Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Well it’s official.  Our ward boundaries were changed.  The whole stake was realigned because we had two giant wards, and three little ones. I wasn’t too worried about it until last night when we had the big meeting. They began by showing a sense of humor and also their faith in God’s will for our stake by having us sing, “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go.” When the hymn was announced, there was a nervous rumble of laughter throughout the congregation as we all sat in anticipation of what was to follow. It was a great meeting with our stake leaders who were inspired in their decisions. They explained the process, and it is pretty complex, involving matching up the numbers of women, men, youth, children, and infants so that every ward is about equal. That is followed by paperwork and various approvals etc., so it was not an easy process for anyone. On the ride home we went through the names of friends in each of our kids’ primary classes. A large majority of them are in another ward now. Since we don’t live near family members, the church ward becomes like surrogate family, filling in the gaps that are left open between visits to and from family. So we are all sad to know that we won’t get to spend as much time with most of this “family,” but we’re trying to be optimistic about the new friends we will make and how our circle of life experiences will continue to grow.

It seems that no matter how hard we try to get our family in a stable situation, change always catches up with us.  For us it seems to come in two year waves. To brainstorm our history I wrote up a timeline:

1996- Married – Moved into our first apartment in Provo

1998- Moved to a fourplex in Provo – Hunter was born

2000- Moved to a house in Provo – Emma was born

2002- Rob accepted to Law School – Moved to North Carolina

2004- Hannah was born – Accepted a job and moved to Los Angeles

2006- Sabrina was born – Moved 6 houses down the street

2008- Accepted a new job and moved to Orange County – Hunter & Emma started at a new elementary school

Now- Just when we were starting to feel permanent someplace, our ward boundaries were changed, we don’t know our new leaders yet, and we feel like we’re starting over again in many ways. (I’m not complaining, but still am mourning the “loss.”)

If this is what happens on our down year, I’m pretty nervous about what might be coming for 2010…

Colonial Corn Cakes

Last week for Activity Days Emma’s group talked about President George Washington.  They made “hoe cakes” to get a taste of breakfast from colonial times.  Apparently Mr. Washington’s favorite breakfast was these hoe cakes with honey and butter on them.  Emma made them for us on Saturday, and woke up early today so she would have time to help making them again. A big hit at our house, they’re sort of like corn based crepes. I’m planning to keep this recipe handy because it’s a good one for using with ingredients I have in my food storage too.

Hoe Cakes

1 Cup cornmeal

1 Cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups hot milk

4 Tbsp. honey

2 beaten eggs

Mix together the cornmeal, flour, and salt. Heat the milk until it just begins to boil (steam appears). Pour it in the dry misture. Add the honey and eggs. Stir just until the ingredients are wet. Spoon batter onto a hot, oiled griddle. Turn to brown both sides. We topped ours with butter, honey or maple syrup. So yummy!

401

This is post number 401 for Bizzert! Wow, I didn’t think I had so much to say.

As I was vacuuming the other day, I was reminded of a statistic I heard somewhere. Have you ever heard that you’re never more than six feet away from a spider? I don’t remember where I got that from, or if it’s even true, but it got me thinking.

In our house, you are never more than six feet away from:

A plastic hair band – I will buy a package of 100 and somehow they always seem to be all over the house within minutes of walking through the door. I’ve gotten to the point where I can do the girls’ hair in any room. All I have to do is look around and there is sure to be a little rubber band on the floor, or on the dresser, or in a shoe…

Scotch tape – The kids use it for everything: Hanging their drawings on the walls, building inventions out of shoe boxes and toilet paper rolls, pulling off pieces and wadding them into a ball, or just letting them fall to the floor where they must be pulled up every time I vacuum.

A dirty sock – Why do kids like to take their socks off in strange places? I’m finding socks stuffed in the toy box, under the kitchen table, on top of a desk. Crazy!

Some sort of food wrapper – Hunter is an early riser, and not particularly interested in spending time making himself anything to eat before mom finally pulls herself out of bed. But as a growing boy, he wants to eat as soon as we wakes up. So I find granola bar wrappers, fruit snack wrappers, cheese stick wrappers, empty cereal bags etc. every day. (Will someone give me a clue how to get him to clean up after himself without me asking him?) Hunter is not the only offender on this, just the most active one.

Doll or princess related items – Between our three girls we have obsessions with Ariel, Jasmine, (all Disney princesses really), Barbie, and American Girl. At any given time you could do a 360 turn and find some sort of doll, clothing, picture, or book relating to the dolls.

A little green bingo chip – The kids have this nature bingo game that has little green marking chips. Somehow they turn up in the strangest places. We have been finding them pretty regularly for several years now and Rob likes to joke, “We’ll still be finding these things when we’re retired!”

Our Comfort Zone

Tonight Emma, Hunter and I took a big step outside of our comfort zones.  We went to audition for Pageant of the Masters. It is an annual show in Laguna Beach where they recreate famous works of art using actual people as the subjects, and a life size background and/or props. I have to admit that I was the most hesitant of the three of us, Rob convinced me to go, and I’m glad he did.  The process was pretty organized and fairly quick. We filled out a form with our general stats (oh and one important question: Are you willing to be nude? No! I know you are covered with paint and all, but that’s too far out of my comfort zone), then we were measured from head to toe, and had our picture taken next to a height chart. Then we turned in our cards, grabbed some treats, and that was it. I was lucky enough to win a t-shirt when I turned in my card too, which was super cool! Now we just wait to see if our dimensions fit into any of the pieces.  I think only one third of people that audition get parts, so we’ll see… There was a gallery of some of the artwork that will be featured in this year’s show. Here are just a few:

Morning by Maxfield Parrish

Le Dejeuner sur L’Herbe by Claude Monet

Summertime by Mary Cassatt

The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur

Joan of Arc by Anna Hyatt Huntington

I couldn’t embed this video, but click here to see a good explanation of the pageant. Don’t bother watching past 1:50, it’s just random clips and no sound.

Family Dollars

I found an image of play money that I adopted and printed as our official “family dollar.” Family Dollars are earned by helping out the family. I try to give them out when I notice someone doing something nice or helpful without being asked, or doing chores without reminders. The kids can also earn them by doing little jobs to help out like watering the plants, or washing the sliding doors. Hunter and Emma also earn one family dollar for every paper they bring home from school with 100%.

We keep our family dollars in a binder that has a clear pocket (page protector with their name written on it) for each person. We used to keep them in envelopes, but the envelopes were too easy to lose. I have a “bank” (a jelly jar) of family dollars that I pay them from and they can either turn their family dollars in for cash, or use them to buy things at “Mom’s Store.”

Mom’s Store is in our coat closet. I have a little store of craft projects, notepads, stickers, boxes, little toys; anything that catches my eye as something the kids might like to have. When my store has a good selection, the kids are motivated to do more helpful and nice things so they can save up for something. There is also a list of privileges they can buy in the family dollar binder. Things like: a “date” with Mom or Dad, A family trip to Legoland (this one is a biggie and would require them all to pool their dollars to get it), $15.00 to spend at Toys R Us, a pass to stay up an hour past bedtime…

I have really enjoyed doing the family dollar store with the kids. They are learning how to make buying decisions and have to think, “would I rather have a princess notepad now for $2 or save up and get a date with Dad for $15?”

They are also learning to delay gratification. Sometimes they will see something in the store that they just have to have. If it isn’t too spendy I’ll tell them, “I’ll put it in my store, and you can buy it with your family dollars.”

They have to problem solve. If they don’t have enough to buy something they need to think of something they can do to earn more family dollars. It’s cute to see Hannah run to get one of her dolls that she knows Brina likes to play with, and offer to share it. Of course she’ll give it to her and then turn immediately to me and say, “Can I get a family dollar for that?” I think it’s ok that they are getting immediate rewards for little things. There are other opportunities to teach the idea of service, or doing something good without expecting anything in return. For now, I’m just glad that the younger girls are sharing, and that the older two are thinking about what might make Mom, Dad or one of their siblings feel happier.

We have our ups and downs with the program. Sometimes I forget to give out any family dollars or there are tantrums when someone buys something another person also wanted. And sometimes it takes getting new inventory in my store to motivate the kids to earn dollars, but I think it’s a good start.

Letter to Schwarzenegger

If you haven’t heard, there has been a huge backlash since the vote on Proposition 8 passed. Not only has the public display been noisy, but our family has seen problems even at the elementary school. My eight year old daughter was called a nasty name by an upper grader when they heard her talking about the proposition with a friend.  I was disappointed when I saw the comments made by our governor.  So I wrote and sent a letter to both him and the first lady. If you’d like to join me, you can send a letter as well. Here is a copy of mine:

Dear Governor and First Lady-

I have always respected and been impressed with you as parents. I have especially felt a connection as a mother as I have read Maria’s written words and seen her interviews. I am writing to you as a concerned parent regarding Proposition 8.

As I’m sure you know, things have become ugly since the vote. I have seen personal attacks on my character and religion as a member of the LDS (Mormon) church. Every church has the right to encourage their congregation to vote and contribute on moral issues. In no way did we hijack the election, or influence free thinking people to vote any way other than their own conscience.

My young children in elementary school have been verbally attacked by older students who know that our family was in support of the Yes on 8 campaign. I know that friends of mine with high school students have seen even worse with their children. As an adult, I can understand and tolerate the abuse, but I plead with you as a parent to calm the No voting residents of California. They look to you for guidance and leadership and recent statements made by the Governor have only fueled the protesters and made them feel more justified in their intolerant, name calling, and disruptive behavior.

I hope you will consider that the majority of the state voted on this issue and that in spite of the fact that the No Campaign had more money overall, more money from out of state donations, celebrity endorsements etc., the voters still passed Proposition 8. Regardless of your personal feelings on the issue, I hope that you will look at this from a legal perspective and realize that in a democracy, this is completely valid. Please urge those who are disappointed in the results to write another proposition or use the proper means of getting their point across.

As a side note, I personally believe that if the No Campaign can show the good that homosexual couples can do as parents, instead of focusing on individual rights they will have more success in convincing the people of California that gay marriage is a good idea. So far we have seen their focus on individuals, when marriage is not about individuals, but about a couple coming together to make a family. Since these recent protests, I feel even more strongly that the gay community and the No voters are not interested in successful families or children, and they will have little chance of convincing me otherwise while they behave as they currently do.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Amy *****

*****, CA