Family Time – Page 45 – Letters from Home

Being an Aunt

We had a few cousins over on Sunday afternoon during General Conference. I took a picture of what they looked like as it began. Five minutes later, the cousins were looking for something to do.

I promise that this wasn’t my idea, but they decided they wanted to sew. They had never sewn anything before (they are in preschool and kindergarten) but they saw that Mark knew how to embroider, so they wanted to do that, too.

They embroidered little sketches I made of swords as we watched Conference.

The older brother was so excited about his sword that I framed that he decided he wanted to do another project: the Easter Bunny. And he wanted it to be pink.

Does anyone believe me that they wanted to do this? These little boys sat for an hour together, then the older brother sat for another hour, completely focused on their work. I sat with them, threading needles and saying good job. It was focused attention and I loved it.

They had a good time here, and that was a relief. I know that I am not the fun aunt or the young aunt. But yesterday, I felt like my version of an aunt was okay. I am the aunt who will untangle knots in your thread, make drawings for you, and feed you carrot sticks and lemon bars.

I’m also the aunt with the fun kids to play with. There was a mighty game of dress up clothes and battles in the basement. It was a good time, and I am glad that my brother could take his older kids to a session of Conference in the Conference Center.

Art Exhibition

We visited Paige’s art project last night. It has been traveling for a month or two, but
now it’s back in town. It’s on display at a mall featuring high school level artists from several school districts.

I think it must be kind of hard to send off your art for the crowds to see. I think Paige is courageous and so talented.

We took some time to study the exhibit. As we finished viewing, Paige, Timothy, and I saw Richard slipping into a candy store with the other boys. We joined them and watched Mark and Timothy explore the store like a couple of pinballs ricocheting from bin to bin. They’ve never been on the other side of the candy store window at the mall.

It was a fun family night.

Year 6

The tradition continues…

Here we are in our annual photo before the ~~Young~~ Women General Meeting.

We took about 60 photos. I chose the above photo, but the following photo was in the running:

I won’t share all of the photos from over the years, but this was our first photo when Paige was 12.

Sacred Gifts

Paige had the day off from school on Monday and we decided to get tickets to the Sacred Gifts exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. We went with my mom and made a day of it. If you have an opportunity to go, you should. These paintings are on loan from several locations, mostly churches, and they are all depictions of the Savior. The altar pieces take some time to study. There are paintings by Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hoffmann, and Frans Schwartz.

I realized that I had never seen real art before. I have visited community and university museums all of my life, but never felt what I did at this exhibit. Part of it was the subject matter and seeing original paintings rather than the washed out prints I have looked at all my life. The paintings were luminous and vibrant in color. I could see the foreground of the paintings were painted differently than the backgrounds. I could see the “spectators” in Bloch’s paintings more clearly. My favorite was the first painting, Frans Schwartz’s Agony in the Garden. It touched me deeply.

One caption near a painting by Heinrich Hofmann told of the inadequacy that Hofmann felt when he began painting the Savior. The painting took him two years to complete, and the writer of the caption emphasized the courage it took for Hofmann to paint, despite his youth, inexperience, and the immense subject matter he was trying to depict.

I think that’s the message that I needed to hear this week. Even though we may feel inadequate, our time and talents given to others can become sacred gifts, and they can be magnified in quality when we give with a pure heart.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Our party was fun on Friday night. Our guests were chosen for us by someone from church, and as hosts, only we knew who was coming. Paige was our pianist while we ate. She made it feel so elegant to be eating at the Ross house. I have learned that a little help in the kitchen makes an evening so much more enjoyable. Daniel cleared our plates and loaded the dishwasher quietly so we could visit. He heard some great stories from some fun people as he worked.

This was my favorite picture of the night. Daniel took all of these photos.

Everyone brought something special. Just look at the colors of that food… and those rolls! I don’t take credit for any of the food. I just warmed things in the oven and microwave. Richard’s smoked chicken was a hit. These were gorgeous, gorgeous plates of food.

We heard so many fun stories and that was the best part. I think we were so lucky to get this mix of people.

The little boys came out in their suits to serve trifle for dessert. I made individual trifle servings in mason jars. These were so pretty. One of the couples in our group is serving a mission and the elder gave Timothy his name tag to wear for a few minutes to see how it felt.

I am thankful for my neighbors and ward members. It was so good to get to know them.

These women are two of my children’s teachers in church. How great is that?

When the evening was over, I fell into bed in my clothes and slept in the next morning. Sleep is sweet when you’ve worked hard for something.

Party tonight

I’m preparing for a dinner party for 12 adults today. I haven’t finished the table yet, but things will get crazy later and I may forget to take another picture. My sister Susan provided the lanterns and Long tablecloth. I have leftover bird nests from a Young Women activity filled with chocolate eggs and get-to-know-you questions for the guests to discuss over dinner.

The kids are helping tonight and will play background piano music, photograph the event, and the little boys will serve dessert in their suits. Mark has permission to change IMMEDIATELY after dessert. Richard is preparing some of our meal in his smoker. (I always want to type that he is smoking chicken, but that sounds like something else.) His smoked chicken is so good.

The theme for the evening is “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and the guests don’t know who is invited. Our church is holding these parties in 7 or 8 members’ homes tonight. Only the hosts know who is coming. It’s a great chance to get to know people.

I finished hanging frames for a gallery wall, but I may not get all the frames filled today. All well.

Our basement flooded last night and our fence is still down in the backyard. Other than that, we’re looking good for company!

Sahuarita friends

We had a nice visit from some friends from Sahuarita, Arizona. They’ve all grown so much, but the friendships still feel comfortable. It was a fun night. It’s a sacrifice to take time to visit friends when people are on a trip to visit family. It meant a lot to us.

Dinnertime Conversation of the Week

Mark met a girl at school last year who took an active interest in figuring out why I don’t have a job like her mom. She has talked to me about it and scolded me for just staying home. During our conversations, I have learned that I am hearing her father’s opinions (or her interpretation of his opinions) through her. At school she tells Mark that her family is rich and that she owns 50 horses.

Last night, Mark asked us, “So how DO you get rich?”

He had been thinking… If this little girl at school was rich, it must be because both of her parents work. He gently suggested that I could get a job.

Wealth, to Mark, we discovered, would mean having more video games.

That’s so funny that he thinks I would spend my paycheck on video games. Ha! Regardless of our wealth, I will continue to be the major impediment to a life of video game ecstasy in the lives of my children, for which they will thank me someday, but not today.

I think there are things we can do to teach the value of each person’s contributions in our family. I think we do this through assigning jobs to our children and Working Beside Them. We can show appreciation verbally for jobs well done. As a homemaker, I can express the joy this brings to me and the appreciation I have for Richard who makes our comfortable life possible. And we can be kind to those who belittle our efforts.

Now, let me say unequivocally that I am thrilled with the educational and other opportunities that are available to women. I treasure the fact that the backbreaking work and domestic drudgery required of women has been reduced in much of the world because of modern conveniences and that women are making such magnificent contributions in every field of endeavor. But if we allow our culture to reduce the special relationship that children have with mothers and grandmothers and others who nurture them, we will come to regret it.

-Elder Quentin L. Cook, Ensign, November 2013

Be Kind

It is kind to share your repairman skills.

One night for Family Home Evening last month, Tim taught a lesson about choosing to be kind and a good neighbor. He pulled out his carefully curated Lego characters and some pieces for two teams to create some situations where (Lego) people were being kind.

It is kind to help someone load their trailer. It is kind to put out a fire inadvertently caused by a flame-spewing segway.

The beauty of this lesson was the good time we all had together. We laughed and cheered for one another. We needed that.

Our Week

These frames are at Michaels in the dollar bins. These are Easter time pictures of each of the kids when they were about two years old. They were all such little sweeties.

I still have so many blank walls in the house. It’s daunting for me to decorate because I don’t put something on the wall unless it is meaningful to me, and that’s a tall order. I’ve been working on a few photo projects to cover some of these empty spaces in the house. I found this collage frame and filled it with photos of Richard and me for our bedroom.

As you can see, it’s still not on the wall. I have so many ideas, but perfectionism gets in the way.

Look at this picture I found:

Tres chic, I know. The baby’s hat! The scarf! The distinguished young man!

In other news, Richard had a birthday.

I made him good things to eat. What did he ask for? Lentil soup, steak, and lemon bars. Steaks are for the weekend. The Young Men were short on rides to the mountains for a night sledding expedition, so that’s what he did on his birthday. He went night sledding with the neighborhood teenage boys.

Paige took her first sick day since going to public school this week. She’s working on an art project with this selfie. She’s feeling better today.

Daniel is working the microphones for the school play. He goes to school at 6:45 a.m. and comes home for dinner, then back again for the performance. He likes working on the stage crew. He got his first taste of it when Paige was dancing in Arizona:

He’s a lot taller now.

I am going to begin teaching violin lessons next week. You have no idea how I agonized over my inability, then my lack of time, and finally my monthly rate. All of my creative energy this week went into that decision and then I took to my bed for a day in exhaustion and with an upset stomach. I’m such a Victorian that I should carry around smelling salts. Despite my turmoil, I believe it will help me to be teaching again.