Zee best Mother's Day

I had the best Mother's Day...actually I took the whole week and celebrated! :)  In truth, since it was "teacher appreciation week", I decided to treat myself to something each day, since I homeschooled Honor this year!  And so the two "holidays" just kind of got stretched out all week.

I took the kids out to lunch one day, bought some plants and flowers for the yard, got cards from the kids, got flowers from the girls and some friends.  It was really nice.

As a Mom, I'm just not someone who takes breaks.  I feel like I need to be on 100% of the time and for a long time, that has basically been true. So it was nice for once to let loose a little!

And I'm very grateful to my husband for making it such a fun weekend for me by serving me and treating me extra special! 

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A Tribute to my Mother on Mother's Day

 

I don't remember my Mom being pregnant, but she must've been because she had 5 children! I do however remember my Mom always caring for children! I remember her making Kool-aid for the neighborhood kids in the summer and hosting a parade each summer which we all lived for!

My mom has always been a protector of children. I remember in my elementary school (back in the 80's) there was a paddle in the principal's office. It had holes in it (to make it hurt more is what we kids thought!). During my time in school we started hearing of certain kids getting paddled as their punishment for misbehaving. Around that time, mom told the principal that if he ever needed to paddle one of her kids, she was to be called and he was only to do it in front of her. The paddle completely fell out of use soon after that interaction and was removed from the principal's office. (It used to hang behind his desk. I know because I got sent to the office a bunch!)

As an adult looking back, I have always suspected that my Mom's requirement that she watch the punishment caused the principal to reconsider this action and realize how pathetic it was. In doing this, my Mom not only saved ME from the paddle, but she saved those kids who were getting paddled who didn't have parents stepping in to stop it.

For this and so many other reasons, I totally idolize my Mom! She is my hero!

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Tis the Season

 

I try to support Guy in the good things he is involved in and one of those things is that he plays on the volleyball team.

This week Scarlett had a band concert at the same time as one of Guy's home games.  Because of the pandemic, only senior parents could attend the band concert in person, but they livestreamed it.  So I listened to Scarlett's Band concert on my earbuds, while sitting in the gym watching the Varsity volleyball team play.

Isn't it an amazing world and time that we live in?

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Happy Birthday to My Dad

Today is my Dad's birthday.  Many years growing up, my Dad's birthday fell on Mother's Day!

I share these two photos of him today, because this is how I remember my Dad the most...in the garden.

After working at the steel mill, he could always be found in his peaceful garden turning soil, while we told him about our day, weeding, fertilizing, etc.

I can remember my mom asking us to "call dad in" from the garden for dinner.  He would enter the house carrying the largest, reddest, juiciest tomatoes you've ever seen!  And the taste!  Pure heaven.

I'm pretty sure that most of our family gardens because of the great love our own father has for gardening.

Thank you Dad for investing all of yourself into growing our family and teaching us the most valuable of life lessons. We love you!

 

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She teaches me how to plant...

I mentioned yesterday that Sunday was Coy's first day in Primary ever.  It was also Val's first day back at Primary since the Pandemic started.  And prior to that he only went for about two months!

One of the sweet parts of Primary for me is hearing the answers the children gave to the questions posed by the singing leader.

Question: What's one rule that your Mom has?

Val's Answer: "Make Mom happy."

Question: What is something that your Mother has taught you?

Val's Answer: "How to plant!"

We've done a lot of planting in the last few months...seeds, bulbs, seedlings, and plants.

This week, we planted a doozy: It will hopefully turn into a very large elephant ear that's about 5-6 feet tall!

I love planting with my children and watching things grow together.  And I'm very anxious to see what Val and Coy grow into as well!  I am still waiting to see what will happen to the seeds that I planted in my oldest children.  My prayers go out for them all every day.

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Coy's First Day of Primary!

 

Today was Coy Boone's first day of in-person Primary!  But I didn't fully realize it until we got home from church.  The pandemic has made everything so crazy...I almost missed it.

Thankfully, Val and Coy were asked to give the opening and closing prayers during Primary, so I have a quick picture of Coy in Primary on his first day!

And he sat surprisingly well for a kid who has never been to primary or preschool yet!  I know because I got to sit next to him.  Steve and I were called as Primary teachers during the Pandemic, but are only now actually getting to be in Primary.

It touched my heart to listen to the teachers teach these young ones, to hear them answer questions, and to sing with them.

After the last year or so that has really beat me down as a parent, I need Primary to build me back up again and help me refind my inner teacher of young ones!

But I'm so grateful I could be with Coy on his first day.  And I'm excited for all of the Primary days ahead.

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End of School FHE

 We've done this in different ways a few times before, but with the wrapping up of Honor's 2nd grade Homeschool year, we decided we needed to have a family home evening to display some of her creations and celebrate the work of both Val and Honor this year.

I just gathered their drawings and stuff and we walked around the house as a family looking at their work and admiring it and asking questions.  It was a fun, simple way to support our young students!

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The Temple site in Spring

Here's just a quick Pittsburgh Temple update. I noticed the fields were starting to come to life with bright wildflowers around the temple site, so I wanted to quickly snap a photo and this was the result. Everyone is abuzz about the temple. A groundbreaking date has not been announced, but soon... we're all hoping!❤️

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Chicken Tetrazzini Recipe

I made this meal for the missionaries this week.  It's just a simple chicken tetrazzini recipe, but every time I make it I think of a friend of mine from my old ward named Susie who made it for me when I had just had my third child.

I think she had five kids at the time and she was finding time to serve me.  She was such a good example to me of service so every time I make this recipe I think of her.  I'm grateful for good examples like her.

Here's the recipe, at least how I make it:

Ok don't judge me for the totally unhealthy way I make this meal. Not sure if Susie made it this way or not. I used your recipe at first then just kind of did whatever. So ingredients:

Chicken cooked and cut up bitesized or a rotisserie chicken if you want it to go faster, mushrooms sliced and sauteed in butter (of course), dice green peppers, dice roma tomatoes, cook spaghetti al dente, set aside, in a pan combine 2 cans cream of chicken soup, thin with milk and heat, then add a few handfuls of cheddar cheese and stir until melted. Then stir in spaghetti until covered with sauce. Then add in chicken, mushrooms, toms, and green bell peppers.  You can add pepper if you like. Serve warm. That's how I make it. Nothing fancy!  As for quantities just add as much as makes you and your family happy and full. Can be frozen immediately for another night or to take to a friend!💗

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Butler Child Advocacy Center Grand Opening

I've been spending a lot of time magnifying my calling as Communication Director lately. I've built some new relationships and made some new friends through this and the other night I was able to meet some of these friends in person, which is no small miracle in this age of the pandemic!

I've been following the progress of a small group of people who pushed to have a child advocacy center built some years ago and now succeeded in renovating a larger building where more children could receive help after abuse.

The building and center was the vision of Denna Hays, and these are many members of our stake who contributed their time (100's of hours-worth) and talents to create this safe and welcoming place for these kids.

So after interacting with them online and being in complete aw of their accomplishment I got to attend the "grand opening".  They really barely know who I am but I felt so lucky to attend and I really wanted to attend to show support for their amazing work a d the work that they will do in this place. 

Here are some photos to show you some of the amazing artwork created to make the place really welcome to all who come there for services.

First here is Denna Hays, the director and person without whom this place would not exist.

Here is Jennifer Spryn, a member of our church who donated 300+ hours of her time to create this amazing life-sized tree full of animals who serve to distract the children during exams a d help set them at ease. 

Each animal was hand-made by Jennifer out of sculpy clay. And the painting of the tree is amazing too!

There is also a long hallway that was transformed by two local painters into an undersea mural. It's like walking through the ocean and it is spectacular and calming.

I am so impressed and inspired by what they have done to see to the needs of the most vulnera7 in our society and I know Heavenly Father is pleased too.

Missionaries from the area have volunteered there weekly for months and members from three different units donated their time for help with multiple projects.

I have experienced some hard things in my calling, but this was definitely an upside of my calling. What a privilege it was just to stand next to these angels on earth even for just one night.

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Mother and Protector

We got to attend Val's spring play at preschool this week, and boy am I glad I didn't miss it.

He was so sweet dancing around dressed like a crayon and teaching us to be kind through their little play.

At the end of the program they all recited a special poem about Mothers and handed out small gifts and certificates to the mothers on which each child finished the sentence, "I love my mommy because...."

Val said, "I love my Mommy, because she protects me."

I could not have been more flattered or felt more proud by his description of me.

He could have easily said, "She makes me sandwiches or lets me watch TV" as other kids did, but this just shows how observant this precious one is.

As Mom's, we don't always get the pats on the back, but this was a big one that I'll always remember.

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May Day

I appreciate my Mom teaching us and "enforcing" our many family traditions. One of those traditions us is giving flowers in May Day.

Steve rarely gets onboard with these traditions, but this year he got me this bouquet! I love it!

The last 8 years or so I have bought a bouquet of flowers and we split it up into mini-bouquets for neighbors or teachers  These are the ones I dropped off at the homes of the ladies I minister to...a day early actually because I knew I'd be busy on Saturday. This is definitely a fading tradition, but it lives on in our family.

What traditions do you have in your family that are rare in this day and age?

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To Value and Encourage Young Women

There are some people in this life who are just extraordinary. One of those people is my friend Mark.

He is always so kind and encouraging to others. And he values womanhood.

Mark recently reached out and sent a special gift to encourage my girls in their art and in their spiritual journey by sending them an art kit.

I hope my boys turn out like Mark...kind, generous with compliments, and men who value the talents and contributions of women. Thank you, Mark!

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