Lavender's Ice Cream

Lavender had eczema when she was younger and we decided to cut out dairy. She responded beautifully so we've stayed dairy-free for her and Marianne. It doesn't usually present a problem except when it comes to ice cream. Banana ice cream has been the perfect solution. It is also sugar free, so it's a fairly healthy dessert. Basically you blend any frozen fruit in the food processor with some liquid until it is creamy. I don't measure when I make it, but here is my best approximation of our favorite version:

Lavender's Banana Ice Cream

3 or 4 frozen bananas in pieces
2 T dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T PB2 (peanut butter powder)
1/4 cup almond milk

Put all ingredients in food processor. Only put in a few tablespoons of almond milk at first. Blend for a bit. Then stop and scrape down sides and add more almond milk. Repeat until smooth and creamy. Eat immediately! We love to top ours with unsweetened shredded coconut and sliced almonds.

I'm Free!

When you ask Lavender how old she is, she holds up three fingers. However, they are not the three fingers you might expect. She also explains that she is "free."  Recently she met a little boy at the park. She explained that she was three years old. He was an older, wiser man of nearly four, so he decided to correct her pronunciation.  

"You mean you're TREE" he explained. And just to make sure she understood, he repeated, "You say it TREE, not FREE."

Christmas Day 2014!

We were all excited for Cary's first Christmas. My best present was a smile from this cute boy!

Lavender got some fun gifts from Santa. 

She loved her giant teddy bear and her gold, fuzzy boots, 

but her favorite present was probably her kitten Marie from the Aristocats.

Leighton loved her Frozen backpack!

Brianne got a baseball mitt from Carolyn

Lavender models her new Marie shirt

Ryan and Molly show some of the books they received.

Lavender got a backpack from Grandpa and Oma too!

Carolyn was sick and couldn't be with us on Christmas, 

but she wanted to see pictures of Aaron opening his gift.

It's a Viking helmet!

We were all pretty worn out by the end of the day.

Even bear baby and Marie were ready for bed!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Christmas is Finally Here!

We were a little worried about Christmas eve because Ryan and Molly were going to her Dad's house. We talked it over with the Bakers and the kids were worried it was going to be boring. Then my brother Scott, his wife Denise and their family decided to come down for the day. My Dad also came over for awhile. Then Ryan and Molly surprised us by showing up that night.  All in all it was Christmas eve.

Ammon and Denise opened presents from Grandpa and Carolyn while Scott took pictures and Evan watched.

Heath, Jenna and Alec check out their gifts.

Scott models one of the girl's scarfs.

Grandpa was especially excited for Heath to open this Robot Raptor.

Everyone had to watch the raptor.

Scott with another great scarf.

Later we went to LaJolla Cove to see the tide pools.

Christmas eve at the beach was wonderful!

December Fun for our Little One!

Lavender loved the excitement of Christmas time, but she carried on with her usual playtime with her babies. She brought them all in to enjoy the magic of the Christmas tree.

She used her sweatshirt to made a carrier for "baby girl Jesus."

Puppy and "Jesus" nap on a Christmas pillow.

Snuggling with Edie and Hop Hop

Edie was my doll that my mom made for me when I was about four years old.

Here she is kneeling down to say her prayers and/or play with the light up reindeer antlers. The Christmas bunny wanted to join her and she has carefully placed him in kneeling position. I always kneel on a pillow to pray and she follows my example.

We also got to babysit our granddog Teddy and his friend Bo. Lavender had a great time with them.

Our Little Kitten

Lavender is such a busy girl that it wasn't until very recently that she would sit down and watch a whole movie. Two year olds tend to obsess over their favorite movie and Lavender is no different. We are just grateful that Evan introduced her to a movie that we all like.  We don't mind hearing the theme song over and over.  Lavender is in love with "The Aristocats."  She wants to watch it nearly every day and she loves to sing "Everybody wants to be a Cat."  Now she has involved the whole family in her play. She assigns each of us a role.

"You be Roquefort the mouse and you be Toulouse" she'll say.

She always gets to be Marie and I am usually Duchess, Marie's mother.  Fortunately, I have Duchess's accent down pat.

She plays her role well.  Yesterday I asked her to hold out her hands so I could wash them.  "Marie has paws," she gently corrected.

Evan or Aaron is usually assigned to play Edgar, the butler turned bad guy.

"You be Edgar the bad guy" she'll say.  "Try to get me!" she squeals as she runs off.  "Save me Duchess! Edgar is sending me to Timbuktu!"

When we get her a drink of almond milk she even tells us that it tastes like "Creme de la creme a la Edgar."  Then she yawns and says she's getting sleepy.  If only we had the recipe that Edgar spiked with sleeping pills.  It sure would come in handy at bedtime!"

"Marie" was not very cooperative when I asked for a picture.
"You don't need to see my eyes," she explained.

"Here's Edgar the bad guy, right here."

And yes, she watches the VHS tape in our DVD/VCR combo.
We're totally vintage.

Another Birthday

Our grandson is here!

He's a little guy, just 5 lbs 6 oz and 18 1/2 in. As you can see, he's getting lots of love already!

Two, Three, Four

The girls were drawing pictures the other day and I loved to see the difference in their artwork.

At two and a half, Lavender's picture looks like scribbles. And that was the face I got when I asked her to smile!

Leighton is three and she drew a round head and two round eyes. It may be hard to see because she covered it with scribbles, but trust me, the "person" is there.

Four and a half year old Brianne drew a complete picture of a person, and used different colors very intentionally.  She also got her favorite letter on there!

I love seeing the girls grow and progress and it is especially fun to see three different stages all at once with our cute little artists!

Happy, Happy Birthday Daddy Dear!

My dad has always been a teacher. After his PhD thesis was written, he taught courtroom judges about non-verbal communication. His early working years were spent as a university professor. Later, he offered seminars and classes in forgiveness and relationship-building. Over the years, he taught thousands of people in his church callings. Most importantly, he worked to teach his five children many important life lessons. This was no small feat for someone who was without a father during most of his formative years.  This post explains how he taught me to read, keep the commandments, work hard and be prepared. Dad taught me lots of other things as well.

"Quality" is the lesson stands out in my mind. It was taught bit by bit over many years. As I was growing up, my dad frequently talked about quality. He encouraged us to choose high-quality friends and to always do quality work. He made a point of getting to know my friends and he let me know he was proud of the great people I spent time with. Dad didn't judge my friends based on their religion or family circumstances. Instead he appreciated their individual strengths. One of my good friends was incredibly intelligent, mature and a very hard worker. Her family struggled financially and Dad helped her find work during high school and college.

As we got older, Dad reminded us of the importance of finding a quality spouse. He often reminded me that I should get to know the family of those I dated, because "you don't just marry a person. You marry a family."  Dad told me that he trusted me to choose a great spouse because I had always chosen outstanding friends. Fortunately, he approved of John as soon as he met him. John was relieved to "pass" the not-so-subtle "interview" with my Dad.

Dad taught us to do quality work in every situation. I remember him teaching my brother Scott how to mow and edge the lawn. Scott learned to do a better job than the gardeners and the neighbors hired him to take care of their yards. My siblings and I were given the chance to work at Dad's business. One of the first jobs was stuffing envelopes.  He had a particular way he wanted us to fold the mailers. He explained the reason behind the folding and the importance of doing it correctly.  Then he made sure we knew how to do it right. I think of  my dad any time I stuff an envelope.

Of course, Dad always wanted me to do a quality job on my schoolwork. I remember Dad reading over my assignments to discuss the ideas I was presenting. Dad knew he wasn't the best at proof-reading and he left that to Mom, but he was all about the big picture!  He encouraged me and challenged me to always do my very best, particularly in my writing.

Dad even wanted me to be a quality driver. He and Mom carefully prepared me to get my driver's license when I turned 16. I hated driving the bright yellow station wagon to school, but then my Dad came up with something I thought was even worse.  He told me a could drive the nicer, smaller car, but it had a manual transmission. He explained the importance of learning to drive a stick-shift, especially if an emergency were to arise. He took me out to practice, but I was grouchy and humiliated when some boys from my high school showed up in the parking lot where we were practicing. I refused to practice any more with Dad, so he told me I could learn on my own. I was only allowed to drive the stick-shift from then on. We lived in a very hilly area and I stalled the car and rolled backwards down many hills before I finally mastered the art of a using that clutch.  At the time, I thought my father was mean for "forcing" me to drive the (very nice, new) car with a manual transmission. Twenty five years later, I finally realized the gift of quality my Dad had given me. My oldest son was a car enthusiast, and he wanted to learn to drive a stick-shift so that he would be ready to drive expensive sports cars. We borrowed my brother-in-law's Honda and headed to a church parking lot. As we drove around, Ryan began to get frustrated and clearly it was my fault. Finally I asked him to stop the car. I grabbed my cell phone and called my Dad. It was a short conversation.

"Dad, I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted when you tried to teach me to drive a stick-shift." Dad started laughing.  It was a long time to wait for an apology, but he didn't seem to mind. And Ryan eventually learned how the clutch worked. His dreams later came true on several occasions when he got to drive Porsches.

I many not have always appreciated my Dad's focus on quality when I was growing up, but I surely do now.  I love you Dad!  Happy Birthday!  Have a QUALITY Birthday!!

Our quality family circa 1982, around the time I learned to drive a stick-shift

Recently

We have had some extremely important events take place in the past week.  I thought you'd want to be the first to know!

1.  We cleaned out the closet under our stairs (AKA Harry Potter's room)!  This meant we could get to our puzzles and legos while the girls stayed with us.

2.  John worked hard to clean out the garage.   For the first time in several years, we can park my car there! (This may not sound like a big deal to those of you with 2 or 3 car garages, but we have a small garage that houses a refrigerator/freezer and doubles as our laundry room and storage area.)

3.  All three girls sat still at the same time for at least 30 seconds.  Actually, they did better than that. Once we optimized the sleeping arrangements, they took a nap (at the same time!) for 2+ hours every day.

4.  Evan got his braces off!

Best Daughter Ever!

When I pick up my phone, I never know what I will find as my wallpaper.  It changes every day, sometimes more than once a day and it almost always makes me laugh.  My wonderful daughter loves to surprise me. Marianne is the queen of selfies and she has the greatest expressions. Where did she learn to make such fabulous faces?  I'm not sure, but I do know that several years ago she got the complete "I Love Lucy" series for Christmas.  I suspect that Lucy's funny faces and great acting skills have rubbed off on Marianne. And just so you know, she is an equal opportunity photo poster.  She often includes funny pictures of other family members, but her selfies are my favorites.  Here are a few of her recent (very successful) attempts to put a smile on her mom's face.

A New To Do List

Elder Aaron emailing from the church in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Elder Aaron emails us each week. I almost always get a fairly long email and he often sends an email to the immediate family.  This week John and I both got very short emails of a couple of sentences, but Marianne and Evan both received long emails.  Evan asked his big brother for advice about what to do in his spare time.  Aaron replied with a long list of ideas.

I thought I would share it with you in hopes it might spark an idea for you or for a family member. Sometimes we just need a little inspiration to get started on a project!

1. Learn how to operate ham radio and talk to people over the radio. 
2. Write in your journal about meaningful experiences in your life. Write about your goals, what you want to accomplish, and who you want to become. Take a video logs of yourself answering these questions. 
3. Play the piano. 3.5 Take voice lessons 
4. Find a service that lets you video chat with deaf people and practice ASL with a native speaker. Or find deaf people in Poway and practice with them. There has to be a deaf group somewhere in Poway. They would probably be impressed that you're striving to learn their language. [Marianne & Evan are taking an ASL class at the community college.] Don't worry if you can't communicate very well just practice. 
5. Interview Grandpa about his life and record the interview by video and/or audio. Have him record stories from his life. How did he join the church? How did he meet grandma? What were his pastimes as a teenager? What are his memories of his parents? 
6. Learn about computer hardware and build a computer. 
7. Work out at Brother Killen's house. [A friend with weights and equipment we can use for free.]
8. Seriously research universities. Why would you want to go there? What do you want to study there? What do you want to do when you graduate? Will you go to graduate school? 
9. Start taking a picture of yourself every day. By the time you're 25 you'll have a photographic history of growing up. That would be awesome! 
10. Have Dad teach you about financial stuff and develop a financial plan for your life. 
11. Play with Lavender or plant a garden with Evan. 
12. Build a password scheme for your different accounts. 
13. Make your passwords stronger than they are now. 
14. Check out the original papyrus for facsimile no.1 in the Book of Abraham on josephsmithpapers.org. 
15. Plan a Family home evening and carry it out. 
16. Work on your Eagle Scout project. (This one doesn't apply to Marianne directly. Maybe it can be "Help Evan with his Eagle project")
17. Convince Mom and Dad to take the family to a Jewish worship service on a Saturday. Find a good synagogue that would be happy to have you. Study a little about Judaism before you go. It would be a good cultural experience. 
18. Take principles from chapter 3 in Preach My Gospel and learn what other faiths believe about those principles. If possible, ask a real person. Write a paper about it. Do Roman Catholics believe in a premortal life? What do orthodox Jews think about baptism? How does the Islamic perception of God differ from your beliefs? 
19. Take pictures.

Did you know Elder Aaron will be home in 15 days?!  The kids told him we can visit a Jewish synagogue together after he gets home.

Can't wait to see him in two weeks!

Example is Contagious!

Today, on Labor Day, it seems appropriate to talk about one of the most labor-intensive, time-consuming, jobs ever.  Did you guess I'm referring to parenting?  It isn't easy, but it is very rewarding, especially by the time the grandchildren come around!

I am blessed to have wonderful parents who modeled good parenting for me.  They weren't perfect, but they set a good example.  Yet, there are new challenges today that they didn't really have to deal with.  There is no doubt that children today will be exposed to pornography.  It isn't a matter of "if," rather "when" they will encounter it.  What's a parent to do?  Worry?  Pray it never happens?  Hide the computer/ipad/phone?

Author Jill Manning has a better approach.  She recommends the following 6 steps whenever you accidentally encounter pornography:

1.  Name it.
2.  Cover your eyes/ears as quickly as possible.
3.  Identify the lie and opposing truth about sexuality.
4.  Tell a parent about your experience as soon as possible.
5.  Turn to something positive, uplifting and wholesome to refocus your mind, body and spirit.
6.  Learn from your experience and identify ways it might be avoided in the future.

She advises teaching our children these 6 steps and then showing them how it works.  Imagine a scene at the dinner table.  Dad says,

"Today on my flight home, I glanced over at the guy sitting next to me and I realized he was looking at something inappropriate on his ipad.  I immediately realized it was pornography and I looked away. I got up and was able to find another seat a few rows back.  I knew that he was looking at the women on the screen as objects, not as daughters of God.  I decided to listen to some beautiful music and I thought about each of you and how wonderful it would be to see you all tonight.  If something like that happens again, I think I will ask the guy to stop watching it on the plane where other people can't help but see it."

We may not want to have these types of conversations with our children, but talking about it takes away secrecy that often plays a role in pornography addictions. In today's media-filled world, it is inevitable that our children will see pornography and they need to learn healthy ways to deal with it.

Jill Manning gives more support and suggestions for parents in her book, What's the Big Deal about Pornography? I have an extra copy or two to give away.  If you would like one, please leave me a comment.

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

-Kahlil Gibran 

HAPPY! birthday

My birthday was at the beginning of August and my family took good care of me.

Evan got the day started right by making crepes for breakfast. Actually, he made two kinds of crepes!  He made a small batch of gluten-free ones for me and a large batch of regular ones for the rest of the family. They were delicious with fresh fruit!

Molly made my whole week special by asking members of our extended family to write me a birthday wish. Every day she emailed me letters from a few of my loved ones!

My sister Jenny said she would take me to see a Shakespeare play and she more than kept her promise. We saw a really fun musical version of A Midsummer Night's Dream and a few days later she took me out to lunch and to see a film version of Much Ado About Nothing.

John took some time off from work and we went out to lunch, walked along the beach and played frisbee in the sand and then went out to dinner.

When we got home, we found that Marianne had made yummy German chocolate cupcakes from scratch. My favorite flavor and gluten-free to boot!  I know they were a lot of work and it was even harder because Lavender really wanted to eat them all.  Marianne kept telling her that they were for my birthday and tried to teach her to say "Happy Birthday." Lavender got half of it right.  She did wish me "happy" when we got home.  Then she ran to the kitchen, frantically begging for cupcakes and shouting "happy, happy, happy." She seemed to think the cupcakes were called "happy."  Now, almost a month later, any time she wants a treat she still asks for "happy."  John brought home a big box of donuts yesterday and she was thrilled to have "happy" for dessert last night..  Guess what she wanted for breakfast this morning?

Do you like the way she is attacking that donut in the top picture?  She may not be smiling, but she is definitely HAPPY!

The Flight From Beauty

It is no secret that I love children's literature.  Long after my children were past picture book age, I kept shelves full of outstanding books.  I even have a few books saved from my own childhood.  Now I get to read them to my granddaughters and Lavender!

I also really enjoy young adult literature and when my children were little, I had a shelf full of books that I hoped they would enjoy reading some day.  Unfortunately, over the past fifteen years I have noticed a disturbing trend in YA literature.  It has become darker and more violent in the name of "reality."  Even books for young children have been impacted.  I have read a couple of articles about this trend, but I finally read a compelling article on this subject that I have to share with you.  Read "The Case For Good Taste in Children's Books" by Meghan Cox Gurdon HERE. She is a wise woman and she's got the experience and credentials to prove it.  More importantly, she is the mother of five children!  She also includes incredible quotes such as this:

For beauty makes a claim on us; it is a call to renounce our narcissism and look with reverence on the world. 

Song For a Fifth Child

We've all heard the little poem:
"So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep."

My sweet daughter Molly even made me a beautiful wooden plaque with this verse! Today, I learned a little more about the poem and it was fun to realize the similarities between our families.  The poem is entitled "Song for a Fifth Child" and it was written by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton. Ruth was the mother of four children, all two years apart.  In 1957, when her youngest child was five years old, she gave birth to her daughter Jane.  Ruth explained,

“The children were all older when Jane was born and they would rush home to see her and hold her. Since there were five years between my next youngest and Jane, I had a bit more quiet time with her.”

I have an similar, but even larger space of fourteen years, between my youngest son and my fifth child. And like Ruth Hamilton, I was blessed with a little girl whom we often call by her middle name, Jane. After raising four children I knew that babies "don't keep," so I took full advantage of  Lavender's babyhood.  I spent many hours holding and rocking her and I let certain things go.  Now I am paying the price by having to catch up on deep cleaning and other projects like cleaning the garage, but it was worth it!  I am grateful for the many hours I was able to spend rocking my sweet baby.  I still love the quiet time we have together each morning when she wakes up and each night before I put her to bed.

Oh, and by the way, there is a whole lot more to the poem!

Song For a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
(Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.)
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo.)
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.)

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep

Lavender's One Year Photos

Photos and slide show by Judy Cook.

Easter vs Last Year

Marianne and Evan both got Easter baskets this year.  They always do, but I dared to suggest that the Easter bunny might think they were too old for baskets.  They assured me that he ALWAYS brings baskets to my kids who live at home.  In fact, he even brought baskets to my brothers who were visiting last Easter!

But let's be honest.  Even though Marianne got a Les Miserables DVD and tons of candy in her basket and Evan got The Hobbit DVD and even more candy in his basket, our Easter fun was really all about Lavender this year!  In fact, we were so excited, we had Easter a week early this year.

She wore this dress and used this basket and even hunted for eggs!

As compared with last year when she fit inside the basket with room to spare for her eggs

Last year she barely fit in the newborn size of this dress

Thanks to Leighton for letting her wear the middle sized version this year!

Just like last year, we had fun with our beautiful granddaughters!

And gave them a few Easter treats.

Don't worry, Lavender got a little patio chair too!

And we really did celebrate a week early. Why? Because of my brother's wedding.  But I'll save that story for another post!