Swim in the Rain

A few Saturdays ago, I promised my kiddos that I'd take them swimming after all our jobs were done.  There was the regular "drag your feet attitudes" and "multiple reminders to stay on task" and so it wasn't a surprise when it took us all morning. What did surprise us was to walk out the front door and find rain!  The good old afternoon summer thunderstorm around here shouldn't surprise me anymore but I was not prepared on this specific day.  

Well, I dropped the swimming pool bag and decided we can "swim" in the rain!  I kept saying over and over..."come on, it'll be fun!"  The only one that was game was Allison--she has that personality!  That dear folks, is why I married her Dad!  She's her father's child!!!  Spontaneity is not foreign to those two people in my life for sure!

As I walked around in the rain with mascara dripping down my cheeks and yes, I was in my swimming suit in the front yard too, I thought about how I was a little sad that Spencer and Sarah got my more serious, rigid rule following self in them.  

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that I've learned over the years and still need to be reminded from time to time, that it's okay to "drop the planned swimming pool bag" so to speak and run around in the rain.  It's fun! It creates present living!

I find myself so wrapped up in my day to day schedules and planned out routines or even worse saying over and over again in my mind "some day in my next house, etc" that I forget that I can make things happen right now.  

Let me give you an example.  Ever since I was a little girl, I've dreamed of the mother I'd be and the house I would raise my family in.  One of the things I've always wanted in my house was a swing.  I've always wanted a unique, fun environment that my kids loved.  Can't even tell you how many times in the last 7 years (since we purchased our first home) that I've told myself "in our next home I'll hang a swing in our big extra family room we're going to have."  

I woke myself up about a year ago and realized, I can have a swing now.  It may not be in a big extra family room that I'd like to come in my future, but I have a perfectly good hallway where a swing fits just great.  We hung the swing!  Guess where all the kids and their friends hang out...that swing!  It's a little unique.  It's pretty fun.  It's that little dream I've had that I made happen.  I dropped my "planned out swim bag" and used "the rain" I have right now!

Thomas S. Monson said:

"Sometimes we let our thoughts of tomorrow take up too much of today. Daydreaming of the past and longing for the future may provide comfort but will not take the place of living in the present."

Dreaming and planning do bring me comfort, but as I've brought my dreaming to my life now and let go of my rigid planning a little, I've found even more comfort in my present home and in present moments as a mother and wife.

It makes me think of a quote from The Music Man:

"You pile up enough tomorrows and you'll find you've collected a lot of empty yesterdays."

Alli the Preschool Grad

She did it!  She's all ready for Kindergarten to come!

Miss Lori's Preschool finished off a great year at Pump It Up! I love that Allison earned the "Most Independent" Award!  Suits her just right!

We have treasured Miss Lori!  This special daughter of ours has learned so much from her and we'll never forget these years of shapes, number, colors, beginning to read, the cutting, the singing, the dancing, field trips, robots and so much!

Now, Yeah for Summer!

Older Kids vs Younger

Allison is definitely the tail-end of the family.  I realized this week that she thought the book fair at the school was the actual "library experience."  Um....it's been a few years since this mom has taken her daughter to the library.

So, we went today.  We jumped in the car right after I checked my wallet to be sure I actually still had  a library card.  As we pulled up to the library, I hear from the back seat--"the library is a hotel!"

I just laughed.  My oldest two children would have had no idea what a hotel was and the third child has no idea what a library is.  Our life has sort of done a flip flop in the last five years, hasn't it?!?!

(6 years ago) Sarah 6 years old, Spencer 4 years old

I remember my other two finally realizing what McDonalds was when we were finally out of school and starting Justin's career.  I also remember having the experience a few years ago that I could actually walk out the door and go somewhere with the kids while Justin was at work.  The life with only one car and no money is quite different.

So, now we know what McDonalds is.  We know what it's like to go to the grocery store or run back and forth to the schools in a mini van but no longer know what its like to walk to the park and the library every day.  I treasured those days!

I'm starting to feel very sentimental the last few weeks as I see this school year coming to a close.  My baby is about to enter the summer before full day Kindergarten with us.  Very soon I won't have these quiet school days with her after Spencer and Sarah hop on the bus each morning.

I won't have a little shadow helping with laundry, painting my tile with nail polish, smearing bubbles around the kitchen while we do dishes, walking bare foot to the mail box, dancing around to Disney music, watching cartoons as she sits on the dog, starting a puzzle in each room and not finishing them, copying my yoga moves in her own way, begging for all the treats at the store, climbing in my lap (and on my head for that matter) while I teach piano lessons, swinging on the backyard swing while singing to the world, or hiding in the back corner of the pantry with a mouth full of marshmallows.  I'm really really going to miss this!

Allison--about to be 5 years old

As sad as it is that Allison didn't know what the library even looked like, I think she and I have lived it up the last five years!  It may be different then the little pre-Kindergarten years I lived with Sarah and Spencer but they've been great!  I so love being a mother.  I'm treasuring every moment I have with my little Allison being home with me!

I've had many people ask where my blog posts have been....that's where.  Waiting for another day when me and my Allison won't have these kinds of moments.

A Moment in My Messy Kitchen

During an attempt to drown out the grumpies this morning (it's Monday after all and even worse, the Monday after Spring Break) Alli and I were dancing around the kitchen.  It was taking a little Pandora to get me to start on the sink full of dishes and of course the piles of laundry.

Well, I had a moment I need to share, so the dishes and laundry still wait.  It was Disney again...hadn't had a moment with Ariel before but suddenly realized I so relate.  Remember her song "Part of Your World?"  Remember when she's in her cavern of treasures and she's singing:

"Lookin' around here you'd think (sure) she's got everything!"

But then she slips into her wants...literally says:

"But who cares, no big deal, I want more!"

picture courtesy at this link

I honestly swim in circles in my so called cavern of a house and think that...I want more!  I catch myself more these days and knock some sense into myself as I sit and list all that I have...I am so blessed!  I literally have it all!  I really do!

How often, though, do we sit around and look at our "Ariel Friends" around us and think "she's got everything!"  How often do we think or even say "I wish I had what so and so has" or "I wish I did that like so and so" or "I wish I looked like so and so?"

Well, people, I admit it right here.  Right now. As I sit in my messy kitchen, I'm one of those.  I used to really be one of those far too often and I still fall into that trap a little but I like to think I catch myself and count my blessings and see how wonderful Megan is plenty now.

Don't get me wrong.  Ariel was great to have dreams.  It's awesome she wanted to grow and learn and experience but she wished she was something she wasn't.  I literally picked up my four year old girl just now and told her to grow and learn but improve sweet Allison.  Find Allison's potential!  I told her:

"Allison, Heavenly Father made you so special on purpose.  He sent you here to learn about yourself, to love and improve yourself, and then to turn and help others do the same!"

One more thing...

Our dear beloved Olaf from "Frozen" came on next.  Yep, he taught me today too.  Remember when Mr. Snowman wants and dreams of being in Summer.  He pretty much had no clue whatsoever that it wouldn't work out for him.

picture courtesy at this link

We are so much like that silly Snowman.  Our Heavenly Father doesn't just sit back and think "we've gotta tell him!"  So sad that we don't realize that he tells us all the time.  He tells us that He will guide us, He will place us where we need to be, He will help mold us and teach us, trust Him!

Simply put...we gotta stop wishin' we are something we're not and stop wishin' we were somewhere we're not.  There is a specific plan for us.  There is a specific time line for us.  We need to seek out our Heavenly Father's plan for us and who he wants us to be.

Love Disney!

"Special Needs" Conversations with my Allison

We were walking around Target a couple of days ago and Allison just stopped.  She was watching a little boy with severe physical disabilities.  He was wheelchair bound and couldn't move or speak.

In the sweetest little voice she asked me "what happened to him?"

I knelt down next to her right there in the aisle and said "you know how Sarah was born with Prader-Willi syndrome and we call it special needs sometimes?  Well, he has special needs too.  His body was born that way.  That's his challenge that God gave him."

That's all the explanation she needed for the moment because she said ok and just walked away.

About an hour later, we found ourselves at the park.  She was swinging on a JennSwing and after a minute she said "this is a new swing.  I've never seen one like this before."

I went on to explain to her that "remember when you saw that boy in Target?  His mommy could bring him to this park and put him in that swing.  He wouldn't be able to swing on one of the other swings.  It's a swing made for kids with special needs."  I even told her about "when Sarah was her age that she had just finally learned how to sit up on a regular swing.  When she was two and three years old she had to sit in a special needs swing too."

She sat there and then finally said "It's sad that I have a body and a brain that works right."

I remember having these exact same conversations with Spencer.  He was about that same age.  That age of Kindergarten seems to bring these questions of noticing the differences in others.

When Sarah was in Kindergarten, that was the first year that we were asked to go into her class and talk to the children about why Sarah "talked different, walked different, asked the same questions over and over and over again, why she wanted to eat all the time."

I often think that one of the huge blessings and learning experiences we gain from Sarah is being able to accept the differences in everyone.  Our children are so open to others and their physical disabilities.

Allison was at Walmart with me today and a sweet older woman drove past us in an electric wheelchair. Allison said right out loud "she has special needs, Mom!"  The people around us smiled and asked how old she was.  One lady commented "what a special child to realize that and not be rude and stare or point."

I agree.  She is a special little girl.  I know that Allison was sent to our family for specific reasons and one of them was to be Sarah's sister.  She idolizes her big sister and wants to be just like Sarah.  Allison will be so much more empathetic and understanding of others has she lives a life alongside her sister.

Not only Sarah, Spencer and Allison are learning, but Justin and I have also commented many times on how we feel so comfortable around others with physical disabilities or handicaps.  We both felt a little nervous and unsure at one point in our lives but this whole world has been opened to all of us.

Bottom line, we are all God's children.  We were all sent with different challenges.  Some you can see better than others, some are physical, some mental, some spiritual and some just hard to see but you know they are there somewhere.  I absolutely know that because of The Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ everyone of these challenges can be overcome and perfected.  I know my Sarah will have a perfect mind and perfect body in the resurrection.  I so look forward to that day that I can stand in front of her and have a heart to heart conversation.

How blessed we are to have our special Sarah.  We wouldn't trade even the hard times for anything in the world.  I especially love that she helps us teach our other two children how to love unconditionally and to solidify that we are all important.  That they can overcome any and every challenge that they are or will face.

If you don't walk as most people do,
Some people walk away from you,
But I won't! I won't!
If you don't talk as most people do,
Some people talk and laugh at you,
But I won't! I won't!
I'll walk with you. I'll talk with you.
That's how I'll show my love for you.
Jesus walked away from none.
He gave his love to ev'ryone.
So I will! I will!
Jesus blessed all he could see,
Then turned and said, "Come, follow me."
And I will! I will!
I will! I will!
I'll walk with you. I'll talk with you.
That's how I'll show my love for you.
(Primary Song Book pg.140)

Sarah's Away, We Play!

If you feel a bit odd about me celebrating Sarah being away, just back up a post and it's all explained ;) Now for the fun:  we loved Sea World!

Allison smiled a whole lot

felt like a princess

hung out with her buddies

me included

of course spencer and the other dudes

and ate

and thought a tiny bit about how much Sarah would love these baby sea lions!

Justin could finally feel tired...check out that yawn :)

Allison has a new friend to snuggle

Spence has a cool dude to chill with...he he he

we ate at famous places like "Betos" seen on Man vs. Food

their Empanadas will never be forgotten!

we hugged

ate some more...this time famous place "Big Lou's Pizza"and yes that is their pizza pan, folks!

and we're home now.  Enjoying our own beds, sleeping in and still eating ;)