Ulterior Motives

This morning I was making a sausage skillet for breakfast while I was also assembling sandwiches for Steve and Kellen for lunches. I had brought in the step-stool so that Madison could stand up there and "help" me instead of plunking keys on the piano while Kellen was trying to practice. This seemed to work okay, except that Madison kept closing Kellen's sandwich. I put on the mayo and then turned to put the mayo away in the fridge; she closed the sandwich. I put cheese on and turned to put the cheese away in the fridge; she closed the sandwich. I put the bologna on and turned to put the bologna away in the fridge; she closed the sandwich. This last didn't seem like much of a problem since I was done at that point. Then I started putting ham on Steve's sandwich and she picked up Kellen's and promptly took a bite out of it! She had been hurrying the completion of the sandwich because she wanted it! Fortunately, Kellen is a really good sport and didn't complain about the fact that she had taken a bite from his sandwich; he just noted that at least it was only part of the crust and not into the meat and cheese, because she takes such small bites :)

Tag!

Okay, it's been a little while since I've seen any tags go up, and I have way too much fun playing so, in keeping with the holiday season, I am starting another one.

This one is, again, two-fold. First, list some of your most memorable holiday traditions from your childhood that just make you go all warm and fuzzy because they were just so much fun or made you feel your Savior's love. Secondly, tell about your holiday traditions now, because we frequently will pick up new traditions from our other half when we get married, or drop old ones because they don't fit with who we are now. Christmas is such a fun time of year, with opportunities to share so much with those that we meet/love, and I love hearing about different traditions that make our holidays such a wonderful time. Maybe we will see something someone else is doing that we want to make a part of our own traditions :)

As a child:

Getting to open one gift on Christmas eve, always selected by Mom and guaranteed to be new jammies
Reading the Christmas stories through the month of December, and the original Christmas story on Christmas Eve
Doing the 12 Days of Christmas for a family
Decorating gingerbread houses
Going caroling, either as a family, a ward, a young women's group
Everyone helping decorate the tree early in the month
Planning ways to try to watch Santa

As an adult:

New jammies for my kids on Christmas Eve
Decorating gingerbread houses
Making peanut butter balls (from Steve's family)
I put lights on the tree and then Steve opens ornaments while I (and in recent years, Kellen) put them on the tree
Getting out all the Christmas decorations to place them around the house

I have the Christmas stories, and tried reading them to Kellen as a bedtime story three years ago, but he wasn't interested. I left his room in tears because it was one of my favorite parts of Christmas and he was just bored. Steve gave me a new ornament (a bell, like on the North Pole Express, to represent still believing in Santa) to cheer me up, and went to read Kellen something else for his bedtime story. I'm going to try again this year, because I really love the stories and want my kids to be able to enjoy them, too.

Got Remaining Pics Up

Okay, last night I got the remaining pictures up that I wanted out. It's by no means all of the pictures that we took last week, but they are the highlights. I'll put up a separate link to the Disney Vacation photos, so that they are easy to get to.

I picked up the house a little this morning (it's amazing how fast Madison can take apart the house) and then walked into the garage to see how much work it will be to get out my Christmas decorations. The answer is: a fair amount. I will probably wait a bit and hope that Madison takes a nap today to give me time to find everything. I love seeing the house all decorated for Christmas and am looking forward to getting everything out. I am also going to load more Christmas music on my iPod so that I can play Christmas music all day now :)

A Few Pics

Okay, I don't have all the pictures posted ( I think I left the camera in the Honda, which went to work with Steve this morning) but there are some posted on our google web album. If you follow any of the photo links (on the right side of our blog page) and then select either My Photos or My Public Albums then you should see a pic of Madison sitting in a drawer watching tv, and it will say Disneyland Vacation under it. Click on that photo to open the album of photos that we've posted so far.

We're Back!!

Well, we decided to get a couple hours of sleep before we left so we went to bed when Steve got home at 9pm, got up at 1am, and left by 2am. Kellenwas sick a couple times in the car that morning, which we chalked up to little sleep and much excitement. When we got there, the hotel gave Kellen a Happy Birthday button pin that cued every single cast member we saw to wish him a happy bithday (although the actual day wasn't until the 25th). We went on lots of rides and took lots of pictures. Our trip included one day at LegoLand and an evening at Medieval Times, too. At Disneyland, we had lunch at the Blue Bayou, dinner at Ariel's Grotto (visited by Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, and Princess Minnie right at our table), a birthday party at the Plaza Inn (visited by Minnie and Mickey), and breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen (visited by Baloo, Goofy, Dale, and Cinderella). One of my favorite things was that Madison wasn't afraid of any of the characters we saw. She was so excited, she would run up and give any of them a big hug. On Thursday, we went to the Big Thunder Ranch (in Disneyland) to see Santa and his reindeer, decorate cookies, and watch a magic show. Pluto, Chip, and Dale sat just down the bench from us during the show and Madison spent the whole time playing with them and sitting on their laps. Our package included one early entry into the park and one early entry into Toontown, which was great. When we had our early entry into the park, we went straight to Finding Nemo (the old submarine ride, for those who remember that) and only had about a 20 min wait, which is great considering that it's been running between 2 and 4 hours to get on the ride. There were a lot of the rides that Madison just sat there taking it all in, but she loved Dumbo and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters (use a light gun to shoot various Zurg targets throughout the ride and it gives you a score at the end). Kellen had a great time going on Star Tours (I love seeing someone who is riding it for the first time!), Matterhorn, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates, and the Haunted Mansion. About a week before we left, Steve's parents gave us a book about the Hidden Mickeys all over Disneyland so we read the book and looked all over for the Mickeys. Some we found, some we didn't, and there were a few more we saw that weren't in the book at all.

We went into the park for the last time on Saturday morning after our breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen but went back to the hotel to pack the car before lunch. We had already packed up our bags and checked out of the room, but the bell service will hold your luggage until midnight of the day you check out so they brought out our bags so we could load them into the car, and we managed to leave by 1pm, so that we could drive through the night and get home early Sunday morning. But holiday traffic made the drive take a lot longer than it should have. The final straw was that around 430am fog and freezing temperatures made the road slick and there were several accidents that stopped us 45 miles from home for about 2 and a half hours. Still, we were very grateful that we weren't involved in any accidents. We got safely home by 8am. However, since we weren't expecting it to get so cold here, we had turned off the heat while we were gone so the house was only 43 degrees when we walked in. Brrr! The first thing we did was make some hot chocolate, and then snuggled under blankets until the house warmed a little. We unloaded the car before lunch and started laundry so that everyone would have clothes to wear :)

It was a great week, but we were so glad to be back in our own beds last night. And now that Thanksgiving has passed, it's time to start pulling out the Christmas decorations!

Time for a Vacation!

I have spent the last couple of days making my packing lists and starting to gather the things we will need for a much-needed vacation - see below to know exactly where! Steve will get home on Friday evening and then we will be leaving for California. I am to have the car packed so that when Steve calls me two miles from home, I can buckle the kids and pull the car out onto the street, Steve will pull the other car into the garage, get in with us, and we will leave. We are so excited! Although we will be taking the laptop with us, it's not likely that I will be posting while we are gone, so check on us after Thanksgiving weekend :) And we'll get pics posted ASAP after that. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Time for Contemplation

Steve had to leave yesterday evening for a training in Dallas, and won't be back until Friday evening. That means that the kids and I had leftover cinnamon pull-aparts for breakfast, ramen and sandwiches for lunch, and leftover pizza for dinner. A really easy day all around, especially since Kellen didn't have school today. The only thing we really did today was go to the hardware store (twice) for nuts and bolts for putting together my quilting frame, since I'm not sure where the hardware got packed. Now the kids are in bed and I crocheted for a while, watching a movie. But, no matter what I do to fill the time, I can't help but remember that there is a cold bed waiting for me. Usually, in the evenings, I read out loud to Steve (it helps him empty his head of work stuff so he can sleep) but tonight I'm watching my movie alone, and there won't be anyone to talk to when I go to bed. The aim here isn't to be self-pitying, but rather to recognize those moments when I so very clearly see how much I need him. He has his quirks that bug me every once in a while, but when he's not here I miss his company, and I can't wait for him to get home again. And now you see how strange I get when I only have my own thoughts for company, and it's only been 24 hrs :) So I am going to try to get some sleep before I have to tackle tomorrow.

Plans Backfired

So much for getting to sleep in this morning. We had really stormy weather all last night (the lid to my trashcan is out in the middle of the yard) and the kids woke up at 6:30 am. Madison came and got in bed with me. Oh, well. I did have to laugh, though, because Madison saw a rather large mole that I have on one shoulder and told me I had "poopies". I had to tell her it was just my skin.

Visiting With Family

Well, it's been a couple of days since I posted anything new, but things have been generally busy lately, without there actually being anything new to talk about. A couple of days ago, Madison got a hold of a black Crayola marker and did lovely drawings all over herself. She stripped her clothes so that she had black marks traveling everywhere her hands could reach except her face; maybe that's because she couldn't see the color going on there without a mirror.



Yesterday we laughed at Madison a bit because the thing that she's pulling her doll around in is actually a MegaBlock version of Cinderella's carriage, but Maddi was using it as a wagon. Steve says maybe we need to get her a doll stroller for Christmas...



Then we enjoyed a visit from Steve's parents, Bob and Judy, today. They only live about 2 1/2 hours from us, so it was great to see them this afternoon. While we waited for dinner to cook and Maddi to wake up from her nap Bob, Judy, Steve and Kellen played Zooreka (by Cranium), a game that we find a lot of fun and would highly recommend. After dinner was over, Steve had to go to a meeting and then to the airport since he has a business trip this week. We will be so glad to get him back this weekend.



After Bob and Judy left for home, Kellen got ready for bed and chose Mighty Ducks for a movie tonight. I decided since there is no school tomorrow, I could let him stay up a bit, and maybe buy myself a lie-in tomorrow morning :) We'll see if it works. He's a pretty early riser most days. I don't expect to get any later than 8am, and they may both be up by 7am like usual. If that's the case, then I had better catch what sleep I can, I suppose.

Who wants to play Tag?

I just love the idea of getting to know everyone better with these fun games, so although I feel a little foolish, I have one I'd like to start. This one has come to me for two reasons. One is that a good way to learn about someone is to learn about their spouse (their other half) and the other is because I have my days when I need to remember why I chose this man, and why I would choose him all over again. So this is two-fold. The first part is to tell the top three things that made you want to love him for the rest of time, and the second is to tell what you've learned about him since that keeps it alive for you.

I think one of the first things that I noticed about Steve is that he respected me. He has never wanted me to do something just because he wanted to do it, or didn't want to do it. He is interested in my opinion and is easily wounded if I am critical of him. What I have to say matters to him.

Another thing that was obvious in the first few days that I knew Steve was that he was very sure of himself. I'm not talking about conceited; I'm talking about being certain of his value as an individual. He knew who he was, and wasn't going to compromise himself in order to win any popularity contests. He has very strong ethics and high moral standards that defined him then as a person I wanted to be with.

I think the last thing is that he so obviously wanted to make me happy. He likes nothing better than to know that I am pleased with something he has done for me or given to me.

This December, we will celebrate our 10th anniversary, and I still know that he is the best thing to have happened to me. He is spontaneous (I need to have all the facts before I make a decision) and loves it when our family gets to spend time together. He can't wait until we are a retired couple touring the country in our motor home and when Kellen calls to see how we're doing he can tell Kellen that we're playing cribbage and I'm cheating because I'm winning (I'd have to be cheating to win at cribbage, I'm really not good at all) but he would really just be enjoying the time spent together playing a game. I think that's what it comes down to for me. After ten years, he still enjoys just watching a movie with me (no chick flicks, but you can't have everything!) or playing a game, and sees us still doing those little things together thirty years from now.

Busy Days...

I know the nylon tent/playhouse thing may or may not have made sense the other day when I talked about the kids playing in it, so here is a pic of them playing earlier in the day. The dome tent portion is off to the right of the picture, behind the table, but the kids have a lot of fun crawling through it, and Madison tends to drag half of her dolls, toys, and books inside it when it's up. We finally took it down yesterday evening because it just takes up so much room :)

 

This morning I was reminded by Steve that Kellen's class was one of several participating in a school play this evening, and Kellen was supposed to have a costume. There were only a handful of kids with speaking parts (Kellen wasn't one of them) and everyone else was encouraged to dress up as a villager, knight, king or queen to sing the accompanying songs to "The Princess and the Pea". Kellen had wanted to be a knight, and I've known this for a couple of weeks now. Notice that I had not done anything with that knowledge yet. Mom will recognize the quote, "If you leave it until the last minute, it only takes a minute." So today I spent an hour or so searching the internet for ideas on inexpensively creating a knight out of thin air. I finally settled on cardboard, an apple juice jug, silver spray paint, and gray thermal pajamas. I spent a large part of the day cutting cardboard and the apple jug, painting everything, and finding a lion to print on cardstock to make a stencil for the front of the armor. It won't win any prizes, but Kellen was happy with it. The play was really cute, from what I actually got to see. Madison didn't want to sit still and a fairly tall guy was sitting right in front of me, but such is life.

 

There are more pictures of the kids playing with the tents and of Kellen in his costume in the web albums so feel free to check those out.

Steve went for his x-ray this morning and they said we should hear back in another 2-3 days, but Steve has a business trip coming up next week so he may call the doctor at the end of the day tomorrow to see if they know anything yet.

Odds and ends...

For those of you who are interested, I posted a link that I called "A Mother's Love" in our list of Favorite Sites that actually goes to an article on babycenter.com. The link to the article came in my email, because I suscribe to their newsletter, and it was a scientific explanation of why mothers fall in love with their children. To me, it was a measure of the lengths that God went to in the creation of the human body to ensure the greatest probability of families staying together. It was really quite fascinating, so I hope you guys will enjoy it, too.

Well, I finally got my car back today. The mechanic took it apart yesterday and found that their was another valve (I think he called it an air lock, but all these car parts confuse me) that was supposed to allow air in the lines to bleed out but was completely blocked, instead. After replacing that, he warmed up the engine and took it for a drive down the highway to make sure that it wouldn't overheat on me again. Because it was something he felt he should have looked for the first time through, he didn't charge me the labor to take it apart again, just the $35 for the part. That means that the total cost of repairs was $549, which is pretty steep, but still less than I was orginally quoted. Since I had just filled the coolant reservoir, and he salvaged the old gaskets, we were able to save a little.

Now if we just knew what was going on with Steve, we could all get back to normal here. The tech that did the ultrasound last week wasn't able to see anything unusual, but the doctor has called Steve in for an x-ray now. That happens Thursday morning and we'll see if we know anything more after the doctor has had a chance to review those.

In the meantime, Madison and I went to story time at the library, mowed the lawn, and took Kellen to his piano lesson today. It's so nice to have my car back... :)

Motherhood Moments

So many times I find the contrasts in life popping up to look at me. Despite turbulent teens and frequent grumbling (at the time) of the amount of work I thought I had to do at the time, I had a very good childhood. I remember trips to the park (some of my siblings will remember the rocket), the rope swing in the front yard, the tire climber that Dad built for us, roller skating, and tree climbing. As normal and comfortable as that all feels to me, there are always a few moments when it has occurred to me that I am perpetuating some of those things in ways I would not have expected when I got married. Most of us expect to take our children to the park or get them toys that encourage their creativity, but sometimes I have noticed it happening in unexpected ways. For Madison's birthday we bought her a nylon tent set at Costco (a play house, a dome tent, and a center wheel connected by play tubes). Kellen didn't have school yesterday and the kids had all of Madison's baby toys (packed away in the garage until yesterday morning) and this play house set out all over the house. While I was getting dinner ready, they took it apart and were walking around in the tubes. Kellen put two of them over him so that it extended well above his head and tried to follow Madison by listening. They had a blast. At one point the thought crossed my mind that they were really making a mess, followed by the thought that at least they were having fun playing with it. Ordinarily, I prefer not to have the mess, but they were having such a good time with it that I didn't want to make them stop. I am sure there are those who would argue the point with me, but I tend to feel that "Mom" is close, intimate, and soft while "Mother" is respectful and idealizing; I was glad to be "Mom" yesterday, even if it meant sacrificing a somewhat clean house.

Having Fun!

Well, we have enjoyed some really nice weather here lately so we have been spending part of each day out in the sunshine. On Friday, after school, Kellen requested to play with our giant bubble blower...



Then, Saturday morning we took a bike ride to the grocery store and Maddi didn't want to go potty at the store so we went home before going to park (instead of stopping on our way home) but that's okay because the park is less than two blocks from our house. They had a great time being out. Madison was pulling the sun shade from her stroller all the way over while we walked there. Once we got to the park, Kellen rode his scooter most of the time, and Madison periodically tried to catch him. She also ran through someone else's basket ball game at the far end of the concrete court. It was so nice to be out for a while.



Today we pulled Madison's crib and changing table from her room, replacing it with a box spring and mattress (sitting on the floor) and a dresser that we got from Steve's great-grandmother. We had visited Wal-Mart last night to get a waterproof matress pad and two sets of sheets, so I made up her bed when we had everything in. We did notice, however, that we don't actually have a twin quilt that is hers. I have an old nine-patch that was mine as a child packed here somewhere that we'll pull out for the time being, but I am definitely going to have to see what I can do about getting a twin quilt done for her. I have a top that was too feminine to ever do for Kellen, so maybe I can get a back for it and have it done for her for Christmas, if I use long stitches of heavy thread instead of actually quilting it. There's no way I'll get it done in time if I try to quilt it.

In the meantime, my biggest worry with her is that she's not going to take naps anymore. She only took naps before because there was nothing else for her to do once I put her in the crib. We finally removed the crib because it's not safe for her to be constantly climing out of it, but now I don't have any way of making her stay put for a nap. Already today it's a quarter after one and she's still out playing in the living room because she won't lay down long enough to go to sleep. Oh, well. We'll have to take that one as it comes.

Tag!

Well, this one required a little bit of leg work on the internet, but putting up photos of things that we like was a really good idea. I enjoyed taking a moment to think about the things that I like to have and do. Have fun looking!

What is your favorite sweet treat?

There are so many choices, but I think I would have to go with warm cherry pie a la mode. I suppose almost anything is good a la mode, but I really like cherry pie.



What is a kitchen item you can't live without?

I have so many things in my kitchen that I use regularly, but I really like my Bosch because it is so versatile. I have several attachments so that I can use it for making everything from bread dough to sausage, shred cheese or cut french fries. The fact that it can do so many things for me makes it indespensable.



What is the most recent thing you have bought for yourself?

I bought this for myself with birthday money, and it's another kitchen gadget. I love using this one, too, because it makes it so much easier to cut veggies. Of course, at the same time that I bought this, I also bought a $50 iTunes card to go with the iPod Steve gave me for my birthday, so I am by no means entirely practical when it comes to spending my birthday money.



What is your favorite TV show?

There are several shows that we really like. Every week we watch ER, Scrubs, CSI, CS: Miami, Survivor, and Numbers, but I think Numbers is my favorite.



What is one place that you would like to travel?

Again, so many choices. I want to see lots of places. I want to visit some of the ancient ruins in South America, tour Europe, see Australia, visit Africa; the list goes on indefinitely. It seems like everytime we watch the Travel Channel I see a new place I would like to go. But we'll settle on Ireland for the moment; the castles, the green, the history, the beauty. (sigh)



What is one of your favorite places to eat?

We have several places we like to eat, and our newest favorite here is a Mexican joint called Los Dos Amigos, but there's no picture on the internet for that so I'm putting up a picture of another place that we really do like that serves excellent food: Johnny Carino's.



What is your dream car?

Steve's dream car seems to change every week. He loves the Jeep, full-size Chevy trucks, the Subaru WRX, the Honda Accord. Depending on what he's seen most recently, and what he wants to be able to do, his favorite vehicle changes. For me, I like simplicity in a vehicle. I would be thrilled with a new Honda Accord, trimmed with all the bells and whistles.



What is something fun you like to keep around your house?

We have the standard board and video games, but for simplistic fun I like bubbles. The kids had a blast playing out back with a giant bubble blower yesterday (pictures of that to come later).



what is something you collect?

I happen to collect Dick Francis novels (horse racing mystery, for those of you unfamiliar with him) preferably in hard back. I have quite a few of them, and even have one that's been signed (found by chance in a truck stop).




What is at the top of your Christmas list?

I don't usually keep a Christmas list; Steve is frequently frustrated by the fact that I seldom have a ready answer to the question, "What do you want for Christmas?" but since the question has been cast my way three times in the last two weeks I started making a list of possible Christmas gifts for each individual in our family. Since I feel like I am constantly losing things (because I set them down on my way to doing something else and forget where that was) then the Key Ringer is at the top of my list; maybe I won't lose quite so many things...

Happy Halloween

 

Well, we don't exactly go hog-wild for Halloween, but we did have very good evening. We didn't stay out doing to trick-or-treat thing very long because Madison (understandably) would not have lasted, but she loved the whole idea of people giving her candy. This child has a sweet tooth that is certain to get her into trouble later, so she thought this was great. The crown came off about 5 minutes into it, and the lighted necklace came off about 10 minutes after that. She wanted to carry her own bag initially, but after about the 15th house she had me carry it in between and she would just take it up to the door. She didn't say trick-or-treat, but she would worm her way through any kids already there to be at the front and then open her bag for the proverbial offering. It was great. And then she would stand smiling at them (sometimes remembering her 'thank you') while waving and saying bye-bye but not actually walking away yet. It was great. Kellen was originally trying to be a skeleton in a cloak, but he didn't like the smell of the skull mask we found at Wal-Mart and chose the Scream mask instead (refer to the movie Scream, and it's sequels, that came out a couple years ago) and carried a battle-axe while wearing grotesque gloves:) We'll see what he chooses next year because last night the gloves made opening his bag or choosing treats (when offered) rather complicated. He was so excited to be able to take his costume to wear for the Halloween parade at school. They said no weapons (I agree) and there were limitations on masks, but he was allowed to wear his mask so the only part of his costume he didn't have at school was the axe. They were permitted to bring the costumes with them, to be put on right before the parade. I had wanted to take pictures there, too, but Madison was taking her nap and I would've had to ride the bike over there with her.

Speaking of riding the bike...I got my car back today, but only briefly. The mechanic was able to salvage the gaskets and re-use the coolant (I just filled it two weeks ago, remember) so it only cost $510, but there is still something wrong because we were on our way to a Halloween party (being hosted by Kellen's piano teacher) straight from the auto repair shop when my car proceeded to overheat again. I had to pull into a parking lot and shut it off. Called the mechanic, who said that he's not going to be in tomorrow and the soonest he can take another look at it is Monday. Steve and I will drop it off Sunday night and, in the meantime, I'm back to cycling. Oh, well.

Steve went for his ultrasound the other day and, although we haven't had official word back from the doctor, the technician said that he couldn't see any gall stones and all the internal organs look fine to him. On one hand, that's good, because we certainly don't want there to be something wrong. On the other, it's a little disappointing to realize that we still don't know why he was hurting so badly the other weekend.