Where the WILD Things Are

Saturday morning after the balloon launch, breakfast and a flurry of lunch-packing, we clambered  back into the van and headed out east-ish to Connell, WA to see Coach White and his middle school runners in action. Connell was about an hour and 20 minute drive from our house. We started listening to HP7 (Harry Potter book 7 on CD), which Jay was very excited about. I dosed him with ibuprofen before we left to help with his headache and it perked him up for the remainder of our outing. 

We arrived at Connell High School at 11:30am, just in time for the first middle school race. Jeff did his coachly duty and I stood on the sidelines chatting with a friend whose daughter is on Jeff's team. It was fun to be back at a cross country meet--it's been a while! Jay and Rose rolled down a big grassy hill near the start line, sat in the grass, ate their baggie'd PBJs and played in the dust and gravel by the course. After two hours of that they started asking repeatedly when it was time to go too. We watched a few races, chatted, hugged Coach White, and then left. 

When we were considering going to Connell earlier this week, I did a quick internet search to see what Connell had to offer the tourist. Connell has a population of 5,000, so I wasn't expecting much, but most small towns have some sort of claim to fame, and I adore discovering them. Connell did NOT disappoint! The town is home to no less than seven big wall murals depicting various historic events in town history, such as the potato harvest, the old field plowing, and even one based on a photograph of a flooded Main Street back in 1907. But the mural that caught my eye was next to the tiny branch library. It was a huge wall with Wild Things from Where the Wild Things Are painted on it! What could be more appropriate for a White Things pilgrimage?

We drove down the main street in town slowly, pointing out the different murals excitedly. The kids really got in to it--more than I expected--and that made it even more fun. Jay said "I love murals!" The murals were pretty cool looking. We saw: a dragon, a potato harvest, a harvest history, a flooded main street, and a homesteader's cabin, all in mural form. We circled around and around trying to find the Wild Things, but they were hiding. Finally I Googled the mural on my phone again and discovered that it was right behind the library tucked away in a courtyard. So we drove down a narrow alley and into a three-sided courtyard that was formed from the walls of the library and the buildings on either side of it. There they were: the Wild Thing monsters, larger than life! We parked and got out to see them up close. I took a bunch of pictures, because ever since Jeff named my blog nine years ago, the Wild Things have kind of become our White family Thing. We all loved the mural. The only thing that was missing was Jeff. Sadly, he had to stay at the meet. So I satisfied myself with pictures of the kids being wild things in front of the Wild Things.

Apparently the Wild Things have names. We didn't know that! 

Roaring their terrible roars and showing their terrible teeth. 

Amber may have been the wildest little thing that's visited that courtyard in a while! It was 2pm--an hour past her naptime at this point. We drank hot chocolate right next to the Wild Things from a thermos that I packed, although the day had warmed up significantly since the chilly morning. Then we loaded up, got gas and went potty, and drove home, accompanied by the mesmerizing vocal talents of Jim Dale, lost in the wizarding world.

We got home just after 4pm, and that's when my poor kids started going downhill. Jay's fever revisited him for the THIRD time this week, and Rose has finally come down with it for the first time. We're in for the long haul for the next week (or more if I ever get this sickness). I'm just glad Amber is done with it--sick one year olds are really draining and sad. 

I held poor feverish Rose while we watched the LDS Women's Conference broadcast together. Rose always enjoys watching the women's broadcast, and I love that about her. She admires all of the hairstyles, shirts, makeup, and jewelry of the choir members and she watches the speakers with big focused eyes. She will barely sit still for one general conference talk (although she loves the choirs), but she has watched the past few women's broadcasts all the way through. The talks were wonderful and I already want to re-watch the broadcast. Amber kept interrupting with loud noises, making me miss chunks of the sentences. Jay went into his room and fell asleep at 5pm, poor guy! 

 Me, Rose, and our little tormentor--haha

Isn't this just the saddest sight? Eventually Rose got tired of grinding her bony bones onto my bony frame and opted to lay on the hard kitchen floor instead. I would've thought she'd choose the carpet next door, but she simply slithered off my lap and curled up in a ball at my feet on the hard floor.

We picked Jeff up in Sunnyside (that 15 minute drive again) at 6:30pm. It was a lot of driving for one day, but I felt so satisfied with our day! Balloons and cross country and Wild Things and Harry Potter and a church broadcast! Too often with young kids I get into survival mode where I don't want to GO anywhere because it's so exhausting, especially with the long drives necessary to get anywhere in our state. But Saturday reminded me how much fun it is to go on family adventures--the preparation work and long driving are PART of the adventure! Jeff has two more cross country meets this season. We shall have to explore some more. Bring it ON, WashingTON!

Opposition and the soccer field

Today I have two journal entries to share.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Reading Elder Oaks' April 2016 conference talk about opposition gave me a useful insight this morning. I was trying to read with annoyingly persistently loud children--Jay and Rose were playing with/shouting into loud beepy crackly walkie talkies after breakfast this morning while I tried to read this one talk. I kept asking them to go to the basement, stop pushing the ringer button, stop shouting into the walkie talkies, etc., to no avail. They kept coming back and ruthlessly creating too much noise for me to think. I did even know what I was reading, and I was feeling totally peeved and frustrated. "Why can't doing the right thing that we are supposed to do every day be a little easier?" I thought peevishly. Then in a lull from the noise, some of the words in the talk I was reading broke through and made sense. Elder Oaks said:

"it is opposition that enables choice and it is the opportunity of making the right choices that leads to the growth that is the purpose of the Father’s plan."

After pausing briefly to appreciate the situational irony--me facing opposition while I read about opposition--I was taught: Opposition doesn't create personal growth; it creates an opportunity for personal growth. We take that opportunity when we choose to follow Jesus' example amidst opposition: choose to be patient, choose to be kind, choose to be positive, choose to serve, choose to pray, choose charity. Rather than continue fueling my frustration by battling loud children, I chose to leave the family room, in spite of my sore morning-after-race muscles, for the quiet of my bedroom to finish reading and pondering.

Every instance of opposition gives us an opportunity to grow by choosing not the easy route, but the right/kind/Christlike way. It is easier for me to choose the Christlike way in big defining obvious situations, like refusing to drink alcohol and choosing to keep the Sabbath day holy. It is harder to remember and notice the smaller daily situations of opposition that present me with the valuable opportunity for personal refinement and growth if I will just remember and choose to act as Jesus Christ would act. Like when my kids are being wild, or stubborn, or messy, or when they misbehave. There are other instances but I can't think over Amber's crying right now. I left the family room to finish writing this and she found me.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016:

Today was hard. Jay was home from school due to last night's fever, but he felt fine so he was a bit more inquisitive and high maintenance than I was prepared for. He was very sweet and tried to help me out with Amber, but I had to keep telling him to stop and rest so he could get better. I vacuumed the whole house this morning (it takes nearly an hour--we have a lot of carpet) and right after I finished, Amber had dumped a baggie of pretzels onto the carpet and unloaded about 30 books off the bookshelf. An uphill exercise in futility kind of a day. When Rose got home from school, Jay still felt good so I had him do his homework and then let him go out to play wildly on the tramp with Rose. After dinner he felt feverish and headachy again. That's exactly how Amber was last week--an on again off again fever. 

This week Amber has been in recovery mode in the food department. Since she barely ate anything last week, her appetite is big now. I think that contributed to her mood swings today, but I didn't realize it until after she was in bed for the night and I had some quiet time to reflect. Amber spent a large portion of the day crying loudly. She would eat a snack and then demand something else, turning every single question into a battle of wills. She yell-cried and I held my ground and it went on and on and on for 15, 20+ minutes! Over and over all day. I was so emotionally fried by 5pm! Well, that happened long before 5, but Jeff didn't get home till 5:40pm today, nearly 12 hours after he left this morning. Those cross country parents take forEVER to pick up their kids, and Jeff has to wait around till every kid has been picked up.

Jeff walked in and asked, "how are you doing?" to which I replied, 

"I think I need to go on a run, and I don't know when I'll be back." 

"As long as you come back," laughed my loyal husband gallantly. I assured him I would.

I had dinner all ready right when Jeff walked in, so I left the serving up of that fancy grilled cheese and tomato soup to him and split out of this crazy house to run five miles in the west country of Grandview. Alone. By myself. It wasn't quite as peaceful as I hoped, it being harvest season and all (various types of heavily laden trucks roaring past at regular intervals, plus more than the average amount of commuter traffic out there). And there are always dogs. My quads are also still sore and tired from my race on Saturday, making my would-be post-long-day-rage-speedy-run a tad slower than normal. I couldn't run quite as long as I needed to in order to decompress, so after 5 miles I swung around back behind our house and stopped at the soccer field to milk every last sweet drop of my alone time. 

It was gorgeously tranquil back there. I stretched and did the minimum essentials of my core exercises--even 5 push-ups--and then just laid there on my back in the cool grass, looking up into the fading light of the blue sky and finally feeling peaceful--settled--inside. Amber's day of screaming and crying really scrambled my wits and that 15 minutes of time in the still silent, still soccer field were balm to my introverted soul. 

I came inside at 6:50pm, assisted with kids' bedtime, showered, heated and ate my grilled cheese and tomato soup dinner, and felt completely at one with the world once more. One hour at the end of the day is all it took. One hour to exercise and shower and be alone with my thoughts. I felt SO much better! 

{end journal entry}

Usually I try to write some sort of conclusion for blog posts, but the more I study good writing, the more I'm realizing that good writers let readers draw their own conclusions. So even though I have plenty to say on these topics, I think this time I'll step back and let these two journal entries swirl together and speak for themselves.

 Rose is getting freckles! 

I ADORE FRECKLES!

 "Nuh!" --Knucks!

The 3 Rs

Traditionally, the three r's are reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. A clever old-time alliteration, yes, but for the GLARING exception that arithmetic doesn't even start with an R, or with the sound of an R in the first syllable. That tells me that math is, as I've suspected my whole life, an impostor--an interloper of malicious intent, unworthy of its hypocritical position in the time-honored educational trio. Math does have its uses, however limited, so I won't chuck it out completely; I'll simply relegate math to the dread unrewarded fourth place finish on the educational podium where it belongs. It is with a light heart that I announce my break with American tradition. I have replaced the third R in my life with something far more alliteratively aligned. My ties to mathematics began loosening years ago unconsciously, so it feels good to officially recognize my emancipation. My own personal upgraded three r's arrrrrre reading, writing, and running.

Ahhh, what peace and joy fill my heart when I say the words: reading, writing, running. The thorn of math will puncture my happy bubble no more!

Do you feel the joy? 

I have been taking a lot of pictures of Amber reading, writing, and running lately. I myself have been heavily involved in these activities. So I composed this introduction to preface the regular photographic onslaught of Amber, my last miniature companion, doing her daily explorations at my side. She is such a cute little imitator! Every time Jay or Rose get out their homework or start an art project, she wants her pencil and notebook. She will sit and scribble intently in her used abused notebook for as long as she has company at the table. For the record, Amber is not always a quiet little angel scribbling away on the sidelines. She climbs, grabs, rips, and colors off the paper as often as on it. And some days are screaming yelling days. Those are always earsplitting and zen-jarring.

Reading the news over breakfast. 

 Story time with Daddy: always a favorite.

Amber enjoys unloading the bookshelf in the corner of the family room:

 Library date with my Jay.

Reading and Writing
Over the summer, my friend Janay asked if I would be interested in teaching her homeschooled sixth grade daughter a literature and writing class once a week. At first the task sounded daunting, but the more I pondered and planned, the more I really got IN to it. Reading and writing are two of my main non-Jeff loves! During August I slowly researched and constructed a custom-made curriculum plan for Julia. When I presented my typed up page of numbered ideas to Julia and her mom at our first lesson on September first, it felt strange to be telling someone else's kid what to do. Especially since Julia's mom/my good friend was sitting right at the table with us! Haha, but it's getting to feel more normal now that we're four lessons in. This is my first foray into formal teaching--lists, plans, books, binders, paragraphs, discussions--I'm loving it! Sixth grade is old enough for fun stuff but still young enough for the basics. I rely heavily on the internet for content ideas, but I invent my own lesson plans. If there's one thing that I learned back in the trenches of teaching kids in church Primary, it's that I can't effectively teach someone else's lesson plan.

So one day each week, I get out my laptop, my homeschool binder, and my special Composition notebook, and dive into lesson planning for the next Thursday lesson. My miniature companion Amber sits down right next to me with her notebook and pencil, and we spend a few hours being all intellectual together. I definitely plan and study for at least twice as long as I need to, but it's an enjoyable, interesting, engaging activity, and I am re-learning lots of things along the way. I'm doing most of the assignments and projects right along with Julia, which helps me figure out if the ideas I have are any good and gives me an excuse to write, read, and draw in my notebook. I'm finding this whole experience immensely satisfying, even if my lessons aren't always fluently delivered or flawlessly planned.

Amber likes to help Jay with his homework.

Running

Over the summer--it was quite the summer of ambitions--I started feeling really good about running far, so I decided to train for a half marathon. I followed a training plan from one of my favorite running books, Daniels Running Formula. It whipped me into great shape! Muscle tone and endurance were MINE! One month before the date of my race, school started. Suddenly I went from free anytime anywhere running alone to pushing a stroller and only being able to run during school hours. It cramped my style and honestly kind of sucked the joy out of my half marathon training. That was a summer fun thing, not suitable for everyday life. Well, I stuck it out and ran the Army Base Race half marathon in Selah, WA on September 17th. Here's what I wrote to my missionary sister Mel the day after the race:

My half marathon was yesterday so I'm exhausted. My training plan whipped me into shape but I'm still SORE. And I didn't run how I wanted to. I went out too fast and then basically perished by the wayside for the last 10 miles. Haha, I did not feel very good during that race! Which was annoying because I trained all summer for it. I only ran one minute faster than the half marathon I did in May, and I did that one without any specific training. So, next time I want to run a half marathon, I think I'll just do it without going through all of the annoying workouts! Apparently my normal maintenance running is sufficient training and doing extra does not help. Yesterday I ran the same race that I ran 6 years ago when Rose was 7 months old. Yesterday I ran it SIX MINUTES SLOWER than I did six years ago. And I didn't train specifically for the distance back then either! What is up with me? Am I just bad at training? Also, I just felt OLD and stiff all over afterwards! Haha, but there weren't many super speedy female runners there because I won my age group and came in 3rd overall for women. My time was 1:50:14, an 8:17 average mile pace. But oh man, were my mile splits shameful! I ran everything between 7:22 allll the way up to 9:28 miles during that one race! Yes, the 9:28 was on a significant hill, but STILL. It was comical.

A cool thing about this part of WA is that most community events like road races and festivals hand out free apples. Really big, shiny, crunchy, juicy, sweet, fresh-picked, local apples. I got one at my half marathon. Since Jeff had to coach at a cross country meet on the day of my race, I went solo. Grampa Dan and Grama Leslie watched the kids while Jeff and I went to our respective races.

Wow, I keep combining everything into megaposts this month! What with homeschool, lesson plans, young women meetings at church, and the usual housekeeping necessities of cooking, laundry, cleaning, and childcare, I have been swamped and my blogging time is at a premium. So I make it count when it comes!

A few more photos for the road...yesterday morning the sunlight was flooding Amber's face while she scribbled intently in a notebook. She has a rather advanced pencil grip for her age, if I may say.