Up and up In the Haner Home

I love the Target brand Up and Up. I have been buying their baby soap, baby wipes, and a myriad of other things and been very very satisfied. Anyone else love the Up and Up Target brand?

Anyway, "up and up" is fitting to describe the latest additions to the Haner home. First, we finally gave in and got bunk beds (well, they were actually given to us by the Reyniers-THANKS FRIENDS!!!) and they are ever so fabulous. The kids always fight over who will sleep on top, but otherwise, it is a great space saver, and fun new way to maximize our shrinking house.

Also, on one of the 100 degree days last week, I brought the play structure inside (given to us by the neighbors--THANKS SMITHS!!) and the kids had a blast. Note Kya's favorite new "shirt," given to us by the Schneiders--I keep trying to explain, "this is not appropriate attire for everyday wear..." But it's pink and shiny, so my words mean nothing.

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Olive Oil Banana Bread

I am a hoarder of food. I don't like to waste and I can't stand to throw things away that could be used later. Thus the 7,000 (or so) frozen overripe bananas in our chest freezer chillin' alongside our half a steer's worth of beef, and several bags of bread from the bread store (for those days mommy is too lazy (or unprepared) to make her own bread.)

Hubby: Everything in the freezer smells like bananas. Can't we just get rid of them? They've been in there forever.

Me: Don't worry honey. All the beef in there is vacuum sealed and I will just make a big batch of banana bread here one of these days...

This conversation repeats weekly.

In comes Pastor Jim with his, "Get out there and demonstrate God's Love" message this morning...and...Ah ha! I can show people God's love and make my husband happy too! Banana bread for everyone!

And so we get home from church today and I get the kids all suited up for mixing time with mommy. We pray about who we should give banana bread to. We are all ready to go. Until, I realize, I have no butter. No butter, no margarine, no Crisco, nothing creamy whatsoever to bake into our banana bread...

Now, I have one of the most fabulous banana bread recipes on the planet. It calls for A WHOLE LOT OF BUTTER. So, what to do, what to do...

Hubby: Go borrow from the neighbors!

Me: I CANNOT borrow one of the ingredients to my bread that I am supposed to be GIVING to others as a sign of God's love. That's like saying, "excuse me, can I help you fix your car? Oh and can I borrow the money to get it done?"

No. I am not borrowing. And I do not want to go to the store on a Sunday with three children in tow. And we have like $10 left in the bank this month anyway. Soooo.

I look in the pantry one more time and what I have a WHOLE lot of is...Kirkland olive oil! Olive oil? Could that work? It might. It is actually probably healthier than butter I think to myself.

First step, "cream butter and sugar together in the bowl." OK, so the kids add the sugar and the olive oil to the bowl and we start mixing, and mixing, and mixing. There is nothing creamy about this mixture. It looks like oil and sugar, mixed together...I could build small oily sugar castles out of it, but surely no good bread could come from such a base.

At this point, I have to consider whether to go on. Do I waste the flour, baking soda, salt, eggs, and bananas (well, we know "wasting" the bananas was not a big consideration, but you know what I'm getting at)? Or do I stop here, count our losses and get some butter on the 1st.

Hmmmmmm...

Well, let's just give it a try.

We mix, mix, stir, stir, squish the thawed bananas into the bowl (like "poop" the kids say! Gross.) Happy kids, muffin tins covered in batter, loaf pans half full and ready to go into the oven...and then we put them in the oven to bake. A sad anthem rolled around in my head as I put the mixture into the oven--like I was putting the sad, sad olive oily batter to rest once and for all.

I checked on our concoction a few times as it baked...and it started to turn much browner (more brown?) than I had ever seen my beloved buttery banana bread turn--stupid olive oil. So I took them out to cool and sadly sighed...what a waste. Did I mention I hate to waste?

Well, as I got my trusty knife out to pry them from the sides of their tins, something strange happened. I didn't have to pry. They just slipped right out. And they were so soft and fluffy...what was going on here?

And then I tasted them...and they tasted awesome! Even my hubby said so...well, he ate it. He didn't say anything really. But he ate the whole thing, and for him, that's a big compliment.

And that's the story of the olive oil banana bread and muffins. I'll post the recipe soon and you won't think I'm quite so crazy when you see 2 1/2 cups of olive oil listed as the second ingredient! :)

Image taken from addicted to costco.com

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It's not Their Fault

I've spent most of this week PMS-ing. And when I say PMS-ing, I must say it is more like that description of the woman on that commercial who has a hard time with daily functioning due to PMDD. I am a mess. I yell, I moan, I whine, I am irrational, nothing fits or is comfortable on my whole body; I am slightly crazy. I am also unorganized and flaky. I cry in the closet sometimes.

And you know what??? My kids deserve better than that.

It is not their fault that they were in trouble all week. I wasn't organized or motivated enough to get some organized activities together for them. It is not their fault that they were whiny and in each other's space all week. I failed to redirect their energy in healthy ways.

So, no more. I am not going to let my own little hormonal fluctuations interfere with my family's well-being. Starting tomorrow, I have two new goals. One, get up before the kids and have quiet time with God. Two, get showered, dressed and ready for the day before everyone is up. Oh and three, I am not going to drink Diet Pepsi any more. It's not good for me and it doesn't help my moodiness any. There I said it. Now I have to do it, right?

Starting Monday, we will be on a strict family schedule that even the most PMS-y mom can follow and that will keep things from getting so haywire even when mom's having a down swing in her moods.

Thank you husband and family for grace, but enough is enough!

To sleep now and no more Facebook for a week! I'm grounding myself.

EASY Pepsi Chocolate Chip Cake

My latest quick dessert (because my hubby loves a nice dessert at the end of his meals and I seldom have time to make one with dinner cookin' in the oven) is this super easy (and not at all good for you) cake that the kids can make FOR YOU!

Add one can of Pepsi (I use caffeine free because that's what we have, and I am quite sure any soda would do just fine) to one box of yellow cake mix and add some chocolate chips. (The amount depends on your child; she may choose to add an entire bag when you tell her, "just a few," and it really doesn't matter...more chocolate, happier husband!)

Mix well with a big spoon (or stick or small craft dowel--whatever you can find!). Bake in a lightly greased cake pan (all I could find was my big tub of margarine that I never use for anything else, so I smeared some of that around in there with a paper towel) at 350 until it is golden brown and firm to the touch on the top (no jigglies--if you take it out before this hardening occurs, you might as well just eat the batter--which is good too...call it pudding!) Cut into squares and enjoy with a nice glass of milk after dinner.

So easy, a four year old can do it! (That's our gigantic cat, "Cliff," on the floor hoping for some batter drips.)

Follow our blog at: http://hanerhome.blogspot.com/ I can't promise it will be edifying, but it will be mildly entertaining from time to time.

I Have Blog Brain

For those of you who blog, I'm sure this is nothing new to you. But, I find it odd that I see the entire world these days in terms of blog titles and Facebook status updates. What do I mean? Well, if you have to ask, you don't blog. But, here's a little explanation (because you asked.)

My world is consumed with mommyhood and wifelihood. (Yes, you're right. I don't want to look it up, but I'm pretty sure it's not a word. Thank God I don't have an editor for this thing.)
I watch my children playing outside and instead of thinking, "Oh, how nice that I'm playing outside with my kids," I think, "How can I blog about this?" Or, "Gosh, I hope something funny happens so I can blog it." I find myself searching for my camera, trying to catch the right angle when something painful, interesting, ironic, or intriguing occurs, because after all, my readers need a visual! Worse yet, I occasionally find myself thinking, "Oh, I better update my Facebook status about this because it's pretty funny and I bet I'll get a lot of comments."

It's a sad existence when your main feedback from a day's work comes through the computer from "readers" and "friends." FB users, you know why that's in quotes.

My personality thrives on feedback, so the sporadic, "thank you for my juice mommy," or, "thank you for wiping my poopy behind..." Oh wait, that never happens. Why don't we make our kids thank us for changing their stinky messy sometimes explosive poopy diapers? I guess that's a blog for another day...

Anyway, does anyone else find themselves thinking in terms of blog entries and Facebook statuses? If not, perhaps I should take an e-break until I can think outside the social networking box again.

Try not to laugh!

There are some things so pure and beautiful that you can't help but smile. I'm going to try to watch this anytime I am feeling sad or frustrated because it is so wonderfully uplifting...and really, the idea of four babies the same age gives me a little perspective as well. :) Thanks Stacy for posting this. If you are reading this on Facebook, and cannot see the video, please go to our family blog at: http://hanerhome.blogspot.com/

Bedtime Rituals

We have done lots of things to put our kids to sleep over the years, none of them "recommended." Nursing, bottles, long car rides, rocking, bouncing, etc...But, the latest for Caden is taking a little stroll around the neighborhood. It is foolproof in getting him to sleep and also gives mom a little workout. Here's Caden before the walk and after about a block and a half. He then transfers quite well to his crib for a good two hour nap! Yippee! Finally a bedtime ritual that doesn't rot anyone's teeth or increase ozone depletion.

TOP 10 REASONS BEING A SAHM IS BETTER THAN BEING A CIVIL LITIGATION ATTORNEY

So I have been trying to really focus on the positive lately (shock to all you who know me.) And I think that staying at home and being a mom and a wife may not be as bad as I felt last week during the dirty house of madness, PMS, laundry debacle, preparing for school, putting the house up for sale week of misery.

For instance, during my walk last night, I pushed a stroller with only two small children who were relatively peaceful (Kya was home wrestling with her daddy about not going to sleep.)

Sidenote: When I came home, Kya had won, and was wet-cheeked, but happily out of her room and sitting on the floor of the living room hoping for some "mommy time." Ahhh...

Anyway, while I walked, I thought about comparisons between my former job (civil litigator) and my current job (stay at home mom/wife):

TOP TEN REASONS BEING A SAHM IS BETTER THAN BEING A CIVIL LITIGATOR:

10. I can decide to do anything I want all day long. Nobody tells me or expects me to do anything in particular save the State of California and CPS looming in the background in case I completely ignore my children all day long.

9. I have no dress code. If I want to stay in my jammies all day long (I have chosen against this due to unannounced embarrassing visits from friends and family lately who are definitely thinking I am a slob about now), I can.

8. No pantyhose (Kind of the same as aforementioned lack of dress code, but worth its own entirely separate enumeration).

7. Messy craft-time is better than writing MSJs.

6. Cleaning the house is better than summarizing medical documents.

5. No billable hours.

4. I can play in the dirt and on the floor physically instead of metaphorically.

3. Naptime...every day.

2. I can actually have and maintain a garden and pets.

1. I get to make meals for, help, and spend time loving and being with my family every day 24 hours a day...which is usually a good thing.

Now the paycheck...oh wait, focusing on the positive...

The Ranch

Wyatt participating in water wars.

Wyatt masterfully moving the puck in hockey.

Wyatt loving touching his face despite numerous warnings from mom regarding germs!

Daddy having fun during water wars.

Good pal and Hospice staffer, Chris, helping Kya master the game of hockey.

Kya and friend Makayla after water wars at camp.

Wyatt passes out after a long day playing in the lake.

Wyatt after water wars strutting his stuff.

Wyatt and a Winco muffin (Jake catching crumbs.) Muffin wins.

"Isn't it my turn to climb the wall mom?"

Kya with the Chik Fil A cow--Chik Fil A donated $5000 to the camp and provided an entire meal for the donors, campers and staff. I LOVE CHK FIL A!!!

Kya and her hockey stick flying across the court.

Kya on the lake trampoline with new found friends. Mommy loves life jackets.

Wyatt after a long fun day cannot stay awake, even for a Chik Fil A brownie.

Wyatt on the ranch toys. This rusty old thing just proved to me that new shiny toys are not necessary to keep a kid entertained.

Our time at "The Ranch" this year was filled with surprises and adventures. It was both exhilarating and one of the most peaceful weeks I have had in a long time. I was blessed to have Jenna Ricks with us all week, whose sole responsibility was to help with our kids. What an amazing thing to have another person whose sole purpose was to help me!!! Her sunshiny personality and fantastic attitude made the week even better than it usually is.

Let me back track because some of you don't know what I am talking about.

Every year, Scott directs a camp at the ranch formerly known as Thompson Ski Ranch (now Gergen ski ranch) for bereaved children who have lost a loved one in the past year. Scott was a water ski instructor at the ranch for years and has since been directing camps at the ranch for the Gergens, who are based in Huntington Beach and need a trustworthy supervisor for the property. (That's my honey, oh so trustworthy--I love that!) Anyway, I cook for the campers and enjoy helping out in other ways when I am able.

This year, we decided to spend the whole week out there as a family instead of me trying to come home every evening with the kids and then going back at 4:30 AM to start cooking breakfast for the campers. That was AWESOME. We slept in a small cabin near the main ranch house. Kya and Wyatt slept on the floor of the living room. Scott slept in a small bedroom and I slept in the other small bedroom with Caden in his playpen. The house could not be more than 750 square feet. But it was glorious. We truly learned to enjoy being close. I learned that it's a lot easier to clean up 750 sq. ft. than 1600. I also learned we need a lot less "stuff" when our kids just spend the whole day in the great outdoors playing, running, getting dirty, dropping down on a lounge chair somewhere in the middle of the day to rest or nap...oh goodness, it was just so nice.

Best of all, we were all together. Scott was there running the camp for Hospice, directing activities, setting up and organizing each game, supervising the water slide, etc. etc. And while he worked and passionately devoted himself to the camp activity, we, his family, were able to share in his work, watch his discipline and commitment, and smile with him at the successes of his labors. What a nice thing.

I was also able to cook for the campers, usually making meals to feed about 30-35 people. This year, as an extra bonus, the Gergens had replaced the ranch house kitchen with a new commercial stove, beautiful granite counter tops, new cabinets, etc. etc. If you had seen the old kitchen, cooked on the previously unpredictable stove, experienced the overheating microwave that just shuts itself off when it decides it has had enough...you would feel my elation as I walked into this glorious new shiny kitchen. Ahhhhhh! (that's me singing operatically.)

Anyway, we also got to commune with some old friends (it was great to talk with one of our regular counselors, Laura ODell, in particular, who is always a trooper, even with a terrible cold and locking her keys in the car!) and new friends (Johnny Ward joined us this year all the way from Texas! What a blessing he was to the campers and to our family! We love you Johnny!), swim in the lake, and just generally experience the great outdoors like one of the kids. I cannot say enough, so I will stop now.

:)

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HOUSE FOR SALE NE BAKERSFIELD

The Haner home is finally for sale!

The house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, with covered back patio, three car garage, Tuff Shed, 1600 sq. ft., up the road from the fabulous Thorner Elementary School, and a spectacular view of the mountains and foothills. We are asking $219,500, but are willing to negotiate.

If you are reading this on Facebook, check out a picture of the view from the backyard on our blog at: http://hanerhome.blogspot.com/

Call (661) 330-0863 for the address and to make an appointment.

Movin' to the Country~hopefully

Image courtesy of www.clearybuilding.com/.../horse_barn5.jpg

Our dream is to move out to the country. Y'all knew that. We have chickens, we have crops, we pretend to be homesteaders in our little Kyle Carter development...but it's not authentic...yet.

We long for a life filled with farm chores, hard work focused on productive use of our very own land, and teaching our little ones the value of self-sufficiency. We desire to be less concerned with possessions and materialism and more focused on being close to nature and getting our hands involved in Godly things.

This dream has existed in our collective Haner minds for quite some time, and we are finally ready, as a family, we think, to make the move, Lord willing (that's a lot of disclaimers, huh?).

We are clearing out the clutter of our current home with our sights set hopefully on moving to some acreage. We don't need anything fancy. In fact, really, the less the better. That's the point after all.

PRAYER:

Give us a place for us to lay our heads Lord, keep our chickens, kitties and dog, and grow some crops. Help us prepare for the inevitable "inconveninces" and keep our flexibility throughout the process. Point us to the perfect location, right where you want us, where the kids can thrive and grow up knowing the value of hard work and getting dirty. We pray for patience with this process and for a good sense of humor for those who are unsupportive or think we are insane. Oh, and could you help us sell our house in this horrendous market? That would be swell. IJN, Amen.

Our Kids Are Really Loud~and Possibly Tone Deaf

I just accept it. Sometimes our kids are really really loud. I am not a fan of noise. I like peace and quiet. I like when one kid's asleep, to keep him or her asleep. I like when I can hear the sound of the hundreds of dollars we spend on PG&E in the summer whirring in the background. But alas, our little blessings often preclude such pleasantries. Enjoy this video at http://hanerhome.blogspot.com/ if you're reading this on Facebook and be thankful for the moments of silence...and noise...in your life. :)0

As a sidenote, I am a little concerned with the lack of pitch matching precision exhibited here, but I am still hopeful these kids will one day be musically inclined.

Free Rooster

Our latest baby chickens are now about three and a half months old and one has started to crow. Girl chickens don't crow I'm told. So this little guy (who is starting to exhibit all the typical male posturing around our poor little hens) has gotta go!

As much as I would love to live on a farm and have our own little homestead here on our 8,800 sq. feet of land, the sounds of a rooster at 6:00 AM are not warmly received by our very close neighbors. So, until we have a real homestead, and acres of land, no roosters allowed.

He is a Light Brahma (the kind with feathered feet.)

Any takers?

Baby Jail

We managed to pick up this fabulous enclosure for only $5 from a yard sale down the street a month or so ago and it has SAVED MY SANITY. Our youngest, Caden, almost eight months old, started rolling around the house at 5 1/2 months. He was full blown crawling by 6 1/2 months. I was certain I would have a few more months of peace only chasing around Kya and Wyatt. Now I have three kids to chase. I wondered how I would ever go the bathroom much less take a shower unless I got up at the crack of dawn (like 4:30 am) before Caden's first feeding.

As a side note, my schedule is crazy these days. Caden wakes for his first feeding at 5:00AM and usually is awake until his first nap at about 7:30 AM. Wyatt usually wakes up at 6:00AM and Kya sometime between 6-7:00 AM. Wyatt usually goes to bed around 7:30 PM, Kya at 8:30PM and Caden does not go to sleep for the night until 10:30 or 11:00PM. So, between the kids' sleep schedule and my after-everyone's-in-bed-chores, I get, on average, about 4-5 hours of sleep a night...assuming no one wakes up needing mommy during the night (rare). So you see how getting up at 4:30AM to shower and prep for the day isn't a very attractive option to me at the moment.

OK, back to baby jail. Because of my kids' ages and maturity levels, keeping them safe is pretty much a full time job.

Enter baby jail. This expandable enclosure, with child safe doors on each side, can be filled with toys and children, and only one of my children can actually open aforementioned doors (and she usually doesn't if I ask her nicely.) So, a mommy in my predicament (I mean, "blessed state") can safely leave the room for a few minutes without worrying that someone will put a fork in a light socket, play in the dog water, eat a crayon or climb INTO the dishwasher (it happens.)

I highly recommend baby jails. I don't know if this is actually what they are called, but that's what we call it. The gal at the yard sale said they paid like $100 for it! We paid $5. Best deal we've EVER gotten! And because it isn't as confining as a playpen, Caden seldom balks about being left in it, especially if his siblings are in there with him. On occasion, Scott and I have spent some time in baby jail as well...I have even fallen asleep inside with the kids crawling all around me because I can be assured no one will escape or injure themselves! Hey, I take sleep where I can find it!

Author's notes:

*Baby jail is pictured outside, but usually it is in the middle of our great room, where I can easily drop Caden off on my way to whatever chore or child needs tending next.

*If you are reading this post on Facebook, please check out our blog for more Haner Family Happenings: http://hanerhome.blogspot.com/

Sleep

There is something so wonderful about having rest these days. As a mom who has had three babies in four years, rest has been elusive to say the least. Even when I sleep, I am still on edge, waiting for a cry in the night, or, since our home invasion, somewhat irrationally waiting for someone to enter uninvited.

But this morning, my wonderful husband allowed me to sleep in...not just a little sleep in either. When I finally rolled over and looked at the clock, it was NOON!!!!!! "Noon?" I thought to myself..."how can this be?" Not only that, but when I awakened, it was quiet in the house. Both boys were sleeping and he had taken Kya to her private swimming lesson (with him as the teacher) at the Solera pool. Ahhhhhhh...seratonin levels were restored. I could face the laundry, dishes, sewing projects and MOPS publicity duties with fresh eyes (ones that didn't tear up every time I looked around the house or toward my overfilled inbox.)

I believe a special prayer lifted up by my pastor helped me find the sleep I needed. Thank you Lord, thank you husband, and thank you Pastor.

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Those Redneck Haners

Wyatt and his redneck root beer belly

Daddy stabilizing the trampoline

Kya napping on a sawhorse

The duct taped pepper grinder

Carrying wood...as always.

We haven't blogged in a while. The home invasion sort of dampened my desire to do anything productive or fun as my psyche was temporarily gripped by fear and "what ifs." But, the fear is subsiding and I realized today I have 179 pictures and videos on my camera from over ten different events. This is getting ridiculous. So, to what do I devote our first post after the long hiatus? Well, our super fun, frugal, and redneck life, of course!

As most people know, instead of buying new things when we have a whim to "improve" the Haner home, we try to reuse, recycle, build from scratch and improvise. This is partly because it's fun and challenging and partly to save money. It results in many hilarious contraptions, piles of free scrap wood and gizmos around the house (and yard and garage) and many unusual "toys" for the kids. (Man, I am using a lot of quotation marks this post.)

Anyhoo, Scott is currently building an extension on the chicken coop to accommodate the new hens (and we suspect one rooster darn it--the Rooster Chronicles repeated!) which means sawhorses and sawdust everywhere--fun for the kids and fun for Scott (most of the time.) Wyatt likes to hammer, Kya likes to observe and manage the construction site. Caden likes to chew on blocks of wood.

Scott has also taken a liking (more like an addicition) to smoking brisket in his new improved smoker (new to us through the magic of Craig's List, improved by Scott through much Googled research). This is a little like having a new baby in the house, since the nights he is "smoking" seem to mean he gets up every two hours to "feed" the fire, check the temperature, etc. etc.

Part of this process also involves preparing the brisket with Scott's super top secret brisket rub recipe (not really super secret--if you want it, he will be MORE than happy to share it, and talk to you about it, for hours...and it was invented based on the limited spice inventory in our pantry.)

The brisket rub requires, as a key ingredient, ground whole peppercorns--lots of them. Scott got tired of twisting and twisting that stupid grinder, so he duct taped (is that a verb? to duct tape?) his drill to it in an effort to lessen the wrist strain, and speed up the process...and let's face it, using a drill for anything makes it better for Scott...so...

Is it really worth all this you may ask? If you try Scott's brisket, you will never again question all these antics. It is fan-freakin-tastic!

Much love to everyone everywhere who takes time to read our blog. We are doing well and hope you are too!

My Dad Retires

There are really no words sufficient to describe the depth of the love I have for my dad, L. Michael McQuerrey, Mr. Mac, Papa Mac. And I know my love for him is shared by hundreds, maybe thousands, of people. He has been a rock in my life and the lives of many others. He has spent 35 years teaching, loving, mentoring, and ministering to teenagers through music. As I watched his final concert on Tuesday night, the emotions that welled up inside me were astonishing.

How does one really digest the last concert performed by one of Mac's high school choirs? Could it really be that this was the culmination of 35 years? How would life be without Christmas concerts, Spring festivals, choir tours, booster meetings, and how would the next generation of Kern County musicians fare without this man? It is a shame that anyone would live this life without being under the tutelage of Mac at some point.

And so the tears flowed. They flowed and flowed...in memory and celebration of Mac's career. I looked around at hundreds of teary faces while the Liberty kids sang Billy Joel's "Lullaby." "Goodnight my angel, now it's time to dream. And dream how wonderful your life will be. Someday, your child may cry, and if you sing this lullabye, then in your heart, there will always be a part of me...." dedicated formally to my babies, Mac's grand babies, but really, a dedication and promise to all those kids out there...some now in their 50's. Mac will never forget you or the time he spent with you...loving you, teaching you, singing with you, laughing with you, making fun of you.

And that is a part of Mac too...the making fun. He kids and jokes and can really call you out when you do something stupid. But he can do that, because he's Mac. Because he loves you. Because you know in your heart he would do anything for you and that his greatest joy and goal is to see you succeed. If he makes fun of the stupid part of you long enough, he knows you might just knock it off and get your "rear in gear!"

There are innumerable penguins, frogs, and other mementos decorating my dad's home office now--the penguins started when his Arvin High kids determined my tuxedo-clad father looked remarkably similar to one. The frogs? Well, the man likes frogs. I always liked the acronym "Full Reliance On God" (FROG) that reminds me of my dad's ability to commit his life to those loathsome (at times) teenagers only by the grace of a higher power. I wondered sometimes why such a strong, powerful man had so many stuffed animals in his office. I am beginning to understand that they remind him, I think, of the love he was able to extract from all those cool teenagers--so cool and yet so in love with Mac, that they purchased and presented fuzzy creatures to him as tokens of their devotion.

He didn't just teach his kids to be fabulous musicians. He taught values, compassion, etiquette, grammar, loyalty, commitment and poise. We are all better people for having sung under his direction. (or in my case, for having lived through it :)).

As with every concert for 35 years, this one ended with an invitation for all Mac's former choir members to join the choir on stage for, "The Lord Bless You and Keep You." There were so many people on stage, I thought it might fall down, and it was beautiful. I just listened from my seat in the audience, sitting next to my beloved husband, treasuring our three awesome blessings, crying more tears than I care to admit, and praising God...for all that my dad is and all he has been for others.

And I selfishly thought, "I can't wait to have this sweet retired man all to myself!!!"

I love you Papa Mac.

You Bought What on Craig's List?

So my sweet wonderful husband has taught me a lot about living a frugal lifestyle. One of our family theories is, "never pay full price for a new item when you can get it gently used for cheaper!"

With this theory in mind, my hubby often peruses the oft overlooked Craig's List ads for bargains. Sometimes we end up with things we shouldn't have--like the used and non-functioning water cooler in the corner of the kitchen. I am still holding out hope that one day the water from it will be colder than room temperature, but not much hope.

More recently, Scott called me after school and said he was going to look at a 14 ft. trampoline. "Really? Huh." was my only response. In my mind, all I could see was a giant trampoline somehow wedged beteen the rain barrels and the fence in our approximately 14 square feet of backyard. I just thought, surely this was nothing to worry about.

But then, the price was right, the family was so nice, the thing was practically brand new and they just bought a new one for their new house because they did not want to take the thing apart, and home came the 14ft. trampoline.

He got the thing up today and I think it might just be the most fun thing I have ever experienced. And I am certain once the safety pad and net are up, I will be able to breathe when the kids are on it as well...ONE AT A TIME!!!

Just goes to show, hubbies are really cool and moms sometimes worry too much. Happy Mother's Day!

Dress up anyone?

This week, we inherited what could be the most coveted little girl item in the world--an entire trunk of princess dress-up clothes. No room in the house is safe from the drizzling of jewels, garlands, dresses, shoes, crowns, gloves, or booties contained in its hallowed trunkiness. Thanks Kevin for the hand me downs...I think. Now my kids wear heels more than I do.