Screen Time

Max brings home a book every couple of days for homework. He is supposed to read it three times and then return it. The first two times through go pretty well. But by the third round, he is bored (mostly because the books are really dumb: can't they write simple books with a decent plot?). It takes some coercion to get through the third read.

In the middle of whining and nagging the other day I had a flash of brilliance. What. This is not the time for humility. I remembered how much he loves reading the books we download to my Nook. Because they're on a screen. So I whipped out my phone, snapped a picture of each page and had him read his final round as an "electronic" book by swiping through the eight photos on my phone.

I know. Genius.

What is it about that small glowing screen that is endlessly appealing? How did we ever parent before this?

Bananas!

 He's a natural.

And if that series of pics didn't make you feel all mushy inside (what?! is your heart made of stone?) click over to this blog post (by a male coder, of all people). About parenthood, vampires, Lost in Translation.

Shine

New Beginnings! We used part of the 2012 Mutual theme: "Arise and SHINE forth that thy light may be a standard for the nations." And turned it into an 80's Neon theme. We asked everyone to come dressed in 80's neon, and man, they were decked out! Lots of big hair, flipped collars, shiny fingerless gloves. Even a lot of parents came dressed up. So fun.

Spray paint!

Light Bright, neon programs and info for the parents.

Program covers.

Is the height of my hair an indication of my commitment to the Young Women? Definitely.

 Most Mormonads that you recognize were taken in 1986. Here's our primp station.

Refreshments: Sprite and sherbet and cookies.

Our Beehive leader put together some totally rad kits for our new Beehives. She decorated boxes to look like Rubix cubes and included hilarious stuff, like a spoon (Don't "gag me with a spoon" enjoy this gift card at Golden Spoon) and hairspray (Help get your bangs high enough for Wednesday activities) and so on. So great! Another adviser set up a photo booth and took pictures of all the great outfits of the night. We'll give the young women copies next week.

We had so much fun together: I totally underestimated the enthusiasm of the young women to dress up! 80's party=highly recommended.

Clutch Shooter

Warning. Parental bragging ahead. Look away if this sort of thing turns your stomach.

Today, right before sacrament meeting started, Josh walked over to us with a white face.

"I forgot to write my talk," he said.

Randy jumped into action and the two of them rushed into the hall to see what they could put together. Fifteen minutes later, after passing the sacrament, Josh took the stand as the first youth speaker and delivered a three-minute talk about the importance of the scriptures, complete with a quote from For the Strength of Youth, a personal experience, and a scripture story. Bravo, kid.

Also. Randy coached Josh with one piece of advice that I LOVE and it's worth passing on: Don't start your talk with an apology. Don't tell a "funny" story about how the bishopric member asked you to give a talk, and don't tell us how or when you prepared it (or didn't, in this case). It's never funny. It's never original. It's a waste of time and it's boring. In Josh's case, today, because he didn't apologize nearly no one knew that he was unprepared. And why should they? He delivered a few valuable thoughts clearly and sat down. That's a useful contribution to a Sunday meeting.

I am most proud that Josh didn't start whining or crying, didn't try to excuse himself from his assignment, and didn't blame us (the worst parents ever) for not reminding him to write his talk and practice it. He just got to work. That's the kind of kid I want to keep around.

Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Max is a great motivator for innovation around our house. Because he's always insisting on something or negotiating better terms for something else.

Last week he wanted to make chocolate chip cookies together. We were out of chocolate chips. I have learned from painful experience that with Max it's smarter to accommodate than divert or substitute. So I sent Randy to pick up some chocolate chips. Instead of the normal semi-sweet I was imagining, he came home with DARK chocolate chips and shredded coconut.

And our new favorite cookie was born. We've made this twice in the last three days. I ate three cookies while I was trying to take this picture. They are yummy.

Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies

1 cup softened butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp almond flavoring

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup dried cherries

Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in almond flavoring. Stir in flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and mix well.  Add chocolate chips, coconut, pecans and cherries and mix well. You can vary these ingredients to taste.

Shape into balls. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350.

Le Petite Garcon

 

Something CrAzie happened at Jonesy's four-month well child check. The doctor used a word I'd never heard applied to my children before: petite. He said: "He's just petite," in reference to my son (pictured above). Ha! 

Jonesy weighed in at 13.51 lbs (the 13%) and is 25.2 inches (the 47th%). But his head circumference? 17.2 inches, in the 76%. Kind of a big head. To hold all his brains. Perfectly healthy in every way.

I made Randy take a picture of us together to record Jonah's size with me. I feel like, for the first time, the baby fits ME instead of Randy. What I mean is: I used to lug around my big baby boys, their legs hanging past my hips, their gangly arms across my torso. Huge and heavy. But the second I would put them in Randy's arms I would think, "Oh. That kid still looks like a little baby with Randy."Josh, Lucas and Max were Randy-sized. Jonah is Rachel-sized: the fun size baby. Even more fun to cuddle with, bathe, and carry. 

So yummy.

Moonrise Kingdom

I think my favorite movie is Royal Tennenbaums. I watch new Wes Anderson films carefully. Usually they are charming. Sometimes they fail. Even then, they always fail with style. I know some people find them too precious or too stylized. I appreciate the effort and the vision.