The "Pleage of Alegenst"

#4 (second grade) might not be the best speller yet, but at least she is patriotic.

I found this old gift bag hanging from a mini American flag on the shelf in her room. Now that she has written the words, the pledge is a cinch. I've even caught her and #5 facing this bag and reverently reciting the pledge with their hands on their hearts and their attention on the Stars and Stripes.



A couple months ago, in the same patriotic spirit, #5 (Kindergarten) broke out singing the National Anthem while he accompanied me for an errand in the Assistant Director's office at his school. There was a poster displaying a photo of the flag, and #5 just couldn't help himself. When he finished singing, I gave him a hug, and the A.D. commented on how much he loves that song.

A No-School Holiday

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day everyone.


Here's a look at how my kids spent their free day.

#4 hung out with her siblings and colored and made cookies.

#2 went surfing.


#1 made baby shower invitation with her friends. They are throwing a shower for their Church leader who recently adopted a newborn.


#s 3 and 5 played with friends...who like to use people as canvases. (#5 was happy to be the Spider King all day.)


I spent two hours making the kitchen cleaner. (Not clean; just -er.) After two hours, I was happy to switch tasks and catch up on my work for ACHF (the foundation). Is it lame that my holidays are just days to do different work besides driving kids around all day? I did my work to an interview on the radio about the history of civil rights activism, which was interesting...and maybe the kids subconsciously learned a few things. Overall, it was nice to have a free day commemorating the mostly peaceful battle that made our country more free for all its citizens.

Laser Tag

A few months ago we coughed up the money for the Utah Pass of Passes for each member of our family. Because I hate wasting money, we've put these passes to good use. One included attraction is the Trafalga Fun Center in Lehi, which has a pretty good laser tag course. Laser tag became popular when I was a college student, but I blew it off as a childish activity. I'm glad I gave it a second chance, because it's actually quite fun to get together with a bunch of adult friends and run around in the dark shooting each other with beams of light.

My kids are also picking up on the fun of this game.

When #5 was in charge of our Family Home Evening activity recently, he asked if we could go play laser tag. Lehi is too far to drive for FHE. Undaunted, he and #4 disappeared into their room for the rest of the afternoon to put together a homemade laser tag activity.

When the time came, they brought out our vests and suited us up.


























#5 showed us all how to make our laser "hand guns". He was very patient with those of us who couldn't get our gun's barrel facing the correct way!

Then they split us into teams and showed us our recharging stations. My team recharged by standing by a kitchen chair and waiting for #4 (the referee) to beep, which let us know our gun was live again.



We turned out most of the lights and ran around shooting each other. If we got shot five times, we had to recharge. #4 monitored the whole game. She gave us a countdown when time was running out, and then gathered all of us to announce the scores. The all-girls team had SIX points! But the co-ed team had EIGHT! I made at least 20 hits, so I think the scoring was a little off. But we had a great time of it! Thanks for thinking of a great activity #5.

New Year, New Resolution

First of all, may I just say...

WHAT THE HECK?!!

How did I miss an entire nine weeks of blogging? Sure, I've been busy keeping up with Christmas and getting 117 people to Mexico and back...but still.

Before I fill you in on my 2012 resolutions, may I remind you of my first-ever resolution, which I made one year ago. In addition to cleaning my master bathroom once per month (as Kent's Christmas gift--and I'll admit to missing the month of October), I resolved to clean my dishes within five days of using them.

You might think that with four children who are capable of doing dishes--plus one who tries to be capable--this is a silly goal. But there is something about the so-called "hand dishes" that frightens my children and (literally) draws forth tortuous wails when I remind them there are pots and pans waiting on the stove that won't fit in the dishwasher. When a child is still moping around the kitchen as I lock up for the night and go to bed, I usually just give in and tell them to get the dishwasher going and go to bed as well. Then I wash the hand dishes sometime in the future. I know I'm contributing to the perpetual problem; but honestly, I'm a little grossed out by what my kids consider a "washed" dish. At least the dishwasher sanitizes their efforts; and if I wash the larger dishes myself, I know they are clean. (If you are a parent and you are rolling your eyes right now, I'm sure it's because you are reflecting on your own children's dish-washing complaints, and not my poor parenting skills. Am I right?)

Return and report: At the beginning of 2011, I found my resolution quite motivating and stayed on top of the dishes really well with my little goal nagging at the back of my mind. My efforts soon became habit, and I think I did pretty well over the year. Of course, it helped a great deal that our six-month house guest, Edwin, took it upon himself to clean the dishes (and counters, and floors) each day. My kitchen never looked so good for so long! Now I'm back to the three- or four-day clean-kitchen schedule. But at least I'm still within my five-day threshold!

And now, the part of this blog you've all been waiting for:
Mary's New Year's Resolutions 2012!

But first, a random photo:


We were in Mexico for New Year's Eve last week. Our group bought some fireworks. Most of them were just really loud, although a few people picked up bottle rockets. No one bought this stick of dynamite, but I am curious what it would have done.

(I felt like this way-too-long post needed another picture. Now back to the resolutions.)

It's probably a bad idea to attempt more than one resolution in any given year, but I'm going to go for it.

Resolution #1: I want to bring balance and relaxation into my life. I've realized that even though I would like those things to spontaneously show up every day--or at least every week...or maybe month?--that's not going to happen. So I need to schedule relaxation in. My resolution is to practice yoga and at least 15 minutes of meditation once each week. For a few years now, I've felt that meditation is the tool I should be using to keep my mind strong and to improve my relationship with God. I was good at it for several months back in 2010. (Or was it 2009? Like I said, I need to strengthen my mind.) Then I fell out of the habit. Neglecting meditation certainly hasn't improved anything about my spiritual relationship, and I've felt adrift for awhile now. I'm throwing yoga in with it because I love the positive energy I get when I take the time for a longish yoga routine. I'm not talking about the 15-min yoga videos that quickly take one through a series of toning stretches. I really like the Ali MacGraw video, which I've had on loan for at least a year now from my friend, Mindy. (Yes Mindy, I know I should one day return your VHS tape...but not yet. I hope you don't mind.) The yoga master eases slowly into the poses and lets you hold them for a good stretch. It takes 50 minutes to get through, but it's good exercise and relaxation all in one. If anyone else can recommend a good yoga or meditation tape, I'm willing to try some new ones, too.

Resolution #2: Post to this blog at least once each week. Okay...at the VERY least, twice per month. I've missed recording some funny kid moments and fun family times. I'll probably play a bit of catch up, but mostly I don't want to lose those memories or the ones still to be made.

In conclusion, it's too bad my bathrooms and kitchen are going to fall apart again this year. At least I had a good run with them. I figure if the world is ending this year anyway, who cares about mildew and sticky floors? I might as well face the end times with a relaxed attitude and some digital memories along the way.

What are your resolutions for 2012?

Driving Around in My Automobile: Part Deux

Today when I parked at the kids' school to pick them up, I glanced at my odometer, which read: 110111 I know it's geeky cool, but how often does your odometer match the current date?

In other travel news, now that the weather is cooling off, the cats--which I don't want to claim, but they have been hanging around for eight years so maybe I should accept that they are ours--have started sneaking into the garage to spend the night. Usually we set out a box of kitty litter and don't have much of a problem with them spending winter nights there. Plus, they keep down the mice population. Unfortunately, this week we weren't so prepared...and we didn't know they had sneaked in when Kent parked the car until the next morning...

When Kent and the kids hurried away from breakfast to load up and attempt to get to school on time, they discovered a fresh-ish pile of cat poopy on the roof of Kent's car. With no time to search for plastic gloves to clean the mess, they all headed off to school. #4 told me all about the strange looks cast toward the car at the drop-off line. Students and teachers alike were doing double takes. My girls huddled in the car for a few seconds until they thought fewer people were looking, and then hurried into the school. Only a few of their friends were on to them. Fortunately, my kids have strong self-concepts and found mostly humor in the situation. I don't think anyone endured any teasing.

Kent brought the car right back home for me to deal with. He came in gagging and said just looking at that little pile on his car made him want to vomit. I had it cleaned up in less than a minute. To give him credit, I can't deal with certain mold scents that we find lurking in Tupperware in the back reaches of the fridge, let alone dead animals that show up around our house. He's disposed of birds, mice, a rat, a cat, and a skunk! So one pile of feces is a good trade I figure.

Do you and your spouse have complimentary weak stomachs for different things? Or is there one mess that neither of you can deal with well? What is you kryptonite?

By the way, anyone want a free cat or two?

MIA

Yes, I know I've been neglecting my blog. If it makes you feel better, I've barely checked any of yours in the past three months too! And hey, do you like the new layout? Just be sure to click on the window to see the whole post. You'll know you've reached the end of a post when you see my name and a time stamp.

I was able to snap a mugshot of the culprit behind my MIA status:

But the paintbrush isn't in this alone.

Several weeks ago I received an anonymous letter with an anonymous gift from an anonymous friend. (It all sounds very suspicious, doesn't it?)

Whoever it was really knows how to push my buttons.

I've spent those past several weeks repainting my room.

It all started very innocently. My friend suggested a nice brown paint for my walls, I found some free "lumber" (reclaimed fence posts and boards), and several pieces of furniture that were marked for goodwill (DI) because they couldn't bring in the cash at Kent's office furniture store. Now I'm in over my head on a project that is taking too long (don't most home projects do that?)...and new carpet is coming on Friday.

Really, I'm not complaining. I think the master bedroom will turn out amazing. I just hope it's not another month before I get to post it all on this blog.

It's surprising how much trouble one little paintbrush can cause:

Fall, Break

Someone should have suggested that the idyllic weather we had through this past extended weekend was meant to beckon us outdoors. Instead, we tried our luck indoors...and it did not go well. We had a lot of this happen:


In an effort to prepare for the cold weather, I designated our Fall Break for canning and winter clothes sorting. We ended up with three canning explosions (two in the pressure cooker and one jar of pickled hot peppers in my face), one broken jar of delicious salsa verde on the floor, and seven exploded boxes of clothes all over the house. To wrap up the messy weekend, I ended up getting the flu, which I think caused an inflamed nerve in my ear, which resulted in nauseating vertigo for a day. Thankfully, my kids were around to send for help and hot pepper oil remedies as well as to feed the family through my illness; and thankfully again, they went back to school today. Maybe tomorrow I can begin the recovery process.

It wasn't all bad. We did play a little, including more falls (minus any breaks) at the skating rink.



Still, I'm really not sure how I'll survive Christmas break!

P.S. Lest I deter anyone from preserving their harvest, the canning explosions were due to our mistakes. The bands were on the jars way too tight, which didn't let them vent. And the explosions in the pressure cooker happened when someone tried to speed up the cooling process by removing the regulator. Now that we've experienced a few physics lessons, more members of our family are educated in the art of canning. (Maybe I should also let the responsible party have a lesson in removing pepper shrapnel from the cupboards where it has dried quite nicely.)