Hats for Hayden

Hayden has been into hats lately.  I didn't get a picture of his laundry basket hat, but that one was pretty cute too.

Backing up a bit

Here are a couple things I missed last week.

1. On Wednesdays the kids have early out day--kind of random and weird, but I like to have them home early, so whatever.  This past Wednesday they had a great afternoon playing together really nicely (which is not always the case) but it just made me feel so happy I had to document it.  

Playing nicely can really wear you out!

2. Also on Wednesday, I made some really yummy chicken wraps that turned out too delicious not to share so I'm posting the recipe here.  I got it from a Costco cookbook they were handing out for free one day!  Score!

Avocado Ranch Salad Wraps

1 avocado cut in 1/2 inch dice

2 tsp fresh lime juice

1/2 c ranch dressing

salt and pepper

*1 lb Willow Brook Kettle Fried Turkey Breast

I couldn't find that, so I just used chicken breast instead

4 c mixed salad greens (I just used spinach leaves)

4 10 inch flour tortillas

12 grape tomatoes, halved

1/4 c cilantro 

1/4 c sliced red onion (I omitted this and used green onion instead)

3 Tbsp shredded extra-sharp white Cheddar Cheese

Combine avocado, lime juice and ranch dressing.

Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Shred turkey, and stir into the avocado mixture.

Add cilantro and onion to the mixture

Place salad greens on tortillas, followed by the turkey mixture, tomatoes, and cheese.  

Roll up the wraps & cut in half.  Makes four servings.  

Enjoy! They are very tasty! 

3.  My birthday was this past weekend.  I also, had my Quintessence Cabaret Concert this past weekend, so the birthday festivities were kind of spread out.  We took the family out to eat at Olive Garden Friday afternoon and when we got home, I opened my birthday present.

 

Arthur got me AN ICE CREAM MAKER!!!!   I have such fun memories of my family growing up making homemade ice cream together and all taking turns cranking the handle with Dad.  

Arthur got me one that can be hand-crank or electric, which is great!  I just know we have lots of fun memories in store for us, and I can't wait to break it in.  

Sunday night, we had my birthday dinner.  The kids set the table with a table cloth, and name tags for everyone, and picked pansies to arrange in my small circle vase.  They put out "special glasses"  (I think they might be parfait dishes) for Arthur & I, and filled all the cups with water.

(Unfortunately, it was more temptation than Hayden could handle, because he climbed on the table, plucked the petals off a few of the flowers, and spilled two cups of water, saturating Sean & Dallin's name tags and soaking the table cloth--so things were a bit damp for dinner.)

This is just a picture of the name tags & vase since I didn't get a picture of the whole thing last night.  I just loved their flower arrangement and the nametags written in their cute 1st grade/kindergarten handwriting.

Arthur made me a delicious white cake with strawberries and whipped cream. (Can't get enough of that stuff lately.)  And since he couldn't find the bag of candles, we used the broken number three.  But really it stands for 24.  

okay fine.  29.

4.  Which means, that my parents celebrated their 30th anniversary this weekend!  Congratulations you guys!  What an example you are setting for your posterity.  We love you and can't wait to see you this summer.

5.  As previously mentioned, my last Quintessence Concert was this weekend.  It is the fun one of the season--members of the choir do solos, duets, and small ensembles with lots of different kinds of music.  A lot of show tunes and jazz and things.  Despite getting the video camera charged and the camera ready for Arthur, he forgot them in his rush out the door.  So Jenny & Julianne, I'm sorry, but I don't have any recording of my solo, "Girl in 14G," which is such a BUMMER because I nailed it.   

A friend in the choir did email me these pictures, though.  

This would be the girl upstairs in 15G (the jazz singer)

Here's me as the 14G girl.  

All we need is the 13G opera girl, and it would be almost like being there.

Anyway, the concert went well, (if a little long) and was well attended.  Thanks to my friends who came to support me!!!  It means a lot to me!

I'm also thankful for my Arthur who has been awesome in supporting me in developing my talents.  He has held down the fort by himself most Sunday evenings when I have been at rehearsal over the last 3 years.  He is so great at giving me "space to fly" as Marjorie Hinckley used to say of her husband.  Thank you, Arthur!!!

This Made Us Smile

Arthur was driving our 10 year old mini-van home from church today going really fast and taking the turns too sharply.  I kept saying, "Whoa!  This is old reliable, not Lightning McQueen!  Take it easy!"  I turned to the kids, and said, "Daddy thinks this is a race car, guys.  But it's not."  To which Daphne replied,  "Come on, Mom,  let Daddy use his imagination!"

Counting my Blessings

1. Dallin:

Here's a little conversation I had with Dallin on Sunday:

Mom:  Okay, after lunch we are having quiet time.  You can read,  you can draw, you can write in your journal, you can play quietly, but you have to be quiet.

Dallin:  Can we watch a movie?

Mom:  You can watch a church movie

Dallin:  Can we play on the computer?

Mom:  No.

Dallin:  Come on, Mom.  Couldn't we play on church.com?

He's a thinker that one. 

2. Daphne:

Daphne has a sweet tooth.  Well, let's be honest.  Everybody in this family has a sweet tooth.  Sean and Daphne will frequently ask me to bake cookies, not because they actually want the cookies, but because they like picking in the cookie dough.  (I still can't figure out how the recipe says it makes 5 dozen, and we only end up with 3 dozen.  Do we really eat that much dough?)

So the other day, Daphne and I made cookies, and of course we ate lots of the dough.  I watched her take a ball of dough that was the size of a cookie and pop it in her mouth.  I told her that was QUITE enough cookie dough for today and she'd be sick if she ate more.

Sure enough, a little while later, she was holding her tummy and couldn't even be tempted by dessert after dinner.  I said, "Well, Daphne, that's what happens when you eat too much cookie dough.  Next time, we should probably hold back a little."  

She said, "Mom, how do you know it's the cookie dough?  Do you know everything?"  

I said, "I sure don't know everything, but I know an awful lot about cookie dough tolerance because I've been eating it for a lot of years.  And I know that when you eat too much, it makes your tummy feel bad."

Sometimes if you really go crazy, you might have to call your friend and cancel your outing because you feel too sick to go.   And yes, that happened this year, not when I was five.  

3. Sean:

So I've been potty-training Sean in some degree or another since August.  That's right.  It's been eight months.  Now maybe I'm just spoiled, because my first two got the hang of it in a week.  But doesn't 8 months seem like an extraordinarily long time to be potty-training?  Tonight it seems especially long because I just stepped in a puddle urine (on the tile--counting my blessings) that Sean failed to tell me about.  

He did tell me about his accident earlier today.  He was wearing Lightning McQueen underwear and we had a long talk about how if he wanted to be friends with Lightning McQueen, he should go potty in the toilet, not in his McQueen underwear.  He was in full agreement.  Well not too long afterward, he came downstairs and said, 

"Mom, I go'ed pee and poop in my pants.  

And now Lightning McQueen doesn't want to be my friend."

sigh.

He totally knows how to do it, he is just too lazy to stop playing for a minute to take care of business.  I'm about out of ideas.

4. Hayden:

This guy really keeps me on my toes.  He's into the basics- unrolling all the toilet paper, or paper towels, coloring on the walls, dumping out the family bean jar--(not sure how he got it down) and crawling on the table, which means if I am not on top of clearing the table, this is what I find:

Busted.

5.  Actually, my #1 blessing is Arthur.  (Save the best for last, right?--no offense, Dallin.) He is a rock and I would be lost without him.  He's so good to hold his tongue when he gets home and the house looks like we took a grenade to it.  And he's awesome about coming to the rescue when he comes home from work and I still don't have a glimmer of an idea of what to have for dinner.  Oh how I love this guy.

A Little Venting

I just finished this post, and it's pretty long.  Only the die-hard will make it through this one.  

Let me preface my remarks by saying that I am very grateful to be a mom, and that I get to stay home with my children.  I find so much of it very fulfilling and hugely rewarding.  However, I think any stay-at-home-mom will agree with me that it is REALLY hard.  

One friend of mine put it this way:  

"Most of the trials in my life come from my blessings."  

To illustrate:  I don't mop my floor as often as I should, so when I do, it's a big deal to me.  I feel so proud when it's done.  Just preparing the floor for mopping is a big deal--it's like a race with the kids to see if I can sweep it all up before somebody comes along to spill something else on it.  Well, yesterday, I swept the floor, mopped the floor, and even washed all the rugs in the kitchen and the one by the back door.  I'd say about 30 minutes after it was all done, the chairs pushed back around the table, and the clean rugs back in place, Daphne came in from walking around in the mud with her bare feet, and thoroughly wiped her dirty, muddy feet all over the rug I had just taken out of the dryer.  I just stood there staring at the rug with my mouth hanging open.  Dallin followed her without even pausing to wipe his feet, and started tracking mud on my clean floor.  I stopped him after three steps and marched him straight back outside to take his shoes off. 

Now I know that lots of moms out there can relate;  it's just part of life, right?  I mean that's what that rug is there for, right?  Daphne was doing a good job, wiping her dirty feet on  . . . .  my freshly . . .  cleaned . . . rug.  

But yesterday, this experience just captured the epitome of my frustrations lately:  So much of what I do everyday is not permanent.  It feels like the things I spend my time on throughout the day just get undone, one by one.  I do the laundry, and at the end of the day, there are dirty clothes again in the baskets.  I empty the dishwasher to make room for yet another load.  I go grocery shopping, and the next week I have to go again.  I mop the floor, and and the next meal it's a sticky mess again.  I could spend all day following the little ones around, keeping the house picked up, and clutter-free and when the older ones get home from school, and Arthur home from work, and they all add their contributions to it, it looks like it was never clean in the first place.  

Essentially, what I spend hours on during the day, can all be undone in 5 minutes.  

That is so frustrating.  

I know I should be grateful for the laundry because it means we have clothes to wear, the dishes because it means we have food on the table, the toys because it means we have children filling our home with laughter . . . . and muddy footprints :)  But I guess I have a hard time remembering it in the moment of destruction.  

Something else that would help me, is to remember this wise advise from my friend, and former Visiting Teacher, Merideth.  She shared this with me during one of her visits and it has always stuck with me, (though sometimes not as often as I wish it would).

Do something permanent each day; 

Something that doesn't get undone in the same day.  

It could be writing in a journal, keeping in touch with friends, reading to your children or reading the scriptures, (some of these things are done everyday, but they are never undone,)  working on a creative project, (a sewing project, a scrapbook page, the sky's the limit) home improvement projects: organizing a closet--(that usually doesn't get undone in the same day, but I guess on a really bad day . . . well, who can say?)  painting, planting a garden, beautifying a space,  or finally putting pictures in those empty  picture frames.  The days that I have done something permanent, I feel a lot happier than the days I spend too much time cleaning, and then five minutes after everyone gets home, it looks like someone picked up my house and gave it a good shake.  

So, after that very long thought process, here are my conclusions:  

 

1) Remember to be grateful--I really am lucky that most of my trials do stem from my blessings.

2) Do something permanent every day, even if that means limiting the amount of time I spend cleaning.  (That shouldn't be too hard, seeing as how I don't particularly love cleaning.)

3) Don't underestimate the influence you have as a Visiting Teacher.  You never know when something you share with a sister, may just stick with her for quite awhile and maybe, just maybe, even make it on her blog.  :)

And now that this is all off my chest, I feel like a new woman all ready to do lots of laundry tomorrow!  

Called to Serve

This is my family:

My parents are in the middle, and from left to right, that's all the kids lined up youngest to oldest. My brother Reed, was the first boy after five girls. So far, none of us sisters have made it on a mission, so Reed is the first one of the Stone siblings to receive a call to serve.

This cute little guy reported to the MTC today to fill a two-year volunteer mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He will be serving the people of the Texas, Lubbock Mission.  

Baptism Day

Alright, he's not a cute "little" guy anymore.  He's a big handsome guy.

(However, "big" in my family is defined as taller than 5"5.)

I am so proud of my little brother for responding to his call to serve to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He is setting a great example for his little nephews here in Albuquerque in being worthy to be called on a mission.  We will miss you, Reed, but we know you're right where you should be! 

 (And I know you're not allowed to check blogs, so you won't even see this post until you get home.  But I'll write you all about it!  :)  )

Easter

Here are some pics of the kids hunting for eggs when we got home from church. Good thing the Easter bunny is so flexible and can come when it's convenient. :) 

Hayden totally got it this year.  He was in the egg-hunting zone, and was a pro at finding those eggs, putting them in the basket, and searching for more.  (Sometimes, the little ones will find one egg, and sit down to enjoy the contents, while the older kids run around getting all rest!  Our older kids were pretty good about leaving the obvious spoils for the younger ones.)

We tried something new this year that I thought helped us focus on the true meaning of this special day.  Each day on the week before Easter, we used a picture from our Gospel Art Kit to tell about an event in Jesus' last week. Each day we hung up the picture, and now the kids know the stories in each of those pictures.  Monday, we talked about the Triumphal Entry, and on paper palm leaves, wrote ways we can welcome Christ into our lives.  Tuesday, we talked about Jesus washing his disciples' feet, and what we can do to give service. Wednesday was the last supper, and we ate foods for dinner that may have been eaten in Jerusalem in Jesus' time.  (I'm trying some new recipes next year.  Daphne said this regarding the lentil soup:  "Mom, it looks like throw-up, but it's VERY good for our bodies!") Thursday we talked about Christ's atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane, and read the story, "He Took My Lickin'"  Friday we talked about the Crucifixion, Saturday, the Tomb, and Sunday, the Glorious Resurrection.  

I am so grateful for our Savior, the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, even Jesus Christ, and for his infinite atonement.  I am grateful for my knowledge that He Lives!  And because He lives, we too shall live.

If you haven't seen it yet, click on the link below to see this beautiful video presentation narrated by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's with excerpts from his most recent conference talk entitled, "None Were With Him."  (For those not of the Mormon Faith, Jeffrey R. Holland is one of the 12 living apostles of Jesus Christ.) It's about 4 minutes long, and worth watching.  

An Apostle's Easter Thoughts On Christ

White Sands

After the Caverns, we had dinner at Denny's, and then drove three hours to Alamogordo where we stayed the night. The kids' favorite thing about staying in a hotel is jumping from one bed to the other. Thank goodness we were on a ground floor. I would be so annoyed if I were staying in a room underneath ours.  Saturday turned out to be a very blustery day with scattered thunderstorms, but we headed out to White Sands anyway.

Daphne & Hayden all dressed and ready to go play at White Sands.

Arthur and the kids.  

It was so windy, it was really hard to get everyone looking at the camera.  Poor Hayden who was lowest to the ground probably got the most sand in his eyes.

Arthur took some really cool pictures of the dunes.

Hayden & a survivor plant.  It's amazing to me that anything can grow out there at all.  The wind can move those dunes so fast it's miraculous that anything takes root.

The dunes are so much fun to play on.  We sledded down them, rolled down them, ran down them, jumped down them, slid down them, crawled up them . . . (There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad . . . name the movie.)

Me & Daph

Okay, the wind was so strong, it was holding that sled on Arthur's backside.

We had a blast, but you can only take so much sand in your eyes before you start to melt down.  We'll have to go again sometime when a storm is not predicted, so we can play longer.

Before heading home, we drove through the International Space Museum parking lot.  We were too cheap to go inside, but there was plenty outside to excite the nerds in the family.  :)  (love you Arthur.)

Also, we'd intended to take the kids in this toy train museum.  I guess they had lots of toy and model trains displayed, and they also have a little train ride for the kids.  Admission plus a train ride is $6 each.  But because of the weather they weren't running the train, (the coolest thing at the museum!)  so we took a picture by the little red caboose and headed for home.  The kids were easily appeased with a Sonic Wacky Pack (which is way better than a McDonald's Happy Meal--better food, better toys,  &  better price).  And when we got home, three hours later, we began the big de-sand-ification project.  

(But I could swear I've still got a little piece of that gypsum sand stuck in my eye.)

Carlsbad Caverns

Since the kids had Friday off for the "Vernal Holiday" we went down south to explore Carlsbad Caverns. Here are some pictures of the adventures. It would probably be more fun to have the kids narrate--but they're in bed.  So today it's just my boring narration.

The monument sign.  

We wouldn't be good tourists if we didn't stop to take a picture with the sign.

Here we are before hiking down to natural entrance.  Won't be needing those sunglasses for long.  It's a mile hike into the darkness, almost ALL downhill.  Then you take an elevator up! 

Now that's my kind of hike!

Hayden was a good sport in that backpack.  When he was bored he would toss his pacifier overboard, or kick his shoes off.  (Usually, I tie a string to his pacifier and secure it to the backpack, but I couldn't find the tie this time.  As result, his pacifier was dropped on the cave floor numerous times. )  He ended the hike with his shoes tucked in the backpack and his pacifier in my pocket. 

Down we go!

Some of the formations we saw. 

 (None of the pictures turned out very well because of how dark it is in the cave.)  

"Hold to the Rod!"

(& Hayden missing a shoe)

This formation was one of the kids favorites, and they loved spotting it all over the caverns.  Why?  Well, because it's called "Popcorn" of course!

More cool formations.

Here are my troopers.  Daphne said the caves smelled "funky"  and Sean kept saying stuff like, "Mom, these rocks are beautiful.  Mom, this cave is very dark and beautiful."

He's becoming very eloquent in his old age.

Good Grief!

 . . . is something I've been saying a lot lately.

A few days ago, Sean told me, "Mom, Hayden is my friend.  He's my best friend."  As a mother, I can't tell you how it warms my heart to hear that my children are friends!  I just love that.  I especially love it since Hayden is in a "find-and-destroy" phase which Sean finds extremely annoying, especially when his carefully placed train tracks are being demolished.  So a lot of times poor little Hayden, (who can't help being in this phase; it's just part of being 16 months) gets pushed, shoved, and shut out of the bedroom.  So when Sean tells me Hayden is his friend, I just melt inside.  

Well lately, I've been noticing the collaborative efforts of their friendship, which, on several occasions have led me to exclaim, "Oh good GRIEF!"  (Thank you, Charlie Brown.)  Sean has taught Hayden how to remove the drawers from the dresser in Daphne's room and climb inside the empty dresser frame.  Seems harmless enough but just I get tired of putting those drawers back into the dresser.  

Sean has also taught Hayden the joy of pulling all the cushions off our nice couches in the living room.  (The couches that are NOT jumping couches.) They pile them in the middle of the room and proceed to jump on them.  This is carefully timed so as to enjoy the activity when they are sticky, or smell like boys who've been playing outside.  (A very distinctive smell-- I'm sure many of you will know just what I mean.) 

Today when I walked into the kids bathroom, I saw yet another evidence of their friendship in that the contents of Daphne's hair drawer (rubber bands, ribbons, barretts, combs, and sponge curlers) were all over the floor.  (I mean, that's exactly what I like to do with my friends--how 'bout you?)

Hayden has also been carefully schooled in the art of sneaking into the garage and playing in the car.  What this means is that the next time I go out to the garage, the hazards are flashing, the rear view mirror is completely skiwampus, and all the lights are switched on.  It gets even better when I start the car.  (IF I can start the car.)   The heater or air conditioner will be blasting full force, the blinkers will be flashing, and sometimes the windshield wipers will be on too.  

I can tell these two little buddies are gonna be TROUBLE!

good thing I love 'em.