Mouses in Houses

 Eli and Liesl were in Dad's room this morning and Eli said, "Mouses like our house because we're rich."

Liesl agreed, "Yes!  And we have lots of cheese!"

Disappointment

 Piper: Tonight, while I was listening to Dad, Eli came over to me and said "Could you help me please?"  And commenced to pull me to the couch. Immediately, Eli dubbed himself "master." 

"Draw a tent. Not there, there. Write fire." 

He then asked me for ideas for his "camp list." After the following suggestions, swimming, roasting marshmallows, and eating, he insisted, 

"Tell me stuff to do, not stuff to eat."  

"Okay, swimming, tackling, and roasting marshmallows."

"Piper, I am disappointment at you. I am not mad. I am disappointment."

Funnies, Play "Louis Pasteur" and Work

 Xai came up to Piper this morning and said, out of the blue, "Did you know that you can't grow apri-cados over here?? You have to grow them where there's always sunshine."

Later..."I wish we lived in Florida."

*****

Yesterday Liesl told me, “I missed my dream so I had to go to sleep again.” I love the little phrases and words she uses! I may have already recorded how she uses the word, “Beezer” for “zipper.” She also refers to plays as “the Act”: “are we going to the Act today, mommy?” or “I need to get my special dress on for the Act!” It was adorable to see how much she and Eli picked up on the choir and acting. After the cut-off of one of our songs, we heard someone still singing in the audience, perfectly on pitch and with all their might...it was Liesl. So cute!! She and Eli know the words to many lines and most of the songs for both groups and loved being a part of it. I think it might be also in part because they get to watch movies almost all the time when I am doing my groups, but it is apparent that they also like feeling a part of it.

By the way, the play “Louis Pasteur” was last week...a musical comedy/encyclopedic wealth of information, but also very fun! I put in a lot of staging, nuances, and changed a few words to make it more humorous and enjoyable. They did amazing! I have never had such a perfect performance and all I did backstage was open and close the curtains and turn lights on and off! The kids came on and off themselves, remembered lines and got into character really well! They slowed down, enunciated. The audience was vocal and outgoing in their feedback, which fed the actors and made them have so much fun! We did visualization exercises beforehand to help them calm down. Overall, just awesome!  Hyrum was Louis Pasteur and had a ton of lines.  Piper played many minor roles: young Louis Pasteur, Greta the bread girl, the two sheep that died.  Hava was the reverend.  Maia was Pasteur's daughter.  Xai was the sheep that lived. Right as we were finishing and getting off of the stage, Xai called out loudly from within his sheep costume, “And just so you know, I'm really a person!”  What a ham. 

That Saturday, we had a stake training planned and I just didn't see how I could get to it with having the play that night. True, all the scenery etc was on the stage already but still...wasn't it just too much. Besides, I had so many home projects that felt pressing. Well, I was super glad I went. I shared some deeply felt testimony and experiences. I was uplifted so much by the sharing by others. Lily came with me and I loved having a day with her! Piper watched Penelope (I paid her) and so it was just Lily and I. She also really enjoyed it and had a little break when I went to my leadership meeting, which was also fantastic. The visiting authority was so incredible...I could have listened to his words of spirituality and counsel all day. He was bold and sensitive at the same time, definitely following the Spirit and definitely heartfelt. I was blessed.

Lily, Hyrum and Maia went with Quinn to Medina this week so we are down a few people. It is amazing how few people eight people feels like when you are used to more! I told Piper and Hava to do their own thing and I would take care of the littles. We have also super cleaned the upstairs, main level and will be working on the downstairs today. Poor Hava. Piper and I love to clean!

I finished my book case for my bedroom!  I am super dooper excited.  Wood is crazy expensive so I used scraps from our other projects and five purchased pieces of shelving to make my 8 foot by 6 foot creation.  It will be for scrapbooks and family history stuff which I haven't had out for about 5 years now.  Soooooo excited!

Yesterday Piper and Havala took Xai, Eli and Liesl on an adventure...that apparently involved a lot of spiders. They also found a toad/frog that Eli loved and loved...until it died. And then he mourned. Poor dear.

Xai finally lost two of his four loose teeth that he has right now. Now the first one loose is still to go, but it is close too. He has that adorable “two missing front teeth” scenario, which I love so much! Last night, he prayed that he would be able to improve in how he spoke since he is having a hard time speaking with his front teeth out. I assured him that his speaking was just temporary and that I was completely enjoying it :D.

Piper came up to me yesterday, excitedly talking about how she was studying the scriptures. She is writing down all the various names of Christ. “Isn't it cool how each name refers so specifically to a role that He has in our lives? Ways that He is able to bless us?” Super cool! She is enjoying her new baby goat, Austin. Right now she is also caring for Gus, Maia's goat that she got to be a companion to Austin. We are still deciding if they are going to be meat goats come next spring. We think it might be fun to get new baby goats every spirng (they are super cute), use them to eat down the forage (we have an invasive wild rose that is taking over and goats love roses!) and then eat them the next year. We'll see. The girls are adjusting to that idea—Piper more readily than Maia, no surprise.

Drew has quit Wendy's for this month before he plans on going on his mission and is now full time working our property. He has enjoyed the first two days but it was pretty hard work. We'll see if the arrangement works for all of us :D. I have raised some pretty strong, independent children and so sometimes sharing the same roof as adults can get a little...tricky. It is nice to have someone work on things that I am not choosing to get to out of different time choices, so at least I am liking it for now :D.

Rain and Holidays

 It rained yesterday. Beautiful, down-pouring awesomeness like I used to crave in Utah.  Growing up in a desert has made the sound of the storm magical.

Apparently I am not the only one in my family who finds it so.  We had just finished up a grueling five and a half hours of choir and acting rehearsal and I had called it good for the evening.  We did a quick straighten up while I put the finishing touches on dinner, we ate and then I declared the evening free.  

"Maybe we could watch a movie or something," I mentioned casually, to the delight of the kids.  

During dinner, the rain started coming down even harder, beckoning.  The older kids asked if the little ones needed a bath tonight.

"If so, can we do it outside in the rain? You know, just leave their clothes on but let the rain clean them off?" they queried.

Brilliant.

So that is what we did on our evening off...let the rain pour down.

Piper and Lily both commented yesterday about how it is like everything all of a sudden turned green.  The birds are out in choruses and everything feels alive. The sound of the distant freeway have receded even further, masked by the unfurling of all the leaves in our little woods.

I love to listen to the birds outside my window, particularly this morning when I lay there snuggling with my baby, trying to get her back to sleep in my favorite way possible...nestled up against my body. There is something equally magical about snuggling a sleeping baby so the combination of bird song, rain and sleeping baby has really set a wonderful tone for my day :D.

**********

Lily has started a new tradition of reading off all the holidays for the day.  This week we have celebrated:

-"Minimize Food Waste Day"--leftovers for dinner!

-"Blueberry Pie Day"--particularly delicious.

-"National Kids and Pets Day"--every day, right??

-"National Pretzel Day"--another yummy one with homemade pretzels

-"National Tell a Story Day"

-"National Prime Rib Day"--sadly, missed celebrating this one

-"National Devil Dog Day"--won't mention how applicable this one was

-"National Great Poetry Reading Day"--every day!

-"National Zipper Day"--or as Liesl puts it, "beezer" ("Mommy, will you do my beezer?"

It's been a riot!  Maia was sad that we didn't celebrate "National Hug a Plumber Day" last Sunday until she realized that Quinn had done a lot of plumbing work, so we felt that qualified him.  Oh, and we forgot to get out the shrimp last night for "National Shrimp Scampi" day because we got so caught up in the rain and beauty of the evening.  I am great celebrating that one a day late ;).

Brothers

My Piper shared this email with me that she had written to herself.  I thought it was precious.

Your brother is a great guy. As a girl, I hear a lot of mean talk

about boys, mainly, brothers. I used to agree, or at least pretend to,
but my brother has shown otherwise. Among many things, brothers can
help with self-confidence, having fun, and learning how to disagree
respectively. Brothers, blood or otherwise, are essential.

One, self-confidence. My family likes to invite missionaries to
dinner, and I have noticed that the boys are much more fun than the
girls. Why? Because the girls were almost always acting
self-conscience.  I have noticed that it tends to be the same with
other girls and boys. My brother has helped me deal with this by
talking to me about why he doesn't care and showing me confidence.
That way I can have more fun.

Two, having fun. Our house is really noisy because everyone is always
laughing and yelling, because of my brother. He chases us around and
eases tension with jokes. Boys can be kind of rowdy sometimes, and
that is good. He shows me when it is appropriate to be calm and when
it is time to be crazy. Though sometimes I disagree.

Three, disagreeing respectfully. My brother often tells me when I am
doing something wrong in his opinion, but he leaves it at that.
Brothers almost always have different opinions, but, maybe because
they know they can tackle you, they can be very respectful about it.
And respect is one of the essential things in life.

Boys, brothers in particular, are important when it comes to living
life; they can teach you how to be confident, have fun, and be
respectful. Unfortunately, many girls don't have brothers or treat
their brothers like trash. You need to love and show your love to your
brother if you want all this from him. He can't talk through a shield.
Treat your brother like the man he is.

Sledding and Sass

 The kids just came in from an epic sledding adventure. Apparently on one run, they all tried to go on the same run and the three little ones fell off, Liesl happily dragging behind and the boys getting their breaths knocked out a bit.

After the trauma subsided, Liesl asked Lily to carry her up the hill (which serves as our driveway most of the time). “I can't carry you because you are too heavy with all of your snow clothes on, sorry!” Lily smilingly consoled her.

Lily continued up the hill. Shortly later, Piper (who was not privy to the above conversation) came trucking by with Liesl on her back.

“See, Lily...” Liesl called out as they passed. “Piper can carry me!”

Wow. Three and distinctly sassy.