Sharing the Legacy of Family History

When my mom passed away I inherited all the family history stuff. Among this was a journal from my 3rd great grandfather Niels Hendrick Borreson (pronounced Burson). I've always wanted to somehow share this legacy with others, especially long-lost cousins, so recently I started a family tree website to do just that. I was able to scan the journal entries and a lot of the old photos and upload them to share. I hope that it will inspire my extended family to learn about their ancestors.

My mom's side of the family is rich in Utah pioneering/Mormon history. I knew the maternal side (the Borreson side) was, but with a little searching last night, I am coming to find out the paternal side was as well.

It's exciting, but at the same time humbling to be recording the names and dates of my ancestors. Often there were 8, 9, 10 or more children but several of those little ones were lost in the first few years. As a parent, it really touches me to think about how difficult life was back then.

I found a picture last night of Niels Borreson's house in Spring City Utah:


along with this short description:
"This house, one of the oldest stone houses in Spring City, was constructed of two-foot thick random rubble stone. Borresen, a miller and horticulturalist, was born in Denmark in 1826. He converted to the LDS church in Denmark and came to Utah in the late 1850s. He moved to Spring City in 1860 and had three wives. He was a veteran of the Black Hawk War and was imprisoned twice at the Territorial Prison in Sugarhouse for practicing polygamy. In 1994 a wood frame wing was added and the original house restored by Peter and Inge-Lise Goss."

I knew that this ancestor was a polygamist from my family history research. I didn't know that he went to prison for it however. He married two widows; one who's husband's death was listed as "died at sea - on way from Norway to United States". These women both had 3-4 children and then went on to have 3-4 more with Niels. He fathered his last child at the age of 62!

At any rate, I plan on publishing his journal entry here over the next few days. It's interesting, and someone may just be looking for information on this prolific Utah pioneer and I would love to share what I can.

Pinch Me

Nat: "Do people have to wear green to bed so they don't get pinched in the morning?"

Mom: "Only if they have a brother. Since yours is in San Francisco I think you're safe."

A Kid's Dream

So imagine you're somewhere between the ages of 10 and 7, and you get to go to your school after hours and have the place all to yourself to do whatever you want.

You go into the top secret teacher's lounge, where students are strictly prohibited. Then you sit in the secretary's chair and pretend that you're in charge of handing out tardy slips.

You go up on stage and put on an improptu show with your sister that involves hula hoops, dribbling balls and being insanely goofy. You set up the microphone stands and take turns manning the stage curtains.

Then you go to the library to chill out. Do a little browsing among the books, lounge a little on the bean bag chairs, and cuddle with the stuffed animals.

Later you play hide and seek with your sister. So many classrooms to choose from. You find all the secret nooks and crannies, and doors that connect to other classrooms. You run and chase and laugh till you can't breathe.

The best part may be having the entire gym to yourself. You find the stash of balls, jump ropes, and scooter boards and use every one. You put on your Heelie shoes and run and skate with reckless abandon. It doesn't get much better than this!

Imagine how fun it is to explore your school with no rules, no teachers, no time limits.

Yep, that's what Nat and Miss Moo got to do tonight while I worked. Mike has been the substitute night custodian at their school this week, so this evening they got to go hang out with Daddy at their school. I came to pick them up 5 hours later and they STILL weren't ready to leave! They had just WAY too much fun!

I Am A Complete Dork At 2 In The Morning - Consider Yourself Warned

I'm sure you've all seen this video:



Well, that's what happened to me at about 2:30am this morning, but with the added twist that it was completely dark---the power had gone out, the curtains were drawn and there was no light at all. I literally could not see my hand in front of my face. I drew the short straw, and had to go feed the cat so we could get some sleep, but of course there was no flashlight to be found on either nightstand. I knew I had one in my purse...in the dining room. That would mean running the gauntlet blind through three rooms to retrieve it.

I felt around with my feet on the floor until I found my slippers...as I start to get up I realize they're on the wrong feet. Oh well. The first few feet are easy, I just have to keep my hand on the edge of the bed... but with dread, I know that I'll have to let go of this comforting anchor and navigate No Man's Land across the bedroom unassisted to get to the door of the bathroom.

No Man's Land involved waving my arms in front of my face while sweeping the floor ahead with my foot to avoid tumbling over the dreaded Ancient Sleeping Labrador. I was so worried about this happening that I completely overshot my goal, and ended up in the corner of the bedroom. As my flailing arms start hitting the clothes on top of my dresser I realize how far off I am, and because this so surprises me I start to giggle.

Mike can't tell if I'm laughing or crying at this point, and I'm really starting to lose it, so I can't form a coherent answer to his queries. This makes me laugh even more, and then I think how ridiculous I am flailing around, lost in my own bedroom, with a bad case of the giggles, and well, that really DID IT, and I started to snort!

Oh, gosh once the snorting started I just broke out in hysterical, crazy woman laughing (while I'm still making my way through the house with arms waving and feet darting out feeling for obstacles). I am just delirious and having a good old time by now. I'm giggling, snorting, and tripping over random stuff, which of course wakes up the girls...and the dogs...and the rest of the cats, who are all wondering what in the flip is happening.

I finally find my purse, fumble through it, find the flashlight, feed the *bleeping* cat, and make my way back to bed. The girls are fully awake now, as is Mike, and because the girls are afraid of the dark, I have to go find them a flashlight so that they can go back to sleep.

I woke up this morning and was still chuckling a little about what a spectacle I was in the middle of the night, all because of a pestering, hungry cat!

I Went to a Board Meeting

I went to my first school board meeting ever tonight. I've always been an involved parent, just not THAT involved.

Our district like many others, is facing a serious budget deficit. On the proposal to be cut are things like the ski program, music, the school nurse among other things and/or jobs. It is scary times, especially in California.

The good news is that we have an awesome school board, a bunch of committed and active parents, and our district gets funding mostly from property taxes and NOT from the state like other districts, which means that we are sitting in a much better position than most.

There were rumors that our small school up here was going to be shut down. Thankfully that is just a rumor and things would have to get really bad before they did that.

It was an eye opening experience, and though I arrived feeling anxious and full of dread, I left feeling hopeful and thankful for our little school district and our close knit small community.

Dental Phobia

Yesterday I went to the dentist. Big Whoop, you say? It's been 12 years and I'm a dentalphobe, I say!

My main excuse for not going for so long was my lack of insurance. I didn't want to go to find out I needed work only to not be able to afford it. My other excuse was that since as far back as I remember I've had to have dental work, and I never, ever had a time when I went and was told "no cavities". I was happy if I could count how many cavities I had on ONE hand, not two!

But yesterday wasn't so bad. And it was actually the first time I've had "no cavities"! I do have a couple fillings that need to be replaced, but remarkably, nothing urgent, no root canals, no gum disease (my fears) and it will be affordable thanks to my insurance. Huzzah!!!

Today I took my girls to finish up their dental treatment (all my kids have unfortunately inherited my crappy teeth). And in stark contrast to my experiences as a child, they actually look forward to going to the dentist. What's not to love about a safari themed office where you can play video games while you're waiting, bring a dvd to watch while you're getting your work done and nitrous oxide is standard? The dentist demonstrates each tool on their finger (Mr. Thirsty, Mr. Tickle, etc.), and puts a smiley face on their fingernail to show how the sealants work. Afterward they go "shopping" in the toy box and get a balloon.

Yes, dentists have come a long way, and I'm glad for my younger kids that it has. As for me, I'm proud that I finally had the courage to go, and that 12 years of neglecting the dentist wasn't as bad as I imagined.

From the 7-Year-Old:

Conversing with her 10yo sister, "So you know how cops like sushi?"

WHAT!? Cops like SUSHI? I thought it was donuts or something! Of course her sister goes along with it like this is common knowledge. (And I'm sorry I can't remember what the rest of the conversation was actually about.)

Then later, "I love-slash-hate Tuesdays."

What 7yo says "love-slash-hate"? Where the heck did that come from? And it sounded like it was mostly a hate thing due to what school work is required on Tuesdays anyway. Too funnny.

This Was My Week And It Was Good (not feeling the title today...)

This week in review...

Saw Cam and Cass' play last Sunday. I had to play hookey from church because Sunday's my ONLY DAY OFF! and I don't even get that off this week...wah! and I have to work 13 days in a row, between both my jobs...wah!, wah!, until March 7th when I get a day off FINALLY!....

...okay, now that I have my whining done...back to topic...

Sis and I drove down to "The City" (ya know, code for San Fran), and saw the play that Cam and Cass have been working so hard on the last couple months. It was at SFSU and they did High Fidelity. It was fantastic, but would have been NOTHING without the fabulous assistant director (Cass) and the drummer in the band (Cam). I was impressed by the talent and it was nice to have a day to hang out with my big kids.

Thanks to Sis for driving all the way home when I got a migraine and had to take my heavy duty prescription medicine. I felt great, but since I was having a hard time putting together a coherent sentence, I figured I shouldn't be operating heavy machinery, even if said machinery is only a Honda Civic.

Another highlight this week was getting my order of Girl Scout cookies. Along with Lemonades and Shortbreads we got a box of the Holy Grail of Girl Scout cookies: THIN MINTS, and I decided, why should we torture ourselves with doling them out one at a time, making them last, rationing, all that hooey...let's just eat the dang things and enjoy the heck out of them. So we did. We ate the whole box in one evening. And it was Gooooooooood!

Then Miss Moo wrote an essay for school featuring ME (of all people!) and how I should get a Best Parent Award:

My mom has two jobs and is not appreciated! I want her to be. Every day she works really hard. My mom absolutely must win an award for being the greatest mom ever.
One reason is she makes me laugh and is very funny. My mom acts really funny around the house. Around the house, she dances even when there isn’t any music on. Sometimes she makes jokes even off topic.
Another reason is she takes me shopping. She takes me shopping for toys, clothes, bikes, and, books. She takes me to a lot of different stores like, Wal-Mart, J.C.Penney, Ross, and T.J.Max. When we go school shopping we go all over the place.
The final reason my mom should win an award is for taking care of me. When I am sick she stays home with me and helps me get better. She cooks delicious food when my dad is not home. When I am having teeth problems she calls the dentist and makes an appointment for me.
My mom should be given an award for being a great mom. My mom helps little kids with autism. You have to give my mom an award for helping people, taking care of me, making me laugh and taking me shopping. You might not know my mom and you might not think she is great but, she is to me.

And this pretty much made my week, 'cause I was feeling like a pretty crappy, neglectful mom. Plus I like the part about me not being appreciated (hee,hee!), and making jokes "off topic". Just to explain the reference to me cooking: luckily Mike does almost all the cooking, but should he be absent, I make an attempt to heat something on the stove, which may or may not be mac and cheese.

And then Sis came up and spent the afternoon with me yesterday, which helped my demeanor immensely, even if she couldn't tell, and I still seemed sullen and whiney.

All in all, a good week!

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Funny how I came to work with special needs kids. I mean really. The only experience I had with people who had mental disabilities was from my childhood, and it was extremely negative.

I had a distant cousin who had Down Syndrome. I saw her only occasionally at big family get-togethers, usually at Easter. She was quite a bit older than I was, and I was WARNED about her. Due to an incident involving another cousin of mine, I was specifically warned not to wear necklaces when she was around because she would try to grab it, and would choke me in the process. I was further led to believe that she was abnormally strong, and if she were to latch on to me, I would be lucky to survive.

I was so afraid of this sweet girl. It made me so nervous to be anywhere near her. I really didn't even want to go to any events that she might possibly attend.

I think that this girl probably did touch my cousin's necklace, and I imagine that my cousin over-reacted and her drama queen of a mother embellished the horror (or lack thereof) for her own enjoyment (my aunt was actually the mentally unstable one, as we would all find out much, much later). The story of the necklace grabbing and my cousin's narrow escape from death at the clutches of this girl soon became a family legend of sorts.

Because of this, the mentally handicapped always made me nervous and uneasy. Just by chance I ended up subbing in special ed when I signed on with the school district as an aide. As soon as I met the precious little ones afflicted with Down's, autism and other disorders, all my old fears and predjudices flew right out the window, and I fell in love, especially with the Down Syndrome kids, whom I've come to find out, are the sweetest and gentlest souls on the planet.

Just last week I came across this post which touched my heart. It's encouraging to see that people with special needs are more readily accepted and understood now, and I regret that I lived a good deal of my life with a bias against them.

Milkshakes are Special Ed Approved

The kids in our class get these little containers of strawberries with their school breakfasts, and being that they're preschoolers, they usually share a container and we put the others in the fridge for another time.

Well, we ended up with a bunch of these little containers and the teacher had an awesome idea...we needed to make strawberry milkshakes!

She went and got some vanilla ice cream then we put some in a cup for each kid, added a little strawberries, a little milk, and had them stir (sequencing and fine motor skills) then they had to suck it through a straw (oral skills), plus they were sitting at the table practicing their social skills. See, it was all in the name of education! (And of course we grown-ups had one too...role modeling, you see...yeah, that's the ticket!)

Trying to Catch Up on This Whole Blogging Thing

I was just starting to get back into the blogging mode and then hit another one of those "meh" kinda moods. I know my sister appreciates reading my blog, so in honor of her, here is what's been going on in my uber-exciting life.

Well, with the president's holiday weekend, we were very busy at the restaurant and I made good tips both Friday and Saturday. On Friday we were visited by a family that has come before...and we remember them...and especially their children, VERY WELL, if you get my drift...what's a nice way of saying that they were hellions? Well I can't think of a nice way of saying that so there ya go.

This group of people consisted of a couple sets of parents and about 6 kids aged 8-11ish. The hostess and I were literally babysitting these kids as they roamed the restaurant unrestricted by their parents.

Let's see, I had to take salt and pepper shakers away from 2 of the boys who had ventured near the fireplace with them and planned who-knows-what kind of science experiment involving fire, salt and pepper, then I had to run them out of the bar because they decided it would be fun to rearrange all the barstools, tables and chairs in there; after that I shooed them away from the hostess station/cash register area where they were trying to sneak behind the "employees only" gate and steal from the bowl of after-dinner mints that the hostess had to finally hide from them. Later, after they had left and I was bussing their table I found one of our spoons broken in half and another nicely bent. They obviously did that right under their parents' noses. Sheesh! What kind of parent lets their children act like that in public?

The good thing is that since our restaurant is a private, they will be hearing from the general manager, and won't be allowed to come again and let their children behave that way.

We had a huge crab feed at the restaurant on Sunday, which I renamed "Happy Crabentine's Day". We again worked our fannies off, but we all went home with a big bag of fresh crabby leftovers. Yum!

Yesterday Miss Moo went downhill skiing with the school -her very first time at downhill- and ended up falling and hurting her wrist. Nothing broken just a slight sprain.

About an hour before I had to go pick Miss Moo up from the school, I was trying to close one of our old-timey wooden sash windows which was being stubborn because of the wet weather, and ended up slamming the tip of my middle finger in it. Oh, ouch! Surprisingly enough I refrained from using any hard-core curse words and instead muttered "mother of pearl!" and "dammy sammy!" numerous times to spare little Nat's innocent ears. I did have to go lay down for a bit. Holy heck, fingertips are sensitive!

Speaking of curse words, tonight I ran to the store, and playing over the loudspeakers was the song that goes, "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the G-D door?". On the radio they edit out the G-D, but not at our store, apparently. In fact, this was the first time I'd heard that song in it's full curse-word glory. And mind you the G-D part is 80% of the lyrics to the song, so it's not like you could miss it.

I was kind of walking around, thinking, "Seriously? Do they not realize what they're playing? Did some kid say, 'Hey can I play my cd?' and they didn't question it?" I will definitely let them know about it. I'm sure they will hear from a lot of other folks too.

That's about it here in my little part of the world. We've been enjoying our "spring tease" with all the warm weather and sunshine, but we aren't dumb enough to think that spring is actually here. It's nice to pretend for a few days though.

A Nose Like A Bloodhound

Thursday Mike picked up the girls from school and Nat got into his pick-up and said, "Your truck smells funny Dad." He and Miss Moo didn't smell anything unusual, so he didn't think much of it.

He dropped the girls off at home and drove to the market where his truck caught fire. It was an electrical fire and luckily got put out before it became a major disaster, but definitely put his truck out of commission. Well, that explains what Nat smelled.(Mike will now have to get around in his old Land Cruiser that I swear is held together by rust alone).

Nat has always had a sensitive nose. When she was little, she would cry if we drove past a skunk because the smell was so strong to her. And there was also the time driving through the city, when she announced, "I smell French fries." We didn't come across the fast food restaurant until about 1/2 a mile later. She also can't stand the smell of banana bread baking. I guess it's just too sweet. Strange little kid.

From now on if she says she smells something we are going to take heed. If she says she smells smoke we're going to call 9-1-1 and ask questions later. Someday that nose of hers may just pay off...I wonder if she can sniff out truffles...

He Will Be Missed

...and remembered.

My Kind of Movie Star

We have the nicest older gentleman that comes in regularly to our restaurant. He's so kind, and fun to chat with. He likes to side tip the bussers and waitresses rather than add the tip to the bill. He'll call you over real low-key and then slip the money in your hand (and he's quite generous-both with his money and his hugs).

He's been battling cancer, and lost his wife a couple years ago, but his will to live and his love of life are so strong. He never fails to make us all feel grateful and happy when he arrives.

He is a Swiss immigrant and I had heard that there had been a film made about his life. All of us at the restaurant have wanted to see it, but just have never had the chance.

Well, when I started my job at the special-ed preschool, I discovered that one of the other aides was full-blooded Swiss. Being that she was only 24, and obviously not an immigrant, I asked her how that came about in America of all places! She said her parents were both Swiss and happened to meet. Well, I couldn't resist asking if she happened to know our Mr. Ruckli from the restaurant. She said of course she did, he was a distant relative. And I also found out she owned a copy of his film which she was happy to lend to me.

We watched the film the other night. It tells of Fred immigrating to America when he was 19, because he wanted to do better than he could in Switzerland. He wanted the American dream. He ended up working at his uncle's dairy in the SF bay area, but shortly thereafter the Korean War started and he was drafted. If he didn't fight in the war he could not become a citizen, which is what he wanted most of all, so he fought.

Years later he returned to Switzerland and was at a local bar; he told how he was proud of the fact that he could buy everyone there a round of drinks because he was now a successful American citizen. He told them how in America people don't call each other sir, mister or doctor, everyone knows everyone by their first names.

Also in the film, it shows him caring for his elderly wife who suffered a stroke and subsiquently lost her memory. He said now in their later years they could have traveled, but she wouldn't have gotten anything out of it, she was "in her own little world". When Nat heard that she said, "It's just like she's autistic, huh?" Interesting how my girls' understanding of others has expanded by just my working with special needs kids and telling them about them.

A couple days after we had watched his film, Mr Ruckli came into the restaurant with his daughter. I was excited to tell them how I had finally seen the film and how I had enjoyed it. He was surprised when I told him how my 7 and 10 year old watched the whole movie and enjoyed it as well.

It's just a simple little film about a war veteran, a father, a husband, a proud American and a man I know and admire. I would rather recieve a hug from him than any of your "Hollywood types". Mr. Ruckli is my kind of "movie star".

Losing...

a Father-in-law and a grandfather.

It's rough. He has cancer and won't last for more than another couple days. He has his family by his side which is all anyone would want.

I don't really feel like this is blog fodder, so I haven't posted about it. It's too real...hurts...brings up memories of my mom's death.

I do know that I have a testimony of Jesus Christ, and that He lives and because He lives we will all live again as well. Families ARE forever. This I also know is true. And that's what gives me peace right now.

Tea For Three

On the way home from church today, the girls decided we needed to have a tea party. I made tea and bagels with cream cheese, and the girls each made their own specialties: Nat made cinnamon rolls (bread spread with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar then rolled up and cut into small pieces) and Miss Moo made her famous apple crisp which is just apples sliced up with cinnamon, powdered sugar with a little water added. I have no clue why she calls it an apple crisp, but it's good, so who am I to argue? We added some sliced oranges, and some fudge my friend gave me and it was a lovely tea!

One Tough Cookie

Miss Moo slammed her finger in a door about a month ago. It was pretty nasty at the time and she got very white and almost passed out. From then on every day the finger and nail turned different colors.

Finally the finger recovered and she was left with a black nail. She painted all her nails black, so it wasn't very noticable. Then she and Nat were playing rough and her nail almost came off. Ugh...that was about a week ago.

After wearing band-aids and babying it for a week, she decided the nail had to go. I give her credit. I wouldn't have had the stomach for it. While she watched her favorite show she wiggled that nail and got it off. I know. Ugh, again.

She said that it made her tummy feel weird, and Nat and I said it made our tummies feel weird just to think about it!

After she made the big Nail Detachment announcement, I asked her if she threw the nail away (as in "please, please, for the love of Pete, don't let me see that thing sitting on the coffee table"). She said, "No, I saved it so I can show Dad 'cause he'll want to see it." Being that he's a guy and all, he probably WILL want to see it. As for me...Ugh, ugh, ugh! My tummy feels weird.

Back to Basics

We’ve had a week of storm after storm and it took a toll on our little town. Sixty-plus electric outages and over 5000 people affected. This is roughly the population of our town and surrounding Podunk suburbs. I was feeling a bit guilty when our little neighborhood only lost power for a few hours and most of those during the night. All around town folks were talking about trees that had come down and taken out power poles, or how long they’d been suffering without their modern conveniences. Yep, we got off REAL lucky.

Then it happened. Out went our phone line on Sunday. Due to our own economic circumstances we’ve been without cable and cell phones for about a month, so we’ve been toughened up a bit by that deprivation. But no phone line? And in our world that equals no internet! Yikes. No contact with the outside world. No watching tv shows on HULU. No local news or weather. UGH!

The first day wasn’t so bad. I broke out the bread machine, dusted it off (it’s been neglected for years) and made bread. We played some games, read, went to sleep early. And with the tons of snow we got I was feeling very Little House on the Prairie-esque.

The second day not so much, the third, forgettaboutit! And the fourth…finally in the afternoon, contact with the outside world again. How Laura, Mary and Pa every made it through The Long Winter is beyond me!
Wow, getting back to basics. Ain’t it grand?

(Here's a photo of what we found upon opening the front door after the last storm)


"Pa! put down that fiddle and get a shovel! A BIG shovel!"

A January Paddling

This week has been filled with gorgeous, if not unseasonable, weather. On Monday I made a plan to kayak today if the weather held (Fridays being the day I'm off work at noon and don't have to show up at the restaurant till 4:30, so I knew I'd have plenty of daylight and time.)

I came racing home, loaded my boat and took it on the short drive to the lake. Ahhhhh...me time. And I didn't feel guilty.

I really wouldn't have guessed I'd get a chance to take my kayak out until spring, certainly January wasn't on my mind at all. I have to confess it was nice to go out just by myself. I love having the girls go with me but there's always someone who's wet, or tired, or doesn't want to go to that end of the lake, etc. It was just too cool to do what I wanted and get it out of my system so that I can really cater to what the kids want to do next time.

Here's my moment of zen...

and just bliss...

I did have to share the lake with my fellow paddlers though:

It Was a Test!

Remember my post about how I read everything, and the chopped red ants on the order board at the restaurant?

Well, when I worked on New Year's Eve, I had to check out the board. Usually I see if the same stuff is up there that I remember from last time or if there's something new for me to read.

This time among the lists of items I saw a circle with a slash and then "of ur bznz".

They're out of some kind of beans?...none of your beans?

Hmm...no, that's not it....

"None of your business!" I shout in victory!

The chefs just start laughing. "Yeah we put that up there for you to see if you'd notice"

I did. Ha!

Savoring the Last of My Christmas and My Chocolate

I really think this was one of our best Christmases. Such fun, such laughs, such great times together. For me the best present is always having all my kiddos under one roof enjoying each other's company. That's always the best gift.

Christmas has wound down, the Christmas decorations have been boxed up. Good old 2009 has wound down as well. This is always a melancholy time: the packing away of the Christmas magic and hoping I did a good job to make it special and memorable for my kids the way my mom always did.

Then the whole new year thing, which makes me look back--well, literally because as I put up my new calendar for the year, I look at all the pages on my old one: appointments, work schedules, play dates, birthday parties, short trips, awards, school performances, and I remember what the first of last year was like and it seems like so long ago but not that long ago all at the same time. Weird.

And now our Christmas break is almost over. Only two more days and it's back to work and school. I have so cherished this time. With my school job, I get the same vacation as the kids, and my restaurant job has only worked me 3 days over the last 2 weeks. I haven't had two days off in a row in a very long time and then I get all this! Wow!

The girls and I have totally gotten off schedule. We are such night-owls and sleeper-inners now. That first week back is going to kick our collective butts!

I am proud of myself for getting a lot accomplished with my time off. I have been going through all the boxes that I have been storing (and moving) for the last, gosh, must be 18 years. I have boxes and boxes filled with the kids' school keepsakes. Entire boxes for one grade and ONE kid. Goodness, every lunch menu, spelling test, doodle, worksheet, you name it. I have weeded through each box and kept the treasures and tossed the rest, and I've been making myself be brutal.

My goal is that each kid will have a plastic storage box of special toys, baby blankets, first outfits, etc, a scrapbook of school artwork, and a binder with awards, special cards, stories they had written and other fun things (not counting their photo scrapbooks, but that's a whole other project!) and over the last 2 weeks I've come very close to achieving this goal. (Hearty pat on the back.)

I'm almost at the end of the box of chocolates that my son had given me for Christmas and it reminds me of this time of year...the days (and chocolates) were plentiful at the beginning of our break, we had everything to anticipate and look forward to and it seemed like we had so much, and now my box is almost empty and my days off with my girls are almost gone too. The chocolates taste just as delicious if not more so...I slowly savor each one, as it is with my days, I try to savor that time that I don't have work and can just be at home with my kids. Sweet, indeed.

Why You Dirty...

The other night we were out looking at Christmas lights and we came upon a house with synchronized lights that was just incredible. I pulled out my camera to take a picture, and wouldn't ya know...the battery was dead.

I kind of muttered, "Why, you dirty baa...Bugger!"

From the back seat of the car I hear Natalie, "Did you hear that? Mom almost said bastard! She was going to say, 'Why, you dirty bastard!'"

How could I NOT laugh after that! I did give a little reminder that if I stop myself from saying a word, chances are it's not appropriate for her to say either!

Be a Reader!

I certainly can't be the only one who reads everything, can I?

At the restaurant I'm always reading the white board that the chef uses for orders from the suppliers. I'm often sneaking up there and making a correction or two (skewrs? no, skewers!) or asking what something means in messy chef short-hand (chopped red ants? really?! no, actually chopped mxd (mixed) nuts) although after pointing that out, a few days later he did write "chopped red ants" on there just to see if I would notice. I did. Immediately.

One of the waitresses who has been there some 15 years said she didn't know anyone's last name. Apparantly she doesn't read the names on everyone's time cards when she clocks in and out.

I've never really thought about it until the chef pointed it out, but am I really that unusual? I'm sure most people read everything too, right? Box labels, scribbled notes, office memos, signs, t-shirts, those mandatory employee rights posters? Please tell me I'm not the only one. I'm starting to get a complex here.

The Santa Beard Question

Ok, so I was asked a very good question: If Mike has a big hairy face already, then why the fake beard when he was playing Santa?

Well, he tried it without the beard and it just didn't look Santa-ish enough. There's just something about the flowing white beard that's more Santa like and to be truthful, I'd rather he wear a fake beard than encourage him to grow his beard any longer than it already is. That's just too much hair for my liking.

Here's a couple photos of the girls in their elf suits. The person who loaned Mike the Santa suit had the elf hats and shoes, I made the little felt tunics, and the girls just wore turtle necks and tights underneath.

Here Comes Santa

Mike got to play Santa today at a local preschool. He has been wanting to do the Santa-thing for years, and I guess if you go gray early and have a big beard, what the heck.

He's been bugging me to be his Mrs. Claus, however I don't think I'm NEAR old enough for that kind of thing! I have a little pride! He did talk Nat and Moo into being his elves though, so the three of them got to ride to the preschool on the fire truck (lights and sirens and everything!) and hand out goodies to all the little ones.

The girls were thrilled. I had kind of coached them the night before about being elfish, talking about the North Pole and such, and having an elf name (Nat was Sparkle, Moo was Ming-Ming). I told them it was like having an acting job. Nat was cute last night studying up on the reindeer names before bedtime. I didn't get to go as I had to work, but one of the helpful firefighters took pictures (I love those guys!)

Christmas Happenings

Miss Moo had her first concert performance where she played the bells and did a fabulous job. The cool thing about the bells is that they're very easy to hear over the rest of the instruments. I love, love, love kids' band performances. This is my third kid who's blessed me with this treat. I think music is SO worthwhile (even though I dropped band in 5th grade when I found out we had to actually PERFORM--IN FRONT OF PEOPLE. I really missed out and regret not pursuing music when I was young.)

We also went to the best church Christmas party ever. It was a Polar Express theme, and let me tell ya, the couple that was recently called as the ward activities directors really go out when they do a party. Fabulous! All the kids participated in a little skit about the true meaning of Christmas, and then got to sit on Santa's lap.

My little angels waiting for their turn to see Santa.

Not only Santa, but Mrs. Claus too!

Sis and I put together homework stations (got the idea here and here) for Moo and Nat for one of their presents. They turned out so cool, and I know those girls will love them considering how much they love to play school. Whether it will actually motivate them to do their homework is debatable!

(They will have markers, pencils and glue sticks in their plastic pockets on the lower left.)

Snow Day! Wooo!

A very cold storm blew through last night and into today, leaving us with 18" of snow and several inches in the towns below us that never get snow. We started out getting a call from the schools that it would be a 2 hour delayed start, but a short time later they called a snow day.

I was up getting ready to go when I got the snow day call, and I promptly returned to bed under my down blanket with dreams of hibernation. Bliss.

I woke up a couple hours later to the sounds of the girls playing and a power outage. The perfect day to put up our tree, drink hot cocoa (thanks to our woodstove), play games, and watch the girls go sledding.

As for decorating the Christmas tree, the cats could not believe their good fortune: we brought a tree INTO the house, and put dangly things all over it! Merry Christmas to them! At least that's what they think! There's no way to keep 3 kittens out of the tree, so we put the unbreakable ornaments at the bottom and we're hoping for the best, with the squirt bottle loaded and ready when they get a little too out of hand.

I had a bad angle on this photo of the girls following a crash, but it's so funny. Miss Moo has snow in her glasses and Nat's laid out flat laughing her bum off.

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Just now the girls and Mike are sitting on the couch watching Monday Night Football. Nat asks Mike, "Are you rooting for the Packages?" What?!? Oh, she meant the Packers!!! Too funny! They'll probably be known as the Packages from now on in our house!

Changing of the Guard

Today at church I knew right away it wasn't going to be our usual first-Sunday-of-the-month testimony meeting when I saw a full chapel and members of the High Council on the stand. I wasn't ready for a new bishopric to be called though.

Our bishop was the first one for our ward when our little branch became an official ward 5 years ago. I had known this man out of church when I got involved with Relay for Life and he was the Chairman of the event. I have always admired him and he is one of the kindest most thoughtful souls I think I've ever known. When he was called as Bishop I wasn't surprised.

They say the bishop is the father of the ward and he truly was. He was such an example to all (still is), and so warm and caring. One of his favorite things was to ditch his regular meeting on Sunday and come into Primary to hang out with the kids. We could always count on him to come to the kids' activity days and play games with them too.

I think someone serving as bishop for 5 years is probably a bit unusual, but in a ward as small as ours, we all serve in our callings a long time just do to a lack of people to take our place. For our bishop though, he had to step down due to health reasons and that's really why no one was prepared, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house today. Our bishop was recently diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and even though he's undergoing treatment, there is no cure.

The man called to be our new bishop was a complete surprise to me, but as one of the High Counselors explained, a lot of prayer goes into choosing just he right person and it has to be sent to Salt Lake City for approval and even then it's not a done deal. So even though this new bishop has only been in our ward for a mere 5 months, and he was the perfect Uncle Fester at the church Halloween party, I know that there is a reason he was chosen.

Yes, it was a sad day to see the man we all looked up to and knew we could count on, have to step away from his duties, and I think we're all praying for a miracle for him.

If you're not familiar with the LDS church, we have a lay clergy, meaning serving in the church is not a profession. No one recieves pay for being bishop or doing any other callings. Members take on these demanding positions in addition to their regular jobs and responsibilities.

Shopping Till We're Dropping

Yesterday I played hooky from work and went shopping. On Monday, the mom of the little girl I'm a 1:1 aide to, said that she would not be at school on Tuesday. I then asked our teacher if it would be ok to take a personal day and go shopping and she said to go for it.

Then, bad influence that I am, I asked Sis to play hooky and go with me. She of course jumped on the chance too.

I would feel a bit guilty, but I was seriously stressing out about when I would be able to shop at all with both my work schedules and especially because we have quite a few extra parties scheduled for this month as well at the restaurant. I truly don't have any days off (Sundays I don't usually work, but going to church for 3 hours puts a dent in my day).

I left the house yesterday at 8:30 am and returned at 8pm. A. Long. Day. But productive and worth it. For me, I have to travel for an hour and a half to get to a major shopping area so it's even more of an endeavor (I'm not like you spoiled city people!).

We did encounter a couple cashiers who had never heard of our town, and when told how far we had to drive they wondered aloud at how much money they would save if they lived where we did and couldn't shop all the time. (I really doubt they'd last a week up here, personally.)

Sis is so good at keeping me on track (well especially when I almost missed the turn to the city we wanted to go and headed somewhere else entirely!) and she's also good at giving me opinions and finding cool stuff and also finding my dang car in the parking lot. We really had a lot of fun.

Sis shopped for her Christmas gifts but will have to wait for them and open them on Christmas morning. I would've had to give her gift cards had she not picked out what she wanted and that's not near as much fun.

We had to laugh, when at one store while waiting for the clerk to bring back a pair of boots for Sis to try on, another clerk (a young tattooed man who looked very hip) asked if we had been helped. When we said we had, he replied with a very exuberrant, "SICK!!!!" Not, "Ok, cool." or ,"Good deal." but "SICK!!!!" Too funny! We chuckled about that the rest of the day.

I returned home tired, but a lot less stressed about the prospect of Christmas. Now maybe I can actually enjoy the season for a change!

The Shorts Are In The Mailbox, The Pies Are In The Trunk, And The Godiva Chocolates Are.....Digesting

Ever since my mom died, our Thanksgiving tradition involves us buying the turkey and all the trimmings, travelling to my Dad's house and having my husband cook for everyone, since he is basically the only one left with the skills (and motivation) to do so.

This year, the 18 lb bird, two ice chests, grocery bags, luggage for 5 people (including Barbies and special pillows), 2 adults, 3 girls (ok Sis is legally an adult, but she's still one of my girls), and our overweight pit bull, piled into the only reliable car we currently own, my Honda Civic. (At this point just envision a can of sardines and you'll get the picture.)

Shortly after we arrive, Husband starts freaking out (I'm not exaggerating) because he forgot to pack a pair of shorts to cook in, and he is certain he will succumb to heat stroke on Thanksgiving whilst slaving over a hot stove if he doesn't have ventilation on his legs. I can tell he's going to drag me all over the city shopping for shorts at this late hour if I don't figure out a solution pretty quickly. I call my sister, and her husband has a pair that should fit fine, however, they are leaving for the evening so they decide to put them in their mailbox for us to pick up at our convenience.

I'm at the point of not wanting to go out at all, even for this little errand, so we call Cam who's in that general area of town, and give him the cryptic message, "The eagle has landed. The shorts are in the mailbox. This is your mission should you choose to accept it." Well, ok, it wasn't that dramatic, but he was very confused at first by our request to travel to his aunt and uncle's house and retrieve clothing from their mailbox.

So, after all my kiddos arrive, I tell them I have to make apple pies for Thanksgiving the following day. Everyone is excited about this and they all pitch in to peel and slice apples for me. My big contribution is unrolling the refrigerated pie crusts into the pie plates and dumping the prepared apples into them. (Whew! Somehow I managed THAT tough task!)

We discover that my dad, known pie hound, has already cut into the pumpkin pie that my sister purchased and (foolishly) left at his house, and I now fear for the apple pies that I'm baking. Sure enough, as soon as the pies are out of the oven he starts hounding me for a slice. I'm not happy about slicing into one of these beauties, but I'm certainly not going to deny my 80 year old dad this little indulgence. However, to protect the uncut one, and insure there is some apple pie for Thanksgiving, I decide the best action to take is to hide the pies. My dad can be quite persistent when it comes to something like this, so I try to think of somewhere safe that he wouldn't think to look...yes, the trunk of his own car. Genius!

At any rate, the pies survived until AFTER the Thanksgiving feast for EVERYONE to enjoy,

my sister arrived despite falling and smashing her face on a brick planter the night before, Nat didn't starve despite the fact that the bird wasn't ready and had to go back into the oven for another hour (!), Mike stayed cool, calm and collected (thanks to borrowed shorts and lots of wine), and I did indeed share the Godiva chocolates (I hid those too) even though I tried to let on that they had already been consumed. All in all, a great Thanksgiving!

Really Cool, Awesome, Fun, Ramblin's (for me anyway)

Today I took the girls to Walmart and got them each a new dress (and then a new school outfit too, cause I'm a pushover like that) because they have a special church program on Sunday. It was just cool that I had the money to do that. I love that I have a decent job. I mean it's not enough to live off of or anything, but it is enough that I can spend a little money on the kids without my stomach turning into a knot. Fun!

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And speaking of money, and spending it...Over the last couple months I've been making payments to a lady for a kayak and I finally got to bring it home on Monday. It was really a great deal. It's virtually new (she used it twice in the 2 years since she bought it) and the price included a cart to pull it on, and then she gave me a brand new life jacket and tie downs and stuff. Awesome!

The funny thing is I hate the water. I'm very cat like in that respect. I actually have more of an unnatural fear of water, really, and I don't like swimming either. I think that's because I'm very sensitive to cold, and swimming involves immersing myself in water that is not nearly warm enough by my standards! At any rate, I bought a boat, of all things! Go figure!

I tried kayaking this summer and fell in love with it. It's peaceful, and the boats are light weight and very manuverable. I really love that the little girls, neither one who weighs more than 60 pounds, can help me load and unload it, then can get in it and paddle around with no problem. Really cool for them!

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I think it's funny that Nat can say "library" and "Valentine's" just fine (and I hear adults say "liberry" and "Valentime's"), but still mispronounces "chapter" as "chafter".

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And Miss Moo won best costume at school for her ghost bride:

Oh and speaking of ghosts... last night I turned off the front porch light, then sat down at the computer, and a few minutes later I turned around and looked and sure enough, the light was back on. And the switch was still in the off position. Hmmmm....But no, it didn't freak me out. It's just kind of funny.

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That's it for my cool, awesome, fun and PUZZLING ramblings...

Preschool Surprises

Working at a preschool, special ed or not, is always fun and full of surprises. (Some surprises involve bodily fluids and are not that fun, but still...)

Here are just a couple cute quotes from our kids:

Little boy picking his nose....
Teacher: "You need to get a kleenex."
Little Boy: "No I don't, I've got my finger right here."
That's little boy logic for you.

The preschool has a new teacher this year and when last year's teacher dropped by, one of the little boys ran up to her and said, "Teacher! You're here! I thought I lost you." So cute!

And let's just say we have one little boy that aims high when he sits on the potty chair. Last week he hit an unsuspecting teacher square in the chest from across the bathroom. Luckily she had a sense of humor and a clean sweatshirt in her car!

It Just Slipped By Me

I do what I can to spread the joy and put a smile on people's faces, even at my own expense and such was the case today.

Let me preface this by saying I've been inordinately tired this week: sick girls up in the middle of the night with coughing fits and earaches, working a double shift last night (school then restaurant), and feeling like I may be coming down with whatever crud the kids have been infecting the house with for the last week and a half. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

So, I'm walking into work at the school this morning and I'm passing all the parents who have just dropped their kids off and are heading back to their cars. I notice one gal in particular who looks like she just rolled out of bed a few minutes ago and is shuffling along in her slippers.

Here were my exact thoughts:

She looks tired...
...just like me...yawn...
...hmmm...I have some slippers just like that...
...they make that same shuffling sound...
...kind of like the sound my feet are making right now...yawn...
...wow, my feet feel especially comfy this morning...
---looking down---
HOLY FLIP! I'M STILL WEARING MY SLIPPERS!

Yes, I made a lot of people happy today by embarrassing myself at work. Like I said, I am not above sacrificing my own comfort level if it will give someone something to chuckle about for the rest of the day. Yes, today I made a lot of people smile. And it was worth it. (At least that's what I'm telling myself.)

Poor, Neglected Blog

I don't know why I've been out of the posting mood lately, but I have. I think Facebook is taking up a lot of my computer time. Facebook is so cool though. I've gotten in touch with all my good friends from childhood there. It's fun to know what they're doing day to day, and to see pictures of their families.

In other news I'm pretty sure the girls had "hog fever" ('cause we're not supposed to call it Swine Flu anymore, right?) Wow, what a nasty virus! Nat was hit the hardest and was down for a good 5 days. Both girls are still hacking and coughing. Yuck.

The cats were very supportive of Nat during her convalescence, however. They never left her side. They stayed next to her and comforted her through her fever and coughing and made sure to keep her cozy during her naps. Pretty heroic, in my opinion. (Or maybe cats just love nothing better than a warm body on the couch covered in a fleece blanket to nap on. Nah, not MY cats!)

Miss Moo has proved herself to be a true mountain girl. The other day she built a fire in the woodstove completely on her own! She knew just how to start it with the smaller pieces, open the dampers, and then add the larger wood as it got going. That's the first lesson in mountain life---keeping yourself warm. She passed. And now she can keep her mama warm too!

In other mountain life news, I still get a kick out of walking through our neighborhood and seeing all the bear sign. I've lived up here for almost 20 years and I've never seen so much bear activity in one place. We lived in far more remote areas and would see an occasional bear, but not have bears be a part of our everyday life like in this neighborhood. The difference being, when this neighborhood was built in the '30s there was a man who was a wannabe Johnny Appleseed and he planted apple trees everywhere around here. And where there's easy food, there's going to be lots of bears. The streets and alleyways here are just littered with piles of what I like to call "applesauce" and I just find it kind of humorous I guess that that is now a part of our normal daily life.

I recently performed at a festival in Richmond. It was pretty cool because it was in a huge auditorium and it just was neat to be on a stage that big (I don't have pictures of us performing just yet though). It did have real honest to goodness dressing rooms too. Usually the so-called dressing room is a large bathroom or supply closet, and all the performers have to share it, but here there was a dressing room for everyone. My friend and I thought the coolest thing was that there were stars on the doors, so we couldn't help taking our pictures in front of them so we could brag that we got the "star treatment"!

Madly Scientific

With Moo gone to a birthday party, I had Nat all to myself. We just recently got a slimy science kit from Scholastic, so she wanted to do an experiment.

First we put a layer of corn syrup (colored red),

then some blobs of baking soda, then a layer of water, and finally a layer of oil. Just that was pretty cool, then we started with the fun stuff, adding vinegar (colored blue).

First just dropping some and watching it turn into blobs between the water and oil, then pushing through to the baking soda for bubbling action. It was really neat to play with.

We're going to do it again when Moo gets home. It was cool to hear Nat say, "I'm smart!" and "I like science!" All through school science was boring for me, but we only did book learning. I think hands on experiments definitely make the difference!

And for my sister, an obligatory kitten picture:

Special Blessings

Working with special needs kids has kind of made me more aware of special needs adults in our community.

We have a man at our church who is special needs. He's my age but I think we all think of him as a "young man". He goes to Sunday school with the teenagers even though he functions a bit lower than that.

Every so often it's his turn to bless the sacrament. His mom prints out the words for him to read and I think everyone in the congregation pays special attention to each and every word, each of us praying with him and praying for him, that he gets it exactly right and doesn't have to do it again.

It's hard to describe the special spirit that he brings to the routine of blessing the bread and water, but it is definitely felt as one hears his voice saying the prayer and struggling to say it just right, or seeing him with his limited motor skills breaking the bread.

It has happened that he has done the blessing on fast and testimony Sunday a few times and invariably, his special spirit inspires people to come up and bear their testimony. That's exactly what happened this Sunday. As soon as the time was turned over for testimonies, a gentleman in the back, who happened to be visiting our ward, popped up and strode to the podium. He said that this special man inspired him to get up, and that he rarely bears his testimony, let alone comes to church these days, but that he could not stay in his chair. He went on to bear a beautiful testimony of the gospel.

It's amazing how these special souls who walk among us touch others, especially if we open ourselves up to their unique spirits. I often wonder as I work with the 3 and 4 year olds at my job, what their future holds. I do know that they teach me more than I teach them, and for that I am grateful.

Cuties, Kitties, Cousins and Booties

Our little cousins came to visit on Sunday and we were so thrilled to see them. Since they moved we don't get to see them on a regular basis and we MISS them!

Nat and Em went immediately to Nat's room and that's the last we saw of them until dinner time. They love playing Barbies and Nat also has a fashion studio toy that includes scraps of fabrics and a little dress manikin that they love to play with. Nat and Em love to design dresses or other girly things (they generally use tape to fasten everything together). They have decided that they will become designers together in the future and guess what they call themselves? The Cousigners, as in cousin-designers. They came up with that themselves. I think they're brilliant.

Moo spent all her time with little Zachy. He was tickling us with his booty-shaking skills and I finally caught it on video. Just too cute and I chuckle every time I see this:

We picked blackberries off our bush and later had them over ice cream. I can't even tell you how good that was!

Lastly, a little kitten goodness:

"Old" Friends

I have a good friend at work. We met this past winter when she started working at the restaurant bussing tables like me. Usually the restaurant only hires teens for bussing and dishwashing, so it was nice to have another "old lady" (as we like to call ourselves) to hang out with.

We've become fairly close and just the other night we were discussing how hard it is to have friends, and she said I was really her only friend, and I feel the same about her. I have other friends, but as far as someone I would be really comfortable calling up to hang out with there are only a couple and she's one of them. It's nice to have someone that's easy to talk to and that you feel a connection to.

My friend has a son, and I've known for a while that she lost a daughter just two days after birth. The other night she really opened up about it to me. Tonight she brought the few pictures she has of her baby to show me. How touched I was that she would share this with me. How precious her little one was!

The true mark of friendship is having that feeling that you can open up and spill your heart out and the other person will be there to listen. I feel honored that my friend found that in me and that I could be there for her to remember her daughter.

I'm really thankful for my new friend. Goodness knows it's not easy finding friends when you've got a family to care for and a job to hold down and so many other things that take priority. We "old ladies" have to stick together!

Never Forget

In blogland today there have been a lot of posts of memories of what people were doing on 9/11/01 and how it affected them, so I thought I would write my memories as well.

Well, to start, just prior to 9/11, there was a forest fire burning nearby and our neighborhood was in evacuation stand-by, meaning that we should be packed and ready should the word come. We're no strangers to forest fires up here, but this one was especially fierce, and our stress level was pretty high.

Then 9/11 happened. I, like everyone else, was glued to the tv and horrified as the news kept getting worse and worse. It shook me to my core in a way nothing else has ever done before.

That same day, as the fire inched closer, the planes fighting the fire began circling right over our house on their drops. We lived at the top of a ridge and the planes were so incredibly close. The whole house would shake and the noise of the engines was so loud that nothing could be heard above the din. All I could think of was that those poor people in the towers must've heard something just like that right before those planes crashed into their buildings. The more I thought about it, the more freaked out I started to get. Every pass from the planes began to make me feel panicky.

Then it stopped. The planes were all grounded. Even the CDF planes fighting the fire. No one knew if they could get the fire under control without the air support, and that was even scarier.

The schools cancelled classes for an entire week because the smoke was so thick it was unhealthy for the kids to be outside. Soccer games were cancelled as well, and all we could do was sit around inside wait for news on the fire, and watch more of the horror of 9/11 unfold in the days following.

I began to go into a true depression. Our whole life had been upturned on a local level with all the daily routines put on hold, and our whole country had been upturned in a way I never thought that I would see.

Well long story short, they let the fire fighting planes fly again and the fire was put out, we never had to evacuate, and 2 weeks later I finally started coming out of the worst funk I've ever been in. It was so bad that I really considered seeing my doctor for medication because I knew I had to function for the sake of my kids.

I think the effect of 9/11 rocked me so badly because of my kids. I kept thinking, "What kind of world are they growing up in?", "Will the US be a safe place for them to grow up?", "How can I protect them and keep them safe?" It so scary as a parent to think such things.

Well, now 8 years later, I don't worry so much, and I'm thankful every day that I live in the USA and that my kids are growing up here. I know they will be ok, and so will I. But believe me, I will never forget 9/11. God Bless America.

Reflections on Labor Days Past

I remember Labor Day when I was growing up. School always started AFTER Labor Day (for my kids, it's the 4th week of school already!) so there was excitement and aprehension in the air.

There was also the Jerry Lewis Telethon which ruined all the good tv watching on this last weekend of summer freedom. Kids these days just don't get it. We had 3 main channels and a couple low rent channels and that was it. I never really liked Jerry Lewis or his telethon, but I admire him now. (He just raised a crazy amount of money again this past weekend, and didn't even spoil my tv watching to do it! Go Jerry!)

I always liked the excitement of new school clothes and shoes, school supplies, lunchboxes and finding out who my teacher would be. So much anticipation in the air. Of course all that got real old, real fast especially in high school, but still, I have good memories of starting another year of learning.

I still kind of get excited about the start of school for my kids (even though it starts in the middle of flippin' August). I like buying them a new backpack (which I never had!) and new clothes and always make a big deal out of finding out who there teacher is. The only thing missing is an annoying telethon dominating our tv. Maybe I'll work on that next year. I think my kids deserve the whole Labor Day experience.

Awkward Stages

So, someone in our house is going through a bit of an awkward stage. It's a stage where she wants to be grown up, but doesn't want to let go of being a little girl either. Which leads to baby talk and acting VERY goofy, and then getting all pre-hormonal and slamming doors and acting sassy.

It's the pre-teeny-bopper stage. An awkward stage, an annoying stage, a stage that reminds us both that time is marching on and changes are coming, and a stage that reminds me that this stage really isn't THAT bad.

A Fruity Post of Rambling Thoughts

Gosh, there's already a nip in the air, and now that Labor Day has come and gone it's like summer has gone with it. Sad news, in my opinion.

I have the distinct impression that this house isn't going to be the easiest place to heat come winter, and I'll probably be wearing lots of layers and sitting by the woodstove. Have I mentioned how I hate being cold? I may just have to get over that somehow.

We have a fabulous blackberry bush in our backyard and every day when I walk the girls home from school up the steep hill to our house, we stop and eat a few blackberries as our treat. I hope that is one of the childhood memories they grow up remembering. I know it's one of the highlights of my day!

Last night we had a visit from the legendary huge bear that roams the neighborhood. No, we didn't see it with our own eyes, but we did see the evidence it left behind.

I grew up hiking in the woods with my dad and when we came across bear scat he was always interested in seeing what the bears had been eating (I'll just leave it at that). Suffice it to say I'm no stranger to seeing bear stuff, but honest to Pete, this was the hugest pile I have ever seen! If it's any indication of the size of the bear, this guy is gigantic! And he REALLY likes apples. I'm just saying...(and I'm glad he's leaving the blackberries alone.)

So ends my rambling post...cohesive thoughts are so hard to come by these days!

Komforting Kittens

Nat is feeling better and I haven't had to hose her off in the shower at all today! I call that success!

She spent most of the day in the recliner with her cozy blanket and I just had to take a picture of her and all her cozy companions.

How can you NOT feel better with this kind of company:

Please Read On An Empty Stomach

Puke.

I don't do it well.

Meaning when one of my kids is sick, I just don't handle the throwing up all that well, and as a parent it's just inevitable. Yuck.

Take tonight for example. 12:30am, a crying Nat wakes me up standing next to my bedside telling me she threw up. On further inspection in the bathroom it looks like someone dumped a bucket of it over her. Holy Moly! The only thing to do is just start the shower and put her in, clothes and all. As her clothes get rinsed, I take them off of her.

Then I go to inspect the bed...

~insert the theme from Jaws or Psycho or other creepy movie here~

Not a pretty sight. Let's just say a cute, tented loft bed from IKEA does not make for a hasty retreat to the bathroom. In fact, it really hinders a child from leaving the bed in any kind of quick or expedient fashion.

I just went from one end to the other and rolled all the bedding in a ball and took it to the laundry to deal with later. Holy Cow!

I've actually been pretty lucky as far as pukey kids are concerned and I know it because I've heard some real mothering horror stories.

Probably the worst instance I've had to deal with involved Moo when she was 4 years old and had hair down to her fanny. Two words: Top Ramen. It only took me three go-rounds before I figured out that french braiding that hair out of the way would save me lots of time and trouble. Yeah...I'm quick like that.

Then there's that pukey suspense: will it just be an isolated incidence with this one child or is some evil virus having it's way with the others' digestive systems as well? Do you go back to bed or begin a tactical defense by placing towels and buckets near the sleeping, symptomless children in the household? It's like waiting for the other shoe to drop (and for some reason it likes to drop just as mom's weary head hits the pillow). Sigh...

And I'd just like to know why it always seems to start in the middle of the night. What is it about clean sheets, a quiet house, and an unsuspecting, slumbering mother that brings on illness? Truly one of life's deeper mysteries (and bitter injustices, in my opinion).

So, I'll admit it. I'm a pukey-kid wimp. I'd much rather deal with other icky bodily substances over throw up. I think it's unfair that it usually happens in the middle of the night (and in the middle of a bed), and that it causes undue suffering to all involved (especially those reading a blog post written by a bleary-eyed, sleep deprived mom on vomit watch in the wee hours of the a.m.)

Here's hoping my little Nat is better soon and not contagious!

Random Updates With Bonus Cute Pictures

The kitties are thriving and eating solid kitten food now. Yay! Buying kitten formula was a bit expensive! They still like to nurse on soft things, especially Moo's stuffed dog Scruffy:

And here they are afterward:

Suey is doing well with them. When they went from bottle to bowl, they would finish their meal with what I liked to call a "milk beard". They weren't very good at cleaning themselves up so I would let Suey lick them clean. Now they've bonded:

Here's Jo-Jo outside for the first time on a leash:

Here's Princess:

In other news...
Mike brought home a coconut for the girls to try. The coconut milk was gross, but they loved the raw coconut:

Our backyard blackberries, yum:

We must have 10 apple trees, plus a couple pears and tree that has either very small yellow plums or strange cherries on it. I haven't figured out what it is yet.

We had a bear visit our backyard and gorge on apples the other night. I could hear him crunching away right outside the bedroom window. As I was watching him, a skunk trotted across the yard, tail in the air, with a little skunk behind it also with it's little tail flying like a flag. Very cute and they didn't spray so that was even better!