Have I told you lately...

Can I tell you, for a second, how much I love my husband (no, these aren't the margaritas talking)? 

How he never had a seconds hesitation about letting me spend 4 days in the sun?  While he watched four children in weather not fit for outdoor play.

How he calls me just to chat...and to tell me that he made chocolate chip cookies as a snack for G when she got home from school today.  Dang, he's a better stay at home mom than I am (but I already knew that).

He managed to buy a new training potty (he says the old one was made by Satan himself), get our oil changed, get a big gulp at 7-11 (just like I would do it), buy a lighting fixture and conceal the unsightly wires that have cluttered our TV area for four years.  

I know he would have folded the monster pile of laundry in our basement, which had grown to menacing proportions lately...but we argued over it this week, and in a rush to be the fight winner/martyr, we both spent hours folding it.  Let me rephrase:  I was rushing to be the ultimate laundry folding champion/selfless wife...he was simply folding laundry because he knew I was in a tissy over it.  There is a difference, and I just couldn't let him win that one.  

He has proclaimed this the weekend of the milkshake...and prior to my departure, even got L to slurp one down (the real reward for her: getting to make the slurping sound at the end).  If he manages to put a pound of weight on her in my absence, he will forever be my hero.  FYI: L is no longer receiving formula via her G-tube, which means this is the first month that she is taking all her calories in by mouth...but she has to prove herself by gaining weight.  

Thanks Mike...I love ya.

I am here, in the land of sunshine and beaches. Otherwise known as Florida.

If you need to reach me, send a messenger dolphin or drop a note in a bottle and send it to sea.

Just kidding...I am obviously STILL posting (obsessed), so do not leave me!! You never know what kind of insights my mind will provide when I am nourished with sleep, sun and maybe a couple of margaritas....

Didn't see that one coming.

I have found the flaw to my rewards system.

Having an M&M chart requires me to have...that's right, M&M's on hand, at all times. No problem, a trip to Sams stocks us for at least a month.

Except that the children have probably been rewarded with, oh I don't know, maybe 40 M&M's total at this point.

And mommy?

She's probably inhaled 1,000.

I'm not sure that having independent dressers is worth 20 pounds. Especially since they aren't quite dressing themselves yet. And Little J was so over the whole idea 5 days ago. Well, he's over anyone telling him what to do. Really fun, because I decided to potty train him...and since we know M&M's don't work and he won't listen, I am beginning this race a mile back from the start line. At this point, if I could squeeze his tiny little bladder myself, I would.

But did I mention that I am leaving for Florida today...which means Mike takes over the potty-training/character shaping of Little J and the general care of the four young 'uns? Pray for him.

And yes...those are two tubs of frosting, some cheeze-its, a bag of chips and the suggestion of a box of cosmic brownies, also featured in the photo. So maybe M&M's aren't my only issue.

Sick day?

G, when you pick a sick day, you do it up right.

Around 11:30 a.m. yesterday, we received our first call from school. Poor G, 102 degree fever. And then she threw up in the office.

So she slept through lunch yesterday, woke up and felt fine...we actually joked that it was a 2 hour bug, until the second bout of fever kicked in around 5 p.m. More vomit and a viewing of some Beethoven (the dog) movie.

But there were no wake up calls in the middle of the night, and she woke up completely herself this morning. Realizing she pulled this trick before, I was a wee-bit cautious...but by 10:00 a.m., it was pretty obvious that the bug was short lived. And we had a BEAUTIFUL, 70 degree day...perfect hookey-playing conditions.

The morning began with story-time...G reading to Little J, that is:

After some errand running and a visit to Dad's office, it was frisbee time...

Dare-deviling down the hill on our street...shaved a good 1/2 inch off the soles of their shoes, I think.

I made them choke down hot dogs so that we could get the real party started at the park:

Awesome sick day, G. Wouldn't have been the same without you....

At the moment...

The pens are winning. I have a ga-zillion washable markers (in fat and skinny sizes), a rainbow of permanent markers, a ga-zillion-million sharpened pencils (like small daggers, thanks to our fascinating electric sharpener).

But no ball point pens. Sweet Jesus, all I need is one ball point pen. It's even for something holy--my bible study.

Please, please, please...do not make me go out to my car. Because I retrieved a pair of socks from the dreaded basement but have NO CLUE where I put them, and I am just too lazy to head back down there or retrace my steps. And the garage floor is cold, and it's dark out there. And if you think G & L's bedroom is bad for it's ability to attract insects, the mini-van is ten thousand times worse. It's a modern day cheese factory in there (you know, old sippy cups of milk that have curdled AND solidified).

So I'm asking...no, begging, just this once, for a simple blue/black/red/whatever colored ball point pen to magically appear from heaven.

Amen.

You saved a life. Really.

Blog readers, you have literally saved the life of a child. Darling L owes you one, big time.

When I escorted her to her room at nap time and found this, I almost lost it:

But then I thought about my camera downstairs, and the endless material that L supplies me for my daily blog adventures. Especially these days, with all the talk of bedtime parties and valentines day candy stashed between her bed sheets. Add this to the saga.

G & L's room is generally...a mess. But after last week's fiasco with the candy (read here, if you're just joining us), I knew something had to be done to stop the invasion of ants/other creepy crawlies, which I felt was inevitable given the amount of wet, saliva-covered sugar in their bedroom. I went on a cleaning rampage. I removed all books. I removed all torn paper (again). I removed all toys. I removed EVERYTHING.

Let me say that again. EVERYTHING. Minus the beds and the blankets.

So you can imagine my amazement to find this new mess, less than 4 days later. None of this stuff was in this room as of 7:00 a.m., when the girls began their day.

My other mistake--thinking that G's underwear could go back in her drawer, where they belong. This is the one piece of clothing that is very inconvenient to have in the basement, as it is needed after bath time, and all tubs are located on the second floor. I feel it's somewhat tacky to have G's underwear on the counter of our upstairs bathroom (where it has been for months, ever since L found them in the dresser, mistook them for hats and used them to dress herself and her dolls up every nap time. True story.). The lesson we learn here is that having undies sitting on an open counter is MUCH LESS TACKY than having the same undies worn on your child's head.

Bathroom counter it is. L is obviously not ready to handle undies in her room.

Quantity vs. convenience

This is a real conversation Mike and I had yesterday. It was Sunday, which means our options on dinner for the kids were limited (as Monday is grocery day). I do know, for certain, that we had two cans of beef-a-roni in our pantry...but I wasn't planning to bathe the kids last night, and unless I wanted to send them to school a strange shade of orange, that option was out.



Hamburgers. We have, like, 100 hamburgers from Sam's in our freezer. Buns, however, were the problem.



Mike (as we were exiting Hwy. 44): Does Quik Trip sell buns?


Me: You can't get them there, you'll pay an arm and a leg. How about Sam's?


Mike: Do we need 400 buns?



Quick Trip won. And amazingly, had buns for somewhere in the range of $2.75, if you're wondering (not great, but not highway robbery either). And Mike made a point to mention that it was such a miracle, being able to exit Quik Trip so efficiently, since apparently, he is now arm and leg-less.

Ha. Ha.

I didn't know that.

My husband's donut of choice is a vanilla Long John (do you capitalize that? It seems like such a proper title it must be...but who knows???). WITHOUT filling. After 12 years together, I learned that today. I would have pegged him for the chocolate donut type.

Although, I thought Long John's were always filled? Or is a stuffed donut called something else? And what's an eclair? And if you love Long Johns without stuffing, but they come in varieties both filled and empty, and you are really craving a donut, and you show up at the bakery only to find out that they only have the kind that are stuffed...isn't it a total bummer that would make you so bitter you might swear off donuts forever? Because I don't think I could take that kind of gamble every time I wanted a donut.

I'm just saying.

So Saturday was a breakfast of donuts for the Denckhoffs. Mike was out for a long run, so it was my job to get the little people fed. I decided on a trip to LaMars Donuts...but it turns out Mike was able to run 18 miles BEFORE I was able to get myself out of bed, the kids out of bed, and everyone dressed with shoes. It's really the shoes that killed us. So he ended up coming with, and I believe he was able to shower and change in the amount of time it took to get 4 kids in their car seats.

Donuts served with chocolate milk. Because when we load our kids on sugar, we like to do it right....

What to do with this one.

Oh, L. Cute, sweet, sneaky, crafty, we're-in-for-a-world-of-hurting-in-her-teenage-years, L.

She may have weighed one pound and six ounces when she was born. She may be half blind. She may have had so many serious medical issues tied to her prematurity and her 6 month hospital stay that you would think it's a wonder that she can walk and talk.

Do not let her fool you. Let me say that again. For the love of all things good and holy, do not let her fool you.

Every night, this cutie-pa-tootie climbs the stairs, EMPTY-HANDED, gets in her PJs, prays with daddy, has some vitamin gummies (health value, not so sure) and goes to bed. Lately she and G have been sharing a bed. Awww, warm fuzzies.

I love my stinkin' cute, bow-wearing daughters. I love that they love each other. I'm thankful they still let me pick out their clothes (they've never been given the option...shhh.).

And then I hear:

"Mom, L's writing on my bed with markers. And I told her to stop, but she won't and it's getting all over the place."

Hold the phone. Markers? In your room? Where all paper/dolls/toys/pictures/clothes/ anything real and not invisible is banned? Weren't you two just singing Kum-ba-yah and posing for the cover of "Cutest Kids on Earth"? When did we detour and stall in the world of "I'm-going-to-get-away-with-a-ton-of-crap-if-you-don't-watch-me-like-a-hawk"???

Remember L's little bedtime party a couple of weeks back? This takes the cake. Yes, she managed to get not just one marker up there, but a whole box. I honestly think she was smuggling them in her diaper (this being the real reason she's so resistant to potty training), one at a time for days. And somehow, she also managed to get her Valentines Day mailbox up there. That's right...the one that's full of candy, from her 24 classmates (or as I now refer to them, co-conspirators). Candy which she has opened, licked and then shoved between her bed and her wall for safe keeping. And then there's the paper bits, which are like carpet dandruff. And they are everywhere.

What to do with this one. What to do.

M&M points

I've decided I'm a bit tired of dressing three children, twice a day (G has had this skill down for a while). Somewhere, in the whirlwind of the past 4 years, I decided I could move quicker if I just kept certain tasks in my control. Dressing would be one of those.

Only now, my twins are 4 and "pretend" they can't pull on pants with elastic waists, or outfit themselves with a t-shirt. And I am seriously considering removing a good 12 inches from my spine, and maybe a few feet off of my legs, because I spend 90% of my days hunched. So this is the week I have decided to teach my children to dress themselves.

Novel, I know.

Enter the M&M chart. One point/M&M awarded for every item of clothing sucessfully put on or taken off, including coats (which must then be put in the closet). M&Ms are paid out daily....and so far, so good.

I've never really been a chart person. I feel they work, but I have a hard time keeping up with it. And when I see the amount of work it takes to run a household and teach your kids responsibility in print, I start to have a panic attack. I am not sure I can cover hygiene, money, manners and everything in between in the span of 18 years...but I'm sure gonna try.

The thing I love about the M&M chart is that it's non-job specific. This month it's getting dressed, perhaps March will be for making beds? Brushing teeth? Window washing and vacuuming? Hey, a girl can dream....

Jesus: For or Against Facebook?

It's bible study Thursday, which always leads me to some thought provoking...thoughts.

Our group got to talking about "distractions" in life. I have plenty of these. Four big ones that need to be clothed/diapered/fed/entertained/ cleaned on a minute-by-minute basis. Just kidding...I'm lucky if I clean them daily. FYI: We believe in one outfit a day. Food stains, marker, paint, blood...one set of clothes. Seriously, I would change them hourly if stains were my criteria. Except on the major holidays, and then let's face it...they don't get anywhere near their "fancy" clothes until we are 10 minutes away from stepping out the door.

I digress.

Listen, I will confess my distractions to you here and now (and I don't mean my children, because really, I'm pretty sure they are one of the few things in my life that are actually pleasing to God). Television. People Magazine. Crafting. Shopping. Blogging (No!). There are millions, and they differ, depending on the day.

So, one lady in my group, who is a generation above me (age noted, only because it is relevant), went on a rant about Facebook. My beloved Facebook. How she couldn't believe people were spending all this time on this new fangled technology, texting and emailing and IMing....distractions, distractions, unnecessary distractions. People asking her to be friends on facebook and how she had no time or need for it.

It got me thinking. Jesus: For or against facebook??

Granted, I was a little on the defense because I love my BFF facebook. And I have it's back. There's something about it that allows me to type a five-word sentence to a friend I am thinking about, or remember a birthday that hasn't crossed my mind in years. Yes, I know I could email, or go really old school and write a letter. Or pick up the phone. I know, I know, I know. But reality is, I have 4 kids, and that sometimes means I have all of the best intentions, but only a handful of spare minutes in my day to be a good friend. And chances are, if I called you, only to let you talk for 2 minutes before I told you it's all the time I had for you...you might think I was a giant sack of you-know-what. But on facebook, it is totally cool for me to tell you that I love you or that your status update was hysterical...and I don't think that's dumbing down my friendships, I think that's saving them, because otherwise it would be months, maybe years before some of you heard from me. And then hopefully you would call me, or call the police, or call my parents and worry for my safety and not just wish me good riddance.

Do I spend way too much time on FB? Absolutely (although, this blog has totally tested my loyalty...hmmm). It is a distraction. Even the best and most godly activities can become a distraction if they pull you away from what's really important, can't they? God might love that I cook for my family...that I love to cook for my family, the family he gifted me with. But if I turn that love into an 18-hour a day obsession with mastering the perfect mac-n-cheese recipe...I'd say it was a distraction. And then again, don't some of your distractions bring you full circle and point you back to him (though it COMPLETELY wasn't your intention in the first place)?

Really, I think the issue here is one of change. It's something different. And maybe it's more relevant for me, because I am currently raising the next generation and constantly looking for ways to relate to the younger crowd. Because my 6-year-old is not just going to pick up the Bible and fall in love with it. She has to be taught on her level, where her heart is.

I think there is a point in life, where you've seen lots of change in the world over many different decades, and you just decide what works for you. You might try lots of restaurants, but decide one day that you like McDonalds the best. And that's your preference, but it doesn't make Long John Silvers ungodly. Gross, but not ungodly. Just different. Not for you.

Please do not hear that I am all about every kind of tolerance. I believe the Bible is true, and the cross unwavering. Period. But I do believe that God created the world and can use all things in it for his good...including facebook.

Thoughts?

Stuck.

"Mommy! L is stuck!"

All four kids were playing upstairs, and after hearing those words, we did what any responsible parents would do.


We grabbed the camera.


Let me preface by saying that L pulled this stunt yesterday, so we were pretty sure we knew what we were in store for. And it is totally camera worthy. Video camera worthy.

Don't you just love that she's stuck, maybe 12 inches from the floor, but holding on for dear life? And then when G adds the stool, she's literally 1 inch from perceived safety. As if it couldn't get any better, here's what the peanut gallery was up to.

Ten square feet of a clean slate....

Real life returns. We are home from our weekend-away adventures. The kids have returned to school after a four-day hiatus. Valentines Day has come and gone.


All these things add up to a clean slate, as all projects and plans have been completed (V-day and preparing for our road trip being my biggest time suckers in the past 2 weeks), and now I am looking for a project.



That would be our disorganized house. Oh, right.


My drawers, cupboards, closets and storage spaces in general are about to burst with all of the loveliness that I have shoved in there over the years, to give the appearance of order and cleanliness. Which is completely ridiculous, because who among you doesn't know that I am a complete mess?



And let's not kid ourselves here...when I say "organizing" and "project", I really mean cleaning one closet. Maybe two. I cannot handle doing a whole house--and I honestly believe that if I did so, I would fail to exist. I can only throw out so much without feeling as if my entire soul was being ripped from me, memory by memory.


So, today was the boy's closet/changing room. This is a small room/closet that was a general baby catch-all, but let's face it, there are no "babies" left here. No need for a Baby Bjorn (still conveniently hanging in the closet, in case I want to strap 30 extra pounds of Little J on), baby monitors are obsolete (they can scream loud enough now), receiving blankets cover their feet/shins only and I haven't carried a diaper bag since 2004. Yes, I do still have kids in diapers (thank you for reminding me), but we prefer to wing it these days or simply carry ONE diaper on errands (minus the creams, shampoos, nail clippers, band-aids, aspirator, brush, comb and tylenol I once stocked). I used to think Super Mommy was prepared....I now know that this superhero is capable of bathing/changing/clothing a child with grocery bags, spit and paper towels.


Here are some interesting finds:



Shoe inserts...BUT WHERE ARE THE SHOES??? Big J & L have worn orthodic splints in their shoes since their wee-NICU days. They slide nicely into regular tennies, but have to have their insoles removed. Have the insoles, but not the actual footwear. Keep or save?



Knit caps. These puppies were all the rage in the NICU, and our nurses would snag them every time a new batch arrived. Perspective may be lacking in these photos, but they are the tiniest caps you have ever seen, capable of covering 2 pound-baby heads. No way, not parting with them...but wanted you to see the stash we've got.


The Little J stool. Okay, so you now officially know his name, but I don't care, because the letter pieces of this stool have not been reunited in years. I had to dig under furniture and into toy bins to make it happen. A reunion much like New Kids on the Block, only cheaper for me.


Looks pretty good, right? Let me remind you that all of our kid's clothes are in the basement (see this post). So, what we have here is a real hodge-podge of stuff. Mostly too small. Some too big. Long story short...I am just ignoring it, because I am so not in the mood to track down the 12-18 month toddler boy box located in some other horribly unorganized storage space in the house.




And this. I just don't know what to do with this. So for now, I have closed it and plan on ignoring it until I have a better plan. The little stuff kills me. There are at least 10 kinds of diaper cream in here (the results of our search for the one that keeps butts from bleeding). And then there are the travel-sized everythings. Lotions. Q-tips...aren't those illegal now, anyway? And then baby powder, which I can honestly say I have never once used. Ever...but I have 3 bottles of various sizes.

So, I got most of it organized, but FYI, that means it was reboxed and placed in the storage space off of my closet/over our garage. The place where crap goes to die. Just kidding (kind of), but it is a large unfinished (and hidden) space where I store old baby/maternity clothes, luggage, and general baby gear that is past its day with my kids....but that I'm unready to part with! You never know when Dieter Denckhoff will join our crew of kids (REALLY just kidding about the name Dieter...that kid would only listen to German techno-music, dress in black and be a Saturday Night Live Sprocket).

How do you organized people do it??? Don't you have to completely gut your house every couple of years to keep it clutter free? Over here, it seems like we throw away 1 box of junk for ever 100 boxes that enters.

Share your secrets, people.

Marvins

Get ready. I am about to post one of the worst pictures ever taken (of myself), in my lifetime. There are ample choices for this award, but this one comes close I think. Remember, I had triplets, gained over 50 pounds with each of my pregnancies, had a perm in middle school, wore braces for over three years (WITH pink rubber bands, I might add) and dyed my hair Ronald- McDonald-red with an unfortunate color choice in high school. Okay, so maybe this isn't THAT bad, but it's not good.

May I present, the Bordeaux Brother hunt of 1994:

Why, you may ask, would I share this piece of awkwardness with you? Lots of reasons, the first being that it was photographed at my beloved Marvins, of Greencastle, Indiana fame. You've heard lots of talk of Marvins lately...and most of you have no idea what I'm rambling about, so let me explain.

Marvins is THE greasy hamburger joint in Greencastle, Indiana. It exists for the college...for it's students, it's visitors, its prospective students, its fraternities/sororities, and its psycho alums who travel far and wide for one more taste of the infamous...garlic cheeseburger. Or GCB, as it's known to close friends.

Yes, yes, I know...everyone associates with a favorite burger joint, or campus hang-out. No offense, but this goes way beyond that. DePauw is a very small school, with a pretty small campus. Greencastle, is not much bigger. This was the burger joint. The only one. And it was loved. The GCB's are good, but not complete without cheese fries. The menu is extensive, but I have never had anything but those two items and the milk-carton of coke they would send with delivery. The first time I went to Marvins: for my first dinner, as a prospective student. That's right, I was still in high school, I was from HAWAII...and it was my first taste of food on the DePauw campus. That's how much of an institution it is...it sells the school.

Add to that fact that Marvins was...a hole in the wall. If you saw it for the first time in person, you might question its structural integrity. And then when you actually entered, you might seriously question if health codes were ever enforced there. But then you would order a GCB and the place would magically transform and shine like the sun. Heaven on earth.

Aside from the burgers, Marvins was known for it's decor, which consisted of nothing but fraternity and sorority pictures...picture proofs from formals, informals, barn dances, house dinners, initiations (you get the idea), all donated by the company that took pictures at every greek event. This was the pre-digital dinosaur era...and every event produced hundreds of proofs...multiply that by the 15+ houses on campus, and you can see that Marv's had free and entertaining wallpaper (see my horrid photo above...did I ACTUALLY double roll my shirts???). By the time I got to DePauw in 1998, the pictures on the wall were maybe 4-5 layers deep. New pictures would go up on a regular basis, and then you got to make fun of all the dumb things you (and your friends, or total strangers) did in front of a camera. The pictures, I think were equal to the food...pure genius, because it gave every Marvins-lover a piece of ownership in the place. A connection, if you will.

Years ago, after my day on campus, Marvins was torn down and rebuilt. Nice, but no where near the character of the old dump...but I guess no one tears down a shack just to rebuild a new, equally unsafe shack. Dark wood shingles were replaced with...brick (Gasp! That's so classy!). And the interior....well, it's just clean and well-lit, not crowded and dark like the old days. They did acquire a liquor license and now sell beer (really, a logical fit), so that softens the blow a bit...but it's not the same. I have been there at least three times since the new Marvins was built, and it appears that no new pictures have been added in quite some time. And, there is still white space on the walls. WHAT????

That got me to thinking...it's a digital world, so wouldn't it make sense that the picture companies are no longer producing hard-copy proofs? No self-respecting child of the 80's doesn't own a laptop, and Internet access is like air (necessary for life), so why would they eat the cost of printing proofs? Smart business for the photographers...bummer for Marvs.

I hate not being on the wall at new Marvs. My Marvs. And I do mean mine, because I poured lots of money into that place. I ordered a GCB and cheese fries from there at least twice a week. Over four years, you do the math.

So last night, after a long drive (with four children), I decided to scour our basement for pictures of Marvins. The real Marvins. Effective use of time, don't you think? Hours later, the photo above, and this below, are all that I could find. How is that possible???? I financed it (practically), spent many nights there after the bars AND ordered from there regularly....it factors into several of my top 10 memories at DPU...so how do I have NO pictures of it?

Help? Anyone???? Anybody out there got any pictures of good ol' Marvins??? Inside or outside? Embarrassing, laughable or decent? I'll take anything, but I am on a search.

On a side trivia note: any of you Phis pictured in this photo, remember what song was playing on the jukebox????

Indy, IMAX and pink potatoes

Howdy, all. Back from Indianapolis, kids are in bed, and I am full of ground beef and cheese sauce. It was a good weekend, and as you can probably guess, we were successful at securing Marvins the second time around. More on that later.

We had a great time this weekend with our friends, Darren and Jennie. It's been a while since we've been to Indy (so long, in fact that they were able to birth and child and create a new one). Needless to say, it was good to catch up, to hang around, to eat a lot of candy and cake, to brave the mall together on Valentines Day, have our portraits taken and to enjoy a lot of red meat. Did I mention that there was a lot of eating done on this trip?

Here are the highlights:

Darren's attempt at a GCB...a pretty noble effort, I might add. The type of bun was different, but the taste and the garlic was spot on. In my desire to have a GCB, I went way overboard here, and the beef was, no kidding, taking over my entire body. Somewhere, about mid-lung, a battle was fought for ultimate control, and it appears the good guys won.

These are my kind of roses (cute idea, don't you think?). They were allies to the beef in the battle for my soul. These flowers have already converted to fat and will definitely last forever.

Build-A-Bear on Valentines Day. We live in the birthplace of Build-A-Bear. We've been in that store countless times and made a few bears prior to this outing. Never have I seen any of the stores in the Lou crowded in any way. Build-A-Bear in Indy was PACKED. We're talking about a 20 minute line before any stuffing was officially placed in the bears. Note to Build-A-Bear: Indy is your target city.

The family portrait...taken on a whim, at Picture People in Castleton Mall. All 11 of us entered the photo studio, posed and walked back out within 4 minutes. Impressive. Take a close look at my little red head, on the left (in the striped shirt)...he looks like he is about to puke. And apparently, only the kids were supposed to scream, but I didn't get that memo.

Making pink mashed potatoes with Uncle Darren.

Spent. Three down on the way to the IMAX theatre. You heard me, I said IMAX...with 4 young children.

So we arrive at the theatre to learn the movie is in 3-D. COOL! But wait. That means keeping glasses on four little kids. Yikes...see below.

Okay, SOOOOOOO worth it, because this is, maybe, one of my favorite pictures of all time. It totally sums up what happens when you take multiple children of young/immature ages to a movie, and then expect them to wear glasses for the entire 45 minutes. Three of the four pairs hit the floor 7 minutes in, and they sent poor L cross eyed. We survived it though, because the movie was about sea creatures (right up their alley) and we bribed them with Swedish fish and popcorn. I'm thankful that we're in the "almost-anything-can-be-endured-with-bribes/treats/the threat of punishment" phase of parenting.

After the movie, we headed back west...out of Indy and into Greencastle. Ah, Greencastle. I will elaborate, hopefully tomorrow, but I need to do some pre-digital research first. Let's just say it was good.

Oh, so good.

Happy Valentines Day

One of these things is not like the other...see if you can spot the child who dressed for the wrong holiday:

Happy Valentines Day!!

Don't even ask

I am not five pounds heavier.

There was no cheese involved in my day.

Indiana is in the Eastern time zone.

REALLY?????? Back in my college days, they were the only state that refused to conform to the man-made rules of daylight savings. I always liked that about Indiana, the non-conformist attitude and all. That and the fact that I could always catch Days of our Lives twice every day (the central and eastern time zones always catering to the rebel Indiana).

The closest I came to Marvins was this...and THIS is not the same, let me tell you.

We did, indeed, reach Cloverdale, Indiana...which sent the familiar jolt of excitement and anticipation that could only mean we were within 10 miles of DePauw....

But that's where this story ends. For now.

I can't even talk about it, or I may cry. Seriously. It is the only exception in my life where I am depressed NOT to gain 10 pounds. And I say 10, because now that I have had to forgo Marvins (which I have been planning on literally for a month), I WILL double my dosage of GCBs when we arrive there on Sunday. And I will have a Marvins cheeseburger on Sunday. If I have to sit there for 12 hours, bang on the door, streak across campus, call the President and be a general nuisance...mark my words, I will have a garlic cheeseburger on Sunday.

Not happy, folks.

On the flip side, we are in Indy with our friends, Darren & Jennie. They have three kids (with a fourth on the way) and we have four, so there are a total of 7 kids (okay, 8, but the nugget is totally taken care of by a 24-hour sitter called a placenta)...all ages 6 and under, living under the same roof for two days. This makes me not even one iota of nervous, probably because I have learned that after 4 kids, the chaos is always at a level red, no matter how many tykes you add. And I am currently sitting in their basement with a glass of wine and High School Musical blaring, while two of the kiddos drive an electric Escalade into 3 of the four walls surrounding us.

Love it.

I survived Valentines Week (almost)

64 valentines made...check.

8 teachers valentines made...check.

Cupcakes made, iced and embellished with fondant...check.

Valentines put in correct backpacks and sent to school with children...check.

Hand cramps from cutting 64 valentines, brain freeze on how to spell "Valentines", frustration at having to count the valentines and figure out why my numbers weren't adding up and whose card was missing...check.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind around these parts lately. You are all aware of Fondant-Fest 2009. And then came the valentines.

Now let me say, I did start on these last week--so while I did bite off a little more than a sane woman can chew (Me? Really?), I thought I was giving myself enough time. That was before I realized the total combined number of kids in their classes could actually equal the size of a small army. Oh, and I forgot I had twins, which means double the pleasure. I am an English major folks, math is not my thing.

With G, I was a little smart. I took a blank white piece of paper, folded it in fourths and had her write "Happy Valentines Day" four times. Bought some cardstock, took that puppy to Dad's office...and wa-la, we had instant (blank) valentines. We then took some sponge hearts and paint, and added a little glitter for the WOW! factor...and we were done. Or so I thought. Until I learned she needed to personally address each one. I forgot we are learning how to write in kindergarten.

Big J & L's valentines were created by accident. I let them paint on banner paper last week and then cut large hearts out for our door. But since I am a pack-rat who cannot let anything go, I also cut smaller hearts out of the scraps...and realized that they made cute valentines. Added a little "Love, Big J" or "Love, L", cut two holes and inserted a lollipop. Done...or so I thought. Until I realized there were 24 kids in the class!! Keep in mind that my kids catch the bus to and from school everyday...so I rarely see the class. And, some of them go to school five days, some three days, some two...but we are showing love to all yellow room attendees. Since the scraps of paper did not produce 48 valentines, we had to paint and cut again.

And then the teachers. We made tissue paper flowers yesterday at Fondant Forever, so I decided to have the kids make a few more. And by the kids, I mean G and myself...because the three youngest got bored after only two pieces of tissue paper. So we created a bouquet of flowers and attached valentines because, while it's just a hunch, but I'm pretty sure these women were not as into "Fun Dip" (you know, the candy stick that you dip into pure, colored sugar) as the kids. Call me crazy.

Today was the last day of school for the week...and we are off to Indianapolis tomorrow to spend the weekend with friends from college. On the way, we are taking detour to Greencastle, IN--home of DePauw University (where Mike and I met...fitting for V-day), and Marvins.

If you went to DePauw, you know Marv's. The rest of you will have to wait for tomorrow's post...but just know there is a lot of cheese and five extra pounds of me involved.

You don't scare me fondant...and other Valentine tales

Today we had fun with fondant. Really successful fun, with no "fondant gone wrong" tales. Bummer for the humor of this post, but YEAH for us (for being so creative and overall awesome). We rocked it ladies.

My friend Becky baked one heck of a heart shaped cake, minus the crumbly mess that made mine so disastrous on take one. Things started off well. We were even able to ice it without having to trim and level it (that's how perfect the shape of the cake was to begin with) and no time in the freezer was required to keep it from crumbling. Becky, you are too a baker...you just need to embrace it!

This go around, I only used corn starch on my counters to keep the fondant from sticking when rolling it out. The last couple of times, I used Crisco which made the fondant kind of melt after a few hours. Cornstarch was the right move...it keeps the fondant very firm and easy to work with (and after 8 hours, there is no melting to speak of). I also added less water to the fondant when I was making it two days ago...this helped keep things nice and firm as well, and there were no problems with it breaking apart or cracking when rolling it out (which can happen if your fondant is too dry).

We tackled the cake first, and it was quick! Probably only 10 minutes to roll it out and drape it on the cake. Yes, I said drape. This time it actually did lay down gracefully. Elegantly. Fondant, you are a lady.

Um, having a second or even a third set of hands is key. KEY!! As you can see from my face, the fondant did come dangerously close to plopping down, uninvited, on the pretty cake. Not lady-like, fondant.

With the cake a success, we moved on to the hundreds of cupcakes threatening to take over the kitchen. Everyone brought a dozen, and I think I made 40, because you know me....I have a real fear of running out of something. Not having enough could be my greatest fear in life. And I'm not talking about the essentials, like money to pay the bills or food the feed the kids. No, I'm talking about obsessing over the quantities of things that are totally unnecessary. Like cupcakes. Or baking powder (I currently have 7 cans in my cupboard). Or flower pots, of which I found 15 in my basement. Don't even try to figure it out...I make no sense.

The finished product...what a mess!! But look at the cake!!

But speaking of flower pots, THANK GOODNESS I bought so many way back in 1997...I probably knew that I was going to need them for Valentines Day 2009 (note sarcasm). The kiddos who could handle paint brushes got to paint the pots and create tissue paper flowers. Very fun and age appropriate for 2-3 year olds.

And the best part of it all: at the end of the day, I remembered I was supposed to make treats for G's Valentines Day party tomorrow. I was originally thinking of sugar cookies (festive, yet mess free)...and I've stayed away from cupcakes for all of G's school activities because her old preschool had a weird anti-cupcake rule. But we're talking about kindergartners...certainly they can handle a little icing and maybe some napkin clean up without staging a mutiny, overthrowing the authority of the school, war-painting their faces in sugar, and burning the desks, right?? Any-hoo, long story short (too late)...guess who's having fondant cupcakes tomorrow?? With REALLY florescent pink icing. Sorry Kindergarten moms, if your child poops in techno-color for a couple of days. No need to call the gastroenterologist.


It was a Valentines Day marathon today...as I also realized all three school-attending children have parties tomorrow, which require valentines to hand out. Here's where having twins is a real kicker...because having their own valentines to pass out is the only real way to secure their identities and validate the fact that they are separate and equally cherished human beings, right???? Let me just say there are 24 kids in their class. 2-4. That is a lot of valentines. More on that tomorrow.

I so obviously need an oral filter

I made the mistake of grabbing for this pretzel rod today. Big J was done with it, and I just couldn't let it go to waste.

It failed to register that Big J had been holding on to said pretzel rod for approximately 23 minutes. Just enough time to somewhat liquefy its almond bark covering with his warm little 4-year-old hands. Not good, folks. I might also note that we have 20+, untouched and perfectly chilled pretzel rods sitting in our fridge....and Big J did indeed just return home from school about an hour ago, where he picked up who-knows-what on his little boy hands. And no, I do not wash their hands before and after every meal. The work of having to lift/wet/suds/rinse/dry three sets of hands (G is capable of this on her own), three times a day (not including potty breaks), when they are only going to stick that finger right back up their nose or lick the grocery shopping cart means that those efforts are sometimes in vain . And I try to cut the fat where I can...hence very little hand washing at meal time. Hey, I didn't always say it made sense, but if I can buy back five minutes in my day at the risk of a little sneezing/snot/vomit/coughing/fever, I weigh the odds.

Also important to note: the pretzel rod has weird divots on it because my son ate all of the M&Ms off of it...which means that on top of being warmed by hand juices and flavored with viruses, the pretzel rod was also covered in saliva. Awesome.

I think I've decided to start a list of disgusting things I put in my mouth on a daily basis. Will reveal at years end...stay tuned, I'm pretty sure it will be good.

A groovy kind of love

Lots of fun Valentines Day shenanigans happening this week...including a "fun with fondant" party, where I have invited a few friends (and by friends, I do mean actual adults and not stuffed animals/bowling pins which often substitute for companions around here) over to try their hand at icing cupcakes like professionals. Guaranteed to be a few laughs here...don't worry, I'll post pictures. We are even going to attempt to cover a regular sized, heart-shaped cake in fondant, and after my last go at it, I'm thinking this is going to be ha-ha funny. We'll see.

I have a book club meeting here tonight and there are dust bunnies the size of tumble weeds all over my floors, so I don't have long, BUT...wanted to leave you with one of my favorite Valentines Day projects. I actually made these for the girls last year, and they still fit. Gotta love it when cuteness meets practicality. Plus, I originally created these out of jeans my girls had grown out of in length, but not in width...so I feel this project is resourceful in all kinds of ways!

May I present...bell-bottom ruffles.

So easy...basically taking a ruffle and adding it to the end of a pair of jeans. I started to type it all out, and then realized there are a few steps to it that may not make sense without a visual. So, if you're interested, let me know and I will talk you through it! If you sew, you probably have enough info to recreate it for yourself...in which case, happy bell-bottoming (and yes, that is bowling pin kitty and her BFF, L, pictured below)!!