A different kind of Second Coming?

Tonight, we started reading a children's version of the Old Testament with our kids. The first chapter dealt with Lucifer's fall--and Lucifer becoming Satan. Not surprisingly, Andrew was a little concerned by this. (I don't think he'd thought of the concept of a "devil" before). He had all sorts of questions (most of which aren't relevant to this post), but his questions led me to mention that, during the Second Coming, Satan will be bound.

This caught his interest. "When will Jesus come again?" I explained that we didn't know. "What will he do when he comes?" I mentioned one or two things.

Then Andrew asked, "What would we do if Jesus came back and was mopping our floors?"

Um, that's a good question. Not exactly how I would picture the Second Coming, though.

Merry Christmas to All!

While I do genuinely wish all of our readers a happy holiday season (and I hope you had a merry Christmas), I make no apologies for today's posting--this is one of those cases where the real purpose of this blog (as an online family journal) becomes apparent. I don't really think most of you have any interest in what our Christmas was like (it probably looked a lot like many of your Christmases)--but I do think that in five, or even ten, years, I'd like to be able to look back on this particular Christmas and remember at least some of what happened.

With my in-laws family, most holidays revolve around food (and food preparation). Sarah and crew arrived early Friday morning (well, 9ish, but that's early when you reflect that they had to be on the road by 5 or so to get there in time) and we all had breakfast at Bubby's house. The kids proceeded to run around while the grown-ups hung out, ran errands, cleaned--whatever else it is that grown-ups do in between events.

Christmas Eve dinner was an international-style buffet--each family was tasked with bringing a different dish. Trisha made pigs in a blanket and a noodle salad (not exactly international, but kid-friendly); we brought cheese fondue and Asian potstickers (gyoza); Sarah and Aaron made stuffed jalepenos and some really yummy chicken dish with peanut sauce (I think they said it was Indonesian?). At any rate, there was lots of food and it all tasted good.

After dinner, we assembled the kids for the annual Christmas Eve reenactment of the nativity. This year, for the first time, Lydia got to be Mary. She was thrilled. And Katie (who usually has the starring role), didn't seem to mind too much as it allowed her to ride herd on the littlest angels.




We really missed Matt and Laurie and their kids--not only for their company, but also because of the lopsided numbers of the nativity. As you can see from the pictures, angels outnumbered the shepherds (although, if you think about the hosts of angels, I suppose that is historically accurate) and we didn't have any wise men. Andrew was our sole reluctant shepherd--he refused to be Joseph after finding out that Katie wasn't going to be Mary. (I don't have any pictures of the nativity itself--my camera died shortly after these pictures. Also, I'm not sure what's up with Evelyn--lately, she doesn't seem to be able to pose without grimacing.)

This is what Christmas morning looked like at our house. Andrew had just woken up (and we'd just turned on the lights), which is why he seems sort of disoriented. I had to laugh--it's never quite what I envision. Certainly, Andrew's initial, disappointed reaction to his stocking (he thought we'd taken stuff out), wasn't expected.

However, he cheered up when he realized there were still some things inside his stocking.

Evelyn was engrossed with the flavored chapstick she found. And, of course, she had to put on her Tinkerbell dress right away (and spent the rest of the day in it).


While the kids played with toys, we started some breakfast prep (crepes) before heading over to the main house (my in-laws) for the day. Christmas proceeded much as normal: we sorted out presents by recipient, and then took turns opening them. It never fails to amaze me how generous people are.

Miss Katie got her much longed-for toy: an American girl doll. Not so coincidentally, most of her presents involved clothes and accessories for the doll.
I had a brainstorm that this year I should make some of the presents, so I borrowed some doll patterns from my mother (mind you, I've never made doll clothes from patterns before, although as a child I made lots of doll clothes by hand) and spent several obsessive evenings making these:


Evelyn saw me working on them, and requested some for her dolly, which resulted in these:

Luckily, Katie seemed pleased with the dresses. (I don't think I could have handled it if she'd been indifferent to them--all that work!)

Evelyn's favorite present was a set of disney princess shoes (she calls them "heels")--she insisted on wearing the Tiana shoes the rest of the day (you can see them below) and wouldn't even take them off for her nap (although we insisted she remove them at bedtime--I'm afraid they were cutting off circulation in her toes, which were jammed through the opening at the bottom of the toe of the shoe).


Sarah did up Evelyn's hair into a fancy series of ponies. I tried to take a picture--but this is what I got:

cheeks made for kissing

How can you not love that face?

birthdays and stuff

After I got my grades turned in Tuesday evening, the rest of the week wasn't too bad.

That same night, my mom came down with her sister (who had work-related meetings in the area). They stayed in a local hotel, which meant that we spent the next morning at the hotel in the swimming pool. The kids spent the time jumping in the pool, swimming to the edge, clambering out, and jumping back in again. (They were both wearing inner-tubes, of course). My mom and I spent the time chatting and trying to keep our teeth from chattering. The water wasn't cold, precisely, but it wasn't warm either. (Not that the kids noticed).

We took my mom to lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant in town and feted her with sushi, tempura, and other good stuff. We ran into Dan's Uncle Phil and Aunt Karen while we were there--it was fun to see them, if only for a few minutes.

My mom headed back north that afternoon, but not until after she'd delivered some birthday presents for Andrew and a sympathy present for Evelyn. (Which was probably a good thing, because between Christmas presents and Andrew's birthday party, Evelyn has been having a hard time grasping that her birthday isn't right around the corner).

Does he look excited, or what? We love trios at our house.

Thursday morning was the much anticipated birthday party for our boy. (His real birthday, as many of you know, is Christmas Eve, but I like to give the kid at least a little separation between his birthday and Christmas). This year, he chose a dragon theme. (It's a good thing he actually likes dragons, since most of his presents were dragon-related).

In the spirit of past birthday presents, we tried to keep the activities theme related. We did some crafts while waiting for everyone to arrive (we had one no-show--turns out his mom had a baby the day before, so we'll forgive him for not coming!), then we sent the kids downstairs to "train" for dragon-fighting/training. (Dan put them through a mini-obstacle course). When they came back up stairs, we engaged in some knight v. dragon combat, a game where the kids faced off for one minute and the dragon tried to touch the knight while the knight tried to dodge (needless to say, the dragons pretty much won all rounds. Next time I'll have to think of better rules). Following combat, we engaged in some dragon "training"--a variation of Simon says.

Here are the boys in their "dragon" masks, right after their training.

They opted to open presents before eating cake. Dan and I were a little perplexed by this, until we realized that for five-year-old boys, opening presents really means that they all get to play with the toy they brought . . .

Finally, we had some cake. Andrew wanted a nightfury (from how to Train Your Dragon) on top of his cake, so that's what he got. Luckily, this year's cake was much easier to make than last year's, so there were no meltdowns in the kitchen the night before. (Plus, I stuck with a boxed cake mix. The kids can't tell the difference anyway).

The kids all identified the cake without any prompting, so I guess that makes it reasonably successful. At any rate, I'm glad I don't have to make another one until May!

Markers and Mayhem

And this is why you never leave a two-year-old alone with markers while you're cooking dinner. (She doesn't look terribly repentant, does she?)

Highlights

Well, we survived finals week. Dan's grades are in; mine are--well, I've been avoiding the stack of 20 something 10+ page research papers that my students submitted in lieu of a final exam on Friday. I have approximately 3 days to grade them all and get my grades in. Aren't you jealous? (But that's all I'm going to say about grading, even though it consumed a fair portion of my week).

Some highlights:

We put up the Christmas tree! (Actually, I put up the tree and Dan made dinner. Fair trade). And aside from the fact that none of the candy-canes are higher than chest height and the star on top leans a bit, it looks pretty good. Also, there was no swearing or yelling this year, so we did significantly better than last year.

Last week, with Bubby's help, Andrew wrote a nice letter to Santa, which we posted at our local grocery store (they have a fancy mailbox for Santa). This week, Andrew got his letter. I'd forgotten how much fun the whole Santa thing can be for little kids (it was never really part of my childhood--my dad told me the "truth" when I was five, and I'm not sure if my mom has forgiven him for it yet). Anyway, "Santa" told Andrew that he was at the top of his list for boys, a fact that Andrew proudly repeated to his friend Ike, who was at our house Thursday morning. Unfortunately, Ike promptly burst Andrew's bubble by telling Andrew that Santa also gives coal for naughty children (a part of the Santa legend Andrew had never heard), whereupon Andrew started to cry, worried that he was naughty and wouldn't get presents. While it probably doesn't hurt Andrew to reflect now and again on his behavior, I wasn't heartless enough to let him stew for long--so I told him that I'd let him know if he was in the danger zone behavior-wise. And mostly, he's been pretty good.

Yesterday was a busy day--we went down south to the temple while Bubby and Poppy watched the kids; we ran errands; and then came back in time for the girl's basketball game. I'm not sure that the kids actually watch much of the game (then again, I don't either), but they enjoy watching the crowd; Andrew likes shouting, "Go T-birds!"; and Evelyn likes dancing with the cheerleaders (should I be worried about this?). Of course, the game got a lot more interesting when cousins showed up: Dan's cousin Jodi and her crew were at the game, too, and came over and joined us after half-time.

After the game, we went to an alumni tailgaiting party (indoors, and family-oriented), where Santa made an appearance. Apparently, Andrew's losing confidence in his "good" status, because when Santa asked him if he'd been good, Andrew shrugged. "I guess," he said.

Some funny kid stories from the week.

The other night, I was putting Andrew to bed. Lately, putting Andrew to bed has seemed more like punishment for whichever parent gets him that night--not because he's bad (he's not), but because Dan made the mistake of making up a "munchie-munch-munchkin" story a couple of months ago, and now Andrew thinks he needs to hear a new story every night. And even though I *like* stories, it's hard making up a new one on the fly every other night.

I think I just lost the train of my original story. Well, here it is. It was my turn to put Andrew to bed. At some point, he finally said, "Mommy, can you turn it on now?" I was genuinely confused. "Turn what on?" 'The story."

Yesterday, Evelyn saw one of my bridal portraits. (I'm not sure why she's never noticed it before.) At any rate, she was very impressed by it, so I explained to her what it was, and then I showed her one of our wedding pictures, in front of the St. George temple. She said, "I wore a teeny, tiny white dress!" (meaning, at our wedding). I explained to her that she wasn't *at* the wedding (well, not physically anyway!), because it happened before she was born. But even this explanation didn't stump her for long. She thought for a minute, and then told me, "Mommy, I was born in the temple, like you and daddy!"

Well, she's not far off, at that. She might not have been born in the temple, but she certainly owes her existence to our marriage there.

Coming in from the cold

This week has been kind of fuzzy for me--mostly since all of us (except maybe Andrew) were fighting off various kinds of illness. I'm pretty sure Evelyn gave me mine: two-year-olds are so considerate about sharing everything. And I may have infected Dan, and so it goes. But we're mostly better now.

This was the last week of classes: hooray! Although I might actually miss a few of my students. It was Andrew's last week of preschool until January, and, since his birthday falls over the break, he got to take a treat in to share. He even came home with a present, which was very exciting until he opened it and found out that it was a book. He told me it wasn't a very good present, and we had an impromptu discussion about manners and how you say "Thank you," even if you don't like the present. I think he was reconciled to it when we actually read it. (And I'm a little horrified that any child of mine could *not* be thrilled at getting a book).

Speaking of books: I got one too. Our book club had a book exchange this week instead of a standard meeting. It was a lot of fun--I learned about a lot of interesting-looking books and came away with The Book Thief. (My contribution was Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, a charming little book by the author of 101 Dalmations.)

Wednesday (book club night) was a busy night--I was late getting to book club because I had to stop by an English department awards ceremony where some of my students were being honored. (I left that event early--I'm kind of glad, because it promised to run for a while).

What else? Evelyn got to go to "dance class" (a free parent-tot class at a local dance studio), which she has missed sorely this month since an unfortunate combination of illness, parental conflicts, and holidays meant she hadn't been for almost a month. That child does enjoy music. And dressing up. And since dancing combines both of these loves . . .

Last week, at my sister's house, Evelyn (re?)discovered the joys of dress up (in plastic princess shoes and gowns). Now, at least 2-3 times a day she insists that she's going to Jeni's house to play dress-up. (Lucky for her, her Christmas presents consist mostly of dress-up clothes and shoes, so she won't have to rely on her cousin's supply anymore).

Yesterday, we went to a children's Storybook Parade. Last year, the same parade (which we attended with scads of cousins and second cousins) seemed fun and charming. This year, it seemed long and cold and a little creepy (seriously, some of the knock-off costumes of trademark cartoon characters are frightening). Funny what a difference the company makes . . .

Today we made it through church (I almost succumbed to a fit of giggles when Evelyn started singing--quietly, but audibly--"Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" during the sacrament). And we're looking forward to Sunday dinner at my in-law's house (which we've sorely missed the past two weeks while they've been in Texas visiting Dan's brother and their new baby).

Christmastime, the promise of good food and forthcoming vacation, a sleeping toddler--what more could I want?

We gather together

I find that the older I get, the more I enjoy Thanksgiving--a quiet holiday with family, lots of good food, time off of school: what's not to like? This year, even the extensive preparation sometimes associated with Thanksgiving was lessened because my mom asked everyone to pitch in by bringing something.

I also appreciate the extra imperative to remember to be grateful: and there's nothing like gratitude for inducing a sense of humility and wonder at the richly blessed lives we live. I know it could so easily be different, and I'm grateful for so many things: family, friends, a home, employment, health.

We spent the bulk of the week with my parents. We ended up going north earlier than expected, since the university president closed campus in anticipation of the blizzard that wasn't. I hear it was a pretty intense storm farther north, but the most we saw of it was maybe half an inch or so. The quieter storm that moved in earlier this morning (and continues still) has brought much more snow in its wake. And so I suppose I should add that I'm grateful to my mom for chivvying us into heading home last night, so we were able to drive on clear (if crowded) roads.

And yes, my mom and I ventured out in the wee hours of Friday morning for Black Friday sales. But since we didn't bankrupt ourselves and it wasn't the highlight of the week (although I do like shopping with my mom), that's all I'm going to say about it.

I hope that you and yours all enjoyed a warm, restful, fulfilling (in more ways than one!) holiday.

Staying busy

Another busy week--only a few more days until we're off for Thanksgiving, and then one more week of classes and we're done for the semester! Can you tell we're looking forward to it?

To be perfectly honest, I can't remember very many individual details from the week. We had some gorgeous weather mid-week, so I took the kids outside and we raked leaves. (Last time, if you'll remember, we had just raked leaves when the big tree next door apparently dropped all its leaves overnight).

By the end of the week, the weather was decidedly colder. When Saturday dawned cloudy and blustery, we realized this might be our last chance to get those piles of leaves off the lawn before rain/snow came. When we started out, it was a family effort, but it didn't take Evelyn and Andrew very long to decide that putting the leaves in garbage sacks wasn't much fun if they weren't allowed to jump in them, so they abandoned us for the swing set. Some 17 or so bags later, we finally finished. (I don't remember there being nearly so many leaves last fall--we must have kept on top of them better than we did this year.)

Inspired by that burst of productivity, I decided to try re-canning the pomegranate jelly from two weeks ago, which still hadn't set. This time, I followed the directions faithfully (did you know that there are actually directions on how to reprocess jellies if they don't set up properly?). This took us a couple of hours--and I'm not sure that it worked this time either. Sigh.

I took the kids to a birthday party that afternoon--them brought them home worn out and they both (!) took naps. (This meant that Andrew got to go to the basketball game that night, much to his delight).

While they napped, I started on yet another canning project (my mother-in-law loaned me her big canning pot, so I thought I better make use of it): this time, we made pear jelly. And this time, I followed the instructions scrupulously--the pear jelly has already set beautifully. (Sidenote: I don't think I ever realized how much sugar goes into jam and jelly!)

Needless to say, when evening finally fell, we were all pretty exhausted.

Our sole picture from the week was of Evelyn--I went up to check on her one day during naptime. Apparently, she didn't go to sleep right away, but sat up playing. (There were books in her bed and she was wearing different leggings from what she wore going to bed). This is what I saw when I peeked in: a sleeping baby in the corner right behind the door (at first, I couldn't figure out why the door seemed stuck). Funny girl. I put her back to bed--but only after taking a picture, of course!

Oh, and I should probably explain one of Andrew's cryptic messages in the previous post. A new Jo-Ann's store opened in town last month (to much rejoicing, since our small town has limited crafting resources). I've been meaning to go, but didn't get around to it. This weekend, I had a coupon for 50% off and so I wanted to go check it out. What I'd failed to process in the mailer, however, was that this was their official opening weekend: which meant that half the female population in town was there.

And, I had both kids with me. I don't know why I thought this would be a good idea--having the kids with me is *never* a good idea when I just want to browse, because I spend most of my time trying to keep them with me, or chasing after them. What sealed the deal, however, was the line stretching from the front of the store all the way to the back of people waiting to make their purchases. We left the store approximately 10 minutes after entering, without (as Andrew says) buying anything.

A guest post

I asked my four (almost five) year old if he wanted to help me with the blog this week. So, here's his recap of the eventful stuff this week:

We went to Xander's party. We made pear jam-jelly. Me and my dad went to a basketball game. And we also went to a store. We didn't buy anything.

Funny conversations

Yesterday, as we were driving back home in the early evening, the kids could see the moon above the treeline.

Evelyn said, "Mommy! The moon is coming to our house."
Andrew, her ever pragmatic brother, said, "Silly, the moon can't walk."
Evelyn: "But it can drive!"


And today, while I was changing her stinky diaper, Evelyn told me (with all seriousness): "Mommy, we don't eat poop."

I sort of thought that went without saying.

The Great Pumpkin

To compensate for my tired post earlier, I should add that this week was also a week of culinary experimentation (not all of it successful, alas). I decided on Monday to roast some pumpkin seeds so my kids could enjoy the experience, so we "butchered" the big pumpkin on our steps (it was probably a good 16-18 pounds). That was probably my first mistake, because once the seeds were roasted, I was left with *lots* of pumpkin, and a husband who doesn't really like them. (Let me just say that I got probably 12 cups of puree out of the 3/4 of a pumpkin that we've used so far.)

First, we made pumpkin soup, since Dan had said that he wouldn't mind pumpkin if it were combined with cream and bacon. The verdict: it would have been better with the chipotle cream, but we didn't have enough cream on hand or the requisite chipotle. Plus, pureeing fresh roasted pumpkin is time consuming. (Note to self for next time: I found it was just as easy--and faster--to steam the pumpkin as to roast it).

Then, we tried making some pumpkin bars, a la Paula Deen. I substituted apple sauce for most of the oil, and they were still delicious. We also cooked them as cupcakes, instead of bars, and I took them to department meeting where they seemed to go over well. (I even got asked for the recipe!). This one is definitely a keeper. Dan didn't like them, but if you like pumpkin cookies or spice cake or anything of that ilk, you'll like these moist cupcakes with the rich cream cheese frosting (the texture and flavor reminded me of carrot cake).

Finally, we tried making pumpkin pasta, a la Rachael Ray. This was less successful--the flavor was bland and the texture was strange (and it made enough to feed a small army). We ended up tossing the leftovers.

To round out our culinary experiments, Dan made dinner on Thursday and cooked up some green apple risotto. I know it sounds strange, but it was actually quite tasty. It wasn't until Saturday, when we were enjoying some corn chowder (recipe courtesy of America's Test Kitchen), that we realized that the only meat we'd eaten all week was bacon, and not very much of that. But we did have some nice fall flavors. (And Dan's mom tells us that we have good leftovers--she often gets to sample when she watches the kids for me.)

Waiting for the End

I know we're supposed to try and live in the now--but there are some weeks when the end can't seem to come fast enough. Right now, as I slowly dig myself out from under a pile of papers (seriously, why do I assign so much stuff to my students? Oh, right, I want them to learn something), it's starting to feel like the end of the semester can't come soon enough. Thankfully, we have Thanksgiving in a little over a week, and then only one week of classes after there. I can do this. We can do this.

This week was Evelyn's turn for croup. She started showing symptoms on Wednesday, but wasn't bad until Thursday night. We didn't have to go to the ER, but we did call the doctor, and we (I) got up several time at night to calm her down. We spent a nice cold 10 minutes hanging out on the back porch at 3 a.m. It's amazing how quiet the world is then. She got a steroid shot the next morning, which seemed to help a lot--now she's mostly back to normal except that she starts getting whiny an hour before naptime--I think she's still recovering.

Aside from that, there's not much to report. I had book group on Wednesday for a book I hadn't quite finished--it was fun to get together with other grown-ups, but I wish I would stop getting intimidated by the state of their houses. Sure, I can manage the clean look, but my house will never quite carry off that contemporary design look that seems to be all the rage among chic young (and not so-young) Mormon moms.

And it snowed this week, replacing the warm weather of last week with a decidedly chilly atmosphere. The only good thing about the snow (aside from the moisture) is that it was actually cold enough to be of some help in keeping Evelyn's croup under control.

I think I must be tired--this post is too much about me and the tone sounds off. I'm sorry! We'll try for better next week.

Finding Balance

I'm over at Segullah again today (new time slot). Please come visit.

Adventures at Home

The theme for this week seems to be experiences: some good, some bad.

Our biggest adventure for the week was an early Friday morning (2:30 a.m.) emergency trip to the ER. (We're glad we don't have to report these very often!) We'd noticed that Andrew was a little raspy before bed--we thought he might be getting sick, but it didn't seem very serious, so we let it pass. Just after 2 we were both awakened by the tell-tale barking cough of croup (we've done this before), only this time Andrew was clearly struggling to breathe. Dan took him outside, and the cold air helped some, but not much. What made things worse was that Andrew was clearly upset and frightened because he was struggling to breathe, and his crying only intensified his struggle. So I took him to the ER. It was pretty apparent that he was struggling; as soon as we walked in the nurses got us settled and the doctors appeared only a few minutes later (it helped that the ER was quite that night). They gave him some steroids (breathing treatments), which, although he resisted ferociously, seemed to help. Within half an hour or so he was breathing more normally. Of course, since they'd given him steroids, they had to keep him under observation for a while, so it was 5:30 before we got home (by which time Evelyn and Dan were both awake). I went back to sleep (for an all-too brief hour), but Andrew never did. Let's just say that Friday is a day better left unremembered, between a tired mom and a tired, whiny, sickish boy. (Although you'd never know from his behavior quite how sick he'd been).

The funny thing about the ER visit--I'd been into the hospital earlier on Thursday, for a doctor's appointment and some blood work (no, not pregnancy--I'd been having some chest pains, which the doctor finally determined were caused by a pulled muscle, not, thankfully, anything worse). But because I'd just been there (for the first time) and submitted all of my insurance information, we didn't have to mess with paperwork when I went in later with Andrew. A small mercy, I suppose, but one I'm grateful for!

Aside from that dramatic down, the week has actually been pretty good. We had some unseasonably warm weather for the first of November, which we thoroughly enjoyed (as you can see below). We raked leaves several days this week--ironically enough, the only big tree near our property didn't dump its leaves until yesterday afternoon, after we'd already finished with our outside chores.


My camera doesn't really *do* action shots, but these pictures (even if blurry) can give you a good sense of the kids' enjoyment.


Incidentally, our car was parked outside of our carport most of the week because we finally got the cement replaced in our old, crumbling sidewalk (and under part of the carport). We're thrilled to have it--but we have to wait a few more days until the cement is completely dried before parking our car back in its usual spot.

On Saturday, I tried something I've never done before: canning. Oh, sure, I helped my mom growing up a few times, but I don't think I ever really paid attention to what she was doing (sorry mom!). We made pomegranate jelly--five batches of it! Dan's mom kindly came over and helped after I called with some clearly novice questions about what I was doing (we also borrowed her pressure canner and a juicer to juice the pomegranates--they're much easier to juice than to actually peel and de-seed.) They do look lovely, don't they? (However, I'm not sure if they're setting right, so don't be surprised if you later get gifted some pomegranate syrup. :))

Happy Halloween!

This was a busy week--I'm glad it's over. I finally finished my big project (hurray!) Wednesday night and sent it off, only to wake up in a panic Thursday morning remembering one final thing I'd forgotten to do. So I fixed it and re-sent it. But it's really done now.

On Wednesday, we did a dry run of Andrew's face paint. We replicated it again Thursday morning for his preschool party. (Evelyn wanted to paint *my* face--I told her no. I know, I'm a mean mommy who didn't want paint in her eyes.) He wore his costume to school; Evelyn wore hers to her dance class that morning. Andrew changed out of his costume when he got home; Evelyn did not. I think she wore this poor Minnie outfit three days running. (At least we're getting our money's worth out of it!)

Friday night we went to a friend's Halloween party. Dan went reluctantly (we all know what a big fan of large gatherings he is), but it ended up being a lot of fun. For one thing, there were only four families there, and we knew everyone, so it wasn't the crowd he'd been fearing. For another, they live in the country (well, sort of) and they had a big backyard. The kids bounced on the trampoline while the grown-ups talked, then we had a yummy dinner of soups and cornbread. (Few things beat a warm soup on a crisp fall evening). Finally, they lit a bonfire and the kids roasted marshmallows. As far as Halloween parties go, I think this pretty much captures my idea of a good fall-themed party. (Not heavy on the scary or the sweet.)

Saturday, of course, since we're in Utah, we celebrated Halloween. After a morning spent running errands, we finally got down to business. We fed the kids, got them in their costumes (which was harder than it looks because Andrew wouldn't hold still for his face paint--he kept squinting his eyes and whimpering, which, if you've ever tried to paint someone's face, you'll know that this *really* messes up your lines. So I got mad, yelled at him, and he cried, which meant that we had to re-do his paint, since I'd bought this nice, kid-friendly water-based paint.)

He's a nightfury, from How To Train Your Dragon (in case you were wondering what kind of blue-faced Monster he is.

And, contrary to what might appear here, Evelyn is *not* some kind of zombie Minnie Mouse. She's just a regular Minnie, but she insisted on having her face painted too. (The ears only lasted about four houses before she took them off and gave them to me).


We had a fun night--the weather wasn't too cold, the kids were (mostly) polite (well, and there were so few kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood that most of the neighbors gave them two, three, even four pieces of candy). And we avoided candy overload by the simple expedient of putting them to bed soon after we got home.

We hope you also had a lovely weekend!

never wake a sleeping child

I came downstairs a while ago to post my weekly update. I got distracted (it's not hard for me to do, Dan will tell you that) for a little while and then Evelyn woke up crying from her nap. I brought her down and settled her on my lap while I finished reading the online discussion that had distracted me in the first place. By the time I was finished, she was asleep in my arms. I tried to put her down in her bed, but she just woke up, so I settled her in my lap again, where she still is.

I'll try to post our Halloween update later today. But since it's kind of hard to type with a sleeping two year old, the pictures and update will have to wait.

(Not that I mind all that much.)

Losing steam

We're getting to that point of the semester when I have increasingly less energy and enthusiasm for what I do. But hey, at least we're 2/3 of the way through, right? Really, though, I think I'm feeling a little run-down because I have a big project due this week and I'm not as far along as I'd hoped to be at this point. (eek! Okay, now I feel better.)

There's not much to report for this week. Our glorious sunny fall days seem to have been replaced by cloudy, wet, chilly days. These days bring their own kind of enjoyment (as long as I don't have to be outside for too long), but I'm kind of missing the warm days.

Yesterday, my neighbor and I took our kids to the Pumpkin Festival. We walked, which seemed like a good idea at the time, as it wasn't too far. I brought the stroller, thinking we'd need it on the way home. But then I spent most of the time pushing the stroller across the wet, muddy grass, trying to figure out why I'd thought this was a good idea. The kids seemed to enjoy the festival: they painted pumpkins, jumped in the bouncy house, had their faces painted (with what appears to be acrylic paint--it didn't come off well, even after some energetic scrubbing. Andrew still has some in his eyebrows), went pumpkin bowling, frosted cookies, and built some free projects courtesy of Home Depot. Unfortunately, this last involved hammers and nails, and trying to help two kids under 5 with their respective projects seriously challenged my ability to multitask, keep everyone safe (Evelyn wanted to help with the hammer, but since the table was about level with her head, this was a little challenging), and keep my cool. (Truth be told, there were some less than gracious moments in the process.) But we finished, and are now the proud owners of a bug catcher and a wooden boat. Whew.

Then, of course, the sky (which had been lowering all morning) started to open up. We decided we should head home, but we weren't excited to get caught in the rain, so I opted for the easy way out: I called Dan and made him come get us.

Then we spent the rest of the day working: Dan replaced the faucet in the bathroom (with one that the kids can actually use) and I worked on my project.

That was our weekend: how was yours?

We survived the primary program!

Andrew's primary program was this morning. Happily enough, it went pretty well. (Not that our standards were particularly high: last year he was rolling on the platform that they built for the sunbeams, so pretty much anything was an improvement over that.) But he remembered all of his part, and he spoke clearly enough that most of the audience heard him (even if he did almost eat the microphone); he stayed in his seat most of the time; and he sang most of the songs. You can't really expect much more from a four-year-old.

Of course, our second sacrament meeting of the day didn't go quite so well. Dan's cousin Jodi was blessing her new baby, so we all went. It started a scant 30 minutes after we got out of our meetings, so we ate lunch on the way over. Evelyn lasted until the sacrament and had to be taken out (and then home, where she cried until falling asleep in my lap). Sarah's kids made it a little bit longer. And Andrew (apparently) made it until the end with his dad and Poppy. Although it was, from all accounts, a close call after Sarah left, when Andrew inched his way to the edge of the bench, then sat down on the floor and started scooting his way back to the back of the chapel until some nameless lady--for which I thank her!--called him on it and told him to go sit down. (I should add that Poppy was alone with Andrew at this point, since Dan still hadn't returned from taking Evelyn and I home). But we all survived.

Settling into Fall

Andrew and Evelyn have been having some ups and downs in their sibling relationship recently. Yesterday, I caught Andrew as he wrapped his arms around his sister and threw her off the couch. Granted, she landed on some pillows--but still! (And I'm pretty confident that he would have tried to deny it if I hadn't actually seen him do it). But not all of it is bad--there are long moments where the two of them play together quite happily (often while I'm fixing dinner). We recently read NurtureShock for our book group (and while the book wasn't quite so revolutionary as it touts itself to be, it was an interesting read). One of the things the book suggests is that sibling relationships as adults can be predicted in part by how well the kids play together. Since my own siblings are some of my best friends, I'd like to see the same for my kids. And while moments like yesterday seem ominous, they are countered by moments like this:

I'd been in the kitchen making dinner and could hear that they were playing together nicely so I peeked at them. Andrew was "reading" all of these books to her (and despite the expression on her face in this picture, I'm pretty sure she was enjoying it).

This week also saw Andrew's last soccer game for the season (although he's already talking about when he gets to play again). While his sense of sportsmanship needs some work--whenever he has to sit out, he cries, because he's convinced that he's one of the best players on his team and that they need him (and although this is true, that's hardly the point!)--he did have a lot of fun playing, and it was fun to watch him.

His game fell on one of those beautiful fall days--warm enough to ignore the signs of impending winter. However, by the time the game ended, it was getting dark--and as soon as the sunlight fled, so did the warmth.
One of the player's mothers is a self-confessed party fan, so she went all out helping the coach to organize a party for after the last game. (She made the cupcakes--and cake!--and ordered pizza). Each child got to take home a small trophy (which I have mixed feelings about--I keep thinking of the line from the Incredibles: "if everyone's special, that means no one is"). But the kids were generally ecstatic about the trophies and the party, even if the grown-ups were generally shivering.
Later this week, Sarah and her brood came to visit. We invited Lydia to come to Evelyn's dance class: it's hard to tell in this picture who was more excited. But they both had a great time (in fact, Lydia informed me on the way home that she wants to go again). It's been fun to see the two of them come into their own as playmates--I guess much of this is due to Evelyn, who's finally reached the developmental stage where she can actually play *with* another child, instead of just next to them.

Yesterday we all turned out for the Homecoming parade (and to cheer Poppy on). The parade was fun--but mostly notable for the numbers of students and the amount of candy given out. Of course, since we had a large group of children (all of whom were wearing school colors), we seemed to get plenty of sugary donations. The only downside (for me) was Andrew's rotten behavior at the start. One of the parade volunteers was giving out free balloons. I tied Evelyn's to her wrist and asked Andrew if he wanted me to do the same. He said no. I explained that he might lose his balloon that way--and not to come crying if he lost it. Of course, not thirty seconds later he had lost his balloon--unanchored, it sailed up over his head.

Andrew began to cry, inconsolably. Since I was more annoyed than sympathetic, I reminded him that I had told him this would happen, and then, since he appeared unable to stop crying, threatened to take him back to the car where he could spend the rest of the parade. This helped, a little, but he was still crying. Before I had to make good on my threat, one of my old students approached us and offered him her balloon. I was reluctant to take it (I wanted Andrew to feel the consequences of his actions), but she pressed it again and so we took it. This cheered Andrew up for most of the parade (this time he let me tie it on his wrist), until he managed to slip it off his wrist toward the end of the parade and lost it, once again . . . . I feel like I owe the universe an apology for the pollution (both the balloons and the noise); mostly, though, I wish I knew a more effective way to deal with four-year-old tantrums.

Luckily, the children were much more pleasant at dinner, which we enjoyed al fresco on our patio for probably the last time of the year. Dan barbecued some chicken and shrimp, and Sarah and Bubby provided some yummy salads (fruit, potato, and lettuce), along with macaroni and cheese for the kids.

400

For my four-hundredth post, I'll celebrate by not actually writing, but referring you to my post for today over at Segullah.

Let the wild rumpus begin!

Once upon a time, there were two wild children who were fond of saying "no!" and ignoring their mother. In consequence, they sometimes appeared in public with messy faces, unkempt hair, and pencil scratches on their cheeks (sorry Evelyn! That one happened literally seconds after I warned her to be careful.) Oh, wait, this isn't a story--this is my life!

Anyway, I decided that my kids looked wild enough, and called to schedule hair cuts for the three of us. (Mine was just a trim, so you don't get a picture of me). This was Evelyn's first ever hair cut (unless you count me trimming her bangs, which I don't). She did pretty good--turns out that the promise of a sucker at the end can be highly motivating.

The finished product.

Andrew wasn't quite as excited about his haircut. (To be fair, he has such thick hair that his also took longer than Evelyn's. But I learned some good tips for cutting his hair in the future).


And because life in October (and with midterms upon us) isn't quite fun enough, we decided to head north to help my dad celebrate his 60th birthday. It was fun to see all the local cousins (sorry Justin!), and just generally hang out. Dan made fun of us because part of our "hanging out" meant my sister and I talking at the table while my brother Jared and my brother-in-law Samuel played their respective Nintendo DS's. But I think everyone enjoyed getting together. I know the kids did.

Jared brought these party favors for the kids, which they loved, but they were paper and filled with spit in like thirty seconds. Very gross. At least, though, the kids let us throw them away when they were too wet to function.

That afternoon, we drove up to visit Sarah and her family at Wheeler Farm. The place was a bit of a mob scene (we didn't know about the Saturday Harvest Festival--or whatever the actual fall-inspired name was--when we agreed to meet there). But the kids enjoyed wandering around and looking at the animals and climbing on the farm equipment, so I guess it really doesn't matter if the adults found it too crowded for our liking.


Doesn't this picture make you want to pinch those cheeks? (Or bite them?)

Evelyn and Lydia were quite smitten with each other. Evelyn insisted on holding Lydia's hand, and Lydia was thrilled to finally have someone smaller than herself to mother. (Maggie doesn't really count, since she's not quite old enough to respond willingly to Lydia's mothering.)


And of course, Maggie was her charming, placid self. She's also bidding fair to be the only red-headed grandchild. (Well, for now. Who knows what Matt and Laurie may turn up with? Certainly, our kids all seem to be predestined to have brown eyes and brown hair.)


This last pictures is for my sister, who gave us her daughter's old hand-me down dress and cape. The red looks *almost* as stunning on Evelyn as it did on Emi.