Happy Hallowe'en!

We went all out this year in the jack-o-lantern carving (one of the few things I actually like about Halloween).  Casey had the biggest pumpkin, so he did a...circle-rama?...of bats, night skies, and the Grim Reaper.  Kait did the Cheshire Cat, Ezra the one with jagged teeth and vacant eyes (hahaha!), and Eden did the scary one with the eyebrows.

 

We turned Casey's around to get a better look.  I love the clouds across the moon.

Vampire Jack was there too! :)

Saturday is the Primary Halloween Party at the church and Monday our family is in charge of the FOA trunk for the American Memorial Park annual Trunk or Treat.

...And roasted pumpkin seeds tomorrow!  Yum!

A Birthday Tribute

We're in the preparations for my love's birthday dinner--steak, local sweet potatoes, and the obligatory something green (hmmm).  A super-fantastic looking cheesecake is ripening in the fridge readying for the multiple toppings we'll try on it (he couldn't decide which he wanted).  He has been playing with a rich, dark chocolate homemade ice cream recipe this morning--the batter is chilling as we speak.

I asked family member to send in any funny stories or good memories that they wanted to share:  Jacob had memories of "The Red-Headed Babe and The Pencil-Necked Geek," Alexa shared her appreciation for one-on-one time which included a glider ride over Mount Desert Island during peak colors one October, and Lee's email revealed of one of his lesser-known talents:

Did he tell you the one where he told me he could flush himself down the toilet? I was little and thought he was pulling my leg but when I went up the stairs following him he would come up behind me from down stairs. He was really going out Mom's window and jumping off the porch roof. Being young I couldn't believe someone could jump that far so flushing himself down the toilet seemed logical.

I love that last sentence! Hahaha!  I got such a kick out of the look on Casey's face when we read that one!


Here's a "card" that we want to share:

  I love the sweet reassurance she adds at the end. :)

Happy birthday Case!

A Terrible, Wonderful, No-Good, Beautiful Day!

It started out with a phone call from Casey. Of course, that was good!
He wanted to tell me that he had lost his wallet and had called the bank to stop all of our cards.  Bad.
This will give me the opportunity I needed to adjust our personal account with the Quicken file that had become corrupted and get that all straightened out because very little money will come out of that account over the next few weeks.  That's good!
The scale was down another pound.  Two good things in a row!!
All of this happened as I was just getting up on June 24th, which was my 53rd birthday.  Eh.
Ami called to wish me a happy birthday and I've lived to be 53.  Very good!
The kids overslept, so they didn't get to bring me breakfast in bed.  Bad.
They all got up before 7 a.m. without me being the alarm clock and I don't even like having to eat my breakfast in bed!  Yay!
I got a late start to the gym. Bad.
I went to the gym. Good!
Lillian gave me the coolest beaded thing that can be used as a belt or necklace or tied however.  Good again!
I have Lillian!  Another good!
I made maple walnut ice cream, but I thought I didn't put enough walnuts in so I put in more and now there are too many walnuts in the ice cream.  Kinda bad.
I love walnuts! Good!
The kids and I went out to dinner (Tony Roma's) and to a movie (Cars 2)where I ate too much and slept through some of the flick.  Groan.
I really don't care that I ate too much and slept through the movie--it was fun to just be with the kids. Good!
I spoke with Casey several more times on the phone and got a call from each of the away kids except for Jake who I got to chat with online last night.  Best in show.

It's all in how you look at it--and that's very, very good!

The Best Mom of All!

Happy Mothers' Day!  I want the same thing every year: a clean house and good kids.  I usually get it, too.  Well, not always, but this year was a good one and here's the run-down (or maybe it's the run-UP since I'm starting with the youngest):

Eden made me a card which was presented to me at a Primary Mothers Breakfast on Saturday.  Unfortunately, the Primary cards had been stacked before they were dry and Eden's had paper stuck to it.  Crud.  Fortunately, however, Eden decided to make a new card which I like better than the first one--especially the message inside.  The first one said "Happy Mothers' Day" and then inside "I hope you have a great day! Eden."  Nice enough, but just a tad impersonal.

Here's the new card and on the inside, in cheery yellow, it says "You're the best mom of all moms because you're my mom!  Love, Eden."   I love it!

Ezra made me a pig--what more is there to say?  He knows I love this kind of quirky gift--especially from him! :)

Kaitlyn made a proclamation on FB, arranged some flowers and greenery, and made a card as well listing reasons she loves me.  Here's an excerpt:
"And then the next I'm ashamed to say
Is that in almost every day
Whenever I fall or stub my toe
I scream real loud so you will know
The reason for this I'll tell you now
Is 'cause I get a kick out of the way you worry.
And when you cry, sweat, or weep for me
That just makes my whole day, seriously"

Ahhh--a masterful manipulation.  Ain't love grand?

Sam gave me a hug which is my favorite gift right after a clean house and good kids.

From Levi I received a phone call which is my favorite absentee gift next to a video chat (which I hope to get from Mal, Michael, and Madie tomorrow--maybe from Jacob and Alexa too!  Alexa called today, and posted on FB, but she's not getting off the hook until I hear her voice!  That would be great.).  I love what is happening in Levi's life right now and frankly, no other gift can compare.  There's nothing like seeing your prayers for your children answered in their lives.


Casey and the kids worked together to make a wonderful meal and guess what?  It was soooo delicious that I couldn't find anything wrong with it or even come up with any suggestions for improvement!!!  Now you know that had to be good!!

I know the scriptures say that eternal life is the greatest of all the gifts of God, so mothers must be second, but whenever I do anything that is especially kind, friendly, helpful, active, faithful, thoughtful, loyal, dedicated, or a myriad of other wonderful ways to be, I think of my mother.

Happy Mothers' Day Mom--you're the best mom of all moms because you're MY mom!

Hippity-Hoppity

I got everything done I had to do today:  I made fish chowder, enough to send some down to a friend who just had a baby and feed my own family dinner, bought candy, an egg-coloring kit, and the ham for Easter dinner which is now thawing in the fridge, made the carrot cake for the bunny cake and have it in the freezer, I ran errands, balanced the checkbook, spent an hour visiting on the phone with Levi, worked with the kids, took Casey to the airport, started a new book, and took a 15 minute nap.  I thought about doing the dishes--just a thought.  Just for the record, I dyed eggs this year using pieces of old silk neckties (see the finished product above--I think they would have been brighter if I had left them for the 40 minutes instead of 20), but the kit is for Eden to use while I'm gone.  I also watched a video of Madie saying "nanana" about 10 times :)

However, I have not done everything I should have done today:  I did not have scripture reading; did not make my bed; did not assign anyone to wash the dog and cat--or do dishes; forgot to invite my neighbors to Easter dinner (easy fix); did not exercise (but DID chow down on chocolate-covered almonds and raisins).

And tomorrow I go to Guam to be with my honey for a few days. :D

Christmas Eve at The Conners

Every year I think that the kids will feel like they're too old and won't want to act out the Christmas story. This year I even decided to just have everyone read the different parts in kind of a reader's theater--I'm so glad that I was wrong. I'm the narrator because Casey has always been the donkey--well, since Mal's been gone anyway! This time I got laughing a little because in my peripheral vision I could see Alexa frantically signaling to the angel to get back up in the sky....We enjoy this tradition so much and an informal poll tells me that Christmas Eve is the favorite over Christmas Day (although they REALLY like the presents).

Before performing the Nativity, we have a simple, traditional candlelit dinner of oyster stew, fruit salad, homemade crescent rolls, and punch. After the play, we have pavlova and the kids sometimes watch a movie while we wrap the gifts that I have put off doing--pretty much all of them! This is the first year that I was unable to find pomegranates to decorate the pavlova and add to the fruit salad--ah well.

I probably write pretty much the same thing every year, but I love Christmas Eve--the world seems quiet and serene. It feels lovely.

Pie Night--A History

Well, it's that time of year again when I go a little crazy and bake every kind of pie on the planet--okay, it FEELS like I do. The crazy thing is I love doing it.

Many years ago, when the big kids were littles, we started a tradition of asking each of them what their favorite pie was and making sure we included it on our Thanksgiving menu. We also started having several guests over and including each of their favorites as well. As our family increased to its full size of 10, it wouldn't be unusual for us to have 20+ for Thanksgiving dinner and for me to make 12 to 15 pies (there were duplicate requests plus I make at least two of each of the big 3--pumpkin, pecan, and apple).

Of course with all this pie baking we had leftovers, but that was okay because the morning after is "Pie for Breakfast Day" which my kids consider part of the Thanksgiving holiday and I consider an absolute necessity after so much kitchen work the two days previous--it allows me to stay in bed and have happy kids who aren't pestering me or each other. It's wonderful.

Then a friend of mine invited us to our very first Pie Night. She held it on Thanksgiving "Eve" and invited many friends and neighbors to come, bring a pie if desired, and enjoy the traditional Thanksgiving dessert before you were too full. How fun! We really enjoyed it and it was especially fun to get together with everyone--it reminded us of how thankful we were for good friends!

Then we moved to Saipan. I love what a great place this is to live and raise a family (with the exception of the fact that it is so darned far away from aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and the chicks that leave the nest and move back to the States), but at first it needed a few tweaks to make it feel a little more like home, so I decided to invite friends over and have a Pie Night--on Thanksgiving night instead of the day before.

Our friends have become our extended family here--Pie Night gives us a chance to share the holiday with more of them and unload some of the pie as well. Guests can bring pies that are leftover from their dinner or not--no matter. We eat pie, play games, talk, have sing-alongs. In the past the girls have danced (island-style). Downstairs we have a movie going to settle the kids down a little--this year it'll be the b&w version of "Miracle on 34th Street."

I really miss our family back home, but I am incredibly thankful for the people who have given us family here. I love them all.

Pie Night. I can't wait!

The Holidays 2007

This one is for the kids--the tradition is: buy the biggest turkey we can find. This isn't the biggest we ever had, but it's definitely the biggest we've found since living on Saipan. Also, everybody, including all the guests, gets their favorite pie--or two.... (unless their favorite is lemon meringue--try making that in 75% humidity!) We don't worry much about leftovers because on Thanksgiving night we invite even more people over for Pie Night (i.e., bring your leftover pies and come share our leftover pies).

Since we live in the tropics, a trip to the beach can always be on the schedule. Of course, the kids would love to be in the snow--the youngest ones don't remember ever having seen snow in real life. They used to bring in a shipment from Japan every year and have a snow festival at La Fiesta Mall, but not anymore.

A cookie exchange for Ladies Only. We placate our families with the promise of bringing home treats. Everyone brings a big batch of a holiday cookies and goes home with a big container of a whole variety of beautiful Christmas cookies. I did my one and only cookie exchange (prior to this) about 3 or 4 years ago and this one came about by special request. This may be an every 3 or 4 year tradition--we'll see.

Our family participated in the holiday musical Scrooge this year with our community theater.

It was a lot of work and there was a little complaining about having to go to rehearsals, but it was worth it in the end. We put on 5 performances over a 6 day period. Phew!

The fabled "School Christmas Program." Yes, that's Jake in a skirt.

You'll have to be an AC/DC fan to really understand this...

The Seminary Christmas Auction ...

The Branch Christmas Party...

Christmas Eve Dessert...Pavlova--Yum!!

Christmas morning Santa...& helper..

If our walls look a little bare it's because I had the brilliant idea that since the furniture was all moved out of the livingroom to accommodate our Thanksgiving day guests it would be a great time to paint the main rooms of the house. And the ceilings. And the ceiling fans. (It's an open floor plan, so the kitchen, diningroom, and livingroom all had to be done at once.) So we began painting during Scrooge production week...the first week of December...between Pie Night and Cookie Party...I must be nuts.

During school break we attended

the first-ever-on-Saipan Cubmobile Races.

Team T-Bone wins!

No New Year's Eve pictures this year, but we did have the party. Every year I vow that we are NOT going to have a New Year's Eve Party because of all the kids (it's always a family party), and fireworks (you can buy BIG ones here), but somehow it keeps happening. This year we didn't buy any fireworks--not even sparklers--but I knew that people would bring them because they always do. NOBODY brought ANY! That was fine with me. I, however, was the Scrooge of New Year's Eve according to the home team. Forget the fact that we can see all the fireworks for miles around from our deck and (at least I) enjoyed a beautiful show this year. Oh well. Happy New Year kids!

THANKS-giving.

Fourteen pies (Kait made the two pumpkins AND rolled out the crust for several others), 32 for dinner, and 1 Pie Night open house later and we've once again come happily through what is possibly the favorite holiday in our household (actually it's an impossible-to-call-it tie between Thanksgiving and Christmas).

So much to be thankful for and so little ability to express it:

• Alexa's home. She arrived at 3:30 A.M. last Sunday morning. The kids didn't know. The day before was Ezra's birthday, and since we were pressed for time to do all the things we had going for that day, I had told him that we would give him breakfast in bed on Sunday morning (it's kind of like birthday cake in our family--it may not be everyone's favorite thing, but it's expected by both the givers and the receiver), and I'd get a special surprise for him. Anyway, so we had 6 Japanese high school athletes staying with us that weekend (OK, so there's a thing or two that happens here that I don't get around to blogging about--yatahay), so our boys were all sleeping in Sam's room. The girls got up to make Ez's breakfast, and we took it down with a cheery rendition of "Happy Birthday". We just stood there chatting for a while and trying to wake up Sam and Jake (teenagers sleep like newborns--awake when you'd like them to sleep and vice-versa), when Kait asked me what the special surprise was for Ezra. "Oh yeah. Just a second, I'll go get it." So I ran down to my room where Lex was sleeping and told her that we had a little window of opportunity to totally surprise the rest of the kids. She got up and grabbed the gifts she had brought for Ez and you should have seen those faces when she walked in the room!!! It was so fun! For a second everything just stopped, and then Kait threw herself at Lex and held on. She kept her eyes squeezed shut like she was afraid of waking up from a dream. Jacob kept saying, "It's Alexa! It's Alexa! Sam wake up! It's Alexa!" and wiping his eyes with a shirt I had tossed to him (he was still under the sheets). The little kids were just watching with big grins on their faces as if they weren't quite sure what was going on--it was great!

• Wonderful friends. Not the least of which happens to be my husband. I learn so much that I need to know and understand and work on from watching my friends and they are so kind and patient and tolerant of me that it just amazes me sometimes. I'm also grateful for the ability to store these friends in my memories and recall those incredible people who aren't physically near me anymore for whatever reason and the things I gleaned from my association with them.

• Time and perspective. I don't think I'm particularly slow to understand concepts, but I am very slow to put them into practice. My aunt used to say, "Oh, if I only lived as well as I know." But I can look back on my life from here at almost 50 and see that in many things I am better--I am kinder, more empathetic, even stronger in some ways. I'm thankful that the Lord has given me the time to have the experiences that have helped to polish off at least some of the rough places.

• The ability to realize my blessings. I knew that the Lord doesn't think or act the way we do and many blessings I asked for came in the form of trials, but I found that I was having a hard time recognizing these things. So I asked the Lord to help me so I would have the joy that comes from feeling grateful. He did and I do. Very grateful.

Need I Say More?

Pioneer Day - Island Style

We had a Pioneer Day Celebration on July 21 at the Smith's.

We started out with a tug-of-war (that's a plastic tablecloth with water in the little depression--oh well).



Next was the stick-pulling competition. Jake won against Arthur-- Tori and Madison--

and these four brutes!

His loss came against--




Limson--as did Roland's.

Learning the Virginia Reel...
rounded out the activities. Then it was time for the food!

but others just kept on dancing...

Be Earth Tankards

I must say that this has been an exceptionally good year for birthday cards, so I thought I would share a few.

*****

From The Browns:

Deers Is Turk Honor,

Have Bees Birds Yay!!

Goo Lock Quit Oat Estimate Thee Shear!

Dangs Foe Yo Rex Ample Ann Hot Spit Al Hit Tea.

Wheel Of View Fair Ream Hutch.

Rub Dub Rounds

*****

From Ed and Susan:

It has been my honor to:

meet you,

greet you,

treat you,

Lo these many months.

I wish you:

Cheers!!

No Fears!!

All Clears!!

To all those near and dear.

Age gracefully!

I'm tryin' Susan, I'm tryin'.

*****

From Dorothy (our Korean home-stay student):

(on the front is a cut out of a hunky guy in swim shorts (!))

(Inside, pop-up kids holding "happy birthday" and her text:)

I love your delicious American foods.

Could you remember my Korean name?

I hope you will try many more Korean foods!

And I hope you can cook many Korean foods.

I always appreciate your kindness!!

Do you think she's trying to tell me something?

*****

Here's my favorite. It's from Ez, who, as you can see, got his numbers a little mixed up. The original spelling has been retained:

Dear Mom,

I wish you hav a happy birthday!

Wow, 29 seems prity old, but still, it's your birthday!!

Love: Ezra

I love you too Ez.

New Year's Eve 2006

As I've said, New Year's Eve is a party at our house. The photos here are actually of both our party and one that we attended at some friends' before the 9:30 start of the one here. Mal and Lisa danced at both and our friends had the pig and other island food where ours was hors d'oeuvres (or whatever people wanted to bring). Mal caught the cool pictures of firworks lighting up the night. I don't think I've ever seen such a big fireworks display from the houses we can see from here as there was this year! Ours also included the hillbilly band, complete with the washtub bass that Casey and Levi made.

More Christmas Pics

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

We're having a party of course! We often celebrate New Year's Eve here at home with our family and friends. Our house sits fairly high up on a hill with two big picture windows that look out onto the deck, so it's ideal for shooting off fireworks at midnight. Many people here like to go to the top of Mount Tapochau to see the fireworks shot from the hotels, which is fairly convenient from here also.

Because New Year's Eve is a Sunday this year we'll be a little more structured--not quite as much of a free-for-all as usual--until the clock strikes 12 that is!

I don't usually ask questions here, but I'd be interested to hear if you have favorite yearly traditions or if you just go to bed.

What do you do on New Year's Eve?

Hey! For Unto Us A Child Is BORN!

Christmas Eve 2006--

While visions of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" danced in our heads, we had our annual family Christmas re-enactment of the beautiful words of Luke 2. In an effort at increased reverence, I had suggested that we were all getting a little too old for "acting out" the Nativity story this year and maybe we should just take turns reading it. I'm so glad that idea was promptly nixed and the play proceeded as usual. In fact, better than usual--Mary (Kait) was a beautiful and dignified sight, even with a towel on her head, as she tenderly laid the baby (an old ratty-haired doll) in the manger. There weren't the number of animals in stable there used to be, but Dad still willingly bears the donkey's burden (type-casting?). Joseph (Ez) and the shepherd (Jake) do their parts admirably, and the rest of us (I usually read the story) thoroughly enjoyed it all. Best of all, the exhuberant angel reminded us of the joyous news that was published that night when Peace was born on Earth.