The Ballerinas

In preparation for the upcoming competition season, all the competition dance teams had to come to their classes in full makeup and costume this week. For Phoebe that meant coming home from school and having to sit still while I did her hair and followed very specific instructions from the dance studio on how to do her makeup. I was reminded that Phoebe strongly dislikes (this is an understatement) having both her hair and makeup done. We soldiered on and she was fully put together by the time the class started.

About fifteen minutes after this picture was taken, after the teacher had given notes to the parents about any costume/hair/makeup changes that were needed, after the girls had run through their number a few times, their teacher told them to go take off their costumes and put on their black leotards and then come back for the rest of the class.

And that is how it came to be that Phoebe has a brand new black leotard that I had to buy from the front office because it never occurred to me that they wouldn't be in their costumes the entire time so we didn't bring one from home.

The Tiny Dentist

Sophie has had a loose front tooth for almost two months. This week it was suddenly very loose, but still anchored in one place. Then on Monday afternoon she grabbed Topher for a giant hug. He went along with the affection at first, then he decided he was done and tried to wriggle away. In his escape attempt he threw his head back and made contact with Sophie's mouth.

That's how Sophie got a new smile.

Not a Helmet

This photo says so much about my job as a parent.

Practice

After some mild freaking out and an inability to remember how to start, I decided I needed to figure out french braiding before I could really understand dutch braiding.

Then I attempted the dutch braid again.

The key? I used gel this last time, it made her slippery hair (that she inherited from me) much easier to hold onto.

How We Build Our Testimonies

I guess it's our family's turn to give talks at church. Sophie spoke in Primary yesterday, Phoebe has been asked to speak next Sunday. The topic for both of them is something they learned from Come, Follow Me from the week prior to the talk. This talk is based on a conversation Sophie and I had about 1 Nephi 11-15.

 

The Talk

After Lehi told his family about his dream of the tree of life, Nephi wanted to get his own testimony about it, so he prayed and asked to see what his father saw. He had an amazing vision that explained what Lehi had seen and then Nephi saw many more things all the way to the end of the world.

 

After his vision, Nephi went to his family and heard his brothers fighting about what their father had taught them. When they said they didn’t understand, here’s what Nephi said in 1 Nephi chapter 15 verses 8 and 9:

 

And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?

And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.

 

In other words, they didn’t think they should pray and ask for help understanding, they thought that the Lord should just tell them without any effort from them.

 

But that’s not how the Holy Ghost works and that’s not how we build our testimonies. We should follow Nephi’s example and pray with faith to understand what our parents and teachers tell us so we can have our own witness that those things are true. And if we listen and have a soft heart and believe that we’ll get an answer, the Holy Ghost can teach us. Then we can have our own testimonies and can help teach others the truth. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Joy

I was singing to the kids while rocking them, like I wrote about last week, when Phoebe grabbed my phone and started taking pictures. Topher and Sophie were trading places, taking turns, sometimes happily and sometimes not. I discovered this particular photo when I sat down to write this post. It may be my new favorite.

Old Dog, New Tricks

Part of the reason I was willing to let Peter go tubing this week was that I went tubing for the first time just a few weeks ago. That's right, this thirty-nine year old faced some pretty serious fears and joined in for a friend's birthday celebration.

I wasn't going to go at first. It would take me away during bedtime and it sounded dangerous and I was feeling anxious about the whole thing. Bryan encouraged me to at least go and be social, even if I didn't actually slide down any mountains. I begrudgingly agreed.

I didn't tell the kids what I was doing until I was about to walk out the door. Then there were tears and pleas for me to be safe. The last thing Phoebe said to me as I walked out the door was, "I love you Mommy, please don't die."

This was our adventurous group. The birthday girl is in the orange jacket. Two of us had never done this before, but I think I was the most vocally apprehensive about it, though I did try to come off as funny instead of just terrified. Fun fact: I knew two of these women while I was at BYU as a student. BYU makes the world a smaller place.

Behold, the slope.

I look happy, right? Not like I'm about to do something that scares me to the point of a mild panic attack, yeah? That my friends, is proof that I'm a good actress.

We were all bundled. I wore a base layer, regular clothes, snow pants and a sweatshirt, a scarf, a warm jacket, ear muffs, a hat, two pairs of gloves, cozy socks, and sturdy snow boots. And it was a warm-ish evening, somewhere in the high 40s, which isn't too bad for January in Pennsylvania.

I'm the one in the picture close to the camera, but turning away. For most runs we hooked our tubes together and slid down tandem in groups of two, three, or four. This upped the velocity significantly, but I opted for that rather than a solo flight. There was one run where all but two of us went alone. The chance of spinning while speeding down the hill increased dramatically when not hooked to another tube, and that didn't appeal to me.

I did not know this picture was being taken. Once we got to the bottom of the hill we would carry our tubes to a moving walkway and ride it back up to the top. Except for when it was turned off, then we carried our tubes and huffed and puffed back up the hill.

And those are my legs and feet. When it was almost time to go down the hill I would plant myself and hold on tight to the tube, ready. I didn't want to be caught off-guard, especially since I would be pulled down by the tubes I was attached to.

After the tubing we got pizza and sang happy birthday and laughed until we couldn't breathe. The talking was the best part of the night. It is a blessing to have friends to go and have this kind of crazy adventure with. I carpooled up and back and didn't get home until after midnight.

The next morning the kids asked how it was. I told them I was glad that I went because it was wonderful spending time with friends. Then they asked about the actual tubing. I told them that it was terrifying on every single run. As we started down the hill I would have thoughts like, "I really like my teeth, I hope they stay in my head" and "I am a mother! I have children depending on me! What am I doing?! This is insanity!" It wasn't until the last run that some of those anxious feelings started to fade a little.

That said, I'm glad I went. I need people and since I have made the choice to stay at home with kids, I don't have that many chances to be around people. Talking and laughing and listening filled my soul. And it's nice to know that during the year of my fortieth birthday I can still be adventurous and do new things that scare me.

The Gang

Peter was invited to go snow tubing on Monday with some friends from church. The mom that was taking them up is even more anxious about safety than I am (which is saying something), so I felt like he was in good hands. He had a fantastic time. And because I'm friends with one of the YW on Facebook, I have a few pictures of his adventure.

Lookalikes

"Topher, do you want to snuggle on the couch?"

Hair Don't

I have to learn how to do dutch braids on Phoebe for her dance competition season. My deadline is Saturday. A friend from church came over on Friday and gave me a first lesson.

I really need to practice.