Ireland's Baptism

I've heard a saying that a coincidence is what happens when God chooses to remain anonymous. It just so happens the Saturday following Ireland's birthday was St. Patrick's Day. What a sweet little coincidence that was! As with Liesel's baptism, we read the Book of Mormon as a family and finished right in time for Ireland's interview with Bishop Tomlinson.

These fantastic Elders traveled from opposite ends of the United States to preach the gospel, and Ireland was lucky enough to be taught by them. There on the left is Elder McGee (from Arizona) and Elder Stevens (from Vermont) is on the right. We had a devil of a time trying to keep our snugly Ireland from holding their hands and hugging them.

Brent and I took her out for a birthday dinner and gave her the intimacy talk. I will never forget the look on her face when the penny dropped. Her eyes were wide open and her face said, "WHAT?!?!?" all over it. While we were at it, we told her about Santa Claus and then told her when Christmas time rolls around, she gets Elf on the Shelf duties with Liesel. She took the Santa news much better than the sex news. 

Ireland and I sneaked off for a mani-pedi amidst all the chaos.

It was nice to get some alone time with my girl.

On the day of the baptism, I wanted to get to the church nice and early so we'd have plenty of time to set up and take pictures. As we prepared to leave, Brent set the trays of CTR cookies on the dashboard. Julie and I had been up very late icing those suckers. Even though I followed the recipe exactly, the first couple of batches were awful, so even getting the shield to look right was a process. Brent realized he'd forgotten something and as he is not a delicate man, he slammed the car door shut and the trays toppled to the floor. They were covered in saran wrap so they weren't ruined, but they sure weren't pretty! My heart broke a little.

Even so, Whitney managed to get a decent photo and I was told by more than one person they tasted good. In the future, we are saving ourselves the trouble and just ordering these!

I arranged the water bottles in a shield shape to compensate, ha!

The quilt arrived the day before and Mom spent the whole afternoon and evening attaching the binding. She's never done that in one fell swoop; it's a lot of handwork. There's a lot of love in that quilt, for sure!

Uncle Tim kept Ireland happy and relaxed while we all ran around getting things settled.

Brigitta had to think extra hard about what to write on the photo mat.

Whitney did a spectacular job on the program!

Jeanne was a doll to step in and play the piano...

...which Sydney danced to.

We had plenty of time to get those all-important photos!

The program was beautiful, and Reagan put together such a sweet video for everyone to watch while Brent and Ireland dried off and dressed.

Annie made a little crown which worked beautifully with the braided updo.

Wally Pollack conducted the program and he had Ireland go up front and look around the room at all the people who had come to support her and wish her well on her baptism day. Ireland pronounces it "bathtism" which I am not sure is a remnant of her lisp or because she was in a font, which is kind of like a bath. Whatever the case, I love that little quirk of hers! Ireland bore her testimony and I was so impressed with the things she said. She talked about how she had prepared for her baptism and how she felt about the scriptures and her Savior.

So many cute kids came out to support Ireland, and there was a basketball game that morning but uniforms were green so it worked out perfectly!

The entire Larson family dressed in green in her honor.

Mom made her rolls (that's becoming a baptism tradition!), can you see the steam rising? YUM!

Mom and Dad gave her a set of scriptures specially bound in yellow leather and engraved with her name. 

So many sweet friends!

We were lucky to get Julie to come out, she's such a love and she was really instrumental in helping us pull everything together.

We are lucky to have Whitney and Tim nearby as well. Ireland snuggled up to him as she prepared for her confirmation.

All her grandparents were able to be there for her, which is really special. As we were testing the audio-visual, I noticed BJ tearing up at the video. They love Ireland so very much!

We're pretty fond of her too. 

Congratulations on your "bathtism" sweet girl, I hope it was a day to remember!

ASL Concert

I'm so grateful the elementary school offers an ASL club! The concert is always short but sweet and the place is packed. Luckily, Brent arrived early and saved us seats in the second row. However, we happened to be at an angle where both Liesel and Ireland were covered up by the person in front of them. The best laid plans of mice and men...

It was still a wonderful concert!

Count on Me


Give Love
 


For the record, I'd braided the girls' hair so they would look nice and spiffy but they both took them out before the concert- making them look a little ragged. The best laid plans of mice and mom...

My parents were already planning to be in town for Ireland's baptism, but they came a little early to catch the concert.

At least that worked out perfectly!

Ireland is EIGHT!!!

We were able to snag the most fabulous photographer for Ireland's baptism photos- Kelly Miccolis. The Miccolises were Ireland's Primary teachers a couple of years ago. I'm pretty sure they'd adopt her out from under us, if it were legally possible. They have so much love for our little girl and they happen to be incredible photographers to boot. I know they don't charge us nearly what they are worth, so much of this is literally a labor of love. 

I learned my lesson with Liesel's baptism photos at the temple (see here) and so these were actually taken the previous September. The weather was balmy and Ireland danced all around the temple grounds in her pretty dress. I spotted the dress on zulily for a good price and ordered it immediately. However, the size was really off. Luckily, we have a fantastic tailor in town who made that dress fit Ireland like a glove. The long waist and bow at the back made her look like a little princess.

Ireland LOVES her baptism dress!

Kelly was so creative in these photos of Ireland with her blessing dress. She's photographed many weddings at the Chicago temple and so she knew this discreet spot at the back. I'm absolutely in love!

While Kelly was getting these close up shots of the CTR ring, a ladybug landed on Ireland. Ever the insightful photographer, Kelly snapped a couple of photos of that sweet little moment.

This was the last shot of the day and I just love how it captures the temple, the flowers and the fountain. As a kid, we called that the "dandelion fountain" and I'm so excited my kids get to appreciate it as well.

Ireland's birthday was full of the regular traditions such as breakfast in bed:

And cake:

However, the REAL celebration was to come!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It was a typical Valentine's Day. Dozens of cards for schoolmates, gifts for teachers, heart-shaped hairdos and lots of red and pink to wear. 

But before we get sucked in by all the mushiness of the holiday, let's check in with Sydney and see what she thinks about relationships with boys:

I believe Noah is a boy in her preschool who has a bit of a crush on her so he's being a boy- bugging her and irritating her and horror of horrors- knocking down the tower of blocks she worked so hard to build! There are more boys than girls in her class, by a lot and I guess the ever-cheerful Sydney finds them all a touch cranky for her taste.

But I love how Sydney presses those little hands to her chest and explains that Daddy isn't cranky... he's definitely the exception in her life. And he doesn't just have her heart, he "fixed" her heart. 

True to form, these lovelies arrived for me and the girls.

I don't think anyone in the world could love that little girl more than her father.

Pew Politics

I had a meeting before church on Sunday and rather than take Brent's aging sedan, we prepped the girls early and headed over as a family. While I was in my meeting, Brent did something rather shocking, and downright indecent.

He switched pews. 

See, we always sit in the very front, middle pew. As our family grew, we reasoned the closer we were to the speaker at the podium, the more likely we all were to listen. My years of business travel have scarred me for sitting in tight rows so the extra legroom is a bonus. Not to mention Brent likes to pack like he's hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro even when he's just walking a block away. It makes me cringe to see people tripping over his ginormous Land's End canvas bag (originally purchased for grocery shopping purposes only) as they scoot past us on tiptoe. The great secret about the front row is nobody wants to sit there, so we have it all to ourselves.

If we sat further back, the girls would likely see other children whose parents are a bit more generous with snacks and iPods during the 75 minute sacrament meeting. We didn't want our daughters getting ideas in their heads and while we are officially members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brent and I must have come from strict Puritan stock. No snacks! No iPods! Sit up! Be quiet! We feel strongly our girls can make do with a handful of crayons, and a small notebook. Or rather, I feel strongly. Apparently Brent has changed his mind. 

Fed up with not getting anything out of church, Brent thought sliding us to the side would somehow improve the situation. It certainly did for him- he had the older 3 sitting in the pew behind us, allegedly so he could interact with them easier than when they are spread out down a long bench. Turns out this is right in front of Sister Stewart, who absolutely spoils the girls with Oreos and coloring books and yes- her iPod. They happily colored, ate and swiped away. Brent didn't seem to notice he had planted us right next to a door and a large window. I spent sacrament with a steady flow of cold air on my legs with only a layer of "ultra sheer" Hanes nylons protecting me from the frigid onslaught. Brent sat happily in his dress shirt and pants, tie, and cozy vest wondering what my problem was. 

Like a game of Jenga, Brent's move toppled so many other pieces in the church pew game. The Douglas' looked utterly lost and finally settled in behind the young men passing the sacrament. The head of the McMullin clan had decided to make a bold move similar to Brent's so the Martins (who sit behind us) had no choice but to take our place in the front row. Michelle Renzi who also sits behind us just looked sad, and lonely. Even Bishop commented about our move before he headed up to the stand. It was mayhem- utter bedlam, and afterward Brent and I engaged in a war of words not seen since the Clinton vs Trump debates. The whole thing was wrong, just wrong. 

In the aftermath of it all, I've been thinking about the churches around Boston. Various trips down the Freedom Trail with visiting friends and family, Easter concerts and Midnight Mass and my own occasional meandering during my lunch hour gave me many opportunities to tour many a place of worship. Lots of them have a little plaque outside the pew, like this one at the Old North Church:  

Brent and I are still divided on where we will sit this Sunday. I have to say I'm tempted to bring my label maker to firmly establish our pew and put an end to all this nonsense. No doubt our descendants will thank us for it.

And I'm certain our Puritan forbears will approve.

The Chocolate Challenge

Every New Year's marks the beginning and end of the Chocolate Challenge. For each month the girls go off of chocolate, they get $10. However, if they make it the entire year, both sets of grandparents match the $120 for a grand total of $360. If the girls can hold out, they essentially earn a dollar a day just for not eating chocolate. And there is a big chocolate party at the end where they can eat everything they denied themselves throughout the year. 

The first year we introduced it, Ireland went alone and made it a whopping 4 1/2 months. The next year Liesel decided to join her and they both held out 3 1/2 months. Easter was the undoing on that one. Turns out 2017 was THE year and both girls made it the entire year without eating chocolate. The biggest hurdles are Valentine's Day and Easter- big chocolate holidays. Then it's pretty smooth sailing until Halloween. By Christmas, they were so deeply in the habit of turning down chocolate, it was no longer a big deal. That's not to say they weren't eagerly looking forward to January 1 when they could once again eat chocolate. 

Here is their first taste of chocolate upon completing the challenge.

While a handful of chocolate chips is a sweet introduction back into chocolate, I really felt the girls deserved something more. The next day, I treated them to The Cheesecake Factory. Liesel opted for the decadent s'mores while Ireland went for the scrumptious Oreo cookie. Chocolate never tasted so good! I mean, look at those smiles. 

A core concept of the Chocolate Challenge is going without something you want now for something you want even more later. Some of the skills we hope the challenge develops are self-discipline, money-management, sacrifice, delayed gratification, patience, healthy eating habits, independence, big-picture thinking and honesty.

We've actually received a little criticism for the challenge. One person asked if I thought this was teaching the girls to diet at a young age. I reminded them that the challenge isn't to go entirely off of sweets, just chocolate. All year long we helped the girls find alternatives to chocolate and strawberry cupcakes became a huge favorite. Even though we adamantly asked everyone not to, some people felt pressured to create an alternative for the girls when they went to events like birthday parties. We told the girls from the get-go they would simply have to go without sometimes while everyone around them enjoyed a chocolaty treat. Even though the girls became accustomed to this, there were still people who felt it wasn't fair and voiced their frustration with us and this challenge.

Over Winter Break we visited the Museum of Science and Industry and the girls noticed a little corner we hadn't paid much attention to on previous trips. It was a display about how eliminating certain bad foods can save you calories in the long term. At one end was a can of soda and at the other was a chocolate candy bar.

The average person can lose 26 lbs in a year by not eating candy bars! You could lift up the candy bar and inside the box was the weight so you could see how that adds up. Liesel and Ireland had to lift it together because it was so heavy.

The display kept going blank right when I snapped the photo, but you get the idea.

 I loved seeing them marvel at what they had accomplished.

The Chocolate Party was pretty darn epic. Even though we put a fire in the fireplace and set out pretty much every chair we own in the family room, everyone congregated in the kitchen while kids played downstairs. The place was bursting and my intentions of getting pictures of all the different kinds of chocolate went out the window as I was caught up in so many wonderful conversations. We had friends from church, school, and the neighborhood. People commented that they could smell the chocolate as soon as they walked in the door!

I did manage to get a photo of all the shoes and some coats (even though we had a temporary coat closet just off camera)...

...and the chocolate fountain that was a gift to the girls from Julie. This is what it looked like by the end of the night- you can't even read the sign that says "NO DOUBLE DIPPING!" Pineapple turned out to be a favorite although we provided various fruits, pretzel sticks, potato chips, red vines and Swedish fish.

We had SO much chocolate!!! From the mini-candy bars to the exotic chocolates around the world, there was something for every chocolate lover. Liesel and Ireland loved talking about how they made it through the challenge and what they were going to do with their chocolate money. Liesel used it for more dance classes and Ireland is saving up for a trip to Ireland. 

The girls are taking a break for 2018 but they are determined to do the Chocolate Challenge again in 2019. I have to admit, I didn't think they'd make it and more than once, Brent and I forgot about it entirely until Liesel would sweetly refuse the hot chocolate Brent made her or Ireland would just smile at me as I handed her the last portion of the chocolate donut I didn't want. They deeply impressed us with their determination to finish this challenge and I'm so very, very proud of them!!!