I have a second

I just put Sarah down for her nap. Now I give her 10 minutes to make sure she really goes to sleep. While I wait, I thought I'd see how much I can type. I guess these will be random thoughts.

1. Sarah has started throwing screams into the mix when she's crying. No, no, no. It's too soon for screaming!

2. Leah's ear seems to be getting better. She asked me what she should do if it started hurting at school. I don't even remember if I answered her.

3. The bus stopped outside our house as Nathan was finishing up family prayer. They ran out the door and the departing bus stopped for them. Leah ran out down the gravel drive, through the weeds and onto the bus with her sandals in her hand. Her bare feet must have been dirty!

4. My rib cage still hurts from all the coughing I did. At least breathing doesn't hurt anymore. Sneezing is killer!

5. My house smells like the fresh batch of whole wheat bread that came out of the oven a little over an hour ago.

6. We had a deadly week a while back. On Wednesday, one of the chickens up and died (still don't know why); on Thursday, our little lamb, Steam, died (he just wasn't strong enough, I guess); on Friday morning, one of the fish was found dead in the tank. Saturday was a lucky day, and no lives were lost. Since then, two more fish have taken the final flush, the two ghost shrimp are gone (they may have died and the fish ate them) and a chicken has disappeared. (Chad found the chicken door open one evening. I think Daniel didn't get it locked the night before and the wind blew it open.) So now we're down to 10 chickens, 11 lambs, 10 fish, 9 cats, 2 dogs and 6 kids.

7. We are in the process of training our children to be left home alone. We found ourselves facing the adult session of Stake Conference and no plans for a sitter. So we took Sarah, and left the older 5 home with a movie on and a promise of ice cream cones if there were no problems. I made sure Daniel and Nathan knew my cell phone number. I kept the phone on "vibrate" and sat on it during the meeting. I'm glad no one called because I may have jumped pretty high if it went off! I felt guilty the whole time we were gone. That's a lot of little kids to leave home by themselves for 2 hours. I know kids 100 years ago had a lot more responsibility than kids these days, but that's when they only had to worry about indians!

8. I got my hair cut again.

9. School is out next week. I already have the kids' workbooks for the summer and am considering additional structured activities (i.e., reading contests, weeding the garden, etc.) but have not worked out the details. The kids are very excited for the chance to start doing their workbooks. I must be an awesome mother to have brainwashed them so effectively!

10. I had a "pity party" day on Thursday and Chad brought home a dozen orange roses to show his support. :)

I'll probably be ostracized for saying it.

But I'm saying it anyway. It's my blog, right?

I have a little problem with a current tradition that happens after every High School prom. Perhaps it happens in your ward. I'm talking about wearing your dress or tux to church on the Sunday following the dance.

I can't even remember if this happened in my ward while I was growing up. I can't remember if I participated. Maybe someone from my high school and neighborhood can help me remember. Regardless, I'm sure I wouldn't have had the same opinion then that I do now.

I have two reasons why I don't like this practice.

The first one has to do with the idea that there is a lot of vanity in wearing taffeta and yards of lace to partake of the sacrament and participate in gospel discussions. We can read in Isaiah chapter 3 and 2 Nephi chapter 13 to find out what the Lord thinks of such vanity. I don't know how much we're focused on Christ when we're thinking about how beautiful our clothing is, or reliving the magic of the night before. You get my meaning.

The second reason is that I wonder how it makes the girls and guys who either didn't get invited, couldn't find a date or just didn't have the means to go feel to see everyone parading around. It's harsh enough to sit home that night and think that there is a fabulous party going on without you. But everyone is supposed to be equal at church. That is definitely a place that salt shouldn't be poured into the wound!

And the adults like to compliment the kids on their beautiful clothing. That's understandable because they are beautiful. But who is gushing over the modest, humble clothing of the other kids? Is there any gushing going on during the rest of the year?

I don't judge the families of the kids who do wear their prom clothes to church. I understand it's just a fun tradition and a way to get another opportunity to get your money's worth out of an expensive gown. I just think that Sunday worship services aren't the place for the tradition.

What about a fashion show during mutual night? Then the kids that weren't invited or didn't have a fancy dress could find a dress to borrow for the night. Everyone likes to dress up and feel like royalty - even if it's just a Tuesday night with the girls.

It will be an interesting experience to see how this plays out in our family when the kids are old enough to be attending prom. I certainly hope that they get to go. But even if they do, I don't want them wearing their dresses and tuxes to church the next Sunday. Stay tuned for that one. Daniel will be eligible for prom in 2017.