Lydia's clothes

There was a time that Lydia liked picking out her clothes. That phase seems to be over. And it seems to be my fault.

Lydia has been getting away with not wearing pants lately.  She is wearing a dress, or better just a shirt and training pants while she is learning to be consistent about using the toilet.  Friday, she decided clothes were optional and she wasn’t wearing any.  I left her alone for half an hour hoping she would change her mind.  She didn’t.  After trying to convince her, bribe her and threaten her, I finally wrestled her into a shirt and panties with her kicking and screaming the whole while.  After I was done she stomped out of the room only to return a few minutes later.  She had stripped and hidden her clothes. When she says “I don’t want to!” she means it.

Deductive Reasoning and a Two Year Old

Lydia is home alone.  Everyone else is in school and she only has Mom and the dog to keep her company.  For me this is a huge change.  I am used to a small group of preschoolers running around.  The up side is that she will watch the "princess movies" that her three older brothers shunned.  They have been sitting around collecting dust since Emma started school 7 years ago.

Today is was Snow White.  During the movie Lydia got hungry and asked for a snack.  When I asked her what she wanted she thought for a moment, looked at the TV screen, saw the wicked queen lift the apple out of the vat of poison and gave the obvious answer "an apple".  Wouldn't an apple dripping poison in the shape of a skull make everyone want one?  She happily munched her snack through the rest of the movie. She didn't even pause when Snow White fell to the ground unconscious.  I wondered how deeply she thought about things.

Deeper that I thought.  A few moments later she announced the need to use the bathroom.  Toilet training began last week with little interest or success.  A bag of chocolate candy increased the interest and the success the last two days.  After a successful trip to use the toilet and the promised reward/bribe, she waited a few minutes and decided that the candy was so good that she needed another and sitting on the toilet would get it for her.  She sent he audience (me) away, waited a bit then announce that she was "all done".  Of course this was all an act for my benefit and the acquisition of chocolate.  When I called her on it she reluctantly relented to the fact that she hadn't truly earned another treat.  Mom is not quite as easy to fool as she thought.

Treasured Find

My sister and I have often commented about how little we have written by my mother.  Now that she is gone we wish we had letters, a journal or anything.  I have found some lists and little notes to herself left in some of her books, but they are very impersonal and don't fill the need we are feel.

Just before Christmas I made an exciting discovery.  I was cleaning out the basement, looking for things to get rid of.  I found some spiral notebooks, some were previously used by my children in school.  Teachers have a way of having the children use the first 10 pages or so and never touching the rest.  Even worse we get notebooks home that have been labeled with their name and subject that were never used.  I was thumbing through these trying to decided what was worth keeping and what was trash, when I came across a thick notebook that looked as though it had never been used at all.  I opened the first page and was surprised to find a single journal entry written by my mother.  She spoke of how she planned to start writing regularly. It was only one page.  That page is precious to me especially the lines that told of her hopes for her children and future grandchildren.  I copied it and gave a copy to my Father, Brother and Sister.  It made my sister wish for more.  I agree with her, but I am so very thankful for that single page.

Getting the News Out

Ok I was wrong.  The whole world didn't know about Audrey.  This week I ran into  quite a few people who had not heard and some of them were hurt to think that it happened a month ago.  Now  I am working on making sure people know. Electronic communication has not quite reached every corner of the globe.  Even stranger, after I started telling people, other people started coming to me and offering their congratulations.  The grape vine is still alive and growing.

We saw the break down in communication with Dick Adair's passing away this last week.  Those at church heard the announcement, but it didn't spread as far and as wide as people who cared.  We saw the Carlson's at the Temple Wednesday evening and they didn't know about either event. Dick Adair was 91 years old.  His family knew he wasn't long for this earth, but none of the rest of us did.  I sat in church and cried. He and his wife have been so kind to us.  She asked Tyler to lead the music for the funeral.  Other than his family, most of those in attendance were elderly.  I started thinking how I want to have young friends, no matter how old I get.  What will the technology be like then?  Is the new technology help or hurting the generation gaps?  I think we will always benefit the most from face to face interaction.

Audrey's news

Audrey is engaged to Richard Farnsworth. The whole world knew almost instantly from Face Book.  Still I think I will tell the story not just post the news. The two started dating last July. Roy saw Richard in the Temple when we were there with Sarah for the first time.  He suggested, maybe that is too mild a word.  He requested that Richard take Audrey out on a date.  Richard was surprised, but since he had considered asking her out anyway he called her before the week was out.  At first it was one date a week,  then two and soon they were spending anytime they could together. He lives in Golden, where he attends the School of Mines, so getting across town can be some work for him.  Especially since he didn't have a car until October.

When he invited Audrey to accompany his family to General Conference we knew things were getting serious. It is interesting that Audrey has never dated much and just as things with Richard were progressing she got a call from another man asking for a date. She had a bit of a personal dilemma.  She wanted to go out with him, but she didn't want to mess things up with Richard.  She and Richard had not talked about being exclusive so she wasn't sure where she stood.  All the men in our house agreed that if she was invited to go to Utah; Richard considered her his girlfriend. We talked and she decided that Richard was to important to risk.  Her confirmation came later that week when they made it official that they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

The engagement came the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. He came to talk to us  and ask our blessing the week before.  Keeping a secret has never been harder. He had some cute romantic plans involving a jigsaw puzzle that didn't work out. The ring was finished before the puzzle and he couldn't bear to wait any longer.  Audrey has never been happier. As my father says "They are a match made is heaven!"

They are planning on getting married March 9th.  At first the plan was for May, which would fit into my life easier, but when do these things ever fit my plans? We had dessert with his family last night and started discussing somethings-my head just isn't in it right now. This is finals week.  I may sound a bit like Scarlett O'Hara, but I'll think about it later.

Tyler's Mission Call

This last week was full of excitement. We celebrated Neal's 17th birthday on Wednesday. The very next day Tyler received his mission call.  It came while he was at work so we called my Dad and Tyler's best friend Tyler so they could be here when he got home and share in the moment. Roy had to use the moment to pull a prank, of course.  I'm not going to talk about that here. You can go to Tyler's Face book for a full description and some video. I think most of the world found out about it from Face book.  I tried to call my sister with the news, but it had already reached her.

Tyler will be going to Kentucky.  He reports to the Mission Training Center on January 11th.  He was afraid that will all the delays getting his paperwork finished it would push back his report date.  It didn't.  We now have a little over two months to get him ready.  Physically ready that is.  He's been preparing spiritually and mentally his whole life.  Every night I see him reading his scriptures.  It doesn't matter if it is late because he's been out with friends.  I now am trying  to  follow his example and take the time to realign myself with things that matter before I go to sleep on a regular basis, not haphazardly, as I have done in the past. He talks to his friends and acquaintances about the Church.  It because of this his friend Savion was baptised. He is so excited about going that you can't be around him long without catching that excitement.

It will be many years before I can go serve a mission so I am finding ways to do my part now. I just checked Mormon.org.  My profile is up.  It is fun to see.  We were just talking about the website yesterday at church.  The TV ads make it look cool to be Mormon.  Tyler told me about talking to Mr. Richard about it.  He thinks it's great.  When he moved here from Nebraska he had never met a Mormon before. When he found out that there were five in his choir class he called his mom and told her he was afraid they would kill him.  Now he goes the High School's Seminary class to recruit Mormon kids to join his classes and he sent his children to me for daycare. He feels that we are misunderstood and the publicity will help change that.

Planning

Last week the kids had Monday off of school.  I would like to say it was for Columbus Day, but it wasn't.  It was a teacher work day for the end of the grading period. The kids were excited and so was I. I had worked ahead in my classes to leave the day as free as possible to spend time together.  I had planned a trip to the Doctor for Emma and 3 of the boys who needed shots, but that was all. All other plans were supposed to be for fun.  Then we woke up that morning.

Several years ago Blake got this great idea to try and jump off the stage at church and while in the air to twist his body and throw a basket ball up and make the perfect basket. The thought was intriguing and the trick would have been spectacular. Not every plan works the way we think it will.  This one didn't.  He fell and broke one of his front teeth. Unfortunately it was an adult tooth.  He has forever lost the privilege of biting into a whole apple. It was repaired and except for the warning not to bite with it, he was as good as new. Now 3 years later he woke up and the filling had fallen off the tooth. We were not sure how exactly that happened; it doesn't matter the tooth had to be fixed, that day.

Now my plans for the day were rewritten. Blake need to go to the dentist. I was blessed that the dentist had an opening at noon which gave me time to get the kids to the Doctor and back. It was a new dentist, of course, so I had a pile of paper work to fill out at the first visit to asses the damage.  We had to come back at 2:00 for the "real" visit. Blake looks wonderful, even better than before. If there is one lesson I have learned while raising this gang of children, it is the importance of being flexible.  I never know what is coming next.