5 months, The Help, and serious sleeves

Mason was 5 months old on Nov. 4. I grabbed a quick pic of him in his car seat as we were running out the door somewhere. Then I realized how fitting it was to get a car seat pic, as the poor child definitely spends more time in his car seat on a daily basis than any of my other kids.
Love him love him LOVE HIM! Love how he experiments with the range of his voice, how he is rolling more and more (except for the safety implications of this), how sweet he is, how much he loves to always be where the action is, how he pacifies himself with his thumb from time to again (again, this is cute, but if it becomes constant it will not be so cute), how he has been finding his toes, and those big blue eyes with ever lengthening and curling lashes. What I do NOT love is this:
that is one serious cowlick! People constantly comment about me combing his hair to look like this. Let me make this perfectly clear: I.DO.NOT.COMB.HIS.HAIR.LIKE.THIS. It does this no matter what I do. And sure, it may be cute now, but what is this going to look like down the road, I ask?

Mason has started on rice cereal. Those first few bites must confuse the heck out of a baby. And for a 100% breastfed baby, formula mixed into rice cereal can't be that scrumptious. Soon we'll add some fruit. That should help. Overall, though, he seems to grasp the concept fairly well.

Last evening, I hosted the book club discussion for The Help. I had read this a year ago with my other book club, and loved it even more on the re-read. What a book! In typical fashion, I got a bit carried away with my planning. But that book is just seeping with culture and food, and I got swept away. I spent a couple of days baking, and made: cornbread muffins; pralines; a caramel cake; and of course, a chocolate pie. The pie recipe was from the author herself; it was the recipe her grandmother's maid in Mississippi made all the time. Very cool! And no, I did not authenticate the pie in Minny fashion. ;) I made everything from scratch except for the pie crust, which I already had on hand.

I decorated the table in gold and lavender, colors from the book cover, as well as a can of Crisco, a Medgar Evers autobiography, Co-Cola, and a magnolia flower (the state flower of MS). Really, I had so much fun doing this!

We had a fabulous discussion. One of the questions was about Skeeter's crazy hair contraption, and what crazy things have we done in the name of beauty. I didn't have anything outrageous, but did talk about skipping school as a senior one day with a friend and lying in the sun next to a lake for the entire day to achieve some good color. If you know me, you already know this did nothing but give me 2nd-degree sunburns and an obvious giveaway that I had skipped school. The thing that made my mom the most mad was that my tomato-red skin was going to clash with my purple prom dress that she was hard at work making for me.

Well, the sunburn faded in time for prom. But even if I had been glowing red, no one would have noticed it, for the size of my sleeves overtook all else. My mom (who is an amazingly talented seamstress) got a bit carried away in making sleeves for my dress. When she finished them I was taken aback for their sheer volume, but felt bad not using them and hurting her feelings (she and I have since had some good laughs over these sleeves).

So, I was trying to describe these sleeves to the book club girls. Today, I decided that since a picture is worth a thousand words, I dug out the photos, and without further ado, I present you super sleeves:

It's OK, go ahead and laugh. I do! I mean, have you EVER? Isn't there some rule that says sleeves shouldn't be twice the size of one's head???

At week's end

Movin' on up
On Monday, my brother Nate and his wife Alli moved to Colorado! They live about 40 minutes from us; Nate will be attending law school, and Alli got a job teaching 2nd grade. This is the first time in 11 years I have lived in the same state as anyone from my family. Needless to say, I'm elated.

My parents are here helping them move, and Brian and Connor helped with the move as well. As Connor gets older he is able to do so much, and it's nice to see him hard at work. By all accounts, he was a tremendous help, and carried many loads.

After a blown transmission on one of their vehicles along I-80 in Nebraska, the rest of the move seems to have gone well. We are so excited to have Nate and Alli here!

Mr. Hot Wheels
We only promised Connor 2 1/2 months ago that if he gets his behavior back on track and finishes 1st grade on a positive note he could go drive Go Karts; here it is August, and he finally got to do it. At least we squeezed it in before 2nd grade starts!

Brian took him to drive go karts and bumper boats. I'm not sure Connor has had a bigger smile in a long time. He has this thing about wanting to drive; Brian said he was a natural, and was highly competitive, making smooth moves in an out of other drivers in an effort to win. He was one happy boy!

Sold to the (second) highest bidder
We had a fun Relief Society talent and service auction. I couldn't think of anything to auction off, so I called my sister an hour before it started for an idea. She suggested auctioning off a dessert of the month club. I thought that sounded fun, so here's how I spun it: 'Membership in the Melissa Howell dessert-of-the-month club, wherein a seasonally scrumptious dessert will be delivered to your home once a month for the remainder of 2010."

I was worried no one would bid on it, and was surprised to find my auction item was sold for the second highest "price tag" of the night (we were given play money to bid with). So now I have to come up with 5 amazing desserts to make and deliver for the next 5 months! I have an idea of what I'll make... and I'm happy to report that I won a certificate for a 1-hour massage. That will be fantastic, as nursing and caring for a newborn causes me almost chronic back pain.

2 months old
Mason was 2 months old on Wednesday. I'll avoid all the cliches about how fast time is moving, how much he's growing, and all that jazz, and just say I love and adore him more each day. He was 10 pounds 8 ounces at his appointment (20th percent) and 23 inches long (50th percent). So another long and thin boy, it appears.

He's sleeping for longer stretches at night, hooray! Smiling more, cooing a lot, in general a good baby as long as he's not tired, hungry, or in a wet/dirty diaper. Such a sweet, good boy! I really don't see much Connor in him anymore, do you? He's kind of his own, methinks.

Food for thought
For book club this month we read and discussed this:
Going to book club, I felt like I had crammed for a difficult college exam - and I LOVED it. I'm the kind of girl who loved school, loved taking tests, loved learning, loved getting feedback on papers, exams, etc. Weird, I know. But I love any way to continue to stimulate my brain. And this book did not disappoint! It made me really study and learn about the Israel/Palestine issue, and we had a really interesting discussion.

I am so grateful to my friend Elizabeth- her parents lived in Israel recently, as her dad was the district president over the Church in Israel (with its 3 branches) and her mom was in charge of the Church's humanitarian efforts there. Elizabeth shared with me some of the e-mails from her mom while they lived there, with stories about meeting with the president of Israel; visiting a Palestinian women's shelter, orphanage, and blind school; experiences crossing the border; and more. It was a fascinating, if not disturbing, look into the conflict there. Add some of the best cupcakes I've ever had to the mix, and it makes for one fabulous evening!

Friend visit
My long-time friend Amy and her children were in town this week for their first visit back to Colorado after moving to Michigan two years ago. I always love visiting with Amy, and it was so fun to see her and her kiddos. We had our first children on the exact same day; Connor and Addy are just minutes apart.

High-altitude fun
Spent a day in the mountains with my parents and brother. We hiked in the Indian Peaks Wilderness and had a picnic; it was Mason's first trip to the mountains. Um, don't hate me for this, but being at 10,000 feet in cool weather that nearly necessitated sweatshirts I didn't bring made me wish for Fall. I love cool, crisp weather.

Meeting Sandra

Sandra Dallas is a bestselling author who lives in Denver. I love her books. One of my book clubs has read 4 of her 8 novels, and surely will read more. When we discovered she was doing a book signing at a Barnes and Noble nearby, we were all over it! We all purchased her latest book, Prayers for Sale, read it, went to her book signing last night, and went to dinner afterward to discuss the book. It was a fantastic night!

Sandra is a great woman, incredibly kind and gracious. We told her that we've been a book club for 7 years and have read half of her novels. I shared with her my favorite passage from Prayers (which is set in 1936):
"You've got a good man, Mrs. Spindle."
"I couldn't ask for better. Still, I've found out a husband isn't everything to me. There's lots of things I can't talk to Dick about. I mean, he'll listen. Dick's good about that. But he doesn't understand the way a woman does. Have you noticed that about a husband?"
Hennie nodded. She'd noticed.
"I wished he'd asked me if I wanted to come to Middle Swan. I'd have told him yes, because a wife's supposed to, like the Bible says. She's supposed to follow where he goes. But he could have asked me instead of telling me. He could have had a consideration for my feelings." She added quickly, "I don't want you to think I'm finding fault."
"There isn't a wife who doesn't feel like you," Hennie told her. "That's why the Lord made friends. They can be a burden, but most times, I'm gladder for my friends that I am for almost anything, maybe even quilting. I'm proud to say I have as many friends as I do quilts."
"I'm obliged to say my friends are better made than my quilts," Nit said."

I told Sandra that when I read this passage I practically shouted "Amen!" out loud. So I was delighted to see what she wrote in my book when she signed it:
(in case you can't make it out, it says, "To Melissa Aren't friends wonderful! and then her name and date).

She was kind enough to take a picture with us, which B&N staff most authors won't do. The girls and Sandra-

She also shared some background with us on how one of the characters in the book came to be named. It was just so fun to go and discuss a book after having met its author, especially one as fabulous as Miss Sandra.

Is it over already?

Our girls weekend has come and gone! It was so super fun, and I am so sad that it is already over. We had a most fantastic time shopping, eating, talking, walking, eating and talking some more. I was really looking forward to actually sleeping in on Saturday morning, but was wide awake at 6:20. Oh well. I did, at least, get to lay in bed for an hour and a half. Dreamy.

It was great weather, with a brief afternoon shower (so typical for the mountains). Our hotel was conveniently located at the end of main street, so we could walk pretty much everywhere we went. We were there until late afternoon Saturday, after which we drove down the mountain to my stake center for the General Relief Society Women's Broadcast (for our Church), which was beautifully uplifting, as always.

Going to dinner:

Our hotel:
View from our hotel:
The girls again:

It was so nice to come home to freshly bathed, pajama-clad kiddos! They had a fun time with dad, but were really happy to see me. Isabel said she "mist-ed" me, Connor had lots of adventures to talk to me about, and Lucas just looked at me for a minute then got really happy and excited. Nice to know I am loved!

So, my proverbial bucket was filled in every way this weekend: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The question is, how long before it empties again?

Thanks, Elizabeth, Kristie and Paula, for a fantastic time, and to Brian for being so supportive of girl time.

My happy list

Five things that made me happy this weekend:

1. A successful Primary activity. We did an "I Am a Child of God/Plan of Salvation" activity Saturday morning, and had our best turnout ever (at least since I've been president). We had 50 of our approximately 60 active kids there! We have never had more than 40 kids at an activity previously. The kids decorated frames with their name, the words I Am a Child of God, and fun embellishments (jewels, seashells, foam shapes, etc). The kids loved them! I had previously taken pics of each child and had them printed already, so they were each able to take home a framed picture of themselves. Connor's didn't put much on his frame, but he loved it:

We also moved between rooms and did fun games/activities for each stage of the plan of salvation. It must have been effective, because Connor was telling us all about parts of the plan of salvation yesterday, including asking Isabel, "what happens when we die?" And she replied, "um, we take a bath?" Clearly her answer wasn't correct, so he was telling her about when we die. We didn't go into a lot of detail here, just an overview. This is the stage he has been most interested in. Must be the age!

2. A book club field trip. The was a 2-part outing with the girls in our book club (there are 4 of us). We first went to a home accents sale that is held monthly by my friend's friend at her clubhouse. There were some super cute things, including an area full of fun hair accessories. I've been needing to get more stuff for Isabel's hair, and bought a couple of things, including this super cute flower - she and I both love it:


I also bought this for one of my two new shelves - need to find some flowers to put in it. I love it on the shelf, it really makes me smile:




Part 2 of our book club field trip included going to "The Other Boleyn Girl" movie. We read this book several years ago, and it continues to be one of our all-time favorites. So we had to see the movie, although we had some reservations about the movie meeting our expectations, and the casting (I was concerned about Natalie Portman as Anne, my friend Paula was concerned about Scarlett Johansson as Mary). However, all of our fears were put to rest. It was a FANTASTIC movie. Loved, loved, loved it. Both Anne and Mary were played superbly well, but I think Eric Bana as King Henry takes the cake. He was outstanding. The movie followed the book well (had to cut out a lot though), except for the storyline between Anne and her brother George. And, if you plan to see it, be warned that the beheading scenes are pretty grotesque, in both sight and sound. Overall, though, absolutely loved it! It can be so sketchy going from book to film, but it more than worked for me!
3. A successful new babysitter experience. I have pretty much been using the same two young women as our kids' babysitters since Connor was a baby. However, they are both seniors, about to graduate. Very sad about this. However, one of them has several sisters, and her 15-year-old sister babysat while I went shopping/to the movie yesterday (Brian had to work), and she was GREAT. The kids loved her and the house was very clean when I got home. Whew!

4. Cute new fun shirt. Total Melissa style and color, and perfect for spring!

5. Putting up Easter decorations. OK, I know it's only 2 weeks away. But it's hard when Easter's in March, esp. when it's 70 here one day and snowing the next. Connor and Isabel loved putting the little ornaments on this Easter tree:
And one of my favorite Easter decorations. I made it 10 years ago when I was really into the cross-stitch thing. A majority of crafts I made 10 years ago no longer work for me, but I continue to find delight in this little cross-stitched chick and bunny in bright springy frames: