Stupid Kid Movies

Sometimes as a mother you are asked to watch stupid movies with your kids.  Sometimes you even have to pay money to sit in a theater and watch them.  I sometimes dread it when the boys see a movie preview for a movie like "The Smurfs" and say things like "let's get tickets to the midnight show for that one!"  (This literally happened, In the theater in a very LOUD voice.)

My first experience with this was "Sponge-Bob Square Pants the Movie".  It was Thanksgiving day and it is a Sorensen family tradition to go see a movie after dinner.  We all drive to the local theater (this time we were in Cedar City) and then break up into groups to see whatever movie we like.  This particular year some of the littles, 2 of mine and at least one maybe 2 of Tonja's kids wanted to see Sponge Bob.  Chris and I volunteered to be adult chaperones and went with them.  I like the occasional Sponge Bob episode.  I find the writing quite clever and the show rarely if ever goes over that line of tastefulness when it comes to bathroom jokes.  The Movie however was mind numbingly stupid, and it was quite possibly the longest  80 min of my life, no I take that back that award goes to the movie Happy Feet which made me want to jump from the top row of seats and run screaming for my sanity.  Ok so here is a list of the worst movies I have had to sit through with the boys.

1- Happy Feet (It was bad, so very bad.  Bad acting, bad animation, bad story and truely awful music.  I saw a poster for Happy Feet 2 and nearly puked)

2- Sponge Bob, The Movie ( the only saving grace was 10 min or so of Sponge Bob and Patrick riding on a firm David Hasselhoff posterior as he swam through the ocean like the wind up scuba diver my brother Buster had as a bathtub toy.)

3-Gnomeo and Juliette (I slept through 30 min of this one or it may have taken the cake)

4-Cats and Dogs (this one wasn't so bad, but the boys weren't really into it so they were climbing all over and talking, then the lady in front of us yelled at me and told me I should have left my kids at home, because when you go to a movie like Cats and dogs you expect a mature audience)

5-Yogi Bear ( this movie was saved a higher spot on this list by a great performances by Dan Akroyd and Justin Timberlake who were spot on in there Yogi and Boo-Boos, and by TJ Miller.  I just can't bring myself to hate anything with TJ in it.)

Runners up:
Tales of Desperaux
Hotel for Dogs
Marmaduke
Alvin and the Chipmunks

On the other side of this coin are the rare treasures.  I am not talking Toy Story here.  I am talking about movies your kids whan to see, but leave you groaning "please no not another one!", but then turn out to be quite good.  This weekend we went to see Mr Popper's Penguins.  This is one of my favorite books from childhood.  We just finished reading it in homeschool, and the boys wanted to see it.  It did not look good.  Surprisingly it was.

It was completely different from the book, but they did a good job of modernizing the story.  Jim Carey was funny, but not too goofy, and the penguins weren't too cartoony.  We all had a fun time.  I would watch it again.  In a nutshell I was pleasantly surprised.  So here is my list of pleasant surprises:

1-Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (we saw this in 3D and trust me it was the best 3D movie I have ever seen, better than Avatar.  Seriously it was.  They used every 3D gimmik and it worked.  There is nothing like giant 3D hamburgers falling at your face.)

2-Mr Popper's Penguins

3-Rango (Story a little lacking here, but it was funny and cleverly animated, and Johnny Depp's voice didn't overtake the Rango character. ) 

4-Ice Age (this one had a pretty good story, the 3 Men and a little Lady equation with ice age animals.  I hate it though when they cast famous actors in cartoons whose iconic voices overshadow the animated characters.  I want to forget it is John Goodman and Billy Crystal and have them become Sully and Mike (Monsters INC)) 

5-Night at the Museum/ Spy Kids(the original) (These 2 movies tie for the 5th spot.  Both are original stories, make use of some A-list stars, but looked terrible in previews.

Runners Up

Shrek ( this one was a GREAT movie, but I was torn as to weather it looked good or not in pre-views.  So because I was a little excited to see it myself I can't include it in the other list)

Rio (Again with the voices!)

Kung FU Panda(again I had hopes this would be good)

ELF (now a classic at our house)

CARS (I did not think this one looked good and flat out refused to see the 2nd one with them or I am sure it would have been on the first list)

Now that my boys are getting older I am sure my days of stupid kid movies are almost over.  Last month we sent the boys to see Cars 2 while Chris and I went to another movie.  That was fun.  I am sad though that this means there will be no hidden gems either, bummer.

One month of homeschool

Our first month of homeschool is done. It feels like a grand accomplishment, but in reality it isn't all that. At first I was worried that it would be too difficult. Now I am worried it is too easy. Only time will tell.

So far our mornings have been filled with school work. We start with spelling, then Math, Reading and Science. Once a week we do History, Art, Grammar, Library and a field trip, one per day. We are busy from 8 am until 12. We listen to an audio book while we eat lunch, then they write in their journals. After that we are done for the day. Fridays are more relaxed than other days. We catch up on anything we may have missed, take tests and have our field trip. They take breaks as they need them, usually choosing to go outside and play for 15 min or so.

Erik is so relaxed and happy, I wish I would have done this years ago with him. He gets his work done quickly and without complaint. He does get overwhelmed with certain assignments, but if that happens I break it up into pieces for him, and he is fine. He loves our set schedule for each day and is good at keeping me on task. He will remind me "it's 10:00 mom you need to help me with math". He gets 100% in his spelling tests each week and last week he took a math test and got a perfect score on that as well. We have been working on reading fluently. I am getting the feeling he processes written words differently than I do. It seems like he processes the whole line of words at a time instead of reading each word individually. His comprehension is very good, but his oral reading sounds choppy. Sometimes it seems like he is giving a synopsis of the line instead of reading it back to you. I know that oral fluency is how they test reading ability at this level, so I feel like it is important he practice reading out loud fluently. We go sentence by sentence making sure to say each word, in the right order. It can be frustrating for both of us, but he is improving. The Singapore Math we are using is great. It is perfect for Erik. I love that we work on a concept until he has it 100% then we add to it a little. Riley's class is transitioning to Singapore math as well, so I am doubly glad We are using this method.

Tian loves homeschool, but I don't love it for him. He is a little more difficult to motivate, and struggles getting his work done some days. So far each week he has had one day where he just breaks down and refuses to do his work. It comes down to writing. He hates to do it and thinks I make him write too many things. It has been a while since I have had a first grader, so it is a possibility that I am pushing him too hard, but he is capable of doing the work, he just doesn't want to sometimes. He is reading and spelling quite well now and he really enjoys that he can sit down with an easy reader book on his own now. My biggest hang up with him is that he is lonely. He likes spending time with Erik each day, but I can tell that he misses being with other kids his age. there are no kids his age in our complex, so to get him playtime, I have to arrange play dates with kids in our ward. With 2 callings and home schooling each day I have not had much time to set those up, but I need to be better. If an opportunity comes up for him to attend the neighborhood school, I will put him back in. I hate the idea of putting him back in the "Everyday Math" program, but I am sure that like my other boys he will succeed in math despite a mediocre math program.

I miss my alone time. I am trying to arrange my life so that I can get up at 5 or 6am and have that time before the chaos of the day gets started, but I haven't made it yet. More than anything I just want to be able to go to the grocery store without kids and on a day when everyone else isn't there too. The 2 boys are a little unreliable alone together. Erik is not mature enough to keep himself and Tian out of trouble. Chris is here most of the day, but is sleeping so not much help. I am hoping as time goes on I will find ways to work around these small issues.

The Trouble With Bunnies

This week my life has been overwhelmed with bunnies. I have endured plagues of flies, frogs and mice in previous residences, so by comparison, bunnies seem unthreatening. It being spring and our local Thumper's being "twitterpated" we have steadily watched the rabbit population grow. The adults, (pictured here just outside my sliding glass door) are pretty cute. The fluffy babies with their big eyes and ridiculous ears are adorable.

Chewie has a two fold fascination with the rabbits. He both wants to study them and hunt them. As I said before it is spring and the rabbits are twitterpated. Chewie being the dispassionate scientist he is attentively watched and then retold his observations when a pair of rabbits completed their mating ritual right outside our door. Last week he checked a book out on cottontails, so he was able to not only give me the details on what he observed, but also the gestation period, the length of time the mother would be required to tend her little ones before they could get back to being "twitterpated" again. I have been a little nervous as to how to have "the talk" with him. I am unsure how much he will understand and be able to relate to. I see now that we just need to approach this from an anthropological standpoint, or maybe I will just get him a book.

When he is not studying the rabbits for the betterment of science, he is trying to catch one so we can eat it. They just finished a unit in their Colorado history class on mountain men. Chewie has decided this is the ideal way of life. One solitary man against the wilderness whose only goal is survival. To help him out on his lifelong goal to be a modern day Jeremiah Johnson he has decided he needs hunting skills. When I flat out denied him buying a gun, he started to get creative trying to catch them with his hands, a rope and even attempting to train our cat (who is terrified of the rabbits by the way) to attack and then bring the rabbit back to him. He sat out on our tiny patio with Chester (the cat) petting him and giving him a pep talk by saying "remember you are a predator, rabbits are your prey" Chester remains unconvinced.

Riley found an infant rabbit next to our car yesterday. It was about the size of a mouse, blind and mostly hairless. His tender heart could not stand to see it left out alone, and he wanted to adopt it. I convinced him to put it back near it's den, and that the mother would come back to take care of it. It continued to climb out of it's den all afternoon. He would go out every 10-15 min to check on it and had to put it back in. He cried and cried and begged me to let him bring it inside. Finally we googled it and I found an article that convinced him that the mother would return at sunset to feed and look after her babies. That wild rabbits do fine on their own and do not need human help ( there are only 5 billion of them in our complex alone). This morning he went out to check on it on his way to the bus stop. It was dead. It is at times like this that I wish there was an emergency happy pill for depression. I was able to get him mentally sound enough to get on the bus and head to school, and I hope there he will have enough things to occupy his brain so he doesn't obsess about it and get really depressed.

Mr T has been driving me up the wall this week. He is like a 2 yr old constantly getting into trouble. He is bored and needs something to do. I am beginning to suspect he is responsible for the bunnies in the garage. Friday I went to grab something out of the freezer in the garage, and found three baby bunnies hopping around in the garage. Cute fluffy hoppy bunnies the size of rats, not blind helpless ones. I wondered how they got in there, opened the garage a crack to let them out and went on my way. Well yesterday it happened again. Again I opened the garage to let them out, but this time I said "how do these bunnies keep getting into the garage!"

MrT came running downstairs and said "why do you keep letting them out!", but then he clammed up and wouldn't admit to putting them in there. It would not surprise me that while Chewie was slowly plotting to teach the cat to hunt for him, Mr T learned how to herd them into the garage for his own amusement.

A lady at the store asked me the other day what it was like to have 3 boys. I told her "never a dull moment"

Super Senses

April is Autism Awareness moth, and I didn't want this month to pass without sharing something about it. Living with an autistic child is difficult on a good day, but before during and after this out of state move, has been unbelievably hard, but we are making good progress, and Chewie seems to be settling in, so I hope that the worst is behind us.

I wanted to blog about the challenges of the Sensory Integration issues or more like disintegration of kids with autism, Chewie in particular. For those of you not familiar with this term, it has to do with the way some children process the information given to them by their senses. We have 7 senses. Touch, taste, see, hear, smell we are all familiar with but in addition to those 5 we also have our vestibular sense, and our proprioception. Our vestibular sense comes from our inner ear. it tells us if we are in motion or still, if we are right side up, sideways or upside down. It is the sense that makes us feel dizzy, or car sick, and it helps us keep our balance. The proprioception sense is the feedback we get from out joints and muscles. It is how we can tell we are holding up 3 fingers when our eyes are closed. From the day we were born we have used each of these senses to teach us how the world around us works. Sensory Integration disorder, or sometimes it's called Sensory Processing Disorder, is where the brain does not process the information the body is giving it correctly. This leads to all kinds of problems, from difficulty eating (foods are too stinky, or wrong texture) to anxiety in social settings, or crowded places ( too much noise or physical contact) even to hyperactivity (body requires extra movement (input) to determine where it is and what it is doing).

A person can either be hyper-sensitive to stimulus, meaning they get too much information from their senses, everything is too loud too bright etc, or hypo-sensitive meaning they don't get enough information, or it can be both. In Chewie's case he can be hyper-sensitive one minute and hypo sensitive the next, to the same stimulus. Sometimes he loves the piano in primary and wants to sit next to it, even reaching out to feel it vibrate, other times it is painfully loud, and he can't stand to be in the same room. As you can imagine this makes it difficult as a parent to predict how he will react to certain situations, to even know if it is going to be a problem or not. you have to be prepared for all outcomes all the time. Are the fireworks going to scare him, and he will need to cover his eyes with a blanket or are the going to excite him and is he going to run off in the dark. Is he going to have a good day at school, or is he going need to chew so much he will literally eat 5 pencils lead and all (this happened last week).

One thing we can predict is that he needs extra proprioceptive input all the time and he really enjoys extra vestibular input. This helps him stay calm and focused. He is always hypo-sensitive in this area, and if we don't provide him with extra input he seeks it himself. It is much better to have him vacuum a room(pushing and pulling a heavy object) or carry laundry up and down the stairs, than chew power cords (still haven't cured him of that completely) or running in circles around the couch. We have lots of little toys and gadgets to help him get his extra input. We have balls that have nubbs on them, he often rolls it under his feet or on his back. He has an electric tooth brush he can use on any part of his body, his favorite, sticking it up his nose. Digging and rolling a truck back and forth on the floor are also good, but difficult now we are in an apartment. I am working on making curtains for his bottom bunk, so it feels more enclosed, and he listens to white noise (rain or ocean waves) to help him relax and go to sleep.

At school this means he needs several breaks from the classroom in order to fulfill these sensory needs. He could swing, or roll on a fitness ball or do yoga (upside down poses are his favorite). Sometimes he spends his free reading time in a beanbag chair, or folding origami. All these things help him process what is going on around him more effectively, and function better.

The research shows that all kids learn more effectively when multiple senses are stimulated and that all kids benefit from extra sensory input, so I would encourage you to try a "Chewie" activity with your family. Let your kids play with your yoga ball, or better yet buy them their own. Let them write their spelling words with smelly markers, or on a plate in pudding. Play in the mud or make edible play dough. If it's active, smelly or messy you are on the right track!

A Fresh Start

Greetings from Colorado. I have lived here a week (minus a weekend, but we will get to that), I am surrounded by boxes, and I have realized we downsized in all the wrong places, but I am happy to be here.

The move itself was a nightmare. One entire week of sleepless nights, back breaking labor, strep, anxiety, snowy passes and ambivalent neighbors, but it is all over now right!?! At least until we decide to move out of the apartment and get a house in 6-8 months. We had planned to spend our weekend shopping for furniture, I have no kitchen table and the boys have no beds, and organizing what we have unpacked. Instead we packed up the car at 1 am and drove to Utah so we could have our old house ready for renters to occupy this week.

What started as a quick trip to finish projects turned into a lovely mini-vacation spending time with my parents who have decided to buy a condo in Riverton to use as a vacation home. Even with the time we spent with family we were able to get the majority of the work done on the house, and 3 serious rental applicants to choose from. We will overlook the flat tires, exhaustion from driving all night, snow, car troubles and crazy Wyoming wind and call it a great weekend.

My sense of Home was a little flip-flopped, but it felt so good to be HOME today, even if it is in Colorado not Utah. The boys start school tomorrow which I am sure will only increase the feeling of permanence here.

I can't wait to get my kitchen put together. I have been in the mood to bake for days. I am thinking muffins and Ciabatta and hmmm maybe some English oatmeal scones.

Beef in Orange Sauce

Your stir fry is only as good as it's sauce, so really the recipes I am sharing here are sauce recipes. I like a lot of sauce in my stir fry. Adjust the amount of sauce used to your taste. This sauce is good with beef, chicken and shrimp.

This sauce uses sesame oil. look for Japanese toasted sesame oil in the asian section of your grocery store, or check out your local asian market (more about those next time.) I like the taste of white wine vinegar in Chinese sauces, but any kind will work. Use any veggies you like. For really quick dinners use a frozen stir fry mix. Poke a hole in the bag and microwave for a minute to thaw the veggies a bit. If using fresh veggies cut them in uniform size, but larger than you would for a soup or stew. Remember to add your fresh veggies in order of hardness, Carrots, broccoli stems first, then beans, peas and last broccoli flowers and zucchinis. The beef I used is thinly sliced round roast. I buy them on sale and ask my butcher to slice them as thin as he can. Then I freeze the slices in 1 lb chunks( 4-5 servings)and add 2 tsp soy sauce before I seal the bag. If you do not own a wok you can use a large frying pan, cast iron is best, but you will need to cook half at a time, or only make a half recipe.

Orange-Sesame Sauce

1/2 C orange juice

1/4 C chicken broth

1/4 C soy sauce

2T sesame oil

3T brown sugar

3T white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp ginger

1T cornstarch

Mix ingredients together and set aside.

Prepare 1 lb assorted vegetables of your choice plus 1 onion sliced and 3 minced garlic cloves. Drain 1lb sliced beef that has beef marinated in 2 tsp soy sauce.

Heat a wok or a large frying pan on high heat. Add 1T peanut or other vegetable oil. When oil is hot add onion. Stir constantly. As onion starts to brown add beef. Continue to swish food around in wok as you add vegetables. Add vegetbles one kind at a time ( if using frozen add all at once) until they begin to soften. Pour in sauce and bring to a boil. Serve over warm rice. serves 4-6.

Why Order Take Out?

Chinese food has to be one of my favorite cuisines. I do not think I am alone. I am however one of the few people in my circle of acquaintances who makes Chinese at home regularly. I think the strange ingredients scare some people away, and others are not aware that you can make Chinese at home that tastes as good as the take out place around the corner. It's cheep, and lightning quick, and dare I say it good for you. Imagine that. So as I service to all my friends and family who have requested, I will share my secrets with you starting with Beef in Orange sauce. This one is easy, requires only one specialty ingredient and is reminiscent of the Orange Chicken sauce at Panda ( I will give you the recipe for that one later).

Happy Birthday Bubba

Today isBubba's 10thbirthday. He was the best Mother's Day present ever. He was born almost 6 weeks early, but he came at the perfect time. My dad was here in Utah on business and got to stop by the hospital to see him and take pictures home to Sweden. He was a beautiful baby with a round face and big blue eyes. We named him Oliver Riley. Oliver is such a serious name, so he was Riley, but mostly Bubba. He was born on a Saturday morning, and we brought him home on Mother's Day. As you can see he has always had an infectious grin. We have missed that grin over the past year, and are so glad he is feeling better and starting to grin again.

We had many great adventures together, that first year. We would walk all over downtown, and when the weather was bad, inside the brand new Conference Center or in the Crossroads mall. Once we even got locked in the bathroom together. He was only about 5 months old when I got sick. We would lie in bed most of the day and when we were tired of the bed we would move to the couch. I was relieved to find out I wasn't dying, just pregnant again.

On the day Erik was born Bubba stayed with Mor Mor and Mor far. At 13 months old he had never spent more than an hour or 2 away from us and was still breast-feeding. When they brought him to the hospital he crawled up onto the bed, slapped my face, slid off the bed and was ready to go home with Mor far.

As a baby he was very vocal. He would babble ad goo every waking moment. He still does. The only time he doesn't talk while he is awake is when he is reading. Luckily he likes to do that a lot.

I think he looks more like the Sorensen side of the family. he could be twins with some of his cousins, but there are pictures of my dad as a kid that look like Bubba, so maybe he is a good mix. His personality is mostly Chris. One day he was in big trouble. I put him in time out on a chair, but he was still bugging and getting into things from his chair so I moved it to the back of the kitchen where the door opened out into the backyard, and then went down the stairs to the basement. He cried and cried because someone could open the back door and knock his chair down the stars to the basement. I told him the door was locked so he was safe, but he was sure he was going to die. a couple hours later Chris came home and saw the chair. His first words were "Wow that looks dangerous someone could open that door and knock the chair down the stairs."

It's hard to imagine we are half way done parenting him, it has gone so fast. Before we know it he will be on his own, and I will be showing his kids the Mona-Bubba.

Life with Autism or Seeing Green

April is Autism Awareness month. I thought I would take a minute to Blog about what it is like to be the parent of a child with Autism. Autism is not a disease, there is nothing "wrong" with Erik. I love the phrase "differently abled" I think it fits Autism to a tee. There are normal everyday things that Erik will never get. He may never understand sarcasm, but he sees and understands numbers in a way that is astounding. His handwriting may never be legible, but he paints the world as he sees it, in colors so vibrant and vivid it is almost painful. There are so many people who are searching for a "cure". I don't want to fix Erik. I want others to understand him.

Erik is very literal. We were at a BBQ a couple years ago. Erik saw a bag of chips on the counter. He asked if he could have some. The owner of the chips said "of course those are for the kids. Why don't you toss them out there so everyone can have some." Erik picked up the bag and threw it off the 2nd story deck down to the lawn below where the kids are.

Erik is obsessed with construction equipment. He is fascinated with how the buckets move and turn. He knows the model number, weight, payload and top speed of every CAT and John Deere construction machine. He loves the feel, smell and even the taste of dirt. He is 8 years old, and he still will taste the dirt he is working in.

Social cues like jokes, sarcasm and feelings don't translate well in his brain. He has feelings and a sense of humor, he is not a robot, but he has trouble expressing them. We loved Doug the dog's joke on the movie UP. It was an Erik joke. His jokes often end in something dead. He has a fake courtesy laugh for when he knows he is supposed to laugh, but doesn't get it. The first time I heard him laugh for real was 3 years ago. He was watching Sponge Bob. It was a delightful sound. I wish we heard it more.

I have learned to fight the important battles. Some things are not worth fighting about. Really. It's true. I wish more teachers had this kind of flexibility. Erik's mainstream teacher sent a note home asking please send tennis shoes for Erik so he can run with his class. I returned this note. "I would love to send Erik with shoes that would be more appropriate for running than Crocks. The problem is if I did he would run barefoot. So we need to decide, is it more important for him to wear shoes, or to have tennis shoes under his desk?"

Parenting a child with Autism is frustrating, especially in public. He looks normal. No one can see that he is different. No one but me knows that the noise of people talking, or music playing, or the spectrum of light in the room are painful to him. That running in circles, flapping his hands and making weird noises are his efforts to communicate his discomfort. They see a "bad" kid and an even worse parent. I don't get a special parking place, a Lassie like dog that will communicate for him, or a sign of the street "watch for kid who is as good as deaf when he is thinking of something else. " People don't give me understanding looks when he rearranges their groceries on the conveyor belt, or ask if they can help when he is trying to escape. No one asks what can we do to help Erik be more comfortable at school, or at church or at Grandma's. They all look at me with that "do something with your child" look. It is hard to brush all those looks off and move on.

Educating a child with Autism is a battle. Every day I fight. I fight with teachers, I fight with administrators. I fight with insurance companies. I am lucky enough to have great doctors on my side, but I know lots of parents who have to fight with them too. It makes me tired. I don't feel like I am asking for a lot, but what I am asking for is different from what they are used to. Our public education system does not do different very well. So I fight. I don't have any other choices. My son goes to school to learn how to work with others. I could teach him at home. He would learn quickly, it would be less stress for me. He would end up a genius stocking shelves at Wal-mart because he can't relate to other people.

I try not to think about the future. It only makes me sad. Will he be bullied in Jr High, probably. Will he ever drive a car? Let's hope he hits fewer things than on his bike. Date, keep a job, live on his own, have a meaningful relationship with another person, be a parent himself? These are all things I can't even picture it right now, It is overwhelming. A year ago I couldn't picture him wearing any other color than green. There was a time when I wondered if he would ever walk, or speak. So we live today. Today he was ready for the bus on time, homework finished, Crocks on no growling. So far so good. We have come a long way.

A Tribute to Princess Peach Honey Pie

I apologize for my blog posts being a little macabre lately, January has not been the best of months for us. First our dear Mutti passed away, and then we lost our beloved Honey.

About a year ago, we decided to sell our bloodhound Max to a breeder in Delta. He was a little too much dog for our family, and despite the our love of his slobbery kisses, we knew how happy he would be hunting and siring champion hunting hounds. I have a soft spot in my heart for hounds in general, the floppy ears and sensitive eyes get me every time, so when I happened upon an add on KSL for a female foxhound, I knew this was the dog for us. I drove out to Grantsville the very next day and picked up the dog we named Princess Peach Honey Pie.

She was a great dog. She loved to cuddle and was fond of all the kids. Lowell and Honey loved to sit in the window, and watch cars go by. It still breaks my heart when he comes over and wanders about calling her. Bubba of course was her best friend. He always wished she would sleep with him on his bed.

She loved to run. Inside she was a little shy and timid, but give her some open space, and she would run, and run, and run. This proved to be her downfall as on Tuesday Jan 26 at about 3:00 pm she escaped the house and ran directly into traffic on 4700 South. she was struck by a car and killed instantly. We really miss her.

Memories of my Mutti

My Mutti died this week. That is my Grandmother, my father’s mother, my Far Mor by how my kids keep track of it. They say your whole life flashes before your eyes before you die. I think thats wrong. I think your whole life flashes before the eyes of those you love as you are about to leave. The memories they will always keep, even when you are long gone. Here are the things that flashed before my eyes.

My earliest memories of my Mutti are of her skunk. I am not sure I realized it was a skunk, just a little black cat. I remember it following her in the back yard.

I remember dresses. lace and pinafores. And one with an apple on it. To remind me I was the apple of her eye.

I remember her rocks. Giant jagged boulders great for climbing and reaching the bottom branches of those huge maple trees. They were like small golden mountains. We were all so sad when grandpa trimmed the branches and we couldn’t reach to climb those trees. I loved to lay on the smooth top of the boulder and look up through the red maple leaves to catch glimpses of the blue sky. I fell in love with plants at Mutti’s house. She had trees and shrubs I had never seen before. Purple magnolias, Japanese maples, pear tomatoes, ferns, fuchsias and begonias. I even loved those huge junipers. They were great to hide in.

I loved her living room. The purple velvet victorian couches were not the most comfortable, but I loved to sit in there. She had these crystal lamps that were clear and bumpy on the bottom, and had crystals hanging from the shade like dozens of sparkly earrings. I wanted to wear those crystals in my ears so bad! I probably still would if I could! There was a crest with swords sticking out of it. One of the swords was broken, and I always imagined that someone had tried to pull it out at a time of great need, like if a robber came to the house, or perhaps to vanquish a dragon, like St George in the sculpture on the mantle. The mantle was also graced by Venus (I often wondered what the punishment had been for breaking off the arms of Mutti’s statue! I always suspected Uncle Dick) and 2 geishas. She had 2 paintings of ballerinas, in another room. I think they were paint by number, but I thought they were beautiful.

One day I was coloring a picture of Daisy Duck. I could not decide if her shoes should be pink or purple, so I colored one of each. Mutti laughed and told me that her mother would wear different shoes all the time. At the time I thought that perfectly sensible.

My cousin Toph had a birthday party. We had a treasure map. We drove up the canyon in the rain and dug up a treasure chest. It was filled with pearls and gems. We were all thrilled! Richard wore a string of pink pirate pearls for years after that. I heard someone whisper, “Mutti gave us all her old costume jewelry”. I couldn’t believe she didn’t want it anymore. Mutti wore A LOT of jewelry. I think I would feel that same childhood thrill if I got to open one of her jewelry boxes now. I think I would fight Richard a little harder for the pearls this time.

Mutti fed us Fruit Loops until our mouths hurt. We didn’t get sugar cereal at home, but Mutti always bought it for us. I was so glad when I got a retainer, because it protected the roof of my mouth from the abrasive cereal.

One year she bought Natalie and I Strawberry Shortcake blankets. I saw one at my mom’s house in Minnesota last year and wanted to stuff it into my suitcase when no one was looking. I didn’t though, Kissy probably has it.

Their house was small, but it was full of love, and chocolate and wool socks, and that is what I will always remember.

Strange Random Things my Kids Said this Week

So yesterday while we were busy cleaning Mr T turned to Chris and said, "Dad, take a picture of me with the vacuum." As I uploaded the photo today I thought about all the crazy things my kids said and did this week. Here are a few.

Chris and I were having and argument. Chewie walks in and says, "oh, I have seen this movie! This is where the Mom breaks up with the Dad and he has to go live outside. Then he buys a pick-up truck and robs a bank." Then walks out.

Bubba was angry at Chris, he wrote a note that said " Dear Mom and Dad. I am Leaving. I might come back someday. I hate Dad. Ps please sign my planner, put it in my backpack and leave it on the porch for me."

He took his sleeping bag, and his comic books and set up camp in the back yard. We did convince him to return home and sleep in his bed.

Chris has been away on business most of the week. I made hamburgers for dinner, but we were out of pickles. Chewie really needed pickles for his burger, so we ran to the store and bought some. I could not open the jar of pickles. A few ideas the boys came up with to open the jar.

• run it under hot water
• bang it on the counter
• just twist it really hard
• smash it with a hammer
• 10 lbs of TNT
• return it to the store for a better jar
• Eat your hamburger without pickles (Mom's Idea), Boys: "NO!"

We watched Holes this week. When the town wanted to arrest the black guy for kissing the white girl, the boys were confused. I explained that it was against the law in that town for white people and black people to kiss or get married, the reply, "That's Stupid it was her fault!"

After spending time with Great Grandma Winkler Mr T turns to me and says " Mom when you get old please let me see your wrinkly face"

MR T then and now

Last Wednesday was T's birthday. He is such a great kid. I was so stressed while I was pregnant that I would get another Chewie. At that time we had no idea he had Autism, or that there was a 50/50 chance our new baby would be on the spectrum as well. I think had we known we may not have had any more children. Instead we were blessed with our Mr T. He has such a funny personality. He loves to laugh and joke, and is a little bit of a tease. He is easy going and mellow. He likes spending time by himself, but loves to play with the brothers when they come home. He is only five, but he was born believing he is the same size as his brothers. Next year he starts kindergarten, and I think I will miss him.

Pepparkakitt

A few years ago a friend gave me this recipe for Christmas. She called them Finnish Pepper Cookies or Pepparkakitt. I have another friend who's mother is Finnish and I asked her about them one time while we were knitting. She told me she hates them because when she was a little girl they would go every winter to her grandmothers house, scrub out the big bathtub and mix a huge batch of pepparkakitt. They closed the bathroom door and opened the window to let the brisk winter air in to chill the dough overnight. In the morning they would spend all day rolling, cutting and baking millions of cookies. The crisp spicy cookies would last all winter long.

In Sweden these cookies are called Peppar kakor, and according to my brother Richard it is traditional to break the cookie in your palm. The pattern it breaks in will tell your fortune.

If you have ever had Anna's Ginger Thins, these cookies taste pretty much the same. If I could roll mine out that thin I would, but an 1/8 an inch is about as thin as I can get.

This recipe makes a whopping 9-10 dozen cookies, so I always split my dough into 1/3rds. The dough keeps for about a week in the fridge and a month or so in the freezer, so I just pull out some of the dough at a time. This makes it quick and easy to bake some up for a neighbor, or to take to a Holiday gathering. I got my traditional flower shaped cookie cutter at yes of course, Ikea.

Pipparkakitt

1c molasses

2tsp cinnamon

1/2tsp allspice

1/4tsp black pepper

1tsp cloves

1tsp ginger

2c butter

2c sugar

Bring to a boil in a saucepan, remove from heat, pour into mixing bowl and cool.

1 egg

1c milk

4tsp baking soda

9c flour

Add to mixing bowl and mix with a strong spoon. (I mix these cookies in my Bosch, but I don't think a regular mixer could handle this stiff dough.)

divide into 3 or 4 portions, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight. (can be frozen)

Roll out dough to 1/8 in thick and cut into small shapes.

bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 min, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown.

Secret Sorensen Pork Carnitas Recipe

Richard called me the other day wondering what to do with a pork roast to ccok for his boys at work on a taco tuesday. I gave him my super secret pork carnitas recipe, so secret it has never been written down. After Richard posted his satisfaction with my recipe, on facebook, several people posted a wish to also have this fine recipe. Chris posted jokingly that to recieve this secret recipe one must meet the following qualifications:

A. Be a Sorensen

B. Survive staying at our house for 3 days, and contemplate the Brick Pants at Gilgal Gardens.

Not being a huge fan of house guests, I am willing to forgo the staying at our house requirement, it's not that you aren't welcome, it's just I prefer my space. For those of you who have never heard of Gilgal Scripture Gardens in Salt Lake, I would recommend making a trip when you are in town. It is a very interesting place, for Chris and I it was the site of our first date we climbed over the fence behind Chuck O Rama and saw the strange sculptures in the dark. It was saved from demolition and restored the year we were married by Chris' mission president, who is the nephew of the creator of the gardens. As a young man President Child helped his uncle build the garden, but especially enjoyed laying the brick pants on the self portriat sculpture of his uncle. Now that you have contemplated the Brick Pants, you are ready for the recipe.

Take a pork roast put it in your crockpot with 1 C salsa, 1/4 C brown sugar, and 1 packet of taco seasoning. cook until the roast falls apart. Serve on corn tortillas with cilantro, lettuce and pico de gallo. You have now experienced one of the greatest Sorensen traditions. Taco Cart carnitas and a visit to Gilgal! It was worth it I promise!

Tie Dye fun

The boys and I tie dyed t-shirts this week. They turned out really cool. We are thinking about making red white and blue ones for the 4th of july.

And Now He's 9

For his 9th birthday Riley wanted nerf guns.  I can't just buy one nerf gun, think of the fights.  I can't just have 2 nerf guns, 2 boys would gang up on the 3rd.  So he got 3 nerf guns.  I spent the rest of the day yelling things like:

"DON'T SHOOT PEOPLE!"

"DON'T SHOOT ANY LIVING THING!"

"YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT!" seriously I actually said this

For dinner we had smoked Baby-back ribs, smashers, garlic bread cole slaw and of course cake.  

Pinewood Derby

Riley raced in his first Pinewood Derby.  As the Uber-Scouter he really got into it.  He named his car the riley 1.  Go riley go go.  ( his car is the one with the big 1 on the front.)  He came in 5th or 6th overall due to the fact it was underweight.  Next year he plans on taking the cup

Happy Happy Mothers Day

The boys just came out here to say Happy Happy Mother's Day!

Dental Drama

This month was the boy's semi-annual dental checkup.  As usual they did pretty good.  Erik had one small cavity that they decided to fill while they put the sealants on his teeth.  He did great with the sealant, but as soon as they numbed him to fill the cavity he started to stress out.  They tried 3 different times to fill the cavity, and he would not let the dentist near his mouth.  Sensory overload I suspect.  Anyway they will have to sedate him to fill it, and so I made the appointment and took the boys to school.  That night at dinner, Erik looked like he had a jawbreaker in his mouth.  It was not candy, his cheek was swollen.  He had chewed on his numb cheek all day long.  It was a mess.  It became infected.  We had a week of intense pain that kept him from eating and sleeping.   He is much better now, but he is supposed to go in tomorrow for his filling, I don't think we are ready yet.