This is the Lantern that Jack Built

I Love to See the Temple

Joseph and James both participated in the Primary Program last Sunday.

The theme was My Eternal Family.

They each did a good job sharing in their own words what it was like to go to the temple.

Joseph: Family history and temple work bless all the generations of my family. "When I went to the temple when my brothers were sealed, I got to look into a mirror that showed my family going on forever. I know that our family is eternal."

James: "When I went to the temple, it was clean and beautiful inside. We needed to have Jalen Andrew sealed, so he could be our baby forever. Everyone should be sealed."

Our family, along with a few other families who have had their children sealed to them in the temple, sang a 3rd verse to I Love to See the Temple.

I went inside the temple, and stood on sacred ground.

All dressed in white and reverent, my family gathered ‘round.

With our hands upon the altar there, we knelt so close together.

And I knew that I could finally say, my family is forever.

I am so very grateful to have my family sealed to me forever!

Jalen Andrew is delighting our ward right now when we sing hymns. He always stands up on the pew, and conducts the music with great fervor, and also with a sensitivity to the dynamics. It is quite fascinating to watch him. The Primary Program was a dream come true for him, as there was singing every few minutes. He really got into his performance this time, and was actually jumping as he led. Not only were all the people seated behind us amused, but I saw quite a few of the primary children on the stand watching him and giggling (his brothers especially).

Not his best performance, because he gets a little silly when I get the camera out.

Happy Birthday, Danielle!

Danielle, We are so proud of you, and we hope that you have a wonderful birthday! We love you!

Congratulations are in Order

October 22, 2009

Two exciting things happened:

After much waiting, Rebekah found out yesterday that she made NJHS - National Junior Honor Society. She's very excited!

And . . .

After a much longer wait,

my niece Aubrey and her husband Jared became first-time parents!

This is the first great grand-baby for my parents, and it's strange to think that our family has gotten that old. I think that it was just yesterday that I was holding our little Aubrey.

Welcome to the family, Adelyn Marie! 8# 2 oz. and 21 inches long.

Still waiting for pictures :)

Thingers

James and I were reading a little book about hands last night,

when he read the word fingers.

He stopped, after having sounded it out,

glared, and exclaimed,

"They totally made a mistake!

It's not supposed to be fingers with an "f"!

It's supposed to be thingers!"

It took me a long time to convince him that the word is indeed fingers and not thingers.

He finally believed me, because Joseph was backing up my crazy claim,

but the look on his face still said that he thought we were idiots.

Football and Dancing

For homecoming Mrs. Cottingham asked Christine

to teach the other color guard girls to hula. She did a

fabulous job with just a short amount of time to teach

them. They performed in the homecoming assembly,

with Christine (I'll remind you - she's only a Freshman)

in the front and also performing a solo. They & she did

great! I have to say, however, that it was a little

uncomfortable as her mother to hear the reactions of the

guys around as Christine began to perform. If Erik was

hoping for a little less attention for our daughter -

this didn't help! Thank goodness she didn't ami!

(Did I mention that she got asked to the Homecoming

dance by 5 different guys? Not funny. She's not even

close to being 16.)

Speaking of dancing, Jalen Andrew sure likes to

"cut the rug" with his older siblings.

I hope you enjoy his fancy footwork as much as we do.

This was the picture of the night at the end of

Friday night's football game;

James was still wide awake,

but Joseph and Jalen Andrew both sacked out

on their Dad.

So, we all know how sports minded Jalen Andrew is -

well, he's carrying that into the bathroom as well.

With all of my kids (James being the exception)

they learned to use the potty chair by

taking into the bathroom something that appealed to them.

Christine and I had to sit and sing songs together-

Rebekah insisted on "reading" the Reader's Digest

(no other book or magazine would do)-

Joseph and I would sit in the bathroom and play catch.

I was figuring that Jalen Andrew's potty training would be a Slam Dunk with the Nerf basketball hoop

hanging on the bathroom door.

Well, he's showing me who's in control here . . .

football is the sport of the moment.

******************

He actually went!

I was cleaning up lunch while he was still eating,

when he told me, "Ow, Mom. Poop."

That was new since he's been avoiding the potty chair for awhile now.

I took him into the bathroom,

and we sat there for about 30 minutes,

playing catch football.

He gave some great pushes, but nothing was happening.

He insisted on sitting on the toilet rather than his potty chair -

still nothing, but he refused to get off.

Finally I couldn't take it anymore, and I just needed to stretch my legs,

I told him that I'd be right back, ducked into the laundry room to grab something,

and came back in to discover

Jalen Andrew sitting there with a shocked look on his face,

and potty running down his legs.

Oh.

I clapped, and smiled, praising him profusely.

Then, after dinner tonight he was displaying his grunting face,

so I took him into the bathroom again.

I sat this time for about 20 minutes

tossing the football back and forth with him.

Still nothing.

It was evening, and I had a zillion things to do,

so I finally told him that I would be right back,

I ducked out for a few minutes to take care of a task,

when I heard a little voice calling to me,

"Mom. I did it."

I went back to the bathroom expecting to find all the

toilet paper unrolled or something,

but instead found that Jalen Andrew had made a great big log.

So, I'm thinking,

that for Jalen Andrew,

it won't be music, or reading, or even playing sports

that will do the magic trick in the bathroom,

but simply. . .

a little privacy!

P.S. While Erik was home sick for a week, he taught Jalen Andrew to watch football instead of Baby Einstein when he's feeling sleepy, so now I have a little guy who stands by the t.v. and cries, "Football. Football." Thanks Erik.

Oktoberfest

We celebrate a lot of customs

from different countries,

but until now,

we hadn't celebrated Germany

(unless of course you count Christmas trees, many of the Christmas carols,

and Easter Egg Hunts - all of which originated in Germany).

So, I decided it would be fun to celebrate Oktoberfest.

We celebrated about a week late because the first weekend of October

was incredibly busy for both girls.

Our dinner entailed bratwursts, a German potato salad which is basically

cheesy potatoes with pickles, sauerkraut which was not as bad as I remembered

it being when I was a kid, homemade pretzels, and root beer.

It all tasted really good, but the salt intake was immense!

(yes, I can see that someone put the salt and pepper on the table,

but no, we didn't need to add it to anything.)

Rebekah was my handy baker,

without who's willingness to help,

I might not have had the energy to start

(I was still getting over being sick),

and Joseph was our master pretzel twister.

Watch it Wiggle

I saw the cutest idea of carving out jack-o-lanterns in oranges,

and then filling them with jello to make them look like they are glowing.

I feel like I rarely get to be the fun mom that does those kinds of things,

so I decided to make them.

Of course, the oranges on the trees around here are still green,

will be for a little while still,

so I went to the supermarket.

$5.00 for 6 squishy oranges?! I just couldn't do it!

I couldn't make myself pay for oranges that wouldn't even taste that great.

So, instead, we made these:

And it was still fun - maybe more so because the kids helped.

(Jalen Andrew was a little confused about the jello -

couldn't figure out why it wasn't coming out!)

We'll see, I still might try the jello in the oranges,

but it won't be until the oranges here are ripe and free.

Don't be surprised if I post a picture of small jack-o-lanterns in the middle of December

(I'm not crazy. Just cheap.)

Hidden

As an elective for Cub Scouts, Joseph made a mask for the upcoming Jungle Safari Pack Meeting. He decided to make a monkey.

Not to be outdone, James made a monkey too.

And then an eclectic Calico cat.

Happy Artsy Hauntings

What started out as a fun thing to do with the kids . . .

(Rebekah's Pumpkin)

(Jalen Andrew's Pumpkin)

(James' Pumpkins - above & below)

(Joseph's Pumpkin)

(Jalen Andrew's Pumpkin in Abstract)

became James' obsession. Not only did he make a zillion more pumpkins (I didn't take pictures of all of his small ones), but he continually harassed Erik to make more as well.

Until our door looked like this . . .

but he didn't stop there. The artsy bug had bit him, and he insisted on making a skeleton and bats as well.

Our house is decked out now!

Cloudy with a Chance of Soup Bowls

On Saturday I made some homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner;

thought it might be good for Erik.

James, who often has a complaint for every food that I make,

announced loudly,

"I don't even like

Chicken Little Soup!"

Watch out today!

They are forecasting light showers

of Split Pea through the afternoon,

with isolated showers of

Cloudy Chicken Chowder

in the evening hours!

Halloween is in the Air

I know that Rebekah had finally given up on her sick Mom ever putting up the Halloween decor, but yesterday I finally filled the house up with little spots of orange. Thanks to the cousins, Hailey, Kajsa, and Trae, who so kindly sent their home grown pumpkins along with Farmor and Grandpa Brewer, we had a splash of orange even before I got enough energy to get the other Halloween stuff out. Jalen Andrew LOVES those pumpkins, by the way, and he dutifully transfers them one by one, from one room to the next, and then back again. Of course, now that the pumpkin window clings are up, he is constantly transferring and rearranging those too. (Christmas, this year, should be fun!) The dropping spider that freaked Jalen Andrew out last year, has been delightful to him this year. He loves clapping his hands, triggering the spider to drop quickly. And although I put brand new batteries in it yesterday, the spider's power source has already been depleted. Jalen Andrew is a little confused by the spider's lack of compliance this morning as he dutifully claps every time he walks by it. In true fashion, the Friday Phantom struck yesterday, mysteriously filling the pumpkin jar with goodies. Although the ghoul only made it's appearance in our home last year (sometimes it's fun to start new traditions) the kids looked forward to his return this year. He's so sneaky too!There can be nothing in the jar one minute, and a few minutes later he has come and gone, without anyone noticing. Eerie, isn't it?

Doughnut Days & Black Cat Nights

Last Sunday we gathered at Mom & Dad's house to indulge in our yearly spudnut partaking. Dad is so good to fry them up year after year, as Mom makes the dough, covers her kitchen counter in unbaked doughnuts and holes, and then keeps all the kids freshly supplied in powdered sugar glaze. Erik usually snaps the annual pictures of everyone, but he and Jalen Andrew stayed home with their miserable fevers this year. This doughnut making was complete, as always, with apple cider, plenty of doughnut eating, and Mahalia Jackson belting out "Go Tell It On the Mountain" in the background, followed by a good round of Christmas music afterwards. I'm not quite sure anymore why we started playing Christmas music during doughnut making; I think it had something to do with needing the Christmas season to start, and trying to annoy Mom with Mahalia Jackson.

Sorry, Mom, and thanks for being such a good sport AND inviting us back each year!

They were, as always - delicious!!! Aubrey shared on her blog, her cute Black Cat Cookies. I have been, of late, thinking that I should try to make them again. It has been nine years after all - plenty of time to shake off the black cat curse. I will always remember, however, my first attempt back on 10/19/2000 (when our 3 kids were under the age of 5), which I recorded for my sister Alison who was away on her mission to Puerto Rico. I knew she would appreciate my disaster - we appreciate things like that in each other. "Michelle gave me a great Halloween recipe for Black Cat cookies. They are made with 1 cup cocoa to make them black (I only had 1/4 C - so I put some chocolate powdered sugar in with it too). They have candy corns for the eyes and red hots for the nose(I discovered AFTER my first batch that you put the candy on after they're baked - all the candy melted and stuck to my pans - I think one pan is ruined). Michelle's cookies look like cats with pointy ears and whiskers made from the fork prongs (mine are brown blobs with 2 candy corns and a red hot). I have been planning for a week to make these cookies with the girls; I thought it would be a nice after school treat/project (Christine was afraid of burning herself if she put the candy on the blobs[cookies]and Rebekah was mad that I wouldn't let her eat more candy corns so she yanked on my arm and burned me on the hot cookie sheet. There was a lot of crying: Rebekah because I was upset with her, me because I feel like a lousy mom, and Joseph for who knows what reason.) I think the girls will look back on this afternoon as a definite bonding experience with their mom, don't you?" Maybe it was because I was working with the boys instead of the girls (actually Rebekah came to help in the forming of the cats), or maybe I've become a better cookie baker over the years, or maybe because I didn't have a 6 month old baby this time, or . . . whatever the case, the Black Cat Cookies turned out much better this time.

(Joseph & James - the Master Bakers)

Jalen Andrew Sweet as the Sugar he Guards.

Jalen Andrew kept wanting more cookies, so that he could pull off the candy corn eyes,

eat them, and leave the rest of the cookie for someone else. Thanks, buddy.

James tastes his creation.

The cats' eyes aren't the only ones that glow.

Joseph, you still have beautiful eyes.

Our beautiful Rebekah shows off her beautiful cat.

I had explained to the boys why we were making the eyes out of candy corns, by telling them that cat's eyes glow in the night. Later, as we ate our cookies, James' was studying his cookie pretty hard, and then asked, "So if I take it into the dark, will it's eyes really glow?"

I'm pleased to say that our Black Cats weren't bad luck ones this year, although the cookie making wasn't all as rosy as the pictures make it appear. I still said plenty of,

"That's fine if you think this is stupid. You are free to leave the kitchen as soon as you think this is too stupid for you." (JN)

and

"It's okay. It'll be fair. The two of you will get to put equal amounts into the Bosch bowl. I promise!" (JN & JG)

and

"It's okay that you got flour all over this time, but next time will you please put the flour a little closer to the bowl before you drop it? Thanks." (JG)

and

"Okay, I'm glad you enjoyed tasting that, but now you'll have to go wash your hands AGAIN." (JN)

So, for you young mothers, don't worry - even after all these years,

I still can't make it look easy. Maybe I never will, and that's okay.

I didn't particularly want to grow up to be Martha Stewart anyway.

Just plain ol'

"MOM!!!!! He's bothering me!!!"

is good enough for me.

Here Kitty, Kitty

I won't cite from whom I learned my anti-cat sentiments,

and I won't go as far as to say that I am a cat hater,

because I have enjoyed holding and petting kittens,

and I can see the beauty of a cat;

however . . .

neither I nor Erik

particularly like cats or what they do in our yard.

I hang my head in humility, however,

as I type a simple

"Thank you,"

to the neighborhood nuisance (er, I mean cat).

The night before last,

as I was waiting up for Christine to come home,

I heard a thump near the front door.

When I went to investigate the source of the noise,

I found the neighborhood cat

slinking away from our front door,

with a mouse trapped in it's mouth,

heading for a dark corner of the cul-de-sac

where it could enjoy it's "midnight snack" in peace.

YUCK!!! WHERE ARE ALL THESE BLASTED MICE

COMING FROM?!? In the nearly 7 years we've lived here,

we've never seen a mouse, and now suddenly . . .

TWO??? WITHIN A MONTH AND A HALF!!!

EWWW. GROSS.

So, anyway,

Thank you, Cat!

We're pleased to be your restaurant of choice :)

But,

would you mind,

using somebody else's yard

as your public restroom?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

The Management

A Little Spiritual Cleaning

My husband and kids hate listening to the radio with me, because I'm very sensitive to musical lyrics and the affect that they have on me, and so I'm always announcing, "Oops, that's a bad song," and switching the channel. It takes me awhile to find anything appropriate to listen to.

Recently Erik and I attended a Stake Youth's Standard's Night with our girls. The topics included dressing modestly and listening to uplifting music. It stirred up inside of me a desire to filter through the songs on our i-pod again. I've done this many times through our married life, and although I think I'm pretty good about listening to the lyrics and only bringing good music into our home, it's amazing to me each time, how I can find more music to delete from our library.

For this purging, I decided to read the lyrics of each song (off the internet) as I listened to the song. I was shocked by the content - the messages embedded in the lyrics. Lyrics that seemed innocent enough suddenly became very clear in their message. I was surprised by the way the lyrics seemed to be just random words until I read them. For instance, just reading lines 1, 2 and 3 really didn't make any sense, but when reading lines 1, 3 & 5 or 2, 4 & 6 the messages became blatant and unmistakable. It took me 3 full days to filter through the music on our i-pod, and the process actually made me physically sick. I couldn't believe how much evil I had been singing and be-bopping to all these years, and bringing into our home.

Call me a prude if you want, I really don't care, because this cleansing experience was incredible. There were times when I still couldn't see anything necessarily "wrong" in the lyrics, and many times in those instances I could spiritually discern the intent of the song. I don't have words to describe how that felt to have the Holy Ghost guiding me that way - it was just incredible!

I got rid of a lot of music. I wish that I had kept track of the number of songs, but I didn't. Although I knew I had the help of the Holy Ghost, the messages and hidden meanings that I encountered really took a toll on my spirit. During the process I felt such darkness, and I had to keep pushing myself to look into the next song and then the next, wanting simply to be done with the whole thing, as soon as possible.

There was only one song that I hesitated momentarily before deleting. My thought process for that song was, "Oh, but I really like that song. I don't have to look at it that way. I can just remember the message that I thought it had." The Spirit quickly countered, "What would you give away to know me?" I didn't think twice about it, and immediately hit the delete button. Funny, even though it was only a couple of weeks ago, and I supposedly LOVED that song, I don't even remember what song it was anymore. After deleting that song, it became easier for me to discern and delete the other songs.

There's not much left on our i-pod anymore. There are a few oldies, lots of Christmas, and lots of gospel music, and a smattering of rock, pop, country, and easy listening - but not much. I don't miss any of it, not even one of the songs that got deleted - in fact, I feel so much more free and unburdened.

I remember when Erik's Mormor was in the process of leaving this earthly life. She had always been such a classy lady, always dressed to the hilt, with plenty of jewelry. I remember Jannicke telling me that in Mormor's last days, she started taking all her jewelry off, almost as if she didn't want to be burdened with it anymore. Removing the jewelry made the world have less of a hold on her spirit as she prepared to return to the presence of her Heavenly Father. Deleting that music was like that for me; with each song that got deleted, I could feel the world holding me down a little less.

It was a good feeling, and hopefully just a beginning. I would give it ALL away to know Him, my God, my Eternal Father, better.

Sick as a Pig?

Sick as a Dog?

Definitely.

Sick as a Pig?

Not sure yet,

but Erik's been swabbed

to find out.

The Q-tip

is on it's way to the lab

for testing,

but we won't hear

the results of

whether it's swine flu

or not, until

at least Monday.

Definitely has the flu though,

and we're also waiting to hear

if he has pneumonia or not.

James finally went back to

school on Wednesday,

and Joseph followed him

back to school the next day.

Jalen Andrew's fever cleared up

about the same time.

Erik has been home the entire week,

fluctuating between 102 and 100.5

I had a very slight fever on Tuesday,

and was down for the count all

Wednesday. My fever is gone,

but my congestion remains faithfully.

Our boys haven't been the only

students out sick for days -

there are plenty of other kids,

and teachers,

who are missing huge chunks

of school.

If it's not the swine flu,

I don't know what strain it is,

but it's definitely not the 24-hour variety!

Hot Tamales 2

Joseph started burning up last night,

and Jalen Andrew joined the ranks of the sick

this morning.

We thought that James was done with his fever,

until tonight when we took his temperature

just for the fun of it -

he had been normal all day-

and unfortunately he had a fever of 100.4.

Looks like I'll be caring for a bunch of sickies tomorrow -

poor James doesn't understand why we consider him to be sick

when he feels just fine.

Hot Tamales

104.9

That's James' temperature right now.

I just gave him some acetaminophen,

so it should be going down soon.

He woke up late last night running a fever.

Rebekah had a fever last Sunday;

I guess this particular strain has a longer incubation period

than most.

See?

It's good that we didn't end up going to Disneyland.

Happy A Day, Christine

Disneyland ended up not happening for our family.

First of all, the day that the band would be performing there, was the first day of Gay Days.

30,000 gays and lesbians all wearing red shirts to get each other's attention,

did not quite appeal to us.

Kind of ruins the innocence of Disneyland.

Also, because the band would be coming back home for another competition that same weekend, we would only get one day at Disneyland.

We vacillated back and forth about going on Thursday instead of Gay Day Friday, to reward James for doing so well at staying dry (that was the original reason we were going anyway), and he had 17 days of dryness. Thursday would have marked his 21 days, which was the goal, but then he shot that whole plan in the foot by dishing out #1's and #2's this past Sunday and Monday. Sigh.

The kids were all upset, of course.

(Christine imagining that she's surfing in Hawaii)

We decided to celebrate Christine's A Day (which had been Tuesday, the 29th) by going camping up near Camp Geronimo. We let the kids miss school yesterday (that's unheard of for us) and had ourselves a nice, although short, family vacation.

(In true teenager-style, Christine slept whenever she could)

Camping was complete with all the things that make it exciting, like setting the tent up in the dark, killing the van's battery because we used the headlights to see to set up the tent and because certain kids left the van door open, James acting totally hyper vs. Joseph who was seriously tired, teeny-tiny walking space in the tent, complaints about who got to sleep where, Jalen Andrew awakening in the middle of the night a little freaked out so that I got to stand up and rock him in the cold night air, other kids waking up with full bladders - same cold night air, and of course dirt, dirt everywhere. Other highlights were very delicious tinfoil dinners, quite sweet chocolate strawberry cobbler, a warm night for all - when there's that many people in the tent, it stays well heated, a great blazing fire, gorgeous stars, going to sleep to the sound of elk making a very peculiar sound, Jalen Andrew falling asleep quickly, beautiful weather, and being together away from the phone, the computer, and the t.v. The next morning we enjoyed a little hike around the stream bed, and then headed off to find geodes. We found quite a few, not really big ones, but still it was fun to hunt for them, and then crack them open. Before heading home, we found a place that had lots of petrified wood with sea life fossils encased in it. That was pretty exciting as well. Joseph summed it up best when he mused, "Isn't it incredible to be holding all this history right in your hand?"

(Mom- the butterfly whisperer)

(Although Rebekah commented early on "Wonderland to wilderness?!"

she really did have a great attitude)

(Happy A Day, Christine! Can't believe it's already been 14 years!)

(We're pretty lucky to have such a good driver, tent setter-upper, fire maker,

and marshmallow toaster. Thanks for all your hard work on your day off!)

(Happy Campers.)

(Joseph wanted me to take a picture of his clean hands that he had just washed.

He cracked up when he saw the picture, realizing for the first time that it hadn't

just been his hands that were dirty.)

(Jalen Andrew discovers the joy of throwing sticks into blazing fires.)

(On our way to find the fossils, we ran into a very smelly, dead coyote

that had been skinned. As we approached it, James commented

"Now that's definitely a dinosaur!" You can thank me now for not showing you the

picture that Rebekah took of the dead thing.)