Daddy Daughter

My brother Josh sent me this picture of the Activity Days Daddy Daughter Dinner.  Josh was there with Esmae, and Scott with Xanthe.  The girls planned it for weeks.  Cheryl Richards and Cindy Gurr are their leaders, so of course every detail was organized and adorable.  They came home with cookies that looked like pizzas, with gummy vegetables and red frosting.  The night was a smashing success.

Xanthe is the sweetest little thing.  It's been an interesting 9 years, trying to figure out how this kid ticks.  She's still a mystery, but a fun one to have around.  Sometimes she amazes me with the things she can do.  Other times, she amazes me with what she can't do.  At the end of the day, if there is something Xanthe wants badly enough, I have all the confidence in the world that she will make it happen.  We're proud of her.  We love our little Xanthe Mary Mei!

Ptolemy Being Impossibly Cute

I said to Ptolemy, "This is a big problem.  You're too cute.  You're so cute, nobody can ever say no to you!"

It's true.  Yesterday, this Dapper Dan could not break the yolk on his egg with his toast.  I had to do it for him.  Meanwhile, Tziporah had decided to have a bath with her stuffed animal.  She went in and filled up the tub with the proper temperature of water, got undressed and got in.  She's three!  She washed her hair, washed her stuffed animal's hair, got out, got a towel, all while Ptolemy had managed to successfully eat his egg with very little assistance.  But then couldn't get his pajama shirt off over his head, and I rushed in to help, while Tziporah was in Araceli's room doing her makeup.

This makes me wonder why I treat my sons so differently than my daughters.  I'm much harder on my daughters.  If one of them couldn't get her shirt off, I'd scoff.  With Ptolemy, it was, "Oh honey, here, let me make it all better."  The other night when I dropped Freestone off at ballroom, I could tell he was not feeling well.  I told my friend who picks him up after that she could give him the choice of coming home after ballroom, instead of being dropped off at ballet.  When I got home later, he had skipped ballet and was already asleep, burning up with fever.  So I made the right call; he was sick.  But if it had been Araceli, my reaction would have been, "Here, take two of these, drink some water and buck up.  You're not missing class just because of a tiny fever."

I don't have any point to make, and I have NO idea why I have this double standard.  A mom's affection for her sons is real, I guess.  I want to nurture them.  The girls, on the other hand, as much as I love and adore them, I identify them more as a part of me on some level, so I feel like I can push them the way I would push myself.  I don't feel like they need nurturing as much as the boys?  I don't know.

All I know is Ptolemy is so freakin' cute, I can hardly stand it!  If he needs me to put his arm in his sleeve until he's 25, I'll probably do it.  Oh boy.

Eliza's Wedding

I just have some fun pictures of family from Eliza's wedding reception at Laura's house.  We couldn't go to the reception in Kaysville, so we were glad to have the chance to drive to Mapleton to see the happy bride and groom and visit with family.  And see Laura and Gordon's house one more time before they move!  Everything was perfect.  You guys did a great job!  We are so happy for Eliza and Logan.  Can't wait to see what adventures are in store for them!

Christina and me

Us with Aunt Rita and Christina

Malinda drove down from Boise.  It's so fun to see everyone!

Owen didn't want to miss out

I love pictures of Uncle Paul telling stories.

Paul, David and Gordon

Decor included all these big prints of Logan and Eliza.  Everything was so perfect!  We loved the evening. 

I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag

 I read this highly entertaining book that I picked up at the dollar store called "I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag."  It's a memoir by a high-end party planner in Manhattan.  I loved the colors of the book and the title, so I made it the theme of Shelter lunch.  Sometimes we include little goodie bags with lunch, so it was funny.  At least to me.

 Lunch always includes chocolate and Diet Coke, the two secret ingredients to sanity, if not downright happiness.  We had Wingers sticky fingers salad this time.  It was spicy.  No matter, there were plenty of non-spicy peanut M & M's at my end of the table, and lots of good conversation.  Two hours a week sails by in the blink of an eye, and I always feel not only like I unfairly dominated the conversation, but that we didn't have nearly enough time to cover all the necessary topics.  Maybe if I would shut up, we could cover more!

 This lunch also included these three Dance Company runaways, who stopped by for a quick bite.  It's always fun to see each other's kids.  We love 'em all!  We just don't promise them goodie bags. 

Nana's Day

Nana was in good spirits today.  She was reading when I popped in.  She looked up and said, "Well, there's my sweet Circe."  She was laughing and being engaging and inquisitive.  She was so chipper, we covered a lot of subjects.  Nana pulled out a note pad to write down everything I was telling her.  She said, "I want to keep my mind sharp and active."  She wrote down Laura and Gordon's new address, Emily's due date, the location of Samantha's house in Fillmore, everyone's vacation plans. She called me "Mrs. Snoopy" for having the scoop on everyone.  So funny!  Everything I could think of to tell her, she wrote down.  She had been telling me about her dad baptizing her on her birthday, so I started recording with my phone.  It turned out to be really sad, what she said.  It's like her mood clouded over and I captured a moment of naked honesty and despair.  We had just checked her calendar and talked about how the missionaries had been there that morning, teaching Sunday School.  She said that she was the only one who went to listen to them.  She said, "They have given their time and made sacrifices, and we have to support their efforts."  I joked with her and said, "Did you tell them you've already been baptized?"  That's why she was talking about her baptism in Fillmore.  A minute later, when I turned on the camera, she couldn't quite remember about the missionaries, but she still had some residue of good feelings from just having talked about it.  She always speaks with such tenderness when she is talking about the gospel.

After her moment of sorrow caught on camera, Nana was back to her cheerful self, but I know that just under the surface are all the fears of losing her mind and dying.  What else are you going to worry about when you're 98?  Of course she worries about it.  Time is ticking, and I'm so glad we have a little bit left to spend with Nana Ruby.  Even if she forgets everything, the rest of us will remember how valiantly, how cheerfully she fought the battle, how courageously she is enduring to the end.

Here's the link to Nana Ruby, March 25, 2015.

Federation

Freestone joked, "Is this where you sit if you're
last chair in orchestra?"

Last Saturday, Araceli played in Federation.  It's funny how each instrument's community has a different vibe.  Flute players on the whole seem to be quite uptight, and flute federation reflects their Type-A personalities.  You can cut the tension with a knife, and I've heard piano is even worse.  Cello federation was much more relaxed and happy.  The judges didn't even ask for a copy of the music.  It was structured in hour-long blocks where we're all in one room together and it's like a recital.  That cuts down on the chopping-block dread of waiting your turn in the hall to go before the judges all alone.  Almost everyone played well.  Araceli played very well, except she had a memory slip.  Not a big one.  She never has memory slips!  She practices from memory, just because it's so easy for her.  I totally don't relate; most people don't.  She said it was because she looked at me.  Ha ha.  She got a Superior rating anyway.  Phew!  It's always nice to get that perfect score.

Gardner Hall at the U, where I spent every Saturday morning for 6 years.

Afterwards, I said, "Let's celebrate!  Where do you want to go?"
"You decide, Mom."
"I'm not the one who just got a Superior in Federation!"
"Ya but you're the one who made me practice."

Could this girl be any more lovely?  I'm so glad I got to spend that time with her.  Her time slot fell right during both of our ballet classes, so Araceli had her leotard on under her outfit, just in case we made it back for part of ballet.  I got a sub for my classes.  Scott could have taken Araceli to this thing, but I just wanted to.  It was the culmination of all those Friday morning lessons that I've sat through, taking notes, at 6 in the morning.  I just didn't want to miss the payoff; it's too much fun.  We didn't make it back for any of our ballet, but we did grab a muffin and a smoothie at Java Joe's in the avenues.  It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning to take time out to appreciate Araceli and the wonderful girl she's turning out to be.  All because of me making her practice, of course. ;)

Around the World in Sadie Days

Ruby's plight as the second child is to always be in Golda's shadow.  (In this case, a little shadow would have helped with that glaring sun!)  Here they are, on Ruby's first date.  She and Golda asked guys to Sadie's, and this is the "day" activity, the Friday night prior.  They went to Farmington Station and did a scavenger hunt, then made the shirts at Emily's.

Anyway, the next day was the dance.  Scott and I got the fun job of decorating the conference room at King & King for the "Around the World in Sadie Days" dinner for the kids.  We gathered all the travel-related stuff from around our house and piled it into a centerpiece.  We hauled out my dad's big globe, Chinese fans, Turkish shadow puppets, Hawaiian driftwood, travel guides, and Araceli's cool messenger bag.

Scott set up his record player.  The sound, I have to admit, is pretty cool.

See my little house from Sevilla?  I love that little house.

Oh, and a bundle of old letters that Scott sent me when he was on his mission.  They looked so vintage and cool.  I'm glad we have those; people don't write letters anymore, and that stack of different kinds of stationery with carefully selected stamps, in Scott's block handwriting is way better than a bunch of emails.

Emily's mom Jillyn brought food from Royal India.  The kids loved it.

Scott keeps this fish at his office as a pet.  We got him in Venice and carried him in our backpacks through Italy, Greece and Turkey.  He's just the kind of pet Scott likes.

And here they are:  Carter Erickson, Ruby, Golda and Dan Nybo.  These guys were great dates, talkative and lots of fun.

After the dance, the kids came to our house and had sundaes and played games.  Scott set it all up while he was watching March Madness.  Watching basketball is a different experience when you're a a dad.  Thursday night during the Utah game, Scott was at a Daddy-Daughter dinner with Xanthe, then Golda's ballet class.  So Saturday night, I took the littles to a movie.  Freestone was at a big game tournament at the Haj with Sam (Thanks Susan:) and Araceli was shopping with her friends (Thanks Audrey and Tyler:)  It took a village to give Scott an hour or two of March Madness, and even then he was setting up a sundae bar and cleaning the house.  He doesn't even complain.  We love all this stuff.  We would rather have all our kids around us doing all their interesting activities and needing us and being wonderful than have down time.  We gave up on that, and sleep, years ago.  I laugh when parents say, "I'm not a taxi driver!...I'm not a cruise director!...I'm not a short-order cook!"

 Um, ya you are.  That's exactly what you are, and more.  Why did you think that wouldn't happen when you had kids?  Scott spends most evenings waiting for the kids in his car at various venues.  It just makes it easier if you just expect to be there for your kids all the time.  That doesn't mean I don't hide in my closet and eat chocolate, though, once in awhile.  :)  Gotta stay on top of your game, right?

First Day of Spring

We made it!  We officially made it through winter, and now it's spring.  Never mind that the weather turned cold and sleety yesterday.  IT'S TOO LATE, WINTER!  YOU'RE TOO LATE!  GO AWAY!

The official first day of spring was balmy and bright, just the perfect day for rediscovering the park and swinging high into the air.  I didn't want to swing the kids.  I wanted to sit in the car and listen to NPR, so I told them that the monsters are in the woods, so they had to stay on the playground so the monsters wouldn't get them.  I have too many memories of lost Aracelis and Freestones, exploring those woods.  I'm lazier now.  Ptolemy jumped in on the monster idea with, "Yeah!  But there's an invisible force field around the playground and the monsters can't get in!"  Sure, kid.  Yeah, that's right.  Stay inside the force field.

I should have told them that the swings were outside the force field.  After seeing their joyful faces as they cried, "Higher!  Higher!" I was glad I made the effort, minuscule as it was, to push them on the swings.  It turned out to be much more soul-quenching than sitting in the car.  Lesson learned...again.

Nana seems to have gotten spring fever, too and had her hair done.  A beautician comes every Friday and does hair at the salon they have in the assisted living.  Nana finally took the plunge, after seeing how nice all her friends looked each Friday.  Isn't it cute!  She has also agreed to go on a few drives with me, to pick up kids or make a scenic loop.  She's always glad to get back home, though.

And now that my hometown is turning colors and singing new life, I think I'm happy to be home, too.