Happy Monday

Spring According to Me

Here are my rules for Spring:

Spring is for flowers.
Spring is for planning the garden and dreaming of children weeding it all summer long. :)
Spring is for warm weather after a terribly long, cold, long, long, long winter.



Spring is for remembering my grandpa and for going with him to pick up sweet little widow ladies for church on Easter.
Spring is for drinking in the sun.
Spring is for picnics.
OK, spring can be for rain. Flowers need rain.
Spring is for walks in the rain with my husband who should have had webbed feet.

Spring is NOT for sneezing.



Spring is for our annual Easter egg hunts.
Spring is for remembering the real reason for Easter.
Spring is for my grandma's amazing Easter dinners.
Spring is for children.

Spring is NOT for last minute snowstorms and thermal underwear. That is just wrong.



Spring is for the short sleeves and capris that have been hiding all winter.
Spring is for walking outside and for listening to birds singing in the morning.
Spring is watching the kids on the rope swing and riding up and down the street on their bikes in small teeming masses.
Spring is energy.



"Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn't permanent." (Jean Kerr in Finishing Touches) Good-bye winter.

Spring is hope.

Walter Wonk

The 5 year old went on a field trip last week and came home very excited about it. I had no idea what he was talking about. I could understand "Walter" and that they had been somewhere, but it wasn't until I got the weekly newsletter from his class, that it all became clear. They had been to the BYU Museum of Fine Art to see the Walter Wick exhibition. We cannot convince him that his name is Walter Wick. He insists on calling him Walter Wonk.

For those of you who don't know Walter Wick, he is the owner of the clever brain that makes the I Spy books. He also does optical illusion photos. For the record, I don't like optical illusions. They hurt my clever brain. Or not so clever as the case may be.



So for FHE last night, we decided to go to the museum as a family and let him be our guide. I have never seen a child so excited. He took us downstairs

and very loudly and animatedly (is that a word?) showed us all the pictures and how you need to look for the little peg-head man in each one. The exhibit is brilliant. It's at the MOFA till August 1 and is well worth the visit. It's colorful, it's clever, it's captivating, it rocks. Kids absolutely love it and OK, I quite enjoyed it myself.

But for as great as the actual exhibit is, by far the best thing about our trip was a little boy getting to be in charge and getting to share with us something he had learned and experienced apart from us. That doesn't happen often enough for the little caboose--he often feels left behind because he's too young to go where the big kids go. Thank you, Walter Wonk, for a magical evening.

Baby Steps

I finally finished my apron. I've seen these pretty frilly things for sale and figured I could make one if I just had a pattern. I found this cute pattern at www.mariemadelinestudio.com/chicsisters and it was pretty simple. There were a few tricky parts but I finally got through them and am very pleased with it. I'm thinking I'll have to make myself a few more before I'm done.

I've been reading some books set maybe 50 years ago on various farms. One of the characters mentions putting on her apron to do some work at about the same time I had finished my apron. I'm quite sure her apron was not a frilly thing. It called to mind again how blessed I feel to have not only the necessities of life, but some luxuries as well. I felt like making a pretty apron, so I bought the pattern, found some fun fabric and I made it. I wasn't struggling to make a living, I didn't have to save up for months to buy the fabric, and I didn't have to work from sunrise to sundown harvesting anything. By all accounts, I live a very easy life. If anything, I spend too much time dealing with excesses--I make trips to DI to empty our house of clutter, I exercise because I've eaten too much . . .

I hope that the next time I feel that I need something new or I that I need a little break from my spoiled life, that I will take a minute to think about those who have less. That I will appreciate the bounty of my rich life and express gratitude. That I will look beyond myself and my selfish desires. I often hesitate to help because I don't feel capable of solving world hunger, or of righting a great wrong. And while I may not be able to help someone on the other side of the world, I do know of a friend who is ill. Surely I can offer something small--something that will show that I am thinking of someone other than myself. Something that maybe only I can give--or maybe it's something that anyone can give and I will be the one lucky enough to actually do it.

And maybe I will wear my apron while I do it. I can't become too selfless all at once or no one will recognize me.

Things That Make Me Smile

This would be the 5 year old.



He makes me smile a lot.



Is it wrong to laugh at this? The accident report is so cute.



Still my all time favorite. Your day can't possibly ever be as bad as this:



He makes me crazy every day, but I absolutely love him.

Happy Valentine's Day to Me!

Just had to share my beautiful new clutch that arrived in the mail today from my friend, Bill Devaney, at Abas Leather. You can see their full line of products at http://www.abasaccessories.com. They have beautiful things. I typically go for black--clothes, accessories, shoes, handbags . . . This is kind of exciting and brave for me to try "berry." Maybe I'll turn over a new leaf and be more adventurous. We can always hope.

Nerdness

I am a cool mom. My oldest son has been working on a Colonial unit at school and some of you will remember the coat and vest I made him for that. He wanted to dress up again as Paul Revere for one of his projects so I made him a matching hat yesterday. How cool is that? I was going to post a picture but it turned out kind of retarded. So I guess that lowers the coolness factor. Significantly. At least he was happy with it and went off to school wearing it today.

That's the story of my life. I guess I've always been a nerd, although I won't admit that to my husband. But I have halfway cool ideas and I try to prove that I am, after all, a cool person. But then my execution fails slightly and in the end, I'm still a nerd. Oh well.

It's shocking really when you see how well I used to dress: