Three Weeks, Three Birthdays

Every one of our kids has their own birthday month.  We're not sure how that worked out so perfectly but it's pretty awesome to have celebrations spread throughout the year. There is a three week period of time at the tail end of October and early November when we have a birthday every week spaced exactly a week apart.

In honor of these three recent birthdays and the years they've graced this planet, here are 9 words that describe Hubba, 19 words that describe Elle and 44 words that describe Allen.

Friendly, happy, kind, smart, inquisitive, dancer (The Robot is his specialty), 

singer (Owl City's biggest fan!), hungry, outgoing. 

Independent, loyal, brilliant, gorgeous (inside and out), dedicated, happy, baker, amusing, fun, talented, athletic, surprising, kind, thoughtful, adventurous, creative, crafty, missionary, friend.    

Articulate, hard-working, handsome, artistic, sentimental, generous, reliable, handyman, playful, writer, resourceful, clever, rugged, efficient, productive, loving, disciple, inventive, respectful, service-minded, outdoorsman, teacher, down-to-earth, thrifty, woodworker, scoutmaster, adventurous, silly, multi-tasker, inspiring, inspired, genuine, neighborly, mentor, visionary, kind, committed, unselfish, example, husband, father, son, brother, friend.

A late happy birthday to three of my favorite people!  

The Magic Plate

I was able to snap a picture before the last cookie remnant disappeared.

Some time in the last few years a friend of mine gave us this plate along with some other items as a Christmas gift.  We love the look of it but didn't realize it was no ordinary plate - this plate is magic!

Since it doesn't match any of our other plates we usually use it when we want to give cookies or some other treats to a friend or neighbor and we don't have something disposable to put them on.  Here's where the magic comes in.  Every time we have given the plate to someone we have not expected it to come back.  But it always does!  And that's not even the magical part!  This plate always comes back with something on it. Cookies, brownies, rolls, homemade caramels or chocolates... I'd even venture to say that often what we get in return is even better than what we gave.

Now that's magic!



*disclaimer* To all of our local friends and family: If this plate comes into your possession you should in no way feel obligated to return it laden with fantastical treats.  (But we wouldn't complain.)

My Buddies

Little O: This is my sock.  I didn't want it any more.  So I just made this holder necklace. 

These are my last two kids who are not in school all day.  They are my best buddies right now.  I love the conversations we have and the observations they make.  I love how Little X will follow O around and do everything he does and even repeat every word he says. (It's pretty hilarious.)  I love this picture of these two darling boys because it captures their personalities and their relationship well.  I love how X is looking at O admiringly and how proud O is of his creation.

I am so thankful for these two cute boys who keep me company (and on my toes!) when everyone else is gone all day long.

Jokes For Kids: Harry Potter Edition

Wands up!  

Why wasn't Voldemort at the Yule Ball?
He had no body to go with.

What do Death Eaters eat for breakfast?
Cruci-os

Why do Slytherins cross the road twice?
They're double crossers

How many Voldemorts does it take to light up a wand?
None. Why do you think they call him the Dark Lord?

Knock, Knock.
Who's there?
You know.
You know who?
He's dead, you can say his name now.

Why does Dobby keep criticizing himself?
He has low elf esteem.

What do you call a Headmaster of Hogwarts who doesn't speak clearly?
Mumbledore

What do you call a Headmaster of Hogwarts who keeps tripping on his cloak?
Stumbledore

What do you call a boy wizard who is planning to overthrow the government?
Harry Plotter

Why did Crabbe and Goyle cross the road?
Because Draco crossed the road.

What do you call the author who made billions of dollars from her Harry Potter series?
J K Rowling-in-the-dough

Why did Professor Snape stand in the middle of the road?
So no one could tell which side he was on.

How many wizards does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None.  They don't use lightbulbs.

What happened when Hedwig lost her voice?
She didn't give a hoot.

What do you get when you cross the Dark Lord with Harry Potter?
Dead.

What do you call a Hogwarts teacher with a bad attitude?
Moody

What do you call a movie about a boy wizard who is unhappy with a photo lab's service?
Harry Potter and the half-dark prints

How many Harry Potters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
One.  He holds it and the world revolves around him.

And I saved our three favorites for last...

What did Voldemort say when Wormtail asked if the Dark Lord could really rise again?
"Yes, but you may have to give me a hand."

If Hermione was abandoned what would she be called?
The Lone Granger

What did Harry's godfather say when Harry wouldn't stop poking him?
"Stop that, Harry. I'm Sirius."

Do you know any good Harry Potter jokes that you didn't see here?  Please leave them in the comments!

Sew Much Fun

When Allen and I were first married his paternal grandparents gave me a sewing machine.  They told me that they couldn't imagine someone having kids and no sewing machine to create things on.  My mom was always an amazingly talented seamstress but I was pretty lacking in the sewing department.  However, this was a game changer for me. 

The machine came with a free class on how to operate it and that was what got me excited about the possibilities.  I started out just making blankets because I figured anyone could sew a bunch of squares together.  They turned out pretty good and so I ventured into the territory of making a dress or two for Elle when she was really young and didn't care what she was wearing.  Those turned out pretty great, too.  I even tried making some of my own maternity clothes once.  They were so fashionable and well-made!  (Well, at least I thought so until I got them out for my next pregnancy and realized how homemade they looked.  But still!) The thing I quickly realized was that anyone can sew if they're willing to read a pattern and follow directions.  I could even create Halloween costumes without a pattern as long as I was willing to make a few mistakes along the way.

This is why, when the drama teacher at the high school asked if I could help with costumes for the musical Seussical this year, I said yes.  It has actually been a lot of fun!  Thumbelina is helping too - she did most of the work on this pile of Who-Girl dresses:

while I'm just doing a bunch of random things like sewing a hidden pocket into the back of a dress or re-constructing existing costumes with feathers and trim and ribbons and adjustments or making this bird-girl dress a bit longer and that Thing 2 outfit a bit smaller.

It has been a fun way to be involved in something I loved in high school without having to be away from home.  I'm grateful for insightful grandparents who gifted me my sewing machine and helped me to discover talents I didn't even know I had!

Stop Growing Up Already!

It has happened.  The day I have dreaded for a long time.  Little X has figured out how to get around the child-proof doorknob thingies.

Here he is, caught in the act!

Here he is again, mocking my loss of control over the pantry, bathrooms and toy closet.

My kids are all growing up so fast.  Even this littlest munchkin who it seems crazy to call The Baby anymore. There is good in this, though - and that's where having a large family becomes a huge blessing.

When I look at All-a-Boy sleeping in church or hear of Hubba's inability to keep answers to himself at school I can look at what an awesome young man Allen the Younger has become despite having done these same things when he was younger.  

When I see how overly emotional and sensitive to every little thing I do or say some of my younger girls are or worry that I am never doing anything right as a parent I can look to how Elle turned out and see that, despite all of my faults and weaknesses as a mother and person, she turned out beautifully.

I have learned to appreciate the hard times because they seem to be what makes our kids into amazing adults.  I don't always remember to appreciate the difficulties but I am thankful to have both perspectives to help me remember that I'm doing okay.

Inspiration

Thursday night was spent doing something I always enjoy - taking in some local musical theater.  However, this time it was different because my friend Jenny was in the cast.

When she first came on stage I had to stop myself from crying.  And when I saw her owning the dance numbers (something I am awesome at in my head but my body can just NOT figure out how to do what I want it to) I had to hold back the tears again.  These were high energy dance numbers.  Why was I crying?!?!

I was not thinking I would cry before I went.  It never even crossed my mind.  But there was something about seeing her there on stage, having a dream to perform on stage again after 18 years and LIVING it, knowing she nailed her first audition... I don't know.  It just got to me.

If you want to read her inspiring story, click HERE.  And if you live near me and haven't seen In the Heights yet, you should.  The energy on stage is awesome and even Allen, who lived in the Dominican Republic for a couple of years, says they capture the feeling of living in the barrio perfectly.

I am thankful for friends who inspire me by living their dreams, for letting me see that anything is possible with hard work and determination.  And I hope Jenny doesn't mind me kind of living vicariously through her talent in performing.

Someday I would love to be on stage again.  However, I accepted a long time ago that I could never be cast as a main character in a musical because of my great lack of ability in the dancing department.  I've decided that once all of my kids have left the nest I could maybe audition for the part of a nun in my favorite musical of all time, Newsies, or as one of the crazy old ladies in the play Arsenic and Old Lace.

I'll get back to you when that happens.

Awesome Teachers

I am very thankful for these four awesome women who teach my elementary school kids this year.  They all seem to have the perfect personalities to fit each of our kids.

I love going to parent/teacher conferences every time.  Not because I get to chase kids around the gym while we're waiting our turn to talk to each teacher but because I love hearing about how awesome my kids are. 

I am grateful that these women chose to be teachers and really put their hearts into what they do every day. These are the people who make school a place that my kids love to go to. I am also grateful to the many teachers at the middle school and high school who make a difference in my kids lives.  My family spends a lot of time in the public school system and we are very blessed to live in an area where we can feel okay about that.

Thank you teachers!

Horcruxes

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I finally decided to just get it written down so I can stop writing it in my head.  In the whole last year since my friend Jason died (<< there's a link there in case you don't know what I'm talking about) I have gone through all sorts of crazy emotions and thoughts.  I wanted to write about him all the time and I didn't want to write about him at all. I think the best way I can explain it is that I didn't want to feel like I had to prove our friendship to anyone. At the same time I worried that he would be forgotten.  I don't know if that makes any sense but that's what's at the surface of my train of thought.

Since Jason's untimely death I have distanced myself from others. This is something I have noticed recently and have some regrets about but all I can do from here is move on and try to be better.  I think that somewhere in my subconscious I am worried that I will lose someone again, so unexpectedly and suddenly and tragically and without any warning.  I do not know that my heart could handle it.  But, like I said, I am trying to change.

There are a million things I could say that I haven't over the last year, but the one thing that really stands out lately is this: in losing Jason I have gained something else - a whole network of friends who look out for and care about each other. Because Jason was such a big fan of the Harry Potter books, I like to think of it in terms of Horcruxes.

Jason is no longer here with us but a small part of him is alive in every person who loved him.  So, even though he may not be here with us physically we can still have a part of him with us when we associate with each other.  He lives on in each of us. We are like his Horcruxes, anchoring fragments of his soul to the earth in the memories that we've shared with him. Every person who has a memory of Jason holds a piece of his story. I think that when we remain connected to each other we remain connected to him.  That is something I can hold on to.  That is something I am thankful for.

Random Kindness

After his last Cub Scout pack meeting Hubba and I went to the Dollar Store so he could spend the dollar that he got from the tooth fairy.  I was impressed that he held on to that dollar for a whole two weeks because let me tell you, he was dying to spend it.

Hubba insisted on searching every inch of every shelf in the store in case there was something better down the next aisle. This kid was not going to spend his dollar until he knew he was getting the best that the Dollar Store had to offer a 9-year-old boy.  As he perused the merchandise in the store he painstakingly narrowed his purchase down to two items - a ninja set and a blow-gun that shot suction-cup darts.

He could not decide between these two treasures but he knew that he had to. I needed to pick up some treats in the candy aisle so I told him he had about a minute before we'd be at the register.  As I stopped in front of the candy wall I saw the thing that my little boy will remember for a good, long time.

Someone had left a dollar in a ziplock bag with this note:

Please enjoy this random act of kindness (you deserve it). Yes, it's for you!

To say he was excited would be an understatement.  This kid was ecstatic!  He kept questioning why someone would do this and who did I think it was and did he really get to keep the dollar? He went home that night with both of the toys he wanted as well as a huge smile on his face.  He couldn't stop talking about what had happened.  Everyone still gets to hear about it.  It's pretty amazing how much a dollar means to a 9-year-old boy, especially when it seemed to just magically appear.

I am thankful that there are people in this world who make time to do kind things for others.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

 On Sunday Little O didn't want his hair to be flat.  He wanted it to be "high, like the boy who wears black glasses."  I couldn't figure out who he was talking about.  I went to Facebook and eventually we figured it out.  He wanted to look like our neighbor Jonathan.  When I asked him why he wanted tall hair like Jonathan's Little O told me, "Because he is so awesome and cool!"  I did my best with his hair and then he grabbed the glasses that All-a-Boy wore on Halloween to complete the look.

I am thankful to know good people who my kids can look up to and want to emulate.

And I am so grateful to have this funny boy in our family to always keep us laughing!

Blowout

Do you ever feel like you are ready to explode?  This tire knows the feeling.

We have been doing some work in our back yard recently and as a result our flatbed trailer was filled with dirt and rocks (you can't get one without the other in our area).  Last Saturday Allen went to unload this pile of dirt and on the way the tire decided that it had carried this load long enough, that it wasn't strong enough to keep going with such a burden of weight, and with a BOOM that sounded like a gunshot it finally just exploded.  Even the rim of the tire got all bent out of shape.

Luckily we had a spare tire but the weight of the dirt and rocks was so heavy that some of the dirt had to be transferred to another trailer before we could lift the flatbed high enough to replace the blowout.  A friend loaned us his trailer and before too long we were ready to go again.

I was thankful for so many things that night!  I was glad that Allen was driving along a smaller highway instead of the busy freeway to his destination, that he did not lose control of the vehicle or trailer when this happened and most especially that no one got hurt throughout the whole ordeal.

As I have reflected on this whole situation I found a good lesson in it.  We all carry burdens, some heavier than others.  Many times we take on more than we should, thinking we can handle it.  Or maybe we carry memories or secrets that weigh us down for much too long.  Sometimes things keep piling up and we know we can't keep going but we do it anyway because it's what we think we're supposed to do and what we want others to think we are capable of.  Eventually the burden becomes too much to bear and we can't help it, we just explode.

We are all in this together.  This life is a journey and we're all traveling to the same destination, just maybe not on the same road.  We need each other and that's okay.  I am beyond thankful for the people in my life who help ease my burdens.  I am glad to have friends who know of my many imperfections and choose to still love me unconditionally.

It brings to mind the quote, "Be kind, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle".  The man who said this also penned these words, which elaborate on the shorter version:

This man beside us also has a hard fight with an unfavouring world, with strong temptations, with doubts and fears, with wounds of the past which have skinned over, but which smart when they are touched. It is a fact, however surprising. And when this occurs to us we are moved to deal kindly with him, to bid him be of good cheer, to let him understand that we are also fighting a battle; we are bound not to irritate him, nor press hardly upon him nor help his lower self.
-John Watson

Our Crew: Halloween 2013

When it comes to decorating our house for Halloween, we can get super crazy and go all out.  And for lots of years we have.  This year I remembered that we had one of those plug-in Jack-o-lanterns up in the garage loft somewhere and set it on the porch next to our un-carved pumpkins about a half hour after the first group of trick-or-treaters came by.  And I felt good about that.

In other Halloween news, I helped seven of my ten favorite children put together costumes.  Here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Little X started out wearing O's old firefighter outfit but then wouldn't stop putting on this pumpkin get-up from our costume bin. No matter what he wears he's adorable so it really didn't matter much. 

I think the last person who wore this Prince Charming costume was Allen the Younger so it's been around for a long while! (See, Hoarders - it IS worth saving every little thing!)   Little O tripped on the ginormous fake boots while trick-or-treating and skinned up his nose and forehead a little bit but he says it was worth it for the candy. 

My beautiful Princess Curly.  She was almost Amelia Earhart again but then the Rapunzel hat won her over. True to form, she insisted on wearing tennis shoes with the dress because they were more comfortable. Love this girl.

Hubba couldn't decide between being a ninja, a secret agent, Doctor Who or a minecraft guy.  Then he saw that this Jedi costume would fit - complete with boots - and couldn't resist.

Princess really, really wanted to be a trash can for Halloween.  She wanted to be the same thing last year.  I was going to try to make her a trash can costume but the more I looked into it and thought about it I was worried people would think she was being 'white trash' or wonder what kind of self-esteem she had if she wanted to be a trash can.  Luckily she found this pirate costume that Cowgirl wore a couple of years ago and liked it.  She says she is the daughter of the Pirate Princess from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Cool by me.

Cowgirl comes up with something unique for the past couple of years.  This year she wanted to be Margo from Despicable Me.  Most of the costume I was able to find around the house but I had to make the skirt and shoes.  It was really getting down to the wire with the shoes - I refused to buy a $50 pair of red high top Converse for a Halloween costume and I couldn't find any at the thrift stores.  The day before Halloween I checked one last time and found a pair of white Italian leather hightops for $5.  With a little tape and some red spray paint they turned out perfectly.  And she really did look a lot like Margo, don't you think? 

All-a-Boy knew right off the bat that he wanted to be Waldo.  I looked all over for a red and white striped shirt but couldn't find one.  Again, tape and spray paint did the job nicely.  I found the hat online and he made the cane.  I had also ordered him some glasses online but they never arrived (don't always trust Amazon's delivery dates!  They should have come a week before Halloween and they're still not here!)  Luckily one of our neighbors had some of those 3-D glasses with the lenses popped out that they let him borrow.  Thanks for saving the day Kara! 

Thumbelina had no idea what she was going to be.  She was almost Alice in Wonderland.  Then she was almost the Mad Hatter.  On Halloween eve she decided to be a Christmas tree and put together this costume.  Clever girl, that one.

Elle and her cute roommates all decided to dress up with things they had in their apartment.  Meriah was a ladybug, Amy was a cat and Elle was a... cowboy alien.  She cracks me up!

Allen dressed in his standard attire for the two years of his mission - his white shirt and tie and the tag that proclaims his calling as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I think it's my favorite thing he's worn on Halloween.  I miss him times infinity but I know he's right where he should be right now and he is loving the work.

I can't help but think today of how thankful I am to have all of these awesome people call me Mom.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

photo from here

I went for a little walk around my neighborhood today to enjoy the last moments of beautiful weather and autumn colors before the inevitable winter shows its chilly face.  I was struck by the beauty of everything when dressed in the splendor of fall.  As I continued walking I began to look beyond the trees and mountains and perfectly clear blue sky and I started to think about the people who lived in each of the homes I passed, not just now but in the past as well.  I recalled stories and memories of their goodness.

She brought us cereal and put take-and-bake pizzas and milk in our fridge when we were coming home from a long vacation and had no groceries.

He convinced us to seed our side yard and that's the most thick, green carpet of grass on our property.

They made sure our kids were fed two days after Christmas when I broke my leg and had a baby.

He brought industrial-sized fans to help dry our basement when it flooded.

She always brings us cookies when she's home for a visit.

They are always willing to lend me the inevitable missing ingredients from an almost-finished recipe at dinner time.

He taught me a valuable lesson in unconditional love.

They got Allen started with his first real job which has continued to be one of our greatest blessings.

She shares her homemade jam with me every year.

She always seems to know when I need a friendly word or a smile.

She has rocked at least seven of my babies to sleep at church when I'm trying to manage other things.

The list is endless, really.  It made me emotional to think about how much I love where I live - and not only for the beauty that is visible but more especially for the beauty that I know exists in so many of the awesome people that surround us and, perhaps unknowingly, have become an extension of our family.

I am so thankful for my neighbors.