Disneyland 2010

I thought if I included "2010," maybe we'd go back sometime...

We had a ton of fun going to Disneyland together! We went 2 1/2 years ago, right around Christmastime, and honestly, Isaac had a blast! Jeremiah was terrified of ALL rides he went on (Dumbo, the carousel...that's about it) and Leora was barely a year old and didn't really care.

So, this time, we went on one of the last summer days that the ark closed at 8. It was a great choice. Hardly any lines, and we could do everything we wanted to! Yippee!

Mostly the next few posts will just have pictures. Because my favorite father mentioned that wehaven't posted here recently. And I don't really have the time/current desire to write a ton. Since we're moving currently. We'll be in Wisconsin in 6 days! Which means moving out of our apartment and having everything packed and shipped and cleaned within the next 4 days...

The boys on the teacups.

Leora and John on the teacups.

Isaac hanging out in jail in ToonTown.

Alison, Jeremiah and Leora sitting on a bench on the carousel.

Leora consulting the Disneyland map. :)

Our family! At Disneyland!

Jeremiah and Isaac with Disney souvenirs!

Leora with HER souvenir. We went into the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and I fgured we'd get her a beautiful princess tiara or purse and gloves...but no. We found the best swords and shields ever!

Good-bye Disneyland!

Halloween!!!

This week leading up to Halloween has been a blast! My mom came out to play with us, which added to the excitement. :) We made Jeremiah a wolf suit like Max, from Where the Wild Things Are, and created bat wings to go with Isaac's ninja costume (um, he decided he wanted to be a "bat-ninja"?--apparently they sneak up to people and pull down others' pants, but we vetoed that action), and decorated Danielle's turtle shell, for her "little bitty ninja turtle" costume. We carved pumpkins and turned them into jack-o-lanterns, for the first time! We've decorated pumpkins and painted them before, but not carved. The kids were ecstatic to look at their jack-o-lanterns at night, all lit up. The boys had a kindergarten Halloween party and costume parade on Friday, and we went trick-or-treating and had carnival games and dinner at our church tonight. We've had a lot of fun!

And now....for pictures!


Three sweet children looking longingly into the flames of their jack-o-lanterns...

Ninja-Bat with his creation.

Max, making a scary face like his SCARY jack-o-lantern. :)

And, a Little Bitty Ninja Turtle with her very happy pumpkin!


More, perhaps better, views of their cute costumes. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE that these kids like to play together??)


At our church's Halloween party, while waiting on Daddy to serve us dinner. (If you really think staying with three kids while the other parent is getting dinner is the better half of the deal, you might want to think again!)


Jeremiah with his Sunbeams teacher! She's so great!

Ooohh! A ScArY math test! Run away! (John has wanted to be a math test for Halloween for years. :) He finally got a chance!)


Supermom! Here to save the day!

Time and Weather

So...sometimes I think that the whole Daylight savings time is ridiculous. I'm always okay with the "fall back" part, it's the "spring forward" part that is so terrible. But this year with Jeremiah's bus suddenly arriving an hour earlier...oh boy. We're still adjusting our bodies to a new time. (And next year I'll remember to start changing the time--bedtime and waking up time--by ten minutes a day a few days before the clocks change!)

I took Jeremiah out to the bus, and I thought, "Wow, I didn't need to put my coat on! This is a lovely lovely day!" It's about 37 right now. Just for some perspective. 37 is SO WARM! A good 60 degrees warmer than than January and February. I love March!

Contentment

Right now I am perfectly content. Life is simple, life is routine. Our house becomes messy and clean again quickly (this goes both ways, which is important!). We eat and clean up many times a day. I get kids dressed and ready for each day, and eventually into pajamas before bed...only to do it all over again. We read books, we have naps, we exercise at times... We have family home evening and family scripture study and family prayer. I have some time for just me (I repeat, SOME, not an incredible amount, but enough).

So, how long until something happens to throw us out of our routine...? In the plans are:
1. The boys are out of school come June.
2. We're (planning on) sending John back to ASU in September.
3. Someone will probably get sick...

I'm definitely enjoying this blessed though temporary state! And my kids are cute, too. And my husband is wonderful. And I just am feeling incredibly lucky right now.

Sore muscles= Working hard

I associate sore muscles with hard work. Exercise, stress, strain, repetitive movements and motions.

So I know that I've been working hard when...

I have muscle spasms at the computer, from the computer (or at least the amount of time I've worked on the computer). Did you know that it takes much effort to hold my arm in a comfortable position when I'm dominantly using the mouse? It does. I never would have thought that. Maybe I AM a geek.

(Aaah! The pain of occasional acceptance!)

Making Hummus!!! and Roasting Garlic

We're having our Visiting Teaching Conference tomorrow during Relief Society (the men are taking care of the Primary and Young Women), and I volunteered to make a couple "spreads" for our crackers. A "Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus" and a "Warm Broccoli Cheese Spread." The hummus recipe I was given called for a mix I couldn't find at two stores, and I don't have mayonnaise in my house so I'd have to buy that too...so I made a different recipe. And oh boy! It's SO good! I love hummus, and I've wanted to try making it for a while, and now I have, and I don't know when I'll stop! So yummy! (Okay, I love beans and make tons of stuff with them, and I grew up eating them straight from the can--garbanzo and kidney, at least--so if you don't love beans in general as much as I do, hummus might not do it for you like it does it for me. But, oh! It's good!)

So the recipe I used called for roasted garlic, which I didn't happen to have on hand, so I looked up how to roast garlic (super easy!) and I did! (Also something I've wanted to try but lacked motivation for!) Oh, and of course while my garlic was roasting, I was munching on Cherry Cordial Hershey's Kisses (also yummy...) but after a few minutes I couldn't force myself to eat them because I was smelling this strong garlic smell from my kitchen. So next time you have a craving that you don't want to give in to, try roasting garlic. It worked for me, this time at least. (And if you don't use fresh garlic, it's easy and cheap and kind of fun--try it!)

So, if church isn't cancelled (temperature plus wind chill factor should be in the -25 to -40 range, but we'll see if cars start or phone calls are made), I'll get to share yummy goodness at church, otherwise...there's no way it's lasting until we reschedule the VT Conference, so... :)

Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus Recipe
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans or chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp roasted garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice

Combine in food processor or blender, blend, and enjoy on crackers or pita bread!

(In the case of your food processor not working...mash it up and mix with a hand blender. :)

I'm "It"?

Five things I was doing ten years ago:
1. Going on my first date: to a carnival with The Grossest Boy in my class. And I liked it. :)
2. Deciding I'd wait until I turned 18 to get my driver's license.
3. Show choir before school.
4. Attempting to pole vault (and do all the other "field events" in track and field).
5. Getting my name in the local newspaper for finishing first for my school in a cross country meet.

Five things to do today:
1. Sew 99-6" squares together to make the front of a baby quilt.
2. Laundry.
3. Prepare a spiritual thought for a presidency meeting.
4. Decide which frozen vegetable to microwave to go with homemade chicken nuggets and roasted potatoes for dinner.
5. Laundry.

Five things I want to do in the next ten years:
1. Take my family (as in "husband and children") on a backpacking trip.
2. Run a marathon.
3. Discover my favorite type of cheesecake.
4. Overcome/accept my fear of heights and go on a ski-lift so I can learn to ski.
5. Go on a weeklong retreat, by myself, and sleep and be massaged and eat yummy food and not do laundry and sleep and be pampered. And sleep.

My favorite toys:
1. My piano!!!
2. My YMCA membership--they watch my kids for me so I can shower!, I mean, exercise.
3. John's laptop.
4. My Tupperware spatula. It's just perfect.
5. My foot spa.

The five greatest things about being a mom:
1. Being the one that is loved the best.
2. Feeling giddy inside when my kids eat their vegetables first at dinner.
3. Being here to watch them learn: Jeremiah going from 3 words to entire sentences over the course of a year, Danielle climbing stairs and starting to walk, Isaac sitting through Sacrament meeting quietly and reverently and happily.
4. Having a magical ability to blow kisses to "owies" that makes them disappear.
5. Enjoying, relishing the peace and quiet when they are all asleep.

Triathlon

I'm going to do a triathlon! Which entails getting into shape to do a triathlon, which is more the point than the actual race. But my first goal is to run, swim, and bike the equivalent of an Ironman triathlon over 30 days. That should get me on the right track, at least. (Okay, so that will really get me on the right track. Really, really.) Hopefully this will pan out, and not be one of my goals that happens to slip away. :)

It's Practically Warm!

This morning I put on a fleece jacket when I took Jeremiah out to the bus, and I wasn't cold! Last night John and I were walking downtown, and I was freezing. It must have gotten warmer overnight, because it was an almost warm 27 degrees this morning.
I'm trying really hard to thicken up my blood this year. :)

Relaxing Game

I wanted something relatively brainless to do before I went to bed (for relaxation/destressing/whatever), and this is what John came up with.

Vacuuming Makes Me Sad

Last night I had Isaac (and the big bird-dragon, and the little bird-dragon, and "Zaptos" the pterodactyl) help me clean up the toys in the living room so I could vacuum. After he had helped pick up toys and throw away some garbage, I got out the vacuum.

"Mom, I don't want you to vacuum. The vacuum makes me sad."

"Isaac, why does the vacuum make you sad? It's fun--it makes the carpet clean again, like magic!" (Maybe that's exaggerating my true feelings a bit, but...)

"You might vacuum me. And then you'd have to buy a new kid like me."

Oh!

"Isaac, there are no other kids like you. And I won't vacuum you up. Stay on the couch with the little bird-dragon and the big bird-dragon and Zaptos, and then the vacuum definitely won't vacuum you."

"Someone took my spot!"

As I was slowing down to pull into a nice parking spot I had circled around the hospital parking lot for, a fast black car zoomed right into it from the other direction. When he was about halfway in, he looked at me apologetically and questioningly motioned if it was mine. I nodded, a little sadly. And he paused, zoomed back out, found another spot, and ran into the hospital.

He made my day!

Sunbeams

Three and a half weeks ago, I received a phone call (a very apologetic one) in which I was asked to teach the Sunbeams class (3-4 year olds) at church. I almost said no, because Isaac's in that class and I know he does a lot better at church when I'm not in sight. But I said yes--she wouldn't have asked if there were many other choices. And later that day, all the substitutes were asked to continue subbing their respective classes for another two weeks.

Well. Today was the last of the two more weeks. And every week has been a different combination of kids, and consequently a different personality spectrum. Today was high on the feline side of the spectrum--5 of the 6 kids were pretending to be cats for 50 minutes, including the entirety of closing exercises and most of our class time. They weren't the purring types of cats, either; They were the loud, hungry types.

I had a breakdown on the way home from church and closed myself in my room when we got home. So now I'm wondering why in the world I'm planning on calling our new Primary president (who was the last one in the branch) to see if there's a Sunbeams teacher lined up for the next few weeks...and considering volunteering to be subjected to more. Part of me is just stubborn and not used to failure--maybe I just feel some odd need for a new challenge. Or something. But there's got to be a way to get those kids to focus and be interested. There's got to be, I know it.

ITIHANBF

John and I make up new acronyms when we're IMing each other--It's kind of fun to try to interpret what the other has to say.

So, that was "I think I have a new best friend." I think I can have an infinite supply of best friends, because each one is so different. THIS one brought me homemade jams and salsa and applesauce the first time she came over. What more could I ask for?

I know, I'm pretty easy. But I think everyone knew that already...

"The Race"

Alison: Hey John, are we "slow and steady wins the race" kind of people?

Pause.

John: Are we "hold still when the gun goes off and hope the race goes away" kind of people?

The Best Part of being a Mom...

Is when it's Sunday afternoon and there are three little children asleep on their beds, one large husband asleep on his bed, and a tray of cookies ready to come out of the oven.

I love being a mom...

A Brief History of our Marriage

John's Aligning

So, I like to help John with his work. We sit on the couch and cuddle and look through lists and lists of state standards and check the box for the ones that match the textbook question.

Kansas has the most ridiculous standards. The most ridiculous one, though, is the following.

Understands that when he or she is playing a sport outside that sun screen should be applied to the shin.

We were so confused. Why the shin? Not the face or neck or ears or knuckles?

I just figured it out--it's a typo.

"Sun screen should be applied to the...skin."

Crossword puzzles

John and I were in two different places at the same time. (I know it's not as hard as me being in two different places at the same time, but it was fun to write!) We did a crossword puzzle together. It was fun; they have a chat that we used at first, but it was really slow, so we used out google chat instead. The sad part was that the answers were sometimes too obvious--"able to be repaired" was "reparable." But it was fun. You can "invite" someone to do a crossword with you, and it sends them an email with a link to the site.

"Peanuts in my Pepsi"

When John was serving his mission, he met a guy (one of the other elders? an investigator?) who put peanuts in his Pepsi. "It's all about the crunch, man, it's all about the crunch." Sort of ridiculous--the peanuts would obviously float to the bottom, and "the crunch" wouldn't happen until you're eating wet peanuts after you drink your soda.

Obviously not. I just attempted this (because I always thought it was ridiculous). The peanuts actually float to the top (come on, unless you tried it before, you thought the peanuts would sink, too, just like I did). "The crunch" is kind of fun, but about half of the peanuts floated to the back of the glass when I went to drink it, so there was the "wet peanuts effect" after my soda was gone (I used Sprite--I don't know if that affects anything--Did you notice my proper use of "effect" and "affect?" I'm a sucker for grammar and spelling, always have been.) I also used honey roasted peanuts, which I might change in the future (supposing future "peanuts in my Pepsi" episodes) as the honey roasted goodness is removed by the soda and leaves a gross-looking film in the glass.

Maybe it's better with Pepsi?