List: The Crazy Way My Mom Talks

My mom was raised in the South, but she moved away when she went off to college and never lived there again. She claims that she never had an accent, but the entire family (who still lives there) speaks with such a thick southern accent that I had trouble understanding them when I was little. I think she just lost the accent years ago. Still, however, she has some kooky pronunciations for things that really crack me up. I am recording them here for posterity.

"redio" for radio

"necked" for naked

"pacifically" for specifically

"awrynte" for alright

"futher" for further or farther

"toe-let" or "commode" for toilet


I am not making fun . . . these little things endear her to me, and she wouldn't be her without them.

My List

I was having a little bit of a breakdown the other day and happened to be on the phone with a friend on whom I unloaded my stress and anxiety about living with my mother forever, being poor (not in spirit, but the bad kind of poor), raising kids who worry about money the same way I always did, being stuck in the waiting place, and on and on. I am grateful that she comforted me through a few things, and bashful that my brave face cracks so easily.

Anyway, she suggested that I pray about what Heavenly Father might have me do as I wait for our situation to become more permanent. What a concept. Pray? For something specific that I need? Instead of freaking out and wishing we had sent me to law school instead of Dirk? Kidding, there, I promise.

So, here it is, and I am adding to it all the time, since my prayers have not been what they should lately and I am trying to humble myself:

My List of Things To Do While I Wait for My Life to Get Going Again
(If reading this makes you relieved that you are not in my situation, please keep that to yourself. I'm fragile just now.)

Learn Spanish (inspired by my time in the Mother's Lounge on Sunday during the Spanish sacrament meeting and understanding more than I would have thought I would)

Figure out how to start my own property management company and make a plan and a timeline to do so.

Make some efforts at missionary contacts.

Work on Family History (My mom gave us all assignments for the next family reunion).

Learn how to edit my own photos so that I don't have to always ask Dirk to do it.

Work on my menus-by-season for the year.

Read a book about the French Revolution.

Budget.

Draw up some plans for our kitchen remodel for our townhouse in Ellicott City.

Organize my mom's food storage.

Okay, that's it for now. I am also going to go ahead and sign my girl up for dance class because she wants to so much and because the city has really cheap classes and because she needs something of her own outside of the house and because Dirk's security clearance may take another six weeks to process anyway.

He has been offered a job in D.C. that he wants, but is pending his security clearance renewal and meantime he is working on getting an idea of his own off the ground. It's all very exciting and I need and want to suck it up and be patient and all that good stuff (I just replaced another word with "good stuff" -- am really working this evening on my attitude).

Really Gross

I was sleeping in on Saturday and Brody fell and split his chin. Ouch! My mom convinced Dirk he didn't need stitches. And while I am happy to not be spending the day in the ER, I really think he should have gone. We'll see how it heals up.

Isaac's Birthday Party

We had a very simple party for Isaac's 6th: fill two hundred water balloons, plan elaborate games for the kids to play with said water balloons, and have them ultimately abandon these games in favor of pummeling Dirk with water balloons. It was great! Then we came inside and made pizzas and had cake. Although, after I saw how much fun they had with the volcano cake, and then playing with the leftover dry ice (carefully supervised and gloved by Dirk, of course), I think next time I will do a mad scientist party instead. I got the cake idea from familyfun.com. It was a huge hit.

When Grandmas Attack!

Often, as my mom is leaving for work in the morning, Brody runs to her for hugs and kisses. She already has her lipstick on, so this is what he gets.

First Day of School

Isaac was really ready for the first day of school. He didn't ride the bus this first day, but did the day after that. I was nervous about it, but he was excited. Brody cried when we walked away from the bus stop, as he has several days since, because he wants to ride the bus, too. I answer the question, "Where'd Isaac go?" about three hundred times per day.

Handsome Kid.

Gigi trying on some of Tristan's sleepers. Silly Girl.

Sad Puppy. Yes, that pile of fluff is our dog. And if he is good, I might have him groomed someday soon. But for now, he enjoys doing his impression of a dust mop.

Isaac turns 6

Our family life is flying past at a rate I am not entirely comfortable with. A short list of things I adore about my first baby:

1. He loves the cartoon classics . . . the black-and-white ones with only music and very rough animation. We stumbled across these at my mom's house and he thought they were the coolest.

2. He is extremely tough and hardly ever cries. But that is not what I love. What I love is the face he makes when he is straining not to cry, and the hurried way he looks for something to distract himself. It is so cute, but when he does this, I feel sick in my stomach, like his time with me as a child is too short and he is already becoming a little man.

3. When he rides his bike fast, sometimes he says, "Mom! It's like I'm flying!" I remember as clear as anything when I was struggling to convince him that I was holding him, that I would not drop him, that riding a bike is the best thrill of a young life, that I knew he could do it. And now I'm crying. Shoot.

4. He loves dessert. He doesn't mind eating pretty healthfully, but he really gets enthusiastic about planning elaborate treats for birthdays, FHE, other kids' birthdays, etc.

5. I loved the look on his face a few weeks ago when he got off the bus after his first day of school. He was beaming about his independence and bubbling over with chatter about all the things I'd missed.

6. Isaac loves his peeps: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings. If they are related, they're in.

7. He says "pampcakes" for pancakes, and he always mixes up tomatoes and potatos. They are the only leftover language mistakes from his little years, and I love them.


For his birthday, he wanted to be Emperor for the Day. This meant choosing everything we ate and did. I had to trick him into choosing to have us all go to church, and a couple of other mandatories, but otherwise, it was all him. He decided we should have pancakes for breakfast, with faces built on them using all manner of processed sugar items.

Opening presents!


We threw a small birthday party the following weekend, which I will post next, but for our family, I made this cake. It was tasty; layered with thin layers of chocolate brownie and chocolate pannacotta, then wrapped with dark chocolate and topped by Isaac with canned cream (his favorite; the cake was all my idea but I convinced him that it was his by suggesting he might, as Emperor, want a cake that would go perfectly with canned cream. It worked easily, and I gained great insight into world politics) If you have lain awake long nights trying to figure out a way to get the absolute maximum amount of chocolate into a cake, then this is the one for you. I will post the recipe some time soon.

That yellow thing in the pitcher off to the side was Dirk and Isaac's attempt at a parfait, because "there ain't nobody ever said they don't like no parfait," and my boys are no exceptions.