Movie Marathon

This afternoon while I had the washing machine going, the dishwasher going, and the food dehydrator going, I thought to myself, "Thank you, Twenty-First Century," because I'm really not sure how I would have managed to be a housewife a hundred years ago.

Andrew and I had a bit of a movie marathon this past week. We watched Saving Mr. Banks first, which was amazingly insightful considering I'm reading Mary Poppins out loud with the girls and we were all very confused by the character of Mary Poppins is in the book versus how she is in the 1964 Disney film. She's very hard-nosed in the book, perhaps even a little cold, and my girls both took a disliking to her from the very beginning (though I think they've warmed up to her now that we have a few good adventures under our belt).

Though she's still a bit of a killjoy in the movie, she's a much warmer and loving character than she is in the book.

Saving Mr. Banks explained this beautifully (and made me cry like a baby). Much of P. L. Travers' life story is fictionalized (though the basic facts of her childhood, exact conversations and other details were obviously made up) the record of her behavior in the studio is very well documented (since she insisted on having all conversations recorded). The actress who played her, Emma Thompson, did an incredible job. Because of how particular P.L. Travers was, Thompson had a lot of information available for her character study and she certainly used that to her advantage.

We didn't even recognize her...from Harry Potter! She's Professor Trelawny, for crying out loud!

I actually always appreciate it when I'm not able to recognize an actor. This movie was filled with actors that I knew and every time a new person popped up on screen I was like, "BJ Novak. Whoa. Bradley Whitford. Whoa. Paul Giamatti. Whoa. Tom Hanks?! Whoa!"

Where's my pants?

Andrew got a new calling today, which was kind of a shock in sacrament meeting because I completely forgot about learning about it on Thursday. Miriam was so proud when he stood up to be sustained.

"That's our daddy," she whispered to me.

Indeed he is. He's our daddy and he's also the new pianist for the ward choir. (And a primary teacher, and an instructor for Elder's quorum, and the coordinator for babysitting for Relief Society activities, but that's all.)

Currently we have our three hour block of church and then a three hour break and then choir practice but we successfully petitioned to have choir moved to directly after church (since the Mebane ward moved out we have the building all to ourselves after church). When you factor in a twenty minute ride home from church and a twenty minute ride back to the church that leaves only two hours and twenty minutes at home.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that that's basically how long it takes to ensure our family is ready to leave the house.

Today we skyped with Andrew's parents, had some lunch, put Benjamin down for a quick nap while the girls finished watching Mary Poppins (they started it last night—but that movie is long), and then we started hustling the kids back out the door.

We pulled into the parking lot just in time to run in before we'd be called late. When I opened the door to let the kids out I also let out a gasp because that's when I discovered that Miriam was not wearing pants, folks.

She had changed out of her dress after church and went through an impressive number of dress-up outfits before finally agreeing to put on a regular outfit so we could go to choir practice. But somehow—somehow—she had neglected to put pants on and no one noticed until she was standing in the door of the van in all her pant-less glory.

I suppose we're lucky, in a way, that this happened—she was our supreme bargaining chip. When the choir director explained that she chose 5:00 because she thought families with young children would appreciate being able to go home, feed their kids, and get in a little nap before coming to choir practice, I was able to point out Miriam and say, "I would rather pack a snack for my children to eat after church and let Benjamin nap in the car than have to go home and get ready to leave the house all over again. I'm apparently incapable of getting my children ready to leave the house twice in once day. Miriam isn't even wearing pants."

And Benjamin didn't have shoes on, either. But that's beside the point.

Everyone agreed that 5:00 is a lousy time for choir practice. It's dinner time. And it's a good 20 to 30 minute drive for some people (like us), which is a big reason I think our numbers are dwindling. Not that I've gone to choir at all this year (but the last director held it at her house and asked that we not bring children and so...).

So now we'll be staying after church for choir practice which will still be a little chaotic, and Miriam still won't be wearing pants...but at least she'll have a skirt on.

(Miriam, by the way, had a tunic-style top on this afternoon, so it's a little longer than a regular t-shirt which is why no one noticed she neglected to clothe her bottom half. So, at least there's that.)

Goodbye to friends (and fevers)

For the past school year there's been a yellow paper stuck to Rachel and Miriam's door that says:

Eliza
Rachel
A6

They put it up the day they founded their preschool for underprivileged children (Miriam and Benjamin, who are deemed unfortunate because they are not enrolled in an actual preschool or even a co-op for that matter, while Eliza's little brother was).

This was their go-to game when they'd get together to play (which admittedly wasn't as often as they'd have liked).

Rachel didn't go to school on Thursday (because no one woke up until around...noon) but she was feeling well enough to set up the schoolroom to do her part to further Miriam's education.

Fevers, Ticks, and Swimming

This morning we went to the pool for swimming lessons. Rachel seemed to be feeling better (she even had a full-on fight with Miriam this morning—they haven't had a fight in days). She tagged along planning on just sitting on the deck, but she ended up wading in the baby pool with the little ones (and my friend Annie) while I taught the older ones.

After my pupil had gone home, I spent a few minutes working with Miriam while Benjamin played on the stairs and Rachel sat nearby. I felt a tickle in my ear just as I was helping Miriam into a back float so I kind of dropped her so I could get at the tickle. I felt a little guilty when she got some water on her face (she hates getting water on her face) but I was glad when I saw that I flicked out a big, ugly tick!

It was an adult female lone-star tick (they're pretty easy to identify) but it was unengorged (thank goodness) and obviously hadn't found a good place to bite, considering how easily it came out of my ear. Still. Ew.

I squished it to smithereens on the pool deck with a shoe. Miriam's shoe, to be exact. She said, "I don't care if you use my shoe. It's getting too small for me, anyway." And she hasn't touched it since.

But, seriously, how did I get a tick on me?! I haven't been out of the house in days! (Well, I went to a primary meeting last night but other than that I haven't set foot outside until today). I literally walked from the house to the van, from the van to the pool, and then was swimming around in the pool. It's not like I was, as my friend Stephanie said, "rolling in the grass and petting deer" all day.

Apparently ticks are especially plentiful this year because of the long and cold winter we had (by southern standards) so the ticks had more time to breed underground before emerging in plentiful herds. I don't know that that's the best source for information regarding ticks. But I also don't care because (a) we've found three ticks on various family members this year (and by various I mean me (2) and Benjamin (1—attached)) which is three times as many as we found last year. And it's early in the season! And (b) my sweet Rachel-girl is in the hospital with a raging fever which I, and various medical professionals, suspect might be Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which is a tick-borne illness.

And I'm just sitting around at home.

Benjamin's second birthday

This morning Andrew was trying to train Benjamin to answer the question "How old are you?" He has no concept of age, not that the girls are much better. Yesterday when they were discussing how old Benjamin was going to be Miriam asked why he was going to be two years old.

"Two years is not old. Two years is young," she reasoned. "So he will be two years young."

Ironically that make him sound rather old to my ears because I remember several of my great-aunts and uncles saying things like, "I'm 84 years young."

Anyway, Andrew said to him, "Whose birthday is it today?"

"ME!" Benjamin squealed.

"And how old are you now?" Andrew asked.

"I WANT CAKE!" Benjamin bellowed.

Bus! Bus!

If there's one thing Benjamin loves it's a good bus. He rushes to the window whenever he hears a bus come down our street, which is fairly often since school buses frequent our street between the hours of 6 and 8 AM and 2 and 5 PM.

We do a lot of bus watching over here. And it's always terribly, terribly exciting.

Benjamin always squeals with joy at the sight (or sound) of an approaching bus. "Bus! Bus!" he'll call out. "Bus! Bus!"

What better "theme" for his birthday than a big yellow school bus?

I use the word theme lightly, but I did make a bus cake for him. And I didn't even make a mess.



Oh, wait. I did. I made a terrific mess.

Birthday Eve, part II

This afternoon I was in the living room with the girls when I heard Benjamin in the kitchen.

"Mmmmm...mmmmm...'anks!" he said. "Mmmm...mmmm...yummy!"

'Anks, in case you're wondering, is how he says thanks. Mmmm...mmmm...yummy is what he says when he's eating something delicious and because I'd left his birthday cake on the counter to cool I rushed into the kitchen to see what he was up to.

He'd grabbed a cupcake and was ravenously stuffing it into his mouth, praising its goodness between mouthfuls, "Mmmmm...mmmmm..mmmm!"

I'm in the middle of trying to make a bus cake for him. The cupcakes are going to be the wheels but because I'm not entirely sure how that's going to work out (I'll let you know how it goes) I made six cupcakes so I'd have two backup cupcakes should anything happen to go horribly wrong.

I suppose I can only mess up once now!

Pet du jour

When we went to get into the van to leave for church yesterday Andrew noticed a lizard had fallen into our old frog container (that I haven't cleaned out yet) and was stuck so—lucky creature—it became our pet for the day.

Birthday Eve

I thought that Benjamin's birthday wouldn't be emotionally difficult for me this year because I hadn't begun to feel anxious about it until quite recently (last year the beginning of May set me off), which actually gives me hope that eventually I'll be able to face Benjamin's birthday without any feeling of dread at all.

It's not so much that I'm worried about his health anymore. He's a pretty healthy kid. A little on the small side, perhaps, but overall quite healthy.

It's not so much that I'm sad he's giving up his babyhood, though I'm always a little sad about that (I think he's officially weaned (finally) and I'm a little sad about that). He's hilarious as a toddler. So cute. So cheerful. And he's just about sleeping through the night again (and that always helps children seem cuter).

It's a little more selfish than that.

Temple Activity

We had our primary temple activity this afternoon. It's always wonderful to visit the temple grounds and to feel the spirit of the temple. It was even more special to do it with our primary friends. We had a little devotional on the lawn. We sang a song, had a prayer, and then our Primary President told some stories about the temple.

I especially enjoyed her testimony of eternal families. Her mother died when she was young and she said that going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead when she turned twelve helped her to understand that "family relationships [can be] perpetuated beyond the grave." Going to the temple offered her such peace while she was grieving (and I'm sure it still does when she misses her mom as I imagine that's a grief that never goes away).

The bishop spoke to us about the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father in the temple. They're sacred, which is why we wait to go until we're prepared to make such covenants. But, as I mentioned above, members can start attending the temple as young as twelve to do baptisms for the dead.

We sang some songs while we waited for the temple matron to come out to talk with us. We've been working on a song called "The Family Is of God" in primary this year and they sang it so beautifully that it brought tears to my eyes. It's not even my favourite song (I could really do without the middle 'gender-role' verses not because I don't think it's the father's role to provide or the mother's purpose to care but because I think that mothers can help provide and that fathers certainly care) but I do love the first and last verse and I don't even consider myself a crier, necessarily, but somehow those kids made me tear up. It was so sweet.

The temple matron gave each of the kids a picture of the temple and told them all about what goes on inside: the baptistry, the bridal room, the changing rooms, the endowment rooms, the sealing rooms, and the celestial room. She talked about covenants again and really got the kids involved, asking them to each tell her how old they were and how many years before they'd be able to get a recommend so they could visit the temple.

We closed with a song and a prayer and then we walked around the temple, touched its walls, and took a picture of each child and family before walking over to a park adjacent to the temple for some much needed refreshment (everyone was hot and thirsty)!