Natalie’s birthday got off to a rough start. She didn’t want to have to do her reading group virtual meeting on her special day so I told her she could open one of her presents after it was over. Michelle and I wanted her to open up the gift Michelle picked out for her because we knew it was something Natalie could wear for the day. Natalie has other ideas so was unhappy when I told her she could either open up the one I chose or wait until later to open one. When she opened up her new High School Musical dress she found the fabric uncomfortable and was upset. With an undershirt and leggings we fixed that and she wore it all day, but not before Michelle broke down in tears thinking her little sister didn’t like her present. Then when Kate told Natalie Michelle was crying Natalie began to cry. As I sat and talked with Natalie as she curled up in her bed I I told her she could stay there as long as she needed to feel sad. Natalie replied she was going to stay there forever since she was never going to be happy again. I teased her that she would have to get out of bed to go to the bathroom and she teased back that she would just wet the bed. I went to go talk to Michelle in her room and soon the two of them were talking and all was well the rest of the day. At bedtime, however, I found a huge wet spot on Natalie’s bed! I couldn’t believe it and thought maybe it was a dog accident but was talking on the phone with my friend and distractingly pulled the sheets off and threw them in the washing machine and Hubby made it up with fresh sheets and blankets for her. The next morning I asked Natalie about the wet bed and she confessed that she had poured water on bed so I would think she had an accident! Oh, the genius of this child. I have a feeling I’m never going to be a bored mother with this daughter of mine around. I am grateful for this “sugar and spice and everything nice” girl who completes our family. Happy birthday, Natalie! 7 will be heaven! P.S. I'm already enjoying you singing "Hands Up Around the World" from the new Charlie's Angels movie Kate recommended we watch the day before Easter. You are so much fun!
We had absolutely wonderful weather during Holy Week and took long dog walks with Michelle (once she and I took Maisie over 3 miles!), trips to the dog park with Danny and Kate and Natalie simply enjoyed the drive way and back yard. I felt warm and peaceful and empowered. Then, on Easter Sunday the temperature dropped 50* and it snowed. Thank goodness our ministering brother and sister set eggs in our front yard Saturday night, but of course my two oldest children had to fight about who got the empty plastic egg that represented the tomb on Easter Sunday (since neither one of them wanted less candy). I wish I could tell you that Easter Sunday was peaceful and a great testimony building experience at our house but the truth was that the children fought over making sugar cookies (we had to dump the entire first batch in the compost because some were doubling the recipe and some were quadrupling the recipe), fought over our indoor Easter egg hunt (because I wanted to do separate countdowns to start from youngest to oldest), complained that I wanted them to watch the 28 minute long video The Lamb of God for our at-home Church (because that was going to be too long), and all 4 of them cried (some repeatedly) and I totally lost it and yelled and refused to give them the presents I bought them because of their rude and ungrateful behavior all morning. So, instead of building my children's faith in Jesus Christ like I was hoping, I served them up a dose of "my mom obviously has seasonal effectiveness disorder and isn't on meds/lives somewhere warm like she should." What a FAIL. A huge reminder to me that I need the Savior more than anyone else I know. Luckily once we got some lunch, cleaned up the basement and played Dos (from the makers of Uno), it was apparent they could get along with each other after all and I let them open their presents. I'm so grateful they liked them! One of the presents was the Harry Potter Funkoverse game and it seems really neat even though we've only played our first game. Legos, baseball/softball bases, Our Generation doll dog grooming set & a crayon melter were also among the gifts given. After presents were played with for a while we make and ate a dinner of honey smoked ham, baked potatoes with lots of great stuff on top and deviled eggs. Then we watched Hubby’s present: the 2009 Star Trek. How could I forget Chris Hemsworth played Chris Pine’s dad?!? J.J. Abrams definitely has my heart when it comes to directing. It was a great way to sit down and snuggle together as a family on our giant, comfortable sofa in the basement, eating candy and letting the worries of the day melt away as we were taken on an epic space adventure.
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