Spring Break: the Richmond temple and Sandbridge

 On our way out of town to go to Sandbridge (south of Virginia Beach), we arranged to have a temple tour at the Richmond temple, which is currently in construction. I am so glad we did--it was a virtual tour at a little mobile home set up next to the site, and it was really neat to have the sweet senior couple describe the architecture and symbolism of various motifs inside the temple, like the dogwood (as the state flower and tree), parquet floors and the dome like Jefferson's Monticello, and other colonial nods. 

This senior couple was so great!

They shared a lot of the neat faith-promoting stories regarding the building of the temple, including showing notes that the youth and Primary send in with weekly cookies for the workers.

Future workers.

With the temple behind us. You can see the dome in the back behind Michael, and the black part behind Clara is where the steeple will be. They also gave us some rock and sand and a picture of the temple to take home with us. So cool!

Then we drove on to Sandbridge, and the kids were happy to go out to explore the beach behind our condo as soon as we got there.

Benjy has been talking about going to the beach for weeks, every night at nap and bedtime asking, "Can I go to the beach and the hot tub?" There isn't a hot tub open, but he is getting his beach wish at least.

Henry and Robbie enjoyed taking the kite up.

These two also got to go to an adventure park with Michael and get on some cool ziplines, rope bridges, etc. We'll have to go back again when Henry is a little older since he didn't get to do all the challenging ones he wanted to.

We took one morning and visited a WWI military aviation museum. It was honestly a bit underwhelming, especially because the kids weren't allowed to touch anything, but oh well.

The weather was chilly at times but much nicer than the last time we'd gone there six years ago.

Crazy how time flies!

Here I was pregnant with Henry. Ironically we stayed this time in the same condo, which we didn't realize until we arrived.

Look how our family has grown. What a blessing.

A highlight for me was playing Rummikub with the family.

A highlight for the fam was going to the Jungle Mini-Golf and playing putt-putt (it was cute watching Benjy just go around and put his ball randomly into the hole, much to Robbie's annoyance).

It was pretty hilarious watching the kids get into the arcade games.

Benjy sacrificed some of his coins for Daddy to play :-).

We topped off that portion of our trip with ice cream custard cones from Kohr's at Virginia Beach. So so good.

Benjy loved being at the beach. Looking forward to future trips with this good little traveler!

Easter 2021

 Last weekend was Easter, and we enjoyed some delicious food and wonderful General Conference talks. A couple of the kids had a difficult time with the Easter egg hunt (re: the type of candy included, the number of eggs limited per child, etc), so we aren't sure if we're going to continue allowing the Easter bunny to come to our home. Hence the lack of a proper group picture.

The kids helped me make resurrection rolls, and they understood the symbolism of the butter and spices, etc.

We also dyed eggs, and I realized we are definitely at the point where Benjy wants to be equal with his big brothers. He wasn't happy with his two eggs he got to dye.

Benjy immediately started opening his eggs upon discovery and enjoying the contents. This is a great age for contentment.

Henry found his golden bunny!

Conference treats by topic.

Our TV currently isn't working, but I was impressed how well the kids did listening on the laptop. If anything, I felt like they did better than when we're downstairs in the media room. For some reason going down to that room equals jump-around time in their eyes it seems.

Henry fell asleep during the second session and was so sweet to watch as he slept.

We tried to light the newly completed fire pit on Saturday evening, but (despite specific reassurances from the manufacturer about not needing to vent it) it almost exploded (the very heavy center bowl shook and lifted up a bit, a column of fire rose up, and rocks flew everywhere. It was quite scary and I am so thankful we were all safe. 

Happy Easter and Hurrah for the Savior's living reality!

Outdoor fun

 March brought some nicer weather, a welcome change from the cold gray winter skies. 

Early in the month, Robbie made a "tent site/base" out of the climbing dome. This wasn't even the finished product, which included an outdoor toilet among many other items. I let him keep it up for a couple of weeks until I couldn't take it any longer. Still, I loved his ingenuity. He has had a lot of extra time since he only had class twice a week, but that all changes next week when he goes back four days a week. I will miss having him around!

We went on a hike up Stony Man Trail in Shenandoah and saw lots of deer. This one was obviously unimpressed by humans.

The kids loved climbing on all the rocks at the top (I waited in a safe place with my heart in my throat).

We made a little fire to roast some hot dogs on our way home.

The spiffy volcano stove works like a champ. However, I didn't really enjoy the experience because I was worried about wildfire warnings that I'd seen on the news website and was afraid we'd get in big trouble. Mercifully, nothing happened.

Michael had to fly to Las Vegas for a conference one weekend, and the weather was so nice we ate dinner outside on our picnic blanket.

The next weekend, we went camping with our friends, the Briggs family. I had told Michael I really wanted to go before I got too big to make it so uncomfortable. It was a blast, despite our tent finally going the way of all the earth at the end of it.

Clara had a major panic attack leaving to go, but she came and had a fun time. I was proud of her. Roasting peeps was a highlight.

Yum!

Henry could barely get his mouth around that thing.

Spencer is a dentist north of town and the Elder's Quorum president, and he and Michael had a great time talking shop. I enjoyed talking with his wife and the kids all got along well.

I brought homemade cinnamon rolls and bacon and grapes for breakfast and we scrambled some eggs. It was quite a bit colder than we'd anticipated, so I was glad I had brought hot cocoa.

Even though he initially was too hyped up to go to sleep in the tent (especially because I had forgotten his blanket), he eventually did and slept well.

The boys' favorite activity was digging up rocks and throwing them into the water.

The beautiful Shenandoah River.

The trip ended with a nice walk on Storybook Trail, finding a tick in Henry's hair (fortunately there haven't seem to have been any rash or other negative effects), and getting a delicious lunch from the Gathering Grounds to eat at a local park in Luray. It was great!

Dr. Seuss day

 Both Robbie and Henry got to dress up as a Dr. Seuss character this past week for Read Across America.

Thing 2 was ready to go.

And Henry had blue hair too but calmed it down before school because he didn't want it to look too crazy. Glad these boys have fun dressing up.

Joy in Mothering

 Today I feel deep gratitude for the privilege of being a mother to these beautiful children. Too often I focus on my worries for them--how to help them with individual weaknesses and challenges, what to involve them in, how to help them spiritually, frustration with the mess mess mess, etc. But recently, and especially today (no doubt significantly aided by the sunshine and warmer temperatures), I have felt joy. Not a cartwheeling, this-is-the-most-amazing-moment-of-my-life feeling, but the deep, tear-inducing joy that compelled me to kneel down in gratitude to make sure my Father in Heaven knew I recognized it and that I was trying hard not to be ungrateful and take those moments for granted.

I felt satisfaction as I helped Robbie build a fort around the climbing dome using paracord to help him lash a tarp to the top. I felt joy reading Treasure Island with Robbie during special time the other night, finishing The Trumpet of the Swan with Henry and having him tell me he loves me, having my quiet time interrupted with a knock on my window by Robbie who needed a splinter pulled out. 

Yesterday as I played play-doh with Benjy, we made a little birthday cake and he absolutely loved blowing out a real candle over and over and over after he sang the happy birthday song. It was a very sweet time. I also want to always remember Robbie's enthusiastic goodbye waves from the bus as he heads off to school twice a week.

As I tucked Benjy into bed for nap this afternoon, I wrapped my arms around him and felt his arms squeeze me tight, pulling me in. We played a little kissing game, which he wanted to keep playing until I extricated myself, turned on the fan, turned out the light, and closed the door. I am very thankful that Clara still wants to give me hugs. I was very grateful that Michael came home early yesterday, and we sat on the back patio and just enjoyed the warmer air and watching the boys jump on the trampoline, discussing work and home. 

Although sometimes the deep joy also causes me pain from worrying that I'll lose one of them (whether physically or spiritually), I push that fear aside as I remember that there is a plan. I know that even if I were to lose one of my precious children, I will hold them again someday and be with them eternally through the Savior's redemption. I am so thankful for that.

So often I am in the thick of thin things. Today I am thankful for the privilege of being present in the thick of it.

A visit from Nana and Papa

 Nana and Bapa offered to come up to visit and help out the last week of February. It was great to have their company and their help. Dishes were magically cleaned, Legos cleaned up, books were read, kids were spent time with, returns made to stores, and cabinets were fixed. Bapa spent a morning with Robbie exploring the woods behind our house, which Robbie really enjoyed. They took each of the kids out on a date again, which was so sweet.

Reading with Nana. 

Bapa introduced lion hunts to the kids. The older kids loved them but Benjy was slightly scared, so Bapa made it into a lion tickle hunt.

 

We also got to celebrate Bapa's 76th birthday! For lunch that day, I made a little smorgasbord of things that Bapa likes. Here he is eating a tomato, peanut butter, and mayonnaise sandwich. I bravely tried one, and it wasn't bad.

Here we also have graham crackers and milk, turkey and mayonnaise, dulce de leche and apples (that Mom brought up). I sadly did not make bread and milk or toasted cheese sandwiches with our initials written in ketchup, a Dad classic.

So fun to be with my parents, and on Dad's birthday, too (not sure when the last time that was).

We celebrated with chocolate cake.

So thankful for these two wonderful people!

Bapa got to open presents with some eager helpers.