Monday, November 22, 2004
 In the past couple of weeks, Noah has fallen in love with the Nintendo. The problem is, Noah is three and can't quite play the games the way Daddy and Hunter can. He loves to watch people play and he tries really hard to play by himself, but he just can't do it and he gets sooooo frustrated, it always ends in tears. He asks if he can play every day and I dread it so much because if I say "yes" I know it's all going to end in tears. If I say "no" I'm going to have tears before the day even gets started. So. . . it's sort of a no win situation right now.
Anyway, tonight was yet another night ending in tears and I was frustrated once again with the entire situation. So, I said to Noah, "Noah, you know why I don't like you playing Nintendo? Because you always, always, ALWAYS end up crying." And Noah, bless his little heart, collapsed into my arms and said, "Not always. . . just sometimes Mommy." And he cried and he cried and he cried and my heart broke into a million pieces. Oh, the difficulties of being three and wishing you were six.
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Sunday, November 21, 2004
I raked 40 thirty gallon bags of leaves, made 12 cans of Dulce de Leche (only 30 more to go), taught Melanie how to make pumpkin roll and together we made 18 rolls (only 12 more to go), caught up on the laundry (only to fall behind again), enjoyed an endowment session at the Boston Temple with Mark, babysat for a friend while they enjoyed an endowment session at the Boston Temple, spent four hours at the Boston Children's Museum with the kids, managed to plan out "Twelve Days of Christmas" for a few of our friends this year, learned how to make some really cute fleece hats, and handled a few crises at school (I think the school called me three times in three hours in one day!) Here's just a few recent pics for your viewing pleasure!
   
  
1) The cute fleece hat I learned how to make, that Denver absolutely loves.
2) Hunter rock climbing and Denver playing with a "front end loader" at the
Boston Children's Museum.
3) Hunter and one of his best friends, Grace.
4) My Pumpkin Turkey got his guts spilled by a friendly neighborhood squirrel.
5) Hunter decided Denver was big enough to go poop on the potty and helped
him up. When Denver was done, Hunter volunteered to put Denver's diaper
back on and he did an awesome job!
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Thursday, November 18, 2004
Denver, lately, has been doing so many funny little things I just have to blog a few of them. He went grocery shopping with me the other day and I saw him, for the first time, use his imagination in an abstract way. I mean, he plays with toy cars and makes the "Brmmm! Brmmm!" sound, but this was different. He took something that wasn't a car and turned it into a car. This time he decided he didn't want to ride in the grocery cart. Instead, he ran over to the front of the cart and climbed on. He said he was the trash man and the cart was the trash truck. When I had finished bagging some apples he said, "Mommy, I throw the trash in the garbage truck." So, I handed him the bag of apples and he tossed them in the cart. Then, he climbed back on the front of the cart and started making the "beep beep beep" backing up sound as we moved on. I'm telling you, this boy loves trucks almost as much as he loves me.
Moving on. . . One of Denver's favorite books is "Bouncing on the Bed" by. It's about a day in the life of a little boy. It starts out with the little boy jumping on his bed and it ends that way too, with the little boy saying, "happy little me!" Denver has internalized that entire book and anytime he's feeling especially happy or excited about something he starts bouncing around saying, "Happy little me!" And, if he's really riled up, he starts doing flips off the arm of the couch and quoting the book. It gets a little crazy sometimes but he says it so cute. . . .
A few weeks ago I was downstairs switching loads of laundry when all of the sudden I heard a thump, thump, thump down the stairs. I quickly headed towards the stairs and Denver came zipping around the corner, scaring me half to death. I asked if he was okay and then realized, there was nothing wrong at all. Rather, he was bouncing up and down and smiling. He looked up at me with a giant grin on his face and said, "Mommy I did a trick!" I responded with, "Show me." He ran back around the corner and hurried up the stairs. Then, he laid down on his stomach and thump, thump, thump off he went down the stairs at an amazing speed. He immediately jumped up and ran back up the stairs and did it again. I guess he figured out the wonderful thing about zipper/footie pajamas--the fantastic speed you get going down carpeted stairs on your stomach. A few days later he was even clever enough to run and get a bowling pin and put it at the bottom of the stairs and well, turn himself into a human bowling ball. Here. . . see for yourself. Funny Denver.wmv
The other day during prayer I told him to say thank you for Jesus. Instead, Denver said, "Thank you for Santa Claus." The funny thing is, he doesn't really know a whole lot about Santa Claus. He's only two and last year he was much too young to remember anything about our Christmas celebrations. Sometimes I think Denver will do anything to get a laugh out of us.
And one more thing. . . he loves to tell us to "Peed." The other day he had the privilege of going for a ride in Kak's car. As they headed down the hill to I-95 he said, "Peed, Kak-Kak! Peed down the hill!" It took Kak a little while to figure out he was talking about her driving and not referring to his diaper but then, of course, she sped down the hill. Now Denver has to say it every time we head down a hill in the hopes that we'll drive a little faster. And everytime he does, poor Noah is traumatized since he's convinced we'll get a ticket if we do. Luckily, a little rev of the engine seems to satisfy Denver's need for speed and doesn't upset Noah too much.
Denver, Denver, Denver. . . How did we ever survive without you? You're the biggest bundle of joy and happiest little boy I've ever known.
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Sunday, November 14, 2004
Today was our ward's Primary Presentation in Sacrament Meeting. It went very, very well and I was totally surprised at how reverent the children were. It was quieter during the Sacrament today than it usually is when the kids are with their parents. I got lots of comments on the kids' singing--most of them being that they sounded like a "choir of angels" and that they've "never heard children sing so well." Maybe it's because Mark plays the piano so loud the kids have learned to sing out loud. Maybe it's because I recruited a second chorister to help lead the songs during the program. It could have been the sing-o-meter in the back of the chapel that encouraged them to do their best. And it could be because I love being primary chorister and do a superb job teaching them. But really, I think it's because they are just dang good kids who are really talented and will do a great job at anything when given the opportunity to shine. Either way, they did a fantastic job and did us all proud.
Now without bragging too much I must say, Hunter was the star of the entire program. He made at least 5 women cry and several men came up to me afterwards, looking for Hunter, just so they could shake his hand. He did an outstanding job and I'm afraid he made me so proud my head's about to burst. For the "Love is Spoken Here" number, I tried to arrange for 2 boys and 2 girls to sing the 2 parts. Unfortunately, the boy who I was counting on to sing with Hunter decided he didn't want to do it. So, in a last minute crunch I decided to let Hunter do it solo and he nailed it, right on! We weren't allowed to record it during the program of course, but we captured it on video at home so you can all see. Look out Broadway Kids--here he comes!
Love Is Spoken Here.wmv
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Saturday, November 13, 2004
 
Snow, that is. This is what we woke up to this morning! Finally makes it feel like it's actually November and Thanksgiving really can be in a couple of weeks. Of course that means I've really got to do something about the piles of leaves in our backyard.
I found these mittens in a catalog the other day and think they are very clever, especially if you are in love with someone as much as I am with Mark and you don't even want mittens to get in the way of holding hands. You can buy 'em at www.SolutionsCatalog.com. They're called Intamitts!
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Friday, November 12, 2004
  
We had the privilege of having Megan over on Veterans Day. After she spent the morning playing Gamecube with the boys, we loaded up the kids and lunch and headed over to Sandcastle Park. We played for a couple of hours and when we got home, the boys still weren't ready to go inside. So, while they played, Megan and I raked/blew leaves into giant piles. Then, I had an idea. I got out our Playhut tents and tunnels and buried them under the leaves to make "Leaf Igloos!" It was pretty cool, if I say so myself, and the kids seemed to like them too. Anyway, since my blog about too many leaves I've discovered several things you can do with them--to at least make the abundance of them a little more bearable. So, if you have a pile of leaves in your backyard, try out a few of these ideas before you bag them up and throw them away.
1) Pick as many different kinds of leaves as you can and dry them in large,heavy book. (Talk about color, shape, size, etc.)
2) Once the leaves are dry, make a leaf book by pressing the leaves between two pieces of wax paper with an iron.
3) Gather some more leaves, this time picking ones that have neat designs,
especially in the spines and ribs of the leaves. Don't dry these. Instead,
make leaf rubbings by placing the leaves under a piece of paper and coloring
over them with a crayon.
4) You can make your own leaf tunnel/igloo even if you don't have tents and tunnels. Just find a small/medium box and open up both ends. Then, bury the box. The kids will have fun crawling through and hiding in the tunnels.
5) And of course, you can use more dried leaves to make pretty cards. Fold a piece of cardstock in half (or any size you want). With glue or tape attatch a dried leaf or leaves to the front of the card. Paint over it with a sponge brush
dipped in Modge Podge (available at Walmart). Before it dries, sprinkle with
glitter if you'd like. Takes about 30 minutes to an hour to dry. Even Denver,
age 2, could do this craft.
6) Pressing leaves in playdough is also fun and sort of neat. I bet, with some salt dough, you could make some pretty impressive ornaments--guess I just found another activity to try out.
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Thursday, November 11, 2004
This was our contribution to the Ward Talent Show last week. Apparently we stole the show and we're dang proud of it!
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Wednesday, November 10, 2004
  
I just thought it was cool--don't you?
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 Yesterday Hunter lost tooth number two. That may come as a shock to you--two teeth in three days--but they've both been loose since August and we knew it was just a matter of time before they would both be out. He pulled the second one out by himself and he's never looked more adorable, with that big gaping hole in his smile. Anyway, Mark forgot to remind Hunter to put his teeth under his pillow last night, so today I made Hunter a tooth fairy pillow, similar to the one we had when we were little. (See pics below--and by the way, Melanie is the lucky recipient of the Stout family's beloved Tooth Fairy Pillow, just in case any of you jealous Stouts were wondering.)
Anyway, tonight we remembered and Hunter excitedly stuffed his teeth in the pillow and hurried up to bed. A few minutes later he came back downstairs and said, "Mommy, this is your last chance to say goodbye to my teeth. So take them out and say goodbye to them." So, I did. I took them out and said, "Oh, look at those little teeth. I remember when you got those little teeth. Are you sure you want to give them to the tooth fairy?" He nodded yes and I stuffed them back in the pocket and sent him back up to bed. Then, all of the sudden I heard Hunter crying the most heartbroken tears I've ever heard. I ran upstairs to see what the matter was and my heart almost fell apart too. He didn't want the tooth fairy to come anymore because he didn't want her to take away his teeth because he wanted to keep them for me. Poor Hunter! If only he knew I was already planning on keeping them. It was so heart-wrenching!
We ended up writing the tooth fairy a little letter and stuffing it in the pocket with his teeth. Here's what he told me to write: "Dear Tooth Fairy, My mommy wants to keep my teeth. Love, Hunter." That seemed to calm his troubled heart and he promptly fell asleep. Wow! I guess what I think and feel matters more to my kids than I thought. As for how much we're leaving WITH the teeth--I have four dollars in my wallet, that's probably what he'll get for the two. I think that's how it worked at my house growing up. We got whatever change happened to be in the tooth fairy's purse at the time. I don't remember ever being disappointed. I doubt Hunter will be either.
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Tuesday, November 09, 2004
    
Today Noah, Denver and I went for a "leaf walk" around the neighborhood. I snapped a few pictures of the leaves and Noah and I collected all sorts of leaves for my leaf collection and Noah's leaf book. I also grabbed a few leaves so I could teach Noah how to do leaf rubbings. Then we made our way down to the little river that runs through the town and the boys threw some rocks into the waterfalls. We stopped by a park and played and then hurried home to pick Hunter up from school.
Kak came by just as we got home and brought us White Hot Chocolate, a new favorite from Starbucks. I managed to get the two little boys down for a nap and ran Hunter back to school for his all time favorite class--Kids in Motion. Then Kathy and I attempted to make White Chocolate Peppermint Candy and Sweetened Condensed Candy both of which didn't turn out. I suppose I will count that as a blessing since I'm trying not to gain weight this Christmas.
And tonight was HFPE at the church. I picked up the Sister Missionaries and an investigator and managed to arrive in time to sing the opening song. I don't think I've ever been to a more fun "homemaking meeting" in all my 13 years in Relief Society. Sam had everyone in the ward donate some sort of service. She had people volunteer to do yard work, wash cars, clean houses, type resumes, cook meals, babysit, sew, teach knitting, do hair, give massages, do facials, cut down trees, deliver wood, prepare FHE lessons, etc. The young men and young women donated. The Elder's Quorum donated. The Bishop donated. The Relief Society sisters donated. Anyone could donate a service but only the R.S. got to bid. When we arrived we were each handed a questionaire and given time to fill it out. It was full of items receiving different points. For example, having your visiting teaching done already was worth 15 points, each bed you made that day earned 5 points, changing diapers was worth 5, attending Sacrament meeting was worth 10 points, being on time to HFPE was worth a 20 point bonus, etc. Anyway, we tallied up our points individually and that is what we used to bid on the service items. Sam ran the auction and everyone left knowing they were going to receive some sort of service and everyone left ready to serve someone else. It was so great and really, really fun! I left with 3 hours worth of Spanish lessons for Noah, 2 hours of yard work/help for Mark, a facial for Miss Melody, and a hairdo for myself (since Mark's company party is coming up.) And, all it cost us was 3 hours of babysitting and 3 dozen of Mark's chocolate chip cookies.
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Monday, November 08, 2004
Sunday, as we piled into the car for church, Hunter asked me to look at his tooth. And sure enough, there it was bleeding just a little and hanging on by a thread. I tugged a little. Mark tugged a little. I tugged some more. Mark went to tug some more and then. . . it was gone. Mark thought he swallowed it and then I found it on his shirt. And that was that--Hunter's first lost tooth. The Tooth Fairy hasn't visited us yet. Hunter wanted to save his tooth for Show-and-Tell and then, he forgot to bring it home tonight. So. . . hopefully he'll find it at school tomorrow and we'll get to see just how much the Tooth Fairy is paying nowadays. Until then, I'm just going to keep peeking into his mouth and hugging him--he's growing up so fast I'm afraid to blink!
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Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I'm anxiously awaiting the turkey and stuffing and cranberries and pumkin pie and sweet potatoe casserole. Even today Noah asked if we could make pumkin pie. He had some several weeks ago at the petting zoo and has been craving some ever since. I took down the Halloween decorations today and put out our Mr. Tom on the front porch and picked up some canned pumpkin at the grocery store. The weatherman mentioned snow and day-after-tomorrow we're heading into New York City to see the Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular. Thanksgiving is definitely on it's way. So, in honor of the delicious holiday and those of you who can't three weeks for the great turkey feast, I give you Chris's "Turkey-n- Stuffing Sandwhich."
Mix together some mayo (or miracle whip) with some canned cranberry sauce--I use whole berry cranberry sauce--to make some cranberry mayonaise.
Spread this cranberry mayo on a big yummy roll.
Top with a slice or two of turkey and a slice of provolone cheese.
Top with some stuffing--I use Stovetop Chicken stuffing, made up in the microwave.
Enjoy!
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Lately I've been doing some reflecting and have learned a few things about myself that I didn't know. First off--I want to be a gardener. Due to all the leaves falling off our trees I've been spending a lot of time outside raking and bagging leaves. Despite the terrible pain it causes in my back, I've come to the conclusion that I would really love to be a gardener. I know my Grandpa Copen was a great gardener and I like to think I inherited some of his talent. I'm not very good at gardening--most flowers I plant die or look terrible and the only vegetable I ever planted was diseased--but I know I'd love it. I love raking and mowing and shoveling. I love digging in dirt and worms and the smell of soil. I love flowers and pick-your-own farms and watching things grow. I never get bored. On the contrary, there's usually never enough time in the day when I'm out working in the yard. There's just something about being one with the earth and feeling like I'm a part of it all that makes me feel invigorated, alive, happy, free!
My second discovery goes hand in hand with the first. I want to live on a farm. Last week we watched "Wife Swap" which is sort of a ridiculous tv show, but kind of fun too. Two wives agree to swap families for 2 weeks. They agree to abide by the famiy's rules for the first week and during the second week, the wives are allowed to change whatever rules they want. Last week, the swap involved a farmer's wife and a hoitey-toitey mother of two VERY spoiled girls. By the end of the two weeks the farmer's wife had bonded with the girls in a way they wished their mother would bond with them. She had changed the way they viewed their dad--he was no longer "the help" but the "King of the castle" who deserved love and respect. She had the girls riding the bus to school, getting up early to clean the house, working at "real jobs" and doing family projects--like cleaning out the garage, which absolutely thrilled the father. Meanwhile Mrs. Hoitey-Toitey had totally ruined the farming family and had crushed the kids by refusing to let them help their dad out in the barn. She was disgusted that they were required to work at all and wanted them to have absolutely no responsibilities, whatsoever. At the end, when they interviewed the families, the spoiled girls were sad to see the farmer's wife go and said they really liked working together as a family and having some responsibility. It reminded me of "Frontier House" when after the show all the kids were sitting in the hot tub, complaining that they were bored and wanted to go back to the frontier house where they really had to work.
Then, there's this new show called "Postcards from Buster" on PBS Kids. Buster Baxter (from "Arthur")travels around the U.S. and spends "a day in the life" with all sorts of kids. Most of the ones I have seen have involved farms--growing giant pumpkins, raising pigs, and riding horses but, all of them have left me wishing I lived on a farm. I watch them getting up early and working hard and having so much responsibility and I see something in them that I want for myself and my children. They work sooooo hard and have so many responsibilities, yet they are so happy and smart and talented and their families seem so close. It must come from working so closely together for all the same goals. Anyway, living on a farm may not be right for me, but I think I would enjoy it--the gardening, the hard work, the time spent together as a family--all sounds really good to me. I just need to remember that I don't need a farm to work hard and teach my children the same thing. I just need a fence around my backyard so we can have a couple cows and some chickens, a pig or two and a garden--that'd do it!
My third realization--I think it would be really fun to own and run a bowling alley. Maybe it's just because all three of my boys love bowling. Maybe it's because there's an alley just up the street from us that has been shut down and the challenge of getting it up and running sounds kind of fun. I don't know--but I think it would be so much fun. I'd love to gear it towards children--a few Duckpin Bowling lanes, some regular bowling, and definitely some midnight madness bowling that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and doesn't mean staying up late. Throw in some Karaoke (for kids), a fun indoor climbing place for those long cold winter days (that's free), a smokefree environment, and a cafeteria that sells healthy, yummy food that kids will eat--something more than hamburgers and french fries and hot dogs. I think it would be even greater if I could throw in a good old fashioned roller skating rink (with "YMCA" and "Downtown" and the "Chicken Dance" blaring in the background) and Nate and I could open up our "Zerberts" in the corner. Then all I'd need would be a lil' apartment upstairs and we could call it home. Now. . . doesn't that sound fun?
I guess maybe the ultimate realization is--I'm looking for more work. I like a good challenge, I like to work hard and feel like, at the end of the day, I've contributed and participated in something great and good. And I guess, each day as I watch my kids learn and grow and snuggle them in close that's exactly what I'm doing--contributing to and participating in something good--really good.
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Monday, November 01, 2004
This is my version of Linda White's "Too Many Pumpkins," one of my favorite Fall/Halloween books.
Every year at falltime, Shana Henrichsen and her three little darlings venture outside in the cool, crisp air to rake leaves. When Shana was a child she lived in Colorado, which was beautiful but didn't have very many trees that dropped their leaves with the changing seasons. Most of the trees in Colorado were pine trees which as you know, never change color but rather, stay green and prickly year round. As she got older Shana went to college in Utah, which is worse than Colorado because of course, it is a desert and deserts just don't have very many trees. Then Shana met Mr. Henrichsen, with whom she quickly fell in love with. They were married and eventually settled themselves in Connecticut. Now, Connecticut is drastically different than Colorado and Utah. There are so many trees in Connecticut that sometimes you can hardly see the blue sky and golden sun above you. Everywhere you go there are trees--oak trees, maple trees, pine trees. Spring trees, summer trees, fall trees, winter trees. Dead trees, baby trees, apple trees, peach trees, and pear trees. Oodles and bundles of trees!
Now every year when the children return to school in their clean and pressed clothes and their shiney new shoes and the weather starts turning colder, the leaves on the trees begin to change color. Trees that were once green turn firey red and yellow and orange. It really is a beautiful sight and when Mrs. Henrichsen and her three darling boys go for walks they can't help but stop and pick up the colorful leaves to take home and press. Fall is an exciting time in Connecticut with pumpkin picking and homemade cider and especially the changing colors. People from all over the country come to see the leaves and everywhere you go, folks are stopping on the side of the road to snap a few pictures for their scrapbooks. The Henrichsen Family is no exception--they love everything about Fall.
That is. . . everything except the fallen leaves. Fallen leaves are no good. No sir! Sure you can jump in a pile of them and when they are pressed, they make some really pretty greeting cards. But that's about it. You can't sell leaves--especially in Connecticut--everyone has enough of their own. Even with all the Pick-Your-Own farms around here--nobody wants to come and pick their own leaves. And when it comes to baking--I've never heard of a recipe that calls for dead, crunchy orange leaves. Have you? Anyhow, who would want to eat leaf pie, leaf bread, leaf muffins, leaf cake, leaf pudding, leaf jam, leaf tarts or leaf cookies. No matter how much sugar or spice you add to them, they'd never taste good. You can't carve leaves and stick candles inside them--they'd just start on fire. You can't dig in them like sand and you can't swim in them. You can't build a snowman with them or a snow igloo, and you most certainly can't go sledding on them. Nope! The only thing you can do with leaves is bag them up and wait for the trash truck to come and take them away.
So every year when the leaves fall, Mrs. Henrichsen and her three darling sons venture out into the cold, crisp air to rake and rake and rake the leaves. And when they're done, they're through, because what else do you do with too many leaves?
  
P.S. The view from the pile of leaves in our backyard.
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