Power to the people

I did something today I have never done before, at least, not that I can remember. I used power tools entirely on my own.

Yesterday, I found a large magnetic whiteboard (18 x 26) at Costco for $20. It came with 6 colored magnets, 2 clippy magnets, a magnetic eraser that holds 2 markers, 2 more markers with one color on each end, a moveable tray, and mounting supplies. Having been an office-supply lover since my childhood, I was thrilled to find it.

Before I could open my purchase today, I had to do some minor furniture rearranging in the living room, involving the couch, the green chair, and the shoe shelf. "Ah! I can breathe again. There is SPACE in my living room." Teehee, Michael will have a surprise when he comes home in 2 more hours.

I had to use a screwdriver to get the plastic off the white board (have you ever heard of such a thing?!). With the mounting instructions, there was a little paper template with two bullseyes to indicate where I needed to drill. Drill? I've never drilled before. To make a long story short, I read the instructions. Putting up my whiteboard was easy and painless AND I got to wear safety glasses.

Now I must away to clean the dishes, cook dinner, scrub the bathroom, throw in the laundry, and present a complete surprise when Michael walks in the door. I even look good today because I dressed up (that means I put on mascara) to teach my violin lesson at 3 pm. Onward and upward! Triumph is mine!

Random sampler

Here's a shot of all my boys enjoying a good book together, taken at home.
Here is Scott and his mom (yes, it's me) on the bus from the parking lot to the Newport Beach temple open house. The tours were fantastically well organized and the temple is striking, especially the arched doorways made of dark, dark wood.
Here is Scott at the Hall family reunion in Enterprise, UT. That's Aunt Sandy holding him. Just try to imagine the joyous shriek coming out of his mouth and you'll have a better idea of why we affectionately call him "grackle boy".
Here is Ethan on the bus from the parking lot over to the Newport Beach temple. When I see this face in real life (as opposed to a still shot), I see a lot of Grandma Rowena in him. He was about as good as a 2 year old can be in the temple (which is not very), but as we entered the celestial room, he folded his arms and looked around. "Mom, "he whispered to me, "where's Heavenly Father?"

One funny story from Sacrament meeting today: after the prayer on the bread, I was feeling pretty optimistic because Ethan was quiet. He lasted about 10 seconds before bursting into an enthusiastic round of "I've been working on the WAILWOAD, all the livelong day!" It was the kind of moment where if it had been anyone else's child, I'd have laughed, but since I was the mom, I couldn't laugh for fear that he'd keep going. I managed to quiet him down by reading him something from the illustrated Book of Mormon stories. I heard from Michael after church that our bishop's first counselor had said to Michael, "Well, at least he's singing songs that will teach him a good work ethic."

Sometimes ups outnumber the downs...

When Michael left for work this morning, he dropped off Ethan at a friend's house to spend the day. Somehow at 4:30 pm when Ethan came home, I wasn't ready for it. It didn't help that he had just woken up from a short nap and was grouchy and that I hadn't taken the nap I needed. I was feeling persecuted. While Scott ate, I opened up my scriptures and read the end of Alma 26. This is my version of verses 26-27 that is going on my wall:

But behold, my beloved Erin, we came into the wilderness of parenthood not with the intent to destroy our children, but with the intent that perhaps we might teach them and love them and prepare them for their life missions.

Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said, Go amongst thy children, Ethan and Scott, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

Enough of the downs. Here are some funny recent Ethan stories.

1) Tonight after family scripture study we were discussing baptism. We told Ethan that all his aunts and uncles were baptized after they turned 8. "My aunt Candice got baptized?" he asked. "Yes, and Aunt Christy, and all your uncles." He thought about this for a minute, then inquired, "Did they take turns?"

2) A few nights ago, Ethan requested a story about Dad and the pirate, so Michael told him that he (Michael) became a pirate and was very good at swords. Ethan said, "No, Dad, you did not have a sword. Swords are for robbers and Lamanites!"

3) Michael has been doing a lot of stretching lately for his lower back pain. Today Ethan rolled off the couch and said, when I asked if he was ok, "My back hurts. I'm going to do some stretching." He sat on the floor for a minute, then announced, "I feel better now."

4) Ethan likes to pretend he is John Beck, the BYU quarterback. Before work this morning, Ethan and Michael played catch with Ethan's little nerf football. A while later, Ethan grabbed the football off the floor, and ran into the kitchen, shouting, "Touchdown!" Tonight he and Michael played catch again and Ethan actually caught the ball a few times. Real, honest-to-goodness catches. I was just sitting and watching from the sidelines. Ethan directed, "Mom, you be Bronco Mendenhall" (the coach). Ummm, is this MY child?

5) Ethan has been doing really well in his potty-training progress. Today we had an incident. After lifting him off the toilet to wipe his bottom, a large poop stalagtite lost its grip, smeared its way down Ethan's leg, and landed on the bathroom rug that I just washed YESTERDAY! Urgh! As I put Ethan in the bathtub to clean him up, I told him, "Ethan, I am very angry." He turned around, looked me in the eyes, and said in his most cheerful voice, "Don't be very angry, Mom. Be happy, like me." Then he grinned.

Food, glorious food

A few days into my exciting new adventure in blogging, Michael pointed out, "You have 2 pictures of food on your blog and only 1 picture of 1 child. What does that say about you?"

It could say a lot of things. It could say that I'm not afraid that foodie stalkers will come after me (true). It could say I love food and 1 of my children (not entirely true - I love food and both my children). It could say that it's easier to capture food looking good on camera than it is to capture both boys looking good on camera (perhaps the truest of all): "Ethan, look at me and say cheese. Take the blanket off Scott's face. Now smile, no, take the blanket off his face. PLEASE TAKE THE BLANKET OFF HIS FACE!"

I do love food. A few years into our marriage, Michael and I realized that where his family talks about BYU football, my family talks about food. This was a big aha moment for us. Now I just smile on game day when he calls his dad and brothers 4 or 5 times to say things like, "Go BYU!" "Did you see that pass?" "Are you listening to the halftime report?" "Go BYU!" "Go Cougars!" I understand now that they are speaking their own special language.

Instead of getting bored listening to Michael's end of the conversation, I call my bro in Chicago. After the initial greetings, the conversation almost always turns to food (except lately, when we sometimes discuss blogs). "Guess what we ate last night?" "Guess what Christy made this morning?" "Guess what we're making for lunch?"

Michael's brother lived with my brother Neal for a time and in talking to Michael, Shaun passed along something that he had noticed. Much to my delight, Neal displays our family's classic conversation pattern of focusing on food. Where Shaun would say, "I had a sandwich for lunch", Neal would say, "Oh, I had a sandwich made with honey-cured ham on toasted rye bread covered with spicy brown mustard, a slice of swiss cheese, some lettuce, tomatoes, and a nice, crispy dill pickle on the side. And I made some limeade to go with it. "

We learned this from our parents. When Mom and Dad report on events, vacations, wedding receptions, or other social gatherings, they bring up the food first. Down to the details. Last year, they traveled alone together (haha) to a warm Caribbean island. They came back ranting and raving about their meal at a particular restaurant, how their waiter had been incredibly polite and well-timed, how the flavors and textures of the food were perfectly complimentary, etc etc

I think this ties back to my mom's excellent cooking. Her cooking is healthy, delicious, and abundant. Her kitchen is like a promised land, as Ben proclaims, "She has EVERYTHING there!" Growing up, we always had hot breakfast together before seminary and we always had dinner together. She didn't tell us every day that she loved us, but she showed us by feeding us (and doing a host of other things as well). I associate food with love.

Which explains why I felt so personally rejected when my toddler turned his nose up at things I made for him to eat! Ding ding ding!

Well, it's time for me to show some love and get dinner going for my boys.

Earthquake

Wow. Scary wow. I just experienced my first earthquake. The windows started rattling, as if a HUGE truck was driving slowly by. Michael and I looked at each other, grabbed the kids, and headed to our safeplace - the doorway between the living room and the hall. There's no door there and it's far from glass, furniture, appliances, and outside walls. While we stood there, we heard shouting from our neighbors in the apartment building, "EARTHQUAKE!" It lasted less than 30 seconds. The newssaid it was a 5.3, centered in Yucaipa.

Now that things have settled down, I think that it was a great earthquake drill. For the last few weeks, Michael has been itching to get our 72 hour kits finished. So much so that on Tuesday night, instead of cheering for his favorite basketball team - the San Antonio SPURS - he got out our current 72 hour kits, did a complete inventory on them, and figured out what more we needed to feel ready. We did the shopping yesterday.

It seems like there has been a lot of earthquake activity lately. I feel a lot better having a 72 hour kit and I sure hope we never have to use it.