Mommy will lava melt your eyes?

Yes, this sweet little 4 year old girl actually asked me that question. The conversation went like this:

"Mommy will lava melt your eyes?

Yes, if lava touched your eyes they would melt it. Lava will melt almost anything.

"How bout my hands?"

Yes, it would melt your hands.

"What will it do to water?"

Water?

"Yes, will it melt water?"

Well, the water will cool the lava down and turn it to rock. The lava will turn the water to steam because the lava is so hot.

"Will it melt rocks?"

Yes, lava can melt rocks.

"Could it melt my ears?"

Yep, it could melt your ears.

And with that our conversation closed with me taking a picture of her making a face about her ears melting. My children are fun to chat with, fun to hang with and I never know what we are going to talk about next.

This year's rainbow cake

Last year I made a two level round cake that was multi-color with white frosting and a skittle rainbow that went over the whole cake. Maggie wanted another one. I initially agreed, but then I flubbed up the day before and did not make it and foolishly I scheduled her party for 9:30 the next day. So I pondered a bit (my way of saying I was stressing a bit, mentioned it to God in my nightly prayer, and got this idea sent to my head) and came up with this.

Last year I mixed the cake mix in half a dozen bowls and then poured each one in the correct sequence to make a great cake that ended up splitting down the middle because it was so heavy/large? Anyway, I decided to switch to a 9x13 pan, and just put in different swirls of color as I went. Below is the pre-cooked cake, I wish I would have gotten a post cooked picture. It really looked awesome. I frosted the top of the cake and we put on a small (compared to last year's cake) rainbow of skittles and we were all set!

Doesn't this just look fun?

My American Dream

The other day I was responding to a friend of mine about something she had posted on her blog, and it occurred to me what the "American Dream" is.  For me, I think this is having the right and opportunity to be involved in the community around you to determine your future.  This could be as simple as being involved in the PTO or voting for the President of the United States.  But why do we do these things?  I feel for the same reason that our colonial patriot's fought the Revolutionary war to improve things for our kids.  Stop for a minute to ask yourself why you get involved in things beyond your home.  The two reasons that come to my mind are 1) because you like the way it is going and you want to support a successful system so that the results can bless you and your posterity or 2) because you think the current system is not being successful and you want to correct it for yourself and your posterity.  In the Colonial times, they felt they were being treated unfairly and wanted to be able to have a voice in the issues that affected them.  In modern day I think about what I get involved in and why and they fall under these two reasons.

I think back to my perspective on this idea as a teenager.  I thought the "American Dream" was a small house of  your own with a white picket fence.  That may be someone's dream, but it is not mine.  I thought I would have to give up what I wanted to have the American Dream.  Now I realize that the American Dream is something that we must all define, search for, and then in all probability create.  For me, my American Dream is a place where people treat each other with respect and patience.  Where we don't have to have laws to govern the people because we realize that we are not all the same, we don't all think the same, but we all deserve the same respect.  A place where my huge 5 bedroom house has as much right to being on the block as a small three bedroom regardless of our fence out front.  I have come to realize there are two ways that I can influence these ideas 1) by articulating them to the world and 2) teaching the children to understand and do them.  These are the ways that mom's rock the nation.  While many programs have been put into place to teach basic principles of respect and patience, it really comes back to the home (as do most things in our nation).  This is what we as women (and men) need to understand that we determine the future by our actions now and choosing to be involved in the solutions.

Inside this brain...

‎60 watt Type A lightbulb?!? Seriously do they have type B as well. Do type A's have a harsh light that gets everywhere, shows up on time, etc? Do B's only come on when they feel like it, a gentle influence, and everyone likes them even though they don't always get the job done?


Well, I posted this to Facebook to show my shock at this.  I recently was trying to replace all the burned out light bulbs in my house.  It seems we have different bulbs for each room.  In our bathrooms we have the round bulbs - 4 bathrooms - 20 light bulbs.  Then you can add in the nightlights in our house - only 4 we use, although we have more like 6 or 7 - but we were short replacement lights for a while - picked up 8 replacement bulbs.  Then on top that we have can lights, ceiling fan lights, and fluorescent lights.  And then lastly, we have a lone piano light.  You know it sits on the back of the piano and you pull the chain and it lights up.  This is where my sense of frustration ended and humor started.  I read the description "‎60 watt Type A" and I had to laugh.  All I could picture was this light bulb running around pointing it's finger at people and telling them they needed to finish doing this, that, or the other.  I then thought of what a type B light bulb would then have to be like.  My laid-back light bulb, works most of the time, but don't yell when it doesn't because it won't change it a thing. The only way you are ever going to change this light bulb is by removing it and replacing it with a Type A.


Reminds me a bit of my marriage when we first got married; one of us was more type A, the other more type B.  Now time has passed and we both are more towards the middle of that spectrum, but I always giggle when my husband shows his Type A side (who knew?).


Side point - does this image look like a little man inside the bulb?  He looks like he has no arms, but I can see that he is wearing these coke-bottle thick glasses, with a hat that has a halo over that.  Just in case you needed another giggle.

In their footsteps

One of the unifying things about us is that we were all little once. Some of us may still be little, but most of us grow up, move on, and move away. I am inspired by my children - their innocence, simpleness, and joy. I look to my childhood and see the same. I expect the same thoughts have occurred to my parents, grandparents and so on. We don't realize how connected we are to our future and our past. This is why I am starting this blog, to keep stories of my past, the past that came before my birth for my future - my children and so on.

I enjoy doing family history research. I have done it off and on for almost two decades. Recently I felt the Siren call of family history and started up again. I am amazed with how much has changed or been improved upon in the last 9 years. Until the internet, family search has been time consuming, arduous, and expensive. Now I can do it for 15 minutes searching libraries around the country while cooking dinner (and an extra bonus is I don't have to get a babysitter).

Recently I have been delving into Sons of the American Revolution applications, Pioneer indexes, and census' galore. I have also found journals shared by others through Ancestory.com. I have shared these via email with a few relatives, but now I am starting to get overwhelmed by the stories and sources. As a result, I have decided on this blog for keeping stories, pictures, etc. I might even through in an observation, how to do, etc so that it can be a complete resource for me as well as an over-the-top resource for my living relatives.

Games and more

This is one of the gifts that Maggie got for her birthday - Princess Monopoly Junior. It is fairly fun game. We are enjoying our board game time in the afternoon's. Maggie continues to beat me almost every time, which I am flummoxed about because it is a total luck of the draw on this game. Oh, well just thankful that Jeff has not challenged me to it!

My girls and their hats

Rosi was running around with Anna's hat on. I just thought it was too cute! I wish we lived in more of a "hat society". I am sure that will surprise some because I am so casual in much of my daily attire, but I think that a hat just finishes off an outfit so nicely. Now I am not talking about the baseball cap to cover my messy hair action that is so common today, but rather a well thought out outfit with a hat that accentuates the colors and them of the outfit. Even in the picture little Rosi has nicely color coordinated her outfit (down to her pacifier ribbon) albeit probably not a conscious thing.

Now lately you have probably noticed my hat wearing which has to do more with sun protection than coordinating with my outfits, but I have noticed that I am taking more thought to the clothes when I know that a hat is part of the outfit.

Last swim of the year

This is Anna getting ready to dive. I should have had a great action shot, but I am still learning the new camera.

Our church rented out a swimming pool and had an end of the summer party. It was a lot of fun. I can't say that I socialized too much, but our family had fun together. Maggie, Rosi, and William had lots of fun putting mom and dad through the ringer but jumping from the side of the pool in quick continuous succession. I would not have thought I could do that for more than ten minutes, but I think we actually got up to around 20 minutes of it. The boys mostly enjoyed going down the swirly slide, and Anna with her friend Brook in tow, spent a lot of time on the dive board. Jeff wisked them all away about half way through and put them to bed (with a babysitter at home) and came back to join me. We got to splash around in the pool and I swam about 4 laps. Lots of fun!