Scarlet Pimpernel Party

A friend and I came up with a get-together for a bunch of girls (a.k.a. other mothers) we knew in order to have some quality kid-free girly time.  We started it kinda late after the kids were down and ate a ton of good food and watched the Scarlet Pimpernel. It was way fun, there were door prizes and everything, but none of us thought to take any pictures.
To go with the theme, I thought it would be fun to write love letters to our husbands or kids and seal them with wax like they do in the movie.  I couldn't find a suitable seal to imprint the wax with though, so I decided to make my own. I googled the image from the movie and copied the design.

movie original

mine

Not bad for my first try eh? I figure it's close enough anyway.

All it took was some sealing wax I bought online, and a piece of soapstone, which I carved easily using a nut pick I already had around the house.  The soapstone comes in sticks that are 11mm wide and about 5 inches long and are found at just about any hardware store for about five bucks (you can see them to the right in the first picture).  There are at least 7 sticks and they are generally used to mark metal for welding.

I also found an 11mm ring base and made my own personal signet ring.

What do you think?  Etsy material?

The Pit

In a Religion class I took 10 years ago at BYU-Idaho, we were given an assignment to write a parable. As I brainstormed topics to write about, I came across one of my doodles (that was my idea of taking notes at one point), and this became the inspiration of my parable.

I felt like sharing it today because... one: I think it is pretty good (if I do say so myself), and two: I was reminded of it during the recent General Relief Society broadcast when Sister Linda K. Burton told a similar analogy.  (I just discovered that her analogy was taken from a primary lesson manual, and although I feel that my parable was completely of my own creation, it makes me wonder if it might be a sign that I actually was listening in primary and that those things really do stick.) 
So here it is.  (The numbers are the verses --it was supposed to be written like the scriptures, in case you were wondering.)

The Parable of the Pit

1. In a certain city there was a pit.

2. The breadth thereof was exceedingly large and exceedingly deep and dirty.

3. There happened upon the pit two youths who, not knowing the dangers of the pit and the slipperiness of the sides, did venture too close to the mouth of the pit to peer in and they did fall into the depths thereof.

4. A certain stranger traveling by, hearing their cries, approached the pit.

5. The youths cried unto him saying; Thou who standest on higher ground, wilt thou have mercy on us and rescue us?

6. And the stranger answered and said; Nay, for I see that the pit is exceedingly dirty and I desirest not to be soiled as thou art. And he went his way.

7. Another stranger passing by and hearing the cries of the youths approached the pit.

8. They cried unto him saying; Thou who standest on higher ground, wilt thou have mercy on us and rescue us?

9. Looking into the pit, the stranger answered and said unto them; Nay, for I do not have the means wherewith to pull you out. And he went his way.

10. And the youths were exceeding sorrowful.

11. Yet two strangers traveling together passing by heard the cries of the youths down in the pit and approached.

12. The youths cried unto them saying; Thou who standest on higher ground, wilt thou have mercy on us and rescue us?

13. And the one stranger, straightway lowered his rod into the pit in order to draw them out, but alas, it was lacking in length.

14. The second stranger, seeing the deficiency of the rod, straightway jumped into the pit and built for the youths a ladder that they may all reach the rod and be lifted out of the pit.

15. And when they had done this, the youths rejoiced saying; Blessed be thy name forever, for thou art our saviors, and have shown great mercy upon us for we should have surely perished in the pit!

16. And thus they did cry all the days of their lives.

Translation:

            The youths represent people, who in their ignorance and curiosity, fall into the pit of sin –perhaps bound for the very depths of hell.

             The strangers represent members of the Church.  They stand on higher ground, meaning they uphold their standards and keep the commandments, yet perhaps they are traveling in different directions.

            The first stranger is one who, in his pride, refuses to help those in trouble because he is afraid that it may adversely affect his own standing. He, like a Pharisee, is afraid of associating with anything considered “unclean.” One may wonder which direction he travels when it says, “And he went his way.”

            The second stranger, though he stands on higher ground and looks into the pit wanting to help, is lacking in the resources –perhaps the knowledge, the willingness, and the strength –whereby to pull them out.

            The last two strangers are a representation of our companionship with Christ. He is the one who was willing to descend below it all.  He prepared the way, building the steps of repentance whereby all mankind may be saved through His atoning sacrifice.

            Notice that the ladder is built to be used at the will of the youths. It is by their own strength and choice that they ascend the steps.

            The rod, as in other scriptures, is the Word of God. It is extended to all people and should be kept close at hand by faithful members.

            We, like the unfortunate youths, are all subject to the pits of mortal life and are in constant need of the saving and enabling powers of the atonement. Let us rejoice and praise God continually for his mercy, and let us proclaim these happy tidings all of our days.

It's amazing to me to see how smart I once was, even at 20.  It's not a perfect analogy, but I got an A.
Hope you enjoyed it.

Car Activities for Toddlers

So, we planned an epic road trip to Southern California for our Spring Break (pictures to come).  While 30-plus hours in a car over the span of five days with three small children is not ideal, I found that if you plan well enough, you all just might survive.

Here are some of the ideas I came up with:  (The first two I have pictured here are actually completely original. The third was from Family Fun, I think, and some of the others were from friends and neighbors as well as just what we had around.)

So when I think of travel games, I think of magnets. So I bought some tins at the second hand store, some magnetic tape, some dollar store stickers and fun little erasers, and printed out pictures I had drawn on the computer or found on the internet onto cardstock.

I taped a clear page protector onto the tin, and so the cards were interchangeable.  My favorite was the I spy page, which I made two copies of and with one page made magnets out of some of the objects by cutting them out and sticking the magnet strip to the back.   The other tin simply had alphabet and number magnets, although I planned to do shapes -tangram style but didn't get around to it in time. The kids really seemed to enjoy it -until most of the magnets got lost in the car -but it kept them busy for at least an hour, which is all anyone could hope for.

The second idea was quite ingenious I thought, although more complicated than it had to be, and flopped in the end, but not because it wasn't a good idea.  I made a paper dispenser scroll out of a pencil box, two Crystal light containers, some pencils, some tractor wheels from an already broken toy, and some rolls of old-school fax machine paper that I found at the DI.

I melted slits and holes in the Crystal Light containers with my wood burner, and stuck the pencils through for spindles, drilling holes in the pencils and attaching the wheels by the axles with glue to use as knobs.  (Did that make any sense?)  Then I put the paper roll in the first, pulled the paper through and taped it to the pencil/spindle inside the container opposite side, and put the lids on.  Then I glued the canisters to the bottom of the pencil box, and voila!  I also attached a snap-button closure to the lid on the underside to keep things inside while drawing.  I filled the box with pencils, crayons, markers, stickers, and stamps. I also found out that you could draw on the paper with any hard stylus type thing, including your fingernail, because it was pressure sensitive paper, so if the kids lost all the pencils and stuff, it would still work!  Well, the thing lasted for about an hour before the canisters on the sides fell off --note to self, don't use hot melt glue for things that are going to be handled by toddlers!  I also left home without all the things I originally filled it with (pictured above), although luckily I had pencils and crayons in the car. So, it didn't go over as well as hoped, but my four year old got a little use out of it, and I plan to resurrect it before our next car trip.

The third thing I made was some little mazes I saw somewhere, made out of waxen string (Bendaroos work best, but I couldn't actually find those so this off brand had to do -which actually glowed in the dark), and some old CD cases, and some small round balls or beads I had around.

I only got this one bad picture of one of the two mazes after the kids had been playing with them with their grubby little hands, and to be honest, they may have been a bit young for it.  Another note to self, glue them shut next time, because the contents are just too interesting looking to not be touched and dismantled.  Needless to say, they didn't last past this trip, but again, they gave us a good hour or so of peace.

The other tricks I had up my sleeve included:
-Surprise bags, filled with dollar store party favors and treats, given at intervals throughout the trip.
-Pipe cleaners
-Travel size Etch-a-sketch and Magnadoodle
-Books -especially Eye Spy books, and board books with flaps for younger kids.
-Kid computer/Toy that has buttons, lights and sounds --not too annoying though.  (I honestly think my 2 year old knows his alphabet better ever since this trip, and I have a toy that I am going to take the batteries out of for a while.)
-Pom pom puffballs --for throwing at each other.  Good for laughs and relieving stress. Only lasts until they're all lost and out of reach in the car though.
-Bubbles --didn't actually have to pull this one out.  I forgot about it.  But it has worked wonders for keeping really young kids happy and entertained.  (I blow, they pop, otherwise it would be a mess.  AC/heater fans make it more exciting, and I can actually get bubbles all the way to the back of my minivan that way).
-Glow sticks --great for driving in the dark.
-Wooden beads for stringing (-until they all got lost on the floor that is). Fruit loops or cheerios could also be fun if you're not afraid of the mess.
-A Laptop with DVD's or movies on the hard drive (we can't afford a portable DVD player).  We plugged it into our tape deck adapter for surround sound, and turned the music to play in the back of the van.  We were actually able to read our book out loud in the front, while the kids watched a movie in the back without bothering one another!  I am also proud to say that we only watched three full length movies the entire trip --that's better than most weeks at home!
-Snacks snacks and more snacks!  We got the kids some Lunchables, and used the trays over and over to pass other small finger foods back.  We tried to keep the sugar at a minimum, but crackers, cheese sticks, teddy grahams, grapes, apples, raisins, beef sticks, and the occasional gummy worm seemed to do the trick. For the baby, who is just learning to self feed, we got some Baby MumMums (organic rice rusks) that kept him busy, a mesh feeder to put bananas, grapes, pineapple or whatever else we thought he'd like to chew on, and when all else failed we popped those freeze dried yogurt melts into his mouth, which prolonged his time until feedings/naps sometimes half an hour --long enough to get to a good park or play place.

That was another trick.  Stopping every two-three hours for some good kinesthetic-oriented fun (while I fed the baby in the car).

We also bought some new toys for the baby, including those little links to go on his carrier handle to keep him from losing toys, sippies, and the mesh feeder.

He was a messy baby, but a happy one. We just rotated through things at intervals to keep it new and interesting.  Luckily he took naps very well as we drove, and was pretty happy even when awake.  The kids took good naps too.  That was a blessing!

Overall, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  All my planning and preparing worked out to be just enough, despite some of the seeming flops, but I don't think we'll do it again for a long long time.  (Unless we have to for a move next Fall, but then I'll be prepared!)

Hope some of this is helpful to any of you!  If you have any other good ideas, feel free to share!

Progress

Not bad for a phone camera eh? Still, a new one is on its way. Yay!

Do you ever have those times when your life feels like you're walking up a 'down' escalator?  Or that for every two steps you take, you slide backwards one?

We went to the sand dunes for a small family outing.  It was fun, but man those last three yards to the top were about the end of me.  It was super steep, and with every step there was a mini avalanche that would bury my feet and shoes and I'd find myself standing just about where I started.  If I hadn't had the baby strapped to my front, I probably would have tried crawling on all fours.

Luckily, my wonderful husband (after already pretty much carrying the two boys to the top) was there to hold my hand and support me as we struggled together to the top. He didn't just cheer from above, or even just reach down and pull me up to join him.  He was right there next to me helping me, as he struggled to keep his footing as well, and together we made it.

Since our third child has joined us and I've been dealing with health issues, as well as possible post-baby emotional issues, life has felt like an uphill struggle.  Whether it's housework, or callings, or lifestyle changes, or keeping up with three kids ages four and under... my life often appears as an impossibly steep mountain that threatens to bury me with each step.
Luckily, I don't have to do it all by myself.
I've been so blessed to have a wonderful husband who isn't above helping me with what some may see as "my job."

He could come home from work and say, "Well, I've done my job, time to relax!" and scorn me for not doing my job very well because the house is messy or dinner's not ready right when he comes home.  Or he could see me floundering and piously think, "If we could only trade jobs for a day, I'd show her how it's done..." and maybe blitz the house for good measure to make it look clean (getting angry when it doesn't stay that way for very long) all the while acting like a martyr.

No, I am proud to say my husband is truly amazing. He is right there in the trenches with me.  He cleans, does laundry, gets up with the children and feeds them breakfast so I can sleep in, watches them so I can go grocery shopping alone, and he even reads them scriptures and puts them down at night.  (Sheesh, this is making me feel a little inadequate.  Just to be fair, I am usually feeding the baby at those times, and I'm the one getting up in the night with the kids).  He has even come to grips with his original misconceptions that once something is cleaned it will stay that way forever, and learned that 'my job' is an unending one.

I would feel really inadequate if I thought he did all those things better than I do, but he's so thoughtful and considerate of my feelings that he occasionally makes mistakes, like breaking dishes and setting stains and putting the kids in mismatched (if not each other's) clothes, just to make me feel better.  :)

Someday, I'll get back on top of things, and be able to help him be the amazing English professor that he dreams of being.  However, I'm so glad that he chooses to put his family first.  --and to all those students waiting for their unit one papers...  just be patient, he's a lot more lenient when he feels like he's neglected you, so no more whining.

Hey you.  Happy 6th anniversary.

Shortage

There's been a shortage of cuteness here on my blog.  So here you go.

6th percentile for height.  4 mos.  

Get it?  Short + Age!  ha ha.  

ok so that was pretty lame.

Actually, he was just being stubborn about stretching out to be measured (he's a strong baby!), but I think we finally got it up to 25% on our 2nd try.  

FYI, 70th percentile for weight and 89th for head circumference! 

Yeah, we make 'em big around here (especially their heads... check out this melon --97th percentile!), 

2 2/3 yrs

but they're still so darn cute! (If I do say so myself) ...and funny, and smart...

4 1/2 yrs

Not to mention extremely talented.

Now we've just got to work on photogenics.  The older two are into the phase where they give me goofy smiles any time I get the camera out.  And yes, bed head is apparently all the rage around here. I even sport it on occasion (but no, you don't get a picture of that... that would counteract all the cuteness.)

Food: my drug of choice

Anyone who knows me probably anticipates that our conversation will probably center around one of two things:

A. My brilliant and oh-so adorable children,

or

B. Food.

BBQ Chicken Thighs

It's sad really.  But this is what my life is about these days, so you'll just have to get used to it.

Bajios style salad with Slow-cooker Salsa Chicken and Spicy Black Beans

Actually, it is possible for me to converse about other things. Of course they're usually really random subjects that don't come up in everyday social situations, like my knowledge of native and non-native noxious weeds in the greater Teton Valley, or my opinion on the reintroduction of wolves and the recent hunting that is being allowed.  Yes, I was a biology major.  More exciting topics would include Poland and it's cultural peculiarities, language, and cuisine . . . but there we are talking about food again.  Man, I'm boring.

Polish Paczki

I remember back in high school my friends and lunch-mates noticing how often I commented on the cafeterial fare.  It may have been simply a lack of something else to say --something to bridge the silence, but I think it was more than that.  It was merely a manifestation of my budding relationship with food.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

I am by no means a culinary expert.  I definitely don't claim to be a gourmet. In fact, I pride myself on meals that require like 5 ingredients or less and take only 20 minutes to make.  If someone gives me a recipe with a list of 20 strange ingredients (strange meaning I don't usually buy it or have it on hand), no matter how good they say it tastes, I probably won't try making it.  Okay, so that's an exaggeration, but only a little bit. To my credit though, I am generally a make-it-from-scratch kind of person.

Chicken Pot Pie in stoneware bowls

However, even though my tastes are anything-but-sophisticated, my style is more on the meat-and-potatoes side of things, and I'm not very inventive or artistic when it comes to food, I believe (and my husband agrees --although we'll try not to discount his vote even if he has been known to eat corn dogs out of the microwave) that most of the stuff that comes out of my kitchen is pretty darn tasty.

Cashew Chicken

Now this is a blessing, but also a curse.  You see, lately, I've had to come to the conclusion that I am addicted to food.  Especially sugar.  I've tried lately to reduce my sugar intake, and it's proving impossible.  Now part of that might be that I am constantly tired, and so my body is craving the instant energy that such simple carbohydrates provide, but that doesn't explain my insatiable appetite for chocolate.  Maybe it's a hormone imbalance.  I don't know.  All I know is that even writing this post makes me want to go find something to eat, but alas, there is nothing.  I have anticipated my lack of self control by not allowing anything to come into the house.  Not even chocolate chips are safe.  Still I don't count that as success in overcoming my food addiction.

Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Plums, Butterscotch Krispies

The problem with a food addiction is that we still have to eat. People overcoming alcoholism can completely abstain and when they're thirsty drink other non-alcoholic beverages.  I can't eat other non-food items (although certain super processed food that contain only un-pronouncable ingredients might be considered non-food --but I think that would be somewhat counterproductive).  I guess the problem comes when I am addicted to unhealthy food, although anything in large amounts could be considered unhealthy ... or could it? Can you O.D. on spinach?

Lemon-Pepper Chicken Pitas

I guess you could, but why would you?  We all know that vegetables are just a vehicle for our unhealthy dressings and toppings right?  (Now you know why I look the way I do.) Actually I do enjoy many healthy foods. I just enjoy the others more. Okay, enough of the guilt trip.  I didn't come here to talk about what is or isn't "healthy," I just wanted to talk about food glorious food!

Egg rolls, and Sweet and Sour Chicken

I have to admit, that I find food beautiful.  I don't suggest you hang pictures of it on your walls, but it is a form of art in it's own way.  I'm not even talking about the visually stunning creations you find in fancy restaurants, where there's about a tablespoon of food in the middle of a fancy plate with a drizzle of colorful sauce around it, and some leaf that is just for show on top.  I'm too down-to-earth for that.  Not to mention too cheap.  I'm sure it tastes good, but if it's $50 good, I think I'd want a lot more than a tablespoon worth. I'll just save myself the agony of obviously what could become just another unsupportable addiction --like scuba diving-- and stick with the easy stuff.

Crepes

I'm talking just plain ol' food cooked up in the right way, and photographed in the right light... For example, this site makes me drool. On the other hand, some sites make it all look like dog food even if it does taste good. (I won't bother linking to any of those.)

Homemade caramel apples

I don't really have any aspirations of having my own cooking blog, but you'd think I did by all the pictures of food I take. (They're hardly professional looking, and not as appetizing as some, but it was the best I could do to capture all that yumminess before it got devoured.) I do like sharing recipes though, and what's a recipe without a good picture to go with it?

Grilled Pizza

If you want any recipes of items pictured, just email me. There's an address at the bottom of my blog.
I'd be flattered.

Buhmadoes

You know how we're supposed to teach our kids how to speak our language?  It seems like I'm learning their language instead.  Not only am I the one person in the universe who understands what they are saying sometimes, but I'm afraid that it is rubbing off on me. For example, my oldest will say, "I don't like buhmadoes," and I will find myself saying something like, "Well, give your buhmadoes to your brother."
Does this happen to anyone else?

Speaking of vegetables... we took the kids to a doctors appointment yesterday for a routine checkup.  As the doctor quizzed my oldest on his numbers and colors and such I felt like I was on trial.  After all, those questions are really to see how much you have taught them right?  Anyway, when the question came up, "What's your favorite food?" my four year old responded, "Carrots! But my brother, he likes buhmadoes."   

Ha ha, score for me!  I promise I didn't teach him to say that.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

I know, this is one of those cheesy things that mommy bloggers do, and I hate to be so stereotypical... but this is my blog and I can do what I like with it. So there.

Here's the top ten things I love about my husband (as a father, since, it's Father's day, otherwise I couldn't keep it to ten.  I know --so cheesy.  Ha!).

From First-Time Dad...

10- He climbs up the million stairs over and over again to take the boys down the water slide at the pool so I don't have to in my pregnant state.

9- He's not afraid to take the kids to the store all by himself.

8- He involves the kids in cooking better than I do, and gets the kids to clean up in ways that are fun for them.

7- He encourages me to go on Girl's Weekends ...and they all survive just fine without me!

6- He changes diapers frequently --especially when I'm pregnant (and he doesn't ask how long the kid has been in it, even though I'm sure he suspects that I was just putting it off until he came home from work --which of course, I never do!--  ok almost never).

5- He is so creative in his play with the kids.  He loves showing them new things, making them laugh, and isn't against being silly or getting sweaty and tired to keep them happy.

4- He wakes up in the morning with them and feeds them breakfast on weekends to let me get a little extra sleep.

3- He doesn't mind entertaining our kids (plus whatever other kids are around) so that at family and social gatherings I can have a chance to visit with other adults.

2- He gets up super early (like 4:00 and 5:00am) to work on his homework and other things so that he can play with the kids and spend time with me when he comes home in the evenings.

1- He helps me sing the kids to sleep each night.

...To First Rate Dad

Over just 4 short years, what a wonderful father you have become. I Love You!