Victory, Victory

Last Friday Mike passed prelims, which consisted of an 80 page paper, a 45 minute presentation on that paper and two hours of being grilled about his past and proposed research. It's been a big project that he's been working towards for months, and he passed. His committee's only complaint was that he was trying to do a PhD-in-a-half and he needed to pare down. If he pares down they think that if he stays focused he can be done by December. I told his adviser that I really want him done by December, because Mike's dad offered to let us move in with him until Mike has a job. So Mike's a little upset that I'm hoping for him to finish soon and be jobless, but the thought of a bigger house, a fenced-in backyard, a California winter and last but not least, being around Mike's dad a bunch is really, really appealing. We'll see what happens. Mike's adviser said I should tell Mike I'm leaving in January no matter what so that Mike will stay focused. :)

"What a good boy am I"

So last night Caleb was coughing a lot, as he always does when he has a cold. So Mike was holding him on his chest to keep him elevated until the Benadryl kicked in to reduce all his drainage. When that finally happened, I took Caleb back to his bed and accidentally stepped on Brayden who had moved himself to the sleeping bag on the floor. After I put Caleb in his crib I reached down to see what was up with Brayden when he popped up and said "I leaked in my pants and underwear and I couldn't find any clean underwear." After talking through it a bit to make sure I understood, I realized the poor kid wet the bed and stoically was trying to take care of it all by himself in the middle of the night. He put his peed underwear and pajama pants in the closet (where the laundry hamper is) and looked for new underwear and pants. When he couldn't find them, he just crawled into the sleeping bag on the floor to sleep there instead of back into his wet bed. So when I found him he had quite the bare bum. I went and got him new pajama pants that were in my room in a laundry basket of clean clothes I hadn't put away. Unfortunately, he went commando style to bed because underwear were in the dryer. So as I put new pants on him and tucked him into his sleeping bag, he said "Mom, there was dirt in my bed" in a very sad voice. Poor Braydo. I gave his friend Charlie a nap in his bed. Charlie had fallen asleep on the car ride home and I put him in bed, coat and shoes and all and he had dirt all over his shoes. Anyway, short story long, I was pretty touched by how Brayden tried to be a good boy and handle everything independently and not wake anybody up. But I'm glad I found him so he didn't have to sleep with a a bare bum!

Easter Weekend documented

We had a great Easter last weekend, snow and all. There was an Easter egg hunt, complete with sledding and hot chocolate--great improvisation when all the snow came. And really glistening white snow makes it a lot easier to find brightly colored plastic eggs. Everyone hunted in their snowsuits. Phil and Noelle braved the blizzard to drive to visit us. The last 45 minutes of the drive took them 2 hours. Thankfully they weren't one of the cars off on the side of the road. Quite the white-knuckle-grip-on-the-driving-wheel experience. We watched Dan in Real Life. Great movie. We had the best Easter dinner ever. Several people weren't partial to ham, so I conviced Mike (grumbling the whole way) to make his super yummy lemon something chicken. Then we had masterfully whipped mashed potatoes (go Noelle) and asparagus and rolls and then Noelle made chocolate eclairs. Phil was an awesome Easter bunny that was sooooo tall and hid eggs in really hard places. Brayden was an ecstatic three-year-old that revelled in the candy and finding the eggs. Caleb, our food-monger ate all the candy, and I really enjoyed having people to talk to and help with all the dishes and cleaning. Phil and Noelle are great at jumping in and getting a lot done. And I think Mike was even able to relax for a couple days. Pretty unusual when you're desperately trying to finish a PhD. :) What a fabulous weekend.

Cherry Mouth

So all day long Brayden asks me, "Do you wanna see how big my mouth is?" "How big is your mouth?" "My mouth is bigger than your mouth." And on and on and on. Also, the Cherrys generally have bigger mouths, which is the reason for their big beautiful smiles. So here's a picture of the Cherry boys demonstrating what Brayden does all day long.

addendum

This is a little add on to the previous post for added clarification. I have tried broccoli many, many times in my life. This just was actually the first time I liked it. I even tried broccoli last Friday and didn't like it. So there ya go.

I like broccoli

So tonight I tried broccoli and for the first time ever in my life I liked it. I saw on Rachel Ray a while back that this was the broccoli for people who didn't like broccoli. And I think I have to say she is right. It was really good. I was skeptical because when we were cutting it up and it was starting to cook, I hated the smell, but you cook it long enough and the flavor changes and it was great. So for any that want to try, here's the recipe straight off her web page.

Oven-Roasted Broccoli
Serves 4
Tags: sides vegetables roast Yum-o! Family Friendly
Submitted by
Rachael Ray
Yum-o! Family Friendly
on 09/03/07

This is an easy to make dish that will make a broccoli lover out of anyone! Rachael serves it with Brandy & Orange Chicken with Stuffed Shrimp.
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Ingredients

* 1 head broccoli, cut into pieces all the way through the stem
* 2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 3 tablespoons (eyeball it) extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
* Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Liberally drizzle EVOO over broccoli, add garlic, salt and pepper, and toss to coat.

Transfer to oven and roast for 15-20 minutes, until broccoli is nice and crispy on the ends and a little brown.

This is a great recipe for kids and the whole family from Yum-o! It's good AND good for you. For more information about Yum-o! go to the Yum-o! website.

And Lisa, this is just for you, I am posting this at 11:04 p.m. I don't always die at night . . . like those days I take naps. :)

So I am lazy . . .

We went to Kalahari, a HUGE indoor waterpark in Ohio for midwinter break. It was awesome, and since three out of the four other families we went with have already posted and I haven't, and my 15 minutes that were for doing the dishes and not blogging are already gone, I'm just going to post links to their blogs. :) Elders, Thackers, Savages.

Also, here is a link to my friends the Millars. After you read their stories, you'll know why they were some of my favorite people at BYU. Not exactly happy stories, but entertaining.