Gone Fishin'

This boy loves everything about fishing.  He hasn't exactly come close to catching anything, but that does nothing to deter him.  He was super excited to learn that there was a lake really close to home that was stocked with fish.  Almost as excited as his dad.

Who gets a little more discouraged about the lack of catching anything.  But always tries again another day.

This is what J requested to do on his birthday, after his baptism.  It still helps him to have something positive to help him push through his anxieties.  And as he says, "Even if we don't actually catch a fish, it's still fun to go fishing."

He's learning all about casting, reeling . . .

and baiting.

As is his littlest tag along sister.

B loves fishing so very much, that she does her very best to hog the fishing pole and not allow R to have a turn.

Which is something R does not appreciate.  B is still very much a fan of the Toddler Property Laws.

See her nice, crying face because we insisted that R get a turn?

Luckily for everyone within earshot, R decided that she would rather go swing than continue fishing next to a screaming sister.  So the tremendous trio got to fish in peace.

 And I got to play around with some action shots.  Which is always fun because you never know what you're going to get.

Or maybe I should say that it's a hair-raising experience.

 We were having so much fun that B even decided to lay down her coveted fishing pole to join us.

I want to go back and take more pictures let my kids swing some more.

We did a little more fishing on the pier.

Where J taught his big sister about casting.

And where B did her best to fall into the water.

And on our way out, we saw this duck with beautifully coiffed feathers.

As they say, a bad day fishing is better than a good day of work.  But, I think Shaggy and J would attest that there's no such thing as a bad day fishing.

Sorry, Charlie

We moved away from the city.  We shouldn't have sweet-looking lost puppies wandering up to our house out here.  We really shouldn't.

Because the kids just can't resist them.  And I feel guilty if I don't give the poor dog a meal and some water, which really doesn't help them get back home again.  But I stand firm in not letting them in my house.  Because if I cave on that, this place will turn into a zoo.  A real zoo, not the kind of zoo I call it when my kids are especially crazy.

This little lost dog wandered into our yard and was promptly adopted by R & B.  R would run all over, delighted that Charlie would always run after her.  This dog had a collar, but no tags.  How did R know that his name was Charlie?  Because when she patted her leg and called "Here Charlie!" he would always come.  We demonstrated that he would do the same thing when called by a variety of other names.  But she was undeterred.  His name was Charlie.

So Charlie he became.  At least while he hung around our house.

When I noticed through the window that these two little miscreants were actually trying to get dog kisses, that's when I had to go outside . . . with camera in hand.  I snapped one picture and then told them to stop trying to get the stray dog to lick their faces.  Because, ewww.

But that didn't stop them from romping around in the grass and having a grand old time.

And they were surprisingly gently with this pup.  They certainly gave him more attention than they normally give the two big dogs that we do allow in the house.

Even J was infatuated with Charlie.

Charlie hung around all day, whether the kids were inside or out.  That night, he yipped nearly all night outside our bedroom window.  That didn't exactly encourage my feelings of compassion for him.  Not one bit.

But we still put a little house up for him since it was so cold.  And we fed him.  And we gave him water.  And the kids continued to pour out affection on him.

They were truly disappointed when he was long gone when we returned from church the next day.  Sorry, Charlie, our roster is full.  I hope you found your way back home safely and that you'll remember with fondness your mini vacation to kidland.

Great To Be Eight

My brave boy was baptized earlier this month.  It's still kind of hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this day, a day that I have been worrying about for nearly 6 years, has finally come and gone.  And it did so fairly smoothly.

I am so grateful for that.

Back when J refused to talk to anyone outside of our family, I worried about this day.  And when he'd screech if someone looked at him or asked him a question in the grocery store, I worried.  And when we saw how negatively some of our extended family members reacted to his anxiety related behaviors, we circled the wagons.  And we worried.  And we wondered how on earth he would ever tolerate being in the spotlight.  Something that baptism requires you to do.

I was always afraid that he would just freeze when he saw all those eyes watching him.  So I spent a good deal of time preparing him for this day.  We talked about the why's, the how's, the when's, and the millions of what if's his little brain came up with.

He was nervous.  He was scared.  But he understood how important this ordinance is, so he pushed through all his fears and went ahead and got baptized.  Right in front of all of us.

I am one proud (and relieved ) mama.

CTR--choose the right.  He did indeed!

It was a sweet experience for Shaggy to baptize this boy.  After he had done his best to answer J's last minute anxiety-induced questions.  "Is the water cold?  Are there fish in there?  What if my feet pop up?  How will they know when we're ready?"

I was biting my lip, trying to calm my stomach that was all tied up in knots as we listened to those questions through the curtain as Shaggy led him into the water.  I prayed that J wouldn't take too long, like he does sometimes when he's working through his fears.  I prayed that those around me would be understanding.  I prayed most of all that even through his fears, my son would be able to feel God's love and strength and peace.  That the Spirit would be able to calm his heart and mind in ways that I could not.  I prayed that he would be able to feel as surely as I did, that he was doing the right thing.

And he was providing such a great example of courage to his little sisters.

Whose turn will come soon enough.

This is one of those completely serendipitous photo accidents.  The sunlight streaming through the window turned the glass in front of the font into a mirror of sorts.  I noticed it in the previous shot and quickly recomposed to get this one.  I love it! 

I'm not so crazy about this one, but there's only so much you can do with challenging light.  And a cheesy two-year-old.  And a nervous boy.  And an impatient family.  It captures the moment pretty well, though.

It was taken just before the baptismal services began.  And other than a wild B who would not sit still to save her life and J refusing to sit up front to get confirmed (after several uncomfortable moments of listening to Shaggy and I try to cajole him into going up there, they came to him and confirmed him in the pews), things went pretty well.  Spectacularly well, in fact.  Especially considering  my 5+ years of worry.  That is a burden that I quite happily lay to rest, at long last.

I'm happy that my boy has chosen to become an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, even though he had to go waaaay outside his comfort zone to do it.  Life is funny like that--the hardest things to do are the ones that end up being the best for us.

Grammy came to visit for J's baptism, even though Hurricane Sandy scrambled her travel plans a bit.

We tried to take a few photos before leaving for the baptism.  But since everyone was a little stressed and frazzled, that didn't work out too well.  So we tried again once we got home.  That was much more successful.

I really, really love this family of mine!

And I could blog forever and not be able to capture just how proud I am of this boy.

What started out as a nice, calm father/son photo very quickly turned into this:

If I didn't know better, I'd say those two were made for each other.