Randomness

*I'm in a reading rut again. Last year, at about this same time, concerned that I wouldn't finish a book by the end of Jan 2009 (I like to read at least one book a month -- I don't know why), I read "Life of David W. Patten, First Apostolic Martyr." It was good, it was short, and it helped me to meet my personal goal. I needn't have worried, though, since 2009 turned out to be a great year for books. I read a lot, and a lot I ended up loving, especially, "The Book Thief," "Pride & Prejudice and Zombies," and "Fruitless Fall."

But, I'm back in a rut. Part of it is because of my calling, I think. I teach Gospel Doctrine every other week, which I love, but can become reading-consuming. At least part of me feels like if I'm going to be reading, especially during the week before I teach, I should be reading stuff that will help me with my lessons. The scriptures, of course, but this year that also means parts of "The First 2000 Years," and other gems like that. The other reason behind my rut is the fact that I just don't know what I want to read.

So, instead of looking at what I'm reading on a month-by-month basis, I'm going to look more at what I read this year. Really, I shouldn't be concerned at all, but I guess there's a part of me that likes to feel I'm accomplishing something that's good for my intellectual being. Something, that is, besides having to demonstrate self-control when it comes to dealing with kids, and holding my tongue, and really, really having to think things through before I handle certain issues with certain kids. I guess those are pretty good exercises for my intellectual being, they're just not as fun or relaxing.


*Christmas cards were kind of a bust this year. I ended up getting a chunk out, but only to those people who sent me theirs since I lost both address books. My Palm Pilot is gone, which had my most complete address list. It was last seen in Tanner's hands at the exact moment Tanner was heard asking, "Mom, can I have this?" I told him no, of course, and that was the last I ever saw of it. I know he didn't take it (thank heavens he's not that type of kid), but he has the unfortunate luck of unintentionally not being so careful with things. He's the one who melted Nate's brand new Blackberry on the toaster oven at the exact same time he ruined the toaster oven by trying to bake non-bake clay in it. Tough luck.

The other address list has since been recovered, but it's the end of January and I've lost all motivation. Oh well. The cards weren't that cute anyway.


*Yesterday, while Chris, Gracie and I were on a long walk, Chris was looking at his feet while riding his scooter. He made this observation: "Mom, it's like they're married [talking about his feet] and the husband is pushing the wife." I'm not sure what that means (probably nothing), and I'm pretty sure that if I chose to read some meaning into it I wouldn't be all that thrilled with what I came up with. (Just like my mom felt a little unsure behind the meaning of one of my brother's observations as a young boy. While watching the windshield wipers he commented, "Mom, that dad is making a slide and that mom is pushing it down.")

I'm just going to enjoy it for what it probably really was -- a clever childhood observation.


*Gracie got out of her crib at nap time today while I was on the computer looking at toddler beds. That was some timing.


*Chris told me today that he wanted, "one nice mom." I asked, "Aren't I your nice mom?" "No," he answered. "Sometimes you're mean."

He's right, sometimes I am. *sigh* It would be easier to be nice to him if he weren't so moody and touchy all the time. And explosive. He really is an explosive kid. Too bad my niceness only counts when it's hard to be nice. I'm working on it.


*I just made plans for Nate and me to be gone for 3 nights thanks to the generosity of our wonderful, wonderful neighbor (and friend, and practically family), Debbie, who has been dying to stay with the kids so that we can get away. The kids are looking forward to it, Debbie is looking forward to it, I'm looking forward to it, and I'm really hoping that it will be enough to recharge me. I need a recharge.

Nevertheless, I will still be looking forward to my stay in the hospital, no matter what anybody says. I've never had a problem sleeping there and I really like not being able to do anything but read, sleep, and watch TV. And eat -- in bed. I just hope there is something good on to watch and that by then I'll know what I want to read. For every baby but one, one night has been enough for me, but I guess I'll just have to see how I'm feeling.


*Two people have asked me if I could be having twins. "Nope," I assured them, "just one big healthy baby. Or at least one big mama. With three months left."


*My dad got home from Haiti this morning.


*Gracie's out of her crib again. Time to go.

Currently...

I'm learning a little bit about Abigail Adams for Naomi's "famous person report," I'm learning how to make simple kites for Tanner's "kite competition" (couldn't bring myself to spell "competition" with a "k" like his teacher did), I'm attempting to memorize "O Captain, My Captain!" so that I can support Tanner on his poetry recitation project, and I'm helping Tanner make compost in the garage (too much rain outside these days -- we had to move it to the garage) for his science project, which will tell us if worms will add additional nutrients to compost.

And that's just what I'm doing to assist with school projects, which seems like a drop in the bucket of what I'm trying to get done these days.

I'm actually really looking forward to spending a night in the hospital when this baby comes, which I'm already feeling won't be soon enough since I'm entering that awkward, uncomfortable stage where it's hard to do laundry, tie your shoes, and stand up after you kneel down. It will be quiet there, I'll have somebody to wait on me, and I'll even get meals in bed. It might come at a high price, but boy am I looking forward to it.

Neat

My dad (who'll be staying another week in Haiti) met Jeremy Johnson, the modern-day Robin Hood-type who is featured in the following article:


Deseret News
Pilot working to get 130 children flown from Haiti to Utah
Published: Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010 12:01 a.m. MST

JIMANI, Dominican Republic — For every person Jeremy Johnson has saved in Haiti, hundreds more have died.

So he doesn't keep track of the many he's airlifted out of the country to safety, to shelter. He doesn't think of the ones he's already fed. He just loads his helicopter with food and keeps going. He doesn't stop. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't eat. He flies.

The 34-year-old St. George native would do anything to stanch the pain he sees coursing all around him, and the daily stabs of suffering he sees is like torture. So when it comes to bringing food to starving children, he'll steal it from the growing mountain of untouched aid at the airport and helicopter it to their door. He's even lined up a jumbo jet to evacuate 130 orphans and enlisted the help of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff to try to get the orphans free.

The problem is, he can't always get there fast enough. He can't save everyone.

"Normally, I wouldn't go steal food. I wouldn't steal anything," Johnson says before he breaks down and cries. "But I can't go to another orphanage and find out I missed it by a day and one of the babies died. I just can't.

"One of them died yesterday of starvation," Johnson said. "I can't take any more of those days. I don't care if they put me in jail. I'm just taking food and I want to get it to people who are hungry."

His sobs are so gut-wrenching, he finds it difficult to speak. But there is good news. Today, he doesn't have to steal from the Port-Au-Prince airport and drag 100-pound bags of beans by himself, one by one, to his helicopter that's a block away. Today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opening its containers of food, stored safely a few miles away from the violent city center, to Johnson for distribution.

He is ecstatic. He will be able to deliver more food, and there's even powdered milk — a commodity almost impossible to find elsewhere — for the babies.

"I'm going to be able to do a lot tomorrow, more than any other day," he says.

Donations to help with Johnson's efforts — supplies to build shelters are now urgently needed — can be made online at utahhaitirelief.org or at any Zions Bank under Utah Haiti Relief.

Meanwhile, Johnson's group is working to secure the evacuation of approximately 130 children, but they need Utah's help.

Shurtleff said nearly 100 of the approximately 130 children are already in the process of being adopted, so Utah would be a temporary home, if they can make all the necessary arrangements. "We just need a place for them to be safe while they continue that process," Shurtleff said.

Shurtleff praised Johnson for his tireless and selfless efforts. Shurtleff said Johnson believes that because the governor of Pennsylvania was able to break through red tape and bring 53 orphans to his state, all it should take for Utah to do the same is the go-ahead from Herbert.

But as of late Tuesday night, Shurtleff said they were still working on permission, as well as the logistics of receiving the hundred-plus orphans.

This story was reported from Salt Lake City.

e-mail: achoate@desnews.com. Contributing: Sara Israelsen-Hartley

Correction

My dad isn't with the Red Cross this time. He has been a part of their teams in the past, but this time he's been sent out as a part of our church's Emergency Response Team (of 20 people), specifically as one of two representatives from LDS Family Services.

Yesterday, the team departed from Miami and arrived in the Dominican Republic. I just heard they crossed the Haitian border at 4a (mountain time) and have arrived safely at the Centrale Ward building in Port-au-Prince.

Deseret News article

Red Cross Relief

My dad is on his way to Haiti right now as part of a Red Cross relief team who will be helping with whatever they can while assessing what will have to happen next.

In the past he's been a part of relief team efforts for Columbine HS, the Family History Library shooting in SLC, flooding in Louisville, 9-11, New Orleans, the tsunami in Indonesia, and others.

I'll be following the situation in Haiti even more closely now. And be praying more fervently.

A cupcake by any other name...

We just had cupcakes for breakfast.

Not entirely intentionally.

The kids have a "non student attendance day" today and Tanner wanted to make something fun for breakfast. We went on to foodnetwork.com and found a recipe for chocolate lava muffins that sounded really good, and after a quick glance through the ingredients I confirmed we had all the ingredients to make them.

It wasn't until we actually started making them that I noticed the recipe also called for ice cream and espresso powder. No problem with the espresso powder -- easy to omit, but ice cream? For muffins? After more thoroughly reading the recipe I found that we were supposed to melt the ice cream, mix it with the espresso powder, then spoon over the warm muffins.

It sounded great, and the comments were all favorable, but I had to draw the line somewhere. Plus, we had no ice cream. Instead, we had plain chocolate lava cupcakes for breakfast.

They were really good.

First week summary

Well, I had a good run. Here's my summary of the first first week of 2010:

Monday: Wake up to my alarm, exercise and shower before the kids are awake.
Tuesday: Don't set my alarm because I'm too worn out from Monday's exercise, but get my exercise in later that day.
Wednesday: Wake up to my alarm and exercise before the kids are awake, but the kids end up eating cold cereal, because I'm still in the shower when they get up and get going.
Thursday: No exercise -- still wiped out from Monday's exercise (and now Wednesday's).
Friday: Same story as Thursday.

Oh, and I am still seeing pine needles.

So much for the start of that good habit. Oh well. Maybe this pregnancy I'm destined to becoming fat. I don't know exactly why, but I've really been struggling with becoming easily wiped out. If I do get larger than desired, oh well. I've gained the weight before and I've lost it before. What's another go at it?

It's at these times I'm grateful for my Dad's general objection to New Year's resolutions. His objections are based on the grounds that we should always be resolving to improve ourselves, not just once a year. So, on that note, I'm just going to keep on keeping on and try to be better. Right now (and always) that means focusing on being a nice mom which right now means I need to be more concerned about making sure I get the rest I need so that I won't be short with my kids come evening, and less concerned about which parts of my body are rounding out and softening. Plus, I like some of my maternity clothes even better than my normal clothes, so if I have to wear them awhile longer than optimally desirable, I won't care too much. Maybe not even at all.

The Beginning

We finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family (first time through start to finish) on December 31. We had set a goal to finish by the end of the year -- nothing like a deadline. Even better, though, is the fact that we're on 1 Nephi 4. Maybe it will only take us 1 year to finish this time, instead of the 4 or 5 it took us last time. Maybe not, we'll see.

Our Christmas lights are already down (thanks to Nate) and our Christmas decor is already up in the attic (thanks to me). That is, except for the stuff we missed. One more trip up to the attic will take care of it all. I love it when Christmas stuff is gone, especially once you don't see anymore pine needles. I will miss the music, though.

I actually set my alarm for the first time in months and only hit snooze twice. I exercised and showered before the kids got up. May this be the start of a very good habit.

I still haven't made any official resolutions yet, but I'm formulating a lot in my head. If there's one thing I've learned regarding resolutions, it's to keep it simple and to recognize when you've over done it. I think I'm pretty through beating myself up over what doesn't get done, especially if I've been nice and good to the kids and we're all going to sleep with food in our stomachs.

Happy New Year.

Oh, I hung the hooks for both Naomi's and Chris' bikes in the garage today so the bikes are no longer in the front hallway. Then I swept up the pine needles in the front hallway. We still have plenty of needles that will have to wait though (along with all the other messes). I'm going to read to Chris and Gracie then we're all going to take a nap.

Two reasons

to try my hardest to always be nice.

1. I'm starting to get wrinkles and I'd rather have the nice, happy looking wrinkles versus the mean ones.

2. Amanda keeps a pretty regular journal.

October Birthdays (very late report)

Tanner has the first October birthday, and because this year it fell on General Conference and Nate and I were up in Salt Lake to hear Tad speak, we celebrated his birthday the weekend before. He chose a lego theme so we did lego everything.

Cupcakes (My first and last fondant project -- it takes me way too long and it doesn't even taste good)

games (this one was a building relay)

Lots of spontaneous wrestling









Naomi's is mid-month and she just wanted lots of party games. We did...

How many balloons can you pick up and hold in 1 minute,


marshmallow and toothpick structures,

Cupcake decorating (then eating, of course),




Pop the balloon,

and sock relays.



Naomi with her actual birthday cake








Modeling birthday clothes



Gracie is too young to know or care (thank heavens).

Here she is on her birthday (Halloween)

And here she is during her family celebration, wearing her typical house outfit (unkempt hair and a diaper)

No cake for Gracie because she doesn't know the difference, but she still got candles in her cake batter flavored ice cream from Handels


She doesn't understand why she gets them, but she does understand opening presents



Thank heavens she also doesn't care so much about fancy wrapping.

She loves all things baby


and slept with her new stroller and doll.




And here's one of Amanda on the day she gave her student council speech.

December Highlights

Ivy geranium in our backyard


Our first harvest

(An earlier picture -- I thinned over 50 tiny green oranges months ago. Much tinier than below.)


Christmas tree. The kids are 100% in charge, and I don't touch it. I love that Gracie does, though. She rearranges ornaments 100 times a day and plugs in and unplugs the lights at will.


Christmas programs



First ever piano recital. Amanda played Beauty and the Beast, Tanner played Jingle Bells, and Naomi played Jolly Old St. Nicholas.


With their teacher, Diane


Familiar faces at favorite restaurants.


Christmas plays with family


So Cal snow





Firewood


and fires



Christmas Eve presents


Pajama dances


Practical jokes




For the record, I hate Sponge Bob. I just couldn't resist buying these (they will be returned) to play a joke on Tanner. Can you believe kids his size actually wear these things? (size 10, by-the-way) He was relieved to hear that it was a joke and that there was a second package to open, but great kid that he is, never once complained.


More pajama dances


All ready for Christmas Eve


Acting out the nativity thanks to bed sheets and Harry Potter robe. (I love Chris' hand on Naomi's back.)


Christmas morning


This picture sums up the majority of Tanner's Christmas Day. Stomach flu, poor kid. Gracie, too, but her bout was over before we ever caught wind of it and she's tough as nails. She threw up in the middle of the night and went right back to sleep without making a peep. There was quite a mess to clean up come morning, but she never once complained.


New bikes





New church clothes













Amanda's dress, by-the-way, came online from the preteen section of ShabbyApple.com after many, many hours of intense searching for just the right dress for her. She's growing up and needs to look it -- modestly, of course.

Candy Cane Joe Joe's -- Lessons in Simplifying

One of the many things my parents taught me (that really stuck) was to simplify whenever possible. Even now, I can hear both their voices saying, "Simplify."

For the most part, that is something I'm really good at (sometimes to a fault, I'm sure), but still, there are times I'm reminded I could use some lessons on the habit.

A little over a year ago now, our ward was holding their annual Trunk-or-Treat party and asked that people bring chili or soup. I signed up and even remember thinking, "I'll just make chili, I've got a simple recipe for it, it'll be easy."

That week nothing was easy. I don't remember why, now, but I do remember questioning why I even signed up, when a friend told me, "Julia (her mother-in-law) just told me she's got a great, super simple recipe for chili." I immediately inquired after it and she generously shared the recipe: "You drive to the store, find the chili aisle, buy a bunch of cans, then heat them up."

Why had I never even considered that? It was brilliant! Really, does anybody ever show up to ward parties because of the food?

I decided to take it even one step further and had my brother, who was visiting from out of town, drive to the store for me. Then he finished the recipe by heating it up and put it in an aluminum pan so that I didn't even have to claim a dish when the party was over.

I think by the time it made it to the church it wasn't so warm anymore, but again, is there anybody who goes to a ward party for the food? The chili was all eaten, and I never heard any complaints or accusations about store-bought chili, and my life was made so much simpler. Thanks, Julia. (And Harper, for taking care of the chili for me.)

Just yesterday I had another lesson. Chris' preschool class had a cookie exchange today and we were asked to bring in 8 cookies. Not a huge deal, even though I already had to make cookies Sunday evening for our Stake Christmas Devotional, more cookies Sunday evening for Amanda's class Monday morning (she was in charge of filling her classmates' stockings for the day -- and actually she made the cookies, but I was left wrapping them and cleaning since she went to the devotional with Nate that night), muffins for Amanda's class brunch on Tuesday, a cracker/cheese/fruit platter for the kids' piano recital Thursday night, not to mention the cheese enchiladas for Tanner's class luncheon on Thursday afternoon. Anyway, I had some leftover dough from the devotional cookies I had saved in the fridge, so I figured I'd just pop it into the oven this morning before he left.

Instead, last night we were all enjoying our favorite cookies ever, Candy Cane Jo Jo's, from Trader Joe's, when Chris lit up, said, "I know! We can bring these cookies to my class!"

"Holy smokes," I thought, and "Yes, we can," I said to him, realizing that once again, I need occasional lessons in simplifying. Sheesh, I could have sent in nasty store bought cookies versus the good ones, and a class of four-year-olds would never have noticed or cared. Sugar is sugar to them.

At least I take to my lessons readily and learn them well.

Breakthrough

Last night I stayed up late to do some online Christmas shopping, and about 10:30 I got hungry again. Instead of going for candy and junk like I've been doing the last few weeks I cut up an apple. That was a major breakthrough, and one that will hopefully lead to a slow down in those climbing numbers on the scale. (Six lbs in just five weeks -- I had a great Thanksgiving.)

In other news, I put up the Christmas lights that I took down just a few months ago, thanks to Chris' reminders. Nate was going to do it last weekend but it rained (poured) all weekend, so I figured I'd better take advantage of our beautiful weather.

I can't believe the kids get out of school for Christmas break this Thursday but I'm starting to get really excited, especially because I bought the perfect bike for Naomi and can't wait to give it to her. It's like a mini beach cruiser, light blue with adorable little girlish flower designs, a basket and a flag. The best part of it is that I bought it off Craig's list for less than half the price of the one I was ready to buy in the bike shop last Saturday. Thank heavens Nate stayed my hand and convinced me to look on Craig's list.

Starting to Reap Some of the Benefits

Yesterday morning, Tanner and Naomi made muffins start to finish by themselves for everybody for breakfast (they even doubled the recipe), and yesterday night, Amanda made dinner -- veggie fajitas. (And they were fabulous.)

Sometimes I'm still amazed (and admittedly a bit overwhelmed) by the things they still give Nate and me to deal with, but at least there are some obvious rewards we're already reaping.

Major Disappointment

Amanda is now in that awkward stage of growing out of the girls' department at stores as far as taste goes, and sometimes even as far as size goes, and starting to fit the juniors' department.

For Christmas I've been looking for some clothes for her, specifically a new outfit to wear to church, and am absolutely disgusted by what I've been finding. Yesterday I spent over an hour window shopping the internet to look for a skirt for Amanda, and in a nutshell, this is the type of stuff I found:


Way too short, and really trashy looking.

The dresses were no better:

And these came from a "high class" department store.

So, after I gave up and decided I may have to start sewing again out of necessity, I looked to the internet for patterns.

I typed in "girls' skirt patterns," and the second result was a link for "sewmodestclothing." "Great!" I thought, as I clicked on the link to see what was available.

My excitement turned to major disappointment when I clicked on the link for their "spiral wrap skirt" from their homepage and found this:



Really?! You've got to be kidding me.

So, I guess that means, according to the internet, my 10-year-old can either look like a piece of trash or a fundamentalist from a polygamist family in Colorado City.

My favorite part is that they didn't even take off the white sneakers for the picture.

Ahhhh!

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Conversation today

Chris: Mom, you know what I want for Christmas?
Me: What?
Chris: Money.
Me: Oh, yea?
Chris: Lots of money.
Me: Hmm.
Chris: That's what I want.

Misc

• Tanner's better (he had pneumonia for only a week -- thankfully we caught it early)
• Now everybody is pretty healthy besides me -- I'm coming down with something
• I caught Gracie building her food storage for the first time -- cough drops in her diaper, undoubtedly reserving them for nap time.
• It's a girl.

Oh,

and while we were at the doc's office, Gracie spilled 1/2 a bottle of water on a chair and the floor. Thankfully, the only thing noteworthy about that is that it wasn't noteworthy enough to remember to put it in the last post. That kind of thing doesn't bother me anymore. Now, if it had been my first, or even my second I would have been embarrassed and probably upset. Now I know better. I just ask for paper towels and start cleaning.

It took a lot of paper towels.

I wonder what won't bother me anymore after this next baby comes.

The Latest

Our stake's boundaries just got changed on Sunday and our ward got smaller. (Still the biggest ward in stake, though.)

I think my 3 oldest had swine flu and just got them swabbed today to find out whether I've been exposed.

While at the doctor I was told (by the doctor) that Tanner may have pneumonia.

As soon as we got home Tanner threw up.

kids

I love kid conversations.

Just this morning, while the kids were putting together every puzzle we own (in order to chuck the ones with missing pieces) I heard Tanner confess to Amanda that when he sings certain songs he purposefully mumbles the words he doesn't know. Amanda told him she does the same thing.

As they continued working on the puzzles, they also continued their conversation. At one point I heard this:

Amanda: Yuck! Mom! Tanner's asking disgusting questions.
Me, having heard the question, which was, "If you're a boy, what do you do when you ask out a girl?": That didn't sound gross to me.
Tanner: What do you do?

I used that opportunity to preach (in a disguised form, of course). I talked about the appropriate age to start dating, double-dating, and the fact that you first think of a nice girl who dresses modestly, uses appropriate language, and treats everybody kindly. Then, because I'm always concerned that our kids may be being steered in a more USC-ly direction vs. BYU (that would be because Nate gets much more excited to watch USC games than BYU -- I've done my best to counter by painting the boys' room BYU colors and getting them a BYU rug for Christmas a couple of years ago) I mentioned that when they're old enough to go to college, they go to BYU because it's easier to find nice, LDS girls (and boys) there. Then, this conversation ensued:

Tanner: I'm going to BYU because it's like a mall. Recess is like an hour and you can go shopping and buy whatever you want in their big store.
Amanda: I'm going to BYU because I love the creamery and I'm going to go there every day.

Well, I'm glad they're sold on BYU. Now I just hope they can get in.


Oh, and Chris is a major Psych junkie. Every blue car (of the correct hue) is Gus' car, and just today Chris saw a picture of pineapple in an "I Spy" game. He said, "Mom, if this picture was real and Shawn saw it, do you know what he would do?"

"What?" I asked.

"He would take this pineapple because he loves pineapples so much."

And he was right, that's exactly what Shawn would do.