Is SPRING really coming?

Two days ago, LeRoy called to tell me that he saw 2 groundhogs by the freeway. Yesterday, I heard birds outside my window at 6:35 a.m. and ducks flew overhead quacking their arrival around noon. When the kids got home from school yesterday they questioned why the snow is gone at their schools and in town but we still have so much snow. Then the rain started and WE CAN SEE GRASS!!! And a lot of mud, but that's okay because mud dries when SPRING COMES!

I bought strawberries yesterday to make jam. We have been out of jam for about a month and the kids have been asking almost daily when we are making more. I intended to wait and make it with them but making jam feels like a spring thing to do and anything that makes it seem more like spring and less like winter I welcome and get right on (except dusting). I started with the jam and I felt so cheery, even without any sun shining (but the rain is still melting snow so that's okay), that I made bread and I thought of how excited my kids will be to see bread and jam when they get home (they didn't even know I had the strawberries or plans for their help) so I decided to make one of their favorite meals, twice-baked potatoes, to go with their bread and jam. I can't wait to see their faces and watch them go through a loaf of bread even before it's dinnertime. I am going to girls game night tonight and usually that means they get Mac-n-Cheese.

This will be a treat.

I left the kitchen for a few minutes and when I returned I found Hyrum on a stool, with a knife, with the bread skooched over to him, ready to help himself. He cried when I told him it was still too hot and he would have to wait. The last 3 strawberries handed over to his wanton little hands made up for it.

Now maybe I should get on with something else spring-y. Like finding my flip-flops or cleaning the garage or dusting.
Maybe I should just go take a shower.

I could probably win the "Dumbest Math Mom Ever" award!

Justin (6th grade) needs help with math and I'm his mom so I should be able to help, right? Wrong! That part of my brain never did develop. In fact, at the first sentence of a story problem I begin to break out in a cold sweat, my eyes dilate in fear and my ears beginning ringing with Mrs. Marley's voice yelling at me (leftover side effect of 4th grade). My kids all know this and they torture me on purpose just to see the reaction. Okay, so maybe I exaggerate it a bit for them by turning into a looney tune but seriously, it's not far off from how I really feel inside.

So, yesterday when Derek asked his dad what the Pythagorean theory was and LeRoy asked him why he didn't ask me (yes, more torture) they had a good laugh over it. I wondered if I knew how to spell Pythagorean so I came to look it up online. The thought never entered my mind to actually look up what the theory is. Those brain cells just do not exist for me. I guess I only use 9% of my brain.

Bodies: The Exhibition

On a no-school day I decided to take my teens to see the Body Exhibit at the museum. Justin was a little worried because he gets queasy with medical things but the "wow" factor way out played the "gross" factor and he loved it. We all did. I was going to post a picture from the website but just in case that would make anyone sick, I won't. But here is the link: Bodies

We also took with us one of Derek's friends (Chris) and picked up Levi on the way. Before we left town we agreed to get all the naked body giggles and jokes out of the way before we got there and when we were met by the first exhibit we didn't even notice the nudity. . . at least none of the kids mentioned anything.

It was interesting to see each of the kids reactions. Levi was intrigued with the brain; Erika the muscles and full body displays (as well as the little mushroom belly buttons on each full body); Derek and Justin were both fascinated with the blood vessel displays and how just the blood vessels alone could look like a full body.

We were all completely fascinated with the "baby room" (as Justin calls it). There was a sign outside of the room that explained that the display was fetus/embryos from all different stages of miscarriage to warn people of the sensitive nature. I had already talked with Kellie about it (she saw the display when she lived in Virginia) and I had decided that I wanted to see. It was indescribable. What a miracle each person is!! To see creation taking place in such perfect form so early on in fetal development - practically days into the growing process - seemed so miraculous! The display was so tactfully done that the room held a special reverence. Levi's comment, "can you even imagine how many emotions are tied to this room", was so observant and sensitive.

My favorite part of the trip was the witness to me that we are definitely not just a freak of natural or scientific accident. That much perfection could not take place without our Creator directing it all. I came away from the experience wanting to treat my body so much better. To see how prone to injury the spine and organs and eyes and brain and everything else holding it all together can be left me with a greater respect for the miracle that my body is. To look at it in a preserved form (as Levi mentioned, we are just "dust of the earth") it seems so clear that no matter how miraculous that body of clay is, it is nothing without the intelligence of our spirits.

We were there for just over two hours and to be honest I would love to go back. There is so much to see and read and be in awe about! For a quick ad: the price may seem high to us Idahoans ($10 adult, $8 youth, $30 family) but when I saw the prices of the other Bodies Exhibits in the country ($24 - $32 even for youth tix) I was glad we could see it here. Go see it! You won't be disappointed.

Okay, commercial over.

After the museum we went for 88 cent crunch wraps at Taco Bell. We laughed and laughed and had a great memorable time. Chris didn't want us paying for him but we insisted and when he refused to eat I threatened that we would all break out in singing Happy Birthday, since it really was his birthday. He was going to call our bluff until Levi threatened to stand on the table and air guitar/head bang the whole song. Chris quickly grabbed a taco. It was the best lunch I've had in a long time. Not because of the food but because of the company. I really love being with my kids - and their friends!

We took Levi home with us and the little boys were thrilled to wrestle with him and beat him up and he is so great to let them. Caytlyn joined us after she got off work and after a lasagna dinner - where it seemed that all 5 of my boys fought over who got to sit by Caytlyn - we all settled in for movie night with "The Tooth Fairy".

This was such a perfect day for me!! The kids all got along so well . . . all day long! We laughed, we played, we learned, we enjoyed each other. It was fun to have Levi and Caytlyn over and to have the family feel complete, even for just one evening, with all my kids home. They are all so great! I am very honored to be their mother.

Bean Bag Repentance

Boys, go entertain yourselves for a while . . .

It was endearing to watch my big-little boys work together with all of their combined strength to pull the bean bags over to the stairs and so fun to see their excitement and energy as they belly flopped, nose dived and tumbled into them for nearly an hour. At least it was fun last night.

Today it was a different story. I was busy with all my incredibly important housewife duties and had slowed down long enough to share a phone call with my sister. I glanced down the stairs to listen for the boys and the view that caught my attention was not so fun or amazing or incredible at all. I sent them to their room to read and play in a confined space, mostly to keep them out of the mess until I could finish my all important conversation of random topics. I couldn't really blame the whole mess on them. After all, I had encouraged the jumping and a torn seam didn't quite surprise me.

We had a talk about what should have happened when the hole popped, like coming to tell mom about the hole instead of making a HUGE mess, and then we headed down to start the clean up. After settling the boys in with garbage cans to fill, I began inspecting the bean bags to find the hole. That was when Nathan piped up and confessed that the "hole" I was looking for was actually an open zipper - opened by him. No wonder he wasn't interested in the lecture on what to do if a hole pops open.

This was a disaster. I actually had the thought that at least it wasn't flour and that positive tid-bit soon poofed out of my head as static took over. It was like a room full of packing peanuts and electricity. Each handful that we gathered wouldn't let go of us and when we tried to drop it into the garbage cans the static would actually pull up what was already in the can to join what was in our hands. I gave up any hope of saving the filling and pulled out the Shop Vac. I had to empty it four times! That's how much fluff we cleaned up.

Throughout the process I began to see an interesting comparison taking place.

I originally grumbled at the sight of the mess and wanted to say "get that cleaned up" and to have the boys obediently go down and magically clean it all on their own. But, this was a mess waaaay out of their capabilities to handle all by themselves. As I began the long, inconvenient cleaning process I realized that I have also made messes that I wasn't capable of taking care of on my own. I also have times when I need someone with knowledge and loving care to help me correct my wrong choices or bad decisions. That someone is Christ.

Nathan gave up after the first garbage bag was filled. He was frustrated with the static, the scope of such a huge project, and in his own words "it will take forever". Sometimes repentance feels that way. It is a long, tough process. It isn't fun. There have been times when I look at what it will take to get myself (or in some cases for someone else to get themselves) back on the path to our Heavenly Father and it is daunting. I didn't force Nathan to come back. That would only cause hurt feelings and more frustration so I just thanked him for what he did do. Our Savior doesn't force us back either.

Hyrum kept going. He kept apologizing, "sorry, mommy". That is so beautiful when spoken with a troubled heart and eyes that show complete sincerity! He picked up, he vacuumed, he stayed with me through the entire one hour ordeal. He would vacuum the bigger stuff and hand it to me to get all the small stuff. That is repentance. Becoming submissive and meek like a little child. Having Godlike sorrow. Sticking with it. Doing our part and working together with our "Adult" who knows how to take our big mess and clean it up.

As I watched Hyrum work and waited for him to let me have a turn with the vacuum I was a little impatient. I almost wanted to tell him that he had helped enough. I then realized that Christ is so patient to let us go at our pace. He doesn't rush us.

I love this picture of Hyrum's determined effort.
All {spiritual} messes are cleaned up best when we are on our knees.

After we finished, Hyrum climbed into my Indian crossed legs and said, "all done!". We hugged and giggled. Nathan observed from a distance and seemed a little disappointed to be missing out on the All Done Celebration. I have a greater determination to be one that sits with my Savior in joy and comfort instead of only regretfully observing it happen for others. As that thought crossed my mind I waved for Nathan to join us. Mercy is a tender thing.

Hyrum's Temple Visit

On Friday LeRoy and I were getting ready to go to the temple and Hyrum was so upset that we were going without him. He kept demanding, "Ina doe to". LeRoy tried explaining that he could go when he was a big boy. We walked out the door with him crying into Justin's chest.

On Saturday night I gave the little boys a bath and Hyrum was insistent that he pull the plug all by himself. He was struggling to pull that little button knob up but with encouragement from Nathan and I and all the tugging he could do with his tiny raisin fingers he did it. I pulled him out onto the rug to dry him off and he stood there in all his naked glory pumping his fists in the air and shouting "Ina bid boy, now I tan doe to temple too".

We just couldn't back down on what we had told him. He is a big boy. So, on Sunday we bundled up in our winter duds and headed up the hill to "our" temple. We have all missed our weekly trips to walk around the temple within the gates and roll down the big hill outside the gates. This visit reminded us why we don't go in the winter. It was SO COLD! A measly 18 degrees and that does not include the wind and it was bitter windy! Still, we were glad we went. It was well worth it to hear Nathan and Hyrum yell hello up to Moroni and to see Hyrum's face stuck in a frozen smile.

LeRoy thought it would be warmer walking in the temple walkway but it just created a big wind tunnel. When they first walked into it from the front sidewalk the wind sucked the breath out of Hyrum and nearly knocked him over.


Why is it that when your face freezes your snot does not? I love seeing Hyrum's toddler reflex as he tries to take care of his runny nose with his tongue while still attempting to smile.


That blue sky is so deceiving! The piles of snow paint a more accurate picture.

Nathan's parting words were, "don't worry, Moroni, we'll be back".

We got home just before our home teacher drove up. The boys enthusiastically told him where they had been and he listened with all his seasoned grandfather attention and responded with awe equivalent to their excitement. He then explained to the boys that he works at the temple and invited us to take the boys into the waiting room of the temple (evidently we can do that even if we aren't there for a wedding/sealing and it doesn't need to be scheduled). Even Derek and Justin showed interest in this new information. A visit inside the temple is now on the family calendar for June when we can reverently see inside Heavenly Father's house and when the reverence begins to run out we can go outside, trade out our white shirts for t-shirts and roll down the big hill in "Heavenly Father's yard".

I look out the window longing to see



Freezing, windy reality shows me



I want to do meals like this


The cold, icy facts dish out this



That groundhog got my hopes up and now I daydream about

This is NOT the beginning of an early spring.

Hibernation continues.

XOXOXO

Valentine's Day actually started out as Valentine's Week last Monday. For family home evening we learned how XOXO came to mean kisses and hugs and we learned about St. Valentine. By the end the kids were teasing us that we were having a Jewish/Catholic FHE night. Then we made homemade valentines to send to some of our friends.

I learned several years ago to let go of any visual expectations I had in my mind when I realized that I had 6 boys in on the crafting and since then I have come to love the time we spend together during the creating process. They are clever and caring even if it doesn't come across in craft store beauty.

We also decorated our own envelopes to leave in the basket on the table for the week. The basket was full of paper hearts to write our own love notes to leave in each other's envelopes. This experiment turned out much better than I had hoped and I had to copy and cut more hearts for the basket.

After a weeks worth of love notes Valentine's morning finally came. Erika's comment at breakfast was "I've given up on ever looking good in Christmas and Valentine's day pictures". She loves it! LeRoy came to the table with his Tigger sweatshirt on so Hyrum and Nathan ran to the dress up clothes to get their Tigger costumes so that they could match dad. It may not have been red, pink and heartshaped but this was a sure Valentine for LeRoy. Those boys love their daddy!

While the older kids were in school and the little boys were down for naps I did my Valentine workout. Stringing 5 full skeins of yarn over and under and between and through is very tiring! My favorite part is the staircase!

About 10 minutes after I finished three sets of missionaries showed up for P-day. LeRoy had informed me the night before that they were coming to play pool, ping-pong and board games. I'm happy to entertain the missionaries but I wasn't going to skip out on our 8 year tradition so they would just have to Catherine Zeta-Jones/Agent 99 their way through my yarn lasers. The four sister missionaries thought is was a fun tradition (seriously, high pitched oohs and aahs) so they didn't seem to mind holding their skirts as modestly as they could while weaving their way in crouching tiger stealth to get to the basement.

Nathan and Hyrum woke up about an hour before the older kids were to get home from school but I was ready for that. They thought I was the coolest mom ever (okay, they didn't say so but I'm going to pretend it anyway) when I had the travel dvd player set up with Leapfrog Alphabet and we all sat on Nathan's bed like we were at the movies. It lasted just long enough and when we opened the bedroom door to go out and they saw all the strings they didn't care what they were for, they only saw a jungle to tame. Getting from their bedroom to the kitchen took about 10 minutes since they both insisted on doing it all alone. We made it just in time for the others to walk in.

I took more video than pictures this year so this doesn't quite capture the thrill of the game. There were more "Holy cow, mom! This is impossible! How am I supposed to get over that!" comments than ever before. I did try to make it more challenging and they loved it. The only rule is that they can't use scissors so some of the tight spots at the end are pretty darn tricky with a ball of yarn.

While I was putting the finishing touches on the very pink, red, carby dinner and Nathan, Derek, Justin and LeRoy were playing was with their cupid shooters Hyrum climbed up to help himself to the heart shaped pancakes.



The others finally joined us and we ate to our hearts content. The boys' lip smacking love for the strawberry-yogurt-cobbler was all the thanks I needed. Washing it down with pink milk gave the final gulping touches to our Valentine meal. The night was complete as we read a weeks worth of Valentine love notes that had been left in our envelopes.


A couple of final notes:

Erika received a dozen red roses at school today.
I think he likes her!

Nathan received a Spiderman projector flashlight in his gift box at the end of his string. Though he thought that the Spidey pictures that were projected onto the wall were cool he was even more impressed that he could hide in his dark bedroom and read his books with his flashlight. Yes, he also tried it after he was tucked into bed for the night.

Happy Heart Day to all and to all a good night!

Nathan's Primary Talk

It was a good thing I cleaned off the kitchen counter last Sunday when I got home from Utah or I would have never known that Nathan had been assigned a talk in primary for the following Sunday. With all my best intentions it was still Friday afternoon before the two of us sat down to come up with a talk. The assigned theme was "the scriptures teach us about Heavenly Father's plan". For family home evening a couple of weeks ago we had a picture lesson on Heavenly Father's plan so I asked what parts of the plan he remembered and this is what we came up with: (Notice the deep breath in the beginning and the A-men at the end - I'll explain in just a bit)



It was his idea to do it ten times (said emphatically with 10 jazzy hand fingers) and by the time we got to the 6th time I thought to record it. The previous video was his 8th time. I was so impressed with his ability to remember it so quickly but I think it was because he already knew the information he just needed to practice it in talk form. He loved seeing himself do it and even perfected a couple of things (which can be seen in the following video) like not smacking the Book of Mormon down when he was done with it, not burping (which you can't hear well in the video but is the cause of all the laughter) and by the end he was also saying "Jesus" instead of "geez".



After practicing I kept the camera rolling as he came over and sat on my legs and the following conversation came about. It's fun to see his understanding of what has been taught in family home evening, nightly scriptures and primary lessons.



After going over his talk the full 10 times that he had planned I said something to the effect that now it was stuck in his head and he would never forget it. He responded by covering his ears and with wide eyes, raised eyebrows and a deep voice of oh-my-goodness questioning asked if we could put tape on his ears so the words wouldn't escape from his brain.

When Sunday came he was up bright and early and exclaimed that he couldn't wait to do his talk. I was crossing my fingers that his enthusiasm could hold long enough to get through sacrament meeting and to the primary room without turning into complete fear. Knowing how socially shy my Nathan can be, I have taught him that when he starts to feel scared to take a deep breath, two if he needs to, and then to let the Holy Ghost help him. When we got to church early so that he could practice at the pulpit in the primary room there were some men there setting up the chairs. He immediately kicked into shy mode and did not want to do it. After sitting by me for a minute while I reminded him that when it is time to do his talk that the room would be full of people, he walked up to the microphone, took a deep breath and did it. YAY!! Even if he had not done his talk in primary that day I would have been completely satisfied with his bravery at that moment.

He made it through sacrament meeting. It was finally time. He sat up in the front without coercion. He stood when it was his turn. He took a quick breath which was probably only visible to me because I was watching so closely and could tell from his shoulders rising and falling. He spoke each sentence clearly, ending with a satisfied "A-men". When he was instructed to sit with his class he marched over to the piano where I was sitting and said with head held high, "The Holy Ghost helped me and I wasn't even scared!"

Doing Dishes

a.k.a
Playing in the Bubbles

I wasn't even home when Derek took this picture. All four boys were cleaning up the kitchen to surprise me when I got home. It was a wonderful, thoughtful surprise.

Even with a healthy dose of brotherly bantering they are so great to take care of each other and work and play together. Someone should have guided Nathan a little more in his clothing choice for the day but, hey, I know my boys so the fact that he is in something besides pajamas and actually has a shirt on is enough for me.

Everyone should feel this comfortable at church.



I love the 9am church schedule. The Sunday Nap is back!