Three Boys and a Girl

Big News

2011-08-20T22:34:00.000-07:00

Luke’s binky broke, and he threw it in the trash. After we talked about babies for a while, Luke decided that binkies were for babies, and since he’s a big boy, he went to bed without his tonight! This afternoon he was sure he was too old for a binky, but then in the evening he was beside himself wanting it. So he and I went to the store because I wasn’t sure I was ready for the challenge of him going without it.

As we walked into the store holding hands, he maturely said, “So, where are the binkies.” I told him they were by the baby stuff, and he said “that’s because binkies are for babies, not big boys.” We even went to the binky isle and looked at them, (hanging there surrounded by tons of other baby stuff,) but his resolve didn't waver. He was so sure of it, that he decided (on his own) that we shouldn’t buy one after all, and he went to bed this evening without even asking for it. I’m impressed that he felt strongly enough about it to overcome the desire for what he’s accustomed to.

I guess he really is a big boy. :)

And speaking of big boys, we have another one who turns 9 tomorrow! The house is decorated, the cake is made, the presents are wrapped, and I can't wait for him to see his new bike! Being a parent is good stuff.

(PS - They learned about insects at scouts and made little homes for fruit flies so each scout could bring these critters into their very own home and watch them duplicate into swarms. I won't say we didn't have a bit of a catastrophe here at home with them when the lid mysteriously popped off, but don't worry, the two flies remaining in the jar recovered admirably and have produced a thriving posterity nonetheless.)

2011-08-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

The other night for Family Home Evening we were playing a card game with the kids, and Seth had chosen to be on my team. After John won two games in a row, Seth reconsidered and said, “I decided to change teams...” as he went over and sat by John. I had to laugh. And then I laughed again when I won the next game! Booyah! Take that! Mom can win sometimes too! :)

Ode to John :)

2011-08-02T21:14:00.001-07:00

It’s days like today that I’m so grateful for a fantastic husband. I was beat after a full day of trying to handle crying, disobeying and all sorts of other mayhem, and he came home with a smile on his face, and open arms for the two little ones who’s mood immediately brightened when they saw him. They were overjoyed, actually, and it lightened all our moods.

And then in the evening John handled the discipline problems of the day so wisely, and took all the emotional load off of me. He can come home with a clear head, not having been affected by the kids’ actions during the day, and he can handle things with an even temperament. I’m just so grateful for the wonderful father and husband he is. He brought peace and happiness home with him when he walked in the door. :)

He just got wind I was posting this and said, "You're gonna trash my street cred."

Our funny man

2011-03-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here's the back story on that one goofy picture of Seth a couple posts ago. I saw the three of them sitting there reading, and managed to catch a picture.

Then they started to look up and notice what I was doing. The camera is so distracting!

So when Seth found out he was being photographed, he decided to up it a notch, as is common for Seth.

And of course he had to get in the CENTER of the shot. :) And Ellen tries her hand at making funny faces. :)

He's been super keen on humor since he was a baby. Somehow he knew even back then what would make people laugh. He cracks us all up all the time. :)

Jonathan's birthday dinner. Nice choice of food, bud. Seth still steals the show. :)

Funny boy. :)

And they're off!!

2011-02-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

We drove out to our lot to see if they had started digging yet, or how big the hole was, and were met with a most lovely surprise!!

Needless to say, everyone was very excited. Seems pretty real now. And somehow quite surreal at the same time.

Everyone got their fill of tractors and dirt hills. The boys wanted to pose everywhere for pictures. :)

In other news, John and Jonathan finished building their erector set motorized car this week and it turned out awesome! We're just all about building lately, it seems. :)

It Starts

2011-02-25T22:19:00.000-08:00

Luke is amazing.

He knows all his letters and knows what they say.

When we read books together he points to the words and asks us what it says. He’s almost more interested in the words than in the pictures. Lately he follows along with his finger as we read. He starts at the upper left and goes from left to right, and then back to the left when we start a new line. ... He turned 3 last week.

(I love finding the two of them like this. And I love Ellen's studious look...)

And tonight he really blew me away. We were reading a board book about colors. There was one page with a baby wearing a bow, with two words on the page. He was thinking the word was going to be “bow.” He started with the first letter, “starts with a ‘r’, mom,” and said rrr, then moved his finger along to the e, said “ehhhh,” then moved his finger to the d and finished with the d sound. Then he put it all together (unprompted) and realized it what it said! “It says red!”

But he was upset, because he was expecting to read “bow,” which was the next word. I pointed that out to him, and he was relieved and satisfied. But he had sounded out and read and understood “red” without knowing beforehand what the word would be! He followed along with his little left hand pointer finger for the rest of the book too, pointing to the letters as we got to them in the words.

This is what comes of having an older brother in kindergarten. Letters and reading are all the rage, and Luke can’t help but pick up on some of it. Amazing.

Right before hair cuts, clearly. But as a side note, it's a cryin' shame that the girl has the shortest hair of the whole bunch. She could take a lesson or two herself from her older brothers. :)

Kid Compliments

2011-02-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

Today at lunch Ellen was being darling as usual, and Seth said, "Ellen is the coolest girl in the whole world..." Then he looked at me, and smiling added with special emphasis, "Including You, mom."

...I'm assuming he meant to say, "except for you" and I'm taking it as a compliment. I love when kids' compliments get turned around like this. You just have to smile and say thanks, and try not to laugh. :) Like when our boys have said, "Mom, this dinner is actually really good!" And you just have to realize that they're still figuring out the details of this language of ours, (specifically, when and when not to use the word "actually.") It's charming, really.

Seth on a day at school where he got to be "King" and lead the class. He's eating up kindergarten. Elementary school rocked, didn't it! :)

And PS, yes, that first picture is proof of why you all get so many prank calls from our house... You'd think I'd have snatched it away instead of standing there taking a picture, but with Seth being so sweet with her like that, I couldn't resist.

The Power of Perspective and Attitude :)

2011-02-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

As I was buckling Luke into the van today he said happily, “Thanks Mom, thanks for getting me stuck.”

We love that boy. :)

Two's company

2011-02-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

I put Luke in the bath, and came back a second later to see this:

I laughed and laughed. Luke was distressed - not that she had joined him, but that her clothes were all wet.

But Ellen was thoroughly pleased. :)

The latest

2011-02-03T22:09:00.000-08:00

Now that all the house plans are final and I have free time again, I've pulled out the ol' oil paints again. Tonight I worked on something I started a few months ago. It's coming along.

The smell of the paint is heaven. :)

Birthday list :)

2010-12-01T12:58:00.000-08:00

Instead of asking for gifts for my birthday this year, I'm asking for a few dollars or more from everyone I know. It's not going to me, though. All of it is going to build freshwater wells for people in developing nations.

A billion people in the world are living without clean water - but how much are they really living? Millions contract deadly diseases from contaminated water. 45,000 people will die this week alone. The lucky ones won't, but still walk hours each day to get dirty water to give to their families.

My birthday wish this year is not for more gifts I don't need; it's to give clean and safe drinking water to some of the billion living without it. I want to make my birthday matter this year.

Because of charity: water's unique model, 100% of all donations go directly to direct water projects costs, and each donation is "proved" and tracked to the village it helped when projects are complete.

Please join me.

$20 can give a person access to fresh water for 20 years. It's amazing that donating just one dollar can give a person fresh water for a year, and change their life forever.

I am so excited about this! It's way better than any birthday presents I could ever get.

Check out Charity Water and see what amazing things they are doing. It breaks my heart, inspires me, and makes me incredibly grateful for where I was born and the life I have been given.

Here's how you can help. :) Every little bit changes a life.

Newly coined words

2010-05-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

I love 5 year olds. They're confident enough with language, but they're still learning the rules of language, and trying to apply them. It's endearing and fascinating. :)

Here are some of Seth's latest:

longth - "Look mom, these two are the same longth!" (long + length) Personally I think longth makes more sense. Where did the 'e' come in anyway??
stompede - "The rhinos are going to stompede." (stomp + stampede)
flomp - "All that heavy snow is making the tree branches flomp." (flop+stomp+flow+flat+plop, etc)

5 year olds are continuously spouting words that are like Dr. Seuss creations, and remind me of Lewis Carrol's "The Jaberwocky." Both of which are pure genius. First language acquisition is about the coolest thing in the world.

Any other cool ones you've heard from kids?

Wouldn't trade it for the world.

2010-05-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

Jonathan called from school with a sore tummy, so we picked him up from school. Then Ellen's ear drum popped so we took her to the doctor and got some medicine for her ear infection. It had only started showing signs of an infection last night, but it was pretty bad. Then Seth got his pre-kindergarten exam and immunizations, (and didn't even cry, what an amazing boy. I think he was too shocked at seeing "clear blood" when he was poked, so that emotion overruled the pain of the shot, but it was actually just a drop or two of the vaccine dripping down his leg by the shot site. Cute. I realized all that later when he was telling Jonathan about how he had had clear blood today.) And then we came home to find John home early from work with a 103 fever, sore throat and sick tummy. Wow. All part of being in a family.

But I'd take it a million times just to have this family of mine. John read something to me the other day from a fellow programmer's blog, who wrote about a crazy hard time with sick kids etc and said, "And it’s worth it. It is all worth it. Every day, even a sad day blurred by headaches and filled with [laundry and doctor's appointments], is magical and infinite. This dance, this particular proton dance, will never come again. This tune we’re too busy to hear will not be played again. Never forget to be thankful for your life."

I love it. I'm so grateful for the beauties of today. Spending the day with my 4 children, finding so much pleasure in noticing that Ellen is looking right into my eyes as I'm spoon-feeding her, and realizing that she equates my face with receiving what she needs, having Luke ask me over and over throughout the day, "How ya doin' Mom?" and I say, "Doing well," and he repeats it, and then I ask him and he answers "Doin' WELL!" and laughs, seeing Seth be so grown up as he was talking to the doctor, and seeing him be so brave as he got the shots, Jonathan helping Ellen SO much at the doctor's office so I could help Luke and Seth, Seth telling me he felt the Holy Ghost telling him to help Ellen to be happy while I was in the school office picking up Jonathan, (he also surprised me and greatly pleased himself by getting Luke all buckled and then also doing his own buckle by himself when we were ready to go,) Ellen working on crawling, two or three strides at a time and holding one leg up in the air as she tries to figure out where to let it down, Luke laughing as I laid him down in his crib tonight repeating everything I say and telling me he loves me as I walk out of the room and close the door, Jonathan thanking me as I gave him lunch, looking over Jonathan's science journal he's been working on for the past few weeks and seeing the amazing stuff he knows about and loves, seeing his thirst and passion for knowledge, cuddling Luke in the morning when he woke up unsettled and needing some love, teaching the boys how to fold bathroom cloths so they look pretty on the shelf, Luke taking monster bites of his cereal, sitting on the front porch with Seth while we ate our lunch (the others were resting) and commenting together on how bright the sunshine was as it came from behind the clouds, watching Seth show me how he can balance while walking on the bricks surrounding our flower bed, hearing Ellen delightedly laughing to herself as we were driving, the boys all laughing and kicking a soccer ball around the back porch and then the back yard, Jonathan helping Luke say the family prayer this evening, sitting by a very sick husband on the bed, and looking at his face and feeling how much I love him... What a blessing it is to be a part of a family.

2009-09-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

We told the boys today about our plan to take a family vacation next month to Sea World. Jonathan was super surprised and excited - talking about everything we'll see and do. Seth was pleasant but didn't really say much. With how much he loves marine life (especially orcas, dolphins and sharks, and knows every last fact about all of them,) I was expecting him to be ecstatic!

Jonathan was celebrating and we were all talking about it, and Seth asked, "Who will be our babysitter?" "What?" "Who will be our babysitter?" (Small pause, while I realized what he was thinking, and then, "....Oh, Seth, no, no, you're coming with us!" And then Seth was ecstatic. Poor little boy! He was happy for us to be going, and thought he was just going to have to stay home!! It made me laugh and broke my heart all at the same time. So after he figured out he was going to Sea World too, the land of his dreams, his little happy smile was as wide as it could go, with eyebrows up and eyes open wide, bouncing a little on his seat at dinner and clapping his hands.

Love that kid.

The Latest

2009-09-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

Ellen is 2 months, 13 pounds, and the cutest little girl on the planet.

She coos and smiles and loves to interact with us. The boys especially love to lay down by her and talk for a while. (The next three pics are of when she was younger...you know, way back last month.)

Seth is, of course, furthering his personal quest to continually present the wackiest of faces.

He and Jonathan have loved the beautiful summer days together. Here they're getting packed and organized for an expedition out back. Back packs, containers for treasures, manuals and maps, the whole bit.

Luke is growing older by the second too. He's the most amazing 18 month old kicker (of balls) you will ever see in your life. He can drop kick like a champ, and he has some power in those kicks that you just don't expect. I think his sound effects when he kicks give it some extra umph too. :) He even goes around pretending to kick when he doesn't even have a ball.

And here's the post hair-cut shot. Gotta love those blue eyes.

Despite all our coaching, he still calls Ellen "dada." Baffling really.

Note the rolls. Love that!! There's nothing better than a healthy baby.

She's a doll and a half. :)

2009-08-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

Jonathan came up to me the other day and asked, "Mom, what's the slowest animal on the earth?" followed by, " ...should I ask Dad that question?"

I really had to laugh. He knows that I refer him to John for all the tough questions, and he thought if this one was too hard for me, he'd just cut to the chase. Very funny. What can I say, John's a genius, and everyone in the family knows it. :)

Ellen Angeline

2009-07-05T12:04:00.001-07:00

FInally, the post you've all been waiting for! Here's our beautiful angel. :) She's the most adorable baby girl in the world.

Ellen, originally uploaded by RaisinBread.

For the first few days, whenever we told Luke that her name was Ellen, he threw back his head and made an elephant sound. He's gotten past that now thankfully, although it was really funny. Now for some reason he calls her dada, in his sweetest and highest voice.

I came down with a high fever a week before her due date, so we needed to induce rather than to keep her in that dangerous environment. So long story short, she did well, and she's here and safe. She was 7 lbs 9 oz, which seems tiny compared to our 3 other babies who averaged at 9 lbs each. The boys are so sweet and tender with her. She's definitely the family celebrity. We're so incredibly grateful to have her in our family! How sweet to have a little girl, for all of us to love. :)

All before breakfast

2009-05-30T22:05:00.000-07:00

The day started with the funniest adventure. We all ended up in Luke's room to say good morning to him when I was getting him up this morning. Everyone just trickled in and it was a beautiful spring Saturday morning. And before I could stop what I saw happening, Seth had closed the bedroom door with all of us inside.

The only reason that would be bad (other than the growing smell of Luke's diaper) is that I had recently discovered (and that's another story,) that Luke's doorknob won't open from the inside. The knob just turns around and around, and won't open. So there we all were - all 5 of us - stuck inside Luke's second story room with no way out. It struck me as incredibly funny, and Seth, a little worried at our predicament and nervous that he had inadvertently been the cause, finally asked in desperation why I was laughing. It was just a beautifully funny and silly thing - that all of us had casually managed to get stuck in a little room (with a stinky diaper, and no breakfast) and no one else in the house to let us out.

How completely convenient that John coincidentally had already put his iphone in his pocket, or else we would have had to yell across the street to the Olsons (I could hear someone out playing basketball) to come free us. So after trying for a bit to slide something through the crack to open the door but to no avail, we called and Joanna (whom I had to convince that I was really serious,) came over to let us all out. Another coincidental thing: normally we lock the doors at night, so I thought that both doors would be locked and I wasn't sure how anyone would be able to get in, but fortunately (?) we had completely forgotten to lock up last night, so she didn't have to find some obscure, creative way into our house, which would have greatly added to the adventure.

All in all, it was a great way to start the day - with a good hearty laugh. :)

Third time's the charm.

2009-03-08T22:20:00.001-07:00

We have a lot of small amounts of leftovers from the meals of the week, so for dinner I brought the boys to the highly acclaimed Anderson Restaurant. I wrote up a quick little menu for each of them and listed all the things they could choose to eat and drink, with little boxes next to the item for them to check what they wanted.

It was such a big hit. They were exhausted from hours of play, but as soon as they heard me welcome them to the restaurant, show them their seats and hand them each a menu, they were completely engrossed in the play, and they immediately adopted a very gracious and polite manner in everything they did and said. They were delighted, under a very mature and sophisticated guise.

I pretty much knew what each of them would choose, but I think they really liked having the choice. Who wouldn't. We had so much fun with it, and the charade lasted the entire way through dinner, with them asking the waitress questions and complimenting the chef. I think we should do this all the time. It encourages dinner etiquette, it's killer easy, it makes 3rd time leftovers exciting again, and it's really fun. :)

Right of Passage

2009-03-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

Jonathan told me when he got home from school today that at lunch recess he got "huddle-trust." He told me that that means he was allowed into the huddle of a club that a few of his friends have, and is now a part of the huddle when they are making plans and deciding on imaginary story lines to play. He shone when he told me about it, happy and proud and bashful almost. I love it - Getting a glimpse into what's important on the playground to a 6 year-old, and that they even have a specific name for being initiated. Brings me back to what it feels like to be young and out at recess, learning how the social world works and seeing how you fit in it all. It may be silly, but I'm glad he's accepted by his friends at school, and that he feels like he's part of the group. How cool to get huddle trust, and to be in a club.

Overheard the other day :

2009-03-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

John: "Seth, how does it feel to have a mom that is so beautiful?"
Seth: "Good. (Pause) . . . We're happy to be a family."

I just wonder how on earth I got so lucky. I love these boys.

Heartbreak successfully averted.

2009-02-24T20:36:00.000-08:00

Jonathan lost his 4th tooth while he was at school. He's been wanting to have it fall out at school because you get to go to the office (very cool to him) and get a little tooth container on a necklace to hold your tooth for the rest of the day. So when he got home he ran up the stairs, so excited to show me his toothless smile and his little tooth case. But when he opened it, his lost tooth was...lost. Somehow he had dropped it during the day and he was so sad, near tears.

As I talked to him about what could have happened to it, I was discretely getting a dollar and putting it down in his room under his pillow. (Side note: I know I never got more than a few coins for a tooth when I was little, but inflation touches us all, and plus, it's a whole lot simpler for him to calculate 10% for tithing and 40% for savings if he starts with a dollar.) Then I wondered aloud if the tooth fairy had already somehow gotten his tooth out of his little tooth necklace while he was at school. Maybe she was passing by and decided to pick it up while she was there. Immediately his face brightened and he said "I'll go check," on his way down to his room. I waited upstairs to hear his response, and seconds later I heard the gasp and the exclamation that "she got it already!" He was dazzled and amazed that she could get it from right in front of him, without him even noticing.

She really is pretty sneaky, whoever she is.

Proof

2009-01-31T19:30:00.000-08:00

I know it's hard to believe that we could possibly have a girl, so I'll give a little proof. Here's the ultrasound video, if you care to see for yourself how cute she is. :) Some of the best full body shots are at the end (like starting at minute 6.) Both Jonathan and Seth have been sure it was a girl from the moment they knew we were expecting. Shoulda listened.

John takes every opportunity now to refer to me in the plural, as in, "Hello ladies," and "How are my girls?" I picked out my first pink thing today that I've ever bought for one of our own. This is going to be way too fun. :)

It's a girl!!!

2009-01-30T22:02:00.001-08:00

We had our ultrasound today and she's beautiful and healthy, and female!

We'll have to reprogram our brains to think "she" and "her," and "the kids" instead of "the boys" and I'll have to try not to call her bud and handsome. It's so sweet to think about having a little girl!

(Finally, our blog title makes sense again, and now I don't have to change it.) :)

All Hallow's Eve

2008-11-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

Robot poses: Jonathan is adjusting his knob, and Seth is...being ferocious and cool, like a robot, of course.

You know you've made an acceptable robot costume when the 4 year old puts it on for the first time and is immediately making robot sounds and motions. Pass. Phew! Not sure what I would've done otherwise... :)

They only took forever to make, but they turned out pretty cool. Jonathan was the hit of his class when he walked in. :) And how could you not be, with force field, turbo power and rocket booster buttons right on your chest?

Luke assumed he had full rights to the booty as well. He's got his eyes on the next one going in too. Eyes on the prize...

Shrapnel from a flu shot

2008-11-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

John and I got flu shots today with a clinic that came to his work.

There was quite the fiasco when the nurse used a new kind of syringe and thought she had ejected the needle into the person's arm, and found out after 10 very nervous and stressful minutes (especially for the guy who was trying to imagine what method they would possibly use to get that needle out of him!) that the needle had actually retracted into the syringe, and it wasn't buried deep in the patient's flesh after all.

Bit of a panic moment for everyone involved, and everyone (who used to be) in line, to say the least.

But it all worked out okay, and hopefully it will save us a few rounds of sickness this season. :)

Voted!

2008-11-04T11:52:00.000-08:00

Actually, I should say, I didn't vote. Seth did. I held him up and told him how to slide the card in and which buttons to push.

It feels good to be American.

Here's a cool post about how when we vote, we're really voting for our children, more than for any candidate. Little play on words there, but so true. :)

2008-10-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

John's birthday was Saturday, and I did my very best to give him the complete and shameless spoiling he fully deserves. After a relaxing and fun day we went to Red Lobster with the boys for dinner. John decided to get a whole lobster, partly because he's never gotten one before.

The look on Seth's face when the waiter set the plate down in front of John was priceless. And it lasted for a full 10 minutes at least, without even the slightest variation. I think I would call it stunned. Mentally, emotionally and physically stunned. He was literally frozen in unbelief; completely stunned to see a huge bug-looking creature belly-up on a platter, stunned that it was that close to us all, and stunned that John would even consider eating such a beast.

Jonathan was interested and excited to try some, and liked it, but Seth just slowly shook his head and wouldn't hear of it. He couldn't take his eyes off it. He kept an extremely tight vigil, not even blinking. I honestly think he may have been worried that if he looked away it would flip over and come after him, snapping its pinchers and waving its antennas. One can never keep too close of a watch on a big crawly thing. Even John and me laughing our guts out couldn't distract him. His expression was frozen in a mix between complete shock and intense, incredulous, wide-eyed study.

Only after John had broken it up piece by piece and hollowed it all out did Seth want to have any part of the experience. And then, when the threat had been devoured and defeated, it became cool, like a battle wound or the enemy's banner. He carried that hollowed-out claw around with him for the rest of the day, and eagerly tells anyone he sees about how they saw the lobsters in the tank, and how his dad ate one, and liked it.

Quote of the Day

2008-10-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

From Seth, looking down at his hand: "YESS! I love looking at my watch and CTR ring!"

He's been wearing a watch now for a week or so, and just got a new CTR ring from church today, so the look is complete and the coolness factor is at an all-time high.

He told me, "Mom, look at my cookie smile," (with the curved cookie.) Note how awesome he is looking in that watch. :)

The funny thing is I remember Jonathan being really into watches when he was this age, (even though neither of them could tell a lick of time, and often even had it on upside down,) and a check in my journal shows it was the same age to the month. Evidently this is the month were little boys become enamored with watches, and looking as cool as they can possibly manage.

Which turns out to be pretty dang cool.

Fish tales

2008-10-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

John made some incredible broiled fish tonight for dinner. While we were eating the boys asked where he got the fish, so he told the most outrageous, intriguing and hilarious story about him and his pet tiger, Weatherford (who kept on growling very loudly and unexpectedly, making the boys jump and laugh every time,) and their journey all across the ocean to get the fish and bring it home for our dinner. The boys were delighted, and hanging on his every word. He's an amazing storyteller. Then they asked where he got the squash, so he launched into a "scary" tale (after making them promise that they wouldn't be terrified and cry all day with fright) of him and his pet goat, Alfonso, and their journey to the squash patch (oooooo!) to get the squash. It had a hilariously plain and quick ending that left me rolling and the boys still wondering how such a detailed story could have possibly ended so suddenly, and what had happened to the scary part. They also asked about how he got the rice, and that one had them spellbound when he had to go down, down to the bottom of the ocean to gather what he thought was rice (but ended up being seaweed,) and we were all in stitches with him acting out how hard it was to carry the heavy bag while trying to paddle up to the surface.

Now that's some excellent dinner conversation.

FHE this week

2008-09-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

We did FHE tonight because John had to stay later at work yesterday. Our topic was keeping our minds pure, and not partaking of things that are harmful to us. It was the next topic from the Primary list of "My Gospel Standards" that we're using for our FHE's now. So we talked about pornography, what it is, why it's horrible (they already knew that,) and what to do if you stumble upon it. I'm glad they are equipped with that understanding so they're ready. It was a good discussion - they had a lot to contribute.

Then we had rice crispy treats and played out back. Jonathan wanted to play make-believe, and chose Sleeping Beauty. He designated me as Aurora, (good thing he didn't say I was Malificent,) and John was Prince Phillip of course, and the boys were his squires. They fought through the thicket, killed the dragon and rescued me with true love's kiss. Then we played Peter Pan. John was Hook, Jonathan was Peter, Seth was "the super hero" (he's a free thinker,) and I was Wendy, who was many times captured and taken away by Captain Hook, and many times rescued by Peter Pan and the Super Hero. After Hook was eaten by the fearsome and very ferocious croc, we whisked the young adventurers upstairs into the house and sent them off to their own respective neverlands.

Good times. :)

100 things about me, ready or not. :)

2008-09-10T23:58:00.000-07:00

1. My favorite person in the world is John.

2. My next 3 favorites are my three awesome sons.

3. I'm a bit of a snob about literature. I only love the really good stuff (Dickens, Tolstoy, Lewis, Austen, Carroll, and many others,) and rarely can tolerate the other stuff.

4. Every time I use eggs I have to arrange the remaining eggs in symmetrical patterns in the carton. It's a cross between 1- creating order and balance, and 2- a continual art form.

5. I have a reocuring nightmare of being on stage, seeing the curtain open, and realizing I haven't gotten around to reading the script yet, and I don't know any of the choreography.

6. If I could go see a play or musical every day, I would.

7. I have a major in Linguistics and a minor in Japanese.

8. I was an art major for the first few years of college and loved it.

9. I'm fascinated by language: phonetics, etymology, language acquisition (1st language and 2nd language,) semantics, speech articulation, morphology, dialects, it's all super interesting and exciting to me.

10. I love rain storms. Thunder and lightning make me happy. And that heavenly sweet smell. . .

11. I think my favorite movie is Fiddler on the Roof.

12. My hair started to go curly when I was 12, peaked with ringlets by 22, and now is back to just wavy.

13. I'm often a little too thrifty for my own good.

14. I had a cyst the size of a tennis ball removed when I was 10.

15. I've never broken a bone. Thankfully.

16. My favorite foods are fresh peaches, corn on the cob, california rolls, raspberries, avocados, apple pie, ham, and saute'ed onions, peppers and mushrooms.

17. I have hypothyroidism, caused by an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

18. It hasn't been as bad for me as it sounds.

19. I went to 3 elementary schools and 3 high schools.

20. I'm especially grateful for the move that brought me to my second high school, because that placed me right around the corner from the coolest guy in the world, (who I fell madly in love with and finally married 5 years later.)

21. When I went to Japan for study abroad in college, I lost my return flight tickets at the airport where I landed in Japan, and didn't notice I had lost them until the day I was to fly home 6 weeks later. Miraculously, someone had turned the tickets in and the airport had sent them to the airport I would be flying out from. Who put me in charge?

22. I had an English Springer Spaniel when I was little that I loved. Her name was Bobby Sue.

23. When I fold my hands, my right thumb is on top.

24. I have a personal dream of having my art work displayed in an LDS temple.

25. I miss racial diversity.

26. I got my name on the board in first grade for not paying attention because I was showing the boy next to me my tricky way of holding a pencil - horizontally with one finger on top, one under, one on top, one under. I didn't get a skittle that day.

27. When I was little living in the desert I used to stay up late at night catching and killing cockroaches.

28. I can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards like Mary Poppins. "But that's going a bit too far, don't you think?"

29. I have freckles in my eyes.

30. When I was 7 I used to ask my friends at school who got school lunch if I could have their green beans. At my house we ate garden green beans, and the canned ones that the school served were new and cool to me.

31. When my mom was 6 months pregnant with me she was picking fruit when the ladder slipped and she fell. She had a miraculous landing, and a priesthood blessing that I would be able to last full term. Through a series of miracles, I did, and even came a week late. I've always felt grateful for the priesthood.

32. Growing up I wanted to be an archaeologist or anthropologist.

33. Those fields still fascinate me.

34. I sang in the choir at General Conference the last year conference was held in the Tabernacle.

35. I've never sent a text message. Pathetic, I know. But the only person I would text is John, and I'm already online with him all day.

36. I plucked my eyebrows once and it totally wasn't worth it. John likes em the way they are, and I can't fathom spending the time (not to mention the pain) to change them.

37. John and I spend most of our evenings lately working on a quilt that we are making. It's going to have 1763 squares on the front. (41 squares x 43 squares, 2.25 inches each)

38. It's not uncommon for me to come home from the store with a new set of legos. I love legos and want to build an incredible collection. (But I don't like the sets with huge pieces that can only be one thing - the whole front half of a big ol' jet or something. Takes the imagination and creativity out of building things, and ruins the versatility that is key for legos.) Most days there are legos spread on the floor of my living room.

39. I'm named after my mom's best friend for my first name, and my great grandmother for my middle name.

40. In 4 years when I'm 32 I will have known John half my life.

41. I often add extra cinnamon to recipes.

42. I almost always cut back the sugar, unless John is cooking with me, and even then sometimes I try to do it discretely.

43. He almost always catches me.

44. I once ate breakfast with Richard G. Scott, and he gave me a print of one of his paintings. He's an incredibly personable and friendly person.

45. I've kept a daily journal for 9 years now.

46. I can't say how badly I wish that I had kept a better journal 12 years ago when I met John and we were having the time of our lives coming to know and love each other.

47. I can't really whistle.

48. I take a pill every night, in the middle of the night. It has to be taken 2 hours after eating and 1 hour before eating, and honestly, with how much and often I eat, there isn't a time in my waking hours where that would work. 3 hours without eating? Not likely. So I take it when I get up with Luke. I don't know what I'll do when he starts sleeping through the night!

49. John tells me I'm a yard sale diva.

50. I had a pretty hefty culture shock when I was 8 and my family moved from a tiny and wonderful farming town to a thriving metropolis. I don't think I had ever heard a swear word before.

51. I love wild flowers.

52. I'm lousy at throwing things away. Sometimes I really wish I were better at it.

53. I was raised on oldies music. I still have a nice place in my heart for Simon & Garfunkel, Hermann's Hermits, The Beatles, The Monkeys, Crosby Stills & Nash, Peter Paul & Mary, etc....

54. I spent a summer up the canyon with hundreds of kids under the age of two.

55. I worked that summer at a family camp, and when the families split into age groups, I had the youngest ones. It was amazing. 25-ish toddlers every week, and at naptime, over 15 babies sleeping at once in the same room. It was actually a blast. Not to mention being up there with all the other staff. Very fun summer.

56. I like to go on walks.

57. Bananas need to be a touch green on the ends to be good. If they have brown spots they are only good for banana bread.

58. The kid who sat next to me in kindergarten was named Josh and he wrote his s's very tall and narrow.

59. I really really want to go to Sea World.

60. I played viola for 4 years.

61. I became a Star Trek fan (the Next Generation, with Captain Picard) after I married John. We have all 7 seasons.

62. It's nice to have them because there are no commercials, and it's good for a short movie night if you don't want to stay up late.

63. I took 2 years of American Sign Language classes in college and LOVED it.

64. I played volleyball in high school. As I freshman I was on JV, then as a sophmore I was on Varsity. Then I moved, and was put back to the JV at the new school. When I moved again I didn't have the heart to try to fit in with yet another team who didn't know me, so I stopped. But I still love volleyball so much. Watching men's volleyball is truly amazing.

65. I have had a lot of fun with oil painting and watercolors.

66. I want to frame more of my art and put it up.

67. When I was a teenager I always wanted to go skydiving and bungie jumping, but after being a mom, I have zero desire to do anything risky like that.

68. Heights make me nervous.

69. I would always choose whipped cream over ice cream with my pie.

70. I still have stickers saved up from when I was 5. I love stickers but I think I treat them a little too sacred and have a hard time actually using them. So I save them.

71. Someday I will go to Central America and tour the ancient ruins. I've wanted to ever since I was little.

72. Someday I will go back to Japan with John. I would love to serve a mission there too.

73. I'll have to brush the dust off my Japanese skills before I can do that.

74. I used to sneak packets of Equal sweetener downstairs so my sister and I could eat them. Somehow I thought we were so hidden, being in plain sight in the downstairs family room, right around the corner from the stairs landing.

75. I really like games - cards, board games, party games, traveling games, you name it.

76. My little sister and I always used to sing this little number for talent shows and family gatherings, and I always had to play the part of the boy.

77. I have a fascination with how words are said. It's not uncommon for me to be repeating a word over and over (and over and over,) and listening to different ways it's said, or listening to specific parts of how it's said. I'm weird like that.

78. My family teases me for being interested in which syllables people emphasize in word pairs, like "taco bell," or "green beans."

79. I'm crazy about garden tomatoes.

80. I use the best crust recipe in the world.

81. My favorite book of scripture is the Book of Mormon.

82. I don't want to sand cabinets ever again. They did turn out really great though.

83. St. Patrick's Day is a special holiday for me because my wonderful Grandma was Irish, so St. Patty's Day is also a sort of Grandma Day.

84. I don't like war movies. It's too real and horrible to relive for movie night.

85. I recently signed up for a recycling garbage can, and I'm loving it. It fills up faster than our regular garbage can.

86. I've been in primary callings at church for the past 7 years. It's been great.

87. I've been to two James Taylor concerts with John. Very fun. :)

88. John spoils me rotten. I think I'm the most loved wife in the universe.

89. I had the lead in my Jr. High School musical. I was Luann in the play Luann. I loved every minute of it, especially my solos and monologue scenes.

90. I've been in 6 or 7 other plays since then, but never much more than "third girl from the left" or "human prop" as my friend used to say. I've always wished I had somehow done more in musical theater.

91. When I was little I considered myself a tom boy. I think I was afraid of being too feminine. I never wore clothes that were even remotely fitted until I was in college, and I don't think I wore pink (after elementary school) until I was married. Now it's one of my favorite colors to wear.

92. I'm an especially big sucker for clothes that are deep red, sage green or black. I have to consciously steer away from those items in stores because I always want to get them.

93. I've had 3 miscarriages, and each one has made me grow in huge ways. I'm a different person because of them.

94. I like internal rhyming schemes in poetry.

95. The best two candies in the world are Snickers and Peanut M&Ms. Hands down.

96. I don't follow recipes very closely when I cook. (Quite distantly sometimes actually.) As a result, I come up with some amazingly tasty food, but recreating a masterpiece tends to be tricky.

97. I love camping and being in the mountains.

98. I would like to travel the globe to listen to accents, languages and dialects.

99. Drawing is very rejuvenating personally for me.

100. I'm doing now exactly what I always wanted to do when I grew up. I'm sealed to my wonderful husband whom I love immensely, who makes me smile and laugh and who takes care of me in every way. We've been given excellent children and I get to be at home with them as they are growing. I could go on and on. Everything isn't always perfect and things are still getting better, but as for now, I'm grateful to be quite literally living my dream.

Fun tidbit about Seth

2008-08-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

He has a real interest in how things are put together. He takes things apart as often as he can, like pens, flashlights, and anything else that he can disasemble, and then puts it back together over and over. And often he'll find a cool part that he decides to keep as one of his very Special Things, and it never makes it back where it came from. He chooses the greatest little random parts of things to carry around with him for days, and he brings them to bed with him too, (where he also wears his shoes every night.) He would love to be able to collect little shards of glass too, if he could only get the okay from that overprotective mom. He loves little parts of machines, and seeing how they fit together. We replaced the faucet in the back yard and gave him the old one. You'd think it was Christmas with the light in his eyes. I wonder what this will turn into as he grows older.

It's always funny and cute to us to see the little odds and ends that he deems special and important. He's got an eye for finding little parts of gadgets around too. He'll spot a crushed whatever on the ground in parking lot, instantly discern the cool parts, and ask me if he can keep it. And when you look at it, you have to agree that it really is cool looking, and different from the other stuff you see everyday around the house. (Reminds me of Wall-e's collection of cool stuff - you know we all subconsciously like most of that stuff he saved.)

We find little piles of things around the house that Seth has collected - rocks, parts of anything mechanical (like parts of a spare doorknob, or a printer cartridge, the inside of a toy car,) a small allen wrench, a car or two, bouncy balls, a little hour glass, more rocks, sticks, flashlight parts, faucet parts, pieces of brick, batteries, the claw from a broken tractor, shiny pennies, anything metal. . .

You know when you come across a Seth pile. It says his name all over it. I love it. He's a cool little man.

What the alias?

2008-08-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

Jonathan and Seth made some machines out of random toys put together, and played monster hunters/general heros, going by the names of Roger and Clifter, respectively. (No idea where they come up with these.) By the afternoon they had shortened the names to the more casual Cliff and Rog (rodge.) It cracks me up when they're playing and I hear Seth come up to Jonathan and call him Rodge in his low manly voice, to alert him of the impending danger and call him to action.

They've named me Clara in the game. I find that sometimes I'm even a little more successful in getting them to do something if I step into their game for a minute and make the request of Clifter or Roger instead. Turns out Clifter and Roger can be pretty quick when Clara calls them to come inside.

Little boy not so blue anymore

2008-08-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Luke loves food. Doesn't everyone? He's gained all kinds of weight back since I started supplementing. (He gained 1.5 pounds in the first week! - Proportionally, that would be like me gaining over 10 pounds in one week.) So now I pump and pump and he doesn't need as much formula anymore after what I can supply, and mostly he just chows down on the cereal and milk all day.

So now that his needs are met, he's been experiencing a lot of things for the first time, like full wet diapers (I had forgotten that wet diapers were ever really full like that,) actual happy extended play time, real naps, hours more sleep at night, and a lot more smiles. Makes a momma's heart happy.

He's also a very gifted multi-tasker for his age. We're so proud of him.

Portal Cake geekiness

2008-07-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

I went temporarily crazy yesterday and attempted my first three layer cake for our work party. Who woulda known I had this kinda time on my hands for such an escapade?

There are only a few people who read this blog who will even recognize this as anything more than your average deluxe and delectable chocolate cake. It's actually a cake from a really cool game that John and I played a few months back. It's patterned after this cake.

Not bad for a n00b. :)

Proclamation Effay Cheese

2008-07-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago we decided to take a sentence from "The Family, A Proclamation to the World" as the topic schedule for our upcoming family home evenings. It's the part where it says,

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

So we did an FHE on each of those and it's been awesome. Yesterday we finished up with the last one, so for our FHE we picked up Wendy's for dinner and headed up the canyon for fun and adventure.

So much fun and adventure in fact that eating wasn't even close to first on the list for two little boys. They actually finished all their food though, which is a credit to them in such an environment. :)

Jonathan was super proud to have climbed up so high. He could take some lessons from his cousin Isaac, who is a superb climber too.

And, (drum roll) I actually got a picture with me in it, and with all of us together! It happens less often than I would like. Luke is doing his best to get his finger in John's ear, hence the "he's getting me!" face. Seth got all shy because he didn't know the woman we asked to take our picture. He's that kind of boy. :) But hey, it's a family picture. I'll take whatever I can get. :)

We came home and had Otter Pops on the front lawn, and Luke had his first serving of rice cereal, and was a pro at it.

Anyway, it was great fun, and I'd like to do it every single day.

Play date

2008-07-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

Seth had his super cute friend over to play the other day, and felt very cool about it.

She is sunshine personified.

They had a really hard time coming to a consensus about what to play. She wanted to play house with the baby, and he wanted to play cars. But she said she didn't like cars. It was headed straight for disaster until I suggested that they play house with Seth as the dad, and when he goes to work, he works with the cars. It was a big hit. And they played happily ever after. :)

Little boy blue

2008-07-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

Luke hasn't been eating or sleeping really well for a while now, and he's started looking really thin to us, so at John's prompting I took Luke in to the doctor today. And he's lost 1 lb 3 oz since his last appointment 3 weeks ago! That was alarming, both to me and our pediatrician. That's almost 10% of his weight, and he's supposed to be gaining 2 or 3 ounces every day, certainly not losing weight. He said Luke seems perfectly healthy otherwise, which is good, he just needs to be getting more.

He suggested supplementing with formula (which is unusual for him since he's a very strong advocate of breast feeding, as am I) and also starting him on rice cereal. John had suggested supplementing yesterday, and I've been wanting to start food for him to help him get more, but didn't want to start too early.

So today after the doctor appointment I came home and tried to nurse him but he didn't want any, and then I offered the formula, and he guzzled it. I was using the 2 oz pre-mixed sample bottles, and he drank it down fast and steady. I thought, "wow, he was hungry." And then it occurred to me that he might drink more, so I offered a second bottle, which he drank just as quickly, and then a 3rd and then a 4th. Eight ounces without even stopping for a second. The poor boy was starving. And it was a beautiful thing to see him finish and lay back, content, and actually full, for probably the first time in a long time. I'm so happy to let him eat all he needs! It's a little bittersweet in a way though too, that I couldn't give him what he needs, but I'm so happy that he's getting it now. For whatever reason my milk supply is low, and he's not getting enough when he sucks, so he pulls away. I've never been a fan of formula (quite the opposite actually) but when using it means your baby won't be losing weight anymore, it's heaven sent.

The plan now is to mix formula and breast milk for all his feedings (at least for the next week) so we can double his calories and see if he can gain some weight back. John gave him a blessing this evening that he'll be able to react well to the changes, and that his system can accept the new things we're adding to his diet. I really hope he can do well. He's an awesome little boy. His favorite thing lately is to reach out and touch your face. It melts us all. :)

Work in Progress. . .

2008-07-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

I can't say how good it feels to draw again. This is James Madison. He's amazing.

Quote of the Day

2008-07-05T11:44:00.001-07:00

I picked up some shirts for SUU for Mary that were printed up here, and someone came to pick them up from my house. This is what they said, verbatim:

"Mary is so awesome. She knows everything. If it weren't for her, I'd be totally lost."

And later, "Thank Heaven for Mary."

What can I say? Everyone loves Mary. :)

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

What a blessing to live in this country. As evidenced by such a plentiful breakfast!

Jonathan's idea and creation. :)

Two reasons why I love my crust recipe

2008-07-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

My friend shared some beautiful peppers with me, so I used them this evening to make quiche, (which FYI came from the german word kuchen, which changed to kuche, and means "cake.") Tangent, sorry. :)

As I was sauteing the peppers and onions, it struck me as so beautiful that I had to take a picture.

(Just before cooking it.) It was fun to make - with spinach, ham, onions, peppers (green, orange and red,) green onions, cheese. . .

MMM - it turned out really good, and Jonathan and Seth even loved it.

In other news, I made these today too, hence the extra crust for the quiche. And if apple pie isn't the best food on the planet, I'm not sure what is.

Swing kids

2008-07-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

A swing set really is a simple thing, but it provides literally hours of enjoyment!

Jonathan taught Seth to pump. And now Seth is tall enough to get onto the swing by himself, so the world of swinging has opened up to him.

Today I looked out back and saw the boys just swinging and talking together, or here they're "running" while swinging,

or timing their swings to be in sync with each other (the universal challenge in swingdom.)

I'm always the clandestine camera woman from my perch on the deck. It's fun because I can observe without interrupting their mood. I like these guys.

Cuter than cute

2008-06-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

Jonathan and he get laughing pretty good together. Luke is really into interacting with us. He likes to laugh, and tries to get us to make him laugh whenever he can. :) He's so cool.

Family Fieldtrip

2008-06-29T20:56:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we took the boys to The Living Planet Aquarium and it was awesome! I think I was as excited as they were. My favorite parts were:
--The huge tank with sharks swimming right past our noses

(Seth's awe/terror/amazement at unexpectedly seeing a shark appear right in front of him and swim past his face was fantastic. He was very close to tears at the shock, but the coolness factor won over and he stared in admiration.)

--Being able to reach in and TOUCH all the rays swimming around in the water! I couldn't believe it. I really never thought I would touch one of those. It felt different than I was expecting. It was incredible.

--The jelly fish. Amazing, huge, and so beautiful in the way they moved. The body was about the size of a volleyball. So graceful.

--The sea horses. Never seen sea horses before. It was interesting to watch the way they used their tales to anchor themselves to plants while they were eating.
--The rainforest animals show, with the talking parrots.

--Eels, (can you see the camo fish in the back?) octopus, bright coral, crabs, sea cucumbers, a huge frog, (did I mention touching the rays and watching the sharks swim?)

It was just really fun, and super fun to let the boys see all those neat things. Seth is a big fan of sharks from watching Blue Planet DVDs, and they both really knew about the things they were seeing, so it was amazing to see them up close and personal.

The world is just awesome.

Yum times seven

2008-06-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

In a biblical sense. So that means yum to the max, or to the utmost completeness. I love this stuff.

This is one of my favorite sushi rolls -- crab, cucumber, egg, avocado and cream cheese. I think I could eat it every day and never get tired of it. mmmmm.

Chillaxin

2008-06-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

l looked off my balcony and found Seth making good use of the summer afternoon and his music skills. I love stumbling upon stuff like this. :)

Father's and Sons Campout

2008-06-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

The boys did great and had an awesome time collecting sticks, finding snakes, and enjoying the endless possibilities of being up in the mountains. I only wish I coulda come along too!!

They even brought me back some wild flowers. I'm going to do my best to convince John that we should go on a camping trip as a family. Pleeeeease?? :)

As a side note, it was absolutely wacky for me at home, with just Luke and me. It's weird to be alone when you're used to having everyone here, even if they're sleeping at night. Having empty rooms is really weird. I'm glad to have them all back. :)

True Beauty

2008-06-23T11:29:00.001-07:00

When children get excited about working, and initiate their own chores.

They worked pretty hard and steady this morning at scrubbing the floors, stools and chairs in our kitchen. Love that.

Culinary Masters

2008-06-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

The boys have never seen a cooking show, but they are doing one.

The creations of the day are "Enchiladas with Roasted Onions," "Sushi Bentosa" and "Carbonated Sambasa" (sahmbahsah) which I've personally never heard of, but it sounds Great. You really should hear Jonathan's running dialogue describing what he is doing it and how it needs to be done. I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to crave some Sambasa!

Interesting story

2008-06-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Did you see this news story? Pretty amazing.

An hour in the life of my boys

2008-06-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

It all started with just some music, and Jonathan brought in his guitar and played along,

which lead to some air drumming.

And then he decided he needed to take it up a notch.

He rummaged up some chopsticks and a lot of things that made very different sounds. The mixed nuts made a nice snare drum.

Maybe a little too nice. We all know how drumming builds up a the appetite.

At any rate, it ended up super fun and super loud. :)

All the while, Seth was busy working on the whiteboard, coming up with a very impressive caterpillar, among other things,

And Luke was diligently pursuing excellence in the arts of sucking on his fingers, drooling, and charming us with those baby blues. I love these guys.

Lunch lady

2008-06-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

You do what you can. . .

Last day of school

2008-06-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

I'm getting old. And so is Jonathan!

His teacher was incredible, and Jonathan loved kindergarten. (You can see him bottom right.) I know he'll have a great time next year and all that, but I'm sad to move past this stage. It's been such a good experience, and his teacher was such a great friend to him - I'm sad that he'll never be there again. Change is the only constant I guess.

And I'm super proud of Jonathan. He got a perfect report card, nailed his speaking part in his class program, made a ton of friends, memorized 20 songs, reads like a third grader, "and loves him mom so much." (That last part was what dictated from him.)

Happy Birthday Ben

2008-05-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

I love you!

Lego skills

2008-05-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

Seth's pretty much the coolest three-year-old around when it comes to lego air craft. He does these entirely on his own.

John says that boys come pre-programmed with one or two cool airplane designs that they can fall back on in a pinch.

Seth time

2008-05-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

Seth and I had some fun learning time together while Jonathan was at school and Luke was sleeping. We had some "Opposites" picture cards with the words on the back. He was pairing the opposites, (which is quite a complex concept if you've never heard the word "opposite" before,) and then we'd turn the cards over and he would identify the words on the back. I'd say, "Which one says 'front?' "Which one says 'empty?'" He got it right every time. Smart kid.

After he found the opposites, he decided to put the matching cards back to back and lay them down with one side showing. I started realizing that he consistently chose to display the positive one of the pair; full not empty, front not back, above not below, go not stop, light not dark, in front not behind, top not bottom, whole not broken, day not night, clean not dirty, happy not sad, etc. I thought that was interesting. The only exceptions were when he preferred something else, like a short pencil rather than a long one, or a small ball rather than a big one. Who knows, maybe short and small are fundamentally more desirable, and prosperity has just taught me to think otherwise. Maybe three year olds know better. . . (He also chose the picture of the TV off rather than it being on.) :)

The cool thing to me was that he prefers the positive of the two opposites, and consistently chose that. Three year olds like things to be positive, and he innately knew which one that was. I'm amazed that he knew that. I'm amazed that any of us know that. What is it about top that makes it better than bottom? Or about in front that makes it better than behind? Or above than below? Maybe these values are different from culture to culture. But for Seth it was pretty clear, and it matched what I thought too. Pretty interesting.

4 boys and a girl. . .and 6 birds

2008-05-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

Otherwise entitled, "Now What??"

We have some tenants in our dryer hose! We've heard them for a few weeks in and out, and I looked in today to see if I could clean out all the stuff they had brought in, and voila. . .

I haven't used my dryer for over a week because I was nervous to hurt someone, but now I really need to do laundry, and I'm too much of a softy to just evict them. . . Any suggestions???

Hygiene Kits

2008-05-08T13:57:00.001-07:00

We wanted to do something to help the cyclone victims in Myanmar, so we decided to make these Hygiene Kits that the Church uses in disaster relief. They were really fun to put together.

A few tips in case anyone else wants to make some:

They were almost exactly $10 per kit. I bought everything at Wal-mart, and I think the prices there were better than at a dollar store, because all of the items were under a dollar. The only exceptions are the hand towels. They were $1.88 at Wal-mart, and a dollar store might have them for less - I didn't check. There are a lot of good deals for this stuff (soap, toothpaste etc) if you walk past the big brand names.

I'd recommend doing at least 5 or 10 because you get a much better price on soap and combs if you're buying bulk packs. You can get a 10 pack of soap (enough for 5 kits) for $3.88, and a 10 pack of combs (also enough for 5 kits) for $2.08. You would end up paying much more than $10 if you just bought enough for one kit. It's fun to do this with a few other people and split the price if you just have funds for a few kits yourself. You could have 5 couples get together and each chip in $10 bucks for a kit, so you can still get bulk prices. It's a great FHE activity.

After the kits are assembled, you can either ship them to Salt Lake City, or just bring them to your local Bishops' Storehouse or Humanitarian Work Room. The latter are normally part of a Deseret Industries building. You can call the Humanitarian Center in SLC at 801-240-5954 to find a place you can drop them off.

It's been awesome for us because we feel like we've been able to do something to help. It was so cool for the boys to help with the shopping and putting the kits together. It honestly just makes me so grateful for what I have.

Diction lessons

2008-04-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a conversation I overheard the other day between Jonathan and Seth while we were driving somewhere.

J: Seth, say "lllight."
S: wwwight.
J: (pause) . . .Good. You said "white." Good Job. Now say "lllllight."
S: llllllight.
J: Good job Seth. Now say it again. Llllllllight.
S: lllllllllight. . . . Let's not say it again. . .

Superheroes

2008-04-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

I happened to overhear Jonathan and Seth playing out in the backyard today, and it was so interesting that I took up a post to continue eavesdropping, and to scribble down what Jonathan was saying. Jonathan and Seth were both wearing the capes that Carrie made for them. Here's some of what I heard from Jonathan, in his deep strong man voice:

"Stop the fighting! I need to talk to Zerahemnah. . . Will you stop fighting? What do you choose?. . ."

"We don't have enough soldiers to defend so many cities, so I send a letter to Pahoran, Seth. I'm waiting for more soldiers."

"Helaman, none of your soldiers died. But they were all hurt. Aren't you happy that none of them died?"

"Are you Captain Moroni? Or Moroni?"

Classic.

Happy April Fools Day!

2008-04-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

For an April Fools joke, John made up a sweet old school (painfully old school) site for his work, and staged it to look like he had replaced his work's home page with this new site. It's got all the mid 90's internet charm. Brings ya back for sure. Check it out. But enter at your own risk. It's a flashback, especially if you spent any amount of time on the web 10 years ago. We laughed a lot while he was making it. :)

When people access this site from John's work, the URL shows mediarain.com, like it's the company's official site. Sneaky.

Any good April Fools Day gags in your neck of the woods?

Sethisms

2008-03-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

John: What's your name little boy?
Seth: Seth.
John: Seth what?
Seth: Seth Anderson.
John: Where'd you get that name?
Seth: (confident, without a pause) Wal-mart.

Later, Seth: Mom feel my sock, see how soft it is. It's softer than a bunk bed.

It was.

Happy Boys

2008-03-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

I love these guys.

What a lucky mom I am.

So here it is. . .

2008-03-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

I know you've all been losing sleep wondering if your guesses were right, so I'll post the answers to my quiz post. :)

A. Jonathan
B. Luke
C. Jonathan
D. Seth
E. Seth
F. Luke

Even John and I got mixed up as I was picking pictures to post! And we're the parents!! I tried to pick pictures of them that looked a lot like each other, to make it as tricky as I could, so I set you up. Sarah, excellent. You made it look too easy. :)

We love you all!!

What he really looks like:

2008-03-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

I took some pictures in natural light and it's a huge difference from the ones I posted earlier. For those of you who haven't seen Luke, this is really what he looks like. I'll have to try to catch him more when he's smiling though. He's super smiley.

Name that baby. . .

2008-03-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

There are two pictures of each of our boys. Can you remember which is which?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.

2008-02-21T20:05:00.000-08:00

Luke's fairy godmother :)
Even though Seth shares the photo with a cute and tiny infant, he refuses to relinquish center stage.
These are pretty close to what he looks like. The video shows him a little better, but these are close.

Fresh after his first bath
Vegging with a full tummy, right before I put him to bed. This kid is super cool.

Videos of Luke

2008-02-21T19:58:00.000-08:00

He likes to doze off half way through eating, so this is mid-meal, after he remembered he was still hungry. Other times he is much more calm, just looking around. He's so awesome.

He gets really funny after is his fully fed, burped, and happy. He leans back with his eyes closed and smiles over and over. Sometimes he even laughs. We love this little boy.

Luke David Anderson

2008-02-16T14:20:00.000-08:00

Date of Birth: February 16th, 2008 (1:04 AM)
Weight: 8lbs, 11oz
Length: 20"

We checked into the hospital at about 7:00 or so, and Christine was dilated to 4cm, and 80% effaced. She wasn't having major contractions, but we wanted to check in and make sure we could get four solid hours of antibiotic before delivery, due to Christine being Group Strep B positive.

After some debate on waiting or inducing, we called the midwife who, after arriving, measured Christine at 5cm and 90% - proof that things were moving along fine on their own.

We moved to the new room, started antibiotics, and got the epidural. Things were pretty low-key for a few hours. After another check, we found that Christine hadn't progressed, so they started a bit of pitocin to get things rolling.

After just a whiff of the pitocin, Christine started to move into some more serious labor. A few hours passed, and we noticed that some of the labor pain was making it past the epidural. We requested a bolus, and waited. Just as we were about to make a second request, the nurse decided to make a quick check.

She found that Luke was already on his way out. She turned the other way to check on some readout, and I saw the head emerge! It wasn't worrisome, but it sure was frantic as the nurses got everything in the room in a flash. Without even a push, Luke slid out in only a contraction or two after that.

Baby and mother are doing well. Luke got an APGAR score of 9/10 (yes ladies, he *is* a certified 10) which is as perfect as they give out at this hospital. He seems to be sleeping and eating well. Christine weathered a very clean and smooth delivery, with no after-words complications or injuries that we know of. Both mother and son slumber peacefully as I write these words.

We feel extremely blessed to have this little man with us. Thanks so much for all your prayers, love and support.

-- John

From the Hospital

2008-02-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

John here.

Just thought I'd check in with every one who reads Christine's blog. We checked into the hospital an hour or so ago, so here's the update.

I'm feeling a little tired. There was some soreness early on as we checked in, probably from some soccer I played today early at lunch. After stretching I'm feeling a little better. There was also a bit of touch-and-go queasiness when they did Christine's epidural, but not to worry, I'm feeling great now.

More information as it comes.

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

I made these yesterday for John and snuck them to his office with all kinds of red hearty decorations and sweets for him to find this morning when he went in. :) And he gave me two awesome DVDs - Fiddler on the Roof (my favorite movie maybe) and Sense and Sensibility. AND the book Wicked. I'm spoiled completely rotten. Those are great ideas for a woman who is nine months pregnant. :)

And speaking of that, with me being 90% effaced and dilated to 4 cm as of my appointment this morning, we may just have another Valentines surprise really soon here. The odd thing is that I haven't really felt contractions to speak of yet. Just a tight tummy, but nothing I'd call a real contraction. The third baby is the way to go!

Take a wild guess

2008-02-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

So let's hear it. What are your guesses about when this baby will actually come? My due date is Friday the 15th. With Jonathan I was 6 days late, and with Seth I was 3 days late. Maybe we'll name the baby after you if you are the closest guess. :)

Night on the town with Jonathan and Seth

2008-02-10T19:01:00.000-08:00

We went to a Japanese teppanyakii restaurant with the boys the other day and it was awesome. It's the kind of place where they cook the food on a big hot plate (teppan) at your table. The boys were enthralled. (And a little concerned at times - you can really feel the heat from the fire.) :)

I should've taken more pictures of the chef and his tricks, but I was too entertained by watching the boys' reactions. The chefs are really entertaining - flipping spatulas, throwing eggs and catching them in their hats, making fires and showing their super skills with the utensils. Not to mention, the food is killer.

I'm feeling the urge to do fun things with the boys while we still can before the baby gets here and things slow down a bit. It was super fun. The boys were amazing there too. It's a great place to take kids because it's so entertaining that they don't get fidgety, and the food is so good that they eat really well too. :)

John and I have a lot of fun with those two guys lately. :)

The lesson of the day

2008-02-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

Don't do something stupid just to try to save yourself a few minutes.

I was carrying bottles of fruit and juice up from downstairs, and tried to carry one-too-many at a time. I knew it would be trouble, but I tempted fate. So, of course, on the way up the stairs one of the jars slips and falls, and of course, it's the incredibly deep dark grape juice. It shattered and splattered everywhere, and it took me the next full hour and a half to clean it all up. I think I would've rather take the extra 60 seconds to make another trip up the stairs with the extra jar instead. As I once heard John say, "That's what I get for being stupid." Luckily, it broke on the tile landing by our front door, so most of it was on hard surfaces (all over the walls within a 10 foot radius,) but you'd be surprised how much of a stain grape juice can make even on tile, walls and doors. Amazing. Amazing that it all came out too. Maybe next time I'll be a little smarter. You'd hope so anyway.

4 words:

2008-01-26T11:42:00.002-08:00

Chocolate chips
Pecans
Coconut.

And you have the dreamiest chocolate chip cookies imaginable.

John and I made these last night, and mmmmm. Is it bad to eat 6 cookies in one sitting??

Working from home

2008-01-22T21:18:00.000-08:00

In his PJs and everything.

I came in and saw that the boys had set this whole thing up with old computer parts and whatever else was lying around. I like the way they were just intently working - typing, clicking, dragging - and looking at the white board like it had something on it.

(I tried to take a picture of Seth sitting here working too, (like he was when I came in) but as soon as he sees the camera he wants to be behind it, looking at the image on the screen. I need to be a little more discreet.)

Guitar Night

2008-01-17T19:32:00.000-08:00

John and the boys got out their guitars after dinner tonight and had a jam session.

After Seth got tired of playing guitar he entertained himself with the camera.

The evening ended with a concert from Jonathan (posing as two artists named "Andrew McCole" and "Ford Anderson.") Seth took this picture.

The concert went like this, designed by Jonathan: We announce him and he runs out amidst thunderous applause from the three of us on the couch. He picks up an appropriately shaped wooden block for a microphone (thanks Grandpa Anderson and Chris) and does his welcome/intro speech before playing for us. After the first number (more applause) he talks for a while again, one more number, and then he exits and comes on as the second guy, (who we were informed would be "dressed in really cool clothes, like what I'm wearing right now.") Speech, song, speech, song, a quick thank you speech, applause throughout (and hooting from the audience (John) at certain times during the speeches) and that was it. Thoroughly enjoyable in every way. Jonathan has a flair and style that is pretty fun to watch when he plays guitar. He really gets in the groove. He was so serious and old the whole time too, and his speeches were hilarious. I was turning and bowing my head to stifle the laughter. He's so awesome.

Super fun night.

29 days and counting

2008-01-16T22:29:00.000-08:00

To think of a name for this child!!

Any suggestions? Lay em on me.

Adventures in Bubbling, otherwise entitled, Boisenbubbles

2008-01-03T22:31:00.000-08:00

This video cracks me up. I love Seth's joy at eating the bubbles, and then the progression as his feelings change throughout the clip. It so happens his bottle was near empty, thus his struggle getting anything to work. Jonathan on the other hand was enjoying immense success. I also love watching them try to orchestrate the switch over.

PS - John gave me this super nice camcorder for Christmas!

We "gat no heat."

2007-12-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

Somehow it's only fitting that the heater for your home would bite the dust in the dead of winter, on a day ranging from 33˚ all the way down to 19˚. Luckily it only gets to the 50's inside the house. . .

We've had repair men here today and should be back in business by tomorrow, if we make it through the night. Hehe - it won't be that bad though, because we'll have space heaters in everyone's rooms. Anyway, it's been an arctic adventure today. But the boys are so active that I don't think they even noticed it was cold. Maybe I should do more aerobic activities like they do all day long, and we could really cut down on our gas bill. . . :)

Here's to a nice cozy night and a new heater in the morning. :)

P.S. Day 2
An incredibly wonderful, honest and competent technician came first thing this morning, found the problem, fixed it, and fired up our furnace, much to my extreme delight. (Not to mention it was over 2 grand less expensive than the first technician's solution of a new heater.) Thanks to my dad and Micah for calling around for a second opinion, and sending a knowlegeable person to bring heat back into our lives. I just can't say how thrilled and grateful I was to see the flames burning inside that heater again, and to hear the heater kick on. I'm glad things like this happen every once in a while to make you remember what an incredible blessing it is to have these luxuries in the first place.

Little kids are Big inside.

2007-12-05T20:52:00.000-08:00

Seth said something really funny today, in an effort to express an intense emotion. I had done something without knowing how much it would distress him, and he said to me, "Mom! You banged my life!" !! It's the polar opposite from saving someone's life, I guess. Maybe it's insensitive, but I had to laugh. Pretty intense for a little man.

Class Par tay

2007-11-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

I volunteered to help with Jonathan's Thanksgiving party for his class, and ended up being put in charge of it. :) But it turned out great and they all loved it. I found some fun patterns for making pilgrim hats and bonnets, and you should have seen how cool the boys felt,

and how absolutely gorgeous all the girls felt. They literally swayed and pranced when they had them on. You can't see it very well, but there's paper lace on the trim (from wedding doylies) that made all the difference.

Seth stayed busy either watching and stapling at my table, or playing in the kitchen area.

I was impressed with this whole table that he set up. For him, being in Jonathan's class for an hour and a half is a dream come true.

After school I asked Jonathan what his favorite part of the day was, (I thought he would say decorating the cupcakes like turkeys and eating them) but he said without hesitation, "Making the Pilgrim hats." I was surprised and happy, and he said, "Because it was with you, and you're the most beautiful-est mom in the whole world." Double flattery. This kid's good.

I love being invloved with Jonathan's class. Yet another perk of not having a day job away from home. :)

Thanksgiving FHE

2007-11-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

Jonathan and I made the turkey body earlier in the day, and then in the evening we talked about the 10 Lepers story and Jonathan hid the feathers all over the house (his idea) for Seth and him to find. They colored and glued things that they're thankful for and we had popcorn. It was super fun.

He made the other turkey at school - it's a cool pattern - using their shoe prints and hand prints.

My personal favorite. He didn't leave any room for doubt as to which one is the pregnant momma.

2007-11-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

It goes without saying that Jonathan loves his bike, but I just thought I'd post some pictures so you could all see how cool he is.

I'm pretty proud of him. :)

The Halloween Post

2007-11-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

With the amount of excitement for Halloween amoung the younger generation around this house on the days preceeding Halloween, you'da thought it was Christmas. This was actually our funnest Halloween ever too. Holidays keep getting funner as the kids get older.

John carved this apple a week or so before Halloween and just let nature take its course. It would've added to the overall effect if we hadn't shooed away the swarm of fruit flies before taking the picture.

This was part of our FHE the night before. The boys loved seeding them and helping. Any guesses who did which one? It's a toughy.

A bit of Halloween festivities at dinnertime.

Jonathan was the coolest fireman hero ever.

He especially liked the sooty face - to show that he had just now come from rescuing countless victims from a blazing firey inferno. (This pose was his idea - the cool, collected fireman holding the hose.)

Note the homemade fire extinguisher. Accessories are big for a five year old costume. It gave him something to DO with his character, which is important for any hero.

Seth was the most reserved clown ever in existence. He said trick or treat and happy halloween and thank you, but that was as forward as he got. Cuter than cute though.

He had a stong desire to help with the face paint, so it's a little sketchy at best, but its the right general idea. :)

Dumpin and sortin the loot. (First on my list was always to separate the chocolate from the fruity, so flavors don't compromise the other's goodness.)

Playing with glowsticks constituted most the rest of the night.

This really should be a side shot so you can see the prodigious profile.

John went all out and was "Gene" from the More Cowbell skit, which is a big favorite at John's work. Hih-larious. He threw in Gene quotes all day long at work. Everyone there dresses up, and they even had a trick or treating party there for all the employee's kids. And Jonathan is still saying "More Cowbell!"

Exploring carbonation

2007-11-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jonathan got a small can of soda and a cookie from school, and he immediately decided to give Seth a full half of his cookie, and some of his soda. I'm so impressed with his generosity. It was so funny while they were drinking it, because you would've thought it was whiskey by watching their expressions after a swig. They describe that carbonation burn as being "spicey," or "ficey" for Seth. After a drink Seth said with an excited smile, "It's pwetty ficey!" And Jonathan knowingly responded, "That's because it's hibernated." I put in, "Carbonated," which he repeated to Seth.

He commented later that, being so spicey, there must be a lot of "carbonate" in it, which I realized makes sense in a way --- the same way that something that is salted has salt in it. Take off the "ed" and you have the ingredient. Same with peppered, seasoned, buttered, battered, etc. Should work with carbonated too, right? I love the way a child experiments with the language.

Type casting

2007-10-29T19:23:00.000-07:00

Seth wanted to be a clown for Halloween. We thought that was hilarious, because he's always been a clown, from day one. He doesn't even need a costume. If people ask what he is when he's trick or treating, we'll just smile and say "He's a Clown. . . No, really. Check him out!" But we decided to go with the costume thing anyway, to clear it up for everyone who doesn't have the opportunity to know him as well.

And if one needs any experience to land the job of being a clown for Halloween, here's Seth's portfolio:

Funny to his very core.

We love you Sara!

2007-10-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

We all went to see Sara in her big theatrical debut and she did an excellent job. Best singing and dancing bird we ever saw, by far. And the boys still stomp around the house singing, "Boom bahdah boom bahdah boom bahada boom! We are the very scary frowny face tribe. . ."

Good job Sara. Keep it up! We love you!

Seth hits the big 3

2007-10-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

On his birthday morning they were both so excited, they wanted to do a photo shoot. They love having pictures taken of them. They pose it and then ask for a picture.

Seth had fallen in love with this toy at the store the other day, ("can we bring this home??"). He was so cute, we knew we had the winner. So when he saw it on his birthday morning he could hardly contain himself. "Oh!! You got my thing!! I LIKE it!!"

After that it was a good 25 minutes before he could be coaxed away to open anything else. He even gave it some pretty valiant efforts, turning away and going towards another present for a few seconds before hurrying back to his race track and saying, "I can't!" John and I were cracking up watching his intensity with it.

During the entire rest of the day, he and Jonthan probably spent only a half hour of their awake time away from it. I love that it has TWO tracks and TWO cars, so they can both be fully involved.

So then after a while he opened his tractor from Mom and Dad A, and got a huge kick out of that. He also found that it was great at fixing. . .his race track.

After many failed attempts at diverting his attention from the newfound joy of his life, we decided to save his other presents (some great puzzles that they love working on, and an adorable dog puppet from my parents, which he promptly hugged and named Weewoy) for later in the day, after John got home from work. That worked out great, and he was able to love those things when they came. Seth is hilarous with the puzzles. He thinks about it so hard that he actually holds his breath and lets it out in labored grunts while he puts puzzles together, or even while he watches Jonathan put one together.

Note his attention on the cars. . .

Still the cars. . . Seth! We've lit the candles! . . . Seth! Fire!!

There, his cars are all settled now just how he wants them, and he's finally able to notice that there's a huge chocolate cake with three glowing flames, right in front of him.

And does a fabulous job blowing it all out first try. He's had lots of good examples lately with birthdays of family and neighbors.

By the end of the day he was gracefully accepting the fact that he's now three, not two, like he's been for his entire life as far as he can remember. Imagine a change like that. You are no longer what you have ALWAYS been. Now you're three.

We love our Seth.

On a fieldtrip to the farm. . .

2007-10-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

Yep, along with Jonathan's other firsts, we went on his first fieldtrip. Seth and I came along of course. Who want's to miss out on a fieldtrip?? Especially one to Hee Haw Farms! :) For weeks before the big day, Jonthan told everyone he saw about the upcoming event. When they asked where he would be going, he always said, "On a bus!" What could be cooler than that?

There was a whole playhouse of corn to jump around in, a corn maze, a hay ride, farm animals - the whole works.

The most notable animal of which was a pig that was over 1000 pounds. Named Leroy. (Or, "Weewoy" to Seth, just don't tell the pig we called him that.)

He was massive. That's the combined weight of Jonathan's entire kindgergarten class. . . I'll just let that soak in for a minute.

And the only thing that came to my mind when I was looking at him was, "that's SOME PIG."

Then to top it off they each got to walk through the pumpkin patch and pick their own pumpkin. Seth had his heart set on a tiny green one the size of an apple, and Jonathan went a little more traditional. Great times. :)

P.S. The only thing that would make this place cooler is if they used Case tractors, right Rob?

Classic outing with Grandpa

2007-10-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

While we were in Mesquite Jonathan and Grandpa took a walk down to the baseball fields and found a "70's League" in full swing. And I mean full swing. These guys were all over 70, and they were simply incredible.

What could be cooler to a 5 year old boy than an outing, just him and Grandpa, to play at the park, watch baseball, and to have orange gatorade and a hot dog on a nice autumn day? Right out of a Norman Rockwell or something. I'm glad he's 5 now and he'll maybe remember fun times like this.

Typical Seth

2007-10-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

Huge smile, silliness everywhere in his expression, and holding onto as many cars as possible. We're on our way to pick Jonathan up from school, which means I just woke Seth up from his nap. I don't know very many people who are this congenial minutes after being dragged out of peaceful slumber.

Boy oh boy oh boy! :)

2007-10-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

We thought we were lucky having one boy. And now three! Seth knew it was a boy all along, and was extremely adamant about it. We should've given him more credit - maybe he knew something we didn't! Honestly, girls would be fun too, but it wouldn't hurt our feelings if we had a whole house full of boys.

The ultrasound technician was exceptionally throrough in her examination of the baby. I've never seen them check so many parts of the brain, or take so many pictures and measurements of multiple parts of the spine, just to mention a few areas of focus. It's nice to walk out of there and know that every single part of this child looks healthy. She did say he was a little bit on the big side, but that's not at all unusual for our babies. And we get to have another ultrasound in 6 weeks so they can check his thyroid growth. That will be fun with him being even older.

I just love knowing something about him now. There's something about seeing the baby, and knowing the gender that makes you feel even closer to the baby inside you.

Now for a name. . . As if we didn't exhaust all our resources coming up with names for the first two. . . Any good ideas?

The Greatest Show on Earth

2007-09-30T20:19:00.001-07:00

Mary is our current favorite because she hooked us up with 4 tickets to see the Barnum and Baily Circus yesterday! It was my first circus ever, and of course the boys' first circus too, and it met every one of our hopes and dreams of what a circus would be. Everything was very well done - they all had amazing talent, it was all very polished and professional, things and animals were well taken care of, and there were tons of interesting things everywhere to watch and point at. Our seats were on the back row of the main level, which I thought was perfect - high enough to have a great view of everything (even the high stuff,) and not at all too far away. And the back row was nice, because the boys could stand if they wanted and not be in anyone's way, not to mention quick entry, exit, and access to food stands and bathrooms. I'll apologize in advance for all the lousy pictures - the circus isn't the easiest thing to photograph (with all its extreme lighting and lots of movement,) but it was worth taking pictures anyway to let the boys keep the memory years from now.

Seth's favorite thing was the elephants, who made several appearances. I guess they were one of my favorites too, because I took a lot of pictures of them. Pretty amazing.

Jonathan's favorite was the clowns and all the scary stuff up high - like the tight wire guys on unicycles and chairs, and the clown and girl up on incredibly high and wobbly poles doing tricks, and the guys doing tricks inside the big spining circle thing you can see in the foreground of the elephant pictures.

These guys were incredible - walking with baskets on their feet so they couldn't even see the wire, walking on the other one who was laying down on his back on the wire! Pretty amazing. And there was an amazing Asian contortionist/balance group, where they stack all on top of each other in the most unfathomable ways, a couple of human cannon balls, horses and zebras doing tricks, a hilarious jumping dog routine - these dogs could do flips, ride scooters, dance on their hind legs, you name it. And of course the beautiful tigers. He got them to do some incredible things.

Add to all of this the great live music throughout the whole show, big song and dance numbers, funny clowns, great acrobatic routines, and a whole lot of 4 and 2 year old wonder (not to mention us 27 year olds,) and it was a fabulous adventure.

John was saying how wild it is that we are at the point in life where we are doing things we remember our parents doing with us. He said it just felt so much like his dad to be "taking the kids to the circus." Fun, fun times. Thanks Mary!

Little things that make me smile

2007-09-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

Jonathan came home from school today with his first Book Order. Remember those? Things like that still throw me for a loop, that I have a little boy in school. He told us the other day about doing the parachute game in P.E. - I guess that is a constant too because we used to do that. And the P.E. games with the little scooters you roll around on. . . did you guys do those? And he has his first field trip in a few weeks. Pretty crazy.

The Dancin' Guys!

2007-09-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

The other night after dinner John pulled out his electric guitar, which turned out to be a clear invitation to the boys to dance the evening away. While John played, they instantly became "The Dancin' Guys," (self named) and never tired till he was done. They started at the end of the hall and Jonathan announced, (like a professional announcer of someone famous,) "Here they come! The Dancin' Guys!!!!!!" That was their signal to run as fast as they could down the hall and out onto the "stage" (living room) to show us a flurry of their best moves. It was hilarious every time. I kept clapping and hooting and laughing every time they ran out. And then something would tell them their appearance was done, and they would race back down the hall, and stop at the end of the hall to announce themselves again. They tried new moves every time and got really creative. :) They were cracking me up.

One time Seth bounded up really close to me, and with wide eyes, eyebrows up, and the most intense face he could muster, said, "I Run! and I DANCE! . . .In my Heart !!" with his hand clapped over his heart. Indeed, he does. : ) I laughed for a long time and it still makes me smile. The whole evening was so fun, watching their exuberance, and the way they played and danced together, and hearing "the Dancin Guys!!!" announced well over 50 times, each time with equal excitement. It's one of their favorite games. (sorry, no pictures, we were having too much fun watching.)

At long last.

2007-09-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

So I'm at the stage of pregnancy now where I'm actually showing enough for people to be able to tell.

I like that.

For so long all I've gotten from anyone for my excitement in growing is, "Oh, please, you're not even showing at all." I'm sure they mean it completely as a compliment, to tell me how thin I look, but they totally miss that I'm thrilled to be poking out, even if it's just a little. And it's nice to have people acknowledge what I'm happy about. Even if other people are tiny, I like to just say that they are looking great. That means "I can tell you're showing, and you look nice." Just be happy for them if they're excited, and don't tell them the opposite of what they're happy about. Common sense right? I know they're just trying to be nice, but it's nice for me now to finally be at a point when they'll acknowledge that I'm growing. The debate over whether or not I am showing is coming to an end, and the conversation can just move on to how happy I am about it. :)

School Boy (whether I believe it or not)

2007-09-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

This is after his first day of school! (His hair is coming down after being combed up handsome before school. He likes to look sharp.) And he loves the shirt Grandma Anderson! The second day of school he came out of his room "ready for school," and told me he was wearing his school shirt. I told him it was okay to wear different shirts every day to school. But he was set to stick with that one for the year. : )

And here's Seth on Jonathan's first day, because he needed a picture too. Once when we were walking home with Jonathan after school Seth said to him, "I love you home, Jonathan." Good friends.

Jonathan loves school, in every way. I'm so happy about that. He's the very youngest in the class, so I worried and wondered and prayed a lot to know if he was ready this year. And he is so ready. I'm just really glad to see him feeling so comfortable and excited and happy there.

He comes home and fills Seth and me in on the happenings of the day. It's great. By the way, this is an accurate shot of Seth - he's always got at least one or two (sometimes 5) cars in his hands. Even when he sleeps. :)