Sterling Takes His First Cake

Sterling had his first birthday on Sunday, October 19th. At birth he weighed 8 1/2 pounds (I could hold, but not lift him, at first). Now I estimate he weighs 24 pounds. Since we were spending Sunday with his paternal grandparents, we celebrated a day early. First Cory turned his car seat forward, then we went to a pumpkin farm, where we took a hay ride and chose a pumpkin about as heavy as him. There were domestic animals in cages. He seemed vaguely interested in board book words (pig, sheep, chicken, etc.) announced in front of wiggly animals. At home, again, Cory fixed our old electronic toddler toys for Sterling. The highly assertive older siblings left him a small empty box, and would have taken over the new noisy toys entirely, if it hadn't been for adult intervention.

For his official birthday, his Aunt T. had made him his own chocolate duck cake. As you can see, he appreciated the honor and made the most of it.

Our Haunted Home

We recently visited the paternal grandparents, whose house was elaborately decked-out for Halloween. Kaith and Trevor were very excited to see all of the "haunted decorations," as they called them. Then, for family night treat, Kaith chose to make haunted cupcakes with ghosts on them. Friday, I finally got out our little box of Halloween things, where I had stored the garland we bought last year. Today, in Language Arts, Kaith and I reread a poem called "Theme in Yellow," by Carl Sandberg. Then Kaith got to write his own poem:

Theme in White

I "boo" in the dark on Halloween.

I am called Ghosts.

I talk by magic, saying bats are coming to steal me.

I am called Paper.

I turn into dragons and scare the jets away.

I am called Clouds.

Sunday Groceries?

Wherefore, it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.

St Matthew 12:12

On this warm, summer-like autumn afternoon, we opened the backdoor . . . and saw a bag of food: 3 boxes of soup mix and 24 cans of various food items.

I don't know whether we were laughing more at the surprise of it or at the sight of Trevor trying to carry the bag to the kitchen by himself. The children excitedly wanted to go through the whole bag all at once. "Look, Mommy: corn!" or "What are kidney beans?" They were so excited.

Then Cory looked a little further outside and saw that we had missed a couple things: 30 jumbo rolls of toilet paper, 19 apples, 24 packages of Ramen (don't laugh. The kids are so excited to make that lunch for the week). Our amazement was then peaked at the sight of a loaded Costco Cash Card tucked into the Ramen.

Since our guardian angels desire to bland with the multitude, we are now uploading our gratitude to the multitude, and hope they know it.

Super Doughnut Saturday

A mouthful of sugar helps the Saturday begin . . .

Cory was leaving for a Saturday at work with the children howling at the door. Then he said, "We'll be back," and strode to the van with barefoot Trevor tucked under his arm. Well, Miriam and Kaith continued to cling and cry in their absence. The van returned, and with it a thin pink box that could only mean roses . . . or doughnuts! (Ah, pay day, glorious pay day. Mommy would buy produce, Daddy supplies the treats.) "Breakfast!" I cried before the door opened, and Trevor proudly cared the box inside. Peering through the viewing window, Miriam promptly claimed the pink doughnut. Then Cory returned with two gallons of sugary beverage with juice-like names, and happiness prevailed around the dining table, in spite of the speedy exit of Daddy (who took two doughnuts with him).

Miriam, who relished her pink doughnut, was nonetheless curious about the "naked brown sugar" one. Kaith, who loves black, readily identified with the "black" chocolate doughnut, and I feigned nutrition between a "fruit" jelly doughnut and apple fritter. Sterling was not impressed with the sugary bread, and whimpered until I got him down, but perhaps his sickness makes new foods unpalatable. Kaith himself gave the title for this block.

An Ideal Husband

Blessed art thou, Lehi, because of the things which thou hast done . . .

1 Nephi 2:1

I'm going to take a time-out from maternal obligations and stories to sing the praises of my seldom photographed husband. Of course I love him because he has his priorities straight, because he has integrity with the same standards in his long hours at work and school as in his few hours at home, because of his diligence which gives us the momentum to keep reading almost-daily from Jesus the Christ, to keep pushing through school until it's done, how he easily calms me when I'm under stress, under other traits and habits. That said, I imagine he would rather be praised by the things which he has done. So, let's see . . . his most recent domestic achievement was installing two four-foot wide shelves above the children's reach in our office, to hold our forty-one pounds of school supplies (yes, we got a ten-pound shipment of Teacher's Guides today. Still backordered on the handwriting workbook). Last Monday, knowing I had not finished my homework that was due that evening, he came home early and took over childnurturing and dinner so I could catch up. Oh, and he brought home a bouquet of pink campanulas. For this module, not only did he pose for my figure drawing (okay, I drew from a photo), but on Saturday, hearing that I wanted to submit my figure drawing homework that afternoon, instead of today, he piled the children in the car and took off until I was done, which took three hours. After putting the kids to bed last night, we stayed up reading to each other and laughing over Little Women (I had no idea how funny it was last time I read it, about a decade ago, and it's so much more fun to read with someone who laughs at the right place).


I never did take a picture of the base cupboard and countertop he so painstakingly and perfectly installed in June, but he did that, and before Spring Quarter was over, too. This week officially begins his Senior year studying Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at UW, taking 16 (?) credits and working 25 hours a week. Of course he's incredible, but extra prayers would be appreciated, too.

Kindergarten Began

I was determined to begin school on Monday morning, September 8, whether our supplies had arrived or not. I was approaching our final morning chore (making my bed) at 9:15 when a large brown UPS truck materialized out front, bringing 31 lbs. of treasures.
Our first week, we read Cinderella, sorted colors, made a cushion-boat like in a poem by Robert Louis Stevens (Trevor is holding a "poison green plum"), and skipped the first nine weeks of phonics (that that is all Kaith skipped is a tribute to the thoroughness of K12's PhonicsWorks program.

Highlights from Last Week

At the company picnic, Cory told Kaith to go sit down to watch the animal show. Kaith chose a spot right next to some young woman, cuddled up, and put his hand on her knee. We have no idea who she is.

Miriam got a turn choosing and making family night treat. She chose star cookies, and was very proud of the result. Our lesson was on prayer, from the new nursery manual. That worked well, since Trevor was assigned to give a talk in primary on that subject (his teacher, who assigned it, said, "your kids give good talks. I learn from them"). We got our hard copy of Behold Your Little Ones just a few days ago, which was much sooner than I'd been expecting it.

About a month ago, I subscribed our family (under Trevor's name) to a magazine called High Five. It's the preschool cousing to Highlights magazine. We got our first two issues (they sent last April's and this October's) this week. We cut-out the bug dominoes, and played that. They also had a recipe for homemade tortillas. Trevor helped me make those, and wow, they were good.

My school started Thursday. I've had three days to work on things and am only two days behind schedule.

Our ward had a "Corn Ball" on Saturday. We brought dinner rolls, as usual. Silly us, we gave the kids lemonade before lunch. They hardly touched lunch, and that includes the cake. However, they did take frequent trips to the bathroom. I think we totaled seven, in all. I've included a picture of that toilet (sorry if you don't know that story. I think its unbloggable). Sterling, who did not drink lemonade, did eat most of a hot dog bun.

Kaith's school starts tomorrow. K-12 has been changing suppliers, I think, and so we haven't received the supplies we'll be using. We got an automated phone call Friday night saying our box would arrive Monday evening, at the latest. It must be costing them a lot of money to express ship a lot of big boxes. I'm glad I don't have to pay for the shipping fee.