Peak-A-Boo Whooo!

So I finally got my camera, nothing fancy, just a point and shoot.
But to me it's worth a million dollars to have a gadget with which to capture sweet moments of my ever growing children.
Every day that passed without one I just thought more and more about how fast they are growing and that I have not taken any photos of them in too long.
So I get my camera and what do I take pictures of?
My table decorations and crafts I made months ago.
Sad, but true.
OK, OK, I have taken some of the kids too, I just have not blogged about it yet, just wait, it's coming!

I have been a little obsessed with owls lately!
I found this cute one on a very cute blog called nannygoat and I instantly fell in love.
I have made a few for baby gifts and they are always big hits.
Mine stays perched up on my bookshelf in the new library.
He's my wise old owl.
I can not give this one away, ever.
It's made from a recycled church shirt that all 3 of my boys wore as babies. Now all 3 of them have out grown it.
So now I have a little memento of their babiness that I can always look at and touch and remember their babyhood by.
I'm not crying, I just have something in my eyes...
AHEM, as I was saying, if you are having a baby anytime soon I bet you can guess what you're getting as a gift!
And you'll like it, too, or ELSE!

Guess what?
There is a mighty change taking place all around us!
Can you feel it yet?
There seems to be a chill just on the otherside of the sunny afternoons.
School has started and the days are getting shorter.
That's right, Fall is in the air!
The farmer's market is in full swing with apples starting to come on and the end of the summer harvest being canned and jellied and pickled.
I have spent the last few days making nectarine leather and pear sauce.
The nectarines were grown about 15 miles from our house and were picked the day before I bought them.
The pears were grown about 2 miles from here. Have you ever had pear sauce?
It is divine!
I can't wait to get my hands on some tastey apples!
Last Saturday the kids and I had a fun time at our local farmers market.
We bought some fun squash to decorate with. I don't get very halloweeny around here, but I love fall colors.
I can't wait to go on our annual fall leaf hunt and then come home and press our leaves to make fun fall leaf projects.
Now's the time I want yummy things like pumpkin cookies and spiced apple muffins.
Fall means curling up on a cool dark evening with a soft blanket and reading a good book.
Fall means horse rides in the bright red mountains of our home.
Some things are so constant and unchanging.
Like the seasons. We can always count on he seasons.
Fall means so many things to me and my kids.
It's so good to know these traditions will come again every year.
I think I'll still be picking red leaves when I'm 100!

To Vegan or Not To Vegan, That is the Question!

Photos: June 2007

I had a most disturbing thought today.
It was enough to question the fact that I am an omnivore.
This small fact alone may be grounds for me to give up meat all together, forever.
I may be looking at a life as a strict herbivore.
That's right people, I'm talking vegan here!
As I was walking on my treadmill this morning I overheard Beano and Doodle and Dubs discussing the nasty little eight legged home invader they had just slain on my behalf.
They started to talk about the fact that said arachnid had been full of babies when the assassination occurred (remember my factoid about spiders moving indoors when it starts to get chilly in order to brood?).
Gross!
Beyond gross, nasty beyond description or imagination. The thing was absolutely massive.
Moving on...
Doodle commented on how it was a good thing we killed it when we did or her babies would have been born alive.
*faints*
Then Dubs carried that thought on and pointed out that their babies would have babies and that those babies would have babies and on and on forever and ever.
Then Beano verbalized my worst nightmare.
"Then the whole world would be covered with spiders!"
*Gasp*

My self defense kicked right in and I pointed out that the pretty birds I was watching from the window as I walked would take care of all those nasty buggers.
There were 5 or 6 magpies on the lawn savaging for their breakfast.
At that moment I had never been happier to see a flock of birds in all my life.
I then blurted out that
spiders and all bugs are nature's bird food.
I would have been fine if my brain had stopped there, but it didn't.

Chickens are birds.
Chickens eat bugs and *gulp* spiders!
And then we eat chickens.
So that means....
In a round about way we eat spiders!
(excuse me while I barf!)
That thought makes my skin crawl. I can just feel them on me right now.
I don't know if I can do it anymore.
I only eat beef once in a very great while.
We stick to mostly chicken and turkey around here.
Turkeys have the same problem.
Again with the spiders.
I just can't do it anymore.
I can no longer unknowingly eat spiders.
I guess I better start eating a lot more beans.

Bakery in Progress

Photo found in an ebook by The Project Gutenberg: Vocational Guidance For Girls

Tonight after preparing a home made meal of grilled pork chops, grilled corn on the cob, pesto topped pasta and watermelon Doodle and I began baking.
We made 3 dozen muffins, 3 dozen cookies and 6 loaves of fresh baked honey whole wheat bread.
I really want Doodle to learn to bake.
She loves being in the kitchen with me and I can't wait until the day I can say, "Doodle, please make some muffins for breakfast" or "We are almost out of bread, would you mind making 6 loaves for the week?"
And then I'll sit my lazy bum on the couch with a good book while she slaves away making vital staples of our diet all by herself.
(Actually in my dreams I'll be using that extra time to get my house totally and 100% organized 100% of the time, every nook and cranny!)
Doodle is trying to earn money to pay for her violin and to pay for lessons.
She had the brilliant idea to sell yummy baked goods.
Doodle is so funny. When she gets an order she will not let me help make the said item, aside from coaching from the side lines.
She must add every ingredient, whisk every egg and she even insists on manning the electric mixer. She is miss little bossy pants.
And I love it.
She is one more step closer to total independence.
I also love the closeness we gain from being together. Everyday we spend home schooling and just being together, the more I love my kids. They are truly amazing. I really can't believe how fast the time is going. Everyday I am realizing how short my time with them really will be.
I only have a few short years to affect the rest of their lives.
The things I teach them now will impact them for the rest of theirs.
I can think of nothing more important for me to be doing with my time than teaching them all I can in the few precious years I have been given as their mother.
I know I'll be their mom forever and ever, but really, once they are out of my house I will not be the main source of learning or influence. They will turn to others, their spouses, their room mates, their friends, themselves, and only sometimes to me for guidance or advice.
I want to foster in them independence and yet reliance on their Father in Heaven.
I want them to have a drive to do what they love to do.
I want them to have a passion for learning.
I want them to be happy.
I want them to have self worth.
I want them to love good music and to always want it on in their homes.
I want them to never ever question my love for them.
I digress.
This started out about a post about my dream bakery and somehow it turned into my hopes and dreams for my kids. But really this is why I teach Doodle to bake.
And maybe by the time she's older we really will open a real live bakery together.
Now that would be my dream come true.
In the mean time, if any of you would like to buy a loaf of fresh baked bread made from freshly ground whole wheat, give Doodle and me a call, we're at your service.

Three Peas in a Pod

These boys of mine do everything together.
They play, they laugh, they fight.

They are always finding trouble together.
And they are tight.
If one boy discovers a naughty thing to do, they do not tell mom.

Instead the other boys join in the fun and make the naughty act about 500 times naughtier than it would have been if only one boy were doing it.

Partners in crime, that's what they are.
Can't you just see the mischief in his eyes?
I really do love that my boys are so close and that they love each other so much. All they want to do is be together doing something fun.
Especially Baby Cakes
He is one of them now.
He's no longer my little baby, he's a mischief maker just like the best of them.
I sure do love those cute little trouble makers!

Perfection

My amazing Sister-in-Law, Lisa watched my kids last week so that Mr Bird and I could go to a play in Salt Lake.
The play was fantastic and could be a post all by itself.
As we entered Lisa's house I was struck by how immaculately clean everything was.
The beautiful hard wood floors literally shone.
Everything smelled fresh and clean.
There was not a bit of dust to be seen anywhere.
Everything was in perfect order, not a book out of place or a toy left out of its proper bin.
I paused for a moment and just wondered at the beauty that was her perfect house.
I admit, I was totally jealous.
I had left my house with the dished done and the floors swept, but little else was done. The toilets needed scrubbed, the tile floors were days past needing a good deep scrub and we are just choking in dust.
Lisa just sent her youngest daughter to college last week.
She home schooled all of her kids since they were just little.
Now that all of her kids are gone she has much more time to clean, once it's clean it stays that way much longer.
Plus she was way less laundry to do now.
As I was talking to her this week I expressed my thoughts and jealousy of her nice clean abode.
She proceeded to tell me of how she had gone up to Jordana's bedroom earlier in the day and noticed how clean it was, that she does not ever remember it being that clean, ever! She then felt the reality of her daughter leaving home and thought how much she would rather have a messy room with Jordana in it than a clean one without her.
That made me start to think about my less than perfect house.
Now when I see a plie of laundry waiting to be folded I think of the time I spent teaching Beano to read that day.
When I see a messy bathroom I think of the time we spent walking along the river and stopping to dip our toes in.
I think of afternoons spent at the Nature Center playing in the sunshine and discovering new animals and habitats and tracks and feathers.
When I see smudges on the tile floor I think of the wonder in Doodle's eyes as we read about a little girl who was just her age when she had to leave her baby sister to escape slavery and fight to find the freedom we enjoy.
I think of the childish laughter that fills the air as they play with friends at park days.
When I see a sticky fridge that is days past needing a good cleaning I think of the time we spent making vvv-rooming noises and racing matchbox cars with Baby Cakes.
I think of messy science experiments in the kitchen and potato guns in the back yard.
When I see dust an inch thick on the book shelves I think of Dubs sitting under the table playing with a car and answering all the questions I ask the kids about the book we just read.
I think about butterfly nets and bugs in empty glass jars or empty strawberry containers
When I see sticky finger prints on the glass windows and doors I think of the peaceful walk on sacred temple grounds and seeing a mom and dad and three small kids all dressed in white who had just had their family sealed together forever as Doodle declares that
'this is where I want to get married!'
Sure I could have a perfectly clean house. I could chose to spend all day everyday cleaning my house and putting off the other things. But I don't, so my house always has something that needs to be done.
And now I am OK with that.
I have posted this quote by Thomas S Monson before, but is seems to have new meaning to me this week.
"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly."
So just for one day (or 2 or 3 or 4) let the house work go and just bask in the simplicity that is childhood! Childhood is its own version of perfection.

P.S. In case you are wondering, I am camera-less once again but we are finally buying one next week. Then watch out, the onslaught of photos will be shameless, shameless I tell you!