Just the 10 of Us

This weekend, at the VERY last minute, we ended up having four of my nieces for a couple of days.  This included a lot of squished driving in the car (and I will add that during the longest drive I gave everyone a red slushie and NO ONE spilled a drop), and lots of extra fun that left my kids wondering if their cousins should just stay for good.

All tweens, they get along great together, and with our younger kids-  I'm currently enjoying a quiet afternoon recovering, listening to some Civil Wars with the windows open, drinking tea, and LOVING this squeal-free house, as our kids rest and Jim takes everyone home.

And I'm exhaling, because it was all fun, and no one broke down, not once. 

We ate out, got frozen yogurt, listened to loud music, had a wild time at a thrift store where we were "that family", but I think ended up making the checkout girl smile, we braided hair, watched Tangled, and stayed up late.We had an awesome breakfast, went to church, ate lunch, and spent the afternoon at an animal shelter loving on homeless cats and dogs, and one sweet ferret.

I'm thankful when we get to spend time together.  They're still all young enough that they think I'm incredibly cool, and freely say it, often.  I know we are just on the curb of that ending, though maybe not entirely, I hope.  You know how in the American Girl books, there's always one really cool, young, fun aunt that is the catalyst for something awesome?  That's me.*  They aren't shy about telling me we have the "best house ever".**  How cute is that??  I'll take it.

Did you know that Jim and I had four kids in just over four years?  And if we'd continued the trend, I'd currently be pregnant with our 8th child?  I lived with 8 kids for a weekend and let me tell you what, it was great, but it was insane.  And let me add, EXPEN$IVE.

But still, just thinking on that- wow that would be crazy.  Still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

It was fun, and I'm sure we'll do it again, but honestly I'm very glad to be home again with just Jim, Grace, Patience, Lily, and Hudson.  I was getting jealous for some time alone with them. 

By the way, if you have a friendly animal shelter near your home, I'd highly recommend a visit.  Sure, you could take your kids out for fries, or to the mall or a movie- or you could go love some animals that need it.  It's an excellent thing to do as a family, it's free, and it's always fun and interesting.

OK? Go.




*This is what I like to tell myself.  Helps me sleep better at night.
**I agree.

Resilience.

I deeply respect the bright resilience of the dandelion. 

A Little Bit Punk Rock

Lily.  Oh, Lily.  You have to be in this family to really get what I'm talking about. 

This kid is our wild. card.

Her personality is so out of the box, words fail me to get it right for you.

But she is one quirky girl.

I knew something was up when, after two fair haired delicate baby girls, Lily showed up after a very difficult delivery with a FULL head of dark brown hair.  Just to be different.

Since then, it's all fallen out, and came in line with her sisters' shade-  but it's straight baby, because she couldn't possibly conform all the way.

She loves COLOR, and wacky outfits, and reason has never won her over- she creates realities in her mind, and it's basically impossible to change it once it's made up.  She says and does the most random things, with a Galifianakis-like quality that can leave us in stitches with laughter, or can bring us to tears (that's usually me, or one of her sibs, and it's a daily rollercoaster we ride together).

She's as sassy as she is lovely.  She's sweet and spicy- and neither is in short supply.

So, my point.  Last week.

The kids can wear pretty much whatever they want at home.

Last week I took this shot of Lily while she was getting her snack at 4 PM.  She'd been wearing this since breakfast...

I sent it to Jim at work.  He responded back, "Destined for roller derby!!! All she needs is some tattoos and a black eye."

I laughed, we chatted about it a bit.

But then on Saturday the kids spent the afternoon roller blading at the park, and as Lily was busy cutting it up Jim joked about it again- then said "Seriously, I think it would be perfect for her."

I considered it.  And wholeheartedly agreed.

When she is determined to do something, her mind is set. 

It's almost impossible to hurt Lily's feelings, and she's never once in her life felt truly terrible about hitting someone.

She is extremely smart, and was born a master at strategy and manipulation.

She does not give a rip what anyone thinks of her- it doesn't even occur to her that she should care.

She'll try just about anything- as long as it's on her terms.

She has all the qualities she'd need to take huge hits- and dish them right back out- then leave it all on the track.

This girl has attitude. And a whole lot of inner-rebel.  Moonlighting as a Roller Derby chick might be the perfect outlet for her.

I'm always calling her my little Punk, because, well, she's just got a Punk Rock way of doing things.

We'd be her biggest fans.

Library Day.

8.

Grace turned 8 last Saturday.  On one hand, it seems unbelievable that she could be 8 already, and on the other, it seems like she should be even older.  She's so mature, so serious, so tall- and seems so very grown up.

But she's still our little girl, and I'm struggling to hang on to that as I watch her hurry up and turn into a lovely young lady.

We fitted her for a new pair of roller blades on her birthday, at Scheels.

Scheels has a giant set of escalators.  I have been terrified of escalators since I was a small child.  I absolutely hate them.  Something about the automated way they run, there's no control, and the thought of tripping and falling down, smashing my face on their hard sharp metal edges.... Chills.

I try to never say things like this in front of my kids- don't want to handicap their blossoming minds with unnecessary fears.

Grade did, of course, desire to take the stairs, though, like me.  The other kids were totally disappointed.  On the way down, Jim rode the escalator with three thrilled Kochs, and Grace and I, again, took the long way.  It's healthier, really.  Right??

On the way down, she looked up at me and said, "I don't like escalators because I feel like I'm going to trip and fall on my face."

I gave a hearty, "AMEN, SISTER.  THAT IS A TOTALLY VALID CONCERN.  YOU TAKE THE STAIRS, BABY."

Jim and I laugh about it all the time- it is crazy how much that girl is just like me. 

Here are some shots from your birthday, Grace-  Love you.

Wake Up Call.

New Towels.

I got these dish towels from Jim's Grandma's house. 

They came in a big bag, bright white and pressed and new, never used.

They could have been stitched and pressed any time within the last 4 or 5 decades, I have no idea.

But there was something so special about them- someone took hours to make them, one for every day of the week, and for Market Day, Baking Day, and Washing Day to boot.

Lost in a drawer for who knows how long, and now they are mine.  And they'll actually get to see the kitchen- you see, they come from an era when a woman could not possibly have "enough" dish towels, and it was common to hoard piles of them away in a chest or closet for "someday".

The least I could do was photograph them in their pristine bygone glory, before they were put to good use.

Hudson

After breakfast,

in a shirt you outgrew

too quickly-

but we got it to button up.

We'll get one more day

out of it yet.

Blindsided.

Summer Break is here. 

Schools are out in our city, which means people will stop asking my kids why they aren't in school every time we go out.

We're getting more sun.  We've headed to Sonic for Happy Hour a few times.

Our grass is green, and full, and needs to be mowed a couple of times a week.  Jim has finished planting our garden. 

Dirt and sand are constantly being tracked into our house.  It's fine with me.  Mostly.

School year activities have disappeared, and with them my compass for knowing which day it is seems to have gone on holiday as well.  Without the incessant schedule of places to be at certain times, I'm a little lost during the week.

I'm actually a little bit blindsided by all this freedom.

I can adjust.

A Good Job

I have always known that if I'm doing well as a mother, it means every single day you are getting closer to not needing me anymore.

It's a bittersweet thing to see so much evidence, but from the looks of things, I might be doing a good job.

I will rest in knowing I get a little more time.  I will hope that even when you're fine on your own, you'll still find reasons to call on me.

But, just for now, could you please slow down?

So simple.

I recently bought this fan for our kitchen.  I am going to try hard this year (just like last year) to keep the thermostat set at a frugal 78 degrees throughout the summer.  That's pretty OK throughout the day, a little humid, but manageable. 

But then I start to cook dinner, and once the oven and stove are on, and the hot sun pours through the West-facing kitchen/dining room windows, it gets hot.  Hawt.  Fast. 

Today we've got a bit of a cool streak- it's only 65 degrees in the house with my windows open.  But, summer is near- and I told myself no matter what, I'll keep it at 78, and deal with it like every American housewife dealt with it before central air, and like a million women deal with it every day around the world. 

Unless people are coming over.  Then it's a cool 72.  Hear that?  You should come over more often. 

You see, this is dinner time we're talking about.  This is the witching hour.  Everything's on the verge of coming unglued (especially me) and I'm trying to create a big dinner, and my children are on the edge of crazy and I'm dying for Jim to walk in the door at 6:30...  It's a horrible time to be hot and sweaty, and that kitchen can easily get up to 87 or so degrees in no time, while I labor over a pot of something steamy.  And I'm trying to look at least a little put-together and cute for when Jim gets home- and trying to act as glued together as possible, since this is the only time he sees me doing my job with the kids all day, and if he judged my joy in mothering by how I feel at 6 PM alone?  Well, that's just sad. 

I digress.  It's an easy time to feel sorry for myself.

So, I needed a great fan.  That settles it.

Anyway- it's funny how it starts so simple.  I'll add one new thing to a room, then I have to make a space for it.  Then I need to clean around that space.  Then I keep cleaning, moving, re-arranging.  It's like I have this great new thing and the whole room needs to adjust to be worthy of it.  

So it started with moving things around on the counter.  Then cleaning under/behind them.  Soon I'd removed/cleaned everything on the counter tops...and over the next two days I  totally cleaned out and re-organized the cabinets, changed how I store produce, and created a "breakfast station" in one of our cupboards for our kids. 

I'm loving the productivity-juice that fan served up, but it's just funny.  One little fan was a catalyst to a ton of work I'd been putting off for months.  It all started so simple.

I'm going to go open all my cabinet doors just to look inside them now, then shut them again.  You do that after you organize too, right?  So rewarding.

I Kissed Dairy Goodbye

I took a 7-day Vegan Challenge with a friend last week.  We were just looking to take some time out to be more conscious of our food, and implement some specific discipline, for the benefits of discipline.

Eating a fully Vegan diet (a plant-based diet- no meat, no dairy- no food that came from an animal) was not a challenge at all for me- nearly all of what we eat before dinner time is Vegan anyway.  So to step it up, I also tracked every ounce of everything I ate and drank for the week, to chart nutrients, and to be sure I met my personal dietary goals.  I should mention that I did eat honey as contained in my Kashi Honey Almond Flax, and on the last day I made some Black Bean Brownies, which did have eggs in them.  Also, on Saturday our refugee family came over and we made cinnamon rolls together- which had cream in the icing and some in the dough.  I ate some, because refusing to eat would have been strange, and bordered on being a Pharisaical Vegan.  Challenge or not, not worth it.

Now a week later, the challenge is over.  We'll still eat in much the same way as before, but I've kissed dairy goodbye for good.  I went to Africa last December.  About halfway through the trip, I noticed I was feeling really, really great.  It was hard to describe, but, it was like I felt some sort of extra inner energy- I just felt especially "good".  I thought of what I'd been eating, and the one thing missing was dairy.  Other than some cheese on a pizza one time, I'd not had any dairy of any kind for well over a week.  Dairy has never made me sick, but I wondered if I should try to eat less of it when I got home.  Slowly, I've been leaning out of dairy.  No more cream in my coffee, almost no milk, very little cheese.  V-Week sealed it for me.  Dairy doesn't make me "sick", but,  I feel amazing when I haven't had any for a while.  I tried to investigate why online.  The best I could find was that, while some people are intolerant to the point of being ill with dairy, others just have a harder time digesting it, and it slows their body down.  I think that might be me.  I always noticed that ice cream especially made me feel sort of sluggish, but always attributed it to the sugar.  So, thanks to my little Elisabeth Hasselbeck-Survivor-like experience in Africa, I realized Dairy was not loving me back.  I will still eat eggs for dinner once a week, like we've always done, and have them in baked goods, etc- but milk-based things, I'll avoid.

I love soy milk, and this coconut milk, and my kids do too.  We'd always done milk twice a day- breakfast and dinner, with water at lunch- and now they love the alternatives so much, they're drinking soy at breakfast instead.  So far I can't see that any of them have aversions to cow milk, but, it did take me nearly 30 years to realize I had one, and I am happy to give them a variety.

Nutrition.  A plant-based diet.  The first thing people ask is where you'll get protein, iron and calcium.  I charted every single thing I ate for the week- and I didn't eat anything strange- just good, "normal" plants and plant-based foods- and these are my numbers, averaged over 7 days.  When the bar hits 100, I've had the recommended daily allowance.  I do take a Vitamin D/Calcium supplement that gives me 100% of the Vitamin D and 80% of the Calcium I need in a day- keep that in mind. 

Eating plants ONLY, and nothing "weird", here are my numbers for an average day...

Remember that leafy green vegetables- Spring Mix, broccoli, etc, are SUPER foods, FULL of good things like Calcium, Iron, Fiber, and Vitamins A and C.  Just a few servings per day cover so many needs (I love them, my kids happen to LOVE them, and my husband tolerates them well). 

I really, really loved using this free food log.  I loved it so much that I'm committing to using it faithfully through the end of May, and by then, the next goal would be to use it through the end of the summer.

A few other things...



1.  I really like warm soy milk.  We drink a lot of steamers at home- steamed milk with some Torani syrup.  Warming a cup of vanilla soy milk in the microwave is an ultra-fast and easy alternative.  Also, take a cup of that same vanilla soy milk, heat it in the microwave for about 1.5 or 2 minutes, add 2 teaspoons of quality instant espresso powder, and you have a super-simple and good vanilla latte.

2.  You know about Black Bean Brownies, right?  I made these yesterday-  I did use carob chips for chocolate chips, but that's up to you, and they are great-  just try it.

Have a sweet week, everyone.

#4

Hudson is getting quite big.  But he's still our baby.

He's good-natured and sweet and funny, and his charm is absolutely disarming.  He also absolutely loves to have other people do things for him. 

I make him do anything by himself that I know he can do by himself- either simple things, or things that involve problem-solving and a little work-  just like his sisters needed to do at his age. 

Hudson has the same natural desire to be independent, to be big, to do big guy things as any three year old- but every single time he finds something to be a bit of a challenge at all- he defaults to asking for someone else to do it.  I almost always refuse, and the girls just can't refuse him.  After all, helping him makes them feel older, even if I remind them not to enable Hudson's dependence.  And, if it really was something he couldn't do, and they refused to help him, I'd probably lecture them- something about needing to be a helper and teacher for their brother.  They really can't win.

A couple of weeks ago, Hudson needed to put on his pajamas.  He's done this.  Many times.  They were one-piece, "footie" PJs- and they're way easier to get on if you do the feet first.  He tried a few times, couldn't get it to work.  I reminded him, "Feet first Hudson", and he kept insisting that I just do it for him.  I kept insisting, "No."

I left the room.  I came back, he was gone.  A while later he showed up again, fully dressed in his pajamas, and happy.  I said "See?  You did it- good job buddy."

"Eh, Gracie did it for me,"  he said, nonchalant.

"Hudson, I told you you needed to do it yourself.  You can do that for yourself, like a Daddy does."

Three beats of silence.

He cocked his head to the side, a thought-wrinkle formed above his nose, his eyes sparkled and looked straight into mine, "Your hair looks beautiful today Mommy."

And so my three year old has mastered the art of charm and distraction.  As if he was born to be a real estate agent, or a music executive.

He does really like to help Jim, though.

People Watching People

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at Starbucks in Barnes and Noble, waiting for a friend.  I glanced down and noticed this spot, where a student obviously was studying, preparing for finals- laptop and energy drink in tow.  He wasn't there at the time, and I snapped this shot quick with my pocket camera. Under the table.  Like a private investigator.

Wow.  Hitchens, The Atheist's Bible, and a giant pile of Microbiology notes.

Do you ever people watch?  Wonder about their lives?  I wonder if he really ascribes to a Hitchens-like world view, or if he's considering it.  I wonder if he's just curious and wants to be well-informed, or if his Microbiology professor is persistently quoting Hitchens and the like to the point that he wanted to read it for himself. I know I had a few profs much the same. 
You people watch too, right? 

Well I'm just people watching the other people watching me; We're all people watching the other people watching we...  Jack Johnson, People Watching

Relief.

AND I BEG YOUR PARDON


The first mosquito:

come here, and I will kill thee,

holy though thou art.

-Wendell Berry, Leavings


This week it finally started acting like Summer is on it's way- the weather was warm, the rain is making things green, trees have buds. 
It took a very, very long time for real Spring to show up this year.
 
But Saturday night we grilled with neighbors, and the weather was awesome, and I saw several insects, including gnats and wasps- and last week I saw a few baby arachnids outside.  Hudson also got two mosquito bites on his face.  As unpleasant as they are, I'm relieved.  Spring beats Winter once again.

A Little Party

Flowers for me.

I woke up this morning to find a huge vase of flowers in the kitchen.  They were beautiful as they were, of course, but when I get huge bunches of flowers, I love to break them up, and place them around the house.

So that's what I did this afternoon.

Of course, while I was walking around with my camera I heard from the living room, "HEY MOM, WANT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF ME DOING A HANDSTAND????"

Of course I wanted to.

Happy Mother's Day.

Daily Bread

So I was at Breadsmith this morning....actually we went to BOTH Breadsmiths (long story- but lots of extra samples, my kids thought it was awesome).

They have a promotion in May where you just need to come to their store 3 times within 10 days, during the month of May, and then you earn a free loaf of bread.  You don't even have to buy anything when you go in (but of course, you will buy something).

The people at Breadsmith are so friendly.  But I tell you what, even the "Crabby Librarian" was ultra-friendly today.  I think it's the weather.

Be There or Be Slytherin

A few friends are coming over for a little Potter-themed book discussion tomorrow night.

Today I threw together some Butterbeer Cupcakes...

And some chocolate frogs...

And yesterday I saw this unknown/never tried bottle of wine at World Market...

It seemed very Gryffindor-appropriate.

Seize the May

Very slowly, the weather is getting warmer- and I finally have flowers to bring inside.

It's the little things.

May the Fourth Be With You

We were about to leave the house.

I grabbed a quick shot of Hudson to commemorate Star Wars Day.

But then I thought I should grab a shot of Patie to document a little unapproved scissor work she did on Monday. 

Patie really almost never does anything wrong, but she has a weakness for scissors.  Cutting her hair.  Without asking.  She's done it three times in the last year- hasn't fallen to temptation since last March.  We JUST THIS MONTH could get all of her hair back into a ponytail without clipping the short stuff back...and she did it again. 

You can see a picture of where her bangs were a year ago in April here.  Basically, we're back where we started, plus a little more lost.  I had just finished getting it all back as best I could, or I would have let it show more for the picture.

Even she doesn't fully know why she does it.... It's just one of those inexplicable things kids do that baffle their parents.  We all agree every time she does it, it's a huge mistake.  The front of her hair is now about an inch long- you can see a little falling down in front-  I'm able, with coaxing and hairspray, to get the front to blend in a little with the rest of her hair...  She cried, I cried, and all Jim could say was, "It could have been worse."  Oh, and, "Sometimes kids are going to do things that just don't make any sense."

Moving on.

So by then I'd snapped half my kids- so why not get them all? 

The Recap.

OK.  I know you were dying to know how it went.

Thursday I dropped the kids off with Grandma, came back to Sioux Falls, and went to some garage sales, then I bought groceries, and Lily and Grace's birthday presents.

I got home, washed and sorted all of the kids' summer clothes from the storage tubs, and sorted/switched over their closets for spring/summer. 

When Jim got home, we did miscellaneous tasks, made lists of what we wanted to get done over the weekend, then drank a bottle of wine and watched Glee.  It was a good day.

Friday morning we got up, got organized, and started working.  Jim fixed our doorbell, changed a headlight, fixed the railing on our basement stairs, ate lunch with friends, and did some other things, I forget.  We also steamed all the carpets in our house.  So, most of the day, our house looked like....

When things were dry, everything was re-organized, cleaned, and put back where it belonged.  Then, totally tired, we went to Target to buy new sheets for our bed, because that was my motivation to finish, grabbed some ice cream, and came home to drink another bottle of wine, and watch The King's Speech- which was incredible, and I have since geeked-out with the DVD special features.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to meet friends for coffee, then we helped our church move it's offices into our new building- I'm really glad we could be there-  it's a pretty big deal. 

We grabbed lunch with everyone, then headed over to see some of our African friends.  Here's a video from that afternoon....

Then, we ran home because our dogs had been left inside all day, and Jim went back out to head over to our other refugee family's house, so he could take them out to buy seeds and garden supplies, and give them advice about when to plant things (it's a little colder here than in Africa, go figure).

Saturday night we went out with a couple of great friends, who also flew sans kids for the weekend.  We ate steak, then went to the Wild Sage for dessert, and Touch of Europe for drinks.  We were out until like, midnight- it was fantastic.

Sunday morning we picked up coffee, breakfast, and Lily's birthday balloons- Sunday was her 5th birthday- and we headed to MN to grab the kids, and have Easter dinner/ Lily's party with Jim's family, which was also great.

And then it was all over and Monday showed up as usual.