Sunday thoughts

I can't think of anything else today besides service.

If I know one thing about getting ready to move halfway across the world, it's that we are inundated with service. You might think you would welcome that with open arms -- and maybe you would -- but I still struggle with being the recipient at times. Nonetheless, I am always, always incredibly grateful and humbled afterwards.

Jill has once again proven herself to be the most understanding, selfless, giving friend ever. She has been over so many times this week, I lost count. She didn't wait for me to ask for her help or tell her what I needed her to do (she knows me too well).

-- She took Eva for the whole day on Thursday, and I spent the entire day doing errands and knocking items off my to-do list(s).

-- Hannah watched Eva for several hours on Friday so I could be distraction-free.

-- Jill came over on Friday for a summit about the state of my lists.

At Marc's suggestion, we went out to lunch. My first reaction was that I couldn't possibly, but I was oh so glad that we did. The summit took place at California Pizza Kitchen. {all photos by Jill}

This was one of my lists. I consolidated them all to one new one. (plus one for packing) I am seriously a list addict.

We then hit Cold Stone, as Jill had a gift card (thanks, Lisa!) and treated me to this embarrassing decadence. It was fabulous.

We went back to my house and did 3 more things on the list before I had to pick up Eva!

-- One of my visiting teachers called on Friday and asked if we liked corn. She was going to a corn stand and wanted to bring us some as well. Oh, and a Costco rotisserie chicken and a huge package of strawberries. I nearly wept with relief.

-- On Saturday, Jill and Jenn came over to help. It felt more like they came to stabilize me. I feel like I've been teetering on the edge of a precipice for the last week -- one minute I am thinking, "I'm doing great, I can totally handle this!" and the next I am thinking, "I am never going to make it to the end. I think I'll sit down and cry." And yes, I'm still taking my meds.

When they first arrived and asked what they could do, all I could do was shrug. Jill returned our library items and came back with Sonic drinks. Jenn started dusting:

I am embarrassingly bad about dusting. (I think that once someone has cleaned your house, and seen your (lack of) housekeeping skills, it takes your friendship to a new level. There are no more secrets.) Jill joined in on the dusting, vacuumed the laundry room and the downstairs.

(blurry self-portrait, but it had to be documented)

Jenn had to leave, but Jill picked up Wendy's for us and the kids and we all sat down to watch So You Think You Can Dance (top 15 routines ever). Any guesses on how I felt when they left?

-- Jenn brought me the game Gloom because she knew I was planning to buy it before leaving. She gave me a gift and saved me from another errand!

-- Marc took Lucas shopping for new shoes, as we discovered he didn't have any. Hooray, one fewer errand for me! Plus, he helped the boys pack their suitcases! Woohoo, I didn't have to pack for 4!

-- Our bishop announced in sacrament meeting today that we were leaving and wished us safe travels and told us that we would be missed. I was surprisingly touched by that.

-- My darling neighbor Traci called this afternoon and invited us to dinner. I haven't been buying food, as I'm trying to use up what we have, and I was planning to scrounge up something, probably waffles. Instead, we went to her lovely home and had a veritable feast. We ate wonderful food outside on her back patio, which feels like a little corner of paradise. She even sent us home with a cellophane bag of homemade cookies!

-- I received several cards from blog friends over the last couple of weeks, many well wishes and expressions of thoughtfulness sent my way.

And so, once again, I find myself absolutely humbled by the many ways I have been served. How did I get such wonderful friends? What have I done to deserve such gifts of time and sacrifice? All I can think is that I have a Heavenly Father who is aware of my every need. Thanks so very very much to everyone who stepped in to fill those needs.


*We leave tomorrow!*

the rest of the visit

Jessie and her girls left today. I have a lot of conflicting emotions right now. I knew I couldn't really afford to spend any more time just hanging out when I have so much to do to get ready to leave the country. Lucas's birthday is tomorrow and I need to spend some time focusing on him. Eva's sick and is therefore even more demanding than usual. I am feeling sick myself and totally sleep-deprived.

But oh how I hate to see my sister leave and go back to her home which is so very far away...

And so, some pictures celebrating the rest of her stay.

Who wouldn't want to play under the table? (in jammies, no less)

Bella and Eva were both invited to Mya's birthday party and had a blast playing in the water. You wouldn't know it from this picture, but Eva (in true Eva fashion) would run down the slip n slide and then stop and fall to her knees at the end.

Darling Fiona loved the tire swing (in Hannah's mom's backyard).

Quality coloring time (a shared passion).

Max made his wonderful cream puffs. Jessie succumbed and ate one, but then felt sick. I suffered no such repercussions.

In true best-for-last style, we had an awesome day of reduced child responsibilities yesterday. Jill took the older girls and Lucas to her house for the whole day -- despite Eva being under the weather and crankier than usual -- while Jessie, Hannah and I spent the day working on a quilt, chatting, eating, listening to music, and laughing. It was good for the soul.

Jessie made a whole lap quilt, start to finish, in two days! It made me want to quilt again.

Hannah and I made camera strap covers, which are oh so pleasing to me. I made invitations for Lucas's party. And we helped Jess with her quilt. (Jill even brought her sewing machine over so we could do tandem sewing!)

Cafe Rio salads for lunch.

Hannah went home and put her kids to bed. We put our kids to bed. Marc and Max went out to eat and to a movie, and we stayed home and made popcorn and watched Stick It (a guilty pleasure) on DVR. When the guys got home, we made Italian sodas and had this:

Max made chocolate cheesecake and took great pleasure in plating it and creating a customized presentation for each person.

Last summer when Jessie came to visit, it seemed like we had more days like this one. But then, she didn't have a baby. And Marc was in Paris for his annual trip, so we were definitely more footloose and fancy free. I was so glad we at least had one day of working on projects, my favorite.

Jessie with Max & Lucas just prior to leaving for the airport. We realized that we hadn't really taken any pictures of them together. Seriously, I don't know what happened. She was here for 3 weeks and we didn't have time to take all the pictures we wanted to take, or do all the things we wanted to do.

This little goofball was cracking us up by wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses. She is apparently feeling much better now and is back to her smiling, happy self. (I hope that was the case during the trip home!)

We only took two self-portraits this time. Two. What the? This one was taken at the airport, right before she left. Good grief.

Sigh. And now begins the long wait until we see each other again.

Creative Friday

Creative Friday was nearly canceled yesterday due to Whitney's illness, but Hannah saved the day by having Eva over to play!

I just cannot get over how grown-up Whitney is looking all of a sudden! Is it the retainer? The earrings? It seems to have happened overnight.

Because of my hurried departure, I really did not plan all that well. Jill always comes to me, so I'm out of practice! This bag was all I brought, and it was only about half full... oh well, I didn't really run out of stuff to do, so all was well.

This sight brought back memories of many creative days at Jill's house -- she uses hot pads as coasters for sweating drinks, and I guess it's been awhile since I've seen this.

It's also been awhile since I've seen this -- Jill working her magic at her house -- her delightfully clean, homey, welcoming house.

At one point I looked down and saw a little disco ball action happening (some light came in through the window and struck my ring just so). It tickled my fancy.

I am in love with this picture of Whitney having her first experience with sealing wax.

The finished seal, so pleasing!

When I went to pick up Eva, she screamed at me. That was her charming way of telling me that she was having the time of her life and didn't want to leave. It was a great day for all! (with the possible exception of Hannah...)

Creative Friday

Hannah volunteered to keep Eva for the day so Jill and I could enjoy a totally kid-free Creative Friday! I know. Such a nice offer. Eva had such a good time, she cried when I finally went to pick her up. Nice.

Jill brought out this gift for me, saying, "There's stress, and there can be relief." Well, sign me up!

Jill made me a scrumptious lunch of beef stew and warm rolls. Delish. (She proffered cheesecake as well, but I'm just not a huge cheesecake fan, so I stuck with the m&ms.)

She also inaugurated her new trimmer -- a deluxe model with both a guillotine-style and rotary cutter. It seems she may have finally found her ideal trimmer, because her cards turned out beautifully straight and even. Hallelujah!

I readied several good mail packages and worked on my gratitude journals. It's truly amazing how productive and restorative the time is when there are no interruptions at all!

There was no good picture taken of me today, this was the best of the bunch. I'm only deigning to post it at all out of a sense of tradition.

Thanks, Jill -- and Hannah -- for a great day!

six for saturday

1. This girl has decided that she will no longer respond to the name Eva. She is now Boo the Little Ghost. When we inadvertently call her by her former name, she gently corrects us. Each and every time.

M: Eva, come get your shoes on.
E: You mean Boo the Little Ghost?
M: (sighing in resignation) Yes, I mean Boo the Little Ghost.

It was kind of cute the first 4 or 5 times she did it, but we're going on a week now, and everyone's patience is running a little thin on this one.

2. On Monday night, we started a game of Cities & Knights of Catan. It took us four nights to finish the game, what with Mutual and homework and waiting until Eva was in bed. When I won on Thursday, Lucas proposed that we immediately begin another game. Marc won tonight, and we started another round. I'm not sure how long we can go doing this every night, but we're getting in some quality time with the boys!

3. It was red ribbon week at school and Lucas had crazy hair day yesterday. Fortunately for him, I haven't taken him in for a haircut yet, so there was a lot of hair to work with. Marc used four hair products to get it to do this, and I'm not sure if that includes the black hairspray they used at the end. Lucas now wants to wear his hair like this every day.

4. I invited Hannah and her girls to come over on Friday. With Jill out of town, I was afraid I would be sad without any semblance of Creative Friday. I worked on tags, cards, and good mail, and Hannah was a book-folding maniac. Eva could not have been more thrilled to have Mya as a playmate.

I made Robyn's pumpkin crumb cake. I loved it! It forms two layers: the bottom layer is like pumpkin pie filling, and the top layer is like crumb cake. I love pumpkin pie, but I'm not a huge crust person, so for me this dessert is a fabulous pie/cake combination. Max liked it, Marc didn't really care about it, and Lucas and Eva didn't try it. But little Miss Kaylee loved it!

5. I finished this book yesterday. Oh my. I couldn't put it down, I had to push through to the end, but I never wanted it to end. Even with my abysmal memory, I feel certain that Wanderer and Naduah and Takes Down the Lodge and Medicine Woman and Quanah and John Parker will stay with me.

This is one of those books I don't think I ever would have picked up on my own. I didn't think I had any interest in Native American stories. What a mistake that would have been. Thanks, Jess!

6. Marc and I have been working on our garage on Saturdays. Today was the third Saturday in a row, and I'm finally starting to see some improvement. That's how bad it is.

We have found many many "pointy words" (that's mouse turds, for those of you who haven't seen Stick It). It is so disgusting! Marc was mopping up the floor with ammonia and wearing the cute polka dot rubber gloves that Lisa P. sent me ages ago. He had to know I was going to document that! In his defense, they're the only rubber gloves I have, but why would I go back to plain yellow??

a different kind of Creative Friday

Jill offered to take Eva & Bella on Friday so that Jessie and I could enjoy some quality toddler-free time. We debated about taking her up on her generous offer, especially after the morning we had, replete with yelling (by the girls) and time-outs. Ultimately, we were powerless to refuse.

I dropped the girls and Lucas off at Jill's house at 11:30 and they all ran off happily to play. I picked up Cafe Rio for lunch on the way home.


Hannah came over and we all worked on various creative pursuits.

Jessie made several more of her creative genius layouts. At one point she was feeling stagnant and then had a breakthrough when she started making 6" x 12" layouts. I just watched in awe. Hannah made a book and then some layouts. I worked on Eva's baby book, which I had never finished and has sat on a shelf untouched for over 2 years...

a bird's-eye view of some of the chaos that was my kitchen table

a self-portrait we took before Hannah had to leave

Time seemed to lengthen that day and it felt like we had even more time to enjoy the peace. I checked in with Jill around 5:30 about picking up the kids and she said, "oh heavens no! They're doing so great -- why don't you wait until it's closer to bedtime so you can just take them home and put them to bed?" Now I ask you, who could resist an offer like that?

When we did finally go to retrieve them, this is what we saw:

now that is a happy and relaxed little girl!

We didn't recognize the dress Bella was wearing -- she had gotten her clothes wet and so Jill dug out a 3T dress for her! Talk about comprehensive service...

As Jill said, she was able to channel Mary Poppins for the day! She set up a base camp and just hung out with them all day. No wonder they were so happy.

This photo cracks me up. Apparently they found the soccer cones and Bella declared that they were their hats for going to the country. A country with rice paddies, perhaps? Whitney rigged up a tie for Eva's so it wouldn't keep falling off.

a shot of the pool, just a small part of the royal mess they made

I love it when Jill takes self-portraits with Eva. It just underscores for me the fact that she is there for my kids, she helps me mother them, she loves them, and just generally plays an important role in my life and theirs.

She gave us such a gift that day! Both Jessie and I were amazed by how restorative those hours were, how we felt like *us* -- not just mothers and referees. We were amazed, too, by how quickly we could lose patience with the little girls just in the 15 minutes it took us to get them ready for bed, ha!

And here's something cool: on Saturday when we were running around town, Bella spontaneously said, "I love Jill!". Me, too.

balloons were a bust

Yesterday we got up with the sun to go to the annual hot air balloon launch.

We thought we'd be okay to arrive around 7:00, but it turns out, that was just wishful thinking. We got there at 6:50 and all the balloons were already in the air!

By the time we parked and walked to the field, they were long gone. I was holding out hope that they would return for the target dart throws...

Max and I walked over to McDonald's to get some breakfast, and I have never seen an eating establishment in such a state of chaos. We were able to order right away, and then we waited for almost 1/2 hour to get our food. By the time we got back to the group and ate, we were pretty much the only people remaining.

(One balloon returned while we were at McDonald's, so Jessie was able to get a couple of photos. Good grief.)

I was having a hard time getting over my disappointment at missing everything, but the kids took it in stride. We also ran into Hannah, her kids and her mom.

Hannah and cute Kaylee

Bella with one of the frisbees that were passed out to all the kids.

At least we were all together, and nothing can be completely awful when you're with people you love.


Note to self: next year, leave the house at 6:00, go through the drive-through at McDonald's, be on the field by 6:30!!