Business as usual

Details & D-Day

2011-11-28T12:01:00.001-05:00

Our fifth little Hanson will debut sometime around July 1st. Since my body is refusing to cooperate with my wishes to keep things on the down-low for another few weeks, I'm announcing the exciting news!

Here are some things that have been happening around here as this little one has been cookin':

- I had an ultrasound last week and this little "grape" was super wiggly. That was fun. It was even more fun to confirm that there is only ONE babe in there. This was an early ultrasound, so no gender yet. That should be happening around mid-February.

- I amazed that I am gaining weight considering how sick I've been. I'm hoping for only a few more weeks of this stage...

- I think I look like I'm 20 weeks pregnant instead of the mere 9 weeks. Hopefully I'll still look this size when I really am 20 weeks...I can dream.

- I got a positive test earlier than ANY of my others.

- I got sick earlier than ANY of the others.

- My sense of smell is crazy! This has never been a pregnancy symptom for me.

- Do these last three things mean it's a boy? Or is it just psychological? Only answer if you think it's the former...

- Colds and pregnancy are not friends.

- I'm typically a night owl, but not lately! Several nights a week I'm out by 9pm. Yikes.

- Autumn got big sister privileges and came with me to my appointment on Friday. I told her the news on the way there. She said, "Eeeeeee!", among other things.

- We told the rest of the kids yesterday and Heidi said, "I cannot believe I'm hearing this!" and "I hope I have a baby brother!"

- Esther didn't believe me.

- Becca said, "Oh."

- The strange dreams have begun. Last night I dreamed there was a tiger in the house and noone else cared to do anything about it. They knew it was there, they just didn't understand the seriousness. I mean, come on, a tiger?!

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

2011-11-27T23:49:00.001-05:00

(Bonus points for whoever can name the song I'm thinking of in my Post Title!)

So has anyone noticed the strangeness of my Facebook posts lately? It's like I've been hacked. They're just so random...check it out!

October 25
Does anyone else hate sesame seeds on their buns and find themselves picking them off? Anyone, anyone? No need to be shy. :)

November 8
Mmmm. Blueberry muffins with streusel on top.

November 15
Is it "kidney beans, kidney beans, hoagies and grinders" OR "navy beans, navy beans, hoagies and grinders"? And what are grinders anyway?

November 26
Grapes? Or raisins? If it were up to me, grapes would always win -- but on the other hand, that sure would taste odd in my Cream of Wheat...

Maybe it would make sense if I could keep it going for weeks and weeks and weeks...maybe 40? Or 36?

Something like this, you know: poppy seed, sesame seed, lentil, blueberry, kidney bean, grape, kumquat, fig, lime, medium shrimp, lemon, apple, avocado, turnip, bell pepper, heirloom, as long as a banana, or next a carrot, spaghetti squash, large mango, ear of corn, rutabaga, English cucumber, head of cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, butternut squash, large cabbage, weighs as much as four oranges, or then a jicama, next a pineapple, cantaloupe, weighs as much as a honeydew melon, crenshaw melon, as long as a stalk of Swiss chard, or next a leek, weighs as much as a mini-Watermelon, size of a small pumpkin?

Little people shouldn't play on bunkbeds

2011-11-23T14:47:00.001-05:00

Last week was crazy. Becca fell off the top bunk on Monday afternoon. We spent the day on concussion watch. We watched movies and iced her swollen eye (face-first, ay!). The swelling went down some but in the evening it went back up to off we went to Urgent Care. The Urgent Care doc said he couldn't feel any fractures and to just watch for abnormal behavior or vomiting and to take her to the ER if either of those happened. We headed home with a plan to rouse her every 2 hours through the night. Then she threw up in the car...

At the ER she had a CT scan with results showing 2 fractures around her eye and 3 mm (like 3 drops of blood) of bruising on the dura (the outermost lining of the brain - not IN the brain, so big difference there). We were transferred to Miller Children's Hospital for observation and a repeat CT scan.

Becca and I spent Tuesday morning from about 2am to Wednesday afternoon about 1pm in the hospital. The repeat CT scan showed the bruising was stable so we just waited to make sure she didn't show any abnormal behavior that would indicate intervention was necessary.

I have NEVER spent that much time all alone with my youngest. Once we knew things were going to be okay, she and I enjoyed some good one-on-one time. She is such a sweetie. As long as nurses or doctors weren't messing with her checking things or poking at her, she was happy. And even when they did have to check things, she really was a trooper.

It's been a week and a couple of days now and I am continually amazed at how quickly she is healing! We've been through the "bruise rainbow" and are almost done! She has a follow-up with the opthamologist next week to check her eye again, but that's it.

If you are at all queasy about these kinds of things, you can stop here. Here come the pictures. I wanted to document how quickly her healing has been. For our family here, we've been with her all week and are used to how she's looked - but if you're checking in here, it may be a bit of a shocker. Just to warn you!

ALSO: If you feel inclined to leave a comment, please know that we have fielded all sorts of questions and comments in the past week and a half. Some very kind, some not so kind or thoughtful. Hopefully if you read my blog, you know that I love my children and take care of them. Some knocks are just going to happen despite any parents' best efforts! Yes, we don't regularly allow our children to play on the top bunk (especially our littlest ones!). Yes, we have a climber. No, I do not follow her around the house 24/7. Yes, she was playing with a sister. Yes, I actually had the ladder blocked off previous to this though some inventive children undid my work. Yes, it is blocked off again. Okay, deep breaths Abby. I'm okay now. Just had to put that out there.

Monday evening, can't even open her eye...

Tuesday, early in the morning:

Wednesday afternoon, buckled in and ready to come home (and able to open her eye a little!):

Thursday, eating lunch:

Friday:

Sunday (looking a little sleepy still post-nap):

This morning, Wednesday the 23rd, 10 days later:

Crazy old Maurice, he's always good for a laugh!

2011-10-10T01:51:00.001-04:00

Last night I was searching for a particular video to show to my mom. I also came across this one. It's only 42 seconds and will make your day! I've decided to check my PhotoBooth more often...I need these reminders of just how funny my girls are!!

Leave the room for 1 minute

2011-09-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

I came into the kitchen and saw this:

Which led to this:

Better versions of the words we know - Vol. 2

2011-09-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

I started to make dinner tonight and realized how much of our girls' "vocabulary" has crept into our own. I told Eric I was going to check if we had the "gredients" for dessert. That was one of Heidi's.

Right now Becca says:

nunnerwear (underwear)
nanks (thanks)

"I'm drive" (I'm dry!)

Boatright Muses

2011-09-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

"We are the muses.

Goddesses of the arts

and proclaimers of heroes.

Heroes like Hercules.

Honey, you mean Hunkules!"

I have loved this movie from the first time I saw it (you knew I was talking about Hercules, right?) And with four sisters of my own, it was only natural that we would assign each of us to one of the muses in the story. Five muses, five sisters - how could we resist?

This planted a seed though. I asked Qait (short for Kathryn, Isaac's inventive spelling) if she'd be willing to draw a muse for each of us, basing the drawings on our interests. Someday, when she's finished them in pen (and color?) I'll frame them and hang them in my house! I'm including Qait's and my notes too.

Me: I think you should do a doodle of the five of us as muses! Not as look-alikes to the Hercules ones, but in a way that made it clear we were muses, but us, and included things that made it clear who was who? I don't know...but it seems like such a fun idea. And I don't have a drawing bone in my body. :)

Q: I have been sketching! JUST sketches, although I think they look pretty cool for being starter sketches. Abby, tell me how close/far I am from what you had in mind. I could do more cartoony, but I figured I have at least a little artistic license. ;) So I decided on a style sort of based on the Hercules muses, but more detailed and individualized.

To all of you--tell me if you are unhappy with the characteristics I put with your muse. It was sort of hard. I did some research and sifted through the nine typical muses --a lot of them are just for a specific kind of poetry, you know?

Now! In the drawings, things are not necessarily how they'll look finally. You might be able to read my notes jotted on the pages. There are lots of pictures (I had fun), but hopefully they're not too repetitive. I kept adding even after taking pictures, especially on Rae's muse. And Liz, sorry you look rather Pocahontasesque. :) Umm... I don't know if you want to hear my commentaries on each one, but I'm excited about them, and this is how I'd tell you about the picture if I were sitting with you.

LIZ:

LIZ: I present you as the muse of romance and poetry. You have always seemed like such a romantic in the best of ways, and I love your passion for writing poems! There's a heart-shaped tip to your arrow and a feather pen tucked in your sash. Are you satisfied with that? I meant to make you look like you're concentrating, but instead it's an angry face. Oops! And the feet...everybody's feet need work.

ABBY:

ABBY: Music and history. It was hard to pick for you--please give me ideas? I put you with a flute because--even though we are all musical--you have such a talent for music, especially having played a number of instruments. You have a book because that just seemed really suitable. :) I put you as the muse of history simply because you have an incredible mind for detail and events, and when combined with your love of reading, it worked.

RAE:

RAE: I already told you I think of you as artful (not artsy--that's fartsy). Your "props" are kind of difficult, though. You are the muse of writing and art. To represent art, you have a double scroll tucked under one arm. You are also holding items of decoration, a string of beads and a sash. At your feet is a vase or pitcher, also a decoration. But that area of your artistic talent, though wonderful, is not as strong as your talent with photography. I couldn't decide how to portray that. So you can see in my notes I added a portrait in the folds of fabric and sketched an old-fashioned camera. Thoughts?

KATHRYN:

ME (QAIT): I'm least happy with the drawing of myself--not for quality--because it diverts from the style I was heading for. I have myself as the muse of music (like Abby, though maybe I'll define it as lullaby music or something of the sort) and of astronomy. That one surprised Michael, but I really do love the stars. I have a star map and a telescope at my side, and I'm holding a lyre. The straight hair is not staying.

MADELYN:

MADDIE: I think yours might be my favorite...maybe. I like them all. Maddie, you're the muse of comedy and tragedy (or drama, humor) because you have the most delectable sense of humor. I think drama came to mind because you are quite a passionate soul. Your muse is depicted holding a dagger hardly hidden behind her back for irony and tragedy. In the hand resting on your knee, you hold the ribbon of an actor's mask. Your foot is resting on a miniature Greek stage with two tiny actors expressing joy and grief.

ALL: With the final pictures, I want to have a drawing for each muse separately and one drawing combining all of us. The various levels of glamor from sketch to sketch happened just with the fluctuation of my ideas and mood. Rae looks fancy, Maddie's cute, Liz looks fierce, Abby's 50s-relaxed, and I look like Barbie. That was just all kind of how it happened. :)

So two.

2011-09-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

We all enjoy Becca so much. This is a fun age.

Apparently this is the best way to watch Mickey Mouse. On a bucket. I love how she's the only one in the family who could get away with this. Noone else's feet would fit! Oh, to be two.

BYU's Tree of Wisdom - 2011

2011-09-22T07:10:00.000-04:00

We had no idea that we'd be starting a tradition when took our first picture here in 2007. I guess we'll need to come back in four years and take another.

It felt like it took a good hour to get this shot but it actually only took about fifteen minutes...

We have so many bloopers of this picture, it's hilarious! One kid ready, that kid gone and another in it's place, someone's back, someone screaming....family pictures with kids are always an adventure.

BYU's Tree of Wisdom - 2007

2011-09-22T07:00:00.000-04:00

Autumn, Heidi, and Esther on one of our last family walks on campus before Eric graduated!

I Love to See the Temple

2011-09-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

This summer we dubbed our Fridays as "Family Fun Fridays". One week we went to the Los Angeles Temple and Visitor's Center. I love how they've redone the Visitor's Center to be more interactive. The girls loved it too.

Eric's Mom & Dad have a picture on their wall of Eric and Anna standing in front of the temple, arms crossed, looking so serious (they were supposed to be looking reverent).

We just had to make our own but I don't think they look very serious (or reverent)...but they sure look cute!

Easter Girls

2011-09-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

I love how each of the girls' personalities comes out in this shot of all four of them.

The Napping Blog

2011-09-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

I guess I won't wait for the six-month mark to revive my blog. It's starting to reflect how I really journal....

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

But really, I'm ready to write again.

a THEORY

2011-04-04T18:41:00.002-04:00

I was talking to a friend last week about how much I dislike helping my girls learn to "not suck" on their thumbs/fingers. I dislike it as much as I loved it when they were babies. Make sense?

The fact of the matter is, babies are wired to suck. (I can't think of any other way to say that but I realize how weird it sounds. I'm not being sarcastic or goofy. Just stating facts.) That's how they get their food. It's an instinct. Whether the food comes from the breast or a bottle is irrelevant. The vast majority of babies know what to do when presented with milk.

So here's my theory.

If babies don't get to suck as much as they want to while eating, they will find another outlet. If a baby takes forever to eat, they'll be less likely to suck their thumb or need a pacifier. If a baby eats very quickly, they'll be more likely to enjoy a thumb or pacifier.

If I take a quick tally of my own kids, it looks like this:

Thumb-suckers/very fast eaters (because of very fast let-down!) = 4

That's 4 for 4 in case you're not paying attention.

I can't remember all the details from my 11 nieces and nephews. One definitely didn't need either thumb or pacifier and ate for long periods of time. That fits the theory. Another needed a pacifier for a short time. I wonder if he ate for shorter periods during that time? But generally, he ate for long stretches of time so that still works for the most part. One niece used a pacifier. She finished her meals faster than her brothers who didn't need pacifiers. That fits too.

I realize there will always be anomalies in any theory. But even if someone blows it out of the water -- could this still be a practical theory? What do you think? What has been your experience with your kids?

If this holds true with enough people, I can chalk it up as one more thing I wish I'd known sooner....

The other that comes to mind most immediately is directly related. It's when I learned that babies don't LIKE or DISLIKE pacifiers, they have to LEARN to like them. And in relation to this, they have to need them, I guess. But if I had known both of these things combined, I could have kept at the pacifier to supplement the need to suck....Nowadays I wish I could take away their digits the way I could take away a pacifier. But then...hindsight IS always 20/20.

I'm also realizing this could be old news. It's not "my" theory. It's just my "I just realized this" and "do you think so too?" theory. Maybe there's some parenting book out there that touches on this very subject. I wouldn't be surprised. But it's news to me right now and I think it's kind of fascinating....

LP's anyone?

2011-03-30T10:00:00.000-04:00

We've had a crate of records (mostly opera) for 2 years now and never listened to one of them. There are probably about 50 albums in it and we kept talking about how we would eventually get a record player. Last month we were given a VERY good reason to finally buy that record player.

MORE records!

A friend's friend wanted to get this collection off of his hands and knew that it would take way too much research to actually sell them. It turns out that LP's have a special grading system that is used to explain what condition they are in. Add to that the research he'd have to do to know which albums were rare and could be competitively priced and which could not. Fortunately for us, he decided he didn't have the time or desire to do that and instead offered them to friends before donating them to Goodwill.

I can't believe how many records we have now.

I also still can't believe how amazing records sound!

If I've ever heard a record before, it must've been when I was young enough that I don't remember. Eric spent the first day hunkered down in the music room dusting the records and calling out to me periodically to share a special find. Eartha Kitt's original Santa Baby?! So fun!

Then we trekked out to Target and found a really nice, and decently priced, vintage looking record player. The girls were as excited as we were about listening to these records. We found two different versions of Peter and the Wolf and the girls enjoyed listening to one of them that night.

I need to try to accurately explain the difference in sound when listening to records compared to CD's. When we're all home and one of us is listening to CD music in one room, it's easy to continue on with our own tasks. It doesn't even seem strange to turn on music or the TV in another room. But when the record player is going, noone wants to turn on anything else. And everyone feels distracted from what they're doing. We're all drawn to the music room. The music sounds bigger. It sounds more real. The quality is so much better! It's true that you have to get used to the little "pops" that come with record players, but we got over that fast.

I'm looking forward to many more nights listening to music on our record player. We've got a lot of music to catalog and it's gonna be fun!

Too, to, TWO!

2011-03-28T16:03:00.000-04:00

My baby is two! She's growing up way too fast. We really struck gold with her gifts this year. She loved every one of them and plays with them all daily. It's wonderful when things work out like that!

Play food from her sisters -- to go with the grocery cart they also got her.

Earlier this week I found her baby doll sitting in the front of the cart with a wallet right next to her.

Jamberry, by Bruce Degen

Oma and Opa, she loves this book so much. It is JUST the right size for her. Now if only I could get her to let go of it long enough for us to get past the first page!

They Might Be Giants, "Here Come the 1, 2, 3's" movie and audio cd from Grandma & Grandpa. Eric and I got her their A, B, C's album. I love TMBG's kid stuff. And so do the girls! We also have "No!".

She's watched enough birthday celebrations that she knows what to do.

Here's to another great year!

Bosom Buddies - Sisterly Love

2011-03-26T22:00:00.000-04:00

My dear, sweet Esther is truly a middle child. Sometimes she plays like a big kid and other times she wants nothing more than to be a little kid. And as all middle children can attest, sometimes it just seems like everyone else has something else to do!

She doesn't know that in the coming years she will learn one of the greatest perks of being a middle child. Middle children are blessed with the flexibility to choose whether they are "big" or "little". Do any of you other middle kids out there remember this? I sure do!

There were days when I would play with older siblings (or neighbors) because I could and I loved that feeling of being an older kid. But then there were days I wanted nothing more than to play Barbies or dollhouse and warmly welcomed my younger friends and siblings. Looking back, I am grateful for that. It was a "safe" place. Room to grow, but time to do it at my own pace. This is so unlike being the oldest or even the youngest. I watch my oldest and try to remember that and give her time to grow. Hopefully she doesn't feel pressure over that. I watch my youngest and try to remember that she's going to grow up anyway and I'll need to let her grow!

I have been anxiously awaiting the stage where Miss Becca would be big enough to buddy up with Esther in their own adventures. That day has finally come! Over the last month I have seen so many changes in the way she plays. And Esther is thriving because of it. She is so glad that Becca is ready for more interactive play.

"Helping" me put together our new bed.

Waiting for their toenail polish to dry.

I have no doubt that all four of my girls will be close to each other. I'm sure the degrees of closeness will vary over the years as it has with my own sisters but I am so glad that they will have each other to confide in, to laugh with, and yes, even to fight with.

Just thinking about my girls and their friendships now and how they will grow over the years makes me really grateful for my own sisters. You guys are the bestest! All four of you!

Toddler Mischief

2011-03-26T19:00:00.000-04:00

I should have known better.

In fact, I'm sure I did know better. And yet, this is what happens when you can't hear your two-year old:

Blood Broadcast

2011-03-24T16:08:00.007-04:00

I've been thinking about posting videos to YouTube or to our school blog but haven't yet. Until then, here's one of many. This was entirely Autumn and Heidi's idea. I did nothing more than turn on the video when they asked me to. They're also the ones who called them "broadcasts". Now Eric wants to teach them how to do podcasts!

Nurture Shock

2011-03-15T14:45:00.001-04:00

I'm in the middle of Po Bronson & Ashley Merriman's Nurture Shock (thanks for the recommendation, Abbie!) and it is SO great. Fascinating. I'll have to type up my notes when I'm done, but for now I want to jot down this quote from the book:

Preschool and elementary school teachers proclaim tattling to be the bane of their existence. One of the largest teachers' training programs in the United States ranks children's tattling as one of the top five classroom concerns -- as disruptive as fighting or biting another classmate.

But tattling has received some scientific interest, and researchers have spent hours observing kids at play. They've learned that nine out of ten times a kid runs up to a parent to tell, that kid is being completely honest. And while it might seem to a parent that tattling is incessant, to a child that's not the case -- because for every one time a child seeks a parent for help, there were fourteen other instances when he was wronged and did not run to the parent for aid.

When the child - who's put up with as much as he can handle - finally comes to the tell the parent the honest truth, he hears, in effect, "Stop bringing me your problems!" According to one researcher's work, parents are ten times more likely to chastise a child for tattling than they are to chide a child who lied.

Food for thought, isn't it?

Bedside Manner

2011-03-02T03:16:00.004-05:00

Is it just me, or do doctors nowadays seem too busy to be bothered with being personable? It feels like it's been a LONG time since my girls have had a doctor that really took the time to make sure I had all my questions answered (I miss you, Dr. Wise! With your superb bedside manner, friendly personality, awesome waiting area, papers to take home with measurements and shots given, information sheets for shots...I haven't seen your equal in the last four years...). And what IS it with doctor's offices being COLD too? We've got KIDS people. Come on.

I think any doctor's office that cares for children, should:

- have toys or children's books in their waiting room

- talk TO the kids

- TALK to the parents

- and listen to the parents' input and concerns

- make sure the parents are done talking before you leave the room!

Is that so strange?

So, here's some food for thought. If you were looking for a new doctor and calling around, what would you ask the doctor's office if you could only ask TWO questions? What do you think would be the most telling questions to ask that would help you know what kind of office you were dealing with? What kind of questions would accomplish this without the receptionist having to say, "Um, let me check on that. Can I have your number?" (Which has happened to me, by the way...)

Okay, rant over. But seriously, I would love your input on questions to ask!

Things of yester-year

2011-02-25T19:32:00.003-05:00

Oh, the fond memories I have of Pizza Hut's Book-It program and TCBY's DEAR program. In a family of seven kids, it was a special treat to be driven to Pizza Hut and be able to get my very own pizza that I didn't even have to share. (Nevermind the fact that it really wasn't a shareable size...it was more the fact that Mom actually said, "Now you guys, this is HERS. She earned it.")

Fast forward to now...I don't think TCBY does a program any longer. They're not near as big of a name as they used to be.

But, Pizza Hut, oh my wonderful Pizza Hut. The girls are in their second year of being signed up for the Book-It Homeschool program.

And it's the perfect dinner for tonight because Eric has rehearsal till late. Looks like it's time for the girls to have a movie night in. What should we watch? I'm giddy with the knowledge that my older two are now reaching ages that they adore movies which up until now, I have watched on my own. Sometimes I like to indulge in silly teeny-boppyerness or chick flicks. One of the best bonuses to having all girls? I know have someone to watch said movies with me. And the babies join in the fun because it's always more fun to be included even if you don't understand half the movie (and of course I always pick the innocent, clean, goofy ones!).

Pizza Movie Night, Here we come!!

(And for now, I will just set aside all the many wonderful things I am learning about eating REAL FOODS and just know that I'm slowly making changes in our family's diet and that tonight, this is OKAY!)

Better versions of the words we know, Vol. 1

2011-02-24T00:12:00.004-05:00

Esther was walking down the hall and this is what I heard:

"Ah! Someone keeps giving me wudgies."

"Ah! They did it again!"

"Oh, it's ME!"

And yes, she really was going down the hall giving herself wedgies...

Another time I overheard her telling Heidi to chill up! (which of course was supposed to be chill out!)

She also told us that she could hear her heart beeping.

On the Becca front, she's coining her own versions of words right and left. And I quite like them.

pudda budder = peanut butter

cean bup = clean up

My favorite right now is pudda budder. And Eric's favorite is probably the way she says "cooookie". And she calls ALL things sweet, "cooookie".

I'm reminded of how Autumn used to say "lo-shees" for "lotion" and that Oma and Opa still to this day call it "lo-shees". I may very well be making pudda budder and jelly sandwiches for the rest of my life.

Sleep, Fashion, Games, and Disneyland

2011-02-20T14:52:00.001-05:00

One of the many strange positions my kids find to sleep in...

That's my shirt on her head.

It's near impossible to get Becca to stay in one outfit these days.

She likes to wear everyone else's clothes.

Can't say I blame her. I think she improves them. :D

Becca doesn't look very happy, but the camera just caught a weird expression. She was so delighted with this game.

The King Arthur Carousel. Always fun.

She loves that they've added handles to the bars.

Becca has also been saying "help it" when she needs something lately. Instead of "help me". Today it was "I need help it." She couldn't reach her bowl of noodles.

Don't let the situation rule you!

2011-02-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I get so busy with the day-to-day demands of life that when something keeps happening over and OVER again, I just keep chugging along. Never stepping back to figure out how to address the issue.

Case in point:

1. In the morning, the girls get to watch some cartoons before we start our school day. But sometimes, once school has started, one of the girls will turn the TV back on -- distracting everyone else! And with 4 girls who all know how to at least turn on the TV, this can be a problem. I finally did something about it. I turn the TV to a really boring channel, or one we don't even get, turn off the TV, and then I put the remotes on the very top of my 6-shelf bookcase. Works like a charm.

2. We have a basket on our shoe cabinet for our keys and Eric's wallet, phone, and ipod. Usually it looks something like this because it gets overrun with other things that are just too tempting to dump there instead of elsewhere...

Well, it used to be that Becca could only reach it if she climbed on things. Until recently. It's been a daily battle. This is exactly what I'm talking about. There really was no need for me to be dealing with this every day. I finally did something about it.

Sick, sick, sick

2011-02-16T13:36:00.005-05:00

This is what happens when you're too sick to follow the toddler around...

When Heidi went to check on her she said, "Becca, you are just a disaster!"

Saturday started with a cough, Sunday the cough was worse. Sunday night was AWFUL. I barely got any sleep and was coughing and alternating between chills and fever.

Oh, we were a sight to see on Monday. I had a fever all day, along with all the other symptoms I'd been having. And I kept having this burning pain/pressure behind my eyes. We went into survival mode. I spent the day on various couches and chairs in the living room and the girls hung out with me, cuddling and watching movies. If there was ever a time when I needed Autumn & Heidi to pitch in without complaining or waiting to respond, Monday was that day and they went above and beyond.

Becca and I got lots of cuddle time on Monday.

And then, it being Valentine's Day and all, I had originally planned to pick up Eric's gift that day. There's no way I was going anywhere but the doctor's. I sent a facebook message to some of my friends that live nearby and my sweet, sweet, friend Susie wrote back and said she could pick up his chocolates (have you ever had See's Candie's Bridge Mix?! It is SO awesome. Eric says it's better than any other chocolate. It's manly chocolate. :D).

Not only did she pick up the chocolate, but she brought us chicken soup for dinner!

After Eric got home, I went to the urgent care clinic. I guess I should've taken a picture of me on my way to the doctor, for posterity....but this description will have to suffice:

- pajamas

- fuzzy socks

- normal shoes

- glasses with duct tape on the temple

- bedhead hair

- wrapped in a red blanket

- carrying my own tissue box

Awesome. No self dignity when it comes to being sick.

The doctor said I have the beginnings of either bronchitis or pneumonia. So I started a Z-pack Monday night and am slowly getting better. (Monday = lying down all day; Tuesday = sitting up a little, also lying down; Wednesday = sitting up, can putter around a little to take care of things) It's frustrating how gradual it is, but I'm trying to not overdo things. I really don't want to backslide.

When I got back from the doctor's, I had the best surprise waiting for me. The house was clean! Eric had cleaned up while I was gone. Of course, I also discovered he had to do double-duty cleaning. Esther threw up while I was gone. Okay, here it comes -- this may be TMI for some of you -- All the way from the couch to the toilet. Classic. The next morning, I mentioned to her that daddy had told me she threw up. She said, "That was so disgusting."

A morning bath. Sometimes it's just easier in the morning - especially when I'm sick.

You sure can't tell, but they really are happy about it.

Tuesday, Susie called to see how I was doing and said she was bringing dinner AGAIN because she wanted to make sure I had another day of rest. I live so far from my mom and Eric's mom, but I am so thankful that I have adoptive moms and aunts and sisters here. They are amazing.

And today? I got a call this morning from Ginny, another dear, dear friend. Really, these friends feel more like family than friends. We are just that close. And guess who's bringing dinner tonight? Yep. Ginny is.

She's almost done with the Half Blood Prince. She'd read all night if her body would let her.

Autumn and Esther have been sick too but have different symptoms and have gotten over it faster. The doctor thinks we all had something viral but then, with me, something bacterial became superimposed on that.

Oh yeah, and on top of all that, my laptop fell on the floor...it seemed fine at first and turned on a couple of times afterwards, but the following morning it wouldn't turn on at all. Eric fiddled with it and it's fine now. It has some dents and still needs to be opened up and fit back together a little better, but it functions! Phew!

So, overall, it's been a crazy few days but I think we're on the mend.

1, 2, 3 - The things we do for beauty

2011-02-14T03:42:00.000-05:00

It's such a fuzzy picture (and a messy background!), but I had to save it.

Me blow-drying Heidi's hair, and Heidi brushing Becca's hair. I love it!

to bear Testimony

2011-02-12T19:30:00.001-05:00

(I really don't know if anyone who reads this isn't familiar with my faith, but if you are, I'm including links!)

With last Sunday being Fast Sunday, I've had testimonies on my mind a lot. I remember a letter that was read in sacrament meeting 10+ years ago about how testimonies should be short enough to allow time for all who want to share, to be able to. It also talked about "testimonies" versus "thankimonies" or "storymonies". There have been several Conference talks that touch on this too. The other night as I was reading, I found this link, many of those articles combined into one.

I decided we should have a Family Home Evening about testimonies this week. We've done that before, but this time I figured we'd do something extra.

The girls wasted no time once I put it together. We weren't even ready for FHE and they were giving "talks", setting up chairs, laying out hymnbooks. My girls sure crack me up and make me smile!

A little imagination goes a long way if you have a stool, a gate, a baton, a blanket, and some duct tape.

Oh the fun that is my girls

2011-02-10T19:30:00.001-05:00

(LOOK at that expression!)

Cheesers.

It had to happen sooner or later!

2011-02-08T02:50:00.003-05:00

I knew she couldn't escape it for too much longer!

Eric got glasses in 3rd grade, I got them in 1st grade. Eric's prescription isn't too bad, but it's significant enough. Mine is bad. -7.5 & -8.5. And with both of our moms and dads in glasses/contacts and most of our siblings...well, you know, it was bound to happen.

Interestingly enough though, they're just reading glasses (for now, right?!). Prescription reading glasses. And she's far-sighted right now. The doctor said that would go away in a few years and she wouldn't need the glasses anymore. My bet's on her just transitioning into near-sighted glasses...which Mom says isn't unusual!

Necessity, the mother of invention

2011-02-05T19:49:00.000-05:00

Esther and Becca are partners in crime. Esther kept telling me she was hungry and I kept stalling for time. I finally turned around to see the two of them sitting on the couch holding THIS:

It looks like a mouse has been to visit.

In other news, the girls broke the crib. Casualties of war, I tell ya. Casualties of war. Kids are so hard on houses and furniture. I'm glad it's just stuff. I'm also glad they'll outgrow this. And although it may sound like we have no house rules, I'm glad to know that we DO and for the most part, they hold to them...

Autumn came running to break the news and here's what I figure happened after investigating.

Esther & Becca were jumping in the crib -- not something we condone, but not unusual -- and a screw started to come loose. Autumn tried to "fix" it. The jury's still out on who inflicted more damage. In any case, the crib is not salvageable. Impressive, really.

That also means that Becca is now in a big girl bed. A few months ahead of schedule, but we're finding ways to make it work. Nap time is the trickiest. With all four girls in one room, and a bunk bed, we had to get creative to keep things out of her reach when she's "sleeping" (and keep her safe).

Here's what I came up with.

Having the textbook wedged in the middle there keeps her from being able to stretch the sheet enough to get a foothold on the bar. It works like a charm.

Code Names

2011-02-03T19:30:00.000-05:00

I've really enjoyed seeing the different code names friends have come up for their family on their blogs. I haven't felt any desire/need to do that myself, but I've often asked myself what names we would use if we did do code names. For some reason, I just couldn't come up with anything and it bothered me. But recently it's become obvious.

So, I'm still not planning to use code names, but if I do I'll have plenty of fodder and the girls love the idea of having nicknames. One in particular has even asked that we call her by her current obsession's name....

Meet:

Hermione

This one comes as no surprise after two years in a row of dressing up as Hermione Granger for Halloween.

It's a little dark, but there's a Hermione wall sticker on her cabinet.

Hello Kitty

She was ecstatic to realize they share the same initials. A match made in heaven.

Tinkerbell

What little girl doesn't love this little green fairy?

Esther got to meet her for the first time recently and I did a little inner "happy squeal" when Tink said to the boy in front of us, "Oh, don't you want to say hi -- boy?"

and, well, this one's still up in the air...

Spitfire?

Cheezer?

Goofy?

What do you think?

As I was telling the girls about their friend's code names and the names we could use if we wanted, the conversation took an interesting turn...

Me: "And Daddy would be Mr. Incredible."

Girls: "Yeah!"

Me: "And I would be Elasti-Girl."

Autumn: "But you're not skinny enough!"

???!!

I had a good laugh over that one. And I was relieved to discover she wasn't calling me fat. :D She meant I can't stretch like that. But then, who can?!

I'm soooo tired, I haven't slept a wink

2011-02-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

(at the dinner table)

I'm soooo tired,

my mind is on the brink

I wonder should I get up,

and fix myself a drink.

No, no, no...

Are you googling the song for a listen? Can you resist? I couldn't. I'm still singing it in my head.

If you cry when you laugh and suffer any amount of incontinence, do yourself a favor and go to the bathroom before reading this

2011-01-31T20:11:00.003-05:00

We've completely switched to Macs in the last year. I'm so in love. When Rae visited, I showed her the glory that is PHOTO BOOTH. Behold...

Rae & I think this one looks like Rachel Dratch (you know, from Saturday Night Live).

Cousin It...

Mad Madam Mim

(from The Sword in the Stone)

I look like a cousin of Linguini, from Ratatouille!

At that, my friends, sums up the kinds of things that Rae & I do when we get together. Completely inane and yet, hilarious fun!

How do you do and shake hands, shake hands, shake hands...

2011-01-31T19:15:00.004-05:00

We were gifted another playhouse and the girls were so excited. Autumn kept talking about how she can't even stand up in the little one anymore. My not so little girl...

The original plan was to take down the smaller house and give it away, but when the new house arrived, we couldn't resist.

Look!

Neighbors!

Usually...

2010-11-16T20:35:00.003-05:00

The first picture was how Eric's cousin Amanda styled it. Love her!

This is how it usually ends up on a daily basis...

First Trim

2010-11-16T19:46:00.004-05:00

I got a haircut back in September and took pictures on my phone....only to end up doing a master reset and losing the pictures (but not my texts?!). I am loving this haircut and just got a trim today. (And I love Esther's apple-filled mouth in this picture.)

For Molly (and anyone else who likes to use a crockpot!)

2010-10-26T14:41:00.002-04:00

I love my crockpot.

We got a small one as a wedding gift. It was great. Until it wasn't. I think we donated it to Deseret Industries to bless some other newly-wed couple who only needed to feed two people at a time.

Right around that time, Anna got married. Such perfect timing. :) She was given two crockpots as wedding gifts and gifted us with one of them. Anna, did you know I think of you every time I use it?

When we get busy (and I'm thinking ahead) it's such a lifesaver. Here are some of my favorite crockpot recipes:

Shredded Sweet Pork Salad (aka Cafe Rio Salad!)

Potluck Beans (Pork & Beans -- this is my favorite pork & beans recipe now. It says it cooks tons, but for our family of six we only end up with leftovers for two lunches the next day. I suppose if you're really taking it to a potluck and it's a side dish, it makes a lot. But we usually eat it as a main dish with cornbread casserole and fruit. This calls for a pound of beef, but I'm going to be making it with 1/2 a pound. Not because it needs less, just because I can and it'll still taste awesome.)

4 Packet Roast

Korean Ribs

Yogurt (I've substituted the regular milk here for powdered milk several times! I usually use 1/2 C - 1 C more powdered milk than it calls for, to get it thicker.)

Chicken and White Bean Stew (This is not originally a crockpot recipe - just cook the bacon and onions first and then add to the other ingredients in the crockpot. I leave out the spinach.)

Rotisserie-Style Chicken

Non-crockpot recipes that work great in the crockpot:

stroganoff

bbq chicken/pork sandwiches

spaghetti sauce

french dip sandwiches (just the meat of course...)

Hawaiian Haystacks

Lil' Smokies with a ketchup/worchestershire sauce/brown sugar mix (perfect for New Year's)

It's also really handy to cook frozen chicken in the crockpot so that it's ready to use in recipes when you're ready to make dinner.

Yesterday I saw a post on Pioneer Woman about a new book called Fix-It and Forget-It Kids' Cookbook. There are several versions of the Fix-It and Forget-It books. I've checked out the basic one from the library and liked several recipes. Our library doesn't have the kid's version yet (it just came out this month). As soon as it does though, we're going to check it out. It looks awesome. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts that kids can throw in the crockpot and make? I think the girls are going to be doing a lot of our cooking in the near future. I'm looking forward to the break!

What crockpot recipes do you have that you love?

You know that saying, "That's a bunch of crock!"?

Kind of weird that we call it a crockpot...

Twelve

2010-10-25T00:27:00.001-04:00

This semester, Thursdays are my busiest days. We do school, drive to two music lessons, drive home just in time to eat dinner (I'm loving the crockpot on days like this), and then hurry to Heidi's soccer practice.

This Thursday was even worse. It seems hard to imagine that it could be. But I sat down to plan it out the day before and it looked like this:

- Mail very important package

- Go to Autumn's dental appointment

- Come home for lunch

- Go to Esther's violin lesson

- Go to Heidi's guitar lesson

- Eat dinner (crockpot)

- Heidi's soccer practice

- Do a musical number for our Stake Relief Society Leadership Meeting

- Bedtime!

Phew.

Then the night before all of this, we realized that Eric couldn't drive his loaner car to school. There was NOWHERE for him to park without his staff sticker. Student parking wasn't even an option because the loaner had no plates (a dealer plate...).

At first I had a mini melt-down. I had figured out how to make my insanely busy day work and suddenly a very big wrench had been thrown in it. I didn't want to change my plan...it took awhile to figure it out! And I didn't want to not go through with anything either.

After I calmed down, it turned out that needing to drive Eric to school simplified some things and then as the day progressed, other things became simpler too.

Tender mercies.

1. We stopped at the UPS Store on the way to Eric's work. I went inside and mailed the package - by myself.

2. We made it to Autumn's dentist appointment only 5 minutes late when traffic had me thinking it'd be 15.

3. Her dental appointment only took 30 minutes instead of the expected ninety.

4. We were able to do some of our schoolwork at home instead of in the car.

5. Becca got to have a nap.

6. Traffic was beautiful driving to Esther's lesson.

7. Traffic was beautiful driving to Heidi's lesson. We arrived with 20 minutes to spare.

8. Traffic, again, was beautiful driving to pick up Eric from work. Particularly huge considering just last week, that same day of the week, roughly the same time, and the same freeway, it took me 40 minutes to drive 3 miles. And also huge because we had rain most of the day, but no rain on that drive.

9. Received a phone call from our friend who requested the musical number. She had made dinner for us and wanted to bring it over.

10. Heidi's soccer practice was cancelled -- the fields were too muddied from the rain.

11. Eric's singing made the ladies cry.

12. Our sitter got Becca into her jammies and put her in bed. She fell asleep within seconds. This was a big deal not only because she's not always the best at that with others, but because we hadn't even given bedtime instructions. We ran late and he just decided to give it a go! We love Bob. The girls do too. He's like a grandpa to them.

I feel like that saying "when it rains, it pours" really fit on that day. But with a positive slant. We were so incredibly blessed. I am still amazed when I think about it.

Messy, messy

2010-10-25T00:11:00.002-04:00

Thanks for the comments on how you keep your kids' room's clean! It sounds like we do things pretty similarly. We've had a new system in place this past week and I'm watching and reevaluating to make sure it works and wondered what works for you...

Right now the big girls need to have their room clean by bedtime. If it isn't, I walk through with a garbage bag and put everything from the floor into the bag. Well, not entirely everything. Of the things they've missed, they have to put the clothes in the hamper and library books on the shelf. Everything else goes in the bag. After that, they have to get their room clean by bedtime three days in a row before they can have anything back from the bags. And they have to request things specifically. So, no just digging through the bag looking for something interesting and no getting the entire bag back.

The first day I took out FOUR trash bags. I admit that half of each trash bag WAS trash. Paper trash. We go through a lot of paper in this house. But still, two bags worth of toys overall. They earned it back in the first three days. But we were busy and I didn't bother to make time for them to get things from the bags. They reminded me a few times, but it was always in the middle of something. And the interesting thing was that they never reminded me asking for something specific. They just talked about "the bags". I am beginning to feel like they really don't need most of what they have.

Oh, and I also implemented a rule that if one of them wasn't cleaning and the other was, I would take a particularly special toy from the non-cleaner and keep it for a day. This proved to be very effective. I never had to use it, but I expect at some point I will have to.

In the meantime, I think my only adjustment to what we're doing will be to do a "deep analysis" on their current toys and take away the ones they're not using. We'll probably be left with a stuffed animal per kid, books, paper and crayons, and recent birthday gifts. It's hard to believe that they will be okay with that. But at the same time, that's all I ever see them play with! Well, that and the bins for their toys. No wonder they can't keep things clean. They always want to use the storage stuff for parts of their games... They'll also still have the option to play with games and gamesets that stay locked in the closet but are available on request.

*crossing my fingers that this solves much of their messes*

At this point some of you may have thought I was pushing daisies....

2010-10-22T23:37:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to write while singing bedtime songs to the girls. I wonder if I'll mix things up and type song lyrics here and sing what I'm trying to blog. I wonder if the girls would even notice.

We've had a great first two months of school and are learning how to juggle a new schedule. Sometimes I think I manage it with great finesse. Other times, I fall flat on my face. Last year we had school and Activity Days twice a month. This semester we have three girls in music lessons, two in soccer, and Activity Days twice a month. And I volunteered to be on the Parent Council for our charter school (which we homeschool through). And I volunteered to be Team Mom on Autumn's soccer team. I keep laughing at myself for volunteering. The Parent Council seemed like it would be different than it is, but it's fine. Very low-key. Soccer, AYSO, is completely volunteer-based and when we signed up I read through the booklet they sent us home with and was so stressed about how we could do "our part". Then noone else volunteered when the coach asked for a Team Mom so I offered. Now that we've been doing soccer practice for a couple of months, I realize that if I'd not said anything, eventually (at later practices...), someone would have volunteered. And that I was kind of silly to stress over how I would pitch in. It's not as intense as it seemed like it would be. At times I feel painfully new to the team sports scene. Definitely not something I grew up with, but definitely something I'm grateful to be involving my girls in.

Oh, actually, if I were to ask Eric maybe he'd say it is a little intense. He referees almost every week and lots of times it's at 8am. EIGHT A.M. on a Saturday morning. We will both be glad to have our Saturdays back when the season is over.

On the flip-side, Autumn and Heidi are really enjoying soccer. And they're picking it up really quickly. Autumn is the smallest girl on her team but has been dubbed "The Terminator" by one the team parents because she isn't afraid of anything. Go Autumn! She was one-on-one a few weeks ago with a girl more than a head taller than her and much bigger over-all. She's also a little Energizer Bunny out there. Everyone else starts lagging and she just goes, goes, goes. It's fun to watch. I find that I'm not surprised really because that's the way she approaches most things! That's my Autumn.

I think Heidi is enjoying the social aspect of soccer more than the playing. She enjoys talking to her teammates at the back of lines when they're waiting to do things with the ball. And sometimes misses her turn because of it. She makes me laugh. During games we shout lots of encouragement to her to keep her watching the ball. When we don't she looks like she's bird-watching. It's hilarious. And ever with the two fingers in her mouth. Even as she plays soccer. I don't want to talk about that though. It will come. That's what I have to keep telling myself. We'll get there.

(and now I think I'll be able to blog without worrying about singing. 3 down, 1 almost there)

Here are some of the things we've been up to:

- Autumn started cello lessons. We love her teacher and have a Germany connection. She even lived in Heidelberg, playing for the Heidelberg Stadtisches Opera Orchestra.

- Heidi started guitar lessons. Her cousin Jaxon is jealous and will be so excited to see her guitar next month when he comes for Thanksgiving.

- Esther has been preparing for a big Halloween concert. No solos, but lots of fun Halloween-y pieces and a skit that goes along with the order of songs.

- We've been back to Disneyland four times since the summer blackout dates ended.

- The girls had dental appointments and had NO cavities. Two of Autumn's front teeth are behind the other two. She just got an appliance yesterday that will widen her arch and move the teeth forward. It's a spacer but it's removable. She had a hard time falling asleep last night but no problems tonight so it seems like she's adjusting quickly. If we had held off on this, she would definitely have needed braces to correct it (not to mention being self conscious about her smile). We'll still have to wait and see if she needs them for other reasons, but I'm hopeful she'll dodge that bullet.

- Heidi turned SEVEN. She loves Hello Kitty right now so we had a Hello Kitty birthday, complete with a Hello Kitty cake (which, she informed me, didn't look as good as the one I made for Autumn a few years ago...but she still liked it).

- Autumn turned NINE. She lives in her own Harry Potter world right now, so of course she requested a Harry Potter theme for her birthday. I think she's been on a Harry Potter kick for years now. She almost wanted to be Hermione for Halloween again this year. I think she's reverted back to her original choice now. Princess Leia.

Oh, and I turned....twenty-nine. Again.

Okay, I admit. I'm done with my twenties. I am THIRTY. It still seems kind of strange. It was fitting that for a big birthday like this, I got the best birthday presents I have ever gotten. A MacBook Pro and an iTouch (now if only I could remember where I hid the iTouch two days ago! the girls love it as much as I do...). We no longer have PC's. And I love Macs. I still can't quite believe how awesome they are.

Someday I will find my mini SD card to move pictures from my phone to my computer. Many a blog post awaits. They just wouldn't make sense though without the accompanying pictures...

In the meantime, a question for anyone who's still out there...

How do you keep your kids rooms clean? Because honestly, I'm beginning to think the toys just get in the way of play. I'm not convinced they need them anymore...

Unconventional Trio & Quartet

2010-08-30T23:54:00.001-04:00

Autumn & Heidi have been begging to take out their instruments and do a "concert" since Autumn brought home her cello Saturday (and they did play for a little that day). Tonight when we had finally completed all the other "necessaries", I told them they could play with Esther when she played Pop Goes the Weasel. She hadn't practiced yet today and I wanted to get in at least a few minutes!

So Esther plays Pop Goes the Weasel with a clip her teacher emailed us. Something like two or three violins. Anyway, it starts and suddenly I realize that Autumn can pluck along with the lower part, just plucking her middle two strings, alternating. And that Heidi can play on the first of those two notes. And so we did a trio of Pop Goes the Weasel. On violin, cello, and guitar! But the violin playing the actual melody was recorded, because Esther just plays "pop" and I realized....I could play it on my flute. Talk about a strange quartet. Violin, cello, guitar, and flute. And they loved it! And of course I loved it! We only lasted about 10 minutes trying to do it a few times and have everyone ready at the same time, but it sure was fun. :)

We interrupt this blogging break to bring you an important message...

2010-08-25T19:26:00.004-04:00

I just got interrupted by Autumn who informed me that the bathroom door is locked and smells like nail polish remover. And here I thought even the younger two were happily (and safely) occupied before I sat down to write a letter .

I walked into the bathroom and found Esther with minimal amounts of nail polish on her skin and clothes. Becca, on the other hand,

was standing stark naked in the tub. Covered in pink nail polish. Cheeks, forehead, shoulders, chest, bellybutton, turn around, butt cheeks, and yes, even a little between the legs.

I did not keep my cool.

And the aftermath?

It's too much to ask of a 17 month old to sit still for the kind of scrubbing it takes to get that stuff off. And from the few spots we did work on, I'm thinking it would also take over 5 bottles to clean it up. And the 4-year old? Well, she doesn't have much on her anyway, and I'm inclined to just leave her alone because I still can't speak civilly to her. I find myself wishing she'd be embarrassed to be seen in public, as some sort of punishment, but who am I kidding? She's four. She doesn't care! All the same, I'm in no rush to clean her up. And it's not hurting her, so the girls will be walking around looking "pretty in pink" until it decides to peel off.

And we're taking Autumn to soccer tonight. Lovely.

And this next bit will sound like a tangent, but it's not. Heidi has moved into a new stage this last month. She is as feisty as ever, but more helpful and obedient.

Are you laughing?

I would be too if I weren't too busy having a pity party for one.

Guess it would be just too good to be true for all of the kids to be in manageable stages at the same time.

Excuse me while I go shower...yep, haven't done that yet today either!
And oh, I left out the best part...Esther cut her hair on Monday.

First day with the scissors out for an extended period of time. Somehow she Houdini's a pair. And that oh, so cute haircut Amanda gave her last week, yes, the last of the corrections, and the beginnings of hey, this looks like an actual style! are now gone. And it's the bangs. Again. Those bangs that make it so impossible to hide the fact that yes, my child has cut her own hair.

Please know, that if you ask me why don't you keep the scissors somewhere she can't get them or how did she get those away from you and you didn't notice or why did you leave her alone long enough for that to happen, be forewarned -- if you were right in front of me, I would LAUGH in your face. And then I would refer you to one of my many friends with many kids who is in a better mood than I am at the moment.

Come back tomorrow though.

I promise I'll have positive things to say.

Just not about this.

DISNEYLAND

2010-07-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

For our tenth anniversary this year, we spent a whole day at Disneyland without the kids. (We have awesome friends who love to watch our girls!)

And we finally bought yearly passes! We've wanted to do that since we moved here in August. In the past month and a half, we've already been to Disneyland FOUR times.

A sign on the way to Disneyland. Can anyone enlighten me? What are wet burritos?

Here's the new antenna topper we chose for our van. Someone or something took our pink princess Mickey. It's probably better that way since it was a Disney World one. We might have gotten into trouble bringing one of those into Disneyland. :)

A display we found in a store window of Disney's Main Street.

Toy Story "army men"!! Poor guys. Those costumes looked so hot.

Now Disneyland WITH the kids...

That face says it all!
(Autumn's, not the roly-poly...)

Inside the new Nemo submarine ride.

So we paid to take our kids to Disneyland, and what do they want to ride? The oldest ride in the book -- the carousel.

I completely understand.

There is something timeless and magical about carousels. They make me feel like a kid all over again.

We only rode double once. Oops!
They're sure loved sitting together though...

My goofy, happy, big kids.
(And their toothy...toothless?...grins!)

Yep, this was a good decision. We are going to love learning all the ins and outs of Disneyland. Autumn already spotted our first Hidden Mickey.

Because I'm kind of a nerd and these things make me happy...

2010-07-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

...I'm going to give you a peek into my cupboards.

There's just something so satisfying about arranging and organizing things so that life works a little smoother.

There just is.

And if you don't think so, you're missing out.

CATS at the Tuacahn

2010-07-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

A few years ago we checked out the DVD of CATS from the library.

And then we checked it out again. And again. And again.

Over at least a year's time period, we watched that movie so many times!

We even checked out Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot.

And then finally, we bought it as a gift for Heidi (although Autumn loved it equally, she received something else that year...).

Last week we were headed up to Utah for our family reunion. Rae called me a few days before and said something like, "Phill can get tickets to CATS at the Tuacahn...want to take the kids?"

So we got the babes in bed for the night, left them with the hubbies, and took our big kids to the show. They were ecstatic about staying up past their bedtime, being with their cousins, and getting to see the show.

(Jaxon's trying so hard not to fall...the step was a little low for him!)

It was so much fun. I haven't been to a live musical since my freshman year of college...Phantom of the Opera at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake.

It was priceless watching Autumn, Heidi, Reed, and Jaxon as they watched the show. As the show began, I looked over and saw Heidi sitting on the edge of her seat in anticipation, wearing a gigantic smile on her face. Every time I looked at Autumn she was focused on the stage, even when whispering excitedly to Reed.

At one point, a cat did an aerobatic stunt, and Reed said in a hushed and excited whisper, "Awesome! I can do that!"

The show ended with fireworks, a perk of outdoor theatre! And true to any boy's nature, when we asked Jaxon what he liked about it, he said, "the fireworks". And on the car-ride home I overheard he kept talking about the fireworks and how he could "blow up the whole universe!" Yep, that'd be my nephew.

And then to top it all off, we ran into one of the actresses during intermission and she posed for a picture!

Esther's haircut, corrected

2010-07-02T07:00:00.004-04:00

Sometime during the last month, we finally took Esther to Eric's cousin to even out Esther's "hair job". It's so great to know and trust people who can do the things I can't. And it's even better when they're in the family. We all get great haircuts from Amanda and love knowing we can trust her with our hair. :)

Look at that cheeser!

And last, a more recent shot and pre-brushing. Messy, but spunky and still workable. We'll take it any day over the shaggy mane she's been walking around with for the last long while.

Granola Bar Science

2010-06-30T11:15:00.003-04:00

We've made a lot of changes in our diet lately. Between reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, watching FOOD, Inc., reading Anti Cancer, Righteous Porkchop, and wanting to lose extra weight and be more healthy -- wow! If you're interested and want to know more about these books or have already read them and want to share tips/tricks/or stories, email me!

One of the bigger changes has been to make as much as we can on our own. To that end, granola bars are such a great snack to have on hand and I'm loving being the one in control of what goes into them. They're also really easy to make.

I've tried 3 different recipes now (Kitchen Stewardship, Sisters Cafe, and my wonderful friend Heidi's).

This morning I decided to compare all three and see if I couldn't figure out the "science" behind what is required to make a granola bar. Here's what I came up with. Armed with these things, I think I'll be able to make any number of granola bar recipes, changing it up however I feel.

GRANOLA BAR SCIENCE
(for a regular size batch)

- 2 cups of oats. Maybe a 1/2 cup more in a doubled batch. Quick vs. rolled is really a matter of preference. I have yet to decide my preference...
- 1 C flour, whole wheat or all-purpose. No flour? Use an extra 1/2 C oats and 1/2 C rice krispies. Not as healthy, but really yummy. Using all-purpose but still wanting to be healthy? Add 1/2 C wheat germ. My double batch recipe calls for 1 cup flour, but another regular batch recipe I have ALSO calls for 1 cup flour...today I'm doing a regular batch and will use 1/2 cup flour unless it looks like it needs more.
- 1/2 tsp baking soda. Two of the recipes actually leave this out, but I think it helps the bars stay together better and be softer and chewier. Scientifically, I know that cream of tartar makes cookies softer and chewier and is an ingredient in baking powder. So maybe this is similar? As for why it helps them stay together better? Maybe something to do with the poofing/rising while they bake and then when they cool and fall they stick together better? Ideas anyone?
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 - 1/2 C Butter or oil, interchangeable in this recipe. That's not always the case with baking.
- 3/4 to 1 C sweetener, to taste.
1/2 C brown sugar + 1/4 - 1/2 C honey
1/2 C honey (as a general rule, if you want to use all honey and no sugar in a recipe that calls for only sugar, use half the amount called for. So 1 Cup sugar = 1/2 C honey)
- 1/2 tsp of extract of choice, or even a mixture of two. If you like almonds, try 1/4 tsp almond extract and 1/4 tsp vanilla. You can add up to 2 tsp extract in a batch if you feel like the flavor's not strong enough.
- Add an egg or two if it seems too dry. You're only likely to need this if you use all oil instead of butter.
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon is a really yummy addition.
- You can add 1/4 - 1/3 C powdered milk for added calcium.

ADD-IN's:
- add by the 1/2 C
- if using peanut butter, cut the oil/butter to 1/4 - 1/3 C
- There are so many possibilities for add-ins. Try any of these: coconut, mini chocolate chips, dried cranberries (practically any dried fruit), nuts, or sunflower seeds.
- You can adjust the add-ins to taste if you really like a particular flavor, but be careful you don't add so much that it interferes with the oats and the "chewiness" factor.

Use your hands and jam it all into the pan. This keeps your bars from falling apart.

Use a lightly greased 9 x 13" pan. If you double the recipe, you can use the same size pan. Just two tips with a doubled batch:
- adjust your baking time, more on the 20 minute side
- cut them thinner and the top (looking into the pan) becomes the side of each granola bar. Make sense?

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, checking at 12 minutes. You want it to be a little golden.

Cool at least 10 minutes before cutting.
Cool COMPLETELY in pan before removing and storing or serving.

They freeze well if wrapped individually.

Today I'm going to try two batches:
- peanut butter chocolate chip (an old favorite)
- and almond coconut with 1/4 tsp almond extract and 1/4 tsp vanilla (I think almond extract is pretty strong and add a little at a time tasting as I go. You may prefer to go all the way up to the 2 tsps with almond and vanilla. Last time I did that, I tasted a "tinglyness" in the bars directly from the almond extract. Weird huh?)

I'm also going to use oil instead of butter. Much cheaper. I've tried both and can't really tell a difference.

So today my recipes will look like this:

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 - 1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C honey
1/3 - 1/2 C oil
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 C coconut
1/2 C sliced almonds

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another. Combine. Spread in greased pan. Bake at 350 for 12-20 minutes. Cut. Cool completely. Remove from pan and store.

And then in the 2nd batch I'll do all vanilla extract, 1/2 C peanut butter (adjusting the oil as needed), and 1/2 C mini chocolate chips.

If you find a combination you love, let me know!

A picture's worth a thousand words...

2010-06-30T07:00:00.002-04:00

...here's 13,000.

Autumn: Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

2010-06-28T07:00:00.001-04:00

People talk about how wonderful it is to have a girl first because they're like second mommas, so helpful with the other kids. Well, having never had a boy first...obviously...and having never had a boy PERIOD...I can only go by what I see in other families and from my childhood. It's very true. I'm sure it's not always true, but it's probably more often true than not.

Autumn is such a good helper with her sisters and around the house. And she loves them to pieces. She is tender hearted. Quick to feel the smallest slight from her sisters (whom she loves dearly), but also so quick to forgive with a smile and a hug.

She loves life. She is excited about everything that comes her way. She loves to dance. She loves to tell people how much she's looking forward to playing the cello this fall.

She loves school and lately, she loves to write stories! This has been a joy for me to watch. Earlier in the school year we worked on creative writing for a time, but it was a bust. She just wasn't ready for it at the time. And I learned after the fact, just how important it is to FILL a kid's mind with stories and information and give them TIME before expecting them to be ready to CREATE their own stories. So...we left the creative writing alone. And she went back to it on her own, when she was ready!

Right now she's working on a story called "The Enchanted Garden". She has informed me that it will be fourteen chapters long, just like Harry Potter. Every page has green ivy drawn around it too. Oh how I love this girl.

I promise she wanted her picture taken here and that she's even happy. Her mouth is just full.

Autumn and Heidi made a store in the playroom. You can probably read the prices if you click on the picture to expand it. But each price tag has a price (imagine that) and a description of the item!

Heidi: Big Sister Extraordinaire and a READER

2010-06-27T21:11:00.000-04:00

Heidi lost another tooth! That brings the count up to FOUR. And it's one of the top ones, which really surprised me. Autumn didn't lose those till just this year. If I didn't know better, I'd say Heidi was trying to catch up with her. :)

Heidi's reading and writing skills (and interest in them!) just TOOK OFF during the last month of school. Since then, I find sheets of her writing everywhere and am enjoying her enthusiasm over these newest skills. And once again, I'm reminded of just what a funny language English is. Kids are so smart and realize just how they say things as they're in the early writing stages. And when I read my kindergartner's handwriting, I have to laugh at just how right they are. She currently spells "tree" as "chree". Try to say tree without thinking about it and you'll see what I mean. Or listen to someone else say it without any prompting. Like I said, English is a funny language.

A page of her birthday list:

Translated, that says, "Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure".

Watching The Little Mermaid together. Becca loves her sisters and I love to watch them playing with her. Heidi is especially patient with Becca and loves sitting with her and playing with her.

A first for me

2010-06-15T01:15:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed to admit this, but I'm not -- and I just have to say...

Today was my first time driving the LA freeways since we moved here in August!

And I'm alive still and so is everyone else that went with me. And I drove in the day, and the night. And it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. But I should probably get a massage to loosen up some knots. And I should do this more often to avoid the knots.

It's so weird too that I managed to live 20 miles from LA for 10 months and not need to go on the freeway as the driver. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a "nervous Nellie" but going from 3, possibly 4-lane freeway driving to SEVEN lane freeways...I wasn't feeling antsy to go anywhere via freeway right away. I'm a go-getter and when I move to a new place I'm all over figuring out the best ways to get around and what's where. So...this is really outside of the norm for me. But GO ME! I'm still happy about it and looking forward to becoming more familiar with the freeways around here. (Just not during rush hour...anything but that...please?!)

a Craze and a Groove

2010-06-13T00:19:00.002-04:00

After a few LOST conversations with friends I decided maybe I'd pass on the whole LOST post by Eric. It seems like there are five different versions of what happened and each group is happy with their own version. So...on to other things...

Tonight I'm on a baking craze. Granola and banana bread in the oven. A whole chicken boiling on the stove. Granola bars waiting on the counter. Parts of an icebox cheesecake chilling in the fridge. Wow! It seems like it's been forever since I've wanted to do that much all at once. It's fun that it sounds like so much, typed out. But in reality, I'm watching TV and getting up every once in awhile to stir the granola. That's it. So cool!

And that's it for tonight.

Gradually I'll get back into a blogging groove.

Let's not

2010-06-02T12:52:00.005-04:00

Last night I dreamed that I had triplet girls. Hahaha!

Triplets.

Girls.

And pregnant?

That's just funny.

It was such a funny dream though, looking back on it. I didn't know I was having triplets and here they came, one - two - three. And then I put them in a stroller - SITTING UP. And it was perfectly normal, as tends to happen in dreams. They were still newborns, but somehow this worked. And then I looked at them and thought, "I don't think I'm going to have enough milk for 3 babies! Certainly not enough ARMS!" and realized they were definitely going to need formula supplements.

And I also thought to myself, "Well, I guess Heavenly Father knew I was only willing to be pregnant one more time (where did that come from??). Guess he had to find a way to get the rest of our family to us..."

Yeah...

WEIRD.

This morning I laughed as I thought about the dream because I remembered a time, a LONG time ago when my sisters and I were making cookies in the kitchen and Rae started into this goofy story about how I was going to have triplet girls...

Again...

WEIRD.

I think that should be a sign that I should NEVER get pregnant again. :D

Hold your breath...

2010-05-28T01:53:00.002-04:00

No new posts yet...but SOON.

Stay tuned though. Eric is going to guest post and explain LOST. I was still confused after the season finale until he connected the dots for me. And I keep seeing people on Facebook a little unsure of what it all meant. So...if you watch LOST, you won't want to miss this. Seriously.

Kitty Craziness and Kid Cuteness

2010-04-17T02:04:00.003-04:00

These kitties have found their place in our family very quickly.
We love them oodles and they are SO good to our girls.
Look how patient they are!

Cuddling in Becca's chair.

No, they didn't get in there themselves.
But as you can see, they didn't try to leave either...

Izzy found this perch on her own.
I guess she needed a hiding spot and figured this was a good one.

Esther put Izzy in the dolly stroller.
It looks like she might be really mad but she isn't.
She's YAWNING.

This always makes me laugh.
Sometimes Izzy slips under a blanket on her own
and then Autumn arranges a pillow for her.
Other times Autumn puts her there.
She just loves to be comfy.

It has begun!
Any girl who grew up with kitties knows
that you have to dress them
in doll clothes at least once or twice.
Autumn claims that Izzy likes it. :)

A new "do" for Heidi to keep her growing bangs out of her face.
Not only does it keep her bangs out of her face,
but when she's tempted to play with her hair
she plays with the ponytail
instead of twirling the top of her hair into KNOTS.
Works for me!

Ummm...yeah. She's done it again. And this time she only did half and then asked Autumn to help her. So did Autumn say, "No Esther. Let's go show Mom. You know you're not supposed to do that."? Of course not! That's right. Being the loving sister she is, she tried to FIX Esther's hair because it looked funny.

I'm so glad hair grows back.

She fell asleep at the table!

A cutie in Sunday dress. I mourn the latest hair loss looking at this picture.

I love this baby of mine. And I can't get enough of her in this outfit!

Opera Widow

2010-04-12T13:10:00.003-04:00

No pity party here, just the facts because it's so insane I have to document it.

Tech week is here.

This week more than next week I am an opera widow because, on top of school and work, there is opera. With room for little else.

Monday: 07:30am - 10:00pm
Tuesday: 09:00am - 4:00pm
Wednesday: 07:30am - 10:00pm
Thursday: 07:30am - 9:00pm
Friday: 07:30am - 11:00pm
Saturday(!): 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Sunday(!!): 1:00pm - 11:00pm

Intense, huh?

And we learned at the doctor's last week that Eric has an inflamed nerve, or neuroma, in his right foot. He went to the doctor wondering if he had a stress fracture because of intermittent pain over the last few months. The prescription? Stay off your feet as much as possible. (As well as some physical therapy.)

Ha.

Ha hah.

Yeah. That'll be put on the backburner till after the opera.

I don't say any of this to complain. It really is not a pity party and I hope that anyone who follows our blog knows that without this added note. Just love and support, please. Does that make sense? We love our life and all we've filled it with. I don't feel sorry for myself this week and know the girls and I will be just fine. But if you think of us this week, could you say an extra prayer or two? This is QUITE a week for Eric.

Easter Dresses

2010-04-06T16:03:00.002-04:00

They tell a story!

2010-03-31T10:00:00.004-04:00

So I realized that I don't always feel that way about naptime. There are definitely days where regardless of her not sleeping, I'm happy to do whatever I have already planned. And that's how I usually feel. Just had to add that....

But on to the main reason for this post -- talking!

I was noticing yesterday that Becca's first words tell a story. :) It's very clear what's impacted her thus far in her little life. I think if I were to remember the rest of the girls first words, it'd be fun to see how their stories are different (I do have it written down somewhere...just not going to remember on my own this morning).

Here are the words she knows how to say, and in order from first words to most recent:
Momma
Dadda
Yes
Cheese
Autumn
Sisters
All done
Kitty

She's also taken to shaking her head "no", which is, of course, very cute. This morning she was nursing and I asked her if she wanted to say good morning to daddy, who had just come into the room. She shook her head no as she continued to nurse. Such a cutie! (And head shakes are always better than the verbal 'no'...which must not be too far down the road...)

Becca is also walking. She started a week or two before her birthday and can now walk across the living room! A week ago she still preferred crawling. So much faster. This past week she's decided she prefers walking and really wants to figure this thing out. My baby is getting too big! (And we won't even talk about that oldest baby who keeps getting closer and closer to needing a training bra. Eeeek!)

Pigtails & Esther's works of "art"

2010-03-24T17:58:00.004-04:00

I'm thrilled that Becca has enough hair for pigtails. Sunday was day two of pigtails for Becca. She's not too keen on the whole process yet and pulls them out at times. All three of her sisters only had enough hair at age 1 for ONE pigtail on top. By the time they were 18 months, we could do two piggy-tails. This is "post-nap" hair so it's a little messy.

Getting ready to take the cat to the vet. Wait, did I say cat? I mean, child!

Getting ready to take the baby to the library. Wait!
Did I say baby? That can't be right.
These pictures were not staged.
They are the product of Esther's handiwork.
And Louis didn't even meow.
Silly.

Talk about bedhead hair!!

Chocolate Bundt Cake and Chicken Strawberry Feta Salad

2010-03-24T14:18:00.002-04:00

As promised, the chocolate cake we had for Becca's birthday! This is from Taste of Home's cookbook Quick Fixes with Mixes.

Chocolate Bundt Cake
Jeanine Gould-Kostka

1 pkg (18 1/4 oz) chocolate cake mix (I used a devil's cake mix)
1 pkg (3.9 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix (that's the bigger one)
3 Tbsp baking cocoa
1 3/4 cups milk
2 eggs
2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
Confectioner's sugar

In a large mixing bowl, combine cake and pudding mixes, cocoa, milk and eggs. Beat on low speed until moistened. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch fluted tube pan (don't know why they don't just say "bundt pan"...). Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioner's sugar if desired. Yield: 12-15 servings.

This is really rich and because of that, ice cream is a must! We had cookies and creme ice cream with ours.

And here's another recipe we've had three times in the last four days. I tried to google the ingredients to find an "official" recipe, but couldn't. This is a YUMMY salad that was served to our Stake Relief Society women on Saturday.

Chicken Strawberry Feta Salad (that's what I'm calling it, anyway)

cooked and cubed chicken (with spices like pepper, if you like)
strawberries, quartered
feta cheese
sliced red onion
lettuce, green leaf, romaine, whatever you prefer
candied pecans (basically, if you have pecans, an egg white, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and salt, you can make these)
Strawberry Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Mix it all together and ENJOY!

Strawberry Vinaigrette
(this makes enough for two salads as a main dish, so adjust to fit your needs)

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil (or canola, if you must!)
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp strawberry freezer jam (I've never tried it with store-bought, regular jam, so let me know how it goes if you do)
1 tsp salt

Sleep, CHILD!

2010-03-23T17:01:00.002-04:00

The last couple of days Becca does NOT want to nap. I've realized I don't really mind for her sake if she doesn't nap. Terrible huh? But she's not super whiny (although clingy...) and she has to go to bed at night anyway.

I've realized I mind for my sake. She sits and stands there in her crib, NOT sleeping. Talking. Singing. Laughing. Screaming. Not sleeping. And I can't relax out here and feel like it's a break for me until she's SLEEPING.

Anyone else feel that way?

Happy Birthday, Becca-boo!

2010-03-23T13:19:00.004-04:00

My baby is ONE YEAR OLD. Crazy. Just crazy I tell ya.

There is so much truth to that saying:
The days crawl along as the years fly by.

St. Patrick's Day, one year ago.

I went for YUMMY and not FANCY or CUTESY with the cake. Glad I did! This recipe's a keeper.

Just barely getting her fingers into it.

LOVE this girl.

Holding a present the girls "wrapped". We mysteriously ended up with a few extra presents. They looked strangely familiar...I think I may have done that as a kid too. :)

Giving kisses to her new xylophone.

She was so happy. See the smile?

A little better shot of the smile. She returned to the xylophone between each present. She couldn't get enough of it!

Each wishing it was their birthday.

And naturally, at this age,

EVERYTHING

GOES

IN

THE

MOUTH!

RMS Queen Mary & La Brea Tarpits

2010-03-23T12:55:00.004-04:00

Thank goodness for spring break! We started our break with a family day.

First we drove to Long Beach to drop off the cats for surgeries, then while there we visited the RMS Queen Mary. Very cool. Someday we'll actually go inside and have a look around, but last week we just had a look from the outside. We were especially excited to see it with the girls as it has a place in our family history. Eric's grandpa was transported as a POW on the RMS Queen Mary. It's amazing to think that we can see the ship today that he was on then.

The RMS Queen Mary herself. The ship is now a hotel!

Checking out a carnival ship.

I have no idea what they're doing here but it looks so cute. It looks planned.

After that we drove into LA where we had a picnic and checked out the La Brea Tar Pits followed by a driving tour of Hollywood Blvd, Rodeo Drive, and the Los Angeles Temple.

Dire Wolf Bones

Reconstruction of a dire wolf. They've found over 1600 dire wolves in the tar pits!

Some turtles and fish in an atrium in the middle of the museum. We saw turtles stacked and lined up like this in Wakulla Springs in Florida too! It seems to be one of their favorite ways to relax.

A flower in the atrium. I think I might just ask Eric to get this one printed for framing. He's got such a good eye.

Sisters

This is How We Do It

2010-03-09T00:46:00.006-05:00

The other day I was laughing at life, thinking about how funny so many of my day-to-day moments are. How unique our family is. And for some reason, I kept thinking of that old 90's song, "This is How We Do It".....I don't think I ever realized how much that song was about what it was about until I saw the video as I was searching for it just now. So naive. Don't worry, the link is actually only to a recording of the song without the music video.

So, completely unrelated to the topic of THAT song, here are some pictures of how we do things around here. (And I'm sorry in advance for taking these with my phone. It's time to pull out the nice camera and leave it somewhere handy.)

The impromptu "armrest shoes". This was take #1. One genie slipper and one armrest shoe. See that toe poking out?

Attempt #2. Much better.

And look, at first glance, they just look like a pair of slippers.

Our linen closet, remodeled. I texted this to Eric today and he asked if it was a shrine to the cats. Ha!! I wouldn't be surprised. But I think this time, it's a reading corner. In my linen closet. With clean linens. And a bathroom mat. (This makes me smile while being simultaneously MADDENING. The amount of laundry we go through from "adventures" of this sort which are followed by "but she brought the water..." -- I can't even count!)

Look who cut her own hair. Last time she let Heidi do it. I guess she decided she'd rather do it on her own.

I know I sound very blase about this.
I am now.
I wasn't then.
I made her wear a hat to the library.
It wasn't a sunny day.

I do keep the scissors out of her reach.
Until her sisters find them and hide them.
What's a mom to do?

Other side of "self" haircut.

Damage Control 1

Damage Control 2

Damage Control 3

One of my kitchen buddies. If she's awake and I'm working in the kitchen, she's playing at my feet or strapped to my back. Our Ergo has paid for itself MANY times over. I love it and use it EVERY day. See the gate in the background? And the laundry basket? Neither of my gates is long enough for that space. There's another gate on the other side of the kitchen. This is our cooking, washing dishes 'barricade'. It works. Necessity is the mother of invention.

All clean!
See what she's doing with her right hand? She's tickling herself! This is what she does when I say, "I'm gonna get you!!"

Do you see the cat eyes peeking out of the bottom of our stroller?
Esther spent a morning pushing him around the house.
He got in there himself.
He chose to stay.
He is crazy.
We love him.

Walking home from the library. I don't think our stroller was meant to hold 60 books. (20 in each bag and 20 under the stroller. We just couldn't restrain ourselves!! It's the library!!

We squeaked all the way home.

No more berry syrup and one mullet later

2010-03-01T15:10:00.002-05:00

This morning as I met with our charter school educational specialist, in our house, the girls...well, they were typical kids...I think?

Esther cut her hair. It looks awful. I can't even take a picture because I already can't look at her without smiling. If I take a picture she'll know for sure that it's really funny. I'm trying so hard to keep it serious....

I made mixed berry pancake syrup on Saturday. Heidi & Esther poured it into ice cube trays and were preparing to freeze it.

I need to go see if I can salvage my sanity. Wish me luck!

Punctuation, Wordplay, and The Stupids

2010-02-26T00:11:00.003-05:00

I've checked out several of THESE books recommended by my awesome sister. We are enjoying them all.

Tonight I picked up a few I've been wanting to look at for a long time. They're similar to Amelia Bedelia, at least when it comes to the wordplay idea. I love the idea behind Amelia Bedelia, although they're so cheesy and I've always wondered how she could be so dumb. They never do explain that. But I love the wordplay. And I love Tedd Arnold's Parts, More Parts, and Even More Parts. The three I picked up tonight fit in great with these others. They're all by Lynne Truss.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really DO Make a Difference!
Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts!
The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why, You Can't Manage Without Apostrophes!

And for old times sake, I checked out one of The Stupids books. Oh how I love this stupid family. I may have even been the one to start using the phrase in our family, or maybe it was mom. It became such a common thing in our family to laugh at our foibles and say, "The stupids....fill in the blank!" Like the time Mom picked Liz and me up from the airport and we stood in the elevator for five minutes talking before realizing none of us had pressed the button. "The stupids ride the elevator."

Check out this line from The Stupids Take Off:

On the spur of the moment
the Stupids decided to attend
little Patty Stupid's sixth birthday party.
"Why are there eight candles
on the cake?" said Buster.
"Because I didn't have six," said Patty.
"That makes sense," said Buster.

Bwahahaaaaa!!! If you ever need a laugh, pick up one of these books. You'll feel better in no time.

ALSO...

2010-02-24T17:14:00.003-05:00

she regularly wears Becca's pants as capris.

And I let her. Because they look awesome.

Seriously, did you know that 12 month pants can double as 3T capris? And noone but YOU will know the difference. Mwahahahaha!

The chocolate bottomed rinser girl

2010-02-24T13:16:00.004-05:00

Lately I've had Esther helping me with the breakfast dishes each day. She does the rinsing and when it's time to start, I usually say, "Where's my rinser girl?"

A couple of days ago I was cooking something and when I started to clean up she said, "Mom, do you need a rinser girl?"

LOVE IT.

And yesterday at the table she said, "Mom, can Becca have my chocolate bottom?"

I know. WHAT? Where did that come from?

She was eating a chocolate frosted donut and had eaten the top. She wanted to know if Becca could have the rest!

I laughed so hard and Eric and I enjoyed teased her, asking if she had a chocolate bottom.

Last night she put herself to bed at 7:20. In Becca's crib.

Oh, how I love my kids!

Kid's cookbooks and a cool realization

2010-02-24T13:02:00.002-05:00

I've posted this on our school blog but am so excited about it and don't really think it is "schooly" so I'm posting it here too! :D

We have three kid's cookbooks (Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids, Wookiee Cookies: A Star Wars Cookbook, and The Spatulatta Cookbook) and I finally got around to going through them with the girls to make a list of things we'd like to make. As we were picking, I realized what a cool opportunity this is to teach them a little about menu planning and grocery shopping. Kids love eating and they love it even more when they get to pick what they're eating and then help make it, so I think this could easily be a long-term project.

For two weeks, I let them pick:
6 lunches
6 snacks
3 desserts
3 breakfasts
and
3 drinks

I didn't want to have my entire menu taken over by this but I also wanted to gave them a decent number of recipes to try, so I feel like this is a happy medium.

Tomorrow we're going to go through the list again and I'll have them read me the ingredients so that we can make a grocery list! I think even a kid that can't read would be excited by this (you could tell them the ingredients and ask what part of the grocery list to put them in -- canned? fruits? frozen? meats?).

I could see this becoming a regular thing at our house.

DMV Stories

2010-02-23T15:33:00.003-05:00

So this morning I had to go to one of any sane person's least favorite places to go. The DMV. I had an appointment to take the written test (needing to have a CA license instead of a FL one). When I pulled into the parking lot at 9:30, there was a line outside, all the way down the sidewalk along the building. I started to get nervous because I had told my babysitters I would be back around 11am.

Naive?

Perhaps. But I was right all the same. Even with the monster line.

I went inside and couldn't figure out where to go at first. What is it about government places having so many signs and yet I still can't get where I need to be, first time around? The first DMV worker I spoke with said, "You don't need an appointment for the written test." My reply? "Oh, well I have a 9:40 appointment." So he directed me to another desk and said to go next to the big line at the desk, but that I didn't need to get IN line.

Okay, I can handle that.

I get to the right desk and am told to get in the big line.

I kept my cool and said I had an appointment and that I had been directed to this desk and told to go next to the big line, but not in it. The lady doesn't seem surprised. The lady doesn't seem to care one way or another actually. (But that's also typical at bursting at the seams government buildings with employees who have to deal with so many not nice people that are upset about one thing or another.) She gives me an application and a number and tells me to sit until my number is called.

I breathe a sigh of relief that I have avoided the monster line.

I didn't have long to wait after filling out my form till my number was called. Paid the fee, took a picture, gave a thumbprint, and then I took my test.

And then I took it again.

Oh well!

I'm thankful I could take it twice and thankful I didn't take it three times (which I also could have). I was out the door by 11am.

And the girls didn't even miss me. And now I will have a CA driver's license and be registered to vote in sunny CA.

I think I'll go eat lunch now.

Ode to Costco (aka, Costco Math)

2010-02-13T02:06:00.006-05:00

$3.89 for 32 oz of yeast = Costco lifetime member

32 oz of yeast elsewhere? $71.92!
How can grocery stores sell it at $8.99 for 4 oz??? Highway robbery!

And Costco tortilla chips, so wonderful. $3.09 for 48 oz!

Grocery store prices? Scandalous. $2.99 for 14 oz.
48 oz of tortilla chips would cost $10.25 at the grocery store.

I estimate I go through 77 ounces of yeast a year. That's a rough estimate based on the last time I bought yeast at Costco and how long it's lasted me.

$11.67 at Costco for a year's supply + three months.
$179.80 at my grocery store for a year's supply + HALF a month.

Hmmm...easy choice.

I eastimate I go through 28 ounces of tortilla chips a month (again, roughly). 336 ounces/year. Again...

$21.63 at Costco for a year's supply of tortilla chips.
$71.76 at the grocery store for a year's supply of tortilla chips.

That means that even if I were to ONLY buy tortilla chips and yeast at Costco, my membership would STILL be more than paid for by the difference I save not buying those things at a regular grocery store! The difference in tortilla chips alone covers the cost of membership. The difference in yeast leaves me $168.13 to put somewhere else in my budget!

Isn't that awesome?

There are so many things at Costco that save time and are convenient, but what do you buy at Costco that saves you money? I'm all ears!

P.S. - I also love that I can buy two churros for $2.20 and split them four ways for myself and three girls to eat in the car on the way home.

Booster Seats are wonderful and life, lately

2010-02-13T01:09:00.006-05:00

Today we pulled up to the veterinarian for the kittens' last shots. We were ready to pile out of the van when Autumn said in surprise, "I don't have any shoes on!"

What??

In her excitement over carrying the kittens to the van, she totally forgot to put her shoes on! And me, not being used to having to check on my eldest, didn't notice either.

So because I wouldn't leave her in the van and also wouldn't let her walk barefoot at the vet, here's where our creativity led us -

First we tried a genie slipper we found on the van floor along with a booster seat arm cover. The genie slipper had a hole and her big toe kept poking out.

Then I remembered that the other booster had both arm covers. Bingo!

Pretty groovy, huh?
And after our errand, they went straight to the hamper! :D

Just because she's so stinkin cute.

Heidi thought I would let her leave the house in a purple shirt, white capris, and hot pink socks. Didn't happen.
I may be laid back, but not that laid back.

Tooth Count: 6 (two were lost in kindergarten and the permanent teeth have already grown in)
Current Gaps: 4
Her toothy (or toothless!) smile makes me smile.

A makeshift hammock for the kittens.

"Let us out! Let us out!"

A recent nap.

6 minutes

2010-02-08T20:25:00.002-05:00

Lemon coconut cake chilling in the fridge. Chicken & white bean stew simmering on the stove. Bread bowls cooling on the stove. Table set.

Six minutes to sit down.

Sounds wonderful doesn't it?

Then I should change my three-year old's wet pants (and yes, she's in underwear...shoot!). And maybe I'll even fit time into my evening to attack the mounds of dishes on my counter.

Music, Becca, and Childhood Wisdom

2010-01-26T17:56:00.004-05:00

No Christmas synopsis yet. Still working on that one. It'll probably come at about the same time I do a 2009 Family Newsletter.

We left for Christmas break December 20th and between then and now, only 5 days more than a month, Becca has learned to pull herself up to a standing position, cruise along furniture, stand for a few seconds at a time, crawl completely off her belly (as opposed to army crawl), cut two more teeth (making a total of 6), clap when we say "yay!!", and blow raspberries! It's been a busy month! We are all thoroughly enjoying being along for the ride.

We got back January 10th, 3 weeks later and jumped right into school the very next day.

Since then I've been thinking about music and studying music more than usual. I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise given how musical our household is. But since I'm not the career musician in the family, it's sometimes a surprise to me!

Sunday as I washed the dishes I started singing like the crazy person I truly am. I'm including links for anyone who doesn't know these songs. I gave The Long And Winding Road new lyrics that started with "the deep and endless sink, that is mine for life!". I also made up a parody of La Donna E Mobile that started with "Dish-es, I hate you so! I wish that you would go!" It made my work easier to bear and brought a smile to my face.

I got an email from a friend this week. Had to pass it on to Eric. He said it reminded him that he really does still love opera. Lately he's feeling burned out on that front (two operas in one school year = "what were we thinking?!") and more excited about the teaching he does. Here's the video -- it's fun!

After watching that one I was reminded of another and had to go hunt down The Sound of Music one that was done in Antwerp.

And after watching the wide-eyed Pavarotti sing La Donna E Mobile, I had to go get a fix of Rolando Villazon. Seriously guys, if you don't like opera and even only kind of like music, you'll still love this guy. I think he looks like Mr. Bean. Aside from that though, he is a phenomenal singer. First watch this hilarious rehearsal and then watch this gorgeous duet he does with Anna Netrebko. I'm telling you guys, opera can be really fun! If you're willing to give it a go, go watch The Elixir of Love performed by Rolando (Mr. Bean) Villazon and Anna Netrebko. A light comedy and excellent acting that even the most unmusical person can enjoy.

On a completely different note, look what I learned this week!

I learned this week that a shot glass (naturally a decorative one in this house!) looks much better filled to the brim with hand sanitizer. Don't ask me why. It just does.

I also learned that when a plate has a recessed center, that center is really in need of dish soap. Again, right to the brim. Why else would it be made that way?

A positive spin, in the end

2010-01-15T17:59:00.003-05:00

I want to see if I can put a positive spin on my morning...

Esther has pink eye so we visited the doctor today.

A little background first though. When I set up our insurance and was looking for a doctor, I did so much research. Google, phone calls, word-of-mouth.

Google is not the greatest for getting info on doctors. There just isn't a lot out there. Or at least there wasn't a lot out there for the 30 odd doctors I was looking at.

Phone calls ought to be great, but have you ever noticed how busy the receptionist's are in doctor's offices? Yeah...only two offices were willing to answer questions about their doctor's policies/philosophies.

Word-of-mouth might be the very best way to find a doctor. I heard of a few stellar ones. Only hang-up was that they weren't accepting our particular plan.

So, this is probably pretty boring but it might get better. We'll see.

I picked a doctor for Esther.

Fast forward a few weeks and I discovered the other girls had a different doctor. And since I knew nothing about Esther's doctor, I decided to start the whole process all over again. Google, phone calls, word-of-mouth.

Finally I picked a doctor for the other three girls. A doctor I am 80% confident in. We'll see how she does after their initial visits.

That left Esther with a different doctor though. And I'm not a fan of driving to more than one doctor for my kids (unless, of course, it's a specialist). So I switched her to the new doctor, effective February 1st.

And then she got pink eye.

So off we drove to her current doctor, whom we've never visited.

I was really happy at first that they would see a sick child assigned to them when the child hasn't had a regular appointment with them yet. ALL the other doctors we have seen (and there have been many), would not see my children for sick visits unless they'd already been in for a regular visit. (Such a pain. Quite often that meant more "urgent care" visits...)

Maybe I should have been suspicious instead of happy.

They see sick children from 9-11am and 2-5pm. As I sat in the waiting room I wondered how that could even leave space for scheduled appointments of well children.

To make a long story LONGER,

Esther, Becca and I left the house at 10:05am
Signed in at 10:18am
Were shown into an exam room at 12:23pm

Yeah, I wrote that right. More than two and a half hours later.

Saw the doctor 37 minutes later.
Left six minutes later.

Went to the pharmacy.
Arrived home about 2:30pm. Over four hours later.

Now I realize we didn't have an appointment.

I also realize the majority of the other people waiting didn't have appointments either.

That's just kind of how those things work sometimes.

I also realize that some cases are more urgent than others. Yes, please, if your baby is having trouble breathing -- I am happy the nurse is seeing you before me. You know...stuff like that...

What I didn't realize and still don't understand, is how:

a doctor's office can be so dirty
a doctor's office doesn't mind that a highly contagious, PINK EYE patient is in the lobby and not an exam room
a doctor can think it's okay to give my 3-year old FIVE suckers
a doctor can think it's okay to give my 10-month old a sucker!
a doctor can ask, "So, how did she get it?" (Some of the snide responses I made, mentally, "Um, isn't that your department?" and "She's dirty!! She's three!" and "She sucks her thumb and doesn't always remember to wipe!! Gross, isn't it? Don't remind me! I chase her down but I'm sure there are times where she gets away with it. Someday she'll learn to care about that...")
a doctor can say, "Well, I'll just give you a prescription for the ointment. And the drops. Do you need anything else? Any motrin?", like I'm placing an order at Burger King. (Yikes, I'm feeling snarky.)

And top of the list of things I don't understand --

Why I end up at the doctor's office for almost three hours to see a doctor for SIX MINUTES. Six minutes that are drawn out to make me feel better but could honestly be reduced to TWO minutes because, come on, we both know it's pink eye and you know what the prescription is for that.

I have never been so glad to be done with a doctor's appointment.

I am so thankful that we have insurance. Good insurance. And that we can switch doctors. And that I had already requested a switch.

When it's all said and done, I am also grateful for several other things. I think this next part is the positive spin I was hoping for, now that I've "unloaded".

I am grateful:

that the doctor was competent enough to know what kind of medicine my daughter needed and what was wrong with her
for the pacifier clip that kept Becca's pacifier safe from that waiting room floor
for the Ergo carrier that kept Becca from thinking she needed to touch and explore that same waiting room floor
for the inspiration that led me to use a mini M&M tube and my necklace to entertain Esther. Slide the necklace in, close the lid, shake. Take the necklace out and repeat.
for three adorable children who chatted with me (and a bit with Esther) and watched me blow bubbles with my gum. They made the time pass more easily.
Esther stayed DRY through the entire ordeal.
she didn't whine for food from the mother who didn't bring a snack.
Becca was content to sit in the Ergo in my arms.
I have a HUGE bottle of hand sanitizer in my van.
Eric could be home with the big girls.
He helped them do their schoolwork.
Rite-Aid (who takes our insurance) and CVS (who does not) are only right across the street from each other.
Rite-Aid had a bathroom for Esther (and me!).
Rite-Aid sells king-size Snickers bars (because you know I needed one after all that!).

I am also grateful for wonderful friends who will read this and be able to sympathize or empathize.

And now I'm off to make the most of what's left of my day.

Family Pictures

2010-01-15T00:50:00.008-05:00

My awesome sister Rachel took family pictures of us when we visited over Christmas break. These have been a LONG time comin'! It's been such a long time since we've had some good family pictures. Rae, you are the bestest!

(You can see more of our family shoot on her photography blog.)

First, some shots of Eric with Esther & Becca. I love these.

Isn't that just the funniest expression?

Cheese!

My girls

I have another picture of her looking up at me, but I think I love this one even more!

TEN years this May!

Showing our true colors...

"Business as Usual"

Our family tree (hah hah...)

I think this is the main family picture we'll hang up.

Today, I...

2010-01-14T15:51:00.003-05:00

Today I learned that my baby has a greater arm-reach than I suspected. In the future I don't think I'll leave the table when she's sitting by a bowl of yogurt.

Today I also realized there were two pairs of little girl underwear hanging from the top of the swingset, which goes higher than our backyard walls.

Merry Christmas to all,

2009-12-24T22:19:00.004-05:00

...and to all a Good Night!

Things have been non-stop around here. Now that #3 is sleeping, #1 & #2 are in bed, and #4 is nursing as I type, I am taking a few minutes to share some of our highlights of the season (thus far) and things I'm grateful for.

Generous friends at church with beautiful toys to pass on

Generous landlords (and dear friends, like parents to us really) who allowed us to have kittens for Christmas! (Welcome, Izzy & Louis!)

Church friends with mechanic shops open on Saturdays to diagnose a problem with our car the day before leaving for St. George.

Car problems which turn out to be unidentifiable. Can't pay for a problem you can't find! (The van made it here and seems to be running just fine.)

The chance to be with my sister and her beautiful family for Christmas. Seriously, aren't sisters (and family?!) just awesome?!

A generous stranger who chose me as someone to receive an envelope with a substantial amount of cash and a beautiful printed card with the quote from Mother Theresa's orphanage wall.

Stay tuned for pictures! We've been busy playing at the park with cousins, building gingerbread houses, goofing off, making cookies, baking, listening to beautiful cello music (courtesy of my lovely and gifted sister), and thoroughly enjoying being on a break from school and work and being with family!

Food is VERY important

2009-12-04T00:20:00.000-05:00

After the bickering reached a high point I looked over at the clock and realized none of us had eaten a SNACK or LUNCH and it was well past time for BOTH!!

No wonder we were having so many issues!

Food and a park trip later, things settled down and the rest of the day went much more smoothly.

Lesson learned. Don't forget to eat! Don't forget to feed your children!

Sally and the purple socks

2009-12-03T16:13:00.002-05:00

Here's another great book to add to your library list!

Sally and the Purple Socks by Lisze Bechtold

Booklist Review:

Sally the duck is thrilled with her new purple socks. They fit perfectly, and she wears them constantly until they oddly begin to get too big. She uses them as scarf and cap to wear while she gardens, but when they continue to grow, she turns them into curtains, then blankets, a carpet; and, finally, when they block traffic in front of her house, she makes them into a circus tent and invites all her neighbors over to have some fun. All goes well until rain shrinks the socks, leaving Sally with her “lovely, soft, cozy, warm, luxurious purple socks,” which fit perfectly again. This is similar in concept to books such as Tomie dePaola’s Strega Nona (1975) and Jay Williams’ One Big Wish (1980), in which things grow and get out of control. The quirky, playful, and ultimately warm illustrations, coupled with the simple text and a plot with just the right amount of suspense, make the book spot-on for sharing with young audiences. Preschool-Grade 2. --Randall Enos

Can't. take it. any. more.

2009-12-03T15:52:00.002-05:00

ARRRGGH!!

All my saran wrap gone. Someone needed it to build a popsicle stick house?! Apparently it didn't pan out because the evidence is gone. Remember a few days ago? I don't like this part of parenting. I'm trying to channel some kind of inner peace and have some perspective. It's hard. Really hard.

It's not all about the saran wrap. I haven't gone loco over just that. It's a combination of everything happening this morning...

Set up the Christmas tree (first chance...we're usually early birds!), watched and tried to contain things as the girls unraveled the Christmas decorations boxes, and the girls have been at each other this morning!

Judas Priest!! Not my usual exclamation but when I think this to myself, I hear Grandma's voice saying it as only she does and it eases the stress, a little.

And now back to the grind...after a good venting.

Within me is a peacefulness that cannot be disturbed...I can do hard things...This feeling is temporary...I am not this feeling, I am not this feeling, I am not this feeling!

a few children's books we've loved lately

2009-12-02T00:05:00.006-05:00

These are great books to add to your reading collections! For now we just keep checking them out from the library multiple times, but I look forward to slowly adding these to our own library.

I'm including the reviews that Amazon provides to save you some time and save myself the brain-work of summarizing them for you!

He Came With the Couch by David Slonim

School Library Journal Review:
Sophie's family needs a new couch. After a full day of searching, they finally find one that is just right. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it comes with an odd-looking creature that just sits in the middle of the cushion. Resembling one of Jim Henson's Muppets, the creature, readers learn, suffers from upholsterosis and on doctor's orders that they get him out more, the family takes the sofa and the newcomer on a cross-country journey. Slonim's very funny picture book will appeal to children with a taste for the zany. Told from Sophie's point of view, the understated text is often at hilarious juxtaposition with the illustrations. The colorful artwork will appeal to fans of David Shannon's work as will the tongue-in-cheek storytelling.

Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson
This one is an old favorite we were excited to find on the shelves at the library again.

Amazon.com Review:
Finding a suitable sort of self-expression can be a challenge. Sometimes what seems so right for one individual is so very, very wrong for everyone around her. Take Hilda Hippo, for example. There's nothing Hilda loves more than dancing. But whether she's tangoing, square dancing, boogying to disco, doing the flamenco, rumba, or samba, Hilda makes a lot of noise:

KA-BUMP! KA-BUMP!
CRASH! CRASH! SMASH!
THUMPITY-BUMP! THUMPITY-BUMP!
BOOM! BANG! BASH!

Her friends in the jungle try to subtly guide Hilda down other creative paths, but knitting and singing just don't do it for our hefty heroine. Is there anything else Hilda can do that won't make bananas fall from the trees and clouds of dust fill the air?

Rollicking rhymes and dynamic, jungle-hued illustrations make Karma Wilson (Bear Snores On, A Frog in the Bog) and Suzanne Watts' picture book collaboration a must for every foot-stomping, tutu-swishing reader. Irresistible! (Ages 3 to 7) --Emilie Coulter --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Mary and the Mouse, The Mouse and Mary by Beverly Donofrio
The review below has some negative things to say about the book, but trust, this is still a very charming and fun read.

Booklist Review:

Little Mary lives in a big house with her mother, father, brother, and sister. And behind the dining-room wall, a little mouse lives with her mother, father, brother, and sister. Though the little mouse has been warned about people, and Mary has been warned about mice, they secretly wave to each other after dinner. Years later, Mary is grown, has a daughter named Maria and lives in a new house. Coincidentally, the little mouse lives in the same house with her daughter, Mouse Mouse. In its little girl–little mouse concept, the story is reminiscent of Jim Aylesworth's Two Terrible Frights (1987), but this develops differently. Since it takes two generations before a girl and a mouse actually speak to each other, the time frame is unusually long for a picture book, which makes this a bit static. Still, the telling is clean, the parallel structure of the tale is pleasing, and McClintock's warm, precisely drawn ink, gouache, and watercolor artwork will fascinate children and adults alike. Phelan, Carolyn

Necessary Nuisance

2009-12-01T00:38:00.003-05:00

Okay...

I've had it up to HERE with buying toilet paper, dish soap, and toothpaste!

These things should last three times (or more!) longer than they do in my house (lately...). It's already annoying enough to have to buy something just so you can throw it away (speaking especially of toilet paper...), but to buy it and then have it used for something other than its purpose...

Why? Why? Why?

I know, I know....this too shall pass. I am not this feeling (although I usually disagree with that in the moment...). This feeling is temporary. And my favorite, I can do hard things!

Tell me please, someday they'll buy their own, right? Maybe I should use their piggy bank money to replenish? Or do I simply scold and leave it alone, accepting that they're kids and this is how it is for now? Granted, it is just toiletries...really. In the grand spectrum of parental frustrations and hardships, there are many more higher on the list.

Today I threatened to give them toilet paper, dish soap, and toothpaste for Christmas...

Toothies

2009-11-25T11:34:00.002-05:00

My three-year old is now the only kid in the house with a full set of teeth!!

Becca has two bottom teeth and a top tooth just broke the gums two days ago. I can see three very distinct bumps on the top too, so she'll have all four top teeth in no time at all. That explains some of the crankiness I've been seeing!

Autumn is missing a top middle tooth (as of a month ago?).

And last but not least...

Heidi lost her first tooth this morning! She came in and said it came out during the night. We thought she must've swallowed it, but she found it in her bed later. She's so excited.

Not so different

2009-11-24T02:12:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking. Shocking I know. But in all seriousness, a lot of people near & dear to me as well as mere acquaintances or complete strangers have been telling me lately that I am superwoman. Sometimes it's in reference to me having four kids but lately it's been in reference to the fact that I am homeschooling them.

I have to say on both counts, that I am not superwoman. And today it hit -- the best way to describe this. Yes, I'm doing something different than many others and it is hard for some to fathom and others just seem to think it's super-human or beyond them. But I am no different from you. I simply have chosen a different normal. Granted, once I made my decision, there was a period of adjustment. But aren't all big decisions like that? And once I crossed over that hump, it became my routine and my lifestyle. My new normal. Does that make sense?

And just as we all encounter challenges in the day-to-day aspects of our lives, I encounter challenges in homeschooling. But just as you meet those challenges head-on and find a way to work through them, so do I. It's not extraordinary. It's life. And isn't it wonderful?!

And this, is Heidi

2009-11-17T01:11:00.003-05:00

She likes to sneak into my room to look for things. My room is the fall-out zone for things that have yet to be sorted. The girls have been playing "baby" with Esther lately and Heidi keeps trying to take Becca's binkies for their playtime. I told her she can't have them and so now she has been on the hunt for a bag of old binkies that Becca didn't like.

I told her to stay out of my room and she told me she would if I gave her the bag of binkies!! I countered that I wouldn't even consider giving her the binkies unless she stopped sneaking into my room.

She was pushing in the books on the living room bookshelf today and I told her to stop and asked why she would do that. Her reply? "I was making a code."

Earlier this week? We have been using goal charts for their schoolwork and other goals around the house each week. The system is this: if they have all greens and three or less yellows by Friday after school, they can pick something from the treasure box. Any reds? No treasure box. This was actually Heidi's idea and it has helped tremendously with her motivation to do her lessons. But anyway...one day she opted out of doing something correctly because she knew she could get three yellows and still get treasure box. Later that same day, she figured one more yellow wouldn't hurt. And by evening, I heard her saying to Autumn, "Want to clean our room and put things in the wrong places and get a yellow? Wanna do that? We can get three yellows."

Oh my dear, dear, Heidi. She loves to be in charge. She loves to do things her way. And she loves to have a choice in the matter, however small it is. I love imagining all the great things that she will do as she grows and matures! I believe she will be destined for great things.

Violent Thoughts

2009-11-15T01:22:00.002-05:00

Dear Neighbor one street over (I believe that's where you are),

Despite what you think, it is not okay for you to blast your music in your backyard and have a party which makes me feel like there is a party in my front yard.

It is also not okay to do this twice over a two month period of time.

Yours Truly,

Mother of Four YOUNG children

P.S. - And yes, that was me that called the cops. Both times. You're welcome.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Neighbor NEXT DOOR,

I know your mother just turned 61. I understand you want to celebrate. I understand you want to do something special and you don't usually do this.

That does not change the fact that your DJ is playing music in your backyard, adjacent to MY backyard and my children CANNOT SLEEP. Rent a space. Blast the music INSIDE. Figure something else OUT.

Yours Truly,
Mother of Four SLEEP DEPRIVED, YOUNG children

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Neighbor one street over with whom I share a backyard wall,

I understand it is someone's birthday. Probably a 40th from the black balloons I see. I understand you love karaoke.

I do not.

Please, go somewhere else or keep it in your house. You have NEIGHBORS and this is NOT an apartment complex. Be courteous. Are you shocked? Do you really think I am the ONLY one bothered by this? Ask around. You'll see your loudness is not appreciated.

Yours Truly,
Mother of Four YOUNG children, one of which has a cold and is having difficulty breathing/sleeping and I'm sure YOUR NOISE DOES NOT HELP.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know, I know. Welcome to Los Angeles and all surrounding cities?

Well I quit! The bear has come out of hibernation and if you cross me again I will BITE YOUR HEAD OFF. Got it?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a more serious and less raging sidenote, any suggestions? Is my only recourse really to call the cops? I have talked to one of the three of these neighbors and they turned it down for a bit but what can I really ask? What I want to say is "Um, could you please send everyone home?" Yeah...for some reason I don't think that would get me very far...

Dress-up, playdough, and some CUTE girls!

2009-11-12T20:34:00.009-05:00

Esther's outfit choices are always fun. Always.
Socks on her feet and socks on her hands.
Fairy wings on her back.
Can you see the tutu sticking out of the leotard?

My day has been non-stop but very, very good. How about yours?

This is all very random, but this is what's on my mind right now, so this is what you get. :D I realized partway in that the pictures are fitting because they're random too!

The girls put this on their windowsill and Autumn said it made her feel safe. I guess I'd think twice too before coming in their window if I saw a giant cockroach with a yellow Halloween skeleton in its clutches.

My throat is hurting. Not because of yelling. I think I've just been talking too much today! The girls are going a mile a minute and when I keep up with them I wonder what we all sound like to someone on the outside listening in. It's a wonder I haven't lost my voice.

Yesterday Becca woke up from a nap and I was in the middle of a very intense lesson with Heidi. I asked Autumn to get a bottle of water and some fruit puffs and after that she got Becca up from her nap and here is the "set-up" she had ready for her. She's sandwiched by our fire-proof box and her basket of her toys. She can sit up on her own and catches herself now when she loses her balance but her big sisters are extra attentive.

Becca had a fever late Sunday to early Tuesday. I never did take her temperature because I could tell it was high enough to keep an eye on but low enough that we didn't need to go in. Last night I noticed she had a rash. After doing some research today (and Rae's invaluable memories of Savvy being sick last year), I am relieved to know she has roseola. I am relieved to know what it is, to know that only one sister may catch it (or have unknowningly shared it in the first place), that Eric & I are in the clear for catching it, that we haven't been anywhere to share it since it started, and that she won't need to go to the doctor. I am also extremely grateful that aside from some mild fussiness and clinginess, Becca is not having a really hard time. All good things.

Esther wearing two of my socks.

We tried a new playdough recipe today and love it. It's a pretty basic salt dough recipe that is made on the stove. I usually steer clear of those and prefer the quick ones that just require mixing. I'm glad I tried this one out though! The mix-only versions tend to be a lot grainier and harder on the hands. This was nice and smooth and didn't smell funny either. We made five different colors and then made the uppercase alphabet as part of Heidi's writing practice today. We put each letter on wax paper so we could move it into place in our alphabet and that worked well because after we were done we were able to easily make a lot of words. Autumn was singing the song from Leapfrog's Talking Words Factory - "First you add the 'b', then you add the 'at', put them all together and then you have..." and then she'd pause and wait for Heidi to fill in the blank. After that they used the same wax paper to make "candies" (like saltwater taffy). And after the playdough had been cleaned up for a few hours, they asked for it again and unwrapped all the candies and made cakes. They asked me to save them for Eric to see when he comes home tonight. I think we sure got some good mileage out of this dough already! And I hear it lasts forever (if your kids don't squish it all together making nasty colors and then you throw it away because you can't stand the sight of it...). Maybe this batch'll last till their cousins come for Thanksgiving. :)

Playdough cakes the girls made

I've noticed a new trend with Becca at naptime. I give her a binky/pacifier/whatever! at naptime and she takes it, pulls it out of her mouth, rolls over onto her side and pops her thumb into her mouth. And then she drops the binky out of the crib after I leave. Hah! I was really hoping she'd prefer the binky over her fingers. This from the voice of experience. You can't cut off fingers! I have three other finger suckers and Autumn still struggles if she's got a blanket close by. I don't even want to TALK about Heidi yet. My dentist grandpa said as long as they stop by the time they're five it won't cause any damage. Don't do the math on my older two.

The girls made good use of some of our toilet paper. I especially love the look on Sulley.

It's funny to look at how my perspective has changed over the years. When I had Autumn I always said, "Oh, I'm not giving her a pacifier! I don't want to get up in the middle of the night to put it back in her mouth." The funny thing about that is that I never thought to myself, "I just won't give her one at night!" Not until my sister-in-law (Anna, you are awesome!) had her first kid and told me how they were doing the whole pacifier thing. Just don't give it to them at night! Oh. Duh. Why didn't I think of that? Not to mention she rarely gave her daughter a pacifier and as she got older, Anna was so awesome about weaning her from it gradually. By two it was gone. Just like that.

So now I really, really wish I had been that smart. But...also, I have to cut myself some slack and say that it seems that some kids want to suck on fingers, some on pacificiers, and some on nothing at all. I have nephews (several!) who didn't want fingers or pacifiers. I have a niece who loves her pacifier. Another niece who didn't want one and doesn't suck a finger. And then another nephew who wanted a pacifier for a short time. I'm starting to wonder if there's really anything we as parents can do to make them prefer one over the other! Anyone want to put in there two-cents here?

Such a cutie!

This closet was a disaster before tonight. It's still not done but it's a lot closer now than it was before. Games, craft supplies for the girls, paper, coloring books, crayons, and the bottom two shelves will hopefully have enough room for towels, sheets, and pillowcases.

Idiosyncracies

2009-11-11T22:12:00.002-05:00

Becca decided today that if I'm giving her water, she wants a cup. Not a bottle. Not a sippy. A cup. That'll make the transition easier for me :) but what about the simple, "here, drink this" when they're old enough to do it on their own? She must know, inherently, that as the youngest of four she'll be vying for my attention. In that case, of course a cup would be the most logical choice. :D

Esther prefers water over juice. If I forget at the dinner table on a juice night, she is quick to remind me! After having a sister (you know who you are dearie!) who drank juice almost more than she ate food, and a daughter who must take after her aunt, I thought all kids preferred juice to water. She is also our resident vegetarian.

The girls are playing in their room and Esther wants to know "who" she is. Autumn is "Susan", Heidi is "Lucy". Esther is happy that she gets to be Edmund and comes running out to tell me. And then she asks who Becca is. I guess Becca will have to settle being "Peter". (They're not playing Narnia though...just using the names...) I think they're still a little young to enjoy Little Women but it sure would make it easier for them to have gender-appropriate names. Not that they care. Not today anyway!

Plotting

2009-11-11T21:08:00.002-05:00

I start to think someone is plotting against me when I hear the same ice-cream truck melodies for 10 minutes straight every night.

Or is it just California?

A neighbor and church friend one street over says there are THREE ice cream trucks that frequent our neighborhood.

And while we're on the subject of anomalies to California...

I had no idea DONUTS (or doughnuts, if you prefer) were SO popular here. We can find a donut shop every few blocks.

Seriously.

There's Winchell's (which we happen to love), Christy's, Donut King, Crown Donuts, Master Fresh Donut, ABC Donut, Donut Hole, Krispy Kreme, The Donut Man, Sunny Donut, Jax's Donuts No. 11 (I think we'll have to go here while my nephew Jaxon is visiting), Boston Donuts, Us Donuts (& Yogurt), Baker's Dozen Donuts, Pronto Donuts, Jean's Donut Shop (sorry Jean, no clue if they're any good! Come visit us and we'll take you there to find out!), Yum Yum Donuts, and Donuts Express -- most within an 8 minute drive from here, all within a 13 mile radius from here.

What is UP with that?

Funnies and a special day

2009-11-11T00:18:00.005-05:00

Today (and several days over the past few weeks), Esther came up to me and said:

E: "Do you know what Dobby doos (that's does for 3-year-old-speak) to the closet door?"
me: "Yes Esther. Please don't show me."
E: "He doos this."

And then she proceeds to BANG HER HEAD ON THE WALL and say "Bad Dobby. Bad Dobby."

And then she walks away and says, "That's so silly."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other fun stuff, our toilet is a "high efficiency/low flow" toilet. In regular english that means, flushing is not very effective unless you hold down the handle. Yesterday I realized if the girls would sing the ABC's, it would be just the right amount of time.

Today this is what I heard from Esther down the hall:

"A, B, C, D, Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you..."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And I keep not saying this, waiting for some pictures. I guess I should just say it and share pictures later.

BECCA IS CRAWLING!!

It is SO cute. And at this point she isn't mischievous yet so we can deal with it. It's been fun to watch her get to the point where she could actually start crawling. Autumn & Heidi both did an army crawling, pulling themselves along by their arms and not even bothering with their legs until they were stronger. Esther rolled until one day she got up and crawled.

I kept reading and hearing about how babies rock back and forth on all fours when they're close to crawling but never got to see that until this time around.

I think it's one of the funniest things to watch.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have one more picture to upload, but for now - here are pictures from Grandpa, Mom & Dad's visit to be here for Autumn's baptism. I am amazed that I have a child old enough for that!

Autumn wearing her dress made especially for the occasion by my wonderful friend from church (Vicki is awesome!)

Becca visiting with her great-grandpa. She is named after his mother, Anna Rebecca Rogers. I am ecstatic that the name was still available for me when she came around! We have had a Rebecca and two Rae's named after "Grandma Rae" but NOONE has been given her entire name. She loved her name and always wished people called her by it, but alas, she was destined to be called "Rae". (When she was born, they were worried her grandmothers, Anna & Rebecca, would feel like one was a favorite if she was called by that name and so...she was called Rae!) It also worked perfectly with our naming tradition of our girls. They each have an aunt's name as one of their two names.

Confessions of a not-so-grown-up, grown-up

2009-11-02T19:11:00.002-05:00

I just threw a tantrum.

Feeling embarrassed but still seething.

I need to find my marbles.

My happy thoughts.
(from HOOK, you know? If you haven't seen it, it's a must.)

I've pulled myself together enough to finish what we were doing.

And just when I was ready to say fine, watch a cartoon! (don't get me wrong, that's not unusual but I was trying not to use the TV today...), Heidi said "Can you get out the button factory?"

Oh how I love it when my children have creative moments and urges.

So, the moment has passed. My throat hurts, the kids are happy, and I think it's time to figure out what I'm making for dinner and have a quieter and loving evening from here on out.

FYI:
The button factory = buttons + paper + glue (and anything else that sounds fun!)

Yummy Recipes

2009-10-30T17:28:00.002-04:00

I have a stack of recipes that are clipped to my fridge right now that I've been using quite regularly. Good stuff! I have made all of these more than once and they are now part of our regular recipes we love to pull from. (Okay, not ALL of them, a few I only made once but we'll definitely be making them again!) Some of these even replace recipes I've been using for years. And THAT'S saying something! Happy cooking everybody!!!

(from Rachel, with my notes)
Whole Wheat Bread
Makes 4-5 loaves

5 C very warm water
5 C whole-wheat flour
1 C sugar -OR- 1/2 C honey (I use honey usually but today I used sugar and it turned out fine)
1/2 C oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. dough enhancer (if you can't find this, just make sure you double or triple the vital gluten.)
2 Tbsp. vital gluten (I usually do 1 Tbsp dough enhancer and 4 of the vital gluten. When I run out of the dough enhancer I'll try just using the amount of gluten per cup of flour in the recipe that the gluten bag suggests.)

Mix all above ingredients together in a mixer. (Make sure you have a pretty hefty mixer! Mine has a bowl bigger than the Kitchen Aid bowls and still climbs up the mixing paddle and dough hook quite a bit. I usually keep my hand there to push it back.)
Add: Sprinkle 3 Tbsp instant yeast -OR- 6 Tbsp. active dry yeast over mixture
Gradually add more wheat flour (approx. 5-7 more cups) one cup at a time until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Knead dough in mixer 6 additional minutes. Remove from mixer and shape dough into 4 or 5 loaves. Put in greased pans and let rise for 20-60 minutes, depending on room temperature and how light you like your bread. (Seems to take 30 minutes where I live.)
Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. (Maybe an extra five....just tap 'em to make sure they sound right...)

Fast and Easy Pizza Dough - My Kitchen Cafe

Aunt Katie's Oatmeal Pancakes - The Sisters' Cafe

Bread Machine Bagels - Whole Wheat Cookbook (make sure you at least double this! 5 is not enough!) Not the only recipe on this link. Scroll down or do CTRL-F and type in "Bread Machine Bagels"

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup - My Kitchen Cafe

100% Whole Wheat Bread (Bread Machine) - Recipezaar

Homemade Hoisin Sauce - Sandra Lee

One Bowl Apple Cake - Maya*Made

Italian Bread Bowls - My Kitchen Cafe

Tender Grilled Salmon - My Kitchen Cafe

Garlic Bread Recipe (Bread Machine) - razzledazzlerecipes

Salmon Cakes with Lemon Aioli - The Sisters Cafe
You can do these with canned salmon too. You can definitely taste a difference, but it's still good! And when you add the lemon aioli sauce, even better.

Homemade Yellow Cake Mix - SuzanneMcMinn

The Best Sloppy Joes - My Kitchen Cafe

Homemade Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns - Heavenly Homemakers

Dairy Free Chocolate Frosting - Recipe Book Online

Easy Non-dairy Chocolate Cake - cooks.com
My birthday cake this year. This is DELICIOUS. Very rich. Eat one piece and it won't be long before you're back for another. This cake grows on you!! (In more ways than one, hah! So punny....)

Chocolate Chip Cake - My Kitchen Cafe

Chicken and White Bean Stew - My Kitchen Cafe

Dairy-Free (or OOPS, we don't have any EGGS!) Chocolate Chip Cookies - about.com
You'll want to pause the video (unless you'd rather watch the recipe than read it) and then scroll down to the recipe. Anyone will like these. There's no need to apologize and say they're "dairy free". They're just yummy.

Granola Bars
(from Heidi)

2 c quick oats

1 c flour

3/4 c brown sugar (we do 1/2 c)

1/2 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 c nuts and/or coconut (optional)

1/2 c chocolate chips (optional)

3/4 c raisins or craisins (optional)

To be more healthy do 1/2 c wheat germ (I do just a couple dashes from the jar) and throw in some powdered milk (1/4 to 1/3 c) for extra calcium.

Mix in big bowl, in another bowl combine:

1/2 c oil (I do 1/3 if I do peanut butter)

1/2 c honey (I do 1/3 sometimes)

1 egg (do 2 if it looks too dry)

2 t vanilla (or 1 t vanilla, 1 t almond extract)

1/3 to 1/2 cup peanut butter (optional)

Combine wet and dry, batter will be thick (like cookie dough) and spread in greased 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until edges are golden. Cool completely, turn onto cutting board and slice into bars or squares. These freeze well if wrapped individually and are great quick breakfast.

We like 1/2 c cranberries, 1/2 c chopped almonds, 1/2 c coconut with 1 t vanilla & 1 t almond. The kids like 1/2 c peanut butter and 1/2 c chocolate chips. It’s a very flexible recipe, play around with it. Do NOT overbake, you want soft and chewy still. I’ve not tried wheat flour but I’m sure you can do it and skip the wheat germ.

Whole Wheat Muffins
(from Heidi)

Freezer Muffins/Bread

3 c flour (can do some wheat, add wheat germ, etc)

1 t salt

1 T cinnamon (or pumpkin spice of doing apple or pumpkin)

1/2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

Mix in large bowl. In another bowl combine:

2 eggs (we do 2T ground flax & 6T cold water mixed well)

1 c oil (can do half apple sauce)

2 c sugar (We do 1 1/2 cups but could do less. Also could try half sugar/half honey?)

2 c “mix” (see below)

1 T vanilla (or half vanilla, half almond, half orange extract, etc)

1 c nuts (optional)

1/2 cup oats (optional addition, may need more moisture if you add oats)

Mix wet and dry, bake as 2 loaves at 325 degrees for 1 hour or bake as 2 dozen muffins at 375 for 15 minutes.

“Mix” can be:

apples (diced or grated) or applesauce

bananas

blueberries

carrots grated

coconut

orange or lemon juice (1/2 cup)

peaches

pears

pineapple

pumpkin (I do 1 cup pumpkin & 1 cup applesauce)

raisins or craisins (I do only 1 cup)

zuchini grated

You get the idea.

Wrap muffins in sets of two or loaf in plastic wrap then in foil, stores well in freezer. Defrost in fridge. Makes great easy breakfasts or fast snacks. Can also be used for mini-muffins. If you are very careful about not over mixing the batter you can divide it in half after you combine the wet & dry and stir in two different additions. Half with lemon & coconut, half with banana. But again, be gentle so you don’t mix too much. These freeze so well that we often do a huge batch of pumpkin then a huge batch of banana. Also fun is to make a little streusel topping for them – mix a bit of flour, brown sugar, dash of cinnamon and then grate in some cold butter. Mix up, sprinkle on top. Yummy!

Every combination we do of these turns out a bit different with moisture, rise, etc. It’s a big experiment but always yummy. If you are planning to freeze them then you may want to do full oil – the applesauce/oil ones are drier and seem to not freeze and defrost as well.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Herbed Chicken Pasta with Fresh Cheese
(adapted from Cooking Pleasures magazine)

Using leftover grilled chicken or deli rotisserie chicken makes this a quick-to-fix meal. The only cooking necessary is to boil the pasta. It's tossed hot with the other ingredients, slightly melting the cheeses to create a light, creamy sauce.

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (more if you use whole wheat pasta which seems to soak up the liquids a little more)
1 cup packed torn fresh basil (I've used dried before) and/or fresh dill
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1/2 - 3/4 C cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 C thinly sliced red onion
1 C small fresh mozzarella balls, halved, or cubed mozzarella (3/4")
1/2 C crumbled soft goat cheese
8 oz rotini

Whisk vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in large bowl; slowly whisk in oil. Stir in 1/2 cup of the basil/dill. Gently stir in chicken and all remaining ingredients except pasta and remaining basil/dill.

Cook pasta; drain.

Toss hot pasta with chicken mixture and remaining 1/2 cup basil/dill.

Trusting my instincts

2009-10-28T23:00:00.001-04:00

Remember THIS? How the baby product marketers want us to think we can't do it without them? How:

These tips treat parents as if we were the 2-year-olds, so wet behind the ears that we need an expert to tell us which games to play, which toys to buy, what to say to our kids and what to feed them. This talking down to parents is big business; the "mom market" has reached $1.7 trillion in annual revenue, according to the book "Parenting, Inc.," with $700 million spent on zero-to-age-2 toys alone. That's a lot of pull toys.

Excuse me. Push and pull toys.

The whole gestalt is enough to convince us moms that today's children -- unlike all those who came before them -- do not have their trajectory pretty well mapped out simply by being born human: cry, crawl, toddle, walk, grow up, breed and cry some more. No, this generation won't make it without a whole lot of help from specialists, safety gear and Internet searches. But why? Are our children more vulnerable -- and we less competent -- than any previous generation in history?

Well, I'm done. It's time for me to remember that most of the time, I am right on when it comes to following my instincts regarding my babies, my kids.

Here's what I've been stewing over lately...

Becca is 7 months old and I started giving her solids a little before 6 months. She's not interested. I've spent a little over a month stressed that she doesn't want them.

I'm done.

She is the chunkiest of my kids and I can see that she is healthy and happy.

Because she is due for a doctor's appointment soon and I don't know her exact weight or where she sits on her growth curve (other than my guesstimate from looking at her!), I found myself googling the situation for some "expert" advice (really just to add to my own gut instinct) and found this:

When we start solid foods at the 4 to 6 month age, we are doing so to help teach babies the skills that they need to eat. They still obtain the vast majority of their calories and nutrition from breast or formula feedings!

(Good reminder. I actually made note of this a few weeks ago while reading the label on a rice cereal box...one serving was only 50 calories!)

Even after she starts solids, she will get most of her calories and nutrients from what she drinks.

As long as she is happy and growing, you can relax. Feeding will progress naturally. There is no need to force her. If she is healthy, she will let you know if she is hungry and needing to eat.

Thank you, Dr. Greene, for reaffirming what I already knew. Thank you for being a doctor and showing me that not all doctors are alarmists or stuck on "schedules" and that we're doing just fine. Thank you for the reminder that this is not a race and that our children come equipped to get us the message that they want solids and they know when!

Juxtaposition

2009-10-28T19:13:00.002-04:00

(an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast)

+Apple cake is baking in the oven. It smells heavenly and makes it feel like fall here even if the weather does not.

-Three kids are in the bathroom using towels to clean up water from all over the bathroom floor. Heidi says Esther did it. Esther says Heidi did it. Autumn cleans and leaves the blame behind.

+Becca is napping. Sweet peace. Not quiet though. But still, I am thankful for the time to get things done while she sleeps.

-Ants are raiding my backyard. We seemed to rouse a lively nest from the cracks of our cement patio while rinsing off chalk drawings. I hope they don't try to take up residence in our house again. I'm not ready to do battle again, but I will. Oh I will.

+Halloween is only a few days away and we're all dressing up this year. It's going to be fun. I love my costume this year. Simple, yet a very fun idea. And very appropriate.

-My living room looks like a tornado hit.

+My kitchen is taking shape.

-Eric was gone till 11pm last night, after leaving at 10am.

+Tonight he'll be home earlier.

And that, my friends, has been my day - juxtaposed.

A sense of accomplishment

2009-10-26T23:41:00.002-04:00

Today I:

made granola (More like muesli this time around...oh well. Muesli's good too even if it wasn't what I was aiming for.)
made granola bars
made cookies
made garlic bread
helped the girls clean their room (yikes! that place can get scary!)
did 3 loads of laundry (not folded though)

And that was on top of the normal get dressed, get everyone else dressed, make dinner, clean up regular daily messes and all that good stuff!

Now I'm going to see if I can muster up enough energy to fold laundry, tidy the living room and dining room, and wash a few dishes (all while watching some of my TV shows). I think realistically, I'm not leaving the living room and the dishes will have to wait till tomorrow. That's okay. They always do. They're very accommodating that way.

Hope y'all had a good Monday too!

Emptying my phone, part 2...

2009-10-22T01:46:00.003-04:00

...a few more gems.

Becca keeping busy while we all cleaned the girls' room.

This is what I did for Esther to keep her out of my hair for a bit.

That's rice.

She spent at least 45 minutes happily occupied.

She loves spaghetti!

Note the stick-on earrings.