We started with a spelling bee on Monday. I had offered to help again, so Bubby watched Oliver while I read the words to the kids. Andrew worked very hard to learn his words and ultimately came in fourth, which he was happy about. I was proud of him, both for working hard (he memorized over 500 words) and for being such a good sport.
Thursday morning, Andrew woke up complaining of a sore throat. Apparently, it was his turn for strep throat. Only--I was supposed to be driving up to Provo for a writing conference that afternoon, so his getting sick then made things tricky for everyone. (We worked it out).
Oliver had his first experience with school Valentines--he came home exclaiming in rapture: look how much candy I got!
Friday, I spent the day at a writing conference (LTUE, also known as Life, the Universe, and Everything). Oliver came with me, but he spent the day with grandma instead. I got to see my aunt and uncle and one of my cousins, who are long-time regulars at the conference. (My cousin Michaelbrent writes horror novels for a living and my uncle was a professor for years at Pepperdine and is an expert on Milton--and horror/sci-fi.) I also had a chance to be on a panel with three of my writing friends (one isn't pictured here). All four of us have debut novels coming out in the next year or so, so we talked about trends we've seen in YA fantasy. We got a little derailed toward the end when my friend Erin started telling a story about the 70 yo man who was recently eaten by his own pigs, but otherwise, we had fun and I think people might (?) have learned something?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Evelyn had her grandparents' program (her teacher puts this on every year--the kids learn songs and poems about grandparents). I wasn't able to be there, so I was glad Bubby and Poppy could go and document it.
On Saturday, Oliver and I drove up to SLC where we got to visit with cousins for a bit--and he stayed with Sarah while I went to a book signing for Nicole Castroman's new book, Blackhearts (for those of you who've seen Poldark, Nicole is the one who got me interested in the show--and her book is actually pretty perfect for fans of that series. It's a pre-Blackbeard origin story, about how Edward "Teach" Drummond comes to set off on his journey towards becoming the pirate Blackbeard).
Thankful now that we still have another day and a half to go of this weekend!
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