The Dead Sea's Secret to Rejuvenation

This is my first contribution (Travis) to the family blog, and when I saw this tube of hand lotion that was donated to the clinic I knew I had to share. I couldn't help but find the name a little ironic; You wouldn't think that a rejuvenating cream would come from a place that since ancient times has been known as the DEAD Sea. It's called the Dead Sea because it is 8x saltier than the ocean and no animal life (and very few plant life) can survive around it. For me, the Dead Sea would be the last place on earth to look for a rejuvenating cream, but it turns out that a lot of minerals from the Dead Sea are used for lotions. Nonetheless, the name is still funny since I really don't think the Dead Sea is the keeper of the secret of rejuvenation. 

Touch a Truck

Our local mom's club does a great event called Touch-a-Truck where they get city service vehicles together and the kids get to see them up close.  There was even a helicopter that came in for a little while.  There were tons of kids and lots of vehicles to see.  Calvin wanted to be in the driver's seat in all of them, but there were just too many cars to see.  It was also EXTREMELY loud because the kids were pulling the horns in all the semis.  Linden did not like this at all and ended up crying because she was so scared.  Calvin, on the other hand, LOVED every minute of it and cried only when it was time to go home.  Here are some pictures of the event:

Linden, Calvin and Travis riding in a University of Oklahoma Trolley

      

Calvin waits for his turn to drive while Linden gets an idea of what it's like in the driver's seat.

Calvin driving the Metro Transit bus.  I don't think he can see over the steering wheel.

    

Just a few examples of the different vehicles they had on display.

    

Calvin really wanted to take this Hummer out for a spin.  If you look closely you can see he has to stand in order to see out of the windshield.

Calvin once again in his element.

There was also a dog show going on at the same place.  I think Linden liked that a little more than she liked the trucks.  At least the dogs weren't nearly as loud.

It's been a long time coming...

So, I'm sure many of you noticed the fact that the last post came before Thanksgiving and hopefully we haven't lost too much of your interest due to my lack of ability to make time to update the blog.  It has been an eventful few months with numerous ups and downs.  I'll do my best to catch you all up to speed on what our little family has been doing for the last little while.

Thanksgiving:

We had lots of family in town over the Thanksgiving break and thank goodness we were able to find a place for all of them to stay.  We had been house sitting for a family but they were due to come back at the end of December.  We were frantically looking for a new place to live and managed to sign a lease on a condo the week before our family came into town.  I'd like to give a special thanks to Stephanie and Ben for breaking in the place for us and letting us know all of the things that needed attention.  It has made our stay here much more comfortable.  Check out our fabulous decor.  

This brick is not real, it is hand painted and goes along the entire front wall of the apartment.

It would be nice if this really was looking out into our yard, but alas, it is only a wall-papered mural that goes along another entire wall in our fabulous apartment.

Christmas:

We spent Christmas with Travis's family (his brother called from his mission to say hello) and just took it easy.  Travis was off of work for two weeks which was great because the kids got to spend a lot of  time with him.  We also had a ward Christmas party where there were lots of activities for everyone to do.  Linden's favorite was making gingerbread houses.  I don't think her house ever got built because she was too busy eating the "mortar".

We went to Chickasha to the Festival of Lights and rode around in a carriage.  It was the highlight of the evening for the kids.

Travis helping Linden with her gingerbread house.  That is icing she is eating directly from the plastic baggy.

I was forced to put a sign on Calvin's back at the church activity.  He wouldn't stay with either Travis or I.  The sign reads, 'I'm lost! Return to the Humphreys'

New Years:

We found ourselves re-located to our new condo and have spent the last three months trying to get settled.  I still haven't finished the unpacking.  I'm loving the space and the fact that it is our space.  This is the first time in over four years that we've had a place that we weren't sharing with or borrowing from someone else.  Oh, and Calvin, after three months of ear infections, underwent surgery for tubes.  He is such a different little person now.

February:

This was a big month for us for numerous reasons.  Mainly because it was Linden's birthday.  She had been looking forward to it since Christmas (she finished opening her Christmas presents and was wondering when she was going to get more).  A couple of weeks before her birthday I made a chicken and rice casserole with green beans to go with it.  Linden promptly created a casserole birthday cake complete with green bean candles.  It was great.   When the day finally rolled around Grandma Pauline hit the jackpot with her very girly purse cake.  Grandma Michaelsen outdid herself and sent Linden just about everything she could find for her to transform into Sleeping Beauty.  Linden didn't take the dress off for a week.

   

Any cake is a birthday celebration for Princess Linden.

She even wore the dress to meet her new cousin, Baby Thomas.

Travis and I gave Linden a little something different for her birthday.  We took her with us to have the ultrasound done to find out what we are having.  Yes, for those of you who aren't aware, we are going to be adding another little one to our family in June.  Turns out it's a girl,  so Linden is excited to share her dolls.  She is going to be a great big sister to the new baby.  You can tell by the way she loves on her cousin, Thomas.  She asks to be able to go hold him everyday and hates to leave him when it is time to go.  Hopefully this interest will still be there when her little sister arrives.

The Humphrey's Halloween

Halloween has come and gone at the Humphrey house and luckily we made it through with minimal sugar highs.  It was actually enjoyable this year because we went out as a family and trick-or-treated around the neighborhood.  We are the family that everyone hates because we go out so early.  We left our house at 6:15pm and made our way around the block.  There weren't many people prepared for us so early, but the kids enjoyed it all the same.  We dressed up as Goldie Locks and the Three Bears.  The only thing was Goldie Locks didn't have very curly hair.  We attempted sponge curlers but they only lasted about twenty minutes.  Not even long enough for Linden's hair to dry.  She thought they made a beautiful crown though.

  

In addition to Halloween, Linden decided to do a little make-up  job herself while I was busy getting ready for the day.  I left her calmly painting a picture and this is what I walked back to. Her exact words were "Mommy, I'm so beautiful!"  I would have to agree, but maybe not in that get-up.

  

Running Me Ragged

This fall we have been trying to be more active with our kids. Now that Linden is a little bit older and understands more of what is going on around her we have been trying to take advantage of her interest and show her different things. A couple of weeks ago the mayor kicked off the "Heart and Sole" program here in town with a 5K walk. The idea behind the program is to get people to be more active. Each of the participants got a pedometer (including the kids) and we are to keep track of our daily steps for two months. It sounded like fun so we took the kids and started our step counts. Linden and Calvin didn't really rack up too many (see the photo). 

Calvin rode in the stroller the whole time and after about half a mile Travis decided he wanted to jog. I couldn't jog with Linden on my shoulders so she ended up in the stroller as well. I was impressed that Travis was able to push the double stroller (not a baby jogger, but one of those with the little wheels and no foot room) at a pretty good jog for about two miles. I took over for the end and walked while Linden rode on Travis's shoulders. It was fun to see the families there participating. Afterwards they had an obstacle course for the kids to do. Calvin was a little too small to understand the concept, but he knew what to do with the balls. The only problem is he's still not the sturdiest walker and ended up face planting in the concrete parking lot. The scrape looked a lot worse than it actually was but he wore a pretty good mark for about a week.

Last weekend a local church did a fund raiser 5K run called the "Monster Dash". Since I was training for a half-marathon that was CANCELLED!!!!!!! I decided to do the 5K instead. Kendall did it last year and dressed up in full candy corn costume. She said there were other people that had put on some crazy hats and other fun things, but no real costumes. I decided not to go all out, but I put on my bear ears and painted my face. It turns out that I was the only one who dressed up in costume anyway, but I was okay with that. The kids were there to watch me and it was obviously easy for me to be spotted. I even got several compliments on my ears. It was a fun run and I felt really good about my race. It is disappointing that I won't be able to do the half-marathon, but there are always others in the spring.

He's famous!

We have a super star in our house!  Travis was interviewed for a news piece one of the local news stations was doing on healthcare in these hard economic times.  It was a good experience for him and was especially beneficial because he is applying for the executive director's position.  Take a look and wish him luck on his application!

It's That Time of Year Again

When you think of OU/Texas, what do you think of?  Many think of great football, fall weather, Texas State Fair, yummy football food, etc.  In our family it is a little different.  Yes, we are football fans and enjoy a healthy rivalry between OU and Texas, but our weekend generally revolves around a different activity...making applesauce.  Who makes their own applesauce in todays world of Musselmans and individual serving cups from the shelf?  We do.  And it is SO much better than anything you get at the store.  It may be because of all the blood, sweat and tears (blood from cutting the apples a little too vigorously, sweat from all the cooking, and tears because it takes from sun-up until WAY after the sun goes down).  It is a ton of work not to mention the pain we go through just getting to Grandma and Grandpa's with the two kids.  Let me tell you, seven hours is a long time for anyone to be in a car.  When Linden and Calvin are added in to the mix seven minutes is about enough to want to turn around and go back home. 

 

We survived the drive, though, and enjoyed the beautiful weekend.  Travis was the main apple cutter and had a little bit of help from Linden.  She would "help" wash the apples, all the while taste testing several.  She had taken bites from a few before we became aware of what she was doing.

    

After that she was limited to one complete apple at a time.  Kendall, Kenta, Natalie, and Soren were all smashers, scoopers, toppers, and watchers.  The process really isn't that complicated.  Once the apples are cut, they are put into big pots and cooked until they are nice and mushy.  Then we put them through the smasher(a very technical term, I know) that is cranked by hand.  The smasher squashes the apples through a strainer where it separates the good juice and sauce from the other stuff.  The seeds and peel are pooped out the end and are then disposed of in the garden or fed to the cows next door.

   

Once a pot of apples is squashed it is now officially applesauce.  When we first started doing this many, many years ago when I was little (or maybe not even born) we added sugar and coloring to the mix.  Now it is pure apples and nothing else.  It is the best tasting stuff on earth.  Especially with warm, homemade cookies, but I digress.  The applesauce is then put in mason jars which are boiled in a pot of water to seal the lids closed.  It is not a difficult process in terms of the steps that are involved, but it certainly is time consuming.  Thanks to my dad and his streamlining we have been able to cut down the time considerably.  It also helps to have three camp stoves to be cooking on at once.

I have to  admit.  Most of my time was not involved in applesauce making this trip.  Poor Calvin was diagnosed with an ear infection about twenty minutes before we took off to Grandma and Grandpa's so he was cranky and hurting.  He's feeling much better now though.

Linden was in her element.  We spent a month at Grandma and Grandpa's earlier in the summer and Linden was so happy to be back.  She played with all of the toys, scratched Yukon's belly (their old husky), fed the cows and fish, and just got dirty.  It was fun to see her enjoy being outdoors and not even think about the Twelve Dancing Princesses or Dora.  She even got to see Travis go down the zip line and was adventurous enough to climb the jump-off tower.     

As much as I hate going on road trips with the kids, they really aren't bad travelers.  Calvin doesn't sleep very well outside of his bed, so that makes it kind of hard to keep him entertained the whole time.  I've discovered that binkies and crackers will only last a couple of hours.  We took a pit stop on the way home and Calvin discovered some really big balls he wanted to play with.  Too bad they were stuck to the ground.

   

All in all it was a great weekend.  A family tradition we hope will continue for many years.

Oh, by the way, we canned 36 boxes of apples (40 lbs. of apples per box) and ended up with about 500 one quart jars.