What October Heat Wave?

We entered October with a small heat wave. Well, maybe not so small. Of course, warm dry Octobers are common in Southern California. Many are the October nights that Mike remembers the skies tinged orange with wildfires burning beyond the hills north of his childhood home and the October days when the Santa Anas blasted the valley with dry desert-heated air as he walked to and from school. Of course, since we don’t have air conditioning, we have all the more incentive to go to church and beat the heat while watching General Conference!  

On Monday morning, Eliza attended a birthday party for a couple of new friends from the ward. 

In the evening, we had dinner with Mike’s friend Grace in Thousand Oaks. She got the kids a couple of fun drawing books which they took to with glee.

We love anything Ed Emberley.

Speaking of creative work, here are some samples of the kids’ recent schoolwork.

Another family in our ward is moving out of state. We’re one of two families that habe moved in over the summer, and in that time, about six have left, taking with them a bundle of kids. The most recent move took nine people out of the ward. It almost feels like Belle Isle all over again! We looked after their little girls in the morning and the rest of the kids in the afternoon on Thursday, and Mike helped move out some of the family’s remaining items on Friday morning. In the process, they gave us a bunch of food. We will literally only have to go grocery shopping for some fresh perishables for the next few months, and several families in the ward will be able to add to their food storage reserves. Thanks so much!   

The calm before the after-school storm

On Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference, getting a chance to have our "strength faithened."

Princess Eliza in her Conference Crown

As he has done for the past few times, Mike took Landon to the priesthood session. This time they went a little early with Bruce and had some pizza with the ward’s young men. This meant that Hallie and Eliza had some girl time, so they went for a bike ride. A lady watched Eliza riding, and in a surprised tone, she asked, “How old is she?” Quick as a beat, Eliza put on her super “I’m cool” face and, holding on to the handle bar with one hand, held up three fingers with her other. Yup, that’s our girl.

Landon and Eliza made some wild flying machines with their Legos, and he has even used the Mini Mi app to create his own alter ego. We wrote that he goes to priesthood session with Mike. We didn’t say he pays strict attention the whole time. For a nearly-seven-year-old, we’ll take it.