Miss MaraJade is 5!

So I'm totally behind on this one, but I kept forgetting to get the pictures off the camera, etc., etc., etc., and suddenly it's August! Eek! So here's to you, my favorite 5-year-old!

5 years. Such a long time when you're a child. Such a short time in the ever-increasing, speeding-by timeline of your own child. I truly can't believe that a little over 5 years ago, I didn't know what it was to have a little girl. Was quite certain, in fact (in my Debbie Downer, self-pitying moments), that I would never have a daughter. But against all the odds, and after a bit of trouble (and a bit of hurrying there at the end - we had a deadline to meet, after all!), she was here. She brought a whole new spirit and - well, vibe - to our family. After 2 crazy little boys, whom I loved dearly and came to understand, it was amazing to finally "get" one of my kids. When she developed a passion for shoes at under 1 year, I got it. When she mommied her baby dolls and animals all around the clock, I got it. When she preened in her little toy vanity, I got it. When she had to wear a dress or skirt every single day, I got it. This didn't necessarily make her easier to raise, just not so foreign - more familiar. The boys - I still don't understand why they have to throw everything instead of just handing it to me.

I love that she loves Barbie movies and princesses and everything girly. I certainly wouldn't love her any less if she were a tomboy, but I sure do identify with her this way. And we get to share such special moments because of our very girlness.

She's sweet and loving and bossy and sassy. She's fiery and aggressive like her namesake (and, well, maybe her mom). She's almost a teenager (in her own mind), and already scaring her daddy with thoughts of boys chasing after her and her big blue eyes. She still won't talk to strangers (or, heck, sometimes even people she knows), but she's learned to speak with those eyes, if only you know her language. She brings us joy and flowers, sunshine and music every moment of her life.

Happy Birthday, my MaraJade!

Quorra

As most everyone probably knows, we used to have cats. Lots of cats. 7, to be exact, over a 5 year period. By the time Tristen was born, we had 5, and (for various reasons) by the time MaraJade came alongs, we were down to 3. However, when she was around 1, we discovered she and Mace were likely allergic to them, and they were being constantly harassed by Wild Man Mace, and otherwise ignored by the rest of us since we were so busy just running our little family. So we sadly said good-bye to the last 3. It was very sad, but also kind of liberating.

Then we got the Ronan when Monster was 1 1/2, and we said that was it! But Tristen was constantly pining for a cat again, so we promised him we would get one when he turned 10 - but were kind of hoping he'd forget and we'd be off the hook.

So, as I've commented, MissE was totally obsessed with the kittens at the farm in Idaho - along with all the other kids. This sort of softened PJ toward the idea of getting a cat again next year. Well, coincidentally, some free kittens were chanced upon in Idaho. They were quite cute, and PJ consented.

So little Quorra (pronounced just like Cora) came to us. She rode home with Grandma and Aunt Jaime and the kids were just beside themselves waiting for her to arrive. It was about 9 at night when I got her home, and a funny thing happened. Eowyn lost. her. mind. over the cat. Literally. She was absolutely hysterical over the cat, and would scream and cry and shriek if anyone else held or petted her, then would instantly calm down once she could hold her. Then it would start all over again. We were seriously wondering if this would work if MissE was going to act like this. Luckily, after a day or so, she calmed down (for the most part) and let little Quorra settle in.

I'd forgotten what it was like to have a kitten around. The middle-of-the-night insanity especially. We eventually moved her to the girls' room to sleep at night, but she really loves to squeeze in through the bars of Eowyn's crib and play (attack) her head in the middle of the night, waking up the child I've so painstakingly gotten to sleep in her own bed. Grrrrrr.

Ronan was very ingtrigued with the lovely little snack we brought him, then puzzled when we wouldn't let him eat it. But he quickly caught on and wanted to play, much to Quorra's furious indignation. But 6 weeks or so later - they're coming around. It'll be fun when they really start to play together.

So that's it. 1 dog, 1 cat. The kids are happy and I'm not totally insane. I can do this.

Classic Maceism

I frequently find myself unable to capture the true Mace-ness of his questions sometimes, so since one just happened, I'm writing it down.

Mace: Who was the President in 1985?
Me: Ronald Reagan.
Mace: Huh?
Me: Ronald Reagan.
Mace: Who's Ronald Reagan?
Me: Arrrggghh!

Idaho! ~Edited~

We set out the day after school ended for Boise to stay at PJ's aunt and uncle's bird farm. And despite some pretty rotten traffic luck (and my many fears), the kids were great!

Everyone had a fabulous time, jumping on the trampoline, riding the 4-wheeler, playing with cousins, visiting the many many birds, swimming in the ditch, playing with the dollhouses, and just laying about. Definitely our favorite place to hang out for vacation.

The boys especially loved visiting with their teenage boy cousins and just running around like maniacs, MaraJade spent 80% of her time in the living room with the giant dollhouses, and Eowyn was pretty much in heaven all around. She was obsessed with the little kittens and birds in the house and easily doubled her vocabulary in the time we were there. By the end of the trip, she was constantly saying, "outSIDE!", "Kee" (kitty), "bieete!" (bite), "wheeng" (swing) and much more.

End of the School Year for All

Monster had such a great year in preschool. We love the ELC preschool and are lucky to have had all 3 kids go there. The last day of school Family Day had a flying theme, with crafts, face painting, and yummy treats. Such a good year!

Butterfly wings at Family Party Day

Launching her parachute

Butterfly Girl!

This year has been tremendously stressful and emotional, since learning that Campbell may shut down, then definitely will, then wondering where the kids will end up, then worrying about that transition, then worrying about the future of the campus and that impact on our neighborhood. It's been a crazy, sad, worrisome time. Campbell and its staff were exceptional. I know that for a fact. And we were lucky to be a part of it. But it's time to move on.

The old and new shirts. Campbell most certainly rocked!

Mr. T and Mr. Burr

Mace and Ms. Nusom

Every one of these beautiful, enthusiastic, creative, caring ladies received a pink slip for next year. :(
They will be sorely missed.

Yearbook signing

Teacher Thank-You Books

I'm still somewhat new to the whole teacher gift thing. I actually didn't know this was a "thing" until about a week before the end of T's kindergarten year. Since then, I've learned a little (teachers really don't like kitschy, teacher-y crap), experimented some, and researched a lot (yes - it's what I do!).

This year in particular, with the school closing, and at least one of the kids' teachers being laid off, I wanted to do something really special and memorable. I happened upon this idea (scroll down to see the money book), but decided that there was no way in the world I was going to be able to round up contributions from most of the parents, so decided to do an adapation of the book, but have it bound into a real book. Great idea! Now to implement it - oh, and of course it's May 18 by this time, with June 9th the last day of school.

So, hurry hurry, research where to get a book made online (Lulu.com - best prices), make up a questionnaire form (print - edit - edit again - print - edit - edit - done!) - 1 for each class, print a million of them, try to figure out how to get forms filled out by kids and turned back to me in time, decide to just go in to class and have them fill them out there (duh! Thanks Cindy!), email teachers to ask when I can come in for a few minutes for a "special project", get camera ready to take pics of kids, buy candy to bribe children to fill out forms, rush to school with girls in tow, get T's class done (dang, those kids are rowdy!), wait around a bit, get Mace's class done (wow, that class loves the baby!), go home, scan each page in, re-scan with proper settings, re-scan and do NOT save as a PDF (arrrggghhh!!), paste scanned images into Word doc, go online and discover page size for book is not the same as letter-size page, re-format all Word docs (arrrrggghhh!!), figure out which kid pictured goes with which form (I know many, but not all), insert pictures into form, re-size pictures repeatedly, re-format pages to add page with kids' names to meet minimum page length for books - then repeat with Mace's class (slightly faster the second time), discover Word docs need to be saved as PDF prior to upload with Lulu, find a free PDF maker, make errors with PDF maker, find out about embedded fonts (arrrrggghh!!), decide to skip that step, upload first file, have website crash a couple of times, get it uploaded, design book covers - BTW, time is now 10:30 pm on May 24, the last day to submit to have enough cushion for printing and shipping back to me -  (What? I have to have a blurb on the back cover? Crap! Think of something quick!), find teacher pics on kids' class pictures, scan and add those, chat with Lulu support regarding page layout - 1 book done! - repeat with Book #2 and done! at 11:45 pm.

Then to wait and hope that I didn't miss something! June 3 they arrive (yay! no more waiting!) and they look awesome! I'm so excited to have the kids give them to their teachers!

Adventures in Breadmaking

So I love to bake. That's really not news. But for a long time, I was afraid of yeast breads and all that they entailed. Then I got my breadmaker a couple of Christmases ago, and was no longer afraid to dive headfirst into yeast bread awesomeness. I made white bread, wheat bread, french bread, cinnamon rolls, you name it. However, I'd heard and read many comments from people essentially dissing breadmaker bread, and so wanted to try to make the ultimate wheat bread to replace our store-bought loaves.

Much random research later, I came upon this website and the amazing Darcy's Wheat Bread recipe. And look, there's a tutorial! Sweet! Can't possibly fail - right? I buy the special pans (which I do love), read and re-read the instructions, learn and adapt (crap - yeast is not lively enough!, crap - top oven is totally not calibrated!, knead longer, more flour, less flour, knead shorter, knead by hand, etc., etc., etc.) after more research. Well, 1 week and roughly 14 loaves later, and these are the fruits of my labor (the last 4 batches, in order from left to right):

Some tasty, some less so, all varying degrees of little wheat bricks. All edible, but nowhere near usable for PB&J around here. And certainly nowhere near the gorgeous, floaty soft, high, golden loaves shown on Mel's tutorial pics.

By this time, I'm just about done with the whole thing. I'm frustrated, irritable (oh, it must be because I'm using my KitchenAid, since I don't have $450 to fork out for an all-mighty Bosch, like all good Mormon housewives in Utah/Idaho/Arizona/everywhere, nor a grinder to grind my own wheat - which means I have yet again failed to meet an unspoken standard - would be nice if someone would let me in on the friggin' rules!!), thoroughly disgusted and ready to throw in the towel.

Then, looking through my recipe book for something unrelated, I come across my favorite wheat bread recipe for the breadmaker. I see that I've printed the adaptation someone made to just use the dough cycle to mix and knead the dough, then shape into pans and bake in the oven. I decide to try it. Hallelujah!

Granted, the recipe was a little large for my pan, but otherwise, it's gorgeous! And tasty! And soft! And sliceable! Woohoo!! And I know exactly what's in it, and that it's healthy for my family. Yippee! I'm off to make more bread!