Nine.

My firstborn had a birthday this week. We killed two birds with one stone and took a trip to Twin Falls - hot destination, I know. Tim and I switched off going to the temple (ours is closed for renovation) while the other swam in the hotel pool with the kids. This was Anna's "birthday outing" and it did not disappoint. My kids think staying in a hotel is the best thing since sliced bread. When I was little, we practically lived in hotels every summer while visiting family (we lived overseas). Not my kids - this was only their second time (at least that they can remember) staying in one and it was exciting as can be. 24 hour access to a pool and hot tub just can't be beat. 6 people sleeping in the same room? Yeah, I could do without that part.

We drove straight home for her chosen birthday lunch at Tucano's then hit up Krispy Kreme on the way home so we could construct her birthday cake of choice. A tower of donuts.



And now, a quick list of the things I love about Anna at age nine:

1. The spattering of tiny freckles across her cheeks that appeared less then two years ago.
2. Her voracious appetite for books. The trump card of all punishments for this girl is taking away her books at bedtime. I love hearing her pull out new vocabulary words she undoubtedly picks up from all the books she reads. It's particularly cute when she mis-pronounces them, making it all the more obvious she's learned them by reading.
3. Her sense of humor. Don't be fooled by the camera. Her shyness prevents her from flashing a toothy grin, but this girl laughs easily in the comfort of her own home. She's a clever one.
4. Her desire to be good. A precocious child by nature, you can almost see the wheels turning in her little head. She has an ongoing battle between her curiosity and draw to thrill-seeking activities and her innate desire to do what's right and good. She's learning to strike a balance, and it's fun to watch.

Anna, we love you. I'm so grateful you made me a mother. Now, smile for the camera, will you?

And while we're talking about what a boring mom I am.

Let's discuss what I do well as a mother. I love to teach my kids. I get a thrill out of filling my summers with cooking classes, sewing lessons, art and science projects, and so on. Throughout the year, I also instruct my oldest two in piano.

There's an obvious economic benefit to doing so, but I truly enjoy it. A few friends also do the same (teach their kids music lessons, that is) so, wanting to give my children an opportunity to perform what they've rehearsed, I organized a recital with these families. It was fun! All the kids did great - and Lily even came home asking when we were going to do it again. Of course, she spent most of the time flirting with one of the other performers...


Anna refused to smile for the camera - no surprises there. And she forgot to take her coat off for her performance. No matter - she played flawlessly.


Fortunately, we can get a smile of some people in the family.


But mostly, I'm smiling because it was such a positive experience for all of us. I'm so grateful I'm in good company when it comes to teaching my own kids piano.

Fun is not my middle name.

I'm a good mom. I know that. I can identify a whole list of things I do well as a mother. But I'm not going to talk about those in this post.

One of the things my kids seriously miss out on with me as their mother,(besides matching clothes and adorable hairdos, that is) is holiday fun. I'm just not an occasion-person. Oh, I manage to make birthdays reasonably special, and you just can't help but go gaga over Christmas celebrations, but everything else in between is just kind of blah for me. I kind of see most holidays as an excuse for the marketing world to ensure that as much money gets spent on meaningless items that just make you sick or take up space in landfills as possible. So now you know how I really feel. What a Grinch, I know.

St. Patty's Day is no exception. Don't get me wrong, I admire moms who have the energy to set leprechaun traps, dress head to toe in green, and run out of green food coloring all in the name of fun. I consider their kids lucky. It's just not my thing.
So here's our meager St. Patrick's Day offering.



Green pancakes and milk. And you know what? Pancakes for dinner is about all it takes to give my kids a thrill. Thank heaven.

The dynamic duo.

I love it when family comes to visit. A couple of weeks ago, Aunt Jill and Grandma J joined us for the weekend. They are a winning combination: Jill with her fun-loving antics and Grandma with her nurturing ways... my kids were in heaven! Not to mention, Tim and I had the pleasure of sitting next to one another in church, the girls being occupied by more favorable adults.

The weather was lovely, so we trotted off to the zoo on Saturday.

The prairie dogs were out - score.


I forced the girls to line up on the Komodo dragon. Met with only slight eye-rolling. I think we've still got at least a year left of the Komodo dragon shot.


This little guy was entertaining - I would totally watch a TV show about these critters. If we had a working TV, that is.


Little sisters provide excellent entertainment, as well.


We splurged on a carousel ride. It's pretty awesome how my kids think they've died and gone to heaven when I fork out a couple of dollars for them to go up and down and around for three minutes. Disneyland might just be too much for them to handle.


And Grandma, treating the girls to what they love best in the world.


Jill and Grandma, you are so unbelievably awesome. Come again soon!

Tim's got a new look.

When we first were married, Tim bought a cheap set of clippers, handed them to me and commissioned me to cut his hair for time and all eternity.
That's all well and good until hair loss deems his decade-long hairstyle a near abomination. It just looked like he was trying too hard, you know? Doubting my skills to create something of, well, nothing, I called up my favorite stylist (and neighbor, incidentally) to schedule a professional do. I watched like a hawk as the hair came off so that I could repeat it every month... for the rest of my life.
And that's when the beard started to appear. Might as well compensate, right? I love the look - though it does give me to the urge to yell "Timber!". Just a tad.

(photo, courtesy of Rachel, who inadvertently missed the hair. Oh wait, the hair's missing in the first place, so, no matter!)

Sibling rivalry and the secret garden.

Today my oldest told me that she would take the blame for two of her sisters if they did something wrong. I wasn't sure where this was coming from, but I asked her about her other sister - would she do it for her? Her response, "do I have to?" I said that I would hope that all of us would get to the point that we would make a sacrifice for others in our family, even if they didn't deserve it, because that's being Christlike. She agreed, but maintains her reservations about the sister whose proximity in age (and maybe her occasional obnoxiousness) makes her a rival, of sorts.

Sibling rivalry is a tricky thing. I'm struggling to navigate the contention that inevitably makes its way into our home and I'm finding a few successes along the way. One such came last week.

Both Anna and Lily auditioned for a play at their elementary school. Lily got a part. Anna did not. I wasn't sure how to respond when they both came home - Anna was hard to read - she almost made it seem as if she was better off not doing the play. That way she wouldn't miss swimming on Wednesday, or hanging out with one of her best buddies on Thursday. I had to balance my excitement for Lily's success with my understanding for whatever it was Anna was feeling. I'm pretty sure she was disappointed, but she handled it with such grace. During her turn at family prayer that week, she even offered up a petition for Lily to be blessed to do well in the play. I was truly touched at the class she exhibited.

Lily had loads of fun rehearsing and performing. She was an adorable little sprout in The Secret Garden. We dragged the whole family to see it on Friday night and got some stunning videos of her stuffing gum into her mouth (which she got from who knows where?) and chomping loudly on it in between verses. She even took a spill off the back of the stage at one point. What a crack-up!

I was so proud of my Lily and her hard work and cuteness. And I was equally proud of my Anna and the character she is developing. I love being a mother.

Nacho!

A few weeks ago we were invited to a friend's 40th birthday party and asked to dress up as our favorite movie characters. Tim made the suggestion, I slaved over his costume for hours that week and here's what we came up with:



A complete hit. We won the Oscar for funniest costume - well, Tim would say "he" won the prize because, after all, his stretchy pants elicited a few more chuckles than my long robes. However, since I made the costume, I'm taking all the credit. The party was fun - there's almost nothing better than watching a bunch of adults dress up and make fools of themselves.

Gifted.

It's a loaded term, I know.

Most people don't really care that my kids are bright. I get a little bit of flack from others, suggesting that it's because I push my kids that they excel in academics. So I'd like to put it on the record why I encourage early literacy in my children and why I don't feel pushy doing so.

I teach my kids to read at a young age, it's true. Sometime in Anna's fourth year, I discovered that bedtime would go much more smoothly if she could settle herself down with a bunch of books instead of scouring the room for all forms of mischief (up to, and including spreading Vaseline over various room surfaces and her own body).

She already had a natural aptitude for learning letters and their sounds so I just pieced it together for her. And she took off. My other kids have done similarly - in fact, they have learned to read even earlier because they have an older sister(s) to model it for them and spark their desire for literacy. So you see, teaching my children to read has always been a matter of practicality for me. I pretty much teach them the basics and they (and I really believe it's because of an inherent gift of learning) run with it. I barely even touched math until they entered school. But that hasn't stopped them from grasping concepts at a rate unknown to man (only slightly exaggerating, here).

Anyway, my point is, some kids are just smart. It's a gift - much like music, or athletics, or dance, or a sense of humor is. It makes sense that I should do my darnedest to allow them to achieve the full measure of their potential in that area. Some believe that all kids even out by the third grade and that challenging my children means I'm not allowing them to be kids. To the contrary, I believe that one of the many reasons my children are so stinkin' smart is that I DO allow them to be kids, to create, to explore, to imagine without the restraints of over-the-top lesson schedules, or limitless media time.

Let me also mention that I don't even send my kids to an accelerated preschool program (or even a traditional preschool). I run a mother's co-op called Joy School. They don't even touch academics until the second year - and it's very basic, at that. I had a teacher once ask me if I'd sent my daughter to a Montessori preschool, as if that were the only way she could possibly be such an accelerated reader. She about laughed out loud when I informed her that I and a few other moms had taught her in our own homes. About values, no less.

I don't care one way or the other if my kid is the next Albert Einstein. In fact, there are more days than not I wish I could just dumb them down a little! Not to mention the fact that there's basically no correlation between a high intellect and success in life (some studies actually suggest the opposite).

But, observing their desire to learn, knowing the research on gifted kids who are not challenged, and wanting them to find joy in developing their God-given talents, I feel it my duty to provide those opportunities. I haven't reached any definite conclusions about how I'm supposed to do that. But their education remains a constant source of concern for me and if I think it's to their detriment to relax their standards, I will do what it takes to ensure that they are challenged. Even though people are going to think that I'm "pushing" them. So be it.