. When I met up with Rachel afterward she admitted to not feeling well. She had a light cough and an upset tummy, but eating lunch made her feel a little better. 

If you care at all...

Yesterday evening Andrew sent me a picture of Phoebe gnawing on a huge carrot she found in the fridge. It took her all day long but she felt rather triumphant when she finally finished. Andrew called it her 10-hour carrot.

Wus that this year?

I have been remiss in writing down all the funny things Alexander has been saying lately. He's been trying to showcase his rich vocabulary...but has been coming up with slightly wrong words. 

For example, if Phoebe tattled on him for something, he might says she was "extravagant" when what he meant to say was "exaggerating." 

I had a running list of these darling mix-ups in my head...but, of course, my brain is like a sieve and this list has tumbled right out of it. I will be more diligent about keeping track in the future (not to mock—but because it's very, very cute). 

I texted Alexander a picture of himself as a baby, standing by the Christmas tree, pantsless, and using a fly swatter to reach of and tap the ornaments that I had told him not to touch. It's not touching if you don't use your fingers, see?

T-I-M-P-A-N-O-G-O-S! L-E-T-S-G-O! Let's go!

I'm not sure when Timpanogos became my mountain because I distinctly remember a time when it didn't feel familiar at all. It was foreign and mysterious, but soon became a comfortable presence, the backdrop of my life. My friends taught me to look to the mountain for signs of the seasons—the blush of red early in the fall and the first dust of snow warning of winter's approach—things I didn't know to look for before. 

Years later, I always look for "my" mountain as my plane comes in to land. How lovely to be greeted by a timeless friend no matter how long I've been away.

The plane ride from Las Vegas to Salt Lake was bumpy and the landing was so rough that the flight attendant popped on the intercom after we touched down (slammed down?) to sing into the intercom, "And that's why you wear your seatbelt, folks!"

Ward Christmas Party (in absentia)

Today while I was attending session after session of conference presentations, I started getting pictures of the ward Christmas party. Miriam passed her driving test this morning (hurrah!) so she drove to the church early and started hanging garlands. Andrew and the other kids joined her later to put up some finishing touches...and then the party started. 

And I think it was worth all the headaches and tears putting it together. People seemed to have fun and it was pretty well attended—around 100 people by our estimate. People seemed to understand the roving rooms set up and many seemed to appreciate having various activities to do. 

I...admittedly...wasn't there (off doing actual job stuff), so I have to rely on what I was told and saw. But what I saw was pretty good. 

Here's the nursery room before Miriam got the popcorn strands up:

O Christmas Tree

On Tuesday morning before I left for the airport we...did a lot of things, honestly, because I was trying to get in another "good" school day before I crossed my fingers and left my kids with a list of things to do...but, before I left for the airport on Tuesday we...decorated the Christmas tree!

It used to be the case that my tree would be overburdened with ornaments on the bottom half, but now that so many of my children are trying to prove how tall they are...it actually gets decorated fairly evenly all over without my having to do too much reshuffling (even with Phoebe cramming as much as she can on the lower branches):

What happens in Vegas?

I've been living it large at the Literacy Research Association conference in Las Vegas the last few days. Today was my "big" day, I suppose, with a study group session and my individual presentation. Yesterday our study group session was attended only by...us, the session organizers. Today we had about nine people attend and had some productive conversations (hopefully). And then I had my presentation, which went well (I hope). At any rate, I made it through. 

View out my window at night

Lino prints

I really need to finish packing for my trip. But I also had to help Miriam finish some preparations for the ward Christmas party on Friday. I went through...many emotions...when they moved the date to the one weekend I would not be here, but Andrew assures me that he can help Miriam pull it off. 

I will have to rely on pictures to tell me how the evening went.

One of the stations at the party will be a card making/letter writing station. The Young Women (after much insistence on Miriam's part) had a stamp carving activity, so those will be available with blank cards and ink pads for people to stamp their own cards. People are encouraged to write a nice thank you to someone in the ward, and then the Young Women will deliver the cards on a Sunday down the road (after making sure people who need cards got one...). Or people can write to one of the missionaries from our ward. Or to a neighbour. Or grandparent. Or whoever. 

Deep down inside, Miriam wanted the Young Women to make linocut prints...but that activity didn't ever pan out. And it's easier to carve rubber than linoleum, anyway (or wood). So she'll have to live with the stamps. 

But she decided to make a sunstone linocut and it turned out beautifully. 

This card she decided she's keeping for herself (but people will be open to use one of these premade cards if they want to)—started as a mistake because she simply didn't put enough black on the card, so she redid it in blue and it made a stereoscopic/grunge/overprint effect:

Putting up the "Cur-smiss-mas" tree

I might be a little sad that I'm leaving for a conference tomorrow when there are so many Christmas things to be done! But at least I'm not leaving for Ethiopia to help manage a pandemic like my friend (who did negotiate to be home in time for Christmas, but who could do little but wish her husband good luck with all the Christmas prep). I'll be home on the 10th. 

Still! There's much to be done and...I feel like I'm missing a big chunk of it. 

And there simply aren't hours enough in the day! Sunday was a bustling day, with church, followed by a few church friends coming over, followed by a baptism (conducted in Chinese), followed by choir practice...it went on and on and on.

Today I had a meeting in the morning and then we did some school work in the afternoon (the kids also did school work in the morning, but I didn't oversee that bit). Then Benjamin had swimming (and Miriam came to practice the organ at the church) and by the time we came home for FHE it had been dark for several hours and solar-powered Phoebe was beginning to feel sleepy...

But she still wanted to make a start on the advent calendars and we had promised to decorate the tree for FHE. Andrew even hauled up the tree all by himself—we got smart about it a few years ago so he was able to bring the whole thing up by himself. The first few years we had this thing he and I would lug the entire thing out of the basement all at once, box and all. It was unwieldy and heavy and horrible. 

Then in 2021, Phoebe was born just a few weeks before we were set to put up the tree. I was not cleared for carrying heavy items—nothing heavier than my teensy little "gaunt" baby (that's what we called her, Rachel! Gaunt Baby! We were talking about this a few weeks ago—how Rachel had such glorious chubby baby cheeks and Phoebe simply did not. She was such a skinny little thing, not even 6 lbs when we brought her home from the hospital, but we couldn't remember what we called her because no adjectives were right—not skinny, not emaciated...gaunt...but don't worry! She got fatter as time wore on!). Anyway, I wasn't supposed to lift anything heavy, so hauling a ginormous Christmas tree up the stairs was out of the question.

It was then that we put our incredible heads together and realized we didn't have to haul the whole thing up at once. We could just leave the box in the basement and bring up the parts of the tree separately. 

In fact, I believe Andrew brought the tree up by himself that particular year. And he brought the tree up by himself—piece by piece—again today while I was out with Miriam and Benjamin.

So we did the advent calendars. And then we let the kids put one tin of ornaments up on the tree before we did our first Christmas devotional and put Phoebe to bed. 

We will do more decorating tomorrow before my flight...I guess...

Here are the kids looking at the ornaments:

Am I...better than everyone?

Last night Phoebe was having trouble going to sleep. 

I had gone to the church with Miriam so she could practice the organ and record a piece for an organ advent calendar she's participating in. We didn't get home until after Andrew had started putting Phoebe to bed. He thought for sure he had succeeded in getting her to sleep, but the minute he went downstairs, Phoebe sneaked out of bed and ran across the hallway to our bedroom to say goodnight to me. 

I tucked her back into bed. 

She got up again later for something else. And then something else. And then something else. 

She even got up, climbed the bookshelf, grabbed the (child-proof) bottle of melatonin from the top shelf and helped herself to (what she claimed was) a responsible dose (and, yes, got reprimanded for it, even though evidently she needed a dose to fall asleep that night). 

When Alexander went in to bed she was still awake. 

He came in to complain about her because she had climbed into his bed and wouldn't get out. 

I put her back into her bed.

She climbed into his bed again.

He came in to complain again. 

So I pulled her out of the top bunk and carried her downstairs. 

If she wasn't going to sleep, she could work.