Saturday

This morning I took Miriam, Benjamin, and Zoë to the baptism of one of their new little friends (while Alexander, Rachel, and Andrew ran to IKEA). Miriam has made such fast friends with the big sister of this little friend and it's such a beautiful thing for me to watch because she had a difficult time finding friends in Spanish Fork. 

Benjamin sat perfectly well-behaved the entire time. It was amazing! I mean, maybe not perfectly well-behaved but well-behaved enough. I didn't really have to get after him about anything. 

Zoë was eager to hit the treats afterward. She ran and got in line and got some grapes and a doughnut and a cookie, then she sat down at a table and...waited. She sat primly in her chair, staring longingly at her food. I stood by her, talking to some grown ups, and when I noticed that she wasn't eating I encouraged her to do so.

"You can go ahead and eat," I said.

"I'm waiting," she said.

"I'll grab something in a minute. You go ahead and eat."

"I can't," she said. 

"Why not?" I asked.

"Ummm...you're supposed to pray before you eat, remember?" she grumbled.

"Oh, we blessed the food with the closing prayer, didn't you hear?" Brother Rowberry said. "You can eat it. It's holy."

"That means your doughnut is extra holy," I said, and then Sister Rowberry said, "I was just going to say that!"

I do love when someone appreciates a good pun (Ma in The Little House series does not appreciate puns and I'd like to know why not?!). Anyway, Zoë did eventually eat, and so did I, and then all the children ended up doing laps in the hallway again (which all the grown ups were perfectly fine with). When I decided it was time to go, I went into the hallway to collect my children.

Being so preoccupied with chasing down Benjamin and Zoë, I was rather surprised when I ran into Miriam.

"Oh, you!" I said. "It's a good thing I ran into you or I would have left you here. I totally forgot I brought you."

"That would have been alright," the bishop winked. "We'd have just taken her home with us and brought her to church tomorrow."

Miriam and her little friend (the bishop's granddaughter (until tomorrow when we'll get a new bishop (and then she'll still be his granddaughter, I suppose; he just won't be bishop))) started jumping up and down and squealing, "Oh, please! Oh, please! Oh, please!"

But, alas, they had some family things planned for the afternoon and we had a busy day ahead of us as well, so we pulled those two little girls apart and went our separate directions. 

*****

Andrew, Alexander, and Rachel had gone to IKEA to pick out a new—lower-to-the-ground—bunkbed for the girls' room. 

With freshly painted walls and newly installed carpet, their room is finally ready to furnish. We pulled their bed frames out and started putting them together and found out very quickly that Rachel's loft bed was not going to work in her new room. 

Our basement has drop ceilings (unfortunately), so she had barely enough room to slither into bed between the top of her bed frame and her ceiling. It's doable, but she'd have been sleeping with her nose up against the ceiling tiles. So we searched around for a shorter solution and decided on a set of bunkbeds, which seems to be working out nicely. 

We also put together a wardrobe for them since their bedroom doesn't have a closet. Because our floors in the basement aren't precisely...level...we were sure to mount it to the wall. We marked the studs and used the drill to make some pilot holes, then screwed the brackets into place before we assembled the doors. Andrew left the drill on the floor when he'd finished with the brackets and then I tripped over it while putting the hinges for the doors on. It hurt, but it looked fine, so I shrugged it off and kept working on the hinges. I was surprised when I looked down at my foot again, to find it looking a little less fine. I had blood dripping all over the place!

Fortunately, Rachel is a super-duper prepare-o-matic and had a first aid kit handy.

Their room is mostly put together now (they just have to finish unpacking their boxes and putting things away (and we still have to finish painting their shelves)), which is rather exciting!