thoughts on a sunday or whatever

• Most of these thoughts are older than this last week- but you see, it was Christmas time, and I didn't have time to blog.  

• I was tucking Ellery and she was saying her personal prayer.  Before she started she whispered, "Mom, can I say 'Father in heaven'?"  I told her she definitely could and then it turns out she was too embarrassed to say it. 
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• That reminds me that McKay will sometimes throw in "as we say these things" at the end of his prayer.  It's sweet that they are listening to others and trying it out in their own prayers.  

• McKay's been going a bit rouge sometimes with his prayers during the Christmas season.  Many times I heard him say this: "Congratulations that it's so close to your birthday.  I love you."  Awwww.

• Ellery is still obsessed with coloring.  Right now she's really into drawing her own pictures and also drawing many, many letters and then trying to read them like they're words.  This scene is a frequent one around here- her on the floor with paper and art supplies scattered around her.  I love finding her like this- it makes me happy.  It's about the only thing she does on her own lately, too.  Sadly, since we moved to Utah, her ability to play on her own has suffered a bit.  

• This coloring reminds me of another fun thing we've been doing lately.  Thinking of easy, quick and fun family home evening activities can be tricky.  A few weeks ago I got the idea do a rotating drawing.  We each start with a blank piece of paper and begin a drawing (we did Christmasey things) and then after a little bit we'd say "switch" and then pass the paper to the  next person and continue to add to their drawing.  We went all around the table until we had our original drawing back and then we'd show it and say what we started with and who added what. The kids really loved it.

• We went to the ward Christmas party a few weeks ago.  It was a really simple gathering, but the kids had so much fun seeing and playing with their friends in the church, not on Sunday.  Layla was soon adopted for the night by a couple of my beehives and she was eating up that attention like you wouldn't believe.  On the way home she said, "Mom, can you call my friends?"  I almost couldn't handle the cuteness.

• We had a death in the family.  Brian and McKay found Sparkles dead in her cage.  It was 4:30 p.m.  McKay had to be at the first grade Christmas sing at 5:45.  This is not a lot of time to comfort grieving children, make and feed them dinner, dispose of a dead guinea pig and make sure they have clean shirts and faces before leaving the house.  

• McKay wanted to tell Ellery immediately, but she was downstairs playing with friends.  He was pretty much hysterical at this point.  We found an empty Wheat Thins box and Brian put Sparkles inside.  I sent Ellery's friends home and broke the news to her down in the playroom.  She smiled at me.  She seemed kind of fascinated.  She wanted to see.  Brian insisted on throwing her in the trash.  He told the kids it was against the law to bury animals in your yard.  He got the Wheat Thins box out of the trash and Ellery peaked in.  After that, it wasn't fascinating anymore, and she fell apart- right there with McKay.  They were setting the table for dinner heavy with tears.  McKay had the idea to write "Sparkles" on our napkins.  We all appreciated the sentiment and had a dinner in her honor.  

• McKay had been so excited for his Christmas program, but after the traumatic event of losing a pet, he adamantly declared through his tears that he couldn't sing.  It took a lot of convincing, but we got him to the school and up on the stage.  He was this little, depressed lump of a child up there with all the other wiggly, excited first graders.  Several times- when I could tell that tears were coming- I had to make eye contact with him and remind him to take deep breaths and hold it together.  The people around me probably thought I was crazy doing these big, exaggerated breaths at my kid up on stage.  It helped him though and he made it through the program, although I really don't think he smiled at all during the whole thing.  But he did it.

• After getting home we knew we were in for a long, grief-filled night.  We were right.  Ellery went right to sleep, but McKay was up for hours, mourning his sisters pet or worrying that Smokey was dead as well.

• Smokey isn't dead.  I must admit, I would have been more sad had it been him.  Don't tell Ellery. We are all worried that Smokey might be depressed.  How can you tell with guinea pigs though, really.

• A few days after the death, Ellery was still struggling.  Grandma helped Brian see that a burial would be best for his grieving children, so in the ground she went.  It helped Ellery, and Grandma even made Sparkles and Elle matching blankets to remember and comfort one another. She still gets sad at times, but mostly she's fine, given that she really didn't care about Sparkles much when she was alive.  

• So that is all our old news, here's a few new tidbits.

• After visiting the dentist with the kids- and no cavities for anyone!!!- it was pretty clear to me that I really did need to take Layla's souci away. . .again. . . mostly because the dentist said the longer she had it the more we would pay for orthodontics later.  Hmmm.  So I made a goal for January.  You guys, it's so hard for me to take that stupid thing away.  Well, I didn't take it away, we cut it again.  So we told her that her precious pink souci- the one that she had discovered in the toy basket- was now broken too.  It broke my heart to see her face when she discovered it.  My other kids think we're so mean to cut her souci.  They don't get why we have to take it away at all.  So this is night two without it.  She's getting more attached to her blankie and her baby, so at least there is some comfort in that lonely bed.  

• Of course I worry that this will be the end of her naps.  That's the main reason why I gave it back to her the first time.  But lately her naps have been more sporadic and I can see an end coming, so it wasn't so hard for that reason.  I still plan on giving her rest time, but will probably allow her to have books to read.  She naps really well every few days, so maybe even without the souci she'll do that.  

• Lately, when Layla pretends to talk on the phone she says this:  "I'm going to call the queen.  'Hello, queen.  How are you?'"  It is my very favorite thing to hear her talking to that old queen.

• McKay finally- FINALLY- lost his second front tooth.  You know, those awkward ones on the top?  Yep, it came out tonight.  So now he has a full grown manly tooth on the left side, and a wide open space on the right.  Still cute to me.
• A couple of cute notes my kids made at church and gave to each other and me for Christmas.  

• Happy mid-week!