Emma on modesty

I was listening in on a conversation from the backseat between the two girls.  They had the Ariel Barbie and Jenna asked why her tummy was showing.  We have been working to teach our girls about dressing modestly and I have wondered how to handle the competing world views.  As I scrambled in my brain to come up with an explanation they could understand and accept, Emma beat me to it with a much better explanation than I was preparing.  I was ready to dive into the fact that not everyone has the same standards that we do and the fact that the makers of the doll don't think or believe the same things we do etc etc.... 

Emma's explanation was perfect.  "She is a mermaid and lives in the water.  If she wore a long shirt in the water it would get very wet and heavy.  When she becomes a girl she covers her tummy."   I need to retrain my brain.  Perfect simplicity!

14 Days of Valentines

I started a tradition a few years ago that we really enjoy. From the first day of February until Valentines Day, I give the kids a small treat or gift. I just finished putting them together for tomorrow. I try to have all of them ready in advance so I am not scrambling every day. I still have 2 or 3 that I still need to get but the rest are ready! Even though they are almost the same every year, the kids don’t care and they get so excited. One year I even made a giant heart shaped puzzle with a message on it and gave a puzzle piece each day. The kids really had fun using sticky tack and putting it together on the wall. If I get a chance tomorrow before they get home from school, I may do that again this year.  This year I found a cut little mailbox at the Target Dollar Spot that I will put them in and raise the flag. I wish I had one for each child to have their own. I will allow them to open the mailbox as soon as everyone is home from school!  Here is a list of the fun treat and gift ideas that I use. I just print out the little message on colored paper and cut them into hearts to tape onto the item.

I love your little tootsies! (tootsie rolls)

You’ve always “mint” the world to me! (Andes or York mints)

You always help me out when I’m in a (Crunch bar)

You are the greatest - Bar None! (granola gar)

You Warm my heart! (hot chocolate mix)

Let it be posted, you’re the best! (Post-it pad & pencil)

“Soda” you know I love you? (small can of soda)

Kisses, just for you! or Smootches, just for you!(Hershey's Kisses)

You’re so cheesy, you cracker me up! (cheese & cracker pack)

I couldn’t bear to live without you! (cinnamon bears)

You are my sweetart! (Sweettarts)

I don’t mean to be “gushy” but, I love you! (Gushers fruit snacks)

You make me smile! (Walmart fruit snack smiles)

No TWIX, I love you! (Twix candy bar)

You're worth more to me than 100 GRAND (100 Grand candy bar)

You're EXTRA special to me (Extra gum)

Don't SNICKER, because I love you. (Snickers candy bar)

HUGS & KISSES, just for you. (Hershey Hugs and Kisses candies)

I love your BUBBLY personality (bubbles)

Just POPPED by to say Be Mine (bubbles)

Valentine you make my heart float (bubbles)

I’m BUBBLING over with love (bubbles)

The other tradition we have, is that Paul brings home a balloon for each of the kids. They sure love balloons and Paul loves to pick them out! What do you do to make Valentines Day special?

Projects made for Christmas

This past Christmas, I took on a couple of projects that I think turned out pretty cute.  The first is a tea party table.  It started out with a natural top with forest green legs that I founds at the DI.  I painted and painted to cover that green.  Then I got some old calendars with art from one of my favorite illustrators, Mary Engelbreit.  I cut out the pictures and used Mod Podge to glue and then seal them onto the table.  I chose as many girls that looked like sisters as I could find for my 2 sweet little girls.  They love it!

The second project was a Lego table for the boys.  I found this REALLY sturdy table with edges all around on KSL.com classifieds, and painted it black.  I also gave them the set of drawers underneath to organize their Lego sets.  As of yet, they haven't done too much organizing because they are busy playing.  The boys are loving the work space and I love that I can say, if it doesn't fit on the table, it has to be put away.  No more half broken Lego displays all over the house! 

Diversity in pain

Last night I found myself marveling at the diversity of pain in our household.  This epiphany was brought on by a sharp pain in my foot as I pattered around in the dark checking on the kids and closing down the house for the day.  I thought I had stepped on a Lego piece, yet again, but then I discovered it was Cinderella Barbie's glass slipper that she must have lost as she ran to beat the bedtime clock chimes.  It's positive proof that we are an equal opportunity household when it comes to pain inducing toys. 

Another example might be a comparison between the obnoxious princess cash register noises and the whine of the remote control monster truck.  Or maybe, the screams of children crashing off of the cool rip stick vs. the pink Barbie bike. 

Paul also added that it is difficult to determine whether the pain from an unexpected football thrown a little low, or a knee from an exuberant child leaping into his lap registers higher on his pain scale.

Not to be forgotten is the earsplitting pain of the equal and competing volume of four children running laps while playing chase on a Sunday afternoon.  (For those of you who thought we spend our Sundays reading scriptures and thinking of kind words to say to each other, you just keep right on thinking that, OK?)

So... it turns out it is not a competition between boys and girls or their toys.  The pain competition is between children and parents.  I'll let you guess who  is on the winning side.  However, when it comes to blessings, lessons learned, love received, and joy filled hearts, the parents sweep!

Rat update

Well... True to the Bruderer family curse.  We are unlucky with rats too!  We have successful gone through some of those decorative goldfish, a lizard and 2 frogs.  Now we have to return the rats and try another pair.  We have determined that Shadow is too aggressive, may never be trained and is possibly crazy.  Sparkle was making progress, I could hold her and feed her out of my hand.  But, she is sick with a respiratory infection, possibly pneumonia.  And no, I haven't been kissing the rat.  So, we will be returning the rats and then going on Sat. with my nephew Trenton to let Jordan choose some new ones.  Wish us better luck with this next batch.  It just doesn't seem like our house is a very healthy place for animals!

New additions to the family

First, some background.  I served a mission in Guatemala, in a very primitive area.  Think National Geographic.  No electricity, indoor plumbing, or air conditioning.  In one house, the walls didn't even meet the roof.  So...we had our share of critter adventures.  We had tarantulas, scorpions, bugs of every kind, including fleas.  And, we had .... RATS.  They were big, ugly, mutant rats.  In one of our houses, the rats tunneled through the concrete cinder blocks to build nests in the walls.  In another house, a mama rat had her babies in my companion's suitcase, chewing through all of her expensive sweaters.  Don't ask me why she had sweaters in Guate but they were pretty before mama used them to cushion the nest.  The stories behind these critter adventures bear telling at a later date along with a frog and cockroach stories from Puerto Rico.

Fast forward to a viewing of the movie G-Force in which Jordan gets the idea that having gerbils would be the greatest thing since the invention of disposable diapers (my comparison of course). Which, by the way sits at the top of my list of accomplishments.  Man on the moon?  pshaw, that's nothing compared to industrial poop catchers.  Anyway, I am sure he pictured his gerbils running around all over the house in the gerbil exercise balls.

So... I am trying to get used to the idea of small rodents in the house, trying to picture them as SMALL, furry, cuddly, little things when my sister Laurie tells me a horrific story about one of their gerbils chewing the face off the other gerbil.  Now I am picturing my sweet, tender-hearted 8 year old making that discovery and the nightmares that would follow!  That would be MY nightmares I am referring to.

Then my loving, helpful, sister proceeds to inform us that the best pets they have ever had were...RATS!!!  She told us how friendly and intelligent they are and that they would sit on her son, Trenton's shoulder and snuggle up to his neck.  This picture in my head, sent such shivers up my spine, my head just about spun around like the unfortunate girl in the Exorcist!  Given my history with mutant, scary, disease ridden rats, I am sure you have an idea of the extent of my reaction.

  Since Jordan was able to talk, he has been asking for 

a pet that he could play with.  He used to pray daily for a dog, but Paul and I are allergic to both dogs and cats and frankly, I don't want a dog.  As any parent can tell you, if you buy a pet for your child... you personally have a new pet.  Over the following couple of days, I became more used to the idea of rats.  Well, Santa must have taken that as an agreement and brought "Shadow" and "Sparkle" for Jordan.  



Shadow is dark brown and Sparkle is white and brown





It's amazing, but the idea of having rats in the house on purpose is more shiver inducing that actually seeing them and trying to interact with them and train them.  I have to admit, they have very distinct personalities and are soft.  Jordan loves them and can't wait until they are trained enough to play with him. 

Now, if only Shadow would stop biting me every time I get anywhere near her!  My fingers are full of holes and bandaids!

Favorite Holiday Recipes

I have so many recipes that I love during the holidays.  I wanted to record and share some of my favorites:

Nothing says Christmas like the smell of gingerbread! I am not a fan of rolling, cutting and decorating cookies, so as much as I like the IDEA of gingerbread boys, it just causes, stress, frustration and a big mess. It's not going to happen. This is my alternative so that I can still get my ginger fix, both taste and smell.  I sent these home with cub scouts this year and within 20 min a mom called me for the recipe.  Yep, they are that good!

Yummy Ginger Snaps

6 TB margarine

½ c white sugar

½ c brown sugar

2 egg whites

¼ c molasses

2 c flour

½ tsp salt

2 tsp soda

½ tsp cloves

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp cinnamon

Cream sugars and margarine.  Beat in egg wites and add molasses.  Stir in dry ingredients, mixing well.  Spoon by tsp full onto cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 min @ 375º.

The holidays are not complete, and I am not exaggerating, without homemade Wassail.  This will bring visions of old fashioned Christmases on waves of delicious aromas.

Wassail

5 c sugar

4 quarts water

2 TB whole cloves

4 fresh lemons or 2c lemon juice

12 cinnamon sticks

4 quarts orange juice (prepared)

1 gallon apple cider

Boil sugar and water.  Add cinnamon sticks and cloves.  Boil 10 min, cool and then add juices.  Let stand 1 hour.  Strain.  Serve hot.  Keep leftovers refridgerated.  WARNING:  This recipe makes 3 gallons of wassail!

I could eat a whole pan of Christmas Jell-o Salad all by myself I love it that much.   My mother usually makes this at Christmas time, unfortunately, she did not make it this year and I really missed it!  Paul is not crazy about it and so if I make it, I would end up eating the whole thing myself!

Christmas Salad

1 sm pkg lime Jell-o

½ lb. marshmallows

½ pt whip cream

2- 3oz pkg cream cheese

½ pt mayo (or a little less)

1 med. can crushed pineapple

1c pineapple juice

1 pkg cherry Jell-o

Dissolve lime Jell-o in 1c boiling water.  Add and melt marshmallows.  Add 1c pineapple juice.  Cool.  Mix cream cheese and mayo together, then add to mixture along with whip cream adn pineapple.  Set until firm.  Make cherry Jell-o according to directions.  When cooled, spoon carefully on top of green layer and set.  Cut into squares to serve.  Pretty and tasty!

Last year, we began our own tradition of decorating graham cracker houses.  Although I glue the houses together ahead of time, (We don't need the kind of frustration that comes with trying to build them with real gingerbread and frosting, at least not until the kids are quite a bit older!) we still need some good old Royal frosting to stick the pounds and pounds of candy, and marshmallow santas and snowmen onto and around the houses.

Royal Frosting

3 egg whites (room temperature)

4c powdered sugar

½ tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla

Beat all ingredients at high speed for 5-10 min.  Use immediately.  Can be stored for short time covered with a damp cloth.  Re-beating will not restore texture.  Yield 2½ cups.

So many of our holiday memories are tied to yummy traditional tastes and smells.  I love anything that brings both into my home and helps to recreate memories for me and my family as well as making new memories.

One of my favorite perspectives on Christmas

A few years ago, we received our stake newsletter which had this article on the front page.  It is written by a church leader who is one of the most powerful speakers I have heard.  I like to read it each Christmas season.  I wanted to get it down in more than one place just in case it gets misplaced like so many things do.

(Click article to enlarge)
Merry Christmas!

Lights!

We love the lights at Temple Square, but for little ones there is an even more exciting show, and a definitely shorter for short little legs and cold toes, further north.  Layton City Park has a fun light show with tons of fun characters, and animated scenes.  It takes us about 20 min to leisurely walk the path and be able to see everything!  Then we get back in the car and drive slowly through the light tunnel and around the grounds one last time to make sure we didn't miss anything. 




Jordan wanted to look like he was taking everyone for a train ride.



"Look Mom, Santa and his reindeer flying overhead."



Christian and Emma trying to look like the octopus.

Abc's of Gratitude (in progress)

A - Apple dumplings, my favorite autumn treat

B - Beaches that I miss; Babies who are fun to snuggle and smell so good

C - Christian who loves a good joke and not only still gives me kisses and hugs, but insists on them because they make us both happy; Chocolate; Christmas

D -Dad, my example, strength, comfort 

E - Emma, our princess; Eternity that I have to be with my family

F - Family who can always be counted on to love and support, Friends to laugh and cry with

G - Grandparents;

H - Hair products (good ones), Happy endings

I - Insipration; Ingenuity, there is a reason for the phrase "necessity is the mother of Invention"

J - Jordan and Jenna my smilers, Jokes, even the dumb ones

K- kids who bring laughter, love, smiles, wonder, and joy; Kisses, especially the slobbery ones

L - love: the love of my life, love as a mother,

M -my Mother who gave me creativity, silver linings, confidence; being a Mommy

N -

O - opportunities to succeed given us by our parents

P - Paul, of course, and all he is to me and our family.  More than I have space or time to write; Parents; Priesthood; Patience;

Q - Quiet, moments so rare

R -

S - Singing, Emma is a very creative song writer; Snuggles from cute kids

T - Truth

U - Understanding

V - Vote, the right and privilege we have to participate

W - Water, clean water to drink bathe etc.  We are fortunate.; Watching my children play

X - X-rays that detected pneumonia twice this month

Y - Yawns, which mean the kids are ready to sleep

Z - 

Halloween 2010

I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of the kids in their costumes!  How dumb is that?!  I did remember to take pictures of our annual Halloween dinner.  We have a fun, kid friendly dinner before going out to trick-or-treat.



Mummy dogs



Flies in Jell-o
(the kids insist on this every year)



Monster smiles



 

We've decided to name him Nick

When I suggested we name this doll Nick, Christian, our Harry Potter fan looked confused for a second and then laughed really hard saying "Oh Mom..."