Quote of the day

"The demands of motherhood especially consume the old self, and replace it with something new, often better and wiser, sometimes wearier or disillusioned, or tense and terrified, certainly more self-knowing, but never the same again."

Lois McMaster Bujold

Dinner at our house, for the curious

Dinner at our house runs the spectrum from boring mundane to ridiculous comedy.  Of course, some of that comedy is only funny because at the end of the day hysteria tends to run a little wild.  In the interest of historical documentation (and entertainment), I present to you three separate accounts of "Dinner, at our house."

Monday
To properly appreciate the irony of the night, you must understand that on Sunday I, unusually, planned four weeks worth of meals.  This would take much of the drama out of the dinner hour, I hoped, making our family night run more smoothly.  The plan for Monday was a chicken casserole (half of which had broccoli).  I carefully put it all together after lunch.  I put it in the oven early.  Dinner time comes and the chicken is not cooked.  We all sit down and start on the salad, the fruit, and the sweet potatoes...I check the casserole every fifteen minutes or so.  After twenty minutes or more, the kids are tired of salad and fruit.  As the casserole is still not done, we read scriptures around the table.  Then we start family night, we finish the song, prayer, and lesson before the chicken finally passes my scrutiny.  By now the kids are rather rambunctious.  Enough so that suddenly, with no warning, Young M hollers, "Squawk like a chicken."  Young A adds loudly, "Quack like a duck."  Miss E chimes in, "Moo like a cow."  With in three minutes, they've collaborated with few words to write the chant/song:  (note.  Each line is chanted/sung by a different child)
"Squawk like a chicken.
Meow like a cat.
Quack like a duck.
Just like that."
A variety of alternative lines, many quite silly, have also been put forth.  And I have laughed like crazy.  Thankfully, we can finish dinner.  (Followed by our "activity", eating rice krispy treats, and our "treat", playing some rousing rounds of Pit.  The children loudly request (and are denied) the pleasure of playing with the gas cards so they can "have gas" and "pass gas" during the game.)

Tuesday
Tuesday's dinner was supposed to be the easiest of the week: Good Sport Night (also known as leftovers.)  I didn't prepare much because it was all waiting in the fridge.  The Professor was running a little late and had told me to start without him if needs be.  The kids were happily playing, and I was reading a book.  Consequently, I didn't realize quite how late it had gotten. The Professor was later than either of us expected.  When he got home, we threw dinner on the table.  I just had time to eat before heading out the door to a church activity.  Oops.

Wednesday
Young A turns 9 next month.  The Professor really wants to help him earn his Wolf (maybe?) badge in cub scouts before then.  We realized a week or so ago that one of his requirements is to help plan and make an outdoor meal.  Oops.  This is January in Utah.  The last week or so has been crazy cold (for Utah).  Today was supposed to be warmer (maybe get up to freezing), so we decided to take care of it today.  Young A wanted to make pizza to eat on our back deck.  While he helped with that, Miss M (with help from Young M and Young T) grated carrots for a carrot salad.  We had lots of carrots in the bowl, and on the table, and on the chair, and on the floor.  We also had an apple pie with dinner.  (It didn't fit in the freezer after the Costco trip today.)  At dinner, the Professor, Young A, Young T, and Miss E all ate a few bites of dinner outside.  Whew!  Another requirement complete.

During dinner, the following conversations and snippets were heard:

"Well, sniffle my britches."
Young M:  "Sniffle my under-britches."

"What do you call your teacher at Math Circle?"
Young A:  "Sometimes we say,'...Uhhhmmm....'"

Young E reporting on Math Circle:
"The teacher said, 'Choose a number between 0 and 10.  Now multiply it by 9.'
Young A said, 'What if we can't?'  and the teacher said, 'Choose a whole number between 0 and 10.'  I think Young A chose pi."  Young A admitted that she was right.


At least the chaos has been entertaining lately!

Paratroopa koopa

This year, Young M wanted to be a villain.  After considering quite a few options, he and I agreed on a flying turtle from the Mario games, also known as a paratroopa koopa.

I made this costume out of craft foam.  Cardboard would have worked.  It would have been much heavier and held its shape better and needed paint or paper for color.  I chose the easier way.  I started by making one hexagon (about 8 or  9 inches across) and six half hexagons out of craft foam.  I made the angles on the half hexagons (where it would connect to the big hexagon) slightly smaller so that the shell would be rounded instead of flat.  (In other words, I trimmed a skinny triangle off the diagonal sides.)  I cut strips of white foam for the edge of the shell and yellow foam for the straps.

For the wings, I traced the wings from the picture above gently using my computer as a light board.  I transferred the tracing to white foam and cut them out, leaving a small area to staple at the bottom of each wing.  I traced the design with marker (pencil was more subtle, but would smear.)  I outlined the hexagons to match the wings.  Then I stapled it all together.

The front of the shell is made from a large piece of foam. After adding a few lines with marker, I stapled a ribbon to the top to tie around the neck.  I also stapled some yarn (ribbon would have worked better) to the sides to tie around the back.

Young M wore a yellow long sleeved shirt with tan pants to complete the costume.

With more time, I would have made green boots/spats out of foam (or fabric) to finish it off.  As it was, Young M enjoyed being a paratroopa koopa (or flying turtle according to the kids at school.)

Mario costume

This year, the Professor's sister, Aunt B, decided that Miss S ought to be Mario for Halloween.  I waited until everything else was mostly done (while the kids were at school on Halloween, actually) and then did what I could.  Here is what we were going for, more or less.

First, I found a pair of overalls (slightly big, but nobody noticed) and a red shirt.  I added a couple of yellow buttons to the overalls.

Next came the hat.  Aunt B had sent me directions (here) and given me fabric scraps she had.  I mostly followed the directions (shrunk slightly to fit the fabric and because Miss S is a baby), except for the M.  I used the computer to trace the M the size I wanted it on a paper pattern.  I used craft glue to glue the M and the circle to the hat.  (Another time, I would glue the M and sew the circle.)  

To finish up, I used the Professor's great idea.  I cut a mustache out of black craft foam and stuck it on a pacifier with blue sticky tack.  To get the shape, I used the top of the pacifier as a guide and then curved the bottom to make it more Mario-like.  I also left a space in the bottom so it fit around the pacifier well.  I liked the total effect, even if Miss S periodically took off her mustache.

(And here we have Miss S and Aunt B (in her fabulous Lucca costume.))

Link costume

This year Young T chose to be Link for Halloween (or, as he put it for a few weeks beforehand, "Zelda wearing green with a sword and a shield.")  

  For his costume, we used Young A's green shirt and belted it to make a tunic with tan pants.

 To make the green Link hat, I cut out a trapezoid and sewed up the slanted sides.

 The Professor finished off the costume with his cardboard/foil skills.  The master sword has a craft foam hilt.  The shield has the Hyrule design colored on the front with marker.  

It is finished on the back with craft foam leftovers making the places to hold it.

Young T loved it.

Halloween overview

This year we had lots of fun with Halloween.  Video games made a strong showing at our house with Mario, Zelda, and Chronotrigger (in the basement) characters.  Young A retained his place as the originality master, and Miss M practiced being more grown up.  All in all, the evening was quite enjoyable.

(I will post more about the individual costumes over the next few days.  Grandmas, please be patient.)

To the mountains we go

To the mountains we go

Laughing all the way

We love to go to the mountains,

Today!*

I spend much of my life busy.  I seldom realize how tense I am until I find myself in the mountains, or near a river, or near a field.  Suddenly, I release the breath I didn't know I was holding.  This fall I've decided not to wait for a day the entire family can go up the canyon.  Instead, I'm going when I can.  What a beautiful world I live in.

*The first verse of a book/song that Miss E wrote/made a couple of years ago.  It has entered our family's repertoire.