Indian Gift-Maker and Her Extraordinary Friends

(I was going to call this post "Strip Quilters," but then thought that might be misleading...)
Grandma Windham was a quilter and seamstress extraordinaire. She also saved every scrap she ever had, cut them into strips, and taped them onto a toilet paper rolls. At the garage sale this past summer there were two huge (think two feet by three feet) zip-lock bags FULL of these scraps. I took one home thinking a strip quilt would make a really great gift for...someone. Well, someone particular.
Back in October I started unrolling strips of fabric from the toilet paper rolls to find that some were only two inches long and some were only a 1/2" wide. Some were over four feet long and three inches wide. I sorted them by colors - blue, red, purple, green, yellow, orange, tan, brown, and white. By November I was sorting each color by length, shortest to longest. I had even sewn all of the blue strips and some pink together before Thanksgiving. After turkey day it was crunch time. If I wanted to give this away then I needed it done really soon. I sewed whenever I had a chance and got almost all of the strips sewn together...and then I called for back up. Tara and Taffy came over and spent five hours with me sewing, trimming, and piecing until the quilt top was completed. I provided lunch and a peach pie. Three sewing machines! Awesome!Then we sat and looked at the finished product (almost - just needs a border)...And I decided/they convinced me that I couldn't give it away. I know! How awful is that!? I spent the next three days contemplating new gift ideas for that person and found something that worked just fine...and now I have a beautiful quilt top waiting to be quilted (a project for January).
I have truly special friends. Two in a billion.

Bye, Christmas.

On Christmas Eve Rus and I had a "discussion" with our kids right before bedtime.
"No going downstairs without Mom or Dad."
"No waking up other kids until you talk to Mom or Dad."
"No waking up before 6am."
Wouldn't you know it, I woke up just before six, filled with anticipation, and had to wait...the kids didn't wake up until 6:46. I remember because Bekah ran into our room yelling, "It's 6:46! We slept in! It's time!"
I called my parents and they hurried over so they could share Christmas morning with us.
The first thing Bekah saw when she went downstairs was this:Doesn't every little girl need a hot pink kitchen? The wrapped present was a new Easy Bake oven from Santa. The curtains are hiding two little blue Ikea drawers and a shelf. The curtains are from my favorite fabric ever and the glass knobs were stolen (with permission) from an old cabinet of my mom's. The inspiration came from www.anawhite.com. Bekah loved it and has been eating every meal at it every day and trying to store everything inside of it. (She's a cute little pack rat.)When Jacob came downstairs he saw an awesome hot wheels chain reaction toy and a wrapped present that contained...LEGOS! Can I just say that I am SO happy I have a kid old enough to play with legos? I LOVE legos!
Beau had a fun new train track set with motorized cars and CANDY! His smile in this picture is from finding candy in Rus's stocking.I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas from Santa - a really nice face painting kid from Klutz. And a new watch from my parents. And brown boots and a cute necklace. And the "Hello Cupcake" cookbook, a "Salsa Brava" cookbook from my favorite mexican restaurant in Flagstaff, and a water-bath canner. Tyler and Gina gave us a really cool (heavy) magnet board and a balloon animal kit. I am totally going to become a Carny now. (I have a unicycle in the garage - Rus's mom's actually - I'll have to learn how to ride it.) I also got a #1 Mom award from Amy. Inside joke - totally made me laugh.
Anyway...ever since Tyler and Gina's reception (where there was a face painter present), I had dreamed of getting a face painting set and painting all the kid's faces on Christmas day. And that is exactly what I did. Bekah started out with snowflakes...(My hidden talent - making snowflakes)Jacob had fire (here with his new headlamp, too)...Then Bekah, Libby, and Zaya wanted to be butterflies and Emma wanted to be a cat.Zaya's was especially cool with her green eyes (and messy face).It was a perfect day. Really. Oh and the night before wasn't too bad either...everyone came down for Christmas Eve dinner and of course we had the little kids reenact the nativity, Rus and Jake wrestled, little Jacob almost got wrapped in a box, we sung Christmas songs (including Jingle Bells in Luff language), and my dad read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to the little kids. Oh my how I LOVE Christmas! I am grateful it was such a special experience this year...and to be truthful I am grateful it's over!

Santa's Workshop

Bekah and Santa at school

Oh my if I only had another week/month until Christmas! This elf is TIRED!
I may or may not have been:
Taking pictures of all of the kids at Bekah's school with Santa (over 500 pics)
Doing custom drawings for my etsy shop, BeDoodled
Making my first quilt top
Making a play kitchen for Bekah...hot pink and SO exciting!
Having a stomach bug...yuck
Scrounging for friend gifts and teacher gifts for Bekah to take to school
Celebrating Jacob's 5th birthday! WOW!
Making a volcano cake for Jacob's birthday - a smoking volcano
Remodeling the master bathroom at Grams' house - the house we're buying and moving into sometime next year...we tore out the old shower, removed the 30+ year old red carpet (yes, in the bathroom!), Rus worked on the shower pan while I framed out the new shower and hopefully we'll be tiling the shower and the floor in the next week.
Visiting with family - hooray!
Shopping, shopping, shopping...oh how I hate Walmart at Christmas time
Eating - I love me some oreo truffles!
Not blogging, obviously.
Hopefully I can elaborate on this all later! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Rise and Shiner

This morning I woke to an awkward knocking at the door, followed by a jumbled turning of the knob and then a Beau spilling into my room, one shoe on and three shoes in hand. He came to my side of the bed.
"Hepme, Momma."
I leaned way over the side of my bed to reach his bare feet and covered them in the socks he had provided, then put his shoes on.
"Socks my hands," he said now, putting another pair of socks on his hands and then inserting them into the other pair of shoes.
I suddenly remembered the ward Christmas party from the night before and how Beau had been spinning merrily before he crashed fantastically into the ground, his nose absorbing the blow. I saw it happen and grabbed him as quickly as I could, trying to hug him, leave the room, and not let his nose touch my shirt because I knew it was going to bleed.
Which it did.
A lot.
I made it to the bathroom sink at least, but that didn't spare the floor right by the sink or my shoe or my shirt from getting dripped on. Or the trash can when I went to throw away dirty towels. Eventually it slowed down enough for me to get some toilet paper from the stall and hold it on his nose.
"Rus! Russy!" he cried now. I agreed and we left (after cleaning his mess), and tried to find Rus. Beau was still crying and bleeding a little when Rus took him and just happened to sit at the table with the two out of three nurses in our ward. They both took a good look at Beau's nose.
"Swollen."
"Badly bruised."
"Probably not broken."
"Straight," they said with a cheerful tone (like, "look at the bright side!")
"Nothin' you can do if it is broken anyway."
"Needs ice."
So we left, causing Bekah tears because she was "just starting to have fun." Beau calmed down and even slept good last night (with the help of some ibuprofen).
So after Beau came into my room this morning and had me help shoe his hands and feet, I suddenly remembered the night before and took a good look at his nose. It was still swollen and his right eye looked puffy underneath - I can't wait to see the shiner that's forming!
Here it is today:
Whatever sympathy I was feeling was forgotten when Beau (now with four shoes on), trotted out of my room on his hands and feet, bum sticking straight up in the air. He came back a few minutes later to grab a stuffed animal. With his mouth. And then trotted out again.
What a wonderful way to wake up!

Colonel Goes To School

Yesterday morning I loaded the kids in the van...and decided that Colonel wouldn't mind a ride, either, so I opened the back door and in he went. After all I was just dropping Bekah and her friend Grace off at school, taking Jacob to preschool, and then going home. No problem.
Bekah's school has a student drop-off area where the cars pull through single file and unload their passengers. I pulled forward, put the van in park (because I have to do that to open the sliding doors), and pushed the button to open the side door. No sooner had it opened than Colonel had hopped the back seat, pushed past Grace, and was out the door greeting Bekah's schoolmates. He was prancing and leaping happily while I was yelling his name and rushing out of my van to catch him. Then he seemed to realize where the flow of children was headed - the front door of the school! He made a made dash for it while I followed behind yelling "Nonononono!!!" He got in the first set of doors before I was able to catch him. The kids seemed surprised but not scared, thankfully. I pulled him outside and gave him a knee to the chest. I might have almost growled at him...no wait that's Rus who does that. Then I took him by the collar back to my van that was looking rather lonesome in the drop off area...all the other cars had been kind enough to just go past me. I passed Bekah and she said "Bye, Mom," like it was nothing. Like I do this everyday.
I spent the next ten minutes driving and stopping and opening the door and telling Colonel "NO," so he would get the idea that an opening door does not mean he's welcome out of the van.
Then I called Rus and had a good laugh.

Tyler's Wedding and Turkey Day Fun

Where oh where to start...
Last week we headed out to Mesa for the big weekend. I admit that Rus did a lot of the final loading/packing work because I was completely distracted by THIS and the immediate stir it caused in my Etsy shop. (Thank you Ashley!).
We drove seven hours and found ourselves at Rus's cousin Tom's new house in Gilbert. The kids were disappointed that the pool was too cold to take a dip in, but the swing set made up for that. We unloaded, hung out, visited with each consecutive Hartman that showed up, (I LOVE the Hartmans! I've adopted them), and then had to head over to my uncle's house to witness his big annual neighborhood pit-roasting event. Seriously it is a neighborhood affair - at last count there were over 70 turkeys patiently waiting for the flames to die down so they could be reduced to succulent goodness. The neighbors brought hot chocolate and donuts and I quickly lost the battle between dinner and dessert with my kids. Instead I turned my attention to my family: James and his wife Carrie were already there along with my parents and Tyler and Gina. Amy and Mike showed up a little later. Throw in aunts, uncles, cousins, and my cousin's kids and we had a regular party going on!
Unfortunately we couldn't stay too late because I needed to get to bed so I'd be ready for my Mi Amigo Turkey Trot 10K the next morning. Tyler and I did it together and had a great time...even if I wound up running with my phone because I didn't have anyone to give it to, so I put it in my sports bra and by the end of the race it was fritzing out...whoops...and I was also carrying the keys to Tom's beautiful truck that he let me drive (eek!), and my parents didn't even see me run past them (nor I them), and Rus was late, so basically no one actually witnessed me running (I made it up, really)....but my time was 54:36 and I was pretty happy with that. Tyler made it in 46:?? so he was faster than a turkey.
Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, as always - hooray for rolls and gravy and stuffing and Matt's sweet potatoes!

Afterwards we hung out, crafted, napped, and saw Harry Potter while my uncle Jerry watched our kids (or so he claimed ;).
Friday dawned early and happy...Beau came into our room, crawled in bed with us, and proved to Rus that he is the best back scratcher in the family. Rus says it's because he did it with a little anger. We spent the morning giving haircuts and getting spiffy and were plenty early to the temple - apparently I don't listen when Rus tells me things sometimes and the wedding really was at 11:15 and not 11:00. In the meantime we hung out in the visitor center.

The wedding was wonderful, really really wonderfully incredible. You could just tell when Tyler and Gina walked in and in the way they looked at each other (keep looking, keep looking!), that they were filled with contentment and peace and joy. Oh and love. It was a really special experience....plus the sealer who married them was the same one who married Rus and I, so that was cool. I'd like to thank my mom again for handing me her questionable, wadded up tissue when I needed one badly. I love this picture:Dad, Keri, James, Amy, Tyler, Gina, Jared, Amanda, Mom

I *heart* Lindsey!

There's the beautiful bride!
Afterward we headed out to take family pictures on the temple grounds. Some of my favorite memories were from then. Coolest part: when Jacob peed on a tree. I didn't see it but someone else was kind enough to point it out to Rus. Second coolest part: James telling Jacob, "Okay, you run and I'm going to see if I can hit you with this grapefruit." And Jacob ran. And James couldn't hit the broad side of a barn because he's left handed but because one of his digits got caught (cut) up in a table saw (just the tip) he had to throw right-handed. Third coolest part: When my nephew Hayden walked around collecting grapefruits, saying he wanted to make lemonade with them. (Did you know that the Mesa temple grounds have grapefruit trees?) Here are all of us in age order: James, Amanda, Jared, Amy, Tyler & Gina, Keri, And my parents. I look really tall. It was the heels...but my sisters were wearing heels, too...Check out these Sassy Girls!! Lindsey I LOVE this picture!

(Beau wanted no one but his grandpa the whole weekend. Literally. He shrieked at everyone, but watched football, ate, played with, and was carried around by Grandpa.)

After playing around for far too long I left the temple grounds, barefoot, happy, with my family so we could go to the luncheon. More visiting, talking, eating, laughing, and then Carrie (my oldest brother James' wife), bribed me to leave and take her with us. Not really bribed, more like suggested, and I didn't need convincing...comfy clothes and a soft couch sounded pretty good to me. That night was relaxing and fun. Rus went to hang out with Tom, I got nail polish with Lindsey so we could paint our toes plaid, and Beau and Jacob did a fine job of nearly ruining the puzzle James and Carrie and been working on for two days.
Saturday morning Lindsey came over to Tom's house and we all enjoyed the worlds best waffles and buttermilk syrup together. Tom might have proclaimed his love...for my cooking. Later we cleaned up, packed up, thanked Tom for letting us stay there, apologized for Jacob puking on his carpet in the middle of the night and for Bekah breaking a bowl, and headed out to Tucson for the reception. Well at least we drove approximately .85 mile until Tom called and we returned for the box for Rus's new gun that he bought a month ago, unbeknownst to me. (Thanks Tom for your underhanded deeds.) At that moment I lost all remorse for the pair of shoes I bought the day before with Lindsey without telling Rus.
When we got to Tucson we decided to visit the Sonoran Desert Museum just so our kids could whine and complain and Rus could take some awesome pictures. I'd love to go back. When my kids are either mute or older or happier.
The reception was actually in Vail, just south of Tucson. It involved cheese and chocolate fondues, brownies, my homemade marshmallows, pound cake, veggies, bread, and a wonderful face-painter-friend of my mom named Carrie (also), who painted all the children's faces. It was really fun to see old friends, eat good food, and make new friends.
Phew. Takes a weight off me just to get all of that down on paper...er...computer. If you made it this far, kudos!

Owl and Bird Dress

I ran into some adorable owl and bird fabric at Walmart (of all places). And by adorable I mean irresistible, as in really really cute, as in I bought enough for her dress and then the two remaining yards on the bolt.
And then the miracle:
I actually sewed it into a dress for her. A dress with sleeves and button holes. Wowza. This is a big thing for me - a positive clothes-sewing experience.
AND
It was done for her to wear to church today. I might have been sewing the buttons on at breakfast this morning, but done is done. HOORAY!
Check it out!

My Thanksgiving To Do List:

1. Make Aut-yum Leaves and Acorn dough nuts for Jacob's preschool snack next week because they look so adorable and delicious.
2. Make 300 heart shaped marshmallows for Tyler's wedding. Never made homemade marshmallows? Didn't know you could? Try it. It's actually really easy - just takes time.
3. Finish a very exciting project with Blurb.com as my helper (more info to come - let's just say I'm trying my hand at illustrating...)
4. Print out these adorable tic-tac-turkey papers for all the little kids at our Thanksgiving dinner.
5. Prepare my YW lesson for church Sunday. It's on gratitude, what a wonderful coincidence.
6. Run six miles tomorrow. I've gotta be ready for my Turkey Trot.
7. Clean my house. Clean the church (it's our day).
8. Make pumpkin roll for my neighbor Nora. She's in her late sixties (I think), and has a terrific laugh. She's having a bunch of family over for turkey dinner and I'd love to make a treat for her to share.
9. Laundry
10. Figure out who's watching Colonel while we're gone.
11. Thaw out the pies Rus decided to freeze (that were fresh and would have been perfectly happy in the fridge...) that we're using tomorrow night for an elder's quorum social. Why, why, why.
12. Say thank you. To everyone.

What about you?

This morning I woke up to...

Poop.
Actually I woke up to Beau crying, 2 minutes after the alarm went off and 7 minutes before I really planned on getting up. When I opened my door I was hit with the smell of poop. Colonel's poop. I took care of Beau, convinced him to go back to sleep, and then walked back to my room.
"Colonel either has really bad gas or he pooped," I told Rus (waking him up), before heading to change my clothes for my run.
"I gave him Beau's cheeseburger last night. [Great.] Maybe he's lactose intolerant," [Right. Or maybe he got fed too late], Rus told me. Then he went downstairs and I could hear him dragging Colonel's crate to the backdoor. Poop it was.
I headed out for my run minus a crap covered Colonel - Regular Colonel wants to pee on every bush we pass and surely Colonel-With-The-Runs would be much worse.
When I came home I gave Colonel a bath in our bathtub. Gross. He wasn't caked with poop, which is the only reason I didn't hose him down outside - well that and the 20 deg. temperature.
I knew he appreciated the warm bath and nice smelling soap when he crapped right on my bathmat after his bath. If he wasn't appreciative he would have crapped on the carpet (my bathroom is carpeted - why, why why.)
I took him and the soiled mat outside. I'm learning such a profound amount of things owning my first dog - like this - a dog with the runs stays outside. Then while I was already dirty/sweaty/wet I cleaned out his crate. Fun.
I was just finishing up when Rus met me on the other side of the window by the hose. It was opened to help air out our house.
"Thanks for cleaning out his crate," he told me.
"Your welcome. Especially since you fed him a hamburger. I don't think he likes Del Taco," I replied.
Rus laughed and then countered by sweetly telling me I had poop on my shirt and pants. Considering the events of the morning I was shocked. No not really.
Dog.
Man's best friend.
Jury's still out for Women.

Loony to Lordsburg

We decided to celebrate Veteran's Day by going to the Botanic gardens. Bekah vividly remembered going there last year to take family pictures and playing in the leaves - an experience she apparently loved. She was a little disappointed to find only wet, un-raked leaves this time but countered her disappointment by saying we'd have to return next weekend. Jacob put in a request for "crunchy leaves" next time. Beau was there for the miniature train and didn't care at all about leaves. I was actually there to just pass the time until meeting up with Emilee and her boyfriend Chip who were up for a quick visit to tighten her braces, among other things. We had a fun, eventful family lunch that certainly brightened my day.
On Friday Rus convinced the whole family to play hookey. He wrote Bekah a note and invited her to miss school and go camping instead. She is reading well but her comprehension needs some work - it took some explaining before she realized she got to miss school.
We loaded up the pop up trailer and the Man Van and we were headed south by 10am. You know you've got kids when "first thing in the morning" turns into 10am, and "light packing" means three kids, a dog, two leap pads, a large cooler and a small plug-in cooler, a camera bag, two suitcases, five winter coats and five sweaters, a motorcycle helmet and boots (that didn't get used), the "big" diaper bag, and three backpacks filled with toys for each child. Oh and two parents, three bags of m&ms and a large Dr. Pepper for Rus.
Our camping destination was Lordsburg, NM. Rus's parents are building a house there and Rus thought he could help his Dad out for a day while the kids and I got some fresh air.
We stopped on the way down at Fort Cummings, a crumbling old fort on the road between Hatch and Deming. We had fun checking out the ruins and an old spring house that was built in the 1800s. To be truthful, Beau had fun collecting rocks and holding them in his shirt; Jacob had fun walking around the old rocks but was really envious of a big stick that Bekah found; Bekah was obsessed with keeping the bottom of an old glass bottle that she believed the Indians left there. I was just happy to walk around because my butt was sore from riding in the car. Rus loved checking out the ruins.We made it to Lordsburg around 4pm and visited/walked around Roger and Louise's house that is all framed up with the electrical currently being added. It's really neat construction because it's made out of rastra - a concrete foam block that is stabilized with rebar and concrete. There are no load bearing walls inside, which I found really interesting and appealing. The interior walls have metal studs and the floor will be a glazed concrete in all the rooms except the bedrooms which will have carpet. The south side of the house has five(?) HUGE windows that will - as Emilee pointed out - make it the perfect home for a cat as there are plenty of sunny places to nap in.
Just southeast of the house is a huge shop/shed made of metal. This is where we camped. Rus backed the pop up into the shop through a roll-up door. We used the electrical from the shop to power our pop up and used the water hook ups to fill up the tank in the pop up. This was a whole new kind of camping. The best thing about it was there was no light filtering in on us in the morning and so the kids slept until 7am. The worst part was that it was COLD - it got down under 20 degrees that night. Brrr. I HATE being cold. I went to bed with the kids at 8:30 because I was so cold and there was nothing else to do!
The next day I went for a run while Rus made breakfast and fed the kids. Six miles in one hour. The only impressive thing about that is that I actually went for a run. Tyler, Amy and I are doing a 10K turkey trot on Thanksgiving day in Mesa and so I've been running a few miles everyday and six miles on Saturdays. Colonel is my running buddy. I've had better - usually my running buddies don't pee on every bush they pass and make me carry a doggy bag just in case. Blech.
While Rus worked on installing conduit and screwing in (up?) outlet boxes, the kids and I built an adobe-ish fort. Bekah and I did the big rocks, Jacob pointed out other rocks for us to use, and Beau added the small rocks. It's amazing it got this tall at all.
Yes, Beau is still wearing his jammies, with a face to shame any mother. Jacob's hair had so much dirt in it his grandma told him it would turn to mud in the shower. I saw Bekah sliding upside-down down a hill and just cringed imagining the knots I'd have to comb out of her hair. But we did have a good time. It turned out that Rus's parents were only planning on being there till about noon, so we packed up and headed back home after having lunch at McDonalds with Roger, Louise, and Emilee who had driven over to see the progress.
It was a quick trip but a nice retreat. As always Rus and I got to talk a lot on the drive while the kids played and yelled and cried. I have a terrific best friend, even if he is a bit loony and loves long drives on deserted roads.

Doctor, Please

Really, what child does this? Is your daughter begging you to go to the doctor, saying her shots aren't up to date and she needs her vision checked?
I didn't think so.
Here's the proof:
"Mom, Please reminder to sign me and Jacob up for going to the doctor's.""Mom please don't forget to call the doctor today."November 18th, 4pm. There you go Miss Bekah. The health profession surely views you as a model patient.

Broccoli ala Worm

Saturday was reminiscent of one of my own childhood days. In a word - chores. I cleaned the bathrooms and then headed outside to clean up my droopy, frostbitten garden and save whatever surviving crop there was. I was surprised at the number of tomatoes and chiles that were plump and ripe and at the broccoli that looked just perfect. So later that night I made tacos...and broccoli. I steamed it, my favorite way, and then doled out portions to the kids, Rus and myself. I made cheese sauce for it too, and found myself scarfing up all of my broccoli before Rus even sat down. He was the one to discover a little white worm inside his tree trunk, dead of course. I looked to my own pile of trees to root out any worms and felt a little queasy when I noticed my clean plate. Yuck. I was suddenly disgusted with myself for not passing my broccoli through security before letting it into my mouth and stomach.
Gross, gross. Store bought produce never brought me any surprises like that!
Next important thing: Jacob read Hop on Pop in church yesterday. Not the whole book or even half, but he sounded out words on a couple of pages and proclaimed it to everyone as the sacrament was passed. "Dad! I read HAT! ED NED BED!" I was and am super excited for him.
And last: We had dinner at a friend's house last night. We see them about once a year and I love that it doesn't change our friendship a bit - we just have more to talk about. This time I was so happy that they were in their new house (kids ate in the kitchen, adults in the formal dining room), and couldn't see me make Bekah try a bite of homemade mac and cheese - which she gagged on - and then barfed into her cup. Blech. That girl's gag reflex is something else. Maybe I should trust her when she says she won't like it?

Sunday Morning

This morning was a long one.
No really, it was an hour longer - daylight savings time, you know...
I grew up in AZ and lived there 23 years, perfectly content to never have the time change on me in my sleep, so I still allow myself a few griping words each time daylight savings swoops in to mess up my schedule.
But, apart from all that, I had a really lovely morning. Bekah and Jacob somehow got Beau's braces off and helped him out of his crib. I'm not exactly sure how, but there wasn't any awful shrieking or crying, so I was appreciative. He came running into our room, yelling, "Russy!"
Yep. You totally read that right. Russy. I dare say I went from semi-asleep to laughing out loud at that one. Oh my. Rus just groaned as said, "Great. Now there are two people who call me that. My mom and Beau." (Hehehe...)
Beau then climbed on the bed and in his own language said, "Mom! Eat!" That kid's stomach is the first thing on his mind in the mornings...just like me. I was still happily cozy in my covers so I stayed put and he diverted his attention to his tote of toys in the playroom nearby. He ran there and pushed the whole tote back to my room, right by my side of the bed, and proceeded to throw his favorite toys up next to me - LittlePeople train with three cars and a tractor and the man that goes with it. Beau calls all men "Rus." So Beau climbed onto the bed, retrieved his toys, and the little train/tractor driver, a.k.a. "Rus," was jumping on Rus's back just a few minutes later.
"Rus! Rus! Russy!"
Seriously. How could you wake up sad to that? Rus tried to pinch me each time I giggled and encouraged Beau, but it was an ineffective deterrent.
Minutes later Bekah and Jacob joined the fun so I left them to tackle Rus so I could get them breakfast. We had waffles with Special Syrup. That's what I named the syrup because it's so sweet I only allow it on special days. Today was Sunday. Special.

And so this post isn't completely pointless, I'm going to share my recipe with you. I make these at least twice a week. I have the recipe memorized. I have a breakfast thing, you know.

Whole Wheat Waffles/Pancakes
2 eggs, separated
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 cup whole wheat flour (or just white flour is fine)
2 Tbl. flax meal, optional
1 Tbl. baking powder
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Separate eggs, placing the whites in a small bowl and the yolks in a larger bowl. To the yolks add the remaining ingredients. Beat egg whites with a hand mixer until peaks form. Use the hand mixer to beat the other ingredients until well mixed. Fold in egg whites. Use batter for either waffles or pancakes. Refrigerate any remaining and use the next day.

*Here is my super secret favorite way of eating pancakes - I pour the batter onto the griddle and let it cook until it has just set up. Then I top it with sliced bananas, chopped hazelnuts, splenda brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon. When it's ready to turn I scoop it up with a spatula, quickly rub the griddle with butter, and then flip it over onto the butter. The brown sugar kind of caramelizes and it is simply delicious. It doesn't need syrup although if you've made special syrup, it is an extra treat.

Syrup: (Half batch, just enough for me and my kids.)
1/4 cup buttermilk (or milk + a little vinegar)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar

Bring to a boil over moderately low heat. Remove from heat. Add 1/4 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. The mixture will froth up beautifully. Use immediately. Especially good with fresh berries. Or if you are like my kids you can put a little syrup in a little bowl and dip your waffles in it.

There. Happy Sunday! Happy Waffling!

Torture Revised

I am convinced that watching Jacob empty the dishwasher is a form of torture, similar to that of Bekah packing her lunch, both of which are equal to a steady drip of water on your forehead or being drawn and quartered.
I can't help but relive the details...
I emptied most of the dishwasher this morning, leaving only a bowl, two measuring cups and a cookie cutter on the top rack and a plate, cookie rack and the silverware on the bottom. I told Jacob the rest was his job while handing him a spatula and a big plastic spoon. He whined, cried "Why me!" and made his way, inch by inch to the drawer where he used the utensils to open the drawer (not a very effective means, if you ask me). Then he moped back to the dishwasher and stared at the remaining seven+ things. I pointed at each one and told him where they go, in case he'd forgotten since last time. (I wish I could forget the last time.) He picked up a measuring cup gingerly, with only two fingers and as little contact as possible and then let it fall back in. He whined again, this time only sounds, "Uhhh! Uhhh!"
I ignored him and turned my attention to Bekah. She is in charge of making her lunch everyday. She has to make her sandwich (PB&Honey), gather her snacks, and put it all in her lunchbox. This sounds like an easy task, but don't let that mislead you. The sandwich part is always the hardest. In fact today we worked out a deal where I make her sandwich once a week. Then there's the issue of the lunchbox. Bekah has two elmo lunchboxes, one flowered one, and a polly pocket bag that's meant for polly pockets but has only ever held perishables. Every day Bekah makes the insufferable decision of which bag to take. Today it's a walmart bag - every other one is apparently blacklisted. Watching her "make her lunch" is like trying to get a fly to go outside. She'll circle close to the pantry but then get distracted by the magnets on the fridge. She'll get out the bread and PB for her sandwich but then also find pen and paper to doodle on. She'll get everything out but not in baggies and then in baggies but not in her lunchbox. As the frustration swells inside of me I turn my attention to Jacob.
Somehow he has emptied the top rack of its four items.
He is now picking up silverware, one piece at a time, and dropping it back in the holder. Every once in a while a knife breaks free and winds up in the drawer, hopping from section to section in the divided drawer before landing in it's proper place. Slowly the forks and then the spoons meet the same fate, some of them swooshing into their slots like airplanes, some seeming to explode into the drawer with sound effects and all.
Eighteen minutes after starting, the last teaspoon is laid to rest and Jacob happily closes the dishwasher. He is happy now, pleased with himself. I am sitting nearby, drained from his effort, my fingers weary from resisting the impulse to take over at least fifty times. My jaw is clenched and sore and my head hurts.
Bekah has packed her snacks in baggies and has left the table a mess with an empty goldfish box and a mountain of walmart bags. It's my turn to make her sandwich and I do so in about thirty seconds. It's almost a relief to do it myself so that I don't have to watch her do it for five minutes.
Torture, I'm telling you. Pure torture.

Thirty Minute 1/2 Mile

"Mom, I want to ride my scooter," Jacob yelled at me, zooming by on his bike.
"Go for it!" I replied, ever the enabler.
"No! Around the block!" he yelled, now even farther away.
I was standing in my neighbor Nora's yard, catching up like only a SAHM and a single older lady can do. Two minutes later he came back by on his scooter with more important news, "Mom, Beau wants Bekah's scooter and it's stuck."
When he looped by the third time (some conversations are hard to get out of), Beau had freed the scooter and they were both ready to go.
...Around the block....hmm...I wasn't so sure about Jacob's idea because Beau obviously would not be content riding on the back of my bike. He wanted to walk/drag Bekah's scooter the whole way. While I was trying to decide what to do Beau had taken some initiative and was two houses ahead of me. I caught up, lowered the handles to Beau height (about two feet off the ground), and decided to pace myself for a thirty minute half mile.
This is how our walk went:
Beau would walk the scooter until it strayed off the sidewalk. Then he would reach down and grab the foot part and move it back onto the sidewalk, huffing and puffing just a little bit. He'd walk for ten feet and get distracted by a bug/sign/rock/electric meter and throw his scooter on the ground to inspect. (Poor Barbie scooter took a beating.) Then I would kindly/laughingly/impatiently call to him to catch up to me. He would pick up his scooter and start walking again when suddenly a car/newspaper/airplane would distract him again and down would go the scooter. I'd yell for him to catch up to Jacob (who was ahead of us, looping around patiently whenever he got too far ahead), and Beau would yell, "Okay," and run full speed ahead, leaving the scooter on the ground. I would pick up the scooter and follow Beau for another twenty feet until he realized I was carrying his scooter. Then he'd yell at me, I'd give it back and he would start walking with it again. At one point Jacob yelled for Beau to put his foot on the scooter and Beau did it for about three steps and gave up. Whenever the scooter started trailing in the wrong direction Beau would shake the handle bars vigorously and grunt, "RRRR," until Barbie was sufficiently chastened. He did that at least five times. He stopped twice to look at "dodjes" (trucks, obviously), and once to watch a "baby," (car, of course). He watched dogs barking, squished all offending ants, tried to steal one newspaper. On the last leg of our sojourn he ditched Barbie for good and instead lost himself in every crack and hole in the wall and sidewalk, at least until I told him there were bugs in there and he jumped at the mention of them and quickly rescued his hand. He does not have a good rapport with bugs.
By the time we made it home the breeze had lost its chill and my back was sufficiently warmed by the sun. Both scooters were still in good working condition and nobody was crying, plus I had been gifted the fixed memory of Beau's "I'm headed somewhere important" walk and his intoxication with every little detail.
Our walk was as refreshing as the rose I stopped to smell along the way.
Really.

Happy HallowEEEEn!!

(Bekah getting the GOO out of her pumpkin.)

"Mom, I want to be a robot for Halloween," said Bekah a week and a half ago, showing me a pen-drawn design of her costume.
I was surprised. And relieved. She had wanted to be a witch, contingent on me buying her a broom, hat, leggings, and wig from Walmart...which I did not want to do. I stalled her and it paid off. I'm not exactly where the robot idea came from, but it spread like the flu through our house until Bekah, Jacob and Beau all wound up with spray painted boxes covered in reflective tape. Then Rus chipped in, passing out the contents of his numerous junk reserves in the garage. We had sprinkler hoses, bike parts, license plates, a distributor, and even a cup holder. All of us got so distracted attaching random parts to each evolving robot that we stayed up way past bedtime one night...and I found the kids in the garage first thing the next morning. I have to say this was the best costume building experience I've ever had.
Bekah's original design had her head in the box with just a circle cut out so you could see her face, like this: (She drew the picture, I wrote the note). She wore it like that to school. Here she is, sitting with her class at school after their costume parade, looking very much like a little robot.The next day (Saturday) was the trunk or treat.
"Mom, I want to be a ghost," Bekah said one hour before the trunk or treat, as I was making dinner. She was holding a white sheet she had swiped from a closet. In my mind I could see the two choices clearly: say yes, ditch dinner, make her a ghost costume, and somehow conjure up a similarly cool costume for Jacob, because if she didn't wear her robot, he wouldn't wear his...or say no and endure weeping and wailing for the rest of the night.
"The kids at school all laughed at me," was her excuse.
I explained that they laughed a startled, happily surprised kind of laugh, not a mean laugh.
I explained this several times.
Then Rus called Bekah into the garage, cut a hole in the top of her robot so her head could poke out, took off the distributor, and made her a really cool face guard.
Problem solved, phew. That is why I have Rus.
Trunk or treat was a hit, and so was last night, real Halloween (I love that halloween stretched over three days this year. Love it like I love nails on a chalkboard - because I have the candy to prove it, and at least three weeks of "Can I have a treat now?!")
Rus's parents came down for dinner and we enjoyed a mummy calzone while the kids had Hot Mummys - hot dogs wrapped in pizza dough. We had candy for dessert. Lots of it. Then we visited our closest neighbors before camping out on our front lawn to hand out candy. Here are the kids from the front: ...And from the back:I love that Beau just had a mess of wires attached. I also love that if/when he fell over, he couldn't get back up by himself but was like a little stuck turtle.
The weather was perfect and the company was terrific. Beau got high on sugar and spend his time alternately tackling Grandpa and then Rus. (If Rus got up he'd say, "Rus! Sh-it!" hehehe...) Bekah handed out the goods. Jacob cuddled grandma. I snitched Take5s and tried to keep our pumpkins lit.
It was a wonderful All Hallows Even.

Twenty Eight.

Today I turn twenty-eight.
I have a husband, three children, a dog, a house, good running shoes, and I've suddenly realized that I don't still have any clothes from high school. No shirts or favorite jeans...the closest thing is a pair of pajama pants that I made in college. They are holy and have a safety pin sewn into them, but they are comfy. I do still own the two formal dresses I wore in high school - one to a junior prom with Kyle Dunlap and one that I wore to homecoming with Nathan Franz, but I don't fit into them - I've tried. My ribs expanded with each child, I think.
My journal that sits dusty on my nightstand was started in January of 2004. It's only a quarter of the way filled.
My scriptures sit on top of it. They are a Christmas gift from my parents my freshman year of college...and they are well used, but not as marked up as my high school scriptures. They are finally broken in.
I have in storage exactly two totes from my "growing up years." They contain yearbooks, cute notes from high school, porcelain dolls that I will give to Bekah one day, knick knacks, a ragged baby blanket, newspaper clippings from cross country along with medals and letters, and dresses from each of my sister's weddings. I also have an unmarked yet bulging file in my file cabinet that holds all the cards I have ever received. Well probably not all, but most.
I feel like the same person. Not exactly the same - more experienced (not necessarily wiser), and much more confident and fulfilled, and evidently taller - oh and I have these guys to hang out with now:I feel blessed.
I was awake for the exact moment that yesterday became today: 12:00am. Bekah's alarm clock went off and freaked her out and so I got to get up and turn it off and calm her down. I wished myself a happy birthday before I went back to sleep. I might have said it sarcastically.
When she really woke up much later this morning she made me a slew of adorable cards. My favorite is the one in the middle: "I hope you rilly in jowy (really enjoy) your birthday." Oh and the top middle one: "Mom is going to have a happy birthday." Guaranteed!
For my twenty-eighth year I hope to master my handstand (I'm working on it), run a 10K (Turkey trot, coming up!), move and start remodeling, learn the Thriller dance, make a hundred transformers and sell them all, send two kids off to elementary school, kiss Rus a lot, start a cupcake class, start working towards an Art Education degree, and have at least six adventures to unknown places.
I'll have to remember all that when I blow out my candles...