Goonies

Well, it’s official, we have a new obsession. Of course, the new obsession doesn’t vary far from the old and neverending “pirates” fixation: it being, of course, “Goonies.” Now I know that all you parents out there know exactly what I’m talking about because we, ourselves, were once Goonies. What seven dollars at Target will get you is pure giddiness and neverending discussion about treasure maps, fugitives, one-eyed Willie, Chunk, Goonies, caves, wishing wells, secret waterslides, dynamite, and a treasure loaded pirate ship. Canyon’s been searching for a treasure map ever since. Bonus feature: a movie that we can all enjoy. So net-flix it or rummage around for it in the Target $7 movie bin…make some popcorn, sit back and enjoy.

We are feverishly trying to enjoy the last few magical moments of summer…mourning the beginning of the extreme business school brings. We’re spending as much time at the lake as possible and trying to pretend that in a few short days we’ll be spending our time at school (kids) or driving to and from school (me & babies).

"Letting Her Cry"

For those of you who don’t know, we have been remodeling our master bedroom/bath for—going on—5 months or so. It’s great because we’re going to have a beautiful bedroom/bathroom…but it hasn’t been so great to be smashed into fewer rooms. Because of this, Jane has been sleeping in our room for her whole life. The last few weeks she has been getting up two or three times to nurse, and it’s killing me. So, I finally opted for the inevitable, yet extremely difficult option, letting her cry. It’s virtually impossible to do if you’re in the same room…so I set up a crib for her in the sewing room. The first night she cried for about 45 minutes…and…drumroll, she hasn’t cried since then and has been sleeping through the night. My quality of life has just been raised up a few notches. I suppose the pity party is over.

Emily's Pity Party Invitation

You are all welcome to join me on my “Dustin went backpacking for a week and left me vulnerable with four crazy kids” pity party. It was, to say the least, a difficult week…besides temper tantrums, an all-nighter with Alice, shots for both babies, plenty of “playdates,” a trip to the lake…and the icing on the cake (literally) the gallon size container of syrup that Lily dropped on the bomb shelter floor (insert plenty of crying here, by mom, Lily, & a hungry baby Jane) it was the week of exhaustion. Oh did I mention that we are having the annual Root beer tasting Elder’s quorum party tonight? 120 people, children, and gallons of gourmet root beer. Yep, it’s that kind of week. So join me for a pity party: there will be lots of chocolate involved and a few tears.

Thanks, Mom

My girl, Lily

The other day I truly had a challenging, yet rewarding, mothering day. Canyon went to spend the afternoon at a friend’s house and the babies were taking a nap and so it was just Lily and I. The plan for the day was for her to practice the piano and then I would download a “Hannah Montana” episode for her to watch…the idea that if she practiced well—she would get to watch her show (some people, I think, call it bribery—I prefer to call it motivation). She happened to be learning a more difficult song than she’s had to play before—where both hands are doing different things and even, perhaps, contrary to each other. It reminds me of the quote from Jeeves & Wooster “Well I don’t see what the big deal is [playing piano], it’s just one had doing one thing and the other doing something else…why I do that with my knife and fork while I’m eating.” Anyway, she had a melt down, “I can’t do it, it’s too hard…” and so on. Any of you who have children with extreme sensibilities will understand the difficulty of this situation…because no matter what you say or do…you’re wrong. So, no matter what I said or did…I was wrong.
I took a deep breath and told her that I would be cleaning the kitchen and that when she was ready for my help (and I mean accepting it without loud sighs, rolling eyes, & moaning), then I would be happy to help her. I worked on the kitchen while she worked out the screaming, grunting, crying, and complaining. Eventually she said, in a relatively calm voice, “I’m ready for your help now.” We started with a review of all the notes, and worked on the piece one hand at a time, and then worked on two hands together, all the while counting and I have to say, hopefully without too much confidence, I WAS GOOD. I deserved the gold star of the day because I was SO PATIENT. I’m confident that anyone else, and I mean anyone would have cracked. In fact, the government should use Lily as an interrogator…she would get people to start spouting facts in about two minutes with the “practice piano routine.” She finally got the song, watched “Hannah Montana” and then went outside to play. A while later…and here’s the trophy…she came and gave me a hug and thanked me. She actually thanked me. So I guess this is why I do it.

Lake Tahoe

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated…it’s been a pretty crazy summer so far and it seems as though it’s beginning to slow down a tiny bit. It’s funny, I had these visions of this great laid-back summer where we spent the mornings at the library and the afternoons reading under the ceiling fan…maybe next week.

Our big vacation for the summer was camping at Tahoe. We’ve been home now for a couple of weeks…but I must say it was the most exhausting and the most beautiful and amazing time. I LOVE Tahoe. I have spent the last few weeks trying to figure out how we could just move there and live year round. We spent the week at Livermore’s campground—Camp Shelly, the best little campground in the world (that is not an overstatement). We went with a bunch of friends and family and ate really well, played really hard, chased and listened to other people chasing away a mama bear and her cubs, not one, or two, but three nights in a row. We ate homemade ice-cream with the rangers, played volleyball vs. Camp Concord, some of us attempted to summit Mt. Tallac (too many kids attempting), went swimming early in the morning before breakfast, waterskiiers, and the warmth of the sun (let me just say that those morning swims were breathtaking in more than one way), rode bikes, swam, dove off of piers, played in the sand at the beach and the dirt in camp, ate…let’s see, am I forgetting something? Anyway, we had a great time. And even though I’m a bit hampered right now with two babies…these little trips are worth the hardship.

So meet us there next year—same time, same place.

Noah's Grandma

We had a great 4th of July celebration. Since we can see the fireworks from our backyard, we enjoy hosting a big BBQ/fireworks extravaganza. We have done it since we moved into the house and we love it. Each year we have more people come and more great food and more great fun. I also enjoy it because we can just put the babies to bed and still have a great time. We set up volleyball (of course) and had lots of yummy appetizers…but the best part of the food was Jeremy’s contribution. True to our recent mountain man obsession (thanks to papa Steve, please check the family blog for details), Jeremy was able to provide a roasted lamb. Now, just in case you’re not really impressed…let me supply you with details. Jeremy got a sheep from the man down the street and a few days ago, he took it to the back of the property and promptly killed and skinned it. No small feat in my mind. When asked if it was hard to kill the sheep Jeremy responded that it was definitely was the hardest part of the process and that he can certainly understand why Native Americans would’ve prayed over the animals that they killed. Apparently skinning and gutting the sheep was a piece of cake.

Wait, if you are now duly impressed…it gets better. Prior to the butchering Jeremy built an alter (if you will) to roast the sheep on…out of old bricks and then rigged up a somewhat complicated spit out of scaffolding and chicken wire (I really need to post some pictures to do it justice). So on the morning of our nations day of Independence, Jeremy came over bright and early with lamb, garlic, oil, and began roasting the sheep…it cooked for eight or so hours and smelled—delicious. It was super hot that day and so we tried to stay cool, but a really hot day out here makes for a fantastic night. So, it was perfect and the lamb was yummo. The great view of the fireworks ended the evening and we all went to bed exhausted, but happy.



On a different note, this morning I lost track of Canyon and Alice and after searching all over finally found them out in the back playing in Jeremy’s fishing boat. They both had cowboy hats on and Alice had her stroller. I asked Canyon what they were doing and he said: “We’re playing Noah’s ark. Alice is Noah’s grandma and I’m Noah’s ark.” Alice simply responded with a “yep.” Sometimes I want to capture them just as they are and never let them get any bigger.

Volleyball

Not for the faint of heart.

We played volleyball last night on the back lawn. It’s the second game in the last couple of weeks, and I have to say, extremely exciting. It’s funny what sort of things become so enjoyable when the most you get out is to hit the Library for storytime. What’s funny about the whole evening, though, is how much the kids were neglected…I mean they had complete free for all because none of the parents were willing to leave “the game” to be any sort of parental figure. First of all, Canyon created several, of what he calls, “ponds.” Which is really just a mud garden. So while the boys are getting stuck in the mud, the little girls and little boy are pouring orange juice all over the patio…shrieking with pure delight each time as they realize that NO ONE cares. The baby wildly sucks her thumb in the hope that eventually milk will come out of it and Lily…she’s taken a fascination in what the grown-ups are doing and becomes the score-keeper/ball girl. Things didn’t get much better when Grandma Laurie showed up. She took the little girls inside under the pretense of “watching” them (I have to admit, I did one responsible thing—I put the baby to bed). Oh, did I mention that Libby’s diaper just fell off, it was so full and everyone refused to change her.
Anyway, after the fifth and final game of volleyball (over only because the sun had been down for 30 minutes and we were straining our eyes beyond their capabilities) Belen and I came in to check on the kids that grandma was taking care of, fully expecting them to be in pajamas, bathed and all curled up on the couch while grandma reads “Goodnight Moon.” No, grandma’s on the couch looking for new bed sheets on the internet…the kids have full reign of the house and we go in the kitchen to find Alice and Jack happily crunching on waffles. “Who toasted these waffles for you?” “Yummy waffles, mommy, we eat waffles.” I touch the waffle to find out that they’re still frozen and as I gather up the little kids, around the house, we realize that each one of them has a waffle. Ah, so what? We had a great match. What’s more important? I mean, obviously the kids had just as much unsupervised fun as we did.
So join us next Friday night. I must warn you, though, if you’re a responsible parent, you might want to leave your kids at home.