Ha-BOO-tat

Every year the Texas Tech student chapter of Habitat for Humanity hosts a Halloween carnival for the families in the neighborhood where they build all of their houses. This year the theme was Super Heroes. Since Jack is the Co-President of the student organization, we decided to go all out.

Of course, neither of our super kids are smiling in this family photo, but they were both excited to be there. Ellen found the matching shirts on the couch yesterday morning, and I am still laughing about this conversation we had:

E: What's this?

Me: Those are our costumes for the party tonight. We're going to be the Incredibles.

E: Oh, it's wonderful!

Why, thank you, Ellen. I'm pretty excited about how the shirts turned out myself, since I am completely anti-making-my-own-child's-elaborate-Halloween-costume, no matter how cute it promises to be. One night's not worth it.



These shirts, however, will not have such a short life. Ellen will probably want to wear it again tomorrow. If it didn't have lollipop drips all over the front, I might have let her.



And what can I say about the hair? Super-mega-gel. Ultra-fine blond hair. I've been putting off trimming up his hair in anticipation of this one event. The only thing cuter than this little spike of hair above this little face is that the kid's name is actually Jack. But we call him Jack-Jack. Ha.

And if you've never seen the cuteness turned flaming demon baby on the Disney movie The Incredibles, you could just stop by my house. The personality and super power similarities are uncanny.

--UPDATE -- 10:25 pm
We did, in fact, all wear our T-shirts again. Today we had a law school related lunch, costumes optional. We were the only ones wearing "costumes." It was still fun.

This holiday is turning out to be more fun than I thought.

October 2006
Exhibit A: The pumpkins.
Lately, Ellen's favorite color is orange. When we're coloring and I ask her which color she likes best, she says "a-na-nan-jado" (That's anaranjado.)


Exhibit B: Cute, plush costumes. And pumpkins.


October 2007
Exhibit A: The pumpkins.
There's just something about kids and pumpkins. Maybe it's just my kids. Lately Jack Jack is on high alert for spotting pumpkins, pictures of pumpkins, decorated pumpkins, plastic, cloth, flat, 3-D pumpkins. If it's a pumpkin, he's freaking out until I say, "calabaza!"


Exhibit B: Cute plush costumes. Anaranjados.


I used to think Halloween was just a former pagan holiday that kids exploit to get lots of candy and adults use as an excuse to dress up in silly costumes. It's a lot different with my own kids in this family-friendly town. We have quite the line-up of Halloween events. . .

What's for breakfast?

My least favorite breakfast growing up was oatmeal. Something about the texture and taste of cooked oatmeal made me rather have a piece of toast before heading out the door for school.

In a fit of preparedness anxiety last year, I bought several canisters of oatmeal (quick and rolled) to add to my food storage, along with 40 pounds of pinto beans, powdered milk, and a year's supply of salt. One morning last month I woke up thinking oatmeal sounded really, really good. Trust me; these things happen when you're pregnant.

So I got out a canister of quick oats and, since I had no idea how to actually make oatmeal, I followed the directions on the container exactly, with a timer and everything. Then at the end I stirred in some raisins. I was still thinking of childhood oatmeal, and that raisins can make lots of things better. What happened next was a revelation. I like oatmeal. My kids like oatmeal. My kids ask for oatmeal for breakfast. Well, Ellen does. Jack doesn't know that many words all together yet, but if I'm eating it and don't offer him some, he has a fit. If I do offer him oatmeal, he wants his own bowl and spoon.

The next day I thought oatmeal with blueberries sounded good. I had frozen blueberries, so while the oatmeal was cooking (for one minute) I mixed a cup of blueberries with a couple of spoonfuls of sugar and microwaved them for about a minute. Oatmeal with blueberries is even better than oatmeal with raisins, (probably because of all that sugar I added) and my kids loved it, too.

The next day I made two servings because I was tired of having to give away half of my oatmeal to my kids. I went through an entire canister of quick oats in a couple of weeks. Then I tried the canister of rolled oats. They take slightly longer to cook (3-5 minutes), but turned out to be just as tasty, and Ellen and Jack don't know the difference.

Then I saw a food blog post on making instant oatmeal packets from scratch using oats, dried fruits, and powdered milk. Thinking it would be a good experiment for using a prime food storage item, as well as adding calcium to my diet, and also thinking that the only thing worse than eating oatmeal as a child was eating oatmeal with milk poured on top, I added powdered milk to the boiling water at the same time as the oats, fully expecting to reach my grossness limit and end up feeding the entire batch to the kids. The result? Creamy, yummy oatmeal.

We don't eat oatmeal every day, but we did for about two weeks. Now I make some variety of oatmeal on a regular basis. And as it gets colder here, I will probably be making it even more often to counterbalance the effects of drinking smoothies for breakfast.

Yummy Oatmeal:
Cook plain quick oats or rolled oats on the stove according to package instructions. For 2 servings, add 1/4 cup powdered milk when you add oats to boiling water.

After cooking, add any of the following:
Fresh berries, peaches, pears, mangoes, or bananas
Frozen berries or fruit with sugar to taste
Applesauce or apple butter
Maple syrup
Brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon
Butter and honey

And for an added, super-nerdy bonus: as you eat, think about how the oats are sucking all the bad cholesterol out of your body and making you feel so much better about the piles of dirty dishes, dirty laundry, and disorganized toys that await.

Flowers, trees, butterflies, bees, and rabbits

Last Friday we took a field trip to the Lubbock Memorial Arboretum.

We walked through a rose garden.


We saw a scarecrow.


We spotted lots of butterflies and pretty flowers.




Ellen and her friend chased a rabbit. We went over, under, around, and through a bridge. Good thing there was no water underneath.













Then just after I took this shot of Jack looking back onto the bridge, the batteries in my camera died, and I discovered that both sets of backup batteries were also dead.


That left us free to quit trying to get the kids together for cute photos and check out the senses garden: herbs for smelling, different colors for looking, crazy textures for feeling, more herbs for tasting, and reading the signs out loud for hearing.

Ellen is really working on her climbing up and jumping off skills. She climbed on a brick retaining wall and jumped off several times before she caught her foot, skinned her chin and bit her tongue. She was able to walk back to the car, and she has since resumed climbing and jumping activities.

Jack is working on walking up and down steps. Going down, he takes a little jumping step and then laughs like crazy if he is able to keep his balance. Once he gets all the way down, he walks back up the steps to come down all over again.

Hooray for running around outdoors and coming home tired field trips.

Baby, it's cold outside.

We had a cold front come through last week. Rain, wind, cold weather. Perfect for adding weather words in Spanish to our repertoire. We were actually on our way to one of the homeschool Spanish classes I teach. I took a calendar and a bag of random kids' clothes (like a scarf, a swimming suit, socks, a jacket, a hat, shorts, a t-shirt and sandals) and talked clothing vocabulary and weather vocabulary and what kind of clothes you need in what kind of weather. It was fun!

Mummies

We went to the opening of the Egyptian exhibit at the Science Spectrum, free for members. I was expecting something a little more hands on, I guess. It was actually a traveling exhibit of artifacts and replicas that were used in making the movie that is also currently showing at the Omni theaters. We walked through the one room of cases, but the kids didn't even stop to look at anything. We did manage to take a couple of pictures.

Ellen colored at the craft table set up for kids with Egypt-related crafts like writing your name in hieroglyphics and making an Egyptian paper doll. The museum staff at the table passed out supplies and tidbits of Egyptian information. Did you know silver was prized more than gold because silver was harder to come by? Did you know Egyptians liked wearing colorful clothing and gemstones? Did you know most Egyptians wore wigs? I had to ask what the wigs were made of. The answer? Mostly animal hair, but also papyrus. As in the stuff they also wrote on. Who knew?

Windmill museum

We took a field trip to the windmill museum, a.k.a. the American Wind Power Center and Museum with our preschool class. Ellen and Jack were in awe of the huge, streamlined Vesta, representative of the wind turbines we see all along the highway on our way to Waco.


Jack was really excited to walk on the railroad ties with the big kids.


Here we are inside the museum part. There were all kinds of different windmills from all over the world and all time periods. Lots were working. I guess they were working. They were moving, at least.


Ellen really looks cute when I can get a good smile out of her.

The family business: branching out

I really, really, really dislike cleaning bathrooms. However, I do love seeing (and smelling) them clean and sparkly when the work is all done.

Ellen recently discovered that scrubbing toilets is almost as much fun as going to the Science Spectrum. She'd love to scrub their toilets, too, if they'd let her.

Hide and seek

Where's Daddy?



One of Ellen's favorite games is "Hiding Daddy."

Dish washer

About three weeks ago I suddenly noticed that our dishwasher smelled like burning rubber. So did the rest of our apartment for two days. I put in a work order and a week later maintenance showed up to check out the situation. Turns out we needed a part to replace whatever rubber piece melted during the heat dry cycle, and the part had to be ordered, of course. Several days later maintenance came back to get the part number. They thought the part would be here by Monday, as in three days ago.

I have learned a few things in three weeks of hand washing dishes:

1) I've been using a dishwasher for so long that it's hard to go back to hand washing, especially since I'm responsible for four times as many dishes now.

2) Once I actually get around to washing the dirty dishes, it doesn't really take that long.

3) Washing the dishes with tropical blossom scented dish soap makes my kitchen smell good.

4) Ellen likes to stand on a stool next to me and "rinse" the dishes.

4a) Ellen doesn't go looking for things to get into when she can play with water and bubbles right next to me.

4b) Ellen can rinse one plastic cup in the time it takes me to wash a whole sink full of dishes.

5) Jack Jack can't wait for the day when he gets tall enough and coordinated enough to assume rinsing responsibilities.

6) I'm actually getting used to washing dishes and it can be quite therapeutic (she says as the dishes washed two days ago are still drying on the counter and the dirty dishes are still "soaking" and piling up in the sink).

Tending gardens and keeping sheep

"It is our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend." --President Thomas S. Monson

If I Planted a Garden by Sally Deford
If I planted a garden, if I carefully sowed
If I nourished each tiny seed
If I tended it well and helped it to grow
What a beautiful harvest I'd reap

In my life, like a garden, there are seeds to be sown
I must choose with the greatest care
Planting only what's good, so I can be sure
Only beautiful things will grow there

I am planting my garden every day of my life,
And the harvest is mine to keep
If I plant seeds of faith, of honor and truth
What a beautiful harvest I'll reap

"As we lose ourselves in the service of others, we discover our own lives and our own happiness." --President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Keeping Sheep by Lynne Perry Christofferson
1. I have a little flock of sheep,
And they are mine to tend and keep,
And I must guard them every day,
For little lambs, when left alone, will lose their way.
So many voices say to me, "A sheepfold is no place to be.
Your time in there is dull and slow,
And lambs leave very little room for you to grow.

Oh, if I ever start to stray,
Deceived by thoughts of greener pastures,
Remind me, Lord, that keeping sheep
Will lead to happier ever afters,
Will lead to happier ever afters.

2. Oh surely there will come a day
When all the lambs have left my side,
And I am free to roam about,
And go exploring other meadows green and wide.
Yet something whispers in my heart
That when my sheep have left this pen
I'll long to stroke their little heads,
To draw them close to me and have them young again.

So if I ever start to stray,
Deceived by thoughts of greener pastures,
Remind me, Lord, that keeping sheep
Will lead to happier ever afters,
Will lead to happier ever afters.

So while they still are in my care,
I pray that I will clearly see
These little lambs within my fold
Are tender gifts a loving Father has given me.

The Tractor Museum

Actually formally known as the American Museum of Agriculture, this was our Friday field trip for Sage Preschool. The building was closed while we were there, but the yard out in front was full of old farm equipment in varying stages of rust and decay. The kids were elated to explore and check things out. They were especially excited to be pretending to drive these monsters.

Jack Jack is elated.


Ellen flashes a smile our way.


Jack wants to get in on the action. I'm hiding right behind him. This is a real John Deere, by the way.


Get out of the way; Ellen means business.


Jack Jack is elated to be driving. While he was up there, he also spotted an excavator on the back of an 18-wheeler flatbed trailer, a yellow school bus, and a motorcycle going down the road just outside the fence. Can we say super-elated?

7 kids, 4 moms, lots of tractors, a bajillion mosquitos.
Successful field trip.

More painting!

Ellen is really excited to be painting.


Some of the finished works of art include "Rainbow" and "Clouds."

My favorite holiday

Okay, so General Conference isn't really a holiday in the normal sense of the word, but I love taking a break to just be taught and fed for two days.

For the past month I've been reading talks from the April 2008 General Conference to prepare for this coming weekend, and it's like I'm hearing the words for the first time. Here are a few words from Elder Nelson's talk on Salvation and Exaltation.

Individual progression is fostered in the family, which is "central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." The home is to be God's laboratory of love and service. There a husband is to love his wife, a wife is to love her husband, and parents and children are to love one another. . . .

In God's eternal plan, salvation is an individual matter; exaltation is a family matter.

I ended up reading this particular talk about three times before I was able to move on to the next one. I really, really needed to read and think about those words this month. Thank you, Elder Nelson.