Mommy Rule #1

Rule# 1: Children will only play in the toy room if it is clean.

This is how the toy room looked on Friday night, after I spent about an hour picking up all the toys.

This is how the toy room looked by Sunday night.

Why is it Children only want to play with toys that have been picked up and put away? If the toys are scattered everywhere they have no interest in playing with them. The good news, the hour or so that I spend every 10 days or so picking up the toys, guarantees me at least two days of entertained children.

If you can't brag about your friends, who can you brag about?

Once upon a time in a land known as BYU I met Anne. We both went on Washington Seminar together, and had all sorts of ambitions about avoiding becoming "Molly Mormons" as we were going to conquer the world of politics and put our smarts to good use. Well upon graduation I conquered the land of law school and Anne conquered the land of Arizona, if if you are familiar with the politics in that state, you know that is no small feat.

Eventually in time we both gave in to our inner "Molly Mormon" and got married. As time passed there was a little less conquering in the law/political world, and a little more conquering in the mom world, as small children have forced both of us to tackle dirty diapers, messy houses, toilet training, temper tantrums, and loads of laundry.

But time has not diminished our friendship, and whether it is days, weeks or months since I talked to Anne, when I pick up the telephone it seems just like yesterday.

Well around Lauren's baptism a package arrived in the mail with Anne's return address. I was surprised because I had not been expecting anything. I opened the package and realized it was for Lauren. When Lauren came home from school I allowed her to complete the opening of the package.

This is what the package contained. A quilt. A warm quilt. A comforting quilt. A quilt made by a friend whom I cherish. Lauren loved it. She has slept with it every night since its arrival from Arizona.

She even found fabric with baptism, temples and families. It could not have been more wonderful.

As for me I was speechless. First, that Anne would take the time to make this quilt. I know the demands of her time, because they are like the demands on my time. That she would sacrifice her time to make my daughter happy, speaks to me volumes about the love and friendship we share. Second, I was surprised Anne made it. In college I seemed to be the more domestic of the two of us, but apparently Anne was keeping her talents hidden under a rock, to be pulled out at just the right time to bring a smile to Lauren's face. I guess you can run, but never hide from your inner "Molly Mormon." And that is a good thing.

She is "capped' too.

One capped child was not enough, upon seeing Mark's fine looking cape, Lauren demanded one of her own. So last Friday night for her stay up late night we proceeded to make a cape. Now before all you moms out there start feeling inadequate because you did not "whip" up a cape on Friday night with your child, I will let you in on a little secret....it was easy, and looks a lot more time consuming and difficult than it actually was!

The cape is made from brown felt. I cut it out, the only sewing involved was attaching the collar, other than sewing on the pink poka-dot trim. The flowers I found pre-made at Hobby Lobby, and simply glued them on. Alas one cape! She LOVES it.

From boy to man.

For those of you unfamiliar with Thomas the Tank Engine, he lives in the Island of Sodor with his train friends and has all sorts of adventures as he works the line on the railway conducted by Sir Topham Hatt. In our house the Island of Sodor is located in the basement in the form of two train tables designed to contain the railway. However, I recently noticed the island is shifting...

It began with just a few trains venturing off the island and taking up residence in the family room. I would return the trains to the island at night, but mysteriously the trains would migrate the next day.

Pretty soon trains with tankers, freight cards, coaches, and engines began circling my kitchen floor on a regular basis.

Before I knew it a station "popped" up on my kitchen table, making dinner time a bit of a challenge. Every morning and afternoon as I went about my business in the kitchen/family room area of my home, Mark would be continually re-setting his trains, putting different engines, coaches and freight cars together, while quietly telling the trains a story about what they were doing and where they were going. It was endearing. Thomas the Tank Engine has been Mark's friend and love for two years now. Not a day has gone by the the last two years that he has not been conducting business on the rails. But I am afraid Thomas' time may be short. Mark is getting older, and I know that in time Mark's interest in Thomas will wain, as he finds new toys and stories to love, on par with his developing mind and body. Thomas will not get the daily attention he gets now. It will only be occasionally, until Mark reaches the point that Thomas is for "babies," a day that will bring sadness to my heart as I pack up the Thomas trains, and put them away for when Mark is much older and wants to recapture his youth.

Until then Thomas may inhabit my kitchen table, my kitchen floor, my family room, because I want to enjoy the remaining few moments of my little boy, before he becomes a man.

Spring Break?

Last week was spring break from school and all other activities, such as dance. Spring break is always welcome, its warm, the kids can play outside, we can take walks, we can ride trikes and scooters, and with daylight savings time in full force, it does not even get dark until after 7:00 p.m. What's not to love?

Meet spring break 2009. This is what we awoke to on April 16, 2009, a foot of snow. No warm weather, no playing in the yard, no riding trikes or scooters. However plenty of driveway and sidewalk shoveling.... Could somebody please send Al Gore to my house, I am not sure I understand global warming??

Just like McDonalds, only sanitary.

What do you bring the girl who already has every toy conceivable thanks to an older sister and brother, and overly indulgent parents. This was the question the Easter Bunny had to ponder.

The answer came in the form of an inflatable swimming pool that rather than filled with water, was filled with plastic colored balls. Katie, who is currently ball obsessed, thought that it was quite an indulgence.

Her sister and brother also seemed to be enjoying Katie's new toy.

They like to bury themselves in the balls, after running full speed into the pool diving head first into the balls. I have to say I had some concerns about the balls staying in the pool, but both Mark and Katie have been really good about picking up balls that go astray.


For those of you wondering, the pool is filled with 600 plastic balls. I must say you need a rather large space if you see this toy in your future. At the moment it is located in my family room, but in a day or two it will be relocated to the basement, to join all the other toys, whose home is below ground. Finally, I have to confess, the ball pit is really fun. I got in it with Katie and Mark and we were giggling non stop at all the fun things we could do with the balls. Who knew?

Other worthy notes from kindergarten registration:

Note 1:

After the whole shot debacle, I was reviewing the paperwork given to me at the same time I received all the registration forms. Contained in that paperwork was a list of shots the children needed to have prior to kindergarten. Now I ask you this question: If the school expects me to show up to kindergarten registration with all the necessary shots completed, why is this paper necessary? Or in the alternative, should I not have been given this paper PRIOR to kindergarten registration? Don’t answer either question, it will frighten you regarding the competency of the school system….

Note: 2

The lesson I have learned from registering two children for kindergarten is that in three years when it is time to register Katie for kindergarten I am going to take the form I am required to fill out pertaining to shots and indicate that Katie has not received any shots due to “personal reasons” (believe it or not that is an option) therefore hopefully avoiding the entire shot debacle a third time. Of course this does not mean Katie will not get her shots, I am a firm believer in shots and she will be current, but I am NOT telling that to the school. I believe a few minutes of lecturing from the school nurse will be far worth avoiding the shot jumping hoops I have been forced to endure with the first two children.

Note 3:

Despite the hard core stance the school takes on shots it is apparently quite lax on proof regarding the birth of your child. It is recommended that you bring a copy of your child’s birth certificate, but if for some reason it is unavailable, can’t locate it, don’t want to recall the birth of your child, etc, you can provide an LDS “Certificate of Blessing” as proof that your child was born prior the cutoff date for registering for kindergarten. Don’t know for sure if they will accept blessing or baptism certificates from other religious denominations…..after all it is Utah County…..

Note 4:

I told Mark that he would be in morning kindergarten, because apparently there are enough children for two morning classes, but not enough for an afternoon class. (Don’t ask me why they just don’t have one teacher do a morning and afternoon class, rather than two teachers doing two different morning classes, I am sure given how logically things are run at the school there is a very good reason for that…) I honestly preferred morning kindergarten, figuring I could drop him off with Lauren, who could ensure he got into the school and at least headed down the hall to his class room, and then at noon I could pick him up. Well apparently I did not clear my plans with Mark because he wanted afternoon kindergarten so he could ride the bus home with Lauren. He told me in no uncertain terms “ I want to ride the bus, I don’t want an old person picking me up from kindergarten!” Yeah I am having a good week…..

The LSAT (Law School Admission Test) was less of a hassle than this….(Part two)

After my disastrous encounter with kindergarten registration the first time around, I determined the second time around to correct the mistakes of the past. Since Lauren was already attending the school where Mark would inflict himself upon some unsuspecting kindergarten teacher and class, I carefully watched the notes, flyers and calendars Lauren would bring home from school looking for information on kindergarten registration. I did not bother to even check the school’s website, after all I know how successful that was in the past. Around the middle of February the first note came home. It was from the school district listing the times and dates of registration for each elementary school within the district, along with the necessary documentation for registration. I hung the note on my bulletin board, and noted the date in my planner. The date: April 6, 2009 from 2-4 p.m. A few weeks late the school sent home a note regarding several items including kindergarten registration. The school's note indicated registration would be on April 6, 2009 from Noon to 4:00 p.m. and included a list of documents required for registration that was different from the list supplied by the district. Now I ask you what sort of confidence should I have in a school, and in a district that can’t even agree on the time of kindergarten registration and what documents are necessary? Don’t answer that question…..

I decided the most accurate information was probably the note from the school, or at least that was the one I chose to rely on, and made the necessary arguments in my head should the school dare to argue with me again. In preparation for registration Mark had to obtain a final series of shots. We ventured to the doctor’s office about 10 days prior to registration to get his shots. I handed Mark’s shot record to the nurse and informed her we were here to obtain the necessary shots for kindergarten. Shots were given, Mark was brave, as in no crying, shot record was signed and we were ready for kindergarten registration.

Mark and I gingerly entered the school shortly after noon on April 6, 2009 ready to register my boy for the big bad world of kindergarten. We entered the media center, aka the library, and I was handed a large stack of paperwork, some of which needed to be completed, some of which was for my reference. Upon completing my paperwork I had to proceed onto station #2 which was a review of Mark’s shot record with the school nurse. I approached with confidence, knowing I had learned my lessons from the past and this time around every “i” was dotted and every “t” was crossed, or so I thought…..

The school nurse began to review Mark’s shot record, including a series of shots he received on October 29, 2004 which were apparently were one day too early. She was not pleased. Twenty four hours, give or take an hour or two, depending on the time of day the shots were given on the 29th, was NOT acceptable. Now you tell me how it is that twenty four hours in the life a shot, given four and a half years ago is going to make a difference in the effectiveness of the shot at the time of kindergarten registration??? Its NOT. She begrudgingly accepted the series of shots. Then she got to the Hepatitis A shot and informed me that Mark was missing that shot. I of course told her that I went to my doctor’s office and requested all necessary shots for kindergarten and was given all the shots necessary for kindergarten. (After all it should not be MY job to keep track of what shots are required. That is the job of the doctor’s office, I do good just to keep track of the dang shot record!) Mark’s application for kindergarten, REJECTED. Shots not complete. Back to the doctor’s office.

When we arrived at the doctor’s office I informed them I was missing one necessary shot for kindergarten which I needed as soon as possible in order to complete the registration process for kindergarten. By now Mark was quite upset, because this is a boy who WANTS to go to kindergarten, and his rejection was a personal affront as far as he was concerned. The doctor’s office took pitty on my wailing child who was DEMANDING his kindergarten shot and quickly got us in. Apparently this is a shot that is now given to one year old children, but at the time Mark was one, it was not given, so he falls into a bubble of children who did not get the Hepatitis A shot, and my doctor’s office overlooked it when he was given his other shots. The nurse commented she had never had a child so anxious to be given a shot. I replied he is a boy who wants to go to kindergarten.

Back to the school, this time armed with the updated shot record. I presented the shot record to the school nurse, again confident that we had complied, and kindergarten acceptance was only moments away, only to be told Mark’s acceptance to kindergarten was conditional. WHAT??? Apparently the shot he had just received was a two part shot, and the second dose could not be given until six months after the first dose. Therefore, like his sister, Mark was conditionally accepted to kindergarten, pending the nasty note from the school in the fall, reminding me that if Mark did not get his second shot he could be subject to removal from kindergarten.

Oh, wait by then, the school will have had at least six weeks worth of Mark and his antics, I had better note the shots requirement on my calendar, they might be looking for an easy out…..

The LSAT (Law School Admission Test) was less of a hassle than this….(Part one)

Three years ago I had my entrance into the public school system as a parent. I had to register Lauren for kindergarten, which I assumed to be a relative simple process. Well I knew what school she would be attending and assumed that registration would be sometime in the spring. I kept checking the school's web site for information regarding registration. NOTHING. I thought that to be odd, after all it was 2006 and the date and time of kindergarten registration seemed like information that would be relevant to users of the elementary school’s web site. Of interesting note, they had information on the website about the documents necessary for kindergarten registration, but NOTHING about the date and time.

I asked one of my friends who also had a child Lauren’s age, as well as a child attending the school if she knew anything about registration and she told me that the school had sent a flyer home with her son indicating that registration was at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 21, 2006. Great, I now had the information about when and where to register for kindergarten, Lauren got her final series of shots, I gathered the appropriate documents and was armed and ready to enter the parenting world of public school.

As I pulled into the parking lot on the designated date of April 21, 2006 I noticed it was oddly vacant of cars, but I assumed perhaps mothers were running late, after all this is Utah County and we run on Mormon Standard Time. I approached the office and informed the secretary, who appeared to be shutting off her computer and closing down shop for the day, that I was there for kindergarten registration. She looked at me with distain and informed me kindergarten registration was at 2:00 p.m. in the media center. I told her that I was unaware and a friend had told me the school sent a note home with the parents of current students indicating registration was at 4:00 p.m. Of course she again told me it was incorrect. I told her that I had been trying to obtain information on kindergarten registration without success. I told her of my efforts to seek information from the school's website, which was devoid of information pertaining to kindergarten registration and to me that seemed like a logical place to list such information. I received a blank stare and was told the information was on the school’s reader board. I informed her I have don’t have children that go to this school, so I would have no cause to be viewing the reader board. (Of note the reader board is on the school its self and the only way to read the reader board is if you are driving into the school for business.) Next she informed me that it was published in the Daily Herald. I informed her I subscribe to the Deseret News, because the quality of the publication of the Daily Herald is akin to a high school news paper. Finally she said the information was on the school district’s web site. I replied to her that I knew my child was going to this school so it was illogical for me to looking on the school district website for information that should have been published on the school’s website, I mean after all this is 2006 we are talking about???!!!

Begrudgingly she provided me the forms for registration and instructed me she was getting ready to leave for the day and I should quickly complete the forms. I have to add, that while I was discussing the finer points of kindergarten registration with her, my friend who told me registration was at 4:00 p.m. showed up, and could hardly contain her laughter at my argument with the school secretary. Apparently the school secretary was uninformed of my profession, and just so you know, its most unwise to argue with an individual who makes his or her living arguing, unless of course you are in the same profession. I quickly completed my forms, only to be told Lauren’s acceptance to kindergarten was conditional because she was lacking one shot, which due to recent shots she had just had, could not obtain for several months. After swearing on my daughter’s life that I would obtain the necessary shot in the fall, Lauren was granted conditional acceptance to kindergarten. Of course I was also told that my request for morning kindergarten could be rejected because I did not appear at the proper time for kindergarten registration.

And rest assured in the fall the school sent me a nasty note around the middle of October informing me that unless I provided proof that Lauren had obtained her shot by November 1, 2006, Lauren could be subject to removal from kindergarten, I mean after all we would not want healthy, smart children who are one shot short, infecting an entire class of kindergarten children….We obtained the shot. Lauren stayed in school.

Then there is Mark…..(to be continued)

A weary night.

Mark, the man, the myth, the legend. The boy I love.

It was 12;30 a.m. on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and I had just finished the final touches on my Relief Society lesson. (Least you think I procrastinated, for the record I did not. I read the lesson a week ago, pondered, re-read it Friday night, pondered it all day Saturday, and finally put my thoughts to paper in the quiet of the night after the children were in bed.) The quiet of my night was interrupted by the wailing of a little boy. He had just thrown up and was upset. I went upstairs to survey the damage, only to find the cream color carpet in my bedroom, was now covered in a lovely shade of brown, I will spare you any further details. My son was also covered in this lovely shade of brown, crying and demanding to be cleaned off. To the bathroom we marched, stripped off clothes, ran a nice hot bath.

While Mark was soaking in the tub I returned to my bedroom, to see what it was going to take to correct the wrongs of a food he ate that apparently did not agree with him. I removed much of the material, again I will spare you the details, and determined the carpet cleaner was in order. Now this was bit of a quandary for me. You see Katie sleeps in the alcove right off my bedroom, and I feared that using the carpet cleaner, which is about 3x as loud as the vacuum would wake her up and then I would have two of my three children howling. Although I had to admit Mark had been really carrying on and that did not seem to disturb her.

Well clearly I could not allow a brown substance to harden in my carpet, then any chance of returning my carpet to its original cream shade would be lost. Out came the carpet cleaner, up came the substance, asleep stayed Katie. (Proof that you are blessed for fulfilling your calling!)

Mark emerged from the bath a clean boy, with clean clothes and ready to return to bed, although distraught that he had soiled his blanket and would be sleeping blanketless for the remainder of the night. (Which is why I am up typing this post, yes its laundry. I have to at least get his blanket to the dryer before I retire)

As I laid next to Mark and tried to reassure him that he was going to be all right, he was very loving and thankful for returning him to a clean state. He then asked if he would have to go to the hospital and began to cry. I chuckled and told him "no" he had just caught a virus and assured him it would not require a visit to the hospital. Then I recalled that it had been a year since a violent regurgitation attack he had after falling and hitting his head and suffering a concussion, which did result in a hospital visit. I asked Mark if he remembered going to the hospital, and he said "yes" and started to cry, telling me that when you throw up you have to go to the hospital. I looked him in the eyes and said "Mark, you go to the hospital when you hit your head, not when you throw up." He replied, "Thank you mommy, I love you" and with that off to sleep he went, knowing that at least for tonight, no trips to the hospital were awaiting.

The PROMENADE.

A ritual of the PROM at Timpview High School is THE PROMENADE. For those of you unfamiliar with this tradition, as I was until three years ago when Matt when to PROM, the attendees to PROM, exit the old courthouse, where PROM is always held, and walk down the very lengthy front steps, as each girl and her date is introduced. Parents, friends and strangers gather at the court house to watch the attendees prance around in their finest PROM attire.

Well we all went to watch Courtney. Did I mention it was raining? When we first arrived we were drenched just from walking from the car to the gathering location. After about 25 minutes the rain let up, so at least by the time Courtney and Scott did their walk they did not have to fumble with the umbrella.

You start at the top....and pray you don't trip or fall, after all there is only about 500 people watching....

You stop in the middle for a picture opportunity.

Then when you get to the bottom you turn and walk up the other side.

Then you have completed the PROMENADE!

One final note, as you can see we brought our umbrellas. Mark's umbrella is camouflage and he is quite proud of it. At some point while we were waiting for Courtney to make her appearance, MacKenzie, his cousin, picked up the umbrella. Mark asked MacKenzie for the umbrella back several times and was met with a "No." Finally he said to MacKenzie "I am serious MacKenzie, give me my umbrella back." She complied, after all he was serious.

THE PROM.

Aunt Courtney, or in my case, sister-in-law Courtney, got invited to the PROM and we got invited to photograph the event. I have to say three years ago we had a similar ritual with Matt, and Courtney was a much more willing victim to be photographed than Matt was!

Her date arrived, gorgeous tulip corsage in hand!

Next it was Scott's turn for a flower.

Don't they look sharp?

Did I mention it was raining?

Their "PROM" group arriving for group pictures. Did I mention it was raining?

I told you Courtney would look HOT in her dress. I know I am biased, but of all the dresses I saw, Courtney's was one of the most elegant.

One last photo, "the group," then off for fun!

My mother would be so proud!

In keeping with the annual tradition started by my mother, Easter is a holiday where my children are forced to dress in coordinating clothing and pose for the obligatory picture. This year our theme was black, white and pink. A little nontraditional for Easter I know, but classy none the less. Good news for Mark his sweater only had a small amount of pink, so it did not become and issue. I made matching flowers that I added to Lauren and Katie's dresses, and made matching flower clips for their hair. It helped relieve my guilt for purchasing their clothing as opposed to sewing it.

Here is Mark and Lauren. Katie refused to stand in the picture with them.

However, she did agree to sit for a picture. Did I mention we are approaching our two year old birthday?

The most important thing: Everywhere we went on Easter we got lots of "oooo" and "ahhh" at our fine, coordinating Easter attire. I am sure I did my mother proud.

On the hunt....

In addition to leaving goodies in the form of toys, the Easter Bunny also hid eggs all throughout the house. Of course those eggs had to be gathered, and Lauren, Mark and Katie knew three kids willing to take on that task.

Lauren of course had no problem locating eggs.

I have to say I was quite amazed at how quickly Katie picked up on the egg gathering adventure, and managed to collect herself quite a basket full despite the competitive environment.

Mark, brought his gun along to collect eggs, after all you never know when you may need to take out a sister or two who is trying to steal your eggs!

As you can see Lauren has quite the basket full.

Mark did not disappoint in the collection of eggs.

After Katie determined there were no more eggs to be found she began to open her eggs. Thanks to her older brother who brought candy filled eggs home from pre-school the day before, she knew what sweet things awaited her. Unfortunately Katie managed to snag a number of eggs that had a dollar bill instead of candy. She was none too happy about this. Never fear Lauren to the rescue. Lauren was more than willing to exchange her candy for Katie's money. It was a win-win for all involved.

Bunny Love!

Mommy received an email a few days prior to Easter notifying her that the Easter Bunny had a tight time schedule this year and would be delivering Easter on Saturday this year. Oddly enough there were no complaints from Lauren, Mark or Katie?

When Lauren, Mark and Katie awoke on Saturday morning this is what the found. (Note how crafty that Easter Bunny is in making black garbage bags look Easter cute!)

Mark was quite delighted with his new Scooby Doo DVD.

"Toys? What Toys? I want candy!" - Katie

Pink tennis balls, to coordinate with that pink tennis racket.
(Note to mommy, begin looking for a pink tennis outfit...)

And, yes a hula hoop! FYI, she is amazing on the thing, that girl has hips that MOVE.

Alright we finally got Katie away from the candy and she found a bag of balls.

Doesn't every little boy need a gun? The first thing he did with it? Shot it as his little sister.....

Bulletin Board

You may recall this summer I made a cute magnetic bulletin board for Lauren. Every time I went in Lauren's room I kept telling her I was going to steal it and put it in my room, because ti was just too cute. She kindly told me "Get you own bulletin board mom." So I did.



Unfortunately the picture does not do it justice. The scrapbook paper is brown, yellow, green and red. I accented with red flowers, and green ribbon. I also made matching magnates out of the left over scrapbook paper. I hung it right over my desk, and now Lauren does not have to worry about her bulletin board turning up missing. I got my own.

Just because we are older....

Just because we are a year older and have advanced from Sunbeams to CTR 5 does not mean Primary antics have ceased....

Last week for sharing time they were playing a concentration card game. Mark was one of the first to get chosen to come up and pick two cards. Mark did not pick two that matched. Several children later, a little boy picked a card that matched one of the cards Mark picked. Mark piped up and said "You would be wise to pick the card I picked."

Several week prior, Mark was assigned to say the prayer. Lauren helped him and after the prayer the bishop, who was visiting primary that day, commented on how nice it was for Lauren to help Mark with the prayer, especially since he had said the closing prayer at her baptism. Mark then replied to the bishop "Well it is all about ME."

Yeah we are STILL the comic relief for primary.........

The DRESS.

Courtney got invited to prom and Lauren and I got invited to go dress shopping with Linda and Courtney.

First you have to sort through racks of dress,

and more dresses....after all you want to know you have considered EVERYTHING!

Then you must try on the dresses, and give your best diva pose.

Verdict: Dress is ok....

Verdict: Dress is very cute, but will need a lot of alterations.

Verdict: Ahhh yes, this is the ONE.

As good as the picture is, in person it is drop dead gorgeous, and makes Courtney look super HOT!!!!!

The Caped Crusader

It is a well established fact that all four soon to be five year old boys need a "cape" in order to engage in all sorts of boy adventures. I realized when Mark turned his Thomas blanket into a cape that it was time to get the sewing machine out and make him a proper cape. He is delighted with the finished product and walks around like a regal king. Only problem....Lauren is jealous. Back to the sewing machine.....

Yummy!

Rick made dinner for the kids and I on Tuesday night and it was super yummy! It was Grilled Flank Steak with a Tomato-Jicama Relish, and a Pearl Barely Risotto with Scallions, Asparagus and Peas. In addition to tasting good it was HEALTHY and I did not have to cook it!

Thanks for the memories.

This plastic box, meant for sewing, used for cake decorating, circa, 1960. It was my mother's, now it is mine. It holds old treasures belonging to my mother, and new treasures belonging to me. It hold memories of many birthdays when my mother would pull out the box to decorate a cake for me, or a sibling. It holds memories of my mother decorating cakes for new babies, for weddings, for bridal showers, or any other occasion. It hold memories of my mother decorating gingerbread cookies at Christmas, heart cookies at Valentines, and pumpkin cookies at Halloween. Most of all it holds the memories of me watching my mother, as she effortlessly made something beautiful, and wondering why my ability was somewhat lacking.....

Tips, some of which are mine, some of which belonged to my mother, some of which bare my childhood teeth marks from trying to suck every last drop of frosting out of the tip once my mother was done.

Bowls of colored frosting waiting to be put in a bag and artfully applied to the cake.

The parchment bags I never could figure out how my mother made......

Most of all the box is a link to my mother, a connection, a way of knowing I am doing something she did, as my children watch in amazement at my ability, that with time and maturity has come to equal my mother's. It is not used a frequently as it once was when my mother was alive, but three times a year, on February 15, May 1, and May 16 it is resurrected from the basement, and life through the generations can be felt with each squeeze of the frosting bag as something is made beautiful.