Howdy! I wish this was a recap of all our travels with my folks, but I haven't had time to do it justice. Thank heavens for the trip journal I actually kept this time! So this is my fabulous Mother's Day -- my own record of a lot of mundane life details so feel free to skip it!
I actually took the liberty of extending my Mother's Day celebration a day on each end - totally undeclared. That's the way to do it if you ask me, then no one else feels pinched by expectations. Victory!
Ryan was in his baking zone this weekend and who was I to argue?! I wish I'd taken pictures of the beauties before they were devoured! Defying all expectations, Ryan tried his first fresh strawberry rhubarb pie and it rocked! The crust was of course, perfect - but the filling was so yummy, just the right balance of sweet and tart I do declare I have a new favorite. I'm not a tart fan so that's sayin' somethin'! He and the kids made me breakfast in bed on the official day - an omelette, bacon, strawberries and cream waffles, and a cute card signed by the kids. Ryan also whipped up his mom's roast and gravy for dinner only to be outdone by another pie - apple this time, per my request. No wonder I'm feeling rather plump lately!
After breakfast, everyone piled into my bed and we had some fun ticklin' times! I love 11am church!!! As for the kids, they're just growing up too fast! Morgan's not so much a delicate wisp of a girl as she's a feisty tomboy ready to jump, climb and throw herself into everything although Ryan and the boys are a bit too big and rowdy for her at times. She does this sumo wrestler stance and saunter that cracks us up! Oh the faces she pulls! She now waves hello and bye to everyone to get attention. If she catches your attention and you're not going anywhere, you get her full show of silly faces. What a character!
Easton's growing up so quickly and is all arms and legs, but he sure loves to melt into giggles at the mere mention of being tickled! McKay, oh McKay - there's always the back story battle we're supposed to go along with or he could melt into frustrated tears. He asks to be tickled but prefers to be tossed around or snuggled.
In addition to Ryan and I being assigned talks, Easton too had a talk in Primary. It was the Carter show at church, I tell ya! He was to speak on repentance. On the way to and from his soccer game Saturday morning it was just us two and I realized we had to start from scratch on this one with a definition of the word. It sure was neat to chat with him uninterrupted and see him understanding the principle, counting down the steps of repentance. Later in the afternoon I looked up a few short stories of the principle in action from past issues of the Friend magazine and had him come read them to me. He's such a good reader, I'm so proud of him! I asked if he wanted to share one of those stories in his talk or if he'd had a similar experience with repentance to share.
Easton began to tell me a story about a boy in his class and I began typing it as he dictated. Easton got a little bugged with me when I corrected his grammar on the screen while he was mid-sentence. It's so exciting to see him internalizing the gospel and I was reminded I gotta bring my A game! In Primary, he bravely read his talk with a strong voice and we were so proud of him. This is the first time I haven't just written his whole talk and was happy we both learned a new process together.
I finally have a designated church bag! What a difference that makes! Of course, it's a basket I got in a quaint little German basket weaving store and then found it's twin in a shop around the corner for half the price I paid. Oh well!
At church we often sit in the back and never know if we'll have English hymnals so I've started bringing our pocket ones, plus the small Children's songbook for Primary. The kids love them. During sacrament meeting, McKay got the the Children's songbook and began softly singing his favorite song, "Follow the Prophet." I didn't really notice until the sacrament started being passed. While it was soo adorable to hear him trying to sing to himself, it was just a little too loud and I had to ask him to be quiet. My nerves were already heightened by my impending talk. Oh how he loves this song and I love hearing his impromptu verses or variations to fit whatever he's playing!
My talk went fine although I wish I was a better public speaker. When I got back to my seat I was so sad the boys had headed to the bathroom at the end of my talk. They almost missed singing with the Primary. There's my boys tromping up front, McKay's got half his shirt hanging out below his vest, the other half tucked in. Classic. Easton's never really been brave enough to get up there but he sang real good this time. It helped that part of the song they sang was "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" - what we call his song around here. McKay sang sometimes, but mostly just stood up there looking back at everyone and had a big wave to us, the parentals.
On Monday we all overslept. I said, "Oh Darn!" and began making waffles. This time I wanted to give Greek yogurt a try. I made it unhealthy with a little powdered sugar and a drop of vanilla but we sure liked it! Strawberries and pears to top it off and Morgan devoured the yogurt!
Everyone played hooky and after I talked Ryan into swapping room furniture around between bedrooms, we left our chaos for Sensapolis with the kids. I believe I swap rooms around because I haven't the energy, money or know-how to decorate. I pretty much do it every six months or so. Ryan and I have now moved into each bedroom and no one is where they started a year and a half ago!
Sensapolis, a huge warehouse sized indoor playground, perfectly near empty on a school day! It's got life-sized treehouses, a pirate ship, a space ship, rock climbing walls, and a castle. All us kids had a ball and it was a great day of family fun!
Morgan lasted pretty well but we did have to resort to serious snuggle sessions to help her regain her strength. That girl tried almost everything the boys did! We stayed six hours and the boys could have and wanted to stay longer. That was probably because they knew bedtime awaited them at home.
So today my party is over. It took all day to clean up the kitchen from all the baking and cooking since I'd sworn off kitchen duty for the weekend. All's good with an audio book and an empty or sleeping house! Over and Out.
