Category: Family Time

Holiday happenings

These flowers are beautiful and they are from my valentine. Timothy and I lovingly dissected one for science yesterday.

I spoke in church on Sunday about embracing family responsibilities. Now I’m bombarded with events that are challenging my will to focus on my family, but we’ll make it through this uncommonly stressful week. We’ll eat some fast food and go to bed late a few times. It’s science fair and Blue and Gold Banquet week!

I spent Sunday finishing Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. Sigh. I read 800 pages to only see the heroine wave good-bye to her love as he went off to Africa. The screenplay captures all the good and adds a marriage that the book only implies. Summary: Just watch the BBC version and skip the novel.

My kids are taking this opportunity while I sneak a computer minute to watch a DVD in French and in slow motion. The laughter is without restraint here.

I’m judging a science fair tonight. Daniel is entering a project where he made 12 modifications to a pinewood derby car to see which modifications best improve the speed. We spent a lot of time over the weekend racing cars on the pinewood derby track and teaching him how to make graphs from a spreadsheet.

One of us is sick. Most of us are happy. The boys are making a dirt mountain in the backyard. Daniel’s cousin asked in dismay, “Why did your parents let you DO that?”

I don’t have an answer for that, but it seems like a very healthy thing for boys to do, don’t you think?

No, we didn’t buy mouse ears

… but we had a swell time.

We never got a picture all together, but we enjoyed one day with everyone well enough to be there.

Daniel, our most adventurous boy, went on everything. Twice.

Paige had a good time, too, and was so helpful.

Timothy had a rough start on a terrifying ride, but overcame his fears and loved the rides as long as they didn’t plunge too suddenly into a dark abyss.

This was our first trip to Disneyland. Now, maybe it’s because I am adult, but these were some observations I just couldn’t reconcile in my mind:

A grandmother on the Dumbo ride; all by herself,

Mouse ears on grown-ups,

Reservations to eat with the Princesses are required 18 months in advance????

Darth Vader and Disney,

Leaving a stroller full of our belongings and not really worrying about theft,

LOVING the It’s a Small World Ride and WANTING to see Princess Aurora.

Being sentimental, I teared up as soon as I saw all the kids on a ride together, but in my haste to hide the tears, I brushed sunblock into my eye and then I really had something to cry about. It was a day of contradictions. I was amused at the childhood played out by adults, but succumbed to it myself in the end. And even though I didn’t see Princess Aurora, Paige bought me an Aurora pin on the second day I stayed home with Mark. The poor boy had an ear infection in each ear.

Quick post: We’re home!

We’re home! We brought home antibiotics! We stayed up late talking and watching the Cranberry ladies movies (or whatever they are called). I finished a 760 page book! We all made it to Disneyland eventually. Thanks for visiting the blog. If you dear people lived closer I could tell you all kinds of juicy details over the fence and you’d hear me lapse into 19th century English, complete with accent, as one does when one watches and reads what I have lately.

When life deals you lemons

We are sick with a cold that we have evaded for 8 months. A despicable, nefarious cold that waited to get us when we tried to venture to Disneyland.

The missionaries are out speaking and teaching. We’re here eating chips and sneezing. Here are some photos of our day.

4 lemons. I named them Paige, Daniel, Timothy, and Mark…not because my children are sour but because these lemons are beautiful.

We carry this friend around with us to ease our sore throats and coughs. Timothy played chess on my computer most of the day.

Here’s your reminder that Mormon missionaries are awesome.

Daniel collected berries in the backyard.

A treasure that I remember from the old days.

My sick little boy, smiling despite the trouble in his respiratory tract.

He stayed close to me most of the day; here he is snoozing on my shoulder again.

I keep finding things that remind me how my dad loves my mom. I won’t tell you the name of her listing on his cell phone, but it’s darling.

Dreams encapsulated

…in wood and psychedelic designs. No, Richard, I don’t need help with the camera. I want the photo to look like this.

We just need a coat of poly and the precious wheels with their polished surfaces and flawless axles. This car is poetry.

Speaking of poetry, Daniel wrote a Pinewood Derby Sonnet last spring. I share it with you now to bring you into our circle of anticipation:

Pinewood Derby Sonnet

The shining pinewood racing cars lined up,
In anxious silence racers waited there,
They were all thinking of the derby cup,
The happy talk and brownies they would share,
The wooden cars zoomed down the gleaming track,
The cars pulled close together then they tied,
The winning cars were hung up on the rack,
Results came in; with Joy the people cried,
With happy hearts the winners shook the hands
Of disappointed boys who lost the race,
With joy the people shouted in the stands,
There was a smile on everybody’s face,

In years to come our sportsmanship will keep;

In days to come, true happiness we’ll reap.

~Daniel Ross

Gentlemen, start your engines!

No sooner are the Christmas decorations are stowed away in the garage than our house takes on a whole new emphasis:

Pinewood Derby Car Construction.

At our house, Pinewood Derby car engineering is more than working on a chunk of pine. It’s male bonding to the max. It’s late nights reveling in the odors of freshly sanded wood, metallic shavings, and graphite. (If graphite has a smell.) It’s an opportunity for tool acquisition; paint color tests and endless sanding of every surface, big and small. In short, its magnitude brings me to my knees,

“Can we please call it a night? It’s time for bed!” I plead.

Through the dust and settling graphite, I watch a father and a son, focused, driven, and so deep into the particulars that time and fatigue are no longer factors.

Last night we hosted a Pinewood Derby car clinic at church. I watched the sons with their fathers (and a few moms) and I felt a new affirmation in the power of

TIME spent together,

SIMPLICITY (despite a few gadgets),

and the BOND between fathers and sons.

And Mark, age 3, asked no fewer than 17 times if we’d make a car for him. He, too felt the draw of the blade, sander and pine. We did the math. In ten years, we will have 9 Pinewood Derby cars. Just one January without a race.

A Decade of Family Pictures

For a pensive kind of gal like me, I have to be careful when I dabble in memories. Some regret inevitably comes along with the smiling memories. It’s been a good decade overall, and full of lessons. I wouldn’t change any of the essential elements of the past ten years… BUT… If I could do it all again, I would change my hairstyle for the 2000 family photo and I would spend more time with Richard.

Happy New Year, everyone. Kiss your family and hold on tightly to them. They are everything.

2000

I had surgery #2 this year and was teaching New Testament each morning in our house for seminary and preparing to get braces. Paige was 4 and Daniel was 1. Richard was working at National Instruments.

2001

I’m wearing braces. I had surgery #3 in July. Richard worked at N.I. and I was a Cub Scout Den Leader. We began homeschooling Paige.

2002

Timothy was born on December 20. I was the Relief Society President. Richard was at N.I.

2003

Richard raised Timothy while I ran around as Relief Society President and homeschooled Paige. Braces were off!

2004

Paige was baptized, I continued serving as R.S. President, Richard continued to raise the children.

2005

We moved to Sahuarita. Richard began work at Raytheon. Daniel began kindergarten (2 children to homeschool). Grandpa John passed away. I was 4 months along with Mark in this picture!

2006

Mark joined our family. We moved into our current home. Richard was in the bishopric. Paige began studying ballet with Miss Michele. Paige and Daniel began piano lessons with Mrs. Albertson.

2007

Richard worked at Raytheon and in the bishopric; Daniel was baptized. Homeschool continued forward.

2008

Paige turned 12. Timothy began school, making 3 children to homeschool. Richard was released from the bishopric.

2009

Richard on high council at church and working at Raytheon. We found homeschooling adventures aplenty. This photo was taken at Newport Beach.

Christmas snapshot

Believe it or not, we didn’t take many photos of our Christmas. We have two and one I won’t be posting. I’ve taken a break, not sure what to share about our lives around December 24-25. Here are a few of my memories:

My favorite moment: Mark, listening to the reading of the Christmas story, silently and carefully handing out Nativity characters to each of us at their mention in the story.

My biggest surprise? My own bookstore: a Kindle. It took my breath away. I may not be keeping a blog anymore; Too much to read.

Most wistful moment? Realizing Paige didn’t receive any toys this year; just clothes and teenager things.

Most beautiful carol? Oh Holy Night, sung by the King’s Singers

The gift I didn’t buy: a new piano bench for Richard

Gift that required the most effort: Caroline’s I Spy Quilt

A cherry on top: a sweet-sounding rental violin on which to fiddle

Books I’ve read over the past few days: A Christmas Carol, The Importance of Being Earnest, Little Women