Great American Hero

#1's big 2nd grade Social Studies project is called "Great Americans." It involves a month of reading and writing about the chosen great American and it culminates with a big poster and presentation in March. It's a big deal. Apparently there was an approved list of great Americans the student could choose from, which included names like Ben Franklin, Martin Luther King, Obama and ... J. K. Rowling. Which is exactly who #1 chose.

She was so excited to study J.K. Rowling, I hated bursting her bubble. "J.K. Rowling is awesome, but she's actually not American."

"Huh? She's not? No, I guess she's not, huh? Why was she on the great Americans list?"

I didn't have an answer for her. But we did talk about other possibilities for who #1 could study.

"All the good ones are taken, " she sighed. "I really wanted to do J.K. Rowling. Maybe I could do a different writer?"

Yes! #1 is my daughter! I immediately envisioned us reading Little Women together or pouring over William Carlos Williams poems late into the night.

"Sure! There's Wallace Stegner or Willa Cather. Those are great American writers. This will be so fun!!! I can help you research them and I know a really good book about..."

"Judy Blume. I want to do Judy Blume."

"Wha?"

"Yea, Judy Blume. You know, Superfudge?"

Trying to recover from fleeting euphoric hope, now dashed, I said, "Ok. Sure I'm sure she will be a fun American writer to study."

I emailed her teacher and although Judy Blume was not on the approved list of great Americans, he would allow it since the J.K. Rowling thing was his fault in the first place.

So last night, armed with the Judy Blume biography she found in her school library, #1 started her writing homework. Write ten interesting facts about your great American.

#1 had already covered the basics. Where and when she was born... #1 still needed about 8 facts, so I picked up her biography and started scanning the pages.

About halfway through the book, I looked at #1, suppressing my alarm. "So did you read this book?"

"Yep."

"The whole thing?"

"Yep."

"Did you understand everything?"

"I think so."

"Do you understand what this word means? Or this word?" Pointing to the words, menstruate and sexuality.

"Not really."

Did you know that some of Judy Blume's books were banned from school libraries because of their sexual content?

Yup.

It's going to be a long month.

How to turn 6 in style

Last week on this very day, the children and I rode our bikes to a nearby park to meet up with some friends. It was an "early release" day at school, so the park was crawling with wildly happy kids. #2 and I started throwing the football back and forth and it wasn't long before all the boys in the vicinity gravitated to us and wanted in on the football action.

This is exactly the type of situation #2 thrives in. Lots of boys, lots of energy, new friends and some sort of ball. It was #2's idea to take it to the next level. "Hey! Come and wrestle me!" He caught a ball and took off running, shrieking with laughter.

The boys were tackling each other now and loving it. They were rolling in dirt and grass, wrestling the ball away from each other, laughing.

I think you know where this is going.


Straight to the orthopedist.






The Doctor asked, "What happened buddy?"

"Playing football and I got my finger stepped on."

"How old are you?"

"Five."

Looking over his glasses, he scanned #2 up and down, sizing him up, "How have you not been in here yet?"





#2 is a big, active boy who likes to play hard (and is often clumsy). It's a miracle he's kept his bones intact for five whole years.






As if a broken bone weren't enough action for this boy, here is another milestone #2 crossed this past week:



Ripped the bloody tooth from his gums with one hand. The other had pushing me away, not wanting any help.



If you looked up the definition of "six year old boy" in the dictionary here is the picture you'll find:




Happy Birthday Buster!

Weekend Welcome

I'm looking forward to the weekend tomorrow, starting at precisely 3:25 pm. Nothing extraordinary planned. Maybe just some Harry Potter reading, a few bike rides and some tennis with #1.

Here are some pictures from last weekend's excursion to the Salt River.

In the spring this rock is nearly covered by water.

"Just be careful and don't get your feet wet!" I yelled from the side.

#3 loves this picture. Perhaps it's her authoritative pose with her arms folded and hip cocked out. And she is towering above her brother and sister. Yep, I'm pretty sure that's why she likes it.

Playing in the cat-tail skeletons. The kids burrowed tunnels and made "homes." This kept them busy for at least an hour. Spouse and I lounged in the warm sun. One of us was reading a Harry Potter book.

"Don't step in the water! Don't..."

Doh!
Two wet sneakers.

family updates and stuff

Between December 22 and now Spouse has worked a total of 5 days. Most of that time off was planned vacation time. What we didn't plan on was pneumonia visiting our house and attacking our breadwinner. I am happy to report that although his violent coughing keeps me up at night, the worst is over and he is back at work.

After #1 and #2 left for school the house seemed very quiet and empty and I realized how much I had enjoyed having Spouse at home (even though he was too sick to be any fun).

Now Spouse has contracted a different kind of bug. The Harry Potter bug! The past couple of months I've been enjoying the Harry Potter series for the first time and now it looks like Spouse is addicted too!

The good thing about reading these books 10 years behind schedule is that I can just read them one after another without having to wait a year between publications. The bad part is that I feel like I came to the party after the pinata has already been cracked; the cultural excitement has all but died out.

I've been doing an OK job at my new year's focus (feeling joy). A few days ago I caught myself imagining what it would be like to live in a bigger house. So I decided to try to think how my tiny house is a joy to me.

1) There is a lot less to keep clean.

2) When I tell people I vacuum twice a day, it sounds really impressive. (But it's not. Read: the house is tiny)

3) Everything I need is always within a few paces away. It makes collecting and distributing laundry a cinch.

4) I have enough furniture to fill it.

5) I am forced to keep things organized.

6) Because I know that anything I buy I have to find a place for, I buy less.


See? Not so bad, huh? I bet you're all wishing for a small house now.



Hmmm. What else can I add to this most random post of mine? A picture? Ok, you got it.

JLJ 2.011 (and a late and short Christmas re-cap)

I'm not making a list of resolutions for this year. There is just one. Joy. This year I'm focusing on feeling joy, thinking positively and smiling and laughing more, even if it gives me more wrinkles. I'm not talking about pleasure. Hopefully, I'll have some in 2011. But I'm talking about a shift in attitude, a change in the way I internalize my life.

I've never been a fan of the glass-half-full-or-half-empty model. I'm too practical. If it's less than 50% full it is half empty and no positive attitude is going to change that fact. It's senseless to me to try to see things differently than what they really are.

I guess I'm concerned with what I do with (or how I feel about) whatever is in my glass. And this year (and hope for the rest of my life) I am going to choose to not just accept the fullness of my glass, but find joy in it.

And I'm really, really hoping that regardless of it's fullness that glass has Diet Coke in it.

Now for the late and short Christmas re-cap

Little angel, #3 dressed for her part in the Christmas Eve nativity pageant. Oh and just to inform you so the rest of my pictures make sense: We broke with our stay at home in AZ for Christmas resolution and drove (with a VERY large roof bag) to Northern Utah to be with family. And although we got plenty of snow while we were there, we drove on clear, safe roads :)

Buster sitting on Santa's lap at Grandma's Christmas Eve party. Isn't he a wonderful Santa? You can't tell very well in this picture, but his suit was gorgeous and his black boots were shiny with real reindeer spurs.


#1 and #3 on Christmas morning at Nana at Papa's house. We shared Nana and Papa with 5 other cousins. What could have been a chaotic morning was actually relatively tame and very, very fun.

Aaah, the Christmas afterglow.







And now, my gift to you:

Happy New Year! What are you resolving this year?

Christmas Scenes

Yesterday afternoon #3 and I were roaming the aisles of Target as I slyly added things to my basket, hoping #3 didn't notice. Christmas was definitely on her mind as evidenced by her singing, unabashedly at the top of her lungs, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."

#3 has her own lyrics that go something like this:

...how bout the other reindeer? used to laugh and call him names
.... then one froggy Christmas Eve
... if you ever saw it you would even say it globed

...over and over again. She doesn't quite know the order of the lines or exactly how to end the song.

So there we were in Target. We turned down one crowded, wider aisle and suddenly, like one of those 'spontaneous' musicals you see on You-Tube, a random lady who had been earnestly searching the boys pajama rack, whipped around and joined in singing the chorus of "Rudolph." Within seconds a few more shoppers who had apparently overheared #3's singing quickly joined in the song. Surprisingly, #3 wasn't embarrassed by the attention but encouraged by it. She sang louder and with bodily animation (all while sitting in the front of the cart). People stopped shopping and turned to watch the impromptu show. When the song ended, the on-lookers clapped and laughed. A few people across the way yelled, "That's the Christmas spirit!" and "She's a performer!" Then a lady approached us. She had tears and a smile on her face. "I can't tell you how happy that made me."

The crowd dispersed, but the fullness in my heart didn't for quite some time. I kept thinking about all the things that divide us (the people on my street or in my town or in my state or in my country or in the world). There are so many differences, so much that make us enemies. Sometimes these things get me down and I wonder how we, the collective people on earth, are going to pull through.

I guess that's why I was moved by what happened at Target. There was nothing unifying us but a three year old singing (and our love for cheap-chic only found at Target). And for a few moments, total strangers shared something special and joyful.

I don't know what the answers are, but I know they have something to do with children, hope, love, joy.... and Target.

More scenes of Christmas at our house

Deep thoughts and #1's baptism

Tonight after the other kids were asleep I found #1 in her dark room, huddled over her scriptures with a flashlight. "Mom, can you read this to me?" She was reading Song of Solomon from the new Bible she received at her baptism.

"Uh, wouldn't you like me to read you something else?" (Have you ever read Song of Solomon? Not exactly eight year old material.)

"I think you and Dad are the tooth fairy."

"Uh, what?!? What made you think about that tonight?"

"Well I was thinking about how I don't believe in magic. Like it's impossible for reindeer to fly. Maybe there are birds holding up the reindeer. Why can't birds pull Santa's sleigh? They fly? How can anyone know? I mean, maybe Santa's suit is green? Maybe everything we know about Santa is wrong!"

"You're right. No one really knows anything about Santa. How about we read your scriptures now. Would you like me to read to you about Jesus' birth?"

So we read Luke 2 and when it was over she hugged me and pulled my face close for a kiss. "Thanks for reading that to me mom."




That pretty much says everything about my intellectual and analytical yet believing and faithful firstborn.

She was baptized by her own choice in the Logan Tabernacle on a very cold day in November. She felt sheepish in the white jumpsuit, as did Spouse. But she earnestly listened to the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost. She was moved by the special music arranged by my sister. And when it came time to go under the water she didn't just go under, she jumped up and went under.

While I helped #1 into her beautiful baptism dress and braided her wet hair, the men in the chapel were anxiously occupied in striving to drain the font.

#1 was truly radiant as she sat to be confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost.

When the baptism was over, people were hungry and it was time to party. My dear father in law treated the entire group to a real fiesta at our favorite mexican joint.

It was a happy, happy day for our family.

Fiesta time!

If you are in any of the photographs below: Thank you for coming and sharing our special day with us!