Unplanned sabbatical

Sorry I fell off the face of the blogosphere for awhile there. I hadn't planned to disappear, promise. I wish I had some really fun, exciting excuses to blame my radio silence on, but I don't. Just life. And I suppose the lives of others. Actually a lot more has happened in other people's lives than our own, but we have been affected, and in some instances changed, by those happenings.

It's strange how you can go months untouched by tragedy, and then all of a sudden you can't escape it. That's how the past month has been: a LOT of life compressed into a few short weeks. Deaths, births, divorce, illness, accidents. The veil has felt thinner than usual as we've listened to our children pray for the toddler and baby that were taken "back to heaven" or for their parents who "are real, real sad right now." The power of prayer has felt more tangible as I've watched these families be buoyed up by the Spirit and others' love for them as they show such remarkable strength, peace and understanding about the plan of salvation and their little ones' place in it.

Guardian angels have felt closer as Bennett and Eli have walked away from a car crash unscathed, a crash that totaled the car, bashed in the very door where B was sitting and shattered window glass all over him. The priority of a happy marriage has felt paramount as a beloved family has started down the long road of divorce, a road I painfully remember and wish I could take away from their children.

Anyway, I'm back from a brief and reflective hiatus, back to do just about the only kind of family history I know how to do, that of documenting the goings-on of our little family of five. I'll be back-posting for a little while, so don't be fooled if you don't see anything after today. Just scroll down.

Ratatouille for the rugrats

There aren't a lot of my kids' movies that I enjoy watching myself. "Ratatouille" is one of the few exceptions.



We recently bought this one, so it's been floating around the house the way all new movies seem to do. The boys want to hold it and look at it until we actually take off the sleeve and the plastic wrapping, maybe hoping the characters will materialize if they just palm it long enough. Even Amelia has taken to sucking on the sleeve or cover of these new DVD's, so this movie has been working its way from the living room to the kitchen to the family room to our bedroom and back again.

The other day I was scrambling for dinner ideas and decided to take a gander at what's lurking in the crisper of my fridge. Oh yeah . . . there's half an eggplant that I can't even remember what I used the first half for, and there's that one zucchini still hanging out from a pasta dish I made last week. What on earth am I going to do with half an eggplant and one zucchini? I guess I could make another pasta dish, but we just had some . . . there's gotta be something else I can do with this.



Ready to give up and toss out perfectly good, albeit a week old, produce that yet again I've either forgotten about or stumped myself with in terms of recipes, I noticed the movie sleeve under Millie's highchair. Now, my kids are NOT big fans of eggplant and zucchini, so I knew that real ratatouille wouldn't be an option. I've always wanted to make it, but it's something that only Stephen and I would probably appreciate. Then I thought of a recipe I copied from a cookbook a month or two back: Cornmeal-crusted Roasted Ratatouille Tart from Ellie Krieger's book The Food You Crave.



Very thin slices of the not-so-beloved vegetables atop a cornmeal crust, smothered with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Now that they could do. The recipe looked pretty time-consuming, and it did take a little longer than an average dinner, but it definitely wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be. Thin slices of the veggies roast in the oven and then get layered with the cheese on top of the super-simple tart. Then bake it and eat it. I think even Remy, the high brow foodie rat he is, would approve.

Cupid or Cupie Doll?

Or neither. As far as I know, a tutu isn't part of either one's costume.

Happy Valentine's Day

Magic Mountains

As we headed out the door for this trip, I truly expected the worst. Maybe it's some sort of defense mechanism that automatically kicks in after years of hit or miss vacations with kids, or maybe it was the fact that all three kids were sick, Stephen and I were getting sick and the weather forecast included pouring rain. DOOMED. Images of sleepless nights in a hotel room, mixed with images of three snotty, whiny, cranky kids being dragged around a place I wanted to quietly observe and appreciate filled my once eager mind as we hit the road and headed northeast. Oh well, at least we'd be together. And therefore suffer together, right?

We stayed in Sonora, a quaint little gold rush town nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills (where about a million western movies have been filmed, I might add), and while I originally regretted this decision due to its 50 mile distance from Yosemite, in the end it was the perfect place to be. We needed options when the heavy rains descended and Sonora definitely provided some family-friendly things to do.


One hotel room for a family of five = kinda cramped, especially when every one of those five people is sick and the littlest sickie needs her own sleeping space. We made it work, however, by cramming Miss Millie and her pack-and-play into the already tiny bathroom, or more specifically the shower. We would have shoved her all the way in were it not for the dripping shower head. Go figure. Even with the drip, the incline of her awkwardly-balanced crib and a very loud creek running right next to the window, our poor little bathroom baby slept like a dream. Not only did she sleep well, she got better! Yes, even after being hiked around Yosemite in the freezing cold and packed around Sonora and Jamestown in the pouring rain. Who'd a thunk?

Seriously, there must be magical healing powers from the all the gold discovered or from the clean mountain air, because the boys somehow got over their ailments, too. Eli's nasty cold and cough disappeared, Bennett's stomachaches--that remember I thought were fake but then became real enough that we took him to the doctor and started to suspect lactose intolerance--disappeared, only after a cathartic puking session at the end of a very windy mountain road, and even we old folks somehow warded off the impending colds we'd arrived with. Never in a million years would I have thought the best sleep I'd had in months would come in a hotel room with my kids sleeping in the neighboring bed and bathroom.

Anyway, on to the pretty. We spent all day Saturday in YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK. The weather was clear and sunny and positively perfect for drinking up all of the breathtaking scenery that surrounded us.

First up: Short hike to Bridalveil Fall

Will the day ever come when all five of us are looking at the camera with our eyes open?

Bennett and Eli sure loved climbing the rocks to get closer to the falls

Bundled up with the long-awaited "SNOW!!!" in sight

El Capitan looking majestic and strong

Next up: Hike to the Ahwanhee Lodge

Happy little hiker

Beautiful and rustic Ahwanhee Lodge

The famed and very welcome fireplace

Upper Yosemite Fall

A dream come true for Eli (and us, since he's been talking about it since Christmas) -- a snowman

Seven long years I've waited

to visit Yosemite.

The wait is over.

This weekend we go.

Seriously can't wait.

Breaking up is hard to do

January, we need to talk. I used to be so happy to see you, full of hope and excitement in turning over a much-needed new leaf in many areas of my life. You always brought out the best in me. I'd dream of the new me, full of follow-through, patience, perspective, self-control and love, all born of your presence and persistent belief in me. Lately, however... I've noticed that things are different. We're not as good together as we used to be. Do you feel it too? One of us has lost that lovin' feelin'. The new year's dreams we used to share are now squashed by the reality of what the month after Christmas in the life of someone like me holds:

1. SICKNESS. Part of life with young kids is coming to terms with the fact that one of them will get sick some time during or after the holidays, and that that one sick child will more than likely pass it to the rest of the family. It is the season of sharing, after all. That sickness always seems to spill into the new year, right when you want to be getting back into your routine or starting a new and improved routine.

2. DRAMA. I don't know about your house, but in ours illness breeds emotion. A lot of it. Crying and whining like I've never seen. The kind of whining that makes me wish I had a line of airplane stewardesses, nuns and hare krishnas who could slap my kid out of it. Someone in our house, who happens to be five years old, faked a stomach ache every day this week at exactly 7:38 am to get out of going to school. Like I said, drama. We even saw some waterworks at the door of his classroom a few mornings that took me right back to those painful mornings in September. Apparently, he didn't realize there would be more school after Christmas break.

3. TRANSITIONS. From starting the second half of the school year to moving up or into Primary, this month is always full of a few changes that my children, and as a result we parents, struggle to handle. The Primary people came to get me during Sunday school last week, I assumed because Eli was having a hard time being a new Sunbeam, but no. Eli could have cared less. It was Bennett who was having the world's biggest meltdown over moving up to the next CTR class. He wanted his old teachers, his old classroom and his old seat in opening exercises.

4. GUILT. Maybe I haven't written them down, but I've at least thought about several things I want to do better this year and have of course already managed to fail not even ten days into the new year. Maybe once items one through three have eased up a bit, I'll make another attempt. Or maybe I should just break up with January once and for all and start checking out February as my month of personal renewal and makeover. January can be recovery from December. February can be my new year.

Bowlin' with the Homies

Dazed and confused

Kendra and Joseph with Millie and Benito

In motion

Ka-boom!

I think even Coolio would have given props to Eli and Bennett for their first-time bowling performances the other day, even if Eli's first attempt took at least a full minute to make it down the lane and actually hit a pin. Slowest Bowler Ever Award goes to E.

Least Concerned Bowler Award goes to B, who liked to huck the ball as hard as he could and then just walk away.

Most Concerned Bowler Award goes to Kendra, whose interest in everyone's scores paid off in the end with her big win. Wait, if you don't score over one-hundred can you still call it a big win? It was a lot bigger than my score, that's for sure.

Best Technique Award goes to Joseph for throwing the ball with such professional-looking pizzazz.

Most Helpful Bowler Award goes to Kymber for helping Eli finish off his slow-as-molasses throws and turns.

Best Bowling Backside goes to Stephen, although I am a bit biased about his tush.

Cutest Bowling Accessory goes to Millie, who was passed around and worn on everyone's arm at some point during the game.

Here's a little glimpse of Eli in action: