March is a busy month for us. 3 birthdays and Easter.
I am in a season of life where I am daily surprised by how swiftly morning turns to evening. It can be frustrating, overwhelming, and depressing but I am trying to turn away from those thoughts and embrace the learning, growth, gratitude and joy that meet me from moment to moment. Learning that I get to choose "which secret garden I will tend" has been life changing for me.
Some things that March has brought to our little garden:
Dallin continues to do an awful lot with Scouting, considering he was released in November...the other leaders, our boys, and even I am glad he is still so helpful and supportive. This month he took the boys to the merit badge pow-wow at BYU. He and the other scout leaders planned an adult date night to a mineral hot pool in Midway. We rode there all together in the Lundberg's RV and had a marvelous time. Nobody minded too much that Sullivan came along, and he was a little angel.
He got the window tinting done on the van. We will all be thankful for that come summer, and we're already thankful that people aren't always staring into our van. You'd think they've never seen a 15 passenger full of kids before!
He worked out a way to get our water heater replaced just days after it began leaking and at an awesome price! Thank you to our amazing handy neighbor. Same neighbor also helped Dallin pick out and purchase a trailer for our van and his brother made and installed a hitch. Very cool!
Dallin planned a fun family outing to Fillmore to see the Territorial State Building Museum and visit some primitive hot pots he knows about. That one got snowed out, but we were thankful for a quiet Saturday at home. We celebrated his birthday with tacos and Strawberry shortcake. I made real shortcake and adapted it using sourdough. It was amazing with fresh fruit and real whipped cream. He got a new Camelback, the complete Kung Fu series on DVD, and our new tent just happened to come that week as well. And we got it for about $80 cheaper than we were planning on paying for it last year! Glad we waited!
I am still trying to figure out what hit me. Oh yeah. It was my 7th baby. A year ago.
Still completely thrilled to get two hours of sleep in a row.
Still learning to have faith that the Atonement will make up for the many ways I fall short.
Still completely loving the journey, loving the fun that having two teenagers brings, loving the innocent play and chatter of my younger kids, the hugs and kisses and dimples of my baby--even at night.
Stressing a bit about each holiday as it approaches (how can I possibly add anything?), but reveling in the joy and satisfaction when I manage to pull it off. (I hope someone took pictures!)
Basking in the joy of being back with my old co-op. They switched to Fridays so I am currently doing both co-ops and loving it. How I need my support groups!
Having some success with sourdough. Still buying bread, but I can make some great sourdough bread that's not too sour, killer pizza crust, savory waffles and pancakes, muffins, biscuits, crepes...It is fun. Walter, Martha, Mary, Adam, Annie, and now Marcos. Each time I clean out a jar, it gets a new name. But they are all descendants of Martha or Walter, the originals. I've also had some great success with homemade yogurt, and that saves money and is so nutritious!
I begged Dallin into coming to a natural health crash course over 2 days at my chiropractor's house. Lots of things to think about and try. I have to remind myself to take one thing at a time and accept the progression and the process of learning.
I determined to hit the ward book club this month. I read the book in one day! It was great! It was so fun to take a break and be with the ladies in my ward and connect on a deeper level.
So happy to be taking youth to the temple every week again! It is making a difference for all of us!
Delighting in our south-facing flower bed that produces early tiny daffodils, crocuses, and an abundance of pink hyacinths! And the lawn that we planted last fall is looking green and lovely!
The new laundry system works, the meal plan works, the dinner chore rotation works. They are all sanity savers!
Nathan had a choir concert featuring his first solo. It was O Sifuni Mungu, a song I sang in high school and a song we learned in co-op choir last year. So fun, and such joy to see him enjoying the performance so much! We love to hear him practice piano and we love getting to see him at all. He is now doing soccer on top of everything else. I was worried about it, but I think it has been a great experience for him to figure out how to prioritize and manage his time. He has actually done a better job on his chores this month and has done a pretty good job of keeping up with piano and straight A's. He decided on his own to miss soccer on the days we have our temple trips scheduled. A sign of maturity, for sure. He promises not to have a girlfriend, but admits that it is kinda hard because he's so gorgeous. We have a lot of fun and he puts up with our teasing relatively well. He's still working hard on his Les Miserables solos for May.
Brandon admits that going to the temple has helped him be able to handle the stress he's felt from school. He works really hard every day and still finds time to be Simon's and Sullivan's favorite person. We celebrated his birthday with bagels and mangoes, fun sack lunches since it was co-op day ( I actually bought little packs of chips and fruit snacks and stuff), and we went out to Winger's for dinner. I got him a hex-bug set that the kids have all had fun with. He surprised everyone by spending his recent earnings on gifts for everyone else. He decorated a notebook for me that we write letters to each other in. It has been a wonderful way to ask each other questions and discuss things we normally wouldn't think about. It has been neat to share our testimonies with each other. He is working hard for the final speech and debate tournament next month. He is learning his lines for his Shakespeare play. He is a great friend, big brother, and he adds a lot of joy to our home.
Ruby wants a dog so bad she can hardly stand it. Or a horse. But she lovingly cares for her big white kitty and her little black kitty in the mean time. She is so thrilled to be back with her big group of friends from our big co-op. She's reading The Secret Garden for the book club that one of her friends started. She is a super babysitter. She hates division, but dutifully does her math every day. She writes poems and draws pictures about horses and dogs and kitties. She reads Animal Ark books to herself and Puppy Place books to Daisy.
Daisy has permanent teeth growing in at all different times. It doesn't affect the fact that she is usually smiling and telling me something cute that one of the little kids did. For writing she likes to make a daily list of things she'll do with the little kids. It usually includes reading and doing workbooks with them and then lots of playing. She loves to help out with Sullivan and he squeals when he sees her and says "Hi!" I love the fact that she wants to talk to me and checks in for a snuggle now and then. (It usually involves kissing her latest bump or bruise, poor girl). She likes to tell me about how she is applying the things she learns in church or in our devotional.
Simon is as full of life as ever! It is so exciting to be around him when he makes a discovery or gets a gift or surprise. He loves to try to trick me and jokes around like he's one of the big boys. He'll go along with whatever the girls are playing most of the time, but sometimes he is just aching for a good sword fight or lego session. Brandon is usually good to oblige. We've had some sunny days that have called him outside even before he gets his breakfast. He announced that he is now a "pour-year-old", which means he is big enough to get the milk out and pour it himself. He made my day when he walked by and said, "Mom, you look beautiful!" (I was brushing my hair). A few minutes later he walks by and groans, "My eyes are hearts!" When I asked him why he said, "Because you are so beautiful I can't stand it!" He walked away singing, "Has anybody told you...that you're beautiful..."
Sarajoy seems back to normal now after several weeks without her pacifiers...whew! There are still some times her mommy misses them. She loves to tell me about the things she dreams about. She'll tell me stories about when she was big and when she was small. She likes to pretend she has a baby in her tummy and she's always willing to be the horse, puppy, or kitty in the latest game. She truly hates being dropped off for Primary. I've resorted to leaving her in the hall near the primary room where a member of the presidency eventually coaxes her over to color and then takes her in. I've heard that once she is in there she fully participates and loves it, but she dreads the separation. It is getting better. She is enjoying the fact that Sullivan can "play" with her sometimes. She loves to make him giggle. She is learning to say "okay" instead of "I can't" when I give her an instruction.
Sullivan had a big month. We celebrated his first birthday with balloons and a push-walking toy and a glow-bug type seahorse that plays gentle music. He loves it. He loves music and can often be heard singing and humming. He'll even sing along with the vacuum. He honored Dallin by surprising us with his first steps on the day after his birthday. He honored Ruby by walking to her. Then he surprised us even more by doing it over and over again, thrilled at his new skill and so excited to practice it. It is just as exciting with the 7th kid as it was with the first! And now he can get off the couch and up and down the stairs at lightning speed. He wants to be where the kids are. He loves to be read to, and will pick up any book and flip through the pages and talk to himself. He is saying lots of words each day. He is nursing less and less during the day and more and more at night. He just doesn't want to stop to eat. Sigh.
They are growing up before my eyes! I know how precious this time is, and I am trying to hold it back and appreciate the season. I feel so blessed to be able to have my kids home and with me. It is a freedom I treasure to be able to teach my kids the things that I know are most important and to give them a lifestyle that is centered on the family and centered on Christ. It is wonderful to be able to train them in obedience and duty and step back and watch them make good choices with their time. It is beautiful to watch them love and enjoy one another. I know I am swimming upstream against the tide of our materialistic, fear-driven, godless culture, but it is worth it. I am beginning to reap results of that swim that are priceless.
