Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

for this week to be over. Even though today was actually very productive, and even though it hasn’t been exactly a bad week, I’m desperately ready for it to be over. Except that when it is over, it’s going to be November, and based on the number of things already on my calendar for the month, it’s going to be a doozy. Could we stop time for a bit? Pretty please?

Yesterday got away from me, but I have to review Lisa Fipps’ And Then, Boom!–it’s a ‘Battle of the Books’ title this year, and my 5th grader is waiting on it. (Interestingly enough, it’s Fipps’ second book, and her first book was a BotB title when my current 8th grader was in 5th grade. I still remember going to ask him to take the garbage out and finding him under his bed, almost done with Starfish; he looked at me and said ‘no! I’m reading!’ Which is not so common of an occurrence with him.) She’s sort of patient, yes–but also sort of not.

Back when Fipps’ first book came out, I had my older girls read it after my son and I were done; one of them commented that ‘that book was so good, it hurt.’ It was a pretty accurate assessment. The thing about And Then, Boom!, is that it’s the same kind of thing, but on steroids. (So to speak.) I don’t think my girlie will find it as heartwrenching as I did–parenthood does things to you–but she’s still going to be feeling the feels.

And Then, Boom! is the story of Joe Oak, who mostly lives with his grandmum (she’s from England), since his mom always gets the ‘Itch’ sooner or later and takes off for increasingly long periods of time. There’s never enough money–or food–for him and Grandmum, but there is plenty of love, and they make a good team. Unfortunately, life’s ‘boom!’s keep happening to Joe, and the harder they hit, the harder his life gets. Thankfully, the book ends as happily as is realistically possible, but my heart broke for Joe several times over before we got there. And Then, Boom! is an accessible-for-middle-graders story of poverty, occasional homelessness, and hunger; it’s also a story of friendship and some incredible adults. I wish every kid with Joe’s struggles could also have his support system.

I also wish every kid with those struggles could end up in as good of a situation as he does. This book is indeed ‘so good it hurts.’

Still so much laundry, folks. Still ALL the laundry. Although I did, at least, manage 3 loads and a whole bunch of errands yesterday!

Anyway. We had a whirlwind of a fall break in Idaho with my parents and siblings–my mother made her incredible homemade doughnuts on Saturday, we went to DI on Friday morning and took more than we bought (except that we took more from my parents’ house, and what we bought came home with us), and we watched a movie with my parents before having dinner at my brother’s house on Sunday. Good times! We desperately missed the littles–my great-nieces and great nephew–that moved at the end of the summer, but we still enjoyed our family time. Now it’s back to school for the kiddos, a stressful week of work for my hubby, and all the things to do at home for me. (Although to be fair, I do volunteer at the school on Wednesdays, and so I’ve done that today.)

Before we left, however, I did manage to finish reading Hope Wins: A Collection of Inspiring Stories for Young Readers, and it was lovely. ‘Stories’ is not the most accurate term, since they’re short-story-length memoirs or essays, but the fact that the experiences related are real makes them far more relatable–and impactful. And given the collection of contributing writers–Newbery winners, Rick Riordan Presents authors, authors of popular series, and graphic novelists–my guess is that most readers of Hope Wins will have read something by at least one of the authors sharing his/her personal experiences. And because those authors are sharing real struggles–the death of a family member, divorce, undiagnosed autism or mental illness, the difficulties of fitting in (especially when your racial, ethnic, or financial situation makes that near impossible), the seeming impossibility of dreams–their readers are (hopefully) going to feel seen in a way kids so often don’t. Bless Rose Brock for making this book happen.

And now, back to the laundry.

So much laundry, folks. Not to mention Tuesday’s field trip, which was fun but took up most of the day. (Did I mention I’ve been to the Natural History Museum with all four of my children now?) Today is the start of fall break, and I’m going to officially bow out of posting until it’s done, since I can rarely concentrate well when the kids are out of school for a long weekend. I’ll see y’all on Wednesday the 22nd!

It’s really been QUITE the week, though. Friday was our first Classic Skate night, which involved the ‘Event Today’ signs, and after Classic my oldest and I had a temple cleaning assignment from 9:45-12:30. (As in, 12:30 am.) On Saturday afternoon we discovered bedbugs in my oldest daughter’s bedding, so there’s been a whole heckuva lotta laundry going on ever since–as well as steaming and general chaos. Saturday evening and Sunday was our stake conference, and Saturday night’s BYU game that SO NICELY started at 6 instead of 8 had a weather delay, so it didn’t end until at least 11:30.

So tired.

Also I’m chaperoning a field trip tomorrow. Send some prayers our way if you can!

No one should be, certainly–when you’ve worn glasses for 3 decades or so, your eyes aren’t exactly on track to get better. They’re healthy, though, so there’s that. And I saw my new eye doctor for the first time (the old one retired). The best part of the appointment, though, was probably that my pupil dilation felt less severe than usual, which meant I still managed to read my scriptures this afternoon. I also got to listen to President Russell M. Nelson’s funeral, which was a good experience in every possible way. I can only hope to emulate his life of service in the smallest of ways.

In other news, I was productive yesterday and we’re having leftover night tonight and tomorrow–and Thursday, if we haven’t eaten enough leftovers by then. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to work on other projects when I’m normally making dinner! Fall Break is next week, which seems crazy, and I have PTA things to do. Wish me luck…

Or, in other words, I survived another PTA meeting as president. Only 7 more to go! And as far as the week went, we did manage to sell some shirts at Literacy Night, which seems to have gone well, and the temple (and lunch after!) was lovely yesterday. Now we get to look forward to General Conference, even though it will be bittersweet. President Russell M. Nelson will be truly missed.

In the meantime, I finished reading a book I should have been able to finish in one sitting, if I hadn’t kept falling asleep. (That’s a commentary on my sleepiness, not an issue with the book.) Caroline Adderson’s Babble!: And How Punctuation Saved It is a simple punctuation parable with fun illustrations. Like Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth, it would make a poor read-aloud, as Adderson’s handling of punctuation marks is most definitely visual, but that hardly signifies, given that it’s more or less a picture book. I found it clever, actually, although not as wildly entertaining as Eats, Shoots & Leaves; then again, this is more accessible to any age. If you want to help your kids out with punctuation, definitely give this a try.

In the meantime, if you’d like to hear inspired counsel and testimonies of Christ this weekend, click here and tune in tomorrow at 10 am Mountain Time. We’ll be watching at our house!