Camp-out, Ball game-in


This past weekend we participated in our second camping adventure ever, our second ward campout. I don't know that there is much to report other than no one slept very well because we are used to sleeping with the thermostat at 79 and no covers and the temperature dropped to 48 and my kids had a hard time staying covered up. Of course flat air matresses and trips to the potty did not help. Tanner crawled in bed with Reed and I. Shortly after that I took Zoe and Heidi to the bathroom (3am). I figured since Tanner had the warmest sleeping bag I was going to take his spot. Heidi couldn't get warm and ended up in the sleeping bag with me. Around 4am I hear Reed say "Heather, if you can hear me come and get back in bed with me." Fortunately for him I was just laying there unable to sleep. In the morning as we were striking camp one of the other Mom's joked with me about how effort it is to get one crappy nights sleep. I shared with her the sage advice from Karine (Reed's sister), FUN IS WORK. Despite the poor nights sleep we all had a good time. Tanner experienced a new level of freedom being able to run and play with very few boundaries and lots of dirt and water (from a spigot, so not to worry). We arrived home just in time to shuttle Zoe off to a birthday party. She was happy as a clam, everyone had a meltdown. Zoe fell apart after the party. As final punishment to ourselves we took all the kids to a baptism on Sat. night.

Sunday was the final home stand in Yankee Stadium. In honor of the event we had hot dogs and brats for dinner. Reed had chilled some IBC root beer and munched cracker jack as he bemoaned the greed that has led to this end. He tried to eat away his misery. That didn't work out so well. He admitted that his love for all things Yankees is really rooted in his love of the stadium, not the team. Ironically the last game was played against the Orioles, the team Reed loved until he lived in NY.

Final thougths: When kids are really tired they make really poor choices. Heidi and Tanner have been really tired the past two days. I hope they sleep well tonight.

Accidental Baker

This morning I decided to be a Martha and I baked muffins for my kids for breakfast. They awoke to the smell of sugary goodness wafting from the oven and were highly motivated to get up, clean up and get dressed up-just in time to hear the buzzer ring. I pulled the crumble top confections (from a box, of course) from the oven and Zoe immediately picks off that they are not blueberry. She will be having cold cereal with no milk, which is what she usually has when she is completely unwilling to try something new. It is as I am carefully removing the muffins from the tin that I realize I have left a watermelon from last nights grocery shopping on top of the stove where the oven vents and it is HOT, discolored and has a very funny squishiness to it. I decide to cut it up and get it in the fridge quickly to salvage it. As I am cutting I have a piece of the piping hot flesh and am taken back when I realize it tastes like squash. I quickly googled baked watermelon to see if this is a culinary dish that people make on purpose, but really only find reviews for a book/movie named baked watermelon that does not look like it has anything to do with food. Apparently some Asians put the rind in their stir fry. Anyway, the thought occured to me that perhaps this would make a great new recipe-perhaps a watermelon bisque? or not.

"I read it for the articles"

So this is the deal. My computer is so low on memory I can't download the 150 pictures that are on my camera. So, no matter how crafty my writing is, what you really want to see is the pictures, and for now there are none. I just had to put that out there so you know.

In other news, the financial world is crumbling around us and I am very grateful that I am not planning on retiring any time soon. I am grateful my husband has a good understanding of money which I do not come by genetically. I am grateful we are all healthy and that my kids have been unsuccessful at breaking themselves or the furniture as they jump around on it like monkeys. I am grateful they are all asleep right now so I can enjoy some quiet. I worked today and at lunch time when I went to my parents house Holly and her posse and my mom were all asleep. While it is always nice to visit, it was also nice to pull out a book (the Namesake) and enjoy one hour of uninterrupted quiet time without worrying about what is not getting done on my "to do" list.

Bye Bye Ba

Tanner is addicted to his bottle. He is two years old and talks in full sentences and still has a bottle, or did have a bottle. I had decided I would not replenish the supply, and once they were gone we were done. Yesterday Tanner did not have a nap before church. I filled his bottle with milk (the last one) and took it to church. He drank it all and put it back in the bag. Later in the meeting he decided he wanted to play with it. When it was time to pack up for primary the bottle was gone. There were a lot of tears last night when he wanted his bottle and there was none to give.

I guess that means we are out of the baby stage. I will feel more joy when we are done with diapers.

The last mess

Tanner wouldn't fall asleep tonight. I had Molly lay by him while I got the other girls in bed. While I was getting Molly in bed (not even a minute) Tanner stole in to the bathroom and smeared toothpaste all over his hands. Now I wish that was the only mess I had to clean up.

Trip to Grandma's house

Last night we did a trip to Grandma's house. We had only been there for a little bit before Tanner asked "where is the other grandma?" I think he was talking about Grandpa, who was still on his way home from work. The kids had a great time. I did what I always do, which is clean up after my kids. My mom pulled out some chocolate covered peanuts to snack on while they watched a movie. Tanner kept getting one, taking a little bite and saying "don't like it" and then feeding it to me. It was a fun game for him, but I started to get a little tired of chocolate covered peanuts so I had Zoe take them to the kitchen and put them where he couldn't see them. My mom had surgery on Wed. to replace the joint in her big toe. I know the first time I heard it I laughed too "they can actually do that?". She is recovering well. She had made dinner and we went and ate. As we were eating I realized that of all times this is when I should have brought dinner. My mom had been able to scoot around all day on a chair with wheels to do some cooking. She had not been able to do any dishes, so I was able to earn my dinner with dishpan hands. I was halfway home with a car full of sleeping kids when I realized that I had left my purse. I turned around to retrieve it, arghh. When I got there my Dad had been following the landfall of hurricane Ike and the tales of those who refused to evacuate. He drew an analogy with those who do not heed the warnings in the last days. I listened to talk radio and tried to find some coverage of what was going on-and realized there is a lot of goofy talk radio out there late at night. It is 8:30 and my kids are still asleep. They never sleep past 6:30, this is a little weird.

Enrichment

So, yesterday morning Reed left for a weekend in NYC with his beloved Yankees, two sisters and two nephews. I was determined to go to enrichment meeting, so I packed up the kids and took advantage of the provided nursery. I dropped Tanner off. He screamed. He calmed down some so I figured it was OK. As soon as I sat down another sister came in and informed me that Tanner had thrown up, but that it was not on anyone's clothes and the situation was under control. Actually the situation is not under control. The fact that everyone knows to hold him over a garbage can until he throws up when he is throwing a tantrum is not what I would deem to be under control. We left before the treats were brought out (and foolish me had promised my kids treats) so I had to pull out the ice cream when we got home. It was ok because the kids get their pajamas on really fast when ice cream is on the line. I also had to feed Tanner anyway because he had just recently emptied his stomach (he had a bowl of ramen noodes, ate half and scattered the other half on the floor just in case you were wondering.)

In the beginning...

Gentlemen start your engines!
This is a little how I felt when I was given the go ahead to "begin blogging". I have resisted this for some time, and, well here I am. I have felt sheepish not having a blog as I love looking on other people's blogs, playing the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon with their friend lists and generally playing internet voyeur. Well, here is my life, on line and in writting. Eat that between two slices of bread (a favorite saying of my grandpa Mix, which I actually did for lunch with a chunk of meatloaf and perhaps the ill effects of that culinary decision are leading me here, to this the beginning blog post.)