Not for lack of trying

Last night, in a 30 minute window where all six of us were home, we had our third and final attempt at getting a picture for a, now New Years card to send out. We did try earlier in the month when there was plenty of time to send out a true Christmas card, but none of the pictures were really good enough (or as you'll read, bad enough) to send. GR tried to convince me that no matter what they looked like we should just pick one and send it. Thankfully it didn't come down to which member of the family we would embarrass and we captured a shot where the majority look pretty good and the minority are acceptable.

A good friend's Christmas card carried with it a handwritten note "After 60 pictures, Yes this is the best we could do..." ... the picture was cute, charming, silly, and absolutely perfect! The silly part is key to having a "bad" picture "work" for your Christmas card picture. Our Christmas card picture rejects definitely lacked the charming and silly element my friend captured so beautifully in her 1/60 shot.

So here's documented proof that we tried ... and failed to make the Christmas deadline. Love and best wishes for a very Merry Christmas, anyway!

Attempt #1, December 7, 2006


Attempt #2, December 10, 2006

2 for 2 - Finally

Sunday 3 December 2006

Last Sunday we had a friend who is a really good dental-hygentist take a look a Rebecca's second front baby tooth. It is still stubbornly attached to her mouth. Since both of her permanent teeth were already coming down, I wanted to make sure the baby tooth wasn't causing any problems for her permanent teeth. Ginny determined that everything was coming in just fine, but that if the baby tooth was going to come out, Rebecca needed to twist her tooth - back and forth wiggling simply wasn't going to cut it.

After a week of twisting, GR warned her that Sunday it was coming out and she could pick who would take it out, him, me or Ginny. Rebecca picked Ginny and she came armed with an oral numbing cream and tweezers. Becca was brave and Ginny was amazing! With very little effort she was able to release the last little tended hanging on to Becca's tooth. This picture was taken the next morning and you can easily see her permanent front teeth peaking through the gum. She looks great! And despite being very reluctant to have her tooth "pulled" she is very proud of the fact that both of her front baby teeth are gone!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Sam: "Daddy, come sit right here"

Downtown Christmas Parade

Saturday, December 2, 2006


Well the weather sort of cooperated for this years Christmas parade. It was a little bit colder than we would have liked, but the sun was shining and the wind wasn't strong which makes a big difference when the air temperature is around 40 degrees. We got downtown early enough to get a great parking spot and do some shopping before settling into the back of Grandpa's truck. Bob's sister and her husband came to visit from Minnesota. Gene and Alvina are delightful people and it was so fun to talk with them!

The kids were lined up in the back of Grandpa's truck in their little folding chairs bundled in fleece blankets snacking on pumpkin bread. Sam stood up every time they announced a new entry in the parade ... he just couldn't wait for it to drive by, he had to stand up to see every second of the show.

Alex was content to be bundled under my coat for only a portion of the festivities. Halfway through the parade he insisted on having his head poke out of my coat (I had him strapped to me with the sling under my coat in an effort to keep him warm enough) so he could watch was was going on.

The parade was excellent. We got to see many of our old favorites and a few new ones. Many of the Missouri teams, wagons, buggies and sleds weren't able to make it because of the weather, which was sad, but it was still an fun parade.

Ice Angels

Thursday, November 30, 2006

We ended up on the outer edge of the winter storm that dumped lots and lots of snow east of us. All we managed to get was 2-4 inches of slushy ice and a dusting of snow. School got closed today and I've heard they've already closed school on Friday too. I love snow days and so do they kids!

It is so stinking cold out side!!! They begged and begged to go out and play in the ice/snow ... found their snow pants, dressed in layers, got hats and mittens ... the works and headed out. I could barely stand at the front door to watch them, let alone brave the icy cold air! How do kids do it?

Sam lasted about 20 minutes. I finally had to tell the girls to come in after 40 minutes for fear the cold would do permanent damage to their little bodies. After the peeled their wet clothes off into a heap by the front door, they sat at the dinning room table and had hot chocolate with marshmallows - really it's more like lukewarm hot chocolate cause none of them will drink it if it's hot.

Wait, wait there was more!

Okay, so you would think that given how the first three hours of Wednesday, November 29th had gone more really couldn't have happened ... there's a cap on the number of kinks a single day can have, right?

In Sam's preschool tote bag, I found letters from his Art and Music teachers as well as his room teachers giving notice that they will not be returning to the preschool after the first of the year. Things at the preschool have quickly fallen apart this semester. Earlier this month the director (a good friend and member of our church) decided to retire and with her retirement, 75% of the staff has decided to leave. So I spent 30+ minutes calling a handful of local preschools looking for an opening and calling other Mom's to see what their 2007 preschool plans were. The cause of the demise of one of the best local preschools and our plans for 2007 will have to wait for another blog post. Suficit to say this just added to my terrific day.

Shortly after lunch we got hit with a storm of a winter mix of freezing rain and snow - part of a system of cold air that moved across the central states dumping lots of snow on just about everything east of us for 200+ miles. Normally an ice storm wouldn't bother me ... add to it thunder and lighting and I find it pretty. That is of course unless I have to take my kids out in it. Monday was Alex's four month birthday and this afternoon at 2:30 he was scheduled for his four month well baby check up. Under normal conditions it takes me 30 minute to get to the Peds office, with weather conditions like this, I left at 1:15, just in case.

The drive was slower than usual, but uneventful and we arrived at 2:00 - plenty of time. Despite being early and the office going into winter weather mode shortly after we checked in (meaning they were rescheduling the rest of the days appointments and shutting down early) we didn't get out of the office until 4, and didn't get home until nearly 6.

But the day did have some high points. There was no school Thursday or Friday and Alex is healthy and growing like a weed. He now weighs 14 lbs. 6 oz. (50%) and is 26.5" long (90%). And the Ped wants us to start him on cereal and fruits and veggies so at his next appointment in 2 more months he can start eating meats ... I'm so not ready for my baby not to be a baby anymore!

Here are some pictures from Monday ... note the last picture. Alex has discovered his thumb! I have my very first self taught thumb sucker!

Redo? Please!

It all started with us waking up late (7am) although that surprisingly didn't put a crimp in our morning.

While the girls ate breakfast, I noticed Sam's the snack person for preschool today - and today's color is green (When Emily was a teddy bear she was the snack on green day and took apples and pickles). So Sam got ready so he could go to the grocery store and get green grapes and string cheese on our way to preschool after he and GR took the girls to school.

I needed to print some reminders for our preschool director's surprise retirement party Friday night to take with me to preschool. While those printed, Sam fell down the basement stairs ... that is truly one of the worse sounds ever! For having fallen down half a flight of wood stairs, he was more scared then hurt. I got him calmed down and started cutting the reminders apart, and learned my laser printer needs a new ink cartridge - half the fliers didn't fully print, so I'll be making a run to the copy center in the next 20 minutes.

We got in the car with plenty of time to stop at the grocery store and purchase our snack, before school. I get to the grocery store only to discover my purse is still sitting on the kitchen counter ... so on to preschool we went.

On Wednesday's I have about 50 minutes between dropping Sam off and picking Emily up, barely enough time to run home, get my purse and head to the store to purchase the snack, drive to preschool, wash the grapes, cut them into bunches and deliver them, then turn around an race back to pick Emily up.

Want to guess what green grapes cost today? $3.32/lb. Two bunches of grapes cost me $8... add to that the cheese sticks and you have yourself a $10 snack ...

When in doubt

Sunday, 26 November 2006

Sunday Football

Em: Which team do we want to win Mom?
Me: ... Uhhh, I'm not sure ...
Em: I want the top team to win ... they have 31 points.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year Bob and Diane hosted Thanksgiving, so my family came here. We had a such a wonderful wonderful time together. Diane is a wonderful hostess, she and Bob both do a great job of making everyone feel at home and instantly at ease. Barb flew in Tuesday night, and came in with my parents, Suz came Wednesday after work and Joe came Thursday just in time for our 1pm dinner. Bob and Diane's neighbors join us (he's a pilot and he and Bob go flying every now and again ... their last trip was to Branson for lunch!) and Steve and Kathy were also able to join us.

As always, Diane made a huge spread of yummy food... all the traditional things we love (sweet potato casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, broccoli salad, corn stuff, ham) and a few new things to try. Kathy brought two amazing pies - pecan pie and concord grape pie. And we did our old standbys - Mom's rolls, twice baked potatoes, green beans, broccoli, fruit salad with Grandfather's pomegranates, and apple pie.

GR didn't have time to make a turducken (chicken inside a duck, inside a turkey) like he did two years ago, so we ordered two online, and while it was yummy, we all agreed, GR's was better, so we're hoping he'll have time to make it again, next time.

We all found it funny that although there wasn't a "kid's table" we ended up sitting at the two tables as "adults" and "children."

1 of 2

Sunday, 19 November 2006

Rebecca's front teeth have been loose for a couple of weeks and I must admit they look really awful.

Instead of pushing her baby teeth straight down, her permanent teeth are pushing them out at an angle making her look like Buckwheat. I was getting worried her permanent teeth were going to come in at an angle too... vain thoughts of a retainer for a 6 year old... but today at church I took a look inside her mouth and noticed that just like her two bottom teeth, her permanent ones are coming in behind the baby teeth, and so far they look straight.

So tonight, promising Becca he'd only try once, GR took the tweezers and gave a gentle tug on her tooth and out it fell. We're thinking she'll have both teeth missing by Thanksgiving, if not before.

Thanksgiving Dinner for $4.54

Wednesday 15 November 2006



This is what Emily and I ate for lunch today! Families were invited to join their child for Thanksgiving lunch today served by the school cafeteria. Em and I had just enough time to eat lunch with Becca before dashing off to pick up Sam from preschool. It's been a really, really long time since I last ate school cafeteria food and with all the bad press school cafeteria's are getting these days I really wasn't expecting much, but this was actually yummy.

Fast and yummy recipe for dinner

Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

1 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a buttered 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish. In a small bowl mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta mixture. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Happy, Happy Birthday Mary Ann!

This is my sister and her family... aren't they photogenic... GR took this picture while M&M and the girls were in town for a few days over Labor Day weekend. Sending lots of hugs and kisses your way... hope you are safe and that your cupboards are well stocked.



Mary Ann I'm sending you a copy of this picture, it's in the mail with lots of other pictures and little fun snippets.

Soundbites from the Week

Friday, 3 November 2006
GR, K & A in Nebraska Friday night - Saturday. K's sister Suz and boyfriend Josh stay with B, E, S. IM to K in hotel Friday night, 9pm.

Suz: kids are in bed, everything's fine.
K: great ....
Suz: yeah, we wore them out on the trampoline. josh and I thought the clocks were wrong - it feels like midnight.


Sunday, 5 November 2006



Monday, 6 November 2006
Sam: Mom, a spider!
K: GR... GR... GR... [K, grabs kids sneaker and kills spider]
K: Sam where did the spider come from?
Sam: Outside.


Tuesday, 7 November 2006
GR is working odd and long hours again this week. Because of his modified schedule he was home when I went grocery shopping and came along.

K:[loading groceries into the car] Who taught you how to bag groceries?
GR: There's nothing wrong with the way I bag groceries.
K: You have four cans of chicken broth on top of the eggs!


Wednesday, 8 November 2006
Preparing for Dad's day at the preschool.
K: Sam, where does Daddy work?
S: At church.




Thursday, 9 November 2006
The hospital had a new system go live this week and GR is on the support team providing 24 hour support for the next two weeks. He's gone into work at noon and come home around 4am every morning this week. Today he went in earlier in an effort to come home earlier ... he got home at 11:30pm and told me this story.

GR's not the only dad with small kids on the team. Most, if not all of them, are like GR, working through the night, and their wives are fed-up with the long hours and being single mothers. I guess a lot of them have been calling their hubbies and complaining. GR said tonight he overheard two of them tell their wives ...

"GR has four kids at home, and his wife isn't calling and complaining about the long hours!"

Halloween, Halloween

Halloween, Halloween, what does it mean?
Halloween, Halloween, what does it mean?
It means costumes and candy and pumpkins and cats,
Goblins and spiders and hoot owls and bats,
It means popcorn and cupcakes and apples and brew,
Scarecrows and witches and ghost who go, "Boo!"
It means heaps of treats!
Oh, yummy, yummy,
Halloween, Halloween, what does it mean?
It means spooky fun!

It has been so much fun to get all your email/blog Halloween greetings, traditions and pictures! In turn, here are ours.



Even with a 30 degree drop in temperatures overnight, the kids held out for nearly 45 minutes trunk-or-treating at the church last night, and no one threw-up or got stomach aches from eating way too much candy - which was a complete surprise, because they managed to eat a ton!

The pictures of the kids in their costumes are from the PTA Fall Potluck we attended last week. I have to be honest and say that before the kids put on their costumes I was disappointed in our costumes this year... on the hangers they simply didn't look a cute as I thought they should for what I paid, and I again asked myself why we didn't have a "costume trunk" like so many others, and simply re-purposed something we already had. Of course all doubts melted as soon as they put them on, and were beaming from ear to ear because they were exactly what they wanted to be, and looked adorable!

Rebecca ended up with two costumes this year, and instead of picking one over the other, she came up with a great solution all on her own, she wore her witch costume for the school event and her cheetah costume for tricker-treating.

ColorKu

Sunday 29 October 2006

Last week a package arrived for me from my SIL (Thank you Elspeth!), containing a ColorKu game.

While my mother was here helping out after Alex was born, she started teaching the girls how to play Sudoku on her little hand held Nintendo game. We also purchased a couple of Sudoku for kids puzzle books at the local toy store. Ever since, whenever Grandma Mutti is around, the girls want to play Sudoku either on her little game, on the computer, or on paper (in that order of preference).

As you can see from the pictures ColorKu is a version of Sudoku... each color represents a number 1-9, and the game comes with 100 or more puzzles cards.

Despite my children's fascination with the game, until last night I had never played. Rebecca and Emily were extremely patient with me. We started with puzzle #2, on the EASY scale and thanks to my inexperience, we had to start over twice! But once we got off on the right foot, we were able to quickly solve the puzzle. We started the puzzle by working it out together, then I transitioned into letting them either solve rows, columns or squares. It was a lot of fun, and we're all looking forward to playing another game when they get home from school.

Finished!

... a month later than I'd hoped, but finished none the less, and before Halloween!

Congratulations to Lori who started her wall hanging well after I started mine, finished it super fast, and did a fantastic job!

News of the Day

R-E-S-P-E-C-T:
I got a phone call last night from Rebecca's teacher, Mrs. M, alerting us that Rebecca had been nominated to receive a character award. PP has character words that they focus on each month. September was RESPECT, and October was SELF RESPECT. During the month they talk about what each character word means and ways to apply and implement that characteristic into their behavior. The idea being that it will help each child build a stronger character and improve behavior at school.

So Rebecca received the award for RESPECT - "Rebecca has demonstrated the concept of respect. She knows how to be courteous and hold others in high regard."

GR I must apologize, I made the classic picture taking mistake and turned on the flash when taking the picture of Mr. M giving Rebecca the award. I know better... I took the picture at the half court line with a flash that travels 5 feet, so the original photo is totally BLACK. Thanks to the wonders of Photoshop and digital photography, amazingly the image wasn't a total waste:



"Yes, I own other clothes":
Today is also Alex's 3 month birthday, so here's a picture from this afternoon of my beautiful baby who is so incredibly good! Ahhh I am so blessed.



Mute Mommy:
In other news, I'm spending the day as a mute... okay that might be a bit dramatic. More accurately, I'm not talking much today, and if/when I do it's in a quiet whisper. I wish I could say it's a new parenting technique I'm trying out or that I'm finally dealing with my Mommy Temper Management Issues, but sadly it's just my yearly dose of a sore throat that develops into laryngitis. I just hope it doesn't transition into something more major.

Happy 40th:
Grandpa Bob just called to alert us to the Charlie Brown special that is on TV tonight - "It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." I heard a interesting little snippet about the show on NPR this morning while driving to Blockbuster to return a movie. Despite what the camera captured, I'm hearing lots of giggles and laughter coming from the couch. I'm just sorry I didn't have enough time to set up the computer to record it for future viewing this weekend.

Friday October 6, 2006

This afternoon I had the rare chance to sit for ~15 minutes and IM with Mary Ann. There's a good 8 hour time difference between us, so we hardly ever chat this late in the afternoon. Matthew was out late and she was waiting up for him, and my kids were all getting ready to spend the evening with Grandma & Grandpa. M&M have been home for about two weeks from their 1st world, 80 day "vacation," so we chatted a bit about how life was back in the 3rd world. After bringing me up to speed on the events of the last two weeks, she asked:

MA: -- what's new in your house?
K: Rebecca is wrapping her library books in plastic wrap to keep them clean.
MA: ???
K: I know ... crazy. I told her that was a little silly, but she didn't listen and went right on wrapping them in plastic wrap ... where she got this idea I have no clue. Sam had his preschool pictures taken this morning.
Emily got her second shot against Hep A, so we ate lunch with GR in the hospital cafeteria.
MA: wow, busy, busy
MA: you drove to [the hospital]
K: Yeah, Emily's doctor's appointment was at 1:30 and the doctors office is in the same complex as the hospital so it all worked out well. AND, 1st Presbyterian had their rummage sale today and I found two little boy suits for a friend, two church skirts for me and a box of 8 pint size jars for $10.
MA: all that for $10? wow.
MA: God bless America.
K: :)
MA: I spent $10 today just to dry clean two pillows and two blankets ...

Rebecca wrapping her library books - all by Robert Munch her current favorite author:


Sam's preschool picture:


A stunning visitor in our garage. The picture doesn't do this moth any justice. His size and color were beautiful!

Before loading in the car, I lined all the kids up for a picture. And voila... 10 clicks later:

Preparing the perfect pancake pan

Mom emailed me some clarification on her pan preparation for the Feather Pancake recipe and since so many of you are planning to try them (if you haven't already) I'm passing her email on to the rest of you:

"I do not put half an inch of oil in the pan. I do, however, want the oil to run around the side of the pan before I start frying the pancakes because I typically get at least one pancake flopped up against the side of the pan, and I think it's more likely to come off easily if I've oiled the sides of the pan just like the bottom. I might use a teaspoon of oil to condition the pan. After tilting the pan in every direction so that oil covers the bottom and the sides, I pour any excess oil into the bowl of pancake batter. Wiping the sides with a paper towel is another way to distribute the oil onto the sides of the pan.

One way you can determine if the pan is hot enough: the oil will form what look like little fingers where the bottom of the pan and the sides of the pan meet.

If the oil is smoking, it's too hot.

If you pour batter into the pan before it's hot enough, the pancake won't brown on that side.

By the way, you only need to put oil in the pan in the beginning--not after each pancake. Some people really like the crispy, fried effect oil has on batter. If you are one of those, you'll want to add a little oil after every pancake. On the other hand, if you are trying to cut back on the amount of fat in your diet, adding additional oil to the pan is unnecessary."

Bear Bottoms

Samuel is finally to the age where he doesn't want to take a daily nap... while technically he doesn't need a daily nap, his attitude drastically improves if he gets a good two-three naps in during the week. Wednesday after three straight days with little or no afternoon nap, Sam and I weren't on real good terms, and by bathtime he and I had both had it with each other.

Mom: "... Sam, does Mommy need to swat your bare bottom?"

Sam: "No, me not have bear bottom!"

Mom: "What?! Honey, you aren't wearing anything on your bottom.

Sam: "Me not have bear bottom. Bear's have brown bottoms, me bottom not brown. Me not have bear bottom!"

Mom finally catching on, desperately tries to hold back the laughter ...

Mary Sue's Feather Pancakes

1 cup flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk*
2 tablespoons salad oil.

* For thinner pancakes, add 2 more tablespoons of milk to batter.

Put frying pan on stove and turn on heat to low.
While the pan is heating, make the pancake batter.
Do not put oil in the pan until the batter is prepared.

In a large bowl, combine egg and oil. Add milk. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl and add to egg/oil/milk combination, stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Put just enough oil in the frying pan to coat the bottom and up the sides of the pan about 1/2 inch.

Pour about 1/2 cup batter into the center of the pan. Watch for bubbles to come up in the pancake. Then watch for the outer edge of the pancake to look "dry". The bubbles and the dry look are indicators that it is time to turn the pancake over. After flipping the pancake over, you should see the pancake puff up. Wait just a little for the second side to brown and remove the pancake to a plate.

The above recipe makes about eight 4-inch pancakes.


I typically tripple this recipe, but I also make big pancakes that are 6-8 inches in diameter.

Random pictures from September

Pancakes! (Wednesday, 20 September 2006)
Lately when you ask Sam what he'd like to have for dinner (any meal really) he will scream, PANCAKES! So I've stocked up on baking powder and I'm working on memorizing my mother's amazing pancake recipe which I typically triple so we have enough to eat and a few to save.



Murphy, baby protector (Thursday, 21 September 2006)
I am happy to report that Murphy approves of Alex. I have a picture of Murphy like this with each of the children at about this age. He stretches out next to them on the couch, sit on their laps when laying on the floor or asleep in their bouncy seat.


Too Good to Pass Up (Friday, 22 September 2006)
This year, Emily has been invited to and attended four birthday parties. Consequently we are prrfecting the art of purchasing 6 year old birthday presents, her gift of choice - make-up and hair accessories. On this Friday night before two back-to-back parties, we took a family trip to Walmart and saw this t-shirt. GR thought it would make a great come back to his sisters comment about him, Joe and Dime.


Why you shouldn't purchase too much Halloween Candy (Monday, 25 September 2006)
Yes, I still have Halloween Candy from last year.. I won't be making that mistake again this year. This is Sam in our bed at about midnight covered in chocolate. If I remember correctly he had a half eaten Reeses Stick in his hand when we found him... chocolate was everywhere, as were wrappers. My hiding place in the closet obviously compromised.

What's this suppose to mean?

Over the last two months I've been reminded what a 'people magnet' newborns are. Random people, who would have never said boo to you, now stop and have in-depth conversations with you - typically about babies and their children. The first question out of most peoples mouths (and if it isn't the first, it quickly follows... how old his he?) - Is this your first?

Monday while Alex and I were at the grocery store in my little 90 minute window between drop offs and pick-ups, I was asked this question by a middle aged man with a four year old in his cart. I smiled and said, "No, it's my fourth."

Typical responses when give this answer... "God Bless You" ... "Wow" ... "You've got your hands full" ... "You're brave" ... etc.

His response ... silence.

And the numbers are in...

Weight = 12.5 lbs. ... 75%
Height = 24 5/8" ... 90%
Head C. = 15 3/4 cm ... 50%

Time's flying

Today, Alex is 2 months old and for the past few weeks he has been perfecting his smile. I think I'm going to need to work with GR on getting a really good picture of this boys beautiful smile.

In other baby news, Alex had 2 major diaper blowouts that both required a bath in the kitchen sink. He must be preparing for our weigh in tomorrow morning at the doctors office. I'll let you know the offical stats.

This one's for you Topher

I am so behind on so many deadlines it isn’t even funny anymore, and this is no different… It has been brought to my attention that I neglected to do a “happy birthday” posting for GR who’s birthday was September 23^rd ...

September 23rd - had WAY to much happening on it. The two big things in addition to it being GR’s birthday:

We bought a cow… GR and Joe went north and picked up a cow from a local meat market - and we now have half a cow in both of our freezer in various forms (ground beef, patties, stakes, ribs, etc. ... we gave Joe the tongue).

I was gone half the day for the Stake Home Family and Personal Enrichment meeting and General Relief Society Broadcast that we (Stormy, Carol and I – Renee was out of town) were in charge of.

Thankfully, Diane had GR and the kids over for dinner, so he did get a birthday celebration on his birthday. Bob spent all day working on two racks of ribs and I’ve heard they were excellent. Rebecca ate 3, Emily ate 2 and Sam ate 7!! His mom gave him a Lego Mindstorms Robot – they are pretty cool if you haven’t seen them before.

The weekend before GR’s birthday we went to StL to let the kids play with Stella and Danielle again while Mary Ann and Matthew were still in town with my parents. Mom suggested we celebrated GR's birthday while we were all together and given our schedule on the 23^rd, that worked out really well.

Saturday morning we went to Purina Farms and saw everything – they had a farm animal petting zoo where the kids got to pet baby pigs, chickens and rabbits and they got to milk a cow; they put on a mini dog show with five different dogs with their own tricks and each of the kids got to help in the dog show. If you’re ever in the area, I would highly recommend visiting – it’s free and definitely a kid and parent friendly place. We'd like to go back to see a dog show sometime - humm.... October 16-22 is the Border Collie National Specialty .

That night we celebrated GR’s birthday properly with two magnificent chocolate layer cakes from Party Pastry and lots of presents. He got candy to put in his suit pockets for kids at church; two ‘bathroom’ books – ‘Wisdom of our Fathers’ by Tim Russert and as‘It’s not ey being green and other things to consider’ by Jim Hensen; a conservative yet contemporary red tie; socks (yes, he got sock for his birthday… when I asked him what he wanted/needed, after a very, very long pause, he replied, “Well, I could use some socks.”); a very large 15” cast iron skillet to go along with his Dutch oven for camping; a ‘family’ size electric grittle for pancakes.

Bubbles!

Over the last couple of weeks, the kids and I have stopped in the down town quilt stores at least three times (more visits than I typically make in a year). Just a few doors up from the quilt shop is our favorite toy store. I don't know where I've been, but until this month, the kids and I had never noticed the blowing bubbles teddy bear hanging outside their shop door. Now we can't go down town without spending at least 15 minutes outside their shop popping bubbles. It's great fun to watch them play and to watch the faces of the adults walking by two little kids running and jumping and giggling and laughing with delight!

Yet another reason to go back to NYC!

This morning while feeding Alex, I flipped on the TV. It was on the Discovery Channel leftover from last nights viewing of Myth Busters, and I caught 20 minutes of a show called CASH CAB. Now this is an innovative game that is surprisingly fun to watch... and based on my 20 minute preview, one I could do well at.

What do you think?

The above picture is of a tree we found Monday morning in the preschool parking lot. Over the weekend a very large limb broke off the tree, landing in the parking lot covering two spaces. When we got there to pick up Sam, Emily's explanation of what happened was:

"Five grown-ups climbed up there and stood on it and broke it...
One of the grown-ups wasn't being a good example."

Happy Birthday Barbara!

A few more pictures

Pictures from the last two days of our trip:

Sunday, 13 August 2006
Sunday we were able to spend a few hours visiting my Aunt and Uncle. My cousin Emily's family was there and the 6 kids had a great time running through Mike and Connie's house at top speeds. I have always loved visiting their home, and wish we'd have had more time to spend with them. But we were able to get some pictures of these cute kids on the front steps... something that's been done for three generations now. It started with my Mom and her siblings, then us, and now our kids.


Isabella holding Alex.



Monday, 14 August 2006
Monday we went to the Aquarium in Baltimore. When GR and I took the kids to the Capital, I snapped a few pictures of them, on the Metro so on the off chance I lost one of them, I'd 1) have a current photo of them and 2) be able to tell the police officer what they were wearing. At the aquarium I decided we should probably do the same thing... just in case.


Three of our favorite exhibits were: The Sting Rays, Tree Frogs and SHARKS! GR and I definately liked the shark tanks the best.


We ate lunch at the top of the aquarium in a little cafeteria overlooking the Bay. Sam took one look at the green and purple dragon paddle boats in the water and insisted on being able to ride in a green dragon before the day was over. GR and I decided that if he still remembered the green dragon paddle boats when we left the aquarium in the next couple of hours, we'd make time to take him and the girls for a ride.

The second we stepped out of the aquarium, Sam asked to ride the paddle boats. GR and I took Emily and Sam, Bob took Rebecca and Merryn and Diane sat on shore with Alex. The kids loved it and the adults got great exercise.




Afterwards we found an ice cream shop for a scoop of ice cream (sherbet for Sam) before heading home.

A day of firsts

Saturday 12 August, 2006

Krispy Kreme Donuts is down the street from Elspeth and Chris's house. Since today was going to be really long for the kids, we decided to start out early at Krispy Kreme and then head to Mt. Vernon to see Washington's house before having lunch and going down for naps - the idea being if we started early and ran them hard in the morning, they'd be more likely to take naps and do well tonight.

Krispy Kreme was of course yummy - but also very interesting. Having never been in a Krispy Kreme Bakery before, I didn't know you could watch the entire process before your very eyes - very cool! They make a LOT of donuts and their "HOT NOW" sign is always on.



The kids had a fun time running around Mt. Vernon. We hiked down to the Potomac and walked through a portion of Washington's farm and walked through his 16 sided barn (a rebuild of course). That truly was an amazing piece of construction. We didn't try to tour the house... the line was already pretty long when we arrived.

After some lunch at Boston Market, and good long naps, everyone was ready to head to Wolftrap for the Peter, Paul and Mary concert. We'd order sandwich's from a local deli to take with us, loaded the back of the car with blankets and had everyone in long pants/skirts since the weather was suppose to be cool.

Peter, Paul and Mary have been performing for 46 years. Diane first saw them when she was 19 years old, 43 years ago. As children, she took GR and Elspeth to their concerts, and now the next generation got their chance to see them in concert.

The concert was amazing - we had perfect seats, a perfect parking spot, and perfect weather! The kids loved the concert - they recognized and knew nearly half the songs they sang, which is pretty amazing considering we've only been playing two of their CDs this summer. Emily and Sam both fell asleep before the concert was over, but I'm really glad we stayed until the very end. It was totally worth every minute.

Perfect Timing

We could not have planned our trip to Washington/Alexandria any better! So over the next little bit I’ll be posting a summary of our trip:

We flew out August 9th - the day after Emily's birthday and the day before the attempted terrorist attacks in London. Had we planned to leave a day later, I doubt the trip would have happened.

The kids traveled so well! On the plane, each child had an adult to sit with (we went with GR's parents) - Emily and Grandpa were partners, Grandma and Rebecca were partners, Sam and GR (probably the most difficult team since Sam got restless half way through the flight) and Alex and I were partners. I had made each child an activity bag for the plane with snacks, colored pencils, stickers, a notebook, activity books, books to read, and small games.

So how much luggage does it take for a family of eight to be gone for a week? Here's the answer!

Thanks to a huge mess at the car rental place - we waited over an hour in the parking garage at Regan National for the ya-hoos at Alamo car rental to find our cars and car seats. So we got to Elspeth's house much later than we expected. We unpacked the cars, ate some dinner and crashed!

Thursday, GR and I talked about taking the kids to the Zoo, but the weather was rainy and unpredictable, plus the kids were having a great time playing together, so we opted to stick close to home. We did go into Old Town for lunch and a little windown shopping.

Elspeth and Rebecca went shopping earlier in the day and got a really cute cupcake birthday cake for Emily so we could celebrate her birthday again with the cousins. Emily had really wanted some make-up for her birthday and Elspeth & Chris got her the perfect set... complete with sparkly powder, lipsticks, eye shadows, and nail polish in a purple sparkly carrying case. Pair that with the 70s inspired pink suede hat they gave her and we have one very fashionable 5 year old!

The Country Mouse and The City Mouse

Friday 11 August 2006

GR, Bob and I took the children on the Metro to DC to tour the Capital (arranged by Aunt Elspeth). I am so glad we didn’t try to go into DC during rush hour… the kids were so cute the first time we entered the station. It took us a couple of tries to teach them how to put their Metro card into the reader, so the gate would open and they could walk through to find the train. They loved riding the train and looking out at all the different sites along the way. They really thought it was cool that we let them ride the train standing!

It was about 3:30 when we rode the train home, and since it was a Friday the trains were much more crowded. The first train we got on (right off the Mall) was very full, with only single seats open here and there. GR had Alex in the stroller, and I had Sam on my lap with the girls at my side. I found three single seats all next to each other (one in front of the other, and across the isle) and told the girls to sit down. I must have told them to sit down four times before the train started to move and they reluctantly sat down next to two complete strangers. In less than 10 seconds, both of them turned to their seat partner and said, “Hi, what’s your name?” Emily was sitting next to a woman about the age of my mom, who smiled, told her, her name and asked Emily what her name was. Rebecca was sitting next to a 14/15 year old African American boy, who wasn’t exactly prepared for her question, but very politely and quietly answered with his name. We were only on that train for two stops before getting off and getting on another train.

While we waited for our transfer train to arrive, I explained to Rebecca and Emily that I needed them to sit down wherever there was an empty seat, and that people in Washington, DC simply aren’t use to talking to others on the train, so it might be best just sit quietly.

We had a great tour of the capitol, ate lunch in their caffeteria and discovered our tour guide was LDS too!