Page Turners

I don't know why, but I foolishly started reading The Hunger Games last night. I'd been warned it was good. Anthony read book 1 on a flight to Germany, book 2 on the flight home and neglected the kids for an entire Saturday while I was gone so he could finish book 3. It's not like I have that kind of time. So why did I even start? Maybe I thought I was stronger than that. Maybe I haven't read a good page-turner for a few months and I'd forgotten the ocean-tide-like pull. Actually, I just wasn't expecting it to be that addicting. I started last night and was able to put it down for bed when I finished 'Part I'. I woke up this morning and spent the entire rest of the day neglecting the kids and the house till I finished the book around 5:30pm. For some reason the kids were extra extra good today and I managed to get away with it. I'd take a picture of our tornado house but it's all too embarrassing.

But, this has me thinking - what are the best page turners you've read, recently or not? Here's my list, though I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

1. The Hunger Games (I don't think I've ever ever done a 1-day read like this)

2. Angels and Deamons

3. Ender's Game (The first page turner I ever read back in 9th grade)

4. Harry Potter book 1 (The other 6 weren't quite as "new" as that very first for me)

5. Twilight (and Stephanie Meyer's other 4 books, although caveat: I was pregnant when I read them so I was only too happy to indulge in an escape!)

6. The DaVinci Code

7. The Dark Divine

8. Echo (an unpublished book by Brodi Ashton - I can't wait for Everneath to come out next year)

What am I forgetting? What is your top ten?

Happy (Utah) Halloween

Halloween comes early in Utah when it falls on a Sunday. Many trick-or-treaters were out and about tonight - including us. Austin selected our costume theme again this year. About a month ago he got super into the new PBS kids show "The Cat In The Hat" - hence The Cat, The Fish, and Thing 1 and Thing 2. I actually get a big kick out of doing family costumes. It'll be sad someday when they want to do their own separate things.

I discovered tonight that I must be a sugar-indulgent mother because this horde of collected candy meant nothing to my children. Austin got home, dumped his loot on the floor, looked at it and announced, "Here daddy, you can have it." Ruthie, on the other hand, wanted to at least try the candy, but only one bite from every package. "Open this, mommy." Bite. Toss. "Open this, mommy." It's ok though, Anthony and I didn't mind eating it all for them.

The Weepies (I Got Bounced!)

Welcome to "The Weepies"! This has been Anthony's favorite group for about a year now. They did a concert here Saturday night and Anthony got us tickets. I am now totally hooked too! It was a great concert; the only downside being that they only played 10 or so songs and we were well prepared to listen to their entire musical library. If you are reading our blog (not just reading this on an email) you can hear some of their best songs. Click here to check it out. Or watch our concert recording below (if the link is working).

[Us in concert-bought t-shirt and beanie].

Oh, and I got bounced from a club for the first time in my life. (Yes, it was the first time I've ever been to a club in my entire life!) Whenever Anthony and I go out he always drives and pays for everything. I drag along my wallet, hanging conspicuously around my neck like a janitor's keyring. So for once I decided to be free of the burden and leave my wallet at home. Turns out the concert was held at a small music club (with a bar) that held about 300 people. As we approached the front of the line to get in I noticed people showing their IDs. I laughed and said, "Guess I won't be going to the bar tonight! Ha Ha." No ma'am, you won't even be going in. The bouncer dude refused to let us in! Ack! We raced 30 minutes back home, grabbed my stupid wallet, raced 30 minutes back to the concert, missed the opening act and made it 2 minutes before our band took the stage. Phew! Listen up people - never leave your wallet at home!

(Please no commentary on why you should never go without wallet or ID. Believe me, I felt plenty small and stupid about it so just laugh

and don't rub it in.)

Cutest Girl in the World

Many thanks to Amber for the adorable hand-made dress (seriously - is that amazing or what!?).

My Favorite Picture Of Summer

This summer we discovered two things:

1. The kids have more fun playing in our oscillating sprinkler than in their kiddie pool. They even manage to get me to join in the fun!
2. We love cucumbers! My over-ambitious garden was worth it if for only one thing - Austin figured out how to pick ripe cucumbers and eat them straight from the garden. He loves to cut them in half with his bare hands and share with Ruthie. One vegetable they eat gladly. Yay!

Teaching Children

Austin's primary teacher called me yesterday morning about an hour before church asking me to pinch hit for her in teaching his class. This is what I love about teaching 4-year-olds: the lesson took me 5 minutes to prepare - then we had snacks - and played with play-do. It's nice when it's that easy! Alternatively, three weeks ago I was asked to teach the Relief Society lesson. Teaching adults is definitely tougher - that lesson took me 5 hours to prepare.

But I just learned that teaching 4-year-olds and teaching 40-year-olds can have something in common. One thing I love about teaching kids is that the lessons are so basic. In Austin's class we learn very basic principles of religion and morality - like being kind, being honest, loving our family, how to say a prayer, etc. I truly love leaving behind the complex and the complicated that we often get in Sunday School and going back to the simple and sweet that surrounds children. This year the lesson manual for the adults is awesome because it actually goes back to the basics. I am really enjoying revisiting simple religious principles. I actually hope that I'll get to teach some more this year (though not too often since an extra 5 hours can be hard to come by).

We Love Gymnastics!

Summertime was gymnastics time for Austin. He attended the Lehi Rec center program weekly April-June and had a great time learning new ways to move his body. They do a stellar job there - rotating sets of 4 kids through 3 stations with different teachers, sampling each of the major gymnastics events. At the end of each class all the kids put their arms in the center and shouted "We Love Gymnastics!" Austin had a great time with this and I enjoyed 1) watching him try new things and 2) practice taking teacher instructions. Although, after 3 months, he started to resist going so we had to call it quits then.

In May we were treated to a gymnastics "meet" where the parents got to come in the evening and watch these little ones show off their stuff (older kids had a real meet later in the week). In the pic below you can see Austin (L to R) doing tumbling, vaulting, parallel bars, marching in, and balance beam. At the end of the meet each kid was awarded a medal. I included my favorite moment of the night in video - Austin's "Buzz Lightyear" vault.

Happy 4th

This is something I haven't done in a good 6 months - blogged an event right after it transpired! Well I'm all caught up baby! Go me! (Of course, I stopped taking pictures for about 3 months to help with that...)

We started our holiday traditions Friday night with a visit to Provo's Freedom Days. The kids made crafts and Anthony and I grabbed some lamb gyros, which were delightfully reminiscent of German duners. The festival didn't do much for me this year - not sure if we'll attend next year.

Saturday morning (the "official" holiday in Utah) we took the kids swimming in the morning. In the afternoon we dropped Ruthie off at Lisa's (she had a great time) and met up with the rest of the fam to see Toy Story 3. As you can see, Austin was so excited, he wore his Buzz Lightyear costume for 2 straight days. Take on the movie? I loved it. Pixar is great. Toy Story 2 is still my favorite of the trilogy. Poor little Austin was deeply disturbed. At one point the bad guys capture Buzz and tie him to a chair. This is were it started to get hard for Austin. He leaned over to me and asked, "Why does Buzz have to go to time out?" Then the bad guys flipped Buzz's reset switch and turned him into a "bad" guy. Austin crawled into my lap crying and asking, "Why is Buzz being mean?" I kept reassuring him that his friends would save him and to keep watching. He did, ducking his head into my arm several times and at one point telling me, "I just want to see Toy Story 4." He made it through the movie and was happy with the ending, but confessed to everyone after, "That movie was just a little bit scary for me."

Following the movie we dashed off to Debbie's house for some evening nummy BBQ and fireworks.

Anthony overate. I lit my traditional parachutes. Ruthie stayed up till 10pm. And Austin got a girlfriend. A neighbor of Debbie's (whom she doesn't know) hooked up with Austin during the course of the evening. Wherever he led, she followed and he seemed quite content with her company. He didn't know her name (Lacey) and she kept calling him Buzz (which makes me wonder if she was won over by the uniform), but they sure were cute to watch. Her dad ran over to snag pictures of the duo too. Anthony thought we were watching the Austin and Lacey show more than the Stadium of Fire.

Ruthie is 18 months

On May 15th, Ruthie was officially 18 months old. This little girl seriously AMAZES me. When you ask her, "How old are you?" She quickly responds, "Two." Most days, I believe it. I tell people she is 18 months going on 3 years. Here are a few of the amazing things Ruthie can do:

(I wish I had pictures of everything. Perhaps I'll take some and retroactively add them).

• At the park, she can climb from the ground to the top of the big slides and go down in a sitting positions - all by herself.

• She can run - and she and brother love to play chase every day.

• Every morning, she feeds herself a bowl of cereal and get 80% of it in her mouth. (I've gotten accustomed to the daily clean up of the other 20% ).

• When we put on the "Oo and Ah" song in the car, Ruthie sings along. "Oo Oo, Oo Oo, Oo Oo, Ah Ah." It is so stinkin' cute.

• To this day she's still not really a night-time cuddle-bug. If she'd let me, I'd hold her and sing to her for much longer stretches, but when reading time is done, she starts to cry and wriggle. Maybe I just haven't mastered the bed-time routine the way Anthony super-dad has.

• That said, Ruthie is (and has always been) the easiest kid to put to bed. She actually asks for naps. No joke!

• She has her routine. Every morning she greets me with, "I cererereal now." Immediately following breakfast she announces, "T B" (for tv). She and Austin watch one or two PBS kids shows while I get some things done. Then we're out of the house and playing. We come home in time for lunch about noon, at which point she announces, "nap." It's a tough life.

• Ruthie is a very happy, pleasant girl. She's super easy and often does her own thing quite happily. The things that upset her, though, are 1) brother trying to bend her to his will with pushing, pulling, or sitting on her; 2) her morning routine thrown off; 3) waking up from naps early; 4) diaper changes.
  

• She is definitely a girly-girl. When I let the kids wander through the toy aisles at the store, Austin heads toward the Toy Story, Batman, Leggos kind of stuff, while Ruthie heads for the babies, strollers and purses. I have not pushed this at all and her supply of girl toys is still severely under par. But it's amazing to me to see the natural gender differences in these two.

• Ruthie definitely talks like a 2-year-old. She uses over a hundred words (I can't count them all) and frequently uses 2-word, sometimes 3-word sentences! Nursery leaders, the gym daycare workers and many other adults often comment on how well and how much she speaks. We never bothered teaching this little girl sign language because she's been communicating her needs since she was 1.

• Some of my favorite funny words are:
• "bank-bank" = blanket
• "cuppy" = drink
• "bop-bop" = grandpa
• "ma-ma" = grandma (and I'm "mommy")
• "cerleerreeal" = cereal
• "weee" = swing
• "tank oo" = thank you
  

• Some of her clearest words are:
• "Debbie"
• "Tyce"
• "shoes"
• "socks"
• "nap"
• "car"
• "hungry"
• "ta-da"
• "doggie"
• "alright" (this was one of her earliest words too and it cracked us up every time!)
  

• Some of her best word combinations are:
• "play car"
• "stop it"
• "I did it"
• "No, I do"
• "Daddy, are you?" (where are you?)
• "Daddy work"
• "I oo oo mommy" (I love you mommy)
  

My precious daughter is a blond-haired, deep-brown-eyed, cherub. I'm so so glad she's in my family. What would life be without having both a boy and a girl to enjoy? Ruthie, your mommy and daddy love you fiercely - never forget that.

Gardening 102

Year 2 of gardening is underway! My gardening efforts actually began in February with a technique I learned 2 years ago called "winter sewing". Cut open a milk jug, fill it with dirt, plant your seeds, tape the jug shut, water well, leave the cap off, toss it out in the snow, and don't bother with it until May! The first 2 pictures below are our February gardening efforts. The next is the result in May: beets, onions/carrots, peppers, squash. Here's what I learned about winter sewing this year: 1) don't start until St. Patricks day - all my plants out grew their containers a month before planting time. 2) plant peppers indoors and start them in January - they just don't grow in the cold and they grow slow. 3) plant only one type of seed per jug - when they get big they're hard to separate. 4) for big items, like squash, only plant 1 or 2 per jug so they have plenty of room to grow. Winter sewing is a blast though. It's like having your own nursery starts for super cheap and very little effort.


The last photo (above) is the zucchini plant Austin started from a seed in preschool. When it got big enough, he planted it himself in our backyard. Today, it's got a few little zucchini's starting to grow (picture 4 below).

Here's how our garden looks today: Our new honey crisp apple tree, our new garden plot, our new lemon Elberta peach tree, Austin's zucchini, last year's expanding raspberries. This year our garden contains: watermelon, zucchini, rosemary, raspberries, winter squash, summer squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, carrots, onions, beets, tomatoes, peppers and strawberries. We've harvested all 10 of our miserable strawberry crop already (here's hoping I can do better next year). Everything else is just starting to bloom and I can't wait to start eating it!

First Preschool

This past year Austin was part of a little neighborhood playgroup/preschool. We met once a week, rotating turns between the moms. This was sooo great for Austin - to make good friends, and to be exposed to other "teachers" and "lessons". It was good for me too - to enjoy teaching and to see Austin in comparison to his peers. (Which is probably important to me because he's my first to go through everything).

Our adorable group of kids (L to R): David, Inza, Nate, Austin.

Austin writes

My little man is growing up in so many ways. In the past few months, his art work has changed drastically. He now draws recognizable faces and bodies and will tell me who is who in his art work.

He's also started writing his name! How do kids pick this stuff up? I never taught him how to write a single letter. Yet somehow, one day, he stumbled onto making an 'A'. A few months later, the other letters started to appear then suddenly - bam! - he was writing his whole name.

Supper Nanny to the Rescue!

Boys will be boys. Right? No way! Back in April I stumbled across an episode of Supernanny that changed our family. If you're a fan, this was the episode about The Johnson Family (fitting, eh?). In that family's 3 rowdy boys, I saw a reflection of my own adorable son. So after that show, I made Anthony watch it online, bought the book and cracked down on time-outs. It's helped A LOT. On the one hand, it has reduced Austin's physical lash-outs, which typically land on Ruthie or his cousins, by half or maybe even in fourth. The other big thing it has given me is a way to react to him calmly. I used to get so frazzled when he just wouldn't stop and wouldn't listen to me. But he responds to time-outs (if I use the Supernanny technique). It has cut my "loosing it" by a good 98% - and that is heaven sent! Thank you Supernanny!