Families Can Be Together Forever

My favorite place to be with my family is in the temple, as we have experienced twice in the last several months, having attended two open houses. When we are all together there it reminds me of how much I love them and how grateful I am that I know that life will continue after we die, and that we really can be together forever.

A sweet usher offered to take our picture. It was a little windy. And sunny. Take your pick of which picture is better (or worse), but I love that we're all together, closed-eyes and all. I love the picture I took of my three oldest children. If you can't be in a good picture, you might as well take a good picture with other people in it. That seems to be my motto, seeing as I'm rarely in any picture unless I hand the camera to one of the girls!

Hooray for temples!

I want a horse

This phrase is best appreciated when sung to the tune of "I Want a Dog", a segment on the Scholastic Video Collection of "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". The kids at our house watched that last week, and the words have been changed a bit. First of all, after hearing them longingly sing about wanting a puppy I reminded them of their faithful and neglected dog that sits outside alone a lot. We tried a few options and settled on the words "I Love My Dog".

But Hannah, always looking ahead to the next exciting event has now begun to sing "I Want a Horse". "Because, Mom" she says,"What's the use of riding lessons if I don't have my own horse?"

Good point. We can discontinue the lessons right away. I remind her of that every time I hear the now-familiar song. But she is enjoying riding lessons, and last week I finally got to go watch one lesson. She's the shortest in the class (usually she is the tallest), so she gets to ride gentle, 20-year-old Amos. He's a smart horse and knows he has a good pal in Hannah. Yes, she is also a horse-whisperer.

Finally finished!

What happens when deal-finder mom finds a cute pair of girls' shoes brand-new for $5? She buys a pair for each daughter, of course! Nevermind that they are cream courduroy with floral print, complete with salmon piping. Of course the department store selling them has some kind of dress to match, right? Wrong. Nor does any other store, for that matter. Which is why, last October, we took to the fabric store in search of fabric to match. What a great idea to let the girls have a sewing project!

Nine months later...both skirts are finished! Hannah has been wearing hers for several months, but Callie just hemmed hers up last week. Then there was the trauma of finding short-sleeved shirts to wear with them, since the sweaters I bought to wear with them over the winter were no longer seasonal...on the saga went.

The great news is that the shoes still fit (and the skirts, that we cut out last October using their measurements then)! The funny part is that Hannah, who has been wearing both shoes & skirt for several months, accidentally wore one shoe of each size. Callie was a little miffed that one of her shoes looks brand-new and the other is a little dirty on the toe. As my mom always said, "It will never be noticed on a galloping horse." I, for one, have never been on a galloping horse, but that phrase was used to assuage my feelings of awkwardness many a time. Now I realize what those familiar words actually mean and I think: That's supposed to make someone feel better?!?

They aren't even wearing the shoes that brought this whole drama on for the picture! But they sure did a great job and both have worked on other sewing projects since, so it's been worth the original purchase to see their talents budding. I guess we can chalk the purchase up to inspiration?

Thank goodness for daughters!

Some of you may remember President Hinckley speaking gratefully of his daughters after his wife passed away. He spoke of how they took care of him in ways that only a woman could.

I seem to post mostly about my boys, probably because they are the most entertaining at this time, however, I need to express my gratitude for my wonderful daughters. I did try to post a video of Callie's band concert, which would have been entertaining since I used the camera to record it. Always looking for the right shot, I recorded it vertically, which meant that it shows up sideways on the screen. Oops! Tyler thinks this is very funny indeed. I call it talent at all that I could capture something on video with Drew climbing all over me and trying to hold down Jacob's auditorium seat while growing a baby.

Back to my girls. After school got out for the summer and we all adjusted to being together twenty four hours a day, they have blossomed and grown and I have loved having them around. They are very nurturing and caring with their brothers, they've developed additional skills at home and in their new activities, and they have demonstrated time and again that they are up to the challenge of helping out their many times overwhelmed mother.

I've focused lately on teaching Callie how to do the laundry. She kept asking during the school year if she could do her own, and instead I've shown her how to start the different kinds of loads for the family. She is always willing to drop what she's doing to come help start the laundry or bring a full hamper from the second story down to the laundry room. I love having her help there!

Hannah has learned to make wheat blender pancakes, start to finish, on her own. I've given her two times in the last week to make them just to solidify her newly learned knowledge. Her pancakes taste great and she's got the knack of pouring nice round even ones. Yesterday morning she made breakfast and insisted that I sit down and wait. I had a wonderful time sitting with Drew singing "The Eensy Weensy Spider" and trimming the boys' nails (their request).

After breakfast I went to my voice lesson in the neighborhood. When I got home later than anticipated I was met by groans. The kids had made a fort and were planning out lunch. I was sent to my room and Hannah was the waitress that took my lunch request. Callie fixed lunch for everyone and cleaned the food up afterwards. I felt like I was on vacation.

Both girls, in the last several weeks, have spontaneously cleaned up the entire kitchen after a big dinner while I've tucked in the boys. It is such a joyful thing to observe them learning to serve and seeing them confident and happy in the good works that they do. I am so thankful for my two big daughters and the wonderful women that they are working towards becoming!

Picture, if you will...

finding Drew standing atop a bar stool holding an inverted bottle of pancake syrup with the lid off, squeezing with relish all over himself, the countertop, and the wood floor. That's what I found when I returned from taking the phone outside to Callie this morning. I really wish I had been able to get a picture because it was a very funny sight, but after that first impression of mine the second was to slow the flow of sticky syrup. He looked like he was having great fun, but after I washed him up and he passed the crime scene to leave the kitchen his comment was, "My gracious! What a mess!"

This picture of Jacob sums up my feelings sometimes.

Because everyone needs a good laugh sometimes

From the May 2009 Reader's Digest (they have the funniest jokes):

After my four-year-old and I turned the department store upside down looking for a bathing suit for me, we finally found a black-and-white one-piece that we both liked. I tried on the suit and modeled it for her. It was a hit.

"Mommy, you look so pretty!" she squealed. "You look just like Shamu the whale."

Kind of reminds me of when I was pregnant with Jacob and we had just been to visit the Cincinnati Zoo. I was getting ready for church one morning when Callie came bouncing into the bathroom. "Oh, Mom, you look like a big, pretty manatee!" Guess what her favorite exhibit was at the zoo. It truly was meant to be a compliment, I think.

Jacob just calls it like it is. My round tummy is a favorite topic of discussion at our house. The other day all the under-aged crowd was commenting on it. Jacob piped in, "Yea, and if you didn't have any arms or legs, you'd be like a ball and we could bounce you around and throw you way up in the air!" Obviously what the scale is registering doesn't register in his little brain. And I am rounder than the picture shows -- this photo is old news by about six weeks.