Skip to My Lou

Eliza happily skipped to Church today.  After watching her for a few minutes, Ben joined in.  I couldn't resist making a video.

Princess Jewelry Flower

The last day of school before Thanksgiving Break, Eliza's class had a Thanksgiving feast.  This was non-traditional; the families were asked to contribute whatever, so after I talked Eliza out of bringing candy corn, we settled on Craisins.  Her favorite part of the feast was Danimals yogurt ("The kind you never get me!")

Eliza came home with a few Thanksgiving projects she'd completed at school.  The first was a book where she wrote and drew pictures of the things she was thankful for.  It was a small book so there was only enough space for a few things, but her list makes me smile.  It included, in this order: flowers, clip-clop shoes, Mom, Luke.  She's such a sweetie.

She also brought home this great Indian headdress she made, which was labeled "Princess Jewelry Flower."  She came up with that all by herself.  I love it.

More than one person who came to our house this month noticed that one of the leaves
said "Poo." Well.  It is something to be thankful for.  Without it, we would all be very
uncomfortable. Am I wrong?

We added leaves to another Thankful Tree this year - totaling exactly 99 over the month of November.  We're hoping to break 100 next year.

It's fun to look back and see all of the things we came up with that we're thankful for.  (Click on the picture to see it bigger.)  The kids really liked this activity and we loved that they didn't dwell on material possessions.  Yes, things like "office supplies" were listed, but they also said that they're thankful for each other, for beds, for foods they like, for Gospel-related things, and for items that were really special to them.  I enjoy this tradition and how it helps us to be more mindful of the many blessings we have.

Thanksgiving Day

We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving yesterday.  We began our day of feasting with a breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and fruit, then relaxed most of the morning.  It was lovely.

Jack joined us soon after I took the picture.
We have a rule that kids need to do certain things before they eat breakfast.
Example: put on underwear.

In the late morning, I asked Ben to take the kids to the playground, since it was a nice day and Luke needed to run around to burn up some energy because we needed him to take an early nap before we left for dinner.  I prepared our dinner assignments (rolls and cranberry sauce) and shortly after Luke woke up from his early nap, we left to go to my cousin's house.

There were 35 of us in all - Oma and Opa, aunts and uncles, cousins, cousins, and more cousins.  Folks had traveled from southern Utah, California, and Colorado to be there.  The kids loved having so many children to play with.

All those princesses!

Of course dinner and dessert were delicious and it was great to catch up with everyone.  We had a lovely time.  We got home in time to get the kids to bed at a decent hour, then Ben and I watched a movie together.  It was a great Thanksgiving.

TBT - The Pilgrim Connection

When flipping through the many pages of family history research that has been done on my grandfather's line, an interesting parenthetical note caught my attention.  It stated that three members of the family were passengers on The Mayflower in 1620.  How cool!

And since this particular group of people has been researched and re-researched, it's not too difficult to find out more about them.  Our ancestors are William and Susanna White, and their son Resolved.  Resolved was a young boy (about 5) when the family left for America.  What is unclear is whether the family were part of the Pilgrim community in Holland or they joined the trip in England.  Based on the reading I've done, I believe that they were in the latter group, categorized as London Merchants, and never lived in Holland.

Susanna was pregnant during the voyage and her baby, a boy named Peregrine, was the first child born to the Pilgrims in the New World.  He was born while the colonists were still living on The Mayflower (anchored at Provincetown Harbor, off the tip of Cape Cod) and trying to prepare housing on land.

William White was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.

The Signing of the Mayflower Compact 1620
painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1899

Another interesting fact about Susanna is that she was one of only four married women who survived to see the First Thanksgiving.  Sadly, her husband died in February, and a few months later she married Edward Winslow.  This was the first wedding that took place in the colony.

In my search for pictures and documents for this blog post, I came across this

collage of famous Pilgrim descendants.  I wonder if any of them are my cousins?

The following bios are taken from The Pilgrim Hall Museum's website.

Susanna White

Susanna White was a member of the Leiden Separatist community. She and her husband, William, and their young son Resolved were passengers on the Mayflower. Susanna gave birth to another son, Peregrine, in December of 1620 while theMayflower was anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Peregrine was the first child born to the Pilgrims in New England.

William White died during February of 1621. Susanna married Edward Winslow (another Mayflower passenger, whose wife had also died during that hard first winter) on May 22 (May 12 Old Style), 1621. This was the first wedding in the new colony. By her second marriage with Edward Winslow, Susanna White and Edward Winslow had 5 children, although only 2 lived to adulthood : Josiah, born c1629 and Elizabeth, born in the 1630's.

Edward Winslow was " ... one of the most energetic and trusted men in the Colony. He went to England in 1623, 1624, 1635 and 1646, as agent of the Plymouth or Massachusetts colonies; and in 1633 he was chosen governor, to which office he was reelected in 1636 and 1644. He did not return to New England after 1646. In 1655 he was sent by Cromwell as one of three commissioners to superintend the expedition against the Spanish possessions in the West Indies, and died at sea near Hispaniola, on the 8th of May of that year ..." (Alexander Young, Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers (Boston Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1841), p. 274-5.

There is no evidence that Susanna White Winslow ever accompanied her husband Edward Winslow on his journeys out of Plymouth Colony.

The Winslows lived on a large estate named Careswell, in Marshfield (north of Plymouth).

We do not know the date of Susanna’s death. Her name appears in her husband Edward’s will, written in 1654. She is not mentioned in her son Josias' will. It is therefore assumed that Susanna White Winslow died between 18 December 1654 (when Edward Winslow's will was written) and 2 July 1675 (the date of Josias Winslow's will).

[source]

Resolved White

Resolved White was a young boy, perhaps five years old, when he journeyed to Plymouth on the Mayflower with his parents, William and Susanna White.   The Whites had been part of the English Separatist congregation in Leiden, Holland, but it is not known when they joined the congregation (or if Resolved was born in England or in Holland).  Resolved's younger brother, Peregrine, was born on board the Mayflower while it was anchored in Provincetown harbor. 

His father, William, died the first winter.  His mother remarried in April of 1621; Resolved's new stepfather was Edward Winslow.

The family, at first, lived in Plymouth.  Edward Winslow was granted land in Marshfield, to the north, in 1632.  For several years, the family probably spent their summers on the farm in Marshfield, returning to Plymouth in the winter.  In 1636, the Winslow/White family settled permanently in Marshfield.

In 1640, at approximately age 25, Resolved married Judith Vassall, daughter of William Vassall of Scituate.  (Scituate is directly north of Marshfield.)  The couple had eight children: William, John, Samuel, Resolved, Anna, Elizabeth, Josiah and Susanna.  The family lived first in Scituate and, later, in Marshfield.  Judith died in 1670.

William Vassall, Resolved's father-in-law, left the Colony in 1646 and, after going to England, settled on Barbados where he owned a plantation.  On at least one occasion in 1657, after William Vassall's death, deeds show that Resolved White was in Barbados.

In 1674 at Salem, Resolved married Abigail Lord.  The couple lived in Salem where Resolved was elected a freeman in 1680.  Abigail died in 1682.  Resolved died between 1690 and 1694.

We have no will or inventory for Resolved White.

[source]

More information about the family can be found on Wikipedia and at MayflowerHistory.com.

See also The Mayflower and Her Log from Project Gutenberg.

New 'Do

All Made Up

One of Luke's favorite things to do is open up a drawer and pull stuff out.  If it wasn't so messy, I'd laugh at the sight of him opening drawers that are higher than his eye-level, reaching his hand into the drawer, and grabbing whatever he felt.  Sometimes, with drawers he's explored more often (those in the kitchen, mostly), he'll feel around before pulling something out.

Today he kept getting stuff out of the top drawer in our bathroom.  Once, he managed to grab my lipstick and put it on.  Which means that Luke has worn more lipstick than I have this week.

He's so pretty!

A True Story of Tuna Salad

On Saturday I pulled some tuna salad out of the fridge to have for lunch.  I didn't have a particular craving for tuna salad, I just figured someone should eat it, so it might as well be me.  Luke was wandering around, as he does, and getting in to things, as he does, but I ignored it, as I do.

A few minutes later, the kids' lunches were prepared and I started getting ready to make my lunch, except I couldn't find the container of tuna salad.  It was then that I vaguely remembered Luke holding it, so I quickly broadened my search from the refrigerator and counters to the entire house.

 I did a quick walk-through of the upstairs before I called Ben, who'd left as we started getting lunch ready.  

"Did you see Luke walk off with the tuna salad?"

"Yeah I remember him having it."

"Did you see where he put it?"

"No.  Sorry."

So I looked.  And looked.  And looked.  No tuna salad in the kitchen.  No tuna salad in the family room.  No tuna salad in the living room.  Or the bedroom.  Or the bathroom.  Or the laundry room.  Or anywhere in the basement.

Man.  That kid is good.

At some point during the process of walking over the entire house multiple times, my desire for tuna salad had gone from practically-nonexistent to uber-intense.  I HAD to have tuna salad.  WHERE WAS IT?!?!

30 minutes or so later, I hung my head in shame as I made myself a peanut butter sandwich.  I'd been beat.  By an 18-month old.

A few hours later I found the container of tuna salad on the floor of my room... behind the bedroom door.  Shoot.  I didn't think to look there.

Well played, Luke.

Eliza's Bed

First thing this morning, Eliza came into our room and announced that she'd made her bed. "Bring your camera," she said, "because you're gonna want to take a picture of this."

Then she grabbed my phone, led me downstairs, and took these pictures.

She really did a lovely job. But I have to hope that eventually, having a made bed won't be an occasion she feels the need to document - because she'll do it every day.

Baby & Books in Box

An Armful

Yesterday the kids and I were walking around the block. Jack tried to do something fancy on the scooter and ended up falling down and scraping one side of his face. Cat rode the scooter home and I carried Jack home in this manner. It worked.

Today Jack was frustrated that everyone at school was asking him about the scrapes on his face. Hopefully they won't last too much longer.

TBT - Grandma's Job as a Switchboard Operator

This is another story sent to me by my Aunt Cathy about my Grandma (Dad's mother), who died when I was 11 (while I was at Disney World with a friend, incidentally.)

Grandma in the 1940s

From her final year of high school, through the next few years until she got married, Mom (your Grandma Nancy) had a job with the telephone company.  She worked as a switchboard operator.  This was in the early 1940s - by this time, most households had one telephone in their house, but using a telephone in those days was nothing like using a telephone today.

All phones were connected by a network of wires, and all the wires converged to a central place in a township, and that would be the town's main switchboard room of the telephone company.   In the room, there would be a row of set-ups, all alike, and each one worked by an "operator", usually a young girl.  (Being a switchboard operator was one of the few jobs available to women, and was actually a more prestigious job to have than being a store clerk or a mill worker, although the hours were long, the pay low, the work a little monotonous, and thus the turnover was pretty high).

The set-up would be something like this:  the operator would sit in a chair in front of a "switchboard" - a board that looked something like a big pegboard, with twenty slots (or holes) across and twenty down.  The operator would have a headset on, and would have a whole bunch of wires to plug in to the holes.  Her switchboard would represent one section of the town, with all of the phones from that section represented by each of the slots.

It probably took awhile to learn exactly how to operate these switchboards.  When a person in a house or office wanted to call someone else in the city, they would pick up the receiver of their phone.  They might actually dial a number, or they could simply wait with the receiver to their ear, until they heard a voice on the other end say "number please" (or "what number are you calling?").  That voice would be one of the telephone operators, whoever had in front of them the switchboard grid that corresponded to that phone.  When the phone receiver had been picked up, the operator would have seen a light come on at the slot that represented that phone.  She would plug her master wire into that light and ask the question.  The person on the phone would give her the number, or household, they were trying to reach, and she would say, "one moment please, I will try to connect you", then take another wire and plug it in to the slot representing that number.

Mom worked at that job for several years.  The phone company often gave her lousy shifts, like late shifts or split shifts (where she would have to go in for three to four hours in the morning, be off for three to four hours, then go back in the late afternoon or evening of the same day to work for four more hours).  But she really enjoyed working that job.  Probably one reason was that it WAS a job for young women, so there would be a lot of other girls her age working there, and I would imagine there would be slow times when they could just gossip and talk with each other, when the phones weren't ringing.

Women working at a switchboard, Dec. 1943

If you worked the same grid day after day and month after month, you would certainly begin to recognize the voices of your patrons, and probably notice patterns to people's phone calls.  Some of the girls would unabashedly listen in on the phone conversations, too.  It was important, though, for the girls to remain professional - to sound totally neutral when they made any conversation, and to remain anonymous to the people on the other end of the line.

Grandpa said this is Grandma wearing his letter.

Mom told a story once, though - she was working at the switchboard during all the years that Dad was working in Washington, D.C., and later going to West Point.  Naturally, both she and Dad looked forward to the times when he came home for visits.  He would call her house as soon as he got back in to town, so they could make plans to see each other.

Grandma visiting Grandpa at West Point
Christmas 1943

One night, Mom was working at the phone company, and one of the lights on her grid lit up.  She plugged in and said, "Number please".  A voice that she recognized immediately as Dad's voice asked to be connected to her home phone number.  Protocol for the job, of course, was to give the standard answer, "One moment please, I will try to connect you."  However, Mom - probably looking around to make sure there was no supervisor nearby - hesitated a second, then said, "She's not home" - then disconnected.

After they were married.
When I asked Grandpa where they were in this picture he said,
"Somewhere down south.  Let's call it Hawaii.
Good enough."

When Cathy sent me this to me, she was afraid that the concept of a switchboard would be so foreign to my kids that they wouldn't understand the story.  Fortunately, they'd been to a children's exhibit (at a museum in Greensboro, NC earlier that year when we were visiting my sister) where they'd been introduced to the idea.

Eliza was 3 at the time.  I love that she's looking at the ear piece with
what seems to be a bewildered look on her face.

96 Pieces

All by herself.

Sometimes he's the first one ready for morning prayer.

The Legendary Brian

Brian has got to be the coolest person alive, in Jack's opinion.  When Jack met Brian for the first time at the beginning of the school year, he was bursting with excitement to tell me about the new boy in his class.

"Brian has a CHEETAH!  For real!  A real cheetah!  It's his PET!"

I tried to let Jack down gently, telling him that people can't have cheetah's, but Jack would have none of it.  He was so completely convinced that I started to doubt myself and even asked my good friend, The Internet, whether you can own a cheetah in the US.  It turns out, I was right.  You can't.

Since that fateful day in August, Jack's admiration for Brian has only grown, because Brian's animal collection seems to have grown.  The next animal Brian acquired was a black mamba (the highly venomous snake from sub-Saharan Africa).  And before long, Brian also had a bat and a cat.

Today Jack told me, "Brian was bitten by a great white - a baby great white.  He has tons of sharks in his pool and when the great white shark bit him, his leg was floating in the water."

Whenever Jack comes up with a new Brian story, I always clarify.  "Is this the Brian with the cheetah?  And the black mamba?"

Usually Jack just nods and continues telling me Brian's latest tale.  Today, Jack corrected me.  "He threw the black mamba away.  Now he has a rattlesnake."

Perhaps I shouldn't doubt Brian so much.  Maybe his family owns a zoo... and an aquarium... and he has a wooden leg.

Girls' Night at the Library

When I took Eliza and Luke to the library for story time last week, I happened to notice that one of Cat's favorite authors, Jessica Day George, was coming to do a book discussion & signing later in the week.  When I asked if tickets were available, they still had plenty, so I got two for Cat and me, and two for Cat's friend and her mom.

The event was a promo for the 3rd book in one of JDG's series, Thursdays with the Crown.  Cat has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this book, and when she finally got it she read it in less than 48 hours.

We had a great time listening to JDG talk about her experiences as an author and listening to her answer questions.  Cat asked her what she likes to do for fun and she said she loves to go to the movies and eat popcorn with M&Ms mixed in.  Later, when Cat got her book signed, she asked JDG if she thought any of her books would be turned into movies and JDG said one studio has approached her but nothing has come of it.  Fingers crossed.

Nole in Training

First Snow(ball Fight) of the Year

Usually the first snow of the year is just a few flurries that don't amount to anything, so yesterday's snow was extra special in that it was not just a sign of fun to come, but accumulated enough that the kids managed to play in it for an hour or so after school (keeping in mind that they also played in it at school during recess).  A snowball fight commenced in the back yard, and after I put my camera away, the kids kept playing.  Their play included making a small mound to "slide" down in the front yard.  Eliza got in on the fun, too, and the kids really can't wait for there to be enough snow to build a snowman.

TBT - My Great-Grandpa Andy, Part 1

There are lots of great stories about my Great-Grandpa Andy.  He died a few years before I was born, but listening to my Mom and Opa talk about him, I think I would have liked him a lot.  Here are  just two stories about Andy that center around a church.  Nothing religious, just the building.  I took the following from a recording my Mom made with Opa, so the words are all Opa's.

One of the interesting things about our life was the fact that Dad was quite a wanderer in his youth and he and his father had disagreements when he was 16, so he packed up his bags and left (with a 6^th grade education).

Andy & Ludina's wedding portrait
Otto, Wyoming
1916

He and his brother, Alma, were driving an old car through this little town of Otto.  They were just kind of looking for work.  It was Sunday afternoon and my mother and her sister and two brothers had gone to Sacrament Meeting and had come out of the church.  Dad looked over and saw Mom coming out, punched his brother in the ribs, and said, “That’s the girl I’m gonna marry.” Three months later they were married.

It was interesting because she had no idea who he was.  All he knew was that she was a very attractive young lady and he was very smitten by her.  They were married 3 months later and had 6 children.  I was the 3^rd of the 6.  They were married for 61 years when my mother died.

Andy & Ludina with their 6 children in the 1940s
Opa is directly behind his mother.

They lived in this little town of Otto and Dad had done some farming and he’d worked for other people and he had not been active in church for many years.  My mother, of course, was very active and she’d found this man who was LDS but he really wasn’t active.  She got him started going to church and they went to church a few times.

The Church in Otto

The bishop at that time was a man by the name of Bishop Porter and he’d served as bishop for 25 years and so he said to Dad one day, after he’d come to church 3 or 4 times, he said, “Brother Andy, one of these days I’m gonna call on you to give the opening prayer at church.” 

Dad said, “Don’t do it, Bishop, I’m not ready.” 

The bishop said, “Yeah, yeah.  You are ready, Andy.” 

So the next week, when they came to church, they were sitting there in the congregation and the bishop got up and made his announcement and he said “We’ll sing page (so and so) and Brother Andy will offer the opening prayer.” 

My Dad stood up and said, “Like hell I will!” Turned around and walked out of the church.  My mother said she was so mortified.  She stayed in church.  She said it took her two years to get him to come back to Church.

Otto Today

En Garde

The other day Jack asked me to make him a sword.  I mustered up my most remorseful expression and told him what a bummer it was that we didn't have the materials to make a sword.  He immediately pointed out that we had cardboard tubes.  So we can make a sword!!  He went to my Creativity Stash and brought back a TP tube and a paper towel tube.

Inspiration struck, and I suddenly knew how to fashion a kid-sized non-injuring sword.  I cut a cross in the center of the TP tube on both sides, folded one end of the paper towel tube in on itself, and stuffed it into the TP tube where I cut the openings.  Voilà!  A sword fit for Sir Jack.  A few minutes later, Eliza had one too.

Cat's Unbirthday

Cat's teacher assigns each class member a Friday to celebrate his/her birthday.  Since Cat is one of the summer birthdays, her birthday celebration falls whenever the teacher decides.  She decided it would be the beginning of November.  So on Friday, Cat brought in her choice of treats - Fruit Roll-Ups and Kool Aid drink pouches - and sat in the special chair for a Q&A session with her class.  They asked her things like what her favorite food is (biscuits & gravy), her favorite dessert (cheesecake), her favorite flavor of Chapstick (watermelon) and her favorite book character (Annabeth from Percy Jackson).  Eliza and Luke came with me to join in the festivities.  Eliza enjoyed sitting at Cat's desk while she was in the front of the room.  Can you spot E?

That night, completely by coincidence, Cat and I had a Mommy-Daughter Home Date.  The movie "City of Ember" caught my eye at the library recently because Cat read the book with her class last year.  So once the littler kids were in bed, she and I made lemon frozen yogurt (Cat's choice) and watched the movie together.  (The movie was great and older-kid friendly, but I was glad Jack and Eliza didn't join us, simply because there was a huge mole in the movie that ate someone.  It gave me the heebeejeebees.)

Happy Unbirthday, Cat.  It's fun to celebrate YOU!

Cookie Face

I don't think I've ever seen anyone get so messy from a

chocolate chip cookie.  This photo really doesn't do it justice.

Thank you, Target, for providing incentive for my kids to

behave while I shop!

John's Incredible Pizza

While we were in California my brother took us to a new (to us) restaurant called John's Incredible Pizza.  It was like a Chuck E. Cheese's, but a whole lot better.  There was a yummy pizza bar, along with a big salad bar, pasta/potato bar, and dessert bar.  The restaurant had themed dining areas, too.  THEN, there was a huge arcade area with tons of games and indoor rides.  The kids were in heaven.

We ate lunch first, which was an event in and of itself with everyone needing to make multiple trips to the buffet.  When it was time for dessert, the kids were excited to get soft serve ice cream cones.  Eliza walked into the dining area with a perfect vanilla ice cream cone.  When she walked past my brother, he quickly swiped a hunk of ice cream off of the cone with his fingers.

Eliza was INDIGNANT.  How could he do that??

Everyone else laughed and laughed at what Andy did, and Eliza's resulting outrage.

But with all of the unwanted attention she was receiving, her embarrassment soon overcame her and she began to sob uncontrollably.  For at least 15 minutes.

Ben held her.  Andy brought her a brand new ice cream cone.  I held her.  A random woman felt sorry for her and brought her a treat bag from another kid's birthday party.  Nothing helped.

Luke figured if Eliza wasn't going to eat her ice cream, someone should.  He found a unique way to go about it.

 

Once we couldn't think of anything else to calm her down, we decided we would bring her to the arcade area.  It took some convincing for her to go, but she finally agreed, and soon the tears were gone.

The kids had a BLAST playing games in the arcade.  And Cat seems to have a skill for hitting the "500 Tickets" button at the right time on the blinking light game - she won the jackpot twice.  We need to keep that girl away from Vegas.  (By the way, thanks for all of these great pictures, Andy!)

Andy had a great time playing the basketball game with Jack.
Jack seemed to have trouble finding the happy medium between too soft
and too hard - he would either throw the ball short of the guard rail or throw
it so hard that it would bounce back and hit him.  But he loved it anyway.

Jackpot!  (First time.)

One of the big hits of the day was the little roller coaster.  Jack and Eliza loved this so much, they rode it about 8 times, each time just as fun as the last.  The adults had a great time just watching them on it because they were so into it.  Eliza would flop around with every turn, swinging her hair and smiling from ear to ear.  Jack's laugh was more of a cackle, he was having so much fun.  I couldn't resist making a video, but I think it really doesn't do it justice.

With as much fun as the kids were having playing games and riding rides, I was glad we had enough tickets (thanks to Cat's willingness to share her winnings) for the kids to get decent prizes.  Cat got the biggest prize, of course, a mini Pillow Pet.  Jack chose a plastic snake that you hold and it looks like it's coming at you.  Eliza chose a big plastic ruby-looking ring.  That made leaving much easier. 

John's Incredible Pizza was definitely another high point of a great trip.

We're so thankful we were able to make it to Sawyer's Blessing Weekend Extravaganza.  We loved getting to spend time with Andy, Amy, and little Sawyer.  We loved getting to see Grammy and Oma and Opa and Reed and Jen.  And we appreciate everyone's willingness to hang out with us, even though Luke had a stomach bug all weekend.  You guys are the best!