Inside the M&M

Baptism

2010-11-19T12:28:00.000-08:00

Our Katrina was baptized last weekend. Because her birthday is on Veteran's Day, some relatives were able to come and share in the moments with us. We were so excited to have them come, although it made for a very busy and very full house: 18 people for 3 days.

Kristie holding Miles and Hope; Miles is holding her hand. He would be holding Faith's hand too, but I think she was asleep. Faith and Hope were born 4 days before Miles.

Katrina right before her baptism. We had some hair troubles that day. But overall, she looked lovely and it was a beautiful, autumn day.

Katrina invited her school teacher, Mrs. Webb. We were thrilled that she and her son came.

It was an especially exciting day because the church was locked and nobody had a key to get in. The bishop sent Mark off to get a key, but nobody thought to call him (I didn't have my phone) until someone else let us in and we were all sitting down. The other family was ready to go, but we were waiting for Mark's return and for Katrina's jumpsuit, which was in the van with him. Once he arrived and they changed, it started and turned out to be a lovely event. Thanks to those who waited so patiently, because it was a very important day for our girl.

Cousins together after the baptism. Matthew is being silly. Max fell asleep while Mark was driving all over creation looking for the keys, and needed to be held the entire time. I was sure grateful for extra hands!

Trying to take a family picture. Hence the invention of Photoshop?

Nana came from Alabama for the baptism. She had wanted to attend Felicity's, but Papa was dying and she really couldn't leave. We are really glad she could come this time. She definitely got her baby fix with 3 babies to hold!

Another Morris family photo attempt. Kristie and her girls are good with the cameras.

Most of the cousins together for a goodbye before the Kansans trekked back home. Miles (and I) were definitely ready for a nap at this point, Max is absent because he was napping. I think Hope and Matthew were too sad to be photographed.

Baby and Toddler Shenanigans

2010-11-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

I realize it's been a long time since I've blogged. It seems that most of my journal entries have a similar introduction. Nevertheless, if I fail to keep current, I will try to blog again.

Mostly my excuse for not blogging is Miles. Book reading for me, exercising, and blogging have largely gone out the door with this child. He is a wonderful soul and we are so happy to have him in our family. Yet, he is what we call a High-Maintenance Baby. In fact, I sing a song to him along those lines when he's having an especially high-maintenance day. He is all smiles and contentment as long as you are holding him, although sometimes only you are standing up with your arm perched so. I don't mind most of the time, but it gets tiring and is particularly hard when cooking and cleaning. A soccer mom-friend observed that he looks so easy, but she knows that he is secretly a lot of work. But we love him and we're keeping him.

Have you ever used those old-fashioned sinks where there are 2 spigots, one of hot water and the other of cold? Yeah, those don't make a lot of sense to me... I'm glad they are for the most part antiquated and not coming back with other retro decor. We have an Austrian friend who says that it's like washing your hand in heaven and then in hell but never anything in between. Sometimes it seems like motherhood is like washing your hands in those sinks.

Take this morning, for instance. We were at the library when Max the Cutie announced to me that he needed to visit the bathroom, wherein he accomplished his goal of earning not one but TWO mini cookies for his fantastic production. I was very proud of him, and he continued his good behavior at the grocery store despite all temptations to do otherwise, since he saw some hot Cheetos like unto what Grandma bought for him when she was here in July and I adamantly refuse to buy. No ensuing tantrum, thankfully.

But then we got home, and after I'd unloaded the groceries, he announced to me, "I'm not in trouble!" and ran upstairs for me to survey the damaged ottoman and stuffed frog in the family room- both newly decorated with red marker. The Masked Marker Max strikes again.

Do not be deceived, he doesn't last long in the Bumbo.

Pondering future mischief

Miles at home - the first 2 weeks

2010-08-04T23:02:00.001-07:00

I blogged this a long time ago, but forgot to push "publish":

We have loved having a new addition to our home, although it's made life crazier than usual. Every day is a different adventure, as newborns grow and change so quickly. I only had to look at this picture of Miles in the hospital to see that he has already grown.
Miles posing for one of those baby pictures where babies pretend to be different beings other than humans(cabbages, butterflies, rutabagas, weasels):

We are always so thankful for a visit from Grandma. She is pleased as punch with our own 3 terrible twerps:

Peas porridge hot, pea porridge cold, pea porridge in the pot 9 days old. Here is Miles at 9 days, looking like a middle-aged man with a paunch. But at least he's happy about it.

Is it just me, or is there some resemblance here?

Nana and her TX grandchildren (Katrina's trying really hard to keep her eyes open)

Miles

2010-07-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

July 10, 2010 6:37 pm- Welcome to mortality!

The All-Sibling Picture. Matthew was grumpy because he wanted to hold the baby.

Max was super excited to see Baby Brother. He tried feeding him grapes and sting cheese after he got to hold him.

Houston-Bound

2010-06-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

In June we took a quick trip to Houston. It was kind of a last-minute vacation, mostly to get out of town while we still could, but also to see my Uncle Charlie, Aunt Ann, and to go to the beach.

Our first outing was to the Children's Museum. It is a really fun museum- a little on the pricey side, but totally worth it.

The Bike Mechanics in their shop, making the big bucks. This was a really fun acty because they could earn a paycheck, deposit it in the bank, and withdraw funds to pay for needs/wants, and save the rest.

Water table fun outside- it was really hot and humid, but the water helped keep us cool. This was the boys' favorite part.

We went home to eat a great dinner and rest, thanks to the great hospitality of my family members. We all slept really well, which was good because the next day we went to the beach.

Building sand castles in the blistering sun. My poor swimsuit was stretched to the limit! (37 wks pregnant)

Max loved the water. He's trying to look polynesian here.

Not really sure what's going on here. We had lots of dramatic poses. Obviously we all had a great time.

Katrina's favorite thing was collecting shells- mostly tiny broken bits, but she collected whatever she could find. She has quite an affinity for small pieces of beauty.

We cleaned up -nothing feels so good as a shower when you're covered in sand, saltwater, sunscreen, and sweat. I lay down for a couple minutes and then we bid Aunt Ann and Uncle Charlie goodbye. It was a fun trip, even though we were only gone about 36 hours- which is pretty fast considering we drove about 11 hours of that.

Sadly, we came home to discover that our fridge/freezer in the garage had been left open, which meant a ton of thawed gross food. But it didn't ruin Father's Day. I think it was really Black and White Polka Dot Day- actually just a coincidence! But we had to take a picture.

Bizarro Kitchen

2010-06-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

Mark and I recently did a bunch of work in our kitchen. We thought we were possibly going to move, and asked a Realtor friend for advice about improvements we'd already considered. She gave us some input about what things should be our priorities and we decided to go for the kitchen. I thought about the "Before" pictures the day we started taking things apart; I was in the middle of babysitting for a friend and making cookies but you know if you don't take the pictures when you think of it they won't ever happen.

We decided to paint the cabinets white. I've always liked white cabinets and before I ever bought a house I thought I'd like white cabinets because of their classic look. However, we had white counters and backsplash and it seemed like it might wash out the room too much. So we decided to wait until we replaced the counters, which probably needed to happen since our previous ones had some damage (like drilled holes). What I was seriously wrong about was how much work it was going to be. We've painted a number of things, but this was just a ton of work. After all, we have a lot of cupboards: 34 doors and 16 drawers. It took probably 4 or 5 times as long as I'd thought. Mark was incredibly supportive of the project in every possible way.

What we ended up doing was buying a sprayer and spraying the cabinet doors. We laid them out in the garage on top of a tarp and sprayed. ( I took a picture of that, but it's on another computer which is currently in PA) It was a whole lot faster, although there was some learning curve with that, too. Since we have little kids and additional responsibilities, most of the work was done late at night. After one particular spraying session and the Day of the Countertops/New Sink & faucet, we waited a day and 1/2 to return to the project. Unfortunately, the cupboard doors stuck to the tarp. It took a lot of scraping and sanding to recover from that. Ultimately, Mark finished the project while I tried to keep the kids out of his way. With the new backsplash, I think our kitchen looks a lot different. We still have lots of touching up and the hardware pulls/knobs to add, but with my ADD tendencies, it may be awhile before I get to that.

And we determined that the new look is very different: a bizarro version of the kitchen we had before. Well, not totally- same basic structure and appliances. But the coloring is different on the surfaces: we had brown cabinets, white backsplash and counters, more brown cabinets, and a brown floor. Now all that is reversed! I told Mark it was like seeing the white version of him, or the black version of me. We had all sorts of fun imagining what the white Mark would look like: would he have red hair? Blond? Pale, freckled skin? And what about me? Would I have an afro or super short hair?

Of course the irony here is the same irony that applies to my insistence to replace carpet with wood floors: the girl who hates to sweep is also the one whose college roommate told me to decorate my kitchen in a "Spatter" theme (since I do enjoy cooking and baking but not so much cleaning). So yeah, white cabinets? Turns out they need a lot of wipedowns. That's okay, I can force myself into cleanliness.

The Happy Feet Spa

2010-06-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, it sure takes me awhile to get around to posting things. We took this trip in the middle of May, I uploaded the pictures in June, and am just now pushing the "publish" button. We took a trip to Kansas on a last-minute spontaneous adventure. Mark and I wanted to vote in the very controversial mayoral election that morning, so we had a bit later start than we wanted (who knew how long the lines would be at 7 am on a Saturday at City Hall?!?), but we were blessed to make fabulous time and only had one 9-minute stop for gas and visiting the facilities. I stamped my legs as much as possible to get the circulation going.

The reason for the trip was our niece/cousin's baptism day! We were so happy to join her on this special occasion and made it just in the nick of time, thanks to changing in the car. She just glowed with joy.

The baptism girl with some cousins and siblings

Three sisters (in-law) all pregnant at the same time... Alice (far right) has since delivered. Kristie is having twins, so hers will probably be next. A child took this picture, which is why it's a less-than flattering view.

Katrina and Maria sharing a drink at Chili's afterward- Martha's pick of restaurant.

For Mother's Day, the children organized "The Happy Feet Spa" for the mothers and/or willing fathers. They gave massages, rubbed lotion, fanned us... it was very nice.

The best part of these trips is all the time we got to spend together. Only 500 miles and we have wonderful family members with whom to talk and play. Too bad we can't drop a zero (or two) from that mileage...

The Single Season of Texas

2010-06-14T22:06:00.001-07:00

You thought this post would be about the hot TX summers, admit it! Well sorry to disappoint you, it's actually not- although it is a rant. To explain the seasonal reference: When I was a college student living in Utah, I was riding the bus one day to my dental appointment and overheard a conversation in which someone said, "There are 2 seasons to Utah: Winter, and Construction." (Mind you, this was in the mid-90s) If that is the case, then TX has one season: construction, construction, construction.

I realize that I am extremely whiny about this, and should be more patient with my town's growing pains. The city has grown by about 20-30% just in the 4 years since we've moved here, and it grew much more rapidly the ten years before that. Naturally, there are many adaptations that need to be made because of traffic patterns and residential and commercial changes. Most of it has not been too awful, because I prefer taking the back roads anyway. For that reason, I didn't even know the main road was finished until a few weeks after the fact. They did a great job and didn't take nearly as long as they could have. The next town spent a year and a half on one lousy intersection, just to add a silly turning lane and let me tell you, they chose to continue the traffic problems. So at least my town's better in that regard.

But the other main drag, a street which affects me more, they don't seem to be doing anything on! Which wouldn't be that big of a deal, except that they tore up the limited road that we had, reducing the already stifled amount of traffic that can pass on this highway. I know it's cheaper and more efficient, not to mention probably a lot more fun, to rip up road even if there are no plans to get to that road for awhile. But can there be some sort of deadline on when it gets done following the demolition?

My other beef is that the Construction Gnomes are busy trying to make life miserable for as many people as possible. You know what I'm talking about: they finish the road in spots, but does anyone get to drive on it? Of course not! They also pull little hilarious pranks like move a bunch of cones in an odd formation just so they can watch cars try to negotiate the new dimensions. Naturally, there are no needs for such cone manipulation. I think I brought on the Wrath of the Construction Gods one day because someone moved the cones and I had the guts to drive on the new road. The next day, they were back up in a swirly design, lest I lose my head and take that initiative again.

But that's all I can complain about for awhile, since this industry might be the livelihood of my family for the coming days...

Talent Vs.Hard Work

2010-05-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

Recently, we have been making some improvements around the house. In some cases, it's taken quite a bit longer than we anticipated, and been much harder as well. I am really grateful for Mark for undertaking these tasks, despite having very little background in the Mr. Fix-It business, that is to say, almost none before we bought our house in 2006. However, since then he has:

Replaced the garbage disposal; installed the dishwasher- twice
Drained several clogged sinks and tubs
Taken apart the toilet to extract mysterious deposits from Max (a onesie plus a toothbrush); then put it back together
Painted/Stained numerous surfaces after repairing drywall and retexturing
Installed several light fixtures
Repaired appliances and machines
blah blah blah

I must admit, I have not always had complete confidence in his abilities, probably partly because my own father has not always succeeded in his efforts and sometimes a Trusted Neighbor or Father/Son-in-Law has come to the rescue. But both of them try, which is definitely saying something. And Mark has learned a lot. When we got a new sink last month, he spent much of his birthday reworking the plumbing since he had to switch a lot of pipes and move the garbage disposal to the other side, in addition to the new faucet. But he did it! And it works very well.

Some people seem to be blessed with natural ability to figure these things out, taking things apart and reworking them even from childhood. One time, I vacuumed up something that Matthew loved (and I had deemed "trash"), and he told me a few minutes later that he had rescued it from the belly of the vacuum. I did not believe his 3-year-old story, until I saw said item and he showed me how he had taken apart the vacuum and retrieved it from the bag, afterward putting all back together. Not that this is anything amazing, but I was surely much older when I even thought of opening a vacuum. My own construction/plumbing projects have met largely with frustration and disaster; I just don't think I have the mind to intuitively see how things work and to reconstruct. I lack "the knack".

We were talking about this at a Book Club meeting recently (we sometimes go off subject), and I noted that it is similar in my mind to how some people just don't have an "ear" for music, which I've noticed as their piano teacher. My own musical talents are limited, but I have taught enough beginners to notice when some students can really catch on, most improve after practice, and others struggle. This is not to say that hard work and practicing don't make a difference- I think most people can learn to play the piano if they are diligent practicers. However, for some it takes so much more work that it seems like another endeavor would better suit their time (Like me in the sports department), unless it is something they are determined enough to work hard for and eventually succeed, with patience and perseverance on their part, as well as the teacher's.

Upon further reflection however, I've thought back to the students I've had who are extremely talented, and realized that their talents can sometimes become their downfall. Because they can sightread well, they know they don't have to practice very much and can basically show up to their lessons unprepared. In addition, it is hard for the Artist Within to listen to the Voice of Experience, who might make suggestions about fingering, rhythm, practicing methods, etc. And so ultimately, they don't progress very much, at least not with me. (Admittedly, I'm much more of a note-reader than an improviser/composer.) I guess that's why I've concluded that when it comes down to a contest between talent and hard work, the work ethic wins: even a minimal amount of talent is magnified and as a side benefit, the person is stronger for his efforts, even though it has taken so much more work than for someone with natural ability.

How are you doing today? I feel like __________

2010-05-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not intending for naughty words to go through your head; just to allow you the freedom to fill in the blank on your own. Rest assured, my blank is not "sunshine," "lollipops," or "rainbows". No, I feel more like I swallowed a watermelon, followed by a cantaloupe (which lodged itself in my chest), and finished the meal with a lemon. The lemon is stuck in my throat and trying to squeeze all its highly acidic juice all over the place in an attempt to join the party.

Recently, I read a report that when asked, "Are you finding everything okay?" by store employees, shoppers universally dismissed possible help, even if the shoppers actually needed help locating something. The article was basically stating that this was marketing at its worst- mindless questions become even more meaningless when asked routinely; it is more effective to ask specifically if the shopper needed this or that, or to point out things on sale.

I'm no marketing genius, but I do know that people frequently answer the questions, "How are you?" and "How's your day been?"-type questions with the same blank answers. Face it, do random strangers (or even good acquaintances) really want to know what's on my mind? "Actually, I'm recovering from the stomach flu [insert revealing details here], which is the real reason why I'm leaning over this cart, not entirely because of my large pregnant belly that I know you're dying to touch. Also, this store is way too crowded- you have corn husks all over the back, and people are swarming over the zucchini like 88 cents a pound is giving it away."

So why do we ask the questions? Is it poor manners to smile and say hello? I do appreciate conversation, after living in the northeast all of those years of the cold shoulder/suspicious glares/polite reserve if I say a few words. (It's still a little disarming, but in the end, you have to love the Texan hospitality/nosiness/"Bless their hearts...") I guess I really don't know. Tradition? Policy? Rules of etiquette? In any case, it's one of the oddities that makes up our culture. Since it keeps us talking, I shouldn't wonder and just accept that it's just one of the things we do.

Arizona's awesome freeway system

2010-04-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, blogging... kind of have forgotten about this world since I am now sharing a computer and seem to have short moments to check information, not time to upload photos or wax philosophic on goings-on or life in abstract.

So I am decidedly behind, and will be making an attempt to catch up.

Mark suddenly has a lot more time with us and helped me go on a short trip recently, a last-minute vacation to Arizona. I hadn't been in 9 years, but I wanted to go visit my sister, who has visited me in nearly every place I've lived. She is expecting a child too, and since her husband is in dental school and his summer break is when I'm (hopefully) finishing up the M baby bake, my yearly pilgrimage to the Homestead will undoubtedly not coincide with her family's. So Mark gave me some ff points and I flew off with the sunrise a week later.

It was a nice trip. I enjoyed the break from regular life and it was a trip down memory lane: remembering grad school, apartment living, and life with one child. I think it was a bit exhausting for Ms. 8 months along, but we had a good time and I was also able to see some much beloved friends and family whom I hadn't seen in years. I was truly grateful to see them again and thankful they took the time to visit with me, even with just a last-minute notice. Part of that is due to AZ's great freeways, which easy access makes the Ferg apartment only 20 minutes from just about everywhere, except for one friend, who drove over 2 hours to make it happen.

Among our other activities, Aaron took me on a tour of his school, Arizona School of Dental & Oral Health. It was very techno-advanced and a lot of fun to see what and where he's learning the ways of dentistry. I used to work for dentists but never got to do anything cool (just a lowly filing clerk), unlike on this tour, where Aaron let me drill a tooth.

Heidi and Will. Just for the weekend, Will helped fill the hole in my heart where I was missing my own little shadow, who is just a couple months older than his cousin, and has a similar personality.

Aaron showing me (I'm in the geeky dental glasses) how to operate the drill while Will makes mischief.

Heidi and I went to the Mesa temple, and tried to get some fruit afterwards. It was lovely weather there and so nice to see the sun again.

The Hansen girls flanking the thin B'bents as we had a mini-cousins' reunion.

It was probably not as relaxing for my hosts, but I was definitely more rested and ready for life upon returning 5 days later. I wish I could go visit all of my family members, who are scattered around the country.

A couple of days in Talladega

2010-03-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

Since Mark has the time to travel, we decided to spontaneously go to Alabama for Spring Break. We waited until after the Open House the elementary school was hosting, in which hundreds (thousands?) of students and parents and siblings mill around a space intended for much fewer numbers, to ooh and ahh over the work done up to that point in the academic school year.

But it's good to be invited into the school at all, and to see my children proud of what they have accomplished. Besides, it was raining and there was a cool rainbow we went out to see from the schoolyard. Max has been talking about it ever since.

But then we set off on our trip, which is about a 700 mile journey, so leaving at 7 pm put us crossing the Mississippi close to 1 am, which is when we decided to cash in on some Marriott points and crash in a motel. We made it to our destination the next day, which was a condo out in the sticks, the closest town being Talladega, where famous race cars speed around a track that we didn't see. We were too busy chilling at the condo, where Mark's mother and sister's family joined us too. It was fun to go somewhere else besides the family house and the weather was cooperative enough that the kids went out and dug in the sand or threw rocks in the lake, with Mark or Kelley supervising.

We took turns cooking, and the condo was a great deal. Although I was rather exhausted from all the travel and moving stuff in and out... plus being in a growth stage of pregnancy, it was good to get together with the other part of the Morris family,. Mark did a great job of entertaining kids, and Nana got a little break from the crazy teaching schedule she does week in and week out. And Kelley and Rewa from their usual busy lives enforcing and defending the law in Atlanta.

We found a church to go to on Sunday, which ward was extremely excited about our attending... they were very small, and we looked to be a bigger family, since we had our 4 kids plus nephew. Hey, that's big for 'Bama. That afteroon, after Rewa finished making dinner, we ran outside to get some pictures together.

Matthew was trying really hard to fall in. The water was disgusting enough under the docks that I told him I would not go in after him.

View from the balcony it was too chilly to use.

We stayed the last night with Aunt Rita, who recently turned 50, so we celebrated by having a late-night fried chicken meal and banana pudding. Actually, Felicity requested Nana's specialty meal, but it counts, right?
Mark and Nana went to do some legal stuff and we went to the park in Hueytown for the kids to get out some wiggles before resuming the trek home.

It was a long drive home, but thanks to books on CD from the library, we made it in one piece! (A little forlorn at the end of Where the Red Fern Grows though- Felicity asked, "Why do you have to get such sad books???") We love books on CD. The only unappreciative one is Max, who gets sick of his carseat regardless of entertainment.

Feed the Quack Quacks, tuppence a bag

2010-03-03T22:44:00.001-08:00

The weather was warmer today, so we headed out to feed some ducks at a nearby pond. Every time we drive past, Max points out the water and quacks at the ducks. He really loves ducks, but refuses to call them by their proper name. (This boy could fill a book on language development.) Maxwell loves animals like many other toddlers, but has a soft spot for the ducks. It seems strange to me, too.

The delight on Max's face is apparent. He tried to put his hand in the birds' mouths. Matthew enjoyed controlling the food source.

We suddenly became very popular as they clued into our treasure (stale rolls)....

Matthew told me later that he fed the Mama Duck most of the food. I asked how he knew which was the mother and he explained that because there was a giant curl on the top of her head. Of course. Just like how you spot any mom! (Obviously it's a bad hair time for me.)

A gap in the smile

2010-02-19T19:55:00.000-08:00

Mark and I are each a little sad when our children change, because it means they are growing up. While we want them to grow and are happy that they are, it's hard not to mourn a little for that time of their life, since childhood is already so fleeting. Mark dislikes when the babies get teeth, because it sort of marks the end of the infant look. My lament is when they lose their first teeth, in particular the two front teeth. I think it's because they lose the little kid look forever- no longer the innocent Peter Pan stage of life (even though they're really still innocent).

When Katrina told me that her front teeth were loose, I had to take a picture, even though it was a rushed one before we had a chance to do something with the Bed Head Affliction we face each morning:

Our Little Girl, still looking like one.

She was excited to lose her teeth, and it didn't take long. One Sunday night she came down so excited to be missing one; suddenly having a hard time with the letter S.

Snaggletoothed Bean, albeit with leftover cold sores from a particularly difficult week.

She lost the second of the pair about ten days after the first, and was delighted to be symmetrical again. They came out with little fuss and we forget sometimes that she's missing them. I guess it's better than my arrangement: I was in 3rd grade and had loose teeth for a very long time, which were stubbornly refusing to come out. Many offered to pull them for me, but I declined until the siren song of floral scented scratch 'n sniff stickers were put up in exchange for the thrill of the pull (with pliers!!). I agreed, since the Puller was my older sister and I'd been coveting those stickers for awhile. I guess it must not have been quite the right time though; it was months before the new ones grew in. I sure heard "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" a lot that winter. In any case, I definitely was NOT as cute as this little girl is:

Jack O' Katrina at her class Valentine's Party

Snow Day

2010-02-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

We recently had a couple of snow days. I grumble about more than one because one is a welcome break, two is enough already. Not to mention I hate making up the days. I would have no complaints if we didn't have to make them up. Usually Texas schools err on the side of caution and I scoff at their wimpiness, but storm was for real. It was an all-time record breaking snowstorm and wiped out several trees, bushes, and fences that are not used to such weight that comes with moisture-laden snow. We were glad that we kept our electricity. Others in the area (and across the country that week) were not as fortunate.

The fun thing about the storm was that one of the days, Mark worked from home. It was great to have him around and take the kids out to play in the stuff for one of their outings. I enjoy snow most from a distance or if I'm properly equipped, but my wardrobe is becoming more limited these days and I just really don't like the cold/wet combination. I'll take cold, I'll take wet, but I just don't want them together. The kids are impervious for the first hour or so, and then it's a tramp through the house looking for fresh gear, or to change completely, only to go out again an hour later.

All these pictures were only about a third the way through the storm. I really should have taken a picture of our smashed bushes in the front. Thankfully, they rose from their near-grave; many neighbors' foliage did not fare as well.

Besides, I couldn't go out. I was busy making these, not-very-fabulous-looking-yet-wonderful-tasting treats:

Pondering my writing

2010-02-11T13:12:00.001-08:00

I've always thought writing about writing seems a little surreal, kind of like lessons in RS about the Relief Society or mystery shows about mystery shows. You know, like a picture on the cover of a book with a person holding that very same book, and you can see that person and the book growing smaller and smaller...

Writing for me has been a good outlet; something I've felt a need to do, almost like a desire to make music, to exercise , or to talk. It's not quite the same as talking, because I can sort myself out and make sense to myself and to others in different (and usually less offensive) ways. It is also a way of recording events in my life, keeping track of what's happening with my own little family, and reporting to my extended family. There are four basic ways I write:

In my journal, which I do once or twice (supposed to be 4 times) a week
In a weekly email, which most of my siblings skim (if read at all), but I send it out to all "immediate" family members nevertheless to let them know what's going on in my life
In emails or chats: personal or quick notes to family or friends, things I can't put out there for the general public, but still need/want to communicate
On this blog, which hopefully will be made into a book for our family history one day

Lately, I've been a horrible writer when it comes to blogging. I have several reasons for this, but the main ones are:

I'm tired
I'm unmotivated to do anything these days
Everything I want to say seems to have a negative slant to it

Not to worry, I'm not depressed- just pregnant. But I'm getting to a better stage in my pregnancy when I have a little more energy and not quite as grumpy. However, I must apologize to any who are still out there who read this blog and wondering why I dropped off the end of the earth, only to pop up with absolutely ancient and stale posts of boring events. The recording family history events are actually the most tedious to me (and to you), but I do it for my children and also for the pictures, so loved ones can see pictures of my children growing up hundreds of miles away.

But I'm hoping to do better, and on this heavily snowing day when everything has been canceled, I'm officially caught up with the history. I can't promise funny, because that's not the kind of writer I am- if I happen to be funny, it's usually coincidental. But like it or not, I'm going to keep writing because it's an important part of my life.

Maxwell Makes it to Two!

2010-01-31T12:29:00.000-08:00

It may not seem like that is worthy of a headline, but our Max is such a daredevil that I am only grateful he he still safe and sound as of this writing. After his stealthy escaping from the house undetected in May and being scooped up in the street by a lady who stopped her SUV in front of him, I thought we'd always know what's going on with him and that I could magically protect him from all harm. Ha!

This past year, he has figured out how to break past childproofing: open cleaning and medicine bottles (and sample each), turn on the gas stove, climb to places I never imagined, flush all sorts of crazy things down the toilet, disposal, and sink, break appliances (like our relatively new dishwasher), and scale the roof over the driveway the day after Christmas. We've made modifications for his personality that it seems other parents don't have to make: he has a crib tent, and what relief it brings. We really try to be aware of him at all times, but he is quick, daring, and thinks of things in such a different way that it is hard to anticipate his next move. It has been a humbling lesson in parenting and helps to console me that I am really not in charge. I know that He whose child this truly belongs has been watching over him. And every day I express gratitude that Max has been safe.

This is really a quite unflattering picture of me (and my pantry) at 7 am on a school morning, but Max is an affectionate child and loves to sit on my lap when he can be persuaded to be still. I love it, most of the time. Here he is getting animal crackers as a birthday gift. In the green bag are the books he loves to read over and over again, so much that we needed new copies since the older editions were too well loved: Brown Bear Brown Bear, Goodnight Moon, The Bellybutton Book, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Not looking so thrilled with the big pack of blocks. But he loves them, he's just very up and down in the mornings. He loves playing with his blocks and a family member, as long as the family member does everything he wants. (Hey, he's 2.)

Max loves chocolate, and didn't burn himself on the candles this year!

He was eager to get started and dig in, as always. This boy will never starve to death. He has always been good at finding food (see intro, above) and helping himself. He can also boost himself up to the sink and drink out of a faucet, despite being rather short for his age.

"More ShaLocket cake, please." -Max is very mannerly (with the exception of his obvious lack of table manners), which we all appreciate, although I don't know why he's so good with the please-and-thank-yous and another child is not. In any case, it makes it hard to turn him down for anything, a detail of which he is probably well aware.

The day after his birthday, he went for his first x rays for his pinky finger, which was accidentally slammed in a door. (Nothing was broken, thanks for your concern.) I have no doubt of meeting our insurance deductible with this child. Life will always be exciting with Max.

If you don't share, you are a bum

2010-01-25T20:17:00.001-08:00

When I was a little girl, my family used to listen to several Sesame Street records. (That makes me sound really old, but I'm really not. It's just that my family was committed to records for several years and didn't give them up until the late 80s. In fact, my younger sister -now 25- used to listen to Bedtime for Frances so often that my entire family had it memorized. ) So anyway, these records had a lot of really great songs on them, including some classics such as "C is for Cookie" and some lesser-known ones like "Roosevelt Franklin" (a character long since retired from the show).

Keep in mind, these records were made long before Sesame Street was PC, which is why one of the song's chorus ended in the title of today's subject: "If you don't share, you are a bum." I doubt that would make today's cut in any PBS Kids' production, but especially not the acutely socially-aware Sesame Street. In any case, the line from that song has been going through my head a lot these days. I think it has something to do with a concept we are struggling with at our house.

I have four children, all of whom are wonderful and intelligent in their own way. However, with every person there are some weaknesses, of which family members become intimately acquainted. Two of my children share both a weakness and a strength- each is very compassionate, giving affection and condolences when another person is sad, hurt, or frustrated. But each of these two has difficulty in sharing.

It makes me remember when I first realized a parallel between paying tithing/ giving back to the Lord and parenting. I had made some cookies and gave my children some. I had not yet eaten any and asked one child if I could have a bite of hers. Her response was to give me a tiny crumb off an edge. "Wait a minute!" I said. "I made this cookie! I gave it to you! And all you can do is to grudgingly give me back a crumb?"

Still, we struggle. It is so hard to share. With parents, with siblings, with anyone. Why are two of my children generally generous, and two of them not? And how can I encourage sharing and teach it without it sending them more in the other direction?

Matthew's 5th

2010-01-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

Our Matthew recently turned 5. He was really excited about his birthday, as most 5-year-olds are. Hard to believe that a short time ago, he was too little for preemie clothes, and now he's taller than some of his first-grade friends. I don't anticipate the height will last long, but he's enjoying his advantage while he can.

Dad tries on the new tie. He always attempts to re-gift things back to himself. That's okay, Matthew has always been a great sharer, and this year is doing better at showing empathy too.

A superheroes backpack! Matthew loves to be thought of as brave and strong. He's a renaissance man though; this guy also loves to cook and bake and does dishes on Thursday nights (with help). He doesn't love to do chores, but when properly motivated, he amazes all of us with his efficiency: being both thorough and quick.

Matthew doesn't look excited here, but this turned out to be his favorite. It's a small electronic gadget thing from Radio Shack that you put together with adult guidance, and then play with it for hours on end. Matthew loves putting things together and taking them apart, so this really was the perfect gift for him.
He requested fajitas for dinner and fudge covered oreo cake. He had a little difficulty with some of the candles because a couple of them were trick candles- refused to go out!

Our family does the every other year approach to birthday parties, and 2010 is the year of the party. Since Matthew had the first birthday of the year (and since Daddy was still working every weekend), we went with Matthew's request: Chuck E. Cheese- land of craziness, fun games for kids, and horrible pizza.

Katrina was the designated Max-watcher until Mark could get there. She put him on the rides, which he loved.

Big Smiles from the birthday boy- when we got home, he said that he didn't actually eat any cake (which he helped to make that morning), because he was having too much fun. Don't worry, he got some.

It was hard to take pictures of Matthew because he was so distracted, but that's probably a good thing.

Max trying on the birthday crown- his birthday was up next!

Eating my Texts

2009-12-30T15:30:00.000-08:00

Shortly after I blogged about not having a cell phone, I got one. I knew I would, since I was about to depart for my little trip to visit Grandparents who don't really believe in unnecessary expenditures, such as long-distance phone calls. Please note: I knew they would be happy to let me use their phone, but since they themselves don't use it for such frivolous things like conversations to see if the baby took a decent nap or to request brownie recipes, it would be inconsiderate for me to take advantage of their generosity. Plus, I think it's optimal when traveling alone and at night to have a cell phone. Airport pickup alone makes it worth it.

The cell phone I got is a pre-paid, you pay ten cents per minute and 5 cents per text. Your minutes last for a certain number of days before they expire. The phone itself looks and operates like a toy- nothing too tough or fancy. It has very few features and is not attractive in any way, shape, or form. What is the point when I lose or break everything anyway?

But I'm finding that the best part about having a cell phone is something that I complained about earlier. This is it: since people are so glued to their phones and so responsive to texts, I have finally discovered a world wherein I can get an immediate response. Because Mark goes to many long (and probably boring) meetings, he can't be contacted for hours at a time on occasion, which drives me crazy when I need a simple question answered. However, everyone takes their blackberries into said meetings, and since it is culturally acceptable to be looking at/typing on one's blackberry at any given time, he can text!!! Finally, I have broken the barrier. You'll see this next on The Office or in Dilbert.

A White Christmas

2009-12-30T13:42:00.001-08:00

This year for Christmas, we couldn't travel anywhere, because Mark's job has been very busy and informed all employees that there would be no time off this year. That was pretty sad news to the children, and Felicity was especially heartbroken. She had hoped that we could go to Utah to see family there and to play in the snow. So she kept wishing aloud that we'd have snow here instead. I told her that was very unlikely, since it snows just a couple times a year in North Texas, and to time it with Christmas would just be too lucky.

On Christmas Eve, we decided to head to the local Bass Pro store to see the fish, ride the carousel, and make requests from Santa. It's all free, and provided a good diversion from boredom and distraction from impending events. Before we left, my friend we were meeting there called and reported that it was supposed to snow, which made me scoff at the weathermen, since it was in the mid-70s the day before. However, before we left the store, snow was falling pretty thickly and rapidly all over the ground. I was sure that it would stop by the afternoon and melt by evening.

Katrina, Max, Santa, Matthew, and Felicity. Katrina decided to make a last minute request change.

I was wrong about the snow- it kept falling, even past six, when Mark got home. My cousin's family came for Christmas Eve dinner and got into a fender bender on the way thanks to the weather and the limited shoulder space (construction), but they were all safe, fortunately. We broke away from the turkey tradition to have ham instead, but Mark and I both missed it. Afterward we had our traditional Nativity play:

2 Wise men (one in soccer socks, couldn't find the tights) riding to find the Christ child

Max sending off the dinner guests, and saying goodnight to the snow

But although the snow eventually stopped, it was cold enough to stick around for several more hours, and when we got up in the morning, it looked strangely wintery:

Despite very little sleep, we all got up to open gifts and we were all very excited:

Kids peering down from upstairs railing, trying to catch a glimpse

Max's new wheels, traded in for one with a handle (hey, I have a bad back)

Mark and Matthew fishing for stocking stuff

The girls went out to play in the snow before we could even have breakfast or open gifts under the tree.

Katrina in her pjs and coat, playing in the snow

Felicity shows her loyalty for Alabama Football, a gift from Aunt Rewa. You might notice the short hairs all around her head, she cut her hair a few days before "because it was too tangly."

So for the first time in several decades, TX had a White Christmas. I guess Felicity really did get everything she wanted this year!

Snow and Santa

2009-12-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Here are the boys outside one morning after we got some snow. It was about 33 degrees and very wet snow, so I opted to take pictures instead of playing in the cold damp stuff. It warmed up and melted before the girls got home from school.

Santa made a surprise appearance at our ward party. Matthew made sure that everyone knew it was really Brother Hall and was very proud of himself for outing him. Max didn't care and ran right up to him for hugs and candy canes. He will do just about anything for candy canes. Maybe he's part elf?

Happy Thanksgiving with the Morris extended fam

2009-11-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

This being the first holiday following Mark's father's passing, we thought it might be nice to invite some family members here for Thanksgiving. I titled this as the Morris extended family, but really it was Mark's mother, sister, her husband and their 2 kids- which without us, totals up to fewer people than are in our little immediate family. Usually a true Morris gathering involves his aunts, cousins from either side, some friends, some other distant cousins that I can't keep track of and invariably embarrass myself not remembering, and kids that Nana tutors. Which is still smaller than my family-of-origin gatherings are now.

So it was a small group. The children had a great time being together and Uncle Kelley was the hero of the day for playing kickball while we cooked and cleaned. Actually Mark was the true hero for working like crazy at his job weekdays and weekends, and then when he finally got a day off, he worked like crazy in the kitchen with me, and then after dinner, when the rest of the adults collapsed from stuffage, he enlisted the children to help him out. They actually did a pretty good job!

'Twas the night before T-day, and the children could not tear their eyes away from a movie to say "cheese". Even Max pretends to love it. (Don't be fooled! He won't watch more than 15 seconds of Elmo)

Max and Kayla giving hugs. This looks contrived, but it's really not. Max is very huggy. Kayla consented to hug him by the end of their visit here.

The dinner: mashed potatoes, rolls, turkey, greens, gravy, green bean casserole, salad, cranberry jelly, cornbread dressing, potato salad, fruit salad, and macaroni & cheese. It was a merger between North & South.

One thing I realized is that Thanksgiving favorites are almost always what you're familiar with- not so much about taste as about tradition. My favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is mashed potatoes or a yummy fruit or green salad. But others did not even take those items because they were saving room for their favorites: collard greens and potato salad, which I'll take more to be polite than out of preference. Some basics are popular with both groups though: rolls.

I accidentally deleted the picture of the desserts. Much woe. Dessert is really the best part. We had pumpkin, apple, and german chocolate pies, as well as 7 up cake (with strawberry frosting, a new Rewa addition) and Oreo Cake.

The group. We brought in the kiddie picnic table so we could all eat together.

We had a good time with Mark's family and watched more football than I've seen in the past ten years, but it was a good weekend for football. The children really enjoyed each other and the weather was great, so they dug holes in the backyard and filled them with mud. Good cousin memories.

My sister-in-law Alice and her son Charlie Choo were here visiting her parents for Thanksgiving, and they came to dinner on Sunday. We had fun with them- my kids would not leave her alone, though. Here's Katrina showing off her nightgown my mom made for her and a matching one for her Julie doll as a birthday gift. Julie's not in the picture- that's Charlie.

Soccer girls

2009-11-20T12:30:00.000-08:00

Another soccer season has come and gone. On one hand, I am excited for my girls to get some exercise, time with their friends, outside at that, and to learn a new skill. On the other hand, Saturday games seem to take up a whole lotta time, and weeknight games make life way too complicated, what with teaching piano lessons, making and serving and cleaning up dinner, bedtime for Bonzos, and Daddy invariably working late. But the first hand obviously overpowers the second in the arm wrestle, because we keep signing up for more seasons.

I really appreciate the time and efforts of the coaches, and am exceedingly grateful that Katrina's practices are in the field directly behind out house. Fire ants or not, it is much easier to send her out when it's time for practice and join her when we're ready or watch from the backyard, than to feed everyone early, pile all the kids in the car at dinnertime and "entertain them" (keep them out of trouble) at the field where her sister practices.

This season was rained out a lot- we had a surprisingly cool and wet fall. I actually was sad that so many of the games were canceled; I really wanted the girls to get a chance to play. It seemed like they were just getting it when the season ended. I guess that's why so many places in TX are year-round with their sports- they don't want players to lose any skills. Still, I like the break between seasons, even though it's only about 2 and 1/2 months.

Katrina throws it in as her teammate Gabby springs into action.

Action shot of Katrina, unfortunately pretty blurry, but at most games I was trying to keep track of Max or keep him (or his siblings) from throwing/kicking balls into other games.

Katrina is puzzled why that one didn't go in. She like playing forward as opposed to sweeper.

Felicity's game changed a lot this year, their field size nearly doubled and so did the number of players on the field. They also acquired the official goalie position and had the complicated offsides rule that I don't pretend to understand. Her games are on fields that are quite the hike from our house, so Mark and I had to tag-team those events.

Felicity running- Coach Dan said she's always eager to play, begging him to put her in.

Unfortunately, she doesn't always know what to do... but she's improving and she enjoys it. And that's the point of her playing at this time in her life. Their team had a "learning season" so here's hoping the next season is more of a "winning season"- this girl likes to win!

Solo Flight to Davis

2009-11-18T14:56:00.000-08:00

Recently I took a quick trip to Davis, California to visit my grandparents. It seemed like traveling in time and instantly I felt ten years old, walking through the door to the familiar smells and sights. They built their house in 1955 (partly with their own hands) and have not changed it a whole lot since I visited it with my family of origin in younger days, although it is still very clean and in surprisingly good shape. It had been over 14 years since I'd been back to 821.

Although I have taken long-distance trips away from my children, this was the first that Mark wasn't with me or meeting up with me. Somehow I felt like people treated me differently, with neither a husband nor several small children along. I got lots of reading time, which was nice. This was my first time ever spending time with my grandparents without other relatives along, which changed the pace and conversations quite a bit.

I had hoped to be useful and whatnot during my trip, and I guess I was, minimally. My grandparents have always stressed the importance of being self-sufficient, and they are no exception. Mostly my contributions seemed to be with food- preparing and cleanup. It is interesting to see how much has or hasn't changed with them through the years. It's also interesting how spending time with relatives teaches you much about yourself. I discovered that my mother is actually a lot like her father: quiet, hardworking, interested in books and learning, and averse to small talk and superfluous conversation; yet sentimental in relationships. My grandpa has not slowed down as much as I thought he might in his 9th decade- older people are reputed to be slow, but he managed to be swifter than I in many things and kept up with traffic on the roads. He says that they have attained the perfect relationship- a deaf husband and a blind wife.

A few weeks from her 90th birthday, Grandma continues to be a great storyteller and likewise tries to maintain independence, despite her failing physical capabilities. The irony that I had the hardest time reconciling is her loss of interest and appetite for food. This is the woman who is most famous of all in my acquaintance for producing vast quantities of delicious food, then persuading even the most engorged eaters to have just a little more or risk offending the cook. The rules no longer apply, and it is just a little too ironic for me to swallow, mentally. She told me lots of tales from her youth, preparing food at the bakery before going to school and trying to scrub the doughnut frying smell out of her hands before class. She also talked about her time as a Navy WAVE during WWII, while Grandpa was overseas with the Air Force. Grandma still likes to look her best, even if she can't see herself (or anything else, for that matter). Sunday, she had me fix up her hair that a church member had arranged the day before, but Grandma still puts on her own lipstick.

I really enjoyed looking at the vast quantities of pictures they have collected over the years, from old ones of ancestors whom I have never met, to recent pictures of my cousins in their adventures, many of whom I hardly recognize now. In particular I enjoyed the older ones of my very youthful grandparents, mother, aunts, and uncles. Some of them were shockingly good looking (and not always modest!) and many photos have weathered well despite the lesser technology. I loved the one when my grandparents wore their wedding clothes on their 20th wedding anniversary. They traveled all over the world and lived in some exotic locations, always serving others and devoting much time to their faith.

We attended church on Sunday and I couldn't help but get a little emotional as I met people who have been blessed by my grandparents' service through the years. It was also sad to say goodbye, knowing that it might (really) be goodbye for many years yet.

Super Sevens

2009-11-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Our Bean recently had a birthday. She is now seven, which was my favorite age as a child. I don't really know why, maybe I was superstitious? I do remember really being excited to turn 11, because statistically I had the least chance of dying at that age (that's what happens when you combine a child's irrational fear with a mathematician father's response).

But anyway, about Katrina. She was very excited for her birthday. Bet you can't guess why there are army men on the table.

It's because her birthday is on Veteran's Day! So Felicity arranged them in a smiley face for her, mixing irony with mirth. Matthew and Max are opening something of their own, something very exciting (Sunday socks):

Katrina has been hinting toward a dollhouse for some time now. It was one of my favorite toys as a child, so I was excited that we gave one to her. It's the kind you put together, so she gets to pick out the decor. Unfortunately, it's turning out to be quite a bit of work as well, and consequently it is still not completed.

The day was lovely outside and by the time we returned home from her choice of restaurants- Texas Roadhouse (this is our "family party" year, where we skip the friend party and do something fun as a family instead), and by the time I finally finished her cake, it was past the boys' bedtime (so they missed it) and nearly mine. Can't believe I never took a picture of the inside of this cake. She requested a checkerboard cake, which was a rather complicated recipe involving beating 9 egg whites and gradually adding 1/3 cup sugar, then folding it into....blah blah blah. And it wasn't even very good. We had to eat it with tons of ice cream. She was thankful though, which is just like Katrina- extremely gracious. Also for the guacamole I made her, that's her favorite food. It has been for some time.

Happy Birthday Bean! We love you and look forward to many more years with your sweet and thoughtful self. Even when you no longer fit into your cute froggy pajamas you made at sewing camp last summer.

Halloween is OVER

2009-11-10T14:29:00.000-08:00

I have to keep reminding Matthew of that fact since he seems to want to celebrate it indefinitely. Just yesterday we drove past the pumpkin patch (which is readying to be a Christmas tree lot) and he asked if we could go. I'm sure that it's because I never blogged about Halloween; he needs some closure to this holiday.

October turned out to be a very wet and surprisingly cool month for our neck of the woods. Hence, I only made it to that pumpkin mecca once. Mark took all the kids on Halloween afternoon after he came back from work, but the Family Photographer (me) was not in attendance, so these are our only pictures.

Matthew wanted to buy all of the pumpkins and make sure they fulfilled their measure of creation.

Max, pre-mud stage. Matthew is blurred in the background, on the go as usual.

The measure of their creation (nothing fancy here, just freestyle w/ knives).

Look at this cute bee! He almost didn't make it trick-or-treating, since he took a nosedive from a crazy standing position in his stroller (what a surprise) and cracked yet another tooth. He still knew his lines though: "Beeezzzzz, Happy 'aleen!" and "Chickacheek!"

Our neighborhood had a picnic on the front lawns before the candy begging commenced. In the corner of the picture is that cute bee you saw earlier, probably running for the keg again. Don't worry, he never got any of the contents to match up with his mouth at the right time.

Our attempts at decorating outside. That cobweb stuff is a pain!

A witch, a vampess, the bee, and a pirate. Ready to be done with pictures and to start with candy.

The M&Ms and their oh-so-attractive garbage bag costumes. (You know it's bad when you have to use a trash bag to dress up.) I think Mark is the dark chocolate kind- do they even have white choc M&Ms?

OK, now that we've gotten that out of our system, we can officially get ready for Christmas.

Park pics

2009-11-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

One afternoon in early November, the weather was perfect and so was the lighting, so I brought my camera to the park and took some pictures while the children played. Matthew had a friend there, so it was a little harder to capture him, since little boys don't generally like to stop and smile for the camera.

I don't have a cell phone

2009-10-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

Usually, I have to repeat that line, because this news is revolutionary. That's right folks, I don't have a cell phone. I used to have one, until one day I dropped it (after several previous drops) on its end and it smashed into several pieces. I was able to revive it for one last call to my sister on her birthday, but that was The Last Phone Call (ooo! Now doesn't that sound like an intriguing title for a future BYU/Easter film!), and ever since, I have been left wireless-less. So for all of you who are wondering why I haven't called you back, it's because I'm not getting the messages.

By now I'm sure you're wondering, Is this really worthy of a blog post? Well actually, this is not so much to talk about my lack of cell phone, but about how crazy of a concept this apparently is. Whenever someone gives me a number or asks me for mine and I tell them said fact, the reaction is: A-Pure Astonishment, 2-Pity, and D-Rapid backing away. Okay, okay, so maybe my cell phone fiend-friends aren't really ready to drop me like a hot potato (or in my case, like a cell phone) as soon as they discover that not only do I not have an iPhone/Blackberry/Supercool Trendy Expensive Object to access email, internet, and any number of other distractions on me at all times, I don't even have a free-with-2-years'-commitment flip phone with which to text or converse. (It turns out that actually I am commitment-averse, if you want to know the truth.) But they are definitely surprised and wonder just how I can function.

True, there have been some dashed inconvenient moments without a phone, like when I got stuck in a traffic jam on the way to Max's Pediatric GI appt or when I couldn't find my church buddies on the way to our RS Broadcast meat-fest. And I must admit, there's some sense of security to have a working phone when I'm driving with nearly no gas in the tank late at night in a TX rainstorm, with a weak battery to boot. However, it's also a little bit liberating. -Not that I was one to constantly be on the phone anyway, I have few friends that like to actually speak to me in person- they all seem to find that email, FB and voice mail are much more efficient. But it's actually nice to just do things the old fashioned way: talk to the person... later... when I'm at home and not in the company of other people who really don't need to hear my conversations.

Hey, I'm not trying to offend anyone. But have you noticed how much cell phones have permeated life? Has anyone else noticed that people check their phones constantly, mid-conversation? Sometimes they answer a phone call or text while you're chatting, and you get the feeling: "Hey, it doesn't matter who YOU are, this person contacting me is more important and whatever they have to say has GOT to be better than what you're droning on about." It's permeating everywhere- the menu of the restaurant Mark and I tried out last week had "No cell phones please" along the bottom, which seemed superfluous since it was a rather fine eating establishment. However, I saw more than one that evening despite the request. And in church situations, too...and I'm not just referring to Sunday meetings. Have you been visit taught by someone who is texting as you're talking?

I know it's a tricky balance, since many people (like Mark) use it for everything: alarm clock, notebook, phone and address book, etc. Don't get me wrong- They're great devices, and I'm confident that I will have one again before much longer. It's wonderful to have it when getting off a plane and trying to meet up with someone, getting directions in a new neighborhood, and when finding out specific ice cream requests. Or some validation or assistance, right when you're needing it. A cell phone is also great for sending a quick message when it's late at night or when there's no time to talk. However, we all managed to live full and productive lives, pre-cell era. Can't we just put it down for a few minutes- or hours? I really don't need to hear that you're getting email while I'm trying to sleep...

Columbus Day 2009- Exploring Murphy's Law

2009-10-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

Some days, it just seems like fate is out to get you. Usually, it's not for anything big. Just to annoy you until you throw your hands up in the air and say something to express your exasperation. For example:

The children had Columbus Day (October 12) off from school to go see Oprah at the state fair and U2 in concert that night. Mark did not have the day off, so our plan was to skip those other crowded, rainy, costly, educational venues, and go visit him for lunch. After lots of last minute running around, we realized that the communication was amiss, and the time for driving there before his Important Meetings had lapsed. We were all bitterly disappointed. As it was a Monday (Laundry Day), I was trying to wash our clothes, but the dryer refused to work. -What's this about time and a half for holidays? Yuk Yuk Yuk.

So we entertained a dryer repairman for lunch instead, although he was much timelier than I'd anticipated and also cheaper, but it unfortunately meant that we were going to be quite late to the outing our friends had invited us on to celebrate Rainy Mondays and Bored Kids. Finally, we were ready to go, and I had all children dressed and smelling appropriately, buckled into their proper spots in the minivan- when the car would not start!! Since we have a jokester toddler who loves to turn on the little tiny lights above our heads without our noticing, I was actually hoping it was a dead battery. However, the neighbors couldn't find their cables. We did find some other helpful neighbors who did have cables, vehicle, and (bonus!) advice for us. So eventually we were on our way... to the Auto Zone. Fortunately, it checked out as just a baby prank and got to go bounce like crazy at one of the local jumpathonaramas. When Katrina bounced out of one, landed on her leg, and partially knocked out her front tooth, I was sure we were headed for the ER, but Fate decided it had dealt me enough hassles for one day.

You better believe we got rotisserie chicken for dinner that night when we stopped at the store for Max's medicine. Making rice and frozen corn was already enough work for me. Yes, I freely admit that I am a wimp when it comes to irritations. Better not throw any real trials my direction.

The things we do for lovies

2009-10-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

This past week we had an incident with a missing lovie. Max has these little blanket/bear animal mutations that were given to him shortly after he was born, the likes of which we'd never owned before. I don't really know what to call them, and one of the Givers dubbed it a "lovie," so that's what we call them. One of them has large brown polka dots, which Matthew dubbed the "coconut lovie," and it disappeared a couple months ago on Laundry Day when I was trying to wash it (the nerve!). So although the silky lovie was less preferred, Max has been resigned to just clutching that one as thumb-sucking moments require. He is at an age when he's becoming more and more attached to it, and calls for it when he needs it: "Wuhvie! Wuhvie!"

Unfortunately, another laundry day came in which I needed to launder a lovie. With errands to run and children in and out of the house, sometimes the things that start in the laundry room do not end up in the laundry room. It's my die-hard habit after 6 and 1/2 years of going to laundromats or laundry rooms in apartment dwelling to do all of my laundry on one day, so after washing, drying, folding and sorting 7 loads each Monday, I get to bed on the late side. Max had gone to bed hours before, without a lovie, because no such lovie could be found. He went to sleep okay with some other distractions, but in the middle of the night (approx 3 am), I heard:

"Wuhvie! Wuhvie!" (sob sob sob)

Such a sound is heartbreaking to hear, so I got up and went downstairs to hunt, and to find a sippy cup for consolation in case my hunt was futile. I even wrenched open the back door and crept out into the damp, still, night to see if I could spot anything on the lawn, although the visibility was minimal and bugs maximal so that was short lived. Combing the laundry room for any signs, I finally spotted Coconut Lovie- behind the dryer, wedged between hoses and wires. I climbed up on the dryer to grab it, but ultimately had to get the grill tongs for the long reaching powers. Brushing off the dust, lint, and who knows what else, I was happy to have something for my baby. He was so grateful, my sore knees did not mind one bit.

And Mark snored through the entire event, so if someone ever creeps into the house at night, it will just have to be me and my Grill Tongs defending the family. But don't you worry- I've got lovies as backup.

A Most Unusual Trip to WalMart

2009-10-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

Matthew learned how to ride a 2-wheeler a couple months ago. We knew this day was soon in coming, because he'd been riding a 2 and half (of a tiny) wheeler for about a year prior to this. To explain: I backed over his bike-plus-training-wheels the summer of 2008, and one of the training wheels was bent beyond all possibility of repair. So we removed it, and he learned to ride with the slightly warped one that remained.

Why, Cheapskates (ahem), didn't you just buy another set of training wheels? you may be asking. Because this was already the 2nd set of training wheels of that bike we had backed over, since Mark backed over it the year before. Not to mention, the first set put up such a fight that it tore out the rather expensive tire of our minivan. No more $ on training wheels was going to be spent for this thing!

But I digress. You may notice that Matthew was rather big for his bike. We were grateful for this bike, which the former owners of this house handed down to us a few months after moving here, and it has definitely served its purpose. Since the kid gets everything he owns (except socks and underwear) passed down to him, we told him at his birthday last January that we'd buy him a bike this summer after he learned to ride the bike he had without that crazy on-again, off-again training wheel. Matthew fulfilled his end of the bargain, but sometimes it takes his procrastinating parents a little bit longer.

A couple weeks ago, he and I were dragging the recycling & trash out to the curb and noticed a bike in our neighbor's trash pile. We decided to add it to our "treasures" in the garage and see what we could do with it. I talked to Matthew about getting the new bike or fixing up the old one, and he wanted to fix up the old one. Knowing that the day will soon come when that will absolutely not be the response, I decided to throw it in the van and drive to the cheapest bike shop I know to see if it was worth fixing.

I don't typically shop at WalMart much- there's a shiny new one in our area, but that area is constantly congested with construction traffic and frankly, Target's closer, which I'm more familiar with. However, the WalMart has a bike shop in the back and the guys there are extremely nice. I went and parked about 5 feet from the door and we went in to hand off the find and ask what they thought. There's a man who works there who looks just like Santa- long white beard plus mustache, old-fashioned spectacles, tummy that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, etc. The royal blue vest looks odd over his red coat, but whatever. I handed it over to him and he immediately started working away in the workshop- pulling out the weeds, taking off wheels, etc.

Max was about to Lose It so when Santa told me he was going to put in a innertube, I asked the other guys there if we could walk around and come back later. When we returned, the chain was functioning again, the tires were plump and rolling, the brakes tightened, etc. Santa even took it out for Matthew to test drive. Of course, it's a little awkward driving a bigger bike, especially when you start 2 feet away from a brick wall and pointed to connect with said wall, but Matthew was absolutely thrilled. And you know what the bike repair cost us? With tax, $3.07. For all of the labor, no charge. I'll just have to take some milk and cookies by another time.

The other thing that made it a surprising trip will have to wait for another day, but other than Max screaming his head off in the store and throwing fistfuls of crackers at me, it turned out to be a pretty good trip to the store.

Such a big shot on his bike! He's pretty happy about it, riding around in his Spider Man slippers. And he was really pumped when Mark and he went on a ride together Saturday- "Mom, even though it's old, my bike went faster than Dad's!"

4 Very Hungry Caterpillars

2009-09-18T12:45:00.001-07:00

Behold my garden. Okay, okay, I admit I am not the most conscientious gardener. The first garden I planted was in the spring of 2007. It seemed the more I weeded, the more desirable plants I killed- the canteloupe, the bean plans, and the entirely unsuccessful zuchinni . So my motto is "Less is more" with the Garden of Weedin'. It was really horrible at the end of August, so lately I've attempted to clean things up a bit. (Not that you would notice.)

Look at the top of the tomato cage in the middle of the picture. I know it's hard to see what plants are which, especially since a watermelon has no business mingling with a tomato plant, but apparently tomato plants are very desirable. There are no leaves left on the actual tomato plant! All the leaves you see in this picture are from the watermelon plant (or the beans, or basil, or peppers, or potatoes. Oh yes and some weeds). The light green stems at the top are leftovers from the caterpillars which have descended upon them.

Of course, when I showed the kids, they were very excited and came running to look; to pry them off the stems and play with them. I felt a little sorry for the bugs, but secretly I thought they were getting their just desserts after their large main course. One "small green leaf" indeed! I hope that night they had a tummyache. TSK!

These caterpillars are very hungry and very piggy. They have left droppings all over my garden. Excuse me, but my name is not Oswald; I'm not planting a separate tomato plant purely for the slug/caterpillar enjoyment.

They found 4 caterpillars and named them Felicity, Katrina, Matthew, and Maxwell. Only Katrina remained in the bucket though. Either they have crawled off in search of more plants to eat, or some bird found a plump and tasty supper. I'm torn- I do like caterpillars, and even more, butterflies. On the other hand, am I the one who should be breeding them?

Buckin' Bronco

2009-09-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

This is the game Katrina picked for Family Night. For some reason, it's showing sideways.

Back to School

2009-09-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Matthew started school at the Spanish Schoolhouse this year. He just started on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. It's a Spanish Immersion preschool program. It's just like other preschools, but everything is in Spanish. We loved the preschool that the girls went to, but decided to try this one out for a number of reasons. Unfortunately, his new teacher decided to take a job with the public school at the last minute, so he has a substitute right now. But I think she's great. I love how everybody speaks in Spanish there, to the parents and siblings too. Max now knows to say "Hola" and "Adios" to people there when we go to pick Matthew up.

"C'mon Mom let's GO!" (It's hard to take a picture while holding a wiggling toddler)

Matthew is enjoying school a lot and tries to speak in Spanish at home too. Today he told me, "I think Dora speaks Spanish too." Most of the children in the class are not native Spanish speakers, although some of them are, as is the teacher, so the kids are learning together.

And since I never got around to it, here are the girls on their first day of school two weeks ago:

Katrina runs straight into her classroom without so much as a goodbye to her family.

Felicity outside Mrs. Watson's classroom door. She was pretty nervous to start 3rd grade.

You have to take a picture of these girls when they're getting along so nicely (okay, we're working on it...)

Chocolate, Strawberries, and Chocolate Strawberries

2009-09-05T10:42:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, we like desserts around here. I thought I'd share some of our results.

One Friday when Mark was going to be working late and the children were bored, we decided to make a Fudge Covered Oreo Cake. It was even more amazing than it sounds, although not as pretty as it potentially could have been. (The perfectionist part of me has yet to emerge) Each child helped to contribute and they actually made most of it by themselves, although I was in charge of assembly.

To celebrate Napoleon's birthday in August, we made strawberry Napoleon pastries with phyllo dough, which was on a major sale at the grocery store. They were fun and different, but pretty messy and took a lot more work than I anticipated.

We have been having some sweet (as opposed to tart) strawberries lately and so we dipped some of them in chocolate, since everything's better in chocolate. This is by far the easiest dessert of the three, since it consists of microwaving chocolate chips and whipping cream, stirring 'til smooth, and dipping the strawberries. We put them on wax paper in the fridge and they disappeared rather quickly.

Can you do the can can, if you can than I can

2009-09-05T10:38:00.001-07:00

The grocery store had a great sale on pears that were getting overripe. They were putting them in brown bags and selling the whole bag for $1.50. Each bag was about 4 lbs and I I bought 4 of them. (Is this starting to sound like a 3rd grade story problem?) So yes, I spent 6 bucks and this is what I did with my approximately 16 lbs of pears:

Not the pickles. My cousin made those from her overabundant cucumber crop and brought them when she came to dinner a couple weeks ago. I was very impressed and inspired, as with another cousin, who canned pears and pearsauce the week before. (Wow, that's a long caption)

Canning fruits and vegetables each fall was something I grew up doing, coming home from school in early autumn to find a sink full of cold water, bobbing with ripened, blanched fruit to peel. Sometimes I'd help with the coring or slipping the produce inside the jars. I'd bail out of the project after a half hour or so, leaving my mother to deal with the mess and another sibling to step in. This time I got to assume my mother's role, which always fills me with respect for her dedication to such projects. Matthew helped me out with the peeling, although we turned into a very sticky mess. I do not recommend mopping the kitchen floor the day before you embark on such a project, like I did.

It turned out to be a lot more work than I remembered. Besides standing on the hard tile for hours upon end, filling the August kitchen with steam, and getting mushy sticky pear substance over every last inch of my body, I didn't realize that I also nearly poisoned myself and the boys in the process. I don't have a canner, just a tall stockpot. I put a bunch of butter knives on the bottom to serve as a rack and put the jars inside, filling it with water up to the neck. However, that was about a millimeter from the top of the pot, so when it came to a boil, of course water spilled over and it extinguished the gas fire on the stove. At this point, I was collapsed on the couch reading stories whilst waiting for the sealing process, so it wasn't until I developed an acute headache and noticed the strong smell of natural gas that I realized this. It took awhile to get it all done, but it sure gave me a feeling of accomplishment. We made some delicious pearsauce and sploosh (spiced peach/pear mush) with the leftovers.

And as for the math... I try not to think about it. An 8 oz can of pears is about $1. I would have spent about $14 for this amount of canned pears. Subtracting my $6 of produce cost, I made about $4 an hour- not counting cleanup. But these will be much yummier.

Sports Shorts

2009-09-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

With Mark's great sports background, you would think that our children would be much more athletic. However, he's not around all that much during the week and so they have to learn from me- not exactly recruit material. I'm somewhat aversive to playing sports, being uncoordinated and injury prone. Could it have anything to do with getting not one but TWO black eyes from two brothers' thrown bat and pop fly in the early 80s? We don't play a lot of ball around here. The girls are participating in city league soccer, and there is the occasional basketball game in the neighborhood. Their best opportunities are with relatives.

Felicity with her game face on. She's left handed, but we discovered she's better at batting right.

Whenever we stay at Bruchelle's, we end up playing baseball. They have a great backyard for it, and the evenings are really nice in Utah in the summertime. It's a terrific chance for my children to get more sports exposure. Bruce always pitches, and his boys are really good at hitting and jumping the fence to get the balls batted over.

Bruce pitches to Buggle while Thys and Matthew wait on deck and in the hole.

Katrina really improved her RBI this game, even in a skirt.

Max and Clyn fielding without gloves. I think Max has plenty of padding, but what about Clyn's piano future?

Bruce shoos Max from the mound. For never reading my blog, Bruce sure gets lots of exposure on it. What a waste!

Even Michelle and Mika are fielding, which is pretty amazing since Michelle is 8 months pregnant.

We came home and Matthew wanted to play baseball with Mark for alone time. Unfortunately, it was 105 degrees outside, but they still had a great time. Maybe there's hope yet for the M kids.

Happy Birthday, Kurt!

Major Wastage

2009-09-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Mark gave me a new shower head for Mother's Day this year. It may seem like an odd gift, but I really enjoy a good shower. After all, hot water is therapeutic. The bright brass one we had before had some great power, but I still wanted one with a removable head. The new one has 2 heads, which is nice, but even with all of the water coming out of one nozzle, there's still not the terrific power we had with the old one. I'm not sure why this is, although I have suspicions that this might be due to new mandates about low-flow water fixtures, to save water. This seems odd to me, since the showers at the gym are very powerful, and since I'm not paying the water bill there, seems like people are not motivated to turn it off. Is the city the one who should be making these decisions?

Before I complain further, I should note here that I am a terrific advocate of saving time, money, space, and resources. (When you have lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 kids, you are forever thinking about saving space). Our garbage can, for our family of 6, is only half full (or is it half empty?) when we drag it out to the curb each week, along with the 2 recycling bins as well. We turn off the a/c or heat when we go on vacation in our gas-efficient vehicles, and throw produce that's gone rotten into our garden. I love the energy saving lightbulbs, especially when I discover that the light was left on in the garage all night long. Not that I should have to defend myself, or if anyone doesn't do these things, that there's anything wrong with it.

But I am so sick of the preaching about "going green." Absolutely do we reap what we sow, and that means there are natural results from dumping toxic waste or being wasteful in general. -I don't think we want a toxic planet. However, can I please make my own decisions about how long my shower is? Is it okay with you, celebrity who has no credentials other than fame, if I keep my washer & dryer until they break? Do you have to talk about it on kids' shows constantly so my children are preaching to me too? Because we're happy to pick up litter and to be responsible, but it's a little hypocritical for you, celebrity with your multiple luxury homes and private jets, to talk about saving resources for the future generations. You're taking all of the fun of it, government agencies, to mandate it all and fining people who don't (the horror!) recycle. I am happy to learn of new ways to save energy, and I would love it if I could opt out of all this paper coming from school, credit card companies, and marketing gimmicks. I just wish we didn't have to talk about it All. The. Time.

Not to mention, I love my shower to be strong and powerful. When it's not, it just requires me to be in there longer just to rinse off. So I end up spending extra time as well as water. Which doesn't end up being green or fun.

And the green grass grew all around

2009-08-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

While we were away, our yard was not idle- it grew. Although we had spent the last 21 & 1/2 hours in a crowded van, sucking the salt out of sunflower seeds in hopes of not falling asleep at the wheel, Mark decided it was time to mow. Matthew wanted to help. He tries to do whatever his daddy does whenever possible.

One of the characteristics of living things is that they grow. (According to Sesame Street, anyway.) This is a good thing, since the labor & delivery process is already difficult enough with small babies. I love watching how things grow and change over time. Some of our grass was actually knee-length; good thing the HOA gestapo didn't see!

However, with all growth, comes some drawbacks: maintenance work. Eating, sleeping, cutting your hair, trimming your nails, and making sure you aren't growing in the wrong way -out- are all part of being an adult. In addition to those needs, children grow out of shoes, clothes, and beds. They need to learn new skills and appropriate behaviors as they get older. The M's are currently exploring the skill of identifying negative things and keeping it to oneself, as hard as that is at times.

Even as we grow, some things are hard to give up. Katrina's blanky is still the thing she wants when she's sad or sleepy, even though she has (thankfully) mostly dropped the habit of sucking on the corner. Favorite clothes, even to the point where they are unwearable... like the cutoff jeans that Katrina is wearing below-
I must admit, I have a hard time relinquishing things as I outgrow them or they outgrow me, by wearing out. They represent good memories or being comfortable. It seems the best solution is to replace them, but it never seems quite as good as the original. Like my blue and white striped cotton shirt that I wore in high school and college- I have forever been on a quest for a shirt like it since. Trouble is, I no longer like the way I look in horizontal stripes. Have I outgrown them?

Food, Folks & Fun (and a whole lotta pictures)

2009-08-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Liesl!

We made our yearly exodus to Utah to visit friends and family. This year the Hansen family had a family reunion in the mountains behind Heber. We all (mostly) stayed in a giant cabin and had a great time talking, cooking, eating, cleaning, taking care of babies, playing games, swimming, doing crafts, yoga, singing, and even sleeping a little bit. (Well, some of us...)

Mom kicked off the event by hosting a pizza party at the Hansen Homestead in honor of Craig's birthday. He (and several others) didn't actually arrive until the next day, but we played kickball in the street and slurped up every last drop of homeade strawberry ice cream anyway.

Uncow Bwian, bossing as usual from his position pitching. You think this guy's meek and quiet, well just watch him play sports. Look at Kurt, so meekly giving tips to Katrina on 3rd base...

We all met up at the cabin the next day for 3 days of festivities.

Here's Craig on the deck, contemplating being 35..

Scott led us on an orienteering hike. The Boy, Mother, and The Other Boy, looking for the flag...

Talmage and Clyn

Someone's hand in front of Paula's nose. Kristie is appalled, and Martha knows not what to think.

The talent show- always very popular are the sports sketches with the invisible ball. This was the slow-mo part, which is why I was able to photograph 4 of my brothers fighting over a nonexistent ball.

Kurt, Brian, Craig, Kent

Charlie Choo makes his debut as Kurt & Alice (and Charlie) bang out the Peanuts theme.

The little girls, also known as "The Rockin' Cousins," put on a play. Hey, who needs a costumer when you have towels and duct tape? They even made a flag and have a song and a cheer.
Michelle & Bruce always sponsor a morning of various games. Here's Jan, catching some air at the Undokai, Japanese for "The Doughnut Olympics". (Except it was Twinkies this year)

Holly's great at the shot put!

Dad celebrates his victory...over 3 women... in the badminton competition. What me, bitter?

Emma blowing bubbles

Max feeling sheepish

Preparing for the "flag raising ceremony" (The flag was on Jan's sleeve). Note Mindy sticking out her tongue.

Everett taught Max how to "rock it". Soon all the babies were doing it, complete with sound effects.

And a good time was had by all.

All circuits are busy, please hold...until September

2009-07-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

Many summers ago, my mother hated to see her school-aged children waste time, so at the beginning of every summer we set goals in the back of our journals. These were about the number or specific books we hoped to read, a skill we wanted to learn, hygiene habits to improve, or ways we hoped to grow spiritually. I made cookies every Wednesday the summer I was ten, and my children find it very amusing to read in my journal the number of times I aimed to brush my teeth. However, I remember that as a kid during the summer, someone would ask me a question that required some thought and it took more than a few moments to sift through the cobwebs in my brain to respond.

And now, despite the attempts to keep things mentally challenging around here, my brain seems to have been put on pause too. Although I usually enjoy writing, there have to be more of the little gray cells present and accounted for at the time of composition than have been functioning lately. Hence, the blog has suffered. About a month ago, I decided to blog some past events in the attempt to record the happenings. Some of you may not have noticed because I entered them in the date approximate to when I ought to have posted them. (Trust me, they're not quality entries; don't bother to go back to sift through them in hopes of being entertained.) This experiment is my excuse for the lack of creative writing this summer. Behold.

While I sat at the computer, this is what my children did:

Katrina's swimsuit is revealed under her cover-up; it easily slips off the shoulder since she wears it constantly.

Matthew painted a wooden race car to be assembled later and saved for 4 years until he is old enough to legitimately enter a cub scout pinewood derby.

Meanwhile, Max took a fabulous nap.
And here are the finished products of their independent study time:

Felicity thought we needed oil in addition to butter and shortening. Those were probably the greasiest cookies ever. The cleanup was awful. By the way, we didn't even get 24 cookies out of that batch. What happened to all the dough? Did the Keebler elves sneak in and eat it while the girls were so busy putting ingredients away?

I cannot show a hundredth part of the mess here.

We had to send the artist outside with his painted arms to hose down. Unfortunately, some of the car pieces are AWOL.

But hey, have all the cookies you want!

Let the Church Say "Amen"

2009-06-17T14:33:00.001-07:00

We had a new event in our lives occur last week; not one that we wish to repeat often. However, it was still an occasion of peace and joy, even though it was mainly a time of sadness. Mark's father passed away on June 8, 2009. He was 66 and had been diagnosed with cancer the end of March. He had suffered a lot of pain and we are happy to know that he is relieved of that burden. We will all miss the time we will no longer have with him to get to know him better.

Our family hurriedly packed up and left the next morning to drive the 675 miles to Bessemer, Alabama, where Jesse Morris Jr lived out his entire life. Mark has one sibling, Rewa, who lives in Atlanta, who also drove there that night with her husband, son, and daughter. Their cousin Evon has been living there for the past few months to help with Papa's illness, and her daughters Kimberlee and Kristy joined her from Utah and Florida. So it was a full 3BR, 1 1/2 bath house. It was really good to be together though, and Nana was greatly cheered by the presence of her family members. She wanted lots of input for the funeral arrangements, which kept us busy.

Nana is a night owl, who rarely goes to bed before 2 am. She falls asleep sitting up around 8 pm, but then gets up and goes after a nap. Apparently, her entire family is the same way. We frequently had visitors late into the night and enjoyed getting to know them better. Nicknames are commonly used and some members of the family I only know by one name, like Duck, one of my favorite conversationalists. She's Boo's little sister. Sometimes I don't follow the conversations so well, since I don't know the people they're talking about or totally get the euphemisms or jokes. As always, I made a fool of myself more than once. But I was proud for knowing w/o asking what a "knee baby" is.

Church members, neighbors, Friends-and-Relations took good care of us and apparently there is some traditional fare for a death in the family. We ate fried/rotisserie chicken, potato salad, and cake every single day we were there. Do not misunderstand; we were all grateful to not have to shop/prepare/cook and there were several other Southern sides that added variety. My favorites were the baked beans with bacon, the squash casserole, and the lemon pound cake.

The funeral was held in Papa's church, Petty's Chapel African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) Zion's Church. When the preacher announced the full name, Felicity blurted, "No wonder there are so many black people here!" It was attended by the many friends, family, and church members of Papa's life, dressed to the nines in black, gray, or white (mostly black) and fancy hats to boot. The music and preaching was a little louder, livelier, and more dramatic than our kids typically get, so they were somewhat surprised. I think the best is the sudden participation in the middle of prayers, sermons, or music. Lots of standing up and/or calling out: "Amen!" "Well!" "Fix it!" etc. My father-in-law was a prominent member of this congregation and served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He did a lot for the church and was there every week.

Felicity and Katrina sang a song with their cousin Kel that I accompanied (no, not on the Jazz organ) a la the Primary Children's Songbook: "Papa, I Love You." There were some off-key moments, but somehow, it made it more endearing since they're obviously related and not ultra talented. Tee Tee Rewa bought them white knit dresses that Felicity stained pre-funeral while coloring with a black crayon, but they still looked lovely, although their attention span deteriorated during the Euology. Katrina got some laughter when she whispered a little too loudly, "Is he almost done? GOOD!" The funeral was longish for the kids, especially Matthew, but thankfully the cemetery was not too far away. It was a very nice service and we felt thankful to be there. I learned new things about my father-in-law, specifically of his generosity, humility, and service.

In Alabama, when passing a funeral procession (which is heavily escorted by cops from neighboring towns), everyone stops as a sign of respect until the entire caravan has disappeared. I'm not just talking about the folks trying to cross the street, but also the cars driving the opposite direction on the other side of the road, that come to a complete stop in the middle of a 4-lane highway. The whole journey was driven at about 15 mph. With tired and hungry (read: grumpy) kids in the van, it was truly a necessity to listen to Bill Cosby on the way. The children appreciated the short burial service and it was the first time I've seen the coffin lowered completely into the ground for loved ones to drop their flowers.

We returned to the church for the "repass" (also called repast) of a spread of soul food; no funeral potatoes in sight, returning home to entertain visitors. It was an exhausting day and we packed up 2 days later to drive home absolutely wiped out from lack of sleep but very happy we could be there. Funny thing, I haven't needed to eat for several days.

We love you Papa! We will miss you.

2 Cool 2 Be 4Gotten

2009-06-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

Another schoolyear is finished, we are into summer. My girls felt like martyrs because they didn't have yearbooks like their classmates did. However, there was still lots of fun to be had and partying to behold. The weather for Felicity's was lovely; not too hot or cold. The boys enjoyed coming to school and eating popsicles too.

Felicity, Lorin, and Faith

Felicity wanted her hair down for the party- you can see why this is a rarity. She loved getting soaked.

Felicity & Mrs. Kinney, last day of school

Katrina & Miss Lawson- Kindergarten teachers have a special place in mother's hearts- first ones to take over.

Katrina's locker partner, Ellie. Best buddies- sadly, in different schools next year.
Let the summer begin!

Perfect little boys

2009-06-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

Whenever I complain about something one of our sons is doing that is driving me crazy, Mark tells me, "He's a perfect boy." We have two of them. This week, Matthew and Maxwell seem to be having a "most difficult child to handle" contest. Help me decide who is winning.

Yesterday, Max:

Whined endlessly
Screamed when I asked him to communicate using words/signs (like more, please, all done, etc- and I didn't ask him like that! I asked him, "Are you all done?" His response? "AUGGHHHH!")
Would not so much as let me fold laundry without holding him
Threw the food I tried to give him on the newly mopped floor
Flushed another shoe down the toilet
Threw temper tantrums when I wouldn't let him play in the disposal, garbage, or toilet
Went straight for the mud when we went outside
Clung to my legs while I cooked

Today, Matthew:

Poured dishwasher detergent powder all over the floor and then dragged it through the house
Locked Max in a room to torture him
Sprayed furniture polish all over the floor
When I put him in laundry room for Time Out for spraying the polish, he dumped the contents of the CCA donations box everywhere, as well as the dirty laundry, and mixed them together.
He then went upstairs to use his bathroom. He didn't want to see the contents of the toilet he'd just filled, so he threw lots and lots of TP in the bowl. What a surprise, it overflowed, with all the awful ingredients, all over relatively newly cleaned bathroom.
Since the shower curtain was marred in the incident above, I sent him to my shower to bathe. He decided to mix the shampoos and conditioners (including my b-day present conditioner) together in a giant concoction.
While I was showering, he took the furniture polish to the new piano and sprayed it inside the keys. Yeah, the same stuff he got in trouble for just an hour before.

My boys are normally not this extreme. This is kind of an exceptional week. Typically we have lots of good things juxtapostioned with the, uh, things that make them perfect little boys. In any case, they each have a lot going for them to win this this contest!

My brother Bill's a Fireman Brave cause he puts out fires

2009-06-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

Matthew's preschool was a co-op this year; the moms took turns teaching/hosting and year-end festivities. I arranged a field trip to the local fire station but Matthew threw up at 2 am the morning of the excursion. He was sad to miss it, so I rescheduled with some other friends from church.

The firefighters were great to give us a tour and let the kids turn on sirens, horns, lights, etc. We went all over the firehouse and they answered our many questions. Matthew and I enjoyed trying on the protective gear.

Just a little short

"This gives me a headache!"

There were 30 new recruits going through "Fireman Kindergarten" who were happy for a diversion. Females are accepted into the program if they can lift and drag a 250-lb dummy. (Don't look for any women from our family anytime soon.)

Overall, it was a fun, educational, and free outing. We made them some cookies to say thank you and they were very grateful. We highly recommend it!

Fathers & Sons Campout

2009-06-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

Mark took Matthew on his very first Fathers and Sons Campout. Matthew was so excited, it was all he could talk about for days. We had a great time buying some supplies to help them get ready. Mark got home and had to pack up some things, but Matthew was filled with anticipation and sat in the sweltering car for a long time just waiting.

Mark never takes pictures, but I sent the camera along with him to capture some memories. They went to a campsite close by with a lake.

Throwing rocks is legal here?!

It was really hot, and the ground was hard, but they had a great time... and not much sleep. I think this is a great picture of Matthew getting a drink next to his Lightning McQueen sleeping bag that usually resides at Nana's.

Piano Recital

2009-05-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

I host a piano recital twice a year and was excited to have my new piano for my students. This year's recital had performances by 8 students. I was proud of them and felt like the hard work was worth it. Nothing like the impending feeling of making a fool of oneself in public to motivate students to practice! (Or piano teachers to clean house!)

Sami looks so cute playing this. I especially like the tattoo on her forearm.

Here's her twin sister, Sara. They are also our neighbors and play with Katrina.

Check out Felicity's tongue sticking out in this one. She was definitely concentrating.

Katrina was Little Miss Confident. She performs at every opportunity and as such, was very prepared. My adult student, Adyannahy, is in the background. She also did very well- hey, they all did!

I should have taken pictures of the refreshments- fruit pizza, ganache filled cupcakes with different toppings, and watermelon. But they didn't last long. With those starving children, is anyone surprised?

Madam Librarrrrrr-ian

2009-05-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Scene: Irving, TX Public Library Summer, 2005
Enter Young Frazzled Mom with 4 year old curly haired girl, 2 year old curly haired girl (who is still working on potty-training), and 4 month old skinny baby boy, all vying for position in the battered double stroller shaped like a semi and overloaded with books.

Wow, thinks YFM, such a huge library with so many books! The smell of libraries enough is to make me happy! Yes, I will spend WEEKS in here! And look- computers galore!

[note: YFM is in TX with family for Hubcap's internship, only for the summer. They are staying in a 2 BR apt w/ no internet, no phone, no neighbors with children, no cable tv or anything like unto it. All worldly possessions except for some clothing, bedding, and cookware were left behind in Boston. Sometimes, they all need a break.]

And so, YFM and children spend some moments searching for books. When children are contentedly looking at books a few feet away from the computers, YFM sits down at one of the many open computers to check her email and see if there is any communication from her long lost family members who no longer converse except via email. She is just about to open one in the inbox when suddenly, a Crabby Library Worker approaches....

CLW: "Sorry, these computers are for children only. You're in the children's section. If you want to use the computer, you'll have to go upstairs to the adult section. "

YFM: "Yes, I'm in the children's section because I have children [breaking news, evidently], and I want them to be happy while I am on the computer."

CLW: "Sorry. Those are the rules. You need to get off now." (looking at watch)

YFM: "But there are several other computers available should any children want to use them!"

CLW: "Five...four...three..."

YFM and 3 children load back into the stroller. Baby starts to fuss. They make their way to the elevator, which has all the efficiency of an iceberg. After arriving upstairs, YFM finds a computer, which requires her to stand, while curly-haireds run rampant and baby drools on her arm. She manages to open one email with prehistoric internet speed before chaos breaks out and adult patrons glare icily in their general direction. The family exits stage left to the elevator, to stand in line at the checkout desk while another CLW nags others about bringing materials back in time. So ends the hopeful visit to the libary.

I love libraries and always have. My mother has taken us to the library for as long as I can remember, and I enjoyed spending hours reading and looking for books in the musty smelling, peaceful environments. Sometimes we went for FHE, sometimes after school, and many summer days were spent there, reading and piling up stacks of books to take home and enjoy. Readily willing to admit my addiction for books, I appreciate in particular children's literature and have many happy memories of libraries past and present. However, I have noticed that a cheerful librarian can make all the difference. Some of them are so happy to help, so eager to search for a book which title I cannot remember (nor the author's name), even though it will never benefit them personally.

But for some reason, some librarians are extremely crabby. It is as though they loathe people, the books they love, but if the people would only leave them alone! They could enjoy their work, shelving, indexing, researching, reading. Especially those pesky children, how annoying they are with their silliness and rambunctious behavior in a place that is supposed to be quiet! TSK!

Consequently, we are learning to scout out the happy and forgiving librarians. Sometimes if I have had an infraction, I wait until one is available. Tonight, I did not have that choice. We had lost the last CD in an audiobook (that, might I add, was not highly entertaining to the adults in the car anyway), as well as a "folded and gathered" (softbound, stapled) book AND I had late fines to boot. All of my renewing priveleges were used up and today was the day of reckoning. We tore the house apart searching for aforementioned items and I was tearing my hair out too. Mark had finally arrived home from work and I walked out the door with the books I could locate as well as the checkbook, knowing I would need it.

With a penitent face, I approached the information desk (circulation at this library is taken care of by patrons, quite the nifty scanning system) and interrupted Madam Librarian to say that I had a hefty fine to pay. After I'd explained my situation, she took the discs I had, stating that she would ask around about it and not to worry right now. She renewed the missing book despite my already overreached limit. And to top it all off, she accepted back into library-ship a book that we had already lost and paid for, and then located in our Toyroom Spring Purge last month, which book buy-back paid for the fines and earned me $2.97.

What a difference a nice librarian works. I left feeling at peace with the world and with libraries again. And two new books. (Hey, we have to start small. Our house is still chaotically messy.)

I Can't, I Can't, I Can't Stand Losing

2009-05-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

The competitive genes at our home are alive and kicking, thanks to Mr. M. He is all of 4 years old, but very much in the thick of his winning streak. He sets the terms of the contest, declares "It's not a wace [race]," if he's losing, and proclaims "It's a tie" if he's obviously lost. When going upstairs, he starts the race when he's 2 steps from the top. Mawk, set, go...

Although I think that a little competition can be a motivating influence, I don't like to make everything a contest and don't like the negative feelings that ensue from one person winning and everyone else losing. I'm just wondering with Matthew, Why is it so important to have a winner in every situation? Why is it so important that HE is the winner? A few weeks ago, I was observing him getting dressed. He told me that the "boy arm" beat the "girl arm" going through the sleeve. You can probably guess which leg won. When I said that the polite thing to do was to let the girl go first at times, he said, "She likes being last." Where does he come up with this stuff? How do you curb chauvinism in so young a subject?

Sometimes, we play games together, and he does okay if he doesn't win. We used to play Memory and he would be very upset if I found a match he wanted to find, such as a pair of rocket ships or the hot dogs. Over time, he gets better at hoping his luck will change the next game and being happy with what he finds. He also likes being on a team, so that someone can help him win. I figure we need some practice losing so it's not so devastating to him and so irritating for the rest of us, like the following example:

This week, we went to the library and he found one of those horrendous (Let-me-sleep-with-my-eyes-open-while-reading-aloud-this-drivel) mass-produced books, Batman solves the case against the Joker, Volume LXIV. After lunch, he requested that I read it to him, and after doing so, I could not tell you one iota of the plot except that I know it falls into the formulaic yarns of other such books. At the end, there are a bunch of bat emblems pictured for you to find as you peruse through the book in future readings, since you definitely won't be reading it for entertainment value. Matthew and I went through them together. Every single time he couldn't find the bat picture and I pointed it out, he would say,

"I already saw that."

If I weren't so annoyed by his smug little face, I'd think that it's cute.

Uncow Bwian*

2009-05-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

My little bachelor brother Brian had been bugged by me for long enough to come for a visit, so he purchased a plane ticket and came to visit us over Mother's Day weekend. He's not really a high-maintenance guy, so I didn't plan anything, since the Rangers weren't in town anyway. We went to Plano to visit the home of our youth (we were there 1980-1983):

He also helped me shop for a piano. I have been teaching piano lessons for several years on a digital piano. It has been faithful for several years, with many benefits, such as volume control and weight (Mark and I carried it up 3 flights of stairs to our apartment when we bought it). My children like the pre-recorded songs and other instrument voices options, too.

However, when we moved to Texas, it was damaged and I knew I would eventually want a new piano anyway. I've been saving my teaching $ for a long time, and when a liquidation sale happened the weekend Beelz came, I thought he'd be a good advisor, since he plays the piano well. As it turns out, he was, although not in the way a mathematician who adores stats would typically help- we both liked the way one played, and it was a good price. I typically sweat over such decisions for months, so I was grateful for his seal of approval, as well as the long-distance validation from the Kansas City pianists. Overall, I'm pretty happy with my choice.

He kept the giggly girls at bay while Mark ran around doing Mother's Day prep. Katrina and Felicity really enjoy UNO and he tried not to get too bugged by their silliness and slow strategies. Brian also helped clean and played with the boys, too. We went on a bike ride and he did better than I at not getting impatient with Matthew and Matthew's small bike, aka "Fast One".

We always love having visitors, especially ones who are so willing to dive in and participate. By "participate," I of course mean "work your tail off". Can you believe this guy is still single?!? So easygoing, so willing to be bossed, so complimentary of everything...

*When I student taught 1st grade in Manhattan, the students worked on books with invented spelling. One very cute little boy named Fernando insisted that the correct spelling for uncle is u-n-c-o-w. I had to admit, that's what it sounds like, especially with a NY accent or if one can't say r's.

Loudmouths

2009-05-06T18:49:00.001-07:00

2 stories:

1. About a month ago, I was taking a babysitter home and asked her a few questions about school and life and stuff. She is a really nice girl and very responsible. She is also on the quieter, more reserved side. In this conversation, she told me that she has much better friends now than when she was in Middle School. Her old friends used to ignore the things she would say or talk over her when she would begin a story. Being nosy, I discovered that these were friends from church. I reflected that it is likely I was probably much like these friends as a youth, oblivious to doing it, but guilty of the action just the same.

2. On Monday we had a few friends over to play. One of whom is not a regular visitor, but as it is Swine Break, her grandpa across the street was babysitting her for the day, and she joined the handful of little girls (and one boy) forming the Detective Agency in the backyard. They seemed to be playing well together, but then Brianna came in with a complaint to register about my daughters. At that point, it was time for friends to go home anyway, since we were off to another activity, so I apologized for them and decided to delve into the matter on our drive.

Me: "Felicity and Katrina, Brianna said you weren't listening to her whenever she had things to say. What happened?"

F: "Ahh, she was too quiet. So we had to speak over her."

K: "Yeah, she has a soft voice. Nobody could hear what she was saying and so I had to be louder."

I then proceeded to define "Outspoken" and stated that every person in our family fits that description. So it is our job to watch out for people who are perhaps less outspoken, to make sure they have opportunities to speak and give them a chance once they do. Mrs. Pot teaching her little Kettles.

Even now, I have a hard time not finishing someone's sentences when he seems to be having a hard time coming up with the words. I don't mean to be rude, I'm just engaging in the conversation and helping it along. Being wordy, sometimes my stories (and blog posts) are a tad heavy on the details, which doesn't always allow time for others. Apologies to any I've offended. I do think it's kind of amusing that everyone in my house has a voice and definitely knows how to use it to communicate. While others teach their children to speak more, we're working on speaking less, listening more.

Ciao & Arrivederci

2009-05-02T05:34:00.000-07:00

Mark changed jobs in February, and we are all thankful to have him home at night now. When he was consulting, he traveled every week and racked up lots and lots of frequent flyer miles and hotel points. Knowing that airlines and hotels change the benefit rules and go out of business all the time, we decided to use up our points and planned a vacation to Italy for the days that we are the same age. There was a layover in Spain, and we didn't want to waste it in the airport, so we spent a day there too.

We left on April 21, which happened to be "Free Cone Day" at Ben & Jerry's, which stand was located right across from our gate. I thought that was a great way to start off our trip. Because of Mark's FF status, Iberian upgraded us to first class while flying across the Atlantic and I worried things were going so well that we'd end up crashing into the ocean by a desert island with nothing but a volleyball for lunch/companionship. (I felt very guilty riding in first class so I didn't sleep a wink.) It was a clear, sunny day in Spain, a little chilly in the shadows but it warmed through the day. Neither Mark nor I speak Spanish but we found those who did were very friendly and happy to help.

In the gardens outside the Prado museum

Next we went to Italy, landing in Venice. We got to the city as the tourists were departing and the rainstorms were too. Great timing! A little chilly and a lot touristy, but we had fun exploring and Mark negotiated a good deal on a gondola ride since the poor gondoliers had little business that day in the rainy weather.

We met up with my siblings in Lucca and drove off to Pisa in the tiny clown car.

The drive through Tuscany was lovely. The roads were tricky to navigate, but I wasn't driving or reading the map. We had to get out several times to take pictures because it was so beautiful. This was the highlight of the trip for me, either that or the gondola ride. Yes, I'm holding an apple in that picture. We kept buying fruit at every opportunity and for some reason, I took the fruit on a walk.

We stopped at a walled city called San Gimignano. They had 22 of these towers at one point and apparently were very competitive in their construction.

A lovely view from where Tyler and I waited for those who deigned to spend $ on using the bathroom.

Next, we went to Florence, where the crowds were thick as it was the end of "Culture week," and it seemed that all of Europe was there on Spring Break, not to mention some rowdy Americans, too. On the plus side, all of the museums were free! We found a really good place off the tourist path that night and ate there. Best food of the trip. My travel companions were great and one of them (I'll let you guess who) really enjoyed talking about music, children, cooking, and home decorating with me. But we were nice to the boys and didn't bring up childbirth once, even though she's currently pregnant.

Mark, Bruce, and Michelle organizing themselves in the Campo

I'm looking very crabby that morning outside the Duomo & cool Baptistry doors. Don't worry, I'm always cheerful in the mornings, even while traveling

Church was conveniently held in the basement of our hotel on Sunday morning, because it was District Conference. We were hoping to attend an Italian branch meeting but this was not bad since there were interpreters and how long has it been since I've attended Stake Conf without children? Tyler served his mission there a year ago, so he got to see many people he knew. Afterwards one of the members asked him if I was his little sister and he clarified that I was "molto, MOLTO grande!!!" That's right, 10 years older actually. But I was complimented.

We went to Sienna that afternoon and had a great lunch at a cafe with enormous portions. The funniest moment of the trip was when Bruce stabbed the cake on a nearby table, right after the Americans eating there left, and sampled it (on the side they weren't eating off, of course). He agreed with them that it was too dry.

We then went to Rome and drove all over creation trying to find our hotel before Mark, Tyler and I jumped out and just took a bus to it. We saw the usual things there:

Bruce and Mark listening to the AudiGuide Tours in the Colesseum

Bruce throwing a coin backward into the Trevi Fountains, wishing to return...
(When did this become Bruce's blog?? He doesn't even read my blog!!)

At the Spanish Steps in the rain

And here were are at the last day in front of St. Peter's Cathedral, which is one heck of a humongous cathedral with Peter's tomb in the basement. What are the odds he's still down there? Anyone?

It was a great trip and a wonderful break from the diapers, dishes, delivering kids to actys, etc. I missed the children a lot and was really happy to see them upon returning and extremely grateful to my parents for taking such good care of them while we were away. And sure enough, Max learned to walk while we were gone. He didn't even remember who I was when I picked him up Thursday morning!

Wow, you deserve a prize if you actually read this whole post. Contact my husband and maybe you can convince him too (although first you'll have to explain to him that the blog post exists).
For any true gluttons for punishment, there are more pictures in this slide show thingy if you really want to look at them. Sorry to anyone else who suffered through it out of duty. No more trips for awhile- all the points are gone.

Mark at 34

2009-04-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

We got home the night before Mark's birthday, so my parents were still there for the presents. Nothing like good ol' socks and store-bought cookies for a birthday gift!

That night I was rather unprepared for dinner, and since Mark was still at work when I finished mixing his cake at 6:30 pm, I loaded the kids sans shoes into the van and took them to KFC while the cake was baking. I am NOT a fast food girl, and KFC in particular, but Mark is, so this was truly a gift for him. Unfortunately, the line was long, so I directed Mark to go home and rescue the cakes before they burned to a crisp. We placed our order, got to the front of the line, and... I had left my wallet at home!

It was rather a late night, but Mark was a great sport.

Happy Birthday to me

2009-04-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

Mark, knowing that he is a great (but not terribly swift) cook, started my birthday prep on Sunday night so we could have this fabulous chocolate eclair cream puff ring for my cake. My parents had just arrived from the airport and Mom did the dishes. Max is all tired out on my lap from the hard cleaning he did before Grandma and Grandpa came. What a great birthday.

Baptism Day

2009-04-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

Felicity was so excited to get baptized. She talked about it for months beforehand. It was a very beautiful day, weather-wise, and we only wish more loved ones could have witnessed it with us.

"I have waited for this moment since the day I was born!"

"I'm Felicity times two today!" (because her name means happiness)

And seconds later, she was climbing on the jungle gym at home...

We are very proud of Felicity and the good choice that she has made to keep the commandments and follow the Savior. She is a wonderful example to our family. Felicity has always tried to be a good girl, and she is.

But I can't wait until I'm 8

2009-04-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

Our Felicity recently turned 8. She has been looking forward to this birthday for her whole life. At our house, we do parties every other year, and this is the year off for birthday parties (but there will be plenty of others since life IS a party at our house).

Although it was a freezing cold and windy day, it was a Saturday and Felicity really enjoyed her birthday- playing soccer in the bitter wind, watching Word Girl, and playing on the computer. Felicity generally has a good attitude and liked having her "birth minute" at the church since it was our family's turn to clean that morning.

She finally got some scriptures, with a really stylish looking scripture case, which she was really excited about. Don't worry, she won't actually read them, they're still hanging on the hook by the door in case of a sudden need to dash out the door with scriptures in tow.

I am not too humble to mention that I could use some new scriptures and finally a case myself, since the current ones are hacked up from being jammed in a bag with Cheerios, MagnaDoodles, baby toys, pacifiers that don't belong to us, and so forth. My bday's on the 20th, for any of you who are wondering.

A new backpack! Yessss! She hugged Katrina for "giving" this to her. I'm sure Katrina felt very proud of herself for contributing nil to this present. Felicity's former backpack was one I bought from CVS Pharmacy in 2005 and refused to die in the traditional way of backpacks, i.e. holes and broken zippers. Instead, it got filthy dirty and smelled of undesireables from sack lunches (like slices of bell peppers grown moldy).

Don't these kids look delicious? Wait, not yet, it's Saturday night, they still need to bathe...

And the cupcakes actually were. We never have problems finishing up dessert.

Max Attack

2009-04-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

My baby is growing up pretty fast these days, and I'm trying to document a little of it so I don't forget this time with him. Although I only have four, they have blurred together a little in their past, only remembered by reading it in black and white. Max is a mischief maker of the first degree- yeah, he's the baby whose hands are continually in the toilet, sucking on the air freshener that he has already unscrewed from its socket, squirting the green florescent glue all over the carpet. And all this while I'm making the grocery list.

Although it's a lot to keep up with, I'm thankful for his usual cheerful and inquisitive self. He has had a lot of ear infections, so tomorrow morning he's getting tubes put into his ears. We are hopeful that the happy little guy comes back. He has tried to maintain a good attitude despite not feeling well, but it's been tough for him when he doesn't sleep well.

Max wiggles his rump when he crawls. He likes to be chased and crawls all the faster away from you if you call after him. Max thinks the word "No" is a funny joke to be laughed at. He likes spicy food, unlike my other babies, and is a great eater (can you tell?), although when he is done, he refuses to sit contentedly in the high chair and plans his escape immediately.

Max is my most musical baby. He dances frequently as he hears music, even to the little annoying tunes from the toys. The other day, I was doling out the cruel and unusual punishment of changing his diaper, when I bumped into a toy that plays classical music or kid tunes. It was a Bach piece, and he was instantly still, trying to listen.

Curses! Tagged Again!

2009-04-02T14:07:00.001-07:00

8 things I did yesterday
1 Drove 2 crazy boys to Max's ENT appointment in Coppell.
2 Went grocery shopping with said crazy boys at Sprouts and Kroger
3 Put the groceries away. Yes, this deserves its own line item... it takes forever and I'm always wiped out by the end.
4 Finally finished folding the dang laundry (and nope, I didn't put it away)
5 Taught piano to 3 little giggly girls who were hankering for Skittles
6 Took Felicity to & from her first ever Activity Days!
7 Attended Katrina's soccer practice in the wind while Max and Matthew chased after the balls
8 Bossed the 3 older kids through dinner prep, dinner, dishes, homework, bedtime
And thankfully for you, that's all I have space for.

8 favorite tv shows (Absolutely depending on the episode)
1 Psych
2 Burn Notice
3 The Office
4 30 Rock
5 Lie to me
6 The Barefoot Contessa
7 Design to Sell
8 Music and the Spoken Word (muchly needed calming influence on Sunday morns)

8 fave restaurants, in no particular order
1 Mi Cocina -brisket tacos
2 Joe Vera's -chimis
3 Leatherby's -ice cream!!
4 The Bright Star (Bessemer, AL)- fish
5 Swirl Bakery (desserts) -cakes/pies
6 Amanda's (Hoboken) -basil polenta, but everything there is good
7 Cappriccio -homeade tortellini
8 Anyplace where there's no kid menu

8 things i'm looking forward to
1. Going to Italy
2. Paying off the student loans!!
3. Max not having ear infections anymore
4. Felicity's Baptism on April 11
5. Mark getting home from Alabama (after he goes Sunday morning, of course)
6. School getting out!
7. Sleeping in on Saturday mornings... someday in my probably distant future
8. General Conference

8 wishes
1 New carpet
2 A kitchen floor that operates like a garbage disposal- you flip a switch and all the dirt/junk/extra food under the highchair, all whirls down a hole
3 No more super glue on my counter
4 Perfectly obedient children (ha! that is a wish!)
5 More time to read
6 A self-cleaning car
7 A guilt-free conscience
8 Someone to make me dinner tonight!

8 folks to tag (no pressure folks, I won't start shunning you if you don't want to do this)
Kent, have you ever done a tag? Ever?
Cuz Pete a la Philippines
Cuz Holly (but again, no pressure)
Melody H.
Melissa N.
H.
Lee Ann F.
Fatso. You can do it! (and no, I'm not being insensitive here)

Our new dishvarsher

2009-03-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Our dishwasher broke about a month ago. The thing was a piece o' junk- you had to rinse every particle of food off to the nth degree before loading it into the dishwasher for final sterilization, hoping that a dish wouldn't come out looking worse than when it went in. The wheels were constantly falling off and rolling away or breaking altogether, not to mention the top rack, which was so rickety it required the strength of a bear to pull it out. It was loud enough that no conversations, piano practicing, or tv watching could coincide with a cycle. So when it stopped draining, we decided we'd had enough and went for a new one. We had to wash dishes by hand for a couple days and the girls gleefully washed and rinsed their Friday night dish duty.

We went 4 1/2 years without a dishwasher, and it wasn't the end of the world, but I was very happy to have one when we moved to student housing in Boston. By that time, I had learned to be a Dish Stinge, trying to conserve as many dishes as possible and cook without dirtying more than was absolutely necessary. Which takes more time, but I'd rather spend the time cooking than cleaning if you haven't noticed by now.

Although my contribution was probably extremely minimal, my mother assigned me to a dishwashing team with my 13-year-old sister Paula when I was a mature 5 years old, a point of which I have reminded my children often. I spent a lot of dish-team years with my brother Craig, and most of the memories there are of us quarreling over who was doing what and which jobs were the hardest. He finally got sick of my pettiness and told me to do whatever and get out of the kitchen. Shortly after that, Mom assigned us all our own nights and we only had to harrass the sibling who was assigned to clear the table. (In fact, once Brian called me home from a friend's house -by looking up the number in my bizzare calculator- just to clear the table.) Even the table-clearing job was eventually joined to the dishes, to Neil's chagrin, as he couldn't really justify waking up the 4 year old at midnight, when he got around to doing the dishes. Doing the dishes was such an enormous task that I always put it on Monday nights, when I had to be home anyway, and Sunday dishes were split into multiple loads.

When I was a missionary, a couple in my last area told me about how they never put in a dishwasher because they wanted that time for their kids to work together cleaning the kitchen, and when the children left home, they enjoyed the process as a couple. Those are some pretty rose-tinted glasses, I thought. Doing the dishes is not a big deal to me now, but I'll take any shortcut or help that I can to clean up the kitchen. So we bought a new dishwasher and while it is not much quieter than the previous one (and emitting a strange, treble D# the entire cycle), it's nice to have around again.

Although those little girls had a great time working together. For once.

Shave and a Haircut- 2 Bits

2009-03-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

Raise your hand if a little line of music just went through your head. No? Nobody? Sheesh. Seems like I'm living in the wrong generation.

We just got back from a spring break trip to Kansas/Missouri (and yes, Oklahoma). We had a great time visiting our family there and the kids enjoyed almost every minute of it. (You know that people are lying when they say they love every minute of something!!!!! (I mean, would you look at those exclamation points? I ask you!))

As you might guess, that is Matthew with the fro on the teeter totter with Eli. Mark and I take turns cutting Matthew's hair. I like it curly, and Mark likes it short. Mark has been busy lately (when is he not?), so he hasn't taken the chance to cut it. He traveled to Denver for work but when he joined us again in Kansas, he took this curly head

while I was spending some hard-earned cash at Hobby Lobby and Target and buzzed it down to this one

(Matthew's the one on the right, with his cheeks puffed out to assist his sister in her early birthday celebration).

And what do you think? He hates it. Upon fetching him from preschool yesterday, the mom who was teaching noted in a stage whisper that she likes his haircut despite his very apparent views to the contrary. If anyone brings up the subject, a dark cloud comes over his face and he tells you his extremely negative opinion, which topic henceforth dampens his mood. Yesterday he said the saddest thing- "I don't like looking at myself because I don't like the way I look." Mark had zero sympathy, but it's understandable- Matthew is as fickle as they come. During church on Sunday I kept feeling his soft face and then his rough head. It's a fun sensation, I recommend it.

I hope he gets over it soon, but in any case, he's a very cute & contrary little boy. Even with a brush-fade on a boy with thick wavy hair.

Blogging about Blogging

2009-03-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

I first became aware of blogs in 2003, when I was living in NJ and the New York Times did a piece on blogs. Upon reading, I learned that blogs are a sort of online journal and those who blog are people who have a desire to share their deepest thoughts and life events with the all of the world wide web who cared to read it. The article went on to explain that sometimes there are negative repercussions from blogging. For example, a young man with a "strict LDS upbringing" revealed his more exciting lifestyle, which his disappointed parents discovered on his blog. Or a woman who blogged juicy details about dates she went on, to the frustration of the men she was seeing.

Blogging has evolved a lot since then. It seems that currently, blogs are a way of keeping a personal (as in singular, not as in private) or family history, of interacting with a group of people, from sharing recipes to strategies to preparing for events or training for triathalons. For me, reading blogs is like reading columns in the "fun" section of the newspaper- comics, travel, food, advice, happenings, historical and economic perspectives. It's also fun to keep up with friends and their family events. I especially like reading from male voices, since I like variety. Unfortunately, there seem to be very few male bloggers out there, with the exception of having blogs exclusively for political or economic rants (not talking about you, Pete). Remember, reading blogs is supposed to be fun. Even though it's 95% of my own material, kids-only posts become tedious for me, as do congratulatory posts that guilt me into wishing I were more like someone else.

I'm not the sort of blogger who thinks this is my "online journal." I will probably get a blog book printed from my blogs, to use as a family history and photo album, but no way will you read everything here that I'm thinking about or all of the changes coming to my life. I have no need to share all of my innermost thoughts and feelings with all of Facebook or the Internet. Despite being a very open (aka Blunt) person, it's hard not to feel vulnerable about what thoughts I have written. Within minutes of posting, sometimes I worry that I've offended someone, made my family out to look too perfect or too faulty, or used poor grammar (the ultimate offense)(that's a joke). I get concerned about comments that seem to misunderstand my intentions and then wonder if I need to post again to explain what I really meant or what truly happened.

Speaking of comments, this is one of the best parts about blogging, when someone responds to a post with a comment. I read too many blogs to comment on all of them and recognize that most of my posts are probably met with a "Hmm. I have no response to that," hardly warranting a comment. When I do get a comment, it's fun for me, validation for writing, nearly as good as finding chocolate in my desk drawer that I hid from the kids and ultimately from myself. It's almost like a brief conversation with someone you might otherwise rarely or never see again. Most of the blogs I read are friends and family from different stages of life, although I enjoy reading a blog from someone I've never met, but knows a relative of mine. She's funny and real and her posts are thought-provoking. But I think I scared her out of blogging completely by commenting too often. I've never had anyone comment on my posts except for people I know or have met through the blogosphere, although it might unnerve me if I got one. That is what has prompted several people to go "private," which I respect, although I don't check those as much since I am lazy and prefer Google Reader. While I wish I had done more at the beginning to protect my family's privacy (like not used the last name anywhere on the site), I feel like there are enough blogs out there that leave mine somewhat anonymous, just another mommy blog. Which is half of the fun of it- I don't think I could handle the pressure if I knew there were lots of people actually interested in what I have to say, but I like to give them the option to read it, just the same.

Drinking Problem

2009-02-26T20:23:00.000-08:00

My dad has a disease called diabetes insipidus, a condition where his body doesn't control the intake of water and instead sends it straight through. For years, to keep from getting dehydrated, he had to drink lots and lots of water throughout the day and night, just to keep it in his system. Because it is a very rare illness, the medication has been somewhat experimental on him. When they first started him on it, Dad made himself very sick by keeping the fluids coming in while the medicine prevented them from going out, and landed himself in the hospital a few times over Christmas vacation 1994. He joked after that about his drinking problem. Mine is the polar opposite.

Something odd about me is that I hate to drink. We've all been told to drink 8 glasses of water every day, but I usually make it to half that. And my first drink of water is frequently after 5 pm. Even if thirsty, I don't like to drink. It's not that I'm filling up on other beverages; the only other liquid consumed during the day is a small amount (1/2 cup?) of milk or grapefruit juice at breakfast. At restaurants, I almost always order water, since any drink isn't really worth the calories to me. The only exception would be hot chocolate, chocolate milk, or a shake, and those are kind of in the dessert category, where I'd usually rather have something I don't down in seconds. Ironically, the hardest thing to fast from is water.

I didn't realize my drinking habits were strange until my wonderful neighbor came over with her giant happy hour from Sonic, diet coke with vanilla or cherry or whatever it is and she said she only ever has that after she drinks 64 oz of water. Of course I was thinking, Wow, I would be completely waterlogged, because I am not getting that much liquid in my day. But I know I should be drinking water and am trying to do better.

Valentine mania

2009-02-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

Decorating heart cookies. And no, I haven't gained weight, thanks for asking.

Katrina made this cookie for her beloved Miss Lawson

Valentine's Day construction has led my house to be messier than usual. Let's face it folks, it's not usually that sparkling to begin with, but Matthew has started a love affair with scissors, the paper cutter, and hole punch. With my older children, I was a lot more controlling with them, but Matthew hasn't done any major damage (so far) and it entertains him for hours. Besides, it helps his fine motor skills, and since the oldest has had some catch-up to do in that department, I guess the extra mess is worth making my kitchen resemble a confetti factory. Yesterday he made the "Ultimate hole": a snippet of paper punched with the 3-hole-punch, and trimmed to look like a tiny square doughnut. That's creativity.

Last night, Felicity and Katrina made their Valentine Boxes for the school parties today. Katrina was very proud of her box and kept bragging, "Wow, this is the most creative box in my class. It's soooo awesome. I did such a good job!"

Felicity's box this year is more abstract. She insisted that she didn't want any hearts or pink anywhere near it, and wanted to have a themed box instead. Since they've been studying weather in school, she initially wanted a weather box, but realized that would be copying a kid in the class and that is definitely not cool. So we made her box into a TV and she put an advertisement of "Felicity the Phatografer (her spelling) coming soon! Come to the studio!" It doesn't really inspire anyone with thoughts of Valentine's Day or love, but she was happy with it and that's what's important, I guess.

Matthew, meanwhile, was more concerned with the actual Valentines. His preschool class has their party today too, and he and Felicity are sharing Kung Fu Panda valentines, which come with tattoos! Is it just me, or is Kung Fu completely unrelated to Valentine's Day? I love you- let me show you with this kick! I'm sure all of them will be plenty sugared up this afternoon. Maybe we'll just have vegetables for dinner, although I'm sure they won't think it's very "Valentinesy".

What our table and bench beneath usually look like these days.

Finished products.

If it's a secret, why isn't she keeping it?

2009-02-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, Felicity and I went clothes shopping. Alas, my little girl is growing up, and alas again, nobody is handing her down clothing anymore. She was really dragging her feet initially, but after awhile and some purchases, she thought it was fun. I think she liked it that I let her make some choices and even let her spend her own hard-earned cash to buy a silly hat that will probably never be worn.

As we left one store in search of another, Felicity looked around and asked, "What's Victoria's Secret?"
"A womens' underwear store."
"So is there a sign there that says 'No boys allowed!'?"
"Uh... no."
"But the boys know not to go in there, right? They don't ever go in that store? They don't see girls wearing underwear, right?"

It is always a tricky thing to give information to children without giving them too much. I'm trying to be honest with my children and paint a healthy picture of the world, good associations about things without making extra guilt or myths. I don't want them in a bubble, but it's called Need to Know for a reason. I don't always do the best job, but it's a work in process.

So I responded: "No.... sometimes boys like to see girls in underwear. And that's not good. EXCEPT, when?" I asked Felicity, seeing what she knows.
"-Except if they're a member of the Church of Jesus Christ?"
"No!" I hurriedly say, "definitely not that as the qualifier! It's -Except if he is married to the girl!"

First Birthday Celebration

2009-02-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

Mark and I have been musing lately on how different our children would be if they were an only child, or the oldest child. The other night, Max had a marathon nap and so he was up for our date. We were having an at-home date, where we feed the kids early, put them in pjs, and let them watch a movie upstairs until it's time for them to go to bed. Meanwhile, we get take-out or do something easy and have the downstairs to ourselves. This week, Max woke up from the nap just as we were ready to eat. So he joined us and he was eating up all the attention from having both parents to himself. As #4, he is used to having a tag-team of parenting or even being lugged out of the crib by an older sibling standing on the rocking horse. It was really fun to have him tag along and have us all to himself.

Max is a happy baby, happy and content most of the time. (Being sick definitely put a damper on that for several weeks, however.) He has recently developed a little bit of separation anxiety and actually cries when I leave, kind of a compliment to me and annoying to the person he's left with. The other 3 have not done this, so I'm kind of embarrassed when someone asks to hold him and he's not going to have it. Max is our little puppy dog, carries things in his mouth and loves to lick you when he's feeling affectionate. He has been getting into the recycling cupboard lately and has a good time exploring the cupboards in general. I love to see him under the sink at work, like he's fixing it up or something. We sure could use a handyman in this house, although Mark and I both try our durndest.

These pictures are from his birthday party, starting with giving gifts in the morning and ending with the cake at night. Unfortunately, he was really sick on his birthday night, so he was so unhappy he hardly touched the cake.

Cups? For my birthday? This is the best you could do?

Now a ball, that's what I'm talkin about....

Yay! Bring on the french toast!

After church- on the new truck and pushing all the buttons.

What am I supposed to do with this dessert on fire? Touch it?

Older than the hills, but still loved

2009-02-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

My eyes have been bothering me lately and I haven't been able to wear my contacts as much. I can't stand wearing glasses, because I just don't like anything on my head for very long. Not to mention I also feel very unattractive. (It's as though I've looked young my whole life and suddenly skip to looking ten years older than I am, not really a look I'm going for at the moment), So I went to an optical clinic owned by one of my piano student's dad last week to ask if they could look at my contacts to determine what could be done. The ladies at the front asked me, "How old are your contacts?'
"Ten years old"
They shook their heads in disbelief and stated, "We recommend replacing all contacts every year." (Well obviously! They are trying to make a living, after all!) They refused to continue the discussion, so I had to leave. I was a little taken aback, considering my ophthamologist told me (admittedly, 5 years ago), "Your contacts are in great shape, wear 'em until you lose 'em." Since he is a specialized MD giving the advice I like (to not spend more $), I want to listen to it. However, if my eyes hurt too badly to wear them, there's not a lot I can do about it, good advice or not.
I was lamenting to Mark about it, and he starting thinking about my contacts' age. He mused, "Ten years. Do you have anything that's ten years old that you use that often? Okay, besides your clock/radio/lamp that you got for your 12th birthday? I don't have anything. I almost have an LN [That's me. We just had our 9 year anniversary in Dec], but nothing else that helps me on a daily basis."

Just curious. What else is out there ten years old, that you use on a daily or near-daily basis? I'm sure there are things! Sure of it! My dad wears shoes he got on his mission back to Austria in the mid-60s. True, he doesn't wear them every day, and yes, we all mock him for them, but they keep his feet dry in the winter.

Our Wild Thing is 1

2009-01-24T10:43:00.001-08:00

Baby Max turned one on Sunday, January 25. I enjoy nicknaming my children and started calling Maxwell "Wild Thing" because he shares the name of the boy in the children's book Where the Wild Things Are. It didn't really fit, because Max has been a very content, happy and not very wild of a baby. (I also don't think that it's necessarily a negative name, although I'm hoping he doesn't emulate the behavior of the boy in that particular story.) However, in the past few weeks, he has decided that he can and will get into trouble and has brought the name a little more meaning. Here are a few pictures (okay, a LOT of pictures) to remember the past year along with us and our wonderful baby boy:

About 6 weeks old- Just starting to lose the "wet kitten" newborn look and remembering how to smile

One of my all-time favorite pictures of Max, sticking out his tongue. I think he was about 2 1/2 months here.

Another Bumbo pic with a 4 month old Max. When my Mother in Law bought this for me, I thought, "Oh, another baby thing- just what we need." But Wow. The thing is wonderful. Especially while making dinner, since I put him on the counter next to me and just had to be careful not to chop his toes with the vegetables.

Max on the 4th of July, on Aunt Liesl's lap

6 months old, visiting Kansas

One of his very favorite activities is to swing! 8 months old

A lion for Halloween (9 months old)

Mark holding Max, 10 months old.

Opening Christmas presents at Nana's house in Alabama. First Christmas and clueless.

11 months, at Nana's house in the exersaucer he loved to bounce in. Doesn't he look so grown up in the tie?

Wild Thing, I think I love you! Happy Birthday!

A First Haircut

2009-01-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

Look how long it is when you comb it out and hold those curls!

In the black culture, there are a few customs about life that I was not aware of until I married Mark. For example, a man who does not live in the home should be the first one to walk through the door at the beginning of the New Year. One time, Mark took an hour-long trip through snow and ice to help out a member of our church in Jersey City who needed help with this tradition. Another one is to not cut a baby's hair before he is a year old. Since many black children have lots of hair, frequently the birthday celebration includes a haircut.

I didn't keep this rule very well with Matthew. It seems that I have a little bit of an itch for cutting when scissors are in my hand. Max, however, is much balder than Matthew was and his hair has not yet been cut. His 1st birthday is on Sunday, but we have no plans to cut his hair anytime soon.

However, Felicity, who turns 8 in March, had never had a haircut until today. She's had things cut out of her hair several times, but has not had even a trim of all of her hair at once. The ends have always seemed so healthy and I confess that with my short, wispy strands (and haircuts every 6-8 weeks), I enjoy vicariously having long thick curls through my daughters. Katrina took a pair of scissors to her head a year ago, although you wouldn't know it to look at her. In fact, it took me a day or two to notice.

Lately, it's been getting extra tricky to pick out Felicity's hair, which is a bitter irony since she is the tender-headed one of the lot. I offered to cut it some time ago, and she has been wanting me to do it. We kept her home for the inauguration today (hah! Only kidding, we were all sick) so I had some extra time and she reminded me. These were the results:

Putting half of it up since there's so much hair:

Bunny became the recipient of these new locks.

We cut off about 6-8 inches, but who can tell with those curls? Although she's not smiling, she was very happy with the haircut.

Clean at last, clean at last

2009-01-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

We got some great new craft supplies for Christmas this year, courtesy of Uncle Kent & Aunt Melanie. We have already really enjoyed them, but needed to find out a home for them in our house. Besides, one of the big tasks every January is making room for the new acquisitions, getting rid of the obsolete or unused, and organizing our general chaos, after returning all of the Christmas decorations etc to storage spots.

That's the reason my to-list this month is lined with things like: clean out pantry, organize exploding desk, conquer closet of doom, clean laundry room, and so on. I finally tackled the pantry last week and made room for almost everything on that table except a small bag of garbage of old paint and so on. It felt so good to finally be done that I had to take a picture:

Just so I can remember what it looked like, because already it's degenerating. However, it was a good thing I finally checked that one off, since a couple days later we learned that an appraiser was coming to our house, as we're trying to refinance. That took a ton of work getting ready for him, since our "clean" is other people's "normal". It was really nice to have the entire house clean, including our bedroom (where the children love to drag things like blocks, food remnants, or their stale pjs), closets, and floors. No more nibbling rollaway dinner leftovers, Max the Vac!

Mark told me to take a picture, but alas I was too tired. It didn't last the night, anyway, but it was nice while it lasted.

A new birthday suit

2009-01-17T15:27:00.000-08:00

Matthew is a boy of privilege. Hardly a trust fund baby, but still, this kid has a good life. His cousin, an only son, very generously hands down all of his very nice clothing and shoes. The boys from the neighborhood are all older, so he gets more clothes and toys from them.

Since Christmas was just a couple of weeks ago and he has plenty of stuff, for his 4th birthday on January 11, we gave him a suit that he was pretty excited about. Since we came home from church and had guacamole, we needed to take some pictures before he ruined it forever.

Matthew requested a "pirate cake". Since I am no expert cake decorator, I was mystified about how to tackle the project, until Mark suggested making the cake the landscape and buying some pirates from the dollar store to put on top. All of us prefer chocolate frosting to plain, so we made a massive dirt island in the cake's small blue sea. I played pirates with him a few days later with the figurines and he kept wanting to find princesses and shoot them. I preferred finding treasure (smarties). I guess every pirate has his priorities.

Since it was his birthday weekend, Matthew got to pick the Fun Friday activity, and surprised us all by choosing bowling. I didn't know he even knew what that was. With the help of the bumper lanes, we got some decent scores. (I was afraid I would be like Lars and bowl a gutterball into another lane) We made it before the big timers rolled in and we all had a great time.

The Morris Christmas show

2009-01-06T19:49:00.001-08:00

So I was watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 with Rewa, my sister-in-law, on Christmas vacation in Alabama. Rewa loves watching that show with all those little kids under one roof and she made the comment that it would be entertaining to watch a show on our family. It's not the first time I've gotten a comment like that, I guess we are a little entertaining to watch. Probably because of all of the dramatics at our house and the funny remarks that kids make, but really, everybody's kids are funny in a way, we're just a little louder and emotional. I told her that the millions of women out there would be outraged at my lackadaisical approach to housecleaning ("I should probably ask Felicity to pick her underwear off the bathroom floor when she gets home from school...") and parenting in general, as opposed to Kate's rigid adherence to hygiene. Whereas Kate's perfectly alright with showing quite a bit of skin; that's not okay with me. I guess we all have our issues that are important to us.

We agreed that they could have filmed our families during Christmas. Some of the things that would have made the cuts:

Interrupting our 670 mile drive for an emergency clothing change in a muddy ghetto WalMart in Shreveport, LA the day before Christmas Eve and then not finding each other for 45 min. Stopping again 3 minutes later because I forgot Mark's potato chips.
Kids thrilled at reuniting w/ cousins when we arrive at midnight and running around crazily until ONE am. Adults to follow an hour...or so...later
Shopping with our children + cousins on Christmas Eve (Mark took them at Toys R Us, I got them at the Galleria. How is that fair???)
Opening presents on Christmas morning and the sheer delight of the children
All the Obama paraphernalia
The many people who got walked-in-on (one bathroom- no lock on the door)
Mounds of southern food, especially the delectable German chocolate & Red Velvet cakes
Family pictures at JC Penneys' the Saturday afternoon after Christmas. Waiting a full HOUR before our photo shoot started and watching the ahem, MEN (except Mark) get extremely bugged and take off while the women pick over the pix and decide that none of them are real keepers but what the hey, we spent the time and the $, even got coordinating clothes, might as well get 'em anyway..
Retakes with Nana my new camera on the front lawn- more flustered subjects
Max & Kayla playing/maiming together as only babies do
Gingerbread house construction- and immediate destruction
Mark making goodies and then our caroling to deliver them to the neighbors. Oh and especially the kids' races to the door and ensuing arguments. Another highlight would be when we'd enter a smoke-filled home and the children would clap their hands over their mouths while I hissed, "Don't...say...anything!"
Packing our car with way too much stuff & saying goodbye to Mark's family

There were lots of other moments that would have appeared on TV too, like an argument between 2 certain adults on the way home from Christmas dinner, but thankfully our lives are NOT a TV documentary (or would that be a mockumentary?)

And now, for anyone who's still reading this... some pictures of some of the previous events:

9 year stats

2008-12-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

7 Addresses
4 States Inhabited
1 House
3 Cars
39 States traveled to together (airports do NOT count!)
5 trips to Florida
*16 trips to DC
Approx. $18 K spent visiting family alone!
5 foreign countries visited
6 jobs
2 graduations (mine from BYU, Mark's from HBS)
4 children
About 2735 nights of interrupted sleep (rough estimate)
*212 trips to the laundromat
*32 parking tickets
38 birthdays
8 birthday parties
About 4080 pancakes made on our pancake griddle, not counting moonlighting at ward breakfasts
4 trips sans enfants
25 callings
countless hugs, kisses, smiles
* approximated

The Best Christmas Pageant & Pork Shoulder Ever

2008-12-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

My sister Heidi has requested that I blog about the best Christmas in Alabama and the best one in UT. This will be our tenth Christmas together, and we have traveled for every single one of them (during the Christmas season counts, if not there on the actual day), except for 2002, when Katrina was 6 weeks old. Traveling during the holidays stinks, but Mark and I are both incredibly sentimental, so we put up with lots of headache to be with loved ones.

My favorite Christmas in Alabama was Christmas 2000. I was pregnant with Felicity, so it was just Mark and I and his immediate family: his mom, dad, and sister. Rewa had not yet remarried, so she was there with lots of free time. Christmas Eve was on a Sunday, which I love, because it forces us to enjoy that day too, since Mark won't shop on a Christmas Eve Sunday. I also like going to church on Christmas Eve. Mark's aunts and cousins were there, and we all had Sunday dinner at MaDeah's house. The next morning Rewa got up and opened her presents by herself and then Mark and I opened our gifts with Mama Arcola. Everyone came over for the traditional pork shoulder with biscuits, rice, and hot sauce breakfast they have every Christmas morning. Then we watched X Men on video with Terrance, who has actually read the comix so he was chock full of info. That night we went to Arcola's old family house where she grew up and had the turkey and dressing, ham, greens and sweet potato pie. I couldn't remember anybody's name or keep up with the conversations but we still had a great time. I think I picked up a lot of southern expressions that trip.

Alabama Christmas 2005 was also pretty good. We instigated a Christmas Pageant that year, and Kel, Rewa's son, participated. Mark and I did stockings for everyone, which was really fun to plan. The next day, we asked the family if we could open presents together and we were so busy watching the kids get into their Santa gifts and setting up the 4 video cameras that we didn't finish opening presents until 4 pm! Mark's parents got new carpet 2 days later, which was a lot of work, and then we all went to Panama City, Florida for a few days and stayed in a nice condo on the beach. It was a great break from the Boston winter we were about to return to.

My favorite Christmas in UT was probably last year... or Christmas 2004. Both Christmases I was expecting a new baby boy in the next month, so I was huge and uncomfortable, but it was good to see so many members of my family. We did a lot of family get-togethers last year, which was so nice because we got to be with everybody so much of the time. The children always have a great time with their cousins. The only lament is that Craig & Holly and Kurt & Alice were gone last year. The girls' reaction over their gifts in 2004 was awesome and Matthew's over his tools was great last year.

On Christmas Eve, the Hansens have their traditional turkey dinner, followed by the kids' production of the Nativity. It's not terribly reverent, but always entertaining and rather a huge production with so many kids. Then we sing Christmas songs for hours, hang up stockings, and the water game ensues. Water UNO is a tradition from Craig's mission- it starts out a huge game with a monster deck. We play "SuperUNO," meaning that you pile on Draw 4's, pass your cards to your neighbor when a zero is played, etc etc. Losers drink a huge -huge!- cupful of water. You're out of the game when you excuse yourself to the bathroom. (Yes, this sounds like a game from elders... ) Mom and Dad play the Messiah into the night and the Santas get a few precious hours of sleep before we dress up and line up to go see stockings and then presents under the tree. Dad hands out the gifts one by one in an agonizingly slow fashion until the room resembles a packing peanuts factory (one year I gave Tyler an incredibly fragile electric blanket) and we laze around and read comic books from the stockings for the rest of the day. Lunch is leftovers from the night before and it's a nice lazy day playing with toys, games, and the movies. And eating candy.

So there you have it, almost like it was straight from the Ghost of Christmases Past. We are going to Alabama this year, but since we're driving, we get to leave when we want and hopefully it will ease the stress somewhat on packing gifts. Better than last year, when the suitcase of presents got left at home and I called my heroic neighbor in a panic. She sped it to the airport and then the nice guys at Security did not throw a fit about the large bottles of cologne going through the belt. I think they were afraid to mess with a stressed pregnant lady. Very wise.

Matthew's house

2008-12-13T09:40:00.001-08:00

Every kid loves to build stuff out of pillows and blankets, and it helps if your mom lets you have a go at the furniture pieces as well. This is Matthew's favorite activity lately- making a house, rocket ship, roller coaster or a train out of household objects. There are intricate details at times, like that upside-down laundry basket, which serves as a transporter into the house, because the door was eliminated. Hard to make a fuss about the mess when he's using his imagination and playing independently so well. (Besides, let's be honest, it's a mess anyway.)

It also makes me question certain Christmas requests. Why is it that the actual toys, lusted after for months on end, become less fun than the wrapping paper or the box it came in? What's more, Mom and Dad's regular things are even more exciting. I guess that's why they invent things like E-Z bake ovens (which turn out to be more of a hassle for parents. Just a piece of unsolicited advice for any of you contemplating buying one)!

Cousins, cousins, everywhere

2008-12-13T09:15:00.000-08:00

"Cheers, chaps"- toasting each other at Thanksgiving dinner. 8 kids at that table, the babies at the other.

The 6 "Kansan Kids," as Felicity and Katrina have dubbed them, came down for a quick visit for Thanksgiving, escorted by their parents of course. It was great- the children all play very well together and the older girls are super helpful with the younger kids. Plus it's always nice to see Neil and Kristie.

Raining bubbles. Felicity got a bubble machine last March and was saving it for this moment.

Felicity and Maria on the swingset. These girls have been buddies since birth- Maria was there to welcome Felicity home from the hospital.

We loved having them, and it's always hard for Felicity to say goodbye. Even though we are about a 7 and 1/2 hours' drive away, it feels like they're not so far since we usually get up there and they down here every few months. Either that or we meet up in UT.

Then my dad came for a conference in Dallas the next week. He stayed over and we got to see him the morning of his 65th birthday. This was Dad's first visit to our house, and we were happy to have him. I put him to work helping with homework and babysitting, reading to/feeding children, before Mark returned from a week in DC. Matthew has prayed for his return, I think he likes Grandpa's laid-back style of babysitting... lots of freedom and tv.

Christmas Misconceptions

2008-12-11T21:45:00.000-08:00

We went and bought a Christmas tree and decorated it a couple weekends back. Matthew wanted to know on Monday morning, "Why didn't Santa come?"

One of my friends from the neighborhood stopped by and recommended I buy decorations after Christmas. We've always had smallish artificial trees in apartment living, so now that we have a bigger space, our decorations to tend to get lost on the bigger tree. However, I sort of like the "less is more" approach with decorating- simpler. I would, however, like to find the rest of the ribbon and lights.

The children drew names out of a hat to see which sibling to whom they would be giving a Christmas present. Katrina drew Felicity. She promptly went to the tree, retrieved the present Grandma sent for Felicity, and handed it to her sister. She's so generous.

Funny how we automatically assume children are going to get all the traditions, customs, and procedures around Christmas, since it's a holiday they enjoy so much. Max seems to be enjoying himself, though.What, you don't eat your presents? What's wrong with you?

"You'd better not... or else!" stories

2008-12-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

In the last post, I asked my cousin Holly to remind me of the story of when she got her finger chopped off as a little girl. I was remembering the story because I was trying to get my kids to be careful around sharp knives. (I asked Holly's permission to publish it for the blogosphere):

The story goes that Uncle Lowell was trying to remove a stump and gave it a go with an axe, but that wasn't working, so he went for a rope and truck while leaving Holly, aged 6, with Darren, aged 4, warned them not to touch. Darren was playing at Paul Bunyan while Holly was making homes for grubs out of wood chips, and as Holly put it, "We sort of collided in those separate plans, and voila! When Dad says don't touch, he means it." (Thankfully, her big sister Joy had the presence of mind to hold the remains and it was successfully sewn back on.)

I've always been a sucker for a good story, and it seems to help my children remember why they're not supposed to do that naughty whatever. Besides, although this sounds strange, my kids seem to like them- even the stories told with the intention of scaring them into obedience. One time, (ONE TIME!) I told the girls a story about a little boy named Lincoln (whom our family didn't even know personally- my sister told it), who was scalded by hot bathwater, and suddenly they wanted to hear it at bedtime for weeks.

Serious backfire, folks. I actually hate these kinds of stories, but I also want safety and immediate compliance to safety rules. I'm the type of girl who HATES watching the ten o'clock news because I start worrying about the people on Highway 114 who got hit-n-run by the guy going 90 in a 55 and will they get their deductible back??? (So you can imagine how it felt to watch the NYC news every night and hear about the crazy murders happening in that hood, Jersey City. Which is, in fact, where we were living.)

Some scare-ya-into-obedience stories are not so bad. There are a few components of a good story:

Obviously, it needs to be applicable to the situation (Holly's story isn't going to help motivate them put on their helmets.)
Needs to have an unhappy/painful outcome, but not so unhappy that it causes other phobias or nightmares.
Needs to not scare me- I loathe those times when moms sit around and tell freakish horrible stories about that child molester or this car accident that happened in the 2 seconds when they took off a seat belt.
Stories like this should be rarely told, or they run the risk of making your child paranoid or to ignore all parent tales.

My mother is not afraid of anything, so she rarely passed these along. My dad told one- his uncle was resting his elbow on the rolled-down window while driving, when a trailer came bumping by and smack! that was the end of his arm. Didn't really work with any of us, though. We still let our arms out the windows. Just like Tyler and the warts- nothing could stop that finger sucking.

But I'm curious. Do you or your parents have a good story? Bad one? Did it work?

Ack! Tagged again!

2008-12-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

Oh Holly. I am terrible at tags! But I do lack for ideas, so hopefully this will help get me to 50 by the end of the year.

5 of My Current Addictions:

Dessert, especially chocolate (maybe not as much as Mark does, but close)

Listening to my baby laugh... oh, and the others too

Christmas music & movies

Wasting time on the computer

Reading

I don't know how to do links, so I can't pass it on legitimately. But I thought of a good story, maybe you can help- when you chopped your finger off as a little girl. I've been trying to tell it to my children as a "you'd better not" fable but can't remember the details.

Happy Thanksgiving back.

2008-11-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at video ever. Yes, it's obviously the work of amateurs. Sorry about the glare from the window.

Matthew very kindly stopped his couch house construction for the filming, but wanted to make sure his leg appeared in it. Did you see it?

It's not too late to celebrate Halloween, is it?

2008-11-23T19:48:00.001-08:00

Since my neighbors are in the thick of hanging Christmas wreaths and lights, I thought I'd put up some pix of our October festivities to even things out. [I should acknowledge that I assigned my piano students Christmas music 2 weeks ago and have been sneaking some things out myself.]

I read in the Washington Post that Mark brought home this Thursday, that Christmas has been creeping up earlier and earlier every year. The article reviewed papers over the past 100 years and preparing "early" for Christmas back in the day was considered 2 weeks before Christmas. I think we have a lot more activities associated with the holiday now, so you really need more time to celebrate it. Similarly, Halloween has become almost a month long holiday.

In TX, everyone is so excited for fall's arrival and summer's departure that pumpkin patches, Halloween and autumn decor, fall festivals and the like blow into action before the weather's really even cooled off. It was better for temperature this year, but it always amazes me the extent my neighborhood gets into their Halloween decorations- both spooky and cutesy. There are a lot of things you can do, so it makes it a fun month and these pictures reflect some of the things we did. Just be glad I didn't include them all.

Here's Mark and the kids carving out the enormous Jack-O-Lantern for Family Night one Sunday. Blogger limited my pictures so I can't show you the finished product.

The Kindergarten classes took a field trip to the Arboretum. Here's Katrina lovin on Miss Lawson, whom she adores to the point of wanting to buy her cherry cokes at every opportunity (Miss Lawson's favorite drink).

Katrina at the Arboretum (the sun got hot at the end of the day)

Max amidst all kinds of pumpkins. He was a very happy tagalong!

Matthew and Katrina in a dude Pumpkin House at the Arboretum

We have a lot of Pumpkin Patches around us, with lots of things for kids to climb on and rides and bounce houses and whatnot:

The kids driving the tractor. If the girls look like they're in pjs, it's because they are. You can't dress in costume for Halloween (religious groups frown on celebrating the holiday within the school context), but you can dress in pjs for Red Ribbon Week.

Then is the famed Halloween night for trick or treating!

Mark & trickertreaters. Matthew- Spider Man. Felicity-Asian Princess. Max-Lion. Katrina- Angel (w/ mask)

Max holding the lion tail in his sleep after trick or treating

Max was wiped out and fell asleep before the evening was over. We had another party to go to, what a champ he was to attend. Because of Blogger, I couldn't include pictures from Matthew's preschool party, my pumpkin dinner, the work party (Max was a dragon for that one), or from the costume party that Mark and I attended. We were a s'more. He wanted to be the chocolate, but we just went with our natural colors and I was the marshmallow. We used cabinet doors for the graham crackers.

So November 1, we were Halloweened out. No wonder it took me so long to post.

A 6 Year Old Bean

2008-11-21T12:35:00.000-08:00

A couple of Saturdays ago, I took the older 3 kids shoe shopping. The girls needed some new Sunday shoes and Matthew needed some shoes that he could put on without any assistance from me (We are exiting sandal season). Felicity knows that cost is a key component for shopping and found some shoes she liked that were dressy, classic, and on sale!!! She was all set. Matthew was looking at all of the different character shoes and likewise found something that worked in our price range. Meanwhile, Katrina was trying on all of the shoes, especially the fancy ones with all kinds of things going on.

Showing off "Lucille" for the Book Character Pumpkin Parade

I am rather a plain Jane kind of girl- no pierced ears, makeup on the way to church, and most days in jeans and a simple shirt. While I admire those who have the sense of style to pair zany shoes with a very different outfit, that's never been in my comfort zone and I don't know what to do with those clothes, let alone accessories. I'm trying to branch out, but my history has been that shoes are neutral colors, especially black. I tend to encourage the same in my children. But as it should be, Katrina is her own girl.

Miss Independence Riding a 2 Wheeler!! (in soccer uniform, minus the shin guards & cleats)

She liked the glittery shoes, the animal prints, the heels, the jewels, the spray gold/silver/metallic looks, and tried them all on. A good fit was not enough, however. After trying them on, she'd run over to the tiled section of the store "to see how they sound." What! You don't buy shoes based on how they sound! Well, maybe I don't, but she was ready to. In fact, some that she really liked had a "boring" sound, which disqualified them. Of course none of her pairs were on sale, or at least on sale enough to tempt me if I were a size 12 1/2. But it was her birthday in a few days and I was trying to give her the freedom to choose. We put a pair she loved on hold and also tried another store, with similar results. Thankfully her favorite out of the group was reasonably priced and we bought them in time to wear for the Primary (kids) Program the next day in church.

Her birthday was the following Tuesday, and of course she wanted to wear the new shoes to school with a dress to celebrate the day. Thankfully, I had sneaked some cute, clearanced, school shoes into the purchases on Saturday night that made a good gift for Katrina. They went well with the dress, lucky for me and for those fancy shoes that would have gotten pretty scuffed on the playground.

No longer in the Disney Princess stage, but still a princess in that she knows she is beautiful, loved, unique, intelligent, and wants to reflect that in her appearance. I recognize that "Princess" has become somewhat of a negative word with connotations of spoiled, picky, lazy, etc. However, there are good aspects of the title, which part I hope she chooses. I love my feminine little girl and her original personality. And I am grateful for her affectionate personality, who tells me several times a day that she loves me, gives hugs and kisses, and says "I'm so glad you're my mommy."

To which I respond, "I'm so glad you're my Bean."

My voice is my passport; validate me

2008-11-19T06:58:00.000-08:00

OK enough already, it's time for a new post. It's time to crawl out from my hole of painting and sick baby-tending. I'm going to post 3 times by the time this week is over. Just so ya know, Sunday is the end of my mental week, based from a misunderstanding from early childhood until I was in high school.

My earlier post about what makes me feel good about myself as a wife made me start thinking about other illogical connections to my job performance as a friend or mother. This whole thought process was started years ago by my sister-in-law Kristie, when she was living on Long Island in Bayville, NY, 38 miles away from us in Jersey City, NJ. Baby Felicity and I were visiting her and their 3 (at the time) girls one fine day. We drove into Oyster Bay in the afternoon and the sun was shining. Kristie said, "Oh no, it's a beautiful day and we haven't been outside. I always feel like a bad mom when that happens." I thought, "?!?!?"

But now I completely understand.
If I'm a good mom, then...

My children play outside and/or go on a walk
I make cookies or they help me cook something
I read to them for great lengths of time
We eat well-balanced meals that involve lots & lots of fruits and veggies

My children watch no or very little TV/movies

And do lots of jobs, in and outside

We have a good scripture study/song/prayer with NO FIGHTING

My children do not have cereal for breakfast

Use their imaginations while playing

They bathe

I clean something besides the kitchen for the 842nd time that week

We have a learning activity that actually gets cleaned up afterwards

Their rooms are clean
Lots of hugs and kisses

I feel I am a good friend when:

I watch their children

They come for dinner

I have the ingredient they're missing for their dinner

We talk on the phone and it is neither too long nor too short (so they know I care, but I'm not taking up their whole day, either)

I attend their event (baby shower, softball game, dance performance, whatever)

My Christmas/birthday card actually arrives on time (or I remember it at all)

They let me serve them in some way (do their dishes/organize pantry/teach their Primary class while they're on vacation)

They laugh while we're together

They tell me about their problems
I have a recipe they want, and actually remember to give it to them

I read their blogs/email forwards (some of these are more fun than others)

These lists are not all-inclusive, and obviously there are some things that are beyond my control. (Like having the capers my neighbor needs for her lemon chicken? or my children actually putting their undies in the hamper without my prompting? ) For some silly reason, those things are like little gold stars on my report card. However, knowing that I cannot determine the outcomes, I'm trying not to get hung up on these things.... since I never accomplish everything on the list anyway, and some days are better than others. But it's still interesting to reflect on what validates.

Sweet Tooth

2008-11-07T15:44:00.000-08:00

Mark is the original baked good lover. Remember when we were making all those desserts and I blogged about them? Yeah, and I didn't even include the carrot cake and the cookies that were also made that week. Well that was all when Mark was home. He didn't travel for 2 weeks, and has a high expectation of desserts, so that's why I gained 5 lbs in those 2 weeks. Since Mark started his job with Deloitte, he has had to find other sources to satisfy his sweet tooth since he's not home for dessert 4 nights a week. And I tend to be pretty tired and not into baking several times a week in a typical week, so Mark found a new friend in baked goods.

So the solution is.... Swirl Bakery. Kind of pricey, but he just doesn't eat on Thursdays, and then when he gets off the plane at DFW airport, he takes a taxi directly to the bakery and then home. And he expenses the whole bill, because he hasn't used any of his daily allotment for traveling meals. However, he's on a new case which has complicated matters. The client has dictated that No Consultant Shall Board a Flight Prior to 6 pm. And since he's flying from DC, that means the bakery is closed before he can get there. Yesterday he phoned the bakery and gave them the permission and credit card number so that I could come pick up the goods.

In the middle of making corn chowder, I loaded the children into the minivan and we trucked into Swirl Bakery. We waited our turn (Max & I did anyway- the others were dancing around and climbing on things) and when I got to the front of the line, I said, "My husband called..." That's it. That's all I said.
"Oh, YOU'RE his wife?" the girl behind the counter said, looking surprised.
"Do you know who I am talking about? Do you know which person my husband is?" -I was a little taken aback.
"Do I know who he is??? Of COURSE I know who he is! He comes every week, just as I'm trying to close. Sometimes we've locked the door and he makes me come unlock it and let him to buy stuff."

She explained their conversation and told me that there was a $35 limit. I tried pretty hard not to laugh as we made our selections and she gave us feedback like, "he really likes the Italian cream cake, but we don't have any today. Get this instead, he likes this..." She was astonished at how little we bought. I guess we disappointed her with the low sales, not even getting halfway to the budget limit. The children sure enjoyed picking out their own treats and bugging the poor elderly couple eating dinner in the cafe. Each child has inherited their parents' sugar addiction. In fact, they were very motivated to get their jobs done when we got home in anticipation of the dessert. Funny how little time it actually takes to clean the toyroom and bedrooms when a sweet reward is in store. Matthew didn't even need help picking up the trains, tools, or laundry!

Look! Bullet points! I have Power Point potential yet!

2008-11-05T21:07:00.000-08:00

I feel good about myself when my husband watches football. Strange, totally illogical, yet true.

See, my mother is a sports widow. She hates television and would prefer to unplug it forever, except that she loves my father and he enjoys a few shows. Growing up, we were allowed to watch tv only:

On Saturday mornings before 9 am (which I have only recently discovered is a way of sleeping in when you have small children)
General Conference (worldwide church mtg held twice a year)
Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, maybe Today's Special if you're lucky
Sports

Oh yes and piano lessons. Mom let us watch one of the days she taught piano, but in the middle of 6 boys, I was seriously outnumbered, so I would take a pass on Thundercats and Transformers and opted to play with friends or read. Even Saturday morning cartoons were wanting when my older brothers wanted to watch Dungeons & Dragons instead of Alvin & the Chipmunks. They never wanted to watch the Smurfs or other shows I was into.

But Saturday afternoons, Monday night football after FHE, Friday night basketball games, World Series, March Madness, the tv could get turned on without fear of raising the ire of our mother because Dad liked sports. I'm sure there were times that spectator sports drove her crazy (New Year's Day comes to mind), but hour after hour of time outs in the fourth quarter persisted on a fall afternoon. Many of my brothers used this to their advantage. Craig watched all sports, from golf and bowling to tennis and baseball. You have to really love the game to keep your brain from turning to mush after a marathon day of staring at the tv. I watch the US Open every year, but after an hour or two I am DONE. At least with the Olympics, you get some variety in sport. And that is not all! You still have two papers to read and the stats to go through and compare and contrast, not to mention BYU sportsline emails and internet crunching and munching. They are experts and can recall stats and games and athletes. They even named stuffed animals after key figures of the day.

So when I got married, I expected that Mark, my former football/basketball/volleyball playin man would be devoting hours to it. After all, that is what his dad does- every day after work, he retires to his room and watches a game or two or five. But Mark largely gave it up, since our weekends are busy or we're trying to spend time together. I wouldn't even think about it until fall was half over and he'd flip on a game for a few minutes. He does love tv, but usually he goes for shows I want to watch too, or action movies.

This year, he got scolded by a truly devoted fellow Bama-fan at church and I realized that it's mostly because of me... and my "to do" list and date night and Daddy Alone Time w/ each child every Saturday.

So, wanting to give him a little leisure time, I went and found a few games and turned them on, hoping to lure him into the room. And he actually spent a few minutes in front of the tv. In fact, we spent last Saturday night putting together our newest Ikea find while watching the Cougs make a comeback and then Texas Tech coming back for an amazing finish against #1 ranked Texas. Not that I cared who won, but it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. (Especially since Mark did NOT want to put together that dresser and did NOT want me to buy anything from Ikea in the first place. But hey, it's for the boys, it'll be trashed in 2 years, why spend $400 on it?)

I know this could come back to haunt me, and it still might. Yet, I am grateful that my husband has watched a little football this season because it means that I am a good wife.

It makes me wonder, what other illogical things make people feel validated as a good wife/husband/sister/brother/mother/father/aunt/nephew/ whatever?

Finally taking my tagging turn

2008-10-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

3 different friends tagged me: Cheryl, Meredith, and Kim. I always forget about doing what I'm supposed to do while on the computer, which is one reason why it's such a black hole of time waste for me. I don't know how to put links on blog entries, and the rules varied (slightly) from each other, so this one will have to be my version of the game. Think of it as playing dodgeball with your friend who can't catch or throw (also me).

The task of this tag is to list 6/7 Random Facts:

1- Although I think of myself as somewhat of a conformist, I always have to change something. I can't even follow my own recipes perfectly, much less others. That includes making a recipe that I have never before tried or tasted. And hence (the kidlets watched Mary Poppins this weekend, what a great phrase), there's always a lot of variety in the food around here.

2- I enjoy whistling, but it annoys me no end when anyone else does it. Very unfair, I know. Just last week, Felicity asked in frustration, "Why did you teach me how to whistle and then you do not let me do it?"

3- I have always wanted long hair... but it looks awful on me, and doesn't grow beyond my collarbone anyway. So it has to be short. Probably better anyway since I don't have the patience to take care of long hair.

4- I hate eggs. And processed cheese. Eggs and Cheetos are my dinner of doom.

5- I'm a night owl. Last Wednesday while I was out, Felicity told the bishop to call back at 11:30 or 12 because I don't go to bed until 4 or 5 in the morning. No, not that late. Pretty consistently around midnight though. Why go to bed at 11 when I'm feeling better than I have all day?

6- I was named for my paternal grandmother, Ellen. My parents added the "Jo" for variety. If I'd been born 1 child earlier (I'm #5), they would have named me Elena. Many people cannot remember or pronounce my name and call me things like Jolynn, Jailynn, Mary Beth (they remember it was some compound name). Some assume my father's name is Joe and mother's name is Ellen, or that I'm from the south. I always tell people to ask me my name as many times as needed; I know it's unusual.

7- Although I am at best a sloppy housekeeper, my spices and cans are always extremely organized. That is due to laziness- when I'm cooking, I don't want to hunt something down while burning something else.

So now I'm supposed to tag 7 people who haven't already done this, and they're supposed to copy/paste the graphic below and start the process over. Trying to think of who even reads this regularly! Uhhhh Liesl, Dawn, Melody, Jaime, Kent/Mel, Halls, Kim Christensen.