Friday, February 21, 2014

The rest of life

So, besides birthday preparations and getting ready for a baptism in a few weeks, day to day life just keeps happening.  We have fights about homework, cleaning the house, taking showers, going to bed on time, and trying to get ready for end-of-year testing.  We also have fun moments with legos and potions, and singing songs together and reading stories.
 Caleb's science fair project was chosen to go on to district.  We were all very happy for him.  His teacher gave him great marks on his project.  Unfortunately he did not move on but I think he learned a lot from the experience.
 Caleb (and other boys) made messes in the kitchen with mom's cooking supplies.  This particular time was an explosion of corn starch when Caleb was not ready.  Right now as I type, Peter is in the kitchen playing with about 5 different tupperwares + water + food coloring + plants + seasonings from my cooking stuff.  That will be fun to clean up.  But at least he is happy.
 William celebrated his 100th day of Kindergarten.  Yeah!
He had to do a 100 day project, so we chose rainbow colored beads that he could put on a keychain and show the class.  He was one of two kids in his class that actually did the project.  Go William!  He also came home with this cool crown and necklace with 100 fruit loops.  He really has learned so much in the last 100 days!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

So, a birthday happened...

A BIG birthday!  # 8!  Peter was excited and happy and looking forward to this day.  He was sad to leave 7 but excited for what 8 brings.  To get on with the details, and there are a lot...
The prep-work.
I wanted this to be a fun, memorable birthday for the boy.  So, we "conjured" up a Harry Potter birthday party, with the help of Thanksgiving Point.  Then Diedre's mind went into over drive and came up with a bunch more fun details to add to the day.  #1:  Peter's big birthday present.
  A Harry Potter quilt.  It is cozy and warm and full of love for the boy.  It has the flying car and windows with Hedwig and spell books, Hagrid's hut and the Hungarian Horntail and Quidditch.  Even house colors.  It was fun to make and fun to give.
Detail #2:
 The birthday invitations were delivered by homemade felt owl.  Super fun.
Detail #3:
Chocolate frog boxes for each of the party guests inside of a custom made gift bag.  Plus a snack bag of "Honeydukes Treat Mix" for the kids on the drive to Thanksgiving Point.
Detail #4:
Pictured in the temple picture above, a Harry Potter scarf.  I crocheted one for each of my kids.  Haley did not want the Griffindor colors, she wanted pink.  So she got a pink Hermoine scarf.  Caleb crocheted part of his own Ravenclaw scarf.  And I made one for William and Peter in the Griffindor colors.   Peter wore his long enough for a picture and then he was done.  Obviously my time could have been spent more wisely on this project.
Last time being 7.  Peter's best friend Jacob saved the day.  Our plans were rudely interrupted by a siblings sick tummy and plans not going on as we wanted them to.  So, Peter went to Jacob's house and was able to have a fabulous time being a boy.  They played fooseball, soccer and football outside, just enjoyed being friends.
The big day!!!
 Of course he woke up to balloons and a yummy breakfast of pancakes.  He at least wore his eight shirt to school, but when I went to visit his class he was still wearing his hoodie over the shirt.  He took rice krispy treats to his class for a treat.  
 The party started right after school.  We crammed a bunch of boys into the truck and drove down to Thanksgiving Point.  Rob learned an important lesson on this drive, his kids are not as loud as he once thought.  
 The kids were able to design a wooden wand and then they were "sorted" into their houses.  Peter was sorted in to Hufflepuff.  Two of his other friends were also there with him so he was happy.  William was sorted into Griffindor and he was over the moon about that.  Caleb and Haley were sorted into Slytherin.  Haley did not care, but Caleb was a bit disgruntled about it.  They had a class on Herbology, a scavenger hunt and then a game of Quidditch.  It was loads of fun and the boys all came home ranting and raving about it all.
One extra I forgot to share: 
So, the morning of Peter's birthday I woke up early to get it all ready for him.  I looked at the computer and we have this post-it note thing that you can type messages on when the screen opens.  Peter had written himself a note, "dear Peter, have a happy birthday."  I hope we made it happen for him.  He is a sweet kid.
So, what would I say about this boy now that he is eight?  Peter has a saying, "grown-ups do not understand kids."  Boy is he right.  Peter can confuse me at times.  But I do know a few things about him.  He loves football and Harry Potter!!!  He can turn any game into something about Harry Potter or football.  I have seen him play Harry Potter with dinosaurs and I have seen him set up an entire game of football with stuffed animals or lego guys.  He enjoys spending time alone and thinking.  He is a very smart boy, especially at math.  He tries very hard to be a good friend and to make the right choices.  He can get frustrated very easily and has a touchy temper.  He is very specific about what he likes to eat and the clothes he likes to wear.  He has very profound questions about life and Heaven and where we are all going in this life.  And when he is in a teachable mood the spirit can be strong and it brings us closer together.  We love him and when it all comes down to it, that is what matters most.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Closer and closer to the day

We have had a few more countdown weeks since I last wrote about the baptism.  I think he might be getting more excited about  things.
 For Christmas Peter wanted a map.  I took that idea and made a cross stitch "map of a happy life."  The idea is that is starts at the day he was born.  Then along the path there are things he can do to make his life happy.  Baptism is on there.  Then church, prayer, the commandments, scriptures, the temple.... all leading up to heaven with an eternal family.  I told him that if he follows the path and does the things that it says, he will have a happy life.
 It rolls up like a scroll.
Another week we talked about the sacrament.  And this week we talked about repentance.  The analogy was that just as a pencil makes a mark on paper and the eraser takes the mark away, when we make a wrong choice or sin it puts a mark on our spirit and life but when we repent it can "erase"those marks and make us clean again.  I am so excited for this little boy and the good kid he is.  He really is a sweet boy who is trying to follow Jesus.  I hope his day will be filled with happiness and the spirit, so he can want those feelings with him forever.