Bikes, Paint, and Superman

Shortly before Jake turned four we bought him a little bike. In the week leading up to Jake's birthday Cameron disassembled the entire bike and painted it green with a yellow stripe so Jake could have a John Deere bike. (Jake's John Deere obsession was young at that point but extremely vibrant.) Jake was thrilled with his birthday present that year.

Jake on his fourth birthday

Then recently we bought Jake a much bigger bike, and Abby needed a little princess bike. Cameron again disassembled the entire bike and painted it pink and purple with a final coat of sparkles. Abby is in heaven.

I love seeing the kids' faces light up when Daddy gets their bike just right. I love seeing Abby so giddy and happy as she cruises all over on her new wheels. And I feel pretty lucky to be married to a Superman who can wield screwdrivers and cans of paint so darn handily. I am a lucky woman.

Give It Your Best Game Face

Several months ago I was feeling beleaguered and tired of housework. We had just finished dinner, and I was facing mealtime clean up without much energy. So I flexed my not-very-impressive biceps and gave our kitchen sink my fiercest I-am-about-to-take-you-down expression.

Unfortunately, Cameron witnessed my little show of aggression from across the kitchen. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“Giving the dishes my game face,” I explained nonchalantly.

At this point Cameron probably figured that my sanity wasn’t faring so well under the pressures of young motherhood, but he’s much too sweet to say so.

In case you want to try it, I must confess that giving the dishes my game face actually works, if for no other reason than it makes me laugh. And laughter is life’s best medicine, right?

Jake is afraid even if the dishes aren't. 

Recently Jake was whining about the hardships of having to wipe the table after dinner before moving on to more enjoyable activities. He had retreated to the bathroom to pout. I went to encourage him. I gave him a step-by-step tutorial on how to give a game face. He didn't do it. But he did laugh and do his job. 

Cameron and Abby perfecting their game faces

Really. You should try it sometime. 

Cupid Week Summary

One thing that I absolutely love about motherhood is seeking out and creating meaningful family traditions. I love caroling with our family and friends at Christmas, passing our bowl of rocks around during Thanksgiving, attending Fourth of July parades, and driving around while Cameron and the kids dash in and out of the van to heart attack a few local widows and beloved neighbors in February. I love all of the traditions that surround General Conference weekends at our house. And last week when Abby asked when we were going to have our Passover dinner that we have the week of Easter, I had to smile. Traditions are fun to anticipate and wonderful to enjoy. Hopefully as the years pass our children will pick up a few things that we deliberately look to instill like faith, gratitude, service, patriotism, and love.

So last fall when I saw a post on Power of Moms that mentioned one family's Cupid Week tradition, I made a mental note. Any tradition that teaches my children to perform acts of kindness for each other sounds like a winner to me. The basic idea is to assign your children to each other as secret pals, then encourage them to give small treats and do small kindnesses for each other throughout the week. Of course, our children are young, so this year our rendition of Cupid Week was fairly basic and will definitely need some future alterations. For starters, in future years I will hold a little planning session with all the local germs to make sure two-thirds of my kids aren't sick the week of Valentine's. But also, this year Grace was too young to really participate, so Jake and Abby were assigned to each other and there wasn't much secrecy about that. Small though our numbers were, I think they still had fun.

I admittedly didn't love waiting in the grocery store aisles with Jake and Abby individually while they chose surprises for each other. But I did love talking to them about thoughtful things they could do for each other, listening to their ideas for service, and watching schemes unfold. Abby did one of Jake's jobs for him one day and surprised him with treats when he came home from school another day. Jake spent a few days listlessly lying on the couch...but before all that he made a cute little trail of M&Ms for Abby that led to a little plate of conversation hearts.

Jake decided to keep things sanitary by putting each M&M in its own little plate or bowl

If you can't actually see the M&Ms in those bowls, just trust me. They were in there. 

                                   
Cupid Week also inspired me to do a few extra nice things for Cameron throughout the week. I love surprises.

We don't drink a lot of soda, but Cameron sure loves an occasional mug of root beer when we have it.

If you are looking for a fun family Valentine's Day tradition, we definitely recommend Cupid Week.

Halloween Aftermath

Closed doors. Hushed voices. Whispered negotiations: bartering, trading, back and forth, shared halves. Resolution.

Bedroom floors that look like this.

Trash cans that look like this.

Pillaging babies that look like this.

Other than a few minor altercations and a toddler tantrum or two, the Halloween aftermath hasn't been too bad around here. I don't like all the scary, gory images that are associated with Halloween. But I do love seeing my kids dressed up gleefully running from house to house. I love the fairly peaceful transactions that have occurred as they have reached compromises and shared treats. And I especially love hearing Jake say to Abby, "Stop eating so much candy! You've got to save some to decorate our gingerbread houses." Yep. Halloween is a winner.

Buffalo Crossing

Me: "Abby, why did you break Jake's Legos apart?"
Abby: "Because I'm a buffalo."

Oh yes, of course, how did I not see that?

Pears Anyone?

When your son comes in from school and announces that his friends are coming over to help him run a pear stand, do you
A) Wonder where all of this self motivation is when he needs to clean his room?
B) Regret that your pear tree didn't produce a better crop to pad his college savings account a little better?
C) Run for your camera?
D) All of the above.

D. Definitely D.

What's in a Name?

To the untrained eye this probably looks like a very ordinary child's tricycle with a useful handle in the back. Up until recently, we thought so, too.

Then one day Jake was riding in the back bucket while Abby pedaled, and the bucket popped out.

I explained to Jake that Abby's bike is actually a dump truck. Instantly the bike went from being a boring little kid bike to a very cool piece of construction machinery. No local dirt mound has been the same since. Neither has our sidewalk.

What's in a name? Everything.