Den Leader Make-over

Becca was recently called as a Wolf Leader in her ward.  Knowing how much our family loves hands on projects this calling was a perfect fit for Becca.

I'm sorry I couldn't say the same for her required uniform.  BSA has not done much to make these shirts very flattering for women.  So in exchange for some excel accounting help for our Happy Homemade Bagel business I made a few alterations to her uniform.

It was simple.  We turned the two release pleats coming out of the back yoke into back darts, took it in a bit on the side seams and then added two front darts that start just under the pouch pockets.   If we had more time I may have taken a few inches off the bottom and perhaps  reset the sleeves to a more flattering length.  I don't know if that would have been pushing BSA requirements but what we did so far is a great improvement!  

Hope you enjoy all your fun meetings Becca - those boys are lucky to have you as their leader.  You're also getting great experience for your three little boys who will too soon become cub scouts themselves.

While the men are away........

The women and children will play.  Last night I hosted a sort of impromtu kids/sisters party at my house while all the men attended Priesthood meeting.  Suz, Mary, Emily, and Becca all joined this small gathering with their children.  There were 20 children in total to make it especially eventful.

The great thing about sister gatherings is there is a fine line between hostess/guest.  All chip in to make the fun happen.  We had Natalie and Emily prepare the twice baked potatoes, Caroline and I did the homemade ice cream, Mary and Becca served the children, and Suz was the official taste consultant to those preparing the food.  

After all the little ones were feed we sent them to basement where we originally planned to put a movie on for them.  But before we could start a show several of the children had gotten into my dress-up closet and it was too much fun- even more fun than watching a movie.  So it was suggested that they gather together and make their own movies.  The adults were then sent upstairs.

Us sisters just hung out talking and laughing as we nursed our babies.  It was quite surprising how long the kids were occupied, even more surprising is there was not one conflict.  They were happily absorbed in their play.  It didn't seem like there were 20 children downstairs (well actually 19 since Natalie should be counted with us now).

Three shows were performed and recorded and I'm sorry I could not hold the video very still as they were quite entertaining.  Just like the unplanned parties seem to be the most memorable these unplanned performances were remarkably fresh and amusing.

Us moms couldn't resist the fun and grabbed a few costume accessories for both ourselves and babes in arms, put on music and joined in on the kid costume party.  While we were dancing one of the kids picked up the video camera and filmed us this time it being shaken with even more laughter.  It sure doesn't take much to have fun with family.      

Wordfull Wednesday: My Favorite Season

To all those in the Wordfull Wednesday circle I am passing this assignment on to my 8 yr. old James. My favorite season is now - the one I am experiencing. Here's James while I go clean up our bagel mess before we have a visit from a prospective buyer.

In our home there are five seasons Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Football season. My favorite is Football.  Being a Michigan fan makes it especially fun. Pictured here is my little brother Henry on the day of the Michigan/Utah game.  He is wearing the old Halloween costume my mom sewed for me when I was six days old.  He doesn't look happy maybe because the score was 25-23 Utah.  

Besides Utah, Michigan has played Miami (Ohio) 16-6 Michigan, at Notre Dame 38-17 (that game was frustrating because the referee didn't call for a touchdown and Michigan should have had 24)Notre Dame won,  and Michigan vs. Wisconsin.  Michigan won 27-25.

Sometimes it is hard to be a fan when your team loses especially when it is a game they should have won.  What makes it all worth it is winning games like the #9 ranked Wisconsin game.  My Dad and I were jumping around and shouting so loud that Henry was crying.  Maybe when he gets older he will understand how fun it is.    

The Hot and Cold of the World

This is our 4 year old Peter retreiving what was left of yesterday's paper from the back seat of our car.  He spotted it just as we were pulling away for a birthday party yesterday and said "Oh look there's the Wall Street Journal - daddy left it" and then hopped out and quickly grabbed it.  Upon buckling back into his booster seat he asked, "please mom, can I open it?  I really want to see the hot and the cold of the world".
 

"Go ahead", I answered hoping his curiosity wouldn't lead to some of the "hot and cold" issues of the world that I am still trying to process myself.  But as it turns out he was just interested in temperatures and then read off the high and lows from Mexico to Iraq.  He expressed specific concern about some heavy rains headed towards Shanghai and said "boy, I'm glad we don't live there".

I was able to glance through the paper a bit this morning and thought how great it is to be a child when your biggest worries are the weather and whether or not it is too wet to play outside. 

As for kids reading the paper, there's really no avoiding it in our home as you can see in these other really funny pictures.  

Late Crops

I was feeling pretty disappointed about my garden during the early weeks of August. It seemed everyone in the blogging world was photographing their beautiful produce along with delicious meals they made from it all. At that point all that was surviving in our garden were a few lame plants without much yield besides my asian eggplant - I was still having to buy my tomatoes at the grocery store.  I was feeling jealous and labeled my garden post under 'flops'.

But then we set off on our road trip and my mom kindly checked on and watered our garden a few times.  By the time we came back we had a whole grocery bag of tomatoes - and they still keep coming.  We especially love the little yellow pear tomatoes and I often catch the little girls picking them and eating them as fast as they would popcorn. So it was worth the work and the wait.


We also have two watermelons, several armenian cucumbers, a few yellow peppers, and still more asian eggplant waiting to be picked and consumed. Pictured here is Maryanna just before dinner gathering a few little add ons for our salad.  I'm glad I didn't give up on it and kept watering and weeding it despite my uncertainty.

Henry B. Eyring gave a great talk at BYU several years ago.  Paul read it to me just shortly after our little Henry was born and I have found myself reflecting upon it again and again during this home gardening process as well as during my time caring for my children and home schooling.  

Husbands, wives, parents, and even children are familiar with deciding, "Shall I keep giving when I'm getting so little?" Families may be the best place to find out how the world feels about working and waiting for late crops. Families require some of the toughest investment decisions of all.....Men and women working outside the home deal mostly with early crops and with the law of diminishing returns. In the home, they spend far more on late crops and the law of increasing returns. It's important to remember that

So at the end of the day (and in the middle of the night) when I feel like I'm going to collapse I will picture my juicy little yellow tomatoes and remind myself the time spent home with my 'late crops', my children, will have its return and even more than I already receive.  I know it will be so worth the work and sacrifice.       

P.S. that skirt Maryanna pulled on over her jeans was not a part of the "the Big Switch" but pulled out of the dress-up closet

Homeschool fundraiser

The idea came to me just after a neighbor came by with a fundraiser catalog for the neighborhood school. I was happy to support their school and also pick out some peppermint bark and gourmet popcorn for our family to enjoy. But why not do our own 'school' fundraiser? The boys have been begging for Mindstorm Lego's for over a year so an opportunity for them to raise some money is just what they need to get their wish.

Paul was quite amused and somewhat impressed as he over heard us discussing possible business plans. Jokingly he asked me if that's what we learned about at our Wharton kids club several years ago. But I answered other than a bake sale it was just outings and holiday parties there. I reminded him of the entrepreneur course I took over 10 years ago but then argued that my real business knowledge comes not from a class but from all my great consumer experience. We offered him a position as a consultant and it was decided that our best product was homemade bagels.  It was also worked out that our consultant would receive payment in bagels.

So begins our integrated home school project. It has been so much fun I don't know why we haven't attempted this before.  Here's what everyone is learning:

Business and Marketing - how to write and execute a business plan

Math- accounting, and how to weigh flour and measure water

Computer- how to use Adobe to design a flyer

Social Skills- how to approach neighbors and take orders 

Cooking Skills- how to make the bagels

Physical Skills- riding bikes to deliver the bagels

Community Awareness- donating a portion of the proceeds to the local food bank

We've received 4 orders for tomorrow morning but have capacity for 4 more.  We are hoping to not only raise up enough money for Mindstorms but also use up a portion of the 150 lbs of bread flour in our food storage befor we move.  

The Big Switch

So far no bites on our house - it will sell when it sells.  So I've decided  it's time for me to stop tip toeing around and just live like I normally would.  Which means completing what we call "the big switch". 

 

This is an event that takes place twice a year, once in the Fall and once in the Spring.  It is a time we celebrate both changing seasons and growing children.    It is time for me to economize and reorganize all that is stored in our closets.  The whole process takes about 3 days to complete.

To begin with, I focus on one child at a time and pull out everything that they already have (which means it should all be washed) and their own personal "shopping bin".  The shopping bin is a concept I came up with after much frustration in trying to store hand-me-downs according to size and season - that was too many bins and too much work.  Now each child has one very large bin full of items handed down from siblings and cousins as well as things picked up at garage sales and clearance racks.  When they are in need of something new we "shop" the bin before shopping anywhere else.  So during the few days "the big switch" takes place there are clothes, bins and piles everywhere!

It is important to have good bribes on hand, especially for boys, otherwise the simple act of trying on clothes will set you back several hours.  I'm not a big candy gal but I'd be sure to slip them a few M&M's or chocolate chips just to keep the process going.  Another help is some sort of inventory or shopping list like this one that Marie Ricks has created.

I continue by going  through the old season's clothes making piles labeled:  still good for this season, hand-me-down,  good enough to donate, and totally worn out/trash.  The hand-me-downs go immediately in the younger sibling's bin and then its time to try on what has been saved especially for them in their own "shopping bin".  We make a pile of what works and they are willing to wear (even boys have opinions about clothes).  Then we lay all the items out and match them up into outfits as pictured above.  I make note of where there may be missing pieces and make a sort of "grocery list" for clothes.  The outfits are then rolled into pillows as also shown above.

  

Rolling the outfits into pillows is a huge time saver for dressing Clara and Henry and is also a good way to keep dressing simple for William and Peter.  James and Maryanna on the other hand  prefer their clothes unrolled - they demand more freedom in their dressing.  For these two it is especially important that #1 the clothes fit well and #2 they all coordinate. Otherwise........well, remember this and this?

Now I don't know what the magic number is for how many outfits are needed.  It depends on the individual but we are averaging 10 weekday outfits and 3 church outfits per child.  This system has really kept my shopping in check and also gives me an opportunity to focus on sewing only what we really need.    Still, I wish I could simplify it more as I feel we have excessive amounts of clothes but maybe that's just me thinking after a 6 load laundry day. 

But more than anything, I still can't believe how fast my babies are growing.  Nostalgia is sure to slow me down a bit as I pull out and put away clothes that my biggest of babies once wore.  My eyes tear up as I fold their old grubby T-shirts and to make it worse, I let this song run through my head from Charlotte's web.  So there you have it Mary, this post was especially for you.  Who knew clothes could make us think so hard, may we someday come to balance our practical, economical, stylish, and sentimental selves.

How very special are we
For just a moment to be
Part of life’s eternal rhyme
How very special are we
To have on our family tree
Mother Earth and Father Time
He turns the seasons around
And so she changes her gown
But they always look in their prime
They go on dancing their dance
Of every lasting romance
Mother Earth and Father Time
The summer larks return to sing
Oh what a gift they give
Then autumn days grow short and cold
Oh what a joy to live
How very special are we
For just a moment to be
Part of life’s eternal rhyme
How very special are we
To have on our family tree
Mother Earth and Father Time