Welcome Back Sunday Dinner

I love big, traditional Sunday dinners, the kind of food that includes all the fixings--homemade bread, desserts, and the foods that are special enough only for Sunday and the only meal you eat that day.

Unfortunately, in the last year we have gotten away from having a big Sunday dinner because of how busy and varied our schedules on Sunday are. During tax busy seasons, Dave is working and when he is not, our church callings frequently have us attending different wards and meetings, as Dave often travels around the stake. So the traditional Sunday dinner went by the wayside in favor of easier fare that could be gobbled up inbetween meetings or as people came home from church at various times. Plus I just didn't always have the energy to cook up a feast after being so busy at church.

This fall however, I have had a yearning for big, delicious, homecookin' Sunday meals. With pre-planning, the crockpot or slow oven roasting, it can be done. So I just decided to make it happen and if it was just for the girls and I then we would enjoy it ourselves. So for the last few weeks, I have made homemade bread before church and we have enjoyed roasted pork loin, roasted turkey, and lasagna. (Fortunately, Dave has been with us 2 of 3 times!)

It has had a great effect on the family. It just makes Sunday special when you sit down to a nice meal together. Last week, Ashley told me that it was the best Sunday she ever had. I don't know about that, but I think it had something to do with Sunday dinner. So here is hoping I can keep it up and stick to my resolution for Sunday dinners.

Tie-Dye

This is probably no big deal for all the "supermoms" I know, and I know many, but for us this was our first tie-dye experience. The girls chose different methods but fortunately it worked out and there were no spills or disasters.

Fall Festival

Every year our city holds a "Fall Festival" for families. It is totally free with lots of crafts, entertainment and games for kids. It is held at a huge park that is connected to the small community zoo.

We go every year and this year was no exception. So after our soccer games we headed over for a short visit to the festival. The girls had their faces painted,

then painted their own pumpkins,


and worked on small crafts which included bookmarks, nametags and leaf magnets.

This year the girls wanted to skip the petting zoo, I wonder why?

Soccer Season

It's soccer season again and this year we have two players! (And two games every Saturday.)

First up is Ashley, she has played spring and fall for 6 years now! We are three games into the season and Ash already has two goals, both scored in the same game. This is pretty good considering she plays defense about 75% of the time. This by far has been her best season and it has been fun for Dave and I to watch her team grow up and develop as players. Her games are really fun to watch, especially because the skill level of the play has gone up and it feels like we are finally watching "real" soccer. Go Ashley!!

The newest player in the family is Paige! Kindergarten soccer focuses a lot on training with games not starting until the end of the season. So far Paige loves it, much more than I thought she would. She is always asking, "do I have soccer today?"

I love to watch her play because she is just so cute in her soccer gear and so far she seems to be picking it up pretty quickly. The kindergarten team is co-ed but her team is all girls and one boy, poor kid. It's great for Paige though because almost all the kids go to her school and live in our neighborhood. She is also the tallest player on the team, I am going to have to show her how to use her size to get aggressive!

Meet Gilad

Here is my new workout friend---Gilad. He was recommended by Dave's sister Kristin and I have to admit, I am liking Gilad. I'm sure he is just a phase, but he is such a character that I feel like I am watching a SNL skit while working out...you can't beat that!

Gilad is an Israeli beefcake and fitness guru. There is just something that makes me smile when he says in his Israeli accent, "very nice" or "I can feel it, my bun is on fire!"

Of course, I talk back to Gilad to tell him by "bun" is on fire too and it continues to burn for days afterward!

Paige also is getting to know Gilad, as anything I do she pretty much does too. Yesterday, I wasn't in the room when Gilad came on TV so Paige called out to tell me it was starting. Then she said, "it's okay, you have time mom. It is just showing how strong Gilad is."

If you watch the opening credits of his show, it is a montage of Gilad muscle shots and of him running on the beach---it's so funny and I love it!

Let the Playing Begin

When you have a righteous desire and you make an effort to fulfill it, even if it is meager, you will get the heavenly help you need.

We got a piano last week and Ashley started lessons this week. We decided to go with a digital piano, the technology nowadays is pretty advanced so we felt like it would be a good choice for novices like us. We also have the option to trade-up at 100% the purchase price if we decide we would like something different later on.

Finding the right piano was only half the battle, we then had to find an instructor for Ashley. Fortunately, our neighbor was willing to take Ashley as a student for a ridiculously cheap price per lesson. It is a real blessing and so convenient because Ashley can walk to and from her piano lesson.

We aren't going to start Paige yet, but she has loved being able to play with the piano. In fact, when Dave asked her if she would like to take lessons someday, she said, "I don't think I need lessons, dad. I am already pretty good."

Do you read our log?

Paige asked me today if other people read our log. I hated to do it, but I then had to spend about 15 minutes trying to convince an incredulous 5-year old that the word was "blog."

And now the more I think about it, I don't think "blog" sounds like a real word either, although I am definitely not a logger.

I Love the 80s

Well, you know you are getting old when your daughter gets invited to an 80s theme party and has to ask you what that means. Especially, when you automatically think, "totally cool" and know just what she can wear.

As you can see, we went for the Madonna/Flashdance look.

After the party, when I went to pick Ashley up, lots of the mom's gave me compliments on Ashley's costume and hair. Actually, it was really just all the moms standing around saying, "I remember those! I use to wear that!"

Homework Time

Here is Paige doing her first ever homework assignment. She is decorating a flower to hang up on the "Kinder Garden" wall. She is loving kindergarten and is happy to go every day.

She is getting the occasional homework, which has already resulted in a "bad parent" moment for me. Every Friday, the kids have a color show-and-tell day, which means that on red day the kids bring something from home that is red, on blue day bring something blue, etc. Well, we did okay on week one, but I completely forgot last Friday. Paige told me she had to use something in the classroom. She didn't seem bothered that we had forgotten, but I told her I would try hard to remember next Friday and she just said, "Yeah, mom you should try a little harder to remember." I wrote it on the calendar.

I also have to smile at Paige's reaction to the discipline program in the classroom. Basically, you start each day on green, if you are "put on" yellow it's a warning and a red is a short time-out. Well, obviously this made an impression on her because she came home the first day of school to tell me that, "two kids were on yellow today!" A couple days later, I told her to ask her teacher about something or other and she said, "okay," then thought about it for a minute and said, "I don't think I should ask her, she might put me on yellow." This was followed by another incident at home when I gave her warning for something and I told her if she did it again, she was going to have to sit in time-out, to which she responded, "does this mean I'm on yellow?"

All this led to a little talk about how in kindergarten we learn to follow the rules, but we can ask our teachers questions and that even if we "get on red" mom isn't going to get really mad at you because that just means we have to try a little harder next time. I was worried she was taking this all a little too seriously.

Of course, after week two we aren't talking as much about being put on red, now we are onto, "mom, my friend Addie has a boyfriend. It's true!"

Mom's response: "you don't have boyfriends in kindergarten."

Paige: "I know mom, but Addie doesn't know that. So it's okay."

Heaven Help Me

There are a lot of things that I need "heavenly help" for, but I sure am in-over-my-head on this one. Piano Shopping. I don't play the piano or any instrument for that matter. I don't read music. I don't sing. I don't sing on tune. Are you beginning to see my handicap?

New, used, upright, digital, soundboards, hammers, string length, key weight and that doesn't even include the many brands I am trying to figure out. I have actually been doing a lot of research to try and learn as much as possible, but you can't help but feel stupid when you go to a piano showroom and can't sit down to try out a piano. I have this fear that when a piano salesman (or Craigslist seller) sees me, he is thinking, "there is a sucker born every minute" (insert evil laughter.)

I am only doing this so my daughters don't end up like me (see above.)

Labor Day

My Labor Day began very early. In fact, I was awake to welcome it at 12:00 am and honestly it wasn't much of a holiday. Dave as expected had to work all weekend. And late Sunday night Paige started getting sick. I was pretty much up with her until about 3am, then we finally got a few hours sleep, but were back up again at 5:30am.

Paige isn't seriously sick just a horrible cold. The problem is she is a terrible sick person. She fights it so much that she just ends up making herself more miserable and her parents suffer in the process. She has always been like this, once in the hospital she was given a sedative which should have made her drowsy and relaxed, instead she kept trying to fight it off and basically ended up loopy, but flailing around without control of her body.

The other night, she was terribly congested and just kept sniffing to clear her nose instead of breathing through her mouth. She would just not relax and eventually ended up so frustrated she was crying, which only made the congestion worse.

The next morning, the girls and I ended up canceling our Labor Day plans - a parade, swimming, and a bike ride. Paige was okay, but in no condition to leave the house, until about 7:30 pm when all of us feeling a little cabin fever, went to 7-Eleven for a Slurpee.

Line in the Sand

I am drawing a line in the sand. I will not tie shoes for my 10 year old. Even if it means she misses the school bus in the morning because she can't tie the $60 athletic shoes that she wanted so badly and promised she could tie without a problem.