White Christmas

This year Christmas was just beautiful. It was on a Sunday, so I was a little worried about the boys being patient and waiting until after church to open most of their presents but they did amazingly well. In the morning, they all got up early and came down to see what Santa brought. Then we had breakfast, got ready for church and enjoyed a sacrament meeting full of beautiful music about the Savior. One of my friends had a brother in town for Christmas whose name happens to be Tobias and he played the most beautiful viola piece. My Tobias was so tickled to meet a grownup with his same name. After church, we came home and opened the gifts from each other and grandparents. As usual, the boys made out like bandits. And, as usual, I vowed that next year there would be far less. Maybe I need to make a mantra so I can remember that for next  year. Oh well. May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white.

This is the winter wonderland we woke up to on Christmas morning.

Gifted

As you might remember from last year, our boys LOVE to give each other gifts at Christmas time which results in a number of special looking packages being placed under our tree. This year, the twins spent their hard-earned money and went shopping for gifts for their brothers which I thought was really sweet and very generous. Benjamin made a family gift with random items from around the house which we thought were lost. The writing on the box was especially cute.

"too evrebude in th Rikcs famle frum Binjmin Riks"
Apparently, when he was sounding out all the other words he went ahead and spelled his name phonetically also. I love it when they first are learning to write and spell. So cute.

Wishful Thinking

Each  year, we have the boys write a wishlist for Christmas. David John is usually most enthusiastic and serious about these lists. In fact, he makes lists all year long- for birthdays, Easter, even Halloween. He also loves to look through catalogs which our boys call "blogs". Earlier this year, David John went to the dentist and came home with a new toothbrush and a sample of little flossing picks. The picks came with an advertisement. David John read it thoroughly and then made a list of the dental supplies that he really really wanted. He gave me the following list and asked me to buy them ASAP.

-micromint flossers
-twin-line flossers
-right angle flossers
-grind-no-more night protector
-dental brush
-interdental angle brush

Oh Tobias

Tobias is three. That makes him a character, and it means that he says things incorrectly in an adorable way. Here are some words and pictures from our youngest.

First day of preschool. Don't worry, he finished the sucker before class started.

Benjamin's Buttons

Benjamin has buttons- and his brothers think it's really fun to push them. Benjamin reacts in all the best ways- screaming, dramatic soliloquy, collapsing in despair, the works. Benjamin also likes to push his brother's buttons. He likes to follow people around and repeat the same word over and over or just get in someone's personal space and refuse to move. It would be shame to let this button-pushing ability die out so Benjamin has an understudy. Tobias. Those two are quite the team. They call each other "my best brother" and choose lots of interesting activities to do together. These activities push MY buttons. Here's a few I've witnessed in the last little while:

Turtle Power!

Halloween was a blast this year. I bought some canvas bags and fabric markers to make permanent trick-or-treat bags since Walmart has foolishly stopped carrying the Halloween buckets that we liked. Each of the boys had me draw a Halloween picture for them on the front and then decorated the back themselves.
That's an elephant witch on Elijah's. David John threw a tantrum at one point and scribbled all over his, so I just turned them into transformation lines when Dracula changes into a bat. David John also decided to add another mini-Minion on Benjamin's bag.

Wacky Wednesday

The boys had Spirit Week last week at school. Wednesday was "Wacky Wednesday" so Gabriel decided to go for it.

Pumpkins

Despite the harrowing time at Papa's Pumpkin Patch, I still  let each of the boys choose a gourd and a pumpkin to bring home. I think the ladies at the register take pity on me when we check out with two wagons full of pumpkins and gourds and a train of antsy little boys. I think they never charge me full price. They are supposed to measure each item to determine how much it costs but they just guess to get us out of there quickly. Bless them.

Aren't they pretty? 

Fortunate

This is one of those obnoxious posts about loving life. I have to write them every once in a while because even though life is hard and crazy and there are so many moments of disappointment and feeling like I'm dropping the ball, it's also pretty amazing. This fall has been busy but so good. I started a graduate program which takes me out of town every 3rd weekend. I'm still learning to cope with being the president of the school board and being the president of the young women organization at church. I joined a community women's group that I love and I'm still nominally in charge of a book club that I love. I have friends and a family that I adore. I'm stressed a lot of the time. My kids are crazy a lot of the time. I am the worst at keeping track of paperwork that comes home in backpacks but my kids' teachers haven't disowned me yet. I have so much to be grateful for. Here are a few very random pictures of things that have made me feel fortunate.

Papas Pumpkin Patch Pummels Parent; "Please Protect Progeny!" Protests Participant

Sometimes, I do things which seem brave only to realize later that they were crazy or stupid. I took all the boys to Papas Pumpkin Patch in Bismarck again. Alone.

Badlands Boys

My Sister-in-law Rebecca and nephew Kaleb drove sixteen hours to spend the weekend with us. That's some serious love and dedication. Kaleb is a nature lover so of course we headed out the Badlands. As a result, you get to endure yet another series of North Dakota nature photos. Sorry, can't help. I'm in love with this place. This time I just took pictures of the scenery and human wildlife but we did see prairie dogs, bison and turkeys. At one point during the drive one of the boys mentioned that two prairie dogs they saw must be married. Kaleb broke the news that prairie dogs don't get married. My boys were aghast, "Then how do they have babies if the don't get married?!?"
Luckily, we have recently read a book about the facts of life with our boys. It was very frank and straightforward and as a result certain children have been looking at us funny when Marc and I kiss or hug. Anyway, I responded to the question with, "Remember the book we read about how babies are made? Prairie dogs make babies the same way but they just don't get married first." Understanding dawned on David John's face. "Oh!", he said, "I see. They just have to spend time together!" Rebecca and I tried really hard not to laugh. You can now add "spend time together" to your list of euphemisms. You're welcome.

First Snow

We got our first snow early this year. October 11th. Tobias and I went outside to catch snowflakes and marvel at the lacy crystals. They were just beautiful. I showed Tobias how to catch them on his tongue which was pretty much the funniest thing ever. I'm not ready for it to snow every day yet, but I didn't really mind. It's funny how perspective changes when you love the place you live. Even a place where it sometimes snows October through April.

Tobias was so excited!

Family Pictures

Family pictures are always a little insane with six boys who don't really want to be there. At least the biggest one is cooperative. So, anyone who takes on our family for a photo shoot deserves special praise. Amy Nash did the job this year and she did it beautifully. Here are a few favorites from the shoot. Thanks again Amy!

Blue Hawks

Every year, our local college has an event called "Meet the Blue Hawks" where all of the college athletes come in uniform to meet kids from the community. They serve free hot dogs (the pink kind of course- this is North Dakota), chips and soda and each child gets a free Blue Hawks t-shirt. The athletes usually bring markers so they can sign your shirt for you. Our boys really enjoy this. Some of them tend to migrate towards the women's sports teams. There's nothing quite like having the college volleyball team telling you how adorable you are and signing their names in multi-colored pen. Just ask Tobias. Anyway, this year it started raining during the event so everyone went inside but our boys thought it would be more fun to stay outside and run laps around the track in the rain. I love these pictures that I got of Gabriel and Tobias on the homestretch before we told them they had to stop and go home. Pure joy.

Chalk Walk

Dickinson had its first annual chalk walk on Friday. I really liked it. The parks department provided a million pieces of brightly colored chalk and people from the community came and colored. They also had food trucks and some entertainment. David John didn't want to go but the other four boys and I went, colored and came back with some kettle corn. I'd call that a success.

This was a collaborative Tobias and Mommy project. I took the lines he drew and tried to form a coherent picture. It's a dinosaur holding a fish . Tobias was pretty proud of it.

Selling Summer

My children were marching around the house in a parade of discontent chanting, "We hate summer! We like school!" I am glad they like school so much, truly, but it was making me feel bad that I had somehow failed to make summer fun enough for them. I guess they had already forgotten the awesome trip to Ohio and all those swimming lessons and trips to the pool. Anyway, in an attempt to beat back the summer blues, (Is that a thing?), I busted out a secret weapon. The slip 'n slide.

Origami Mommy

So, I'm a little unsure of how to break this to you but I'm a little odd. I know this because for most of my life it's been a little tough to fit in. Anyway, one of the quirky things that I do to relax my neurotic brain is to draw geometric patterns on graph paper and then color them in. Maybe that's not super weird, I'm not sure, but I feel a little embarrassed about it like I'm confessing that I have some sort of secret life.

Kindergarten Here He Comes

We get to take all of the boys to their school tomorrow to find out their teachers, pay for school supplies and fill out all of that glorious beginning of the year paperwork. I can't believe that Benjamin will be starting kindergarten in less than three weeks. I think he's ready, but I'm not sure if they're ready for him. His sweet teacher has already survived a year of Elijah and a year of David John so she should be up for it even though Benjamin is definitely his own person. He's silly and smart and often in his own world. Let's play a game. How would you respond to these Benjamin quotes if you were his teacher?

Tobias Take 3.5

Our Tobias is almost 3 and a half. Can you believe it? The craziest part is, HE IS FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!!! We thought it would never happen. But it did. We only use one diaper a day now for night time. We have NEVER been a one diaper a day household before. It's amazing! To celebrate, here are a bunch of silly things Tobias has said in the past few months that I've been meaning to share with you.

Lucky Seven

David John turned seven yesterday. For his birthday, he wanted a red leather bible, some Magic cards and the movie Kung Fu Panda three. We were happy to oblige. I was especially tickled that he wanted a bible. His brothers had recently got their own so they could go to the local bible camp. He also received an awesome Minion ukulele from Grandma and Bapa and a new Oma blanket that is red and rainbow tie-dye.
The birthday boy spent his morning taking Grandma to the airport, eating cocoa puffs for breakfast and watching a favorite movie- Wreck-it Ralph. We then drove to Bowman for a rib festival that Daddy and the twins were already at helping a friend who had entered the rib contest. There was a big bouncy house and slide plus a bouncy water slide. I had never seen one of those. We bought everybody their first snowcones. (What kind of parents are we? I was surprised when the boys informed me that they have never had a snowcone before. For shame.) The rib dinner was delicious and our friend won first place! David John and the other boys didn't hesitate to bask in the reflected glory.
He opened his presents in Bowman and he had chosen some special brownies that he wanted instead of cake. He was one easy-going birthday boy.
Unfortunately, I have been a complete slacker in taking pictures of my boys especially when I am trying to wrangle them in a public area so I don't have pictures from the big day but I do have a cute one from the Safety Fair in the Spring and he's wearing a crown so it totally counts as a birthday picture.

More importantly, I have saved some of my favorite things that David John has said. A thousand words is worth a picture, right?

A Muppet of a Man

I recently got to spend a little time with just Gabe in the car. I can't even remember what the occasion was, but I really enjoy those one on one times.
Gabriel is a great kid. He's sometimes super silly and has been talking in crazy accents. He thinks that he's sounding Irish or Russian or French but somehow we're never quite able to guess what he's going for. He doesn't get discouraged.
One of the most delightful things about spending time with Gabriel is his laugh. If you can get him to laugh so hard that he almost can't breathe he sounds just like a muppet. I love it.
Anyway, on our car ride we were singing different random songs. His taste in music right now is pretty much Weird Al and ABBA, but for some reason I started singing "The Sign" by Ace of Base. Gabe liked the tune, but was confused about the lyrics.
"I thought you weren't supposed to look at the sun."
"No, it says 'I saw the sign' not 'I saw the sun'."
"Oh, okay."
"But we can make a version about looking at the sun."
I then proceeded to sing, "I saw the sun and I opened my eyes and now I'm blind. Life is concerning when your retinas are burning."
I was rewarded with the muppet laugh. Apparently that was the funniest thing, like, ever. We sang it over and over until we were both laughing so hard that we couldn't breathe. Oh man, I love that kid and his muppet laugh.
Gabriel thinks I should sell the song to a sunglasses company. I just might. He also thinks I should try and market my Gollum version of jingle bells that I made up for him at Chirstmas time.

"Jingle bells, hobbit steals my precious golden ring.
Once I was a halfling but I'm now an ugly thing. Hey!"

It's nice to have a kid who will laugh at your terrible puns and paraodies. Thank you my little muppet of a man.

Table Talk

We have a hard time with polite conversation around the table. The boys often want to play quiz-style math games or they want to mercilessly tease each other. A favorite tack is to pretend to see something and then when the person turns around chant "Baby look! Baby look! Now you're in the baby book!" So, I am always grateful when we can all just talk. Calmly. Without fighting. This means that I try to answer any question asked at the table as a means to demonstrate polite conversation. At breakfast recently, Gabriel asked, "Mom, can things be infinitely small?"
Wow, really? "Yes, things can be infinitely small just like they can be infinitely big."
"So, people can be infinitely small?"
"No, but the parts that make up people can be infinitely small. Like, we are made of cells which are made of organelles, which are made of DNA which is composed of proteins which are made up of amino acids which are molecules made of atoms and there are even subatomic particles like quarks."
Then there were questions about quarks and what might be smaller than quarks even.
At this point, the younger boys jumped into the conversation.
Benjamin: "Yeah, things can be really small! Like germs!"
David John: (still stuck on the idea of infinitely small people) "Germans could be smaller than a germ.... if you had a shrink ray."
Tobias: "We don't want Germans in our body! Yuck!"

We then had to talk about the fact that Germans and germs are not the same thing and that Germans are lovely people. In fact Aunt Tine is German etc. etc. By the end I think everyone was thoroughly confused. Maybe polite conversation isn't all it's cracked up to be. At least with the "Baby look!" game no one needed a nuclear physicist around to sort things out and Europeans weren't being accused of causing illness. I think we may go back to the math quiz bowl version of table interaction. I guess Marc and I will have to discuss it over dinner.

Toast

There is a rubber band in my toaster.
I don't know why, but this just really struck me today as a metaphor for my life or something.
Here I am, trying to make healthy whole grain toast for my kids but as it's cooking it doesn't smell quite right. I figure it's just some burnt pieces that fell to the bottom, but no. It turns out that smell was burning rubber. So I fed my children rubber-infused cancer toast.

The Boonshoft

This is the last Ohio travel blog, I promise. At least for this year. We took the boys to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery another favorite haunt. Of course there were some antics, some things that were climbed on that should not be, a couple of escape attempts by a certain three-year-old, a million bathroom trips and some broken rules about the height requirements for the climbing net because all of our boys think they are Spiderman. There was also some fun. These are my favorite pictures from the day.

Nature Reserve

We took our boys on a short hike that led to a natural playscape at a nature reserve near my parents' house. The playscape was actually right next to the parking lot but we really wanted to the boys to do the hike first so we told them we had to follow this trail to get to the play area. Unfortunately, our boys are smart and Elijah picked up a map.
Elijah: "Hey Mom! I found a shortcut! We could just turn around and.."
Me: "Shhhh!"
Elijah: "What? It would be a lot faster, see? We just go the opposite direction right past the parking lot.."
Me: "Shhhhh!! We are trying to get your brothers to do this walk first. Dont. Tell. Anyone."
Elijah: "Fine."
Of course when we got to the playscape one of the first things David John did was explore the perimiter. When he discovered that the parking lot was close by he rolled his eyes and said, "We did all that walking for nothing!"

Uncle Sam Can Moo, Can You?

Actually Uncle Sam is ridiculously good at sound effects and weird voices- but that's beside the point. The point is, we all went to Young's Jersey Dairy for a good time and good ice cream. It's kinda a tradition. If you visit my parents you are going to visit Young's.
We were extra generous with our boys this year and let them do the activities that COST MONEY. I know, I know, we are spoiling them. In years past my kindly parents have paid for them to go mini-golfing. This was in turns cute and fun and completely exasperating. Luckily, Young's has expanded its kiddie offerings to include a little play area with slides, a barrel train ride, pedal carts and the beloved carpet slide.
Of course we did the free things too. We played on the tractors and giant tires. I was super brave this year and jumped from one giant tire to the next one which was probably only three feet away but it felt more like ten. We also petted the animals and fed them little pellets. Our boys were pretty darn good I have to say and the ice cream was, as always, delicious. The End.

What? You wanted pictures? Fine.

AF Museum

Grandpa Aday and Uncle Sam share a love of the air force museum so we went for a visit with Benjamin, Gabriel and Tobias in tow. Unfortunately, we got separated (read I got lost after Tobias wanted to get a drink at the water fountain) so I pretty much only have pictures of Tobias. The air force museum is huge and fascinating and exhausting for little people. I learn something new every time I go. Here are a few illustrative pictures from our visit.

Uncle Sam Wants You

to come to Ohio. We came to Ohio to have fun, visit family and to see Uncle Sam off on his mission. I have pictures from several things we did while we were there but there's a handful of pictures that just don't quite fit into a nice narrative. So, here are some somewhat random pictures from our trip.

Travel with the Ricks Team

If you've ever listened to the radio show Travel with Rick Steves you'll come away with the idyllic picture of travel in your head. I mean, sure, he's honest about the harrowing experiencing of riding buses through the andes mountains or the dangers of traveling in the middle east but it still sounds exotic and appealing and adventurous. Traveling with our crew is certainly adventurous but maybe a little less exotic and appealing.

Good Sports

Gabriel and Elijah are athletic. This is shocking because they are my children and I am the most unathletic person quite possibly in all recorded history. I think I have mentioned before my ability to not only be bad at sports but also be bad for sports equipment. I was the girl who shot holes in the wrestling mats during archery (oops), managed to hit a golf ball backwards into the parking lot (sorry truck!) and after a series of embarrassing and improbable events ended up completely mangling a locker in the locker room with a pair of bolt cutters. That one I'm going to blame on my gym teacher, he should have known better than to give me a pair of bolt cutters.
Anyway, I am happy and thankful that my little guys can sport and stuff! This spring they both did soccer and Gabriel did gymnastics.

Fourteen

Fourteen years ago, today, we founded our little family in the Mount Timpanogas Temple in American Fork, Utah. I thought I loved you then, and I did, but I didn't know you well enough to know just how much I should and could love you. This was partly because we had only dated for two weeks and were only engaged for three and a half months for a grand total of four months of courtship, but it was also because we hadn't lived together. We hadn't struggled, fought and waded through difficulty hand in hand. I didn't know just how perfectly your strengths would make up for my weaknesses or that my strengths could balance your few flaws.

Stoned

You know how, when you're a mom or just a really busy person and you keep having nagging excruciating pain you just pretty much ignore it? Yeah, you shouldn't do that. It's a bad idea. That will land you in the hospital with a kidney that's not working very well because there is a giant rock lodged in there that your body felt the need to produce for some unknown reason. It also doesn't help if your kidney is a little special and has an almost non-existent opening which makes your surgeon and the surgical robot cry during the procedure and then go out and have a beer together afterward.
It turns out that pain is your body telling you that you are eating too many healthy foods. You know what causes kidney stones? Spinach. Popeye lied to us people, it doesn't make your muscles as hard as a rock, it just makes actual rocks. Also, kale. Kale, the superfood. I feel very betrayed. Other culprits are whole-grain wheat, nuts and strawberries. You heard me, strawberries. I had a Strawberry Shortcake big-wheel when I was four and this is the way you repay me? I always knew you looked too cute and innocent to be real. Faker! So, that's it. The problem was I was eating far too healthy. Too many fruits and vegetables and whole-grains. Of course, you know what else can make those pesky rocks? Peanutbutter. And chocolate. It's entirely possible that Reeses Peanutbutter Cups are my favorite candy. It's also entirely possible that peanutbutter is my go-to comfort food. Furthermore, I may have a habit of eating peantbutter and nutella on graham crackers for breakfast. There may or may not be a layer of peanutbutter an inch thick on those crackers. But I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Curse you spinach!

Dino-sore

Once upon a time there was a crazy woman who decided to take her five boys to a thing called Jurassic Quest because she wanted to be a good mother. Unfortunately, she ended up in the hospital for surgery just days before this very exciting activity. Fortunately, her saintly mother-in-law decided to come help. And so, despite being a little loopy from medications and a little sore she embarked on the journey to Bismarck with her husband, mother-in-law and five hyper children. Will she survive the carnivorous giant reptiles? The throngs of small children? The bathroom trips? The dreaded craft table? Find out in this photographic saga called DINO-SORE: A Prehistoric Pain (that was also kind of fun)

Preschool Pomp and Circumstance

Benjamin graduated from preschool on Tuesday. He is officially on his way to kindergarten. We are thrilled. His preschool program and graduation was very cute. I took videos of it because Marc couldn't be there. When I rewatch them I notice that I'm laughing a lot. I was on a lot of pain killers so everything probably seemed extra funny at the time. Anyway, the students did several nursery rhymes and songs for the parents. Benjamin got to be the spider in Little Miss Muffet, Jack in Jack Be Nimble and Jack again in Jack and Jill. This last one caused some drama because Benjamin's "best friend" Lola was not Jill and she really wanted to be. Benjamin had to HOLD HANDS with a different little girl. Tears were shed, but it all ended up being okay. Benjamin did fall down a little before his cue for Jack and Jill so they had to do it twice. His falling down and breaking his crown was quite convincing. The songs they sang included the days of the week in English and in Spanish, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Wheels on the Bus. Most of the children did all of the actions to these songs. Benjamin did not. He sang them, but while he sang he sat on his hands or squished them between his legs and stared around absent-mindedly. That's my Jami.
When his name was called to receive his bag and medal he grabbed them before Mrs. V could even hand them to him and tried to escape her grasp and the dreaded picture takings. She caught him and we got a picture but he still has that vacant look on his face. We'll assume he's just staring off into the future, envisioning the great things he's going to do. Yeah. Let's make that the story.
We are proud of all of the progress he's made this year. Mrs. V is confident that he's ready for Kindergarten.... and Beyond!

Benjamin and Mrs. V

Fun Run

This year the boys' school had a fundraiser where the kiddos got pledges and then ran laps to earn money for the school. Tobias and I came to run with David John and cheer him on and then Marc was even able to come to run with the twins for a bit. Elijah ran the most laps of anyone in his class. It was a real scorcher that day so David John pretty much just walked the whole time but for a kid who doesn't love organized physical activity I thought it was pretty great that he participated at all. Good job boys.

Some Pigs

The boys are still very much enjoying the guinea pigs. There are sometimes grumbles and moans about cleaning out litter boxes or cages but mostly they do a good job. Gabe, especially, has taken to making sure they have everything their furry little hearts desire.
David John still loves them even though he does not enjoy the cleaning chores. He's decided to change his middle name to Guinea Pig and spends time reading guinea pig articles online. He even read a National Geographic about the very large ancient ancestors of guinea pigs and then drew pictures of them at school the next day. The teacher didn't even question him when he said they were guinea pig ancestors. She figured he knew what he was talking about. His computer log in is guineapig09. He might be a little obsessed.
Benjamin and Tobias also love the guineas. They love to pet and groom Calvin and Hobbes. Tobias gets discouraged that the piggies run away from his chubby little hands. Sometimes he tells me, dejectedly, "Calvin not want to pet me." He's getting better at being gentle but, unfortunately, he and Benjamin still need supervision to do those things. Recently, the little boys decided to play with the guinea pigs all by themselves. I was up in my office working on school-board related business when Benjamin came upstairs to deliver the following news.

"Mom! We are playing hide-and-seek with the guinea pigs and Hobbes is really good! We can't even find him!"

"You mean, he's hiding in his cage?"

"No, we let them out to play hide and seek."

"You're telling me that Hobbes is lost somewhere in our basement."

"Noooo, he's just hiding and we can't find him."

"I see."

Isn't it great how kids can rebrand things? No, he's not lost, he's just hiding and we haven't found him yet. It's a game! I wish I could tell you that I was completely calm and patient but I was a little freaked out about the idea of Hobbes climbing into the furnace or something so I panicked a little bit. I found him hiding under a couch and was able to coax him back into his cage. I told the boys that hide-and-seek was probably not the best game to play with guinea pigs, even if they are very good at it. Yep, they're some pigs.

Melting My Heart

A while ago I made the boys little hearts with compliments and taped them to their doors. Yesterday, David John made me hearts to tape on my door. It was one of those parenting moments where it's all worth it.

In case you can't read them, here is what they say:

"I like playing games with you."

"You give us what we need even when you're stressed out."

"Mom you take good care of us! I like the food. (well most of it)"

"I like going to restaurants with you and I'll try to be good there."

"I am thankful for you. I love you. <3 David John"

Yep. Heart melted.

Derby Boys

We survived our first pinewood derby. This year, I carved Elijah's car body with a handsaw. Yeah, next year I'm planning to borrow power tools. Gabriel, thank goodness, just wanted to sent his down as a block of wood. Thank you, Gabe. Thank you.

The boys were good sports and poor Gabe got out in the first round but he still cheered everyone else on. Elijah actually came in 3rd place which is a miracle considering the sleek, streamlined, professionally-painted pieces of work we were racing against.

Our cars were more authentic. So take that, pinewood derby expert dads. Yeah. Everyone had a good time, which is all that matters. I'm sure all serious scouters will tell you the same thing.

Popcorn Popper 'Neath the Apricot Tree

Recently, an obituary was accidentally released prematurely for a public figure. This got Marc and I talking about celebrity obituaries and how they have to be written before-hand and constantly updated so that when someone passes away the media can immediately release their tribute. It occurred to us that we have someone in our family who has been living on borrowed time for years now. His name is Poplite. And he is our popcorn popper.

Revisionist History

David John is a creative kid. He's also a boy. Sometimes that combination leads to him creating things that others might find less.... appropriate. So, it was with a mixture of hilarity and horror that I read the little booklet David John brought home in honor of President's Day. (Yes, I know that's in February.) It was about Abraham Lincoln but was more akin to "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter". For each picture he crossed out the biographical facts and wrote his own narrative. I give you: Abraham Lincoln Goes Crazy

No Foolin' He's Five

That's right. Our little April Fool baby is now a big five-year-old. When I say big, I mean tall. This kid is one tall skinny guy at 85th percentile for height but only 25th for bmi. We had a birthday party for him with his preschool friends and several friends from the ward as well. Benjamin made these cute invitations to hand out to everyone.

Easter

The meaning and message of Easter is one of hope and transcendent beauty. Themes of forgiveness and new life are so important to me on a daily basis because I mess up. A lot. Especially as a mother. Easter was no exception.
This Spring has been incredibly intense. I've been in the thick of interview season and contract negotiations for the school board and recently I was called to be the 1st counselor in the Young Women's presidency for our ward. I love the girls, it's so fun, but it is also a big time commitment. Add to that soccer for the twins and Marc having a ridiculous amount of call and, well, things are a little insane.

Little Leprechauns

Typically in March, our house is visited by leprechauns. They do things like turn milk or pancake batter green. Sometimes they turn the toilet water blue so that when you pee in it, it turns green. They're clever like that.
This year, they went too far.
Last Friday was a day off of school. I had visions of a sleeping-in, peaceful kind of day. Unfortunately, I was woken at 6 am by giggling in the bathroom. Wouldn't you know? Leprechauns had turned the water very very green with an entire bottle of food coloring and then leprechauns had stuffed an entire roll of toilet paper in the bowl so that green water was flowing out of the toilet and onto the floor.
Leprechauns had done this to two other toilets in the house also!
Unfortunately, the leprechauns forgot to flush one of the toilets before doing this so THAT toilet was a bit malodorous and had other things in it besides toilet paper. Whoops!
Leprechauns had also toilet-papered the hallway. Oh, those silly silly leprechauns! They are so funny! They definitely did NOT make me very angry or extremely grumpy. I love putting my hands into cold, green, disgusting toilet water to fish out toilet paper tubes!
The poor boys had to use towels to clean up after the leprechauns. They also had to roll up all that toilet paper and put it in a bag to be kept by the toilet and used.
The leprechauns are banned from our house until next year. It's too bad, the boys set up some really cute traps. Maybe I'll let them come back on St. Patty's Day. Maybe. If I do take down the charms of leprechaun warding and let them in the house they better be bringing me chocolate. Or gold jewelry. Or both. We'll go with both.

OriGabi

Gabriel loves origami. The obsession started with a children's book titled Origami Grammie about a paper-folding grandmother. Gabriel folds fortune tellers, paper airplanes, suns and moons and is trying to memorize other things. He had a brief business at school selling his paper products but now he just folds for fun. I took this picture last month, but forgot about it until I was going through pictures looking for something else.

I was walking down the basement stairs when I saw it. I have no idea why he set them up that way but it was kind of beautiful and adorable. It was one of those moments that just makes you love your kids even more. Maybe we have a future installation artist on our hands.

Watch This!

Our boys love to watch shows. They sometimes have questionable taste. We try to be careful about screen time, except when we are desperate for some peace then we give in. Usually, the rule is that to earn watching a show you have to read for as many minutes as the show is long. Pretty much that means 20 minutes. So we set a timer, they read, and then they get to go watch a show. Of course, once they've watched one show, they inevitably want to watch another episode. Remember when there was no Netflix and you had to wait a week A WEEK! for a new episode? Crazy. Anyway, they typically send an ambassador upstairs to plead their case of why they should get to watch another one. Lately, they've been sending Tobias. This is a smart move. Tobias is cute and charming and when you tell him "no" he crumples to the floor and makes heart-wrenching sobbing sounds. He's very good. The problem with sending Tobias is that he isn't great at relaying a message back to the delegates in the basement. When the answer is "no" he's often so distraught he just doesn't go back at all. When the answer is "yes" there are usually caveats. For example, "Okay, you can watch one more show if afterward everyone puts their shoes on and gets in the van so we can run an errand." or "Okay, you can watch one more show if everyone promises to go outside afterward." Tobias will smile at me at run down to the basement where I hear him shout, "She say yes!" Good job buddy. Nailed it.

They watched an entire show this way. Doesn't that look comfy? Also, look how clean that carpet is. Dang! That was a good carpet day.

3 is a Magic Number

Yes it is.
Tobias turned 3 this month. We knew it was coming. Not only because he has a birthday on February 16th every year, but because he was just starting to act more "3". People call year 2 of a child's life the "terrible twos" and certainly it comes with challenges but in my experience 3 is even more challenging. Year 3 should be called the "thrashing threes" because they throw so many temper tantrums and because sometimes, as the parent, you too want to thrash around in mental agony over trying to get a very unreasonable person to do something very simple and very necessary. Like eating.

Tobias believes in deconstructionism. He likes to take his food apart so that it LOOKS like he's eaten something. I'm pretty sure he lives entirely off of stolen candy.

Live, Laugh, Love

Being a Mom is tough but since love is in the air I thought I should share the things that have made me laugh recently which makes me love my boys even more.

Picture This

Gabriel recently drew this picture for Marc and me which he said is a picture of us on our honeymoon.

This just cracks me up because I don't think he has any idea what the connotations of the word "honeymoon" are. I'm guessing he thinks it has something to do with the actual moon which is why the moon dominates the picture. You can even see the craters. There are also some very random details like a bird that has an invisible body but visible legs. However, there are some things which are closer to the truth than he probably intended. There seems to be an odd lack of clothing. And there's a shower. There are even speech bubbles for the guy in the shower.
"Sorry to disturb you. My bad."
"Did you know there was a shower out here?"

It was enough to make these two immature adults giggle a little.

Settin' the Night on Fire

Last week I was craving some serious comfort food because, well, I live in North Dakota and it's winter. Anyway, I had all of these green chilies from my bountiful basket food co-op so I decided to roast those babies and cook up some green chili macaroni and cheese.
I am pretty much a pro at roasting chilis now and I have never used gloves. My fingers get a little tingly sometimes, but it's no big deal. Usually. Moving on, I did indeed make some amazing looking and smelling green chili mac and cheese which I baked to perfection in a cast-iron skillet topped with bread crumbs. Oh man did it look good.

Two Guineas

The boys have been wanting a pet for a long time so Marc and I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get them something to cuddle. We didn't think we were ready for a dog so we went to the pet store and talked to the owner to help us decide what might work for our family. The owner is a lovely woman who knows my family because her daughter was in the toddler class I was teaching in the fall of 2014. She went through several different options that might survive my boys' love. Turtles, lizards and rats topped the list of hearty animals. I told her we were hoping for something a little more furry. She said I hoped I wouldn't be offended but hamsters were out. My boys would kill a hamster. Guinea pigs though, they might work. They don't die if you drop them, they don't bite and you can hug them without crushing their internal organs. That sounded good. It was decided, we would get a guinea pig or two. We didn't want our new pet to be lonely. The pet store lady made them sound really easy to take care of too. You just feed them pellets and water and change the litter in the bottom of their small cage 2x per week. You can even just line the cage with a garbage bag she said so you just tie up the bag, put a new one on and sprinkle some litter in the bottom. Easy peasy. The boys should be able to handle this pet completely independently.

The Tooth and Nothing but the Tooth

Gabriel lost a tooth last night. I have mixed feelings whenever this happens. For one thing, losing those baby teeth is a sign that these kids just keep growing up, darn it. Not a fan sometimes. I'm happy for the boy who is excited about losing his tooth, but I'm also nervous because you just never know about our tooth fairy. Frankly, she's the worst. She forgets or doesn't show or comes late or leaves the tooth behind. I don't know what tooth fairy academy she was trained in but she must have baaaarely passed. I mean, when I was kid the tooth fairy assigned to my house never missed a tooth pickup and even left sparkly fairy dust behind. She was a pro.
Our boys have definitely noticed the delinquent ways of our tooth fairy so they have developed several theories about her. First of all, she lives in New Jersey. I'm not sure if the boys have developed a stereotype about people from New Jersey or if New Jersey was just the farthest place from North Dakota they could think of. Anyway, because she lives in New Jersey it takes a long time to fly all the way to North Dakota. I mean, that's about 1700 miles. The boys also theorize that the weather often holds her up. You know, ice on the wings and such. Sometimes, though, when the weather is nice and she doesn't show up for two nights in a row- yep, she's that good- they start to really wonder about her character. And who can blame them if they think that she's lazy, forgetful or scatter-brained? It's probably the tooth.

Update: The tooth fairy was a no show last night but did come sometime during the day because when Gabe got home from school there were four shiny quarters under his pillow. At least she doesn't leave dirty money.

Flakey

The boys and I made a bunch of snowflakes to hang up as January decor. I love how it turned out. I also made individualized snowflakes for each of them with the letters of their name and then a small one with a theme of their choice. I was pretty happy with the elephant one and the bird one especially.

Memo Musings

Every January I look at the little memo I keep on my phone of random thoughts that I jot down for possible blog fodder. Every year I am left with several unused ideas. Maybe I should submit them to some language arts teacher as writing prompts. Some are self-explanatory. Some, I can't even recall the exact context for. Anyway, it's become somewhat of a tradition for me to publish these little snippets from the previous year. This time I thought I'd reproduce exactly what I wrote in my memo and then tell the short story that goes with it. It's an interesting way to recap a year.