Sunshine!

Susannah and Aunt Beth's Great Dane, Arwen. Here comes the sun...sang in my mind all day today. Jonathan, Susannah and I headed to the park for some sunny play in the middle of storms. The snow was fascinating to Susannah and I couldn't get her to look up. When I did, my camera was complaining about low battery and wouldn't take the picture!

Snowy Days and Comfort Foods

Winter dull drums have set in with a cloudy inversion. Along with the gray, bleak days here, our family has yet another viral cold and is still getting over the cough of the last viral "bug." Last Thursday we had to have Chicken Lasagna with a Parmesan white sauce and green olives for dinner. Of course, reading The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (which take place in the Mediterranean region) also encouraged this dinner with a green Romain side salad. Friday, we made homemade Chicken Noodle Soup with many times more vegetables and a dash of dill, basil, and bay spices. Along with the soup we enjoyed Cheese Scallion Scones and salad. When sick, we seek company in familiar, soothing foods. Bon Appetite!

President's Day Visit With Great Grandma

Last night, little Jonathan slept near us. He began to cry. In a sleepy haze I asked Jonathan why he was crying and if he had had a nightmare. (He has been averaging one or two a night since the surgery.) "No, Mama. I want to stay on off." He repeated this to me several times. "I don't understand. What is 'off.'" I queried. This morning as we talked he mentioned, "I don't want to go to heaven. I want to stay down here on 'off' (earth)." Rebekah was shocked. "Jon, heaven is a very nice place!" We loaded up the car and Hannah's picnic lunch and headed north to South Salt Lake to visit with Great Grandma Edith. We detoured slightly to help Uncle Mike buy an Easter and baptism dresses for his daughter, Jane. Great Grandma Edith had a smile and patience for wild and wily little folks. Jonathan undid her knitting. Susannah sprinkled white bread crumbs all over her couch and floor. Rebekah sprayed Grandma's Gardenia Lily Body Spray on and Hannah was distracted by Polyanna playing on television and forgot to visit, and yet Great Grandma loved us still. Great Grandma mentioned that in combining Lincoln and Washington's birthdays into "President's Day" we were really slighted one holiday! The girls enjoyed the vacation from school (and piano and chores). Grandma Edith shared ice-cream "drumsticks" and a knowledge of knitting. She gave each of the girls a knitted rainbow washcloth and then said,"now you have new cloths, you promise to help wash the dishes!" Jonathan ran up and asked if he got one too. Such a helper! We stopped by Aunt Amy's house on the way home and discussed plans for Spring and played with cousins Owen, Alex and their dog Milo. At home, Family Home Evening activity included washing dishes (Hannah thought we were joking at first. This was NOT her favorite activity). Orange sherbet, a lesson on Twenty-five Successful Habits by Dad, scriptures, songs, and family prayer ended a relaxing day. In bed this evening, Rebekah cried for a long time. "Why are you crying, Rebekah?" "Because I miss Great Grandpa Clayton soo much!" "Why couldn't he have stayed!..." She sobbed. Sweet Rebekah and another talk about heaven. "Still, I didn't want him to go!" Jonathan knows exactly what it feel like to NOT want to go to heaven.

Happy Valentines Day & Hyvaa Ystavan Paiva

February 14, 2008

Happy Valentines Day & Hyvaa Ystavan Paiva

(Finnish: Happy Friends Day)

I love this wreath on Jonathan’s Preschool teacher’s door.

Valentine Poem for Joseph

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

e e cummings

The girls received love notes, heart capris, and pink and white shirts to wear to school. (The day after a big winter snowstorm that kept Joe on the freeway for three hours coming home from Murray).

Jonathan was the star student in his Rainbow Preschool class. He brought doughnuts with Valentine sprinkles to his classmates for snack time and Spongebob Valentines (funny little man). He surprised me when I came to pick him up by fishing in his bag and saying, “I have a Valentine for you, Mother.” “You do?” “Yes.” He took out a large Granny B Valentine sugar cookie, took off the valentine card with another child's name on it and handed it to me. What a sweet thing he is and to do.

Girls had fun at Valentines Day parties at school. Rebekah got some candy bracelets and play dough and a dinosaur but began to cry as she compared her 24 pupil allotment to Hannah’s 29. We went upstairs where I could nurse Susannah and read Love books aloud to the children. We read Arthur’s Valentine, of course. My favorite book this year is a book called I Love…translated into English from French. We had fun reading about this little girls "loves” and thinking of our own loves.

I ran around potted hyacinth bulbs to friends and relatives.

Susannah wore the cute Happy Valentines Day outfit from Dave and Hyea Won.

Mom Campbell brought balloons on sticks, heart stress relievers, bagels and boxes of macaroni and cheese and a box of dark chocolate cherries over for Valentines and looked at all the construction Del Hutchings is doing enclosing our breezeway and installing new doors on our house with Mr. Cox.

Joe and I exchanged small presents and ate a homemade dinner upstairs watching “On Becoming Jane,” a movie about the life of Jane Austin starring Anne Hathaway.

The children had their own little dinner and movie downstairs on their own like the Boxcar Children.

[Mom and Dad Clayton treated us to a Valentines Day date on February 6 at the Hale Center theater. We watched a romantic comedy called “Don’t Drink the Water” by Woody Allen about a U.S. Embassy in Russian and Americans that get trapped there during the Cold War. We went with Lisa and Stu and Sydne Tebbs watched our little ones. Lots of fun!]

What love we have to share and how lucky we are to live when and where we do! God surely does bless us!

Valentines Eve Circus

Last Night (February 13, 2008) the children performed a Valentines Eve Circus. They dressed, practiced, got all the tickets (purple construction paper with fancy edges) and concessions ready themselves and then invited Joe and I to the show! Hannah conducted the circus. She first issued us our tickets and then took them, punched them, and put them into another bowl. Next, she showed us to our seats and welcomed us to the show and introduced the evenings’ entertainment and performers. It was as follows and I am putting it in her writing, as follows: Rebekah (dressed in black skirted leotard, pink tights and hair back in a black and pink heart elastic) was the animal trainer of Fudgey—the swinging stuffed dog and “tite rope” (couch) walker. Jonathan was dressed in his Sunday best (including matching sweater vest and bow tie and slicked down hair). He told “made up on the spot” jokes. In the middle there were concessions: Raspberry (sugar-free) drink and a paper bowl of conversation heart candies (filched from the cupboard) laid out upon cut out paper hearts.

Sugar and Spice

Monday's Family Home Evening Activity was decorated sugar cookies for Valentines Day. Who decorated which ones? (Possible artisans include: Mom, Hannah, Rebekah, Jonathan and Susannah). We started with each of us getting three to decorate. (While mom was fetching the camera, silly billies decorated more and more...) Baby was in her high chair and I decorated for Joe. Give Up? Follow the hints to match the person with his/her cookies. Hint: Hmm, this one looks chewed and tossed from a highchair. Hint: Note the cat looking cookie and patterns. Which daughter is animal crazy! Hint: Wow, these cookies look like they were frosted just the way Joe likes his. Hint: These look like they were frosted by a conscientious student for her teacher. Hint: Lots of love, frosting and sprinkles went into these. Are they still edible? Ahhh, the cookie frosters and their edible works of art. One for Mom--how sweet!

Valentine Bear

Hannah was asked to make a decorative Valentine holder for her school class. She liked a bear idea from a magazine and so she modified it to hold a large can. She also got her hair cut today.

Snow Sunday

February 3, 2008 This morning we awoke to snow. We have had several storms in the last few days and the snow pack in our yard is piling up! Susannah was so fascinated by the snow and icicles. Rebekah and Jonathan loved climbing the "snow mountain."

Thumb Surgery

Well, as a lot of you may know, Jonathan (now four and a half years old) was born with a duplicate digit, i.e. two thumbs on his right hand. This precipitated comments such as "Give me six" and "Do you have six fingers on your right hand? My father was killed by a six-fingered man" (From "The Princess Bride" movie). Well, one thumb was slightly smaller, and was obviously the duplicated thumb. We spoke with a pediatric hand surgeon when Jonathan was an infant and decided to operate when Jonathan was old enough to understand and want the surgery and yet young enough that it would be before school. (He is in pre-school currently and can't hold a pencil properly or use child scissors.) Earlier this week, Julie was talking to Jonathan and trying to understand how he was feeling about the upcoming surgery after he overheard a phone call to the surgeon. She knelt down by Jonathan and rubbed his duplicate thumb. "Jonathan, honey. Do you remember when we talked about a doctor removing this?" He looked up at Julie. "Would you still like to have two thumbs like Mom and Dad?" After a long pause, Jonathan said, "I would kind of like to keep my 'lucky thumb'-- How about he takes off one of my fingers instead!" Julie spoke of all that he could do with only one thumb and he said "that would be all right." Jonathan was very good the morning of the surgery up until just after the anesthesiologist came, when he said "I don't want to be here anymore, let's go home." "I gotta go!" He made to get off the hospital bed where he had been making cards with stickers and paper. Well, a little distraction and about 10 minutes later he was rolled past the red tape where parents say goodbyes and off to the operating room. Everything went well with the surgery, and it only took a short while. When they wheeled Jonathan back, he was alert and very chipper; chatting with the orderly who was pushing the bed. Jonathan turned to me and showed me the IV in his arm and told me, very first thing "Don't ever take this out!" The orderly explained that when he woke up he was curious about the IV and they said it was to give him medicine without him having to taste it. He told them something like, "Can I keep it always?" Apparently the taste of medicine is way down on the list of things Jonathan likes. Well, after a couple of days Jonathan seems to be doing well. There will be a doctor follow up on Monday. One thing is sure, even surgery didn't slow Jonathan down. Well, here are a couple of pics of what it looked like before surgery, we may get some better before/after shots from the doctor as well.

California Fun

Saturday, January 5, 2008 - Las Vegas Ah, the cute girls! On our way down to Newport Beach, we stopped in Las Vegas to visit Cassy Dickerson. It was a great break, and the kids loved running around and around in the house. (We'd already had a few hours of driving by then, and had a few more to go...). The kids were actually really good in the car, and the Honda Odyssey with DVD player was definitely a big help for this trip. Sunday, January 6, 2008 - Newport Beach Church was great, we made it just on time, and it was right next to the beautiful temple! We spent a while after church just walking the grounds of the temple. It was a little cool, but very beautiful and peaceful. Monday, January 7, 2008 - Tidepool Beach Just down from the place we stayed was a beach that was a protected reserve for tide pool creatures. It was fun to see the creatures in the tide pools, but it was just fun for the kids to get out and run on the beach. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to collect shells at this beach. Tuesday, January 8, 2008 - Seaworld The kids were so excited about Seaworld. We loved all of the shows, and I think we were able to catch most 0f them. It wasn't too crowded, and it was quite warm until later in the afternoon. We had a "fun backpack" for Jonathan, which had a "cool strap" connected to Dad's hand. Nobody got lost at Seaworld ;). Rebekah especially loved the hands on tide pool, where we could pick up and hold sea stars. Wednesday, January 9, 2008 - Beach Thursday, January 10, 2008 - Legoland Friday, January 11, 2008 - Beach and Driving home