Chocolate and Conversation

Sage Is BACK

If you remember, I wrote a farewell post about the ill manners of Sage. Afterwards, I rolled up my sleeves and went to work on training her to be a good citizen. I am happy to say that she is mostly pleasant these days. But of course, her being Sage, I should've known that she would save her treacherous ways for a more worthy foe - her elder sister.

Jade came to me this morning and related to me the following story. Here is what happened:

This morning, Sage found Jade sitting at the dining table eating cereal. She stood there watching Jade for a moment, then finding she didn't receive the attention she deserved, she started stomping forcefully on the floor.

(Stomp) paused for 3 seconds looking for reactions, received none...

(Stomp) paused for another 3 seconds, again, didn't get a reaction.

(Stomp) again, 3 second watch, this time, Jade finally looked at her.

"What?!" said Jade.

"I (stomp).want(stomp).a bowl (stomp).of (stomp).CEREAL (stomp)!" Sage stated her intention with her winning attitude.

Jade gave her a look of "you don't scare me" and told her to get her own bowl and went back to eating and reading (which is, of course, not permitted at the dining table.)

Sage: "No."(stomp)

Jade:"Get your own bowl or I'll spank you." (Such an attitude would surely get her in trouble.)

"OK" submissive Sage scurried away...

Tomorrow Sage starts her second day in preschool. As much as she is a handful, I miss her quite a bit. I think it's very hard to have your baby grow up and leave you...

Youth Conference 2010

Andrew and I had the opportunity to be Ma and Pa for our stake youth conference this year. We took the youth to Palmyra New York to visit Hill Cumorah, Gradon bookstore where the book of Mormon were published, the Smith's log cabin and the Sacred Grove.

During the Ma and Pa training, it was understood that we were supposed to arrive at the Stake Center at 5am on youth conference day. Andrew and I had everything packed and ready to go the night before. I had everything planned to perfection except for being late. That morning we woke up at 5:15 am!! Andrew truly jumped out of bed and shouted: "Aren't we supposed to be there at 5?" and that woke me up. We scrambled out of the door and rushed the 20 min. drive to the stake center.

He drove with great style and pizazz, until at a red light, a cop car pulled up beside us and said in his deep voice: "You might want to slow down". He then drove away!!! I couldn't believe we only got a warning for that and what's more, didn't even get pulled over, otherwise, we would have lost more time. Talk about tender mercies of the Lord! Now I think back that we were able to get up at 5:15am without an alarm is a miracle too! (Our kids were charged with playing the alarm and switching the alarm to CD the night before. )

When we finally made it to the stake center, the parking lot was already busy with people directing traffic and parents dropping kids off. Talk about embarrassing, of all places, Andrew stopped the car right in front of President Talbert (a member of the stake presidency) with him looking straight into my eyes. I could tell that he was startled to see me just arriving and then he had the look of : " YOU ARE REALLY, REALLY LATE!!!!" I hopped out of the car at super human speed and ran right past him without even saying good morning (ha ha ha). I was like a bullet running with my eyes fixed on those front doors of the church building while dodging people everywhere.

I ran to the spot marked "Fisher Family" inside the cultural hall and saw 3 or 4 out of 11 of my kids were already sitting there. There is truly nothing more embarrassing then the moment when I had to face those kids and tell them why their ma and pa were late.

I was slightly relieved to see that they were good natured and seemed to have forgiven me on the spot. However, my face burned with embarrassment for the next 3 hours. ... then it finally stopped burning, so guess I eventually got over it.

A month ago prior to the YC, I had the opportunity to go to Palmyra with some other stake leaders to "scout" the area and to time the route the buses were to travel. Now that YC is over, it's very interesting to see how all the planning came to fruition. I've gained much respect for those who plan youth events year after year in our stake and I feel I have learned a lot about leadership in the process. But as fun as that experience was, being a ma and pa for a group of youth was so much better! I feel very privileged to be with the youth assigned to our family.

During our ride home, at 11 o'clock at night, one of our bus's tires completely blew out. We were basically a sitting duck until a repair truck could get to us. Since we were travelling with 2 other buses, we could also wait for one of the bus to first drop the kids off at the stake center and turn around to pick us up, making total wait time at least 3 hours. I was about to have a panic attack because we thought we might get home at 12:30am, I had asked our friends who were watching our kids to go home before 11 o'clock, leaving Jade to watch the younger kids while they were asleep. The estimation at the time was that we would arrive at the stake center around 4am. There was nothing I could do but to say a prayer asking Heavenly Father to please help my littler ones to sleep through without waking up crying like they sometimes do. A friend on the bus assured me in all her wisdom that God would look out for my children. The good news is all the kids on the bus were just happy to hang out longer with their new friends, everybody got out of the bus to play on that parking lot in the middle of nowhere.

About an hour into our wait, the repair truck pulled up to our great delight and replaced the flat in record time. I didn't think we had to wait too long and the spirits of the youth were still high by the time we were on the road again. I truly felt that God was watching out for us since the morning we woke up.

Andrew and I were blessed to have some outstanding kids in our family. We were so impressed with their strength and dedication to the Lord. We had some wonderful family discussions together during youth conference, and I felt blessed to be able to say a thing or two that might have made an impact on them. I loved all the kids assigned to our family and it's funny, I felt a little bit out of place without them when we got home.

Due to the sudden (apparent) death of our desktop (sad, sad, sad), all our stored pictures from YC are currently irretrievable inside the belly of the machine. It looks like Andrew's dream of getting a Mac is coming true very, very soon indeed.

Brothers and Pets

My son Kirin is a great writer. I've enjoyed many of his insightful and descriptive writings. I think that he often feels cheated to be the only boy in the family. He endures his solitary status with some occasional outbursts of frustration. Every so often, he asks for a pet. He does it so very solemnly, very low-key. But because he asks so submissively, my heart aches a little every time I say no to him.

He recently wrote this little thing about summer with pictures to match the writing.

"Summer is a perfect season to go swimming at an outdoor pool. Summer is a time to go to the beach. A time to pick berries and a day to go to parties. It is also a good time to play sports, play outside and to go bike riding. Perfect day to buy a pet for the season."

I happened to believe that by the time an idea made its way to the paper, the author would have thought about it several times over already. That getting a pet for the summer made it to Kirin's paper probably means that the idea has never left his mind at all...

Our neighbor who has a daughter and a son is expecting a baby boy in the fall. With that news, he almost cried and muttered that he is the only boy he knows without a brother.

Today, as he was getting into the car after being picked up from a buddy's house, he stated that he did not want to come home.
"I want to stay at Thomas' house for 3 million more hours."

"Oh, you can't. You live at our house."

"But if I stay at Thomas' house, then I would have a brother."

I've heard more experienced parents said that there comes to a time when you realize that you can't do anything for your children. I can't really remember when I have felt that way. This might just be my first.

Taco Bar

Nestled behind a busy Japanese restaurant, and just outside of the bustling scenes of Rio's shopping district, is a very plain looking gas station, easily missed by traffic. Like most gas stations, this one has a convenience store, but that's not all - it also houses a little gem of a Mexican eatery. I loved it the moment I saw it.

When I walked inside, I was slightly perplexed. I was quite certain there was a poster of tacos and burritos pasted on the entrance door... but, wait, am I in fact standing inside a liquor store? I looked around me, and indeed found myself standing inside such an establishment. Stored in their coolers, where you might expect to find chilling juices and soda, this one was filled with alcohol and beer. In the center of the store were shelves lined with bottled wine.

Behind the counter sat a man who didn't stand up to greet us as we entered; instead, he seemed content to just watch us (Andrew and me) and wait for our order. I took a look at the menu, delighted; most items were under $5.00. I beamed at the sight of Tacos De Lengua De Res (beef tongue) on the menu board. My first encounter with beef tongue was at a Mexican eatery similar to this one in Utah, and I remembered how much I enjoyed it. And this one didn't disappoint. I also loved their Suadero (grilled rib meat). It was quite delicious, the taco came with a little pile of genuine rib meat without the fillers.

But I must spend a little bit of effort to say a word or two about their $3.99 Nachos. Friends, if you like Nachos, you've gotta get yourself over there Right Now! I don't even like Nachos, but I LOVE their Nachos! Be forewarned: it is not an impressive looking dish. But if you're willing to give it a try, you will find yourself picking up one cheese-smothered tortilla chip after another and stuffing them into your mouth with abandon - and your mouth happily obliging. This is what I love most - the crunch!!! It's when you bite into it, the loud crunchy sound it makes... pure joy!! The tortilla chips are hand cut, freshly fried as you order. I know that might not sound so original if you think you have eaten a lot of good Nachos. But, friends, trust me, you have not had Nachos until you have had THOSE Nachos. Just think of kettle-cooked potato chips, have you had those? They are much crunchier than your regular potato chips. OK, with that in mind, imagine these Nacho chips being much, much crunchier AND thicker!! Could such a thing really exist? YES, it does, at Taco Bar in Rio.

Theirs was simply, simple food made right.

Here is their address if you ever want to check them out.

10003 Fields Rd, Gaithersburg. (301)987-0376. www.tacobarwashingtonian.com

When you are there, don't forget to head to their salsa bar, and if you like heat, be sure to pile your plate with the pickled jalapeño peppers.

Just be aware, it is a tiny little place with not enough tables, and they are busy.

Another caution: Leave your kids at home, too many breakables.

The Last of the Sage-isms

Sage went on a rampage through her sisters' room, emptied the contents of their special treasures and ate their carefully hidden sour ice breakers and gum, uncapped all their special markers and left them on the floor to dry.
Finding their room a disaster, the older sisters teamed up to confront Sage, who light-heartedly ignored their repeated demand for justice. I held her down so she couldn't move and asked if indeed she had done as described. She replied with a slight smirk: "No, not me. A ghost did it."

In the car the other day, Sage kicked Jade on a whim. Jade yelled out in annoyance: "Sage just kicked me for no reason."
I turned around and sternly asked Sage to apologize. Following is our conversation:

Sage: Who was it that said I kicked her?
Me: Who do you think? Probably the person whom you kicked.
Sage: Well, (a slight pause)that would be Jade.(after another pause) It wasn't me. It was a ghost.

Memory flashed in my mind of Andrew telling me more than once that Sage reminds him of the woman he married. HONESTLY, I have no idea what personality traits he is referring to.

Up until that day I suffered from only a tiny bit of guilt thinking I might be spoiling Sage somewhat. I am blogging this now because I have been determined since last week to put an end to these nonsense Sage-isms. I raised the first 3 kids with order and respect, certainly I can handle a four-year-old Sage. This is the last of my posts on the smart aleck Sage. Soon, I expect to only report on a polite, please-saying, people-pleasing, property-respecting, and thoughtful Sage.

Be Strong and of A Good Courage

Jade is really liking the youth theme song: Be strong and of a good courage. She has been listening it on YouTube and singing it around the house. Sage apparently picked up on the song as well.

I was lying in bed today with a bad headache, Sage crawled up to me and said: "Momee, look for my wand with me."
Barely muttering, "No, my head hurts."
There she sits by me, starting to sing ONLY this line of the song: " be strong and of a good courage"
I laughed. Sort of. My head really hurt.

That Sage...(sigh) I know there is a reason why she is placed in my home. I don't know why yet, seeing she is only 4. But I know I will find out one day why she is here, as my daughter. When that day comes, I pray I would "be strong and of a good courage."

Billy Goat Gruff

I posted this one last week, but it disappeared on my blog. Sorry this isn't anything new, I am just re-posting it.

We found this place the first year we were here. It has a wooden plank bridge that sways and a river running underneath. Because of that, my kids call the hiking trail we took to get there the "Billy Goat Gruff" trail. Every time we go there, Kirin plays the troll under the bridge and our 3 girls each take their turn playing a billy goat.

Look, she is practically leaping.

My eyes are really blurry today, so most of the pictures I took of the kids turned out not in focus. It 's really a shame, so sad. The majority of the focused ones are on Sage, that's why she is featured most on this post.