Fall foliage

I finally gave in to that urge to grab the camera every time I walked past a window.
This is what we see out our kitchen window and upstairs bedrooms.
Is it any wonder I love where we live?

p.s. If you feel the need to rake leaves, you know, just because it is such a "fall thing" to do... I know where you could find some. Soon we will not be able to tell where grass ends and driveway begins. The leaves will be thick, deep and crunchy. Yesterday I helped a little friend smell the leaves. He looked at me like I was from Mars, but then, he smelled it and I think he understood, it is the smell of Autumn!

You say it's her birthday?

More to come later, but for now, here is a taste of life at our house today:

Random thoughts...

I love where we live. Everytime I look out a window I feel like grabbing a camera. Maybe Fall is my favorite season... The leaves are just starting to turn and we've had comforatable days this week. I've taken time to collect acorns into a giant pile with the kids, find leaves as big as their faces, look for leaves with as many colors as possible on one leaf, lie on the ground and look up through the turning leaves at the clear blue sky... lovely moments. I've also scraped dog poo off shoes, pushed the swing, and kissed a lot of injuries.

I watched a big tough man cross the street today. He was covered in piercings and tattoos and didn't look terribly friendly. He looked both ways carefully before he stepped off the curb. In that second I thought of him as a little boy, with a mom holding his hand teaching him to look both ways. He is somebody's baby boy. And he probably is friendly.

I stopped next to a big city bus. The bus driver was a beautiful woman. Short silver hair and sparkly earrings. I wonder if when she was 35 she drove a van and rushed kids all over creation... then they grew up and she needed to keep taking people places.

We were driving down Main Street past this lovely little church with a statue on the corner. Lily shouts, "HEY! there is Jesus out my window!" This made me chuckle all day. (Oh, and I think it was actually Mary... locals am I right?)

The shopping cart we used at Target the other day had a ton of trash in the basket that I had to empty before I put the kids in. All empty boxes:Tums, Bean-o, Pepto Bismol, Imodium, Gas-X extra strength, and Mylanta. All of those empty boxes/packages!!! I used wipes and hand sanitizer to clean the cart... Hope that person made it home quickly!

You "picked" a great day to be born Henry!

Tomorrow my baby will be 2!

Blackmail pictures? maybe.
Problem with sticking your kids on a rock in a river and walking away out of arms reach? possibly.
Reason for taking 150 pictures of 5 kids in 10 minutes or less? Definitely.
In his defense, there were some gnats, maybe one flew up his nose...

Comparison.

I know you are not supposed to compare. Every child does their own thing at their own time... all is good right? Early, late, fast, slow, chatter box, strong-silent type... I have learned by now it all works out in the end (at least up to age 10, after that I'm clueless).

However, it is hard not to notice the differences! Here is a glimpse of Henry. Pretty much how he rolls. Grunts, says a handful of words- truck, drink, truck, juice, truck, choo choo, mama, truck, rock, truck, choo choo, stick, truck.... no phrases, smiles and runs away... (notice the fists full of rocks...)




Here is Janey, at 20 months old. She was something else. Squishy too! And Oh, so cute!




I was thinking today that when Michael was Henry's age Jane was a month old... and when Jane was Henry's age Eve was a month old! When Lily was Henry's age Henry was a few weeks old. How on earth did I manage? I can't imagine having a newborn right now, Henry is such a busy toddler! (I do remember though, we tied all the chairs to the legs of the table so that Janey couldn't pull them over to the counter and help herself to whatever was up high.... she was busy too!)

I just love...

I just love Eve's total love for her new cowgirl boots. She puts them back on after she gets ready for bed and wears them with pj's till she is tucked in... That is true love for a pair of boots!

I just love Lily. When she isn't making me totally bonkers by being so completely convinced she is right and can do everything by herself, she is absolutely charming and makes me laugh! What a corn dog she is.I just love that Henry always has a fist full of rocks and a stick in the other hand. I don't love the heart break of having to leave them outside though!
I just love Henry's new train table and the way he will play independently for few minutes! Plus, aren't his chubby little dimpled hands adorable?

I just love working with Jane! Homeschooling is fun. We read terrific stories, she learns quickly and we have fun! (Woo hoo for finishing a ton of math and doing great at times tables!) Making a playdough colorwheel is awesome! It is great the way you really can use the 3 primary colors and create all the others!
I just love Michael. He is hanging in there this school year. 5th grade is serious. He is a hard worker and I love to hear him read stories to the little kids and play his trombone.
I just love my school-supply thingamajiggy. Mom and Bruce gave it to us for kitchen tools, but it is a lifesaver for all those homework supplies! Oh, and we love hand sanitizer. no flu for us!
I just love Eve's braids. I'm on a serious braid kick.


I also just love crisp cool mornings and the occasional bright red leaf. I love music on the i-pod and warm smells in the kitchen. I love hearing the kids playing outside and laughing together. I love reading the scriptures in the morning with the family and at night when the house is still and quiet. I love listening to an owl in our woods after the kids are tucked in. I love pumpkin cookes with warm caramel icing. I love playing games with the big kids and holding Henry's hand-- even if it is all day long and I don't get anything done.

I don't love a lot of things. Like bills, and bug bites and washing the sheets 3 times in as many days, I don't love nagging but I do love the results. Come to think of it... most of the things I don't love doing I do love the results!

How do you like them apples?

Have you ever been asked what one food you would want if you could only choose one thing to eat for the rest of your life? I think I'd choose apples. (or bread, or potatoes... or rice, or chocolate... or cake. Donuts maybe...)(Don't pay attention to the obvious absence of veggies.)

I love apples. This time of year I refuse to buy them from the store. We have an apple orchard down the road and I love the crisp fall air, riding on a wagon pulled by a cool tractor, branches heavy with apples, watching my kids eat apples the size of their faces.... We often pick more than I think we'll be able to eat and in a few days I realize they are gone and I haven't made apple pie or applesauce-- we've just munched them nice and juicy!

These are last years orchard pics, The camera hasn't made it on any trips this year... Don't they all look young!

This caramel dip is PERFECT,. You should make it and slice up an apple and enjoy. Better yet, slice it up, then smother it with caramel and sprinkle nuts and mini- chocolate chips on it. Heaven! (It does work for dipping whole apples in, but I have found kids just eat the caramel and waste the apple... plus, you enjoy a lot more caramel when the apple is sliced!)

1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup light karo syrup
10 big marshmallows

Cook first 4 ingredients over medium heat. Stir constantly, Use candy thermometer and cook till it reads 232* Stir in 10 big marshmallows till they've melted. Dip apples!

I love my calling!

My first and favorite calling is that of wife and mother. (first 2...) Being a mom is an amazing, joyful, exhausting, enriching, stretching, confusing, frustrating, gratifying thing. My other favorite calling though is Primary Chorister!

I have recently realized that I spent at least the first 25 years of my life trying not to be laughed at. I wanted to be pretty (every Halloween costume was a lovely thing, princess, bride, toothfairy, doll-- something cute!) I was leary of doing weird silly things. Crazy hair day? I skipped it. Zany sock day? Mine were clever, but never zany. Punk Rocker day? skipped it too. I think I was really hesitant to do anything that would call attention to myself (really. I know, seems so not Melissa!) I also don't think I had learned to laugh at myself.

Then I had kids.

Now, I do everything in the world to get them (and others) to laugh at me!

I have an absolute testimony of the power of music. I know in my own life how songs have strengthened me. I can sit down to the piano feeling blue and crabby and in 10 minutes feel lifted, just by plunking out a few hymns. Music is a big part of our house. I usually turn the i-pod in the kitchen on before breakfast and it hums along to our activities all day till the kids are tucked in. Classical, Mo-Tabs, Jack Johnson... we listen to a variety. It is the soundtrack to our lives.

In comes my favorite calling: I get to teach the children (18 mos-12) amazing songs each Sunday. I find myself using a combination of my love and testimony of the power of music, my terrific skills of classroom management (thanks Redwood Elementary class of 2004 for honing those) and my desire to make it FUN and get the kids to enjoy it. I have discovered the joy of being weird, silly, goofy and not minding what a bunch of kids think. (I will admit a few weeks ago when I did a lovely version of "don't hit your neighbor" jumping jacks and a teacher in the back row fell off her chair laughing I wondered for a minute... but just a minute!)

I thought I'd share a few of our recent adventures... just for kicks.

We found ourselves at the Primary Music Hospital, Dr. Austin M.D. (Musical Director) determined the health of our songs, but we had a very contagious case of SuperSinger-itis for kids singing so well. I wore that thing on my head for 2 solid hours. Am I odd or what? (funny side note to this already too long blog-post. I ran into Salvation Army to pick up a lab coat... The cashier said to me "Are you a doctor?" I responded, "No, I just play one on t.v." She looks at me and says "REALLY?" Then she seemed bugged that I couldn't stop laughing...)

Last week we played Spin the teacher-- had them sit in a spinny chair and gave them a good whirl, we sang whatever song they stopped on (songs on the floor in a circle around the chair). I need a better title for this game though... Wheel of Teacher? Spin of Fortune? Make the teacher so dizzy he/she falls of the chair... Oh, and the teacher of the class with the "best" singers had the HONOR of wearing the hat during the next song. I need to take my camera to church.

The joy of my calling has spread.One Saturday night I told Dave I was going to make a time-machine for the next day--- you know, to go back in time to how we learned all the 2009 songs. He asked what I was planning and I mentioned something about tinfoil and a cardboard box.... He told me to wait a minute, then he came in about 30 minutes later with this.


It is awesome, fans, buttons, switches. You should have seen the 7-11 year old boys flocked around it after church! I think Dave might be eying my calling.... But I'm not sure he could do Give Said the Little Stream justice. (We stand up and down on any word beginning with G or S... try it, it's a work out seriously!)

Aren't I lucky? Someone mentioned the phrase "magnifying your calling" recently and I thought, "Yes, I do that, but it is easy when it is the best calling in the church and it is only a few hours a week." I'm still working on magnifying my other favorite callings... much harder when they are 24/7.

ETA: I don't take ownership of any of these fun ideas. The glory of the internet is that I don't to think up the wheel, I just have to make a version of my own each Sunday! There are so many terrific blogs with women waaaay more creative than me. I sure have fun with the glue gun though. :)