Bumber Crop

I started my day in the garden, thinking I'd just go out and check on things. Before long, I had a counter full of tomatoes and then plans to spend the day canning. I finished at 11:00 pm. I can't believe that at one time, people were actually dependant on preserving their own food for their survival.

26 quarts divided by 12 hours of my time equals some pretty valuable stewed tomatoes. I've ordered this book to make my efforts more rewarding. Every recipe uses a quart of home-canned tomatoes.

As for now, I'm just sitting here admiring them.

Together Again

Our weekend was bittersweet as we attended the funeral of my Grandma. She's the last of mine or Dans' grandparents which makes it especially hard to say goodbye.

My grandma was a generous, loving person. She was fiercely loyal and she didn't take crap off anyone. She was outspoken and said things as she saw them, but also had a soft, loving side.

Some of my best memories from childhood are of our snowmobiling adventures at my grandparents' cabin in the Uintahs. My grandpa and my dad would spend the day gasing up and fixing the snowmobiles while my sisters and cousins and I would drive and drive and drive. Looking back, I don't think the menfolk got a lot of peace because they spent a lot of time trying to find one of us after we got ourselves stuck in a snowbank. They'd pull us out and the adventure would continue. When the day was ending and they finally talked us into coming out of the cold, my grandma would have waiting for us her famous enchilladas or something else she'd made from scratch. Lisa and Shane and I (the eldest grandchildren) got to sleep in the bunkhouse which was another adventure. The best part was using the outhouse even though there was a bathroom with modern conveniences inside the cabin.

This weekend while I was helping my Dad and Nancy go through some things in my grandma's storage unit, I came across a bunch of pictures of the cabin. It was EXACTLY as I remember it: the design in the beadspread, the placement of the round kitchen table, the accordian-style closet door. These memories are from elementary school which shows how vividly I remember those times.

I've spent more time with my grandma and grown closer to her since my kids were born. After she stopped driving Dan would pick her up and bring her to our house for Sunday dinners. Sometimes I would take her to medical appointments or the two of us would take Gavin to McDonalds for lunch. She also loved to walk around Costco with me, sampling the food. She liked to be invited to the kids performances and birthday parties. I miss her but I know that she is happy now, reunited with my grandpa and my sister Joleen, both of whom she was unable to say goodbye to. I know she must be very happy there.

Big Yellow Friend

I've been meaning to post some photos of Gavin's first bus ride. We had some initial anxiety over the possibility of getting on the wrong one coming home (an idea that was put into our head by the same older brother that told us about the vampire that lives under our bed). Now the bus has become one of the highlights of kindergarten.

Mia and I were able to hitch a ride on the first day. My neighbor, Sarah, offered us a ride home from the school so we decided to ride along. I enjoyed watching Gavin and his friends bounce around in sheer excitement the whole way. When the bus pulled up to the school, Gavin walked ahead of me into class. I guess his anxiety was easily forgotten. I'm grateful to my friend Lara's kids who have taken care of Gavin on the ride home, since Tristan and Jolie aren't there to watch out for him and the ride home with the big kids is akin to throwing your barely-five year old to the sharks.

Our kindergarten routine includes eating lunch on the porch while we put on our shoes, comb our hair and sometimes brush our teeth while waiting for the bus. We like to push things to the limit around here, so this ensures it doesn't pass us by. Sarah and I established our own, unofficial bus stop directly across the street from my house and next door to hers. She's expecting a baby and I like convenience. The driver is new so we figured he wouldn't notice the change in address.

Mia LOVES the bus. She SCREAMS "gool bus!" whenever she sees one. I'm glad we took that ride the first day. She's a fan for life.

Aloha Again

Our friend Angel invited us to her 40th birthday luau. The girl really knows how to put on a party, roasted pig and all. We had a great time last night: great food, polynesian dancers and Gavin's favorite, the fire dance.

The downside: I'm back to wishing I were in the islands. I don't know that this feeling has really gone away but it's back in force. I keep emphasizing to Dan that this is a good thing. Hawaii is my justification to forgo all frivilous spending. When I don't feel like cooking dinner and I'm thinking hard about take-out, I envision white sand beaches and imagine the scent of plumeria. It cures my craving for Cafe Rio every time.

A New Look

I got up this morning and, for a moment, I thought we had a guest sitting on the sofa. Doesn't she look like a totally different girl?

Jolie's going to donate her locks to someone who needs them. This appointment with Ruth was long overdue. Jolie has been wanting to cut her hair for some time. I guess she was ready but I had to get there. I think her new do looks great and I'm happy that our days of me brushing and her crying... me taking the time to do an elaborate hairdo while she argues with me over how she wants it... her later taking said elaborate hairdo out and coming home with it all hanging in her face... are over (for now).

Spider Mom and the Superheroes

We celebrated Gavin's birthday with his friends, the superheroes. We had an obstacle coarse, a pinata, a game involving bean bags and rescue heroes, cupcakes, presents, and best of all, an impromtu battle with some villians (Catwoman, the Joker and Big Fat Ironman). Strangely, the three villains resembled Gavin's older siblings and one of their friends. We also made masks for each of the kids and Grandma used her superseamstress powers to make them each a cape.

Gavin's birthday fell on the windiest day of the summer. As the kids were finishing their cupcakes, there was an eerie breeze. I told them this often means there are villians nearby. Sure enough, the villians crashed our party and insisted that they were going to take all the cake and steal Gavin's presents. Lucky for us, there were granades (coolers full of water balloons) available to fight off the villians. The superheroes were able to win the battle and the evil villians left the party.

My favorite moment was when Gavin came looking for me about a half hour before the festivities began. I was in my closet trying to pull a costume together. I'd borrowed some things from my neighbor after failing to find an appropriate wonderwoman costume (everything I found had the word "sexy" before it). Gavin opened the door to my closet and the look on his face was priceless: wide-eyed and a BIG smile. My costume is a conglomeration of some things I had and some things I borrowed. I call it Spider Mom.

Back to It

We've officially started the new school year. Today was the big day.

I knew it was a bad idea to outlaw morning TV when I awoke at 6:15 to loud talking, laughter, keyboard playing, chasing, and other indications of general hyperactivity. That's when I realized that TV encourages kids to not only sit on their cans and do nothing, but it keeps them sedate and quiet so others in the household can sleep. Maybe it's not such a bad thing afterall. Jolie came in at 6:45 to ask what her jobs were. The new year hadn't even started and I'd already stopped caring about my newfound ambitious ideals (ideal #2: morning chores).

Once everyone was sufficiently decked out in their new clothes (we had a fashion show last night to determine whether Tristan should wear his white rocker t-shirt or black rocker t-shirt with his black and white plaid shorts); we took the customary photos on the front porch and headed out. It was Jolie's first day at her new school so I was expecting some nervous anticipation. Nothing. She's in a portable classroom which she reports is "awesome". At dinner she clarified that portables don't actually stink like people say they do. She also told Tristan that his lunch tables "rock" (this is the school Tristan has been attending since 3rd grade). They're round and they have individual seats, as opposed to the long rectangular tables at the other school.

Tristan is majoring in being cool this year. Of this I am certain because I just read a questionnaire that he completed today in class:

Question: "What am I proficient at?"
At home: "being cool"
At school: "being cool, history"

Hey, around here we celebrate everyone's talents. I can already tell that fifth grade is the big leagues. Tristan was more excited than anyone for school this morning. He couldn't wait to see the friends he'd been away from all summer. He's been in class with the same group of kids for two years now. I've also noticed a big leap of independence. He didn't have a lot of interest in us walking him to class this morning. I snapped a quick photo of him lining up outside and I could tell he was OK without me (and probably preferred it that way).

And now we come to Gavin. Poor Gavin. Due to some bad information given by a completely incompetent school secretary, Gavin missed his first day of kindergarten. Yes, that's right. The first day of kindergarten: that single day in one's life that mothers take photos of, writers compose essays about, scrapbookers scrapbook about... yes, that day. Long story short, we arrived at 12:45 with backpack, camera, excitement and anticipation. That's when we ran into Gavin's little friend who was coming out of the school and who matter-of-factly announced to Gavin that "he missed it, it's all over." Needless to say, we did not leave with the same excitement and giddy anticipation (but I nearly had someone's head on a platter in their place).

I think Gavin was a little nervous about school, anyway. He wanted to make sure that I was going to be there the whole time (if not in class, in the building). He's also been obsessing about what would happen if he gets on the wrong bus coming home. The kindergarteners don't go back to school until next week, which is probably all good. We'll have a few more days to work through some of this. He's such a young one (turned five two weeks ago). I hope he does OK.

HSM2

The kids spent the last half of spring and the beginning of summer as Wildcats in High School Musical 2. After auditioning, they were both given parts in the chorus. Jolie was actually what they called a "lava springer" which was a combination of several small parts around the Lava Springs countryclub. She was also a cheerleader in the big numbers. She had several costume changes which she didn't mind at all. (Come to think of it, she's never minded changing her clothes fifteen times a day.)

I loved the fact that the performances were outdoors. There were two casts, an older (mostly teen) cast, and the younger kids. Tristan and Jolie's cast performed every other night for two weeks. Several of Jolie's friends came to see her and their grandparents and uncle from Virginia were able to come. Gavin and Mia went nearly every night. By the end of the play, Gavin was singing "Hey batter batter, hey batter batter, swing!" and Mia "Bet on it, bet on it". I was pretty involved in helping with rehearsals (crowd control, etc.) and backstage during performances. It was a fun time.

Thanks to Grandpa for the photos, this was during the time that my camera was DOA.

Daydreaming of France

I really, really need to do an update of our summer activities. We've been into some fun things these last weeks and I need to tell you all about them. Soon to come: lots of details about our HSM2 play, Jolie's baptism, a visit from the grandparents, Gavin's birthday fete, and many days at the water park.

For now, though, I'm dreaming of France. Nancy gave me an excellent book that has sucked me in. I'm so drawn to it that I've abandoned the one I'm supposed to be reading for Thursday's meeting with the Ladies of the Night (my book club). The Shack was getting on my nerves, anyway.



A Homemade Life is all about food and memories and well, Paris. If you've ever been to France, this book will take you right back. It will seem like yesterday that you were sitting on a balcony in Grenoble, eating caprese salad. Your mouth will be watering for pain au chocolat (oh, it's almost painful to think of it).

Incidentally, I made two batches of mozzarella last week so I could eat it on caprese salad made with tomatoes and basil from the garden. Have you ever made cheese? It's really not that difficult.

As though all this pining for France were not enough, last night I came across a DVD at the Redbox that made it worse. Months ago I heard about a movie that sounded like my kind of flick: Il y a Longtemps que Je T'aime (I've Loved You So Long). I looked for it but wasn't able to find it anywhere. It's a story about two sisters who are reunited after being apart for many years. It takes a while to figure out why they were apart and what has gone on during their seperation. It's serious and rather deep, but very good. If you do see it, please watch it in French with subtitles. I acidentally turned it on with the English dubbing for a few minutes and it was extremely irritating. Who can resist listening to the beautiful French language, anyway? I also love the song at the end of the film. You can listen to it here: Dis Quand Reviendras Tu (Jean Louis Aubert)

Gavin is starting his French Immersion program in exactly two weeks. I guess this is a sign of things to come. Many of my friends have opted out of the program, they seem to think that learning French is useless. I can understand where they're coming from, but I have to disagree.

Goodbye to a Loyal Friend

I nearly kissed the FedEx dude this morning when he appeared at my door with a brown box and a signature pad. I knew my good friend, my trusty Cannon Rebel XT, was back in my life. Things were looking up.

That was before I opened the box and found not only my camera inside but also his obituary. His official cause of death: "Moisture: repair to exceed replacement cost." If you're familiar with this camera, you know that's a pretty steep replacement cost. (Maybe this death in the family isn't the only reason I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.) I also found a hospital bill of $105 which had already been charged to my visa. Needless to say, I picked up the phone. I'm soon to receive autopsy photos of the corrosion on the inside of my camera. As for the charges, they were for servicing my lens which I sent attached to the camera (which was totally fine). After 50-something minutes on the phone (which resulted in multiple catastrophes here at the homestead), I convinced Cannon to reverse those charges.

I'm wearing black today. I'm in mourning, you see...

(Just looking at the cruddy photos below (taken with the "stills" setting on my video camera) confirms to me what a fine friend my Rebel was.)

July 4th Catch-up

We spent the morning of the 4th at Grandma and Grandpa's carnival and breakfast. The kids love this carnival as they have an old-fashioned dunk tank, a High Striker game where you swing the hammer and try to ring the bell at the top, inflatables to bounce on, air-brushed tatoos and plenty of other fun. The kids and I each took a turn sitting in the dunking chair (yes, me). Jolie did it over and over. I should have listened to her when we were leaving the house and she asked for a towel (I told her she wouldn't need one, underestimating how wet a bucket of water can really make you).

In the afternoon we decided to see Up at the theater. Grandma came over to sit with Mia while she was taking her nap, which was a huge gift to me. I haven't sat all the way through a movie in years.

We were big old party poopers the evening of the 4th, didn't go to see fireworks or anything. I actually worked in the yard, pulling some of the thousands of weeds that took over the front flower beds while we were in Hawaii. The kids came out and did a little bit of helping and a little bit of playing. Jolie sang and danced to her HSM2 CD, showing me the dances in her play. It was a little difficult to watch our neighbors having a big patriotic barbeque and party, and we started to hear fireworks when we came in. We put the kids to bed amidst much whining and knashing of teeth. They did manage to watch part of a firework display from the boys' window after going to bed.