Yummy French Bread

I am currently in love with this bread. It actually only takes one hour! I follow the recipe except that I add 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 tsp dough enhancer to the first cup of flour.

Super yummy and super fast!!

Longest Day Ever

Yesterday just about killed me off.

For some reason, Matt and I both woke up at 4 am. And then proceeded to just lay there staring at the ceiling. Wondering why we couldn't sleep. But, sleep we did not.

5:30 my first alarm goes off. Matt is up and showering.

5:45 am alarm gets me up.

5:55 am saw Matt and Ali out the door to seminary and work.

6:38 am Kat and I were off to the bus stop. Yes, there was the usual "I am going to be late for school" drama. Seriously, that child is drama for the bus :) I am writing a book about it. Look for it.

7:00 am Luke gets up. We eat and play until it is time for school.

8:15 am we are on our bikes. Let me tell you. It is getting chilly in Nashville. Luke proclaimed, "Mom, it is colder out here than you think." He was right.

It was early out. Someone please explain why we even have school if it gets out at 11:00 am. Please, I am listening. Just let us stay home and sleep in. Please. Why am I not in charge?

In the 15 minutes the kids were not around I did some laundry, ran to Goodwill, baked bread and watched Ghost Whisperer. I feel silly going to Goodwill in a Volvo sports car.

When the kids got home it was time for lunch and studying. School may kill me off. I'll just tell you right now. I did actually did try to lay down after Kat kept yelling at me about not helping her study correctly. But, the neighbors are getting a new roof. So, yeah. It wasn't very quiet for a rest.

4:15 pm Matthew gets home. It was early out due to parent teacher conferences. Matt and I went to conferences at Luke's school and Ali's school. Ali is struggling this term. I like to look at things in the time frame of a "term." A term can be lived out successfully without too much enduring. The two hours Matt and I spent in conferences left both of us wiped out. Or it might have been that we had been awake since 4 am.

6:30 pm get home to get dinner on the table. I left it all ready and with instructions for the kids to plug in the griddle. We had Monte Cristo sandwiches. Parents, be clear with your children. When you tell them to plug something in, you also need to tell them to leave it plugged in. My children plugged it in, left in on for a few minutes and unplugged it as I did not tell them to leave it plugged in.

7:30 pm game plan time with Ali. Ali is very smart. She is having a hard time adjusting to high school. But, her teachers love her and we are all going to make this work. She accomplished so much before school today. Remember, keep your eye on the "term."

8:00 pm brings games with Luke and looking through the Church of Christ hymnal I bought at Goodwill. It is dang cool. I have to give my sister some credit. She told me Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam was not originally an LDS song. I didn't believe her. But, do you blame me? Who could sing that song better than a group of Sunbeams?

8:30 pm Matt gets a call. A friend and co-worker was hit by a car while on his bike. We go to take his wife to the hospital downtown Nashville. We were actually sent to tell her the news, but someone else told her before we go there. For that, I was happy. After calling a neighbor (thanx Jill!) to go stay with the kids, we headed downtown.

His friend is also LDS. It was kind of funny. We were explaining to the social worker why we wanted to give him a blessing. She asked if we all went to church together. We told her no. Then she asked if we went to church with the other LDS man upstairs (Matt's cousin and boss). Again, no. She was pretty baffled. We explained we are all Mormons, we just have different congregations. I think she was surprised there are enough Mormons around to have multiple congregations for the 5 Mormons she had just met :)

When we left the hospital at 11:15 pm, we knew very little other than he was alive and had multiple lacerations and broken bones. They had to sew a vast majority of his scalp back on.

Midnight, a mere 20 hours since we had woken up, saw Matt and I back in our bed. We just laid there holding each other. Life is hard. Life is rewarding. Life is unexpected. Life is meant to be held onto and enjoyed. You honestly never know what is around the next corner.

current fav non-family quote

"I'll try being nicer if you try being smarter."

a haiku for you...matthew

i love matthew paine
he is funny, kind, loving
he is my soul's mate

Decisions

I really, really, really hate when I have to decide if one of the children need to go to the doctor. But, I think even worse is trying to decide if the cat needs to go to the vet. He was behaving strangely last night. Seems like something is wrong with his back leg. This morning he seems a bit better. But, do I wait it out another day and face children will possibly be upset? Or head to the vet? Seriously, parenting is so difficult.

Mormons

Today I took the Volvo to be serviced at the dealership. I had a delightful conversation with a woman who's friend just returned from a road trip. All her friend learned about Utah on this road trip is Utah is:

a) beautiful
b) full of Mormons
c) Mormons don't like Wal-mart because Utah doesn't have any

There you have it folks.

A Dying Custom

Last week was picture day at Luke's school. This day comes twice a year. Twice, what is up with that? I remembered it was picture day this year, just like I do every year: when I take the kids to school and see it on the school's announcement board. Each year, when I remember it is picture day, I make sure hair is laying down after the bike helmets are removed and that shirts are presentable. Would I run home is there are a few wrinkles? Nope.

I never buy school pictures. Well, I have on very rare occasions. Honestly, I hate looking back at my school pictures. But, I guess one day, when I am dead, someone will enjoy them. We live in the day of digital pictures. We take hundreds of pictures of our kids monthly. We can edit, delete, enhance. Why pay someone for something we can do for pennies? And, honestly, we can do it better.

I worried for a while after I dropped Luke off for school on picture day this year. I worried if the teacher thought I was a bad parent for not buying pictures. I worried about how my son wasn't in a new outfit for school pictures. Will that cause someone to think I am a bad parent? Most of my daily thoughts revolve around worrying if I am a good parent.

I remember back when our school pictures rolled around. We got ready for weeks. I am pretty sure it was weeks. It might have been days. Mom wanted the outfit to be just right. Our hair had to be perfect. I remember when we got to the school stage to have our pictures taken, they would hand out little black plastic combs for us to fix our hair. I promise you, that does not happen today. They hardly care if the kids blink during their pictures. Maybe this is why there has been a sharp decrease in school picture sales. Maybe that or the fact they cost almost $50.

As it happened, I went to eat lunch with Luke on picture day this year. Let me tell you of my relief when 95% of the kids looked like they had just rolled out of bed and came to school for a normal day. There were a few kids with dresses on or with extra hair-sprayed hair.

All in all, I think school pictures are a think of the past. And I say good riddance!

life

life is crazy. life is good. i wanted to blog today, so i looked at my recent pictures and this is what i found:

pictures of items matt wants to sell on craigslist. how amazingly boring is that? amazingly. so, i guess there is nothing fabulous happening in our lives. unless you want to buy some audio equipment from us :) kat is dying for the above turn table. but, matt explained that it would take a lot of other equipment to make it actually work.

kids are good, happy. it is still raining. we might float away any moment now.

Kids

Kids know how to hit below the belt. Yesterday Kat asked if could sew her a Halloween costume. I vaguely told her maybe. She then informed me that "your sister could do it." Yeah, that hurts. Sara, she wants to be a pirate. Have fun :) I am feeling Goodwill vibes....more to follow.

Picture

Well, what do you know. Blogger let me upload a picture. The kids have been playing with the Mac's photo booth. They are pretty fun pictures.

Magic Moments

Each day I have a few moments alone with each kiddo.

Ali's is just a few minutes while I drive her to seminary at 6 am. Ugg. Why did we leave Utah? Oh, yeah: love :) Usually Ali doesn't say much, but we are together.

After Ali is off, I do Kat's hair and then walk her to the bus stop. These moments are not peaceful in the least. Those of you who have spent the getting ready for the day time with Kat knows what it is like. Not fun, but I am with her.

20 minutes after Kat leaves, Luke wakes up. He and I usually have almost 90 minutes together. Matt is with us for part of it, but most of it is just Luke and I. At the start of the school year, I would get in the shower and be ready for the day by the time I took Luke to school. But, I realized my time was better spent playing games with him or just talking.

I love my children. They are crazy. (Have you met Bob and Sunshine?) They are growing too fast. I cherish each moment I have with them.

Lunch with Ali

Today I went to check Ali out of school to go to lunch with Matt and myself. In the office I told the lady I was checking my daughter out for lunch. She quickly told me they don't allow such a thing. So, I quickly said, "Did I say lunch? I meant we have a family emergency." Why are people/schools so dumb. Why can't parents take their kids to lunch?

Imagine if you will....

Ok. Those of you who know Kat well, join with me in the following exercise:

First, close your eyes and think of the highest you have heard Kat talk. Got it? Good.

Next, close your eyes and think of the loudest you have heard Kat talk. Got it? Good.

Now, imagine that high pitch voice screaming, "Oh my gosh! A baby panda!!!! It is SO cute."

Are your ears bleeding? Mine were from a floor up. Before I realized what she was saying I thought we were all dying. I would like to thank Nana for that :)

Gotta love that child!

laundry

part for the washing mashing machine got routed incorrectly...off to the laundry mat. but, i still refuse to lock the keys in the car after i park it on the front lawn!!

lawn

Mowing the lawn is all I plan to do today. No laundry. No lock smith either. So, prepare for boring today people.

Blogger Issues

I can't seem to upload pictures to blogger right now. I switched over to Firefox from Safari but that didn't seem to do the trick.

If anyone has any ideas, please email me!!!

Oliver

My sister and I recently both moved. She moved from Indianapolis to Bloomington and we moved from Provo to Nashville. From what I gather, both of our cats are driving us crazy with the move. Oliver begged to go out when we first got here. Then, when we finally let him out, he got beat up and was scared to go out. Now, he is back to going outside only to sit at the window and "knock" to come back in. When we finally let him in, he runs to the window in the back of the house "to look out" which include almost pulling the blinds down. Pretty soon, the whole cycle starts all over again.

I guess our cats might drive us crazy!!

Our Home

Blogger won't let me upload pictures. Here are some pictures of our house posted on Facebook. You don't have to have a Facebook to see them :)

Ben Brush Circle Home

lawn, laundry & locksmith

Today was like last Friday. It started with mowing the lawn and heading to the laundry mat. But, somewhere along the way things got messed up and this happened...

I would just like to say, I had nothing to do with my car ending up on the front lawn with the keys locked in her. It was a series of craziness :) Matt tried twice to unlock Cali before we gave up and call the locksmith. Almost on a daily basis Matt does something that reminds me of Rodger. Today was no exception. After the locksmith left (and may I add he did not ask how the car ended up on the front lawn with the keys locked inside) Matt came in the house a little miffed and stated, "Well, I could have done that. We won't have to call a locksmith again." Is that NOT Rodger?? I offered to lock the keys in Cali again just to let him get them out and feel better about himself :)

Past current fav words

Wednesday morning I came downstairs and Kat was aimlessly wondering around the kitchen. I asked her what she was doing.

"Honey-nut Cherrios make me dizzy. I don't know if it is the honey or the nut, but one of them definitely makes me dizzy."

Well, she IS a nut :)

Thanx

I would like to thank my husband for telling me how to edit the Html and get rid of the annoying underlining that was happening in my posts. You are the bestest :)

Matt's House

Matt accepted an offer this morning on his house here in Franklin! We are so excited and very blessed. Houses sell fast here. It went on the market last Thursday.

Someone is getting an awesome deal for the just over $100,000 they offered :) I am just happy I don't have to keep it clean any more!!