jack johnson love

my children LOVE jack johnson.  they get giddy with excitement every time we play a CD.  even little henny - he wiggles and jams like a dancing king.  jacob said "jack johsnon and my daddy are my favorite singers - my dadddy knows how to sing, right mom?" they then took turns shouting their love for jack into the speakers.  jacob's ode to jack went something like this: "i love you, my beaut - you are the heart of my ponyland." yeah, i totally feel that way too. 

feast

So, only almost two weeks late, a post about the second annual trumpet house back to school feast a la Amy & Nie. Sunday we had invited friends over to dine, unwittingly the day before school started.  I realized my error after we'd finalized the plans.  No matter, Monday was good enough since it was only the first day back. I was just excited to not do it alone this year. We did the feast and the theme: Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing...establish a house of learning." A bit long, but we are breaking each part up into segments and turning them into Family Home Evening lessons.  The menu was ho-hum this year: Bedeviled eggs, Mexican Cumin Lime Slaw, Chicken on garden greens, Cool Cucumber Soup, Strawberries (that the children and I laboriously picked one afternoon at Broxburn Vegetable), Three Cheese Macaroni (a fancy way of saying I added two other cheeses to the box of Annie's), and Sea-salt caramel brownies with ice-cream (not ho-hum in the least, but leftovers from Sunday's dinner).   The presentation looked gorgeous, but the chicken was weird.  It was leftover from yesterday, marinated in lime and tamari, grilled, etc., and should have been delish, but it was kind of nasty.  We lit our beeswax candles (they emit negative ions - read about why it's important!) and Ryan tried to bring in some flowers from our garden - I sent them right back out b/c they were crawling with ants.  We haven't put the theme up yet - I'm a true slacker.  Last year, I commissioned my dear friend Emily to paint our theme on a piece of fabric in her lovely script and planned on doing so again.  We finally put that up in November, I think.  I should have asked her mid-summer, so we'll probably use some vinyl lettering.  I like the idea of having a lasting reminder that we can display each year as we collect them, so I've got to come up with something more permanent.  I was frazzled, and a little grouchy.  I may or may not have groused at my husband and threatened to leave the house and let him carry on solito. 
Darling Nie...she succeeds in making it look so effortless and flawless...And Amy, no matter what you say to the contrary, most days I want to come live in your house.  If we were neighbors, you'd see more of me than you'd care to.  Like my feet up on your couch whilst reading a book, or sneaking a piece of your homemade bread.  The blessings Ryan gave each child are beyond description.  At one point, both of us were sobbing.  I felt such an outpouring of love, love for my husband, my children, my Heavenly Father.  We were wrapped in the spirit and touched by the divine, even if Charlie was clowning as per usual during each blessing.  I alternately wrote furiously to record the words, and angrily signed to the distracted ones to straighten up and be reverent.  A week and a half later, and I'm really only feeling the positive vibes.  Hopefully my children will have positive etched into their hearts, too, despite all of the craziness that made up that day.