MARCHing on

Ohhh that was a clever title, wasn't it. (Because, you know, these are pictures from March ... and March is almost over and ... oh never mind. 😄)

The other day as I was readying dinner I pulled a hidden (or so I thought) bag of grapes from the fridge and noticed it looked ... much smaller than I'd recalled it being when I purchased it. Just then Penny walked by, saw that I was getting them out, and said, "Oh good. Now I can eat them without sneaking."

Stinker.

Luckily not all she does is bad.

Why here she is at the beginning of her first junior high choir performance. (She didn't take it her first two years and only transferred in half-way through this year.)

She sang a solo (the saddest song ever: "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables). It was beautiful! Her voice didn't crack or stumble for even a second. (Even when she had to sing "but there are dreams that cannot be, and there are storms you cannot weather".) I kept just being sort of shocked at how lovely it just kept on being! It isn't as if I've heard her singing solos all her life after all. Or even heard her sing in choirs. How was I to know? She did have her big role in the school play last year and sang beautifully, but there is so much going on in a play--dancing and people all about, that there didn't seem to be quite the intense focus on her voice that there was when it was just her standing there with a microphone and nothing but her voice!

And then she was also asked to sing (with the brother of one of her friends) for our stake's youth standard's night this past Sunday! So just like that I got to see her perform something absolutely lovely twice! 

So that was happy.

And speaking of happy. ... And sad: 

Goldie ... in her last ever school play!

The happy part? Seeing her bright performance and how much she loves doing it.

The sad part? (I should say sad parts.) 

• Well, as I said, it was her last one.
• And it was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. So ... there's that! (Not the happiest musical.)
• But mostly sad was this: At the start I was quite sure I heard them ask us not to take pictures. But I wasn't positive. So I wanted to risk it. But I couldn't see anyone else taking photos! Finally, at the end, I couldn't bear it and snuck a few. But I am very very sad I didn't get many more of her last play. Booo.

And here Goldie is again ... just eating something (but she's rarely in photos, so we will take what we can get):

And here she is again ... with Devin and Melissa's first ever little baby! Stella Bird! She's just utterly wonderful:

Some more pictures from March?

Abe home for just a tiny speck of time one Saturday:

And the March weather being very ... Marchy. (We've had a handful of days in the mid 70s [!!!] as well as days with freezing temperatures and snow.)

And here Abe is getting together for pupusas with his MTC mission companion, climbing with his BYU climbing friends, and teaching his last district at the MTC (sniffle). (He might be back for the summer but decided to take the last month of school to focus more on all his precious math ... while actually having time to sleep more than five hours a night and maybe eat dinner once in awhile--which was what he wasn't doing between all his intense class-work and being at the MTC from late afternoon till after 9 each night.) 

And here are some kids sleeping and doing other things:

(Hans passed out cold reading a Schleich catalog.)

Mike and I went axe throwing one night. (Axe throwing???) Last minute we'd asked the girls to tend while we went to a movie, but when we got to the theater, the entire thing was rented out for some company. We'd already eaten and couldn't get to another theater in time, so Mike pulled over at an empty looking axe throwing place and in we went. I only got one in for about every six Mike got in, but it was satisfying when it happened, and I have a feeling Mike will be building his own axe throwing board for our kids to use up at the farm one of these days now.

Daisy took some of the kids to the aquarium when she was home one weekend. It seems like someone ought to have texted me more pictures of the adventure? But this is all I seem to have. Still, Daisy is a good one for taking the kids on little adventures when she comes home!

Our kids had an end-of-quarter day off of school on the same day that Abe and Daisy had their "Spring Day" at BYU. (You read that right. Not Spring Break week. Spring ... day.) Pen and Gold took The Frontrunner down and spent the entire day with Daisy. (It seems like someone might have texted me pictures from that as well?) And I took the younger six to a little park. (It was Summer's suggestion. And I think she was inspired because we were the only people around on this quiet March day. A police officer showed up right as we were there. He'd had to arrest someone there the other day and clearly felt sad about the situation. I gather the kid was only in his early twenties. And he'd lost his shoes. This police officer came back to the park ... just hoping to do something kind and find this poor troubled kid's shoes. And lo and behold, within minutes of him asking if we'd seen them, Summer found them in in the brush by a cement tunnel that I am quite sure no adult would have gone through. It made me feel teary thinking of God nudging us there through Summer because he knew where this poor kid's shoed were and wanted to help that officer be able to find them.)

And here kids are in their St. Patrick's Day green:

And last (and here we must say "but not least"): my oldest nephew recently got sealed to his wife, and all of my siblings were there! All eleven of my parents kids not only together at once (which rarely happens), but together in the temple! It just made me feel so happy and grateful and full of love.

(The side pose from oldest to youngest is a throwback to a family picture of my grandma and her sisters doing the same silly train that we often feel we must recreate. 😄) Someone on Instagram asked me the names and ages. And I did not know! Ha! Well ... I knew the names. Yes. But the ages! Goodness! We have Megan at the far left who is 43, and Mark by my mom at the far right is 64. If you start with Megan and add a year or two for each person next in line it works out about right. My mom is 85 (I think? Is that right, mom?)

And the names. From left to right: 

Megan, Nancy, Shannon, Aaron, Chris, Rob, John, Amy, Kathy, Tony, Mark, Mom (Sharon).

Anyway! Happy times. It's been a good month. 

Our Little Contrarian Turns Three

Little spriteling had a birthday last week. She's THREE YEARS OLD.

And it maybe shouldn't seem that surprising. After all, I have had nine children turn three before. 

But, as Abe texted (in response to some birthday pictures and videos I sent to him and Daisy): 

"This is the first time ever that I can say my youngest sibling is three. After 21 years of waiting."

Likewise, in TWENTY-ONE YEARS, I have never ever once had a youngest child that was THREE!

And that is pretty crazy! Isn't it? 21 years of never ever not having a someone who is two or younger! I hardly know what to make of either leaving that stage, or of having survived it to begin with!

Anyway. Strange or not, this little tenth child is three. And she has become as contrary as any human might dream of being (bless her tiny heart). There is nothing she doesn't have to do herself, no willingness to ask for anything without screams, nothing she will agree to wear without meltdowns and multiple repetitions from me that the one thing she will wear (the pink pants and shirt from the above photo) is in the laundry, no bowl she will eat out of that isn't yellow, etc. etc. 

But she likes to have me sit on the couch and just hold her. And always likes to be near me. And she whisper plays so dearly with various little things. And has confiscated my pink make-up sponge so completely ("It's my pink poof" she insists.) And she says such darling things. (At church yesterday she patted Penny's flower dress thoughtfully then said to me, "Mom? Can I have this Penny?" ["Yes," I told her. "Yes, you can have her."--Upon which she happily and possessively patted the flowers on Penny's dress some more.]) And she's so certain of her abilities. (Today, when Hans broke something he'd built, she ran to him calling, "I can fix it!" [Though I am quite certain she could not.])

And all of those things? Well. They compensate for the current contrary that exists in her more than enough! 

She is adored.