General Conference and the Ice Queen

Last weekend was General Conference. I love and look forward to Conference so much. It helps me refocus my life and set/reset goals. I usually try to watch conference while it’s airing live but I also dvr it so I can re-listen to talks the kids didn’t let me hear which is about 90% of them! This time I decided that the kids are old enough to sit and listen if they had something to keep their focus. My friend told me about something she does for her kids and I thought I would add my own little twist to it. She puts candy in cups or buckets and labels them with a word for their kids to listen for. When they hear the word they get to eat a piece of candy from that bucket. Here are mine…

I’m mean and don’t give my kids very much candy so I swapped out most of the candy for somewhat healthier treats.

Even though their smiles don’t look genuine they were pretty excited about this new idea!

Talk #1…a bit of a let down for the kids. There wasn’t a single word from our buckets said. I think that this is why they weren’t as attentive during talk #2. It wasn’t horrible but you know how you imagine in your mind everything being perfect and going so smoothly? Yeah, that didn’t happen. The words weren’t being said enough so we had to pull out coloring pages and separate Arabella who would run across the room for a treat yelling the word that was said, which was a complete disruption to the quiet atmosphere we were trying to create. Talk #3 was the beginning of complete chaos. There were moments during the first few talks where I felt like I was maybe an amazing parent with really well behaved kids but those didn’t last and reality set in. Finally, I caved and sent them outside. The first session was a bust. We had a 2 hour break during which I brushed off the feelings of complete failure and reassessed the situation.

 

I learned for the second session that 2 hours is simply too long for my kids to sit and listen. I prepared other activities and gave them options. I was optimistic but they just didn’t last, darn it! It wasn’t bad for our first try and I will know better how to prepare and what expectations to have. Like I said, there were good moments like when President Monson spoke about LOVE and KINDNESS, the two buckets that had candy in them…kids were super attentive during that jackpot of a talk!

 

So, we’ve been a busy little bunch. We haven’t left the house much but I have started going back to church since Eva hasn’t been throwing up and flu season has passed. We recently had a visit from Elsa! The kids were so excited that she came to sing a song with them before bedtime.

I took a few pics for her business website. It was confirmed to me once again, how much there is to learn about editing. It’s looking like I will start to have a bit of time to work on things I enjoy since Eva is doing so well! Here’s a pic of Elsa. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out how to fix the blown out spot on her arm.

Grateful for feeling like life is sort of starting to stabilize.

Lots to update! Can’t wait until I have a chance!