I will be making this in the very near future.

http://noblepig.com/2009/12/13/kahluapecanbrown-sugar-baked-brie.aspx

Our EGG-cellent adventure!

Yes, that is what you think it is.

We came across it almost by accident. There was a very small warning, that we missed, about the graphic nature of the room. While chasing a couple of our kids I turned around to see them playing a video game of some sort. Upon closer inspection I realized that yes, that is a cervix with sperm racing to the finish line (the egg). I realized this at right about the same time as another mother who was there and we both started to giggle quietly behind our children, not wanting to make a big deal about it, but thoroughly enjoying their screams of "go! go! the other sperm is going to win!". Ah Science World, always an adventure.

Taking our time in Vancouver

Well, waiting is certainly not my strong suit. Leah is beautifully round and full of baby and the baby does not seem to be ready to make an appearance just yet. So we wait in wet Vancouver.

However, I am blessed enough to have a week old baby to stave off the cravings. His name is Judah and he is perfectly sweet. I was here three weeks after his older brother Tait was born and they look so alike. It is very cool to watch Shiloh and Tait (only 4 months apart) playing together and to chat about those days six years ago when they were babies crying in concert in Amanda's hallway. Is it just me or does time seem to move in sudden spurts?

Another odd event of the week past is that while making fun of her ridiculously huge stash of yarn, my sister somehow sucked me into her obsessive knitting universe. I knit a sock, almost by accident, with her next to me like a little fellow on my shoulder full of tempting whispers. I now have a starter stash of my own and for the life of me, cannot repeat a heel flap (let alone turn the thing) but I find it oddly exciting to restart the sock every time I have to frog it. I think I have become lost down the path of no return and there is a bunch of knitters hanging out at a coffee shop down by three bags full giggling about it.

Hmm not really sure where to start

Well, the summer has been full and the kids have been having an awesome time too! The Marriott Tribe took a trip to Montana in August for Lifelinks Family Camp. It was incredible! The speakers were awesome, the kids teachers were enthusiastic and energetic, and the scenery was some of creation's best. We came back refreshed and ready to move mountains.

Upon our return, we got into full "Love Cranbrook Day" swing. It has been alot of planning effort, but the right people just keep coming out of the woodwork with all the right skills or finances to help. Things are rolling along more smoothly than I could have hoped and it is starting to get seriously exciting!

Also, last week, we had beach party with our church at Tie Lake and had some people getting baptized. Levi was one of them! It was so neat to hear Alex pray for Levi and encourage him in telling him what an incredible young man he is becoming.

Anyway, that pretty much sums it up for now.

Shiloh

I think it may be official; the Marriott children have inherited their mother's clutz genes. At least they seem to have spread it out amongst themselves rather than have concentrated doses for each.

Hannah has had a broken collar bone, Levi a broken arm and yesterday Shiloh got her broken nose re-aligned in a four minute procedure that took about 8 hours in the hospital to wait for.

She was so brave. She hadn't eaten all day and complained only once. She had heard the explanation of the surgery and recovery early on in the day and though initially she had been scared she mustered up the courage to face a whole day of waiting with cheerfulness. In every department we visited the nurses were singing her praises. They would ask how old she was and how she broke her nose and she would tell them stories of her big brother and two sisters and camping on the weekend. When they were allowed to give her one small cup of apple juice for dinner, she was very gracious and grateful and, again, did not complain.

Of all my children, to be honest, Shiloh is the last one I expected to pull off an entire day without food or drink, lying in a bed, without severe grumpiness. She was actually cheerful and pleasant, even when asking about when she could finally eat.

I have ridiculously awesome kids. It's just that simple.

Late night, much laughing

I wasn't sure what to think of this whole grad reunion idea. Does it make me feel old, or has it come too quick? Do I really want to see the pockets of people who were rather unpleasant in high school? Then there is the part where I never left Cranbrook. Anyone who has grown up in Cranbrook knows there is an expectation all through school that you will get out even if you end up coming back.

Well, who cares!? Not one person (whose opinion matters anyway). It was great to see faces of people I genuinely liked but just didn't stay in touch with. Which was a large number of faces considering how easy it is to lose touch when you go from high school graduate to housewife in a matter of days. There were a couple of people I was really grateful to reconnect with. There was even some fence mending going on.

I will say, it was very odd to overhear conversations like, "how are the kids?." My brain kept doing a double take. What do you mean "how are the kids", we are the kids! Funny how I can be married ten years with four of my own and still not be used to the idea that we are all edging towards thirty.

All in all, a wonderful evening with lots of hugging and laughing and philosophical discussion (I did bring Alex with me after all). Glad I went.

Domesticity strikes unsuspecting victim

I am not entirely sure what prompted the volunteering of this particular job in the first place, but this week I found myself baking and decorating a wedding cake. My lovely friend Barb helped with research, practice cakes and the baking of the final cake. The final decorating was left to me early Saturday morning. Although I was afraid to breath for an entire morning, the thing turned out beautifully and the girl-who-doesn't-bake managed to impress. For your viewing pleasure, the cake:
Then, after all those hours of work and probably more than a few pounds of practices cakes on my hips they go and do this:



I'm not going to lie; I knew it was coming, but it hurt a little.

Casual Conversations

The sun finally came out to play yesterday and we went for a fabulous walk in the trails up south star. As we were walking Selah and I had an interesting conversation.

Selah: I am getting bigger, right?

Me: You sure are.

Selah: Hey! I am almost ten!

Me: No, you are almost four. (this is about the last word I got in because Selah just streamed words after this.

Selah: If I was bigger I'm almost ten. I will be a giant and I will say FEE FI FFO FUM! Funny! I don't want to go in that water. The water is talking, mama, I don't like the water talking. I am running running! I am free! Mama, you can't run when you carry me cause I am bigger.

This last bit was quite a bit longer. She is an interesting kid. Them's the kind we make!

The apple doesn't fall far enough.....

SO mom and I have been throwing the words "compulsive caregiver" back and forth lately. Both of us a bit tired and a bit overly voluntary. This morning she calls to say hi and ask if our youngest could go for visit. After some conversation about how we both have a lot going on just at the moment, we had an interesting bit of "like mother, like daughter. " Here is how the conversation went: (abridged version)

Me: You will have to drop her off at the church because there is a wedding today and Alex and I are doing the food.

Mom: Why the h*** are you doing that?! (teensy lecture about compulsive care giving here)

Me: It's not a big deal I have some help. We are coordinating a potluck but I will need to be in the kitchen early.

***********insert miscellaneous conversation here*************

Mom: So we had the BBQ for the NPD leader last night.

Me: Oh, how was it?

Mom: Well I was manning the BBQ.

Me: *hysterical laughter* Why the h*** are you doing that?!

At this point we were both laughing so hard we forgot where that conversation was going.

Say What?!?

Breakfast conversation in the Marriott Household.

Shiloh: Levi, who are you going to marry?

Dad: Levi has a long time before he needs to make that decision.

Levi: Ya, like ten years.

Dad: Maybe more.

Levi: Or maybe a bit less...

Huh?

Never a Dull Haircut

So this, apparently, is what happens when your church has a mustache growing competition. Alex was so proud of his facial hair that he got a perm to ice the fur cake. There were also points for naming the facial oddness. Alex has affectionately dubbed his creation, "the cake-hole indicator." He wants me to subtext this "food goes in." For pete's sake....




Now, the timing of all this was such that my baby brother and his lovely partner were coming into town just after the facial fiasco at our church. It has been the plan for a long while to have Chrystel tie my hair up in knots. It was all very painfully (no seriously, it was painful) exciting until the dreads were labeled payback for the fro. To have my attempt at self-expression be diminished to the status of simple marital retaliation is a little disappointing, but I love them anyway.





Coming up on ten years and yes, this is what we look like. Still I say, not bored, so not bored.

Locals unplugged and unhinged

I cannot begin to describe the fullness of these last two nights. Incredible music played by all during and post recording. Laughing in the wee hours of the morning, singing three, four, five part harmonies to songs that warm a soul to its roots. Again, I come back to this place of awe, "This can't be real. Nobody has this kind of community." But there it is, everywhere I turn. These rambunctious, passionate, undeniably talented people that have become the other family to my family. I can't wait to hear the finished CD, with all it's perfect imperfections. It cannot possibly be an accurate portrayal of what this indescribable thing is, but it will be a single moment captured to carry into the years ahead.

Creativity was meant for survival

I have four children. Jobs, pets, music, and social life notwithstanding, four children, all by themselves, make a body tired. Any new mom knows that a single squirmy, ball of pink flesh can make you delirious in a matter of days by merely introducing sleep-deprivation into your life. All that being said I have come up with the perfect way to catch a nap and keep the two younger (most likely to get into trouble) munchkins occupied. It's amazing what some cotton balls, paint brushes and a few random hair clips can do for an afternoon's entertainment. Behold.




Now that's the kind of spa treatment I could get into!

I really am a little nuts...(make sure you have your sound on)

So in this house of two adults, four kids, two cats, and a fish, I have just accomplished the unthinkable. I convinced my incredibly fabulous husband to let us keep the puppy a friend introduced us to the other night.
Not just any puppy either. A small dog breed. I never thought I would own a small dog. I always made fun of small dog owners because I figured, if you want a small dog why not just get a cat? Dogs should be larger-than-life, able to protect, fetch, bark, bound. Small dogs don't bark, they yelp and they bounce rather than bound. In light of all this, however, our new little cocker spaniel/ terrier has completely made a fool of me. I find myself calling people to them as though I was pregnant. It really quite ridiculous. But seriously, can you blame me.

And yet silver linings abound.....

Rough week. People we love in the hospital, leaky basement, relationship messiness (not with us but around us), an unusually inconvenient blackout, and just having some blatant evidence of the ugliness mankind is capable of. Pffffft!

And yet, I am again humbled by the way people pull together, pull up their socks, and just plain love the crap away. You don't get to see that kind of stuff on a day when no one has a need. Even a simple need met is a little treasure. For instance, my friend Annie filled her wee house with an abundance of children today so I could go to a meeting and Alex could deal with the puddle in the basement. This ball of human habitation has it's blemishes, but there are definitely roses among those thorns.

Simply choatic

Today I did schoolwork with the girls, read stories, giggled, ate pie and drank hot chocolate, played in snow, made lunch, did laundry, paid bills, sang songs, coached the boy on his homework and it's not even over yet!

Now we are making dinner while Alex sings "under the sea" and Selah passes gas. Nope. Never bored. Ever.

Talking about a revolution

I am reading this book that is totally kicking my socially responsible butt. It's by this guy named Shane who lives in a ghetto with a bunch of people and takes care of his neighborhood family and lets them take care of him. He is redefining community and dissecting the truth of what it really means to believe in Christ.

Battling with the homeless situation in Cranbrook this past couple of years has knocked the wind out of me somewhat. I know I want to make a difference, but there are roadblocks and critics everywhere. Sometimes the only thing I can do to stay sane is keep it all at arms length. I define the parameters of how far I am willing to go and keep my family and children quietly buffered from the struggle and suffering I can see plainly around me. I write letters and emails to the nice people to whom I pay my taxes and diplomatically, politely even, ask them to help fix the problem our oh-so-civilized selves help to create everyday. I stay carefully within the lines of rules and regulations that are meant to protect, but so often lead to an inability to help all who need it.

So in my frustration I read this book. It makes me realize how indoctrinated I am. How lines drawn by the elite become walls to high to scale between classes of people who could otherwise learn to live in creative community sharing needs and meeting needs. So maybe it's time to get creative here. I have no idea what that means on a personal level other than I am going to start removing some of the insulators. I am sharing this here because I believe an important part of community is honesty and accountability. I am going to have my own internal revolution and find a way to break out from these lines of us and them.