We haven't posted anything for two whole years!!! Today, we finally decided to use our gingerbread house-making kit for Family Home Evening. The house was supposed to represent building our strong family. I hope that the house wasn't a bad omen, because just half an hour after the picture, the house completely caved in. The frosting was about as sticky as dried glue. Maybe this is a sign that we need to work on some things... hmmm...
Anyway, it was fun to make the house while it lasted. The kids plastered the gingerbread with 'fat free' gumdrops (so they wouldn't eat them. It didn't work too well) and good-and-plenty's, and you could definitely tell it was our own. The picture wasn't our best, but it showed the real us. Caroline was ready to eat it, but I really don't think those brittle things were ever meant to be eaten.
Happy New Year's!

--Miriam

We always feel so optimistic when we enter the chapel. Everyone beautifully groomed, potty-ed and had their drink. Carefully sitting in the order that will most encourage reverence. On the second row so they actually notice the presence of a speaker.

Julia sits on my lap. Sure, she’s too old for this, but this ensures that one of the kids is fully out of the action because she snuggles down and is essentially motionless during the duration. She and I sit direct in front of the podium. Miri & Jacob must not sit together. Mike courageously tackles Paul, and Seth & Jared anchor the aisle seats as reverse bouncers.

I first noticed this Sunday might be out of the ordinary when the speaker kept staring at Julia, would wrench her eyes away, and then irresistibly be drawn back. When I peered around her face I saw that she had smuggled some large green glasses in, with rotating lights that flashed red and green, and was staring at the speaker.

Paul, never stellar in SM, was feeling particularly feisty. After a successful glasses theft, he was silent for a few minutes while he practiced turning them on and off. In a sneaky speedy move he threw the glasses in front of the podium, fell onto his belly and speed scooted out to “retrieve” them. Final freedom grin!

From his anchor spot, Jared charges to the rescue, using the sports skills he’s been carefully honing. Keeping the glasses in play, he scoops them up and, in one fluid motion, does a beautiful l scooping lateral pass to Mike over the bench and tackles Paul. Triumphant, he brings Paul back to the fold. We only go downhill from here, if possible.

Our 1^st councilor says he likes to watch the faces of parents exiting SM, howling kids in tow. Most look resigned. Some, happy to escape. Some rolling eyes that their wife thought their kid even needed to exit. He said Mike’s face was pure righteous anger. Paul’s grand finale: grabbing Seth’s mechanical pencil and doing a deep arm stab on Miriam, leaving her quietly sobbing into my shoulder, with Julia indignantly wondering where her nice glasses had gone.

Some of our talks were a bit slow this week. Good thing the whole congregation had the Dixon Variety Show to watch front and center.

And we can’t wait to go back next week and do it all over.

What happens when you leave Paul & Jared at home all morning?

Things I learned at the reunion:

Yeah, we should have rented the cow.

If Scott gets tired of his current job, he could be a great lounge singer.

Kids can actually consume hundreds of smarties with no apparent negative effect.

If you mix and match cars with your brother's, and put the "small bladders" in one car and the nursing baby in the other, you will arrive home within 1 minute of each other, 11 hours later (on an 8.75 hour trip.)

Grandparents leaving 15 minutes later and taking scenic "shortcuts will arrive 3 minutes after you do.

30 kids actually *can* spend a whole week together and get along great!!

When feeling overwhelmed with planning a reunion, delegate all the organizing to Karine and the activities to Julia, and then sit back and take credit for the best reunion ever.

If you put several adults and a few primeros on the deck shooting off a potato gun, after a few good blasts you'll find the men with huge grins on their faces.

When you're really worried about the family being grumpy and too hot, the weather may get back at you with a good snowfall in June.

Leave the reunion first.

Watch out for any group called "Dynamos"

It's pretty fun sitting around a great room discussing large amounts of money.

If you're a piano and see Uncle Jonathan coming, be afraid.

Primeros were born to wander around looking wise and above everything. . . and then, if they're OUR primeros, never above playing with a baby or comforting a toddler.

Some slides are so fun, they're worth arm burns!

Second children have a great sense of humor and a lot of patience with serious experimenting.

It would help everyone's stress level a lot if the men could just get together every night and hit a ball around with too-small sticks

I love being with my family. They're the funniest, most interesting, most enjoyable people I've ever met. And they do a great job choosing spouses I love and producing kids that are amazing!

And, when you're in a cleaning pinch, always remember to grab some tokens and call Ryan.

It seemed like a cute idea to nickname the backyard project the "Big Dig". Like a little fun project we were viewing without too much trepidation, and a sense of humor. We are now weighing in on the "does the name make the person" debate, and we argue that, at the very least, the name makes the project. We are waiting for the fiasco to be profiled on NPR as a copycat to the Boston Big Dig, filled with cost overruns, missed deadlines, and an unfixable huge mess. And the back yard has definitely been dealt a fatal blow. At last count, the backhoe has taken out the swingset, the sprinkler system's main and electrical systems, and has covered the area with mounds of mud begging for clean little kid clothes. We're just hoping for no falling concrete in our new tunnels.

Right at this moment Mike is in the backyard fighting the clay with a big backhoe. It is so hard, that after he finally pounded through it with the bucket, the sides of the trench are smooth and glossy, like maybe we should fire it in an oven and enjoy the natural beauty.

I actually didn't know Mike was getting a backhoe; he had been promised the perfect trencher. But when he was dubiously looking at the blade, he found the manager to ask a question. Would they refund the hundreds of dollars for the rental if this didn't do what they said it would? Immediate back pedaling. Driving back home from a kid dropoff I saw some chump chugging along Orchard Ave in a slow backhoe. I stopped chuckling when I recognized the hairstyle.

I was perusing a copy of the Grinch That Stole Christmas in the library yesterday. I suddenly realized that my nose and the Grinch's heart share something: they have both grown 3 sizes, and he even sometimes looks like he shares the same root cause.

Just read a great new book! Austenland by Shannon Hale, a total tongue-in-cheek laugh with everyone addicted to Austen novels and DVDs, especially compulsive Firth-watchers on the P&P DVD.

I'm teaching my class again. It's the people I love best that get me into this, probably when they're in a meeting when someone laments that there are big problems in the ward with debt and money mismanagement, but no chumps to teach a class on avoiding it. Then my loved one pitches in: they know there IS someone who will do the perfect job! She LOVES to teach the class and is just dying to come do it!

Just in the nick of time, I found out that Steve Martin already condensed my whole class into a 2 minute skit on SNL. I think I show it, we'll eat the cinnamon muffins and all go home. Let me know what you think:


http://consumerist.com/search/clips%20snl-skit-dont-buy-stuff-you-cant-afford-252491.php