Music and Ashes.

Last night we attended our first district music festival for orchestra. It included all of the orchestra students from all schools in town, 5th through 12th grade. I loved it. It really hit me that Emily is getting older when I saw her among all the different grade levels. The high school kids played so well and they looked so elegant, the boys were wearing black suits and the girls in long black dresses. Before the finale, they gave out awards for the high school seniors that had been in the music program consecutively from 5th to 12th grade.

Emily wears her hair pulled back in a low pony tail every single day of the week, so when she told me she wanted to wear it down, I was pleasantly surprised. She looked so pretty. Before it began, Eva was watching Emily with her friends and several times she yelled from the bleachers, "Emily, take it easy!" It was hilarious, I am thankful she did it before and not during! It was hard to get a good photo while she was playing, this is the best I could do, and it only shows about 20% of the kids who were performing.

After the concert, we rushed over to attend the Ash Wednesday service at our church. It's funny to watch the kids get excited about having a cross traced into their foreheads with ashes. When Wyatt realized that this was that day, he said, "oh good I really like this part." It's a novel idea for the kids, we encourage them to get dirt on their heads and we are all happy about it. I just have to remember to also remind them why we do it. I'm not so good at putting these things into my own words so I looked this up:

Our foreheads are marked with ashes to humble our hearts and reminds us that life passes away on Earth. We remember this when we are told "man is dust, and unto dust you shall return."

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption.

Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the blessing of the Church, and they help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice.

Well, all I can say is Ash Wednesday totally works. It really does nudge me to heartily consider my mortality, my weaknesses and my ultimate purpose and I think it's a really good time to rouse those reflections. The first time I ever recall noticing someone who received the ashes was in 1987 when I worked at Farmers Insurance, it was an older woman named Shirley, I was ignorant about these things and I thought she was eccentric! It would be ten more years before I understood what that was all about and experienced Ash Wednesday for myself.

Love it. It's a fine time of year in another awesome way as well, the blossoms that appeared this week on the trees are telling me that the seasons are a changin' and all I can say to that is hey Mother Nature, bring it girlfriend!

Yosemite Weekend Adventure.

Six of us in the tiny 250 square foot [maybe] cabin was not the best idea we have ever had. We have to stop being so optimistic when we make our out of town plans. It's not that we mind close quarters, it's just that we may have reached the tipping point in regard to the size of our family and the ages of our kids. As it is, I cannot make a reservation without "adjusting" the number of children traveling.

You can't make a reservation with four kids because the internet won't let you, I have to change the number to three before it will accept my reservation for any kind of lodging. When we arrive to register, all the kids stay in the car, then we trek over to our room in two groups, trying not to draw attention to ourselves, or at least I try. The kids are usually vociferously oblivious to my routine panic attacks at check-in. Not that it matters, the hotel/motel people don't seem to pay us any special attention. Either it doesn't really matter or I am doing a good job of keeping a low profile. I think it doesn't really matter. I am totally not buying a second room any time soon, maybe it will eventually come to that, when our kids are much older kids, for now we will squeeze in and stay together. The mini cabin will never again be an option, I know that for sure. I will spare you the dirty details because they are just me being whiny and boring.

On the upside, it was fun when we were outside the mini cabin. The park was loaded with snow and just that alone made it worth the while for kids. It was quite breathtaking. I don't remember being in Yosemite in winter, though I did have a flashback of some kind at the ice rink. I made it known that I had never been to it and the recesses of my mind told me differently as soon as we arrived there, I think it was with my family as a teenager, I think.

For me, Yosemite is a place that always kind of freaks me out in a newly discovered way. I know what it is, I have been there so many times. Yet, when I drive into it, it's like I am seeing it for the first time again and I am devastated by it. It's kind of overwhelming really. And, thouroughly indescribable so this paragraph ends here.

We played in the snow, sledded and ice skated. Eva decided that it was her turn to learn to ice skate along with us, that was the highlight of the weekend for me. This was not a trip for sight seeing particularly. On our way out on Sunday when we thought we may have a chance to do a little hiking and looking around, it was raining just hard enough to keep us in our car and make us want to hurry home.

So that's it, I never want to see those cabins again but I am still glad we went. Maybe a day trip in the spring is in order so we can show the kids more of the park. Wyatt was so impressed with the big rocks and boulders. His vocabulary is full of many colorful words to express bigness, but the rocks that were at least as big as our house pretty much left him speechless. The awe on his face told the story.

Bright Ideas.

Why do lemons get such a bad rap? I love lemons and their perfect yellow. Is there a better representation of yellow in all of nature? Maybe a flower or how about the sun itself? The sun really doesn't count because the sun is, well, the sun. Plus, you can't even gaze upon it and savor it's yellowness because, well, it's the sun. Lemons are so super scrumptious too, and what gives a fresher smell than lemons?

So why do we say, when life gives you lemons...or call a crappy car a lemon? It just seems unfair. Lemons must not have had very good historical representation. There are so many great things you can do with a lemon. Juices and cakes and cookies and tarts, cleaning solutions, other good smelling fresh things. What would grilled seafood be without a squeeze of lemon? Right, just grilled seafood.

Believe it or not, the lemon Girl Scout cookie has replaced the thin mint as my favorite. If I can find time later today, I am going to put on a song I love, Bright as Yellow by Innocence Mission and use up some of my lemon juice to make some yummy Lemon bars! I like it when I can blend two things I love so nicely.

Look at this bright idea. My boy is one freaky little dude when it comes to innovative ways to use Scotch tape.
Staples too for that matter, remember this one? I was entirely surprised and amazed when I walked in on this. Maybe he is meant to be some big adhesive guru in the future, maybe he will someday invent some super adhesive that no one has ever thought of! At least I will always know how to entertain him, just hand him a stapler and a roll of tape and let him do his business!

I wish I could buy you an Irish Coffee [or five] this morning and sing Happy Birthday to you along with a crowd of people!

Happy 40th Birthday Sis! I love you!

Heavy Hearts.

My heart goes out, and hurts, for my Mother's dear friend Brenda who lost her son PJ last week. He was barely 26 years old and passed away just as he was finally on his way to receiving a very long awaited kidney transplant at Stanford.

I remember the first time I saw him, I had never seen a baby wearing eyeglasses before and he was so cute. Later, I would learn that he had a rare medical condition that, among other things, caused him to begin to lose his sight at an early age. His family would visit often when I still lived at home with my parents. I remember babysitting for him and his brother Andy a few times and they were wonderful, energetic little boys and I have such fond memories of them and their family. I did not really know PJ as a teenager or an adult except through the occasional things that my Mother would pass along to me in conversation.

I do know that he was a truly exceptional person and that he will be missed by many people. I know he was sweet. I know he busted boundaries. I know he was extremely intelligent. I know that I was blessed to have known him for a little while. I know he had an amazing smile. I also know that now he is in the loving arms of his Father in heaven, and for that we are all smiling.

In 2002, I borrowed all of my Mom's VHS and transferred hundreds of family clips from the tapes onto my computer. I just uploaded this one, I think it's about 20 years old, and this is how I remember PJ.

Goodies.

This week the kids have been busy creating their Valentines for school.

One of my favorite bloggers has made some free valentine card printables if you need them. They're her original artwork, super cute, and especially great if you're in a pinch. Wyatt and Eva are both using them, Wyatt added a stick [corn dog style!] to his cards, they're so much fun!

Eva had her Valentine party today, her first one, it was cute, it was fun. She had to bring a decorated box with a mail slot in it. I remember making a box like that when I was little!

I have a really old book called Favorite Short Stories. I found a little treasure in it the other night. Though it's a Christmas story, I thought it an amazing fit for February, It's called The Gift of the Magi. It's a very short, simple, beautiful love story. My favorite line from the story is [she] went to work repairing the ravages of generosity added to love. I like the way it sounds when I say it out loud. It just sounds so unselfish and dramatically sweet.

I'm not yet familiar with it but the Google book search [I did notice that clicking on view plain text is a lot easier on the eyes] looks interesting, especially since a Kindle would be out of the question, or so my pocketbook said so. And don't remind me that I have not finished any of the books I have intended to read in the last couple of years. I guess that's why I'm enjoying short stories so much, no real commitment involved!

I have conquered my cough and my thumb is beginning to heal nicely. Now I have developed a fear of knives, I am such a baby with them now. Nice short week on the horizon, I'm looking forward to a little down time with the kiddos. I think we'll try to make these cookies, they don't look too complicated and I do love shortbread, yum!

Little Wonders.

We saw the sun and things warmed up for a while, so we spent some time at the park during Emily's piano lesson this week. Wyatt and Sarah have had a few major fights at this park, but thankfully not this day.

For the record, I did ask them to stand together in that embrace and I am glad I had my finger on the camera button because it only lasted .0000085 of a second. As for Eva, she is really this much fun, all the time.

This week, I have been trying to feel better on two fronts. First, a nagging hacking cough that won't give me a freaking break. Second, a mutilated left thumb that may at some point necessitate a trip to the doctor if it does not start feeling better soon. In a moment of supreme foolishness last Saturday I stabbed my own self in the thumb with a paring knife. I have never been stabbed before, but on the stabbing scale I'm sure that halfway through your thumb is minor compared to other kinds of stabbings, but it still hurts. A LOT. How did it happen? Let's just say the knife slid off of a piece of very hard plastic shaped like a ball that I had no business on earth trying to pierce so I could drain the water out of it for Eva. I have used at least 20 bandaids in the past six days as I am now trying not to knock it on anything lest it cause me more pain. I have named it my Frankenthumb, it's not pretty.

This is good. Just now Eva is screaming at me from across the house to bring her toilet paper. Well just this morning I was in the same predicament in the other bathroom. I called out for her to help me. She replied from her room where she was no doubt working on something important, "no mommy, [dramatic pause] I don't think so." And now, a teaching moment for me here, to help her know a little compassion. But instead, I have just returned from telling her "na na na na na na" before I gave her the roll.

Have a great weekend.