Our trip to Ikea...

Dear Sisters,

Most of you (minus Hillary and myself) are together in Wisconsin right now. I hope you are enjoying your time away and having a ball together. Wish I were there with you!

We had a crazy trip to Ikea yesterday. Liz (Alex's sister) is here helping us for the week. She is amazing. She is nonstop energy and efficiency and is so sweet with our girls... and I just love being around her. I wanted to go get some toddler beds for the girls while either her or my mom were here helping us. We've been a bit fearful (to say the least) of switching the girls to big beds because of the effect it might have on nap and bed time. So, because of the bed rest situation, I planned on doing the switch while I had someone here to help me with things.

Our trip to Ikea to pick out the beds started out well, but by the end poor Liz had taken the two girls to the potty about 10 times (I counted) and we had a few accidents happen in the process. Then, Eliza had one of the biggest temper tantrums ever while we were checking out. Can any of you relate? It was crazy. And, we missed nap time so the girls were completely wired by the time we got home...

But, check out the cool motorized wheel chair that I got to drive around! Obviously, that was the highlight of the trip.

We'll keep you posted on how the change to the toddler beds goes. I'll send some pictures once we get them set up. It's kind of bittersweet to see my little girls growing up so fast! I'm sure you all understand that sentiment.

Love,
Molly

The Healing Fields

Sisters,

Yes, I am finally contributing to the blog. Sorry I am so slow. Bear with me as I am still trying to figure out how to do this whole thing. Last week our family went to the "Healing Fields" and it was amazing! I wan't to share it with all of you. With the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11th tragedy, I found myself remembering with deep sorrow the events that took place. It was difficult to watch the programs on TV. However, I was in awe of these people who have overcome so much...survivors of the devestation and loved ones of those that passed on. We saw some incredible stories and watched it as a family.

At the time in 2001, my oldest was only 3 years old. She wasn't much aware and doesn't remember anything from that day. While watching the program we were able to discuss things as a family. It was a great experience and we were so touched by the stories. We then went to the "Healing Fields" which aren't far from our house. This was a park about 2 football fields long that was covered with American flags. There was a flag every 10 feet or so, and one flag for each person that died that day. On each flag there was a 3x5 card of a person's name, occupation, age, and where they died. On most of the cards there was also a little bit that told about them. I couldn't believe how many people there were that died between the ages of 30-50. Hundreds. It was quite an incredible scene to behold all of these flags, people reading them and visibly moved by what they saw. It was hard for the kids to imagine all of the people killed in this tragedy. Seeing it brought it into better perspective and helped them to realize how many people lost their lives that day. It was an amazing experience to have as a family. I am so grateful and proud to be an American.

Things that work around here.....

My first blog post! Yeah! It didn't post on Saturday as I told it to. But hopefully we've since fixed things.

It's been a busy month around our house. School starting means I have a first grader who is learning to read (a part time job by itself!), two daughters on soccer teams, a daughter playing her last season of high school tennis (very intense for two months) and a boy figuring out what he likes / wants to do given his physical limitations. And that doesn't include the school work and college application deadlines. Your lives are equally as busy. So I wanted to share a few ideas that make things flow more smoothly around here in the hopes that it might help you all as well.

1. Laundry: I've tried many things to make this most unbearable of all tasks more palatable and I've finally come down with this: never let a load leave the dryer without folding it and always listen to a good book on CD while doing laundry. Sounds simple but not having 6 loads of clean clothes on my bed to fold at midnight has made me very happy.

2. Dinner dishes: Again, I've tried lots of charts, programs, etc. What works best for us is to have us all help together every night. A friend suggested setting the timer (usu. 10 minutes or less for us) and if we make our goal, rewarding us all with money in a jar for dinner out. The timer and dinner out was a good incentive at the beginning, but the most fun has come from Hannah's version of Taylor Swift songs, Joshua's moves while wiping off the table and the good info we get from our girls about high school romances and what happened during their day. Greg and I have learned about what's in with high school kids from music to clothes to TV shows to technology. It's turned into one of my favorite times of the day.

3. Blitz: I hate all the clutter! Those backpacks, stray socks and shoes seem to multiply. So most nights we pick a few favorite songs (Big Yellow Taxi by the Counting Crows has been Joshua's choice for a good year now, with an occasional Les Mis song thrown in) and we dance our way through cleaning up the stuff. Watching the vast difference between Joshua's groove and Greg's 80's moves is worth the nightly ritual.

Green Smoothies

Good Morning Girls,
I'm sure by the time you read this, I'll be in Wisconsin sharing a long weekend with most of you.  It should be a great family bonding experience.

Last week I took Nate and went to State Fair with dad, Dayna and Logan.  It was so fun to bring our four-year olds and enjoy the smells, sounds and sights of the fair.  I love that atmosphere!  We also had to stop by the Vita-Mix demo and taste the green smoothie..  We all loved it, even the little boys.  I do love green smoothies, not only how they taste, but the nutrition they are packed with.  One thing I learned was that lime is wonderful addition to a green smoothie...so refreshing.  I had to try it on my kids the next day and they really liked it as well.  I think the citrus helps mask the kale taste and I also added more spinach that I have been lately.  I only put in about 1/8 of a lime, peel and all.  Wash it well before using it, but you'll be surprised by the great flavor it adds.  This morning we had another green smoothie and this is what I added: spinach, flax seed, water, pineapple, bananas, apples and about 1 Tblsp. apple juice concentrate with some water and ice.  You all know that I love my vita-mix and green smoothies is one of the reasons why. 

Enjoy your day!

Scooting Dervishes

Our little ones are army crawling and rolling all over the floor. It's amazing and exciting seeing how these little guys have completely transformed in just 10 1/2 months.

Peter and Benjamin chasing me as I try to snap their picture.

Sweet Benjamin

The first year of a baby's life is amazing, and the first year of our twins' lives has been pretty fabulous. It truly has. Having these two little boys join our family at the same time has felt like a miracle to me, and I haven't wanted to dwell on any difficulties at all. Because things really have been much easier than I anticipated. But since we've moved into a new area and are going with a whole new group of people to church and a whole new community at the elementary school, I'm coming to see myself through the eyes of strangers. These people are only coming to know the post-twins Hillary, and I'm realizing something about myself.

Having 5 kids has kind of kicked my butt.

I don't remember things like I should. My house isn't as organized and clean as it should be. I don't always get ready for the day like I should. (Still having not put on a bra at 4:00 in the afternoon is not OK. And to do this while lactating for two babies is REALLY not OK. Unexpected visitors at the door have been scarred I'm sure.) And clearly, I have not been mopping my floor like I should. Does anything draw better attention to the cleanliness of your floors than a crawling baby? Our babies are sliding on their bellies pushing and pulling themselves along with feet and hands. A  onesie that once was white but now is grey with a mixture of dirt and spit is this mother's indictment. Until these babies are walking, I will be obsessed with the state of the floor. As I'm sure you all know, that's just how it is when you have a crawler. To introduce the family to our new emphasis, I thought I'd let the babies do the talking. We've left a note on the front door.

Dear Family,

Now that we are crawling and sliding all around the house 

like scooting dervishes, 

everything that gets tracked in and spilled on the floor 

ends up on our bellies and hands 
and in our mouths. 

So, unless you've been walking around in 

mashed bananas and peas, 

(Seriously. Yum.)  

please remove your shoes on the rug inside. 

We will reward you with smiles and giggles. 

Thanks so much,

Peter and Benjamin

It's Tomatillo Time!

Sisters,
I'm so excited to share a new favorite at our home!  We started growing tomatillos a few years ago in the garden.  We only planted them the one year and they've faithfully returned each year since.  I grew them at first so I could make the tomatillo salad dressing we all love.  Then I started experimenting with other recipes, but haven't considered any of them "keepers".  I've finally made a recipe we really like. Drum roll please...it's Roasted tomatillo salsa.  We like it with chips or as a sauce for smothered burritos.    I've decided that the trick is to have plenty of hot peppers in the mix.  That is not the norm around our home...I think we have tender taste buds and don't like things very spicy, but the combination with the tomatillos is perfect!  It's pretty easy to make and as usual at my house, you taste and add whatever the batch needs.  The original recipe is found at Allrecipes here, but I've included the recipe with my modifications below.


1 pound tomatillos (with husks on)
1 onion quartered
4 garlic cloves peeled
4-5 banana or Anaheim peppers (I've even used a bell pepper with the others)
1-2 jalapeño or Serrano Chile Peppers (depending on the heat you want!)
Salt to taste
a handful of chopped cilantro

Rinse tomatillos with the husks on and wash the peppers. Put tomatillos, peppers, onions and garlic on a cookie sheet and roast on broil until they start to blacken.  You may need to stir so they roast evenly.  Cool and remove tomatillo husks and pepper stems (and seeds if you don't want it very hot!).  Put tomatillos, peppers, onions, garlic and salt in food processor and blend until slightly chunky.  Heat in sauce pan if desired to further blend the flavors (sometimes I skip this step and it's still great!).  Add cilantro and serve with chips or over a burrito.  Enjoy!

I do want to hear if you try this.  I've made a couple larger batches and frozen it.  I'll heat it and then add the cilantro.  It will make a great winter meal.  I wish you all lived closer so I could share the many tomatillos that currently grace my garden!

They Do Love Dirt...

Dear Sibs,

One thing I know for sure, my boys LOVE to be outside. They love to play outside. They love to sit in the dirt and dig in the sand. They love to pour water into various containers and make mud "coffee cake." They love to explore and discover. They love to pick flowers. They love the swing sticks. They love to gather treasures. They love to build various buildings and benches and contraptions out of scrap wood.

I welcome these loves. I encourage these loves. These loves are of the healthy variety. I delight in seeing their pockets filled with treasures, pockets sagging so low that they often interfere with walking.

I melt when they present to me more wildflowers than I can carry. I smile every time I see the bowls on the table inside the front door filled with the many treasures they have carefully gathered and saved and later explained to their dolls.

We took a beautiful family hike on Labor Day morning. Our peaceful walk through the forest ended at the beach of Lake Michigan and then looped back to the car.

The boys were enthralled and for Rit and I, our cups were filled for the upcoming week. It was the perfect opportunity to slow down, take a deep breath and just be in the moment and enjoy being together without the many distractions of every day life.

When all is said and done, those are the important things. I often have to remind myself what is really important in life, these relationships, this time together, my boys and their loves.

Love, Kate

The Boys of Summer

Fall is in the air here in Twin Falls...well, almost. The days are still warm, but the nights are cooler. This means our house still cools off at night even though our sliding screen door was sacrificed to the rowdy celebrations of Ethan and Jeff's "End of Summer Late Night." I don't know where Ethan learned about late nights, but Ethan wanted to have one with some of his friends to celebrate the last week of summer vacation last week. So we invited over two other sets of brothers who are Ethan and Jeff's age, cooked hotdogs and s'mores, watched a cartoon, and played night games.

All fires at our house are lit with flint. The boys luh-huve it. Does anything captivate little boys quite like fire?

Here is Dave with all the boys...except for Sam and the babes. We may have only had 4 guests attend the bash, but remember we still had 9 little boys in this house. We were grossly outnumbered. :) Dave has his rule the rabble face on.

Here's Sam with his marshmallow alight. He insists on doing most things himself...with varying results.

Here are the boys ready for night games...Ethan was a bit hesitant about wandering around in the dark. By the by, Mom ruled the game of sardines by having the best hiding spot of the night. Huzzah!

Our last week of summer was filled with other fun activities to end the break with a bang. We went swimming at 1000 Springs Hot Springs and also attended the Twin Falls County Fair.

Ethan and Jeff trying to get on the log. They had a blast with this.

Brushing the enormous cow.

They each got to milk a cow!

Time to go home.

And now we've started school, and it's kinda great. It makes for early mornings and a much more rigid schedule, but it just feels necessary. Summer is coming to a close, but we're still enjoying one of our favorite recipes we found this summer. Grilled Pesto Pizza...seriously yum. I found it at a friend of mine's blog called The Farm Girl Recipes. She has lots of awesome recipes, but the Grilled Pesto Pizza is definitely one to try right away. Don't deny yourself the delicious opportunity. I do make her pizza crust with half whole wheat flour, but instead of lots of little pizzas, I usually make larger, oval-shaped ones to fit on the grill. This is largely due to my laziness and only wanting to roll out one pizza. I love grilling the pizza because it keeps the dough crisp and not at all soggy. Try it!

Things I'm Slowly Learning...

Dear Sisters,

First of all, I so enjoy reading all of your posts.  I hope we can keep this blog going because I love getting a different glimpse into your lives.

I am slowly learning some things from being on bed rest.  I think I may have been given this experience for some very specific reasons.  Here are some lessons I am learning thus far:

*Note: #1, #2, #3, and #4 lessons are from the 6 days that Alex was in charge before my Mom showed up.

1. My house does not actually have to be spic and span clean and organized ALL of the time in order for us to have a happy home.  Toys can be left on the floor for days, the carpet and floor can be really dirty, the bathroom can be grimy (especially with 2 three-year-olds using the potty by themselves all day, everyday), and the kitchen can be a bit disgusting.  Permanent marker can somehow find its way onto the kitchen table and crayon marks on the couch.  And through it all, we can all still have very happy, content days.  Who knew?!

2. The girls can eat multiple rotisserie chickens, loads of cheese, cereal, and lots of eggs for days on end (with no fruit or vegetables) and survive.  Who knew again?!

3. Alex can take care of things just fine.  In fact, better than fine.  His way of doing things is definitely not my way in many regards, but his way is good too.  Things truly don't need to be taken care of just the way I see fit and in the time I see fit in order to work out.  I'm embarrassed to say that this is a hard lesson for me to learn.  But, I am learning (slowly) that I can not only hold my tounge when something isn't done the way I think it should be, but also to not let it bother me internally.

4. Alex is a really patient and charitable person.

5. When people offer to help, let them.  I've always loved the quote, "Never supress a generous thought."  If people have a generous thought in the way of helping out me and my family, I should allow them to carry it through.  They probably wouldn't have offered if they didn't really want to help.  Still, it is hard for me to let people help sometimes.

Those are a few things on my mind that I wanted to share.  Hope you are all doing well and that your kiddos are enjoying the first few weeks of school!

Love,
Molly 

That Time of Year!

 

Dear Sisters,

It's that time of year again and just when I feel like I'm getting on top of the game, the garden and fruit trees are overflowing with abundance.  We really enjoy eating the fresh fruits and veggies that are a product of our summer long labors, but I also spend time canning, drying and freezing the extra.  I started all of that this past week.  It started with tomatoes on Saturday.  I don't really love to can, but I love the product that we enjoy all winter long.  I love knowing exactly what is in the bottle and that there are no preservatives.  Janelle wanted to learn how to can and so she helped me on Saturday.  It was so fun to be in the kitchen together while peeling tomatoes and stuffing jars.   Even though I don't love to can, I loved the time with her.  It was a time that we were able to enjoy each other while being productive.  It was great!  

Yesterday I canned peaches and I wanted to share with you my new love...my pressure canner.  I have always used a water bath to process when canning.  Last year I got a pressure canner for Christmas and with some reluctance, I've learned how to use it...and it's even safe!  The thing I love the most is that it doesn't make the mess on my stove that the boiling water bath did.  It's great!  I've even processed chicken, and it was easy.  So I've decided two things about canning...one is that it doesn't have to be messy and the other is that it's a great time to visit and bond as a family.

Happy canning everyone!

Enjoy your day,

Amy

Our New Favorite Recipes

Hi all,


The boys and I decided to make lunch for all of the staff at Rit's school last week. I wanted to share the two yummy recipes we tried out. We made grown up grilled cheese sandwiches and the best cookies ever for dessert. First, I'd better tell you about the sandwiches. I used country white bread, each slice buttered on one side. On one slice, spread ricotta cheese. Here's the pile: First, place the ricotta-spread slice butter side down on your griddle or frying pan. Then add your meat like Canadian bacon or pepperoni. The meat can easily be left out. Pile on some roasted red peppers and fresh basil. Add some balsamic vinaigrette. Top with thickly sliced fresh mozzarella and cap it with your remaining slice of bread. Grill on both sides until browned and the cheese is nice and gooey. They are good beyond description. 

Now onto the cookies. There seems to be a trend lately in baking: salty and sweet. It's a delicious combination. For example, salted caramel cupcakes. YUM.I found the recipe on a blog called Sugar Cooking. Pretzel Cookies with Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chips. WHAT?! They are beyond delicious. Be sure to add the salt on top. It's the prefect finishing touch.

Both the sandwiches and the cookies were a big hit. Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Love, Kate

The Hard Stuff

Ethan has been working really diligently on earning his Wolf for Cub Scouts. We lost his scout book somehow in the move madness, but now he has a new book and is planning on earning his Wolf in the next month or so. I think he just may do it. He's pretty motivated, so we're striking while the iron is hot. On Tuesday he planned all our meals and helped cook breakfast. This is what it looks like when your 8-year-old tries to flip the fried eggs himself.

I did get some of the egg back in the pan to the right, but we still enjoyed the smell of burning egg on the cook top for the rest of the time it took us to cook the pancakes. Awesome. Luckily it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it might be to clean it. Most of it peeled off, and I got the rest off with a razor blade rather quickly. But this experience of cooking with Ethan (and of course Jeff and Sam who would not be left out) made me face a shameful fact about myself.

I don't enjoy cooking with my kids.

I know! I hate admitting it out loud, or out blog, but it's true. It always starts out pretty great. I get the kids in their little aprons and pull out the mixer, or whatever we're using, and all the ingredients. I feel like such a good mom as we get started. But then as things progress I find it almost painful as they bicker about who got more turns, crush eggshell into the batter, spill half the flour on the counter instead of the bowl, stick their spitty hands in for a taste, etc. I try my darndest to find the right balance of direction and teaching while also letting them do things on their own. You see, my kids (maybe all kids) don't really want to cook with me. They just would like me to give them directions via video conference while they stand on chairs in the kitchen and create perfection all on their own. We have an artistic difference of opinion on that point.

But just because I don't enjoy it, doesn't mean I don't do it. The truth of the matter is that being a mom is not easy. And being a good mom is hard. If we only did the mom jobs we enjoy then no baby's face would ever get wiped, let alone their backside. No screaming toddler would ever get his teeth brushed. No grumpy kindergartener would ever have the knots combed out of his hair. And we'd never get to experience the truly great mother moments that sometimes come after the hard stuff. Like having clean children all snug in their beds.

So I cook with my kids. And it isn't all bad. Sometimes it's fun. But even though I fully remember all the times it isn't so fun, almost every time my kids ask me if they can help me cook, I say yes. Because it's pretty great that my kids want to spend time with me in the kitchen. I know the day may come that standing in the kitchen with me adding flour to the bread dough will not be super exciting. And then I'll wish for a few more of those minutes with my kids standing on chairs up to the kitchen counter. But I probably won't wish for the bickering part. Or the burnt egg smell. Maybe just the beginning part and then the eating part at the end. I'll leave the middle part hazy.

Family Motto

A friend of mine suggested that I check out the blog 71 Toes. While I was there, I saw her family motto and fell in love with the idea of a few words that summed up our most important family values. I took the kids to Arctic Circle for ice cream cones and to play on the play equipment and jotted down my ideas for our words and mission statement. When I showed my ideas and the idea that inspired me to David, we decided that since our ideas were so similar to hers, we'd go ahead and pretty much copy her motto...format and all. Erg. I know. I hate being a copycat, but there was no reason to choose words we liked less just to assert our individuality. Plus, we really loved the idea of Love being woven into all the family values. So here's what ours ended up looking like.



I really wanted to use a frame we already had on hand, so I spray painted a frame and mat we already had in storage. It was originally a dark wood frame and cream mat, but I wanted a brighter look, so I sprayed them both white.

As a tip, I recommend doing this in the shade since I think I burned my retinas trying to do this in the sun. I also put some serious strain on my inner forearm muscles after all the spray painting. I suggested you warm up and stretch first.

I emailed the motto I created in Word to Office Max and just had them print the 8x10 document on regular white cardstock. The mat was for a larger picture, so I used some extra fabric from the carseat shade blankets my sister made me for a background inside the mat. I just taped the fabric to the back of the mat and the motto on top of the fabric. It isn't perfect, but the only cost for me was to print it for about $.25, and the can of spray paint, so I'm happy with it. We've also printed a couple other sayings that are important for our family and plan on doing a collection with some photos all in white frames. I hope to get that up in the next week, so I'll post what it looks like when it's all finished.

I've always felt strongly about what we use to decorate our home. I want to our home to be a place that inspires and encourages us to stay focused on those things that are most important. We've hung our mottos on a wall next to our dining room table, and it helps us remember to reinforce these values in our discussions with our kids.

Perfect Cakes

As I've mentioned before, I have been bringing treats for my sunday school class every Sunday. I am much happier with the idea that the kids "earn" their treats in some way, so I took your mom's advice and have been asking them to memorize some historical dates in church history. I loved the idea when she first mentioned it, but I felt a greater urgency when one of my kids talked about the pioneers crossing the plains as though it happened about the same time as World War II.

Let's just give that a moment...

WOW.

So I naturally asked the hubby to help me construct a first list of dates to memorize. He was a natural choice because he has a bizarre recall of all kinds of dates--want to know when The Sixth Sense or Batman Returns was released? He can tell you. Bizarre.

Included in our list was the restoration of the aaronic priesthood to Joseph Smith on May 15, 1929. The kids recognized that the anniversary would be the following Sunday and suggested that we simply must have a party, and I had to agree. Saturday evening I recalled the plan for said party and came to the conclusion that nothing is more party appropriate than a cake. The conclusion was helped along by the fact that this would not require a trip to the store because my food storage may not be perfect, but I ALWAYS have a variety of cake mixes on hand. They are fabulous. You can make cakes, cookies, and I just learned this weekend that you can apparently make baked cake doughnuts. I think I may try it out for our Family Home Evening tonight and let you know.

So I decided on a Funfetti cake with pink frosting and sprinkles to create that party mood with very little effort from me. :) As I was mixing the cake, Dave wondered if there was a way to keep the cake from having the tall dome in the middle that my cakes always have. You guys have probably already figured out how to fix this problem, but I had not. I told him that I had heard in a cooking class that you can wrap the pan in wet cloths but that I had never tried it. The reason cakes dome in the middle is because they cook from the outside in, giving the middle more time to rise than the sides. While I mixed, David googled how to make a cake that rises evenly. Apparently you can buy cake strips to go around your pan, but he found a method for homemade cake strips. You take wet paper towels, cover them in tinfoil and wrap them around the pan. Well, I was dubious but tried it.

I WILL NEVER GO BACK.

The cake rose perfectly evenly, and the sides are just as soft and moist as the middle. ALL MIDDLE, LADIES! It was awesome. Here's how I did it. I pulled out a piece of tinfoil that would go halfway around my 9x13 pan. I cut it down the middle long ways and folded the pieces together to make a long piece that would go all the way around my pan. I took a strip of paper towels, wet them without ringing them out, and laid them in the middle of the tinfoil. I folded the tinfoil in half, pressed together, and wrapped it around the pan with the open edge facing up so the water wouldn't run out. Bake as usual, or better than usual.

Get Them Outside

Spring is coming. I promise. She's been pretty elusive in Idaho, but we caught a glimpse of the shy gal last Friday. We reached a sunny 70 degrees, so we decided to take the boys fishing. The fishing was a bit of a bust, but it brought joy to my heart seeing our boys out in the sunshine, gathering worms, finding "perfect" sticks, digging in the dirt, trying to catch snakes, and throwing rocks in the water (probably not helping our chances of catching a fish, but who cares?)

Boys are meant to be outside. Something in my mother heart tells me so when I see them playing outside. This may be true of girls as well, but I'm a mother of boys and can only speak from my experience. Spring has gone back into hiding around here, but the short peek we got has reminded me of all the things I'm excited about for summer. Here are a few.

1. Earning serious mommy brownie points by simply taking my kids to the park and maybe meeting up with friends and other moms.
2. Weenie and s'more roasts.
3. Coming home with library books. It reminds me of my childhood. I'll admit I don't love herding children while AT the library since this brood is quite prone to upsetting delicate librarian sensibilities, but I love watching the kids pore over their piles of books in the car and at home.
4. Being able to see cute baby rolls on exposed arms and legs.
5. Surprising the kids with $.30 ice cream cones at Arctic Circle.

Spring and summer are full of the simple pleasures in life. What are you guys looking forward to?