These are a few of my favorite things

I rambled to my mother this morning that watching children enthusiastically engrossed in an event is one of my favorite things in the whole world. Partly, I love it because it is so serious to them and so delightful to us. Also, I have my own robust repertoire of childhood memories that we still enjoy reminiscing about.  Our old parish, St. Peter's, hosted their annual Fall Family Festival on Friday.  This event will always strike a heart cord with me.  When we first moved back to Lincoln, Dominic grabbed a neon orange flier announcing the upcoming event.  He had just started reading so he coveted this little flier for weeks hoping so much we could attend THE FALL FAMILY FESTIVAL.  It was his equivalent of Disney World.  The promises made on the flier were so enticing to a little mind.  Jumbo Slides.  Dunk Tank.  Candy.  Hot dogs.  It was yesterday I watched his five-year-old legs run so fast from stand to stand.  As each year has passed, I still smile when I see this event announced as it will forever remind me of him. 

Kapaun turned ONE this past Thursday.  Without a doubt, he received the most birthday songs of any of our children.  They sang to him for a week.  In fact, I listened to Vianney get him up this morning while she sang Happy Birthday to him. 

Enjoyment #2:  Watching a tentative 4-year-old child prepare for a wild game of Minute To Win It (WHATEVER that is.)  Lillie eagerly signed the whole family up for this game double-checking which age divisions each child belonged in.  All our children were looking forward to this the most as John had shown them a Youtube video of Minute To Win Its.  We both giggled as we heard over the loud speaker, "Clare-vey Beaver, you are up for Minute To Win It."  She didn't know what to think or to do.

Reinforcements came in the form of her siblings to reassure her that she won't be harmed in the Oreo challenge.  You never know.

Enjoyment #3:  Nervous Nelly.  I am pretty sure God created Lillie for the sole purpose to enjoy festivals.  There aren't enough stands to attend, there are too many face painting choices, too much good food to pick from, too many friends to make.  She wanted each member of our family to win so bad that I think she developed an ulcer. 

Vianney is so sweet, shy, and beyond talented.  She is unaware of her abilities even when she comes in first.  She was so nervous to stack 4 Oreos on her forehead.  I reassured her this was for fun and to give it a try.  She went and sat down, stacked the Oreos like she practiced for a year straight and walked away victorious. 

Brothers

Enjoyment #4:  The daily dance routines the girls make up have shifted to daily tumbling exercises as the girls are taking tumbling this year.  Zellie practices her handstands everywhere.   As a former gymnast (4th-8th grade, not Olympic), I couldn't be more thrilled about this. 

Enjoyment #5:  Everything we did this week was for Kapaun's birthday.  We went to the Fall Family Festival for Kapaun's birthday.  We made dinner at night for Kapaun's birthday.  We went to the library for Kapaun's birthday.  We gave the kids a bath for Kapaun's birthday.  I did capture his first tasting of lemonade for Kapaun's birthday.

Just what my thighs need!!!!!

After, he chased it with a nice cup of mulch. 

Enjoyment #6:  Dream child.  He was just as enjoyable this year as he was seven years ago.  He is just a happy guy.  He still delights in simple things and is such a pleasure to be around. We have our special language that we speak Kapaun to with each other.  Kapaun is a language we created to talk about "our little boy." 

Enjoyment #7:  Watching a child from a distance.  Her older sisters begged to go stand in line with her for the balloon artist.  I was finishing up watching Dominic devour Oreos so I sent them all ahead.  I scanned the crowd for the girls only to first see Damaris waiting her turn in line.  Heart hurt.  She had NO IDEA what they were doing, but she was doing it. 

The look of wonder on Clairvaux's face always gets me. 

I really do mean it when I say it is an art to watch a child especially when they are in the state of wonder.  I watched Damaris for five minutes watch the balloon lady. Just imagine for a second what their little selves were thinking when they were looking up in awe.

Thank goodness she brought her thumb.  

They waited in line for thirty minutes to obtain a balloon.  When their time was up, you would think they would have thought about what they wanted beforehand.  The older girls did, but Clairvaux rattled off what Rose ordered "An orange horse."  Then, the nice balloon artist asked Damaris what she wanted.  She lisped back with her thumb in her mouth, "A orangeth horseth."

 We use to live right across the street from St. Peter's.  We took a stroll down memory lane by walking by our old home and around the cul-de-sac.  We even walked down to the nice lady the kids referred to as "Blow up Lady" because she proudly displays holiday blow ups in her yard.  Even though it has almost been a year since our move, I still deeply miss that wonderful neighborhood and our proximity to the church.  I miss the kids being able to walk over to daily mass on their own.  I miss my walking route which always began and ended in the church so conveniently even before the kids were awake.  I am so grateful for our new home and all that it offers our family.  There just seems to be a hole missing and as crazy at it sounds, I miss the presence of Jesus right across the street.  I hope someday we can live across from a church again.