A little token of my gratitude

Dear Megan,

Thank you for, 11 years ago, having this great idea to host a Christmas card making get together. Thank you for starting to invite me 7 years ago. Thanks for continuing to send me invitations, even when I had moved to Utah for a few years (even though they made me miss you all so much!) Thank you for decorating your house so beautifully, so we all feel so welcome and peaceful:

Thank you for inviting all the people that I love, but never get to talk to, (because we all know that if some one's not in your ward, you just don't get to hang out, no matter how much you like them!)

Thanks for all the fabulous card ideas. I try not think mine are lame and just enjoy the beauty around me.

Thanks for making the cute cute aprons that we all wore last year, for the big tenth anniversary party!

Thanks for all the dinner and treats we get to eat all night. (My hips, however, are kind of mad at you this morning.)

Thanks to your nice husband, for putting up with the female-ness year after year and late into the night.

My cards aren't anywhere near done:

but thank you so much for one of the highlights of my holiday season. This is just one of the many benefits of being your friend!

love,

Jessica

The Games We Play

(this is by Ryan...you'll be able to tell because it gets a little violent near the end.--Jessica)

It is a lot of fun having your kids get old enough to play games with you that don't make you want to gauge your eyeballs out where try as you might, you can never get to the end (i.e. Candyland, Chutes&Ladders, Trouble, Sorry, etc.). They constantly taunt you by making you think someone is about to win and thus end the game. Yet, just as the end is within grasp the rug gets pulled out from under you.

The main problem is that my ability to hold my temper with people forgetting to keep going, or crying because of a cruel turn of fate, or fistfighting over poleposition in a game is similar to my ability to hold my bladder. I can gear myself up to manage the discomfort as long as I need to. However, I have to gear up for it. Oddly, when the end is in sight, your body intuitively starts to know that it is near and all of the sudden every sinew is required to keep from exploding due to the the long displayed restraint. Whether it be a rest stop on a long road trip or the end of a long played kids game, the intensity of feeling is much the same.

Luckily Blokus is nothing like those other teases. It marches toward a tangible end in a forthright manner. It is fun and interesting and even though the 50% of the conversation consists of "who's turn is it?" "Did you go yet?" etc. We still love it. Jessica beat us all by a landslide tonight. But Gabe and Emma held their own. I love the game and love playing something fun like that as a family.

So next time your kids smack down a "SORRY" on you just as you approach the home stretch, don't push your 4 little blue guys into the laughing to tears, eye sockets of the 5 year old across from you. Simply tell your kids you need to go to the bathroom, then drive to Walmart and pickup Blokus. By the time you get back every one will either be searching for you in tears wishing they hadn't stuck you with the SORRY card or more likely they will be watching TV unaware that you even left. Either way, you didn't have to finish the game.

Components of a Consistent Exercise Routine

or...the things that help me workout every day:

1. A deep fear of my calorie intake completely overtaking my calorie outtake and my "medium-sized girl" status being promoted upward. ( I know people are supposed to workout for the love of it and all that--and I do--but really, I work out every day because I LOVE LOVE LOVE to eat and this is my best form of weight control.)

2. My MP3 player.

We've had to re-purchase it 3 times due to one door-slamming incident and 2 thieverys, but luckily it gets cheaper every time we buy it...(down from a whopping $40). Want to know what's on it? Here are the first five songs that come up, with no manipulating to make my music selection look cooler: "If I had a million dollars" Bare Naked Ladies, "I drove all night" Celine Dion, "Irreplaceable" Beyonce, "This Love" Maroon Five, "Maria" Blondie. Wow, that was pretty unembarrassing, minus the Celine Dion (but I love that song).

3. A town that has the BEST running and biking trails.

(that's really my town, about 2 blocks away from my house.)

4. My nice running shoes.

We are not gear people. As in, if it requires stuff to do it, we borrow it, substitute it or go without...if at all possible. However, last Christmas, my nice husband bought me some very good Asics and they have made such a difference.

5. Variety...in a week I do Pilates, a cardio weight training class, running and stationary equipment. It is so much more enjoyable when I know I don't have to do the same thing I did yesterday.

6. A gym exactly 1 mile away.

(that's not my car, you can tell because it's not pitch black and 5 am, blech.)

7. A running partner who's lived in Seattle and so she stands outside my door (at 6 am) thinking I am going to come running even though it was hurricaning outside. She's also a little bit faster than me, so it pushes me. And she's planning to vote for Hillary Clinton, so we have a lot to talk about while we run. (Let's not tell her I posted this picture of her first thing in the morning ...although that's what she looks like every time we run together, so it's a very accurate picture for the post.)

8. Really good books, that I read while I Precor or Recumbant Bike away. Those are my favorite workout days, obviously.

See...look at me all ready to work out:

(Me, prepping to run with Ryan and brother Matt.)

(I realize this wasn't the most interesting post. Did you want me to give you a play by play on the Second Grade music program that we went to today? I didn't think so. This is all I got.)

arrgh!

I had a fun post planned about exercising, and then as the night developed, I thought I'd write a cute post detailing the night's events as I tried to get my kids to illustrate the yearly Christmas card. (I have a Christmas card making party on Friday, which I love because there is lots of food and people I like but don't see very much and I get to actually enjoy doing a project (!), but I haven't even thought about my Christmas card because it's HELLO! November.) But now I've been working on this #@**! thing for about 2 hours and I no longer want to do anything cute or fun and THIS IS WHY I HATE MAKING ANYTHING EVER!!! (So I hope you all enjoy your darling little card with handmade drawings my sweetie little kids did and don't even worry about me over here binging on Halloween candy and stabbing the computer keys angrily!)

Staying Power

Tomorrow, I will wake up and workout AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will do four heads of hair AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will say, "you can cry in your room." AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will rush children to the school bus AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will wipe syrup off the table AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will start a load of laundry AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will drive the preschool carpool AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will ask someone, "are you treating him/her like you would like to be treated?" AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will supervise "before dinner jobs" AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will cook a decent dinner and get it on the table AGAIN.

Tomorrow, I will make sure the entire house is picked up before I go to bed AGAIN.

You know what I won't do tomorrow AGAIN?

I will not make and can applesauce AGAIN! It's done. For, like, 2 months...I will go downstairs and with no repeat effort look at my rows of jars of applesauce and it will make me so happy. Hurray for things with staying power!

Sunday Summary

There is just not a lot to say this week...when you post every day, it's kind of all documented. Assuming (ha!) you haven't heard enough about us this week...

Monday

Emma and Gabe take piano lessons. They both seem to enjoy it, though I think mostly they like the 4 boys that live at that house, that they get to play with after piano lessons. Jane used to take gymnastics on Mondays, but she's quit. And she's proud of it...she thinks it's very interesting to inform everyone, "I'm a quitter of gymnastics." Mom's just glad she doesn't have to do the CRAZY drop off/pick up circle that she used to do on Mondays.

Tuesday

This is when Jane goes to preschool, which she loves. She talk about "Teachoh Lohwee and Teachoh Bawbwa" all the time. She was especially happy because she got to bring the snack swan to school on Thursday and wear her costume (8 girls in her class=3 Cinderellas, here're 2 of them):

Wednesday

Duh. Halloween.

Thursday
Ryan flew to Utah and defended his master's thesis. He, of course, passed. Here's Mr. MSEE himself : He has one more thing to rewrite, but he should be done with that and signed off this week. He got to visit 93 year old Grandma Sue, while he was there, and enjoyed a fun dinner with 4 of his 6 siblings.

Friday

We've been playing a game (which we've apparently stolen from the Barnetts. They left it at our house on Saturday, and we have yet to return. Thanks, guys.) called Blokus. We did this for a while on Friday night, and I think I've won every game. Told you I was awesome, especially when I am playing against grade-schoolers.

Saturday

Last soccer games, woo hoo! Birthday lunch for my clone, Jessica. (Her name's really Jessica and we are a lot a like. Ryan says if I die, he'll just go hang out at her house whenever he misses me.) Financial planning meeting with one of our friends. Dinner at the only good Asian place in Spokane and ice cream at Coldstone. Oh yeah, worst move of the day: watching Transformers. We were not fans.

Sunday

Seth ripped our wallpaper while on the not-listening chair. Then he had to go sit in the not-listening crib. We are still mad at him.

It was also fast Sunday which resulted in: grouchiness and over-dessert making. (Does this ever happen to you? You are so hungry that you are sure one pan of cookie bars will not be enough, so you make sugar cookies as well?) It also resulted in some real answers to concerns that I have been having lately, and so despite the Mommy the Grouch and the extra calories, I am always grateful for the Law of the Fast.

The Daines are coming over for dessert (I had to find somewhere for ALL those cookies to go) so I will have to be done. Not too exciting of a week, but thanks for being part of it with us!

Quick Quote #15

Gabe was putting his pajamas on the night before a soccer game and he chose his soccer shirt. I suggested that he might not want to wear it as it might get dirty. He replied, " But Mom, now I'm already halfway ready."

Recipes as requested...

Since everyone was asking about the dinner-in-a-pumpkin, I thought I'd send along some recipes from Halloween Day...the pumpkin meal, the glazed carrots and, honestly, the best Lemon Meringue pie ever (Ryan's family LOVES this dish and I've tweaked it and tweaked it and this one is good...and the pie crust I use for everything...totally fool-proof and delicious).


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(AND, LORENA, I DID NOT KNOW YOU WANTED THIS FOR YOURSELF, I THOUGHT YOU WANTED ME TO POST ABOUT IT...APOLOGIES.)
Dinner in a Pumpkin
(this meal is not amazingly delicious, but it's good enough for the tradition of it. It has kind of an Asian-y thing going on with the soy sauce and the sprouts, etc.)

1 medium-large pumpkin (make sure it will fit in your oven and take out all oven racks except bottom one)
½ onion, chopped
2 T. vegetable oil
1 ½ to 2 lbs. ground beef
2 T. soy sauce (or to taste)
2 T. brown sugar
1 (4-oz.) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 ½ C. COOKED rice
1 C. bean sprouts
1 (8 oz.) can sliced water chestnuts, drained

Cut off top of pumpkin & clean out thoroughly. Paint face on with permanent marker. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In large skillet, sauté onions in oil till tender. Add meat & brown. Drain grease. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms, and soup. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add rice, bean sprouts, and water chestnuts. Spoon mixture into pumpkin shell. Replace top & place on baking sheet. Bake 1 hour.






Glazed Carrots
1 pound carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons butter, diced
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 pinch salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS:
1. Place carrots in a pot of salted water. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat to a high simmer and cook about 20 to 30 minutes. Do not cook the carrots to a mushy stage!
2. Drain the carrots, reduce the heat to its lowest possible setting and return the carrots to the pan. Stir in butter, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes, until sugar is bubbly. Serve hot!

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Lemon Meringue Pie (see lovely picture in post below!)

Pie Crust:(this makes 3 crusts...so enough for one whole pie, plus a baked shell or cinnamon pie crust cookies, if you want to make your kids happy.)

3 c. flour

1t. salt

--Mix these together.

1 1/4 c. butter flavored Crisco
--cut this in with a pastry cutter or knives, till the chunks look like peas (maybe slightly bigger). I notice that if I cut it too finely that pie isn't flaky enough...it needs those chunks to turn into pockets as they bake and the shortening melts. Okay, moving on.

1 egg
1 T. vinegar (white or apple cider)
4 T. ice cold water
--Whisk these together. Pour into flour/shortening mixture and mix with a fork.


For the Lemon Meringue Pie, you need a baked crust, so roll out 1/3 of the dough. Place in pie plate and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.


Filling:

1 c. sugar

2 T. flour

4 T. cornstarch

1/4 t. salt

1 1/4 c. water

1/2 c. lemons (usually 3)

lemon zest...I usually zest 1-2 of the lemons before squeezing

4 egg yolks, beaten

2 T. butter


Meringue:


4 egg whites

6 T. white sugar

Directions:

(with this recipe, it goes really fast, so have all ingredients ready before you start!)In a saucepan, combine 1 c. sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt. Mix in water, juice and zest. Cook over medium high, stirring often, until is boils. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 c. hot sugar mixture. Whisk this mixture back into your saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thick. Pour filling into shell.

Then whip egg whites until very stiff (you cannot get a stiff egg white if any fats--like egg yolk--come into contact with the whites, so be very careful and rinse beater extremely well, if you've used it for anything else.). Add the 6 T. of sugar while you are beating the whites. Place on top of filling, sealing edges and making the meringue stand up in foamy waves (everyone is very impressed with this!). Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, until the meringue begins to brown.



If you ever try these...let me know! (Okay, the meal in a pumpkin might take while, but I'll be waiting to here from you all next year!)

Spelling it out

Happy Birthday Pie--Lemon Meringue-- for one of my favorite friends (Meghann, of ebleskiver fame).








Awesome Decor by our neighbors down the street (click on it and look up close--so good!)







Lovely little Cinderella.











Lost pants after changing into his pirate costume at school (don't tell him I told you!)








Our queen (all hail!)












Waggin' his dragon tail (and with such nice manners: at every house "tane-choo, welcome.")









Enjoying the class parties.











Eating our traditional dinner (meal-in-a-pumpkin, glazed carrots, orange jello and soda.)

Numbering and sorting (the best part of the night, you know!)

Happy, honeyed, harried and haunted--

everything a Halloween should be.

And the winner is...

Me! (really, when you see what the answers are...I'm totally the winner here)

But the winner of the Special Prize is Mark (see below with cute wife and cute baby). Who is related. Which is why he won. See comment below:

"It had to be Ryan with the Romney OCD gene doing the midnight cleaning right?"

Yes, those Romneys have quite the "things must always look nice" gene going on (have you ever seen Mitt with a hair out of place? No.) So, it was kind of a trick quiz. I knew you would assume that the mom did all the cleaning stuff...not this mom.

So the answers are:

Whisked child into the bathroom and commanded child to not move until instructed to do so?
1. R--a little gruffer in the middle of the night than we'd like him to be (but he makes up for it later on).

Thought "Dang! No Pilates class tomorrow" (due to sick child staying home from school)?
2. J--I swear, always my first thought is "How is this going to screw up my day tomorrow?" : Bad mom (see Celia's post today)

Immediately pulled out the following item and cleaned the whole carpet, rinsing 3 times, at 1 am. (Prompting Emma to say upon awakening, "I saw the carpet cleaner and knew ___ must have been up cleaning someone's throw up last night.")?
3. R--Oh yes...shocking, I know! I would never be as thorough as he is, so he prefers to do it. Really.

Wondered if he/she could avoid coming into contact with barfer(or any other potentially germy member of the family) for the next 72 hours?
4. R--Also completely freaked out by germs when any of us are sick....won't sleep in the same bed with me after he finds out I'm sick (like the kiss we had an hour ago didn't already infect him?)

Constructed this elaborate blanket/tablecloth pathway from sick bed to toilet, complete with buckets along the way for stray barf?
5. R--I always have to make fun of this particular anal-ness.

Drew a bath and comforted sick child?
6. J--this is really the only thing I am good at due to #7

Retched and retched and retched while trying to at least contribute to massive clean up going on?

7. J--I have a sympathetic barfing response. It makes me pretty un-helpful during these episodes.

Wondered how soon he/she could return to bed, before spouse felt gypped?
8. J--I'm kind of just standing around watching Ryan clean, and so I wonder when I can sneak off to bed without being a complete jerk.

Instituted a "barf training class" tonight before putting children to bed, lest someone else come down with the bug overnight?
9. R--He's been doing these for a few years now. Maybe overkill but definitely hilarious.

Refused to allow starving child near any food the next morning until lunchtime, while other parent tried to plead starving child's case?
10. R--Probably because he's the cleaner-upper, he's a lot more paranoid about their eating anything...whereas I operate from the notion that "Food makes everything better."


So, should you ever have this happen at your house...we've prepared this special "BARF TRAINING" video. Feel free to use it for your kids.



So congrats Mark! I had a girly prize in mind, but we'll figure something out for you! Thanks for playing!

Barfing Response Quiz

So here's a picture of the culprit:



Story Problem:
He stumbles into the room last night, saying his tummy hurts and trying to figure out where to go, and we are too tired to put it together soon enough and yep! barfs all over the carpet by our bed.


Instructions:

In the comments section, please number your answers 1 to 10. Indicate a J (Jessica) or a R (Ryan) depending on who would have responding that way to the above-mentioned incident.


1. Whisked child into the bathroom and commanded child to not move until instructed to do so.



2. Thought "Dang! No Pilates class tomorrow" (due to sick child staying home from school)



3. Immediately pulled out the following item and cleaned the whole carpet, rinsing 3 times, at 1 am. (Prompting Emma to say upon awakening, "I saw the carpet cleaner and knew ___ must have been up cleaning someone's throw up last night.")



4. Wondered if he/she could avoid coming into contact with barfer(or any other potentially germy member of the family) for the next 72 hours.

5. Constructed this elaborate blanket/tablecloth pathway from sick bed to toilet, complete with buckets along the way for stray barf.



6. Drew a bath and comforted sick child.

7. Retched and retched and retched while trying to at least contribute to massive clean up going on.


8. Wondered how soon he/she could return to bed, before spouse felt gypped.

9. Instituted a "barf training class" tonight before putting children to bed, lest someone else come down with the bug overnight.

10. Refused to allow starving child near any food the next morning until lunchtime, while other parent tried to plead starving child's case.

TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR ANSWERS AND BONUS "BARF TRAINING" VIDEO.

(There will be a prize...so put your thinking caps on.)

Quick Quote #14 or What Seth is Doing Now

(I decided to combine this update on all of Seth's accomplishments with last week's Quick Quote, because I was scared Paige might complain of that my Quick Quote trade does not count as a blog. She's kind of intimidating that way.)

So here are new things that my cute cute 2 year old has been doing lately.

Whenever we get in the car Seth asks, "Turn a usgick (music) Mom!" Which used to be no problem...but since it was ripped out of the dash by big mean robbers, and we haven't replaced it yet, I always have to tell him "It's broken." Which he then repeats back to me, what I just said, "It's bwoken, Mom?" which is another thing he's really into lately...

Repeating everything you say. At least 4 times back to you...and usually in the form of a question. "It's time a nap, mom?" "Yes, Seth, it's time to nap." "It's time a nap, Mom?" ad nauseum. But it's very amusing to hear the adult things come out of his mouth. Last week he was playing with our dancing Dora doll, and I hear him say "Bamos Bailah mi?" (which is baby for "Vamos a Bailar conmigo?" which is Spanish for "Want to dance with me?") So Seth is bi-lingual...thanks mostly to Dora which is another thing he's really into lately...

Dora. And Elmo. And it's really just so cute. "Whewuh is Emo, Mom?" is the question he asks before every nap...and I have to go find it and lay it down next to him. He loves Do-ah and Beyoots and Dow (the cow) and packpack and asks me as soon as Emma and Gabe leave in the morning..."Time a watch Doah TV now, mom?" which is another thing he's really into lately...


The DVD player. Which apparently he knows how to work. I went upstairs during previews and ran back down to press play and caught him toddling over and pressing the "twangle" (triangle) himself. I'm so proud. And he sings along "packpack, packpack, packpack, packpack", which is another thing he's really into lately...

Singing songs. "How 'bout a sing sunbeam one, Mom?" "How 'bout a sing witch one, Mom?" "How 'bout a sing noman one, Mom?" "How 'bout a sing monkey one, Mom?" But when I start singing "his" song ( "I will" by the Beatles) he says "no sing that will song, Mom!" because we always sing that song before he goes to bed, which is another thing he's really into lately...

He's into NOT going to bed. I really cannot calmly discuss that for the last three days he's woken up from his nap after only 45 minutes. And I probably shouldn't tell you how long I made him cry, because kids who are 2 need to sleep longer than 45 minutes! And he also has been waking up at 6:45 am...but he does go to bed easily, after his cute prayer which is another thing he's really into lately...

The cutest prayers in the whole world. With the cutest little sing-song voice. I must admit there are many vain repetitions, but we don't care.

Other things: Asking "who was dat?" whenever I hang up the phone. Asking "what's wrong, mom" when I'm obviously mad at people. Telling us his name is "Sephy Bai-oh" (which is what Ryan and the kids call him. Saying "Ah don't wike it, mom" with a shaking head whenever he's offered any food besides fruit and candy.

So he's cute...and you probably haven't read this far unless you are related. But some things must be recorded for the mission farewell talk (although Celia reminded me a few months ago that they don't have those anymore.) So maybe we'll just break these out when he brings his first date home?