on-hand modern

easter traditions 2012

1) making resurrection bread

2) dyeing easter eggs

3) new saltwater sandals (read more about that tradition here)

4) new for 2012 : eggs filled with "fish and honeycomb" (i.e. swedish fish and sugar babies) + reading luke 24:39-42

i hope your easter holiday was happy and meaningful. i miss being in this space more often and connecting with all of you. fyi, tomorrow evening i'll be playing the organ at the kansas city temple open house. eek! i'm nervous and excited. cross your fingers i don't do anything (too) embarrassing. maybe i'll see you there? i hope i do.

***

valentine's day by dad

Whoa. Way too much time between posts. Must try to remedy that situation starting...now.
 
Hey! I wanted to talk to you about holidays and who's in charge of planning. In my experience, the role of holiday cruise director usually falls under the job description of Mom, but at some point over the years the Engineer took over Valentine's Day, and it's pretty great. There are usually flowers involved, for me and the girls. (Attention dads: if you give your daughter flowers on Valentine's Day, she will feel loved and special and remember your thoughtfulness forever. Learned this tip from my own dad who probably doesn't remember he once sent me flowers at BYU on Valentine's Day, but I do. Hi Dad!)
 
There is also chocolate for everyone--this year giant Hershey kisses for the kids, something a little more grown up for me--and maybe a surprise or two. Like paper hearts everywhere! It doesn't have to cost a lot or be elaborate to make a big impact. As a mom (and blogger) I always try to remember that. Simple is just fine, and over-the-top is generally overrated. (Do you agree? Is this easier for guys, do you think?)
 
Anyway, that's our family Valentine's Day. What do you think? Is dad in charge of any holidays at your house? As a mom, would you be cool with a holiday dad's way? Love to hear your thoughts.

***

thanksgiving 2011

without any family around to share the holiday, it's become our tradition the last few years to eat out on thanksgiving. to be totally honest, i still much prefer a home-cooked meal surrounded by parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews, but this way at least we get to spend more time hanging around with the kids instead of doing dishes. it's also become our tradition in recent years to book a hotel room close to home for the night. so for us the holiday pretty much goes like this: morning--see a movie in the theater, afternoon--eat an early dinner, evening--swim in the hotel pool. then the next day we get up and explore the city where we're staying.

so, these are some of my favorite photos from this year's thanksgiving festivities in...lawrence, kansas. haha. it's a cute little college town, home to the University of Kansas. we spent most of the day after thanksgiving on massachusetts street, poking our heads into all the quirky shops and making mental wishlists. olivia bought herself a vintage nancy drew book in an antique store. and asher picked out a $1 plastic reindeer at one of the local toy shops. around dinner time, the holiday lights came on for the first time and santa made his much-anticipated appearance on top of weavers, the department store.

it all sounds pretty idyllic and "thanksgiving in mayberry" as i type this. in reality...well.

we had our moments.

the thing is i look at the photos, and pretty much i only remember the good parts.

[photo of me by k]

***

the thing about pumpkin chiffon pie

the thing about pumpkin chiffon pie is that it's tradition.

the thing about pumpkin chiffon pie is that if you use pre-made graham cracker crusts, it takes exactly the same amount of effort to make 4 pies as it does to make one. so always make the full recipe.

the thing about pumpkin chiffon pie is that when you look in the fridge and see FOUR PIES, you feel rich.

the thing about pumpkin chiffon pie is knowing that if someone were to drop by unexpectedly, you could say, "please come in. i have pie." and they would think you are awesome. even if you are still in your pajamas.

the thing about pumpkin chiffon pie is that when you wake up too early and can't get back to sleep, at least you have something to write about.

the thing about pumpkin chiffon pie is that it signals the start of the holiday season. and girls in red dresses.

the thing about pumpkin chiffon pie is how cute are these mini pies my sister made?

the thing about pumpkin chiffon pie is it's my 1950s entrepreneurial grandmother's recipe. my favorite vintage photo of her + the recipe are right here.

***

thoughts on holiday shopping

are you thinking about gifts for the holidays yet? it still feels early to me, but i made my first purchase for the kids this morning. i'm not much of a shopper usually--i get overwhelmed by crowds and choices (not to mention tiny-house-more-stuff syndrome, and the expense) so i tend to avoid it as much as possible. then the holidays come around and there's all this (self-induced) pressure to buybuybuy! just.the.right.thing. i confess. i can get a bit...crazy.

to try to keep the consumerism + my stress level at a minimum, i strive to abide by the following guidelines:

1) children may ask santa for ONE thing.

2) when shopping for children use this rule of thumb: one thing they want, one thing they need (our tradition is new shoes), one thing i made, one thing to read.

3) shop online as much as possible.

4) buy the grandparents the same thing every year.

5) avoid shipping costs + trips to the post office by sending gift cards to out-of-towners.

do you have any other anti-stress holiday shopping tips? i'd love to hear them.

***

diy: family portrait october 2011

it's our tradition every six months to put the camera on timer and take a family photo. april + october. we do it during LDS conference weekend (the same day we make donuts) so we don't forget.

there are probably a dozen more of these, and they are all pretty much comical. they have soul though, i think.

(am also pleased to report the engineer gave up trying to grow his hair out.)

***

i believe in: God, traditions, and donuts

if you've been reading here for any length of time you've probably heard me talk about conference weekend + homemade spudnuts before, but (spoiler alert!) i'll probably keep talking about them because i believe in family traditions. be they simple or elaborate, big or small, silly or of a more serious nature--those things which we do consciously over and over again as families have value, bringing us together in a very real way and providing those shared experiences that, regularly and collectively, serve to strengthen our family bonds, create commonalities among (sometimes very different) family members, build understanding and familiarity across generations, and just generally bring an added level of richness and meaning to our lives.

i should say that i also believe in adapting our traditions as our families grow and evolve and our circumstances change, but for now--

sugary pastries twice a year it is!

[recipe here]

p.s. for my LDS-curious friends. :) in case you are wondering, there is no theological connection between LDS general conference and fried foods with holes in them. it's just a random thing we do, although family-specific traditions regarding food and that weekend seem to be pretty common among us mormons. my sister's family makes ebelskivers (puffy danish pancakes) and my sister-in-law's in-laws (did you follow that?) have a tradtion they fondly refer to as Bacon Fest. ha!

***

home educating series: our back-to-school photos

[third grade / kindergarten / 2 years old]

pretty much making me smile this morning.

have a great weekend!

***

breakfast on saturday

i first wrote about our saturday morning breakfasts here.

k made his famous french toast and some of us topped it with homemade lemon curd, fresh berries, and whipped cream. one of us bucked the pressure from the crowd and stuck to his usual--boysenberry syrup, cold from the refrigerator. and still another ate mostly just bacon.

and, ahem, for the record. lest you think we eat like this all the time...

saturday breakfast (aside from sunday dinner maybe? which, by the way, k also cooks) is probably the most elaborate meal of the week. or at least it has been lately. i've barely cooked all summer. for various reasons, not the least of which have been our late summer hours + the insane heat. i did manage some compliments on my brown rice yesterday, though, when we had friends over. if i get really ambitious, i will write up a post on how i do it. (i know--brown rice. can you handle it? it isn't sexy, but it can be tricky to get right, don't you think?)

anyway. tell me about meals at your house. who does most of the cooking? does it vary? is there any one meal that's more special than the others during the week?

***

scout's birthday

the night before scout's birthday, we decorated her bed while she was asleep. never mind the fact that she didn't wake up in it and almost never does--it's tradition! that morning, we opened presents first thing, then got ourselves together for a bike ride + breakfast picnic. unfortunately, we left later than we should have. the day was hot, and the donuts melted faster than we could eat them. then three for three children had to use the restroom, so we went home to air conditioning and porcelain toilets. later that afternoon, we did some sightseeing around town. lost scout's doll. grabbed dinner. ate cake (thumbs up--whipped cream; thumbs down--fire/candles). we ended the day with an indoor drive-in movie in the living room in our pajamas.

it wasn't perfect. just like any other day, it had its ups and downs. but there were perfect moments. i try to freeze them, if not in my mind then at least in photos.

happy birthday, scoutie-boots. we're so grateful you're part of our family.

***