Busy Busy Busy

It has been a busy week. First, there is the shopping, visiting teaching, trips to the library, and running kids to and from school, activity days and scouts. Add to that the constant presence of a little boy with a hundred times the energy that you would imagine could emanate from a small four year old body, one who persistently demands my undivided attention, whether he wants to read a book or is playing hide-and-seek with his plethora of stuffed animals.

I've been busy with Primary. My second counselor is moving to Utah at the end of this week (she got three weeks notice that her husband was being promoted and needed to move back to Utah) so last Sunday she was released and a new counselor was called. The previous Sunday, four new teachers were called, and so while praying and pondering diligently to figure out who my new counselor was to be, I've had to figure out which teachers to assign to which classes and make sure they had the proper lesson manuals, supplies and information to serve in their new callings. We have ward conference this coming Sunday, an activity in March (that the 2nd counselor is in charge of planning) and the second counselor is also in charge of doing the sharing times in March. (Since I did them in January and the 1st counselor is doing them in February.) Thankfully, the sister who has been called is an incredibly capable and gifted woman. She has jumped right in with ideas for the activity already. Also in the last couple weeks I've made posters (containing the theme and scripture for each month) with which to decorate the bulletin boards in our primary room.

I've also been busy at home. Somehow there is never an end to laundry, vacuuming, dishes or clutter. I've gone into the boys room a few times to clean it out, usually when I am having trouble seeing the floor and the boys are too overwhelmed by the mess to even try. Almost all of the toys are in storage boxes in my room now so I can control how many toys they get out at once. I keep pulling out piles of writing implements, books, and trash, but there doesn't seem to be an end to it. I'd like to take everything out except for their beds and clothes, and see if they can just take care of their clothes for a while before I let them take anything else into their room. I just cleaned it out yesterday afternoon, and already most of the beds are unmade, there are clothes on the floor, and the few toys that they still have in their room are out.

Hannah's room needs cleaning out too, but since most of the mess in her room involves crafts, it is more difficult to distinguish between trash and parts of her treasured creations. When is an empty paper towel roll trash, and when is it a doll, the leg of a robot, or part of a spyglass? When is a scrap of fabric trash, and when is it a doll house rug, or a bit of a doll's costume? If I had my way, if it was lying on her floor, it would be trash and fair game for throwing away. Unfortunately, Hannah claims she doesn't have a place to put it, in spite of having an entire closet and desk to herself, as well as stacking drawers I have her specifically so she would have a place to keep it. I think she has too much stuff if she can't find a place to put it. She will get to spend some time cleaning out her room this afternoon, at least until it reaches a state I can live with.

Somehow in all this business I have taken the time (mostly during quiet time after lunch and before the kids get out of school) to read, and I've read six out of  seven "The Keys to the Kingdom" books by Garth Nix. They are juvenile fiction, so nothing very deep, but still enjoyable, and John has begun reading them as well.