Half

I was bound determined this year, I would make Megan a half birthday cake despite the fact she had been 'hired' by Grandpa to make Nana's real birthday cake.

It was a crazy day.  Filled to the brim with this and that.  But I wanted Megan to come home from school to her half cake and her half present.  I wanted the kids to be able to eat a piece of half cake with enough time to spare that it could have time to digest before they ate a piece of real cake at Nana's birthday party later that evening.  (Did you get all that?!)

So yesterday, at 3:17pm, with twenty minutes or so to spare before the kids got home, I had two little boys screaming at the top of their lungs (for different reasons), and I found I was all out of cocoa! (I ONLY make chocolate frosting from scratch!)

Fortunately with a quick phone call, some was delivered promptly to my house.
(Ah-I love good neighbors.)

All was good in the world.
After all, who wouldn't love an after school snack of chocolate cake?

And, I might add--Megan's paid cake job went very well.

Grandpa must have been pretty impressed.  He gave Megan a tip that matched the original payment.
Not too shabby.

(I'm considering changing careers.
Motherhood is considerably underpaid.
I'm thinking of switching to cake-maker.)

Megan is 12 and a HALF!!
Happy Half Birthday!

An Unusual Prayer

One evening last week, Mike and I sat at the kitchen table playing a game of Scrabble while our children played, fought, argued, practiced, colored, cried, etc. around us.  It was quite noisy and chaotic, but at the same time, it was a very typical, quiet evening at home.

Mike and I had just gone to a wedding reception a couple of nights before and referring to the bride and groom we had recently congratulated I asked Mike, "Do you think (they) have absolutely any idea what their life will be like in ten-fifteen-twenty years?"  I continued to analyze why when Mike and I were dating and engaged, we never discussed or projected exactly what our lives would be like with however many kids, and what we would be doing one day down the road on a 'quiet' Sunday evening.

As I looked around at the mayhem surrounding us, I told Mike that I would have never have come close to imagining things exactly as they are.  And Mike, in all his wisdom said, (referring to the newly wed couple), it's just as well they don't know exactly what life will bring them, otherwise we may not make the right choices.

Wise words.  For the most part, it's probably good that we don't have that cliche crystal ball we've all expressed desire for at sometime in our lives.

And with all that being said, it made me think of all the things we never thought we'd ever have to say or do as parents.

Like for example, when I used to have to explain to Luke as a pre-schooler that we don't store boogers on our foreheads.  (true story--he used to pick his nose and then put them there!) or what I have been praying for, for the past few weeks.

A loose tooth.

Ellie's first grade year is quickly winding down.  I think there are only about 37 days left of the school year.  Ellie's first grade teacher has been known for years as the "Tooth Fairy Teacher".  She makes a big to-do about lost teeth.  She has a little box they can put them in, a little club they become a member of, you know all those exciting things to do when you loose your first few teeth.

Only problem is. There's only one child who is not a member of the theoretical Lost Tooth Club.
And it is my daughter!

The one who is one of the top students in the class.
Is a fabulous reader.
Has never missed a word on a spelling test.
Always gets compliments on her behavior.
Turns in every homework assignment on time.

But can't quite make it into the most important part of first grade.
"The Lost Tooth Club."

I would never, ever, ever have guessed that would be one of my prayers as a mother.
For my daughter to quickly, and timely,
LOSE A TOOTH!!!!

Happy, Happy Day!

In no particular order---here are the highlights of Joshua's 4th birthday!

-His absolute confusion about having a 'friend party' on Saturday but not his real birthday until Sunday.

-His first 'friend party'! Which coincidentally happens to take the record as the QUIETEST birthday party I've ever attended. Despite the fact there were eight three and four year old little boys, they hardly made a peep or cracked a smile. And no, it isn't because I don't 'do' fun parties. I DO! I think it's because for nearly all of them, it was their first time attending a friend's birthday party.  (Yes, I got a slight complex that maybe they weren't having a good time, but such is life!)

-Giving his first talk in Primary, and looking like he was going to cry when he was sung the birthday song to in Primary!

-Joshua's request for waffles for breakfast and pancakes for dinner!  (He got tortillas for dinner instead!)

-Asking if there were more presents?

-Luke's gift of a homemade saddle!

-His face when he opened up the 'soft Woody' that he has suggested to me for months can probably be found at the 'toy inception at Walmite'. (I must get a recording of him saying that phrase!)

-When given the three choices (Oranges & Lemons, Pass the Parcel or Woody Round-Up) of what game to play first during his Sunday party with just us, Nana and Grandpa, he chose a game not on the list--'Hide and Seek'. How could we not oblige him, he is the Birthday Boy after all!

(Joshua had the best hiding place--next to the tv! See him in there?)

-His face when Grandpa won the prize at the bottom of the Pass The Parcel game! Nice Grandpa, told Joshua, "How about I forget to take it home when I leave?"

-Joshua's expression and comment when he saw his cake that I agonized over for days and then just kind of did whatever with.  "I kind of like it," he said.

-Megan's kindness and enthusiasm to make the cupcakes for his real birthday on Sunday, while I was gone to a church meeting.

(the hat didn't stay on for the duration of the blows!)

-Joshua begging to be allowed into my closet last night to help with balloons.  (The hanging balloon tradition I mentioned here.)

-Joshua's insistence that it feels different being four.

And maybe it does.  I don't really remember.  It's been quite a while since I was four.  All I know is that I love four year olds. I love the things they say and the things they do.  (For the most part!)

Happy 4th Birthday Joshua!

Around Here

It has been kind of a long week around here. It isn't that it's Spring Break from school and the weather has been cold, rainy and snowy.  It isn't even because I've been kind of feeling blue about a few things.

I think it is because of the anticipation of Joshua's birthday on Sunday.  All day every day I hear, "How many more days until my birthday?"  To a three-almost-four year old, four, five and six days are a lllooonnnggg time.

Now we're getting close. Today when Joshua woke up, we could finally say, 'TOMORROW is your party.'  And then of course tomorrow morning we'll finally be able to say, 'TOMORROW is your birthday.'

Somewhere along the line he did get confused though, when he heard this morning 'Tomorrow is your party', he sadly said, "I thought when we wake up on our birthdays there are presents and balloons."  Sunday, Joshua, Sunday.

Back to Spring Break.  I'm not one of those moms that fills our days off from school with field trips and planned activities.  We still have jobs, chores and consequences around here.  And when one child faced a possible stay-home-from-the-planned-movie-theater-trip consequence, I couldn't help but wonder aloud to Mike how other mother's are able to do so many planned field trips amidst jobs, consequences and responsibility. Again, it was a lesson to me in either persevering in my efforts, or relaxing more....

We did enjoy the one warmish day with an outing to Temple Square.  We try to go two or three times a year, and of course have been waiting for Mike to be able to recover enough to walk around.  It was actually a fairly quick trip.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch on the Main Street plaza, playing at the Church History Museum children's exhibit, enjoying the unique beauty of the Temple Square gardens, and perhaps the most anticipated of all:  riding the Trax train.   (Why oh why are there so many interesting characters on those trains that my children feel the need to stare at?)

We spent a day at my BFF's house doing not really anything.  We ate lunch, the kids played, I sat at Melanie's i-tunes deciding what songs to pirate, and Melanie baked a delicious treat for dessert. One of the kids pulled out a scrapbook from 2003-4 that we all looked at.  Upon returning home, I spent the evening feeling melancholy about how quickly time really does pass us by.

I enjoyed a dinner out with two good friends.  We covered an array of topics during our meal that produced both laughter and heart-felt tears.  I love those types of conversations.  I love dear friends.

We've had late nights with neighbor friends, complete with make-up, chunks of glitter on scalps, pretend classroom set-ups, papers galore, movies, and brownies mushed into the floor.

Luke got a pretty good hole in his pants and good scrape on his knee as a result of a brave exit from a fast moving skateboard down a hill.  Fortunately his pants are from a local store with a 'Kid Tough Promise' and are easily replaceable.  His knee is a different story unfortunately.  We have used a lot of Neosporin and Bandaids to try and heal the scrape.  It is constantly weeping, and Luke seems to not see anything wrong with leaving soaked through Bandaids and gauzes lying around the house.

We've had sleep-overs on the family room floor and I don't think we've had a night yet where all five children slept in their proper beds.

Mike and I attended the temple and even though the guy in front of Mike made me CRAZY, (I know, I know, I was at the temple, but alas you think I'm perfect, I'm not.  People bug me.  Even at the temple!)  I enjoyed the peace, encouragement and perspective that only being in the temple can bring.  We came home from the temple to the aftermath of World War III, but such is the risk when leaving five kids under the supervision of the twelve year old big sister in the middle of a day.

I allowed Megan, Luke and Ellie to go to the local movie theater alone.  Perhaps that is a questionable parenting choice to some, but I felt like sending them together, armed with a cell phone and strict instructions to stay together as a threesome was worth a try.  It went off without a hitch.  Although they were all sorely disappointed that they hadn't gone with the larger size popcorn!

As you can see, I chose for the most part to keep my camera put away.  I've tried to soak in these moments that I know are so fleeting.  Sure I may forget the visual of Megan and Ellie donning Mexican costumes to dance, or Luke lifting a replica of the Gold Plates, or Joshua and Drew fishing from Nephi's ship at the Book of Mormon Exhibit at Temple Square.  But, that is okay.  Sometimes, you just have to live in the moment.

I did however, have to pull the camera out when all five of my children decided one morning to get out the Karoke machine to sing and dance to Justin Bieber music.  Drew's excitement and enthusiasm to be singing into a microphone never wavered, whether he was copying the sounds of 'Never Say Never' or reverting to his old favorite, 'I Love To See The Temple.'

It's been quite the week around here. Full of opposites, good, bad, happy, sad.  Now if the weekend can just hurry up and get here, Joshua's birthday could quite possibly be the perfect end to it.

Strangers and Kind Words

Remember this guy?  The guy who stopped me at the store two years ago while I picked out milk, to compliment me.  The interaction happened at just the right time....

Well Saturday night, I was at the local grocery store again.  There's a lot going on around here, and I felt less than content and happy.  I felt heavy and burdened, and was anxious to get home, crawl into bed with Mike and cry it all out.

As I approached the end of the bread aisle, a man rounded the corner and announced, "Well, I am fascinated by that great ring!" Pointing to my ring he continued, "I make jewelry and that is beautiful, did you make it?"

"No, I said," and couldn't help but smile as I thought about how much I love this particular cheap, gaudy, ring."

I thought the exchange was over, until I felt this man reach out, gently touch my arm and say, "You are a cute little thing."

Who wouldn't smile at that?
Someone telling me I'm cute?
Someone telling me I'm little?!?
And, I have a great ring on too!

In the grand scheme of things, it was a very insignificant exchange, but it really got me thinking.  As I drove home, my spirits were slightly lifted as I thought about the kind stranger.  I wondered if it was the same man as two years ago--and maybe he frequents my local grocery store every Saturday night searching out the ones that need cheering.  Or, maybe he follows the promptings of the Spirit, or maybe he is just extra friendly, and maybe, he isn't even the same person at all.

Whatever way one looks at it, one thing is clear.
A stranger has a lot of influence.
For good.
For bad.

So even though the driver, I called a dumb %$#  the other day, wouldn't have heard me (although all my five children did!), the driver probably could tell the expression on my face wasn't friendly.  And maybe that day that driver may have just needed a genuine smile or a kind wave.

On the whole, I consider myself a pretty friendly person.  I smile frequently at strangers, and will very typically chit-chat in check-out lines, restaurants or a store aisle.  I will frequently stop someone to tell them I love their shoes or their purse.

I don't really ever think about those things--it's just what I do.... sometimes.
Other times, I am grateful other people do it too.

Especially old men at grocery stores who seem to know just the right moments to do it at.
We all need a little validation once in a while, and sometimes hearing it from a stranger is more awakening.

So that is my challenge this week.  Smile a little bigger and a little brighter at someone, and pay them a compliment.  It might just brighten someone's day.

Lazy Days

Each spring and fall, the LDS church holds a General Conference.  For Mike and me, it means four hours of television watching on Saturday, and four hours watching on Sunday.  (And a deep-set in tradition trip for Mike to a two hour Priesthood session on Saturday night.)  I love the chance to relax, and alternate laying on the bed, or on the couch to listen to words we believe come from God through modern-day prophets.  It is a break from our normal , weekly church routine.  It was quite nice to have a week off from my current church job of asserting control and order, yet attempting to teach and guide 65+ kids each Sunday.  As my friend said to me on Saturday, "Enjoy the week off from nose-pickers and public un-dressers."  (She may have read and remembered this post here.)

Mike and I don't require our children to sit and listen to all the sessions of conference.  We attempt to reign them in for the very beginning, the very end, and anytime in between we deem important enough to have our own peaceful viewing interrupted.  (sustainings, prophet speaking, etc.)  

Except for, who am I kidding?  They interrupted our peaceful viewing every single talk during every single session until Sunday afternoon, when Mike and I finally decided to lock ourselves in our bedroom and watch conference sans interruption.  (Lest you think it was all about peaceful, spiritual moments of reflection for Mike and me, it wasn't!  Eventually we had tattle-tellers, toddlers, whiners, and too loud singers join us.)

It was a lazy conference weekend filled with pajama wearing and such things as:

Coloring conference papers, five thousand kids and six thousand balls on the trampoline at the same time, horse-rides and roping, enjoying glorious 70 degree weather.

More coloring, Hot Wheels, villages made of brown paper bags, homemade forts, nap-time in aforementioned homemade fort.

Homemade sweet rolls.  Yummmmm

I loved every minute of our lazy conference weekend.  (Okay, well not really the minutes spent yelling-"Be quiet."  or  "Shhh! We're trying to listen."

But I think my top four favorite things of the whole weekend were:

1.Obviously, our children were aware the weekend was General Conference.  But it came as an absolute shock and we didn't know whether to laugh or cry when at 10:01am Saturday morning, Joshua came downstairs and took his seat on the couch.  With no mention of any appropriate attire required, the rest of us sat in our pajamas, exercise clothes and other such Saturday attire, except for Joshua.  He had put on his church clothes to watch conference.

2.  When telling the children to be quiet (for the umpteenth time) to listen to the prophet speak, Drew upon hearing the word 'prophet' would sing loudly his "Da-da-da-da" word-version to the exact tune of 'We Thank Thee Oh God For A Prophet.'  It was endearing and frustrating all at the same time.

3.  I loved President Holland's absolute nail-on-the-head description of my children during Family Home Evening, or scripture time, or any other worthy cause.  'Bedlamites'   I loved his counsel to, "Keep holding Family Home Evening, in spite of the Bedlam that sometimes reigns in a  houseful of  Little Bedlamites."
 
4.  And my favorite, was the talk right here.  I'm pretty sure it was written specifically for me.

Love . . .

spring
warm weather
joshua
my camera
swings