Ruminations of a Mouse

Boiecheze Sandwich

2012-01-25T20:33:00.001-07:00

Per my mother's request, I would like to share a little anecdote with you special readers this evening.

I realized while I was putting this blog together that I have no recent pictures of my children. Bad Mom!

I will rectify this atrocity as soon as possible.

I made french fries and grilled-cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight. The grilled cheese sandwiches have a special recipe (my mother's secret ingredient) that make the taste sortof ka-pow in your mouth; perhaps I will share it with you some day.

As we were eating, my little girl "why" child turned to me and said:

"Mom, why are they called 'grill-cheese'?"

To which I replied, as I often have to when my children ask these types of questions: "Because they are."

Please note that I have explained the term grilled cheese to her before, but she just likes to drive me crazy with repeated questions.

My son, who hadn't appeared to be paying any attention at all, said:

"I'm eating a Boiecheze Sandwich!"

Grammy's face rather scrunched up in confusion as she turned to look at him and asked me, "What did he say?"

I clarified with a small smile on my face. "He said he is eating a Boy Cheese Sandwich."

It took about a second and a half to sink it, but my parents were soon laughing with delight. Considering how difficult it is to amuse either one of my parents, that's quite a feat.

That's my boy.

I suppose from here on out, we shall have to call them Gyrlcheze and Boiecheze Sandwiches.

Happy Blogging!

A Borrowed Cup and Spoon

2012-01-16T19:20:00.003-07:00

There is nothing like a cup of something warm, be it sweet or savory, to make you almost feel human again.

A cup of white chocolate hot cocoa is doing just that for me at this very moment. The cup is borrowed, as is the spoon, but I couldn't resist the white mug to go with my white chocolate.

So, I will sit here next to my pile of tissues, my warm cup and catch up on my DVR.

What are you doing tonight?

I hope you are warm.

I hope you are well.

I hope you have something warm to drink.

I keep promising myself that I'll feel better tomorrow.

I'll cross my fingers.

In the mean time, I've got a date with my TV.

My Custom Magazine

2012-01-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Many years ago, my mother-in-law shared with me a binder she had which contained pages from magazines she had especially liked. She did not tear the pages out, but made copies of them and then put them in plastic sheet protectors.

I knew a fantastic idea when I saw one, so I started my own. I did not make copies as she did, ink too much an expense for me. I tore the pages out and merrily put them in the binder. Eventually, I accumulated so many magazines that my binder became three. I also had to start organizing so that I could reasonably find what I was looking for.

The smallest binder has recipes that I'd like to try or articles about food in general.

The next binder up in size has the most variety. The sections include things I love, indoor and outdoor decor, gardening, organizing, party ideas, family activity and vacation ideas, and personal pampering and indulgence ideas.

The third binder is, by far, the largest. It has hosting tips, general craft ideas, and plans for nearly every major holiday during the year. The holiday plans include crafting, decorating, party plans, gift ideas and much more. I also have several intact crafting and holiday magazines in the pockets of the binder, the ideas inside too many to justify tearing pages out.

Now, I have three binders that make a magazine customized completely to me.

Just a (very) small sampling of the pages, starting with a seasonal teaser!

(P.S. I've made these. Super easy!)

I'm perfecting my "oh, it was so easy, you wouldn't believe it!" laugh...

June Cleaver, eat your heart out!

Someday...

Love this overcoat! So pretty and feminine!

I told Ben I need to live in a place where this is my back yard. He is not adverse to the idea... ;)

Outdoor parties are my oxygen in the summer!

The best thing is that these binders contain only things I love.

The second best thing is: No Advertisements...

My First Memory

2012-01-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Strange as it may seem, my first solid memory is of a tree.

I only vaguely remember family pets, the snow during winter, siblings going to school before I was old enough to join them, the interior of our home and parts of the yard surrounding the house.

But, when I think of our home in Indiana, my first thought turns to the tree.

It was a crabapple tree on the west side of the house my family lived in when I was born.

I distinctly remember that tree because it took at least the course of one summer for me to learn how to climb it. There was a v-shaped crook between large branches low enough to the ground for my siblings to put their foot in and climb easily.

I remember struggling to find the strength and balance to reach that space as they did and use it to follow my elder brothers and sisters up that tree. I must have been very small indeed when I first attempted this because no matter how many times I tried jumping, clambering or pulling myself up, I was unsuccessful. I was five when we moved away from Indiana, so I could have been as young as three or four when I first tried.

The upper branches my siblings played in seemed a world away to me and I had to look up at them wistfully, incapable of joining them in their fun. I suppose one could say they were cruel for not offering a hand up so I could play with them, but the parent in me says it was wise for them to leave me out. If I was not strong enough to climb the tree, would I be strong enough to keep my footing or stop myself from an accidental fall?

So, I had to wait until I was capable of getting up there on my own. There was something mysterious and magical about those elusive branches. It was the tallest place I could imagine in my young mind. It was even taller than my father, who is not a short man, by any means.

You can imagine, I think, that moment when I realized that I could finally reach my foot up there and heft myself into the branches. I scrambled up joyfully, mounting branch after branch to get as high as I dared. I was suddenly on top of the world, ruler of everything I could see. It was a giddy feeling.

I was finally a part of the magic, standing amongst the branches that had eluded me for so long.

Just a little further west was a neighborhood road. We could sit in the tree, concealed from view, watching cars and people go by.

I never ate any of the crabapples in all the hours I played in that tree. I was under the impression that they were not good to eat. My siblings said they were sour, or something to that effect. Since I have never tried a crabapple, I don't know if that is true.

Instead, as they ripened, we discovered a new use for the seemingly useless fruit. They made excellent ammunition from our leafy fort. I remember, with some chagrin, throwing crabapples at anyone who passed by close enough. I don't know if any of my projectiles ever found its mark, but I thought it was great fun trying.

I do believe that I even threw them at my elder siblings as they walked by, whether on the way home from school or from a friend's house, I don't know.

Perhaps I was just caught up in the adventure of the heights and the bravery and mischievousness that comes from being hidden. Perhaps I was just looking to pay them back for all the hours I missed out on playing up in that tree with them.

Six Months from Now

2012-01-07T19:06:00.001-07:00

So, for my first blog post of 2012, I thought I'd talk a little about my plans for the year. No, not my resolutions. I have written down a few resolutions for 2012, but I figure that they will be of little to no interest to anyone but myself. I thought it might be more interesting to talk about where I want to be six months from now. Not just for you, my dear readers, but for myself. What about the rest of the year? I can't make my brain think past June, honestly, so I'll worry about the second half of the year a little later on.

The Next Six Months

1. By the end of February, I'd like to have a completed rough draft of my current novel: TDC. (Abbreviated.) The title is still under review as it has been determined in the past year that it will be the first of a three novel series. I need to decide what the series title will be to tie it all together.

2. By the end of June, I hope to have my first wave of editing done on TDC. Shortly thereafter, the first few beta readers will receive a copy to read. I'm working on a short list... who'd like to be on it? (Just beyond the end of June, where my brain won't go, lies a publishing deal and in my dreamiest of dreams, a movie deal... Someday, I'll tell you which actors I've been squealing over to play my characters...)

3. Within six months, nearly all of our debt will be paid off (except for school loans), which will be a great weight off my mind.

4. By the end of the school year (first week of May), I will have a five-year-old, a three-year-old and a husband who has graduated from a university with a Bachelor's degree. I plan on being a grown-up by then, just to keep up with my family. (I don't have much hope for this personal goal in such an eventful time in my family's life.)

5. Once April has started, my gears will shift toward planning two brilliant birthday parties and a killer open-house style graduation party. Somewhere in there, I will convince Mother Nature to allow for the kids' first outdoor Easter Egg Hunt and not rain (or snow) on any of the planned parties.

6. By the end of June, I will have been married for thirteen years. Somewhere in there, feeling like a grown-up is sure to happen, right?

7. Before these six months are finished, my dear husband will hopefully have found a full-time career job within those doors that a college degree will open. In what city, state and country this will take place, I have no inkling whatsoever. I'm crossing my fingers for someplace green. Beyond that, a charming accent on the part of the natives would be fabulous.

8. As a result of #7, moving out of the Basement will become a reality and I will again be responsible for my own home, entirely. I have mixed feelings about this, but it will certainly have an impact on my goals of grown-up-hood.

9. As a result of #8, my children will be set loose to run around the home I am responsible for... I have mixed feelings about this.

10. By the end of the six months, I will have made a firm decision on how my five-year-old is to experience Kindergarten. I am fully capable of homeschooling and have a strong desire to do so. However, my sweet girl has been wanting to GO to school since she was three. It would also give my little boy some one-on-one time with his Mama.

11. Somewhere in the beginning, middle and end of all of this, I will find time to get healthy and fit back into my medium-fat jeans.

So there you have it... as much for me as anyone else, here is my projection of my short-future. Some of them are guaranteed to happen. Others are completely and utterly up to me to make happen. Whether I see the reality of all these things is not so much the point as that in six months I will be a different person, ever so slightly.

Who will you be in six months?

Temple Square Adventures

2011-12-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

We made our annual trek to Temple Square about a week before Christmas. As long as we are in Utah or have family to visit over the holiday season, we want to hit Temple Square to see the lights and boost our Christmas Spirit!

This year, we went up with Ben's mother and her husband. It was nice to share the experience with people that had never been.

The tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. (I managed to post this picture AFTER those of my own tree this year... definitely a better choice!)

Just a few of the decorations on the tree... It looked somewhat familiar. My Christmas tree last year had flowers tucked in the boughs.

The tree was stunning!

Ben, with his BY beard. You can see the inspiration of that beard in the far right and center of the picture. (Behind the tree of lights.)

I loved these stone faces that we ran into while we explored the area around Temple Square.

When the sun finally got close to setting, we made our way back to the Square and snapped a few pictures.

We did make one real shopping trip: To Edinburgh Castle where Ben admired the kilts and other Scottish accessories. The kilts for little boys were completely adorable, but there was nothing in Hank's size. ;)

Trying on a tam.

Grandfather trying on a fantastic Top Hat. Doesn't he look straight out of Dickens?

Little Miss A had to show off her modeling skills and her new Union Jack flag. (A girl after her mother's heart.)

Hank wanted to show off his St. Andrew's Cross (Scottish flag).

There's his face...

Happy Christmas from the Thompsons!

Christmas Cheer!

2011-12-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

The kids slept in on Christmas morning, which ended up being perfect for us. So, instead of having them take a bath before going upstairs and fixing them up pretty for opening presents and pictures, we let them stay in their new pajamas.

Hank was still trying to wake up.

This picture of Audrey was the third we took because she kept giving us fake smiles. I told her to think about how she would feel seeing the tree with all the gifts under it and this is what she gave me. ;)

Mom and Dad were in PJs too.

The great thing about kids this age is that they give the perfect response of oohs and aahs upon seeing the Christmas surprises.

This was a classic moment. Audrey put her little fingers in the Chinese finger trap and couldn't figure out how to get them out. I eventually helped her.

Stocking goodies.

Most of Hank's pictures these days look like this. When we tell him to show us what he got, he will put it right up to his face.

Audrey's better at displaying her gifts, but funnily enough, she still manages to hide her face.

Hank is multitasking: Opening presents and Pilates.

Though it may look like they are fighting over the gift, they are actually trying to open it together. I guess it seemed a reasonable way to try to open the gift to them.

Trying out the new reading system. (She has been using it almost non-stop!)

Gifts from Grandpa T & Grandma Linda: Hooded blankets.

The Night Before Christmas

2011-12-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

There is something magical about the Christmas season, when you let that magic creep it's way into your heart. I was so busy this year and overwhelmed with the expectations I had of myself, the Christmas Spirit didn't really hit me until it was almost too late.

Luckily, by the time Christmas Eve came, I was feeling anticipatory and happy for the upcoming day. I quietly padded upstairs to make the final preparations and assist Santa in filling the stockings and getting gifts under the tree.

The Advent House was empty and the children's mini nativity, found one by one behind the advent doors the last eleven days before Christmas, huddled under the small tree.

The Book Advent was slowly unwrapped and read all December long. We had finished with the last book read by my dear sister, Melissa who engaged the children with her insight and attentiveness. She was careful to point out the details in the pictures and, even Henry stayed still for almost half of the story.

The stillness and peace of Christmas Eve was calming and I found myself contemplating the Past, Present and Future Christmases of my life.

The very first ornament Ben and I got after we were married was this stag. The glitter on his antlers is slowly flaking off, but he is still one of my favorites.

This ornament came with the advent of children in our lives. The magic and mystery of Santa started all over for me again when I shared the tradition with my own family.

A new ornament that Ben's mother, Jacqueline, gave me for Christmas this year. Quite similar to my dream of a charming country home for my family.

Another ornament from Jacqueline, given to Ben. A slightly bigger country home...

Santa brings us a new ornament every year.

I was reminded of the wee hours of Christmas morn when I would wake up and sneak down the stairs to stare at the glory of the Christmas tree and the gifts. The tree was different then, the lights colorful and twinkling, most of the ornaments hand-made by my mother as well as by all of us children.

I imagine that as my children age and start to craft ornaments and other decorations, Christmas around my house will become more colorful, homespun and cozy. Until then, the frosty silver glow of my tree will warm my heart at Christmastime.

My best friend in grade school gave me this bear one year for Christmas. It was "accidentally" tossed into the coals in the fireplace the day I got it and has a tiny burnt spot on the bottom of one foot. I have been understandably protective of it ever since. I never properly named it. It has seen over twenty Christmases.

He has not complained once.

Everything was bigger and more magical when I was young. It seemed that I was forever looking up at everything with curiosity, wonder and excitement. At some point I stopped, perhaps when I foolishly thought most everything had reached eye-level. My children have helped me to remember the joy of those innocent days and try to regain those qualities that are natural and inborn to all humanity.

While Christmas helps me to remember these things I want for myself and my family, it also reminds me that the new year is coming and with it, new promises to myself and a fresh start. These are feelings and experiences that I don't just want at Christmastime, but all the year through.

And we should never stop looking up in curiosity, wonder and excitement.

Wooden Doll Pendants, or Part Two of The Dastardly Craft

2011-12-23T15:07:00.001-07:00

You may remember this blog post. Of course, I only posted it last Thursday, so....

I hinted at a craft I was working on. I also hinted that I was so frustrated with the craft that I'd become rather silly about it. I found pictures of doll pendants online a few months ago and fell completely in love with them. I choked a bit when I saw that they cost nearly $30 a piece! I figured I could make them myself!

Well, here is the final result of all that, including some pictures along the way.

Stage 1 of the painting project. I had already put down a base coat which you can see on the two dolls that appear to be wearing tan dresses. You can also see, in all it's glory, the doll that I started to paint orange until I realized that it looked truly horrific and needed a change.

Stage 2 of the project. All the dresses were finished and I had yet to paint their little faces. The faces proved to be especially difficult and I had to run out to the store to get a stylus set. The hair was tricky too and I don't appear to have taken pictures of them before the next stage.

Stages 3 (faces/hair) and 4 (clear coat) were undocumented due to my extreme frustration and angst over these little pendants. We shall not speak of it again.

Stage 5 was all Ben. He made pilot holes in the tops of their heads, with a pushpin of all things. Then he screwed in the little eye screws.

What a wonderful husband!

And, finally, a trip to Joann for necklaces! I felt immediate satisfaction upon stringing these little babies and hanging them up!

Perfect little gifts for Christmas this year for some special little ladies in my life!

A ton of detailed, painstaking work but well worth it!

And much better than nearly $30 to just buy one....

I Spy Bags Craft

2011-12-21T14:43:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to make I-spy bags for the kids for quite a while, but didn't know the first thing about it. What I found out is this: If I can do it, anyone can.

I found a couple of tutorials that I liked, though my bags are slightly smaller scale.

According to Kelly had a nice, simple tutorial that I followed, for the most part.

Using the rotary cutter to cut out the window was the biggest lifesaver and saved me a TON of time. Most of the tutorials online show the front panel being sewed on in four separate pieces to the vinyl. No, thanks! I used tissue paper on the back of the vinyl to keep it from sticking to the sewing machine, but I'm not too sure that I needed it after all. At least one of the tutorials online suggested sewing vinyl-side down because the sewing goes smoother. I didn't bother trying it the other way, because it worked like a charm!

I used the sewing machine to sew up the majority of the bag, leaving only a smallish hole on one side to put the items and the poly-fill beads in. In retrospect, I wish I had used rice for the bags. Cheaper and not so static-y. At one point this morning, I had poly-fill beads all over my hands and even between my toes!

Here is the front of Audrey's.

The back.

The front of Henry's.

The back.

I put a nice assortment of items in the bags. I have a few pictures below of some of them.

A bear, a turtle, a dog, a cat, a fish, a star, a donut shape, a flower shape, a heart, a marble, the numbers 1 through 9 and the letters of their own names went into each bag.

Perfect stocking stuffers for this Christmas!

They will also be wonderful quiet toys for church! Yay!!

Happy Christmas!

And Happy Crafting!

Christmas Craft with the Kids

2011-12-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to have some decorations that the kids could claim as their own. Audrey did one ornament last year as part of her preschool co-op group. I thought it would be good if we could have at least one item for each of them every year.

I found these very cute black velvet ornaments at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago. I thought they might be perfect for little hands that don't color inside the lines very well. They are now hanging on hooks between banister rails in the front room. The pictures are ordered as they are hung.

Audrey surprised me with her creativity on this one. She had a green marker but chose to use the yellow one, giving the tree a golden appearance!

Henry did very well at first, and it shows in the right side ribbon and the flower in the middle. He managed to get a really cool look before he got bored. ;)

This one is mine. Simple.

This is Audrey's second one. She really took her time and spent nearly the entire time working on this one.

Henry was already done by the time he made it to this ornament. He managed to give the snowflake a little bit of color. As it turns out, I like it. The slight prism is reminiscent of a real snowflake. ;)

Ben wasn't there when the kids and I did our ornaments, but I saved one for him.

The kids had a really good time and now we have something we can hang for years to come that helps capture this year's Christmas.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

And Happy Blogging!

Christmas Decorations

2011-12-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

While we didn't quite go all out this year, we did have a really good time decorating for Christmas.

The Christmas Advent House has twenty-four little doors that will open to reveal whatever I hide inside. This year, it's Hershey Kisses. For the second half of the advent, there are also miniature Nativity figures. Each day, a new one will be pulled out. So far, only the lonely shepherd has made his appearance. Not for long; he'll have company soon.

We also have the small tree that I have bequeathed to the kids. I thought it would be nice if they had a tree that was easy for them to decorate and had a little more color than the big one.

Next to the tree is the Santa Mailbox which I made last year. The kids put their letters to Santa in several days ago and, by the next morning, the letters were gone and off to the North Pole! Santa is a little slow in writing back this year, but I imagine that is because there have been so many good boys and girls to make presents for!

You may remember that my tree last year had a white rose theme. This year, I printed off some vintage Christmas pictures and affixed them to tags. The fantastic thing about these tags is that, though I will never use them for my tree again, they will be gift tags for next year's presents!

Just a few of the tags.

Ben's sweet little mouse ornament that hung on his tree as a child.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

Happy Blogging!

The Dastardly Craft

2011-12-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

There are only two or three people in the whole world who know what I am up to this Christmas, craft-wise. I have found myself at a loss as to how to continue and complete it and have, therefore, gotten silly.

Can you guess?

While the angry plate looks on, those with decorated dresses stand over the mutilated paper umbrella. Those with plain dresses huddle together forlornly or, perhaps in an attitude of conspiracy. All their faces are blank and unreadable as they stare woodenly at nothing.

What has happened here?

And what, oh, what has happened to their hair?

Fall Fun - Window Shopping

2011-12-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

While Nanny and Grandfather were still visiting, we went for dinner at one of the restaurants at The Riverwoods. Afterword, we wandered the sidewalks to check out the shops.

It turned out that all the shops are closed after dinnertime on Sunday afternoons.

So window shopping became a very literal affair for us. It was still a lot of fun. We had the place entirely to ourselves and it was quiet enough to hold a normal conversation. Grandfather got a prediction from Zoltar, as did Nanny.

The kids ran around under the pavilion and had quite a good time attracting the attention of the adults.

While we were passing up one of the pathways, we came across a store (I can't remember its name now) that had this beautiful entryway display.

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am just a hairs-breadth away from total obsession with dragons. Fantasy of any kind will win my attention, but dragons will take precedence. So, as you can imagine, this display caught my fancy and I was sorely disappointed to not be able to go in and see it up close.

I had to satisfy myself with a quick photo, which turned out well!

A surreal afternoon in the shopping ghost town, topped off with a beautifully whimsical display!

What have you fallen in love with lately?

Fall Fun - Cornbelly's

2011-12-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

A budding family tradition is the annual trip to the corn maze. The last few years, we have gone to the smaller one at the Vineyard Garden Center. This year, however, we went straight up to the Thanksgiving Point cornmaze: Cornbelly's. It is much bigger, with many more attractions (read: loads of ways to spend money). We did the "short" portion of the maze.

In years past, we have put Henry in a stroller. This was mainly because he was too small to walk through easily on his own. It was also because we didn't want to lose him in the madness that we call fun.

This year, we were remembering years past: The stroller's wheels having difficulty navigating the deep ruts in the maze paths, oft times getting stuck. One year, if I remember correctly, the ground was still damp from precipitation of some sort and getting the stroller through was trouble indeed.

So, we decided that Henry would be able to walk for the first time this year.

Nanny and Grandfather came into town, increasing our enthusiasm for the fall treat.

Over an hour later (it felt like three once I realized we had strayed off the path and wandered into the "long" maze), we emerged from the maze with two weary kids and four exhausted adults. I'm not saying it wasn't fun. I'm saying that when it was over, I was overdone.

Henry has the right idea, here.

Afterwords, we took a long drive through the canyon to look at the fall colors. The hope was that our tired and cranky children would fall asleep.

As it turned out, the road was too curvy, causing a little car sickness and, with the frequent stops, the kids didn't even take the smallest of naps.

We did have an adventure in the chilly afternoon at a public bathroom that had been locked up for the season. Both kids needed to use it, but both kids were not especially well equipped to relieve themselves as easily as Henry. Poor Audrey was a trooper, but I didn't envy her necessity.

It was quite a day, and a lot of fun!

Yes.

I will keep telling myself that.

;)

Fall Fun - Zoo Carousel

2011-12-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

Another end of summer excursion we had was up to the Hogle Zoo in SLC. Always a good time, and a good workout. In all our years in Albuquerque, we had gotten spoiled on going to a zoo that is situated on flat land.

The zoo in Salt Lake is in a hilly area, so there are some spots that are actually quite a challenge to scale.

We finished out the day at the carousel. The kids got to pick an animal to ride on, so they ended up in quite different areas of the ride. Audrey picked a lion. I believe Henry chose the praying mantis (no picture proof, he was too far away).

Audrey was ecstatic. I couldn't help but be happy standing next to her, spinning around the carousel sickeningly, because her enthusiasm was so contagious.

She kept calling the lion, "Lion King".. it seems every lion is the Lion King since she saw the movie.

What better moment is there than this?

Fall Fun - Monkey Butt Pumpkins

2011-12-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

When it came time to go to a pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins, we ran down to our favorite place. They have a fantastic variety. We wandered around and picked out our carving pumpkins, then took a look at the gourds. I love an interesting gourd.

You can see the interesting gourds I picked out and took home here.

There were a few gourds, however, that I thought were fabulous but didn't buy any. There is a really, really good reason why.

This is why...

Do they not look exactly like a baboon butt?

Okay. I almost posted a picture of a baboon butt. I looked at about ten of them before I decided that it would be too much for the delicate eyes of my readers. If you really want to see some monkey butts, just google it.

Sick-o.

So, these gourds made me laugh a lot. But I couldn't picture them on my front porch.

They also sort of look like the gourd insides exploded out the bottom.

Either way...

Fall Fun - Greek Festival

2011-12-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Every year, up in Salt Lake, the Greek Orthodox Church holds a Greek Festival. The food, the music, the atmosphere is just fantastic! We went two years ago when Henry was little, so we figured it was about time to go again!

We forgot the camera (again) but we had our new nifty brainy-phones, so I took a few pictures with that.

If you look closely, you can see that the gentleman in the front on the left is actually flying! ;)

The dancers were amazing!

The place was so packed that we ended up having to take a table behind the stage while we had some fantastic food! The kids weren't too excited about the food, but it'll grow on them, because we are sadistic like that.

Audrey got to go to the front of the stage and throw some dollars up to the dancers! Apparently, that's just something you do.

All in all, super fun!

I love Gyros!

YES!

Mile Stones - Hank

2011-12-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, dress up is more fun for Henry than it ever was for Audrey. He simply loves changing his clothes multiple times a day. Frequently, it's all about the church clothes. If it's not his church clothes, then it's his overalls... or maybe the whale shirt... or maybe....

You get the idea.

Interestingly enough, his clothing choices are not limited to his own.

Here is the time he decided that Audrey's shoes would be a better choice.

And her frilly socks....

Everyone who has told me that raising a boy is a far different challenge from raising a girl was completely, utterly correct... though, not in the way I had imagined.

Fall Fun - Heber Valley Railroad

2011-12-03T17:25:00.001-07:00

While we still had a few more days left in the summer, before Ben had to go back to school, we took a trek up and around the mountains a bit and went to ride the Heber Valley Railroad. We knew the kids would both love it and, honestly, Ben and I loved it too!

The countryside was still green and gorgeous. Several weeks would pass before the trees started to change. So, we got a great recharge to the portion of our souls that crave Summer in The Country.

This was the first train ride for the kids, except for the tiny ones you find at zoos and places like that.

If you're going to ride a train, you simply must know all about it. (Even if looking at the pictures is the only option you have since your reading skills aren't quite up to brochure level.)

It was very stuffy in the train car until we opened up the windows next to our seats.

Amazingly, after only three months, Henry looks significantly younger in these pictures than he does now.

This charming little cabin/homestead was right on our path.

Makes me want to live out in the middle of nowhere in a little farming community with only a scenic train passing by...

Halloween Night

2011-11-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

Last year I felt like a bad mom for not taking pictures of my kids on Halloween. As it turns out, both of them fit into last year's costumes and so we just used those. The great thing about this year is that Hank wasn't completely smothered in his toasty costume and Audrey wasn't dragging her pants along the muddy pavement. Speaking of muddy, this Halloween was NOT. It was great!

We went out with my sister, her husband and their four kids. This was also Henry's first year not riding in the stroller. It was not quite the disaster I had imagined and also not quite the wonderful, stress-free experience I had hoped for. Reality was somewhere in the middle and I was okay with that.

Here is the before.

My cute little Eeyore.

My happy little Hippy!

The circuit around the neighborhood proved to be a little long for both of them, especially Henry. Their buckets got so heavy, neither of them really wanted to carry them. When Henry decided that he was too tired to walk (with only 5 houses left to go), he started flopping down in the middle of the street.

Dara and her two youngest had retreated for home quite a few houses back which left Jeremy and me going down the street with two kids each. It wasn't so bad except for the competition for first-place-at-the-door and who-gets-to-ring-the-doorbell.

By the time we got back to the house, all the kids were exhausted and dying of thirst.

I will say with no qualms at all that I was completely relieved to get those kids into bed that night.

Estrogen Fest

2011-11-06T12:49:00.003-07:00

I know this is a Halloween Post, but that is simply too bad for all you "can't post so late after Halloween" people. I have another one planned after this one too, so prepare for disappointment.

My sister, Dara, and I have been talking about going to Witches' Night Out at Gardner Village since I moved to Utah. For one reason or another it never happened until this year. Because we are the generous sort, we decided to invite our other sisters too. Not everyone was able to come, but we had a decent group heading up that night, some costumed, some not.

After dropping off people and picking up others, we posed for some snaps.

This are our "normal" faces.

These are our evil faces! Rawr, hiss!

The are our "sexy" faces... yeah...

So, we headed up to Gardner Village, singing at the tops of our lung to 80's songs. It was great!

When we got there, I was astounded at how packed it really was. I imagined that it was a big deal, but the actual experience was like bathing in estrogen. There were some parts of the village that was quite similar to swimming upstream. In other areas it was not a matter of swimming, or moving at all, in fact.

I took the liberty of snapping a few snaps with my new, fancy phone. Some of them came out okay!

Waiting outside the bakery.

Dancing with all the other witches.

I caught a snap of Debbie, who had stayed out of pictures because she wasn't dressed up. I say she was in the best costume of all. The scariest witch is the one you can't tell if she's one at all! ;)

I'll say that this is the first time I'd gone dancing in years. It used to be a passion of mine, but it fell on the wayside when motherhood demanded my attention. It was good to bust a few moves, though. I also went home feeling crippled.

Yes, the night was fabulous.

Yes, I went home sore.

Yes, I woke up sore.

Will I go again next year if given half the chance?

Yes.

It should be noted that Dara's hat, her sister-in-law's hat and my hat were all home made. And all out of birthday party cone hats!

Roach-killers

2011-11-02T07:44:00.000-06:00

Call them what you will: High-heels, pumps, stilettos or roach-killers.

These are my newest acquisition.

Are they not fantastic?!

Jack-o-lanterns and Mummies and Ravens, oh my!

2011-10-31T13:05:00.000-06:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Just as fun as the trick or treating and the costumes are the crafty projects!

When I was growing up, believe it or not, I never carved a pumpkin. My mother always said it was too messy (and she was right). But there is something so... Halloween about carving up your own pumpkin.

Everyone had their own pumpkin this year. There will be closer shots at the end of the blog.

I gathered inspiration from various places for the few little decorations I have up this year.

These cute little guys were a fun and easy project idea from my dear sister, Shydandelion. You can find her adorable tutorial here. For my fabric, I used a really, really old industrial laundry bag. It gave my mummies a worse-for-wear feeling. I made a baby mummy too, but the cats keep running off with it.

I made this wreath last year. My friend had a tutorial on her old blog, but I can't find it now. :( So, instead, I found a link to a tutorial that was similar. Here.

I used a gemstone accessory and feathers to embellish.

This is one I found in an old holiday craft magazine.

When you open up the top portion of the hat, there's a little surprise inside. ;)

I named him Poe.

Ah-ha! There's the baby mummy. Hiding from the cats amongst the fall harvest.

I can't resist indian corn this time of year!

White pumpkins and interesting gourds.

We carved pumpkins last night. When we asked the kids what they wanted their pumpkins to look like, Henry said he wanted his to be "mad" and Audrey said she wanted hers to have one eye. Awesome!

Audrey's

Henry's

Ben's Cannibal (can-able?) Pumpkin

My Scarface Pumpkin

That's it for now... Perhaps I'll blog some more pictures when I get these pumpkins lit up after dark.

Have a wonderful, spooky Halloween!

Thanksgiving Point Farm

2011-09-30T08:44:00.000-06:00

The kids were excited to go to Thanksgiving Point and see the farm animals.

The baby animals were really cute!

A worker came around and gave the animals hay. Some of the hay dropped on the ground and the kids picked it up to give to the animals.

The pony rides were a favorite!

Josh

Audrey, pleased as Punch!

Lily

Henry

Eva

Lily.. not too sure about it all.

Eden

We took a hay ride (without the hay). The kids loved it!

On our way around, we saw this really cool old firetruck!

Summer Trip: Albuquerque

2011-09-28T09:24:00.001-06:00

Our trip to Albuquerque was by far the easiest drive (and longest) and the most exhausting experience overall.

Family came in from all over to see us. Audrey and Henry got to play with cousins that they hadn't seen in over a year and a half.

It was almost entirely non-stop.

We also got to see good friends (though not as many as we wanted to).

We were so busy that we didn't even take pictures, except on one occasion. We went to the Botanical Garden. We took about 300 pictures.

The Children's Fantasy Garden was cool. Everything was just the right size for the kids, though they were a little put off by the giant (fake) insects.

Audrey was pretending to be a baby bird in an egg.

The model railroad was very cool. I especially liked the miniature houses and people.

I had never been to the Butterfly Pavilion before. The few times I had been to the gardens, the pavilion had been closed for a variety of reasons.

It was, by far, the best part of the day for me.

The kids weren't as enchanted as I was, but they will certainly remember it for a long time.

After the pavilion, we met up with Grandfather.

We tried to make it to the farm gardens and the Asian gardens, but we got lost in the desert garden and didn't have enough time after we found our way out.

And, whaddayaknow... flower pictures!

H's Swimming Class

2011-09-26T15:54:00.000-06:00

After Audrey finished her swim class, we signed Henry up for one too. He was too young to go to class alone, so we got him into a parent/child class. Ben was more than happy to go with him.

Henry was much more shy about the water than Audrey was. I think that Ben going was the best choice, though, because Henry was much more relaxed with his dad than he would have been with me.

This picture says it all.

Yes, that is Henry's head, under the water!

Success!!

We went to Seven Peaks recently and found that Hank's swim classes may have been too effective. While the wave pool was calm, Henry kept walking deeper and deeper into the water until we would go and bring him back into the shallows. Moments later, he would be bobbing his way back to the deep end, a huge grin on his face!

Dressing Myself

2011-09-25T11:17:00.000-06:00

Henry has reached a point in his life where he has realized he has little control over his environment. He has discovered that the one thing he does have complete control over is what clothes he is wearing. We have been driven nearly crazy by our son stripping off his clothes and putting on something completely different. Sometimes, multiple times a day.

We found him like this.

Okay, so he put his pajamas on.

Look again.

How in the world did he get them on backward? AND zip them up?

If you look back at the first picture, you can see that he managed to twist the legs around on the pajamas so he could put the feet on right.

Far too pleased with himself, in my opinion.

I can't help but love him anyway.

Summer Fun with Visiting Family

2011-09-22T09:15:00.000-06:00

Summer brings many things: warmth, long days, growth all around us and, sometimes, family.

Ben's cousin, Leland, and his family visited this summer. We decided that we needed to hook up and let all the kids meet. We went to Discovery Gateway and let the kids play.

Afterword, we went to lunch. A good time was had by all!!

A's Swimming Class

2011-09-21T08:36:00.000-06:00

Audrey had a swimming class earlier this summer. We figured it would only do her good to gain some confidence in the water.

Audrey was the first one to really take to the water. However, the was also the most stubborn when it came to doing new things. She loves playing, but, when taken out of her comfort zone, she can get somewhat belligerent.

The great thing about this class was that it just so happened that Audrey's cousin Drew was one of the teachers. When she was being sassy or stubborn, Drew had no hesitations about putting her in her place. I think just about any other teacher would have been wary of doing the same. Go Drew!!

Henry was patient throughout the lessons and had fun running around on the bleachers that overlooked the pool.

Audrey had a fantastic time with 'Kenzie and Drew. By the end of the two weeks, she was (mostly) comfortable with dunking her head and didn't completely freak out when we put her on her back. We still have a long way to go before the Olympics *wink* but the goal was reached: She's no longer afraid of water!

Homemade Bracelet Holder

2011-09-19T08:22:00.000-06:00

A love of jewelry is a new-found part of my life. Over a year ago, I completed this project idea courtesy of my friend Jenn. It organized my tangled pile of earrings quite well.

I've recently been aquiring a collection of necklaces and bracelets. The necklaces are currently hanging off of every convienent hook, pushpin or picture frame. (I'll be figuring out the perfect way to corral those soon enough.)

My growing pile of bracelets was a much more urgent problem. I had no place to put them but in my mess of a drawer and that was not working out for me at all! I decided to make a bracelet holder myself and have those pretty little things right where I could see them.

I found a small wooden plaque and a 3/4" dowel at Hobby Lobby. After my sweet hubby drilled a hole in the center of the plaque, I spray painted it and the dowel white. A little wood glue and voila!

Bracelet Holder!

I put a piece of felt on the bottom to prevent scratching any surfaces and it was ready to go.

Here it is, being put to use already. It's probably a bit tall for the current number of bracelets I own, but, as I said, it is a growing collection.

Happy Crafting!

The Forest For The Trees

2011-09-18T15:47:00.000-06:00

Most, if not all, of my family loves music. We all either play an instrument or sing. Quite often, both.

When we decided to move to Utah, one of the things I looked forward to was the opportunity to sing with my family again.

Shortly after I arrived, I was invited to sit in on a rehearsal for The Forest For The Trees. TFFTT is the singing group that my father and sisters put together several years ago. When they first started it, it comprised my father, my sister Jennifer, my sister Dara and Dara's husband, Jeremy.

During my first summer here, they performed for a Relief Society dinner at a park near our home.

It wasn't long before I joined the group as well. Several shifts occurred and Dara and Jeremy found that their responsibilities took them elsewhere. Dara came back to sing with us when she wasn't attending to her newborn baby duties.

This past Independence Day, TFFTT was asked to perform at a Freedom Festival venue. It was, admittedly, a small venue, but a public one, nonetheless. We were given time for two sets. Of course, we told everyone. Quite a lot of family showed up and, though the sound was bad, everyone seemed to have had a good time.

The Payne family

The Nakais and Hydes

More of the Hydes (near the back)

The Forest For The Trees

Overall, a good time. Hot as blazes, but fun!

Summer Trip: Colorado

2011-09-17T09:46:00.000-06:00

In June, we went to Colorado for Ben's best-friend's wedding. Ben was one of three men to be honored with the title of Best Man. Audrey was honored with the title of Flower Girl. She took her roll as seriously as a four-year-old can. Much more seriously than I thought she would, in fact.

She was angelic in her white dress and she was well aware of her princess-like appearance.

The flower crown was the perfect addition. It made me sing "Hey, nonny, nonny" in my head.

Henry's hair had been perfect until he bonked his head on the underside of a piano and started bleeding all over. It took about twenty minutes to get him cleaned up and his hair was beyond help for the rest of the day. He was still cute, though.

It was dreadfully hot that day. I really felt bad for all the wedding party and the photographers. Not one person came back inside without a red face.

Uncle Scott was one of the other Best Men.

My little man.

The flower girls were adorable!

Audrey entertained everyone at the reception as she danced the night away. Henry slept through half of it, himself.

The trip home was pretty nice since both kids were completely worn out from the weekend.

Highland Games

2011-09-15T09:06:00.000-06:00

We finally made it to the Highland Games this year. Ben has wanted to go for years but, for one reason or another, it never happened. As it so happened, I found a cute little kilt-style skirt for Audrey the week before at DI.

We loved watching the dancers. The girls were holding a competition of some sort. They were all doing a sword dance. And, of course, they were dancing to a solo piper. I know Ben and I were in heaven!

We have dozens and dozens of pictures of the girls' feet as they flew around on the stage.

After we had watched for quite some time, Audrey told us that she wanted to learn how to dance like those girls. We got some phone numbers and a little information. We haven't called yet, but it's still in the back of our minds.

Audrey had a great time, as evidenced by her hair growing progressively wilder the longer we were there!

Swallows

2011-09-14T10:33:00.000-06:00

Early in the summer, we went down to the Provo river to have a look at the swallows that nest there. We were also interested in seeing the swollen river. It was just about as full as it could possibly be without flowing over the bridges and walkways.

We were impressed with the sheer volume of water rushing along the banks and under the bridge.

It's easy to see how someone could get swept away.

The swallows nest right under the edge of the bridge. They fly back and forth tirelessly all day to bring their nestlings food.

The housing arrangements reminded me of a cliff dwelling or an apartment complex.

The birds were so fast, we only got a handful of pictures of them.

It was a beautiful day and great to get out into it!

Summer Trip: Las Vegas

2011-09-12T19:10:00.000-06:00

I have been a blog-slacker. This summer has been so crammed full of stuff to do that by the time I made it home every day, I was completely deflated and could hardly lift my hands to the keyboard... but I had more than enough energy to fool around on my Wii... go figure.

Anyway... I'm going way, way back to the end of May when we took our first summer trip to Las Vegas. I have to say that LV hasn't changed too much. Except for their claim to be family friendly seems to have gone out the window. Trying to explain why a girl is dancing around in her underwear is not easy under any circumstances. But I digress.

The main purpose of the trip was to go to Ben's cousin Kelley's wedding. We also managed to see Ben's dad briefly for dinner on one of the nights, which was awesome. We hadn't seen any of Ben's family for over a year.

We stopped off in St. George to visit some of the family grave sites. At my mother's request, we put flowers in the little canisters. It was the kids' first trip to a cemetery. They weren't too creeped out by it.

Slightly creeped out, but too interested in posing to let it bother her.

Not creeped out at all.

Here are the two sites with the flowers put in. (The canisters were super gross, by the way. They were filled with water and mud which was difficult to get out.)

Great-Grandma and Grandpa Edwards

Grandpa Holmberg and the reserved site for Grandma Holmberg.

It was really hot in Las Vegas, so we didn't do too much. We did make it to an aquarium though. Our kids love fish and we figured it would be a sure bet.

Wrong... she was like this the entire time. Henry was fine.

None of the fish pictures turned out. I think they made the place dim and the glass was slightly tinted so that people wouldn't be able to get good pictures.

This was a hotel on the way back from the aquarium. I was amused by the name of the place: Vdara.

Look, Dara, you have a hotel named after you!

Bathtime before the wedding.

The towels were the perfect size for his little waist.

And... there goes the towel.

Henry and his sister had the best time staying in a hotel. They got to have popcorn and the TV was on almost all day.

The wedding was in one of the rooms of the only Garduno's outside of New Mexico.

After the wedding, there was a reception in one of the other rooms. We were outside on the patio and nearly blew away. The kids got to whack a pinata and dance to Mexican polka.

Good times!

Project Mania

2011-08-22T17:24:00.000-06:00

I am sadly slow and very behind when it comes to blog posts.

I am completely sincere when I say that I will do my best to get more blogs out more often.

That being said, I have another craft to share with you. :)

I actually have two, but I won't be sharing one of them until the Christmas season is upon us.

My sister and I have been talking about completing this project for MONTHS!

For a variety of reasons, we didn't try tackling it until yesterday... we didn't have all the supplies, we didn't have the time... she had to go and have a baby... sheesh.

So, we finally hunkered down and got together yesterday while our darling husbands kept the kids out of our hair.

We scaled down the perpetual calendar significantly. The wooden board is roughly 12X12 and, instead of juice concentrate lids for the days, we used metal rim tags.

After some trial and error, I decided that hand-writing the numbers on the tags was the best way to go. Cut outs were impractical for the small tags and I wasn't able to print out numbers on some of the darker paper.

For the months, we used balsa wood strips that my dear husband cut out for us. We each have six, labeled on both sides. I ended up painting mine white and sticking on the printed out months rather than try to exactly measure the paper to the wood.

This project took roughly 3 hours to complete, not including interruptions.

This close-up is mainly for the benefit of getting a glimpse of the beautiful toile paper I found. I love toile!

Fabulous Photo Shoot!!

2011-08-07T14:27:00.000-06:00

My little family traveled to the west side of Albuquerque yesterday to get a family photo done. We haven't done a whole family portrait since I was pregnant with Henry, so it was well past due.

Our favorite photographer is Monique Duke. She took our family shots the last time and since we were planning a trip to good ol' ABQ, we figured we'd call on her again.

Here is the first look at our shoot.

http://www.moniqueduke.com/family/albuquerque-family-photography-natives-return-to-abq-and-do-another-shoot-with-me/

Enjoy!!

Mornings with Papa (and Audrey)

2011-07-26T19:13:00.000-06:00

When my little family makes it upstairs for breakfast at a reasonable hour, (i.e. before 8:30) we can typically catch Papa on his way down to the bathroom to fix his bedhead.

Audrey starting asking quite some time ago what had happened to his hair to make it stick up all over.

The conversation will usually go something like this:

Audrey: Grandpa, what happened to your hair?

Papa: I got into a pillow fight with your grandmother.
Or: I slept on an egg beater last night.
Or: I had a brain-quake.
Or: I had a brain storm followed by a folicular typhoon.

The first few times, Audrey looked at her father or me to see if Papa was kidding. After a while, she just started responding with: Oh, Grandpa, you're so silly.

Papa has obviously enjoyed the dependability of Audrey asking this question because he comes up with something new and more imaginative or outlandish every time.

A couple of weeks ago, I spent somewhere around two hours up in my parent's room asking grammar questions. I was up to my eyeballs in text and found that I was confusing myself with it, so I went to the Human Lexicon and asked about everything that was causing me issue. I think I wore him out with all of it.

The next morning, he came down the stairs and before Audrey had time to notice him, he gave me a surly glare and said, "I was wrestling with a dictionary ALL night because someone asked me questions for two hours!"

I laughed, not apologetic in the least and as Papa made his way down the second flight of stairs, Audrey piped up.

"Oh, so THAT'S what happened to your hair!"

I couldn't possibly have come up with a better comeback, myself!

One of the things I learned in public school

2011-07-20T18:03:00.003-06:00

I went to public school from Kindergarten through half of fifth grade. After that, I was homeschooled. It was a good thing too, because I had murderous intentions toward my fifth grade teacher.
I'm not knocking public school in any way. It works for most families, both for the kids and the parents. For me, however, it was doing several strange things to my brain. (See: murderous intentions)

One of the things I learned in public school was geography. I believe it was in my fourth grade class room that I sat at a desk right next to a map of the United States. It was one of those super simplified maps, like so:

We all remember these, right?

When I was much younger, I was under the impression that the color of the state designated on the map was actually literal. The maps that I saw certainly didn't have pink states, but there were green, brown, yellow, and probably blue. I assumed that this indicated the quality and quantity of grass and other green plants. I figured out differently on my own pretty quickly. I mean, I lived in California, and it was mostly brown. I think the map that I looked at as a kid showed it in green.

It didn't help that I wasn't really interested in geography that much.

Anyway, that's not the point I'm wanting to make. With regard to the map above, I learned the greatest non-fact about my country because of the way it was presented.

I was under the impression that the U.S. was a massive island floating out in the ocean with a ginormous Hawaii and a relatively small Alaska floating underneath. It never occurred to me that it would be rather strange to have an island occur naturally with really straight northern coastline. The same went for Alaska's eastern coast.

Imagine my surprise, years later, when I realized that the U.S. was not, in fact, an island. It was firmly placed between Canada and Mexico and qualified as a Continent! Whatdayaknow!

I also learned that Alaska was not even very close to the U.S. at all and was attached to Canada! How did that work out?

Even after learning all of that, in my head, I still imagined Hawaii to be just a little shorter in length than the Alaskan mainland and I also imagined that it was directly west of California. I think I also figured that you could take a sailboat to get there. I don't remember when I finally realized how relatively small Hawaii was and how far south. I was probably nearly an adult by this time. I do remember thinking, "Why the heck didn't I know this before?"

The same goes for countries like Egypt... I think I spent the greater part of my childhood thinking that Egypt was squashed somewhere in between Italy and Jerusalem. Apparently, Jerusalem was it's own country. Africa, for its part, was one huge country that only had a couple thousand people living there because the rest of it was safari country like the Serengeti. Oh, and Australia was the same size as Russia and was all by itself in the ocean. New Zealand didn't exist. China was just a little bigger than Japan.
All of those misunderstandings can be blamed on the fact that they didn't teach much about other countries in fourth grade. At least, if they did, I wasn't listening.

This is a rough approximation of what I imagined the U.S. looked like when I was a kid.

I forgot to draw Alaska and Hawaii... just imagine them floating under Texas and "?"

I find it almost ironic that I ended up marrying a Map Geek.

I suppose it's possible that I'm learning all kinds of interesting things from him almost purely by osmosis... but, most likely not.

Monkey Brains

2011-07-17T18:34:00.000-06:00

I've talked about hair on a couple of occasions... Actually, several. But who's counting? Besides Blogger?

Ben is bald(ing). He doesn't find this fact amusing. He also finds very little comfort in the fact that I think it looks good on him. I wrote a blog a year and a half ago about men being bald and not hiding the fact.
Occasionally, Ben will allude to something he wished he could do with hair if he had some. I just think to myself that he couldn't possibly be any more attractive to me than he is on the days he shaves his head and face. I suppose he makes up for his lack of head hair by growing interesting facial hair.

Audrey has a long, full head of hair. It's interesting to me that I like making her hair pretty and resist getting it cut when I chopped all my hair off at the first opportunity. I have had several hair adventures with Audrey over the years. If you're interested, look here, here, here, here and a recent fabulous picture that a friend posted on Facebook. Audrey was a flower girl that day.

Henry has had simpler styles but still just as fun. Check them out here and here. We are currently trying to grow it out some so that we can take advantage of whatever curliness decides to reveal itself.

As for me, I've had long hair, short hair and very short hair at various times of my life. Since having kids, I haven't seriously considered growing it out again. My most interesting hair adventure can be found here. When the blue started to fade, I used red dye on it and it came out somewhat purple-ish. I haven't dyed it since. It's almost not worth it when you end up cutting it all off a month or so later.
So generally speaking, I use up any creativity I have in finding interesting ways to style my hair. I've had it smoothed down, barretted, pinned, head-banded, flowered and, most often, spiked. It's surprisingly difficult to find hair product that can keep my hair spiked all day. By the end of the day, the back and/or sides are getting fuzzy looking.

So, back to the title of my blog, I found a new hair gel! And so far... I LOVE it!

It's called Monkey Brains. It comes in a yellow banana container that has an MP3 player-listening monkey with crazy hair on it.

When you squeeze it out of the tube, it's a strange shade of yellow and that, combined with its thickness, reminds me vaguely of a grub.

Sure, it's target market is preteens and teenagers... but, really... I don't care. I can dig a hair gel that keeps my hair looking almost exactly the same after having slept on it all night.

Of course, before I bought it, this scene ran through my head... you know the one.

If anything, it just made me want to buy it even more.

You don't have to tell me I have a twisted sense of humor. I already know.

On Charmed Lives

2011-07-15T10:37:00.001-06:00

Ben is lucky.

There is no arguing with this fact.

I present to you some of the long list of items that prove this fact.

Ben has been pulled over six (6) times since we moved to Orem. I have been pulled over once (1). Ben's tickets: two (2). My tickets: one (1).
(As a sub-note. Ben has been pulled over countless times in his life and has only had perhaps one or two other tickets, ever. I have been pulled over twice in my life and both times got a ticket.)

Ben found $300 Kenneth Cole shoes at DI for a few bucks. I found a cute Prada bag at DI for a few bucks. It turned out to be a knock off that was made in China. (I'm not mad about it, I'm just illustrating the luck discrepancy.)

Ben has won a variety of prizes from radio or raffles. I won a prize from a radio station once and when we went to pick it up, they had run out. They told me they would mail me a copy of the book I won, but I never got it.

Convinced yet?

I could go on.

But I won't.

Ben leads somewhat of a charmed life. The benefit of being his wife is that, while I rarely if ever experience this luck myself, I often enjoy the benefits of his.

Last night, Ben returned home from work at an earlier hour than normal and cheerily asked me if I'd like to go and see the last Harry Potter film. I asked if there was any possibility that we could even get a showing and he said he'd check. He spent some time online looking and most everything looked packed according to the websites, but there seemed to be a few seats here and there. I suggested that he call and find out from a real person if the website was updating live. He called and got an automated system that was very little help.

So, he took a shower and I talked to my parents about making sure that my children don't burn down the house in their sleep.

We left the house at about 8:45.

I know what you're thinking... opening night of one of the biggest phenomena of our generation... of COURSE it's going to be sold out. BUT, remember who I was spending my evening with?

We checked a couple theaters nearby and no one had anything before 3am. I don't care how much I wanted to see this movie, I am NOT staying up until 3am.

We finally went to one other theater and passed the truly freakish die-hards, dressed up and waiting patiently in queues for their showing. This theater had a kiosk in the front selling tickets, so Ben decided to check that. He pulled everything up and we found, to our utter disbelief, that there was a showing at 12:01 that had tickets. He speedily bought them up and we attempted to find our queue.

After a few minutes of wandering around, we found a cute young thing that worked there and asked her where we were supposed to line up. She wasn't sure and went to ask. A few minutes later, we went to find her. When we did, she and the guy she was asking were both looking rather befuddled. They, in turn, asked the head manager fellow who, at this point, was looking rather relaxed for someone surrounded by such insanity.

When we showed him our tickets, he looked surprised and said, "You shouldn't have been able to get those!"
Apparently, the 12:01 showing in theater 9 was a private one for Seven Peaks employees. In the 30 seconds that the showing opened up for Seven Peaks to buy all the tickets, we just happened to get to the kiosk and get in on the show as well.

They didn't have a line set up for them yet, so we were cut loose to do whatever we wanted for a while. Ben was starving, so we went to the Subway at the mall who had decided to stay open for an extra hour because of all the Potterites. Smart of them, I say.

So, Ben ate his foot-long BMT and I ate cookies and stole sips of his Dr. Pepper.

While we ate, we watched several groups of kids (i.e. adults dressed up as HP characters) "duel" each other with their wand replicas or twigs. There was a fellow who strapped his feet to buckets and dressed up like Hagrid. People kept stopping him to have pictures taken. There were numerous Dobbys, Tonks, Harrys of both genders, Umbridges and one or two Lavender Browns. I saw The Fat Lady complete with frame and Molly Weasley. There was someone dressed up like a penguin and another dressed up like Where's Waldo. There was a rather shabbily done Dumbledore and a spectacularly done Snape. Robes and Hogwarts schoolgirls abounded.

When we finally sauntered into the theater again to look for our queue, we eventually got directed to the management again. The head manager was looking quite harried by this point and informed us that the lady who set up the Seven Peaks showing was intending to conduct some company business before the movie started and that we couldn't be in there for that. Instead, he said that theater 8 was already seating and we could go in there and see if there were any seats available.

What? No waiting in a queue?

Yes, please!

Feeling slightly guilty, I followed Ben (who was suffering no complex of any kind) into the theater and right into some seats right in the middle of the row.

Yes, please!!

The showing turned out to be a 12:15 one, but I wasn't especially concerned about 14 minutes. We got seated at about 10:45. For the next hour and a half, we chatted about the unbelievable night we were having and various pipe dreams of our possible future. Like how one day I will be a famous author. Not as famous as Rowling, but almost.

When the screen started the movie quotes and quizzes, I sent Ben out for snacks.

There were a million previews, which was okay.

The movie was stunning. I cried. A lot. It was completely worth the staying up late and feeling like a zombie today. The benefit of watching it so late (early) is that we were in a big group of adults who wanted to see it as much as we did. There were scenes where you could have heard an owl flap, it was so quiet.

That's all I will say about the movie.

If you've read the book, it's not exactly true to the story. A few things were left out, a few things were added.

If you haven't read the book... what rock have you been under for the last fourteen years.

Either way, the movie is worth the high ticket prices and ANY hour you choose to see it.

This lengthy story should by now convince you of Ben's fantastically charmed existence. Is he always lucky? I will have to give a judicious answer and say that even when it seems like his luck has run out, it's usually because his good luck is keeping something from happening that would be even worse. That aspect of his life is difficult to explain, so I won't even try.

I'll just keep things simple and say that my evening was truly magical!

Words Are Fun

2011-07-08T22:08:00.000-06:00

Life has been quite busy for us the past few months. It seems like once summer started, it's been go, go, go for us, almost non-stop!
I will shortly be putting up pictures and telling the stories of the past few weeks, but for today, I need to tell you what's on my mind.

While I was growing up, and even to this very day, my parents instilled in me the desire to use words correctly and enthusiastically. Over the years, I have had many people look at me a little cross-eyed because what came out of my mouth was often more mature than my years.

I love words. I love using words... I love saying unusual or even archaic words. I like using certain words frequently just because of how they sound when I say them.

Because I read so much as a child, teenager and young adult, there were words that I had only ever read and never heard anyone say, so I never knew how to pronounce them. For a long time, I thought the word faux was pronounced fox. You can imagine my confusion when I read the words faux fur and then years later heard someone say what I thought was "foe fur."

Most of these mistakes and confusions are out of the way now, but I still love words.

I want my children to love words too.

So I have been teaching them words that I find supremely fun.

When Audrey was little and just learning how to talk, we thought up the longest words we could while driving around town and asked her to say them. Audrey's early vocabulary included: deciduous, superfluous, ubiquitous, disjunct and, my personal favorite, cloaca.

After a while, she didn't want to perform for us anymore, and I had to be content with teaching her useful words that, while advanced for her age, weren't nearly as fun to say.

So, you can imagine the sublime joy that entered my heart when I recently discovered that Henry has now entered that tender age when he will repeat everything we ask him to.

We fell back on the old vocabulary just for old times sake. However, today I was hit by a fit of mischievous humor and decided to twist the old game a little.

The phrases we taught Henry (and Audrey) today:

Don't touch my uvula!

Don't touch my phalanges!

Don't touch my philtrum! (This was Grammy's contribution.)

Don't touch my coccyx!

Don't touch my cloaca! (I couldn't help myself with this one...)

I am anxiously awaiting the moment when Henry will let one of these phrases fly in the middle of church or a restaurant... or a museum... or the store. I am sure most people will wonder what the heck we are doing to our child to make him say that.

On a less disturbing note, we taught Audrey about nocturnal and diurnal today. She correctly deduced from our explanation that humans (generally speaking) are diurnal. Yay!

So, here's to words! And all of us Word Nerds out there!

Creeping Things

2011-06-15T22:17:00.000-06:00

I have been neglecting many of my duties, both self-imposed and involuntary. I shant even discuss my lack of blogginess.

I know summer has come to Utah because I live in a basement.

Stick with me here.

The only window in the basement is the one right next to my desk, so I feel satisfied that I'm getting a little bit of real light and at least a faint idea of how long a day might happen to be. My poor children, therefore, have no window in their room, but must have lights on while they are in there playing. The bathroom, however, is dark unless we happen to need to do something in there. So, it is the darkest, coolest room in the house no matter the time of year.

Dark, cool places often attract the more jibbly-inducing of God's creatures.

At the start of summer, I forget this and frequently enter the bathroom without the prerequisite armor and war hammer.

Enter here the explanatory flash-back:

This is me at five.

Aww! I know! Aren't I precious!

At this age and for many years following, I was the family proclaimed "Animal Queen". I had vast stores of knowledge of the animal kingdom and loved sharing it with everyone. I could tell you intricate details about the habits, habitats and other habs of critters large and small. If you asked me what my favorite animal was, I would earnestly and sincerely say, "All of them!"

As such, I became the self-designated creature protector of the house. If a roly-poly happened to get lost in the living room carpet, I would hastily swoop in and rescue it so that it would escape the certain death that were my parents and older siblings. The same went for caterpillars, beetles, ants, spiders (yes, spiders) and so on. Cockroaches were the one exception to that rule. For some reason I have always found them disgusting and creepy. I would carry each precious creature out to the yard in my bare hand.. yes, my bare hand. Unless I wasn't sure of the species of spider, then I used a piece of paper.

I recall a time sometime after we moved to Albuquerque and before I gained a sense of my own mortality. A small lizard found its way into the house and my sister and mother somewhat hysterically called for my help. A merry chase ensued and several exhausting minutes later, I was setting the poor thing loose in the back yard.

There are many other tales... the bird I rescued from one of our cats, the time my sister, who was perched on the kitchen table, phoned me in a panic because a psuedo-scorpion was on the kitchen floor... you get the idea.

The reason I mention all this is because, somewhere along the line, I lost this fearlessness with the many-legged creatures of this world. When, how or why, I really can't begin to explain or even comprehend.

Back to the bathroom: I blithely entered the bathroom to take a shower the other day. I tested the water, turned on the shower head and stepped in. When I turned around, what did I see? A frantic little spider was desperately trying to climb the slick sides of the tub. It wasn't running AT me, like some of the urban legends proclaim some spiders do, but it was trying its darnedest to escape.

And what did the grown woman that is me do?

I screamed.

It was just a little scream, but a scream nonetheless.

I pounded on the bathroom wall, knowing that my dear, brave husband would rescue me.

A few moments later, he did not disappoint and after scolding me for not checking the shower before stepping in, he squished the poor little guy and put him in the toilet.

I suppose if I had been thinking at the time, I could have explained away my lack of fortitude and overabundance of cowardice:

I was dripping wet already and so grabbing a wad of toilet paper to squish the spider would have resulted in a gooey mess.

I was taken utterly by surprise and didn't have my game face on.

I had my mind on other things... my book club reading assignment, the novel I'm beta-reading, my children trying to find sneaky ways of injuring each other while making it look accidental, my husband's broken finger, the novel I've been trying to write since I was eighteen.

I was in my birthday suit.

I didn't have my armor and war hammer handy, as the aforementioned birthday suit suggests.

Am I still the "Animal Queen" as I once was as a child?

Absolutely.

Even a Queen must have her Champion.

Here's to Sir Ben, slayer of the peeping-spiders.

Child's Overalls Refashioned into Backpacks

2011-05-27T07:22:00.000-06:00

It makes me slightly sad when my kids grow out of their clothes. On one hand, they are so darn cute in some of those outfits! On the other, it just means I have to get them more clothes.

I've been hanging onto a pair of Henry's overalls for quite some time, thinking I was going to turn it into a fab purse. I eventually reconsidered because I like being able to put a purse on my shoulder and the overalls were so small, I'd only be able to hang it on my arm.

In the meantime, Henry grew out of a second pair of overalls. (Actually, he just kept unsnapping the leg closures, effectively turning his pants into a dress.)

So, after some thought, I decided to figure out how to make a backpack out of them. We are going on several road trips this summer and thought that it would be nice for each child to have a bag to carry their own toys, games or stuffed animals in.

There are several examples online of overalls made into backpacks. They didn't quite fit my vision. I wanted a backpack that still looked like a pair of overalls, not just made OUT of a pair of overalls, if that makes sense. (Without the legs of course.)

After cutting off the legs, I used one leg panel to fashion the bottom of the backpack. The second leg panel was sewn into the inside to make a flap that is closed with heavy-duty velcro, making a pouch in the main body. The bib portion of the overalls was left as is, so that a stuffed animal or rolled blanket could sit on the pouch flap and hang out the top.

I acquired some cheap backpacks from DI, cut off the straps and sewed those on. This was much easier and more time effective than making my own straps.

Henry's backpack.

Here, Henry was saying, "Buh-bye! Going to school. See you tomorrow!"

The denim of Audrey's backpack is thin and stretchy, so it was harder to keep it's shape once it was filled.

I may have to put something inside to stiffen the back so that it sits better.

For now, I'm just pleased that they have their own bags to put their own items in.

The best part: They were SO easy!

The View from my Window

2011-05-25T20:13:00.000-06:00

I'm not overly fond of dandelions. We had them in Albuquerque, but they grew somewhat separately. Here, they seem to grow in crazy clumps that turn into weird brown tangled messes when they lose all their seeds.

My sister uses a dandelion motif in a lot of her artistic endeavors. It's also a part of her signature and the name she goes by online. Because of this, I find dandelions to whimsically remind me of her. In turn, this makes me smile a little when I see them. You can check her out here.

I digress...

I have recently discovered a new reason to enjoy dandelions a tiny bit more.

The view from my window is mostly rocks, ivy, weeds, roses in the summer and a sliver of sky. Since I live in a basement room, I count myself lucky that I have a window at all.

I occasionally have feline visitors in my little window well, but lately, I've had the pleasure of two little finches visiting me. It's all because of the dandelions.

The first group of pictures is of the little female. She always stays in the well longer than her mate.

I wasn't sure what she was doing at first, but soon realized that she was plucking the dandelion seeds, eating them and dropping the fluff.

Here, she looks like a little old lady smoking a cigarette on the end of a holder. Check out the bags around her eyes. That's the look of a true mother.

I love the neck extension here. It almost looks unreal.

She kept looking up at the window. I think she knew I was watching her.

I wish I could hang off a branch or tree this way. She makes it look so easy!

The little man showed up a few days later and watched over her from a higher perch.

He finally dropped down a bit to get some seeds himself.

The next five pictures I call: A Study in Puff Progress

I think he was trying to impress me.

I didn't edit any of the pictures but two. I couldn't resist this picture of him.

And here is a photo of the carnage they left behind. All those de-seeded dandelion fluffs...

I can't say I'm too broken up about it.

My Man

2011-05-22T09:45:00.000-06:00

Ben likes thrift shopping. I used to hate it. It took him about eleven years to get me to walk into a thrift store without pulling out my ten gallon bottle of hand sanitizer, slathering it all over my body and following him around morosely while trying to not touch anything.

It helped when we moved to Utah and I had the option of going to DI. For some reason, it feels a little cleaner than your average Salvation Army or Savers. Maybe because it is.

I will go into a Savers, don't get me wrong. However, my time limit in Savers is about thirty minutes and then I have to bolt and scrub off four layers of skin. I can easily spend an hour in DI, more if I make it back to the book section.

Ben really, really likes shopping for clothes at thrift stores. I remember giving him horrified looks when he would grab a pair of corduroy pants off the rack and say, "Wow! These are COOL!"

That, of course, is nothing when compared to his love for "name shirts". You know, the work shirts that have a name patch sewed onto them. You'll usually see them on guys that work at a car repair place, oil and lube shop or a tow truck company... I know that people that DON'T work with cars wear them too. I just can't think of any right now.

Maybe a plummer.

Anyhoo. When people leave those jobs, they seem to like giving their work shirts to thrift stores. That's where Ben comes in. Comes in, scans the racks and leaves with a new name or two.

He gets a kick out of people asking him about the places he works when he wears the shirt.

"Oh, so you work for the Ford Emergency Response Team?" someone might ask with interest.

"Nope," my husband answers with a smirk.

"Oh... uh... is your name Pat?"

"Nope," his grin gets wider.

"....."

"I just like the shirt," GRIN!!

"Oh......"

He also has a New Mexico State Police Leather Motorcycle Jacket. He REALLY liked wearing that when we were out and about in Albuquerque. The people asking for change on the corners would always get really nervous when we drove by. I seem to recall one guy actually turning around and walking the other way when he saw the jacket.

I tell you all this because I usually just roll my eyes when Ben brings his latest "treasure" to me. It's hard for me to take him seriously when he presents me with a shirt that bears the name "Keg".

When we recently went to DI, he came up to me excitedly, holding something behind his back. He professed the awesomeness of his find, and pulled out a pair of dress shoes.

I cringe inwardly at the prospect of wearing something that a stranger had on their feet. How do you know they didn't have athlete's foot? Eww... This is what I was thinking while Ben tried to explain his excitement.

"They're $5!"

Well, that's okay, I thought.

"You've always wanted me to have these square-toed shoes!"

Yeah. I think they make men's feet look sexy... an impressive accomplishment.

"They were made in Italy!"

"Cool," I can always appreciate fine Italian workmanship.

"They're KENNETH COLE," I could hear, ever so slightly, the sound of Angels' singing in Ben's head.

"Who?"

I think Ben's eyes popped a little bit. I suppose to him, that would be like me saying, "Who's Vivienne Westwood?"

"They're really good shoes!"

"Oh."

"They need shoelaces though."

"Okay," I shrugged.

Several hours after we got home, Ben was still feeling really good about the shoes and put them on so that I could see what they looked like on his feet. The effect was somewhat diminished by the fact that he was wearing white ankle socks and khaki shorts. Ben said that I should look up Kenneth Cole sometime so that I could get an idea of what kind of shoes they were.

So, I did.

With Ben looking over my shoulder, I loudly proclaimed, "Holy Poop on a Stick!"

Similar shoes, brand new from Kenneth Cole were anywhere from just under a hundred dollars to over three hundred.

Granted, these aren't Berluti shoes which fetch a mere $1,830 a pair. But to find a pair of nice dress shoes for five bucks at DI is a rare thing.

A little research and the closest I can figure is that Ben's new shoes are Oxford style Town Hall Moc Toe lace up shoes.

Fancy Dancey!

Now, if I could just find myself a pair of Jimmy Choo's at DI.....

Furry Eyefull

2011-05-21T09:19:00.000-06:00

I love going to DI. It's a new habit of mine. Probably a bad one too. I always save the kids books for last and look through as many of them as I can. I've found some really great books there and not spent the fabulous amounts of money as if I had bought them new. Granted, they are sometimes a little worn around the edges and need some tender loving care, but I also know that when my kids get their hands on them, no one would know the difference anyway.

I have also found that I can occasionally find the treasure of a Serendipity book. If you never read a Serendipity book as a little girl, either A) You were not a little girl, or B) You were a sadly deprived little girl. The stories are cute (though sometimes agenda-charged) but the illustrations fall into the category of diabetic-coma-inducing sugary cuteness.

The first one I found was Bangalee, which I had never heard of. The story was about keeping your house clean so that the garbage-eating monster doesn't come and eat your house.

I just went again the other day and found three *SCREAM!* Serendipity books. I had to pass one over because the previous owner decided to add to the illustrations in green pen. The other two were soft-cover, but I got them anyway. I'll just have to make sure that those books are no-touch books for my kids until they learn respect for books (grumble, grumble).

One is called Maui-Maui and is about a whale who teaches a lesson to a bunch of little critters called Amomonies who over-fished their ocean until there were no fish left. (After they learned their lesson, the author just HAD to add in a little note about how the Amomonies had been bad, but who they had to really watch out for was MAN..... see previous reference to agenda-charging.)

The other one is called Kartusch and is about some cute little critters called Furry Eyefulls. They learned a lesson from a blind snake about enjoying the world around them with more than just their eyes. (They wanted to look at everything so much that they refused to sleep and got super cranky and mean.)
While casually glancing over Kartusch, I noticed that the little Furry Eyefulls were vaguely familiar to me. It took me a few moments to realize (and I did with a chortle) that I LIVED with a Furry Eyefull all growing up. Of course, she was a blonde Furry Eyefull.

Am I right??

Sorry, Dara.... :)

I love you!

Really, I just thought it was a super cute book with even super-er-er... cute pictures. I couldn't resist sharing with you all!

I shall continue my hunt for Serendipity books. I'm still looking for Leo the Lop, Morgan Mine, Flutterby and *be still my heart!* DRAGOLIN!

Discovery Gateway

2011-05-20T13:34:00.000-06:00

I'm sure I've mentioned before that there is a really cool hands-on children's learning museum up in Salt Lake. My kids love it and I've promised pictures.

I attempted to fix Hank's hair before we left.

Curly boy!

It ended up afro-puffing out fifteen minutes later.

There is a whole house that is just Audrey's size. She LOVES it! She loves to pretend to cook, especially.

She's driving to the store. :)

Someone needs to talk to the store owners about the unsanitary lack of packaging for most of the foods!

Checking out... note the single lettuce leaf next to the bread.

Henry loves the water table. He looks for all the ducks and hoards them.

This is a little room attached to the outside of the play house. I think it's meant to be a tree house.

The only problem with things being kid sized is that we can't join them in quite a few places. (This fact is likely more than fine with my children.)

When you go upstairs, there are a lot of areas set aside for constructing. The kids hardly know which way to go when we go up there.

There is a little machine that has a program similar to Mad Libs. I did a couple. :)

As you can imagine, I did a lot of giggling when I made these.

We have a membership to Discovery Gateway and plan on going up at least once a month. It's great for the kids and a lot of fun for everyone.

Preschool Week Five

2011-05-18T09:09:00.000-06:00

Preschool was super simple this time around.

First, we made Audrey a crown. She decorated it with some crayons and I put it together. She knew precisely how to wear it properly, but she chose another method.

This looks a bit like a barbarian helmet or something of the like.

I just couldn't get her to keep a normal expression on her face!

This was her idea too. She took the newspaper hat from Hat Day and put the crown on top of it. What a fashion statement!

The next day, we made a balero toy out of a water bottle top. It looked something like this:

I don't have a picture of the one we made because it met an untimely demise and "disappeared." However, she really liked it and spent many frustrated minutes trying to get the ball into the cup.

On another day, we talked about shadows and what makes them. I had Audrey stand still in the sun and we traced her shadow as it fell. Then we talked about how it looked different than the way her body really was and why. All the way home, she watched her shadow and talked about it. She was able to explain that shadows don't have features like eyes, nose or mouth, but it has arms and legs just like we do. It also doesn't have colors like blond hair or blue pants.

That Friday was April Fool's Day. I had planned several fun and non-mean jokes to play on the family but everything fell through in the end in favor of sleeping in. I did, however, teach Audrey a joke to tell to her dad.

With a little prompting, it went something like this:

"Dad, why was Six afraid of Seven?"

"Why?"

"Because Seven Eight Nine."

Haha!

It was funnier to try to get her to say the joke right than the joke actually was.

Well, I'm sure I'll be on top of the pranks next year.... ;)

Preschool Week Four

2011-05-16T13:54:00.000-06:00

I hit my stride again regarding preschool when I did this week. I tried to keep it relatively simple, however, as I had worn myself out trying to do things that Audrey had no patience for.

I made cupcakes on the first day and hid a Teddy Graham cracker under the frosting. My original idea was to bake the cupcakes with the bears inside them, but decided at the last moment that the adults in the household probably wouldn't appreciate finding a chocolate cracker in a random mouthful. We talked about hibernation and where the animals go in the winter. Audrey got a kick out of trying to find the "hibernating bear" in her cupcake.

The next day, we talked about bats. I had a diagram that labeled the anatomy of the animal and we talked about how they are different from birds and also other mammals. I wanted her to color the page, but she flatly refused. What a strange girl! She wants to color until I ask her to!

I bought a heavy duty magnet at Hobby Lobby and talked to Audrey about magnets and (sort of) told her how they work. We walked all around the house to find things the magnet would stick to. Some things stuck so fast she couldn't pull it off herself. I had her guess what objects would attract the magnet. She was right most of the time. :)

The following day, we talked about names and I told her what her name means and why we chose it. I pulled out her blessing dress box and showed her the blessing written inside and the meaning of her name. She was named after her great-grandmother on her dad's side. Her middle name was a last moment choice just before she was born. She must have been trying to tell me something on her way out. :)

We capped off the week with a trip to the aquarium. Audrey and Henry both had a great time! I forgot to bring Audrey's animal scavenger hunt page, so I guess we'll have to go again soon. :)

If you look carefully, you can see the bullfrog. The frogs were in an open area and the sound of their croaking was surprisingly loud.

The jellyfish are so graceful and beautiful. It's easy to take a nice picture.

This lobster was ENORMOUS. The picture doesn't do it ANY justice.

Of course, we just HAD to take some Nemo pictures.

The penguins were amazingly fast swimmers. That blur with bubbles streaking behind is, in fact, a penguin.

The next few pictures are of the electric eel. I had never seen one in action before. It was fascinating. I could have stood there for an hour, watching him zap the plants floating on the top of the tank.

It was interesting to see the eel stretch it's tail-end up to discharge the electricity. On the sensor plate, it said that when the lights got up to red, the eel was hunting.

Alligators: The icebergs of the animal kingdom.

There's quite a bit more under the surface...

I just can't help myself. I always have to take a picture of the piranhas.

Has anyone EVER seen one of these huge snakes move? And survived it, I mean...

Remembering Last Summer

2011-05-11T08:19:00.000-06:00

Last summer, I had several opportunities to get out and see some of Utah's beautiful landscape. Walks at Nun's Park up to Bridal Veil Falls was a common trip and rather close by. Sundance isn't much farther up the road and we made it up there several times last year. The full moon chairlift ride was my personal favorite and I looked forward to it every month, but it was nice to go there when the sun was shining too.

When my mother-in-law and her husband came up to visit, we made a Sundance trip priority. As I have said in a previous blog, Sundance is beautiful, charming and peaceful. Going up in the summer impressed upon me the vibrancy of the mountains here.

"This place in the mountains, amid nature's casualness toward death and birth, is the perfect host for the inspiration of ideas: harsh at times, life-threatening in its winters of destruction, but tender in attention to the details of every petal of every wildflower resurrected in the spring. Nature and creativity obey the same laws, to the same end: life."

Robert Redford

The kids did really well considering that we spent about an hour in the gift shop!

Their reward was late birthday gift shopping courtesy of Nanny and Grandfather!

I'm looking forward to more time at Sundance this summer. (I've even written down all the full moon chairlift dates.) If you ever want to come up with me, let me know! ;)

Preschool Week Three

2011-05-09T08:12:00.000-06:00

As you can tell, I've been slacking off with the preschool posting. And the truth is, I had a couple of weeks where I did some preschool slacking altogether. Before I did that slacking, I was still in full positive mode and letting Audrey's massive sense of independence roll off my back. If she didn't want to do her little coloring pages, I wasn't going to make her.

For week three, we started things off with Hat Day. I made a hat just the right size for little A's head. I used newspaper and molded it right on her head. It's not much to look at, but Audrey loves it! She wore it while watching Kai-lan's Hat Parade.

The brim was a little wonky, but I think it's rather charming.

This angle gives it a sombrero feel.

Here's Kai-lan with her lily pad hat. Makes me wish I could make a hat out of a lily pad!

Hat Parade!

Cake hats! I WANT A CAKE HAT!!

Kai-lan and her YeYe

On Tuesday that week, we talked about musical instruments. While Audrey watched a few educational cartoons that talked about music and instruments, I put together a rainstick. I made it out of a wrapping paper tube, some short nails... correction: a LOT of short nails and dry beans. I wrapped it all with colored duct tape and put on a layer of packing tape just for safety.

Henry working it out!

It took a few tries to teach the little man how to make the rainstick "rain."

He got it eventually.

Little Miss A had it down pat!

On Wednesday we looked at lots of different dinosaurs, had dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets for lunch and watched Dinosaur Train. Audrey loves dinosaurs almost as much as princesses and fairies. Audrey pretty much loves everything she loves with all her heart... unless she doesn't like it at all. ;)

The next day was St. Patrick's Day. The leprechauns were up to their usual tricks this morning and turned the milk in her cereal green. She was a little disturbed.

My plans for an all green lunch were foiled by Audrey's squeamishness. The leprechauns let her off the hook. I'm sure they figured it was better to let it go than have a little girl put off her food!

We had a baked potato bar for dinner, green jello, green grapes and Irish Soda Bread (that I made by hand). Audrey was still wigged about everything being green and wouldn't eat the jello.

I topped off the day with a pistachio pudding pie and whipped topping. YUM!

We talked about the jungle on Friday. Audrey loves looking at pictures of animals and she got to look at many animals she had never seen before. After we were done with that, I simply stapled two TP tubes together and called them binoculars for her to look through. I'm so glad she's young. The simple things still work! She watched Go Diego, Go! and I shut my ears for the duration!

We took a little field trip on Saturday and went to Kangaroo Zoo. It's a big play area that is filled with inflatables. Castles, dragons, sea creatures, slides. It was very loud with all the air pumps going at the same time and it took the kids to get over the noise and the sheer busyness of the place. After a while, though, they both got into it and even Henry was climbing the three story ladders to go down the huge slides.

Ben has more pictures on his camera. They're all bad quality because we forgot to bring the camera with us. Though, with how fast the kids were moving, they probably would have been blurry even if we HAD brought the good camera. Everyone went home tired and slightly deaf. Good times!

That afternoon, I had Audrey listen to Didgeridoo music. I think it's one of the neatest noises on the planet. I'd love to see someone play one in person some day.

Where has Spring been?

2011-05-07T09:47:00.000-06:00

I seem to be under some sort of delusion that when Spring comes it's actually supposed to spring... You know, spring showers, pale green slowly unfolding from dark branches under a warm sun and gentle breeze. I don't know where this concept came from. I have certainly never lived in a place that has what I would consider a normal spring.

I don't remember Indiana, but I know I've seen pictures of the 10 foot snowman that was built in the front yard. You can't have THAT much snow and still have the classically described Spring.

Southern California didn't really have Spring since it didn't really have Winter. It was simply summer all year round with slight changes in foliage and temperature. I seem to remember it hailing once when I was at school and, since my teacher had us all leave the classroom to look at it, I assumed the apocalypse had come.

New Mexico doesn't have a proper Spring either. Ben and I always say that, in Albuquerque at least, you have Summer, Fall, Winter and Wind. It's true. Just as it is starting to get warm, the wind kicks up and doesn't let up until it's dry and hot. I find the idea of Spring refreshing and replenishing. There is nothing refreshing or replenishing about wind that either tries to blow you away or, failing that, blows dirt in your eyes, ears and up your nose.

Utah is a different animal altogether. Just when it starts to warm up and you break out your shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops, Winter yells "Psych!" and dumps eight inches of snow on you. Even the trees get fooled. They happily start pushing out leaves and blossoms only to have them frozen off overnight.

On the third day of April, Winter had a late April Fool's joke on us. I was not amused.

Here is my "not amused" face.

Here is my answer to Ben's request for a smile.

This is what happens to people when they are stuck indoors for five months.

And here is the joke in all it's glory.

I think I'll move to Hawaii. That sounds good.

The Birthday Boy

2011-05-06T08:51:00.000-06:00

Henry's 2nd birthday was earlier this week. He is so different from his sister and SUCH a BOY!

We went out for breakfast just like we did for Audrey's birthday. We went to the store for a last-minute birthday gift. After that, we went to a nearby park, fed the ducks and played for a while. Ben asked for this night off work as well. It was nice to have him home the whole day.

Ben and I were remiss in our duties as parents and forgot the camera for the candle ceremony! Henry had a banana cream pie and blew out both candles in one try! :)

This is his "ham" face.

From Grammy and Papa

It was a cute sports outfit. Henry was more intrigued with the ribbon. He kept saying balloon. He probably wondered if he'd been gypped somehow and didn't get the balloon that's SUPPOSED to be attached to all ribbons!

Once he realized that there were shorts, he wanted to put them on. One thing this kid is good at is taking off and putting on pants.

Just like Audrey, Henry picked out his pillow pet. He, however, was forced to wait a week and a half to enjoy his.

A duck, of course!

It took me quite a long time to get this gift out of the box. It was SCREWED in, of all things!

The Dad.

Grammy entertained the birthday boy with his very own hat made out of wrapping paper. Please note Mom trying to unscrew yet another superfluous piece of plastic off the bottom of the truck.

FINALLY!!

Audrey was a really great big sister for his birthday. He certainly was a king for his special day!

The Birthday Girl

2011-05-04T14:48:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Audrey's 4th birthday almost two weeks ago! It seems that the older my daughter gets, the more surreal the idea of having children gets.

Ben took the evening off work so that he could spend as much time with his little girl as possible!

We started the day out going out to breakfast. It was a nice change of pace for the kids who normally get cereal or toast for breakfast. We also went to Toys R Us to spend Audrey's free $3 certificate. Of course, she got a princess crown!

I went all out and made my first two layer cake. Audrey thought it was the coolest! ;)

Pink, pink, purple, pink and more pink.

She blew out all the candles on the first try!

The Cake Cutter.

Cousin Lily

Aunt Dara

Audrey already knew what was in the wrapping. She picked it out herself when her mother got an attack of indecisiveness.

I should have guessed she'd want a horse. She always asks if the horses are out when we pass by a local horse barn.

Cousin Eva was right by her side throughout the present opening.

Mama reads the card from Grandpa T.

At this point, Henry decided he'd had enough and wanted out of his chair. What a sincere look of supplication!

Aunt Dara was BEYOND ready to have that baby out! (She had the baby just a few days later.)

The puzzles from Nanny! The look says it all. :)

Audrey had a great day and was pooped by the time it was over.

No Wonder it's a Secret!

2011-04-21T17:24:00.000-06:00

Several weeks ago, I received a voucher for a free item from Victoria's Secret. I think I might have blushed a little when I looked at the envelope, but I really can't pass up free. It's in my blood. It mouldered on my desk for a week or two... then it mouldered in my purse for about another week.

Upon discovering that my daughter's one and only wish for her birthday was to have a Pillow Pet, I knew that the mall was the one place I was sure I could get what she wanted. (As it turns out, they were out of the one she's been talking about for the last nine months.)

I figured that it would be good to kill two birds and go to VS as well. I blushed a little as I wheeled my little family into the brightly lit place to look through items that, generally speaking, never see the light of day once you get them home.

Of course, since it had been several weeks since I got the voucher in the first place, I was wondering if they might be out of stock and I was going to be out of luck. I (translation: Ben) ended up having to ask one of the workers where I might find the promised item. *Blush!* To her credit, she was very sweet and talked to my daughter while we walked over to the correct bin.

Once there, it was up to me to feel slightly perverted while I looked through for something that might pass for cute. The lady next to me had an enviable air of cool, collected nonchalance as she looked through the bins too. As I pondered what my choice might actually say about me personally, my daughter sweetly walked up to me and said, "Mom, can I help you?"

I gasped out a nervous laugh and said, "No, Audrey. I think this is something I need to do by myself." The lady next to me burst out laughing and I laughed too. I'm not sure if I blushed since Ben was too busy texting a status message for Facebook. I do know my eyeballs felt like they were on fire, so that doesn't bode well for me.

Hardly a moment later, Ben informed me that my son was pointing up at a picture of a model in her negligee and saying, "Bottom! Bottom! Bottom! Bottom!"

I also have a $10 off coupon for a bra. I don't know if I'm ever going back. I think I've had enough embarrassment to last me the rest of the month.

The Many Faces of Audrey

2011-04-11T15:22:00.000-06:00

I know I've been slacking with the Preschool Blog posts... I know because one of my dear sisters asked me about them just last night! Well! I thought to myself, Someone is actually reading them! Whaddayaknow!

I admitted to her somewhat shamefacedly that I had not just been slacking on the blog front, but on the preschool front entirely. It's easy to get excited when your child asks, "What are we going to learn about today, Mom?" but when you actually get down to doing something with the child, all they want to do is watch the latest favorite movie.

This week is The Week of the Young Child, some sort of national observance. This week, Audrey will learn all about herself. To start the week off right, for both myself and her, I took a page from a good friend of mine. Monique Duke is one of the most talented photographers I have ever known and this idea was an inspiration for me. I've been wanting to do it ever since she wrote about it, but wasn't able to find the ideal time to focus just on my girl.

The idea was to call out emotions to her and snap away at whatever expression she gave me. I was worried that she wouldn't understand some of the emotions I was going to ask her to show me, but I went ahead and, with a little explanation, she stole the show. Click on the picture for a larger version. Well worth it!

The Many Faces of Audrey

HAPPY SPRING!!!

The Haul

2011-04-07T17:51:00.000-06:00

I wandered around the mall today with a mission. I was going to have fun and I was going to spend some money. I went IN the stores with an eye for purchasing. However, I wasn't looking to spend purely for spending's sake. Well, maybe a little. I was more interested in finding a good deal that I could go home and feel good about. I am not interested in Buyer's Remorse at this stage of my life.

I almost never go into Claire's or Icing because I know I'll buy something that looks fantastically cute in the lighting of the store, but that looks strange once I get home. HOWEVER, upon walking into the store, I found that they were having a big clearance sale and quite a lot of their clearance was upwards of 75% off. I squealed a little, in my head.

Here is my haul, which I am super proud of, so don't say anything mean about it... Or you can, but just know that you will be making me feel sad for about .0000000238 nano seconds. Then I will go back to gloating over my new stuff.

Plaid Hobo (you can't see in this shot, but there are little shiny threads running through the plaid)

Original price: $26

Marked Down price: $13

Final price paid: $3.19

Butterfly Handbag

Original price: $20

Marked Down price: $10

Final price paid: $2.49

Teal Scarf with Skull print

Original price: $14

Marked Down price: $7

Final price paid: $1.69

Love the skulls!!

Various Wallets

The top two plaid ones were originally $12 and $14 respectively, marked down to $6 and $7. I got each one for $1!

The Pink Butterfly makeup bag/purse was originally $7, marked down to $3.50 and I paid $1!!

The Hardcase with eyelets was originally $16, marked to $8 and I paid $1.99.

Ring

Original price: $12.50

Marked Down price: $6.25

Final price paid: $1.49

Brown Plaid Headband

Original price: $5.50

Marked Down price: $2.75

Final price paid: $1

Cute details! (I used the skull head as my little model because I knew I'd never get the headband back from Aud if I used her.)

Charm Necklace (with crosses! *gasp!*)

Original price: $12.50

Marked Down price: $6.25

Final price paid: $1.19

Hello Kitty Necklace (for Audrey, though I may wear it now and then)

Original price: $12.50

Marked Down price: $6.25

Final price paid: $1.49

Dangley Chain Necklace

Original price: $10.50

Marked Down price: $5.25

Final price paid: $1.19

Fabric Necklace with Beads

Original price: $16.50

Marked Down price: $8.25

Final price paid: $1.99

Cute Plush Fennec Fox that whistles when you squeeze it's tummy

Original price: $7.50

Marked Down price: $3.75

Final price paid: $1

He has a crooked face but he's cute anyway... unless SHE'S cute... either way.

The whole purchase including tax was $24.27!

While I am not a hardcore bargain shopper and some would feel that I spent too much, I feel good about my level of shopping savvy!

Yay me!

BTW: If any of you are planning on going to the Orem mall anytime soon, stop by Claire's if this is your kind of thing! :)

Cream of What?

2011-03-24T15:14:00.000-06:00

This morning, while attempting to wake up, I had a random thought. I inflicted this random thought upon my dear, long-suffering husband.

"They have cream of chicken and cream of mushroom," I mused.

"Yeaaaah," Husband said, sounding apprehensive already... though, it may have been the sleepiness in his voice.

"What if they had Cream of Ham?"

Ben scrunched his face up, "Ew!"

"What would that even look like?"

We laughed a lot at this and spent the better part of fifteen minutes deciding what would be the most disgusting "Cream of" flavor.

Here is the list as I remember it along with some pictures that I whipped up to reflect my imagination.

Cream of Ham

Cream of Lettuce

Cream of Jicama

Cream of Hot Dog

Cream of Bacon - When I mentioned this idea, Ben actually said, "That sounds kinda good!" at which I said, "Gross!" I guess the jury is out on this idea.

Cream of TVP (Ben's idea!)

Cream of Bean - How do you cream a bean? I suggested to Ben that you'd have to hit it with a car.

Cream of Blood Sausage

Cream of Date (yes, the fruit)

Cream of Tuna - of course, this idea came from one of the family favorites of Creamed Tuna on Biscuits. It tastes better than it looks, thank heaven.

Cream of Sardine (another of Ben's ideas)

Cream of Eggplant - I just couldn't resist a purple soup!

Cream of Tripe - My personal and horrific favorite. If you don't know what tripe is, look it up. It's one of the most disgusting parts of an animal you can eat. I don't care who you are.

The scariest thing about this is that when I went to look up these ideas, most of them were REAL! I almost lost my lunch! Of course, you'll find none of them on a Campbell's can. Some wierd-o's in their homes or in their gourmet chef kitchens have spent far too much of their time adding cream to any number of strange foods and calling it edible.

We also had a special selection of Cream of Wheat replacements. Unfortunately, I am not savvy enough with Photoshop to fiddle with the graphics on a picture of a Cream of Wheat box, so you'll have to use your imagination on this. If your imagination is anything like mine, it will conjure up much more frightening images than Photoshop ever could!

So imagine, if you will, a box of Cream of Wheat. Wait... here you go. You're welcome.

Now.. conjure in your mind....

Cream of Meat

Cream of Smeat (the generic version of spam)

Cream of Beet

They all have to rhyme you see or it just doesn't make sense.

So, yeah. That's what my brain has been working on today. What about you?

Why Audrey makes me Smile

2011-03-23T17:09:00.001-06:00

As I sat in the recliner in my children's room, comforting my unhappy and needy son, I hummed a (hopefully) calming tune I made up in spite of its similarity to some classical music I have heard but cannot readily identify and watched my daughter perfect the little house she was building for her Strawberry Shortcake dolls out of blocks. (Her daddy had built most of the structure before he left for work and she was steadily improving upon it by stacking the blocks in different ways and groaning dramatically when they fell over.)

After a few minutes, Audrey held up a yellow block and said, "These are their boxes." (Obviously indicating that there was, in fact, more than one "box" that applied.)

"Really?" I said in between hums. "What do they use their boxes for?"

"To hold their money," she responded, simply.

"Yeah?" I said with a smile.

"Yes. The green ones have LOTS of money. The blue ones have a little bit of money and the red ones have LOTS and LOTS of money. The yellow ones don't have money. They're empty."

"What do they use the empty boxes for?"

"To hold their keys."

"What are the keys for?"

"They are car keys."

"Yeah? What cars do they have? How many are there?"

"They don't have any cars. We don't have any out right now," Audrey said, shrugging her shoulders and pointing over to the closet where the main portion of their toys wait for their turn in the toy cycle.

"Uhuh..." I mused. "So they have car keys for when they can find a car?"

"Yeah," Audrey said, as if it all made perfect sense to her. Which it probably did.

It's obvious to her that money and car keys are important enough to keep in boxes. What you did with them once they were there is really neither here nor there to her.

She's probably right.

Preschool Week Two

2011-03-21T16:40:00.000-06:00

Preschool week two turned out to be a little harder and less preschool-y than the first.

On Monday, I nearly made myself sick with eggs. I had Audrey try scrambled, fried and hard boiled eggs. She liked the first two, but really wasn't amused about the hard boiled. I ended up eating all the leftovers.

Anyone who knows at least a little of my history is aware that eggs are my kryptonite... and I don't mean that in the way that most people do: that it is my weakness and I will eat it until I explode. No, Superman avoided kryptonite because it turned him into a weak, pitiful creature that couldn't accomplish anything. He didn't eat it or go on long walks with it... or watch movies about it until 3 a.m. That's me and eggs. They make me sick. I can usually eat one or two fried eggs a week... and only after I work out... and only because I read somewhere that eating protein will help me lose weight... (and because I get to eat bacon right after.)

(This, of course, does not imply that I am super in any way until I eat eggs... Or does it?)

Before Audrey tried the hard boiled egg, I showed her that a hard boiled egg will sink in tap water. I started to spoon large amounts of salt into the cup of water with the egg. She was thrilled when she found that the egg was starting to float. (So was I... I was secretly worried that it wouldn't work.) Ben and Gabe were impressed too. Success! To Audrey: Science = Good! Eating the hard boiled egg after = yuck!

We read a book called Chickens aren't the Only Ones. It talks about all the different kinds of animals that lay eggs. The pictures were colorful and engaging. Overall, a cute book that Audrey actually liked looking at.

Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras.
I had a lot of fun stuff planned for this day. This was yet another day that didn't quite turn out the way I planned.
To celebrate Shrove Tuesday, I made pancakes from scratch. Audrey and Henry both ate with serious gusto. Even I ate a few.

Audrey was really tired by the time we were done with lunch and ended up taking a nap. So the Mardi Gras mask craft project is heading for the storage bin where it will (hopefully) be remembered and taken out next year. We ended the day right, though, and had my mother's fabulous Jambalaya for dinner! YUM!

We skipped over Wednesday altogether. Both the kids were sick and had naps in the afternoon. My scheduled playdate with my dear sister and her kids was cancelled because they were all sick too. Overall, a quiet day.

Audrey missed her preschool group on Thursday due to sickness. She was getting better but I didn't want to risk getting the other kids sick. She was well enough to not need a nap in the afternoon and so we looked at my faerie book which details all the different types of faeries and I gave her a cute fairy coloring page which she quickly shunned in favor of her afternoon educational programming.

We went up to Salt Lake on Friday and let the kids run around and play at Discovery Gateway which is a hands-on children's museum. This is the second time we've gone and I DO have pictures which I will post as soon as I stop being lazy. The kids love going and get to expend a ton of energy. Audrey usually talks about going back for several days after. We usually have to threaten her with never going again if she doesn't stop asking to go every fifteen minutes. Audrey calls the place "Bees" because they have bee and beehive decorations everywhere.

On Saturday, we went to the park and fed the ducks. It was a beautiful day and the kids didn't even need their jackets. I suppose that is where I became naive and imagined that the rest of the spring would be exactly like that.

The snow today is laughing at me. I can just tell.

The Cheese Factor and Neuroticism

2011-03-14T20:37:00.000-06:00

I cannot eat the last bits of anything that comes in a bag.

Be it chips, crackers, vegetables, dried fruit, beef jerky, bread heels, shredded cheese, candy... well, no, not candy. I'm not sure when this strange tendency started, but recent memory recollects the time I was eating a bag of Munchies and, after about five minutes of happily crunching away, found an ant on the cheeto I was about to put in my mouth.

After the initial reaction, "YUCK!!" I threw the cheeto away and looked in the bag. I philosophically reasoned it could have been the only ant that had made it into the bag so far. No such luck. There were dozens in there crawling around. I won't tell you how I reacted then, but it was much stronger than "YUCK!!" Just imagine screaming and flailing limbs and you'll have a fairly close idea.

Most things just don't taste as good after being left in an open bag overnight. I don't care how well you fold it closed or duct-tape it shut, it's tainted.

Somewhere in my mind, there lives a five-year-old who believes that if I eat those last few crumbs or whathaveyou, I will become infected with a horrible case of herpes and get cold sores all over my face. Either that or leprosy.

I pretty much have to eat the entire bag of ____________ (fill in the blank) in one sitting to feel satisfied that I will not die terribly disfigured. Of course, eating a whole bag of anything usually ends up badly in other ways; typically involving stomach-ache, indigestion and bizarre dreams.

We had tacos for dinner yesterday. I am grateful a million times over every time I pull out that bag of pre-shredded cheese and put some into a bowl. I lived in a household of nine people growing up and we could easily go through two or three pounds of cheese on a taco night. I remember being excited to get the job of grating the cheese. It was so simple and rewarding. That is, until I realized that it was a really crappy job and if you managed to go through the entire block of cheese without injuring yourself on the grater, it was a major miracle.

We always used cheddar cheese. This further compounded the problem of injuring yourself while shredding because cheddar cheese "sweats" when held in the hand of anyone not experiencing rigor mortis. So, yes, very grateful for pre-shredded cheese.

When I went about the task of filling the bowls with cheese, I was faced with the problem of one bag being nearly full and the other having just about a bowl-full left in it. One bowl would have nice, fresh, wonderful cheese which I would be more than happy to sprinkle on my tacos. The other bowl would have herpes-riddled leper cheese. What's a poor girl to do???

I filled both bowls, carefully noting the appearance of the diseased bowl and put them on the table. I smugly made sure to put the infected bowl on the farther end of the table and the lovely, fresh bowl on the side where I would be sitting.

Are you wondering why I would allow the rest of my family to eat from the leper bowl? Well, the answer, dear reader(s?) is that I am more than aware of the fact that the cheese was almost positively fine. However, I also know that I will allow my brain to tell me that certain things will almost certainly kill me if I don't let my neuroticism take over.

I shuddered fractionally every time I saw anyone take cheese from the bowl. I consoled myself with the knowledge that in the extremely unlikely event that my brain was right after all, I could go to the store and buy Abreva for everyone.

I just do my best through all of this to not think about the fact that the food I'm being so picky about is actually curdled, fermented and moldy milk.

200th Post - Some things I've loved this week

2011-03-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

The last few days of preschool have been fun, though nothing at all like I envisioned them.

On Thursday, we focused on shapes and sizes. I printed out a variety of shapes both large and small on paper and cut them out. I had Aud find a big shape and glue it on a piece of paper. Then she was to find the same shape but smaller and glue that on top of the big shape. I was worried that it would be too simple and boring for her but she was so pleased to be doing something that she understood completely that she giggled the whole time and was so proud of her paper with shapes glued to it. She wanted to show it to everyone!

Friday was Castle Day. I showed her pictures of real castles online and pointed out to her how different they can be. I showed her a book called I Wonder Why Castles Had Moats. She was interested until we got about half-way through. Then she told me she was bored. I gave her a coloring page with a castle on it. She didn't want to color it and traced bear stencils on the back instead! When we told her yesterday that she could color the castle any color she wanted, she finally colored the tops of the towers.

On Saturday I read her three Dr. Seuss books, all of which I hadn't read in many, many years myself. I discovered that Fox in Socks is near to impossible to read fast or even at a normal pace. I had a craft planned but ran out of time. I'll have to save it for another time. :)

On all three days, she also did phonics on Starfall. I always have to encourage her to try new letters. She wants to go back to the letter A every day.

I think Henry is teething again. Two year molars. Yay.... So, needless to say, he's been somewhat grumpy and has a runny nose.

Ben has been gone since Thursday morning. As much as I have loved spreading out in bed, I am ready for him to come home.

At a recent trip to the thrift store, Ben brought over a couple of pillowcases while I was looking through the children's books. He knows I love toile and, at my enraptured expression, he put them in the cart. At $1 each, I couldn't resist! I sent them through the wash and found some pillows that fit just right.

The details are lovely!

I especially loved these three people. The only bummer is that they're on the back of the pillowcase and not the front.

Post-Mortem Legacy

2011-03-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

Quite frequently an artist or other creative professional will receive very little acknowledgement or appreciation while still in this mortal coil. It is only after they have left us all behind that we finally see what we could not, or would not, before. If these so-called starving artists could receive the benefit of their post-mortem fame, they would certainly be well fed indeed!

I am musing upon this because I discovered recently that Blogger (as of last June or July) has added a Stats tab to the administrative pages of each blog. I don't know why I didn't notice it last summer, but I looked at my stats for the first time about a month ago.

I was particularly happy about the almost real-time updates of blog statistics. I can look at them frequently throughout the day if I so choose and find out how many people have been visiting my blog today, yesterday, last week, etc. I can also discover where they have been coming from and what kind of searches they do to find my little corner of the universe.

For example, according to my stats page, I have had 1,393 page views since last July, 161 of them last month. Yesterday, I accumulated 17. Today still shows 0 views on the list, but the graph shows 10 throughout the course of the day. My main audience hails from the United States, but the U.K. and Russia take 2nd and 3rd place. China, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Poland and South Korea also made the list. I have found all of this very interesting, but have no idea what to do with this knowledge. I haven't carved out any sort of niche in the blogging world with my little ruminations. I merely strive to update friends and family about my various meandering experiences and perhaps share a few cute moments and cute crafts with the world.

Some of you may know that once upon a time I was an Activity Days leader. I also had an Activity Days blog that I updated with the fun times I had with those girls. That blog has a total of 41 postings, the last of which I wrote in April 2009. I don't give that blog much thought and have considered shutting it down simply because I haven't done anything with it in almost two years. The only thing that keeps me from doing so are the occasional requests for more information or documents that I mentioned using. I cheerfully email those out and then move on with my life.

I decided today to look at the stats on that blog. I had never done so and was curious if my erstwhile activity was receiving the same attention that my current blog is getting.

My reaction to my findings: WOW!!

Pageviews Today: 14
Pageviews Yesterday: 151!
Pageviews Last Month: 3205!!
Pageviews all time history (as of June 2009): 17,815!!!

Um. Wow.

I shant bore you with the details of countries and referring websites, except for one. While I was chatting with my absent husband online, I came across a referring site that knocked my socks off!

You can find the website here. My little Activity Days blog is mentioned in the 3rd paragraph.

My response and my resulting typed message to my husband was: HOLY CRAP

I sent him the link and, after finding the reference to me, he responded with: WHAT?!?!?!?!?!??? You're a celebrity!!

I quickly tried to shrink my ballooning ego and said: In an extremely small circle, yes.

I am flattered to be mentioned by anyone anywhere for any reason at all.... except for bad ones, that is. I am astounded that a blog that has been mostly neglected for almost two years is getting extraordinary traffic, at least in my apparently naive opinion.

So, what I'm trying to say with all of this is: I appear to have died and received my post-mortem legacy and minor fame.

At least in the Activity Days Blogging world.