Slacker Tooth Fairy

Poor Grace woke up this morning and came downstairs crying. I couldn't figure out what would set her off so early--she wasn't even up long enough to discover that all the "good cereal" was gone and there wasn't enough time for anyone to bug or tease her and it was Saturday, so she got to sleep in! Anyway, she came down sobbing, "The tooth fairy forgot to come!" (We've got a pretty lame tooth fairy here in NE TN. Maybe it's that the tooth fairy is so busy trying to keep up with the high rate of tooth loss in these parts).

Well, luckily as I was trying to hold and comfort her Parker and Michael came to my rescue and her consolation as they explained, "Oh, that happens ALL the time, sometimes it takes a few nights!" Michael also said that he wanted to loose all his teeth in Kirtland, because the tooth fairy there is better. We were up there in the spring and Opa and Grandma were with us, thus the "better tooth fairy".

Hopefully, our children will survive their childhood without too many emotional scars.

Back-To-School

Wow, here I am ALONE in the quiet house. (Peter and KK are still asleep). I’m not sure how I feel about the solitude—usually, I’d relish it, but today I am feeling very melancholy and blue—the kids went back to school today and they’ve been gone for less than an hour and I really miss them. I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve wandered around the house like a lost soul and tried to keep busy with the piles of laundry, but that isn’t working. They were all very excited to start school—probably more for their new pencils, crayons, notebooks, and outfits—than the actual school part!
We just had such a great summer together and it went WAY too fast. They are all such great kids—their teachers are SO lucky to get them in their classes. Well, hopefully Peter or KK will wake up soon, so that I can end my aimless wandering!
We had a great trip and I’ll update everyone on that soon.

Redneck / Idaho water skiing

David here - We visited out West (more to come later), and I rigged up a contraption to be able to pull the kids up the canal...kind of like water skiing. They had a blast doing it and I felt pretty good about the "ski boat."

Applesauce

OK, we are now starting to harvest the works of our labors. The “June” apple tree is loaded with apples. We’ve picked, processed, and preserved about 180 quarts. (And several batches of “apple leather” that I scrape off of the stove, floor and various other surfaces after we are done!) There are three other ladies and several kids—it has been quite the adventure. The first day we did over 140 quarts—we did not realize what we were getting into. The next week, we did about 40 quarts and that was a much better experience. It is TONS of work, but it tastes great and is definitely worth the effort. The kids have been pretty good to help. We have is set up outside, so the kids are in and out of the pool, and we just spend the whole day together. After picking, we wash and quarter the apples, cutting out any bad spots—the apples are pretty nice—a little on the small side, but not wormy. We then cook the apples, and put them through a strainer. The kids love to use the Victorio Strainer which is a must—it separates, the seeds, skins, stems and leaves a nice warm sauce. We add some sugar—these apples were still a bit sour. We then bottle or freeze it. And then I spend about two hours trying to clean and wipe up apple crud that is virtually on every appliance, pot, pan, spoon, bowl, and cup that I have.

Then we get to enjoy it for the year to come! Hopefully, we won't be sick of it before it is gone!

Birthday Girl

Grace turned 6 last week. We had a fun party. Usually, we just invite over a family and have dinner and a cake—nothing big, but this turned into a full-blown party! I just started calling a of Grace’s friends, mostly left messages or didn’t get too many definite “YES” answers. So, I called a few more, thinking that we might not get too good of a response. We invited the families of her friends to come for a BBQ—we ended up with quite the get-together. We ate and swam and just talked and relaxed. She made a haul. One of my friends that came was somewhat surprised at our big party, because she knows that we don’t usually do this—it was fun, but now my other kids are making plans for their parties! I guess this will be the year of the parties.

We sure love Grace—she is the BEST worker and will even stay up late to help me clean and do projects. She is great with Katherine and makes friends quickly—even with adults. We’re glad to have her in the family.

Horses, Raspberries and Paper Mills

When I was at BYU I read a book for a Biology class about the senses. It was very intriguing the one fact that has always stuck with me that I read was that the sense of smell has the strongest connection to a memory. I’ve often wondered about using the sense of smell in helping people learn.

Anyway, I have found this to be true over and over again. The other day we were in the pool swimming (lately our daily afternoon activity) and I was holding Peter—his hair was damp—and he smelled EXACTLY like a horse. (I guess that I need to quite counting swimming in the pool as a bath—unless I start bringing in the shampoo—hmmmm not a bad idea). Most animals just stink. Horses smell so good—and the memories that I have connected with horses are numerous and priceless. I enjoyed a quick trip down memory lane riding horses with my family as I breathed in the odor of Peter!

Yesterday, I was in the garden and Grace picked me raspberry—we just have a few measly bushes, but I am hoping to get a full-blown thicket. As I put it up to my mouth, even before tasting it the smells took be back to Grandma and Grandpa Pieper’s garden and the fun that we had picking berries and eating as we went. Usually we’d have enough for a small bowl with milk and sugar and sometimes enough to make jam! What is better than raspberry jam on homemade bread—unless you are eating it while riding a horse? (Can you tell that I have been homesick lately?)

The next smell memory that I had was while we were in Savannah, GA—we were driving into town and I caught a whiff that was unmistakably a paper mill. When I was younger, my family went on a trip to visit my Mom’s brother and his family (Blaine, Marianne, and Kate) in Minnesota. We toured a paper mill—very distinct and not so pleasant smell. (I’ll bet that my siblings and parents--at least my Mom, who knows about my Dad, know exactly what I am talking about and in their minds can conjure up this odor.) Immediately, I was transported to that tour in Minnesota probably 25 years earlier!

Here are some other smells that may bring memories to mind:

The cupboard under Grandma Pieper’s kitchen sink (Richard, you know next time you are there you will go and open the cupboard! And Lorie, you won’t be able to resist a sniff either. It is not a bad odor, just very unique.)

King’s—a small variety store (When I was visiting the Pieper’s in Beaver Dam, KY—I went into one with Marianne and it had the exact same smell as the King’s store in Shelley, ID where I grew up! All I needed was 10 cents so that I could buy a Green Apple Jolly Rancher stick—now doesn’t that make your mouth water)

Deseret Industries (I’m not providing an explanation for this one!)

Band-Aids—Just imagine opening a tin box with great smelling band-aids in it

Tomato Plants

A dish rag that has been in the sink TOO long and /or a load of laundry that has been forgotten and left in the washer for days! (You’d better know what I am talking about)

Murphy’s Oil Soap (Recently, my friend Cheryl bought some of this soap to clean her floors and as she opened it, she was flooded with the memory of washing her doll clothes with this soap).

Lilacs

When you travel to other countries or live abroad for a while, you may notice that you take on other “cultural smells”. I went with my parents to get Blaine from his mission in Brazil and I remember all of his possessions smelled like Brazil!

Pine Trees—whenever we cut down pine trees in our yard, David always thinks of Cooke City.

Campfire—great smell.

There are plenty of bad odors that I don’t even want to mention.
I think it is also amazing how your brain can remember a smell.

Side-Tracked

This picture is symbolic of my life. I get doing something (like making bread) and get side-tracked by hundreds of various other "high priority" demands, like--refereeing full-blown riots (I stay out of the small ones), changing diapers and/or anything associated with body waste, unearthing that lost library book or the favorite article of clothing in the pile of dirty laundry, supervising various creative projects, and answering the phone when David calls and wonders what I am up to!

I guess in reality though what I am really doing is raising kids and sometimes I get “side-tracked” from that, by things like sewing, painting, reading, and making bread. I guess life is really teaching my kids all the things that bring me happiness. And the reward is when I see my own children teaching theirs the things that I tried to do. It just seems like so much of what I do is left undone or not quite finished how I want it to be, but I guess in the long run—looking back over the years, the small things really do add up—or at least they had better!