Ten Years Later

Ten years ago yesterday I looked up from the printer in the library at BYU and saw this charming face (W's) smiling at me.  It sent a joyful feeling to my heart and has done so thousands of times since. I love you, W!

Every time I look at you I think of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I6s1J9ZSNw&feature=related.

Evac-ation Sunday

The next day we got up and watched the Hudson River seep over the edges of Manhattan.    Then we went to church.  The Harrisburg ward had been cancelled, but the Hershey ward was still meeting.  We went a really round about way the GPS on the phone took us.  But we got there after swerving around a few fallen branches.

It was such a fun ward and one of the talks really touched me.  He talked about how when we go to church are we really there with all our minds?  Think about the scripture that talks about serving the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength.  When we come to church are we really focused on being there and learning from the Lord?  I found myself really pondering this and trying to estimate the times I come to church what is my focus.  I'll be honest most of the time I am there to feel the Spirit but a lot of times it goes into child care (all my might and strength) and what I can do to have a few minutes to really focus. I tend to sit in the front rows so I can focus on the lessons being taught.

Afterward we drove off and I parked on the side of the road.  There was a large boulder of concrete in front of us while I looked up something we wanted to do.  S and R got out of the car and went to explore the concrete. They found some old sunglasses, fish bones, and a 25 cent-ish looking gold ring (with a lot of gold missing).  They were so proud of the fact that they had found a treasure. They talked about it all the time we were driving.

Then we drove to a restaurant that I had wanted to go to. Since it was Sunday sitting with a bunch of strangers around a table topped with good food seemed like a good way to spend a Sunday meal. Turns out however that the restaurant is closed on Sunday--all the corn fields around the place had gone through some serious wind and the first four rows of corn were tipped on their sides.

They have a great petting zoo that had a playground right next to it and the kids petted the goats, played on the toys, climbed on the Good and Plenty wagon.  Then a little boy from the neighborhood came over and wanted to chat with us for awhile.  He was hilarious. He wanted to show us everything and he showed off for all the kids.

Then we drove to get some food. It was great to eat breakfast food for dinner.  Then we went into the hotel and rested for the rest of the day.

"These goats are great . . . let's take a step back so they don't eat my fingers. "

What will these goats eat?  Er, what will these goats not eat?

From all your labors rest, man. Rest! (the bug has a surfer accent--no I don't know where he got it). This was clearly written late at night.  I am not sure what, exactly,  I was thinking right then.

Giddy'ap.  Yee Haw!  

I swear this alpaca was posing--look at it's face--It is smiling.  After I took the picture it moved again and posed.  My guess it is thinking, "Ah, my adoring public."

Mom, how many pictures are you seriously going to take?

I wonder how long I can stand here before mom realizes I'm not listening.

Did someone say "Ice cream?"

Twisty straws?  Best. Restaurant. Ever.

"Greek Yogurt!"  "Cheese!" is so passe.

Watch it mom I can swing like it's nobody's business.

Evac-ation Days Saturday

When one is at a hotel with little kids one does what they like to do to keep one's sanity and to keep the children happy.  So of course the first thing we did in the morning was to go swimming. Poor R was sick.  He had a high fever, but we dosed him with a serving of both ibuprofen and Tylenol so he could feel good enough to go vacation.

When I grew up my mother and I took a trip to New York City and Pennsylvania. We went to Lancaster and stopped at an Amish market.  We got a decoration for my room.  I remember it taking a long time, but remember it fondly as an exciting adventure I was able to take with just my mom and my grandparents.


I wanted a similar experience with my kidlets. So we went to the market in Harrisburg. There were a few Amish families there selling their wares.  We got dried kiwi fruit and other goodies. S of course made friends with the little girl that was just older than her selling us some soft pretzels.  We were starving and I got fried shrimp and french fries that no one else even wanted to try (I never make breaded fried food).


It was not the same kind of market as the one my mother took me to when I was 8, but we had a good time.

We headed to Chocolate World to enjoy the smells and little ride, but as it turned out the medicine had worn off and Roscoe was exhausted.  I felt so sorry so we headed to the hotel and watched the rain fall.  We watched National Treasure 1 and II.    I came up with a great story line for National Treasure X.

During each and every commercial break the kids were hopping on the bed, running around the room giggling, and playing with each other a lot.  We also talked a lot with family members and we watched the progress of Hurricane Irene.  The kids were asking a lot of questions and I tried to quell their fears as best as I could.  I think I made it sound like a harmless rainstorm.

Evac-ation

Hurricane Irene provided a great opportunity for us to take a short vacation--without the tolls on the Verazanno Bridge (score 13 smackaroonies ($) saved).

We left at 11 p.m. on Friday night (we were going to leave at 4 a.m. Saturday morning but as it turned out we decided it may save us a lot of traffic to leave sooner). We arrived at the hotel at 3 a.m. with no traffic--with the exception of the area around construction into the entrance of PA). We went to Harrisburg,PA.

The kids were so ecstatic to be staying at a hotel, they got out of the car practically dancing with excitement.

I was really hoping that they would be so exhausted that they would just fall into the bed and go right to sleep. But it was not to be. They skipped around me as I checked in( and was told everyone before had hours of traffic), skipped and hopped and jumped onto the elevator (oh joy!). When it came time to slide the key card they determined they would take turns, but who to go first was the hard part.  I ended up doing it first.  Then they got into the bathroom and that was very exciting because they got to check ot all the soap, shampoo, lotion, shower cap (mini-bottles---kid-size--how exciting).

Instead of calming down and going to sleep afterward, they had to check on the TV, search the drawers, practice for a small pillow fight, check the bounciness of the bed, ooh and ahh over the water bottles and cups just waiting for us.  Turn the lights on and off--twenty times.

I was utterly exhausted but there was a huge part of me bubbling with excitement almost as much as them. So when I was ready for bed I got into the covers (lights going on and off and giggling galore) there was a lot of  pulling up the covers because the moment I got them up the dear squiggling child next me squealed with delight and kicked the covers down again.

Then my I-really-need-to-go-to-sleep-so-I-can-be-rational-tomorrow-self kicked in and I stated, "People are trying to sleep in the rooms next door.  We need to go to sleep so we can feel good tomorrow. Think of all the fun we're going to have if we sleep."

Eventually all the squirming and giggling stopped and I heard steady breathing around me and I took a moment to feel super excited then I fell right to sleep.  It was 3:45 a.m. for pity's sake--a girl's got to sleep.

The only thing that made me feel a bit sad was that my dear sweetie couldn't come with us.  He had to work. We really missed him!!!

Still Going Private--and We Went to the Beach

 Brooklyn has some great beaches!  We've been discovering/revisiting them.

 I love S's face in this! She really had a glorious time.  She made friends the second she reached the water and they were inseparable the entire time we were there.

This is T meditating.  Okay, he really didn't feel well.  We went home soon after I took this photo.  I like it because it looks like he's praying. :)

"Beside Every Successful Man"

David McCullough wrote,"Real love isn't just gazing into each other's eyes. It's looking out together in the same direction." Quoted from Beside Every Successful Man. Basham, Megan. 2008.

For those that know me fairly well, you know that I seldom, if ever, do book reviews. I read, really I do, but I seldom find books that speak to my soul and in a way, answered my prayers.

This is my new non-religious favorite book.  I saw Ms. Basham on the Rachael Ray Show (a rare thing) and Ms. Ray just about had a fit (think toddler style) because of this book.  I knew then I really wanted to read it. 

In the book, Ms. Bahan draws on personal, well-known, and historical husband and wife relationships wherein the wife has helped take the family navigation role and urged the husband (thereby the family as a whole) to greater success.  She encourages wives to pinpoint our husband's strengths (especially the ones our husbands are most proud of) and wants out of life and how to map out a plan to accomplish those goals.

As wives, we often know more about our husbands than anyone else, we are the best equipped to encourage them, in a non-nagging way to press forward and accomplish their/our goals. We have confidence in their abilities and they do not want to disappoint us, so we show them our appreciation in the way we treat them and the things we say (she talks about ways to improve--if you're like me upon occasion) thus improving their self-confidence.

After we pinpoint and encourage their strengths she urges us to gather our resources as women--our networking abilities, our strengths to help our husbands with things they may need.  We can network with other women to find out about other opportunities for our husbands.

Also, the fact that I know many amazing women (if you're reading this you are likely one of them) that has moved across the country in support of her husband's career or something similar.  To you brave women, I tip my digital hat. You are my heroes and you can do it [it being whatever you put your mind to]!! You are the ones I count my blessings several times to have been able to/and currently live near and hope some day that we can live near one another again because you are quite inspiring.

There is so much more. . . read it.  Tell me what you think. I'd love to hear!  

This Blog Is Going Private

Really this time. If you'd like in on it, just leave me your email--or if I already have it, let me know and I'll invite you. :)  Thanks for reading!

Fave Kidlet Quotes of the Day

T:  "When I was a little baby I used to play baby games."  Then he squinted his eyes up really small, apparently reliving the baby games. "Mo-o-m! Where are my pajamas?"

Later, to W: "Can I please have some freezing yogurt?"

R playing Star Wars pillow fight: "Prepare to meet your matchmaker!"

S:  "That happened like a hundred years ago."

a reflection of blessedness at bedtime

As I sit here at my computer I hear W and the kids laughing.  It's a nightly ritual, either W or I put the kidlets to bed and a lot of times it is filled with a bit of laughter, hugs, prayer, and happiness.

It is probably one of my favorite times of the day because it is then that I can really reflect on my day, the things that I have loved about the day--thinking about the funny things the kids have done, the things I could have done better (oh, so many) and the things I plan to do the next day to make the rest of the summer slightly magical for my family.

Day before yesterday T was said in his prayer in a I'm-telling-on-you sort of way, "Mommy was grouchy on Sunday."  W and I opened our eyes just a centimeter or two and attempted our best to not smile at each other. Who else will listen and inflict punishment because W will most likely be on my side and will not scold me, the Big Man Upstairs is who.  In my defense, it was fast Sunday (a day where we fast for 2-3 meals to show our gratitude for what we have and to concentrate our prayers for a specific purpose).

Other times I hear S talking to T.  I hear her using my exact vocal inflections and tone of voice on him that I use with her and I think to myself, wow!  I really have an influence over my kidlets and I better watch the way I talk to them a lot more.  Today she was talking to him while he was doing the wale-y whine. S just said to him in a no-nonsense way, "T, I cannot talk to you when you are acting like that. Stop whining and I can help you."  I also love how loving she is to T and is constantly telling people of the cuteness of her baby brother. She also likes to switch randomly into dresses and has recently decided that pink is not on her list of top favorite colors.

R just makes me happy. I am so proud of him. He really goes above and beyond the call of duty to help me.  He has such a sweet smile. He will run and do things for me the first time I ask him and my heart swells with pride each time he does it.  He is confident and determined.  He is a protective older brother that keeps an eye on S and T and tells them stories at bedtime (well he and S take turns). Plus, he thinks I am the best cooker in the world.

W is such a good man. He works like crazy. He loves our children and delights in playing with, working with and teaching them.  He loves to take them, like his father before, to do acts of service.  He loves to see their faces brighten with new ideas and enjoys hearing them talk at the dinner table.  He makes me feel beautiful and loved (which is huge to me).  He listens when I am in a talk-your-right-ear-off mood.  I love him so much!

It's a Sunday night and I could write about anything, but I just feel so blessed, loved and loving.  The Lord is really watching out for me. T is now sitting next to me on a chair, singing. W has fallen asleep and the kids are running about.  Bedtime part two is coming up for them, now. :)

The Claudette Complainer part of me has gone off on a long walk in a huff because of this post. Sadly, I know she'll be back all to soon. But until then . . .

Documentaries and S

Today S got really upset after we had watched 20 minutes of a crocodile documentary suggested by Netflix.  She was so scared she cried for the next twenty minutes.  No amount of comforting her that a crocodile would not come and get us, even if we went to Australia (provided we avoided croc-infested waters).  

Then she wept that she was worried she would marry a man that would go and camp by a croc-infested lake.  Then he would get eaten. Her soul was wracked with worry.

I told her not to fall in love with a man that likes to camp where crocodiles live.

She tearfully replied, "What if I do it by accident?"

Note to self--stick to documentaries about butterflies and dolphins.