Car Shopping

Just over 6 years ago I shopped around for the perfect family vehicle.  It took me almost a year, but I researched, test drove and narrowed my search until we purchased our lovely Saturn Outlook.  It fit my family, my husband, tons of stuff, and I loved it!  I still love it, but as we discussed going to Utah for Christmas the greatest concern was comfort.  I don't think that a car ride should feel like you are sleeping in your bed at home, but for those of you who haven't noticed, my children are getting tall fast.  Michael is already 5'11" at the ripe old age of 12.  Yes, 12!  I fear he will be 6 feet tall before his 13th birthday, which still blows my mind.

Michael is running out of leg room!

So, we talked about getting a bigger car.  But what is bigger than our current 8 passenger outlook?  A Suburban?  Expedition?  So, we test drove some.  Now, I just have to tell you that this was harder to do than before because now we live in the middle of nowhere and finding vehicles to test were few and far between.  We even borrowed vehicles from friends to check out to save in driving time.  We found a brand new Expedition to sit in just to get a feel for it and compared it to a Suburban that our friends own but to be honest I wasn't impressed by the leg room, but it was better than our current car.  But what we learned quickly is that they are built higher and don't have as much head room in the front passenger seat.  James couldn't sit up straight in either of them.  And the car seat didn't fit behind the drivers seat!  I was baffled and didn't know what to do?!?  What car will seat a minimum of 7, give leg room for multiple 6'+ children and be tall enough for my husband up front???  I even had a dealer at a loss and I've never seen that before.  ;)

Well, James and I were out doing grocery shopping when I got the idea to try a minivan.  Let's be clear here, I had no intention of ever owning a minivan again, so even trying to sit in a minivan was a big step for me.  Six years when we last owned a minivan they were known for their poor quality, fast depreciation, etc.  Now in my defense I was looking at used minivans 6 years ago and I have since learned that around that time their quality was improving.  So, we drove past a Toyota dealership in town, and I saw that they had a few Sienna's, so I pulled in and asked James to see how they fit.  I am pretty sure that by the end of this experience he was tired of sitting in the front seat of many mini-vans, so we could see how comfortable they were.  I was amazed by the room.  Now, it wasn't as roomy in the front seat as my Outlook (I really had found the perfect car), but the leg room in the back was amazing and the front seat was roomier than the Suburban.  And the storage they created in the back for the seats to fold into was incredible.  So, we looked at the Sienna, Odyssey, and Grand Caravan and the Sienna was the winner.  I even dragged all my kids out to the dealership to see how they fit.  They enjoyed it much more than James did.  :)  As a matter of fact I learned a lot about the can in the 5 minutes that they played in it.  And yes, it felt like playing!

Much more leg room for Michael and the car seat fit.

We ended up driving to Peoria and then to Quincy to see if the '07 was as big as the '09.  It was an adventure, but we learned that even though Toyota insists that nothing changed in these models that the front seat got a little bigger each year.  So, we shopped around, decided what we had to have and what we could compromise on.  I learned that I could not find an 8 passenger Sienna with a DVD player within 300 miles.  I even checked in Utah since we were planning to be there soon.  I also learned that when they put leather seats in the car, the front seat got a little more cramped.  You can blame it on the electronics or anything else, but the end result was that I needed a van without leather which pretty much took the Odyssey out of the game because the only way to get a DVD player was to get leather.  I was very saddened by this news as I have always been a Honda fan.  :)  After researching, driving, testing, etc, we actually ended up with a 'new' minivan that was for sale right here in Galesburg.  The chances were small, but it was nice to buy local, get it checked out by our own mechanics and stop driving for hours at a time to find a new car.  It didn't have 8 seats, but we thought the boys would like the DVD player and it would make our car drives much more peaceful.  And no matter what people say, that 8th seat is a fake seat, but I can imagine it would come in handy, so maybe one day I'll have it all.  :)

After our first drive after owning the van the boys let me take their picture.  They weren't thrilled, but here you go.

Michael admits that the front seat is not the best, but it isn't bad and he fits really well in the back seat!

Jacob loves sitting in the back.  They love that the rear seat reclines which will come in handy when they try to sleep on our long drives. 

Hyrum is still in the back, but I find it easier to get to him with the rolling middle seats when I need to help do that (which isn't often).  

We sold our car to our friends for high trade in value, so it was a great deal for us and a great deal for them.  Bye-bye to my baby.  

Hello to our new car!  It is nice driving a more car-like vehicle again, and the savings in fuel will be fabulous! 

We are all glad it is over, and I am happy to no longer be researching, testing, etc.  It was crazy, but we got a good car and look forward to more comfortable car rides!

Why does my four month old get up more in the night???

Having used formula for my first three kids soon after they were born I was sad to learn that babies who nurse don’t sleep through the night as quickly as formula fed babies.  I learned this pretty quickly with my fourth child.  Let me clarify that my babies sleep all night I’m just talking about my formula fed babies waking up to eat.    This actually came as a very disappointing shock to a tired momma.  But what really threw me off was when around 4 months my babies started waking up even more during the night to eat.  I assumed it was a growth spurt at first but it never went away.  With Hyrum I remember trying to make sure he was warm, add baby cereal to his diet and more.   I asked advice of others and even tried letting him cry it out.  Nothing worked and I just found ways to deal with it.  Well, it started happening with Simon about a month ago.  He was sleeping for about 7-8 hours and then another 4-5.  Getting up once in the night was definitely tolerable, but then it slowly deteriorated and maybe slowly is being generous.  He started getting up at 6 hours, then 5, 4 and eventually he was getting up every 3 hrs.  We were all the way back to a newborn’s feeding schedule.  I was tired and frustrated because I still have to take care of 5 children in the morning along with everything that entails.  So, one night when he woke up at 10 right as I was ready to go to bed I Googled ‘my 4 month old is waking up more at night.’  You know I really have loved being able to Google anything my heart desires.  I know they are millionaires now, but I think it is well earned money.  

I found this article, which has pretty much saved my life.  As I read it everything just clicked as it was describing my situation perfectly.  I could tell Simon was hungry and didn’t want to not feed him.  I could tell it was going to take some time to cry it out which wasn’t going to give me any more sleep and just didn’t seem like the right answer.  He was hungry because he was so incredibly distracted during the day.  I mean with four brothers running around who wouldn’t be.  We even had a rule that you couldn’t sit next to his head while he was eating because I knew he was distracted, but I had no idea of the real impact it was having.  There is just so much to do that eating becomes much less important. 

So, how to fix this problem now that I have identified it?  Well, fortunately, I have three older boys who can run the house on their own, so starting the day after I read this article I started feeding Simon in my room just the two of us.  I found quiet activities to do.  That night he slept for 5 hours.  That doesn’t sound amazing but to me it was progress, and I was going to take it especially given that every night before it had been worse than the night before!  He still wakes up once or twice depending on how much quiet feeding time he got the day before, but that is much better than the path we are headed down.  I now have no problem reading my scriptures daily and even get a conference talk read every day!  I get quiet time with my sweet baby, he gets to eat in peace AND I get to sleep at night.   It is amazing how the events of the day immediately affect his nighttime feeding habits.  But at least now I feel like I know the cause and understand that he needs quiet time to eat and he will take it during the day or night, but he needs that, and it is my job to make sure he gets it!

Champions!

Michael and Joshua and their team won the league soccer championship, tonight. It was fun to be on the big field under the lights in the crisp air with our fleece blankets. Even this musician loved the fall sports atmosphere. The final score was 2-1 and Michael wants it recorded for eternity that he was the only member of his team to score. The other point was an unfortunate error on the part of the other team. It was a fun game between the two teams from the school the boys play for. Some parents even had a child on each team! Both teams enjoyed a celebratory party together at Buffalo Wild Wings afterward. We are sad that soccer season is over, but overjoyed for all the time we just got back in our lives!  Here is a shot of the happy guys, post game. 

Happy Birthday Joshua

Joshua was very excited for his birthday in a way that only Joshua can be.  He had fun choosing his meals and was even kind enough to choose some relatively healthy meals.  I was quite impressed.  We started our day with overnight waffles.  Unfortunately, our waffle iron broke the last time we used it, so we were on the lookout for a new one.  Costco did not let us down, and we found this very reasonably priced double waffle iron.  What can be better for a family with 5 boys!?!

 Breakfast went smoothly and was delicious thanks to our new waffle iron.  Then, we cleaned up, packed some lunches and headed to the zoo.  October is free month, so it worked nicely!  We had been studying ecosystems, so we did an ecosystem scavenger hunt.  A good time was had by all!

Can you identify the monkeys in the picture?  I'm pretty sure that there are three.  :)

It is really hard to get good pictures at the zoo because the animals are so far away!

But a picture on the train is much easier, and they had a great ride.  I stayed behind with Simon and enjoyed a little quiet time.

 The soccer tournament started on his birthday but only Michael had a game, but boy did he have a game.  The game ended up being really close even though it was supposed to be an easy game, so they could move on.  They ended up doing two overtime periods and then they lost in a shootout.  It was an intense game with less than stellar refereeing.  But they played hard and could walk away with their heads held high even if they didn't win.  But the result was that we didn't get home until almost 8 PM, so we hurried and ate the chili that I had pre made.  Chili is better after it has sat for awhile.  :)  And enjoyed some amazing chocolate, peanut butter cheesecake.  YUM!

I learned that anytime I took a picture of Joshua I had to take one of Hyrum.  I have lots of Hyrum pictures now.  :) 

And Jacob didn't want to be left out.

Big marble works we got Joshua.  I love Costco sized toys!   Joshua couldn't wait to start but couldn't finish it before bedtime, but he made pretty good progress.  

In the morning the next day he moved it upstairs to keep it away from Hyrum and finished it!  It is pretty awesome!  

 It was a great birthday and now I have to remember a new age (hopeless).

Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Kitchen Re-Remodel

Anyone who has been following us for a while (so, you know, three people, including my mother) knows that we just celebrated a year in our new home. Correction, we just celebrated a year in our new home in which we tore out walls, built new ones, changed ceilings, added rooms, and rebuilt from the ground up. Truly, it was one of the most challenging times for us and our young family.

So, after a year in the space, getting to know it and allowing it to get to know us, naturally, it was time for a major overhaul. The lucky room? The kitchen, of course, because how can your enjoy a small re-remodel without seriously inconveniencing the entire family? You just can't. From the day we started this house over a year and a half ago, I was hesitant to make too many life-altering decisions because you just can't know how to plan a space without living in it. You don't know its strengths, weaknesses, or clever little secrets.

Unfortunately, we did not have the luxury of living in the home before making the decisions; we had to finish it and finish it good. The kitchen has come together slowly over the last year with some necessities: pot rack, quick lumber shelving, makeshift mudroom wall. Each has been helpful, but none have really been "it" for our kitchen and our lives. So, I've been plotting. I've been planning. I've been spending way too much time on Pinterest. And, I think I've been victorious in moving our kitchen from "meh" to "ahh." I still have to redo the mudroom wall to match, but I have the materials and as soon as I make the rest of my decisions, it will be done. Take a peek:

The kitchen  before. This kitchen is so hard to photograph because of this annoying south facing window. Too bright during the day and too dark at night. Oh well, it's all I've got, and I'll take it.

This is my wall-o-shelves. I've loved the open shelves for years, and I sure thought these were beautiful, even though they are just 2x12s that I quick stained the day we moved in so that I would have somewhere to put all our stuff. Notice, though, that there is stuff all over the counters. Time for that to change.

Step one—take off the window casing. It was ugly, anyway.

Step 2—Put on a new sill. I needed some extra depth there to put some herbs for the winter. Necessity certainly is the mother of invention!

Step 3—Add the sides

Step 4—Cap it all off! I almost stopped here because I was so surprised impressed with myself. It was already a whole, new, brighter kitchen! Can you see the difference? Amazing.

I didn't stop there, though, because we decided that our kitchen really needed some sort of backslash. After careful consideration (and, again, way too much time on Pinterest,) I settled on wood planks. I continued with my first layer of those; you know the layer—the one with all the outlets. Frowny face. These are cut from thin plywood, 5mm, and I had them ripped to 8" at Home Depot. They are formaldehyde free, so I'm willing to use them in the kitchen.

Second layer. I used nickels to space them. It worked pretty well to make sure I had that rustic, authentic gap between the rows. Mostly. I always want to leave room for future mind-changing, so this are simply finish nailed into the studs. No glue, just my favorite tool and me.

Third layer of planks. Notice the piles of crap that follow us through this process. It was inevitable.

Once I got the third row in, I caulked them, primed them, then painted them in a semi-gloss paint that I had color matched to our cabinets. Consistency is key, you know. Next time I do this (like for the mudroom wall) I will spray the planks before I install them. Painting in place with a brush is just too much work. I then sealed the planks with 2 coats of Polycrylic to make them easy to wipe down. Best decision ever.

Here's the detail of the top of the window. Loving the farmhouse detail.

I took down the shelves, whitewashed them to this great brown grey (my current favorite color trend) and reinstalled two of the three originals. I actually put stuff on the walls before I put the shelves back because I couldn't wait. You see that cool tool caddy? That was the solution to "TOO MANY THINGS ON THE COUNTER" disease that our kitchen had.

Also, I made it because I couldn't find the one I wanted. Well, I found it, but the store no longer stocked them, so I improvised. Now this one I am proud of. Super proud.

Here is the almost finished product. I'm afraid that I might have captured the fly strip in this shot and destroyed all good yumminess about the kitchen. Deal with it—it's a farm kitchen and we have flies. Well, not anymore, because now we have fly strips. Booyah. It looks so much better than in this photo. So clean. So streamlined. So farmer chef chic. Yeah, that's a thing.

This is just a reminder of what it looked like before. It helps to have perspective when trying to get that fly strip out of one's head.

My over-the-stove art piece isn't done yet, but it's going to be classic. And awesome. And vintage. Hopefully I don't blow it. We shall see.

Another before.

And . . . AFTER! Once I put up a little shelf and buy a new paper towel holder and throw away that ice cream bucket, these counters will be clear and stay that way. FOR.EV.ER.

All in all, I'm happy with the result. It's still a little busier than I would like, but there's really nothing to be done. I live in a farmhouse cabin, and I'm leaning into it. The kitchen feels happy, clean, content. It's nice to be in a content kitchen. Everyone I know should come feel the kitchen's new contentment; it's good in here.

Saturday is a Special Day

We are crazy busy with the garden right now. Liz calculated today that she could work full time on the garden for the next week and not be caught up. She was not kidding. We feel super blessed by the bounty, so we won't complain. We did things this year that we've never done--canned beans, made eggplant baby food--and grown so many things. 

Jacob pulled our onions today. We will spread them to cure in the basement before using them as fast as possible. We don't have cold storage, so things won't always store as long as we would like. 

Two of our peach trees produced a little bit this year and we harvested most of the fruit today. This is from the Elberta tree and it tastes like sunshine and youth. I wish we had 100 times as many. 

I want to say this was our harvest today, but the more accurate description would be that this is what Liz picked during a garden walk to stave off oversize vegetables and rotting fruits. And, this wasn't until after the beans, onions, potatoes, peaches, and beets had all been harvested.  

These are the roots sitting out so the moist earth will dry before we take then inside. As you can see, we (the boys) like to segregate the vegetables by the color of the their skin. Vegetable racists. We took up all the potatoes and we are sorely wishing for more. Now we know--more potatoes next year!

Our chicks have finally crossed over into the land of pullets and we have been pulling in more and more eggs. We are in the high teens per day and we should settle around 2 dozen a day when all the ladies are laying. We find that with all our adopting from friends this year, we ended up with 5 roosters, way too many for our small flock, so we are going to have to give four of them away. It's really too bad because we will have to say goodbye to our Golden Polish with the pompon head and Violet, the one we nursed back to health, who, as it turns out, is a rooster. Drat. Why didn't our friends purchase their birds more carefully?  Who knows. We love them anyway. 

Family Update

We recently had our pictures taken, and I thought I would use them to update everyone on how we are doing!

Michael, our young 12 year old giant, is growing into a wonderful young man.  He is now taller than I am and his feet are almost the same size as James' (13).  If he don't stop growing soon he will be as tall as James in the next year or two.  If you ask him he will take you that his favorite things are soccer, basketball and reading.  I would add that he enjoys scouting and camping, taking care of the chickens, mowing the lawn with the neighbors riding mower and anything else that makes him feel more grown up.  We have allowed him to drive our cars on our property for small projects which he has loved more than anything else in the world, though, he thinks he should be able to drive all the time now.  He still has 4 more years before he can drive.  It will be a long 4 years for him.

 Joshua is now 10 1/2 and doing his best to keep up with Michael.  Joshua is our creative giant.  Anything he does, he does big and well.  Right now he is focused on origami and Star Wars.  Thanks to Sam's Club he has a Star Wars Origami book which is amazing in Joshua's eyes, and if you were to come and visit he would gladly create something for you.  He also loves soccer and basketball which is nice since they can all play together.  He also loves scouts and is finishing up his Arrow of Light.

Jacob recently turned 8 and is working to find his role as a big boy in our home after being the youngest for 6 years.  He was excited to become a Cub Scout and already loves being a scout.  He also loves star wars but enjoys reading and watching more than origami.  Anything that could possibly become a light saber does.  He also loves being a big brother and is one of Hyrum's best buddies.  

Hyrum just turned 2 and is growing like a weed.  He is your standard 2 year old getting into anything and everything he can.  Just this morning he sprayed soapy water all over the kitchen.  I think his face says it all.  He isn't talking yet, but he sure knows how to express himself.  He loves reading and playing.  He loves going out to feed the chickens.  His favorite thing, however, is baby Simon.  He loves him so much that we have to keep him behind a closed door or else Hyrum will pick him up and play with him.  In another year this will be fabulous but for now we just have to be careful and keep an eye on them.  

Simon is just over 2 weeks old now.  He sleeps, eats and poops, but he is also learning to smile which is so much fun!  He is growing quickly, so we are trying to enjoy every moment.  

James and I are doing well.  James just got back from an amazing conference in New York City.  He got to see 5 different shows and learn how to be a better musical theater director.  He is getting ready for the new school year as well as taking some classes on online education.  I am still teaching online but with a lighter summer, so I can spend more time with my boys.  I am prepping for a new school year.  We moved the school room to the family room downstairs, so we have all of our supplies and materials in a room where the little boys can play.  I think it will work much better, but we'll find out for sure in a couple of weeks.  

Our farm/garden are blossoming beautifully.  Our chickens are laying more than enough eggs to meet our needs.  Our garden is in full bloom, and we are having fun planning meals that involve lots of vegetables.  We love eating food that we have produced, and in all honesty, it tastes amazing!  The boys are getting used to the idea of eating more vegetables and usually love it.  They are a little tired of eggplant, but our plants don't seem to care.  I did make some eggplant, pea and bean baby food with some of the excess.  It will be nice not to have to buy very much baby food this fall.  

In all we are doing great, so enjoy these final pictures of these amazing boys!

Happy Birthday Hryum!

I can't believe that Hyrum is two already!  In the last year he has grown so much.  While he still refuses to use words he has learned to communicate, have preferences, eat like his brothers and much more!  His brothers have also had great fun training him to do many things including cheesy faces, smooshy faces (like a kiss but you just smoosh), act like several animals, race down the stairs on his stomach and well, you get the idea.  It has been fun to see his older brothers love him and take care of him as well.

For his birthday we let him choose his meals, and it was fun to see him choose and then proceed to eat it all!  We all had fun choosing presents for him.  He got a car and a big ball from his brothers.  Then, James and I had a little too much fun giving him Bristle Blocks because we loved them so much when we were little.  They have definitely added some extra fun pieces to the set that we never had.  Everyone had fun building with them and playing with Jacob!

For breakfast he had a tortilla with sour cream because he wanted the eggs and beans on the side.  He seems to like things separated.  He also enjoyed a banana, some grapes and a few cheerios.  Yum!

For desert he had banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting!  

He was getting very excited at the prospect of eating these delights!

He tried very hard to blow that candle out and with the help of his brothers succeeded. 

It was a fun day as we just spent it playing and relaxing.  It just doesn't get much better than that!  On to another year filled with kisses, hugs, playing and much more.  Hopefully we can avoid 'the terrible twos.'  Fingers crossed!