Second grade vocabulary words are intense

Finding joy in the suffering of others

Afton (gloating): Jo-osh! I have the ice cream spoon! [the one with a handle that looks like an ice cream cone, the kids always want to use it]
Josh (sweetly): That's great, Afton!
Afton (put out): No, you're suppose to say, "No fair!"

Lori - Marathon

Because 26.3 would be ridiculous . . .

Lori finished the the Music City Marathon this past Saturday. She ran the whole thing (except when she was giving out hugs along the way). I have to say this was impressive on many levels. Let me name a few:

1. She ran straight for 26.2 miles
2. It was hot
3. She felt sick
4. Her legs were tired . . . can't understand why
5. All of the time in preparation that she diligently put into it (you should see the training schedule that she marked off day by day).
6. The confidence she had to do something hard that she was afraid of. In more than one conversation she talked about the fear of failing. Having to stop running during the race.

This represents the culmination of several months of training and devotion and it was a significant event for her and for us. We loved watching her succeed and fulfill the potential we knew she had inside her.


As I watched Lori run yesterday I couldn't help but think that she approaches marathons the same way she approaches life. That includes her devotion to the Lord and her family. There is a daily steadiness and stick-to-it-ness that doesn't stop regardless of how easy or hard the next step is. She doesn't stop loving, caring for, and reaching out. And all with a vision of getting to the finish line with everyone there.


We love you sweetheart!! Great job!

Easter, 2012 edition

On the porch...sunny, sunny day.

Someday we'll get everyone in the air at once.

Loves his egg so much it gets a kiss.

Can you handle one more about Josh's birthday?

Lucky kid, how did he score three whole posts??

Josh had a Pokemon birthday party. We've had some hyper, crazy kids at parties before, but this time took it to another level. I was endlessly grateful that it was a nice day. After one game indoors, we decided to bag the rest of the planned activities and sent the whole brood outside to run and yell off their energy. Best move ever.

Pokeball cake (thanks, Beth, for the spherical pans!)

Elbow tag

Pin the tail on the pokemon-whose-name-I-forget

As part of their take-home stash, each kid got his very own pokemon card.

But turning 8 is about more than just getting pet reptiles...

 We love our Josh so much. He was very happy to be baptized by Scott the day before Easter.

Josh is good. Being good is one of his priorities. You can tell by how thoughtful he is about choices, and how agonized he is when he struggles with kind of really wanting to make the wrong choice (you know, like not sharing his candy or something like that--he almost always comes down on the side of CTRing though). His joy, enthusiasm and love for all is endearing, and I'm pretty sure his heart is literally made of pure gold.

Love you, Josh.

Adding to the family

Josh was the luckiest birthday boy ever last month. At Christmastime Josh's wish-list was topped with pet lizard. He talked about it frequently and I tried to gently prepare him in so many words that there was no way in heck he'd be getting one. Santa knows better than that. (Some people around here, possibly I'm one of them, or the only one, lean pretty heavily toward anti-pet. Six hermit crab or little frog funerals in under a year will jade a mom like that.) Then a few weeks before Josh's birthday my friend was looking for a good home for their bearded dragon. I mentioned it to Scott, and even as I said "but I really don't want a pet" I realized my heart of ice was thawing out a little and the idea didn't seem completely repulsive. So say hello to Spikey. We're a family of eight now.
(Thanks Kacey.)

Oh, Lydia

While visiting Grammy and Grandpa's house one evening after there had been some afternoon showers, Lydia and Afton discovered a couple of tiny snails. Lydia brought over a little spiral shell to show me (not actually sure if it was occupied or not) and asked if she could smash it. Smash it?

"No Lydia," I answered, "if you smashed it the snail would cry and cry."

"Mo-om," she answered in a somewhat patronizing tone, "snails can't cry if they're dead."

Pinterest dinner success

Thank you Pinterest. You are my new go-to source for delicious meals. Pinterest-fare has become the dinner-hour star more often than not here lately. The masses are impressed. Most of the recipes we have been reveling in are not healthy. When Scott compliments a dish, I'll usually answer with, "Yeah, guess how much butter is in it!" or "Mmm-hmm, the secret ingredient is bacon."

Here are some of our new favorites:

Baked Potato Grilled Cheese
A match made in heaven.

Chic-fil-a nuggets
Scott usually doesn't really like chicken.
He liked these.

Chinese Noodles
Lydia could have eaten the whole thing by herself.

Homemade Hamburger Rolls
I used these for the Philly Sloppy Joes and the Bean Burgers.
Next time I'm just going to make them to eat alone.

Crunchwrap Supreme
There's always room for another way to make tacos.

Cheesy Garlic Bread
It gives us bad breath but we don't even care.

Mac and Cheese
If Martha Stewart says it's the best, it must be.
Bonus: we used the same cheese sauce for the Philly Sloppy Joes.

Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes
Great application for the delicious classic.

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Pork Chops
Just as good as they sound. Maybe even better.

Sweet Potato Veggie Burger with Avocado
These actually are healthy...until you fry them.
I had my doubts about halfway through making them, but needn't have worried.
Don't skip the avocado, YUM.

Twice Baked Potato Casserole
Twice as delicious.

Inexplicably...

...the little girls have asked to sleep on the floor of their room for the past two nights. The unexpected request burst forth as if it were the greatest and most natural longing of any little girls' hearts. I couldn't think of a reason to say no, so we tossed a couple of blankets and pillows down from their bunks and so it was. The first night I fully expected for them each to abandon their adventurous floor-sleeping for the traditional comfort of bed-sleeping sometime before morning. But no, there they still were when I made the morning wake-up rounds--Lydia curled in a ball perpendicular to her pillow and Afton hugging a pink, fuzzy robe. How long will this carpet camping continue?

All I ever do is run

I like it. I love the way it feels to run. I like going a little farther all the time and pushing way beyond any limits I formerly perceived for myself. I feel strong. Empowered. Maybe I can do lots of things I never dreamed I could. I'm still not very fast (not very=at all), but once my weekly milage passed 40 I started to feel like I could call myself a real runner. When I say to the kids something like, "I'm going to run to the store real quick," they now answer, "You mean really run?"

The marathon is seven weeks away. That's close.

The hardest part of training is the time commitment--hands down. I do have days when I'm just thinking about all the other things I could be doing with that time that's devoted to slapping the pavement mile after mile, minute after minute. My long runs are a 2 1/2 hour ordeal now. (That reminds me, I need to google after how many miles you're supposed to replace your shoes.) I'm wondering what I'll do after the race. I don't want to lose the good lots-of-running feeling and nor the ability, but I think I'll feel ready to reclaim some of the time it demands. Where will that happy medium settle? I'm planning on Ragnar again in November and a triathlon in August for something different (just a short one, nothing hard core), so I can't slack too much. I struggle with feelings of selfishness for devoting so much time and energy to something just for me. (Maybe I should have waited until the kids are all older? Maybe I ought to swap running for humanitarian work?)

In any case, I'm starting to feel nervous about the reality of 26.2 miles all at once. Getting enough sleep the night before, eating and drinking the right amount, getting sick, getting injured, getting too exhausted to finish. I'm wondering how feasible it would be to schedule a massage for later that day...

got to run.

Look Mom, I'm a rainbow

Another wavy blanket...this one for a baby

My friend, Brittany, is having a new baby (oh heck no, not me). Baby needs a blanket. It was so fun and quickly satisfying to make a baby-sized version of the monster I finished last year. I ought to learn a different pattern one day...maybe.

Dead battery

I like to get to church early. Scott has had to attend meetings before church for the past 8 1/2 years (that's three kids ago!), so I've had some time to practice and refine how to get the rest of us out the door and in the pew on time solo: I always aim to leave for church about 30 minutes early (though it's only a five minute drive), that way when someone can't find their scriptures or shoes or keys (guilty!) or has a big cow lick I didn't notice before or is found inexplicably wandering around in their pajamas having not had any breakfast yet even though we've had the same routine for literally their entire life and they know when they're supposed to get up and get ready, we've got plenty of built-in wiggle-room so that after handling these and other crisises we can still arrive at church about 10 minutes early, giving me plenty of time to sit and feel gathered and ready for services to start, and the kids plenty of time to go on a walk around the hallways a time or two to get a drink and (hopefully) the last of their wiggly energy out before settling in with me. [longest sentence ever] It's a good system and I love it.
Last Sunday, however, I met my match. We had already dealt with the week's miscellaneous delays and were finally loading up in the van. The problem? It wouldn't start. {Background information: 95% of the time we leave the sliding doors of the van open when it's at home in the garage--this way young Afton (who lacks the strength/dexterity to open those doors on her own) can easily get into the van without waiting for assistance plus it just saves everyone a bit of time not waiting for them to automatically slide open. Because the doors are almost always kept ajar, we keep the interiors lights in the all the way off position at all times to prevent the battery from dying. Saturday night the doors were actually left in the unusual closed position, but unfortunately someone (none confess) accidentally hit the switch that turned all of the interiors lights on. Result: 0 juice Sunday morning.} The first solution to this problem I thought of was Scott, but I knew he would almost certainly be engaged at the moment, and if I knew his habits, wouldn't be checking his phone until after sacrament meeting was over. I quickly thought of the numerous good friends who I knew would be happy to come pick us up (more than one later chastised me for not calling them), but the next thing to cross my synapses was a mental calculation of the time that would take for these good people to go off course, load us up and shuttle all six of us to church (likely in more than one trip) and realized that would almost certainly cause any of our would-be rescuers to arrive late. Late enough that I didn't want to impose our problems on someone else and decided instead to just wait. Scott would notice from up front where he was conducting the meeting that the kids and I had not filled our usual spot. He did notice, of course, but was needed by a long line of people at the meeting's end (as he often is), so he called to let me know he'd sent a capable rescue squad in his place.
We were delighted when Ben's entire Sunday school class, plus their teacher and two extra dads, showed up with jumper cables in hand. The 10-year-old boys were overjoyed to check out the engines and show off their mechanical skills. The luckiest boy had instructions to sit in the driver's seat and rev the engine for several minutes to work our poor dead battery up to an acceptable charging level. Ben had the honor of turning over our engine until it finally took. We made it to church in time for the kids to go to their classes and for me to teach mine.
Just a minute or two before our heroes showed up I realized with some embarrassment that I could have just called on a neighbor for a jump start from the very beginning. Most of them were home and we're good enough friends that I could have easily done that. For some reason, the thought didn't even cross my mind until that late moment. I got word from a couple of the other parents though, that it made for a memorable and meaningful experience for the boys...the good Samaritan in action type of thing, giving them a chance to put in to practice all the service and sacrifice lessons they've been taught. Thank you boys...we could never have made it without you.

This year's valentines....

....same as last year's. If it aint broke, don't fix it, you know?

Kids: the update

Emma is so awesome, she's the best babysitter ever. She gets the kids to bed right on time, then busies herself cleaning up the whole downstairs to a glistening, sparkling perfection. You know the pan that I always wait till the next day to scrub? She does it before we even get home that night. Class act.

Ben wants to start a book club with some friends from school. I'm a big fan of the finer things, so I'm all for it--to the point of hosting the inaugural meeting and making some cookies to go with it. I'm cool like that.

Josh is full of love. SO MUCH LOVE. If love were money he could single-handedly wipe out the national debt. He has begun the habit of wanting to scratch my back at church. How can I say no? It makes him happy.

Lydia has recently turned that corner where she is suddenly reading like crazy. I love it. I'll sit and listen to her read Geronimo Stilton and I don't understand how she knows all those words. Something clicked--click!--and she gets it. She gets words. I'm so excited.

Afton makes me laugh, she's a total goofball. Plus she's melodramatic, which is hilarious. Case in point: the other day she came into the kitchen with her little arms folded, face pouty, making a fake whimpering noise. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "Nobody doesn't like me no more." Most of her siblings were within earshot and quickly chorused in with, "I like you Afton" which she completely ignored while continuing to whimper. It reminded me of this gem:

Adventure awaits

The other day Scott called me from work mid-morning with urgency in his voice.

This is unusual.

He explained he'd been thinking about the kids lately. They are now 12, 10, 7, 5 and 3. The next few years are prime--especially for the older kids--they'll always remember them. We need to do things, have fun and exceptional adventures. They don't always have to be grand or expensive, but they ought to be special. We need to fill them with happy memories centered around being together as a family. We need to record and photograph and document these things to help them remember. They're going to keep getting older and could turn into surly teenagers who don't think being with their family is awesome. These are the golden years. They still think we're cool and they like us. Now is the time to fill their tanks.

A phone call like this is one of the best reasons I love Scott.

He said he'd meant to expound all of this the night before but had forgotten. When he remembered, he called right away because he didn't want to forget again. I am under charge to remind him of this conversation any time an adventure just seems more like a hassle.

That's why we're driving to California and back for our family reunion this summer. There's fun to be had along the way.


{image: a carefree college-aged newlywed impresses his young wife by jumping over cars}

It was a nice Saturday

Late in the afternoon, Emma decided to put to use one of the canvases she got for Christmas.

When Lydia came in from playing outside she quickly decided to join in.

Five minutes later Afton came in too and made it a sister painting trifecta. 

I love those girls.

Do you love adoption? Do you love truffles?

My friend from high school is going to adopt a sweet baby this spring.
In case you hadn't heard, adoption is expensive.
Luckily, this friend has some sweet skills in the kitchen, so she's making and selling truffles for Valentine's Day to help bring their baby home.
Go here to help a family by eating chocolate...it's win-win!

Panda Birthday Party

Despite my best efforts, Emma turned 12 last week. Too old. Her very favorite thing right now is pandas. Panda, panda, all day long. She really took the lead in planning her birthday party. She painted a panda for pinning the tail on, filled a jar with candy to guess the number, and she gave our favorite party game, States, an animal twist (when she had her Harry Potter party a couple of years ago, we played the same game but used villians) . I basically just showed up to make the cupcakes.

Panda or Mickey Mouse? I'll admit it's a bit of a stretch.

Enough pandas for each guest, then the
extras were just chocolate (panda poop?).

We were both stumped for party favors though. I try really hard to steer clear of just a bag of candy but could not come up with anything panda-ish that wouldn't take me a million hours to sew. Luckily the creative genius, Cally, was only a phone call away and she suggested, why not get some mugs at the dollar store and paint them with ceramic paint? So that's exactly, precisely what we did (she did it a long time ago, see here).