winter willow

There has been a shift in the seasons here. I can very minutely feel Winter start to loosen its hold when I stand outside on the iciest winter mornings, as the season starts to give in, ever so slightly. It's as though when Winter becomes her strongest, her willpower for ice and cold starts weakening, giving in as she readies herself for the warm embrace of Spring.

Our bodies are becoming more energized inside houses, as the morning sun pours through our Eastern facing windows. It's almost torture as we try to remain still and calm inside, not wanting to spin through our day's allotment of entertainments all in one rush. The kids and I are finding a lot to do.. puzzles, magnets, stickers, books, paints, crayons, scissors, threads, cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, laundry, dishes, cooking, eating, snacking, changing, brushing hair, brushing teeth, chasing, dinosaurs, animals, puppets, race tracks, cars, train tracks, towers, mess making, organizing, songs, dancing, writing, jumping, pirating, doll houses, movies, tv shows, electronics, memory games. The list might be longer if I gave it more thought. Every little task seems to take an important spot in our schedule as we draw out our time, spacing our minutes, allotting slots for play and slots for seriousness and time outs. There is a lot to do if you pace yourself.

We are tired of pacing ourselves. We need the freedom of green in the summertime. Of adirondack chairs with fluffy pillows and the buzz of bees drawing themselves up into the pollen filled flowers of a garden. We are craving the warm yellow that can currently only be found in the color of that cute house surrounded by snow in the picture above. For now, we feel like the willow; shrouded in ice from the previous night's fog, bending and swaying slowly as possible to not dust ourselves off too quickly, for fear of exposing our excitement of Summer too soon. Spring is getting nearer. Just a few more weeks and the snow will be turning into giant puddles, begging for the ripples that accompany little bright yellow boots.

our wonka anecdotes

online

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory has been a favorite for a while now in our home; we must have introduced it to Mont sometime last summer. Ever since, we've slowly been coming up with an arsenal of 'anecdotes' to childhood problems and concerns. Not that we are even close to experts, but for Mont, it seems to work a little bit, often enough; it works well enough that we keep using them. Let me tell you our theory about this classic film.

Every child character has a vice that is most often found in childhood. Every child meets their fate in some unfortunate way because they were selfish or disobedient to the council given to them by either their parent or their guide, Mr. Wonka. I haven't read the book it's based on yet, and as I'm writing this, I'm sure I better read it soon in order to find what more is available from the mind of Roald Dahl - not sure what's taken me so long! Perhaps I can get the audio for my new Discman. Yes!

Here's the list of children and what we like to tell little Montoya when he's not being his nicest:

Veruca Salt: This despicable girl says, "I want" about 4,000 times throughout this movie, give or take a couple. Mont calls her "the bad egg," which is ever so appropriate. Whenever Mont demands something with the phrase, "I want, I want" we say, "Oh, Veruca! No thank you. Please don't say, 'I want.' Please ask nicely. Say, 'Mama, may I please have...?' Then he does. If he doesn't, then we bring up The Garbage Shoot: because Veruca was such a bad egg and used the terrible phrase, "I want," she went down the garbage shoot. This will calm Mont down quite quickly. His eyes get big and he says, "I don't want to go down the garbage shoot. I want to be a nice boy, like Charlie." Even when times call for the "want" word, we will still try to have him use the words, "I would like... ." For example, when Santa asks, "What do you want for Christmas, little boy?" We tell him he should answer with the "I would like..." phrase. Gosh, reading this later we sound so strict.

Violet Beauregarde: This little smarty pants is a nose picker and a constant gum chewer (the gum chewing really isn't a problem for little Mont, though he does enjoy his occasional peppermint chewing stick).

*Just for fun, 5 hours after starting this post, I googled Willy Wonka's Children's dot dot dot and the 7 Deadly Sins came up. That answers a whole lot. I better read the book, but just for fun I will continue with my post, regardless! After I'm all done jotting this down I will go through that idea and see which deadly sins were assigned to each child. Pretty funny.

Back to Violet: Every time Mont's little nose starts to bother him enough that he feels he cannot wait for a piece of bathroom paper to fix it, we tell him, "Mont! Don't turn into a blueberry!! If you pick your nose you might turn into a blueberry!" To which he responds, "No! No blueberries!" ha ha

Mike Teevee: well... too much tv! He might get sucked in, turned into a million pieces and never be put back together again!

Augustas Gloop: glutony - Mont looooves his "cocoa" (Carnation Instant Breakfast Mixes + Milk). He asks for it literally morning, noon and night. But if he drinks too much he might get sucked into a cocoa river and pulled up into a tube and get stuck! Oh my.

Thankfully One: we haven't had to use the last two anecdotes.. yet. I'm sure there will come a day, probably tomorrow.

Thankfully Two: Mont really likes Charlie and how nice he is. We love to point out how hard Charlie works for money, and how he loves candy more than everyone else because he worked so hard to get it. When he gets the ticket, he is SO happy and SO surprised! He loves his mother and grandparents, and is always kind and sweet. When Mont is nice, he loves to hear that he is nice like Charlie (or Dino Dan, but that's unrelated!). Because Charlie isn't vindictive or prideful in the end, he gives back his candy, and wins the Wonka Game.

Oh this movie has so many lessons to be learned.. I am so looking forward to the book and one day reading the book to Mont. Having a boy like Mont is such a fun little adventure. His imagination is always turning and spinning. Now if only we could get him to focus in on lessons and singing time in Primary instead of his mom sitting behind the piano!

paperman

My friend Aubrey posted this on her blog on Valentine's Day, and I just had the chance to watch it. Before the month springs forward into another, I thought I'd better post it quickly to remember the coincidences that allow for love to happen, just so. Darling little film.

8/52: Sunbeam

Today was the first Sunday this boy has asked to wear a tie to church! So here he is with both a tie and a smile to match his handsome daddy's. This morning when I laid eyes on him wearing his new tie, my heart just turned to absolute mush. All through primary, too; I'd look up at him and we'd wave back and forth with our hands under our chins then give each other a thumbs up. What a little ray of sunshine for me. 

ever in my favor

via

Oh say whatever you want to say about me being years late to this craze.. but I'm reading them. And loving them. The first one I listened to via audiobook on itunes was when I had my eye surgery (still haven't posted on that.. not sure you want me to!). I loved the "reading talent" of Carolyn McCormick, and looking her up just now, she is just how I pictured she would be. The second book I read the old fashioned way, but found myself hearing the voice of Ms. Carolyn reading the words, so I decided I'd better just call ahead and request for the audiobook to be sent to the library for the third book in the trilogy. That's where I am now: Disc 1, Track 3.

This is where this post is now changing gears.. The real reason for this post has very little to do with any book series. Gotcha.

I have always been a fan of audiobooks, but they are so dang darn pricey! $25 for the first Hunger Games audiobook.. unabridged, but still. That was a bit of a stinging-dollar-bullet for me to bite, since I rarely read/listen to a book more than once. But because of the eye surgery and needing to listen to something completely captivating, I gave in and justified the purchase as a 'necessary entertainment.' ha! There had to be an easier, cheaper way..

The library! That is where I checked out the third book's audio recording, read by the great Ms. Carolyn. Ding ding ding!! Free for checkout to boot.

Uploading the discs on to my laptop, to then transfer to my phone for easy listening anywhere and anytime, I thought would be a simple enough process, if not time consuming.

Time consuming was right! My laptop is now aged and vintage, but not like a fine wine. The kids have unwittingly knocked it off the coffee table, tripped over it (I'm getting much better and making sure it's completely under the couch when not in use nowadays), dropped objects onto it (thankfully never liquid), etc. It has seen better days, but still is holding out strong for the most part. It is now a 6 year old macbook pro, and is mostly working like a champ. The only thing is that the cd drive is no longer 100% reliable; if the disc has any scratches, small or otherwise, it will struggle with reading them.

This is getting too long!!

Long story short... after hours of searching for different options of how to get that dang audio book on my dang phone, (even my phone won't hook up to my computer since it missed a major software update - what? Thanks a lot apple. Same goes for an external CD drive.) I decided to ditch the new technologies of our current day and jump back a couple decades.

I ordered a Discman. Whoa... watch out. Did I just turn 85 or 27 last November?

Really, though. Think of all the things I can be doing while listening to a book instead of on a couch with my eyes glued to a book and my fingers clutching at it. Waiting to find some scrap of an answer to any mystery that might have befallen the heroines! Dramatic, yes, but imagine doing all of this while sewing or painting, or exercising! The possibilities are nearly endless... no Pinterest while listening, however; that is too distracting as it all too attention grabbing. But most everything else - folding laundry! See? The list goes on.

Anyone else out there in the same funny boat as myself? Probably not. But if there is, and by some shred of bad luck you find yourself in my stupidly-stressful dilemma, just know I'm putting all of my pennies on the walkman's odds being ever in its own favor. ha - Happy Hunger Games! Until the batteries give out.

heavy heart

"Living the Gospel does not mean that the storms of life will pass us by, but we will be better prepared to face them with serenity and peace." -Joseph B. Wirthlin 

Social media has really shrunken my social world; when friends go through things, I feel it more deeply and more quickly than I would have hearing news through the grapevines of word-of-mouth. A couple different friends have lost some dear little loved ones the last two weeks, and my heart just aches for them. 

Inadvertently I squeeze my two little ones tighter, and smile a little longer as I listen to them and their frequent babblings. They've been getting away with a little more, and I'm not quite sure that I mind for now. For the moment, I have been reminded once again to enjoy everything completely. I remember hearing other friends who were moms long before I was, talk about their greatest fears being that something would happen to their little children, or their husband. I couldn't understand the depth of that fear until I had my own. I try not to let fear overpower my mind as I think of what could happen since I know that fear is the opposite of faith. I'm not sure how I would handle losing a little one, but in my moments of pondering and deep thinking, I am reassured by my knowledge of the resurrection. How grateful I am that we will be reunited with our loved ones again; young and old alike. The above quote is one I read yesterday, and it has since stayed close to my thoughts, as a constant reminder that we don't know what experiences are around the corner. All we can do is prepare and make our testimonies as strong as we can, to ensure that we are able to stand against the storms that will surely come to us in this life. At times this life can seem just too hard, and at those times, I hope everyone can feel the love of our Savior, and the love that is present in the plan of Salvation. Without His love, there would be nothing to hope for. With it, we have everything to hope for. 

7/52: Noah

from Katherine's Instagram

"Living the Gospel does not mean that the storms of life will pass us by, but we will be better prepared to face them with serenity and peace." -Joseph B. Wirthlin 

Sweet Noah passed away in his sleep on the night of the 10th, and this picture was taken that same day. I'm sure this will be a treasured picture for the rest of forever as they wait to be reunited with their littlest boy. My heart has been breaking so often the last week and a half as I think of our friends. There will never be words strong enough to emphasize our love for them, so we just pray. Gratefully, prayer is a wonderful thing. 

history: Katherine and Daniel are friends of ours from Alaska, and she is sisters with Aimee, our sister-in-law.

6/52: little reeders

This "portrait a week" project is just turning into an excuse for me to put pictures of the kids on here every week; the silly or the sweet. So from this latest week, one of the each, the two minis:

iphone pics

5/52: Mont

You'll see a lot of these kids with this weekly portrait project, to be sure. Maybe I don't need to warn you, but perhaps when we see a bit warmer weather, you'll be seeing some more variety on here as we find ourselves outside more often. Perhaps.

These two pictures are different from one another in that the first, is Mont trying a new food. In the second, he is being his usual, silly self. 

Trying a new food never happens, and yet it has happened twice in the last two weeks. He actually has asked for it each time! The first: mushrooms (thanks to the dancing red mushrooms on Fantasia). The second: popcorn (thanks to Dennis the Menace, the original tv show). Here is Mont chowing down on his new favorite snack. This is huge for him! 

The second is just so... Mont: never holding still, as busy as a honey bee.  

Also.. he is growing right out of his clothes. 

blackberry dreams

image: web find

Blackberries have been finding their way into the grocery cart when we are shopping, even though they're a little tart, they're still sweet enough. While little Emmy enjoys the berries, I can't help but think back to the late summer visits to Washington when the berries are plentiful, plump and ripe on the berry bushes that line the road behind my parents' home. In my mind, I'm already dreaming of the next visit when we can pick berries on our way to and from the park, watching Emmy pop them quickly into her mouth, and mmm-ing all the way.

I'm doing a lot of day dreaming of warm summer days as I wake up to the ice that is still drafting its way to the inside lines of our windows. We can hardly wait to see some green outside these ice-lined windows!