Well, Well, Wells

Reclaimed Solution

2011-11-13T19:44:00.000-08:00

With one small coat closet to house all our winter gear, the vacuum, our board games, and our first aid kit, I decided I needed a new remedy for the stuff we use everyday. I've been loving all the recycled wood projects I've seen on Pinterest, and a big pile of abandoned pallets and lumber was beckoning across the street. After "liberating" one of the boards from the pile, I still had to deal with my two concerns.

a) Old wood is splintery, and I don't think anyone wants splinters lodged in their coat hood.

b) Old wood might be home to any one of a number of gross crawly critters.

Both problems were addressed with my quick four-step process:
1) Brush loose dirt off with a whisk broom and follow with a quick scrub with a sanding sponge (medium grit). Examine everything closely for movement.
2) Use Kilz primer to thoroughly (but thinly) coat every surface, even the cracks.
3) Paint the front and the sides that will show with your favorite color. (I chose a sample pot of "Deepest Aqua" by Glidden from Wal-Mart. For your information, a sample pot will cover a four-foot length of a 2x6, if you don't paint the back.)
4) When the paint is dry, brush on some antiquing glaze and wipe it off immediately with a paper towel. I love how the black stays down in all the cracks and shows off the reclaimed texture without the splinters and the feeling of bugs coming out to land in my coat. (One small bottle of glaze can do a gazillion projects.)

With the addition of some ebay-ed hooks, and with John's cooperation to screw it straight into the studs, it works perfectly for my purposes. Adds color, gives the girls a place for their backpacks, lunchboxes, and coats, and keeps John's jacket off the chairs. Done.

Crazy Baby

2011-11-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

This baby won't eat cheese in any form, other than pizza. She hates macaroni and cheese and despises chicken nuggets. She barely tolerates hot dogs and grilled chicken. Rice, pasta, and un-peanut-buttered bread get dropped off the edge of her tray.
However, she consumes black beans like a person possessed. . .

. . . smashing them all over her face in an effort to get MORE of them into her mouth FASTER.

The same thing happens whenever she is offered a banana. I stopped slicing her bananas months ago because she'd prefer me to just hand her an entire unpeeled banana to devour in under 30 seconds.

Seriously. Maybe she was meant to be born in Brazil.

I'm Thankful for Fall Decorations

2011-11-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

Isn't it fun to pull out fall decorations? I love the warmth and color they add to my house. My mother-in-law bought me some fall bargains three years ago when all the decorations went on clearance, and I especially love this big wreath. In my old house, it lived just inside my front door, but I like the look of it hung over a mirror here. (And those sheaves of wheat? $2.50 each at the same sale. And I'm not even kidding.)

Inspired by this display, I saved the root beer bottles we had for Halloween dinner (except on Halloween, it was called The Draught of Living Death, from Harry Potter, of course). However, I then a) picked the wrong (unreadable) font, b) picked a color I don't really like with this, and c) sized it all wrong. And then, I ran out of energy to fix my mistake and determined to just live with it until next year.

I do, however, like the overall effect of the grass cut from our flower beds with the mirror and the berry wreath. So it still makes me happy.

Favorite Traditions

2011-11-09T12:03:00.000-08:00

Don't you feel sometimes like it's just incredibly hard to feel grateful? I mean, I KNOW that I live a charmed life. My husband is kind and works hard at a good job. My kids are healthy and I love them dearly. I have a body that works well, a house that helps us stay warm, fantastic friends, and only first-world problems. However, sometimes it seems like it's what I'm dissatisfied with that stares me in the face until I want to soak in a hot tub (see what I mean about first-world problems?) and shut my face to the world for an hour or two.

This is my particular solution to that particular problem. And yes, we just keep it up through the month of November. But at least I'm counting my blessings every day during the month of November, so that's something, right? For several years, we had a Thankful Jar on our dining table, which we each put a blessing into every night.

However, last year, the girls and I stained this leftover piece of 2x6 with some poly-stain mix (which was also leftover from restaining the kitchen table). We cut out the "give thanks" on my Cricut (but you could easily paint or stencil or even Sharpie the words you wanted), and put one nail up for each member of the family. The board is hung with two screw-eyes and a length of ribbon. Then we cut out a bunch of tags and strung them with fall-colored embroidery floss. (You can see the blank ones in the bowl sitting there on the piano.)

Every night at dinner, we each get a tag and write one blessing we are thankful for. Then we hang it on the board. And we can't repeat any blessing of our own throughout the month. Last night, Bella was thankful for her pet dinosaur. You can see that she "writes" first and then I put the translation on top afterward, and I'm not entirely sure which dinosaur she's talking about. In this house of girls, I don't think we even have a toy dinosaur.

At the end of the month, we write down all of our blessings in our "Thankful Notebook", which we keep with the Thanksgiving decorations. (We did this with the Thankful Jar as well, so we've got a few years on record.) It's so fun to review the blessings from years past when we add the new ones.
I really do have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here's the final look at the birdies. (Aren't you sick of them yet?)

First we have the swan, the epitome of grace and beauty.

And goofiness.

Next, we have a rare shot of a peacock in a tree.

Plus a good shot of that magnificent tail (sturdified with heavyweight interfacing and boning, and it still wouldn't stay up, so it had to be a relaxed peacock tail. Plus can you see that one goofy feather? Who knew that boning had a right way and a wrong way? I do now).

Now we see the notorious canary-turned-chick. This is one stubborn little bird, determined to sport pink legs rather than yellow, like the rest of her kind.

And the smallest, yet loudest, of all. The screech owl.

Most owls, of course, prefer to eat mice. This particular owl, however, has discovered the joy of the Dum-Dum sucker. Sticky plumage, here we come.

Trick-or-treating was a lot of fun, though unseasonably warm. (Isn't that how it goes? When I make an effort to get everybody a cozy costume, that effort turns out to be unnecessary.) I desperately missed our Indiana neighborhood as I was walking with my girls. Halloween was always one of my favorite times. Darn it. Here's to hoping I feel that way about Roosevelt in three years. :)

The Undaunted, or mostly undaunted

2011-11-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

There is a book (out for maybe two years?) by Gerald Lund, titled "The Undaunted." He covers, in his partly-historical way, the story of a group of Mormon pioneers who traveled from Cedar City (southwestern Utah) to Bluff (southeastern Utah) via a trail called The Hole-in-the-Rock in wagons to settle a new community. The journey was supposed to take six weeks and ended up taking more than six months. (There's that huge canyon we've now filled with water and call Lake Powell right there in the middle of their trail, you know.) To be honest, I didn't care for the fictional characters Lund added to help with the smoothness of the narrative, but the true stuff brought me to tears more than once.

I'm attached to this particular trail for two reasons: #1) My ancestors were among those pioneers. #2) My dad has been organizing jeep/boat expeditions along this trail for years, and it's one of my favorite family vacations. A little bit of hiking, a little bit of jeeping, a little bit of boating, a little bit of swimming, a whole lot of fun people (one of the requirements my dad sets forth is that the participants have to be willing to keep a pleasant disposition the whole time) with some fabulous spiritual history thrown in. It's wonderful.

We just completed another successful expedition. Timeline as follows:

Wednesday night: John and the big girls arrive at the houseboat moored at Halls Crossing. They sleep there in order to get two hours more sleep the next morning. That was genius. The little girls and I were in Monticello. Maddie stayed with my sister-in-law Kelly (I'll henceforth refer to her as Saint Kelly), and Bella and I met up with the group in the morning. Breakfast on a houseboat is obviously exciting.

Thursday morning: Bella and I get on one of the houseboats with the boat group, and John, his parents, and the big girls head out in the intrepid jeep group.

The pictures honestly make everything look a lot tamer than it really is. And you'd be correct if you thought that jeeps should keep all four of their wheels on the ground at all times.

Elisa Rogers, my math teacher and Young Women's leader of yore, drove the entire trail by herself. She is amazing. 50 points for Gryffindor!

The jeep group hiked five miles at the end to meet the houseboat group at the lake. We had food ready. In fact, the group always had food ready. It seems fitting, you know, to commemorate a pioneer group that nearly starved to death by gorging ourselves at every opportunity.

I had five of my six brothers there (sorry, Dave), and it was so much fun. They are really the funniest people I know.

Bella refused to get out of her pajamas except to trade them for a swimming suit. I don't know why I ever pack clothes for her.

Annie and my dad.

This little guy is my nephew, Quinn. He looked at all the rocks on the beach and then looked at all the people he was with and realized that none of the rest of us were going to do a thing about all those stones that needed to be tossed into the lake. It was up to him alone. He took his responsibility very seriously and I think he put in a good four or five hours every day, throwing rocks. Non stop.

Friday morning, we boated over to the Hole-in-the-Rock, an incredibly steep slit in the canyon wall that the pioneers had to blast their way down (when you look at it, you cannot believe that wagons ever made it down).

Mimi loves a good hike. She made it all the way to the top.

My brother Rob recreated a photo we took of him and Olivia 8 years ago. (This is one case when the reality is not as scary as the photograph.)

Here's the original. Wasn't she a tiny little bug? And doesn't 21-year-old Rob look 12?

Next on the agenda: Tubing behind a boat. Annie was a great sport to take my little girls with her. Mimi loved it with her typical enthusiasm (even though she looks less than enthusiastic), and Bella thought it was fun, but she just couldn't . . . keep . . . her. . . eyes. . . open. When we got her back in the boat, she fell asleep in 2 seconds flat.

Until she got to wear Annie's fabulous sunglasses.

Olivia found two adventurous buddies. They were a fabulous trio.

Saturday morning, all of us Wellses hiked our way back up the trail. Naomi and Bella were basically hauled all the way up by one Anderson brother or another. We got into "Old Whitey" (as John affectionately refers to his Jeep), and within 10 minutes, we were stuck in a hole. Awesome. (In the interest of full disclosure, this is only the second time in John's vast four-wheeling experience that he has gotten stuck. That's important information in the preservation of John's manly ego.)

Brother Pete was struggling with hair in his eyes. Does any self-respecting mother of four girls ever find herself in a situation without a comb and some elastics? I took care of the problem.

And my brother Josh, in a Hole-in-the-Rock first, driving my grandpa's thirty-year old Jeep, found himself high-centered on a five-gallon water cooler. (That red one on the right.) Both the jeep and the cooler escaped unscathed.

We made it back to Monticello a little more tired, a little jostled and windburned, and a lot happier. Do any of you want to join us next time?

We might as well be a fan site.

2011-10-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

Do any of you remember that post I did about Maddie and Billy Joe Armstrong? Well, after examining my Google Stats, it turns out that, because of that post, the search terms "billy joe", "billy joe armstrong", and "billy joe armstrong hair" have led people to my blog more than any of the other search terms combined. Awesome.

Chicken Run

2011-10-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

Well, actually, it was a Bird Run, even though Bella has a hard time remembering if she's a chicken, a chick, or a "canawy." The cross-country team has a "Spook Scoot" as an awesome fundraiser, and you know I love me a good race. However, my foot was really hurting in our training for a 5k at the end of the month, and I couldn't be sure how it would feel, so I just sent the big girls out with the wolves to run by themselves.

Their costumes were a big hit. You can see the swan, the peacock (whose tail was not yet attached--to hard to run with a tail), the canary, and the grumpy, screechy owl.

Olivia was nervous and intense at the starting line.

Naomi wasn't sure she could make it.

"One mile! That's a really long way."

My parents and brothers were in town, so we stationed a cheer squad at the corner of each block, to make sure the little birds would keep going. Olivia did awesome, stretching her long bird legs out and really running.

Naomi alternated between fits of slow-walking despair and manic fist-pumping "power bursts" (as she calls them). They both did awesome, finishing in the top ten and winning a fancy medal.

I'm so proud of my little runner birds.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

2011-10-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

We're in the paper. Or, rather, my girls have their picture in the paper, and I was quoted. Or, rather, I was paraphrased. But still! We're the news! Read all about it here! Just click on the picture and arrow your way through to find the fascinating picture of four little Wells birds. (And, if you wish, you may borrow some of my extraneous exclamation points! Because it looks like I'm just giving them away today!)

Delicious!

2011-10-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

Picture courtesy of Pinterest, of course. I didn't use the Pinterest recipe, however.

Lately, I've been making pumpkin bread and applesauce bread in mini loaf pans* for freezing. It's immensely gratifying to have a freezer full of little loaves of goodness to cut up for breakfast (paired with peach smoothies--yum!) or to tuck into lunchboxes (as a treat!), and I've gotten it down to a science. I can make a full batch of both pumpkin bread and applesauce bread and have them in the oven in less than 20 minutes. So, because I love you all so much, I'm passing my recipes along.

Applesauce Bread
Modified from a recipe by Cassie Boyle, one of the best cooks I know, to use less oil and less sugar and whole wheat flour. I honestly don't miss any of the old ingredients, but I like my fruit breads to be moist but not greasy. Of course, I then spread butter on the bread when I'm really feeling like a treat, so I can't actually fool myself that this is healthier.
1/3 cup oil
2 cups applesauce (unsweetened)
2 eggs
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
Mix wet ingredients together then add dry ingredients. Pour into mini loaf pans until the pan is half full and bake at 375 for however long it takes for the center to bounce back when you touch it. (This will depend on your loaf pans. Mine take about 20-25 minutes.)

Maple Pumpkin Bread
Modified from a muffin recipe by my Aunt Steph--another one of the best cooks I know. I've made a lot of the same substitutions as in the applesauce bread recipe, and I've also taken out the pecans and put in chocolate chips instead. Feel free to do the reverse.
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2 cups pumpkin puree (canned--but not the pumpkin pie mix, be careful)
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff is best, but I've use the fake as well)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional, of course, but absolutely delicious)
Preheat oven to 375. Mix dry ingredients together first then add wet ingredients. Pour into mini loaf pans until half full. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until centers bounce back when touched.

*I use the foil mini loaf pans you buy at Wal-Mart, five for $1.25, because they are the perfect size, just large enough to slice but small enough that two loaves will fit in one quart-size ziptop freezer bag. I'd love to find something the same size but more sturdy, since I'm always afraid this will be the last time my pans will survive.

Why TV is Good for Me

2011-09-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here's what I love: Hulu. Here's why I love it: so many life lessons on just one website. John and I have a few shows that we watch consistently, and these are the lessons I've learned.

#1) From Burn Notice, I've learned that anything can be accomplished with enough bravado, bluster, and threats to call a superior.
#2) From Project Runway (which John refuses to watch with me), I've learned that you'll be on reality television a lot longer if you can treat other people terribly, even if you have no talent.
#3) From White Collar, I've learned that every woman is susceptible to a charming smile and a fedora. Plus, I learned that I need a crazy, ethics-challenged, bald little genius of a friend if I'm ever going to join the criminal underworld.
#4) From Castle, I've learned that NYPD cops are all extraordinarily attractive, extraordinarily brave, and extraordinarily funny. Also that they would never ever solve a case if they didn't have the help of a detective novelist. Weird how that works.
#5) From Alphas, I've learned that superheroes live among us. And it turns out that superstrength is not nearly as awesome a power as the ability to talk people into doing whatever you want.
What lessons have you learned?

Halloween is for the Birds

2011-09-25T15:22:00.000-07:00

Olivia is usually the driving force behind our Halloween costume theme every year. Last year, she graciously allowed each of us to choose a costume for ourselves, even though they didn't all necessarily work together. (She did try to come up with a narrative, however, that would explain each character's presence. Something like, "Well, when Mary's little lamb was lost then She-Ra came to help her, and the lion was the one who kidnapped the lamb.") She's back in fine chief mode this year, and she has determined a bird theme for all of us to follow. According to her assignments, which do take into account the preferences of each family member, I will be a flamingo, she will be a swan, Naomi will be a peacock, Bella will be a canary, and Maddie will be an owl. John is to be a bird watcher, complete with notebook, vest, and binoculars.

Bella's costume is mostly done. It just needs a beak and some eyes on top of the hood, and I still need to make her a pair of fleece leggings to cover those skinny little bird legs, but I think I'm going to make everyone's leggings in one go.

Obviously, she loves being a bird. This costume was my experiment, so there are going to be things that I do differently on the other costumes (and I may even go back and unpick *shudder* and fix some things on her costume), but I couldn't resist letting her try this on and go fly around the yard. I've already had to wash it once, and I think it needs to be washed again.

I have the McCall's pattern 4618, and I have used it in one way or another nearly every year for the past eight Halloweens. I love it because the hood is attached and the jumpsuit part is nice and loose. Plus, it's super easy to put together. For the birdies, I'm just making the legs much shorter, and then I'm tracing some of the girls' school leggings to make orangey-yellow fleece leggings to go underneath for warmth.

Bella's favorite part is the little feathers on the top of the head.

Projects

2011-09-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

Can you believe how lucky I am that this is my kitchen? I love everything about it.

Just kidding, of course. But I did love those barstools so very very much. And I love seeing them on all sorts of shows (Peter and Elli Burke's kitchen on "White Collar" being my favorite example). So, when I went to Ikea a couple months ago, I was determined to purchase them. Regardless of cost.

Except, by "regardless of cost" I didn't mean "even if they were $70 each, which they were, in Draper. $70! I couldn't justify it for a temporary rental kitchen. So I bought these guys from Wal-Mart, for $28 each. I like them about half as much as my dream stools, but since they were less than half the cost and I can't be sure I'll even have a bar in my real house, (Where is that real house, by the way?) they work just fine.

However, they had a microfiber seat that was nearly impossible to keep clean. And Bella insists on eating both breakfast and lunch on the stools every day, so the yogurt spills were really getting to me.

So, I went fabric shopping. Online. And I found this:

Laminated cotton might just be the best fabric on the planet for the purpose of recovering dining room chairs and barstools. My Michael Miller print on the dining chairs has held up FABULOUSLY for the time it's been on there (all those spills just wipe away), so I was pretty sure this would be great.

The lighting in these pictures is terrible, because it was 10:30 p.m. when I finished, but I'm delighted. The scale on this print is a lot bigger than I pictured from the online picture, but I think I like it even better than the small version I had envisioned.

Now, I'd really like to spray the black part of these stools ivory. Or aqua. However, I'm pretty sure black'll hold up to as many yogurt spills as Bella can dish out, so that's the color they'll probably stay.

What do you think of the change? Should I have used something bolder like this? Something quirkier, like this? (I honestly considered the bikes for a good while. I love those bikes. I'll have to make something out of them someday.) Something more understated, like this? And while we're on the topic of my neutral, neutral rental kitchen, does anyone have any ideas about adding some color to the room if painting the walls is not an option?

Art!

2011-09-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law alerted me to a fantastic offer at this blog here. Andrea is doing a piece of commissioned art for free for anyone who requests it by the end of the day. Go check it out!

Do You Pin?

2011-09-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

I am addicted to Pinterest, people. Do you pin? Now, I deliberately don't do Facebook (but I should, I know, Larissa), so I have reserved a big slice of my time-wasted-surfing-on-the-Internet pie for this fabulous site: Pinterest. It's a virtual pinboard of inspiring images.
Images of wreaths, like these:

Plastic spoon wreath pinned here.

Lavender wreath pinned here.

Images of delicious recipes, like these:

Roasted tomato tortellini pinned here.

Fruit salad pinned here.

Images of great sewing projects, like these:

Cardigan refashion pinned here.

Windmill quilt pinned here.

Plus, when you follow people on Pinterest, your Pinterest home page gets all filled up with all the fantastic things other people are pinning--which you can REPIN. Onto your own pinboards. Amazing. So, join. It's awesome. And even if you don't want to spend 30 hours each day perusing the boards looking for beautiful things, it's still a great resource for storing all those bookmarked ideas you have saved in your browser. And it's so much prettier than a pull-down menu.

A Forceful Makeover

2011-09-14T05:04:00.000-07:00

If you've ever wondered what it would be like if Oprah was three years old, but still had that burning desire to help others "live their best life ever", wonder no more. It would look like this:

And this: (Sorry for the blurriness. My camera's portrait setting was not recognizing Bella's face as human.)

And this:

Bella could not have been prouder of how beautiful she had made Maddie. "Look how she has sparkles."

Also, if you are wondering whether Maybelline's 12-hour Wonder Color Stay Lipgloss actually lasts for 12 hours, the truth is, it does not. It lasts MUCH longer than 12 hours, especially when applied to eyelids and foreheads. More like 48 hours.

Trouble Brewing on the Footboard Front

2011-09-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Now, some of you may not know that I am happily married to the handiest guy on the planet. I have come across very few tasks in our married life that John is not equal to (especially if I'm willing to do the math that the task requires). In fact, the two of us recently pooled our talents to come up with these bunkbeds, from these plans by ana-white.com. (We added the arched headboard variation from another plan to make it more feminine.)

I love these bunkbeds, even if the top bunk is so high that Livi is in danger of altitude sickness every night when she goes to bed. Good job, John. However, it was due to the bunkbeds that I learned of another one of John's talents: freeing trapped little ~~rodents~~ ~~monsters~~ naughty toddlers.

Bella got herself thoroughly stuck the other day. Her leg was trapped like a little rat, and when I tried to fix it, she just screamed.

So I stopped trying to fix it and instead took some pictures.

Poor little monster.

John, however, pulled some sort of surgeon-y, mechanic-y, handy type trick and got that leg out. Awesome. Another addition to his list of talents.

One Year Later

2011-09-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

I know I'm starting to get old now, because years are just passing in a blink. for example, is my baby still this size?

Is she even still in this car seat? Is her hair still this color or this crazy?

Nope. This is my baby now. And she's usually quite a bit more cheerful than this.

Her grumpiness could be due to one of two reasons. #1: Her cake was a complete disaster. Complete disaster. The teeny layers overflowed and were soggy and gloppy, and the large layers sunk so low they were almost nonexistent and were dry and hard. Same batter for both layers. Fail.

#2: That fire was getting awfully closer, and her family was singing pretty terribly. That's enough to scare anyone.

This is how she normally looks. She's almost become an entirely new baby this last month. Her whole life has been driven by "How close can I stay to my mom?" and "What is that she's eating and how can I get some?" But apparently, she has also been looking around this whole time and filing away all the different things she was going to do as soon as she was mobile.

And this last month, she decided to start taking care of business. Goal #1: Make sure all the diapers, books, dishcloths, DVDs, clothes, and piano music are all dumped on to the floor every day. Several times a day, in fact, if some poor misguided fool attempts to put them back onto the shelf where they "belong."

Goal #2: Get into the toilet as often as possible and with as many items as possible. Bonus points for soaking the whole bathroom in the 15 seconds it takes mom to investigate the splashing.

Goal #3: Climb on to the couch and from the couch to the side table and from the side table to the computer desk. Push as many keys on the keyboard as possible.

Goal #4: Find small seats to nest in and small objects to eat while nesting. The less like food the object is, the better. Scream whenever mom tries to help you sit forward in the Bumbo.

We love this baby.

First Day of School

2011-09-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

The first day of school was as exciting as always. The girls received outfits from Nana the very day before school, and they were immediately picked as the favorites. (My girls have thoroughly embraced the maxi trend. So comfortable.)

Naomi is in first grade, and loves it. Her teacher is friendly and organized and perfect.

Olivia is in 3rd grade (which is in a different school here in Roosevelt--weird), and she also has a fantastic teacher. Plus, two of the girls from her Primary class are in her school class. How lucky can you get?

Bella wanted to join in the "getting dressed" event, so she ran to put on her Dora swimsuit. You really can't go wrong with a Dora swimsuit for any occasion.

Classic backpack shot. Am I a bad mom because my kids are using their same backpacks from last year? (And actually, these same backpacks were used for half a year the year before that. Not so sparkling clean anymore, but still functional, still in use. Just call me Cheapskate McGee.)

This is the point at which Bella realized she was not actually going to school with her sisters. Can you guess her attitude about that revelation?

Luckily for us, John and Olivia can walk together since her school is right by the hospital. And Mimi has a first grade buddy just two houses away, so we can carpool too.

I love that they have school and friends and learning again, but I really miss my big girls. It's sad how much I look forward to 3:00 every afternoon.

Quotes from Silly Little Girls

2011-09-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

Scenario #1:

My sister Annie was playing tea party with the girls, and it came down to the favorite little girl pasttime of making wishes. My little cousin Elli mentioned that she wanted a prince to come and marry her. Mimi squealed with delight, saying, "Me too. And I want him to kiss me."

Then it was Olivia's turn. She said, "I wish that people would just stop changing their plans. I HATE it when people change their plans."

Doesn't that just illustrate the difference between the girls? Mimi in the clouds. Olivia worried about concrete annoyances. I love them.

Scenario #2:

Mimi and Bella went outside while I was making dinner and played in the huge dust pile created by all the construction vehicles that pass by our house every day. They came back inside absolutely filthy, and I told them they had to take a bath. Later, I heard Bella shrieking from the bathroom. Mimi dealt with the shrieking by saying, "Bella, I have to wash your hair. Don't you want me to wash you hair?"
Bella: NO! I don't want you to wash my hair.
Mimi: Bella, would you cry if Jesus was washing your hair?

Bella: I would still cry. Even if Jesus was washing my hair.

Adventures in Southern Utah

2011-09-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, we went to Tuacahn a couple weeks ago for a little mother-daughter adventure. We joined John's mom and grandma (Grandma lives there), and we were so excited we could hardly stand it. (Poor Maddie spent her first birthday in a car all day and being babysat at night since she was too young to enjoy the show. The horrors of being a fourth-born.)

Tuacahn is amazing. The shows beforehand are even fun. Bella was entranced by these musicians . . .

. . . so entranced she decided to sit herself down next to a complete stranger to listen to the music.

Once Bella realized that she had been looking out the face of the prince instead of the face of the mermaid, she was not happy with this picture.

Mimi kept saying throughout the show, "I think I might be falling in love with Prince Eric. He is so handsome."

Olivia and her grammy (John's mom) are best buddies.

And luckily (as I mentioned before), I was so happy to have my sister with us. Annie is the best!

Bella would have done better if the show had been a hour-and-a-half rather than three hours. Too long for a three-year old.

I love my girls.

The next day, we spent the morning in downtown St. George, where they have this fun park that has a redrock stream that all the kids can play in to cool down.

Maddie loved it. It was just the right depth for her to crawl and splash around in. She'd scootch her bum up the rocks to get into standing position, and she crawled all the way to the top of one particular stairway and scared her mama good.

They also have a carousel. Very fun. Except Maddie wasn't so sure about it.

Olivia picked this particular horse because of its painted flowers.

Naomi wandered all around the carousel before finding this one. You know, if you are going to get only a couple rides, you have to make sure you are riding the perfect horse. Nothing subpar for this girl.

It was so much fun, and I'm already signing myself up to go to Tuacahn next year. Who's with me?

She's Three!

2011-09-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

This girl just turned three! Which makes her very big, of course, as she is willing to tell anyone who asks. She and I have had a few disagreements lately, because she thinks three is big enough for bunk beds (which her sisters have), school (not yet), and picking up Maddie to put her on the couch or the table (too many heart attacks to count). For months, she's been asking people, "What's your number?", and although that sounds like a creepy pickup line, she actually is trying to ask how old they are. She's incredibly proud to have a "new number."

We celebrated in style, as befits a crazy little three-year old monster. We started off the day with ebelskivers from this Williams-Sonoma recipe. (Amazing!)

Then we waited with baited breath for Nana and Big G (my mom and dad) to arrive, since they had promised to be at our house for the party.

Once the Wheeler family (including Bella's "best buddy" Chloe) arrived, it was time to celebrate in earnest. Dinner of "macamoni cheese" and chicken salad (you really should try this recipe), and topped it off with some strawberry cake (from my sister-in-law Kasey--super delish!). Bella loved having her number on top of the cake.

Pinata time! This pinata was made as our family night activity the night before, and the big girls loved helping me put it together.

Bella got the first swing at her pink star. (It was supposed to be a starfish, since that's what she wanted, but I couldn't make a face look right.)

The blindfold didn't last very long.

To be honest, since we made the pinata using corrugated cardboard and duct tape, it took both dads swinging with wild abandon to even put a little crack in this thing. I was so worried about it being sturdy enough, I forgot that pinatas are made to be broken.

But the candy inside was a huge hit.

Then it was time for the part I was most excited about. You know the movie "Tangled", right?. And do you know about those fabulous wish lanterns? Well, I didn't even know they were real until I read about them here. And then I decided that they would be the most amazing and spectacular end to Bella's third birthday.

Here are the problems I didn't consider in the fantastic realm of my imagination before I put this plan into the prosaic realm of reality.
1) I live in Utah. Dry. Desert-y. Likely to burn.
2) I'm married to Mr. Cautious-I-Don't-Want-To-Risk-Burning-Down-The-Entire-State.
3) On August 9th, it doesn't get dark until after 9:00. Way too late for a three-year old.

So, we started the process at 8:00. In the light. And Mr. Cautious decided to hook a fishing line to the bottom of the wish lantern before we lit them on fire, in order to keep the lantern nearby instead of letting it go. And the first one bobbled along madly on it's string before it decided to tip sideways (in a completely ungraceful and un-Tangled-like way) and burn itself to cinders up in the sky. Decidedly anti-climactic. So we tried again.

Jeff lit the paraffin patch while John held the fishing line.

We made the kids stand back.

Once the air inside the lantern gets warm enough, they begin to rise.

And this time it rose perfectly. The fishing line was not a problem at all. The girls (and I--I won't lie about that) were jumping up and down with excitement.

And then we realized that the lantern was going far further than it should because the line had stretched and broken after exposure to the warmth. John was horrified. I was mostly delighted, but a little bit horrified because I could picture the whole state going up in flame. But it was amazing. AMAZING. So much fun. My girls are still talking about these awesome lanterns.

They come in a pack of 10 here, if you're interested. And I'm planning to light and send up more of these, when I can find the perfect place.

Yet again, I cannot believe that one of my babies is getting so big. Three years ago, she was a little black-haired cockatoo with the best and easiest personality I've ever seen in a baby.

Two years ago she was still happy, but she'd discovered a little bit of her own craziness.

One year ago, she was a silly monster, doing as many naughty things as she could think of.

And now, I honestly think she might be the funniest three-year old I've ever met. She loves to tease and push everyone's buttons, but she's incredibly good-tempered and absolutely charming. I love that Bella Boo.

Why I Live A Charmed Life

2011-08-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

Note: We have moved and are settled in. Posts about our summer activities will follow. This post, however, was just begging to be written.

The girls and I just arrive home from a trip to see "The Little Mermaid" on stage at Tuacahn in St. George. It was fantastic. I fully recommend it, and I have pictures to show how much my girls enjoyed it as well. However, on our trip home yesterday, we made it only as far as Cedar City before the van completely broke down. Here are the reasons that worked out well for me:

1) We had promised to stop at the Cedar City Wal-Mart in order to buy money orders for my dad. Breakdowns in a Wal-Mart parking lot are infinitely preferable to breakdowns at 75 mph on I-15.

2) Mormons in Wal-Mart parking lots are incredibly friendly and helpful. A mom with three kids of her own took pity on this scraggly band of girls and gave me a jumpstart when we had a suspicion it was my battery.

3) When it turned out that it was not my battery, but rather probably my alternator, I had on hand my fantastic younger sister, Annie, who was willing to take all four of my children out of the 95-degree heat and into the air-conditioned comfort of the Wal-Mart toy aisle, where they can be entertained for hours.

4) We recently switched car insurance companies to one that includes roadside assistance--that means towing--and the lovely customer service agent arranged a tow for me.

5) The tow truck driver on call was just pulling into Wal-Mart himself, with his two darling and helpful little boys, to do some shopping for his wife. That turned an estimated 45-minute wait into a 5-minute wait. (Thank you, Brett from Bradshaw Auto! You are amazing!!)

6) My mother- and grandmother-in-law were willing to drive both of their cars (to accommodate all of us) all the way to Cedar City and back to St. George. I love them.

7) We arrived at the service station at 6:15, when it ostensibly closes at 6:00, but the kind manager left his shop open long enough for me to explain my troubles so he could start on my van first thing in the morning.

And it all worked out. We were back on the road from Cedar by noon, and home again by 7:00 (after a brief stop visiting my mom and brother in Provo). Phewsh! Since my van insists on malfunctioning only when I do not have John to repair things, I think that went about as well as could be expected. My only regrets are that I didn't have any contact information for my dear friends the Corrys (Melissa--e-mail me!), so I burned all my time in the aisles of Wal-Mart instead of checking out her wonderful new digs.

Just call her "Gappy!"

2011-06-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Did we all think we might die if Mimi didn't lose a tooth soon? Well. . . no. But did MIMI think she might die if she didn't lose a tooth soon? Yes. And that darn lower right tooth has been a teeny bit loose since October. Even with all of Mimi's vigorous wigglings, that thing just wasn't getting any looser. So, she decided drastic action was called for so she could lose it before school was out. Monday night she brought me a spool of thread and said she wanted me to pull her tooth out. I gave the usual warnings about it not being quite ready, but she said she just wanted me to pull really hard.

I tied that string on, pulled really hard, and (in Mimi's words) "just made my tooth bleed." But now it was loose. Really loose.

So, the next day, when I showed up at her kindergarten class to help with field day, she was complaining about how the pizza party pizza was hurting her tooth. And we all know how well I deal with complaining. My solution? "Let's just go into the bathroom and pop that sucker out." Which we did.

Two seconds of sobbing, 10 days (so far) of elation. There are just so many cool things you can do with a hole in your smile.

Another Bella Interview

2011-06-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

Lest anyone should think we are not thoroughly enjoying our jeep, we conducted our most recent Bella interview on location.

She must be tired.

2011-06-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

I don't think we've been getting enough sleep around here lately. Someone fell asleep like this. We moved her so her hands wouldn't fall off before morning.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-06-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

How to Make Coclit Cip Cooce by Naomi

1. Ccolit cips (chocolate chips)
Bol (Bowl)
Spon (Spoon)
Musen (Machine)
Get bol and spon and coclit cips and flawr (flour) and milk and sugr (sugar) and str it turnt up (stir it turned up).

2. Do (dough)
Pan
Spoon
Get owt pan and str with scopr (scooper). Dow (dough) is opt (out). Het (heat) up ovin (oven).

3. Put it in ovin for 15 minits (minutes). Aftr, get it awt. (Out).

Just in case any of you were looking for a good new recipe for chocolate chip cookies. This looks like the one to try.

What I missed out on by not having an older sister

2011-06-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

Scene: Me in bathroom, little girls in my room. Happy chatter from both girls. Meowing from two-year old, followed by screaming from 9-month old.

Me: [bursting in upon the scene, certain to find biting or blood or something violent] What's going on in here?

Bella: [from under the overturned laundry basket] I am the mama cat, and Maddie is my baby cat.

Me: Baby cat? Where is the baby cat?

Oh, no wonder she's screaming.

I don't think two girls, even two very small girls, can comfortably fit under an overturned laundry basket. Too bad, though. It was a good idea.

And yet, I still love her.

2011-06-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Conversation with Bella this morning:

Me: Bella, what are your plans for the day?
Bella: I want to play. With you.
M: What should we play?
B: I will be the princess, and you can be the wicked queen.
M: The wicked queen? Am I really wicked?
B: Yes. You are really wicked. Here, I will go downstairs and get your wicked doughnut so you can be really really wicked.

Apparently, the wicked doughnut? Yep, it's a green stacking ring. Who knew that's all it takes to be a super villain?

I Love Trash!

2011-06-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Anything dirty or dingy or dusty

Anything ragged or rotten or rusty

I love trash.

Maybe we'll have to start calling her "Oscar."

At least this particular time she hadn't found a dirty diaper to unwrap. Now that's a treasure.

Another thing I should never have to say

2011-06-05T12:36:00.000-07:00

All you moms out there--Do you find yourself saying things you never thought you'd have to say? Too often? Well, has anyone else had to say:

"The blue stuff I just poured into the toilet is for cleaning the toilet. You should NOT dunk your head in the toilet and rub it around until all your hair is covered with cleaner. You should also NOT dip your finger in the cleaner and give it a taste."

Actually, I didn't think I needed to say all that. But I should have. These pictures were taken after the call to poison control, a good hairwashing, and a cupful of milk.

I don't want to leave my neighborhood.

2011-06-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

Lemonade stands are just the perfect way to kick off a summer, right? They combine citrus and sugar and sunshine and standing outside, and there's no better way to earn some money. So, the first warm, clear afternoon in May, we set up shop in the front yard.

We live on the main street in our neighborhood, which is just busy enough to keep the business flowing, but not so busy that I don't like the girls to be in the front yard. Liv and Mimi stood on chairs and waved their sign frantically, earning every penny with sweat and hoarse yelling.

Maddie and I calmly sat on a blanket, entertaining ourselves. She had a cup; I had a book. Every so often, I'd hear the timer go off and I'd pull another batch of cookies out of the oven.

We sold eight dozen cookies (that's 96 cookies!) for a quarter a piece. When the profits from lemonade were added in, the girls had made over $30, which they divided up among themselves and the neighbor who came over to help.

I loved the older couples walking by, hand-in-hand, who decided to stop to humor an exuberant little girl. I loved the teenagers driving home from school who paid for lemonade and cookies with change from the cupholders and then went home to tell their moms to come buy more cookies. I loved the slow conversations on the front lawn and the dogs who good-naturedly allowed themselves to be enthusiastically mauled.

I might have to be dragged from my home and neighborhood kicking and screaming. I'm sure not going to go willingly.

New Family Photos

2011-06-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

We met Denise, one of my old friends from Toledo, at a cute little farm in Michigan last weekend. It was so fun to see her before we left the Midwest, and since she is an absolutely amazing talented photographer, she was so kind as to take some family photos of us. These are a few of my favorites.

Didn't she do a fantastic job? I love all the color.

Mother's Day!

2011-05-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

As demonstrated by my birthday, I might just be the luckiest mom on the planet. I have three girls who think it's loads of fun to pamper their mom. Since I'm not about to discourage these lovely impulses, my Mother's Day was fantastic. The only thing that could have made it better was if John had been able to join us. (This is the 4th Mother's Day in a row he's missed.

The Three Piggie Opera

2011-05-06T05:07:00.000-07:00

The kindergarten class has a fantastic tradition of putting on an opera, a "Three Piggie Opera", at the end of every school year. I don't know who wrote the opera, but it's darling. Naomi was the closer, which means she was the one to say, "Thank you for coming to the 'Three Piggie Opera.'" Obviously, that is the most important part in the whole pageant.

Because I forgot my camera, I don't have any footage of the actual event, but I have these recaps performed by Naomi on her own. Here is the song that the parents sing to the piggies before they leave home:

And here is the song the piggies sing to the wolf.

It's sad to think that my other two girls won't get a chance to sing these songs. We've sung the wolf's song ("I want a big . . . fat . . . pig to eat, I want a big . . . fat . . . pig to eat.") for over two years now, especially when there is any pork product on the table.

Great Deal

2011-05-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

I found that there is a fantastic promotion happening at Paper Coterie right now. Through Friday, every customer gets $40 off their order (not including shipping). You may or may not need the code OPENHOUSE to make this work.

I've been using today to fill out two recipe books from Paper Coterie. One for my favorite baking and treat recipes and one for my go-to dinners. Awesome!

What a man needs. . .

2011-05-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

. . . is a Jeep!

And John bought a Jeep today.

It's obviously very manly. John plans to make a big clubhouse-esque sign for the side that says, "No Girls Allowed."

How do you think that's going to go over with the rest of the members of this family?

Seriously, the girls have already been taken for a couple rides, and they have big plans of where they want to go in "Daddy's Jeep." And what dad could possibly resist?

Late Easter

2011-05-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here is the post I wrote for my Easter last week.

I hope you all have souls full of the blessings of the Resurrection and the Atonement. I intend to contemplate these wonderful gifts at some point in my life, but here's how my Easter Sunday went.

1) Olivia refused to wear the flower hairclip that I made for her and also had a mutiny over the sleeves of her Easter dress. "Too itchy." Every single one of her sisters is in the same Easter dress uncomplainingly. I'm sure you know that I handled that really well.
2) Mimi and Liv fought ALL STINKIN' MORNING. They were banished to separate rooms three times before we left for church.
3) Bella bounce-bounce-bounced on the pew through two baby blessings and the sacrament prayer. Maddie, in full stranger-danger mode, refused to go to any of the well-meaning members of the congregation who were trying to help.
4) My new Easter dress, which I made for myself, is impossible to nurse in. I'm obviously a genius. So, taking Bella with me, I tried to nurse Maddie in the bathroom stall, sitting on the toilet and feeling like a pervert. Bella opened the door on me twice, exposing me to the ladies out washing their hands. Did I resort to threats? Absolutely.
5) Did they work? No. She did stop opening the door, but she crawled underneath the door and started looking under the doors of the other stalls, asking questions like, "What you doing, huh?" "You look like you pooping. Are you pooping, huh?" Awesome. Should one apologize in this situation, or should one simply pretend that one is unrelated to the misbehaving child?
6) After kids went to Primary and nursery, I took Maddie to Sunday School, where she looked darling in her Easter dress but screamed--SCREAMED--if anyone but me tried to touch her. Again--awesome. I sat her on the floor with all her little rubber toys, and she played happily for about 4 minutes. Then I hear a choking sound and looked down to see Maddie's face all red and her eyes big. I smacked her on the back to get her breathing again and she vomited. First a gum wrapper (WHERE did she get a gum wrapper?), then her entire breakfast of sweet potatoes and all the milk she had consumed in our little pervert session in the bathroom stall. Luckily for the church carpet, I caught most of the vomit in my church bag, where it promptly ruined all the visual aids for my lesson on the Atonement I was teaching in Young Women. Again, awesome.
7) There was more, but I'm stopping here, since it's still too soon for this to be more funny than horrifying. Suffice it to say, we are celebrating Easter next Sunday when John is back from Idaho. Maybe I can feel the Spirit just one week late.

We did. Church today, with John, was relatively soothing, spiritual, and peaceful. We cooked a delicious dinner (most of prepared early, so I just made rolls while John made my grandma's famous raspberry ice cream), and celebrated Easter with some friends later this evening. It was wonderful. I love the opportunity to ponder the blessings given to us by our Savior and recommit to living my life as He would have me do. As always, I'm just a little bit late.

Evidence

2011-04-30T04:54:00.000-07:00

Evidence that even the most reasonable members of my family are not so reasonable at 10:30 p.m.

This is why Olivia couldn't sleep in her *pink* room last night and had to sleep on the couch.

You know, Liv, if pink really makes you so sad, your life in this family is going to be pretty pathetic.

Our Favorite YouTube Video

2011-04-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

We love all the "Walk on the Wild Side" YouTube videos. LOVE them. But we have one particular favorite, which we not only replay on the computer, but also re-enact at the dinner table, in the living room on family night, and all over the yard.

Watch the video. And look for this face at 1:01. . .

. . . and this one at 1:32.

The Easy Way to Sew Easter Dresses*

2011-04-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

*If you are determined to sew them, which I am. Just so nobody thinks I'm a loony, I do realize it would be easier to buy Easter dresses. I just like making them.

Step 1: Shop for Easter dress fabric in March 2010, while still in a state of pregnancy super-fatigue and find sheer green fabric with simple daisy print that is just perfect for three little dresses. Delusionally determine that one has plenty of energy for the task of sewing three dresses.

Step 2: Cut out pieces for three dresses. Watch Easter come and go. Over the next two months, sew the dresses completely together except for the neck bands.

Step 3: Hide the semi-finished dresses in the sewing room closet. Ignore their mocking "finish me" glances.

Step 4: Have a baby.

Step 5: Wait until March and start thinking about Easter dresses for 2011. Have Mom come to visit. She will bribe you (even offer to do all the ironing required) to finish the dresses. Sew the neckbands and add the elastic to the sleeves, finishing all three dresses in one night.

Step 6: Rejoice.

Step 7: Realize that the baby born in step 4 will also require a dress.

Step 8: Look in the fabric stash and realize that all the fabric purchased in 2010 was used in the dresses for the three original dresses.

Step 9: Panic.

Step 10: Go to Jo-Ann Fabric. Find exact same fabric. Purchase 1/2 a yard (babies are small). Cut out pieces for baby dress. Sew all the bodice pieces together.

Step 11: Tuck baby dress into sewing room closet. Ignore mocking "finish-me" glances from dress for a month, until day before Easter.

Step 12: Try the Big Three dresses on the Big Three girls. Realize Dress #3 will not fit over the head of child #3. Panic.

Step 13: Stay up WAY too late the night before Easter making a keyhole neck in back of Dress #3 and putting the skirt onto Baby Dress.

Step 14: Smile the next day to see all four of those crazy Wells babies in their green dresses.

Do you think I ought to start working now on next year's dresses?

Oh, I love that guy.

2011-04-23T04:02:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning, I was finished my hair beautification ritual with a very minimal amount of backcombing at my crown. When John came in, he asked, "What are you doing?"

I answered, "Volumizing."

John said, "Oh. Yeah. Your head looks WAY bigger."

Hm.

Thanks, honey.

Party in the Windy City

2011-04-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

My dad was in Chicago last week for a judicial conference at Northwestern. We decided to go over and meet him there on Friday. Since John's schedule didn't coincide with the South Shore schedule (and who wants two cars in Chicago?), the girls and I rode the train over and then walked up to meet my dad at the hotel.
The big girls were doing great walking through downtown until we got stopped on the sidewalk to wait for the Obama motorcade. For 30 minutes. It nearly killed Olivia, and after that, she lost the spirit of walking adventure. She kept looking across the street to determine if that side was going to be let loose any earlier than our side.

The babies (although Bella would object to that term) did great. However, only those who have walked with a double stroller (and a total of four children) through downtown Chicago can understand how conspicuous I was. C.O.N.S.P.I.C.U.O.U.S. I think I drew every glance for a mile.

We headed to Navy Pier with my dad, where we ate, of all places, at McDonald's, by the children's request. They probably could have gone back to the hotel with their Happy Meal watches and been pleased with the outcome of the day.

This is Bonny Bunny, who was performing with those crazy actors that roam around Navy Pier. (One actor, dressed as a Louis XIV-style king, asked Mimi for the time, and when she gave it to him, he said, "Thank you, young lady." Best part of Mimi's day, hands down.) Bella thought this enormous bunny was fun from a distance, but terrifying at this range.

We visited the Children's Museum, which was super fun. (I especially love the skyscraper project, although building a skyscraper was a challenge with Maddie in the backpack and Bella putting plastic bolts in each and every hole in our structure. There is a reason that construction crews normally contain no two-year olds.)

My dad reserved rooms for both of us at the Inn of Chicago, right on the Magnificent Mile. It was the perfect location. (Thank you, Dad!) We were able to walk anywhere we wanted to go for entertainment or food. The lobby is super fancy, and my girls showed their delight at the fanciness by bouncing into each and every wingback chair while I was trying to check in. (Again, conspicuous.)

When we got up to our rooms, it was obvious that this was an old hotel that had been renovated. The rooms were still really small. My stroller could not fit through the narrow passageway that led from the room door, past the bathroom, to the beds. But still, delighted with the shiny marble and sparkling chandeliers that had greeted us in the lobby, Olivia plopped herself onto the double bed, ignoring the cracking paint and the window AC unit, and declared, "This is the fanciest hotel EVER." Then she stated her intention of slipping into her swimsuit and going for a swim. I said that I didn't think they had a swimming pool. She immediately sat both upright, disgusted, "WHAT?! No pool?! And they call this a fancy hotel."

Mimi and Bella (as well as my dad, ahem) were easily entertained once they realized that the drawers in the TV console were roomy enough to serve as spots for hide-and-seek.

John joined us that night. All my girls decided they would rather be in the hotel room with "Big Grandpa" (which differentiates him from Great-Grandpa Anderson, a.k.a. "Little Grandpa") than with Mom and Dad. With only Maddie in our room, John and I slept like logs. I don't have room for the story here, but suffice it to say, my dad was not nearly so fortunate.

In the morning, we headed down to Millennium Park, where we showed my dad The Bean, which is a favorite of my girls.

And again, as you can see, even in this Picasso-esque perspective, the Ergo carrier keeps the smallest one perfectly happy. (I heartily recommend it. Heartily. Everyone should have one of these.)

Trips like these make me so sad to move away. I love Chicago!

Because Mom needs the house to stay clean

2011-04-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

This one was sick. . .

And we were having a showing of our house in the evening (honest quote from me: "If you guys mess anything up, I'm either going to kill you or myself." I'm such a good mom.), so these two played together outside all afternoon, without their usual Mimi buffer.

This was their house, under the big pine trees in the backyard.

Someone was the queen and someone was the servant. From the snatches of conversation I overheard, I couldn't be quite sure who was who. I'm not sure that they knew who was who.

Pinecones were the food.

And a wagon and a kiddie pool are fantastic beds for sleeping outside. Bella was looking for a pillow, so Liv found that incredibly comfortable soccer ball. :)

I'm 32!

2011-04-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

Here's what I love about having kids. Who else is so worried about my birthday? No one. But my girls? Yeah, they're pretty much determined to make it my best birthday ever EVERY YEAR!

So this year, I woke up to Maddie (who is too young and needy to have caught the spirit of making mom's birthday the best day of her life), who was fed, and then showed her affection for me by agreeing to poke her dad up the nostrils and pull his hair until he got up out of bed with her and I could go back to sleep. Which I did, until 9:30, people. 9:30!! That right there was the highlight of my life.

Then I was treated to these three cards. Olivia's letters are currently full of questions. I was to answer these questions on the back of the card.

This is a birthday cake, a la Bella.

Naomi labeled Bella's card. I wasn't clear how to indicate the birthday after my 31st, but it appears the correct term is "32th."

And apparently Picasa thinks the correct orientation for these card shots is portrait.

As Naomi indicated, they "srved me brekfst." Olivia made the pancakes, Naomi made the scrambled eggs, and Bella stirred my yogurt.

Then. . . wait for it. . . they did dishes!

I love these girls! (And their dad, obviously, who encouraged and enabled this lovely show of birthday affection.)

Happy Birthday to me!

What I missed out on by having six brothers

2011-04-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

Family night tonight was a night for girly facials. Avocado clay masks and cucumbers for eyes.

Originally, I thought that Bella was way too young for his activity. However, she surprised me. She laid perfectly still and sober, desperately trying to prove how big she was.

Olivia shunned the regulation spa headband for this avant garde shower cap. She's been saving it from our last hotel trip for just the right occasion.

Mimi kept delighting in how this was exactly something that Fancy Nancy would do.

After I applied the mask to all my salon clientele, I joined them. Don't we look fabulous?

Just one of the fabulous things that happens when you have a house full of girls.

On the South Shore Line

2011-04-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

Our conductor on the train to Chicago was female, but with a very short haircut. She was incredibly friendly and helpful and kept coming back to talk to us. And, every single time, Bella would say to her, "You're not a boy, you're a girl. A girl! You're a doctor? [conductor] Where is that other doctor? I want that other doctor."

Luckily, the woman never understood her. She just kept smiling and nodding and responding happily to Bella's rants.

Pincer Grasp

2011-04-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

Alternate Title: It's just so hard to be a baby.

Hmmm. . . what do I have in my hand?

Did it come from the table?

Well, I definitely need to keep hold of it in my death grip. I'll have to use my other hand to get another one.

Oh, but just look at the treasure trove I've found. I'll use my raking grasp to get a handful of these.

Oooh, oooh, I've got one.

But I see a half-gnawed piece of cracker there that I'd hate to miss out on.

Oh, and what is that black thing Mommy is pointing at me? Maybe I want that too.

This is another one of those delicious puffs that just seem to jump out of my hand at the last second before they make it to my mouth. Maybe I'll have to sneak up on this one.

Concentrate. Concentrate. Don't lose focus.

Fail. Try again.

The only time Maddie was able to get one of these puffs in her mouth is when she had accidentally slid it to the edge of the table and she was able to pounce on it with her mouth like a baby hawk. We've got a lot of work to do on the pincer grasp.

Recipes You Need to Try

2011-04-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

All right, friends. I'm trying to get my act together and make myself a mini collection of the recipes my family loves and I am willing to make. I find myself fighting the inner meal-planning battle every week, which I hate. It's sad, really, because I actually love to cook, if what I'm making sounds exciting and delicious, rather than last-minute and yucky. So--I've been putting some things together. And because I'm generous like that, I'd love to share some of my favorites with all of you. I'm linking to the recipe, rather than writing them all out here 'cause I don't want this post to look all messy. :)

Tortilla Soup (a light and delicious version)
Peanut Wraps (my kids loved these, and they are usually skeptical of new "mixed-up" food)
Chicken Corn Chowder (not light, but absolutely amazing. Thank you, Larissa!)
Creamy Baked Taquitos (serve with a salad and the lime cilantro dressing she recommends. Perfect!)
Yummy Salad (infinitely changeable--make it how your family likes!)
Easy, Fresh, Tomato-ey Pasta and Pizza Sauce
Roasted Asparagus (goes with everything, tastes like spring)
Lemon Chicken with Roasted Vegetables (So. Stinkin. Fast.)
Sara's Chicken Salad (love it!)
Lemony Tortellini with Bacon and Peas
Bread Salad
Granola (not really for dinner, but it's fabulous anyway, and it's a great breakfast-for-dinner option)
Yogurt Parmesan Chicken (amazing!)
A Whole Darn Week's Worth of Recipes (you really should get Everyday Food--it's Awesome!)

As you can see, my tastes veer dramatically toward, chicken, soup, and salad, with a little bit of pasta thrown in. I love to try new things, though, and if you have a recipe you want to recommend, I want to have it recommended. Please share!

Viva Honduras

2011-04-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

John went to Honduras for his favorite medical mission in March. He went all four years in medical school, and he was able to go again this year with the same group from Toledo. It was delightful. Here is his report.
Edited to add: Some of the pictures below are a touch graphic. Please be careful if you are, like me, sensitive to yucky medical stuff.

Here's the view from my room the first week. That's mostly smoke from burning stuff with a little fog. People cook with wood and burn trash so there's a lot of smoke.

Front of the Hospital in La Esperanza

The ambulance we donated when I was a 3rd year med student. Well used with 270k miles.

The hallway looking from the ED entrance. That's the table where ED blood draws are done using gloves for tourniquets.

The ED complete with intern. It's really more like two office rooms with one exam table each. No O2, no suction, no bed. They want to remodel since they recognize the limitations of the current ED.

The other half of the ED room complete with exam table and Barbie curtain for privacy.

Drug reps look the same in any country.

The home behind the hospital women who live out of town move into when they get close to their due date.

Ovarian cyst and ovary. (the little white part in upper right is ovary). This was taken out of a 17yr old. I only saw two hondurans cry and it wasn't the machette/hatchet/gun shot wounds it was this girl and another girl that had a ruptured tubal pregnancy. Did not see a single narcotic used in two weeks. All tylenol, diclofenac (like ibuprofen), and ibuprofen. Even surgery patients got tylenol. It was same in Bolivia though I did see narcotics used once there to put an elbow back in

Machete to the hand.

Rural Honduras....typical home.

Bull used in construction of adobe house. Water hole is where mud for adobe blocks was taken from.

170 water filters pre assembly $4020 worth.

Univ Toledo team. This was our work station/teachers desk. We're usually in schools or churches. Different town each day.

Sweet little 6 year old who has lost his two front teeth.....

.....because they along with a few others have rotted out of his head. This is where Dave comes in a few years from now. There was a dentist my first trip as a student in 2005 but hasn't been one since. Dr. Paat says he hasn't been able to get one to go since then and he was the busiest guy there nonstop pulling teeth. I wish this picture wasn't common but I'd say about 1/2 the people I saw kids included had at least a couple teeth that were completely rotted out.

Somethings not quite right with that right eye.

It's called ptergium and it's where the conjunctiva because of UV light and dust (irritation) grows over the iris. I can become problematic if it grows too far. Treatment is surgical removal. We gave sunglasses to help with dust and UV light.

It was trial and error with random glasses from a box which included old prescription glasses (like those above) and a bunch of dollar store reading glasses. I saw several people with cataracts too which glasses help very little and that need to have them removed.

As we were driving Satruday to the R&R location (a beach resort) we came across a three care accident two of which are pictured above. What lucky people to have a bus full of gringo doctors be amongst the first on the scene. Amongst whom are the chair of internal medicine at Mayo, the chair of peds at Mayo, a GI doc from Cleveland Clinic (all U. Toledo grads). The wilderness life support course came in handy as I got a Honduran to cut us some sticks to splint the lady's very obviously dislocated knee (possibly broken too), and her husbands wrist. An ICU nurse got the IV going on him. We moved his wife using empty duffle bags since one of the cars (a pickup) involved was leaking diesel all over the road. Eventually we loaded both into a pickup and sent them to the hospital.

Over all the second week I was there which was the week with the team we saw a record 2247 people if you count the two on the highway and the one team member who passed out and was seen in clinic and transported to the hospital but was released shortly afterward.

A big thanks to Susanne for coming out to take care of the ladies.

Interview with a Monster

2011-04-07T19:34:00.001-07:00

My brother requested that I interview Bella once a week for our family blog and ask her opinions on current events. This is the result. (Her newest phrase, when she is in trouble is, "I don't curr [care]." I was trying to get her to say that about Egypt. Let me clarify that I do, indeed, care if Egypt gets a working government. I'm all in favor of stability and democracy.)

Snip-snip

2011-04-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

I'll let the following pictures speak for themselves.

Thanks, Cami! She loves it.

Chugga-chugga-choo-choo!

2011-04-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

As part of our spring break festivities, we headed to the Train Museum in Elkart today. It was really fun.

They have a ride-on Thomas the Tank Engine for the under-three-year-old set. Bella loved it. She's recently become obsessed with Thomas.

She did, however, ask me where Percy was, and if she could ride Percy too. I'm afraid my answer was a little disappointing.

They have an engine parked just outside the main museum that you can climb into. However, after all thirteen children in our group had climbed in, there was no room for adults. This picture was taken through the very dirty window. The best part of this train cab is the actual working horn. (No, the actual best part is that the air compressor that supplies the horn runs out of air after 8 or 9 long honks. Long LOUD honks. 8 or 9 is plenty.)

The museum is covered with crazy signage and old railroad ephemera.

Plus it has two tracks full of abandoned cars with sets of stairs leading up to several of them. Some of them were death traps. . .

. . . and some were perfect for a little nap. (If a little dirty.)

Bella thought all of them were terribly exciting.

The tracks were so much fun to climb around. I have no idea how the museum's liability insurance lets them get away with all of this, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Getting all these little faces to look our direction at once was impossible. This was the best of several shots.

We loved the train museum. I definitely recommend it.

And if you're wondering how I could take four little kids to the train museum by myself, meet my new best friend. (And I'm not talking about Maddie.) This is my ergo carrier, (Thank you, Krista and Karen!), and it is how I vacuum, how I make dinner, how I do all my chores. Maddie loves to be right next to me, and this way, she can be.

I love it when she falls asleep and her little face peeks out the armhole. :)

Oh, as an afterthought, I wanted to share these two little still lifes set up in the model railroad room. I think a crashed airplane is in great taste, no?

And if that's not your style, how about a classic bear mauling? I wish I could have gotten a clearer picture of this--it was hysterical.

I'm a curmudgeon

2011-04-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

I usually think of myself as a young, hip person. Of course, I happen to be a mom, and of course, I'm over 30, but these things certainly don't make me someone who can't relate to the younger generation, right? I mean, I remember being 14. I even sometimes still feel 13 (so awkward meeting new people), so I just didn't imagine I would find myself being the grumpy old killjoy of the neighborhood.

But. . . (and you knew this was coming). . . I was driving by the school today, and I saw a group of 12-14-year-old kids gathered around the homebase of the baseball field, and there was one kid climbing all the way to the top of the chain-link fence that guards spectators from flyballs. (What is that fence called? I want to say "dugout", but I know that's wrong.) Instantly, I stopped my minivan (Minivan? Grumpy old mom clue #1.) and looked out my window at the kids. They noticed me and looked back, somewhat cowed by the adult watching them. (Cowing kids? Grumpy old mom clue #2.) They said something to the kid on top of the fence (20 feet up! I would want someone else's mom to stop my kid if she was doing something that dumb. Saying that last sentence? Grumpy old mom clue #3.) , and he started climbing down, casually, but watching me the whole time, obviously willing me to just drive away and go about my business. But I didn't (Grumpy old mom clue #4). I stayed, ignoring that awkward feeling of the kids glancing over in my direction even as they tried to pretend I wasn't there. I waited until his two teenage feet were planted firmly on the ground, and then I smiled and waved at the kids and drove away. But even as my hipster self was humiliated at the spectacle my neighborhood watchdog self had just made of us, my inner curmudgeon wanted to turn around at the next stop sign and make sure that rascally kid hadn't tried to climb the fence again. What is happening to me?

Flip-flops, Forts, Friends, and Fun

2011-04-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better than a visit from some best friends (or cousins, as Mimi insists these girls are)? I submit that there is not. We snagged the Soelberg ladies for the last couple days of their spring break, and it was a delight from beginning to end.

We began with some crafting--state love canvasses inspired by so many from around the web. We both made Indiana (that wiggly-pointy part at the bottom left was a little bit tricky, doncha know), and then I added some Ohio and Utah love. (Gotta represent!) I'll probably have to add a little heart in the Roosevelt area of Utah soon, but I'm not doing it until I've actually lived there.

Then we continued with some shopping--the 30% discount offered at Old Navy and Gap because of their "Give and Get" campaign was irresistible and called for a trip to the outlets. . .

. . . where we scored some matching flip-flops. (The little sizes have straps behind the heels and Bella was genuinely distressed that her "fwips" didn't make the right noise. And click on the picture to see how Bella--in the black leggings--likes to split her toes with the flip-flop strap.)

Then the girly-girls slept in forts, made by John between the boxspring and mattress of the girls' bed (AWESOME!). . .

. . . and me, by tying the fort sheet onto the kid chairs (lame). You can see which fort made it through the night.

It was sad, as it always is, to let our friends head back to the wilds of Bloomington. Bella nearly had a meltdown when she realized she was not going to be able to climb back into Sara's car and go home with her. (Are you sure you don't want to come pick her up, Sara? I think you need just a little more chaos in your life.)

I'm thinking there has to be an opening for a fantastic MBA somewhere in Roosevelt so we can continue our spring break tradition. I'll be on the lookout. Okay, Joe?

The World, According to Bella

2011-04-02T07:01:00.001-07:00

John: Bella, are you a crazy little sucker?

Bella: No, I NOT a crazy little sucker.

J: I think you are a crazy little sucker, Bella.
B: I not, I NOT. See here, on this tog [tag]. It says, 'Bella not a crazy sucker.' I NOT.

J: I defer to the wisdom of the tag.

The Best Part of my Day

2011-04-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

2:43 p.m. Every school day.
I love this face.

And this face. (I can't aim my camera)

And this crazy fashion sense.*

I had big plans. We were going to happily work on a fun spring project. (One of these.) The house would smell of cookies and sunlight and I would bustle about my perfectly clean house in a smile and a fantastic apron.

My girls would smile and laugh and helpfully help each other and Maddie would play quietly on the floor next to us and Bella would never even dream of cutting her shirt with the scissors or touching buttons on the Cricut or having meltdowns every three minutes or poking herself with the pins or demanding more cheese sticks.

Well, at least the wreath got done. And I never actually yelled. Success! It's still my favorite time of the day.

*Sidenote: Olivia's teacher asked me, as I was volunteering at the book sale, if I was "responsible for Olivia's unique sense of style." (You can tell she thought that question through for a while before she decided on the least offensive wording.) I told her that Olivia was entirely at the helm of her own fashion boat, and I just tried to make sure the clothes were clean when they left my house in the morning. The fantastic combinations of elements are pure Liv.

Night of the Babies

2011-03-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to catch up with all the updates I missed while my life was happening. To borrow the words of Kenna Wahlquist, this is what I would have blogged in December, had I been blogging.

To prepare for the family trip we took to California in December, I made all the cousins matching t-shirts. If you have never stenciled a t-shirt using freezer paper, drop everything this very minute and try it out. It may change your crafting life. (This was the first tutorial I read. Very helpful.) A note: I used my Cricut to cut the letters and circles, but it only takes a couple minutes to cut the same thing by hand.

I wanted to get a picture of all the Anderson grandbabies in a row, but we had a couple problems. Problem #1: Annabel. Problem #2: Quinn.

He has the most mischievous eyes, right?

We had one good shot.

The perfect lineup.

Ruthie there (in the "r") is exactly two months older than Maddie. Isn't she darling? Madeline decided that Ruth was her anchor, and she clutched her hand and arm as if her life depended on it.

I don't think Ruth was a fan.

"Hey, guys. This little fuzzy thing won't let go of my arm. Help!"

Best. Shot. Ever. Maddie happy, Ruthie perplexed, Quindo oblivious.

Looks like we pushed it too far.

I think I want the initial shirt to be a tradition. Let me know if any of you want the tips for how to crank out twelve shirts in less than an hour. I'm a master. ;)

Christmas Dresses

2011-03-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

This year, I made FOUR dresses for Christmas, and I finally got all of them clean at once and on my daughter's bodies for a post-church photoshoot. Outside lighting is always best, but it was TOO cold, so we did it in Liv and Mimi's room, and it turned out pretty darn good, considering.

I decided this year to make each of the girls a different dress, but using only two fabrics for all of them. I chose a lovely black cotton velveteen and a silver polyester dupioni. (Dupioni is that fabric that's got a dull sheen and some fun slubby--that is a word--texture.) Machine washable was actually among the most important of the characteristics I was looking for, and these dresses all wash up beautifully.

Maddies dress was my own design. I love the tuxedo ruffle and the three black buttons.

I used Oliver + S's Sunday Brunch pattern for Olivia's ensemble. I've used three of the Oliver +S patterns now, and I heartily recommend them. Liesl Gibson, the designer, gives amazing instructions, and the patterns have incredible tailored details. They are very satisfying to complete.

Mimi's dress was made from McCall 5795. It's an easy, simple, customizable dress. The lovely thing about the dupioni is that the reverse side of the fabric is shiny, shiny satin. I used that side for the linings of all these dresses. Mimi, with her obsession toward all things silky, loves this detail.

Bella's bubble dress, from another one of the Oliver + S patterns, was the fastest of the dresses to sew. Again, I love the details and the sewing lesson integrated into the pattern. (My next pattern purchase: The School Photo Dress. Google "School Photo Dress Blog", and you'll see some of the cutest dresses ever sewn.)

I think this matching-fabric-different-dresses is going to be my new strategy for Easter and Christmas dresses, as long as my girls will let me make them match. Which one is your favorite?

Wherein I demonstrate my clumsiness. . .

2011-03-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

. . . and also my incredible luck.

First the clumsiness. As we are getting ready to put our house on the market, I have been working like a madwoman. Last week, it was the basement's turn to be painted. As I was moving a task light into place, it slipped a bit in my fingers and sliced my pinkie. Not enough to be a problem, but enough to cause blood to pool in my palm. Pool. In my palm. I don't do blood. Well, not with grace. I was feeling light-headed, so I talked myself up the stairs and over to the phone where I decided I needed to call Bonnie, just in case I passed out, you know. So she'd know and come check on me in case I'd fainted on the kitchen floor and gotten a concussion. (And really, people, that's not as far-fetched as it sounds. I've done it before.) But then I decided that if I could summon up enough willpower to stay conscious long enough to call Bonnie, I could summon up the sheer will to remain conscious indefinitely and not call Bonnie, thus avoiding embarrassment and teasing. Whew! Three band-aids later, I was back in business, painting the basement and determinedly not thinking about blood.

At craft group a few days later, my story-telling self decided this was a tale worth telling, embarrassing or not. So I told it, a little dramatically, of course. And I laughed about the ridiculousness of it all. And my craft group buddies laughed with me.

Cut to Saturday: The basement proper was completely painted, and in preparation for painting the guest bedroom in the basement, I created this deathtrap with a bedframe and a staircase.

The setup

Beautiful, right? We were heading out for a Saturday expedition to Shipshewana, and I needed to grab something from the laundry room, so I dashed from the upstairs to the main floor, past my mom and kids (who were all ready to go), and turned the corner to head to the basement. I was trying to put my arms into my cardigan and run down the stairs at the same time. Why on earth did I think I was capable of that level of multi-tasking? I'm not. The toe of my boot caught the lip at the top of the stairs, and I launched down the 12 steps to the basement.

I experienced the fall in slow-motion, but I'm a little hazy about the details, since I can't quite figure out how I ended up head-down, but face-up, and dangling from my favorite boot which was caught on that bedframe corner. The top of my head was only inches from that very hard wall at the bottom of the stairs.

My favorite boot now has a serious warwound. Jake, do you think you could stitch it up as well?

My mom and girls heard the yelp, the crash, and the silence and ran to my rescue. (Thank you, ladies!) I was still assessing the possible damage when they arrived, so that must have been some scary anticipation. (Sorry, ladies.) I was okay until I saw that my hand was covered in blood.

Here's where the luck comes in:
1) My mom was there. Yay! I didn't even have to pretend to summon my incredible will. One look at the blood was all I got before she had paper towels and pressure and everything under control.
2) Residency life comes with the perks of knowing the telephone number of 80 gazillion incredibly helpful doctors.
3) The doctor I called was not only willing to look at my hand to see if I did need stitches, he actually had a suture kit right there in his kitchen. (Thanks, Jake! Thanks SOOO much.) That saved a billion dollars and 37 hours at the urgent care with 17 kids in tow. (I'm only slightly exaggerating.)

4) I fell down an entire flight of steps and walked away with only three stitches, along with a dozen scrapes, quite a few bruises, and a big helping of lost dignity. How's that for lucky?

Disneyland, here we come!

2011-02-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

I love these huge stripey letters at the entrance of Disneyland's California Adventure! O for Olivia.

N for Naomi

A for Annabel (but she was looking for a "B")

. .. and Annie!

That funny hooded sweater makes little Bella look like a funny dwarf (Dopey? Sneezy?) while she waits in the Toy Story line. (Maybe the coolest ride ever? Yes?)

Look at my cute sister. And look at the funny angle I held my face. (Note to self: Never hold my face like that again. Ever.)

And these cute boots we found at the rental house where we were staying. Perfect for those rainy, and oh-so-super-rainy days.

There we are again. Better angle.

And King Triton's carousel. Yes--we love that one.

L.A. ScienCenter

2011-01-30T11:16:00.000-08:00

We went to California over Christmas, spending some time with the Andersons and some with the Wellses. L. A. has the most amazing science museum--FREE!--with loads of fun things to see and do. It was especially fun with Grandpa Wells, since he loves to show the girls things in nature.

I love aquarium tunnels, except when I stepped too close to the glass walls, the water started to look like I was wearing the wrong glasses.

Gabey was excited to show his cousins all his favorite parts of the museum.

Bella loved it.

Christmas Concert

2010-12-22T11:06:00.000-08:00

Our school puts on the cutest Christmas concert in a church building every year. It's one of my Christmas highlights.

I love getting my daughters in their Christmas finery. (Naomi's dress was sewn start to finish in that day. I hate how events often creep up on me and end in a sewing frenzy. Note to self: Don't do that next year.)

"Must Be Santa" was sung, complete with props and hand motions.

I love kindergarteners.

"Who's got a beard that's long and white?"

The older kids sat further away for their part of the concert, which made photography more difficult.

However, they weren't far enough away for us to miss Olivia's solemn faces of concern,

anxiety,

and confusion. I love that girl.

Yet another thing I'm going to miss about South Bend.

Like I said. . .

2010-12-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

. . .South Bend Santa is nearly the perfect Santa. He's been so sweet and interested every year we've gone to see him.

He acted like it was a delight, instead of a burden, to hold my grumpy fuzzy baby.

And he made sure to mention to Naomi that if she did, in fact, get a scooter for Christmas, she needed to make sure she wore a helmet. (Which Mimi has filed in her memory permanently as "Advice from Santa", which is held in much higher esteem than "Advice from My Mother.")

We love Santa!

2010-12-16T10:56:00.000-08:00

(I started this posted on December 16, and then promptly forgot it. That's how it goes, I guess.)

You know, there are a lot of great things about Indiana. I love so many things, especially now that we are finishing up residency and every month here is our last November, or our last December. But, if I had to make a list of things I love about Indiana, these two would be in my top ten: Soelbergs and The Children's Museum. My first visit to TCM (with the Soelbergs) was when Olivia was only 10 months old, and there have been many since. Including the most recent one that included. . .

. . . A VISIT WITH SANTA!

Now, we're pretty attached to our South Bend Santa. He is perfect: kind and friendly and soft-spoken and incredibly photogenic. However, The Children's Museum Santa may just be the best Santa on the planet.

Mimi and Jenna (shunning the idea of sister pairs and gleefully sharing Santa's lap with their "cousin") told Santa what they wanted.

Olivia (looking incredibly tall) and her teeny friend Libster also shared their wishes.

And this what endeared me forever. Bella was nervous about sitting on Santa's lap, but she wanted to sit on a stool next to his chair. Santa scooted himself off his big comfortable armchair and planted himself on a little stool right next to Bella and had the sweetest 5-minute conversation I've ever seen. I'll love him for the rest of my life.

Speaking of Bella, this little crazy-pants in the too-large goggles slipped away from Sara (poor Sara!) while I was nursing Maddie and had to be retrieved from the "Lost and Found." Sara felt horrible until she watched Bella disappear 7 or 8 more times, including one expedition to an open elevator where she nearly transported herself 3 floors away, and another adventure in the boys' bathroom.

We made some trips down the Yule Slide.

Santa whispered the secret of the slide to the big girls--the one on the left is faster.

We were lucky enough to meet some more friends from Bloomington. It was loads of fun. Maybe we'll all have to fly back in next Christmas?

Six Years Old, and Looking Good!

2010-12-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

Now, for all of you who are acquainted with Mimi, it will come as no surprise that her sixth birthday was filled with highs and lows. Ultra-highs and ultra-lows, as is par for her course, really.

We started with breakfast. Hootenannies are her favorite (HIGH!), but then Olivia remembered--darn her--that the ward party was that morning, and I had already made the executive decision I would not be dragging my four children to a breakfast/service project, so Mimi was sad about not seeing her friends (low). But then Daddy got to come home since call was slow (HIGH!), but the two big girls had forgotten about Mimi's motion sickness "issue" and had played Spin 'Til You Drop in the family room, and Mimi was pale and clutching a puke bowl for an hour (low).

But then we opened presents and went out to lunch! (High!) And bought balloons and tiaras at Hobby Lobby! (High!) And then her tiara broke (low), so I traded her for mine (high!), which also broke (low).

She made her own cake with her new cake kit from Aunt Annie and Uncle Pete. (High!! So exciting!!)

She was quite pleased with herself in her new beanie from Nana and Big Grandpa.

Olivia made her a "wish box" which collects all her wishes until she can find a star to wish upon. And Maddie and Bella gave her a Zhu-Zhu Pet and some card games. (That Monster Mashup game is LOADS of fun!)

She also got a Polly Pocket and some sparkly shirts (someone must know and love her very much), a pair of sassy pink boots, and some little tiny stuffed animals that have been accompanying her on her bus ride to school every day since.

Since the highs and lows come with Mimi's territory, I think we had a more than satisfactory birthday. I just can't believe she's six!

The Last of the Leaves

2010-12-09T06:40:00.000-08:00

Midwestern autumns are beautiful, aren't they? All those leaves changing colors and covering the ground. And there they are, so pretty, on the ground and the roof and the driveway, and I love to look at them, and then I remember that all those leaves are the responsibility of the person whose lawn they have landed on, and then I remember that that means us. And then I get depressed.

This year, however, was awesome for two reasons:

1) We just caved and paid for that leaf service to vacuum up the leaves. This meant no more leaf bagging, just raking them into an enormous pile at the front of the lawn. Yay!

2) By "we", I mostly meant John and the big girls. I supervised from inside. Double yay!

The last time we had beautiful weather, they looked like they were having so much fun, I just had to go out and take some pictures.

We had FOUR piles this size when it was all over. Mimi could actually stand full height where the leaves met the house and be completely covered.

Don't these guys just look like they have been working their hearts out?

Bella kept messing up the piles. When John would say, "Bella, that's not helpful", she would repeat, cheerfully, over and over, "Not helpful! Not helpful!" and mess up more piles. Gotta love her!

Disappearing into a big pile of leaves is one of the best parts of being a kid, no? And then you grow up. All I can think about now is all the itchy bits of leaves and stems that would be stuck between the various layers of my clothing.

The best part was when John took the leaf blower (thank you, Kelly!) to the roof. The girls were delightedly dancing in the "leaf rain." That look on Mimi's face is one of my favorite things about her.

Thanksgiving!

2010-12-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

We had yet another Soelberg-Wells combination Thanksgiving this year, and I think it may just have been the best yet. Let me count out the ways that I am thankful for these delightful friends who feast with us again and again.

1. Craftiness! Sara and I love to make Thanksgiving weekend into Craft-aholic Central, and this year, we made these creations out of scrapbook paper and posterboard. (Tip for those who might want to make some for themselves: We used a Cricut to cut out the gazillions of little shapes (wonky hearts on the "George" cartridge), and 59-cent posterboard to make the base cones instead of the $8.00 paper-mache Christmas trees originally called for.)

2. Billions of little girls. (This picture is even missing the smallest one.) It's like heaven for my girls when Libby and Jenna arrive, and the visit is full of giggles, dress-ups, reading parties (I'm not kidding), clothes-sharing, dancing, and zippie pajamas. And you see that darling Jenna girl up with Mimi? That little girl is so incredibly kind to annoying, destructive Bella. It nearly brought me to tears to see her include a not-so-fun two-year old in all the fun activities. I will love her forever.

3. Joe. Being Maddie's hair twin, we would love him regardless, but any guy who will watch five little girls (John was on call--as always) so Sara and I could Black-Friday it up is fantastic. Thanks again, Joe!

4. And speaking of Black Friday, I'm grateful for Menard's. Menard's, of all places. I don't even think I've ever checked the Menard's ad for Black Friday specials before this year, but I'm apparently the only one who hadn't gotten the memo. This year, when we showed up 30 minutes early (with Maddies in the front carrier, deep in the depths of my parka), the line to get into Menard's stretched across the front of the store and up to the back of the parking lot. Our buddies in line included a darling woman who had been shopping since midnight and the foulest-mouthed long-haired lady I've ever met. She dropped the f-bomb more often than I use hand gestures, and that's saying something. Also, unpictured is our annual trip to Jo-Ann fabric for $1.29/yard flannel. My stash is restocked, thank heavens. I get twitchy when it gets a little low.

5. Tangled. Have you all seen it? It's maybe my new favorite Disney princess movie. I loved it.

6. (On that same note) Wonderland Cinema in Niles. I love our little theatre just 15 minutes away with $2.50 matinee tickets (but we went during "prime time", so we had to pay a full $5.00) and $1.25 popcorn. Amazing. It's possible for us to go to movies on opening day. And could we resist hitting a movie about a girl with long-long hair when we had our resident Rapunzel (Libby-girl) in town for a visit? Look at those darling girls.

7. Edible name tags. This is a pilgrim hat, even though it's not immediately obvious. The making of them involved four little girls and two moms elbow deep in melted chocolate, a container of mini M&Ms studding the outsides ("I don't want just one buckle, Mom. I want mine to be polka-dots!"), and seven chocolate footprints made by one desperate two-year old. But they turned out pretty cute, I think.

8. A delicious feast with fantastic friends. I wish I'd taken a picture of all the food, and not just Sara's amazing rolls, but it may have been our best yet. The stuffing was perfect (even following a near-fiasco), the gravy was not crazy salty (I've learned my lesson), and the pie was plentiful.

9. Sara's pictures which I stole from her blog. Thank you, Sara, for always having your camera at the ready. I was embarrassed to see that I had taken two pictures the entire visit.

What are we going to do next year when the Soelbergs don't live just 4 hours away?

My new favorite drink

2010-11-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

I love hot cocoa--YUM! However, sometimes I want that hot-cocoa-snuggly-socks-cozy-blanket feeling without spending my calories on hot cocoa. You know. So, this is my new favorite thing. Warm 8 to 12 oz. of skim (1%, whatever) milk in the microwave for a minute and a half. Add one teaspoon flavored creamer (my new favorite is vanilla caramel) and one teaspoon sugar. Stir it well and hold that warm cup in your hands as you smell the deliciousness. Drink up with no guilt. And save your calories for when you can really splurge on AMAZING cocoa, instead of that crappy Wal-Mart brand instant stuff you buy for your kids. :)

Haircuts all around.

2010-11-22T12:42:00.000-08:00

Maddie got her first haircut today. Normally, I wait a little longer, reveling in the glory that is old-man-hair-on-a-tiny-baby, but when I had to comb the tangles out of her back hair in the morning, I decided that I fight that battle enough already in my life (with four other heads of hair to brush), and we were going to remedy the situation STAT.

Here she is, with both bouffant top and mullet bottom. Is that a winning combination or what?

Mullet bottom mostly gone. I piled the hair on her back so I could have a record of how much I cut off.

Haircut complete. She looks older now, unfortunately. And I loved playing with all that mullet hair when I was holding her in church. *sniff* My baby's growing up. :)

And you know, I really ought to retitle this blog to be either "137 Reasons to Closely Supervise Your Toddler" or "My Incompetence as a Mother." Because this is Bella's most recent haircut.

Let's start with her new fashionable turkey tail. That little tuft is right at the crown of her head. This beautiful feature is highlighted when I pull her hair into her usual style of two pigtails. We're experimenting with different options when we would rather she didn't look like barnyard fowl.

She also added stylish asymetrical bangs. They might look fairly mainstream in this photo here, but I assure you, in real life, this look is very avant garde.

And to show what she was working with before, I add this picture of the great Moses costume she assembled using the towel rack from our recently remodeled bathroom and my Moby wrap. This is the only picture I could find with her bangs shown full-length, since we normally had them pulled or clipped up. I had been carefully trimming the rest of her hair so we could grow her bangs all the way out. Serves me right for doing anything carefully that involves the human disaster.

Bella's setting up shop in the basement and she's looking for clients who may want to mimic her new style. Her rates for haircuts are very reasonable (two juice boxes or a ziploc of goldfish crackers), and you'll certainly be original.

Twins?

2010-11-15T16:04:00.001-08:00

Our friend Matt Brady pointed out that Maddie is a dead ringer for the lead singer of GreenDay, Billy Joe Armstrong.

What do you think?

A little product in the hair, a little eyeliner, and WHABAM! Perfect, right?

We Love Halloween!

2010-11-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

I thought John would capture a full-body shot of my fabulous self in an orange pindot polyester leisure suit. Can you believe he only got this?

"How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion shall lie down together without any ire." I don't think we're quite there yet, do you?

From left: Mary (of Mary Had a Little Lamb) not to be confused with Little Bo-Peep (you can see she still has her sheep, right?)
Jaguar (she refused the elephant costume I had planned, but the jaguar fit. Who am I to argue?)
She-Ra (store-bought costume not available since 1985, so this is what we put together on our own)

Close up on the Princess of Power. Check out those sassy hips.

This costume was sewn in 2004 for Olivia. As I was re-examining it this year, I was quite pleased with all the progress I've made in my sewing since then.

We broke the plastic outdoor candy cane we had planned to use for a shepherd's crook, and drama ensued. John came to the rescue with this pipe-insulation substitute. And then Olivia refused to use it at the Trunk-or-Treat because she was sure people would think she was Bo Peep if she had a crook. At the end of the evening, she indignantly proclaimed, "I didn't even carry my stick, and they still thought I was Little Bo Peep."

The U.P.

2010-10-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Subtitled: Best Vacation Yet

Why Didn't We Do This Earlier?

After blessing Maddie last month, we got down to the real business of the visit, which was to head up north and see Michigan's Upper Peninsula. My grandpa has been talking about doing this since he first visited us in our apartment in Toledo, and I honestly wish we would have done it sooner. It was gorgeous. I think (with all the arrogance of a first-time visitor) that September has to be the best time to go, for these reasons: 1) it's off season, so all the accommodations were much cheaper, 2) the leaves were turning, and the color was gorgeous, and 3) it was just warm enough and just cool enough. Perfect.

I don't have the patience to create a narrative from these pictures, so I am simply going to caption them.

Waiting for the ferry to Mackinac Island. Windy. Maddie was treated as luggage, just like any other respectable one-month old.

I wish this picture really showed how funny this hoodie is. It's one John picked up in Bolivia, and it's darling with the hood down. With the too-short hood up, her shoulders are permanently raised, and she looks like a dwarf. Or an Incan midget.

Mackinac Island has no cars. It's awesome, and the biking was SO much fun. It's not perfectly clear from this picture, but my parents are on a tandem bike with a trailer rolling behind them. Awesome, eh? All the bikes on the island have those cute front baskets functioning kind of like the trunk on a car.

Little Grandpa loved to tease me about my "Red Baron" scarf.

On one side of the island, there was a big rocky beach with hundreds of stacked rock cairns. Mimi decided we needed to stop and stack our own cairns. It's still the part of the vacation she talks about most.

I love Little Grandpa. It was so fun to have him along.

After Mackinac Island, we drove up through the U.P. to get to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, and ride the Agawa Canyon train. My dad and my grandpa both love trains, so it was a perfect fit into our vacation. Canada may have even been more beautiful than Michigan, and that's saying something.

Bella wanted to walk under her own power up all 323 stairs to the top of Lookout Point in Agawa Canyon. That would have taken forever, but she protested her "sack of potatoes" fate anyway.

Don't I have beautiful daughters?

On our way back down, we visited Petoskey, Michigan, famous for Petoskey Stones (which we didn't find) and beautiful beaches (which we found and admired). We did some hiking in Petoskey State Park. At least some of us did.

Mimi was carried to the top of "Old Baldy" inside Big Grandpa's sweatshirt. She loved it.

Ahh. I loved it.

And she looks like this now.

2010-10-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Those tiny baby pictures in the last post almost made me wish I had that tiny baby back. But this baby is much happier. And now that she's two months old, the next time she comes down with a fever, we won't end up in the emergency room getting her urine cathed and blood drawn and chest x-rayed (and talking the ER doc out of a lumbar puncture). I never before realized how lucky I was to keep my babies healthy for at least the first 60 days. (She's good now. It's just hard to keep all those school germs away from the babies.)

She even smiles. Well, every so often. (And her real smile is much more charming and eye-involving and grin-like than this enigmatic smirk. But sometimes you can only catch the enigmatic smirk on camera and just have to imagine the delightful grin.)

How does she compare to my other babies? Well, this Angry Pea is Bella, who rarely cried. And Maddie cries any time she remembers that she and I have an agreement that she is never EVER to be put down.

And this is what my Bella really looked like at two months. Happy all the time. (Except when dressed as a pea.) (But do these two girls have the same eyes? Madeline's are blue, and Bella's are brown, but they have the same shape, yes?)

And this is the cutest picture I have of Naomi at two months. (Washcloths for modesty.)

Most of the pictures look like this one below. I think her attractiveness was actually somewhere between those two pictures. Not as cute as the one above, not as frog-like as the one below. (You know, I really don't ever see it when people tell me that they can "sure tell which kids belong to you." But looking at these pictures. . . hmmmm. . . there's definitely something they have in common.)

This is Olivia. My sweet little bald baby. Oh, give me a moment to cry about how big she's gotten.

Moment over. I actually think she's a lot of fun as a seven-year old, so I won't mourn too long. (But that round, round head? And that sweet smile? I really wish I could kiss that baby one more time.)

What do you think? Who does baby Maddie look like? (And I know it's not me. *Sigh.* I'm resigned to the fact that the Wells genes are absolutely dominant in the facial features category. Good thing I married someone who is handsome as a man but also looks darling as a little girl. :)

We Blessed Her.

2010-10-27T15:19:00.000-07:00

When you live 2000 miles from family, you learn to take advantage of the times they come to visit. When my dad, my mom, my grandpa (my girls call him "Little Grandpa" since it's confusing to have two Grandpa Andersons), and my brother came to visit (purpose: one week in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), we had to sign Madeline up for her blessing day.

And then take 4 generation pictures afterward.

Because of that crazy thing in the coral dress, these pictures were particular difficult. We love her anyway.

It was so fun to see the Soelbergs, who came up from Bloomington, just to be with us too, but they had to leave in a crazy rush before we really got to enjoy them. Sorry, guys!

And this is my girl. A month ago. I already miss that tiny baby.

She doesn't really fit in that dolly carseat anymore, but when she did. . . it was the most perfect portable baby seat ever.

Not Further Evidence

2010-10-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

The following are not further evidence of my poor mothering. They are simply evidence of my idiocy. Since an eyeshadow container had crumbled in my makeup box, I decided to empty the box of its contents, rinse the shimmery powder of each item, and stack them to dry on the side of my bathroom sink. The makeup box itself needed something more intense, so I took it down to the kitchen sink so I could use a Brillo pad. I got distracted on the telephone for a few minutes with a darling friend, and I neglected to remember the cardinal rule of toddler-watching.

Silence is ominous.

However, to show that my stupidity is balanced by my genius, let me present these pieces of evidence:

1) I only buy 93-cent lipstick. So my financial loss was minimal.

2) I have trained Bella to raise her hands in the air and hold them there when she has made a mess and I am cleaning it up. Therefore, although an entire tube of lipstick was used as a drawing utensil on her face and the toilet and the sink and everything on top of the toilet or sink, there were no lipstick-y handprints anywhere. And her dress (a Hanna Andersson that I picked up on clearance and I LOVE) remained pristine.

3) I took pictures first, laughed second, and cleaned up last. Genius.

This Motherhood Thing is Really Kicking My Trash

2010-09-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Score Yesterday
Bella: 5
Emilee: 0

I promise that at one point yesterday, Annabel:
1) did not require a band-aid on her cheek
2) had a clean, non-chapped, non-boogery nose
3) was dressed in something other than her sister's dance class leotard
4) was pink-faced
5) had straight, neat pigtails (with a little braid, even. She looked pretty cute.)

However, in the epic daily battle that is me vs. my two-year old, she definitely got me yesterday.

I would like to be able to demonstrate that yesterday was an isolated incident, but here's what happened today.

My two oldest children are delightfully responsible. They really are. They get themselves up to an alarm at 6:45 every morning. They get themselves dressed. They put their lunches (from the fridge, where I try to place them after packing them the night before) into their backpacks, next to their homework. They get breakfast started (cold cereal for Olivia--her favorite, toast or applesauce or both for Naomi), and I show up at 7:15 or 7:20 after nursing Madeline for the 7000th time out of my precious 8 sleeptime hours and retrieving a demanding, yelling Bella from her crib. Then I do their hair and kiss their cute cheeks and send them off on the bus. This indepence occasionally leads to some . . .ahem. . .creative outfits, but I figure their teachers know that they are getting themselves dressed and they are developing an individual sense of style. Plus, I kind of like the hotchpotch look.

This morning was no different. When the girls came down, I did have a fleeting thought cross my mind that their looks were even more eclectic than usual, and I even verbally expressed that although their drawers were a bit barren, there was a stack of clean clothes for each of them in the laundry room. They both expressed surprise that I would consider a change necessary. I let it go, quickly tossed some pigtails in each of their roller-bump-ridden hair, and sent them off with a hug and a kiss. Let us pause for a photo.

Olivia's look is comprised of a race t-shirt, some a-line capris (which I love), some brown floral knee-highs, and her favorite sneakers.

Naomi sports a free grey-and-red elementary-mascot tee, her favorite navy-and-pink running shorts, ankle socks, and her red boots.

At 9:22 precisely, the phone rang, and I answered it to hear the voice of Naomi's teacher, Miss K, who informed me that Naomi was very upset that today was picture day and she was not ready. PICTURE DAY! Picture Day. She also was sobbing because when she had opened her backpack, she hadn't found her lunch. At this point, I glanced near the front door and spotted the lunch where I had placed it this morning, having not remembered to pack it last night AND having not remembered to inform Naomi of the change of location.*

I win "Bad Mother of the Day", and I am certainly still in the running for "Bad Mother of the Year."

So nobody thinks Bella was left out of the Sweet Outfits Competition today, I present her in the ensemble she has been wearing since naptime. I think polka-dot diapers are underutilized in fashion as a whole. And yes, she has been playing outside with her sisters since school got out. (Actually, for most of the time, she's also been wearing a tutu. It's nice outside. Does anyone have a problem with this? Take it up with Child Protective Services.)

*In my defense, so no one thinks me completely heartless, I did walk with Bella in the stroller and Madeline in the wrap to the school to deliver Mimi's lunch to her and offer her a hug of consolation. By the time I arrived, her mercurial little self had completely recovered, and she was delighted to show her class her two baby sisters. Thank heavens for a kindergarten teacher who already knows me.

Maddie at Night

2010-09-13T12:42:00.001-07:00

The other night Madeline was wide awake and delightfully content, so I took some pictures of her. I should have dressed her up and set up a backdrop, but my energy extended only to her pj's and the old plaid couch.

She often looks like a hobbit.

Or one of those kids with the aging disease.

Or just a little bit goofy.

We love her anyway.

Do you remember lemonade stands?

2010-09-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the last time you had a lemonade stand? My mom used to help us set up the best lemonade stands. She would make a huge batch of her famous and delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and a couple gallons of lemonade, and we would set up shop at the top of the street, trying to catch the eyes and quarters of passersby.

When my mom was here, helping us survive our first week with child #4, she helped my girls set up their own lemonade stand in the front yard. They had grand visions of earning big money. "Mom," Mimi gasped, the night before the big event, "Nana says that sometimes her kids could earn a whole 10 dollars." An unimaginable sum.

I was gone for the first half of the sale, but when I came back, I was assaulted with memories. Memories of making signs and finding the best place to stand for advertisement purposes.

Memories discussing our earning potential.

The joy of the first customers. (Our bishop is a compassionate soul.)

The need to relax after an hour of hard work in the hot sun.

And the thrill of counting the money once it's all over.

In the end, they earned $17. Not too shabby, eh?

A Recent Photo Shoot

2010-09-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

It is almost impossible for me to get a good picture of all my girls together. It would help, of course, if I would ever do their hair. Or if Bella would contemplate the possibility of cooperation. But those are pipe dreams, so this is as good as it gets.

Seriously, Bella. Can't you sit up one time?

And seriously, Em, can't you brush their hair? Just brush it?

It's a good thing they're cute anyway.

Roll over. Good Bella.

Happy Birthday, Bella!

2010-09-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

Annabel turned two last month, which is almost impossible to believe (except for the fact that we have another tiny baby living at our house, so she darn well better be two, right?). We were lucky enough to have my mom fly in for the day on her way back from visiting Mike, Kelly, and baby Ruth in North Carolina.

When a crazy little girl turns two, she get to wear her swimsuit while she eats pancakes for breakfast and opens baby dolls from Grammy.

She gets to pick orange "cacakes" and chocolate "I-beam-tones" as her one request for the party.

She gets to have her sisters decorate the house with orange balloons, orange streamers, and orange scraps of paper because orange is her favorite color.

She gets to have so much help opening her presents.

She gets to blow out two candles in one tiny cupcake.

She gets to dress up in whatever she likes.

And best of all, she gets her own "mu-ic", a CD player and CDs to listen to all day and all night long. (Completely unrelated side note: How many times can a mom listen to "If You're Happy and You Know It" without losing the last shred of sanity she's clinging to?)

My favorite things about Bella:
*She is almost always happy, and when she's not happy, a minute in time out is all she needs to chill out.
*Our family calls Puff Pancakes "Hootenannies". Bella calls them either "Auntie Boos" (what my girls call John's sister Rebekah) or "Poopy Panties." Either one is good for a laugh.
*She loves to swim and she loves to wear a swimming suit even more.
*She's perfectly sweet to her own babydolls and Baby Maddie.
*She chatters happily to me all day long, and when I don't understand what she's saying, she smiles, slows down, and says it all over again. Sometimes that helps, sometimes it doesn't.
*She goes to bed like a dream. (That maybe should be the first thing I listed. It's the thing that makes my life the easiest.)

I love you, Bella Boo! I can't believe I've already known you for two years!