Elizabeth

Until we went to the American Girl Store, I had no idea Kierynn was interested in Elizabeth. She toyed with the idea of getting Elizabeth rather than Kanani but since Elizabeth is retired, the best we could have hoped for was to find one and have her shipped. As it was, there were no stores that had an available Elizabeth so Kanani came home with us.

I started watching eBay and finally found a nice looking Elizabeth at a reasonable price. She arrived today and I found out why she was so reasonable. Her hair is lovely, she has her meet dress but her legs are a bit more floppy than I would like but here is her real issue:


She has ink stains! I am not new to ebay, I should have asked for more pictures but since I didn't, I have to make the best of the situation. I initially only saw the one on her eyebrow but then in better light, I saw the lighter marks under her eyes and on her temple. They look worse in person, truly.

I have her currently undergoing treatment to remove these ink marks (without removing her eyebrow) and hope to post an after picture in a few days.

I have her shirt and socks here. I am not going to worry too much about getting her actual meet ribbon or shoes. I think I make an exisiting pair of shoes look close enough that Kierynn will be happy.

She had a 4 strand braid when she was new, once Elizabeth is looking better, I will braid her hair, redo her pin curls and then she goes away until Christmas.

Rhys has asked me for a brother doll. I have a rewigged Molly that I had planned to use as an Emily era doll but now, this doll will become a brother doll for Rhys. I am contemplating wigs currently to see which will make the best boy for him. He was unimpressed with the Bitty Twin boy doll. I think once the brother doll is in some khaki shorts, hiking boots and a Pokemon shirt, he will look pretty boy like.

Spiritual Musing

No one really thinks of running a spiritual thing but for me, it certainly can be. I listen to music when I run. I don't listen to hymns though. I do have hymns on my ipod but I found if I listen to hymns, I start paying more attention to the music and words than to what I am doing. Not always a bad thing but when I am running, I kinda need to pay attention to what is going on around me. Also, most hymns don't really have the kind of beat I need to help me out so I listen to other music.

As I listen to the music, I am not really paying a lot of attention to it. I am aware of it, occasionally a song I really like plays and I remember hearing it but for the most part, it is more background noise. I ran for over 2 hours yesterday and had music on the entire time but I can only remember specifically hearing maybe 5 songs.

So what do I actually think about when I run? Lots of things. I think I spent a few miles thinking about Survivor, what I would do if I were on the show and how it would be. I think about things I need to do or upcoming events. I thought about the wonder of the world and how perfectly Heavenly Father made things. I thought about it being Sunday and that I think running on a glorious morning like yesterday was keeping the Sabbath holy. Yes, really.

Yesterday was a 10 miler and a good portion of the run was spent in thinking about God. You may find it strange that I think about God when I run but there is something about running that makes me contemplate and ponder Heavenly Father, my relationship with him and other spiritual matters.

It is just me and Heavenly Father when I run so I am able to really examine things, ask questions and reflect on all aspects of what I feel and how I am living my life.

One of the things that I reflected on, as I was running, was my relationship with Heavenly Father. Most days, I think it is pretty good. It can always be improved on. At the moment, I think Heavenly Father is carrying the bulk of our relationship more than I am. I know this is a disappointment to him but that he still loves me. I thought about the inequality in our relationship (my fault) and how I could improve it. I know what to do but I was thinking more specifically on things like...what can I do tomorrow, in the next hour, in the next week, to get back to where I know Heavenly Father would be happier with me. It is not really anything difficult, hard or things I don't enjoy...it is things that I push aside to make room for other things because I know it is not that hard. Does that make sense?

So, as was expected, my run came to an end and my silent but heartfelt time with Heavenly Father came to an close.

A few hours later, I was sitting in office of my Bishop (Yes, I did go to church after the run) This is the first time that I have had a meeting with our Bishop since he was called, even though I have known him for several years. This was our first talk where he was in the position of being the head of my ward. We chatted about various things and the basic gist of the conversation was:

Heavenly Father loves you. What do you think you can do to bring yourself closer to Him and how can I help you get there?

Wow, this just blew me away. It may seem like a pretty standard thing to ask but it really did echo so many of the things I had been thinking about just a few hours prior. Bishop B managed to hit on the exact points that I had examined and found lacking and needing work.

Could there be any clearer sign that our Bishop truly is called of God? I don't think he pulled the topic of our conversation out of a hat but that he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to say the exact things I needed to hear and confirmed my earlier talk with Heavenly Father I had running.

I love that I can go talk to my Bishop and not be judged, be offered help or whatever I need and still come away feeling loved by Heavenly Father and that my Bishop wants only the best for me.

So yeah, I am making some changes to help me get back to being the person I know Heavenly Father wants me to be.

Jess gets new hair

Back in January, I was looking for an American Girl doll for Kierynn. I put a lowball bid on Jess, Girl of the Year 2006, with a pixie cut that I found on ebay. I then found a nice Samantha on a board for about what my lowball offer was so rather than miss out on Samantha, waiting for the Jess auction to elude me as well, I got Samantha. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I won Jess as well!

Once Jess arrived, her hair was not as bad as I expected and was sorta cute. Kierynn thought it was sorta cute as well and we toyed with the idea of finding someone to trim it into a nice shape. After looking at it closely, I realized that it was cut short enough in places that there was no way to get it into a nice shape.

Through an adventure with a second Jess arriving at our house, this one with long hair, we made the decision to send her in to AG and get her head replaced. (No, I didn't buy a second Jess. The seller I bought Jess from sent me a second Jess by mistake. I contacted her and send that Jess on to her correct owner) It is about $50 to get the head replaced.

On an AG board, someone had a JLY doll wearing the most adorable wig. I knew that was the hair for our Pixie Jess! I found out the details and purchased the wig.

Rewigging is really not difficult but I have never done it. I watched loads of videos and read through tutorials on how to do it. Since it was my first time, I expected that it would be a 2 hour epic struggle, complete with sweating, a few choice words and me vowing to never do it again.

Armed with my tools, I set to work. I carefully soaked her hair line, waited a moment and insert the spoon. Less than 5 minutes later, Jess was totally bald. That was so much easier than expected!

Her new wig is in position and is sitting there for a few days to be sure that this is really how I want it. I may make some minor adjustments but basically, this is how she looks with her new hair. I think it is super cute on her!

Blah!

I am not overly thrilled with how tonight's lunches look. I didn't realize how much beige/brown there was in this lunch but I also don't want to toss MORE food in there just to color it up some more.

It was no surprise to see that Rhys didn't eat most of his ham and cheese chunks. He did eat one of the picks of them but left the other two. Overall, he ate the vast majority of his lunch so no real complaints.

The "sushi" sandwiches were by request today. I am not sure why they call these sushi sandwiches, I have never made sushi and I don't know that they have ever seen it. In any event, they like it and it is fun for them to eat. I use a rolling pin to flatten a slice of bread, remove the crusts and then after I put peanut butter and jelly on it, the slice is cut in thirds and rolled up.


Kierynn(pink box): strawberries and pineapple, sushi peanut butter, pound cake and granola flower
Rhys (blue box): same thing as Kierynn
Greg: PBH, pistashios, berry mix, grapes, cheese chunks, cookies

Kaitlyn (top): PBJ, granola bar, strawberries and grapes, pound cake
Iain (bottom): Ham, strawberries and pineapple, pound cake, granola star, cheese slices

There may be a bonus set of pictures tomorrow, not sure yet. Kierynn and I are going to the American Girl store in New York on Saturday. We will be having lunch there but I am bringing snacks for us to eat on the bus. Since we can bring a cooler, I am thinking our Ziplock boxes are going to be my best bet for packing. Since it is Kierynn, she is willing to eat a lot of different fruits and veggies.

Clementines, grapes, peppers, carrots and apples will be coming along. I will bring some crackers, a few cookies or semi sweet things and then some sandwiches. I may also bring some ham or turkey rolled up and cheese too. I think we will eat something before we get back on the bus but it is always good to have some snacky stuff. Of course, the downside is that if there is snacky stuff...I will eat it.

Good news was that on Tuesday, I was down 1 lbs. This is good since a few pounds began to creep back on and I really need them to go away.

I *love* those things!

Rhys fairly flew off the bus this afternoon and raced to me, clearly with something incredibly important to tell me.

"I loved those round things you put in my lunch! I want them every day!" I was so not surprised to hear this. The older, more wise to my ways older ones, looked over at him and slowly shook their heads. "She won't do it. I bet we only get them sometimes." My kids really do know me.

Kierynn informed me that she doesn't like raisins. I said I knew that. Then she wanted to know why I put some in her lunch. I told her they were blueberry flavored craisins and after she tried a few at home, she ate the ones she had left in her lunch box. Let's keep Monday's chocolate covered raisins a secret, shall we? She thought they were just soft chocolate chips.

When I opened boxes to clean them out, I found that Rhys actually didn't eat most of his lunch. Oh, he ate the "good stuff" (sandwich, chips and donuts) but left everything else. His lunch for tomorrow is a bit smaller and we will see how it goes.

As predicted, Ryan asked me to back off on the jelly since I put too much for him. Gah, what did I let myself in for?

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to just make 5 lunches and not worry about kid A doesn't like apple so if I cut an apple, kid B gets apple too since she will eat it, Kid C doesn't like cheese cut so don't cut the stick, Kid D will eat strawberries and most fruits but not apples and so on and so on. So why do I do it? 'Cause they are cute and I love them to bits! Seriously, they won't see it now but when they open their lunch each day, I am telling them how much I love them and how much they mean to me. One day, in the far distant future, they will look back and clearly hear me say "I love you!" when they think of their lunches. They won't remember that I put them in strange containers or made patterns on their sandwiches but theywill remember I took the time to make a lunch specifically for them. Okay, sappy moment over...on to the pictures!


Kaitlyn (upper left): PBJ, entire cheese stick since apparently one cut into pieces is somehow faulty, grapes, chocolate chip muffin, fruit shapes
Iain (lower left): ham and cheese chunks, crackers, grapes, chocolate chip muffin, fruit shapes. I had enough room that I put his drink in there too.
Greg (right): PBH, grapes, cheese chunks, pistachios, mixed berries and grapes. Not pictured are his cookies and his mini muffin...in a separate bag.


Kierynn and Rhys: They pretty much have the same thing, Kierynn has more apple slices. ham and cheese chunks, crackers, chocolate chip muffin, fruit shapes, apples.

Since Rhys didn't eat his apples in his previous lunch, I am trying cutting them into chunks and sticking a pick in it. He usually is more willing to eat something if it has a pick in it. I ordered some Pokemon cupcake picks and we will see how they work. I think they may be too large but will know for sure when they get here.
I put their drinks in the lower tier of the box.

Cold, not warm

I finally figured out why Kierynn seems to be having an issue with cheese in her lunch. She eats cheese normally with no problem. When I am making something with a block of cheese, she asks for a chunk. I just could not figure out what the problem was. I let her know the cheese in her lunch today was the regular cheese that I use (Colby Jack) and expected when she got home, she would be thrilled. Nope. Then she finally TOLD me why she didn't want to eat it...it was warm! She likes her cheese cold and a bit firm. After a little more probing, she said string cheese was fine but no more block cheese. Okay, Miss Picky.

I took two pics of the lunches for today, it is just too much to try to get into one shot.


Kaitlyn (upper left): PBJ, baked cheese crackers, string cheese chunks, blueberry flavored craisins, grapes, apples, granola shapes and a few gummy hearts.
Iain (bottom left): PB, baked cheese crackers, string cheese chunks, blueberry flavored craisins, grapes, apples, donut holes
Kierynn (right): PB, honey, banana sandwich, baked cheese crackers, blueberry flavored craisins, apple slices, donut holes


Rhys (left): See Kierynn's lunch...they have the same thing today.
Greg (right): PB, honey and banana sandwich, grapes, pistachios, cheese, baked cheese crackers, berry mix (blue, black and strawberries), 2 cookies (not in the pic)

Kaitlyn doesn't have donut holes since she is the reason we have them. Her French class is having a party and she is bringing in donut holes. Since she is having them in class, I didn't put any in her lunch. I rarely buy donut holes so the wee ones should be fairly thrilled to see them in their lunches.

After I make lunches, they generally go into a lunch bag and then into the fridge overnight. Rhys and Kierynn just carry theirs or put it in their bag. Here is what they look like, ready to go in the fridge overnight.



After using the new boxes again today, I like that I can put the drink in there. I just need to get some better dividers to keep things from moving too much. Ryan asked me to make his sandwich again. Yesterday, when I asked him, he said he wanted a medium amount of peanut butter. Apparently, his idea of medium and mine differ since he asked me for a lot of peanut butter today. I think I put about 3 times as much as I would normally put on and he said that was okay. Yuck! Glad I am not eating it.

Brownies went very well this evening. We had a Cadette troop come in and lead us. The girls learned about camping, dunk bags, what to bring and then we played several games. We played one from England, Zimbabwe, Japan and the US. This means the girls there earned the Playing Around the World Try It.

Thumbs up

Everyone brought back totally empty boxes today (except for the stuff they should bring back) The adorable fish shaped bread was a total success and it has been requested for sandwiches from here on out. I let them know that it was a special occasion bread, it would show up now and again but probably not on a regular basis.

Ryan surprised me by asking if I would make him a sandwich this evening when I was making lunches. I did but he resisted all my efforts of cutting it, drawing faces on it or doing anything "weird" to it. Who is he calling weird? Both Ryan and Kaity asked me if I would get some whole grain bread for lunches. Sure!

You will notice that Kaitlyn's lunch is missing. When the kids get home, I become a broken record asking for them to put their lunch bags by the phone. I normally ask the smaller ones several times before the migration from book bag to counter begins. I asked Kaity to bring hers up since I was planning to start lunches. She did not. At 14, I am not going to hold her hand so I went on with my lunch making and she brought it up as I was setting up the photo shoot. I declined to make her lunch even thought she batted her beautiful blue eyes at me and said please. I told her to make sure it was up tomorrow since I am not going to get everything out again for her one lunch. I don't really think she is that in awe of my mad lunch making skills, I think she just likes not doing it herself.



Here is the line up for today (or tomorrow...depends on what you want to call it. I make it today, it is eaten tomorrow) This goes left to right
Iain: PBH, cheese bits, grapes, cookie, chocolate covered raisins
Rhys: PBJ, cheese, grapes, apples, carrots, cookie, chocolate covered raisins
Kierynn: PB, cheese, grapes, apples, carrots, cookie, chocolate covered raisins
Greg: PBH, cheese, grapes, carrots, cookies, pistachios

As you can see, I found some new boxes! I took Ryan to Grand Mart to look at the fruit and he got some canned jackfruit and magenstenos. While there, I decided to look around and found these boxes. Kierynn and Rhys said they would like to use them so we got them.



Once I actually started to pack them, I quickly discovered that they are HUGE! They don't look that big but there is a lot of room. I decided to put their drink in there and it worked out well. If you look under Kierynn's drink, you can see her cookie peeking out.

Yes, that is elephant and train shaped cheese. I am not sure if it will be eaten. Both of the two younger kids have said they don't like the cheese I have been using (mild cheddar) I went back to the even more mild Colby Jack and I will see how they like it. They do eat Colby Jack so who knows.

You can't see it but Iain got all the leftover bits from when I cut out the shaped cheese. Greg has bits left from a few days ago. I keep all the extra bits in a bag to use when I need shredded cheese. I also have a bag of crusts in the freezer from when I cut sandwiches so I can make breadcrumbs if needed.