Year End Review

The bishop recommended looking back on the year so I did and am amazed at all we've been blessed to see, do and learn this year.   These are all things that someone did for the first time this year.

M and I did personal progress in 10 months this year.
P got bikes for the whole family and we took a family bike ride.
P and G trained and rode bikes to Gtown
B learned to read.
I got lasik.
P started to wear reading glasses.
I wrote 2 hymn tunes and submitted them for the new hymn book.
We went tubing at Rock Spring.
We launched rockets at the park.
G found $100 and gave it away to someone who responded to the online lost and found ad.
I was in the stake production of Savior of the World.
We put up Christmas lights.
I facilitated an online Personal Finance class for my family.
G got the N7 upgrade for his Cochlear Implant.
P and M are playing in the community band.
We got 2 tandem kayaks.
P got a side job with reddit.
We bought a brand new dishwasher.
We went to Marineland.
M, lP and I went to disney with the choir.
I served on staff for Woodbadge and learned that leaders train their replacements.
We went to a trampoline park.
I lost 30 lbs and have kept it off for 6 months.
M went to girls camp, life guard camp, gymnastics camp and Matanzas camp.  (yikes!)
lP went to science camp in Gtown.
G went to Palmyra with the stake, scout camp and Cyper security camp (in AL).
I went to the temple monthly (until Savior of the World practices got really busy).
We saw President Nelson speak at a regional conference in Orlando.
We did a 4th of July parade in our neighborhood.
We did the Terrain Race (G, M, lP) and I did the monkey bars!
G started high school full time.
M is in the jazz band and teaching piano lessons.
We went to the Kennedy Space Center.
P built a rock climbing wall.
G went to DC with his school.
Ladies camp out.

All of these good things were made possible because P is awesome.  We are so blessed.  Not having a newborn makes a lot of things easier, we are finding.  Also, not having major things like moving or taking care of my Dad's finances, means we have time to do a lot of fun adventures.

I'm in a show!

 Our Stake is doing Savior of the World.  We've been working on it since September and are finally presenting it this weekend.  It has been really fun, though a lot of time.   I'm grateful for the sacrifice of time my family has made so I could be in this show.

Our ward has so14 people in the cast and crew including 4 leads, assistant director and sound.  But don't forget village woman #5.  That's me!  I've really enjoyed doing this show. 

Tonight right before the last song I looked at the audience and saw someone rub their eye and it unleashed my own tears.  All good. 

New to me

Yesterday I thought I was going to be teaching Sunday School for the deaf ASL class.  I prepared a lesson but it wasn't like stellar.  We had a lot of concerts and parties last week...  But I was prepared.  Then there were 7 visitors from UT!  So I was nervous, but willing.  Thankfully MS had also prepared to teach so I let him ; )  Having prepared to teach the lesson myself I had a lot more fun in the class and got more out of it. 

One idea that was new to me was this, Christ volunteered to provide an infinite sacrifice, to cover the sin of humanity with free agency to really sin.  Satan volunteered to get the glory/credit for being the savior of a people who would all return, because there would be not sin, because there would be no free agency, and he would pay no price.  Rent seeking behavior Satan.  

"God does not begin by asking us about our ability but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability He will increase our capability."
-Neal A. Maxwell

Describing events in the premortal life, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught:
“Christ volunteered to honor the moral agency of all humankind even as He atoned for their sins. In the process, He would return to the Father all glory for such redemptive love.
“This infinite Atonement of Christ was possible because (1) He was the only sinless man ever to live on this earth and therefore was not subject to the spiritual death resulting from sin, (2) He was the Only Begotten of the Father and therefore possessed the attributes of godhood that gave Him power over physical death, and (3) He was apparently the only one sufficiently humble and willing in the premortal council to be foreordained to that service”

Christ did not start out with the capacity to be the Savior of the World.  But he did have the willingness to allow us the opportunity for growth at great personal cost.

You know those manipulative stories about a child who is willing to give blood to save a sibling with cancer, but then it turns out they were willing to give their life for the sibling?  I hate those stories.   But I love the Savior who was/is willing for us to have freedom to choose.  Without the choice to obey, we could not progress and become like him, who is like Heavenly Father.

Parties and Performances

This is one heck of a week.
Monday, walking downtown with a visiting friend.
Tuesday, choir practice at the same time as ward Christmas party.
Wednesday, activities for all 5 children.
Thursday, homeschool party, choir practice/party, band concert.
Friday... breath, get some work done.
Saturday, parade, Play practice, concert.
Sunday, church, concert, choir practice.

This represents about 28 hours of attending these activities plus 6-10 hours of baking for them.  Next week I have a lot of rehearsals and 3 performances for Savior of the World.  The following week will be so not busy!

VHS TV

When the church upgraded to flat screen TVs the old VHS combo units stayed in a closet for a few years.  Then the bishop asked me to find out if anyone wanted them as he planned to throw them out.  We took one home and it has lived in the boys room for a few years now.  The children have a collection of VHS tapes and it's a nice thing.  We don't have any VHS I wouldn't want them to watch.  Riverdance, Fantasia, Lion King, Sword in the Stone, Sound of Music and Old Yeller are always good.  We also have some ASL tapes that are fun for them to watch and we don't have access to the content on any other platform.  Old school, way cool.

Ladies camp-out

Grateful

We had a nice Thanksgiving in Gtown.  I'm grateful for our family and extended family.  I didn't eat any pie!  Yay!  L acted like he might throw up when it was time to go home but he didn't.  Yay!  The kids really enjoyed eating some mallow cream pumpkins we had saved from Thanksgiving.  Delayed Gratification Yay!

traditions

We buy a box of a dozen doughnuts when the children loose a tooth.  We generally get Krispy Kreme and share with P's family.  It's been a fun way to celebrate these milestones.

We also like to do lantern walks.  It's very magical walking in the dark forest with a candle in a jar x 10-50 small children singing and hearing the story of St. Martin.

We also like to go to the zoo in Jville which is free for children 12 and under in November.

In September there are a lot of free events here in SA.  This year we were so busy with play practice and bike training for the big ride.  We didn't even do the trolley!

I'm looking forward to taking the kayaks down to the creek and doing some exploring.  Yay for making memories and new traditions.

Our ward had a fall festival tonight and it was fantastic.  Instead of focusing on costumes and candy like a trunk or treat, it was just social, games, and a great dinner.  We met from 4-6 on a Saturday and did games for the first hour.  Kids outside with tons of activities and snowcones (yes, it is Florida).
The older crowd stayed inside and played bingo.  We all gathered to eat chili and it was all set out so nice.  Bowls of sour cream and cheese were placed in front of each crock pot.  So many neat details like this made it a great event. 

Christmas is coming this next month and I'm looking for more traditions for the kids to be involved in magical service.  For years the children have taken turns stuffing stockings and filling St. Nicholas shoes.  But there are 5 of them and they fight over who will do what.  Yikes.  So I'm trying to find new traditions to get the older children involved in so the younger ones can do the simple treat giving activities.

Kindle Cuddle

My friend gave us this Cordaroys bean bag.  It's got two full size beds inside!  The kids love it so much.  Grandma C gave us a kindle 8(?) years ago.  We're slow adapters and didn't even use it for months.  Once we got in the habbit of getting library books, it became such a resource for P.  Then G he got one for the kids to share.  M bought her own a few years ago and lP got one for her 7(?) birthday.  B will need one soon.  I eventually bought one, not so much as a constant companion, but so there would be a back up.  I prefer paper books.  But it is nice to occasionally have immediate access to a book on the kindle that I would have to go to the library to get.

Catching up

We had some amazing adventures that P's phone had pictures of.

P's parents came home from their mission.

 The climbing wall is almost done.

 P does an amazing job of including the children in construction projects, not because he needs their small bodies to fit into small places (as my father did...) but because he loves them and wants to include them.

 Oh yeah!

Another awesome FHE activity by P.  He hid duplos in 5 colors, 1 for each year of a child's age for the children to find.  I love how deliberate he is.  The rest of us don't plan like this.  I'm so grateful for his example.

fantastic day

Today  we made it to choir at 8 with a movie for the littles and refreshments for the choir.  The Primary Program was awesome.  The youngest 3 groups of children said their parts in unison.  That really cut out a lot of time and effort compared to having those 15 children say individual parts whispered to them.  I went to the ASL women's class and it was so fantastic to have an intimate discussion with 5 ladies in ASL.  I am so happy to have that RS/YW option. 

We were home by 11:30!  The whole day stretched before us.  We had an informal lunch of whatever the kids wanted to eat.  I started bread for dub dubs, salad and chicken pot pies for dinner.  Around 3 it was so gorgeous outside that we went on a walk.  It was cool and lovely to walk with the children.  After so many years of having an infant, I am amazed at how fun it can be to have all 5 of them chatting and running around in a group.

M made rice crispy treats dyed green with white "chocolate" drizzled on top.  The children each had a piece, then practiced their piano to get another.  I love how they are each learning to practice independently.  It's really lovely having the house full of music.

On the walk the children collected sticks and asked if we could do a fire on the back porch.  That turned out to be a great excuse to have an outdoor picnic.  It was getting cold as the sun had set but what a lovely time we had.  We made a fire in the BBQ grill which burned as we ate dinner.  After we had cleaned up from dinner the coals were ready for marshmallows.  After that fun was done, the children gathered leaves, sticks and pine needles from the porch to add to the fire.  It was so lovely and cold. 

Festivity

 M's tumbling group did a performance at a school fall festival.  The kids had perhaps never seen such a crowd of children running wild.  We stuck together through performance and then I let the kids play on the park just as it was getting dark.  Thankfully nobody was hurt or lost.  M did text me when she and lP got lost on their adventure to get cotton candy.  To a child that attends the school, it would have been a wonderful setting of familiar teachers and students.  For our kids it was overwhelming, but they did have a great time.

B and lP dressed up for our neighborhood party.  We have a really lovely neighborhood.  I'm very grateful for this childhood they are able to have.  The houses are far apart but recently the neighborhood gives residents signs to post by their driveway if they are handing out candy.  The kids walk far but the neighbors give out handfuls of candy. 

Monkey Bars

I've been working toward doing a pull-up for a few months now.  I still can't do a real one but I can do 3 sets of 8 assisted ones.  Today I took the 3 big kids to the Terrain Race and I was able to do two obstacles that involved holding onto bars.  One was an inclined bar, about 6 feet long then rings and balls on ropes.  I was able to shuffle my hands along the bar but dropped at the rings.  Later I was able to do the monkey bars and I was shocked at each one that I hadn't fallen yet.  I'm so grateful for this because I never imagined I'd be able to do the monkey bars.  They were big, like a 2 inch metal pipe, at 30 inch spacing, and probably 8 bars.  Wow!

It was a lot of fun to take the kids on this adventure.  P was very encouraging in our preparations and took the little boys with him to a concert so we could go do this activity.

rain or shine

Today we planned to get our flu shots today but the clinic only offers walk-in on Tuesday and Thursday.  So we decided to go and play at the park, but it was raining.  No problem, it was a light rain and it was nice to just be outside for an hour and a half, not letting the rain stop us.  Later at home it was raining hard and the kids were enjoying going outside with umbrellas and feeling invincible.  I'm glad they get to have these experiences.

Saturday fun

For lP's birthday this year we got a groupon to a trampoline park.  I'm glad she chose to spend the time with her family.  It was fun.  We went to Gtown and visited the butterfly museum, Panda Express and the trampoline park.  Grandma L came along for all the crazy fun.

 Grandma always brings a bag of pennies and she is so sweet handing them out to our children and all other children that come by and show interest.  I'm grateful for her example.

 lP was serious about trying to hold still and attract a butterfly. 

 There were several butterflies on the path.  B and L were very sweet and protective of them.

This was probably our best visit to the butterfly garden yet.  It was not too hot, not too crowded and the butterflies were very accessible.  M and lP enjoyed this Atlas moth.  It doesn't look like it is 4 inches but it is huge!

 It was such a nice time.  I'm really glad we got the pass for the museum so we can go with Grandma L often.

 L climbed into the grabber game, of course.

 P was carrying my purse because I was bouncing with the kids!

 We attended the ward in Gainesville because Grandpa S and Grandma C were giving their homecoming address in church.  The children walked home afterward.  It's pretty nice living within walking distance of church.  Also, they had been unpleasant on the way to church so it was nice to let them get a walk going home.

Arm Wrestling Dad

Daddy is so strong.  He wrestled the lot of them.  I'm so glad that he's our Dad.

leading music on a Super Saturday

I got to lead the music for a stake leadership meeting on Saturday.  The organist emailed and asked what tempo I would like the hymns to be.  I replied with tempos at least 25% faster than the typical range.  He took me at my word and played them fast.  It was really fun.

Saturday was amazing.  M and I attended an exercise class at Marineland.  It was a HIIT in front of the dolphin tanks.  So amazing.  M was in a different group than me.  There were other young girls who ran off or stood around when it started to rain.  M kept going through the 5 rounds of 7 exercises.  I was glad she put in the work. A member of the group came up to me at the end and asked if she was my daughter and said she had worked hard the whole time.

Afterward we went out to clean the beach for International Peace Day and were given free passes for the whole family, who joined us at the clean up. 

We came home and had lunch.  The children were eager to have their computer time that they had earned all week long.  This was our first week of not having computer turns during the week.  Instead the children earned time for the school work, or bike miles, and piano practice they did.  Everyone earned at least an hour.  While I was gone at Stake Conference they each played many more hours than they earned I'm sure.  But overall it was a significant decrease from their usual "living for computer time" lifestyle.  It had gotten to the point that I felt like we couldn't go to the park or library during their computer hours.  Lame.  So we change and adapt. 

pathological

M has been going through and playing old songs from 2 books ago.  This is actually an assignment from her piano teacher.  Tonight she was playing the song that lP is doing for suzuki WRONG!  I can not tell you how crazy making it was for me to hear something that is to be done as ear training, played wrong.  That's like peeing in the cheerios. For reals.  Ack!

Food storage

I have had food storage with a mix of duty and prepper fever.  Earlier this year a friend was moving and wanted me to take all the food storage they never used and didn't want to move with again.  She had tons of dry milk, noodles and freeze dried vegetables along with the usual wheat.  I gratefully added hers into my own and began using the dry milk freely in my breads and pancakes. 

Today I had the kids sort, inventory, clean and re-pack the food storage.  They didn't want to at first but then they had a blast.  Now they are vacuuming the garage so they can skate around on the strips of card board I made to label the piles.

I notice that I am much more inclined to use these food storage items from my friend.  They were free to me, and to not use them would be ungrateful.  When I buy things for storage I feel very reluctant to use them because I bought them to STORE.  It's an interesting switch for me to recognize my thinking motivates and changes my behavior.

The trees I have loved

I read Lab Girl a few years ago and loved how the author described her relationships with trees.  I loved the trees in my neighborhood and knew the ones in my yard so well.  In the back yard there was a horse chestnut tree whose spiky seed tennis balls were a curiosity and a nuisance.  Along with the horse chestnut there were tons of gigantic tall oak trees on a 3/4 acre lot.  The front yard had lilac bushes at 4 corners so the smell in the spring was like walking into a room.  The weeping willow at the south east corner made the effect of walking into a room even more pronounced year round.  In the north east corner there was a chinese lantern tree whose funny seed pods provided amusement for months.  The azalea hedge along the front of the yard was a barrier.  On the north side of the yard there were black berries growing on the flagstone retaining wall.  Wild strawberries grew in the yard with buttercups in abundance.  At the edge of the driveway there was a tulip poplar that I loved to pick the leaves of and hold up to my face.  Next to the house there was a holly tree that had good branches for climbing but very pokey leaves.  In front of the porch there were rose of sharon bushes that we would create little dolls out of by putting a bud onto an upside down blossom.  There was a dog wood tree in the side yard we would climb to get onto the fence and leap to the tire swing suspended from a 20+foot branch of an oak tree. 

I had a very happy time outdoors.  I'm grateful for my childhood in Virginia.

E-va-cu-cation

  We drove to G-town on Monday to spend the day with Grandma L.  There was gas available the whole way and no traffic.  We had been ordered to evacuate so we were worried that the opposite would be true.  We picked up Grandma and went to see butterflies before the exhibit got closed for the hurricane.

 Me and my big kids hardly fit in a selfie anymore.  But we still fit on a little bench in the butterfly exhibit.

B has been wanting an umbrella for a long time.  This was our third trip to the museum with that on his wish list.  I checked at walmart and found that kid umbrellas were about $10 either way.  They had a cool space one but the handle was a large rocket, not easy to handle.  B chose this one with sharks and fish instead.  It has been treasured and loved and coveted by L.  B sleeps with it, dances with it, and carries stuffed animals around in it.

 

 B is a super reader and I love how often he and L are tucked away somewhere reading together.

During our 3 days visit in G-town we went to the museum, pool with water slide, 3 playgrounds, 2 libraries, and Panda Express.  It was a great time and we had a lot of fun with Grandma and aunt L and aunt E.  I'm so grateful we had such a wonderful place to go to wait out the hurricane.