Just for you nana!!!!!

Hello!!!! I'm alive!!!! Can you believe it!! Sorry, not funny. I don't mean to run out on everyone. Life just always seems to be busy. You can all thank nana for harrassing my husband enough to harrass me. Not that anyone really is watching for a new post anyway. Joke, ok not funny either.

I too am like what Whimsy wrote about in one of her posts. I write blogs in my head all day long. When I go to check everyone else's then write one myself, my mind goes blank. Nothing is interesting enough, I don't have a new baby to brag about, I don't have a crazy neighbor with wind-chime phobia, I don't have ducks nesting in my flower bed. It's just me in the country, back on a farm trying to keep my 3 crazy kids in line (not that I am ever actually able to get them in line). Sometimes I can come off a little negative. Sorry about that, I don't really mean too. For me vocalizing my frustrations helps me to enjoy the good stuff in life a little more.

So here goes: I am helping my parents build their house. This is something they have been working on for over a year now. You think it would be done now but they are literally doing it themselves. I guess you could say this is my time and season for learning hands on construction. I have learned how to wire a socket. Such a simple little thing we all use in our daily lives. I can actually wire one and I've gotten pretty fast at it (for me anyway). I learned how to install can lights. Mom and I laid the backer board for the tile in one day. About 2,000 screws. I cannot even tell you how much my back hurt that night. For the next 2 days I couldn't bend over. Mom thought it was quite funny. We haven't laid the tile yet as the water is not hooked up to the house yet. Dad is dragging his feet. My main responsibility is painting. I have learned a lot by trial and error on how to paint with tape and not have it bleed and how to get perfectly straight lines on the edges. Lame but I'm pretty excited about it. I'm pretty sure that by now half of whom ever is reading this has already gotten so bored they have switched to someone else's blog.

Once a week I mow my grandparents lawn. They are 79 & 82 years old. I love spending time with them and being able to help them. They just can't keep up with the yard and house anymore. I think in many ways my grandma is revitalized by me being here. I am pretty sure she has spent more time in the yard this year than in the last 2 years combined. I've always had a special bond with my grandma and grandpa. I think all the difficulties my family had with my dad's parents made me appreciate my mom's parents so much more. When I was younger I loved to spend the night at my grandparents house. I remember how much I loved putting on my grandpa's very large irrigating boots (they are almost too small now) and head to the barn to help milk the cows (at least I thought I was helping anyway). I remember waking up in the middle of the night a time or 2 because the cows had gotten out and had to be rounded up. I remember when we ran out of milk we didn't head to the store (who bought milk at the store anyway?) we grabbed a pitcher and headed to the barn and got it out of the tap on the huge vat. My grandpa taught me to drive a stick shift. I don't know how he ever kept his patience with me. No one has ever known my grandpa to be patient in any circumstance. My times with grandma were spent watching 'Wheel of Fortune' and 'Little House on the Prairie'. She would tell me all sorts of stories about my ancestors. My favorite was always about the Holladay's being converted to the gospel, freeing their slaves and traveling with the Mississippi saints to Salt Lake. I get a lot of my personality from her. This time with my grandparents is reminding me about all these times I've been blessed to share with them and many more. I am truly blessed to have my children here with them. My great grandma Holladay died when I was 3. I very much remember her and treasure those memories. My children now have the opportunity to have these beautiful moments with their great grandparents. I love to watch my grandma as she sits on the porch and visits one one one with him. As I watched this scene play out one night I just stopped and felt the true blessings in that moment. It was almost like seeing eternity being played out right here before my eyes. A bridge between not only the gap between my generation and my grandmother's and mine but my sons and hers. A 69 year gap. I have many of these moments as I see my wonderful children interacting with my grandparents. This life I am living is far from easy but I do it because of these moments. I am truly grateful for my grandparents and the times they take with my children. They will never know how much they will affect my childrens lives.

So now I have rambled on and on. There is no way I can catch up on the last however long it has been. I will try to do better. I promise.

I should make one note however. I dearly love the Seattle area. I don't know exactly why, I can't put it into words. My favorite thing though would have to be the people there. I was born and raised her in Idaho but a part of my heart will always belong there in Washington. I found a true home there. Not the house/apartment we lived in but a place where I could truly be myself. We didn't have our families there but I found family never the less. My children had grandparents. I had true friends, the kind that you swear you've known forever, the kind that take care of you and watch out for you, soul sisters I guess you could say. I think part of the reason I didn't post sooner is that it just seemed too hard. I miss it there so much. I miss all of you.

Easter

When I was a child I had an aunt who would put together a dinner and Easter egg hunt. To this day it doesn't seem like Easter without family and friends to celebrate. So, we put the packing aside for a few hours and had 17 of our friends and family (making a grand total of 22 people) over for dinner and of course the Hunt. People said I was crazy and I probably am but boy was it fun. The count:

2 hams
92 rolls
31 hard boiled eggs
3 dishes of potatoes
67 plastic eggs
Barrels of laughter and fun

Faith always seems to be helping someone. Did you notice? It is Seattle and the kids aren't wearing sweatshirts or raincoats!!!! The weather let up and gave us this one absolutely beautiful day to celebrate.

Ethyn was the last to be let out of the house. I knew once he got loose the game was over. Bishop Sears had hidden a few especially with Ethyn in mind. Supposedly they were quite the challenge but Ethyn made short work of it.

Here's the happy crew. The hard boiled eggs were surprisingly the favorites for the kids. There were shells everywhere. This was the first egg hunt for 2 of our guests. An infant, Jackson, and my 81 year old great-great uncle who was born not long before the Great Depression.

Life

Sometimes life as a parent can be very difficult. Constantly breaking up fights between children. The loud noises from exuberant playing. The name calling, Abram's latest fun time. Half truths and tattle tales. Constantly having to stay on top of them to get their chores or homework done. Laundry that was only worn for 5 minutes. Coughs, runny noses and sticky hands. Trying to get Faith to wear her sweatshirt, or even her coat for that matter. Keeping the youngest out of the oldest child's stuff. Trying to keep the oldest from tormenting the girl just to see her scream. Getting Ethyn to stay on track and finish the task at hand. Each child tries to get the other in trouble. The toothpaste all over the bathroom sink 1 hour after cleaning the sink. I think you get the picture though I could go on.



Sometimes I wonder if I'm ever going to get through to them. Will they ever learn? Am I the parent I should be? What am I doing so wrong? Can I do anything right? Then I stumble upon this at 10:30 at night.







It's going to be OK. Why? Because they do get it. Ethyn had been in bed for and hour and a half. Abram was doing all he could to keep Ethyn awake. Ethyn asked if he could sleep somewhere else. We told him he could sleep in Faiths' bed (she's in our closet with the humidifier). An hour later he came out and went back to his own bed. We got up to check on things at 10:30 and found this surprise message he had made his sister for the morning. What a wonderful big brother. I don't think we'll get after him for staying up late this time.

"Children are like sponges. You give and give and they soak it all up but one squeeze and you get it all back".

Where do babies come from?

Having children always livens things up. This morning Ethyn and Faith were at school and Abram was snuggling in bed with me. He brought up the subject of babies. Every once in a while he brings this subject up. I asked him if he wanted a baby (for those who are thinking it, no, we are not looking at having one). He said he wanted a baby boy for him and a baby girl for Faith. This is not something new at our house as Faith would say the exact same thing. I couldn't help but ask him where he would get his baby. He told me that him and I would have to go to the doctor and the doctor would rub soap on our (Abram and mine) tummies and when it dried there would be a baby in our tummies. How enlightened I felt. It is amazing what a 4 year old can teach you. I then asked him how the baby would get out. He said the doctor would cut a hole and pull the baby out. He was so matter of fact I decided not to argue. I wouldn't win.

Crackpot Friends

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house." The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them." "For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them. SO, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

Night of the Notables

Last night we attended an event called 'Night of the Notables' for Ethyn. I thought y'all might like to see our public school system at work. Each of the 4th grade students picked a notable person to study for a month. They had to learn all about this personby reading books and getting info off the internet. They had a poster they had to fill in with a picture they had to draw of that person, what 3 things you should remember about them, what you may not have known about that person, what you could learn from that person, as well as a summary of their life. Last night each of the students dressed up like their notable person and brought 3 props. The students were each given space at a table to sit (128 students) while parents went around to each student. You could only ask yes or no questions to figure out who they were. Some were very easy, like with Albert Einstein, usually one of the props would say E=MC2. The top notables of the night. . .

George Washington (6), Martin Luther King Jr. (5), Abraham Lincoln (5), Amelia Earhart (5), Marie Curie (4), Albert Einstein (4), Orville Wright (4), Benjamin Franklin (4), Frederick Douglass (3), Leonardo da Vinci (3), Bill Gates (3), Tiger Woods (2), Mae Jemison (2), Helen Keller (2), Rosa Parks (2), Anne Frank (2), Susan B. Anthony (2), Neil Armstrong (2), Mother Theresa (2), Thomas Edison (2), Pocohontas (2), Laura Ingalls Wilder (2), Wilbur Wright (2), Sacagawea (2), Annie Oakley (2), Jackie Robinson (2), Andy Warhol (2), and Henry Ford (2).

As you can see the names vary from historical to recent history, well known to some I have never heard of, and I do enjoy learning about history. Ethyn picked Harry Houdini. He dressed in his church clothes minus the tie. He made a paper chain for his wardrobe to show that it was Houdini's specialty. His props were: an airplane (Houdini was a pilot, I did not know that), a poster with keys crossed out (to show he didn't need a key to pick a lock), and handcuffs. He said only 1 adult figured it out (it wasn't Heath or me because we already knew). It was very interesting to see what all these children had learned.

The other notable people (if you're interested). . .Cesar Chavez, Betsy Ross, Aunt Clara Brown, Meriwether Lewis, Harriet Tubman, Martha Washington, Dr. Suess, George H. Bush, George W. Bush, Thomas Jefferson, Princess Diana, Benus Williams, Mozart, Rembrandt, Elisabeth Cady Stanton, Jacqueline Kennedy, Jane Goodall, Beatrix Potter, Rachel Carson, R.L. Stine, Florence Nightingale, Wilma Rudolph, Bessie Coleman, Theodore Roosevelt, Cleopatra, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Davy Crockett, Queen Isabella, Kit Carson, Ruby Bridges, Sojourner Truth, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lady Bird Johnson, Francis Crick, Roger Bacon, James D. Watson, Susan Mkinney Steward, Elijah McCoy, Louis Pasteur, Alexander Graham Bell, Elizabeth Blackwell, MD and George Washington Carver.

Seals in the Night

Some of you may know this feeling, others may not. You're lying in bed at night, tired. You know you should be asleep but your thoughts are wandering from the many blessings you have in your life to the many challenges or difficulties you may be facing. You look at the clock and realized you really do need to get some sleep. There are children to get off to school in the morning. You hear the youngest crying. You crawl out of your nice warm bed and stumble throung the dark, cold house to the side of your little one. You pull him up in your lap and hold him close. He coughs and you hear that sound. . . the first time I remember that sound, I was a child. My parents took the family to the Oregon coast. This is a vacation I later recreated with my own family and children but for some reason I remember the trip as a child most. We went to this small aquarium and just inside the door and to the left was a small (for this animal) enclosure of about 3 seals. For a small amount of money you could buy some fish to feed them. It was so exciting for a girl from a small farm town in Idaho.

But last night I was far from this vacation and that bark is anything but a seal. Someone would think by now I would be a seasoned mom and know what to do and not be worried. When Ethyn was a baby I was more like that. Get the humidifier, give them Robitussin and don't worry, they'll get over it eventually. Now I always get worried. After countless rounds of pneumonia, I never know how bad it will get. It was only 6 weeks ago that he got over the last bout with pneumonia. I used to think that the older I get, as a mother, the less I would worry. Not true, I get more worried. With 3 kids it seems 1 of my children is always sick.

When my children are sick, I do the best I can to keep my children home. I don't want other moms to go through this just because I wanted to go out. If I am out and I hear other children coughing, I will gather my children and go home. I really don't like the way that sounds or how rude it comes and I don't really mean to. I know there are germs and infections out there and we can't save ourselves from every one of them, I'm not a germophob, and I don't go crazy disinfecting everthing my family comes in contact with. I am just one tired mom who would love to go through 2 months without a sick child.