US

It's noon and it's very quiet in my house right now. I had to document such a rare occurrence. Natalie and Liz walked over to Grandma's house. (Natalie is in big girl underwear: this can end in tears or triumph, only time will tell.) Eli is outside with the other three. School is done for the day and my house is semi-clean. The down side is that I feel super lazy for taking it easy right now. I'm not used to all this peace and quiet. Lately, it seems like I can't finish a sentence without several loud interruptions-unless I'm being completely ignored. So the silence of the house is almost unnerving. But I can also hear the kids playing and laughing outside if I listen really hard. It's a golden moment.
This morning, Ben totally tricked me into believing that he found a frog. In fact, he tricked all of us. He revealed his fake rubber frog only after I told him he had to let it go or it would die. The kid is brave and growing up so I had no trouble believing he could catch a frog or that he could stand holding it in his hands. The kids have since been carrying it around with them pretending it's real. It came to school today and learned that the inner core of the earth is made up of mostly iron, and though it's over 8000 degrees, the iron is solid because of the pressure from the earth.
I'm waiting for the light bulb to go on in Natalie with the potty training. Right now, she just does it if she feels like it. The rest of the time is not very pretty. Have I mentioned I hate potty training? She has become very particular in her dress and her hair. If her hair sticks up, she says it's "fricky". I have no idea what it means or where she got that word. She is silly, and independent.
Eli is learning to stay in his bed. He used to fall asleep while Jason read, but now he keeps himself up and then wants us to sit by him until he falls asleep. I think he likes the time alone together. He's been doing better the last few days, I pray it will keep going. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds and, AND, he can sing almost all the words to several Barbie movie songs.
I realized today that Jane and Liz have pretty much taught themselves all year in math. The only things I've had to explain are oblique lines (diagonal-I didn't know that) and today I showed them how to carry numbers in addition. They are super smart girls. They are learning to play the piano too, only a bit slower. They would go a lot faster if I had my act together and gave them more regular lessons.
Liam is my little angel lately. His teacher in primary says he always knows all the answers. He likes to sit for nearly an hour at a time and read. He's very proud of himself that he can now read the scriptures on his own. Last night he lost his first front tooth. It's been all crooked for a month or so and finally he asked his dad to pull it out for him. He was very brave.
I am SO excited for conference. While I always look forward to and enjoy conference, sometimes I just feel more connected to it. This session I have been anticipating and preparing for, for a long time. I think as soon as the last session ended, I started getting ready for this one. I hope I will be able to let the messages SINK into me and I am SO grateful that I can access them over and over again through the internet. I love hearing the words of prophets!