Come What May, The Leaves Will Turn

Photograph by my sister.

Last year at this time I was newly pregnant and feeling sick almost all of the time. The cold weather and the beautiful colored leaves were a relief. I would drive the kids up the canyon to look at the leaves after school because I was tired of being at home, but didn't have the energy to do anything else. Actually the cold weather was not a relief, just the leaves.

This year everyone else is getting sick. It seems to be a mild but tenacious version of the flu, where the child is obviously ill, and their fatigue is interspersed with bouts of happy energy, and this happy energy is interrupted by rising temperatures and dizzy-feeling heads. It lasts longer than I would like. Two kids down, two kids to go. The baby is absolutely NOT allowed to get the flu. So he is not in the run down.

Last night I dreamed I was driving in the car with a friend who recently lost his father. He was dealing with some difficult things, and I was thinking of something to say that would be true, helpful, and comforting. Then I woke up because Ben had jumped out of bed because my little boy was calling loudly for him, because said little boy's head hurt.

Tylenol can only heal so much. For the rest of life there is time, space, and beautiful colored leaves.

Morning Routine

Miniature Marshmallows and a Cup of Cocoa by Delilah Smith

With a skiff of snow on the ground my two oldest are bundled up and off to school; the two middle children have taken their exuberance out into the cold cold air and are throwing handfuls of the white stuff at each other; the youngest is in his swing, swinging and smiling at me. I am sitting here on the couch, french cheese in hand, wishing Ben had his cell phone with him so that I could call him and tell him that he left it here at home.

Children have an amazing ability to endure and ignore uncomfortable situations and just get straight to the magic of things. I wonder how long they'll last out there? Hopefully long enough to get all their crazy out. Then we can have a nice, warm and peaceful day here at home, doing laundry and drinking hot chocolate. I doubt they'll join me for the laundry, but for sure the hot chocolate.

Especially if there are marshmallows.

Which there are.

Where Does the Time Go?

It's the last week of October. The Last Week!

Where does the time go? My baby is four months old. He is cute and funny. He's growing up so fast I swear that by January he will have graduated High School and headed off to college. And I'm kind of sad about that, because he is such a cute baby.

Time goes by faster now. It used to take a long time to get from birth to 4 months. The waking up at night, the endless feedings, the waking up at night. I must have four other kids who keep me going at breakneck speed because I haven't looked forward at all to the four month mark, the mark my mother used to comfort me with my other children (It gets easier at four months, they sleep longer, they laugh at you, they wear bigger diapers). I haven't looked for it and yet here it is and gone.

Yes, it's kind of sad.

He's such a sweetheart.

* * * * *

On an unrelated note: it's raining a lot these days. And the lawn I stopped watering in September? (Or maybe it was August...) It's all nice and green again. Just in time for the snow to start falling. We had a doozy of a storm last night with wind and rain. Tonight: hail. Fun stuff. And if I remember to I will tell you about our doozy of a morning this morning tomorrow morning. See if you can make sense of that, fellow bloggers and other various people who keep up with me online. Or who don't keep up. Ha ha! I obviously need to get to bed. Farewell, all. And to all a good night.

I Am Not a Fan

of

... antlers in decorating. I know it's in. I think it's ugly. I will forever think it's ugly. And silly.

... jeggings (see commentary on antlers).

... EDITED TO ADD what I was initially thinking that I was not a fan of: Facebook. And then I forgot, and then I remembered. Nope, not a facebook fan.

... lame, serialized children's books (having to do with fairies, mermaids or what-have-you, with no decent plot and an utter lack of interesting writing).

... guys who keep a girl around even though they know it's not a good idea (lots of past examples and stories. Don't get me started).

... reading lame serialized children's books to children.

... seafood.

... potty training.

... unrestrained money to political campaigns with no disclosure of who is giving.

... the flu.

... feta cheese.

... the way NPR fired Juan Williams (not necessarily saying they shouldn't have, but they sure managed it poorly).

... hot dogs.

{If you like any or all of these things, that's grand. I am not trying to pick a fight. I am not a fan of picking fights.}

Yes, it has.

It's been a day.

Ben has a project due. He's been working on it like crazy. He still found time for me to go the the football game today. Which was awfully nice of him. I haven't been to a game for quite some time. I wasn't sure if I should go. But my younger brother had an extra ticket, and I like hanging out with him.

The game was wet and cold, but it was really fabulous to be there. The cheerleaders spent too much time right in front of us. I made up for it by laughing at their fake eyelashes. Woosh. We won the game 25-20. Go defense. The defense seriously saved us in the end. Plus, the crowd was really loud and supportive, which is always exciting. I yelled a lot.

I arrived home and some of my kids were crazy. Mostly just one kid. Who had been crazy before I left. This child has a stellar ability to make me feel utterly inadequate as a parent.

I put the kids to bed and went to study my lesson for Sunday School tomorrow. I felt bad about my lack as a parent. (Oh the lack.) We are studying Isaiah. Chapters 40-49. Oh heavenly book. The chapters focus on Christ as our only Savior and what he has done for us. Beautiful. Hallelujah.

It was just what I needed.

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. {2 Nephi 25:26}

I cleaned off the stove, finished up reading Isaiah, and then dished up some ice cream. Then I ate the ice cream and then I decided to blog about it.

ah, oui

Dinner is in the oven. Woohoo! I am on the ball. Wednesday nights are a tad crazy, though less so now that soccer season is over. Okay, all nights are a tad crazy, soccer or no soccer.

We are having quiche. "Quiche!" said my 3.5 year old daughter when she found out what I was making, "I love quiche!"

And now the word quiche is looking so funny to me. The word peace did that to me the other day. But now peace is back to normal.

I hope the quiche turns out. Whether the word looks funny or not, I always just throw stuff together for my quiche and then wait and see. Thanks to my French Education. Which was lovely. And survived some strikes. Oh, la.

I am rather proud of myself for making decent dinners three nights in a row. Maybe we'll have tacos tomorrow night. And Friday night is usually pizza night, mostly homemade. But not by me. By the true cook of the family: Ben. Hooray for Ben. Who cleaned the kitchen for me yesterday.

That did not look funny to me at all. It looked, actually, heavenly. I was happy about the clean counter tops all evening.

Be Brave, French Politicians

Of course, the people are unhappy. Oh the French. Striking. Rioting. Burning a few tires. Protesting the retirement age. It is at 60. Sarkozy is aiming for 62. Oh woe, the French. Having to work until you are 62. I adore my adopted country. I'd like the system to not completely fall apart. Your current pension system is losing money. Be brave, French politicians. Vote the darn thing into law despite the insanity.

Cream Cheese is Good for Everything

It's a Monday. The eighteenth of the month. I am happy about the number 18 today. It's a beautiful Fall day. I was out this morning at the county building registering to vote (but for who? who knows!) and ordering a copy of my baby's birth certificate. I went to buy some honey in bulk at the grocery store but they were out of the kind I wanted, so I will head out to Costco today or tomorrow to pick some up. We're working on emergency food storage around here. I picked up a mini-muffin tin instead.

I am suposed to make sugar cookie dough so that we can make Halloween cookies tonight for FHE. My kids don't particularly like to eat sugar cookies. But they do like to make them and decorate them. I really should just make some basic kind of cookie, but I am not a huge fan of sugar cookies either. That said, I have a fantastic sugar cookie recipe that I do like, involving almond extract and cream cheese and the cookies are good and the dough is even better. And, of course, fattening. So I should probably half the recipe. Once I get around to making it that is.

My baby, who should be taking a nap, but instead is lying next to me and not taking a nap kept me up last night with a little bit of congestion. Baby congestion = noisy sleeping baby = mom not sleeping. I would like to take a nap. And the baby is thinking about a nap. I can tell by his tired looking eyes.

Go to sleep baby. Your birth certificate is in the mail. It's a beautiful Fall day. I am registered to vote. And maybe I can go to sleep, too. Once I make that cookie dough.

A Break

Wednesday Ben took the kids to a sourdough pizza restaurant. I don't like sourdough anything so he figured it was his opportunity to try it out. They went to the park. They went to the library. The pizza restaurant was void of any customers save my family, so the kids got to run around and have the time of their lives. (I fear ever sending them back there should they chance to meet other customers who require children sit at their own booth and not everyone else's.) They had a splendid time.

Yesterday we went to the zoo. I got ready for it slowly, determined not to send myself back to the sick bed just for the sake of some foreign animals. We forgot the stroller so the baby was generally good natured about being hauled around like a sack of flour. He fussed a little bit but I fed him on a bench above the giraffe sanctuary and really I thought he was a trooper, what with no nap, no regular and ample lunch, and no sense of the wonderful world of animals we were traipsing through.

The kids did great. We kept track of all of them. If you ask them their favorite part they will tell you the carousel ride and the cotton candy. The traffic home was intense, but the kids did splendidly. Surprisingly, it was only the baby who cried at all, and I was relieved and only a little bit tired (well, a lot bit, but not sick and exhausted) when we arrived home.

Today is an open book, with some kid crafty painting scribbled in somewhere. A trip to the local Walmart and Costco are on the docket. I need to get tile cut. Hopefully the kids enjoy a little time around the house. I am going to try and chill a little bit more, though the house seems to be screaming out that I clean it a little bit and do some vacuuming. But we're chill here. Sort of.

This weekend is Fall Break. And it's turning out rather nicely.

Keeping up the numbers

I've been ill the past few days. Achy muscles, tired eyes, no energy. I think I'm turning the corner, but I'm not there yet, so I am in bed next to sleeping Caleb, napping a bit myself and now, blogging.

I've been keeping tabs on the chilean rescue mission. Somebody has the job to update the news story on Yahoo! and other sites every time another miner is brought to the surface. I love that. The link says 23 miners, but when I click on it, suddenly it's 25 miners. And then it will be 26, and 27. I prayed all day yesterday for these men. For their sanity and peace of mind. For the rescue mission itself. Amazing. 69 days trapped together. I'm sure it was difficult and intense. And yet hope and the knowledge of someone up above willing and able to eventually pull them out kept them going. You know there is a metaphor there about how life works.

My eyes are still tired, so I'm going to close them now. I'm feeling better. I've been living on juice bars. And a respite from house work. Props to Ben for heading up the goings on around home. I have a mountain of laundry to fold.

Ignoring the laundry for now. Keeping the prayers going, though.

26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

the music that swells the soul

Sunday evening my daughter and my sister performed a small piano recital; it was just the two of them and my sister-in-law who joined my sister in a duet (and who is their fabulous piano teacher).

My oldest, sitting up on the bench before the grand piano looked such an odd combination of the baby she was eight years ago and the girl she is now, growing up swiftly, and generally with grace (if the occasional tantrum). She did very well, was very composed and I was proud of her.

My youngest sister, who can be irrationally modest about her talents and performing abilities, was fantastic. I loved hearing her pieces and sat in awe of her as she played. K.K. is dedicated and lovely. It was a pleasure to watch her as she shared with us pieces that my soul delights in for their beauty and technicality.

It's cloudy, windy and rainy today. After a few weeks of weather that has been much too warm for my tastes we have weather to fit the season. It makes me feel cosy and warm and satisfied, with just a hint of melancholy. The leaves are rustling in the breeze, there is a mellow yet crisp scent to the air. It all sounds wonderful.