This Week at Our House # 38

1. Wow 39 weeks into the year! Time is rushing by. Fall, the final full season of the year has arrived and it has been in the upper 80's and lower 90's. After school and chores were completed for the week and John was at work, Adam turned on Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overature and all of the kids settled down to play games with each other. I sat there thinking about how much good John has done in directing our family. He is a strong Spiritual leader and keeps us safe from much that is bad in the world. I know that I would not have been able to make the home we have without his wisdom and guidance.
2. I spent a lot more time getting paperwork and such out to for the house. We went and visited the house and did our own inspection. Johnny tested all the outlets and lights. I tested all the plumbing and appliances. Everything seems to work except that there is no power in the dining room and we do not know why. The structural engineer was there and said that the house and garage are stable and up to code. The a/c and heat pump is new, but the furnace is old. It looks like it works just fine. The yard is huge and beautiful with lots and lots of wildlife. The wall paper is horrible and the house needs a very good scrub down, but I think we will be able to move in in just a couple of days after closing. Right now it is looking like closing will be Oct 2nd.
3. We had a phone call from Ruth while she was in the airport. She only had a few moments before getting on the plane, but it was wonderful to hear her voice. I got an email from her mission president once she arrived with a couple of pictures. She looked very, very tired. I got an email from her today (Monday must be her pday) and she said that she left the MTC at 5am on Tuesday and arrived in London at 6am on Wednesday and was not allowed to go to sleep until 10pm that night. She has her companion, Sister Cook, and is in Cambridge.
4.  Kate flew home on Wednesday. I was so glad to get her back and so was Sam. But I was so glad she got to visit Utah and even see Ruth. She was very blessed.
5. Johnny had his 16th birthday!! John bought him an expansion to a game called Arkham Horror and they have had fun staying up late playing that twice. 
6. Adam really likes the yard in the new house. I hope it goes through, it really looks like it will at this point. He explored and explored while we were inspecting it.
7. Adam takes a very long time in the bathroom. Rachel finding that annoying, has been timing herself. She will come out and report to me just how fast she uses the bathroom. Kids are so funny! Rachel is not too keen on the new house. The house is very small, and the yard has bugs!
8. Anya sits up and builds legos whenever she has free time. She just quietly builds. It's really pretty cute.
9. I came home from grocery shopping and Johnny informed me that "Susan got a bite". Confused, I asked if it was from an animal or a human. He said it was from Joseph. Joseph started to explain, but I never found out why he bit Susan. I just know, I was stunned that my 8 year old would bite a person.
10. Josh was terrible when we put him to bed last night. He tore drawers out of dressers, threw legos, and stuffed toys everywhere, and marked x's on things because, as he said, he was trying to find and kill a roach. In the new house, everyone is on the same floor, and the boys bedroom will be right by the living room, so Josh will not have freedom to be a monster. Also, even though the house is filthy, there are no signs of roaches at the new house. I heard from people in the country here that they do not get the roaches like the neighborhoods and cities. I sure am hoping!!! There will be plenty of other bugs in the country. 
11. Arwen has about 3 outfits that she loves and always wants to wear, so she takes her dirty clothes off and puts them in with her clean clothes to assure, "they are safe". Ugh, it is pretty annoying. I have to go through her clean clothes to take out the dirty ones all the time.
12. Susan doesn't have her own bed. She is supposed to sleep with Arwen, but she usually sleeps with anyone of the other girls, except Kate will not allow it. When Susan got into Kate's bed, Rachel pulled her out and Susan screamed, "MY HOME!!!!!"
13. When I do the five little piggies with Sam's toes, he gets very interested and watches very closely as I go through the first 4 piggies, but as soon as I touch his 5th toe, he tries to get away. He doesn't like to be tickled.

Pictures

Happy Birthday, Johnny!

I can't believe he is 16, but neither can he. Yesterday he was arguing that he was still 15. Technically, I suppose he was-- yesterday!! Johnny is just easy! He was an easy going, friendly baby, an easy going friendly toddler, an easy going friendly child, and an easy going friendly teen. He's brainy too. He has always been my walking-talking encyclopedia. He's a grammar dictionary, a good mathematician, an incredibly fast reader, and a computer guy. These days, Johnny is pretty funny with his dead pan humor and use of puns. His most recent joke came after I made him read Pride and Prejudice. He said that he was going to be the dream man at the next stake dance and act just like Mr. Darcy. Then he quoted Mr. Darcy, "I am in no mood to give consequence to women who are slighted by other men," and "she's tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me."

Ruth and Kate's Miracle

Kate's Story:
Ruth and Kate are both in Provo. Kate is there helping her grandparents and Ruth is in the MTC. Kate has been going to the Provo Temple most days to do baptisms. On  Thursday night, Grandma Robertson told Kate that she really felt like they needed to get to the Temple 15 minutes earlier the next morning. Kate said okay, so the next day, they dropped the kids off at school 15 minutes early. Grandma went in to do iniatories and Kate to do baptisms. Because they left early, Grandma noticed Ruth far ahead of her in line in the iniatory. Kate felt impressed that she needed to stay in the Temple when she was done instead of walking the grounds. That made it easier for Grandma and Ruth to find her. Kate was surprised when Ruth came up behind her and gave her a hug. Ruth and her companion were planning on eating lunch at the Temple, so Grandma and Kate got an hour to visit with Ruth.

Ruth's Story:
Ruth and her companion are going to the same mission. They both already exchanged all of their cash to pounds. Ruth's p-day got changed to Friday. That morning, they were supposed to go and do service, but Ruth felt like they needed to do a short visit to the Temple. They decided to go and do initatories. Before they left, Ruth's companion found a $5 bill that had not gotten exchanged. The girls decided to use it to get lunch in the Temple.

Ruth and Kate could not have planned this visit. Ruth wouldn't have been able to go if her p-day wasn't changed. This was the Lord giving two sisters who have always been best friends one hour together before being apart for 2 1/2 years. Kate plans to leave for her mission 6 months before Ruth gets back.

This Week at Our House # 37

1. I think John is doing some things with work that he finds very interesting because he has been showing me what he is doing.
2. Trying to get the house loan has meant that I spent about an hour or more a day on the phone and the computer, and not much got accomplished. If the guy doing a structural inspection finishes tomorrow like he said he would, then we may be able to close in two weeks or less. I guess we will have to see. One thing for sure is we will not be closing on Friday, the original close date.
3. Ruth will be leaving the MTC on Tuesday and we will get a phone call from her before she gets on the plane, I think. I am already making sure my phone is charged. I won't hear her voice again until Christmas.
4. Kate spent all week again in Utah building a new deck with her grandpa and helping her grandma tend her cousins. She has been able to attend the Temple almost daily. And as huge miracle and blessing, she saw Ruth there on Friday.
5. Johnny's foot is doing a lot better and so he is beginning to help more around the house again. I am not sure he will be ready to lift anything when we have to move, though.
6. I have been making Adam read 50 pages a day no matter how long it takes him, and that is pushing him to read a little faster and pay a little more attention.
7. Suzy always plays with Rachel's legos and breaks them, so this week, Rachel very sweetly made Suzy a little house set with mini figures that Suzy would like very much, but Rachel did not really care about. It was a win-win.
8. We made pumpkin pie on Sunday and Anya decided to make little tarts with the left over pie crust. The other girls joined in. They used jam and left over pumpkin pie filling and made some very pretty tarts. My girls are good at making things pretty. I am not, so it is nice to have some girls with that talent.
9. Without Kate at home, we have had much less dessert, so Joseph has been making a lot of cookies. But he does not like to put them on the pan and cook them. He only likes to mix up the cookie dough.
10. Joshua lost his very first tooth!!! He wouldn't wiggle it much because he thought it hurt, so it just unexpectedly fell out during his primary class on Sunday. I was in sharing time with my primary class when I heard Josh at the door call out "mom!" I was relieved that it was his tooth.
11. Arwen says the funniest things. John walked outside with Arwen on his shoulders. She looked at his feet and said, "Dad you have feet." John replied that almost all people do. Arwen, then said that John was not wearing any shoes. John said, "that is called bare feet." Arwen exclaimed, "Dad, you do not have bear feet! You have human feet!"
12. Suzy is driving me nuts with potty training. She will be perfect one week and then poop her pants nearly everyday another week. This past week, she has just been pooping her pants. If she wasn't over 3, I would just put her back in her diaper. On a nicer note, we heard Susan upstairs start to scream and say, "My Ninjago!" Johnny jumped up and said, "she's got my lego ship. 'my ninjago' means MY boat." Johnny had found a place that Suzy could not get at, though, and that is why Suzy was screaming.
13. Sam has some very profound dislikes. He screams as loud as he can and twists and turns and fights during every diaper change. I always change him standing up now because it is less messy. He screams and tries to get away when I try to dress him. He will even crawl off as fast as he can if he sees me holding his clothes. He cries at every bath, but does not throw himself around. Still it's very hard to get him to sit in the water. Sam now says, "mum, mum, mum," when he wants me. He has for a while. The kids said he was saying mom. I just thought he was babbling, but now it is clear that he only says it to me when he wants me. Whenever I cook, Sam gets into the cupboard and plays with the trashbags or pots and pans. If I am blocking a cupboard that he wants to get into, he cries at me.

Pictures

Joshua's first lost tooth

the tooth

John teaching the kids

The kids saw this snapping turtle cross the street at turtle speed to get to our ditch.

Kate building a deck with Grandpa Robertson

Some Art

Rachel drew this for school. You can still see the guide lines, but I thought it was very impressive for an 11 year old. She does not like it and thought it came out badly. John was surprised this was done by an 11 year old too.

Anya painted this picture of a dragon on a cliff in her free time.

Pictures and a Story From Ruth

I have officially had a be sting on my tongue. Sister Cannon and I were eating outside and we saw a bee fly into my drink, but then out. We thought it was fine so when I was drinking my lemonade I felt something sting my tongue and then I felt something fuzzy hit my tongue. Apparently two bees flew into my drink. One died in there while the other flew out. So far no swelling, just pain for like 10 minutes and a number spot on my tongue. Sister Cannon feels bad but I think this is a funny story! Hahaha! Thank goodness I'm not allergic! The reds pot is where the besting is.

Sister Ruth Robertson

Trio at the MTC, Sister Robertson, Sister Neilson , Sister Carpenter

Sisters Robertson and Sister Neilson

Missionary Temple Trip

MTC District w/ Teacher Brother Wright