a conversation with Isaac

I listen to Isaac count, "thirteen-one, fourteen-one..."

Me: Isaac, what are you counting?
Isaac: I'm counting all the numbers.
Me: Well, that wasn't quite right.
Isaac: Why not?
Me (a little distracted): It just wasn't.
Isaac: Because there's no thirteen-one?
Me: That's right.
Isaac: Well, confinity is the last number.
Me: Yeah, that's right.
Isaac: What number comes right before confinity?
Me: Why don't you ask Daddy that one?
Isaac: Because he knows all the numbers?
Me: That's right.
Isaac: That's because he's really smart. You're a little bit smart, but Daddy is really smart.

Gee, thanks kid. But I just pawned the "last number before infinity" question off on Daddy. I think that makes me the smart one. :)

In honor of Felicity

Felicity celebrated her 14^th birthday this week. She is truly a daughter to be proud of: fun to talk to, kind and responsible with her siblings, extremely talented. To show off her talents, I'm including a story she wrote for our homeschool co-op. She's written longer things, but I really liked this one, and it's short enough to include here. Hope you enjoy it.

 

Edelweiss. The house shudders. I squeeze my eyes shut tighter. My legs get pulled closer to my chest as I tighten my grip on my arms. Edelweiss, I remind myself, Think of Edelweiss. My mind conjures up the image of the white flower in my head. It's soothing, one of those timeless calming things that pulls the mind to a safe place where it can shelter from any problems. But then a memory creeps in. Come on, Lisa! Stop looking at that flower, let's go! The impatient voice floods my mind with memories. I stifle a whimper by rocking back and forth. The wood floor creaks underneath me.

My eyes fly open, I freeze. And so do the half-dozen people surrounding me. The terror on their faces as they, we, breathlessly wait and listen for a sign that someone heard, is nowhere near how scared they really are inside. I know. It's like there's ice inside yourself and it just keeps on making you colder and colder. I close my eyes again, but they fly open again at the slightest noise. A creak, a tap, even the wind blowing around the old building we've taken refuge in makes me more alert and watchful. More scared. But I force my eyes closed anyway. Edelweiss, I remind myself once more. The calming flower takes its place in my thoughts once more as I shut out the sounds, and the memories. The memories of my family. The family that is no more. The family that was taken away by German soldiers, the German soldiers I miraculously escaped. That I am hiding from right now.

A door slams. I jump as boots clomp on the floor above me. My throat constricts even more. I try to keep each breath even and quiet, but it keeps on getting more and more ragged. My ears tell me that everyone else's is too. The footsteps above us begin to be the beat for our breaths. 

Then the footsteps creeping above us stop. I hear a door creak open. I pray that it isn't the door to the cellar, but one look at the landlady tells me otherwise. I slowly put my hand over my mouth to prevent myself from making any noise. I dig my toes into the soles of my worn shoes to prevent myself from rocking. I shiver, but there is no preventing that. My breath starts matching the faster steps of the boots coming down the stairs. In vain I try to slow it down. I lean as far back as I can into the wall behind me, and wish that the room I'm in wasn't so empty. Continuing this thought, I put to myself silently and sarcastically, Yes, also I wish I wasn't involved in this war. I wish I wasn't a Jew, and I wish, oh do I wish, that my family wasn't taken away. Dream on Lisa.

The boots have reached the end of the stairs. I know that the door is going to open any minute. I close my eyes and wish, ever so hard, that Death will be quick.

Edelweiss

 

Seven of Nine

We've been watching Star Trek: Voyager with the kids recently. Elisabeth looked up a picture of Seven of Nine on the internet and then made a sketch from it. I was so impressed because it's recognizable, so I thought I'd share it with the world. OK, I really just wanted to brag a little.

Overheard

Isaac: What's that in your hand?
Daddy: It's a staple gun.
Isaac: Can I hold it?
Daddy: Not this year.
Isaac: Tomorrow?
Daddy doesn't answer...
Isaac: Hey, maybe I should have a little one to shoot you with.

I love kids' conception of time.

I also love hearing Isaac and Tabitha talk about, "When we were a baby..." It's gotta be a twin thing cause it's never, "When I was a baby," or "When we were babies." It's as though they were once one baby and now they're two kids.

Why I don't like snow

It snowed here this morning. I don't think I've ever seen snow so early here. Amazingly, my tomatoes are still alive. I didn't cover them or anything since the colder weather is now here to stay, and I thought there would be no way they could survive snow. Apparently, the air near the ground was warmer than up where the snow was forming.

My kids love it when it snows, and I must admit that it does feel more like Christmas--even though the snow is already completely gone. But, really, I dread snow. Here's how it goes at our house:

Kids get up and see snow. Hurray! Everyone asks Mommy if they can play in the snow (all 1/32 of an inch of it). Mommy digs out hats, gloves, extra socks, warmest jackets, most waterproof shoes, etc. Since we use these things approximately three times a year, this takes a while. Big kids get themselves ready and rush outside. Mommy manages to get little kids dressed. Big kids come back in because they're already cold. Mommy sends little kids out. Two minutes later, little kids come back in because they're cold. Wet socks, gloves, jackets and shoes are sprinkled around on the wet floor. Everyone needs hot chocolate to get warm again. Dirty mugs and hot chocolate powder are sprinkled on the counters. Mommy makes kids help clean up. Mean Mommy. It takes half an hour to get ready and half an hour to clean up so that kids can play in snow for two minutes. Once kids are warm again, they want to go back out...

At least today the snow melted fast before they could want to go out again.

I feel like such a Scrooge. I used to really love the first few snow days when I was growing up. But in Utah, we were pretty well prepared for snow, and I didn't have kids then. I wonder how my mom felt about it.

Oh well, the kids had fun. Now if I can just convince Isaac that snow does not mean Santa came last night. :)

A classic twin moment

Tonight we were having fun looking at old video of Isaac and Tabitha when they were little. I thought this particular clip really captured the joy of being a twin.

In these two pictures, Elisabeth is a water bender from Avatar the Last Air Bender.

Halloween

The little prince and princess. I figured I needed to get this one in before Isaac decided he was too old to be a prince. In the future, I do plan to get them to do Luke and Leia from Star Wars, but I figure that my days of coordinated costumes are numbered.

For our ward trunk or treat, the older girls and their friend all dressed up as members of their own made up band: Funky Pinkie Toe. As you can see, that costume consists of dressing in the weirdest things they can find. When we went to eat before going to the church, the cashier wanted to know why all my kids were dressed as clowns.

Avonlea and Elisabeth decided that the Funky Pinkie Toe costume wasn't so fun, so on Halloween night, we raided the dress up stuff for something better. Avonlea went as a bride. Next post: Elisabeth as a water bender.

Ode to Felicity

Last night, Felicity and her best friend, Kyrie, had their joint birthday party. Since her birthday approaches, I've been thinking about how much she has progressed in the last year or two. She is developing into such an amazing person.

For one thing, although she has always been a great reader, at one point I despaired of ever getting her to read anything but fantasy books. I have nothing against her reading fantasy, but I was anxious for her to expand a bit. Nevertheless, I tried desperately to follow the educational philosophies that I believe in--that is, exercise patience and lead by example. Seriously, it took a long time, but in the past year, things have come together so beautifully. She started her more mature reading career by taking up Agatha Christie. Nothing beats a classic murder mystery, right? Then she suddenly jumped to Jane Austen and read Pride and Prejudice. Next was P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster books. But the really, really amazing thing: she just finished reading an unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo. I never could have read that when I was 12. In fact, I found it somewhat challenging to get through now. I enjoyed it--it may be the only 19th century novel I've ever read that could be described as a page turner--but it still isn't exactly light reading.

Besides her sudden willingness to challenge herself with her reading, she's also developing great self-discipline about house work. At the beginning of the school year, I instituted a new chore routine. Part of that involves the girls cleaning up the breakfast dishes, and many mornings, as I'm getting out of the shower, I hear Felicity rounding up her sisters to clean the kitchen. One day when I was commenting on how she (and her sisters) are doing their chores so cheerfully, she said that they figured that since they were going to have to do the work anyway, they might as well just get it done. Wow. I remember whining and procrastinating my chores when I was a kid.

There's more. Last weekend when it was General Conference, she watched every session without being told to. Norm and I were even late getting home for the Saturday afternoon session, and when we walked in, Felicity and Elisabeth were both watching it.

On top of all that, she continues to be really sweet with Isaac and Tabitha. Some of the surprising books she read a few months ago were Siblings Without Rivalry and How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk. It cracks me up to hear her practicing the things from that book on the twins, but I think it's really sweet, too. She's also so fun to talk to now. She takes an interest in things going on in the world now and likes to hear about the history behind things that happen. She likes to discuss the books we've both read and all kinds of fun things like that.

Seriously, I don't know how I survived before she got to be this fun to be around. Of course, I've always loved her, but it's so great to have her for a friend, too. I've always kind of despised that idea of being friends with your kids because I think that too often it means there's a lack of discipline, but I'm finding it possible to give her direction and still feel like we're friends. It's great!

So Happy Birthday to a truly fabulous almost 13 year old!

How we did it...

Since Audrie wanted to know how we payed off our house, I'll try to lay it all out. However, I really can't do better than recommend the book The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. More or less, his plan is exactly what we did. When we started, we had never heard of him, but we still did pretty much what he recommends. Towards the end,

Before I start explaining what we did, I just have to point out that we have been very blessed financially. Norm makes a very good salary and has never been out of work so far since leaving college. We are well aware that Heavenly Father has blessed us, and we try not to take that for granted. I do feel that by being good stewards over what He has given us, we are keeping the faith with Him, but I am well aware that finances are often much harder for others than they've been for us, even though others are doing everything they can to handle their money well. In fact, that applies to my own parents who have always worked hard and made their money stretch as far as possible. I hope I don't sound holier-than-thou about this whole thing. I'm just so dang excited about it!

I know it sounds like we payed off our house very quickly, and we did, but maybe not as quickly as it sounds. It all actually started before we ever even thought about moving here. Back in 1999, we decided to get out of debt. At that time, we had credit card debt, a car payment and student loans. We had been out of school for a couple of years, but hadn't really made any progress with any of that. We became really determined and did something we had never done before: we made a written budget! We then got rid of every expense possible and used all the extra to begin our "debt snowball." That is, we listed our debts smallest to largest. We then used any extra money we had to pay on the smallest debt. Once that was paid off, we used all the money we had been using on that debt to work on the next, etc.

An amazing thing happened while we were in this process, and Norm got a much better paying job. That enabled us to pay everything off much more quickly. It also involved moving from Northern California to Southern California, so we decided to rent for a while. Meanwhile, we saved for a down payment on a new house. The beginning of that saving came from the sale of our house in Northern California (which eventually became worth way more, so don't get the idea that we sold at the top of that market). Anyway, when we moved into our current house, we were able to put 20% down. That gave us a good head start, but it also meant that we didn't have to pay for mortgage insurance. We also put the house on a 15 year mortgage instead of a 30 year. Finally, we decided what we could afford instead of taking what the bank would loan us. Banks, at least back in the dark ages before the great crash of 2008, would loan way more than you could really afford. A good rule of thumb is that your mortgage payment should not total more than 25% of your take home pay.

For a while, we made some extra progress on the house, but we weren't doing all we could. I was not too into bargain shopping when the twins were really little, so we had gotten out of the habit of budgeting. Still, we stayed within Norm's normal salary, so any extra money like bonuses were used to pay down the house. Then, about two years ago, I started listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio. We read his book for our ward book club. Norm and I got back on the bandwagon and put together a written budget again. Once we did that, we were able to use extra money again to pay down the house. Once we got it down low enough, we used money from our emergency fund to pay off the last part, so now we need to rebuild the emergency fund.

There's one thing we did differently than Dave Ramsey recommends: we put paying off the house as a higher priority than doing college funds for the kids. I personally believe that owning your house gives great security and that there are many ways to pay for college. I think it's good for kids to help pay for their own college.

So, that's the whole story. I'm happy to answer more questions if anyone is interested in knowing more after wading through this lengthy post.

the most exciting thing we've done since having twins

About a week and a half ago, a really amazing thing happened here: we paid off our house! That's right, it's really, truly ours now. Honestly, it's kind of hard to believe. Norm and I both grew up in financially difficult circumstances, so to have such a beautiful house, and to own it free and clear, seems miraculous.

I knew I would be excited about this, but I was kind of unprepared for how emotional it would be for me. It's actually been kind of a spiritual experience which really surprised me because I really try not to let money take too high a priority in my life. I mean, having enough to live on is important, but my family and my faith are the most important things in life. Things in life are so intertwined though. Being financially responsible is one way that we follow the prophets, so there is a religious side to this. Providing a house for our family is also important, and it's so amazing to feel like we have the security of knowing that whatever happens, we'll still have a place to live.

And of course, this isn't just any house. It's our home. This is where we've raised our kids for the past seven years. We've been through some tough times here, especially the year that I had two miscarriages. I struggled through ten weeks of bed rest in this house and then had the joy of bringing Isaac and Tabitha home from the hospital to this house. They've never known any other home. Here I have taught my kids to read and add and sew and cook. Here we have laughed together, cried together, prayed together, screamed at each other and forgiven each other. For me, this house embodies these and many other memories, and now it belongs to us! No wonder I feel emotional about it. :)

soccer

A couple of weeks after Tabitha started dance, Isaac had his first soccer practice. I love this shot of all the little boys copying the coaches position as they listen to his instructions. In Isaac's case, it might be nice if he seemed to actually get it when he listens to the coach, but he's really cute trying anyway.

Unfortunately, he's not enjoying soccer quite as much as Tabitha likes dance. Sometimes he likes it and sometimes not so much. Yesterday was his first game, and even though he's been enjoying his practices, he refused to play at all in the game. I think it didn't help that the last few practices were rained out. On top of that, the situation felt very unfamiliar as we were playing on a field he had never seen and parents had to watch from the opposite side of the field from where the teams sat. I'm planning to take him back there before his next game so that he can feel like it's a little more familiar. Hopefully, that will help, but I never know with him. This is the kid who still won't go to Primary nine months into being a Sunbeam, so I feel like there are no guarantees at all. In reality, he probably wasn't very ready to do an organized activity like soccer, but since Tabitha was doing dance, he really wanted to do something.

dancing

These are some long overdue pictures from Tabitha's first day of dance. Here she is ready to head out.

Here she is dancing.

Here she is with her friends from church who are in her class. We're missing one girl in this picture, so all together there are five girls from our ward in this class. It really makes it extra fun for her. She's been loving every bit of her classes and almost every day asks if she can go to dance today.

If it looks like a cookie...

...and tastes like a cookie, it must be a cookie. Today I attempted my first gluten free baking project without a mix. I used the recipe from Easy Gluten Free Baking, and it truly was easy. The cookies taste good--although I can tell a difference from regular chocolate chip cookies. It wasn't a bad difference though, and I have pretty sensitive taste buds. The kids gobbled them up, and I think Norm liked them. Cookies aren't his very favorite type of treat, but it's nice for him to be able to have them sometimes. I was pretty impressed with this recipe and pretty happy about how these tasted--especially after reading about gluten free baking for a while. Felicity helped with this, and I think she could easily make them by herself another time.

If anyone out there is gluten free and interested, I found rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch (which is the same as tapioca flour or yucca flour) and potato starch (which is not the same as potato flour) much cheaper at an Asian food market than at the grocery store or at a health food store. It was kind of intimidating going that first time because I didn't know if I'd be able to find what I wanted or if everything would be in a different language, but it wasn't that hard. I'll definitely be going back there for more gluten free ingredients.

We're back

Because I'm kind of obsessive about internet stalkers, I never like to post that we're leaving on a vacation or anything like that, so now that we're back, I can say that we just spent most of July in Utah. We left the evening of the 1st to get a few hours into our drive after Norm got off work. We drove all day on the 2nd and arrived at my sister's house on the 3rd. That evening we spent with my family and then saw some friends on the 4th. Then Norm flew back here to work for a week while the kids and I spent time with my parents, siblings and grandma. I have to say, my grandma is totally amazing. She keeps up the most enormous garden every year. She has some help, but does most of it herself. On top of that, she's always ready to play with the kids. You might picture her sitting at the table with them playing a nice little board game, but no. While we were there, she played Mother May I with them. At first, she was the mother telling them what they could do, but when I came over to see what was going on, she had me take over as mother so that she could be with the kids. It was pretty fun to watch her take her three big leaps and all that good stuff. Anyway, after Norm got back, we spent some time with his family. Some of the time we all went visiting and some of the time I stayed with my sister while he went visiting and we split the kids up. It worked out well because I often have a hard time keeping up with things like laundry when I try to rush around to so many different houses.

While we were there, Isaac and Tabitha turned 4. Pretty amazing. They got to have two birthday celebrations because we celebrated on their birthday at my sister's house and then left the next day to go to St. George to see some of Norm's family there. His sister bought a cake for them, so Isaac's wish to "have my birthday some more" was fulfilled.

Once we got home, Norm met with his doctor to discuss the celiac diagnosis. It's going to be just as terrible as I was afraid it would be, but I've successfully fed him three good gluten free dinners since then, so I guess we'll survive. I'm grateful that this is something treatable and not some horrible cancer or something, but I must admit that I'll be even more grateful if none of the kids have it. :)

So, now it's back to real life for all of us.

roller coaster

This week has been such a roller coaster ride. On Tuesday, Felicity left for her first ever girls' camp. Excitement for her, woe for mommy. It was harder than I thought it would be to let her go, and it got even harder after she called me in tears on Wednesday. The rest of her time was good, so she had a happy experience over all, but of course I worried after that.

On Thursday, Tabitha went pee in the toilet for the first time ever. Wow! Exciting for everyone, especially as she repeated that a few times on Friday and Saturday. Mommy is doing the happy dance.

Then, on Friday, Norm finds out that a biopsy of his small intestine shows that he has celiac disease. His doctor is still doing some tests, but the biopsy is usually the conclusive test. He hasn't had any symptoms. He had an endoscopy for a tightness in his esophagus that sometimes makes it hard to swallow. While they were doing the endoscopy, they looked at the small intestine at well and could see the abnormalities associated with celiac, so did a biopsy. One of Norm's co-workers said that it's like taking your car into Pep Boys for an oil change and then finding out you need a new transmission. The short version of celiac disease: gluten intolerance causes damage to the villi of the small intestine which then causes digestive issues and increases the risk for intestinal cancer. The only treatment it the complete removal of all gluten from the diet...for the rest of his life. It wasn't really the happiest spot of this week.

But then, Felicity came home from camp, so that was a little bit of a brighter spot. I'm so glad she's home and that she had fun. She's been talking and talking and talking about all the things they did.

Belgium

Want to know what's so great about this place?

This is where my sister, Bethany, is going on her mission!!!! She doesn't leave until October, so we'll get a chance to see her this summer before she goes. We are so excited for her, especially as she has worked very hard to be able to do this. Congratulations Bethany!

OK, Lourie tagged me to post the 10th picture in the 1st folder on my computer. There's really no story behind this that I can remember. This is Tabitha shortly before first birthday. I think she was trying to brush her hair, but I really just took the picture because she's so dang cute!

I'm kind of a party pooper about tagging people, so if you want to do this, consider yourself tagged.

Fried Chicken Salad

Ok, this isn't so much a recipe as just a dinner idea. When it's hot like this, we love fried chicken salad at our house. Here's what you need:

Frozen breaded chicken tenders or popcorn chicken or chicken nuggets
Lettuce
Tomato
Onion
Cucumber
Broccoli
Carrots
Boiled eggs (about one per person)
Grated cheese
Ken's Steak House Honey Mustard dressing, topping and spread--don't be fooled by other honey mustard dressings. This is the really good one. No, they're not paying me to write this, but they should.

Put the chicken in the oven to cook and put the eggs on to boil. While all that's cooking, shred your lettuce and dice the other veggies. If you have older kids, put them to work on this. Don't think of it as slave labor, think of it as family togetherness or learning life skills or something great like that. Once the eggs are boiled, peel and dice them. Then serve it all up like a salad bar so everyone can have exactly the salad they like.

next recipe: chicken tortilla soup

This is an adaptation of another recipe from my sister. How would I ever cook anything without my crock pot and my sister's recipes? My poor family would soon starve.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (yes, I do use a lot of these)
28 oz crushed tomatoes
2 8oz cans tom sauce
2 cloves garlic
4 C water
2 t chicken bouillon
2 T sugar
1 T chili powder
1t salt
1/2 t oregano
4 oz diced chiles

Throw all these ingredients in the crockpot and cook on high for about 4 hours. When the chicken is all cooked and tender, shred it up. Then prepare your toppings:

diced avocado,
sour cream
grated cheese
sliced olives
tortilla chips (this is a great way to use up the crunched up bits of chip at the bottom of the bag)

You can top the soup with whatever you want, but I have to say, the avocado is really essential. The soup is fine and all, but the soup with diced avocado is yummy, yummy, yummy.

To my eternal amazement, all my kids eat this, even Isaac. Of course, they're all more likely to eat something when it was introduced to them on vacation, so that helps. It also helps that when I made it, Felicity's friend, Kyrie, was over for dinner. Kyrie is the least picky child I've ever met, and she loves to try new things. Just having her here when we try something new is the best thing I can do to make sure my kids give it a fair try.