The Gift of Sight

Sophie is going to have an exciting summer. Today she joined the glasses club, and in the next month she'll get to wear a patch for a while before Kindergarten begins. For now, she's going to get used to her new spectacles.

Sophie was excited to show the other kids her glasses. They all responded positively. Phoebe whisked Sophie upstairs for costume and hair. She dressed Sophie as a teacher to go along with the glasses, messy bun and all. When I asked Phoebe what she was doing she said, "I've been waiting for this my whole life... dressing up my little sister!"

Worth the Wait

Sometimes I think about how long it took us to get Topher. I mean a few different things by that. He joined our family nearly seventeen years after Bryan and I were married. That's a lot of years to wait to meet someone.

But I'm also talking about the span of time between getting that overwhelming and direct impression that there was another child waiting to come to our family. It was two and a half years from that divine prompting until his birth.

And then I think about what would have happened if I had ignored that message from the Holy Ghost? Would it have kept coming? Or would we have missed out on this incredibly precious little boy?

Then, no matter which of these thoughts is in my head at the moment, I snuggle him close, breathe in his 12-month-old sweetness, and say a prayer of thanks that he's here.

Matched

My brother Jordan and his wife Leah came to visit for the long weekend. We loved having them here. They played board games with the kids, watched movies with us, and stayed up way too late talking. It was wonderful.

Jordan and Peter unintentionally matched on their first day here.

A highlight for the kids was getting avocado face masks that Leah brought.

Thanks for visiting guys!

Picking Up the Tab

Topher, Sophie, and I went grocery shopping last week. While we were waiting in line to pay, Topher was at the perfect height to push the buttons of the payment terminal keypad. In an attempt to distract him, I pulled out my wallet and opened it in front of him. That did the trick. He turned away from the buttons.

I shifted my gaze to Sophie to check on her behind me. When I turned back to Topher, I saw that he had pulled my library card out of my wallet and was doing his best to slide it into the chip reader.

I'm pretty sure he's a genius.

A Show of Colors

Phoebe's school puts on a Memorial Day concert at the end of every school year. She's been walking around the house singing patriotic songs for weeks. Last Friday she wore red, white, and blue and sang for the Veterans that came to see them.  Her favorite song was You're a Grand Old Flag.

Have a good Memorial Day.

Winner, Winner

Remember the story that Phoebe wrote for the Reflections competition at her school? Well, she won first place for Primary Literature for her school! The award ceremony was last month.

Her story was then submitted to the regional contest and she won third place there! That ceremony was on Monday night at a local university.

 

Great job Phoebe!

The Questioner

Sophie had her last day of our preschool co-op today. Technically, the last day of academics was on Tuesday. Today was a final lunch/play date/chance for the moms to visit. One of the dads made these cute certificates for the kids. My job was to drop in the pictures from the first day of preschool and then from a day last week and print them. As you can see, Sophie was awarded Ms. Inquisitive. Apparently she was known for asking lots and lots of questions. 

Preschool was a good experience, for Sophie and for me. I had fun teaching and I'm glad that Sophie had the opportunity to learn to follow someone else's rules. And now I'm glad that preschool is done. Sophie isn't though. As much as she's looking forward to kindergarten, she's going to miss seeing her friends more often than just Sundays.

I'm Here for the Food

Somebody discovered the magic of Costco samples today.

Quick Thoughts

This is a quick note to say this:

I'm tired. Mentally, physically, emotionally tired. We're all tired. But that's okay, because it's almost summer break and we can push through to the end.

Sophie is now officially registered for Kindergarten. She's so excited. I'm kind of melancholy.

Our house should have a room just for displaying art projects the kids have made out of paper and cardboard and string because the flat surfaces in my house are getting crowded.

Topher has his first sunburn. I feel terrible about it. I'm usually so good about putting a hat on him, but today a quick stop outside ended up being much longer than planned. Sophie has a little burn too.

Today, while my children were all in school or napping, I cleaned a pretty messy room in only twenty minutes. I kind of wish the kids had been home to see 1) that I actually do things to help at home other than tell them to do their chores and 2) that that particular room shouldn't take an hour (or longer) to clean, though it usually does when it's their job.

That is all.

Look Up

I listened to 1 Nephi chapter 17 while I prepped dinner today. Verse 41 stood out to me. This is Nephi speaking about Moses and the children of Israel.

41 And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.

I often think about the power of this verse. The Israelites were dying because of those snake bites, but looking at Moses' staff was just too easy, so they didn't do it. How many of us are in pain and we refuse to take even small steps to relieve it, because it's too simple? Because it won't be enough? 

I've been introspective about this throughout the day. What are my snake bites? Or taking it back a step, is my heart hard in any way that might lead to my own metaphorical snake bites? Am I willing to look up? To look to Heavenly Father for help? To the Savior and the power of the Atonement? Am I willing to set aside pride to get help?

I think deep thoughts while cooking chicken.