Look! We're All in Costume!

Our ward Halloween party was last Saturday. The girls were pretty purple princesses, Sophia the First and Rapunzel.

Cooper dressed as his true personality, a ninja.

Peter reused his Steve from Minecraft costume that he wore last year. We bought him a Darth Vader costume (that he wore for the piano recital), but it was too small and we waited too long to find a different one. He didn't mind.

In case you can't tell, Bryan is a Starfleet officer and I'm Mother Gothel from Tangled.

The party was great fun. We all had plenty to eat, played lots of games, and one of us participated in a Thriller dance-off. And won.

It was a great warm-up for Halloween!

The Thoot Fairy

Ballerinas

Phoebe is taking a ballet class through the city Park and Rec department. I was afraid it would be too simple for her, but it's going well. The teacher is focusing on the names on the steps, and I think that's lovely.

Parents were invited to observe last week. I took several movies, including the following where the dancers practiced poise.



For those that are truly dedicated to watching Phoebe's dance class, here is a two minute clip of the teacher calling out steps and the girls doing their best to follow her directions.

ToddlerFit

I discovered a new workout, and I think it could be very popular. The required equipment is simple. Instead of donning colorful Zumba clothes or hauling large CrossFit paraphernalia, all you need is a toddler.

Teach this toddler that you will copy everything that they do. They wave, you wave. They jump, you jump. They do a series of yoga/pushups/floor crawls, you do all that too.

Your toddler will be delighted.

And you, if you follow this exercise regime long enough, will probably be sore.

Two Weeks, Two Boys, Two Talks

Both of our boys had the opportunity to give talks in Primary the last two weeks, first Peter, then Cooper. Bryan and I brainstormed about the subject with Peter, then left the talk writing up to him. After a Sunday morning full of encouraging, reminding, cajoling, pleading, choosing to laugh instead of yell at his complete refusal to even acknowledge what his talk was supposed to be about, he finally wrote it while sitting in Sacrament Meeting.

The boys had the same topic. Here's Peter's talk:

The Mission of the Church is to bring people to Christ

When Jesus was on the earth he created the Church. The Sixth Article of Faith says 

We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

Apostles and Prophets are witnesses of Jesus Christ who receive revelation and hold the Priesthood keys. The Priesthood is the power of God that is used for blessing Heavenly Father's children and performing ordinances that allow us to return to Heavenly Father. The Fifth Article of Faith says

We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof. 

It means that a Prophet that has been called of God can give the Priesthood to someone who is worthy. We need the Priesthood to get missionaries. Missionaries are young men and women who spread the gospel across the earth. The mission of the church is to have everyone a member of the Church. Church helps us prepare for Jesus Christ to come again. I bear my testimony that I know these things are true and in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Cooper's talk was the result of a discussion he and I had, then a subsequent interview Bryan conducted with him. I asked Bryan how much of the talk was Cooper's and he said, "The words were his, I just typed and asked questions."

The Mission of the Church is to Invite All People to Come Unto Christ

My talk today is about the mission of the Church is to invite all people to come unto Christ. To invite someone means to ask them if they would like to go somewhere. If you invite someone to church, you can invite anybody that you want. You should be a friend to the person you want to invite. The best way to invite someone to church is to ask them if they would like to go with you. You should be respectful and kind when you ask.

When you invite someone to go to church, the person getting asked gets to decide if they go or not. If they say no, you should still be their friend. You can say “maybe we can go another day” because they might want to go later.

When your friend decides to go to church, they might wonder what we do at church. You can show them that people sit nicely and calmly and listen to the speaker. Then in primary you can show them lessons about Jesus Christ, and sing songs and play games to learn about Jesus. You should help them feel welcome in Primary so they’ll be happy they came and will want to come back.

Once your friend has come to church, invite them again! We want everyone to be able to return to live with Jesus and be happy.

This is my testimony that I know the Church is true, that Heavenly Father loves us, and wants us to be happy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Phoebe's Fifth

A mere month and a half after her birthday party, Phoebe turned five. Since we had had such a big celebration in New Jersey, we kept it pretty low key on the actual day. First we trekked to a Stake Pancake breakfast. Phoebe was convinced the whole event was to celebrate her birthday. The food was free and the company good, but the heat was kind of oppressive, so we only stayed an hour.

When we got back home we gathered in the front room so Phoebe could open her gifts. It was a birthday full of sparkly markers and fancy coloring books (thanks Nana Cris and Grandpa Marc!),

 adorable Bitty Baby doll clothes (thanks Nana Shari and Papa Ron!), 

and a long requested Rapunzel costume (thanks to Bryan for travelling to multiple Costcos to find the right size).

 

Afterward, the big kids settled in for a birthday viewing of Lego Movie in 3D while Sophie and the grownups took a nap. Staying up late to decorate and wrap presents take its toll on healthy sleep.

A late lunch of McDonald's Happy Meals (because when you're five that sounds good), left plenty of room for some of the best ice cream we've had. Phoebe's birthday fell during the time that our oven wasn't totally functional, so I opted not to make a cake. Instead we went to Oberweis, a delicious creamery that goes to great lengths to make sure peanuts don't contaminate other flavors of ice cream. We all enjoyed some ice cream, but our birthday girl was treated to an entire banana split! She still talks about how awesome it was and can list the three flavors (strawberry, apple pie, and birthday cake) she choose.

Add in long-distance conversations with grandparents and her good friend from New Jersey, and Phoebe had a great day.

And now, as is our tradition, here are some of Phoebe's current favorites:
FAVORITE FOOD: Pancakes and waffles with strawberries on top

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Pony/unicorn "A Princess one, actually."

FAVORITE CANDY: Chocolate bar (with no peanuts)

FAVORITE BOOK: Fancy Nancy

FAVORITE COLOR: Gold! "It's fancier than pink, right?"

FAVORITE SHOW: My Little Pony

FAVORITE MOVIE: Frozen
FAVORITE SONG: Angels We Have Heard on High and Hark the Herald Angels Sing
FAVORITE BOARD GAME: My Little Pony Memory

FAVORITE CARD GAME: Minnie Mouse Go Fish
FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Pretty Princess Rescue on pbskids.org  and "my Princess video game" (on the 3DS)
FAVORITE THING TO DO: Swim in a pool and go to Disneyland
FAVORITE MEMORY FROM BEING 4: My friends and my birthday party
FAVORITE PLACE: Paris! And Disneyland
FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Writing

FRIENDS: Anna, Stella, Grisette, Kate, Hamza, Jeffery, Theo, Alexa, Elsa, Karina, Olivia, Jensen, Andrew

Leaves Are Falling All Around

We discovered that the city where we live will vacuum up tidy leaf piles from the curb. These collections started this week. The trees in front of our house haven't dropped many leaves, so I didn't think we needed to participate this time. Then I took a closer look and realized that, even though other lawns were much worse, our lawn could still use a little care.

Yesterday I spent a few hours raking the front yard. The lawn is due for a trim, so my work was more like combing through thick tangled hair than raking. I didn't completely finish, but it looked much nicer than when I started. When Bryan got home I let him know what I had done.

Me: I don't know if you noticed since it's dark, but I raked the leaves.

Bryan: I wondered who had done that. Did you use the blower?

Me: (stunned silence, then) We have a blower?!

Apparently it was in the garage and it came with the house.

At least I got some great exercise...

Bookish

Not Rapunzel

A word of advice: the next time you go to have your long hair trimmed, make sure the person holding the scissors understands how short you want to go. Otherwise the four inches you meant to remove will turn into seven.

You may be shocked when you see the final result.

And your five-old might say, "It's okay Mom, hair grows back."

That's my advice for today.

The Costumed Pianists

Shortly after we moved to Illinois I started asking around for a piano teacher. I learned that the Primary pianist in our ward teaches and, though she already had a tight schedule, agreed to take both Peter and Cooper on as students. They started at the end of August and last Friday they had their first piano recital.

Peter still hates performing, but he seems to really enjoy playing the piano. Cooper enjoys performing, but spends most of his rehearsal time complaining that he never asked to take piano lessons. Oh well.

Cooper's song is first, then Peter's. And if you listen closely, you can hear Phoebe singing along to Peter's song, which is a good indication of how often he played it.

Phoebe's Fancy Fete

On the last Saturday in July, a bright and sweltering day, we celebrated Phoebe's fifth birthday. For years she had asked for a princess party. Then, just a few months before the party, she decided she would rather have a Paris party. I responded with something like, "You do love Paris. Kind of like Fancy Nancy loves Paris. What if we did a Fancy Nancy in Paris party?" She excitedly agreed and that was the beginning of several hours spent scouring boards on Pinterest looking for Fancy Nancy party ideas.

Our location was an open green space with a handful of picnic tables. It's just inside the gates of the gated community in which we lived in New Jersey. We discovered a walking path that led from our party place to a park just outside the gate. We started the party by playing at the park, then, when everyone had arrived, we hiked the path together to unveil our fancy setup.

The party went from 11am until 1pm. I agonized over how to organize the games and the food. No one opens presents at New Jersey parties, so we couldn't count on that as an activity. Finally, we settled on this:

• play at the park
• read Fancy Nancy
• eat pizza at the King's Crown (from the first book)
• get fancy
• play games
• decorate and eat cupcakes

And that's just what we did.

Some of the kids knew Fancy Nancy so well that they were yelling out details before I read them. During our setup I had placed all the tutus on a picnic table and covered them with a tablecloth. When we finished our pizza, grapes, carrots, and juice boxes, I told the kids it was time to get fancy. I walked over and threw off the cover and heard a collective gasp at the sight of all that tulle.

Then we all got fancy. The girls wore tutus, bracelets, necklaces, and tiaras. The boys wore white top hats, bow ties, and stick-on mustaches.

Sophie is modeling our girl look, sans tiara.

And here is Peter excitedly showing the boy look, sans mustache. Actually, no one wore a mustache for very long, but it was fun in theory.

We used the tree to hang our awesome Eiffel Tower shower curtain. It was much less expensive than a print that size would have been. Then Bryan created a fishing line triangle between the tree and two out-of-order tall black lamps he had lashed to the end of each row of picnic tables. Bryan (because I was too short) then tied upside balloons to the wire. It looked very fancy.

Here's the birthday girl, wearing her own special birthday crown.

After letting the kids run around in their sweet swag, I gathered them together for a quick French lesson. We learned how to say thank you, pardon, good day, and goodbye in the fanciest language Phoebe is aware of.

Next was a game of Is It Fancy? I told them to listen closely to the items I would list. If it was something plain they should crouch down, but if it was something fancy they should jump high in the air. They loved this game! Just in case you were curious, cupcakes are fancier than muffins, unicorns are fancier than horses, and skipping is fancier than walking, according to the kids.

After that we played a fancy version of Simon Says.

At this point it was getting really hot, so I ushered the kids over to the table for a less-sweat inducing activity. They decorated spectacular spectacles. In other words, they stuck stickers to inexpensive sunglasses.

Then we moved to a dizzying game of stick the bow on Nancy. We used dollar store mini gift bows and a poster-sized printout of Fancy Nancy.

Finally, since the adults were melting, we did our final activity: decorating delectable cupcakes.

All in all, I think it was a success. I was concerned that we weren't really focusing on Phoebe, but she just loved getting to be fancy with all her friends. And once again Bryan and I make a great birthday party team.

Friends Indeed

Today's Throwback Thursday post is brought to you by our dear friends who live in New York. These are the friends that we had so many adventures with last year. 

We miss them. 

A lot. 

But one of the many wonderful things about these fine folks is their ability to pick up right where we left off. I'm not sure when we'll see them again, but when we do, we will still be just as comfortable as we've been for so many years.

Let's Get Cooking

After more than a month without an oven and more than three weeks without a stove I am happy to announce that we have rejoined the world of home cooking.

Behold, the beauty of a new, clean, fully functioning oven and stove.

Thank you Bryan for installing this wonderful appliance and making sure nobody blew up. Seriously though, we were kind of worried about hooking up the gas, but he did swimmingly.

We have homemade bread in our future...

Weekend Peace

There was something different about this General Conference. I don't know if the difference was in me, my family, or the talks themselves, but I felt a much deeper connection to what was being said than I have in recent memory. 

After Conference ends I go back and review the talks, usually listening to one talk each day until it's time for the next General Conference. Often the kids are too busy and loud for me to get much the first time I hear the talks, so that's my workaround.

But this time? I felt like I really heard the talks. The kids were so well behaved, I'm sure that helped. They even had some favorite talks. I asked Phoebe for her impressions and this is what she said. "Um, well, I liked the one about the seat belt. And I liked watching President Monson talk. And that's it." Cooper liked the talk about the sharks, which was one of my favorites too. Peter liked hearing about the importance of reading the scriptures.

Cooper was anxious that I would forget to prepare the Conference notebooks. He asked me to make sure they were done in time. They were, and the kids used them all weekend.

In writing this post, I went to lds.org and tried to identify the talks that really stood out to me. The list was long, probably too long to talk about in one session. So instead, I will direct you to the four talks that left a profound impression.

Elder Holland's talk on mothers was beautiful and overwhelming. I recommend it to all mothers, whether they are LDS or not. The entire talk spoke to me, but these two quotes especially impressed me.

You see, it is not only that they bear us, but they continue bearing with us. It is not only the prenatal carrying but the lifelong carrying that makes mothering such a staggering feat. Of course, there are heartbreaking exceptions, but most mothers know intuitively, instinctively that this is a sacred trust of the highest order. The weight of that realization, especially on young maternal shoulders, can be very daunting.

To all of our mothers everywhere, past, present, or future, I say, “Thank you. Thank you for giving birth, for shaping souls, for forming character, and for demonstrating the pure love of Christ.” To Mother Eve, to Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, to Mary of Nazareth, and to a Mother in Heaven, I say, “Thank you for your crucial role in fulfilling the purposes of eternity.” To all mothers in every circumstance, including those who struggle—and all will—I say, “Be peaceful. Believe in God and yourself. You are doing better than you think you are. In fact, you are saviors on Mount Zion,¹³ and like the Master you follow, your love ‘never faileth.’¹⁴ ” I can pay no higher tribute to anyone. 

I loved Elder Stanfill's talk on light and his personal story about driving through a dark tunnel. One quote that stood to me:

When we consider thoughtfully, why would we listen to the faceless, cynical voices of those in the great and spacious buildings of our time and ignore the pleas of those who genuinely love us? These ever-present naysayers prefer to tear down rather than elevate and to ridicule rather than uplift. Their mocking words can burrow into our lives, often through split-second bursts of electronic distortions carefully and deliberately composed to destroy our faith. Is it wise to place our eternal well-being in the hands of strangers?

President Nelson's talk to the women of the church was powerful and felt like a call to action. If you want to know what kind of feminist I am (and I do consider myself a feminist), listen to this talk.

We, your brethren, need your strength, your conversion, your conviction, your ability to lead, your wisdom, and your voices. The kingdom of God is not and cannot be complete without women who make sacred covenants and then keep them, women who can speak with the power and authority of God!⁷ 

My dear sisters, whatever your calling, whatever your circumstances, we need your impressions, your insights, and your inspiration. We need you to speak up and speak out in ward and stake councils. We need each married sister to speak as “a contributing and fullpartner”¹⁰ as you unite with your husband in governing your family. Married or single, you sisters possess distinctive capabilities and special intuition you have received as gifts from God. We brethren cannot duplicate your unique influence.

So today I plead with my sisters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to step forward! Take your rightful and needful place in your home, in your community, and in the kingdom of God—more than you ever have before. I plead with you to fulfill President Kimball’s prophecy. And I promise you in the name of Jesus Christ that as you do so, the Holy Ghostwill magnify your influence in an unprecedented way! 

Finally, and perhaps appropriately given my feelings on President Nelson's talk, is Sister Stephens talk. Her story about her granddaughter Chloe refusing to wear a seat belt was memorable for the kids too, as Phoebe mentioned.

Like Chloe, we can choose to see commandments as limitations. We may feel at times that God’s laws restrict our personal freedom, take from us our agency, and limit our growth. But as we seek for greater understanding, as we allow our Father to teach us, we will begin to see that His laws are a manifestation of His love for us and obedience to His laws is an expression of our love for Him.

I turned to Bryan at one point during the weekend and said, "I hope you're getting something out of this, because I'm pretty sure all these talks were written for me." I love the spiritual boost that I receive from General Conference, the strength that the talks give me, and the opportunity and invitation to refine and retune my life.

I know that President Monson leads the church and is divinely called to do so. Likewise, I know that the men and women that spoke to us during General Conference are called by God to teach and lead us. I look forward to studying the counsel they gave as part of my daily scripture study over the next six months.

Righteous Examples

When we first moved into this ward we had Sister Missionaries serving here. We had them over for dinner one night in September and they performed a great service in helping us attack the massively overgrown garden plot in our backyard. The evening was delightful and we looked forward to having them over again.

The next week Elders were transferred into our ward as well, which means half the ward is covered by the Sisters and the other half is covered by the Elders. We happen to live where the Elders serve. So instead of feeding the Sisters at the end of the month like we had planned, we fed the Elders. Cooper was so excited he even asked to take a picture with them.

That night as I tucked Phoebe into bed she asked when the Sister missionaries would be coming back to our house. I explained that we could see them at church, but our house wasn't in their area, so they couldn't come visit anymore.

And then she cried herself to sleep.

The next night at a Relief Society activity, I told these sweet Sisters about Phoebe's strong reaction. They were touched that she thought so highly of them. Yesterday at church Phoebe insisted that we find them so she could have a picture too.

I love that we have such fantastic examples of service and faith for both my boys and my girls to follow.

Lucky Daddy

This picture makes my heart happy.

In fact, it reminds me of another picture that also makes my heart swell.

Poor Man's Pumpkin Patch

The kids had the day off from school, and while I could have crammed our time full with adventures, I decided instead to watch and wait and see where the day went on its own. The morning was spent reading and listening to music. Sophie's (and, full disclosure, Mommy's) nap time was spent snuggling on the couch (I slept while the big kids cuddled around me) and watching movies. There had been almost no fighting and I was truly enjoying our day at home.

We had been invited to meet some school friends at a pumpkin patch in the afternoon. I accepted, but said we wouldn't be able to join them until Sophie was finished napping. Since we had had such a laid back morning, by the time Sophie woke up I was the only person in daytime clothes. The promise of fun on the farm was not enough to properly motivate my children and we weren't ready to leave until after three, more than two hours later than our friends had arrived for their fall festivities.

It took about thirty minutes to drive there, which meant that we arrived a mere hour and forty minutes before the farm closed. I've seen other venues offer a discounted afternoon price and I hoped this place would offer something similar. No such luck. They wanted me to pay nearly $50 for our family to have access to their pumpkin patch.

Here's what was happening in my brain:

THAT'S TOO MUCH MONEY! I can't pay that much for such a short amount of time! But we have friends waiting inside. And I just drove all the way here. And I told the kids we would get pumpkins. BUT THAT'S REALLY TOO MUCH MONEY!

So I came up with a compromise. We would visit the not-quite-as-authentic yard full of pre-picked pumpkins near the parking lot, each choose one, then we would stop by lots of parks on the way home. The kids thought that idea was grand and were pretty excited about the prospect of park-hopping. The friend was very sweet and understanding when I texted her and explained the situation.

Check out that picture, they look like they're having fun, regardless of the fact that they didn't actually go inside.

And in case you're wondering, they did have lots of fun at the parks.

Run!

The Safe Place

My hope was to knock out two or three blog posts tonight. I have a kitchen to clean, a massive pile of laundry to fold, and about seven teetering piles of papers on and around my desk that need my attention, items ranging from bills to pictures the kids have drawn. My plan for the night was to ignore the kitchen and laundry and focus on the blog, then work my way through the papers. I figured if I stayed focused I could fall into bed a little before midnight.

Earlier today Sophie started coughing, just a little at first, then more and more. By dinner she was really hacking. She had a warm bath and a lot of water, but by the time I was done with the bedtime routine, her coughing was even worse.

I had just opened my computer to write those planned posts when I heard Sophie start to do a cry/cough combination. I put down my computer, walked into her room, and leaned over her bed.

"Sophie, do you want some water?"

She looked at me but didn't answer.

Phoebe, from the other side of their small room, offered her diagnosis. "She wants to snuggle."

Hearing Phoebe echo my own suspicions, I scooped up the still coughing Sophie and walked back into my room. I closed the computer, laid down with her in my arms, and started humming I Am a Child of God. After several verses her breathing calmed and she fell asleep. Then I held her for another thirty minutes, more for my sake than for hers.

This is not the first time that holding my babies has taken priority over some other task. Those babies are getting bigger, so I worry that my time to hold them may be growing short. For now though, when they are sick or sad or scared, I am still their safe place.

I hope Sophie can sleep well tonight, but if she needs me again, I'll be here.

Weekend Joy

I had a marvelous weekend. Our home was happy and peaceful throughout General Conference, and while I have a blog post on that topic brewing in my brain, there was another exciting event that happened this weekend that was met by whoops and shouts of glee by the members of our household.

Bryan's brother Dallin and his wife Melody are the new parents of a sweet baby girl. She is the third first-cousin on Bryan's side and the first cousinette.

Meet my newest niece, Harmony.

Following a great lesson about General Conference, our Family Home Evening activity tonight was looking at pictures of Harmony. The kids all oooed and aaaaed over their new baby cousin. Sophie was especially taken with her and each time she saw a new picture she would say, "Aww!" with the occasional "Baby!" thrown in for good measure. I think Sophie is happy to relinquish the title of Youngest Grandchild as long as she gets to look at pictures of Harmony.

We wish we were close enough to snuggle this sweet girl, but we'll be content to gaze at her pictures.

Congratulations Dallin and Melody!

What Are Your Weekend Plans?

I'll be spending ten hours listening to the divinely inspired leaders of my church, being spiritually strengthened and renewed, and feeling the Holy Ghost. This is one of my favorite weekends of the year.



I invite you to join me. You can watch or listen at these times.

The Joy of Lip Syncing