Some Fun Stuff

We've been busy as always, I've finally gotten around to getting some pics together.

First, Archer's Orchestra Concert, his very first ever. We've enjoyed watching him progress as he learns to play the violin, its sparking memories of my own attempts to play the violin in fourth grade. His concert was entertaining but we didn't get any family pictures as I'd hoped - there were just way too many people to contend with when the show was over.

There was the prep beforehand...

 

 And then there was the after-show photo shoot...

 

Since then, David's taken up the violin as well and its heartwarming to hear them talking about music theory and practicing together.

 

 

More to come in the next few days!

Milestones

As our kids are growing up, we're always looking for those big moments... first steps, first words, first day of school. They become harder to define or see as they get older, but there was a major milestone reached today.

I've had Nana's famous Salad Dressing Cake for a little while now, I've wanted to try my hand at the delicious creation. I tried a couple of weeks ago, and no good. It was a complete flop, didn't turn out and the whole thing had to be tossed out. So disappointing. "This is why I don't bake," I told myself. Archer asked me today if I would bake the cake. I told him I had to be in the right kind of mood for it, and I wasn't in that mood today. He said, "I can make it." I couldn't really think of a reason why not, what's the worst that could happen? No worse than anything I'd done. So I said fine, and went to take a shower. He was on his own. At one point he called Grandma Shell for advice on whether he should grease the pan (he promptly forgot her advice and didn't do what she told him anyway).

I came back to the kitchen just in time to see him struggling with trying to hold the bowl while he poured the batter into the pan. I helped finish that up, then put it in the oven for him. Half an hour later...

Can you guess? Guess what happens when a nine year old boy with no baking experience simply follows the directions to make a chocolate cake? It turns out PERFECTLY. So good. So so good, I am SO proud!!!

Most of the cake is already gone, and I'm sure they'll finish it up for breakfast tomorrow morning. Perhaps I should be asking Archer for advice in the kitchen from now on?

Nana's Salad Dressing Cake

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup cold water
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup salad dressing (mayonnaise)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350
Mix all ingredients and pour into 9"x13" cake pan. Bake 25-30 minutes.

(Grandma Shell's advice was to spray the pan with cooking spray before pouring in the batter. Grandpa Craig's advice was to butter and flour the pan. Archer did neither, and used a non-stick baking pan.)

Why we love it

Easy, we always have the ingredients on hand, we love that we get to carry on Nana's tradition and share this one with everyone we love

 

Four Stars - what's with that last holdout? Doesn't he love cake? No? Strange...

Opening Day

This has been a long.... long.... winter. Too many days with the kids home from school because of cold weather. Record snowfall, record cold. We started out March with more snow. My mom's voice ringing in my ears, "In March the wind blows down the door, and blows my soup upon the floor..."

Now, March 14, finally, temps in the 40's and it feels like summer. Archer has been begging for days to bring his bike up out of the basement so he can cruise the neighborhood but I've been putting him off. Its just so cold out. Today, he took matters into his own hands and started to bring it up himself. He would have probably made it, if not for the little (or big?) scare downstairs. I know he wants to say ghost, haunted, some kind of scary story. But he knows better than that, he wouldn't say it to me but he was terrified. His story got me secretly scared and I almost wouldn't have gone down if it weren't for Shelly, she wanted her bike too so she led the way. I didn't let on about how I was quaking inside, we dug her bike out from under all the bigger bikes (why do we have 47 bikes down there???), grabbed E's little wooden bike under one arm and Shell's under the other and climbed back out of the dungeon basement. Only glancing back over my shoulder once to make sure nothing was following us.

A quick rush to find shoes, sweatshirts, helmets and then... Silence inside the house for about twenty minutes while they enjoyed their newfound freedom. Speed, coasting, peddling, tight circles and wide turns and enjoying the wind in their faces and the sun in their eyes. Twenty minutes. The wind finally crept in under their sweatshirts, tummies growling because its been thirty minutes since they last ate, they eventually all came in hungry and freezing nearly to death.

Opening Day for the biking season didn't last too long, but the kids have been out, the bikes are in the garage and there's no going back to the basement now. Spring, Summer, something with warmer temperatures is on the way!!

In March the wind blows down the door
And spills my soup upon the floor
It laps it up and roars for more
Blowing once, blowing twice
Blowing chicken soup with rice

~ Maurice Sendak

 

To: family Form: Shelly

His Own Rythm

As I was getting some cottage cheese out for a snack, E was leaping around the kitchen, hopping from one square to the next and as he went around the corner, I heard him slip and then a big THUD. I turned to go find him, give hugs for his injured whatever, but before I took two steps I heard him cheerfully talking to himself.
     Be-ba-doo-be.. dum dum ba-dum ba-dum be-ba-doo-bee...

He continued his little story, took the bowl from my hand and went to enjoy his snack. All of this came after a big game of him teaching me how to hop like a frog, then chasing me around throwing a paper airplane at me, then more chasing, hiding, screeching and laughing so hard my stomach started to hurt.

These are the moments we'll forget, I guess, the best ones where nothing else matters except the laughter and hugs. They get lost in the daily fray. But these are the moments, stitched together, that make a lifetime of connections with each other, stringing into a tapestry of family, the family that supports you and carries you through the tough times. The tapestry that makes such a beautiful picture when you stand back to look at all the little threads pieced together, and what they've come to mean.

The List

Today I took E grocery shopping. For us, this is a half day event at three different stores. Usually we go in the morning when he's at his best, and he can nap afterwards. Today I gambled and we went during nap time. We started off so well, and then... a bump in the road...

We were in the cleaning section of Target, looking for laundry soap, but across the aisle there is the alluring TOY section. I was trying to breeze by it, but little E immediately caught sight of some tempting fun-looking stuff and went just a couple of feet away, and spied a CHITEN! (That's how he says it, I know its not really how you write "chicken." Just for the record.) "Mom, yook at dat CHITEN!! On dat BARN!" Oh that looks like fun, I said, only half looking at what he was pointing out. Then the question, the one that the older two have learned not to ask, but the one that he so innocently blurts out. "Can we get it?" I finally gave him my full attention. No, I'm sorry, its not on the list for things to buy today. And then the kicker. My sweet as sugar, smartest boy I've ever known says to me, "But you can write it." It takes me a moment to understand what he has just said. "You can write it." He's telling me to add it to the list, then we'll be able to buy it.

I kneel down in front of him and tell him I'm sorry, and tell him we can't buy it, and I can't add it to the list. There are tears. There is bribery. Hugs and kisses and a promise of a cheeseburger if we can do our very best and get through this store. After a couple of minutes we move on, we make it out of the store without much more fuss and he holds me to my promise. A cheeseburger from Burger King, with pickles. His current obsession is to always be sure that it has pickles. And when he says Burger King, he really means McDonald's. He sees the golden arches and announces every time, "Burder Ting!"

Success, we get through the next two stores with no more major meltdowns. And the bribery only cost $4.93, a shared value meal. Score for me!

Gears

Shelly came running in and complained that Elijah wouldn’t run more slowly. I have no idea what the game was supposed to be, but she told him to run slow. He ran in after her and said he couldn’t run that way.

I changed the subject and started talking about my car. “You know, when I’m shifting gears in my car, I start out slowly in gear one, then go a little faster in gear two, and keep going faster and shifting until I’m in gear five and that’s the FASTEST. Right?” She seemed to understand and nodded. “Well, Elijah only has one gear. Five. My car can’t go slowly in gear five, it would just quit. Elijah is the same, he only has one gear, and its FAST.” She claimed that she had like a thousand gears, and why wouldn’t he? I told her she’s more mature and has learned how to control her muscles, but he hasn’t learned that yet, he can’t help it. All this time, Elijah is running in and out of the room, he’s now picked up on the numbers and starts shouting, “I’m gear fourty-five!” All the while still running circles around us, out to another room and back again, never stopping once.

We followed that with a discussion of Shelly’s gears (she’s got ten), the number you’re in when you’re sleeping (zero), walking was classified as one. So guess what they’re doing right now? Running laps around the house, announcing numbers, trying to out-run each other and running off some energy before supper. Of course, once they fuel up, they’ll be off again at top speed, nothing can stop them!

Gear Ninety against Gear Eighty, GO!

 

 

Shelly's Seven!

We did something this year that we’ve never attempted before. Its surprising, considering we’ve been parents for almost ten years, and this is an American cultural standard that our kids have been exposed to beginning way back at four and five years old. The Birthday Party with Friends. We’ve avoided it, passed it up, and this year we’ve finally succumbed.

 We held a birthday party for Shelly’s big Seven. Two cousins, ten friends, and lots of screeching girls… One dad said to me, “I feel sorry for you” as he closed the door behind him. I just smiled and let him know we were going to have lots of fun. And secretly inside I was completely intimidated by the mob of little girls circling around me. Are we going to have fun? Will they tell their parents it was a good time? Grandma Sue and Aunt Niecy came to help and I kept asking Denise, is it going ok? I guess it went ok.

We were inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder and came up with crafts and games in the spirit of Laura in her Little House. The girls made rag dolls, lavender sachets, button necklaces, wooden tops, butter, and shopped at the General Store. The boys were in charge of the store, taking pennies from the girls and dishing out giant pickles, marbles, paper dolls and countless pounds of candy.

In the end, when it was all over, I felt like I had planned a wedding, all timed out and choreographed. I knew that David and I couldn’t have done it without all the help we got from Grandma and Aunt Niecy. There were no major injuries, no home-wrecking catastrophes (only bits of rock candy everywhere that we had to pick up for days afterwards), and the girls left with their goodies and smiles on their faces. Best of all, Shelly said she had a good time. She thanked us a thousand times. And hopefully she’ll remember the BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER for a few years to come.

Boomerang

Sometimes things return back to you in the least expected moments.

I was thinking recently about a video that I vaguely remembered. The memory is so clear, I remember sitting on the floor in Grandpa Shorty's living room. There were probably a few cousins around. I watched this fun movie with songs from different movies, all the words were on the bottom of the screen and we sang along. And my favorite was from the Jungle Book, the elephants marching and singing. I wonder how old I was then. I haven't seen it in decades. I sort of missed it and thought my own kids would enjoy it, but who knows what happens to these things? Some old video, long gone and mostly forgotten.

Then, Christmas rolled around, we went to Mom and Dad's, there was a frenzy of food, gift opening, packing up the car. When we got home and unpacked our car, there was a little treasure in the bottom of a gift bag. Something old and almost forgotten, remembered only as a vague thought of a moment at Grandpa's house so long ago. There it was, the video.

Right away I put it into the VCR and there he was... Jiminy Cricket hosting a 24 minute sing along. The kids settled in to watch and I sang along to all these classics and finally, the one I had remembered, it came up and we laughed and I almost cried at the thought of it. This little clip from a video so long ago, from Grandpa's house with family and all of the memories from that place and those people, and here was this silly little song singing right out of my past. Thanks for passing that along to us, Mom.

Vacation, and More

The kids had an unusually long Christmas vacation from school, two full weeks. Add the weekends on either end, and that's 16 days at home. We had a great time together, David also had almost two full weeks off from work. We played games, put up the Christmas tree, took it down again, celebrated the holidays. Then... The arctic freeze set in. The jet stream of cold air from the far northern parts of Canada, or something. They predicted it for a week and then it came, the cold. On Friday, they cancelled school for Monday. The kids were happy, an extra day! Except, we talked about the people who don't have homes, who will be seriously at risk over the coming cold days and even colder nights. We prayed. We took a spur of the moment trip to the store to buy blankets and then dropped them off at the homeless shelter. We prayed some more. Last night the cold really set in, the kids and I haven't been outside for days. This afternoon I got another call from the school, its cancelled again, no school tomorrow. I'm so thankful for this warm, safe home we have, and the furnace that just keeps running and keeping us warm.
 

We'd be going a bit crazy, but we're all in project mode, and we've got lots of work to do! We'll be throwing a birthday party for Shelly, there are LOTS of girls on the invite list, and we need to get planning! Its amazing how there's no fighting when there's a common cause. Making invitations, working on making yarn dolls, brainstorming ideas for games, crafts, food, decorations.... I've got a shopping list two pages long, but can't leave the house to buy the stuff. In the mean time, we'll use what we have and listen to some fun music while we party away the day!

I got a CD from the library and we discovered this fun little song, we listened to it over and over, laughing every time!