Selling, sewing, and sugar

We have a big sign in our yard. My house is perfectly clean. Nothing is piling up around here and it feels so good. Our realtor accidentally listed our house in the wrong town so no showings yet since it was listed two days ago. But I keep cleaning just in case and as a result am so happy hanging out in a perfect house. Why don't I do this all the time? Just for us.

I am a far cry from a slob but there are so many extras things you can do to love your house and feel great about what you live in. And you can't buy the peace that comes with not feeling behind in housework. Of course with 7 people everything needs to be mopped, scrubbed, swept, and arranged again daily. But I'm thinking that all this cleaning is worth it. I am so happy when it looks like this.


We finally got some more snow but nothing too bad. This has been the mildest, easiest winter ever here. We keep hearing about the northeast getting buried but somehow it has blown right over us each time with hardly a shower each time.

One of my favorite birthday gifts was a gummy candy valentine card from Camille. It included the receipt from Target in case I wanted to return it. It was 90% off. The receipt was for 10 cents.

My mom sent me this jacket for my birthday. I loved it until I put it on and it looked way too square. I spent five minutes with my sewing machine and then wore it to my birthday lunch with my husband. Last summer I stopped donating clothes to the Salvation Army. Instead I took everything I didn't wear anymore and started altering them. If they were unalterable I saved them and have used the material for throw pillows, curtains, or fabric for the kids to sew with. All of my wide shirts now fit cute. I just sew a quick seam down the side from armpit to the bottom. Then I try it on. If it is still too wide I take another seam. It takes about five minutes to turn all the big wide button up's I used to wear into something that doesn't need to be donated.

So, if your clothes are a little out of date, try repurposing them. What can you lose? I love sewing with free fabric since I frequently mess things up and hate wasting $5 dollars a yard on my stupidity.

By the way all the throw pillows displayed in the pictures of my home are made out of skirts. For my living room I looked for a good price for black and white pillows forever. I finally just started cutting up something from my pile and made my own over the old pillows that didn't match anymore. So see if you can spot something I have worn now being repurposed on our beds or living room couch.

As you can see Brent cleaned us out of candles a couple weeks ago when he needed 40. All there was left for Mom was one little yellow one. And by the way, I made my own cake. I always do. It's a pudding layer dessert that I used to love when I was kid. My kids weren't as crazy about it. I ate most of it the next day. . myself.

Now, I am ready to kick off a no sugar diet. Brent has been trying to eat less sugar for a couple months now. He is convinced he has the early signs of diabetes. I keep sabotaging his efforts with all my baking. I feed my family plenty of wheat and spinach. . . but the fact is I always have a plentiful supply of homemade cookies.

I am making a commitment to support my husband and break our sugar addiction. I think it can be done with lots of almonds and raisins. I love that snack when I am hungry. But after a slice of cake they just don't sound good anymore. So it is time to substitute.

Blueberry Birthday Muffins for Mom

Thanks Savannah!Unfortunately, clean up wasn't part of the gift. What else am I supposed to do all day long though?

Anyone moving to Buffalo and want to buy a house?

We'll even throw in a free treehouse

One long week in a full house

Here's what I've done in the last week:

Deep cleaned/organized my basement.

Painted all the walls in my formerly chocolate bedroom. Now they are a sky blue.

Painted two closets. 

Painted every inch of trim in this house and every door.

. . . . And so many other random projects on The List. 

My kids have been walking around all week, hearing Mom holler, "Don't touch that! It has paint on it!"

It has been consuming and it feels so good to be getting everything crossed off knowing that our house is ready to go on the market. Work always exhilarates me. I keep trying to pass this on to my kids so they can enjoy it as much as me but . . . well, maybe someday.

I have gotten tons done and really deserve some gratitude. I am superwoman. Taking care of all these kids out of school for a week and getting all this done at the same time.

Yet,

My kids would tell you quite differently. They would tell you that they have wasted their entire early spring break. They would tell you that all Mom cares about is work and that she never lets them do anything. Savannah would also throw in that she never makes anything for breakfast, lunch or dinner without throwing wheat, apples, spinach or something else disgusting into it and ruining it.

So instead of patting myself on the back, I feel like I deserve the lousy mother award. Every night this week I have told myself that tomorrow it's gonna be a play day. It will be all about the kids and I'll put everything else on hold. I don't think it is about going somewhere. It's just a mentality that needs to switch.

But here it is Friday and I still haven't relaxed and spent one whole day focused on having fun with my children all this week.  I am the first one up as usual today. I  have a burst of energy first thing every morning.  So I jump into work mode and then I can't switch it off until dinner and dishes are done. After which I crash and am good for nothing until morning. Not even playing games or watching movies with kids usually- I literally can't keep my eyes open once I stop and it's after 7.

So now you know my dirty little secret.

But today I am making a commitment to close my eyes to the mess building around me and enjoy the day doing what the kids like to do.

Do you think I can do it? Can I actually build blanket forts in my living room, have tea parties, play in the snow (brrrrh) and not think about my list?

. . . or the new one that is being created as we neglect the house for one day?

For me, this is why being a mother is the hardest job in the world. You are trying to do it all and be the perfect mother. And in the meantime you find that you are not the mother that you wanted to be at all.

Marcus's favorite thing about Dad is that he has more muscles than momma.

Last summer Scott and Chanda moved into our ward when he started dental school. Scott's former BYU Idaho college roommate Phil Casper told him to look up his Uncle Brent, another dental student. I guess Phil think it's pretty hilarious that his buddy is going to school with his 40 year old Uncle. We had them over Sunday and had a great time swapping stories of Phil. :)
I wish that we wouldn't have started this. He's really not the worst kid I ever potty trained and I know he gets it. The problem is he HATES it. Do you have to wait until a kid gets excited about it? Should I quit just because he starts screaming out, "I don't want to go on the potty" every time I lead him in there?
Camille sang, "What's a teacher to do?" in her 2nd grade show. We had flash backs from 3 years ago when Savannah was given the same part. We were horrified to see they are still doing the same choreography that gave Savannah headlice. Three years ago I got a parent note bimonthly warning that there was a case of headlice in her classroom. Then I go the show and there is Savannah on stage posing back to back several times with the girl who Savannah has told us always has it. We came home and inspected her head. She had it bad! Fortunately, no one else in the house did. Unfortunately, her cousin from Washington who visited the week before, did. We haven't had too many visitors since then.

Marcus and his buddy Henry. Don't be fooled by this friendly shot. They really don't get along.

All this week the kids will be home from school for Early Spring Break. It's also the final week we have before we put our house on the market. It's going to be insane around here. Last Saturday Brent built the final wall and installed a door on a bedroom that has never had one. I am capable of doing all the rest as long as my rowdy kids cooperate. I plan on teaching them all how to work this week and having a few rewards along the way if they don't put up too big of a fight. We will be taping and mudding Brent's wall, painting, grouting, sanding, and then lots of cleaning. Should work out great with my crew of 6.

Did I poison my family?

Last night about 10 p.m. I suddenly began feeling sick. I went up to bed thinking maybe I had the stomach flu. I had just gone to sleep when I heard tons of commotion downstairs. Caroline had thrown up all over herself in bed. Brent was still up so he threw in her the bath and started cleaning up the bed. By the time, Caroline was cleaned up Camille had starting puking.

I could hear it all going on but was too sick to help. I just hollered down to bring me up a bucket when he got a chance. Brent came up to bed after tucking two girls onto the couch with their separate puke bowls. He said that he wasn't feeling well. Join the club. We had just gone to sleep when Kennon burst in, "Mom, I am so sick. I just threw up." She wanted sympathy and some help. Sorry Kennon, you are on your own.

I went to sleep hearing her wretch and woke up several times in the night to empty out Camille or Caroline's bucket. The whole house was beginning to reek and I could barely hold in it myself. By morning, the five of us were sicker than dogs and I forced myself to check on Marcus wondering how he had fared through the night. Both him and Savannah were fine.

What happened to the rest of us? All I could think of all night is the 5 day old BBQ pork I fed my family last night. Savannah had refused to eat it. Marcus ate it up, and he was fine, but then he also made it through the swine flu family epidemic with hardly a fever. Maybe he has strong enough immunities to combat 5 day old pork for dinner. I really think I may have poisoned us. How else do you explain the simultaneous vomiting? What are the odds of five getting sick all at once if it was just a bug?

Savannah went off to school and no one has moved much around here all day. It is eerily quiet. We all got sick together. Here's hoping we can all get better together. . .and soon.

A little more

I put off posting, then once I get going I can't stop. Especially when it's Monday morning, the house has been pretty much cleared out of bodies, I have no car, Marcus is singing away and jumping on his trampoline, and it seems like the day is stretching before me in such a nice beautiful way.

Here are some glimpses of recent winter activities.

I have often mentioned that I run around the park for exercise. It's a tiny park so that involves lot's of circling. Caroline always begs to tag along which is totally feasible in a park this size.Sometimes when I get a spare second, I just head out in my jeans. It's not like I am going to start sweating in this weather. I don't even have to shower when I get back.

Marcus is allowed to jump on the bed between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. As long as Dad isn't around the bed is free game. I don't think 30 lbs. is going to hurt a thing.

Savannah doesn't get bored with long winters as long as she has plenty of felt and my sewing machine. It amazes me that she voluntarily uses the sewing machine. My early memories of sewing involved Mother forcing me to sew a dress once a year, terrible headaches from my confusion and frusteration with the whole activity.
Her recent projects include hair bows for her sister's birthday, felt food for her brother to have picnics, and a bunch of pets that she gave away to her friends. This is her penguin.

I snapped this picture Sunday before church in the primary room. We are usually early for church and hang out in the primary room while I work on stuff. Savannah got into the habit of rounding up a soft chair for her personal use. Just to make things clear that it is for HER personal use she added a sign last Sunday. You can't imagine the brawls this one soft seat causes every Sunday between her and Kennon during opening exercise.

Can we please send the 12 year old on? I can't take 4 children in primary any longer. Especially the honery one who really doesn't want to be there.

Kennon is 12

Kennon had her best birthday ever. Just ask her.

Her parents caved and decided to end the begging and switched the ear piercing age from 14 to 12. What is she going to bug us about daily now?

So scared right before. This girl almost fainted the night before when her Dad pulled out a sliver. She also would never let us pull out her teeth so we would do it in her sleep. She was determined to do it though. Right after she pulled this face to let us no that it wasn't too bad.

A cell phone? Nope, she got that too. Three minute a day plan. We may up her minutes on it for good behavior. It's way too boring of a phone for her liking but she doesn't dare complain. She is working hard coming up with ways to bedazzle it.

We ordered pizza the Saturday night before and let her have the living room for 3 hours with her friends while we hid upstairs and gave her some space. I guess Caroline found her way down to the party and is trying hard to steal the show here.

Now she is done with primary. Or is she? Our primary presidency insists that she still come to opening exercises and give her share 0f primary talks when her name is drawn out of the mailbox. I totally am on Kennon's side here. Once you are 12 you shouldn't have to set one foot in the primary room until you are back in there in a few years as a teacher.

She also got a pretty purple wool coat that I made sure fits me too. I am pretty sure that she doesn't know that or she wouldn't have accepted the gift. I am not saying it fits us the same. For me, it's more "fit's like a glove" look. But, yes, we really are getting that close. I am sure that I am shrinking. Kennon is just one size behind me in tops, 1/2 size in shoes, and at least 10 sizes in jeans. For some reason that part of her body is taking a lot longer to catch up to mine. It is super fun to stand by her and realize that we are getting so close in height. And it's not like I am short.

Birthday Breakfast and a short scripture study on February 4th before school with our new 12 year old.

I feel so lucky to have a house full of girls that are getting older. They are keeping me young. And I love sharing belts, scarfs, jewelry, headbands. I wouldn't even have this stuff if it weren't for them informing me that it's a necessity. All three older girls had a church activity last week with some very talented leaders. They made about 5 hair accessories each. And now we all can wear them!
Brent and I both took her out to the mall to pierce her ears then we shared some chinese food in the food court. It was a fun tradition that luckily we will get to repeat ever couple years for a while now.
All these others were anxiously waiting at home to have a party with us when we got back. We had Mother's Mud Pie. Kennon has that every year because she isn't a big cake fan. We are all big mud pie fans, though. Of course. It's all about ice cream around here.

Our lives are flying by it seems. Trying to enjoy it as much as we can.

Turning 40 in style

We have had a busy week and though it was fun, frankly I am glad it's over. Two big birthdays in our house. Number 12 and the BIG 40. It was hard to give both monumental events equal time and focus.

Brent kicked off the week of his 40th birthday by attending a 100 day party with his classmates to celebrate the beginning of the end of dental school. He stole the show with TWO awards.

First of the awards -"Most Thrifty". Someone dug up a bunch of dirt. He bought a $30 K house in the hood for his family, drove a '93 Buick that he once built a double decker in so his family could ride comfortably home to Washington, bought a old moped to save on gas for his ride to school, eats a bag lunch every day at school. . . I actually wasn't invited to the party so I am just guessing at all that was said, but I heard it was pretty good and totally accurate.

His second award was for Best Hair. Hard to believe that this head is the Best of Buffalo, but it's official.
Speaking of the Buick, it was time for the yearly state inspection last week. Brent drove my van and asked me to take it in. I dropped it off, conveniently across the street from the mall and was told to be back in 2.5 hours. I came back a 1/2 hour early with several shopping bags in tow and was told that they had been trying to call me. By the way, I lost my cell phone the week after I got it. I really haven't missed it much, since I never got the chance to get used to the ammenity.

They had been calling to let me know that . . . First of all "The hood won't open up".

I went out to the shop with them and had them bang on the hood while I pushed the button and it opened like a charm. Their other complaint, "The lights won't turn on."

I climbed in and pointed out the light switch that clearly had been jimmy rigged down by the heater vents. Problems solved. Now they began the inspection. I went back to the waiting room for another hour awaiting the verdict.

"I'm sorry, but it didn't pass."

I still had to pay of course but now my sticker would be removed and good luck getting home without a ticket. The whole experience was totally embarrassing to me and I told them repeatedly that this was MY Husband's car.

So we were back to a one car family all last week. Brent worked on the car out in the cold for quite a while Saturday and ordered some parts. He is confident that he'll have it back on the road soon. Many more miles left on that Buick.

To celebrate 40 years, we had a few of Brent's friends and their wives over and enjoyed what seems to be Brent's favorite decade so far- 1980 (the last hair decade for him). FORTY candles is a lot to light up all at once. Brent broke out the torch for the occasion. Dressed in our 80's garb, and Brent firing up the cake, we felt like we were coming back to our trailer trash roots. I was planning on posting our great outfits but once I uploaded I decided that maybe they weren't so great after all. Here's a little glimpse of the trash we picked up at the local thrift store. I actually found most of my stuff in my daughter's closet. Leg warmers, big belt, fingerless gloves. The 80's are back . Too bad all the hair is gone.

His lifelong friend Eric Benson from Washington made us a home video that I surprised him with during the evening and all present were able to see the old humble abode on Casper Lane. And it was truly humbling. Now they know why Brent is so proud of his new digs here in Buffalo.
Camille found out about an hour before that this was an adult party. She was devastated that she wasn't invited and ran into her room bawling. She came out a few minutes later and posted signs all over her curtain (she doesn't have a door) like "No Adults Allowed" and this one which was my personal favorite. It read "Party's Over. My Hearts Broken."

Camille is a sweetie.

On Sunday the whole family was invited to a Birthday lunch where each of us had a present for the aging man of the house. Brent also was surprised with some letters from friends and family from back home.

I can't believe I am married to a 40 year old.

Life has been awesome ever since I met Brent and he moved me into his trailer down by the river. I anticipate that the next 40 will be even better . . . and hopefully don't involve any more single wides or cheapest houses on the block. But either way though I am sure that I will be happy with this man anywhere.

Here is Brent - on the job hunt. So many hours and not yet anything to show and tell.

We have been doing a bit of ward shopping lately. This is what Mormon people do before they accept a job somewhere. Church is a big part of our lives so we want to find a good fit. It's the same church and true everywhere. But we have 4 daughters and having a couple nice friends in the ward that have the same Mormon rules - no mini-skirts, no boyfriends, no east coast cussing -will go a long way. There are zero of these nice friends (no kids their age AT ALL) in our ward here and it's tough. Kennon thinks that it's just her parents who are weird. I need to introduce her to the big mormon world in Utah and blow her mind.

We have already shopped three times. Once in Tennessee, another time in N. Hampshire, and earlier this month in Pennsylvania. Only one of the three so far struck out, and we left town without even interviewing.

We may be striking out ourselves with this venture, though. I always regretted looking up the Buffalo bishop the first time we came here house hunting. He cleared his schedule, gave us a personal driving tour all morning and made sure he asked lots of questions along the way. By the time he got out of our car he had finished his full interview and by the time we moved in he already had my calling picked out for me. Relief Society President. It was a good opportunity to grow, but can you blame me for wanting to lie low this time around?

We've tried hard to remain inconspicuous each of these times since while visiting a ward but Come on, You can't miss this handsome family of 7. We never leave the building without getting the third degree as to our future plans, testimonials that this is the best place on earth, and dinner invitations for the evening. Darn Nosy, Mormons. You can't lie low among Mormons. Caroline made sure that we didn't make too good of an impression, though. We only spent one day with the members in PA and Caroline managed to offend two of them. The Sunday school teacher and the stake president's wife. I was talking to the Sunday school teacher after class when Caroline ran up, took one look at my companion and interrupted the bright eyed lady.

"Wow, Your eyes are Sooo surprising!"

She was confused and didn't take it as a compliment. She pressed her if that was a bad thing. Caroline just repeated how surprising they were and then popped her own eyes open as wide as she could to demonstrate what surprising eyes looked like.

Later that night after dinner at the stake president's beautiful home Caroline decided she was bored with the play room and went exploring in the basement. These older homes in the East don't have typical basements. They are the laundry room/ storage room and are so cold that you usually just run down and run back up as fast as you can. Things get dumped with the plans to take care of it later. . .when you have your coat and gloves on. Apparently she had the same aversion to her basement as I did, from the look of the piles of stuff just down the stairs. Her piles must've been more significant than mine have grown though. Caroline went down, came up wearing a princess dress and tiara she found down there and walked right up to the cook and asked

"Excuse me, Why don't you ever clean your basement?"

Whenever I see Caroline corner an adult, I really need to get over there a little quicker.

She did save our bacon during Brent's interview at the dental office though. The Dr. invited the entire family in for pizza with his full staff. They were all sitting down to lunch when he led us in. They immediately cleared the table and had us sit down and eat while they all stood around. It was super awkward since the idea was that Brent would be replacing his current associate and he hadn't offered that info to anyone. They were all doing 20 questions on us trying to guess what was going on in the office that day. We got lots of questions like, "So are you guys moving here?" and "What are you doing in the area?" Usually I can think of plenty to say but this time I was at a loss and just concentrated on my pizza.

So we let Caroline do the jabbering. First she surveyed the room and realized that she didn't see the Root Beer on the table to go with her pizza. So she asked where it was. Then she told Brent that this is where he needed to work so he could eat pizza everyday. Before long she decided that she would go ahead and sing them her original song she wrote on her guitar.

"Nobody's being nice to me. Nobody on my rock star team"

She included all the verses which are different each time . She always comes back to the "Nobody's being nice to me" line because it seems to be the crowd pleaser. She has several songs she is preparing for her big rock star debut someday but we all agree this one is the catchiest, plus it rhymes.

She told us that her stage name is "Star Rock" but Savannah complained, "Caroline you need something original."

She thought for a second then smiled and announced her new name.

"Star Original Rock"

Welcome to my rambling

Winter is back. I spent about 40 min with a shovel this morning on our little patch of pavement just to get rid of last nights fall. Yesterday we got hit pretty hard too. As long as we have a small driveway I like shoveling snow.

The way I see it is- It's a great way to enjoy winter. You aren't cold and miserable and you are getting a great work. Marcus came along and decided to venture into the tall snow in the backyard. It was up to his shin. He walked around the whole thing before deciding he couldn't take another step. His boots were full of snow and he was too tired to do anymore trudging. I went out and rescued him and found his little boots full of snow. And bare feet and no snowpants either. Camille had brought him out to join me when she left for the bus. He is warming up in a hot bath right now. Singing away.

Last night we had an amazing thing happen during his bath. He suddenly hollered "I gotta pee", hopped out, sat down on the big seat and shot off, with perfect aim.

I was so shocked since this is the first time he has had any interest, he thought of it himself, and jumped out of a WARM bath to do it. And from my experience this is a sign that he will probably be potty trained in a year or so. I never get my hopes up with little stuff like this. Though it was pretty exciting and we all ran in to scream and congratulate him.

While I was out shoveling this morning Kennon was across the street waiting for her bus with the other middle school students in the neighborhood. I am not allowed to take any pictures of Kennon at her bus stop - but picture this.

Here is Kennon standing alone and staring straight ahead not talking to anyone, totally sticking out with her flower headband. Ten other kids rough house all around her, every couple minutes someone going down in the snow. They are all yelling and it pretty much consists of F this and F that. I probably heard that word I hate 50 times in the 5 minutes I shoveled nearby. I kept stopping and staring at them, debating what I should do, and what wouldn't embarrass Kennon. I finally decided she would never forgive me if I hollered at them so I said nothing.

I hate what my kids are forced to put up with. It made me think two things.

First, Maybe we should move to the south where kids are more respectable and study the bible during recess. I don't think these inner city kids are bad kids themselves, it's just that they are raised so differently. I would like her to be surrounded by religious people regardless of the faith. She feels so weird here to be religious at all.

My second thought was that we need to really work hard to make our home all that it needs to be. More love and understanding. More fun. More attention and time with each child. Somehow a better study of the scriptures together before we send them off to the bus stop. We read every morning, but so many times it's frustrating because I don't feel like it is beneficial because everyone is so distracted. We have tried reading less verses and just focusing on a subject but that seems to not work either. So we just trudge through, two pages a day. We stop and talk about them, or at least Brent and I do, but no family discussion takes place. Their minds are on different things. Usually Marcus running around the room singing and stealing the show.

It gives me great strength though to remember that my own family's scripture session while growing up were just as bad. Maybe worse. Every morning at 5:30 Mom walked down the hall singing, "DEVOTIONAL" as she passed by the rooms on her way to the piano. Then she played through one verse. I hated both of these things, the sound of Mom's "Devotional" and our piano, because they were always associated with getting my tired body out of bed. And I had to get it out fast because whoever didn't make it by the end of the 1st verse, had dish duty that evening.

Once we got to the table we somehow woke up enough to argue, complain, tell mom that it was taking too long, push each other around. . . pretty much do anything but concentrate on the scriptures. I am sure my parents wondered the same thing I do everyday as we all run off in separate directions after prayers. Why are we doing this when no one is getting anything out of it. . . and it certainly isn't any fun?

The thing is . . . it's not true. I never jumped in and discussed the subjects my parents wanted us to, nor bore sweet testimony. . . nor did I ever want to be there. But I learned the scripture stories very well. And those stories have made a huge difference in my life. I have always had (or been working on at least) a daily scripture study habit since I left home. I developed all the habits and convictions that my parents wanted to instill through family scripture study and family prayer. What if they had given up because it wasn't the perfect family experience we all want it to be?

I really think that our efforts to provide our kids with spirituality will pay off. The things that are important to my parents became important to me. It's so interesting that it doesn't seem like it at the time. So I will keep trudging on.

As far as making kids ride the bus with all that garbage I would love some of your thoughts. I don't want to shelter my kids from the world because I think we all need to grow up and deal with it somehow on our own. I have never thought that I should homeschool them just to protect them from other people's examples because there is no way to totally do that.

At the same time I hate forcing them to endure it, by sending them out to the bus everyday.

That's why we need to move to the bible belt. Any thoughts on the amount of swearing in the south?

Stuck

Brent and I haven't slept well for a long time.

Probably since last August. We were fresh back from our last carefree summer and a lovely road trip to see family in Washington and embarking on the final year. It was time to get serious about real life and where that real life was going to be lived.

Most people getting out of graduate school have a plan. Even students a couple of years behind Brent will tell me where they are planning on settling and why.

And here we are. Pretty much in the same stage we were when we started. No clue. I guess we aren't like other people that plan and execute. It seems like our eyes and hearts are focused on adventure not on settling. Sometimes I think we are looking at our future like a vacation. Brent will look up a practice opportunity and get all excited. It's in the middle of nowhere, we could live on a lake, go snowmobiling all 8 months of winter, hot tub when we need a break and enjoy our cabin on the lake that we would be getting for a steal. Never mind that it is an hour from the nearest ward, 3 hours from Target and so far into Maine that we would be in a New Brunswick, Canada Stake. But we get all excited about the house on the lake though.

After further research we find a little snag that causes us to move on. By the next day we have bounced over to a new spot on the map. And I'm not talking about one area of the country. I am talking from Maine to Yakima, Washington to the southern tip of Texas.

Basically we are pretty sure that we could be happy anywhere. So our job search is far and wide.

But time is running out. One of these days. . . very soon. . . Brent needs to commit to a job and then I will be making a big announcement. And we will be getting lot more sleep around here, I hope.

But by then it will be too late to comment on our choice. So if you have anything to say that you think will help. . .

Say it now.

Here are some things to keep in mind.

A small town with very few dentists would be ideal.

I like humidity. I have occasional bouts of psoriasis. It's been pretty much a non issue since I left the deserts of Washington.

I like green hills and trees, with mountains in the distance.

I like swimming in lakes.

I like a white winter.

I like Target.

Oh and Kennon wants to live by her cousin Katie. She lives in the deserts of Washington along with about 100 other people we are related to, that we love and miss.

How is my list? Does it ring any bells?

I can't decide how important the last one needs to be. Do we make it a priority above all else? It makes things really hard to figure out.


So we are still hovering on the bridge. Not sure if we are going to cross and find a new adventure or head back to the safety of the side we came from.

Enjoy it while it lasts

The weather lately has been topping out in the 40's. For three consecutive days last week I went running in the sun while the kids played outside. We do this several ways. Sometimes Caroline rides her 3 wheeler and we circle the block over and over. Other times we all go to the park a few houses down and I race around it while they play. Sometimes I stuff Marcus and Caroline in my one kid stroller. I just can't help take advantage of sunshine and above freezing temperatures in January.

3 day weekend in PA

Today is laundry day and I'm not enjoying it as much as last week. We went out of town and I ran off and left everyone's mesh socky bags. Wonder how many socks will be sucked away in my washer today? I figure there are hundreds of them stuck in there somewhere. Where else could they all be hiding?

We planned another dental interview trip last weekend. We would visit the church there, stay overnight, swim in a hotel -all of us were so looking forward to it . . . except Kennon. Lucky for her, she was rescued by the Ashworth family. They called and wondered if she wanted to go along on their 3 day family extravaganza to the Palmyra Inn for the weekend.

So on we went without her. It completely changes family dynamics to lose your almost 12 year old. I don't even think we had one eye roll or one "Dad, you are such a cheapo" the entire trip. Things were really chill.

On the other hand, Savannah found her work load doubled. Kennon may make life interesting, but she is also my right hand man. And it was hard to introduce our family multiple times without her. Brent's interview was in the BEAUTIFUL Williamsport Pa area. Seriously. This is a hidden gem in the state of PA. Fairly remote but it has everything I would need to be happy, besides extended family of course. This is our only trip picture taken. Savannah had the camera and I told her to make sure she got a picture of the hills surrounding us everywhere we went. This area had it all. Rolling hills, a large river, nice people (the stake president's wife and family of SEVEN daughters and one son invited us over to Sunday dinner at their 1894 small mansion), a Target-my one stipulation and the reason we ruled out Vermont, and a wonderful dentist who may or may not hire Brent. We definitely are no closer to making up our minds about our future destination after this trip though.

But we found another charming place to live. We both have had a February deadline in our minds for a while now. But now I'm wondering how we possibly will figure it out by then.
Last Thursday, my friend Cathy, gave us last minute tickets at Shea's for Curious George Live. I was a little disappointed in the creativity of the show but it was a fun event to get dressed up and go downtown to as a family. Our friends, the Fordham's, also got free tickets and came along. During the intermission Savannah went out, and ran right back to ask me to come sign a release so she could be interviewed for a Curious George commercial. Kennon wasn't interested but the rest of the kids ran after and all got put in front of a bright light and microphone. Marcus ran off halfway through, Camille did nothing but smile and chew on her lip, no matter how many times they tried to ask her a question, Savannah smiled away and found a few clever things to say, but as usual Caroline stole the show. She is planning on being a rock star and I guess she figured this was her big chance.
As long as they don't get a hold of this picture, I took after the show.
I hope you get a chance to see it. It won't be here long. She'll for sure, demand I erase it, if she catches sight of the blog anytime soon. It's too funny not to post and laugh at for at least a few hours while she is at school, though.

Now I need to go take care of something I have put off all morning. About an hour before we got home from our trip, Marcus started hollering, "I peed!" When his cries became increasing hysterical I inspected the situation, finding a completely dry diaper hanging on his leg and his little bum sitting in the puddle of the pee that he was hollering about. The only thing to do was to move Caroline out of her booster for the last hour so Marcus could have it.

Caroline heard us making plans and said, "NO! I won't do it."

But, I finally convinced her that there was nothing else to do and she needed to help us buckle up Marcus safely. She moved over to a seat, buckled up, then lay her head down and stayed that way frozen the rest of the way home, terrified of another meeting with a state trooper. Dad reassured her that he had a perfect argument for our defense, inspired by the fine words of the last state trooper we met up with on the same freeway.

"Are you a father, because if you are, you have to understand that no good father would knowingly ask his son to sit shivering in a puddle of pee for an entire hour!"

You'll have to see my earlier indignant state trooper post if you missed it. Brent's fathering was severely questioned right in front of his children.

So time to go figure out how to take the car seat apart sitting by my back door. It's probably beyond my abilities. It has to be done though or I won't make it to Target today and I've got quite a streak running for the month of January. Target in January gives me one of the biggest high's ever. I keep thinking I need to stop and then I remember how I feel in February when all the $3 shoes are gone. I only wish I would've bought more, not less.

To all worn out mothers of 5

Brent gave me an odd Christmas present. No, not the 3 minute a day cell phone. . . that none of you will ever get the number of since it is far too risky to start handing that out.

He gave me 5 small mesh laundry bags. I don't know what brought this on because he doesn't do laundry EVER. . . but I guess my constant complaints about my difficult life got the wheels turning.

Each kid has their own mesh bag hanging in their closet. All of their used undies and sockies go straight off their body and into the baggie (Theoretically. We are still working on the "straight" part with some of them).

On laundry day I collect the zipped up bags, throw them in with a load, then deliver them back to their room for them to match and put away. No more ever growing miss matched sock basket and no more wasting time sorting panties and sockies by size into five little piles.

It is genius. Maybe that's what these bags were always intended for, but it took someone way smarter than me to figure them out.

You should be doing this too. Some people have told me that they safety pin socks together putting them into the laundry basket??? Try getting 7 people to take the time to do that. Not gonna happen. This is . . . MUCH better. It's pure genius!

Very good Christmas present, Brent.