It's beginning to look...

This week Justin was in Las Vegas for a work retreat. He left Monday night and I was a single working mom for three days. It was so hard! I don't know how single moms do it... What added to the struggle was lots of sickness going around, so my regular help wasn't available for the kids. So that was pretty stressful, but it all worked out so I didn't have to take a day off. Justin did some pretty awesome stuff while in Vegas; they went to a hockey game, out to dinner several times, and an escape room which is his favorite thing ever. He brought me home a JJ turkey tom which made everything better 😂

Saying hi to Dad!

Poor Beckham finally caught the cold Emmett and Logan had so he's had a stuff nose and cough for a few days. He's otherwise his regular happy self just with snot dribbling out his nostrils.

Justin HATES putting up our Christmas tree because of the horrible mess it makes with all the white fluff, so I decided to get it up while he was away. Thursday morning I got the tree assembled and all the boughs fluffed (that seriously took an hour and a half...), plus the lights on. I decorated with the kids that night after school, but something was off with the lights...when Justin got home he agreed, so I took everything off and replaced it with our old lights which are much brighter/warmer. I absolutely love it. 

BEFORE...the lights seemed too "green" ish to me...and too dull

AFTER

ahhh...much better/brighter/warmer...

Justin brought me home those cranberry bushels and I could not be happier about them. Love love love.

Today was our primary program! Emmett was assigned to speak about the Holy Ghost. I asked him, "What do you know about the Holy Ghost?" to which he said, "The Holy Ghost whispers with a still small voice." Bingo. That was his one-liner for the program and he did his part really well when the time came. The singing went just fine - I made enormous posters with all the pictures/words to all the songs. We are a tiny group but the spirit was strong. Dad was sitting with his class and I only almost cried one time when I accidentally looked at him. I consciously keep my gaze away from Mom and Dad during singing time to avoid tears. The spirit was strong today - I loved it.

Beckham scooching

semi-lenticular cloud...

ready to fluff the tree!

A student said to me, "Mrs. Rose did you know there's an award with your name on it hanging in the music room?" Umm, no I did not. Me being me, I sent her to get a picture😂

Teaching is going well. I only have a few complaints. 😅 We are doing genetics/modern genetics, so for some of the subjects I end up on YouTube studying up (hello: meiosis, protein synthesis, who was Gregor Mendel? Oh right...) before rolling in to teach the next day like I know what the heck I'm talking about. So far this strategy has worked out just fine, and the kids seem to be buying it.😂 Earth science is my wheelhouse so I love teaching that content, but it has my toughest kids in that class so...pretty much every day is a battle with those 8th grade boys. Hopefully next semester they will even out the numbers so that isn't so tough (I have 30 kids, the other science class has 9 kids 😑).

Beckham 5 Months

This week we had parent-teacher conferences. I had four or five parents come. I had Beckham and Logan with me and I managed to use that time to print out all the curriculum I've purchased. There isn't a textbook to teach from, so I've been utilizing Teachers Pay Teachers to find material to teach with. It has saved me so much time/energy! So that was great to get it all printed out and organized in binders. (It filled 6 binders! And that is just for classwork stuff...not labs/tests/study guides/demos/ppts/etc!) Soooo worth it.

We started our annual "thankful turkey" - I'd like to note that my kids were grateful for Urban and Sloan's parents before they were grateful for their own 😂 I think I barely made the thankful wall TODAY after some major hinting.

The fire department came to preschool 😍

We had sick kids home last week. This is Logan during his mid-morning nap...didn't even make it to noon before needing some extra rest!

Beckham boy turned 5 months on the 11th. He is so great. This 6 month penguin outfit is already bursting at the seams.

smiling at his brothers 💙

Justin and I got a babysitter Friday night to go to the 8th grade girls basketball game. They slaughtered Firth 👏 This group will probably take state when they get to high school - there is a ton of talent!

We walked to Granny's and had Beckham sit forward-facing in his stroller! His hat kept moving down over his eyes, but you could tell he enjoyed his new view.

Smiling at Logan while he plays Peek-a-Boo with him

Justin keeps Beckham while I do singing time...church is always prime napping time.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the toys!

Thursday after school Justin met me in Arco and we zipped over to Rexburg. Trisha received a notice in the mail that BYU-I was selling a bunch of their pianos at a major discount because they recently had lots of new pianos donated. Letter recipients could come before the general sale that weekend. Trisha generously shared this info with me because I had recently asked her where she bought her piano. I was planning to buy a new one in the spring sometime, but then she got this letter! Amazing!

How fun is this cherry red baby grand?😍 Only $15,000 😅

Making rolls with Dad.

Getting ready for our primary program next week.

Thankful turkey time!

We had "community Christmas craft" day on Saturday. Emmett and Logan still had nasty coughs, so we got the supplies and made it at home. 

The weather has been amazing. Not too cold yet...we are soaking up the time outside while we still can.

Halloween

 

Our boys are totally in love with their friend Sloane. We sense a future brotherly feud over her unrequited love - ha!

We went exploring in the canal by Mathew's 

The Beals took a trip to Indianapolis to take Dad to a football game. We opted to stay home and I was for sure feeling the FOMO this week. I have to include pictures of their trip! I don't think I've ever seen such joy on Dad's face.

I took some friend's ideas on what to do with Halloween candy. We opted for the "switch witch" who did not disappoint. Emmett got an excavation kit and Logan got two nerf guns.

Emmett called me to the toy room..."Mom, I built this for you!"

Emmett insisted I get a picture of the mosasaur next to the magnets.

Justin tilled the garden which made for prime digging play time for these two

I've been thinking about our piano and decided if we can't start building in the spring due to supply chain issues, we would treat ourselves to a piano. Then I asked Trisha where she bought hers to get an idea of where I'd be shopping around. Cue Halloween, Trisha received a notice from BYU-Idaho that they were doing a huge piano sale and letter recipients could come get first pick before the public sale. WHAT!??! I made an appointment and I hope to pick one up this week! In the meantime Justin is making something sentimental out of this beast for his family since it was his grandmothers....or his dad's grandmothers...something like that.

rock, rock, rock....

Halloween at Trisha's house did not disappoint! She invited us to come and our kids loved the neighborhood experience. Everything from walking door-to-door and then handing out candy when we got back to Trisha's. That night we played an escape room board game with Trisha, Travis, and Hailey and then we watched Jaws which was surprisingly good after so long! We zipped back to Arco in time for church Sunday morning. We enjoy quality time with Trisha and her family - my kids absolutely idolize McCoy.

Beckham watching me lesson plan/grade

These two! Logan gets conned into pulling Emmett in the wagon

Boo on the Boulevard in Arco! I love that Arco puts this on. It's trick-or-treating to all the businesses on main street. It's FUN!

Logan was veeeeery suspicious of that bigfoot....trying to decide if it was real or not.

We have Justin to thank for the Halloween accessories on the carseat.

Logan had his first visit to the dentist. I had Emmett go first so Logan could see it's no big deal. However, last time Emmett was in the hot seat he had his tongue tie procedure, so he was a bit jumpy. He settled down when he realized there was no laser coming for him.

In other news, we are getting ready for the primary program in two weeks. I realized today that Logan will be in primary in the new year! Wow - my boys are growing up.