things we did before Christmas

For some reason UNC's fall semester ended earlier than usual this year, and on top of that my one scheduled final was on the first day. For my GIS class we had to do a GIS-related project, and for the final we gave a ten-minute presentation about our project and turned in a paper. I worked really hard to not procrastinate on the project because I knew the project I chose was a little complicated and I would need a lot of help from my teacher. In the end I still had a lot to do, but it worked out. On the day of our final (which was, oddly, at 7:00 pm, by the way), I came in and found out that I would be presenting second to last. So I got to listen to everyone else's presentations and sit there and worry that mine would be awful in comparison. But once I got up for my turn I just started talking and it went just fine. I knew my stuff really well and I had deliberately made my powerpoint sparse (mostly graphics and tables) so that I couldn't sit there and read it. I think I was pretty confident and it was kind of fun. After that project was over I had to write a paper for my research project, and that came together pretty well too. This has probably been my most difficult semester ever, but I admit that it's nice to look back and realize that at the beginning of the semester I wasn't even sure I had the skills to do everything, especially the project and the presentation, and now it's all over and I did it, and did it well.

Kevin's preschool had a little program and party to celebrate Christmas. First they performed a little play depicting the nativity. Kevin was one of the wise men. Before we left for the party, I was trying to get his costume figured out and he was not going to put up with it. He insisted that his costume is the Cat in the Hat and he wanted to wear that costume. I tried showing him one of the church's videos about the wise men and pointing out what their costumes looked like, and after that he consented to wear his monkey blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a tie draped over that, and he agreed to carry a music box as his gift. He didn't look much like a wise man to me, but once he was on the stage it was okay-ish, although you could barely see the music box. After he said his line (facing away from the audience), he knelt down on the floor and then Ryan started suppressing a laugh because Kevin had opened the music box and you could faintly hear it playing "What a Wonderful World." After the play, the kids sang a couple of songs, which was very cute. Then we had treats and chatted. I knew there would be a ton of sugary stuff there, so I decided to try a new bread recipe and bring that. Several people thanked me and said it was great, and there were only a couple of slices left when we went home, so I think it was a good choice.

For the last few years, our ward has had a tradition of participating in a local program called Share Your Christmas. Share Your Christmas finds people who are in need and can't afford Christmas presents, and they ask those people to make a list of some things they would like for Christmas. Then people volunteer to buy those gifts for those people. Our ward signs up to buy the gifts for around ten people each year, and individual members sign up for individual gifts. It has become one of my favorite service projects to do around Christmas. It's not a lot of work because we just have to sign up to buy a gift for the person and then go get it, but I really enjoy trying to make the gift thoughtful, and it's fun to imagine the person opening the gift and enjoying it when otherwise they wouldn't have had anything. This year we got to get some shirts for a man.

Everyone brings their gifts to the ward party where we usually have dinner, storytelling, and maybe some other activities. One of my favorite things is to see the huge pile of gifts that we all brought and think about how many people's lives we have touched together. Whoever organized the dinner this year was a genius because instead of having a big table with all of the food on it, they put ham, salad, and rolls at each table and asked people to bring side dishes to share at their table. I always dread having to drag the kids through the line and get everyone's food, so we loved this arrangement because we could just sit down and eat without dealing with the line.

For the past few years we have also had a tradition of singing Christmas carols with a few of our neighbors. Two of the families will be moving this year, so it was a little bittersweet, but it was fun as usual. I have the packet of music, so we will have to find some other friends to do it with next year, which, now that I think about it, will probably be our last Christmas here.

We had a very nice Relief Society activity for Christmas. There was a hot chocolate bar complete with creamers to add for flavoring (this is something we did in my family when I was growing up, and hazelnut hot chocolate is the best!), and some other treats and fruit. We started by snacking and chatting with each other. Then I accompanied my neighbor Elizabeth while she sang Mary Did You Know? She did a really beautiful job (even though she had a cold!). Her voice was perfect for the song and I felt deeply touched by the music. After that a brother in our ward who is working on a PhD in Religious Studies here spoke about Mary and gave some interesting insights about how she is a symbol of several gospel concepts.

We have a wonderful and ambitious choir director in our ward who always puts together a beautiful Christmas program for Sacrament meeting. I ended up playing the piano for all the songs this year, which I loved. There are always a few songs that aren't very hard and a couple that are a little challenging, and every year I feel unsure that it will all work out, but every year the program is beautiful. I always feel so blessed to be able to praise and express gratitude to our Savior through the Christmas program each year.

My advisor offered to pay me for working in the lab over the break, so I will be doing Sr columns a couple of times and maybe some other things. It will be nice to get a little extra income.

The kids have been enjoying taking turns putting up the ornament every day for the advent calendar. They also love having the Christmas tree up. (Kevin has been asking to put the Christmas tree up all year!)

I don't think I've switched from my Andy Williams Holiday station on Pandora since Thanksgiving.

We are getting very excited for Christmas. We were able to put a lot of thought into the gifts we got for everybody this year, and I think they will all like them. I have all the ingredients for the amazing cheese ball that I make every year and for a batch of wassail.

Today Kevin told me he wanted to make cow spots like we made when we went to Cow Appreciation Day at Chick Fil A. Initially I felt a little reluctant because I knew that what he probably wanted was to watch me make cow spots, not make the cow spots himself. That's usually how crafts go with Kevin. But I did get out the paper, crayons, and scissors, and it actually worked out really well. I made a few spots while he watched first, and then I magically managed to get him to try it with my help. I drew the shapes of the spots for him on paper, and then I helped him cut them out. I found that at first he had no confidence in himself and he needed me to hold his hand and the paper and help him cut in the right direction. But as he got going he would start aiming the scissors by himself while I kept my hand on his, and eventually he was doing it without any help, and he was doing a good job. I often feel like there are things that he is perfectly capable of, but he doesn't have the confidence to start and he won't try. But today, when I gave him a lot of manual guidance at first, he gained confidence and was able to finish by himself. I am constantly looking for ways to help him break past that barrier, so I was grateful today to find something that seemed to work.

Thanksgiving 2013

This is the only picture we got from Thanksgiving. It was time to make the rolls and I decided to give in to the kids' pleadings to let them help me . . . because I figure if I let them help me now, in ten years they can do it themselves. (I had been doing a lot of cooking and had just gotten the counters cleaned up some, so I was reluctant to let them help because I knew it would be a big mess.) I think there was about a cup of flour on the floor and the kids and I were covered in it. It was a good memory for them, though.

We had Thanksgiving with our neighbors the Rasmussens and the Pulsiphers. The Monsons came over later for pie. We have had Thanksgiving with the Rasmussens for four out the six years we have lived here, so it was a little bittersweet because they will be moving soon.

The kids were really excited about Thanksgiving. I had told them that we would be taking the pie to the Pulsiphers' house and eating dinner and pie there, so they were really looking forward to it and kept asking if it was time to go yet.

Unfortunately, Ryan got sick with the flu two days before Thanksgiving. He slept most of the time and could barely stand up for the first two days. On Thanksgiving, he was doing better, but he had a sore throat and thought he was probably contagious, so he decided not to come to dinner. I brought him food and pie and he spent the time making economic models on MatLab for fun. I'm glad none of the rest of us got sick (and that he can give me kisses again).

The kids all played together incredibly well. We hardly saw them the entire time we were at the Pulsiphers' house because they were playing in their son's room the entire time. (There was a nightlight in there that made it possible to play in the dark, so they were having a fabulous time.)

I ended up making three pies this year. I made a pie with a graham cracker crust and pudding in it, as well as a peach pie and a berry pie. The pie crust was my best yet. It was very flaky and it didn't shrink. I think it helped that I mixed it as little as possible. The berry pie was a last minute decision. I was remembering the razzleberry pie we used to have often at my Grammy's house, and since we had frozen berries in the freezer, I was able to do a single pie with a top crust using this recipe for the filling. It was a very good pie and turned out pretty similar to the razzleberry pie. Kevin really liked it. I think we had enough pie to last until Monday, and that's how it should be. Pie is one of the most important parts of Thanksgiving.

The day after Thanksgiving I spent the day loading my samples into Strontium columns to get the Strontium out and ready for the mass spectrometer. I was done by 7:00 pm, which was a record for me. Every other time I've done it I have been finished much later. Once I didn't get home until 11 pm. It was nice to have plenty of Thanksgiving leftovers to snack on all day, even though it was not so nice to be away from my family on Thanksgiving weekend. I'm blessed to have a family who is very supportive of my education.

Last month I made a new record for lowest number of posts. I just didn't feel like blogging because I was busy and stressed. But I did keep track of some things we did and some great quotes from the kids.

Ryan had a birthday. He turned 31. Apparently we didn't get any pictures of him, but here is his cake and the kids. The candles show his age in binary. We gave him Guns, Germs, and Steel and the two books he was missing from The Chronicles of Prydain series.

11/23
Today Kevin, Heidi and I are making pictures with construction paper. Kevin eventually got it into his head that he wanted to make a train. Of course I was envisioning a flat piece of paper with construction paper trains glued to it. Finally when I made the tracks, Kevin complained that they won't work for driving the trains on. That's when I realized that while I was envisioning a flat picture, Kevin was envisioning a functioning train with an intricate track complete with bridges and tunnels, all made out of paper. Heidi, on the other hand, is deeply offended that I threw away all of the tiny shreds of paper that she meticulously ripped herself.

11/25
Kevin's preschool class performed a little program today. They sang a song (Albuquerque is My Turkey) and then each of the kids stood up and got to share something they were grateful for (the teachers had already asked them before and written it down on a feather to be taped on Albuquerque the Turkey). Kevin said, "I am grateful for my sister. She is the costume for Thing 1." (Apparently he felt that it was very important for that second part to be included.)

11/27
In the morning I said to the kids, "Okay, so what are our goals for today? Let's see, we need to make pie--" Then I was interrupted as both kids excitedly raced to the kitchen, climbed onto the counter, and pulled the box of graham crackers out. (I was planning to make one pie with a graham cracker crust, and I had explained this to them when they saw the graham crackers with the groceries a couple of days before.) They were really excited to be my helpers with getting things ready for Thanksgiving. They also enjoyed playing with the scraps from the regular pie crusts for about two minutes . . . then Kevin threw a big blob on the ceiling and we were done.

11/28
Ryan found a part from my baby food grinder in Kevin's drawer.

He came out and said, "Kevin had a part of the baby food thing in his drawer. He dismantled it."

Then Kevin came in smiling and said, "See, Mom? I made it into a helicopter."

"Like I said, he dismantled it."

Then Kevin said, "It seems to me I fixed it."

It's all a matter of perspective.

11/28
I put on a pink shirt that I haven't worn for a long time. Heidi saw it and said, "Oh, you have pink! Can I have a pink shirt?" Then she found the nearest pink shirt and put it on over the one she was wearing so that we would match. Heidi has a thing for changing her clothes lately. She changes her outfit (all by herself) a few times a day for no apparent reason.

11/29
Kevin: "It seems to me . . . that you're all dressed up, Mom." (Apparently "It seems to me" is his new phrase.) (I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt--as opposed to exercise pants or pajamas.)

12/2
We went to Target on Saturday to get some socks for Kevin. I was planning to just get plain socks that all look the same because they're cheaper and easier to match, but when we got to the socks, he got a bright look in his eye and said, "Mom, can we get colorful socks this time?" My initial response was to be a cheapskate and just say we were going to get plain ones, but when I saw the look on his face I decided it was worth a couple of extra dollars to make him happy (plus, when Kevin shows a preference about colors we kind of like to encourage that). This morning as he was getting dressed I was glad I made that decision because he was so thrilled with his new colorful socks. I had forgotten how much fun that kind of thing is when you're little. He chose to wear the grey ones with yellow on them and said they were construction socks.

12/3
This was the prayer of a certain little boy who was cooped up in the house all day: "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank Thee for this day, Thank Thee that we did NOT go on a walk today (meaningful look in my direction), Thank Thee that we can go on a walk tomorrow, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Apparently I wrote this a month or so ago and never got around to publishing it. Well, here you go.

Kevin:
"We were too hot to sleep."

"Hmm, that's too bad."

"Sure!" (I love it when he says this after I ask him to help me in some way.)

"I need to eat some (cereal/candy/juice/etc.) because I have to help my breath."

"Here, Mom, you need to drink this." (Handing me a very full glass of water.) "I can smell your breath."

Kevin had a phase where he liked to pretend to be a dog. Recently he has been pretending to be a cat instead. I think I prefer the cat because it is much quieter and doesn't lick my pants.

Heidi:
"I need space!"

"I need some privacy!"

Heidi is very aware of our routines. If I have done something out of order or some routine isn't finished, she uses her nicest voice to tell me what to do.

She has become a bit of a daddy's girl lately. It's always, um, fun when we get to see her thrashing around and screaming, "No, Dad do it!" when I did something for her instead of Ryan. (Update: This phase seems to have been short-lived, because now that I'm coming back to this post a couple of months later I'm realizing that she is not doing this much anymore.)

Heidi loves her brother, but she has also been enjoying the time she gets with me when Kevin is at preschool. Kevin is a bit more dominant and often when he is around we end up doing everything he wants. Heidi enjoys getting to choose what she wants to do and having that time to play without competing with him over all the toys. One Friday morning we went for a walk and she really enjoyed it because she could take it at her own pace. Every once in a while she would just jump in excitement as she was walking. It was an interesting contrast because when we walk with Kevin, he frequently stops (or darts away) to look at webs, flowers, bugs, or whatever else (which prolongs most walks quite a bit); Heidi, on the other hand, mostly pauses briefly to point out the things that interest her and then moves on. There's nothing wrong with either approach, but it has been interesting to note the contrast, and I probably would not have noticed it without having time alone with Heidi.

Here is Kevin in his soccer get-up:

Kevin got a medal on the second to last day of soccer. He is very proud of it and tells us that it is special. He is actually attempting to kick the ball sometimes during the games now.

Kevin enjoyed visiting the fire department with his preschool. He likes to get the vacuum hose attachments and use them as fire hoses. These are his very favorite clothes, by the way.

One evening I came home from an errand with the kids and found that someone had left this huge box in the lobby with a note indicating that it was free for anyone who wanted to build a fort. I snatched it right up. It was the only reason we had dinner that evening. The kids played with it non-stop and that freed me up to make dinner. They continue to play with it. They make up lots of "house" scenarios. One time I came running because I heard Kevin say he was putting something in the oven--it was okay because he had actually put a colander on top of another box in front of the big box, and he informed me that they were baking a cake.

The kids are fighting over interesting things lately. Usually the fights revolve around who gets to deliver a message to me from dad or who gets to help me or get things for me.

Good Medicine (an honest post)

I've been yelling a lot lately, mainly on nights when Ryan is at work late. It's the hardest time of day because the kids are hungry, I'm hungry, I'm ready for some adult conversation, I'm tired of being the referee, the house is trashed, and the kids are generally in the mood for playing with things I don't want them to have or else fighting.

On one such night this week, I stopped and said, "You know what, guys? Let's be quiet from now on instead of loud." And that was when things got silly. I yelled, "Is this quiet? IS THIS QUIET? IS THIS QUIET?" Hysterical giggles ensued. Then I said, "Is this loud? Is this loud? Is this loud?" while quieting down to a whisper. More hysterical giggles. It didn't take too long before the kids tried to join in the game and it really did get way too loud, but fortunately I got the idea to do faces instead of volumes. I would make an angry face and say, "Is this a nice face?" Then I would make a silly face and say, "Is this a nice face?" Then a sad face, and so on. The result was more giggles. It was amazing how the nasty feelings dissipated as soon as I started making it my goal to make them laugh. Laughter is good medicine.

Happy Halloween.

I hosted Heidi's playgroup the week of Halloween, so we made jack-o-lanterns. I cut out the pumpkins and the mouths and shapes, and then I put glue on sponges. The kids dipped the black pieces on the sponge and then glued them on the paper. Most of the kids needed a lot of help, but I heard later from the parents that the kids were apparently very proud of their creations. That evening Kevin saw what we had done and wanted to make his own. (I had actually gotten the idea from Kevin's preschool, so he knew what to do.) He probably made five jack-o-lanterns. This was the extent of our pumpkin carving.

(The last one is Heidi's.)

Kevin was the Cat in the Hat and Heidi was Thing 1. I made the hat using this tutorial and it turned out great. The bow is just red felt that I cut into the general shape and pinned on his shirt. Heidi's sign is the inside circle from the brim of Kevin's hat with "Thing 1" written with a Sharpie. It was enough work for me to get my sewing fix and feel like they had decent costumes, but it wasn't way too much work for me. I was initially planning to make a cat body and everything, but then a friend pointed out that really a black shirt and pants would work just fine because all you really need is the hat, so that made things much more manageable.

The kids had a lot of fun trick or treating in our apartment complex. We ended up going around with some friends from our ward (the Larsens) who were in the hall as we came out. This was the first year that Kevin really understood what was going on. Heidi got the idea pretty quickly. They were both really cute. Heidi did an adorable happy dance at one of the first doors because she was so excited.

We had a tri-ward Halloween party this year. I suspect that the young men and young women thought it would be fun to do Halloween games for the kids, but since the three wards are combined for youth activities, that meant all three wards got combined for the party. The games in the classrooms were pretty well done, and the trunk or treating actually wasn't too bad. There were just way too many people crammed into the gym for dinner.

a-camping we went

This year our ward finally had a ward campout (this has not happened since before we moved here five years ago). We had a fun time. Dinner was hot dogs and assorted side dishes. After eating, Kevin and Ryan had some adventures (including Kevin getting wet at the lake) and Heidi and I chatted with friends by the fire. When it was dark most of us sat around the fire and sang campfire songs and primary songs. Somebody brought some marshmallows and Kevin did a great job roasting one all by himself. The Empeys had some glow sticks that they let Kevin and Heidi play with, which is always fun when you're a little kid.

We went and got ready for bed, including a trip to the bathroom, and then tried getting the kids to go to sleep. We also had to kick some daddy long-legs out of the tent. Ryan left again and I kept working on getting the kids in bed. Kevin probably would have settled down okay, except Heidi could not comprehend that we were sleeping in the tent. After I tried to explain that we were sleeping in the tent, she kept saying, "No, I don't like this tent!" I finally let the kids have the flashlights for a while and search for spiders. It was fun to listen to their chatter and watch them explore the shadows. After a while I took the flashlights away and Heidi laid down on Ryan's sleeping bag right next to me. She settled down a little better there, and the kids finally fell asleep.

By this point Ryan had been gone for quite a while. I suspected that he had stopped by the fire and was talking to some friends, but I figured I should make sure so I wouldn't be sitting there worrying that he was lost in the woods somewhere. So after I was satisfied that the kids were sleeping pretty deeply, I went back to the fire, and Ryan was there talking with two friends. I ended up getting slightly disoriented and couldn't find our tent, so I went back to the fire pit and Ryan pointed me in the right direction. I fell asleep pretty quick. Ryan ended up talking for three hours, which was nice because he doesn't get to chat with friends at church very often. He shifted Heidi over to the sleeping bag that the kids were sharing (opened up and covered with blankets).

A few hours later Heidi woke up and kept yelling "I need space!!" at Kevin because whenever he moved the blanket shifted. It took a bit of work to get her to calm down. In the midst of this, Kevin sat straight up and said, "Oh! Are all of my friends sleeping in their sleeping bags?"

Overall the kids did pretty well. Kevin knew what was going on and did a great job going to sleep.

In the morning Ryan helped make breakfast (pancakes, bacon, and eggs). We didn't get a lot of sleep, so we were pretty ready to be done after that, so we packed everything up and left. We were asked to clean the church, so we went and did that before coming home really tired.

Memory Lane: How remembering my childhood helps me understand my kids (kind of)

When I was little, maybe three years old, I got a hold of a bottle of Head and Shoulders. I took it out into the living room, sat down under the piano, and proceeded to dump the entire bottle onto my head. It got into my eyes and hurt really bad. My mom called a neighbor to come watch my little sister while I got my first shower. I can only imagine how long it took to rinse it out.

I'm pretty sure I am not exaggerating when I say it was an entire bottle. When we moved out of the house fifteen years later, there was still a very large greasy spot on the carpet that had the unmistakable smell of Head and Shoulders, and I know the carpet had been shampooed several times by the Kirby salesman, so it must have been rooted into the carpet pretty deeply.

Another time, my mom was sick in bed. I wanted to do something to help her, and it occurred to me that I could help by getting the mail. Our house was on a dirt road 1/4 of a mile a way from the highway, and our mailbox was at the start of the dirt road on the highway. My dad was working in the garden and he saw me try to go walking up the road, so he warned me that it wasn't safe and I should not go up there because I could get run over. But I couldn't imagine myself getting hurt, so I didn't think it would be a problem. I just waited until he was somewhere else and then set off up the driveway while he couldn't see. It was all going great and (at least from my perspective) I had gotten pretty far up the driveway (I wasn't even half-way). Then, to my horror, an enormous red combine turned from the highway onto the dirt road. I was going to get RUN OVER by a combine! I knew it would be a close race, but my only hope was to turn around and run as fast as I could back to my house. I didn't look behind me, but I was sure that the combine was practically on my heels. Against all odds, I made it back to the house safely, and I think my dad realized what I had done and said I told you so. For a few years I was certain that I must be an incredibly fast runner because I had outrun a combine. (Now I know I could probably walk at a casual pace and still be going faster than a combine at its fastest speed.)

It's interesting how most of our childhood memories get fuzzy with time. I am glad I have held onto a few, because remembering them helps remind me that to my kids, the strange things they do probably make perfect sense. To me what I had done was completely rational.

On that note, I have cleaned up a small swimming pool in our bathroom twice in the past week, which is partly why I was thinking about these stories. I did send the offending party to time out, but I think I handled the situation a little more patiently than normal. After it happened the second time I opted to remove the plug from the sink so the kids can't plug the sink and then let the water run over the sides and onto the floor (this obsession with playing in the water has been a bit of a problem lately, although normally it was not this bad). The thingy on the faucet says it lets out 2 gallons per minute, so it doesn't take long for the sink to overflow. (We changed that out too for one with a slightly slower flow.) I was really annoyed that I had to sop up an inch of water off of the floor, but at the same time I had to admit that I used to enjoy filling the sink up with water and floating things in it, and when I was little I didn't notice that water was getting all over the floor, and the kids probably aren't doing it with the intent of making a lot of work for me. I figure it's probably better to unscrew the plug than to keep fighting them about it.

This post sounds kind of like a Christmas letter, but it's been over a month since I've written about our family, so I guess that's what happens.

We are alive and safe and haven't gone completely insane yet. The semester's only half over, though, so there's still plenty of time.

Kevin is going to preschool at the New Adventures Kids Club and having a great time. It is three mornings a week. I hear from his teachers that he is participating a lot more now than he did in the beginning. He does the activities and the worksheets and he is getting better at tracing the letters (which he completely refused to do before preschool started). He loves taking something to share for "Show up time" (i.e. Show and Tell--they bring something that starts with the letter of the week) every Wednesday and he often acts out preschool scenarios like circle time with Heidi. Kevin's teachers often tell me how much he loves to be their helper, which makes me pleased. I am really glad we made the decision to send him to preschool this year because it has helped him in so many ways. Heidi and I came along for their first field trip to the fire department on Monday and we had a nice time. One of the firemen put on all of his gear, including the face mask, so that they could see what a fireman looks like in his suit. I thought it was a really good idea because if a kid was trapped in a house during a fire it might be kind of scary to see a fireman in a full suit.

Kevin is also doing soccer at the YMCA every Saturday morning. He usually stays on the field now. We're still working on getting him to actually participate. He seems to move around more if there are cute little girls to follow around. (Her name was Rosie.) (She had blue eyes.) (Don't tell Kevin's other girlfriend who lives upstairs.)

Heidi goes to a play group for a couple of hours on Wednesdays. The moms take turns watching the kids. We try to do a little lesson about the letter of the week, but mostly the idea is for the kids to play with each other and the moms to get a break. I am also trading babysitting on Mondays and Fridays with the mother of another boy in Kevin's preschool, so on Mondays during preschool Heidi has a friend over and on Fridays during preschool I am kid-free.

Heidi likes eating plain tortillas. Preferably in stacks of five or more at once. (Yuck!) I have to hide them so she doesn't waste an entire bag at one go. Kevin likes wrapping the leftovers on his plate in saran wrap and putting them in the fridge for later. And yes, he often does come back and eat them later. They both like cooking scrambled eggs. Interestingly, they are not as interested in eating said scrambled eggs. They claim that somebody else should eat them.

My GIS class is proving to be very time-consuming. I am convinced that ArcMap occasionally decides not to work just because it doesn't like me. On Saturday I was trying to work on a portion of the homework assignment, and even though I followed the directions exactly I kept getting error messages. Three hours later I came back and tried again, and did the same exact things I had done before, and this time it worked. Then yesterday I ended up spending the entire day on the last part of the assignment. We were supposed to make a model that tells ArcMap to go through a series of steps and repeat (iterate) those steps for all ten files in a folder. It would either stop after the first file (it was not iterating) or get caught in a loop where it repeated the steps over and over for the first file. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. Ryan looked at it when he got home and said it was a problem with ArcMap, not me. We finally sacrificed enough chickens and Ryan did the right dance as the model ran, and it worked half an hour before class started. It was not me, it was ArcMap. Since it was about a quarter of the points on the assignment, I opted to hurry and finish it and get to class ten minutes late. (I told my teacher that ArcMap doesn't like me and he completely agreed. It's a really useful program, but it definitely has a lot of bugs.) It can be really stressful because often I can't move on in a lab until I figure out the part that's not working, and there have been several times when I've basically spent the entire day on Monday trying to finish before class because I had problems all week. Most of my dreams these days are about making maps (which is really annoying because that's a really boring thing to dream about). I am glad I'm taking the class, though, because I am gaining a lot of skills that will be useful if I need to apply for a job.

For my research project, I acquired some precipitation samples that had been collected at UNC-W and did the Strontium chemistry for them. I am working on scheduling a time to sample some well water. It looks like I am also going to collect vegetation from various places in my study area, burn them to ash, and then do the Strontium chemistry of the ash. (I don't really know how that process works since I haven't done it yet.) As part of my GIS class, we are supposed to do a project related to our research, so I am going to use remote sensing, precipitation, and elevation data to find out whether the Sr concentrations or 87/86 ratios in some rivers could be changed by a single storm. I noticed that some of my precipitation samples had Sr concentrations that were higher than the Sr concentrations in some of the surface water I sampled last year, so I was curious to know if a storm could affect the Sr chemistry of the water in those spots.

I am very ready to be done with school. This is my eighth year of college and it's getting harder and harder to balance my school responsibilities with my family and church responsibilities. Next semester I will probably just be taking what Ryan calls a "fluff class." I'm thinking choir. Ryan has been taking care of a lot of the housework and staying with the kids a lot so I can do homework. I would never have made it this far if he hadn't refused to let me drop out. I have grand plans for making Halloween costumes this year, but at this point I don't even have the fabric, so we'll see.

Ryan passed his preliminary oral exam last summer and he is working on getting data and papers done as he works toward getting his dissertation written (expected graduation date: May 2015). He also has a "minion" (i.e. a high school student who comes once a week to do research). He is serving again on the GPSF Senate and as the Student Parent Advocate. Check out the awesome post that he wrote on his blog about evil villain lairs. Also check out the interesting posts from his on-going "Stories from My Mission" series.

US Geological Survey shut down too

The above image is what you see if you go to www.usgs.gov. That's the US Geological Survey. It is a wealth of resources for geology research, and I would likely have used data from the website this semester for a class I am in. I know there is a significant portion of my department who would like to use data from the website.

I am not going to take any sides about whether the Republicans or Democrats are right on this issue. Honestly I think most of the people in both parties don't care very much about the United States and they don't really care that our country is getting deeper and deeper in debt.

But the Obama administration is handling the shutdown like ten-year-old drama queens, and I think the USGS is just one more example. If they had simply told the people employed by the USGS to not come in to work until the shutdown is over, what probably would have happened would be that the website would still be up, but there wouldn't be any updates and if there were any technical issues they wouldn't get fixed. It's completely unnecessary to shut down most of the website. And this seems mild compared to other actions they have taken, like putting guards around the World War II memorial so people can't go see it. These are not required cutbacks. They are putting our tax money into raising up a stink because they want the press to have plenty of material for making the Republicans look like jerks. It's incredibly childish.

Goodreads Review: The Little Fire Engine by Lois Lenski

The Little Fire Engine by Lois Lenski
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I hated this book so much I had to write a review about it.

Fireman Small and the other firefighters are called to save a burning house. They go there in a fire truck that says the same thing as the Winkies in the Wizard of Oz (ooo-weee-oooo). I could not figure out how to make that sound like a siren.

They get to the house and it is obviously a serious situation because smoke is coming out of the windows and doors. So Fireman Small sends his firefighters straight in with nothing but various sharp blades to find the fire.

Meanwhile, Fireman Small and another firefighter are preparing the pump and hose. The family is removing furniture from their house that has copious amounts of smoke coming out of it.

Then the plot thickens. One of the daughters is trapped on the second floor with her kitty and there are flames behind her. Apparently the family was so busy saving their furniture that they didn't bother to make sure the kids were all safely out of the house. But it's okay, because Fireman Small saves the girl and the kitty using the ladder.

By this point the fire has reached the attic, according to the report of the firefighters who went inside the house to explore, so Fireman Small climbs the ladder to the roof, chops a hole in it, and sprays water through the hole, extinguishing the fire. (This is not why firemen chop holes in roofs, by the way.)

Amazingly, although the house was up in flames, it was saved by Fireman Small's heroic efforts. He tells the family that their house is saved and they can go ahead and move all of their furniture back into their soggy, smoke-damaged home that has a hole in the roof, and the firemen drive back to the firehouse. What a happy ending.

You may have guessed that this is probably not a great book to use if you want to teach fire safety.

View all my reviews

I have been thinking about the goals I made in January. Like I said then, I am not a New Years Resolutions kind of person, but this year I felt like I should have some goals. Here's how I've done so far:

• Read Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling: Done. I also read Ethnic America and have started reading The Jefferson lies--both are non-fiction books.
• Sew a little bit every week: I have not been sewing every week, but I have done a lot more sewing this year. I have made a dress for Heidi, four skirts for myself, and a few hair clips.
• Read twelve books for fun (one per month): According to Goodreads, I have already read 20 books this year. I have been doing a much better job this year of using my free time for the things that are important and that I truly enjoy, instead of wasting it away on shallow things on the internet.
• Read most of each month's Ensign: I have read most of the Ensigns this year.

I would say I've done a pretty good job of accomplishing my goals so far this year. Maybe I should do this more often.

on respect

I follow a few cloth diaper pages on Facebook because I enjoy learning about new kinds of cloth diapers (even though I never buy them because our prefolds and covers work so well and are so cheap), and they also post giveaways sometimes. (I have won two cloth diapers by entering these giveaways.) Recently I have hidden a lot of the pages because I am tired of all the gay marriage/attachment parenting/environmentalism posts with all of the associated political comments, but there are a couple that I have continued to follow. Today I saw this post on Cloth Diaper Geek's Facebook page:

"I saw a teacher or whomever, in the car loop at my kids school look right at me and my pink hair, laugh then turn to another teacher who then turned to look right at me while the other was talking to her. I let it get to me for a minute. Then I proceeded to feel sorry for her. But it still gets to me a bit. I'm not the most self confident person on the planet but I try, for my kids sake and my own."

I have been thinking a lot about what she said. As a 12-year-old growing up in Kimberly, Idaho, I thought dying your hair pink or green or blue or piercing your nose was pretty rebellious. The dress and grooming standards in For the Strength of Youth were very important to me. I still initially feel a little shocked when I see people with huge tattoos or strange-colored hair or 2-inch holes in their ears, even though such styles are a bit more common here. But I think it's interesting that it never occurred to me that a person with pink hair would feel self-conscious about it. I had always supposed that a person who is brave enough to prefer a style like that would be the sort of person who doesn't care what people think. But from this post and also reading Cloth Diaper Geek's replies to other comments below the post, I realized that there are people who like their hair blue or pink or whatever, but still feel very self-conscious about it. Does that make sense?

I honestly don't approve of a lot of these extreme styles. Maybe part of it is my conservative background, but I really value a clean and professional look. But I also have been thinking today about how important it is to remember that people who like to look "different" still have worth and feelings. I would hate for a woman with pink hair to go home and cry because she saw me look at her funny or make some comment to somebody about her appearance. And they don't necessarily fit into the stereotypes you would expect, either. Cloth Diaper Geek is a stay-at-home mom who cares deeply for her children. She has a lot of great things to say and think about and she is always very respectful and kind of others' opinions. I am reminded of a story my aunt told me once about a biker covered in tattoos from head to toe who helped her when her car was broken down. She said he was one of the most caring people she had ever met and he would have given her the shirt off his back.

I guess what I'm saying is, yes, there are scary people out there. We need to be aware of that and be careful. And I acknowledge that our appearance and grooming can say a lot about us. But there are also people who might look "scary" or "extreme" or just different (according to our preconceived notions) who are still sensitive, human creatures who deserve respect and decency. Let's all try a little harder to see them as children of God with feelings and be aware of how we react to them and treat them.

how a sewing machine works

Check out this video that shows how a sewing machine works. I have wondered about this for most of my life. I could not figure out how the needle thread and the bobbin thread got twisted around each other before the needle came back up. Now it makes sense. The book The New Way Things Work calls the sewing machine a mechanical wonder.

http://youtu.be/ML8CMNzW6Tg

common conversations

It's amazing how often I get the same responses from people when they find out what Ryan and I are studying. Here are some typical conversations:

Friend: So what's your husband studying again?
Me: Astronomy. (Technically it's astrophysics, but Ryan has found that when people hear the word "physics" their eyes glaze over and suddenly want to get away.) He's getting a PhD.
Friend: Oh, wow. And you're in school too, right? What are you studying?
Me: Yeah, I'm going part-time. I'm getting my bachelor's degree in Geology.
At this point there can be a couple of different responses:
Response 1: Oh, wow, so you guys must have a lot to talk about/you must have a lot of really interesting conversations.
Response 2: Oh, wow, so you both must be really . . . um . . . yeah, like really, well . . . yeah.
Response 3: Wow, that's great. I'm so glad that there are people that enjoy those kind of things, because I know I could just never be interested in those things because I just don't really like them. But that's so great that you guys can do that stuff.

We find all three responses to be kind of interesting. If it's the first response . . . Um, yes, we do enjoy talking about geology and astronomy together, but guess what, we are both interested in many different topics and we talk about those too--politics, church, parenting, movies, and history, just to name a few. Is that normal, or do most people only talk about what they studied in college? If it's the second response . . . How were you planning to finish that sentence? Nerdy? Smart? Sciencey? Cool? Fond of licking rocks? If it's the third response . . . um, thanks, I think. I'm assuming you're not trying to imply that you don't want to hear me talk about what I do.

When people find out that Ryan does physics, they also sometimes say, "Wow, physics, huh? I bet you do a lot of story problems, don't you?" Not really.

I'm not offended by these comments (I figure they are meant to be friendly and therefore I take them that way), but I think it's really interesting how often Ryan and I have these exact conversations with people. I suspect that there are a lot of people who are intimidated by science and assume that whatever we say will be way over their heads because we're science people. We really can talk about a lot of different things, not just science.

But it is kind of fun to say that I'm studying Strontium isotopes using mass spectrometry. By the way, there's a lot more to geology than collecting rocks. We actually kind of like the rocks because they have a story behind them.

Eno River State Park

Last week we enjoyed going to Eno River State Park.

There was a fair amount of exposed bedrock, which of course made me excited. I thought it was cool because there was a lot of tilted bedding and it seemed to largely have the same strike and dip. The rocks in the picture below were a good example, although you might not be able to see it very well.

Some pictures and stories

Heidi had already eaten first breakfast, second breakfast, and a snack, so when she asked for one of Mom's biscuits the answer was no. She was DEVASTATED.

After family home evening one night we tried to teach Kevin how to play Uno. Only problem was that he didn't want to give up his cards. We tried to show him how to choose the right colors and put them on the pile, and he got quite upset at us and told us to stop taking his cards. Heidi did a little better. We took to using all of our Skip cards and Draw Two/Draw Four cards on Kevin so that he could draw more cards, although he was drawing cards whenever he felt like it anyway. I kept suggesting Duck, Duck, Goose instead, which just made the kids upset because they wanted to play a GAME. So after I won Uno (yes, I actually beat Ryan in a game for once) Ryan and I started playing Duck, Duck, Goose anyway, and of course once they saw us doing it the kids thought it was the best thing ever and didn't want to stop.

Pullen Park

Ryan had one last day before his schedule got busier with orientation and pre-semester things, so he suggested that we go to Pullen Park so we could do something together as a family. Pullen Park has several playgrounds, a train, boats for little kids, a merry-go-round, and paddle boats on a little lake. The train, little boats, and merry-go-round are only $1 per person. We've wanted to go for a while, so it was fun, even if it was a pretty hot day.

Riding the train

Kevin and Heidi driving the boats

Carousel (Heidi made Ryan take her off as soon as she realized her horse was going up and down really fast)

We took a break to go find a picnic table and have a snack.

RT: Heidi, what'd you think of the horse?

H: The horse.

RT: Did you ride the horse?

H: Uh-huh. Yeah.

RT: Did you ride a train?

H: Uh-huh.

RT: What'd you think of the train?

H: Sorry. Stopped. Stopped.

We loved the train so much that we decided to have another train ride.

(No, really, Heidi did like the train.)