Pay It Forward!

Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It’ll be done this year. {might be a little while}
4. You will have no clue what it’s going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven’t even invented yet (but Heaven knows it will most likely be totally fabulous and creative… . I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

Draper Bed and Breakfast --1 1/2 stars

Sticky chairs. An old mattress on the floor. Noises at all hours of the day and night. Late meals. Endless clutter and dust. And yet they come.

Could it be the 4 excited people ages 3, 5, 8, and 10, who look foward to the arrival with such anticipation? Could it be that they see through the social blunders and realize how glad we are to have them here? Do they realize how much we enjoy the kids-finally-in-bed chatting that helps us know each other better and really catch up?

Whatever it is, we feel so very blessed for the visitors who have stopped by the Draper Bed and Breakfast, in spite of the Bed not even being in it's own basement anymore, and the breakfast consisting mainly of self-serve cold cereal!

Janine and Brian led the way by coming soon after we'd said goodbye after Christmas fun at the Outerbanks beach house (another post that may or may not materialize.) Unfortunately it was related to a lost-in-the-university-mail-system passport for Cora, but they "made the most of it" and stayed long enough to get some Sushi and play some games.

Next came my mom, followed by Angela alone with her kids. (Sorry, that's as far as I got with this post back then...)

Lily and Beth watching Cora watch Lily and Beth

When will the fun stop? Beth was saying today that she really, really, really, really, really, REALLY WANTED Ellie and Cora to come visit. And that she wishes they were in our family. Obviously, extended family is not good enough.

A Whole New World-sung Ariel-Style

I've been having a bit of a day. You know the days where you call one place and they can't help you and it involves thousands of dollars you'll have to lose. Then you get an email saying that things you thought you had taken care of somehow didn't get completed by people you trusted to finish them. Then you find out that your son's teacher only this week for the first time all year realized that he has a sense of humor, which really emphasizes, once again, that this teacher doesn't know or understand your child in the least.

Well, there are a lot of other things for that list, but I just wanted to post this picture. But the background was: having a not-great day, but there's something about preschoolers dancing on the kitchen table that just lifts my spirits :)

Bit of a Dream Come True

I have always loved to sing. My family made fun of me for singing in the bathroom when I was tiny. My chorus class in Junior High was by far my most memorable class, especially when we had Mr. Honnaker who was as tough as a drill sergeant with us. In High School the stoner girls in the locker room asked me why I was always singing or humming. Even in college, when I visited my Nana and Papa, Nana had to remind me that it is not polite to hum during dinner (I really hadn't noticed.)

Unfortunately I don't have a great or a strong voice, and I really have a terrible ear. But because I love it so much I have tried to be in choirs wherever I can. And one of the things I have always enjoyed was singing around the piano. Then I married Tom. who has a better ear for music and the ability to remember whatever he heard just once. But he never felt like he could sing well and had really never tried. So he felt self-concious at his few efforts to sing parts and generally slid by with the least amount of singing he could get away with. (This is NOT including ditties he makes up himself for the kids, or me, for that matter.) Well, whenever I really get to hear his voice I realize what I am missing by not hearing him sing. So when Tyra started trying to sing songs from the hymnbook with me and then Tom started in, I was very excited. And now we have sung many nights together, hammering out parts as necessary, and tonight saw we three: Tyra singing soprano, me with alto, and Tom on bass singing acapella. If You Could Hie to Kolob, All Creatures of Our God and King, For the Beauty of the Earth, and I Heard the Bells. Not very exciting, I know, but I always dreamed about (okay, maybe not asleep kind of dream, but the forward-imagining kind) singing with my own little family around my piano.

Not putting "blog more" on my resolution list

I simply can't. It's just not important enough to me. I've got a lot more basic things to work on here. I mean really. The ones that are right above eat, drink, sleep. Though I believe those basic things will lead me towards live, laugh, love. Which is where we want to be. So why am I blogging if it's not that important to me right now?

Ever since I came home from Thanksgiving vacation at Tom's brother's house I have been thinking about the great thing the influences of those around us can be. And specifically after extended periods of time spent with others I have noticed how I have been changed, if only nearly imperceptibly. Here's what I mean.

Most noticeably: My nothing-to-me or sister-in-law-in-law Angela. She'd be so easy to hate, if it weren't so impossible to not like her! She is a ballerina by hobby and graceful and thin as one by profession. But that's the easy-to-hate part :) So she opened her home to our family of 6, Tom's sister's family of 3, and their close friend's family of 4 all for the same week of Thanksgiving. I was amazed as we ate muffins she had baked and frozen ahead of time, ate nothing but the most perfect of gourmet meals for every dinner, with everything cooked to perfection. I was amazed and nearly appalled when I realized that she had 3 timers, not including Janine's watch, going for the Thanksgiving dinner. I tend to cook by smell: Oh! Quick! That smells done!!! or overdone, you know what I mean. I also tend to cut as many corners as I possibly can when I cook, and I have been amazed at the precision with which Angela can execute each detail in the Cook's Illustrated recipes (if you've cooked with them, you know what I mean!) This was one thing I could not get over, and the other was that she was a tireless cleaning machine! She was sweeping or wiping or doing something almost the entire time we were there. Her home looks like a magazine, even with 2 small children around. Now here's the thing, of course I'm thinking "That will never be me" and it won't, for many reasons. But when we came home I started cooking with real recipes instead of just any old ingredients I happened to find, or more like: boxes of Kraft mac n cheese. And, strangest of all: I started using my timer almost without thinking about it. And I swept my floor in the middle of the day, even though I know Tyra or Thomas would be half-heartedly doing it in the evening. May not seem like much, comparatively, but it's a start that would not be there without the influence.

This got me thinking about how my extended time with women often brings me to slow changes for the better, especially when the influence is strong. My mother-in-law, LindaMom is who next came to mind. She is a devoted nutritionist, reading up constantly on the latest research on vitamins and oils and different foods and their importance in the diet. She is really a walking Dietary Encyclopedia. And of course I thing "That will never be me" and it won't, for many reasons. But pretty much each and every time I am around her I come away automatically crushing my garlic first so it can release whatever it is that makes it so much better nutritionally before I start to cook it in my recipe, and I was looking for transfats before they were listed on the front of foods. I pop berries thinking of their antioxidants, and while I may forget much of the reasoning behind the things she has explained during our cooking during her visits, the changes slowly happen. I don't stop using the microwave, but I contemplate the least amount of time necessary to warm the food, and try to avoid the plastics to a small degree. It always amazes me how I change when I haven't made the least conscious decision to. If anything at the moment I may be deciding I may NEVER bother to do such and such or eat so and so. But there I am, sort of automatically influenced for the better.

Well, it was easy to see this with all my favorite women I hang out with for long stretches. So that includes my own Mom. Generally speaking, my mom will refer to our Heavenly Father, or the church, or the gospel, or the scriptures, or something related in every conversation at least once. When I gave her money for a birthday she called to tell me she was so excited that she'd just found some obscure Hugh Nibley book probably the only one she didn't already own. She talks about the Spirit more than your average missionary on an average day, but without noticing she's doing it. I will probably never be this constantly-aware of the most important part of life, but I know that after being around her I find myself paying attention an awful lot more, and remembering to "fall to my knees" at least a little more often.

Janine, Lisa, and Anne, your paragraphs may come later, I'm trying to post all my drafts of the last year.

Three More Days

We are going down to North Carolina for Thanksgiving.

Mechanical Girl

We have a way of noticing when people do something for a while with energy. I can NOT think of a word to say that, but here's what I mean: If a child seems to eat a lot more on a particular day or at a particular meal we say "You're an eating machine!" or if someone is dancing and dancing and dancing we'll say "You're a dancing machine!" or they power through 500 pages of a thick book and they are called a "reading machine."

Lily received a Build-A-Bear kit for her birthday 2 months ago which we have brought out whenever Tyra and I get out our knitting for her to work by us. It's tricky and Mom is not adept at tying knots and helping tiny fingers with a plastic needle sewing the front and back of the bear's fur together. Lily usually can handle it for around 10 minutes before needing a break for the day. But today she was clingy and needed to be on my lap and instead of reading stories I decided to see if we couldn't finish sewing up that bear. She stayed with it through well over 30 minutes. Tyra came by checking up on Lil's progress every now and then and finally towards the end she exclaimed "Wow, Lily! You're a sewing machine!"

Tyra Turns Ten

Tyra never seemed excited about doing a birthday party with friends this year, so we decided not to have one. She was excited, however, to get to choose a restaurant for dinner. She chose Chinese, the buffete in Rockville with a sushi bar too. This place keeps us all happy. Tom and I mostly get the sushi. Tyra mostly eats the Lo Mein (her favorite) and Thomas went to town on the General Tsao's chicken and Beth picks around at some french fries and fried rice. She'd take one bite of most anything we offer her, say "Yum" before she'd really chewed, then say no thanks to another bite of it. But Lily was the best. She ate the mussels out of the shells, the baby octopus, the squid, etc.

Back home, I had made some cream puffs per Tyra's request. She was so sweet and encouraging when they kept getting flatter and flatter as they cooled. She told me how they were great, and she loved the chocolate pudding center and the whip cream center, etc. But she couldn't resist calling them "cream flats" instead of cream puffs. We all enjoyed that.

We played some of the games I remember enjoying when I was about Tyra's age, but that at her friend parties she has been too worried about how they'd go to want to try them. We played the Flour Game where you put a cup of flour on a plate and place an item on the top of it (an M&M would be better than the penny I used since I remembered that from my day.) Then you take turns making single cuts, top to bottom, until it the item falls, and the person who made it fall has to get it out with no hands.
We also played the Candy Bar Game: A hershey's bar is placed in a baking pan with 2 socks and 1 or 2 butter knives. Then you roll a die and if you get a 6 you get to put on the socks and try to open the candy bar and cut off a piece and eat it before someone else rolls a 6. I don't know how Tom managed, but he ate almost all of it. He always has been good at games :)

The Candy Conflict

Two weeks after Halloween, our children still have candy. In this phase of candy consumption, most on the "good" candy is gone, so the "bad" candy is slowly being consumed out of a sense of duty. Last year we resolved this by requiring each child to throw away one piece of candy each time they ate one piece of candy. This unfortunately requires a lot of policing and reminding, and I did not feel up to the task this year.

DISLAIMER: I must say the the following was performed without the supervision of my wife (she was babysitting for a friend this evening). While she may like the results, she often doesn't condone my methods.

So how to get rid of the candy? This year I came up with a bold new idea. I asked Su to buy a bunch of the good candy that was cheap after Halloween. Here was the deal: no one got to partake of the new candy, until they relinquished their rights to their Halloween candy and turned it all in to the authorities (me). Of course, Tyra and Thomas mocked my plan and declared they would never give in, even after I ate five Reeses in a row. Lily was convinced that she would do whatever Tyra was doing.

That left Beth. That poor girl's candy supply had suffered the most from parental and sibling raiding already. So she correctly determined that it was a win for her. She declared that she would turn in her candy, even as Tyra was proclaiming, "Don't give in Beth! It is just a trick! You will lose all of your candy!" Instead of chewing old bubble gum and sucking on Smarties, Beth was now feasting on an assortment of chocolate bars.

"Would you like another Reeses Beth? How about a Three Musketeers? You can have as many as you want on the day you turn in your candy." So Beth feasted and feasted. Yes, I know this isn't great, but I was hoping this was only a one day affair. Within a half an hour, the cracks started to appear. Tyra approached me and asked, "Can I trade some of my candy for the good stuff?" "No." "But I have some good candy that I don't want to lose!" "Then eat it now, and then turn in your bucket." Beth came up and asked for another Reeses, which I happily provided. "Dad! You're killing me!", Tyra proclaimed.

At this point, Tyra and Thomas each sat down with their buckets and started eating. At first they enjoyed it, but by the tenth piece of candy they were each slowing down. Thomas said, "Dad, I don't want to eat all my candy right now." "Then don't.", I replied. "But I don't want you to eat it all." "Then don't give it to me." "But I want some of the new candy." So again I reminded him of the deal, and told him to decide which candy was better, his candy or my candy. "Your candy.", he muttered under his breath. He ate a couple pieces more and then said, "Fine. I give up. Here's my candy.", and dumped the remainder of his candy into my bag. After eating a Reeses or two, I asked him if he wanted any more. "No. I feel sick.", he replied.

Tyra was dying. Reeses were one of her favorites and everyone was "enjoying" them except for her. She knew the end was near. She had a couple more choice pieces and then turned in her candy. She also ate 2-3 Reeses and then "hit the wall". Yes, we were all close to a sugar coma at this point. Lily came in and couldn't believe that her heroine had caved. She was prepared for a long drawn out engagement. "I thought you weren't turning in you candy!", she scolded Tyra. Tyra responded with a shrug. "OK, then I am turning in my candy.", Lily declared. Since Lily didn't eat any of her candy before turning it in, she enjoyed eating the new candy bars much more than her siblings.

Game over! No more private stashes of candy. No more endless sucking of lolipops, jolly ranchers, lifesavers, etc. Just four kids sick from eating candy.

How to stop your parents from stealing your Halloween candy

Like most parents, I enjoy secretly raiding my children's Halloween candy each night after they have gone to sleep. You just take a little here and a little there. They don't seem to notice if you take things slow. You are just helping them, right? They don't need that much sugar, right?

Well, a couple of days after Halloween, after the parent's supply of candy had run out, I went hunting. I pulled out Thomas' Halloween bucket and noticed a folded piece of paper on top. "What this?", I thought, slowly unfolding the paper. I was a little surprised to see an itemized list of the contents of the bucket, which looked as if it had been updated and re-inventoried each day after minor candy consumption.

I showed it to Susan and we had a good laugh. She had already seen it. Twice. Neither of us dared take anything. I wonder if that would have worked on my mom?

Beth's After-Halloween Song and Dance

Tell Dad That

I could write the letter K.
I walked all the way home from the lake.
I unlocked the back door.
I washed my hair in the shower.
I rolled my tape on the first try.

After Lily said "Tell Dad that" for the 5th (at least) time today I told her we better write down all the things she'd done for the first time today. We decided to write it here rather than just on a piece of paper that will get lost.

Cuter than than the AAA guy

For Joyschool I took the 4 kids over to Greenbelt National Park for a nature hike, as our new unit is on the Joy of the Earth. We had a fantastic time, even with my fire not really starting (I only brought a glossy magazine insert for paper which mostly just turned to ash without making much of a flame, and the wood was still pretty damp from all the rain we've been getting lately) and the kids were darling. They loved looking through their nature viewers we'd made on Monday at any thing someone would point out as particularly interesting. We saw some neat fungi, ferns with spores on the back, mushrooms, bugs, a worm, etc. Anyway, I was cutting it pretty close to time to return home in time for the boys to be picked up at noon when another lady by our van told me that my front tire looked pretty flat. Sure enough. I contemplated for about 5 seconds the merits of changing it to the spare on my own, confident that I could yet equally confident that it would not be quick or easy. Then I happily remembered that this was Tom's day to stay around the house and help me out in any way that popped into my head. Um, I mean, it was his school day, and it was possible that he would be home.

He got there in less time than it took me to get the kids out of the van and start swinging them on the swingset nearby. He had brought the bike pump and told me to load the kids in while he pumped it up. And a minute after that we were driving back home in plenty of time to meet up with the other moms. As I was driving off I looked at Tom and called out the window "You're cuter than the triple A guy would be!" which sparked Beth to say "I just love Dad" with an emotional sigh, "I just love how he pumps up the tire so fast." then Lily added "I love Dad because he's the best Dad in the whole world!" with a similar emotional not-quite sighing voice. He is loved. And needed. And we DO try to let him get his dissertation done when he's home, but he IS a lot cuter than a AAA guy!

My First Race (Sorry Dad, Watermelon Run doesn't count!)

I do not enjoy competition. I like to win, but I don't like in any way to have a lot of people look at me or fuss about me because I won, so I don't gravitate towards competitive things. Kind of like the opposite of my sweet hubby. (I can't believe I just called Tom that. I would never call him "my sweet hubby" to his face. It's just a computer thing. Sort of like calling him a DH. It's maybe slightly better but also slightly less well-known, and if you have to explain the whole "Dear Husband" meaning for your shortcut, it's soon not worth it. But DH is still better than sweet hubby. The main thing I call him is Tom.) So, Tom is pretty competitive. Since he's not really competitive with me I can say he's the good kind, the kind that gets him up at 6:00 am just to try to beat another person at racquetball. And now that he's started running he's very much trying to improve as quickly as possible in speed and distance, and is very aware of how fast others run--others he talks to who run, Olympians, etc., not actual other runners around the lake. I have been running off and on since a teen and I never even sat down to figure out what a good speed was in a 5k. I've just run for the fun of it, and often for the exercise of it. Which brings me to why at 36, though I've been running all this time, I have just now completed my first* race.

I don't like pain, and the pain of pushing yourself to your absolute limit just to see how fast you are has never appealed to me. But somewhere in the beginning of this year with starting up running as a geezer I started reading up on running to avoid injuries, mostly, and along the way I got interested in things like form, pacing, heart rate numbers, etc. Also, having a treadmill really put the numbers into running. Suddenly I wasn't just running a preplanned, in my head route, I was looking at hundredth miles tick past, speed, incline, pace, time elapsed,etc., and it became natural to try to improve in terms of numbers. Now when I say "try to improve" I don't mean I've ever really gotten serious, and I'm still doing well to run 3x/week, I haven't come close to starting an actual training regimen with hills or speed work. But I like the idea which is new for me.

And to my race. I had just posted about the perimeter trail run on Monday and was getting mentally ready to start trail running more when Tom came home from racquetball on Tues. morning and told me that Vecna, the company where his racquetball buddy works, was hosting a 5K run that Saturday, and that he thought I should run it. I decided to try to do a not-quite-my-best at the lake that day to see what my race pace should be. I ended up running it in just under 27 minutes which was encouraging to me because I always just run a 10 minute mile for around an hour. I thought I'd take off a day then run again easier on Thurs. and then do the race Sat. morning. That was not taking into account the fact that I didn't really warm up or cool down after my practice race and my legs were KILLING me the rest of the week. Really beating me up, with every step! So I didn't run at all anymore. And I left Saturday to decide itself by way of how rainy it would be. Ended up just incredibly super duper humid. Too bad I was too self-conscious to wear the ultra-light running shorts Tom had bought me and I went with my thick cotton yoga capris. It was the first time I've run where I could feel the weight of them.

At the race was Vecna's owner and founder Debbie who did Joyschool with me and Thomas. I hate her. She was wearing her 4th baby who was just 2 months old and looking like a total model girl. She's really nice, but I sure hated her when I realized she was not wearing a number to do the 2.4 mile walk, but that she was going to run. She's awesome. I'm sad they had to move to Boston to start up another Vecna site. Anyway, the run was all official with clips for our shoes to track our time. I started out running by Dana Bearman and her daughter Emma, Debbie Theobold and Allison Watson, but knew I didn't want to just be chatting like I had been in the Watermelon Run with Dad this summer. So I soon just went a little bit ahead of them to not be listening to Debbie chat with her sister (yes, SHE could chat, I had no breath for it, see why I have to hate her!) and figuring that they'd just pass me later. Surprisingly they didn't, I don't think any of them were taking it very seriously. As for me, I was going for my best under the sore-legs, haven't-trained circumstances. My favorite part of the run was seeing my sweet family surprise me at the half-way point at Lake Artemesia. That gave me a little boost. I enjoyed the run, and my only regret was that I didn't stay focused very well, there were many times that I realized I was not even thinking about my running, but was off in la-la land and probably not running as fast as I should, and then I hadn't realized that they were moving the starting rug (that clocks your time in the shoe clip) up closer, because that whole area was around many curves so I couldn't visually see the right time to put in the final kick. So I ended up cranking it up way too late and I missed my practice time by 20 minutes. So it took me 27:21 which is a pace of 8:49. I have to be happy. It was better than I'd've guessed a week earlier, if you'd asked, yet gives me plenty of chances to get PR's in pretty much every 5K I run for the next couple years! For the record I was 59th out of 102 and 2nd female in the 30-39 age group. When I talked to my mom after she'd talked to Tom she said "congratulations on winning!" and I told her how it really was she said "Leave it to Tom to figure out how you're a winner!" (I guess he'd said I was first in my age group or something, which is true if you mean women 35-39!!)

Greenbelt Park Perimeter Trail or 5.3 miles of Pleasure

Ever since my run in California where I got semi-lost in the canyons near our apt in La Jolla I have wanted to try running trails again. Of course you always hear that asphalt is the worst thing to run on (besides sidewalks, but who runs on sidewalks? Where there is sidewalk, there is road) but I've been happy to get off my treadmill and run around the asphalted every .2 miles marked 1.35 mile track around Lake Artemesia. And I do love that run, it's beautiful. It just requires going around 5 times to get in an hour of run time. So I finally searched this morning for running trails in College Park area and was so happy to see that Greenbelt Park has a trail that goes around it's entire perimeter, not just the little 1 mile trails we usually do as a family. I was unsure how much time it would take to run 5.3 miles of true trail stuff, but it was just under an hour like my lake runs, so that's good news. I didn't see anyone on the trail the whole way around but I felt very safe. I almost ran into a deer, or at least it felt like it, since the deer only moved about 10 feet away when I came running up, and then it just kept staring at me. It was beautiful. The trail was so fun to run, and now I know why in Chi Running it says that trail running is the best for working on your form, especially to learn how to pick up your feet instead of pushing off with them. I've been running the Middle School track last week during Joyschool and my calves were getting tight, and staying tight after running. They feel better now after my trail run than they did before I started. Amazing. Something so kid-like in bobbing around over roots and rocks and stuff. Much more fun to run. At least for now, it's something new, and I like it. So if you want a fun run leave your kids with me and go take an hour at the perimeter trail, you'll love it!

Lily Turns Five!

What a beautiful peacemaker is my Lillian Regina Severina Draper! She has been my cheerleader for 5 years now, and I'm not sure I'd be here today if it weren't for her. Even before she could talk very much she could see Mommy crying when things got hard with her little baby sister (for example one of those days when all 4 kids from Baby Beth to 6 year old Tyra all had the flu and ear infections at the same time and Mom might have just sat down for a minute with the baby crying in her arms and started to cry herself,) and Lily not yet 2 would come up and give me loves and smiles to cheer me up. And when Thomas started Kindergarten and I would bike around with them in the trailer behind me and the going up Pontiac would get tough Lily would say "Keep going Momma! You can do it!" Then there was the encouragement when Lily was potty training and anytime she would see me in the bathroom she'd be really proud of me doing my business "Good job Mommy! I hear your peepee!"

Lately Lily's encouragement comes in ways she can find to help Momma. She is constantly asking "Are you so glad I made my bed and Beth's bed this morning so you don't have to?" or "Doesn't it make you so happy that I stirred the dinner together so well for you?" etc., and I must say, it's the sweetest little voice in that positive tone that does indeed make me so happy. She has been a natural optimist from the start. I never tire of hearing her talking to herself, Beth, or even me "It's okay, it doesn't have to be perfect." or "We just try our best, so it's okay." And tons of other such comments. She's better than my cd's I bought a few years ago to help me with my own internal speaking that is not exactly optimistic!

And now Lily is 5. I am so glad that she missed the cutoff date for Kindergarten and that I get to have her with Beth and me for one more year. So for her (last minute, I'm afraid) birthday party she invited Anya from down the street, Harper from primary, Camille a family friend, and Josh and Kamari from Joyschool. We just played "Dance and Freeze" a game Lily loves to play, made sugar cookies, played with the parachute, played "I had a little doggie", and hit the Dora piñata. I had a lot of fun decorating my first 3 layer cake and was super happy with how it turned out, considering I used real butter instead of shortening in the frosting and the bottom layer completely fell apart as I was positioning it on the foil. Anne asked for the frosting recipe and it was 1 lb powd. sugar, 1/2 cup barely soft butter, 1 tsp vanilla, just under 1/3 c milk (take some out at this point for roses as they need the stiffest consistency) then add the rest of the 1/3 c milk to make it best for spreading and writing and borders. You may need up to 1 1/2 tbsp more milk.

♪It's All Happening At the Zoo♫

What a perfect day for the zoo. When we invited Dorey and Lily to Lily's birthday party Joy said they couldn't make it, but suggested we do our long-awaited, oft-spoken of trip to the National Zoo on Friday to at least let them get together. Starting out, Joy has been my friend since Jr. High Chorus. We both wore the most hideous homemade black-and-white gingham jumpers as we gave concerts back then. We stayed in touch when I moved from Utah to California by way of countless "notes" sent as letters with lots of song lyrics written in the margins. When I went to BYU we hung out all freshman year when she and our other friend (third of the Larryetta, Curlyetta, and Moetta trio) moved into Heritage Halls with me. We did a lot of stupid but fun things until her missionary became a returned missionary and came home and whisked her away from us. We forgive him, though we missed her. From there we stayed in touch sporadically, with a few visits during said RM's training in DC, to us visiting them in California. But then I got an Christmas card that said that not only had Joy had their 3rd child within days of my having my 4th child, but that she was now living 45 minutes away in VA. Well, after getting that card I was quite sure we'd be seeing each other quite often. Instead we've seen each other quite regularly, as in once each year ☺ But I've got to say, it is so fun to have my girls love her girls just as much as I've loved Joy. They are very sweet and amazingly enough, all 4 girls seem able to get along quite well. Within minutes of saying goodbye at the end of our time together at the zoo my Lily said "I miss Dorey and Lily, I wish they lived by us." Here are a bunch of pictures of our trip, from the metro trip on (riding the metro is a good 25% of the fun.)
Oh, and all the animal pictures are for our animal booklet, it's actually the first time I've take animal pictures as opposed to kid pictures which may or may not include animals at the zoo.

Things you wish you could type besides ":)"

I don't know how I didn't ever know that there is a whole amazing world under my number keys. I was trying to write a comment on my sister's blog and really wished I could put in musical notes to make it obvious that the quote was from a song, you know, like this ♪ or ♫. The smarty-pants sent me to this link
I'm still amazed that it's that easy! Now to find out how well it actually shows up in different programs. Thanks Lis!

Do you like bedtime?

I have never liked bedtime. The sweet ritual of bath, story, prayers, and a goodnight kiss is sooo not the whole story. First of all yelling at kids to "Listen to the scriptures!" as the wiggle and poke each other can get us off to a bad start. Add to that the fact that I NEVER seem to get bedtime started in advance enough to get 4 baths in, so there's guilt that the poor filthy kids have to settle with a quick wipe down of the stickiest parts, mostly hands and faces. Then there's how we have to make sure we get the right toothpaste on the right brushes. Often there's the putting away all the dress-up clothes and accessories so I can walk injury-free in the middle of the night when someone needs me. Then pajamas, but wait, first Beth needs cream for her itchy skin. Then we determine if there's even time for a story. Finally after everyone is tucked in there is the final hugs which require constant reminders of my threat to not give a hug the next night if I get stuck in a neck-hold (? what do I mean?) while hugging them (they love to hold me so tight I can't get back up from leaning over, trying to get the longest hug they can.)

Beth said "I can't see anything. And that's going to make me have nightbears. The bear will be grabbing at me, and roaring at me, and wiggling at me! And I'll be so scared!" Well, it's really fun now that TnT are old enough to get the cute stuff that Beth and Lily say. Tyra just loved that "nightbears" comment of Beth's, she couldn't stop giggling!

So after the lights are out, and I'm sitting by the crib or Lily's bed I do a few yoga spine-lengthening stretches (okay, I try to de-slump for a minute.) I feel relaxed. Then, because there hasn't been any noise or movement for a little while I quietly get up to leave. That's when "I'm hungry" "I want to sleep with Sharky" "I need to go to the bathroom" and especially "I'm really, really, thirsty" seems to crop up. I just love that. Then after I do finally get done with LnE I still have TnT who have been reading during this time, mostly. Now if there is a more likely time for Tyra to get upset about something Thomas does or says it is right at bedtime. And it there is a moment that Thomas is going to mention that he doesn't want to grow up and that he's scared or worried of anything (we won't list the things, as they are a little more personal in nature than "nightbears") it is at this time. Though I like the individual moments with any one of the kids, they are usually interrupting each other (for example Thomas may be read to talk about Heavenly Father while Tyra is howling about her outrage over something he said earlier, and Beth is up for the 3rd time to go to the bathroom and needs a wipe cuz it's #2. Then no one's getting quality time, and no one's really getting much closer to sleep! I still have visions of no cribs or bunk beds or children sleeping on the floor. No just 4 twin beds in 3 or 4 bedrooms. And I go from sitting at the foot of one bed to the next as I hear the joys and sorrows of each child's day, help them settle into sleep and prepare them for the next morning. But when Tom is gone (or when he's home but on the phone or doing his dissertation anyway,) it's just not the way things usually go.
You know, I just love bedtime, don't you?

p.s. I was starting this when Tom was gone, things are looking up a bit now that we're in our school-days routine. And really there is something so sweet about those snuggle kids. I sure do love them!