Yesterday

Cyrus' Grandma--one of the greatest.


Yesterday I was driving home from Trader Joes and noticed that on every overpass there were firetrucks and the firemen were waving the American flag. When I got off my exit, I took a left instead of right and parked. Just as I pulled up I saw a huge motorcade with motorcycle police and a limo and a herse. I asked who had passed away and they said it was a young man from Santa Rosa killed in Iraq. I felt a lot of feelings as I watched those flags wave and that motorcade drive by. First and foremost I loved my country. I mean I really love America. I love seeing the flag flying--it brings tears to my eyes the way few things can. I love the pledge of allegience--I have rarely been able to make it through the whole thing when I am at my children's school and I see all those little people stand and put their hand on their heart and pledge to uphold the freedom I hold dear. I was grateful for that soldier and for his family. I felt so sad for his mom. How sad she must have been to lose her boy but also, I am sure she was proud of the man he was.

I am not a political person. I honestly don't know what my opinion is on the war. I think both sides of the argument make valid points and I don't think I can get enough good information to make an informed choice so I just waffle. I always come down on the side of supporting the troops. They are heros. I believe that the president really thought he was doing the right thing going there. I believe that it has been a long time and probably they didn't start out with a very good plan but hindsite is 20/20 and you can't judge by that. I trust my government because I honestly believe most Americans are good people so they elect good government so in the end I just let them figure it out and pray for the troops.

Being a history buff, I have thought and read a lot about WWII, and I wonder if the country would have been even more "war weary" then if they hadn't been asked to sacrifice so much. If they would have been more like us, if they didn't have to stop driving their cars or buying sugar or any of the other sacrifices they have made. But when all is said and done, that generation was great in a way that I am not. I mean REALLY great--the greatest according to some. My Grandmother and Grandfather were absolutely the best people I can imagine. Not perfect but great and that greatness didn't come from having everything handed to them, it came from hard work and sacrifice. My mission president once said, "you love what you sacrifice for" and I found that to be true as I worked my hind end off, I loved the gospel more each day. I sacrifrice for my children and I love them beyond measure. He said he didn't think a dad could ever love a child the way moms do because of a mother's sacrifice of all--even her body--for her babies. Now I don't know about that, but I do know that the sacrifices I have made for my kids has taught me to love in a way I didn't know I could.

So that brings me to my wonder--are we spoiled? Do we know how to sacrifice? I don't mean in terms of the war because again, I can't make a real good opinion, but what about the gospel? Last night I was at a meeting and the stake presidency said that in spite of all the new temples being built that net temple attendance is DOWN. Are we lazy because we are blessed? I know I don't go to the temple like I should. Brigham Young said once something to the effect that he didn't worry about the Saints in their poverty as much as he worried what they would do in prosperiety. Do we keep the faith in our prosperity? Are we as willing to sacrifice pieces of the much we have been given as readily as generations before us we willing to sacrifice the little they had been given? I have been thinking and thinking and wondering. It has been good self evaluation. I need to do it more. Of course I have no conclusion except I need to try harder to do the best I can. Oh yeah and I need to go to the temple.

This week...

This week has been a really tough week for me. The other day we got a note from a couple of our friends that said, "We talk ABOUT you more than we talk TO you." Oh how I miss those friends. See, Idaho is my home. Everywhere else I have ever lived I have been a square peg in a round hole. Especially here. Idaho is who I am. When I go there I lay under trees and laugh and feel happy. When I see my little gray house, it feels like home. I loved living there. I loved my parents stopping in and seeing their Grandkids, I loved my Dad mowing the lawn because Cyrus ran out of time and I was pregnant. I loved my neighbor bringing me a tomato sandwich because she had one and it tasted so good she had to bring one to me. I loved the grass and the plans I had for my little home. The only thing that wasn't great was Cyrus' job. So, to dental school we came.

When we were deciding to come back, I cried and told Cyrus how I loved the house and my life but we decided that we could trade them in for something bigger and better. This week it feels like we traded them for bigger worries and better stress. We went from no debt (except our mortgage and one of our cars) and a savings account to hundreds of thousands in debt. I went from seeing my family at least a few times every week to realizing that there is probably NO WAY we can live near them again. The only saving grace for me is how much mu husband likes what he is learning. I hope that continues and I hope he is happy with his job. I think that would make it all worth it. I hope so.

Happy Birthday Sammy

Sammy is a big one year old now. He had such a fun birthday. I made him a cake with a road and a bus and some other little cars on it. He got lots of cars and Chuck the Talking Dump Truck and a Hammer and some books and shirts. Sammy didn't care about opening presents so his sisters took care of it for him. He also observed the big day by mostly sleeping through the night (finally!). Mom celebrated.

Baby Kay Kay

My Katie isn't such a baby anymore. She is getting so big and so brave but I think all my children will always be my babies. I love to sit and rock them and hold them and snuggle them. I don't know what I will do when they don't want to be held anymore...........

So Katie got this random limp this week. We were at Old Navy to get Sammy some T-shirts when all of a sudden Katie's leg hurt. A lot. She tried to walk and it just hurt. I would have felt better if she had fallen or twisted it or anything but nothing. She was just walking and then it hurt. We waited through the night and yesterday (Wednesday) when she was still limping, we took her to the doctor. She is stumped too. They took fourr viles of blood and started testing. Everything so far has been negative.

Through all this junk, you wouldn't believe how big and brave Katie has been. She didn't even cry when they took out the blood. Not a tear. I am more of a chicken than she was about it. She is a tough little nut. She hasn't cried through the whole thing, just had her leg pushed and prodded and her arm squished and stuck and all the while she has just needed a hug from her mama to be fine. She's amazing.

Read alouds

I love to read to my kids. But I have noticed that some books are better than others for being read aloud. I would love to hear your ideas about what good children's books there are out there and tell me if you think they are good read alouds...some of my opinions are:

Chapter Books:

Junie B. Jones series: Great to read aloud and for kids to read to themselves. The main character has bad grammar and bad manners so if that stuff bothers you these aren't the books for you but I honestly would laugh so hard with my girls I could hardly read.

Romona books by Beverly Cleary: Great books with good old fashion values. My girls loved them.

Little House on the Prarie: What child can go through life without reading the little house books. I think they are better read to ones self as they are pretty heavy on detail and a little hard to follow when read aloud. I tried reading them to the girls but they didn't care for them but now Carolyn has burned through four and a half of the books in a couple of months.

The BFG: One of the best read alouds ever but you have to do the voices and be very good at phonics or the book is hard because the BFG speaks a lot of near-jibberish.

Other Roald Dahl books: He is an interesting author and uses a lot of cliff hangers (like a kids Davinci Code) to keep the excitment up.

Ella Enchanted: Such a cute book but a little old for my girls. I think it is for about the same age group as Anne of Green Gables books, which by the way are also winners in my opinion.

Harry Potter: Of course. We will be reading those aloud in a few years.

Charlottes Web

Picture Books:

Blueberries for Sal is my favorite. I can still remember how nervous I felt when Little Sal and Little Sal's mother and Little Bear and Little Bear's mother were all mixed up with each other among the blueberries on blueberry hill. That is a great book. Also, Robert McCloskey's other books are great, too. Beautiful art work.

Owen by Kevin Henkes and in fact almost anything by Kevin Henkes.

Board books by Sandra Boynton (Blue Hat Green Hat is our favorite).

Olivia

Fancy Nancy

Laundry

I do a ton of laundry. Seriously. Before we came here I had a laundry room...a really really BIG laundry room so my laundry was actually like an escape. I went downstairs and sat at my nice table and folded laundry in the cool of my basement.

Now my washer is in our bedroom (which is in reality a family room but our house is too small for our family but it has two great rooms so we just made one into a bedroom) and the laudry is always staring me in the face.

I hate laundry. I hate folding it, I hate putting it away, I hate dirty sock that have been in the sand box for three straight recesses, I hate trying to get out the 10,000th grass stain, I hate marker stains and wet swim suits and kitchen rags. Did I mention I hate laundry? I used to feel a sense of accomplishment when I had all those neat piles of clean, stain free clothes ready for my family. But that was before I shared a room with it, before it was constantly in front of my face. Truth is, I can never get away from laundry. I try to go to bed at night and there it is haunting me, I wake up in the morning to the blissful sound of birds and see a mountain but not beautiful mountain, oh no, just the mountain of clothes that my kids hauled from their rooms and bathrooms the night before. I can never escape. I go in my room to hang up my jacket and there it is multiplying in the hamper. Even on vacation people are making more laundry. Maybe I should make my family become nudists. But they still use towels and sheets and blankets and cleaning rags and........

This is my Monday laundry. I do laundry every day (unless we are exceptionally busy) but Sunday. Notice all the towels. I can thank swim team for that pile. The other moms say to bring 5 towels to the meets cause the kids are in and out so much. FIVE TOWELS. They must have laundry rooms.

When I pulled this skirt out of the dryer I was irritated (to say the least) because no one has worn this skirt in at least 6 months. I tried to console myself by telling me that maybe the sweet dears had cleaned under their beds and found it but then I remembered I washed the same skirt LAST WEEK.

Today I washed five loads of wash and probably one full load was clean clothes so Cyrus made the girls fold their own clothes and told them whenever mom washed clothes that hadn't even been worn they could do the folding otherwise we would take care of it for them. We'll see how that works. Now if I could just get these girls to stop changing seven times a day!

Splish Splash

Last Friday it was so warm outside and such a perfect day. Cyrus was home early so I left sleeping Sam with him and walked with my friend Kathy to pick our kids up at the bus. I expected to come home to a quiet house with Cyrus studying, instead I found Daddy and Sam and Katie all decked out in swim stuff filling up the baby pool. Sam loved the pool and laughed his head off at how the little rubber duck bobbed up and down in the water when he splashed. That is what childhood is made of.......




The hose water was so cold. Brrrrrrrrrrrr. At first Sam would scream if I took him out but eventually (after tipping over and fully immersing himself) he just got too cold and needed a snuggle...but not until after one last picture with his sisters.

Laugh your way through

Marjorie Hinckley said, "The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh, crying gives me a headache." Boy is that ever true. So much happens in life that just plain stinks but so much good happens too.

We had a bit of a funny experience today. It all started when Carolyn called me from her bedroom, "MOM, Katie made a big mess." So I went in there to see and this is what I found out happened. Katie had on her VERY puffy Easter dress and she needed to go potty but the dress was so puffy she couldn't get to her underwear in time (can you just imagine a little girl wrestling her puffy skirt trying to find her panties--funny thought). So she went in her underwear, unfortunately it was poop, not pee pee. So she went to the bedroom to change without telling Mom. She wrestled out of her dress without getting any poop on it, but then she managed to sit on EVERYTHING in her room---her pillow, her blanket, a doll, the carpet, in her attempts to change her own panties. The room was covered in poo.

So I cleaned the mess. That is when I remember what Sister Hinckley had said. Really there are two options when an entire room is covered in poo...you can think about the poo or you can imagine in your head how funny the three year old must have looked trying to wrestle out of her puffy dress and have a good laugh. I of course had already shed a few tears as my perfectly spiritual Easter afternoon was wrecked (not just by the poo, that was just the icing on the cake and poo is pretty yucky icing for a pretty yucky cake of a day). But tomorrow is another day and I laughed and I hope tomorrow I can choose to laugh instead of cry. Plus, who said the great lesson about the resurrection HAD to happen on Easter. I think the day after Easter is probably just as good.





These are the girls in their Easter dresses. You can't really see how puffy they are but you can see how cute my ladies are!!!

First Word

I have always had a hard time identifying my kids' first words. It seems like their vocabulary develops from babbling to bits of word to full words and to ome there is no real "first." However, tonight Sam said something new. We were at the science fair at my girl's school (very fun, by the way and not on Sunday this year) and we were waiting in line to launch our homemade stomp rockets. All the kids were cheering for each other shooting off the rockets. Sam, who had spent the entire night sucking his thumb and looking around, loves to cheer. He got so excited and quit sucking his thumb to clap his hand with the other kids. He would put his little arms over his head then start clapping. It was so sweet. I siad, "Yeah!" and we clapped together. After about three times saying, "Yeah," Sammy would put his arms in the air, say, "Yeah" and start clapping. I think he must be a genius. And at least he didn't start with, "MINE" like a few of my other kids.

Cool things at the science fair:
*We played with cornstarch. When you put like 1/4 c corn starch and 1/8 c water, when you poke it, it feels solid put you can pour it out of the bowl like a liquid. Try it. It is fun to play with and you can color it. My kids have alway thought it was cool

*With good old fashion film containers they made pop rockets. You just put a bit of water in the container, put half an alka-seltser on the lid, put the lid on and put the container lid down on the table then back up. With in ten second the containers flew up to the ceiling.

*We made styrofome plates really staticy with a towel and picked up pepper and rice crispies with them.

*With a very strong magnet, we guided a piece of Total cereal around a little water course.

*Home made stomp rockets using tubing, pop bottle and construction paper. The kids shot them all the way across the gym at a big target. It was fun.

Alas, I have no pictures of the science fair, because I was once again on my own (thank you dental school) and with four kids, a huge crowd and two hands, it was impossible to navigate the camera. I need a point and shoot for such occasions.

Tender Mercies

My parents love baseball. I mean REALLY REALLY love baseball. The Red Sox. When the Red Sox won the World Series a few years ago, I called my Dad on the phone after the last out and he picked up the phone and shouted, "HOW BOUT THE RED SOX!!!!" He could hardly speak.

My parents have hit a bit of a rough patch in their lives. My mom has some severe, on-going health issues, my sister has just moved in with my parents, with her teenaged daughter due to illness. My parents also almost fully care for my elderly Grandmother and her large rural yard. So my mom and dad have a heavy load to carry.

Mom and Dad are coming out here when Carolyn is bapized in June so we decided to take them to a ball game. Last time they were here we took them to see the Giants but this year we are going to see the A's. When we looked up to see what games there were, we saw the Red Sox were coming the same week Care Bear was getting baptized. I called my dad and he was so excited, yelling to my mom about going to watch the Sox.

It may not seem like much but it feels like a tremendous blessing to me. It makes me feel like the Lord is aware of all the good my parents do, all the struggles that they face, but also that He sees them kneeling in prayer with my sister and her teenaged daughter, that He sees the peace they have brought to that little girl's life. It is a little thing (and a very temporal one) that makes me think that he knows how hard they truly try. Not many people would see the Red Sox coming to Oakland as a tender mercy from the Lord, but I do. And I am grateful for it.