“This Means Something”

And what does a giant oatmeal cookie that looks more like a volcano than a cookie mean? It means that today’s experiment baking with the latest batch of homemade margarine did not go according to plan. 😂

The second batch turned out much better, thankfully, because the first ones definitely won’t fit in the box I intend to use to mail these giant cookies to Matthew. 

It’s a good thing that cookies that look more like geographical features than confections are still tasty because it looks like massive oatmeal cookies are on the menu tonight!

P.S. Name the movie and I’ll bake you a mountain-shaped cookie. 😜

The Gospel Goes Hollywood

Family home evening looks very different for us nowadays. We don’t pull out the flannel board anymore. We don’t scour the Friend magazine looking for coloring pages. And we don’t sing the same song every week. No, with only two kids left at home and both of them teenagers, things are different. We still talk about the gospel and teach gospel principles, but those kinds of conversations happen as a part of our normal day to day interactions. These discussions come up over dinner or as a result of something that happened to the kids or something we read about in the news. And honestly, that seems like the better way to approach gospel teaching at this age. Incorporating these important topics into normal everyday life is how we want to live the gospel anyway. We want it to permeate our lives all the time and not just at those regularly scheduled moments. So we’re rolling with it. 

That means that sometimes we have to think outside the box when it comes to our actual FHE. Today thinking outside the box meant going out to dinner and then to a big screen showing of the movie “The Goonies.” It’s an old 80’s flick, one that we’ve all seen before, but seeing movies in the actual theater is a much different experience from watching at home, so when fun ones are showing, we like to catch them if we can. We had a good time, and Malia is old enough now to get the jokes, so she was entertained. And since we were in Astoria, Oregon two years ago, we recognized a variety of the locations that were in the movie, which was also fun.

And the best part? We actually had a gospel tie in for this activity! When we got home, Kevin geared up to share a spiritual thought about the movie. But Malia stole his thunder by saying that in the movie, they all work together even though they all make mistakes. I am so proud that Malia offered up that insight! Plus, having her outsmart Kev is always fun. 😉 He did add his two cents though, pointing out that they all have different strengths and skills and as they cooperate, all their different strengths and skills are needed. And that is what we are here to do. In this mortal life, we all need to learn to work together, meshing all our different strengths, skills, and talents.

So yeah. Like I said, gospel conversations are triggered by the most ordinary events and experiences around here. And I love it.

This is definitely not the movie we saw, but it was a fun photo op we came across at the theater.

Some Things Never Change

As all my kids have grown up, I’ve noticed that they have personality traits and habits that stay with them even as they learn and grow. These are things like the way they hold their fork, their tendency to stand a certain way or their food preferences. Where Malia is concerned, some of those traits were evident before she was ever born. In her ultrasounds, of which there were many due to my age being over 35 and my tendency towards gestational diabetes, she always had her ankles crossed and tucked up tight underneath her little bottom. It made determining her gender troublesome. As a baby, she did the exact same thing. Even when she was old enough to sit up in the highchair, she would cross her ankles ever so daintily. She has hated green beans since her very first mouthful. She is still a people person, talking comfortably with nearly everyone (a tendency that led me to have many conversations about stranger danger when she was just a toddler and preschooler). One of my favorite pictures of Malia as a baby is one where she is laughing. She would throw her head back and give in to glee. She still does that, leaning her head back to she can have a good laugh.

I had another one of those “she is still the same person” moments today. Nathan, Malia and I went out to lunch and then to see a movie. At lunch she was eating chicken fingers and French fries-her typical eating out meal of choice for most of her life (although she is beginning to expand her choices nowadays). She just happened to get one enormously long fry and told me that we should put it on the blog. Five years ago, we went to see Disney on Ice and then out to dinner afterward. Although she is twice as old and twice as tall now, the scenario was identical. 

Some things never change. I think that is one of the things I love the most about the gospel. We know we existed before our earth lives. We know we will continue to exist after this life. We know that our personalities and the knowledge and skills we gain in this life will remain with us. That means that in the eternities, I will still get to watch Malia throw back her head for a good laugh. And she will probably still think an enormous French fry is newsworthy material. I hope she never loses that sense of wonder and whimsy for the interesting things life has to offer and always finds joy in the simple things.

I took the kids to a movie today…

It was “Incredible.”😉

My kids are pretty incredible too!

Parent Approved Sluffing

In our area, fifth graders participate in the Dare program. It is funded and run by the unified police and teaches kids about substance abuse, peer pressure, and stress and provides them with some training in problem solving and decision making associated with those kinds of situations. For the kids who participate and complete an essay at the end telling what they have learned there is a graduation ceremony. This morning was Matthew’s Dare graduation. The officer assigned to our elementary school as well as the police chief and several other officers were in attendance (and due to a local man hunt that started on Saturday and was ongoing they all looked totally exhausted) to congratulate the kids.

After the graduation, the kids were treated to a field trip to Texas Roadhouse. The local location of this restaurant gives all Dare classes a tour of the kitchens, lunch, and teaches them some line dancing. Unfortunately, this particular restaurant serves peanuts on the tables and encourages tossing of peanut shells on the floor to be swept up at the end of the day. As such, it is a literal death trap for anyone allergic to peanuts. I felt like Matthew deserved a reward for completing the Dare program and since he couldn’t participate in the reward that all the other kids had, I checked him out of school and we went to the movies instead. It was far better than having Matthew sit at the school while the other kids had a great time. It was also far better than mopping the floors, which is what I would have been doing instead. And to top it all off, Matthew got to see “The Greatest Showman” before his older brothers. 😉

Yet Another Childhood Trauma

Today we found an earwig in the house and Malia told us it was the “ewwest” bug she’d ever seen. She’s not wrong. Yet another creepy crawly I have issues with based on a movie, this one the original “Wrath of Khan” which gave me issues about things crawling into my ears. {shudder}

I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas

The weather has been really wacky this year. Until just a couple of days ago, daytime highs were in the 50’s and 60’s. Definitely not conducive to snow. My kids have been longing for snow and were so excited when they woke to snow on Sunday morning. They actually cheered. Unfortunately, the snow didn’t last.

It’s been so crazy warm that it hardly feels like it’s nearly Christmas. In spite of that, we’ve been soaking up the holiday cheer over here. Nathan and Matthew are off-track this month so I put together an activity advent to give them something Christmasy to do each day. Yesterday’s activity was watching a Christmas movie. They did watch “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” but the main event was last night’s viewing of “White Christmas.” As this is the 60th anniversary of that flick, there was a limited engagement showing in the theater. Seeing the movie on the big screen meant that details which usually blend into the background were noticeable. The movie had been remastered and it looked great! This is a movie I have watched at least once every year for as long as I can remember. In the days before VCR’s and DVD’s, my dad used to sit us down every year when this movie was aired on t.v. and we watched as a family. Now I sit my own kids down to watch it so it has become one of their Christmas traditions as well. That made last night a family event. It was totally fun. When we got to the end of the movie, Malia exclaimed in her not so quiet voice, “I like that movie!” That made a chuckle run through the audience. I can’t help but love that my kids enjoy this movie as much as I do.

So we may not have much snow for the holiday this year, but my family has enjoyed a “White Christmas” in spite of the weather.

Celebrity Sighting

Kevin has been at his job for nearly a year now and we have discovered that there are some perks to working for Adobe. One of the many is the occasional family movie nights they host. They blow up a big inflatable screen and play a movie outside. They provide treats and it is just a fun time. Last night was one of those movie nights and somehow they got permission to play “Frozen.” Don’t ask me how. Last year they tried to get permission to show “The Incredibles” and were turned down. Anyway, Kevin took all the kids to see the movie and I stayed home to get some peace and quiet and to baby a migraine. Daniel was inclined to stay home as well seeing as he is 13 year old boy and not a 3 year old girl and therefore not completely in love with “Frozen,” but Kev made him go so I could have a little me time.

They did not actually end up seeing the movie because it was so windy they couldn’t set up the screen, but the night was not a total bust because Malia got to me a couple of very special people:

When they got home she told me, “Elsa hugged me!”

You’re a Good Man, Matthew!

On Friday night I took the boys to see a production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” I’ve seen this particular show three times and it is always super fun. If you’ve never seen it and have a chance, you should go. Anyway, last year Matthew went through a phase where he was listening to the “Charlie Brown” soundtrack multiple times every day. So I thought it would be a great thing when he got a copy of the cartoon version for Christmas. Except that he really didn’t care. He didn’t even bother to take it out of the shrink wrap. Until last weekend, that is.

He absolutely loved the play on Friday. Not only was his cousin, Sarah, playing Lucy, but he was sitting in the front row in a small theater situation. He sat cross-legged on his chair, super still, and grinned for two hours. He has watched that cartoon three times in the past two days. I have a feeling this is going to be his newest t.v. jag, which has got me thinking about some of the never ending t.v. and movie loops I’ve endured in the past decade.

Daniel was a Sesame Street kid. We used to time his naps by Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. Then they changed up the t.v. schedule (this was in the days before Netflix, of course) and we had to come up with something different. He loved Winnie the Pooh for a while. And then there were the Thomas the Tank Engine years. But my favorite of Daniel’s movie obsessions was “Singing in the Rain.” Seriously. He was four years old and he watched it over and over and over. And I was perfectly okay with that.

Nathan watched Thomas for a while, but he was a big fan of Bob the Builder. There was a recording of a live Bob the Builder show (think ice-capades minus the ice) that he watched non-stop for a while. It only made me a little bit crazy, so it definitely could have been worse. And then he went through a “Doodlebops” phase. You would think that would have made me super crazy, but there was something strangely mesmerizing about that show…not to mention the fact that Moe Doodlebop bears a remarkable resemblance to my brother, Seth (except for the fact that Seth is not orange all over).

A couple of years ago Matthew had a very serious Lightning McQueen phase (Cars, Cars 2, Mater’s Tall Tales). He played “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” in a constant loop for a while. I don’t have anything against Donny Osmond, but I really could only handle that particular video in small doses. But I didn’t mind listening to the soundtrack ad nauseam. Go figure. He loved Curious George for a while and more recently had a period of time spent watching “Superhero Squad.” And of course he had a big old “Iron Man” phase. He still watches that one, but not every day anymore. Lately he has been watching Transformers cartoons. I have a feeling that Charlie Brown and Transformers are going to be taking turns for the next little while.  But I’m okay with that. Considering some of the things I’ve endured in the past decade, I’ll take Charlie Brown any day.

It will be interesting to see what kinds of things Malia will be into. I’m kind of hoping she has a “Sleeping Beauty” phase or even a “Beauty and the Beast” one. Those kinds of flicks have been a little bit neglected at my house.

Keepin' Cool

My birthday is coming up, so last night Kev took me out to dinner and a movie to celebrate.  When we walked into the theater, it was hot.  Roasting hot.  I stripped off my coat, scarf and sweater (all of which I usually keep on during a movie) and was still much too hot.  For most people this would just be an inconvenience, but being too hot gives me migraines so I headed out to the lobby to buy a cup of ice.  When I asked the extraordinarily bored looking girl at the concession counter for a cup of ice, the conversation went something like this:

Bored Girl: "I'll have to charge you full price."

Me: "Seriously?"

Bored Girl: "We have to pay for the cup."

Me: (muttered under by breath) "The cup costs a nickel."

Bored Girl: (blank stare)

Which is how I ended up paying four dollars and seventy five cents for a cup of ice.  I can get a freakin' ten pound bag for two bucks at the Walmart!  But I figured it was better to pay up than to get a migraine.  The ironic part is that when I returned to the theater, Kev informed me that the cool air had turned on about halfway through my absence.  About a third of the way through the film I started putting back on all the layers I had stripped off half an hour previously.  But two thirds of the way through the movie, the heat came back on and I was grateful for the ice.

And do you want to know what outrageously expensive ice tastes like?  Water.  Very cold water.

"I'm Dreaming . . ."

My favorite Christmas movie is “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Ellen.  We watched it nearly every year when I was growing up.  This was in the days before vhs and dvd and we had to wait for it to come on t.v.   Then we would gather round and watch it all together.  I remember watching other musicals with my mom, but this one I remember watching with my dad. 

I watch White Christmas at least once every December and a few weeks ago I introduced it to my children.  Daniel said it was pretty good, but Nathan and Matthew loved it.  Matthew walks around singing White Christmas and Nathan has told me on several occasions that we should watch it every year.  It’s nice to be able to have my children join in one of my favorite holidays traditions!