Mexican Jumping Beans

Elyse won these babies at school for reaching her reading goal last quarter. I've never seen them before and always thought they were a hoax. But there are actually moth larvae living inside these beans and in three to five months they eat their way out as moths. They love warmth and really get hopping when we place them under our dining room light. They make the perfect pets: no poop to clean up, I only have to remember to spray them with water once a week, and they make everybody giggle--especially when you hold them in your hand and they jump around.

Christmas

Here's all the snow we had after another storm on Christmas Eve. Two days later it reached 55 degrees and rained all day and now the snow is almost completely gone.

Every Christmas Eve we push some of our furniture together and make a pit full of styrofoam peanuts. We hide a couple presents in the peanuts, like pajamas and their sibling gifts, and they have to swim around and find them. They jump off the sides and splash around for a while, too. Strange tradition, I know, and a messy one. Matt and I think we're going to try setting up a tent in the living room next year and keep the peanuts contained that way. There's also a pic of the kids in their new jammies.

Making graham cracker candy house Christmas Eve.

December 23rd: Paul broke out in a rash called Erythema Multiform, which is basically a skin reaction to a virus and isn't contagious. These pictures make it look mild. The rash doubled the next day. It was in his ears, palms of his hands, all over his stomach and back, and the worst on his legs. Poor kid spent most of Christmas Eve on the couch while the rash went from itching to burning. He threw up a couple times and had a fever. But he was a good sport and joined in on most of our traditions. It's almost all cleared up now.

Here's the kids playing in the snow drift on our porch after the big storm. 3 more inches and I'll we have a record for the most snowfall in December. Luke had a hard time moving around in it. After Elyse drug him around for five minutes, he decided to come back inside.

Snow Drifts Continued

Since writing the last entry I've watched four cars get stuck in our little circle and a half of street--one right in front of my house for the last four hours with its owner nowhere in sight. Matt's dad picked him up at the hospital for me since there was no way around the car and no way Matt's car would have made it into the subdivision anyway. Then Matt's dad got stuck even in his four wheel drive. Ah...don't you just love Michigan in the winter? The good news is, it'll last another five months and we have another storm due to hit us Wednesday. Four more inches of snow. The snow drifts are over two feet high now, one is above the windowsill outside living room, and the wind keeps blowing. Matt just finished shoveling his dad out and is now in the process of helping the mysterious owner of the car in front of our house who miraculously showed up at the same time. They aren't making much progress. I, for one, am all for global warming.

Snow Drifts

Thursday night it began to snow, with eight to ten inches predicted throughout Friday. So they canceled the last day of school before holiday break. The kids were kind of bummed because they missed their holiday parties, but I thought it was great. They have lame Christmas parties anyway. The school doesn't do any kind of Christmas program and the parties don't involve Christmas trees or anything resembling Christmas. The last week of school Paul brought home some circular thing with flowers on it--a welcome sign from India. I think it's great they can learn about other cultures, but a welcome sign??? Come on. Elyse brought nothing home at all--no cute craft or holiday picture. Sad. So I enjoyed sleeping in and not budging out in the freezing storm all day long. Saturday Paul had a birthday party at the children's museum. So I braved the half plowed roads and took them all. Me, Elyse and Luke hung out an played until the party was over. I told Elyse we could go shopping without Paul, but Luke took one look at the museum and ran right into the exhibits and I didn't have the heart to pull him away. We hadn't been there in four months because I've been feeling so crummy. I told Elyse we could shop after. What a mistake. I totally forgot it was the last Saturday before Christmas. The dollar store line went around the store, but the kids were amazingly patient while they bought each other a Christmas gift. The streets were literally bumper to bumper and we often waited for five rotations of the traffic lights to get through the intersection and wait in line to reach the next one. By the time we reached the book store, Luke had run out of tolerance and sunk to whinyness. He usually doesn't ask for stuff when we go shopping, but suddenly he wanted everything on the shelves and had near meltdowns when I said no. Elyse finally picked out what she wanted to get and we waited in yet another line before heading home. Wow, remind next year not to leave the house the weekend before Christmas. Today we got even more snow with 30-40 mile per hour winds and white outs as I drove slowly to the church for choir practice. Thankfully, not many people were out on the road at 9--they were much smarter than me. After church, I got stuck twice in my in-laws neighborhood, but managed to get us going again and inching along. The wind has created snow drifts over roads that have been plowed and made the unplowed roads twice as bad. It's a miracle I made it through my own subdivision to the garage. The car really shouldn't have made it since the snow was higher than the wheels. I truly believe it was a Christmas miracle--husbandless and pregnant, Heavnly Father knew there was no way I was going to get the car unstuck on my own. I did get stuck in my own driveway for a little while, but eventually gunned it into the garage. I told the kids we weren't leaving the house until spring and they would just have to be home schooled until then. Elyse looked teary and asked in a tremulous voice, "Are you serious?" "No, I answered--you can hike through the snow to the bus stop and take it to school." We could live off foodstorage, I guess, until the spring thaw. I'd probably lose weight that way... Here's wishing all of you a Merry Christmas. Ours will definitely be white. It's kind of nice to be snowed in for a while. I don't feel pressured or rushed to go anywhere or do anything except hang out with my kids and celebrate the season.

Paul turns 6

Once there was a snowman...Talk about a lot of frosting. I don't do cakes. I can't. We always get prefrosted cookie cakes from our grocery bakery.

Here's the bowling pin Paul got at his bowling party--which he thinks is way cool. All his friends signed it.

New Pregnancy Sympton

Pregnancy has graciously doled out a new morning sickness sympton. You'd think at fifteen weeks, they'd be tapering off, but no. Now, whenever I bend from the waist to pick anything up off the floor, I gag and nearly throw up. You don't realize how many times you have to bend over a day until you can't anymore. You should see the floors of my house. There's toys, socks, food, wrappers, belts, blankets, backpacks, stray mittens, Christmas ornaments fallen off the tree, pencils, shoes, pillows, etc, etc. all over the place and it's driving me nuts. And I realize just how extremely clutsy I am now that I can't bend over. I drop everything from diapers to silverware, mail to tablespoons. Argh! What drops to the floor, usually has to stay there unless Luke understands what I'm asking him to clean up. And after dinner one of the kids runs around to pick the main level up for me, but kids don't see the minute details--the small stuff that I pick up later. I don't sweep because I can't get the dirt into the pan. How sad is that? My house is disgusting. I hope I don't go crazy before this passes. Paul's b-day party is tomorrow. After having twelve screaming girls here at my house for Elyse's, we decided to have Paul and five friends celebrate at a local bowling alley. The kids don't get a party every year, but it just so happened it was both their turns for parties the same year I feel like crap. Anyway, they provide pizza, pop, two bowling lanes and shoes, and paper products. I just have to show up with a cake and leave the mess behind me when it's over. And the great thing is, it's cheaper than Elyse's party was.Paul's pretty excited. Me, I can't wait till it's all over. When birthdays are on a Sunday, they seem to get stretched over several days: Fri: treat to the classroom (which I had to frost and sprinkle two dozen cookies last night thanks to a grandpa who brought sugar cookie dough over), Sat: party with friends and Sun: big dinner with all the fam in Saginaw. I convinced Paul to have an easy dinner, though: pancakes and precooked sausage. Hurray for me. I can make the batter and Matt can stand there and flip pancakes while I sit down. Our family has another ridiculous birthday tradition: breakfast in bed for the birthday person. In the past, this required me getting up half an hour early to make a breakfast that takes longer than filling a bowl with cereal. But this past year, I've discovered a little miracle in the frozen food aisle: rhodes cinnamon rolls. I pop those babies in the oven the night before, they raise all night, I set the cook timer to start while I'm asleep, and breakfast is done when I wake up. Bless you rhodes rolls! Elyse doesn't like them, but she was easy this year on her day: a pickle and a hostess cupcake. Yum, a pickle. She's a strange duck sometimes.

Trip to Utah

Connie, Rachelle, and me at McDonalds where all our kids ran around while we caught up.

Elyse and her cousin Erin. I think they kind of look alike.

Kids at temple square.

Inside the Tabernacle at Temple Square (Rachelle-there's a pic of my dad) We just got back from our Thanksgiving trip to Utah yesterday. Highlights: 1. Crowding twenty-seven people into my parents' kitchen and living room for Thankgsiving dinner. 2. Ice skating with the whole Smith clan at the Olympic skating center. 3. Having lunch with my two good friends Rachelle and Connie. 4. Lights on temple square with cookies and hot chocolate afterward. 5. Having dinner at the Roof with my parents overlooking temple square. 6. Singing Christmas carols in the car with the kids. 7. Hanging out with my sisters and seeing their kids. 8. Going to the Sing Along Messiah concert at Abravenal Hall (ha! I can't sing sixteenth notes) with some of Matt's family and some of my mine. 9. Watching my parents eat sushi for the first time and pretending to like it. My dad said he burped up raw fish the rest of the night. 10. Joining Matt's Utah siblings for a night of food and games.

We came home from Utah, where we ran around without coats, to lots of snow on the ground and a storm to drive through from Detroit to Saginaw. Luke woke up this morning and threw up, so I skipped church and spent hours following him around with a bucket. He didn't go very far, though. We mostly stayed on the couch. He did rally himself one time and crawled over to the Fisher Price manger scene, laid down to rest and throw up, then pulled Mary and a shepheard to the floor, took a rest, and then jiggled Mary and whispered "yes, yes, yes", jiggled shepard and whispered "no, no, no", tapped the two together, took a rest, and then repeated the whole talking thing. He then dragged himself back to the couch where, you guessed it, he threw up again. He's perked up now and actually kept some liquids and solids down. I'm just wondering which of us is next...

Matt was released from the bishopbric today. While I am shouting "Hurray!" he's a little bummed about it. He loved the other men in the bishopbric and he also liked visiting different organizations and helping out, but not really being in charge of them or knowing all the dirty details the bishop has to deal with. I'm just happy he's no longer in charge of taking care of the building, having to go to youth dances, doing tithing every week, and going in three hours early for meetings. We actually get to go to church together in the same car and sit together now. We might actually talk to each other on Sundays (because after eight hours of church, he'd usually have eight to ten hours of work or go straight home and go to sleep). It'll be nice with a new baby on the way to have a body in the pew to sit with the other kids. And for those of you who are curious, I think I'm fifteen weeks. The ultra sound is January 5th. Here's crossing fingers and toes for a girl!

Fabulous Friday

Friday was our one Enrichment activity of the year where we get to do something with our hands and be crafty. My two projects turned out pretty cute. I made an erasable weekly menu board with vinyl lettering and a scripture bag out of a placement and ribbon. I even came home and made two more black bags for my mom and sister for Christmas. They are way faster to make once you know what you're doing. I am terrible at coordinating colors and patterns. I hope the lime green and yellow ribbon looks good on black. I wanted to make more brown bags, but I think the ward cleaned this town out of brown placematts and blue and brown ribbon. I felt like I belonged to some special club at church when I saw everyone walking around with their homemade scripture totes.

6 Quirks Tag

My friend Rachelle tagged me via her blog, so here goes. I'm supposed to list six quirks and tag six people. #1: I have to have the toilet paper rolls with the paper going over the top like a water fall. It drives me nuts when Matt puts them the other way. I think he knows this, though, and cleverly puts them in the WRONG way as incentive for me to change all the empty rolls. #2: Maybe this comes from sleeping alone many nights a month, but I check to make sure the doors are all locked and the garage is closed two or three times before I go to sleep. And on nights when I hear weird noises, I make sure all the windows are locked, too. #3: I hate being late to things. I'd rather arrive fifteen minutes early than be a minutes late. This is thanks to my mom grilling this into my head for the eighteen years I lived with her. #4: I'm not a very touchy-touchy person and it gets worse when I'm pregnant. I deliberately steer clear of people at church I know will touch my belly. Someone did it today and I'm not even showing yet. Ack! It's my body. Hands off please! #5: I do not answer my phone if I don't feel like it (much to the annoyance of my mother-in-law. She can't stand it when she's visiting and nobody picks up the phone). Which means I don't answer it when we're eating lunch or dinner and I don't answer it if anyone is over at my house. I also don't answer it if I'm doing my hair and getting ready in the morning. And yes, sometimes I don't pick it up when I know it's my mother-in-law calling. #6: I think I'm a little OCD about going to the bathroom. I have to go if I know I'm leaving the house (even if I'm going for a short walk around the block with the kids). If I'm going to the movies I go at home AND once at the theater before the movie starts. On car trips it is usually me that has Matt pull over for a potty break instead of one of the kids. And I absolutely have to go to bed with an empty bladder. If Matt comes home from work and I get out of bed to talk to him for even fifteen minutes, I have to go again before I go back to bed. If I know someone is coming to the house to drop something off or fix something, I quit going to the bathroom for fear they'll ring my doorbell the moment I sit down. This results in a couple hours of agony while I wait for them to arrive. And every once in a while I break down and go and invariably, they ring the doorbell when I'm in the bathroom. Since Rachelle tagged half my blogger audience, I only have four people to tag: Angie, Susie, Mary Ellen, and Vera.

Family Pics

I really didn't feel like doing a family picture this year, but Matt talked me into it. We used a lady in our ward and were lucky enough to get pictures done the last warm day of the year. Paul has never been really photogenic and, believe it or not, this is the best picture we got of him out of the family pictures. We also did his six year old pic at the same time and she also caught a cute one of Luke, too. I think I'll go back to taking the pictures of the kids myself next time. Ordering prints through these photographers costs an arm and a leg. I'm glad I did Elyse's last month.

12 Weeks and Counting

I'm officially 12 weeks pregnant and I think that means I'm heading into my second trimester. The past couple weeks I've been feeling pretty good. I can change Luke's diapers inside as opposed to out on the deck ("It's cold, Mom," Luke always complained. Ya, I bet. He'd get goose flesh all over his backside). And I can open the fridge all by myself without having to hold my breath or run gagging to the kitchen sink. The kids are grateful I don't make them get breakfast ready in the morning anymore and Elyse hasn't had to change Luke in a couple of days. Here is a typical day in the life of pregnant first trimester Emily -Wake up -Beg Elyse to get the OJ and milk out of the fridge while I stand across the kitchen and close my eyes. -After breakfast I usually make lunch for the kids, but since I can't get into the fridge, I've resorted to letting the kids have school lunch. So while the kids get ready, I throw a banana in their backpacks for their morning snacks and then lay on the couch, yelling up the stairs for Paul to keep getting ready. -Drive the kids to school with the window half down because I'm car sick with the kids telling me "It's cold, Mom." -Come back home to lay on the couch and sleep while Luke watches Higgly Town Heros, Little Einsteins (boy, I'm glad I sleep through that one), and Mickey Mouse. -It's been two hours since breakfast and I need to eat something. -Luke and I then take nearly an hour to get ready because I like to sit in the tub forever. -Try and do one chore for the day whether it be laundry, grocery shopping, or one errand, etc. -It's been two hours so it's time to eat again. -Nap with Luke. I try to write, but really the computer and reading any book makes me motion sick (so does grocery shopping), so I end up falling asleep. -Kids come home from school. I drive or my car pool buddy drives. -It's been two hours so it's time to eat -After school hustle and bustle of homework, etc. -It's been two hours so it's time cook dinner. Elyse helps me get all the food out of the fridge. I can no longer add onions to anything because the taste and smell lingers forever and makes me gag. -Kids play with each other. I sit on the couch and wait for bedtime. Or I try to play with the kids. -Bed time. If Matt's home, he puts them to bed. Hallelujah. Bed time is my least favorite time of the day. -It's been two hours so it's time to eat again. -I go to bed shortly after the children maybe somewhere around 9 because when I'm asleep I forget I'm pregnant. So far 2nd trimester Emily has read two books and finished writing a chapter of her own book. And grocery shopping no longer gives me a headache and makes me want to gag and then lay down. 2nd trimester Emily might even start driving herself to play group more often now that driving isn't so bad either. I still have to keep a bedroom window open, though, so one room in the house doesn't smell funny.

The Not Napping Boy

Luke likes to take naps in my bed, especially since I've been taking naps there too almost every day since I've been feeling cruddy. The last couple days, though, I've felt well enough to stay awake and catch up on my writing (which hasn't been going well recently. I now hate the book I'm working on). I put Luke down for his nap, tucked him in, kissed him and hugged him, and closed the door to go work on my book. Twenty minutes later I hear something dropping in my bathroom. Instinctively knowing the boy is up to no good, I open the door to find he's completely emptied the contents of my bathroom/makeup drawer and lined each item in single file on my bed. This wouldn't be so bad, if he hadn't first opened my rarely used foundation and used my eyeshadow brush to paint his forehead, hands, shirt, carpet, and other items on the bed. Argh! He's had a fascination with my Blistex jar for a few days, and I know he's been sneaking dips into there, but this is the first time he's branched out to try other makeup. My poor eyeshadow brush! Its bristles are all glued together and I've tried washing it out. It's old and sometimes falls apart, but I liked that brush. Grr! I guess no more unsupervised naps in my room. That boy cannot be trusted. I think last night he got out of bed and played with Paul's toothbrush and now it can't be found. Is it child abuse to duct tape your child to the bed?

Elyse's Baptism

After Elyse's birthday, she was baptized and confirmed the very next day by her dad. We had a double baptism with one of Elyse's friends at church and both girls were really excited. She has been asking questions about her baptism for a long time and we've spent several fhes talking about it. She said she had a warm feeling after she was baptized. The next morning was her first fast Sunday and while the boys ate breakfast she wrote in her new journal about her baptism and her testimony. We're very proud of her decision and excited to see that she's already trying to discern the Holy Ghost and take the Sacrament more seriously. She's a good girl. I don't know what I'd do without her.

A fun side note: Elyse is wearing the same dress I was baptized in. All my sisters and all my nieces on my side of the family have been baptized in that dress, which was actually made for my sister Liz when she was in Saturdays Warriors as a little kid. It's getting old and starting to fall apart. My mom's refurbished it once already. Hopefully it makes it through all the nieces.

Happy Birthday Elyse and Happy Halloween

Elyse turned 8 on Halloween! She invited some school and church friends over for a party and thankfully the weather was nice enough that they could run around outside and play half of the games out there. Two aunts and uncles came over to help and I couldn't have done the party without them. Then we all went to grandmas to trick or treat with a couple of cousins visiting from Ohio. At almost every door the adults would say to Paul, "Hi Spider Man," to which Paul would take off his mask and reply, "No, I'm Paul Deibel." After chilli and homemade doughnuts at grandpa's we headed home and were all in bed and asleep by nine. What an exhausting day!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins at Grandma and Papa's house last night. Matt's brother and fam are in town for the weekend so we had a big carving party. It's nice making a mess at someone else's house instead of my own! My pumpkin is the way cool cat, by the way.

A couple of Luke funnies

Two funny things Luke said this week: 1. Paul and Elyse were fighting in the car and after the apologies, I tried preventing round two by making them sing a verse of "I Am a Child of God." We sing it every once in a while, but not often. Luke joined right in singing several of the words. When they were done, I said, "Wow, Luke. I didn't know you knew that song. Do you sing it in nursery too?" "Yup," he said. "Hmm," I said, "Sometimes you really surprise me Luke." Silent pause. "SURPRISE!" he yelled. I guess you had to be there, but I nearly busted a gut laughing. 2. Yesterday while they passed the sacrament, I was having a hard time getting Luke to hold still and keep his arms folded. I pulled him on my lap and clamped his arms together. He leaned his head back, looked up at me with one eye mostly shut and whispered, "Argh!" like a pirate. He did it like four times and I ended up being the irreverent one while I was trying to suppress a fit of giggles. At least he whispered it. I've decided to take the baby ticker off the blog because it is driving me crazy, especially when I click on how many days I have left. It'll kill me if I think of how long I've yet to go. Maybe the ticker will come back when I'm like 35 weeks pregnant.

Pumpkin Farm and 8 year old pics

We went to a local farm market up the road from us for our pumpkins this year, instead of one of those huge commercial farms with the hayrides, mazes, etc. Mostly because I just don't feel up to it. Frills aside, this place had the most awesome pumpkins. Over the years they've hand picked seeds from their pumpkins to breed ones that have long, thick, curly stems. They were beautiful and pretty cheep. We took some of Elyse's 8 year old pics while we were there. She took the longest picking hers out (close to half an hour), while Luke was determined to find the smallest one in the patch. He can carry it in one arm and so far has taken a bath with it and snuggled with it watching cartoons.

FHE Ghosts

Paul's been after me for a couple of weeks to help him make some ghosts out of some cotton batting he found in an old box. So today I was feeling well enough for a craft project, albeit a short one. We stuffed tissues with batting, drew on faces with a marker, and wallah, I had one happy boy. He decided he wanted to make new fhe markers with the ghosts, so we took down the old hearts and made ghosts for each member of the family. This might be fun to do for each new holiday if I can think of some cheap and easy things to make.

Luke and his potty

Luke is sort of thinking he wants to go in the big boy potty. Once or twice a day he pulls the seat out and sits on it, but nothing every happens. While I was in Boston, Matt said he actually went #2 in there once, but nothing since. I'm not pursuing it too hard at the moment--not until I can stomach it. But he sure gets a kick out of his potty seat. This is how he carries it to my bathroom from the guest half bath. Once he actually starts using it, we'll have to discourage him wearing it on his head.

The Kitchen is finally done

I finally finished the last few decorating touches in the kitchen. I had it painted months ago and put up the kids display area months ago, but the walls have been pretty bare. Here's a couple of pics to show what we did to finish things off. I'm so not a decorater, but I kind of like my kitchen. I wish I could somehow put our family tree somewhere in there, but I haven't figured out yet how to do it. For now I'm content, though.

Trip to Boston

Last week I flew to Boston to spend conference weekend with my sister Katie. She's going to the North Bennet school of ....I can't remember. Anyway, she's in the book binding/conservation program. Together we went to Salem, MA (where there was nothing to see or do, so don't ever waste your time), walked through the Longfellow house where Washington headquartered during the seige of Boston and later Longfellow raised his family, and we ate lots of yummy food. While she went to school one day I walked the feedom trail and saw tons of history: the site of the Boston Massacre, Fanueil Hall, Old Town Hall, a few graveyards with the important people like Paul Revere, John Hancock, the first govenor of MA, etc., the Old North Church (which is two doors down from Katie's school), Bunker Hill, and the U.S.S. Constitution. It was fun to get away for a weekend and pal around with my sister, but it's also nice to be home again with the kids and my husband.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know, I'm pregnant! It made sight seeing a little difficult, but my sister took such good care of me. And walking around in the fresh air is one of the best things for morning sickness. Baby is coming June 1st so I have quit a ways to go. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through the holidays this year. Maybe a miracle will happen and the morning sickness won't last very long this time around. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

SCBWI-MI Writer's Conference

I just got back from a lovely weekend away to the annual Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators retreat. They rent a conference center once a year and we have classes and activities for a straight 48 hours, with all meals included, and this year private rooms! I can't tell you how fun it is to be with people who are going through all the same frustrations and struggles, and reading the same books, and spending time critiquing each other's stuff. This was only my second year and I actually remembered some faces and names from the last time and met a whole bunch of new people too--including a couple of ladies from Saginaw. This year I had a critique session with an editor from Boxing Day Books and she was tremendously helpful. She actually didn't have any suggestions for my writing sample. Said it was tight, well written, and set up the conflict well. So we spent the session on my abysmal synopsis. She reads hundreds of these every week. Now I have advice from someone who knows what stands out and looks good. She walked me through it almost line by line and really marked the whole thing up for me, which was great. Too bad she's not looking for fantasy, though. So few are, but I love writing it. Every year the Michigan SCBWI chapter holds a mentorship program with a Michigan author and it rotates year by year from picture book, verse, to novel. This year was the novel year, so I entered the story I'm currently working on (which the rough draft is only half way done) and I won 3rd place! Me! Third place! And although I didn't get the mentorship, I won a prize too with an agency that will let me skip the slush pile and submit directly to three editors. Too bad the book's not done. It'll be a year or more before I can use it. Wow, I was on cloud nine all weekend. But it's good to be home again and put my "mom" cap back on. Writings fun, but I don't take it as seriously as a lot of people there do. It's just my splash of color when the mom hat gets a little boring. Someday, though.

Luke Mouse

One of Luke's favorite cartoons is Mickey Mouse Club and so his favorite shirt to wear is his Mickey Mouse shirt. After laundry day, it's usually the first one he picks out of the drawer. He calls it Mouse. Today he found Matt's Mickey slippers in the closet that we got at DinseyLand this summer and strutted around the house while I finished making my bed (see my pillows scattered all over the floor?) and finished other chores before play group.

And can you tell my new camera battery finally came in the mail? Hurray! I have a working camera again.

3 Things Tag

My friend had this on her blog and did a universal tag to all her blog buddies, so here goes. By the way Ari, "Hotness" made me giggle. Great nickname! 3 Names you go by: 1. Emily 2. Mom, Mamma, and the occasional Mommy (but I hate being called Mommy) 3. Sister Deibel 3 Restaurants I love: 1. Hellos Sushi (best Japanese place ever) 2. Genji's (love the hibachi grill and yum, yum sauce) 3. Quiznos (Ask the kids, I'm there every Friday for lunch) 3 Trips to plan on this year: 1. Writer's conference in Plymouth, MI (without kids!) 2. Boston to visit my sister Katie (without kids) 3. Thanksgiving in Utah 3 Things you want badly: 1. To get a book published 2. To lose all my excess weight 3. To see my kids grow up and stay in the church 3 Pets you've had: 1. Lisa (Siamese cat, now deceased) 2. Bo (gray cat, now deceased) 3. Jesse (gray cat, now lives with another family because he was jealous of Luke) 3 Things you did yesterday: 1. Went to choir practice 2. Went to church 3. Took the kids on a walk around the soccer fields 3 Things you ate today: 1. Cheerios 2. Milk 3. 1/2 C orange juice (I haven't had lunch yet) Fears: 1. Tights spaces 2. Dying young 3. Ghosts 3 Things you plan on doing today: 1. Laundry 2. Visiting Teaching 3. taking Elyse to a soccer clinic 3 Things I plan on doing tomorrow: 1. Grocery shopping 2. watch Elyse's soccer game 3. It's my turn to post in my critique group 3 Favorite Holidays 1. Christmas Eve 2. Thanksgiving 3. 4th of July 3 Favorite Beverages 1. Diet Coke 2. Ice cold water 3. The first serving out of a cold gallon of milk --you Smiths out there know what I mean

Paul lost his tooth

Elyse remembered that she still has a camera and took a picture of Paul and his first lost tooth last night. It's been barely hanging in his mouth for a couple of days and last night, Elyse leaned over in the car and nudged it out of his mouth for him. The little mother. She's a big help.

The Rubik's Cube Master

For those of you who know Matt, he had a birthday this week and turned 35. Alas, still no camera, but he and I don't like our pictures taken on our b-days anymore. We went a little game crazy this year for his special day. We got him Dance Dance Revolution for his Wii, Elyse got him a Rubik's cube, and Paul ended up getting him a game called Flippin' Frogs (which we just like to say out loud). We played all three games most of the day--the frogs were especially amusing right after the birthday dinner when we were all on a sugar high from the cookie cake and ice cream. But every since then, Matt's been addicted to his Rubik's cube. I guess it was a childhood dream of his to figure it out and he thought he never would. Well...drum roll please...Matt's conquered that blasted demon, headache inducing toy of the 80's. It still takes him over five minutes, but anyway I mix it up, he can figure it out. Thanks to the seven steps and hints that came in the pacakge--but I still think I wouldn't be able to do it even with the help. Me and Elyse, on the other hand, have spent our afternoons figuring out Dance Dance Revolution. I can now proudly say I've earned A's on two songs on the basic level. I even got a B once on Difficult!

Two Firsts

Okay, in all our travels this summer I lost my camera's extra battery pack and recharger and my current battery is dead. Until I get around to getting another recharger, I'm without a camera, so I'll have to report our firsts without any pictures. The first First: Luke is now officially in a big boy bed. To get him excited about taking naps last month, I've let him pick any bed in the house to sleep in. He'd hem and haw and then make a choice and get all excited. It was usually Elyse's bed, too. He did so well and never fell off or came out in the hallway, I thought, we might as well set up his bed. We bought matching beds for the boys and Luke's has just been sitting in its boxes in the basement. We found out we're missing hardware for the tent canopy and couldn't put that part up, but he's very excited about sleeping in a bed like Paul's. And now he's also realized the freedom and likes to get out three or four times a night. Ya, we'll definitely have to work on that. While Matt was putting it together, Luke would sneak in behind him, steal some screws, and push them in random holes on the bed posts. He also kept going around and around the bed saying "Happy Lu. Happy Lu." He's a kick in the pants, that boy. The second First: Paul has his first loose tooth. Last night at dinner he said there was a weird bump behind his tooth. Around bedtime we discovered that it's actually his adult tooth coming up behind the baby one and now the baby one is pretty loose. He then proceeded to wiggle it the rest of the night and this morning. Hope it falls out soon. And I doubly hope I don't have to be the one to pull it. Yuck.

Striped

Yesterday, my in-laws took a trip down memory lane with me and Matt. We got them some tickets to their college alma matre's first football game of the year at MSU in Lansing. My father-in-law went all out and brought stuff for tailgating and everything. I'm not much of a sports fan, other than BYU football and the olympics, so I probably wasn't that enthusiastic about going. And it's kind of weird tailgating in a parking lot where everyone else is drinking and smoking and your sipping diet coke. The game was more fun. They wouldn't let me bring my purse in and Matt ran it back to our car before I remembered to take the sunscreen out. Four quarters later (and I admit, I spaced out the last quarter and don't think I even really saw anything), I am a funny combination of stripes. I've got a white strip across my face where my sun glasses were. Horizontal stripes on my arms marking where my shirt sleeves went to and then vertical strips down my arms proving that I sat with my right side of my body toward the sun all day. I think I burned my lips too. They're pretty unhappy without half a tub of carmax coating them. Afterward we walked around campus and they showed us their major buildings and their first dorms. Sitting in the sun totally zapped everything out of me and I snoozed on the way home. Ah....football....I remember now why I only bought season tickets as a freshman.

First Day of School Pics

Elyse must have liked having her pic taken the first day of school, because I had to do it again on the second day of school, too. But this is the first day photo. Paul--all ready for Kindergarten. First day of cold lunch at school: he lost his lunch box. I'm not that surprised. This boy is a bit heedless. This pic is sort of fuzzy, sorry, but I had to include it because Luke's been toting his little "pack-pack" around every since the kids went to school. He wears it all day long, including rides in the car and up to bed. He cries every morning when the kids go to school and doesn't understand why he can't go with them.

Dirty, smelly, and half nudey

Alas, summer officially ended with one last hurrah: the annual "unoffical" ward campout at North Higgins Lake. Matt and I have been going on and off for the past six years even though we haven't lived here that long. We'd usually come up and join his parents. Anyway, now that I'm in the ward, I have to say it is a somewhat odd and incredibly fun trip at the same time. About one third of the ward comes and we take up one side of the campground. Every night there's a potluck dinner at somebody's site and there's usually upwards of 20 kids running through and around everyone's tents and pop-ups. They're like packs of wild dogs hunting down the last bit of summer fun. Elyse was all but invisible the three days we were there. She'd turn up every once in a while to tell me where she was going next and down at the beach we could never get her out of the water. The pot lucks turn into fireside chats as all the adults sit around a campfire and talk until late at night. It's fun to catch up on what everyone's been doing that summer and it's also one of the rare times you see people breeching that age barrier you so often get in Relief Society. Old people sit with the young moms and vice versa. Now that I've been here a while and recognize all the people I usually see dressed in their Sunday best every Sabbath, it was somewhat of a shock to trek down to the beech and see these same sober Mormons bare legged and bare chested, frolicking in the water. It was like they were practically naked in my eyes because I'm so used to seeing them dressed from neck to knee. And then I realized...I'm half naked too. How embarrassing. I kept trying to keep looking everyone in the eye. My embarrassment wore off eventually, as I realized it's campouts like this that sort of pull me closer to these people, the ones I interract with a lot and even the ones I don't. I've seen their whitey white legs and chests, make-up less faces, and sat shoulder to shoulder with people just as dirty and smelly as I am. And on Sundays we have a sacrament service in the woods (with our bishop's permission) and I get to hear the sweetest testimonies from people that I truly respect. It's the best testimony meeting of the year, even though we're still in our jeans and in pony tails. And at the end of it all, I go home feeling like everyone there is my friend and we're a real ward family. It's a great fortifying experience. School started this morning. My little Paul has been gone all day. I sure hope he makes a friend. And listens to his teacher. That boy has a tendancy to wander around in la la land and miss everything else that is going on. It's kind of quiet here with just me and Luke. Luke cried when we dropped Paul off and he's asked where Paul and Elyse are a few times today. Poor kid. He's stuck with boring mom now for the year.

My pinkie toe's playing peek-a-boo

That's it. I've decided it is definitely time to get into better shape. I've been telling myself for months to lose weight to make the next pregnancy easier, but in the back of my mind I was thinking, I'll get pregnant next month for sure and how much can I actually lose in just one month? Well one summer later, I'm still just as huge and there is no baby in sight. So no more dithering around and making excuses. Last week I started our walking routine that I meant to carry through all summer, but those darn vacations kept getting in the way and then I'd fall out of the habit. I laced up my shoes, de-cobwebbed the jogging stroller, and told the kids to fire up their hot wheel scooters. Mid-way through out walk, I remembered: I have crappy shoes. I can't find tennis shoes anywhere that will accomodate my rather large and protruding pinkie toe on my right foot. On every vacation I got a huge watery blister and on this walk I got the mother of all blisters. A quarter mile away from home, I took the stupid shoe off and walked the rest of the way without it, while Paul and Elyse zoomed on ahead and beat me home. I've been in rather a temper this week, thanks to mother nature, and by the time I limped into the garage, I hated all shoes that I have ever had, and cursing man's stupidity for not making special shoes for big pinkie toe people like me. So I took a knife to my shoe and sawed a hole for my toe. Now when I walk, it sticks out the side of my shoe, playing peek-a-boo every time my right foot hits the pavement. But you know what? No more blisters! Hurray! I might have to make another door for my left foot, which isn't as huge, but is feeling a little left out.

Blueberry Season Coming to a Close

I took the kids blueberry picking again today. It was supposed to be a church play group, but only me and one other family turned up. Fortunately, today was much cooler than last time which made picking nice. I can tell the season is almost over--the berries were very tiny and some of the bushes well picked over. We're freezing a bunch for smoothies for warm fall and spring days. I tried a new recipe I read in our Relief Society bulletin last week and it turned out great, so I thought I'd share it with any other blueberry fans out there. Blueberry Zucchini Bread 3 eggs, lightly beaten 1 C vegetable oil 3 t vanilla extract 2 1/4 C white sugar 2 C shredded zucchini 3 C all-purpose flour 1 t salt 1 t baking powder 1/4 t baking soda 1 T ground cinnamon 1 pint fresh blueberries Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans(or two large pans). In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans. Bake 50 min(two large loaves took about 1hr and 10 min) in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 min in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. On an olympic side note: I love the Russian gymnastic guy Bob Costas keeps interviewing in the broadcasting center: Bela Carouli(sp???). Remember Rachelle, the Atlanta games and Carrie Strug with her broken foot and Bela screaming "You can do it!" We quoted that all the time for a while, didn't we. It's a hoot to watch him watch the girls gymnastics team. I haven't been as excited about watching track and field. Is it just me or do they seem like punks?

Olympics

Not much going on around here, especially from 8pm to about 1am because my rear has been permenantly affixed to the sofa. I am an olympic nut. It all started way back at the Atlanta games when me and my sister Katie got burnt to a crisp hiking Timpanogas and wanted to do nothing but lay on our stomachs, so we watched the games almost non stop. It was the first time Bob Costas MCd and she and I both harbored a crush on the short, witty, sportscaster. To this day he's still one of my favorite parts of the games--I heart B.C. (Not really, but he's still kind of cute). And apparantly I'm indoctrinating the next generation. Every time the NBC fanfare plays, Luke is singing in the background: "Da...da...da, da, da, da, da..." And he does it after every commercial break. To kill time during commericals (which I absolutely hate, b.t.w.) I've been working on my cross stitch piece that I've been chipping away at the for the past seven years. It usually only gets attention during general conference, but with five hours of commercials every night, I'm getting a lot done. Hurray! I'm a domesticated couch potato! Matt has wisely learned not to expect too much conversation from me or evenings out during the olympics. But he likes to make snide comments about Bob on the side, like, "He is so profound--I'm still trying to figure out how profound his last statement was." Then I push him off the couch and tell him to go to work. He was so funny during the gymnastics last night, he just couldn't take watching the girls and seeing them make mistakes. And then he'd feel so bad for them. He wanted to go to bed before the last three routines and just find out who won in the morning. Are you kidding me? Did you guys see the absolutely awesome men's 4 by 100 relay? And the women's gymnastics all around? Wow. While Michael Phelps is pretty awesome to watch, I've loved cheering on all the women swimmers. Natalie Coughlin is a trooper. Looking forward to more tonight.

Cabin in Aus Gres

Aunt Meghan, Uncle Adam and Luke Luke and Paul wrecked my sand castle, so they built me a new one. We rented a cabin on Lake Huron this week--I know, we overbooked this summer. We've been celebrating Matt's decrease in shifts at the hospital by playing a lot. During the winter they had four doctors quit and everyone else had to pick up the slack and Matt was working way more than any of us like. So I guess we took the extra money and spent it on the mortgage and some vacations. We now officially own 25% of our house! Anyway, we had a lovely, quiet week on the water. No computer or friends to compete for the kids' attention. We took long walks on the beach. Highlights of walks: a bald eagle flying right over our heads and a lightning storm that blew in and shot bolts right over us as we ran the quarter mile back to our cabin. I can't believe how much the kids played in the sand. It never got old. In the morning, they played in the sand. In the afternoon, they played in the sand. We had some good swims, too. Elsye and I created a synchronized swim we called the Deibel tribute to the summer olympics. We had Aunt Meghan, Uncle Adam, and Gramma Sue come up for a day of sun and games. And then we had a family from our ward come up and spend a day and sleep overnight. Matt and I just enjoyed the quiet time with no house pressures, job pressures, or entertaining the kids pressures. Now our summer is truly winding down. Two weeks of olympics will have my glued to the couch and then I've got to get ready for the kids to go back to school. Boo! Hoo!

Church ball injury

Matt plays basketball Tuesday nights at the church with bothy members and non. I hear it gets pretty rough. A couple of times he's had to go with some of the men over to the ER--One guy tore his achilles tendon or something. Matt jammed his pinky so bad six months ago it permenantly sticks out to the side now. But he loves it and will schedule other things around it just so he can go. So I was really surprised when he came home early this week from ball. Then I saw him limping. Then I saw the softball sized ankle bulging beneath his sock. He rolled it and wow, I've never seen a sprain like it. He already wears a brace on his other ankle because he rolled it a lot as a teen, and he wears a splint for his pinky. Now he'll be sporting another brace. We must be getting old or something--everything breaks down so much easier. Here's a pic to record this month's BBall injury.

Dentist: It's not too hard to guess who got a cavitiy

Yesterday was our biannual trip to the dentist. We've visited this office about eight times now, thanks to the follow-up visits we make to get cavities filled, so they are all pretty used to Paul by now. My regular hygenist, Valerie, thinks Paul is the funniest kid to walk the planet, and I tell her she doesn't have to live with them--that funny impression wears off pretty quick. Poor Paul was born with one volume: loud, and soft teeth. Which means that our destist office gets to see and hear him quite often. When Paul's in the dentist chair, his voice carries to every cubicle in the whole office. And this time he had a new substitute hygenist who was blown away by how loud and how much one little kid could talk while trying to clean his teeth. Valerie kept chuckling while cleaning my teeth and listening, but I could tell the other lady looked a little frazzled when she brought Paul over to my cubicle. Paul has to go back for another cavity to be filled...again. Every time I've taken him he's had one. One time he had two. And six months ago the cavity was so huge they had to do a pulpectomy (uh, that's the technical term for a kid's root canal, I guess)! I brush his teeth the same as Elyse's and she' never even had one. I brush his teeth even better than hers now and I floss them. What more can I do??? I keep having visions of him as an old man chomping his toothless gums together like his great-grandma Bluemlein does and it totally grosses me out. I guess by then I'll be dead and I won't have to watch him do it. On a side note, I solved one of the family frustrations we've been having over the last year: two of my kids forget to flush. Okay, it's the only two that are potty trained, but one is worse than the other. First, I tried threats. I tried making them pay me money, going to bed early, doing extra chores, putting up huge posters in the bathrooms warning them to flush, or else--two in the kitchen bathroom. Finally, I had to resort to candy. I hate doing it, but sometimes its the only thing that works. If they flush, they get a gummy bear out of the toilet jar. It's like going back to toilet training them with potty goodies. But I no longer walk into the bathroom and see an unflushed toilet and the one up in their bathroom no longer has a constant yellow stain in the bowl. Hurray for candy!

Niagra Falls, Philedelphia, and Ohio

Elyse at Independance Hall in the signing room
Liberty Bell
Conservatory at Longwood
Paul in the Children's Garden
Elyse at Niagra Falls
Maid of the Mist

My sister, Katie, is doing a summer internship in Philedelphia with a whole level of a house all to herself. Since she's out there alone for almost two months, we decided to visit her for a few days, and then my parents joined the band wagon and met us there. It's the longest drive we've done with Luke (eleven and a half hours) and I'm surprised at how well all the kids did. It helped to break up the trip. We stopped at Niagra Falls almost halfway there and wandered around for about three hours. I've seen them about six times and this was the first time we rode the Maid of the Mist. Very fun. In Philedelphi we visited a gorgeos garden call Longwood Gardens, we saw Independance Hall where the Declaration of Independance was signed, saw the liberty bell, Franklin's grave and foundations of his house, and the outside of the Betsy Ross house, and the oldest residential street in the U.S. We also took a driving tour of Valley Forge and ironically had a fabulous picnic where our long ago ancestors nearly starved. We broke the return trip home by stopping at Matt's brothers place is Columbus, OH. We played with cousins for a couple days, had some picnics and short hikes, and went to a splash park. Whew. Now all I want to do is stay inside my house for a week and do nothing. And while I love visiting family, there is nothing like coming home to my own bed. Fun trip, though. I don't think I would ever have thought to go to Philedelphia for fun without my sister there. But I actually found myself getting choked up at a few of the historic sites. The older I get, the easier it is for me to get sentimental.