Winston Churchill Fox

This is our dog, Winston, in his guillotine.
Our fence has this hole broken from the bottom of one of the fence slats. It fits Winston's head perfectly and he can easily move in and out. We think it is so funny to be walking by this long fence and see a dog's head poking out. I'm sure it has alarmed neighbors walking by.

I'm Julia Child. Bon Appetit!

I can cook and I am not afraid of cooking, but I would not consider myself a "gourmet" cook. I am a utilitarian cook--meaning I cook for the purpose of feeding my people, not really because I enjoy cooking.
But I'm really enjoying the renewed interest in Julia Child. The girls and I had a really fun time watching a "French Chef" episode the other day about how to roast a chicken. We all agreed it would be really fun to get a chicken and roast it the fancy way.




We had so much fun. We tressed the chicken which basically means we tied the chicken closed in a fancy way. We didn't have a large tressing needle or regular string so we had to improvise a bit with a large embroidery needle and embroidery thread. It worked!











Aren't our birds beautiful! We learned (from Julia) that we should have used roaster size chickens, but the grocery store only had fryers. Once again, we made do.












We were just so delighted with ourselves and our fabulous chickens!















And here's the finished product. It was very tasty and we all enjoyed plenty of roasted chicken. I mentioned at the table that since this experiment had gone so well I might watch more episodes and try more things. That made the kids pretty nervous. Roast chicken was one thing, but "we like what you make--don't do new stuff". I'll take that as a compliment!

Cheap Knock-Offs

I love this picture of Bethany because it perfectly shows the stage of life she is in. She is still very much a little girl (the dolls keeping her company), but I can see her transitioning into a little lady (reading her book).

Let's talk about the dolls keeping her company. When Bethany turned 8 this year she wanted an American Girl doll. I wanted one when I was a girl, but they are not cheap and so I didn't get one. I hold no grudge, but I did always want one. So I actually did want to buy one for my girls. But Bethany saw the look-alike dolls at Target for 1/4 of the price of a "real American Girl doll". Bethany pointed out to me (THE MOTHER) what a better deal that was. I was rather ashamed that she was convincing me to buy the less expensive, but just as lovely doll.
She and Elinor both got dolls and thought they were lovely dolls, but would they really play with them?
Oh yes, they play with them everyday. We don't shop for clothes for Bethany and Elinor anymore--we shop for doll clothes--cheap knock-off clothes, that is.

The Match-Up

DING, DING, DING!
In this corner, weighing in at 100 lbs-- he's loud, he's large, he likes to be in charge--- IT'S CLARK FOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!


















And in this corner, weighing in at 35 lbs-- she's short, she's sweet, she can be very sassy-- IT'S FAITH FOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




An unlikely match-up, but these two have quite a battle of wills going on.

In fairness to Clark, Faith (AKA: the informer) loves to tattle on Clark. She will rat him for anything. She doesn't negotiate or made deals with him. On our recent trip to the northwest my brother gave Clark is old Nintendo Game Boy. Clark was THRILLED and on the way home Faith saw Clark playing with it and said, "Uh Oh! Clark took something of Matt and Misty's!"
If Clark sneaks an extra piece of candy or doesn't get off the computer when his time is up, Faith is very quick to let us know. She doesn't rat out anybody else-- just Clark.

In fairness to Faith, Clark does seem to derive joy from teasing and tormenting his younger sisters. Actually, he has left Faith pretty much alone, but she is very sympathetic to Bethany. I think she has taken up Bethany's cause.

Maybe Clark has finally met his match!

Question of the Day

Question of the day, posed by Elinor.

Mom, if we were a family of turtles. . . what kind of turtles would you like us to be?

I was at a loss. I've never even considered it before. How many different kinds of turtles can I think of? Let's see, there are snapping turtles, red-eared painted turtles. . . Yeah, that's all I can think of.

Fortunately she hands me the "Pocket Naturalist: Reptiles and Amphibians" guide so I could make an educated answer.

At first I chose the map turtle because it looked delightfully symmetrical. But then Elinor pointed our the classic, Green Sea Turtle. I was sold. Definitely, I would choose the Green Sea Turtle.

What about you? I know-- it's so hard to choose!

Full Circle

It was Fall 1996 and I had met a cute guy named Avi Fox. We'd gone out on a date, but it didn't go so well. Maybe I'll write about that another time. The short of it was that he was quite fresh off his mission and he was still weird about girls.
Still, we would cross paths on the campus of Brigham Young University quite regularly and the flirtatious sparks would fly. One morning Avi says, "Hey, do you want to go to the new Star Trek movie, First Contact, tonight?"

Ooh, cute guy is asking me out on a date. Umm, I really don't care anything at all about Star Trek, but ooh... cute guy is asking me out on a date. I can pretend I care about Star Trek.

I am in my apartment of six lovely ladies, #148 at the Glenhole. Oh, I mean the Glenwood. I think they've done some rennovations, but it kind of was the GlenHOLE when I lived there. I was gussied up and waiting for my date, Avi Fox, to come pick me up. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. Where is he?

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK (frantic).
Abe (out of breath): "Are you ready? Let's go! "
I quickly follow him out the door and out to a running car filled with several other people. Some of whom are other cute girls. Hmmm. What's going on? I quickly make two bad realizations.
1) Avi Fox almost forgot me.
2) This is NOT a date. It's not even a group date. This is a group of people going to see a movie I CARE NOTHING ABOUT!

We get to the theater and the large group (not just our car full) are arranging seating. As it turns out, Avi was sitting at the far end of the row in front of me next to another girl. I believe her name is Lisa, but that's not important.
What can be done? Nothing. I know nothing about Star Trek and I care even less. I am humiliated, MAD and trapped at the theater. My only recourse is to go to sleep. Avi Fox keeps turning around to look at me, but I don't notice-- I'm steaming and snoring.

Upon returning to the Glenhole, Avi Fox quickly came to my door and apologized and said I was the girl he really wanted to sit by. Smart boy. And he was really cute-- so I forgave him. We had a nice talk and the rest is histoy. History that should still be written down, but that's pretty much the end of that story for this post.

May 2009--Star Trek movie comes out. Oh JOY!!! I happily encourage Abe to go see it with anybody he wants to, however many times he wants to. Just not with me.
He came home gushing over how great it was. He monopolized conversations with people for weeks afterwards elaborating on Star Trek intricasies. He apologizes again for the 1996 Star Trek incident and begs me to go with him.
I agree to go when it comes to the dollar theater. It's definitely not worth $7.50! I think someone should pay me to watch it! This weekend my number was up. Star Trek finally arrived at the dollar theater. I figured if there was enough butter on the popcorn I could endure anything.

I was more than pleasantly surprised. I QUITE enjoyed it. I was sad when it ended. And I had Abe with me to explain every little Star Trek inside joke to me. I guess this means our relationship has come full circle. I even watched Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan with my people for FHE tonight. However, the actors were NOT as good looking as in the new movie, so that took away some of the enjoyment. I shouldn't push myself too quickly.

FYI-- Abe was taking a Hebrew class at BYU and as there were two other Abrahams in his ward he decided to go by Avi (a shortened form of Avraham). We were engaged before I realized--"Hey, that's not really your name and nobody else in the world calls you that!)

Betsy's Housecleaning Tips for Sane Moms

Preface: Abe tells me this post is too raw and real and I will probably gross people out. Sorry--these things need to be said.

When it comes to housekeeping, there is "messy" and there is "dirty". In a house full of children, messy is fine- even admirable because it means kids are being kids and mom is not neurotic. A messy house is very "lived in".

Dirty is not okay. Dirty is unsanitary. Dirty is embarrassing. Dirty is stinky. Sometimes my house gets "dirty", but mostly I hope to stay within "messy". Well, I'd like to be "clean", but I have to be realistic.

I've talked with a few of my sister-in-laws to get their tips for housecleaning. I won't tell which ones are theirs and which are mine. That way if one of my tips totally grosses you out you won't know it's mine! However, I do agree with all the them.

Betsy's Housecleaning Tips for Sane Moms:

1. Your kitchen floor does not need to be clean enough to eat off of. You shouldn't be eating off your floor anyway. When there are crumbs sticking to your bare feet, sweep the floor. If your floor has a sticky spot, get a wet rag and wipe it up. If you are having a dinner party, mop your floor, but stop looking at your floor so much. Nobody else cares, why should you?

2. Cobwebs. If there aren't any spiders on them, ignore them.

3. The toilet. Why does the toilet bowl have to be so sparkly clean? You are just going to go potty in it and--whamo!-- it's totally dirty again. So, when you see a ring, clean it. There is no reason to clean it before you see a ring. Pee-pee spots should be cleaned immediately, lest you cross into "dirty".

4. Bedsheets. Don't change them unless the they are peed or barfed on. These things happen quite frequently with little children, so don't worry- you will have clean sheets.

5. Dishes. Do not do your dishes until your sink is all the way full. Your sink and dishwasher capacities match up perfectly. Load your dishwasher full in one fell swoop. It is perfectly fine for dishes to sit in your sink until you get to them. If you start to smell your dishes then you know you have waited too long to do your dishes.

6. Laundry. You need to wear clean clothes everyday. Wearing dirty clothes puts you across the "dirty" line. But there is no need to have every article of clothing clean at the same moment. There is no reward for having all your laundry washed folded and put away. Your laundry pile will regenerate in a few short hours.

I'm mostly serious about all of these.

I don't mean to gross anyone out and I hope you don't think I'm disgusting. But I find many more rewarding things to do than obsessively clean my house. Housekeeping is an art and I do not resent my time spent cleaning and time spent teaching children to clean, but cleaning is not my hobby. I enjoy taking care of my family's physical needs, but no matter how much you clean, it is just going to get dirty again.
If cleaning is your hobby, then you should clean until you can clean no more. Everyone needs a hobby. But if you spend tons of time cleaning because you think that is what you are "suppose" to do and that is what a good mom does--- then RELAX and enjoy your little people!

Rafting the Clackamas

The last Fox Family Reunion activity was a short rafting excursion on a lower (i.e. very easy and slow) section of the Clackamas River near Portland, OR. It was AWESOME, and everyone who went will attest to the same. We went down the very non-white-water-river in 4 rafts with 9 adults and 22 kids!


Our boat, dubbed the "Blue Rocket" by us, was almost always in the lead.


Betsy's sister-in-law, Misty Cannon (Matt's wife) joined the crazy Fox clan on this 3-hour rafting trip......and she was a very buff rower.....or technically I should say paddler.


Here is the main kid-contingent of the Blue Rocket......you see, kids were regularly jumping or swimming from boat to boat. Here is Adam and Clark, the co-winners of the Most-Often-Man-Over-Board award (and yes, I let Clark swim without a life jacket).


Thank you, Betsy, for letting me take Clark, Beth and Els......I owe you, Big Time.