The Other Birthday Girl

March is a big birthday month at our house!

Here's my birthday girl!

I love how everyone is getting ready to help blow out the candles.  This pic cracks me up!

The mint choco chip ice cream cake. Yum.

Don't you think she looks a bit evil in this picture?

And here is the birthday girl with the traditional birthday strawberries and whip cream.  

Happy big 12th Emilia! We love ya! Thanks for making me a mom!

One Year Older and Wiser Too

Another birthday has come and gone.  Next year I will no longer be able to classify myself in the "mid 30s".  I will have moved on to "late 30s".  I am not sure how I feel about getting closer to 40.  When I turned 20 I was excited. There was something about being out of the teens that was great.  When I turned 30 it was a little more of a crisis than I thought it would be.  Who knows about 40. And 50 and so on.  *sigh*. Here I am eating my birthday treat: apple turnovers. *Side note:  My family always makes fun of me when I wear this navy and white striped shirt.  They constantly tell me that I look like a mime.  Or a prisoner.  I think I know what I will be for Halloween this year.  Just gotta find me some red suspenders.

My actual birthday wasn't the most exciting day. You can't really celebrate much on weekdays when the kids have all their regular activities and when you have kiddos at home from school with communicable diseases.  Friday the 23rd was the real birthday celebration.  Kent took me out to dinner to eat some Thai food and then we went and bought my super exciting present (really!)  a small chest freezer for our garage.  On Saturday I went shopping and to dinner with some of my good friends and they were nice to me and treated me to dinner and cupcakes.

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The kiddos enjoying the birthday treats.

The Bag

You know, it's funny, I haven't been sewing much all winter and then suddenly I have wanted to sew.  So you get to see all my projects.

Here is the bag.  It was supposed to be smaller and I was going to use it as a purse.  It turned out too big so now it's just another bag.  But it's cuter than my other bags so it is now THE bag.

Chicken Pox

Anyone want to come over for a chicken pox party?  We have "the pox" at our house.  We aren't really sure where Emilia got it but she did.  Apparently the vaccine only protects 9 out of 10 people from getting it.  Also, most middle school aged kids have only had 1 dose of the vaccine, where the younger kids have had 2. 
There are some advantages:  missing school for a week, getting to hang out with her super-awesome mom all week and get special made-to-order lunches and treats.  Maybe some restaurant food tomorrow.  Not to mention the Wii games and movies from the redbox.  I, myself have enjoyed getting to sleep in an extra 45 minutes since the middle school starts an hour before the elem. school.   Also, it has been quite nice to cancel lots of activities for the week and just hang out at home without friends over.   The worst part:  THE ITCHING!!!!!  Next week it will be back to normal so we will try to make the best of the itching (Did I say WE???) and enjoy the down time for awhile.

Pillowcase Dress

I got an old pillowcase from my friend Dana when I helped her pack and move. I thought it would make the cutest skirt or possibly a pillowcase dress.  I have never been a huge fan of the regular pillowcase dresses because I think they need more shape, or a more defined waist.   I finally pulled out that pillowcase and made a dress for Adele: 

The bottom ruffle was already a part of the pillowcase so I just cut the pillowcase in half and used the bottom for the skirt.  With the top I made the bodice and the sleeves. I love the dainty flower pattern and the red edging on the bottom.

Carl

Here's a picture of Kent's big brother Carl.  He has been in the hospital for about 6 weeks now.  He has had 2 rounds of chemo and finally had a "clean" (cancer-free) bone marrow smear.  Lots of his healthy blood cells were also destroyed during the chemo so right now he is hanging out at the hospital and waiting for his white blood cell count to go up.  It is too dangerous to go home when the cell counts are so low. Once his numbers go up he will be able to start moving on to the next step: either consolidation chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant.  He needs to consult with the transplant team in SL before he knows what the next step will be for him.

He has lost weight and has been throwing up around the clock.  Every time Kent talks to him he comments on how he has such a great attitude.  He has been able to remain hopeful and cheerful and is really a good sport considering all he has been through.  What a great example of strength and endurance to our family.  Right now we are just hoping and praying and sending him our support.

The most horrible thing about cancer is that you have to go through all this terrible torture and you don't even know if it is going to work or if it will just make it so your last time on earth was filled with sorrow and suffering. It is this long drawn out process that goes from bad to worse and must be so hard to endure. I have a new respect for people who have to endure this very difficult and long trial, especially young children. It just breaks your heart to see what people have to suffer. I know though that all suffering has a purpose, and it truly makes us better people.  We learn so much during times of suffering and if we can make it through we will be a better, more grateful, more empathetic person for having endured it.  It doesn't make it any easier though.

Gourmet French Desserts

After having been inspired by our good friends Julia and Jacques we decided to try to make creme brulee.  At our house one of the kids' assigned jobs is "assistant chef", which the kids all love doing.  It was Elise's turn to be the AC so she got to help me make the brulee. After it was done we invited a couple of our neighbors over to share it with us.  Everyone liked it except Adele. She thought it was weird so Elise and Emilia were kind enough to eat all of hers.  Next time I make it I want to refrigerate it overnight.  This time we just didn't have the time to refrigerate it as long as it needed to be so it wasn't as firmly set as I would have liked it to be.  It makes me feel so French and gourmet to have my kids walking around the house talking about creme brulee.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the finished product. I guess I will just have to make it again.

Snow Day

No, it wasn't a snow day where they canceled school.  That never happens around here. At least it hasn't in the 7 years my kids have been going to school.  But we did get about 6 inches of new snow overnight.  So add that to the 8-10 we already had and that makes a lot of snow to play in.  And to shovel.  The neighbors didn't plow us out this time.  So Kent shoveled while I built snow slides with the kids.

 

 

See.  Kent shoveled.  I played.  Actually building a 4 foot snow slide is a lot of hard work.  Then after we had the 1 slide coming off the rock Emilia and I built a second slide in the shoveled piles from the driveway.

Hair Flowers

Love them.

For the Record

Adele cut her hair again.  Luckily it was just 1 lock of hair, although it was in the front.  In fact I think it is the same piece that was attacked the last time. Apparently it is a favorite location for self-haircuts.  Just for the record, since I am sure none of you are counting, this is the 5th time she has cut her hair. I am counting.  And she has been severely threatened if she cuts it again.  Bye bye preschool.  See, she will be banned from scissors until she is 18 and since they use scissors at preschool she will definitely have to miss preschool for awhile.  Hopefully this is a threat I will never have to follow through with.  Because I will.  And it will be worse for me than for her.  But she must learn.  She MUST LEARN.

Awesome Neighbors

  We seem to keep getting lots of snow when nobody else in the state gets any. I am not sure about the reason for this but I am ready for it to stop.  (But guess what, it is going to snow more this weekend. blah.)  I know, I know, it has been a mild winter... unseasonably warm... blah blah blah. Tell that to the 10 inches of snow in my yard.  BUT,  one silver lining on the storm clouds that dropped the 8+ inches of snow on my yard is that we have awesome neighbors.  Neighbors who have 4-wheeler plows who drive around the neighborhood at 7:30 a.m. shoveling people's driveways.  On Tuesday when we woke up to a huge pile of snow I was just thinking how long it would take us to shovel our way out.  Thinking that I might skip my workout at the gym and just count the 2 hours of shoveling as my workout.  Minutes later my neighbor Lloyd is out there with his plow digging us out.  This is not the first (nor the last?) time this has happened. We have the best neighbors.

Change

Nope, my voice isn't changing.  And I am not going through the "big change"  (though at certain times I think that might be nice.  Aw, who I am I kidding.  I have heard it is pretty rough.  Maybe they should call it the "big bad change").  Ok enough digression.  Onto the point. I just got a new calling on Sunday.  I have been the chorister in Primary for only 6 short months.  I was really looking forward to staying in there and "playing" with the kids for awhile and helping them get ready for their program in the fall.  I guess that was not in the grand scheme of things, unfortunately.  Sit down for this one.  I  I just got asked to be the Young Women President.  I am excited about it for sure, but my head is still spinning. I really have no idea what I am doing.  I have been out of YW for 18 years.  Yeah.  That makes me feel old.  But not old enough to have such a "grown up" calling.  That's the weird thing.  Sometimes I still feel like I am just a kid and I am not old enough or mature enough to be in charge of stuff like this.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Yuck.  Who even wants to talk about this?  It's something that is going on in our family so I need to blog about it even though I don't want to.  We found out about 3 weeks ago that Kent's brother who is 2 years older has leukemia.  He has a rare form of cancer that is specifically called acute erythroid leukemia.   He started chemotherapy just 4 days after he was diagnosed and is currently in the hospital.  When you hear news like this it definitely shakes up your world.  It is hard to hear news like that and to hear the updates that the chemo is making him miserable and sick.  And that after the first round of chemo all the cancer isn't gone so he has to do 5 more days of a different chemo drug.  Our hearts go out to his wife and kids and especially to Carl who has been in the hospital for 2 weeks.  It's hard when stuff like this happens because you have to think about disease, and suffering and the possibility of bad outcomes.  And you are too far away to really do anything but send care packages and talk on the phone.  You have to explain to your kids what cancer is and try to reassure them when you aren't sure yourself what the outcome will be.  It's just a really hard time for Kent's family and we hope and pray that Carl will be able to go home and be healthy.  Soon.

Valentine's Guidebook- By Emilia

She wrote this in 2011.  Click on the pictures to see them larger and read the words.

 

Hamburger

The Way They Play

 

I have been hanging on to this picture for awhile.  Not quite getting around to posting it, but not wanting to delete it.  It is a common occurrence around here to have the "circle of toys" out.  The kids sit in the middle of it and play with the Littlest Pet Shops and whatever people and animals they can find.

Julia & Jacques and the Chicken Liver Pate

Oh, where to begin.  Where to begin?  This is one of those things that has evolved from something small into something bigger and must now be forever preserved on the blog for posterity.

One night Emilia got out of bed and came upstairs to have me clean her ears.  Ever since she got her ears pierced they have been infected off and on.  I was in my bedroom getting ready for bed and Julia Child was on the Create channel making some dish or another.  As we were cleaning her ears I was doing my best "Julia" voice and making funny comments about the things Julia was doing.  Emilia was laughing hysterically and a love for Julia Child was born in her.  She asked if we could watch Julia again sometime.  We checked the schedule and saw that Julia wasn't going to be on tv for awhile.  So we got on Netflix and saw that they have the 4 disc series: "Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home." 

 

Kent and I were familiar with Jacques.  (And Julia too, of course).  We had made fun of him on a regular-ish basis.  He has a very heavy French accent and an even heavier lisp.  It makes listening to him quite hilarious.  And we can never forget 2 of our favorite dishes he has made:  Cooked pears covered in cold coffee and meat with raisins, grapes and ketchup.  (Fine French cooking.)  When we discovered Julia and Jacques cooking together in one show, well,  that just raised the bar on cooking entertainment.  This is what we do at night.  We watch the Create channel and mock all the people who make "art" and home decor out of glue guns and trash, teach grandmas how to paint horrible beautiful flowers,  cook gross food, and of course drink lots of wine.

Chicken liver pate, Julia style.

So, to make a long story short, now that we have received and watched several J & J DVDs we have turned our children into sarcastic, mockers of fine French cooking.  One of our favorite family activities is sitting down with a big bowl of popcorn and watching J & J make chicken liver pate and fight over black pepper vs. white pepper.  We have even started an ongoing competition between the two to see who wins the episode.  Whoever makes the grossest food loses.  They get a point if what they make is edible and actually looks good.  They lose points for: drinking wine, eating meat and fish raw, making disgusting food, and combining foods that don't go together.  Usually they both end up with no points.  When there is a winner, it is usually Jacques.  We laugh and joke about how much butter they use, and how Julia substitutes 1/2 bottle of wine for the 1/2 cup she is supposed to use.  And how everything is "lovely".  And how she can't wait to get her fork into the food, and the food into her mouth.

The thing I like most though is how it is something that we do together as a family.  Everyone gets excited to watch Julia and Jacques.  And Adele loves docking points off the scores.  It's fun for me to know that my kids will always remember this about their childhoods.  That they will laugh and look back with good, warm memories about watching the show, and joking later in our "Julia voices" that we need to add more butter to the sauce or whatever.  Or that it the chicken is "just lovely".  Things like this make us feel like we are part of something.  That we share something that is unique to us.  Kind of like an inside family joke.  And if they are ever playing Trivial Pursuit someday and need to know something about chicken liver pate or how to make a roux, they will have it covered.

 Here we are, all snuggled in bed watching J&;J.

Good times.

Our last disc of the series is coming tomorrow.  No worries though, we still have plenty of the independent videos of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin available on Netflix.  And if  Ian gets his wish, we will buy a copy of Julia & Jacques "so we can watch it anytime we want and even take it on trips to watch in the car".

Wreath

 I saw this wreath over on Our Best Bites and thought it was so cute. I wanted a spring-ish wreath to hang on my door so I decided to give it a go.  Here it is.  I really like how it turned out.

Troublemaker Girl

Adele:  Mom, you're the troublemaker girl.
Me:  I am?
Adele:  Yes.  You are the one who makes everyone in trouble in our family.  All the kids.

I guess she's got that right.

Crafty Thrifty

My big girls got new sheet/comforter/bedskirt sets for Christmas.  The sheets were zebra striped and the comforters were reversible with zebra on one side and pink leopard on the other side.   When they opened the packages on Christmas morning we saw that the comforter sets came in a zipper bag that was made out of the same fabric as the comforter.  Of course I saw it and thought that there must be something cool we could do with the fabric that the bags were made of.  Then I thought of curtains and decided to make some.   I put the bags on the table in my sewing room and they sat there for 3 weeks.  Today I was cleaning up the reproducing mess in my sewing room and decided then and there to get those curtains done.  So here they are.  Just a simple window valance.  The stripe at the top is the rod pocket which was made from the handles of the bags. 

I wasn't really planning on blogging about this, but making something from nothing gave me such warm fuzzies, I had to.  I felt like the queen of thrift, taking something that I was just going to throw away and turning it into perfectly matching curtains.  (Patting myself on the back.)

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If I would have been planning on blogging about this I would have taken pictures of the bags BEFORE I cut them to pieces.  But I didn't. So here is what was left after I made the curtains.

And then, if THAT wasn't enough, I used some of the scraps to make some cute twisty circle clips for my kids.  Its been a good crafty thrifty day.