All Too Short...

These "catch up" pics belong in their own post. Long lost Uncle Michael (see here if you missed the story) and my cousin Michelle came to visit several weeks ago, and this time she brought her children with her. They're absolutely adorable, inside and out, and I'm so glad they made the long drive over here. Unfortunately this was another short visit. Despite original plans, it ended up that they drove over and back on the same day again. We really, really, really tried to convince Michelle to stay another night, but it just wasn't possible. *sigh*


As well as we all got along last time, we got along even better this time. Everyone was more relaxed (no anxiety about wondering how things would go) and we just eased right into the visit.

I don't think Mom was more than six feet away from Uncle Michael the entire visit.



And just as Mom tended to monopolize Uncle Michael, I tended to monopolize Michelle. Sorry! :) Talking to her is just too much fun. And not only does she write, but her daughter Jasmine likes to write as well. Oh heaven. It's amazing how much we all have in common.


We were originally supposed to get together in September, because Mom, Wendy and Michael all have birthdays in that month. After Uncle Michael was injured at work (and his leg is still recovering from that) we had to postpone it till October. Long story short, this get-together got pushed all the way to November. Along the way we "collected" Michelle's birthday in October, my birthday in November, and Michelle's daughter Zuri's birthday in November. So we were celebrating LOTS of birthdays.


Uncle Michael had to have a hat:




In the picture below, the card he's holding says "Uncle Michael" and he's saying "That's me!"

He was raised as an only child, and he is loving being a brother and uncle! :) This card was from my sister, the good neice, because I'm terrible about buying cards. ;)

Mom gave Michael this frame with family pictures in it.

From left to right, top row, is: their brother Gene, their brother Freddy, Uncle Michael, and a pic of our first reunion. Bottom row is a group shot of the siblings, grandma, mom, and great grandparents (Michael was named after his grandfather).


Mom gave Michelle framed pictures too, and in her card was this recipe, written in our grandmother's hand.


Okay, now Zuri. I just have to blog about Zuri opening her gifts from my mom. (These are Michelle's two daughters. The older one is Jasmine, and the other is Zuri.) Knowing Zuri was a "girly girl," mom got her pretty girly gifts. She was a little worried about it, hoping Zuri would like them.

I don't think she needed to worry.

First she opened her card, which sings, and which caused Zuri to giggle excitedly.

Then she pulled out the tiara. More giggling. (Notice big sister's expression, which I thought was too funny. She thought Zuri was hamming it up a bit on our behalf - which I'm sure she was - but we didn't mind.) :)

Pulling out the puppy:

More giggling:



Oh my gosh, it was too friggin cute. A little too late I realized that you don't record Zuri opening presents with a camera, you do it with a video. I tried to get her giggle on tape, but by then she was done.

Next she went around the entire room and gave everyone a hug:

Even big sis. :)

Here, Michelle is pinning on an angel pin I gave Zuri. It has the November birthstone in it, something she, I, and Grandma all share. I explained the significance of that, and the angel, but she may be too young to appreciate it. That's okay. Her sweet smile is all I needed:

I also wanted to get something for Jasmine. A few years ago now, my friend Kimmy gave me a Willow Tree figurine before she moved to Yuma, and I thought something like that might be a good idea. When I went to Hallmark to see what kind of figurines they had, this was the first one I saw:

It's called "Blessings" and as soon as I saw it, I snatched it up. I love the open arms, because it makes me think of the way we've all accepted each other with open arms. I love the name of it, because having them come into our lives has been one of the biggest blessings of my life. And I love the way the figurine looks, like a beautiful young lady, just like Jasmine.

These are just some nice pics... my sister and her husband Louie (awwwww):

My mom's best friend and long-time friend of the family, aka, "Aunt Jan."

I do seem to recall there were some boys around somewhere. In addition to my three and my sister's two, Michelle added one more to the mix. They did play outside some, but really wasted no time finding the Playstation and Grandma's computer games.

They all got along just fine! :)

Girls giggle, boys make faces. Whatever. ;)


Even though it wasn't Kumani's birthday, Mom wanted to give him a little something anyway. :)




Unfortunately, Brian missed the entire thing. Due to a screw-up by someone in corporate offices in Dallas, (long story) Brian ended up working the whole day Saturday taking care of it. Michael et al tried waiting as long as they could, but it was a loooooong drive home and eventually they simply had to go. (Brian was disappointed he missed them, and one of the first things we did when he finally arrived was to pull out my camera, look at all the pictures, and try to fill him in on what he missed.)


Before they left we took LOTS of group shots. The birthday kids:





The cousins:




As you can see, Zuri was quite upset. She knew they were leaving after the pictures were over and she did not want to go. Mom tried to comfort her:



But it didn't work:

I wasn't happy that she was so sad, but still it touched my heart. I didn't want them to leave either.

More group pics. My sister and her family:

And, of course, we had to do a "generation" picture. Now, this is something that we used to do with my grandma all the time. Grandma insisted on it. And it was always just four people: my grandma, my mom, my sister, and me. That was it.

.

We were a close-knit group, and grandma's death impacted us deeply. We haven't been very good about taking generation pictures since then (I think partly because we're still mourning the person who's missing, even nearly a decade later).

.

So, this last picture is probably my favorite, even though it's too dark, kinda blurry etc etc. This is hands down the largest generation picture I've ever been a part of.

It felt great.

Catching Up... or Trying to...

My life has been in a serious state of disarray for some time now. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the sorry state of my toenail polish a few weeks ago:





What's funny about that is my toenails ALWAYS used to look like that, until my digital camera arrived. Not sure what the connection is, but anyway.

I have managed to paint my nails since then, but only because we had family in town and pretty much the only shoes I own are sandals. I painted my nails literally less than an hour before they arrived, and only had time to do it because they arrived an hour later than I thought they would. Whew! ;) (Though, truth be told, I would've rather had one more hour with them than painted toenails, but that's another story.)


I will most definitely blog about this most recent family visit, but first I just have to get caught up on all the random stuff that probably no one cares about but me. Here are the last several weeks (sans politics) in brief:


A long time ago, Aunt Katy gave Ben this cool art board. It has a dry erase board on one side and a chalkboard on the other. We use this ALL the time, for one reason or another. Often, it's just a handy place for random drawings.

One day Chris was in the office with me as I was working on the computer. During a break, I drew the little girl in black. The next time I turned around, Chris had added the girl in green.





I know I'm the mom and totally biased, but I thought that was pretty good. He noticed that the heart didn't quite match though:

So he fixed it:

One of our frequent uses for the board is for Family Home Evenings. For the FHE before Veteran's Day, my plan was to have a "Why America is Great" themed evening. As I was looking for ideas online, however, I came across a few lessons built around Moroni's Title of Liberty and decided to go with that instead.

This turned out to be a great theme to explore, and gets at the heart of why we have veterans in the first place. What are we fighting for anyway? I noticed things in that story I never really paid attention to before. We had a great discussion about it.

Oh, and I can't fail to mention the clogged kitchen sink that (long story short) ended up as a water leak that ruined the carpet and some drywall in our bedroom.

When the water damage people came, they moved dressers, emptied the closet, etc, etc, all of which ended up crammed around and on top of our bed:

That was a lovely pile to sort out, let me tell you. But the best part was the giant dehumidifier they put in our room for five straight days:

They told us to keep it running 24/7, but there was no way we could sleep with that thing roaring at the foot of our bed. Sorry!


While the dehumidifier is finally gone, we don't have anything repaired yet. Soon I hope!



In much more exciting news, this is Nate's fiance Maryann:




Isn't she a cutie? She's a sweetheart too. But get this, we have an Ann, a Leeanne, and now a Maryann. I told Travis that leaves Betty Ann, or Annabelle, or Annie for him. Something along those lines. ;)



These pics are just general sillyness:

Chris in Ben's jammies:

He had a hard time getting up:

But he managed it:

Then John said, "Take a picture of my foot."

How weird. ;)

And lastly, a picture of me and Brian that gives me very happy memories.

I love him so much. :)

When It Rains, It Pours

It's been a helluva week. Here's the latest:

Poor little guy. Three stitches. We got to the hospital shortly before 6pm, we got home shortly after 9pm (or was it shortly before? I can't remember now). Anyway, by the time I got him fed and settled down (he had a hard time getting to sleep) it was 10:30. It's now 9 am and he's still asleep, which is just as well. I'm sure he needs it.

I don't want to blog all the details cuz my heart just isn't in the blogging these days, but I do want to record this: Chris was so brave. Before they put the stitches in, the RN came in with a loooooong white blanket and said, "We're going to make you a burrito." So he stood Chris on the bed and turned him around and around in this blanket, which Chris thought was funny. Of course, the reason they do this is to immobilize their arms.

Then they laid him on the bed. I was on one side, the doctor was on the other, and the RN was up at the top of the bed, with one hand on either side of Chris' head. Basically, we were all in position to keep Chris still so the doctor could stitch him up without him knocking her hands all around.

But we didn't need to worry. He didn't fuss or squirm or anything. He didn't whine or cry. He was amazingly cooperative. The RN said normally he'd be holding the head still and the mom would be practically laying on her child's body to keep his hips still. We were all very impressed.

That's something Chris feels proud about, the rest of us too, so I had to record it. I'm thankful to my mom for rushing over here and taking care of the rest of my children for me. I'm thankful that Chris slept through most of our time in the waiting room and then received excellent care from caring professionals. For a trip to the ER, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been.

John's Pen Pal

I still haven't had time to catch up on my blog; that's still coming. And the case of the mystery foot will be solved (I know you've all been biting your nails on that one!). But today John brought home a letter from his new pen pal and showed me the rough draft of the letter he's writing in reply. I these were too cute, so I'm sharing them here (pen pal's name has been changed).

Dear John,

Hi! I'm Hal. I'm a collector of army men. There are three boxes in my room. I have so many army men, it takes one hour to pick up. I'm also a collector of mini army men.

Your pen pal,

Hal

Dear Hal,

I am 9 years old. I like soccer as my favorite sport. What is your favorite sport? I have 2 little brothers. In my spare time I pick on them. Do you have any brothers or sisters? What do you do in your spare time? I have a friend named Brad. Who are your friends? I love to read books. Do you like to read books?

From your friend,

John

I've Been Avoiding My Own Blog

I meant to come on here and blog about something nice and light, but my subconscious typed the above title without consulting with me first. I didn't even realize I'd been avoiding my own blog until I typed that out. But it's true. I've been avoiding my own blog. Why? Well, let's see.

A week ago last Monday began what I'm starting to think of as the Week from Hell. (I had Holy Week in the summer, so fair's fair I guess.) It all started with a visit to see one of my dearest friends. She lives clear out in Anthem, so we don't get to see each other much. When we do, we usually make a day of it. We spend the entire time chatting and the time flies all too quickly.

Well, while I was there, she told me about a man named Peter Singer. I do not have the heart to blog about him or his flat-out wicked "ethics" (his argument that it's okay to kill disabled babies is the worst) and I'm not even going to link to him. If you feel like getting shocked, outraged, and depressed (about this freaking Professor at Princeton University no less), feel free to Google him yourself. I was so stunned by what I learned, it was all I could think about all the way home. You know when you're so deeply affected by something that watching the world go on it's merry little way just feels wrong somehow? That's how I felt.

Then came all the research on the homosexuality curriculum taking place in Massachusetts (and elsewhere, I've since discovered, but I don't want to talk about that either).

Every single day for a week, I found a new, deeper way to be shocked. I thought blogging about it would help. I thought it would help me feel like I was doing something at least. But it didn't help. I mean really, who reads my blog anyway? Is it really going to make any kind of a difference? By Sunday night, I literally couldn't sleep. Every muscle in my body felt permanently clenched. I couldn't relax at all. No matter what else I was doing, some part of my brain was thinking about all I'd learned.

My heart especially hurt (still hurts) for all the children who, for years now, have been subjected to the curriculum in Massachusetts. These children are innocent. Innocent. They are being tainted by the very people who should be protecting them. It's wrong, and no matter what happens in my own neck of the woods, I worry about those little kids. We should all worry about what they'll do in our society when they're teens. Just how, exactly, are they going to push the envelope?

Over the entire weekend, I knew I couldn't go on stressing about it to this degree. That's just not healthy. But I also knew that I'd learned too much to go back to pretending like the problem isn't there (my preferred method of survival). I'd prayed for balance and for relief, but none came.

Finally, as I was venting about all this to poor Brian, something clicked in my brain. I felt kind of stupid, but I said it aloud anyway: "I feel like I've been traumatized." And I really did. I felt I had been attacked all week long. Not physically, but in every other way.

He said, "That's why you can't relax. You're not one to lie down and take a beating. You're one to fight back."

As soon as he said that, I literally felt half the muscles in my body just let go and relax because I knew he was right. It was a relief to understand it. (The other half of me was thinking, great, now what?)

I still haven't figured out the answer to that question. The very next day, I felt mostly normal again. I felt like I had my life back. I felt happy. I could think about other things. It's been nice.

But every time I come to my blog, or even think about it, all the emotions start to come back: horror, rage, fear, nausea, determination, stagnation. My emotions are too convoluted and mixed up to be productive. I don't think the analytical part of my brain has attacked this problem at all. I need to figure out what I'm going to do about this. Because I just can't let it sit. And yet...

For now it feels like it's all I can do to keep those posts at the top of my blog, and to put links everywhere I can think of in the hopes that some random person checking out my dutch oven apple cobbler recipe (which is fabulous, by the way) will turn into one more person aware, outraged, and prepared to fight (or at least VOTE) for what's right.

It doesn't feel like enough. But right now, I don't have the courage to do anything more.

Recipe: The Best Bread Recipe Ever

I've tried a lot of bread recipes and receive frequent requests for my dinner rolls. This recipe is my new favorite. It's easy, fast, delicious, and makes two huge loaves. It's the bread recipe that has it all. (Thanks to Amy for tipping me off to this.)

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 Tbsp yeast

2 Tbsp sugar

2 cups bread flour

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp salt

Note: you can use just all-purpose flour if that's what you have. The way I measure flour is to tap the measuring cup A LOT before leveling off.

Combine the first three ingredients and allow to sit and get bubbly (about 5 minutes).

Stir slightly, then add remaining ingredients. Stir to combine ingredients until you can begin to knead.

Knead for 5 minutes by hand or 2 minutes in your Kitchenaid mixer using a dough hook. (The dough may be sticky and "climb" the hook. Normally you would add more flour, but I believe the bread turns out better if you don't. The only batch I've ever had that turned out less than fabulous did not have a sticky dough.)

Cover bowl with a towel and let dough rise for 15 minutes.

Divide dough in half and roll each half into a rectangle. The dough will be sticky, so use plenty of flour. Roll up lengthwise and tuck the ends under.

Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with PAM, cover with a towel, and let rise 15 minutes.

Slice dough with a sharp knife right before baking.

Bake in a 450 oven for 12-15 minutes. Immediately brush with butter for a soft, golden crust.

NOTE: The original recipe calls this French Bread, but I don't think it has the flavor of French Bread. It does, however, make an excellent-tasting white bread. I also tried brushing the dough with egg whites for a crunchy crust and it didn't work. I probably did something wrong, but I'm just as happy with a nice, soft crust, so I'm not that fussed about it.

And for all those who have asked for the recipe, sorry it took so long!!