The Eagle and the Seminary Teacher

Tonight was Johnathan's Eagle Court of Honor. He shared the evening with our dear friend Joseph and it was a lot of fun. Friends and family were in attendance, there was a ton of great food shared with love and it was a great evening. Of course it was punctuated by moments of humor like the fact that I was literally GLUING merit badges onto Johnathan's sash at 5:45 pm and had to hunt all through the house for a scout shirt that had the right patches on it. I just have to laugh because why should his Eagle court of honor be any different from the rest of his scouting career-lots of hard work and good times but a little fuzzy on the details. Oh, well, we all have our strengths, and maintaining a scout uniform just doesn't seem to be one of mine. Fortunately, because of all the amazing people that my sons have come in contact with in the scouting program, the uniform issues and the lost merit badges and the many, many GLUE episodes somehow came together for good and they turned into Eagle Scouts anyway, so I'm inclined not to be too hard on myself. Several of the other moms and I had a very, very good laugh over that whole issue and it was warm and comforting for all of us to realize we were in it together.

Today was also the last day of seminary, the daily scripture study class I teach in my home at 5:50 am, which means I have my early morning hours back to use as I wish and approximately 1-2 hours of lesson prep each afternoon and evening that are also mine again. With these two big things off my list, tonight's ceremony and the seminary year wrapped up, I feel really free and unencumbered right now. I like the sensation of not having something major just over the horizon. I took a 3 mile run and spent an hour working on my poor neglected garden to celebrate, because those are the two activities that I am mostly likely to say get sacrificed to the cause of preparing my lessons and teaching each day.

So, here's to milestones, both big and small. And just in case you were looking for something to fill the next 6 minutes or so, here is the video I made for Johnathan and Joseph that we showed tonight. It's very Eagle-scouty, but it's fun.

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Georgia on My Mind

Today is Sam's birthday. Sweet Sixteen. Happy birthday to my dear, quiet, strong boy. Here is one picture, and I'll post more about him later, in my mega-May birthday extravaganza but I need to reminisce for just a minute. This day takes me back to when we spent two very happy years living in Georgia. We moved there when Johnathan was two and even though we were in a new place and on our own, I knew it was time to have another baby. So we did and by the time he was born, we were so blessed with friends that I had two showers (even though he was my third son) and meals and babysitting help for 6 weeks, seriously. It was my favorite neighborhood that I've ever lived in-a true "backdoor" community, where the moms literally just popped in the back door to chat after the kids got off to school or down for a nap. Those good women welcomed me like a sister even though I know some of them had deep concerns about my religious beliefs (We were deep in the Bible Belt and on an institutional level, so-called Conservative Christians don't have much good to say about Mormons). We grew to love each other though, and we would put the kids down for naps and then drop off our baby monitors to each other and run errands knowing that our kids would be safe and happy with our beloved neighbors (yeah, we really did that kind of stuff 16 years ago-different world). It was a unique time in my life because I had as many close friends in my neighborhood as I did at church. For a shy gal like me, that was a really refreshing experience. I've kept in Christmas Card contact with many of them and still treasure that happy time we had in Marietta, one of the chief reasons being that we came home with our darling Sam, but also for all the wonderful memories I have of days as soft and warm as a southern accent, the tree that grew right through the middle of our deck, magnolia blossoms and women taking care of each other.

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Interesting Article

Thought I'd share this article about members of my church who become famous in one field or another.

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A Fun Time with Evan, a Missionary, and a Service Project

I am back from Camp Letts. It was, overall, really fun. The only real downside was the rain we had yesterday, but even that didn't ruin the experience. I'm glad I got to go with Evan and see him interact with his friends. I'm also glad I got to go and meet and really talk with some of the teachers and other parents. I so prefer to be behind the scenes or on my own when I volunteer, and my weird shyness takes over when I meet people for the first time, that I've never really taken the time to get to know very many other moms at school. Maybe being in the rain all day and the fact that we were all shapeless and soggy acted as an equalizer and I felt perfectly comfortable with all the other adults at the camp. Everyone there was really great, really focused on the kids' safety, and just impressive. For all the faults of the school system, this was a chance to see things go really well. I was happy that the principal of the school went along and took the time to interact with the kids. He knows most everyone's name, which is, in my book, a good thing. I don't know him well, and haven't had to go through any really difficult situations with him, but he seemed hands on, at least in this situation. Anyway, here are a few photos. Luckily, there is beauty to be found through the lens of a camera, even if the trail to find it is muddy and wet. Notice how different the camp looks in the rain and in the sunshine. Needless to say, today was glorious.



In other news, we got this photo of Jeff out on the Causeway near the entrance to the Panama Canal. He looks mostly the same except his hair is incredibly light from being in the tropical sun, and his hair is parted and gelled down. Usually it is soft and sort of left to its own devices. Other than that, he remains the Eric-clone he's been since the day he was born. Stay tuned for baby pictures when I do his birthday post. He comes home 7 weeks from today.

I forgot to post about the service project on Saturday, but it turned out to be a nice time. Our church Stake (sort of like a diocese or Parish) organized a service day where women could choose one of several service projects to participate in. My SIL Alex joined me and we went to visit an Assisted Living facility. We gave hand massages and chatted while some ladies sang oldies to the residents. I also made one of the flag quilt tops but forgot to take photo. I brought one home to finish, so I'll take a pic of that when it is done. I had heard about these from my pal Betsey on the Nook, so I was really excited to have the chance to try one. I want to make more of these because they are a really fun and worthwhile project and will satisfy the little longings I've been having to get back into quilting but have been squelching because of everything else I have my fingers in right now.

My new friend Irene: I gave her a hand-massage and we chatted.

The lovely singers.

Soldier Quilts. I love flags, and I know and love a lot of soldiers, so this is an especially fun project for me.

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Happy Mother's Day 2008

So, I only have 2 minutes till my bedtime, but I'm cheating a bit because tomorrow is not a regular day. I'm leaving with Evan for a 30-hour adventure called Outdoor Ed down at Camp Letts. We leave tomorrow at 8 am and get home on Tuesday at around 2. From my experience with middle schoolers, the less I say the better, so I'm planning on snoozing with one eye open whilst we ride down to the camp in the morning. If not, well, I'll hit the sack super early tomorrow night since the kids have to be in bed at 9:45. I just barely found out that I'm needed as a chaperon and I'm really excited to go (except for the dismal weather that is predicted-I hope they'll have a Seattle attitude and just let us play in the rain).

Today was really a lovely day. I got my breakfast in bed, some lovely gifts and an afternoon with fun and family. We combined today's celebration with Sara's family birthday party. She chose barbecued ribs, which became slow-roasted-in-the-oven ribs since I didn't feel like standing out by the barbecue all afternoon in the rain. They turned out pretty well-tender enough, but the barbecue does add some nice flavor. Everyone ate happily in spite of the fact that the ribs were cooked inside. We had our traditional Lime Pie, which is not even a distant cousin to a genuine Key Lime Pie, but is instead an old family favorite made in about 2.5 minutes (out of limeade concentrate, sweetened condensed milk and cool whip-I try not to think about the ingredients too much because it really is delicious) that is light and citrusy with a nice mousse-y texture. We serve it in an oreo crust with mini-chocolate chips sprinkled on top.
For kicks, because she was the birthday girl, Sara tinted one the traditional green (we use food coloring since the above ingredients have no actual color) and one a lovely, personality expressing lavender. The younger kids actually got a kick out of eating "purple pie." Wouldn't it be funny if that became part of the tradition? Ah, my Sara. I've been working on her tribute post, but my scanner died and my mother's day gift of a new one hasn't arrived yet, so I'm still in the middle of scanning some pics. I'll probably combine and do one big post for my three May babies.

I do feel like I need to tell the world about The Big Treat today: It was that, per his usual tradition, Eric completely took over the kitchen for the afternoon so that other than supervising the ribs because he'd never made them on his own before, I was shoo-ed out to my room so I could pretty much relax all day. Then he stayed up past his bedtime and completely cleaned the kitchen. What a doll. I got to have all the fun and none of the stress. It was a nice time.

All right, I'm off to bed then, a bit late, but happy to be a Mom, grateful for my quirky, fun family, and feeling very lucky to be married to such a good man. See you all after my Adventures Among the Adolescents.

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Happy Mother's Day a bit Early

I remember so fondly that wonderful stage of life when my little boys brought me dandelions in their precious, sweaty little hands, and tenderly stroked my hair when they sat on my lap. They would ask me to sing them another lullaby and thank me when I made them cookies. If you are still in the midst of those days, treasure those moments with all your heart and soul. Because this is much closer to what my world is like now. This is so realistic that it made me cry with laughter and yes, it made me appreciate my gigantic, darling, wrestling, testosterone-powered sons all the more. If you or your husbands have brothers, hopefully this will make you smile, too. Oh, and if you look carefully at church, one or more of my sons might just be wearing a colored t-shirt with words on it (turned inside out if I caught them before we walked out the door--sometimes this part happens while we are driving to church) under their white shirt and tie...

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Help for my family

I tried emailing Jenni's link to my Twilight-lovin' family, but the link was broken for some of them. So, many of you have already shared this but here it is again:

The Twilight Movie Trailer!!!

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A little explanation.

So in reading last night's post, (and this is before I got any comments-I always read and re-read and edit and delete and repost, etc., etc.) I realized that I really do make myself sound like the proverbial chicken without a head, running round and round.

Well, let me tell you Friends, my life is so boring and ordinary that most times I blog I feel like making stuff up. The busy-ness goes in fits and spurts but for hours on end I'm most often doing nothing but puttering around my empty house, folding clothes and straightening things that are already straightened, resisting the urge to shop online and thinking that the house is too quiet. I run to my computer when I hear the mail sound because, hey, it might just be something good! I live to get the real mail because it breaks up the day and tells me that there is only an hour till the kids get home. Yeah, it really is like that. Please stop by, bring your kids and save me from myself. Some weeks I almost come to the playgroup just to visit, even though I have no one to play with. If you want me to take your kid to playgroup while you go have an hour to yourself, call me!

Anyway, I have, like, 3 hours a day when all the action is and I'm driving around dropping people off, but the rest of the time it's me, alone, listening to a book on tape while I quietly sew or knit or garden or something. Those times will be punctuated by me worrying about my teenager's grades or wondering how they did on a test, but when they get home, they give me a peck on the cheek, a monosyllabic answer to the question, "How was your day?" and then go off to their rooms to do their homework. They rarely say anything funny and cute any more and use the bathroom fairly independently. (They do not clean the bathroom independently, though.) Not very exciting. Being in the little kid stage gives one much more entertaining material to write about. So, I save up the somewhat interesting things I do and put it in one post and make myself sound like a maniac. I'm really not. I'm pretty calm and shy and quiet most of the time. I do like to get out and schedule things for myself so I don't become an agoraphobic hermit, because I see that tendency in myself, but really, I'm incredibly boring.

So, now you know the truth about my so-called crazy life...

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Of Sticks and String and Fairy Wings

That sounds so very poetic, but really I'm just trying to come up for air to get a few thoughts put into words. Those fairy wings are cute though. I do love being an Auntie. Anyway, I know I've been busy, so maybe writing things down will help me figure out what I've' been so busy doing.

• I went completely off the deep end and spent a whole hour and fifteen minutes on....myself. A week ago Tuesday I got a new summer hairdo and a pedicure with bright pink polish. I had the startling realization that THIS is why I'm overweight. Not because I had too much hair and naked toenails, no I wish it were that simple. It's because I just don't take time for myself. It was weird to just sit there with my feet in the tub and not think about anything. ( I had decided not to bring anything I thought I "should" be doing, like listening to my book club book or working on my seminary lesson.) I just sat and chatted with the lovely young man tickling my feet. Sheesh. How many times do I have to have this "revelation" before I start to eat breakfast and sleep instead of taking care of every other moving thing that crosses my path before I do the most basic things for myself. This awakening has been pretty sobering to me, so maybe this is "The one." I have been drinking my water and going to bed at 11 whether I'm done for the day or not (that's the main reason I haven't been blogging. I don't seem to have the same quality of ideas before 11 pm. So, you're stuck with the 9:45 drivel.) But then, maybe my blogging will be happier, no so vampiric, if I do it earlier. The little red line is telling me that vampiric is not a word but I'm keeping it anyway.
• I've had 3 fun photo shoots to proof and another dress to finish that got more complicated due to my niece's incredibly thin-like-a-supermodel body. I'm not joking. She is 6 feet tall and about 4 inches wide. But it all worked out. I'll put pictures up as soon as I get them off my phone and my sister's phone. All that work also took place during my usual blogging times, so there you go. I have one last dress to go and then I'm really done. I thought two had to be done by last weekend, but happily only one did so I could get to the photos.
  
• It was MD Sheep and Wool Festival weekend. I worked at that all afternoon both Friday and Saturday. I judged the knitting and then taught some classes. If you are thinking, "What the heck is the MD Sheep and Wool Festival???" well, first of all you should set aside the first Saturday in May next year and then on that day you should go to the Howard County Fairgrounds and see for yourself. It is a really fun gathering of all things sheepy, from actual animals to yarn to spinning, knitting and weaving demonstrations, classes and shops to wonderful music, interesting people and yes, lamb for eating. I said all things sheepy. There are hundreds of vendors of everything from yarn and related items to brooms and baskets. I bought a handmade broom and some handwoven dishtowels. I love using handmade things in my everyday work. It is the largest festival of its kind in the country and people come from all over the nation to be here. See, and you thought that living in Maryland was boring. We're FAMOUS!!!
• My darling and only daughter had her 14th birthday on Sunday. I love her so much-she is just a great girl when she's not being a completely normal and frustrating teenager. We are so laid back about birthdays-we buy presents all year long-whenever the mood strikes us and we find just the right thing, so there is not a lot of formal celebration. I do make them breakfast in bed and she liked that. We were going to do our family party, but my sweet sister-in-law was driving here from CA and got stuck in that awful MAY snowstorm in Rawlings, Wyoming and wasn't going to be here in time, so Sara opted to wait until next Sunday for the cake and candles. I had a weird backache on Sunday so I stayed home from church and ended up sleeping the whole time, then my brother (husband of the stranded one) came over for dinner and the completion of our week-old scrabble game, which ended up being a brand new game which was a shame because Phil brilliantly wrapped last week's game in plastic wrap to bring it over here and got it successfully unpacked, then it got bumped by Evan while setting up and we had to start all over.
  
• Yesterday, Alex finally made it and she and the kids spent a really fun afternoon over here unwinding after being in the car for, like, 3 weeks. No, it was only days, but I know it felt like weeks to all of them.
• Johnathan has been putting the finishing touches on his missionary application and will submit them sometime next week. Hopefully he'll go out this summer or fall.

So now we come to Tuesday and it is already time for bed. So I will go. After all, I'm the only me I've got for heaven's sakes.

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