Quote of the day

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Ashlyn, handing me a piece of doll clothing she apparently found outside..."Here mom, take this inside. I put it in my mouth and it tastes like the garage floor."

Peace

I had an interesting conversation with my kids yesterday morning about something we hadn’t really talked about.

The day their dad died.

The details about the timeline and the experiences I had, had never been shared with them before. I don’t know why…I thought I had. Maybe the time was never right. But it felt right yesterday. So I relayed to them how the day had transpired…how when I walked into the hospital room that night, I remembered thinking So this is how someone looks when they die. How I had held his hand while we waited for the helicopter to arrive. How I kissed him and whispered, “I’ll see you on the other side” before they sedated him. How my dad and I raced to St. Rita’s when we were told the flight had been diverted from its path to Columbus. I told them how the world became fuzzy when the doctor told me he had died, and how I had gone back and seen his body so my mind could wrap around it. I told them about calling their father’s father, and telling them their son had gone..talking to my brother in law Kent, who through tears said something rather profound. How I sat in the waiting room, in shock, with my dad and felt David come and give his last good bye to me. How my mother had felt him come and say farewell to his dearest blessings…his beautiful and long awaited children ( a blessing he believed he may never have). And I told them how I knew love crossed between worlds, and that I felt sure the hardest thing for their dad, was that he could see them, and whisper things in their ears when they dreamed…but could never touch them. How I had gathered each of them in my arms one by one that morning, and tried to explain why their dad wasn’t ever coming home again. And how only Maryn was old enough to really understand and how her only question for me was simple yet profound. “Will he still be my daddy when Jesus comes again?” I whispered that he would be. She wrapped her tiny 5 year old arms around me and whispered back, “Then I will be okay.”

They sat by me on my bed. Their eyes and cheeks wet with tears. I let them ask questions. I let them share feelings. And did not push any thoughts away as silly or needless. If they wanted to say it, it needed to be said and so I permitted it.

And it hit me how death changes how you see things…their view of the world is forever altered. But even more, it struck me how profoundly they had been affected by love. Love is the one thing we share with others that cannot be hindered by whether or not you still dwell in mortality or not. All they really needed was two things. They needed to know that I loved them and that despite the fact they could not see him…so did their father. They needed to know that their Savior and Heavenly Father loved them and that He knew them, their sorrows and their pains, and blessed them with what they needed to handle all He had allowed to come upon them.

And it was thus we ended the discussion, their hands in mine, and everyone was at peace.

Rendition

So, we left yesterday after Kathy's baptism for my parents house. It was stake conference weekend, and since I had to pick Paul up again on Sunday, it just made more sense this way. We always enjoy time at my parents. We got a sitter to come over for the Saturday evening session, which was enjoyable. Then Conner's friend (and my friend) Kim came over. We made caramel popcorn,and then I took her home by way of Sonic.I stayed and chatted with her mom for about an hour. This morning dad made waffles and we packed up and headed out for the 2 hour morning meeting. I took a pad of paper for each, a pen and a book to keep them quietly occupied. It mostly worked.

Conner got creative today. He was looking through a book at my parents (we were there for stake conference) full of animals. He decided to draw some of the pictures he saw.

Here, you will see a picture of the original, conveniently placed next to his rendition for comparison purposes.

When Ashlyn saw this picture, she wanted to know what the police officer was doing to the panda.

The black hole of the T-Rex's face are his eyes and teeth...just in case you weren't sure.

I really like this one of the mastodon/mammoth. I love how the one he drew has a smiley face on...above his trunk.

Fort Cameron

So yesterday (the 27th), I decided to do something constructive with my kids. Literally constructive.

We built a blanket and chair fort.

Okay I built a blanket and chair fort.

And I had fun.

Here are a few tips I learned.

1) Use whats in the space. I built the fort around the TV. One of the walls is the play kitchen set. I used a card table and just a few chairs.

2) Drape and Clip. So drape big thin blankets and sheets, then clothespin them into place. Perfectly tight and somewhat more stable then draping alone.

3) Add something fun...a secret entrance. I blocked off every available crevice with toys and blankets. Then I used our purple crawly tube thing and ran it along the back wall directly into the card table. Only they can get in and out. Which, of course, makes it uber cool.

4) Never underestimate the power of pillows as design elements when it comes to tent forts.

Here is the finsihed product form the exterior.

And a view from the purple crawly tube thing.

Interior view. Feet optional, but I felt it added a personal touch.

They have spent hours and hours in the fort. What is it about blankets and chairs that makes everything more interesting under them?

Before, and after, and after...and AFTER!

Every once in a while, mother nature decides she needs to let us know who's boss. She has been doing that quite effectively of late. Allow me to share.

So this is what my house usually looks like.

And here it is..snowstorm number 1 in January.

Snowstorm number 2 at the beginning of February. This one blew in from a different direction and just drifted weird. Very weird.

And the dig out.

And some pretty "snow dunes" in the cow pen.

And mother nature's most recent tantrum. Nice drift. Again. Sigh.

He's sitting on a lawn tractor. And that's the drift. So glad I did not have to dig that out by hand, that could have counted for my aerobics for 3 years I think.

And the pile gets bigger. My kids think its awesome. A hill in Mercer County!

Icicle Art

So, I could not refuse. This "art" was in the alley behind the building where I work. I thought it was amazing...and rather pretty.

What we learned today...

• If you walk through snow drifts and then clean up flour piles in slightly damp pants your hemline pretty much turns into a paper mache project.
• I also learned that a 10 pound bag of wheat flour, when chewed open from the corner, makes a mess that take about an hour to clean up.
• The kids learned that buses can also get stuck in snowdrifts. And it makes you late getting home.
• Paul learned the word for soaking meat in liquid mixture containing oil, vinegar and spices isn't "serenade" its "marinade".
• Conner learned that when you pull really hard on window shades...they come off the roller and your mom suddenly becomes grumpy.
• We learned that if you find the spots in the snowdrift in your drive that are the lowest and plan a path that avoids the parts that are up to your waist...it makes an S shape around the garage and up to the house.
• I learned that only people in southern Mercer county use the word "yet" to mean "still" (as in "I have that movie I borrowed yet.") and that other people don't get it and get rather confused when you use it in a sentence.
• I learned that in text world mmkaa means "Mmmmm...okay."
• My daughters learned that its okay to use toilets that have blue water in them and that they aren't poisoned or broken.
• I learned that where the instructions on the mouse poison box say "Simply lift tab and twist off" is an exaggeration. Simply my foot.
• I learned from a young friend that she doesn't wear earrings in her ears or have a nose piercing because it would hurt too much...but the one on her lower lip didn't really hurt at all.

Curiouser and Curiouser...