Views From My Window

Little House

2011-12-17T12:24:00.003-06:00

We got the house.

Merry Christmas to us! I go in on Monday to sign the lease and to hand over a big chunk of money as a security deposit. We will be unpacking the PODS over New Years weekend and the first week of January and moving in the following weekend.

The little house is five blocks from the enormous Beaverton library.

Update

2011-12-15T00:01:00.004-06:00

Updates: I turned in our application for the little house today. We will know if we are accepted by Monday. If yes, we will be moving in the first week in January - most likely over two weekends as I do not have any time off from work. I ordered Christmas cards last night - who knows if they will get addressed and out before Christmas!

Homes and Fingers

2011-12-12T22:59:00.003-06:00

Keep your fingers crossed - we may have found a house. It is small and old
1940's), has only one bathroom (!), but it is close to the kids schools, close to Heather, has a small fenced in backyard and is five blocks away from the library and the farmers market. It may just work for our little family. Keep your fingers crossed.

Eat Your Veggies

2011-12-08T23:09:00.001-06:00

Max has decided to become a vegetarian. I see a lot of cheese in his future.

That Time of Year

2011-12-05T01:07:00.001-06:00

Oh, it is busy around here. This week we will be eating breakfast and dinner in the car

every.
single
day.

There is something on every night - Activity Day Girls, Mid-Singles FHE, Scouts, RS Christmas Dinner, cousins coming into town etc. Yikes.

I feel like I am still trying to catch up from Thanksgiving . . . or summer really since I have about 100 blog posts to write if this blog is really going to be our little family history. I'll get to it all - someday.

For now, I am working and I love my job. It is challenging, there is a lot to learn, but it is interesting and I work with nice people. It is a HUGE adjustment becoming a single mom who also works full-time. We rarely get home before 7:00pm. I could not raise these children without my sisters right now. Heather gets the kids started on their homework after school and generously welcomes the kids into her home way too early every morning. Kirstin is still putting up with a houseful of kids and a sister and far too many clogged toilets. My brother Scott helped us get through the months of unemployment as I searched for work here in Oregon. I am so grateful for family.

I have much to share, but it will have to wait until I have more than 10 minutes to sit down and type. We miss you all so much!

P.S.
All I want for Christmas is a little home of our own. Please keep us in your prayers as I try to find a little place of our own to rent. We are anxious to be settled and to cut down on the time we spend int he car.

Thankgiving Day #18

2011-11-22T15:42:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for the temple. An early morning session on Saturday is a wonderful way to start the day.

2. I am grateful for lazy, rainy afternoons spent on the couch with the fireplace warming the room.

3. I am grateful to Peter for setting up the Wii for the kids. He is Calvin's new best friend. The Wii has been stored in a bin since we moved here so it is like Christmas to have it available again. I see dance battles in our future.

4. I am grateful for a fun evening at the Stake Play. They put on A Christmas Carol this year with a cast of over 200 people and an orchestra. I was so impressed with the production and the kids thought it was really cool as well. My boss had a starring role this year as Tiny Tim's Mother. I would love to participate sometime with the children.

5. I am grateful for cuddles.

Thanksgiving Day #17

2011-11-22T15:17:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for packages in the mail. Grandma and Grandma Erickson sent a gift card for Calvin (for his birthday) and his brother and sister are trying to negotiate with him on how he should spend his money at Target (I see new Wii games in his future). Calvin is HUGELY excited.

2. I am grateful for Sunday dresses in the same package. Sophie wore her new red velvet dress on Sunday with Christmas tights and looked adorable. I am grateful for Grandparents that are a big part of my children's lives. They are very lucky little kids.

3. I am grateful for an adult evening out! A play and a very nice dinner with good company made for a wonderful evening.

4. I am grateful for the weekend. We have lots of fun plans with friends and family.

5. I am grateful for the rain - instead of snow. We are all adjusting to wearing raincoats and waterproof shoes at all times!

Thankful Day #16

2011-11-18T01:23:00.001-06:00

1. I am thankful for Amber who got the little kids off to school this morning and watched all of them after school. Also, a big thank you to Amber for bringing 8 gallons of sea water for Max's science fair project back from her trip to the coast today.

2. I am grateful for a fun dinner with Amber, Kirstin, Sophie, Calvin and Phoebe. The Thai food was excellent and the chocolate shakes and drinking chocolate at Moonstruck were delicious!

3. I am grateful for safe travels - Mom and Heather and her boys arrived safely in Portland tonight.

4. I am grateful for Ross who took Max to a lecture downtown tonight and then took him to dinner. Thank you!

5. I am grateful for books (even though I rarely have time to read anymore). I still love books and am grateful my kids are all readers as well.

Thankful Day #15

2011-11-17T01:48:00.001-06:00

1. BED. I wish I spend more time there. It is almost midnight and I just sent Max to bed after wrapping up his homework. His program is TOUGH this year. Tough but very, very good.

2. I am grateful for safe travel for Amber, Phoebe and Ross who all arrived in Portland late tonight.

3. I am grateful for free lunches provided during "lunch an learns." I know more than I ever thought I would about dental implants these days.

4. I am grateful for Koo for picking up the kids from school today and grabbing dinner for all of us. I worked late tonight, getting out about 6:00 and it is such a blessing to know that the kids are in good hands.

5. I am grateful for my health even if Portland, the last few months stress and our busy schedules have conspired to make be soft and squishy once again. What a horrible time to try and lose weight. A woman I work with just had a biopsy done on a lump found in her breast. I remember going through the same procedure a few years ago and how hard it was not to know the results for a week or so. I am so grateful to be healthy and able to take care of myself and my children.

FYI: I am horrible about citing photos. All of these Thanksgiving shots are products found for sale on etsy.com

Thankful Days #13 and #14

2011-11-16T00:45:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for my day off on Monday. It gave me the chance to drive the kids to school and pick them all up, spend an hour getting a lovely pedicure, spend some time looking at rental homes and I spent few hours painting at Heathers.

2. I am thankful for family coming into town tomorrow for a very quick visit. My sister in law Amber and her daughter Phoebe are arriving late tomorrow night.. The kids are super excited too see their cousin!

3. I am grateful for hot cocoa. My favorite home cocoa right now is Steven's Mint Truffle, but if you are in Portland, you must go to Cacao and order the drinking cocoa. Divine.

4. I am grateful Calvin seems to be feeling better.

5. I am grateful for the inexpensive little five week art course I found for Calvin. He starts tomorrow and it is being taught at his school after classes. He is thrilled. Sophie is in a little after school choir once a week and Max is in chess club once a week.

6. I am grateful for kids who prefer Subway over McDonald's.

7. I am thankful for my wonderful parents who have submitted their mission papers and are waiting to receive their call!

8. I am excited and thankful for the vacation home we are renting near Mount Hood for Thanksgiving weekend. We have A LOT of family coming into town and I am excited to spend some relaxing time cooking, eating. hiking, napping and playing cards with the family.

9. I am thankful for bananas. My kids eat them like monkeys - we go through at least 4 per day. I actually always keep a bunch in the car for quick breakfasts on the way to school. There is also a bin full of cereal and granola bars, crackers and turkey jerky in the car. If we are ever stranded, we should be in good shape for a few days.

10. I am grateful for technology that makes my life a little easier.

Thankful Day #12

2011-11-14T00:57:00.001-06:00

1. I am thankful for Sundays. I love Sundays. We always sleep in and have a lovely morning until we frantically rush out the door to try to get to 12:00 choir on-time. Today I prepared a RS lesson but did not have to teach - one more week to prepare!

2. I am grateful for the Bishop's wife who said she could get me five cups of chicken feathers for Max's science fair project and for another kind lady in the ward who has promised me 5 chunks of beeswax from her hives - again for the science fair project. We have a very nice ward.

3. I am grateful for a little boy who took a dose of cough suppressant and fell asleep tonight without a single cough. He is snoring away peacefully in my bed right now. This is a much better scenario than last night when he was coughing continually until past midnight unable to fall asleep and looking at me with those big, sad watery eyes. He is such a pathetic little boy when he does not feel well. It melts my heart.

4. I am grateful for easy dinners of scrambled eggs and sausage with whole wheat toast and kiwi. We eat almost every breakfast in the car these days because of the commute up to school so a hot breakfast (for dinner) is kind of a treat. I think my kids miss the last two years of big daycare breakfasts.

5. I am grateful for healthy, growing children. Max has sprouted from a size 12 in June to mostly size 16 clothes today. I had to buy him all new pants when the cooler weather hit. Little Sophie-loo finally outgrew her size 6 and 7 jeans (she is almost 10) and several of her dresses. We have a full box of clothes to send to her little cousin in Iowa. I am buying her size 10 dresses so she can wear them several seasons. She also has moved up to a size 3 shoe. Calvin has graduated to a baggy size 6 (still a peanut as he is 7 years old) and we just gave the last of his size 5 clothes and all of his socks to his cousin Soren. It is possible that Soren (who is 4) will be the same size as Calvin in a matter of moths - not very convenient for hand-me-downs. FYI, if you are looking for cute boys socks (stripes and bright colors), the best ones are at H&M. I love their socks for boys.

Thankful Day #11

2011-11-13T11:55:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for service even when I get a little crabby about the whole thing. We spent the entire day yesterday painting over at Heather's house while she is out of town. It is starting to look much better - brighter and cleaner as each room is painted. The kitchen looks great and Ollie's room just needs the trim painted. I am calling the color in his room "electric celery". The crabby part came in when I realized we were not going to get outside before dark and I still had to run to four different stores for Max's science fair project. Good-bye Saturday.

2. I am grateful for Heather's cute neighbor who invited Calvin and Sophie to their first Oregon birthday party. They had a great time and felt very included which is so important.

3. I am grateful for the relatively mild weather. It rained all afternoon, but we are still just wearing fleece jackets or raincoats and I have not had to break out the gloves or hats yet. Very few people use umbrellas here - they are all just used to the rain I suppose.

4. I am grateful for infuriating kids. Max decided to try locking all of the interior doors at Heather's house yesterday - because he is eleven and a boy. He was extremely pleased that he could unlock the doors with a bobby pin or screwdriver. It was extremely annoying to find the door locked when we needed to get into the bathroom to wash paint stained hands or back into Ollie's room etc. By the end of the afternoon, Max was in the doghouse because he would NOT STOP.

When we finally got home, way past bedtime, Koo had already been home and left for a party. Once all of the kids were finally in bed, Max came down to sheepishly let me know he had locked Koo's bedroom door and could not get it unlocked. On one hand, I was angry as he had been told to STOP LOCKING ALL THE DOORS - on the other hand, I had a hard time not laughing as I text-ed Koo. "Bad news. Max locked your bedroom. Can't unlock it."

A couple of google searches, a few You Tube videos and threats of retaliation over the phone from Auntie Koo and Max finally got her door open - 10 minutes before Koo got home. Phew.

5. I am grateful for drive-ins with the kids. As we were driving around last night looking for all of the items on Max's science fair list, we saw a Sonic and pulled in for dinner in the car. It was our first experience with Sonic and I doubt we will be back. The food was gag inducing-ly bad. Horrid. Disgusting. I will say the pumpkin pie milkshake was quite tasty but it cannot erase the memory of that food!

Thankful Days #9 and #10

2011-11-12T00:02:00.001-06:00

1. I am grateful for the weekend. It was a long week for everyone and we need some quiet time together.

2. I am grateful for the Veterans - those in my family and those in my family of friends. Thank you.

3. I am grateful for things that are making me laugh at work. This last week I found a digital file for a patients dog. Yes,a DOG. The dog had never been seen as a dental patient, but was linked as family member on a patients account. It was funny to deactivate a file and list the reason as "canine".

4. I am grateful for safe kids. Max had to babysit a lot this week as the kids had a couple of days off from school. It made my stomach hurt to not be home with the kids on their vacation days (Heather is in Utah), but being both a working Mom and a single parent requires sacrifices from all of us. They did a lot of reading and playing on the computer and ipad and I left a stack of Redbox movies to help pass the time. Absolute biggest downside about working outside the home? Missing my kids.

5. I am grateful for my smart phone. I am not sure how I ever lived without it. I'm not sure I could name my favorite feature: the camera, the GPS, ability to check email or find the closest Thai Restaurant with great reviews, the Gas App that shows me the cheapest gas station closest to my current location, all of the amazing kids educational Apps . . . . I love my phone.

6. I am grateful for the gorgeous red leaves that fall on my car every night. The colors are still really beautiful here.

7. I am grateful for my commute home. I usually use the time to pop in my headphones and catch up with a friend while I drive. I love my friends. On the drive to work in the morning I listen to NPR and apply make-up at the stop lights (Mom, you did not hear that).

8. I am grateful for the last book in the Eragon series (Inheritance). Both Max and Sophie jumped for joy when I brought all 850 pages home from Costco. That will keep them busy for a day or two.

9. I am grateful for free episodes of Modern Family on Hulu. It is the only way I see any TV these days which is OK.

10. I am grateful for free upgrades at Jamba Juice on Thursdays. Yum!

Thankful Day #8

2011-11-09T00:20:00.002-06:00

1. I spent a huge portion of my day today in the car. I am grateful my so-not-cool but functional minivan is plugging along. The bumper is trying really hard to fall off right now, but we are holding it together with duct tape and prayers. I am grateful to not have a car payment and will drive this car until the engine falls out.

2. I am grateful the Halloween candy is almost gone (and that I now work for a dentist). I've had a sugar headache for a week and ate a bad peanut today in a package of Peanut M&Ms. I may be scarred for life - it was that nasty.

3. I am grateful for the daylight as I commute to work in the mornings. It just feels wrong to leave the house in the dark.

4. I am grateful for Mid-Singles FHE. It is a whole new ballgame being a divorced mom in a new place (a story for another day) however, we have met some great people out here who we enjoying seeing at different events. It is nice to have the chance to talk with other single moms and dads. The kids love playing dodge-ball after the lesson. Max is surprisingly good. Sophie is the loudest screamer.

5. I am thankful for family gathering for Thanksgiving this year. Amber and Phoebe are coming in for a short visit next week, Mom and Dad, Scott and Carmen, Matt and Erin and some of our Seattle relatives are coming into town the following week. I cannot wait to see everyone!

Thankful Day #7 (but the first one for me)

2011-11-08T00:13:00.001-06:00

For the past few years, I have tried to write five things I am grateful for every day during the month of November. I'm off to a rocky start this year (read, no start at all), but I believe it is a valuable reminder of all that I have and so I am going to start today.

1. I am grateful for my new job. I am the Office Manager for a small dental practice. The people are lovely and the job is challenging as there is no one to train me on the dental software and I have no previous experience with dental coding. It is a challenge, but I love a good challenge and I am just so grateful to be employed!

2. I am grateful (SO grateful) for my sister Heather who is watching my children before and after school. They are safe and cared for and they love hanging out with their cousins every day. I am so grateful to not have to worry about them while I am at work.

3. I am grateful for three little kids who are rolling with the punches. Two days a week I start work at about 6:45am which means we have to be out the door, ready for school at 5:45ish in order for me to drop them off at Heather's and get across town to work. It is early, but they are doing great. We are starting the process of trying to find a rental home closer to Heather's so our mornings do not have to start quite so early!

4. I am grateful for the fall colors. The leaves are beautiful right now and a surprising number are still on the trees. It is my favorite season.

5. I am grateful for Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate when I am crampy, grumpy and need something warm and soothing in my belly post haste. No one ever tell me how many calories are in one of those things. Thanks.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Orange Cream Cheese Icing

2011-10-18T22:16:00.000-05:00

She lives! She also has a job, but I will get to that soon. I start on Friday and am both excited and nervous about the whole thing. We are actively looking for a small place to rent as I will now have four 25-30 minute commutes every day. Yikes.

Instead of going back, I am just sharing a recipe today. I tried something new for a Relief Society Enrichment and they were just too good and too cute not to share. I found the recipe over on Smitten Kitchen (love that blog) and just changed the frosting recipe a bit.

Pumpkin Cupcakes With Maple–Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from David Leite
Yield: 17 to 18 cupcakes
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing pans
1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
Frosting
Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

*I added the zest of one orange and a teaspoon of vanilla. I also used a whole bunch more sugar - maybe another cup and a half?

Make the cupcakes:
1. Preheat the oven to 350° (175°C). Line a cupcake pan with 18 liners.
2. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.
3. Add the eggs 1 at a time to the mixer, scraping down the sides after each addition. Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth. Scoop the batter among the cupcake liners — you’re looking to get them 3/4 full. Rap the filled pans once on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.
Make the frosting:
In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy.

These are delightful. The cake flour makes such a light crumb and the buttermilk and black pepper are the perfect contrast to the sweet icing. Make some.
P.S. I found the cute mini liners at TJ Maxx.

Berries and Missing Kids

2011-09-15T16:46:00.001-05:00

Blackberry bushes in Oregon are considered weeds. They are everywhere - literally everywhere. We walk to the park, we pick blackberries. We go to the tennis courts (we are teaching ourselves how to play), we pick blackberries. We visit some one's house, we pick their blackberries. I think it gives us away as newbies to the Oregon area that we are all still so delighted when we see a blackberry bush full of berries just waiting to be eaten. I have not done much baking since arriving here, but I have managed to make a blackberry coffee cake and some blackberry smoothies for Max and Sophie.

Speaking of Sophie, we lost her this week.

The kids get off the school bus a street up from Heather's house. Max gets home first and then Sophie and Calvin arrive about 15-20 minutes later. I usually spend the day at the library sending off resumes while the kids are at school and on Tuesday I arrived at Heather's house after Max was home. As I pulled up, he was walking down the street with his cousin Soren to meet the bus and pick up Sophie and Calvin. I said hi and then proceeded to chat with Heather in her yard while we waited for the kids to get back. A few minutes later Calvin returned, then Soren and Max . . . but no Sophie. I stopped Max in the street and asked him where his sister was and my question was met with a blank stare.

Max: "Oh . . . I don't know where she is."
Mom: "Did she get off the bus?!"
Max: ***ponders***
Max: "I don't know."

!!!! Max had no idea if his sister got off the bus and what is more, it did not seem to concern him that he was sent to the bus stop to pick up two kids and ONLY RETURNED WITH ONE!

After running to the end of the street searching for Sophie (no luck), running home and finding Calvin who said quite definitely that Sophie did not get off the bus but that he was pretty sure she was actually on the bus, and a frantic phone call over to the school, we found Sophie. She had been reading on the bus, missed her stop and did not notice until the bus reached it's final stop and the bus driver asked her if she was getting off. She promptly burst into tears and told him she had missed her stop. Luckily she remembered the name of the main street and the driver drove her back to the bus stop. Phew. Child found.

Max received a bit of a lecture on paying attention after that little scene. He has been removed from meet the school bus duties for the time being!

On The Road

2011-09-12T16:54:00.000-05:00

Months ago, we drove across the United States from Minnesota into Idaho, down to Utah and finally up to Oregon. Here are a few things I remember about this trip.

1. I love a good road trip
2. This particular road trip was a little scary only because we were taking a road trip to start a new life and leaving behind so many friends
3. It is rather nice to caravan and switch drivers (my parents drove out with us to help us make the move)
4. My car was so full of everything we might need for the months we would be living with my sister that there was only room for one passenger in the back seat. Every other surface was packed full including the passenger seat in the front
5. We live in a beautiful country
6. Our country was flooding - everywhere
7. The snow was higher than the car in the mountains of Wyoming - at the end of June
8. Snacks, caffeine and good music are essential to a happy road trip
9. I prefer to get off the interstate and take the back roads and explore
10. My kids love hotels with pools and hotel breakfasts
11. You will gain weight on a road trip
12. We had an amazing drive through Yellowstone. See if you can find bison, a wolf, a brown bear and a moose in these photos
13. It feels really good to finally get out of the car and get back to some sort of a routine

Blogger Issues

2011-08-24T14:51:00.002-05:00

Only a few short weeks of summer remain before the kids start school. I am putting them in the schools next to my sister Heather (25 minutes North of Kirstin) as Heather is going to help me with before/after school care for my peanuts once I have a job. The commute is going to require some really early mornings for all of us. Sophie and Calvin start school at 8:30 and if Max gets into the program he is testing for tomorrow, he will start school at 7:30!! This means leaving here at about 6:45ish to get him to school on time, drop off the other two at Heather's where they can catch the bus to school and get to my not yet real job.

These photos are from our move and now that we have been living for two months with only what fit inside the minivan, I wonder why we ever needed all the stuff inside those two PODS?! They are somewhere here in Portland being stored in a storage facility, waiting for us to have a home of our own.

I miss you friends! These photos make me a bit sad.

Do You Pin?

2011-08-24T11:49:00.004-05:00

Do you pin? I am addicted. It's like virtual shopping but with organization and gorgeous photos. I pin ideas I want to remember, things that make me laugh, tutorials I want to be able to find, clothing I will never afford or fit into and recipes I want to make. There are things I want to own someday (kitchen gadgets) mingled with ridiculous (but lovely) purses that cost a mortgage payment and I would be afraid to own. So much inspiration and all stored neatly on-line.

What are you pinning?
Go here to see my pins.

Last Day of School/Daycare Party!

2011-08-18T16:51:00.008-05:00

Good thing I am finally posting these photos of the last day of school considering the first day of school is in a few weeks! Look at those happy faces up there - in Calvin's defense, it was freezing!

The kids each brought friends home from school and more friends from church stopped by for our traditional last day of school party. This year it was also my last day of daycare party AND my let's pack the first POD tonight party all in one! We usually call this event "welcome to summer" but it was a bit chilly though the kids were too excited to care by the time they got home from school.

Root beer floats, all sorts of sweet treats, bubbles, water balloons and silly string. So fun!

The party was a lot of fun and also very bittersweet for it was the last time we saw most of these wonderful friends. There were a lot of hugs and many tears. The party was on Thursday from 4-6, we loaded the first POD from 6-8, the second POD was loaded Saturday morning and by about 1:00 on Saturday, we were on the road to Oregon. Sniff.

Nothing But Photos and Giggles

2011-08-18T12:17:00.007-05:00

This scenario, all day long on repeat. Gah! I love these two!

A Note and Random Photos

2011-08-07T21:30:00.002-05:00

A brief update on our lives (since I am still trying to play catch up with photos from Minnesota).

We are still in West Linn, Oregon staying with my sister Koo. She has gone from living as a young single adult to having a houseful of active, loud kids and an older sister. The kids are adjusting to living in a town home where the old lady in the house below us is not a fan of loud thumps - or really noise of any kind. I do a lot of shhhhhh-ing. There is a great park within walking distance, a pond with lots of good looking bugs and tennis courts (the kids are teaching themselves how to play).

After a month of ward-hopping, research and talking to every Mother I could find willing to talk schools, I have decided on an area where we hope to live once I have a job. It is called Bethany and is West of Portland. We spent last Sunday attending church up there and driving through the neighborhoods, stopping to look at the schools the kids would attend.

I spend most of my days looking for a good job and I am starting to panic that I will not have a job before school starts - that would not be good. Looking for employment is challenging in this environment and everything is done on-line. I am finding myself at a disadvantage having stayed home to raise children for the past decade. It is discouraging to spend hours and hours every day sending out resumes into the black hole of the Internet only to get no feedback or calls. Last week I applied with four temp agencies to see if I can get into one of the larger companies here in Portland through contract work. Keep your fingers crossed for us and if you have any contacts in the Portland area who work for Intel, Nike, Kaiser, Legacy, Providence, Columbia etc. please introduce me!

Portland is a beautiful place and we try and get out an explore as much as we can. I have been posting a lot of photos on facebook lately because they are so easy to send from my camera. My nice camera has not seen the light of day for far too long.

The kids are adjusting well and seem happy for the most part. They miss their friends in Minnesota but life is OK because we are together! It is so nice to see them developing relationships with their relatives now that they can see some of their cousins every week as well as Aunts and Uncles. I know everything will work out and we will settle into life on the West Coast. We love you and miss all of our dear friends who have been melting in Minnesota this summer!

Sprinkle Sprinkle Little Ball

2011-08-07T21:20:00.003-05:00

Summer arrived before we left Minnesota so we pulled out the sprinklers and let the kids enjoy the sun after eight long months of winter. A note on that ball: I bought it at Target and it split the second time we used it. Worthless. Do not waste your money.

Scientist Sophie

2011-08-07T21:00:00.002-05:00

There are always many things due the last week or two of school. Sophie had a big research project to present about the inventor of the compound microscope. She did a great job and as a bonus, her Grandpa was in town and able to come and watch and even participate! She brought her own microscope to school and a few dead bugs and slides for her classmates to study.

This was part of her little GT group - we miss these girls so much!

Minnesota Summers

2011-08-03T00:16:00.003-05:00

This is how I will remember summers in Minnesota: hot, humid and sticky with happy, flushed, dirty kids.

Math and Science

2011-08-02T01:20:00.002-05:00

On that same day as Kindergarten Graduation, Max and Sophie participated in the Math and Science Awards at Red Pine. I'm going to be perfectly honest and admit that I cannot remember what all of these awards were commemorating, but I was there to cheer them on regardless!

Can you see tiny little Sophie?

A bunch of awards for Max (he's in the orange shorts) . . .

I am so grateful for Red Pine. As I search for good schools for my kids in a brand new state, I really appreciate the quality education they received in Eagan. Go Max and Sophie!

In Which I Return

2011-08-01T19:25:00.002-05:00

I know, I know. I have neglected this blog. Well, I'm back. I need to finish posting the last of my Minnesota photos because - hello?! - it's August. These were taken in June.

I am both lame and also just a little bit down in the dumps. I had myself a non festive pity party last night that has stretched into today. The truth is, I am struggling to find a good job and am missing my friends and my life in Minnesota. Though we love Oregon, it is beautiful and we are having a wonderful time exploring lots of new places, I miss having friends who know me and I can call to get together for a late night chat at Pardon My French. I miss everyone.

Big breath . . . .

OK, these are some photos from Calvin's graduation from kindergarten. He is adorable and was very proud of his paper hat and cool certificate. His class performed some cute songs with impressive choreography and it was just a lovely little day. I watched his graduation with two little daycare kids (and other one in his class!) so he had a little group cheering for him in the audience!

My little graduate.

Calvin was less than cooperative with the whole photo thing because it was HOT - as he demonstrates below!

Selling Stuff

2011-07-19T14:10:00.004-05:00

We had a LOT of stuff to sell in preparation for our move. Clearing out 50% of the items in our home meant not one but FIVE yard sales. Don't forget, I had an entire business to sell as well.

I could never have gotten through it all without the help of our ward. I had people lending me tables and hanging racks, the youth came to help with pricing and getting the yard ready for the move, my home teachers went through all of the tools in the garage and told me what to keep and priced the rest, friends came to help me transport everything over to a neighborhood sale one weekend, and lots and lots of friends came to help me run the sales or drop off dinner as I was also running the daycare simultaneously. A good portion of the daycare toys/puzzles/games were purchased by daycare families and I sold some of the larger items on craigslist.

I look back and cannot believe how much we accomplished in that last month. The sales brought in about $3,000.00 which turned out to be roughly half of the cost of the move to Oregon (2 PODS and storage for one month). It was a huge blessing to have so much help and I cannot say thank you enough to the members of the Eagan Ward and to our neighbors next door who helped me set up and take down about a half dozen times in the course of a month! I love you guys!

This is what kept the kids entertained during the yard sales. At first I had a small TV/VCR combo TV out there, but it sold along with all of our VHS movies (goodbye Disney collection). My neighbor Karen kindly brought over one of her TVs and a couple of videos for the kids to watch in the garage (out of the sun).

These Faces

2011-07-14T15:54:00.006-05:00

These photos are from a month ago as I continue to weed my way through the bazillions of photos I snapped right before we moved. I miss these kids.

During the last few weeks in Minnesota, I was still working full-time, but also trying to prepare the house for our move. Since my youngest is six, I had a ridiculous amount of toys to get rid of from the Daycare. Most of the outdoor toys went to daycare families including our wooden swing-set in the back yard. when it was removed, the kids rediscovered the sandbox underneath.

Doesn't the back yard look empty?

It was really HOT a few of the days before we left. We went through a lot of Popsicles.

Calvin is such a ham these days. Did I mention how much I miss him?

Crafty Fail

2011-07-14T12:17:00.002-05:00

I'm posting this one to save you some time. This craft is NOT a good one for younger kids. The beads are pretty and colorful, but the are difficult for little fingers to grasp and it is very easy to knock over the beads you have already placed which results in frustrated children. I'm sure Sophie would love this kind of thing, but she is nine.

A Farewell to the Barfed Up Lung

2011-07-08T13:03:00.002-05:00

When I was in High School I had two best friends - Greg and Maria. Greg went to school with me at South Burlington High, and Maria went to school across town. I know some people did not enjoy High School, but I loved it - primarily because of these two. Let's not discuss Middle School because it was horrid.

I was a drama/choir nerd in High School and Greg was a band/art nerd with a little bit of preppy thrown in. One day after art, he proudly showed me this creation he had made. I looked it over and said "I think it looks like a barfed up lung". After he got over the insult and the mad laughter, he decided to give it to me as a gift - and for the last twenty years, we have been passing this thing back and forth.

Whenever one of us visits the other, whoever has the barfed up lung brings it and tries to get rid of it in the other persons home. We are usually nice and fill it with candy first. It has been in my house ever since Greg flew in for a visit and a Christmas cookie bake--a-thon.

Now, we are moving and though I threatened to send Greg the lung through the mail, he pleaded for me not to as he recently moved into a tiny little NYC apartment. So, I took some photos . . .

. . . bid it farewell and added it to the piles of stuff going off to the discerning patrons of our local Goodwill.

Maybe someone will recognize the signature of this now successful interior designer and snatch up this piece of pottery for their very own. Or, perhaps it is even now precariously perched on the coffee table of someone who should be on the show Hoarders and is being used as an ashtray. We'll never know.

Thanks for the memories, barfed up lung.

(puffy face due to aforementioned surgery)

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

2011-07-07T23:07:00.006-05:00

A few weeks before leaving Minnesota, we welcomed a visitor from New York - my friend Peter. He drove into town with his car loaded with moving blankets to help with the move and stayed for the long weekend with some friends of ours.

The Monday before he arrived, I spent 4 1/2 hours having oral surgery on a root canal gone very bad. Four and a half hours of surgery left me looking like someone had beaten me on the side of my mouth and I was in A LOT OF PAIN. I managed to take just Tylenol with Codeine at night and lots of Advil and Tylenol during the day, but by the weekend, I was dying. Dying! By Sunday I was on Percocet which makes me completely useless - I can't even keep my eyes open, much less function. So, poor Peter came right before we moved - the house was filled with moving boxes and chaos - and I was a puffy, drugged painful mess. Nice. Very nice - but you know what? That's just reality.

Despite my drugged state, we managed to see some fun places for the last time and have a great weekend. On Saturday we took a picnic up to Lake Harriet and then went over to Sebastian Joe's for ice cream. Max's friend Greg came and spent the day with us as well.

After ice cream, we said our goodbyes to the sculpture garden in Minneapolis. I love this place!

This photo cracks me up.

Sophie found a beautiful robin egg on the ground.

After the Sculpture Garden, we headed over to the new Target Field to watch a Twins game. I had never been to Target field or for that matter to a professional baseball game so it was quite a treat to get to go before leaving Minnesota!

We brought some treats (LOVE Calvin in this photo) and the kids all wore their Twins shirts.

The game was kind of awesome - not a single run until overtime . . . is it called overtime? Extra inning? Clearly I am not a sporty kind of girl.

The kids got to buy some very expensive little snacks which they loved. Snacks at the ball field are kind of like snacks at the fair - super fun and so overpriced!

Somehow, the Twins actually won the game! From what I understand, they had been having a rotten season, so it was amazing that the one game we watched - they won! Much cheering ensued. Thank you Peter, for taking us out to the ball game. It was so much fun!

By the way, it took another two weeks for my mouth to start really feeling better. I switched to Vicodin at night for a few days which also knocked me flat but did not leave me feeling nauseous and fuzzy and then went back to Advil. That was a mean surgery and I am grateful that I am no longer swollen and miserable. Nice timing on that huh?

Project Max

2011-07-06T15:03:00.003-05:00

This was part of a huge project Max completed at the end of the year. He researched Stephen Hawling and actually read a couple of his books. In typical Max fashion, he told me about the poster the night before it was due which meant a very late night for all of us. Special thanks to Uncle Isaac who happened to be in town and helped Max get this done on time (which turned out to be early as Max had the due date wrong - ugh).

Craft: Rainbow Shakers

2011-07-06T14:57:00.002-05:00

I think I am reaching the end of the crafts we completed before moving. This was a simple little craft we made using paper towel rolls.

Start by taping up one end - I found this fun tape in the dollar bin at Michaels.

Have the children add about a cup of dried pasta, beans or rice - we had leftover pasta from another project.

Tape up the other end and paint!

Simplify

2011-07-05T14:36:00.003-05:00

As part of the packing process, we (as in me) decided we needed to get rid of 50% of the stuff in our house. We were leaving a 2100 square foot home and moving into . . . well, we have no idea yet, but it will be much smaller. The kids have accumulated a lot of trophies from their time in EAA soccer, basketball and track, so we rounded them up, took a photo to remember them and then sent them off to Goodwill.

This was a theme for months - simplify. I held five garage sales, donated six boxes with hundred of chapter books to Red Pine Elementary, gave away boxes and boxes of craft supplies and daycare supplies as well as furniture and gardening equipment/pots and took at least four minivans full to the Goodwill. How did we accumulate so much stuff?!

Farewells

2011-07-05T14:23:00.002-05:00

There were so many, many goodbyes to be said before we left Minnesota. We met the Ward family when we lived in Woodbury, in the West Saint Paul ward. They ended up moving to Wisconsin and we moved South to Eagan, but we kept in touch and are missing them now that we are on the West Coast. Brandi has the most incredible birth story - if you meet her, ask her about delivering on her living room floor!

The girls posed nicely for a photo after our visit. The boys, well - they acted like boys!

The girls lost it too and these are the best photos of the bunch. Great family, wonderful friends.

This is a shot of the backyard before I sold every single thing you can see in this photo - except the kids.

Memorial Garden

2011-06-28T15:44:00.004-05:00

This was a wonderful project spearheaded by the Roots & Shoots program at Red Pine. It is a memorial for Sophie's kindergarten teacher who died of cancer. We spent several days working on the garden and it looks beautiful!!

Missing These Cute Faces

2011-06-24T12:47:00.003-05:00

Craft Strorage

2011-06-24T12:33:00.002-05:00

What do you do with all of the pretty crafts your children produce? We end up displaying them for a while on this shelf, the fridge and clipboards in the toy room. I try and photograph most of them with the kids holding their artwork and then throw them into the recycling. I keep a couple of favorites each year in a bin (which I really need to organize) and send many of them to their Dad as well.

Hand and Finger Trees

2011-06-24T12:24:00.002-05:00

Here is another cute craft involving paint - I just used a foam brush and washable children's paint. Yes, it does make a bit of a mess in the bathroom as the kids wash all of that brown off their arms.

When pressing their arms on the paper, make sure to tell them to open their fingers wide and then press gently on their arms and hands to get a good impression. It took a couple of tries with the baby.

For the leaves, we used green paint and another foam brush. You could also use a green stamp pad.

Last Trip to the Zoo

2011-06-24T01:35:00.003-05:00

We are really going to miss The Minnesota Zoo. So many fun memories and a one of our favorite places to visit! During this visit it was raining, so we had the outdoor playground all to ourselves!

Bee Crafts

2011-06-23T23:15:00.007-05:00

In reality, I have arrived safely in Portland, have moved in with my sister and am working on a resume. On this blog, I am playing catch-up so you'll see a few more daycare posts before I get to our trip the the Northwest.

These are a couple of bee related crafts we made a while back. The first is made by painting a toilet paper roll with yellow and back stripes and then gluing on wings which I just cut free hand from some useless Power Puff girls coloring book. We also folded a pipe cleaner in half and taped it inside for the antennae.

This one is just made by painting the kids feet yellow with a foam brush and helping them step down on a piece of paper. Have a tub of baby wipes nearby.

I always had paper, coloring books and bins full of crayons, markers, glue sticks and scissors down at child level so the kids could choose to create whenever they felt like it. Of course they also had to clean up afterwards. This guy was discovering the joys of using the body as a canvas!

Boys on a Summer Afternoon

2011-06-15T18:02:00.004-05:00

Birthday Boy

2011-06-15T17:55:00.004-05:00

This darling boy has been coming to our house every day since he was about two months old. He has grown up with our family and we just adore him. This last week he turned two years old, right before we packed up the house for the big move. We are going to miss him horribly - he is like a sibling to my kids and we all love him! Happy Birthday!

Sophie Really Loves Praying Mantis

2011-06-15T17:53:00.002-05:00

I love the end of the school year for many reasons, but it is especially fun to see all of the things the kids have been working on in art class. Sophie made this great dish - it is so her!

Recycled Caterpillar Craft

2011-06-15T17:48:00.003-05:00

I decided to make this craft in an effort to use up a bunch of the recycled lids I had been collecting. We had a ton of cardboard in the house for the move, so I just cut everyone a long piece and we went to town.

Very simple craft: cardboard, lids, glue and chenille sticks for antennae and legs.

On The Road

2011-06-14T20:46:00.001-05:00

Be back soon my friends - the move is in progress!!

Eagan Ward Talent Show

2011-06-08T07:34:00.007-05:00

Highlights: our own hip ward band, Max laying Louie Louie on trombone with Matt on the drums and Greg on sax, Sophie showing off her flexibility, Susan's rendition of Popular, Anne's poem, the Preator family dancing in scuba gear, Max's poems - hysterical, Heidi's cool moves . . . our ward is awesome. So much talent!

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Bittersweet Chocolate

2011-06-06T13:50:00.002-05:00

My new favorite muffin - spicy and sweet and crunchy all at the same time. YUM!

2 cups pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 1/2 cups
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves (sometimes I run out of one of these and add ginger in its place)
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 bar Ghirardellis Bittersweet chocolate bar cut into chunks (I usually make 1 1/2 times this recipe and use 2 bars which can usually be found in the baking isle above the chocolate chips.
sanding sugar (large granule)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 24-cup muffin tin or two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, spices, and salt until everything is well combined.

Hold a fine-mesh strainer over the bowl with the pumpkin mixture. Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda to the sifter, then sift the dry ingredients over the wet. Whisk gently just until the flour mixture is incorporated. Add the chocolate and stir to combine.

Fill the muffin tins most of the way up, dividing the batter evenly. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with lots of sanding sugar. Bake about 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven, let the muffins rest 2 minutes, then turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool.

Makes 24 muffins.

We Have A Graduate

2011-06-01T12:31:00.003-05:00

Max has officially graduated from 5th grade - phew. He actually was not feeling well the night of the ceremony and almost watched from the audience. In the end, he rallied and got up on stage with the rest of his enormous class. I have to state that the graduation was seriously boring . . . and long. The cake and punch served at the end seemed to make my kids forget their constant complaints during the ceremony. Go Max! Here's hoping for great things next year!

Max with his best friend Jeffery.

All three kiddos with their Principal, Mr. Anger.

It's That Time of Year Again!

2011-05-26T16:30:00.002-05:00

Toad, toads, toads. The kids are catching them daily right now. Lots of rain = lots of toads (and a happy Sophie).

Rainy Saturday Last Day of the Track Season

2011-05-22T18:59:00.007-05:00

Three track meets in the rain on Saturday. Good-bye track season.

I should note here that Calvin and Sophie are very enthusiastic runners, but they finish dead last most of the time. Max is not much better. Oh well. I think it is good to try something new and step outside your comfort zone sometimes. However, signing all three kids up for track right before we move was not the best idea I've had.

Yesterday, I Looked Like This

2011-05-20T13:52:00.003-05:00

It took a good friend to remind me that I have a child that is overwhelmed and incredibly anxious about this move and really still broken from the upheaval in his young life these last few years. After a bad mommy moment last night, I stepped outside and talked to my friend who put it all in perspective.

It does not really matter in the long term how Max is doing in fifth grade. He is not going to be held back; they are still going to let him go to sixth grade. I still have three years to teach him the skills he needs to be successful in school. It is not really until High School that his grades will impact his future. So, I need to step back, call this year a wash and think of this move and sixth grade as a brand new start for both of us. Max does not need any more pressure or stress on him right now. Hopefully this move and a new job will allow me to slow down, work fewer hours (anything less than 55/week plus an hour or two cleaning a day is going to feel like vacation) and spend more one on one time with Max this fall.

Max is so stressed that he is not sleeping (even more so than usual) and his worries about whether I will find a job and if we will be able to make it financially in Oregon are something no eleven year old boy should have to shoulder. He just needs support and love (and some serious counseling once we are settled and have good insurance) during this move - not his mother getting upset by a failed test. Ironically, he failed his test, but brought home his MAP Math test scores which were off the charts. Sigh. How do I help him apply that brain to the classroom?!

Thank you Susan, for your words of wisdom (and for the chocolate and packing help too)!

Bad mommy moments are the worst.

Spring Flowers

2011-05-17T08:46:00.003-05:00

We are still waiting for spring to really arrive. I am hopeful for warm sunshine and fresh spring air today. On Saturday I spent nine hours at the track. It rained. It blew. It was seriously miserable. The temperature hovered around 45. It took a long time to feel warm again after so many hours in the damp cold. I actually considered leaving the meets to go in search of warm boots as I could no longer feel my toes - in mid May. I keep reminding myself that we were spoiled last year with a warm early spring.

We have five more track meets this week including another nine hour Saturday marathon. This is the last week of track and I am not going to miss it. I signed the kids up for track to replace their normal soccer season which we can not do because of the move but it has proven to be a big time commitment and most of meets have been held in the freezing cold.

Less than a month until we move. Life is still flying by too quickly as there is much to do and many last minute adventures to have before we leave. I have the most organized and wonderful Visiting Teacher who I call my moving coordinator. She has been so helpful and the packing is getting done bit by bit as I continue to work and run around to the various end of school year activities.

I wanted to post these photos of the gorgeous flowers that have been brightening my kitchen since Mother's Day. They came delivered through the mail (!) - sweet, beautiful and thoughtful. Thank you.

Craft: Button Trees

2011-05-15T23:03:00.002-05:00

I found these little cardbord trees at Michaels a few years ago. I just gave the kids buttons and let them go to town with the glue.

On a side note, Calvin is a complete ham when it comes to photos these days.

Craft: Recycled Owls

2011-05-15T22:32:00.003-05:00

Here is another easy craft to use up all of those plastic lids. This project is all about finding pairs of lids in different sizes. Once the kids have eyes they are happy with, let them glue them together and let dry. In order to attach them to the face, you will need to use hot glue. We made these on card stock, but you could also use cardboard.

Tis The Season

2011-05-11T09:01:00.004-05:00

Tis the season for big, bright bouquets of happy dandelions. They only last a day before wilting into a sad mess., but he children enthusiatically gather them every day as we walk home from school. I wonder if the neighbors are grateful for the chubby little legs running across thier lawns to pluck their "flowers"?

I love the little yellow noses - testament of someone still hoping they actually smell good.

Craft: Cereal Butterflies

2011-05-09T11:19:00.003-05:00

This craft can double as afternoon snack, so make sure you make plenty!

You'll need clothespins, markers, chenille sticks and sandwich size plastic ziplock bags. You'll also need a mix of colorful cereals - I pulled out some of the sugary cereals that we only use for crafts (like Fruit Loops and Cookie Crisp) and mixed them in with Kix and whatever else was in the cupboard.

First: give everyone a couple of clothespins and have them color all sides with markers.

Next, have each child fill two bags about half way with cereal. I used a 1/2 cup measuring cup to make it easier on the kids. Squeeze out the air and seal.

At this point, just cut the chenille sicks in half and give each child two. Have them bend them in half and curl the edges. Clip the chenille sticks on the center of the bags with the clothespins to make your butterfly.

Yum!

On Mother's Day

2011-05-08T21:11:00.004-05:00

I am so very grateful to be their Mother.

They spoiled me today with lunch in bed after church, a cold diet coke on ice, lots of handmade cards and coupons for hugs and clean rooms and best of all, a two hour nap (for me). It was a lovely, lazy day at home which is exactly as it should be.

I'm so lucky.

New Cousin and Weekend Guests

2011-05-05T21:00:00.006-05:00

This weekend we were lucky enough to have my sister in law Rachael, her husband Isaac and their little noodle Porter staying at our home Thursday and Friday nights. It was the first time we met cousin Porter and the kids of course adored him. Porter is super smiley and super fast as he crawls around the house.

Rachael and Isaac got to see a bit of the crazy that is life around here as Friday I had to work from 7:-5:30, we took a field trip to the zoo which ended with a trip to insta-care to glue up a head, Porter became sick in the afternoon and I had to run out the door as soon as I was done work to go to Max's track meet in the freezing rain from 5:30-9:30 when I finally told his coach that we could not stay any longer as Max was being picking up Saturday morning at 7:30 for Math Masters.

My in-laws came into town Friday night and had just arrived at our house when I came home from the track. We were able to spend some time catching up and visiting with them on Friday night and part of the day on Saturday though we were all running in five different directions on Saturday and Porter was still sick and he was not the only one feeling under the weather. The kids love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Erickson. Grandpa played games with all of the kids and Calvin introduce him to the Wii. Grandma brought Sophie ruffles and bugs - two of her favorite things.

On Sunday we drove over to see another new cousin being blessed. Baby Cameron is another new Erickson boy cousin for my kids and they were able to meet him for a few minutes after the blessing. We spent the afternoon at track in the snow (brrrrrrrr - I caught a nasty cold and Calvin cried) and the evening hosting a dinner party for friends in the ward.

On Monday night we had one more chance to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Erickson before they left town on Tuesday morning for the long drive back to New York. They took us to one of their favorite restaurants (the beet salad is delicious) and it was just a nice evening with them.

It was so nice to see our Erickson family again and to catch up a little bit with Rachael and Isaac and meet cousin Porter. In the perfect world, we would live closer to all of our family! Thank you for coming and for all of the love you show to me and my children.

Math Master

2011-05-05T13:42:00.001-05:00

Skip ahead to 6:30 and 12:55 to see Max! Great job Red Pine!!

Cannot Get Warm and Stuffy Noses

2011-05-03T21:12:00.002-05:00

This weekend was a blur of out of town guests, three track meets lasting a total of 8.5 hours in freezing rain, snow and arctic winds, a trip to insta-care, family get togethers, zoo trips, a math masters competition, two new cousins, the onset of a bad cold for me (due to track), lovely Italian dinners with kind and generous Grandparents, dinner parties with friends and the first new corn of the season, sick babies, meeting a new out of state friend, more packing and sorting and gifting and a couple of moments I'd really like to forget.

In short, I am still cold and I have a cold. I'll be back soon.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

2011-04-28T07:47:00.001-05:00

They really have that chorus down huh?

Moving and Company

2011-04-27T14:01:00.004-05:00

We have lots of family coming into town tomorrow through next Tuesday. My brother in law and his wife just had their fourth boy and he is being blessed on Sunday. My in-laws are coming into town along with my sister in law and her family which is wonderful as it is so hard to get up to New York to see them. My kids will be meeting two new cousins this weekend! My house has boxes tucked into every corner, a garage completely full of items to sell and I am still working full-time, but we are always excited for family to visit (just do not look too closely at my disorganized home)!

The kids are having mixed feelings about the upcoming move. I thought Sophie would have the hardest time as she has a big group of really sweet friends - and she tends to be a little emotional. However, she seems to be looking at this as a big adventure and is excited about the move and the fun visits with cousins over the summer. She has met with her friends and they have discussed sending letters, skyping and starting a blog to keep the B.U.G. club alive. Go Sophie.

Max is reacting about how I expected. He is worried and stressed. He's nervous about finding new friends and going to a new school and he is old enough that he is also worried about whether or not I will find a good job and if we will be able to get by financially in Oregon. He is a worrier and is very anxious about the whole thing.

I thought Calvin would have a hard time leaving the daycare kids, and he has already tried to convince several of them to move to Oregon and be our neighbors there. But, I assumed that he would take everything in stride much like he has with the divorce - he is sill so young to really understand. Last week he started having nightmares and he is now afraid of . . . everything. He does not like to be out of my sight, will not go upstairs or into the toy room alone - will not even go upstairs with one of his siblings. Most nights he will sleep in his room as long as Max is in there, but there are nights where he is too afraid to sleep unless he is sharing someone's bed. Yesterday we were cleaning upstairs and I kept handing him things to run downstairs to put away. When we finished, I found all of the things piled at the bottom of the stairs - he would go no further alone. So, I am not sure what is going on with little Calvin. I think part of the fear for him is losing another parent. Hopefully the road trip and cousins will help him to return to his happy go lucky personality.

I just love these photos of Max. He is growing like a weed and is pretty good at hitting a ball with a bat.

Bunnies and Such

2011-04-26T16:21:00.003-05:00

So, my camera had a meltdown on Easter and only recorded about a dozen of the two hundred or so photos I took throughout the day. Sigh.

The photo above is what the children wore to church on Easter Sunday. Please note that Maxwell is getting reeeeeeally tall. Scary. Sophie was wearing her new Target church sandals as it was actually warm (60's) on Easter Sunday and on Monday too. That nice weather did not last long (snow tonight). The sandals have a wedge heel and she teetered around all day on them. She has not mastered the art of walking in a heel. Speaking of heels, I always wear heels to church, but on Easter I wore flats for the first time in years. I felt very, very short.

As per tradition, the kids received gifts in their Easter basket - a Scooby Doo DVD for Calvin, books for Max and Tangled DVD for Sophie. The night before Calvin came tearing downstairs and told me he needed to write a note to the Easter Bunny. He proceeded to write him a letter detailing his desire to receive books 1-8 in the Pokemon graphic novel series. I think he was confusing the Easter Bunny with Santa (the Easter Bunny was unable to fulfill his request). He also set out a plate of carrots.

Are you wondering how I did on giving up sugar for Lent? I lasted about two weeks. Sigh.

After church, I made sweet potato rolls, orange rolls, lemon bars and a strawberry trifle to take to dinner. We also managed to have a quick egg hunt for the kids.

Per tradition, we had Easter dinner at the Manzella's house. We love that family. Thomas made incredible prime rib for dinner and Lori made the best cream corn, gratin potatoes, jello eggs, shrimp and cocktail sauce . . . it was delicious and frankly I wanted to go right to bed after dinner.

The best part of the day (at least for the kids) was the Manzella's cash only egg hunt for kids and adults. This year the golden egg (with $100 inside) was hidden inside a piece of sporting equipment in the garage. The eggs are really, really hard to find and the kids have a blast searching for them. This is a tradition we may have to adopt.

There you have it - Easter was lovely.

Recipe: Carrot Cake Cookies

2011-04-26T09:34:00.003-05:00

Per request - this is a recipe I made for my Sunday School class a few weeks ago. Huge, huge hit.

The cookies will bake out thin and flat and you'll want to over bake them just a little as they are better if the cookie is a little crunchy to contrast the creamy filling. If you make these, be sure to give most of them away as they make an irresistible breakfast/snack/I'm having a bad day treat. I think I ate every one in these photos. Sigh.

Makes about 3 dozen

1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots, (about 3 large carrots)
1 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugars and butter; beat until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well combined.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger; stir to combine. Gradually add flour to butter mixture; mix on a low speed until just blended. Mix in oats, carrots, and raisins. Chill dough in refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour.
Using a 1/2-ounce ice-cream scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Transfer to oven, and bake until browned and crisped, rotating pan halfway through baking to ensure even color, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat baking process with remaining dough. Once cooled completely, use an offset spatula to spread about 2 teaspoons of cream-cheese filling onto a cookie. Sandwich together with a second cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

For the cream cheese filling, I just beat together a room temperature 8oz block of cream cheese, a stick of room temperature unsalted butter, the zest of one lemon and a teaspoon of vanilla. Once that was smooth, I started adding powdered sugar until I had the consistency I wanted (about 4 cups). You can also add some lemon juice if it is too thick.

Easter Nest Craft

2011-04-18T21:42:00.004-05:00

A simple little Easter craft using things you already have in your home. Start by mixing up some pastel colors of paint. We used blue and green. I gave each child a piece of wood (leftover from a boy scout birdhouse project). Make sure the kids paint the edges.

While the paint dried, I took the kids outside, gave them each a bucket and had them gather small sticks from the yard. Snap the sticks to fit and glue them to the bottom of each board to form a nest. Regular glue works fine - just use a lot and allow for drying time.

Use a glue gun to adhere plastic easter eggs to your nest. I wielded the glue gun and the kids stuck them down.

Messy. Every single time.

The end.

Views From My Window - Today

2011-04-16T08:21:00.002-05:00

Things you should know:

Max is currently on a camp out with the Boy Scouts.
I bet they are cold this morning.
I should bake some cookies for his Boy Scout leaders.
I did manage to find some hand warmers and tucked them into his backpack.
I also sent a huge bag of giant colored bunny marshmallows for them to toast over the fire - but that has nothing to do with the snow.
Sophie and Calvin both have a track meet today.
I am supposed to be cheering them on from the bleachers from 9-3.
I threw away all of the sleds two weeks ago.
I refuse to shovel this crap.
Waking up to several inches of snow in mid April makes me look forward to Oregon weather.

We Are Taking This Show on the Road

2011-04-13T15:00:00.004-05:00

We are moving to Portland, Oregon.

I've known for a long time that we would not be able to stay in this house long term. In the divorce, the house went to my ex (and no, I did not want the house - I knew I could not afford it and the bank recently re-confirmed this assumption of mine) and at some point we were going to need to leave. That point has arrived and we must vacate the house at the end of the school year - June. If you do the math, that means I have to end my business, pack up this house and be on the road in two months.

Knowing I would be jobless and homeless soon, I have been struggling with the decision on where to move my little family. We love Minnesota, our church family, our neighborhood, our school and our many, many friends. The one big drawback? No family. The events of the last few years and especially the last year have made me recognize that the greatest gift I could give my children right now is more family in their lives. I alone am not enough, and right now all of my family is in Northwest and all of our family on Bryan's side are in the Northeast and here we sit, right smack in the middle, not close enough for anyone to really be a significant presence in my children's lives.

So, we are moving. Why Portland? Both of my sisters will be living there by June, I have a brother in Eugene, my parents are in Idaho which is only a days drive away and it is just a pretty place to live. One of my sisters will be a stay at home Mom and will be able to help me with before and after school care issues and we are moving in with my single sister while I search for a job . . . and a place to live . . . and schools for the kids. Wish me luck. If my posts become increasingly manic the next few weeks - you now know why.

Baby Time at the Zoo

2011-04-11T11:07:00.006-05:00

Thursday's Field Trip to the zoo - it's baby season!

You should know: the kids all wanted to feed the goats (of course) but I had not planned ahead and only had a nickel and a $20 bill. I ended up finding a change machine which gave me $20 in quarters. My purse is very heavy.

Craft: Recycled Spring Flowers

2011-04-11T09:42:00.004-05:00

Think spring! All of the snow is gone from our yards and we are ready for spring! This is one of those "use up some of the recycling materials I cannot seem to throw away" kind of crafts.

Give each child some cardboard - a shoe box lid or something along those lines. Cut up a whole bunch of egg cartons to make different kinds of flower shapes.

I had some kids start painting their backdrops green and blue while others started painting the flowers.

This way, every kid has something to do while they wait to paint their backdrop. It also meant that I only needed one plate of each color as we passed them around.

Um, the kids will get messy - fyi.

Set aside the backdrops and the flowers to dry. Once dry, glue the flowers to the green portion of the backdrops.

Still messy.

They should not look something like this:

Next, pull out some pom poms and let the kids glue them to the insides of their flowers.

Cute craft and very messy kids.

Sophie Style

2011-04-06T15:00:00.008-05:00

Dress - Gap, Shoes - hand me downs from girlfriend, tights - Walmart, Sweater - Target, belt - borrowed from brother, flower pin - I made it. Headband - Clair's

Shirt and skirt set - Marshalls - I think the socks are from Target as are the shoes and sweater. Headband - Walmart

I think this clip is from Walmart. Love it.

Skirt - yard sale, sweater set - American Girl doll store (part of Sophie's Halloween outfit/back to school clothes from Grandma). Necklace - Charlotte Russe. Boots - Marshalls

Sweater and skirt - Target, tights - yard sale. Boots - Marshalls. Shirt - Gap

Dress - Hanna Andersen (winter sale $20), shoes - Walmart, tights - yard sale. Clip - I made it.

Gap coat (thank you Gma E!)

Every once in a while, Sophie actually wears pants! Jeans, clip and belt - yard sales (someone had taken these in on the waistband so she has been wearing them for several years. I finally picked out the threads and now they are too loose in the waist again) Shirt - old navy. Boots - Marshalls

Sweater - Old Navy. Skirt and tights - yard sale, shoes - Target. Headband - Walmart (I added the yellow duck clip)

Edit: Does anyone know why I cannot comment on my own blog? It is DRIVING ME CRAZY! @Val - yes, I pick out her outfits and she is still at that lovely age where she thinks that's OK.

Sunday Stroll

2011-04-06T14:31:00.005-05:00

On Sunday we took a long stroll through Lebanon Hills Park. We met up with friends and enjoyed the warmer weather in between conference sessions. More snow and mud, but a lot of fun!

I Choose Not to Believe

2011-04-03T20:33:00.004-05:00

There is a nasty rumor floating around that it is going to snow tomorrow. I choose not to believe such vicious, mean gossip.

Winter, please. Go away for good. You have worn us out.

Sophie Style

2011-04-03T19:57:00.005-05:00

I have about a months worth of these waiting to be posted - oops.

Sweater - Hanna Anderson (sale!), shirt and shoes - Target, skirt - Gap, Necklace - Charlotte Russe, flower on headband - I made it. Yes, she left for school with wet hair.

Dress - Gap, shirt and shoes - Target, legging - Old Navy, clip - I made it.

Sweater, dress and headband - Target. Boots - Marshalls. Her hair was all kinds of wonky this day.

Dress - Target (they are on sale now for $11). I LOVE this dress because it is long enough and it has sleeves! Thank you Target. As you can see, I bought a size up hoping to get several years wear out of it. Pettiskirt and tights - Yard Sale. Boots - Marshalls (a couple of years old now). Green Flower Clip - I made it.

Dress - Gap, tights and headband - WalMart, boots - Marshalls (if you live around here, the best Marshalls for shoes is the one in Lakeville). Necklace - yard sale.

We Have a New Addition to the Family

2011-04-03T19:18:00.002-05:00

One of Sophie's painted butterflies hatched today. We have been on pins and needles thinking the house had been too cold and that is why they had not hatched. There have been tears - sobs really. But today, all is well in the world and Sophie is thrilled with her new pet!

You can pick up one of these kits from Target.

Conference Hike

2011-04-03T13:04:00.007-05:00

It is Conference weekend for our church which means we gather together at the kitchen table on Saturday and Sunday to listen to the words of the prophet and apostles and other leaders of the church. I love conference weekends. I make German pancakes and we stay in our pajamas and listen while sorting through mail or catching up on photo editing etc. In between conference sessions, we escape the house to go and enjoy the 50 degree weather and the sunshine. It feels like spring.

Yesterday we pulled on our rain boots and headed over to Jensen Lake. We were searching for signs of spring and they were few and far between! It was muddy and snowy but we did spot a lot of geese, some minnows and wood ticks and lots of animal droppings. It is a good thing we all wore rain boots.

After our hike (about 2 1/2 miles) I stopped at the playground for the kids to run wild for a little bit longer. There were three couples there watching their children play. It is interesting for me to notice when I suddenly feel the loss of being a part of a couple. It is not during the day to day, it is when I have a quiet moment and I am around other couples. It happens in the temple or at a ward activity or at the park. There are just these moments of missing that other half. Of having someone to talk to while sitting on the bench watching my children play.

I am so grateful to be busy.

Recipe: Coconut Cream-Filled Macaroons

2011-03-31T21:14:00.002-05:00

Because we live in the Frozen North, it snowed again last week - enough snow that my sweet neighbor was again in my driveway with his snowblower clearing the fluffy white stuff for me. Of course his act of service meant I needed to bake some cookies so I enlisted Sophie's help and this is the recipe she chose. It can be found in Martha's Cookie Cookbook.

COCONUT CREAM-FILLED MACAROONS
MAKES ABOUT 2 DOZEN

For the cookies:
3 cups unsweetened finely shredded coconut
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1/8 teaspoon coarse salt

Filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons cream of coconut, or unsalted butter, softened (I used butter)
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon coconut extract

Make cookies: Stir together coconut, granulated sugar, egg whites, coconut extract and salt in a large bowl. Refrigerate, covered, until cold, at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Form heaping teaspoons of dough into balls; space 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Gently flatten to about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges begin to turn golden, 9 to 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.

Make filling: Put butter, cream of coconut and shortening in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add confectioners' sugar and coconut extract; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Assemble cookies: Place a heaping teaspoon filling on the bottom of 1 cookie. Sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Transfer to a platter; cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until filling is firm, about 30 minutes. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes before serving. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

I have no idea who bit into that cookie. Certainly not me as I am trying not to eat sugar . . . ok, it was me. The macaroons are delicious and I liked but did not love the filling. I just cannot stand shortening in a frosting of any kind. I would use butter to replace the shortening next time.

How to Make Marshmallow Fondant

2011-03-30T22:53:00.004-05:00

As promised, here is an instructional video for making your own fondant. It is so easy to do and I certainly did not come up with this idea on my own. I googled it years ago.

Things you should know:

Sophie filmed this in real time
I have no editing capabilities so this is straight from camera
Several times she got tired of holding the camera - look for those moments
You can hear Calvin in the background despite the fact that I asked for 2 minutes of quiet
Try not to notice that I get more "cleavagey" as the video progresses
I did not have a wardrobe person to tell me to wear a different shirt
I do not like how I look on film - specifically those extra 20 pounds I could stand to lose

Oh well, it is what it is and I hope you find it useful!

Roller Madness

2011-03-28T09:21:00.006-05:00

I found some poor quality shots of Max's birthday party (which was back in February . . . don't judge). Looking back I remember a couple of things:

I would like to stop having birthday parties altogether.
When did you stop giving birthday parties - what age?
The roller rink was LOUD.
There were several blatant fire code violations at that establishment.
A thousand other people felt the need to skate that day.
My kids do not know how to roller skate.
Neither do I.
Max chose chocolate dipped shortbread heart cookies instead of a cake.
He had a GREAT time and received lots of Star Wars Lego's (his favorite thing right now).
Bringing a book for me to read was overly ambitious.
Three hours (four?) was a bit too long - for me.
I am glad his party was NOT at my house.

Dear Target:

2011-03-26T14:24:00.003-05:00

Your rain boots suck. I guess Calvin will be getting some Bogs too.

Edit: REI has kids Bogs on sale for $35!!

Rainbow Jigglers

2011-03-23T17:27:00.004-05:00

This is the snack I made for St. Patrick's Day (except I started late and they were not done until the next day - whatever). I rarely make jello, so the kids thought this was a special treat. It does take a bit of patience, but they really are pretty when done! There are lots of recipes online for these - the white is made with knox and sweetened condensed milk.

Interstate State Park

2011-03-23T11:12:00.006-05:00

Monday was supposed to be the nicest day of spring break week so I loaded six kids in the car, met up with Kelly and headed out to do some hiking. The forecast said 50 degrees however, the warmest it got was a balmy (OK freezing) 38 and cloudy. We drove a little more than an hour North to Interstate State Park. Before we left I had the kids watch a video about the geological pot holes the park is famous for. Though many of the trails were still too icy, we were able to see many of the pot holes and have a great time climbing on the rocks and trails.

The park is on both sides of the river in Minnesota and Wisconsin and we visited each side. On the Wisconsin side we had the coldest picnic ever by the river and then went on a hike we later dubbed "The Poop Walk" by the amount of animal droppings we had to navigate. The kids informed me the droppings were from an herbivore, because of their shape and contents (don't ask how they found that out).

We will have to go back and visit again when it is warmer and I imagine the park would be simply gorgeous in the fall. One word of warning: the trails travel along many cliffs so you need to have enough adults or older kids to hold the hands of every young child.

Spring Break

2011-03-21T21:47:00.004-05:00

This is spring break week for the kids
It's a busy little week
On Saturday Max had strep
He is on penicillin and is feeling much better
I'm so glad he can swallow pills these days
On Saturday I took Sophie and her doll Kirstin to lunch at the American Girl Doll store
Calvin came too and Sophie's friend and her Mom
It was actually quite fun and rather adorable
There were approximately 500,000,000 people at the mall
That was not in any way fun
Calvin wanted to spend several hours in the Lego store
It about killed me
On Sunday we stayed home (because of Max and his infectiousness) and did nothing
Books, games, naps
It was delightful
Did I tell you I gave up sugar for Lent?
Yes, I am still Mormon
It was my sister's idea
I made it 10 days (10 days!!!) before eating a brownie from my Visiting Teacher
I blame my lapse on that "time of the month" and general PMSing
Do not get between me and chocolate when I have cramps
I am back on the sugar fast until Easter
On Easter Sunday I am planning to eat an entire bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs
I took the kids hiking today
It was supposed to be 50 degrees
It was 38
It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow and snow on Wednesday
Why do we live here again?
The kid's Dad is supposed to be flying in on Thursday to spend the weekend with the kids
They have not seen him since last summer
Needless to say they are incredibly excited and have been talking about nothing else for weeks
I hope and pray it all works out and they have a lovely, lovely time together
The divorce is now finalized

It's Starting to Feel Like Spring!

2011-03-18T10:32:00.003-05:00

Several feet of snow still color the ground in our yard, but yesterday temperatures soared into the 40's! We took advantage of the warmer weather and the sunshine by heading to the zoo. We walked the outside loop and most of the animals were outside actively enjoying the sun as well. It is pretty wet and muddy, but worth the mess to be outdoors once again!

Welcome spring! we'd like to invite you to stay please.

Breakfast Today

2011-03-17T21:14:00.002-05:00

My kids reminded me last night how cool it was last year when I served a green breakfast on St. Patrick's Day. Guess who was at Cub Foods this morning at 6:15am?!

Green apples, green grapes, green milk and green donuts. I was tempted by the donuts, but stuck with the grapes instead (they were gorgeous but sour). The kids were pleased with this so not healthy, but fun start to the morning!

Sadly I cracked the glass jug the milk was in today - :(

Craft: Rainbows

2011-03-17T15:41:00.005-05:00

We did manage to make a rainbow craft for St. Patrick's Day. Honestly, this craft is better for older children as the chenille sticks hold better with hot glue.

Start with pairs of matching lids (we eat a lot of Greek yogurt around here). I wanted these rainbows to stand up, so I used hot glue to attach a clothespin to the back of each lid.

Give each child a set of lids.

Let the children fill each lid with glue and then stick the cotton balls to the glue to form the clouds.

Flip the lids over and give each child one pipe cleaner of each color. They will need to trim a little off each color except the red (I did this before I gave them to the kids). Have them bend the sticks into the shape of a rainbow and then glue them to the back of the lids.

Once dry, stand up and enjoy!

3rd Grade Concert

2011-03-16T12:34:00.005-05:00

This actually happened weeks ago - but here are the photos Grandparents! Sophie did a GREAT job! She brought home her practice CD and sang in her bedrooms for weeks before the concert. As you can tell from the photos, she asked and was granted permission to wear a little makeup for the concert (a little glimpse of things to come?). Red Pine has a wonderful music program and an excellent choir teacher. I am always amazed at what she can do with these kids!

All of the 3rd graders made music notes to decorate the gym. Sophie's was pretty easy to spot!

My Kids Are Taking Care of Me

2011-03-13T22:27:00.002-05:00

I am on the mend - slowly, but I am definitely feeling better. For four nights in a row this last week I went to bed before my children (that's really bad). Somehow everyone stayed safe got some sleep. I literally was dragging myself through the day and as soon as the last child left the daycare, I would just collapse. On Wednesday night, a friend drove Max to scouts and Sophie and Calvin made me these cute cards and then tucked me into bed. My kids are pretty darn sweet to me and I am lucky to have them here to nurse me back to health!

Winter Workout

2011-03-13T22:15:00.001-05:00

Craft: Toilet Paper Caterpillars

2011-03-09T18:47:00.007-06:00

Give everyone a toilet paper roll and have them color them with markers - or paint if you are feeling brave.

Take a pipe cleaner, fold it in half and use a pencil to make the ends curly. Have the kids tape the pipe cleaner to the inside of the toilet paper roll.

Give each child a really large pom pom and stuff it in the end with the pipe cleaner. Choose google eyes and attach with glue.

Have the kids choose 8-10 small pom poms and glue them on the caterpillar's back. I used hot glue because some of these kids were just here for playgroup and we needed the craft to dry immediately.

I am sick, sick, sick. Miserable. I'll try and catch up when my head is not pounding and I can go more than 5 minutes without blowing my very sore nose. I worked today despite feeling like death warmed over. You don't really get a day off from being a Mom.

**The bin of pom poms was a gift from Kathy (a friend from my ward)

Recipe: Vegetarian Chili With Sweet Potatoes

2011-03-06T22:18:00.003-06:00

Here is a wonderful recipe for a cold winters day. I doubled the recipe and added celery. It is a little spicy so I served it with avocado and sour cream (the kids like theirs with cheese on top). See the recipe here. It has a wonderful flavor and after serving it to the kids one night, I scooped it into tortillas with cheese and made enchiladas for dinner tonight. Try it!