Jacob

Have you all met my favorite oldest child? He's a little bit crazy...and strong...and toothless. (If you click on the fridge behing Jake you'll see Isaac's interpretation of his older brother. This is one of my favorite works of art EVER. It is framed now, and I'm convinced will be worth millions one day.) Jacob is going into FOUTH grade this year. Sheesh, where did my little midget friend of yesteryear go? Now, he's a responsible intelligent young man. All except for this: Yesterday morning I saw Jake pawing at his head trying to extract a few strands of stubble. Once he'd gotten some he stirred them into a cup on the table, full of nasty pinkish concoction.

Me: Why are you pulling out your hair? Why are you putting it in that glass? What, what in the world is that?

Jacob: It's polyjuice potion, mom, what else? I'm turning Clara into me because she's too annoying being her.

Clara: Yeah, then I can pee outside easier, like them.

Of course, I don't think that being a girl has kept this one from doing anything she wanted to do, including peeping outside, unfortunately. So she drank the stuff with nose plugged. Then they waited, and waited, and the sister stayed the same. "Guess we did it wrong. Sorry, Clara."

It is so rewarding watching Jacob grow up and be able to interact in a different way. I can have real and meaningful conversations with Jake. He has something to contribute besides just making me laugh because of his weirdness. Marjorie Hinckley once said, "Being a mother at any age is a blessing, but as we age and our children become interesting and productive adults we really begin to savor the joys of the harvest, the fruit of our labors. How could we have known when they were young and the demands so constant that we would ever have the luxury of simply enjoying their loving companionship?" Obviously, Jacob's only 9, but I feel like I'm getting a small taste of this, and I wonder that this baby who I took on stroller walks in Iowa is now turning into a handsome, righteous boy who his siblings can look up to.

Above, Jacob turns baby James into a puppy, instead of dressing him like he was supposed to. Oh brother! (That's what James is thinking.)

Let this be lesson to all you kids who don't want to eat your vittles.

Idaho

Through the rearview mirror on our journey to Idaho: Kids enthralled with a movie about gorillas. We had many fun adventures.

First stop was Boise where we visited the Shreeve family (Michael's older sister and her sweet family). We played at the park, on the trampoline, shaved ice at a local booth, playing with the kittens (a little too much sometimes), and a fun Sunday family dinner with the McBrides. This is baby Joshua McBride and James playing.

The next stop in our travels was the Fredin family. These Chicagoans turned Idahoans were deluxe with their premier pasta, pulled pork, "panacakes" and pies. We played in the creek at Grandpa's farm, went on walks to the park, and had a slumber party with the beautiful Andrews family. Throw in a day at the splash park, antique malls, dancing around the kitchen island, late night talks as we attempted to solve the world's problems, and a personal concert from Lauren and you have yourself a good time!

Above, kids playing in an old pasture shelter, and Ivy and Clara as dancing princesses.

We left Boise and made our way to Idaho Falls to visit our favorite Klepich family (Michael's other older sister). What did we do in Idaho Falls? A leisurely walk to the antique store, games on the trampoline, movies and treats each night, and riding Uncle Gabe's horse. A highlight was a fun trip to a local dairy where we milked a cow, saved a goat from beheading itself, let calves suck our hands raw, and you can't forget the fresh dairy ice cream! Mine was black licorice. Very tasty! (Camera ran out of batteries at this point, so I'll have to add some pictures later when I get them. Thanks Heather!)

After leaving Idaho Falls, we picked our way through the fertile plains of central Idaho and wove up into Sun Valley to visit the Norris family. One evening we got babysitters (poor girls!) and went on an almost double date to dinner and the movies. We played at the splash park with treats, watch the Office, ate BBQ and coconut cake (then ran laps around the neighborhood loop to work it off), solved more world problems in midnight talks, and graced the Hailey buckaroo with our whoopin' and hollerin'. A highlight of that trip was a date I took my boys on up the ski lift. The view down into Sun Valley was incomparable. A special thank you to Carrie for keeping the younger ones while we went.

Kids at the splash park, and a party at the Hailey Rodeo. Below, the midgets and me on the mountain tops hearing the sound of music.

And, in nearly 2000 miles worth of speeding I was pulled over only twice. The first time, a legitimate pulling over, the guy saw 5 noisy kids in the car and told me to slow it down a little and have a good day. Yes, sir! The second time, not a legitimate pulling over, the mister gave me a ticket. All in all, one $75 dollar ticket didn't sour our experience though. We had a wonderful time at each place we stayed, and in the all adventures in between (historical sign stops, bathroom stops, nursing the babe stops, lava field or snow stops, momma's getting sleepy stops, etc.). A huge thank you to you all for putting up with way too many Allens at once, for the hospitality and love you showed our family.

What would we do without our cherished friends?

Isaac

In this post I will highlight my favorite second child and son Isaac, who everyone says is just like me. Sometimes I think that idea is a funny one, other times I'm horrified. For instance, this is a conversation I overheard just this morning:

Isaac: Hey Jacob, what do flies eat? I need to feed Flyduke. [A feeble non-flying insect he captured yesterday while climbing trees.]
Jacob: I don't know.
I: Do you think I should give him some left-over pancakes from breakfast?
J: No, I think they like things like poop better.
Isaac, in a "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" voice: Yeah, we've got lots of that in the diaper pot! [Referring to the flower pot we use as our diaper receptacle.] What do you think he'd like more, old poop or fresh poop...and maybe I could give him a really stinky wet diaper to drink...? [as he makes his way to the diaper pot to pick through it.]

Being the semi-sanitary wet blanket that I am, I had to put a stop to the matter right here and give him an old banana instead of Flyduke's meal of choice. Flyduke is Isaac's one last chance regarding his unsavory pets because I found his lost snail Mugargo climbing on my kitchen knives two mornings ago. Which elicited much praise from Isaac on Mugargo's climbing skills, then he quietly explained to his snail that we shouldn't play with knives, especially when there's a mad mom around.

Isaac is your all-American boy, complete with blonde buzzed hair, sunkissed cheeks, and socks that are stretched out on top so they always sag just a little. He is rarely seen without a stick in one hand and a bug in the other. No matter how faithfully I bathe him he always seems to have dirt on his knees, under his nails, and behind the ears. I don't understand it. The boy would rather be in a tree than almost anywhere else. He's just perfect! Here's another one yesterday as we made our way back from the temple. "Mom, I don't know why we want to kill the rats in our shed. I think we should feed them and make them happy so they want to stay."
"Why is that?"
"Because rats eat garbage, and that's just what we're trying to get rid of!" Obviously, his job is to take care of the garbage. Nice thought, Isaac.

One more. Jake's been reading the Hobbit to Isaac. One day in the car they were talking and it went something like this:
Isaac: What are those guys in The Hobbit that have wide hairy feet and they go barefoot everywhere?
Jacob: Do you mean the dwarves?
I: No, I think they wear shoes.
J: Elves?
I: No, they have long skinny feet!
J: How about ogres?
I: Not ogres! I mean in The Hobbit, and they don't have ogres in The Hobbit.
J: Goblins?
I: No, I think the goblins wore shoes too. They're barefooted and hairy!
J: Hobbits?
I: Yeah!! Yeah, that's who I mean, hobbits! Thanks, Jacob, I couldn't remember!

No. He wasn't kidding. What would I do without this boy?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Clara

This girl is oozing quotable quotes, but I'll try to contain myself and only do a couple a day. Here was a funny one: We were discussing a neighbor on whose true gender we can only speculate. Clara, with a sigh, "Well, I guess we'll just have to check."
We were out doing yard work one afternoon and our neighbor (Dick, whose name I like to say with emphasis) across the street was working in his yard also. Little Clara wanders over to their back porch and, seeing his wife lounging with a soda, says with a speck of indignation, "Hey, how come you get to sit here while your dad does all the work?"

People ask occasionally if we're planning on having another baby to "try for another girl to even up the odds." My response: Believe me, the odds are even.

Home Improvement

We bought our first house exactly 15 months ago. What fun we've been having ever since. It was built in 1941, and we are the honored third owners. The man who lived here before was here over half a century and kept it in tip top shape...until he went blind 15 years ago. Then he had to rely on his gardener who, I'm told, was a little bit nuts. So here we are with a neat old woman of a house who just needs a bath and some make-up. I'm in my element with this sort of thing, not that I ever worked in a nursing home and not that I'm so good at home improvement, but my mom did teach me a couple things about electrical sockets and paint (though I'll never be as good at it as she is.) Sometimes I lie in bed at night brainstorming with myself about projects I'd like to do, as soon as we plant our money tree. I do have some rules I've had to give myself: Only one project at a time. Complete it completely before moving on to the next; only one medium-sized project per month, or one large one per quarter, etc. I'm prone to tunnel vision, you see. I start something and before you know it the family has had scrambled eggs for a month, the babies are in 2-day old diapers, and they are referring to the Sword in the Stone movie as Mother. Not good. Not a house of order, or cleanliness, or anything (though that paint job sure looks nice!). Here are some before/after pictures of room renovations we've done so far (let's see if I can figure out this picture thing):


Dining room before and after carpet removal, panelling (a fun project for Michael and me, for real!), paint and new light (Spanish antique that was hanging in some lady's garage!). We have yet to do the crown molding though.

The old owners were into monochroma, let's just say. A little color goes a long way, we've found. Here is the boys' room. We had fun ripping out carpet because underneath was this ancient rubber padding lined with old 1956 news paper. Halfway through Michael and I stopped and had a good laugh at some of the articles and advertisements. "...If your name is drawn you win a 5-minute phone call with Rock Hudson!!" Several civil rights articles that were interesting, too. The sponging made a big difference. Add some new drapes and you've got yourself a boys' room!

William

Whilst all the kids sleep I decided to highlight my favorite third son. William Craig is the definition of resolve. Never a dull moment when he is near. The boy refuses to falter in his determination to be, say, mad. Or happy. He came barrelling out of the house frustrated over a broken water gun this morning while I was talking to the paint guy (white house going blue--that's for another post though...) and demanded that I help him fix it. I said, "Whoa there, kiddo. That's not how we ask for help." He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then in the sweetest voice, "Mother dear, could you flease help me fix my little broken potter gun?" (Accompanied by a very forced smile.) It put the paint guy into fits.

William has a favorite pair of socks. Don't know where he got them--I don't claim any responsibility. He wore them out completely. One day we were at Clara's gymnastics class and Will slips off his shoes to dance around with the others. Any pride I might have had regarding my kids' appearance was gone in one fell swoop. I took a picture when we came home, then the socks disappeared. I have entitled that photo "The Foot Speedo." Enjoy the various sides of William...

Don't mess with this guy! The face we see when somebody isn't happy.

The Illustrious Foot Speedo (which is no more, thank heaven. Though William just walked in, saw the picture and said enthusiastically, "Hey, those are my thfa-vor-ite thocks!")

Can you say CREEEPY? Clara and her friend Jane (in red velvet) dress up the dolls (and Will) in oversized doll clothes.

Seamus the Cat

Seamus the Cat
O, Seamus the Cat
If you were smart
You'd get up and scat
For if you tarry
End your life will
By the loving embrace
Of a pink little girl

I have now entered the cyberspace world of communication...

Hello gentle readers,

Being rather like my grandma Edna regarding computers, I am only just now starting a family blog. I attempted it a year or so ago, but since we had dial-up it was a very bad experience, and I was shaken to the core. Now that we have better, faster internet, and on the insistence of friends that it's easy, I'm jumping in with two dirty feet.