Today

Guess what I'm doing right now? Wrapping Christmas presents. It snowed today, so instead of throwing a tantrum, we decided to pretend it was Christmas Eve today. We got scones and hot chocolate, the boys made a snowman, we sang Christmas carols, and Nathan drew a Christmas tree and taped it to the wall. They told me to wrap up the toys they already have so they can open them when they wake up.


Today: it snowed even though May is the day after tomorrow, Manzo dog killed a chicken, I got a ticket for my driver's license being expired, I practiced my flute, I went to Alex's Friday school recital where he played "Teach me to Walk in the Light" and he did GREAT!, and I took Katherine and Abbie to a ballet school "sneak preview" of their upcoming performance. Katherine was IN HEAVEN! It wasn't on a stage but in a dance room so all the ballerinas were right in front of her! Then while they were changing costumes they had the kids come out and do some dancing and do what the ballerina was doing. She was so in to it! Then afterwards everyone left but we stayed to watch them practice and she danced by me while they were dancing and she was in heaven! She throws fits if we do anything other than watch Swan Lake in the car. It's funny how she is so in to dancing. She just loves it.

Katherine's dialogues

Katherine: I'm so lucky.
Mommy: Why are you lucky?
Katherine: I'm a sister.
****
Mommy: What do you want for breakfast?
Katherine: I want popcorn and cheese and marshmallows and oranges.

Easter and life and death

We put two dozen fertilized eggs in our incubator to hatch Easter chicks. Two broke in the process, so out of 22 eggs, 15 hatched. One died upon hatching, and two died the next day while the boys were at their Friday school. I was taking a shower and Katherine was left alone with the little chicks (what was I thinking??). Todd went downstairs and saw Katherine holding a dead chick. He washed Katherine's hands and I came down and put the chick in the trash can. Another chick was dying and it died in my hands. Katherine had no idea what was going on, and why I put the chicks in the trash can. When the boys got home, Nathan cried and cried about his chicks dying. Later that afternoon, we saw one of the chicks looking sick. We prayed for it and made a little bed away from the other chicks for it, and hoped it made it, but it too died. Nathan was again very sad. He even saw this one die.

This has actually been a really good experience. This is our kids' first experience with life and death. We saw the chicks be born, and even some hatched out of their eggs on the boys' hands (in the bathroom with the hot shower going). We witnessed the miracle of life.

We also witnessed the normal, natural part of life: death. I explained to Katherine that life, or a spirit, goes into the chick when it's born, in its body. But when something happens to its body (like it gets squeezed too hard), then the body dies and the spirit goes to heaven to be with Jesus and Heavenly Father. The body is dead, so we have to put it in the trash can. But some day, the chick's body and spirit will come back together and it will be alive again, called the ressurection. That's why we celebrate Easter! Jesus died, and His body was dead and His spirit went to heaven. But three days later,  His body was gone! His spirit came back to His body and He became alive again! Because of that, all living creatures, including us, will come alive again too! (She wanted me to tell her the story over and over and over again).

When I was a teenager, I was there when a dog died. I pet it and talked to it as it died. It's a sad but beautiful and amazing experience, being there when the spirit departs the body and goes home, back where the spirit came from.

I also explained that to the boys. Death hurts for those that are still here. But it is a normal, natural part of life. Heavenly Father made us, and wants us to be with Him. This life is just temporary. Some day, we will all be back with Him, where we want to be. For those that get to go back to heaven, it's a happy time. (And those chicks will never have to suffer a cold winter or being chased by a crazy Manzo dog).

This Easter I understand its meaning a little more. We celebrate Easter because it means death is not the end. Jesus overcame death. Because of Him, we will live again.

Dramatic Nathan

Nathan is SO dramatic. He got a cut on his hand from a can, and he yelled and screamed like he was about to die (this is not unusual for Nathan). After getting it cleaned and bandaged up, I told him that he'll never be able to play video games again (you know, because his hand must have been practically cut off by the way he was screaming) and he said, "Yes I can!" And so he is now happy as a lark playing video games. Silly boy. I guess he'll live after all. I asked him if he'd like to go to Thanksgiving Point to Farm Country to see the animals. He said he couldn't because of his hand. He said, "I like animals, but not enough to DIE for them!!" (because he cut his hand, he'd die if he went anywhere).

By the way, Nathan asked me today if I'd rather be a tiny person (like leprechaun size) or be regular size but have to live in a freezer.

stuff

Yesterday was not a good day, but it ended really well.

I think that Heavenly Father knew we needed a clear answer to whether we should get land because the next day, someone called and said they really wanted to buy our house. And Todd had a job offer paying more money, and some dumb neighbor called the police because our puppy was out front (that I can understand, we need to get a fence because he started eating the chickens but haven't gotten up the fence yet because we didn't know if we were moving) and because we have chickens (which chickens are perfectly legal in Spanish Fork, and our chickens aren't bothering anybody, but now I have to get a permit for them which is a pain).  I really wish we could've just moved to the country!!

Nathan had a major meltdown/tantrum yesterday; he is so emtional. I was like that as a kid. It's very taxing on me.

But at the end of the day, I helped Alex practice piano and he's getting so good! Then Katherine wanted me to help her practice her flute. I got out my old flute, the sentimental one that I practiced hours and hours on from 7th grade through college, and she made sound on it a few times!! Then I played it and she danced and every time I stopped she would hold the flute up to me and say to play some more so she could keep dancing. So precious!!

P.S. Here it is a few months later, and I'm writing an update because I forgot I hadn't written an update to this. It turned out the people who wanted our house wouldn't have gotten it anyway because the job here fell through for them. AND when we got our house refinanced, it wasn't worth what we thought, and so we wouldn't have had the down payment from our house to put toward the other one.