PRE Thanksgiving Festivities

Today became a bit crazy busy with kid festivities... I as in charge of playgroup this month and scheduled a little Thanksgiving activity this morning, quickly followed by the school kids Thanksgiving feasts at school. Add to that the special snack Rebecca requested to take to school today for her party today, and it was a late Wednesday night.

In preparing for playgroup I found some really fun activities that I thought I'd share. Only two made it to our playgroup agenda, but the others might be good activities for your kids in the hours leading up to the feast.

Oreo Cookie Turkeys
Pilgrim Hat for Boys ... Pilgrim Hat for Girls
Thanks and Giving Tree family activity - a good FHE activity
Thanksgiving songs for preschoolers

Gobbling Turkey Apples (snack) was a huge hit with the playgroup kids and something small fingers could do pretty easily.


Paper Cup Turkey - I'm thinking these will make great place cards for our Thanksgiving table!


Alex, Anna and I finished up early at playgroup and headed to the elementary school to eat the annual Thanksgiving Feast served at lunch. We had a good time sitting with each child and enjoying lunch together, and I'm really glad we were able to continue this little tradition with them.


Late yesterday afternoon Rebecca explained that her class had earned a movie party and they could bring snacks to class if they brought enough for everyone. She had some elaborate plan to make sugar cookies in the shape of hands to look like turkeys and asked to make the sugar cookie dough. I handed her the recipe and she made it, stuck it in the fridge, and ran off to Activity Day girls. There wasn't time to make hand-print turkeys using sugar cookie dough, even if I do have a hand cookie cutter. But I was able to pull this off (pretty stinkin cute if you ask me) and thankfully it was an acceptable substitute:


We're changing things up for Thanksgiving this year and I'm hosting. Everyone's bringing a little bit of the meal and we're doing a bit of furniture rearranging to fit all 14 of us, but I'm excited to celebrate one Thanksgiving in this house before we move on to larger spaces next year.

Hoping to take my own advice ...

At the end of September, I was approached by the editors of Modern Handmade Child to write an article on Simplifying the Holidays for their November/December issue. Modern Handmade Child is an online magazine written by the EtsyKids Street Team. Weeks before the editors asked for article ideas and I "opened my big mouth" and made this suggestion ...

Ways to simplify the holidays and still make them meaningful and memorable. Budgets are tight, and so are schedules. We all want to have a intently meaningful holiday but what do we need to do to obtain it? Surprisingly, it doesn't mean we have to buy our child the latest and greatest toys, blowing our budget with just one purchase, nor does it mean we have to go to every party, bake 1000 cookies plus 10 gingerbread houses to deliver to the neighbors, and buy gifts for every Tom, Dick, Harry, Mary, Sally, and Jane we come in contact with during the year. Share 5 ways to simply the holidays, strategies for cutting back in areas that are only adding to your stress level, not adding to your enjoyment of the season - namely spending quality time with your friends and family.

Either they liked the pitch, or they were desperate for articles. I have yet to hear from the editors if the article was what they expected or not. But it's out there. You'll find the article on page 87-91.

Side note: GR laughed hysterically when he heard what the article was about. Apparently, he doesn't think I'm very qualified ... the holidays are anything but stress free for me. Maybe this year I'll be able to practice what I preach.

Happy Halloween!

Tiger Buddies

Sam and his buddy George are doing cub scouts together, and tonight they had pack meeting and then a lock in with games and projects, etc. They were both really excited about it and Sam came home talking 90mphs about all the cool things he did ... and he came home with a cookie!

Sam and George have been good friends since they were toddlers, they are in the same church class and finally, the same school class. Since we opted to let Sam do cub scouts through the school troop, instead of waiting two more years to do it through church, I'm glad he's got a church buddy there too. I have no idea how this is all going to play out as he get's older, but he's enjoying it now, he's got a really good group of boys and parents, plus it's something he does with his dad, and we need all of those we can get.

This girl of mine ... oh my!

Anna ... my dear sweet baby girl. At her 15 month appointment Tuesday, it was once again confirmed that she is totally built like the boys. Long and skinny. She seems to be wired much like them too. Remember Sam's two week stunt at this age where he managed to get more than a dozen different products on the carpeting throughout the house? $500 later Stanley Steamer got all but the nail polish out. It appears Anna is following in his footsteps, only her obsession is with food containers on flat surfaces just out of reach.

Countless cups of water on the counter seemingly pushed far enough back that she can't reach them, have flooded the kitchen floor and dinning room table.

Freshly smoked and sauced BBQ chicken on the dinning room table - took only 2 minutes from the time it was delivered to our doorstep by our chicken smoking queen of a friend, I set it on the table, walked outside to say good-bye, and splat. The foil covered aluminum pan was upside down on the carpet.

Bag of goldfish from our preschool snack. She climbed up on the dinning room table, sat down and ate her fill of fish, then dumped the remaining fish on the table, and proceeded to walk around the table, making a lovely gold table covering.

7 October:


An after school snack of popcorn on the dinning room table. Mountain climber Anna reaches her destination in record time, enjoying piece after piece of popcorn until she discovered that dumping it out onto the carpeting would be a much more enjoyable accomplishment.

15 October:


Pudding cups set on the counter for the kids to have as a mid afternoon snack. GR and I working and talking at the same island counter where the pudding cups wait for a Wii game to finish. Anna and her stealth like maneuvers, sees chocolate, finds a step stool and moves it into position, climbs and reaches. Many hand dips later, GR and I who are RIGHT NEXT TO HER chopping apples for applesauce, look over and see ...




In the words of Sam's current teacher at school; Sam has been having some Friday afternoon memory and hearing issues that have resulted in a couple of yellow cards and even one orange card (you want to always be green) getting pulled. ...

"He's just so darn cute, you just can't get mad at him when he does something wrong."

Yep, she's definitely following in brothers footsteps.

Today's adventure

We had little friends at our house today and despite chilly temperatures and the threat of afternoon rain we headed to the library for a special story hour with miniature ponies. The two big kids got to feed and brush the ponies, made a stick horse using a paper horse head and yard stick, and each had a big bag of popcorn and apple juice. Alex and Maeve had a great time, each totally content to do things at their own pace and given the weather, the lack of a crowd allowed them to do just that. I even got to pick up some books I had waiting for me on hold and dash into the children's section to pick up some American Girl mystery books for the girls. I also put the rest of the Rebecca AG books on hold so the girls can finish reading the series.





I have decided I am glad the Lord did not see fit to send me two sets of twins, three and one. While doable for a 90 minute visit to the library, when it was all over, we were all very ready to go home and chill out.

Play date

While a friend went to the dentist, her kids came for a play date. Alex really likes playing with Maeve! They were playing quietly upstairs and when I checked in on them, I found ...



Alex was "reading" her a princess story!

Season 5

We're down one player this season, and everyone is practicing on the same night of the week which is a huge blessing. It really is amazing how much stress that knocks out of your life ... Emily catches a ride to practice with a neighbor who's on her team, GR takes Sam ... no complaints from the Mama who holds down the homework and bath fort.

Both kids are on teams they haven't played with before ... a mistake I hope we can reverse, for Sam at least, for the Spring season.

I personally, am still looking for a good team for Emily to play with where she isn't a foot taller than everyone else, and where the girls are more matched with her skill level. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand she is not going pro anytime soon. But most - if not all - of the kids on her current team are 2nd graders who haven't played much soccer and that's a bit frustrating for my girl. She has potential, but I really wish we could help her skill level progress, and I feel it's stagnated a bit. She's still struggling with the same technique challenges she had at this time last year, and I'd love to help her move past them. That being said she had two goals in today's game and a fantastic assist. It's looking good for another hat trick this season!

Their latests craft obsession

In the last week or so these perler craft beads have been the kids craft of choice after school. We've had quite the neighborhood craft circle as kids crowd the dining room table making shape, after shape, after shape. Above is just a small sample of what they made - 7 kids can really crank out a lot of designs! It's a super cheap craft they can do (other than the melting with the iron) by themselves and doesn't take any prep work on your end.

The multicolored circle was made by Alex. I was shocked he finished it when I put the group of green ones in the center for him. Don't you love the end result?! The two squares are Sam's; the dolphin Emily's and the bottom heart, Rebecca's. Some of these are getting shipped to Sister Aunt Barb who's birthday was earlier in the week and her box is still sitting waiting for a few more treasures before it get's shipped off to sunny California.

If you're considering these activity beads for you kids, might I provide a few tips ... since over the last year and half that these beads have been apart of my kids craft cupboard, my approach has evolved.

• First, melt the daylights out of those beads - you want them completely fused together, otherwise they break very easily.
  
• Second, in comparison to some of their other crafts of choice (paint, glue, clay/playdough, etc.), the mess here is minimal ... I should explain that those beads end up everywhere ... but I no longer get down on my hands and knees and search for every bead, sorting them back into their little compartments. Whatever the kids don't get picked up gets sucked up by the vacuum, thank goodness for vacuum hose attachments
• Third, all projects must be finished, no unfinished projects sitting on the buffet for weeks and weeks getting knocked about. They are now, either finished right then and there, or they are dumped back into the bucket.
• Fourth, encourage your children to give their creations as gifts ... that way someone else has to figure out what to do with all these masterpieces. They make fun "sun catchers" for your windows, key chains, and coasters.
  

Good-bye Summer

Summer may not officially end until late on the 22nd of September, but for us, Labor Day means the close of the pool. And in the eyes of our kids, the closing of the pool means the close of summer. This summer didn't prove a fantastic summer for lounging in the pool. Lots of rain and cooler than usual temperatures meant less frequent splashes. Even today, with temps in the mid 80s, it was a bit cold in the water. If you look closely you can see Sam's lips are blue.

Highlights from our time at the pool this summer ...

• Samuel passing his arm floaties on to Alex, no longer needing them to navigate through the differing depths of the water.
  
• Alex going from being a bit fearful of the water last summer, to fearless - dare-devilish - this summer.
  
• Rebecca, Emily and Sam, each tried diligently to learn to dive from the side of the pool rather than plop.
  
• Learning that Anna is part fish, particularly enjoying putting her face in the water and drinking.
  
• Alex mastering arm floaties.
• Discovering that Anna is not rattled in the slightest by falling out of her duck floaty and being suspended below the surface of the water by a foot or so, for a matter of seconds. [Scared her mother to no end. But she never so much as gasped or whimpered - scary!]
• Rebecca and Emily learned to dive down under the water to retrieve things from the bottom of the pool in the deep end. Very helpful in picking up walnuts from the floor of the pool.
  
• Emily learned how to do a handstand underwater, and walk on her hands, while Rebecca perfected both.
• Alex becoming a 3 year old water acrobat. Jump in from the side and going down the slide, in every conceivable way.

Emily's Baptism

Oh this little girl of mine has been so patient! Waiting an entire month to be baptized was oh so hard for her. She really, really wanted to be baptized on her birthday, but our stake has asked that all the little kids who turn eight in one month, all get baptized on the first Saturday of the following month. So this morning Emily was baptized. There was one other little boy who turned eight over the summer who was also baptized. It was a really sweet and beautiful occasion to watch these two children make such a significant covenant with their Father in Heaven. They were beaming, glowing even, all morning long.



Sharing the program with another family was a wonderful experience, but presented some challenges - so many people to coordinate with! - but it all worked out. Emily asked Grandma Mum to play the piano. She did a wonderful job of playing Baptism, by far one of the more difficult pieces in the Children's Songbook, and When I am Baptized. Grandpa Art led the music and Grandma Mutti gave the talk on Baptism. Emily's primary teacher was able to come and give the closing prayer. Micael's bishop gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.

We filled the Relief Society Room with family and friends from both families. I continue to be so grateful to those who are able to come and support our children. It was a very busy holiday weekend and many had commitments, making those who came all the more appreciated!

We ate chocolate cupcakes with white frosting afterward in the Primary room. Since GR had to be up at the church a few hours early to fill the font, I gave him very specific instructions as to how to set up all the rooms. My mother offered to make the cupcakes for me, and I accepted - aren't you proud of me! My sister brought all 72 of them with her Friday night.

Emily with a cake her Primary Teacher made for her:


Then later that afternoon we all gathered at Grandma's house for swimming, a special dinner - GR's famous smoked ribs - and to spend time with family. We found out that some good friends grandchildren were in town for the weekend - they are Emily and Sam's age - and we asked them to join us in celebrating. Their grandchildren spent a week with them earlier in the summer and our kids had a couple of opportunities to spend time together. They became instant friends! Since the cousins weren't able to come and Aunt Mary Ann was the aunt/uncle representative, having this little extension join us for the evening festivities was so very nice. It was a perfect day for a perfect little girl who was tickled pink with every part of her day.

Alex in a Nutshell

Thursday night is soccer night here in these parts. We're down to two soccer players this season (Emily and Sam) and I can't tell you how nice it is to have the kids practices on the same night!! GR took Alex along to Sam's practice so he could play at the park. The following conversation happened while GR was pushing Alex on the swings and it perfectly captures Alex right now.

Alex to couple passing by the swings: HI!
Couple: Hi.
Alex: My name is Alex.
Lady: Hi Alex, I like your t-shirt.
Alex: I made it.
Lady: Oh really, that's cool ... Good-bye

GR: Alex, your silly.
Alex: I not silly, I funny.
GR: You're silly.
Alex: No. I funny.


GR had no idea that Alex really had made his t-shirt at a playgroup activity two months ago. We did freezer paper stenciling and Alex painted a blue whale on his t-shirt.

Eric Carle Inspired Craft

Hi, my name is Kathleen, and my three year old is not potty trained.

Alex and four little friends and the mama's are doing a little co-op preschool once a week. We each take a turn teaching and hosting our little 1.5 hour class, and Tuesday was my first time teaching. We choose our own topics and I went with Eric Carle (author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar).

My lesson consisted of some pretty basic stuff ... reading lots and lots of Eric Carle books and acting them out. a simple craft, a matching game using characters from Eric Carle stories (if you want a copy of the cards, let me know and I can email you the PDF) and lots of free play outside.

Cindy was the first to teach and her main piece of feedback was, the kids aren't into crafts. With this in mind, I went with a coffee filter butterfly to go along with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I did a trial run Monday morning, and Monday night when the kids got wind of what I was doing, this little craft turned into an impromptu FHE activity. They had such fun! We have butterflies all over the house! They have a life span of about 14 days right?







As part of my prep for teaching, I went to the library and picked up a big stack of Eric Carle books - holy cow that man has written a TON of books! - to go along with some of the ones we own. It was nice to have a book for each of the preschoolers to hold and look at, but more than that, my own kids have loved having all of them around the house to look through. It's been such a positive experience, that I'm now in search of other authors to "feature" in our reading basket here at home, rotating them every week or two.

One of the things I love about Eric Carle book's is that Sam can read them. They aren't too long, and the vocabulary is on his first grade reader level. I'm thinking we'll try some Fun with Spot books by Eric Hill next, and we'll see what the librarians suggest, but I'd love to hear your favorite authors for preschoolers - both for independent reading and for reading aloud. A definitely bonus for beautiful, interesting, and creative illustrations.

And He's Off!

I was finishing up in the kitchen when Alex came in and said. "Get your camera mom! Come look at Sam."



Thanks to some much needed one-on-one time with his Dad tonight, Sam finally got the hang of his two wheeler! Something he's wanted to master all summer. It took all of 10 minutes, tops, and he is so thrilled. I love the look of intense concentration on his little face, and that tongue!

Kids Cooking School - Banana Bread

Near the end of last school year the girls came home with a recipe box from grandma's house. The box had kid friendly recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc. This summer they have perfected one of the recipes from the box and it has become their go-to recipe when they are looking for something constructive to do and all the ingredients are on hand.



It's been a great learning experience for them, and teaching opportunity for me.

In the first week they made over 10 loaves of banana bread. The girls are learning as they go ...

• it is possible to make this recipe without using 7 bowls.
  
• a wire whisk works just as well and is faster than a sifter
  
• scrap all the ingredients into the main mixing bowl - don't leave anything behind
  
• when using all natural peanut butter, don't pour off the oil at the top of a new jar.
  
• cleaning up the kitchen is part of the cooking/baking process, you don't get to leave that part to someone else.
  
• it's best to clean up the kitchen while the bread is baking, so you can enjoy eating it when it comes out of the oven.

Yesterday after school, the girls made a batch for their teachers. The whole process is so much easier to sit through now than when they first started! It's quite exciting to watch the girls learn and get better and better at making this recipe. And their work has received rave reviews from everyone they've given loaves to!



Monkey's Favorite Banana Bread
2/3 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 small egg, well beaten
1 mashed up banana
2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

Remove butter and egg from refrigerator, 1 hour before using. Grease 4x2x1-1/2" loaf pan. Preheat oven to 325. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt onto a square of waxed paper. Set aside. With wooden spoon, cream butter, gradually adding sugar. Add beaten egg and mix well. Mash banana with fork or potato masher. Blend well with peanut butter. Add dry ingredients alternately with mashed banana mixture to the creamed butter mixture. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 35 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a fork in the center - if the fork comes out clean, it's done. Let cool in pan on cooling rack 10 minutes before turning out. Refrigerate batter for up to 4 days. Makes 3 - 4x2x1-1/2" loaves. Makes 2 - 5-3/4x3x2-1/8" loaves.

Double recipe to make a full size loaf.

This recipe creates a very nice, moist yet light bread. Very different than the dense banana breads I'm use too.

I want to try using Soybutter or Sunflower butter in place of the peanut butter so we can use it school and give loaves of it to our peanut allergy friends. Anyone experimented with it?

Family Nightcap

Two exciting rounds of Rumis before sending the kids off to bed.

Gotta love a game, everyone can play and enjoy!

Back to School

The three big kids started school today ... we now have a fourth grader, a third grader, and a first grader. Monday afternoon we went to the school to see everyone's class lists. For the most part everyone is pleased ...

Sam has lots of kids he knows from lots of different places in his class. His teacher started at our school last year, but this is by no means new to teaching, but I'm excited to get to know her.

Emily, was disappointed her best friends aren't in her class, but I did point out that she knows lots of the kids in her class and in third grade, she'll rotate among the three classes for things like math, science, & social studies, so she'll still see them lots. I'm hopeful her teacher will recognize her need to be challenged. She is so incredibly bright, but isn't showy or flashy about it and her need to be stimulated and stretched can easily get over looked because she is quiet and goes with the flow so easily.

Rebecca, is finally, after four years, not in the same class as D*. They were well matched academically, but not so much personality wise. He recognized early on she was an easy, fun target for teasing - and she is. Her teacher is one who she knows well, they met when Becca was in 1st grade. I'm hopeful this familiarity with her personality will also work to her benefit. Like Emily, she is very bright. Rebecca likes things that are familiar, easy, comfortable. She needs outside help and encouragement to reach outside her academic comfort zone and stretch her mind. The incentive for the teacher is if she's challenged regularly she isn't as easily bored, so her mouth doesn't move as much.

As for Alex ... we were going to put him in preschool, but it looks like we'll need to push that off for a semester or more. To be in preschool he must be potty trained and he has simply decided he does not need or want to potty train. I have introduced, prodded, forced, made numerous incentive plans, bribed, and gone cold turkey. We have not had a single success all summer long, not one. I'm sad for him, but we'll find other things to do. I am really getting the vibe from him that once it all clicks for him, this kid will be totally potty trained in a snap. He's just gotta decide he's ready to do it.

50/50 odds ... not bad!

I entered a couple of drawings over the weekend with odds more like 1/1400 ... Ha! I like these odds much better.

Sam drew names for me, and the winners are:

* Heather G. * Lori * Deb * Kristy *

So I'll get them all mailed out in the next day or so. I've cleaned up my Publisher file so I can turn it into a PDF to email out and post it on Mormonchic. Camie, Heather H., Liz, and Jennifer, watch for an email from me with the file and cutting/assembly instructions.

We have two days left of summer vacation and we're planning on spending the day running threw sprinklers and playing in the pool. Here's to hoping water destrctions will keep children from screaming and crying and fighting.

Emily's Great to be EIGHT Birthday

Our sweet Emily celebrated her eighth birthday today! Eight years old! We packed lots and lots of celebrating into our one little day. When I asked her how she wanted to celebrate she said she wanted to go to either Dave and Busters (restaurant & arcade) or Famous Dave's (BBQ). It took a while, but she finally settled on Dave and Busters.



The kids started the morning off by going to our farmers market - a Saturday morning favorite! - with Grandma and Grandpa. While the four big kids, enjoyed the market, GR went and performed a wedding, while Anna and I made a huge birthday brunch for everyone to enjoy when everyone got home. Per Emily's request, the menu consisted of scrambled eggs (side note, to my sibblings - finally after years of failing, one of my two pans of scrambled eggs turned out like Mom's! yippee!), bacon, sausage, biscuits, cantaloupe, grapes, lemon poppy seed cake, the works, all served on my mismatched collection of china plates, that we only use for very special parties. It was scrumptious, oh so filling and served on time - 10:30am on the dot.

We hoped to miss a busy dinner crowd at Dave and Busters by going for a late lunch/early dinner. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had the same thought. But we got seated quickly, had a good meal and headed back to the game area. We played for a good 2 hours and the kids racked up some serious tickets - each hitting their own little jackpots here and there - reaching a grand total of 6398 tickets. They each got to pick a big stuffed animal (two poodles, a dragon and a tree frog) and a couple of little trinkets that will hopefully last longer than the weekend before the fall apart or break.



Then it was back to Grandma and Grandpa's for swimming, cake & ice cream and of course presents.



Emily is growing into such a mature little lady. She is an excellent student. She has beautiful penmanship. I love reading her classroom journals. Emily is happy to help classmates who need extra help understanding something, and does it in a kind and compassionate way. Never making the other person feel dumb or less than adequate for needing help. She is also a strong reader. She and Rebecca love reading the same books and often share books with each other, talking about the characters and story lines.

She is a super helper with Anna and Alex. She is very loving and nurturing with them. I ask a lot of her and Rebecca and she is typically very willing to help ... diaper changing, feeding, playing, etc.

Emily is very thoughtful, always wanting to make something to share with someone else ... a friend, neighbor, teacher or family member.

We are so lucky to have this sweet girl in our family! Her beautiful spirit and bright, happy personality add so much to our family! We are so proud of her and the young woman she is growing up to be. She is very excited to be baptized and we are thrilled she has made this choice.

On a mission ...

Back in June when our good friends moved to a bigger place and the kids and I spent a couple afternoons helping them unpack. Rebecca begged and pleaded to be allowed to bring one of the huge garment boxes home with us ... I managed to get it into the van and home. She promptly set it up in the living room, filled it with pillows and blankets and climbed in with a book and flashlight. You can only imagine how everyone else felt about that - I nearly had four of them lined up on the basement floor. Over the next couple of days the box got banned from the main floor of the house, migrated down to the basement for a short visit before finally settling down in her room. Until a few weeks ago when I finally put my foot down and demanded that she break it down and put it in the garage. It might have something to do with the fact that she and Emily could barely move in their room - the box took up half of her available floor space and they were having an impossible time keeping what little bit of floor they had left picked up - Oh and that she hadn't even climbed in the box in over three weeks. Yep, time to move on.

Fast forward to this afternoon. The kids got a call from their good friends up the street ... "Do you want to come over and build a fort?!" I don't think they even hung up the phone... Becca grabbed her box from the garage, and a roll of packing tape and everyone headed off up the street to build their fort.

Excess Inventory - aka A Giveaway

A good portion of my spare time the later part of last week was consumed by this little book.



Saturday was the BBQ contest - GR took 2nd place this year! - and our quarterly Primary Activity. We focused totally on the scriptures for this activity. We noticed that many of the older kids couldn't find a scripture when given the referrence ... they couldn't tell you if it was a Bible scripture, Book of Mormon, etc. And some younger kids were only really familiar with the Book of Mormon, not the Bible or vice versa, and definitely not the Doctrine and Covenants or Pearl of Great Price. Because of time constraints, we focused mainly on the Bible and Book of Mormon, having mini break out sessions (grouped by age - jr/jr, jr and sr) for the Old Testament, New Testament and Book of Mormon.

I taught the Jr New Testament session focusing on the teachings of the Savior by looking up scriptures in the Bible. I had kids in my group Sam to Emily's age and wanted to give them a take home reminder that would further help teach them about the New Testament. I instantly thought of a handout my Mom used in her primary teaching days - My Story of Jesus from a 1974 Friend and reprinted in March 1999. Since they range from new readers to strong, avid readers, I felt my handout needed to "grow" with the kids. I wanted it to be more than just a coloring activity, I wanted it to be something they would keep and use for a while.

I combined the illustrations from the Friend with coordinating text found in the New Testament Stories for Beginning Readers and included the scripture reference. Hoping my new readers like Sam can look at the picture and read the simple text, and my strong readers like Emily, would read the simplified story and both could practice looking up the scripture stories in the New Testament. I also included a couple of pictures from the Gospel Art Book and a few songs from the Primary Song book that talk about the life of the Savior. I am really pleased with how well the book turned out and the kids were genuinely excited about them too.

It is nearly impossible to accurately estimate how many kids you will have at an activity like this. I figured it would be 18-20 for that age group, but just to be safe I made around 24 books. Of course I have extras and the thought of deconstructing them kills me. Would some of you like to have one of your own for your kids church bag?

If so leave a comment between now and Monday morning, I've got at least four copies I can mail out, so I'll randomly pick four names if there are more than four of you who'd like a copy.

By the way ... it's a standard 4x6, inexpensive photo album and all but the last three pages are filled up. So your child can add some of their favorite pictures of Jesus if you'd like.

Dispelling all Myths

It's AUGUST. August! Really, August?!I

School starts in 9 days.

Emily turns 8 in 5 days.

Honestly and truly I thought that by now, I'd be totally caught up on our summer adventures, and things would be humming at sweet and smooth pace.

I guess it's time to just fess up and not try to hide the fact that I'm barely holding things together this summer. It's not so much that we have a lot going on ... 'cause frankly we don't. On the family end, it's been a normal, steady pace. We're doing fun things, having a good time, having wonderful summer adventures - at least I hope that's what the kids think and will remember.

I on the other hand ... I feel like I can't breathe, my condensed, bare minimum, let's just get by "to do" list is so overwhelmingly long I don't even know where to begin. My coping strategy right now is to have a Tuesday morning melt down ... full blown, totally overwhelmed, how can I get myself out of this mess, yelling, crying, eat a bowl of ice cream and bite my lip til its over, melt down. I gotta say while it doesn't do a thing to shorten my list, I do feel a bit better when it's all over. And I know that this too shall pass and I will dig my way out of all this 'stuff' that is crowding my life and get everything done in a day that is asked of me. But until then, you just might want to steer clear of this house on a Tuesday morning - maybe I will too. And to the deranged few who still seem to still think I have it all together ... ha, ha and ha! If only you were a mouse in this house!

Happy Birthday Anna!

Friday, Anna turned ONE ... my baby is one year old, man this year has flown by!

• She has only two teeth - they are on the bottom.
• Walking is now her main mode of transportation and she's pretty steady on her feet.
• She's a very determined little kid, who is not easily distracted or persuaded.
• She loves playing in the water - although baths are an entirely different thing.
• She is quite social and loves to be in the middle of everything.
• When she wants something, she screams/yells "Eeeehhhhhhhhah" - at ear splitting decibels, it's always shocking, it always make everyone jump, and it's especially disruptive in the middle of church.
• She is a very independent soul who loves to explore the world around her.
  
• Anna is a very happy, joyful child. She doesn't get upset easily. When she cries it's because she really needs something.
  
• Anna is tough and can easily hold her own against her rough and tumble older brother who tackles her to the ground, all be it gently, on a daily bases. She takes it all in stride, without getting up set and occasionally returning the loving gesture.
  

To celebrate, Grandma brought over the traditional donuts and balloons. Anna ate nearly all of her glazed donut on her own.



We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - her favorite - for lunch and were going to spend the afternoon swimming, but mother nature felt rain was more important so we stayed inside while Anna slept the afternoon away.

After naps, we took a box of ice cream, sprinkles and cones to Grandma's for ice cream cones. Everyone enjoyed those very much!





Anna had her 1 year appointment first thing this morning. She's doing fantastically. Defiantly has the height of the girls, but her weight seems more inline with the boys.

Weight - 21lbs 14.5 oz. (60%)
Height - 30.75 inches (94%)
Head Circumference - 19 5/8" (>97%)

Today ...

Yesterday, I finally convinced Rebecca to let me take her picture in the shirt I finished for her back in April. I really love it and wish I had time to make it a couple more times for her and Emily both.



Rebecca managed to break her glasses ... again ... I'm starting to question why these were recommended for kids given how easily they have broken. Anna took them off Rebecca's face, and wham, the ear piece was broken. Yesterday, she set her glasses on the bathroom counter, so she could brush her hair. She accidently set the hair brush on top of her glasses and the snaped in two. She wasn't being careless or silly, there was no loud crash, or bang. Thank goodness for warranties. When the gal who works in the frame shop saw GR coming, again and saw Becca's glasses, she said as soon as the new frames come in, she's going to order a back up set so they have a spare on hand for the next time this happens.

Celebrating Miss Amercia!

Our Fourth of July adventures spanned three days and we had a great time0!



Thursday night after dinner and a quick house pick up, we all went to GR's favorite local fireworks stand so he and the kids could purchased some "daytime" fireworks to shoot of at his parent's house. This is the first year that the kids have gone along and helped choose the daytime stuff we shoot off. And the picked some great things. Crop Circles and Ladybugs were some of our favorites this year.



Friday morning we took the kids to the dollar store and pick out something special. Becca and Emily both picked out cups shaped like ice cream cones with twirly straws that wrapped around the outside of the cup, Sam picked out new water balls for the pool, and Alexander picked up a new Micky Mouse baseball puzzle.

We spent the afternoon and evening at the home of Bill and Sharon. GR grew up their kids, and their son Rob is GR's best friend. For as long as GR and I have been together and we spent the 3rd of July at their house. Many of their kids were home visiting for the holiday so we got catch up a little bit, between helping kids with this and that.



Saturday morning was our pancake breakfast, at which the kids all astounded the adults around them by the number of pancakes they could each pack away. Onlookers were convinced they'd make themselves sick if they ate one more pancake, but they weren't. Pancakes are just one of those things my kids can eat by the stack!

We had a fantastic dinner at Bob and Diane's. Between Diane's friends, Bob's family (two of Bob's kids were in town this year) and my family that came (Mom, Dad, Suz, Joe and Katy) we had around 30 people for dinner.

The weather was so nice and mild ... we had some dark clouds roll by in the mid evening that got us worried, but it didn't rain and people came out in droves. This was one of the first years where GR and I did a better job of inviting more of our neighborhood friends, rather than having such a high percentage be church friends and acquantances.

We served 192 servings of ice cream! We moved out behind the playhouse so we were closer to the crowd. I also recruited some helpers this year. My sister Suz, soon to be sister-in-law Katy and friend Steph all helped us serve up all the root beer floats. I did up my cup size to a 12 oz. cup which helped equal out the root beer and ice cream per portions. The other thing we did this year was use dry ice to help keep the ice cream from turning to soup. It worked fantastically - that is unless it was in direct contact with the ice cream and then it worked a little too fantastically. Maybe if it were wrapped in newspaper?





The electric fire system GR, Charlie and Joe worked so hard on worked so well! In the past each shell has been hand fired, causing pauses of a couple of minutes between sets of shells. This year, they were able to flip a switch which sent an electrical current down a wire attached to each fuse, which would fire off each shell. The firing was well timed; by far their best shoot yet! His shows have rivaled professional shoots in the past, but his year, you'd be hard pressed to see much of a difference between his show and most other small town shows.

The only disadvantage we had this year was the wind. It was blowing straight south - toward the crowd - covering everyone with a layer of debris and ash instead of away from the crowd and into the woods. But everyone took it in stride and still left the show saying nothing but praise!



Every year I am astounded by the size of the crowd - well over 200 this year - and the interest people have in coming out for a backyard show and enjoying one another's company. I am also deeply touched and humbled by the number of people who over the years have asked contribute to what has been fondly coined the "Save GR's marriage fund" (aka the root beer float and fireworks fund). The thoughtfulness and generosity of our friends and neighbors, leaves me speechless and with a lump in my throat.

Preparations

June 30th, 2009

This time of year means lots of preparations happening at this house, gearing up for good times to come.

GR and his band of merry men, have been working hard for weeks now building a new firing system for this weekends fireworks display. The hope is that it will allow them to fire each shell more quickly, resulting in fewer and shorter pauses than hand firing all the shells. If this works, this years show should prove to be the best yet.



And because they are hoping to go with electric fire, they need tubes for each shell so they won't have to reload any ... that's a lot of tubes. Each year they add a few more to their inventory, so building racks has also been on their Tuesday night to-do list.





GR has also started testing rib recipes for this years Ward BBQ Contest. The kids LOVE this tradition and are becoming quite good little food critics. GR made this recipe on Saturday, using some special finds we got last week at the Farmers Market. There are plans for a few more taste tests but we're pretty confident we've found the recipe he'll use this year. From what we can tell, this years contest should be a good one, the competition will be fierce and fun, sure to produce amazing ribs from all who participate.

How many CSRs does it take to repair a dishwasher?

The full story ...

Earlier this year we had our dishwasher serviced. The top rack dishes were not getting clean ... grit was getting cemented on the glasses every time we ran the dishwasher. A royal waste of time and water, if you ask me, since they all had to be hand scrubbed in super hot water to get the grit off.

LeRoy came out, cleaned out the motor and got it working, but wasn't sure how much longer it would last, predicting that within the year it would need to be replaced. At the end of the service call he mentioned a service agreement/warranty I could purchase for $90 that would cover all parts and labor on the machine for the next year. I bought it on the spot after clarifying that it would cover all parts and labor (LeRoy mentioned the motor would cost ~$300) ... $90 seemed like a good investment.

Fast forward a few months ... The dishwasher worked really well for a few weeks after LeRoy left and then it went back to it's old tricks again. Near the end of May, I was able to make an appointment for June 4th, and requested LeRoy to come back.

June 4th ... Within 10 minutes of looking at the dishwasher, LeRoy assessed that the motor did indeed need to be replaced. His inventory list showed it wasn't on his truck, but he went to look anyway, and found one - yippee!! Took out my old motor, went to install the new motor, but discovered the seal from the old motor wasn't salvageable AND he didn't have the part on his truck - he searched his truck for a good 45 minutes trying to find it. His inventory sheet listed one in stock, otherwise he'd have never started. So the part got ordered - it would be shipped to the house -LeRoy would return the following Thursday. In the meantime the dishwasher would not - could not be used.

June 9th ... Sears called to tell me the part had shipped and to call them when the part arrived so the service appointment could be scheduled.

June 10th ... The part arrived, but when I called to confirm arrival of the part, the only service appointment available is Friday. One more day, we can handle that.

June 12th ... late afternoon, LeRoy arrives. He installs the new motor and seal lick-ity-split. My friend Kelly who's over with her kids, loads my dishwasher and starts it. 10 minutes into the cycle, water pours out of the bottom of the machine. I call LeRoy's cell - he comes back ~5:30 and finds that the drain pump needs to be replaced. Another part that needs to be ordered.

June 18th ... I've had no word from Sears, so I call. CS has no clue what I'm talking about. No part is on order, no follow-up appointment is scheduled. I make an appointment for Monday, request LeRoy, and specifically tell the CSR that I speak that a drain pump needs to be on his truck so he can make the repair.

June 20th ... LeRoy stops by the house first thing in the morning. Becca answers the door and before I can get downstairs to talk with him, he tells Becca, that the drain pump is on back order and he's not sure when it will come in. I am totally confused, and call Sears ... relay the timeline and repair history to three different CSRs in an effort to determine if the part will be in for my Monday AM appointment - trying to explain that there is no point for a repairman to come without the part. The part is ordered that morning, and a "rush" is put on it. I am told to call back Sunday to track the parts progress and if necessary reschedule my Monday morning appointment.

June 21st ... I call Sears ... mid sentence we are disconnected. I call back and am told they are experiencing call center issues and to call back in an hour or so.

June 22nd ... A technician is still scheduled to arrive anytime between 8 and noon. I was told he would call ahead to let me know what time he would arrive and if he could not reach me at home, he would call the cell number. Consequently, with cell phone in hand, I take the kids to VBS. On my way home I call Sears to determine if the drain pump has arrived. Drive on hold and am home by the time I'm talking to a real person. While talking to the CSR I discover a post-it note on the door from Glen who was in my driveway at 9:14, six minutes before I walked in the door. I loose my temper and vent a bit of frustration at the entire system ... why ask for a number you have no intention of given the repairman? What a royal waste of every ones time!! The CSR gets in touch with the repairman who eventually calls me and shows up around 11am ... he does not have the part necessary to fix the dishwasher, but as to not waste his trip, takes a second look to see if there is anything more he can do to help the dishwasher along. Glen finds a few more things that could stand to be replaced, orders all the parts and tells me he'll be back on Thursday to install everything.

June 24th ... call from Sears CS ... seams my parts will arrive sometime Thursday. They cannot guarantee UPS will deliver them before the repairman arrives, and suggest moving the appointment to Friday morning. I tell the CSR that I want to keep both appointments so my dishwasher that services a family of seven, has now be inoperable at no fault of mine, for three weeks now, can be up and running as quickly as humanly possible. I'm told that it is physically impossible for me to have a service appointment for Thursday and Friday. I press the matter more than once and the CSR could really care less. Backed in to a corner, with no where else to go, I relent and change the appointment to Friday morning.

June 25th ... the parts arrive.

June 26th ... Glen arrives. The parts department sent him six of one of the parts he ordered ... five more than he needed. Thankfully they sent all the other parts too and was able to install all the necessary parts. It took him quite a while to get everything cleaned out, taken a part and then put back together again. But the machine now works!!

LeRoy called an hour or more after Glen left to let me know that the drain pump he had ordered for me had arrived. I brought him up to speed on what had happened on my end, and he did the same. Turns out when he went to order the part on the 12th they were back ordered, so he tried to get the part through other connections in an effort to save time and, well it didn't save anytime. Thankfully he'll be able to use the part elsewhere and since it will be on his truck, this all won't happen to someone else.

I should explain that I was really happy with the two repairman that came to service the machines. The customer service department and the parts department - not so much.

Thanks to all who had some fun with GR on facebook about all this ... you helped us smile our way through a straw that was trying to break our back. More thanks to those sweet soles who came and washed our dishes ... totally unnessecary, but oh so nice to have good conversation and a clean kitchen in the end (gave me time to clean up everything else).

My mom's been in town ... last night while we went to the MoTab concert, she got all the kids involved in hand washing the dishes and drying them. They were actually arguing about who would do the bubbles and who should rise. Hopefully we can carry this over to loading and unloading the dishwasher. I'm so behind in handing out specific chores and daily tasks to the kids. They do their share of work around here, but it's by assignment, as needed, and if I can just get some breathing room in this schedule of mine, I need to create a daily tasks chart for each of them and expand their repertoire to something more regular than - by assignment as needed.

I am just so glad this is all over! Now if Commerce would just send me the ATM cards I requested weeks ago, there will be no more reasons for me to call 1-800 CS numbers.

Green Sky

Sam's t-ball game got cut short thanks to this ugly looking storm that came rolling through this evening. The temperature dropped a good 20 degrees, the wind picked up and there was a sinister teal green tint to the sky hiding behind the large wispy gray clouds and the heavy dark charcoal gray clouds.



The storm didn't produce nearly what I thought it would given the amazing cloud display! I totally expected to spend much of the night camped out in the basement with the kids all in makeshift sleeping bags, holding their one of the six or more flashlights we own. All the flashlights of course contain dead batteries, because in this house they are toys, not items for emergency preparedness. Thankfully, that was not the case! Power was only out for a few minutes, and no sirens sounded.

Note to self ... buy a lot of D batteries the next time you are at the store!

30 minutes of my life this morning

Email written to GR this morning ... sent at 9:51 am.

Took kids to VBS @ Methodist Church … Got home at 9:20. Found note from repair technician … not LeRoy … on door. He was there at 9:14. He did NOT call my cell phone - [why ask for my cell number when I make the appointment if they don't give the repairman my cell number to call]?

While he was in our driveway I was on the phone [my cell phone] with customer service and driving home. Supposedly, the technician will call me back. I STILL DO NOT KNOW IF THE REPAIRMAN EVEN HAS THE PART NECESSARY TO FIX MY DISHWASHER!! I’m suppose to discuss my problem with him and see if we can find a solution.

I got rather frustrated on the phone … I feel I was justified, although I did explain that it was not her fault, but I had talked with 5 different people this weekend trying to resolve my issue and no one, no one has been able to truly answer my questions and resolve my issue.

* * * * *
Alex is singing “Rock and Roll with Rudy” over and over and over again. I’m confident he’s on his 2nd round of 100!

* * * * *
Anna tried to eat the flowers I put in the trash can.

===== end message =====

After hearing about this email, and knowing a bit about our dishwasher saga, said we should be a reality tv show ...

This dishwasher mess is about to put GR and I over the edge. We've been without a dishwasher since the 4th and when Glen returned to look it over an hour or so after he called, Sears had not supply him with the necessary part to make the repair nor had they given him my cell number. Thankfully he did his due diligence and looked over the machine to familiarize himself with what was wrong. He found a few more things to replace, and when it was all said and done, he ordered $169.26 worth of parts (including a drain pump) and said he'd be back Thursday morning to install them.



When this is all over ... meaning the dishwasher is in good working order ... either because all the necessary parts have finally arrived, or GR gets fed up and goes to Best Buy to purchase a new one, I'll post the play by play of what it's taken to get it up and running.

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

In other news, Anna took her first steps this afternoon. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's to swim and she took a few steps in the kitchen on the tile!! My friend Kathy said she'd taken a little one at church yesterday so I was totally surprised when she took 3-4 in a row this afternoon! It won't be long now!

Father's Day

Ever had one of those days where you expected one thing, got another and in the end it was totally okay? In a nutshell, that was today.

I woke up to GR talking to his councilors on the phone, saying he wouldn't be at his early morning church meetings and he wasn't sure if/when he'd make it in for church. He'd gotten a migraine and felt sick to his stomach.

GR takes the church program in for me and it magically gets photocopied and folded. Since he wasn't going in, I needed to get it to church earlier than 8:55 when we typically roll in. Anna and I got ready, and just as we left for the church around 7:40, the girls woke up. I asked them to please remind everyone to get dressed for church and eat some breakfast, suggesting that if the boys weren't awake by 8, to wake them up. I would help them finish things up when I got back and we could leave. Anna and I didn't get back until nearly 8:30 and I was very worried about what I was going to walk into. But I found everyone dressed, shoes on (Alex needed help getting his on) and fed (I have no idea what they ate, because the kitchen looked exactly the same way it did when I left.)



I am so proud of all they did this morning!! The more I think about it the more amazed I am. Our Sunday mornings never go that smoothly! When I told GR about it this afternoon, he was totally clueless. He had no idea I'd left and the children had gotten all ready for church by themselves. Obviously, they did it without fighting or arguing too much, cause he slept through the entire thing.



We spent a quiet afternoon at home playing and baking. The kids & I decided to make Ester Bolick's Orange Maralide Cake for Father's Day. This cake is quite famous in my Mitford Series and in the book I just finished listening too, they give the recipe. The cake was beautiful, and yummy, but as is true with most things, it wasn't quite as good as the book.

** The picture of the kids was Friday's attempt at getting a really good shot for them to send out as a Father's Day remembrance. Sadly, all their willingness to participate got used up picking peas. This frame (only one of four I took in total) was good enough to email the Grandpa's, even though the cards never happened.