Lazy Sunday (Cliff style)

This morning Anna hopped out of the car at church in flip flops. Aaaaiiiieeee! She had been wearing shoes and sox but had managed to fly that change under the radar. I sent her back with her Dad to change...

After church John decided to make pasta alla carbonara. To the unitiated, the bacon and eggs involved can sound like a horrifying breakfasty perversion, but to quote a friend, "oh, my yum!"

After seeking out the comics page, Katie spent some of the afternoon rolling around on her skates in of John's tee shirts. (The girls got into the habit of changing into sleep clothes when we had late church and although we are done before noon this year, they usually go from dresses to jammies when we get home.) I told her that her days of wearing Dad's tee shirts are numbered unless she quits growing and got the expected grin in response.

Katie gave a talk today in Primary. The theme was how the restoration of the gospel helps her have faith in Christ. Her dad worked on it with her yesterday while I was gone helping my friend Sue with a cookie project. I was surprised and pleased to find that her talk was how work is a principle of the restoration that helps her faith in Christ grow. I am trying to make work a regular part of the girls' life and to impress upon them the concept of work before play, and work 'til the job is done. Katie talked about how Joseph Smith learned to work as a boy and helped his family. She shared part of a story from the New Era about learning to like doing dishes and said she is learning to work when she does the dishes, folds laundry, and weeds the back yard. She said that it is important to believe in Christ, but you also need to work to keep the commandments and make good choices.

Also this morning, Katie lost another of her baby teeth. She is becoming such a nice young lady that I sometimes forget she is still a little girl. She looked very grown up today with her cute swing bob and white crinkle skirt and blouse with embroidered green butterflies. We found the skirt on clearance at Kohl's on Friday -- plus a darling kimono style shirt in pretty blues, some capri jeans, two silky puff sleeve shirts for church, and a pink dress with a handkerchief hem. It was fun to watch the girl who rarely has an opinion about clothes smile and admire herself in the dressing room mirror, and politely tell me one skirt I suggested was not "her style."

But back to today: following a lovely, restorative nap snuggled next to her Mom, Anna pined away for the television. She was not interested in her Sunday viewing options. She patiently explained to us that she wanted to watch things like Clifford, Cyberchase, and Caillou. I asked if we had Clifford on DVD and she informed me that, no, those shows were "PBS Kids on KERA" -- and with the precise quote she unwittingly validated my decision to cut down viewing options by carrying only local channels. We made the change a few years ago and I don't think they realize what they are missing!

Anyway, left to her own devices, Anna decided the best way to while away her time was in tidying up the playroom -- joy! -- and so it was that as I sat downstairs finishing the Willa Cather novel I've been nibbling on for the past week the shout came from above, "Mom! I found my purple flip flops!" and a bobbed-hair girl in red baseball cap zoomed out of the playroom, shoes triumphantly in hand.

While I finish this, the girls have been snuggling with their Dad in our room. I just sent them in to brush teeth and then its time to get them to bed. Anna has celebrated the start of summer break by sleeping in the trundle in Katie's room these past two nights and they have headed in there together again.

The smell of yummy pasta lingers in the air, my girls are headed to bed, and all is well in the world.