A true Memorial Day

For a while now I have been feeling the need to instill a great deal of patriotism in my children.  After all, the Pledge of Allegiance is generally ignored in schools (not in Texas, but not everyone can live in Texas now, can they?), patriotic songs that include any mention of Deity are banned from school, and my kids don't even know all of the words to our National Anthem. 

I want them to feel how I feel about living in such a great country.  I still stand and sing during our National Anthem, very loudly, in fact.  Even if no one around me is singing.  And more often than not, I cry.

I still stand and cheer loudly at a parade when any member of the armed forces goes by.  And I even cry.  I feel so proud, and so much gratitude toward them. 

A huge part of this may be due to the fact that when I was young, we loaded up the camper and drove across the country, and stopped at every single Civil War or Revolutionary War battle ground, cemetery or memorial.  Some of those places had a lasting impact on me.  Some were so painfully boring as a child, I have forced them into the background of my distant past. 

So this Memorial Day, I decided that we needed to go see one of our country's great patriotic sites:  Springfield, Illinois.  Not a battle site, I know.  But it was the home to one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, and they have a great museum dedicated to him, and to his fight to give freedom to all during the Civil War.

We drove down on Sunday after church, and stayed the night with our wonderful friends Mike and Charlotte, in Mahommet.  We love visiting them and catching up on each other's lives.  And our kids love getting to play together. Charlotte's sister Julie was also there, and it was so great to see her again.  I am so grateful for their friendship and hospitality.



Some of the kids in Abe Lincoln's kitchen in Springfield.



The crew, minus Yummers, at Abraham Lincoln's home



With the Lincoln Family at the Museum

Isaac's Orchestra Concert

What a charmer.

I am so proud of the progress Isaac has made this year on his violin.  He has been so committed to practicing, and has really improved.  He played wonderfully at his concert.

Praise. . .

This morning I buckled Yummers into his little bike trailer and went for a ride on the forest preserve trail near our home.  It was gloriously beautiful.  While I pedaled, my mind thought in circles. 

And I was reminded once again of how blessed I am.  How blessed we are as a family.  We live in such a lovely corner of the world.  Chicago has been a fun and vibrant place for our family to live.  I would have never imagined myself living here, in such a big city, so far from everything that is familiar to me, but I have loved it.  Not every minute of it, but most minutes.  And Heavenly Father really planted us in the perfect location.  We have a great ward, perfect school, wonderful neighbors, a yard (not an apartment, remember?), and a beautiful neighborhood near the forest preserve.

I could smell the lilacs in full bloom, the Russian Olive trees and the dirt, and then I would pass some smell that I couldn't quite recognize, and wonder what kind of flower it was.  My brother Garrett would know.  He is a plant genius, and so kind and tender and generous.  What a blessing to have such a brother.

Then I would think about the rest of my family and extended family, which has truly extended in the last couple of years.  Blessed is the only word I could think of.  We are not close in proximity to any of them, but they are such a huge part of our lives.  Parents and in-laws who come to help out at a moments notice, and who love my children regardless of their imperfections. 

Then the words of a song came to my mind.


Praise to the Lord, the almighty, the King of creation.
Oh, my soul, praise Him for He is thy health and salvation.
Join the great throng, psaltery organ and song
Sounding in glad adoration.


Praise to the Lord! Over all things He gloriously reigneth.
Borne as on eagle wings safely His saints He sustaineth.
Hast thou not seen how all thou needest hath been
Granted in what He ordaineth?


Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy way and defend thee.
Surely His goodness and mercy shall ever attend thee.
Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do,
Who, with His love, doth befriend thee.


Praise to the Lord! Oh, let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath breath, join with Abraham's seed to adore Him!
Let the "amen" sound all our praises again,
Now as we worship before Him.

Let me give some background on this song.  Clear back in January, we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting and the organ began to play the opening song.  It was "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty".  Before then, I had never really paid any attention to the words, but this particular time while we sang, the Spirit was so overpowering.  By the end, I had tears in my eyes, as did many in the congregation.  I felt impressed at that time that I needed to memorize the words to that hymn.  So over the next few weeks, I listened to it repeatedly, until I had all the words down.

Then Isaac got very sick and we found ourselves spending days and then weeks in the hospital.  One night as I was driving home, after a particularly bad day for Isaac, the words of that hymn came into my mind.  I was reminded, once again, of how complete and perfect God's plan is.  He truly watches over us "as on eagle wings" and had provided every needful thing.  We had competent doctors and nurses, and wonderful modern medicine to help Isaac get well.  And when that failed, as it was failing then, we had prayer to call down miracles from heaven.  And, if the answer to our pleas should be "no," then we had the promise of resurrection, and that our family had been sealed by the priesthood and was eternal. 

The words of that hymn are now etched into my heart. 

Then, as I pedalled, I thought about how we are mere weeks away from moving our family again to. . . who knows where.  I find great confidence in the fact that because we were inspired to come here, Heavenly Father has it all worked out somehow.  And even though the road that lies ahead may still be bumpy and long, He will eventually gently set us down right where we are supposed to be, and it will all make perfect sense. 

And I felt so blessed.

Isaac's Science Fair

Isaac has been madly working on his science fair project for the past few weeks.  He chose to study "The Power of Suggestion", and began his presentation by saying "What if I told you that I could control your mind without you even knowing it?"  Pretty fun. 

He wrote up a fantastic interview, asking people about popular books and movies.  Meanwhile, as he was conducting the interview, he would scratch his head or knee, yawn, and clear his throat several times.  Then, instead of keeping track of their actual answers, he kept track of how many times they mimicked his actions.   (Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Anthony for pitching in and interviewing several people for him.)

His also produced a short movie, with background music, showing off his charts and graphs that he made.  And, possibly the best part of all. . . I really did nothing!  He did a fabulous job and I am so proud of his hard work!



Avery and Isaac posing for a picture




One very cute, very hard working boy!


As a side note. . .  while I am typing this, Isaac is talking, almost yelling in his sleep.   He does that almost nightly, and is our only sleep talker.  Usually I can understand a few words he says, but tonight it was pretty garbled.  Very animated though!

A typical morning: snuggling and garbage trucks

Mornings around here are pretty routine.   The littlest ones wake first.  It is usually Nathan who is first to greet me in the morning, with his sweet, half-asleep, naturally scruffy voice.  I am usually awake, but still in bed, either just laying there trying to come to terms with the fact that it is morning already, or I am reading.  Either way, when Nathan arrives, he always climbs in bed with me and we snuggle for a while.  He is an exceptional snuggler.

Other mornings it is Will who wakes up first.  I usually hear him squirming around in there, and then my sweet, very responsible Avery brings him in to me, all snuggled in his blanket.  He doesn't want anyone else to get him out of bed in the morning.  Only Avery will do.  Then, when she has delivered her bundled package to me, we snuggle in bed, until Nathan arrives, or until Will demands to "watch trucks on your touch pad please, mom?" 

Then, this is what happens most mornings, at least for a few minutes until everyone gets going.  What is it about my boys and garbage trucks?  They could watch these YouTube videos of garbage trucks dumping garbage for hours.

 



Mother's Day

Mother's day was magical for me.  John and I went on a real date on Friday night, sans children, to a nice restaurant, and to the temple.  We don't get to go on "real" dates very often anymore, so when we do, it is a real treat.

Saturday afternoon, we all converged on the Allen Center at Kellogg for a Mother's Day lunch.  They dedicated a whole room to Kellogg Kids, probably so that the other's being wined and dined in the Allen Center didn't have to listen to a bunch of kids running around during their lunch.  My children knew that this would be their last time eating in the Allen Center and were sure to take full advantage of the all-they-could-eat ice cream sundae bar.  Yum!

The kids had all made things at school to give me for Mother's Day and could hardly wait for me to open them.  In fact, Nathan and Brady tried to open them for me on Friday.  Instead, they all gathered around on Sunday morning, at a delicious breakfast that John had prepared, along with toast that Brady had prepared, and let me open their gifts. 

Isaac, teary eyed, admitted that he had not made me anything.  Then he handed me his hand made clay cup that he had worked so hard on for himself during art class.  What a sweet boy.

Brady made a coupon book and a clay bowl with a lid, along with a checklist of why I am the world's best mom.

Avery wrote me a very sweet note inside that cute purse card, along with a clay medallion to hang that read "Happy Mother's Day."

And Nathan showered me, quite literally, with glitter.  Inside he wrote why he loved me and drew a darling picture of the two of us.  He also painted a planter for me, and gave me his butterfly coming out of it's chrysalis.

It was a wonderful day, punctuated by a LONG nap, and a delicious dinner made entirely by John.  It was perfect.

A day off (for Nathan)

Nathan has been rather fiery lately.  He gets that way sometimes.  Mostly when he is tired, or hungry, or stressed, or confused, or any number of things, actually.  And even though his kindergarten is not quite a full day, it is long for him.

So last Wednesday, I decided that we both were in desperate need of a break.  After dropping off the other kids at school, I headed straight to his one of his most favorite places in the whole world: the farm.  Wagner farm is a real, working farm right here in the middle of the urban suburbs of the North Shore.  There are cows, horses, goats, sheep, pigs and chickens, as well as a barn with fun activities where children can learn how to milk a cow, slop a pig, and gather and sort eggs. 

We were the only ones there for the first hour.  Nathan loved the horses, pigs and chickens.  He is cautious about the cows.  Will was scared of the sheep, which kept putting their front legs up on the fence, and loved the cows (which made Nathan nervous).  We stayed for nearly two hours, visiting the animals, swinging on the tree swing, and getting very muddy.

From there, our date moved on to Penny Park in Evanston.

Nathan and I played the funnest game of kissing tag here on this wooden playground.  Nathan suggested that we needed to bring the big kids back so that we could play laser tag.

This park and Nathan go way back. 

Over a year ago, we were delivering dinner to a friend of ours who had just had a baby.  This friend lives very near Penny Park.  As I was driving away from their home, I decided to go home a different way than I had come.  I turned up a street, drove a few blocks, and turned a few more times.  Somewhere along the way, as I was busy driving, Nathan saw this park.

"A wooden park!" he screamed!  "Just like the one in Texas!"  But by the time my mind had registered to listen to what he was screaming, I was long past the park, and had no idea where I was.  

After that, he has mentioned finding the park over and over and over.  I have actually driven around in the area, making half hearted attempts to find his beloved wooden park, with no success.  Then, the other morning, while I was casing the streets of Evanston in search of John's stolen bike, I stumbled upon it, and was thrilled.  I made sure to make note of where I was, so that I could surprise Nathan and bring him back to enjoy it.

And we most definitely did enjoy it.

Ode to Brady

Like most parents, I am usually inclined to think that my kids are pretty great.  They are, in fact, the cutest bunch around.  And did I mention, brilliant?  They are that, too.

So let me get on my soap box and brag about one of them for just a minute.  Brady.  Brady had two big events this week:  his first grade program, and his very first orchestra concert.  He excelled in both as expected! 




Can you see the star? He is right in the middle.  He smiled the entire time.



Yummy only wanted to sit with Avery and her friend Ashley the entire show.

Brady proudly showing off his Jack and the Beanstock display.



Brady concentrating so hard during one of the songs.



John's bike

I spent several hours this morning trolling the streets, and back alleys, of Evanston, looking for John's bike.

It was stolen yesterday. 

Someone cut the lock and took it from the bike rack at school, in broad daylight.  John went out after class and it was gone.  Just like that. 

He thought for sure that he just was looking in the wrong place, that maybe he had forgotten where he had chained it.  But after going over all of the bikes in the various racks, he remembered that he had chained it next to a similar bike.  When he found that bike, there were others parked and chained in the very place his had been. 

My heart is so sad for him.  He loved biking to school.  He loved taking the kids to soccer on his bike.  And when he was really stressed, he would go ride on the trail, to think, and ponder, and clear his head.  He would always come back with a new outlook on things.  And right now we cannot replace his bike.  Maybe someday.  But that someday will be long after we are moved from here.

So now he is back to riding the bus. 

I am grateful that it is not something worse.  A stolen bicycle is a trial that I can handle.  It is not a sick or lost child, or something even worse.  So for now, I will just be thankful.

And I will keep my eyes peeled when I am roaming the streets of Evanston.

Great Wolf Lodge, Part 2

When we weren't playing Magiquest, we were swimming, floating, or screaming down water slides!

Will's favorite part of Great Wolf Lodge was definitely the water slides.  Any one would do, he was not picky.  Anything he could slide down, the faster the better.

 

Brady lost his shorts!

Dad trying to dump everyone off the log

I think Avery's favorite part of the trip was the lazy river.  Every time we tried to leave, she would ask for just one more time around the lazy river, which included, of course, a trip down the water slide into the lazy river.  She loved taking Yummers around with her.



Brady, Avery, Isaac and Nathan (splashing into the finish line) at the end of their race



Isaac could always be found floating, or bobbing in the wave pool.  I call him my little river otter because he loves to just cruise around the pool with his little head sticking up above the water.

 

Brady coming off of a water slide

Believe it or not, the "Tornado" ride ended up being Brady's favorite part of the entire trip!  He had to be bribed (by Dad, with $3.00), to even try it.  After that, we couldn't keep him away!

Nathan paddling out of a water slide

Nathan just wanted to constantly be going down water slides.  He didn't really care which one.  The fact that he was big enough this year to go down any water slide was so exciting to him!



Will clung to us the first day and screamed any time we tried to let go of him.  By the second day, he was paddling around on his own
. . . a regular fish.