Abby’s Poetry Contest Entry

Abby, our aspiring poet, came home about a month and a half ago with a paper about a poetry contest.  She was beyond excited and determined to write a winning poem.   She tried and tried and worked and worked, but couldn’t come up with anything she was happy with.  Last week, after being sent to bed, she ran upstairs and told me the poem was finally coming to her and could she please get some paper and write it down?  I couldn’t deny her that when she had finally found her muse.  This is what she came up with:

What My Family Means To Me...

by Abigail J. Wright

What my family means to me is love.

I believe our families come from above.

As a family sometimes we disagree

but I just say to myself – I know they still love me.

When I start to feel despair,

I try to remember that they care.

My Dad's “the man”, he saws trees in the yard.

My Mom feeds me and works really hard.

When there's nothing to do on a rainy day,

my siblings are usually willing to play.

If I'm upset I can talk to my Dad or Mom,

and it helps me feel more calm.

I try to remember my family will always be there,

and that they really do care.

If I start to feel ignored or like I'm under a cover,

I can talk to my grandma or grandpa, my uncle or aunt, or sister or brother.

They're all part of my family tree,

and that's what my family means to me!

 

The contest will be judged on May 12th and she is anxiously awaiting the results.   She read her poem to her class.  They memorize poems each week and her sweet teacher is making Abby’s one of the poems they’ll all memorize. 

Down South

We tried to escape the cold, wet weather here by heading down South a few hours to Brennan’s parents’ home.  We had one pretty good day, but evidently the cold and wet followed us.  Bummer.  However, we still managed to pack a lot of fun into our little trip. 

We drove down on this little guy’s big 5 birthday, so when we got there, we celebrated all over again.  Grandpa and Grandma treated us and some cousins to a Pirate Cove pizza place.  What a fun birthday for Ben!   Made all the more special by running into our next door neighbors, Benny’s best friends – Ty, Diana, and Will Keller.  After the Pirate Cove, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa’s for a fabulous cake, made by his professional cake decorating aunt, Emily.

Just a tiny bit cooler than my sorry attempt at a baseball cap, but hey, it’s not a competition, right?  Both were made with love.  Seriously, though how cool is that cake?  He loved it!

He also got to open some presents from Grandpa and Grandma and was thrilled with what he got.

 

The next day while I stayed home with Joshy so he could nap, Brennan took the kids hiking.  They had a blast, and to cap it all off they happened onto one of their favorite tv shows (Goodluck Charlie)  filming a special movie.  One of the stars (Gabe) even said “hi” to them.   The girls have been in love with him ever since that fateful word.

After lunch, Grandma Jamie and I took the kids to the IFA Store to see the baby chicks and bunnies.  They were adorable.  Anna begged with all her might for a bunny, but I didn’t give in.  I’m getting good at that.

I’d like to tell you Nate’s hair is not combed just because we were on vacation.  Evidently, every day is a vacation around here

 

After IFA we went to Brigham Young’s home for a tour.  Some appreciated the tour more than others.  I’ll let you judge from the pics.

The next day Jamie took the girls to paint some ceramics which they LOVED.

Good times, thanks for spoiling us, Grandma!

The kids all did great in the car.  Even when we got 10 minutes from our house and due to an accident due to the BLIZZARD on April 9th, the freeway was shut down so after driving for 5 hours the last 10 minutes took about 45 minutes.  The kids did great, Brennan and I almost started crying  

Nate is OBSESSED with the song “Dynamite” and listened to while singing along roughly 374 times.  Strangely, we never get sick of it, it cracks us up how seriously he takes it.

Gotta love roadtrips!  Nothing beats coming home though, even in a blizzard. 

What if Pretty Was Just an Adjective?

Many years ago I happened to see an episode of Oprah that was about eating disorders in young teenage girls.   Oprah interviewed a beautiful young girl (probably around 15 years old) about her problem.   She just knew that she was ugly and was desperate to feel beautiful.  Oprah said, “But you are beautiful!”  She really was.  However, that exchange I watched all those years ago really bothered me and still does.  Everyone around this girl was trying to convince her that she already was beautiful and didn’t need to destroy her body with eating disorders.   I know that they weren’t trying to imply “if you weren’t so pretty you might be justified in being bulimic,” but they kind of did.  Even worse than that though, is that whenever we’re trying to reassure an insecure girl, or to fortify a little girl against ever being insecure the only weapon in our arsenal always seems to be to tell them how beautiful they are.   What if when that 15 year old girl looked in the mirror and said to her mother/sister/friend/counselor, “I’m not pretty” they said, “So.” ?

What if Mothers stopped saying things like “these pants make me look HUGE.” or “Please don’t take my picture, I hate pictures of myself when I’m this fat.”  or “enjoy being young and skinny while you can."?   It’d be great if we could stop saying those things all together, but what if we at least stopped saying them in front of our kids, especially daughters?

What if we didn’t tolerate anyone talking about how “hot” certain women/girls are and the specifics of what makes them that way and conversely how “ugly” others are and why?

What if we banned plastic surgery and natural enhancement ads and billboards?

 
What of instead of telling our kids, “What really matters is what’s on the inside” and then contradicting ourselves by putting unreasonable amounts of time and energy and money into what’s on the outside --  instead we insisted that we all dress appropriately, modestly, allowing for attractiveness and personal style but beyond that just really didn’t make a fuss about appearance?
What if, as members of the Church, we didn’t use our doctrines regarding being healthy and to “…be ye therefore perfect…” as justifications to be obsessed with looking perfect?

What if being pretty or skinny were just some of many adjectives not nearly as desirable as being called kind, gracious, intelligent, creative etc.?

What do you think?

Benjamin George Turns 5!

I’m trying to skip my usual rant about how time seems to be determined to cheat me out of my little ones, but sorry I couldn’t do it.  I couldn’t do another birthday post about another one of my kids without commenting on the fact that it’s time to turn off warp speed! 

Tell me Ben wasn't this adorable bald, blue-eyed blob like 3 seconds ago?

7 months old

 

1 years old

 

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

and 5!

I can’t even begin to say how grateful we are Benny was born.  He’s such a sweet, independent, affectionate, headstrong, miniature grown-up, heart-meltingly adorable boy!  From the day he was born, he was in  hurry to catch up to his big siblings.  He and Abby have been my most mellow, contended children.  He’ll play by himself for hours on end, but is always thrilled when his brothers or sisters are ready to play.  He loves to be where the action is, but is often happy to just observe.  He likes things on his terms, but doesn’t ask for much.  When I asked him what he’d like for his birthday he requested his very own lamp.  When I pushed him for more than that, “What’s something really fun that you want?”  “Oh, yeah – my very own garbage can too.”   He’s such a sunshine boy and our lives are definitely brighter because of him.  Happy birthday, Benny boy!!!We love Benjamin!

Update

 

Anna has grown up so much this last year.  She hardly ever misses the bus now.  I love hearing the mad dash in the morning as she flies through the house looking for her homework or calculator and then busts out the door to high tail it to the bus stop.  I don’t think she ever makes it with time to spare, but as long as she makes it I’m happy.  She has a real sense of style and I love how well she knows herself and how her style reflects that.  I’ve been impressed with the outfits and hair styles she comes up with.   She’s also really made huge strides in fighting off her OCD tendencies -- a tender mercy we are so grateful for.  Although recently she babysat for us and when she changed Joshy’s very stinky diaper Abby had to be on perfume duty and keep spraying in front of Anna’s nose, while Anna did the dirty job.  She feels things deeply and as long as you’re not on the wrong side of those feelings, it’s fun to watch her get fired up about things.   I keep thinking that we need to get her involved in a cause, she’s ready to fight to the death.   I love that about her.  We love Anna.

Abigail is still very worried about the kidnapper that has been in nearby neighborhoods.  She’s trying very hard to be brave though.  She’s a sensitive soul.   Her worrying comes in handy though, because she keeps great track of Joshy.  It’s usually her or Ben who discovers him in danger and saves him.   She just told me today that she wants to get good at singing and then go on a show where she can win a million dollars and then use that for her mortgage.   When I asked her how she even knows about a mortgage she told me that I explained it to her once.  I told her that as long she and her husband work hard and don’t buy a bigger house than they need or can afford they wouldn’t have to worry.  “Yeah, but I still just don’t want to worry about a mortgage.”  Cracks me up.  She’s such a grown up.  We love Abby.

Nate had his highly anticipated animal fair yesterday.  We got to go and see all their hard work.  Each child made a poster about their animal and an art project.  We walked around and asked them all questions about their animal.  Nate has been looking forward to this for weeks.  If you need to know anything about a bobcat, he’s your guy.   I love watching him when he’s speaking earnestly about something.  He thinks faster than he can talk and you can practically see through his eyes all the thoughts tumbling around in his head.  His big brown eyes full of sincere intensity.  Yesterday when we were watching the BYU game, and it was do or die for the Cougars, he turned to us with a shy smirk and said, “I feel like I want to say a prayer for them.”  It was so cute.  We love Nathan.

Our sunshine boy has been a little uncharacteristically cloudy with occasional bursts of storminess lately.  He got so sick a few weeks ago and we still feel like he hasn’t quite bounced back all the way.   I also feel like, with my boys especially, the constraints of Winter kind of builds up in their bodies.  The arrival of Spring has been a little bit of a tease this year.  We can’t seem to have any kind of consistent warmth and nice days outside.  Hopefully when warmer weather comes and stays they can work all the winter out of their bodies.  The sunshine isn’t completely overshadowed though, whenever Ben surprises us with a trick or tidbit of knowledge and we ask where he learned it, he shrugs and says casually, “I just learned it up.”  Yesterday when we were leaving Nate’s animal fair where we had met Brennan, we walked out and Ben said, “I really love him”, referring to Brennan and then added, “and you.  That’s why we’ll be a family forever.”  We love Benjamin.

There are just no words to describe this Joshua of ours.  One minute he’s squawking demands at us and then the next winning our undying adoration by turning on the charm.   He’s always ready to be played with.  My parents came over one night and he just kept walking over to one of them and saying, “HI, Papa!”  “Hi, Mimi!”  Knowing he’s irresistible, eager to be picked up and tickled and loved.   It breaks my heart to think there are little ones who don’t take it for granted that everyone around them loves them.   He scared us to death, again, by once again getting on a little bike thing in our garage and down our terrifyingly steep driveway at what seemed like 75 mph.  He went all the way down on an angle right into the bottom of our railing on the side of our driveway.  We watched horrified, in the garage.  Fortunately the front of his little bike took most of the impact, but his head hit the railing after the bike did.  He had two big bumps, but they went away quickly and he was fine.  He must have a crew of guardian angels on him full time.   That scene replayed itself in my head at least 100 times.  I’m pretty sure I lost a few years of my life, but all things considered, a small price to pay.  We love Joshua.

Home Can Be a Heaven on Earth?

There are times I think I might go completely mad with the noise and chaos that surrounds me, then there are times I think I might explode from pure happiness.  It’s funny how I can go from one to the other in zero seconds flat.   The 6 people I live with are a lively bunch.  They’re opinionated, emotional, stubborn, passionate, loud – very loud, sensitive, and oh so affectionate.   The kids are getting old, and there seems to be a direct connection to their getting older and more conflicts.   It’s still not terrible, they really do get a long for the most part, but they’ve had several years now to become fully acquainted with every button they can push and the very predictable responses they will get from each button.   They’ve even developed a shorthand for pushing buttons, one of them can just give another a look or utter one little word and they both know exactly what was meant, and the “victim” never fails to give a more than satisfactory victim-y show.  Come to think of it, that part never gets abbreviated.

Obviously, the moments that they all get along are cherished.  Even though that often means a lot of messes and a lot of noise, it’s truly heartwarming.  Tonight the 5 of them played “tiger” which is some kind of tag game, and “leprechaun” which I have no idea how to play.  To hear Anna down to Joshy laughing wildly and running around together is something I treasure more and more.   Joshy is fairly new to the mix and Anna is already around/available less and less, so seeing them all together in a happy way is heavenly.

“But If Ye Are Prepared, Ye Shall Not Fear”

Last week we heard there was a man who made 3 kidnapping attempts in nearby neighborhoods.   All boys.  The same day I let my boys go to the park with some friends without me.   Nice.   My poor kids, mostly Abby and Nate, are kind of obsessed with this kidnapper.  Ben doesn’t seem to be too concerned and Anna is ok, but definitely a little creeped out.  Ben and Joshy are happily ignorant.

Last night for Family Home Evening I decided this was a good opportunity to review our safety rules/tips.  I started by having them read D&C 38:30 “But if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.” and explained to them that after tonight, they would be armed with all the knowledge they needed, and that since they were prepared there was no need to fear.  We went over all the scenarios I could think of and talked about what the best thing to do would be in each one.  We even acted several out and then I had each of them practice yelling and screaming while I pretended to try and pull them away.  They loved that.  Joshua was fascinated by that whole scene and insisted on several turns.  He’d hold my hand and then scream, “HEP!”  It was so cute but kind of broke my heart he was completely unaware of the concept of fear and danger and evil.  My big 3 kids are totally aware, even in their sheltered, safe little life they feel fear all the time.  The contrast between them and the two little boys was stark and sad.  It also broke my heart that all too soon, those two will come to understand those concepts.  I hate that.

Poor little Abby just stared at me the whole time with pure terror in her eyes.  There hasn’t been a second since Friday night when she heard about it that she hasn’t worried about it.  Nate has talked about it a lot, but hasn’t seemed all that worried, still playing outside etc, but last night he broke down when he was going to bed.  He had come into our room the Sat. and Sun. nights after having bad dreams.  He told me last night his nightmares were about the kidnapper.  Clearly, he’s been terrified too, but wants to be brave.  It was gut-wrenching. 

I hate that my kids are so scared and that until they know this man is in jail, there’s not much I can do or say that will relieve their fear.   Abby was trying to understand why this man would want to kidnap.  She asked me if I thought he just wasn’t able to have kids and so he wanted to steal one to have.  She wondered why he didn’t just adopt a little boy.   All I had the heart to tell her was that someone who would stoop to kidnapping didn’t deserve to be able to adopt a child.   What a sad, sad world.