Missed Celebrations

Laura, on the left, had a birthday this week! Hope it was a happy one, filled with good food, happy family singing to you! Did you make your own scrumptious cake? No, wait, I mean, PIE? Laura is the Pie Queen in our family, and she gives homage to her husband, the Pie King. Favorite Thanksgiving meal memory--a pie for everyone, and there were 28 or so of us, including babies!

The women in our family know how to have fun when we are together! Far apart geographically doesn't mean far apart hearts. Wish I were a better phone caller...know that this blog is for you!

Sofia's Primary Ideas: LDS Primary Sharing Time June 2009 Helps and Ideas

I am preparing for the month of June and found this site. LOVE the suggestions of having the kids write poetry, fulfilling one of Faith in God program requirements. See here:

Sofia's Primary Ideas: LDS Primary Sharing Time June 2009 Helps and Ideas

Busy week! Birds, quilts, candy, shoes, art, awards...

Yesterday as I was driving over the actual bridge on Cromwell Bridge Rd an orange, BRIGHT ORANGE bird flew up over the side and across the road in front of me! Beautiful! My first glimpse of a real live Oriole! Impressive sight! I was amazed at how it really does look like the pictures I've seen.


Susan is one of my favorite people in the world! She brought over 45 or so crazy quilt blocks her husband's mother had made--gorgeous blue velvets, shiny greens, and hot pink/purple! I was so impressed. I showed her how to square up the edges with my 12.5 square and a rotary cutter and we could see what an incredible wedding quilt this will make for her Aaron!

Suzanna and I both went to a flea market last Saturday. She was wandering around with Staci, and I was taking my time. When we met up, we discovered that we had both bought these candy "malt" centerpieces! She paid more for the taller one with taffy, in the base of the sundae glass. There was a stick candy straw. Ribbons, colorful, very cute. Mine is made with Easter mints (on sale!)

I asked the lady if she did parties, and she said no, but encouraged me to take it home and dissect it and make my own! Hot glue wrappers to the base, and the mints were so heavy she used straight pins. Mints started at the bottom, work their way up like flower petals, around in a circle, overlapping.

Styrofoam ball base was tapped to the glass with packing tape to hold it in place. Stick stirring straw prop makes it look more like a real malt. This one had paper string scrunched ribbons in base along with a few mints, all color coordinated, yes. A Tootsie-Roll lollipop was the cherry on top, with the ribbons tied to the stick.

Another idea I liked--saw it in a decorating magazine and can't remember now which one. Use bungee cords to organize shoes on closet door. It doesn't matter how many shoe racks you may have, they are often too hard to use because you can't reach them. I couldn't get in my closet because of the pile of shoes on the floor. This made it easy to reach them, easy to see pairs, easy to put away. Bungie cords are held to door with two screws at each end. Check out those hot pink Mary Jane crocs!

I love this light turquoise color! I glazed over one of the yellow walls in our front hallway with the blue, another one with salmon pink. Love, love the colors!

Roxie Jane's artwork, two birds!

Stewart won 3rd place in school art show with his Monochromatic Mallard duck.

And check out the trophy from the wrestling honors banquet (which ended up being a fund raiser for the team at a local restaurant. We ordered our own food, waited until everyone got there, and then they started giving out the awards.). Besides the Leadership Award, (for being so coachable, he would really listen to what the coaches would say and DO IT and he was polite and very good at emailing when he wasn't going to be at practice because of a conflict) Stewart also got 2 certificates, one for "Most Likely To Get Dressed in a Telephone Booth" and "Don't Give up the Six" for being so wily and hard to pin, even against more experienced and bigger wrestlers.

Stewart got his high school letter for wrestling! Now we need to get him a school jacket to put that on?

Changes I would make...

This is from our front yard, azaleas in full happy bloom. I want to tear down the black metal railing, remove the huge bush from in front of the front porch, make stairs that gracefully welcome you to the front door, enlarge the wandering stone path we put in--either with plants on both sides, gravel between the slate flagstones? Bricks running up both sides to tie in with the house?

Can't change the windows yet. Can't add an upstairs addition yet (I dream of a tower room with windows on all 4 sides face all directions!) But I can rip out bad bushes, plant trees (there is now a redbud directly in front of living room window) plant more bulbs...

I really want to make the house numbers more obvious. The gold tone numbers are too small and do not stand out enough from the red brick.

I have seen a lot of homes over the past month. And the curb appeal matters! How welcoming, how hospitable...little things add up!

I took this picture and uploaded it on a website that changes the focus--makes it look like a minature model train set.
http://tiltshiftmaker.com/
It was really fun to play with and look through the gallery.

Mothering Day

Stewart, Maxwell, Emmalyn, Suzanna, Samuel, Roxie

Dear Mom,

Nothing is coming in the mail to you to arrive today. I tried. I started. I sat down to make you a super-cute postcard but instead sewed on a button to Roxie's pj's inherited from Suzu (to make them modest). The day has passed to get that postcard in the mail on time. I will send it to you anyway, so please look for it this week.

Maybe the best way to honor you is just to tell you what kind of a mom I have grown to be. Probably more like you than I imagined I would be, and I see that as a compliment. A goal to grow and work towards.

Things you did that I thought bothered me when I was a teenager seem perfectly reasonable for me to do now.

I was making frosting and poured in powdered sugar while the mixer was whirling around too quickly. Sugar sprayed everywhere. I had to run out the door so I asked Stewart very calmly if he could clean up my mess for me. Not that this exact thing ever happened to me while living with you at home, but it made me think about how calm you were about seeming-to-me dreadful messes, and the chance you gave me to grow and learn, serve and clean. You are a great delegater or non-interferer when I took over certain things. Your calmness has been a good reminder that people matter more than things. Messes can wait, people can't. More Mary than Martha.

You served your children by feeding them. I try really hard to honor the dinner hour, making it special. Gathering and feeding people has brought me great joy. Nobody leaves our home hungry!

I still read--all kinds of books. I have memories of you reading in the car, between red stop lights. I read books that way, copying your example (not the car part, unless I am not driving!). Thank you for a good habit passed on. Reading is a lifestyle choice you made and shared with us.

I serve and volunteer at Church because of you and your example. It seemed like you were always Primary President or Relief Society President. I learned how to make visual aids from watching you. Each Sunday I get to share hours with the Primary kids, teaching and learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Nice to know that is a family legacy.

I am who I am because of you.




We go to the temple every month. It was thrilling to be there with siblings and spouses, even briefly. I wanted the picture so WE would remember the day, remember the planning and the miracles that bring family together when best-laid plans go awry. We are loved, and we love each other, even spread out geographically. Your temple service is another goal of mine. Thank you for making that a priority in your life.

Thank you, thank you, for being a mom. I am glad you chose to have children when you were young and newly married. Sometimes timing is everything! I feel blessed for the choices John and I made to have our kids right away, and not wait for the perfect financial time. If we had put it off, they wouldn't all be here. I had a health deadline. Thank you for your support with each pregnancy and the Douala-live-in-grandma time you have spent with each of my babies.

They are getting so independent! Taller than me. Smarter. Stronger. Emotionally mature in ways that amaze me. Sometimes I wonder if they need me at all anymore. Usually that is about the time Roxie comes and gives me a hug while I am typing, or Sam snuggles in on the couch while we are doing scriptures as a family. Or the late night talks when the older kids get home from an activity.

Mothering just keeps going. Changes (no diapers right now...) in good ways.

Grandma-hood is still a ways off, so I haven't followed you into the next season yet. It is actually very nice to be able to watch you and see what is in store for me!

I love you,
Jennilyn (when people compliment me on my name and they say it right, I tell them, "That's how my momma says it!")

Our wrinkles will match someday?

I have a fascination with portraits lately, trying to accurately find the real face, the photograph that captures personality, and not just a moment that falsely represents the person.

So it is almost a happy joke, when Emma and I do the photo shoots of each other.

How many pictures can you snap off of the other person before the batteries run out?

How long do you have to wait for the flash to fire up and just miss the perfect picture?

What funny things can you say that look like you are smiling? "Cheese" gets old. "Pizza" doesn't make me smile. "Magnum" does. I think about smiling at John...

I scared a bird out of the bush and then started hearing bees buzzing around behind me--cutting short the 100 pictures.




Love the spring colors! The front yard bushes are one of my favorite things about this house!

Study of Max

How hard is it to get someone to smile, look natural, and get your equipment to work correctly? I am convinced that taking 100 photos will produce at least one incredible one!

This is Maxwell Defiance, before a Maryland State Boychoir award dinner. He was dressed up, looking sharp!

He has a very expressive face.




Those big blue eyes are like his daddy's! Those forehead wrinkles match Grandpa Ken's!

Being United vs. Hard Working Independence

My husband is named after his family clan. Great Scots, the Stewarts! His height comes from a sea captain great great grandfather who settled in Baltimore. His coat of arms shows a mother bird ripping at her own flesh to feed hungry babies. Virescit Vulnere Virtus (Courage grows strong at a wound). Gruesome. On his mom's side, the Coffey family crest reads, "Not Prudent, but Victorious."

I am Scottish, too. Davidson clan, on my mother's side. I use this family heritage to describe my body-type: sturdy, narrow shouldered, weight-gain on my tummy, and easy pregnancies with strong sturdy babies.

It also describes my work-ethic: hard-working. We work until we are done, do not take breaks, but plow through and finish the job! Then we collapse! (and John says, "and then you are dead." He brings me drinks while I work, tries to distract me into resting. I tell him if I stop and rest, I won't start again, and he says maybe that is a good thing! My siblings and I have noticed this common theme in our adulthood. DebK, JohnB, LauraS, LuannaD, BeccaB, MichaelB--what about Steven? I think David knows how to rest better than most of us, but he gets incredible things done, too! He has figured out some pacing tricks that I admire.)

A heart-softening experience Saturday (in DC temple) made me re-think my speedy-do-it-faster-than-anyone-else (competitive?) weakness/strength of mine.

When it is not a race, being united is better! Staying with the group, not trying to out-shine them, working together has more strength. When one person pulls ahead, it makes others stumble. It is distracting, disheartening, irritating for those left behind trying to remain united. When we are united, we all win.

Four of my crew are injured. One on crutches from knee strain over-extending himself walking too much. One broke a nose working without watching where walking. One thought they had swine flu, but just over-extended and is exhausted. Another suffering leg strain and pains. Did I push them too fast? Did I drive them too hard in training, encouraging and putting expectations too high?

Yes, we want to finish the job, but to do it well, methodically, carefully. When we finish our census area, we are ALL out of a job, unless moved on to the next phase. So job security would encourage slowness, pacing ourselves, taking breaks, being thorough, careful. And yet top management is pushing for results, knowing there is a deadline.

Balance and unity. Be wise. Be careful. Be hard-working, but take care of yourself. I have yet to figure out the right proportions of work and rest. And I am convinced being united is more important. Working together, helping, team work, etc.

John has noticed that he thinks I enjoy being in charge, supervising this little army of workers. I have always felt that I preferred being in the ranks of workers--but I think that is the competitive side of me talking. I like being independent, knowing my job and just being able to work at my own feverish pace. The harder I work, the sooner I finish, the sooner I can rest and do what I want to (read, paint, quilt...)

Delegating is a different kind of work. Making sure everyone has enough to do and fairly distributing the hard areas and easy ones throughout the group isn't easy. Payroll is a nightmare. Forms and paperwork are tedious. Even getting phone calls and answering questions takes up time. I am less interruptable than I thought.