My Favorite Things, Cont’d.

I can’t remember if I’ve done more than one of these posts, but I know I at least did one a long time ago.  (If I was a real blogger I would totally link to it.  A – I’m not a real blogger, B – Way too lazy.)  Anyway, so I couldn’t in good conscience title this post “My Favorite Things, Part II” because this could be part III.  It’s hard to be lazy and have a conscience.

Let’s start off with something that has kind of revolutionized our lives.   It’s even done it’s part in preserving our marriage.  There were few things Brennan liked hearing less than:  “Can you please get your scheduler/phone so we can calendar some things for the week/month?”  And, there were few things I liked hearing less than, “You never told me you were going out of town for the weekend, I can’t be here I’ve got a golf tournament.”  So, what is this revolutionizing, marriage saving tool you ask?  Google Calendar!!!  I know, I know it’s been around basically since the dinosaurs left, but for those of you who are even less hip and happening than I am you have got to get onboard!  I can put all of my appointments, kids’ games, practices, lessons,  etc. on my calendar from my computer and I can pull it up on my phone wherever I go.  That way when my child’s soccer game ends and no one seems to have brought the snack and I can pull my calendar up and see that yes, indeed, it was our turn for snack.  Perhaps my favorite feature though is that I all the events that involve Brennan needing to be home so I can go somewhere or needing him to attend, I just invite him, then hack his email account, accept the invitations and voila they magically appear on his calendar on his phone which he actually looks at.   With four kids playing soccer right now, this calendar has saved me.  We’ve only spaced two practices!!!

The second “favorite thing” is: 

I realize that wheat grinders aren’t the most sensational things out there, but until you’ve had the thrill of dumping wheat in it and having the loudest noise you’ve ever heard and then taking the top off and seeing a tub full of whole wheat flour – you just won’t understand.  Or, when you’re making homemade pizza and you pull your bag of ground cornmeal (popcorn kernels) to sprinkle on the pan before you put your whole wheat dough on it.  It’s like combining homemaking and power tools.  It’s fantastic.

Two Christmases ago, we got the boys these: 

They’re great, and many of you will be shocked to hear that our kids ride them inside.  Those babies have gotten us through two Winters.  One of the advantages of not having real wood floors I might stress a little more about that, but we just have a laminate.  Yes, our baseboards will need to be repainted, and probably sanded down to …okay so we may need new baseboards, but I’m telling you it’s worth it.  Even Joshy can cruise around on these and entertain himself for a long time.  However, for some reason they’re kind of loud.  There’s no motor or anything, just the noise of the wheels in motion gets loud and we’re doing loud just fine without their help.  So, for last Christmas Nate and Abby each got one of these:

Anna, Abby and Nate and their friends have literally spent hours and hours and hours on these riding around and around the dining room table, and they’re SILENT!!!!!  Abby and Nate often have a tendency to really clash – a lot.  However, I think there might just be hope for their relationship all because of the time they’ve spent laughing, crashing and riding their ripstiks around the dining room table together.

Finally, I’ve been baking a lot of whole wheat bread and we all love it.  It has been a little troubling though that the best way to eat this healthy wholesome treat is to smother it with butter.  I saw this at Costco one day and it was love at first bite. 

We also love cheese, but again there’s that whole troublesome fat/calorie issue so this my friends is the perfect spread.  It’s light and creamy and cheesy and delicious!!! 

That’s for this edition of Andrea’s Favorite Things!  Kind of lame and anti-climatic I know, but there won’t be any elves giving you each of these things.   

Lots of Love

It was a fabulous Mothers’ Day weekend.  Even the weather was in on it, til Sunday, but Friday and Saturday were BEAUTIFUL.  Friday night the fun began when we grabbed some food from Subway for a picnic at the park.  Brennan and I played tennis with the boys while the girls watched Joshy.  Then they traded duties so we got to play with all of them.  Eventually Joshy figured out he was being distracted from the main attraction and insisted on being on the court with a tennis racket.  It was such a fun night.  Afterwards the kids came home and had a late night here with friends. 

When Brennan asked me what I wanted for Mothers’ Day, I knew immediately what I wanted.  Cold hard cash, and time all to myself to go spend it.  So right after Anna’s thrilling soccer game, I went shopping for several hours (with my sister for some of it) and topped it off by going to Café Rio all by myself for lunch.  It was FANTASTIC. 

After that Brennan and I had tickets to a late matinee Play called “The Hasty Heart”.  It was so so good.  I highly recommend it.  We were both fighting a losing battle to control our emotions.  We kept trying to talk about it but then we’d have to stop to regain composure.  It was kind of hilarious.  After that we had an Elder’s Quorum activity at the church so we stopped in for some soup and great company. 

Sunday morning I slept in – one of my favorite things in life.   By the time I woke up the kids were practically exploding with anticipation of presenting their lovingly made gifts.  Anna made me an incredible breakfast of cinnamon pancakes.  I don’t really even like pancakes, but these were to die for.  I could have eaten them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  She also made this beautiful card:

 

Abigail made this cool card at school:

you open it and then you open it another way:

She also made this beautiful pin and bath salts at Activity Days:

Nate’s class put together a cookbook, wrapped in homemade wrapping paper, they also colored this beautiful little booklet of a sweet poem.

He also bought me some lotion at his class store (they earn fake money for the minutes they read each month and then have a “store” at the end of each month) and made me this beautiful pin from clay.

And last, but not least Ben made this at preschool:

and on the other side, this little survey with his answers:

My personal favorite is his guess at my age.  So funny.

As you can see I was completely loved and appreciated.   What sweet, thoughtful gifts and cards.   We enjoyed a lovely day at church and then topped it off with dinner at my parents’ with everyone who lives in-State.  It was so much fun, my parents have to bring up the ping pong table and a regular large table just to accommodate all of us, so it’s always a wild and crazy time.  A perfect way to celebrate Mothers’ Day!

Easter

We had such a nice Easter.  I’ve struggled to find a way to celebrate Easter in a way that satisfied my kids’ expectations of fun and goodies, but more importantly - my desire/responsibility to  have my children understand and celebrate the real Easter.  I’m not sure we’ve got it completely perfect yet, but we’re getting closer. 

We started Saturday night, Abby and I blew a dozen eggs.  (We made two small holes on each end of the eggs and then blow the yolk and egg whites out.)  I’m about the only one who likes hardboiled eggs so to hard-boil that many eggs and decorate them and then have them sit in my fridge until I throw them away just doesn’t make sense for us.   Then the kids decorated them and we can keep them out to enjoy for a long time.

I also made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.  They always love that.

I love how creative they got with their eggs and cookies.

Sunday morning the kids got up and searched for their hidden baskets.   When they found them they discovered some candy and some new church clothes for the special day.  

It’s always fun to watch the littlest take all the action in.

I went to choir practice and was so touched by the spirit of the music we sang.   I don’t know when I’ll stop being surprised by the power music has over me.  I felt so grateful to have a voice, to have a way to express the gratitude and reverence I have for Easter, for Jesus’s triumph over sin, and pain and death.   Made sweeter by the eclectic assortment of my devoted choir members, singing their sincerest praise. 

Church was beautiful, wonderful talks, heart-felt music, and inspiring lessons.  We came home and worked together to throw our feast together.  It was delicious.  My parents joined us for dessert and we all watched “Easter Dream” together.  I love that movie and it’s only 22 minutes long which is perfect for my kids.  We’ve watched it many times, but we love it.  It’s short and sweet and completely to the point. 

It was a lovely day.  I couldn’t have asked for a better one.  We love Easter.

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!