Help Wanted . . .

We need a new tooth fairy in the worst kind of way.

A week ago Madelyn lost a tooth (I've don't remember what number this is, she's lost quite a few) and dutifully put it under her pillow that night. Being the conscientious mother that I am, I completely forgot about the dental pay-out before I went to bed, for several days in a row. Madelyn was very distraught about the fairy's whereabouts and wanted to know what we should do. I told her maybe she should write a note to let the tooth fairy know that this was a new lost tooth, not an old one just lying around. Pictured above is what she came up with, complete with an arrow pointing out the tooth. Maybe tonight that tooth fairy will finally get on the ball . . .

Can of Cream (AKA Ghetto Cream)

We're starting to come out of the "newborn fog" around here and we're enjoying the final month or so of summer.

We love homemade ice cream, but several years ago our ice cream maker gave out. I happened upon a recipe that said ice cream could be made in resealable plastic baggies, or one container that fits inside another. The wheels started turning.

I have this inexplicable need to save containers that I think will come in useful at some point. I'm not a pack rat, except when it comes to said containers. From my stash I came up with a large cannery can and a peanut butter jar.


We put the ice cream ingredients in the peanut butter (peta-butta if you're Meredith) jar then set it inside the large can. We filled it with a couple of layers of crushed ice and rock salt.


Then I put my child laborers to work. They rolled the contraption back and forth, asking every two minutes if they could eat the ice cream yet.


After 20 minutes it was at a soft-serve stage and everyone LOVED it. I called it ghetto cream because not only was it made in random containers, I served it to the kids in recycled yogurt cups! I know, very high class.



This picture has nothing to do with the ice cream session, but I thought it was funny.It was one of those times where the kids had been playing and then it got quiet. When Adam went to check on them, he found them having a leisurely read in "the boat."

Have a great weekend!

And Baby Makes 6!

With the help of a great epidural and a little Pitocin, Rhece made his way into the world.

The labor and delivery went very well, and while I'm not ready to run a marathon, I do feel pretty good!

Parker was unsure about having a little brother; in fact, we have no pictures of Parker and Rhece at the hospital because Parker refused to hold him. However, Parker recently told Adam that he had decided he loved Rhece "35 million". I don't know exactly what that means, but I think it means he's decided Rhece can stay.

Have a great weekend!

Love,

The Johnsons

The Tire Patch and the Strawberry Patch

One of the rewards, at least for me, of living through the blustery winter conditions here is the absolutely fantastic summer and fall that almost entirely make up for it. I love berry picking in the summer and apples in the fall. I was bound and determined to get fresh strawberries and put them to good use this week.

I decided that Wednesday would be the day. I loaded the kids into the car and we headed for the freeway. At a stop sign another car pulled up next to me and told me that I had a flat tire. I pulled off to the side of the road to check, hoping I was just low on air, only to find out that the only thing between the rim and the road was a pathetically flat piece of tire. I called the tire store where we had purchased the tire last year to see if it was still under warranty (thankfully, it was) and they told me I should probably get some air in it so the tire wouldn’t completely fall off the rim. As inconvenient as it seemed to mess with the tire, sitting on the side of the road with a car full of kids seemed A LOT more inconvenient, so I went to the local gas station and filled up the tire with air.

The thought did cross my mind that I could justifiably go home and turn the kids loose in the sprinklers and call it a day, but their constant questioning about if we were still going berry picking made it clear that we were not going home without fresh strawberries. Somewhere during the year Madelyn and Parker had taken to the notion that when we next went berry picking we would be making strawberry shortcake with the goods. They didn’t fail to remind me of this either.


We finally made it to the tire store and they were able to get us right in. I’m pretty sure the scene of the lady followed by a bunch of curious kids around lunchtime helped our plight take priority. We were out of there in 20 minutes flat! It was just enough time to feed the kids the picnic lunch I had prepared for the strawberry excursion and we were on our way.



The rest of the trip was without incident and we had a lovely time in the patch. Each of the kids was given a small bucket for collecting berries and when it got full they were to dump that bucket into the large flat box. Madelyn had a 1:1 ratio of picking and eating.


Parker was our task master and he took great pride in filling his bucket and dumping it in the big box as many times as he could.

Meredith turned out to be our most efficient picker: She didn’t bother with the bushes-- she kept telling me that the strawberries were “too tight,” meaning that they were too hard to get off the vine, so she just picked her strawberries straight from the communal box. As I processed them the next day I probably found 15 berries that had a single Meredith-sized bite in them that she had tossed back in after sampling!

We had a great discussion about teamwork and how much faster the box got filled when we were all contributing, which was probably a more productive method of teaching the concept than the lecture they usually get at home about chores and such!

The following day I made jam, and today we made and ate the much anticipated strawberry shortcake for dessert.

“The Rice Box: A Love-Hate Relationship”

Several months ago I saw some simple rice boxes in blog land that functioned like a sand box, but used rice instead. It was the middle of January, and we were lucky to get above 10°, so an indoor rice box struck me as pure genius. I mean, rice particles are bigger than sand so surely it would be easier clean-up, right?

I filled it with rice, added dump trucks, funnels, measuring cups and a few buried treasures and excitedly told the kids to go to town. It wasn’t until I assembled the thing, let the kids dig around in it, and then vacuumed up enough rice to feed a third world country that I realized there might be a few drawbacks :)

I let them do this for a few days in a row before I decided “we” (meaning “I”) needed a break from our wondrous indoor rice box. I put it away in the deep dark storage room and we went back to other forms of winter entertainment-- like cartoons. Okay, so we did brain stimulating activities too, but I was really over the rice box.

Just the other day Parker asked about the rice box and I begrudgingly brought it out and let him have it in his room for quiet time on top of a sheet. Meredith woke up from her nap and discovered the joy of dumpling, pouring, sifting, and (of course) throwing rice. It was still a mess, but they stayed glued to that spot for almost TWO hours until Madelyn got home, at which time she joined in the fun too! Thanks to the sheet, we were able to dump the rice back into the box and I only had to vacuum up enough rice to feed a family of four this time.

Then it hit me—it’s 80°, they can take this thing outside! Now we’re all happy with the rice box. I’ve learned two things about the rice box:

1. To use one in the house you have to be a really laid back mom, and apparently I am not.
2. Lucky for my sanity, kids enjoy the novelty of digging around in rice outdoors just as much as they do indoors.

What other novel concepts do any of you have for entertaining kids?

The Mother's Day Birthday Bash

Admittedly, this is not the most sentimental Mother's Day picture that has ever been taken, but it is the one where the kids were the most authentic and had the most fun! It was 2:30 pm and Meredith had not yet had her nap, so the only way she was willing to participate in family picture/torture time was to be bribed with a bowl of "peanups" as she likes to call them.





I was able to edit the "peanups" out of this one.



Her official birthday is tomorrow but we celebrated today since Adam will be working late.



She had a lot of fun opening the first present, which was a little bear puzzle that works like a paper doll. The various pieces can be swapped out to create different outfits and faces. After she got that open she didn't want to open anything else!

I have enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day. Adam and the kids went out yesterday to "see a man about a horse" (do some gift shopping) and I got some time in the afternoon to enjoy an unusually quiet house. I was very impressed that no one slipped up and revealed what they had purchased! They were positively delighted with themselves for keeping the secret from me. This morning Adam made breakfast (which the kids declared to be the best French toast ever).

Since my mom died six years ago Mother's Day has been bittersweet for me. My first Mother's Day as a mother was also my first one without my own mom. In the intervening six years I have learned a bit more about what motherhood really requires, and have come to appreciate a little bit of what it takes to be a successful mother, although I am definitely not naive enough to think I have "arrived"! I increasingly value my own mom each year and the sacrifices that she made to give me the opportunities that she did. I also have a deep sense of gratitude for other mothers who have influenced me and helped shape my understanding of motherhood, not the least of which is my mother-in-law. Every day I live with the product of her nurturing and feel so blessed to be its recipient.

Happy Mother's Day!

April Showers Bring . . . Produce! (we hope)

On Saturday we got the garden all set up. We put in a square foot garden last year, so all we had to do this year was add some more compost to the soil and put the grid back on top of the boxes. Once it was all set up we planted some spinach, lettuce, and peas.

Parker really wanted to help Adam hammer in the nails, so Adam started the nail and then let Parker go to town. Everyone's fingers managed to stay intact.

While the big kids worked, Meredith enjoyed her lunch al fresco on the deck.

About 20 minutes after the work was done it started pouring, so those seeds got a good start!