The Lamest Christmas Package

So my youngest boy has taken two years out of his life to serve the Lord. Here he is with other missionaries. For Christmas this year, Quinlan's mission president asked families to send a letter to the mission office that the missionaries would open on December 23rd in a big missionary meeting. I got busy with the letter and it took me several days to write. I included pictures. The letter was pretty much a discussion of my understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thought it was pretty appropriate for the season.

When Quinlan called home on Christmas day he thanked me for the letter. However, apparently all the other families had sent their missionaries packages of goodies and gifts.

Another missionary said to Quinlan, "Wow, you're family must really hate you."

I felt bad. I could just imagine my boy standing in a sea of missionaries opening my lame letter while missionaries around him were eating cookies and such.

Quinlan said, "That's cool. I'm not too sensitive."

Ya, that made me feel lots better!!

Decking the Halls

We have many homemade Christmas ornaments. They are sweet. It has been a joy to welcome the ornimants my boys made at school in our house or to sit with the boys and make ornaments together. But some of the orniments my boys have made are just ugly. So, we hang those on the back of the tree.

Peachy

I'm in search of an outstanding cobbler recipe.

I usually make cobbler with a biscuit recipe for the cobbler part. But my husband would like a cobbler with more of a pie crust top. So, I've been experimenting.

Last night I modified a cobbler recipe I found in my Betty Crocker Cookbook by adding less milk and cutting the baking powder in half. But the baking powder still made the top too puffy for Kyle's taste.

My next move is to make a basic pie crust and try using milk for the water. The best thing about searching for a cobbler recipe is that even the ones that don't match Kyle's fancy still taste fantastic.

A word here about the Betty Crocker Cookbook. The cookbook includes great information for all the basics--how to cook a roast, substitutions for sour milk, and cobbler. What I especially love is the description of peach cobbler: "Two healthful basics--fruit and bread--are provided in each serving of this dessert." It actually says that right in the cookbook. This sentence makes it appear that I would be doing my family a huge favor to serve them cobbler. Now, given that I serve cobbler with ice cream, I am giving my family fruit, bread, and dairy. The only thing I can do to make it a complete meal is to throw a pork chop on top.

Raising Men

I would not be accused of coddling my boys. When they fell down, I usually said, "get up."

When Quinlan broke his collar bone and could only use one arm, I didn't allow him to neglect his chores. Sure, he whined a bit. I told him that he probably wasn't the first person to empty a dishwasher using only one hand.

The Many Faces of Quinlan

This is the lastest self-portrait of Quinlan. The child has always loved to have his picture taken, has been photogenic, and has enjoyed taking his own picture.

Here are more self portraits...

This is a self-portrait of Quinlan holding a self-portrait

Here are more pictures of Quin being Quin.


Quinlan in a hat he knit himself. He was so happy because the crazy yarn he used made it look like he had an afro.


Here he is trying out goggles in the bathtub.


Posing...

Quinlan sporting his B, Bart Simpson under pants, and vacuum hose--the ultimate super hero!


Like I tell Quinlan, "lucky you're cute!"

Honestly...

I believe in being honest with my children. So, before this photo was snapped I told Quinlan that he looked like a dork with his sweatshirt tucked into his shorts (I didn't say anything about his ears being pushed around by his hat). Now, of course, he wishes that he had listened to me. But honesty has its limits.
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Now if every mom is honest with herself she will admit that she is not completely honest with her children. How can she be? It may not be in the best interest of our children to be completely honest.

First, there are the fun lies we tell--the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny, Santa. These are lies we tell to bring joy to our children. These lies can also be used to help keep kids in line--why would the tooth fairy want a tooth that hadn't been properly brushed and flossed?

Then there are probabilistic lies. These are the lies we tell that might be true--fruit is candy that God made, all the good vitamins are in the bread crust, you grow when you sleep. (Evan really took that last one to heart and maybe it is true, the boy could sleep and grow.)

But I was opposed to telling my boys outright lies. So when we went to the doctor to get shots and they would ask, "is it going to hurt?" I would answer honestly, "yes." Naturally I would reassure them that the pain would go away and that the shot was less painful than the decease it would protect them from.

When Evan asked, after watching a Viagra commercial, "What is ED?" I told him. Then when he asked why that would be a problem, I told him that, too. We both felt a bit awkward, but it was honest.

When Quinlan was in fourth grade and testing revealed he was reading at a second-grade level, he asked, "Am I stupid?" I said, "No, you are two years behind other kids in reading and you are ahead of other kids in other things." Then I explained, "it means that when you are 42 you will be reading like a 40 year old, not a big deal." A probabilistic lie? No, honest.

When Evan was in the sixth grade he was reading significantly above his grade level. He wanted to slack off on his daily reading. He said, "I'm already a good reader." I said, "Sure, you are a pretty good reader for a 12 year old. But you are a lousy reader for a 40 year old. So get your butt in your room and read." Honest.

Homework Help

We were very happy when Quinlan graduated from high school. His favorite teacher was the detention teacher--seriously, he wrote her a thank-you note and bought her a gift. But it may be better to let Quinlan share that story.

Like other dutiful moms, I supervised homework for both of my boys. However, sometimes they came home with fairly lame homework. I became particularly irritated when they brough home word searches. I don't think a word search is a good way to spend time (this from a woman who can spend hours playing Scrabble online).

When the boys, especially Quinlan, brought home a word search for homework I would tell them that I would do their word search and they were to go read a book. I would circle a word or two now and then--it would take me at least 45 minutes to complete a word search. I figured that it was better for my boys to use that time reading and they felt like they were getting away with something.