Nate's Triumph

Thursday was Nate's last day of preschool!! We are so proud of him for all the progress he made this year. You may remember that preschool was a source of very great trauma for him and me. Each time I dropped him off for the first few months he would cry and cry and beg and plead me not to leave him. As soon as I left he would calm right down and by the time I picked him up he was always so excited and happy. Because of that, we stuck it out and little by little he conquered his fear. We talked about David and Goliath and that that nervous feeling he got each time I was going to leave him was his Goliath. He was so brave and cute about reminding himself he could be like David and like David prayed for help. Gradually he totally overcame it. The rest of the year he happily kissed me goodbye each time I dropped him off. So you see the completion of this school year for him is a huge accomplishment and we're so grateful for answers to prayers and proud of Nate. We love Natey!!!!

Nate getting his certificate

Nate and his amazing teachers!

Below is a short video clip of a song that they sang at the program. There's a part where he kind of cracks up that I have watched 15,379 times because it's so cute to me.


Untitled from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

Tag - Six Random Facts About Me

Finally getting to Liza's tag. Six random facts about me:

1. I'm so not an organized person EXCEPT about my social agenda. When there is something fun on the line I will spend untold hours making charts, spreadsheets, phone calls, sending emails, talking to anyone who will listen in anticipation. I can't seem to find time to mop the floor or even find the mop for that matter, but need help figuring out what to do for Memorial Day? I'm your gal! I wonder if I'm an extrovert.

2. That said, I'm so not the Amy, with the great spread of pewter serving dishes and a food-storage room full of fun dishes. Or Macy who makes everything pretty and festive. I feel like kind of a man in this regard, while I do notice and appreciate those pretty touches it's kind of an afterthought for me. Thank goodness I can call Macy to plan my food whenever it's my turn to host book club.

3. I like to think I'm a fairly open, tolerant person. I can be pretty non-judgmental and even kind of naively see the good in the worst of people UNLESS someone commits the cardinal sin of not trying at all to contribute to a conversation or gathering of some kind. Now I certainly don't mind people who are quiet, as long as I feel like they're engaged in someway. It's just those people who show no interest whatsoever that make me CRAZY. Rob a bank? No problem. Every word out of your mouth a lie? Come on over. A few murders in your past? Stay for dinner. Feeling bored and haven't laughed at one dang funny comment? GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! (I realize that I may have a problem, and yes I'm exaggerating a tinsy bit.)

4. I have a really weird and totally inconsistent little old lady streak of prudishness in me. There are many words that everyone in my generation uses that I simply cannot say. For example, "This really s_ _ _ _! or "That really p_ _ _ _ _ me off!" I HATE those words. (If you use those words, don't worry I won't judge you I recognize not everyone has a victorian woman possessing their body on random occasions.) There are a lot of words I can't say which makes it extremely difficult when I have to call the pediatrician because of intestinal difficulties in one my children or a rash in an unmentionable area.

5. I have the most uncool taste in music. Few things make me happier than singing along to Neil Diamond, Bette Midler, John Denver, Newsies and cheesy old showtunes. Oh and I'm TERRIBLE at remembering lyrics, so I sing the same line over and over again.

6. One unfulfilled dream of mine is to play "Lilly" in the musical "Secret Garden." I tried out once at a local theatre and got a call-back but didn't make it. Now I'm getting too old, sigh. Maybe in my next life.

I feel like Rebecca, Macy, Bobbi, Shauna, Shannon, Kelly and Amy need to play along and anyone else so inclined.

Happy Mothers' Day to Me!

My mothers' day festivities began yesterday. Brennan sent me off for a pedicure with my Mom, my sister and sister-in-law. It was so much fun. It was my Mom's first time and was highly entertaining. Her massage chair was either not working correctly or my Mom had somehow put it on some really weird setting because the whole time we sat talking she was like being punched forward. She just smiled and chatted through it. Then when her pedicurist (is that what they're called?) was working on her feet with a pumice thing my mom kept yanking her foot away and giggling because it was tickling her. So funny. After our pedicures we went to bakery for a yummy treat and more chatting. It was such a great little outing to be with some of my favorite girls and get pretty feet. Later that night Brennan and I went out with our super fun friends, the Beechers. It was a great day!

Eliza, Mom, Me, and Macy

After sleeping in this morning I was was the happy recipient of my favorite breakfast in bed from my kids. Then I was showered with gifts. Here they are:

A portrait of me by Anna, isn't she good?

This sweet poem was on the back. She also added "Thank you for all you do for us. I really appreciate it! I love you very much." Then in small print "and when I say you're rude, I don't mean it."

This darling card is from Abby. Each of the flowers come out and have something she'll do for me on it. They say, "Make my bed." "Get dressed faster." "Do my chorse (chores)." "Claen my room." So cute!

This was Abby's gift. Her teacher took the photo and then Abby painted the frame. I love it!

Nate gave me this beautiful plant which he decorated in preschool.

Ben didn't make me anything but he has been singing this lately and a mother just can't ask for anything more.

Happy Birthday Benny Style from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

Happy Mothers' Day!

The only good quality photos I have of my two Moms were portraits taken with their spouses, so not only do you get these two beautiful ladies, but as a bonus you get my Dads too.

I love my Mom. She constantly amazes me with her insight and ability to serve everyone around her in the most sincerely selfless way. She takes her role as mother and grandma so seriously and from an early age I was aware of what a privilege she felt it was to have and raise her children. I always looked forward to being a Mom because of how much she enjoyed it. I honestly could not ask for a better example of a person, wife and Mother.

I love Jamie. She raised Brennan and his brother, Brett, as a single-parent. I can't imagine how difficult that would be, but she did it wonderfully. She worked so hard, but still managed to put her boys first. Brennan is extremely loyal and grateful to his Mom for all she sacrificed for him. So am I. She's such a warm, bubbly fun and good person. She's a fabulous grandma and has been nothing but kind and supportive of me. I couldn't have a better Mother-in-law and friend.

Joyful Moments

A book I read once talked about letting the small joyful moments of motherhood carry us through the many less-than-joyful times. I loved that piece of wisdom and find it to be so true. The reality of being a stay-at-home Mom is a lot of laundry, picking-up, carpooling, refereeing fights, etc. Even though the majority of my time is probably actually spent on the things I find un-enjoyable and hard I am amazed how far one little moment of pure joy and love can carry me through many hours and even days of the challenging stuff.

One such moment happened just a few minutes ago. As I was chasing Ben down to put him down for his nap I got a bad case of the hiccups. While I carried him into his room hiccups were sort of exploding from me which was the funniest thing on earth to him. He started laughing so hard which of course made me laugh hard. I hiccuped and giggled all through the songs we always sing at nap time and he snuggled into me laughing the whole time. Pure joy. That should last me for a while.

Reality Check

Tonight as I made dinner I kept having that feeling that I was missing something. I paused and then laughed at my needless worry. I was totally on top of things today. I smiled as I thought of all that I had accomplished today. I went grocery shopping (with a 2 year and 4 year old in tow), cleaned my house (you know the dreaded Monday morning clean), worked on my church calling, prepared for Family Home Evening, did my little transcribing job, kept to my healthy eating plan, etc. Here I was even getting dinner underway early so we could go work in the yard tonight. We had our lesson, played our game and then I served a lovely tuna casserole (food snobs, don't judge me it's economical, nutritous and my kids love it). As I dished up the first plate that missing something feeling came into focus and I was quickly humbled. I can't even remember to put tuna in tuna casserole. Bon-bons and soaps tomorrow.

Weekend Update

Yay for a fun weekend. Boo for a stupid camera that I can't get to upload to my computer. As I fiddled with it I "formatted" my memory card. Evidently "format" means "completely and irrevocably erase every single photo". Fortunately there were only a few that I didn't have on my computer, but there were some really cute ones of Abby's soccer team on their final day and the kids up at a resort where we were visiting Brennan's parents. Grrr. I finally managed to upload a few photos from a little walk to our river in our mountains yesterday.

It was so beautiful yesterday so we took the opportunity to wander up through our mountains. It was so much fun and so good to be together in such amazing surroundings.

Anna always totally gets the beauty. She loves to find a little scenic spot and just sit and soak it in. She also gets a huge kick out of the littler kids and was giggling at their antics. Brennan, Anna and I were all throwing rocks trying to hit a specific rock across the river. She is really coordinated and loves to compete and do well. She's so growing up. We love Anna.

Abby was cracking us up. She is such a funny unpredictable whirl-wind of contradictions. Of all the kids she gets the most worked up and anxious about things we would never anticipate being scary, but then sometimes she just gets in these reckless wild moods and will do anything without a hesitation. She was the first to attempt to cross the freezing cold river. The current was pretty strong in one spot and really slippery so she didn't make it all the way. She was by far the wettest of us all. She was throwing rocks and it was giving me a heart attack because when she threw you never knew if it was going to go behind her, to either side or actually go some distance in front of her. She needs to work on her aim! We love Abby.

Nate has shed some of his cautiousness, but I would never call him reckless. He did agree to our traditional head-in-the-river. The last photo shows that ritual being carried out on Abby. For some reason that's what we do each time we go up there. Nate mostly loves throwing rocks into the water. On the way back home he literally could not take more than 2 steps without stopping to pick up a rock or twig to throw. He's such a boy. We love Nate.

Ben would not talk to, look at or just generally be bothered by anyone. He was so totally focused on throwing rocks into the river. Unlike Abby, he always managed to get his into the water. He was so incredibly zoned in to his occupation we had to keep a large radius around him clear because he wasn't about to let a sibling standing in his way stop him from throwing. We love Ben.

On our way home we saw a little dead bird. We, of course, had to mourn the loss of this bird that we never knew. After a proper amount of remorse we were finally able to journey on back home. Such a great day with all my favorite people. We are so lucky to be able to walk to that kind of setting.