Impromptu Party

Today we had a little impromptu party for Claire's birthday. Dad and Susan had scheduled to come over to give Claire a present and Tam and Mark also were able to come over to return our car to us. Tam and Mark recently got a tax return so they also came over with Christmas part 2 for our kids. They brought each of our kids some presents, which of course, they were thrilled with.

Turned out to be a great party with food (pancakes for dinner), toys, and lots of conversation.

Baby's Birthday

Baby is 2. I was very much looking forward to coming home tonight so I could join the family in celebration. Claire understood more of the meaning of this birthday this year than she did last year. She kept saying "birthday" and gestured to her princess cake on the countertop. "Pretty" she'd whisper as she pointed.

The princess theme was everywhere. In addition to the cake, we had princess tablecloth, plates, cups, and balloons. Claire sat at the head of the table and soaked it all up. Later with the presents she got a dress up princess dress which she prompty put on and then drifted through the house.

Claire is a girly girl. More so than Em was. And she loved all the extra attention today. It was great to celebrate her being a part of our family.

Cosmic Interference With Family Relationships

There's been some cosmic interference or subliminal mind altering in our family lately. Jace and Claire usually fight incessently. It's like when they get within two feet of each other some involuntary screaming reaction happens in one or both of them. But in the past few days, they've been really kind to each other. Jace will do things for Claire and they'll even hug. Alicia was telling me that the other day, Jace was sharing some candy with her and she looked at Alicia while pointing to her brother and said with a smile, "Nice?"

Emily and Ethan have times when they fight but they also hit it off really well and can spend hours playing with each other (particularly when it's Sunday and the TV isn't on to distract). I'm hopeful that Claire and Jace can find a similar relationship. And Ben always has his Mom.

Ethan's Core

Ethan gave a talk in the sharing time hour of primary today. When we asked him yesterday what his favorite scripture story was, he answered, "When Jesus died and was resurrected." So we got some pictures for him and he gave a talk on that story today. He did a fantastic job telling the story in his own words to the kids and I was proud of him for teaching his peers such an important doctrine of the resurrection.

Elder Anderson taught in a recent talk that children have a spiritual fire inside of them that they bring with them from the spirit world. He said that our job as parents is not to create a spiritual core but to fan the flame of the spiritual fire already aglow in their hearts. That's how I feel about Ethan. He's got it in him.

11th Hour Discovery

I'm now on my last class in my MBA program and because of what Alicia and I have negotiated for me to spend three nights a week at school I have enough time to really do school right. Tonight I was able to complete an assignment, read some posts and even read a chapter and a half of the text. I was telling Alicia tonight that for the first time in this program, I feel like an actual student.

Ironic that it's taken me this long to figure out how to figure out how to do this right.

Family Forts

The whole family had a long weekend due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day so we had a little flexibility to have some late nights and activities. So, at Ethan's request, I made a gigantic fort in the basement large enough to house Emily, Ethan, and Jace to sleep overnight. It was an awesome fort too! I'm proud of it and it was fun to play with the kids in it.

I love doing things like this.

Claire Adjusting to Her Church Class

Claire has had a difficult time adjusting to nursery since she started in there months ago. For the whole time in 2010 she and Jace were in the same class. Jace has now moved on to a different class called Sunbeams with the other 3 year olds and Claire now has her class to herself. It seems that she is doing better under these circumstances.

When we've left Claire in class before, she's cried the whole time but just today she cried for a little bit but then calmed down, had a snack with the other kids and started to warm up to her teachers. This is encouraging!

Jace's Shyness

Jace went to his first friend/cousin birthday party yesterday. It was his first significant social situation where he was all by himself. Luckily, it was at Julie's house celebrating Spencer's birthday so he had familiar people to interreact with. Julie reported that he was shy in a very cute kind of way. He was quiet and reserved the whole time - even so much that he didn't eat with the other kids.

When I welcomed him back into the van I asked if he had fun and he said that he did so I'm not worried about it but it'll be interesting to see how this shyness goes for him. I could see him being an introverted person but you never know...

Four Down?

Week two on potty training Jace and he's showing major progress. He's got number one down almost perfectly - even to the point of staying dry all night long. His sister is also showing huge interest in learning how to go potty now too. That's two that we could have out of diapers soon! How cool is that?

11th Hour Support

My second to last class at school is drawing to a close next week. The end is in sight and things are getting so busy at work that I'm anxious to get this school stuff done so I can just have family and work to focus on. It's been nice to get rid of Covenant work and just focus on three things. It'll be even nicer with just two. So I brought this up with Alicia the other day and she made it a topic of serious thought. Being a single parent all day long and then into the evening wears a person down and my last class is likely to be my hardest one where I'll be late at the office working on school stuff three nights a week. So she has prayed about it and we've discussed it and she told me that she'll need to rely on Heavenly Father for help but she supports me in going forward.

I was really thankful for her support but even more thankful and impressed with her decision to go to Heavenly Father to help her with endurance and strength. I have decided to put this last course back to back with my current one. This decision is in no small part due to the strength and support that Alicia will seek to get through this time. I have faith that she'll be strengthened and our confidence in Heavenly Father's support will grow. I'm grateful for her ongoing support for me in this endeavor. So here we go! Almost done and we're sprinting to the finish line.

Serve Every Day

A few years ago I made a new years resolution that was very simple: Serve every day. As I did that for the first weeks of that year, I remember feeling focused on others and happier. I have learned recently that the more I focus on myself, the more stressed, paranoid, self-conscious I become. Alternatively, when I focus on others, the opposites of those happen.

So, I'm carrying that New Year's Resolution forward. Serve every day either to my wife, kids, my employer, my team, my ward, or my community.