Mother's Day

One of my "gifts" for Mother's Day was to be left alone to finish some Sunday-appropriate projects in my "office." Caleb quickly came and joined me and announced he was going to make my Mother's Day present. He went to work on the sign on the right (the only help I gave him was in spelling "from"). I told him I thought it was a lovely present, but he announced that it was only the tag, and then proceeded to tape 3 pieces of paper together (2 large, one smaller) to make (his words) a "Memory Keeper" for me. He even went so far as to wrap it up in a pizza box he found in the recycling bin, and when I opened it, he wrote some letters on a piece of paper for me to put in the Memory Keeper. I loved it.

For my birthday last week, he disappeared into my office just before it was present time. When he emerged, he announced, "I don't think you're going to like this present very much." I asked why, and he held out the gift (several sheets of small notebook papers stapled together) and said, "It's The Book with No Words." Maybe it's one of those things that only a mother could love, but I think it's great. I'm still waiting for the book of poems he says he writing called "Do You Know Poems?" It may be a bit of a wait since he's still trying to figure out if HE knows what poems are.

Furniture Eulogies

May 2008 We finally got rid of the blue sectional couch that we got from Kendra in 1997 (and she got it from the Wards in Prescott some time before that). Shortly after we moved here, it was put in the basement and the kids played on it. We had no idea the dramatic and emotional effect our decision to get rid of the couch would have on the boys (I actually saw a journal entry of Sheridan's where he expressed his dismay that we would have made this decision "without even consulting me!!"). After several rounds of Sheridan coming to show me his very upset face, I told him to go put his emotional energy into something constructive--draw a picture, write a story, etc. This is what he came up with (spelling and punctuation intact).

Our Couch, A Memoir

Our couch, you could hide behind it,
and you could find me on it.
It's modular construction
was great for destruction,
and made for a long day.

When Christmas came
me and Dad would lay
on it waiting
for Santa to come,
and we disscused ways
to catch Santa on video

I'm sad that we gave it
away, but whoever recives it will
certainly make more use of it.

A couple of weeks later, we replaced our old padded bar stools, and Sheridan wrote this:

The Three Stools

Our three stools
would wobble to and fro
one was broken
they were filthy
but I didn't mind

Dad made pancakes
we would sit
gobbleing those
pancakes up.

Our new ones
are sleeker and
hard, but I'll get
used to them. We
still have one though

They were also great for tunes
on the floor.

Sheridan also drew pictures to go with each of these. I must admit that I really like the couch one. It was a test of my skills, though, to be able to read these (with graven-faced Sheridan standing next to me) without busting a gut.

Caleb's Talk

Last month, Caleb was assigned a talk in Primary. He and I had not been seeing eye to eye on too many things at the time, so I thought that I wouldn't even try to have him write his own talk, but rather pulled a couple out of my files that he could use. But on Saturday when I tried to get him to pick which of the two talks he wanted to use, he was quite adamant that he should be writing his own instead.

I got paper and pencil and tried to act as scribe. Initially, he was being very silly, and I finally told him (in my "I'm not mad, but take me seriously" voice) that I had other things I needed to do and he could call me when he was ready to write his talk. I hadn't finished my sentence when he blurted out, "Heavenly Father has sent us to the earth." After a couple more sentences, he stopped and told me, "I'm doing some serious work here, Mom." I concurred. So, after his serious work (with really only very minor editing from his parents), this was the talk he came up with and gave very proudly in Primary.

A Family Talk

Heavenly Father has sent us to the earth. He made the world. The world we live in is humongous and we can do anything we want in it.

He also gave us families. We're glad that we can go camping together.

Heavenly Father can bless us if we get sick or need anything.

I can help my family by: helping take care of my little brother, getting dressed by myself, helping clean up, washing the dishes (especially when it's my brother's turn and he doesn't want to do it), sweeping and mopping. But mostly, I can help by being nice and doing my best.

Fathers and Sons

May 9-10 Guy took the three big boys to our ward's Fathers and Sons outing where they ate too many s'mores, stole one another's covers, broke a hammock and had a great time. In a couple more years maybe I'll re-name "Fathers and Sons", "Mom's Night Off!"

"How to Eat Chocolate Chip Cookies," by Mitchell

May 5, 2008

1. First, take at least three cookies (there is one behind Mitchell's milk cup).

2. Quickly take one bite out of each cookie so that no one else will try to put them back on the plate.

3. Keep everyone else distracted by your cuteness while you eat.

May 4, 2008

This scene awaited me as I arrived home from Choir practice. Guy was sleeping until I woke him by taking pictures. You can't let a photo op like this get away.

Missionary Gift Shops

As we were driving around one day, Caleb asked if there would be gift shops on his mission. I replied that I was sure there would be lots of places where he could buy stuff, and he talked about how he'd spend all his money at the gift shops. It finally occurred to me (I know, I'm a little slow at times) that he was planning to spend the money we've had him setting aside from his (meager) allowance for his mission fund. So, one of these days, maybe we'll have a Family Home Evening about saving to pay FOR your mission (rather than to shop while ON your mission), but for now I don't want to disuade him from saving :-).

I'd actually forgotten all about the conversation until his Primary teacher told us last week that they'd learned all about missionary gift shops from Caleb that day. Yup, he's spreading the good word already.

More Messy Mitchell

April 2008 It doesn't seem to matter how often I wash him off, this boy is always a mess. Here are a couple of the more extreme cases. I love the pose with the marker belly (and yes, I am aware of how skinny this boy is). The cottage cheese masterpiece actually came together very quickly (the price you pay for turning your back on a boy while you're doing the dishes), and the picture doesn't even document how thoroughly his hair was coated.

Marcus and the Zoo

A couple of weeks ago, Marcus's class went on a field trip to the Hogle Zoo, and he was just a little excited. The morning of the field trip, Marcus was up before either of his parents, and came into our room, fully dressed, including shoes, hat and backpack, insisting he needed to be to school on time. He truly set a "Marcus Morning Speed Record" that day.

Ironically, at the end of the day, he talked a little about the animals, but mostly he was consumed by the injustice of not being able to buy anything in the gift shop since we hadn't sent him with money (what teacher in her right mind walks a group of 2nd and 3rd graders through the gift shop anyway?). If he were able, this child would be a one-man boost to consumer spending.

Bear Takes a Bath

April 28, 2008 I have several cute pictures of Mitchell that I'll intersperse with some stories about the other boys from the last few weeks (I've been collecting, even if I haven't been blogging). This evening, Mitchell decided he needed a bath (he usually does need one) and proceeded to teach Bear the finer points of bath-taking. Luckily, he skipped the lesson on turning on the faucet. The faucet is actually too hard for him to turn on, but Mitchell has learned what the button on top does and he thinks it's hilarious when he gets showered on.