Life in Haiku

March 18:  

  

Cupcakes, soft and sweet,

Icing piled high upon top

I resist, then eat.

Six weeks to teach class

Hard work, late nights, stress galore.  

Slowly, it does pass. 

My "mole" is not a mole. 

My foot is healthy and well,

but for the little hole.

A Delight

March 6: 

Glen and I have been talking a lot lately about making the Sabbath day more of a delight in our home.   The idea is based on the scripture, Isaiah 58:13, and it's been a thought provoking process for us.   For a long time, we've thought of  keeping the Sabbath day holy more of us keeping to a list of things we can't do, but now we're trying to be more deliberate about making it more of a day to bring us closer to God and help increase our faith.   

So what kinds of things are we doing to make the day more of a delight?   

Well, in addition to going to church, today we did boatloads of family history to get ready for our youth temple trip this week, 

we made and brought cupcakes to one of my young women whose birthday is today,

 we ate a simple break-the-fast meal of nachos, Glen and the girls went to their Savior of the World play practice, Emma got caught up on her seminary reading, I wrote a few letters and got some YW work done, Ellie did some artwork of a temple, and we listened to beautiful music on my favorite Sunday channel on Pandora.  

We're not perfect at it by any means, but as we've tried to be more deliberate about our Sabbath observance, I've definitely felt an increased peace and sense of renewal to begin our week.   

******************************

Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Everywhere!

If someone were to track our family's grocery purchases over a period of time, they would end up pretty  confused.  On the one hand, we buy spinach, carrots, chia seeds, avocados, quinoa, and bell peppers by the bucketload.    I've even had to scold my girls for using a few healthy items too quickly because of the expense (like coconut oil and nuts).  On the other hand though, in the past few weeks we've plowed through 20-lbs. of butter, several quarts of whipping cream, 2 Costco size containers of vanilla, over 15-lbs. of cream cheese, pounds and pounds of flour and sugar, and countless dozens of eggs.  

No, we don't deep fat fry all of our spinach leaves in butter....

What we have is two teenage girls who are walking incongruities.    

Emma and Cami both love to bake sugary goodies with everything that they are, BUT themselves eat zero sugar, few grains, and loads of nuts, fruits, and vegetables.    And since they don't eat their own goodies, guess who ends up being their frosting sampler to make sure the flavor/consistency are good....me!     

Recently Cami had an order for 20-dozen cupcakes and a cake topper for a wedding.   

I was a little nervous when she said that she'd accepted the job to make a cake topper, since her specialty is definitely cupcakes and not cakes.  

But she did an absolutely beautiful job.   

The order overwhelmed our house a bit (the chairs were to keep Rocky from getting at them)...

but she pulled it off without a hitch!  

The display was absolutely gorgeous (as was the cupcake baker)! 

Shortly after we finished cleaning up from that order, Cami hosted a cupcake camp at our house.  

It was mainly 12-year-old girls who were part of the camp...

They did a lot of baking over the course of the week...

and I think it was a smashing success by all accounts.   

They each got to bake cupcakes on their own and decorate them on their own as well.   It was a delight to see their creativity in action!  

It did give Cami a  little boost into her college fund...

but more than anything I think she was mostly excited to share her love of baking with the next generation!  

Speaking of which....with Cami at college, Emma is now poised to take over the cupcake business.   She's been a faithful assistant to Cami over the years and she is ready to take the reins now!  

***********************************

Last Week...

All of the following are totally true stories from the past week:

1.  I employed one of my children to help me eat healthier this week by offering them a small monetary bonus  if he would discourage me from eating junk and offer me healthy snacks in its place.   His first day on the job involved scolding me for eating crackers, handing me a bowl of raspberries after witnessing me wandering aimlessly through the kitchen,  and begging me to take him out for gelato while we were out running errands.   Meanwhile, another kid is vying for his job and is constantly offering to make me smoothies.

2.   Glen always picks the craziest weeks to go out of town.   Or maybe they're crazy because he's out of town...I guess I'm not really sure.  So last week we had the genealogy camp at the National Archives which brought me downtown every single day, the Young Women held a charity bake sale, our ward hosted the stake dance, one of my YW counselors had a death in the family,  my sister-in-law arrived into town, we had activities Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, Emma was giving a talk in sacrament meeting, I had early meetings on Sunday morning, and I was teaching in YW.   By Sunday night, I was wiped out to the extreme and slept very, very, very soundly...through Glen arriving back home and through a thunderstorm!

3.   The other day one of my kids excitedly called out to me that the orangutan she was reading about was born the same year as me.  She thought it was a cool coincidence that I had an orangutan twin somewhere in the world.  Another kid, though, overhearing the conversation, said in a shocked tone of voice, "Whoa!  Is that the oldest orangutan ever to live?!"  

4.   Glen's been working night and day on a deal at work and now it is finally done.

5.  My kids learned a lot about genealogy research at the National Archives camp, so we decided to round off all that knowledge with a meeting with a family history guru from our ward.   After a couple of hours, Cami, Emma, and Adam all found names to take to the temple.

6.  WE've been through 20 lbs. of butter,  10 lbs. of cream cheese, over 16-oz. of vanilla, and untold amounts of sugar and flour over the last three weeks.    I guess a  20-dozen cupcake order, a wedding cake topper, a bake sale, and a week-long cupcake camp at our house will do that.

Hurrying Time

We've gotten to that  busy end-of-the-school year time when our schedule  goes into overdrive.   It is filled up with  a bunch of  "extra" events that get heaped on in addition to our normal busy life.    This past week, in particular, has made me start  to get really excited for this last month of school to be over so that we can finally get on to the more laid back days of the summertime.  

Here's a small glimpse of a few things we've been up to:

Cupcake Order:

At only seven dozen cupcakes, it was far from being the biggest cupcake order Cami's ever had, but it definitely  was one of the more stressful ones.    The order was due at 8:00am on Saturday morning, but after a full day of school on Friday, then one of her last lacrosse games of the season that evening, she didn't get home until nearly 10:00pm.    The cupcake making didn't even start until I was ready for bed.  I attempted to sleep, but the banging around in the kitchen meant that it was fitful.   She finally finished up around 3:00am and collapsed into bed.    At 5:55am I awakened and realized that Cami hadn't gotten up for her 6:00am babysitting job yet.   Cami jolted awake and ran out the door  unkempt and still in her sweats.    My sleep had been so interrupted, that I attempted once again to go back to bed, but alas I did not really fall soundly back asleep until right as it was time to wake up for my 8:30 YW camp meeting.     

Civil War Days:   

Because my sister's roommate has been in charge of the children's activity tent the past few years, we get the inside scoop about all the fun things they're planning for the Falls Church Civil War Days each year.  Ellie's become quite enamored with the event and it's now something that she looks forward to all year long.    She was an official (costumed) volunteer this year that went  to assist AnnaLisa and her roommate.   We didn't have a whole lot of time, but Adam, Cami, and I  dropped by to say hello and try out some of the activities.   As per usual, their favorite activity was making and dipping their own candles.   Cami brought along the cute little boy she was babysitting, who  really enjoyed himself as well! 

Emma's Spring Voice Recital:   

Emma's been singing for us since she was a small child, but recently has been very interested in developing this talent more.  This school year we decided to sign her up for voice lessons with our favorite 6'3" opera singer that lives in our ward and it's been amazing to watch Emma grow in confidence as the year's gone on!  I love hearing her sing! 

Here are videos of her performances:  

What We Do For Fun

So what do we do for fun around our house?    

Here's a little glimpse:   

As a family, we love reenacting cooking shows from the Food Network.    My kids (all of them) beg for us to do these on a regular basis.  Glen and I find them a little draining, and especially dread the massive kitchen mess that always ensues, but we try to humor them about once a month or so.  Most of my kids are now better cooks than I am and it's been fun to see even Ellie and Adam stretch themselves to create really tasty (and even beautiful) food without recipes.   I like to think that their future spouses will thank me profusely someday.

Adam, Emma, and AnnaLisa were the judges this time.  Mommy was the first one out and Daddy was the winner.  

Ellie plays dress-up with her friends.  Dress-ups lately have gotten a lot more sophisticated than the fancy princess outfits of her younger days and now they usually involve some elaborate role playing in a historical time period.   This day it was a princess and Little House on the Prairie mash-up where Ellie was  "poor Rapunzel"  and Hannah the faithful servant girl who tried to help Rapunzel.  There was no electricity and they had to use candles and cook over a fire.     

Adam plays strategic board games.   Give him any strategy game and with practice, it won't take long until he will be the new family champion! This day he was playing 10 Days In Europe Game , but "7 Wonders" is his current favorite.  We play games together as a family at least a few times a week and for sure whenever we get together with the "S" family!   Adam also just started an every other week chess club with some local homeschoolers, since he can't talk any of his sisters (or mother) into playing that with him.  

Emma makes fancy breakfasts.   The breakfasts shown below are not for a special occasion of any sort. She just really seems to enjoy that quiet early morning time in the kitchen to create beautiful and delicious food.  

 I tote kids around to their doctor's visits, classes, etc., and try to take advantage of moments to spend special time with a kid whenever I can.    Yesterday Ellie had her appointment with a seizure specialist (also known as an epileptologist) downtown, so when her appointment was finished and I realized we were only about 2.5 miles from the National Zoo and still had a couple hours before the next kid had somewhere to be, it was a no-brainer.   The zoo was empty, the animals were active, and there were zoo keepers everywhere eager to share information about the animals to anyone who would listen.  We learned all about how they track pandas in the wild and best of all got to watch the very cute baby panda playing for a while!    

Cami makes cupcakes.  This clearly isn't a surprise, but perhaps the fact that after 3-years of being in business that she still regularly fills big orders for people and that she's still willing to make special orders for mom, may be a bit more of a surprise.  She recently held a big sale for her entrepreneurship class and sold 11-dozen cupcakes (on left) and  a week later was still willing to make these "brainy" cupcakes for me to share with friends celebrating another friend's anniversary of overcoming brain cancer.

Glen makes chocolate covered strawberries!    Okay, so this was just for Valentine's Day, but it was such a sweet gesture and so much more interesting than showing a picture of him watching BYU sports, that I had to throw it in.  

I had to laugh to see how many of our family's past-times involve food.   What can I say?  I think I'm raising a family of foodies!    Even Spencer sends me pictures of meals he's proudly prepared for himself….complete with the  budget friendly ingredients of beans and rice!  

One of Spence's culinary creations

So what do YOU do for fun in your house?  

Riddle Answers (aka the Day of Stern Warnings)

I'm pretty sure no one would have ever gotten this riddle right unless you happen to live in our house, but  here are the answers to the few of you who might actually have been a little worried about us.  Thanks for your awesome guesses, H!   The offer still stands for whomever figures out how to rewind the clock to simpler days.  

THE RIDDLE:  
I started today in a courtroom, spent most of the rest of it at the hospital, and then just made a frantic 9:00pm mad dash to the grocery store for sugar and cream cheese. What was going on today?   


THE ANSWERS:  

1.  Why was I in a courtroom?   Cami had been served a summons (by a policeman showing up at our door) to go to court because of her traffic accident in August.    Monday was her day in court.   Thankfully the judge was kind to her, dismissed the charges, and sent her on her way with a very stern warning to be a better driver.

2.   Why did I spend most of the day at the hospital?  Glen almost passed out at church on Sunday (while bearing his testimony).   Because nothing like that had ever happened to him before, I took him to the ER to rule out anything serious going on.   The doctors immediately admitted him and spent about 30 hours performing a myriad of tests on him.   Everything (heart, lungs, blood, blood pressure, etc) all came back totally normal and he was finally released on Monday evening with a stern warning not to skip breakfast anymore.

One of the worst parts about the whole incident was that it happened very publicly, which is the only reason why I am even mentioning it here on the blog.  Not a ton of people noticed the incident actually happening, but then when the bishop called on Glen to comment in the third hour of church and we were already gone,  apparently one of my friends very frankly replied to everyone, "Glen almost passed out and Lara took him to the hospital."    That's when the texts and phone calls started like crazy.    

On the one hand, it was great to see the outpouring of love and concern for his wellbeing, but on the other hand, it was a tad embarrassing to have his little health scare so widely known.   We even had Glen's parents worriedly calling him from Colorado, because Glen's aunt, who is in our ward, had told them.   I opted not to tell my family until it was over, just to avoid unnecessarily alarming anyone else.  We figured a couple hundred worried people was plenty, at least until we knew whether there was something actually worthy of worry going on.

He is now feeling almost 100% and the only restrictions he was given, was to not use his right arm for two days because of a procedure they did to him.  The worst part about that is that means he can't drive, which means that yours truly is acting as chauffeur as he goes to and from work (20 miles each way).  I  actually really like the extra time I get to spend with him in the car, but I am already really, really sick of traffic.

3.   Why did I have to make a mad dash trip to the store for sugar and cream cheese at 9:00pm?   Cami had two big cupcake orders at the same time and did not realize until 9:00pm that we were totally out of sugar and cream cheese.   In a family that has a food storage, running out of a staple like sugar is almost unheard of.   Then again, if I were to try to have an entire year's supply of sugar in our house, it would probably take up an entire room.  With her cupcake business and all of children's predilection to baking, it's absolutely obscene how much butter, cocoa, eggs, sugar, and powdered sugar we go through at our house.     Thankfully it's not us eating all of it.

I was not very excited by the late night (by my standards) trip to the store and Cami ended the day with a stern warning to better stay on top of her ingredient supplies, so that I can replenish them when I'm grocery shopping anyway.  

Today...Ice, Meltdowns, and Paint

*I had a total and complete meltdown about cupcakes today.   About 288 cupcakes to be precise.   Next FHE at our house is going to be about not overcommitting yourself and it will be directed at one particular teenage girl.

*We took our lives into our hands when we left our house today.  We got a very thin layer of ice overnight that coated everything, including our sidewalks, driveway, and grassy hill.  I literally thought I might have to have to crawl on my hands and knees to get back up to our front door as even the grass was as slippery as an ice skating rink.

*I think 5/7 people in our family may officially have all the words memorized to, "Let it Go," from the movie, Frozen.   I don't sound as good as this little girl, but I'm pretty sure with as much as we listen to the soundtrack that one of us will probably be chosen to be an understudy for Idina Menzel in her next movie.  

*It took my 1-1/2 hours to pick up Emma and Cami from school today.  Their schools are only a mile or so apart, but traffic coming home was so horrible (and unrelated to the aforementioned ice) that it almost made me want to bake a couple hundred cupcakes instead of sitting another minute in the car.

*Yesterday we finished getting our kitchen and living room painted.   Now it's just the floors and decorating and we will finally be done!  Are we always this slow when it comes to house projects?  Yes.  Yes, we are.

The blue and brown are gone, gone, gone!!!

*I am only blogging tonight because I am still grumpy.