Bloggy Carnival: A couple of my favorites

I had a lot of fun earlier this year when I participated in the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival. I won a few prizes. I spent far too much time browsing a thousand new blogs and drooling over fun prizes. So, this time around, I'm participating by hosting a giveaway of my own. Fun fun! I love to give things away!

I realize I'll have a lot of new visitors by participating. Hello! I'm glad you came by, and I hope you're having fun.

I wasn't sure what I might give away, at first. I don't have a ton of time to do something handmade right now. I didn't want to just do a generic gift card or something. But, as it happens, I just got finished reading an absolutely wonderful book - the first to go on my list of absolute favorites in quite a while! And as soon as I put it down, I immediately wanted to tell everyone about it, so they could enjoy it, too! So, it's perfect timing. Why not? I'll give the book away for the carnival!

Item #1, a treat for your heart: Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale
What can I say? I absolutely devoured this book. It was a quick, easy read - it took only about 5 hours to read, with interruptions. But more importantly, it was such a beautiful and magical story.

There are so many reviewers out there who will do it more justice than I can. But I'll try. The book is written in the voice of Dashti, an orphaned mucker who trades her last horse to gain employment. When it is discovered that she has a gift with healing songs, she is taught to be a lady's maid, and to read and write. Just after Dashti swears an oath to serve Lady Saren, she learns that her lady is to be locked in a tower for seven years for refusing to marry the man of her father's choice. Dashti feels something for Lady Saren, and agrees to be locked in the tower along with her.

Book of a Thousand Days is written as Dashti's journal, numbered by the days they began their life in the tower. You would think that perhaps the story of two lone girls locked in a dark tower would be dull and unexciting, but it actually feels rather exciting and magical, as they deal with problems, visitors (friendly and not), and the emotions of isolation. The story follows the two of them through their adventure in the tower, and their adventure out of the tower, once they break free.

This story is based on the Grimm Brother's fairy tale "Maid Maleen", which I have to admit I've never heard of before now. But it truly does read like a fairy tale, with the commoner girl being full of bravery, spirit and honor. Set in an invented land with a medieval Mongolia background, you get a lot of cultural influence into the story, which serves only to absolutely beautify it. The language is simple to read, but absolutely lyrical, almost like music on the page. Dashti is full of hope and faith, wonder of the beauty in the world, as well as profound gratitude at the merest blessings. She is an uplifting, beautiful soul, and you just want to keep reading and never stop. In contrast, Lady Saren sees her life as tragic, and often sulks and cries like a little child. Dashti is overwhelmingly gracious about it the majority of the time, and the contrast between their reactions to their situation further propels the wonder of the book.

As with many fairy tales, there is a wonderful ending. The growth of the character of Lady Saren and her relationship with Dashti, as well as the influence of people who learn to love Dashti's gifts and beautiful soul, help to bring about happy circumstances despite the laws of the culture.

It was simply one of the most magical, beautiful stories I've ever read, and so easy to get caught up in, just flowing from one entry to the next. Dashti even occasionally sketches within her book, which makes it even easier to envision the Asian influences and characters. Dashti's attitude about life is so contagious, and this story is absolutely well worth the read. I don't doubt you'll want to tell someone else about the book as soon as you're finished reading it!

Item #2, a treat for your body: Trader Joe's Natural Mint Cocoa
If you're not familiar with Trader Joe's, let me introduce you! And if you're not near one, I'm so sorry! This is a fun, quirky store full of natural groceries. There is always something to sample. There are always balloons and stickers for the kids. And everything I've ever purchased from Trader Joes is absolutley yummy and to-die-for. The Natural Mint Cocoa is no exception. Here is a partial description of the product:

Our mix has been created using only all natural ingredients, like pure vanilla extract and all natural peppermint oil, so its fresh, inviting flavor will fill your mug with invigorating chocolate warmth morning, noon or night. And it’s as delicious as it is easy to prepare. For a rich, creamy cocoa, simply mix in warmed milk.

The peppermint oil really adds a unique kick to the cocoa. If you find it a bit overpowering, it's easy to mix it half-and-half with another hot cocoa mix for a more subtle effect.

I may or may not throw in some of my favorite classical music along with these things, to make a nice rounded package. A book that will warm your heart, some hot cocoa to relax your body, and music to soothe your mind. I haven't quite made up my mind if I want to spend the extra money on the music or not. At the very least, the winner will definitely get a copy of the book and a container of the mint cocoa.

All you have to do in order to enter the giveaway is leave a comment on this post. No requirements. But I would surely appreciate something a little more fun to read than, "Thanks for the giveaway!". Because I read all my comments, I really do! I get so excited by them! But a couple hundred "Thanks for the giveaway!" comments won't be all that fun for me to wade through. Still... no pressure. But I do enjoy meaningful comments. : ) Extra warm-fuzzy/brownie points if you've been a regular lurker at my blog but have never commented before. I will love you forever if you come out and say hi!

Important notes:

1. When entering, make sure you leave an email address or at least have an email available in your profile. If I can't contact you via email if you win, I'm going to have to pick someone else.
2. Please note that the winner will be selected at random.
3. I'm sorry, but this giveaway is only open to U.S. residents! I can't afford to mail a package out of country.
4. You must be willing to provide your address if you win, so I can send the prize!
   
5. I know at least some of my family reads but doesn't comment. You don't have to have a profile in order to comment. But if you can't figure out how, and want to participate, please feel free to email me and I'll add an entry for you.
6. Contest will officially end on October 31st at midnight! I will be sure to announce and contact the winner on November 1st.
   

Many, many more giveaways can be found all this week back at the Bloggy Carnival!

The Halloween Party

Alternative title for today's post:
In Which Becky Feels Like a Complete Failure

Seriously, Friday night majorly frustrated me.  It's a miracle I was still in a good mood by the end of the evening.
Synopsis:
Saturday night, Alex started suffering from a head cold.  He didn't fall asleep until 12:30am, and woke up bright and early at 8am.  Much too early.  But he couldn't sleep through the stuffy nose anymore. 

9am on Friday, I was running around trying to get everyone out the door for playgroup.  Usually they start at 10am, which is a reasonable time for me to get out the door.  But this week and next, they're early to accomodate our host's schedule.  Apparently, 9am is too early for me to be on time, I'm discovering.  So we arrive at playgroup at 9:30... and it was only about an 8 minute drive from our house.  And poor Alex screamed the whole drive there.  He was incredibly cranky the whole time I was trying to get us all ready, too.  It just wasn't a good morning.  I'm afraid I made for poor company once we were at playgroup. Alex fell asleep in my carrier at playgroup, but woke up again, and got cranky again.

11:30am, we get back home.  Feed the kids, nurse Alex some more, finally get him to sleep.  He went down at noon.  Feed myself.  Check on emails quickly, etc.  Get the kids into older clothes in order to ready for Art Play, and head out the door again at 12:30pm.  Wonderful blessing: Alex stayed asleep through the transition into the car!

1pm-2:30pm, Melinda and Jacob were in Art Play. They did Pablo Picasso funny faces this week! only Jacob's looked more like a big blob.  He named his Blue Volcano, lol!  Alex remained happily asleep (and it was happily - he had been SO CRANKY the entire time he was awake so far that day, I needed the quiet).  I read in the car until it was time to pick them up.

3pm, we get back home, again.  I immediately start working on finishing costumes:  I made some underwear to match Melinda's Tinkerbell costume (because it became apparent, after she tried it on for me, that her antics made the dress ride up a little too much to be modest without the matching underwear).  Then I went to make some shoes to match.  The making of the shoes went surprisingly smooth... although it came time to locate some pom poms to attach... and they were nowhere to be found.  I'm sure I could have found them within 30 seconds at the old apartment, but I haven't used them since moving, and now I have no idea if we even kept them.  I can't see that I would have thrown them out, but I couldn't find them anywhere.  No, I didn't dig through every single box that I've stashed away in various closets, but I looked through the appropriate ones, to no avail.  Argh. 

Then I had to work on my costume.  I had decided to just be a mummy, since it would be straightforward and have minimal preparation.  So I cut my strips of fabric as quickly as possible, no problems there.  During this, Jesse arrived home with some food and we ate quickly.  Then we started getting ready for the party.

First off, I did Melinda's hair.  Another nice miracle for the night, it actually pulled into a bun.  And it actually looked good.  And it actually stayed put - ALL night long.  I was amazed.  But then, I did use a whole handful of styling mousse, and then a truck load of hairspray on top of it.  She looked awfully cute with her hari up, I think!  Then I got her dressed, all but the wings, so she could get into her car seat.

Then I started wrapping myself for a mummy.  It was slow going, and part way through, I realized I should put on some more form-fitting clothes in a lighter color to make it easier.  So I unwrapped, changed, and started wrapping again.  Then Jesse started helping, and it went better.  But as we were doing it, parts that were wrapped up started coming unwrapped.  And I was hardly moving much at that point.  But we kept at it, deciding that even if it looked sloppy, well, people would still get it.  But then there wasn't enough to wrap my head, like I had wanted to do.  I was disappointed.  And then as I walked back and forth in the apartment to gather other things, things really started to fall apart.  I was in kind of a hurry - it was time for the party to start and we hadn't even left the house yet!  But as we were about to walk out the door, my mummy strips started slipping down (not unravelling, just getting so loose they slipped downwards) to the point where I was practically tripping myself.  So, it became apparent that this would just not be a safe idea.  But since we were running so late at this point, I couldn't take the time to unravel myself.  I had to cut it all off.  Poor wasted fabric.  :(  At least I bought it cheap.  But I was SO frustrated!!  The whole reason we were late was because of taking the time to get me into this mummy costume, and then there we were, going without me in a costume at all.  I felt a little heartbroken.  Okay, a lot heartbroken.  I was pretty upset and flustered.  I love Halloween, it's so much fun, and this was kind of ruining it for me.  But what could I do?  Nothing.  So off we went.  After I had changed back into my regular clothes, of course.

We got to the party pretty late.  It started at 6:30, and games ended at 7:15.  We got there at about 7:00.  Well, slightly earlier, but I still had to put the boys into their costumes, since they aren't car seat friendly.  So we really got into the party at about 7.  Which, with how insanely crowded it was (wow! too bad all ward activities aren't so well attended!), the kids got to do all of 3 games, and stand in lines the rest of the time. Pin the eye on the monster, donut eating contest, and bean bag toss. They really really wanted to do the fishing pole game, but the line was far too long.  What a shame.

Oh, and I realized in the car that, in our hurry to get out the door, I had forgotten to get stuffing to put into the Peacock an Phoenix tails.  Urgh.  It didn't matter too much for Alex, since he would be carried around anyway, but the Phoenix looks pretty lame without any tail stuffing to support it.  I ended up taking the stuffed snake out of the car and tying it around Jacob's waist, under the costume.  Which also looked a little bit goofy, but he thought it was pretty funny... and it kept the tail off the floor a little bit.

So anyway, the kids did their parade through the church, and then we did the trunk-or-treat out in the parking lot.  They thought that was pretty fun!  I was starting to finally feel less flustered by that point, and maybe even enjoying myself.  Alex had started looking sleepy, and so I tucked him into my pouch carrier, and he fell asleep easily.  Unfortunately, he woke back up while we were outside, only 10 minute later, and got all cranky on me again.  Ugh. 

After trunk-or-treating, we went home, pumpkins in tow, and Jesse looking and acting completely ready for a quiet night.  But once we got home, to the very messy house (because really, I had no time for cleaning on Friday, and it already needed it by then!), Jesse almost threw a fit.  Well, a fit for Jesse.  You couldn't really tell unless you were watching the way he was cleaning, huffing and puffing and letting out gigantic sighs every time he picked something up, and practically stomping in and out of the room.  I asked him to calm down (very nicely, with a big hug and a smile!), and he just rolled his eyes at me and told me that he was calm, and just wanted to clean up.  Could I please let him go and finish cleaning?  (You have to understand that I'm chuckling as I write this. He gets so silly when he's tired and frustrated, but it doesn't seem silly until the next day.)

Anyway.  The kids got in bed.  They had a great time.  They're so excited to trick-or-treat on Halloween.  We finished cleaning up.  Mostly, at least.  And the rest of the evening went fine.  Alex even went to sleep 2 hours earlier than normal! 

But really, it was a frustrating night.  And of course, all my energy this whole week had been focused on getting through that evening.  On the drive home, I realized I had no idea what we were going to do the next day.  Or the day after that, or the day after that.  No immediate plans, no projects consuming my time?  How odd.  It felt a little spooky, actually.   But you know, it's nice not to feel pressure to finish something, even if the pressure only comes from my own mind. 

So... yeah.  This summary turned out a lot longer than I intended it to be.  Thanks for getting through it, if you did.  I wish I could say I kept my sense of humor through the whole thing.  And honestly?  The reason I got through the evening as well as I did was simply because I kept thinking about blogging it.  I didn't want to lose my head and have a miserable post to share with you today.  ;)

Here's the few pictures I got before my camera's batteries died! Yep, just one more thing that went just a little wrong.  I didn't get much of Melinda.  I'll make sure and take a good picture of her on Halloween.

The family.  

And no, I don't know what Jesse is, lol.  He just decided to wear a lab coat from work.

Melinda (Tinkerbell) and Jacob (Phoenix) during the parade.

 

By the way - the Bubba Fet behind them was Jacob's favorite costume of the night.  We found a Bubba Fet action figure in Jesse's things while we were moving, and Jacob loves it.

 

Sleepy Peacock.

Jacob the Phoenix poses with his treat bag.

Happy Peacock.  Heading for Mommy's camera.

The destroyed remains of Becky's mummy costume.  Tragic.

Mr. Jack-O-Lantern

Tonight was the designated pumpkin carving night!  Those 4 pumpkins were hanging around our living room all week just absolutely aching to come to life, I tell ya!  Right after dinner was cleared and a few necessary phone calls made, we got down to jack-o-lantern business.

You can see how Alex started out all nice and happy.  Melinda went to work on cleaning out her pumpkin.  Jacob loved the idea, but not the actually business of getting gooey.  Which is typical for him, really.  He doesn't like his hands getting dirty.  But he sure loved the tools for carving!

Once the pumpkins were emptied out, the face-making began.  Melinda and Jacob both drew a face on their pumpkins first, and then Jesse carved them out.   Jacob went a little hog-wild with the drawing, but he did get a face on there.  Not a carve-able face, mind you.  He did dots for eyes and a single line for a mouth. 

But after taking it over to Daddy, it got spruced up a little bit.  Same basic shape, with a little extra in the outline department.  Makes for a truly cool pumpkin designed by the resident 3-year-old!  I can't remember if it was Melinda or Jacob who later called it a "frustrated" pumpkin.

Melinda re-did her eyes several times, because she kept making them too small.  But eventually, she got what she (and I, by way of encouragement) were shooting for.  And then came the mouth... she's been practicing this on paper... she made it "scary".  "Because sometimes Halloween is scary, too, dad!" (And she said that completely cheerfully, like the scary part of Halloween is something exciting.)

During the cleaning-out stage, Alex lost his patience.  Completely.  If I wasn't holding him, Jesse was.  And since Jesse was doing the majority of the helping, I was holding him most of the time.  But for a while, Jesse held Alex while I cleaned out my monstrously thick and spaghett-squash-like pumpkin innards.  You can tell here that he's been pretty upset, what with the red face and tear-streaked cheeks..  Ahh, the teeth.  The second one is just about to break through, but in the meantime, Alex puts anything and everything in his mouth and chews hard.

Finally, I took Alex and Jesse got to carve his face.  Did the whole thing by hand and with his own imagination, old-school style.  No stencils for us this year!

After Jesse was finished, Alex was still upset.  So he went into the sling while I started drawing on my design.  And then as I started doing the first few bits of carving, I realized that he was asleep.  So, baby goes down, and I get my hands free for real carving.  Thank goodness, this was all starting to take a while!

I had gotten a carving idea from some blog out there and decided that's what I wanted to do this year, so I picked my pumpkin big and tall in order to make it work.  I'm happy with the way it turned out!  But I was last one working at the table by a long shot. 

And then, the photo shoot!  I must say, it's fun to have 4 pumpkins all lined up and glowing this year!  

They'll be transported to our ward Hallowen Trunk-or-Treat tomorrow night.  We'll see if anyone wins anything from the carving contest!  And of course, don't forget that there'll be photos of kids in their costumes tomorrow night!  Well, probably tomorrow.  If I get too tired, I reserve the right to post it all on Saturday.  ;)

My Grandpa

For the past couple weeks, I've been in e-mail contact with relatives, about the health of my Grandpa Hansen. The thing is, he's really my step-Grandpa. But he was married to my Grandma before I was even born, and sealed to her in the temple, and all of that makes him real family to me. I've never known anything else.

But Grandpa hasn't been doing so well. Ever since he married Linda (about 5 years ago, maybe?), they have both been plagued by a lot of really strange health issues. Grandpa has been declining for a while now, and his health problems have included being on kidney dialysis, and suffering from some mental issues... perhaps dementia? I saw him at our family reunion in July, and he was so frail-looking, and obviously not fully aware or understanding of everything going on around him. I'm ashamed to say I didn't really ever sit down to have a good conversation with him during the reunion, because he always seemed so tired, and not quite the Grandpa I was comfortable around. I wish I would have. Life is teaching me that sometimes you just don't get second chances.

I got word that he had taken a turn for the worse. He had gotten it into his head that he wanted some ice cream (which he's not supposed to have). When he got out of bed and didn't find any in the freezer, he decided to drive to a store to pick some up (and he's not supposed to drive). He went in nothing but his undergarments, pants, and suspenders. And from the looks of it, he fell in the parking lot of the store. When Linda finally caught up with him, they took him to a hospital to be checked out. He hadn't ever done anything like this before, and she was obviously concerned that something was going on. While at the hospital, it was decided that he had some bleeding on the brain, though it was unexplained. But he was recovering, and talking to Linda, recognizing her, and seeming coherent enough. So we thought maybe things were improving. However, not long after, he started having seizures and becoming unresponsive again. When he would wake up, he didn't recognize anyone around him. They conjectured that he possibly had some sort of stroke.

Finally, my mom called me yesterday. After a meeting with several doctors in the hospital, his prognosis didn't look good. He would never walk out of the hospital. And if he did manage to leave (again, not walking), he would need to go to a nursing home where he would be hooked up to dialysis frequently (or permanently? That distinction was vague to me). He has a living will stating that he doesn't want to be kept alive for that kind of quality of life. So mom was calling me to let me know that Linda was in the process of deciding whether to follow his living will or not. And knowing what I know of Linda, I'm sure she will. She loves my Grandpa dearly, I have seen that much. She also knows and respects what he wants, and realizes also that there are people in the next life that he would love to be reunited with. She doesn't want to keep him in this life, laying in a hospital or nursing home in a nearly vegetative state, having no idea what's going on around him. So now, we're all just in a pretty morbid waiting game, wondering when it will be that Grandpa will die. By following his living will, they would be removing Grandpa from life support types of care, including dialysis, and only continue with care that will help him remain comfortable. It would most likely be the lack of dialysis that kills him, and he would probably die anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks. Like I said, it's a pretty morbid waiting game. I can't even imagine what it would feel like to be the one making this decision, being the spouse... how miserable I would be.

While my mom talked, she said that she and dad had decided to offer her out-of-state children airfare in order to attend his funeral. That option had never even crossed my mind, and I have to say I'm so grateful for the opportunity. It will be just myself and Alex going, but it looks like Jesse won't have a problem taking some time off to watch Melinda and Jacob while I'm gone. We still don't know when it will be, of course, since Grandpa is still alive, but we'll be ready for it.

As I was driving, a little while after talking to my mom, my mind started wandering into the realm of regrets. When my Grandma Hansen died, it seemed very much like a shock to me, even though she had cancer and I had seen her preparing for her death. She was the first person in my life that I knew and loved who passed away, and I was one big mess of tears when I got the news, and then attended her funeral. But I don't think I had any regrets that centered around losing her in my life. Sure, I go so far as to still wish she were around to see her great-grandchildren, and I still cry when I think about her too much, but the only thing I really regret was that I wasn't old/mature enough to really form a more understanding relationship with her. I never really got to know her as an adult, only as a grandchild. But there's not much I could have done to change that.

But with Grandpa, I had a lot of opportunities I didn't take. He loved to hear from me, and always asked me to call and write more than I did. I'm not sure what stopped me, but for the last several years, I've had minimal contact with him, especially since I've lived too far to visit. I sent Christmas cards... invited him to read my blog or see my photo accounts... but never anything that led to conversations. And as I was driving, I really got to regretting that. Here he is, dying, and I'll never get another opportunity to just talk to him. Not in this life. It would have made him so happy. And it would have made me happy, too. So, I regret it. Life lesson, like I said. I'll be attending a funeral with the full knowledge that I let so many opportunities for loving, meaningful interaction just slip by me. Sometimes, you just don't get second chances. Those "someday" moments will run out. And how is it that I'm just now learning this??

My mom and I started talking about some memories I had about Grandpa. At first, most of my memories seemed pretty general, but talking and really thinking started to remind me of so much more.

One thing we always did with Grandpa was comb his hair. He loved it so much! We'd grab a comb, some water, and just sit on a recliner or couch in front of the TV for 5-10 minutes, combing his hair. And the reward for combing was a piece of candy. Yum! I didn't understand the draw when I was a child, but now I realize how nice it can feel to have someone else brush my hair. Even though Grandpa didn't have a lot of hair, the combing must have felt nice.

Every time we got a report card, if we presented it to Grandpa, and had gotten good grades, he'd give us a dollar. A dollar!! WOO!! Seriously. It felt like a lot back then, especially since I didn't get an allowance. I hear tell that my nieces and nephews are now getting as much as two dollars... just for losing a tooth! Boy, I had to get straight A's just to get a single dollar for my report card!

Often, when we'd spend the night, Grandpa would take us out to the donut shop to get donuts for breakfast. I would always pick a sprinkle donut ... and they always had little pink smiley face candy things stuck in the hole. (I still love donuts for breakfast!!) And speaking of candy, I remember one of Grandpa's favorite candies were Necco wafers. They're a lot harder to find now, but I still think of him every time I have some. As we drove in the car to and from the donut shop, he would have his radio tuned to the oldies station, and sing along quite heartily to the 50's love songs. And when we'd leave his house, after any length of stay, it was always a ritual that after we'd say our goodbyes, he'd had us a piece of Red Vine licorice as we headed out the door.

Grandpa almost always found time to take us to the duck pond. I can't even remember exactly where it is, but it was a pretty large pond, and it had a walking path all the way around it. We would go out, take a loaf of bread with us, and feed the ducks as we walked all the way around.

He also took us to the "castle" park quite frequently. It was a school playground, a bit of a drive from his house. It was wooden, and built with stairs and turrets so that it looked like a castle. We loved it there, and Grandpa and Grandma would just sit on a bench and watch us play for the longest time.

Grandpa had the most awesome train set in his garage. There was a large table that was the size of the floor, and it was hooked to ropes and pulleys, connected to a light switch. It was stored way up in the air, but at the flip of a switch, it slowly descended down to shoulder level. There were so many trains, an intricate track going all around the table, buildings, landscape, and tons of little people and details that made it look like it's own little world. It was always a special treat when Grandpa would not only bring it down for us to enjoy, but let us be in charge of the controls, too. He really loved his trains... it couldn't have been easy to let the crazy grandkids go wild with the speed controls.

Grandpa had a lot of knick-knacks in his office. I would often spend a lot of time just sitting in there, looking at everything on his desk and his bookcase. The walls were also decorated with paintings he did himself. He liked to watch Bob Ross do paintings on the TV. When I was a teenager, he even took me to buy some oil paints and a canvas, and taught me the basics of oil painting. I painted an ocean scene, with waves crashing on the beach, and a seagull or two flying in the sky. It wasn't great... but it was fun.

I also remember Grandpa taking me to the Scout shop and buying a birdhouse kit for me. We took it back to his house, nailed it together, and painted it a brilliant red. I think we hung it in his yard for a while, after it was done.

Grandpa bought a boat, and started taking us out to the lake. He was pretty good at driving it, and let us take the wheel every now and then, too, when we were old enough. Sometimes we would stop out in the middle of the lake and just dive in and swim, but the best was when he pulled us on inner tubes. That was SO FUN. Sometimes more than one of us were innertubing at the same time, and when we'd hit a wake at high speed, we'd bump into each other and one (or both) of us would go flying. Crashing into the water wasn't so fun, but it never stopped me from wanting to go again!

He named his dog Bosworth, after the football player. We all called him Boz. Grandpa liked to spoil Boz, letting him share his food, and even drink the milk out of his own cup. Boz liked to slurp up the last of the milk and then chew the ice cubes that were always left at the bottom. Boz got to be pretty fat before he died, but Grandpa sure loved him. We also used to go for walks at nearby parks and fields with Boz in tow. I specifically think of one place that had a lot of tall grass. Grandpa would let Boz loose, and he'd go hopping through the grass like a bunny, sometimes chasing us, sometimes running away from us.

Again, when we would spend the night, I remember Grandpa often helping Grandma make breakfast for us. He had a plastic egg scrambler, and he'd pop some eggs, milk, salt, and pepper into it, close it up, and shake it all up, then pour it into a pan to make some scrambled eggs. I remember being a bit fascinated by that little contraption, and always asking for him to let me take a turn shaking it. But from this memory, I also realize how nice it was that he helped Grandma cook in the kitchen.

Grandpa was a pretty practical person - for my graduation gift, he and Grandma bought me luggage. And as we got older, he'd send a family Christmas present, which was always a box full of packaged food items and snacks!

Grandpa spoke at my Baptism. He was a Bishop in his ward, and I remember him being very straightforward and simple in his speaking, but his testimony was heartfelt and contagious. Grandpa generally seemed to me like a sweet, gentle, and often very child-like man. It was very easy to get along with him. He rarely seemed flustered, let alone angry. The very few times I saw him "argue" with Grandma, the only way you could tell that it was an argument was because of how flustered Grandma was getting. Grandpa smiled easily, and was eager to be light-hearted.

Grandpa liked it when my sister Jacy and I played the piano. He would always ask for more, and encourage us to practice more... and I certainly didn't mind the encouragement. I only knew how to play a few pieces. I taught myself to play, but mostly focused practicing on just two of my favorite pieces by David Lanz, until I had them memorized. I'm fairly certain I about drove my own family to insanity by my constant repitition of two piano pieces... but Grandpa only ever wanted to hear more.

When Grandma Hansen got sick with cancer, and was starting to go through chemotherapy, I remember being at their house and listening to them talking to each other. I was really touched by how realistic they were, how they prepared for the worst, and did their best to remain positive- simply faithful that things would work out they way Heavenly Father intended them to. They didn't seem afraid... neither of them did. But they prepared, and talked about spiritual things.

Grandpa loved cacti. Can I just say cactuses? I've always hated the way the proper plural sounds. ;) He had a collection of small cactuses in the living room bay/garden-window thing. And when they would travel to Arizona, they would always take pictures of the large cactuses there, and showing them off proudly when they got back home.

A couple months ago, when I started packing up for our move, I emptied out my hope chest. I came across a letter that I had forgotten about, that Grandpa Hansen wrote to me, apparently in response to something I wrote to them. It's a bit of a treasure now, isn't it? You can really see his personality come through, if you read it. Also... the opening paragraph makes me laugh ... as well as remind me how I was never good at keeping in touch with my grandparents. Still, he knew what was going on in my life, and encouraged me to set and reach my goals, all the while supporting me very lovingly.

Grandpa is such a wonderful, loving man, generous with his heart, giving of his time and service. He will be so missed when he is gone. He has blessed the lives of his family members so much.

P.S. - all these pictures were scanned into my computer, and not very good quality to begin with. I did the best I could at fixing them up a little bit, but they're still not great.

Drowning

I'm going to keep this short, because the more I say, the more undoubtedly gross it will be.

I'm feeling so overwhelmed by poop these days.

I have a 5  year old who can't (won't?) wipe herself.
A 3 year old who can't (won't?) remember that you poop in a potty, not in a diaper, not in underwear, NOT ON THE FLOOR!!!!  And he certainly can't wipe himself, either.
And of course, the baby, who at least poops the way you expect him to poop.

I can't wait for the day when I'm not wiping three children's bottoms multiple times every day.

The Pumpkin Patch

The weather is getting cooler. The leaves are changing colors. And next week we have a Primary party, including a pumpkin carving contest. Of course, that means, it must be pumpkin selecting time! You know, last year, we were just out of sync enough that we never did get around to getting and carving a pumpkin. It was a sad thing. And the year before, we left it just long enough that we ended up just grabbing a couple from the grocery store (gasp!! The horror!!!) So it was quite nice to look forward to heading back out to the pumpkin patch again. Finally. And let me repeat that finally part, because we had some fun trying to get cash this morning. By the time we got it, Melinda was on her 8th "why is this taking so looooong" whine. Okay, I wasn't actually counting. But 8 is a pretty good guess, I think.

Melinda and Jacob both had fun running around looking for the perfect pumpkin. I'm not sure what Melinda's criteria was - she was too quick and roaming pretty far. And according to Jesse, she didn't give any indication of what she was looking for, she was simply looking. Jacob, on the other hand, went straight to trying to pick up every pumpkin he liked. His favorite pumpkin was one he found that looked more suitable for windowsill decoration, or pumpkin pie making, than a jack-o-lantern. It was his favorite because "this one isn't too heavy, mom!" He was carrying it around in one hand, by the stem. I did persuade him to pick a bigger one that we could carve a face into, later. Alex seemed more interested in the grass than the pumpkins at first, but eventually warmed up to them enough to try chewing on a few stems and licking a few of their skins, just like a good teething baby should do.

It amazes me that Melinda is this big. The last time we were in this pumpkin patch, she was just barely 2 years old, and looked so much younger. This picture is perfect to me, that way. This is not the pumpkin Melinda picked, but it was one of the first few that caught her eye.

Jacob is busy inspecting each pumpkin's weight.

Still on the hunt! Many more pumpkins to check.

Alex gets into the spirit!

Jacob's got another one in his hand now. He's getting closer! He can almost lift it in one hand...

Group photos!

What beautiful children they are!

Melinda's 5th Birthday

Well, my baby girl is 5 years old, now. I wish I could say I was feeling more profound or poetic about it, then I could write something really nice and sentimental. But quite honestly, it was a day like any other day, only with a headache, not enough sleep, and particularly troublesome children. My most profound moment was when I was laying in bed, unable to fall asleep, feeling rather incredulous that 5 years ago at that same moment, I had been in labor for the very first time. That was a very odd feeling.

And although Melinda is the instigator in sizeable portion of the problems that we experience day-to-day, the truth is, she is my "right-hand man". She's such a big helper around here. Sometimes I think half the reason she's not in a preschool right now is because I'm afraid of what would happen if I were to go a full day without her to around home to help me out. She loves to learn and play, to feel free and uninhibited. She loves any grown member of the female population, perhaps to a fault (she latches on to unfamiliar women instantly, all it takes is to look friendly to her or be a mom). She loves playing the part of big sister, entertaining the younger kids. She's strong-willed and reckless. She's also artistic and imaginative. She doesn't name her animals or dolls, and rarely plays "princess", but adores playing in the mud and getting dirty, participating in sports, and playing any sort of video game she can get her hands on. When she dresses herself, she invariably picks stripes and more stripes, with polka-dots coming in a close second. She doesn't like to wear things in her hair, and prefers cutting it short so it's easier to take care of. She can't stand getting water in her eyes, but could stay in a pool or bathtub all day if allowed to. She makes big noises and big actions to evoke a response from everyone around her, never seems the least bit shy, and her eager laughter can make you think that everything is right and wonderful in the world.

I spent my morning baking a cake and cleaning up the kitchen. In the early afternoon, we went out to a couple dollar stores to see if there was anything that Melinda wanted to buy with her birthday money from Grandma. When we couldn't find anything just right (we were really hoping for a hula hoop), we decided to go enjoy some Italian Ice at Rita's instead. Melinda made a mix of Cherry, Lemonade and Mango. And complained several times of something I imagine was probably brain freeze.

Just as we were heading home, Jesse called to say that he was heading home. Yay! He's been so busy with work this week, it was nice to hear he was coming home early. I had told the kids that as soon as we got home, they had to clean up - the front room and playroom were both an absolute wreck, and it was making the whole day more grumpy for everyone. So when we all got home at about the same time, Jesse graciously helped them clean up while I moved on to cake decorating.

Melinda had decided a while back that she wanted a bird on her birthday cake, so I designed a bird sitting on a blossoming tree branch for her. The frosting, combined with the heat and humidity, didn't hold it's form very well, but I think it still turned out pretty enough.

Once it was finished being decorated, we headed out to the Rainforest Cafe to have a birthday dinner. Alex was big enough to sit in a high chair without any assistance this time! He spent almost the entire dinner just looking around, trying to take everything in. The thunderstorms didn't phase him, and Melinda was full of a million questions about why this animal did move, but that one didn't, and why did the gorillas shake the tree that way, what were they saying? And so on. Melinda and Jacob both chose to have mini cheeseburgers for their meal; Melinda with carrot sticks and ranch on the side, and Jacob with standard fries and ketchup. Jesse and I shared a big appetizer plate, and I got a ceasar salad as well, since I felt like I was starving. Melinda had really wanted to get a Volcano for dessert ... is it really awful that we talked her out of it? I don't think it is. She looked real pouty for a while. We explained we had cake and ice cream waiting for us at home, and would she rather have a volcano, or the pretty cake mommy just finished decorating? She compromised - I'll have the volcano now, and the cake when we get home!! Uhhh... no. Finally she gave in to just having cake at home, phew. But our lovely server brought us a couple balloons for Melinda and Jacob to enjoy.

Once home, it was present time!!

I love how she sticks out her tongue and really gets into it! It's not easy to unwrap a large box with cellophane and a sheep wrapped around it, either. But she did it, without any help!

It's a dollhouse!

She really was excited about the barbie + little girls to go with the dollhouse... this was just poor picture timing. She told me that her friend Ella has this same set, which makes it cool, I guess? Eventually we'll get a boy doll so the family has a daddy, but this was enough to get started with.

We ate cake and ice cream while Jesse put the dollhouse together. Here's the cake with lit candles! Melinda had a hard time blowing them out, and Jacob couldn't resist helping. But eventually, the job was done!

After daddy spent forever putting this monster of a dollhouse together, Melinda (and Jacob) finally got to play with it!

And finally, it was time for bed. That part couldn't come soon enough. I was feeling exhausted since about 5pm. Unfortunately Alex had different ideas than I did about bedtime, but at least once the kids were in bed, things were calmer and quieter.

Today, Melinda had a hard time understanding and accepting the fact that once you turn 5, you can't just run off to Kindergarten. You have to wait until the next school year. Big sigh. She's so eager to go to school.

Plastics 101

If you're new to the issue of good plastics vs. bad plastics, or would simply like an easy read about which types of plastics you should avoid and why, take a couple minutes and go read Plastics 101 with Dr. Alan Greene at The Soft Landing Blog.

In the same down-to-earth style of his must-have book Raising Baby Green, Dr. Greene takes the often confusing subject of plastic and exposes its bare-bones foundation in a way we can all understand.

Know Your Plastics

by Dr. Alan Greene
Plastics are everywhere. Some are eco-friendly and appear to be very safe for kids. Most are made from non-renewable petroleum, much of which needs to be imported. Some plastics cause dangerous pollution during manufacturing, and some contain chemicals suspected of causing harm – especially to kids.

 Go read the full article for more!  

And don't forget to come back later today for a report and pictures of Melinda's 5th birthday.  :)

An Interesting Evening

So, my evening has been... shall we say, "interesting".

Jesse had yet another work dinner that kept him away from us at dinnertime.

Just minutes after he left, I accidentally smashed Melinda's thumb in the crack of the table. Much ear-piercing wailing and river-forming tears followed.

During dinner, Alex started falling asleep in the high chair. I kid you not. I've never seen a baby do this in real life before.


Once I stopped the movie, I just held him on my knee for abut 15 seconds before he fell asleep for good. And then my crazy child, who was so tired that he was falling asleep sitting up, only slept in his bed for about 40 minutes. *sigh* He woke up during the next little event. There was no chance of me putting him back to sleep. Melinda was the delegated baby cheerer-upper until I could get to him.

Which brings us to after dinner. Jacob was squatting on the floor, putting together a dinosaur puzzle. All of the sudden he tells me, "I pooooped, Mommy..." I hardly heard him the first time, he mumbled it so quietly. And then I realized what he said, and freaked. Let's just say that things have been very funky with Jacob for the last few days. This was no normal pile o' poo on my beautiful clean carpet.

Thank goodness for hydrogen peroxide.

Once Jesse got home and the kids got in bed, I rushed out to Target to get Melinda's birthday gift. Yeah, I've known what I wanted to get for her for at least a couple weeks now, and I still put it off till the last evening available. And I went to pick up a roll of wrapping paper to go with it. I settled on an inexpensive silver-looking roll. And when I got home and sat down to wrap her gift, that's when I discovered it was definitely not silver. It was clear cellophane...with a layer of silver tucked in between the brown cardboard tube at the very bottom of the roll. Grrr. Clear anything definitely does not work for gift-wrapping. If that's not the universe telling me to switch to cloth bags for gift-giving, I don't know what it is. I compromised with a purple sheet held together with the clear cellophane. And the second smaller gift got printer paper wrapped with cellophane, which was then decorated with red Sharpee marker.

Once I wrapped the gift, perpetually sluggish/grumpy Jesse proclaimed that he was going to bed. At 9:30pm. We haven't gone to bed earlier than 11pm in, oh, at least 5 years now. But his head was hurting and he was just plain tired.

So, yeah. Tonight has been ... interesting.

Completely unrelated P.S. - Alex was weighed and he's officially 21 pounds. Melinda wasn't 21 pounds until 10 months. Jacob, in all his chunky baby glory, wasn't even 21 pounds until 7.5 months. Alex looks slimmer than Jacob... but I guess he got a pretty good head start at birth, after all. ;) He's wearing all 9-month sized clothing right now.

Kids & Conference Weekend

We really enjoy the ability to watch our church's semi-annual General Conference at home over the internet.  The new video stream this year was absolutely fantastic, too.  I could watch it all on my full screen, and the quality was as good as I would see on a TV.  But best of all, it was practically seamless in the streaming.  In past conferences, we've had to give up on the video stream and settle for the audio only, because it would just hiccup too often, and have to sit and buffer before it started again... it just created too much of a disjointed listening experience.  This conference was so nice!!

The biggest benefit of watching conference at home, of course, is that the kids aren't going crazy in a dark chapel for several hours all weekend.  Most of the time, the kids just entertained themselves with their toys while Jesse and I listened to the conference, but we had a few fun moments I caught on camera.

During one session, Melinda and Jacob broke out a bunch of canvas toy bins and played in them like nests.  Alex, of course, couldn't help but to join in on the fun.  I just love the range of expressions and interactions in this series of photos.

 

 

There was one point where Jacob and Melinda were running back and forth, and Alex was "chasing" them as best he could.  They play this game every now and then, and it's just too funny.  The two older kids run pretty much at top speed across the room, and stand there laughing their heads off while Alex starts to crawl towards them.  As soon as he gets just a few paces closer, they dash back to the other side of the room, and Alex starts heading back, completely unruffled.  As soon as he gets a few paces in, they race past him once again.  What a silly bunch of kids!  ;)



During the last session, I broke out the paints, and we painted some autumn-themed pictures.  Or, at least, that was the goal.  Jacob mostly just made big layers of paint squiggles.  I was quite impressed by Melinda's pumpkin painting - she outlined a pumpkin first, then sketched in a face, and then started painting it.  She called it "done", until I suggested she add some other things, like a sky and the ground.  Then she quite happily added a blue sky, a yellow sunshine, and a patch of green grass.  She also had the start of a small red pumpkin in there, but left it as it was.  I couldn't be left out, either, so I tried my hand at autumn leaves.  Not terrible, for years of having no painting practice of my own.  We taped them all to the wall after they were dry.  Fun!