Mr. M and I are pretty selective about the media we let into our home. When we want to walk on the wild side, we let Scott check out Garfield books from the library. Today at the library with his dad, Scott found a Garfield movie and convinced Mr. M to check it out.

Ethan said to me tonight, "Mom, I don't think we should watch it. It's pretty rude! I saw a preview for the Garfield movie and in one part, Garfield burps and says, 'And that's a sign that the tank is full' instead of 'Excuse me'. I don't think we should watch it."

Hmmm. Inside, I was laughing. Outside, I maintained a serious face and said, "We'll take a look at the reviews and see what they say."

In other news, Ethan finally got his dinosaur posters put up in his room. Our neighbor upstairs was moving out this morning. There was a lot of thumping and bumping going on and Ethan exclaimed, "It sounds like the Cretaceous period is upstairs!" Yep, our upstairs neighbor is a T-rex.

And to all, a good night...

My husband puts the boys to bed every night. (Thanks, Mr. M!) Last night, like every other night, we did family scripture reading and sang"Joy to the World". Mr. M then helped the boys brush teeth and say prayers, and after they were in bed, he told them stories. He does this every night, and the boys know the routine.

But last night, it was not enough for Scott. He came wandering out after Mr. M had finished the last story. "Dad, my tummy says that I need another story."

Big brother Ethan heard him from bed and was not going to let that pass. He called out, "Scott, it's your BRAIN that tells you that you need another story."

With this new information, Scott tried again. "Dad, my tummy and my brain tell me that I need another story."

I don't think he got another story, but we all got a good laugh out of it.

Tag

I've been tagged by Chellers at We Are A Happy Family and this tag has rules.

1. Link to the person that tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


Here we go:
1. When I get in bed, I like the sheets and blanket to be straight. Even if it's really late, if the bed is not made, I make the bed before I get in.

2. My husband says that when I think hard, I flatten my nose with my index finger. I don't know how often I do that, but I do know that when I think hard, I furrow my brow and look very angry. I didn't realize this until the end of my mission. Who knows how many people thought I was mad at them when really I was just reflecting on their words? Fortunately or unfortunately, Mr. M does the same thing.

3. I'm really good at falling asleep. I have fallen asleep in the middle of saying a prayer. At night, when Mr. M and I are in bed talking, I fall asleep during our conversations. He'll ask me a question, and I'll start thinking about the answer, and then I'll fall asleep and have a random dream. He'll say something again, and wake me up, and I'll start telling him, "Oh, sorry, I guess I fell asleep. I was dreaming about blah blah blah..." He's always surprised and thinks it's crazy that I could have such a long and detailed dream in only 3-4 seconds.

4. I'm not good at portion control. If there is food visible, I will eat it. For this reason, I rarely bake brownies, cookies, or other sweets because I will consume everything. If I'm into a book, I have to devour it ALL AT ONCE. If I start cleaning (really cleaning, not just putting dishes in the dishwasher or something), I get a little crazy and want to vacuum out all the corners, under the furniture, re-organize the closets, clean out the drawers... It usually happens around 11 pm.

5. No matter how early I start packing for a trip, I never finish until the middle of the night before I leave.

6. I have a really bad short term memory. If I don't write it down, chances are, I will forget it.

Hmm. To quote one of my favorite women in the world, "anyone who wants to" can do this tag :D

All grown up?

For a long time, Ethan has been making up jokes. One distinguishing feature of his jokes is the all-important line "on your head". For Ethan, those three little words have regularly induced belly-laughs and inspired the even MORE hilarious retort, "On the ceiling!"

This morning, Mr. M was combing Ethan's hair and told him, "You have snicky snarls... on your HEAD!"

Ethan responded, quite seriously, "I used to think head jokes were funny when I was 5, but now I don't think they are funny any more."

Behold...

Behold, the handiwork of Scott at preschool. Quite frankly, I'm very impressed. However, I suspect his teacher might have "helped".

This afternoon, while Ethan and I were alone in the kitchen, he opened up to me about something that has clearly been troubling him:

"Mom, are gumdrops addictive? Dad keeps eating them."

If you give a boy a hula hoop

Here is a freeze frame of the boys with some of their favorite people, Rebecca and Joseph. In case you can't tell, they are engaging in some imaginative play, which requires fitting everyone inside a hula hoop, then roaming through the apartment, alternately giggling and droning, "Alien spaceship! Alien spaceship!"



Good times. Rebecca and Joseph's parents are longtime friends of ours and recently moved away. We miss you guys!

When you're weary...

A few minutes ago, while scanning old photos, I realized, "Oh no! It's too quiet!" Scott was not with me in the living room, reading. He was not in the kitchen, drinking Ovaltine. He was not in the bathroom, playing at the sink. He was not in his bedroom with his penguin.

Here is where I found him:



..in my room, curled up in a suitcase full of clean clothes (not yet put away from our Thanksgiving travels - I know, I know, it's on my list!).

Welcome to the jungle...

The boys are wild with excitement. Our apartment seems to be in a state of constant pillow-throwing, punching, shrieking, wrestling, and general pandemonium. (I am counting down til Scott starts kindergarten. Yes, I am aware that it is going to be another two years.) We are all looking forward to Uncle Dean's arrival and Christmas.

Scott: Mom, what day is it today?

me: It's Saturday.

Scott: Is it the first Saturday?

me: It's the second Saturday.

Scott: When does Uncle Dean come?

me: In a week.

Scott: No! He is not coming on Sunday. He's coming on Saturday!

me (agreeing): Yes, he is coming next Saturday.

Scott (very excited voice) : Then he is coming on the THIRD SATURDAY!

To convey the general mood of giddiness and (ahem) goodwill, here are a few photos the boys took of each other while I was on the phone discussing important Primary business.





For your viewing pleasure, here is Santa Scott in front of our tree. Ethan stuffed him with extra clothes so his body would more closely resemble the Santa stereotype. Ho, ho, ho!

Tag

Erica tagged me, and I had fun thinking about this. I spent my million selfishly:)

5 Placed I've Lived

• Alberta
• Minnesota
  
• Michigan
  
• Belgium
  
• California
  

5 Snacks I love

• Homemade nachos with salsa that's been through the blender
  
• Popcorn and apples, especially green ones
  
• Dill pickles and Doritos
  
• Baguette, cheese, and red grapes or pears
  
• Crispy, thin crust pizza
  

5 Jobs I've Had

• Fille au pair
  
• AAA auto travel specialist
  
• French teacher
  
• Apartment manager
  
• Violin teacher
  

If I had a million dollars I would.....

• Go on a date with my husband every single week
  
• Buy a new set of scriptures
• Sign my boys up for swimming lessons and music classes
• Buy a headboard for my bed, get my kids a dresser and find a new kitchen table and chairs
  
• Redo my kitchen counters so they were one piece instead of tile
  
• Max out my IRA for the next 25 years
• Buy a new swimsuit
  
• Get a pedicure and a haircut
  
• Go violin shopping and take lessons again
• Hire someone to clean my house/grocery shop/cook while I practice violin
• Give my car to Shaun and buy a Prius
• Sign up for one of those morning boot camp classes
• Go to an LA Phil concert at the Disney Concert Hall
• Get some vegetables into my food storage
• Take my family to live in France for a summer or maybe a year
• Anonymously donate a large sum to my favorite institution of higher education, BYU
• Build my dream house in my dream location or if I couldn't, because I had already spent too much, at least put down a sizeable downpayment

5 things I love

• Surprises
• Making plans, even if they never happen (It's called a plan of the moment.)
  
• The world as the sun is just coming up
  
• Live chamber music
  
• New beginnings
  

5 people who should do this tag...

• Do I even have 5 readers??? "Anyone who wants to" can do this tag, and if you're visiting here, leave me a comment so I can come read your blog.
  

Halloween festivities

Hard at work, carving a pumpkin.



Ethan was surprised at what was inside the pumpkin. He tried to get me to do all the dirty work. "Mom, I don't have enough STRENGTH to do this. You have to do this." I helped a little, but he did most of it. I forgot to take a picture of our masterpieces, but we had one smiley pumpkin and one scary pumpkin.



Here they are on their way out to go Trick-or-Treating.

First day of school

Ok, things have been pretty serious over here for a while. I finally found both the camera and the cord, so without further ado, here are some shots from Ethan's first day of school:



No excitement here, nope, not a bit.



Ethan loves to go to school, loves to do his homework as soon as he gets home, and likes to get his backpack ready to go the night before. Here's hoping this lasts through high school graduation.

Thoughts on Prop 8

I found this paid endorsement news disturbing.

I found this persuasive.

Cheaper than a plane ticket

Last night, in a moment of desperation when the family looked to me for FHE treats, I dug through my recipe box and found a scrap of paper, folded in half, with this recipe written on it. I don't remember where I got it or from whom.

1 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp butter
2 eggs

I threw it all in the blender to mix.

It takes about 1/4 cup batter in the right nonstick pan to make beautiful, tender, golden, perfectly delicious crêpes.

Sprinkle with lemon juice and sugar OR top with Nutella and banana slices. Yum!

You know it's been too long ....

Here's a helpful tip on how to know if it's been too long since you did laundry.

Your children come to you with excitement on their faces and say, with great joy, "Mom, do you want to see the biggest laundry pile IN THE WORLD?! It's in your bedroom!" Then they climb Mount Washmore with squeals of delight and the hamper doesn't break when they stand on top because it's so packed full of clothes.

Your husband tells you he can't go to work because he has no clean underwear.

You can smell the laundry pile before you can see it.

This is strictly theoretical, of course. (Cough, cough.) So, what are YOU doing today?

What happened to Scrabulous?!

My nightly ritual was disrupted when I went to Scrabulous and found a biker chick advertising domain names. What???

Thanks to my trusty search engine, I learned that the faithful can now be found at Lexulous. User names from Scrabulous are valid. Play on!

Fireproof

Mr. M and I did something on Friday that we do very rarely.

We paid money to see a movie in the theatre on opening day. We saw Fireproof, starring Kirk Cameron, in which he plays a firefighter whose marriage is on the rocks. It was clean, entertaining, uplifting, and has a great message. I laughed, I cried, and I came out determined to be a better spouse. Check it out and if you're inclined, go see it. http://www.fireproofthemovie.com

Here's a link to a fun interview with Kirk Cameron speaking about his faith, his marriage, and the film: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/0924glkirk.aad7a87a.html

Update on kindergarten at home OR Mrs. M waffles

A few days ago, I took on some new managing responsibilities in the apartment building across the street. This means I work regularly at a building that is within the boundaries of a local elementary school which has exceptional ratings, which gives me a valid means to transfer Ethan to said local school. I happen to know they have space because they just hired a new kindergarten teacher and opened a new class. This threw me into a loop of rethinking my decision to do kindergarten at home.

One thing which has prevented me from rushing out and doing the paperwork is that I just blogged about how wonderful homeschooling was for our family right now, and I received a lot of positive feedback and encouragement from my readers. What has changed? Am I a flake? And can I be this much of a flake in public?

When I made the decision to homeschool, this school was not an option. I was choosing between homeschool and a school whose rating is 5, where lots of kids were just learning the language. Now I have the option of a 10, where there is a strong gifted and talented program, and where it's pretty normal for kids to start kindergarten and already be reading. Additionally, I know a handful of moms whose kids go to the 10 school; they are involved moms and all love the school.

So, I'm wondering if this is just a question of grass looking greener on the other side or if it's something I should pursue. I can see myself as one of those involved moms who loves the school. I think I would like walking to school with the boys in the morning. I think Ethan would like having class with 18 kids his age. My mom says it's a win-win situation, that both options are good.

My question is - will the guilty feeling go away? Does choosing not to homeschool, having briefly chosen it, make me a bad mom? Does happily imagining myself with only Scott for 7 hours per day mean I don't love Ethan enough? Will he quit caring what his dad and I think and only care about what his friends think? Will he be challenged? Will he get bored and act out?

These are the kinds of thoughts swarming around in my brain.

Birthdays

In case you haven't heard, everyone gets to go free to Disneyland on the day of their birthday in 2009. Frills! Details HERE. If you need a place to stay for your celebration, consider that we have plenty of floor space and a huge comfy couch.

We were discussing birthdays tonight. Scott came over to me and said, "Mom, my brother's birthday is (date here)."

"That's right!" I said. "When is your birthday?"

"When I turn 4, I will have another birthday," he answered.

I persisted, "But do you know the date of your birthday?"

"No."

"Your birthday will be (his birthdate)," I told him, in my best teaching voice.

"AGAIN?!"

Mr. M and I cracked up. Yep. The same date, year after year.

What Can Go Wrong Will or All's Well That Ends Well

In our new congregation, I work with the kids, ages 3-12. Today it was my turn to teach Sharing Time, one for the junior group and one for the senior group. This was a Sunday when ALL the leaders from the region would be visiting. I diligently prepared my lesson during the week, so that on Sunday morning, I would only need to print it out. Our church doesn't meet til 12:20 pm, so I knew I had plenty of time.

Saturday night, while putting on the finishing touches, our computer went wacko. The sound card and the plug-in for the ethernet cable fell in to the back of the computer, if that makes any sense. Mr M helped me to take the case off and put Humpty Dumpty back together. When we turned it back on, the screen flashed some funny signals, but didn't work. Since it was midnight, we turned it off and figured we'd fix it in the morning.

This morning, we got the CPU functioning again, but for some weird reason, the mouse and the keyboard wouldn't work. Not the wireless mouse and wireless keyboard. Not the plug-in mouse and plug-in keyboard. After panicking, I reconstructed my lesson in a notebook as best I could, and at 12:10 pm, walked out to the car to drive to church.

As I opened the garage, I saw that the car door was partly open and the light on inside. When I turned the key in the ignition, I got a weak clicking and then nothing. The battery was dead. URGH! More panic! I ran back in the house, and we had a family prayer, grabbed the stroller, and started walking. Church is only a mile away, but by this point, we had only 5 minutes before Primary would start.

Luckily, someone from the ward drove by. She had room for 1 in her car, so I hopped in, and Mr M trekked it with the boys. I made it to church before Primary got going, and my lessons were fine.

My favorite part of the lesson was teaching the 3-7 year olds Doctrine and Covenants 10:5 : "Pray always, that ye may come off conqueror!" and on conqueror, we punched our fists into the air.

The irony of it all was that my lessons were on prayer. Perhaps these experiences were to teach me a little less trust in the arm of the flesh and a little more trust in God?

I'm teaching Sharing Time again in two weeks. Hopefully without any computer or car drama.

Day 4 of Kindergarten at Home

Most of our faithful readers will already know that we decided to try homeschool this year. This is our 4th day of kindergarten at home. We are following a public school curriculum which gets delivered to us online and through the mail from K12. We registered last week, so we are still waiting for the delivery of our computer and other materials to arrive. However, we have been able to do phonics, math, art, and a little history.

I waffled for a long time in the decision of where to school, but I have no regrets at all about doing homeschool. Here are some of the things I love:

• We follow our own schedule. Today we woke up at 9 am, made whole wheat pancakes, and started school around 10 am. Our public school starts at 8:15 am and finishes at 2:30 pm.


• When Ethan is tired of working on math worksheets, he likes to sit down on the couch and read a book, sometimes out loud. He just finished reading Pete's A Pizza to Scott.


• Scott enjoys doing worksheets, too. He is very happy to have Ethan home.


• On odd days like today, Mr. M is around. He is a gifted teacher, especially for our boys, because he has the same kind of curious mind. They explored colors and distortion, as seen in Picasso, while doing Ethan's art lesson on self-portraits.


• Ethan can move at his own pace. He doesn't have to spend weeks and weeks learning to recognize letters and the sounds they make. Yesterday he finished reading his second Hardy Boys book.

I cannot remember a time in my life when I felt so much peace, even with the regular arguments between the boys or moments of frustration. I attribute this to several factors. One is that I have made an effort to pray aloud in a private place, morning and night. The other is that when we moved in June, I left behind a lot of responsibilities: teaching 8 private violin students and Monday night group classes, the MOMS Club board, RS presidency, heavy visiting teaching duties... It has made a tremendous difference.

I feel really happy. I am surprised by how much I am enjoying this because I always looked forward to getting my kids out of the house and having time to myself. For our family, this is working wonderfully.

California

8 years ago, California voters passed Proposition 22 by more than 61%, saying that a marriage in California is between a man and a woman. Earlier this year, four activist judges based in San Francisco overturned the people's vote, legalizing same-sex marriage, by a vote of 4-3.

If you are concerned about the future of families, if you believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, if you believe in the voice of the people, please visit http://protectmarriage.com/about#issue and vote YES on Prop 8.

Minnesota, land of my nativity (except it isn't)*

*The title of this post reflects the erroneous, but longheld belief of mine that I was a native of Minnesota. Not until fully grown did I realize that I could not be a native of Minnesota because I had been born elsewhere.

The boys and I recently returned from visiting Grandpa Tom and Grandma Sue in Rochester. We stayed for 2 marvelous weeks and were the recipients of my parents' generosity!

The boys did fun things every day, including seeing a juggler at the public library, picking raspberries, visiting an organic dairy farm and riding in a tractor, playing at the Silver Lake wading pool, going to the waterslide at Soldier's Field pool, visiting Oxbow Park and feeding the goat, reading Calvin and Hobbes with Grandpa, feeding the geese at Silver Lake, catching fireflies, hiking up Chimney Rock at Whitewater, and going to the playground every day. Ethan learned to ride a bike without training wheels (thanks, Grandpa!) and Scott zoomed around on a Bigwheel. Both boys loved watching The Little Engine That Could and Peter and the Wolf. Scott's character repertoire has now expanded to include Tilly (the little engine that could), The Intruder (an airplane), Garfield, BYU, Mitt Romney, Lightning McQueen, Buzz Aldrin (2nd man on the moon), John Beck (a former BYU quarterback)and Bob the Builder.

Candice and her adorable Eden were also visiting and there was some definite cousin bonding. Despite the age gap of over 4 years, Ethan and Eden were pals and could often be found giggling together.

Ben and Christy made the long drive all the way from Illinois to see us before they head to the Big Apple. On Saturday afternoon we had Dad upstairs on his desktop, Erin on Dad's laptop in the bedroom, Ben on his laptop in the dining room, all engaged in a furious online Scrabble game, with Hugh patched in from Utah to boot. Good times. Technology allows us to have this special interaction, which is one step away from our typical extended-family reunions, with everyone sitting in the same room and reading a book.

Kudos to Grandma Sue for all the extra time she spent grocery shopping for yogurt, berries, ice cream, and other children's delicacies, not to mention the delicious meals we had everyday. Even sandwiches taste better at Grandma Sue's. It must be those Minnesota pickles. Sing along if you know the song: Gedney, it's a Minnesota pickle... Where else but Grandma's house can you throw 3 kids in the tub for some good clean fun? Where else but Grandma's house can 3 moms stay up to the wee hours of the morning watching Anne of Green Gables or BBC greats like Cranford?

This afternoon at our swimming pool, Scott informed me, "Mom, I'm going to invite Grandma Sue to our house tomorrow." We are looking forward to welcoming Grandma and Grandpa to our house for Thanksgiving and showing them a great time in our town!

My answer

I was fasting for a purpose yesterday and got a very clear answer in the Sacrament Hymn (#185: Reverently and Meekly Now):

Bid thine heart all strife to cease; with thy brethren be at peace.
Oh, forgive as thou wouldst be e'en forgiven now by me.
In the solemn faith of prayer cast upon me all thy care,
And my Spirit's grace shall be like a fountain unto thee.

I'm doing my best.

Deep thoughts on a Sunday morning

This is an actual transcription of a conversation that took place this morning between our 3 three-year old, Scott, and Mr. M.

Scott: (walking out from the bedroom) I have a sprain in my foot.

Mr M: How did it get there?

Scott: I put it in there.

Mr M: What is a sprain?

Scott: A sprain is something I put in my foot.

Mr M: Is it a big sprain?

Scott: It's a hard sprain.

Mr M: What color is your sprain?

Scott: It's white, but I painted it blue.

Mr M: Where did you get your sprain?

Scott: At the store.

Mr M: How much did it cost?

Scott: $50.

Mr M: How big is your sprain?

Scott: (holding up 10 fingers) This big.

Mr M: Oh, how big is that?

Scott: 50 degrees.

Mr M: How many sprains do you have?

Scott: I have one in my head, but that's my brain...

Last class

It is starting to sink in that I have taken the last of my classes in my PhD program in linguistics. How does that feel? Well... I no longer have to engage in conversations like the one below.... until such time that I have the opportunity to teach these courses.

;)

Laughing extends your life and relieves stress

So, we're moving, which means, I'm packing. Michael is at work - a real job - meaning full time and paid, which leaves me mostly on my own. Thanks to dear friends, though, I've had help packing and help watching the boys, so we're making good progress.

I took a few minutes this afternoon to sit down and read a book with Scott and my secret plot worked! He is now fast asleep. It was fun to read with him, but I admit to ulterior motives.

As I was tidying up a moment ago, I found some light blue cardstock scattered across the piano bench. 7 out of 8 pieces had some variation of this theme, scrawled in pencil in Ethan's all-caps, words-separated-only-by-commas-rather-than-spaces scrawl: "GO BYU!!!!!!!!"

The 8th page was a transcription of Scott's favorite joke, which he learned from Liz Willey:

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Interrupting cow.

Interrupting cow wh..?

MOO!

Life changes quickly!

We are moving! In a week! We found out 5 days ago. We'll be managing an apartment building across town, in a nice neighborhood, near one of my dear friends from BYU... It's close to Mr. M's summer internship, as well as closer to his school. We are absolutely thrilled!

If you want more details, you'll have to call or email.

Summer hair

I've been entertaining thoughts of chopping off my hair. Turns out, Scottie beat me to it. Michael and I were sitting at the table, finishing our lunch, when we heard a strange sound coming from the bathroom. It sounded like jewelry clinking. Michael ran in and encountered our little man, who said, "I was just cutting my hair, but now I'm done cutting my hair." This is what we're used to seeing:

This is the transformation that occurred today. In the first picture, you see what he did with it. The last picture shows the completed buzz cut.

When he went and looked in the mirror, "It looks like a different person! " I don't think he'll be complaining anymore about hair that is wiggly.

My boys discover homophones*

Yesterday I took the boys to the aquarium with the pre-school. On the train ride home we met a very nice lady named Linda who gave us some literature about her faith. I didn't notice that Ethan started reading it. She seemed a bit surprised that a 5-year-old would be able to read it. I told her, "His mother was an early reader so I give her the credit. Just good genes from his mother's side.
Right Ethan?"
Ethan looked down and started tugging at his clothes.
"Actually, today I'm just wearing these shorts."

...

Scott today had an accident in his underwear so he had to change. As pulled out his tighty-whiteys he said to me, "Look! A pair of underwear! A pear is like a peach!"*

* In case you are looking for a definition of homophones.

**I was really impressed with this on two counts.
1. He recognized the homophone.
2. He recognized the relationship between items of the same class.

Overheard

Mr M (following a discussion on marriage, priesthood, men, and women): We respect their womanhood.

Ethan (excited): Womanhood? Like Robin Hood?

Yeah. Something like that.

5 am Wednesday-

Scott crawls in the bed on my side and cuddles up.

Scott: Dad, my white blanket will dry out.

Dad silently thinks for a minute. Why is he telling me about this blanket? Dad rolls over and brushes against some very soggy Bob the Builder pajamas.

Dad: Out of the bed. You're wet!
Scott: I want to snuggle. I'm NOT wet!
Dad: You went pee pee in your pajamas. You can't be in my bed until you change your pants.
Scott: I'm NOT wet!

Exasperated, I forcibly remove the walking puddle. Scott repeatedly fights being taken out of bed screaming "I'm not wet!" Once out he repeatedly tries to get back in. When this fails runs to Mom's side of the bed and attempts to crawl in. Mom takes kicking screaming, allegedly dry boy and changes him against his will. Thanks Mrs. M.

Dreams and reality

It has been a glorious few days. My body has been surging with endorphins (thank you, jogging and push-ups!), my brain has been filled with affirming thoughts, my relationship with Ethan is blossoming, and I feel happy. And really, really tired.

Yesterday I went to a faculty meeting for our music program, typed up the minutes, listened to Mr. M's worries about his upcoming job interview, took the boys to the park for 3 (!) hours, taught a violin lesson, studied my scriptures, practiced, and had a few minutes of leisure reading.

Today I have domestic chores to do: dishes, laundry, meal planning. Not my favorite activities, but I love the end results, and I'll turn on conference to lift me.

I have some dreams that are going to come true, one day at a time!

Twirly Whirly Pizza and a good day

It was a good day. I got up, went for a 3 mile walk (up some huge hills) while Mr. M stayed home with the boys and made waffles for breakfast. Then I did 5 real push-ups! This is miraculous in itself.

In the course of the day, I mopped the kitchen floor, did all the dishes, mopped the bathroom floor, helped the boys tidy their room, vacuumed everything, and took the boys to the park. I won't mention that we only stayed at the park for 10 minutes because someone whose name rhymes with Blot had a poop incident in his underwear. I will mention that he cleaned it all up himself. I'm more of a wipe supervisor these days than anything else. But I digress.

The boys and I decided to cook Twirly Whirly Pizza together for their dinner. It was a great success. They both took turns kneading the pizza dough, helped roll it out, spread the sauce (into which I surreptitiously grated some carrots and zucchini), and sprinkled the cheese. The finished product was a hit with both of them. It had a little roll of spinach in it as well, about which Ethan said: "Mom, I like the spinach. It tastes really good in this pizza!"

Here's the recipe for Twirly Whirly Pizza (from Family Fun magazine):

1 tube refrigerated pizza dough OR 1 ball of homemade pizza dough from Basic Pizza Crust recipe
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup shredded Italian-mix cheese (or whatever you want)
1 cup fresh (baby) spinach leaves

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Unroll dough from tube or roll out homemade dough into a long rectangular shape. Spread pizza sauce on top and sprinkle with half of the cheese. Top with spinach leaves.

Roll up the dough, as if you are making cinnamon rolls. Cut the rolled-up dough into 8 pieces, then lay them flat in a greased pie tin (like cinnamon rolls). Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake 22-25 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 8 servings.

While we're at it, here's the basic pizza crust recipe from Cooking Light, my favorite magazine:

Tbsp sugar
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/2 tsp)
1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees)

3 cups flour, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil

cooking spray
1 Tbsp cornmeal

1. Dissolve sugar and yeast in water in a large bowl and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in 2 3/4 cups flour, salt, and olive oil to form a soft dough.

2. Knead dough on a lightly-floured surface (I use my cutting board) for about 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Add enough of remaining flour, a bit at a time, to prevent dough from getting sticky.

3. Place dough in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat. Cover bowl with a moist towel so dough doesn''t dry out. Let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, for 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Press 2 fingers into the dough. If the dents remain, the dough has risen enough.)

4. Punch down the dough and divide it in half. Roll each half into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Place dough on 2 baking sheets, each coated with cooking spray and sprinkled with 1/2 Tbsp cornmeal. Crimp edges of dough with fingers to form a rim. Cover and let rise again for 30 minutes (I never do this 2nd rise).

5. Top with desired toppings and cook in pre-heated 450 degree oven for 20-22 minutes.

The joke's on me

I had an uneventful day until about 6:45 pm. I had prepared my 35 newsletters to distribute at the monthly preschool co-op meeting that started at 7 pm. They were in the car. I was ready to go, just waiting for Mr. M to arrive home from school on the bus to watch the boys. He would arrive any minute...

A knock at the door. Could it be? Is it he? I gleefully grabbed my bag to leave. No, it's not my husband, it's a tenant, telling me that the laundry room sink has overflowed with water and is flowing all over the floor. The phone ringing interrupts our conversation and Scott runs out the door, thinking he is finally free. On the phone is one of my visiting teachees, telling me about what we need to do to sell her car. I cut her off, only somewhat impolitely, hang up, lace up my shoes, and head out the door to the laundry room.

I sweep the 3 inches of water out of the laundry room. Ah, yes, the sink is clogged. I return to the house, take off my shoes, walk in socks to the bathroom across the new carpet, grab the toilet plunger, go back to the door, put on my shoes, and go back to the laundry room. Plunge, plunge! Bits of paper float up through the water. Just as I suspected - the pipes are fine, it's only the drain that has been blocked. Plunge, plunge, drain, drain. At the bottom, I find a cigarette carton, wadded up and shoved into a plastic bag. Who's the wabido who put that in the sink?

Scott has picked up the broom and is pushing the water across the patio. I manage to shoo him into the house, before going upstairs to report to the tenant who originally reported the clog that she can do her laundry now. While speaking with her at the door, I see my Scott streak out of the house, wearing nothing but a t-shirt. He is waving a dripping pair of blue underwear. I see excrement hanging off his bare backside. He calls to me, "Mom! My underwear fell in the toilet!"

I interrupt my conversation with the tenant, run downstairs, and chase Scott into the house. The blue underwear drips toilet water across my clean carpet. I curse my husband's lateness and moan inwardly. I put Scott in the tub and make him clean himself up with the water.

It was awful, but only a few minutes later, after chastising my tardy husband, and heading off into the sunset, I mean, heading off to my preschool meeting, I realized how funny it all was. Haha, April Fools on me! And what great blog material!

Investment plans

Ethan and I had a long conversation about school, scholarships and jobs. This was a small extract of our conversation.

Mr. M:
You know someday, if you work really hard, somebody would pay you to be a scientist. (this is what Ethan wants to be when he grows up) What do you think of that?

Ethan:
That's good. I would put the money in my piggy bank.

Mr. M:
Someday you can put your money in a REAL bank.

Ethan:
Yeah, but I would still want to put it in my piggy bank.

Mr M:
Do you think if they paid you $50,000 you would put it all in your piggy bank?

Ethan:
Sure.

Mr. M:
Do you think you could fit $50,000 in your piggy bank?

Ethan <in a self-assured tone of voice>:
If they were coins.

Go Cougars!

Last week, as part of our family pilgrimage to BYU, we hiked the Y on the mountain. It was a beautiful, blue-sky, gentle-breeze, perfect-for-hiking-the-Y day. This family accomplishment was no small feat; the trail to the Y is 1.2 miles. Quite a hike for little legs, not to mention big, out-of-shape legs. As an incentive to keep going, I promised the boys a chocolate treat at the top.



Once we reached the top, and the boys had their chocolate, we began the trip down. (I did not eat my chocolate treat and felt quite virtuous about it, even though my self-control was imposed by an inability to open the wrapper.)

Before we made it 10 feet from the Y, we heard this from Ethan:

"Excuse me, please. I burped a chocolate burp." He paused, then, in a voice suggesting he was about to offer us something truly special, he asked,"Does anyone want to smell my breath?"

Scott immediately stepped up, "I do!" And he did.

Love means ALWAYS saying sorry

I have never understood that saying, "Love means never having to say sorry." Is it the idea that when you love someone you will never do or say anything hurtful so sorry won't be necessary?

I have a problem with anger. Most of the time I am fine, but if I am tired or hungry or worse - BOTH! - then watch out. Those are pretty manageable triggers, but I haven't yet eliminated fatigue and hunger from my life 100%. I thought that blogging about my successes might be helpful.

Today I picked up Ethan from preschool (Scott was along since we had just been with friends at the zoo). I had prepared Ethan in the morning to leave preschool right away and go to the grocery store since our fridge was looking bare: butter, carrots, spinach, an apple pie, and some leftover medicinal Coke.

We got to the store and parked. Ethan got out of the car. It was hot. He was wearing a sweatshirt and started complaining about the heat. I unwisely reminded him that when he got dressed this morning, I had told him he would be hot. Cue the shouting from Ethan! Cue the anger and shouting from me. We got back in the car and I drove away from the store, feeling desperate and angry. Desperate because we were all hungry and needed to eat. About 2 blocks down the road, I pulled over. I breathed deeply. I apologized to my boys for shouting at them. I asked if we could try again to go to the store and buy some food, so that we could all eat lunch. It worked.

We came home. We ate. We're happy now. We have coping skills again. I consider today a success because we tried again and we did what needed to get done.

Does this happen to anyone else? Do you have suggestions for me?

Car Conversation or Faithful Forever

This morning on the way to Ethan's violin lesson...

Michael: "Ethan, who would you vote for if you were old enough to vote?"

Scott (excited): "I was voting for Mitt Romney!"

Ethan (thinking and responding slowly): "If I was old enough to vote, I would vote for Mitt Romney. If he told me to vote for someone else, I would vote for them. If that person told me to vote for someone else, I would vote for them. If that person told me to vote for someone else, I would vote for them. If that person dropped out, then we would have to see who would bring the right kind of change to America, and I think it would be Mitt Romney."

Scott (still excited): "I was voting for Mitt Romney!"

Trust your nose

When I walked into the house this afternoon after running around all day, I thought I smelled something burning. "That doesn't make sense! What could be burning?" I thought.

It had been a busy morning. Michael made waffles for breakfast before we all jumped into the car and headed over to Ethan's violin lesson in Pasadena. After the lesson, we drove to the USC Institute, where Martha Hagerty serves lunch every Thursday. Michael and I played ping pong, which elevated my heart-rate (yes, I am out of shape!). The boys played pool and foosball. After an hour, I dragged them out. Michael stayed at school. We stopped at Target, the gas station, and the grocery store before arriving home. Only 1 small meltdown at the grocery store. Maybe 2 small meltdowns if mine counts:)

The burning smell persisted as I searched for the power point Michael was requesting by phone. Not until I clued in to Scott eating syrup with a spoon (after finishing his Ovaltine), did I realize that the waffle iron was still ON!!! Charbroiled waffles, anyone?

Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated Scott's birthday tonight. A few days ago, Ethan asked him, "Scott, what kids do you want to invite to your birthday?"

He wanted Uncle Shaun and Lindsay. And so it was! Michael and I managed to get the house clean before our guests arrived. (Michael suggested to me that Lindsay should drop in every week as a motivation to keep the house presentable.) Once they arrived, we sat down to Scott's favorite dinner (and mine too) of spaghetti, crusty bread, and green salad.






























Scott had a little help from Ethan opening his gifts.















He was thrilled with his Lightning McQueen from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Sue.

All's Well That Ends Well, or, If You Give a Boy a Strawberry

It was a beautiful morning. We had fresh strawberries with whole wheat waffles for breakfast. I dutifully cleared the table, washed the dishes (it was sunny, after all), and went to the other room for a few minutes. When I returned, there was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth...

Behold, the strawberry carnage!!! Scott had broken into the remaining package of strawberries, taken one bite of each, and strewn them across the table. Sigh....
















My brilliant husband calmed me by whipping up a batch of strawberry syrup, which we consumed the next morning at breakfast over a new batch of waffles. I guess all's well that ends well.

Banana Bread

I've been organizing a benefit concert and was working on getting the web page up one morning while Ethan was at school. The breakfast dishes were still on the table. Along came Scott, still 2. He found 2 soft, brown bananas in the fruit bowl and immediately suggested, "Mom, let's make banana bread!"

"Ok, give me 5 more minutes on this, then I'll clear the table, and we'll make banana bread, " I answered.

Evidently, he did not want to wait because he began to clear the table. Like an ant, he went back and forth from the table to the sink, carefully moving all the dirty dishes. I was thrilled and so full of maternal pride, although I'm pretty sure I can't take any credit for teaching him to clear the dishes.

When all the dishes had been removed from the table, he began to stack up the placemats. I interrupted him, "Oh, Scottie, we need to wipe those off first. They are dirty."

"I need a rag," responded the amazing DO-er. Of course, it came out more like, "I need a wag." No matter. I got a rag from under the sink, got it wet, and then he wiped off the table. I did a follow-up wipe and then we got under way.

Behold, the finished coconut banana bread with lime glaze (recipe courtesy of Cooking Light). Oh, I left out the rum. Looks like Scott didn't mind.

Politics at the grocery store

This morning in the grocery store, I was contemplating potatoes. Thinking out loud, I said to Scott, "We can have potatoes from Idaho or Washington."

"But, Mom!" he protested. "Mitt Romney says Washington is broken!"

I would have laughed if I didn't feel such a sense of loss now that Mitt has suspended his campaign. I cried watching his speech to CPAC, and I cried again reading it last night. Now comes the difficulty of finding a candidate to support. No one really appeals to me. How many others feel like this out there?

Violin Dreams

I just finished a wonderful book called Violin Dreams, by Arnold Steinhardt, first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet. The book is a fascinating journey through Steinhardt's life.

Here is link to a brief article on NPR, with excerpts from the book, as well as recordings of Steinhardt playing Bach's Chaconne from the Violin Partita 2 in D Minor, the masterpiece which he returns to over and over.

Beaten into submission

The boys got to bed late tonight, and I told them that I wasn't available to snuggle, but they could listen to a tape. About half an hour later, I heard a small voice calling from the bedroom: "Mom, a night without snuggles is like.... (long pause).... is like a day without eating. "

Ach! How could I refuse to snuggle when it was put to me like that?

Overheard (with updates below)

From Scott, standing on the kitchen table and throwing crayons all over the living room: "I'm Mitt Romney!"

Playing tag in the courtyard, Ethan called out, "I'm it!" Scott immediately cried, "No, I'm Mitt Romney!"

From Scott, a few days later, playing with a toy train: "I'm Mitt Romney, and I approve this message!"

From Scott, answering a question from a perspective tenant who asked his name: "I'm Garfield. That's a swimming pool."

From Ethan, waxing philosophical in bed: "Mom, where do numbers end?" When I told him there was no end to numbers, he then worried how he could learn to count them all and still learn all the other things we need to learn at school.

From Ethan, same conversation in bed, in a very vehement voice: "I wish I were a grown up girl so I could have treats in Relief Society!"

UPDATE 1/25/08: The political play continues. This afternoon Scott declared, standing on the arm of our couch: "I'm Mitt Romney and I will change America! The future is in my tummy!" He paused, then said, "Watch me scuba dive!" and jumped onto the couch.

Ethan said, "If you jump, Mitt, you will change America. Watch me skydive across America!" After a lot of couch jumping, Ethan ran over to the Brita filter in the fridge. "Mitt, this is our big chance for a drink!"

Just heard from Ethan: "We are the President of the United States." (That sounds Clintonian to me.) And from Scott: "The future is in my bones."