The Wedding

So way back in December Derek's little brother got married.  The wedding was in Phoenix, which had the BEST weather--it was sooo warm.  Ahhh... to be warm!  What does that feel like?  I don't know because it's March in Canada and there's like 5 feet of snowbank out our front yard.  Oh well.

I loved the wedding---Derek's brother Aaron has married a very sweet girl named Loren.  She was sweet and outgoing and very lovely.   They had all sorts of fun things planned for the wedding--a prenuptial 5k, family dinners, etc.

I was highly anticipating this wedding.  I had ideas of coordinating outfits, cute photos, travelling here and there to see family, etc.  However around November I found out I was pregnant and just like that I started to spiral into what I like to call the pregnancy insanity.  I have such bad morning sickness that I really should not be allowed to make decisions, operate vehicles, or be allowed in public.  Consequently we missed the reception, which I'm totally bummed about now that I'm slightly less sick and crazy.  However, It was a miracle I survived the 3 week long adventure in Arizona.

Here is A LOT of photographic evidence that we were actually in a warm climate a couple of months ago.  ***Disclaimer ----I swiped ALL of these photos from Loren's facebook.   I hope that is ok :)

 Oh this was a cute photo!  And by having me blurry in the back ground it looks as if all is well with me but......

 I probably looked more like this the whole time.  You know that look that says, "DON'T mess with this lady--she crazy!"  Just to know this picture is available to the masses---embarrassing is not really the right word.  But I'll own it ha!

 Here's Xela with her cute Aunties.  Love getting to see all of our Navajo relatives.

 I like this photo, a nice slice of reality.  It was just so relaxing and fun to be with all the siblings again!

 Ahhh...I like me some nice soft grass to lounge in too.  I can't WAIT for the snow to melt so I can sit in the sun, in the grass, relaxed---mmmmm.  Now if I could just look as cute as Sophie?

 Emma and Jaymes, aren't they a handsome couple?  I guess I should've put a picture of Emma's cute pregnancy belly, but you can only swipe so many pictures off of facebook--you know?!

 I think Hanna and I have a future in modeling--look at how we work that camera.  It's all about the closed eyes and the nonchalant wrinkled brow line.  Can I get an Amen on that?

 Oh what a cute photo of our family.  Tommy was sick as a dog that day.  Poor thing.  Wish I would stand up straight once in a while.  Then I wouldn't look constantly 5 months pregnant!

 I'm so happy cute little cousin Miah made it out to the celebration.  We loved hangin with that homey once again!

 I couldn't resist this classic Farina pose!  Those glasses on Reener --only she could pull it off, well her and Johnny Depp :)

 The siblings reunite!  So sweet to have everyone there :)  Derek you are from one good looking family!

 Photographic evidence of me swiping temple ground grapefruits to feed my children and myself.  I hope it's not a crime and if it is I plead pregnancy insanity once again!

 Oh Xela with her favorite Uncle Awon!  So sweet :)

 The cute photogenic couple.

 Love that Xela is chillin out with her bouquet.

Well that's all for now.  Loren had quite a few more photos that I may use in a future post.  But it would really be my way of getting a copy of the pictures.  Huzzah to weddings and warmth and grapefruits!

Randomness

I'm not the best record keeper or anything that requires organization and patience, so I often kick myself for letting moments pass by without recording the memories.  I am trying to make my weakness a strength.  Little by little I guess.

When I opened up our picture files the first ones to pop up were from the Fall.  Above is Xela with her class all dressed up for Halloween.  I was a little out of sorts this fall.  Sophie and Leah pulled together their own costumes and Xela found that old (too small) Pocahontas costume in the basement.  I guess I'm over trying hard for Halloween.  Thankfully my girls are capable.  

Xela really loves her class and her school.  In many ways it has been quite a blessing to move to Canada.  Xela was under immense pressure at her school in Maryland to perform and meet benchmark standards. This year we had her tested and we found out she is dyslexic.  Her school has been very supportive and has given her so much attention.  Her reading and memory acquisition skills have really improved.  It has opened up our understanding of how she learns.

Sophie and Leah are now both in Middle School.  Each year students participate in a school musical.  This year they performed Alice vs. Wonderland.  Sophie was the 7 of hearts card and Leah surprised us by getting the part of the Mad Hatter?  They both did an amazing job.  These two have enjoyed their experiences at their school. 

 In the picture above they are in the dining hall.  Their school reminds me of Hogwarts from Harry Potter.  In fact I'm almost 100% sure the staircases in their school move around just like in the books.  I've have gotten lost in that old building so many times.  There are many twists and turns and nooks and crannies.  I'm on the verge of getting my girls cell phones, just so I don't have to run around that school to find them.

In November Derek and I were able to attend the US Marine Ball.  It is a formal affair, obviously.  I had a really great time trying to find a dress.  Many people spend a couple of hundred dollars to purchase their gown.  I'm such a cheapster that I refused to spend a lot of money.  I happened to stop by a Salvation Army in Watertown, NY.  There was a rack full of brand new "brides maids gowns".  I found this dress and it fit like a glove.  The orginal thrift store price tag was $40, but it was just my luck that it was 1/2 of day.  So I purchased that dress for $20.  I went on line and found the same dress being sold between $125 and $175, so I think I did pretty well.  Derek looked amazing, but renting a tux is NOT cheap.  His rental tux set us back $200, but he looked amazing and we had a great time, so it's all worth it in the end!

Tommy loves to go on walks.  His favorite spot is a little waterfall by our house.  There is a great place to throw and skip rocks.  He literally could spend all afternoon there on a nice autumn day.  He tries to climb up all the rocks which is lovely when we are alone as a family.  But when others are around I can see the panic on their face as he tries to climb some of the rocks.  I trust his abilities though.  Love that kid!

There is a canal by our home as well.  If you walk alongside it you can reach downtown Ottawa.  There are still boats that use the canal.  Derek and I liked to wake up early Saturday mornings and take the canal walkway.  On this particular morning I couldn't resist the beautiful reflection of the small cottage and trees.  I'm so glad cell phones take fairly good pictures nowadays.   

Arizona

We were fortunate enough to go to Arizona for three weeks this Christmas.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely--even though I was pretty dang sick the whole time (another story).  Anyway we spent a few days at my sister Adriane's abode in Camp Verde.  Adriane was a week late having her baby and we were trying sooo hard to make that baby come.  Attempt #1 in Operation "Deliver that Baby" we decided to let Preggers take us for a nice long walk.  Cousin Brooke, Mom Wilkins, Luke, and Mom Smith were on hand to join us for our hike in Sedona.  Cuzzie Brooke was good enough to take some nice snapshots of the fam.  Thanks cuz!
*side note and undocumented in photos is attempt #2 to get the baby out--Brooke brought Latin dance/Zumba videos for us all to do.  Poor Adriane danced her booty off and still no baby!

Derek loved to climb the rocks in Sedona.  We'd blink and he'd be half way up the rock formations.  Mom Smith, the kids, and I tried to keep up with him.  Poor Luke saw us at the top of the rocks and he thought we had left him behind.  So when we met up again he was anxious to be in all of the pictures--love that crazy kid :)

Here we are trying to make Luke feel better.

My cute boys!

Kids posed themselves and insisted Brooke climb back up to take this shot.  Not only is Brooke so much fun but she's a good sport too!

Living Up to the Name

It's no new news for anyone who really knows me that I'm an all or nothing person.  Whether it be cleaning, child rearing, school, studying, etc. I'll either give you 100% or I'll hang my head in shame and give you zilch.  It something I've never really liked about myself, but it's something I would like to correct.  And I guess there's no day like the present!
So my first challenge to myself this New Year's season is to record my life an inch at a time.
Here's to little bits going a long way and hopefully I'll have some sort of record of my life!

First tidbit of the New Year.  What better way to ring in the year than with an embarrassing video?  Sophia's gym class was doing a unit on "hip hop" dancing.  Her group picked a truly ridiculous dance number  on youtube.  Poor Sophie was trying to learn the moves (which were being performed by 7 year olds who were NEVER in sync)!  I'm not the best dancer, although you stick some Beyonce on and I'm the biggest dance idiot on the planet!  Am I good? No... but at least my heart is in it--ha!  Anyway she asked me to help and so we broke it down, simplified it and added some other moves.  She was so pleased with the product that she wanted me to film her (and then she insisted I dance with her) so she could email the dance to her group so they could learn it.  YEAH for daughters who trust their Moms to help them with hip hop!  And YEAH for Moms who will embarrass themselves in front of 13 year old and now the internet!

Tiffin Boxes

Like countless other household's we're consumed with school preparation.  To plan is not my strong suit, but I know I need to exercise my planning muscles if I intend to get better at it.  This year I've approached things a little differently.  Yes there's the tackling of the school list, the school clothes, and so on, but I've also been trying to pinpoint last year's failures (lunches, forgetting items at home, being late, etc.), in hopes of turning our weaknesses into strengths.
I had a conversation with a friend last week about lunch containers.  She's very picky and wanted containers that had different compartments so she could put everything into one tray, have one lid, and improve the overall health of the meal.  The wheels in my head started turning and I realized that I have kids in 8, 6, 3, and JK and I figured lunches could really become the bane of my existence if I didn't come up with a plan now.  I took to the internet and realized that what I want to try out are tiffin boxes.  There are a lot of varieties so I'm trying to narrow them down, but here are the two types I have my eyes on.

I like these because they have a vacuumed seal and look nice and compact.  However they being stainless steal would prevent them to be heated up the microwave.  Also there aren't any compartments in any of the dishes.  But the price is pretty good at around $20.

I really like these models.  They can be microwaved, they have compartments, they lock up nicely and have a handle--therefore eliminating the need for a cloth bag on most days.  However with out a vacuum seal I wonder about leakage with certain types of foods.  Also they are a bit pricier at roughly $34 each.  

Flashback Friday--Independence Summers

So first flashback is tricky but I'm going to start with:

Independence Summers

As a child my summers seem pretty dull compared to what my kids deem as a standard summer.
Although as a kid of the 80's the very fact that we had three months of no school was better than any far off vacation.  We seemed to have a lot of freedom, at least when I think about what my kids are allowed to do.  For instance I don't remember asking for permission to ride bikes around the various blocks by my house.  When I had friends who could ride bikes with me, we'd rouse up enough courage and change to go buy junk food at the "Pit Stop" the closest convenience store.  However trips to the Pit Stop were occasions of luxury as change was hard to come by.
Normally I'd spend my summer days with my favorite Homies--Carly and Christel.  We were inseparable as children.  Christel was our aunt however she was a year older than my brother and two years older than I
.  She being the youngest in my Mom's family meant that her brains were developed light speeds beyond my brother and I.  At my grandparents house she was expected to assist in many chores, help older siblings, and help shoulder what ever burdens my aging grandparents might have had to endure.  Needless to say our house was her summer retreat and my Mom would "steal" Christel away as much as my Grandparents would let her.  Which was fantastic for Carly and I as looking back we were like two hopeless, dopey kids, compared to the master mind that was our Aunt Christel.

*Picture evidence of how dopey the two of us could be together.

Don't get me wrong Carly and I had plenty of fun when she wasn't around, but memories of my childhood do not seem complete with out her present.  One of the happiest and simplest of memories involves the tree swing and the dilapidated old shed as seen in the following two photos.

*Christel is seen here on our fabulous swing.  My little sister (who was my nemesis at the time, is seen in the back ground looking all cute--as usual :)

Here you can see our clever tree swing. It used to have an itchy yellow rope with a tire attached to it. However the rope would leave plastic splinters in your hand and the tire swing and rope eventually broke after years of abuse by not only ourselves but all our neighborhood posse as well. The solution to our tree swing dilemma was finding some very nice silky feeling white rope (where it came from who knows!) and an old white plastic step from our newly torn down above ground pool. After some work we had our selves a swing. It was nearly as comfy as the tire, but you could go much higher and faster as a single rider verses 3-4 kids all shoved on a tire. Christel, Carly and I had endless fun swinging each other as hard as we could. Sometimes the swing worked beautifully and we'd fly high in the air, or spin like a maniac as we flew high in the air. And sometimes if you were being completely reckless on the swing, you'd smash right into that big old tree. However it was an unspoken rule, if you smashed into the tree it was your own fault for not spinning around and using your feet to kick off the tree fast enough. Ahhh... the 80's.

 On to other tales, like that old broken down shed (as pictured below). That shed was awesome. It was like a mini house, with no windows. The floor was sunken in, it smelled of mold (probably the dangerous, black mold kind), it was our sanctuary in the backyard. If neighborhood kids were getting on our nerves we'd hide in the shed and banish them from our moldy palace. For some reason, even if they weren't playing in the shed to begin with, the kids would whine and beg to be let in. Once the tension resolved itself we'd usher in the outcast and sit as happy as punch in our smelly, waste of a shed. As we became older and smarter the older kids of our neighborhood posse soon realized that inside the shed wasn't the true gem of the old structure. The roof was. Once your were big enough to sit on that roof you knew you had made in the world, or on our street at least. Many a 4th of July "black cat--home made grenade throwing" was done from that roof. It was also a pretty sweet spot to shoot off a bottle rocket as well. Eventually us "Missourah Dare Devils" decided on our own style of adrenaline rush. I'll term it the jump off the roof rush. As an adult I'm sure it would be a breeze to jump off the roof of that shed. But as a child of 8 or 9 it was terrifying. Christel and Carly both had a lot of guts and they mastered the jump long before I did. I'd stand and try to will my body to jump off that roof and each time I'd be a chump and whine about how scary it was. Finally one day, the shortest two kids on my block (the neighbor boys) were teasing me telling me how easy it was to jump off that dumb, old thing. The youngest boy was two years younger than me and I was feeling like a great big sissy. How dare they call me a scaredy cat and what not. I was going to show them! I ran to the shed climbed up to the roof--barefoot mind you, and with out time to think I jumped off the stupid shed like it was yesterday's news. I tried to act tough and I know I pulled it off to the neighbor boys. But dang, all mighty my feet suffered the shock of the jump and they were throbbing, like little drums where having a rock concert in my feet! That experience didn't stop me from jumping off the roof  many times barefoot after that.  But at least when I'd jump I knew what to expect.  So I guess I de-chumped myself by doing the right thing and jumping off that old shed barefoot that day.

*You can just make out how gross that old shed was, but we loved it to bits and pieces.  Here I am--it's not hard to see by the picture why I was the sissiest neighborhood kid of them all. I guess I'm not as "Missourah tough" as I thought I was hahaha!

Ode to Harry Potter

Dear JK Rowling,
Thank you for writing the Harry Potter series. I enjoyed reading books 1-4 during my most boring college classes. Books 5-7 were read whilst ignoring mundane household tasks. I love ignoring mundane household tasks, so thank you once again. Finally thank you for giving the planet's populous an excuse to dress up as witches whilst frolicking about in this crazy, mixed up, Muggle World.

Hasta La Pasta Haree Potta!

XOXO
Katherine

P.S. In Honor of the Last installment of Harry Potter I give you wannabe witch photos circa 2004. I miss Gardner's Village Witches Night Out. Also miss my wonderful witchy commrades--Adriane and Mako. I'd like to have a Witches Night Out reunion or go see the movie together--all dressed up and everything. What spell might I cast to make that happen?!
Expecto Patronum!

You Might Be a Parent of a Teenager If. . .

.....you go through pictures on your camera and find your little bundle of joy bust out faces like this on 99.9% of your photos. Look even Dad's trying to look chipper. Why so down clown? She's only 12--not technically a teenager yet. Oh heaven help me!

I KNEW It Wasn't Me!

How sad and ashamed was I when on my last phone call with my Uncle Henry before he died, he brought up something that he was ashamed of me for doing. He informed me that he wasn't too pleased with stuff I was writing about him online.
I was like "what are you talking about?" He told me that he found something I had wrote like 10 years ago and he didn't like that I had made fun of him. Ok I don't know if I had really said it but I was ashamed of myself for whatever it was I had written (he told me it was about how he would pick the lock on the fridge to get food and some other stuff in our family). I really couldn't recall ever writing such things, but I know I have a big mouth sometimes so I just apologized and felt really GUILTY!
So today I was looking for something about my Samoan culture when I stubbled upon THIS!
It was what he was talking about. But the thing is it's so Samoan that I didn't even write it, but he thought I was talking about him and my family. Hahahaha! I can't believe it.
My conscience is clear and my belly hurts from laughing so hard. Cause if you be Samoan, then you know all this is true! Enjoy!

taken from:
http://blssooalo.tripod.com/samoan-humor.html

From: K Smith (Not--me K Smith though)

Date: Sat, Mar 4 2000 2:20:54 PM -0800 (PST)

You are Samoan if:

your dad can tell you to clear the dishes by slapping the table and waving his hand

your dad watches TV lying on the floor even when there are plenty of chairs

your dad changes the TV channel with a pink eraser tied to the end of a ruler

your parents think a Ritz cracker box and foil make a TV antenna

your dad leaves a note in the shower saying don’t move the showerhead because it’s adjusted to the correct height (his and it hits your stomach) and then he signs it with his full name, like no one knows who would do such a thing?

your dad makes you scrub the toilet bowl with your hand and a rag because the American brush can’t do the job right

your dad thinks a hamburger is really 2 pieces of white bread with all kinds of leftovers in between. You like?

there is no lock on the bathroom door and all kinds of people keep coming in and you pretend you’re just relaxing

when your parents sing and play ukulele songs on the toilet

when your dad thinks the pamu (enema) cures everything even a headache

when you hang toilet bowl deodorant from your car mirror for air freshener

when you hang cemetery flowers on your dashboard for decoration

when you hang shell necklaces around photos on walls

when you mix spaghetti with rice

your grandma’s bedroom is full of old cocacola bottles and coconut oil she uses to fo’afo’a you

when your grandma looks like a peaceful sweet old lady on Sunday but she is really twisting your ear and pinching your auaga and every other day she watches wrestling on TV and yells "fusu fusu loa" while boxing the air

your grandma air dries her underwear on bushes and sidewalks in front of your house

your parents make you drink tree bark when you are sick and put axle grease on a gaping wound (you don’t need no stinkin doctor)

your grandma tells you any problems you might get happen because of your wickedness like you get mugged and robbed because you must have sinned sometime

you smile at white people then talk bad about their anatomy behind their backs

you make your own birthday cake and still get a sasa on your birthday

you and all your bros and sis get a sasa just cos your dad is mad and he says its good anyway because you probably did lots of bad things he doesn’t know about

haircut days are good for a lot of head slapping and crooked hair

your head looks like a duck’s muli when your dad is done cutting your hair

you have to sit outside in your underwear while your dad yells, slaps and cuts your hair and keeps tapping the scissors on the comb just before he slaps you with it

your dad buys you housedresses to wear to your first job as a J.C. Penney’s salesgirl

your dad says you look like a gorilla when your hair is dry (because it is bushy) but it looks just like his because that’s where it came from

your parents forbid you to look at boys and you must always put your hair in a pangi but you cannot ever cut it or wear it down

your parents expect you to dance some sexy hula with your eyes closed so you still can’t look at boys

when your legs are bigger, stronger and faster than an NFL lineman

when you’re a woman and you weigh more than an NFL lineman but you look smaller

when you help yourself to your neighbors donuts

when your dad can hit your head sitting 6 feet away during the prayer at church

when your dad chains the fridge closed to keep your 500 pound brother on a diet and your brother never loses weight because he knows how to slip the chain off and on

when your white friends come to your house and wonder why your dad is wearing a sheet?

when every shoe at the front door is as big as a boat

when the chairs are covered with plastic

whenever you walk past a dog you have an uncontrollable urge to kick the dog for no reason (just genetic)

when the dog cringes and goes "ow ow ow" before you even get near it

when you see a Samoan man beating up 4 rednecks and they all crawl away and the next day the Samoan says he’s sorry he kicked the guys so hard cos his foot hurts

when you go to McDonald’s drivethru in a towel and still jump out of your truck to fight cos someone called you a meauli

when your mom buys ballgowns to wear to church

even your dog has that superior, get your muli out of here look

when a dog bites your leg and the doctor is stitching it up, the doctor feels sorry for the dog not you. love you all

Ia fanks a lot K Smith...MALO!

***I just copied and pasted that and to any and all family-- if this hits too close to home then just know there are like a gazillion K. Smiths out there and I don't think I could have come up with this list all by myself. So it's some other K. Smith you gots beef with :)

Happy Birthday Hobbit!

What would life be like without little Xela? She is our smiles and laughter, our bouncy, curly haired girl.





Xela, you are growing up so fast, but you will always be a young soul, I can feel it already. You are uncomplicated, wearing your heart on your sleeve.



You endure complications so well, I know you will be the shoulder for others as you grow up. You remind me of my closest friend, my Aunt Christel, whom you will never know in this life time. I see her in you and I think this may be a blessing from above.

I love watching you dance the robot and bust out break dancing moves, it makes me smile. When I have a bad day, as Moms do, your brightness lightens my burdens.

I love you very much! Happy 7th Birthday!

Blooming

Lately I've been feeling like the little sprouty, flowers poking up out of the dirt. Hibernating for a season and as soon as a little bit of sun shines down, the momentum of their growth starts.

It's been 4 years of hibernating for me. Questioning my happiness in respect to where, how, and when to live and enjoy things.

4 years ago we moved the kids to Washington D.C. where my little seeds of growth decided it was going to be a long winter. I've never been more flakey, unhelpful, unmotivated, dopey, or frumpy, in my life. I felt like every time I'd feel like I had a foothold on life, I'd land on a little slide and head back down to the bottom of the board.

So many things have been culminating for us. It's reached the point where I feel like the long winter is now getting some sunlight and soon it will be spring. Something inside of me is ready to blossom again. An awakened desire to fulfill my purpose here on earth.

The Lord needed me to be patient with my growth, just as he did with Oliver Cowdery when the Lord said to him in Doctrine and Covenants 9:7:

"Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me."

All this time I've felt like life was weakening me and that my imperfections would always be so exposed. Yet, as I've watch the little sprouts shooting up out of the dirt I'm astonished to come to the realization that these years the Lord has been strengthening me not weakening me. I needed to get my roots firmly planted before I can move forward. This long winter has been to prepare me for future winters and future springs--so I can bloom and grow to my fullest potential. The Lord, especially through our trials strengthens us. These trials have really been a blessing to make me be a better person and be of better service to others.

StStylish Blogger? Who me? There must be a mistake!

Stylish? If by "stylish blog" it means I don't update my blog except for times I'm injured or sick then...
I'll TAKE IT!
I first must thank Adriane who bestowed this honor upon me. And the blogosphere culture who make up fake awards and give out fake awards to people like me, who rarely get out of their pajamas/"clean the house" clothes, who eat too many chocolates, and who probably will never grace a cover of any magazine--or dance like Beyonce (hello! did I just write that?--I did & it's true, though try as I might). I bow humbly and say "thank you".

So I guess the rules say list 7 things about yourself.
Here goes nuffing!

1. Today I went to my Zumba class even though I have a cracked rib that is healing. Usually I'm tearing up the dance floor (I don't know if that is a good thing, I might be a little too Napoleon Dynamite, but oh well). However today I had to take it easy so I was "adapting" the dance work out to fit my limited capacity. The instructor kept looking at me funny--like I was trying to disrupt the motion of the class. I felt embarrassed, but hey I paid for that class so I'm going! After a while between songs she apologized and gave a lecture on how if she pushes too hard to please do low impact she doesn't know everyone's capacity. I'm a little bit uhh.. super prideful, so in my head I was like "Hey lady I've got me some cracked ribs--take it easy!). Oh well, but then the rest of me was like--"oh, well--I'll look like a complete lame-o, who cares!"
2. I wish I could go sledding. We have all this snow and I can't enjoy it. Woe is me!
3. My favorite cookies are the cowboy cookies. You'll never spend the $$ for Great Harvest Cookies ever again. They taste the same but are seriously the easiest cookies to make ever! Look it up see for yourself!
4. My two favorite music artists right now are Alison Krauss and Brandon Flowers.
5. Once in high school I arrived at Blue Springs South early and I climbed up to the rafters in the girls bathroom. There is a concrete beam that "hypothetically" (if you really wanted to), you could walk the whole length of the school and spy on people if you just move the removeable ceiling panels. I'm just saying you could do this, as for myself I have never done such a thing.
6. My kids and I watched all of the Alf series before Christmas. It was their reward, we could get them to do anything if we promised they could watch an Alf episode.
7. And lastly while I tend to have a love for British tv shows, which seem to be very classy and well constructed, I also have a love for other things such as this :

CLASSY I know!

Ok so there's 7 things about me I now bestow this honor on:
1.Elizabeth
2.Wendy
3. Jenny
4.Heather
5. Jessica
6.Michelle
7.Sheena

"If it would not look too much like showing off, I would tell the reader where New Zealand is." ....... Mark Twain 1897

***photo by ConsumedbyCake***
When I was a teenager, people would hear my Mom speak and ask all confused-like, "Where are you from?" Sometimes Mom would play sly and ask them to guess. The responses varied. Mexico? Ireland? Australia? It was tough back then, even when you said New Zealand, often the response was, "Where is that?" I laugh now, because since the Lord of the Rings movies it is now recognized as such a beautiful country.

I found these cookies online while trying to find pictures of tikis (a tiki looks like the green creature on the bottom right). Aren't they awesome. As a daughter of a Native New Zealander, I get the meaning behind most of these cookies, but I'm confused about the dude in the apron, the ketchup and the bumble bee on wheels (??). Maybe Mom can clue me in on these mysteries :)

I think I might try my had at personalized cookies. I'm thinking Missourah cookies--you know the Red necks with mullets, river-boat casinos, and Peach Nehi variety.

Awesome.

Book Review: North & South

North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell
***Clarification:This is not the Civil War North & South

Synopsis: Small town English Southerner finds herself in the wicked North (wicked as in fast paced and stressful) where she befriends the poor Higgins Family and her father befriends Mr. Thornton, a businessman who owns a mill. While the story focuses on a multiple of stressful situations, the two main characters carry the weight of the story's world on their shoulders and come out of it with their dignity still intact.

I'm really picky when it comes to books. I sometimes don't even try books out because I worry they will be such a complete waste of time. So I cleave onto my love of the classics, and stories I feel can stand the test of time.
I also am usually pretty adamant about reading the book before seeing the movie. When Harry Potter was about to come out my Mom insisted I read the books before watching the movie. Good thing too, because books=outstanding, movies=so-so.
Fast forward to some dreary Sunday in December. I'm bored, it's cold outside. Nothing to do. I decide to watch the BBC miniseries North and South on Youtube. It was fantastic, I watched the whole thing that day (I think it's 4 hours). Then I became obsessed with watching certain parts over and over again, like when Margaret tells Mr. Thornton to "be a "man" and go and save his innocent Irishmen." Awesome!
Anyways all I'm saying is when they announced in my Book Group that they were going to read North and South, I was like--shoot! I should've waited to watch the movie until after I had read the book.
Once I started reading the book I was startled to realize how happy I was to have watched the movie first. Because the movie was somewhat altered from the book, significant parts were not included or were added.
This spiked my curiosity into how they justified doing all their editing. I found that it was like reading a book and also solving a puzzle as well.
The verdict is, I loved the book and I loved the very edited movie equally as well.
I can't believe I just wrote that.

To Sophia, My Twelve Year Old.

Dearest, You gave me my first breath as Mother.

The years have rolled on and there you stand a
glimmer in my eye, a strong young woman.

I could never have guessed your character as a baby, still small and delicate.

How honored I am to have a daughter that has grown to be so capable, honest, and good natured.

You were a little angel sent to me from above.

Helping your Mother throughout these years
of constant strain and change.
You know how to do so many things and you have so many talents.

Though, your sisters and brother are still small I hope and pray that they will be

as strong, courageous, and true as their
Big Sister.

Happy Birthday, I love you very much my dear, sweet, and perfect Sophia.