I'm having a bit of a post-conference hangover: not a real hangover, but the adrenaline-is-gone, my-brain-is-full kind of muddiness. So my apologies if what follows is not entirely coherent!
This week has been a rollercoaster. I spent the first part of the week frantically responding to 10-page-student essays so my students would get their feedback in time to revise final papers (classes ended on Thursday), and the last part of the week prepping for a weekend at the fabulous LDStorymakers conference.
And then on Thursday I found out that a friend (my neighbor growing up) had passed away from cancer. She was only a year older than me; her youngest was just 3, and the whole thing is gut-wrenching. I told my class that day, as we wrapped up a semester talking about rhetoric, that one thing I had learned is that it's important to say the words that matter when we have the chance. Her passing made me reflect that while I'm grateful the gospel gives us hope for life after death, we should treasure the people we have right now.
And of course, Thursday morning, both Andrew and Evelyn puked at about 1 in the morning, which meant that I set off for my conference leaving Dan to man the sick fort alone. I felt horrible about leaving him, but he told me I should go . . . so I went. And I'm so glad I did.
For one thing, the kids weren't sick too long--by Friday they were back at school. And for another, I learned so much. I came away inspired, and motivated, and encouraged to keep writing. Among other things, I think this is a talent that I've been given that I need to develop--for whatever reason.
But probably the most encouraging things to come from the weekend were: first, I won first place in the first chapter competition for YA fantasy. I've entered this contest for 3 years now and never placed. This may seem like a small thing, but it confirmed for me that my chapter *was* good, and that I *can* write. (Sometimes I wonder). And then the agent that I met with during the conference said that he would absolutely like to see the manuscript when I've finished polishing it. I realize that's no guarantee he'd like it, but it's a positive step in the right direction!
In the meantime, Dan took the kids to the Kite-Flight for reading celebration (where the kids got new kites for reading the requisite number of minutes), and then to an Arts activity where they made crafts, tried out dances, and other fun things (this also let Dan get a break while Oliver napped and the kids were on campus).
Today, in contrast, has been pretty leisurely. Church, followed by board games (Tsuro and Ticket to Ride). It's been nice.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Spring Breaking
I love Easter morning. Our Easters tend to be pretty low-key. The Easter bunny, if he comes, doesn't tend to bring much. We colored eggs yesterday and when Oliver wakes up from his nap we'll hide some eggs for the kids to find.
But other than that, we have lots of time to be with each other and think about the glorious heart of the gospel: resurrection morning. (In fact, as I wrote my title, I was thinking not only about Spring Break, which the kids had this week, but the idea of light breaking and dawn breaking--and the idea that the resurrection is one of those glorious breakings).
This has been a lovely week for our family. Our cousins had spring break, so the kids spent most of the week playing. On Wednesday, we took the lot down to St. George where we explored the new children's museum and then played on the splash pad. Oliver was in heaven, since he could wander at will through the water. That afternoon, the Andrew and Oliver stayed at the condo with Bubby while I got my hair cut--and highlighted! A first for me. I'm still adjusting to the look, but I think I like it. (It took a lot longer than I'd expected--nearly two and a half hours). Evelyn also got her hair cut--a cute bob just in time for Easter.
Thursday the kids spent most of the day playing with their cousins either at our house or at Bubby's. Friday, we went to the natural history museum on campus and then had lunch at "The Cow" (otherwise known as the Top Spot) where the kids gorged on french fries and ice cream and generally thought life couldn't be any better. That afternoon, after the cousins left, I took the kids to the pool and Oliver only tried to drown himself once (I'd set him up on the edge of the pool so he could jump down to me--instead, he took off along the ledge of the pool and then stepped into the pool a half step before I got to him. He was fine--but he did get an unexpected submersion).
Evelyn--after suffering a week or more of truly grotesque snaggle-toothdom (her two front teeth were loose, turning brown because they were essentially dead, protruding, and dangling at different angles from each other)--finally lost both front teeth last night. With a little help from some dental floss. She's now missing six teeth from the front of her mouth, as you can see from the picture below. Luckily, she's still pretty cute.
The only other thing of note from this week is a personal one for me: we finally weaned Oliver. I realize that 22 months is a long time to nurse in the developed world (though WHO recommends nursing up through age two), but it was something that both Oliver and I really loved, and something that, as he is likely my last baby, I found truly difficult to relinquish. But he's undeniably a toddler and not a baby and it was time to move on. I have been blessed, I think, to have the opportunity (both in time and physical capacity) to nurse all of my children into their second year. The more I learn about the ways women's bodies work to nurture children, the more miraculous the whole thing seems to me.
But other than that, we have lots of time to be with each other and think about the glorious heart of the gospel: resurrection morning. (In fact, as I wrote my title, I was thinking not only about Spring Break, which the kids had this week, but the idea of light breaking and dawn breaking--and the idea that the resurrection is one of those glorious breakings).
This has been a lovely week for our family. Our cousins had spring break, so the kids spent most of the week playing. On Wednesday, we took the lot down to St. George where we explored the new children's museum and then played on the splash pad. Oliver was in heaven, since he could wander at will through the water. That afternoon, the Andrew and Oliver stayed at the condo with Bubby while I got my hair cut--and highlighted! A first for me. I'm still adjusting to the look, but I think I like it. (It took a lot longer than I'd expected--nearly two and a half hours). Evelyn also got her hair cut--a cute bob just in time for Easter.
Thursday the kids spent most of the day playing with their cousins either at our house or at Bubby's. Friday, we went to the natural history museum on campus and then had lunch at "The Cow" (otherwise known as the Top Spot) where the kids gorged on french fries and ice cream and generally thought life couldn't be any better. That afternoon, after the cousins left, I took the kids to the pool and Oliver only tried to drown himself once (I'd set him up on the edge of the pool so he could jump down to me--instead, he took off along the ledge of the pool and then stepped into the pool a half step before I got to him. He was fine--but he did get an unexpected submersion).
Evelyn--after suffering a week or more of truly grotesque snaggle-toothdom (her two front teeth were loose, turning brown because they were essentially dead, protruding, and dangling at different angles from each other)--finally lost both front teeth last night. With a little help from some dental floss. She's now missing six teeth from the front of her mouth, as you can see from the picture below. Luckily, she's still pretty cute.
The only other thing of note from this week is a personal one for me: we finally weaned Oliver. I realize that 22 months is a long time to nurse in the developed world (though WHO recommends nursing up through age two), but it was something that both Oliver and I really loved, and something that, as he is likely my last baby, I found truly difficult to relinquish. But he's undeniably a toddler and not a baby and it was time to move on. I have been blessed, I think, to have the opportunity (both in time and physical capacity) to nurse all of my children into their second year. The more I learn about the ways women's bodies work to nurture children, the more miraculous the whole thing seems to me.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
If it's not one thing, it's another
Another busy week--no pictures this time, sadly!
Tuesday was the University's Festival of Excellence. Dan was presenting and volunteering as a moderator, and I was--well, trying to get to as much as possible to write up an article for the provost's office. Overall, I think it went pretty well. I enjoyed the sessions I went to (including a fabulous percussion concert from some music students and faculty), and I'm more impressed than ever with our new president, who seems to be a thoughtful, capable individual. I made my students attend, too, and their responses amused me. One student hated it, but several had comments along the lines of, "I didn't want to go, but I'm glad I did . . ." True for a lot of things in my life, too.
Wednesday was the over-booked children's day (or felt like it). Since it was early day, Evelyn had a birthday party at 2:30. And then, on Tuesday, we found out Andrew had a birthday party at the same time. We dropped her off, took Andrew to the park for his party, and played at the park while waiting for Andrew (Oliver loved it). Evelyn had dance class at 4:30, but we'd made arrangements with a friend in the class for her mom to take Evelyn from the party to class. Around 5, we headed out again: to get sandwiches from Jimmy Johns, then to pick up one of Evelyn's soccer buddies, and then to pick up Evelyn and her friend from dance class. (Good thing we have a mini-van). We dropped off her friend, and made it to her soccer game at 5:30 only a few minutes late . . . I'm told this kind of thing only gets more chaotic as they get older--and I'm not really looking forward to that! Luckily scouts was cancelled that night . . .
We headed up north again for the weekend, for two family baptisms: Dan's niece and my niece were both baptized the same day--luckily not at the same time, so we were able to make it to both of them, sort of. After Oliver waking up repeatedly with a croupy cough on Friday (yes, again!) we decided to keep him away from the other children. So Dan went to his niece's baptism, and I went to mine. And then I came home and collapsed (one of the downsides of a toddler's dubious generosity is that they share all their diseases with you: I was feverish and achy and went to bed at 8 p.m.). Today, it's Dan's turn to be the sickly parent: he even took a nap, which tells you something (he hates naps).
It's not all onerous, though. Oliver continues to astound and delight us with his linguistic prowess (the other kids do, too, but their progress isn't as dramatic). Last week, on the way home from getting the kids at school, he informed Andrew "I throw ball Jack." (He threw a tennis ball to the neighbor's dog, Jack, on the way to the school). His first real sentence (I don't count "need dat," or "want dat" which are essentially a single idea), and it has a subject, verb, and direct *and* indirect objects. Sometimes my students don't even get all that into a sentence.
And today, he had me read Neil Gaiman's Chu's Day about a dozen times. The story is cute--about a little panda with a disastrous sneeze--but Adam Rex's illustrations are much better. But Oliver has decided he loves it (hence the repeated readings). And after reading it about five times this afternoon, Oliver went, "ah, ah, choo!" which must be about the cutest thing he's said. (Which says a lot).
Tuesday was the University's Festival of Excellence. Dan was presenting and volunteering as a moderator, and I was--well, trying to get to as much as possible to write up an article for the provost's office. Overall, I think it went pretty well. I enjoyed the sessions I went to (including a fabulous percussion concert from some music students and faculty), and I'm more impressed than ever with our new president, who seems to be a thoughtful, capable individual. I made my students attend, too, and their responses amused me. One student hated it, but several had comments along the lines of, "I didn't want to go, but I'm glad I did . . ." True for a lot of things in my life, too.
Wednesday was the over-booked children's day (or felt like it). Since it was early day, Evelyn had a birthday party at 2:30. And then, on Tuesday, we found out Andrew had a birthday party at the same time. We dropped her off, took Andrew to the park for his party, and played at the park while waiting for Andrew (Oliver loved it). Evelyn had dance class at 4:30, but we'd made arrangements with a friend in the class for her mom to take Evelyn from the party to class. Around 5, we headed out again: to get sandwiches from Jimmy Johns, then to pick up one of Evelyn's soccer buddies, and then to pick up Evelyn and her friend from dance class. (Good thing we have a mini-van). We dropped off her friend, and made it to her soccer game at 5:30 only a few minutes late . . . I'm told this kind of thing only gets more chaotic as they get older--and I'm not really looking forward to that! Luckily scouts was cancelled that night . . .
We headed up north again for the weekend, for two family baptisms: Dan's niece and my niece were both baptized the same day--luckily not at the same time, so we were able to make it to both of them, sort of. After Oliver waking up repeatedly with a croupy cough on Friday (yes, again!) we decided to keep him away from the other children. So Dan went to his niece's baptism, and I went to mine. And then I came home and collapsed (one of the downsides of a toddler's dubious generosity is that they share all their diseases with you: I was feverish and achy and went to bed at 8 p.m.). Today, it's Dan's turn to be the sickly parent: he even took a nap, which tells you something (he hates naps).
It's not all onerous, though. Oliver continues to astound and delight us with his linguistic prowess (the other kids do, too, but their progress isn't as dramatic). Last week, on the way home from getting the kids at school, he informed Andrew "I throw ball Jack." (He threw a tennis ball to the neighbor's dog, Jack, on the way to the school). His first real sentence (I don't count "need dat," or "want dat" which are essentially a single idea), and it has a subject, verb, and direct *and* indirect objects. Sometimes my students don't even get all that into a sentence.
And today, he had me read Neil Gaiman's Chu's Day about a dozen times. The story is cute--about a little panda with a disastrous sneeze--but Adam Rex's illustrations are much better. But Oliver has decided he loves it (hence the repeated readings). And after reading it about five times this afternoon, Oliver went, "ah, ah, choo!" which must be about the cutest thing he's said. (Which says a lot).
Sunday, April 06, 2014
Keep on keeping on
There are parts of this week that have felt a bit like a lesson in endurance, but luckily we got to cap it off with General Conference, so the balance of the week has been good.
As I mentioned last time, we started off the week with some sick kids. I kept Andrew home Monday, which always feels like a sacrifice, as a slightly-sick Andrew is a bored Andrew who entertains himself by tormenting the other kids. Luckily, by Tuesday (when we thought we'd have to keep him home again as Evelyn was starting to show a rash some 48 hours after her fever and we worried he'd do the same), I was smart enough to do a little more research and found that most medical experts believe the rash was an immune response to hand-foot-mouth and by that point the individual is no longer contagious. Phew. So he went to school on Tuesday.
Here's Oliver from earlier in the week. The rashes are finally starting to go away.
Wednesday was the district science fair. Like last time, it went from Andrew being super excited (the winners get money!) to being quite upset, though at least he didn't cry this year. Although he's a smart kid with a decent project, there were a lot of other great projects at the district fair and he just didn't stand out to the judges. It's subjective (more or less--there are a few standout projects, like the 3rd grader who mummified Cornish game hens because she wanted to learn how mummification worked).
But Andrew struggles with things like this, because in his mind, if you work at something, you *should* win. Sometimes it works, like with the Spelling Bee. But most of the time, it doesn't, and if you don't find intrinsic satisfaction in the work you do, you'll struggle to find happiness in life because so many things are subjective. (Hmm. Maybe I need to take this more to heart myself!) Anyway, he spent the thirty minutes or so after we got out of the Fair raging about how unfair it was and how he should have won . . . I guess we still need to work a little on good sportsmanship, though I was telling Poppy tonight how far Andrew has come in playing Pollyanna. He doesn't even cry now when his guy gets sent home. It's hard to be eight and want so much.
It's hard to be any age and want something that badly. (I'm trying to be more mindful of Elder Zwick's advice to try to first see the other person's perspective).
Oliver discovered Evelyn's dress-up shoes this week and has been delightedly clattering around the house (and risking his neck--he's not quite adept at the high heel thing).
I'm beginning to have a love/hate relationship with conference. I love the inspiring messages and the time with family. I don't like that I struggle so much with my expectations: I always picture this beautiful, inspiring occasion surrounded by quiet children who actually let me listen, and the reality doesn't exactly look like that and then I get frustrated. It seems, in particular, that the more I need to hear a particular message, the more the kids act out, and the more frustrated I get. (I don't think that's coincidental--but it is something I need to work at). Anyway, yesterday was not good. Today was better--mostly because I did better at letting go of those expectations.
Also, the crepes Dan made for breakfast might have helped. Oliver was particularly fond of the whipped cream.
And Andrew seems to make it his personal mission to eat as many as he can (he can out-eat me). He likes strawberries and whipped cream.
And Evelyn--my beautiful, sensitive little girl--is entering on that awkward phase of childhood where all her teeth come out at once and she looks a bit like a jack-o-lantern for a while. She's currently missing five teeth; only two have started to come in. And both front teeth are loose and she pushes them out with her bottom lip so now they permanently jut forward, giving her a distinct buck-toothed look.
As I mentioned last time, we started off the week with some sick kids. I kept Andrew home Monday, which always feels like a sacrifice, as a slightly-sick Andrew is a bored Andrew who entertains himself by tormenting the other kids. Luckily, by Tuesday (when we thought we'd have to keep him home again as Evelyn was starting to show a rash some 48 hours after her fever and we worried he'd do the same), I was smart enough to do a little more research and found that most medical experts believe the rash was an immune response to hand-foot-mouth and by that point the individual is no longer contagious. Phew. So he went to school on Tuesday.
Here's Oliver from earlier in the week. The rashes are finally starting to go away.
Wednesday was the district science fair. Like last time, it went from Andrew being super excited (the winners get money!) to being quite upset, though at least he didn't cry this year. Although he's a smart kid with a decent project, there were a lot of other great projects at the district fair and he just didn't stand out to the judges. It's subjective (more or less--there are a few standout projects, like the 3rd grader who mummified Cornish game hens because she wanted to learn how mummification worked).
But Andrew struggles with things like this, because in his mind, if you work at something, you *should* win. Sometimes it works, like with the Spelling Bee. But most of the time, it doesn't, and if you don't find intrinsic satisfaction in the work you do, you'll struggle to find happiness in life because so many things are subjective. (Hmm. Maybe I need to take this more to heart myself!) Anyway, he spent the thirty minutes or so after we got out of the Fair raging about how unfair it was and how he should have won . . . I guess we still need to work a little on good sportsmanship, though I was telling Poppy tonight how far Andrew has come in playing Pollyanna. He doesn't even cry now when his guy gets sent home. It's hard to be eight and want so much.
It's hard to be any age and want something that badly. (I'm trying to be more mindful of Elder Zwick's advice to try to first see the other person's perspective).
Oliver discovered Evelyn's dress-up shoes this week and has been delightedly clattering around the house (and risking his neck--he's not quite adept at the high heel thing).
I'm beginning to have a love/hate relationship with conference. I love the inspiring messages and the time with family. I don't like that I struggle so much with my expectations: I always picture this beautiful, inspiring occasion surrounded by quiet children who actually let me listen, and the reality doesn't exactly look like that and then I get frustrated. It seems, in particular, that the more I need to hear a particular message, the more the kids act out, and the more frustrated I get. (I don't think that's coincidental--but it is something I need to work at). Anyway, yesterday was not good. Today was better--mostly because I did better at letting go of those expectations.
Also, the crepes Dan made for breakfast might have helped. Oliver was particularly fond of the whipped cream.
And Andrew seems to make it his personal mission to eat as many as he can (he can out-eat me). He likes strawberries and whipped cream.
And Evelyn--my beautiful, sensitive little girl--is entering on that awkward phase of childhood where all her teeth come out at once and she looks a bit like a jack-o-lantern for a while. She's currently missing five teeth; only two have started to come in. And both front teeth are loose and she pushes them out with her bottom lip so now they permanently jut forward, giving her a distinct buck-toothed look.
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