Gifts, Tricks and Music March 2018

 Joshua was super excited to pick out these birthday gifts with the cash his grandparents mailed him. 

 
 When we made a trip down to visit my family in March the kids were amazed by this trick my dad taught them where they punctured a balloon with a skewer and it didn't pop.  Joshua is my child with no fear that was totally eager to try again and again.

 Joshua also prepared for his Let's Play Music Recital, but he ended up getting sick that day and had to miss it.  He has a bit of love/hate relationship with piano.  He loves the rewards I give him for practicing and sometimes thoroughly seems to enjoy his developing talent, especially when he can show it off to others, but more often he puts up a fight and I can see that my last chance of having a child who intrinsically just loves to play piano is starting to fade as he definitely prefers sports over music... but I haven't given up hope yet!  Its a bit ironic that my sister who hated piano and quit is raising a bunch of musical boys, while my children would rather go down the path she took of quitting.

Joshua Wrestling Spring 2018

 Joshua tells me he likes the "thing"(wrestling) dad picked for him a lot better than what I picked for him (Let's Play Music).

Piano Composition Festival 2018

 This year I had my piano students compose songs for the composition festival.  They were all pretty excited, except for my own children who did not enjoy learning to play their own songs after, but I loved the creative results and promised an ice cream reward at the end. At the festival recital they were then able to perform them and receive some suggestions from a professional film score writer, Jordan S Roper.

Not a Farmer's Wife

Last night we had a fun family night going on a tour of the animal facilities at the local college.  I thought we'd just be seeing the baby piglets, but we saw a whole lot more.... and it's a good thing because the smell of the pigpen was so powerful I couldn't stay in for long without gagging! I was definitely not cut out to be a farmer's wife.  Apparently, we have more farmgirls than farmboys in our family though. Jacob, Daniel and I mostly kept our distance from the animals, but the girls were eager to catch chickens, pet the calves and hold the pigs. It made me think of a school assignment Rebecca brought home in kindergarten or first grade where she indicated that what she wanted to be when she grew up was "a farmer's wife."

Joshua was fearless and let the baby calve suck on his fingers.

 

 

 Big mamma of 16 little pigs!

When You Feel "Winless"

After my dad heard that Jacob was defeated in both of his wrestling matches at the state, he sent a personal message in the mail to him. Yesterday Jacob read the "Knight's Notes" which included this insightful quote.
"To the man in the Arena"
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt


I especially love the phrase"the triumph of high achievement." Only a select few earn the title of 'undefeated' or #1, but the real reward of personally excelling in academics, sports, in music, or any other endeavor is the satisfaction of knowing that you gave it your all, you pushed yourself to conquer hard things and improved yourself.  Comparison can be the thief of joy unless we can shift our perspective to see the triumph of achievement amidst our defeats.
I'm grateful for a dad who takes time to teach my children from afar some of the same life lessons he instilled in me as he posted and shared inspiring thoughts throughout our home when I was a child.

Never Enough

I was sweeping the kitchen floor during the peaceful moments after the crazy rush of getting all the kids out the door to school.  Those few hours of quiet solitude are something I look forward to each day, even if it means that I'm left to pick up the pieces from the chaos of a morning of lunches thrown together, spilled breakfast cereal, last night's dishes still in the sink because the child with that chore had a lot of homework,  and yet another toothbrush left out on the bathroom counter.  Somehow what I envisioned "motherhood" as being when I dreamt of it as a child is a little different from the reality that I wake up to each day. The inspiring talks and music from BYU Radio playing in the background while I clean are my therapy that usually soothes my soul.

But on this day, the radio wasn't on yet, and the words of "Never Enough" (from the Greatest Showman) kept swirling in my mind as I reflected on some events of the week and my own inadequacies as a mother.  The tears started to stream down my face.