Birthday Cards

For too many years to count I have made birthday cards for my side of the family (I'm too self conscious to send my corny birthday greetings to Tom's side). In the beginning I made each and every person's card specific for them. That practice soon had to be abandoned because of time limitations. Each and every year the cards have become more and more simple because of how much time it takes to make them. Last year's version was a pathetic "happy birthday" printed on each card and a cut out birthday candle glued along side. Very boring. But given the amount of time I have, it was what I could do. All during the year as I was filling them out, I vowed it would be my last year because it just took so much time. (They are still personalized and very corny on the inside.)

In some of my last days with Katie, she told me how much those cards have meant to her kids and that they still have every single one of them. So I decided I could not quit. Since my time is still limited, I am just finishing them today. (I've missed all of the January birthdays. . .don't worry, you'll still get them!). Here is what I'm doing this year. My family can close their eyes.

I've got about 15 different versions of this one and I painted over the small greetings so they can scratch one off (I'll be surprised if they stop there. . .). A few of them say they win more than the dollar already included, but they have to call me to get it. The quirky auntie is excited about birthday cards once again!

Here's the link where I got the know-how as to how to do this. I printed the photos with a glossy finish @ Costco.

Hair Issues

Little Tessie has such fine, thin hair. . . to make it worse, it pulls from her head soooo easily. Her bad habit of pulling out every hair do makes me nervous about little bald spots developing because a huge hairball comes out with a every little band. Just to give you an idea, here is a picture of the amount of hair that came out of her head after wearing a masking tape tiara. (which, by the way, are now banned.)

So the other day when Chandler asked how come Tessa had a bald spot I inspected. (apologies for the bad photo)

There truly was a bald spot, but it wasn't from hair being pulled out--which I knew immediately because of the location. No, her hair had been singed. Questioning her gave the answer: She and her cousin had been playing downstairs. Apparently they found my embossing gun which they mistook for a blow dryer (it gets up to about 200 degrees) and he pointed it at her head and also at his head. Nice. Fortunately we are so used to these kinds of events with Tess that it didn't receive much more than a blink of an eye (and I guess a blog post).

Just one more thing from Tess I haven't recorded yet that is often quoted in our family. She is so funny because she thinks she speaks Spanish. One day she reported to me that " 'Ga-ga' is Spanish for "Hola! Give me your phone!" Ha, ha.

Quirky Dinner Tradition

It's a nightly dinner ritual almost. Tom is quizzing the boys about their day. Inevitably one boy doesn't include a last name on someone they interacted with that day. They are immediately peppered with questions as to who this someone is (even if we know full well who they are talking about). In the beginning, it was only Tom peppering, but now years later, we all join in.

It's quite comical actually.

Here is an example:

Chandler: Well, I played football at recess and I played quarterback. I made this one play where I threw the ball to Tyler. . .

Before he could even tell us the rest of the story, Tom starts in: Tyler Johns? Tyler Dodge?

Caleb: Tyler Hunsaker?

Cache: Tyler Rogers?

Me: Tyler Porter?

Caleb again: Tyler McBride?

Tom: Tyler Martindale? Tyler Carson? Tyler Castleton?

Cache: Tyler Finch?

Inevitably, at some point, one of the kids or Tom cracks the same joke (and we always all laugh) "You threw a pass to Tyler Castleton? He was at your recess? Wow, that must have been quite the football game."

All of the kids have experienced this scenario multiple times. It has become a family tradition and is really quite heartwarming.

Snowman

A few days before Christmas we got quite the storm. Caleb took the girlies out to build a snowman. Greta only lasted a few minutes. Tessa lasted a little longer. So they watched Caleb finish the snowman from the door. Then he took them out to enjoy the snowman. He is such a good brother to them.

Later that day we took drive around town looking for other snowmen. We saw lots of character! One was a giant bear with antlers between his ears. Another one had 7 or 8 balls and was taller than the house behind it. Our neighbors had a little snow dog on a leash (yellow snow included!) Fun day! (I love Christmas break!)

Fake Break

A non rhyming, poorly metered bedtime story

Two big brothers wrestling on the couch.

One fell off and broke Greta's leg. (Or so Momma suspicioned)

Momma called the doctor and the doctor said,

Wait for four days and call me back.

And try to keep those big boys from wrestling on the couch.

(well, he didn't really say that)

Momma took Greta home.

And watched her like a hawk.

She was fussy and grumpy and wanted to be held all day

Then when the Momma noticed a fever

She called the doctor again (an actual call instead of a visit)

and the doctor said

Still wait 4 days and call me on Thursday.

Each and every day the fever persisted and Greta still showed signs of leg pain.

So on Wednesday night, when dear little Greta hadn't improved satisfactorily,

Plans were made to visit the doc the next day.

The Momma dreamed of pink or purple leg casts all night

And the relief it would be to get her sweet mellow girl back.

{And to catch up on Primary.}

Thursday morning came, along with it, a fussy young girl

Still limping and grumping and a fever, so slight

So Momma prepared the girlies a bath

To get them ready for a day at the doctor's office.

But after the bath, little Greta started to run

And play and laugh and show signs of her old happy self

And just like that everything was all better.

Thursday was the magic day after all.

The end.

Unlicensed Driver

A cheesy, poorly metered rhyme; not appropriate for bedtime.

'Twas the day before News Years and we were bustling around,

Trying to pack up for a jaunt out of town.

Because the air was frigid and a teeny bit cold

The Momma decided the Daddy needed to be told

"The van should be started to warm it right up

So Greta can be cozy in there and I can clean up."

As you can guess, the obedient Daddy started the van

And went back to work in devising a plan

As to how to fit a ginormous gift into a tight spot.

However, while figuring & concocting and in very deep thought

Dear little Tessa climbed up to the wheel

Curious, & wondering how one actually drives an automobile.

She pushed and she pulled until the gear shift was found

And yanked it into reverse and then without a sound,

The van jerked into motion and started rolling downhill

That was slippery and icy; conditions not ideal.

The daddy yelled quite loudly (with language kept clean)

And dived in the side door to try to stop the machine.

The quick-thinking daddy yanked the shift into "P"

However this action was not satisfactory

In stopping the van, now rolling swiftly to the street.

Head-first, he pulled himself into the driver's seat

Turned the wheel quickly, to avoid the neighbor's fence

And pushed on the brake with a force quite intense.

Meanwhile, Momma in the kitchen heard her hubby's yell

And without even seeing, she could already tell,

What was happening to dear Tessa and Tom.

You see, she had ignored the thoughts and feeling of qualm

Of instructing her husband to buckle Tessie up

(Because of stories she'd heard of other youngin's mix-ups

With a started vehicle and and the subsequent havoc.)

But she thought her dear husband must be sort of sick

Of her constant instructions and being told what to do

And, she reasoned, it's obvious, so he'll think of it too.

After hearts stopped pounding and we had time to settle down

We counted our blessings then Tom went the rounds:

"PLEASE, tell me everything you want me to do.

(I don't mind one bit.) We're a team and you

often are given instructions from me too.

I'm willing to do whatever you ask, anytime, anywhere,

Especially when it comes to Tessa driving the van from here to there!"

The End!

(I'm posting these against my children's advice!! Oh so cheesy, I know! )

Christmas 2010

{Slowly catching up}

Christmas was a bit different this year as my November was not normal and grief was very prevalent. I didn't do Christmas cards, neighbor gifts or other homemade goodies that seem to define the holidays for us. I wasn't going to do much for Christmas either, but since a magical Christmas was one of Jeffrey and Brandon's favorite memories of their mom, I decided that I must not slack in that. So I pulled together for that. I felt quite numb, but I think the kids had a good Christmas. We had Jerry and Carolyn here so that made it fun too. Just a few snippets:

The surprise this year was lottery tickets. I designed them in Photoshop, printed them as a glossy photo at Costco (two cards per photo) then mixed half dish soap with acrylic paint to paint over the options. With that combination, they were fairly easy to scratch off. The boys' options were tasks, treats or money. The girls got treats, prizes or tasks. Jerry and Carolyn got pampering, adoration, tasks and options to tell stories from their childhood (they were good sports with my craziness).

Each group also had different tasks to draw from. The girls' were just simple things like "Ride a Grandpa Horsie" or "Do 3 somersaults". Jerry and Carolyn's were things like "Have a race from the back door out to the BYU on the fence with Caleb. Run 3 times. You get to wear shoes. He doesn't. If he wins, he gets $1. If you win, you get to quote us a poem." The boys' were a bit more complicated and crazy. Each task had 3 options to choose from. Some examples are:

Pictionary! Choose a partner to guess your drawings (not mom or dad). You have 2 minutes to draw for each option. Read this next part quietly.

Option 1: Draw each of these words, getting 10¢ per word: car, clock, glasses, sock, drum, towel, milk, candy bar, bathtub, snow, banana & couch. If you get all of the words, you get $2.

Option 2: Draw each of these words, getting 25¢ per word: DVD, artichoke, stop watch, chapstick, race & lawn mower. If you get all the words, you get $5 each!

Option 3: Draw each of these words, getting 50¢ per word: lovely, pedestrian, play dough, occupied. If you get all the words, you get $10 each!

----

Option 1: Blindfolded, go down to the storage room and get a can of green beans. If you get it right, you get $1!

Option 2: Blindfolded, go down to the storage room and get a can of vegetables, a can of fruit, a muffin mix, and peanut butter. If you get it right, you get $3!

Option 3: Blind folded, go down to the storage room and get 1 can of apple sauce, 1 can of pinto beans, 1 can of Chicken Noodle soup and a chocolate cake mix. If you get it right, you get $40!

Some pictures completing the tasks:

As always, I regret not taking more photos.

I think the kids were all happy with their gifts (that portion was also downsized a bit this year too.)

Cache's main gift was books. Most of these were from DI, some were new. See the biggest one? An unabridged dictionary. When he opened it he said, "Cool. I've always wanted one of these." He is a bit of a picky (but voracious) reader and so getting books is always a bit of a gamble, but I think we scored on this gift. He got a large variety of reads: Shakespeare, Dilbert, American History, Science-- to give examples of a few genres.

Caleb got a running watch. That was not top on his list, but I think he likes it and is finding it useful in training. They are pretty amazing tools and now that he has orthodics I think his running can improve even more.

Top on Chandler's list was a sock monkey--you can see his excitement in getting that. Also in that package was art supplies which he has love, love, loved.

Tessa and Greta both got babies and strollers. Much loved. Tessa immediately named her baby Brea and we helped Greta pick a name she could say. Her baby is named Ella (E-ya in her language. It is so cute to hear her ask for her, especially since she doesn't have the largest speaking vocabulary at this point.)

A few other random pictures:

We did a Christmas Day service project again this year. We left home in the middle of unwrapping gifts and delivered oranges with a note to lonely senior citizens home alone. I can't find the note we gave with it, but it thanked them for the good things they have done in their lives and the contributions they've made. Such a good, good thing for the kids to step back from 'their' day and see others' needs and cheer and bless and brighten.

Death Observations by Tessa

Tessa has had a lot of questions and comments about death lately. It is such a hard concept for her and she brings it up fairly often because I think she is trying hard to make sense of it.

1) Two days before Katie passed away, Tessa drew this picture:

It says: "This is a hand reaching out getting Mary's Mom." At the time I thought it was very premature, but she must have had a little insight--I don't recall any talks with her about this kind of thing prior to this drawing.

2) Tessa asks often when I am going to get cancer and pass away so she can go to Dis-e-nyland.

3) She randomly tells people "My mom's sister passed away."--people who come over, at church and people in the grocery store.

4) One day she was persistently asking if there was dirt in grass. I couldn't satisfactorily answer her question (every explanation brought frustration for her). Finally I said something to effect that underneath grass there was dirt. She started crying. Then said, "I don't want to die." "I HATE dirt!" Since then she says things to me like "You know I don't love dirt, Mom." I'm not sure where she got the idea about bodies put in dirt or grass because there was only snow visible at Katie's funeral and she doesn't have any other reference to it. But some how she got that all figured out.

5) She was asking me one day about dying. She asked me who would take care of her if she died. I smiled and said, "Katie will take care of you!" She grinned from ear to ear. (Moments later she burst into tears saying she would miss me if she died--yet some how it is okay in her mind if I pass away.)

6) A few weeks ago she was giving the FHE lesson on Jesus living in Heaven. We had talked earlier while preparing the lesson about Katie living there also. While giving the lesson, she suddenly burst into inconsolable tears. She wasn't upset and she did finish her lesson but after she ran to her room. I think she was overcome by the spirit and didn't know how to react. It was quite tender.

7) Tessa said today (1-21-11): "Can you type in the password? I need to type a quick email." I asked who she needed to write to. She said, "I just need to tell everyone in the ward who doesn't know that Katie died."

Another Pair of Pollies. . .

This pair is for Tessa:

I have been suspicious for a while that little Tess might need glasses.

I ho hummed and procrastinated because glasses is how Greta gets attention in Tessa's shadow. (Poor little thing gets very offended if people fuss over Tessa and don't notice her.)

I also delayed because the thought of that bundle of energy in glasses gave me a headache.

But need won out over my (il)logic.

Her prescription is very strong: +6 in one eye; +7 in the other. It's not quite as strong as Greta's prescription and she does not have Strabismus, but still oh so necessary.

Since she is so small, cute trendy glasses are out of the question. She is in the exact same size as Greta, only the temples are not shortened.

So it is. Another one in glasses. (it is genetic, in case you were wondering :)

How have things been?

Good and bad.

Bad:

She pulls them off WAY too often. And since Greta is in the copycat stage, Greta suddenly has this problem too. (she can't put her own back on and she bends hers out of shape when she yanks them off)

Trips to Moran for adjustments have doubled.

I'm still grieving her cute little non-glasses look.

Good:

In public places she is quite a bit calmer and doesn't run here and there and everywhere.

She eats. Now she stays put until a meal is finished instead of all of the other horrible things she used to do at meal time.

She stays back from the TV, mostly.

She reports that I am not blurry any more. Nor are blogs. Or books. Or food. Or signs. She can focus on birds in flight and other moving things in a distance now.

The bottom line is all good!

2011

In the fall of 1998 I sat in Pioneer Elementary School's gym for a Kindergartener parent meeting. Wynn Costley welcomed us as the parents of the Class of 2011. I distinctly remember thinking how far away that was. (Yet at the time, anything past the year 2000 was hard to envision wasn't it?) It is such a vivid memory. Strange how it seems like just yesterday. . .

13 years later life is full of college applications, mountains of homework for 4 AP classes, scholarship applications and sterling scholar portfolios. . . . (oh and a few final merit badges--the thorns in my side)

It goes by so fast. I'm just in awe that 2011 is right in my face. I'm thankful that his eyes are on the nearby BYU so the separation won't feel as dramatic. (or at least I hope--this new era is scary to me!)

PS....After I started this post, I googled something unrelated and in complete accident found this article that has a blurb about Cache. I had to laugh--half of his write up is obviously written by him, the other has to be the teacher who edited the whole article. He would never mention his ACT or other accolades--his part is the typewriter, time travel and ties--that's my kid!

Primary Projects

Last summer I felt stirrings in my heart telling me that I needed to be doing more in Primary. It was not a welcome feeling because it felt like I was already spending every non-family-needing minute on Primary (I'm sure that wasn't true, but I was busy enough with it that I didn't want to do more!). Beyond that, I couldn't figure out what else I should be doing. One Sunday the bishop handed me the outline for 2011 and immediately I knew that was the reason for the stirrings. The theme this year is "I Know the Scriptures are True" and I knew something must be done to help the children in our Primary be able to say that for themselves. After I accepted the prompting, we got to work.

We came up with a theme of "Unlock the Power of the Scriptures" for our Primary. The basic elements of what we are doing:

The kids set a quarterly goal and at the end of the quarter if they have met their goal they get a key to put on their key holder.

We are having a scriptural visitor come out of a time machine monthly (that is opened with a giant--18"--golden key).

We had a kick off activity on Saturday where William Tyndale came out of the time machine and told how he died because he translated the scriptures in English and how blessed we are to have the scriptures in abundance. (We used Elder Christofferson's April '10 conference talk as a basis for this.) We gave the kids their key holders and hopefully motivated them to develop a scripture-reading habit.

Just a note about the time machine-- I create so many headaches for myself! I don't do it on purpose, and it usually isn't until part way through the process that I realize there is an easier way. This was absolutely the case with the time machine.It is fabric on a shower curtain rod so we can roll it up and keep it in the closet. I had the idea to make a door in it, it has strips of metal measuring tape in the frame and held together with magnets. After I got mostly through with this headache of a model, someone said to me (in essence), "Why couldn't it just be a curtain and the person comes in on the side?" It was a huge 'DUH' moment for me. I hadn't even thought of that!! Tom says I'm my daddy's daughter in that ideas come in big huge ways and rest isn't possible until they are carried out. Sometimes it is such a curse.

We also have weekly reminders in Primary for the kids to read and if they have worked on their goal that week, they get to put their name in for a drawing to try to open a locked treasure box or earn a traveling trophy for their class. We truly desire the kids to spend time in the scriptures and feel their power for themselves. Hopefully this will be a motivating program for them.

Also just before Christmas I made these cute snowmen for all of the Primary kids that I don't see very often.

I got the idea here. I thought they looked quick and easy. . . 4 hours later I wished I had made cookies! They went quickly once I had figured out a few tricks: Hostess donuts work the best. Cut the white part off the candy corn then cut that piece in half lengthwise to use for the nose (a whole candy corn requires a HUGE hole in the donut that still isn't deep enough to hold the candy in anyways). Just use black frosting for the eyes & buttons. Looks better and is much, much quicker than mini chocolate chips. Skip the cellophane bag. I used a large clear plastic cup to put over them--glue down in two spots w/ a glue gun. (in one of the pictures, you can see one in the very back.) Although these were a headache to figure out, they were fun and I think the kids really liked them!

Now I'm off to boring projects for Primary like figuring out the budget and digesting the new handbook more fully. . .

PS. . .I don't know why I can't get my pictures to enlarge when clicked on--if you know any tips, please send them to me!

Broken Bows

Laman and Lemuel were angry when Nephi broke his bow (1 Nephi 16:18). Yet Laman and Lemuel were apparently not self-critical when their own bows had earlier "lost their springs," nor is there any record of their trying to make new bows to feed their families (1 Nephi 16:21). One can almost hear them saying, "Let Nephi do it. This trip was his idea."

Life's broken bows can create resentment, as if we have given God a quota of irritants that He must not exceed. Hence, in our frustrations, some of us murmur over our own equivalents of broken bows.

These hyperventilating moments use up some of the oxygen provided by God's lending us breath from moment to moment (Mosiah 2:21). Because God has said He will try our patience and our faith, how should we view such irritating trials? (Mosiah 23:21). Furthermore, if there were never any broken bows, how else would we be brought to perform certain spiritual calisthenics?

Broken bows litter the landscapes of our lives, representing yesterday's frustrations. These were real enough at the moment. Dotting the same landscape, however, are many more reminders of blessings than of discarded broken bows. May we have the eyes to see that which an outside auditor would surely see as he counts our blessings.

--From Elder Neal A. Maxwell in "Whom the Lord Loveth."

I need to be reminded of this often. Daily. Hourly. And often every moment.