Ben 6 (not 10)

Oh man, a draft I never completed.  A birthday not recognized.  What is wrong with me!!!  So here it is in it's incomplete form, written 2/3/15...better late than never.

There once was a boy named Ben.  He was the type of kid who spent all year counting down to his birthday (I kid you not).  He made birthday cake plans ALL YEAR LONG.  A hundred different things were want he wanted his cake to be.  It changed a lot.  I pinned him down to one decision a few weeks before.  Whenever I checked back, he stuck with that final decision.  He also had a bunch (a whole bunch) of ideas what he wanted for breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts for his special day.  He ALSO had many, many present ideas.  I tried to make what I could a reality.  We do believe in keeping it simple, but we did get him an awesome present, and he was very thrilled with his new LeapPad from Grandma Laura.  He also loved the thrill of cash from my mom and dad.  I cannot say he saved the money or spent it wisely, but he had fun.

First a little flashback.

BTW...his cake was a Castle Crashers character Fruit Pizza because that is just what he wanted.

 We celebrated our first ever birthday party in the morning as his Thursday birthday Dad had to go to class all that evening.

1. Seems to get very anxious and worried if he feels someone is not safe and could get hurt.  My other kids kinda shrug their shoulders, but he is always aware of things like this.
2.  Looks up to his older brother and sister.
3. Finally plays well with Shawn...most of the time.
4.  Has become an amazing reader.  It's hard to believe we were worried to the max when he started Kindergarten.
5.  Love his prayers which often just consist of gratitude and not asking for anything.
6.  Hoping he makes some good friends in first grade...I know that even though he is easygoing and doesn't complain about it, he felt a little sad to get bounced from one group of friends to another and often end up playing by himself last year. 

One of those they grow up too fast posts

No point in lamenting, but Lily just went to her first Young Women/Young Men combined activity.  Girls from 12-18 are in Young Women in our church.  They do a lot of fun activities at least once a week and actually have a 4-day camp once a year.  I used to be a YW leader, so I know these things...except for the horse riding wasn't very fun (I always get the crazy horse who hates people).  She is a tad young for YW, but the leaders are excited to have her join the girls and so they invited her.  All of the sudden she is ready to leave Primary and move on.  This is what she looked like after zip lining, playing king of the mountain with rafts in a pond, jumping off a high dive, wrestling lots of kids...you get the idea, for 3-4 hours.  Lily Heaven!

 Her birthday is such that this is A BIG YEAR.  It is her Golden Birthday.  She will be going to YW; bye-bye Primary where she has been since she was 3 (really 18 months if you count Nursery); entering middle school which is SO DIFFERENT from elementary school; not to mention she is growing up, having to purchase legit ladylike (I'm so discreet) underclothing, etc.  Yet there is so much of her that is still little girl.  Yep, she's liked the occasional boy through the years but kissing is gross, legitimately dating or going steady seems absurd.  Boys are to be beaten in competitions, not flirted with and obsessed over.  How I wish she could stay this way for longer because I know with all the beauty of growing and learning there comes the really blech and painful parts, too.  I've loved watching her grow so far, but I don't like to see her suffering.  That blue baby I held in my arms nearly 12 years ago hardly seems like the same person who is almost eye-to-eye height-wise with me.  Not only has she grown super tall, she has grown in personality and humor and opinions.  She will have to make new friends and do a lot of hard things the next few weeks, but though she may be a beautiful, beautiful young lady, she is by no means weak.  She is a strong person, and as I told her today when she was feeling overwhelmed, if she will just rely on the Lord and her parents she will make it.

See my poor, stressed out girl above.  Apparently locker combinations do not come naturally, right tighty, lefty loosy, exactness, taking your time, nada.  She was so frustrated, and talk about new parenting territory for me, but she figured it out (not enough that she isn't fully planning on just carrying all her books with her everywhere in her backpack, but she did do it successfully on some of our attempts).  It is a delicate time as a mom.  I'm supposed to treat her normal, be very careful what I tease about, completely be there for her but let her do things on her own without giving any advice or tips.  What a ride it shall be.  I don't think I fully realized until we went and did her registration and fees and got her schedule just how different this year will be for her and for me (and maybe us as parents, we'll see).  Deep breath.  I had the pitiful thought that if I thought dropping this wee girl off at kindergarten and having to walk away and leave her all alone was hard, how much will it make me feel powerless to drop her off at a middle school full of profanity, drugs and perversion?  (Hey, the Puritan in me comes out, okay), but she isn't used to hearing swear words every other word, and she feels very awkward hearing boys or girls talk about private sexual things in lewd/slang/disrespectful ways and looking up nasty stuff on the Internet, and I hope that it is always so, though I realize in some situations that will make her stand out like a sore thumb.  I love her, and we will take it day by day, and I will get really good at JUST LISTENING.  That's really what teenagers want, so I hear from several wise moms I admire, to be heard and not judged.

On lighter notes:

 Our neighborhood night out.  Lucas spent a whole burning hot afternoon/evening/night setting up and taking down as he is HOA Pres.  The kids were mildly impressed...well, Lily loved it, except her bike didn't win the decorating competition.  I thought it was quite fun to watch a movie under the stars...until 2 kids started saying, "I'm cold."  The little girl also was trying to fall asleep during Malificent , um yes, that was fun.  She thrashed and kicked my head and fussed and did a few naughty things, but after 11 and when the lights went up for people to head out, these were my little ones.

Here we have some end of summer but it's too darn hot activities going on.  Well, Daphne's year round activities at present involve taking all the things from drawers and bins in one room and scattering it through the house like fairy dust, being sure to carefully place the really important items in a black hole, the location of which I am unaware.  The masking tape on the floor was a roadway for cars.  I had grand plans...Shawn loved it...but before the day was through Matt compulsively decided it needed to be cleaned up.  Too bad he doesn't feel that way about everything else in the house.

And flash back to earlier in the summer and earlier in the spring:

Matt and Ben's private swim lessons.  Matt is so close to me feeling confident, so close.  Just straighten your darn legs and use your big arms, Son!  (I only think it in my head...I don't say it out loud).

And lastly, this was Daph's first hair cut, if you can call it that.  We just evened up her bangs...before I let them grow wild and back into their native environment.  See above picture in plaid dress.  She was so serious during this haircut, not sure what to think.  I was concerned she'd be all like, "Scissors?  To cut the hair with?  Yes!!!" but so far when she has laid her hands on scissors her sibs have left lying around, she goes for paper, not lamp cords like Shawn...whole other story.  Yep, so that's all I have to say about that.

SO PRETTY!?!

Wilderness Survival

So, Ms Lily and I went on a lightning fast adventure this week.  My sister, heretofore known as Ja, and my dad have gone to the Wind Rivers Wilderness for some camping and fishing for several years now, around my sister's birthday.  This year, Lily and I got to go too.  I debated a little if Lily could handle it, but I knew fishing was involved and that she had hiked a 6.9 mile hike with me a couple of months ago without any real problems, so, throwing caution to the wind, I did invite her to come along.

We drove to Wyoming on Tuesday.  So strange to see familiar places that I haven't been to in many, many years, and to also note the changes that have taken place.  It was fun to point out all sorts of little things to Lily (for me, at least, haha).  The girl had a 1 track mind, wanted to fish, wanted to fish.  It's like young Price blood runs through her veins or something.

We camped that night, dined on delicious tinfoil dinners, the mandatory hot cocoa and smores.  We were above 9000 feet...pretty impressive to me.  The mattress was comfortable, the tween a loud sleeper.  I did have an incident somewhere past midnight where I was a bit concerned as I saw our fire going.  I woke Ja but she seemed unconcerned.  Then I could not go back to sleep.  Most every night I have camped for my whole life, I have awhile where I contemplate bears, other wild creatures, the criminal element, invading my tent/campground.  I get gripped with fear lying in my sleeping bag...and then I work through it and/or fall asleep.  A few hours after my little prayer/self therapy session, Lily asked me to go to the restroom with her...poor teeny bladder.  All in all, it was an entertaining night, and again, the mattress and not freezing made it all ok.  After some pancakes and bacon...oh, memories...we packed up camp and got to hiking.  

We were slow but steady, and long story short probably ended up hiking 6 or so miles in and then 6 or so back out.  No major (?hopefully?) injuries and some wonderful views.  Many cute squirrels and chipmunks.  I love the rock formations up there.  I love memories and thinking of so many good times had as a family.

 When we reached Miller Lake, the fish were catching flies all over the surface.  Poor Lily was itching to try, but we decided to hike the extra 1.5? miles to Sweeney Lake to eat lunch.  Sweeney Lake=not a fishy soul in sight, not the whole time we sat there, ate and stared at the lake.  There was enough of a breeze the lake wasn't smooth, as you can see below.  Ja did teach Lily some casting skills and Lily at least got to practice that.  Then we moved back down to Miller Lake again...where unfortunately the same breeze had killed the fish activity.  Ja got some bites but no luck for Lily.  I was praying she could at least feel 1 little nibble, just 1...nothing.  It had been a beautiful day, but we needed to leave pretty soon.  We worked our way down the lake.  The water looked still toward the inlet....fish were making ripples...gasp.  Was it even possible after so much unluckiness???

Our birthday girl caught the first fish, a Brook trout, a special birthday fish just for her, and that got Lily really desperate, and after a few more tries, she FINALLY caught her first fish.  It was a moment that should have been recorded for posterity, I tell you.  She was so excited, no idea what to do but thrilled to death.  She giggled and kept gleefully, high pitched saying, "I caught a fish.  Finally.  I did it!  I caught a fish!  I CAUGHT A FISH!"  Over and over, so, so excited.  My dad thought she might hyperventilate.  It was the most precious moment.  And then she was thirsty for more and caught one her next cast.  She wanted more but all that mattered was that she got one.  Oh, sweet girl!  It was a fun fishing frenzy for awhile.  I did feel for my dad - 3 girls, none of them with any desire to kill fish or tie on flies or any of it...just the fun fishing part.  He is a great sport.  I realized how much he loved and probably always has loved doing the background work in a situation like this to bring his children so much joy.  Good guy!

Then back out we came, a little mostly obscured moose sighting, a tween breakdown (with actual attempted hyperventilation) when we really only half a mile or so from the trailhead, but with no ambulance or psychotherapist to come get her, we rallied the little lady and out we came.  She was all in all a trooper considering it was a 12-13 mile day without buffet style feasts at every meal time.  Her face when she caught that fish.  Sigh.  These are the days...

Now the right back to Eastern Idaho was wild, in my opinion.  We were dead tired and that included Dad the Driver (Did I mention that our pickup starter gave us grief off and on? -lots of silent prayers, very earnest, full of faith, and we made it home), but he got us home safe.  There were grazing deer right next to the road and sometimes we were maybe a little too left or a little too right but nearly always between the white lines on the edge of either side of the road.  It boggles my mind to think how many times God literally keeps the car on the road when it isn't our time to go.  I think that happened last night a few times at least.  We made it, though, and Lily and I showered after 1 a.m. at Aunt Ja's house, slept until 6 and then we got home where we were missed.

Ah, sweet reunion.  We won't mention the part where after a couple hours of me being home, Daphne erupted like a mini Vesuvius, was placed into a bath for cleanup...and then flung poop out of the tub after she had a little accident in there.

I know without a doubt that there must be opposition in all things.  Lily's excited exclamations wouldn't have been nearly as sweet and grin inducing (and life wouldn't be so amazing sometimes) if I didn't have to clean up barf in my house (and in my life) sometimes, I'm 100% positive.

Thank you Father of Mine and Ja for a wonderful couple of days.  You did the planning, packing, driving, etc., and we surely enjoyed it.  And thanks to Ja for letting us be with her on her birthday in the Wilds of Wyoming, one of the best places to be for sure.