Manna from Heaven

On Sunday we arrived at church a full fifteen minutes before sacrament meeting and in our sparsely populated parking lot, I counted three silver Honda Odysseys. More specifically, three silver Honda Odysseys just in our row. I don't have an exact number, but I believe our minivan has six identical twins (septuplets?) attending our ward on a regular basis.

Since Bruder helps with the sacrament, he often brings bread. Turns out, this Sunday wasn't Bruder's turn, so he told me he took the bread back to our car. (You know where this is heading).

So, after our meetings were finished, and we were walking out to the parking lot, he said that since our car was locked, he had to leave the bread on the hood. My mind was busy with two troubling thoughts. Number one: My teenager could think of no other option and had to leave a loaf of bread on the hood of our car, and Number two: I didn't lock it.

Before I could formulate words, Bruder stopped in front of an empty parking space.

"Hey," he said, "Where did our car go? It was right here."

"No," I said, pointing. "Our car is over there."

"uh-oh."

So I hope someone in our ward is enjoying our Oroweat. I hope they appreciate the pleasant hint of molasses. I sincerely hope they aren't (gasp) white bread people. And if they are, maybe 100% whole wheat food falling from the sky and landing on their vehicle on a Sabbath morning will cause them to change their ways.

The Cobbler's Child

Two years!

Two years since this little hiney has graced a dental chair.

And two years since her lovely face has been in a panorex.

Her parents (especially the one with the DDS following his name)

should know this is not the recommended schedule.

It's shameful; it just is.

But at least Rose and I like our dentist.

We like him so much we even tell him he looks cool in his glasses.

And this one....

Well, we like her too.

We like her despite her cross bite.

We like her despite her missing permanent lower left second bicuspid.

And we like her despite her tendency to put shoes on the wrong feet.

At least she has shoes,

which is more than you can say for the cobbler's kid.

Yet Another Post on Fashion

I was walking by the couch a few minutes ago and saw this: Cholita sound asleep, her top half completely covered in her blankie, her bottom half reminiscent of the Wicked Witch of the East with her feet sticking out from under Dorothy's house.

The dress, the tights, the knee high socks, the shoes....it's all working for her.

Even when she sleeps, she makes me smile.

A question from Cholita

"Mom, do you think the cape is too much?"

Because she's all about subtlety and quiet elegance ....

And would hate to commit a fashion faux pas....

....or possibly go overboard.

"No, Cholita, I think the cape makes the outfit."

Oh, and she's very proud of the pig tails which she did herself, a skill I find rather advanced for a four year-old fashionista.

Book Review--MY book

My blog book has arrived! I used Blog2print and literally was done with the process in under five minutes. The beauty of Blog2print is that all you need to do is put in a date range that you'd like to have made into a book and it's done. The downside of that is that you can't make any changes. What you see is what you get. The only creative freedom you have is choosing the photos for the front and back and the color or print you'd like for the cover.

So, in case anyone is interested, I'll share with you what I feel are the pros and cons.

Pros:

*easy

*quick

*good looking

*seems sturdy and well made

Cons:

*The layout is set and cannot be changed. This, for me, is a biggie. For most posts, it's not an issue, but when my blog had a caption under a specific photo and Blog2print didn't keep it that way, it made the post confusing. The text might say something like, "...Looking a little concerned..." which on its own doesn't make sense, but it did make sense on my blog when it was under a photo of Bruder getting ready to parasail. In a post with lots of photos, Blog2print may have put all the photos on one page and the writing on another and without the picture right along with the caption, it's a little strange.

*I would have liked to make some photos bigger, but again, no freedom to do that.

*The colors in the photos seemed a bit off and muted.

*Expensive.

Overall, I did quite like the blog book, but for the price I didn't love it. Another option offered by Blog2print is for $7.95 you can get a PDF of your book. I would assume that then I could make some of the minor changes I'd like to make and then have it printed somewhere else. I don't know if that would wind up saving me money or costing me more.

So, unfortunately, the quest continues. The perfect solution is out there; I know it!

Done...and just getting started

I finished transferring all posts from our previous blog to this blog. It was a truly tedious task, but it's done.

Then I started researching different options for printing out our blog. If this is going to serve as scrapbooks for my kids, they should have some tangible thing to look at, right? So I first tried Blurb. I wanted to like Blurb and I gave it lots of chances but I quickly became frustrated and found it way too time consuming.

Next I tried Blog2print. It matches my patience level and turns my blog into a good-looking book in mere minutes. I've ordered one book to see if the real-life quality matches what I see on my computer. The biggest downside is the price. Ideally, I'd love to print out 5 books per year--one for me and Lyle and one for each of the kids. I did some calculating and to print out 5 books for the years 2009, 2008, 2007, and a combined 2005-2006, it would cost me a grand total of $983.75. And that's softcover.

I do realize that 5 years of scrapbooks for all of my kids would also cost me an arm and a leg. We're talking over 1200 pictures and about 550 pages. But still. Maybe I'll just get one copy for the kids to share!

Anyone else found a better option? I'd love to hear it.

Transferring

I have an old website that we used for about 3 years and I'm in the process of transferring boatloads of old posts to the blog. I've noticed that a couple of times I've forgotten to change the date, so if you see a post from three years ago suddenly pop up....ooops.

I've only got 47 more posts to go. This is taking an eternity.

Christmas Card Rejects

It was a beautiful Veteran's Day in the Northwest. The kids had the day off and I had a new camera lens--a perfect day for shooting Christmas card pictures.

Now if I only had perfect children.

Bruder seems to be pondering that thought.

What should the caption be for this picture? I'm thinking maybe,

"Wishing you peace and love at the Holiday season..."

Cholita fell down numerous times as a result of well-meaning siblings who were constantly trying to reposition her.

Click on this picture to see it large.

I don't know what's going on here but it definitely wasn't in the script.

And as if four children isn't enough, I thought I'd add the dogs.

Cholita was in charge of Charlie.

That didn't work.

Maybe next year we'll go back to the professionals.

Merry Christmas to Me

Normally I have no problem waiting until December 25th to open my Christmas presents....well, not a huge problem. But this year, I had a very legitimate reason for treating myself a few weeks early. I needed a new lens to take Christmas card pictures! If I took pictures myself this year, my present would actually be saving us money, right?

And really I'm fine with nothing for me under the Christmas tree...although Lyle says that's not true. Anyway, with gleeful anticipation I tracked my lens on-line in its journey from New Jersey to my doorstep. The UPS man rang the doorbell just as I was making Cholita her lunch. She was in a great mood and always appreciates an excuse to delay her nap, so she would make a perfect model. I clicked the new lens onto my camera, flipped the "on" button........and nothing. Uggh. Needed to recharge the battery. While that was happening, Cholita went to sleep and I had only Olaf as a model. He wasn't thrilled but at least he doesn't move much.

My new lens is a Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8D and since I need to use manual focus on my camera, subjects that actually do move are a little tricky. This first picture of Cholita right after she woke up is blurry, but I do so love the sleepy-eyed look.

This one's a little better.

She moved from the couch to the table for some chocolate chip banana bread. Man, she's cute.

Next the junior high schooler arrived home. She was annoyed with my picture taking, but humored me.
Rose doesn't stand still for long, as evidenced by this out of focus shot. Obviously I need some practice.
But every once in a while I get one that I love. Cholita has the brightest eyes, but that usually doesn't come through in pictures. I think I'm gonna like my new lens.

O.K., if Lucy and Rose were annoyed with me, I shouldn't have even made an attempt with the resident teenage boy. Here he's doing homework, or maybe indulging in his new favorite love on our Mac--Garage Band.
Just one more. I love how this lens blurs the background a bit. So now you hardly even notice that Cholita is sitting on laundry, right? That's what a I need, a lens that hides all background imperfections. Maybe next Christmas.

That's My Boy

When I was in high school, I believe our cross country team numbered about 5--and that was a big high school. Long distance running just wasn't something that high schoolers twenty years ago seemed very interested in doing.

I was shocked when I arrived early to pick Bruder up from practice one evening and saw a stampede of runners barreling past, numbering at least 50. Cross country has come a long way.

Bruder recently had his last meet of the year, districts, out in Sequim. I can't believe this is my little guy who took forever to walk. He was a Jabba the Hut baby--so much fat that walking just seemed way too much of an effort.

He certainly has no fat on him anymore.

What I love about cross country that I didn't see so much in track and field, is that the entire race is exciting. It's not just about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, but all about finishing and putting forth your best effort.

There were a few kids out there who took a very long time to finish the 5K, but they did it--to lots of applause and congratulations. It inspired me to keep running, because although my 15 year-old makes it look easy, it's a hard slog. Maybe I just need a team.

Left on my pillow

Don't some kids just ask for video games?

Like it or not, adoption opened a whole new world of possibilities for my kids. Rose sees nothing wrong with being very specific in her request for a new sibling. It must be a boy and he must be younger. To quote Rose: "Definitely under 8. Having another person younger than me would only increase my power."

Scenes from Halloween

I don't even know what to say about this costume.

It's unique. It's colorful.

This was what Lucy put together for her Halloween Piano Recital.

Interesting.

Miss Cholita, our dress-up queen, lives Halloween every day. On October 31st she just gets more candy. She chose to be Dorothy this year, an excellent choice since we had both a Dorothy costume and the red shoes. But then she saw the sparkly red shoes at Target and she hugged them to her chest and pleaded and begged until I gave in. I don't know another living soul who gets more pleasure out of shoes.

But on Halloween night, she surprised me by opting for saddle shoes instead of sparkles. If people asked, she said she was a "poodle girl".

Lucy decided against her "crazy alien" costume and joined Cholita in the poodle girl club. And now that I look at the picture, Cholita wasn't in the poodle girl club anyway. She was a black cat girl. Regardless, it was a bit of a nostalgic moment for me. I wore the poodle skirt years ago for a school Fifties night and little pre-schooler Lucy wore the black cat skirt. Sigh. As if it would make me feel better, Lucy pointed out that she did have to pin in the waist on her skirt several inches. No, it didn't make me feel better at all. It just made me want to do more Pilate's.

Rose was Glinda. Or "Guh" Linda, with a "Guh", I'm not sure which. or Witch.

Anyway, she was lovely.

Evidently, "pink" was the theme for Halloween 2009. Bruder has refused to dress up since he was about 12. Lucy's now a teenager, so I doubt that she has many more trick or treating years left. That makes me sigh even more than the poodle skirt.

Mr. October

In many ways, our dog Olaf is a serious mess. He's got bad hips, very little stamina, and enough phobias to keep a canine psychologist busy for many long hours. To top it all off, he's a groomer's nightmare--a 120 pound lint catching, twig collecting, mud-caked mountain of fur. When he was a puppy, a local pet store had a special grooming price for all dogs under 1 year old--the whole shebang for $9.99. We took full advantage of the deal, proudly presenting our 100 pound puppy (and required birth certificate) for his day of beauty. I believe that store has now changed their policy.

Anyway, it costs far more to get him groomed these days, and so a spa trip is a rare and special occassion for Olaf and he knows it.


Here he was yesterday morning, pre-grooming session, not even making eye contact, knowing he wasn't presentable. When I opened the door and urged him into the car, he wagged for all he was worth and squeezed himself into the minivan. I think if they could put his hair in rollers and paint his nails, he'd be thrilled.

And now for the big reveal.....

I give you Mr. October,

happily posing for his photo shoot.

He's expecting a call from Westminster.

Glowing with pride, he strikes a regal pose on our hill.

"Hey baby."

Someone knows he's lookin' good.

Run, Baby, Run

Have I mentioned lately how much I adore Rose?

She's such a unique, feisty, lovable character.

Rose frequently gets a far-off look in her eye, stops whatever she's doing, and runs outside to do a few laps around the house. We sit inside and watch her as she passes the windows.

Around and Around and Around.....

Sometimes she runs quietly, sometimes she sings, sometimes she talks to herself.

She doesn't need running apparel (obviously), and if the weather is breezy, or rainy, or cloudy, even better. She says she must go.

She returns winded,
but always happier and more focused.

Who needs therapy and self-help books?

Rose just goes for a run.

Beware

Beware the plethora of porch pumpkins

Beware, I've been doing crafts

Beware the black bear dog who will sit in your lap for snuggle time

Beware, Lucy's been crafting too

Beware the spiders on the door

Beware the haunted library

Beware the cobwebs (artificial and otherwise)

Beware Lyle's spooky portrait

And oh yeah, Happy Halloween!