A Peek

As a comment on my recent Facebook status: "Terrianne is doing turkey preparation, overjoyed to have all five of her babies sleeping soundly under the same roof," a woman in our ward replied: "Welcome to a peek at the Celestial Kingdom." I hadn't thought of it that way. Leave it to Annette to put the words and feelings together so perfectly to express a thought so lovely. A peek at the Celestial Kingdom! Yes, that is right.

As I sit here at the dining room table, distracted by the noise of a roaring game of Hearts played enthusiastically by Shulamith, Isaiah, Eli and Seth, I am overcome with gratitude to Heavenly Father for entrusting to my care five of His most incredible children. They were lent to me for such a short time, and I love them more than life. I surely do not deserve to be their mom, yet it is my sincere honor to attempt to fill that role.

A peek at the Celestial Kingdom.

I can't fully explain how it feels to have them all here at the same time; it happens so rarely. Perhaps it is so significant to me because I only had all of them living at home for a short time. Luke was 15 when Seth was born, and he left for college just three years later. The very best three years those were. Shulamith left just one year later. Now, instead, we wait for the special occasions: holidays, summer breaks, baptisms, graduations, weddings (in the future) when we can all be together. Do we have room for all seven of us in this house? No. Do we care? No. We're so happy to be together that we don't mind the coziness. Well, not for the most part anyway. I don't mind it one bit, but Seth gets mildly frustrated in the mornings, when he wakes up with no place to play. Luke is asleep in Seth's room. Shulamith is asleep downstairs in the family room. Isaiah is asleep on the couch in the living room. What's a kid to do?

Do we make the classic, perfect family? Is there constant harmony every second? Ahh, not so much. We have all sorts of issues, the result of a group of people with such diverse ages, personalities, and interests. Most notably, Seth is only nine, and while he is truly everyone's favorite, he is also everyone's greatest challenge. He so desperately wants to be "one of the big kids." But at the end of the day, even if that end doesn't come until the wee hours of the morning following a night of video-games, he is still only nine. And nine-year-olds need rest. They need to go to bed before 2:00 a.m. They need more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep, and when they don't get it, especially for several days in a row, the result is, well, go ahead and use your imagination.

Still, if this is a peek at the Celestial Kingdom, I'll take it. I will SO take it. In a heartbeat. Without question. And I'll thankfully take another peek in only a couple weeks when they all come back for Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving.

TWIRP

TWIRP = The Woman Is Required to Pay, a girl-ask-guy formal dance at Skyview High School, was held last evening. Pictured here are Eli and his date, Courtney, just before they headed out for this event. They went with seven other couples, so sixteen kids total. The eight girls planned everything, and not to come across as sexist in any way, but the detailed planning was evident of this.

They began at the home of one of the girls at 6:00 for pictures. Parents were invited, so you can imagine the masses of people: lovely girls in stunning gowns, hair professionally styled, make-up perfect; dashing young men decked out in tuxedos to match their dates' dresses; proud parents hovering around with cameras, trying to capture the magic in photos. Once each couple had a turn for individual photos, group pictures were taken of first the girls, then the guys, then the eight couples together. Finally, the parents said goodbye (Have fun! Be safe! Etc.), and the kids feasted on appetizers. Next they progressed to another girl's home for salad and the main course: grilled steak and chicken. Following dinner, they stopped by one more house for dessert, pumpkin cheesecake and rich chocolate layer cake.

And then it was off to the dance! Which begs the question, could they really dance, or even move, after all that food? Maybe that's why Eli's reports on the dance itself are somewhat sketchy; the theme was "Masquerade," and the music was good. That's basically all I know.

After the dance, all sixteen kids converged on another house and changed into casual clothes for an after-dance party which included billiards, movies, and more snacks. Eli arrived home shortly before 2:00 a.m. His first dance. His first date. After such an evening, I have to wonder... how will anything in the future compare?

Anticipation

What are you anticipating today? Do you enjoy the waiting, the anxious excitement for wonderful things to come? Is the anticipation all part of the fun?

Several of my friends and I have been anticipating an event for an entire year: the second movie in the "Twilight" series, "New Moon." Last year, we went to "Twilight" on opening day, November 21st. My friend's baby was barely a month old, and I got to cuddle her through the entire film. Think of it: Edward on the big screen, and Hanna in my arms. Pure delight. Tomorrow night (well technically VERY early Friday morning), the year of waiting will conclude. At 6:00 p.m., several of us will go to dinner together as the start to our girls' night out. At 9:00 p.m., we will watch "Twilight" once again. This will be my the seventh time, but I'm sure others have watched it even more times than that. Then, at 12:01, we will watch "New Moon." I won't have baby Hanna this time; she has grown into the sweetest little person, who loves to run around everywhere, so she'll have to stay home with her dad.

Yes, my friends, it's really almost time. Just 34 more hours to wait.

What else am I anticipating today?

Ah, yes, once my body recovers from getting out of a movie at 3:00 a.m.; driving the half hour home; sleeping three hours; and then getting up, ready, and back to the college to teach my 8:00 a.m. class, yet another exciting event looms on the horizon: Thanksgiving. And it is not just another ordinary Thanksgiving either. As you know, this whole situation with not one, not two, but THREE of my five kids living far away does not really appeal to me. The good news is that Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., Shulamith lands in Billings, followed the next day by Luke and Isaiah at 1:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. respectively. The seven of us home together for Thanksgiving....this even trumps "New Moon."

So I ask once again, "What are YOU anticipating today?"

Ecstatic

Most days, I'm home by the time Seth gets here. Two days in the week, however, I have a late class, so I can't quite make it home in time. Often, Eli gets here at about the same time Seth does, but occasionally, Eli has to work on one of my late days. Today was such a day.

When this occurs, I always call Seth right at the time I think he should be home to make sure he got there safely and all is well. When I called today, the following conversation transpired:

Seth: Hello!

Me: Hi Seth. How are you?

Seth: Ecstatic!

Me: Really? Why are you ecstatic?

Seth: Because today we had the treasure box, and I bought FIVE things, and I still have over $1,000 left.

Me: Wow, that's amazing. I can see why you are so happy. I'm leaving school right now, so I'll be there very soon. Bye.

Seth: Bye.

You might remember from an earlier post that in Seth's class, life is based on a monetary system of rewards. The kids earn money by doing things such as getting their planners signed ($20), pulling no bad-behavior tickets all day ($50), showing good citizenship without being asked ($5 - $50), and wearing the appropriate clothing for Spirit Week ($100).

Then they have to pay money for various things as well. Each month they have to pay $50 to rent their desks. Field trips are quite expensive: $500 - $1,000! They also have to pay money for disruptive behavior or assignments not completed, but Seth, of course, never has to do that.

Today was one of the best days of all: A Treasure Chest Day! Every 3 - 4 weeks, Mrs. Hankins brings out the treasure chest. In it are amazing treasures of all sorts for sale: candy, juice, gum, bags of chips, pens, mechanical pencils, Christmas erasers, notepads, small games, and more great things that Seth can't remember at the moment.

It's a shopping extravaganza! Where was this when I was in fourth grade? Shop-a-holic that I am, this could have brought tremendous joy to my educational experience.

So what did Seth buy today? Let's see. He bought a pack of gum, a SunnyD juice bottle, a Juicy Drop Pop, a bag of cheese chips, and a candy-filled plastic cell phone. What a haul! Clearly enough to make any nine-year-old feel ecstatic, wouldn't you say?

And he still has over $1,000 left to save for next time. Go Seth!

Bring It On!

I am interested to know your opinions on an age-old dilemma: How soon is too soon to begin celebrating the Christmas season? It's a quandary I've examined many times because, you see, I absolutely love Christmas. I love everything about it. I love the music, the shopping, the crowds. I love the decorations, the children's programs, the food. I love the caroling, the greeting cards, the parties, the surprises. I love to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I even love the traffic jams at the mall. I love being part of all of it. I seriously can't think of a single thing about Christmas that I don't like. Still, as much as I love it, I can't celebrate it twelve months out of the year, so the question remains: How soon is too soon to start?

I used to force myself to wait until Thanksgiving to begin playing Christmas music. About two years ago, I decided that was dumb. Eli begins learning new Christmas songs on the piano at the start of November, so it's already playing in my house. Why shouldn't I also listen to my holiday CDs? No reason.

My friend and I were in the mall this past Friday night, and already there were decorations and lights, along with Christmas carols playing in the background. Did that bother me? Absolutely not! I loved it. Is it a marketing technique designed to get people to spend money? Of course. Do I care? No! I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.

So what about decorations at home? Hmmm. When we lived in Washington, our tradition was to go to this lovely Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving and cut down our tree. This place had every variety of tree with dozens of shapes and sizes from which to choose. They served hot chocolate or cider and cookies, and sometimes, even Santa was there! It was fabulous. Then we moved to Montana, where apparently, they don't grow Christmas trees. Sad. The only option if you want a real tree is to buy an already-cut one from a stand. Well, I've heard you can drive into the mountains and cut down a tree, but I've also heard that since these trees aren't grown to be Christmas trees, they don't really look very good. I can't say for sure if that's true because we haven't tried it.

Our first year here, we bought a pre-cut tree from a stand the day after Thanksgiving. We decorated it as usual with our many, many decorations. It was lovely. For about two weeks. Then it started to turn brown. Then it completely turned brown. Then the brown pine needles fell all over the floor. Blah! We had to take off all the decorations, remove the tree, and vacuum up millions of needles. And then we had to start over. This was not fun. That was the year I caved and bought an artificial tree. I still love my Christmas tree because of the many ornaments to represent the years of our lives and our children's lives. Eli carefully places each of the five "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments in a vertical pattern down the center of the front of the tree. Other significant ornaments are also placed in strategic locations. Every year, we include various ornaments the kids created in school, including a lovely glittered pine cone and yellow ceramic bell Luke made in kindergarten. Every year, Shulamith complains about how she made those exact ornaments the following year, but I just threw them away and saved Luke's. And every year I tell her it's because I like Luke better than her. Ahh the traditions, the memories, the love.

Still, I miss having a real tree. I do.

Back to the question of how soon is too soon, I've decided that once Halloween is over, anything goes. No, I won't get out decorations until the day after Thanksgiving, and I won't allow Thanksgiving itself to be dwarfed in the mad Christmas rush because I truly love Thanksgiving too. But I will get my music out, maybe even today. And I will enjoy the mall every chance I get, where the lights twinkle and the carols play and the joy abounds.

As I said at the start of this post, I am interested to know your opinions on this subject. As for me, I have three words to define the start of the most wonderful season of the year:

Bring it on!

The Best Halloween of My Whole Life!

As you can see, Seth's choice of Halloween costume reflects the non-violent, pacifist teachings of his parents. He chose to be a psycho killer. So happy was he about this costume that when Isaiah called last evening to ask Seth how his Halloween was, Seth replied, "It was the best Halloween of my whole life!" Now if you think about it, that says quite a lot. Seth is nine years old, so this was his 10th Halloween. And not only was it fun and exciting and spooky; it was the best one of his "whole life." Wow!

What made this year so special, you might be wondering. Apparently, it was a combination of things. Friday night was the carnival at Seth's school. In the past, parents had to buy tickets for their kids to participate in the various games and activities. This year was different. We paid a flat fee of $5.00, and the kids could do any activity as many times as they wanted. You may remember from an earlier post that Seth has never won a cake in the cake walk. Generally, after a few tries, we run out of tickets, so he's forced to give up. This year, with the flat $5.00 fee, Seth was determined. We would not be leaving until he had a cake. He played all the other games first, and then we headed for the cake walk. It took 14 tries, but finally, his number was called. With a tummy full of yummy chili, a bag full of candy and prizes, and yes....a cake in hand, we came home.

But the fun had only just begun. Yesterday, being Halloween itself, a whirlwind of energy was present in our home right from the start. Seth began counting down the hours until it would be dark enough for trick-or-treating. Then, in the afternoon, his favorite friend came over to play, and together, their excitement increased as the minutes dragged by. By 6:30, it was dark, and Seth was dressed and ready to unleash his psycho killer costume on the neighborhood. A warm, breezy evening made trick-or-treating amazingly pleasant. I've experienced some bitter cold Halloween nights in the past 24 years, but this one was lovely. We walked for blocks and blocks until Seth had more candy than any kid needs, and I finally convinced him it was time to go home to his dad, who was doing trick-or-treat duty at our house.

And there was still more. Some friends of ours always host a post trick-or-treating party for a few families, so we headed over there. Seth watched a movie with all the other kids, and we adults played a new game called "Things," where everyone writes down answers anonymously to prompts such as "Things you would do if you were invisible," "Things you should never do at the beach," and "Things that should have expiration dates." Then someone reads the answers, and everyone tries to guess who wrote what. Fun times.

And there you have it. The best Halloween of Seth's whole life. But the most significant part of Halloween from my personal perspective? It means the following day marks the official beginning of the holiday season. Yes, dear readers, it's here again. Ready, set. go.....