"Saturday is a Special Day......

.....it's the day we get ready for Sunday!"

Darin and I are both preparing lessons for early am church tomorrow. My lesson on "don't be rude to your parents" is basically finished but D is still working on his lesson for the men....hence the late Saturday night blogging.
My lesson is actually entitled Growing and Maturing in Self-reliance. Because I love my Beehives so much, I am including in the lesson a picture of me at 12....the height of my awkwardness. Just to give hope. And let them know they aren't finished.

Today, I got my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed. Darin prefers bushy eyebrows over the sleek arch. When I showed him the awkward 12 year old picture I was using in my lesson all he said was "I liked your eyebrows better then".

I waited 30 min in line to redeem a free automatic car wash.
It was so worth it. I forget how thrilling it is to move along under those rollers.
I wish I had brought the kids, but that can be a $6 adventure for another time.

I went out pre-dusk with the kiddos to enjoy the sunshine. I was waiting for the perfect lighting to get some fine shots of this handsome devil but my camera died after these two pictures.

After going through my old pictures to find the aforementioned awkward photo we discovered that Bub does indeed resemble MY baby pictures. People are constantly saying he looks like his daddy (everyone except Darin and my Mother-in-law) but there is "something very Rasmussen about him" as Darin says.

Miriam, Lindsey, Bub and Charlie at the Chocolate Factory

The Good News: We watched I Love Lucy {the chocolate factory one}
FREE Chocolate
Cheap Seconds

The Bad News: The workers had gone home 15 min before our tour.

The Better News: We have to go back so we can see the factory actually making chocolate which means; more Lucy, free chocolate and a new type of seconds!

{Before we left one woman did start hand dipping chocolates which was fun because that is what Lucy tries to do in the show. }

National Pancake Day

Their slogan: You take Burbon Street we'll take pancakes.

So this is how we celebrated Mardi Gras

Now....the REST of the story. I spilled 2 drinks on my friennd Jami AND Bub and I were sick, so those yummy pancakes came right back up later that day.

Sorry Jami.

Monday Monday

Cupcakes at Artic Circle, probably not the dreamiest way to celebrate a birthday, but kids + rain + townhouse living = meet up at Artic Circle.
Happy Birthday Jami!

FHE: Miriam told us the story of Ammon, and as per her request we listened to two songs about Martin Luther King. The songs weren't in my lesson plan, but he was a valiant servant no doubt, so it worked.

Tight Squeeze after reading Pipi Longstocking.

I've got laundry to fold.

Poster by Douglas Wilson


We finally, finally, FINALLY had our family Valentines Dinner tonight. After days and days of feeling run over by a semi I felt up to cooking real food. We can now take down the Valentines decor just in time for Mardi Gras.

Menu: Mango Italian cream soda (homemade), Moqueca de Peixe (our new favorite), of course rice and then a veggie. After the cream sodas we kept it simple for dessert, a brownie bite with whipped cream and a cherry on top.

I requested my valentines gift this year. As I was driving away to visit my family on Feb 13 I called Darin at work to ask him if he would make me a LOVE playlist while we were apart over the weekend. My only request was that it contained songs that reminded him of me, or us. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was a perfect way to make Darin miss me over Valentines Day...I am an evil genius without even trying!

The playlist is perfect. It's a little bit me, a little bit him and a little bit us. A little Jack Johnson, a little Led Zeppelin, Beruit, Tom Petty....I love it.

SPT - The first thing that attracted me to you was...

You were new. A new boy all the way from New England was very big news in my little hometown, and oh so exotic. Added to my intrigue was the fact that I had done my third grade US report on New Hampshire! I had drawn the state flag and knew the state bird was the purple finch. I went home after our first meeting to tell my mom "the cutest boy from New Hampshire just moved in!". Darin, who met a whole gaggle of girls that day vaguely remembers that I was wearing a red shirt.

That was the summer before our Junior year of high school, and we didn't see each other again until school began, at which time we each had significant others {as significant as "others" can be in high school}. So, we innocently flirted our way through English and Chemistry....NOT Seminary because Darin's girlfriend was in our class.....we sat on opposite ends of the room. We didn't have our first official date until midway through our Senior year {14 years ago}. We didn't date continuously through the 5 years between graduation and our wedding; I went away to college and we each served missions, dated others, grew up a bit. No matter whether we were dating, or definitely NOT dating, I always cared about him, always compared who I was with to him, always wanted only happiness and goodness for him whether we were together or not.

I loved him before I was ready to love him. I thank my lucky stars we were both patient.

SPT

My Valentine Project

I organized a group of women from my ward to make these holiday shirts for our kids. The origninal idea came from the Chasing Fireflies magazine, but their shirt was $54. I knew we could make them cuter and waaaay cheaper {and have a little fun to boot} if we made them ourselves.

I love how each holiday shows a bit of the personality of the women who made it {we are missing Halloween but it should be done soon}. Since Bub was the only boy getting a shirt {all other women only made them for daughters} my friend Jami designed a special non-girlie valentine shirt for him. I love it!! Thanks Jamie!

Crisis Valentines

Darin and I split up for Valentines weekend. This may seem really unromantic, but it was a mutual decision. I could stay until Monday with my family {celebrating Mark's 22 birthday} if Darin didn't come, and he is trying to get his kayak finished for a birthday launching. So, we headed in to our opposite destinations on Friday to beat the storm coming on Valentines day.

Although the weekend was to celebrate with Mark, we didn't see much of him. He had dates 2 out of the 3 nights I was there {including Valentines night...ooh la la} and his birthday dinner didn't pan out. The only picture I had of him from the weekend is the one above, Miriam took it and he was being silly for her. Julia, Jared, Sarah and I did get to take him out to buy some birthday clothes. He is fun to dress up, so easy to please.

Sunday morning, the day we were going to have the birthday dinner, we got a call from Julia saying she had fallen down the front steps {with Tatum in her arms, and she is 8 months pregnant} Jared had gone to church earlier because of his calling so she was alone. My dad and I rushed over to find her laying right inside her front door, luckily Jared's cell phone was on the coffee table so she didn't have to crawl all over the house. Her voice quivered a bit as she explained what happened but she never cried. Her ankle was a huge bulging ball that I couldn't even look out without feeling light headed and sick to my stomach. My dad carried her to the car and drove to the hospital while I stayed with Tatum. Sarah had gone to get Jared out of church so he met Julia and my dad at the hospital. We found out after church that Julia had broken her ankle in 3 places, and a chunk of her bone had broken off. The doctor said she probably broke it so severely because she was trying to protect both Tatum and her unborn baby from the fall. Basically, her ankle took the fall for all of them. Julia cried twice during the whole experience, once when she realized the accident would probably interfere with Mark's dinner, and then when the doctor told her she needed surgery immediately, and would have 8 {I believe} pins in her ankle. She started crying and said "but I am a dance teacher!" to which the doctor replied "I know, that's why we have to do surgery".

Julia can't put any weight on her ankle for 2 weeks, and will be on crutches for weeks and weeks after that and then need another surgery to take out a few of the pins. Her little family has moved in with my mom and dad for the next 2 weeks, and then they will need to figure out what to do next. Getting through these next few months will take so much sacrifice from everyone, there is a baby to be born, dance competitions, a dance recital, and my Mom and Sarah both have jobs. Here I sit, 2 hours away praying for them all but feeling useless otherwise.

Sometimes it feels like life is one crisis after another, but another way to look at it is one opportunity to show love after another. Boy Howdy does life give my family the opportunity to serve. This love, service, and support is rubbing off on the cousins who love each other dearly....as Miriam says "cousins are even better than best friends!". I say cousins are great, but brothers and sisters are even better and parents? Well....they are priceless.

So, there was a bunch of lovey dovey stuff this weekend after all, just not between Darin and I. Don't worry about us, we have plans to celebrate as well, I just need to get the kids and I over this blasted cold we picked up over the weekend.

Happy Valentines Day!

The kids and I hid valentines for Darin, as we do every year, but this year I asked Miriam to tell me the reasons she loves her daddy. I don't have the list with me to get direct quotes, but here is what I remember from our interview

Why I love Daddy
By: miriam
#1 He hugs me tight when he gets home from work so I feel like he really loves me.
#2 He is funny before we go to bed with tickles and silly stuff.
#3 He works hard so we can have food and toys.
#4 He lets me play on his Ipod and helps with computer games.
#5 ?? I Can't remember
#6 Ice cream (Daddy Daughter dates usually include ice cream).

My reasons for loving Darin are the same as above, but I must add that he is my security, my personal commedian, my sounding board, my voice of reason, my handy man, my encouragment, my teacher, my inspiration, my Peter Parker and my spiderman, my partner in all things.

Thank you for loving me back.
I miss you!

Pre Valentine Party Fun

While I was making chocolate valentine mice ("I know it's cheesey but will you pleasey be my valentine?"), I was talking on the phone to a dear friend (remember Mirissa?) and I forgot to put the almond ears in before the chocolate hardned. So I inadvertantly created a plate full of chocolate moles for the family to enjoy after dinner. This created euphoria and rampant self portrait taking.

Mice vs Mole

Thanks for the party Stephanie it was wonderful!!

I am excited for Stephanie's party tonight!!

I am prepared to be blown away by valentine genius.

Doings, Goings On and such

Sneak preview of one of my Valentine projects...doesn't look much like a valentine does it?

M and I have been missing Laura Ingalls Wilder and all her little houses. So, I introduced M to my dear friend, and kindred spirit Anne Shirley. I had a feeling they would like each other, and I was right. Miriam is just as in love with Prince Edward Island as I was/am.

M and I have so much in common, I hope she never out grows me!

And now....JUST FOR FUN

my kids in disguise.

Hoppy Valentines Day!

We made frog valentines in lieu of attending preschool today. Tuesdays are busy for M, and her preschool is very optional {we aren't paying for it, she mainly goes for playtime}. We needed to get these finished up early because I have Valentines of my own to finish this week.

I'm not a fan of gummie candy in general, but these frogs are pretty good.

We also finished up the craft/thank you gift from M's tea party...now we just need to deliver. Notice the reuse of these stickers? Young Womens....M's birthday.....valentines day.

The Conclusion

M's birthday week is now officially over.
Swimming, pizza, braving the big yellow slide (I now owe her $1), ice cream, cookie cutters, a melody harp, playing with "best friends". Our five year old and Bub were in bed by 6:45 pm after all the excitement. That makes a nice evening for Darin and I.....blogging, movie, and left over pizza.

PS We watched King of California. We enjoyed it, any true Costco fan would.

The Birthday continued....

Miriam picked Royal India for her birthday dinner. Darin and I were over the moon about that since we would choose pudina chicken and vegetable coconut kurma over chicken nuggets and fries any day.

Darin started a tradition 5 years ago of bringing flowers to me on our children's birthdays. He had taken flowers to the restaurant early to surprise me, but to his surprise they gave them to Miriam. She was over the moon about getting them, and neither of us wanted to break the news. I slid the card to me out, and I smiled...Darin shrugged. She still thinks they are for her.

Sharing a mango lassi.

To our unbelievable good fortune, our local theater company was performing The Wizard of Oz!

It was incredibly fun. Miriam was enthralled the whole 2 1/2 hours.

Halloween 2006/meeting Dorothy and Toto

Halloween 2007/meeting Galinda, who said they looked like twins


That is one lucky 5 year old.

The Tea Party

Yea, thats pink bread....our local grocery store is awesome {they handed out kazoos on National kazoo day}.

Hope all your wishes come true!

It's Celebrate Miriam and Punxsutawney Phil Day!

Dear Miriam,

FIVE?! Five...really? I have been a mother for FIVE years today? It has been an amazing and exhausting five years. Your Dad and I are blessed Heavenly Father sent us such an wonderful little girl to be our first, our guinea pig child. You are smart, imaginative, and resilient so I have every confidence you can overcome our parenting blunders.

Miriam Love, our "miss" "luvie" "ni ni" "moo" and even "the Divine Miss M" {from Nonnie}. Have I told you the story of your name? It's a lovely story full of love and anticipation. So here we go...

Daddy, your G'ma C, G'pa B and I went to visit the cemetery one Spring Day and I read the name Clara Rebecca on your great great grandmothers grave. I decided when/if I had a baby girl THAT would be her name. Then came you, and you became Clara. My due date was given as January 29 {Alicia's birthday} but I was cautioned that first time mothers often go days if not weeks over due. Hummm...I thought, that wouldn't be fun, but if I do go over into February, the month of LOVE, I will give you the special middle name of Love...after your G'ma C and great great G'ma. Clara Rebecca, or Clara Love depending on when you arrived...that was settled.

When I was in full bloom of pregnancy, daddy and I went to watch a bouldering competition. Yes, your dad and I use to do cool things like boulder....but I digress. There was a very strong, but feminine climber named Miriam from France climbing that day. Your dad turned to me and said that although he had never thought of it before, he liked that name. I thought "Miriam? like Moses's sister Miriam?".... I wasn't so sure. But the name resonated in my head so I went home and read about biblical Miriam, how she watched over her baby brother in the bulrushes, she sang, she protected, she bravely spoke to the Egyptian royalty and smartly suggested her mother as a nursemaid for the baby. It seemed like the perfect example of an older sister, which we hoped you would get to be someday.

So you were born, 4 days late, and we were enchanted. You, my dear, were a beau-tiful baby. When it came time to declare the name we wanted on the birth certificate Dad said "Miriam?" and I said "Miriam". "Love?" he asked, "definitely Love." I answered. You were given a name and a blessing in between General Conference sessions of that year. Elder Robert D. Hales gave a talk in that conference entitled 'With All the Feeling of a Tender Parent: A Message of Hope for Families'. In that talk, he told the story of Miriam watching over Moses and said this: "....at times when our children are away from us, the Lord provides inspired "Miriams" to watch over them.". At five years old, you have already become a special a teacher, leader and protector to Bub. Just remember to let him lead once and awhile, and someday he will be able to protect and teach you as well!

Maybe if there is a baby sister to come we will name her Clara, or Rebecca because I still love those names, but for you....Miriam just fit. So although, you told me just the other day that Miriam is only a good baby name, and you might need to change your name to "Misty" when you grow up, I hope you grow to love your name like we do.

Luvies
Mom and Dad

Super Bowl Sunday XLIII

It shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone that I didn't watch the big game tonight.
Darin and I usually watch just to see the commercials but these days they are all on line!

I do remember fondly and so vividly watching the Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Five years ago today Darin and I were timing contractions while watching the Patriots beat that Panthers. I was on my hands and knees trying to get through contractions during the after show, and around 3:00 am Monday morning, Miriam was born!

Tonight we celebrated that event by making M's birthday cupcakes.

Who shovels the snow around here?

I do, because Darin is never home till after dark, but I actually enjoy it {except when I fall...true story}. I do my neighbors driveways too.

It's quiet, peaceful and these two help me out.

You mess with the BULL, you get the HORNS

Happy Chinese New Year!!
Our celebration started with a winter storm. Not a storm actually, but a continual soft snowfall all day long. We almost stayed home all day, which would be amazing for me since it drives me crazy to be home for and entire day.

But then, I opened my email to find a Gymboree ad showing their "Birthday Girl" t-shirt was $5 (as well as a pair of jeans). I had to got get it because I completely messed up Miriam's birthday shirt this year. I was going to have to buy a new shirt, new iron numbers, new glitter....everything! This was a much cheaper and easier route.

(last years birthday shirt)

PLUS, we got to go play at the mall foamy play place on such a cold snowy day.

I think these places are a great marketing. Mothers with young children have no where to go on snowy cold days, and if you get them to the mall they are certain to buy something....if not a whole bunch of somethings.

We had the whole place to ourselves and the kids ran themselves ragged.
We then headed to the food court to eat our apples, string cheese and crackers before we all shared a pretzel. A very kind older woman stopped by our table to say that my family was beautiful and that she was impressed with the sack lunch I brought for the kids. It is absolutely amazing how compliments from a stranger can make me so happy. Tears came to my eyes!

We ended the evening enjoying dinner at Cutlers with Grandma C and Grandpa B.
We thought about having Chinese food, in honor of the day, but sandwiches just sounded better.