The Latest at Chateau Tatro

Well, my friends, here we are, halfway through March, and life continues to fly by. By the end of this week, the snow should all be gone and the earth will be stretching and rubbing her sleepy eyes. Of course we'll get more snow, but that doesn't change the fact that the awakening is happening. Once again, daylight savings comes just in time to invigorate my weary soul. The days continue to lengthen and at the conclusion of yet another winter, I'm left wondering if I need to move somewhere warmer. And yet, at the same time, I also find myself thinking that the seasons pass so quickly, even the 5-6 month winter. Once again, I conclude that a sunny vacation in January might be all I need.
So as we rush through March, I am struck by the fact that things will just continue to speed up and get more hectic from here right on through the end of the school year. Kennedy is in the middle school's production of The Fierce Pirate Frank, (I actually can't quite remember the name of the play. But it's some thing like that), and will continue to have play practice leading up to the show in mid-April. Last week, we attended her Spring Pops Concert and I kept thinking, weren't we JUST here for the winter concert? And in other Kennedy news, spring soccer season begins soon. We'll be saying good-bye to our Saturdays once again.


On the Julia front, look soon for haircut pictures. Tomorrow she has a dentist appointment, and afterward she plans to get her hair cut very very short. Also this month, her dance and cheerleading class at Lands' End concluded with a recital. Julia is a really good dancer and I'd like to get her into a studio.


Devon started piano lessons last month. He has mixed feelings about it. Most of the time he's very excited about it, but if he's tired or grumpy he says he wants to quit. He's always excited afterward, though. On Friday we attended his music program at the school. I was happy to see a bit more enthusiasm from him this time. He actually sang and did the motions. He's really come a long way!


My little Renie lost her first tooth! I can't believe it! Unfortunately, she apparently swallowed it. It went the way of the grilled cheese sandwich she had for dinner. Luckily, the Tooth Fairy took pity on her after reading her sweet note, so she still received compensation.


And the other big news of the month is that Jesse learned how to write his name. I know that it isn't really that impressive that a four year old can write his name. What IS impressive, I think, is that he figured it out all on his own. No one has ever sat down with him and showed him how to make the letters. He just suddenly could do it. He first wrote it in the dirt on the side of my car. (See? I keep my car filthy for educational purposes!) I was very amazed and impressed, so I challenged him to write it with a marker when he went to his preschool class. Sure enough, he was able to do it. (I talked to his teachers and they tell me that they haven't done it with him either.) My smart little baby.


So that's the latest. This week I'll be hosting a baby shower at my home and making the cake for the shower. I'm really excited to make the cake and decorations. Fun stuff! Pictures from the event will probably go up on my other blog, Pieces of Molly.

Goodbye, February

I figured that since the last time I posted on this blog was the first of the month, it might be fun to round out February with one last post. This is just my little way of celebrating the end of what is always a trying month. Spring is truly around the corner now. I need warm sunshine on my face, no doubt.

So what happened in February that might be of interest to you? Well, for starters, I did two cake orders and received another order for April. I hope this is the beginning of a side business. At this point I'm really still learning and discovering what I can do, but getting an order here and there is lots of fun. It keeps me motivated to keep developing my skills and learning new techniques.



Also in February, Devon turned seven.




He is growing up so quickly. He continues to be bright and funny and organized. We implemented "Special Nights" this month. Each child gets an evening once a week where they get to stay up half an hour after the other kids and spend time with Mom and Dad. They get to choose the activity (it has to be at home, free, and able to be completed in the 1/2 hour time slot) with Mom and Dad holding veto power (no Monopoly). For Devon's special night last week, we spent half the time moving a set of drawers into his room and organizing and cleaning up. Lincoln thought he was crazy to use his special time for that, and maybe a little too much like his mother. Devon loves Legos and is currently on an Indiana Jones kick. Which is why he requested this birthday cake.


Renie, and the rest of the kindergarten, had their mid-winter program. It's always a treat to watch kindergartners sing and dance.



We held our annual Valentine's Party on February 11th. We kept with the format of desserts and a poetry contest. It is so much fun to hear the poems that everyone comes up with each year. I also had a lot of fun making these pom-poms for decorations this year.




On the last Saturday in February, Lincoln took the Young Men from church to Madison for a basketball tournament. They won one game, which was their goal. It was the first time a team from our branch had ever won a game in a Stake Tournament. Lincoln really enjoyed coaching the boys and I'd love to see him with a regular coaching gig. He's really good at it and derives a lot of joy from it.

That same Saturday Julia had her dance/cheerleading recital. She's been taking a class at Lands End and continues to love dancing.


We also had parent teacher conferences this month. We got great reports on all the kids and I'll spare you the details, other than to say I was so pleased to hear how well Julia is doing. When we first moved here, her teacher was concerned about her reading level. They put her in a special reading group and kept a close eye on her progress in first grade. Fast forward to fourth grade and she's a top reader in her class. Her test scores- in all areas- are well above the average. She seems a bit more motivated lately, (maybe because of the monetary incentive we give our kids. But does it really matter what motivates her if it encourages her to be more responsible and make the extra effort to keep her grades up?), and this helps her to be a bit more organized and responsible.

February is pretty busy around here, but I like it that way. It keeps me distracted and helps the month to fly by so we can get on to March and springtime.

The Caboose is Four!

My beautiful baby boy has turned four. What a sweet little boy he is! He is always ready to show some love to his mama. Hugs, kisses, snuggles, I love yous, they all flow freely for Mommy. What more could a mommy ask for in her baby?

It took us a while to find out what Jesse wanted for his birthday dinner. Every time we asked him, he told us he wanted a Thomas cake. We assured him he could have that, but what did he want for dinner? Cake. I finally led him to say he wanted chicken nuggets and french fries. I know that's probably his favorite thing to eat, so I figured we'd just go with it. At Lincoln's suggestion, I decided to make them from actual potatoes and chicken breast. So glad I did. It was really yummy.


I found a great inspiration cake online. I was prepared to make a roundhouse with Thomas and Percy coming out of it. Then, two days before his birthday he decided he wanted a Buzz Lightyear cake. So I made a plan and made a Buzz Lightyear cake. He LOVED it. As I was working on it he pulled up a stool to watch for a bit. He smiled, gave me a little pat on the back, and told me what a great job I was doing. It was after I had taken pictures that Renie pointed out that i had forgotten the big red button on his chest.







After the birthday fun, Lincoln and I put the kids to bed, left Kennedy in charge, and drove to the front of the neighborhood to dig out his car that he abandoned in a drift on his way home. In whiteout conditions, it was pretty hard to avoid the drifts and he buried the car in it. By the time we went back, four hours later, it was pretty solidly ensconced. The wind was whipping stinging bits of snow against us as we dug. There was at least a foot of snow in the road. At first, the car felt like it was frozen in place. We dug some more, tried some more, pushed some more, dug some more, tried some more, etc etc, and suddenly it started to move, ever so slightly. Eventually, I was able to rock it out, with Lincoln digging a path to the clearer part of the road. Once I had it moving, I just kept on going. On the hill in front of our house, it got stuck again briefly, but I was able to get it moving again without any digging or pushing.






I've go to say, this is one fantastic storm. I don't remember seeing a storm like this before. It's a true blue blizzard.

Sickie household

Well, it's been about a week now since Lincoln started getting sick. There rest of us decided to join him later in the week. On saturday I was feeling really miserable, but I took some Ibuprophen and headed to Milwaukee with Lincoln to watch the Syracuse/Marquette college basketball game. We had purchased the tickets a couple months ago, so we weren't about to let a raging fever keep us from using them! It was a very frustrating game, with Syracuse going down by 10 points pretty quickly in the first half. It took them the entire second half to pick away at that lead. They tied it up a couple times, but never managed to secure a lead. It was interesting to be in hostile territory. Not a lot of Syracuse fans there, it turns out. Between the pep band, the yelling, and the frustration, I thought my poor aching head was going to explode. But--it was a fun afternoon out with my favorite guy.

Concert Time

Kennedy's Christmas concert was postponed in December due to a winter storm. It was rescheduled for the first week in January. On a Thursday evening, we loaded up the family and drove over to the middle school. It was a night of many firsts. For starters, Kennedy wore my dress and my boots. She will soon pass me in shoe size. She looked so grown up and beautiful. She wore her hair in a low french braid across the back of her head. She was stunning.


The next big news was that it was an enjoyable concert. Kennedy plays flute in the band and sings in the choir. Lincoln and I were both quite pleasantly surprised with the quality of the music.


It was a nice evening and left me looking forward to future concerts. They will only continue to get better.

Exhausted, I am.

At about 3am, I heard Jesse coming toward our room, making coughing/gagging/hurling-type noises. I lept out of bed and ushered him quickly to the bathroom. He leaned over the toilet and spit some foamy, slimy, saliva in the bowl. But that was it. It almost seemed to me like he had gagged himself on his finger or something. It put me on alert, though, and I worried that before long he would come in spitting up more than saliva. He went back to bed and I crawled back into mine as well.

We did this every hour until it was time to get up anyway.

He didn't want to eat breakfast right away this morning, saying his stomache hurt, but he seems to be doing fine now.

I wish I could say the same for myself. I am looking longingly at my warm, comfy bed.

December Highlights

Hey! Remember Christmas? Was it a whirlwind for you like it was for me? December is always pretty crazy, so why would this year be any different? So let's see what I can remember.

I posted over on my other blog about going to get the tree on the first Saturday in December. The weather was perfect and we had a lovely time.

We managed to miss the parade this year, but we didn't miss Santa's Secret Shop. The kids look forward to this every year. They have fun buying gifts for their siblings and Lincoln and I get an hour or so to go do a little team shopping of our own. This year, unfortunately, the kids were grouped together so they all saw what they were getting. Jesse kept asking us when he could open up his cars from Julia. This was the first time that Jesse was big enough to be in on it. He almost didn't stay, but curiosity got the best of him.

I didn't even bring my camera to the church Christmas party this year. I am happy to report that the highlight of the event was that ham was served instead of sloppy joes.

We spent an evening decorating Christmas cookies, as we do every year. You'll be shocked to learn that I didn't get any pictures of the kids with their cookie masterpieces, but at least I got some of them during the creative process.




You can't really tell from this picture, but Renie did an amazing job on her cookies. The were neat and had lovely details.



We went caroling in our neighborhood with the Howells, Thompsons, and Spencers. This has become one of our favorite traditions. The Howells kindly hosted the after caroling refreshment party.

Christmas Eve it was just our family, but, as per tradition, I prepared enough food to end world hunger.


We had our usual orange chicken, cheese, crackers, chips, dip, rice krispie treats, wassail, and homemade candy, and this year I added spicy bean dip, AKA baby poop dip. Despite its fecal appearance, this was a hit and I'm pretty sure it will make the list going forward.

While I prepared food, the kids decorated a gingerbread house. I had planned to make one this year, something from scratch and fabulous, but I just ran out of time. At the last minute I grabbed this kit from Walmart and it really was the perfect solution. The kids were totally independent as they worked on it, giving me a few moments to get stuff done without them fighting or getting into stuff or asking me repeatedly if it was time to eat yet.



We opened our Christmas Eve jammies and I forgot to get a picture of everyone in them.

What is my problem? This year I bought myself some Christmas Eve jammies too.
Even Graham got in on the festivities. You can see he's thrilled about it.


We read the story of Christ's birth from the scriptures, inserting Christmas carols where appropriate.
Before bed, the kids went outside to sprinkle reindeer food for our guests we were expecting.


Then we tucked the kiddos in bed and sat down to watch White Christmas while we waited for Santa to arrive. This year, Santa had not one, but TWO elves to help him stuff stockings, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if there was a new elf next year. How do they grow up so fast?

The kids held off Christmas morning until almost 7:00. I love that you can see the motion and excitement in this picture. (And Hey! The Christmas Eve jammies. We did get Jesse a matching set, but he had a little peepee accident.)



Christmas morning mayhem ensued.




The Knouses, Aunt Di, Uncle Al, and the Johansens came for dinner at 2:00. We had, once again, a ton of delicious food. Natalie brought two gigantic salads, Knouses brought a ham, a pumpkin pie, and a cheesecake. I made another ham, rosemary roasted potatoes, sesame garlic green beans, cabbage salad, different salad, crescent rolls, chocolate pie, and orange cranberry strudel.

After cleaning up the kitchen, we played a few games. Jesse, who had been complaining all day that he didn't fell good, finally threw up that evening. Around 1am, Renie started throwing up. She threw up many times in the night. Not a lot of sleeping went on.

She was still pretty yucky the next day. I went to church by myself and sang in the choir. At some point that day Devon threw up. Kennedy and Lincoln both felt yucky Sunday night. Neither of them threw up, and they both felt much better on Monday. Julia and I seemed to make it through the carnage without falling ourselves.

Thursday we drove to Iowa to cabin we had rented with the Howells, Thompsons, Prowses, Lindners, and Rasmussons. The Thompsons couldn't come at the last minute and sent their kids with the Johansens in their place.



Lincoln and I stayed up until 3:30 playing games.



After going to bed, I didn't sleep well. I got up with the boys to go potty at about 6am, and once I was upright, I realized that I was incredibly nauseous. I crawled back into bed and waited for it to hit. At about 7:00 or so, it got me. I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. Let me just say here that I do not like throwing up. 'Nuf said. I spent the rest of the day in bed sleeping. Luckily I only threw up the one time. By about 4pm, I was able to get up and play a couple games. I was still weak and achy, but I hung in there to usher in the new year.
I was back in bed by 12:01. Meanwhile, Lincoln had gone to bed about 9pm. He spent New Years Day in bed. He just had the fever and aches, but no nausea.

I know that sounds like a crummy vacation, but it was actually kind of nice to be able to just lay in bed and be sick and not have any responsibilities pulling at me. Meals were already planned, with plenty of people to make sure they happened, Lincoln was there to take care of kids, nothing had to be cleaned, no laundry to be washed. I just slept. And it was bliss. I'm sure if I'd had to get up to deal with those things, I would have thrown up a few more times.

Of course, because I spent a day totally in a stupor, I didn't get a lot of pictures. But trust me, the cabin was beautiful, the views were gorgeous, the company was fantastic, and we had a lovely time.

And that brings us to January. Whew. That wasn't so hard. Now I feel like I can go forward with this blog and quit looking back. So here's to a new year.