a random non-Friday but absolutely necessary {this moment}

Thank you, Brandon, for capturing this. 

Dancing Queen

I didn't grow up dancing, not in paid classes at least. I guess this is the reason that getting my daughter into a pink tutu and ballet shoes at the earliest age possible was never on my to do list as a mother. Marie had different plans.

How do I not register my almost 4-year-old for dance when she throws on a tutu whenever she hears music so that she can dance? How could I ignore her impulse to twirl in any pretty dress she ever wears?

I couldn't.

Marie has been in dance for about a month now. She's in a class with one of her best friends. To say she loves it is an understatement.

And, I'll be honest, I can't wait to get to doll her up in a frilly costume come recital time.

William-ese

Taken June 2011

William: Mommy, I wish I could do everything for you so you didn't have to work so hard.

I posted this as my facebook status today and a friend suggested I get his signature on this so I can hold him to it in years to come.

Not a bad idea, not bad at all. 

In the meantime, I am going to bask in the complete love and thoughtfulness that was behind that statement. He might not be able to follow through, but my sweet William meant every word of it.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

There are a lot of recent changes for our family. William starting kindergarten. All three kiddos home with me every morning. William starting violin. Marie starting dance. Anne walking. Brandon in a new-ish calling. Me pregnant.

Yep. You read that right.

I think most who read this blog already know the news, but I thought I would make it blogger official anyway.

Baby #4 is due to arrive around the middle of March. On almost a daily basis in those inevitable moments of craziness we (Brandon and I) look at each other and wonder how we are going to survive adding one more to the chaos. Then there are other moments when we watch our kids playing together and imagine that 4th little someone running along side the others and it just feels so right.

William and Marie are both thrilled. They've been talking about "the new baby" or, in William's case, "our baby brother" since before I was pregnant. I'd like to think they knew just as strongly as we did that there was supposed to be another child in the family.

So, there you have it. "Official" announcement of pregnancy. Check.

Marie and Mommy School

Marie is not attending Joy School or preschool this year. 

I did my darndest to get a Joy School group together. When June and July came and went and I still didn't have a single commitment from anyone, I knew I had better come up with a plan B.

Plan B took about 2 seconds to decide on. Plan B was to keep her home with me. 

Next fall, Marie will have to go to preschool. Teaching Joy School while tending Anne was do-able. Teaching Joy School with a 2-year-old Anne and a new baby would be insanity. Yet, I believe in the Joy School curriculum so strongly that I want to be sure all my kids are exposed to it. Which brings us back to this year.

We are doing our own casual little version of Joy School. 

Each Sunday evening I scan the two lesson plans for the upcoming week (Joy School is typically twice a week) and choose something to cover each day. I include the songs and finger plays in our morning circle time and include an art project at least once a week. (I say this as if we have been doing it for ages. We are on week 3. It's a habit I'm working on. So far, so good.)

Marie has been a pleasure to work with. She loves to sit and color and draw and learn and discuss and sing, in a way that I could never get William to do at that age. And William? He joins us for circle time, but beyond that mornings are his free time (well, besides chores and violin practice). I've found, however, that he loves re-learning all the Joy School songs and discussing the Joy with us. His participation is voluntary and he usually chooses to join us. 

And Anne? Two words. Morning nap.

The Big Day!

Finally. After waiting all summer ("Mommy, do I have kindergarten today?), getting a little teaser for one day and then having to wait another week ... ("Mommy, what day do I get to go to kindergarten without you? What day is it today? I just want to go tomorrow."), ... after all that waiting William's first official day of kindergarten finally arrived.

 He was thrilled and a bit disappointed that I was making him wear a collared shirt and gel in his hair, but mostly thrilled, especially about his Cars 2 backpack.

 Caught up in the rush of getting him to school on time (so overwhelming the first week, but I have since become quite good at that part), I didn't have a chance to check in on my emotions, so I was doing fine. Then I dropped him off in his classroom. As I walked away the tears came and I was grateful for sunglasses. When the girls and I came home it was story time for Marie. She picked "Mommy in My Pocket", a new library book that I hadn't read yet. Not a good idea, it's almost as bad as "The Kissing Hand". I lost it. Try explaining those emotions to your 4 year old ... without continuing to get even more emotional. Not since he transitioned to a big boy bed have I had such a hard time with him growing up. 

Mommy has since recovered and latched onto the excitement that just bursts out of William each day. He loves kindergarten. Loves. It. I adore hearing the tidbits that he shares with me about his day and all that he is learning. 

My favorite kindergarten moment so far was when he came home with a puzzle they had made. It had his hand print on it (they did a unit on "The Kissing Hand"). William pulled it out for me and said, "Mommy, I know when I am gone at kindergarten that you miss me. Whenever you do, just pull this puzzle out and put it together and think of how much I love you." Be still my heart. I love that boy.

Watch out world, here comes William. You couldn't ask for anybody better to cross your path.

First Day of School Eve

 The Menu:

Cheesy Pizza Fondue

Cider Cheese Fondue

Chewy Pretzel Bites

Toasted Baguette Slices

Carrots

Turkey Kielbasa Slices

Granny Smith Apples

Apple Cider Donuts

IBC Root Beer

The theme was based on the primary song with the same title. I was singing with the kids one day and struck by the lyrics, "Stand by your conscience, your honor, your faith; Stand like a hero and battle till death." Yes! That is exactly what has been rolling through my heart and mind as I have pondered on the idea of sending William off into the big world to make his own decisions. We'll be singing the song a lot this year. 

 And just to prove that we were really at this party ... yes, we're the two crazies behind all this chaos. 

After our brief lesson and a father's blessing for both William and Marie, a little game of Swap! ended the night.

Here's to another school year! (One which I am quite excited to begin. It's going to be quite the adventure.)

Counting My Blessings

Today was a solemn day for me. A young man that I grew up with committed suicide yesterday. This is the third young adult that my home stake has lost to suicide in 18 months.

In the meantime, the world is remembering the 10 year anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

I realized, more than I ever have, how much the small moments mean to me and prayed that in the years to come they would mean something to my children, too.

I wanted to bottle up the routine of the day, serving the kids breakfast, good morning greetings, time at the park, a kiss goodbye to William on his way to kindergarten, afternoon story time with Marie, Anne's excited jabbering as I walked in her room after a nap, feeling some of baby #4's first little kicks and jabs ... and save it for times when they are grown and lost and confused; times when they need to know more than anything that they are loved by their parents and their Heavenly Father.

I looked into my children's eyes and desperately wanted to know what was in store for them in their lives. I wanted to know what I could do now to prepare them for whatever they would have to face.

The answer that kept echoing in my mind as I questioned their future was to love them. Just love them.

Love them not as the world says to love them, but as our Savior loves them. Build my love around Him. Make Him our foundation. With that love and that foundation comes an incredible promise.

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the^arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your ^bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

My prayer today and always is that I may keep this verse ever present in my daily life and embed it into my children. I can't stop the winds or the storms or the hail. I don't even know when or how they will come, but I can help my children be prepared for them. For that, I have hope and strength.

It was a long and tiring day both physically and emotionally, but somehow I end it feeling buoyed up. The precious spirits that are in my home, the very ones that made the day long and tiring, are more importantly my greatest joys and my most tremendous blessings. I grow closer to my Savior as I teach them about Him.  I grow closer to Him as I love them.

Oh how I love these sweet, precious children.

Kindergarten Orientation

A week before William's first official day of school he had an orientation of sorts that the parents were asked to attend. 

I proudly played the role of first time school mommy and took lots of pictures. Some moms joined me, some commented that they wished they had remember their camera, and my favorite were the ones that stood around non-nonchalantly like they didn't care at all, after all this was their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. child to go through this. Whatever. I solemnly swear that I will be camera happy with each and everyone of my children on their first day of kindergarten. So there. Haha.

We started out with a pile of paperwork for me to take home and sort through.

Then Mrs. E brought them over to the rug to tell them a few rules and read them a story. The lady has a mouse-like voice and talks with incredible animation. She is perfect for kindergarteners. I, on the other hand, could only handle of few minutes of it.

Next was the task to draw a picture of his favorite activity from the summer. He drew a picture of Wicked at Lagoon,

then he decorated a folder for the school year, 

 made a name necklace,

and shared lots of big smiles with everyone.

After that it was back home to start our last week until the big first day of kindergarten. 

Gooooaaaaallllll! Or not.

William's first soccer game of the season happened to fall on the same weekend that Brandon had to be gone camping with the Young Men in our ward. Between chasing Anne and trying to convince Marie that she didn't need to be snacking constantly (A family from William's team last year always had an arsenal of snacks that they happily shared with her. She now associates soccer games with snacks. I'm a mean mommy, apparently, because I refuse to continue that tradition.) I only managed to take one picture of William and beyond that I was barely even able to see him play. I even missed him getting a ball to the head until he came back to his chair sobbing.

That being said, William is thrilled to start another year of soccer. It might be crazy for me, but his smiles make it all worth it right?

Saying Goodbye

About three years ago my life became even more wonderful than it already was. My sister and her husband moved to Orem. Yay! Shortly after that my brother returned from his mission and, therefore, returned to BYU. AND my sister started school up at BYU-Idaho. Four of seven siblings within long weekend traveling distance. Brilliant!

October 2008

The past 3 years have been filled with gatherings at The Farm (grandma's house in Malad, ID and yes, it must be capitalized), gatherings at my house, gatherings at parks, gatherings in Provo. We like to gather. We are family, after all, and we kind of like each other.

April 2009 

 October 2009

 April 2010

Our group of 8 grew by three people over the years with the addition of Stephen's wife, Alisha (such a lovely addition!); Rachel and Cory's sweet love bug, Jocelyn; and, of course, our busy bee, Anne. 

General Conferences became a highlight of my year because we all watched it together and stuffed ourselves silly in between sessions .... and napped. General Conference weekend isn't complete without a good nap.

April 2010

October 2009

Random, hey-let's-get-together-because-we-like-each-other Sunday dinners always fed the soul and made the transition into the school/work week easier.

We bonded through laughing and food and even through some tears, as we saw each other through some desperately hard times.

Then this year rolled around and Sara had to go and decide to serve a mission; and Stephen chose University of Texas over BYU for law school. Wonderful, fabulous, incredible decisions on their part. Decisions that are going to leave their older sister in the dust wiping her tears.

December 2010

Stephen and Alisha made the big move to Texas in the middle of August. We had one final get together the Sunday before they left. I don't know if it is really going to hit me until General Conference when we have a very quiet house, as opposed to the times when we had as many as 16 people camped out in our living room.

April 2011

Change is good. I know it is. But change like this just makes me wish everything could stay the same.

We love you, Stephen and Alisha. We really do wish you the best, even if the best isn't close enough for anymore Sunday dinners together.

And Sara, keep on keepin' on. Haha. I am counting down the days until you return to finish what you started at BYU-I, if only to make my conference weekends more exciting.

Oh, and Rachel ... you. me. conference weekend?