Well, we've got another "Four and Feisty" kiddo on our hands! Natalie is 4 years old today, Happy Birthday Natalie!
Last night she said she wanted an Elsa cake. Abi had helped her google cake ideas for some images that were gonna give me a bit more cake talent than I have skill for... Cause this was Natalie's request...
Oh great, thanks Abi. I told Natalie I didn't know how to make an Elsa cake. I said "How about a CHOCOLATE cake!" We googled chocolate cakes on my phone, and there was one with MnMs... I was very happy when she quickly said "I want that cake!' Sweet, I can do that! So a chocolate cake and a bag of MnMs were on my 5 am shopping list.
Last night, as I made my birthday plan of attack, I figured I could go by the store after dropping Corey off at the airport (had to leave at 6:45 to take him). But my plans changed when Daniel woke me up at 4:30 a.m. this morning. I fed him a bottle, but it did not cause him to fall back asleep. That little boy was wide awake. And he was being noisy. I didn't want him to wake up Owen, so I quickly took him into the closet, where I could get dressed, cause we're going to the store (Since there aren't many other things to do at 5 a.m. with a baby that's ready to play.
So I went, got all the food goodies and party supplies, and was home in time to get it set up while the kids played the Wii. At 6:15 I called them up.
She's such a cute little birthday girl!
We sang, she opened her birthday bags, and then I took Corey to the airport. All the grandparents came over with more treats and gifts for Natalie. (Yes, for now we let the Vegan thing slide on birthdays..."Who wants more cake and ice cream?!?!")
Opening gifts~
One thing that was so sweet this morning - I gave her a package of Barbie fruit snacks in one of her gifts (cause she already got birthday presents in May, but I did get her one more toy, and Corey will be getting her something when he gets back) But with the fruit snacks, she only had 6 in there and she took one and then shared the rest with anyone who asked for one. It was so sweet. Of course, then there were also moments throughout the day where she did her loud scream and wailed and fought over sharing or not sharing and Lily would come and say "I think Natalie is getting a little spoiled..." The Feisty Fours are soon to be fully upon us, but she did pretty good for a toddler on her birthday. We love you Natalie!
I went to Costco today. I usually go to the nice big Salt Lake Costco on Saturday mornings after I take Wesley to Utah Youth Junior Symphony Orchestra. Today I got the flat bed instead of the cart, which means I'm ready to do some serious food shopping. Here we are headed back out to the van -
Peter is there in his carseat under the blue blanket, and Owen was lucky he still had a little place to sit. He was a good little helper. I really loaded up on food since I missed going last week cause I was with Peter at the hospital. So this will get our large family through the week and then some, with probably a few short runs to the local grocery store during the week for smaller items that I didn't need to buy in bulk. We were short on veggies this past week though so I got a lot of that - which is what is in the tower of boxes there - I am learning more and more and doing better each week at living and cooking a mostly plant based diet for myself and my family. Yesterday we had a chocolate treat though - a big hershey's kiss that I had bought with the intention that we'd use it at our family anniversary dinner. But I forgot, so we had it today after the kids cleaned up the kitchen. The kids had never seen such a big kiss!
Daniel was very excited, we let him open it -
Which made him think that this big chocolate treat belonged to him -
Which was cute, but then the kids didn't want his hands or spit all over their piece of chocolate, so we took it away and let our vegan, who was not going to be eating any of this treat, have the honors of breaking it open -
Which Daniel found personally offensive.
"You broke my chocolate kiss!! And now you're all eating it?!!" He rejected the chocolate scraps for a minute
...but then he joined in having some bites of chocolate. I was surprised but the kids didn't eat all gone right away. It was a hollow kiss so there really wasn't that much there, in my opinion, for what I know to be their junk food eating capabilities from what I've seen in past Halloween nights. But maybe they're slowly becoming less and less addicted to the junk.
Here is another pictures of Daniel sad over junk food today - So I have a wood thing that is hanging on the wall by the stairs. On that wood thing, I have a dozen or so ornaments
You'll notice that there is a little orange ice cream popsicle. Those have been there for as long as Daniel has been alive, I think. But today he might have just seen them for the first time, and he wanted that popsicle. So we gave it to him. And he was sad that it didn't taste very good. So he gave it back to Corey and wanted him to take off the ribbon and hook in it that were making it hang up. So Corey did. And to Daniel's dismay it didn't make it taste any better. He came to me to get me to fix it -
I think the poor kid really just needed a nap, but we were all smiling at his frustration and trying to figure out what the deal was with that sprinkle covered popsicle. Maybe I'll get more fake junk food treats and have them around the house - to kinda visually inoculate them against the sprinkles and shiny wrappers and the call/pull that such multi colored junk food treats have over children. Speaking of that, I've recently started two books - "Mad Cowboy" and "The China Study" - you don't have to get very far in them to realize that we really do live in a toxic food environment (see China Study foreword 2 on page xvii). I'm glad that I'm increasingly becoming more aware of it and that our health habits are improving little by little as we make changes - I'm getting in my "daily dozen" most days and I'm glad that even the kids are eating bananas and oatmeal more instead of "fruit snacks" and cold cereal. Little by little.
One more note - this morning, before I left to take Wes to orchestra, I checked Ethan's phone. At Corey's request, I've been checking his phone now and then this past week (usually while he's taking a shower) to look at his texts. I did on Wednesday when he was home "sick" all day. This morning he was still in his bed but his phone was within reach, hehe, and during my snooping, come to find out he totally lied to us last night! Corey's been telling him to go on dates with lots of girls, and said he'd even help pay for his dates if he would. So Ethan said he got a date with someone named Mailee and he was going with a group to the movies, but from the texts, we learned it was just him and Ella again, and he's already seen her every night this week. She's a great girl, but we just don't want him going steady with anyone right now as a 16 year old (regarding his age, Ethan said recently "...Why do you keep holding that against me?!?!! I'm almost 17!") So I told Corey, and Corey asked Ethan some follow up questions about his outing last night, and Ethan continued in his deception. So Corey called Ella's dad to talk with him (he's a friend of ours from high school) and let him know some of our concerns. Later Corey took his iphone, and it's gone for good. We've taken it away a few times had a conversation at 4pm about what we knew, how Corey had talked to her dad, and what the consequences shall be. E was then very discouraged and upset, said Corey calling her dad has ruined his relationship with her, and he went to bed at 6pm in tears. So, that's where we are right now with raising this teen. As Corey said once, Ethan is the teenage daughter we never had. We'll get through this, I hope.
It has been a good week. Today I am proud to say that I am 5 for 5 with having a sit down meal ready when Corey gets home!
And each meal has had a lot of food, so there is plenty for everyone and lots of healthy options. I am very proud of myself. Tonight we had vegan burgers. IP tore off little pieces of the Beyond Burger for Peter to eat. And some of the potato salad.
He was so cute as he tried to pick up the food with the wrong side of his fork...
Look at the concentration in that little double chin....
We got him a little booster chair recently so that he can sit on his own, cause it was not fun to eat having him on my lap.
Now he has his own seat and it's much better.
I think he just wants to be independent and treated like the rest of the kids!
Here he is eating potatoes and ham yesterday.
I think I could make a live feed daily vlog of him eating and people could enjoy his cuteness.
I know I'd tune in. He's such a cute little guy! Corey mentions in that first video above that Daniel hurt his teeth. Yesterday he was playing at a friends house and fell out of a wagon or toy car face first into the ground. He didn't cut his lip but did loosen his tooth and was bleeding. Luckily the mom there is a pediatric dentist and was able to assess him. She said it might turn dark but that doesn't mean the tooth is dead, it's just how it heals. But if it turns yellow after that, then that's a problem and means there is an infection, so we're going to watch him for a few days. He was able to eat spaghetti last night and had soft french toast today. We're showing him how to chew in the back and not use his front teeth. He will be okay.
Now with school officially over, we are enjoying summer by having late mornings.
No zooms to wake up for. I have a little more time to try and quietly sneak away from Peter.
Uh oh, he's awake!
Corey and I have been doing good at getting up and reading our scriptures. Then he gets in his workout as he bikes to work, and I do a 7 min workout or two. The kids are pretty quiet and busy all day working in the basement, in their happy place: Legos. They are in the summer lego zone once again. The quarantine has gotten their "I'm bored" warm up out of the way, and the lego creativity is already ready to kick in, and we're not even in July yet! All the legos that I tried to organize or atleast put away are back in the house and all over the floor. Abi is creating a beach town, Lily is once again working on making all the Elf dragons, and the boys are making spaceships and cool looking minifigures. I'm trying to sort a little. When we put up the bunk beds, we really just shoved a lot into boxes to get it out of the way, and all those boxes were put it in the basement. I am trying to do a little bit each day. Sometimes Peter won't let me. We were able to get him distracted on Tues by pulling him around in the EZ roller. I loved how he gripped onto the bar with his toes.
It's fall concert season, which is the warmup to the Christmas concert season. Last night, Corey took Lily and Sophi with him down to Provo to see Ethan in a Synthesis concert down at BYU.
Corey didn't know, but was pleasantly surprised, when he found out that Ethan was the feature performer in the final piece of the evening! He recorded it - pretty amazing Eth!
Joseph and Mel also came out to support their little brother - group pic!
Fun for them. I missed the show because I was up with Owen at his trumpet lesson. He is doing really really good at trumpet. I wish I could blow a sound, but I can't, but I'm being a decent parent music coach, I think! I help him practice (Wes was originally hired to take O to his lessons and coach him through his practicing, but we fired him cause he was not doing his job.)
Abi had a GMS fall concert tonight. As an aspiring violinist myself, I was super amazed by all the violinist, wow. I'm also amazed by how well Abi plays. I guess I'll go get the program so I can see what the pieces they played were called... (quick trip to the garage, I left the programs in the car...) Ok, they played Serenade, Op. 6 by Josef Suk - Andante con moto, and Brook Green Suite, H.190 by Gustav Holst - III Dance.
(I don't really know what any of that means, but there ya go.) Corey got her some roses, and some new black shoes on the way there for call time. We brought Katharine, she did pretty good at not being disruptive. She kept herself entertained by a little bright blue light by the entrance doors. I stood there holding her while she tried to get the light. I was able to hear the music and she was quiet, so win win.
I took Daniel climbing for 20 minutes before we picked her up around noon after her GMS classes this morning (she goes to GMS via the bus every Saturday morning at 8am) then home so she could do her hair and get ready, then Corey took her for shoes and dropped her off at Westminster. On the way home, we stopped by Handel's Ice Cream to get her a treat. She and I both bot Midnight Madness in a sugar cone. Pretty yummy.
Two quotes by Abi tonight: With Abi on our way into Handel’s ice cream shop after her GMS fall concert- “Grandma always says that chocolate makes you feel better. It makes me feel better even when I’m NOT sad!”
And Abi talking abt a Vegan shop she went to during GMS break “… do NOT buy chocolate chip cookies from there….” Haha! I thought that was funny. I sent those to Mel. Mel has become the family quote collector. She has been keeping a note pad with all our funny one liners (or two) and she sent this out last month (first half) and more that she sent out today. My apologies that they are not all politically or culturally correct, but we're trying! -
OCTOBER
• “You look fine..” “Thanks” “Not you, I was talking about Joseph” - Ethan
• “I hear it’s not good to hold your bladder in.” -Abi
• “Mom, I don’t think the butterflies need a bath.”
• Dad: "So what did we learn from watching West Side Story?"
Ethan: “Do whatever you feel like doing in that exact moment”
• Daniel: “Ethan, can I play your Ukulaytis?”
• Ethan: “Owen, you’re funny.”
Owen with a creepy smile: “Not for looong!”
• Ethan: “I’m just keeping lots of lines in the water.”
Dad: “Did you put on any bait?”
• Daniel: “Bate, mate, shate, late…”
Abi: “Itch, litch, pitch, mitch…”
Daniel: “B**ch!”
• “Eh, you’re a girl.” - Ethan
• “Why is no one as excited to date me as I am?” -Eth
• “Do you want to play ‘endowed/not endowed’ with me?” - Ethan
• “Mom, Natalie hit me back! ” - Owen
“At least it’s an honest confession”
• “There’s a ghost in my tummy” - Peter
• Owen running towards Chalane “NANCYYY!!!”
• Me (Mel) - “He’s 26, so he’s kind of old.”
Natalie: “Does that mean you’re old?”
Me: :(
• “We didn’t invest so much in to you only for you to become a Brazilian house wife!” -Dad
• “She sounds like a CAT!” - Daniel hearing the baby cry
• “The ‘M’ says ‘Mmm’ as in CAKE!” - Peter
• “Mel, I swear if you shake the bed one more time, I will grab you by the neck and hold you under water until the bubbles stop.” - Wes
• Daniel: "What is wrong with his cheeks?" Abi: "Nothings wrong, he's just asian."
NOVEMBER's additions:
• Joseph: “Good job Ethan you did really great, I’m glad I could pave the way for you. I’ll take as much credit as I can get.”
• Also Joseph: “You know, we all have different talents. You’re really good improvising, and I’m really good at taking tests!”
Ethan: “Why are you roasting me?”
• Ethan: “What did you get on the ACT? 26? It’s ok, you’re not stupid. Truman got a 30, and he’s an idiot.”
• Ethan opening mutual: “Nooo, I don’t want to get back on this dark playground”
• Ethan: “How tall is she? 5’2? Nah.”
Me (Mel) ”Hey I’m 5’2!”
Eth “Yeah, and you’re super short.”
• Dad: “Now we just need more violin and more saxophone.“
Lily: ”NOOO it’s already SO loud at home!”
• Lily: “Mel, you NEED to date Davi! He has a mustache! there are not many guys who have a mustache.”
• “Dad, you should get to BeReal!”
“My life is already too real. I don’t need more reminders of my reality.” - Dad
• “Mel, going on dates with someone with red flags is better than not going on any dates at all.” -Ethan
• “Pursue with caution, but nonetheless, pursue.” (referring to dating)
• Ethan: “Wait, Wesley’s in India?!?! If it’s not in the group chat I don’t know about it."
Joseph: “Even if it IS in the group chat you don’t know about it.
Ethan: “that’s fair.”
• “What is it about biology that makes incest unacceptable?” - some guy in our apartment
• At Walmart: “That’s not weed Lily that’s not funny, put it away” - Wes
• Daniel walking in with toy magnets
Grandma: “No! You’ve always given me AWFUL pizza!”
• “You go have 13 kids and tell me what your favorite store is” - Dad defending his love and appreciation for Costco
Today is the first day of Spring! To celebrate, Corey and I went up the canyon to enjoy skiing. This really was probably our last time, cause we've used up all our passes with the Mountain Collective.
....but maybe we'll go use some of our half price offers. I was thinking we needed to use it this weekend because we are going to Moab next weekend, but then realized Moab is in two weeks, not one. But we maybe Corey would have a busy week again, so we gotta take the chance while we have it. We weren't planning on spending the whole day, but we pretty much did. We left home at 8:45 and were able to park without a problem. No traffic going up the canyon either. We had a good time. The snow was coming down all day. I got better at going down some short steep parts, but still hesitate on the long steep hills. I did better on the blues though, and I only fell down twice. We had lunch at Collin's Grill. I got a salad, Corey got chili. I'm going to get chili next time, cause the salad was super small, and it was gorgonzola cheese which is just nasty. ugh. Vegan chili next time, I'll remember. We had a nice view of the mountain though!
The snowy day wasn't bad at all with goggles on, but it was all so white that I struggled a little bit with my depth perception. The little tree area at the bottom of the Rock N Roll Hill was really really fun. I liked that the best. We did it like 5 times. On our last run at 3:15, it really was like a winter wonderland.
So at 3:30 Corey said we probably should be responsible parents and go home to take care of our children. Ok fine. So we headed to the car. We started to leave. But then traffic stopped. And we all just sat there. For a 10 minutes, 15 minutes... 30 minutes... an hour...
And then for 2 hours... We checked the udot traffic for the Cottonwood Canyons and texted the kids every little bit to let them know of the lack of progress in our situation, and they were all good, and we sat. "I wish we had kept on skiing!" I said, and Corey teased that he's created a monster. We calmly and patiently waited as the winter storm raged outside. "I feel bad for the pioneers at Martin's Cove. That must have been horrible. We are totally fine and warm" I said as we sat in our thoughts. Corey added "...and entertained!" (He was laughing at our friend Kevin's facebook memes, very funny.)
We got in the car around 3:40 and arrived home at 6:44. It was long, but it is ok. We're sorry for anyone who skidded off the road, but if it was because you did not have 4 wheel drive, tsk tsk! No driving up the canyon without 4 wheel drive or chains, like the signs say at the mouth of the canyon. But now that we've waited for hours in bad traffic going up the canyonand now coming down, I guess we are true skiers.
A funny moment from this morning - I had just gotten Owen and Daniel out of the tub. As I was trying to get Owen dressed, Daniel came over and got on top of him to give him a big hug.
It was cute, so I took a picture. They were jibber-jabbering something that I didn't understand, but they kept giggling and hugging. I thought it was an appropriate mother's day gift to me from these little boys - "Look Mom! Your children love each other!"
It was super cute so I started a quick video and then I got a pretty funny moment on camera.
In case you couldn't tell, the funny moment is around 33 seconds. They are pretty cute and funny little guys. At church Daniel and his little girl friend were holding hands again, he's just being affectionate to everyone today!
They're so cute!
After church, we went to Corey's brother's house for a Mother's Day bbq. I made some of this Purple Carrot Egg-less Salad (super delish!) and also brought some of these vegan sausages - Field Roast and Tofurky Italian sausage, both of which are very good and Hyrum and I quite enjoyed them. The kids played in their cousins' dress up clothes.
We have no idea what Natalie was, but she wore it with confidence.
Lily taught and then led the kids in singing "Mother Tell Me The Story" We had a good time visiting until reality brought us back - Wes heard from his cousin that he wasn't allowed to use non-Churchill people in his SBO skit for his campaign for Governor that is due tomorrow.... the video we recorded yesterday thus had 2 neighborhood kids who would/could disqualify him. Looks like he's gonna have to get up early and come up with a plan B!
Our house has been pretty darn clean for 2 weeks today! There are all the main things that I have been keeping clean each day, like the main floor, the sink, laundry, bathrooms, my bedroom, and then I've been doing little side projects like organizing the desks or cleaning out drawers each day too. Corey stayed home today and I made him a healthy vegan lunch - a hummus bagel, dried apricots, and some juice. He likes juice.
We're doing well at reading scriptures. I think it is fully establish as a family habit. It took a few years to get in the grove of the new Come Follow Me program (we didn't do as well with the New Testament, did better with the Book of Mormon last year, and now we've got it down. I've been doing great at making dinner, and then right after dinner we go read for a little bit and say our family prayer. We have lots of good discussion as we share current events and cultural trends. We enjoy talking with and teaching our chidlren.
It is rewarding and we're so thankful to have all these wonderful kids in our life.
My parents and sister Beka and her husband are joining us for the feast. 4 guests plus us = 16 table settings and one high chair. We put together our table and two banquet tables, and then some fun decorations down the middle to make it pretty!
I liked setting the table the most. And making the vegan stuffing. Daniel behaved better today during our preparation than he did last night, which was helpful. He kept Peter entertained at the piano.
Lily got Peter dressed up!
I was in charge of 3 dishes: Potatoes, stuffing, and sweet potato souffle. The souffle was super healthy, so it wasn't quite as addictive as previous years, but still wholesome and delicious. My parents arrived around 2:45, which was when I realized I hadn't cleared the driveway yet! So I ran out and my dad and I did that, then Corey and the kids got back. It worked out just right. We enjoyed a few minutes of pre-feast visiting as we did the finishing touches on the food.
And then everyone sat down and we went around the table to share some things we are grateful for.
The table from the other angle. It was fun to have us all at one long table together, rather than the adult table and the "kid" table.
I think we'll have lots of feasts like this in heaven, that's gonna be so fun for forever! Then my dad said a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings.
Time to enjoy! Little kids loaded up with jello. Peter at the head of the table.
Ethan had a mountain of food.
Glittery pumpkins and leaves as I try to get another angle of the meal.
After everyone was full, we visited more, then enjoyed pumpkin pies from Costco while we watched "The Fighting Preacher" My mom and dad hadn't seen it and they stayed for that, Corey and the kids headed back up to Park City around 7, and now the movie is over and I'm here with Daniel and Peter. Quiet house, going to go to bed early. It was a good day, I think we caught some of the magic that we had at our family parties from years gone by. Maybe we'll try to have festive feasts more often.
