Freedom

This year all of the students at Provost were strongly encouraged (and bribed with cash prizes!) to participate in Provo's Freedom Festival Essay Contest. The topic was a quote that was pretty difficult for an elementary student to understand, so I was proud of Nathan that he wanted to participate. (The original quote is broken up into sections in his essay, in quotation marks.) He and I talked about the quote before he started writing, but the ideas are all his own!

Freedom

   "Our liberty depends on our education, our laws, and habits . . ." this is much more than a quote, this is what we live by. Our freedom depends on our education because if you did not do well in school then you could not be a math professor, if that is what you wanted to be. You would not have the freedom to choose and would end up picking cotton or grapes. It depends on our laws and habits because we need good laws to help us stay free. For instance, they have made a law that everyone has to have health insurance. I feel that this law is not good, for health insurance costs money and that is something not everyone has.
   Our freedom "is founded on morals and religion." To me, this means that if someone believes that God wants everyone to be nice to each other, then that person will be kind to everyone. If we fight each other too much, then other countries could catch us off guard and take away our freedom. "On the influence all these produceon public opinion before that opinion governs rulers." I take this to mean that people can vote. Voting is the core of our freedom. The presidency does not run through bloodline. People can vote for who they want the president to be. In other countries you cannot vote for a new king every four years. You are stuck with him for the rest of his life. Here we can also vote for laws to change, too. If enough people want to change the law then it will be taken to the Supreme Court for them to decide. I think that is a good way to run our country. I am grateful to have freedom. I hope we will continue to live by what Fisher Ames said. In this way we can sustain our freedom.

Flat Stanley

Joshua recently received a letter from cousin Blake, asking for help with a Flat Stanley project. Joshua got to decorate Stanley however he wanted. Then he was to take a picture with Stanley, write a letter telling a little about our part of the world that Stanley got to visit, and then mail everything to Blake's class.

As we were taking pictures with Stanley, Elizabeth wandered over. These two are so sweet with each other!

Purplicious

When I knew that we were getting close to moving Elizabeth to a "big girl bed", I of course spent lots of time trying to figure out what I wanted her new bedding to look like. As part of that process, I determined that although the pink walls were okay, they really were a bit bold and I would prefer to change her walls to a soft purple.

Ryan of course thought I was crazy -- why add 1 more project that costs time and money when there is nothing "wrong" with things the way they currently are? His thinking is logical, but design does not always follow logic! We did not decide what to do about the walls. So I wanted to find a bedspread that would work for either the pink walls or for my vision of purple.

I found a bedspread I love, and it works with both pink and purple. But I couldn't get purple out of my head. I've been searching all the paint stores for the right color, and a few weeks ago the right color happened to coincide with a sale, and so I got it!

I LOVE the way it turned out!

I could not resist the dollhouse bookshelf! Adorable!

We also changed the furniture. The nursery set that matches the crib was a light-stained wood. I knew with the purple that I wanted to go with white furniture. We also needed a dresser that would fit better in the nook by the door.

 There is a white shelf with quilt rod that hangs above the new dresser -- we just haven't put it back up yet.

Also, a while back I finished (mostly -- but you can't tell that I have some finishing work to do) the valance for the "newly" redesigned loft area. I thought I'd include a picture so our long-distance family can have an idea what it looks like. For a more accurate perspective, just picture the desks with a lot more clutter on them!

Nathan the Magnificent

Friday was the annual Variety Show at Provost, and once again Nathan performed a magic trick! Even though he doesn't practice magic much, he is always so excited to do a trick in front of his peers each year at the show.

This year his trick involved cutting a rope into three separate pieces. He tied the pieces together, then an audience member came forward and blew on the rope. Then it was one whole piece again!

Elizabeth does not like to sit still. So even though the entire show was very entertaining, she wandered over and found Mrs. McDaniel, the librarian. Here she is playing with her reading glasses -- silly girl!

Pony Play

I love that Elizabeth is starting to play with dolls and toys in an imaginative way. Earlier this week she got out her ponies and her "barbie" (not really a Barbie, just a small happy meal doll).

I thought it was so funny that she insisted on playing in my bathtub!

Fun with Grandpa

It was so fun having my dad here for the weekend! I love watching him play with the kids, and I enjoy having time to visit with him in person. It was sad to see him leave today because I know it will be a long time before we see each other in person again. Virginia is far away! But I am grateful that we at least have phones, Skype, Facebook, etc to be able to keep in touch!

Joshua having fun

playing Trouble . . . not too much of a stretch ;)

Dad is a wonderful chef. I always love when he cooks for us!

 Not sure why she is "cooking" in the living room!

So sweet!

It's Great to be Eight!

Yesterday, March 3, Benjamin was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Ryan and I are so proud of Benjamin for making the choice to be baptized!

There were 3 other kids from our ward (congregation) that also were baptized yesterday. So it was special for us that we knew the other families that were participating in the program. Benjamin's friend Heidi sang "When I Am Baptized" and she did a wonderful job!

Grandma and Grandpa Partridge came from Arizona and Grandpa Anders flew in from Virginia to be here for Benjamin's special day. We missed having Grandma Anders here! Brett and Stephanie's family drove down for the baptism as well. We are so grateful that some of our family could be with us!

After the baptism, we came back to our house for deli-tray sandwiches and some presents. It was a wonderful day!