Car fixed, vegetarian Lek, LEGO movies, and Spooner's update...and a few other odds and ends

I went visiting yesterday with a lady for the first time and we were there for two hours in beautiful, sisterly sharing.  Love it!  Everything was pretty calm and peaceful here when I got back.  Q-dawg and Spooner had fallen asleep on the couch together, Lek was reading a book, Avot taking a nap, the "middle kids" were playing some type of imagination game downstairs, and Papaya?

Papaya was roaming the house with only a diaper on.  Typical :).

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Our car is back from the shop!  After a week of "it'll be done early!" then "the battery is dead and because it is a hybrid, the only charger that we can find to recharge it is in California, and we need to get it shipped in" then "wait!  we found a cable that just needed to be re-plugged in...works great!" then "warning lights are flashing...got to take it in again" to the most recent "it is just fine...ignore the flashing and beeping" it runs!  It is so nice to have two cars back, as we have set up a schedule that has me going somewhere two days a week.  It is nice to not have to borrow the Moore's car anymore (yeah for great neighbors!).

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Lek is thinking about going vegetarian, and we are incorporating some cool recipes to accommodate that...yum!  I particularly love the mediterranean/middle eastern ones that I have found.  Super delish!  And, speaking of yummy recipes, last night we had a new meal (not vegetarian) but it had some delicious sweet potatoes cooked with apple juice, oregano, and pork roast...all slow cooked all day in the crock-pot.  Sweet potatoes are a new thing for us, but everyone loved them!  Woohoo!

Lek is looking forward to trying some new foods and cooking some personal dishes the nights we have meat in our dishes...and he promised to let me sample some :).
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The Goob spent hours creating a little "stop-motion" Lego movie that was quite hilarious last week.  He is so amazing!  I love to see his creativity and humor combined like that :).  He is also doing a great job back as our "breakfast making man" after over a month of trying out the lunch stewardship.  He is great at making us laugh and is considerate in always asking what he can do to help me.  He is going to make some girl a very lucky husband someday!

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I went up to Logan with my three oldest girls last Saturday to celebrate a baby shower for Cody and Bianca's first baby (Q-dawg's baby brother and his wife).  They are such a sweet couple,...that baby is so lucky!  It was wonderful to spend some time with them.  We also were able to enjoy some time at the park with my family right before that, although I didn't plan very well and spent most of the time trying to find someplace to cook our meat :S.  Ahhhhh...the best laid plans of mice and men so often go astray... (I should read that book again, although I remember it being kind of dark...)  At least, Q-dawg and the rest of the non-shower kids were able to enjoy the fam!

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Spooner is starting to stand, walk, eat a few solids (finally!) and has two cute little teeth.  He still has us all wrapped around his adorable little finger!  One of his favorite places to stand is at the top of the stairs and bounce up and down as he watches the action in the house and out the front window.  He is not sure about grass, but definitely loves to be where the action is and will risk a little grass action if it means getting there.
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Last Friday, I was pretty wiped out after one of our long "Master Class"-"Theater"-"Choir" days. I was tired and a little out of sorts.  When my darling Q-dawg asked if there was something he could do to help, I said, "I think I just need to organize something." He gave me the hug I also asked for and then we went and straightened and cleaned out the garage.  We had also just purchased a new lawn mower the night before, so our handyman Lek put that together and was off making the front and side yard look fabulous while we worked in the garage.  It was great to feel like we were making headway in getting settled in...still. :).

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After debating back and forth, I decided to bite the bullet and tell Hava it is her birthday this Saturday, knowing it would be a week of up and down emotion as the "big day" got closer and closer.  Now, to make it magical! :)

My Avot

I'm singing an ode to my daughter divine,
Her eyes how they sparkle
Her soul how it shines
Day after day she dances along
With quiet grace shimmering
To her own inner song.

With peace in her manner and joy in her heart,
Beautifying,
Loving,
In every way apart.
She gracefully battles the darkness within
Reaching,
striving,
God's peace to win.

A daughter of light, a champion of truth
She's making her stand
While still in her youth.
Taking family and friends under her gentle wing,
The music of her testimony
Such joy she does bring!

Meeting the need that is silent and sore,
Prayerful and watchful,
With balm that is sure.
A note, a gift, and hug that is true,
A touch in our lives
That's as gentle as dew.

As paths come before her, she reaches inside,
The hurt and the struggle...
Oh so much to hide!
Yet courageous and strong, with a soul firmly placed
She looks to the light,
Moving onward with grace.

And lives gently graced, with her touch rippling on
A good gift to all
With each verse of her song.
Her own private symphony of glory and light,
My beautiful daughter,
My daughter of light.

Pirates, learning on the road, clean kitchens, and group dating

This week we celebrated "talk like a pirate" day.

It was inspired by our dear friend, Mr. Spinach, who invited everyone who wanted to join him to Krispy Kreme Donuts on Thursday at 5:10 pm, and it was carried out by our dear daughter, Avot.  They spent the morning studying "pirate-y" stuff (one of our first "real" school days since we have been here in America).  As we sat at the table and the kids from the Goob down to Papaya worked on maps, worksheets, and writing, Pipalicious turned to me excitedly and exclaimed, "Hey, mom!  It's like we're in real school."

Yeah.  Just like :).

I think they have the look down :).  Hava insisted on doing her own...then she painted Papaya all over "like a princess" complete with necklaces and bracelets :).  Papaya washed it off before I could get to it, but quickly found a marker to remedy the problem and spent the rest of the weekend with uncombed hair and strange green stripes all over her face :).

Our triple bunk bed makes the perfect pirate ship!  Hava even designed her own scope :).

The pirates all headed out to the Pillaging Point after a great afternoon visiting with Housholders (Jordan skunked Avot at Egyptian Rat Screw and Lek earned some points in his argument for hanging out with his friends who are girls).  The pirates spent four hours in line, and conquered.  In that time, I made multiple trips back and forth to make sure they were alright, dinner was going, Q-dawg was able to get to flag football (e.g.  I picked up the two littlest girl pirates), and played a volleyball game of my own.  Whew.  But the pirates felt it was worth every one of the 72 donuts they came home with :).

One thing that we learned on our way back and forth was some interesting things on the billboards.  The Goob learned what "spas" and "mammograms" were, and Avot found out that Ken Garff Auto sells cars.  (It was a great reinforcement of the class we had this month on advertisements that actually tell you nothing about what they are selling.)
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Just finishing up a sink full of dishes.  Papaya was creative and added flour and rotten tomato peels to her usual "water time" at the kitchen sink.  Yummy.  With a busy last couple of days (master class, choir, acting group, pizza memorization party, high priest social, high priest trip to the temple early Saturday morning, blitz house cleaning, bottling, learning to play Wallyball with Q-dawg and some friends, more bottling, running to the library with Liliputian, weeding at Aaron and Niesha's, watching the BYU-Utah rivalry game, haircuts at 7:30 Sunday morning--the ox was in the mire!  you should have seen the length of those boys' hair!--whew!), I have not taken the time to do the dishes, and it was pretty bad.

Candids courtesy of Pipalicious on the way to the BIG GAME! (Incidentally, I fell asleep on the couch at the beginning of the second quarter...I'm the party pooper :)...)

Cute, Pipey!

A look out back...

Can't get enough of this guy.

And here's Utah...

Back to business

I almost went to bed tonight before washing the dishes yet again, but then I thought of my dear friend, Delberta Bradley.  As she was teaching me to bottle green beans this last week, she shared that she never goes to sleep until her kitchen is clean, because it makes her so happy in the morning.

I thought I would try it.

It has given me some nice calm reflection time, and helped me let my mind wander to remember things I wanted to write here :).

Like when, out of desperation, I asked the sleepless Papaya to "help me put Spooner to sleep."  She jumped right in the port-a-crib with him, and, after quite a while of giggling together, my three year old put my 9 month old to sleep.  They did this for a few nights this week, sometimes even holding hands.  so sweet!  One time, Papaya climbed out and Spooner started crying.  I said, "Oh no!  Spooner is sad that you left!  Can you help him be happy and go to sleep?"  She climbed right back in and they were both asleep not long after.  So fun!

Lek fixed our microwave, put some blinds in, and now has some great plans for an herb garden in our yard.  Avot is starting to transistion into the next stage with lots of busy-ness with work and school.  I am trying to find my place in it all and how to involve her still and how much.  Not the easiest thing I have ever done :(.

My parents just enjoyed a trip to Austria and Switzerland that sounded right out of a dream. (Ironically, a song from "The Sound of Music" just came on...)  They listened to the bells in Salzburg, slept in a chalet in the Alps, and did so many other awesome things!  I am happy for them and a little sad that we were not there per the original plan.  Sigh.  I feel the confirmation that we are to be here now (the kids are thriving!), but it can be tricky to feel content with where we are at, ugye?

I have been able to bottle tomatoes and peaches through the generosity of marvelous people in the ward.  It is good to be building our food storage again.  Avot just made another marvelous batch of bread tonight and it is amazing.

Well, time to go back to the kitchen....maybe I'll finish this all soon :).
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Lek has been having a hard time with our family policy on "friend 'hangouts' with the opposite gender."  We feel that there is a fine line between group dating and calling up a bunch of girls and boys and doing things together.  We have also felt to be very cautious in approaching that line. I explained to Lek that it is like the time that I found Spooner in my bathroom sucking on the better end of our new toilet scrub brush.  While the end was probably still pretty clean, it was attached to a disgusting other end that we didn't want him to touch, so we didn't want him to touch the whole thing until he knew how to use it.  We felt that Heavenly Father is the same.  The prophets give us commandments because the Lord tells them to, because the Lord knows "what is attached to the other end" and wants us to be happy, healthy and safe.

Lek is getting a little tired of my analogies, but, for now, hopefully, he can still be happy polling every person he can about different angles on the issue.  He is determined! :)

Squeezing and Seducing

...that's how we get our little ones to sleep around here :).

I just finished squeezing some cute little baby thighs for about 10 minutes to get Spooner to the state of calm sleep. Cute little boy!  He is a little slapper as he speed crawls around the house and is (thankfully!) careful around the stairs.  His favorite past time is banging.  Normally he uses his hands, but last night at the Olive Garden, he tried out his head on the table.

Not so fun.

Now, on to seducing.  Putting Papaya to sleep has been an ongoing battle.  Threats, spanks, bribes, time-outs,...nothing seems to work.  (She'll even come out and present her bottom for a spanking if she is particularly sassy that night!)  Well, tonight, I went back to trying to make bedtime a happy time, with images of a 16 year old hating bedtime from childhood trauma at eventide.  I said, "Oh, I love bedtime!  Do you know why mommy loves bedtime?" (Really.  Let me count the ways.)  Papaya and Hava were enchanted as I snuggled with them and told them all the things I loved about it.  I held Hava's hand, even after she had hit Papaya in the back and felt bad about it, and told her how much I loved her, even when she was naughty.  She softened right up, and, snuggling into my hand, said, "Can we go to sleep like this every night?"  Sweet.

Papaya in bed, asleep, (in bed?! Wow!!) before 10 pm.  Record!  Maybe we will have to do this every night!

Tonight Lek, the Goob, and Chugger-dude went to a trampoline place where they could bounce, jump, and flip to their hearts content.  They came back with eyes glowing and bodies sweaty.  Perfect!

We started our first day of family sports day with another family in our neighborhood.  We are trying to get away from the craziness of kids on multiple teams but still give the kids the opportunity to excel at team sports.  We'll see how it goes!

Avot is balancing two jobs and all her schooling...I hardly see her, but she seems happy.  Lek is enjoying the thrill of studying hard and working harder at various odd physical labor or fix-it jobs around our house or the houses of others.  He is quite the genius! (Fixed our microwave...cha-ching!)

With Hava and Papaya's "help" I picked more tomatoes from a neighbor's garden...what a blessing!  I'll bottle those in the next few days.  And my friend brought me a couple pint jars from the beans she taught me how to bottle at her house yesterday.  I am grateful for those who are sharing this year when I don't have a garden.

Hava, finding out that one of my best friend's name is "Angie" and not just "Sister Moore," exclaimed, "I love her new name!"  She was crushed when we told her she shouldn't call her that :).

Time to hit the hay.  We are starting our Vanguard Youth group at a church tomorrow morning, and I am a little nervous about it.  It has been a hard decision to make, but I feel good about it on the whole.  Just lots to remember.  Lots to pack up...and we still only have one working car, with Q-dawg's new one still out of commission after our "enemy" stole our air filter (aka the oil repair man in Clinton).  The whole engine was destroyed after losing a poorly replaced air filter, is all we could figure, and we are waiting for the "new" (rebuilt) engine to be put in so we can have two cars again.  Our sweet neighbors have been letting us borrow their car on occasion, which has been a great blessing.  I hope someday we can pay it forward!

Enduring the rain of life...but not very well :)

As I read in Matthew 24 this morning, I find it interesting that the Lord describes so many terrible conditions of the last days and then says, "if you can endure to the end, you will  be saved."

Sometimes I am not all that good at enduring...at least, enduring well, and I have so little to endure!  Last weekend, for instance, our "new to us" car broke down on the way back from Goblin Valley...and it was Q-dawg's new hybrid!  That meant asking for help from Aaron and Niesha (thank goodness for them!) to tow us from Helper up Spanish Fork Canyon and lots of extra driving as I ran a group home (Q-dawg helped drive the towed vehicle), and then came back to Salt Lake to pick up the rest of the gang from Aaron's house.  Small thing, I know, but, between the rain pouring down and soaking my laundry hanging in the backyard and me spending an additional couple hours driving, I just didn't do much more than endure...grumpily.

Ironically, earlier that day, Chugger-dude was in a similar predicament of being somewhere he just didn't want to be (my car instead of daddy's car), and I just told him, "Look for your blessings, kiddo, because your situation can be controlled by your attitude :)."

Let me tell you, sometimes swallowing your own advice isn't so easy :)!  I could hear in my mind the advice I had given my own son just hours earlier that day...and I resolved next time to be a little more sympathetic to him!   Sometimes people just need a listening ear, not a lecture. May I remember that next time :)...

Visegrad és Szentendre

Hair done, shoes on the right feet (for most of us, anyway), something strange in our hands...we're ready to go! :)

The girls are great at keeping Spooner happy while we wait for the busz :)

This was Daddy's idea :)...

Here we are, waiting on the bench grabbing some breakfast while we wait for Daddy to buy us some passes.

I love these boys :)

Once we got up to Visegrad, we had to hike up the hill to the "fellegvar"...thank goodness we had some juicy Hungarian apples to keep us going :)! It was QUITE the hike.

I love the little resting steps here...who knows how old they are!  They have little etches from the life of Christ at the top of each of the little pedastals Liliputian is resting against.

Spooner is ecstatic to pose in front of this cute little church we saw on the way up.  (You just can't see all the flies and bees zooming around that Q-dawg patiently endured while posing :).)

Isn't the church adorable!  Avot is busily swatting bugs...

Love this girl's style :)!  Flip-flops and a skirt!

Hatchet-man made it to the top and is prepared to storm the fortress!

This well was a great place to replenish our water bottles.  It was quite the hike!

The troops are ready and approaching the gate!

We love our little posers!

Below the battlements...

We find a stunning array of war machines!

This is Lek's look when he saw all the cool, affordable maces.  If we had only known we could have packed them on the plane...sigh. I almost considered making a separate trip up before we left just to pick some up.

It's blurry because they are actively loading the ballista!

Watch out for the warrior manning this one...she's deadly :).

View from the top of the beautiful Danube below...it was amazing the view that this fortress commanded from the top!

The stairs going up were a little...nerve-wracking :)

View from the top!  And, yes, grandma and oma....  We were holding Papaya's hand tightly.

Papaya's manning the battlements!
Note from Avot: Papaya was whining at the top of some stairs inside, and a man started to take her picture (as they usually do :)). She saw him with the camera, immediately stopped crying, and posed with a cute little smile on her face. 

Classic Q-dawg!

Changing of the guard

layout of the fortress

Sketches

Spooner will use pretzels to teethe...but not to eat

Can you even imagine putting something like this together with just man-power?  Impressive!

They had cool wax works throughout the fortress to show time period costume and ambience.  Loved it!

And I mean really loved it :).

Some more views from the top...

Papaya missed the "pose!" cue, evidently...

 

On the way back south through Szentendre...a very pretty little artsy town just north of Budapest...

Had to keep this pic of our posh busz that we rode on...it was even air conditioned well!

We love the cobblestones like this all around Hungary

Enjoying some jegkrém :)

The town is full of colorful doors, buildings and cool alleyways.

Who is that cranky woman in the background?  She missed the request to smile :).

This is a cool fountain where we refilled our water bottles again and again and again :)

Isn't it cute?  And check out that adorable "Langos" sign!

I feel like I am back on our basement apartment of Pécel!

Yes, I had to try a Langos and it was delicious!

Yep...narrow.

Spooner is unhappy that he didn't get anything to eat!  Hava is still nursing her hotdog from the dinner stand where we got langosok and hotdogs from the man who remembered us from one random busz ride long ago in Biatorbagy.  "Hey!" he told Q-dawg, "I recognize your family."  Small world...or big crazy American family :).

Even the cobblestones were artistic in this town!

The Goob at another pump, the one that Q-dawg and I went to so many years ago when we visited Hungary before.

Who takes these shots when I am not looking :)...

Kind of a weird angle, but here we are!

Sisters!

We know how to get around!

Check out that helper in the back...is that Chugger-dude?

A look back at town and lovely Avot

Fun shadows!

Isn't this street just adorable?!

...and this one...

...and this house and windows...adorable!

Liliputian and the cute wall :)

What a nice Goob!  Girls, don't you dare try this at home :)!

Some phone time on an "archaic" phone...albeit pink :)

The monkeys went a little bananas on the way home :)

Which way is up?

Fun baba....

...and here is the close-up!

On our way home :)...