Wheeee!

I love nothing better than the pure, unadulterated joy on my children's faces. Today's cause for such joy: Sledding down the Mason's driveway (prime sledding territory, let me tell you!)


Even Mommy got on the sled a few times. I had a talent for finding the slushiest landing places however, as my sogging wet jeans will testify.

But what fun!

I Hate My Car and I Love the Smith Family

This morning I awoke to rain. Little did I know this rain had a hidden, dangerous aspect: it was freezing rain.

I slipped on my heels and skirt and headed out to a baptism at the church. Going up 185th, the car seemed to lose some power, but I kept driving. When I turned from Gassner onto Grabhorn, my brakes seemed to fail me. Up ahead I saw a silver Acura parked diagonally across the road and behind it a white Jeep. Frightened my brakes wouldn't stop me in time, I chose to slide into the ditch. I jammed into the muddy bank and got high centered on a ridge. Fortunately, I was not hurt, but I could not move the car.


The driver of the Jeep saw me, backed up, and who should pop out but Sarah and Nathan Smith, also going to the baptism! They cheerfully stuffed me and my two bottles of Sprite into the front seat and drove me to the church. (See Sarah's picture. She's not only beautiful but saintly and helpful! So is Nathan, but I don't have a picture of him. :-)

Later this afternoon, Nathan helped Lester yank the car out of the ditch. The use of what Lester calls "brute force" caused the front bumper to disconnect from the body of the car. Plus, I sort of smashed the front quarter panel when I collided with the muddy ditch. Sooo, now I will list the damages to our poor car:

- 1 disconnected front bumper

- 1 smashed front quarter panel

- 2 dented rear quarter panels (from other incidents I shall not name at this time)

- 1 broken passenger-side mirror (I was driving down Gassner a few weeks ago from church and a rock or something jumped out of the ditch and shattered the mirror. I swear that is the truth. However, I finished off the job when I accidentally hit a post in a parking lot. That is when the frame fell off the mirror and now it is swathed in plastic. A lovely ornament to my car.)

I will not post a picture of the damage because I prefer to let my poor car suffer in the dark silence of the garage until we can get it to the body shop next week.

Can someone say EXPENSIVE?

Beets and a Big-Boy Bed

Every mother knows of the eternal struggle between children and veggies. Lately, much to my delight, Brandon has shown a liking for raw broccoli.

Tonight, he scarfed down FOUR (4) servings of a veggie disdained by every other member of the family....BEETS! Granted, they were topped with salt and butter, but hey, he's a skinny kid.

Finally, for his birthday, we bought him a big-boy bed, complete with drawers underneath and bedding from the movie, Cars. It's a little big for him now, as these two pictures show. Note that he fell asleep in this position.

Sweet dreams, my little one!

A Working Vacation

This is Elizabeth's other half, Lester, doing a guest blog entry. Many of you know that we spent my 2 week Thanksgiving vacation painting our living room, dining room, kitchen, and kitchen cabinets. It was a pretty big project, bigger and more time consuming than I thought it would be. Elizabeth was a huge help keeping the kids out of the paint by taking them out and arranging play dates. There were also numerous meals eaten at Wendys ;-). While I did finish the bulk of the project during those 2 weeks, I still had a couple of minor finishing touches I needed to finish (installing cabinet hardware and under-cabinet lights). Well, I finally finished the project this past Saturday and I wanted to share the pictures. I love doing before, during, and after pictures. So, enjoy!

Before

During (thank goodness I didn't have the kitchen torn up on Thanksgiving Day ;-)

After

Just one of those days...

I must blog about today so I can cleanse my soul emotionally.

I KNEW it was going to be a crazy day, but still...

AM routine:
- Bathe Brandon and strip my sheets because he's in my bed when his diaper chooses to leak.
- Feed kids waffles
- Help kids empty dishwasher ("It's soo heavy, Mom!") and do vocabulary words with Alexis.
- Let kids watch TV while I am on a business call for 42 minutes (feel wretchedly guilty about the electronic babysitter, but what to do?)
- During said call, "MOOOOom, I'm starving!"
- At conclusion of said call, Alexis appears with peanut butter and jelly smears on her pink pants. Inspection downstairs revealed she made her brother a PB & J and had set out all the ingredients for her requested turkey sandwich. I was quite proud of her!
- Get another phone call from another client asking if "now is a good time to talk." It was somebody I REALLY needed to speak with, so sure, it's a good time. I barricaded myself in the study. A few minutes later, "Moom, I need two clean sheets of paper." I slide them under the door.
Client's cell phone dies. "Mooom, can you write the word 'name' for me, so I can copy it?"
- Happy to comply. Client e-mails with request to call office line. 15 minutes later, conclude call.

Arggh! It's almost time to catch the bus. Stuff kids in shoes and coats, throw a coat over my PJ's and march to the bus stop.

PM Routine
- Shower...finally! Am in big rush to get Brandon to Bridget's by 1 p.m. because of 1:15 doctor's appt. Fortunately, I realize appt. is not until 2:15. Whew, I have a little time.
- Load Brandon in car. CAR DOES NOT START. I have a dead battery! .
- Go get neighbors. At one point, I'm on the phone with Lester, I have my neighbor, her teenage son, her friend, and myself trying to figure out how to start car battery. After Lester's threat to hold a car clinic on Saturday, we have liftoff!
- Go to doctor, pick up Brandon, race to VT appt. No one is home.
- Go pick up Alexis from friend's house. No one is home.
- Go to store with Brandon. Return to friend's house, pick up Alexis.
- Pick up babysitter, return home.
- Sort of work for 1.5 hours.
- Babysitter leaves; help hubby prepare dinner for kids.
- Return to office. Do blog.

Okay, I have purged my soul. Now I can work. Thanks for listening.

Ahh, the routine!

Finally! The Dimit family seems to be back in a routine. It is with great joy I sent Brandon off to Itty-Bitty Warriors at Aloha High School this morning with Lester (after checking the school district Web site for closures/delays). I mean, there was like, a quarter inch of snow on top of the fence in our backyard. Major blizzard conditions, I'm sure.

It will be with equal joy that I let Alexis board the bus at 11:56 a.m. today. We were tired of being cooped up in the house, so we went on a little walk yesterday afternoon to a spot that overlooks the valley. We could see the kids at recess at Errol Hassell. How happy she will be to be a participant, not a wistful onlooker.

By the way, I am falling into the therapeutic lure of blogging. It seems like if I don't get my daily (almost daily) post in, I feel like I can't start my day. Is blogging the Mormon woman's morning cup of coffee?

An odd birthday phenomenon

Hello, people. Mixing bowls are for mixing birthday cakes in, not for catching birthday cake vomit in. But, apparently, my former mixing bowl is now the new vomit-catching bowl. Good thing I bought new mixing bowls at Bed, Bath & Beyond a couple of weeks ago.

Brandon turned 3 last Monday. Tuesday night he woke up vomiting all over the place.

Alexis turned 6 yesterday. Last night she woke up vomiting.

I'm really, really glad there are no more birthdays coming up in our immediate family.

Poor, poor Brandon!

Brandon often wakes up crying in the middle of the night, but he usually goes back to sleep on his own.

But the night before last, he woke up screaming. I went into his room to find my adorable, newly turned 3-year-old sitting on the edge of his bed in his brand-new Cars pajamas covered in vomit.

Poor little guy.

So he spent the rest of the night in bed with me (we sent Lester to the guest room), alternately dozing and puking into a plastic bowl that he has come to despise (who can blame him!). Every time he woke up to throw up, he would scream. Alexis would yell from her room, "I can't sleep!" and then go back to sleep.

He slept all day yesterday, had a fever, but the vomiting seems to have calmed down.

Now let us hope it doesn't spread to the rest of the family. :-)

And maybe someday I will catch up on my laundry.

Family Pictures, Finally!

Mahina, the photographer extraordiannaire, took out pictures at Rood Bridge Park last month. Here are a few of the highlights!

Ahh, aren't they adorable? :-)

When they're not fighting, they really love each other!

Somebody LOVES his circle blankie!

Ole' Mom and Dad don't look too bad in black and white!


Like father, like son (well, sort of).

Springtime Seeds Bring Wintertime Flowers

Most blossoms appear in spring. My flowers bloom in the dead of winter. That is because my fertility cycle seemed to be linked to the life-giving warmth of spring. Let me explain:

Spring 2000: I discovered I was pregnant , only to have a miscarriage a few weeks later. The baby would have been a December/January baby.

Spring 2001: I am pregnant once again, this time to give birth to Alexis on Jan. 13, 2002.

Spring 2004: Good grief. It's spring and I am once again pregnant, and have Brandon on Jan. 7, 2005.

I don't understand this springtime phenomenon. Maybe it's because my hubby is also a January birthday (today he's 39).

In fact, the branches of my family tree are ripe with January birthdays: my dad, a niece, a brother-in-law, two cousins, a first cousin once removed (he's the oldest son of one of the cousins with a January birthday).

Don't get me wrong. I'm so grateful for my wintertime blossoms. They are the joy of my existence.

I just wish they didn't bloom so close to Christmas. :-)

PS: The carnation is the January birth flower.