Some of our Everydaynesses...

working and dancing

2012-01-27T05:08:00.000-08:00

B just got home from a work trip. He was gone for 8 days.

When Zane first heard about it, he said, "A whole week without Pops? This is going to be so terrible." I'm with you, Z. Especially since my kids are on to the fact that B is the fun one. We ALL missed him.

But, we survived. And while he was gone, I came to some realizations about my own limits and was able to edit my life accordingly. I tell you what, hindsight is a remarkable thing.

And we managed to still have dance parties this week, so I think my kids survived.

Can you say "Just Dance Kids 2," every day? Annie can. It's our morning workout.

"Do you LOVE it guys? I LOVE IT!" She just said that this very second.

My favorite: "Shake your groove thing, shake your groove thing!" Annie's favorite: "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SUMMER SCHOOL!" Zane's favorite: "I am a gummy bear, I am a yummy yummy yummy yummy gummy bear." If only the speakers weren't so close to the computer.

Also, Pandora. Tea Party Princess. Sorry Zane, that's the name of the station. I think we were rockin' out to "Life is a highway!" at this point (wink wink, sure).

And actually, right after this, they whipped right into each other, and Zane's homework pencil may or may not have stuck Annie in the cheek. Weeping while dancing, anyone? Luckily, Zane's there to entertain her with his moves. Soon, we're back to giggling.

Did you notice Annie's hat in the above combined set? We're celebrating Chinese New Year, of course! Every Wednesday since we got home this summer, Annie and I have gone to this great little storytime/craft hour at a local educational/toy store. It's been just perfect for her. Coloring, stories, then a little (or in this case big) craft to take home. Happy camper.

And like I said, B is home now. More happy campers.

A kid trip to the temple

2012-01-22T16:11:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I learned that the children of our ward/local congregation were invited to a "morning at the temple" in Orlando.

Did I mention it was in Orlando?

I thought the planners of the activity (one of which is a great friend, hello there great friend!) were crazy. But that's because I don't like to leave my house, let alone travel for 2 hours anywhere.

But as it turns out, it was an inspired activity and I'm glad I trudged along. The weather was beautiful, the kids were enthusiastic (I kept wondering when they were going to figure out that only 12 years old and up people get to go INSIDE the place, so that didn't include THEM), and the experience was a wonderful net good.

We started on the temple grounds with muffins. Great idea.

There was a great grassy area right in front which made a perfect gathering/run around after the car ride spot. The time of day made it not so great for seeing children's faces, but oh well.

Here we are, all gathered (this is picture 117 by the way. The kids were incredibly patient. Valium in the muffins, maybe?)

(Way to crop out the angel Moroni up top Michelle. I miss the boat.)

Yes, that's our primary, or about 75% of them. I know you people in wards with 120+ kids are amazed. If I ever have to do singing time for those kinds of numbers again, I will think back on these little people and weep. 10 kids in senior primary = bliss.

Here's a closeup with my little ones and not so many shaded faces.

After the pictures, we met up with the temple president, who took us on a lovely tour around the building. We stopped on each side, talking about the beautiful windows and rooms inside, the promises we make to Heavenly Father, and the happiness it brings us. Amen.

Then the kids all touched the temple and got a happy little postcard which they drew their hands on and wrote the date. Annie was THRILLED to have HER VERY OWN TEMPLE NOW.

Then, we were off to a nearby church for lunch and more running around. As we were saying goodbye/walking to our cars, I needed a quick picture of my kids so I made them stop mid-stride and CHEESE me. I love these little bugs, and you would be so impressed with the amount of people on either side of them also in mid-stride that I didn't have to make pause in order to get this. One shot and GREAT! we're done.

As we were leaving, Annie asked, "When can we go on ANOTHER temple trip?" Impression made.

And as a total bonus, while we were eating lunch, a big group of missionaries showed up to share the pavilion with us and I glanced over and saw Brandon's cousin, Sis. Reynolds. She is currently serving in the Orlando mission, and thus far we had been good citizens and not tried to see each other in person. But seriously, we were under the same pavilion! So we were able to say hello, give big hugs and take pictures, and hopefully spread some family love to that wonderful sister missionary. See, I'm glad we came, for many reasons!

(Annie wouldn't be in the picture. Anyone surprised?)

We won't talk about the skinned knee on the way to the car, or the crying that ensued for the next couple of hours. We'll just remember that it was a very nice way to spend a beautiful January morning in Florida. Take that, Michelle's bad attitude!

This week, in code

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

I feel like we're living top secret lives over here. Well, no, we're actually living our normal, boring lives. But I feel like anything interesting I'd like to blog about just can't quite be blogged about yet. For instance.

This week, Brandon --- --- --- --- --- day ---. He will --- --- ---, then --- to --- --- --- ---, after which --- --- --- --- --- --- for another ---. ---! Not to mention, today he --- --- --- with ---, which would be --- --- great --- --- ---! And it doesn't stop there. After --- ---, he will be --- --- --- few ---, then --- ---, then --- --- --- --- ---, then ---. Exciting times ahead. Pray for us!

As for me, I --- --- --- --- -- of ---. My --- --- is --- ---, which is the --- one. --- the --- --- music --- --- ---. After the ---, I --- --- --- --- world, --- ---. Thanks --- --- ---.

Maddening isn't it?

At least our children remain uncensored.

Last night, the kids and B were playing the "who would win" game. You know, Yoda versus Master Woo, Rapunzel verses Pocahontas, etc. Zane busted out with, "I know a good one. Who would win at a singing game, Pops or Chewbacca?" I'll just leave it there, folks. :)

As for Annie, she's really stepped it up on the crying lately. Take this exact moment for example. She had completed a drawing of our family (complete with lowercase m eyebrows, a new addition), and was labeling the members therein. Pops was accidentally identified as "Michelle." Can't have that. Erasing starts. Erasing on construction paper doesn't really work all the much. Annie declares, "I know, I'll put water on the eraser! That will HELP!" So of course I have to say, "Oh, Annie, no sweetie, that won't quite work. Water actually kinda ruins erasers (hear how gentle I'm trying to be?). Instead, can I help you try and erase it?"

Well, that's all it took. Big tears coming out from either eyes, she runs from the room wailing. WAHHHHH. Wah wah WAHHHH. Which morphs into WHOA. WHOAAAAA. OH. oh. oh. Which moves more into a song of sorts, the "ohs" finding various pitches. mi. so. mi. (a minor third, very sad sounds.) Then, out of the 'ohs' comes a sad, sad song:

"Oh, whoa, whoa. (mi so mi)
I don't want to draw (do re mi so la)
any more more more. (la so mi re do)
I only want to do what I do (do do re mi so la so la so)
at story time. (so mi re ti) (ti is the worst)
I never.... want... (so la so..... mi)
to...write....again. (mi ... re... do... ti...)
wah wah wah....wah.... wah...." (la so mi...mi.....mi.....)

Luckily, as the wahs die out, a new distracted song takes their place:
"Colors colors I see colors (mi so mi so la la la la)
purple blue green indigo.." (so mi la ti la la la)

And she's back to playing happily. Phew.

That's us today! :) Peace out.

Ninja-go! and other things

2012-01-12T18:48:00.000-08:00

We spent some time outside yesterday. I just keep telling myself, you crazy person, get OUT there, this is January. Cherish cherish, enjoy enjoy.

Lucky for me I have kids who get me out there.

Annie kept bringing me treasures. Look how BIG mom. I can't help but notice how big SHE'S getting.

This is a treasure, mom. I am just glad it's actually the thing in focus in the picture and not her shoes like my usual tricks.

Have you all been properly introduced to the world of Ninjago yet? If not, I've done a disservice. We educated the masses about Thomas the Train when it was the highlight of our lives. Then again with Star Wars. The newest insanity? It's Lego Ninjago. As in, "Ninja--GO!!" (listen to 1:05-1:30, it's the best says zane.)

What makes it even cooler is that one of the characters is named Zane. Oh yeah, boo yah, he says.

Anyway, it's the latest obsession. My favorite part? That it somehow captures the attention and heart of 5 all the way up to 10 year old boys (and girls). As in they play make believe together. I thought that happy stage was over. I'm thrilled that it's here in full swing, although I'm sure it helps that there is fighting involved.

Zane the ninja (he did not know I was taking these pictures):

This was before I made them drop the sticks. Then they got sad and whiny and I had to pull out the "Didn't you hear about the kid who lost an eye due to a stick accident?" line. Bummer, mom. Oh well, Ninja-GO!

Anyway, this enormous part of our family life is now covered. check.

Speaking of Zane, here's another funny. All year, he's been taking spelling tests. And all year, there is a special message at the bottom of the paper.

(Side note: Brandon was very proud of Zane for misspelling 'catch.' "Spelling it like it sounds, that's my boy!")

(Now, back to the story.)

Did you catch it? The 'I love tests' part? Man, that teacher is impressive with the brainwashing, I thought! So I asked Zane:

me: "Does your teacher always have the class write 'I love tests' at the bottom of the page?"

Zane: "No, I just write it myself."

me: "But why?"

Zane: "Because I love tests!"

What in the world? Who is this child?

me: "Do other kids write it too?" (thinking he got the idea from someone)

Zane: "I don't know. You're not supposed to look at anybody else's test!"

I {heart} this kid.

And on a less charming note, one more story.

B is on the job hunt. We don't mention it here, because of worlds colliding. But he's in the thick of it. This week, he had some positive attention from a favorite on his list.

That night before prayers, he said, "Hey Zane, guess what? ------- called me today, interested in setting up a job interview. Isn't that good news?"

Zane, honestly, said, "Well, actually, that isn't that interesting. But yeah, it's good news. Can we pray now?"

Awesome.

more words from our kids

2012-01-08T15:34:00.000-08:00

Look, a picture from our past. It was part II of our annual picture taking tradition/bribery agreement. Why oh why are those things so good?

**

Tonight at dinner, Zane and Brandon were (gasp) daydreaming about living in a bigger house.

Zane says, "If we had a huge house, upstairs we could get a pool table, and a big tv for the wii, and a romantic table for four!"

Brandon laughed and said, "Actually, son, romantic tables are usually reserved for just two people."

"Oh!" said Zane. "Okay then, we'll get two romantic tables for two--one upstairs for me and you, and another one somewhere for mom and Annie."

Who knew the love/need for a man cave was so intuitive, so early?

**

As I write, Annie just said, "Don't worry mom, I'll be done in a JIPPY!"

Which reminds me. We just barely broke the news to Zane that words like "wrong" and "song" end with a "g" sound and not an "n" one. "Really?" he said, dejected. "REALLY? I've never known that, in my whole life! REALLY?!"

It's hard to grow up.

New Year Catch Up

2012-01-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

Well hello, 2012. So far so good, ay?

I have been not-taking-pictures and therefore not-posting. I might need to get me one of those phones with a camera in it one of these days.

BECAUSE! There have already been picture worthy memories. I'll do my best with words instead.

Last Sunday was the first church day of the year, meaning the kids moved up to the next age-leveled classes. Annie is no longer a sunbeam; instead she is a CTR of some sort (apparently, so is Zane, still. He is confused. Me too. Anyway.). When we picked her up, she had a CTR shield necklace around her neck and she shouted, "CTR!" with a big smile whenever she saw someone new. Brandon asked (after the 5th "CTR!"), "Annie, what does CTR mean?" "I DON'T KNOW! CTR!" She seems to be taking after her brother.

Also last Sunday, before church, we went on a long walk/bike ride. The campus was practically empty, so our risk-taking 7-year old could scare the wits out of his parents while still remaining relatively safe. The phrase I will remember most from that walk? "Zane! COME BACK!" Anyway, near the end of the ride, Annie wanted to get out, so I told her she could get out by the alligators. Brandon took off towards home, looking for Zane (enter the well remembered phrase here), and us girls took the back trail to the alligator look out.

I say look out here because usually you walk to the bank and "look out" at the alligators in the lake. Except not that day. That day, there on the bank of the look out, sunning himself in the beautiful morning sun, was a 5 or 6 ft ALL-I-GA-TOR. We got within about 15 feet before I even looked up and noticed. Holy deena, Annie, we need to turn around right now.

Oo, come to think of it, this is better WITHOUT a picture. I'll let your imaginations run instead.

:) We made it back to the boys safely, then came around the other way to get a few more looks at it. Except then Annie asked, "Could we please go somewhere SAFER, mom?"

Other great quotes this week by Zane, whose sarcasm is getting sharper every day. Pretty awesome, and pretty sad at the same time. First, Brandon was complaining about something he had to do that day. "You'll survive," came the reply from Z. Then, we were on our way to Target, and Brandon was using the back roads to get there. When Annie asked him where he was taking us, he said, "Oh, we're going to Target, but the way I'm going is SUPER SNEAKY." And our snarky little boy said to himself but just loud enough to be heard, "Hardly." We should probably let him know this is unacceptable instead of giggling at him, huh? Tomorrow.

Finally, one from last night. Brandon was telling Zane money doesn't grow on trees. Zane replied back, "But if it did, we would need to go tree shopping!"

***

Florida's been really cold this week, have you noticed? Two days in the 20s at night, not even breaking 50 during the day! We basically thought we were going to die. How do you normal people do it? Good news though, I just checked and we're back to 68 degrees. Phew. High of 74 tomorrow. Double phew.

I am excited for this new year. There are wonderful things ahead, for all of us (even without accompanying pictures). Especially if the weather stays warm.

Ten years!

2011-12-29T12:41:00.000-08:00

As of December 28th, 2011, Brandon and I have been married ten years.

Really? Ten years?

Well, you know us, we wouldn't have done anything besides a fist bump or something. We have kids. We (Brandon) have work. We are boring people. We'd have to leave our house. Etc.

But then our St. Pete friends heard tell of our "decade long accomplishment" and told us we would be doing something for ourselves, and we would be leaving our children with them while we did it.

Wow. I mean wow. Anyone who knows us knows that our daughter is a little, ahem, tricky. Plus, we spent Thanksgiving with these people, a time when Annie had been PARTICULARLY freak-out-for-no-reason tricky. And yet, the offer was on the table. We had to go for it.

We had a wonderful time.

I took 5 pictures. I think that's how it should be. Pictures, schmictures. What will I remember more than pictures? The quiet. The peacefulness. The deep breaths. And of course, the food.

We went to Lido Key, just past Sarasota. We stayed in this funky little place called the Gulf Beach Resort Motel. Note: emphasis on "motel," not so much "resort." The place was straight out of the movie "Cars," having hailed its original fame and popularity from the 1950s, when families first started "road tripping" to the Florida beaches. It rocked.

Look, it even had signage.

And it's amazing what life experience will do to your perspective. The quaint little space was complete with a bathroom that more-than-closely matched our upstairs Corry village one, except that it had actually been cleaned properly and regularly for the past 60 years. Instead of wrinkling our noses to this "vintage" feature (as we would have pre-florida, pre-corry), we enthusiastically noted every detail. "Look how the grout is so CLEAN! And the sink, hot water actually comes out easily! Come, see!"

Hee hee. I love Corry.

Anyway, it really was RIGHT on the beach. We took one hundred steps or less and there it was, paradise, complete with peach and white striped lawn chairs. We parked the car and walked directly to the ocean. Sigh. Happiness and a half.

(This picture may or may not actually be from the next day, at a different location. But you get the picture.)

Other highlights of the trip: dinner at The Columbia. Hot chocolate and fudge at some fantastic treat shop. Walking home on the beach and seeing an amish family complete with bonnets and suspenders equipped with headlamps, jumping around in the waves, searching in the dark for crabs (you KNOW I wanted to take a picture of that!). Searching to no avail for a Publix, asking directions, and finding out how close yet how far we'd been (we miss the boat). The cold and wet morning on Anna Maria Island, reminding us of the Puget Sound and our many happy moments together there (did we have any idea then Florida was in our future? In ten more years, where in the world will we be?). Walking on the beach in our fleece jackets and beanies, giggling sadly for the other beach goers trying to tough it out in their teeny bathing suits. Finding beautiful shells to take home to our babies. Cheesecake, to end the adventure.

As the new year begins, we are realizing more and more how close we are to the end of this chapter of our combined life adventure. It, like the others, has been a trying yet fantastic chapter. And we still have six months to go. Hold my horses. Enjoy the sunsets.

We really needed some time away. St. Pete friends, we're yours forever. Especially after Annie threw up at breakfast that last morning at your house.

Happy tenth, super Brandon.

2011-12-25T16:12:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone. May Jesus have a great birthday, as Annie's been praying for weeks.

Christmas Eve Crisis

2011-12-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning to a wailing Annie.

"MOM, I LOST JESUS!"

"What? Annie, what are you talking about? Where did you lose Jesus?"

"UNDER THE FRIDGE MOM! I LOST JESUS UNDER THE FRIDGE!"

And so it was. Baby Jesus the magnet had somehow slipped down the fridge and into the abyss. We got on our hands and knees (both parents, and Brandon has bad knees!). We dug through the fluff and fur of the underworld down there. No baby Jesus.

Annie was beside herself. "NOW MARY WON'T HAVE A BABY FOR CHRISTMAS!"

Thankfully, the artist in her was calling.

"Annie, what if we MADE another baby Jesus?"

"You mean, I could MAKE another baby for Mary? And I could write Annie too?"

And so it was done. All better.

One other Christmas Annie-ism: "Ho-Santa, ho-santa! Oh let us gladly sing. How blessed that our Lord was born, let earth receive her keen!"

2011 Choir Christmas Program

2011-12-19T06:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our choir's Christmas program. I thought it would be nice to include it here, for future reference. If you read and listen along (sorry, some of the formatting is weird on the blog), just pretend our choir sounded as good as the musicians you hear. :) We came pretty close, after all.

In all seriousness, being choir director to these wonderful folks here has been the highlight of my year. It's been really fun to feel their trust in me and their willingness to change their notions of good singing for me. As a result, the sound was something I was genuinely taken by, week after week. They did a wonderful, wonderful job yesterday. I'm so thankful to be at the helm.

ps--If you're really not interested in all this music business, you still HAVE to scroll down and listen to "What Sweeter Music." And you have to listen at least 3 times. And then you will be happy.

****

2011 Choir Christmas Program: Jesus Christ--Prophesies, Witnesses, Testimonies

Narrator: Helaman14:1-3, 5-8

And now it came to passthat Samuel, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more things which cannotbe written. And behold, he said unto them: Behold, I give unto you a sign; forfive years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem allthose who shall believe on his name. And behold, this will I give unto you fora sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights inheaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness,insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day. Andbehold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; andthis also shall be a sign unto you. And it shall come to pass that whosoevershall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.

Primary: Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus (pg. 36) (picture my kids singing this--Zane front and center, first with his fist at his chin like the Thinker, then later with big smiles, like he's telling you the coolest thing in the world. And picture Annie singing from the front row in her pop's lap, due to someone telling her not to come up too early, her freaking out, then her saying, "oh------kay" in her sweet way and at least coming up to the front row. progress, and her pops got a personal performance.)

Narrator: Micah 5:2

But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me thatis to be ruler in Israel; whose goingsforth have been from of old, fromeverlasting.

Congregation: O Little Town of Bethlehem (Hymn 208)

Narrator: Mosiah3:2-3, 5, 8

Andthe things which I shall tell you are made known unto me by an angel from God.And he said unto me: Awake; and I awoke, and behold he stood before me. And hesaid unto me: Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee; for behold, Iam come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy. For behold, the timecometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent whoreigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come downfrom heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay,and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing thesick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive theirsight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases. And he shall becalled Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, theCreator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.

Narrator: Isaiah11:1-5

And there shall come fortha rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: Andthe spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom andunderstanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and ofthe fear of the Lord; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear ofthe Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reproveafter the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: And righteousness shall bethe girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

Narrator: 2Corinthians 4:6 ForGod, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in ourhearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God inthe face of Jesus Christ.

Choir: Lo’ How a Rose E’er Blooming (first 2:30)

Narrator:Luke 1: 26-35 Andin the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee,named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of thehouse of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel camein unto her, and said, Hail, thou that arthighly favoured, the Lord is withthee: blessed art thou amongwomen. And when she saw him, shewas troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation thisshould be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast foundfavour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring fortha son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be calledthe Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of hisfather David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of hiskingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall thisbe, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The HolyGhost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called theSon of God.

Narrator: Luke 2:1-7

And it came to pass inthose days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all theworld should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa,unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the houseand lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being greatwith child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days wereaccomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstbornson, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; becausethere was no room for them in the inn.

Congregation: Once in Royal David’s City (Hymn 205)

Choir: Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine (This is a wonderful video coupling too.)

Narrator: Luke 2:8-20

And there were in the samecountry shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock bynight. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lordshone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said untothem, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shallbe to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,which is Christ the Lord. And this shall bea sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying ina manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenlyhost praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away fromthem into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even untoBethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath madeknown unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and thebabe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was toldthem concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by theshepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifyingand praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it wastold unto them.

Choir: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks This link isn't working today, but you can see the sheet music there, and the link has worked in the past, so I'll hope to pops up again soon. We did a better job than these guys anyway. :) we sounded like real singers.

Narrator: Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11

Nowwhen Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king,behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is hethat is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and arecome to worship him. And, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went beforethem, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw thestar, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into thehouse, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, andworshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented untohim gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Congregation: With Wondering Awe (Hymn 210)

Narrator: Mosiah 4:7-9

I say, that this is theman who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from thefoundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall ofAdam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world. Andthis is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvationsave this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions wherebyman can be saved except the conditions which I have told you. Believe in God;believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and inearth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and inearth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord cancomprehend.

Narrator: 2Nephi 22:2-6 Behold,God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah ismy strength and my song; he also has become my salvation. Therefore, with joyshall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall yesay: Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people,make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord; for he hath doneexcellent things; this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thouinhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

Choir: What Sweeter Music (I melt)

Narrator: Doctrineand Covenants 76: 22-24

And now, after the manytestimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all,which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the righthand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begottenof the Father—That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and werecreated, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.

Choir: The First Noel

Narrator: Isaiah25:9

And it shall be said inthat day, Lo, this is our God; we havewaited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be gladand rejoice in his salvation.

Narrator: Mosiah15:28-31

And now I say unto youthat the time shall come that the salvation of the Lord shall be declared toevery nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Yea, Lord, thy watchmen shall liftup their voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eyeto eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, singtogether, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people,he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes ofall the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of ourGod.

Congregation (closing song): Oh Come, All Ye Faithful (Hymn202)

Black and white happy

2011-12-16T06:53:00.000-08:00

It's funny what these kinds of pictures do to us. We sit around and gawk at our beautiful children.

We squeal at the dimple on the one and the new, BIG top front teeth on the other (so glad the gap is still present!).

In short, we marvel at their perfectness.

And then we remember that they are the same kids who drive us completely bonkers on a daily basis.

Kids! Go play somewhere that isn't in here! We need a break from you! GO AWAY!

And they run away giggling. And no giggling!

A few minutes later, we hear #2 tell #1 "Zane, unpause the game, I got hurt!" And because of a recent, genius story from his pops about "turning down the waves" in the wave pool for the junior jedi (I'll have to expound later), #1 waits patiently for the game to get un-unpaused.

I'm so grateful for these wonderful pictures. :) And these radical children.
(Look, #1 is missing his left hand in the shot below. Zane!)

This week, through a series of unfortunate events (and because let's face it, he was on to us), Z got to be educated about the Santa secret. B did it during "Super Man Time" on the way home from Legoland. Z thought for a minute, then said, "Hmm. That makes sense. So do you guys go up and down the chimney or something?"

Then after a few minutes of silence, he told B, "Dad, thanks for telling me about Santa. Now I won't be so greedy." I weep.

Back with More Magic

2011-12-12T10:29:00.000-08:00

And these aren't even the ones for the Christmas card.

We {heart} camilynne photography.

More soon (you know I can't resist).

Look who's back on the horse (I mean tennis court)

2011-12-07T13:19:00.001-08:00

She teaches me things, this little one. We can do hard things, mama. Ants, schmants, mama.

Pink sparkly shoes rule, mama.

Do it just like this, mama. That's right, mama. Maybe someday you'll be as good as me, mama.

As I reflect a little on this year (Young Women in Excellence tonight at church), I am beginning to realize a gradual change that's been happening between me and this little girl. I think we're actually friends now.

Wow, when did I ever think I'd say that?

For instance, she'll come into the room and say in a sly voice, "Mom, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I'm in the club, folks.

Annie, what a woman you are. Congratulations on overcoming your fears and going back to tennis. Thanks for giving me a chance, day after day.

I'll forget the imperfect if you will.

(And friend Jake, thank you for capturing this little girl in a magical way I can only dream about at night. You rock.)

Me and the leaves

2011-12-04T18:40:00.001-08:00

I can't seem to get enough of them lately. Maybe it's because they are so unassuming. The trees just simply exist, dinky little things that have been planted here and there around our village. All year I don't notice them much, then BAM! the leaves turn (and the sun goes down) and they can't help but bring attention to themselves.

Can you see why I couldn't pass these up? They're hearts, after all.

Veiny, brown-edged, messages of love (and because it's December now, peace and joy too) clinging to the trees for a few more tremendous days of beauty.

I have nothing very significant to say tonight. Only a few funnies, to go with the leaves.

First, Annie singing "A B C D E F G H R J K ENIMEN O P." What does it say about me that I hope she never sings it correctly? (It drives her brother CRAZY. "it's not HRJK!!!")

Next, our hall decking tonight (you know, "deck the halls (or in our case, teeny tiny apartment)"). Within 30 seconds of "go," Zane had dropped a nativity camel, breaking its neck clear through, CRACK! "OOOOWWWWHHH!" he cried out. "I'm SO SORRY." Not five minutes later, the angel was also dropped (onto the piano, ouch), legs also broken clean off. "OOOOWWWWHH NOOOOHHH!!" Sigh. Between his accidents and Annie's firm opinions about which ornaments could ONLY be touched by HER, we had a really great time. :)

Back to the lovely leaves, please. Anyone want to try and form a metaphor here? You are loved? You gotta cherish it?

Oh, I've got one.

Life (and all its lashings) makes one more mighty than one can imagine. Weathered is the new beautiful.

Happy December.

Thanksgiving 2011 (and 4 or so other random happenings too)

2011-11-28T17:55:00.001-08:00

So, thanksgiving! Came! Went! I'd better start documenting the moments again, wouldn't you say? Even if I never did take pictures of our 2011 thankful tree? Or our 2011 reverent tree? Or the irreverent one? Next time, people.

For now, let's remember some of the best moments of the last couple of weeks.

Zane's been playing tennis this fall. When I asked him to pose for a picture, this is what I got:

So what I'm saying is he's really a ninja disguised as a tennis player. He's had a great (read: cheerfully patient) teacher (below), and he and his buddy have gotten better and better at it. Three cheers for no-contact sports!

Annie has also found a new love for tennis. Well, she had at least, until last week she came in too close of contact to this ant kingdom:

Yeah, she's done with tennis for awhile. :)

Speaking of critters that bring bad dreams, the other night I was walking down our hallway, and I spotted THIS beast:

Ugh, I get the heebie jeebies just looking at it. It was about the size of a silver dollar, and when I finally got that wide-mouthed bowl over it, it did laps around the interior. Heebie. Jeebies. Zane and I gingerly scooted it outside (manilla envelope slid ever-so-carefully underneath) and when we got outside, Annie promptly locked us both out. "But mom, I was PROTECTING MYSELF!"

Yeah, she's done with spiders for awhile. :)

Onto more Zane and sports. I so appreciate this little boy, and his ability to LOVE the moment. That smile.

The other day after church, Zane was nowhere to be found. We had already retrieved him from class, but he had disappeared. After a few minutes, we found him "hiding" out in the corner. When I explained to him how he wasn't allowed to actively try and hide from us, he countered back with, "But mom, if I don't practice now, how can I ever become a ninja?"

What am I supposed to say to that?

Thanksgiving was spent with GREAT company, GREAT food (pumpkin scones, pumpkin cheesecake, french-style chicken in a pot, bacon and cauliflower, lamb and roasted vegetables, cranberry walnut bread, etc), and only 47 crazy insane temper tantrums by the famous miss Annie pants. Actually, I'm blaming it on her panties LITERALLY being in a twist the day of (darn her stubborn insistence on dressing herself). Even still, we've since tried to enforce a new "3 strikes you're out" policy. When the concept was first explained to her, she thought for a moment then said, "Um, no thank you!" Sigh.

We spent a PERFECT morning at the beach on black Friday (I'll take turquoise water and dolphins over shopping any day, thank you very much), and by perfect, know that both kids were complaining to the point of tears within 10 minutes of our arrival. The water was too cold. The sand toys were unacceptable. We threw out a couple "OTHER KIDS WOULD DIE FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY"s and "YOU'LL ENJOY THIS MORNING OR ELSE"s, and things slipped right into place. The warming water helped. And the sand angels. Got a picture of the sand angels around here somewhere (hint hint, friend with a camera? thought you could stall my blogging forever did you?)...another post. I've got to remember my own camera one of these days.

I came home wondering how we could live in such cramped quarters (3-level condos are immense) and how I could be such a dismal cook. Cleaned the house/rearranged the "pantry" to help with the first problem. Any advice on the second?

Oh, I've forgotten one thing. Thanksgiving weekend with the F-H family wouldn't be complete without a little strange cuisine mixed in, right?

That's right folks. Happy Thanksgiving 2011.

post script, vegetables, color coordination

2011-11-19T11:02:00.001-08:00

First, a note about my last post. Another reason to enjoy the moment: the next moment might involve falling face first off the swing.

Just sayin'.

Okay, onto today's post. Have you ever thought you knew everything about something, then new knowledge appears before you and you realize you know nothing, in fact? Okay, so really, I don't know everything about most things. But I DO know almost everything about one thing: GREEN BEANS. they are green, they are beans. pole or bush. good steamed with butter. done.

Now, enter our neighbor from Suriname He is a great neighbor, and even luckier for us, a GREAT farmer. A couple of days ago he knocked on the door and handed us these:

What in the world are THOSE? We asked.

Long beans.

Long beans?

Yeah, they're like green beans, but long.

:) Holy deena. Never heard of long beans in my whole life. Turns out, they're also great steamed with butter.

***

Thursday night I accompanied a gal for her masters vocal recital. It was intense. I will have to get into it another day. Hopefully I will even be able to include youtube proof. In the meantime, I'm so crazy glad it's over. Now I can move onto more exciting things, like sewing projects! :)

I saw these drawstring bags on my favorite blog. I have been wanting to use my girl-on-a-swing fabric for awhile, and this was a great excuse. Plus, we have thousands of toys that need hiding. I told Annie was I going to make her eight more of these.

MOM, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

(ps--go gators, and she did it herself this morning, I promise.)

And here's the start of my next quilt, just because I can. Also from my favorite blog. I love that Vermont lady.

Long beans, who knew?

A fall afternoon

2011-11-15T05:54:00.001-08:00

Moments are fleeting. The other day I was out with swinging Annie, and I noticed the leaves were all falling off our one colorful tree. Falling, falling, falling. Ack! I must document this, I thought! Surely it will be easy enough to capture all those falling leaves.

Uh, yeah, not so much. So instead, we look at the ones already fallen, and the few yet to fall. This moment fleeting and yet somehow, captured.
Thank heavens for imperfect yet sufficient attempts.

I'm not making any sense, am I? :)

These colorful trees hide themselves among the others throughout the year, then POP out (SURPRISE!) for a week or two in brilliant yellows and oranges. It's almost better that way, because of the contrast. You really notice/appreciate the difference.

I have finally figured out why I wanted to write about this today. We are under water over here, applying and applying and applying for jobs, trying to figure out which is the right direction for us, for THE REST OF OUR LIVES. It's more than a bit daunting. And it really pulls us out of "today."

But on this particular day outside with Annie, it was as if the trees were lecturing me. Don't forget about today Michelle. This hour, this minute. Who cares about next August? Tomorrow, the leaves will all be gone.

Pause, look, enjoy.

Annie already knows all about this. She's the one who asked me to come out and swing, after all.

Silly mom, needing trees to remind her how awesome warm, autumn afternoons are.

ginormous bag part deux

2011-11-10T15:39:00.001-08:00

My little sister is 17 today, guys. Can you even believe it? Another mammoth-sized bag was in order.

Em helped me pick out this fabric over the summer, and I found some thin brown corduroy for the lining. Added some extra cushion (I hope) in the shoulder, as she will use this to lug around all those school books.

Emily is the girl I wish I had been at 17. She's funny. She's kind. She doesn't think about boys every SINGLE second of the day (or at least she's better at denying it than I was). She is creative and artistic in ways I can only dream about (you should see her sketch in sacrament meeting--oh, and her pumpkin carving skills busted out Phineas this year and it was a dead match. I have only ever been able to do triangle eyes and a sad misshapen mouth). She is confident but goofy. She is loving and patient. And on and on and on. Plus, look at those hipster glasses. And that long shiny hair. And that long neck. :)

Bomb.

They won!

2011-11-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

Zane got to sit in the front row by two girls. He managed to last the whole game, and it only took popcorn, cotton candy, a pretzal, lemonade, and sherbet ice cream.

Go gators!

Beach day with Grandpa

2011-11-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Ross came to town! They claim it's for a certain homecoming football game tomorrow, but I know the real reason. I needed {another} beach day. And Dale is very good at keeping his daughter-in-law happy. He arrived last night and within twelve hours we were able to whisk ourselves away to Crescent. Big, happy sighs.

Zane was set on boogie boarding. Except when we arrived, it was 68 degrees. Make that more like 50 with the wind blowing. And the wind was BLOWING.

We ate lunch in the sun of the picnic tables, the kids complained of being "freezing," then Zane remembered the boogie boarding and took off toward the beach. I caught him here looking longingly:

Sweet buddy. Even Florida gets too cold sometimes. (I seem to forget that, as I keep dragging us there in the winter months.)

We started by suggesting a nice walk down the DESERTED beach (empty!), but it only took Zane about one minute before he had to check the water temperature.

He got soaked.

Annie was smarter. She enjoyed many warm moments in the BOB, then took her turn at kite flying.

This made her very happy.

Heather, your kite is remarkable. It's something we would have never bought, yet it is the awesomist beach activity ever. You've saved our family yet again. Thank you! Everyone else--Mary Poppins was right, let's go fly a kite!

(Love this kid and his closed eyed, looking straight into the sun agreeableness.)

Actually, you don't need a kite. Just come.

So guess what, Zane still went boogie boarding. All by himself too, as the rest of us weren't crazy enough to follow him in. He caught about five waves, "woo-hoo"ing each time like only a seven-yr-old-in-heaven can do, then came in chattering like crazypants. Clothes on Zane! Bless his heart, he stayed away from the water after that.

We all got a little inspiration in the form this little beach bird. Look, he only had one leg. Well, he had two legs. But he only had one foot. That's a strong little beach bird foot right there.

Oh, and what about this three-segmented-sea-something? It hinged on both ends of that middle piece.

I was capturing this little daddy-daughter moment:

when all of the sudden, the tide came IN!

Ha! The joke was on us. That sneaky beach.

After a second soaking, Zane was ready to peace out for the day. Annie, not so much. So, I left the big boys with the sand castle queen and ventured back to the car for some dry clothes and 'clone wars.' Annie would still be there digging if we would let her. Luckily, someone mentioned gelato and a transition was easily made.

Speaking of gelato: while enjoying her mango/grapefruit/chocolate peanut butter combination, Annie said, "You know what? (then pointing to each of us) 1-2-3-4-FIVE (to grandpa) is BETTER than 4!" Grandpa Ross is IN the club.

What a wonderfully wonderful day. Note to self: Zane needs a wetsuit!

***

Today's happiness was dedicated to my family-in-Utah's cat, Frank, who passed away today. We think he was about 13 years old! (Christen, I think you brought him from Utah for Joseph's mission farewell). Frank (I found a good picture in this post) was a kitty who TRULY lived up to the adage of cats having nine lives. He almost left us a number of times, in a number of ways. But he always managed to come back from being lost, to snap out of sickness, to heal from various fight wounds, and to continue to be a loyal friend to all of us. He "spoke" instead of meowing, he had the coldest nose possible (and he knew how to use it at 5 in the morning), and he was just plain rad.

My very favorite story of Frank is this: He had been lost for 10 days. My family was losing hope. One night, Brandon and I had just broken up (we did that a lot) and he was dropping me off in my driveway. Brandon + breaking up = not happy Brandon. :) (Brandon just told me I had broken up with him, hence the sadness.) So we're saying goodbye, and Brandon sullenly looks up and says, "Hey, isn't that your cat?" I look out and there, waltzing up the driveway, was FRANK. "FRANK! FRANK! Brandon, you're RIGHT, it's FRANK! Oh Brandon, my family is going to be so happy! FRANK IS BACK! See you later Brandon, I have to go and tell everyone the good news!" I jumped out of the car, scooped up the cat, and ran inside. And apparently Brandon drove away. :) Oh, that was a happy night. And Brandon was the hero, and look! now he's a member of the family too. :)

Anyway, Frankie, rest in peace. Best. Kitty. Ever.

***

Halloween Happiness 2011

2011-11-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

We were themed. Oh, were we ever themed. And by themed I mean everyone wore something awesome to the ward party except me. Because let's face it, I'm boring. Plus, we'd spent the day in Orlando and I wasn't in the mood to put on all the make-up needed to transform myself into Padme.

Besides, Padme didn't have the awesome "Luke, I am your father" line that Vader had. Brandon just couldn't resist.

You already know about the Leia costume happiness.

Then Monday night, our village had its annual party (not as great without you at the helm, Megan, but still good for the little kids), so we invited a friend/family for each kid, and were off.

Don't look now, but Zane turned to the dark side.

(Note: the rest of these pictures were taken by our Jedi friend's dad. Awesome. Thank you, J!)

We finally snuck Annie in for a shot, but she was done with pictures by then.

"Mom, please we go home now and I sleep in my bed?" Actually, that quote happened Saturday night. Monday night, she was tired of pictures, but was all about the trick or treating that came next. In fact, she got very upset with her pops when he later gave away some of her candy to tardy trick or treaters. "Next Halloween, we don't share with ANYBODY." I'm so thankful for the lessons these kinds of holidays teach my children.

Payne's Prairie in October

2011-10-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

Today was a school holiday/teacher's work day (What exactly is a teacher's work day? Isn't every day a teacher's work day? Poor teachers!) so we started the day by taking some new friends to Payne's Prairie. (HB, we went in your honor.)

It was an eerie, October-y kind of day. We went in search of alligators, but there was so much overgrowth, we couldn't see many more than those out in the water. So, we were left to discover other creatures, like this "mini-bat" (aka chrysalis). Ooo, cool. Then, my friend spotted the fellow on the right (hidden in what used to look like this [scroll down to the sunning gators]. Actually, a comparison from all those pictures to what we saw today was crazy pants):

Did you catch him? Here's another peek:

Well hello, Mr. Very Large Alligator. We will obey the signs and keep moving.

Annie kept saying, "I got a bad feeling about this, guys."

She was right too, because it wasn't just the alligators we were going to spot. Turns out, there are BISON in the Florida prairie.

Bison?! Where are we? After the first glance, Annie was sure we were in for it. We told her Bison don't like BOBs, so she was all good in the stroller. Another point for the BOB.

The bigger boys ran us all the way to the end of the line, where you hike up a flight of stairs and get to look out at the expanse. We westerners (Brandon) live for these vistas. B, this one's for you.

One little family shot proved Annie height stat from her 4-year well child check-up last week (90%!) which means I need to sit up a little taller next time.

We headed back with much excitement (Zane) and even more trepidation (Annie). After all, we had to pass by those bison again.

We were blessed with more wildlife on the way back, causing Zane to exclaim: "First alligators, then fuzzy caterpillars, what's next, pink flamingos?!" Maybe next time, Z.

Happy, swampy morning.

And tonight in her prayer, Annie said, "The good thing is, we didn't get chomped by alligators or eaten by bison." Phew. Glad to deliver on those, my freaked out Annie-girl.

Leia costume, check

2011-10-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

Annie was going to be minnie mouse for Halloween, same as last year. Or maybe a kitty, because there was a kitty-ear headband at Target.

Then a friend called, asking if I thought a Leia costume might be something I could bust out.

It's nice to do things you didn't know you could do yesterday.

The outfit is quite appropriate, as Annie can often currently be heard singing, "Dun dun dun, dun-DAH dun, dun-DAH dun."

A few other funnies to remember from this week.

Zane came home from school and was telling me how he'd received a treat from the 'desk fairy.' He said, "Yeah, my teacher said it was the desk fairy, but I know it was really just her. Besides, everyone knows that the only real fairy is the TOOTH fairy."

We were listening to the latest Narnia book in the car (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), and at one point, the author was describing a little boy who had just turned into a dragon and was looking for something to eat. He said something like, "If this boy were like other children, and had known anything about dragons, he would have known that a dragon's favorite meal is of course another dragon." Zane, listening from his seat, said, "Hmm," in a thoughtful manner. Seemed very awesome, as the author had just talked about what "normal" children know about the subject. Always learning, that Z.

Earlier this week, he asked me how one would draw something (a square) on a page and use other shapes (like triangles) to have it poke out like a picture "coming toward you." I smiled, then directed him to his engineer-of-a-pops, who gave him his first lesson in 3-D drawing.

Finally, Zane has replaced "I know" with "good point" as his default phrase in life. I am a very happy mama. Now if only Annie would stop covering her ears when I try and tell her anything.

Annie got her beach day..

2011-10-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

And the rest of us had a fantastic day too.

(Zane is below in the red, flying that kite that looks like a UFO.)

Thanks, St. Pete friends. Beach day + orchestra in the park for dinner with homemade calzones + gelato, all in one day?

Heavens.

Annie's faked birthday (that sounds bad, doesn't it?)

2011-10-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Brandon was going to be out of town for Annie's real birthday. Dang those bi-annual academic conferences (he thinks this will likely be a pattern for mid-October). Therefore, we planned an alternative "birthday" at the beach, which was supposed to happen last weekend.
IT WAS GOING TO BE SO AWESOME.

Then we woke up Saturday morning and it was raining on the entire state of Florida. Boo. No beach day.
And if any of you know me, you know I'm not exactly good at spontaneous fun.

Thank heavens for now-four-year-olds. "We can just make party hats have a party and open presents, mom!" You're going to love these hats we came up with:

Oh, I love my kids. Did it matter that we used Christmas wrapping? NO!
Did it matter that my idea of a homemade hat is somewhere between a dunce cap and the kkk? NO! (Are you allowed to write kkk on mommy blogs?)

Oh, I love those kids.

After presents, we jogged/biked to the store for cupcakes (GATOR BLUE AND ORANGE, Annie's choice) and other supplies, and got home within moments of a downpour that lasted a good couple of hours. It was those party hats, I know it. The rain gods chuckled and had mercy on us.

Next, we ate cupcakes. Enough said about that.

(Did it matter that her party dress is my sister Emily's from ten years ago, with rips and all? NO!)

Can you tell Annie's favorite part of the cupcake?

It took her 40 minutes to lick off all that blue frosting. Gross and a half.

After the rain cleared, we snuck outside for some kite flying. We had neighbor boys out flying with us, 3 kites in all, but it's Annie's birthday post, so I'm focusing on her happiness this time.

This might have been the happiest moment of her day. Thank you 60 cent party favor kites from another birthday party the weekend before. Amazingly functional. So fantastic.

So that was her day. We watched movies and play games (and Zane made sure to add "actually it's not" any time we mentioned that it was her birthday, poor guy's he's too honest for his own good), and were just so thankful to be dry. We're saving the beach party for another weekend.

***

Since Saturday, Annie has received fun boxes in the mail from multiple nice people. Here she is with some of her favorite new treats:

She puts the play dough away by HERSELF, can you believe it? I think this is going to be a really great year.

And finally:

Do I even need to say it, Mrs. Potato Head has joined the family. Could you tell?

Thank you to all of you who called on her real birthday, only to have her say, "It's not my birthday!" We'll warn you next year.

O D E F O

2011-10-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend during conference, I decided to undertake one of my "blog sidebar projects." After all, those projects have only been sitting there for over a year or so, right? No time like the present?

Annie's getting more interested in her ABCs, and our Thomas the Train alphabet puzzles were not cutting it. Apparently if you're not an obsessed fan (meaning you don't know the difference between Clarabel and Henry and Edward and on and on), using it to learn your ABCs isn't very effective. "Who is this, Annie?" "It's another train, mom!"

Anyway, I decided to dig in and make these plush alphabet magnets. Print out stencils, cut stencils, organize fabric (color spectrum, yay!), cut fabric, cut batting, trace stencil, sew letter (don't forget the magnets inside!), cut letter, apply fray block. Easy peasy! Plus, there's 8+ hours of Conference to enjoy!

Then Conference was suddenly over and they weren't done. I read down and saw that they took this gal about 3 hours to make. That was after I had spent 10+ hours on them, and was only on P. Sure, I had made things way harder for myself because I noticed that with many letters, more than one would fit on the square provided. Waste not want not = double the workload, michelle, great job! This is why it took me 10 more days to post about them. They may or may not have finally been finished yesterday.

Red, pink, orange, yellow, green, teal, blue, purple. Repeat.

Side note: I was showing Zane that we could use these letters for more than just learning the alphabet, for instance, piano practicing and C position.

"Look!" I said. "C D E F G!" He glanced at it and said, "Too bad it looks like O D E F O."

Ouch! Honesty hurts Zane, haven't you learned that yet?

Hey Capoeira!

2011-10-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever in your life heard of capoeira? I hadn't. Brandon sent along a message a couple weeks ago from our village announcing a capoeira class for the kiddies, and I of course dragged my feet. Leave our house, do we have to? Boy am I ever glad I got talked into it.

It is really cool. Singing, dancing, martial arts, and gymnastics all in one cohesive structure. Or at least as cohesive as it gets with a group of googly kids.

Not to mention the instructor is really fun to watch. And REALLY great with the kids. Annie is mortified of him, but does all the moves by me (handstands, back bends, leg-ups, etc) on the sideline. And when we saw the instructor at Chipotle last week, she whispered excitedly, "THERE'S MY TEACHER!!!!"

Zane is in heaven. The smile does not come off, the entire 60 minutes each week.

I need to try again with the pictures--my skills with the shade/lighting were really terrible.

But let's not concentrate on that right now. Instead, let's be Zane:

Sigh.

skushed

2011-10-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

Another thing Annie says right now is "skushed." Rhymes with "pushed."

As in, "Mom, be careful, you almost skushed my bah bah guy!"

Speaking of baa baa, he has a new friend: pah pah! Okay, so we've had him since summertime. Still, he's important.

Annie is so animated lately. We play 'go fish' and she says "do you have the saggy baggy elephant?" then when I give it to her, she screams and shakes her arms, "THE SAGGY BAGGY ELEPHANT! I GOT A MATCH!!" Then it's my turn and I ask for the pokey little puppy. She smirks (think duck-face) and says, "no--I mean GO FISH!" And on and on. And when it's over: "Oh, I just LOVE 'go fish!' It's my FAVORITE. GAME. EVER!"

Glad I can do more than just almost skush her bah bah guy. Annie, you are my FAVORITE. GIRL. EVER.

Fall Festival 2011

2011-10-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

Friday night was Zane's school party. We only had eight other things to do that day.

Easy peasy lemon skeezy, as Annie would say.

Plus, I somehow signed up to "help" with the cotton candy booth. So I had to let Brandon loose with Annie, and Zane found some wonderful friends to chill with.

About 40 minutes later a replacement for me showed up (thank you faulty popcorn maker! instant double volunteers!), so I was able to join the fun. And by fun I mean I had to pry Z away from his friends, make him eat a fast dinner, then bust it around trying to use up his tickets because I had to be somewhere 17 minutes later. Friday was too busy. Zane was a good sport. Some pictures here to compare with last year:

Hurry Z, hurry!! Here he is with that fantastic friend...

Although if you're ever at my house, you're more likely to see them like this:

I love how Vader is so obedient to my "look over here!" in the dueling picture. Well hello, Vader.

Sorry, back to the festival. Z had much success at the ring toss, but he loved the bounce house most. In fact, in the spring I think I'm going to let him use all his tickets on the bounce house. Or at least I'm not going to plan other things before and after the festival, so he can actually enjoy himself meandering slowly through the other booths. There was no time to wait in the cotton candy line. Ironic, since I had been in contact with cotton candy for much of the evening.

Many of you know about the infamous "S" from his kindergarten class. Rhymes with "kadie." Well, early in the night, she and a couple other gals found Z and his friend and completely mobbed them. Hugest grins ever, from both attackers and attackees. When Brandon asked Zane what that was all about, he said, "Well, for one reason, they did it because I'm so cute."

So cute.

About the time that the ring toss was over, Annie showed up looking like this. She had seen Albert, and immediately declared, "I don't like him. Please we go home now?"

So away they went. We followed shortly thereafter.

Hey, here's proof that I had good reason to rush the kids at the festival. The gal below me in pink turned 13! Party! I would name each of these women and tell you incredible things about them, but then they might stop sending me pictures of our festivities. Just know they are rockstars and it was a radical evening with them. We watched "Soul Surfer" and all the grownups bawled through the whole thing.

The young ones think we're so goofy.

And apparently, while I was away my young one got to stay up and watch Clone Wars with his dad after his little sister went to sleep. The day was thus remembered as a good one. :) Phew.

Today was much more chill. Thank you, General Conference. Peace out!

Friends, Jazz Music, Happiness

2011-09-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hello friends. Today is a "super shout out to my friend Emily Asher" day. Emily and I met in Seattle, and together we battled the music education scene (aka music geeks) at UW, during which she got me a rad rad summer job at willy s, I tutored her a teeny bit in math, and she introduced me to the pleasure of eating fresh, local fruits and veggies. She also helped create in me an addiction to Trader Joe's, but that wasn't until later in our friendship. She has played conference bingo with us (coming up again this weekend, Em, just in case you want to join in!), we've roamed the mountains of Idaho/Wyoming together (not intentionally, but fun none the less) and she even helped me miss the boat once, as remembered in this post.

She is a rock star now, having foraged her way through the "difficult does not even begin to describe it" jazz music scene in NYC (remember this? I'm bouncing to "some of these days" and "gloryland" at the moment. these guys are so cool), and is in the midst of recording her debut album as a band leader. She recently told me about a great way to hear her music and support her cause, and I wanted to share it with the rest of you, because she is so wonderful.

Here is Emily's CD KICKSTART page (great picture of her!). Watch her fun video, then contribute if you can. I love that digital copies of the tracks will be given to you if you contribute $10+. Those of you with little kids at home will especially dig dancing with your little ones to this "happy jazz." In fact, after "quiet, alone" (a quote from me) time yesterday, Annie came out and asked, "Can we have loud, TOGETHER time now mom?" Emily's music would have been just the ticket.

Thanks everyone. Go Emily! :)

Positive Thinking

2011-09-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

We were in the car today, discussing Annie's upcoming birthday.
Annie asks, "And when I have a birthday, I can change car seats, right mom?"
"Yes, Annie, you get to switch to a booster seat!" I say, feigning excitement.
"You mean my old booster seat?" Zane asked. We just switched him to a backless booster last week.
"Yes, your AWESOME old booster seat," I reply.
"Actually, it's not that awesome." Zane mutters to himself.
I react: "Zane, I really need you to start being more positive about things."
He replies, "But mom, I AM being positive! I am POSITIVE that booster seat is NOT THAT AWESOME!"

See Michelle, he IS being positive. Sigh.

The other best part of the ride home today: Zombie Annie (head resting sideways on the seat, eyes glazed over) rockin' some air violin to Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida.' She was TIRED, yet extremely committed. She loves the violin part.

Passed by an alligator on my run this morning, and other things

2011-09-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Actually, that happened a few days ago, but I didn't want to upset my mother-in-law on her birthday.

Foggy morning, BRIGHT ORANGE BALL OF FIRE saying 'you go girl,' and an alligator. Pretty awesome.

So, on a run since then, I realized a weird thing about me. I like to run to a beat (not weird), and I noticed I always run so my RIGHT foot is on the downbeat. You know, my right foot/side that always gives me issues with IT band stuff. I noticed the pattern 3/4 of the way through the run, and for the rest of the time, I tried to switch to the left side. Guess what, it felt REALLY WEIRD. Could this be part of the problem? Wouldn't that be crazypants if it were? Makes me want to go out again and see. But not until tomorrow, at least. :)

Next: yesterday, I was commuting by bike to a vocal class I was accompanying for, and Brandon and I passed on the street. I had the bike with the newly hooked up bike trailer (a new tradition for me and annie and tuesdays, and you better believe you'll have to hear about it/see pictures another time), and I'm sure I was looking heavily laden. "Michelle! You wanna switch bikes?" Bless that Brandon. For switching bikes, and for having the same-lengthed legs as his wife. And bless this life we lead, where we can commute by bike. I {heart} huffing and puffing.

Finally, I just got a new oven. A burner was out on the old one, I filled out a maintenance request, and now I have a {free} new replacement. I'm really going to miss this student housing set-up. (PS--I only recently learned about this awesomeness--when we first moved here, I lived for months/maybe years with a duck-taped hole in my shower. I just thought they would get to it when they could get to it. Now, I speak up.)

Today is a pretty good day. :)

3-year old embroidery = happiness

2011-09-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Life these days includes a lot of Annie and me alone time.

Poor girlfriend never had a chance: she was going to learn to sew. Lucky for me, she seems to like it!

She's quite content to sit and poke, push and pull. Happy, that is, until I try and give direction of any sort, at which point she turns from happy into completely disgusted. "Just leave me alone mom! You're wasting my LIFE!" She's used that one on me more than once in the last few weeks.

After the first try at following lines, we decided dots would be easier. And just like that, bam! We have a snowflake. Or a constellation. Call it what you want, I call it COOL.

A few more cute things from Annie, because I realize I'm not documenting her every word as well as I did with Zane:

Today, we were discussing car seats. She wondered when 1) she was going to get to stop being in one and 2) when I was going to have to start being in one. "So, when you turn into a little girl, you will have my seat mom?" "mm-hmm." "Oh, and when I get to be a mom, I will marry my daddy, and I will sit up there mom?" "Exactly."

Recently, she was asking about my incessant habit of doing the dishes. "Why you call them dishes mom?" "Because that's what they are, lady." "No they're not! They're forks and spoons and knife-ehz and bowls!" It was funny coming out of her mouth.

Her speech is almost perfect (did I tell you we graduated from speech therapy?! WE GRADUATED FROM SPEECH THERAPY!), but she still adds a little "er" into her "ood"s (like rhymes with hood). "Cerd I go outside mom?" "You know what werd be gerd, mom?" "We cerd watch a little show while I'm crying, that cerd cheer me up, mom!" (She just said that, 2 seconds ago. I guess I cerd go and be a mommy now.) One more thing, she also says, "That werd be so COOL. SO cool!" I live for her comments. Even if I'm wasting her life.

Power to the embroidery! You know you want to come over and join us!

Seven

2011-09-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

Oh, seven. Seriously, how did that happen? Seven years ago today, Zane BURST into the world (no holding back, 2 hours of labor, done). Thankfully, today was much more calm than that [early] morning.

Except for when there were eleven children (+ 3 dads) in our front room. It's 150 square feet. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We were going to have a pool party (because let's face it, what's easier than a pool party?) but yesterday the forecast was saying RAIN and COLD for this morning. So, we took deep breaths, explained the situation to Zane, asked if we could hold a lego building/wii party instead, and laughed when he said, "Yeah, besides, THAT SOUNDS LIKE MORE FUN ANYWAY."

So even though we woke up to BLUE skies this morning (double deena to you, weather.com), plan B was in full swing, and over before lunchtime.

But I'm getting ahead of myself again. First, here's a funny. We woke up to Annie crying about 7:30. Brandon got up to see what was going on, and Zane squeaked out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just woke Annie up because I thought she'd want to wish me a happy birthday!" while Annie screamed, "I DON'T WANT TO BE AWAKE."

Awesome.

We vacuumed and blew up balloons (5, left over from who knows when), and our guests arrived at 9am and you'll never guess what but they had a blast. Thank you legos.

And thank you wii.

We also had ninja games and balloon games and to finish it all off, we ate THIS cake.

It was a surprise for Z (the idea came from a friend who's had an R2-D2 cake pan in the family for 30+ years, it was incredible, and the fancy frosting skillz came from another fancy friend..I am a lucky gal)

and when he saw it, he giggled, delightedly. "IT'S AN R2-D2 CAKE! HOW DID YOU EVER?!" Made my life.

We sat outside (had to move the table into the SHADE because of the heat. I was seriously in jeans and long sleeves-- I have forgotten where I live) and ate cake and ice cream at 10:46 am. Many happy children (besides maybe the little guy up front. :) I think he was watching an ant climb up the tablecloth en route to attack the cake. sure michelle.):

Later, Z revelled in his new gifts (including this homemade and completely radical JEDI costume):

Then his pops took him out for 'man time' while us gals napped. Birthday parties, they'll take it out of you. Especially when that cold that barely went away but has been haunting you comes creeping back.

Zane did not miss us, especially since when he got home, THIS was waiting:

I. cannot. believe. how. much. money. lego. sets. cost. Z has been saving his money since spring, so luckily I had his help with it. Still, good gracious.

He worked on it all afternoon until his final event of the day: gator football.

He just got home, and promptly went into his room and turned the light on. You know, in the room he shares with Annie now. He claims it was to see his beloved Garmadon's palace once more (he even seemed a little sheepish when he realized it); apparently, birthdays are all about waking your sister from her restful slumber. "I don't WANT TO BE AWAKE!"

Sigh. Did we make it? Is it over? Is he happy? Is he REALLY SEVEN YEARS OLD?

In Annie's prayers tonight, she talked all about Zane's party, then said, "And thank you my birthday party will be at the BEACH." She's onto something. Still, lego/wii parties are pretty rockin' too.

I'm not even going to make you guess where we spent the day

2011-09-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today was another lovely trip to my favorite place on the planet.

I just wrote up an extended paragraph on the history of me and "the beach." Boring. Instead, here is the fun:

Today's highlight? Body boards. Making today also known as THE BEST DAY OF ZANE'S LIFE.

At first, he needed his pops to give him a little push:

Then about 2 minutes later, it was on.

And on.

He just started catching waves. Paddling up, turning around, kicking, and catching, all the way in. Later that morning, he said to me, "A little more practice and I'll basically be a professional."

We are moving to the beach.

We by chance met up with some other G'ville-ians, making our day even that much more fun. Why surf alone when you can surf with a friend?

(Did I mention the waves were ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for body boarding today? Holy deena.)

(Love the above shot because of all the others I have to compare it to. Girlfriend's growing up!)

Good, good day.

Annie's current influences

2011-09-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

I never really got princess Aurora. Seriously, the gal was a bit wishy washy, was she not? Remember her interaction with the prince after they sang and danced as strangers? He says to her, "When can I see you again?" and she replies dismally, "Oh never! NEVER!" He tries again, "How about tomorrow?" And she says, "Oh no.....how about TONIGHT?!" hmm. Mixed messages, Briar Rose. Not sure I want my daughter hearing that message.

At least that's how I felt until I had a similar interaction with my own Briar Rose this morning:

"Annie, it's time for a shower!"

"No mom, I NEVER want to take a shower! Not till next YEAR MOM!"

"Okay, how about tomorrow then?"

"NO MOM.....I think TONIGHT!"

This influence might not be so bad after all.

Sure, the words "tomorrow" and "tonight" mean nothing to her, same as "in 5 minutes (right away)" verses "in 8 minutes (hours)." Still, I'm not sure I can dis AS vehemently.

And speaking of heavy princess influencing, Annie came to me this morning (just as I was thinking of writing this post--real time blogging folks!) and said, "Mom, I have a secret. I cut my hair. Like Tangled." Oh dear. Sure enough, at the base of her chin, there is shorter hair than there was yesterday. Goodness gracious, who knew preschool scissors were capable of such things? THANKS A LOT, TANGLED. (Luckily it was a mini-fistful. Em, remember when you cut your BANGS to the STUBS?)

Regardless: that's it, only Princess Leia and Xena the Warrior Princess for Annie from now on. Yes, I am aware of their wardrobes. We'll cross that bridge when it comes.

**She's doing math over lunch with her daddy. She keeps saying to him, "This is goin a blow your MIND." At least disney princesses aren't the only people she imitates. ***

Epilogue

2011-08-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ha! Brandon told me my last post was too negative. Too down in the dumps. He claims it wasn't that big of deal. Says it's good for a boy to test/find his limits sometimes. "Didn't you ever mess up in school?" he asks me. "Well, uh, no..." I reply. Then we laugh collectively at who we married.

What's more, he tells me that the "rhymes with beyonce" thing wasn't going to be enough to cheer us all up. :) drats.

Anyway, I sang Z a little of this song today while we were eating breakfast and scripturing (okay, so I only know the chorus, you know "it's a new day....it's a new day....it's a new day.." etc. I'll work on it.) and if nothing else I got some giggles from the little guy.

It's a new day.

ps-- will. i. am. is my secret boyfriend. Here's another favorite, brought again to my attention just lately. Too bad when I print out these blog posts into books, I can't bring the youtube videos along.

First Grade Highs and Lows

2011-08-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well, folks, we have some bad news. Z moved down the behavior chart today at school. He laughed too hard (read: loud) at a joke, apparently. 10 minutes on the wall at recess. He's sure he's a failure.

I'm a little heart broken for him. "I guess I'm going to know what getting on Orange (call home) or Red (move to the office) feels like now," he says. Kinda like, "Well, I WAS going to be successful in life, but now it's all over." Poor buddy.

I must admit, I feel a little like asking, "Seriously Mrs. 1st grade teacher? It's the second week of school, and you're already making them sit on the wall at recess? Recess is the only good thing ABOUT school at this age, don't you know? Plus, my kid is one of the nice ones, don't you know? DON'T YOU KNOW?!"

But alas, I'm trying to be a grown-up.

Don't be too alarmed, kind defenders of Zane, there's good news here and there too. For instance, the student teacher's last name rhymes with Beyonce. How lucky is that?

Any advice on how to let go? Zane thought we could just "go back to Gigi's house..."

picture on the left: heaven picture on the right:heaven + cat

a night at dave's

2011-08-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

This post should have come up before the 1st day of school's adventures. But Jedi mind tricks could not wait.

The night before the Stone Brother's reunion (Eric and Hayley, I think you had already headed up there by the time my camera came out), we had a lovely evening together with my mom's siblings at uncle Dave's house. Three cheers for uncle Dave's house! We had great pizza and salad, then enjoyed the sunset, and just being together. Very chill. Very nice.

Look at us girls and how we seem to not actually look much like our moms. Oh well, beauty comes in all forms! :)

Katie, if you have any other pictures from this night, send them my way (in all your spare time), I'll add them to the record.

Our sleepy 1st grade jedi master

2011-08-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

Here's our Zaneman, sleepy as can be yesterday at 6:56am (one minute earlier than usual!), ready for school. Can you believe that backpack? Goodness gracious.

The night before, in preparation for the new year ahead, Brandon was trying to teach Zane about how to deal with bullies. He was talking particularly about how Zane had the power to protect other people from being treated badly, by his words and actions. Brandon explained, "You know how Jedi are the protecters of the universe? Their first job is to keep the peace. They look out for the little guys. When someone is causing trouble, they go in and try to talk peace first. You can do that too!"

A lightbulb went off, then Zane said, "Oh, so you mean I should use Jedi mind tricks?"

The parents in the room smiled. "That's right Zane. Jedi mind tricks. Just use Jedi mind tricks on the bullies, and all will be well."

Thank you, Star Wars, for helping us teach life's lessons.

Stone Brother's Reunion 2011

2011-08-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

Our last weekend in Utah was spent with many of the people we love very most. In fact, it's the reason we stre- - - - -tch- - - - ed out our trip for so long. Hosts (cousin) Maria and (husband) Cory invite all up to a beautiful little cabin tucked up a certain canyon (oo, now it's a SECRET family party) for many hours/many meals/much fun spent together. It is a treat of a day, and something I look forward to all year. (Where else can you find out about how all those cousins (present and absent) are doing?)

This year proved no different. Hotcakes and smiling campers (some cousins are tougher than other cousins i.e. I slept in town on an aero bed) in the morning, sunshine and swimsuits (and starbursts) all day, too much good food and bridge jumping and the adventure of Val's lost flipflop and Nick's adventurous rescue (following uncle Dan's attempt to "fish" it out) in the afternoon , and *new this year* a wrap-up in the form of circle storytelling from the 5 brothers (in which I nearly wept because of the craziness and the silliness and the thoughts of my grandparents and this amazing family they raised).

Family, it was wonderful to be with you. Maria, thank you for pulling off something so amazing, AGAIN.

Here is the adventure, backwards, in photos. (I'm on a new [read: FABULOUS, thanks HB] computer and I don't know how to cut and paste like in the old days):

There's hope for our children

2011-08-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

This phone-photo is for all you folks out there who think we're no fun. Look carefully..

See, stars wars pancakes! We are fun! Sure, they were a gift, we never would have thought to get them ourselves, even with a crazed fan in the family. Still..our kids think we are out-of-this-world cool, and we can't help but agree with them.

ps--We are home! I'll do a bit of a backtrack or two post-wise, but from now on, when you think of us, include mossy trees, humidity, and student housing. except, include air-conditioning this time, because we moved downstairs, and our life is already exponentially better. oh, and also include the beach, because we've already been twice since we returned.

Mt. Timp Loop

2011-08-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my dad wanted to drive the Timpanogos loop. I'm always game for enjoying nature without actually getting out of the car, so we threw my kids in the car and set off.

Annie had had enough before we got to the Ranger station at the bottom of the mountain. You know, the one 10 minutes from my parents' house. "I want to go home. Where's Gigi?"

But we distracted her with made up names for trees and rocks and flowers, and windows rolled down, and counting kamakaze bikers. (wow, those people are brave. or foolish, can't decide which.)

Zane did pretty well too. (I don't think he could believe how CLOSE we were to the edge of a CLIFF! He kept saying my dad should steer the car RIGHT, so we could ROLLER COASTER down the mountain!), That is, until about 3/4ths of the way around, when he finally asked, "Hey, where are we going anyway? And when are we going to arrive wherever we're going?"

And that's when I had to break it to him that we had already passed where we were going, really (to see the old quakies, pictured below via drive by photographing), and now we were on our way home. We had already arrived, and he'd, well, he'd kinda missed it.

This did not go over well.

"What on earth? Why did we even COME if we didn't actually GET anywhere?"

This, added with Annie's car sicky "My tummy hurts guys! I want to go HOME! Where's Gigi?!," really made the trip awesome. :) It's like I always say: why have one kid crying when you can have TWO!?

Thank heavens for dvd players.

And for ginormous waterfalls at the mouth of Provo canyon. We arrived somewhere. We got out. Phew.

Thanks dad, for a lovely, uneventful ride! Glad we didn't roller coaster off the edge, thank you very much.

feeding the ducks

2011-08-05T09:22:00.001-07:00

One morning we snuck away to a nearby pond for some duck feeding adventures. (Is snuck seriously not a word? What is the alternative for snuck? sneaked? we sneaked away? no way.)

Here are the ducks. One of them is not like the others, can you see it? Look carefully. Not at feather color either, come on, we're all brothers and sisters here.

You guessed the weird one. The extraordinary haired one. And not necessarily in a good way extraordinary.

Kinda like someone else I know.

Wow Michelle, what is WITH your hair?

I got a haircut yesterday.

This post is so you can see why.

On the way out, we found a bag of old fruit loops. One duck in particular seemed to take a liking to them. We wondered what his afternoon would be like. "I LIKE FRUIT LOOOOOOOPS!!!"

Zane continues to amaze me every day

2011-08-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

The other night at dinner, Zane bites hard into something and says, "Oh deena! I think my TOOTH wants to come out." He shows me his tooth. Grossest picture ever:

"Double deena, you're right!" I yell. "Come here, let me yank on it!"
So he comes here. And I yank on it. And he laughs. Nothing.
"Go let your dad yank on it!" So he walks over to Brandon. Brandon pulls HARD. And Zane laughs.
Then, my mom suggests he TWIST it.
"Hey, you're right I think!" he says. "Pops pushed it over far enough and" CRACK! "Hey, I got it! It twisted right out!" More laughter. Lots of blood. Big gap of happiness.

This kid is remarkable.

Old friends

2011-07-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

Right after we got back from Rawlins, right before B went home, we hung out with Brandon's oldest friend Matt, his lovely wife Kandice, and their happy little family.

It amazing what you find out about your husband when you talk to his oldest friend.

I don't actually want to know about 98% of what Matt could tell me.

We are just happy these folks could sneak in a visit while we still had Brandon with us. Creamies and watermelon, happy kids, happy parents. Thank you, nice people! Come to Florida!

In fact, all of you, come to Florida! :)

The shed of 2011

2011-07-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

Brandon likes to build things at his parents' house. Sure, maybe his parents request his help, so it's not entirely his idea to begin with. But once he hears word of the next project, he takes off with it.

And then he builds them extremely large things.

Enter, the shed:

We figured out it's bigger than our bedroom in G'ville.

It took most of three days (with Lindsay to the roof rescue on Saturday. I pounded about 3 nails and got tired....wimpy!) and Dale will still have to shingle the roof and paint the exterior (put up trim too, right?) but it appears to be wind proof and rain proof, so hooray.

And whenever work got tough/the project seemed overwhelming, I hear they told themselves, "At least it's not the DECK":

That beast was built a few years ago. I pounded more than 3 nails that time. We all HAD to in order to finish on time.

That Brandon of mine, he builds big things. He'll build a big mud house in your backyard if you want him to. Wait a minute, that was just MY backyard.

Here are a few more pictures, summing up our happy Rawlins trip (including the books at grandma's library we have to remember to check out NEXT year (she works there, hence the pictures and the many hours spent there)):

Thanks for such a wonderful trip! Can't wait to see what gets built next time.

Black and White park happiness

2011-07-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my happy friend Kjerstin from Idaho came to visit and drool at fabric with me.

Fabric buddies = buddies for life.

While she was here, she took stealthy pictures of my playgrounding children (seriously, she was feet and feet and feet away from them) and now fabric isn't the only thing I'm drooling over:

Thank you so much, amazing camera lady/fabric and life friend!

Okay, I just can't help but add some beautiful color ones as well. Here is Z with one of her two boys--both boys are older than Zane, and BOTH were nice to Zane, which you don't find a lot in kids these days. Kjerstin, what's your secret?

Finally, remember how my Annie H-A-T-E-S the camera right now (If that were spoken, it would say "aych ay tee ee essess")? We're wondering if she knew she was giving Kjerstin "a message" here..for now, we'll leave that to mystery.

Anyone close to Idaho Falls in need of family/kid/stealthy playground pictures? I think I know who you should call!

Just Dance 2.0

2011-07-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I blogged this last summer. 'Just Dance' on the wii. It does not get old. There is something completely delightful about seeing your children dance in perfect sync.

And your brother (and sister and cousin).

And your mother-in-law.

And although to you it might look like this is what's going on:

Just know that what is really going on is this:
(Yes, that's my dad playing his accordion in the background. We haven't stopped being strange people.)My favorite part this summer? One: dancing next to Brandon . He totally beat me once. And two: hearing Zane sing heartily along to "Oomanizah Oomanizah" and the like. I'm going to be really sad when he's singing along to those songs for real. For now I'll take his oomanizing.

Babies

2011-07-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

We've been hanging out with some pretty beautiful ones since our arrival. That's all I have to say.

Backtracking a bit

2011-07-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Last year, I was blog-my-summer-vacation crazy. Everyone who stopped by had to get their picture taken, and their story written down. And if I saw them twice, their picture taken and their story written down again.

The reason? Well, I tend to not want to bother the people I love with group pictures. It's the reason there are exactly 4 pictures of my husband and me from our wedding to when my blog started.

Okay so maybe it isn't that extreme. Still, I have had many meetings with the people I enjoy most, and up until last summer, I'd never taken the time (or had the nerve) to document it. Until last year. Last year was thorough. Perhaps a bit excessive. And for that reason, I haven't been so insistent this year.

Except with this one friend. We hadn't seen each other since a trip to Hawaii when I was pregnant with Zane (back in the era of no blog = no pictures), and all the sudden we were getting the opportunity to hang out for an entire afternoon! So, I had to take pictures. And blog about it.

Brynne has been a dear, dear friend of mine, since clear back in Laie (over 10 years!). She is inspiring in her abilities, from half-marathoning the weekend before she made the trip to see me, to sewing and living green, to being an extremely spiritual person, and on and on. Brynne, thanks for being rad. This one's for you.

And look, she even brought along her two cute kiddos! They posed with the more pleasant half of my bunch:

To the rest of you wonderful people I've chilled with thus far this summer: you got out of 'the blog' this time, you lucky ducks!

B's immediate family's Family Reunion

2011-07-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

We spent a day with Brandon's folks, sisters/their families, and grandma Tilly a couple of weeks ago. We bbq-ed and played at a park in the early afternoon, came home to Aly's for Popsicles and rests, then headed to a fun swimming menagerie (seriously, it was more than a pool) for the late afternoon/evening. We ate yummy italian dinner thanks to Brad, then snuck in some pie before we headed back to my parents'.

Here are lots of pictures! Go Brandon's family, 2011!

(Can you believe these beauties?)

(Family picture! We only used my camera for the shot [it's a bit fancier than the rest, but that doesn't mean I know anything about it! Double deena!], and it came out sloped {wait, that was the hill that sloped, Michelle} and a teensy bit yellowish green. This is my best attempt to fix it in Picasa. B's family, we'll send it to some experts for a hopefully better colored finished product.)

Grandma Tilly! A wonderful wonderful woman. Strong, able, inspiring!

Happy camping chair sitters..

Bocce Ball players

Four Generations, and the newest member of the family. Congrats, Hil!

The frisbee players

Alyson and two of her five (look, they smiled! don't tell them!)

Brad, Alyson, and 4 of their 5 playing KOOB. I'm noticing a pattern of not being able to capture all the boys..

Ashley, Derek, and their cuties (that includes you, Tilly!)

More of KOOB. Best new addition to the family reunion. Although I was terrible at it, don't tell my ego. Do you like how I captured the moving wooden cylinder and the still, attractive game players? Totally on purpose.

B got loooooong with his frisbee throws. How many frisbee throws will be captured on my blog when it's all said and done, do you think?

Look, we gained a family member. Could it be Alyson's 5th?

Mother and daughter. Lovely, humble ladies. (Both looked behind them at the exact same time when I bent down to take this picture. In unison, they said, "I just wondered who's picture you were taking!")

When we went to set the table for dinner, Ann Marie said, "I THINK WE HAVE 23! Eleven adults, twelve kids!" Good gracious. I think Derek on the right over there in red captures the happy chaos of the meal.

What a fantastic time! We love our people! (Oo, and I'm going to steal a picture from Hil's blog, because we met EARLY the next morning for Melissa's blessing!) One more time! More of our people!

(All weekend, Annie was "hiding" from the camera. She succeeded in this one, eh?)

Here's a fun distinction for you

2011-07-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

Standing in one spot near Evanston, Wy, I looked left and saw Utah (or, almost Utah. In the direction of Utah, at least):

Then I looked right and saw Wyoming:

Sigh. I love Wyoming, in all its barren-ness and sagebrush happiness. And since crossing over its border last week, I have been reminded of the MANY beautiful places here, albeit hidden from the major freeways. (It also helps that we're here in July and it's been raining all spring. I've never SEEN it so green and beautiful!) Three cheers for Wyo!!

Yoda Soda

2011-07-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Remember how we're obsessed with jedis and wookies and padawans and siths over here? Well, Grandma the librarian com-PLETE-ly hooked Zane up with, wait for it, a STAR WARS COOKBOOK to try while we're here.

Believe it. Things like han-burgers and jedi juice pops, greedo's burritos and jabba jiggle. And our favorite to date, YODA SODA:

Sure, yoda soda is just lime juice, sparkling water, sugar, and rainbow sherbet. That doesn't make it ANY LESS AWESOME. Especially to a star wars crazed 6 year old. And 3 year old. And their grandma. (Notice the "Yo-DA!" effect from two pictures):

This morning, Grandma outdid herself again by attempting C3PO pancakes. Zane was in love:

Next up, Bobba Fett-ucini and, well, I'll let you see the Wookie Cookies for yourself:

May the force (and the goodies) be with you, young padawans! (Poor Zane, reading this later and rolling his eyes at my futile attempts to "get it.")

Annie funny

2011-07-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

Ann Marie told me yesterday Annie asked her: "Grandma, do you know Walt?"

Sledding on July 14th

2011-07-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

What did you do today?

We're visiting Brandon's folks in Rawlins for the week. Wyoming is awesome, and here's one great example: if you go high enough, there WILL be snow for sledding. Even in the middle of July.

Annie found the secret to happy summer snowness: make a snowball, throw it at Grampa, put hands in pockets to warm up, repeat.

Zane loved it, reveled in it, got soaked in it, wept in it, swore it off forever, then asked when we could go again.

On the way home, we stopped for ice cream (all except yours truly who needed a little hot chocolate to warm up--I'm from Florida, after all).

Best. Sledding. Ever.

Sparklers

2011-07-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

We keep things from our children. Like Easter baskets. They don't know about Easter baskets. Or like trick-or-treating. Brandon calls us "slow adopters" to trick-or-treating.

In this case, I'm talking about fireworks. Zane has never seen them in person. Never known they existed. Zip, zilch, nada. Come on people, they're dumb! And pricey! And dangerous! (You shout back, "Boo Michelle, Boo! Let the kid live a little!")

Well, we decided to bust out some sparklers last Saturday night (read: my mom bought them without telling me and brought them home and I had no choice in the matter). And really, I should say Saturday early evening. Because it was 6:30 so that he could still go to bed at a normal time.

We keep things from our children.

Well guess what folks, he was MESMERIZED. First he couldn't figure out why all the adults were holding fire sticks, then he REALLY couldn't figure out why we handed him one and said, "Go on, wave it around, RUN with it," etc. Then he caught on (especially when prompted with "Just use it like a light saber!"):

After they were done, Zane said, "You know what would have been EVEN COOLER? If we had waited and done that AFTER DARK!"

Happy fourth! I actually have a MOVIE of this whole sparkler action I might post later (wait for it), plus some pictures of our morning brunch group on the real fourth.

And I'll tell you about how on the night of the 4th, after I'd put Zane to bed, he came out tearfully and said, "Mom, I see more of those sparklers going on outside my window, and I'm afraid you forgot to tell me about them," after which I let him stay up, go outside, and enjoy the crazy fireworks of neighborhood, after which he EXPLODED WITH HAPPINESS.

Happiness and more quotes

2011-07-02T17:37:00.001-07:00

I have been avoiding the computer. It feels great, actually, like saying "no more!" and looking away from a staring contest that's been going on for many weeks and months. Deep breaths. The faces of my children and my parents and my hot little sister. Exhaling. Book reading. Beauty. I'm as happy as a 4 year old with a dimple coming down a slide:

(Thanks for the pictures, Nick! Kj, can't wait to add yours!)

**
Some funnies from this week:
Zane: Grampa, I've been thinking, and I've realized that the only way I'm going to get an iPad is if you buy me one.

Annie, after a bit of teasing from my dad: I don't think so, Walt.

Zane (who must have overheard his sister earlier): The next time we visit grampa, I'm probably going to call him Walt.

Also Annie: Mom, wanna see me play catch with bampa? See, we got glubs!

Annie, to whoever will listen (keep in mind Brandon is still in Florida until next week): You know my dad? I tell my dad, "I will miss you," and my dad tells me, "I will miss you too." Yeah, (giggle) we both love ourselves.

**
I have been able to reconnect with some wonderful old (young!) friends this week, reminding myself what a blessing friendship is. Kudos to you strong, beautiful ladies. (Plus, a few pictures when I can find my camera.)

Signing off for now! Smoothies and yoga and SLEEP, oh my!

Name that Yard

2011-06-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

Dudes: we've taken a trip somewhere. or I should say somewheres. Any guesses?

Some highlights of the trip so far:

While running through the Phoenix airport (one-hour delay in Orlando + one-hour lay over in Phoenix = no time for dinner in Phoenix), Zane could be seen clutching his neck and yelling, "My lungs! My Breath! MY LUNGS!" Apparently, altitude change is a reality, even to a sporty six-year-old. Bless the heart of the Phoenix flight, they held the airplane for us. Made people wait for us with the airplane (and the a/c) off. Lots of you-know-what-kind-of-faces as we traipsed to row 23.
At some point, Annie decided to really help me with my new year's resolution to stop "telling cap" (which has morphed into crrrap now that she's getting her consonant clusters so well). "I know mom! We could tell DEENA instead! That not a terrible word!" So if you hear me yell "deena!" or "double deena!" or "holy deena!" or "piece of deena!" you'll know what I really mean. And if by chance, Deena is reading this, Deena, I'm really sorry. (Re-reading this, it doesn't seem as though I've kept any resolution, does it?)
Speaking of Annie, every time we leave the house, she gasps and says, "Look mom, MOUNTAINS!" They are pretty dang beautiful, it's just funny to hear her re-gasp every time she looks east.
We've busted out s'mores more than once since arriving. Annie loves them: "Peas I have more snores, mom?"
Upon seeing my mom, Zane said, "Grama Jeanie, you're looking very beautiful..and you're looking YOUNG! (which he still pronounces yun, which I adore, and which I'm pretty sure he learned from his pops. we might have thought the beautiful was spontaneous, but the 'yun' gave him away.)" Upon seeing my dad, Zane said, "Bampa, are you pregnant?" Both are thrilled to have him here.

That's all for now! Go have a snore, you'll feel awesome.
(PS: we're here until August. Come see us.)

Some Compromises are Cuter than Other Compromises

2011-06-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

A happy outing

2011-06-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we went with some friends who took some friends over to St. Augustine and the beach for the first time. We had a terrible time, as you can imagine. Here are the picture highlights!

(Did you know the BOB fits 4 children? Believe it, it's a work horse.)

I know what you're thinking: beautiful day, beautiful friends, beautiful GELATO!

First and Last

2011-06-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

First day of Kindergarten:

Last day of Kindergarten:

I wonder if he looks any older. I wonder if I look any older.

In Zane's class, behavior was measured daily by stars. Everyone started out each day with a green star. A warning turned the star to blue, a 2nd warning led to a red star and a time out, etc.

Well, I'm happy to report that Z got a green star every single day, all year. He almost decided to act out on the last day, just to see how it felt have a blue star. Thank heavens for morning breakfast talk-him-out-of-things discussions.

Something tells me his 1st day of 1st grade picture will be sans those top two front teeth!

What am I going to do when we move..

2011-06-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

...and can't enjoy days like this, whenever we can tear ourselves away?

I know. Let's ALL move to Florida. You hear me?
Sigh. Enough with the black and white.

This latest beachy pants adventure started when a friend invited me along so that our older kids (out of school!) could reconnect again. Then, it happily expanded into hooking up with some old friends from G'ville, along with bringing a few more friends for the adults and kids to play with. Here are the women!:

Friends:

Siblings (devouring HB's popcorn with butter, salt, AND sugar on it. heaven.):

(The incoming tide mixed with the FLAT shore at this particular beach to create awesome tidal pools with tadpoles in them. Children heaven.)

Adventures. I can't get enough of these expedition shots. I want to blow them up and use them for wall paper. First the going out:

Then the victorious sprint home:

And into the tidal pools:

Over exposure isn't always a bad thing:

Natural wonders, my favorite thing:

(Did you know that the Gungan-inhabited portion of the planet of Naboo is made to look like coral reef? If you know what the heck I'm talking about, you also know how else we've been spending our time lately.)

Sigh. The beach + Michelle forever.

Day 3: Charleston

2011-06-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Charleston was spent just outside of town at the Magnolia rice plantation. What an immensely beautiful space it was. We wandered the gardens in the morning, and finished with an informative walking tour around noon. By the end it was steamy steamy, but all in all a wonderful way to finish off our time in Charleston.

(Here's an actual capture of the "no" from Annie when a picture was requested)

Oh, wait. Actually, we finished off our time by heading back into the city for a REALLY great meal, including fried alligator tail and homemade biscuits at a high-class Charlestonian restaurant. (Grandma Mimi would have fit right in!) I had a fried green tomato BLT. Awesome.

This trip did wonders for my psyche. It was a much needed, fabulous break from the every day.

Charleston, take two

2011-06-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

Our friends and our kids arrived at about 10:30pm that second night. I tell you what, days are longer without children. I couldn't wait to see those little people again.

We had a good night's sleep, then set off the next day, back to the city.

(This may or may not have been a small detour when we missed the city. We were happy to be not-in-command [those of you who might recognize the CVR in front of us can know who was to blame] and could just enjoy the serendipitous bridge-up-close sighting.)

So! More of the city. Including the Museum of Charleston, another old house tour across the street (historians, cringe now, I can't remember the name of it. Let's face it, I probably never knew the name of it) with beautiful hydrangeas that I couldn't get enough of, the finding of a free TROLLEY bus that wound around the entire city (turns out, you get along a lot faster that way..), and good food at a cafe (where Zane took sneaky pictures of our friends, way to be Z).

(LOVE the hand holding here. Never want to forget it.)

We also had two amazing finds after lunch: first, an amazing BLOCK shop with BLOCKS for the dads and the kids to build with in air conditioning while the mommies snuck away to the market:

When we got back, Brandon had built a tower like unto the "professional" ones along the back wall. It pays to be an engineer sometimes.

The dads told us a funny story. After being praised for his work, Zane asked Brandon, "Why do grown-ups sometimes tell kids their projects are great, even if they're not that great?" He's on to us.

The other lucky duck moment of the day happened as we were walking towards the Dock Street Theater. We stepped into this cathedral's grave yards and were looking around at all the cool stuff, when I thought I heard distant heavenly singing. Upon closer look, I found a choir concert going on inside. The day before, Brandon and I had tried to get tickets for a similar concert (quite expensive tickets, I might add), but had been unsuccessful. So to happen upon one was like magic. Even better? They were performing their second to last song. No more tickets needed. I stood in the back and listened to them finish their program, then quietly exited, back to the heat and the children and the bustle of the day. It was fantastic! Thank you Winthrop college! (Too bad I can't remember the name of the beautiful cathedral that housed them. Here are some pictures, at least):

We ended the day in the city by walking around a farmers market/art festival in one of the large outdoor parks. The kids got smoothies (YUM!) and tried to dive into the fountains, and scared the life out of us by trying to TOUCH all the artwork (before finding out that you do NOT touch the artwork), and we walked and chatted and enjoyed the shade and breeze. It had been a HOT day.

(Gotta love Annie's face here. She is OVER the picture taking thing.)

Next post: a gigantically beautiful rice plantation, and another stifling hot day! Great times!

Charleston, in Pictures

2011-06-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Last time we were in Charleston, Brandon had the camera. He also happened to be on the wrong side of the horse-carriage ride for picture taking. So we have 2. This time, we were actually sans children (YES you heard that right, we left our children for a night and a day, and our incredible friends DROVE THEM TO CHARLESTON LAST NIGHT. we owe them our lives.) and when asked what I wanted to do all day yesterday, it was simply "to walk around and take pictures, please."

And so we did, and here they are, in no particular order, and with no explanation. (ps--yes, I'm blogging about the trip while on the trip. Another wonderful part about this weekend has been the LACK of computers. So now, with the happy day done and the children [and husband] asleep, a little online journaling seems relaxing instead of soul sucking. It's all about perspective, see?) Next time, I'll post today's adventures, which include similarly beautiful sights AND our children.

(The one above is for sale.....dream on, poor us, dream on!)

(Lunch at Hyman's Seafood.....fried everything, and even boiled peanuts for B)

(I loved the tangerine chair at the end of this teensy alley.)

**

A good one from miss Annie this evening. We are all in the hotel room, and she's "gone to sleep" (story told, prayers said, tucked in, etc). Z gets out of the bath, and his pops starts telling him a quiet story. Annie turns over and whispers, "Shhh, guys, be so quiet. I'm asleep." She reminded us about 5 more times to shhh because she was asleep. Then she finally was asleep.

This has been a lovely trip.

We ran away...

2011-06-03T18:29:00.000-07:00

..and my oh my it has been fun. The main event? A Sarah Jarosz concert last night. Cistern yard, college of Charleston campus. Yes, I mean Charleston, South Carolina.

It was a breezy, hot summer night, under the live oaks. Sarah and her two boys (one a cellist, the other a fiddler) rocked and jammed and we sang along (okay, just I sang along) and forgot about dish doing and laundry and all the other things that go along with being boringly at home.

And today we walked up and down the streets of Charleston, taking in deeper all the beautiful sights from our first trip here last May. Those pictures will come when I'm boringly back home with a camera cord.

Another piece to my latest quilt puzzle

2011-05-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

I found a backing for my quilt! Can you guess what it is?

Looking at the pictures now, I wish I had created a real white border for the whole thing, instead of just that batting one that is now covered with the wrap-around binding. (Brynne, I totally got the wrap-around idea from the quilt you made Z that we picked up in Hawaii from you during our trip there 7 years ago! Thanks!) Sewing-with-Sharon happiness strikes again, as Sharon not only helped me decide on this form of finishing up/sandwiching the quilt, but she also helped me cut it out perfectly, and gave me more than one useful-forever tip. (Sew a 1/4" "guide-stitch" all around the blue backing, so that when you're turning it in to hand-sew as a last step, the line will be perfect all the way around. It's working fantastically!)

Until you can see the backing fabric on THIS quilt (I'm only done hand sewing the binding on 2 of the 4 sides), here's a hint.

Choir Party Happiness

2011-05-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

I have been blessed with a rockin' church choir these last two years. This year especially, thanks to an accomplished pianist for our accompanist; a choir nursery, which allowed three or four couples to participate; and truly wonderful, committed people in every section that kept it going week after week after week (after week).

Sunday was our last performance for this school year (can you tell we live in a student-saturated ward?), and we sang John Rutter's "Open Thou Mine Eyes" . We had 8 tenors. 30 singers total. It was dreamy. Brandon even said we left him wanting more. !!!

This summer, we will lose at least 10 singers, and our accompanist (remember that student-saturated detail). Sad days. So, Monday, we had a goodbye party for all of them/celebration for such a fun year. Happy days.

Last year at the party, I was too nervous to bug people by taking lots of pictures. This year, I wasn't. Here we (almost) all are, with no names, just in case.

Our hosts are the three folks in the back right here. Their LOVELY home, complete with a FULLY (vaulted) SCREENED IN pool deck, was a comfortable spot, even for 50+ people. Incredible:

Some of my favorite G'ville folks, finished with their education one year before us and on their way to their first job in the midwest (sniff sniff):

My son:

My best picture of the night; also, the source of Annie's latest nightmares. Sigh. Annie's probably afraid of the Easter Bunny too:

(Doesn't she look fierce? Brandon house sat with her a bit last summer, so she's butter in his hands. Brandon just read this and told me it's "she's putty in his hands." Silly me.)

More of our favorite people, also done with school/doctor residency and onto the rest of their lives. We weep:

More of my children:

(Mother of P, how do you like P's hamburger mustache?)

Speaking of P, here's P's fearless little brother, putting Zane to shame with his forward somersaults off the diving board. And here's a dear soprano and new mommy:

Here's ANOTHER one of our favorite G'villers, also leaving (boo!), who let Annie spit watermelon seeds/everything else all over her white outfit. Always taking one for the family team, HB. You're the bomb:

(Jenneka, I thought I'd missed a picture of you, but as seen here, I got one!)

These guys will be here next fall. Phew!:

These guys are on the "we might leave" fence. We're trying to be nice about letting them go, if they have to:

Ladies!

Swimmers part I:

(Zane had the TIME OF HIS LIFE with these people. I was just thankful he lived through the evening of water acrobatics.)

Swimmers part II:

I had to get a picture of this cutie, who looks like my Emmygirl, kinda:

Two of the main reasons all this choir business can go down each week-- Brandon and the bishop:

One more remembrance of my best shot of the night. I miss the boat:

My kids this week

2011-05-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, it was 49 degrees when my kids woke up. oooo, they were cold. Here's one of them:

And here's the other. Can you find the human being molded in that green blanket over there?

The cold in the morning has sure made for some beautiful days, though. Hooray, and don't get comfortable Michelle. Tomorrow's high is back to 90.
**
Here are some quotes from the week:

Me: Zane, Sienna wants you to come and see "The Wizard of Oz" with her. Have you ever heard of that?
Zane: What? Oh, yeah, I love the lizard of Oz.
**
We've been listening to the Narnia series in the car. First, the Magician's Nephew. Because of it, my kids will always think the REAL main characters are Diggery and Polly. Anyway, one day as we hopped into the car, Zane asked, "Mom, we listen to our Nahnia story now?" Did I mention that the story teller is of course Brtish?

Later, we were to the battle scene part in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." As I was trying to explain that this was an important part because Peter was battling the White Witch, Annie commented, "Oh, they have their light sabers out?" Clearly, the girl has been brain washed.
**
Speaking of the original Star Wars, we had a group movie night the other week, which turned a little into a vh1 pop-up video when Zane would repeatedly say, "Here's something you might all like to know," then announce trivia like unto "Chewy is over 200 years old (Annie squealed in delight: "Oh, I WUV chewy") or "These are Jawas. They are NOT the sand people, mom. So quit saying they are, if you please." He knew the names of all the other droids on the ships (I had never noticed their existence) and knew exactly which movie what character would re-appear in/be defeated in/etc (original movies are 4 5 and 6, and the newer ones are 1 2 and 3. absolutely confusing, unless you're Zane and you know everything).

**
Annie's breaking through her "L"s this week! no more wions and wizards and wuv! Smile, stick out your tongue, and voila: LLLLLLLion! LLLLLLLLizard! LLLLLLLove! It's another miracle.

Peace out!

Watercoloring

2011-05-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my mom sent us a springtime box of goodies. Included this time were watercolor paints and various handouts leftover from her work at the public schools. Annie immediately dove in. A few minutes later, she brought me her first masterpiece:

A daintily painted rainbow, with the colors even in the right order! What an artist. What an eye!

A few minutes later, she came to me again: Wook mom, another rainbow!

Ooo, a more dramatic version, with bold color mixing, all the edges filled in, and even the artist's signature (she insists there is an 'o' in the middle of her name). Brilliant, Annie!

Finally, a few more minutes passed, and she raced over to show me her final piece of the day:

....um.....nice....uh......work, Annie.

Watercoloring...it takes talent.

My life is an outtake

2011-05-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day! I wanted to capture my little ones and me (B was nowhere in sight, lucky duck), so I asked Annie and Zane if they'd be game for a photo shoot. Annie squawked a loud, "NO!" and Zane answered me with this look:

because he knew what was coming.

Attempt #1:

Drats! Heads are cut off. Zane, can we please try again?

Attempt #2:

Doh! Still not quite high enough!

By then, Annie's interest had been peaked, so she joined in.

This time kids, it's going to be awesome, I promise! Attempt #3:

Dangit! The focus didn't focus! Please, please, just one more?

Attempt #4:

(Zane says, PHEW, we finally got one with our HEADS! And I say, Yes, but still not quite right! Please, just one more. JUST ONE MORE!)

Attempt #5:

Sigh. Finally. My life is ridiculous. But my kids are really cute. Brandon, these are all for you. :)

PS--I got that dress yesterday (Jen, it reminds me of yours from our Hawaii days that I LOVED) at the Gap for 7 bucks. Regularly 69.50. There was some makeup on the collar. I washed it out. Happy mothers day to me! And I promise, for church I wore a lovely peach scarf with it, so no, it didn't look quite as much like a funeral dress.

PPS--Best moment of church today: during the sacrament, when Annie said, "Dos boys (deacons) are walking too fass, oh cap!" You know what she meant by cap, right? Oh CAP!

Ichetucknee

2011-05-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

**side note: as I type, Z's playing lego star wars on wii. while he battles, he chats aloud to himself. "I'm so doomed, I'm so doomed....oh! I am awesome! I am SO AWESOME! Oh no, I am doomed. so, so doomed. There! I am awesome! (singing) I. Am. So. Awesome." Aren't we all so doomed and so awesome sometimes? Zane strikes again.**

Well hello! It's been a little while. Why the break Michelle? Well, the easy answer is that I finally caught on that my life isn't actually that exciting. :) What? You don't want to see a series of watercolors by Annie? Well tough, that'll be my next post. But for one week, you were spared.

Today we joined Brandon's department for a float down the Ichetucknee Springs River! IT WAS SO AWESOME! That's all I have to say about it. I can't believe it's taken us 3 years to get there. It's about an hour northwest of Gainesville. We left around lunch time, and we're home for dinner. The weather was gorgeous. The water (because of the natural springs aspect, who knows what that means, Brandon said it) really is crystal clear. And its coldness (72ish degrees year round) was of the refreshing variety (not the freeze-your-you-know-what-off) because of the warm ward temperatures in the air.

Here we are outside of Weil Hall, waiting for everyone to show up. Have you ever heard us say that Brandon's building is right across from the football stadium? Here's proof. Some of the folks playing frisbee with Zane (he told them he was a frisbee expert. they were hooked.):

Zane, catching the frisbee, with the stadium in the background:

He did not disappoint.

And here's my turkey pants Annie, who wouldn't put on clothes after we got her into the swimming suit:

Quite beauty, even in black and white shadows.

Onto the trip. We drove through Alachua then Ft White, stopping at a good ol' boys roadside stand to rent a two-man raft for the ladies and a double float tube for the boys.

Annie was done with pictures by this point, which is a good thing because we couldn't take our camera any further. One quick snapshot of the parents and we were off:

For a pictorial account, I will refer you to this couple of pages. Eel grass and limestone bluffs and Suwanee River Cooter Turtles, oh my! It was breathtaking. And lots of fun to be with about two dozen other "boring engineer types." :) Cold water will add excitement to any group.

Brandon was really the hero of the day: for most of the journey I just lounged in the glorious raft, soaking in the beauty of the day and my Annie girl beside me. It wasn't until we had floated 3/4 of the river that we switched places (him into the the raft with Annie, me into the tube) and I realized they really meant "small double" when we rented it 3 hours earlier. It was really small. And Brandon's a bit bigger than me. Go team Brandon!

Next time, we'll get two rafts.

We finished up and headed home, and Annie fell asleep in 0.2 seconds. She's still sleeping. So is her pops.

2/$5 pork sandwiches on the way home at another good-ol'-boys' roadside stand (and a bag of fresh green beans for $1! Can you believe they're already in season, dad?) and we were on our way.

Can we go back tomorrow?

Family Fun Day

2011-04-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Zane's school had their spring celebration this morning. I know many of you are still snowed in; we were just thankful it wasn't BAKING HOT (thanks to Thursday evening thunderstorms--no tornadoes here, just beautiful lightnings and continuous thunderings).

We got there pretty much right when it started which meant there were no lines for anything. We face-painted and petting farmed, finger painted and bounce housed:

(Note rule #6 [I believe if you click on the picture it will enlarge], and Annie's insistence on breaking it.)

Zane even scored at the cake walk, which I always consider a miracle. Which leads me to the main attraction of the morning, the food:

(Did I not just mention throwing away the sugar? Drats!)

We met up with our friends for a shaded lunch, then spent a few more minutes trying to dunk the teacher (Zane) and swinging on every swing (Annie) before heading home. Easy Peasy!

Here's a fun comparison from the fall festival. Brighter pictures! Bigger kiddos! Exact same games (and love for the games)! Exact same sugar infusion! And Annie made it home before busting out her first tantrum this time. Progress!

Further proof....

2011-04-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

....that Annie shadows her mama. Look what I found her doing yesterday:

"Annie!" I said. She looked my way. Then she got back to work.

Did I say be still my heart? Be still my heart. Now if only she'd take up dish doing.

**
Hey, here's that dabbling I was telling you about. 25 squares, done! now it's time to rip off the tracing paper backing/stabilizer from each square (attempting to not rip out the seams at the same time) and sew them together. Fingers crossed!

highlights...

2011-04-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

Two highlights from Annie this week. First, "Pops, why we wiv in such a BIG HOUSE?" perspective, people, it's everything!

And a few days ago, "Mom, I wan be juss wike YOU!" ah, bestill my heart. (she continued to say, "your age AN your name, SHELL!" I love anyone who will call me shell.)

Lest you think our life continues to be bliss with her, here's a representation of the only other highlights this week:

(Does this picture give away the secret that BOTH my kids sleep on air mattresses now? I hope not.) Annie + an influx of Easter candy = LOTS AND LOTS OF TANTRUMS this week. As a result, bedtime was welcome bliss for this mama. Throw those sugars away.

**
Zane grew up way too fast on me this week. After having friends over yesterday (including a girl who asked, "Zane, are these YOUR thomas the trains?" in a mocking tone), before bed he asked, "Mom, can you give away my trains please? We can keep the cars, but I am tired of all these trains." Sigh. The end of an era, I suppose. (And don't worry, we're keeping the trains forever. We know how much each one of those stinking things is worth.)

Still, the best is yet to come, right? Here he is with two of his favorite buddies. I told them after they gave me a "happy" picture, they could give me a "terrible" picture. Notice my mellow Z. Not too many fireworks with that kid:

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This last one's for you, Ann Marie. Look! Brandon has finally found a good use for the piano!

(The kids love this piano too, because of its ready-made song list to dance to. They will miss it when we swap our pianos back at the end of our Florida sojourn next summer.) (Also, that stack of spirals/notebooks on the left side of the piano is ALL THE MUSIC I've been learning for this vocalist friend of mind. Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Corigliano, Brahms, and on and on and on. She's a rockstar. I'm a wreck.)

I've been sewing just a teensy bit (pictures soon), but mainly I've been nursing an annoyed leg after my run on Saturday. DANG THAT IT BAND OF MINE! Someday I'll figure out how to run correctly.