TBT - Little Willie's Adventure

I love this sweet story Ben's mother shared with me, and the wonderful picture that goes along with it.  Cleo gets the credit as author of the story from Bill's childhood (formerly Willie).

Willie and Bobby

              Being about 5 years old and very bored one day, little Willie struck out on an adventure.  He lived in a farmhouse about a half-mile down the road from his cousin Bobby, also 5 years old.  Well, he had walked to his cousin’s house many times with his mother and knew the way. Why not? Off he went to Bobby’s house to play.

            While having a good time with Bobby, Willie heard his mother’s voice,  “William, I have been worried sick because I did not know where you were!  You should not leave the yard without my permission!”  Uh Oh.  His mother had been hunting him all over their yard and the barnyard and had finally come down the road to Bobby’s house where she found him.  Was he ever in trouble!  He would probably get a spanking when they got home!

            Willie stood around very nervously waiting while his mother and Aunt Beba discussed the matter.  He relaxed a little as their conversation continued to other subjects and eventually became quite drawn out, both women apparently forgetting about the misdeed. 

Another idea popped into his head.  Why not just slip away and run home on his own and hide somewhere until his mother forgot altogether about being so worried and things got back to normal?  That is just what little Willie did. 

When he reached his own house there was the problem of where to hide.  In bed seemed a likely place, and in he went, pulling the covers up over his head.  He stayed there so very still for quite some time until he heard footsteps and his mother pulled back the covers.  Oh, boy, was he ever in for it!  And oh, boy, was he right about that!

Eliza at 5

I have been meaning to write this post for a couple of months now.  Better late than never, right?  The thing is, I now have so many stories I want to include that it would make the post much too long.  I'll have to do some follow-up posts in the near future.  Hopefully before the stories escape my mind.

Eliza is such a joy to be around.  She is so smart and retains information very well.  I love hearing her use new words or explain a concept she learned in school or at church.

Eliza wants to be big and independent, and she has strong opinions about the way things should get done.  In that way, she reminds me a lot of her older sister.  And her mother.

Another thing that Eliza and Cat have in common is that they can both be very motherly.  I recently offered to take a friend's toddler to the library because she had work she needed to do.  I thought I had my stroller in the car, but when I got to the library I realized that I did NOT have the stroller in the car.  So I asked Eliza to hold hands with David while I carried Luke.  She jumped at the chance to help, and took care of David the best she could while we had our outing.  David and Luke both tried hard to give us the slip, but with Eliza's help, all 4 of us made it back to the car after story time and checking out a few books.

Walking in to the library from the parking garage.

Today Eliza's teacher was telling me how helpful and kind Eliza is at school.  There is a boy in her class who is very quiet and doesn't interact with the class very much and Eliza makes an extra effort to talk to him and be friendly, and swing next to him (since he chooses not to go on the playground with the other kids.)  And when Eliza noticed that two special needs kids in her class, who are always grouped together so that their helper can help both of them, had been assigned to different groups because of a student teacher's mistake, she quietly went to the board and switched their names so that they would be together.

Cat's freckles started appearing when she was a toddler - probably around the time she turned 2.  I remember being so excited when I first noticed them that I squealed with delight, inadvertently scaring her and making her cry.  Eliza has had a few scattered freckles but several more have appeared over the last few months.  In March I pointed out to her that she had more freckles and she was so excited - since we dote on Cat's freckles - that she hurried to the bathroom to get a good look.

Freckles!

Can you see them?

One way that Eliza differs from Cat, though, is that she's more girly than Cat was at this age.  She really loves pink.  And purple.  But mostly pink.  Today I asked her what color she would be if she could choose any color and she said PINK because she thinks she has pink inside her.  She wears a skirt or dress at least 6 days a week.  She loves all things sparkly and pretty and recently started wearing a purse all the time (one that Ben brought back to her as a souvenir from a work trip).

Putting on the FROZEN press-on nails Grammy sent for her birthday.

Showing off the pink baton she bought herself at Dollar Tree.

Eliza is so friendly and really loves being around people.  She is able to make friends of adults just as easily as children.  One of our neighbors has taken a particular liking to Eliza and invites her to run errands with her or spend time with her on occasion.  When I had some extra work to do around the house a few weeks ago, I asked Pat if she would take care of Eliza for a couple of hours and she eagerly agreed.  They made sugar cookies together and we got to take them home to enjoy.

Eliza is extremely confident in herself and her abilities.  This week I've been talking to her about what she wants to be when she grows up.  Her first response?  A queen.  Second response: an artist.  I asked her what kind of artist she would like to be: drawing, painting, sculpting, wood-carving, music, actor, etc., and before I could even get very many examples out, she interjected "All of those!" When I brought up singing, she said "I'm a good singer.  I'm famous." When I requested clarification, she sang, "Oh, little Liza, little Liza Jane." Well, of course.  And, yes, she is a very good little singer.

Along these same lines, Eliza was in the spotlight in front of a big Sunday School class recently (full story coming in another post) and she didn't giggle, hide behind her Dad, or cower in any way.  She stood tall, looking the adults in the eye, and smiling.

Eliza expresses herself very well, partly, I'm sure, due to her confidence.  She has no trouble getting her point across (whether the person on the receiving end wants to hear it or not).

There are probably several more things I should include in this post, but this is a good place to conclude.  I sure love my little Eliza.  She brings me and everyone around her so much joy.  I enjoy spending time with Eliza, and feel so blessed to call her mine.

Spring Break, aka, Cousin Week

Our Spring Break was low-key but fun.  The first day, we went to an indoor pool in Lehi, meeting up with my cousin and her kids for a couple of hours of water play.  Luke wasn't into it, but The Bigs had a blast, and loved getting to play with their second cousins.

On the second day of Spring Break, Ben's brother and his family arrived from Texas.  They are moving here and staying with us while looking for a place to live.  This means we now have 10 kids under 10 in the house - the ages are 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 3, 2, 1, and 3 months.  These first cousins had a blast getting to play for the rest of the week!  

Cousin Sleepover in the play room - a funner way to sleep when there's no school the next day.

Checking out books and putting on a puppet show at the library.  Always popular.

The Bigs and The Other Bigs completed an In & Out Burger reading challenge, earning them free burgers.  So we had a fun lunch one afternoon, enjoying the fruits of their labors.

These guys had a great time playing games, watching shows, drawing with sidewalk chalk, going to the playground, and even turning our empty Harry Potter closet into The Cousins' Country Club.  (Members Only.)  They managed to keep themselves pretty busy!

And Eliza simply couldn't - and still can't - get enough of this little guy.  He seems to kinda like her too.

One afternoon while cousins were out and Luke was sleeping, The Bigs and I painted bird houses.  When Jack was done, he did some more sidewalk chalk.

A great week!

Easter

We had a really good Easter Sunday at home.  Because it also fell during General Conference, we doubled up on the morning treats.  First, we made Resurrection Rolls.  I think Luke particularly enjoyed being part of the process.

Next was our Conference Crepes.  As you can tell from the picture, Jack especially looks forward to these every six months.  (It mostly has to do with the Nutella.)

In an effort to help the kids appreciate the significance of Easter, we devoted our evening scripture study during Holy Week to talking about the last week of Christ's life.  On Palm Sunday, we talked about the Triumphal Entry, and continued every night until the resurrection, which we talked about on Easter morning.  Then that night we concluded with a discussion of what Christ and His atonement mean in our lives.  We used the pictures from the Gospel Art Picture Kit and posted them on the wall near our front door.  This is what it looked like when we were finished:

We watched the second day of General Conference, and Jack drew this picture.  President Monson is speaking, and he just told us that there are 144 temples in operation.  A hundred and forty-four temples!

That night we drove to my cousin's house for a family Easter Dinner, which was great.  It really was a very good day.

I'm so thankful for our Savior, for the Atonement, and for the Resurrection.  I'm thankful for the opportunity He gave us to live with our Heavenly Father again, and for the Gospel, which teaches us how.

TBT - Our Family Legends?

Our kids love hearing stories about when they were younger and the crazy things that happened.  Some of their favorites right now are:

Jack coloring on Eliza's head.

Jack getting a cut on his head while we were at the Grand Canyon.

Jack throwing a toy at Eliza when she was a baby and giving her a cut at the edge of her eyebrow.  The next time I took her to the pediatrician for a well check, he asked about it and I told him what happened.  He said, "I wouldn't leave those two in a room together unattended." Eliza still has a scar.

Now.  Is it just me, or is there a pattern here...?

Retsae

This year we made a more concerted effort to separate the true meaning of Easter from all of the secular aspects of the holiday.  We designated the day before Easter as our secular day, which made for a pretty full day because of General Conference, but it was nice to have some exciting things to do after conference was over.  At dinner we talked to the kids about coming up with a separate name for the pre-Easter festivities.  My suggestion was Easter Eve.  Ben wanted ... something else that I can't remember right now.  And Cat suggested Retsae (Easter spelled backwards).  We took a vote and Cat's suggestion won.  So we have an official new tradition!

The kids woke up to filled Easter baskets in the morning, with some candies, a book for each kid, and nail polish for the girls.

Then in the afternoon we had an Easter Egg Hunt.  It was small - just in our little front/side yard - but it was really fun.  Ben did a great job of hiding the eggs and the kids loved it.  Cat helped Luke focus on picking up eggs, and all of the kids enjoyed finding eggs in surprising places.  The highest egg took a lot of teamwork and trial and error to attain.  You'll see.

(Alas, Cat doesn't have the Spidey skills we hoped for.)

The last activity was dyeing Easter eggs.  We only dyed 12, and the kids definitely could have done more.  They each dyed three and they all really enjoyed it.  Luke didn't want to stop.

Happy Retsae!