Easter Ants

I was too tired to do a big Easter this year.  I didn't do Passover or Easter egg hunts or coloring eggs or even Easter dinner (we had Easter tacos).  Trent, remembering the big Easter celebrations of his childhood, put together some Easter baskets for the kids with random stuff he had on hand.  I am always amused to see what random stuff he can pull out of his sneaky hiding places!  I did get Angel a new dress, because they were at the store and she is so cute.  After church and before we started getting dirty making Easter tacos (I think that should be a new tradition... wait, Sunday tacos IS our tradition), I pulled one of the boys outside to take a quick snapshot of our Easter dresses.

We posed for about 20 seconds before we realized we were standing in an ant nest and they were crawling all over our legs.

Yup, that's how holidays seem to go down around here!

Shining Like a Star

We acted out the nativity at a family party.  All the kids were adorable - at least mine were.  ;-)

Freddie is on the ground in the middle there, wearing a red shirt and a sheepskin.  He is a sheep and practiced his bleating very well.  Angel is the shepherd on the left in the pink pants.  Only fashion-forward shepherds could wear pink pants back in the day.  And Georgie is standing on the table, valiantly keeping his arms up as high as he can, for he is the star.

Labor Day Chill

I guess it is the end of summer.  Sigh.  I love having my kids at home.  I love not having to get up at any particular time.  I especially love not having to get up early.  Like before 9 or 10.  I know, I grumble too much.  But I am excited for this new year.  I am so glad that my children have the opportunity to go to school and learn.  I am looking forward to having a quiet house.  I like having these changing seasons in life - it's never boring!

basking in the sun, and pretending I'm warm

To celebrate Labor Day (and to make up for not using our season passes, not once!), we went to the waterpark.  It was to be a day filled with water slides and lazy rivers and wave pools and laying in the sun and trying to avoid sunburn.  Unfortunately, the day was cloudy and unseasonably cool, which meant that only the most daring of the boys even wanted to get in the water.  The wave pool was somewhat warm, but the breeze was uncomfortably cold.  It didn't take long for the littlest ones to get chilled through, and want nothing more than to be swaddled in a big, dry towel.

We even managed to visit with Ben, who has spent his summer with crazy-busy hours as a manager of the food areas.  He looks good in his no-nonsense black non-slip shoes!  I'm glad he got a good job for the summer and has been able to save up money for college.

Yeah, we didn't last very long.  Hooray for not getting sunburned, though!  And now the kids can't say I never took them to the waterpark.  It was just too much of a challenge to gather up the strength, all of them, and Opa.  He didn't want to come today, so that made it possible for us to come.

I was able to snap a picture of everyone but Ben, who was busy working, and David, who had a splendid time on the water slides in spite of the cold.  He is our most adventurous one, after all.  Sometimes I wonder if the effort to have a family outing is worth it, but I love to see the happy in their faces.  We're making memories, at least!

Happy Mother's Day!

This was the best part of my Mother's Day,  by far - being together with my kids.  I really don't need roses or special dinners (although I like them very much - don't get me wrong!  Keep those coming!).  But what I long for most is to have my family together and just basking in the air they breathe.  Makes me happy.

The missionary call didn't happen until late in the evening (which was early in the morning in Madagascar!), so the little ones were only able to visit for a few minutes before they needed to head off to bed. Trent was coming down with a fever, so he turned in earlier as well. 

It was fun to just sit around and visit with all these boys. I love sitting back and listening to them tell stories and joke with each other. One at a time they all got tired and left, so I got a few minutes of one-on-one with my boy.

He'll be home soon, and we're looking forward to it. He has been missed around here!

Happy Valentine's Day

We were cleaning out some storage areas, where my mom had kept all her holiday decorations.  I'm not sure what happened to the valentine wreath, but we found Christmas wreaths in this box.  Most importantly, we found this love note on the box.

My parents were married nearly 45 years before she passed away.  As I'm helping my dad with his history, he glosses over tough areas (whether intentionally or he really can't remember, I don't know) and highlights his love for my mother.  I know there were hard times - some I witnessed, and some my mom told me about later.  I remember going to my bedroom at night after there had been some negative feelings and pressing my ear to their door in an attempt to see if their murmured voices were having an argument.  I couldn't ever tell.  They never fought in front of us.  

No relationship is without its ups and downs, but I'm glad they stuck it out together.  Still in love is an inspiration.  

Happy Valentine's Day, you sweethearts.

Big Family Christmas Parties

We had a big Christmas party with my brothers and their families over the Christmas break.  Actually, we had three family parties: an adult one with Trent's siblings and parents that we look forward to all year, the big party with all of Trent's family, and the big but not-as-big party with my family.  Trent's parents have seven children, and there are nearly 40 grandchildren, plus a handful of great-grandchildren, so we are getting to be a pretty large group.  I only have four brothers, and no married grandchildren (Alec is the oldest of that generation), but we are getting substantial as well.  All the parties were enjoyable, but I'm only going to write about the one with my family because I was in charge of it.  And I didn't take any pictures of the others.

We met in my brother's church building because we needed the space for the activities we would be doing.  I wanted to just play lots of games.  We marked off a space for the little kids and build table-and-blanket forts for them.  My small fry were very happy all day there with paper to color on and games to play and lots of blocks to build with and a huge pile of stuffed animals.  And they ran around the halls some, too.

The first thing we did was take a group picture, before we got too wild and ragged.  I'll see if I can find that.  I think we ended up having more than 30 people there.

We went through our game closet and brought all the games we were tired of, and my mom's old games for a game swap.  We just piled all those games on a long table and the middle kids played some during the day.

We had a family tree race, and tried to be the first team to assemble our ancestors in the right order.  We learned that we know more about our pioneer forefathers and mothers than we do about our German ancestors.  We also learned which brother we should have on our team!  (hint - he's the deep-thinking one)

We played a game of Family Feud, where we learned that slamming your hand down hard on a bell really, really hurts, but it's worth it (maybe?) if you get the question for your team.  Also, trying to kiss your wife as a means of distraction so she doesn't hit the bell before you may not work as well as you want it to.

Trent arranged for a pizza truck to bring us our dinner, which was delicious and fun.  I'll never know how someone figured out to put raspberries on pizza, or mangos, or peanut Thai sauce, but they made some really amazing combinations.  And the dessert pizza!  Yum.  What a man I have.

After dinner, we cleared out all the tables and chairs and got ready for the big snowball fight.  We all brought our Christmas boxes and leftover wrapping paper and piled it up in the middle of the gym floor.  We split the boxes, the paper, and the people into two more-or-less equal teams, handed each team two rolls of packing tape, and blew the start whistle.  

The rules were simple.  The forts had to be behind the free-throw line.  If you got hit with a "snow" ball, you had to lay down before you could run away.

I loved watching Chris's vision and creativity with building the fort and outfitting his little brothers.  He was so patient!

The forts were pretty impressive, and surprisingly sturdy.  All the kids (especially the big ones) had a good time building.  It doesn't hurt to have men with lots of building experience, die-hard Lego creators and even a general contractor in the mix.

Freddie in his peppermint armor.  He refused to take his helmet off, even though it significantly impeded his sight.

I didn't bother further explaining or enlarging upon the rules, so they developed naturally.  Scrunched wrapping paper doesn't fly very well, and was helped out with a bit of tape.  "Getting hit" was defined as "on your skin or clothing," so elaborate armor was invented.

Georgie ran laps around the gym so his wrapping paper cape would fly out behind him.  He also had a box-helmet with a tall red flag on it, but it was too easy for the enemy to spot and thus was abandoned.

I think they spent more time in building forts, making ammo, and crafting costumes than actually lobbing hits against the other team.  It was fun to watch the creativity and comraderie.  After a while, but before they could possibly be ready! I blew my anemic whistle for the snowball fighting to commence.  And then I moved out of the way. 

We had some couches set up on the sidelines for Opa and mothers with small babies and anyone else who would rather watch.  I retreated to safety there, although we were not immune to the occasional badly-lobbed ball or retreating warrior running recklessly back to his fort.

We even had Goliath, taunting the other team to send out their best warriors to best him.  The little girl in front of him came our and did just that.

The snowball fight ended as the forts were falling apart, and when one team's fort was propelled over the center line.  It was a wonderful, fun mess!  We played all day, and had a great time.  At least I did.  I love being with these good people!  See what happens when you have a good family?  Families are pretty awesome, and I'm grateful for mine.

Mission Monday

No letters today!   Wow that's unusual to not hear from either of our missionaries.   And it's transfer day today, too.  I wonder if either of them will be transferred to a new area.  Alec will be, I'm sure, as the area he had been working in has been closed.  I'm curious as to where he might be going now, and if he will finish out his mission there.  Only three months until he comes home!

But no matter about the lack of letters. I'm still happy from being able to Skype with my boys on Christmas.  The brothers all had a good time visiting, too.

Chris visiting with Alec on Christmas morning

David and Eddie, with Georgie reading his book between them, chatting with Ben on Christmas night

Love them all!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year with a sore throat or two.  Needless to say, we were not terribly festive.  We managed to stay awake all evening, which was a challenge.  I don't know why we can't end the old year a few hours early!  We even missed the countdown because of a confusion over the correct channel.  Oh well.  The new year came in whether we watched it do so or not.

Trent got a new game, based on a show he loves, so he played that with the kids.  Of course, we had to have a round of Disney Monopoly as well.  The twins are old enough now, mostly, that they don't throw the pieces around like a Tasmanian devil explosion anymore, so that's good.

For the first time in years - a couple decades, actually - I don't feel panic at the beginning of a new year.  People look back at the past year and hope the next one will be better, but I always had an anxiety attack, worrying like crazy that the new year would actually be harder than the old one was.  Those fears of mine were not wholly unfounded, because we've had some pretty hard times.  But this year feels different.  Now, I feel different.  There's a new optimism in me that I haven't seen for a long, long time.  I really do feel that this year will bring good things.  Hooray!

Happy New Year!  I think this will be a good one for us.

Sharing Christ's Light

 

As we pause this Christmas Eve to remember the birth of a baby in a stable, we want to extend warmest wishes to you and your family.  I wish we would light a candle from the happiness in our hearts and hand it to you, to help you light your part of the world.

Merry Christmas.

Yule Log

David came home and said he needed to do some extra credit for his French class.  I gladly let him use the kitchen for his cooking project, and he whipped up this yule log.  It's a pretty impressive chocolate jelly roll cake with a whipped cream filling and thick chocolatey frosting.  He pulled leaves from the holly bush out front to dress it up and presented it under a silver cake cover.  

Well done, and 

joyeux Noël!

Mission Monday

So this week I get to see my missionary boys!  No, this Mama is not excited at all.  And that's a lie.

One will be skyping  Christmas morning, and the other on Christmas night.  Somehow I'm thinking Christmas will be a longer day than usual, but I'll take it!  I love that on the very day we celebrate Christ's birth, we can visit with two missionaries who are devoting their lives right now to serving Christ in the best ways they know.

I like how Ben put it in his letter today:

But now we'll just go to Malagasy Morsel time. It's Jesoa Kristy. Guess what that means. It means Jesus Christ. I'm sure that was a hard one. And that's what Christmas is all about. I love it.But I just kind of had a cool story from yesterday that I wanted to share with y'all. We got home from church and were watching Mormon Messages on Elder Snell's USB while we were making our delicious spaghetti. And there was this one video that had a little clip of Jesus walking with his disciples and I just thought to myself, "What I would give to get to walk with Him and learn from Him every day." And as soon as I thought that, the next thought came into my head, "That's exactly what you're doing right now." I get to do his work and I get to learn from Him from the scriptures every day and we all get to do that! I love it so much! That just made my day.

So I'd like to wish you all a fantastic Christmas and don't forget to do some things that our Savior would have you do to let you come unto Him while you're all celebrating Christmas.

And as always, you can see the South African blog here and the Madagascar blog here.

I Need a Nap

I am so tired.  So really, really tired.  That is a big reason why my writing has faltered over the past several months.  My health has been failing.  Failing.  I pause over that word.  It sounds so dreadful and dead-full.  I'm not dead, and I won't be for a long, long time.  I'm too stubborn to go ,I've too much work still to do, and God's not done with me yet.

But as I think of the word "failing," it works for me.  I often fail.  And I often get back up again.  Sometimes it takes me a while to get back on my feet, and sometimes I'm quicker.  But there should be no shame in failing - only in the refusal to try again. 

So yes, my health was failing.  My body was not functioning properly.  There is no shame in that.  I'm working on making better- and different - health choices, and am under the care of a few good health providers, so I'm getting better.  Slowly, but surely, I am healing.  But it all makes me so tired.

To my credit, nearly all the Christmas shopping is done.  I just have to pick up the gifts for my man and we're there.  I've started wrapping.  The tree is up and has lights on.  Maybe we'll even put some ornaments on one day.  Maybe.  The lights are up on the front of the house.  I successfully navigated two Holiday parties without falling apart.  We've gone to one Christmas concert (David's choir was absolutely angelic.  I don't usually expect that from a junior high chorus, but they sang straight to my heart this year.), and we'll hit another one tonight (Eddie's beginning band concert.  Should be fun.).  My kids are well fed and happy for the most part.  I finished the laundry.  My house is passably clean.  Everyone made it to school on time this morning.

And now, I shall go take a nap.

Halloween Letters

Here is the Halloween sign I scribbled to invite the trick-or-treaters to open the door instead of standing on the front porch.  

My dad wanted to pass out the Halloween candy, but he couldn't get up and down to answer the door.  We pulled his recliner to the front door and set him in it with a big bowl of candy on his lap.  The big door was open, with just the glass screen door to keep out the bit of October chill.  It was funny, in a pathetic sort of way, to see the costumed children scramble up the porch steps, ring the doorbell, and stand there awkwardly, staring at my dad and the candy while he ineffectually waved at them to open the door.  

But they all love it in the end, treat-passer-outer and children alike.

What a fun holiday.

Happy Halloween!

Happy end-of-October to you!

We did Despicable Me 2 for costumes this year, and ended up with Gru, Lucy, Dr. Nefario, Agnes who would way rather wear a dress than short-alls and her fluffy unicorn, two minions, and a nerd-shadow.  A wha...?  Well, we have a black morph suit and he fit into it this year.  He just had to use it.  Welcome to junior high.  And yes, I had a lipstick taser in my pocket.

Happy Father's Day

Found another post I forgot to hit "publish" on.  

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful man!  When we were in high school, I always thought he'd be a great Daddy, just by watching him play with my little brothers.  How lucky I am now, to watch him play with our kids.  And how lucky are they to have such a hands-on Dad?

This is what he wanted for Father's Day - to play games with the kids.  First he played little-kid Monopoly with the younger set.  Who knew that playing with children was so manly?  Every father ever, that's who.

Then they got out the big boy version and played for about an hour.  They all had lots of fun.

You are terrific, Trent!  So glad we all have you.

Mission Monday

My boys called home yesterday for Mother's Day.  Well, actually they called home on Mother's Day, because that is one of the two days every year that they are allowed to call home.  I do not think they called home for Mother's Day because neither of them wished me a happy Mother's Day.  I do believe they still love me, though.  :-)

Due to the time differences, we had to set up the call for 6 AM Sunday morning.  I might have wondered about the sanity of that schedule a few times during the week.  They are worth it, missed beauty sleep and all.  Loved seeing these happy faces!  It was nice to have my family together for a little while.  And I loved listening to the two of them tease each other.  Happy day!


From South Africa:

Also, church on Sunday was amazing! It was really full. We had over 130 people there and it was amazing to see all the people that decided to come for mothers day. Also this week, we had another crazy week and it was busy as could be. I love being a missionary here and getting the chance that I have right now to work with the people that are around us, and also my companions! They are awesome, that is all I have to say.

Read (the Book of Mormon). It changes lives, and there really is nothing better that seeing somebody light up about what they read, and how they have seen it bless their life. It is such a simple thing, but it has Eternal Consequences. Heavenly Father blesses us not for how much we read, but the simple fact that we did read, and that we made the effort to read. I love it and it is amazing. The Book of Mormon has definitely changed me and my life, and I have seen it change so many other people's lives. So let it change yours!


From Madagascar:

Skyping was way good! I loved every minute of it and had a blast! I did notice that of all of my brothers who promised to email me, none of them did... But I'm sure they still love me... But really, it was way good to see everybody! Go family!!!

I'm not going to lie, one of my favorite feelings in the world comes from coming in to a time and asking how their Book of Mormon reading has been going, and they brighten up and start sharing what they read and how they felt. It just gives me the best feeling because they're building a very strong foundation. The Book of Mormon is irreplaceable in missionary work. It is irreplaceable in our own conversions, and it is irreplaceable in God's work here on the earth.

So read it. You'll see that it's good. And if it's been a while since you've read it, or if you've forgotten its goodness, now is a good time to discover it again.

Happy Mother's Day

This Mother's Day weekend, I am so thankful that there ARE such wonderful things as mothers.

I'm lucky to have had the best mom ever.  She was just what I needed to make me grow how I needed to.  I wish I could give her a big hug today, and tell her how much I love her.  I'll have to settle for asking the Lord to relay my message of love, and putting soggy flowers on her grave in the rain.

I'm lucky to be a mother.  I never would have guessed that having all these little ones and big ones and medium ones would fill my heart up with so much love and joy.  Sometimes when I've been wiping too many noses and bottoms, I just want to hear a little bit of thanks.  When I've had too many late nights with my teens, with middle of the night bad dream comforting, and early morning emergency homework, I want to have a break.  I worry.  I plan.  I cry.  I ache.  And at the same time, I love like I never knew was possible.  My heart is so full.

This Mother's Day, I'm not going to fret that I've missed my day at the spa... again... because I'll be too busy getting hugs and kindergarten drawings.  I'm not going to complain that I have to drag myself out of bed at an unearthly hour because I'll be too busy happily talking to my missionaries.  I'm not going to sit and mope about all the opportunities I've missed because I'll be too busy loving other good mothers at our family dinner.  I choose not to be sad or depressed because I'm going to choose to count my blessings that I get to be a mother.

I'm grateful for families, with all their warts and wrinkles, and for good women who have loved and nurtured me.

Thanks, Lord, for giving us mothers!

Easter Week Celebrations

I was wondering whether we should focus on Easter this week, as it is Holy Week.  Or maybe preparing for General Conference, since we get to listen to that this weekend.  Or maybe just all the wonderful things I heard about the family at last weekend's Women's Conference.  So many choices!

I decided to treasure Women's Conference in my heart, listen to past Conference messages for morning scripture study, and do Holy Week as outlined by the beautiful singing group Mercy River, here.  IT's a great way to remember the last week of Christ's life with activities that are fun for children.

They celebrate Palm Sunday, Mad Monday (turning over the tables in the temple), Teaching Tuesday (going over some of the parables taught), Spy Wednesday (Judas conspiring), Passover, Good Friday, Spirit World Saturday, and Easter Sunday.

We'll be following the seder ideas we found last year at PowerofMoms for Passover.

So far, the kids have really enjoyed it, and it has been a good reminder for me, too.  I wonder which day we should dye eggs on?

Valentine's Weeks

They lasted.  Who knew that roses would last?  Usually they are droopy after a couple of days, sad-looking but still fragrant at four days, and begging to be removed before a week is up.  My sweet husband bought me an enormous bouquet of roses and lilies for Valentine's Day, and they lasted for more than three weeks!  I love the gorgeous fragrance every time I walk down the hall.

Can you smell them from this picture?  Mmmm...

Maybe he really loves me after all, to get me the magic kind of roses.  

Thanks, Dear.  I love you, too.

Happy Valentine's Day

What a happy day!  Sometimes.  In college I wore black to commemorate the day, but now I have more people to love - and less time to worry about myself - so I like the day much more.

I got little treats for each of the kids, but nothing Pinterest-worthy.  Love doesn't show up on Pinterest very well, anyway.  Trent surprised me with a giant bouquet of roses and lillies!  It was gorgeous and smells so good.  I love walking around the corner where the vase stands and just breathing it all in.  

Angel made (ok, I made) little books to give all of her classmates.  She loves nothing more than folding a piece of paper in half a few times, stapling one side, and trimming the edges to make a little book to write in.  So we made Valentine books with heart-printed paper for all her little friends.

Eddie made a Valentine Death Star to put his valentines into.  Out of cardboard and duct tape.  That morning.  I guess that is about what a sixth grade boy thinks of The Day of Love.