Botanica Illuminations, 2011

So, last night we decided to head out to Botanica to see their Illuminations. We had a grand time: it was chilly and windy, but not bitterly so, and the gardens were not crowded at all. We remembered to bring some money for treats, and they've expanded their displays and offerings to include writing letters to Santa and two choreographed light displays. But the real treasure was discovering the brand-new children's garden for the first time. It was unanimous: we have to go back in the summertime so they can play around in the garden.

We even managed to get some group shots, as well.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Thanksgiving Miracles and Blessings

(photo  All rights reserved by Just be jewelry)

That I got paid to clean and organize and decorate the children's section one day. Seriously. Also, that my boss is willing to work with my schedule, and give me days off when my kids are off school. I love my job.

That the girls all got along for the break, with a minimum amount of sniping and arguing.

That we have friends to want to hang out with us and play games (Pit! Fluxx! Apples to Apples! Yay!) with us on Thanksgiving.

That we have creative, fun, opinionated, smart, kind, beautiful girls who are a joy to be around. (Except when they're not.)

That we have a home that is warm and beautiful, and we have enough money to feed everyone some pretty dang good food. (If we do say so ourselves. My turkey rocks. As do our pies.)

That we went out on Black Friday, albeit at 10 a.m., and managed to find some good deals on Christmas presents. 

That we have traditions. And also that we can be flexible with those traditions, if the schedule demands. (Yes, we did get out all the Christmas stuff this weekend. It's all up except the tree.)

That all of our Christmas shopping is D.O.N.E. Huzzah! (But not the mailing.)

That we have grandparents who are cool and send us puzzles to work on. (Thank you!)

That there are good movies to see with friends. (I saw The Help, finally. Not bad. We want to see The Muppets, Hugo Cabret, and Arthur's Christmas. We'll probably see at least one by Christmas. The question is, which one?)

That Russell has a job (!), and that he's willing to teach extra classes so we can have nice things (and pay all our bills. Mostly.). And that he does the dishes frequently.

That we have a good ward, full of kind people and energetic kids (!), and that we can share the love of the Gospel with them.

Christmas music. Enough said.

Have a great week. Happy Christmas season!

Thanksgiving 2011

If you add:

11 people total, only six of them kids.

19 pounds of turkey, done to perfection

Too much food to eat

5 pies, two of them chocolate

1 burn

4 very game (and some enthusiastic) actors for the Thanksgiving play

 (The pilgrims)

(Meet the Indians)

(and they all have a party!)

3 games of Fluxx, 3 games of Pit (the shouting game!), and 1 of Apples to Apples


You get one grand old time!

More Evidence That We're Certifiably Crazy

Or what Caitlyn can do with a cut-out paper whale when she really wants to be creative.

Things I Miss Now that All the Kids are in School

I think I would write this post, even if I wasn't working a job. But I was thinking the other morning of all the things I don't do anymore, things that I used to do all the time and I miss.

Things like:

Storytime at the library: sure, I get to be the storytime at the bookstore, but no one is as fabulous as Mrs. Z at doing storytime. I miss our weekly outings to the library to listen to new (and old) books, sing songs, and do finger plays.

The Westlink branch of the library: I love the branch where I volunteer, Alford, really. I love the people there, and I enjoy the time I have to spend there. But the Westlink branch is where I had friends, was known, and spent so many years perusing their stacks that it kind of feels like home. I haven't gone inside in months, and I miss it.

Watching kids movies and TV shows: I used to watch at least one a day, sitting in the chair with one (or more of the kids snuggling). Sure, watching the same movie day in and day out was a bit boring, but I enjoyed the time with the girls (though I generally spent it reading), and I often enjoyed the shows. I really miss watching Backyardigans, sometimes. That was a good show.

Playgroup: yeah, I probably on average talk to more adults in the course of a day than when I was at home with the girls, but I still miss the camaraderie of playgroup. I miss sitting with women and chatting as the kids played. I know the girls miss being able to play with their friends on a weekly basis. It was a good thing, playgroup.

I'm sure there's more that I miss if I sit here and think about it, and lots that I don't miss as well. Change is always an interesting thing.

Twas the Week Before Thanksgiving

Maybe going backward will help me figure out what we did this week:

 

Today's been nice. Church was all about gratitude and thankfulness. And singing time went well. I actually got one of the almost 12 year old boys to participate by teaching sign language for a little song. Who knew? (Well, now I do.) It's all about enthusiasm, people. They keep saying that I'm really good at being singing leader, which means they'll never release me...

 

Yesterday was all about Thanksgiving prep. We cleaned carpets (should do that more than once a years), made Parker House rolls (yum), went shopping for winter books (well, not Thanksgiving-y, but still needed to be done), and did a bit of work in the yard since it was kind of nice outside. Written down, it doesn't seem like that much, but it kept us busy for the day.

 

Friday was just a normal day. Work, school, and I managed to crash at 8 p.m. I guess I was tired. Russell was a dear and stayed up playing games with Alison and Kristen (because Caitlyn was at a sleep over, and Megan crashed as well), though we found out Saturday morning that they had issues with the whole go fish rules. I guess Russell doesn't play go fish with the girls that often. Oh, I should mention that before I crashed, Alison came and asked if she could draw on herself with marker. So, she found a sharpie and wrote all over both her and Kristen. The funniest bit? Was the I [heart] you  on Kristen's behind. Cracked me up. (We did take pictures, but I'm not that cruel to put them up...) (They still haven't washed off...) (Don't mention it to her when you see her; she's a bit humiliated that I told y'all.)

 

Thursday was a math carnival at the school. I went visiting teaching, so Russell took the Alison and Kristen (wow: they had a lot of dad time this week) and they played lots of fun games and came home with bags full of fun stuff. They had a grand old time. I spent the day catching up on my blog and books (it was my one day off), and baking muffins. I love wintertime because it means I can bake and not heat up the house more. Except that I end up eating everything I bake. (Which just means I need to go to zumba more! Right?)

 

Wednesday, Alison had cooking lessons with our friend Karen. They tried to cook eggs in the microwave, but ended up blowing them up instead. Alison declared it "the best lesson ever". Caitlyn had piano. Megan (who has not been featured at all in this letter so far) has managed to get her chemistry grade from a B (which she defines as "struggling" and arranged a study-session with a friend who is similarly "struggling") to an A. The policy of being exempt from finals of any class you have an A in is a great motivation...

 

Tuesday, I went to yoga. It was much needed.  I'm sure something else happened, but I don't remember what it is.

 

Monday, Russell went to work in the evening (he's almost done with the evening class), and I ran Alison to piano  lessons (they're starting Christmas music...) and Megan to a Rotary club meeting. She says it's interesting, even though she doesn't know anyone, and they're all kids with really rich parents. (Which lead us to a conversation in which I was accused of being biased against rich people...)  We'll see if this whole group thing lasts. I'd much rather she volunteer at the zoo....

 

And that's about it for us. Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the pie.

My Thanksgiving Rolls

I grew up with these rolls; they're something I remember my mom baking as a kid. I have no idea where she got the recipe -- they're the Parker House rolls from the Omni Parker House in Boston (edited to add: Mom wrote about the recipe!)-- but I love them. And eat them by the dozen.

I think I lived without them for the first few years of our marriage, but sometime after Megan was born, I asked for the recipe. It's enormous. Not that many ingredients, but they take at least five hours to make, they make a HUGE mess, and they made an incredible amount of rolls.

But it's not Thanksgiving without them (just like it's not Thanksgiving without my husband's beloved childhood favorite, Lion House potatoes, aka funeral potatoes), so once a year, I take an afternoon and make a huge production and cook enough rolls (hopefully) for whomever is coming for Thanksgiving that year.

This year, I posted that I was going to make them on Facebook, and people clamored for the recipe, and so I decided to have Megan take pictures of the finished product.

They're not as good as the actual rolls themselves, but enjoy!




Happy Thanksgiving!

Science Projects

So, for Caitlyn's science class, they were assigned to build a 3-D model of a cell, either plant or animal. Caitlyn chose plant cell, and then we worked last week on getting it put together and into class before the deadline.

A lot of hot glue (and burned fingers) and some last-minute substitutions for our original ideas later, we present the plant cell:


She was very proud of it.

Amidst the Chaos

So, right now, Kristen is howling on the couch because she was giving the former Primary singing teacher (did I mention that that's my new calling??) a hug and Kristen's finger got pinched in the door. I don't know if this justifies howling in pain for a half-hour, but there you have it. Nothing will make her happy, and as my grandpa always said, if it makes you happy to be sad, then be sad.

Yesterday, we braved the chaos that is the photography studio in November and got pictures of the family. Amazingly enough, we had no meltdowns (well, there was one minor one when no one would listen to Alison's opinion on which pictures to pick), and as a whole, the pictures turned out nice. It's always nice when that happens.

Friday, I took chaos with me to work for an hour (I was asked to cover for one co-worker who had an appointment and needed to leave at 1:30, and her replacement wasn't going to be in until 2:30ish) and took the four girls to the bookstore for the hour. They used up all my café credit getting snacks, looked at books, watched me work (we had a really major problem that I was trying to help the manager solve; thankfully the manager was there taking care of it, because I would have panicked if I had to deal with it on my own), and were basically good. I'm glad I can do that with them now, and not have to worry about them wreaking (too much) havoc.

We also went swimming on Friday. That was some needed chaos. I still think it's wrong to go swimming any time other than summer, but I will happily take my kids to the pool on their day off.

Oh, and I also created chaos on Friday by trying to chop my finger off with some scissors. Our duvet cover has started shredding, one side more than the other, and I figured I'd cut it apart and use it as a bedspread to make it last longer. Somehow my finger got in the way of the scissors. Silly finger.

Amid the chaos, we went to a vocal jazz concert Friday night. It was lovely. I especially liked this song. (That's not our vocal jazz group, but you get the idea.)



Monday and Tuesday were cold and rainy. I wasn't happy for the cold, but we've needed the rain, so no one complained. It created chaos on the roads: it's funny that people in their rush don't remember to drive slow on wet roads and then get in accidents, thereby creating headaches for the rest of us. Silly drivers. And it snowed Tuesday night. It didn't stick, and it's been lovely weather for the rest of the week, so we're not complaining too much.

Caitlyn also decided to be sick on Monday and Tuesday. I say decided, but she really didn't; somehow she caught a stomach bug and was home throwing up. Megan caught it -- sort of -- on Thursday. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop and the younger two to wake up throwing up. *sigh* And so the winter sick season begins. I'm actually hoping for things to not be too chaotic, especially with me working now. Complex and chaotic.

But then, I'll take the chaos (most days) over a boring, quiet life. I think, anyway.

Another Girl Scout

Alison's been going to Brownies since mid-September, but we finally have her whole uniform and the book and everything, so she wanted to take a picture.


We'll see how long this lasts with her; I have issues with her leader (specifically: will she ever learn to condense her emails into ONE instead of MANY a week?? Honestly people.), and Alison complains that she's not having as fun an experience as when Caitlyn was in Brownies (I would drag her along when I was assistant troop leader for Caitlyn's troop). But for now, it's something Alison can be involved in. Though I'm not looking forward to supervising two girls' cookie sales in January...

A New Hobby

Back in September, when Alison broke her arm, we were given a 550 piece puzzle. That's bigger than we normally have kicking around the house, and Alison was very intimidated at first. She wanted to save it for when Grandpa Madsen came to visit, but after a month or so, she decided that she wanted to give it a try.

So, we sorted all the pieces, and she put together the edges. Then she and I started working on the middle, and suddenly more people were interested in helping:

In the end, with everyone helping, we put it together over a Saturday night-Sunday morning. And now, Alison is clamoring for more puzzles to put together.


That's something I can get behind, I think.

It's the Quiet Moments

photo credit

I think busy is the new normal. We had another week this week in which we were running pel-mel (is that really a word?) from one thing to the next. And yet, when I look back on the week, it doesn't seem like that much. Amazing what working 15 hours a week can do to your free time...

So, Halloween: Russell took the night off (thankfully he's not one of those professors who insist upon having class on minor holidays), and we took Caitlyn, Alison and Kristen over to friends' neighborhood to go trick-or-treating. Megan wanted to go, but then I told her she had to help with the younger kids if she was going to go trick-or-treating, so instead she dressed up and answered the door here. For all four trick-or-treaters that came this way. Anyway, Caitlyn went around with the older girls (they had a good time, though I heard all about the one lady who lectured them about Halloween safety), and Russell and I took the younger two out with a gaggle of their friends. They were insane. INSANE, I tell you. Running full speed from one house to the next, taking off in the dark (thankfully Kristen was dressed in white so I could tell where she was) barely taking time to say thank you at each house. No wonder they only lasted about 40 minutes. Anyway, since they didn't want to trick-or-treat for hours and hours, we actually got them home at a decent hour and to bed. Another Halloween come and gone; is it time to break out the Christmas decorations yet? (Perhaps, since we already have Thanksgiving plans and menu finalized....)

The other big event this week was Caitlyn's band concert. It's been a year since we've been to our middle school band concerts, and they're still just as delightful as they were when Megan was in middle school band. There's a video of Caitlyn doing her trombone solo thing with the sixth grade band. But the real fun was the jazz bands and the rock band. I know I've said this before: I adore our middle school band director. He's great with the kids, and inspires them to be better musicians and instills in them a love for music. Now if we could just get a high school band director that will continue to inspire them. So many kids drop out of band after 8th grade. It's sad.

And yesterday was blissfully lazy. It got cold for a couple of days -- "cold" being a relative term, true, but we did turn on the heat -- and it warmed up a bit yesterday. We cleaned house, played outside, watched The Sing Off (finally; we do get around to our weekly singing eventually), and worked on a puzzle that Alison had received when she broke her arm. Oh, and we planned Alison's birthday party. (No, she's not excited or anything...) It was nice to not be running from one thing to the next.

Happy November, everyone!

Imagination

It's amazing what two girls can do with a paper bag, a blanket, a scarf, and a lot of time and imagination.

Sixth Grade Band

Look at me, not blogging on a Sunday!

So, Thursday night was the middle school band concert. Oh, we have missed Mr. Goter. It was TONS of fun. The sixth grade band was, well, the sixth grade band. And not too shabby at that, either. They did this jazzy piece at the end, where a few kids (who tried out) got to do solos. Yes, Caitlyn was among them. She's about a minute in...

Enjoy!

(Oh, and Betsy? This one's for you!)

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween this year, we were (all, mostly) literary characters:


Kristen was Stellaluna:




Alison was Annabeth (I feel bad; I didn't get a picture of her with her cast off. In fact, I never mentioned that the blasted cast is off! Hooray!):



And Caitlyn was Chrissy:



Here's the four of them together. Megan was Mayhem from the Allstate commercials.


As for me, I'm not above public humiliation (for the record, though, I didn't go out like this; I only put on Caitlyn's wig after the fact. Maybe next year, though...):

Hope you all had a great Halloween!