Three Kernels

So, despite the fact that I love to write, I am not a blog-everyday-of-November blogger like my dedicated sister-in-laws.  (Kudos to them!)  But, I do want to close November with thanksgiving; I feel so richly blessed.   Here are my "three kernels" for 2014:

• I am thankful for personal revelation.  Raising children in light and truth is a challenge in a confusing world, and I need help.  I believe in a loving Heavenly Father who cares deeply, intimately, and completely for each of His children.  I know He wants to inspire me to do my best so I and my children can all be happier.  What a blessing--the heavens are not closed.

• I am thankful for the Atonement.  I am thankful for repentance and forgiveness.  When my patience wears thin, when I say something I wish I hadn't, when I get selfish, moody, and prideful, I am so grateful that I am not permanently stained.  I can try again!  The Atonement helps bad become good and good become better.  What a precious gift.

• I am thankful for my family.  I was single for a longer time than most, and spent a lot of that time far from family too.  I know what loneliness feels like, and I know what it means to really ache for righteous desires that are not always forthcoming.  My beautiful family fills all those empty voids with happiness, energy, and purpose.  Dallin, Ezra, and Maren mean everything to me.  I love their company, I love their conversations.  My favorite moments are spending quality time with my sweetheart, or reading books with Ezra, or jabbering with Maren.  My best memories are made on family outings.  Being together at home is time well spent.

And, because three is a small number, a few other kernels of thanks:

• I am thankful for cameras to help me preserve the faces of my favorite people.

• I am thankful for my ancestors.  I have been studying their faces and stories these past few weeks, and I am impressed by their faith, fortitude, and courage.  I feel more motivated to stay true when I think of them.

• I am thankful for the temple.  Now that Maren is a little older, Dallin and I have started attending the temple together again.  I crave the peace and truth that I feel in the temple.  It keeps me grounded to go often.

• I am thankful for warm days in winter.  I put up our outdoor Christmas lights yesterday in bare feet and a short sleeve shirt.  I'll take it!

• I am thankful for music.  I love singing Primary songs with my kids.  I love impromptu dance parties chasing, running, and giggling to peppy pop songs.  I love hearing Dallin do an Irish jig on his fiddle.  Good music gives me a happy heart.   

First Snow

We had our first snow of the season last week, and when it warmed up a little, Ezra wanted to go out and play.  As far as he was concerned, nothing had changed from the summer--except that I made him wear a coat.  (It took a good ten minutes to convince him that it was very cold and his body needed extra layers).  He went out, happy as a clam, and pulled out all his diggers and dump truck, and continued work on his construction site, like he had done every day when it was warm.  This time, though, they were scooping snow instead of dirt.  The change in weather hardly phased him.  "I have jobs to do, mommy," he said resolutely.

Maren, however, was mostly seriously displeased by the entire ordeal.  Her Aunt Sarah gifted her the most beautiful, snuggly, poofy pink coat ever, but it didn't improve her opinion of the snow and cold.  If this girl could talk, she probably would have given me a lecture about the ridiculousness of doing anything in such cold weather.  I am not much of a cold weather person either, so I can understand.  Needless to say, my adorable pink marshmallow girl didn't stay outside very long.  We'll try again another day.  

   Maren may not be keen on snow, but she has become a genius climber.  She is up and on and in everything.  Her mission in life is to get elevated as quickly as possible.  Her new favorite trick is pushing chairs to other taller things so she can then climb on them, like tables or counters.  She delights in playing in the toilet bowl, then climbing on the toilet, and frolicking in the empty bathtub.  In other developments, she has her two front teeth.  Also, she has followed her big brother's good example at prayer time, and she will now fold her arms for prayers, and sometimes keep them folded for the entire prayer without touching her food.  Dallin and I have been impressed with her self-control in that area.  She loves to pray!

Do you see her two top teeth?

Ezra has his first (real) best friend.  Aside from Bear, Ezra has formed quite an attachment for a darling girl from church, who is also in his preschool class.  Cadhla (pronounced Kyla) and Ezra play together perfectly for hours, which is a rather miraculous social development!  Just think, my sweet boy doesn't have to be constantly supervised; I don't have to help settle play disputes every ten minutes.  What an astounding concept!  The bad news is this cute girl is moving away next week (sigh).  Ezra seems to do better with girl playmates, so here's hoping someone new moves in!

Cadhla and Ezra

Curl up with a good [children's] book

As a horticulturist, this time of year is always a little rough for me.  My vegetable garden is naked--except for a few brave kale and chard plants, the hoses have been drained and coiled up, and the gardening tools will hang in the garage untouched until spring.  Today the high was around 16 degrees, and it was painful to be outdoors.  But, my little troupe and I kept cheery around the house; we made a pumpkin pie, we did art projects, we read a stack of lovely children's books.  

One of my back-burner dreams is to write and/or illustrate a children's book. I have tried twice and been rejected twice.  It seems to be one of those harder to reach dreams, but not so hard that I don't keep it on my list.  I am continually amazed by those exceptionally talented, creative, determined authors and illustrators who do have their work published.  Reading children's books is one of my personal delights; I think sometimes I get more excited about trips to the library then my kids do.  So, to bring a little cheer on a nasty, cold November night, I will share some recent finds in the world of children's literature:

The Story Blanket, written by Ferida Wolff and Harriet May Savitz and illustrated by Elena Odriozola is one of my new favorites.  It has gorgeous pictures that are full of character and vibrant color.  The illustrator has such a unique style that the first time I opened the book, I studied every illustration in detail before I even considered the text.  The story is one that needs to be read again and again.  It is a sweet, simple tale of kindness, service, and love.  This book teaches wonderful virtues through the secret acts of a beloved villlage woman.  The main character, Babba Zarrah, is a perfect heroine for children--and adults.    I love this book.


Hooray for Hat, created by Brian Won, is an all-together different kind of book.  It's light and lovely approach has a straightforward message: friends are wonderful!  This is a such a great read-aloud book, too, with opportunity to use different voices for the various characters.  And, of course, the illustrations are engaging.  I'll be honest, I usually do judge a book by its cover, and this one caught my eye.  Ezra was especially fond of this one too; we read it again and again.


This board book series for baby-2 years is hilarious.  Leslie Patricelli is a genius at communicating a concept with minimal words (usually just one or two words a page) and the antics of a happy bald baby.  This is one of those books that makes the entire family giggle.  Her books are happy, frank, and great fun.  Some of her other book titles include: Quiet Loud, Yummy Yucky, No No Yes Yes, Toot, and Huggy Kissy.  If you need a little comic relief,--baby style--check these out.  I think they are delightful.


This book is, without a doubt, Ezra's all-time favorite.  We have checked it out from the library on at least four different occasions.  He requests it as a read-aloud every night we have it on loan.  He has parts of the text memorized, and uses the story line in his imaginative play.  If you have a little boy, chances are, he will adore this story.  I love it too.  In fact, I am a huge fan of anything that Tom Lichtenheld does.  In this book he is just the illustrator, but he has written and illustrated many others for children.  His style of writing and illustrating, is, in my humble opinion, a winning combination of wit, creativity, and passion.  I think this man loves his job.  Some of my other favorite Tom Lichtenheld books are: Cloudette, Duck! Rabbit!, Yes Day, and Bridget's Beret (...to name a few....he has an impressive collection...his creativity runneth over).

Made with Love

Sometime early on in our first year of marriage, Dallin expressed an interest in helping with the cooking.  I thought it was a great idea, and we decided that Sunday night was the best time for him to do it.  Almost without exception, every Sunday night since then, he wears the chef hat.  His meals are always simple, but tasty, and though I enjoy cooking, it is wonderful to have a little break every week.  I appreciate his efforts, and feel so grateful that he has both the interest and the desire to make that contribution.

Last night, as usual, Dallin prepared the Sunday dinner.  Apparently, he was feeling rather zealous in his efforts, because we had perfectly delectable salmon quesadillas on homemade flour tortillas.  Wow!  I make most of our dinners from scratch, and like to experiment with a lot of flavors and a variety of recipes, but I have yet to even consider the idea of making my own tortillas.  It seems like so much work.  So, hats off to a sweet husband who didn't have to make the tortillas from scratch, but did anyway.  They were melt-in-your-mouth good--and made with love.      

Preschool Friends & Halloween

 I recently hosted my first two weeks of preschool.  Ezra and four of his friends (two girls and two boys) are in a group that meet once a week for two hours every Tuesday.  Each mom takes two weeks in a row in the rotation talking about a specific letter of the alphabet.  In Primary, I teach the four-turning-five-year-old children, so I felt acquainted with the required number of fun activities, wiggle songs, and simple lesson material this age group can handle.  But, I quickly discovered that there is a big difference between children who are four turning five and children who are three turning four.  My first week was crazy; there was an excessive amount of (happy) screaming, running, jumping, hugging, talking and a small amount of defined learning moments.  My second week I added twice as many songs, activities, and more outside play, and it was still chaotic, but mostly controlled chaos.  I think Ezra enjoys preschool.  He is always so shy when I drop him off, and it takes him a bit to warm up, but he always comes home with interesting art projects, stories to share, and a smile. 

Ezra is learning to dress himself now, and his wardrobe choices are becoming somewhat predictable.  If the laundry allows it, Ezra wears one of his four race car shirts, swim trunks, and snow boots.  Bear in hand, he is ready for the day.  Adorable. 

Preschool friends working in the vegetable garden.  Muddy, but fun for all.

Letter G: goo-goo goggles and ghosts (dress-up/Halloween theme)

    The photo posted above reflects what I hope is a new leaf in the Ezra-Maren relationship.  This kind of sit and smile next to each other stuff has been a long time coming.  We talk about loving each other every day, and it would appear that some of our talk is sinking in for Ezra.  He is trying harder to trade not take toys.  He kindly gifted one of his lesser stuffed animals to Maren, and has yet to take it back.  He will sometimes spontaneously hug Maren, or hold her hand, or say resolutely, "Maren, I love you."  Ezra seems to think that little sister is actually an interesting playmate, especially now that she can walk.  Here is a little hooray for sibling love.    

 Maren is 14.5 months, and she is on the fast track in personality development.  She is a confident walker now, and is supremely happy about that accomplishment.  When she is pleased she purses her lips and makes whistling noises or babbles to herself.  When she is displeased she has an impressive operatic tongue trill cry.  She loves hugs and kisses.  If she wants a kiss, she seals her lips, leans in, and makes a little "mmmmm" sound.  I love it!  She has several stuffed animal friends that she prefers to snuggle with when she sleeps; "the friends" (a kangaroo, a bunny, and a monkey) are always in the queue for kisses at bedtime too.  I have discovered that if she is mildly irritated or on the verge of a tantrum, if I offer her a hug, she will often forget her troubles and give me snuggles instead.  She has figured out the word "more", which she pronounces with elongated effort (mmmmoooorrrrr...."), and uses it appropriately at mealtimes.  Her favorite word right now is "D!", which is used often and loudly when she needs a drink.  She can say doggy, and barks like a dog, and knows that a cow says "moooooo!"  We, unfortunately, have a number of spiders in our house, and she LOVES to point at them and try to touch them, calling out "Buddy!  Buddy!" (buggy.)  Maren loves to carry purses and little balls, and Matchbox cars.  She has been highly influenced by her big brothers love of moving vehicles, and, if Ezra is willing, she will play cars with him--with her own "vroom-ing" sounds and all.  Her teeth are a matter of particular interest.  She has had just two teeth on the bottom since May.  Earlier this month, her first set of molars came in, and this week her first top tooth finally came in.  (As a basis for comparison, at this same age, Ezra probably had eight teeth and his first molar set.) 

Halloween is still a low-key holiday at our house.  Ezra and Maren don't have a lot of expectations, and twelve houses is more than enough to make the treat bag heavy for little people.  The weather has been amazing this October, and Halloween night was no exception.  Ezra, who wanted nothing more than to a be shark, was a little shy for the first few houses, but was boldly declaring "Trick or treat!" by the end of our rounds.  Maren seemed to sense the pattern of things too, and anticipated every new door that opened--not for candy--but for dogs.  As luck would have it, the portion of the street we chose to visit was full of dogs of all sorts, including a large German shepherd in ballerina tu-tu.  Dallin dressed up as a soggy bottom boy complete with long gray beard, straw hat, suspenders, bare feet, and mandolin.  He passed out candy and strummed little folksy tunes on the front porch while Ezra, Maren, and I went trick-or-treating.
 

Miss Pumpkin and Shark boy, the Halloween candy helped them sit!

Happy Halloween from Mommy Owl and kids!