Cupcakes

I have recently become obsessed with cupcakes. I love all shows involving them and I have decided that I wanted to start making some. I got a magazine with some fun recipes and decided to try this one out first. They are root beer cupcakes with a vanilla ice-cream flavored icing. I have had a couple of amazing cupcakes in my life and I still dream about them wishing that I could transport myself somehow to those places that had them. In the hopes of being able to taste delicious cupcakes once again my friend and I decided to start a cupcake club. We invited 4 friends who shared our love of baking to join us once a month and each of us will make a different recipe to share. To help keep our butts from getting too big and helping us to be service minded we are going to take a couple of plates to different people who we think could use a sweet treat. Plus we each get to sample 6 different kinds of cupcakes and take some home to our families.

This particular batch served two purposes. It was a trial run for the club and they were for someones birthday. In my church we have something called a visiting teacher. This is a calling of sorts that each woman receives. Some women choose not to participate for a variety of different reasons, but a majority of the women do. It is a duty that we believe we have covenanted with our Father in Heaven at baptism to do. Visiting teachers usually go in pairs and visit on average 3 sisters. The purpose of these visits is to check on the needs of the sisters and offer comfort, compassion, service and friendship because that is what we do when we take upon us the name of Christ. We try to be more like him. So, one of the sisters that my friend and I visit has a son who's birthday is today. How's that for a long story of why we made cupcakes? :0)

It was a short day so the 2 youngest were home and they love to help out in the kitchen, especially when treats are involved. I am not one of those patient Moms that loves to get their kids involved. I am usually in a hurry and would rather not delegate responsibilities fairly among the helpers. Because in a kids world, it is all about the fairness! I really need to be better about slowing down and taking the time to let them help. This day they got to pour things into the bowl, help put the decorations on and they did a really good job licking the bowls and spoons clean. Jordy also offered up her special brand of positive reinforcement. The icing was a disaster and I hate it when things go wrong and she was such a sweet little cheerleader. "They look awesome, they taste great, you're doing such a good job." These all came from my little 6 year old along with some funny ones that I can't remember now but I know they made me laugh. Having kids teaches me so much and I'm pretty sure they end up teaching me more than I will ever teach them.
What a blessing and a joy spending a day with friends and family is while doing something nice for someone. Give it a try, you won't regret it!

Spring Break

We spent spring break in Arizona visiting friends this year. To make things more adventurous and cheaper we decided to pull the trailer. My friend was pretty worried about us because of the part of town that we decided to stay in. I guess it is known for being a hub when crossing the boarder illegally. Exciting! The name of the rv park was cool and it was close to where our friends lived so we decided to chance it and I am happy to report that we were safe and so was our trailer.

We didn't have much time while we were there because we broke the trip up into 2 days of driving each way. It gets pretty exhausting for the driver with that big trailer swaying back and forth behind us. Our friends have 6 kids and we have 4 so we had to do some organizing and planning to make use of the time we had together. It had been awhile since our kids had seen each other so they had lots of ideas of how to best spend their time. We ended up going bowling, playing at the park, eating some yummy food and just good 'ole hanging out. Sydney was getting baptized so we got to be there for that special event as well. It was really nice getting to be there for that especially since she was wearing Emma's dress and I got to do her hair for her. There is really nothing better than spending time with friends and family.

The Many Faces of Nate....

While we were in Arizona for spring break Nate and I took the opportunity to have some pics together. I have oodles and oodles of pictures, but very rarely are the two of us in pictures together, mainly because I am usually the one taking the photos. So, after I snapped some pics of my friend and her family, I handed the camera over and had her take some pics. We went for photo booth style here and I love it. This pretty much captures the essence of us. This May will be 17 years of marriage and I am lucky and happy to say that he is still my best friend! :0)

What the Juniper

It is pretty late and I really, really want to be asleep right now. We just got back from a trip to AZ with our trailer and I should be enjoying my nice cozy bed right about now. But, noooo. I can't lay down or I will loose the ability to breathe through my nose and I absolutely cannot sleep with my mouth open. It makes me have dreams that I am eating sand and no one will give me a glass of water. This time of year is my worst for allergy season. It is the Juniper trees that do me in and we are not in short supply of them. I have been taking 1 kind of 24 hour acting pill in the morning, a different kind at night, lots and lots of nasal decongestant (which I have to sign away my life to get for a whopping 2.50 a box) and lots of nasal spray and a fair amount of headache medicine laced with caffeine to help with my head feeling like it is going to explode.

I am a complete wreck, I tell ya. What's worse is this sexy little strip I have across my nose to coax my nasal passage into working properly ~ note: extreme amount of sarcasm. The strip itself is bad enough but then you take an already rather bulbous nose and add that and your nose ends up looking like a balloon stuck on your face. These little devises really are heaven sent and I do love them, but....they don't exactly do anything for my attractability. It was bad enough before crawling into bed with my make-up free face, glasses and a rather attractive splint in my mouth. Now I get to add a nose strip attached to my drippy, stuffy nose. Yowza! So I am hoping to write into the nose strip people and make a rather impassioned plea to please consider making the strips in some sexy animal prints. They've gotta help a girl out. I am lucky that I haven't been kicked out of the bedroom yet for inducing scary dreams.

Ooooh, I think I have achieved the proper amount of airflow to try laying down again......fingers crossed.

Team Ivey

I am listening to the many sounds that are coming from the open door of my study. My children are below me rocking out to some tunes in their swimsuits while washing the suburban. It is a beautiful warm sunny day with just enough of a breeze to keep it from being too hot. Spring is in the air making it the perfect atmosphere for some team work. At the beginning of this year we decided that we needed to make some changes in our family. There was far too much fighting, picking on,

ooops.

Hold on.

There is a fight breaking out down there.

I hear threats of "killing."

Aaah, the sweet, sweet sounds of team work!

When you were a kid did you ever ask your Mom what she wanted for her birthday, mother's day etc and her replay was; "I just want you kids to get along." "Really? That's it? You can borrow my list if you can't think of anything...." Well, as silly as I thought that sounded to me as a kid, guess what? I find myself saying the exact same thing to my kids (along with many other phrases that used to drive me nuts).

So, back to these changes..... We decided that we needed to be a team. Team Ivey. We set some goals that we are trying to work on, but the most important step right now is the "branding." We use every opportunity to say our motto. I need to gather the kids up to go somewhere: "Team Ivey, let's go." We need to get some house work done: "Team Ivey, huddle." The kids start fighting; "are we winning or loosing right now in Team Ivey?" This is obviously a life long goal and process as evidence by the car washing experience which has now disbanded. Baby steps. There was a good 5 min of team work before it all fell apart. Next time maybe we will get 10????

The most important reason for this is not just to get some peace in our house but to create family unity. Especially now that the 2 oldest are in middle school together and life is getting a lot more complicated for them. They sometimes pretend that they don't know each other at school or join in on the picking on instead of sticking up for each other. We really want them to realize that their friends will come and go, but as a family we will always be there for each other. I also heard a great idea that could help us with this. Whenever they fight or have some behavior unfitting a teammate, they will have to serve the offended. They will receive a penalty and there is only one way back in the game.... They will have to find something nice to do for that person and they will have to think up the service they are going to render on their own and then report their efforts to us. These kind of tough life lessons are so hard to teach, but we've got to try. I am hoping that with some persistence, patience, service, prayer and love we will be successful in our efforts to instill some family unity.

On the Move

Getting older can be very unkind when it comes to the body. I always used to wonder when I should start using wrinkle cream. All those commercials for a smoother, younger face left me confused. I wish they would have just said, "hey you! The girls who doesn't think she will ever get old enough to have wrinkles, yeah you, go get this cream!" There were also all kinds of warnings like, "enjoy eating like that now because one day your metabolism is going to slow down." I would usually just shrug that off and think, "not likely." I'm not sure what happens, but when you hit mid thirties it seems that the body just says, "I'm out! I'm tired of all the abuse." This is when suddenly you get every kind of "old person" injury, the "character lines" become visible and the metabolism takes a nose dive. I thought I was supposed to feel all wise and wonderful....I guess that is the mid forties??? Because this is the stage where I am beginning to panic. "If this is what late 30's looks like, what the heck am I going to look like in 10 years. Will by body even hold out?"

Hit with the reality of my metabolism, I have 2 choices. Eat less, or move more. Although I think I will have to do both to do anymore than maintain. Blaahhh. To monitor my level of activity per day I decided to wear a pedometer. It is a pretty helpful reminder to not sit down for too long. I have managed to rope a few people into doing this with me because a little friendly competition is a great motivator. Plus, it is pretty hard to fail at just walking. It's not like going to the gym or taking up some kind of exercise routine that makes me feel resentful at having to do some sort of formal exercise. You can't get through the day without walking, the only thing I need to do is make sure that it is enough. My goal is to get 15,000 steps in a day. You need 10,000 for a healthy level of activity. I seem to get 10,000 pretty easily so I upped it, but that might be an out of reach goal. We'll see. The harder thing will be to cut back on all the crap I eat, but in the face of turning 40 I've got to give it a good try!

Accommodation

Just when you think things can't possibly get any more funny or absurd, they always do. As proof of the latest set of letters that came in the mail today. Now I am in trouble with the elementary school for Ethan and Jordyn's attendance. This time a whole new spin was put on things. Now they are calling into question the number of illnesses they both had. Which is a grand total of 8 for the year in addition to the 5 days we were on vacation. We had a horrible case of the flu at our house that lasted for an entire week and I decided against going into the Dr and paying the copay because I knew exactly what was wrong with them, a virus. Which struck nearly every child in the school. They were well aware that it was going around. What does a dr do for a virus? Not a thing, thank you, I will keep my money.

This new letter just cracks me up. "Because of so many sick days, we need to either create a health plan for Ethan so that we can better accommodate him when he is here at school (reducing his absences) or you will need to send in a doctor's note/excuse for every absence this day forward." Woowza! A health plan? Exciting! I am tempted on this one. What kind of "health plan" are we talking about here? Maybe they could commission someone to build him a bubble? That would be kinda fun. Maybe they could place restraining orders against all the kids and teachers to keep a germ free perimeter around him? No cost is too high when you are talking about "missing out on important instruction", is it? Maybe they will just suggest making a necklace out of sanitization wash for him to wear. Perhaps just a medical mask. Maybe we could just roll a bed in the classroom for him to lay in while he is struck with fever. The possibilities are rather exciting.

I received letters for both the kids and each envelope had 3 letters in it. The first was the one I posted, the second was much like the one I posted yesterday for the other 2 kids, only this one was just from the school and a 3rd one detailing each absence. That second one not only lists the law I violated therefore making me a possible unfit parent, it also has this great little line, "This is an opportunity to provide support and resources for you and your child." Oooh support and resources? What kind? Maybe a "how do I know if my kid is sick" hotline. Maybe I could talk them into sending me a nanny. That would be extremely supportive and resourceful indeed. Again, I will probably have to send the hubby in on this one, because I don't want to have my kids on the principles bad list for the rest of their time there. Because I will end up saying those things to her, I just can't help it.

Petty

Lying is not something that I like to do. I usually struggle through the truth or find a creative way to remain truthful. Even on simple little questions like, "how do I look." If you're a good friend and I know you want the truth, the truth you shall get. This would be followed with something like "here's the thing".... and then a gentle offering of helpful information. If I think you are looking for positive affirmation instead of the truth I will pick out the things that are positive. "Those shoes are rockin' " or whatever it is that I can say. When it comes to my kids and their attendance at school, I am all but forced into lying. There are, I think, three things that are excuses for missing school. Being ill, of course, but not for more than 3 consecutive days or a doctors note is required. One of these days I'm gonna loose it on that one too and ask the school to pay for my 50 dollar copay, especially when they say, "yep your kid is sick, here's your note." Great thanks, there's 50 bucks I'll never see again. Anyway, some sort of family emergency or a death are also considered excused. To avoid having to lie when the kids will just be out for 1 day to start a trip early, I will say they have an "appointment." They do, in fact, have an appointment. The appointment is with me and unexcused absence averted.

However, when I took the kids out for 5 days in February for a family vacation I was having a hard time getting creative with that one. I might have been able to try the 'ole "field trip" excuse, doubt it. I should have maybe plead my case of a "family reunion" or I might have been able to pull of the "family emergency" thing. After all, it would have been a family emergency if we were unable to go on our vacation! On those instances though you have to plead your case to the principle and she has to sign off on it. Did I do any of those? Nope, I just stuck with the good 'ole fashion truth, "vacation." We had a lovely time and when we got back the kids responsibly checked the school website for posted make-up work and went to all of their teachers to figure out what they needed to do. How much make-up work did they have for missing an entire week of school? Hardly any! What did I get in the mail as a result of our wild abandon for the rules of school attendance?

I received one of these nice little letters for both Emma and Jared. The letters were also accompanied by a letter from the principle in the school saying much the same. This second letter gave me a little, call the principle within two days, or else kinda line in it just in case I missed the severity of the situation. I made Nathan call because I knew that if I did, I was gonna let them have it. There would have been all kinds of ranting about, nanny state, my rights as a parent to do whatever I want concerning my kids' education. Their inability to have critical thinking skills as evidence by my kids get straight A's and are in no danger of dropping out or failing. There would have been threats of pulling them to home school which means less subsidies for the school...etc. You name it, I was gonna say it. With the worry of me getting myself getting carted off to jail, my husband conceded and made the call.

There were lots of "oh, I'm sorry" "those don't come directly from my office" "I know your children are excellent students" BUT "I would advise not missing any more school for the rest of the year unless you want truancy officers to show up at your door." "Sorry, it's the law." Oh how lovely! Just makes me wanna say, "oh yea, try me!" Petty misdemeanor for taking my kids out of school for a few days! Come on! If I'm gonna get a record, it has to be for something better than that! So, if anyone gets a call late at night asking for money to bail me outta jail, It's because..... I took my kids on vacation!

Something About a Pot and a Kettle?

You ever have one of those moments when you are describing an unfavorable attribute of someone and get called on having the same problem? Yea, just had me one of those. When I got home from the humming bird field trip I was telling Nathan about the experience I had with MJ while trying to get some dinner. There were 7 of us in the car and there weren't many options between where we were and home for dinner. Nestled up in the side of the mountain in a tiny little town we found a way of the sub store. Six people in the car wanted to go there, one did not. This little sub shop was inside a convenience/liquor store. We searched all through the store trying to find something for my girl to eat. Chips - don't have the right kind. Fresh baked cookies - sugar without something healthy will induce sickness. Yogurt - never had that kind before. Soda - just want to suffer in silence. It was one of those times where you see the snowball forming and then rapidly rolling on down the hill out of control. I offered to buy anything in the store, but she wasn't having any of it and decided to wait until we got home to eat. I was expressing my worry about her to my husband and how we can make some progress in this area when I made a slight confession......

When we pulled up to this little shop in the middle of seemingly nowhere I sent my friend in to see if we should bother getting out. I hate dirty restaurants and I wasn't sure this was going to pan out. The building was looking a bit dodgy and we were in the middle of nowhere. I have some standards when food is involved. So, knowing me and my standards, C went in to investigate. Here's the news she came out with. "The place looks pretty clean, the bread looks fresh, the lettuce is green, they have pepper jack cheese, there is ice in the soda fountain- but no cherry coke, they don't have tomatoes and they only have 3 cookies, but I told the lady that if she baked some fresh ones we would stay." As I was listing off everything that C checked on, the look on my husbands face expressed, "really, you don't know where MJ gets this problem from? You are hilarious!" Hey, those were all legitimate concerns and this list was born from some bad experiences. There is nothing worse than stale bread! Am I right? After 2 days without a soda and hanging out with 110 middle school kids, the perfect soda to ice ratio is a must! It is pretty much medicinal. I don't think fresh produce is too much to ask for and you have to have cookies, I mean come on! We got fresh out of the oven warm cookies because we asked. Which, by the way, for the record, my laughing husband has asked for whenever there aren't cookies.

Curse my picky genes. Having kids really puts a magnifying glass on every bad attribute that you have and managed to pass along. At least we usually have a good laugh about it, and a good amount and laughing and teasing were had on this one. :0)