Competition

 

Annie had a dance competition on Saturday.  She was awfully excited for it.  She didn't dance until 4:00 in the afternoon and when Daddy headed out to work in the yard after breakfast she said, "Da-ad, did you forget? Competition!"  It was a looong couple of hours in between until she got to go.  

We had to be there an hour before she danced so she could get ready, which actually took about 6 minutes so then she and I sat in the dressing room in the midst of a hairspray and makeup fog.  Seriously, an hour?  For a 4-year-old?  I'm not sure I really fit in with the dance crowd.  Regardless, here are a bunch of shots of the day:

She had a great time and insisted Daddy take her out for ice cream afterwards, which made her brothers happy too.

Here's the cheering section.  Please note Cole intently reading his "Beyonders" book in the background.  He has already asked how old he needs to be before he can stay home from dance competitions.  Such a supportive big brother.  He did look up eventually and watch her routine and even managed a "You did really good, Annie.  I bet your team will win," when it was over. 

Hungry

 While I was drying my hair for church the other day, Ben apparently ran out of marshmallows in his Lucky Charms.  But don't worry, the little monkey fetched the box and poured himself a few more. 

I think he found a few more in that pile. 

And don't worry.  We still made it to church on time.

Big Hole

Excuse the non-creative title to this post, but these kids just keep talking about the "big hole," so it fits.  A few days ago, Cole started digging.  He dug and he dug and he dug and with a bit of help from Grandpa, this is the result:

 

 Ben fits just perfectly inside of the hole...

   

...but when I saw Cole, I couldn't believe he fit in it...then I looked behind and saw this:

 

Looks comfy, doesn't it?  This position made me realize how old I am since there is zero chance my body would be able to fold up like this.  My knees would die a hundred deaths.

I haven't broken it to Cole yet, but we'll be saying good-bye to the hole sometime soon when we haul in a new load of sand for the sandbox.  He won't be pleased.

Sunday Thoughts

I have spent the past few days working in our yard quite a bit.  We have some large trees and although we enjoy the shade, they shed nine million sticks in the winter which leaves us with quite a bit of spring clean-up.  As I was out working, I laughed a bit thinking back to last spring.  It was so wet that I didn't get started on these jobs until late-May.  This morning when I went for a run, I ran up the shoreline trail to the pass - something I couldn't do until June last year.  My dad mentioned he planted a field yesterday that he didn't plant until July last year. 

You might guess that I prefer this kind of spring.  You are correct.  I think I have uttered about 200 silent prayers for this year's spring to not be as wet as last year's. 

As I was working in the garden I thought to myself, "I sure do love the weather today.  Must be a compensation for last spring."  And with that thought, my mind went back in time 15 or 20 years, back to a Young Women's lesson in the Newton 1st ward.  We had a guest speaker that Sunday - my best friend's dad.  A Seminary and Institute teacher by profession, he was the go-to gospel scholar in our ward.  He was quiet by nature and never one to waste words - when he spoke, you listenend because you knew it must be important - still waters run deep.  He was a great teacher with the ability to impress you with his knowledge without being imtimidated by your own lack thereof. 

I don't remember a lot of specific lessons from Young Women's - not even the infamous chastity lesson.  Probably because I spent most of the time talking and laughing with his daughter.  Maybe that's why I remember the lesson from this Sunday - since her dad was talking, we probably tried to behave.

He spoke that day about "compensatory blessings."  If my memory and interpretation of the lesson are correct, these are blessings that come to us to compensate for trials we may face.  He taught it using a story teenage girls could relate to - being asked to the high school prom - and noted that there are many times in life when Heavenly Father gives us these blessings.  I don't remember if he mentioned it in the lesson, but he had experienced his own share of sadness - his mother was killed by a drunk driver when he was just 16. 

I've thought about this lesson a lot through the years.  I guess it's somewhat of a comfort to me to know when I am facing a particular trial that there might be a specific blessing granted to me and to look forward to whatever that blessing might be.  It's related to a principle we are frequently reminded of - we must taste the bitter to prize the good.  As a parent, I understand that Heavenly Father probably wishes we did not have to experience sadness and trial, but knows they are essential to our progression.  I can also relate to His desire to bless us with something in return, especially if we endure well what we are asked to face.

I thought about this a lot when I spent the summer working in Ecuadorean orphanages surrounded by children who faced innumerable trials.  Believing that somehow they would be compensated was a great comfort.  As I've thought about it, I realize that "compensation" might be a little misleading because it's not as if some things can ever be compensated.  Would there ever be a way to truly compensate for losing a child or a spouse?  Still, it's a teaching that comforts me and has blessed my life.

Since I was raised on a farm, my favorite scripture parables and lessons are those that come from nature.  The wheat and the tares.  Reaping what you sow.  The olive tree.  Nature has a powerful way of teaching us eternal gospel principles.  I don't think this is coincidence.

So while I don't think that this spring is necessarily my compensation for last spring, it does help me reflect on important truths.  After the winter comes the glorious spring.  A little rain must fall to cherish the sun. 

My Grandpa Max always said we should pray for trials and tribulations.  I thought he was crazy.  Now that I'm grown and reflect on some of the trials from his own life, I'm sure he was.  Or maybe he was just more willing than I to learn the lessons Heavenly Father had planned for him.  Either way, I know my own trials have taught me lessons I would never give up and probably brought me blessings I would never exchange either.

I'm grateful for a wise teacher who took the time to prepare a lesson that still teaches me this many years later. 

And also, I'm grateful for the sun.

Go Fly a Kite

 St. Patrick's Day was a bit blustery around here - perfect kite-flying weather.  So that's what we did (after we polished off the treats our family leprechaun left us).  Annie really got into it and her kite was high flying the entire time. 

She giggled and smiled all the while and says she is the best kite flyer in the world.

 Meanwhile, Cole's kite struggled a bit.  I have no idea why because I was trying to help them both get them in the air.  His kite resisted.  You can imagine how pleased he was with this situation.  We had to teach a little lesson about being pleased when good things happen to other people, but I'm not sure it worked as he continued to chant "die! die! die!" to Annie's kite.

 But, it finally made it up and we even managed to get a few smiles out of him. 

 Minus the dramatics getting Cole's kite up, it was a perfect kite flying adventure. 

100

 We don't typically do much betting around our house, but Floyd and Cole made a big one about a year ago.  We were in Florida with my family when the dads bet the kids that if they didn't drink soda for a year, they would get $100.  I guess it wasn't a true bet in that there was no promise of the children paying up if they did drink.  Two of the kids, Cole and Josh, took the dads up on the bet.  Annie never even wanted to try (she couldn't care less about money).  Landon, my nephew, tried and made it about two days.  The bet started on Ben's birthday, so these two have been anxiously anticipating his birthday all year.  Cole was very diligent about not drinking soda and frequently refused it at birthday parties or school events.  His whole class knew about the bet and stopped offering soda to him.  

So here's Cole with his $100...

(too bad I covered it up, but he was smiling pretty big)

...and here he is toasting Josh with their first drink of soda in a year. 

I let Cole pick out whatever soda he wanted for the party.  We ended up with six different kinds - grape, orange, cherry 7up, 7up, root beer, and cream soda.  By yesterday (one day after the party), he already was sick of it and just wanted water. 

Shout Hooray!

  Little Ben turned two on Sunday.  Two!  He has a little trouble holding up just two fingers at a time, but seems to be getting the hang of it.  He's really good at saying two (he's not much of a jabberbox, so that's no small feat).  He was pretty excited about his birthday - especially the presents. 

 

The big box was a new sand and water table, which became a mud table about 12 seconds after the children began playing with it.  Because he spends hours playing in our sink and the flour and sugar containers, I had a suspicion he would like this present.  I was right.

 

Ben is quite fond of puppies, so we had a little puppy theme for the party.  We served some of the snacks in (previously unused) dog dishes.  Annie thought this was the most hilarious thing ever and spent the whole week giggling about how surprised the party guests would be. 

 Dad was in charge of decorating the cake this year because Annie (who is quite the party planner) insisted on paw prints and sadly, paw prints are outside the range of Mom's artistic abilities.  Pretty much anything but flowers and hearts and butterflies, the things I used to doodle in my notebooks, are outside the range of Mom's artistic abilities.

 Ben caught on pretty quick and blew those candles right out.

 

Notice the change of clothes in the above picture?  Things got a bit messy out at the mud table.  

 

It's a good thing we are well-stocked with play clothes around here.  He will need a new set every few hours. 

Ben at Two:

-A big-time snuggler.  Seriously the best ever.

-Still smaller than our other kids.  

-Not much of a talker, but he's getting there.

-Loves boy things - especially if they have motors.

 -If you ask him his name, he will say, "Bum."  Makes us laugh, which means he will probably continue to do so for a bit.

-Adores his big brother Cole and his Daddy.

-Loves Daisy.

-Finally likes reading books - we were starting to worry.

-Is a champion mess-maker.

-Does not care for nursery at church.

-Usually sleeps through the night, which may seem like an odd thing to note about a two-year-old, but since he only began doing so in January, it's noteworthy.  

We love you to pieces, Benny!