The Interview

One More Day of Warmth

Time Off for Good Behavior

I've been taking time off. Time off from chores, time off from regular duties. It turns out I'm pretty burnt-out from the last few months, so I'm taking a chance to recharge. I'll still post for the rest of the week, but I would be very surprised if I put up anything more than pictures. Because with Bryan and and the kids out of work and school, I figure I should join them in their relaxing.

Red, White, and Green

A Savior Is Born

Cooper and Sophie were playing with our Fisher-Price nativity after church a few Sundays ago. They didn't just stick with the original players, they included toys from all sorts of categories. Noah and some of his animals, a few princesses, some dinosaurs, Anakin Skywalker. 

Cooper took several photos of their tableau. As I was scrolling through my pictures last night, looking for something appropriate for Christmas day, I kept coming back to this one. At first I couldn't decide what had caught my attention. Was it the unexpected juxtaposition of characters? Perhaps the fact that Cooper had taken approximately twenty of the same picture?

And then I realized why I like it. It's like the Gospel of Jesus Christ: everyone is welcome.

As we celebrate the Savior's birth today, remember that he was born, he lived, he Atoned, and he died for everyone. He did it for you and for me, for all who have ever lived and all who ever will live. He has made it possible for us to repent of the wrongs we have done and return to live with our Father in Heaven someday.

This is the greatest gift of Christmas.

Silent Night

Peter at the Piano

For the second piano recital, Peter had his song memorized, but was hit with a case of nerves just before he played. I suspect that it's because he hadn't been practicing the timing correctly until a few days before. I could tell while he was performing that he was thinking about that timing.



Peter's piano teacher told me last week that she could tell how much he loves the piano. She said most of her students play because their moms make them, but a handful play because they love it. Peter is one of those.

That makes my heart happy.

Cooper at the Keys

The boys had their second piano recital a few weeks ago. As Cooper was waiting for his turn to play, he turned to me and said, "I think I'm going to throw up." I said I thought it was because he was nervous and asked him to try to hold on until he could play the song, then he could go to the bathroom.



He played the song, made it through the recital, ate some cookies, went home, then threw up. At least he didn't throw up at the recital...

Let's Do the Twist

Castle on a Cloud

We were in Costco a few days ago when Phoebe spotted something important.

"That's it! Over there!"

We walked over to investigate what she was talking about. That's when we saw this:

"That's my castle for the backyard!"

Oh dear...

Knock Knock

One night last week, after the bedtime routine was complete and the kids were supposed to be drifting off to dreamland, we heard Sophie call to her roommate Phoebe.

Sophie: Phoebe! Knock knock! (no answer) Knock knock!

Phoebe: (much quieter) Who's there?

Sophie: Apple!

Phoebe: Apple who?

Sophie: Orange!

Phoebe: Orange who?

Sophie: Budaba (banana)!

Phoebe: Banana who?

Sophie: (building up to what clearly was meant to be the punchline) BUDABA!

Both girls laughed, because, obviously, the joke was hilarious.

The More Pleasant Option

Tomorrow is the last party, the relaxed, no stress party. Except this morning I learned that some important things I thought were ready are in actuality not ready. I've done lots of problem solving today, but I still have more that needs to be worked out tonight.

Wish me luck.

So instead of my overwhelmed ramblings, I will leave you this picture of the girls in a shopping cart at Target last week. It is decidedly more pleasant.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat

A few years ago my friend introduced me to the magic of dry shampoo. I don't wash my hair everyday (or every other day) anyway, so using dry shampoo is a great way to make my hair look fresh without taking the time to actually wash it.

However, dry shampoo makes my hair crunchy and hard to brush, but if you don't brush it through then it leaves a white film on your head. And it creates a cloud of heavily scented dust in my bathroom when I spray it on my hair. And it costs money, though my favorite brand is not an expensive one. And when you run out, you're stuck going back to hair that looks like it needs a wash.

In spite of the "ands" in that last paragraph, I do try to keep some dry shampoo on hand. Except right now, I don't have any. And this morning when I saw the state of my hair, I really wished I'd had some. That's when I remembered that a friend from high school used to put baby powder in her hair to take out the oil. I glanced at the bottle of baby powder next to the sink and made my choice. I gave a few quick shakes over the top of my hair and left to corral my children into the car for school.

I made sure to brush through my hair, just so it would all be worked through. Then I went to a meeting at the boys school and we had some friends over to play.

After our friends left I glanced in the mirror. That's when I saw that I hadn't actually brushed the powder out. No, instead it looked like I had a dye job that was growing out to reveal a natural head of white hair. Note: my hair is not white, not yet. I have a few white hairs, but that's all.

Maybe I should just wash my hair...

The Cost of Decluttering

All the decluttering has finally had an impact on me, and it's not one I foresaw. I anticipated contentment at seeing a clean house and freedom from having to get after the kids to pick up their stuff. Sadly, neither of those has been achieved. To be clear, I love that we have less stuff, but my children have such wondrous and vivid imaginations, they can make a mess out of anything, regardless of how hard their mom and dad are working to keep the place tidy!

No, the side-effect of getting rid of so many possessions is that I'm reluctant to bring more things into my home. Most of the year this is a perfectly acceptable predicament to be in. But during December? The month where Christmas is book-ended by two of my children's birthdays?

I'm having a terrible time thinking of birthday/Christmas gifts. We're usually done by this point, presents tucked into closets and boxes, waiting to be wrapped. But this year? I'm stumped.

On top of my desire to keep us clutter-free is our goal to stick with specific gift guidelines. Everyone from our house will get something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. I thought that having such clear rules would make it easier, but it's not. Knowing we can only choose one thing for each category makes this game tougher. I can't go to the dollar bins at Target and choose a handful of things, hoping to find something they like. Nope, we need to find Just The Right Thing.

We asked the kids what they want. Peter had a long list, as usual.

Cooper said he didn't want anything. We asked for clarification, "Your mean you don't want us to get you any presents? Should we send back what we've already got?"

"No," he said, "There's just nothing I want."

Phoebe, in her quest to bring balance to the universe, decided to make up for Cooper's lack of the gimmies. "I want a real horse... and a castle for the backyard."

Well, at least it wouldn't be underfoot...

Choose Your Words Carefully

Cooper has had his mouth washed out a few times lately, thanks to his penchant for eliciting a reaction by saying naughty and unkind words. They're fairly tame when compared to the vast lexicon of Words That Get You Sent to Timeout, but still not welcome at our house.

Wednesday night at dinner, Cooper decided to unleash some of these words. I sent him to sit on the stairs, the designated timeout spot in this house. After the appointed time had elapsed I called him back. Once he was in the room, the following exchange took place.

Me: Cooper, are you going to use appropriate or inappropriate words?

Cooper: (without pausing) Both, throughout my life. But today? No. Well...maybe by bedtime.

Not the answer I was expecting, but I do appreciate his honesty.

Spectacular Spectacles

Phoebe, far-sighted like her mom, is now the very proud owner of a pair of fancy pink reading glasses.

Unfortunately, the same day Phoebe got her glasses, Peter was unsuccessful at trying to wrestle his glasses from Sophie. He's eligible for new frames in 2016, which isn't far away, but still not close enough. We're working on a solution.

Visions of Children's Christmas Parties Danced in Their Heads

As you look through these pictures from the Children's Christmas party, imagine that the whole event is taking place in the dining car of the Polar Express. Check out the window panels. Those were all hand-cut out of roofing paper by a member of the committee. 

We started the morning by welcoming the children, praying, then immediately splitting them into two groups. The first group watched an ebook of The Polar Express narrated by Liam Neeson, courtesy of our public library.

The second group was split into five much smaller groups and played games, rotating through five rounds.

Then group one and group two switched.

Both groups loved the train tracks on the hallway floor. I loved that those tracks directed people in and out of one door, thus helping control traffic.

After the opening prayer and before the games/story, the kids colored Polar Express coloring pages.

Then we let that mass of children loose on the food. We enjoyed mini-muffins, doughnut holes, and hot chocolate. It was all wonderfully easy to clean up.

After that a special visitor arrived and handed out the first gift of Christmas, a bell attached to the handwritten testimony of one of the adults that attended the party the night before. The children were also reminded that the real first gift of Christmas was Jesus Christ.

We ended with a slide show of the kids' pictures set to Josh Groban's song Believe, the theme song of The Polar Express.

At that point families had the option to go home, or stay and have their picture taken with our jolly guest.

It was a highly structured, pretty successful morning.

Friday Night Lights

I took my fancy camera to the party on Friday night, only to discover that my SD card was at home. That means I had to rely on my phone. Sometimes my phone takes great pictures. This is not one of those times.

Here's the room before the tables were totally set or the back alcove doors were shut, but it still gives you an idea of the decor.

The evening began with our conductor (to the far left in the below picture) welcoming everyone to this special ride on the Polar Express. He did a great job, especially considering he was a last minute replacement when our original conductor got sick.

The food was potluck style, though we asked people to bring specific types of food. We also had a dessert contest with lots of funny awards (including the I'm Going Back for Fifths award and the Make Martha Stewart Jealous award) that Bryan came up with.

After we ate, the conductor turned the time over to the Entertainment Director, which was me, for a game. I read clues for Christmas carols and an entire table had to start singing it in order to win the song. We have some very competitive people in our ward, but I think it went well anyway.

Then a sister in the ward read aloud The Polar Express to the group. Following her performance the Bishop said a few words about Christ being the real first gift of Christmas.

Then the sister missionaries serving in our ward sang and played the violin to present I Believe in Christ, not a traditional Christmas song, but completely applicable to our theme of Believe. The tables were decorated with silver bells attached to tags that said "I believe". We asked everyone present to write a line of their testimony and to sign it. This was the first gift of Christmas we gave to the kids the next morning.

We ended with a prayer and a mad dash to setup for the next morning.

Learn As You Go

In the week before our Christmas parties, we learned a few important things:

1. Make sure that your ward has a Santa suit and it's available. Do not rely on assurances of "We've had one in the past" or "I think we share one with another ward." These are speculative, not definitive.
2. Tell the ENTIRE ward when you'll be setting up the tables for the party, just in case the High Priests decide to take all the tables you need and use them for another activity. Also, if they do take them, ask the missionaries to be there when the tables are returned so they can do the heavy lifting of unloading and setting them up.
3. If a person says that doughnut holes are easy to make, remember that easy doesn't equal fast. A Cake Pop maker speeds up the process, but not enough.
4. 700 doughnut holes are too many for one person to make.
5. It's important to find out where the tablecloths are housed before you actually need them, just to avoid extra stress and unnecessary tablecloth tin cupping.
6. When a person says they will play Santa, follow up and confirm. Otherwise they might not show and then you'll have to turn to the unsuspecting committee member standing next to you and say, "Well, I guess that means you're going to be Santa."
7. Have a backup for your electronics. That way when the TV you were going to use to show the narrated e-book of the Polar Express dies, you don't have to totally freak out. It also helps if your husband is a tech wizard.
8. Adult parties mostly need time for chatting and a little structure for entertainment.
9. Kid parties need complete structure and almost no time for chatting, because chatting quickly turns into running around the church building.
10. When you discover you have twice as many kids as you had planned for, divide and conquer. Have half of them do games while the other half watches/listens to a story, then swap the groups. It will be hectic for you, but will keep kid chaos to a minimum.
11. When serving hot chocolate to kids ALWAYS USE LIDS.
12. Adrenaline can substitute sleep for only so long. In my case, it's about three days.

After a nap, two nearly full nights of sleep, and another nap I almost feel human again. I'm going to see about getting another full night of sleep now to bring me all way the back up to speed.

Cross One Off the List

Just in case anyone is keeping track, the first Christmas party was tonight and it went well.

We've got the Children's Christmas Party tomorrow morning, bright and early

That is all.

Room for Brains

The girls and I were looking through photos from last Thanksgiving when we came across this one.

After oooing over how cute Sophie was, Phoebe asked, "But Mommy, why is her head so big and her body so tiny?"

Because that's how the cutest babies are built.

Busy Baby

Sophie has officially entered the Busy Toddler Stage. Last week I found her standing on the middle of the dining table. Twice. She also found a bin with several boxes of gum and helped herself. When Bryan found her she had six pieces in her mouth. She's so busy, and thus requires so much more supervision, that my productivity level has gone down considerably.

I've been trying to stop my night owl behavior and go to sleep earlier. Tonight when I got home from a meeting at 10pm I seriously considered staying up to work on a project. "I can get a few hours of work done if I start right now. I can stop around midnight and be in bed by 1am." Even as I was thinking it I realized that it was ridiculous, I am so very tired, why would I intentionally stay up crazy late?

And then I realized why I wanted to stay up and work. My Sweet Sophie is asleep right now. That means my very busy girl doesn't need constant surveillance. And that, my friends, means I can get a whole lot more done.

I love that little girl, and I even love her business, but I need to figure out how to get my work done while she's awake. I miss sleep, I'd really like to get more of it.

Family Pictures 2015

On Thanksgiving Day we delayed dinner, donned our fancy clothes, and gathered in our living room for pictures.

My favorite might be this one where no one is looking at the camera.

We also have several where almost everyone is looking at the camera and almost everyone is smiling. These are the best two from that batch.

The last time all of my siblings were together was almost four years ago at Paige's wedding. That is simply too long. We need to figure out how to see each other on a more regular basis.

The best picture of the session was made possible by the promise of fruit snacks if everyone smiled and looked at the camera. It totally worked.