I'm Famous!

After school Sam said to me, "Guess what? I'm Famous!"

At school today they had an assembly. When they asked for volunteers to come up on the stage, Sam rose his hand. He was chosen. He was taught how to do a double spin in the air. He's been practicing all afternoon. He's too tired now for a picture.
It's tough being famous.

I Told You They Was Organized.

Here's what I've been doing lately. Except for taking care of super sickos inflicted with a nasty-asty version of the stomach flu. Organizing. I planned 3 rooms to make a project of for the first few months of the new year.

The first was the play room. I made the play room many many moons ago. My kids were little and loved to go in and play make believe. Now that they're a bit older I wanted to update it just a tweek. It's not much really. Much of it is still the same...
Oooh. There is something new. It's a book shelf. With games.
This is the update. You see, these games were taking up a ton of space in my laundry room. I needed that space! So I took them out and put this together. So the new addition is the game shelves. So far it has produced much game playing. And it made for some much needed space for the second project.
The second project was the laundry room. Or "dump all your stuff in here" room. I just spent yesterday afternoon cleaning and organizing it. And it looks spectacular! I don't have pictures of the loveliness, but I made an executive decision while cleaning it all out. You see I have a lot of cook books. A LOT. And I love them. I have collected them as I have needed to expand my cooking horizon. But every time I get one, the inevitable happens...I find and use awesome recipes and then I type them out with my own variation or whatever, and then put it in my all consuming cook book. Wanna see it?
Here it is. Well, here is the open version. See? I just put everything in here.
And it's quite full and very well used. So the decision to get rid of the honkin' stack of cook books was necessary. But don't worry, I still have a sizeable stack of 'em in there.
So now my play room and laundry room are finished. Next project??? Drum roll please...

RUTHIE'S ROOM!

Someone Hit Me!!

Well. Not me exactly. I wasn't in the car. Apparently no one was. But yesterday while outside playing at piano lessons, I noticed a dent in the Durango. I didn't think much of it though. But then I really looked at it. Closely. It is a nice round dent and there are those classic "marks" that are the norm when you are hit by another car. Because I know about hitting another car. Or another car hitting me. So I went through my day. Then my week. And it quite literally could have been weeks ago. Because I keep my car in the garage and then just get in and out without really looking at the smooth blue exterior. This was the first time my car was out in the sunshine with me actually there looking at it.
So I'm peeved. There was no note. No one waiting to tell me. I mean, look at it. It's not terrible. Daniel can knock out the dent, the paint wasn't scratched, and the marks will wash off. But my hope in humanity has diminished. Just kidding. I still have hope for humanity. But I did really think about what I would do if I ever hit someone's car in a parking lot. I did already have a plan..I would wait or go in and ask for the license plate to be paged or leave a note with my info. Now I know that I will for sure no questions asked make sure the owner of the other vehicle knows it was me. Had that been done in this case they would have been off the hook for the damage, but my respect for them would have been paramount!

And humanity would get a gold star for integrity.

One More Christmas Post.

It's a bloggy day.

This is a tradition that began in 2002. Isaac was 2 and Samuel was 9 months old. I had gotten a plain red Christmas tree skirt. And I had some bottles of paint. Mwaaa haa haa. So I put their cute little paws in the paint and then onto the skirt. I had originally written it all with permanent marker, but you can't read it anymore. So I re-did the names and years with lavender paint.
These are all 3 kiddos' prints in 2005, Ruthie's first Christmas.
And here we are today. 2011. I think I can get a few more years of hand prints on it yet.
It's fun to look at it under the tree every year with their cute little hand prints. And it's fun to see how much they've grown.
You probably noticed a big question mark around 2007. I had just been called as the Primary president and Daniel had just been called as the Ward Clerk. I spent that week after Christmas praying and calling a presidency. So, um, like some carols, the hand prints were forgotten that year.

Oh Yeah.. I Almost Forgot.

I just realized that there are some Christmas moments I haven't blogged. First, though, you know I must do a goat picture. This is a game that Mama Cass and Vegeta get into a lot. They both jump up on the tramp and butt each other. It's quite entertaining to watch.
Okay. Back to Christmas. We went to see Santa (aka Grandpa) on Christmas Eve afternoon. Ruthie was the first to sit on his lap.
Sam likes to wear his hat. And if you look closely, you can see he's wearing his gloves too. Silly Sam.
And Isaac brought up the rear. Santa gives each of the kids a sack filled with candy, and an orange and some tic tacs. Fun!
And here are the kids with Grandma. Isn't she beautiful?!
That night at Abbie and Poppy's Christmas Eve gala, many of the kids participated in the annual Nativity. Poppy reads it and each of the girls takes a turn to be Mary. Ruthie was an angel this year. And my boys? Well, they decided to participate as audience this year.
After the Nativity we played a gift game. Everyone brings a 3-5$ wrapped gift and I read a story that has lots of "left" and "right"s in it. We then pass the gifts to the left or right until the story ends. Then we open the gifts. And the kids get to open their gifts from Abbie and Poppy. They each get a pair of jammies. This year Abbie made the jammy bottoms. Aren't they cute?!
And Ruthie...
Abbie and Poppy gave each family a family picture puzzle. We've done ours 2 times now!
Since the trend is forgetting things, I forgot about the gift from Grandma and Grandpa. They gave each family one of these Awesome Possum Blossom waffle makers. You can make 2 big German waffles at the same time. We've been eating a LOT of waffles!
Merry Christmas. Next..... The New Year!

Have You Ever?

Have you ever had to patch a fitted sheet?

Um. I have.

But then I got new sheets for Christmas.

I love new sheets.

Dinner Is A Sacred Thing.

You know how as Relief Society sisters we band together to feed those around us? A baby is born. Dinner. A family member is sick. Dinner. A child has surgery. Dinner. A roof falls in. Dinner. It really is quite impressive when you think about it. When someone is in need, we feed.

When I was pregnant with Isaac I was terribly ill. Remember...pregnancy is my mortal enemy. And what happened? The sisters brought in meals. 3 nights a week we were fed by generous women in the ward. It was just Daniel and me and I wasn't eating much. Daniel was just as happy to make toast or go to Subway. I was so grateful for those meals. I was grateful for the meals that came when Isaac was born. When I was sicko pregnant with Sam and when Sam was born, I was grateful for those meals. I was grateful for the meals that came when we got home from China. I made sure thank you notes went out for every one.

I love making dinner for others. When an opportunity presents itself, well, make dinner. I've made it an art even. I have a few recipes that are used regularly. Not too spicy, not too bland, easy enough for kids to eat and interesting enough for adults. When delivering the dinner, use only disposable dishes. Foil ones work best to keep things hot. Then the family who has a new baby or a recovering surgery-ee or a grieving household, don't have to wash dishes and then return them. What a pain to have to keep track of what clear glass 9x13 baking dish, among the 5 in which wonderful casseroles have been delivered, belongs to whom. Never give a new mom, just home after giving birth, a dessert full of chocolate. Nursing babies don't like that. Nor do they like spices and onions and peppers. Keep it simple.

I offered to make dinner for a family who had a baby just before Christmas. What a great opportunity to share and provide a great meal for a nice family. I had Daniel bring some cinnamon bread over along with the offer. They accepted for the following night. So I planned and cooked and picked up some things from the store. As the meal cooked in the crock pot and cookies were baked, the house smelled yummy. Then at about dinner delivery time they called and said they were out of town and having dinner and how about dinner the next evening. Of course. So I served the dinner to my family and put the rest in the fridge. But then I had a thought. As left overs, the meal just wouldn't be as grand. So I decided to make a simpler, faster, non crock pot meal tonight. I had the salad, the bread, the veggies and the sauce made. All I needed was for the family to be home. So I watched. And watched. And finally around 8 pm they got home. So I put the water on to boil and got the other items out to heat up. Daniel went to tell them dinner would be there in half and hour. Then he came back in the house and said they already had dinner and that I don't need to make dinner for them anymore.

With that, dinner became a sacred thing. When I offer to make dinner I mean it. Gosh golly! I will have dinner ready and hot and delivered at 6 pm. Unless you ask for it earlier or later. But when you go to eating somewhere else while I am making you a splendid affair, well, you're messin' with a woman who holds dinner making and delivery up there with delivering a baby! Don't mess with dinner. It's sacred!