Sights of Spring on 200 East

Do I dare say it aloud?  After so many days of rain and snow, it is really feeling like spring.  At least for today.  Tomorrow may be a different story.  It took me a little longer today to deliver flyers on our street.  I love to take photos of flowers and there were many things that caught my eye.  Here are a few:

 This was a hard winter on my pansies.  It makes me happy to see their faces peek through the snow as it is melting.  It was a hard winter on them as they were under a lot of snow for long periods of time.  "Pansy" is not an apt description for these flowers.  They have to be tough and sturdy to survive winter conditions.  I love all varieties and colors.  Have a nice spring day, everyone!

Birthday Celebrations

Yesterday we gathered at Justin's to celebrate April birthdays.  From young to old, everyone enjoyed themselves.  Thanks, Brian, for sharing the pictures!

Although you can't see it, Lizzy is playing Angry Birds on Justin's phone.  Ross was using Joe's IPad to play the same game.  Lincoln likes to play as well, and was sad when Joe had to leave and take the IPad home with him.

Steve and Diane were here for the weekend skiing.  The Popes should have been on vacation, but April showers brought leaks through the roof.  Grandma and Grandpa came down to join us.         

Abigail's six month birthday!

Love those kissable cheeks!

The many moods of Lincoln!

Thank you, Justin and Crystal for a great Sunday!  

Bedlamites Part 2

In yesterday's post I wrote that Elder Holland had created a new word - bedlamites.  I learned that the word bedlamite was not something he made up.  It has ancient origins and means a crazy person or lunatic.  Thank you, fellow blogger, for setting me straight.  I know I will never forget the meaning of it!  I think that all of us have had our bedlamite moments . . .

Bedlamites

Today during General Conference, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland created a new word, which will become commonplace among members of the Church. http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/an-ensign-to-the-nations?lang=eng  He was talking about parents' efforts to hold Family Home Evening in spite of the bedlam - and the bedlamites!  It piqued my curiosity to find some bedlamite stories in our own family.  I didn't find anything related to a particular home evening, but I did remember a picture that I took. It was in December of 1990.   Five bedlamites were responsible for this disaster:  Every toy that we had was pulled out of toy boxes or off the shelves.  They emptied all of the puzzle pieces out of the boxes.  I don't think I've ever seen such a mess since then.  Needless to say, it took us a long time to get things picked up - especially sorting all of those pieces to the Smurf puzzles.

As I searched through my journals, I did find an amusing incident that was tied to a family home evening in August of 1992.  It reads as follows: 

Four more weeks(until school starts), can I survive?  Not if too many of the days left are like these.  When I gave out job assignments today, I was yelled at, given all sorts of excuses; and in general, no one cooperated.  Their jobs have stretched until nearly 2:00 this afternoon, and they did not really have long ones!  Brian had to first make his bed and then pick up his room.  I was mending in the sewing room.  He came in with very sad eyes and a quivering chin and said, "I guess you won't be seeing me much anymore".  I looked at him puzzled, and then caught on.  "Are you moving?", I asked.  "Yes", he replied.   I asked him to please do his jobs before he left.  He didn't like that and was still threatening to move this afternoon.  Tonight is Monday, Family Home Evening.  I always have a good treat for them.  Tonight there will be none.  When they ask me why, I will pull out my list of reasons - all of which are the very same ones that they gave me this morning.  I wonder how that will go over?

Curious as to how this worked, I continued reading in my journal and found out that Justin stalked off, Megan burst into tears, Katie retreated to her book and Brian knew he wouldn't get a treat because he hadn't eaten his dinner.  Bonnie must have been the only one who did her chores that day, because she and I went for a Blizzard at Dairy Queen. 

Kevin, Katie and I had a good chuckle today as I read this account to them. 

        

What's Up, Bugs?

What a great weekend!  We had visitors.  Abigail brought her parents to see us.  She knew Grandma needed some good laugh therapy.  We got out the Bugs Bunny jack-in-the-box.  She loved the music.  Friday I got her to giggle, which made Bonnie and I laugh.  Sadly, it was a one-time event.

But every time the music started she got the biggest grin on her face.  You will notice that Bugs has no ears.  Wonder why?

I was trying to remember which of our children received this gift.  Impossible.  But I did go down to check out the baby books and found that it was given to Justin for his first birthday by my Uncle Gerald.  After going through the abuse from five children, no wonder he is missing his ears!

She is not camera shy!  I pulled out it and she comes right towards me.  Love that smile!

Abigail is still a very petite little girl.  This photo makes me laugh because she looks a little bit pudgy!

She loves those feet and enjoys sucking on her cute little toes.  Thanks for coming to visit us, Abigail!  And for bringing your Mom and Dad with you.   The joys of Grandmotherhood!

Spring Fever and March Madness

March - the month that supposedly comes in like a lion and exits like a lamb.  Many times it is the complete opposite.  Winter fighting to extend itself while spring is struggling to emerge.  I look forward to March each year for two reasons:  1)  the beginning of the gardening season and 2) the NCAA tournament.  Saturday morning Kevin tilled a small portion on the north side of the garden so that I could plant peas.  It was a windy morning.  Lewis, my next door neighbors' new dog, was outside running around and trying to keep the glove away from the three children who were trying to catch him.  They made me laugh.  It took me a little longer to get the seeds planted because I frequently paused to watch and wonder if this new puppy would ever run out of energy!  I got the peas planted and came inside so that in the afternoon we could watch the basketball games.  We were happy when BYU beat Gonzaga to advance to the Sweet 16.  San Diego State, another team in our conference, also advanced.  We enjoyed cheering for the underdogs and seeing a number one seed, Pittsburgh, fall to Butler. 

Also this week, I decided March Madness had more to do than just basketball games.  For example, the last two weeks some of the cubs in our Wolf Den have been off the wall - Kevin said that this gave March Madness a whole new meaning - thank you for making me laugh when I was a bit grumpy.  Second March Madness - planting peas in weather so cold that it numbed my hands.  Shortly after I was done and inside, it began to snow!  Third March Madness - doing a load of laundry and having two new shirts "bleed" onto each other.  As I pulled them out of the washing machine on Saturday it looked like bleach had been poured on them.  I was not a happy camper.  BIZ to the rescue!  They definitely hadn't bled onto each other.  I had washed them on a hand wash cycle and my best guess is that in a rest period they had extra soap on them and were pressed against each other.  I don't know, but I am glad that there was enough BIZ in the box to fix that mess.  Have you had your dose of March Madness yet?

Spring Cleaning and Creativity

No, this is not a post on creative ways to do spring cleaning.  Today I was cleaning out the armoire in our bedroom.  Some things were destined for the garbage.  Some made me laugh - my Sony Walkman, ancient ancestor to the IPod.  And I unwrapped a gem.  It was not a diamond, or ruby, but to me it is more precious than either of those.  This is a small six inch china plate that was hand painted by my grandmother, Anna Mary Bechtol Porr.  I called my Mother to ask if she remembered when she had painted it.  She felt pretty certain she made it before she got married, which was in 1909.  Mom said that while we lived in Iowa she showed it to an older lady who told Mom that that's what young ladies did at the time.  President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said the following:  "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul." http://lds.org/ensign/2008/11/happiness-your-heritage?lang=eng Grandma was probably between 16 and 19 when she made this.  She came from a large family in rural Ohio. They were farmers, like their ancestors before them.  I had a hard time imagining a teen age girl, whose mother was ill during those years,  having the time to paint, but prior to her marriage she did spend some time in Indiana with extended family.  Perhaps she made it there.   To further quote President Uchtdorf:  "No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before." 
This is a picture of Anna taken before she was married, perhaps at the time of her engagement.  After she was married Anna became the mother of 14 children.  No doubt, there was not time to paint pretty plates.  There were children to tend to, laundry to be done, and many meals to prepare for a very large family.  Yet, she still found time to create.  President Uchtdorf:  "Everyone can create.  You don't need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty."  Grandma created quilts.  Each of her children received one when they graduated from high school. Grandma sewed dresses for her daughters.  At the end of each harvest season, her shelves displayed "the fruits of her labors" with her creations of jams, jellies, etc.  Each spring Grandma went through the yearly rituals of deep cleaning in order to create a clean home for her family.  President Uchtdorf:  "Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment."  I have felt that deep satisfaction in doing the things that my Grandmother did:  quilting, canning, and sewing.   Not so much the spring cleaning - I'd rather blog about spring cleaning than do it!  But I'll be back at it tomorrow, and maybe I'll discover another long-forgotten treasure.