Antics of Alden

Alden is such an engaging boy. He is always telling fun stories and asking such interesting questions. The other day we were walking around Walmart, and Alden said, "First we were an angel and then we came to Earth and were a baby. Someday when we're old, we'll die, and then we'll be an angel again, and then we'll be a baby again." I then told him that I didn't know if we'd ever be a baby again, and that after we die we'd be a Spirit, kind of like an angel, and then we'd be judged by what we did when we were alive, and then Heavenly Father would decide if we were good enough to live with our families forever. I told him that because of Jesus Christ, if we are good, we'll get to live with our families and Jesus Christ forever, but if we're bad, then we won't get to live with our families and Jesus Christ forever. Alden got a very serious look on his face and said, "Mom, I'm never going to clean the basement slow again" (can you tell we have issues with him not cleaning as quick as I would like him to). I explained that I didn't think that cleaning the basement slowly would keep him from living with our family forever, but I did tell him that it is important to do what Michael and I tell him. It was so cute.

For the past month and a half, his class has been gearing up for a special mother's day celebration. He has been very excited about it and made me a very sweet invitation. He told me one day during all this preparation, "Mom, I chose you to be my mommy when I was in heaven." I said, "Oh Alden thank you, I'm so glad. Was it because I'm so silly?"

"No," he said, "I saw you and thought 'I love you because you're so beautiful.'" Do you think my heart melted? (I'm a real beauty in the picture with my snow hat and blankets, don't ya think?)

I went to his Mother's Day celebration last week. It was the best mother's day present ever. Alden and his class learned three songs about love and sang them to us while we sat in our kindergartener's seat and put on a tissue paper flower that they made for us. We then opened a package that he and his teacher had made that had a special letter that Alden wrote to me, a book about mothers, a scrapbook that had pictures of Alden and projects that he did from each month that he was in school. His teacher also put together a book called, "I am an author," that had much of the writing that Alden did over the past year. It was so neat to see his improvement and have everything in a special book that he made for me. His teacher also had him paint a flower pot and plant a flower for me and had each of the kids in her class frost and decorate a two cookies--one for them and one for their mom. Then she showed a video that some high school students put together that had each child in her class tell the camera why they love their mom. The DVD is in a weird format; otherwise, I would post it here. Yes, Alden has an amazing teacher. Not only does she do neat projects, but her kids really learn. I can't believe the improvement that Alden and his classmates have made. I read with the kids once a week, and all of these little kindergarteners can read! When I first started volunteering at the beginning of the year, many of them didn't even know their ABCs. It's really remarkable. I am a big fan of Mrs. Curl!