Eclectic

As we finish off the year, I just wanted to mention a few things that have not made it to the blogosphere.

Daniel auditioned for our district’s youth symphony playing clarinet (which he had only been playing for about 9 months) and got in. It has been a great experience for him, exposing him to a lot of different music. He has really enjoyed it so far. In the school band he is dividing his time between saxophone and clarinet. He has been teaching himself to play the flute as well and is confident enough that he played one song with the ward choir at Christmas.

Matthew played flag football again this fall. He really loves to play but he has a hard time keeping up with the other kids just because his legs are half the length of theirs. He always seems to have a ball in his hand and a number of his balls have been grounded because he is determined to throw them in the house. Throwing footballs indoors is definitely a no-no, so we have had a number of clashes on that point…

Matthew and Malia played “Adobe” for about a week while Matthew was off-track. They have played this way periodically since Kev started working for Adobe, but this time Matthew (with some guidance from me) made laptops out of file folders. Malia looks just like Kev does when he is scrutinizing something on his computer.

Nathan has had art this past semester and he has loved it. He is sad it is almost over, but he is super excited to be in choir next semester. He is also excited to audition for the school musical. Auditions aren’t until February, but he is already prepping. I have to say that I’m kind of excited to have a kid that enjoys the same things I did when I was in school.

I was released from my calling as primary chorister in November so instead of having three callings (choir director, primary chorister and nursery music leader) I am back down to one. When I was released, they told me they didn’t have another calling in mind for me yet. I just laughed and told them I was really, really fine with having just one calling for a while. I did, however, feel like the bishopric member I was talking to was understanding about how wearing it can be on a person to be called to the same callings over, and over, and over again. He told me the primary president had already asked for me to be officially called as the nursery music leader (previously I was filling in for a sister in the ward who was diagnosed with cancer and passed away earlier this year) and that the request had been denied. I’m really thankful for him. Honestly. A chance to do something besides primary or music (and usually both) would be great.

And so another year passes much too quickly, leaving in its wake a few bigger kids, a bit older mom, and a plethora of memories.

Healthy(ish) Holiday

We have an unfortunate track record when it comes to being sick on Christmas. It seems like we have someone sick about half the time. So having everyone healthy all month (except for a whole lot of headaches on my part) has been great! We’ve been out and about, crafting, cooking, shopping…pretty much a normal December.

On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at my parent’s house and the kids acted out the nativity. Malia really, really, really wanted to be Mary this year. She even took Baby (whom she has recently rechristened Washcloth-I have absolutely no idea why) to be the baby Jesus so we wouldn’t have to use a monkey like we have had to do in years past. It’s actually good that she took Baby since my Mom told she had called our house to have us bring a baby doll and we were already gone.

One of the crafts I did with Matthew and Malia this year was making an ornament with a thumbprint reindeer on it. For some reason, Matthew decided he wanted to leave one for Donner and Malia jumped on the band wagon and made one for Rudolph. So there were ornaments left alongside the cookies and carrots we usually leave for Santa and the reindeer. There was some tracking Santa via the NORAD Santa tracker and then everyone was off to bed.

At around 4:30 a.m. on Christmas morning, a roasting pan fell out of the dish drainer and clattered into the sink. Apparently it woke up both Nathan and Matthew and they were so excited that neither one went back to sleep. When I woke up at 6 a.m., everyone else was already up and waiting for me. I was a bit slow getting started because I had woken up with a migraine. It made for a less than ideal morning. Nevertheless, the show must go on.

Malia got a new Hello Kitty 2 wheel bicycle from Santa. She was totally excited and rode that thing back and forth across the living room all day. It was only a couple of pedals to get from one end of the room to the other, but she was not to be deterred. She also got a pretend mixer for her kitchen, Anna and Elsa dolls, a stuffed Hello Kitty (dressed in BYU garb, of course) from Matthew, a super soft Hello Kitty blanket from Daniel and a play shopping cart full of pretend groceries from Nathan. Her experience gift this year will be seeing “Beauty and the Beast” at Hale Center Theater.

Matthew, who has gotten in trouble about sixteen million times for throwing balls in the house, got a sturdy indoor basketball hoop and an arcade style basketball/football game from Santa, an assortment of books on his reading level, a BYU umbrella from Daniel, a football playbook from Nathan, and the Hulkbuster Lego set from Malia. His experience gifts this year are the Monster Truck Jam, a King Singers concert and another year of the Cosmo Club (a kids’ club that gives us four football tickets, four basketball tickets, and free entrance for the child into any other sport for a grand total of $50).

Nathan got Scooby Doo Lego, a Scooby Doo DVD and Spiderman bed sheets from Santa. He also got the sheet music for Peanuts from Daniel, the sheet music for Muppets Most Wanted and a book of hymn arrangements for piano from Matthew and Malia, and some books. His experience gifts this year are another trip to the Desert Star Theater, a King Singers concert, one day at Fan-X (his pass came free when we purchased Daniel’s multi-day pass) and tickets to Newsies! He is super-duper excited. (So am I :-))

Santa gave Daniel Doctor Who Lego, Doctor Who season 9 blu-rays, a new neck strap for his sax and a very serious origami book he has been wanting. Daniel also received a metronome/tuner from Nathan, a CD of five Doctor Who video games from Matthew, some Star Wars mini models from Malia, and a couple more books. His experiences this year will be three days at Fan-X, a King Singers concert and a trip to the Desert Star Theater.

The boys and I all pooled our funds and got a hobby size air compressor and airbrush for Kevin. He also got the Complete Far Side books and an assortment of movies he has been wanting.

I received a few kitchen utensils to replace worn or broken ones as well as a new temple dress. Malia got me a bobbin winder (I actually picked it but she chose the color and wrapped it up.), Matthew got me a Microplane Zester that I’ve had my eye on for years, Nathan got me a dough hook attachment for my bosch and Daniel gave me…a giant eyeball.

Let me give you some context. Years ago when Nathan was three or four, we were trying to teach him the concept of keeping a gift a secret. I told him that if anyone asked him what he got for them, he should say he got them something completely different like a giant eyeball. Yes, I know my brain works in random and mysterious ways. But that is what came to mind. Anyway, he completely grasped the concept and for years when anyone asked him what a gift was, he always said, “A giant eyeball!” After a while, it just became one of those family jokes. We all use it now. And when Daniel made me a Christmas card offering to do three random chores just for me, he drew a giant eyeball on the front.

After we had breakfast, opened our presents and I had some migraine meds and my first nap, we headed over to my parents’ house to give Esther her Christmas present. Her gift was my big project this year. I was totally proud of myself because I did a lot of the quilting freehand and it actually turned out pretty well. She likes monkeys. Can you tell?

After our jaunt to see the fam, we had lunch and I had my second nap. The migraine was mostly gone by then but I had a wicked hangover for the rest of the day. Kevin’s parents joined us for the afternoon and dinner. They brought another faux Lego temple, a few shirts and books for the boys, a super soft stuffed puppy for Malia and a new set of mixing bowls for me.

Overall, it was a nice day except for the migraine (and that definitely could have been a whole lot worse).

We Learned Two Very Important Things Today

First, cookies don’t bake long enough for the egg proteins to break down. The proteins need to be exposed to high temperatures for long enough that they break down so that the body doesn’t see them as an allergen. Clearly 10-12 minutes is not enough for Matthew.

Second, when trying new food at home, we need to feed Matthew one bite (as opposed to one cookie) like we do at the doctor’s office. That way he can tell us something does not feel right but hopefully he won’t have huge problems. If we had fed him only one bite, his mouth would have felt itchy fairly quickly like it did with the whole cookie, but the amount of egg that actually got to his tummy would have been significantly less and the resulting reaction probably would have been less as well.

He had a very unpleasant afternoon, but on the up side, he was never in a place where the Epipens became necessary. That in itself is a huge thing for us. It means his body is baby stepping in the right direction.

An Old Favorite Recreated

Before Malia was born, a neighbor of mine decided it was time to get rid of all her daughters’ out grown clothes and let me dig through her stash before the yard sale. This particular neighbor had by her own admission gone a bit overboard with clothes and there were a ton to choose from. She also has very similar tastes to my own and I thought nearly everything she had was darling. Malia had a number of cute things that she ended up really liking, among which was a dark red dress with a long sleeved velvet bodice, a satin skirt with a sheer overlay and a sash to make a big bow in the back. Unfortunately, she didn’t get to wear it as much as she would have liked because it was the right size in the summer and was just too hot for the weather. She tried to cram her body into it this past fall, but the long sleeves were only down to her elbows and the only reason she could even get the thing on was because it was stretch velvet. And yet she didn’t want to let it go. In order to get her to give it away, I had to take a picture of it and tell her I could try and make her another one like it.

When it came time to sew a Christmas dress, I let Malia pick the pattern. She chose one that looked remarkably like that old red dress and when we picked out fabric, she was adamant that it be dark red. The result looks remarkable like the original except it has short sleeves to make it a bit more all-weather friendly.

Malia has already informed me that she intends to wear this dress until it is way too short.

Breakfast with a Jolly Old Elf

Our preschool teacher must have an in with Santa because every year he takes time out of his busy schedule to have breakfast with the preschoolers on their last day of school before Christmas. Last year Malia wouldn’t sit in his lap. This year she was likewise inclined to decline the opportunity to sit on his lap, but Santa has learned a thing or two and opted to just grab her up so they could have a chat. Matthew was with us since he is off track and Santa made him an honorary elf for the day, letting Matthew hand out the gifts he had for each preschooler.

 Malia and her friend Raylie

Santa read the kids a story about how he got his job and they ate orange rolls and milk. This is one of the traditions I'm going to miss when Malia goes to kindergarten next year.

On the way home, Matthew decided his elf name is Fizbee and Malia decided her elf name is Malia Elf. Now if only I could get them to be as industrious as Santa's elves are...

Egg in His Face

Matthew had another food challenge this morning. We've done so many over the past year and a half that you would think we are pros, but let me assure you that each one is equally nerve racking. We were doing a challenge for eggs in baked goods so I made cupcakes with eggs. After cooking without them for so long, it was actually really stressful to crack them into the bowl knowing Matthew was going to eat them. And my stress is nothing compared to what Matthew deals with. But he has been able to add a good variety of foods back into his diet after past food challenges so he soldiers on.

As in the past, this one went well and now we begin slowly adding things into his diet. The first thing I'm going to give him are those King's Hawaiian rolls. I love those things and haven't purchased them in years because they have milk and eggs. Hello, tasty goodness. Welcome back to my life.

Yet More Proof That Amazing Things Can Be Made With No Milk

For the past few years, Matthew has looked upon banana cream pie with longing. He loves bananas and having them in pie just seemed like a little bit of bliss. Unfortunately, I could not figure out how to make a cream pie taste alike that fit all his dietary needs. But with his successful food challenge for coconut earlier this year, all that has changed. Coconut cream has made a dairy free banana cream pie a reality. As usual, I was pretty impressed by how tasty it actually was. And Matthew absolutely loved it which was even more important. We all had one small slice and left the remaining two thirds of the pie for Matthew. And he consumed it with great gladness. (Although he didn’t eat it all in one sitting. That probably would have produced a rebound effect after which he would look upon future banana cream pies with disdain.)

Hoofed Squatters

There were deer in our yard this morning. This is not an unusual occurrence, but this time they weren’t just passing through. There were two deer just lazing in the back yard. They didn’t even flinch when Kev opened the door and hollered at them. When he walked out the door they got up as if they had all the time in the world and wandered back toward the street. Kev and the big boys left for school and work and by the time the garage door had closed, our visitors were back. Malia asked me what their names were and when I told her they didn’t have names, she did not think that was right. She defended her claim by reminding me of Dasher and Donnor and Rudolph.

Later this morning she told me the deer’s names were Gatcha and Gitcher. I’m not sure naming them is a good thing…

Spooktacular Halloween

It feels like a luxury to have Halloween on a Saturday. Instead of rushing to get the kids into their costumes and off to school, throwing a Halloween party at school, getting everyone home and fed in record time and out the door to trick-or-treat, we got up and had a leisurely breakfast, cleaned the house, did some boo bubbles (more on that in a minute) and then prepared for a Halloween dinner without feeling pressed for time. It was great!

Now for some details about our activities.

Nathan’s science teacher took advantage of the holiday to teach her students some seriously cool science involving dry ice and soap bubbles. Nathan came home all jazzed up and wanted to try it out at home. Over the week before Halloween, Kev helped him gather the necessary supplies and make his very own “boo bubble” maker. The following pictures should prove to you that science is totally fun:

Daniel and Nathan have passed our family cut off for trick-or-treating so instead they did baptisms for the dead (helping the dead on Halloween-I love it!) and had dinner and a party with the older cousins. The big kid party wasn’t a costume event, but Daniel and Nathan got to wear their costumes to school on Thursday (they had no school yesterday) and Daniel also wore his for his band concert earlier in the week.

Daniel as Zoot (the sax player from The Muppet Show)

Nathan as The Phantom of the Opera

The younger ones gathered at our house for dinner and the evening’s begging for treats (and doughnuts, and hot dogs…our neighborhood is a great place for trick-or-treating!). We ate bloody fingers and had shrunken heads floating in our warm cider.

We let Matthew and the older part of the trick-or-treating crew take off on their own and they had a great time.

Matthew as The Shadow

The adults hung out with Malia and Kate and it was nice to move at their pace rather than Matthew’s pace. They had a great time and by the time we had traveled the most popular locales, Malia was ready to be done. Let’s face it-glass slippers just aren’t made for walking. But she had a great time!

Malia as Cinderella

Malia and Kate

The Great Pumpkin Caper

We were last minute pumpkin artists this year. The kids have been planning their designs all week but we didn’t get around to actually carving them until tonight. As always, it was pretty easy to figure out which pumpkin belonged to each kid.

I think they all turned out great, but Spiderman looked particularly fantastic when it was lit!

Bibbity Bobbity Boo

Malia’s Halloween costume has been finished for a week or so. She knew she was not allowed to wear it until Halloween and today was her party at preschool. She was so stoked! Seriously, that is one happy Cinderella.



She played some games, read her Clifford News all about pumpkins and made Monster Stew. Malia was asked to bring dragon brains (aka Skittles).



She waited very patiently for her turn to stir…

…then got a little crazy because the bowl was so full.



She had a wonderful time!

And as a side note, I love this Cinderella hairdo we found on Pinterest. If she’ll let me, I think this style will be making multiple appearances in her future.

The Educational Value of Dr. Demento

A couple of weeks ago Malia came to me and said, “Mom, I better not smoke two joints.” I laughed because 1) it was completely out of the blue, 2) it is not something you expect your four year old to say, and 3) it is just further proof that my kids are probably more interesting (“interesting” meaning “screwed up”) than most other kids. And she’s not wrong. But lest you think that Kev and I are cultivating “weed” when we talk about how great our weeds are growing, let me give you the back story.

When I was a kid, I remember staying up late on Sunday nights to listen to the Dr. Demento Show. This behavior was in no way was condoned by my parents. Jon and Patti (my older brother and sister) and I would go to bed like obedient children, but then lay awake so we could turn on the radio at the appointed hour and quietly listen in the dark. Dr. Demento was funny then, but it is far more hilarious now that I’m an adult and actually have a frame a reference for all the things the songs mock. I mean, back then I had no idea what a lavatory was and so the song “Seven Old Ladies Locked in a Lavatory” did not spark much laughter. However, “I’m Looking Over My Dead Dog Rover” was funny in spite of my youth.

Many years later, I married Kev and was pleased to learn that he was actually familiar (and a fan) of Dr. Demento as well. I gave him several “Best of…” albums as a Christmas present a few years into our marriage and now we are busy exposing our children to the extreme randomness. It’s actually pretty bizarre how often one or another of those crazy songs works its way into our conversations…

Anyway, one of the tracks on one of those albums is a song called “Smoke Two Joints.” Our kids have all heard it and since they had no idea what a joint was, it sparked a conversation about marijuana which included the word of wisdom and why it is bad for you, including how it makes you stupid…just like the song. So in spite of the fact that the talk was precipitated by a completely random comment (mine, if I remember correctly) about smoking two joints, it did, in fact, have some value to it. And in my opinion, anything that leads to a good teaching moment has value.

Again?! Seriously?!!

So you know when I mentioned last month that financial fraud of some kind will most likely happen to most of us sooner or later? Well apparently Kev and I have won the lottery of bank fraud because it has happened to us both sooner and later. Last time we lucked out and it was only about $28. This time it is in the $3700 range depending on how everything converts to U.S. dollars (the transactions were in Great Britain). When my card was compromised last month, we replaced all the cards associated with the account which means that this particular debit card (it was Kev’s this time) has been active for less than two months. So this afternoon has been kind of stressful. We will be reimbursed for the loss, but the bank can’t do that until after the transactions actually post to the account. In the meantime, we have to do some grand money shuffling to make sure that there is enough money to cover all the bills we paid last week. At least the check for the mortgage has already cleared…

Touchdown!

For his experience gift last Christmas, we gave Matthew a trip to a BYU basketball game and another to a BYU football game. His basketball game was earlier this year, but football had to wait until the fall. Over the summer we came across a flyer for the Cosmo Club which gives kids a t-shirt, 4 football tickets and 8 basketball tickets (meant to be used for multiple games for the child and a guardian), free entrance to other BYU sports games when they wear their t-shirt and other special events all for $50. It was a great deal so we opted to do that rather than just a single football game.

Yesterday was Matthew’s first ever BYU football game. The Cosmo Club kids were invited to be on the field a couple of hours before the game where they met Cosmo, tossed a football around and basically had a great time.

He didn’t even care that their seats probably should have included an oxygen mask or that the Cougars won by so much that it wasn’t actually a terribly exciting game. He was just thrilled to be there!

After the game the kids got to ring the victory bell and rub shoulders with several of the players.

Matthew has been excited all week and yesterday was definitely a winner! (So here's a little confession: I may not be all that into sports, but it is nice to have a kid who cheers for my alma mater!)