We’re reading a bit of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol together each night this month. Degen and Maggie both love it and almost invariably ask for more when I close the book for the evening (might also have something to do with lights-out after reading time). Heidi, on the other hand, isn’t interested at all and loves to sing and talk loudly to herself while I read. Tonight I was at the part where the Ghost of Christmas present sprinkles his “peculiar incense” on people and houses and food to bless them. Heidi proved that she actually was listening a bit by chiming in with “What’s peculiar mean, Mommy?” I answered “It means ‘special.’” “What’s special mean, Mommy?” she returned. “It means different from everything else.” “Okay, Mommy.” Vocabulary building for nearly-three-year-olds by Charles Dickens.

I’ve been thinking about Easter and its religious significance, and I wanted to make this year’s celebration a more personal and spiritual experience for myself.  So, when I read Eric Hunstman’s article (here) on how his family observes Easter, I jumped on his tradition of reading in the New Testament each day of the week before Easter about that day on the last week of the Savior’s mortal life.  For each day of the week, he’s posted a simple list of scripture references from the four Gospels detailing what happened on the correlative day of the week of the first Easter.  I’m sure this isn’t a new idea and that I could probably find a similar list in the LDS Bible Dictionary or by googling it, but that’s where I found it and I give him credit.

Each day’s reading so far has only taken a few minutes to read, and I’ve found myself coming away wanting to know and understand more.  So I checked out the New Testament institute manual lessons about that time period here.  It’s really helpful to have the added context of maps and historical details and discussions of how the passages of scripture relate to each other.  I definitely recommend spending the extra time reading about the events of Easter there.

Easter and Passover overlap this year, and I’ve been thinking about their intertwined messages.  Since I was a little girl when we lived in Israel, my parents have participated in a Passover seder every year.  I haven’t been able to join them in a long time, but I remember our seders as some of the most meaningful celebrations of my life.  I miss them!  I really should find a community seder to attend someday.  I wonder if Colin would want to go with me.  I just looked it up and there’s one in Berkeley tomorrow.   That would be a totally appropriate Family Home Evening…but it’s $45 each!  Eeek.   And how would I explain the wine to my kids… and our no alcohol thing to the hosts?  Maybe another year.  And I have a box of Matzah in the cupboard for my own mini-celebration of the Exodus.   There is a lot to be grateful for this week.

Speaking of Family Home Evening, we should have an Easter FHE tomorrow.  If we do, and it were to go the way I planned it (it never does), this is how I’d do it:

Song: Did Jesus Really Live Again?

Prayer

Lesson: Watch the DVD of “To This End Was I Born” (or on YouTube here), or the shorter “Lamb of God” video if we have less time

Talk about what we saw.  Discuss how the symbols of eggs and flowers and Spring itself point to Jesus Christ and the resurrection.

Activity: Dyeing eggs is an obvious one.  Or we could perform our talents for our family reunion talent show–Grandma wants at least one of the kids to recite the 13th Article of Faith. I’m not totally confident that any of them will be able overcome their stage fright, but maybe practicing would help.

Song: I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Prayer

Refreshments:  How about these cute little chocolate “nests” with jellybeans for eggs?  They look super easy.  They have the added advantage of being gluten-free, which is good because we found out a couple of months ago that Colin is gluten-intolerant so he has to eat food that has no wheat in it.  If we wanted to get more complicated, I’ll bet we could use our favorite 5 Minute Cookies recipe to make the nests.

Simpler, we could just distribute Peeps.  I’m not all that into them taste-wise, but have to admit they are cute.  And it would get the kids in bed sooner.

Possibly more yummy, but certainly less dessert-y, would be deviled eggs.

Hey, these bunnies are adorable and look easy and kid friendly!

Can you tell I like dessert?

The point of this background is that I grew up celebrating a lot of Jewish holidays in an orthodox fashion and now I like to squeeze them into my own little family’s life here and there.  When we moved back to the States, our family continued to occasionally and mostly casually celebrate some of these holidays in a modified fashion.  I think my parents still have a Bushman-style Passover seder every year.

For months I’ve been meaning to make latkes, the Hanukkah classic, which are basically hashbrown pancakes.  We always ate them with sour cream and applesauce growing up, and I think that’s an Israeli/Jewish thing we picked up.  Finally, seeing the holiday was this week, I managed to gear up the energy to grate a bunch of potatoes and fry them up last night.  They didn’t turn out very well, actually, I think because I couldn’t get the electric skillet hot enough.  And I skimped on the oil.  So they ended up greasy and not crisp.  Better luck next time.  The brussels sprouts and chicken sausage I served with them were a bigger hit with the adults, but the kids loved the potato pancakes.  What is it with kids and round, flat foods with toppings?  Maybe I should start calling more things pancakes!

Hanukkah is a celebration of a miracle involving oil.  Israel had been occupied by the Seleucid empire (Syrian-Greek), who were somewhat successful in their efforts to unify their empire by wiping out all religions but one–the idol-worshiping Hellenistic religion.  They had conquered Jerusalem and vandalized the temple there, carrying away many sacred items (including the golden menorah) and placing their own idols inside.    A small band of Jewish men, the Maccabees, fought off a huge Syrian army and won back the city of Jerusalem and the temple.  They fashioned a new menorah and rededicated the temple, but discovered that there was only one day worth of properly prepared and oil for the menorah, which was required to burn without interruption.  God miraculously made that one day’s worth of oil burn the entire eight days required to prepare new oil for the lamp.

Homemade sufganiyah. Yum!

The miracle is about oil, so oily foods are eaten to commemorate it.  And, apart from latkes, my favorite Hanukkah food growing up was sufganiyot.  Sufganiyot are deep-fried jelly donuts with powdered sugar on top, and I remember eating these and getting powdered sugar all over everything, including up my nose.  And I loved it!  I’d never made donuts before on my own, but I felt inspired by my hanukkah-y dinner to try it.  I found a recipe online here and made the dough before dinner.  After dinner, the kids and I rolled out the dough, cut it, and fried it.  Then I tried to put some of the blackberry jam I made this summer inside with a ziplock and a frosting tip, which didn’t work at all.  I guess the jam was too liquid, because it just kept draining out before I could get it into the donuts.  So, we dipped them in powdered sugar and ate.  And some of the donuts were raw in the middle (that’s what I get for frying without a thermometer), but the smaller ones were great!

Some of our sufganiyot

Degen discovered that you can cut donuts into other shapes–like a Christmas tree and an angel–and they stay that shape when you fry them!  And thus we got Christmas Sufganiyot (I’m hoping that doesn’t offend anyone).   Does Heidi look happy, or what?

Degen created this angel-shaped donut

Heidi this morning at breakfast, enjoying her donut

We invited five girls and three are coming, plus Colin’s sister Kim.  Maggie’s counting her among her invitees (unlike the moms of the other girls), and I’m not sure how Kim’s going to react to Maggie’s plans to have her sit at the table with them.  Hopefully she’ll love it!  All the girls have been invited to wear their “princess dresses,” whatever that means to them, and Maggie doesn’t yet know that Kim will be coming as Snow White!  It’ll be interesting to see whether Kim comes “in character” (she used to be various princesses on Disney cruise lines so she really knows how it’s done) and whether Maggie will be excited to see Snow White or disturbed if Kim insists that her name is Snow White.  Four is such an unpredictable age….sometimes.

We’re serving “Pink Pink Lemonade,” as Maggie calls it.  I bought a can of pink lemonade concentrate and another of raspberry lemonade concentrate and asked her which she wanted, and she said she wanted the pink one.  Later I explained that raspberry lemonade is pink, too.  Then she got all excited and said we could mix them and then we’d have “pink pink lemonade!”  We’ll have peanut butter and jam sandwiches, cut into heart shapes, and cucumber sandwiches, cut into triangles.  And I made chocolate covered strawberries this afternoon, so I think they’ll like that (moms too!).  And we have a honeydew melon and grapes in the fridge, so if there’s time I may make melon balls and skewer them and the grapes with toothpicks for fun.

Yesterday I baked the cake, which I have yet to decorate.  My mom made me doll cakes when I was growing up and I adored them!  She gave me her cake pan this summer when we were visiting and now Maggie wants one.  I’m excited and nervous–I’m not half the cake decorator my mother is, and that’s not false modesty.  But I would love to make Maggie feel as good as I did when I got those beautiful cakes and it’ll be a fun challenge.  I want it to look something like this one from my fourth birthday, only in pink.

The one thing Maggie asked for specifically is a pinata.  I know, it doesn’t seem very princess-y to hit a candy-filled container with a bat while blindfolded, but Degen had one and Dora the Explorer had one, and she wants one.  And guess where I found a PRINCESS PINATA… At the dollar store!   How could I say no when I could give her her dream for $1?  So, we’re going to play musical statues and hit the pinata as activities (Maggie wanted to do “pin the tiara on the princess” earlier, but I’m hoping she’s forgotten about that).

I’ve got pink and white streamers for decorating the deck in the morning and I talked to the florist at the grocery store this morning and she said that they arrive at 6am, so we might do some helium balloons with those streamers if I’m feeling particularly relaxed.  If not, no one will know they were a possibility.

The favors will be the candy and toys (dollar store necklaces, ring pops, fun size twix and reeses, and some dollar store princess watches) from the pinata, plus a couple of princess-y accessories set next to their places at the table.  We’ve got dollar store tiaras (4/$1) and plastic jewel earrings (also 4 pairs/$1) and scepter wands (8/$1).  And I’ve still got to have Maggie decorate those white paper bags for the girls to take their things home in.  I hope I don’t forget!

I still haven’t talked to Maggie about what she’s going to wear for her princess outfit, though I’m counting on her going for her fairy princess costume from last Halloween or for a church dress.  And Degen protests that he’s definitely NOT a prince, though he does want to participate in the birthday festivities…so we’ll see how that goes.  I think Heidi will happily put on a pretty dress.  Oooohh…maybe I should do light pink icing on that cake since we’re having princesses in fancy dresses over.  I wonder if that’s why Mom chose yellow for my cake–I’ll bet it washes out easier.

I also need to make a Happy Birthday banner for the kitchen for Saturday (a Bushman tradition, those banners), plus maybe a sign for the front door for Friday.   And I suppose this evening I could cut some flowers in the garden for the tables. And I should set out chairs for the adults on the deck as well as the kids.  And I should have Colin help Maggie pick out a playlist on his iPod of music for the musical statues game.  Oh!  And I just read this idea to pre-scoop ice cream into paper cupcake liners that I may do.  I hate scooping ice cream under pressure.

Hopefully I’ll remember everything.  I’m planning on taking a photo of all the girls together in their princess finery and then printing the photo out and having Maggie help me write thank you notes on the back.  But if I’m going to do that, I have to remember to TAKE the photo!

Here’s my party schedule:

Kids arrive, play musical statues

Sit down at tables: tiaras, earrings,

Snow White arrives: lemonade & sandwiches

Pinata

Cake and ice cream

Open presents

Hopefully that will take up our hour and a half and the girls will go home happy and content.

For those of you researching for princess party ideas online like I was, here are some other good and inexpensive ideas I came across, but that I’m not going to do…

Favors: glitter, feather boas, lip balm, light colored nail polish, princess stickers

Activities: Make crowns, decorate cupcakes, play princess dress-up with goodwill prom dresses and mom’s accessories (or make it a relay!), string candy necklaces, practice walking with books on your head like a princess, build cookie castles (like gingerbread houses)

Food: cheese cubes on toothpicks, cream cheese and jam sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, anything cut into a heart or crown shape with cookie cutters, frosted sugar cookies with sugar glitter, olives (4 year old princesses look lovely with hands bedecked in olives), cupcakes, castle cake

Decorations: red carpet (made of tulle or felt or tissue paper or plastic tablecloth), “welcome to the castle” or “Last Name Kingdom” sign at entrance, tulle canopy

Speaking of schedules, I think my earlier post should have been called “ideal” rather than “typical.”  I rarely get dinner on the table that early, and I think that night I got it together closer to bedtime, which is also fairly late quite often.  But it’s good to have a schedule to shoot for even if you don’t hit it exactly very often.

Last night Sonja helped me cut out the pieces for the pajamas I’m making for Heidi for Christmas.  My mom always used to give all us kids pjs for Christmas every year, often making them herself, and I’ve continued the tradition in our family.  Sonja and I went down to the fabric store on Monday when the patterns were on sale for $2 and picked out a pattern that would work for all the kids, plus possibly Maggie’s Halloween costume (she wants to be a doctor this year).  And flannel happened to be on sale, so I bought the fabric for all the pjs while we were there.  Last night I figured it’d be a good idea to get going on the project while I was still excited about it and Sonja helped me lay everything out and cut it out, which is almost invariably the toughest part for me.  It was fun because, like my mom, she’s very skilled in getting things straight and accurate and saving fabric.  I think she saved about 1/2 yard over what the pattern required!  Pretty amazing. I LOVE the fabric we found–Heidi’s is a brown polka dot, Degen’s a robot print, and Maggie’s has frogs and butterflies.  The colors all coordinate, and they’ll be in the same pattern, and it’s going to be so cute!  I just hope I can get it all done.  Four months seems like a long time till you have to work only during nap time and after bed…  I have no idea how my mother did it.

Where did I go to investigate?  Wikipedia, of course.  The Wikipedia said the following:

It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with the labor movement as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.

What?  How could I be ignorant of such a dramatic story that started a holiday I “observe” every year?  Wikipedia’s sources included links to a PBS Newshour segment that says this:

The movement for a national Labor Day had been growing for some time. In September 1892, union workers in New York City took an unpaid day off and marched around Union Square in support of the holiday. But now, protests against President Cleveland’s harsh methods made the appeasement of the nation’s workers a top political priority. In the immediate wake of the strike, legislation was rushed unanimously through both houses of Congress, and the bill arrived on President Cleveland’s desk just six days after his troops had broken the Pullman strike.

1894 was an election year. President Cleveland seized the chance at conciliation, and Labor Day was born. He was not reelected.

In 1898, Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, called it “the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed…that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it.”

The Wikipedia article also linked to the US Dept of Labor which had this to say on the holiday’s history:

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Hmmm…the Department of Labor sure glosses over the history of Labor Day’s passage through Congress, no?

Anyway, while I believe the people must have the right to organize themselves in a free country, I’m generally not a fan of labor unions.  And I’m really not a fan of politically strong-arming or compromises made in election years in order to get a union to vote for you (or not tell people to not vote for you).  I am a fan of hard workers, of recognizing accomplishments, and the American Dream.  And I am a fan of a day off near the end of summer.

So today, since we’ve got the day together as a family regardless of the origins of the time off, we did some playing.  Sonja and I took advantage of a Labor Day Sale and did a little frugal shopping for Christmas (yes, I’m already thinking about Christmas).  Then we all went to a local burger joint for lunch and headed to the cheese factory 20 minutes away and enjoyed the sunshine and the pond with some lovely strangers who shared a fishing pole with Degen.  Just before we left, Sonja discovered one of her favorite earrings had dropped somewhere during our adventures and we headed back to the burger joint where the management had found and saved her earring in case she returned for it.  Thus, a celebration was in order and ice cream cones were ordered for everyone.  Heidi had her first all-to-herself cone (strawberry flavored), Degen had rocky road, Maggie orange sherbet, Colin mint chocolate chip (arguably his all-time fav), and I had chocolate chip cookie dough.  Now that we’re home, Degen is playing Xbox, Maggie is using a small bud vase as an instrument, Colin and Heidi are napping.  Very pleasantly un-labor-y if you ask me.

It won’t last much longer.  I have about four (maybe five?) loads of clean laundry to fold and put away, a bathroom to clean, and a dinner that I think I’m not actually going to make.  This week I need to sort through kids clothes (again!) to pull out the ones that don’t fit.  I really want to get going on some sewing projects this week; my advent calendar, quiet book, and Christmas pjs are the ones that keep poking at my brain.  And I HAVE to do something with those berries we picked in the next 24 hours.  Plus, I just took on the Emergency Preparedness team lead for Degen’s school and already have a meeting with his Principal coming up (I spent three hours this morning doing online training for that role).  And I want to work on filing, finances, and Foomusic.com.  Good problems to have, no?

Happy Father's Day!

To the left you see the brainchild of my brother.  One of his school teachers showed him a picture of herself that looked like she was pushing the Leaning Tower of Pisa back up straight.  It was Nephi’s idea to do a similar thing by taking a picture of my finger either holding the Washington Monument up or squishing it down (I’m not sure which).  We were standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to take the picture.  We actually got to take a free tour inside the Washington Monument and go up to the top and look out at an amazing view of the city from the top.  It’s a really cool place, and the strangest part of the entire tour was when we were going down the elevator there were little windows in the elevator that let us see glimpses of big carved memorial blocks on the walls inside the monument that were from different donators (including states, labor unions, masons, etc) to the building effort, then fogged over for the rest of the trip down.  We decided that that part of the tour is perfect fodder for making up a conspiracy theory.    Anyway, it was really neat inside and I’m glad I went on the tour instead of just seeing it from the outside as I’d planned.

Another worthwhile tour (also free-it’s so cool that there’s all this free stuff to do there) we went on was the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to see money being printed.  Very cool.  Did you know that those who engrave the plates our money is printed from have to do a 10-year apprenticeship?  I felt a little bad for those who are 5 years into the apprenticeship now, because the tour guide said that they’re working on transitioning to making the master plates with computers instead of having them hand-engraved.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but we saw printers working on huge presses that they say go about 24/7 for 30 years at a time.  It was especially fun to go through with Colin, who was able to point out other items of interest because of his printing background.  Oh, and there was a funny sign inside next to one of the presses that said something like “How do you think I feel?  I just printed more than my entire lifetime salary in a few minutes!”

We also saw the WWII Memorial, the National Archives (where the Delaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Bill of Rights are), the Smithsonian Sculpture Gardens, the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, and the National Botanical Gardens.  We drove by the Capitol, I saw the White House from afar, and we saw the Pentagon from the car.  My touristy side is quite satisfied with the list of destinations I made it to.

Emily’s graduation was lovely, with perfect weather and a casual atmosphere, complete with grass for the kids to run and play on.  Maggie was exhausted and faught sleep the entire time, but even then she wasn’t super-grumpy.  Our sweet, friendly Degen managed to find some kids his age in his wanderings around the quad and played some ball.

Colin and I went on a date on Saturday night and had dinner at a place called Hard Times Cafe, where they specialize in various kinds of chili.  Colin had a chili burger and I had a Frito-chili pie, both great comfort-food, for less than $20, which is pretty good considering where we were.  It was a great break from the norm and from the kids, so thanks to the family for the time off!  It was so nice to have free, loving babysitters.

Both kids did great both ways on the airplanes, and thank goodness since I traveled “alone” with them (Colin had to fly seperately so that he could work).  Degen was excited about the idea of being on a plane at all, and Maggie just slept the entire time on the way over.

For the most part, the airport and airline staff were great!  We had an “expediter” in the Delta check-in line at BWI who messed us up more than once and made my mom (my parents helped me while I checked in) REALLY mad.  But the security staff were so nice as we walked through the metal detectors and got our shoes back on.  The Delta staff at our Cincinnati layover were the BEST, though, and totally went above and beyond the call of duty.  On the first leg of our flight home, there was a medical emergency a couple of rows ahead of us, and we had to make an emergency landing to get someone off the plane and to the hospital (some great EMTs and a nurse on board had to give the man an IV on the plane while we were in the air and everything), so we were late getting to the Cincinnati airport for the connecting flight.  Our plane arrived about 15 minutes before my connecting flight was supposed to take off.  We had to get on a shuttle going to another concourse, then get across the concourse, check in at the gate, then get on another plane.  Aside from the time (which seemed impossible), I was concerned about seating because the flight was full and they’d been unable to assign Degen and I seats together.  But when I finally got to the gate the plane was still waiting for me, and the attendant at the gate (Delta hero #1)had actually noticed the problem with me and Degen sitting a few rows apart and made a phone call before I got there to the person sitting next to Degen and asked her to sit in my seat!  THAT is great service.  So, she checked us in and sent us off to get on the plane. I wish I could remember her name so I could put it here, but I was in a hurry at the time and didn’t notice her name tag.  If any of you at Delta are looking for a person to give an award to, give it to the woman who was working Cincinnati Aiport Gate C74 on Monday, May 19th, at 9:50am.

It was one of those tiny planes that you have to go outside and climb up stairs to get on board, and I was so relieved to get in line and on the airplane, until I noticed that other people were in our seats.  I asked the flight attendant where we should sit, she looked at my boarding passes, smiled, and said we were on the wrong plane!  Ahhhh!  I hadn’t noticed that there were several gates together all going to a parking lot of planes and I’d just gotten on the closest one!  The kind, very pregnant flight attendant (Delta hero #2) carried Degen to the tarmac while I carried Maggie down the steps and handed us over to a friendly baggage handler (Delta hero #3).  He pleasantly joked with Degen and carried him to our plane (which was waiting just for us!) and helped me with our luggage while I got us settled in the front row.  The flight attendant there seemed rather displeased with me and the world in general, but at least she didn’t make any rude comments or roll her eyes.

When we finally got to the Little Rock airport, we discovered that neither of my two strollers had made it home on the plane.  The lady at the Delta luggage counter (Delta hero #4) was friendly and helped me with the kids and my luggage as she tried to track down the strollers.  It turned out they never made it on the plane in Baltimore!  But she found them and had them put on a flight right away and then delivered to my house that night.  She also gave me a loaner stroller (offered two, but I only needed one for the night), and helped me get everything to the desk of the shuttle service my dad had hired for me.  I’d irresponsibly left getting myself a ride home till the day before, then noticed I didn’t have any phone numbers with me.  Colin talked to a couple of people for me, but couldn’t find a ride either.  Colin had accidentally left all of his keys with me in DC, so he couldn’t even get into our house or car himself and had to stay with very generous friends.  So, Mom and Dad volunteered to chip in (again!) and got me and the kids a ride home.  It was so nice!  Thank you mom and dad!

We finally got home and all took naps, then picked Colin up from work and bought some groceries and diapers.  So, we had a great, exciting, adventurous trip.  And I recommend avoiding driving in DC and 6am flights with toddlers.  Amen.

To all of you moms out there, happy Mother’s Day!  My mother is definitely one of the best mothers ever, and I dare anyone to try to top her efforts or results.   Really, try it, you’ll be happier for it.  My mom is a great teacher and nurturer without being smothering or pedantic.  It’s a tough line to walk, but she does it gracefully and I’m grateful for her example.  Thank you for all you do for me and my little family, Mom.

I’ve had an awesome, though atypical, Mother’s Day so far.  Usually Sunday mornings are full of me rushing around trying to get everyone else to rush around to get ready for church.  This morning was calm and relaxed with no rushing, yet we all got to church early–and completely dressed!  And I even had time/took the time to curl my hair, so I felt relatively pretty.

At church some kids and the EQ president helped me set up the Primary room, so I got to sit down in plenty of time for Sacrament Meeting with my family in the pew instead of in the hallway.  Although neither of my counselors were at church today, my secretary was at church after a few weeks of travel and was soooo wonderfully helpful.  Two kids actually begged me to let them give the talk and scripture (which coincidentally hadn’t been assigned in advance this week) and we’d asked a member of the bishopric weeks before to do Sharing Time, so all I had to do was conduct and patrol the halls.  My patrolling was fun because we had some exciting “emergencies” like a little boy with his foot harmlessly stuck under a chair that I got to un-stick.

Near the beginning of Primary, my husband came in to let me know that he was going with some of the rest of the EQ to go help a family in the stake whose house had been severely damaged in a tornado last night.  So, after Primary I headed home alone with the kids and called some of my sisters and my mother.  Then I got to go visit my Primary counselor who recently got home from the hospital and had a great time talking with her, despite the kids’ unsuccessful attempts to destroy her home.  Colin called me on the way home from that to say he’s on his way home.

It’s been a great day.  Not because of all the thoughtful gifts my husband and kids did or didn’t get me, and not because I’m a great mother, and not because everything fell into place the way I would have imagined it if I were designing the perfect Mother’s Day.  It’s been a great Mother’s Day because the Lord has blessed me with gratitude today.  I’m grateful for the silk flower corsages the young women and young men at church gave to all the women in the ward.  I’m grateful for the Mother’s Day handprints my kids made for me in Nursery today.  I’m grateful to have two good, healthy kids–a huge blessing that I’m more aware of since I’m often in the company of women who don’t have children at all.  I’m grateful that Colin did the dishes last night just to make me happy.  I’m grateful to have the kind of husband who will cheerfully leave a meeting to serve strangers far away doing the manual labor he normally dislikes so much.  I’m grateful to be healthy and strong and to be able to move around and do almost anything I want to do and to have had a full night of sleep last night in a safe place.  I’m thankful to have plenty of food in the house for our family.  I’m thankful to have a family that loves me and accepts me, flaws and all.  I’m thankful for my mother and her mother and my father’s mother.  And today is perfect.

The catch is that Colin can’t come as early as I or stay as long, so I’ll be flying alone with two toddlers.  I must be crazy, but I’m kind of looking forward to the challenge.  I can barely get them across a parking lot together by myself, and yet I’m planning to take them across two airports, a country, and a city.  Hah!  Oh, and I’ll be taking a stroller, two car seats, diaper bag/purse, and a bag.  Colin will be bringing the rest of our luggage when he flies in, because I just can’t handle more stuff myself.

Plus, my flight with the kids (each way) leaves at 6am.  That puts us waking up around 2:30 in the morning on our way back to Little Rock, since we’ll have to be at the airport at 4am for check in and security, give an hour to drive there from the hotel, and half an hour to get everyone up and going.  What in the world am I going to do about food?  That diaper bag will have to be full of blankies, graham crackers, pb&j sandwiches, and whatever else I can think of to feed the kiddos.  Any suggestions for surviviing this adventure?