so this is '09

Are any of you feeling like I do right now? Like for 3 weeks you played and played, and had it in the back of your mind you would start getting stuff done as soon as the kids were back in school. And now that they are back in school you feel a little depressed and not at all productive. And now it's Friday and you aren't sure what you've accomplished this week, and you're wondering how did you ever believe the illusion that you could get a handle on things in a mere week? And how old are these left-overs anyway?

To top it off, I can't help feeling that my time was best spent sledding down hills and playing board games. Are we living our lives the way we should? My to-do list is just about as long as it was on Monday morning. My kids are stressed and tired. And I've taken to turning on the TV in the day just to have some background noise. And I know some of the food in the fridge is from 2008. Maybe that's why I'm feeling off.

On a random note, since I talk about the girls so much, here are the boys:

Berk wearing Sam's new hat, for a facebook profile photo shoot

Sam on the new unicycle, which is harder than it looks, if that's possible

I hope you're all adjusting to 2009 better than I am. Feel free to pass on your tips. Any good new year's resolutions? The top one on my list is "play more board games," followed by "have more fun."

Little Miss Personality

Happy Birthday, Maia Noelle!

We are so thankful for dear friends who trudged here in the snow to help us celebrate on what may have been the snowiest of snow days. And we are thankful for Grandma, who put all the snow clothes in the dryer and lined up all the boots at the end of the party. And Grandpa, who ran the craft station. And of course Maia, who was the happiest little hostess, hardly ever saying "it's my birthday, so I get to go first!" :0)



Our commissioned cake lady was snowed in at the Salt Lake airport, so Berkeley and I made the snowman cake--which didn't turn out half-bad! Although I obviously did not master the shade of lavender for the scarf and hat. The cake itself was downright yummy, because Berkeley added a package of vanilla pudding to the mix: yum. He poured the batter into 3 sturdy glass bowls to make the snowman shape.

The kids played pin-the-carrot-on-the-snowman, bean-bag toss, cake walk, red-light-green-light, and duck-duck-snowman. Sam, Berk, and Syd ran the game stations. They ate pigs-in-blankets (smokies in Rhodes dough), at Maia's request. A great party!

But since this is really all about me, can I just tell you what a strange sensation it is having the youngest turn FIVE? She is not a baby anymore, which means I have no baby, which is weird. Weird, but wonderful.

My little Maia.
I love this picture because she looks like my mom when she was little:

wonderland

So my bonus day of the previous post turned into a bonus week. No school, lots of play. My parents came up to go to the temple Friday and decided to stay through to Christmas. We're thrilled to be snowed in with them. My dad and Sam heroically shoveled the driveway and sidewalk (while I was still sleeping).

Milo is still confused about the snow.
He wants in and out all day, just like the kids.

Mike made caramel corn, then heroically cleaned
off his truck to deliver it to people.

Sam's ice castle.

bonus day

Today (sunday) felt like a day out of time, outside of the calendar, not accounted for. Free. I went to bed last night dreading this day, actually, because it was supposed to be so busy for me, straight from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm. But I woke up to a blanket of snow and the squeals of kids jumping on the trampoline. Church was canceled. I stayed in my pajamas the entire day. Mike made beef vegetable stew and bread. I spent the day playing the piano and preparing little gifts to deliver. I snacked, I read. I didn't accomplish much, but everything I did was bonus. I could not have planned a more perfect day, because days like today cannot be planned.

Sydney and Maia dance around like giggle-heads every day, but today was especially gleeful. I said "I'm so glad you two get along so well....when I was your age my sister and I hated each other." Maia smiled at me with pity and stage-whispered, "your brothers hated you, too." She had that look on her face like, I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you. It was hilarious. (p.s. my siblings and I get along great--now.)

Back to the snow: My main function today was to let these two in and out of the house all day. Neither Maia nor Milo know how they feel about snow. I finally told Maia that every time she came in she needed to stay in for at least 15 minutes (which is not long enough for mittens to dry).

For "church" I read a story from the Friend magazine about building a tradition of helping others at Christmas time, and Mike shared some scriptures about service. Then we made these ornaments with canning rings for our old spare fake tree. We wrote gifts we could give to the Lord this season. Maia wrote "dance," and "sing," and "make cookies." It was a fun activity and the picture doesn't really do the cute tree justice.


Monday's continuation: The only sad thing about the bonus day yesterday was realizing how much we needed the break. Why do we let ourselves run on empty? Why do I commit to so many things? I was sad to have the Messiah performance postponed, but otherwise I was celebrating the day off! Now I'm trying not to feel guilty for that--hurray for snow!

feelin' california

Maia and Syd on the rock behind Grandparents' house in San Luis Obispo

I am so relaxed. Maybe it's the sunshine, or maybe it's the fact that I have done hardly any cooking, housework or dishes for days. Maybe it's the way the kids have played with cousins non-stop this weekend. I love being here and I'm so glad the grandparents and other relatives like having us. They have gone out of their way to show us a good time.

Highlights:

• Grandma's macadamia nut pie--I could only eat a sliver it was so rich

• The golf cart--watching Berkeley overcome his fear of driving as he cruised around Grandpa's property

• Meeting Jamie's husband--welcome to the family, Patrick!

• Nancy and Danny's barbecue chicken

• Dan and Kim's barbecue ribs

• Salmon tacos at Chili Peppers (Hmm...are most of my highlights food-related?)

• Wake-boarding (in November!)--even though I spent the majority of the time trying to get out of the water

• A peaceful afternoon at the beach

And here are pictures of some of said highlights, not necessarily in order. (Sorry this is another brainless brag post.)

Hang on, kids! Berk is driving!

Girl cousins at Avila

Piling into Danny's boat at Lake Nacimiento

Girl cousins


Camille, Sam and Berk

Me!

Mike catching air

Creatures of the Night

I'm getting ready for bed. It's late--for me. 10:53. I love getting into bed and snuggling up in my down comforter. I love feeling the muscle tension melt away as I realize there will be no demands on me for the next eight or nine hours. But tonight I'm thinking about all my friends who are just getting ready to queue up for "Twilight." They are probably touching up makeup and stuffing leftover halloween candy into their purses. Truly, I think the whole idea of seeing a movie at 12:05 am on the official release date is just delightful, but I need my sleep. So to those droves of Twilight fans, just about to hit the road, I'm with you in spirit. It's not that I didn't like the book. It's not that I'm not excited for the movie. But I do not regret the fact that I'm about to crawl under the covers. Good night!

Let me know if you liked it, but don't give too many details, k?

today I am thankful for...

...a thirteen year-old who fasted and prayed today while his grandpa A. was in surgery for cancer.

...a grandpa who seems to have 9 lives and counting! We got the happy call today that the surgery went very well.

...our cat Milo. He came home! After a week of sadness we were reunited with our lost kitty. He had taken up residence with a family up the street...so we'll know where to look if it happens again. I didn't know how much I cared until he was gone (insert cheesy love song). So it's a love fest around here. In this picture he is sleeping:



...a boy who gets up and makes a good hearty breakfast for himself nearly every day. His specialty? Omelet with sausage and cheddar. Way to go, Sam!


...a friend who occupies Maia so I can stain my new fireplace mantle. Thanks, Emily!


...my little photographer, Maia, who is the only person (other than me) who has ever shown an interest in documenting my life :0)


...a husband who is mechanically minded enough to actually want to tackle problems like a broken electric sliding door. (He's going to replace it with this fine piece of Japanese engineering, the non-electric mechanism, because the electric is >$1100. Yikes! I think we can shut our own door, thank you.)


...a van that runs well despite the fact that several pieces of it are strewn about the garage right now.

...the dude who is hopefully coming to pick up Oreo and Panda, the rats I am done owning.

...the family of strangers who are coming to stay in our house while we are in California next week. I am thankful for them not because they will feed Milo and take out the trash, but because they have motivated me to clean every nook and cranny. Even if they don't show up they will have blessed my life! Thanks, strangers! (Okay, I know you'll ask, so really they are cousins of friends, so not so strange.)

What are you thankful for today?

October Montage

My kids and I agree that autumn is our favorite time of year. I love the crisp sunny October days (great for photos), but I also love the early nights and gray rainy days that make me feel like hunkering down with the kids and some hot soup. Time to cuddle up and read some good books. But October was crazy fun. As I finally downloaded all my pictures, I realized I could have gotten about 10 posts out of October events. So I'm going to hit you with a seemingly-random string of events and thoughts. These are the highlights, anyway.

You've heard of the six-million dollar man. How about the boy with the
six-thousand dollar smile? (Berk got his braces off.)

And Sam was soon to follow.



Mom and Syd got to go see Swan Lake, an entrancing ballet.
Thanks for the date, Syd.

Next, a big thanks to the Vials and our friend Nicolina for a sunny day in the country.
Nothin' beats eating chili in the hay.

Well, maybe jumping in leaves.

Or carving a pumkin in a barn.

Or touching the sky.

Next up:
Have you ever met Oreo and Panda? I took this picture with the thought of possibly putting them up for adoption on craig's list. We are divided on this though. Some of us subscribe to the notion that pets are a life-long commitment. I, however, am tired of reminding the kids to feed and play with them. What do you all think?


WHICH BRINGS US TO HALLOWEEN:

I burn myself on the oven. Sydney thinks fast and grabs some ice--
Maia thinks fast and grabs the camera.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Berkeley the alien-ninja with his friends on Halloween, but here are Sam, Syd and Maia with friends Gretchen and Parker.

And finally, friends, would you let your daughters go out with a boy like this?

How about a boy like this?


I love 'em both!

An Old Family Recipe

Doesn't this look delicious?

Ingredients:
Cardboard
Spray paint
Yarn
Puffy paint
Paper plate
Plastic utensils
Paper cup
Hot Glue


Assemble the above and add

ONE GIGGLY GIRL

p.s.
Who asked me this week why I love Halloween? Our conversation got cut off, but I kept thinking about it and here are my answers.
#1 Obviously, a chance to use the glue gun
#2 Chocolate? Hello, I've abstained ALL MONTH to make it that much more exciting (My kids know I get 10%)
#3 Traipsing around carefree in the dark
#4 Oohing and Ahhing all night at the neighborhood kids who come to the door; pretending to be scared by pint-sized goblins and ghosts

It's just good old-fashioned fun.

SURVIVAL OF THE SICKEST

I finished this book a week ago and can't get it out of my mind, so I think it needs a quick review.

Survival of the Sickest, by Dr. Sharon Moalem, explores and answers the question of why natural selection "failed" to weed out several hereditary diseases that are part of our genetic makeup. Moalem begins by explaining how some diseases have been passed on from generation to generation because they actually served an evolutionary purpose. These are diseases that kill us eventually, but they saved our ancestors from immediate threats, such as the bubonic plague.

Fairly interesting, right? Well, it gets even better. Many of the diseases we get actually control us for their own profit and benefit. It can be as simple as a sneeze, which helps propell the virus to find other hosts. Or more insidious, like an STD that increases sexual desire and reduces judgement. All those tropical parasites that make you itch do so for a reason.

Then it gets even more interesting. We have genetic coding that consists of innumerable "switches" that can be turned on and off based on our environment. This concept goes against everything I ever understood about genetics. For example, in one study fat yellow rats that came from a long line of fat yellow rats were given vitamin supplements in the first days of pregnancy, and they produced skinny brown rats. They still carried the fat yellow rat gene, but it was switched off because the fetus did not sense a threat to its future nutrition, so it's little body didn't need to hoard fat. Women who are on a junk food diet in the first days after conception trigger the switch that makes skinny babies, because they sense they are being born in harsh conditions and will need to be small to survive. Ironically it also triggers the switch to obesity in childhood and beyond, because they sense they will need to hoard fat later in life to survive. These traits are deeply set in our ancient DNA and helped our ancestors survive severe cold and famine. (I'm probably not explaining this accurately enough, but just giving you a taste of one aspect of the book that stuck with me.)

Aging unto death is another switch that is flipped. We are actually programmed to die. I can't do the explanation justice but it has to do with limiting rapid cell growth. In other words, aging is part of our bodies' defence agianst cancer.

So if you've ever wondered why we get sick or age, Survival of the Sickest is for you. I do not have a science background, but found this an easy and engaging read, Tipping Point- style. Five stars.

The book's website, For excerpts, reviews, etc.

must have been a beautiful baby

Dear Syd,

I love this picture because you shine so brightly in the sunset. In real life, you bring the sunshine to our family every day. Your enthusiasm for life bubbles over, sometimes into endless giggling, sometimes into singing and dancing. Your life is a happy musical and I'm just blessed to be a part of it! Happy Birthday, Syd!!! Thank you for seven wonderful years.

Love,
Mom

Syd with "Churro" and her Birthday Pies in the background
(Berkeley blogged about the fateful piemaking)

7 (better?) bits of Brenda Trivia

Okay, Bridget made fun of my last post so I'm going to try again. I'll admit that last attempt was a little lame, so I'm digging deeper into my childhood. I hope these pass muster because I doubt I can come up with 7 more.

1. I was the only Caucasian baby in the hospital where I was born in East Chicago.
2. My mom taught my kindergarten class in a little country church with a bell on top. One day we were running late so I had to come to school in my crocheted slippers.
3. I was considered an airhead in my family growing up. (I didn't discover my inner-nerd until graduate school.)
4. I broke my nose waterskiing. My ski flipped off and hit me right in the face. I was so panicked about all the blood I tried to get out of my life jacket in the water. I had to start my junior year of high school with two big black eyes.
5. For 18 months I was student body vice president and madame chair of the student council at my high school.
6. I was also a homecoming princess.
7. I went to community college for a year before my parents finally convinced me to leave the nest and go to BYU.

How's that? Now I want to hear 7-14 strange and interesting things about each of you.

7 bits of Brenda trivia

Okay, I don't claim that these are interesting things, just random unknown things. Everybody already knows about schizophrenic Brenda, right? (I was in a band and got my masters degree...) These are7 more up-close-and-personal bits:

1. I brush my teeth with hot water. I just like to, okay?
2. I love all things peanutbutter and chocolate--but not this month.
3. For the month of October, I'm doing a detox diet. No sugar, dairy, wheat, caffeine, or preservatives. I've fallen off the wagon twice already, both at social events. And I plan to fall hard on Halloween. (I'll probably do another post later about why I'm doing this.)
4. I'm not big on firm commitments.
5. I nap almost every day. 10-30 minutes. I can't get through the day otherwise. It's practically involuntary. My kids just deal with it.
6. I carry a book with me wherever I go, because I can't stand to be alone with my thoughts for more than a few seconds.
7. I like to cook but think of recipes as very loose guidelines.

If you read this, consider yourself tagged. What don't I know about you?

Four going on Fourteen

Maia started high school this year. Well, preschool at the high school. But it's "her" school, and she feels a sense of belonging as a "little warrior." Which is why she often sports her high school/preschool hoodie. Here she is posing as a smurf, holding our kitty Milo.


And tonight was her big night in her hoodie. The preschool kids got to lead the half-time parade at the Homecoming game tonight. Let me tell you, I think the last football game I went to was in 1989. It hasn't changed much--wet, cold, late, and long. And just like high school, I'm still much more interested in watching the marching band than the game. The half-time show was amazing and Sydney screamed her cheers for the awesome band and for Maia. We stayed just a few minutes past everyone's comfort level and left soaked to the skin.