"The best night I ever sawn"--Abigail

After much delay and procrastination, and despite a load of unfilled Etsy orders and a really messy house, tonight we put up our Halloween decorations. My kids would say our "fall" decorations, and they are right, I am not much of a Halloween decorator. Luckily after they unloaded all the decorations onto the rug and found them lacking, Warren and Abigail decided to make their own "homemade decorations, the best kind," as Warren said knowingly. This is is pumpkin with chicken pox. (Really, that's what he said)

About 9:00, Warren got hungry and I had wanted chocolate chip cookies all day, so we turned on some Halloween music and made cookies. I let them eat at least 5 "dough balls" each. They relish the opportunities to pour, to stir, to crack eggs.

Pretty soon after we put the cookies in the oven, Warren fell asleep on the couch. Abigail, however was still going strong. She decorated the Thankful tree with all the paper leaves on hooks, and she was so starry-eyed over the whole thing, you'd have thought she was decorating the Christmas tree. Really, she was almost crying she was so happy. The whole night she kept saying things like, "This is the best night I ever sawn"; "This is the best night ever" (at least 6 times and even as she was cleaning); "Mom, I'm going to have to tell the Yuma cousins about this night" (me and the kids are going to Yuma tomorrow); "This night feels just like Halloween"; "This is the most perfect night ever." Really. I did not make any of those up. My favorite moment was, "I'm happy with the way I am. I bet you're happy with the way you are, too, Mom. (Pause) Because that's the way God made us."

She made me this heart and said it was the best heart she had ever made. This picture pretty much captures the night for her--full of love and homemade fun. At the end of all the moving stuff around on the shelves to make room for the Fall decor, a plaque I made that reads "A home of peace, righteousness, spirituality, fun and laughter" was lying on the couch, homeless. Abigail found it and placed it on the mantel, right in the center (but not until after I had taken the picture below.) She didn't know what it said, but it had special meaning for me, like a "They lived happily ever after" at the end of a story.

THE END

Family Pictures

It's that time of year again--family picture time. Now I know this is a phrase that often causes more cringing than smiling, but not at our house. My dear friend Tiffany has done our photos for two years now, and she is so acommodating and open to ideas and delightful. Like today, I brought along violins, childrens books, a chapter book, paper airplanes and dancing clothes to use in our photographs. I wanted them to really reflect what life is like for our family right now--what we spend our together time doing. So for 2.5 hours Abigail and I practiced violin, Andy read to Avery, Warren threw paper airplanes, Madeleine crawled in the grass, Abigail danced around the landscaping, Warren and I read our chapter book together, all while Tiffany took pictures. It was mostly fun--like living our everyday life, but with a better background (we went to the MAC since it is so close to our house and has special ties to Mesa for us, which I like.)
Warren actually had the idea for this picture, and asked if he could hug me for it. I love that, and I love that to me it signifies a good step forward in our relationship as of late. I have really tried to make more "deposits" in Warren's account than "withdrawals", and I have had more joyful, sweet moments with him as a result. To me, this picture personifies that.
Afterward, on Abigail's suggestion and a family vote, we went to Organ Stop Pizza. The kids all loved it--even Madeleine--and they played Andy's request of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", which is the current favorite of my kids. It was a night of fun memories.

(If you want Tiffany to do your photos, email her here: tiffanyannphotography@live.com)

Paper Dreams Taking Flight

3 weeks and 4 days ago Warren came home from school with a new interest; no, that word is not strong enough. Maybe fascination, passion or life's purpose is more appropriate. Paper airplanes. We immediately went to the library, where we checked out 3 books on the subject. Truthfully, he didn't do many of the designs in the book, but he loves to look at them, make the same few models over and over again, occasionally try a new one from a book, or make up his own. Watching this process is like watching a step-by-step tutorial on how to develop creativity: start with the basics--the things everyone knows, and do them over and over again. Then when your mind is free from having to think about the basics, the creativity flows. All of these "creations" are taped to Warren's headboard, where, I imagine, he dreams about paper airplanes at night.
He likes them so much that 2. weeks ago, he bought a ream of paper with his money. I saw it tonight, and I think only about 1/3 of it is left. Then when you add in all the paper he uses at school--he has brought home 3 bags FULL this week--you begin to get an idea of how much he loves paper airplanes. His second purchase was a paper airplane book from Amazon.com. I'm grateful that he has something worthwhile to spend his money on--as opposed to the Dollar store. And we are learning about basic principles of flight. And it really is fun to throw paper airplanes, and even more fun to see his face light up as they take flight, a vision in his mind, now soaring through the air.

In other Warren-related news, last week he spontaneously challenged Andy to "race him reading the Book of Mormon." He delightedly commented, "Yeah dad, I am so going to beat you, because I could read at recess, at reading time, at school, at night and you have to work all day!" Well, he has yet to read at school--it's pretty complicated reading for an almost 6.5 year old to do alone and silently--but we read together every night. He reads a verse, and then I read four. He loves that multiplier, and thinks he is getting the best of me when he reads 4 verses and I "have to" read 16. I think I really get the best deal of all: a time each night to practice reading, snuggle close and share my testimony. Another paper dream taking flight.