Loving Life

 Aunt Tricia sent birthday money from Miami (thank you!!) and Ptolemy rushed right out and got the kids meal he has had his eye on for a week.  When I gave the guy his "dollar," Ptolemy was delighted to see that the guy gave me even more dollars back!  I call it "change."  Ptolemy calls is "magic."  He doesn't know about different denominations of "dollars," which is how I was going to keep the change from his 20 and hide it, until he saw how the magic works.  :)

 This kid was at the Haj with his money within seconds of receiving it.  He had to do his note speller on the way, but he was fortunately able to get rid of the money before it burned a hole in his pocket, so...disaster averted!

 And then we picked up this free couch because...it was free.  Duh.

 As the Mormon world at large knows, it was Conference Weekend these past two days.  Ari and I listened to Saturday session while instigating her new design in her room.  Ari is so artistic, I gave her free reign on the design, and she did not disappoint.

 This was us en route to the 14th and final ballet/Nutcracker/costume fitting of the day.  Freestone seems to have picked up on my hobby, sitting in the car huddled over his steaming hot apple cider on the way to the studio.  Listening to NPR, of course.  He might be my favorite.  Just kidding, Other Kids. :)

 Getting there!

 Tziporah woke up Sunday with a headache and sought to solve the problem with a band-aid.  She was pretty confident in her solution, but alas, it did not help.  She was feverish all day, then she was fine.  Must have been the band-aid.

 Conference is heaven.  Grandma and Grandpa gave us note pads, and the kids loved them.  Freestone temporarily misplaced his and was ready to leave the church, or at least run away for awhile.  We dodged a bullet when he remembered where he hid it from the other kids.  Why didn't anyone tell me boys were so emotional?  "Boys are so easy compared to girls" is a big lie.

 This is Freestone's drawing of me.  Maybe he's not my favorite after all.

 And the finished bedroom, right in time for showing off to the cousins at the Dopp October birthday party Sunday night.

 It was Grandma's birthday.  We love her so!  She and Bruce spent the weekend on their feet at the Conference Center.  They were on a spiritual high, but their feet weren't feeling it.  Those dogs were tired!

 Notice Marlene in the background?  Why is she doing all the work when it's her birthday and she's been on the go since 5 am?!  At least Nikki is helping her! :)

 Nikki's fun idea for dessert was apple slices, pots of melted caramel and chocolate, and various toppings.  It was the worst night to run out of napkins!  Nevertheless, we all decided we would have to reprise that dessert idea.

 After the party, everyone did their Saturday practicing.  It's OK that it was a day late.  We had a lovely, relaxing weekend, but all good things must give way to practicing.  And homework.  Ruby stayed up way too late and got sick, so she sent her chemistry homework with Golda.  I love how sisters interact.

I'm reading a book that is turning me into more of a tosser than I already am.  This is one of the things I took a picture of before I threw it away.  Yes, I think it's sweet that Freestone's handprints were so small.  And I love that poem.  I don't need this paper, though.  Sometimes I'm afraid that the future won't be a great as the present, so I resist change.  I want to try to change that, and to embrace each stage.  Because each new chapter in my life always proves to be great.  I always fall in love with whatever happens.  So why worry?  I won't.

Sunday night, feeling the glow of Conference and the weekend, and the family party, and listening to the music coming from all the different rooms. I started thinking, "I wish tomorrow was another day just like today, instead of Monday."  That's absurd.  Now it's Monday.  The mountains are at their absolute peak of color, the sky is brilliant, the kids are all happy, we have a plethora of music and dance activities later, I've made stew and the house smells delicious.  Today is good too!

I just hope tomorrow is exactly like it...;)