Camryn's Crayon Cookies

Today Camryn asked me if she could make cookies. I had someone over and was getting tired of being interrupted every two minutes so I told her she could. She got out the "Great American Cookie" cookbook (the one full of pictures) and decided on "Crayon Cookies." Aside from asking me how many cubes of butter it took to make a cup and how to fill a pastry bag with chocolate, she did the entire process by herself-- Kitchenaid mixer and all. She added the ingredients, mixed the dough, divided it into 8 different bowls (so she could make it 8 different colors like the recipe said), rolled it out and shaped it like crayons, melted chocolate (to use to draw the "wrappers") and decorated them. At one point she asked me to do the chocolate decorating for her, but we quickly found that she was just as good or better at it than I was. 

Here is a picture of her fantastic work: (Blurry pictures courtesy of my cell-phone camera... the cord to charge my regular camera is still missing).

Camryn's Awesome Crayon Cookies

In the midst of all her fabulous initiative and creativity, she neglected to attend to the clean-up part of the project. Our kitchen looks like it was hit by a major hurricane. I guess on tomorrow's docket is "How to clean up from making cookies." Still, not too bad for an eight-year-old.

Stretching the Boundaries

Recently Jared and Camryn have been taking advantage of their newly-honed bike-riding skills. They have taken to riding around our neighborhood, which has brought on the discussion of how far it is okay for them to ride by themselves. We even went so far as to draw a little map of our subdivision and show them which streets were okay and how far was off-limits. This whole concept is something that I've struggled with since I became a mom: How much is an appropriate amount of freedom to give your kids and how closely do they need to be watched? My mom says that when she was a child they got kicked outside to play and roamed for hours and hours without adult supervision (back in the day when that was acceptable). I remember as an older kid going from friend's house to friend's house with a group of kids (as long as they were withing a block or two of our house) and riding my bike around our neighborhood. Yet I still find it hard to square away my responsibility for keeping my children safe -and fears for the crazy world around us- with the need to give my children room to grow and explore (and my physical inability to be in two places at once). 

I know that it's a different world than my parents grew up in- or I grew up in (although sometimes I wonder if now we just know more about all the crazy stuff out there and it really has been there all along). I know you need to be careful, but the only way I can find to physically watch my kids at all times is to keep my kids inside watching TV or playing Wii. In that case, instead of being a bad parent for not watching my kids closely enough, I would be a bad parent for not making sure my kids get enough exercise and letting them watch too much TV. But if I take them outside and watch them the whole time, then I can't make dinner and they end up eating processed junk food and, again, I am a bad parent. There I go, complaining again. I guess sometimes I just feel like it is a catch-22: no matter what you do, you're a bad parent.

But back to bikes. Jared and Camryn went out bike-riding and Jared came back significantly earlier than Camryn did. I asked him if he'd seen her and she hadn't. I started to get worried and was just on the verge of getting everyone in the car to look for her when she finally got home. Camryn said something about riding her back by her friend Aubrey's house. Unfortunately I had specifically told her earlier that she couldn't ride as far as Aubrey's house. Our conversation went like this:

Me to Camryn: "Why did you ride farther on your bike than I said was okay?" 

Camryn: "It was an accident." 

Me: "How can that be an accident? "

Cam: "I accidentally wanted to."

Since then, Jared and Camryn have been better at sticking to our bike-riding limits. Now the problem is how to get Jackson from following them down the street on his big wheel, as fast as his two feet will carry him....

Dancing Through Life

In June Camryn had her first dance recital. She has been taking ballet this year and in January she was invited to be on the dance "team" for girls her age at her dance studio. 

Here is Camryn dancing to "Reflection":

And the final bows:

 Camryn had a fantastic time and can't wait to dance more this fall.

It's a Hard-Knock Life

Last Saturday... where to begin. I was trying to steer this blog away from being a series of child-related disaster stories. But since I'm still trying to keep this blog in the "non-fiction" category, yet another child-related disaster is coming your way. Consider yourself forewarned.

Saturday was the first day of April General Conference. In case any of my 5 blog readers aren't members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, twice a year we cancel regular three-hour Sunday meetings and spend a whole weekend watching General Conference: eight hours of satellite broadcasts to the whole church (make that ten if you're a guy) over a two-day period. And you thought three hours was a lot of church, huh? :) Joking aside, I love General Conference. The prophet, the 12 apostles and other church leaders (including the leaders of the women's and Young Women's organizations) speak to us about what they feel is relevant for us to hear right now. It's also a nice chance to spend the weekend at home with the family.

We have a couple of Conference traditions: we print out a Conference activity book for the kids and we make "Monkey Bread": a caramel-y concoction of canned refrigerator biscuits, melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. (I know a lot of people who make homemade Cinnamon Rolls for their special "Conference treat" but after my last post I'm not comparing any more, okay? Besides, I baked it in a fancy bundt pan this year. That's totally as good as homemade.)

Having kids running around makes it a little bit harder to focus on the talks --and even with our best efforts we only made it through two of the four sessions over the actual weekend. (Hooray for DVRs!) But so far my favorite talks were Elder Uchdorf's talk on how we need to show more love and kindness to those around us-- even to people who are different than we are-- and judge others less. I also enjoyed the talks about mothers and daughters and the importance of a mother;s teaching in the home. But now I digress....

On Saturday afternoon, Dave left to go to the Priesthood session of Conference (for all the men 12 and up) and then had to go in to work after that. Not wanting to be stuck at home by myself with all of the kids on a Saturday, I decided to go out and kill some time hanging out at the local toy store and picking up a few things for the kids' Easter baskets. Except that by the time I figured out what I wanted and got it up to the counter to check out, the kids decided that the toys on display near the front were the most interesting and I had to casually wait for another 20 minutes before I could slyly get the presents paid for and to the car without them noticing.

I had plans to take Jared and Camryn to see a community production of "Annie" that night, so we drove through Taco Bell and then raced Jackson and Addy to the friend who was going to watch them for us. I must have been really hungry (I think I skipped lunch) because on the way back to go to the play, I impulsively decided that I absolutely HAD to have another Gordita to be able to make it through the play. So I drove through Taco Bell again (yes, the lady in the drive-through recognized me... that was kinda embarrassing), got my Gordita and we were off to the play with a whole three minutes to spare. So imagine how irked I was when I pulled out my Gordita and found a Chalupa in its place! Instead of soft yummy flatbread goodness (okay, 'flatbread goodness' is a little bit strong for Taco Bell, but remember-- I skipped lunch so I was STARVING), I found super-fried grease-o-rama. I didn't have time (or gall) enough to drive through the drive-through a third time. I took two bites and gave up.

Because of my drive-through shenanigans, we got to "Annie" one minute before it started. We parked and set off at a run for the entrance, inciting piercing shrieks from Camryn of "I can't run, Mom! It makes my stomach hurt!" (Don't you love six-year-olds?) We did manage to slip into some seats on the end of a row just as the overture started and I even got Jared to run to concessions to get some Junior Mints and Skittles to tide me over through the play.

The play was really cute and having learned my lesson after chasing Jackson around the back of "The Music Man" last summer before giving up at the end of the first act, I was really enjoying the play in Jackson's absence. But after the first act Camryn started to get really tired and cranky. I tried to get her to lay her head on my lap to go to sleep, but she didn't want to. She ended up curling up toward the back of her chair, so I went back to watching the show.

Then suddenly there was a noise-- like something spilling-- some people on the row behind us startled and a girl behind us reached for something by her shoe. In the dark it took me a few seconds to connect all the dots; I thought maybe Camryn had spilled a box of candy or something. So it wasn't until there was another burst of the "spilling" sound from Camryn's direction a second later that I realized it was not a box of Junior Mints but throw-up that was landing on the shoes of the poor couple behind us. Dots now connected, I snapped into action, grabbed Camryn and tried to furtively head for the back towards the bathroom. Our attempt at a quiet escape down the exit aisle was thwarted by a loud burst of projectile vomit that spectacularly sprayed in every direction from Camryn's lips. So much for trying to be subtle.

This probably sounds horrible, but I had to try really hard not to laugh. You know how in movies they have those stupid fake special-effects where barf sprays everywhere, totally unrealistically? That is exactly what it looked like, except it was real. (And if I thought too hard about the poor people behind us trying to wipe barf off of their shoes I would probably have burst into tears, so best not to go there for now). After a few remarkable bursts of barf, we made it safely to the bathroom, only to have Camryn let loose another spray all over the toilet stall. I'll spare you the remaining gory details of cleanup (although I have never been more annoyed with those stupid hands-free paper-towel dispensers that only give you 5 inches of paper towel at a time) and how the staff had to set up cones down most of the aisle to keep people from stepping in the mess/cleanup attempts and close down the entire bathroom (I have to hand it to the staff- they were incredibly gracious given the mess that we made).

The play was almost over at this point, so Cam and I decided to hang out and watch from the back by the bathroom door so Jared could finish the whole thing. (She felt much better at this point- who could blame her?). She turned to me and said, "Mom, I guess I probably ruined everything for you, huh?""Of course not, honey. Things like this just happen sometimes." And so they do.

The good news is that Camryn felt better after that and didn't throw up again. Nobody else in the whole house got sick or threw up. (Honestly, I wasn't trying to take a sick child to a community event to spread germs around.) Maybe it was just too many Skittles in one sitting. I'll never know. But I know we had one performance that we'll never forget.

A Boy and His Hamster: A Love Story

It seems like an unavoidable of every parent's existence to undergo negotiations for a pet. I remember as a kid begging and pleading for a pet (including my less-than-successful try for a horse) and not understanding why my parents didn't think having a pet would be the coolest, most fun thing in the whole world. I wanted a cat (not knowing at the time that I was horribly allergic to them) and my brothers wanted a dog, but either one of them would be great in my opinion- and inexplicably, neither one of them sounded even remotely great to my boring parents.

My parents eventually caved and got a dog when my older brother was about 10. And thus I was able to have a complete childhood: complete with muddy paw-prints tracked onto the carpet when it rained, food stolen from the kitchen counters, arguments over whose turn it was to give the dog a bath and perpetual dog hair (none of which seemed the least bit inconvenient at the time-- well, except giving the dog a bath). Our Houdini of a dog would break chains and cables, jump fences, and once even jumped out the window of our car while it was moving. (This wouldn't have been nearly so dramatic if he hadn't been wearing a leash at the time- that was still being held by a child inside the car. Luckily he was quite a fast runner and my mom caught on quickly, but he it still gave his claws quite the quick trim.) I never did understand why my parents weren't so keen on the idea of getting a dog- even after all of the arguments over whose turn it was to feed/water/wash the dog.

Enter being a parent. I knew the pet question had to come up eventually. Somehow this question looks so much different when you are the one in charge of mopping floors --and that occurrence is embarrassingly rare as is, without a canine addition to your bunch of mess-makers. Jared has been begging for a dog since he was barely 5. Dave responded by telling him that he could get a dog when he was 10. Jared wasn't at all discouraged by this answer, despite the fact that he needed to wait for an additional lifespan for the event to occur. Now that he's 8, the ten-year-old deadline seems uncomfortably close... especially with hardwood floors and light carpets and a climate of near-perpetual winter rain. Don't get me wrong, I loved having a dog as a kid. I just don't want to take care of it --and I don't want to take care of my house with a dog and its aftermath in it.

As I saw the deadline looming in the not-too-far distance, I started trying to work a way out of getting a dog. I tried to explain to Jared that this house really isn't a good house for a dog. It would ruin the floors. It would have to go down too many stairs to even get to the backyard. We would really want to have a bigger yard so it had more room to run. (At these objections, Camryn cheerfully replied, "That's OK. We'll just move again!") Apparently, Jared took these considerations seriously because at the end of this summer he hatched a plan. He decided that since this isn't a great house for a dog, we should get a hamster instead- and get it right now. He bugged me about it for a long time, but truthfully, I wasn't that thrilled about having a hamster either. But, the possibility of getting out of having to get a dog was a strongly influencing it in his favor. I finally worked out a compromise that Jared could use his money to buy a hamster if he could prove to me he was responsible by practicing his piano every day. If he continued to practice, I would continue to buy food for the hamster. If not... bye-bye.

To make a long story short, I got piano practice and Jared got a hamster. While Grandma Rogers and Grama Susan were visiting for his baptism, they took him to PetSmart and let him pick out a hamster cage as his birthday present. Since then, we have had a new beloved member of our family: Fredrick. (Fredrick is actually a girl hamster, but Jared wanted a boy name... so he named her Fredrick anyway. I guess we just have a gender-confused rodent.)

I have a hard time forgiving Fredrick for the fact that his.. I mean her... poop looks like mouse turd. I could have told you that Jared was going to sigh and pout every time I told him that the hamster cage needed to be cleaned. I could have predicted that I was not going to love having the faint aroma of hamster droppings near my dining area. But I have to admit, the kids absolutely love the hamster. They built a hamster playland out of Zaks blocks and tissue paper boxes. Jared has been known to give Fredrick rides in Jackson's play shopping cart. They even named their play school "Hamsterdam." Jared made a great effort to point out that he was very magnanimous in wanting a hamster- not just for him, but because the whole family would love it and have a pet-- even me. Jackson is particularly fascinated with the "ster," as he calls it.

So Fredrick is the lucky inhabitant of a glow-in-the-dark neon plastic modular nifty-swifty hamster cage. Except that he/she keeps filling up the hamster wheel (which is a modular piece on the outside of the cage) with bedding and using it for a nest. It was getting to the point that the hamster wasn't getting any exercise, so Jared decided to use his money to buy another hamster wheel extension for the cage -so he could use one wheel as his nest and the other for exercise. So now in my dining area I have a glow-in-the-dark neon plastic modular hamster cage with bright-colored modular plastic tumor-like extensions growing out of it. (I haven't yet taken a picture of the new and improved hamster cage, in all its glory. Did I mention it makes it a heck of a lot harder to clean, too?)

I have been wanting a particular china cabinet/buffet that matched my dining room table for a couple of years now. The store that carried them was discontinuing it this summer, so Dave bought it for me for my birthday. It is really a beautiful piece of furniture: deep mahogany-finished wood with a silky-smooth finish, two glass doors and brushed nickel hardware. I envisioned it as a place for a flower arrangement or a display of fresh fruits and vegetables to round out the dining area. But that was not fated to be... It has now met its calling in life... as the world's most beautiful hamster cage holder.
 ------
Random Quotes:

Jared: "Mom, did you know that this shirt I have on is 100% cotton? One-HUN-dred percent of it...."
..
Jackson: (pointing at the sesame street characters on Adelyn's diapers): Mommo! Mommo! [Elmo]
..
Jackson: "Where's da phone? Dere it is!"
..
Me to Jackson: "Do you want to read Clifford?" J: "Uuuuuuuggh" K:"Do you want to read Big Dog, Little Dog?" J:"Uuuuuuuuuugh" K: "Do you want to read "Ox-Cart Man?" J: [big smile]
..
Me: (during scripture time in 2 Nephi 2) "What would have happened if Adam and Eve hadn't left the Garden of Eden?"
Camryn: "They never would have had kids. And all they would have had to eat was fruit."

California Catch-Up Part II

After the aforementioned beach excursion, we ventured to Gayle's Bakery in Capitola, the home of fabulous baked everything. I had the very dumb idea of taking the kids to eat dinner there. The older kids loved the mac and cheese (which is some of the best around, after the stuff at Beecher's Handmade Cheese at Pike's Place Market in Seattle) and their kids meal. Jackson, on the other hand, screamed at Grandma and threw a huge fit while I ordered our food. Not one of the most enjoyable dinner conversations ever, although the food was yummy.

Then we were off to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for their 1907 nights, where you can get on any ride for 1 ticket and they have hot dogs, soda and cotton candy for the price of 1 ticket. I remember going as a kid it was only 25 cents a ticket or something like that. Now it is 75 cents per ticket, but it's still lots of fun.

Jared and Camryn went on their first grown-up roller coaster, The Hurricane (a.k.a. "The Jet Star" back in the olden days), with Grandma. I couldn't go because I was pregnant... only kiddie rides for me. Hooray. :p Camryn actually surprised me with how brave she was. She went on some pretty scary rides, including a drop zone-like ride that Jared wouldn't go on. (Actually, he said he just didn't feel like going on it. It wasn't because he was too scared.) =]

Pictures of Camryn's Garden Birthday Party

Here are some fun pix from Camryn's garden birthday party that I threw for her, inspired by the plan she drew up. We ate snacks, decorated visors, made tissue-paper flowers, planted seeds in tiny pots-- and had cake and ice cream of course. We usually make a special decorated cake, but she requested an angel food cake with berries and whipped cream, so the cake pictures aren't too exciting. It was fun and much more smooth than last's year's princess party (with 12 four and five-year-old girls). I guess maybe I am learning something as I go (like don't throw a party for 12 kids if you value your sanity). =]

Twenty Questions

As we left for California, about 5 minutes into our trip Jared and Camryn were complaining that they were bored. We have a portable DVD player, but I refuse to plug them in the second we get in the car. Dave suggested we play 20 Questions to try to get some non-screen time.

"When it's your turn, think of a thing and then everyone else will ask 20 Questions to try to figure out what it is." Sounds simple enough. Jared went first.

Me: Is it alive? "No"
Dave: Does it run on electricity? "Yes"
Camryn: Is it your backpack? ---"Camryn," Dave said, "you're supposed to ask questions ABOUT the thing to help you figure out what it is. Don't just guess right away. Ask something to help you figure out how big it is.

Camryn: How big is it?
-- Dave: "No, Camryn, it has to be a yes or no question. Ask a question like this: Is it bigger than the cooler?" "Yes"
Camryn (interrupting): Is it my Webkinz? "No"

Me: Is it inside the car? "No"
Camryn: Is it Jackson?

Maybe we should have just had them watch a movie....

A Party? Naturally!

I have been debating whether to throw Camryn a friend party for her birthday (which was a week and a half ago) or not. I don't believe in throwing a big bash every year (especially after last year's 12-preschool-girl-princess-and-craft-extravaganza), but somehow I always seem to get sucked in. So I've been throwing around different ideas for a low-key easy party... maybe just get some pizza, maybe go to the park? (Is it just me or does it seem like birthday parties weren't such huge bashes when you were a kid? Does anyone else go into convulsions at the thought of having to herd 12 preschool girls through "Pin The Crown on the Princess" and gluing jewels and flowers on fun-foam crowns?)

I asked Camryn what she wanted, warning her that we needed to keep it fairly small and simple. She went to work and planned the party for me. She decided that she wanted a "Nature Party" and she drew up the following schedule: (I'm doing my best to represent how she drew this all over the page, you'll have to use your imagination...)

1 Plant Plants
2 look fore moths
A butterfly dance look fore-a-partner 3
4 resece [recess]
cake and ice crem Goode8bags
5 pinyata playtim7e
6 presints h9ome

Well, if she is going to go to all the work to actually plan the party for me, how can I say no? So we are going to do a "nature party." We are planting seeds in teeny pots, decorating visors (with self-stick instead of glued decorations- yes, even I occasionally learn my lesson), and making flowers out of tissue paper and pipe cleaners. We are skipping the pinata, but will be doing playtime, "presints" and "goodebags." It should be fewer girls than last year (and a year older), so we will see how it goes.... Wish me luck!

The Tale of the Watermelon or Why You Shouldn't Ever Promise Things to Your Kids

Last week I went to the grocery store with all three kids. Surprisingly, it was not a fiasco and they behaved themselves reasonably well (thank you Safeway and your free cookies from the bakery), although Jackson managed to smash an entire chocolate chip cookie all over his face and shirt.

When we got to the produce department, Camryn begged me to get a watermelon. I have tried to explain to Camryn before that it is generally not a good idea to buy watermelon in the dead of winter, because it is expensive and doesn't taste as good as it does during the summer. However, watermelon is Camryn's FAVORITE food and she was politely persistent (and I haven't bought it in a really long time), so I found one that seemed reasonably small and I put it in the cart. We made our way through the store over the next 45 minutes or so and our quick shopping trip to buy a few items for a potluck was rapidly turning into a full-blown shopping expedition.

We have been trying (like so many other people in today's economy) to make a bigger effort to be frugal. I have been trying to use this month to prove to Dave that I am actually capable of sticking to a budget/spending limit and so far I have been doing pretty well. As I approached the cash register I looked at several of the items that had made their way into the cart and asked the inevitable "Do we really need this?" The mid-winter watermelon caught my eye as an example of an unneeded extravagance, so at the last minute I handed it to the clerk and said we weren't going to get it.

When we got home, Camryn looked through the shopping bags for her beloved watermelon and it wasn't to be found. She asked me where it was and I told her that we got a lot of other stuff for the potluck so I decided to wait and get the watermelon another time. Camryn looked absolutely crushed and said, heartbroken and starting to cry, "Mommy, you tricked me! You told me we were going to get a watermelon and then you tricked me!"

At this point I felt like scum. How could I be so deceitful and wicked as to tell my child that we were going to get a watermelon and then gleefully change my mind at the last moment? Regardless of my wicked or non-wicked intent, I did feel really bad because I had told her we would get a watermelon, so I apologized to Camryn and told her we would get a watermelon the next time we went to the grocery store. This calmed her down.

Every couple of hours for the next few days Camryn asked me when we were going to go to the store and reminded me that we needed to get a watermelon. Finally on Saturday I told her yes, we were going to go to the store today and yes, I would finally get her watermelon. But Saturday was a busy day and I just didn't make it to the store. As Dave and I were getting ready to leave on our date that night, Camryn handed me a sheet from my shopping list pad with "WATRMELIN" written on it. She smiled at me with complete confidence and said, "Don't forget mommy! You promised!" (Grrr, I hate it when I am cornered!)

Dave and I went on our date and on the way home ran into Safeway to get the much-looked-for watermelon and a few boxes of cereal. As I got to the checkout I couldn't figure out why our total was so much. Did we get the wrong size cereal that wasn't on sale or maybe they got something wrong?And then I saw it... the watermelon that I had promised Camryn cost $8. Yes, $8 for a piece of out-of-season fruit, when I'm trying to be frugal and stick to a budget. So I asked the lady if she could hold our order and went back to the produce section to see if they had any smaller watermelon. They had a 1/3 of a watermelon that was only $3, so we got that instead.

Camryn had a yummy lunch the next day with her very favorite food. She also had her confidence restored in her mommy, that she really wasn't out to trick her. And I learned my lesson that you should never tell your kids that you will get them anything. Ever.

Need a babysitter?

Today Dave had the day off of work but the kids still had school (as a make-up day for one of our many snow days in December). I left to take Jared to school this morning with the two other kids in tow so Dave could hopefully catch a few minutes of extra sleep. As we pulled out of the garage Camryn asked, "Mommy, is Daddy old enough to be home by himself?"

Just For the Record

On Monday night I made a new recipe for dinner: Thai Chicken made with red curry, coconut milk and sweet chili sauce. And, that night, history was made... Jared liked it and thought it was yummy! Camryn, on the other hand, plugged her nose while eating it so she could get her dinner treat. But at least it's a start.

My Sister's Keeper

I was just putting the kids to bed and was getting really frustrated with Camryn because she had not gotten into her pajamas like I had asked her. She said that she couldn't get in her jammies because she could only find shirts but no shorts to wear. (If that was the case, why didn't she tell me 10 minutes before when I first asked her to get in her jammies while I was nursing Jackson?)

I was getting frustrated with her and it didn't help that it was already way past bedtime. I finally went to go look for some pajamas for her, threatening that she was going to be in big trouble if they were there and she just hadn't looked hard enough. Just as I came into her room, I saw Jared sitting on Camryn's bed with her where she had been crying. He was holding up a pair of his pajama shorts, telling her that she could wear them because they were too small for him.

It was just a simple gesture, but I thought it was very sweet. I was touched that he would think about Camryn and try to help her and keep her from getting in trouble.