The girls and I have been participating in a project called "Caps to Cap-Haitien" to help Maddie earn community service hours for school (she needs to complete 20 hours this year) . I was looking online for something we could do together and came across several mentions of the word "craftivism", which is basically using your craft skills as a form of activism--improving the world in a deliberate way. I think it's such a cool idea and one I've been thinking a lot about this week.

The website where we found our project (www.mamatomama.org) had this quote that I just love. I wish I had written it myself:

There are so very many reasons why we craft. We craft out of necessity, we craft out of love, we craft for pleasure. And we craft, sometimes, to bring a little peace to our lives, to our hearts, and to our everyday moments. Taking that just a step further, we can - and do, like so many crafters before us - turn our crafting into peace for the world beyond our homes. The simple act of creating something with intention and heart - for someone in need, can have a beautiful effect on the lives of others. We can, indeed, do something to create a more just and peaceful world...all with the simple, mindful and crafty work of our hands. (www.mamatomama.org)

So anyway, the project consists of turning used t-shirts into newborn caps for babies born in rural Haiti. It has been so fun and surprisingly easy--we raided the bags headed for Goodwill and repurposed all the stained and stretched out t-shirts that were laid to rest at the end of the summer. The girls trace the pattern and cut it out. I sew the hats and then they trim the seams and turn them inside out and knot the tops. So far we have done over 20 hats. Also, it has caused the girls to ask a lot of questions about Haiti, and since I don't know any answers, we're going to do some learning together--making this an even more worthwhile project!

Today I spent a couple of hours sewing gift bags that our ward will fill with goodies for residents of a local care center. It is true that when you are thinking of others, your own problems seem to slip into the background. I feel so blessed to have the time and talent to be able to create. It has really brought a lot of joy and fulfillment into my life these last few months. Even though I'm up to my eyeballs in holiday projects, it was nice to take a break today to create something that "will have a beautiful effect on the lives of others".

If you have some old t-shirts around, this is a quick project--especially good for the long Thanksgiving weekend coming up. Caps need to be mailed by December 10th if you would like to participate.

Eloise is a "Reflections" winner!

Just wanted to let you all know that Eloise was one of 10 Reflections winners from her school. She (and I) will get to have a special breakfast with the Principal in a couple of weeks. Her musical entry is now moving forward to the district level!

A Spookily Late Halloween

Sorry for the delay. No excuses except a crazy little thing called life.

The candy is all eaten, decorations are down and we have a few more dress ups in the rotation. Bea was a bee this year, but refused to wear either wings or antennae. Sarah was a ballerina (changed from a princess at the very last minute because the princess dress was too itchy for her royal highness' skin.) Eloise was a toilet! (Yes, a toilet.) This was her own design and creation and she got lots of comments and compliments both times she wore it. The other girls were jealous because they think Ella got more candy--something about the novelty of putting candy into a toilet bowl? Maddie's idea was a corpse bride. We found a great dress at Goodwill (Yay for Goodwill!) and made a veil for her. She was very pale and creepy.

This month we also had a mother/daughter tea party at church for our Faith in God Girls activity. We drank hot chocolate and ate chicken salad sandwiches and scones. Very dainty. We were suppposed to wear fancy hats which we made or decorated ourselves. We really scored at a neighborhood yard sale where a woman was selling her collection of sun hats. We bought all six for a dollar and called it good.

My Happy Things

The other day I was noticing a few little things around our house that make me happy, so I decided to take some pictures (and steal some of Rob's) and share my happy things.

1) I LOVE English muffins, toasted, with peanut butter. I've been experimenting with making my own, and while they're very tasty, they're also time-consuming and laborious. So I'd like to introduce my new best recipe, "English Muffin Bread" which is extremely easy and delicious. No kneading or bread-making experience required. It even makes 2 loaves so you can eat one today and freeze one for later!

2) My vintage kitchen dishes which served for many years in my great-grandmother's amazing kitchen. I love the pattern and colors and weight of them. I found the matching glasses at TJ Maxx. They are too small to be vases, too thick for drinking, but the colors make me happy and catch all the different light that comes through my window. Their only purpose is to look pretty, and they do.

3) My front porch herb garden. I just love them and have loved learning to cook with fresh herbs. I love that they last almost year round here and look so pretty while also being functional.

4) I love our neighborhood Goodwill store and have been blessed with lucky finds lately, including this sweet shirt for Bea.

5) Love our billions of trees and the falling leaves.

6) We have a huge bush in our front yard called a Lantana. We cut it down every fall to a tiny nub and every summer it goes completely crazy and ends the summer with a bang--a riotous display of candy-bright flowers. I think it's so lovely.

7) A few days ago I was surveying our now-dead garden and was surprised by this last perfect tomato, which I ate with one of the last basil leaves. It was an oh-so-luscious taste.

8) Our monogram mugs. Santa brought these last year for us (from Anthropologie) and I've been surprised by how much we've used them and how special everyone feels to have his or her very own mug. Bea has one too, but it's packed away until she's reached a more responsible drinking age.
Here's a recipe for homemade Hot Cocoa, to drink in your special mug (if you have one) and eat with your EnglishMuffin toast.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
dash of salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups milk
3/4 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in saucepan. Stir in water. Cook and stir over medium heat until it boils. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Whisk in milk and heat, but do not let boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. (You can use whatever kind of milk you want, but richer milk makes better hot chocolate, of course!)

Bam Bam & Bea

A while back our family bunny-sat Sarah Jane's class pet, a rabbit named Bam - Bam. After the novelty of a pet in the Christensen household wore off--which seemed to coincide with the first or second time the girls cleaned the rabbit cage--Bam Bam retained one, devoted fan . . . Bea.

Keeping with our animal theme, Bea has become quite a little clothes horse. She loves her new fall wardrobe and holiday attire. She will occasionally even flash the camera a show-biz smile. Cheese.

We love you Bea!

Eloise the composer

One of Eloise's favorite jokes (she said she made it up) is:

"What's a chicken's favorite composer?" (answer at the end of this post)

Well, my (Rob's) favorite composer this week is Eloise. She has just finished her first composition and is entering into a competition. Her piano teacher helped her enter the piece into notation software and we made a recording of Eloise performing her masterpiece.

Eloise titled her piece, "The Jazzy Train." GO ELOISE!

Answer to Ella's joke: "Bach, bach, bach . . "

A day with Maddie

On one of our last summer days, Maddie and I (Rob) spent some time blowing bubbles. As Maddie makes the transition from childhood to adolescence, I cherish these last moments of childhood. Here's to summer, childhood, and Maddie.

Are you Pregnant?

Well, I'm not. But that sure didn't stop the lady at church from gesturing at my stomach and outright asking if I am expecting another one. Nope, sorry.

No matter that I was previously feeling kind of cute in my sassy new Shabby Apple dress from my sister. No matter that the woman who asked is famed for saying inappropriate things anyway. No matter that she just laughed and said, "Oh, I thought you were." No matter that this has happened to lots of people I know and it's just one of those things...

It just makes you feel not very happy when it happens to you.

Girl Glory

After reading a friend's thoughts on having 4 boys, I've been thinking of the highlights of having 4 girls. This morning was a perfect case in point. Bea slept gloriously late (almost 8 am!) and the older girls surprised us with breakfast in bed, singing "Happy General Conference Breakfast to You!" I didn't even know they knew how to make omelets!


1. Kitchen Help: not only do they like to wear aprons, they love to help and are actually getting pretty good. Maddie can make cookies, brownies, mac & cheese, and apparently, omelets. Eloise and Sarah Jane are good measurers, mixers, kneaders, and scrapers. They all help load and unload the dishwasher, sweep, and keep Bea safe in the kitchen.


2. Crafts Galore: Admittedly, the crafts can get out of control and messy, but it's usually fun and they have amazing concentration and talent. They are appreciative fans of all my Calicobirdie projects

and always cheer (and never roll their eyes, like Rob) when I say we have to stop in at the craft store for something. Recent projects include tie-dyeing pumpkin shirts and making garden stepping stones.


One day I was cleaning up and found this container. I was about to throw it away, when I heard something inside. Here's what I found and it made me smile and fall in love with my crafty girls.


3. Dance and Musical Performances: I love the spontaneous dancing and music that happens around our house. While we haven't spent much time with formal lessons, I love it when they all come down dressed in leotards, turn on some classical music, and proceed to spin around the room. Even Bea joins in until she gets too dizzy. And one of my favorite times of being a mother is when Rob sits down to play the piano and one of the girls (usually SJ) will go in and start to sing with him. Sweet music for my ears.

4. Dress Ups: I love that we have a huge bin of dressups--scarves, belts, capes, shoes, jewelry and clothes that is the envy of all the neighborhood friends. I love that I can shamelessly pick up awesome finds like these at GoodWill and know that they will be loved and cherished by some princess. I thought the girls would start to outgrow dressups, but they're still going strong. I have to say that it encourages a lot of imaginative play too, which is fun and funny in its own right. My favorite was when Maddie said, "Let's pretend we're poor orphans..." and an exasperated Sarah Jane replied, "Again?! Why can't we just be RICH orphans for once?!"



5. Hurt Feeling Therapy: Sometimes after a particularly bad day or week, we have to sit down to regroup and address all the hurt feelings that have been happening. Occasionally it turns into a real therapy session, with tears, cries of forgiveness, and elaborate plans for new behavior charts/rewards systems/points tracking, etc. It is both tender and extremely funny to listen to the girls sort through their feelings and at last come to the conclusion that sisters are the best!

6 Week Time Warp

Our photos have been hiding in cyber space--but we did take pictures of the first day of school and Rob's ??th birthday at the end of the summer. We celebrated with our good friends, the Perez family, who treated us to homemade tamales, barbecued shrimp and steak, and a spontaneous Mariachi guitar sing-along. We loved it!



Now that we've been in school for a month, I'm happy to report that everyone loves their teachers, Maddie is happily thriving in middle school, and Bea is enjoying lots of individual attention and unlimited exploration of the girls' bedrooms during the daytime.

The Bea News

Bea has been busy, busy, busy. Interesting new tricks include pulling the knobs off our kitchen radio, prying keys off the laptop keyboard, and finding (and using) all the markers hidden in our house (and trust me, there are lots)! I frequently find our kitchen chairs all over the main floor, dragged by Bea in order to reach more devious heights. But she has also been a lot of fun, exuding loads of personality and trying to talk like a big girl. New words include: cheese, please, no, meow, woof (and tongue pant for dog), and tick tock.

Annual Apple Outing

We spent our last Saturday of summer vacation at one of our favorite spots in the world--Sky Top Apple Orchard. It was the most beautiful day and a great way to begin the fall.

We met up with Rob's sisters too, which made the day just that much better. Megan, Justin, and Maggie are living in our beloved land of Bloomington, IN, and Susan and Andrew have just started grad school in Knoxville, TN--about 4 hours from us! We are happy to have some family on this side of the Mississippi! It was a great year for apples and we picked as many as we could carry home. This week we're eating the last of them, so maybe it's time to go again. There's nothing like a crisp, sweet apple straight from the tree.


After apple picking, we stopped by another favorite spot, Connemara, home of poet Carl Sandburg. We love the Sandburg goats and Bea had an especially fun time checking them out.

5 Minutes of Fame

Too bad there were not 5 years of fortune to go with it! I thought some of you would like to know that Rob (Dr. C to his students) was featured last week on a local talk radio show called "Charlotte Talks". The topic was individual v. social justice. Particpants included Rob (assistant professor of Political Science), his coworker David Swindell (director of Public Policy Phd program), Scott Broyles (professor from the Charlotte School of Law), and show host Mike Collins. Click here to see the program review and from there you can hear my brilliant husband!

From joy to joy to joy

From Blossoms


From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

- Li-Young Lee


I just had my own moment of "blossom"--harvesting the last of our wonderful summer basil plants with Bea in the backyard. As I picked each leaf and cut the stems that had flowered, the air was filled with the sweet scent of basil and I thought of all the ways I will feed my family in the coming months with today's harvest. Simmering soups, heaping plates of pasta, crusty, garlicky herb bread....all will become moments of nurturing and sustenance from our family's hard work in the garden. Today we felt the first tiny nips of fall coming to North Carolina and I can't wait to start making soup and bread again.

You say WHAT?

Listening to the news on the car radio today, I heard someone say the word "breakfast-es", as in multiple breakfasts. I felt bad for him, thinking he got nervous on air and would later listen to it and feel so silly. As the interview went on, I realized they were covering the Republican convention in Minneapolis and some of the events involved publicity breakfasts--and he KEPT saying "breakfast-es". I didn't get anything helpful out of the interview because I was so annoyed. The funny part was that later the interviewer described the man (I didn't catch who it was) as being extremely articulate. Yes, well we all have our opinions.

The Grueling Second Half

So you're probably feeling exhausted just from reading about all our fun, but that was only the first week!

Week 2 in Salt Lake with the LeBarons was just as busy and enjoyable. More playing with cousins, more good food, and more great activities. We were able to spend Friday night at the Sundance cabin, complete with a mini-reunion with 2 of Flori's college roommates. Melissa Laurence and Marci Stewart came with their families for dinner and a visit. It was so fun to catch up and so fun to watch the kids playing together and starting up their own friendships.





We also met up with a few other families during the week--our Curtis cousins and friends from Indiana, the Waltons and Lundbergs. We saw the musical "Little Women", which the girls all loved, and had a blast jumping on the tramploline and playing dress-ups with Nanny's collection.



The highlight was the LeBaron family carnival at John and Krista's house. Each family was in charge of a game or event and it was a fantastic success!! We made lots of memories with face painting, throwing water balloons at the uncles, and trying to keep the little ones from dipping their carrot sticks in the wading pool!

A Vacation from our Van-cation

When Maddie was little, she used to say 'van-cation' and so we still call it that sometimes. But really, no words can describe the fun, crazy, fun, exhausting, fun, busy 2 weeks in July that was our summer vacation!
We started out with our first ever DIRECT FLIGHT from Charlotte to SLC, and it was great not to worry about changing planes and spending the whole stinking day traveling. So in just 2 days in Salt Lake, we saw all the LeBaron cousins, ate dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse, saw "The Curious Savage" at the Hale Center Theater, and said goodbye to Maggie, Justin, and Gracie (who are moving to Colorado for grad school).

Next we headed up to Idaho Falls for a full week of excitement! Grandma Idaho's garden was a favorite (as always) and we enjoyed lots of fresh peas, broccoli, raspberries, strawberries and carrots.

We had an international fair with all the cousins, where we ate foods and learned songs and games from other countries.



We had a pretend camp out at Jon and Melinda's--making s'mores in their fire pit and sleeping out in the tent trailer. We had go-cart rides, bike rides, slip and slide, sno-cones, and homemade ice cream. We went swimming, shopping for new school outfits, played at the park, visited great Grandma Baker and did some cool art projects.



We said goodbye to Megan, Justin and Maggie (also going to Grad school at IU--Go IU!!), and to Susan and Andrew (headed to Knoxville, TN for grad school). The grand finale to the week was going out on the boat with just Grandma and Grandpa Idaho--we had them all to ourselves! The girls were great sports--they all tried tubing behind the boat and didn't flinch too badly at the freezing mountain-runoff water.

The madness of July

The next several days should be a flurry of blogtivity.

Having done everything fun there is to do in the span of one month, we'll try to tackle this in bite size pieces. Thankfully, August has been fairly uneventful, so we'll be focusing on July.

Our travels took us to Raleigh to visit our friends, the Clerkins, for a whopping-good 4th celebration. When we returned to Charlotte, Flori and I took advantage of some great babysitting (thanks Mary and Seth) to stay at the VanLandingham B&B, here in Charlotte. Beautifully restored, the estate also had some lovely gardens.

Catching up with Bea

Bea and I are having a few quiet moments while Flori and the girls are at church--our truancy excused by Bea's double ear infection? Looking through a few recent pictures, Bea has changed so much. When not under the weather, she's been a real joy.

Click below for more fun with Bea, and pictures of Flori's first 5K. Good job sweetheart.

Grandfather Mountain

Some more pictures from our Grandfather Mtn. trip.

We all scream for strawberries

We're a bit behind on this post but the memory is still fresh. We recently went strawberry picking with our friends, the Sullivans. The girls had a blast. We picked a basket, fell in love, and then picked another.

We picked so many we were able to make gallons of strawberry jam, strawberry cake, and Maddie even got a bad case of strawberrypoxitis (rare but curable disease of eating too many berries without permission).

Welcome Calicobirdie, my new baby

I'd like to announce the recent opening of my Etsy shop, Calicobirdie, where I hope to sell my handmade totebags, coin purses, pincushions, children's clothing, and aprons. Please check it out and pass the word along...Etsy is a large site and my shop is small. I have many more items ready to go but not posted yet, so keep checking!

Thank you to:
my talented brother Joseph for designing my awesome logo
my friends and family for being excited about my venture
my amazing husband Rob for encouraging my talents, being my personal photographer, answering all my computer questions, and letting me buy way more fabric and notions than one girl should have.

www.calicobirdie.etsy.com

Deal me a laugh

Apparently Bea's sense of humor is centered in the vice of cards -- in this case, Canasta. I love it. That second shuffle is the best. Too bad we don't live closer to Vegas.

More on Bea and her sisters

Bea & Dad. I love this girl. We're up at Moses Cone Manor on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Beautiful. We spent a couple of days in Boone, Grandfather Mtn., and Blowing Rock, N.C. We need our mountain fix every once in a while. We were not disappointed.

Here's some more fun from Bea's birthday. Also highlighted are Sally's teeth (or absence thereof), and the girls trying out tennis.

Spring Visitors

Hi faithful readers. We have not been as faithful with our photos, so this is another catch up. We've had some wonderful visitors this spring. Thanks to those who made the effort to come and see us way out in Carolina. We had a blast. Hit play and let 'er rip.

Happy Birthday Bea

Hard to believe that our sweet Beatrice has turned ONE. We're so glad to have this beautiful girl in our family. Happy Birthday sweetheart.

They Say it's Spring

Yikes--this is starting to remind me of scrapbooking. I have the pictures, I have the writing, I just don't have the time to put it all together. So this is a little old, but there are some great pictures of our spring doings.

How have we come to the end of March already? The spring has sprung upon us and it is lovely this year. I feel happy every time I walk out my front door or drive down the street. Birdsong fills the air, everything is blooming, and the first bulbs I've ever planted (last fall) are all coming up beautifully! I took my camera with me when Bea and I went for a walk last week. It's like a treasure hunt going through our neighborhood--sweet surprises of nature around every corner. I love it!

Whew...3 Spring birthdays down, 1 to go. (But Bea will probably get her OWN post, since it is the big ONE.)

Maddie had a rock-painting party, Sarah Jane had a cooking party--we made brunch and the girls loved it. I had a week long party with friends, family, concerts, delicious meals, and phone calls from loved ones. Thanks for making me feel special!

We spent Easter in Raleigh again with our friends, the Clerkins. We wouldn't dare miss the bunny drop. Last year when we went, I spent all weekend thinking I was going in to labor, so this year was much more enjoyable!

Rosemary Focaccia

Here is the recipe for the focaccia bread pictured near Valentine's day. I have to warn you though that yours won't be as good as mine. Not because I'm so awesome, but because I have this so awesome rosemary bush in my yard--it began as a six-inch plant and has grown into this lovely bit of shrubbery near my mailbox. I love it--love pulling off a few leaves when I go to get the mail, love putting fresh rosemary into whatever I can. You can use dried, but fresh is really better.

Rosemary Focaccia

3 cups bread flour
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 pkg. (2.5 tsp.) yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. rosemary leaves

Mix flour, salt, sugar, yeast, water, and 2 Tbsp. of oil. Mix dough until pliable. Knead dough on floured surface until smooth. Place dough in oiled bowl, cover, let rise until doubled—about 45 minutes. Coat baking sheet with oil and gently press the dough out to about ½ inch thickness. Brush remaining oil over the top of dough and make dimples in the dough with your fingertips. Sprinkle rosemary and cheese over top. Let rise until doubled, 20 minutes. Bake for 25 minutes at 375.

Are you a scarer or a scaredy?

There are two kinds of people in this world--those who love to be scared (and scare others) and those who hate it. I have fond memories of my dad jumping out of closets or hiding in the trees outside our house to jump out and scare me when I came home from my friend's house. It was all good natured fun and we've had many good family laughs over watching someone get scared.
HOWEVER...as I quickly learned after we got married, Rob DOES NOT like to be scared. It makes him really mad. So that is out-of-bounds in our house. (Although I have succumbed a few times to the perfect scaring opportunity--you know, Rob is walking up the stairs in the dark and I just happen to be waiting around the corner...)
It made me laugh at church on Sunday when Maddie and Sarah Jane came back from the bathroom--Maddie was pale and breathing heavily. Sarah was red-faced from laughing and had the best twinkles in her eyes--she had pulled off a perfect scare and was so pleased with herself.
I know my siblings love to scare and be scared--how about everyone else?

Catching up with the family

This post is a bit tardy, but several weeks ago the girls' school had an entire week focused on dads. There were a lot of activities, but a few included:

* Donuts with Dad
* Science with Dad
* Are Dads smarter than a 3rd grader? (where we dads competed with Ella's calss on math questions). Ella's team won. Embarrassing.
* We finished off the week with the grand finale--the Daddy-Daughter Dance! Rob won the unofficial prize of having the most daughters (3) at the dance! We went out for dinner with some neighbors and then the dads and girls hit the dance floor. They had a great time, but came home a little early because of the loud music!

* We stayed up late to watch the lunar eclupse last month because Eloise had just finished a solar system unit. It was one of those memorable activities, with all of us huddled under a pile of blankets on the front lawn. I'm glad we did it.

* Bea continues to grow and explore. She has tumbled down the stairs a couple of times, but hasn't gotten into too much trouble yet.

A thousand words are worth just that

I wouldn't know what a picture's worth, because I DIDN'T TAKE MY CAMERA! My biggest regret of the year so far is that I have no photos of my week in Utah! My early birthday present this year was a trip for Bea and me to attend the first ever LeBaron sisters (and mom) sewing retreat in St. George. It was all I hoped it would be and more. Rob suggested I take the camera, but I thought I'd be too busy to take pictures. I WAS busy, but here are some things I wish I had caught on film:

• the huge table covered with sewing machines and fabric
• the proud looks on everyone's faces as they finished their projects
• sunset over the red cliffs of St. George
• the sun shining on the dazzlingly white St. George temple
• all 8 of us squished into the Wal-Mart nail salon for manicures or pedicures--and the faces of the young male manicurists when we told them that YES! We're all sisters! (and NO, we're not single!)
• Bea playing with and getting to know her darling cousins
• all the beautiful, wonderful fabric I saw (and some of which I purchased--there's very limited choice here in NC)
• the look on my face when the nice man at the airport told me my flight home had been cancelled!
• moonrise over the Wasatch Mountains--I had forgotten how lovely it can be

Now, some things of which I'm glad there is no photographic record:

• the bags under my eyes from staying up late and not getting enough sleep!
• the bajillions of calories I ate in one week. Cafe Rio, Dask's Greek, Simply Thai, Hires. Calzones, Easter candy, sunflower seeds, family pack licorice, LeBaron Family Sunday dinner. Yikes and Yum.
• Bea writhing in my arms on the airplane and trying to grab my seatmate's drink or pull the hair of the lady in front of us.
  
• the look on my face after being on hold with American Airlines for THREE STINKIN' HOURS! to re-arrange a flight home the next day.

All in all, it was a great week. Thanks to my wonderful husband for being super Dad for a whole week--that's a long time to be alone. Next time I think I'll take them all with me.

September and the Burger Boy

Ever forgotten instructions for a homework assignment at school? Happens all the time around here. The girls know something is due, but forget exactly how to do it--just that it is due the next day.

This happened to Ella last week. She called a friend; he told her something, but Ella doubted his accuracy. She started (again) racking her sweet little brain to remember. I (Rob) said, "Ella, what was wrong with what Tommy told you? Didn't he have the instructions?"

Ella looked me in the eye and said, "It's like when you're trying to remember the name of a song called 'September' and someone says 'Burger Boy.'"

Imagine the puzzled look on my face.

Ella, "You can't remember 'September,' but you know for a fact that the answer is NOT 'Burger Boy.'"

Delayed realization.

Me, "Did Tommy give you a 'Burger Boy'?"

Look of relief on Ella's face that I actually was able to follow the analogy, "Exactly! Tommy's answer wasn't right, even though I still don't know how to do the assignment."

Hold on, there's more. Ella pulled out her class phone directory again, and said to herself "Perchanceably someone else will know." And, she was right. Perchanceably someone did.

A visit from Grandma Idaho

It has been the usual whirlwind o' fun around the Christensen household. We're just catching up on some of the great things that happened in February.

Just before Valentine's Day we received a special visit from my Mom, "Grandma Idaho." Maddie invented the name when she was 3 and it has stuck like glue. In fact, Mom even used it as part of her new blog. Grandma came out to visit the girls and, among other things, take them to a play at Charlotte's Children's Theater. They saw Big Friendly Giant and had a blast. We also celebrated Maddie's birthday a bit early and Grandma took us to P.F. Chang's.

Beyond fun and games, one thing I love about my mom is her work ethic. She led the charge on many industrious projects around the house in her short visit. Thank you. She painted the front room, painted the deck, and spoiled the girls to name just a few.

In other news, right before Grandma's visit we got our second snow of the year. Hooray. Gone by sundown and up into the 50s the next week. Hooray.

Sally loses her first tooth

Tales of a 5th grade Valentine

Maddie has an admirer...a boy from her class last year (who is not in her class this year) snuck into her classroom before school while Maddie was on morning Safety Patrol. He left a stuffed animal, card, and box of candy on her desk. She said as soon as she saw them, she swept all of it into her backpack before anyone could see it and comment on it. She came home from school, both mortified and flattered, and had to brave her dad with the news that it has begun. "Apparently", she said, "I made a good impression last year."

Please DON'T ask her (or tease) her about this--it's sort of a sensitive topic, as you can imagine. But it was cute to see her so pleased and to know that others notice our beautiful, wonderful girl.

The sin of Gluttony

Too bad that right after I made my weight loss goals public I discovered the most delicious, most wicked recipe EVER!! I planned to make a cake for my friend's birthday and her favorite is carrot cake, but she also likes cheesecake and that's what I was craving, so I googled 'carrot cake cheesecake' and found this gem of a recipe.

Personally, I think the two hardest things about making cheesecake are the graham cracker crust and preventing cracks in the top of the cake. This recipe eliminates both problems--no crust and you frost the top. It's the easiest and best cheesecake ever. Even my friend's husband who doesn't like carrot cake approved of this one. I hope you enjoy it too!

Poor nasty bunny

"Nasty bunny" is the name of Bea's special friend, so named for it's nasty appearance and smell. Our other girls have chosen "special blankies", but Bea has devoted herself wholeheartedly to this sad little creature. Our friend Helen Wright wins the prize for creating the favorite blankie/bunny.

Why is the bunny nasty? Mostly because Bea puts herself to sleep by sucking on the hand knots or chewing on the ears. She wipes her nose and teething drool on Bunny. She has pulled the face apart, giving bunny two long mole hairs that hang from its chin. When we put her in her crib, she cries until Bunny is wrapped around her head, and when she wakes up in the morning, she wrestles bunny to the mattress and chews on it until Bunny is soggy and ragged. Washing doesn't help, either.

We asked Helen to create another bunny from similar chenille yarn, but 2nd bunny doesn't get the same adoration. It is but a poor substitute. Viva la stinky bunny!