12 on the 12th | September

This isn't so much a 12 on the 12th as 12 photos taken recently. That's just how it's been.

1. Playing Telestrations with Marc's family. Much hilarity ensued.
2. Our shower head has had a leak for some time now. Marc asked a friendly neighbor if he had any plumbing experience, and he ended up spending most of the day helping Marc to replace the fixtures (our plumbing was old and they couldn't find replacement parts!).
3. Two of our light bulbs in the bathroom were burnt out and very difficult to replace, so I had gradually gotten used to it being very dim. Marc was able to replace one of them, and I finally unscrewed the fixture and replaced the other. Now it is almost unbearably bright! It's weird what you get used to.
4. Marc gave Max and Lucas a tutorial on using his weight bench. Lucas has made it part of his routine.
5. Last Saturday, I went to a costuming workshop for Lucas's current school musical, Beauty & the Beast. This bejeweled, beribboned mask with sequins and feathers is the boy's version!
6. The whole school cafeteria was filled with women working on costume projects, and extension cords dangerously crisscrossed the room.
7. The lovely boutonniere I made for Lucas to wear with his tux in, I assume, the finale.
8. Once again, my studio has become simply a repository for bags and boxes that have nowhere else to go. I had to excavate my desk so that I could access my sewing machine to work on — you guessed it, costuming.
9. This is not the first picture I've taken of Max doing homework at the computer in an origami-like post, but it never fails to amaze me.
10. Eva had a powerful hankering to make cupcakes on Sunday. (Lucas was lobbying for chocolate/peanut butter, which led Eva to divulge that she is not such a fan of peanut butter, which led us to question her true identity as an Olivier.) We settled on chocolate chip cookie dough, and Marc declared them to be the best cupcakes he had ever eaten. They were pretty fabulous. (I eliminated the cookie dough filling and mini cookie garnishes to save time.)
11. Jill invited us to Landon's big night football game on Tuesday. It was so much fun! I hadn't been to a football game in years, and I always enjoy an outing with Lucas. Also, Jill brought movie theater popcorn and m&ms in bags specially decorated by Whitney.
12. Although I know he was distressed by their defeat, we hoped that he still appreciated all of his fans being there. I love that Landon and Lucas are such good friends.

Another costume workshop is on deck for tomorrow!

12 on the 12th | May

1. Eva's breakfast. She loves it when I fill up the compartments on these lunchroom-style trays. Sometimes it's a challenge, but it usually means that she eats more, so it's worth it.
2. Eva working on one of her creative projects. I think in this case it was worksheets for playing school. Marc is in Paris, Max was in Salt Lake at a rehearsal for most of the day, and Lucas was at Lagoon, so it was an Eva & Mom kind of day. (Not sure what this outfit was about.)
3. We went to Petco to watch the hamster races. Only 4 contestants showed up, and one had never been in a hamster ball before. One kept rolling away from the finish. It was hilarious.
4. It was also a pet adoption day, so there were many cats and dogs in kennels, most of them whining to get out. It was a sad sight, and Eva said more than once, "It's too bad we already have a dog!" We saw one really cute pup get adopted, so she was greatly relieved about that one.
5. We went shopping at Target so that Eva could spend her birthday money from grandparents. She chose a 2-wheel scooter (because the one she had before with 3 wheels is "so babyish"), and an Our Generation doll (American Girl knock-off) and 2 additional outfits. I was really surprised, because she has never really played with dolls, but Sandie is getting a lot of attention, as well as her own bed and her own school and Primary lessons.
6. On the way home, we went to a drive-through pharmacy to pick up a refill on my antidepressant meds. Eva was most curious about why I was getting medicine when I wasn't sick. I tried to explain to her why I take this particular drug. I had never had to explain that to a young child before, nor even thought about doing so, and it was a bit of a challenge.
7. Flowers in our yard with just the right light.
8. Assembling the scooter.
9. Max was home for an hour, then changed and went to a formal dance with a friend at the Springville Art Museum!
10. Preparing my sharing time for Primary.
11. We finished Harry Potter #2.
12. Lucas came home very late from Lagoon. He shocked us all by going on all the rides! (He had never been on any rides before, unless you count Disneyland Paris when he was 2 1/2. I don't, because I had to get off the Haunted House ride with him because he was freaking out so much.) This is his new hipster look. He hates it when I call it that. He has a black pair of glasses, and an orange pair and a green pair that he painted, it's kind of his new signature look.

12 on the 12th | April

1. I finally mailed off Eva's ponytail to Locks of Love! No more hair on the counter to creep anyone out.
2. I am enjoying Scramble With Friends. (and still playing Words With Friends)
3. I mixed up some salted caramel butter bars for book club. Holy moly, a pound of butter!
4. It was a rainy day and I was loving it. The blossoms have almost all dropped from our plum trees, but the lilacs are now in bloom!
5. The kids and I went to Movies8 to see Hugo. We all really liked it! I love it when movies are set in Paris. (We forgot to take a self-portrait at the theater, so we did it when we got home.)
6. Lucas got a refill on the popcorn towards the end of the movie and we had a lot to bring home. Ah, movie popcorn.
7. I spray-painted my piano lamp this week. It was dry, so I put it in its place. I love it so much more than the old shiny brass!
8. Eva spent a lot of time at the table, making presents to take to her teacher when school resumes next week.
9. Max spent a lot of time playing the piano. He decided to blow off the piles of homework his sadistic teachers gave him during Spring break and he has just been relaxing and enjoying himself! I never thought I would support one of my children in ignoring homework, but he definitely deserves a break.
10. Book club was at my house because Marc is at a conference in Boston. (My boys originally had Thursday night plans, but they were canceled last-minute.) Before I Go to Sleep was our book for April. I think the consensus was that it was a fun page-turner.
11. Max was putting Eva to bed. I heard lots of giggling, so I peeked in to see what they were doing. They were playing guessing games instead of reading. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my children have fun together!
12. I couldn't seem to get a shot of everyone in the room, but this is Jenn and Jana (Jill and Collette were on the couch, Amy was out of town). Jill didn't have work the next day, so she was able to stay late and chat!

really?

I know I shouldn't be surprised by snowstorms in March and April, but I always manage to be nonetheless.

It's funny to me that our first real snowstorm this winter came on the last official day of the season!

Jack kept burying his face in the snow and rubbing it around. It was hilarious. But every time I tried to capture him in the act, he would walk away nonchalantly, like "what?" What a weirdog.

This kind of snowstorm is ideal because Eva was thrilled to be able to make a snowman with her friend, but it was warm enough that we didn't have to shovel the walks or worry about dangerous driving conditions! Happy last day of winter.

12 on the 12th | March

1. Daylight Savings did a number on us all. No one could wake up, and I had to drive both boys to school. (Max usually takes the bus and Lucas walks.)
2. A slice of homemade multigrain bread with smashed avocado and salt. One of my favorite things.
3. By the time all of my kids are finally off to school, I'm exhausted and need to recover for awhile. What's up with that?
4. I put the finishing touches on my weekend painting project!
5. It was an amazingly beautiful day—sunny and 65 degrees.
6. I wanted to go for a walk, but had to wear my cyborg knee brace because the last time I went for a walk my knee hurt so much I had to come home. (It was better, but I'm going back to the pain clinic.)
7. Polly Pocket carnage. Or, as Marc and Eva dubbed them, "Creepy Pockets."
8. Leftover cake is my favorite kind of leftovers. In this case, toffee bundt cake with caramel topping.
9. Jill came over for Creative Friday and we ended up working on our assignment for book club (reading and journaling about chapter 1 of Change Your Questions, Change Your Life). And talking a lot. Duh.
10. Lucas and Landon finally had some time together now that Lucas's play is finished!
11. Marc gets a great reception when he gets home (not pictured: Jack cavorting at his feet).
12. I finished my study at night.

Sunday thoughts

At my Institute class on Thursday, we were talking about Ezra, and we read the entry for him in the Bible Dictionary. The most interesting part to me is the following, which summarizes Ezra's teachings:

1. The promises of the Lord through his prophets shall all be fulfilled.
2. Discipline and patience are borne of disappointment.
3. There is eternal significance in everyday life.
4. Preparation is needed for the rule of Messiah, the law being the schoolmaster to bring men to Christ.

I especially love #3, and believe it wholeheartedly. But it's the kind of thing that, for me at least, bears repeating. Sometimes I need to be reminded that the things I do everyday matter, and that I need to be careful about my choices, my priorities.

I was just reading in my Book of Mormon commentary: We have agency, and the way we use our agency determines our future. Of course I know this, but it is so important, and it is a good reminder. It is also something that I really want to instill in my children.

I also believe that there is much beauty in everyday life.

Here is one of the most beautiful things that happened last week:

I think I have mentioned before that our new bishop interviews the sacrament meeting speakers each week and includes a little bio in the program. Since Lucas spoke last week, his bio was there, and it mentioned a love of peanut butter.

When Max went to a neighbor's house to teach a cello lesson (a new job!), our neighbors sent him home with a package for Lucas. Inside was a jar of peanut butter and a sweet card complimenting him in detail on the good job he did on his talk.

It was the nicest thing, and it touched me. Just an example of how everyday acts, gestures of kindness and thoughtfulness and goodness, can make our everyday lives significant and beautiful.

I really love the way acts of kindness have a domino effect, inspiring us to be more kind and think more of others.

12 on the 12th | February

1. I had a delicious chocolate peanut butter swirl muffin for breakfast (recipe forthcoming on the recipe blog).
2. We actually got some snow! It sounded like it was raining all night long, then it turned to snow in the morning. Even though it snowed lightly all day, there wasn't much accumulation because it was too warm. I can't believe we haven't had to shovel snow once this winter.
3. Lucas with his first talk, delivered in sacrament meeting.
4. After church, I helped Eva with her valentines.
5. Marc and Max, returning from home teaching (they have been companions for almost 3 years).
6. I checked my phone for messages, only to discover that Jill had reminded me about 12 on the 12th in the morning. Good thing I remembered on my own!
7. I retired to the cozy to read and nap, a favorite Sunday afternoon activity.
8. I actually thought to include a self-portrait! (reclining, in this case)
9. I don't nap every Sunday, but when I do, it seems I always naturally wake up around 4:30.
10. I wrote thank you notes to all of the people who helped when I was sick. I was so proud of myself, as I rarely write notes outside of Creative Friday.
11. Marc reading to Eva before bed. They are making their way through the Series of Unfortunate Events.
12. I tried the multi-grain Miracle bread variation, per Jane's instructions, and took a loaf to a sick neighbor. I love it and Max loves it, but I doubt my other kids will be big fans.

make-believe

Eva came up with a new game—running her very own salon/spa (I'm usually her only customer).

It has decor, open and closed signs, and even a paper bell that I have to ring when I enter.

The services she provides are: scalp massages (a work in progress), hairstyles, nail painting, hand or foot lotion application, and warm water foot or hand soaks.

I let her paint my nails one day. It turned out better than anticipated! I actually left them that way for a few days, and she was thrilled.

Usually I have her give me a scalp massage and put lotion on my hands, but one day I let her talk me into a warm foot soak. It felt divine, and made me wonder why I hadn't succumbed to that treatment earlier.

(A game where she waits on me, and I get to sit and soak my feet? This is one I can definitely get behind.)

She totally gets into her role as salon owner or spa employee, and has a pretend cash register and card swiper.

And at closing time, she treats herself to some pampering as well.

12 on the 12th | January

1. I brewed a pot of tea for Max and I to enjoy before he left for school. (We brought up the Mrs. Tea that had been relegated to the garage when we got fancy teas from Teavana.)
2. Working on a little scripture study with the tools that Jill gave me for Christmas!
3. It seemed noteworthy that I had to write a check. I never write checks anymore, and it has been many years since I ordered any!
4. I was pleased that, even though I was feeling sick, I mustered the energy to package up some Amazon returns and other mail, and sent it off!
5. Max, doing tons and tons of homework, as usual.
6. I spent much of my day reading our book club book for next week.
7. I had my usual Thursday afternoon piano lessons.
8. Eva has dance on Thursday evenings. I just love seeing her in her dance clothes and ballet shoes.
9. I wasn't up to making dinner, so I got Little Caesar's on the way home from dance.
10. Checking to see if I had any moves to make on Words With Friends (always disappointing when I don't.)
11. Lucas had his first dance class! He seems to surprise me at every turn. I've never seen sporty jazz shoes like these, I thought they were all like the old Capezio leather ones.
12. Max thought he'd quickly register to take the ACT before we watched Modern Family. Little did we know it would take half an hour or more! It's hard to believe I have a junior who is taking the college entrance exams...

12 on the 12th | December

1. The morning vitamins I put out for me and the kids.
2. A paper I pulled out of Eva's backpack — I love that she made up how to write her name in cursive (and then wrote an alternate version).
3. Catching up on my Words With Friends games.
4. Relaxing in front of the Christmas tree led to admiring the glittered stars I made out of cereal boxes. (Don't look at the backs!) I scored and bent them to make them 3D, and applied a combo of silver and gold glitter for more of a vintage look. I liked them so much, I made a bunch more for the rest of the tree.
5. An example of the literary ornaments I made from a cheap paperback of Sense and Sensibility from D.I. These make me happy.
6. This pile of books by the couch indicates that Max is home from school.
7. And then he can be found working on his homework for pretty much the rest of the day. He has a huge backlog of TV shows to watch during Christmas vacation!
8. Checking out a new recipe for pizza dough on one of the cooking blogs that I enjoy.
9. Jack, in a rare moment of holding still. Check out all that gray in his fur!
10. Max's tie, cast aside before dinner. (He likes to wear ties on Mondays.)
11. Potato, red onion, and goat cheese pizza. It was delicious.
12. Emily brought her serious boyfriend over for dinner, because "Olivier approval is crucial." Big thumbs up!

a lesson learned (I hope)

Lately, I've been thinking about when I was a little girl. I hated being rushed. I felt like my mom was always saying, "Hurry! Hurry!"

I've hated it ever since. I don't like being in a hurry.

It turns out, Eva doesn't like it, either.

And now I know how my mom felt, why she was always needing to hurry me along.

No matter what time I get Eva up in the morning (and, oh, the irony of having to wake her now when she was such an early riser for such a long time!), I always end up hurrying her along to get ready for school. She is a dawdler par excellence. And I can actually remember being the same way—getting dressed at a snail's pace while watching cartoons.

I don't like being frustrated with her. I don't like starting off my day feeling irritable, and I certainly don't like sending her off to school in tears. So I'm trying to find ways to make our mornings smoother, a little better for both of us.

I've also realized lately that I have overscheduled my life.

This first year of having all of my children in school for a full day left me feeling like I could do anything. Not only that, but that I should do a lot of things—you know, because I finally have the time.

So, when I saw a need in Eva's classroom, I volunteered. I can do that now! When I was asked to be the accompanist for the school's jr. choir, I readily accepted. When they needed someone to be the art coordinator, I said I could do it. I finally have time to attend the stake Institute class! And attend the temple more often! And of course, I still have piano lessons, visiting teaching, my calling in Young Women's, etc. (And no, my cabinets aren't finished yet. Let's not talk about that.)

And now I see that, although technically I can do all of those things, I just don't want to. When I am constantly running from one thing to the next, my quality of life suffers. I'm sure some people love being super-productive every day and have their schedules constantly humming along, but I'm not one of those people. I do not function well if I don't have some time to de-compress, to read, to think, to plan menus and clean out my fridge and exercise and bake cookies.

Before school started this year, I had dreams of daily exercise, cleaning out my studio, sewing, and finally having a clean house. I've done fairly well on the exercise, but the rest has all gone out the window. I haven't sewn one thing or even spent one day in my studio! What the?!

I've been snippy and exhausted—not a very nice mom and not very fun to be around. Well, no more. I'm cutting back where I can and I am determined to take on fewer obligations for the next school year! I'm evaluating more carefully which things are most important to me, and which help bring happiness and balance to my life.

I hope I've learned this lesson. Please remind me not to volunteer for too many things if I forget!

thankful thought #1

So thankful for antibiotics.

This week is infinitely better than last week!

12 on the 12th | November

1. Snow was in the forecast, but fortunately it was just rainy and cold.
2. Cold enough to require fingerless gloves when I was painting in the garage!
3. My current batch of 5 cupboard doors received their polyurethane coat.
4. I kind of wish I had taken a "before" picture of this job. It took me 2.5 hours to sort through the piles of paperwork that had accumulated on the counter!
5. Jill had been texting me throughout the morning to give me updates on Landon. The poor guy had a bad fall at a campout — this email was notifying me that he broke his elbow! (They spent the day at InstaCare and at Primary Children's Hospital, and he ended up having surgery last night!)
6. Marc strongly suggested that I take a break from painting. (Apparently my painting frustration is making me difficult to be around?) I read for awhile and had a little nap. Glorious.
7. Then I resumed painting. I've been watching (listening to) The Sing-Off while I do my interior painting. I've always been an a cappella fan.
8. The last section of upper cabinets got their polyurethane coat! Whew.
9. Grandma and Grandpa brought Eva back from her ultimate grandparent date of going to Disney on Ice! They also bought her a light-up tiara and an Ariel necklace. Best day ever.
10. Lucas came back from our neighbors' house, where he had evidently helped them to make applesauce, and they sent a bottle for us. (Why does he never help with kitchen projects here?!) It was still warm and very delicious.
11. I went out to get some balloons and treats for Landon.
12. Lucas in his T-birds jacket. We've been seeing that jacket a lot around here! He went to Max's high school for a bonus performance of 3 of the songs from Grease.

12 on the 12th | October

1. Eva playing games on nickjr.com before getting ready for school.
2. I got to pull off the tape from the first section of cupboards. Such a satisfying moment. (So very much more to go on that project.)
3. I decided to cook myself something good for breakfast (scrambled eggs with mushrooms, green onions, and fresh parmesan).
4. A picture at Eva's school that is made of the students' school pictures.
5. Eva's "All About Me" report hanging in the school hallway.
6. It was my first day of teaching art to Eva's class and this is the darling book I read to the kids. I highly recommend it.
7. Some of the kids working on their project (making a picture with only dots).
8. Eva sitting at her desk. She was positively preening to have me there (these are the days that end all too soon).
9. I love these fall sunsets where the mountains are pink.
10. I snapped this picture while Max was driving us to mutual.
11. I tried a new recipe to take to mutual (peanut butter pretzel bars). It didn't work out very well—way too crumbly—but it still tasted good.
12. One of our Laurels showed us a slide show of her trip to Europe.

a few major things

Eva lost her first tooth!

She was annoyed by the fact that it hadn't fallen out yet. It was causing her grief when she ate or brushed her teeth. So one night, I just took a tissue like my grandma used to, put it over the tooth, and yanked. It was very loose, and it came right out. She was thrilled.

I got out of bed at midnight when I realized that I had forgotten to perform my tooth fairy duties. She was happy about the money, but disappointed that the tooth fairy took her tooth away. At school the next day, the class dentist (they all have different rotating jobs in their "town") asked if anyone had lost a tooth and she was so happy to report her big event.

Lucas got a haircut!

Not his usual trim where he negotiates about how little he can get cut off, but an actual haircut. Miss Kate, the school drama director, told him he was going to have to have a new 'do for Grease. I was shocked that he opted to comply 6 weeks in advance. Thank you, Miss Kate, thank you!

Now I am trying to give him positive feedback without making a big deal out of it (so that he will want to grow it out long again just to rebel against me). I think he looks so much like my brother when he was about the same age.

Max got his driver's license!

It was shockingly easy. We went in with a pile of documentation and they never even looked at it! He didn't have to get his picture taken because he is using the one from his permit. He didn't have to take a written or a driving test because he has a certificate that he passed them in Driver's Ed. (which they didn't even look at). They just checked his vision, I paid the fee, he received a brief lecture on being responsible and staying in good with his mother (since I paid for it, I own it until he is 18) and that was it! No waiting, even. It was certainly a different experience from when I got my license—I had to take the written and the driving test and failed the driving test the first time because when I parallel parked, I wasn't close enough to the curb. Huh.

Also, he went on his first date about a week ago! He is so shy, I wondered if it might take him years to embark on this particular milestone. He planned the whole thing, arranged a group date, and had a great time. I could not be more shocked (and happy for him).

We went to our elementary school's Fall Festival on Friday. I didn't take my camera because it was stormy. Eva was disappointed that, due to inclement weather, the ponies weren't there. She was determined to ride one this year. They did, however, have a petting zoo that she thoroughly enjoyed: a 500-lb. pig, a pot-bellied pig, a llama, a cow, a baby goat, a chicken, and a rabbit on a leash. She also went on a golf cart ride, did the duck pond and fish pond games, took a couple of turns in the bounce house (a huge hit), played bean bag toss and ring toss, tried the cake walk and the soda pop walk, and ate cotton candy. It's an enormously anticipated event.

She won this in the soda pop walk.

Marc started repainting our main living area!

He spent all weekend prepping and painting one wall, and putting everything back into place. Now I'm not sure I love the color we selected. It doesn't look like the sample to me. It's cooler and just not what I pictured. Marc is so frustrated he can barely talk about it. I can't blame him a bit. And I'm pretty sure we will never paint again without getting a test quart.

I'm living with it for a couple of days before we decide how to proceed...

12 on the 12th | September

Oh joy, another sick day on the 12th!

1. Making lunches for the boys was just about the only productive thing I did all day!
2. The flag in our yard, viewed from the window.
3. Feverish Eva, with a cold compress—Saltines and Gatorade at the ready.
4. And a bowl, just in case.
5. Dinosaurs keeping watch.
6. Not a good time to run out of children's Tylenol.
7. We watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua, one of Eva's favorites.
8. Zinc drops for me.
9. I read Sunday's paper, which had some great stories about 9/11, then and now.
10. I took Nyquil before going to bed.
11. There were 11 medicine cups in the dishwasher.
12. I settled into bed with tissues, cough drops, and a great book.

snippets

Just a few of the things happening around here lately:

I had a bunch of blood drawn last week so my doctor could check all sorts of things. She called to say that everything looks good except I am vitamin D deficient. I was surprised because I take a D3 supplement (1000 IU). She wants me to take 4000 IU daily! Wow.

I went to the little farmer's market at BYU with Emily last week. It was tiny, but had some great produce. I bought tomatoes, peaches, and lime mint (it smells so divine). Lots of all three things, and only $9! I'm so glad Em is back at BYU (and with a car, to boot!).

This is Eva's excitement over buying school lunch for the first time on pizza day.

And this is her excitement over riding the bus home with a friend after school. Riding the bus is only that exciting when you don't have to do it day after day! (Personally, I rode the bus straight through to my senior year and hated it.)

I went to the temple this week and was pleased to feel the all-encompassing peace that prevails there. It is such a good feeling to step away from the world for a little while and just be utterly at peace. It feels so right.

I stopped to admire the zinnias on my way out and saw that they are underplanted with parsley! I never would have thought of that. (Is it a bug-repellent? Jane?)

I went to Costco yesterday to stock up. I haven't done that properly for about 2 months or so. I knew it was going to be expensive, but it was shockingly so. I'll send some good mail to the person who comes closest to guessing my total!

I got an email from the library saying that I had an overdue book–so overdue, in fact, that an additional $5 in fines had accrued and it was going to collections if I didn't turn it back in ASAP! I looked around Eva's room and found this. (It costs $4.99 new, by the way.) Good grief.

Ballet has started up again and Eva is thrilled about wearing all of the new dance clothes that Grandma Susan brought! Sure I'm biased, but I think she's the cutest girl at the studio.

In addition, I have:

• gone out to lunch with one of my friends that I visit teach
• exercised almost every day!
  
• signed up to be a room mom for Eva's class
• contemplated going to the daytime Institute class
• done some leisurely reading
• mowed the lawn
• cleaned the burner drip pans with a method I found out about on Pinterest (put in Ziploc bags with a little ammonia and leave outside overnight)
• made homemade Oxi-Clean (also on Pinterest)
• sorted through the horrid basket/stacks of books, magazines and knitting paraphernalia by our couch
• done some organizing in my studio (namely fabric)
• done some returns (always something I procrastinate)
• paid the bills
• watched 5 episodes of Luther on Netflix

Life is good.

12 on the 12th | August

1. Jack watching my dad work in the yard (from the deck). I have to wonder what he thinks of the drastic reduction of his jungle.
2. Marc helping Max work on an essay for AP Lit. He has to have it done by the time school starts. (The poor guy has been doing schoolwork all summer long.)
3. Picking out paint colors with my mom. I was so gratified that she confirmed my choices! She's the color master.
4. Mom always wears cute shoes, (almost never flats).
5. I love it when Lucas and Eva play together.
6. Eva practicing piano and working on her theory. She just started learning about the white keys.
7. Loading up our neighbor's trailer with all of Dad's cuttings. It was a whole family project!
8. Marc took Lucas shopping to get his main birthday gift: a punching bag and boxing gloves.
9. We took Eva to her school to see the class lists. Grandma let her use some of her grown-up lipgloss.
10. We don't know much about Eva's teacher. She was disappointed that her best friend is not in her class (nor the boy that she has a crush on), but at least she has one good friend in there. I told her she will meet lots of new friends!
11. I made invitations for Lucas's birthday party and we went around to deliver them. (Not one of his friends was home, so we are just hoping that they all got the invites!)
12. Dropping off Lucas to Landon's birthday party. Night games was a brilliant idea.

two things

1. Eva has been having an OCD-like compulsion to wash her hands.

She washes her hands like a surgeon scrubbing in for surgery.

She washes her hands for far too long, and sometimes multiple times in a row.

She has developed rashes on her wrists and fingers from too much hand-washing.

She has been banned from hand-washing until her skin heals, and is only allowed to use a bit of hand sanitizer for the time being.

It's completely counter-intuitive to tell your child not to wash her hands.



2. She has her first loose tooth.

My kids get their teeth late and lose their teeth late. She has been waiting for this for a long time.

Still. My heart hurts a little bit that my baby is leaving this stage of childhood behind. Soon she will have those big, awkward permanent teeth. Soon she may no longer be 100% cute.

How can you simultaneously be anxious for your children to grow and be more independent, etc. and yet want to hold them back, to keep them small for awhile longer?

This motherhood gig is perpetually perplexing.

five for friday

Marc's sister Lisa was in town with her family last month and Eva was dying to have her cousin Dana over for a sleepover. Dana, never having done a sleepover, was a little hesitant, so she invited her big sister Olivia along. They came home with us on a Sunday night and stayed all day Monday, and Eva was devastated when Lisa picked them up. It's too bad they see each other so rarely!

Marc has been photographing still lifes around the house for a photography contest. At one point, he was standing on the kitchen table with his tripod, trying to get a shot. I can tell when he's scoping out potential photo ops. He is submitting some photos he took in Eva's room, vignettes of her toys in play; and she said that if he wins, it will be like she wins, too!

Eva had her friend Riley over to play and they ended up watching a movie about Golden Retrievers on Netflix. They kept clinging to each other during the "scary parts." I told them that if it was too scary, they should do something else, but they protested that that was what made it fun!

I would say that Lucas came home from Scout camp with at least a hundred mosquito bites. He is allergic to them, so they always get pretty bad (this photo doesn't really do it justice). They were clustered on his shoulders, elbows, knees, and neck, despite the fact that he was wearing pants and shirts with sleeves and had applied bug repellent! Also, one of the leaders who went with them didn't get a single bite. What the? (He's been back for almost 3 weeks and they are just now going away.)

I tried making naan. I really love naan, and since I was making Indian food one night, it seemed like the time to give it a go. I don't know that I'll do that again. It was quite a tedious process, involving a pizza stone and a spray bottle, cooking them one at a time, etc. and it still wasn't right. It seemed more like regular pita bread to me. Not worth it. Bummer.