She knits

Or is it crochets?  I honestly don't know the difference, but thanks to a friend's instruction, L2 is fashioning all sorts of things out of yarn.  Unfortunately, she's a perfectionist, so she's just as often unraveling her works of art to start all over again.  I need to find a grandma who can teach her some mad new skillz.  Knitting and crocheting ability skipped a couple generations in my family. 

Happy birthday, L2!

L2 had her very first friend party for her 12th birthday.  Because she wanted to punish me, she chose to have her party at the bowling alley.  At night.  With music blasting.  And 10 screaming, giggling, boy-chasing girls as guests.  And because I must have done something horrible in a previous life, Hubby had to go man the concession stand at the high school football game, which left me to "party" alone.  Never has time gone so s-l-o-w-l-y.

The good news is that L2 had a blast.  Her friends showered her with lip gloss and fingernail polish, and they teased her by making her name "Kevinlover" or some such craziness on the bowling score-keeping screen.  She insists Kevin is gross, so I'm not too worried.

My baby girl is 12.  How can it be?  She's been a part of our family since she was 6 years old, but it seems like just yesterday that she bounded her way into our lives.  That stinker.  What would we do without her?

I made two batches of s'mores cupcakes - one for the party and one for the family party on Sunday.  The recipe is from the cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and can be found here.  

Round 2 of vegan s'mores cupcakes, which L2 herself chose.  I'm pretty sure she picked the hardest recipe in the book. 

Welcome to the community of iPod owners, miss L2. 

Pizza night!

So Friday has been Pizza Night for as long as I can remember, but we've been able to substitute Make-Your-Own-Pizza-Night for Pizza Hut and Little Caesar's.  It's a lot more fun to make your own, and the homemade versions certainly trash on your body a little less.  We used whole wheat crusts, pizza sauce, broccoli, meat-free Yves pepperoni, olives, portabellas, green and red peppers, tomatoes, and Daiya cheddar cheese.

Want a little "catch-up" with that?

I'm sure no one will want to read through what will be a giant post, so for your perusing ease and comfort, I provide bullets and bold letters.  I leave it to you, dear reader, to pick and choose the topics you give a darn about.

• J1's graduation, May 24, 2011  So my firstborn son graduated.  I laughed, I cried, I cried some more.  I kept seeing in my mind my little 2-year-old J1, chasing after a ball in our yard in Salt Lake.  How he managed to grow up so fast and graduate from high school is beyond me.  It feels like I just blinked and he was grown.  

J1 with his bestie, M at their graduation party.  The cake is a replica of M's truck, on which they put many miles.

J1 and his girlfriend, M, who also graduated

The best graduation gift a boy could ask for!  A new haircut! (and a new Martin guitar)

It's really happening!

J1 and me

We seriously couldn't be more proud!

• My 40th birthday  As if one major milestone wasn't enough, I turned 40 on June 5th.  I'm still in denial.  The gall.  Anyway, the family threw me a nice surprise shindig, and I got some great gifts (which sort of helped soften the blow.  Sort of.)  My camera apparently wasn't thrilled about the whole thing and decided to switch itself to the "blurry" setting.

Surprise!

I have a sickening collection of aprons, which is ironic since as a teen, I swore I'd never wear something so demeaning

Chocolate.  And a hat.

An awesome new cuff.  Can you tell E is related to me?

•  Cute random photo, June 10th 

Yeah, they're zoning out in front of the TV, but they're zoning out together

• The Great Kitchen Gutting - June 17-26  While my sister and brother-in-law, J and J, were out of town, I conspired with my parents to completely gut and overhaul their kitchen in their absence.  We had a plethora of kitchen stuff (e.g., cabinets) that we'd ripped out of our kitchen, and my parents had a bunch of other stuff, like some money.  J and J rent their house from our parents, so it wasn't like we totally invaded their privacy and stuff.  We only a smidgen invaded their privacy.  And it was worth it.  We took the kitchen from 1950s blah to 2011 pretty-darn-impressive-for-the-budget.  J and J didn't get home until like 4:00 in the morning, so we didn't get to their faces, but they report having been quite disoriented.  (We also redid the master bedroom, painted their daughter K's bedroom, and did a little fixing up in the living room.  We joked that the only room on the main floor we didn't touch was the bathroom, but we did pee in it a lot. 

You can't really see it, but my dad built an adorable window seat behind the table

New flooring and double the cabinet and counter space

All the cabinets came out of our old kitchen and were painted white.  We reused all but the corner units.

•    Cute random photo, June 30th

Row, row, row your camping pads... (C, M, and B)

• Fourth of July craziness  The day started with the annual "parade," which is more of a hodge-podge assortment of bicycle riders, vehicles covered with advertisements, elderly people in power chairs, "clowns," and a few horses, all making their way down Main St.  But since most of the participants throw candy to the spectators, the kids do some serious arm-twisting to get us there each year. (There are no pictures, sadly, but trust me - I'm doing you a favor.)  Later in the day, we went to the park to listen to the bands play and wait for the fireworks show.  My brother-in-law, J, played keyboards and sang back-up with the first band, and the second band was made up of our oldest kids' friends (Z's boyfriend of the time being the drummer).  The music was lots of fun for the kids, and I enjoyed lying on the blankets and watching the fireworks explode overhead.  It really was a fantastic day.  

C, my dad, and M in the background

S, the patriot

Baby mosh pit

M and a couple of faceless friends  ;o)

•  Cute weird random photo, July 8th 

My fortune?  What the?

• Cute random photo, July 14

C: "B, do superheroes eat pancakes?" B: "Yeah, sometimes."

•   Cute random photo, July 15th

We drove around town doing surprise driveway art at friends' and neighbors' houses

•   A trip to the petting zoo, July 22nd

• Z turns - gasp- 16! July 19 (Photos taken July 24th)

There must be money in it

Sing with me: Sixteen candles...

Our purposeful Cake Wrecks tribute

Dinner in the sunroom since the kitchen is STILL not done

•   Cute random photo, August 4th

Various small people, making due with the lack of breakfast seating in the kitchen

•   J2 and E's 13th birthday, August 4th (pictures taken Aug 5 and 7)  And just like that, I have FOUR teenagers.  My tiny baby boys, who collectively weighed 12-and-a-half pounds at birth, are now full-fledged teens.  Shiver.  Good for them they're so stinkin' adorable.  And smart.  And talented.  Just like their mama.  ;o)

J2 and E enjoying their pre-pizza beverages

I love to see them smile.  Especially when they're not simultaneously torturing a sibling.

Aw, brotherly love

Ethan was shirtless, so he borrowed J's shirt for a photo

J2 looks like a deer in the headlights...

E and his favorite gift

J2 unwrapping a hoodie

•    And yet another birthday - B turns 5! (Aug 9)

Yet another truck for B's growing collection

His face says it all!

And again his face says it all!

It's little wonder that LONG hair didn't ignite!

•    Cute random photos, August 18th

Photo of L1 I snapped one day to email to her birthmom

Photo of J3 I snapped the same day to email to his birthmom

•    J1 turns 18 and moves into the dorms! (B-day Aug 18, photos taken over several days)  Earlier in the summer, we had applied for J1 to live in the dorms at the local college.  On the one hand, we felt a little like it was an unnecessary indulgence since we live less than a mile from campus, but on the other hand, J1 worked hard and got a full tuition scholarship, and he's had nothing resembling a peaceful study environment for the last several years of his life.  We decided he deserved to be able to live on his own if he wanted.  Unfortunately, we found out right away that the dorms were full and that he would have to go on a waiting list.  We were quite surprised when we found out a few days before school started that they did indeed have space for him! 

   

• B learns to ride a bike, August 23rd

   

• County Fair, August 25th

My littlest buddies

I think they had fun!

No, they're NOT all mine!

Hubby and me

C kicking back

Sushi at the fair!  (I'm pretty sure this is the last animal flesh I ever ate.)

Me and my bro-in-law on the zipper because our spouse were too chicken!  Ha!

•  First day of school, August 31  This was another milestone day for me.  Today, all 12 of my children were in one school or another.  None too young for school.  None being homeschooled.  It felt weird.  I didn't really know what to do with myself.  I felt sad because even my baby is in school now, but I also felt exhilarated at the prospects of being able to tackle some projects heretofore not possible.  Especially since our kitchen is still... not... done..., I realized that I can do a lot with those childless 4-7 hours each day.  I've never been one of those moms who counts the days until her kids head back to school, but I have to admit I've been enjoying the time I have.  I remember standing in the laundry room about the third day and realizing that I was all alone.  And that's why it's weird.  I haven't been alone in like 18 years.

Z, E (eyes closed), J2, L1

J3 and B

L2, M, S, and C

My little guys.  Sniff.

B and C are visible in this photo

B, after his first day.  Sniff again. 

• Cute random photos, September 25th  L2 got a weave just in time for school pictures.  She knows she looks good. 

•  New floors!  Early October  I will do a separate post outlining the progress we've made on the kitchen over the last few months, but I'll include this shot showing our in-progress wood floor refinishing (the guy is coming to put the third coat on tomorrow) and also the new doorway to the living room.  This doorway is original to the house but was closed up probably in the 30s when the parlor and library were turned into one big room.  I LOVE having the extra light at the foot of the stairs, and traffic flow is a lot better.  We're all really looking forward to putting our furniture back in place.  

Argh, matey!  Walk the plank! 

•  Vegging out  Our family transitioned to vegetarianism over the summer, and a month ago, Hubby and I became vegan.  It started out as a 30-day commitment (thanks to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's "Thirty-Day Vegan Challenge"), but we are sticking with it.  All of our meals at home (breakfast and dinner) and sack school/work lunches are vegan, so the kids' only contact with dairy and eggs is when they're given snacks at school and so forth.  We've decided that's not a battle we can take on right now, and they'll have to make decisions when they're away from home about how best to handle each situation.  We know that 90+% of their meals are healthful and animal product-free, and that makes us feel pretty good.  I will be doing another post soon about the reasons we chose this path.  There are many.  :o)