Slate Metallic Green

Now if you come to visit us, you can ride with us, too!

So cute, fun, and surprising

Jack is about a light year ahead of me when it comes to technology. He has actually accused me of being a Luddite. It's not true, but there's just something about sharp pencils, new college-ruled notebooks, blue ink pens, books with pages that you actually feel and smell and turn. Then there's handwriting. I'm obsessed with penmanship.

So when he handed me my new cell phone a couple of weeks ago with no buttons on it, I was at a complete loss. Just show me how to make a phone call.

And while I'm not opposed to experimenting with computer settings and clicking on folders and tabs to see what's there, I'm pretty much okay with the default colors, settings, backgrounds, etcetera, associated with the programs I use on an almost-daily basis.

However, I opened my email one day to find this:


Those are ice cream cones and popsicles, in case you can't tell.

I did a double take, whipped around, and asked Jack in an accusing tone, "Did you do this to my email?"

Yes.

"Thanks. I like it. I like it a lot."

Sometimes change is good. Even when it's forced upon us.

Please, please come home, Daddy!

Dear Daddy,

We miss you. We love you. Ellen and Jack can only talk about minivans and Nana and pink and red car seats. Please come home soon.

Love,
Your family

We are really missing you, Daddy!

Jump N Jungle is a genius idea. Fill a gym-sized building with giant inflatables for jumping, pad the floor, and charge admission only for the kids. Parents are free.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with this kind of establishment because I've heard about them from my friends and family with kids. Thursday was the first time we've been. Ellen hit the floor running as soon as she had her socks on. Jack clung to me saying, "no, no, no, no, no, I don't WANT to," in the most piteous voice he could muster for the first ten minutes.

Then I took him up one of the slides adults are allowed on and slid down with him. Repeated the procedure. For the rest of the two hours we spent there, Jack and the super slide were best friends. Except for the time he bounced a little too hard on the dismount and did a belly-flop onto the padded floor. It's not that padded. I was feeding Rose, so Chelsea brought him over, and he sat by me on the bench for about five minutes before he decided to get back in the saddle. I think his feelings were more hurt than anything else.

Ellen tried everything at least once, and I tried everything adults were allowed on. It was fun. I had to drag the kids away when it was time to go home.



The face says it all:

We still miss you, Daddy!

We made this yummy, yummy honey oatmeal bread yesterday afternoon.

(There's a reason I don't have a food blog. Actually there are many. Mushroom cloud-looking bread loaves is just the tip of the iceberg.)

Ellen and Jack helped add ingredients and headed up quality control in the form of regular taste tests. Ellen convinced Jack to try some oats. "Here, Jack Jack. Try some oats." (Giggling) He takes a big pinch from the canister and pops it in his mouth. Then he said, "Blah!" and tried to wipe his tongue off. When I took the finished dough out of the mixer bowl to let rise until double, I let the kids "lick the bowl," which here means pick off the dough still sticking to the sides. You would have thought I had given them a bowl of cookie dough or chocolate frosting. They were in heaven.

Ellen tasted the dough several times as I was shaping it into loaves. As you see above, I was not successful in evenly dividing the dough in two. Nor did I use big enough loaf pans. I have two sizes, and the larger size has always been too large. So today I went with the smaller pans and got overflowing loaves. Ellen tried to compensate by eating even more dough, and I must say that Jack Jack and I had our share, too. It's weird, I know, but I would eat this dough over cookie dough any day. It's that good. And there are no raw eggs in it.

Bread: it's what's for dinner (when Daddy's not home).

I asked Ellen and Jack to show me their bread. Ellen clearly thought I meant the bread in her mouth, not in her hands.

Note that Ellen is wearing a long-sleeved shirt with shorts, while Jack Jack is sporting a t-shirt with sweat pants. We're still trying to figure out the weather here. Or maybe we never got dressed out of our pajamas today. Hmmmm. . .

I just realized that the recipe is on my brother's private blog, so if you really want to try it and you're not an authorized reader, leave me a comment and I'll email it to you.

We miss you, Daddy!

On Tuesday Jack came home from his bar review class, changed into a suit and told me he was going to the bank. When he got home from the bank he told me he was going to buy us a new car this weekend and not to make any plans.

Wednesday (yesterday) Jack told me that my cousins had offered him a ride to Dallas Thursday (today) if he found a car there he wanted to buy. Wednesday night he asked me to wash some clothes "just in case" he ended up heading for the big D the next day.

This morning Jack packed a bag and left. We had a friend over all morning to play with Play Doh, make lemonade popsicles, race cars, and watch Curious George and Pocoyo with us. We had another friend over all afternoon to eat lunch, play blocks, draw with sidewalk chalk, take naps, bake bread, and watch Thomas the Train with us. Then we went with Chelsea, Bentley, and Chelsea's mom to Jump N Jungle for about two hours to jump off all our evening energy.

Back at home I found a message from Jack on the answering machine and three missed calls to my cell phone. I called and talked to Jack long enough for him to tell me that he bought us a new car and that he'd be home Sunday.

We've become a minivan family.

Just like that.

Nursery rhymes

If Ellen and Jack took a "What nursery rhyme character are you" quiz, they'd probably be Jack Sprat and wife.

Ellen likes the white part of hard boiled eggs; Jack eats the yolk.
Ellen wants jelly-only sandwiches; Jack wants only peanut butter.
Ellen likes eating the crab out of the middle of California rolls and the rice off the outside. Jack will eat the avocado, the cucumber, and the seaweed wrap -- everything else.

If only they shared everything else so well . . .

October 2007: Bentley is clearly excited for his new sister to arrive.

Baby camo revisited

What do we have here?

Our friends Pooh, Eeyore, Elmo

Oh yeah -- Ellen and Rose, too! We love these bigger-than-life friends, especially for photo ops.

So safe, predictable, and boring

I just thought I'd let you all know that I do realize that my one year anniversary of blogging passed unrecognized. In that year, my blog template has not changed. I have considered changing the background numerous times. I've played around with the colors. I've previewed different templates. I have even perused "cutest blog on the block" and "pyzam" offerings.

Invariably I spend time thinking it's time for a change, and then I look at my blog the way it is, and I like it. I think it has something to do with the fact that the colors compliment my family pictures on the side. There's a reason we're always wearing blues and greens on Sundays on or near Mother's Day when I have established our family picture tradition. I like blues and greens. I really like all the other colors, too, but there's just something comfortable about blues and greens and water and sky and grass and growing things.

So in celebration of comfortable, blues, greens, water, sky, grass, and actual peas I found today growing on the pea plants growing from the pea seeds I planted in the planter box in front of my front door, I am announcing that I have no changes to announce in the foreseeable future of this blog.

But . . . I did add a link to my "other" blog. Good luck.

Letter from a friend

I received this letter from some friends of ours today:

Hi,

I wanted to take a minute to tell you about my daughter, Lily. Lily was born with some skeletal problems. She was born with both of her hips dislocated and her left leg is shorter than her right leg. She spent most of her first year of life immobilized with special braces and a cast. She had multiple doctor visits and three surgeries for these problems. Having a child with special needs is physically, emotionally, and financially hard on a family. Thankfully, our Lily is a patient at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital For Children. The Texas Scottish Rite Hospital For Children (TSRHC) is a Masonic charity that provides services for children with orthopedic conditions without charge to patient families. The hospital relies solely on donations made by individuals like you.

We love TSRHC. Lily’s doctors, nurses, and support staff have been wonderful in helping us. Today Lily is 18 months old and has just learned to crawl.

On May 20, 2009 they are having a special fundraiser event through DonorBridge (www.donorbridgetx.org) DonorBridge is an exciting new online resource for nonprofit supporters. In celebration of the Web site’s debut, Communities Foundation of Texas and The Dallas Foundation will match your gift in the amount of one dollar for every dollar donated through the DonorBridge Web site on that day. I know that times are tight for everyone but this is a rare opportunity when your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar. Our family would like to encourage you to check out the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital For Children’s Web site at www.tsrhc.org for more information about the hospital. Please take a moment on May 20 to make a donation to the hospital through the DonorBridge Website at www.donorbridgetx.org. You can make a difference to children like Lily.

Thank you for your support,

Spencer and Shreann


Lily is an adorable little girl, as you'll see if you click on her family's website above. Shreann was one of the first people I got to know when we moved to Lubbock, and she was Ellen's nursery music teacher for a little while. They lived in our ward when Lily was born, and it is really neat to see how far she has come.

Congratulations!!

We're so proud of Jack for graduating from law school with his JD and from the graduate school with a master's degree in Financial Planning! We opted to avoid the crowds and speeches of this past weekend and celebrate low-key at home.

Jack makes this HUGE accomplishment seem a whole lot easier than it really was. The past three years have flown by. We'll be staying in Lubbock for a few more years since Jack was offered a spot in the Financial Planning Department's doctoral program.

I'm so glad I married this extremely intelligent and good-looking man. (Just look at how cute our kids are!)

Book[s]

All right, all you readers out there, I need your help. My turn to select the book we'll be reading in my book group is coming up. I have a couple of books in mind, but I'd really appreciate some suggestions. So, what are your favorites? What have you read lately? What would generate some good discussion?

Baby camo

"What is she wearing?!? That is one crazy outfit and one crazy blanket." Jack

I happen to think it's cute. Crazy is that they didn't come together.

They look like a matched set.

But if it weren't for her cute smile, you might have a hard time spotting the baby. She's hiding from Ellen and Jack Jack.

Laughter: the best medicine

My mom has this knack for making (my) babies laugh. I leave her holding the baby and come back to find them both laughing hysterically. I know Rose's sweet coos, gurgles, and wide-mouthed smiles, but I had never seen her having an all-out laughing fit until this past weekend. Of course, I hadn't tried tickling her, either.

Here's a smile. I got into the game too late to get a good video of the actual laughter, but you get the idea.

Cinco de mayo, baby

Clear up your misconceptions in, like, two clicks.

Blessing Day

Jack, Jack, Ellen, Lorraine, Rose


Nana and Papa Starks


Grandma and Grandpa Jackson


Nana and Papa Starks; Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Starks


Thank you for traveling to share this special day with us!

I'm making something.

Jack makes a beeline for the kitchen every morning. He used to be content with opening and emptying the dishwasher. Now he opens the dishwasher just to look for pitchers, lids, and blender parts. He pushes chairs into the kitchen so he can climb up and fill pitchers and cups with water in the sink. He plays with the microwave. He climbs onto the cabinet and looks on top of the refrigerator to see if he can reach the blender jar that I have "hidden" there.

But when I heard him repeating over and over to himself, "I'm making something. I'm making something," I didn't expect to see this:



There's a reason he calls my Kitchen Aid mixer "the cookie mixer." You'd be excited to make something, too.


Now, why can't we just be content with playing kitchen at friends' houses and using the little pots and pans Nana gave us?

Ellen's first year of preschool

Last fall some friends and I got together to organize a two-day-a-week preschool experience for our 3- and 4-year-olds. You've seen some of our activities chronicled here.

At our end of year program yesterday, I was leading the songs, and Jack was holding baby Rose, so all we got were a couple of pictures. Thank you, Megan, for posting the program in all its loveliness. Ellen is so done with the program before it started. See it here!