I'm so impaired!

I think there might be some kind of genetic glitch in my family that makes us get injured doing stupid, everyday things that other people sail right through. I should have suspected this when my Dad told us all the story of our great, great aunt who fell off of a cliff while picking Huckleberries. (Berry picking is another genetically ingrained addiction.) I guess a juicy one was just out of reach!
Then my cute little sister sprained her ankle during a relay marathon. It doesn't sound silly at first...then you learn she was jumping up to high-five someone when is happened.
Yesterday I followed suit, although the results weren't nearly as serious. The kids and I were playing at the park down the street. Jonny, James and I scooter-jacked Anthony's scooter out from under him! Just to set the scene, this isn't a regular scooter, it's a fusion, so you can carve on it. Slightly more dangerous and way more fun. Well, the little boys and I were racing away with our prize, when we took a turn just a little too fast. We all fell off, and luckily I was the only one hurt.
The painful ankle seemed better in minutes and we went on with our evening. By bath time it was twingy again. By bedtime I couldn't walk. So, I've figured out that if I keep it up and iced, it's absolutely fine. My plan is to rest and ice with little spurts of super-productive activity in between. (Writing in my blog goes in the rest category.)

Health Food

Lately I've been attempting some healthier meals, mainly at dinner, so that the picky children don't starve to death. At the other meals, I've just been throwing in extra fruits that I know they'll eat. I've even subscribed to "the Cancer Project"'s weekly recipe e-mails. (For those of you unfamiliar with them, they are people who run commercials on the horrors of processed meat - although I think they are anti meat and dairy of all kinds. I just can't believe dairy is bad. It goes against my nutritional upbringing!)
What brought this effort about was Sofia's constant nagging that we need to eat healthier. "You can't feed us potatoes and corn in the same meal - that's two starches!" Eventually I caved and acknowledged that I needed to make an effort.
I made homemade mashed potatoes with mashed rutabagas (very good for you, according to the Cancer Project people) instead of our lazy, high-sodium potato pearls. Everyone ate them...except Sofia. I made two different kinds of Tabbouli Salad. Anthony raved about it. Jonny at least ate out all of the wheat bulgar (and ate the leftover wheat bulgar). Sofia said that I had combined a bunch of ingredients that she liked and made them into something that she didn't.
This is a "be careful what you wish for lesson", because now I'm all into this healthy food and Sofia is bemoaning her fate. Here are my yummy tabbouli recipes for the rest of you brave souls! The good news is, you can make it any way you want, with olive oil, parsley, and mint or just your favorite vegis!

Holiday Tabbouli
1 cup uncooked wheat bulgar
Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the bulgar, and let it sit in a bowl for 1 hour
Add:
1/2 to 1 1/2 cups of diced parsley
tsp. or 2 of fresh diced mint
seeds from one pomegranate
1 seeded, diced cucumber
lemon juice and olive oil to taste

Mediterranean Tabbouli
1 cup uncooked wheat bulgar
Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the bulgar, and let it sit in a bowl for 1 hour
Add:
1/2 to 1 1/2 cups of diced parsley
1 seeded, diced cucumber
two seeded/ diced roma tomatoes
roughly chopped marinated artichoke hearts
black or green olives (I just used a tapenade I had in the fridge - fast and yummy)
olive oil
some of the best tasting balsamic vinegar you have (our favorite Italian place makes a great one with currents and, I'm guessing, lots of sugar!)
It probably isn't AS good for you, but Anthony and I fought over this one until it was gone!

My Cloudy Bedroom

Most people who live in the northwest are used to some pretty persistent cloud cover, but it doesn't normally enter your bedroom and take over the whole floor! My room is the exception.
When Jonny comes running and says, "Look what we did! Come look what we did!" you never know what to expect. (He doesn't always recognize when he has done something naughty, so he's still excited to tell you about it.)
Yesterday "what we (Anthony, Jon, and James) did" was to empty a brand new bag of batting all over my sewing room/bedroom floor. And they've been enjoying the fluffy mess immensely ever since. Sofia likes to shape it into hearts or giant sheep, Jon buries himself in it, and James seems to enjoy tramping through it, in an effort to spread it over as much of the floor's surface as possible (which is actually very cute). Every time I walk into my room, there's a different cloud formation on my floor.
So, why don't I just clean the fluff up?, you are asking yourself. (Sofia, reading this over my shoulder, is already begging me not to clean up her precious fluff.)I pretend to myself that it is because I'm such a cool mom, reveling in the joy and creativity of my children, but , realistically, it probably has something to do with laziness.

Twelve Short Years

Tomorrow is Tony and my 12th anniversary! Since we knew he wouldn't be around right now, we pretended the big day was when we were in Hawaii. That was more fun than going to Costco and an end-of-season soccer party will be anyhow.
Looking back, I consider it a minor miracle (for me a major one!) that we found each other and fell in love. Tony had checks in all of the boxes: mission, college (with the prospect of someday graduating and being gainfully employed), intelligent, supportive and kind - but who couldn't fake that for the 3 weeks that we dated!
Well, in honor of the occasion, here are the top ten reasons that I love Tony. Don't worry, it's all rated G, but I will totally understand if no one but me wants to read it!

1. Whenever I anticipate something that he's going to say, what he actually does say is always more intelligent and well thought out than what my mind came up with.
2. He likes my body through all of the many changes that occur and reoccur when you have 5 and 1/2 children. (Probably on my mind right now because the baby bump is starting to get more obvious.)
3. Tony likes all kinds of movies. He had a much broader range that I do. The only movie choice he's ever hassled me about was a middle eastern movie about a rug. So, I get to drag him to all of my foreign and girl movies with no complaints, and I don't have to go see Rocky (although, I have to admit that the last one wasn't half bad).
4. He's always been happy and willing to add to our sometimes wild family.
5. In spite of having a kind of intense and yucky job right now, he still acts like the work I do at home is valuable (even when, if I were the maid, I would fire myself).
6. He knows that I zone out after about 2 minutes of any engineering explanation, but I swear he listens when I talk about my sisters and sewing and plants that he's never heard of. (Maybe he just has a better game face?)
7. Tony likes that Northwest! That may sound dumb, but I love it here and what if I had married some crazy person who wanted to live where it was hot and buggy and snake-infested?
8. He's much bigger than me, but isn't a giant, so I get to feel girly and feminine (I've never outweighed him - even at full term!) without feeling like I'm the size of a child. It's nice to kiss your honey without a step-ladder, and we short people don't always have that option!
9. He likes my family! We Tunnells are probably not for everyone (nice, but a bit idiosyncratic), so that's a huge plus. (Pretty lucky, considering that he met them the day before our wedding.)
10. He has awesome legs and nice, broad shoulders.

I could go on, but I'm sure that anyone who has gotten this far may already be feeling a little nausea. Have a wonderful my anniversary! Give your loved one a hug and tell them why you love them even more after __ years.

Random Miscellanea (WARNING: this includes puke)

Ok. I made a fairy and it wasn't nearly as cute as the ones my daughters made! I'm kind of mad about it, because I already painted about a million little heads for them. I guess I could try, try again (or give them all to very undiscerning little children if that doesn't work).
My poor little Jonny started puking as soon as we finished his reading lesson this morning. He had been complaining about his tummy during the lesson, but I really tend to brush off any complaining during lessons. (Somehow lessons elicit complaining of all sorts. Violin made Sofia horribly itchy when she was 5 and 6. Now it makes Annika stiff - in need of stretching to endanger her relatively fragile instrument. Pianos seem so much sturdier. No child has ever accidentally dropped or thrown a piano. Yet, I digress.)
Jonathan has been a real sport about the whole thing. He has managed to throw up in his "friend" (the bowl that you take everywhere, because it is your best friend when you're sick) every time. My sister gave me the brilliant idea of paying the kids a dollar every time they make it to a bowl or the toilet. I'm surprised how much negotiating this has led to between the kids and I. Eventually it will get so complicated, that we'll have to write it all down. With Anthony we established that sinks are only fifty cents. They obviously tried, but I still have to clean something yucky right away. And it turns out Jonny was counting every heave as $1. That adds up pretty fast, so I had to set him staight. (Gently, of course, he is sick!)
Yesterday I had to issue a ban on beads and bb collections. James stuck a warning bb in his nose. It was easily extracted and everyone had to put their beads/bbs up high. The second bb, stuck much farther up, caused the all-out ban, with everyone in tears as they tossed the beads they had so lovingly collected from the floors at Joanns. It was a sad moment, but I'm so over the whole emergency room thing. We narrowly avoided it this time - next time I want to avoid it by a wide margin.
Well, there's your little glimpse into out fascinating lives! Aren't you jealous?

It's a Soccer Miracle

I know the Pacific Northwest is pretty famous for it's rain, but this week we're been getting it in spades. It has been pouring for days.
I spent Thursday sitting around, feeling extremely grateful that I had no reason to leave the house and venture out into the torrents of rain. My gratitude was totally unwarranted. At 4:11, Sofia peeked her head into the bathroom, where I was bathing my 2-yr-old, and informed me that her dance class started at 4:30. The mad rush began. Drying and dressing an angry James, yelling for girls to put dance clothes on (yes, even the one who knew she had dance wasn't ready), and trying to rouse the boys from their "command and conquer" coma, so that we can all get out the door.

Today was different...I actually remembered that I was going to be busy (and thus could stress about it), but several little miracles made it a much better day than it might have been.
First, the sun came out..briefly...just long enough for Anthony's soccer game not to be any messier than all of the boys (unable to resist the lure of a fresh puddle) made it. Since I have a very high puddle resistance, it was MUCH drier for me.
Second, my wonderful Mother came over for the day, allowing me to leave all of the other hooligans at home. I'm so grateful. I know that hooligans 4 and 5 would have been swimming in a particularly large puddle by halftime. She even stayed, so that I wouldn't have to find a babysitter for the mandatory socializing I had to do this evening. (Is this just a Navy thing or do the rest of you feel obligated to have dinner with the wives of your husband's colleagues? Nothing personal against any of them, who are all very nice.)
So, here's to a day where everything was less hectic and crazy than in could have been! (Picture me drinking the Dr.Pepper my little sister was so unwise as to leave in my keeping.) And here's to Grandmas, who take care of our kids because they actually love them (instead of just because we're paying them) and bring us super-fun crafts to boot! (See adorable fairy folk that my girls made while I was gone...with only minimal glue spillage on my bed.)

Ask and ye shall receive

Ok, here are some more detailed, although not great pictures. I think it might be time for me to get a nicer camera. My little point and shoot digital is just not cutting it and my nice camera takes film. Weird, huh?