Family Pictures

We try to do family pictures every year.  Some years they come out fabulous.  And some years I just want to wring a few necks. ;)

This year I got two photos I love:

We were trying to fit in pictures at the end of the day, so there wasn't a lot of light.  My aperture was waaaaaay open and the shutter was a teensy bit too slow.   But I love these.  Worth the trip.

I also captured this series.  Cracks me up.

I think I need to print that one.

What Comes With a Name Change

So Libby has decided to be Beth.   She informed me of this in a very off hand manner on Thursday afternoon.   It's been interesting.  She still very much responds to Libby, but she grins and blushes when we remember to call her Beth. 

I asked her yesterday if she had told her friends at school and her teacher that she wanted to be called Beth now.  She said no.  She would just stay Libby at school and be Beth at home. 

"Why do want to be Beth at home and Libby at school?" I asked.

"Because you're my family." She answered. "My family listens to me."

That made me smile.  I'm glad she feels listened to and loved.  : )

Someday we'll get that pj thing figured out

Matt went to sleep in his clothes . . . again.

Including shoes and socks.

Sigh.

The Truth Comes Out

Yesterday Sarah brought home book 7 of the Artemis Fowl series. She was very excited to finally get to read it. Joshua just shrugged his shoulders "yeah, I read it last month."

"what??" Sarah was shocked.

"I got to read it first from our library," said Joshua.

"Did you bring it home?"

"yup."

"And you didn't let me read it?" Sarah was horrified.

"Nope."

"I disown you!" she cried.

"Sarah," I said, "you've been trying to disown him for 12 years."

"Yeah, but this time he deserves it!"

Ostrich

That should be my nick name. I'm very afraid that the slow water leak from my washer has turned into a not so slow leak. I've been ignoring that leak for months and it's not returning the favor by magically fixing itself. So rude.

There are several reasons why I would ignore a leak in my washer hoses: I don't want to be without a washer for even a day, I'm trying not to think about the cost, the hassle of figuring out what part is bad and ordering it off the internet. But mostly because that leak is a betrayal.

You would not believe what I went through for that washer.

Six months ago my washer went out. It was purchased used and not so hot in the first place, so yeah, pretty expected, although frustrating. I just love pulling a batch of towels out of an undrained washer tub, don't you?

We examined the finances and decided that yet once again we would have to buy another used washer. Joy. I was frustrated. The last one was supposed to die right around tax time so I could justify getting a fancy front loader. The betrayer failed one month later after all the tax money was spent and I had bought new appliances for the kitchen instead.

So we found a guy on Craigslist offering used washers with a warranty! Yeah! I sent Steve off to pick it up on a very busy day. He installed it so I could do my laundry and we discovered the thing didn't work. At all. Not even one freaking load. By this time I had been without a washer for nearly a week. With seven people in the house and me with only five days worth of underwear. It was fun!

I took laundry to my mom's and Steve called the guy back. He was so sorry! He'd have a new washer for us immediately! He'd bring it to us! Right away!

Never freaking showed up. Appointment after appointment missed. No working washer.

I reminded my husband that a friend had offered me a washer for free but we would have to repair it. It was a simple, inexpensive repair, but we would have to get parts online for it.

I was starting week two without a washer.

We got my friend's washer. Rush ordered parts, installed them and yea! I had a working washer! I was so happy I even helped my husband carry the monster down the stairs to the basement. It was a Front Loader. I was more than happy, I was joyous. I happily sang as I washed my laundry.

So when I discovered the wet spot on my laundry room floor right in front of the washer really wasn't drying out, I ignored it.

Wouldn't you?

A walk on the river

We went to the greenbelt on the river this evening. The leaves were just right and the walk was exactly what we needed.

I took a few pictures. It was nice to have my camera back in my hand. I haven't been so good at taking pictures in the last few months. It's sad really.










Yes I threw a midnight sepia filter on this one. I couldn't help myself. I'm a tasteless girl who loves midnight sepia even though it's totally out of style now.We were getting ready to head back and I turned around and saw this:
"what are you doing, Libby?"
"Praying."
"how come?"
"Because I wanted to think about Jesus."
Isn't she the sweetest thing ever?
The picture above is Steve and Sarah waiting for a leaf to fall. They were trying to catch them. Sarah eventually managed it.

Honey Mustard Dressing

I got to have a day out with two of my sisters and my mom on Friday. It was a great day and I had a lot of fun. While we were having lunch we talked salad dressings. They were all interested in the honey mustard dressing I use. So Mom, this is for you:

Alton Brown's Honey Mustard Dressing

5 T honey
3 T Dijon mustard
2 T mild vinegar (I like white wine vinegar, but plain white distilled works fine)

Wisk all the ingredients together. Makes about 2/3 of a cup of dressing.

That's it. I like to make it in the small bowl on my food processor. A blender would do a nice job with it as well. It's really quick to whip up and it works for just about everything. Alton recommends plain Dijon, but I found that grain mustard makes a delicious change. I bought a squeeze bottle to hold it for a buck that's perfect for drizzling a little dressing on my salad.

One goal down

I've been trying to get healthier and loose weight for a long time. This spring, my friends and I stepped it up in our walking routine and we've been moving faster. I've done a few little things here and there. I haven't seen a lot of progress.

Steve says my stomach is smaller, which is a good thing. I don't really see it personally.

The really nice thing is that the scale told me today that I have officially lost ten pounds. It's taken me since early April to lose it, but it's gone. Maybe because I've done it so slowly it will actually stay off this time.

All I know is that it's very hard for me to lose weight. I know I can't do things drastically because it all falls apart after a few weeks. Then of course all the weight comes right back. My body seems to want to stick at a certain weight and stay there. As I've lost this weight, it's been done in very up and down, stop and start increments. It's like my body is slowly picking a new favorite weight each time. It's frustrating beyond belief to watch my weight fluctuate by five pounds over the course of a week. Slowly, however, I've made progress.

I don't actually expect my weight to stay at this ten pound loss for the rest of the week. I expect it to go up and down again. But a new low is a good thing. This means that eventually this will be my set weight and I can work from there.

I'm trying not to think about my ultimate goal weight. When I think how long it's taken me to lose 10 pounds, I just want to cry and give up to think of my weight loss journey lasting years and not months.

So I think a pound at a time. One new set weight. One pound more eased off. The next ten pounds by Christmas.

Wish me luck.

A Young Tim Burton

Joshua's good friend introduced him to stop motion animation the other day. They used Lego people and a camera to make their films. Josh came home from his friend's house all fired up to make films of his own.

Thankfully Windows Movie Maker software is pretty easy to use. He spent an hour or so putting this together today:



Hopefully this new obsession will get him through the late summer boredom stage. I can't wait to see what the ogres do next.

My Creative Girl

Rilla is my artist. She takes little pieces of paper and glues them into notebooks as collages. She loves to cut up construction paper. And best of all she loves to write poetry.

This is her latest:

Keep a poem in your pocket
and a picture in your head.
and you'll never feel lonely
at night when you're in bed.

A little poem will sing to you
a little picture will bring to you
a dozen dreams to dance for you
at night when you're in bed.



She's nine. Yes, I'm very proud.

Fun with synonyms

Last night Sarah and Joshua called us all to dessert. "who wants pie?!"

So we hustled ourselves to the table for the pie. Sarah stood there with a large cardboard sign that said: 3.14159265 . . . .


Luckily, she also really had a chocolate pie, so she didn't get beat up.

The Danger of Modern Children's Literature

Matthew loves Duck For President. He's been reading it a lot this weekend.

This morning he sat down at the table with a pile of paper, crayons, and our copy of Duck for President. He told me it was a surprise and that I wasn't to look at what he was doing.

A couple of hours later, Matt announced the elections. He's running against Steve for boss of the house. He has election posters ready and even created a sign tent to hang over his torso. "Vote for Matt for no chores!" they proclaim.

His siblings are trying to convince him that running a household is too hard and someone has to clean so if there's no chores he'd have to do it all. I told them to lay off. Hey, if Matt wins, I can get him to pay the bills and cook dinner.

One more room down

well, not quite. But the upstairs bathroom is now usable again. We tore it apart about a month ago and it's been a long slog to get it put all pack together. I'd show pictures but those will have to wait until we're done with it.

We laid the tile on Saturday, I laid it, Steve cut. Monday morning bright and early, we grouted. Monday evening we installed the vanity, including the granite counter top with wide spread faucet, and the toilet. The new tub has been in for a couple of weeks. It's full size porcelain on steel with a white tile surround. It's definitely an upgrade from the previous fiberglass tub and surround that we didn't know weren't full sized until the new tub was brought in. How do you miss that? I don't know, it's the only tub in the house and I tend to not shower with a measuring tape in hand.

I appreciate having two working toilets in the house again and it was wonderful to shower today. Our second bath is a 3/4 with a small 30" shower. It's impossible to shave one's legs properly in a 30" shower.

I can't wait to show pictures. We still have to get the mirror hung, the over head light and the towel bars up. When that's all done, I'll show it off. :)

He's always thinking

We're in the middle of remodeling the upstairs bathroom. We've got the tub in and yesterday we painted and tiled the floor. There's no vanity or shower curtain up yet, so the room echos quite a bit.

We let the kids bathe in the tub today and Matt quickly discovered the joy of an echo-y room. "Echoooooooooooo! Eeeeeeeeeechooooooo!" he yelled, thoroughly enjoying himself with the sound of his own voice reflected back. Then he started off singing the theme to Crazy Frog. (If you don't know crazy frog, count yourself lucky.) He stopped for a minute.

Then came, "Daaaaad! Hey Dad!"

"Yes?" Steve called back.

"Dad, can you get me my kazoo?"

Ceremonies Before Their Time

Sarah graduates today. She's not a child prodigy on her way to Harvard. Her school has 8th grade graduation. She left today with her make up in her bag (because heaven forbid she actually wear it to school for no reason) and her Christmas dress over one arm. The girls all get dressed after lunch and the ceremony is at one.

We've invited the grandparents and Steve is taking a half day from work. We might take the kids out for dinner if we're feeling flush.

That's about all the celebrating we'll do. We're not big 8th grade graduation people.

Oh, I was going to paint my toe nails in honor of the day, but I can't find my red polish.

But I am proud of her. Middle school has been really hard for her. She's having trouble balancing her work and her reading, what she needs to listen to and what she can tune out. She came very close to having to attend summer school this year but managed to pull herself back from the brink with a week of catch up work.

I also had to have her banned from the school library. I should have done it sooner. The librarian informed me that besides the two to three books she was bringing home every day, she was reading at least one or two during the day.

I don't think she realizes there's no Guinness record for most books read.

Totoally proud of myself

I jogged today. Ok, it was only 410 meters (one lap on the outside lane) but I jogged dang it! I wasn't even huffing and puffing by the end, I sprinted my way to the end (at 10 m left.) and I feel good.

I've been exercising on a regular basis for several years now. I walk 3 miles a day 5 days a week. It's never left me feeling energized until lately. There's four of us now and we've all been really pushing each other to walk faster and really work hard. We were doing 15 minute miles, now we're down to 12 minute miles. Three of us are looking at running a 5k this fall. Just to say we did.

I came home this morning and I wasn't ready to sit yet. So I didn't. I mowed the lawn. We have a big lawn, so it took me an hour and a half. Then I came inside and started cleaning. I didn't let myself sit down until after 12 pm.

I'm tired now, but it was a good morning.

It's so funny to think that the reason I may not have been getting the adrenalin boost all these years is because I wasn't working hard enough. It's also nice to think to myself "ah, this is how other women keep their houses clean. They feel like this."

A Birthday Party

This is Matt's Easter present. He and Joshua spent all week putting it together. When you activate the motion sensor, Mr. Dino roars and moves his head.

They finished the dinosaur on Saturday morning. Matt knocked on our door at 8am waking us up with two birthday invitations. It was Mr. Dino's birthday. So we made cupcakes.

And Matt and Josh helped Mr. Dino blow out the candles.

It's quiet.

They've all gone back to school. Libby and I are still in PJs and there is no fighting or excessive whining going on. We did have a good break, but I am glad to get some quiet again.

Spring Break

is almost over. The kids go back to school on Monday. We've had a good week, but I'm ready for my regular routine to be back. We've gone to the library several times this week because they have had activities nearly every day. Crafts and games and today is karaoke. We've had a bonfire supper at the grandparent's house.

And the big one is we've made lots and lots of stuff from the Toymaker. It's a website put up by a childrens book illustrator. She has paper dolls and little boxes to fold and pin wheels and cootie catchers and racing turtles and a little car and bunny bowling. It's kept the three youngest quite entertained.

My printer has been broken for six months and I finally went out and bought one last week because I wanted to be sure we could make Toymaker toys this week. Staples even had a rebate offer in place to make printer buying easier. Wasn't that nice of them? I'm very glad I did. Just watching them quietly cutting and pasting their little paper toys in near perfect harmony has been totally worth the price of the printer.

I don't play the games

We don't have green eggs or green pancakes on St. Patrick's Day. I don't wear green, although I encourage my children to do so only to avoid the pinching thing. I'm not Irish or Catholic and I don't drink beer. What's to celebrate?

I do make corned beef every year. that's a tradition I can stand behind.

As long as there's no cabbage, because that's just going too far.