Pinkies Up!

My big event for the week was a tea party for my friends. I was a co-host with another friend of mine in the ward. I had an opportunity to pull out my fancy tea cups that I have been collecting over the years. I ordered my favorite tea (thanks to Heather who introduced it) from Montana and we had French Hot Chocolate. There were sugar cubes or honey for the tea and crushed peppermint candies or marshmallows for the hot cocoa. We offered cucumbers sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, mint chocolate cake balls, mixed nuts, buttermints, lemon-blueberry cake, and mini fruit skewers on toothpicks. Ultimately, it was an excuse to pull out the fine china, eat good food, and talk to friends. We had the party in the morning and an after-party in the evening for those who couldn't make the earlier one. I enjoyed the time with friends a lot!

It seems I have some friends who need help right now. One is struggling enough that her marriage seems, to her, on the edge of hopeless right now. Another one is having post-partum blues and feels completely overwhelmed by being a new mother. Another one is having a hard time with her husband is out of town, six kids, and a new house. She needs physical help in getting settled. I'm feeling a bit helpless because while I understand to a certain degree what each of them are going through, I can't fix anything for them. So, I listen when I can, advise when it seems appropriate, watch kids when necessary, and pray a lot for them. Life is hard and we all have to find our own way to muddle through the tough times. It's hard to watch others struggle though. I guess we just do the best we can to help. At the same time, I think of so many of my other friends who would appreciate a call or with whom I would like to catch up or develop better friendships but I don't because I feel a bit overwhelmed with how many wonderful ladies there are in my life. I need to stop liking people.

So, I've been menu planning that covers an entire month. I'm liking it a lot and it makes for clear grocery lists and I feel more kindly toward cooking because I avoid the lack of response for the dreaded question, "What's for dinner?" Organization and planning; who knew? I've also realized that I have 36+ dinners that I more or less regularly make and am therefore comfortable with making.

Friday, Joe and I went to watch a round dance at a local square dance society. I would like to learn, hoping that we could find an activity to do together that we both enjoy. Round dancing is ballroom dancing with country terms. Instead of learning all the steps and memorizing dances, there is a caller (like for square dancing) to tell you what to do next. Everyone was SOOOO excited to see us when we walked in. They said they need more young people and so I am on a kick to recruit our friends and see if we can bring fresh blood into the square dance world. I loved watching my grandparents square dancing together at family reunion a couple years ago. I want to be like them in 50 years, dancing away together!

Abe and Noah are in basketball right now. It's fun to watch the cute five year old kids play. You know, running around with the ball with the coaches yelling to dribble. Noah plays on the outskirts of the court, watching what is going on as we yell encouragingly to "get in there!" and "go get the ball!" Our league has decided that up through Abe's age, the teams don't keep score during games. I really appreciate that so that the focus is on learning how to play instead of winning.

Noah is not getting stimulated enough in school. I've addressed it with the teacher before but I think he just gets lost in the shuffle of 20+ kids, lumped in with everyone else. He comes home with a "yay" on his paper for writing the letter "U" correctly. Seriously? He's reading and has been writing for a long time now! Mastering how to write letters is surely boring for him! I feel like he needs more: more friends, more attention at home, more exercise, more stimulation at school, more wrestling with Dad, more education at home. I love that kid and I get the feeling he's not as happy as he could be. He is pretty quiet in respect to his needs, it is my perception of his overall mood that makes me think all of that. I just worry about him. It's hard to be a little brother, I think. Anyway, he's fine. I think I need to be more physically proactive with him though as far as arranging play dates and doing activities with him.

Joe brought home a video game last week as an activity to keep the kids busy during the snow storm. Abe was more than thrilled because all his friends are into Skylanders too. It involves little toy characters that are placed on a portal of power to indicate what character you are playing with in the game. It requires frequent character changes so they have to get up off the couch regularly. Joe has sort of gone nuts. The $70 game comes with 3 guys but you can individually buy more for $8 each. Um, we now have 11 guys a week and a half after buying the game. The boys are obsessed and when they are not actually playing the videogame (we're still trying to keep it down to once a week), they are acting it out and talking nonstop about it. I had to stop Noah from listing all 32 of the guys to Mom and Dad on the phone today. Fun times. When it's not Skylanders, Grace is dictator of the TV, punishing us all with Dora the Explorer. And, like her brothers with Skylanders, when she is not watching Dora, she is eating, drinking, playing, singing, and sleeping Dora. "Skwiper no skwiping! Skwiper no skwiping! Skwiper NOOOO skwiping!" (Side note: she also says "skocks" for socks. It is very cute!)

Joe and I took Noah and Grace to an indoor play place on Friday. They had a blast! Noah was so cute riding around in the Little Tikes Police car, dressed up in police uniform or running around with the fire fighter uniform on. Grace got into a scuffle with an older child who was twice her size. Grace dressed up in a princess dress just added to the magic of the scene. I think initially the kid was trying to engage her in play and she didn't want it. He kept persisting though, turning it into teasing so she started pushing while screaming at him to go away. Finally, in ultimate frustration, she grabbed him and started shaking him, screaming in a tone that suggested that had she known any obscenities she would have been including them in her tirade. Joe and I were laughing behind our hands as mothers looked at us like we should be doing something about it. Well, she then burst into tears so we rescued her. At least we know she won't lie down for bullying from anyone, big or small.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'm abandoning my code names because I'm tired and Joe rolls his eyes about them. Have a great week!