A Visiting Apostle

We drove to stake conference nearly an hour early today (my dad would be proud), because we wanted good seats to hear a visiting apostle speak.  I always feel a unique peace and joy when I listen to an apostle bear witness of God and His plan and love for us.  That was the case again today as Elder Neil L. Anderson shared his conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who died for us so that we can live again after death.

Once the meeting ended, we and the three oldest kids shook Elder Anderson's hand.  Daniel and Anna were content with a handshake, but of course, Joy wanted to talk a bit.  Elder Anderson commented that Joy will be very articulate when she grows up.  She was delighted by the compliment, once I explained what "articulate" meant.

The Hundredth Day Flower Shirt

Anna attended her hundredth day of kindergarten today.  At our old school the kindergartners were assigned to make a poster with 100 things on it (pennies, fishy crackers, etc.), but at our new school they are encouraged to wear something with one hundred items.

Anna and I decided to collaborate on a hundred-item shirt.  Yesterday I used green fabric paint to create grass and flower stalks . . . 

. . . then Anna used other colors to make 20 flowers with 5 fingerprints each.

Here's Anna modeling her hundred-fingerprint flower shirt, and the hundredth day crown she made at school today. (Cousin Rachel, is it just me or does Anna look like your daughter Hannah in this picture?)

OK--enough of that.  Time to put on superhero capes and be awesome.

Random Fun in January

Here are a few random Hendrickson January pictures for your enjoyment:

Mario Kart is enjoying a resurgence in our family lately.  Looks like everyone is turning right in this picture.

We recently received a Christmas package from my friend Siobhan in Hawaii.  I have no objection whatsoever to late Christmas presents, especially when they include chocolate mushroom cookies and coconut balls.  Phillip preferred the garlic and onion macadamia nuts.

Yay!  Daddy's home!  Good thing he's a strong guy.

Oh, and Steve from Minecraft is apparently a fan of strawberries, just in case you're wondering what to serve when he visits your house.

Tennis for Beginners

We asked the kids what they wanted to do after chores today, and since the weather was nice they asked to go to the tennis courts.

Daddy has a lot of tennis experience, and he has taken Joy to the courts a few times, but the rest of us have virtually never held a racket.  Our outing basically consisted of Daddy serving us easy balls to hit (or not).

Anna was excited to try out the new little racket we got her for Christmas.

She and Joy even tried playing doubles against Daddy (who went very, very easy on them).

My tennis experience basically consists of a single week in a high school PE class, but the girls made it look so fun that I gave it a try today, too.

Daniel initially declared that he just wanted to collect stray tennis balls . . .

. . . but in the end even he couldn't resist picking up a racket and returning some of Daddy's serves. 

Todd was content to just carry a ball and his little doggie around the whole time.  We ended up playing for a couple hours, and everyone came home happy.

One Bee and Two Fairies

I usually relish the chance to sleep in on Saturdays, but today I got up early to help Joy do some last minute studying for the county spelling bee.

She and her friend Jeron from church represented Ellen Smith Elementary.

The spelling bee words came from the organization that runs the national spelling bee, and even in the first round there was a word I had never heard of.  Joy got her first word right, but in the second round she misspelled "nuisance" and was eliminated.  I was glad she got through at least one round, but I was happier that she exited the stage in good spirits.

At home Joy and Anna played fairies (we only have one pair of wings at the moment, so Joy used one of my scarves) . . .

. . . then the little kids jumped on sofa cushions . . .

. . . while Daddy and Joy made giant peanut butter cookies.  As soon as the cookies were done, we packed some up . . .

. . . and took them along to eat as a snack at the archery range, where Joy tried out the kids' new bow.  It's much stronger and more accurate than the cheap little one they used last time, but some of her arrows still bounced off the target.  We could probably fix that by increasing the draw weight, but then it would be too hard for little Anna to draw the bow.  Life is full of trade-offs.

Snowballs and Drone Lessons

Most of yesterday's snow had melted by this afternoon . . .

. . . but there was still enough left in the shady spots for Daddy and Joy to have a knock-down, drag-out snowball fight.

Aw, that's not cool.  OK, I guess technically it is, but you know what I mean.

Don't worry, she got him back.

Daniel preferred to watch from inside where it was safe and warm.

After the snowball slingers had had enough, Daddy got out his birthday drone.

He even demonstrated goodwill toward his former adversary by showing her how to pilot his birthday present . . .

. . . and letting her take it for a spin.  She actually got the hang of it faster than her parents did.

Snow Day

We finally got some snow last night!

It was just an inch or two, but the kids were still thrilled to see snow in our very own yard. 

They immediately put on coats and galoshes, and went outside to explore the winter wonderland . . .

. . . complete with cool icicles.

Apparently Arkansans get nervous when there's even a tiny bit of snow on the road, so school was cancelled and the kids got to stay home and have a snowball fight . . .

. . . then come inside and put on some cozy slippers.

Todd preferred to just stay inside where it was warm, and ask his mom to make a railroad track shaped like the number 89.

Uno Counting Conundrums

This afternoon, Todd decided to use our Uno cards to count down from 1000.  There was just one problem:

He ran out of 9s around 998.

Hmm . . . what's a little boy to do? 

Skip ahead to 1, of course.

And, uh, do some yoga.

Todd then tried to count up from 1000, but we only have five 0 cards . . .

. . . so this is pretty much how things ended up.

Photos to Inspire and Entertain

Here are some highlights from our first day home, and our last day of Christmas break.

Phillip and I wanted to start the new year off by giving each of our children a picture of the Savior to put in their room.  We let the three oldest kids each choose a print to hang on their side of their bedroom.  Joy chose to put her print in the middle of a heart, fashioned from school certificates and gymnastics ribbons she's earned.

Daddy needed some shredded cheese for lunch, and was delighted to learn that our food processor has a grating attachment that allows him to grate a whole pound of cheese in seconds.  He can't believe that it took him over eleven years of marriage to discover that we have a "power tool" for grating cheese.

Joy spent the afternoon using my old camera to shoot a stop-motion Minecraft video using her Christmas Lego set.

She chronicled Steve's foray into his mine in search of gold ore to make some fancy armor.  The rest of us had fun watching the slideshow after she wrapped her photo shoot.

Farewell to the Andersons

A few more highlights from our visit with the Andersons:

Mike and Shelly watched our kids yesterday morning while Phillip and I went to the Houston Temple.  Coming from Conway, where the closest temple is over three hours away, it was so nice to be able to drive just ten minutes to worship with my sweetheart.

And don't assume that we drove to Houston just so the Andersons could babysit our kids all the time; we helped them out too.  I cooked a couple meals, and Phillip helped Mike with two home improvement projects (it's Dremel time!).

Last night the adults rang in the New Year sipping Martinelli's and watching the neighbors light up the sky with fireworks.

This morning we snapped a few group photos, went to church, then headed for home.  And no, the Andersons don't go to church in their PJs.  Their ward meets at 1pm and we didn't want to leave for Arkansas that late in the day, so we went to a ward that meets at 9am instead.

Thanks for the memories, Mike and Shelly!  Hope to see you again soon!