Relief Society Birthday Dinner 2010

We went with the official Relief Society colors of yellow and blue and tried to go for a whimsical, Springy theme. We assembled the dinners in lunch bags and had everything on the tables when the guests got there, which makes for easy eating (no serving!), clean-up and just an all-around more simple approach. When the dinner began, I had nothing to worry about, and I could enjoy the meal and conversation.

I made the centerpieces out of homemade suckers on wooden skewers. They were practically free to make. The skewers are stuck in rock salt, which is such a cool trick I saw online. It beats foam and hot glue hands down, and it's so easy to clean up too.

I gave a couple ladies disposable containers for salad and condiments and I was so excited to see what they came up with to put inside the lunch bags.

The menu:

Thai peanut noodle salad

Turkey and provolone sandwiches on country wheat bread

Cranberry dijon spread

Pesto mayonnaise spread

Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting

It was such a fun evening and it reminded me of how fortunate I am to belong to this amazing group of women. Happy Birthday Relief Society!

Peeking In

We had plans to take the whole family swimming on Saturday, and I took this photo at 7:30 that morning. Finn was not only excited, he was prepared with suit and floaties to jump into the pool at a moment's notice. He didn't even take them off to play Legos.

Tonight's dinner: Miles had spaghetti coming in by hand and spork. Here he is multi-tasking with the grab and shovel technique, with no thought as to his facial cleanliness (or the floor's, I might add).

The leftover breadcrusts, after the first dinner finishers had made their way up to the bathtub. I took my sweet time, enjoying every bite of my plate of food, enjoying the silence of an empty table almost as much as the meal. (I remember my Mom always being the last to finish her dinner, often sitting at the dining table eating, long after we'd finished and cleared our plates. She seemed to savor that time, and the chance to eat in quiet. I now know her little secret. It's all about enjoying the calm after the storm).

She's Got the Sparkle

Literally. This girl is always on the lookout for "bling" if you know what I mean. This princess backpack (which clanks with small metal pans and an assortment of dishware and plasticware) is her constant companion, along with a pair of frilly, sparkly, or in any way over-the-top pair of shoes. (Tonight, as we were leaving our weekly financial class held at our friend's home, she was holding a pair of tween-sized metallic sandals behind her back, which she'd taken from the daughter's room, trying to sneak them home with her). Now you know I'm not kidding when I say I have to sleep with one eye open on Lucy's behalf.

She only stops to let her mom fix her dollar store earring. And she's back in the game. Ready to sing, talk on her sherbet pink cell phone, don princess garb, and prepare endless meals served on plastic pastel plates and Ikea children's ceramics. Ahh, the fascinating life of a 3-year-old. (And, yes, that is Finn's orange t-shirt underneath her blue princess dress. Her dad must have dressed her. He thinks it's funny. The other night he dressed Miles in Lucy's purple butterfly pajamas. I always protest, but somehow I end up laughing so hard that I lose.)

Holy Toledo!

These are good. (I know I've done alot of posting about food lately, but come on, what do you expect? It's winter, and because of my current state, I have a love/hate relationship with food). So, if you want to know how to make these really easy, really tasty donuts, here's how: Pop open a can of refridgerator biscuits, take a medicine cup and punch holes in each biscuit, drop in 375 degree oil, flip, place on paper towels, then glaze and let drip on a drying rack. For the glaze, I used powdered sugar, milk and a little vanilla.

These were seriously so easy and so good!

He's Done It

At 16 months, my Number Three has decided he only wants to eat with a utensil and feed himself. (I'm having a little bit of a hard time with this because this means messes, and lots of messes). But, in his defense, he's actually pretty good at feeding himself. And don't even try to spoon anything into his mouth. You'll get a big, fat "Nah" straight from the horse's mouth and a hand-shove to whatever you're trying to give him. He means business (even if he does wear an Alaskan flannel bear bib).

Snow Day

When school is cancelled due to snow, we spend the morning:

singing Princess songs while donning several layers of ballerina and Princess attire,

Taking out-of-focus photos,

Toddling around in pursuit of nabbing older siblings' stuff (thus making them really mad),

And twirling while singing and pretending to be a real princess.

Best Cinnamon Rolls Ever

They are moist, dense, but not too dense, and they have just the right amount of filling in proportion to the roll. I thought I had the best cinnamon roll recipe until now. This one is now my favorite. And they are somehow a defensive mechanism against the winter blues.

Note: This recipe calls for alot of butter, which you can cut back on.

Shawny's Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:

2 pkgs. active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105-115 degree)

2/3 cup, plus 1 tsp. granulated sugar, divided

1 cup warmed milk

2/3 cup butter

2 tsp. salt

2 eggs, slightly beaten

7-8 cups all-purpose flour, more if needed

Filling:

1 cup melted butter, divided

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided

3 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

Cream cheese frosting

In small bowl mix together warm water, yeast and sugar and set aside. In a large bowl, mix milk, remaining 2/3 cup sugar, melted butter, salt and eggs; stir well and add yeast mixture. Add half the flour and beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour until dough is slightly stiff (dough will be sticky).

Turn onto a well-floured board; knead 5-10 minutes. Place in well-buttered glass or plastic bowl, cover, and let rise in warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

When doubled, punch down dough and let rest 5 minutes. Roll out on floured surface into a 15x20 inch rectangle.

To prepare filling: Spread dough with 1/2 cup melted butter. Mix together 1 1/2 cups sugar and cinnamon. Roll up jelly roll fashion and pinch together to seal. Coat into 12 to 15 slices. Coat bottom of 9x13 pan and 8x8 pans with remaining 1/2 cup melted butter, then sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and frost with cream cheese frosting.

(Thanks, Shawny, for this amazing find!)

Reflecting over Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Helping yourslef to a second bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream is the way to look back upon the day, in my book. The end of the day went like this, as it always does: dinner, bath, pajamas, scriptures (boy, that can be a doozy), stories, pleading by the ruffians to do anything other than go to bed, brushing teeth, prayers, tucked in, time passing with books dropping, kids yelling across the rooms, then slowly, slowly, slowly, 8 o'clock chimes and they are sawing logs. It is never a done deal once they're tucked in. Lucy just stopped her faint moan (I'm imagining her eyelids closed at this point). It was a good day, or at least better than the past several, where I've yelled my way through the day and gone to bed praying for forgiveness of my impatience and mean spirit towards my kids. I mean, why do I have to use the angry tone all the time? But tonight I felt like the home was my own womb, a protective, warm place where I could just be without watching the clock or posturing to impress anyone or thinking too hard. I kept reading outloud children's books at my kids' insistence. The couch was so comfortable. The kids were content. I felt like Mary Poppins, the words flowed and my audience was captivated. And now that I'm full of ice cream it's time that I got some shut-eye as well. It's hard work growing another person.

(oh, and this picture has nothing to do with this post. I just liked how Travis arranged his drumset to photograph to sell on Craigslist).

Can't Help It

Sometimes I can't help but wonder what happened to me. Wait, I KNOW what happened to me, I just can't believe how fast it happened. I mean, how fast I lost all desire to do things I used to enjoy (like thrift shop, eat dessert, run). My days are spent in a state of nauseousness so strong it has sucked the life out of me. I am doing good to keep up on the laundry, the feeding of my kids, and cleaning the house. Everything is done super slow and super deliberately. I am usually in bed by 8:30 PM. By 3 AM, I am usually hungry enough to be found in the kitchen toasting a bagel or some other bread-like food. This little stranger inside me is taking over. Amazing how it's only an inch long and it's ruling my world and the world of my family. The only thing that interests me, reading-wise, is about the womb and fetal growth. My whole focus has shifted in a matter of weeks. It seems like I'll never start feeling better. Vegetables sound disgusting, as does Mexican food, right now. I consume fruit smoothies in large quantity, as well as English muffins, orange juice, chocolate soy milk and nachos (anything with cheese). I decided today this is not a bad phase to be in, it has just taken some getting used to. I am more aware of my kids because of this change, because I'm laying on the couch most of the day, when normally I wouldn't be in the same room watching them play. I have more time to think and reflect about my life and what I'm doing. I can't stop thinking how there's a reason for this phase of sickness, even if I can't put my finger on what it is. So, that's all. I just wanted to share a little of what's been going on in my brain lately. Carry on.

(The picture had nothing to do with this post. I just like it for some reason).

Relief Society Birthday Dinner Invitation

It's that time again....the annual Relief Society Birthday Dinner. This is our invitation this year. I used a corner-rounder and rounded all the edges of them. I've found it's cheaper to print them on photo paper at Costco Photo (plus they give you all the envelopes) than using a printing service or printing it yourself. It's alot easier too: no cutting or worrying if the invitation will fit in the envelope. If you're local, you don't want to miss this! (Think: huge cupcakes, good conversation, French circus-y theme).

The Big of Small Things

Ahhh, that feels much better.

Oh, the Irony of it All!

In case you were wondering, Miles never just sits bottom-to-seat in his high chair. Come mealtime, he has either perched himself on one of the arms of his chair (above left picture), leaned forward onto the tray (above right) making proximity to food that much closer, or, if we're sitting around the dining table, he is making a human bridge between his chair and the table, while I'm feeding him, praying he doesn't fall and securing him with an arm grip (bottom left). And despite our attempts to securely fasten him into the chair via the strap that came with the chair, he fenagles his way out of it every time. I'm too busy feeding the two other mouths to hold him in sitting position. So, he eats in these various positions, and once in a while, like today, he falls out of his high chair. Tack it on to the situation here, where every second of the day someone is either crying, falling, hitting, scratching, biting, ripping, breaking, or pooping, and we have ourselves one happy little KOA. It's intense and ironic at the same time.

It's ironic because I'm now carrying another little one to add to the mix. "What was I thinking?" pops into my head a little more often than I'd like to admit. But, the strange thing is that several months ago when I was tinkering with the idea of another sweet babe, I felt like I had about as much of a handle on taking care of my kids as I would ever have, so I might as well get going on the family plan (I've always wanted 5 or 6 kids).

So, back to the irony. I keep telling myself that several months ago I also wasn't nauseous ALL DAY LONG and tired as a sick puppy. By 4 PM I'm ready to call it a night and hit the hay. And, then I think about Spring coming maybe, someday, eventually, to these parts, and I can handle the thoughts of afternoons spent outside instead of cooped up watching endless Netflix episodes of Dora the Explorer.

And then the thought keeps coming into my head of Eve and how she said it was better to go through sorrow to know the good, or something to that effect. Yes, three in the afternoon is the lowest of lows for me, but then tonight when Miles was nuzzling his head into my neck and babbling, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. It was like he was sending me a feeling thank-you, not a written or verbal one, for being his Mom. Oh, the irony!

So, to sum this narrative up, I feel like I'm at the end of my rope alot of the time (add to that equation sick kids, too) but I also have so many moments of joy and gratitude. Life is worth living. Kids are worth having, and cherishing. There is so much beauty all around, even in the endless overcast winter days of Cleveland, and the endless dishes, laundry, and spills. I have to keep reminding myself of this or I get lost in self-pity and doubt. It's all going to work out.

Reading about Eve and her role has helped me see my role and this pregnancy in a positive light. Here's an excerpt of one of my favorite's on Eve (in addition to birthing children, I think this applies to carrying and raising children):

"God tells Eve what she will experience as she embraces her destiny to be the mother of all the living as she complies with his command to multipy and replenish the earth."

The Father's language on its face seems very harsh: "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." (Note that he does not say in thy conception but and thy conception, a blessing that there may be many children."

The Hebraic word for "sorrow" is astav, meaning "to labor," "to sweat," or "to do something very hard." God did not mean that childbirth would be a cause for sadness. What God seems to be alerting Eve to is that in mortality childbirth will be very difficult; that in childbirth she will sweat and toil and there will be pain. To "multiply" does not mean to add to or increase; in this context it means to repeat over and over again, such as saying multiple words in repititious prayers."

The Father is not cursing or causing pain to be inflicted on Eve; he is making her aware that her newly mortal body will experience pain in the process of childbirth, a pain that will come and go and repeat itself many times."

"Mother Eve, Mentor for Today's Woman: A Heritage of Honor," Beverly Campbell, 1993.

(And that last picture is of Miles after he'd had a bath and was dressed in his pajamas, but decided to go in for a second dip).

Adding On

If these plates represented our children, then we would be adding one more to the wall come September!

I just thought I would take this chance, since I'm up eating my second round of a midnight snack (first one didn't stay down), to fill you in on what's been going on around these parts lately.

(I'll write more about it when I'm not cutting into precious sleep time.)

I Looked Out the Window, and What Did I See?

Answer: Peanut butter popcorn balls.

Here's Lucy doing the hand-motions: "...I can take an armful and make a treat; a popcorn ball that would smell so sweet."

And here's Miles' version of the same.

One rotten afternoon made a little sweeter. If you'd like to make some, it's very easy. Here's how:

Ida Grace Fox's Peanut Butter Popcorn Balls

1 cup sugar

1 cup honey

1 cup peanut butter

4 quarts popped popcorn

Boil sugar and honey in saucepan on stove for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Pour over popcorn in large bowl. Form into balls with buttered hands.

Charlee's Oranges

As I was peeling an orange and handing it to Lucy's friend, Charlee, today, I thought, hey, I've heard that phrase before. Then I remembered it was Charlie's Angels, not Charlee's oranges and kind of chuckled to myself. Silly me.

Nursemaid-ing

On my return from Utah, I brought my youngest brother Andrew with me (aka Chris Brown). We have thoroughly enjoyed having him here. Lucy calls him "Grandpa" for some reason, even though we've explained many times he is her uncle and is to be called such. You wouldn't guess from this photo, but this guy can dance. But, poor thing had his wisdom teeth removed this morning (all four) and now I'm playing nursemaid.

After an intense struggle with Lucy, who insisted it was her toy, I gave him a bell tambourine to ring in case he needed anything from the nethermost room in the house. Medicine halved, then swallowed: check. Jell-o gelling in fridge: yes. Small heater humming: check. Frozen pea ice bags wrapped around his head and safety-pinned: yes. All we need now is some healing and clotting for this gauzed-up boy. My prediction is in 4 days he'll be dancing like Chris Brown again.

Someone Pinch Me, Please

{above shot: Finn taking a picture of me fake crying before Lucy's party}

Okay, here's the deal (and I can hardly believe it's for reals): I leave in 4 hours to get on a plane, BY MYSELF, and fly to Utah for my little sister Emily's final MFA show at BYU. Did I mention I am going BY MYSELF? ALL ALONE? NO KIDS IN TOW? This is truly a miracle (made possible by my generous parents and siblings, wonderful friends who are watching my kids, and ever-supportive husband for letting me go). I am stoked. I don't think I'll be able to take my afternoon nap, I'm so excited. It really doesn't seem real. I've never taken a trip without my kids or husband. If you don't hear from me Tuesday it's because I couldn't muster up the courage to come back to reality. At any rate, have a great weekend and you don't need to wish me likewise, because, frankly, I don't think it could be bad any way I slice it.

How to Warm Up Those Winter Blues: Dinnertime Edition

I was making enchiladas for dinner, I had Spanish rice in the rice cooker, and I was mashing up some avocado to serve with tortilla chips and salsa. Only one thing left to do: turn on some mariachi music a la Pandora and shake it!

For several minutes, as I danced around the table, trying to arouse some livelihood into my kids (as they dipped their chips in salsa), I felt like I was in a Mexican restaurant in my hometown. The music was SO Casa Chapala-esque, or was it more Las Margaritas? At any rate, it's all the same. This south-of-the-border theme was helping me come off a particularly dicey pair of witching hours on a frigid, grey winter afternoon.

Miles knew what to do. He was getting into his own high-chair groove.

I just might tuck this trick up my sleeve for later, long-winter-afternoon times. It definitely helped me snap out of the winter blues for a little while....long enough to shake my bon-bon!

For the recipe for Creamy Bean and Green Chile Enchiladas, go here.

Schullerism No. 493

Tuna fish sandwiches must be cut into suns and moons (using a biscuit cutter).

If you came to our house this afternoon around 3 PM, you'd find three little pink-dressed girls donning their princess hats, eating ballerina-topped cupcakes. If you stayed a while, you would've gotten a cupcake and some ice cream (eaten with a tiny princess spoon) and then watched the princesses get their nails painted shades of pink and red. One of the princesses kept calling Miles "Smiles" which cracked me up everytime I heard her say it. The birthday princess awoke from an afternoon slumber just in time to greet her guests. She wore only half of her birthday suit (no pants, just a diaper and shirt), how apropos.

She has been a lively one ever since she made her debut three years ago, and I don't see her slowing down anytime soon. Her funny faces, her butterball thighs, her love of all things feminine (along with Batman and monster trucks) is so endearing. She is relatively obedient, except when it comes to holding her Mama's hand in public and keeping her seatbelt on (oh, and letting me put a diaper on her before naptime). I love that Lucy-girl. Oh, I love her!

Filling the Cracks of Winter Time

I seem to have caught a case of the winter blues. They have crept in, making the pre-preschool-out-the-door shuffle more of an ordeal than usual. They appear at the end of the witching hour, about 4:45 PM, when I'm about to blow my top if my kids don't stop running around and hollering. It doesn't help that the sun hardly shines here in the winter. But, I'm trying to be proactive. Projects make happy. A clean house makes me happy. So, this week I've: cleaned my oven + stove....

...sewn a baby quilt out of fabric scraps for a first-time-expectant friend...

...and am getting ready for this Little Girl's 3rd birthday tomorrow. I've also thoroughly vacuummed the first floor (including underneath bookshelves and furniture), and cleaned out my fridge and freezer. What I found in numbers:

1 bear scout manual (tucked in the recesses of our couch)

5 bottles of mustard (in the fridge, including 1 dijon!)

2 bottles of ketchup

2 huge bottles chocolate syrup

lots and lots of toys and little doo-dads

Oh, and I vacummed out our heating vents in the front room and toy room. That about sums it up. For now...

Sink: Skirted Last Night

(above: bathroom before we moved in)

(above: the ugly, bent metal legs and hoses I was trying to hide)

(above: after the skirt)

Isn't that much better? It feels nice to have all that "schtuff" hidden beneath a soft white skirt.

(skirt inspiration here.)