Geniful Confrens

Since I usually fall asleep during the Sunday afternoon session of Conference, I figured that would be a good time to keep track of the fun and excitement that is General Conference in our house.

1:00  The Steelers are down by 3 with 26 seconds left.  Cliff has decided to quit watching because he's so angry at how they're playing.  Good thing because the QB just threw an interception and the game is definitely over.

1:04  Start of the broadcast.  Catherine is shooting me with a sword, Elizabeth is upstairs pouting because she doesn't have any more bubbles, and Cliff is doing the dishes.  Even though I was there to see all this, it still sounds weird to me.

1:07  Catherine goes upstairs.

1:11  During the prayer we hear Elizabeth yelling at Catherine.  Cliff goes up to investigate.

1:13  Elizabeth clomps downstairs.  She says, "Mom, Catherine is making me upset!"  She doesn't want Catherine in her room.

1:17  Elizabeth goes upstairs to get a blanket.  I hear more fighting.  At least it's muffled by the ceiling.

1:18  Elizabeth comes downstairs and says, "Mom, Catherine hit my toes."  Cliff also comes downstairs.  He and Elizabeth lay together on the floor with Elizabeth's 6 blankets.

1:26  Catherine is crying upstairs and Cliff goes to investigate.  Elizabeth arranges her 6 blankets  so they're all straight.

1:33  Elizabeth sees Elder Bednar and says, "He's not old.  That's a daddy."  Apparently to her all the other GA's have funny hair and look really old.

1:39  Elizabeth is whining because she wants a drink but Dad put her stool away and now she can't reach the cupboard to get the cup she wants.  I hint that there might be someone she can ask for help but she says that she can't ask me because I'm watching "Geniful Confrens."  She pouts with her 6 blankets.

1:41  Cliff finally comes back down.  He sees Elizabeth is upset and tries to comfort her in typical dad fashion: bothering her.

1:44  Catherine is talking upstairs.  Cliff goes up and I think he is investigating again, but he is actually using the bathroom.

1:48  I notice Elizabeth is weeping.  I get her up onto my lap and listen to her complaints about Catherine (they all boil down to the fact that she doesn't like sharing her room.)  I realize that Elizabeth is not going to fit on my lap much longer because she's humongous.  Well, compared to Catherine.

1:53  Elizabeth is back to her usual talkative self.  Great.

1:57  Catherine is obviously not sleeping since I can almost hear what she is saying all the way downstairs.  I go up to get her during the song.  I find her trying on Elizabeth's shoes.

2:01  I come downstairs to find Elizabeth taking pictures of things.  She takes a picture of my rear as I walk by.  That picture is deleted immediately.

2:02  Catherine tells me she has "poopies."  Unfortunately she's right.  Elizabeth drops the camera and bends part of it so that it won't shut properly.  I fix the camera, keep Catherine away from my Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and take her to change her diaper.  After taking it out to the trash, I come back in to Catherine crying because she fell down while running with Elizabeth.  Apparently everything happens at once around here.

2:12  Elizabeth's whining begins again.  This time she wants me to play a game with her.

2:16  Catherine wants to color on Elizabeth's coloring book but Elizabeth doesn't want her to.  I tell Elizabeth to go to her room if she can't share.  She takes her 6 blankets and heads to the stairs.  Cliff convinces her to come and color with him at the table instead.  By the time she sits down, Catherine is done coloring and plays with some toys in the closet instead.  Elizabeth and Cliff color all the way through the rest of conference.

2:30  I hear Catherine singing "Moman, tall, tall, tall"  It's her version of "Once There Was A Snowman."

2:31  Elizabeth says, "That guy was kind of sad."  She's talking about Elder Arnold who was near tears through his whole talk.  I try explaining that some people feel like they want to cry when they feel the Spirit, but I can tell it falls on deaf ears.

2:49  For some reason everyone was really quiet during the last talk.  Cliff gives the credit to his superb coloring-with-Elizabeth skills.  Apparently most of the noise in our house originates with her.

2:55  Catherine asks to play with the iPad for the first time today.  I think it's a new record!  (Usually she asks within 5 minutes of waking up.)

3:01  Both girls keep their arms folded through the prayer, almost 3 minutes!  There is hope for us yet.