Ask and Ye Shall Receive

So two of my, um, three followers said I should blog more than twice a year.  I was soooo productive this morning, cleaning like a mofo, and Dh is making salmon for dinner, so I find myself with a spot of time right now.  I can blog, since watching Breaking Bad is limited to naptime and after kids go to bed.  NSFK.  That is totally an acronym now.  Anyway, the point is, ask and ye shall receive!  A blog post!

I have been up to...

• Reducing the household budget in any way possible.  Dh started a new job in January, and it came with a sizable pay cut.  We sat down and crunched the numbers...and there's just not much left after all the bills are paid.  And Netflix counts as a bill, because I had to draw the line there.  Seriously.  We did have the freezer and a chest freezer stocked with mostly meat before this went down, so Dh hasn't had to go vegetarian.  I have been baking more so I can mostly stop buying snack food.  Cookies, waffles, kettle corn.  Honestly the kids are snacking better now!
• Listening to podcasts.  Hardcore History, Mormon Stories, and The Naked Scientists are all rocking my world.  Naturally those are all free.
• Knitting and crocheting.  I've recently churned out a black winter hat for myself, a scarf for E, a short-sleeved sweater for C, and an open cardigan for myself.  Now I'm working on a blue cap for Ace and a baby blanket for a pending niece.
• Reading.  Would a blog post by yours truly be complete without a mention of books?  Recent books I've enjoyed: Birthmarked, What Do Women Want?, Magic Rises (6th book in the Kate Daniels urban fantasy series), and Infidel by Tim Hetherington (kind of a companion book to the movie Restrepo, which I finally watched last month).  Right now I'm very slowly making my way through The God Who Weeps (very good so far) and Where'd You Go, Bernadette? (trying too hard to be funny, but I'm committed.  Maybe it will improve?)
• Travel & family fun.  We had a reunion on Dh's side in central Washington in late June.  We flew to NY for a reunion on my side in mid July. (Oi that's a post all its own.)  We hit the local amusement park and the zoo.  E & Ace did two weeks of swim lessons and made a LOT of progress, so there was lots of pool fun in the backyard with friends coming over.  E also did a soccer camp.  Towards the end, she confidently told me, "If I keep playing soccer, I could be in the Olympics."

Ace started kindergarten this year and E started 2nd grade.  Due to geography, Ace is in afternoon kinder, and C still takes naps, so the entire kinder school day is kid-free for me!  (Thus Breaking Bad.)  Ace had a rough time starting school.  The week leading up to school he started throwing these awful fits where he would refuse to do anything and cover his ears, and scream, etc etc.  Very annoying and frustrating.  I asked Dh to get off work to accompany us to Ace's first day because I had a feeling he would freak.  And freak he did.  When we left he was throwing books on the floor.  Quietly, at least.  Ugh.  One of his teachers reported later it took him an hour to calm down.  The next day, for two hours leading up to school-time, Ace was a pill.  He refused to eat lunch, he threw fit after fit and spent a lot of time in his room.  But then he did fine at school.  I think he threw one more fit at home that week (last week).  Then this week, on Monday C curled up in her bed and fell asleep well before kindergarten started.  I am anal about naps, so I wasn't going to wake her up.  I put Ace on the bus.  Kicking and screaming!  Then his teacher called, saying he refused to get off the bus!  So the bus driver brought him back home.  When C woke up, I matter-of-factly told Ace it was time to go to school, and he complied.  He's been fine since then.  He rides the bus HOME just fine, so I do not see what is different!  Whatever.  At least the fits are pretty much over.  He really doesn't like change.  He also does not like to be late (I figured that out during swim lessons this summer).

Well this is quite long enough for one day, think you not?  Stay tuned for my newest beauty discoveries!

Photo Dump!

 Ace lost his first tooth!

My kids are total hams.

E on her first day of school.  Yes this is a crappy pic; it doesn't even show her cute skirt & shoes, I am too lazy to fix the nice pic.  Also, the pic of Ace is still on the camera and I am too lazy to upload it!

Dh was the camera man so there is no evidence he went to the zoo.  I am wearing the cardi I knit!

How do YOU measure up?

Best Children's Books of 2012

Amazon has a list of the best children's books of 2012 here.  It took a while, but I read just about every one to E & Ace.  Obviously an adult curated this list, because some of these were crap.  Some were fabulous.  Below, my reviews, and my children's reactions.

The Adventures of Little Nutbrown Hare

Me: Two thumbs down

Kids: Two thumbs down

We didn't even finish reading this.  Boring pictures, boring stories.

Bear Has a Story to Tell

Me: Neutral

Kids: Not keen

The kids were indifferent.  I thought it was cute enough.

Big Mean Mike

Me: Loved

Kids: Loved

The children had me and Dh read this several times.  Funny, cute, and had a good message (to wit, don't be afraid to be yourself, even if that self is cute AND tough).

The boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Me: Liked

Kids: Liked

The kids were very hesitant about this book at first, but I insisted on reading it to them.  We were all glad by the end.  This is an inspiring awesome story.  Based on the true story of a boy in Malawi who built a wind pump out of spare parts.

The Cloud Spinner

Me: Meh

Kids: Liked

I found this book preachy.  The kids liked it, but never requested a re-read.

Crafty Chloe

Me: Meh

Kids: Liked

Not sure why this is on the list.  It seemed pretty mediocre to me.

Those Darn Squirrels Fly South

Me: Liked

Kids: Loved

This is one of those books that kids would put on the list, but not necessarily adults.  We were not familiar with the darn squirrels, so I got Those Darn Squirrels first.  My kids loved both of the Darn Squirrel books.  This got a re-read.  Also, now we all occasionally raise our fists and say, "Those darn squirrels!" in grouchy, old-man voices.  Very fun.

The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?

Me: Liked

Kids: Liked

We all enjoyed reading this, but the kids didn't click with it.

Extra Yarn

Me: Loved

Kids: Liked

I loved this of course!  It's about knitting!  The kids thought it was okay.  No re-read.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Me: Meh

Kids: Meh

This was too long and not exciting enough for any kid under 7.  I did like the illustrations, though.

Llama, Llama, Time to Share

Me: Liked

Kids: Liked

I think my kids liked that this book is written all in rhyme.

Nightsong

Me: Meh

Kids: Meh

Too many words on each page for young kids.  Maybe older children would go for it.

Oh No, George!

Me: Liked

Kids: Liked

We all enjoyed reading this.  The kids loved seeing the antics George got up to.

Olivia and the Fairy Princesses

Me: Meh

Kids: Liked

I found this to be too full of jokes aimed at adults.  For instance, Olivia starts the book by announcing she is having an identity crisis. I really hate when children in books talk like adults.  This also turns kids off.  My kids were not interested in a re-read. 

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

Me: Loved

Kids: Loved

This was probably the kids' favorite book off the list.  They loved it so much E read it to Ace later on her own.  They still sing the little song Pete the Cat sings in the story.  I also love the message: Stuff comes and stuff goes, but do I cry? No oh no!

Rocket Writes a Story

Me: Disliked

Kids: Disliked

This felt like being in school.  With a boring teacher.  We all kept waiting for it to get more interesting, but it never did.

This is Not My Hat

Me: Liked

Kids: Didn't get

Z if for Moose

Me: Loved

Kids: Loved

This book is cute and fun.  It's about being a good friend, even if your friend throws a fit.

Ho Hey

I love that song - Ho Hey by the Lumineers.  Sometimes Ace sings it in his cute little boy voice - adorable!  That and Home by Philip Phillips - I could just listen to those two songs on a constant loop right now.

So my husband started a new job in January.  It's a paycut.  But way better hours.  It's kind of stressful because of the money $$$$.  There wasn't a whole lot I could trim from the household budget.  Except for my craft expenditures.  :(  Whatever, I need to shut up, I have enough craft supplies to probably last me til the zombie apocalypse!  In January I kept crafting < $20, and so far in February I'm at $0!  Go me.  Doing my part to not put us in debt.  Now I make meatless meals 1-2 times a week and my husband can't complain!  Sucka!  Though - scene from yesterday:

Miss E: What is this?
Me: Spaghetti.
Ace: No meatballs?!
Me: No. (eyeroll)
Miss E: Are we eating vegetarian to save money?
Me: Yes. (thinking, you're 6, how do you even know the word vegetarian???)
Miss E: I prefer to eat like a meatosaur!
Me: A carnivore?
Miss E: Yes! NOT like a triceratops.

Because, you know, triceratops ate a LOT of spaghetti during the Cretaceous!

We sold Dh's truck a few weeks ago and bought a Camry.  That alone is going to save us about $175/month in gas!  Sheesh.  I drove that Camry once and decided it was mine.  People, it has leather seats and a sound system 20x better than the Pilot I was driving.  I ordered these teensy narrow booster seats for the kids so they all fit in the back.  It is more work for me, because now I have to buckle all three children in myself, but it's worth it to me!  Leather seats!  I can plug my mp3 player in to the car!  The Pilot is sooooo basic, it doesn't have that feature.  I hardly have all 3 kids in the car at once anyway.  Dh is fine with this because he feels the Pilot is more manly than the Camry.  I think the Camry is sexy.  It is black and the windows are so heavily tinted Dh is afraid I am going to get a ticket.  (Who knew that's illegal here?  Lame, Oregon!)

Here is a sad, sad tale.  Actually it is totally a first world sad tale.  Dh was looking for something last night under the sofa and apparently he put the sofa down right onto his tablet.  No one noticed all day.  But we sure did sit our bottoms on the sofa!  I pulled the tablet out tonight and the screen is totally shattered.  It's stuck on the scriptures.  You can scroll to the next chapter but can't exit to a different app.  Dh now owns the most expensive set of scriptures in the world.  Miss E started crying.  I'm still not sure why.  She is very tender sometimes, very empathetic.  Ace was really bummed because now he can't play Angry Birds.  I'm really bummed because we don't have $300-400 to replace it.  Dh doesn't actually know yet because he has to work late tonight.  Just want you want to come home to, right?

I have been searching for a new girly tv show to watch when Dh is not around.  Vampire Diaries is just not doing it for me anymore.  Suggestions?  I am pretty much limited to what streams on Netflix or Hulu Plus.  I tried Hart of Dixie but that show could not be more cliched if it was called Cliched Cliches Cliche.  Seriously.  OH I did just watch a great movie though - The Queen of Versailles.  Loved it.

Right now I'm reading No Easy Day, the book about killing bin Laden.  Oh my gosh the man cannot write.  He even has a co-author who has supposedly written 4 books.  They both suck!  The writing makes me want to gouge out my own eyeballs, but it's fast reading.  I just really want to know the story.  Somehow I've already read 12 books this year.  (No good girly tv shows!)  My fave so far is Tell the Wolves I'm Home which I sort of expected to hate but ended up loving.

The above two pics are from Christmas Eve, when Dh's family had a great self-defense lesson from my brother-in-law's father-in-law, who teaches martial arts.  I can totally disarm someone holding a knife to my throat.  Cool huh!

 Miss E as a mummy.

 Baby C enjoying a blueberry candy cane Dh found in our bedroom.

Marriage

I've been thinking a lot about gender relations in general, and also specifically within my church (LDS).  But I haven't decided anything yet, so right now it's all a formless soup within my cranium.  I've been thinking about marriage, and being a stay-at-home mother.  I'm reading this book and it's so interesting.  I'm only on Chapter 2 so far.  Chapter 1 = our current ideas of marriage are based on the culmination of about 250 years of gradual thought change.  Towards the late 1700s an idea started to take hold, that people who get married should be in love with each other.  The Victorians ran with it, and by the 1950s it had reached its apotheosis.  But prior to 1800, a lot of people thought too much love in a marriage was weird, unseemly, or dangerous.  This I am still trying to wrap my mind around.  I mean, you're in the same bed.  Naked.  How could some love be dangerous??  (Dangerous because the lovebirds would be inclined to put each other first instead of those they should put first, like parents.)  I'd pay good money to know what kind of marriage Adam & Eve had, or Enoch, or Noah.  Would their minds boggle at our ideas & attitudes? 

I do remember in a book on a history of feudalism I read a few years ago, the author talked about how modern people have a hard time understanding just how important the family was in medieval times.  I don't mean husband-wife-kids.  I mean the extended family.  Like in some parts of Europe, you couldn't sell some land that belonged to just you if your family didn't approve it!  There wasn't this infrastructure of government we have now, it was all about the family.  If you were disabled or infirm due to age, your family took care of you.  This support group is really pretty much absent from our lives, and it's the kind of support group that would kill for you, because you are blood.  If I become infirm, I don't plan to show up on my cousin's doorstep.  (Bet you're relieved, T!)  

This also reminds me of this article I read on a British newspage (side note: Brits totally have the best, and by "best" I mean "most gossipy," newspages) about a woman who lives here in the US, who is putting herself through college by cuddling for $60 an hour.  CUDDLING.  For SIXTY DOLLARS AN HOUR.  One person commented said how sad that is, that we as humans are now so starved for affectionate touch that people will pay this woman to cuddle with them.

So bobbing up out of the soup of my mind is that I think we ARE missing something in our lives, living so far from our families, putting so much pressure on our marriages to supply many of our needs for social interaction, affection, (non-sexual) intimacy, etc.

But then I think what the reality would be if all my family and all my husband's family lived in our same town, all near each other.  A couple of my friends have most of their extended family within an hour of each other and it seems like quite a bit of drama.  Honestly, with my family it would be all drama, all the time.  But always people to hang out with!  And help you tile the bathroom!  And watch the kids for each other!  Hmm...

See?  No conclusions.  Just ramblings.  That's all you get, folks.

Oh and some kiddo pics.

 My little duckling.  I could only look at her in brief glimpses because she was literally too cute.

 Miss Tinkerbell has been fake smiling a lot recently.  But she is also reading a lot recently, all on her own, so yay!

Gotta love an honest ninja.  (Ace got the headband from church a few weeks ago.  At crunch time, his actual ninja headband was nowhere to be found, so we popped this on his head.)

Dh made cookies the other week and they were perfect!  Look at them!  He said, "Crap, I've just screwed myself, haven't I?"  Yes, yes you have.  I got him to make them again on Sunday.  Sucka!

Baby C (toddler C? Miss C?) Not-baby-any-longer-waah-C is my climber.  With three kids, it was bound to happen.  At least I didn't get a climber til the end, when my heart could take it (yes I'm 90, why do you ask?).  She climbs everything and is undeterred by falling, which she does several times a day.  For a few days we could stave off the worst of this by tucking in the chairs around the dining room table.  She figured out today, to her parents' dismay, how to pull out the chairs and thus has unimpeded access to the table, which she proceeds to walk upon as if it were a thoroughfare.  *le sigh*  The only plus is now the table is very clean to reduce the potential for destruction.

Update on My Life

Well, hello there.  It is I, your friendly neighborhood onion chopper.  My husband pulled out these goggles as a joke as I prepared to chop an onion.  Laugh all you want.  Fools mock!  The goggles totally worked.  I even allowed him to take a picture.  And now I am putting it on the Internet.  Because I am cool like that.  The chicken curry turned out delicious, btw.

Oh hey, a sexy man.

We took the kids to a local amusement park? a couple weeks ago.  I put a question mark by amusement park because honestly I am not sure what to call the place.  It's actually kind of creepy.  It has all these little vignettes based on nursery rhymes, but they're like 50 years old.  There are some kiddie rides at the end though, and the kids LOVE going, so we've made it a tradition to go each year.

What you see in the two pictures above is JOY, my friends.

And this girl.  Could you not just eat her up?  She is soooo cute and fun and funny.  She is already a daddy's girl!  To a truly remarkable degree.  Miss E loves her daddy, but her adoration developed slowly and was firmly in place by 2 1/2.  But this one openly prefers Dh to me already, and she's not even one (though she turns one next week!  man!).  I can't say I really mind, because she likes to be held and is not very light!  Haha  She also has quite the personality.  The other day she kept banging Ace on the head with a golf ball.  We were all laughing our heads off (including Ace, since Baby C is not very strong).

Yesterday she took her first step!  To Daddy, of course!  I didn't even see it; I was making dinner.  We tried to get her to repeat the feat to no avail.  She's been standing tons in the past couple of days, so we knew it was any day on the walking.

This baby also appears to be my death-wish baby.  She stands up precariously in her high chair, stands up in shopping carts (& thus must ALWAYS be strapped in), and is always leaning forward toward things that will hurt her (such as the ground from several feet up).  The other day at EK's new house, Baby C crawled right up to the edge of the deck and tried to stick her head under the railing.  *eyeroll*  Fortunately the deck builder planned it right and she was safely corralled by the railing.  She loves to play in the toilet (blech), my only baby to do so.  Also loves to BANG on the laptop keyboard whenever she can get to it.  The best part of that last antic is that she laughs maniacally when she does it because she knows I'll come running and put a stop to her fun!

We went to Dh's parents for 4th of July, it was quite fun.  Most of his siblings & their families came too, so there were many cousins for our kids to play with.  

I got a bike at the beginning of summer.  I hadn't ridden a bike in over 10 years.  I had a little bike accident at 19 and haven't ridden since.  It turns out riding a bike...is like riding a bike!  I just hopped on and away I went.  I talked Dh into getting a bike trailer too.  It's been fun to go on family bike rides.  For everyone except Baby C, who hates wearing her helmet and cries nearly the entire time we are out.

I hosted book club last week.  *sigh*  It really is the fakest book club ever.  I didn't even read the book, though I picked it.  Also we had to reschedule twice due to conflicts, so by the time we actually held it, only two other ladies showed up!  So we had plenty of delicious food.  I made Red Robin's Freckled Lemonade via Food Network Magazine (very accurate!  but too much work), Orange Dream Layered Squares (a hideous name for a yummy summer treat), and some chips & salsa and Red Velvet Cookies which I just bought at the store.

Oh and the other big news is we got an above-ground pool for the backyard.  It's ridiculously huge, 15 feet across, 3.5 feet deep.  Between that, the trampoline, the swing set, a picnic table and a couple trees, our backyard is PACKED.  But my husband would say, "Yeah, packed with SUPER FUN!"  It's true.  I was initially very annoyed by the pool because it is so big and deep.  (You can't see over the side if you are sitting in a chair on the lawn.) BUT it is fun to play in, and feels really, really nice on a hot day.  Also it can be disassembled once the weather turns.  I've invited bunches of people to come hang out in the pool in the afternoons and the kids always have a blast.  The other day we had 11 kids in the pool!  Also Miss E is so tan now!

A Few Very Short Movie Reviews

Shark Night - So bad it's good.
Dream House - Just scary enough for me.  Probably not scary at all to some, but I'm a pansy.
Footloose - A complete waste of time.
The Avengers - Funnier than I expected.  Quite enjoyable.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - A bit annoying at times, but overall thumbs-up. I love Emily Blunt & Ewan McGregor.
The Darkest Hour - Fun to watch if you are with others who will go Mystery Science Theater 3000 on it with you.

I've Had a Birthday, Shout Hooray!

The other day I turned 31.  I don't really care about the number, other than I think 31 is an ugly number.  I'd rather be 32 for two years.  Maybe I should just do that.  haha  I went shopping and found some really cute stuff.  I got a pair of sailor-style linen pants, navy blue.  I've been wanting some for like 5 years and I finally found the perfect pair!  So it was a birthday success.  Dh got me a red velvet cake and the family sweetly sang Happy Birthday.  My children have the cutest little tone-deaf voices.

I am STILL working out regularly!  No one is more surprised by this than myself.  Usually I make it a week.  But I'm coming up on a month.  Haha   Sad that that is a record for me.

I am working my way through The Windup Girl.  For some reason it is taking me a long time to read this book.  It is a post-apocalyptic novel set in Thailand.  GMOs reign supreme, and engineered food plagues have wiped out almost everything.  I find it terrifyingly possible.  In 2010 when I first attempted this book I couldn't get into it.  But in the past two years I've learned more about GMOs and Monsanto and whatnot, so it just doesn't seem all that farfetched to me.

And here is a video of Baby C.  She is the wiggliest baby I have ever encountered.  She wiggles while she nurses.  She wiggles while you hold her in your lap.  She wiggles while she eats in her high chair.  The ONLY time she is still is when she is sleeping.  By the way, the "chocolate bread" in the video does not contain chocolate.  My children name all the different kinds of bread we buy.  It's brown, so it's Chocolate Bread!  (And delicious, btw.) Another kind has Haystack Rock on the bag, which reminds my children of a volcano, so they love to ask for Volcano Bread (it's a buttermilk bread, also quite yummy).