I’m not exactly sure where "there" is, but I’m pretty sure it’s more organized and attractive than "here." We actually completed this phase of this project on the 11th, but life has been busy, so here it is. We’ve been prepping the materials for a long time, and finally assembled the whole thing one Saturday. Poor kids were sequestered to the upper quarters while we worked for a few hours to really bring the thing together. Except for Keane. He just slept through it all on the couch. Power drills, saw, expletives, didn’t phase him a bit.

No, we’re not finished yet. We plan to install pull-out towers on the sides and perhaps shelving or drawers at the bottom. We were going to put out all our media, but without the shelving/drawers it would just look pretty messy, so we just have the basics out and available, and the rest are still in boxes. Our VCR is broken thanks to two little people who thought it should be filled with papers and such at one point, so the majority of our kids’ movies are unusable anyway. Truthfully, I kind of like it that way.

Ah well, we’re getting there. 

So I heard a great idea from my sister Carrie about doing an experiment and living impromptu on your food storage for 6 weeks. No last minute stops at the grocery, just START. So I offered the challenge at the Bare Necessities of Motherhood site. Well, despite the lack of enthusiasm, I decided to try the six week challenge for myself. I am currently on week four of the official challenge, though really, I hadn’t been to the store for a week or two before that.

I just thought I’d share what I’ve learned so far:

You can make cake, cookies, brownies, pancakes, breakfast cake, and scones without eggs.

Snack foods are important.

Cleaning supplies are also important.

You can never store too many spices.

I love my deep freezer– it is like an endless resource of "fresh" vegetables.

Potatoes are my friend, and carrots, too.

I am grateful for Macaroni & Cheese and Ramen Noodles.

I really like baking bread. Just not every day.

Canned tomatoes make all kinds of things possible.

We eat a lot of sugar and refined flour in this country.

Soy milk from scratch rocks.

To elaborate: We don’t eat cold cereal, so I’m pretty used to having something else for breakfasts anyway, so at least that was not an adjustment I had to make. Some things we’ve eaten over the past 4 weeks: Spaghetti and Meatballs with homemade sauce, scones, burritos with homemade flour tortillas, curry and rice (varying types), fried potatoes, Indian Fry Bread, garbanzo picadillo and homemade masa tortillas, soup and crusty homemade bread, "Snobby Joes" (sloppy joes made out of lentils), french fries, stir fry (varying types), some fancy cornmeal-coated tofu thing, and various boxed meals for lunches. I can’t say how that church dehydrated soup tastes because we’re not that desperate yet. Though, I have realized I don’t even like the fancy Bear Creek Soups, so I’m not optimistic about that. I’d rather just take several different kinds of canned veggies, some dry cooked beans, and make my own soup. Conan says we should do this more often! We’ll see what he’s saying in two more weeks… we’ve run out of pretty much all fresh produce except carrots, beets, and potatoes (thank goodness for long keepers!) and we’re totally out of snack foods except popcorn. I guess crackers will have to be next on my list of things to learn how to make!

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So, Neils and I have been talking a lot, about a lot of things. Some of the things he’s been telling me are that he doesn’t like not seeing his family all day. I remember being about his age and counting up the hours of my awake life spent at school with teachers that don’t share my family’s values compared with the few hours at home and not liking that picture. And I started thinking about how much of Neils’ home life is actually spent in the car, being sent elsewhere so I can finish my work, or doing homework (the most important part of school, according to his teacher), or chores, or getting ready for bed. There was no time in the day to do the enriching activities I know he needs (such as handwriting practice, and better reading practice than what he’s getting at school). And so often he was rushing through his work to get to a few minutes of a reward held out to get him to just finish in a reasonable timeframe. He’s also been telling me that he would like to have school at home. For a variety of reasons, I’ve decided that would be best for our entire family. 

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I have to say, Conan is the best Dad I’ve ever even heard about. So, after our day-long adventure to the Detroit area, we finally get home around 6pm and Neils asks Dad if they can build something together. Not with Legos, mind you, with wood. You know, like a car. What does the world’s most amazing Dad (who has only slept about 4 hours and not had a nap) say?

Well they got the wheels done, anyway, and they’ll be working on the body as soon as Dad gets home from his business trip. What an awesome guy I married! 

So, we’re a little late posting these, but a few days before Halloween, we finally got around to carving a pumpkin. We bought a pile of pumpkins from a local farmer, in the traditional way for our neck of the woods; by dropping the money into a coffee can money box, on our honor to pay the prices listed. I love that something like that works in this area. In California I think you’d get robbed blind.

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Neils has grown and matured so much over this past year, even in the last couple of months. He is the same compassionate, intense, fun-loving guy he’s always been, but he’s grown into himself even more. He’s "leveled-up" you might say. With new powers and … ok, well maybe not exactly like that, but pretty close. He is reading more and more each day, can tie his own shoes, is more and more independent,  and more able to perceive what someone might be feeling or needing and what he can do about it, which makes him more willing and able to help his brothers out when they need it. I had a really fun time planning the party, and making a special celebration for my son.

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Conan will create an additional 15 square feet of kitchen space out of thin air. Conan is awesome. He recently made our nice smooth-top range look like it actually belongs in the kitchen by making it flush with the countertops and moving the kickboard into a supporting role. He then built some nice new shelves for pots & pans! What a stud I married. How lucky can a girl be?

Three years old! However did he manage it? Well the twos were fraught with peril for all, but we’ve all survived, and have a beautiful, kind, exciting little man to show for it. I love how every morning he dashes to our room with a cheery "Skudmorning!" I love how he always wants to be sure everyone gets what they need; if he gets a special treat he always asks for one for Keane, too. I love his tenacity and sense of doing things "right," in his own way. Such a wonderful little person. He wanted a Tractor Party, which I expanded to a farm party; and though all my grand ideas to get a petting zoo of sorts compiled were fruitless, as well as my grand design to get the farmer to park one of those giant harvesters in the field behind the fence, we invented a lot of other fun ways to celebrate Burke and honor his birthday wishes.

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I was recently invited to participate in a blog run by a young mother in our new ward called, "The Bare Necessities of Motherhood." It’s a really great blog all about well, the obvious, and I really have never felt more like I fit in with the ideas and interests of a group of people better, so that in and of itself is such a blessing. I introduced myself to the group and immediately was asked to be a regular contributor. I will be posting once a week about some kind of cooking topic, which I am looking forward to immensely! I’m going to try to post every Wednesday for both my benefit and for anyone interested in following my threads. I just love that there is this little nest of women who are interested in child development, spirituality, becoming green, being good parents, and supporting one another in those goals. Not that those are totally unusual things for women to be interested in, but just that they’re each so good at those things and have so much to share. It’s awesome.