Perfect

Freestone got me thinking about perfection today. He was sitting in my lap at church as we were watching a Christmas video that showed the Salt Lake Temple. I said, "We went there, remember?" He said, "No, we didn't." I said, "Yes we did. Remember the dog poop on Ari's shoe?" His reply was, "Oh yeah...the temple. That was pretty." Perfect...
This was after the perfect talk Freestone gave. I walked into Primary and Free was up on the stand. The Pres. asked me if I was ready for Freestone's talk, and I looked at his expectant little face up there and remembered about the talk I was supposed to help him prepare. I walked up and whispered a talk into his ear about Jesus being born in Bethlehem. Doing it one sentence at a time gave me a chance to make it up as I went along! Freestone did a great job. What could be more perfect?
This afternoon, I went for a walk with the little guy. My idea of a perfect walk is a brisk pace and a short distance. Freestone's idea of a perfect walk is wading through the deepest available snowdrift, stopping every couple of feet to inhale and exhale vigorously into his harmonica and eat icicles off the neighbor's truck. I slowed down and looked around, and finally came around to seeing how Freestone's idea of perfect could be a lot more interesting than mine.
It was a perfect day...dark grey sky, biting cold, slushy roads, unprepared for church...it was a good day for a perfect talk, a perfect walk and a perfect memory of our imperfect night at Temple Square. Thank heavens all our days aren't perfect. If they were, we might not remember any of them, and life certainly wouldn't be as colorful!
And speaking of perfect and colorful, I was pleasantly surprised today by a new addition to my collection of art from my friend Michelle. The one on the left was waiting on my doorstep this afternoon, courtesy of Tiff, since Michelle is temporarily not living in Utah! :) The wonderful hand-painted art makes it a little bit easier to have my "potato chip/London china shop/sewing advisor" friend away. Thanks, Michelle! I love it!

Chestnuts Roasting...

It's easy to feel the holiday spirit when there's a party to attend! Last night was one of the nights of the year that I look forward to the most, the Davis Girls holiday get-together. When I drove up to Tiff's colorfully lit home, I felt a twinge of sadness at not seeing Michelle's little VW. Michelle, we muddled through without you, but there was a Michelle-sized void, for sure! I feel so lucky to have my high school friends. Apparently, that is a rarity in the world at large. An added bonus is the fact that they are all such vibrant, exciting and funny women. The highlight of any holiday is the exquisitely wrapped Love Box I get from Tiffany. Here is a picture of my Christmas boxes since 2003, plus my snowmen. I keep them all in my entryway so I can show them off to anyone who glances in their direction. I can't tell you how honored I am to have this collection. I wish you could all spend a few hours studying the intricacies of Tiffany's art. You would fall in love, too!
Golda, Ruby and their cousin, Alexis, have been working on a musical revue of sorts, and tonight was the night! I honestly didn't know what to expect. The girls have been very excited about this, so Jennie and I took them seriously and gathered a few non-judgmental (just in case! :) family members for dinner and a show. What unfolded before us was truly impressive! Every number was choreographed to the music and executed to perfection. Scott was the music man behind the scenes, going off the cue list Lexie had typed up. The show came off surprisingly smoothly! I have to say, I was really impressed by our three little dancers! After dinner, there was more entertainment. The girls had written and rehearsed a play called "Holly Claus" with original music. I was genuinely impressed. I even loved the little kids and babies wandering unwittingly on and off the "stage." I think it was the best recital I've ever been to. It was just a lot of fun. It's great when something fun and unexpected just happens, and you are able to sit back and let it wash over you. I even got a little choked up at the end, watching the whole lot of them sing. This is the very thing that life is about. I once had chestnuts that were roasted over an open fire...tonight was better!

Thanks, Grandma Dopp!...and Opa DeBry

This afternoon, we had some visitors with a special delivery. Grandma Dopp and Aunt Nikki made this gingerbread train for us! The caboose was loaded with chocolate and candy canes, which were enjoyed right away. Thanks, Grandma and Nikki! You have so many talents!
Tonight is our Sinterklaas Eve. It's a Dutch holiday that we adopted, since my grandfather was Dutch. The real night is tomorrow, but Holland is 8 hours ahead, and I'm impatient. The kids put their wooden shoes by the fireplace. Sinterklaas just brings a few small things, since we're only a little bit Dutch. :) Actually, we never celebrated this holiday when I was little. The only Dutch traditions we had were doughnut-like things on New Year's Eve called olliebollen and constant, excessive amounts of chocolate. I miss Opa, and this little tradition is a good way to remember where he came from. Tonigh, I was telling Ari, Free and Xanthe about Opa's parents coming from the Netherlands on a ship. His mother was hiding in the hold, having joined the LDS church and run away from home. His father was playing the trumpet in the Queen's band on the deck. They met during the journey and ended up in Salt Lake. I never knew either of those great-grandparents, so I'm glad I have heard so many stories about them. They were stern, humble, hard workers, and endured many hardships.
As I was telling the stories to my kids, I was overwhelmed with sadness that Xanthe's birth family also had countless stories that are forever lost to her. It's heartbreaking that Xanthe comes from such a rich, ancient race, and her family has had to lose her. In a line that probably goes back hundreds of generations, this little baby girl is gone. There is no blame to be placed, and no easy answers. Now she has to claim our English/Dutch/German ancestry, and it is a little unfair. She lost a lot when she was 4 days old. But this family is hers. Because of the fact that she is sealed to us, my Opa is hers, and his stories are hers. Scott's grandparents are Xanthe's very own. Not just superficially, but for real, and forever. I'm so glad she is ours. I could NEVER have felt that our family was complete without our little spicy girl! She is a miracle.

"The question is not what you look at, but what you see." - Thoreau

I have a sad story for you. It's about my addiction to blogging. I planned a special night for Ruby and Ari tonight. We were going to take Golda to play practice (sorry, Golda!) then go to Molly Mouse's Sugarplum Debut at the Rose Wagner. When I called for tickets this afternoon, the show was sold out. But that's not the sad part. The sad part is that my first thought was, "Darn! Pictures of that would have looked so cute on my blog." Have I gone overboard? I admit, I'm more embarrassed about the blog addiction than I am about the fact that my shirt was on backwards all day and my fly was down when I got home tonight. But the wardrobe problems are not unusual for me.
Anyway, I did have a really fun night with Ari, Free and Ruby. Xanthe stayed home with Coco until Daddy got home. She loves Coco because Coco follows all of her orders. When Coco leaves her sight, X starts shouting, "Whe ahhhh you?!!!!" It's nice not to have the shouting of orders in the backseat all the way to SLC.
The kids and I dropped off G. and went to Cucina. I told them they could choose a treat and Ari chose lasagne. What is she, Garfield? But she ate it happily while the others ate their eclairs.
I discovered the best way to take little kids to Temple Square to see the lights. I'm calling it Temple Square Lite. Just west of the square in front of the family history building is ten-minute parking. Nobody was parked there! So we parked, got the dog poop off Ari's shoe (another story...these things happen when you hang out with kids), walked around the grounds for 9 minutes and got back on the road before anyone had a chance to say, "My legs are tired." It really got us in the Christmas spirit! I did make up for the abridged Temple Square visit by reading the Ensign at the discovery museum.
The only low spot of the evening was in the car in downtown traffic when I said in a loud voice, "Why is this CLOWN driving so slow?" Freestone did not see the clown and he was pretty upset. I had to describe the "clown"...uhh...rainbow hair, big red nose...but it didn't help. He still cried for ten minutes.

A Winter's Tale

"The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness." - Aristotle
We all woke up to snow on the ground and snow in the air. I told you I would show you why I love Saturday mornings...This is the ballet studio where I teach, right before all the students arrive. In the morning, it is always flooded with light and rich with the expectation of beauty. It is rewarding to help the ballet students work and strive, learning an art form that has been rigidly honed since the time of Louis XIV. It is so great to be a part of the discipline the dancers are learning, from their dress code to their behavior in class to the classical dance form they are studying. It takes years to learn, yet every moment of class counts. My December barre music is all Christmas arrangements for piano...another reason to look forward to class. These feet are Ruby's. She and Golda go to modern dance on Saturdays, then Ruby comes to one of my ballet classes. I love having her in my class and watching her grow.
While I was warmly ensconced in my ballet and Christmas music, Scott was driving through the blizzard to get Golda to play rehearsal. Free was the only one who could go with Daddy, so he took Scott to the children's museum and proudly showed him around. Golda's rehearsal was 5 hours, so the "guys" had plenty of time to hang out at the Sky Box and exude testosterone! They even played arcade games. I think Free is hooked!
After ballet and Ari's cello lesson and play rehearsal, there was plenty of time for sledding and friends and snowmen. We had a house full of some of the kids' favorite friends until it was too dark to play outside, and all the hot cocoa had been consumed. Or spilled. :)
Outside, snow covers everything. Inside, Christmas lights glow and Sport Center drones. I hope your night is just as peaceful!

Scott is going to love this picture. He hates it when I turn the camera sideways, and I don't know how to turn it the right way for the blog. Maybe Scott will fix it. :)

Today was guitar day. Ruby and Freestone both had great lessons. After, we went to Primary Children's Hospital to visit Jackson. He looked great in his new halo. The kids even got to touch it! Yesterday, I told Jackson to recover quickly so we could have Jackson Day Monday, another one of my favorite days of the week!

After we visited with Jackson and Jennie, it was time for group guitar lesson. My role at group lesson is to watch from the other room. On the first song the kids played together, one of them was WAY off. Somebody sounded so bad, I had to look and see what was going on. Well, Freestone had decided that not knowing how to play the song was not going to stop him from joining in. He was studiously plucking notes in "Free-sharp-minor," while all the other kids were in G. Even on the more advanced songs, Freestone doggedly gave it his best tone. Afterwards, I had a little talk with the very patient teacher. He said that distraction is part of playing, and Freestone was distracting, thereby helping the other kids learn the skill of ignoring distraction. I LOVE our guitar teacher!

On the way home from guitar, we passed Scott on his way in to Salt Lake, taking Golda to her play rehearsal. Now he's doing the Barnes and Noble thing while I enjoy the quiet of sleeping kids and the sound of the dishwasher. Heaven!

That's right, we're out of eggnog

Happy Friday, friends! Freestone had one of his eggnog meltdowns this morning. It happens every time we run out of his favorite drink. He falls on the ground, sobbing, "I told you to buy more and more and more of it!" Scott and I are not looking forward to January, when eggnog disappears from the stores. I can just see us special-ordering eggnog online from a dairy in Vermont. Actually, we wouldn't do that. The eggnog tantrums are too funny.
I love Fridays. Last night I was trying to decide what my favorite day of the week is. Fridays are fun becasue of guitar lessons, and because it's early out day at school. Every day of our week has a different feel. Some are marathons of lessons, and others are mellow, when we get lots of homework and practing done, and have dinner all together. I guess I just like the fact that each day of the week is different, and that so many fun things happen every day. Saturday, I'll show you a picture of why I like Saturday mornings so much. I can honestly say that there is not a day of the week that I dread, and that's pretty lucky. What about you?

Happy First Snowfall!

The science fair poster went out the door with Golda this morning and into the sparkly, snow-covered world. It turned out really cute, so if that's what the judges are looking for, then we're set! There were a few setbacks along the way...Max went AWOL right in the middle of the testing. I still don't know where he was, but it's a good thing he came running back the next morning while I was working on a violin downstairs. I was starting to consider two pretty ill-advised options for completing the project. One: buy a new, look-alike Guinea pig. Two: Cross out "guinea pig" every time it appears in the science project and substitute "Freestone." The first option might have led to divorce proceedings, and the second would have involved Freestone on a sugar high. So MAx's reappearance was an answer to my prayers!
It was fun helping Golda type up her report on the computer. I just missed the computer age as a youth. I didn't even take a typing class until 9th grade, and it was my lowest grade ever, except for gym. Golda, like all kids these days, is a whiz. In the time it took me to say, "Gee, I wish we could somehow make a graph...maybe I could find some crayons that aren't too broken," Golda had googled "graph," found a website, entered data for three graphs and printed them out. OK...am I helping or hindering here?
On a different note...I took Golda to flute and drama rehearsal last night (in the very blizzard that has made everything so beautiful this morning.) I had three hours to walk around the Gateway in the snow, so I went to Barnes and Noble and read Jenny McCarthy's book on autism, which my sister-in-law, Jennie, had recommended. (Thanks, Jen!) I must have made quite a spectacle, crying all the way through the book. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a child. It really brings into focus what we do, and would do, as mothers, to keep our kids safe. I can't remember the name of the book.
Speaking of books, any recommendations out there? I'll need something compelling for the next blizzard!

Testing...Testing...

Today is science fair project day. Most of the other kids started their projects in September, since which time Golda has written and choroegraphed approximately 150 musicals and mass produced dozens of illustrated invitations to her shows. But no science project. Today, when my dad suggested testing why your tongue sticks to a frozen surface, I responded, "I don't want to be the guinea pig for that experiment!" That's when I remembered, "Hey! We HAVE a guinea pig!" So, later today when Golda comes home from school, Max will be the subject of some rigorous testing on whether sugar makes guinea pigs run faster. I'm sure Max will love the candy corn I dug out of the Halloween candy. Oh, this is all going to be very scientific! I can't wait!

Boy Crazy

For a mom who has four daughters and only one son, today was different. This morning, Freestone and I had a date. We drove Golda in to her drama rehearsal, got trendy cups of hot chocolate and went to the..what else? The discovery museum. Freestone is so fun to watch as he plays. He concentrates as if his career depends on how efficiently he gets the plastic balls to their rightful places. The kid works hard!
When we got home, I traded Ari for Henry, and Sarah took the kindergarten girls to a movie. Since I was on a roll, I traded Golda and Ruby for Jackson and Collin, and made it a boys' day. Poor little Xanthe was completely outnumbered. Just to tip the scale even more, we picked up Jake and headed to the castle park. The boys were calling it the "witch park," a name Jackson coined when I asked, "Which park do you guys want to go to?" My lesson on synonyms was no match for the idea of a park full of witches, so the name stuck. Sweet little boys, all of them. I just love 'em.
The BIG boys didn't have as much fun today, watching Utah lose to BYU. After this defeat, Scott vowed to stop watching sports. It'll never happen...sports are hard-wired in to these creatures. When I was in the car with 5 boys today, I turned on the game. The banter of the announcers, the roar of the crowd, held their attention, and they were quiet. But when I asked them who was winning the game, every one of them, in unison, said, "Me!" So it will be a few years before a team's loss will upset them. And I'm glad. Let them enjoy their childhood victories.