Our Second Eagle Scout

Today we celebrated Aaron's accomplishments in Scouting!

We set up a table highlighting a few of his talents:
singing, Shakespearean acting, studying the classics and nature photography.
We recalled the service he has given to our community.
We watched a slide show of his life that made us cry.

We rejoiced in the growth we see in our family.

We shared our joy with our family and many friends.

Aaron's Eagle Scout Award was presented by his Boy Scout mentor, his grandpa Bob.
Thanks to my dad, all of his sons are Eagle Scouts.
Now he is helping his grandsons on the trail to Eagle!

We are grateful for everyone who has helped Aaron grow and progress as a Scout.
It is an important step on the path to becoming a man of God.

Friday at the Temple

We arrived at the temple to find it completely covered with scaffolding. You can click on the link to see what it looks like, but I'm including a prettier photo that Marianne took a few weeks ago.
The outside may have looked a bit funny, but inside
the spirit was as peaceful and strong as ever.

My parents and my sister have been hard at work on our family history. Today was payday because we got to go to the temple for our ancestors. The kids were baptized for our relatives on my Dad's side of the family. We all participated in the confirmations. It was Evan's first time at the temple and he was thrilled to be there. Apparently we have some very patriotic family members because some of them were named "George Washington" and "Andrew Jackson". David even got to help a couple who wanted their work performed in Spanish.
It was a lovely experience to be inside the temple with so many members of my family. Here is the whole group except for our photographer Marianne.

Molly, Ryan and Brianne joined us later for dinner and funny faces!

There is still plenty of work to perform and I look forward to more days at the temple with my family!

Our Anniversary

It's been 23 years!

My wonderful husband just keeps getting better.
He even massages my tired feet at the end of the day.

He knew that our weekend would be too busy to celebrate,
so he planned a little getaway during the week.
We stayed at this great hotel.

The weather was perfect and we ate dinner and breakfast outside.
We had a fabulous seafood dinner and I even tried a piece of his ahi. I am not a fan of raw fish, but since it was our anniversary I sampled it. He said it was delicious. I believe it because my shrimp and crabcakes were wonderful!
We went to see "Letters to Juliet" even though
he would have preferred "Iron Man."
I am so grateful for my husband and for
the opportunity to spend a few hours alone with him!

As You Like It

Here are a few action shots by Aaron
from our tropical performance
of Shakespeare's As You Like It!

Rosalind (in blue) and Celia (Marianne in red)
aboard the cruise ship.

Since we had a class of 14 girls and 3 boys,
we had to change the gender of most of the characters.
Our feminine version of Touchstone was modeled after the Chiquita banana lady!

The girls are happy as they plan their escape
from Celia's cruel mother Captain Freda.

Worn out after reaching the island of Arden.

My niece Emma as the lovestruck Phebe

Evan decorating as part of the stage crew

All ready for our wedding on the beach

A celebration dance after the marriages

This close up shows you why my beautiful daughter is not allowed
to wear makeup until she is 30!

It also shows how tired I am after 7 week of rehearsal!

It really was a wonderful experience for me.
We have amazing scholars in our class.
How many 12 -15 year olds can perform Shakespeare?!
They understood what they were saying and it showed in their performance.
I am grateful for their dedication and for their hardworking parents.

I am also grateful for my patient husband who supported me
while I spent 20 -50 hours per week on this production.

Finally, thanks to my sister Jenny who was the world's best producer.
She put in at least as many hours as me!

Gifts

My kids gave me the gift of playing this math game without complaining

(well not too much anyway).

Aaron received this long awaited gift for his
birthday/graduation present.

Marianne gave us the gift of delicious jam
made from freshly picked strawberries.

And I'm giving YOU the gift of not having to look at
that ugly centipede any longer!

What gifts did you receive today?

Centipede

We came home tonight after our performance of As You Like It to find this disgusting creature in our hallway. Evan actually started yelling when he found it. When he caught it in a paper cup it played dead, which was kind of cool! But then it started wiggling all those little legs and pinchers and started climbing up the side of the cup.

I want to know how it got upstairs in my house! Yuck!

You're Invited!

Set on the island of Arden, this show is filled with tropical costumes, music and dancing. Please join us for some island fun!

Millennial Scholar Academy

Presents

William Shakespeare’s

As You Like It

Friday May 21, 2010

at 7:00 pm

Saturday May 22, 2010

at 3:00 pm

North County Church of Christ

130 Woodward Ave.

Escondido

$5 per person/ $20 per family

Introducing . . .

Our granddaughter Brianne

Born May 18, 2010

6 lbs 14 oz
19 inches

She has a cute little cleft in her chin
just like her daddy and her grandpa

She's beautiful just like her mom!

Click on the pictures to get a closer view

Gratitude

Over the years, my children have been blessed to have many great leaders at church. Evan's current leaders are continuing this wonderful tradition!

Evan's scoutmaster faithfully plans a monthly camping trip (the boys need 20 nights of camping with their scout troop for the camping merit badge!) and he bought each of the boys a pocket sized Book of Mormon so that they can read together during their campouts.

Evan's deacon's quorum advisor is a faithful teacher who inspires the boys with his great stories. He challenged them to prepare for their missions by memorizing D & C 4. They recite it in class each week. Every boy who memorizes it receives a gift from Deseret Book. Here is the book Evan got on Sunday. He has been carrying it around and reading us quotes.

I am so grateful for my son's Young Men leaders!
What are you grateful for today?

You're Invited to . . .

An Eagle Scout
Court of Honor

for
Aaron


and a couple of his buddies
Josh and Mark

Sunday, May 30th
5:00 PM
Pomerado Building

As You Like It

For the past 6 weeks we have been eating, sleeping and breathing Shakespeare's As You Like It. Our performance is next weekend. Since I have Shakespeare's words running through my mind, I thought I'd share some of my favorite quotes from As You Like It.

Best insult:
For I must tell you friendly in your ear,
Sell when you can: you are not for all markets

Sweet, but pathetic:
So holy and so perfect is my love,
And I in such a poverty of grace,
That I shall think it a most plenteous crop
To glean the broken ears after the man
That the main harvest reaps: loose now and then
A scatter'd smile, and that I'll live upon.

BFF quote:
And do not seek to take your change upon you,
To bear your griefs yourself and leave me out;
For, by this heaven, now at our sorrows pale,
Say what thou canst, I'll go along with thee.

Funniest:
Alas the day! what shall I do with my doublet and
hose? What did he when thou sawest him? What said
he? How looked he? Wherein went he? What makes
him here? Did he ask for me? Where remains he?
How parted he with thee? and when shalt thou see
him again? (And here's the kicker . . .)
Answer me in one word.

Most poetic:
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in every thing.

Honesty is the best policy:
I pray you, do not fall in love with me,
For I am falser than vows made in wine:
Besides, I like you not.

Most famous:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

What is your favorite quotation from Shakespeare?

While Waiting

A couple of weeks ago
we had all the necessary elements for a great baby shower
in Molly's hometown . . .

A lovely setting at my Mom's house

Lots of cute, tiny clothes

Stuffed animals and a diaper cake

Pink, pink and more pink
Plus the mom-to-be!

Homemade personalized gifts

Family, friends and laughter

Not pictured: Delicious Food!
Mini cupcakes by Marianne
Chocolate covered strawberries
and much more yummy stuff!

We're planning a shower closer to home
once our baby girl has arrived

My Status

Here are my Mother's Day gifts. I love them all, but the one on the far right really boosted my status from "aunt" to "most favored"!

This colorful heart-shaped extravaganza was created by my 6 year old niece Cammi. The message she wrote said, "Thank you for being my teacher." I think this refers to my teaching as Primary president, but I'm not entirely sure.

I was impressed with my gift and I couldn't help laughing when Cammi handed grandma a very small, simple card. She explained, "Sorry it's so little Grandma, but I spent so long on Aunt Melanie's card that I ran out of time." Apparently Cammi told her mom the same thing when she gave her a rather small card.

I was surprised to have merited such a wonderful Mother's Day card from my niece, but I'm not asking why, I'm just feeling grateful! I hope my Mother's Days are always filled with little children and homemade cards.

Mother's Day

My kids know that Mother's Day is not my favorite holiday. Don't get me wrong. I love my mom! I love honoring the great women in my life. I love sending flowers to my Grandma. But I don't love Mother's Day.

Aaron recently asked me to explain why. He was preparing a Mother's Day talk for church and I think he felt a little pressure. I explained my feelings about Mother's Day. Then I told him to be sure and cry a whole bunch during his talk and gush on and on telling everyone that he has the best mother in the whole world, better than anyone else's mom. I may not have been very helpful, but at least I made him laugh!

I think these two pictures sum up my feelings about Mother's Day.

This is the kind of Mom I want to be:

Bright, cheerful and happy
Perfectly put together
Pleasing and full of surprises

This is the kind of Mom I really am:

A work in progress
Clean, but a little frayed around the edges
Lots left to do

I think Mother's Day just leaves me feeling really inadequate. I'm working on that. Right now I'm just working on getting the towels folded and put away. And no, my kids don't want to help.


PS. Click HERE for a great article about overcoming the Mother's Day Blues

A Symphony of Horror

Do you like scary movies and books?

I don't.
And I'm definitely not into vampires.
I've never read any of the Twilight series or seen the movies.

But thanks to my sweet husband, our extended family
had a great time last night at Copley Hall
watching the world's first Dracula movie!

It was a silent movie first shown in Germany in 1922
and because it was an unauthorized version of Bram Stoker's Dracula
they changed the name to
"Nosferatu."

This vampire was definitely not the handsome type.
In fact he was pretty creepy.
He reminded me of a rat with his big ears, skinny teeth and claw-like hands.

But one aspect of Nosferatu was gorgeous-- the music!
The San Diego Symphony accompanied the movie.
The conductor and arranger spent 8 months reconstructing the score from the original musical accompaniment. And the results were awesome!

I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, but Bram
Stoker's widow didn't feel quite the same way.
She was upset that the movie producers had "borrowed" her husband's story and she successfully sued for copyright infringement. She didn't receive monetary damages, but instead had the negatives and all copies of the film destroyed. Fortunately, a few copies survived.

Interestingly, Mrs. Stoker wanted to "clean up" the hairy, evil monster of her husband's book and the film version. In future stage and screen productions, Florence Stoker authorized a santitized, well bred, gentlemanlike Dracula.

Ah, now we now who to thank for Twilight!

My New Best Friend

This morning I got dressed in black jeans and a white shirt. When my husband told me he had a sore throat and wasn't feeling well, I had the perfect remedy! I offered to make him a blueberry smoothie. I even brought the glass upstairs to him. But during the hand-off, I managed to drip smoothie all over the front of my shirt.

So I quickly grabbed another white shirt, only to find it was all wrinkled. I ran downstairs to add it to a small load Marianne had in the drier. A few minutes later it was nice and crisp, so I slipped it on and went on my way. Thank goodness I didn't actually leave the house because, as my children pointed out to me, I had failed to notice that my shirt was covered with greasy pink spots. A quick investigation proved that a tube of pink chapstick had found its way into the drier--and all over my shirt.

I headed back to my closet for my 3rd shirt of the day, only this time I chose a black and grey print!

Evolution of a Mom

I've been a mom for 20 years now and I'm sure that my parenting style has changed over time--hopefully for the better. Maybe it's just wishful thinking. Here's an example, so you can decide for yourself!

THEN - 2002

I decided my kids should study birds, so I bought a science kit and planned everything. My sister and I even ordered owl pellets for the children to dissect. My friend who lived in a rural area offered me some for free. I refused, claiming I didn't want to bother her, but secretly I was disgusted at the idea. The own pellets I had ordered were sanitized and wrapped in foil and we used tweezers and other tools that came with the kit to remove and identify the bones. My kids enjoyed it, but when we finished they were done with their study of owls.

NOW - 2010

Evan has been really into birds for at least two months. With my older kids I would have called it a "unit study" in our homeschool. Several weeks ago during my morning walk, I noticed something on the sidewalk. I recognized it as an owl pellet and excitedly told Evan about it. He brought it home and we sat on the patio while he dissected it. He was thrilled to find the vertebrae, a ball and socket joint and identify the femur, tibia, fibula etc.


He has also:

• drawn, painted and sculpted lots of birds
• read several bird books
• identified birds using the field guide
• spent hours on bird websites
• caught (and released) wild birds (in that rusty old trap behind him in the photo)
• put up a bird feeder to observe more birds
  
• trained and cared for his pet parakeet "Scott"
• watched Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds
• found a forgotten science kit and completed several lessons on birds and flight
• dissected an even larger owl pellet he found down the street

Even more impressively, he convinced me to let his bird sit on my head. This may not sound like a big deal to you, but I have issues with birds. I freak out when seagulls swoop down looking for a snack at the beach. As a toddler, I was repeatedly attacked by nest-building bluejays who wanted my hair. And do you remember the name of that poor girl who is nearly pecked to death in The Birds? That's right--her name is Melanie!

One thing's for sure. I definitely have way more gray hair now!

Happy May!

May is always a busy month for us. This year we even missed May Day, but maybe we can play catchup for Family Home Evening tonight. Here are a few of the exciting events coming up this month:

• May 13 - Aaron turns 18
• May 19 - Our granddaughter is scheduled to arrive!

• May 21 & 22 - Performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It. I'm directing and Marianne is "Celia".
  
• May 30 - Aaron's Eagle Court of Honor & our 23rd wedding anniversary
  

Chips From He!!

Actually, the chips are good. It's the bag I hate!

Last night Evan and I went to see a fun production of You're A
Good Man Charlie Brown. On the way there, we stopped at Target to pick up a few things and I told Evan he could get a snack to munch on during the play. When we got out to the car, I was startled by a horrible rustling noise. Evan explained that Sun Chips now come in a "green" bag. The bag even has a little warning label: "Louder because it's compostable!"
And believe me, they're not kidding.

Evan loved the noisiness of the bag and took great glee in tormenting me on the way to the show. But when got there, even he admitted, "Mom, I can't take this bag inside. There's no way I can get a chip out without the bag crackling."
He solved the problem by dumping his chips into a plastic (non-compostable, but very quiet) Target bag.

Today after church he went around the house annoying his sister and me with the empty and now even LOUDER bag. I finally told him to get rid of it.
And because we aren't currently composting,
he threw it in the trash.

I'm all for going "green"
but not at the price of my sanity!