Volume X, issue iii, March 2014

Charlie and the Letter Factory

Our wee little wordster has been absorbing letter-based wisdom like the offspring of two English Professor parents. A couple of months ago one of my friends suggested I let him play the educational games at abcmouse.com (I wish I was getting paid for this endorsement!), so we tried it. A few weeks ago, Holden was quizzing Charlie with his t-shirt and I was so shocked that I had to record it. 

It makes me laugh every time I see our tiny fellow spouting off his baby-lipped alphabet with such authority. It's like we have our own talent show wherever we go because he points at signs and shouts out the name of each letter like he's the cheerleader for. . . everything! 

Peter got to color and construct a leprechaun for an art project at school and true to his personality, he had to give it a little “Peter” twist. He proudly showed it to me and told me that he had named his leprechaun “General Green-vous.” That tickled me so much that I couldn’t quit doing my nerdy Star Wars grin for about a week.  The force is strong with that one!

Marie the Elephant

After some pretty grueling rehearsals, Marie’s kindergarten teacher cast her as “Elephant #1”  for her Circus performance. Our pretty little pachyderm was really more graceful than any elephant has the right to be. I told her dance teacher that she would have been proud to see the way Marie conscientiously pointed her toes for each and every skip.

The third photo was captured while she was watching the clowns perform. She said, "They were just SO funny!" 

On a side-note, Marie told me about her “true love” in her class. His name is Linus and he sports a surfer-dude haircut and that aura of elementary school confidence that makes all of the girls go wild. He was the Ring Master—of the circus and of Marie’s heart.

When I volunteered in Marie’s classroom I teased Linus and asked him if he has a little brother named Charlie. He said with a shocked look, “Yes!” Whoops. I’ve done my research and he wasn’t kidding. Just in case you were wondering, he doesn’t have a sister named Lucy.

Sixteen Years! How SWEET it is!

We stuck close to home and celebrated our 16th anniversary with our seven little “besties” (as the Young Women in my ward say). The kids and I surprised Eric at his office with a basket of 16 of his favorite things. (I giggled a little as the kids and I were picking them out because they included allergy medication, acid reliever and tissues.) We took Eric to lunch and of course the two of us couldn’t sit next to each other at the pizza buffet because it took TWO booths to contain us and all of our love. It was terribly appropriate. All nine of us then cuddled up on the couch to watch a movie (and of course, like people who have been married 16 years, Eric and I both promptly feel asleep.) To top off the day, Eric and I worked together on a family feast of  chicken picatta served over a bed of spiralized zucchini “pasta.” 

I think my favorite moment from our wonderfully mundane celebration was when Holden asked us about how we met and how we knew we wanted to marry each other. Our little (and not so little ones) lapped up the story as they ate their dinner and we reveled together in the celebration of the unique history of our own family team. 

I couldn't resist including this photo that was Eric's anniversary gift to me on our very first anniversary. For someone who hates getting his picture taken, it was an ultra-sweet gesture. As you can see, we didn't waste any time during that first year of marriage. . . and we'll always be grateful.

Eve-y B. Anthony, We Thank You

I received this message about our Eve from one of the Primary teachers in our ward a few weeks ago and I had to make it part of this month’s Review:

“Jann was announcing the Priesthood Preview, when Eve raised her hand and with her usual righteous indignation demanded (in a charming way) to know what was being done for the girls!  She just was so darn cute!  Jann who was struggling to keep it together, of course explained New Beginnings and a couple of the older girls testified that they had already had their 'party.'  She seemed a bit skeptical at that, but was satisfied that equal rights for women were being upheld in our Primary!”

The above picture was part of our pre-mommy-daughter-date photo up last Saturday when we went to the historic LDS Women’s Meeting together and then had a little dinner and delightfully Eve-ful conversation. I asked Eve what her favorite part of the meeting had been and she said dreamily, “Everything!” When I pressed her to be more specific, she mentioned how she really liked the talk about “how girls should stop comparing themselves to each other and just love each other.” She continued with conviction, “I think girls really needed to hear that!” Amen, my daughter!

 

I thought I’d also include part of Ethan’s Sacrament Meeting talk from church yesterday. He read the following experience from his journal:

Today is the last day of 2013. I had an interesting experience at a New Years Eve party. I watched a one or two or three year old girl. I have no idea whose child this was. I watched it pick up a small box of toys and select a little rubber horse toy. She hugged it and loved it, and even gave it a little kiss. That made me smile a bit. But then came the older kids. They weren’t older by much, maybe four or five-ish. They started to pick up building blocks and began to build. The toddler watched their building, tried to pick out a block of her own, but that was immediately taken by said the older kids.

That’s when I noticed a little spark of anger in her small eye. This made me sad to see the picture of innocence turn to anger and jealousy. The little girl reached out to one of the older kids and slapped one of their toy-filled hands. She then dropped the little horse she loved and then struggled to try and copy the older kids.

This only took a few minutes for this to happen, but it felt to me as if life had gone through and said good-bye. I guess that’s what life is like. We pick out our own toy to love, kiss, and to cherish forever. But then come others come and do other things which they claim to be better. We then decide, “Well, maybe it is better.” You pick out one of the praised toys but that is taken from you, causing anger or sadness. And all the while our beloved toy lays forgotten beneath the

wreckage of our struggle to build and to copy the others.

But of course, we could always ignore their chants of “Yay!” and, “Better!” and simply continue to cherish our little toy we specifically chose for eternal happiness. Sadly, that little girl I watched eventually dumped the entire box of building blocks onto her little horse in her frustration. I couldn’t see head or hoof of it. I left shortly after this, and as far as I know, that sad little horse is still beneath the pile of frustration and jealousy.