#1 - Go the the library - stay for story time. This one brought a host of mixed emotions. First, some regrets because though I did take kids to the library; I don't remember doing story time much. We only had one car in Salt Lake when Rachel and Matt were teeny, we were both finishing our degrees, and we both worked (DJ full-time and me part-time at home while we managed our apartment building); so I don't honestly remember if I even thought to check on it then. I don't know if Vernal did things like that back in the day. I'm sure they did in Bountiful, but the thought of taking six children (four of them, age five and under) by myself probably over-ruled any thought about going and trying to sit through story time. If I did take them, it was an unpleasant experience, and I blocked it out of my memory!! I am happy to report that we did go to the library there, and I know that my older girls, at least, developed a love for it.
We did take advantage of a wonderful summer program at the library in Ottawa, Illinois. They had a theme each summer which was always very clever and catchy, and they had weekly prizes for everyone (coupons for free ice cream cones, pencils, bookmarks, etc.) if the children reached their weekly reading goal. They held a weekly get-together at the library---sometimes a story time, sometimes guest appearances by someone that had something to do with the theme, but I marveled that a small town could pull off such an incredible program. It will always be one of the things I loved about Ottawa.
By the time we got to Sugar Land, everyone was school-age; and unfortunately, I was tired of paying over due book charges!! I would rather buy the books (which we had done a lot of anyway). I'm not sure where the library is in Sugar Land!! Sarah reminded me that we did go to the George Library in Rosenberg. Whew! I didn't totally bag it! Happy to report that despite by lack-luster efforts, Rachel and Sarah both utilize story times at their local libraries, and Rachel's older girls have been the well-deserving recipients of some awesome prizes as winners of the reading program---they read like fiends, just like their mother used to! I can also say that I have been to story time with the granddaughters before---I'm repenting and trying to do better!
#2 - Bake something - anything. I did do this one, but I wonder sometimes if one or more of the kids slipped through the cracks. Should a mother keep a record or log of whom she spends time doing what with---especially when there's seven children? I just know that, too often, I will say to Abby who is the youngest, "Oh, we did ________ all the time when you were growing up," then realizing that we had done it before she was born or when she was too young to remember. But...I remember many a time with a child or two standing on a chair and their hands in the middle of the chocolate-chip cookie dough (I was always afraid that they were going to catch their fingers in the turning blades of the Kitchenaid mixer). I also recall flour-covered hands as we rolled out sugar cookie dough for dinosaurs, turkeys, Christmas trees, and pumpkins. I remember making pumpkin cut-outs for Sarah's third grade Halloween party. She was home sick and knew that she didn't get to go to the party to decorate her own cookie. As she sat in the kitchen with me, it was kind of sad. I'm sure that I let her do her own at home, but she hated missing that party.
I have happy memories of doing summer Family 4-H with Rachel and Matt in Bountiful. I will never forget when Matt was doing his fair project (a loaf of banana bread) at the end of the summer which needed to be done by himself, on his own. I came into the kitchen to find that he had dumped all of the ingredients into the bowl at the same time instead of creaming the butter and sugar together first (so much for my teaching skills)! I remember having a discussion about how he would need to do it over (there probably wasn't time to do that anyway---we were probably up against a deadline), but he declined (as he would because he wasn't one to spend time worrying over details), and he finished his project. You guessed it---a blue ribbon at the county fair and the opportunity to take an entry to the state fair!
 |
| Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Matt with the banana bread, but I've got his ribbon. |
Because of the time we spent in the kitchen, Matt learned to bake and cook. He became my "right-hand man when we had company or when he wasn't busy at dinner time. He also became our resident expert for doing "no bake" cookies---the kids still talk about them!
In the summer of 1992, as we were preparing for a long road trip (the only kinds of trips we took, who could fly with nine people??), Sarah decided we needed to have treats when we were headed to the cabin in Utah with the Bryants (this was when we lived in Ottawa and she was 10, almost 11). I think she baked 7-8 different kinds of cookies; and if I remember right, she had some help(?) from younger siblings. I don't remember specifically teaching her how to make each kind of cookie, but she had learned enough to follow a recipe and knew the basics. I don't think I got in on much of this baking extraveganza, except the eating part (maybe the clean-up part, too), but it was great. Sarah had somehow learned something from earlier times together and did a great job. We were well fed on that trip! P.S. And though it wasn't baking, Sarah was a big help in Ottawa when I bottled tomatoes from our garden---more memories in the kitchen!
#3 - Construct something with blocks or Lego's. During the first week of my student teaching in October of 1975, my mom took Rachel (8 months old) to Vernal for a really lonnnnnnnnng week because our normal babysitter wasn't set up yet or couldn't do it or something. I was so excited to have Rachel home, that I bought her a small set of wooden ABC blocks as a "welcome home" present and that was a big stretch because our monthly food allowance was about $50, and there was never much more in the budget but what went to tithing, rent, utilities and gas for the car! But did we play with those blocks!
 |
| Original homemade card that was with Rachel's new blocks (cover and inside). I was student teaching when they arrived so I left them on the table with the card. My four-year-old brother, Michael came with my mom to bring Rachel home. |
Christmas of 1976 brought a larger set of blocks for Rachel and Matt and more were added later; the duplo blocks and legos came in great abundance after that. I have no regrets for the hours I spent on the floor with my children building houses, towers, and forts; nor do I have regrets for the hundreds of dollars I spent on legos (those larger sets are expensive!). There's so much to be said for giving your children the chance to create; and if it's with you, all the better!
There's always a time when they get "too old" for your help because they've "got it covered", or they're having so much fun with each other that you don't want to interrupt. Sad in a way, but it always brought joy to my heart to see my children play together. They fed off each other's ideas, laughed, co-operated, created, learned how to give and take, and built things as well as built memories; and yes, I suppose, that there were moments when they didn't agree, but it's funny how those seem to be erased from your memory!
 |
| A page from Mike's scrapbook. |
I let Rachel take that original set of blocks with her when she left home, and her children still play with them now.
 |
| Rachel's Isaac playing with her blocks! |
The other blocks and legos are still at our house where my grandchildren enjoy them today. In fact, I've been eyeing another large, very expensive set of wooden blocks with lots of arches, columns, and other architectural elements that I think might just find its way to our playroom in the next few years!
 |
| Cade (2009) - building Duplo trains with Grammy. |
 |
| Cade (2010) - Grammy and Cade building with blocks |
 |
| Sarah's Katelyn enjoys those Little Golden Books even today! |
 |
| Sometimes the older kids did my job for me or on a good day, added to reading time for the younger children! I at least knew that I had instilled a desire within them to read by this point (1982)! |
 |
| There never was a lack of things to read! |
 |
| Please ignore the fact that there are no window coverings, that our wallpaper was hidious, but it was in the house when we bought it in 1980 (and it didn't get replaced until we put the house on the market---I was too busy having babies). Oh, and don't look at the crud on the top of DJ's dresser. Just look at my cute David (about 3 1/2), Mike (about 2), and Liz (about 6-7 months)! I really did read to my kids---just didn't take a lot of pictures doing it!!!! (early 1987) |
 |
| Proof that Mike really did love me! Guess he was too tired to want to look at the pictures any more. |
Luckily, towards the end of our time in Bountiful, I took some random children's literature class offered by the PTA or someone. The instructor was a master and opened up a whole new world to me about reading in our families as a family and about books that were out there (remember this was in pre-internet days when most of our knowledge came from discussion, the newspaper or a magazine). There was also a really classy bookstore in the Salt Lake area whose personnel came into homes and exposed moms to the newest and best of what was available and then allowed you to buy the books at the "book party". That was another incredible experience because they taught while you partied in a friend's home. Another wonderful asset to our family was Aunt Jane who had these wonderful connections to good literature and what was new----and the best part was, she (with Uncle Allen's money) gave my kids beautiful books. Well, all this helped us start something new---reading chapter books as a family, outloud at night, or in the car when we traveled! It didn't last long because the kids got older and were in more and more activities at night, and we ended up with a small TV/DVD player that fit in the Suburban between the front seats so guess what the kids opted to do on trips? However, for the last year or two in Bountiful and on road trips when we lived in Bountiful and Ottawa, we read---together, all of us. I insisted that we read a Newbery winner and then we could read a sillier, more trendy book. Some of the ones I remember were : From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basel E. Frankweiler, How to Eat Fried Worms, The Incredible Journey, The War with Grandpa, and A Wrinkle in Time.
I wanted to teach my children that reading was important and instill in them a desire to read, so I planned accordingly, especially in the summer months. As I have looked over my old calendar pages from Bountiful days, I have seen scheduled trips to the library or trips to the Deseret Book Store in Centerville for some new books and then a visit to the nearest ice cream parlor! In Ottawa we shared many a fun night at the local Pizza Hut redeeming Book It coupons because the kids had reached their reading goals.
I still love children's literature, and I hope my children do, too, so they will share it with their children. Since we've been here, I've read or re-read: Jacob Have I Loved, Miracles on Maple Hill, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basel E. Frankweiler, A Single Shard, A Year Down Yonder, The View from Saturday, Out of the Dust, The Wheel on the School, and The Hundred Dresses. I am currently reading Summer of the Swans. I'm trying to get a book group going with my oldest granddaugthers on Skype. We had our first meeting in December when I was home, and we're waiting for computer hook-up at Matt's so Carmen can do the next one with us!
I have learned that there are so many of life's lessons that can be learned or taught as the pages of these books are read, so many values and principles that could benefit ourselves and our posterity. If my time here is extended, or I get terribly fast at completing my family's story and history, I would love to start a blog for parents about what can be learned/taught from the pages of these wonderful little stories---stories only made better if they're shared parent to child, child to parent.
#5 - Draw/color together. Here again, I'm sure I could have done better. However, I did color with my kids on occasion, and I did make sure they had plenty to color and plenty to color with---for years we had a huge tub of crayons because the kids each thought they had to have a new box of crayons at the beginning of each school year even though they could have gotten by with the old ones! And...many a year, they thought they had to have the 64-count or the occasionally available 96-count crayons instead of the mere 24 or 48 that was printed on the supply list. With seven of them, the crayons added up fast. I would have to find places that needed crayons on occasion and give them away and also go through the tub and throw out the shortest and most used, just to keep things contained! Even if I couldn't always sit down and color, I would encourage my kids to sit at the table or at the counter and color while I was doing dishes or cooking. Once in awhile, when I colored, I would sign and date my masterpiece!
Sometimes I would color with the kids, and sometimes they would color with me! When we lived in Bountiful, I was a member of a flannelboard group that met monthly. The idea was that each month you would prepare a copy of a flannelboard story for yourself and each member of the group (color, cut, cover with clear contact paper, trim, and then attach flannel or some other product on the back so they would stick to the flannelboard). The story had to have at least six pictures; and if it had twelve or more, you could spread it out over two months. Each month we would meet, present our story to the group and exchange stories. It was wonderful. I collected a whole file drawer full of stories of all types: religious, holiday-oriented, poetry, value-based, just plain silly, etc., and we enjoyed those stories at home. I sometimes could use them at church or at school as a room mother. Those monthly deadlines sometimes would sneak upon me as I was busy with 4 or 5 or 6 children. On occasion, Rachel, Matt, and I think even Sarah (with some guidance) came to my rescue with added help!
Another time in Sugar Land when I was serving as the education counselor in the Relief Society (women's auxiliary), I needed to make a display on things to use for Family Home Evening---you know, to "spice it up". I had some things from my flannel board group and other things that I had done over the years, but I thought I needed to "beef it up"! Though I worked hard on the materials on my own time, it was family to the resuce again---we spent a whole family home evening, coloring and getting things ready for the display!
Well, there's the first five, more to come... I am so thankful for these wonderful memories!
No comments:
Post a Comment