You are NOT Wonder Woman

I am blessed with a friendship with three women who I have no business being lucky enough to be their friend.  While I tend to be independent, self absorbed and plenty critical, these three woman have said, "We don't care and like it or not, you are our friend--flaws and all."  

We all met our freshman year at BYU and for Fall semester of our sophomore year, we all lived together, in a six person, cinder-block walled, one bathroom apartment.  It was a pivotal semester for all us and while we had a ton of fun that semester; we also each had our own challenges we were facing.  After that semester, the four of us never lived together again, even though individual groups of us did.  I was in the MTC with two of them and at one point, two of them left BYU and moved to California.  We have attended each other's weddings, had babies at the same time, and laughed and (sometimes) cried together.  

One day, our sophomore year, my friend L came to the apartment crying.  In my opinion, she was having the most difficult semester of all of us and she really deserved to be upset.  Things were really hard for her and rarely did she show it.  

While she was crying, my room, roommate, grabbed a Wonder Woman action figure that somehow was in our apartment.  She held it up to her face and said, "You are NOT Wonder Woman.  It is OK to be sad, cry and have feelings and be upset.  You are not made of plastic."  

It was just silly enough, and true enough that it gave L the strength and courage to stop crying and face the rest of the day.  The message was not, "Give up, quit trying."  It was, "I know you are not perfect.  I am not perfect.  Let's acknowledge that and support each other."  

The Wonder Woman message was passed to me and our other roommate.  We all decided, we could be imperfect around each other and give each other the leeway to not be made of plastic but to be human--flaws and all.  

Recently, the four of us were talking about this story.  I learned something I did not know.  L, often carried the Wonder Woman action figure around with her in her pocket.  She said, "It was like a security blanket for me.  I would feel it in my pocket and know I had your support through-out the day."  

So, this week, I decided we all needed to be reminded of this and I put the following care package together and mailed it to my three friends.  

Wonder Woman is cool but gladly, we are not her.  We are not made of plastic.  

Photos from my life this week

I just downloaded some pictures from my cell phone.  Here are some I found.  Many of these I didn't take but were taken by my kids.

I walked in on these three like this--talking.  Toothsome #1 was actually very happy even though his face doesn't show it.  

 Dentist Husband relaxing with a car magazine after work.

 Dentist Husband doing Toothsome #4's hair while she eats carrots.  

 For Family Home Evening, we went to Macey's and got Kong cones.  They are under $2 and a huge (uneatable) amount of ice cream.  Most of this was brought home and put in the freezer.  

 They put Toothsome #4's in three separate cups.

 Toothsome #4 at his first pack meeting, which just happened to be the Rocket Derby.  He did the whole thing by himself. 

 Toothsome #4 dressing up with my favorite winter scarf and other accessories.  

 Toothsome #2 with her gold cup after earning three 5's in Federation solo competition.  

It has been a good week in our house.  

To quote my mother-in-law,  "Thank God for every uneventful day." (This is not said in vain, but in honest, prayerful thought.) 

Unicycle

About a year and 1/2 ago, Toothsome #1 got a unicycle for Christmas.  At a "my side of the family", film festival, my brother's kids with several kids in their neighborhood who all ride unicycles, made a hilarious movie about unicycle racing.  It got Toothsome #1 interested in learning to ride a unicycle.  

After several half-hearted attempts to learn to ride one, 

this past weekend, he decided to get serious about it.  

First, it involved me moving our kitchen table to the side, removing all of the counter chairs and kitchen table chairs to our great room and letting him practice on our wood floor.  This set up stayed this way all weekend long.  (Many of my friends comment, in shock, how I let my kids ride their bikes, roller blades, etc., in the house.  I view my house as a place to live in, not baby.  Fortunately, Dentist Husband agrees and so we have a very liberal "outside toys can be inside toys" policy in our house.)

I occasionally would hold a broom stick for him to grab or walk next to him but mostly it was him holding onto the counter and riding.  About three days into it, it just clicked and he could ride off the wood floor, into my great room carpeted area.

So, we had to move outside.

Fortunately, we have had a very warm Spring.  See the tree on the far right?  He first used that tree to balance and started to be able to ride on the sidewalk in front of our house.  

 He can now go pretty much as far as he wants.  

It has been fun to watch this all happen.  

And, watch I did, because all weekend, he wanted me on a chair, in the room with him watching.  I had my kindle and Charles Dickens', "The Pickwick Papers" to keep me company between tries.    

On a side note, after hating running for about year (but still doing it anyway), I've started to like it again. The last few weeks, I have run an average of 15 miles a week.  Not bad for a 39 year old mother, if I do say so myself.  

Another reason why I love being a Scout leader

Last night, Dentist Husband and I were asked to be part of a board of review for several boys.  Having held a scout calling for over 10 years, (most of it in cub scouts), I know many of the boys very well.  I have seen them go from being excited, slightly scared, eight year old boys to obnoxious 10 year olds and beyond.

Many people don't know this, but years ago, when my son started in the scouting (cub scouts) program, I decided I needed to learn about the program and decide if it was something I really wanted him to do.  Like most families, our lives are busy and full of many things and while I recognized the support of my church to the organization, I wanted to make sure it was a worthwhile program and something I thought was worth putting in the time and commit required.  My conclusion was that if scouting is done as it is supposed to be done, it teaches wonderful principles and my son was going to learn some very good and valuable things.  When my son was 10 1/2, I revisited my research and concluded the same about the scouting (11 years old and up) program.

Anyway, last night, as I sat in this board of review, I was almost moved to tears by these young men.  When asked about the scout oath and law and how they are living it in their lives, these boys gave amazing answers of commitment to God and country.  They spoke of prayer, service and fun.  They gave examples of being kind, helpful, brave, cheerful and other aspects of the scout law.  We laughed as they shared stories of favorite merit badges earned, camp outs and service rendered.  We reviewed some of their successes and efforts toward earning their Eagle.  It in many ways was a spiritual experience for me to see these young outstanding men living meaningful, thoughtful, and moral lives.

At the meeting's end and all of boys unanimously were voted to earn their rank advancements, I walked home with Dentist Husband and said, "This is why I love my Scout calling.  I honestly love those boys."

It is great to be eight!

Toothsome #3 is now 8.  As we always do, the party starts when the kids wake up, still in pajamas.  

 Dentist husband said, "Toothsome #3 gets all of the hand me downs, so this year, I am buying him something cool."  Mission accomplished--the Riprider 360 trike with caster wheels.  There has been a child or parent on it non stop since he got it.

 For his birthday dinner, he chose Einstein's bagels.  He loves their Lox.  (The Swedish genes are coming through).

His birthday dessert was an ice cream pie.  I make a killer graham cracker crust and he chose Rocky Road and Mint chocolate chip ice cream.  

 He blew out his candles using his "Airzooka"--another birthday present.

 And, the greatest present of all, his own cub scout shirt and hat.  After watching scouts since he was born (I've been doing cub scouts/11 year old for 10 years now), he is finally old enough to do it himself.  He can't wait. 

All and all a great birthday.  He gets baptized next month.  

A snowy weekend

We got snow last weekend--twice.  

The first one was not a huge storm but we did head to the sledding hill.  This picture shows the mud puddle at the base of the hill.  My kids were soaked in--all of their layers--wet/muddy water.  

The next day, there was no school and a bigger snow storm had hit.  After participating in Piano Federation (all of my kids got 5's!), we again headed to the sledding hill.  This time, Toothsome #4 refused to wear winter clothes.  Here she is in the snow in her Crocks with no socks. . .

sleeveless summer dress and the winter coat, I insisted she wear.  Thankfully, this was self-limiting and she came and got in the warm car with me a short-while later.  

Saturday morning, we spent one last day on the sledding hill.  It was packed with people. 

FYI:  A boogie board with a broken wrist band makes a great sled.  

None of us were ready to come in yet, so, I helped my kids make a snow fort in our front yard. 

Later in the day, we made a balloon volleyball court in our basement.  We played some very intense games for over an hour.  (We played to seven and you had to win by two.  The winner stayed in.  We had two referees.  Trust me, don't argue with the referees.)

Also, after seeing these dishes a while ago, they came on sale and I purchased them.  I love them.  

It was a great weekend.  Also, if you live in Utah and haven't eaten at Settebello, you really must go there.