Trying

In the days leading up to my birthday, I helped a friend move.  Dode and Isaac had been helping in the evenings for a few weeks.  The big stuff was gone and it was time to work on the little things.  Dode suggested I lend a hand.  I didn't want to go but knew I should, so I showed up on Tuesday and spent seven hours helping out with sorting and packing.  It was a difficult move.  The reason I didn't want to help is because I'd been over to the house several times in the weeks leading up to the move and every time, a weight of sadness filled my heart.  It wasn't a happy move, they were loosing their home.  They'd lived in their house for many years raising their family and were moving across the country to live with a son.  So, everything needed purged down to the essentials in order to fit it into a 12' trailer they could drag across the country.  The house had so much to go through, and we were going through every box. I felt like I was standing in as her daughter who was unable to help.  By the middle of the second day she'd even switched from calling me Stephanie to calling me "honey".  It was an honor to help but it came with an emotional burden.  As we went through things and I heard the stories behind them, I felt badly that her daughter was missing out on the passing down of family stories.  I had to walk a fine line between being a supportive listener and being a drill seargant keeping things moving forward.  It was emotionally exhausting.

This couple I was helping had hoped to leave on Tuesday, but there was no way they would get done.   Then they hoped to be gone the next morning and I was right there with them in that!  I ended up spending 11 hours there on Wednesday.  Most of the time, it was just me helping.  When others would offer to help, the friend I was helping would say, "No, that's OK, I have Stephanie."  I'd done her a small act of service years ago when she was being treated for cancer and somehow earned a gold star in her book.  She trusted me to be beside her, sharing her memories and helping in whatever way she asked.  I didn't do a lot of packing in the tradition sense.  Mainly, I was there for emotional support.

I came home Wednesday in the middle of the day to grab some lunch and felt totally overwhelmed and spent.  Miriam had been up the night before throwing up and I hadn't slept well.   Miriam stayed home from school and had Jacob watching her but she really wanted her mom.  I sent off an email whining to Dode and then tried to talk myself out of my funk.  I tried my personal mantra, "If not me, then who?"  I use my mantra any time I catch myself thinking, "Why should I have to do this?"  This time it just wasn't working.  I could think of lots of reasons why I shouldn't have to help.  I started thinking of people I knew who I was "sure" would be more appropriate to help out.  As I sat there in my funk, wishing I could be like the others and excuse myself from serving, sudden inspiration came pounding into my heart.  "Are they your example?"  Four simple words that gave me a new perspective.  Tears came to my eyes as I humbly realized once more that the goal of life is not to be just as good as everyone else, the ultimate goal in life is to become as much like our Savior Jesus Christ as we can. 

John 2:6:-  He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

1 John 3:2-  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Alma 5:19- I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?

Somewhat re-energized, I was able to go back over to the house with a new attidude.  I wish I could say it carried me through the rest of the evening but by the time we left their home at 10:30 pm, I was pretty beat up.  Dode came after work and that helped, both as an emotional boost for me and as a packing boost for the husband.  Having him with me also meant that for the second evening in a row, our children were left at home to fend for themselves.  We got home to a house that was messy from the front door through every room.  I sure wasn't looking forward to cleaning that up as a birthday gift to me.

Turning 41

I celebrated my birthday this week.  Because of the way Christmas lines up in the week, the children were in school through the 21st of December.  I can't remember the last time they've had school on my birthday.  It was disappointing not to be able to plan a fun activity for the day.  But I still managed to squeeze all the playing I could into our time together in the evening.

Since the children were at school, I invited my friend Dana to have lunch with me.  We went to a sushi restaurant in Smokey Point.

I got the 911 roll and she got the caterpillar roll.  I wish they would let you get half size portions so you could get more variety!  A funny story about our lunch date.  Last year I invited her to have lunch with me but she forgot about it so I ended up getting my lunch as take out.  We managed to connect this year and had a nice time together.

After lunch, I set about putting together the evening activity for the family, an "activity hunt".  I created some pretty bad Haiku poem clues that would lead the children to different places.  Most of the clues were hidden inside helium balloons they had to pop in order to get the clue.

I didn't want to deflate the balloons by using a sharpie on them so I tied numbers on the ends of the strings.  Not such a good idea because Miriam and William played with the balloon bunch adding another layer to the challenge.  Unravel the strings to find the correct balloon!

As soon as we finished with dinner, I gave the children 15 minutes to do their chores and then it was time to begin.

Once they got the balloons untangled, they popped the first balloon revealing this clue...

Mom's birthday today,

She loves you all, wants to play,

Find clues, have fun, now!

Built many years ago,

up the stairs, cross bridge you'll go

reach down inside, find!

They went up to the tree house to find a party bag at the top of the slide.  Inside was a 50 piece puzzle they needed to assemble and then flip over to reveal the clue on the back.  To make it more difficult I didn't give them the puzzle box.

Isaac had fun with the bag everything was in.

They split into pairs and worked on different parts of the puzzle.

Time to load up van

Love books? You'll be such a fan,

Hold for seven days.

We loaded up and headed to the library where I told them they had 10 minutes to find a book they wanted to check out.  Everyone scattered and soon had a stack of books they wanted.  The plan was for the children to hide a birthday card to me in one of my books on hold so I could "discover" it when I checked out the book.  On the way to the library, Dode and I realized that they hadn't managed to sneak the card into the book yet.  They spent the drive to the library arguing in whispers about how to hide my card with me watching, while I tried to remain in the dark about the plan they'd come up with with their dad.  Later Anastaya told me the library visit was her favorite part of the night.

Back in the car after the library, we popped the next balloon which said,

10 pins and a ball

Gutter balls we all despise

Who's up for some fun?

That led us to the bowling alley where I'd reserved two lanes.  Once again, we were the only people bowling the entire time we were there!

Since we were celebrating, we splurged and bought the large nachos plate and two baskets of fries.

Miriam used the time she wasn't bowling to read the book she'd gotten from the library.

When we finished up with bowling, it was time for another balloon.

We visited weekly

earned a dime every time

news of our city

The next clue led us to a newspaper stand.  Dode had snuck out during bowling to place the gift bag inside it.  I wasn't too worried that someone would come along and want to buy a newspaper because when we used to deliver to the newsstand, we'd almost always pick up as many old papers as we'd deliver.  And, the paper is delivered on Wednesday and we were there on a Thursday.

Inside the newsstand we found a bag filled with party hats and blowers and the next clue,

Over the river

through the woods we go to find

a place where love dwells

Sheri is lighting the candles.  Her job was to bring the lighter!

We drove over to Dode's grandparents where his parents are staying while Dave and Viv are out of town.  Dode had called Sharon earlier in the week to have her make her famous lemon jello cake.  Dode was supposed to bring ice cream but he forgot.  Dicksons ALWAYS have ice cream with cake and I think it was really hard for Sharon to serve that cake without any ice cream! We had a nice visit with Sharon and Lynn and Dode's grandparents.  Elizabeth told me the jello cake was her favorite part of the night.  When we finished with cake, there was just one balloon left.

One last stop to make,

once a place we came often

baptized in their font,

We went down to the church where Elizabeth could show me her skills flying her remote control airplane. She was pretty hesitant to fly in front of the family at first but when she saw the ribbon Dode made for her to attach to her plane, "Happy Birthday Mom", she got excited. She was so proud to navigate it around the gym.  

Dode had asked Anastaya to master the Happy Birthday song on the piano but she'd forgotten, so while Elizabeth flew her airplane, Anastaya went in another room and practiced.  Once she had it down,  Anastaya played the Happy Birthday song on the grand piano while everyone else sang.

The kids thought it felt weird to be in the church all by ourselves with most of the lights out.  Jacob walked in the building and said, "Yup, it smells like the church!"  I agree, there is a distinct smell to the Arlington building.  It smells like home.  Miriam said this was her favorite part of the night because she could run in the gym and no one told her to stop or be quiet.

We arrived home right around 9:00, bedtime for the children.  I don't think we could have squeezed more into my birthday!  The children were horrified that I had to come up with my own fun on my birthday.  Dode had asked them last week if they wanted to help him come up with things to do but they weren't interested.  I'm not sure how they thought it was going to come together if I wasn't involved.  It was a raging success.  How do I know?  All the fighting over who got to read each clue and in the car heading home!

Santa Train 2012

Well, it was time once again for our annual trek to Seattle to see Santa.  We caught the Amtrak train in Stanwood.  Public transportation is never the most efficient way to get anywhere!  We left the house at 8:40 and I think we made it to Santa at 11:30.  It would take me an hour to drive down but that's not nearly as much fun for the children.  One reason it took so long this year is that the train was over 30 minutes late.  Thankfully it was above freezing so we weren't too uncomfortable waiting.  We brought a few friends with us this year, Isaac Colson and Jacob's friend Brittany Toolson.  The Isaacs kept Miriam and William occupied during our long wait by playing a wild game of tag.  I'm not sure the other people on the train platform appreciated their squeals and screams, but to me happy children noises are quite tolerable.

While the younger children played, Jacob and Brittany were fully engaged in their electronic devices.

When got on the train, we found they'd set aside a group of seats for our group.  The only problem was there were 9 of us.  The seats were on both sides of the aisle in groups of four facing in.  Our 9th seat was a row down sitting with three other people at a table.  No one wanted to be the one to sit there alone so I ended up with Miriam on my lap.  The novelty of the train soon dissipated and the children plugged into their books and electronics. 

Everyone was thirsty so some of the children made the trek to the dining car.  We were in car 9, at the end of the train.  The dining car was between cars two and three.  At the end of each car is a door that must be opened to go from the passenger seating area of the car to the vestibule between cars.  So to get from car 9 to the dining car, we had to open 14 doors that open with the sound of an airlock being activated, then make our akward way down the swaying car to the next door.  To get back to the car, we had to repeat the process of opening those 14 doors.  I'm sure more than a few people were irritated by our large group making our clumsy and noisy way up and down the train.

It was Isaac Colson's first time on a train.  It didn't take long before he ended up plugged into his ipod.

William loved sitting by the window.

My mom got on the train in Edmonds with Millie, Gabriel and Carmen.  My mom told me that Carmen said our visit to Santa is her favorite day of the year.  I don't know if it's the favorite day for my children, but it's up there in the top five!  The train car we were in was packed so they ended up many cars away from us. Miriam left to sit with them so I got my own seat for the second half of the trip.

We arrived in Seattle where we were quickly ushered out of the train station.  They've been remodeling for years and have gotten to the point where you get off the train, walk through a temporary hall of drywall and end up outside without even a chance to use the restroom or mentally collect yourself.

We walked to the bus station where we caught a bus in the metro tunnel.  This is the first year we've had to pay, the city of Seattle used to have a fair free zone in downtown.  Having 13 people pay their way onto the bus definitely takes more time than just free loading!  The metro tunnels allow us to get out right next to the Santa house at Nordstroms.  We checked in and were told they'd text us when it was time to come back.

We headed over to the Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton hotel.  It was funny to watch Miriam, William and Gabriel make their way around the city.  They've been coming down, doing the same things each time for as long as they can remember.  They are completely at home walking the city streets and not the least bit intimidated by the crowds or traffic.  They wind their way through fancy building entrances, play tag with each other, chat and exclaim at the sights.

This year the gingerbread village theme was fairy tales.

Chronicles of Narnia

The BACK of the Little Mermaid house.

We got a text that they were ready to head back to Santa as we were finishing up with the gingerbread houses.  We walked back to Nordstroms and got in line.  They told us it would be about 30 minutes but it ended up being closer to an hour.  When we were next in line, they told us that Santa needed to go feed his reindeer and would be back shortly.  The same thing happend to us last year and we told Santa's helper but she just shrugged and said sorry.  We did some serious damage on their cookie supply.  Miriam and William each had four!

Playing on Boma's Ipad, cookie in hand

The group.  This year we went with a burgandy, black and dark grey color scheme.

Telling Santa what they want.

 Once we finished with our photo session, we walked to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  They seated us right away and soon the chaos of 13 people choosing what to eat gave way to 13 people happily munching on free bread.

Elizabeth has been recently diagnosed with lactose intolerance.  She thought the milkshake would be worth the pain.  She thought it tasted amazing but soon decided it was not worth the tummy ache.

Everyone was stuffed by the time we left and headed for Barnes and Noble where everyone gets to select one book.  We always set up base in the children's area and once our many books and bags were dumped in a pile, everyone set off in different directions to choose a book.  Gabriel and Anastaya both went knowing what they wanted, but the rest of us did a bunch of browsing before selecting just the right book.

home base at the bookstore

Our last yearly tradition is a ride on the antique carousel at Westlake Park.  I managed to sneak away while they were in line to finally use my See's gift certificate.  It's tough to choose between my favorites (Scotchmellow or Bridge Mix) but I opted for variety and went for Bridge Mix.  For those who aren't familiar with this tasty old time candy, it's a mix of chocolate covered goodness: caramel, nougat, coconut, toffee, nuts, raisins.  You never know what you'll find when you pop a piece in your mouth.  I love the surprise of it.  But, I always have to finish with a good one (I don't really like the raisins or coconut).

Laden down with leftovers and books, we reversed our steps and headed back towards the train station.  We had a little while until we needed to be to the train so we diverted to Uwajimaya to stock up on some hard to find Asian foods.  Taking that many children into a busy grocery store may be a bit foolhardy but we survived, and the store did too!

The train ride down is always more interesting because we can watch the world go by out the windows.  On the ride back in the dark, we have our new books to keep us occupied.  We got home around 8:45, with Dode literally running through the house to cover up a Christmas gift he was assembling.  Dode said I didn't seem as wiped out this year as in year's past.  Good thing because we had produce arriving at 4:30 am the next day!

A Christmas Carol 2012

Stillaguamish Valley school offered discount tickets to Dicken's A Christmas Carol at the Act Theater in Seattle.  I knew Elizabeth would enjoy going, so I got tickets just for her and me.  We had to leave early to get there in time.  I left Isaac in charge of Miriam and William for the half hour it would take until the bus picked them up for school.  As I was getting ready to leave, Isaac started giving instructions to Miriam.  "Brush your hair." "Brush your teeth."  "Eat your breakfast."  He kept repeating himself, getting frustrated with her.  As I was going out the door, she came up to me and said in a tearful little voice, "Mommy, I don't know which one to do first."  I felt so bad for my little girl.  She was trying hard to follow instructions but as soon as she'd get started on one, he'd tell her to do the other.

Elizabeth and I made good time to Seattle, avoiding most of the traffic by using the carpool lane.  We arrived at the theater about 45 minutes early so we explored the Washington Convention Center.  They had a lot of public art on the walls.  After seeing the art and playing a bit on the escalators, we found a window where we could sit on a bench and look over the street.  People watching is always fun.  We'd both brought books but watching the people and traffic go by was much more entertaining!

Our bird's eye view.

I've never been the the ACT theater before and wasn't sure what to expect.  It has a fairly large lobby with sweeping ramps leading to the second floor on either side.  Once up the ramps, we were led to the theater by an usher.  As we walked through the doors, I was surprised to see how small the actual theater was.  I was also surprised to see that it's a theater in the round.  I was worried that perhaps the production would be too contemporary for Elizabeth.  I needn't have worried.  The production was amazing!

This photo was published in the newspaper so it must be OK!

Apparently ACT performs A Christmas Carol each year.  We were seated in the first row, on the same level as the stage.  At some points during the production, we were showered with glitter or fake snow.  They had things that came down from the rafters and things that raised and lowered into the floor.  There were fog machines and special effects.  Actors would come and go from five different entrances.  The 90 minute show was a faithful retelling of the original and it kept us both entranced the entire time. I wish I could have taken a photo, but no photography is allowed inside the theater.

Standing in front of the theater

After the play, we ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, Elizabeth's favorite place to eat.  It's across the street from the convention center which shares the block with the theater.

My lunch, the ultimate grilled eggplant sandwich, yum!

Elizabeth's lunch, chicken fingers and fries.

Elizabeth wanted to get a few pictures of the inside of the convention center before heading home.

We could have eaten much more cheaply at one of the restaurants in the convention center but it wouldn't have been as exciting to Elizabeth as a visit to the Cheesecake Factory.

She loved this tree in the lobby.

The ornaments were huge!

We had a great day together.  She's told me several times, "Thanks for bringing just me, it made me feel very special."  Once the other children heard her review of the play, Anastaya is ready to go next year! I doubt Elizabeth will want to be left behind.

12/12/12

The writer of one of the blogs I enjoy, Katy at No Big Dill, suggested that everyone get in the spirit of the day by documenting what they did at 12 minutes after the hour all day long.  I took up the challenge.  I did my best to not "cheat" and make my day look more interesting or productive than it truly was.  So, without further explanation, here is my celebration of 12/12/12.

6:12 am

Getting ready to greet the day.

(In all honesty, I usually wake up at 6:30 every day without an alarm.)

7:12 am

Seminary "bus"

I pick up 8-9 youth each morning and drive them from the church to the high school.

Anastaya took the photo.

8:12 am

Getting Miriam her breakfast.

She's not a morning person and is never hungry.  If she is willing to eat chicken nuggets with honey for breakfast, she gets chicken nuggets with honey for breakfast!

9:12 am

Mopping the kitchen floor.

The cats think this is one of the most exciting parts of the week.

I've given up on caring about kitten footprints on my wet floor.  When they see the mop and buckets come out, they get ready to attack.

10:12 am

Exercise

I only allow myself to watch television shows while exercising.

This morning I watched Parenthood on Hulu.

It takes true talent to exercise while sobbing.

11:12 am

checking email

I was waiting for the order guide so I could do my produce order and it finally arrived!

12:12 pm

Lunch with Dode

I made sure to give him a kiss at 12:12 exactly but didn't get the photo evidence.

I had the mushroom burger with a veggie patty.  I know the 10:12 exercise session did not cancel out the 12:12 meal!

1:12 pm

Driving home from lunch.

Elizabeth was finished with school at 12:45 and had walked over to the library.  

I was on my way to get her.

2:12 pm

Packaging up ground beef.

We got ground beef from Zaycon and it needed divided down into meal sized portions.

Now that I don't eat meat anymore, I find the entire handling and smelling of meat truly gross.

3:12 pm

Working on the fire.

I got back from Elizabeth's piano lessons to learn that the boys had let the fire go out.

4:12 pm

Working on the produce order

5:12 pm

Making Dinner

I was not at all hungry after my big lunch but I'd already skipped making dinner once this week and felt bad to do it again.  So, like every night, I made two dinners.  Buddha bowls (rice, beans, veggies, sauce) for the vegans and teriyaki chicken for the meat eaters.

6:12 pm

Cleaning up dinner

7:12 pm

Gingerbread house building

8:12 pm
spending a few minutes reading
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future, by Michael J. Fox

9:12 pm
Bedtime!
When Dode and I head up to bed each evening, we are always accompanied by a little Miriam who jumps on the bed, then gets in a quick cuddle before being sent away under duress.

10:12 pm

Time to sleep

Bedtime is the only reliable time Dode and I can talk without a child interrupting so we typically stay up talking as long as we can until someone (lately me) begs for sleep.

Plus, a bonus fuzzy photo...

After family prayer, everyone gets a hug.  I held on for 12 seconds tonight.  Isaac noticed the extra long hug and caught on.  Then, they wanted a 12 second group hug.