Glasses at Two--Take Two

It's official.  Hayley is very farsighted.  She kept telling me she needed glasses but I didn't take her seriously.  I thought she just wanted to be like some of her older siblings, but I scheduled an exam anyway because of our family eye history.  She was right!  She was so excited to choose her frames and then she couldn't wait to pick them up from the eye doctor's office when they came in.  When she put them on, I was taken back in time to when Jillian started wearing glasses at the same age.  See the similarity?  (besides the same shirt!)

Hayley at 2-3/4 years old

Hayley and Corinne

Jillian and Alyssa (2-3/4 and 10 years)

Jillian--budding artist

How NOT to Make Bread

Lovely loaves, aren’t they.  Gorgeous rounded tops.  Or not.  So here’s how to make these beauties in your own kitchen.

7:00am—Realize that you just used your last slices of bread when packing lunches and decide to mix up a new batch of dough.  Put 6 cups hot water in the bread mixer.

7:10—Drive Evan to school.

7:30—Make breakfast, send off Grant and Alyssa,  fix hair (the girls’, not mine), find shoes, etc.  The usual.

8:15—Take Corinne and Jillian to school.

8:30—Clean up kitchen.  Notice water in the mixer which is no longer hot.  Dump it out and refill with hot water.  Pull out the wheat grinder and near-empty wheat container.  Go downstairs to the food storage room to get more wheat.  Put away the food from my last shopping trip which is still sitting on the storage room floor.

9:00—Help Hayley in the bathroom.  While there, notice the dryer full of clothes from yesterday.  Empty the dryer and sort clothes into kids’ bins.  Run upstairs and gather dirty clothes from the bedrooms and start a new load of laundry.

9:30—Play octopus dominoes with Hayley.  Answer the phone.  While in the kitchen, notice the lukewarm water in the mixer.  Dump it out and refill with hot water.  Grind wheat and make dough.  Put dough into bread pans.

10:00—Decide to take Hayley for a walk in the stroller while the bread is rising.  Walk to the park, hoping she won’t ask to stop and play at the playground.  Yeah, right.  Do jumping jacks, lunges, squats, etc. while she plays so I can still get my exercise.  Play freeze tag with her, at her request.  Freeze tag with two people?  Didn’t last long.

10:45—Pull Hayley away from the swings, promising to push her on the backyard swings later.  (which I’m sad to report never happened).  Walk quickly home, hoping to arrive before my visiting teachers.  No such luck.  Open the garage to put the stroller inside and lead them through my super-clean mudroom and kitchen (haha). 

12:00pm—Say goodbye to the VTs and head into the kitchen to get Hayley some lunch.  Oh no!!  Hello rising sinking bread.  Flat as can be.  Decide to bake it anyway.  Still flat.

And that, my friends, is how not to make bread.  The upside?  Although the kids have already eaten an entire loaf, it’s a little dense and dry for my taste.  I just saved myself some calories!  I’m so smart.

Washington: Day 3

It was drizzling when we woke up, but that didn’t change our plans.  We put on our raincoats and headed downtown to explore Seattle.  Hayley was so excited to wear her new pink jacket and ride the train.

We parked our car and took the light rail (SoundTransit).  The train started out high above ground, then moved to ground level, and went underground as it reached the downtown area.  


Our first stop was the Columbia Tower to take in the view of Seattle.  Then we walked down to the waterfront.

The kids loved browsing “Ye Olde Curiousity Shoppe”.  (thanks for the suggestion, Aunt Heather!)

The rain stopped and never returned for the rest of the day, even though the forecast warned us of an 80% chance of thunderstorms and showers all day.  We even saw the sun in the afternoon!

We spent a couple of hours in the Seattle Aquarium.  We decided to buy a membership for the year so we can return often.  (it was cheaper to buy the membership than to pay one day’s admission for all of us.)  We even have two free guest passes if any of you would like to join us next time.

Next, we walked up the hill to Pike’s Place Market so we could watch the shouting and fish throwing “shows”.  They did not disappoint.  I was amazed by the gorgeous, huge bouquets of flowers selling for only $10.

You’d think you could find a good deal on fresh seafood in Seattle.  Maybe we just didn’t know where to look, but everything was too pricey for us.
We headed back to the waterfront towards the Olympic Sculpture Park.  Corinne fell asleep in Brian’s arms, and Hayley napped in the stroller.


They weren’t the only tired ones.  We took a little break in the sculpture gardens before walking to the Seattle Center to see the Space Needle. (see it in the background?)



After seeing the Space Needle, we took the monorail back downtown to find a place to eat dinner.  It wasn’t easy.  We wore the kids out searching for a restaurant.  I’m pretty picky.  Too expensive.  Too fried.  Too ordinary.  If we’re spending that much money, I don’t want to be disappointed.  Brian finally made an executive decision and steered us all into a Vietnamese restaurant, much to the dismay of some.  It was a good call.   The food was delicious and it was a new experience.  The big hit was Grant’s avocado drink.

We returned to our condo that night with sore feet and big smiles.  Thank you, Seattle!

Washington: Day 2

We woke up to sunshine and the promise of a warm day (mid 60’s) so we drove to the nearest ferry terminal and drove our van aboard.  We arrived just in time.  As soon as we parked the van, the ferry started moving.

Grant had to check for wi-fi coverage on the boat.  Yup.

In 20 minutes we were docking onto Vashon Island.  We spent the day exploring beaches and other interesting sights.

At our first stop, Brian spotted this bald eagle from the car.  Evan took the camera and got some great pictures before it took flight.

The kids played in the sand rocks near this lighthouse and collected shells and rocks.

A driftwood fort?

She needed her walking sticks to navigate the rocky beach.

We had lunch at the Hardware Store—an island establishment since the 1890s.

The small print on the map reading “bike in a tree” intrigued me, so we went out of our way and into the thick growth to find this landmark.  Moral of this story?  Don’t park your bike in the forest.

Getting back to Seattle was not as quick—we waited in a long line of cars before there was room on a return ferry.  This is our car parked below as the family is heading up the stairs to enjoy the ride from the deck.

This is our view, returning to Seattle.  In the middle of the picture you can see the ramp that connects to the boat for the cars to drive back on the land.

Back at the condo.  After a late dinner, we watched a movie.  I think Hayley and Corinne were the only ones who made it to the end!

Washington: Day 1

Snoqualmie Falls—we stopped here on our way into the city.

The 1/2 mile hike to the beach from our condo through a beautiful, green forest.

The beach!  This is Seahurst Park on the Puget Sound, just south of Seattle.  The water was really cold, of course, but that didn’t stop the kids from wading.

Corinne started a shell collection and came back with a bag full of them.

It was a little windy, but the weather was actually sunnier and warmer than we expected.  (mid 60’s)

This was a good introduction to the beach for Hayley—no waves!   The kids all went to bed excited to explore the next day.  I love vacations!

Make-up Work

Mom, I used your “Eye-touch.”  That’s what she calls my eyeshadow.  Three times in the past two weeks!

Instead of the wall, this time Knuffle Bunny and Pink Bear got make-overs, too.

The next time it was my lipstick.  My favorite lipstick completely flattened.  All over her face and the bedroom wall and her sheets.  I was pretty upset, after all of the discussions we’d had about not using Mom’s make-up.  “Take a picture,” she said.  So I didn’t.  Instead, I finally got smart and hid all of my make-up.  Up high.  The next day she reported, “Mom, I didn’t get into your make-up!”  “Thank you, Hayley—that’s a good choice!”  “Where is it?” she asked.

What Was I Thinking??

Hmmm, it’s Cinco de Mayo.   I think I’ll make homemade tortillas for dinner—I’ve always wanted to try that.  Here’s a recipe online that sounds easy enough and there are pictures of each step.  No problem.  I’ll just make the dough after I pick up Evan from track and before I drop Grant off at swimming.  Then I can cook a couple for Jillian before I take her to rehearsal, and finish the rest after I take dinner over to a friend who just had surgery.  See the problem here?  Like things ever go as smoothly as I plan them.  I couldn’t have pulled it off without Evan.  He made the dough, and then later rolled and cooked.  And they were delicious!

For you observant types, this picture was staged.  The big stack of papers in the forefront, on the counter?  I just put them there so that you wouldn’t feel too bad if your counters ever look like this.  Mine are always clean, but if yours aren’t, I’d never judge you.  And if any of you are ever running so far behind that you don’t sit down to eat until 7:30pm on a school night, well, shame on you.  Because that would never happen around here.  Never.

And since it is Thursday, we had Key Lime Squares.  Doesn’t everyone serve dessert on Thursday nights?  Of course you do.  But we didn’t eat it at 10pm while reading the scriptures.  Who has family scripture study at such a late hour?  Not us.  And if we did, our two-year-old would definitely not still be awake.  No way.

Just eat it—I promise there are no surprises!

They don’t trust me!  Everything I served them today they smiled and inspected closely but wouldn’t take a bite.  “I bet there’s lots of salt in it!”  “She probably made it really spicy.”  “I think there’s paper inside.”

Who me?  Would I do that?  In past years, yes.  But this year I was normal as can be, not a single trick up my sleeve.  I loved watching them squirm, looking and waiting for the unexpected all day long.  Which never came.  All part of my plan.  Until dinner, when I served this:

Taco Salad (sundaes)

And bundt cake (stuffed pizza with cheese on top).

I love April Fools’ Day!

Table Makeover

We bought this table and chairs while we were in graduate school in Boulder, CO.  I was pregnant with Evan—that’s how long ago it was.  A family in our apartment complex was moving to Europe and selling all of their furniture.  We needed to replace the card table we’d been using since our wedding.  Sold.

We’ve gathered around this table for hundreds and hundreds of meals, eaten in five different houses over the past 15 years.  It still fit all of us, but I was tired of it.  It was the same color as the floor.  The chairs were getting a bit wobbly.  So I started looking at the local classified ads online.  For weeks and weeks.  Until I found this.  A used Pottery Barn table with 2 leaves and no chairs.  Sturdy.  Nice lines.  Great legs.  (no, I’m not talking about myself.  Except maybe the sturdy part.)  $75.  Sold.  (wish I had a better before picture—this is the underside and the legs are to the right)

I needed chairs.  I found these.  They came with a table.  The set was blue.  Ugh.  But I like ladderback chairs.  $50.  Sold.

I paid Grant to help me sand the table top to the bare wood.  Jillian helped.  (the table is sitting on top of a dresser that I’ll refinish as soon as the weather gets warmer.)

Looks beautiful, right?  Nice job, Grant.  (Not pictured are the two leaves.)

I lightly sanded the legs and all of the chairs, and then carefully wiped away all of the dust.  That took longer than the table top, even though I wasn’t taking them down to the bare wood.

I painted the legs and the chairs a creamy white (oil-based enamel).  I distressed the edges, and then applied a walnut glaze to give them an antiqued look.

I stained the table top and skirt a dark walnut color.  I wish I’d applied another coat of stain for a more even color, but I didn’t think of that until after I’d applied a several light coats of polyurethane.

And then, while I was at it, I did the same to the extra table—the one with blue legs.  (I’m planning to sell it because I don’t need it—it’s still sitting in the garage.)

I started this project in August.  I worked on it a little almost every day—just an hour here and there.  In October I listed my old table and chairs on KSL.  Sold.  $200.  The kitchen was empty.  I was motivated to finish.  I ordered fabric for the chairs online, and then recovered the seats.  And finally, we moved the new table inside in November.  I love it.  Last week someone called me and said, “I heard you refinish furniture.  Could you do my bedroom set for me?”  “No,” I said.  The end.