on raising a feminist

A few days ago I installed some new hardware in the kids bathroom (which is looking great, by the way - I should post some pics!) I used Jared's drill, which Sam found extremely impressive.

Sam: "When I grow up, I am going to be a mommy and use tools."

Possibly my proudest parenting moment. *sniff sniff* Next he will be reading Margaret Atwood.

a texas-shaped hole in my heart

My dear friend Aimee moved last week and it has been a major bummer. I have handled my funk by vascillating wildly between extreme busy-ness (organize closets! Paint bathrooms!) and extreme lethargy. I pretty much either want to be so busy I can't think about how sad I am, or asleep. Our little town has had such a rough time with the economic crisis and, one by one, I have seen too many friends pack up and leave Medford. This move was just almost too much to handle.

But it has been a week now and I am feeling better. Better enough to blog, at least! And while I miss my friend, I realize that this is a great thing for her family and I am so very happy and excited for them.

I also realize that just because you don't live next door to someone doesn't mean they aren't your friend anymore. I have tons of friends! They just happen to live in Texas and Washington and Maryland and Virginia and Kansas and Utah and Arizona and all over the place. I love and miss all of you wonderful friends!

So in honor of my friend Aimee and of my own turning point today, I would like to post 10 Fun Facts about Texas. Hopefully some of these facts will fill that Texas-shaped hole in my heart. (It really IS the biggest state! Ouch!)

Ten Reasons Why Texas Is Awesome

1. The armadillo is the state mammal.
   




2. The first word spoken from the moon on July 20, 1969 was "Houston."
   




3. King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas is larger than the entire state of Rhode Island.
   




4. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco, Texas in 1885.
   




5. Even their state capitol building is the biggest! It is 8 ft taller than the U.S. Capitol building. And it's kind of fruity looking.








6. In Texas, it is still a "hanging offense" to steal cattle. (Also illegal: putting graffiti on someone else's cattle. Hopefully not a hanging offense.)
   




7. It is also against the law to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel window.
   




8. The Mars plant in Waco Texas produces 75% of the world's Snickers bars.
   




9. Rodeo is the official state sport.
   




10. Texas was an independent nation fron 1836 - 1845. Surprised, no?
    

Mostly, Texas is awesome because my friend Aimee lives there. Do you know any more fun facts? Feel free to share!

how-to: friend moving away edition

A general how-to if you find out your dear, sweet, wonderful friend who was supposed to move to Houston in June is now moving in less than two weeks:

1. Cry your sad little eyes out.

2. Glare in the general direction of Texas.

3. Eat some chocolate.

4. Sigh gustily, pick yourself up out of your sulk, and acknowledge that this is really what is best for your friend.

5. Offer to watch her kids every waking minute of the next 10 days so she can get packed.

6. Tell your friend you love her dearly and will miss her so much it will hurt, but you are so happy her family will all be back together again. And ask her please not to wait too long before she visits.

Love you, Aimee!

easter fun

Good times yesterday! We had a super Easter. Just the usual stuff, but it seemed extra fun this year.

We dyed eggs Saturday night, of course:

Sam tried to ...surprise!... eat the eggs. While still in the shell. I asked him after I took this picture what he thought was inside. "Chocyate," he whispered back, all reverently. No wonder he thought this was the most incredible activity ever! After I enlightened him by peeling an egg, he was still pretty into it and started calling himself "the egg controller." He gave himself the job of arranging the eggs in the carton after they had dried. I can't blame him - there is something so magical about handling those rainbow eggs.

Next morning, we had a candy hunt:

Don't you love the curlers? Their hair looked pretty darn cute after I took them out. Sadly, no pics. I even made them cutsie little tulle-rosette headbands and still didn't take a picture! I had to leave early for meetings before church and peeled out of there pretty fast.

I will admit that I was annoyed at having meetings on Easter Sunday, but it all turned out pretty great and was one of the best Easter services I've ever been to. In fact, all three hours of church were really amazing. How often can you say that?

After church, our friends came over to share Easter dinner with us. It was so nice, in the absence of any family in the area, to spend the evening with people we love and that have become our family here in Medford. So glad the kids can have substitute cousins to play with!

And Eleanor dressed up like the Easter bunny:

We always do these scripture eggs the week before Easter. And, while there was the usual wrangling and noise, this was the first year the kids - the girls, especially - really got into the story and understood it. It was really cool to answer their questions and see their little testimonies germinate. So glad all that Primary tuition isn't going to waste!

everything back to normal

As you can see from this picture, we are all very happy that Jared is home. Look at that look of sheer bliss on Sam's face! It didn't take long before the kids were piling on Jared and making him be a human jungle gym. No, I didn't try to stop them - he knew he had it coming!

But I forgive him for leaving me. He brought me back a beautiful necklace AND a giant tub of Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanutbutter Cups. Jared really knows how to play his cards right.

Everyone is much more cheerful now that Daddy is home. Sam is feeling much better and is back to his usual self, as evidenced by the following conversation I had with him this morning:

Sam: "My tow truck is so strong it could tow our house!"

Me: "Woah, that is really strong! Could your tow truck tow a dinosaur?"

Sam: scoffs like I'm an idiot "No...dinosaurs don't have a hitch."

Back to business as usual! Happy Monday, everyone!

doing worlds better

Just wanted to say thanks for listening to my whining yesterday! Things are definitely looking up today. Even though Sam did get up a few times last night (curse that cough of his!) and woke up at the crack of dawn banging on the wall and shouting "I want to dig outside!"... things are still looking up. My temperature has gone waaaaay down and my throat is feeling much better - it's amazing how not being sick can really perk a girl up.

Incidentally, Sam was banging on the wall with the giant plastic shovel that he went to bed with last night. I'm not sure I get little boys.

So thanks for your kind responses. It helped me not feel quite so abandoned and pathetic!

Now for something completely different. Remember the Where's Waldo activity our church youth group did last year? It was such a hit, we did it again this year. I was worried I would have to miss the activity, what with Jared being out of town, but my bishop's sweet wife came to watch my kiddos so I could don another crazy wig and walk around the mall:

I went as Pregnant Velma, apparently. I wasn't really going for the Velma part, but whatever works. My friend Ginny went as Outrageous Granola Lady. She heard one employee say, "Wow, that lady must be from Ashland!" so I guess her disguise worked.

I had many people ask me when I was due, if it was boy/girl, what names I was considering... I wasn't prepared to answer these questions! I made up many lies. I hope the guy from the cell phone kiosk never talks to the girl from The Children's Place because my story will not check out! I even had someone say, "Are you sure there's only one in there?!" Really, people? Really? I have to put up with that crap when I'm actually pregnant - I shouldn't have to when I'm fake pregnant.

See? All I needed was an orange maternity sweater!

single mom and some newberies

I don't usually broadcast this information on my blog, but my self-pity is overwhelming. Jared is out of town for some work training. We didn't really believe he was going to end up going thanks to the goings-on in DC last week, but when the shutdown was narrowly avoided he packed his bags and took off. When Jared is out of town, I usually console myself by making the kids PBJs for dinner, not cleaning the house, watching girl movies, and starting an enormous home improvement project that Jared would stop me from doing if he were here. This time, however, I have been up with a sick Sammy every night and am now sick myself with a raging fever and sore throat. Not so fun. Painting all the doors in the house, like I had originally planned, sounds a lot more fun. (I did one! Only eight more to go...) So please feel sorry for me. That's all I ask. *sniff, sniff* Because I am unable to do more than lay on the couch in my jammies while Sam watches "Bob the Builder," I thought I could at least add some more Newbery reviews:

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

by Jean Lee Latham (1956) I could not for the life of me figure out why so many people were dying in this darn book! Our poor main character loses mother, grandmother, beloved sisters, brother, brothers-in-law, and finally a wife. So much for one fictional character to bear! Then I realized Nathaniel Bowditch is not a fictional character but was an early American mathematician from Salem who revolutionized ocean navigation and did indeed lose a lot of family members. Aside from all the dead relatives, Bowditch is an odd choice as a topic for a children's book. All children love to read about innovative mathematicians, right? A ho-hum little book, it combines historical fiction with ocean adventures but not a whole lot else. Though I am fascinated by anyone who can teach himself Calculus. A runner-up this year was Men, Microscopes, and Living Things. Must have been a brainy year for Newbery!

Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (1952)

Jerry Pye scrimps and saves to earn a dollar to buy a puppy. After he brings home Ginger, Jerry and sister Rachel are overjoyed and the book promises to unfold into a delightful little tale of two children and their dog. And then Ginger runs away (or, as we find out later, is kidnapped) and doesn't return to the book until nearly the last page. So why is this book called Ginger Pye? He is pretty incidental to the book. It should be called Two Kids Have Some Picnics and Express Mild Concern Over Their Missing Dog For A Year. Yes, a year. The dog is missing for a year. The whole time Ginger is hidden in a neighbor's backyard being trained to be a circus dog. Now that sounds like an interesting book!

Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (1951)

Is this weird or what? All the Newbery runners-up for 1951 were biographies: Lincoln, Gandhi, Johnny Appleseed, and - the ultimate winner - Amos Fortune. If you can look past some of the condescending racial conventions of it's day, this really is an inspiring true story of a man taken from Africa at the age of fifteen to live the life of a slave in Salem in the 1700s. Fortune is finally able to purchase his freedom at the age of sixty and begins a new life as a tanner in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. He marries, has a family, and becomes a prominent member of the community of Jaffrey, where you can still visit his grave stone and see a monument to him. I know the story is very sugar-coated, but it is hard not to be moved by the underlying fact of a man beginning his life at the age of sixty and spending his remaining years doing so much good. While this book itself is not terribly intriguing, Amos Fortune the person is. There was a short film produced in 1997, Amos Fortune Road, about trying to find orginal records to preserve his story.

Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (1941)

A basic coming-of-age story, Mafatu wants to prove to his tribe and his father (the Chief, of course) that he is not afraid of the sea. Launching from his island home with only his spear, some food, and his dog, Mafatu is on a quest to find his courage and come home a hero. He lands on a deserted island and manages to survive just fine until he discovers the island is really the home to a tribe of cannibals. I hate when that happens! A quick and predictable read, but who doesn't love a good survival book? Also, the author's illustrations are stunning. And is that his real name? Too good to be true!

One of Sperry's woodcut illustrations