Michael is 8!

Wow, we've had a very busy, but wonderful week. On Thursday, Michael celebrated his 8th birthday. He had a fun day. We were supposed to go to see "Puss in Boots", but William got sick, and Dylan Jr. was on a field trip anyway. Saturday was spent cleaning, taking down Halloween decorations, and getting ready for Michael's baptism. It's hard to believe that he is 8. He was sooo nervous. Out of all of my kids, he gets himself more worked up when he's nervous, than any of the others. But, it was a great experience, and he was very happy afterwards. He did say, though, that the water was cold. I've heard that from so many of the primary kids, that I think there might be something wrong with the water heater at the Stake Center ;-). It was so nice to have so much family there, and we really missed those who weren't there, but also understand completely why they couldn't be there.

We are so proud of our little Michael!

This is Halloween!

I decided on Saturday that I wanted to decorate my stairs for Halloween, so I did this . . .

and this . . .

Here's a close-up of one of the Jack's . . .

The Jack Skellington pumpkins are just the small white pumpkins from Michael's. I cut the faces, after drawing them out in pencil. Then I cut a hole in the bottom, so it would sit on the finial on the railing. Before doing that, I glued a gauzy black cloth in the inside so that during the day, his face looks black, then at night the purple lights shine through the cloth!



I'm just not sure, now, if I should add some of the floral accents that I put under each Jack into the whole garland going up the railing. Should I leave it black twiggy garland, or add floral accents?

What's up with math?

I used to be good at math. I've only gotten a "B" once in the subject. But I think I would totally flunk these days. I was trying to help Nathan with his math the other day, and I had to have him go to Dylan to get help. Not Dylan, his father, but Dylan his big brother! They were asking for something that I'm not even sure I've ever heard of! I can't even remember what it was! I need to go back to school just to help with their homework. Good thing he's got a bigger brother.

Busy Life

Well, the month of August feels like it should be over because it has been so full. So that William doesn't feel left out, we celebrated his birthday on the 14th. He's 4! The boys started school on the 22nd, Dylan started seminary (ugghh!) the next day. He's a freshman this year, Nathan is in 5th grade (already!) and Michael started 2nd grade. Next week we'll begin preschool lessons! Busy, Busy, Busy!

Quick Getaway

We planned all summer to take the boys on a couple of overnighters with Dylan. So the other evening we got the opportunity to have Family Home Evening up at the Oakland Temple. Dylan and I were married there 16 years ago, so it was nice to take the boys up there to show them where we were married. I have never been up on the terrace before! How did I not know that you can go up on the terrace? Well, we got some good pictures, and got to see the "new" Joseph Smith movie. It's really the old one, but it has 40% new scenes.

I normally wouldn't add a picture that includes myself in it, but I thought that out-of-town family would like to see that Dylan Jr. is taller than me now. I'm old, I know.
The next day we took a quick jaunt over to Fairfield to go to the Jelly Belly factory and take a tour. Can't beat a free tour! I would highly recommend it if you are Jelly Belly fans. You even get a free small bag of Jelly Bellies at the end of the tour! (I ate them all on the drive home just to keep myself awake!) I love those cream soda and Dr. Pepper flavors, not a big fan of the popcorn, though. Word of advice: if you do go, take a hat. If you don't have your own, you have to wear one of theirs. William had no problem looking cute in his hat.

Gift money idea

I like to try to come up with fun ways to give gifts. Sometimes I can come up with what I think is a festive idea. Well, a few years ago, when my oldest niece graduated from high school, I didn't want to give her a plain card with money in it. So, I put $5 bills in a few fortune cookies, mixed them up with some regular fortune cookies and put them in a cute chinese food take-out box. Well, her sister graduated this year, so I had to do something different. I wanted to make her work for her money (as if graduating wasn't enough work ;). So, I bought some clam shells, folded up some $5's and glued two shells together with hot glue. Then I bought some play sand from Lowe's, this cute sand bucket from Michael's and hid the shells in the sand. On the card I said something like, "I hope you have fun digging for your clams" or something like that. I wasn't there to see her open it, but I heard it took her about 30 min. to find them all, and pry them open! Much more fun than a card with $! Only 12 more (for now) nieces/nephews to come up with ideas for.

The Wrestler

Our boys have always let their younger brothers wrestle them. Dylan would let Nathan, Nathan would let Michael, etc. Dylan, being the oldest, will sometimes get dog-piled by all 3 little brothers. Well, William has become quite the entertainer when he tortures his big brothers. Here he is getting Michael:


The other night, he was doing this to Dylan Jr., and he grabbed him in a choke hold, then said to him through gritted teeth, "I call you Love Muffin!" We all had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.

Stairs are a new thing.

I've never lived in a house with stairs before. The first week we lived here, my legs were sore. That's a good thing, I know, but there have been a few things that I will have to watch out for. Very carefully. Like when Michael was at the top of the stairs in a laundry basket, just getting ready to go down. Then a few days later, he had brought William's tricycle in the house and took it upstairs. When I caught William, he already had his front wheel on the first step down. I do believe it was divine intervention that caused me to come around the corner just when I did. One other thing that I've caught William doing is this:


After the other scares, I'm OK with this. It kinda makes me want to put some liederhosen on him.

Catching up

My life feels like I'm always trying to catch up on things. Laundry, pruning roses, keeping up with my calling, helping with the boys schedules, more laundry. Right now I feel like I'm being left in the dust by my oldest, Dylan. He just turned 14 and he surpassed me awhile ago in height, and brains. As a matter of fact all of the boys have surpassed me in brains. This week Michael got his Academic Achievement award for 1st grade:

Nathan got High Honors in 4th grade (and he refuses to smile):

And Dylan received CJSF for Fall and Spring, CJSF Honor, Timberwolf Way Apex award and a surprise award - the Principles Award for Highest Honor. He was pleasantly surprised for this one:

I've always been the type to enjoy a slow-paced life. You know, cuddle with the boys on the couch when they were little and had just woken up, or taking the time to rock my baby to sleep while listening to Enya. This is why I feel like I've accidentally gotten on one of those big roller-coasters at Magic Mountain and I'm rocketing up hill and down, through loops and twists at 80 MPH. I couldn't slow down one of those coasters any more than I can slow down how fast my boys are growing up, and how fast paced their/our lives seem to be at this stage right now. So, I guess I'd better buckle up, learn how to scream through the dips, open my eyes for the loops and not get too excited to get off this fast ride.

Farewell, silly ol' bear.

For years he's merrily chased the fall leaves while singing about a blustery day on what used to be Michael's bedroom wall, and then it became William's room. I was so excited to have our own house to be able to paint what I wanted to on the walls. Painting over him definitely felt like the end of another chapter of our lives. We really don't have any babies anymore! It didn't help, either, that I had to use this to paint over him:

I know, using something called "Kilz" on Winnie the Pooh sounds like the worst form of animal cruelty. I did, however, start to get over it when I was painting the 4th coat of Kilz over that silly ol' bear.

Updates

Well, I have a few moments to sit down for a bit (and my legs are thanking me for that!). Just to answer some questions, we have moved, but not far at all. Not even a mile away from our old house, which we didn't sell, but are getting it gussied up to rent out. We are right across from Thorburn park, so we are still in the same ward and the boys are still at the same schools. I couldn't picture leaving either. We feel very blessed, and are so happy to have some room. Plus, some other good news, this morning William asked me if he could go #2 on the toilet, and he did! Usually if I mention doing that (he's fine doing #1) he breaks down crying. And I figured he'd be going to high school in diapers! When I find what box our camera is in, I'll post pictures.

Free Washer and Dryer

Yes, I'm using my blog as the classifieds. Do any of you bloggers out there know of anyone who needs a free washer and dryer? They are 9 years old, but still work just fine. We moved and are very fortunate to have gotten a new washer/dryer included with the house, so we are anxious to find these babies a new home! Right now I am in purge mode as I go through things (almost 16 years of marriage and 9 years in one house, plus a storage unit, can equal a lot of hoarding!), so stay tuned. I might have some more advertisements.

A new favorite recipe

First of all, I love themed meals. The boys seem to like them too. Usually they are a little too exotic for the younger three to enjoy, though (like the shrimp ettouffee I made for Mardi Gras). But here is a good St. Patrick's Day recipe that the whole family enjoyed!
First, I bought a 2 lb. Corned beef roast and cooked it in the crockpot overnight, until about 3:00 the next afternoon. Yes, it was in the crockpot for about 20 hours total, but it made is so tender! And the boys kept asking what smelled so good. Then I sliced up half to save for making Reuben sandwiches, and chopped up the other half for this:
Confetti Corned Beef Hash, courtesy of Betty Crocker website


2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups cut-up corned beef or lean cooked beef
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parley
1 tsp. chopped fresh or 1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves (I didn't have any of this and it turned out just fine)
2 medium potatoes cooked and chopped (mine was the equivalent of 4 medium potatoes)
1 small bell pepper chopped
4 medium green onions, sliced
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped (I did a more traditional fried egg per person to go on top of the hash)

In a nonstick skillet, heat butter over medium heat. Add all ingredients and cook for about 10 min., turning frequently.

As I said before, all the boys enjoyed it. Plus we had some left over and put it in some warmed up tortillas and made Irish burritos! 3 meals from 1 roast! In my book, that not only makes life easier, but it is just awesome.

Optimism Month

I love to read magazines. I don't think that I will ever really get into blog surfing, just because I love reading magazines too much. Some of my favorites are Ladies Home Journal and Family Circle. I used to be a big fan of Better Homes and Gardens, but each month started to seem like I was reading the same thing. I love that these two magazines often highlight stories of service, mostly from women, but also organizations that are founded by kids! Plus I can find good recipes, and all sorts of advice.
Anyways, one of my favorite parts of Ladies Home Journal is tucked away right at the back. Its a page dedicated to things that are good (don't we need to hear a little more of this these days?) Well, I read in March's issue of Ladies Home Journal that March is Optimism Month. Did you know there was such a thing? Heaven knows I could be a little more optimistic! They also give their readers a challenge: Do one nice little thing to make someone else smile, every day in March. So, I would like to issue that challenge to those of you who want to spread optimism, which, in my book, is a synonym of Hope. You can go to LHJ.com/dogood for ideas if you find that a challenge.

Just when I think I've got things figured out . . .

William comes along and shows me that I have no clue. No clue whatsoever. William has, by far, been my little challenging child. He's so stubborn, but can be so loving. He often tells me he loves me and will nuzzle my nose and say "Oh, mommy's my cute pup." So, he gets away with maybe a little too much sometimes. But now he's brought on a whole new challenge. Toilet training.

This is a picture of William, crying on the toilet. He is extremely afraid of the toilet. He's fine to stand up and use the toilet for #1, but when it comes to #2, he just breaks down and cries. He's always had some tummy troubles, so this is a whole different arena for me. But I thought to myself, "if I just stand firm and tell him he's not getting off the toilet until he goes, that should work."

This is picture #2, where William was falling asleep on the toilet. Yes, it makes me feel and look like a horrible mother. You know how in school we were always taught to write about what we know? Well, I've always joked with myself that I would end up writing a book about poop. Obviously, I don't know that much about that, either. Any suggestions?