a blended life

This is one of the pictures I scalped from Thursday's photo box disaster. Looking at it makes me want to cry and laugh at the same time. It was May of 2007. Hannah was three months old. She may look like she's sleeping, but she was just being cuddly in between bouts of screaming. I was in charge of a tea party for girls  in the neighborhood ages 8-11. Brian was working at Schwan's, which means he was gone all the time. When he wasn't gone, he was sleeping. Hannah, on the other hand, wasn't sleeping more than about 45 minutes at a time at night. Leah refused to nap. I had to admit defeat about three days before the party and told the other lady in charge that I couldn't do it. I agreed to bring the cupcakes. I made these adorable mini cupcakes in pastel colors and arranged them on this tray in a color-coordinated order. I put the cupcakes in the car (Van Go), then wen to buckle in Leah, then I would put Hannah in--because when you have small kids around, you have...

Fact: This has been a horrible week. I'm in no mood to sugar coat the truth (am I ever in that kind of mood?) so here it is. I'm going to skip over the first five days because it involves vomit and lack of sleep, two of my least favorite topics. Here's how today went: *Up at 5:45 am so we could get ready for the day. I had to be to work at 7:30. *Drop of kids across the street at 7:15 so I could leave for work. Neighbor took kids to school at 9. *Work involved substituting in a high school resource class in the morning. I was fine, not great but not dreadful either. *Get home, too tired to get homework done but too stressed to take a nap. I decided I would take advantage of a sale that Snapfish was having--buy one photo book, get two free. I made the first one last night in class when I got bored of the lecture. It was all about the things we've done this summer. I thought it would also be fun to make two baby picture books for each girl. By the way, the sale en...

It is fascinating to me how kids play. I love to let my girls make a mess and pretend with their toys for a good long while, then go back after they've left it out and see what they were acting out. It's very telling as to what they are going through or what kinds of developmental issues they are dealing with. For example, I know when Leah's having a hard time in school because her Build A Bears fight a lot. Many times they will reenact things that their teachers said at school. I've learned so much from their toys, so I decided to document a few of my favorite ones. The Standoff: (Leah) Notice how the score here is Playmobil Girls: 4, Playmobil Boy: 1. I wonder what was happening on the playground during recess that day? Hog-Tied: (Hannah) Um....what's Barbie been doing, Hannah? And where did Ken go? I haven't had the nerve to ask what this is all about. What Dads Do:  Every kid who has come over and played with the dollhouse, without fail, has the ...

When you grow up in the Northwest, you naturally assume that bodies of water=shady trees nearby. It's been baffling to me and others that I know (you know who you are) why anyone would visit a body of water or reservoir without the comfort of some trees. As part of my unofficial, self-imposed Love Utah campaign, we went to Bear Lake with my sister and her family over Labor Day weekend. It was a great experience to find out why people visit this little spot in droves, something we never understood because--you guessed it--there are no trees. Here's how you have fun at 'Bare', tree-less Lake: 1)Bring your own pop-up tent for shade. 2)Get in the zone in your tiger chair and some tortilla chips: 3)Take a nap on the dog-infested blanket. That's my sister, not me: 4)Ride a plastic whale with your cousin: 5)Build a sand castle, or a sand toilet (didn't get pics of that, sorry): 6)Enjoy some shallow, warm water. This was my favorite part. The water level w...

I feel like it needs to be recorded what I was doing on September 11, 2001 when the World Trade Center fell. I don't really talk about it, but these kinds of experiences should be on record somewhere, right? I was in an Institute class (I don't remember which one--I didn't like the teacher or the other class members, so I stopped going) and one of the students came in late. His face was glowing and he seemed excited --not devastated--to share the news that the plane had hit the first tower. None of us understood the scope of what it meant or what had really happened. Class finished and I started walking from the institute (in Logan), through the TSC and stopped at a t.v. screen with a crowd of other people, watching the attack. By now the other tower had been hit. I was transfixed to the screen and didn't feel anything except profound shock. I called Brian and told him to turn on the t.v. We weren't big t.v. watchers at this time, so I didn't think he'd ha...