Cousins!

Last week my brother Jared graduated from his chiropractic program!  Hooray!  In a few months when all his boards are complete, he will officially be a Doctor (!) of Chiropractic.  It has been a busy time for their family as Jared finished school, and job searched, and Sarah sold or packed everything they owned, while being mom to two busy little people.  The day after graduation, they loaded a moving pod with all of their belongings, got in their car, and left Iowa.  Before reaching their final destination of Salt Lake City, Jared, Sarah, Camryn, and Judd stayed with us for a few days.  

We have not had many opportunities to see the Iowa cousins, so this was a much anticipated visit.  Camryn is six months old than Ezra, and Maren is six months older than Judd, so the four cousins are great playmates.  Ezra was so content and pleased to have the cousins at our house.  We have a fourth bedroom and bathroom in our basement that, though small, is a nice spot for visitors.   I think Ezra would have gladly invited Camryn to stay forever; he was tickled every morning when he got to eat breakfast with Camryn. 

One of our bigger outings was a visit to a nearby farm with animals (goats, rabbits, sheep, cows, miniature horses, chickens, kittens, and a donkey), old fashioned tractors, a straw bale maze, and a pumpkin patch.  Ezra loved the little red wagons that were available for pulling pumpkins and/or children.  He gladly volunteered to pull Camryn all around the farm.  The straw bale maze was perfect for little kids.  The bales were stacked two high, and encompassed an area about 25' by 25'.  It was large enough to be fascinating, but small enough not to be overwhelming.  I don't think the cousins ever figured out the way out, but they did have a fun time circling back and through the center portion about four times.  The adults could easily monitor their children's progress from two small towers.  At the end of our visit, we had snacks under a shade tent, and the kids were all highly entertained by a wandering farm dog/part-pig who ate anything and everything it found on the ground (like half an onion bagel).   

     

Ezra and a machine: perfect photo opportunity!

Uncle Jared pulling Camryn and Ezra in the wagon.  Maren rode in the stroller.

Sarah and snuggly Judd.

Maren in the straw bale maze.

Ezra, the willing driver, and Camryn, the ready rider.

Maren and mommy in the pumpkin patch.

Snack time. 

For family home evening, Ezra and Camryn painted a pumpkin, which was much more kid-friendly then the knives and scooping slimy innards required for a carved pumpkin.  On Tuesday, I taught preschool at my house, and Camryn joined our little group.  We talked about letter F, feelings, faces, friends, farms, and foil.  We watered the garden and played in the dirt (and then mud), we made puppets, and sangs songs, and had snacks.  It was a little crazy, but it was all the better with any extra friend to play with.
  

Cousins painting a pumpkin

Walking, Talking & Pumpkins

Maren is starting to walk!  She has been on the verge for the last two weeks, but her attempts are short-lived because she giggles, flails her arms, and run/walks faster than her balance can hold her.  She is finally managing her excitement, and has slowed down a little to balance her head with her feet.  She can walk across rooms now, and is building her confidence all the time.  Her vocabulary is growing as well.  She says "hi" and "bye", and "bobby", which I think means baby and/or bunny and/or bird.  Last week we were in the car driving someplace a little distance away.  Ezra was asleep (as usual), and Maren was wide awake and chatty (as usual).  Maren was attempting to communicate with Ezra, to no avail.  For a good minute she said, "hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi." while frantically waving her arm at a comatose big brother.  Her determination made me chuckle; that is my little Miss!

Ezra and I have been working on a lot of projects together.  We make some kind of homemade baked good at least once of week.  Our agreement is that I scoop (flour, sugar, baking powder), and he dumps.  We almost always give at least half the treats away to friends, but as long as he gets to lick the bowl, he is appeased.  We also do a "letter of the week" art project to reinforce what he learns in preschool.   We continue to work in the garden, and do various "little jobs" to clean up the house.

Potty training is going awesome, except that he loves to wait to the very last possible second to use the toilet.  It usually goes something like this:
            Ezra is extremely wiggly, tapping his foot, shaking his bum.
            So I kindly ask, "Ezra, do you need to use to toilet."
            To which he replies, "No Mom, I'm just happy.  I wiggle when I'm happy."

A rare Ezra-Maren cuddle moment--relaxed and mellow waiting for General Conference to start.

Ezra and I made homemade brownies for a General Conference treat.

Last Tuesday Ezra, Maren, and I visited this family farm and pumpkin patch near Dallin's work.  The pumpkin patch was filled with various friendly and not-so-friendly Halloween characters.  Ezra was most adamant that we say hello to every one.  After exploring the entire field, he came back around to his favorite, a smiling scarecrow boy.  Ezra and "the cute boy" had their picture taken together.  Maren was less enthusiastic about the situation.  Ezra was in hog heaven; Maren was freaked out by almost all the Halloween characters--with the exception of the cute boy.  She curled up her toys and refused to even try to walk over the weedy, grasshopper-laden field, and she didn't want to touch the pumpkins.  Ezra, on the other hand, could have stayed all day.  He arranged and rearranged several piles of gourds, loaded and unloaded a wagon full of pie pumpkins, and pulled every pumpkin cart he could find.  When we finished our exploring, we surprised Daddy by showing up at his work.  We offered him a ride home.  Apparently, our timing was excellent; he gladly closed up shop and left work an hour early. 

Ezra and "the cute boy" scarecrow.

A kind visitor took a picture of us outside the pumpkin patch.

 

Ezra happily loading a wagon with pumpkins.

Pout-pout face Maren.

Family Focus

General Conference is such a perfect way to welcome October.  I had been craving the wealth of prophetic instruction since early September.  I think I included some form of "And I am so excited/anxious/looking forward to Conference"...and "I love the Prophet" in every personal and family prayer for at least three weeks.  After all my talk, excitement, and prepping, Ezra was ready, and well acquainted with the concept of watching the Prophet on the television.  The dynamic is different when watching Conference with little people; I have learned not to expect too much.  Saturday afternoon Ezra was so done with being indoors, and we took a 45-minute bike ride/walk to a park and back during the latter half of the afternoon session.

For me, the tone of conference seemed to be one of establishing and maintaining a solid commitment to the doctrines of the gospel, the Prophet, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Sunday afternoon was an incredible session for me; so many of the messages felt very personal and meaningful.  I know what I need to do!  I love personal revelation!

My sweet Ezra boy has needed extra love lately, and seems to be struggling with his confidence.  I am learning all the time how to nurture and strengthen my children, and I have never felt more keenly the need of heavenly help and enabling grace.  During the Sunday afternoon session of conference, the sweet children's song, "I Am A Child of God" was sung.  As the choir sang, I had a beautiful reminder and mental image from the Spirit that I am as much a child as Ezra, and that my plea is for my Heavenly Father to "lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way", so I can in turn lead, guide, and walk beside, and help my children.

Thanks to the counsel of some most excellent friends and little promptings from the Spirit, I have set up a board in our kitchen with our family focus, songs, scriptures to memorize, family rules, chores, and quotes from the Prophets.  Establishing a strong family, grounded on the gospel of Jesus Christ has felt so important lately.  I have ramped up my efforts in family gospel study.  Whenever possible Ezra, Maren and I have "lunch and learn", eating our lunch while we discuss simple doctrines from the Gospel ABC book I created a few years ago.  These are precious days!  "No other success can compensate for failure in the home."

I went to a Primary training meeting recently, and we discussed how the church is moving toward incorporating certain aspects of the youth "Come Follow Me" curriculum for the Primary children.  This coming January, when I start a new teaching year, I will have a brand new Primary lesson manual with lessons written in that manner.  The Lord truly is hastening his work.  What a wonderful time to be on the earth.

Chihuly in the Garden

I didn't have a lot of requests for my birthday, but I did specifically request a botanical garden outing.  A garden visit is always lovely for me, but this season, there is a special outdoor glass exhibition by the famous American artist Dale Chihuly.  (Apparently, this is the first time his work has ever come to the Rocky Mountain region).  I saw his genius in the garden several years ago when I lived in Atlanta.

Roslyn and John joined us, and Ezra was nearly attached at the hip to grandma for the greater part of the day.  They were soaking it all in together; Grandma made every new piece of art feel like love-at-first-sight.  Ezra was entranced.

Ezra and Grandma on an art adventure

Isn't this beautiful?! 

Circle gate family photo update

A contemplative moment...

Miss Maren hanging out in the stroller

John & Roslyn

Ezra chasing Mommy, or a fun way to get some wiggles out

Welcome Autumn!

The latter half of September was busier than normal.  I was also sick for most of it, so somehow the days passed and I wasn't as aware.  In addition to normal life, there were a number of extra curricular activities/opportunities (classes, baby showers, Primary training, Annual Women's meeting, kid sitting, appointments, projects, etc.)  Here is a little picture summary of some of our activities:

Ezra and Maren enjoying How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? (Jane Yolen & Mark Teague).   

Birthday Brio train set is an Ezra favorite. 

These cute kids were at my house at least four times in September.  On this particular occasion, they were staying the day after their mom delivered baby # 3 at the hospital.  (Four children under three for eight hours was a new experience for me...) Yes, I did knowingly allow them to completely empty a bookcase, but it was worth it!  Previous to this activity, they needed new entertainment every seven minutes.  This activity entertained them all happily for at least 25 minutes.  

This is the new seating arrangement.  Ezra insists on sitting as close as possible to Maren. 

Autumn is here, but it is still warmish, and nice enough for a day at the park.

My children prefer not to wear clothing.  Here is Miss Maren with just a diaper and super pleased.

Pint jars of applesauce and quart jars of juice.  The apple rings were gone within hours, sorry no pictures.

About the time I started to feel better, a lady at my church invited anyone who was interested to pick apples from her neighbor's overloaded trees.  I filled two laundry baskets full of beautiful mostly worm-free apples, and have been having fun/hard at work canning applesauce, juicing apples for cider, and dehydrating apples for spiced apple rings.  My hands haven't necessarily loved all the chopping, peeling, and mixing, but the finished product is perfectly delightful.  So far, I have ten pint jars of applesauce, and two quarts of juice.  They are both a pretty pink color.

 

More than a year ago, I started a quilt for Ezra.  And, with some expert help from my mom in August, I finished it before Ezra's birthday.  (The lighting is kind of funny; the colors are chocolate brown, baby blue, and lime green.)  Ezra was ridiculously excited about his new quilt, and it has been difficult to steal it away to take a picture.  About three seconds after I nabbed the quilt, laid it out, and snapped a picture, he came sliding into the quilt and curled up inside of it like a cocoon.      

"All This and the Gospel Too"

Earlier in the week I attended my first of a series of parenting classes offered at no charge by our public library.  The library has a perpetuating relationship with a child development resource center and preschool with dozens of trained teachers, social workers, therapists, and child psychologists.  Several of these professionals teach the parenting classes.  Library patrons are invited to register for the classes (geared for parents of young children), which occur once a month and continue for five months. 

The introductory course studied the importance of the words we speak to our children.  I often say to Ezra, "Use your words!"  This week the tables were turned as the instructor asked us to examine more careful our words as parents.  We discussed the idea of emotional deposits and withdrawals, and how critical positive feedback is for young children. 

We were invited to eliminate from our vocabulary phrases that are word negations.  For example, instead of "Don't run!", we can model what they can do: "Use your walking feet." or  "Stay with me." or "Hold my hand."  Instead of saying, "Stop whining!", she encouraged us to try phrases such as, "Use a calm voice." or "Talk so I can understand you."  We also discussed various ways to redirect a negative situation, such as if a child grabs a toy from a sibling, or refuses to clean up a mess, etc.

It was a lovely evening full of greater awareness and silent prayers to soak it in and try harder.  I left that evening with a lot of feelings.  I was comforted in knowing that my community supports my efforts as a mother, considers positive family relationships an asset to the community, and is willing to put words into action and offer free parenting support classes.  I felt grateful for more tools in the mommy tool-belt, based on sound research and personal experience.  But, most of all, I felt so much gratitude for the gospel of Jesus Christ, which enlightens every aspect of my efforts as a mother.

I know that my Father in Heaven cares very much about my efforts.  I know that a firm understanding of gospel principles taught and modeled in the home have incredible impact to change hearts and minds for the better.  I can't imagine being a mother without the guidance of the Holy Ghost, the counsel of modern prophets, and the scriptures as a guide.  I am not always sure I am doing the best things with my children on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis, but I am sure that "happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ" (see The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

One of my previous stake presidents in Georgia loved to quote a particular phrase of President Joseph F. Smith.  "All this and the gospel too," he would say to us, helping us to remember all our blessings.  As I left the parenting class this week, that little phrase kept replaying in my mind, "All this and the gospel too."  I feel so blessed. 

Ezra's Birthday!

Ezra is three years old!  We had a birthday celebration with Grandma and Grandpa, and Ezra couldn't have been happier about that arrangement.  He sat next to them at dinner, sat on Grandma's lap to blow out candles and eat his birthday cake, and had Grandma close at hand for opening presents.

His birthday dinner was one of his favorites: a sausage and gnocchi dish with Parmesan cheese on top.  I made the same pumpkin cake as I did for Maren (here is the recipe Liz: pumpkin spice cake), and topped it with a homemade chocolate frosting.  The frosting was the dirt for a birthday construction site.  (No, I cannot claim any creative genius here, but I am good at copying!)  I had a lot of fun making the cake smooth and pretty, and then intentionally digging it up with some mini-excavators and bulldozers.  And, so did Ezra!  He needed a little time to play with his cake before we ate it.

Ezra had a stack of presents to open from four adoring grandparents and us.  He is still in love with things with wheels, so the cars, trucks, and trains were a big hit.  He also got some puzzles and games. 

Pumpkin spice/chocolate construction zone cake--a big hit!

Exploring the cake with Grandma Roslyn (as Ezra calls her)

Hooray for Ezra's birthday!

Maren was perfectly content to just observe all the festivities, but she did enjoy this new ball from Grandma.

Ezra and Grandma have a tradition of visiting a cookie bakery together.  One of his gifts from her was a whole stack of bakery cookies!  

A Brio train set from Grandma Denise!  So fun!

I love this last picture!  Maren has been very shy/unsure around Grandma, but at Ezra's birthday, she started to warm up.  For the last five minutes of present opening, while Ezra and Grandma were focused on the unwrapping, Maren would sneak up to Grandma, touch her arm, and then scurry away.  She repeated this stealthy approach about five times.  It was adorable to watch.  I think she is realizing that Grandma is an important person in Ezra's life, and so she is starting to crave some of that attention too.

p.s.--Dallin took a short video of cake time at Ezra's birthday, check it out on his blog: http://phatfiddle.blogspot.com/

(Grandpa and I were at the party, but apparently we were really focused on picture taking.)

Mixed Bag

I am very much aware of the fact that our household consists of small accomplishments, little discoveries, and quiet triumphs, as compared with the world at large.  But to me, they are worth documenting.  I rejoice in my stay-at-home mom opportunity, and feel so grateful for such tiny moments.

Ezra, for example, is potty-training!  Our first two days were a complete disaster, and I was on the verge of giving up, but then on day three, it clicked.  He has a near perfect track record (about ten days in), and most of the time initiates the visits to the bathroom.  It feels so wonderful to change just one set of diapers!

Ezra has also started to love saying prayers.  For at least six months, he has absolutely refused to say a prayer, or be reverent for prayer time, but in the last week as finally had a breakthrough.  Now at prayer time, he often jumps right in to offer the prayer if no one else is quick enough, he usually folds his arms, bows his head, and expresses a number of thoughtful "thank yous".  Yesterday we were headed to his cousin's house for a birthday party.  Ezra volunteered to say the prayer and began it in this way: "Dear Heavenly Father, We thank thee for Gabriel and the toys at his house." 

Daily life as a mommy is a grand experiment in connecting with my children, but I do often feel quiet promptings to change or adjust as needed.  Recently, I felt prompted to emphasize the importance of loving one another.  A wise prophet-king in the Book of Mormon offered this simple, timeless counsel to parents: "teach them to love one another, and to serve one another" (Mosiah 4:15).  With that scripture in mind, I have started singing the hymn "Love One Another", based on the Savior's own words from the book of John.  The result has truly humbled me; listen to those little promptings!  I sing this song every day, and without fail, every day the Spirit touches us, and we all choose to be a little more kind.  Literally every time I sing the song, Ezra will hug his sister, or pass her a toy he took, or tell her he loves her.  I feel more calm, and my patience is rekindled.  Maren seems less clingy on me and less edgy around Ezra.  Little miracles!

Our vegetable garden has been tremendously productive.  We have more fresh garden tomatoes than we know how to use.  Last week I packed up bags of tomatoes for four of our neighbors, and we still had a 14-cup bowl filled to the brim left over.  Our favorite has been the yellow pear tomato, which might as well be candy to me.  The lovely lemon yellow 3" fruit is hardy and prolific.  One plant has given us at least 30 tomatoes every week for the last month.  The kale in our garden is quite a marvel: no pest problems, no bolting from summer heat, no leaf spots, no fungus, just stanch, hardy neat-and-tidy rows that have grown without wavering since May.  I cut it back to use in my cooking, and two days later, you can't even tell it was cut.

My personal gospel study has been focused for many weeks on a simple one-liner from the most recent General Conference.  I have read, and re-read the message from Elder Donald Hallstrom, and find so much encouragement and hope in his counsel.  His talk was actually addressed to the men in the priesthood session, but his words are universal.  Here is one of my favorite parts: "...Who we are is not who we can become. We meet here tonight in the name of Jesus Christ. We meet with the confidence that His Atonement gives every one of us—no matter our weaknesses, our frailties, our addictions—the ability to change. We meet with the hope that our future, no matter our history, can be better." 

I think about that last statement a lot.  I can change!  I can do better!  The future is bright!  Motivated by that idea, I have tried to help Ezra consider a more positive spin to his words.  As he grows and learns more, he will often come to me in frustration, and burst out, "Mommy, I can't."  I have been trying to encourage him (and counsel myself at the same time) to say instead, "I can, with some help."  And, then he does--with a little help.  I know this idea was a prompting from the Spirit too, because it feels like the relationship we have with our Father in Heaven.  He wants us to be agents, to act independently, to feel confident in our abilities, but He also is so willing and able to help.

A few pictures from August:

The elusive family picture...pretty good for a tripod/timer/no photographer attempt!

We found this field of sunflowers by our house--beautiful.

An example of our abundant tomato crop, and an anxious tomato consumer

Happy girl!

Maren's Birthday Party!

 Here are a few pictures from Maren's one-year birthday party.  I made her a pumpkin spice cake with whipping cream "icing".  At first all she did was lick the cream like a puppy, but did eventually get excited and grab the entire slab of cake. 

Nimbly taste-testing the cake.

This is good Mom!

No little bites here--dig right in!

Hooray for cake!

Tired Daddy became Ezra's creative opportunity!

He calls it Dad with Balloons, no. 1. 

Opening presents was a group effort.  Luckily, Maren was accommodating.

Little musical instruments for my rhythm girl.

Happy Birthday Maren!