the fiddler's wife: Traditions

Showing posts with label Traditions. Show all posts

Monday, October 5, 2015

general conference and family portraits

We did our traditional countdown-to-conference pictures for FHE this week. Each of us gets assigned a day and then we choose a quote from the last conference and put on the poster with an illustration. It helps rev up the excitement. :)

Autumn has really arrived now, with temperatures dropping into the 60s and 40s, and some lovely rain and overcast days this week.

One of the highlights of conference weekend was having my brother and his wife and daughter come for a few hours. For the past 8 months he has been my closest sibling, living only about 45 minutes away. Now they’re moving to Wisconsin, and taking my adorable niece with them. :(

Another favorite conference tradition of ours is to put a bunch of blank cards in a bowl with pens, and then have a treat nearby. During each session we write questions for each other about the talks (or songs :). For each question we can take a treat from the treat bowl. Then after the session we read the questions to each other and try to answer. Super fun and it helps us pay attention. :)

Saying goodbye. :(

Man, are we going to miss those guys!

This week we also had some family portraits taken, as well as Exacto’s senior portraits. I am so relieved they are done and we have them! Maybe only you mothers out there know what I mean, but I was seriously euphoric after we got these back, even if they’re not perfect.

I am really happy with them and highly recommend our photographer Brooke Clayton to anyone in this area!

Some of my fav’s. . . .

I think this next one’s my favorite.

I really love the background in this one. See the Horsetooth?

My favorite of Exacto. . . .

I’m really glad to have gotten some good Colorado portraits of us before we leave (probably) next year! Maybe now I can update the big 2010 portrait I’ve had on our wall since Rosebud was a baby. . . .:)

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Dear Mom, Our last Pinewood Derby was “Normal.”

Week of April 7 - 13

It was another blew-a-relieved-sigh-when-it-was-over week, but there were lots of happy moments, especially looking back on the photos I took. I often wonder if I was born in the wrong century – when life gets quick-paced I tend to tense up and look for ways to slow down and do ‘nothing’. It’s funny because when I’ve mentioned this to friends they say that they like things to move along at a quicker pace and get depressed if there’s not enough to do. I am Mistress Quite Contrary. :)

In the midst of the craziness that is our current daily routine here were some of the shining bits of connection to Family, i.e. the joys of my days. There were more, but I’m trying to be picky and just share the very best.

O is for Ocean.

And Organ.

Our last Cub Scout (unless there’s Cub Scouts during the Millennium! :) and his last Pinewood Derby. . . .

DC was a hero-dad setting aside a hands-wringing deadline to spend a few hours with Hummer and the hunk of wood. You can see by their faces that this actually was not a sacrifice.

Hummer admitted a Pollock influence in the paint-job. :) I like the passengers he chose. And the very Hummeresque name.

And my favorite moment of the week – the hush that marked the Palm Sunday beginning of our favorite Easter tradition, followed by loud singing of All Glory, Laud, and Honor.

Can’t wait to see you tomorrow!

Love,

Michelle

Monday, April 7, 2014

Dear Mom, It’s going to be okay.

Week of March 31 – April 6

And it’s all because of President Uchtdorf.

Well, actually it’s all because of our Savior Jesus Christ, but President Uchtdorf is one of those wonderful servants of His who helped me remember that. I feel like general conference helped me regain my spiritual footing even more. I have lots more to say about this. . . .

It was a fun “N Week” for Rosebud and me. She loved getting to webcam with you (since N is for Nana) and her sweet cousin N in Texas.

Google Hangout is such a hoot with all the props and backgrounds and Noises!

Not sure how much of a conversation we actually had, but it sure was fun. :)

Also we made Nests and ate Noodles.

I am really enjoying this fabulous organizing blog and that combined with another blog’s traditional annual 40 bags challenge has kicked me in the fanny and got me decluttering again.

I am trying to make it my new addiction instead of sugar. (Let’s hope it takes soon.) Here is proof that I am not making all this up.

Before: After:

Yes, that is a sword protruding from the bag on the left. Whoever pulls it out is king of all Bakerland.

Fun stuff. But the real highlight of the week by far was general conference.

See those animals waiting with rapt attention? Rosebud got them all ready and reverent before conference began.

My thirsty, exhausted spirit drank up all that wonderful, refreshing light and has felt nearly full ever since.

It will take me a long time to implement completely the paradigm shift I had because of Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk. But I couldn’t believe how it was obvious he had been reading my thoughts for months and then told me exactly what the Lord wanted me to hear, which is that our living in gratitude should be independent of our circumstances.

Blue Dada enjoyed conference from his mommy’s lap

It also seemed like a common theme was material goods vs. treasure in heaven. So many talks mentioned how quickly the first can be lost and how much better our time is spent on gathering the latter.

The colored rectangles on the wall are our individual questions for conference. (Thank you, Jocelyn, for the lovely idea!) It was remarkable to see how the answers came and were sometimes not what we expected, but all of us felt that we had received an answer.

Exacto’s question was soundly explained by Elder Bednar and the whole family was gasping over how direct it was. It was pretty awesome.

And yes, Robin Eggs were involved. Put a question about conference for someone in the basket below – get a Robin Egg. Later, over dinner, we asked all the questions and gave our answers. This is a great tradition we have done for years now, although we all got a bit sugared out this year and I think we’ll do blackberries or something next time. :)

I wasn’t as sad when it was over as I usually am. I think it was because there was so much truth I suddenly saw which showed me some pretty deep weaknesses in myself that I hadn’t seen before. I really have my work cut out for me (learning how to access the grace of the Atonement to overcome these) and yet I feel a new, stronger peace than before because I can see that all will be well.

Even if I always fight depression. Even if our children stop making good choices. Even if DC never does get a good job and we are in debt for the rest of our lives. All will be well. It’s a miracle.

And that’s one of the things I need to change, by the way. Stop talking about money, already! I will always remember the story of that sweet Filipino lady—who was what, 78?—and had lost the home she and her late husband had built as well as her daughter and a grandchild in the terrible typhoon that hit there last year. Now she is living in a tent and working to try to support herself. I was cut to the soul when I heard her response to this challenge so much greater than mine:

“. . . .I accept everything that the Lord has asked me to pass through. I have no hard feelings.”

Wow. That speaker also quoted my scripture of the year! I tried to make it pretty like so:

and hung it up in my bathroom. It makes me think every single time I read it. Am I spending my labor for that which cannot satisfy? Oh, yes, I need to remember to pray continually. Awesome, come buy and eat without money. etc. And I feel like this past weekend my soul definitely “delighted in fatness.”

Finally, no Sunday around here is complete without a trip to the temple site! Go go go! (It’s a good thing we visit on the Sabbath or we might be tempted to yell and cheer on the workers to hurry it up! :).

I am so grateful for the Lord’s living prophets. Now I just need to do what they have taught me.

Love,

Michelle

Saturday, January 29, 2011

hibernating and celebrating our hummer

I've always thought it must be so nice to hibernate. First, to have a good excuse to eat tons. Then, to just sleep and be cozy while winter drags on outside. Sigh. I think I was meant to be a bear (unfortunately, that is true in more than one sense :).

I realized just a few days before Hummer's birthday that he has never had a friend party in his entire underprivileged life. I also realized that I wouldn't want to do one next year because we'll be in Arizona for Christmas. So I gulped quietly and asked him if he would like to have a friend party this year. He said YES!!!

Once we got the main idea going I was actually excited, too. We thought it would be fun for our winter-born boy to have a HIBERNATING party. I let him choose 7 people (since he was turning 7), and we invited them to come and wear comfy clothes or pj's and bring their teddy bears.

Three of the lucky seven were adults, including his Primary teacher. :)

So what does one do at a "hibernating party"?

Well, for an ICE BREAKER (har-har) we made snowflakes! The traditional 6-folded way, and also a new way that turned out to be really fun. Then we hung them from the ceiling fan.

Then we "gathered" food for the winter. This was kind of like a treasure hunt. Each kid had a bag, and as a group they went to four different stations outside (we were so lucky with the weather!). At each station they did a silly task and got an ingredient for their trail mix.

Station #1 - Say the alphabet backwards (taking turns for each letter), and get chocolate dipped pretzels. . .

(May I just say that birthday parties are WAY easier with older siblings to help?! so nice.)

Station #2 : Jump and land on your bum-bum SEVEN times on the trampoline - get some tasty cashews. :)

Station #3: To get your own stash of blueberry puffs (yep, the baby snack -- you wouldn't believe what a hot item they are around this house :), repeat after me, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Station #4: Cadbury's chocolate pieces in exchange for untying the Human Knot. . . .

It was just chilly enough for it to feel good to come back inside for some really good comfort food--hot cocoa from scratch, stove top kettle corn, and spicy molasses cookies. Mmmmmm-hm.

And then, we all just curled up by the fire and I read one of the coziest read-alouds ever. . . .

The birthday boy read another great "cozy" book, making sure to show everyone the pictures after he read each page, Kindergarten teacher style.

Then, present-opening, and a rousing game of "Snore, Teddy, Snore" (like "grunt, piggy, grunt") until the guests had to leave.

This was actually the funnest part for the kids, I think. They were laughing so hard. . . .I would have included a video clip, but unfortunately one of the guests who may or may not have been a member of the family visibly needed to use the bathroom. So you'll just have to imagine the giggles and snores and shrieks.

Rosebud slept through most of the party. Apparently what she really needs in order to sleep better is a houseful of sugared-up kids! Here she is afterward wondering what happened to the house. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day was Hummer's real birthday. It was an awesome day--breakfast in bed, his birthday meals of choice, stake conference with the whole family, and SNOW--enough for school to get cancelled the next two days. It just doesn't get much better than that as far as birthdays go!!

And just to impress your socks off, let me show you the work of profound art that was his cake.

Are you moved? :)

His request: lemon cake with lime-flavored frosting, decorated with limes and a hibernating snake. (I added the touch of having the snake dream of seven limes).