Everything I need to know I learned in Boise.

I've lived in Boise more consecutive years than any other place. It's home. I've spent practically all of my child-bearing, child-rearing years (thus far) here. And occasionally I pause a moment to reflect on how my experience here in Boise has shaped me, as a woman, a wife, a mother. Mostly as a mother.

I am blessed with an exceptional mother. I aspire to her kind, charitable ways with little hope of ever developing them. Dang, I should have paid more attention while I was growing up because now as I flounder in my attempts to teach my children, I could have used the lessons I could have gleaned by watching her. And she sure as heck doesn't remember much of anything.

Despite my attempts to mimic my own wonderful mother, I also feel as though everything I ever needed to know about mothering I am learning here. You see, I am surrounded by a wide variety of wise, deliberate mothers. They've taught me to can, to cook, to be patient with my children, to garden, to sew, to decorate (a skill that desperately needs to be employed), to plan meals, to simplify, to make my own laundry soap, to teach my kids responsibility. I could go on and on. I owe it all to the amazing women that surround me. Today I feel grateful for the sheer luck (though I don't really believe that's what it was) that landed us here during this particular stage of life. I certainly don't subscribe to the idea that we must all be cookie-cutter copies of one another in order to be of worth. However, I am so thankful to have gleaned bits and pieces from each person who has influenced me these past eight years. The mother I am today is one big conglomerate of a whole list of traits I have copied from all of you.

P.S. I just reread all of that and it sounds strangely like I'm saying goodbye. For the record, we're not moving.

Are we getting better at this? Or are the kids just getting easier?

Brilliant idea #1: if your youngest believes that going poop in her panties and then emptying it into the toilet and doing the deed directly in the toilet are one and the same, do the following:

Flush the fun-size candy bar she's been promised for pooping in the potty down the toilet along with all the excrement that ended up in her underwear instead. Those panties will never see poop again. Well, except, maybe that one time at your neighbor's house, who was doing you an enormous favor by taking care of your two youngest kids during those insane after-school/before-dinner hours, when she did not just #1 but #2 in her underwear for the only time that entire week. I'm still grappling with that one.

Honestly, though. It kind of gave me a few thrills to see my daughter unwrap the Kit-Kit she hand-picked from our stash, begin to insert it into her mouth, only to have me remind her that she had to send it down the loo with the poo. Ah... I love torture. And rhyming, too, incidentally.

Brilliant idea #2: After waiting until the last possible minute before kindergarten to train the first two children on the art of bike-riding, we started early with number three. And by George she's got it! Well, not got it enough for me to get ample distance to take a picture, but close enough. And just in time for winter.

Fall is in the air. Sort of.

Chores done, house clean, beautiful day. Perfect for a visit to the pumpkin patch.

Eve kicked it off by peeing all over Daddy. He was thrilled.




They fed the animals.

Rode the ponies.

Ran through the maze.

Threw straw at complete strangers.

Spent away their only tokens on an overpriced (but totally worth it to them!) ride.



Took a hay ride.


Picked out the perfect pumpkins.


And buried each other in corn.

What a lovely day. Rachel said it best, "Wow, today's weather is perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right."

Reinventing the wheel.

Anyone who's parented more than one child knows that each one comes with a unique personality, a certain learning style and a variety of talents. Likewise, the parenting techniques one must use to teach each individual child must be tailored to each particular one. I'm not new to this concept. However, as far as potty-training has gone, all three of my bathroom-using children were trained in the exact same fashion and reacted in much the same way. Leave it to the fourth to buck the system. We're entering week three and still a bit exasperated. Thank heaven she is adorable. Rain boots and all. Do you suppose she's expecting rain? I believe she is. Yellow rain, in fact. Smart girl.

Precious as gold.

It took me four hours to transform an entire box of tomatoes (20 pounds) into exactly 6 jars of homemade spaghetti sauce. Talk about demoralizing. I still have about a year's supply of Hunt's sitting in my storage room that I can use for junk recipes and these 6 quarts will rest in their throne atop my kitchen cupboards to be brought down only for special occasions.

Scenes from general conference.

Should I be alarmed that my four-year-old drew a picture of our family, complete with daddy, mommy, four girls, and a boy?





I love that my girls are posing in front of the 26 incher I bought used from my brother way back in 2001, the entertainment center I bought at Wal-mart shortly thereafter, and the rabbit ears that I'm told 1/3 of the country still uses, but am seriously skeptical about. Both proud and embarrassed at the same time to share this photo with all of you.