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.
