Feeding the Homeless

We have been trying to make it a family tradition to feed the homeless on Christmas Eve morning.  We have done it 3 or 4 times so far (although not consecutively) and enjoy it every time. It is such a neat and strange experience to bring hot foods and table and just set up at a park in Seattle and soon homeless people start pouring in.  There are many many families who do this and so the homeless can be quite picky.  So much food and goods to choose from, but they are always have been gracious and kind.  

 Here is Soren making some hot cocoa for a gentleman.  This was the first time my kids were old enough to start doing the serving. It was lots of fun to see that.  Soren took his job very seriously and did good work.   Some people looked like classic homeless people, but others looked like they just came from a place with a hot shower and a laundry facility.  We were able to chat it up with some which is always the highlight of the experience.

My New Hearts Desire!

Yesterday the boys and I skipped school and drove 4.5 hrs to Eugene Oregon and then back for a total of 9hrs in the car before the day was through.  Why you might ask?  To test ride this beauty!

This is not just a Triple Tandem bike.  This is a triple tandem bike that can break down into 2 suitcases for
- easy storage
- easy car travel
- easy plane travel
- easy train travel
- easy elephant travel
- easy camel travel

See where I am going with this?  This bad boy is going to open up the door to possibility.  For 3 years I have been biking with both boys attached to me.  Xander in a seat on my handle bars and Soren in a trailing bike.  It was awesome.  I got a work out, we could go fast, and I wasnt' constantly scared someone was going to biff it, landing in the street and die, or not stop fast enough and get hit by a car, or miscalculate their speed and fly into the lake - all things which have been near misses for us.  Last summer was the first time they were not connected to me.  I loved seeing them ride on their own and was ecstatic when they lost the training wheels.  However after 10 minutes I quickly realized the bummers about "family bike rides" - predominantly the speed of the bike and fear of dismembering limbs.  And so one day I let myself fantasize what type of bike I would like.  I had decided a triple tandem that breaks down would have to be it.  But who makes those. I mean really?  But I flipped my lap top open and in 20 second googled "folding triple tandem" and got a hit.  WHAT?!  They actually make these?  Although expensive it is not fiscally impossible.  And although the store is far, still close enough to try out.  OH MY GOODNESS!  My heart started racing and my mind started running.  "I think I need this" was my conclusion.  I have been working extra shifts and talking to people who knew me about it.  And although this bike made everyone laugh, they all concluded, "yes, I think you need that."

So, yesterday, we did it.  We rented 6 movies from Redbox, set up the portable DVD player, hit he store for snacks and made the drive.  Xander was pitifully sick.  He coughed for the first 5 hours straight and at one point had a fever.  But, if we were at home, he would probably be watching TV all day anyway, so why not in the car I rationalized.  We went on a 45 minutes bike ride to see what the bike was like.  The boys were so close to me I could hear them each talking.  I loved their happy chatter and conversations we had.  I could feel the "turbo boost" they would give when they pedaled hard.  Several times Xander lost his footing on the pedals and we devise a system to work as a team to help him.  I was officially IN LOVE.  I adore activities that require people to work well together as a team.  My favorite sports are team sports.  Anything that encourages that in my family with an air of adventure makes my heart start to flutter.   True the bike is like a semi when it turns and you can feel sideways wobbles, but that is the cost of any tandem.  The bike itself is sturdy and strong, even at the joints. It is well made.

And soooooo.......we bought it on the spot.  Along with mud flaps, a rear cargo rack and adjustable pedels for a better fit for Xander.  Come April (it is custom build and we got a discount if we wait several months) we will be biking in style.  I am already day dreaming of biking and camping Hawaii, no driving Fridays, and dropping and picking up the boys from school with the most awesome ride ever.  I hope people will see us all over town riding this thing and say to themselves, "oh there goes that one biking family.....with all their groceries.  I even day dream how to carry lumber home with it. I mean seriously, isn't that so cool?  Okay so Home Depot runs maybe extreme, but a girl can dream right?  I hope to build many many memories with my boys and this thing.  Thank you Bike Friday!  I can't wait for April!!

Breakfast Bites

While we were eating our waffles this morning this event occurred.

Quinae:  "Xander take that thumb tac out of your mouth.  I don't like that!"
Xander:  "Why?"
Quinae: "Because if you swallow that it could poke a hole in your intestines and spill poop all inside your body, making you very sick and you might even die."
Xander (mater of factly stating): "But then I will get to see Jesus."
Quinae (chuckling):  "Yeah, then you will get to see Jesus.  But you won't get to see your Mom, Dad and brother again for along time.  Pro's and con's ya know."
Soren: "Yeah and they don't have toys, or even video games in heaven.......but they might have food." (a residual point from a previous conversation a few days ago.)

Ah, I love these conversations.  You should note that 15 minutes earlier when they sat up for breakfast, the boys got into a fist fight, punching, slapping, hitting and pushing.  I think someone took someones toy, or maybe chair.  I can't seem to keep all the reasons for the countless fist fights and name calling that is done in our house.  Soren can de-escalate pretty quickly, but once Xander is in that mood it is pretty darn hard to flip him, but I had success with this method (an idea given to me from a friend who did this with her girls when they were little).

Quinae:  "There will be no breakfast unless you apologies....... and hug each other."  I was in the mood for a show.  Soren quickly did so in a sweet manor.  Xander literally crossed his arms turned his back to us and said, "Hmmmf"  Ah, the show I was waiting for.
Quinae:  "That is fine Xander. You don't need to do it.  Only do it if you want to eat breakfast." Some snorting and grunting then came out of Xander followed by a teeth clenching and the words barely escaping his lips, "Sorry Soren."  I would normally not except this, but seeing how it was a multi step process, with the harder of the 2 steps still needing to be done, I let it slide."
Quinae:  "Okay, now hug him."
Xander:  "I am not hugging him."
Quinae:  "Good.  More waffles for me."
More grunting and flexing of the muscles in frustration continues.  Then a quick jump off the stool and hugging of Soren's stool leg followed.
Quinae:  "The stool is not Soren."  More protests and a pitiful lean onto Soren was claimed to be a hug.
Quinae:  "That was weak.  Okay now I want you to both give each other 3 compliments to each other, taking turns."  Now I was enjoying the power hungry boys gives a mom at breakfast time.
Soren quickly begins. "Xander I like your hair.....and your shirt.  That is 2 Mom."
Xander:  "I like your teeth."
Quinae:  "Uh, okay now you have to do one about something you think they are good at.
Soren:  "I like it when you made my Christmas list."
Quinae:  "What?  That didn't happen.  Did you make his Christmas list Xander?"
Xander:  "Yeah!"  He then proceeded to show me his transcription of Soren's Christmas list.  He then felt so proud of himself and how nice he was."
Xander: "I like it when you clean the bathroom for me."
Quinae:  "What?  That didn't happen.  Soren did you clean the bathroom for Xander?"
Soren: "Yeah.  Once I did."
Quinae:  "Wow, okay, um, last one.  I want you to say why you like having the other one as a brother."
Soren:  "Xander I like when your so crazy."  Then Soren acts out how crazy Xander is, which looks like he is having a seizure.
Quinae:  "No, no, no, lets not promote craziness, do another one."
Soren:  "Xander I like when we read books together."
Xander:  "I like playing legos with you.......when your nice." He adds as a jab.

Ohhhhh!  The love I was looking for - attained!  It is a Christmas miracle!  Hot waffles for everyone!  Okay some were less hot, but I did flip Xander's switch.  The rest of the morning he planned things he could do for people for Christmas.  If only he could remain in this mode longer.  I must become a master Xander "switch flipper."

Princess's!

Disney Princess on Ice was in town and I wanted to go.  I dont' have any girls and may never and gosh darn it, I wasn't going to feel sad about never getting to do cute little girl things just because I didn't have any.  So, I purchased 2 tickets and called up my cute 5yo niece Brynlee and invited her on a special Aunt/niece outing.  We were both psyched!  My boys took it pretty well, in fact they helped me pick out my outfit to wear to the princess event.  If I was going to make this night magical, I wanted to do it right.  So, off to Value village we went and we found just the right princes dress.....okay so maybe it was a bit small, but it had spandex and for the price I wasn't going to pass it up.  Soren even spied me perfect matching shoes.  I have never worn shoes like this before........actually the dress was new territory too.  So I was looking good before I set off to get Brynlee.  She too was in her princess dress and off we went.  Of course I was the only adult dressed up like a princess at this thing, but that just made me giggle.  The show was actually way better then I thought it would be.  Brynlee is the youngest of 4 and the whole night she was so confused why she got to go to this alone with me.  She kept reviewing why I took her without her siblings or my kids.  It was kind of funny.  It was tons of fun spending an enchanting evening with my niece and to get some of my girl needs met.  Thanks Brynlee!!

Happy Halloween!!

This year we went trick or treating with my sister Janea in Maple Valley.  Her neighborhood goes all out with decorations and it is really fun.  Kids litter the streets and it feels like a carnival.  The only problem is it is easy to loose your excited child who is running form house to house in the dark of the night.  

 Xander was a ninja on the left and Soren is a scare dude - grim reaper-ish on the right.  Brynlee was a fairy and Dallin was - not really anything.......a very basic knight I guess.  He was a bit grumpy to dress up that night.

 Kamry went trick or treating with her friends, but I suppliked her this dress.  You will see me wearing it in a future post - so stay tuned.  The miricle of spandex!!

 Sadie was a hag - a scary one at that.  Way to work it Sadie.  She went to a party and skipped the tricker treating all together.  She is getting all grown up!!

The boys got a load of candy of coarse. I was so mixed on trick or treating. I wanted them to enjoy the holiday but didn't want to take pounds of candy home.  At the end of the night I offered to pay the boys 2$ per pound of candy they had.  Soren had almost 4 pounds and Xander almost 3 pounds (he did a lot of eating while trick or treating.)  Anyway they took the deal.  So before we left Janea's house, the last trick or treater we told them they were our 100th customer and we gave them all the candy I just bought off the boys.  Now it is another mothers problem.  Muha ha ha ha ha!  The next day I took the kids to value village where they could get the biggest bang for their buck.  They each were able to buy 3 toys and they were feeling so good about their decision to sell their candy.  They never regretted it. It was awesome!!

Soren turns 7!

Happy Birthday Soren!!

Soren is a LEGO man.  He can spend all day playing legos, with people or without.  So when his birthday was coming we knew just the type of party to throw - a lego party.  We started off the party with building some lego race cars and then racing them down the track.  Our birthday boy creamed everyone - I was actually surprised.  How fitting.  Then we placed bit the part of on lego man, followed by a lego tower relay race.  We finished it off with cake, ice cream and presents.  It was a great party.

Ryan was working so it was me vs 10 kids - hence the lack of pictures.  It wasn't suppose to be that big but kids brought their siblings so we had a solid party.

Soren got to celebrate his birthday all month long.  It started out in the beginning of the month with a special day with Grandma and Grandpa Harris.  Then a special day with his family on his actual birthday.  A week later a party with his friends and then a week after that he had a special sleepover at Grandma Thompson's all by himself.  What a way to kick off your 7th year.  That boy is loved.

 Soren help design the top of the cake. It was a lego guy war.  There were bad guys who were hiding behind rocks and set booby traps to get the good guy - the one with wings.

 I think all his gifts were legos or lego related

His new lego table I built

He is such a sweet, boy.  He is always soft and gentle with younger kids and girls.  He is quick to hug and give a kiss to his family.  At Christmas time he was holding up mistle to over everyone.  Then he got upset when Xander wouldn't kiss him- he has never wanted to kiss Xander before.  "how come Xander will kiss you mom and not me!"  He protested.  He probably won't like this story when he is older - he he he he.  He is amazing at anything spacial.  He just knows how to put things together and how things work.  When I ask him where he learned that he says, "I just know." - Just like my brother Zaron.  We love you Soren!  We are so lucky you are in our family!!

Recycling

Soren is a great recycler.  Not in the traditional sense.  He is a very green recycler - no carbon emissions when he recycles.  Let me give you some examples.

While eating corn on the cob one night, Soren says, "Mom don't throw that away.  I want to recycle that."

Q  "How are you going to recycle a already eaten corn on the cob?"

S "I am going to put in the ground, let the worms eat it, then they are going to poop and flowers will grow big."

S "Mom, don't throw that away!  I am going to recycle that."  Soren exclaims as I almost throw away a milk jug.

S "Mom, can I have this?"  He asks while pulling out of the recycling bin cardboard and glass bottles.

He will go into the shop and find pieces of wood that is left over from old project and cut in odd shapes and turn them into things.  I think he might be the most amazing cloud shape finder in the whole world if given a chance.  Soren can see something our of everything.

Enchanting Grandparent Part 3

If anyone is enchanting, it is Grandma Connie.  This is Ryan's Mom.  She is a very skilled retired 2nd Grade teacher who can mold kids in the palm of her hands.  There have been times of going over to Connie's house that I have returned thinking, "I did not know my kids could do that!"  I remember one time when she helped out with Soren's birthday party and the 6 wild children were getting a little out of hand with their foam weapons (hey it is Soren's party, of course there are weapons).  Without raising her voice or trying longer then 45 seconds, she had them all playing in a controlled safe fashion.  She is the master at Love and Logic.

Connie isn't just an enchanting Grandparent to the boys but an enchanting parent to us. She spoils us often with watching our boys at times, all day long, once a week.  When we go on family trips she lets us sleep in and takes care of our early risers.  We are sooooo spoiled.  You are the best Connie!  Thanks for everything!!

I am trying to find a picture but all my pictures are messed up so TBC......

Enchanting Grandparents part 2

Once a month Xander gets to go to Grandma Thompson's house (my Mom).  In June Xander struggled wanting to go because his preschool was having a lunch at the park that day and he heard there would be face painting.  I told Xander to that Grandma had some face paints and she was really good at it.  Way better then the people at the park and if he asked nicely, she might paint his face.  

I guess he asked really, really nice........and my Mom is crazy good!  

My Mom did make up for years at a children's play. As a kid I remember strange teenager parading in my house in the summer months getting their face casted and then my mom making Masks, pointy ears, big noses, large chins and other extras for the actors.  She could make a 10 year old look 80 and a 4 year old look like a lion - clearly.

 My Mom and Dad meet doing theater in collage. She was the beautiful leads and he was the tech genius backstage.  So before I was born, they dreamed of having a traveling entertaining family.  An american Von Trap family if you will.  My Dad wrote a play and they were building marionette in a back room of our house. We even had our front room turned in to a stage much of my younger years with a curtain separating it from the rest of the house. I remember my brother sleeping on the stage for many years as his room.  I can only imagine only having a curtain separating you from the rest of the house might have made getting sent to your room all day with just bread and water harder then if you had walls......but I digress.  Sadly the reality of having 6 kids in 8 years seem to suck this dream dry and they sold their marionettes when I was 12.  

  My Mom said Xander held still for an hour.  He was serious about getting his face painted and about playing the part of the lion.  He wanted my Mom to sow him up a lion costume right then and there.  If he kept nagging her the whole time I bet she would have done it, but as it was by the time lunch was over, Xander was onto new things.  His little 1 yr old cousin came over and he was worried about scaring him so Xander had his face washed off.  I was sad to have missed it in person, but these pics are great.  

It must be so enchanting to have a grandma like Grandma Thompson.  I know it was to have her as a Mom.  Love you Mom and thanks for everything!

Starting Young

When ever I work out in the shop and the boys catch wind of that, they want me to build them things.  "Mom can you build me a priate ship that my friends and I can sit in?"

"Mom can you build me a toy car?"  

"Mom can you build me a sword?"

"Mom can you build me an axe?"

"Mom can you build me the weapon I designed on this piece of paper?"

I can't tell you how many countless "designs" Soren has given me and requested I get to work.  He usually says something like this.  "Mom, it is really easy.  First you take a piece and you cut it like this (points at a part of the design).  Then nails these two pieces together and then put this piece on but first cut it like this......"ect.  

Sometimes I whip them up a sword or shield because they are quick, but I usually say no. I feel like I don't have enough time.  This has lead to them building things on their own.  But since they aren't allowed to cut anything they scrounge for scraps.  Friday before bed they built these.  

 This is Xander's sword he built and painted.  I didn't even know he could effectively nail wood together.  You might wonder which end you hold as the cross handle part is sort of long, but it is lying on its side.  

 This is lethal pokey thing Soren made and is now dismantled due to is lethal effectiveness.

This is a riffle Soren built and painted.  This actually fits under his arm quite well and it was a bit worrisome that he knew just know what to do with this.  

I don't know why I buy toys.  Scraps of wood, cardboard, tape, glue and some paint can keep the boys busy for a very long time.  Granted it does make a lot of mess.....

Enchanting Grandparents part 1

My boys are so lucky!  They have the most amazing Grandparents that are so close to them.  Ryan's parents are just 25 minutes away in Issaquah and my Mom is 25 minutes away in Bellevue.  Not only that but they are AMAZING Grandparents that love to spend time with my kids are are magical when they do.  

Gandpa Howard - Ryan's Dad - has a great shop and is quite handy.  Saturday, after spending the whole day at Grandma and Grandpa's, the boys came home with these.

A sailboat for Soren and a motor boat for Xander.  The boys were asking me if I would make them a boat in the shop the other day and they were turned down.  Grandpa on the other hand is magical and whips these puppies up per request on the same day.  What an enchanting Grandpa.  Soren has been known to design his own weapons and grandpa goes out in the shop and makes them per his specs.  How cool is that?  The down side was Soren was coming home will many weapons every week.  Grandpa has built awesome castles and pirate ships out of random things - wood, pipes, cans, cardboard ect.  He is so creative.  How lucky my boys are to have such a great Grandpa!!  Thanks for everything Grandpa Howard!  You are the best!!   

Week At a Glance

Wow.  It has been a whirlwind and I am sitting confused in the aftermath.  Super briefly my week

Friday biked solo 45 miles - checking out a dreamy trail I want to take my kids on.  It was suppose to be 60 miles but I got 2 flats and didn't have a kit to fix the second one, which lead to a 6 mile walk and a phone call to Mom.  Bummer.  Stayed the night at my Mom's for a little sleepover and was pampered.  She is the best.

Saturday - More hanging out and talking with my Mom, then off to home to do some work around the house with Ryan.

Sunday - Church with new calling in primary.  Afterwards giant (like 13 families giant) potluck with friends at my house which turned into a camp out with 5 families in my backyard, a fire and lots of sticky, yummy smores and a 2am bedtime.

Monday - early rising to make giant pancake breakfast with crazy good toppings for the 5 families that stayed plus 2 more that came back.  Then off to work at 1pm until midnight.

Tuesday - Get boys off to school, feed animals and sleep!  Be confused and groggy the rest of the day and get little done.  Catch up with people on phone that have been behind on.  Wake up several time in night with Xander and his coughing spells

Wednesday - Get Soren off to school, Xander stays home with terrible cold. Help a friend with Dr. appt and medical issues for almost 4 hrs.  Garden for an hour and get less done then I am suppose to around house.

Thrusday - today.  Attend funeral for a 23 yr old woman who I was a YW leader to years ago.  So sad. Meet for a 4th year Girls Camp meeting.  Meet a new neighbor who just got milking goats yesterday and make new friend.  Clean up side of road that has a bunch of trash on it because Soren really wants to (love that boy).

I am so behind.  I have list of stuff I am suppose to get done daily, weekly and monthly.  Uhg.  Projects up the wazoo and garden/animals that need daily cares. A house that needs constant organizing and cleaning.  Patients that need medical care, a bank account that needs filling, and boys that need teaching and loving and a whole lot of memory making and gobs of food.  A husband that needs attention and TLC and a church calling that needs my focus and time.  Girls camp that needs planning and extended family and friend relationships that need building and serving.  All the while cultivating my own spiritual strength and knowledge, health and physical strength so that I can do all that.  And what do I do?  I watch tv.

Sigh.  This is where I get confused. I am pretty sure I can't quite fit it all in, in one day or even week just to attempt to repeat it.  How do I balance you and create effectiveness.  Efficiency?  Success?  You look impossible. I guess I will just go watch tv. It all seems so less impossible come 8am.......but by 8pm, you look impossible again.  I am feeling confused on how to balance it all......I should probably just go to bed.  Good night world.  See you on the flip side.    



 

Morning conversations

It is 6:15am - the TV is locked off.  Everyone is in my bed.

Q "Soren why are you waking up so early?"  This has been a daily occurrence for weeks.

S "I hear a crunch, and it wakes me up.  It goes crunch, crunch crunch I don't know what that is."

Q "Okay......Xander why do you wake up? "

X "It starts right here"  pointing to his big toe, " and it goes all the way up here," sweeping his hand all the way up to his head, "and then I am like awake.

Curse that big toe!


Later this morning.   Soren has some red yarn that he has tied to a fork.

S "I need something I can climb with this."

X "You can climb the fridge."

Q "Wait what?  Lets talk this through before you do anything.  You want to climb something with the fork?"

S "Yeah" and Soren air climbs and stabs his imaginary object with the fork and uses it for leverage.

Q "So you want to climb something like a tree."

S "Yeah! Come on brother, lets go climb a tree."

Soren slips on his boots with his boxer shorts and a over sized shirt that makes him look naked on the lower half.  Xander runs off in just a pair of shorts and rain boots.

Thinking their apparel will help limit what they can do outside as it is cold, I yell out, "Just bring me back my fork..........still straight."

Later this morning.

X "Mom, do you have any cardboard?"

Q "How big do you need it?"

S "like this"  Spreading his arms as far apart as they can go."

Q "What are you going to build?"

X "A secret hide out."

S "With knives and weapons."

Q "No knives.  I will look for some cardboard."

It is 7:35.  We get a lot done when the TV is off.

Take That Satan!

For FHE (family night) a couple of weeks ago I did the plan of salvation which is basically the meaning of life using these visual aids 

http://www.theredheadedhostess.com/most-popular/plan-of-salvation-for-kids-and-everyone-else-too/

It went really well and was interesting how much they asked questions and how much they seem to understand.  Well, a couple of days ago Xander asked some follow up questions and somehow it came out that Satan is sad/mad when we do good things and happy when we do bad things whereas Jesus is happy when we we do good things and sad when we do bad things.  Now, if you know Xander well, you know, there is something about how his brain ticks that makes him a perfect candidate for reverse psychology.  He cannot help himself but do the opposite.  Reminding him of things he should not do is a very bad idea.  Telling him to do bad things, is a sure way to get him to choose the right, share,  eat new foods, ect.  It is twisted, I know, but it is so effecting that we just can't help but do it all the time.  In fact, reverse psychology is so effective he has been known to cry while he shovels food he really doesn't like in his mouth and say, "stop playing this game.  I don't like it."  So although he knows he really doesn't want to eat the food, he has to because we told him not to.  It is so strange.  

Yesterday Xander got into a money making mood, which means he offers to clean the whole house and does it.  I was painting some doors in the garage and Xander kept running in and telling me all the chores he had done and all the money he was making.  Then one time he was telling me that he had helped clean Soren's room too and then added,

"What would Satan say about me cleaning Soren's room."

"Oh Satan would be mad.  He would be like, "No, don't clean his room.  Dang it.  You are being way too nice.  Arg!"  I said in my best theatrical voice.

"And what would Jesus say?"  he questioned.

"Oh, Jesus would be like, 'Yes!  This makes me so happy, what a wonderful boy he is!!'"

Xander giggled in delight and ran off.  5 minutes later he came back,

"I cleaned up the whole living room by myself.  Now what would Satan say?"

"No!  Noooo!  NOOOOOOOOO!"  I hollered in my best evil villain voice.

This time Xander adds a dance with his giggles and then runs off.  5 minute later he reports again about his good deeds he has done and we review mostly what Satan's response would be and sometimes Jesus response.  It was so cute, so fun and very effective.  I love having another tool to help Xander do good things.

Take that Satan!

Cops, thieves and a bunny

So, I have this cute little bunny who hates to be in her cage (don't blame her) and turns out we are allergic too (not surprising if you knew me growing up). Anyway, our indoor bunny is now an outdoor bunny, and since she hates to be in her cage, on nice days I let her run around outside. I keep hoping she will just return to her cage for food, water, and safety like my chickens, but she doesn't. I think she would never return if I didn't forcer her to. It is too hard on me to cage up my animals forever (forget about the animals, it is too hard on me). They just never seem that happy and I can't handle it. Yes, letting them run around in my unfenced yard has lead to deaths - predominantly chicken deaths, but I ease my guilty conscious with the thought that my animals would rather have a short happy life then a long caged life.......true? And yes it does cost me more to replace these animals, but can you really put a price on animal joy? The question is, what are they going to say to me in heaven? I will either have a lot of chicken friends, or a lot of chicken enemies. But I digress.

Back to the bunny. So the bunny is running around and she loves to go to the neighbors. In fact this has brought half my neighborhood together. I have lived in this neighborhood for 7 years, but there are many neighbors that I don't know - and I have thrown some big neighborhood gatherings (that clearly were not well attended.) Well, apparently no matter how antisocial you are, if there is a cute, little bunny hoping around, you will drop anything to help it. Neighbors I have never talk to have gone out of their way to find me and let me know where my bunny is. Bunnys have magical powers. This bunny also has no street smarts. Apparently she has almost been hit by a car several times. I am planning on making her a bunny run (which I haven't bought into will actually make her happy) but I haven't yet, and while I procrastinate making it, I still let her out to run around, even though the last time I vowed I wouldn't anymore. She just loves it so much. I can't help it. So, I let her out today and after 15 minutes I decided to check her wear abouts. she tends to hang out in a couple of neighbors yards an so I was in that area when a neighbor I have never spoken to said that she saw someone in a silver truck stop, pick up my bunny that was on the side of the road and drive off. I was so shocked. My bunny was gone. It gave me flash back on the red wagon incident. I quickly relayed the wagon story to the neighbor and said,

"I guess I am just too trusting."

With a flat voice the woman responded, "Yeah, you are way to trusting." And to get her point really across she added, "You could live way out in the country, and you would still be too trusting."

I am not sure what that all means but it doesn't sound good.

The neighbors was quite bothered by the whole experience too. So bothered that she had the mind to get a partial plate number with the description of the vehicle. She advised me to call the cops. I thanked her but was very skeptical about the cop idea. What could/would the cops do? However, unbeknownst to me, Soren thought that was a great idea. About 2 minutes later as I was still absorbing the news of my bunny a friend pulled in to my driveway. I was telling them the story when all of a sudden Soren ran up to me with the phone and said,

"Mom they want to talk to you."

"Who wants to talk to me?" I asked.

"The police. I called 911."

What?! I was hoping it was a joke so you can imagine my disappointment when I said hello and someone replied back. I went ahead and gave her the bunny info since Soren had called them. I mean, who calls the cops when a bunny goes missing. I felt stupid, but whatever. I do pay taxes. 10 minutes later a cop shows up. But not just a cop. I a cop with about 10 different weapons and type of bullets strapped to his belt. Wow, they take bunny stealing very seriously. Actually, he didn't' take it seriously at all but boy did Soren love to see all the weapons up close and personal.

"I've never seen a real live cop before." Soren exclaimed while trying to inch his way up to touch the cop and his goods. While my friend was shmoozing with the cop, up pulls a silver truck - One like my neighbor described. A woman and man pops out and sees me eyeing them.

"Did you loose a bunny?" they hollered.

Apparently they almost ran over the bunny. The woman had bunnies growing up and knew this bunny was domesticated and planned to knock on doors to find the owner but had to boogie to the airport to drop her mom off to a flight. They were new to the neighborhood and lived a few blocks away. They were really nice and when they saw the cop car they got really embarrassed. The woman said, "I was just joking in the car about what if a cop pulled us over." It was all really funny. Even after all this drama Flopsy was still resistant to go back in her cage.

The real problem is it is just not normal to let your bunny run around. I mean, no one goes to much effort when they almost hit a cat with their car. Or if someones dog runs in your yard. I really, really need to stop letting her out. If only my yard was fenced.

Bummer

And so it begins..........sleep walking and peeing. I was really hoping that would not be me.

How do you stop that? Prayer? Faith? Will it away? Oh, I know. Have him sleep in the bathroom with a lock on the door. The tub should make a fine bed.

Ideas?

Xander's ipod

Xander does not have an ipod. However he really, really, really wants one. I don't know why. I barely got one a year ago for Christmas. He thinks they are magical though and loves how he can listen to music that no one else gets to. He asks for an ipod all the time. I keep telling him that they cost lost and lots of money and only big kids usually get them. I think this intrigues him more, not less. I have often told him that he could earn the money for it but it would take a long time. He has never explored this option........until today.

Last summer I started paying the boys for chores. I wanted them to get the chance to buy things they want so when I am in the store and they beg me to buy stuff I can say, "Do you have any money?" and them to actually have a potential of having money. I also want them to connect money to hard work to motivate them for hard work, however I didn't want them to be able to opt out of chores if money isn't motivating - you still have to do your chores. So this is the system I came up with.

10 cents for every chore (some of these chores are barely chores, but things I want them to take personal responsibility. Getting dressed, brushing teeth, cleaning room, making bed, setting table, cleaning up toys, feeding animals and most recently cleaning bathrooms, sorting and folding laundry and vacuuming.)

20 cents if you do it without me asking. I would pay serious money for a self driven kid to do chores.

no money if I have to ask more then once.

Until recently, Xander has never been motivated by money. He just would say, "Soren will buy it for me, so I don't have to earn money." Soren is way too generous and kind with his money. Because of this attitude I have had to put my foot down with a new rule. "You should know Xander, I will not let Soren buy anything for you, no matter how nice he is or wants to. Sorry dude." What really has recently increased Xander's interest in money is when he realized money buys gum. And when you are the owner of the gum pack, you can have gum anytime you want, but when Mom is the owner of the gum pack, it is doled out very sparingly. Xander loves gum. So, he has felt the power of money and now I come to the ipod.

So today he begged for me to buy an ipod like he does every week or so and again I told him to earn the money. Well today the lightbulb went off and he became driven. So driven that he has

• cleaned the whole bathroom (granted this takes forever and I am involved a lot, but it is good training. Can't wait for the future)
• cleaned his room
• made his bed
• got dressed
• brushed his teeth
• vacuumed upstairs
• cleaned up all the toys upstairs
• and is now sorting the laundry and will put away his own laundry.

After every chore he asks if he made enough to buy the ipod. I told him he needs to earn 40$ (we are big craiglist fans) but that number just isn't sinking in, so we made a little poster with a check box by each dollar up to 40$. I can't believe the chart alone hasn't deterred him yet. I don't know how long this is going to last but it has been one amazing day.

He was amazing cleaning up the play room. He was so motivated and put everything where it belongs very quickly. It goes to show you that 4 yr olds are so capable when they aren't complaining and feeling abused.

$2.5 down - $37.5 to go.

Insights from the Dump

We are finally finishing cleaning up our yard from the ice/snow storm that took down so many trees and branches. I know I am growing up and getting more mature because there are times in my life I wish I was a girl. This may be confusing to you. Yes I am a woman, and a real one at that, but I am not a REAL girl. I do stuff all the time that real girls wouldn't do. Like cutting down trees with chainsaws or building decks and fences by myself ect. I use to just crave experience so bad I wanted to do EVERYTHING. Well, now that I have done a lot it is okay with me not to have to do everything. In fact, I want to try out being a girl. I haven't really done that yet. I want some man to go, "Oh let me help you that." as I am just a wee thing and a girl to boot. "Oh thank you strong man. It is so heavy and I just didn't know what to do, until you came a long." I am really terrible at this but suddenly see value in it.

As I was taking a monstrous load of branches and wood to the dump, I was thinking how I would love to be a girl - particularly today. The dump is one of Americas sins. If you go there is is the grossest, smelliest, ugliest place. Pleh - yuck! I always hate going to the dump and I feel like a terrible person when I do. I feel like I am polluting the world. Giving it cancer. Condemning it to death. Today I was dumping wood so what I was dumping didn't make me feel that way, but just being in that place did. So I am already feeling down from this horrific place when I get on top of my monstrous tangled pile of wood. How am I ever going to get all this stuff out of the trailer by myself. It is so heavy and tangled and pokey. I feel it is impossible for one little girl to accomplish such a feat by herself in this pit of despair. But I begin. I get slapped in the face with twigs and pathetically wrestle with the branches. I decide I will be here all day and there is no joy in the world. And so I commit myself to this misery and just keep working. I pull, yank, push and throw. I feel like I am making no headway. It is so impossible but I keep working.............and then what do you know, I am done in 15 minutes. 15 minutes of misery. That was it. I am shocked and surprised. Then a flood of memories of these same feelings come to me. Oh yeah, this is what happens to me every time I go to the dump. I think there is no way I can do this by myself but once I start and just keep going, it magically disappears. I have learned this lesson of "just keep working and the impossible become possible", many, many times, yet I still forget it. What is wrong with me? Why am I so stupid? Curse this flawed brain. If I could only remember what I learned, I would be so smart. I would actually have a head start on tomorrow. But instead I have to waste time re-learning and re-learning.

Now that the task is done, I am okay with not being a girl again and see value in being capable. - What a strange roller coaster of emotions.

(Note, Ryan took this mango pile to the dump the day before, but sadly it already closed. So today I needed to do it because he was at work.)

Tooth Fairy's 1st apperance

Soren lost his first tooth! We have officially entered the awkward school age. Soren's had a routine dental check up a few days ago and the dentist said

"Soren's tooth is so wiggly, I don't know how he eats. You really need to get that out of there or it could shift his permanent tooth into the wrong position."

I didn't know it was that loose. I mean yikes. I had wiggled it a few times before but Soren didn't want me to go snooping around in his mouth much. He was scared of it hurting. So on the car ride home I said,

"Hey Soren, want to pull out that tooth today? The dentist said we have to get it out. Hey, I know, we can pull it out with some pliers. That is how my Mom and Dad would pull out my teeth!" - If I say "that is what I use to do as a kid" I almost have a 100% chance that my kids will accept whatever it is I am talking about.

But regardless, that is not a joke. I have many vivid memories of my Dad joking about different ways to pull out teeth (string and the door method ect.) and then pulling out rusty old pliers. My mom may have forced him to wash them first though. I of course thought this was normal as I saw many of my older siblings get their teeth pulled with them. Sometimes my Mom would get enough courage to try but after it slipped a few times she would either chicken out or get fired and we would just wait for Dad to get home. By the time I was on my 4 or 5th loose tooth, I started getting really motivated to get my teeth out. If it was even slightly wiggly I would ask my Mom to pull it. She would do a wiggle test and turn me down, "Sorry, Quinae, that is not wiggly enough. Keep working it." And so I did. I would work on it all day and by the evening I would either pull it out myself or pass the wiggle test. I do not know why I was so motivated. Our tooth ferry was cheep and forgot most the time. I eventually would just go up to my mom and say, "here is my tooth. Can I have a dollar?" My Mom was happy to oblige and not have to attempt to remember. It was a win-win.

Now, since Soren is 6, he doesn't know that this is probably a strange way to pull out teeth. So, he nervously accepted my idea. Later that night I told him it was time and got the pliers. As I tried to get a good grip I started to realize for the first time why my Mom never liked pulling out teeth (strangely enough when I was a kid, I didn't know what her problem was). The whole time you are thinking, "I hope this goes well." as the kid the kid scrunches his face and moans in the anticipation of pain. I got a good hold of the tooth (not an easy task) and trying to tell my self to yank. "One two three yank Quinae!" But I didn't yank. Lets try again. "One, two three, YANK Quinae!" Dang it, my body didn't obey. By this time Soren is getting more nervous as he keeps him mouth open wide and pliers and squeezing his tooth but not moving. Suddenly I hear Ryan come down stairs and I sigh in relief! Yes I call my girl card! You see, I have this girl card that I like too use at times. I figure I don't use it much so I don't feel guilty at all when I use it.

Once I tell Ryan what the dentist said, Ryan becomes all business. Ryan rocks the tooth a few times to get a feel of it and Soren begins to cry. I begin wondering if this is a good idea and as I begin to quietly himm and haw that thought Ryan rocks the tooth 3 more times and yanks.

The tooth is out! Ryan and I squeal in delight and amazement while Soren screams in horror at the sight of blood. I try to convince Soren he is so tough and amazing while he screaming like he is hemorrhaging out. Granted this is the most blood Soren has ever lost - which speaks to the lack of cutting injuries he has had - not the tooth. I begin to wonder if we have traumatized our child. A few minutes later that fear was validated........by the other kid.

Suddenly I see Xander, who was sitting just a couple feet away the whole time, look a little white faced, saying while shaking his head, "I never want to loose a tooth."

Dang it. There are so many ways to screw up your kid.

Once the bleeding stopped in a few minutes, Soren recovered and felt like the tough guy I praised him to be. Here are the photos to prove it.

With the help of Mr. Tooth Fairy, Mrs. Tooth Fairy remembered to put the dollar under the pillow. Soren was so happy the next morning he decided to wake us up at 6am to celebrate.

One down, 19 more to go.....times 2.

Courageous Soren

Today my son Soren bore his testimony at church. I was so proud of him. I know grown adults who won't even do that! Here is how it played out.

Today my newest niece, Eleanor, had her baby blessing. We all went to her ward to support her and her family. Of course it was fast Sunday which is a day where anyone in the congregation can go up and bare their testimony of what they believe. I had a stirring in my heart, you know that feeling that you should go up and bare you testimony. I felt like I had done it fairly recently so I was sort of bummed. I didn't want to go up. "Really, do I have to?" I said to my feeling. I thought about ignoring it and not doing it, but then the thought came, "okay, but your still accountable." "Uhg, alright, you win." I reluctantly committed to go up after the next person. My mom beat me to the punch so I had to sit up at the front to wait my turn. All of a sudden Soren starts coming up. I started to have a flood of thought. "Oh shoot. We have never practiced bearing testimonies. We really haven't even talked about testimonies, except for what they are. Oh dear!" I gave him a crash course in testimony bearing while my Mom spoke.

Q -"Soren what are you going to say up there?"

S -"I am going to say, I am so grateful we all believe in Jesus."

Q - "That is great Soren, but how about you talk about what you believe in and what you are grateful for." I drilled him on what he believes in and what he was grateful for. Right before it was our turn he said, "No Mom, I want to say different things." That struck fear into my heart. Ahhhhh! What is he gong to say when he gets the microphone?! My crash course in testimony bearing time was up and now we would just have to wait and see. He wanted me to come up to bare my testimony first, so I did. Then he got up and I gave him a few seconds to start on his own. He got real close the microphone like it was an ice cream cone with lips touching it and give a big slow deep breath in and then looked at me. 2 minutes of testimony coaching just fell out of his brain. Phew! Stage fright prevented him from doing anything a 6 year old really wants to do with a microphone. I asked him what he was grateful for and it was all the trigger he needed. He then bore the cutest little testimony "I am grateful for Jesus and that I get to pray to him and I love my family in the name of Jesus Christ Amen" and then literally ran away back dow to his Dad grinning ear to ear!

Oh how proud I am of his one sentence testimony. Especially since I have been such a bad teacher on this topic. I don't incorporate formal teaching into our week as much as I should. What a sweet little boy. Man I love that kid.

Pre-Birthday, Birthday Cake

Tonight my twin brother, Shem, came over for dinner and we celebrate our 31st birthday. I made grass fed beef spare ribs. It was delicious. My sister in law raved about them which makes me love her all the more. She in return made us two incredibly delicious birthday cakes. She is a fabulous baker. With every bite I felt each hour slaving love she poured into it. It is supper special when someone suffers in the kitchen for you. Don't you think? I am crazy lucky that I have such an awesome family and that they choose awesome spouses. 31. Yeah, we look like a couple of middle aged people - all old and sad. Sometimes when I lay down a little funny, I get up all old lady like. Sigh - hello 30's. Dang we look alike. I never thought we looked more alike then any other sibling in my family, but in this picture we look a lot alike. We applied to the Amazing Race together a few months ago. Can you believe that they never called us back? I can't. We would be perfect. I would love to do a wild and crazy race with this guy and be forced to hang out and build more memories. Sigh. Thanks Shem and Ruth and cute baby Asher! We loved seeing you!!

Related to Famous

A couple weeks ago we went to see my niece Sadie's play. She is Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Can you believe it? This is a school production that takes in 3 different schools and grades 6 - 9. She is in 6th grade and landed the lead - Charlie. This school must have some serious fundraising because they had a budget of 12,000$ It was a fabulous production. Sadie of course was in gobs of scenes, gobs of lines and had a whole song solo. She did amazing. I couldn't be prouder.

I took the boys and they loved it too. It was all so special. The play was over 2 hrs long and Soren and Xander started to get wiggly but they did great overall.

Here is Charlie and her sister. This family is full of drama and singing talent.

Sadie was so famous. Signing all these cute fans cast list.

After the show they meet a bunch of cast and Soren in particular loved meeting everyone. He was so cute and he walked around and shyly spoke and shook hands with all these famous big kids. Way to go Sadie. We love you!!

Valentines - Boy Style

We made some homemade valentines this year. They turned out great and the boys had a good time making them. I thought they would like valentines in the shape of weapons and superheros. BoyT was I right. After we were done they got to play with the rest of the supplies and came up with their own love weapons.

Soren made a love gun

Xander made a love spiky bomb.

Getting some love from one of my valentines. Xander is definitely a lover. He hugs and kisses me many, many times a day. If I do something he likes, (ie: make a meal he likes, give him a gum ball, tell him we are going to the park ect.), he is suddenly over come by love and lunges to give me hugs and kisses wherever he is (and also usually uses a baby voice with made up words of joy to celebrate). I love it (the hugging and kissing part) and hope he never grows up.

Bunny Lovin

For Christmas I got a bunny. She is a holland lop and is adorable. She is an indoor bunny and she is suppose to run around being happy and good. However I seem to be terrible at potty training her so she is sadly limited. My boys adore her though........poor bunny. We got her as a baby in hopes that she would think it was normal to be malled by children. She is a good bunny but does bite occasionally and can poop everywhere at times when she is out. Yesterday as I was at work, I called to check in at home and Ryan declared, "I want to kill the bunny! She is very bad." If Ryan didn't have a history of killing my pets I might have given a chuckle to such an extreme comment. Apparently she bit Soren quite hard, but in her defense, Soren, no matter how frequently I tell him to stop because bunnies does like that, he tries to bouncer her up and down like a fussy baby. I think it is a good thing that the boys get feedback about what the bunny will tolerate. Unfortunately Xander heard how Ryan felt. Today Xander was telling the neighbor, "My Dad wants to kill the bunny. I like killing bunnies too." Awesome. I am a little worried for the next time I go to work.

They really do love her. Surely she won't die right?

See, isn't she cute. How could anyone want to kill her?

Red Wagon

By 3pm on the icey day of the snow storm a few weeks back, my family had had enough of each other. If action wasn't taken soon bodily harm was going to occur and since the roads were so bad, I knew the medics would have a hard time getting here. So I brainstormed a way to prevent such an act of violence and knew we need gross body movement to steam off energy. So I began calling friends. "If we walked to your house, would you let us in?" I half begged half joked in a fairly desperate voice. I quickly found a taker. This friend was 1.5 miles away and half of it was down hill - which meant walking home might be painful. I decided to take our sled so that if situation arose we could sled down, but really it would allow me to drag the kids up the hill in a worse case scenario. Then I realized I forgot my sled at my sisters house. We had purchased this awesome red wagon just weeks before on a great super sale. I was so excited about this wagon. I had purchased it for several reasons. One being to help facilitate the boys doing more yard work. They can't really manage our wheelbarrow, but they could drag all sorts of things around the yard with a wagon. I thought it might work as a substitute. So off we went, bundled up and toting a shinny new red wagon. It worked well on our street, but once we got the hill, it had been plowed so the sides were not smooth enough for a wagon. I decided to ditch the wagon off the road under a tree. There was no one out except some cars so I thought this was safe enough place. Xander on the other hand felt I had bad judgement. "Don't leave the wagon there! It will be stolen." I tell my kids all the time that their stuff will be stolen - but that is just because I am trying to motivate them to put their things away.

"It is not going to be stolen Xander." I protested.

So we continued on our journey. I had told my friend to expect us in 30 minutes if every thing goes well, and an hour if it didn't. But as we continued and Soren would gather every 3rd icicle, I knew we were on the 60 minute path. It was snowing and quite magical. The only real problem was we started at 3pm and it gets dark around 4:30 this time of year. I kept crunching the numbers, but no matter how short we stayed at our friends house, we were guaranteed a walk in the dark........a detail that the more I thought about, became a worse and worse idea. By 4pm we were about 4 blocks away, but my rational self got the better of me and I turned us around - as failures. But were we really failures? Every single one of us had all our limbs and all our pints of blood. The boys surprisingly took it well. On the way up the hill we took a couple breaks as I told them tales of Narnia and the White Witch. Towards the top of the hill Xander was slacking a bit. I promised him a ride in our wagon the rest of the way if he could just reached the top. As we approached Xander says, "Mom, it is gone. Someone stole the wagon." Mid rebuttle I stopped cold. "Oh my gosh! You are right! Someone stole it!!" I said in horror and disbelief. "See I told you Mom." Xander said half smiling. It was almost worth loosing the wagon to be right over his mom it seemed. He kept saying it over and over again. "I told you not to put the wagon there. I knew someone would steel it......" blah blah blah. In frustration and anger I spat out, "Your right Xander. There are evil people in the world who just want to steal your stuff." I sort of felt bad after saying that but it kept Xander quite so it seemed worth it at the time. A block more down the road there was a older man out shoveling his driveway. "You kids enjoying a walk in the snow." "Yup" I replied with no joy in my voice. Then Xander informs the the guy, "Someone stole our wagon."

"How did someone steal your wagon?" inquired the man with a confused look on his face.

Then in true Xander form, he tells the man a whole long story that you can barely follow about our walk and how we ditch the wagon and walked forever then came back and then the wagon was gone. He pipes in, "My mom left in under the tree and I didn't think that was a good idea." The man chuckles and say, "Well I guess you were right."

Then without missing a beat Xander says, "There's evil people in the world you know."

I giggle a nervous giggle but the man full on laughs.

"Yeah, well my wife says I am one of them." he adds.

As we cover the last few blocks we try to make ourselves feel better by imagining scenarios were people need a wagon so badly they steal it. I think we decided it was a Dad with lots and lots of kids that he needed to take places in a wagon because his car broke down.

Farewell wagon. Enjoy your new owner.

I woke up today and Soren had already made his lunch.

So today, Soren will be eating

Tortilla jam and honey sandwich ( said he couldn't find the bread that was right there on the counter.)

tortilla chips

dried apricots

and for desert a taco shell drizzled with honey and a layer of chocolate chips and seaweed.

He is really excited.........and we will revisit nutrition tomorrow.