Petal Picker

Cozette was laying on my pillow the other day. She kept trying to pick up the petals on the sheets. It took her a while to figure out that they were printed on - not sitting on - the pillow.

We're so dazzled...

It was a long, scenic drive to Forks. Did I mention long? ....and there were so many things I wished we could stop and do on the way there. It was just painful to drive past Marymere Falls and Sol Duc Hot Springs, but weather and available daylight were just inadequate. As we drove past Cresent Lake, the beautiful lake was on our right, with lush ferns and waterfalls on our left. I took this picture at great peril to all of our lives.


By the time we got to Forks, the kids were hungry and going crazy. We thought we had better feed them some sandwiches and let them run off a little energy before taking them anywhere more public or confining than a park.



Finally, with diapers changed and kids fed and exercised, we were off to check out some Twilight sights. First we went to "Dazzled by Twilight", the serious fan store right in town. ...a 2 part store...if you didn't already read Bird Girl's spoiler... the first store we went into was nice enough. It had shelves full of Twilight stuff, cardboard cutouts, postcards...Annika purchased some Twilight candy. I got Anthony a "Twilighter". Get it...a Twi-lighter? It was a lighter - in case you're dense.


(Me trying to come between Bella and Edward. Think my husband and 6 kids might be an obstacle?)


Little Victoria posing with big Victoria.


Jonny punching Edward in the nards. (See, Chet, you aren't the only one he targets.)

Then we wandered over to the other half - so amazing - and full of fun stuff. They had a faux-grass floor, with trees full of lights. James kept trying to drink from the waterfalls.


No one donated to the "blood bank".


Jacob and his bike...we should have got a picture on it!


So much fun stuff to buy. I really didn't want that money anyways, so it's just as well that I gave it to Dazzled by Twilight.

The Anti-Diet

I had this grand plan to lose my baby weight while Tony was on deployment for six months. It was somehow motivating to picture him coming home surprised, finding me even cuter and thinner than he remembered. Well, he never left.

Plan B: lose 5lbs while he's on his 3-week business trip. That's just a couple pounds a week. Sounds do-able, right? My strategy involves eating whole grains, more fruits and vegetables, with less fat and sugar. Nothing is off limits.

-but it isn't a diet. I can't actually diet. Dieting makes me crave large quantities of all of the very worst foods. Gallons of ice cream, 5 for $5 cheeseburgers, and the like. This is a slight handicap in the weight loss department, but I think I've found a way around it.

Instead of forbidding any foods, I just say to myself, "I'm choosing to eat healthier things, because I want to be a healthy person." I don't know why this works for me. It's like I have a streak of rebelliousness accompanied by a streak of idiocy. (...so I can trick myself?)

So, my latest "health food kick" is turning our pretty well. I've been having "Zoom" for breakfast. That's a hot, whole-wheat cereal. Ingredients: whole wheat. I add some non-fat milk, cinnamon, and warm peaches for flavor. It's yummy enought that kitty tries to steal bites.



My super-dense, whole-wheat bread. Not as good, but I'm still trying to at least finish it off.



I'll let you know how that works out.

It's all thanks to Zombies

Yes, I have 6 kids AND a guest room. It's the downstairs bedroom that used to belong to my oldest child, and when company would come, he had to give it up. Of course, that meant that the "guest room" was littered with legos and was of questionable cleanliness (I did make him change the linens and vacuum).

All of that changed when Tony brought home World War Z. You know...a documentary retrospective about the world-wide zombie catastrophe. Zombies are Tony's shocky cheese. He fears them. He knows they'll shock him....but when he's wandering through the mouse maze, he cannot resist them.

Well, Anthony was sure he was old enought to handle it too. I warned him. He didn't listen. Pretty soon he was begging me to return World War Z (as if zombies would emerge from its pages at any moment) and spending his nights upstairs with his little brothers. So, we put up the bunk beds, and now all three boys share an upstairs bedroom. Since legos are Anthony's main posession, he fit in nicely.

Why wasn't Sofi begging for a room of her very own? ...she read a few pages too.

Colors

I get tired of the same old colors. Color schemes that I loved last year, grate on my nerves this year. Presently, I'm drawn to all shades of gray and most yellows.
...so my guest room has gray curtains, and someday I'm hoping it will have a yellow and gray quilt on the bed. ..we'll see if I can ever find enough pretty grays and yellows.

What are your favorite colors? (Are you having elementary school flashbacks?)

Kinderlessons

My Dad has told me stories of how his father taught him how to swim. He tossed him into a swimming pool and stepped on his fingers when he tried to get out. Motherhood has boosted my self-esteem in the same sink-or-swim way.

I could be bothered by the changes it has caused in my life. I could take it personally when my tweens, who are struggling to find the balance between humor and rudeness, try out their new ideas.

Anthony's lastest was:
"When I was a toddler and Sofia was a baby, you were a lot thinner."
...and then he looked at me as if he'd said something really clever and I might burst out laughing at any moment.
I say, "Yes, thanks for pointing that out." in a sarcastic enough way that he knew it wasn't funny.

They have to experiment on someone, and I'm hoping these little encounters keep him from saying similar things to his wife (or relative strangers) some day. ..and it doesn't bother me at all. When you've been thrown into the pool, you can either struggle and panic or embrace the cool water around you - let it flow over and past you.

I'm a sucker...

...for everything my husband does. He just went on vacation and left me a note on the kitchen counter. So sweet. The kids have already changed it to kljd annnozuxia, but the love lingers on.



The girls and I went to Target this afternoon, and they had all of their "Just One Year" clothes (in the baby section) half price. Awesome, since Cozette and I are very partial to this color scheme. Anything that mixes brown and girly colors! She couldn't wait to get home and try on her new duds.




I'm off to work on this...


...so, have a lovely night!