The Training of a Witch

I feel like there are certain areas in which I find myself forever in a state of apology and promise to be better, and this blog is no exception.  It's amazing just how much time can lapse between when you mean to do something and when that something is actually accomplished!  Oh well, someday I'll be a consistent soul, but for now I'll just tell you a funny story to get myself back up into the saddle and try to work my way back from there.

A few weeks ago we brought a favorite children's book home from the library- Heggedy Peg by Audrey & Don Wood.  I don't think we'd ever read it to Reese, but what with her recent witch admiration, I was sure it would be a hit- and it was.  Personally, I like to think my "Derr voice" was the clincher (demonstrations are available ONLY upon very sincere request.  Those outside the circle of Witchy Derr Women seldom appreciate the skill- I seem to recall a mission companion commenting that she's never actually heard a troll voice, but was fairly certain I was doing a perfect imitation).  When I'd finished the story Reese's eyes were glued to the page where the foul Heggedy Peg had disappeared, leaving only her gnarled cane floating in the river.  After a long pause, she declared,

"Whoa- that was a scary one!"

"But did you like it?"  I asked.

She looked at me and nodded emphatically, "Yes!"

That was the beginning of a week of witch stories, which thrilled me to pieces.  Fall is my absolute favorite and reading about witches, flying brooms and pumpkins helped ease the summer weariness.

As a result, our kitchen broom graduated from it's banished place in the hall closet to an almost permanent fixture in the front room and I've literally had to pry the thing out of her hands for meals and sleeping.  I noticed it cast aside this morning as she came to me with her little brow in a furrow and said,

"Mommy, I think we need to go to the store to find a new broom."

I figured I knew where she was headed with this.  "We do, huh?  A more witchy-looking one?"  Green plastic wasn't in the books.

"Yeah.  We need a new one."  She sighed heavily.  "This one doesn't fly."

In that last word her utter disappointment was plain.  She'd done her best, helped all she could, but despite all effort, the non-magical, un-witchified broom was beyond fixing; she needed the real thing.

So now, if you'll excuse me, we're headed out to start the search.

Trouble-maker No. 2

I remember laughing at the toilet seat lock scene in Baby Mama, thinking the lock was for insanely overprotective parents, but I'm feeling a shift in my perspective. I may even join the believers on this one.

I just discovered Sam holding onto the edge of the toilet, soaked up to the armpits and wearing a smile like he'd struck gold, water and bits of (unused, thankfully) toilet paper everywhere from his splashing.

What is it with kids and 'potty-ness'?! Poopy picassos, dunking toys in the toilet. . . I"m just at a loss here.

Oi with the poodles already- err, make that 'puddles'.

A Future of Fruit Loops?

Sam inherited these jammies from a friend in our last ward and only last night did we realize the connection- getting a good laugh in the process.

It's Toucan Sam!!

Tiana's Famous Beignets

For Reese's birthday she got this adorable little cookbook from her favorite Disney-crazed aunt and uncle (I can't say that I wasn't super excited myself). So the other day we decided to crack it open and give the 'house specialty' a whirl.

For Tiana's own recipe, click here

Mixing the dough

Patting a square

Keeping an eye on Mom's frying skills

(Sticky dough made our beignets look more like fried chicken than cute little pillows-

I guess we'll just have to keep practicing. ;)

PS- I just love seeing her in the little apron my mom made for me when I was her age!)

Time to dust with a little sugar!

This recipe makes A LOT!

But that's ok, 'cause this is one satisfied customer!

Thanks again Uncle Justin & Aunt Erin!

Here's Your Sign!

Driving through downtown Logan today we saw this:

I wonder if this little Cell Phone store realizes that the 'N' in this phrase is

a placeholder for the word

and not in.

Hmm.

So here's something funny. . .

Driving around the other day I found myself next to a U-haul truck on the highway. I couldn't help contemplating how convenient a "How's my driving?" sticker would be on this bad boy's bumper- Oh how I'd relish a call that would slap this guy with an extra fine when he dropped the weaving mobile home off in Tallahassee!

I let the scene play out in my mind as I made my way around him, and that's when this caught my eye:

It's only natural for a reader/person-who-likes-to-know-things to be sucked in by the phrase

"Did you Know. . ."

And that started my mind on something else:

What in the world were these people thinking

putting whole paragraphs of interesting, little known facts on the side of moving trucks?! Did they somehow miss that it's just that- a moving truck? Putting a less-than-skilled 'home trucker' behind the wheel wasn't enough of a threat, they decided to draw the well-intentioned 10 and 2 public into a wild-wheeled trivia game that would have whole cities weaving like a bunch of drunks at a demolition derby.

Oh, and how 'bout making the print really small- just to keep things interesting.

That's one hazardous game of Jeopordy- "I'll take deadly maneuvers for 1000, Alex!"

Luckily, this thread of thought took me away from the side of the truck in time to notice the bull moose closing in and the bulk of a 2 to 3-bedroom only inches from my side mirror.

I'm thinking some poor aspiring eye doctor that flunked out of optometry school

eventually found his calling as a graphic artist for U-Haul,

and this is his way of 'sticking it to the man'.

The August Reading Rainbow!

Hello fellow bookworms!

Molly here to announce/invite you to join us in this month's Badger Bookclub pick. Honestly I've been itching all year to get my preferred genre in, and what with school starting in the near future, there couldn't be a better time. And so, for this month, let's read books from the

Young Adult section of your local library. My all-time favorite ever is this one:

It is an amazing story- one that I never tire of laughing and crying through (you know it's a good book when they happen simultaneously!),

and if you've never read it you simply MUST get a copy asap!

Seriously.

Since we're going with the Young Adult theme that means fairly short, easy reads. So let's see just how many each of us can tuck under his or her belt over the next few weeks.

We had a good time with the patriotic competition, and I'm feeling like spreading the love.

Any takers? :)

Whoever reads the most WINS!

(Can't guarantee prizes at this point, but bragging rights will definitely be included)

Here are a few of my favorites, if you need some inspiration before

whipping out your library card--

Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

The Harry Potter Series (obviously) by J. K. Rowling

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Authors I love--

Robin McKinley

Roald Dahl

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Lemony Snicket

There are SO many greats out there, so if I left out some that you know (which I'm positive I did) please leave a comment to share with the rest of us!

Now get out there and find your inner child!

Happy Reading!!!

Tangled Up After 4 Fabulous Years!

I cannot believe that our little girl is four years old!

Like all parents, I'm standing here in shock, thinking of the little button with the boxer eyes that wept brokenheartedly in the delivery room.

She is such an amazing girl with a zest for life that has us convinced she's going to be an overwhelming success at whatever she puts her mind to. Incidentally, she also inherited the stubbornness, er. . . determination to make it happen.

She's a wonderful big sister, a sweetheart daughter, and a first-rate people charmer.

Oh how we love her!!

This year we decided that it was high time we threw a little party.

Correction. I realized that despite the years, I had yet to throw an all-out, themed birthday party and was smitten with the idea of it. Despite Reese getting all the presents, I'm pretty sure I had the most fun!

We initially had a few activities planned- pin the hair on Rapunzel, a frying pan toss at a Mother Gothel- but after a long day of preparations, eating, chatting, and opening presents was exactly what the doctor ordered.

We'll have to save the pan toss for Halloween.

So, without further ado, check out Reese's Disney's Tangled party. . .

the Food. . .

the Friends. . .

. . .the Fun!

Thank you SO much to everyone for travelling up- and to those who were here in spirit!

And, as always, thanks to Mese and Kyle who made it look A-mazing!

Our Snuggly Duckling Menu Included:

Five-Star Philly Steak Sandwiches on Ruffian Rolls

I've Got a Dream dip w/ Vladamir Veggies

Max's Favorite Apples

Love Connection Lemon Bars

Flynn's Island Fruit Skewers

Killer, Bruiser & the Gang Brownies

Atilla's Cupcakes

And to drink:

Flower Gleam and Glow Lemonade

A Tall Drink o' Water

Can you guess what we've been watching lately?

Reese just closed the screen door on her toe, resulting in a cut, some immediate Mommy First Aid, and the kind of drama I'm sure won't be over any time soon (she's still telling strangers about the time she stepped on a stick a year-and-a-half ago).

Amidst the wails of dressing her war wound, she mumbled something I didn't catch. I asked her to repeat it. Through sniffles she moaned,

"My foot," Sniff. "is cut," Sniff, sniff. "just like. . . Koh-lee-poh-keeeeeeee!"

The weeping began afresh.

Well. . .

Minus the rats. And the pouring blood. And the whole not being able to walk thing. . . yes, my dear. You two are practically separated at birth.

If you have yet to see The Other Side of Heaven (the mission story of Elder John Groberg) I highly recommend it.

It's spiritual and entertaining!

Literary Defibrillation- The Forum

I bet you all thought that you would never see this post, didn't you? Well here it is readers, and I mean that in every sense. It is time to discuss the books we read for the month of July that celebrate our freedom. Whether you read or not I hope you all had an excellent Independence Day, it is one of those rare occasions when, in our tumultuous country, we can reflect on the ideals and sacrifices that were made so that we can live our lives according to the dictates of our conscience.

Now to the forum...

Molly and I found that competing with each other to see who could finish their books first was excellent motivation this month. I read Washington's Crossing, while Molly read First Family.

Washington's Crossing was one of the most engaging books I've read in a long time. The book examines each party that was involved in the fight between the Continental Army and the Hessians/British Regulars. By delving into each group and the important figures within those groups Fischer (the author) makes Washington, Hamilton, and the militia, as well as the Howe Brothers, Lord Cornwallis, and the Hessians into very accessible, human characters, where they had generally been figureheads with distinct roles (Americans were the 'good guys' the British were the 'bad guys'). However, the author shows that each man had their own motivations for entering into the American Conflict, many of the British leaders were opposed to military action against the Americans, and many of the Americans vacillated in their devotion to the American cause. For me, I think the amazing thing about history is that amazing things were accomplished by ordinary people; people with flaws, who made mistakes, and saw that issues were not black and white but varying shades of grey. Hollywood and 'old-school history' makes us see things in terms of good and bad, and it makes those who changed the world seem like unattainable demigods, when in reality, they were as human as we were. If we rise to the occasions that face us and work to bring out the best part of ourselves we will still stumble and make some mistakes, but we will also become the kind of people who might change the world for the better.

That was my soapbox for the day. Feel free to borrow mine, or bring your own as we discuss these books.

One small note here:

2) We are starting a new blog (I know, it's a lot) but it's something we think is pretty important. The premise is that as a young family we are always looking for things to do together, and while we enjoy Disneyland, Chuck-E-Cheeze and the movies, we think there are alternatives to this kind of entertainment, Families Unplugged, which is the name of our new blog and will provide some ideas about what inexpensive, non-electronically based activities there are in the United States, as well as our experiences, and some cool historical information that might make your trip more interesting as well. So, if you are anxious to find something new to do with your family check us out, we should up and running by this weekend!