The Three Brothers

Colorful

We had spring break a few weeks ago. It was lovely. We rested, had a few outside adventures, ate big breakfasts, and generally enjoyed the time off. The first activity of the week was making tie-dye shirts. We had planned to do this for Phoebe's birthday right after we moved into the house, but things were a bit chaotic then and the supplies got put away for a later date. 

We unintentionally picked a windy day for this project. That made things exciting. Some of the shirts were so saturated with dye that it took them several days to dry. And, even though I wore gloves most of the time, I still ended up with very colorful hands that stayed very colorful for more than a week.

Renegade

Phoebe had another chance to put together a costume, this time for school. She had to choose a character from a book she liked, then she had to put together the right look for that character. She picked Nova from Marissa Meyer's Renegades series. I've read the books and I can confirm, this definitely looks like Nova.

And yes, those are my boots she's wearing.

Awake

A few nights ago I was asked about my sleep habits. I said I don't get much sleep, and that I have trouble falling asleep, but I'm pretty good at staying asleep.

That was dumb, I should not have said that.

On Sunday night Topher reminded me that he often will wake up in the middle of the night because he wants to snuggle. And then sometimes it takes him a long time to go back to sleep. Monday was a long day because of our middle of the night hangout.

On Monday night I was in bed by 10:32, the earliest I've gone to bed in ages. I stayed awake for awhile, but I think I finally drifted off. I think. Maybe. Around 2:00 in the morning I was wide awake (even before Topher called to snuggle) and not very rested. I was a very grumpy human. And I stayed awake until 7:00 in the morning. It was not a pleasant experience. When Sophie and Topher woke up I invited them to eat bagels while sitting on my bedroom floor and watching cartoons on a phone. Maybe I've trained myself to only sleep while Paw Patrol is playing quietly in the background?

Today has also been a looooong day. Bryan and the kids keep asking me what's wrong. My answer has consistently been, "I'm really tired." I guess I make weird faces when I'm crazy exhausted.

Here's to hopefully sleeping tonight.

Sunday Stroll

Spelling is Fun

Topher and I played Scrabble this week. Instead of spelling words (he understands the concept, but his execution of it is appropriate for a three-year-old), we had to either say the name or the sound of the letter we were placing on the board. It actually went pretty well.

One thing that bothered Topher? He's pretty sure his name is spelled TOER (he thinks E and F are the same letter and he knows the F sound is in the middle of his name) and I simply didn't agree.

Nifty

Our YM/YW activity last night was about indexing the recently released 1950 census. Part of the fun included a 1950s costume contest. We were joining virtually, so I hadn't given the costumes much thought until the night before. That's when I remembered a box in my basement of my Grandma Miriam's clothes that I had inherited when she moved out of her house.

Yesterday morning I brought the box up and started pulling out clothes. We found three dresses that had a major 70s vibe, a knee-length black dress, some Easter bonnets and purses that belonged to my aunts, a bag of wigs (?), some shawls, a few pairs of elbow-length gloves, fur collars (real, I think), velvet collars and cuffs, a few hats, and one amazing black skirt suit. Phoebe tried on the skirt suit and it fit well enough to wear for the activity.

Topher and Sophie tried on a few things as well.

Peter wore this awesome shirt that Uncle Jordan and Aunt Leah brought home from their honeymoon more than four years ago. And I attempted to give his hair some lift. Mousse and ratting were both employed to achieve this look.

And I happened to find this shirt for Cooper at Target yesterday afternoon. Did you know that the plastic flamingo lawn ornament was created in 1957?

I, as one of the YW leaders, dressed up with a scarf and a high ponytail.

We were the only ones to join the activity virtually, so none of us thought we were in the running for a prize from the contest. That's why we were so surprised that Phoebe won first place! I guess it paid to wear something from the actual decade (or close to it) that we were celebrating.

Phoebe, in costume, with hair, purse, and shoes.

Goodies on a Great Day

We all wore church clothes on Easter Sunday, but I didn't get a fancy Easter picture of all of us. I did get a few pictures of the kids coming down the stairs after they had changed out of church clothes. That's when they saw the adorable Easter baskets Bryan's mom sent. Sophie named this the "best Easter ever" and the other kids all agreed.

I also managed to take pictures of Easter dinner, including the delicious carrot cake that Cooper made. I smoothed the honey-sweetened frosting after I took the picture, and it was prettier after that.

Thank you Shari for the amazing baskets and wonderful treats!

When You're the Best of Friends

On Saturday night, before we recorded the talk and scripture, Phoebe was busy drawing. Topher looked at the character she had created and said, "Oh! That's Michael, he's my best friend." Then he helped choose colors for Michael's clothes and carried the picture in a protective plastic sleeve for most of the rest of the evening.

Michael also joined us for church on Sunday.

It's good to have friends, even when they're flat and made of paper.

Easter Contributions

Sophie and Topher provided the talk and scripture for Easter Sunday. This was Topher's first time doing the scripture. He was happy to record a movie, he was less enthusiastic about getting into his church clothes on Saturday night. Sophie nailed her talk on the third take, which was awesome.

The Good News

Timber!

Last Saturday Peter and Cooper helped me remove a hazard from our front yard. We had three extremely thorny bushes that had grown so large they were reaching out over the sidewalk. I had already decided I wanted to get rid of them, but I wasn't sure how to go about it. The thorns were strong enough to go through gloves and the soles of shoes, so we had to be careful. In the end, I used a new pair of loppers and gingerly maneuvered as I snipped. Once the branches fell, Peter used a long grabbing tool to pick them up and put them in a trash bag. Cooper manned the rake and the broom to gather any sharp bits that flew off. That makes the whole project sound organized and orderly, but it was mostly chaos. I'm happy with the final result. We'll dig the bushes out soon, which will be easier now that they have no thorns.

I forgot to take a before shot, so I found this one from way back in February. They had grown a lot more since then.

Here's one after I trimmed them all back, right before I decided to chop them down as much as I could.

In progress.

The final (so far) result. I'm thrilled to have those awful prickly parts gone.

Glisten

We spent most of Monday afternoon in the backyard. At one point Sophie asked for my phone. I handed it to her and she walked off, phone in one hand and a spray bottle of water in the other. Yesterday I found the results of her creativity in my Google Photos. I think they look pretty cool.

The Demon on the Shoulder

Phoebe was inspired this week by a video she watched and wrote this poem to express those feelings. I think both the poem and the poet are amazing.

The Demon on the Shoulder

A poem 

To all the people who struggle with negative self-thoughts. 

The Demon on the Shoulder is a pesky thing indeed,

It creeps right in, unwanted, as intrusive as a weed.

No one cares.  It whispers. They’re all laughing behind your back.

You thought they loved you? Think again. 

Go try and talk to them, they’ll only complain.

But you don’t have to listen,

 to that ugly little gremlin.

Instead, try and hear that Still Small voice.

Good job! You’ve done it! I knew you could.

You deserve to be loved, you deserve a choice!

Now I won’t lie, it won’t be easy.

And if you listen to the demon, you’ll always feel quite queasy.

But with a bit of strength, hope, and faith,

You’ll get right through.

Just like we always knew. 

You are loved.

Because you are you.

Church View

Balm for My Soul

Most of the talks last weekend spoke to me, probably because this was the first time in many years that I was able to take notes during Conference. It was much more difficult than usual to pull out my favorites. After pondering this question for the last week, I've narrowed down my list to my top seven eight (I had to add one more when I read over my notes):

• Elder Holland's Fear Not: Believe Only!

• Elder Kearon's He Is Risen With Healing in His Wings

• Sister Porter's Lessons at the Well
• What she said about light really hit me:
• "How much light does it take to pierce the darkness in a room? One small ray. And that ray of light in a dark place can emanate from the power of God in you. Even though you may feel alone as the storms of life are raging, you can shine a light in the darkness of misunderstanding, confusion, and unbelief. Your light of faith in Christ can be steady and sure, leading those around you to safety and peace."

• Sister Craven's Do What Mattereth Most
• This one might be my very favorite. She had three of my favorites quotes:
• "Boss your brain."
• "If you want to know anything, you will have to do something."
• "The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of action and a gospel of joy! Let us not underestimate our capacity to do those things that matter most."

• President Bingham's Covenants With God Strengthen, Protect, and Prepare Us for Eternal Glory
• I love that she encouraged young women to go to the Temple as soon as they felt spiritually prepared after they turn 18, no need to wait for a wedding or a mission call!

• Elder Renlund's Your Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny

• Sister Wright's Christ Heals That Which Is Broken
• A few more favorite quotes:
• "Waiting upon the Lord can be a sacred place—a place of polishing and refining where we can come to know the Savior in a deeply personal way."
• "With the depiction of this father in the parable of the prodigal son, the Savior emphasized that forgiveness is one of the noblest gifts we can give one another and most specifically ourselves."
• "Exercising faith in Christ means trusting not only in God’s will but also in His timing. For He knows exactly what we need and precisely when we need it. When we submit to the will of the Lord, we will ultimately receive substantially more than that which we had desired."

• President Nelson's The Power of Spiritual Momentum
• Okay, one more:
• "Positive spiritual momentum will keep us moving forward amid the fear and uncertainty created by pandemics, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and armed hostilities. Spiritual momentum can help us withstand the relentless, wicked attacks of the adversary and thwart his efforts to erode our personal spiritual foundation."

Role Reversal

Topher did a lot of wandering during Conference last weekend. He spent a little time coloring his Conference Notebook, but mostly he wanted to see what everyone else was up to. At one point he brought over a magnetic writing board to me, the kind you can easily erase. He asked me to draw something. Because of the way I was sitting, I figured the best thing to do was to draw something upside-down, so it would appear upright to him. I drew a simple heart.

"Oh, that's lovely," came Topher's reply. Then, after a brief pause, "What is it?"

I've had that exact thought while looking at the kids' drawings, I guess the feeling goes both ways.

The Fools of April

The kids were excited for April 1st this year. Some of them came up with some mild pranks. They included:

• writing "Out of Order" on a post-it note and sticking it on the bathroom door
• cutting a large beetle shape out of paper and taping it to the inside of a lamp shade (this got a big reaction)
• setting out a big package of Oreos they'd requested from the store, placing the open jar of salt next to it, sprinkling some salt around the Oreos, opening a few on a paper plate next to the salt, and putting a sign that said "Take 3 Happy April Fool's Day" (this only slowed the kids down for a moment, they were willing to risk salty Oreos)

Bryan added a joke to the day as well. He stuck a post-it note to the now closed package of Oreos that read "Can you guess which one I licked?" This got a big laugh and stopped no one from eating more Oreos.

I added my own spin to the day. On Friday nights we almost always eat pizza for dinner while we watch a movie. This week we had three regular pizzas and one tostada pizza. The kids were very confused to see refried beans and lettuce on their pizza. It was delicious.

Work In Progress

Phoebe looked at a picture of a tiger last Friday and drew what she saw. She says it's not done. I think it's beautiful.

Sweet Is the Peace the Gospel Brings

I really, really, really loved General Conference this weekend. Every talk filled my soul and a few specifically answered the questions I prayed about before Conference. And bonus, this was the most peaceful Conference we've had, well, probably since we had kids. It turns out warning them they would lose screen time for the next week if they kept talking was pretty persuasive. I don't think they all needed that particular encouragement, but some of them did.

Bonus, I was able to take notes for the first time in a loooooong time.

And I only took three pictures.

Preparation

I love General Conference and have been preparing my mind and heart for the messages of this coming weekend. Earlier this week a friend shared this updated version of a song we love and it provided a wonderful spiritual boost to focus my brain on the Savior. I look forward to the testimonies and messages I'll hear over the next two days about Him.