This week my girls were very fascinated by crickets. We had one that sang for three nights in a row. My girls could hardly sleep because they wanted to go on a hunt to find Mr. Cricket (he was a Mr. you know because only the male cricket can make a noise to sing). The next day I have never seen two girls more excited to tell their Dad about the crickets. I thought, "Wow, if only I could find something like those crickets to get excited about". Then the next day...



I got on the phone for 2 minutes only to hang up and find the boys in the one and only room they are forbidden from. I usually am OCD with doors being shut in my house as you can imagine a pack of boys or a baby gang on exploration expeditions. Well apparently the bathroom door had been opened by one of the girls in my band and she not only forgot to shut the door but she forgot flush the toilet. You pretty much know the rest of the story...
Mom turns back for 2 minutes,
Boys bathroom radar goes off,
Boys give each other the gang sign,
Boys cruise to the bathroom,
Boys think yellow toilet water is pretty,
Boys put all 6 hands in and splash around,
Mom finds boys having the best time of their lives,
Mom trying to decide if she is mad, sicked-out, or wants to get camera because if you can't win, then join in.

(I'll post real picture later, camera difficulties)


Honestly I've never seen these kids have more fun. Now if only I could get excited about something as simple as crickets or playing in beautiful yellow toilet water. I used to get really excited about the ice in Basha's fountain drinks but I don't drink much carbonation anymore so that couldn't be my simple pleasure. What could it be then? I was bound and determined to find at least one simple thing to get excited about this week. I really was trying to let my kids help me rediscover how to live my life. Time was running out, the week was winding down as the calender flipped to Friday, I had to find something joyous fast. That's when it happened. I went to fill my car up @ Chevron (I have a thing for Chevron gas) and as I looked @ the price I almost jumped for joy when I saw that the price had dropped under two dollars. Seriously I almost smiled out loud (or something like that). To think it almost happened naturally and may not have even happened if I didn't have my kids to teach me how to live better and find joy in the simple things.

Coming out of the pantry..

We've got trouble here, it's not even Christmas and I've already gone through 2 boxes of these last week.

I love every cookie but Oreos , so why must I fancy you.  Well no more, I'm breaking up with you Joe-Joe's.  It's been a fun fling while it's lasted.  I'm ready to move on.

More and Less Freedom at the same time...

I love the above van and used to have it in model form. To me it always symbolized freedom. I always imagined traveling in it cross country with no regard to a clock. I'm kind of a free spirit who really has to work hard to have structure. Kind of a hippie at heart. (Don't tell my husband I wrote that, he's not so much a fan of hippies)  Most people would never guess that looking in from the outside because I really love lipstick and some other finer things. Speaking of lipstick makes me reflect on an experience.

{Image via Sundance Catalog}

In my younger years I went to a photo shoot for the Sundance catalog and they pretty much asked me to wipe off all of my lipstick because I wasn't fitting the "Sundance" mold.(ok they didn't actually say that)  As I left the photo shoot I somehow was left feeling like a ninny so of course I call the first person that always makes me feel better..Mom.  We sat and laughed @ the whole experience of me annoying the photographer. Moms have a way with helping you feel good enough and even better than good enough.  Fast forward to the point of life where I am now, about 9 years after the Sundance days and five kids in 2.5 years later.  When some people find out they look @ me like my crash course calling as Mom is like serving time in the big slammer.  The truth be known, in some ways I have never felt so much freedom.  I still day dream about taking off  with no ball and chains but also I've had enough experience to know that real happiness and freedom comes through serving and being molded, shaped and refined for a bigger purpose, none of which could come from living a life in a VW bus and always running from things that seem hard and restrictive.  Another thing that has been freeing is coming into my own and feeling more secure with myself. I still love my Mom to tell me that I am good enough but love that I don't need her to tell me as much.I guess you could say that a combination of finding myself and forgetting myself through this journey over the last 10 years is what has made me feel more freedom than I've ever felt.

Well there is actually one of my children who is reflecting on why he is actually experiencing less freedom.

Is there anything wrong with early snow board training?

I can't think of a better child to have to overcome a foot issue.  Out of all of my children he is the most determined thus far and that is why he is walking first despite his crooked foot.

Score 6 - 5

Score has been a tie @ the Vance household until todays announcement.  The arrival of baby She-Vance will give the girls the edge for now.  We couldn't be more excited for this lovely couple.  Congrats!

Weird that brother will be a Daddy. Better let auntie live her dreams of having another girl through you because heaven knows I don't need another kid that sleeps here @ night. I am only excepting resumes for girl babies that go home and sleep at other homes for now.
Oh the funness with dressing and decorating for girls.  I just put in another order to make some girls items so I hope you know what you want Whits.

Halloween

Halloween was great. It's a tradition to go to Nana and Bacca's neighborhood party. They always have homeade root beer, chili, soups and scones.
As you can see I have this thing for the islands so of course the girls were fancy hula girls. The boys rode to the party in Santa's sleigh (stroller adorned with battery operated Christmas lights and garland) as elves.

One of my favorite neighbors growing up sported the cool ride below. He thought he was only going to tote his grandkids for the night but all of the other kids had to have a ride too.



Wouldn't be Nana fashion without holiday packages.

Here are the elves!

My season of life

If I had nothing better to do with my time right now I'd want to recreate this:

..but since I do have plenty better to do with my time and a realist than I should probably be focusing more on the below picture. Got to make sure I focus on the right season for the RIGHT SEASON. (get it?) I'm all about seasons of life right now.


Just sitting here trying to get pumped up for all of the Halloween festivities. You see Halloween and I have never really been best friends. I probably would have liked it better this year if I didn't procrastinate on the whole costume for the kids thing. Hopefully I will get it all worked out. Really don't the kids just like the candy anyway?


I'm feeling a little nostalgic so keeping with the spirit of this post I better flashback to last year on Halloween.

No..that's not us feeding our kids lunch @ Costco.

The hats that tell a birthday story!

My Dad is wearing his birthday hat today. Have you ever thought about all of the purposes hats serve. Some hats are there just for fun, some hats for protection and some are just symbolic and go with certain uniforms. My Dad has literally and metaphorically worn many different hats in his life. He has even worn a Benjamin Franklin hat (we'll get to that story later as it is kind of apropos with my Dad's life). As I sit and think about him today I marvel @ how diverse he is. He knows and can do anything. He is a very solid man who has been blessed with a keen mind. Something that many people are surprised by is that my Dad graduated with an art degree from BYU. Yes I guess you could say he is kind of "artsy fartsy". Most people (or shall we say some people who used to try and take me out on dates) were a little intimidated by his 6' 5" large frame but what they didn't know is that he is kind of a softy. If only those boys who I brought home knew this then Dad probably wouldn't have gotten the name "Mike Dogg". The name has since stuck even though the above Charger pants have been put to rest(thank goodness). Oh bless those pants, holes and all. Dad thanks for being secure enough with yourself to sport those babies around the house even if you thought the President might be knocking @ the door.

Now back to all of the hats my Dad wears. The first hat I think of is the very sweaty ball cap from all of his hard work he rendered throughout the years. I don't think there is a day gone by that he hasn't said, "I'm sweatin like a pig." Two of the only nice ball caps that I can remember that he has worn were one that had a silver star on it and one that said Benjamin Franklin on it.(Benjamin Franklin use to be the name of a mortgage company) He wore that Benjamin Franklin hat to Universal Studios once and when a few of us siblings were lost we found somebody who worked there to help us find our parents. When the Universal Studio worker asked what my Dad looked like we said, "he's really tall and is wearing a Benjamin Franklin hat." The man first looked @ us strangely and then told us well in that case, then he shouldn't be too hard to find. It wasn't until later that I realized the man probably pictured a loony man who dressed up in hats that came from a different century.(not too far off)

He then went through a Indiana Jones hat phase where whenever we went on any adventures the hat came too. If only he would have worn that hat when he tried to get my sister and I up for a hot air balloon ride @ the age of six. Something about that hat makes me feel adventuresome so I could have quite possibly went up in the balloon that day if the hat would have been there.




Even though he still wears all of the above mentioned hats, the hat that he is most recently wearing is what I call his "Bacca" hat. Bacca is what some of the grand kids refer to my Dad as. The Bacca hat is probably one of his best hats. The sweaty Dad ball cap has prepared him to transition nicely to wear the Bacca hat. He looks very distinguished and well seasoned when he wears that hat. I can't deny that he has been my Dad for a few decades now even though it was just yesterday I was @ the hardware store listening to Alan Parsons Project & Moody Blues while sipping an old fashioned sarsaparilla. What I can deny is that sometimes I am selfish and secretly wish that I could freeze my Dad back to the day when Thrifty ice cream was only a quarter and I could have him all to myself. I guess we are living the Plan and this is the natural progression but why do you have to get older Dad? On this day I will "let" you get older only because you do wear the Bacca hat very well and if you don't believe it then ask any one of your 10 grand kids. I'm pretty sure they think there has never been another man who wears the Bacca hat as well as you do. Love you Daddy! Now which hat did you wear when we suckered you into being the one to take us shopping. You know all of the sisters will agree that we would have taken you shopping over Mom any day. Thanks for being so fun. Happy Birthday!

Party continues...

Grandpa and Nana came over for some more birthday celebrations. We wanted Dad to feel special since we really didn't get to celebrate this weekend. He is very non traditional when it comes to birthdays so we all split desserts from AJs and everybody blew out their own candle.

Happy Birthday super W!

Happy birthday to the man behind the curtain or shall we say the Wizard of my Oz. I think he and I would differ on what pictures of him are considered studly. He may opt for pictures of him with his big jeep or with his guns but I opt for pictures of him with my babies (pure manly man studliness). What a year. I hope you are happy with where you are in life as you mark another big year off the calendar.

Love, wife.

Does anybody know how to put a bunch of pictures into a
collage? If so pls. feel free to comment. Thanks in advance.

Aprons of love!

Mom thank you so much for donating your skills and time lately. If you haven't already checked out this site, feel free because there is a silent auction going on and you don't have to be a local to participate. Domestic Bliss is holding their annual Fall Festival this Sat. Hopefully the community will come out and represent. Liza here's a preview to what's coming to Oregon really soon.

I asked the little girl in the above picture how she wanted her hair done for preschool today. Without hesitation she said "I want my hair like Barack Obama". Of all the things she could have said and of course she thought she was so funny even though she has no idea who he is. I could probably get her hair to look more like John McCain before I could get it to look like Barack Obamas. Sheesh what does she think..I'm a miracle worker or something? Kids pick up on everything.