Family Resemblance

Malia

June 2013

Matthew

April 2004

At least I know how Matthew got stuck in there now since I actually watched Malia try to sit down on the thing. :-)

One Fish, Two Fish, Dead Fish, Blue Fish

Nathan got a new fish tank for his birthday. He also got a bunch of new fish to put in it. Unfortunately, our skill with fish does not seem to have improved since the great fish blight of  ’08. It has been just over 24 hours since we actually put the fish in and we have already lost four. Matthew has been keeping track:

For those of you not fluent in reading phonetic spelling, here is the translation:

Cichlid in pineapple

Cichlid in castle (the pineapple and the castle are little fishy hideouts in the new tank)

3 tiger barbs dead

1 cory (I think this line was a mistake)

1 cory cat dead

3 African rainbows

1 plecostomus

We'll see if we can keep the rest alive...

E-i-e-i-o

We have a really great book of Old Macdonald Had a Farm. It has cutouts on the pages that reveal a new animal on each page while allowing all the previous animals to be seen as well. Malia discovered this particular book earlier this week and it has quickly become a favorite. She loves when we sing the song and she will sing the e-i-e-i-o part with us.

Tonight she was paging through the book while we were reading scriptures. As we were talking about what we read, she kept saying, “Yi-yo! Yi-yo!” I asked her if we needed to sing the song and when she assured me that was what she wanted, I told her we would sing the song after we said prayers. She “Yi-yo”ed a couple more times and the rest of us prepared to pray. We all folded our arms and bowed our heads and then Matthew began to pray: “Old Macdonald…”

It was a full five minutes before we got the laughter under control enough to actually pray. I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my face. We had to reassure Matthew that my eyes were watering because I was laughing so hard and not because he was in trouble. And it was a much needed laugh.

I sure hope the Lord has a sense of humor. If he doesn’t, my whole family is in a boatload of trouble. Of course, heaven is going to be pretty boring if all the awesomely funny people like Matthew aren’t there, so I’ve going to assume that being hilarious is not a bad quality.

He Remembered to Feed It

As part of our zoo trip tradition, we usually let each of our kids choose something from the gift shop before we head home. They almost always choose a stuffed animal.  This year both Daniel and Matthew chose a snowy leopard. As we were getting ready for dinner, Matthew asked what snowy leopards eat.  After learning that they eat meat, he made sure that Snowy had a little something for dinner as well:

(FYI: that is a mouse drawn on the piece of paper.)

Double Digits

Nathan is turning ten tomorrow. As per usual, his birthday party for friends was the weekend before Memorial Day. He decided that he wanted to have dinner and watch “Spiderman,” so planning was pretty easy. He printed all kinds of pictures to hang on the walls, hung up balloons and made white slime to give as spiderwebbing party favors. We had a pretty small group of kids this time, but he had a great time.

Yesterday we celebrated at my parents’ house. Nathan wanted to a Spiderman cake and once again I was grateful for the existence of gel food colors since making red and black frosting takes A LOT of food coloring. I was pleased with how it turned out and Nathan was pretty darn excited.

As is our tradition, we headed to the zoo today. We were joined by Kevin’s parents and his sister Connie and her family. We had a great time.

 “Malia was especially impressed with the “ephent.”

The Merry Month of May

Even though my boys don’t get done with school until the beginning of July, May has still been full of end-of-year activities. That coupled with the fact that this month has been pretty bad headache wise has made for a pretty crazy month. So get ready, there is going to be lots of info packed into this post.

Daniel has been learning square dancing all year. On May 2 the sixth grade celebrated their year with a hoedown. They had dance cards and everything. I guess this probably counts as Daniel’s first boy/girl dance. He has really enjoyed the square dancing and has anticipated the hoedown with enthusiasm. He borrowed my dad’s cowboy boots and hat and had a great time. His favorite dance is the Virginia Reel. (Look for the kid in a red and white striped shirt.)

The morning after the hoedown, I got to attend Mom and Me with Matthew. We did some activities in his classroom, got our picture taken and ate muffins. As soon as we were done, we dashed over to the gym to see Daniel and Nathan in their choir concert. We were lucky enough to have a teacher volunteer to do a school choir this year, so for the past three months Daniel and Nathan have been going to school early twice a week and singing with the choir. They enjoyed it and Nathan was pretty bummed when choir was over for the year. The program was songs from the 1940’s and when they sang “Back in the Saddle Again” the sixth graders got to show off their rockin’ square dance skills.

The following week was Matthew’s kindergarten program. As part of the program, they held a fashion show and each child got to wear their favorite outfit. There were no rules about what to wear except that they needed to have some kind of clothes on, so each child got to choose. I was in no way surprised by Matthew’s choice. Here is his favorite song from the program:

A few days after his program, Matthew got to ride the school bus and go on a field trip to the zoo. He was all hyped up for days beforehand. Kevin went with him so he would have an “in the know” adult with him at lunch time. Matthew had a wonderful time and was mightily pleased by the fact that he got to see the new section of the zoo before the rest of us.

On May 17, Daniel participated in an art show with his class. He took some of his favorite paper models to show. Daniel really likes modeling and a few years ago he discovered that people create models made out of paper and then post them on the internet for the enjoyment of anyone who wants them. It has been a great thing for him because it was getting expensive to keep him in plastic models and with the paper ones all he needs is cardstock, a printer, scissors, toothpicks (to glue small parts) and some glue. And honestly, some of the stuff he has created is amazing.

I think the most impressive of his models is Ironman. There were about twenty printed pages of pieces and it has taken him about six months to complete. The head moves. The shoulders, knees and hips move and the elbows bend as well as rotate like a real elbow. Each finger is individually formed. The thing is seriously impressive.

Yesterday Nathan had a pioneer day at school. My dad’s hat and boots got worn again as Nathan learned how to make butter, made a button pull, played pioneer games and ate lunch outside.

In addition to that, Daniel and Nathan have both completed their standardized testing this week and Matthew had his kindergarten assessment which assured us that he is totally ready for first grade. So yeah, it has been a busy month. Next up, Nathan’s birthday.

Internal Compass

Not long after Daniel and Nathan got home from school yesterday, I received a phone call from another mom in our ward. It was her turn to drive their carpool and when she was picking the kids up to go home, one little girl (we’ll call her LG-Little Girl-for convenience sake) was a sobbing mess. LG is in our ward an also in Nathan’s class at school. When questioned she said she was shoved down on the playground and she named Nathan and one other boy in their class as being involved. This particular mom knows Nathan and was very skeptical about him being involved in such an event. All the other kids in the carpool were likewise skeptical. Nevertheless, she felt like she should let me know something was going on.

After I was done on the phone, I called Nathan upstairs to see if I could figure out what was going on. When I asked if something had happened with LG, he responded in the affirmative. So I asked him to tell me what happened. He said that the other boy shoved LG and pushed her down. I asked what he was doing and he just shrugged, generally not a good sign when talking to my kids. So I pressed him for more info and he finally told me that he was pretend lunging and shoving. My heart sank. It appeared that while Nathan did not do the actual shoving, he was playing along with the whole thing. I told him that participating in that way was taking part in the bullying. Nathan, ever my tender-hearted kid, started to cry. He stood up and walked to his room and closed the door. I let him go, knowing he probably needed a few minutes to think. And I sat alone, dismayed by the turn of events. It is completely out of character for Nathan to do something like this. He has been on the receiving end of the bullying too many times and I simply could not understand why he decided to participate.

After a bit, I approached Nathan again. He was just sitting on the floor in his room, still crying. I asked him what was going on in his head and he told me he was sorry he had made a bad choice. So I asked him what he needed to do and he said he needed to apologize to LG. I looked up the phone number and he called and left a message when no one answered.

About an hour and a half later, the phone rang. Nathan answered the phone, walked into his room and talked for a few minutes. Than he brought me the phone and said that LG’s dad wanted to talk to me. I took a big breath and took the phone, sure I was about to get a very serious talking to. But I could not have been more wrong. Instead, LG’s dad said, “I just wanted to let you know how thankful I am that Nathan stood up for LG today.” There was a long moment of perplexed silence from me and then I told him that apparently I had no idea what was going on. So he told me that LG had told him that she, Nathan and the other boy had been playing together, all pretending to lunge and push. LG was just fine with all that. Then the other boy shoved her and pushed her down. At that point, Nathan said, “That’s going too far. We need to stop. You don’t hit girls.”

LG’s dad probably thinks I’m a total freak because that is when I started to cry and through the tears I managed to convey the fact that Nathan had not told me that part. We completed our conversation and I handed the phone back to Nathan because LG wanted to thank him as well. When he was finished on the phone, I pulled him aside. I told him exactly what LG’s dad had told me and he said, “Oh, yeah. I forgot that part.”

Not only did he do the right thing in a tough situation, but it was so second nature to him that it didn’t even stand out as an event to be remembered. I could not possibly be prouder of him. I apologized for misunderstanding what and happened and told him how proud I was. His countenance immediately brightened and my heart lightened with relief and joy.

I worry about the things my kids face when they walk out my door. It seems to me that they are being bombarded by temptation and filth in ever increasing amounts. But this is one kid that is going to be just fine. His moral compass is strong and firmly pointed in the right direction. I worry a little bit less knowing that.

Journal Jar #3-If You Could Have Lunch With 3 People (Dead or Alive), Who Would They Be?

In spite of the fact that this is a completely fictional question, it has actually taken me awhile to narrow my list down to three people. If I could have lunch with someone once a week for a year, that would probably be about right for all the folks I considered. For those of you who know me well, you may feel like I’ve missed some pretty obvious choices. But know that there were about a dozen runners up.

1. As a student, I was never all that interested in history. All the dates and such bored me nearly to death. I was always intrigued when I could get a glimpse into the lives of the actual people, but most often history classes were concerned with dates, causes and effects, etc. and so I was bored. The exception to that was always Harriet Tubman. I was completely intrigued by her story, even in elementary school. I think she would have amazing tales to tell and I’ve always thought she must have been an amazing woman to put her own life in danger on numerous occasions to help others.

2. I’m an avid reader. If I’m not in the midst of a book that has completely caught my attention, I always feel a little off. So I knew that one of the people I would break bread with need to be an author. But which one? As I pondered that question, it occurred to me that off all the books I’ve read and loved, there is one author that I’ve read more often than any other: L.M. Montgomery. I read “Anne of Green Gables” for the first time when I was twelve. I received all eight books in the series for Christmas that year and over the years they have been read and reread more times than I can count. Once I made my way through the Anne series, I started reading as many of L.M. Montgomery’s books as I could find. “Emily of New Moon” and “Kilmeny of the Orchard” became other favorites. When I was in college, I would often pop into the bookstore when I was particularly stressed or overwhelmed and pick up a book by L.M. Montgomery. By then I had read most of them, but still only owned “Anne” and “Emily.” Since paperbacks were only $3 back then, it was a supportable habit, even for a poor college student. I had a L.M. Montgomery paperback in the front pocket of my school back for almost the entire five and a half years it took me to graduate. The only time I did not was when “Gone with the Wind” was my flavor of the day. Being able to tell L.M. Montgomery that she brought to my harried life a bit of peace, calm and a whisper of a time that was slower and somehow sweeter would be nice.

3. With a historical figure and an author already on my list, I figured I should choose an entertainer of some sort. This was actually a hard choice because there are so many to choose from! But I finally narrowed it down and chose Joss Whedon. For those who don’t know, he is the creator of such t.v. shows as “Buffy the Vampire” and “Firefly.” He has written screenplays for films like “Toy Story” and “The Avengers.” He has a talent for balancing the action and drama of a moment with witty one liners or humorous quips. I think a conversation with him would just be highly entertaining and probably pretty darn funny. And who doesn’t need a good laugh? I know I can always use a good guffaw.

So there it is. My very seriously pared down list of folks to chat with over fried chicken and biscuits, chicken salad and ice cream, or hot dogs.