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Showing posts from 2008

Holiday Concert Follow-Up

Because it received so much airtime, here's a rundown on the concerts we saw this season: 1. Berlioz Symphony Fantastique: it was everything you hoped for--witches, a beheading, percussionists running around like little Mii-people being chased by aliens, and twelve-foot chimes with a stepladder. There were also the symphonic dances from West Side Story and a piece by Samuel Barber (I only know his adagio for strings, so it was nice to hear another one by him). Rob was impressed with the mute for a tuba -- looked like a 12-gallon garbage can. Our neighbor Maestro K is the best kind of conductor, and the philharmonic really rose to the occasion. 2. Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Delius's Cuckoo, and Haydn's Surprise symphony. I wanted to take the kids to see this because they were familiar with the first and last pieces (Little Einsteins comes through for us) and I thought it would help their violin practice to see an orchestra live. Maestro K did another great job of explaining

Will-O's Baptismo

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While in Spain, I had a great companion who could not pronounce baptism in Spanish. I tried and tried to work on this one word with her, thinking it was perhaps crucial to her proselyting efforts, but I don't think it made one whit of a difference. Last Saturday Will-O got baptized. He had grandparents and great grandparents and aunts, uncles, cousins and friends in attendance. Maddie Lou gave the talk on baptism and was very polished. Our friends sang a beautiful song. There were six kids getting baptized and it was a much larger affair than we remember Maddie's having been. Evidently the floor was a lot more slippery in the changing room too. But I wouldn't know, because I didn't have to do much of anything but remember the clothes. Afterward, we came home and had a nice lunch that everyone but me put on (the whole thing went well into Joss's naptime) and Will ran around with friends. I asked him if he wanted to open a present and he said "I know, I know , my

Trying On Black

It has been a little while since I've been able to post, but I did want to report that I attended my first ever doorbusters on the day after Thanksgiving (I went out of altruism for the economy -- gotta do my part, you know?). Rob's sisters took me, and they are seasoned black Friday professionals. They read the circulars and circle what they want. They plan a route from store to store based on sale items, opening times and proximity. Then they split up. One goes for the circled items, and the other stands immediately in line. They are masterful. I was just going to see the sights, and I think I ended up spending more than either of them. We went to the Waldemort first. I knew I was way out of my depth when I saw that the parking lot was entirely full and there was not a cart to be had. But unlike other Waldemorts, everyone at ours was pretty jolly and we had no problems there. Of course the first thing I found on my list was huge and bulky, and I had no cart. I hoisted it thro

Toiky Day

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Here Joss is hanging out in the backyard on Thanksgiving morning. He liked rolling around in the leaves better than the great and terrible meal. He was feeling most put out that he didn't get to eat much (we've been taking the whole allergy thing more seriously since he Rob gave him a biscuit and he subsequently had a big red rash on his cheeks). This was the first year that we put on Thanksgiving entirely by ourselves and we learned a lot (a 'building year' you could call it) about menu and timing. Sharing a toast in the midst of their cheers of "T-O-K-I! Toki! Toki!" Maddie, Will and Sebi celebrate the joy of the season: Martinelli's apple juice. As happens too often, Sebi is too young/small/short of arm to make either the picture or the toast. Rob did an upside down turkey with sage. We had mashed potatoes and gravy, but I slashed the yams from the menu for the anti-mush vote. We had an artichoke/parmesan/sourdough stuffing from Sunset and spicy kale

An Open Letter on Produce

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Dear Fellow Americans, and in particular, grocery store cashiers and produce stockpeople: With the holiday this week, it is time to talk about our food. Specifically I want to discuss food that does not come in a wrapper. We're starting to forget what those foods are and what they look like, and I'm concerned that we're actually afraid of food that doesn't come in a box, can, or plastic shrink wrap. A few weeks ago I bought a butternut squash. This, below, is a butternut squash. I bake them filled with sausage and apples, or with butter, brown sugar, or maple syrup. My friend Liberty calls them 'nature's candy' and it's an apt name. However, when checking out, my friendly cashier held up said butternut squash and said "This is a yam, right?" Um, wrong. This is a yam. Completely different. It's a tuber, so it grows underground and is what my brother calls one of the 'humble vegetables'. It figures prominently in your Thanksgiving me

Will's Great Eighth Birthday

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On Wednesday our man Will-O turned eight! Impossible to believe he's so old when we still think of him as a chubby, jolly baby. But here he is showing his Pokeball to Fluffy, who was having a grand time with the cast-off paper. Christmas will be lots of fun. Will chose to have meatloaf with mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots and broccoli for dinner. He really wanted the buffalo meatloaf, but we can't buy it here any more, so Mama made homemade Meatloaf for the first time and the Joy of Cooking came through for us. He got chocolate cake for the family party, and lemon for his friends. We ended up giving him an old-school Atari game complete with "Pong" and "Asteroids." We are such lame parents that even if we actually do give in and buy video games, they MUST be lame ones. We are forcing reverse nostalgia on our kids so that we all can sit around in 2040 and say "remember the sounds those Space Invaders made back in our childhood?" How economical

From Rob: Surrender the Pink! Scrooge Concedes Concert Battle

Dear M.A. and Blogging Regulars: M.A.'s Reign of Pink Terror can end now.  I have purchased tickets to two holiday concerts. One of them features Berlioz, and will be more Oct 31 than Dec 25.  The other one, though, promises to be a true holiday concert complete with "Dee-Dee-Dee Doot Doot Doodledoo " Sleigh ride music where they use the little slapping boards at the following point in the song: "There's a birthday party at the home of FARRRR - ( WHAP ) - mer Grey It'll be the perfect ending of a PURRRRR - ( WHAP ) - ect Day" They will also make lots of clippity -clop noises and the obligatory trumpet whinny, and shake Sleigh bells during the part that goes: "Just hear those Sleigh Bells ringaling , Jing -ting- Tingaling too.." Jing-Ting-Tingeling?  Oy Gevalt .  If I must sit through "Sleigh Ride" cheery x-mas music concerts to please my zaftig little jungle plum (And to de -pink her blog) then consider it my throwing myself on

Saturday Afternoon

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This boy deserved to do something besides work on the house yesterday. So we packed up and drove up the canyon to mess around in the beautiful light. It was high Christmas-card-photo-shootin' season and there were all kinds of groups in all kinds of attire taking pictures. So we took some too. This year we just have to try, try, try. Maddie is showing off the hat that I knit from the Harry Potter Knits book that I checked out of the library. We've been having too much fun with it. I guess that this is modeled after a hat Ron is wearing when they eat magic animal crackers in the fourth? movie. And here is the payment the kids demand for giving us smiles. They want to take crazy pictures, and lots of them. But crazy or no, those blue eyes and pink cheeks cry out for the camera. And I had to post this one just for the pudge. He was so happy even with an ear infection. I'm going to have to keep a close watch on this one lest he turn out not hearing for months on end like Se

Happy Half-Birthday

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This week, Joss turned six months. It has been a big milestone. Before he even got there, he got his two front teeth, one on either side of his cousin's birth: Emmeline Rose, born November 9th and 7 lbs 14 oz. Absolutely perfect! This makes Joss our latest teether of all four kids. If I'm remembering right, Maddie got her first tooth around five months, Will's was earlier than that, and Sebi's was earlier still. Joss is having a good time discovering what they're for -- Cheerios, and Papa's finger during sacrament meeting. Joss has reconciled himself somewhat to his [admittedly pimped-out] ride. I think it shows signs of maturity, don't you? He is really big on his evening bath in the new jetted tub. He grooves on the purple baby bath that we use on him -- he loves to chase the bottle around in the tub. This was his half birthday cake. It left a lot to be desired in its engineering, but who could argue with the sentiment? The kids are happy to celebrate h

The Music Party

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Last Friday the kids had another violin performance. This one was with seven kids playing violin and piano, and was nice because they got to show off their hard work for their peers. This is Maddie playing a duet with friend and neighbor C called Bunny Hop, Hop, Hop. I still can't get her part out of my head, complete with the painful slide to a G sharp. At the tune up, Maddie's string broke, so she's using her teacher's violin here. And I didn't get a picture of Will performing, but he had the best two pieces. One had fake rock distortion and if you asked him, he would do a rock concert dance to it while he played. The other one was in five eighths and seven eighths time and his Uncle Jeff would have grooved on that. Just yesterday, Maddie brought up her violin and played it for her grandparents over the webcam and it sounded great ! Sometimes I need to take a break from the practice for a short while so that I can see the progress they're really making. Toda

My Holiday Snark

Yesterday, I suggested to my DH (Dear Husband for those of you who don't make acronyms out of every living thing) that he purchase more discount tickets for events on campus. I said "how about some holiday concerts?" He said "Oh? Do you have a hankering to hear the clip-clopping of coconut shell horse hooves? You want to hear the faux whinny of a trumpet, do you?" I told him that just because he likes his entertainment edgy doesn't mean that we can't find some way to celebrate the season. "Perhaps they'll put on 'The Night Before Christmas' as beat poetry." I told him. Or it could be an absurdist Christmas Carol. Possibly they'll bring Mark Morris's The Hard Nut to campus. Could be a twelve-tone Messiah. It could happen . . . But in the meantime, I have no problem celebrating the season of coconut shells. So I've retaliated by making the blog pink. I think I'll keep it that way until he takes me out, whether or not w

Spooking Out

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Will went as a dementor. This was educational because he found out that he cannot stand makeup on his face. Rob tells me he was the same way, but he didn't bother to mention this until Halloween when the kid is running around screaming "take it off!!!!!" He was certain that it wouldn't come off, and had to be gently introduced to makeup remover. His favorite costume at school this year was the boy who had Barbies stuck all over him: a chick magnet. Check it out. He is in the stroller, and he is smiling! I knew I would win in the end. Perhaps it's because I disguised it as the Red Baron's plane, but I don't care. I'll push it around with wings and propeller if he won't scream. Joss was great. He napped and lasted for an hour and a half, which is fantastic for a first Halloween. (Yeah, I know the wings are too far back, but Joss knocked them off when I put them down lower.) Sebi wanted to be a kangaroo this year. Since we had the costume from year

A Quick Getaway

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Nearly a month ago Rob and Joss and I got away for 24 hours. We took off to Snowbird for the Conference of the Crabby German Feminists. They really know how to do a conference right. We stayed here and they had six hours off to go hiking, to the city, or get spa treatments. Joss and I watched a lot of old movies and caught up on Comedy Central and CNN. Instead, we used the time to rush back home to the other three kids who had been partying up a storm. They'd gone to Carl's Jr., Old Navy, Sub-Zero ice cream, Best Buy, Wall-E, seen Emperor's New Groove and had presents and sugar and lots of attention from Opa and Betsy. In fact, they were nonplussed to see just their plain old parents. Next time we'll stay away longer.

The Sweetest Words in the English Language

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Just may be "It's the plumber. I've come to fix the sink." . . . and the shower, and the tub, and the faucet . . . absolutely sublime. Last Monday we had the plumber over for five hours, connecting all of the fixtures and when he was done, we had a bathroom! YAY! Some other pretty sweet words are "Mom, can I have a 'peterjelly' sandwich and then can I have a bath?" The new tub has been very popular with everyone -- even the baby. But my favorite part is without a doubt the slow-close lid on the toilet. The sound of silence where a slamming seat once was. There is a design genius somewhere out there and I'd like to personally thank him for my sanity. We got our vanity the same day, and because we have great Samoan neighbors who were willing and able to put 380 lbs. up the stairs and into the bathroom, we got it installed too. It isn't perfect (Rob is already scheming about a new marble counter in green), but it works and it has 3 times as ma

The Boys of Summer

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The garden is all dug under now, but I had these great pictures I wanted to put up. Though today we did have our first harvest of Dorfgastein King of May lettuce. Rob planted it a few weeks back and has been watching over it while he's been out mowing up all of the leaves. What great vegetable lovers! Those are each from their own corner of the garden, and they provided many a gazpacho and zucchini bread. This one hasn't actually tried tomatoes (that I know of), but he's into the pureed squash stage now.

They are nearly gone now . . .

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But I thought we should commemorate the pumpkins and decorations anyway. Sebi talked Grandpa into buying a haunted gingerbread house while they were out on one of their 'adventures', so we decided to decorate it for FHE at Kiecoo's house while we were carving pumpkins. It turned out to be structurally unsound, but still plenty of fun to decorate. It got eaten about a week later and even Joss liked the gingerbread. Carving in front of the great mural at Kiecoo's. The kids design the faces and Rob and I carve them, but I've been informed by Maddie that if we would just spring for the pumpkin carving knives, she can do it herself (she did this for activity days with the wife of an E.R. doctor, and if they do it at their house, I guess we can too). I'm all about outsourcing more and giving the kids skills , so I guess we'll have less to do next year. Checking to see whose smile is bigger. Joss decided he liked the stem just fine and didn't need to change

Baby Adam's Blessing

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Here are Hannah and Sebi. Hannah is two years older and two inches shorter but they still manage to play together just fine (except that time that Sebi peed off the side of the trampoline -- Hannah was screaming like her retinas had been burned). We got to go see Adam's blessing in AF and were glad to finally have a Mc cousin born the same year as one of our children; the fact that they're both boys is a nice bonus. Neither one has siblings very close in age. This is the best we can do for a photo of four right now. All eyes open, all looking at the camera. BINGO! R & K and Adam. I learned all kinds of things by reading the bulletin boards at their chapel. Far more informative than ours is. Opa and Joss shared several great secrets. This one was my favorite. Whatever it was.

Watch Out Rodney Yee

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Joss has reached that important infant milestone: putting one's toes into one's mouth. I just missed it here with the camera, but he was gnawing on his big toe like he does with his fingers. Works so much better to put your foot in your mouth when you're a baby. I just did it the other day at church, and I'm still smarting from the effects.

We're Very, Very Busy

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"Oh, we're very very busy and we've got a lot to do, and we haven't got a minute to explain it all to you. For on Sunday/Monday/Tuesday there are people we must see and on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday we're as busy as can be with our most important meetings and our most important calls for we have to do so many thing and post them on the walls." Those are lyrics from "Busy, Busy Busy", a song sung by Kevin Kline in Sandra Boynton's imaginary musical "Philadelphia Chickens" which is definitely worth a listen if you have children. It's also how I' m feeling now that school and activities with four kids are in full swing. But we're not too busy to explain it all to you: First, it's harvest time. Now that we're trying to move toward eating things in season, and eating more locally, we've noticed when harvest is. (I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle this summer by Barbara Kingsolver, which pushed us a little further in t