More Blessings

Me: Ben, what are you grateful for?
Ben: Desus (Jesus).
Me: Good, anything else?
Ben: I like Nate and Benny.

Nate: I'm grateful for clothes, and beds and the world. I'm grateful for my family and friends and houses.

Abigail: I'm grateful for my family, friends, school, house, beds, clothes, food and water. I'm grateful for the world, Jesus and Heavenly Father. Oh, and also sports.

Anna: I'm grateful for animals, toys, and my wonderful family. I'm grateful for soccer, shelter, Heavenly Father and Jesus. I'm grateful for yummy water where we live and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Grateful For

I always seem to find my muse just about the time I should be cleaning the kitchen or doing something else productive. Weird. Nothing like avoiding work to get the writer in me going. I feel okay about it though, maybe that's the problem. Anyway, now on to a little sappy sappiness in honor of Thanksgiving.

This morning I lectured Anna up one side and down the other the whole way to school. Then before they got out of the car we had a quick little family prayer because we forgot to before we left. I said it and asked forgiveness for losing my temper. Before she jumped out of the car Anna gave me a big hug and kiss on my cheek and everything was better. The other day Nate walked by me and out of the blue said, "Love you, Mom." Abby left a little note for me asking if I could please go to the library and get her some more Junie B. Jones books with her cute little messy handwriting and I couldn't stop smiling for a few hours. Ben loves to cuddle with me and stroke my hair. It's so satisfying and so wonderful that I'm positive it adds years to my life every time. I wasn't feeling well last night so Brennan who also wasn't feeling well took all the kids, and all their blankets and pillows to sit on the cafeteria floor of the school for a showing of "Kung-Fu Panda" so that I could relax at home. He's a good man. I'm so grateful for my little family. We have a lot to work on and at times it feels more like a circus or even war zone than a home; however, we do love each other so much and there's just nothing like having a soft, safe place to be and be loved.

After being taught my whole life about the role of my Savior, Jesus Christ, I feel like I'm just now beginning to get it. The older I get and the scarier the world gets, the more I find myself with the tendency to fear and despair. I get discouraged with the fact that I've battling the same old flaws I've had since I was born, I see my kids' flaws and worry that they will debilitate their ability to find joy and peace in their lives, I watch the news and fear the economy, earthquakes, evil, persecution etc. Then I go to church, or read a Conference talk, or read the scriptures, or say my prayers and listen to the Still, Small Voice, or talk to a loved one and remember that "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." The fact that despite all the chaos, danger, and my own weaknesses I can have peace is truly miraculous and a true gift. I feel a lot of peace and a lot of hope and when I do I realize that my same old flaws have changed, that because of a singular sacrifice and an infinite gift, I am slowly but surely changing. One little step after one little step my Savior is guiding me to forsaking my sins and weaknesses and most of all pride and allowing me His grace. There is a LONG way to go, but I am beyond blessed to know the Way. I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who sent His Son for me, and my husband, and my children and well everyone.

Update: Brennan and Andrea

First item of news is that today was Brennan's second week of his new church job -- primary teacher. (Primary is the children's classes, he and another man teach the 8 year olds). His class was in charge of sharing time (combined lesson with all the younger kids together). About 2/3rds through their little lesson as he stood at the front of the room filled with a few other men, and lots of women and children, he had a thought flash through his head. He remembered leaving the house thinking he still hadn't done up his zipper and then remembered that he never did get around to that. In light of those memories, he looked down to confirm and sure enough his zipper was wide open, shirt hanging out, and another teacher sitting right in front of him trying not to fall off his chair laughing. I'm actually amazed that Brennan didn't say anything, instead, he very discreetly turned his back to the room and resolved the situation. The good news is Brennan really doesn't get embarrassed. He got a kick out of it. We love Brennan.

As for me, my choir sang in Sacrament meeting today. We sang a gorgeous, but difficult arrangement of "All Creatures of Our God and King". The scariest part for me was that there were lots of little organ interludes which meant I had to really keep track of where we were and bring the choir in at just the right spot several times. As we rehearsed just before the meeting started I could not get it right. Scary. This calling has been terrifying for me and we started out with very few people coming to practice. Today we had over 30 talented people singing and I managed to A. not pass out and B. bring everyone in and cut them off in the right spots. A HUGE relief and a greatly appreciated blessing. We got so many kind comments afterwards. It's just another lesson of how when we try to do what we feel we should, the Lord will bless us. I know there's still plenty of time for me to make some pretty major mistakes, but I feel so grateful that we were so blessed today. As this wonderful choir sang this amazing song, it was actually kind of fun, even exhilarating to be in front of them leading. Never thought I'd say that.

It's Kinda Windy Here Today

A Couple of Things

Remember my post about my discovery of the valve/button thingy on the humidifier? Well, two nights ago we put Ben to bed and shortly thereafter heard some strange noises. Brennan went to investigate and yelled for me to come see for myself. I walked back towards Ben's room, but stopped at the bathroom where we watched little Ben draining his humidifier with the valve/button thingy. He had unplugged the humidifier, detached the tank from the base, dragged it into the bathroom, and somehow hefted the tank up to the sink. Evidently he had decided he didn't need the humidifier and took matters into his own hands. And, yeah, something that took me 35 years to discover took him 2.

Last night I helped throw a shower for two young moms who each just had a baby girl. One of these moms actually just moved out of our ward after only living here a short time and the other works in the nursery (the 18 month olds through 3 year old class) at church and hasn't lived here very long. Very few people know either of these moms so I was a little nervous about the turn-out we'd get. I was so blown away last night. First of all I had a great response to the group gift and we were able to get each mom a $100 gift card plus we probably had 30 women some of whom had contributed to the group gift, but many who didn't who came bearing gifts. Many of them walked in and weren't even sure which mom was which, but they graciously introduced themselves and handed over beautiful gifts. I feel so blessed to live among such good, generous people.

Update

I kicked off the weekend Thursday night at my book club. Truly one of the highlights of my month. My book club night is SACRED and is NOT to be messed with. I will seriously go to insane measures to get there and am devastated if I ever have to miss. It's kind of a random group of women and most of us didn't know each other very well when we first started. Now, however, these women are some of my very favorite people who I just love and admire. I rarely laugh harder than I do at book club. After being cooped up with a sick little boy for several weeks it was exactly what I needed. Friday afternoon we had my nephew and niece, Rex and Lucy, over to play for awhile and when it came time to meet Ryan and Macy to return their kids we decided we might as well meet for dinner. It was really fun once we got past the "there's nothing here I like" and "I want my own root beer" etc. There was plenty of action with a total of 7 kids, but it was good times. Saturday we worked, Brennan golfed, I shopped, and then we came home for a mellow night. Sunday we had a nice visit with my parents. Fun weekend.



While we were eating with Ryan and Macy and crew Anna was begging us to have them come over to our house after so the kids could play longer. She kept saying, "Come on, Mom, don't you want to snooze?" I finally realized she meant "schmooze" which is the word my family uses to describe the times we get to sit around, laugh and chat. The kids had SEP conferences (fka parent/teacher conferences) last week. Anna's teacher had great things to say about her which is always rewarding. She is a hard worker and does a quality job on everything she does. The other thing her teacher mentioned which all of her teachers always mention is how much they love how affectionate she is. Anna always hugs her teacher when she first sees her and before she leaves for the day. We love Anna.



Abby's SEP conference was great as well. She's a responsible, good little student and got excellent grades. She's also recently begun to love to read which makes me very happy. If Abby isn't playing with a friend or playing Webkinz computer games, she is creating. She has a few of those little gooey lizards and so she designed and created a little home for them. Here are some pictures of the lizard home. We love Abigail.

Here's the outside of the house of the girls' part of the house.

Here's the outside of the boys' part (she has already realized girls need more space)



This is looking down into the house and the yard.

This is sideways, but still gives you an idea of what my dining room table looks like more often than not. Clearly I need to make an art station somewhere so I can have my dining room back.

Last night Nate kept asking, "Mom, what is Ben?" "What do you mean, Nate?" "What is he, you know, like I'm a baby goat?" Needless to say I was very confused until it dawned on me that a baby goat is a kid and the word he was looking for was toddler. I guess the girls told him that a kid is also a baby goat. Nate's teacher had really good things to say about Nate and I am so grateful he is having such a great Kindergarten year. We love Nate.

Ben is finally feeling better. Our last doctor's visit revealed walking pneumonia and an ear infection. Poor guy, thank goodness for antibiotics. As my parents visited last night my mom was at the table with the kids who were being even louder than normal, especially Ben. My Mom said something like, "Benny you are a noisy boy!" He looked at her and very helpfully suggested, "Dus put yur hands like dat" as he put his hands over his ears. We love Ben.

Benny and Me

Today while the three big kids were at school I took Ben to get his cough checked out at the doctor. We waited in the room for longer than usual and as we waited we chatted, sang some of our favorite songs, and then I started making faces. For some reason the faces were totally cracking Ben up and he was laughing harder than I've ever seen him laugh. When someone else laughs that hard, especially my adorable 2 year old, I can't help but join in. As we sat there laughing I realized that right then and there was one of those moments. You know one of those moments that is so completely full of joy and perfect in every way that it will carry me through many other kinds of moments. I can't believe how blessed I am to have opportunities like today with 4 amazing little people that I love.

Weekend Update

Anna is spending a lot of time in front of the mirror. She goes into the bathroom to do her chores each morning and often sort of forgets to do them because she is occupied moving one little hair into just the right place. I should probably assign her chores in a room without a mirror. The plus side of this new phase is that she is actually putting cuteness over comfort and wearing things like jeans! It makes my motherly vanity very happy. Many of you will remember that we affectionately call Anna our very own Princess and the Pea. She will only sleep in silky jammies and would only wear knit - until recently! In fact one of the most humbling experiences for me was her 2nd grade year when she literally wore the same outfit EVERY day ALL winter long. Winters are really long here. She's also extremely modest and if her shirt or dress is a 1/2 inch below her neck she wears a tank top or t-shirt underneath. I get a kick out of the fact that most Mom's are begging their daughters to cover up and I'm trying to talk mine into showing more skin, like the bottom of her neck! We love Anna.

Abigail got her haircut and I love it. It makes her look like more of a little girl which makes me happy. She had her first "late night" this weekend with her friend Paige. We ordered pizza and watched "Kit Kittridge" and Paige got to stay until 9:00 pm! It was big news. The only problem was that they kept asking me what time it was every 2 minutes so that they could say "We still have 2 hours and 20 minutes til 9:00!" She told me that when she grows up she either wants to be a crossing-guard or an artist. So funny to me that standing out in freezing cold weather walking across the street over and over carrying a big old stop sign is in any way appealing to her. We love Abby.

Nathan has developed a little habit that is probably very indicative of his middle childness. Whenever all the kids are together and he needs to tell me something he'll say, "Mom, Nate wants pasta for dinner." or "Mom, Nate wants to go with you." When I asked him why he says his name he told me because some people think his and Abby's voices sound a like and he wants to make sure I know it's him. I've assured him that I know his voice, but he's going to just make sure. He is such a tender little guy, yesterday Ben didn't get a nap, and later fell asleep on the rocking chair. When I showed Nate he kept walking over to him and kissing Ben's head. The cuteness of a little one sleeping was irresistible to him. We love Nate.

Ben has a new favorite phrase: "What da heck?!" He heard Nate say that one day and then worked in into his own conversation shortly thereafter. We all burst out laughing which sealed it's fate as his favorite. I don't know if you've noticed, but our generation tend to wear pants a little lower than our parents' generation. My brothers have often teased my Dad for wearing his pants at his waist. Evidently, this has not escaped Ben's observation either. The other day he came out with his jammie bottoms pulled way up, a big grin and said, "Mom, look, I Gwampa!" I couldn't believe that's what he meant, but he did it several times. Sorry, Dad. For what it's worth, I think your pants look very nice. We love Ben.

Politics

I've debated whether or not to post my thoughts on the election. It's old news, it's all been said 45,783 times, and a lot of people will probably disagree with my thoughts. However, it's a pretty monumental election and maybe someday it would be interesting for me or my kids to read my thoughts at this time. Maybe not, but since I am completely, thoroughly, utterly stumped as to what else to post about -- politics it is.

I was not ever really very enthusiastic about John McCain (or the Republican party in general lately for that matter) and while I admired Barrack Obama's oratorical style and his measured, reasonable and gracious personality I just hated almost every one of his proposed policies. Plus, abortion is a huge issue for me and Supreme Court appointments make all the difference. My other big fear about Obama is the fact that he wants to "remake America" (he said those very words in his victory speech). I'm all for reform, but it seems to me that there's a significant difference in reforming and remaking, so I had to vote McCain.

That said, it was absolutely THRILLING to have tangible, living, breathing evidence of the progress our country has made in just 40 or so years. It's a wonderful thing for all of us, but I can only imagine the elation of all those who have experienced racial discrimination or have ancestors who were slaves to now have an African-American as our President-elect. I definitely felt that as I watched Tuesday night. I think President-elect Obama has an incredible ability to inspire and lead. I hope and pray he will preside with an inclusive and bi-partisan spirit. I am determined to support and pray for him and hope for the best.

Probably my biggest annoyance with the election is how McCain's people are throwing Palin under the bus. I don't care if everything they said is true, they picked her and if they were taken off guard by some of her weaknesses they should take responsibility for that and it REALLY bugs me they are laying the blame at her feet.

A highlight was McCain's concession speech. He struck me as poised, genuine, kind and gracious. In fact, had he been like that the whole time I could have really gotten excited about him. I liked him more that night than I did for 2 years.

Lastly, this election is OVER and that makes me very happy.

Weekend Festivities

First order of business, forgive my lack of comments on your blogs. Do you ever get kind of behind and then overwhelmed if you haven't kept up? I've read them all, I just haven't gotten around to commenting. I know that's lame, sorry. I also know you LIVE for my comments so just try and keep going until I get back in the mode. :)

Most of you readers out there are probably fairly normal, functional, highly productive members of society and won't relate to my practice of spurts. I have periods of time during which I'm super busy and go, go go often on little sleep. Last week, pulling together all my kids' costumes, helping at Nate's class party, dealing with a very sick, very demanding 2 year old, not sleeping because of said 2 year old, getting ready for and helping the girls get ready for the big recital (more on that in the following paragraphs), getting ready for Dad's 60th b-day celebration and most importantly spending 3 solid intense hours securing Wicked tickets for me and my girls. Sunday I just kind of collapsed. I wasn't sick, but was so grateful Ben was and sent everyone else to church and just basically did nothing all day. I seem to have two speeds in me, all or nothing. I'm really working on this.

Anyway, everything went really well. Saturday we left the second the girls' recital was over and met my two local siblings and spouses at the Temple where we surprised my Dad. There's nothing quite like being in the Temple with family. After that we picked up our kids and headed to my parents' house for a little take-out and then surprised my Dad again with an open-house. They spent his actual birthday on a cruise with my Mom's family, so we invited his family to the open-house. It was lots of fun. Happy 60th, Dad! We had to do something to celebrate my Dad who is the kindest, most out-going, most generous, spiritual, full of integrity and all-around wonderful man. We love my Dad.

The birthday "boy"

my brother, Ryan, his little Molly, and Eliza's Belle on the left

I must also insert that this week Brennan hit his first ever hole in one!!!!! Very exciting. He also managed another injury due to sleep. Remember when he hurt his knee because he dreamt there were snakes in the bed and kicked his leg weird thereby injuring his knee? Well, the other night I got home late and as I was walking in I heard Ben crying. Brennan had fallen asleep on the couch, but heard Ben's cry. As I walked into the family room I watched him jump up and kind of stagger, swoon and then totally collapse. It scared me, but he assured me he was okay before I ran to help Ben. When I came back in I asked again if he was okay, he looked up grinning and said, "I think my leg was asleep." We both started laughing hard. He hasn't been laughing the last few days though as he apparently managed to pull a groin muscle in the incident.

Okay now, for the recital. As you will recall Anna and her dear friend, Chloe, have for the last few years held a little dance class for 6 weeks or so and then had a recital each Fall. This year, they expanded to two classes, a 6-8 year old class and a 4-6 year old class. They've been rehearsing at our house for about 8 weeks. The years past the recital has also been here, but given the expanded classes they scheduled our church building with an official stage. Each class performed 3 songs, and Anna and Chloe sang a song and then a grand finale with both classes. They honestly did everything except make the refreshments. Chloe made all the fliers and tons of lists, found the costumes, and scheduled the church, and remembered to get the keys to the church while trick-or-treating. They picked all the songs, made up all the choreography, taught the choreography and communicated with the parents.

Brennan took the girls down early and set up the chairs and a table for the desserts. I went down a little later expecting total chaos, but they were totally organized. They had a person posted out front to welcome their girls who were coming early to rehearse. They had all their props organized, decorative dance papers they had colored hanging, table cloth and cups and napkins all set up on the dessert table. When the recital began they had their scripts and stood confidently in front of the mic and welcomed and thanked the parents for coming and supporting them. They introduced their students and each number. It all went incredibly smoothly. Later I was telling Anna how proud we were of her and how smoothly it went. She said, "That's exactly what I prayed for, that it would go smoothly." She's a good kid. We love Anna.

here's the younger class doing "Happy Working Song" from Enchanted

Here are Anna and Chloe taking charge

The older group, including Abby, dancing to "New Girl in Town" from Hairspray