What Happens When Your Tween Deems Herself Too Cool for Snow Angels But is Enthralled by the Recent Snowfall

Half a Century

Today is my birthday and it’s a big one. One of those big ones with a zero at the end. It is also exactly halfway to 100. It is hard to wrap my brain around the fact that I am fifty years old. Inside, I don’t feel that old. Even my outside, although sometimes my body does betray me, doesn’t really feel like I have reached quite such a ripe old age. It is one of those funny things where time just seems to pass faster and faster and one morning you wake up and realize that you are old. I suspect that at some point, I’ll look in the mirror and wonder who that old woman is. I’m not quite at that point yet, but I know it’s coming. 😂

Kevin asked me if I wanted him to make a big deal about my big birthday, but honestly, having a party or gathering felt more like work than a celebration to me. With the increased headache trouble that has accompanied the physical therapy as well as our busy schedule of late, having a low-key day was exactly what I wanted. I had an appointment with my chiropractor this morning and a primary activity this afternoon, but other than that, Kevin gave me the day off. He did all my jobs for me, and the Crockpot was prepped yesterday for dinner today, so I had a rare opportunity to focus on some of my preferred relaxing pastimes. 

Despite having a low-key day, there were a few special celebratory elements. Kevin bought me a metal bowl for my Bosch mini mixer, a bowl I’ve been wanting so I can optimize my whipped cream game. I’ve found several recipes for whipped soy or oat milk that claim to be closer in texture to the real thing than the more common coconut milk sub, but from what I’ve read, having super cold milk and bowl are even more important than when working with dairy whipped cream, so the metal bowl will be great there. I discovered that Doordash has expanded to deliver far more than just food as Nathan and Daniel arranged to have Doordash deliver a beautiful birthday bouquet. And we ate cheesecake, one of my favorite indulgent treats. I did make the cheesecake myself, but I don’t actually mind making my own birthday cake. For me, the baking is a big part of the joy, so it doesn’t feel like a chore to create something delicious I can share with my family on my big day. 

Kevin and I are planning to go out to dinner on Friday to celebrate, but other than that, this birthday has passed peacefully and with joy. I love my family. I love my life. And I love how much I have learned over this first half century on earth. My goal is to continue to learn over the coming years. And to be one of those 80-year-old grandmas who still does yoga. 😉

At Long Last!

Today is the first Sunday in January which means today was the day we rotated to a new church time. We get 9:00 church this year and we are thrilled! We prefer early church, and it feels like it has been FOREVER since we had the early block. There are four wards in our building which means that the last time we had 9:00 church was in 2020. We only actually attended church for about five minutes that year before the entire world shut down, so it has been eight years since we really had the early block. Kevin and Malia are having some body clock anomalies and they felt it should be dinnertime when we got home from church at 11:00 this morning, but I’m just excited and proceeded to spend the afternoon making a cheesecake for my impending birthday (because cheesecake is always better if it sits for a day or two before eating) and planning my next primary activity. These kinds of activities help me relax and unwind and have helped make my Sabbath a delight. And I hope to have about 51 more delightful afternoons as I savor this favorite church start time. 

And as a random comment, there were far more people in church this morning than I expected based on my past experiences with early church. Our ward is small and for once, the Gospel Doctrine class was nearly completely full. That was unexpected, but good!

A Very Important First, But Hopefully Not a Last

For most people, taking the family out to dinner is a simple thing. For us, not so much. It always involves advanced planning, prepping a meal for at least one of my children, and then the emotional toll that occurs when the effected child or children have to watch the rest of us eat something that looks and smells delicious. As you can imagine, we don’t eat out all that much. Even on vacation we have tried to keep eating out at a minimum to help ease that feeling of being left out at the table. So, I’m sure you can imagine what a landmark event our first ever restaurant meal where all six of us were in attendance and were all able to eat was destined to be. We have been planning this meal ever since Matthew’s successful outing to Tsunami in October, and honestly, I think this was the most important event of this holiday season for all of us.

We started off our day with a trip to the temple. Over the past year, it has kind of become our routine to try to schedule a temple trip when Daniel and Nathan are home for a few days. It has been so nice to be able to attend together and it something I suspect we will continue to do. After lunch we drove downtown to take our yearly family pictures. With two kids away at school, scheduling a photo op for all of us has been a challenge. We had originally planned to drive to Logan in October, but work and marching band foiled that plan. We tried again over Thanksgiving weekend, but once again work schedules were tricky to navigate. Everyone has days off work and school this week, so we took advantage of the day to snap a few pics. Kevin and I know that the times when we can get all our kids together for a family photo are only going to become more difficult to arrange as time goes by, so this one kind of feels like the end of an era. Moving forward, we plan to take pictures with Matthew and Malia whenever it works for the four of us and invite the older boys to be in attendance if they can. If not, we totally understand. And encourage their continued foray into adulthood. 

Dinner at Tsunami was the culmination of our day of family outings. We all ate sushi, even Matthew who had his own specially prepared allergen free rolls, and Malia, who has gotten a lot braver about trying things and even liked some of the rolls she tried…minus the fish. 😂 We talked, we laughed, we ate way too much, and we had an absolutely amazing time. This was another remarkable first, one we never thought we would have. And hopefully, there will be more meals, and days, like this in the future. I suspect there will be. We all value family time and while we can’t always make it work, that will make the times when we can even more special.

As time goes by, I am becoming ever more aware of just how precious these family times are. Daniel and Nathan have only a few days at home as they both need to get back to work and honestly, my home is not their home anymore. When they are here, they are only visiting. We all know that. And we are all okay with that. I have raised my children to become capable, independent adults, and I’m not going to mourn the fact that my efforts have been successful. I will just enjoy the times when they are here, take advantage of these fleeting moments when we are all together, and continue to support and love them in the ever-changing ways that having adult children brings. Having said that, I do reserve the right to feel just a little bit sad when they leave to return to their home and their lives. It’s a right that twenty-three years of motherhood has earned me. But I won’t wallow in it. I’ll let that bit of sorrow prick my heart, then I’ll jump right back into the continuing task of raising my younger children. I’m not done with this whole mothering gig yet!

Oh, and as a sidenote, apparently Matthew is still the poster child for food allergies. When he was four or five, our allergist mentioned that she had a medical student in the office and asked if he could come in for our appointment. I agreed. When our doc brought the student in, she told him, “This is an example of a highly allergic individual.” That was our first experience with Matthew being the face of food allergies. The manager on shift at Tsunami was the same manager we met last time, and the same manager Kevin talked to on his first Q and A visit when we were trying to find out if Matthew safely eating there was even a possibility. The manager asked Kevin if the owner of the chain had gotten in touch with him yet. He had not, but the manager said that Matthew’s successful visit was used as a refresher course on food allergy protocols for all the locations and that the owner had asked for Kev’s phone number. I have to admit that cooking for someone with so many allergies can be quite daunting and getting it right in a commercial kitchen is a huge accomplishment. As such, I’m perfectly fine with the fact that once again Matthew seems to be the poster child for food allergies!

Simply Christmas

My family and I are all in need of a break. Daniel and Nathan, who have been juggling work and school, finished their finals and heaved a great sigh of relief. Matthew, who’s crazy schedule has meant that we have seen him pass through the house occasionally on the way to his next stop, needs a good long sleep. Malia is in dire need of a break from all the social drama that seems to infest every middle school everywhere all the time. Kevin could really use a mental break from work and powered off his computer on Wednesday relieved to have a vacation. As for me, the headaches have been pretty severe and I’m so very glad that we have some easy days and easy meals planned. So, for all of us, having a simple plan to celebrate Christmas was just what we needed.

Last night we gathered with my kin at my parents’ house like we usually do. Our Christmas Eve festivities have naturally become calmer as all the grandkids have grown up, but last night was even more mellow than usual. Rachael had sick kids, so they hunkered down at home which meant Malia was the youngest one there. Neither Adam nor Seth were there this year, so in addition to being an older group, we were small in numbers. We ate, read the Christmas story from the Bible, had a little live music, and then headed home. Once home, we spent a few minutes finishing up our Names of Christ ornaments, gave our traditional Christmas Eve spiritual gifts, and went to bed. No one was sleepless with excitement. No one was all sugared up by Christmas cookies. No one was anxious to get an early start this morning. It was a calm, simple evening where we were able to focus on the Savior and anticipate a calm day ahead. 

This morning we got up at a reasonable hour and started our Christmas festivities around 8:00. Stockings were opened while our breakfast (which was all prepped on Saturday) cooked. There were a variety of little goodies for all including kitchen gadgets for Daniel and Nathan, something they have been hoping for since they made key lime pie without all my cool tools and found it much more difficult. Matthew had some of his favorite allergen free treats as well as a tiny measuring tape just right for a key ring and an itty bitty Nerf gun that actually works! He was a super good sport and gave us a photo op imitating one of our favorite Kodak moments from many years ago. Malia had some rubber ducks, and then some rubber ducks, and a couple of rubber ducks. For some reason, Malia has been really into rubber ducks of late, so it was very fun for her. She also got a tiny pullback school bus, which she loves, because the bus ride to and from school is her favorite part of the school day. But perhaps my favorite stocking stuffers were the puking stress balls. Yes, you read the right. There were puking stress balls all around. All other activities stopped for a good fifteen minutes while everyone played with their puke. It led to laughter and some highly entertaining conversations.

“I threw up in a bag.” -Matthew

“Oh! There’s the extra puke!” -Daniel

“I need to go puke on the table.” -Nathan

Kevin: “Are you trying to projectile vomit?”
Malia: “Only at Matthew.”

Ok. I know it’s gross, but it was also really funny!

Our Christmas shopping this year was mostly simple. Kevin had some models he wanted so he picked up the ones he has been looking at and then told all of us what we got him for Christmas. That was probably everyone’s easiest present to get. 😂 I got luggage, which I selected and purchased myself, so another easy gift buying situation. Daniel gets to go to Italy and Switzerland with the USU jazz orchestra next summer, so he got money to use on his trip. Easy gift #3. Nathan was in desperate need of a tall body friendly computer set up when he started working as a virtual employee for the MTC back in September, so we paid for an ergonomic keyboard and mouse earlier in the fall to make his days less headache prone. Another easy gift. Matthew got his band tour in April for Christmas and was in need of a new phone over the summer, so those were easy, if expensive, gifts. Malia was the only one who we struggled to shop for. In the end, we got her a book series she has had a hankering for as well as a microwave s’more maker and an assortment of peanut free fancy chocolate bars. S’mores have been one of her go-to fast, easy treats of choice lately, so we gave her the tools to up her s’mores game. We also got Malia a light box. She has been making flip books lately, and a light box makes creating them much simpler. Toss in a few small Lego sets because we can’t do Christmas without Lego over here and some Happy Little Dinosaurs themed t-shirts carefully selected for each child, and gift giving was pretty simple for Kev and me this year.

As has been pretty common over the past several years, some of the gifts the kids selected were for pure entertainment value. Nathan gave Matthew a brass-stache which Matthew was happy to sport with the practice trumpet he got from Daniel. Nathan selected a spatula with a built-in microphone handle so I can cook and sing (two things I love) at the same time. Matthew gave Malia some cow themed wall art that had all of us laughing out loud. And Nathan fed Malia’s rubber ducky fetish with a beanie sporting a traditional yellow ducky. Even the gifts I selected for my sister Esther were mainly of the belly laugh inducing variety. We gave her some cute Christmas tree cookies along with the bleeding gingerbread man, which did inspire laughter. She was also the recipient of some owner and pet socks-matching footwear for her and Morty, her dog. I swear Morty has to be the most patient dog on earth. Not only did he let Esther put socks on him, but he left them on long enough for her to take pictures and a video as proof. 😂😜

Breakfast was overnight breakfast casseroles of the eggy and egg-free varieties and dinner was our traditional ham and cheesy potatoes, all of which I prepped on the 23rd as Christmas Eve was on a Sunday this year. I have to say that I actually loved doing it that way. I usually spend much of Christmas Eve standing in the kitchen prepping food but doing it a day earlier allowed me to relax and enjoy Christmas Eve as well as Christmas day. I suspect I may be revisiting this particular prep schedule in the future.

In keeping with the rest of this month’s celebrations, Christmas was lovely and low key. It was relaxing and a time for all of us to take a breather and just let things be easy for a bit. We still had a good day, but when asked, all my kids commented that the slower, more relaxed pace of the day was fantastic. They needed it. I needed it. It was simply a wonderful day.

Simply Joyful

In my attempts to simplify my life, which is always an ongoing task for me, I occasionally need to remind myself that simplifying doesn’t mean eliminating everything that is whimsical and fun. For many people, making themed pancakes would be an activity that could easily be tossed out the window. And to be honest, I’ve considered skipping this particular element of our Christmas traditions this year. But thinking about having normal pancakes on Christmas Eve made me sad. Simplifying should bring feelings of relief or calm. If I’m feeling down about my attempts to make things less complicated, that is a sign to me that I’ve trying to cut out something that really matters to me and brings me joy. So, after weeks of vainly attempting to be ok with normal pancakes, I gave in to my inner child and pulled out the food coloring.

This year’s creations were a similitude of what I feel like when pancake art is not a part of my celebrations.

The kiddos, the ones who were at home anyway, were happy to jump on the Grinchy bandwagon. And then Malia branched out and created Kermit. And yes, our creations made me happy!

Do You Want Fries with that Band?

Daniel was not on hand for our gingerbread adventures this year. While we were playing with icing and sprinkles, he was in Boise with the USU football team and the marching band for the Potato Bowl. While Idaho is nowhere near as exciting as L.A. or even Vegas, it does mean that he will be able to make it home tomorrow and be here in time for Christmas Eve dinner with my folks. Like Matthew, he finds great joy in his music and has loved being able to play in the marching band again this season. He is one of the oldest in the marching band at this point and is very aware of that fact, but he is trying to enjoy his music as long as he can. Once college is over, music ensembles change dramatically and are often few and far between for many of us. I see his joy and hope that he will remember all these times with fondness when he is ready to move on to whatever is next. Even if what he remembers is trying to play in the freezing cold and lots of potato jokes!

Simply Sweet (And a Little Bit Gruesome)

As previously mentioned, I’m simplifying this year which means instead of gingerbread houses or giant gingerbread, I stuck with the ubiquitous normal sized gingerbread man…and woman, of course. I baked them a couple weeks ago, made the frosting earlier this week, and just pulled everything out of the freezer/fridge in time for it all to be at the optimal temperature for decorating. That definitely helped make the whole process smoother. I assumed that decorating these typical cookies would yield fairly typical results. However, I should know my offspring better than that. 

One of Matthew’s cookies had giant eyes. And when I say giant, I mean his neck should not be able to hold up his head with his gargantuan orbs. Another of his cookies had serious surgery where his legs were amputated and became ears. That little guy was meant to be the little cat from the Halloween Google doodle game. Upon discovering my inability to decorate a gingerbread man that looked normal (although I created normal looking girls just fine), Matthew attempted to make several normal boys. He came close to normal, with one who was wearing eyeballs for shoes and another who was either a clown with the typical red nose or cookie screaming for its life. So close, but not quite normal.

Nathan’s efforts yielded a man with giant eyes growing on his belly, an old man cookie with a big beard and some serious eyebrows, and an unfortunate fellow who had lost his head…and was holding it in his head. Blood included of course. The old man, while not traditional, was pretty normal looking so I have to give Nathan points for not being completely messed up.

Malia is another story. Not one of her cookies can wear the moniker of normal. These are definitely not standard gingerbread people. One of hers was missing an arm, which I’m fairly certain was just an excuse to sample the cookies ahead of schedule. Another was holding her own foot and had a peg leg in its place. A third had a giant case of pink eye which was unfortunate since he also happened to be a cyclops. Yet another was obviously all hopped up on candy canes and had two different size eyes as a result. And another must have gone through the mixer because it came out assembled all wrong, so wrong in fact, that it was quickly dubbed “The Blob.” 

{sigh} I know this is all my fault. I’m the one who introduced them to gingerdead men after all. Be warned that exposure to said gingerdead men at an early age has some serious developmental side effects. 😜 Having said that, it also means cookie decorating day is never dull at our house!

And now, let’s talk about my cookies for a minute. Several of these cookies were destined to be gifted to my sister Esther, so I was trying to come up with a few normal ones. As mentioned previously, I created normal looking gingerbread girls with no problem. But for some reason, my gingerbread boys came out just a little bit…wrong. One of them ended up looking like he was in the middle of a fascinating drug trip. Another seemed to be screaming for his life. It was not intentional, but they just looked weird. (Nathan said that sounded about right-normal girls and no normal boys. Cookies imitate life. 😂) That was where Matthew’s attempts at a normal boy came into play. In the end, we all voted on which cookies should be bequeathed to Esther and she ended up with one very cute girl and a boy who was holding his bleeding head in his hand. I hope she is entertained. 😉

I love this time with my kids in the kitchen. As noted on my Christmas tree cookie day, having time to make the cookies cute in no way outshines the opportunity to have many tiny fingers covered in flour join me in the kitchen. And I’m so glad that even though my kids are all growing up, they still enjoy spending time with dear old Mom making some sweet…and sometimes gory…memories.