language lessons

The language geek in me is continually fascinated by Andrew's increasingly sophisticated language aquisitions. Today he told me that he was "make sureing," a phrase that made me pause until I realized how perfectly logical it was . . . how was Andrew to know that "make" was the verb and "sure" the adjective? We use the whole phrase like a verb all the time. As in, I need to go make sure that Andrew isn't taking apart the room right now.

Happy Holidays

Having spent entirely too much time playing in the last week, we now find ourselves in the quiet lull before the storm of work descends upon us again next week. But we have to admit that we enjoyed ourselves.

But first, some make-up photos from Thanksgiving. Since we finally retrieved our camera from Bubby and Poppy's house, we can display our shots of the kids in their Thanksgiving/Christmas finery.

There's really not much to say about the week preceding the break, except that it was entirely too busy. Saturday, we had a family party with my family, replete with a Bethlehem lunch (and entirely too much food, as per usual). Although the meal was not terribly authentic (cheese sticks? fish sticks? chicken nuggets?) at least everyone found something to enjoy.

After the party, we loaded up the car and headed down to Cedar City, trying to catch the lull between the big storms that had moved into Provo during the week and were set to start again in the next day or so. We managed okay, arriving to Cedar City just after dark. Evelyn, however, did not enjoy the ride. We're starting to notice a rather unfortunate trend: anytime we spend more than an hour or two in the car, she spends most of the last hour screaming. Since she's normally a happy, placid baby, this is rather hard on all of us!

On Sunday, we went to the blessing of Matt and Laurie's baby, Leo, the newest addition to the Eves clan. However, we don't have any pictures of the baby, or of Andrew and Evelyn in their Christmas finery. (Evelyn was particularly lovely in a chocolate brown satin and velvet dress that just matched her eyes. Not to mention the little gold ballet slippers. Can you tell I had a little bit too much fun accessorizing my baby?). After the blessing, we had a big family/friends gathering at the clubhouse behind Bubby and Poppy's house. The food and company were both lovely, but we retreated early to put down our increasingly tired and cranky kids.

True to the forecast, the first few days of the week were cold and snowy. Not that Andrew minded. We found him a child's shovel at the Cal Ranch store and he was more than happy to help his dad and Poppy shovel sidewalks. (Although truth be told, Andrew did more hindering than helping--he still hasn't exactly grasped the concept that you shovel snow *off* of the sidewalks--he's just as likely to shovel newly removed snow back onto the concrete.) Since both Bubby and Poppy had to work the first couple days of the week, we had a couple of nice, slow days just hanging out.


On Christmas Eve (and, not so coincidentally, Andrew's third birthday), we spent the morning at Dan's cousin Jodi's house. Andrew was thrilled to play with her boys (especially Zach, who's only a few weeks younger than he is). He was even more thrilled to try sledding in the back yard.

After wearing him out in the snow, we joined the rest of the family at Costa Vida for lunch. (Apologies if you've already seen these pictures--Poppy borrowed some of them to post on their blog). After lunch, Bubby brought out this lovely DQ cake for Andrew. Although Costa Vida may not have been *his* first choice for lunch (he was initially upset because he couldn't order a hamburger and french fries), he was more than recompensed by the cake.

I was undoubtedly a bad mother by giving my baby a few tiny bites of ice cream. It didn't take her long to warm to the idea, although it will probably be another five months until she gets to try this again.
Sarah and Laurie, looking charming, as always.



That afternoon, after naps (well, mostly just Andrew's nap), Dan and Aaron were instructed to take the kids sledding to get them out of the house and wear them out while dinner preparations were underway. However, the evening proved the adage that the best laid plans often go awry--the upstairs toilet backed up and overflowed, and Poppy, Dan, Matt and Aaron spent the better part of the evening trying to figure out how to fix it. (I'm still not sure if it *is* fixed--I know the toilet was off limits the rest of the trip). So we fixed the kids a quiet meal and the grown-ups waited until the kids were in bed to eat ourselves. We did finally manage to get everyone together to watch Andrew open a few birthday presents--I think the poor kid's sense of entitlement was seriously bent out of shape during this past month (and not necessarily in a good way). Between scattered birthday and Christmas presents all through the month, I think he thinks it's his permanent right to open any and all presents . . .


Christmas morning started bright and early at 6:30, when the last of the kids finally woke up. The kids were uniformly enchanted by what Santa brought them--and maybe even more enchanted by what Santa brought the others. Lydia seemed fascinated by the little animal zoo we bought for Evelyn; Andrew spent the rest of the weekend half-thinking that the stroller and bassinet sets that Lydia and Katie got also belonged to him; and all of the kids had fun playing with Andrew's jungle set.

Sarah's girls got a cute set of princess dress-up clothes that Andrew also wanted to lay claim to (but he was too bulky to put on the dresses--I was afraid he would rip a seam). Luckily, I had picked up a clearance knight costume for him after Halloween, so, despite his ardent desire to wear a pretty princess dress, he was eventually pacified by his knight costume. I was pretty entertained, afterwards, to find him and Lydia hiding from the "dragon" (Jake, I think) under the piano. Lydia shrieked a few times, and Andrew told her, encouragingly, not to be afraid because he would "fight the dragon. And dragons are scared of being fighted."




After exploring the contents of the stockings, we had a nice breakfast of monkey bread and some kind of egg casserole (it was good, but I think we all agreed we could do better next time). And then the real work of the morning began: presents. Because the family is gradually increasing (there were fourteen of us there that morning) it took a couple of hours to work through all of the presents.
Andrew got more animals from Bubby, and spent most of the time playing with them while waiting his turn to open more presents. Evelyn slept through most of the precedings (the only time, ironically enough, that she napped for more than 45 minutes our entire trip!).

Andrew also got another addition to his dress-up chest with a prince costume from Matt and Laurie. He looks pretty good with a crown on, I think.

Dan was less than excited by the ties I gave him (don't worry, that wasn't the only thing he got!),


but at least some of our gifts were appreciated! We found these great mugs from the Office (Kevin and Andy, respectively) for Poppy and Matt.


After that, Christmas settled into the post-presents lull that always makes the day seem sort of anti-climactic. The kids played with (and fought over) their new toys, while the grown-ups settled into cleaning up and just hanging out. We did have fun playing with Aaron's new Settlers of Cataan after the kids went to bed, though.

Friday morning, we all endured the ordeal known as Family Pictures for Trisha. That afternoon, we took the kids to the cultural hall at the church and ran them around for a while, playing four square, soccer, baseball, bowling, racing, and anything else we could think of to get them moving. I'm not sure what Lydia was doing here, but she sure looks cute. Apparently Lydia spent the early part of the afternoon (I missed part of it, as I was home with Evelyn) stealing some of the bowling pins from the bowling game. No matter how upset Andrew got, or how earnestly he tried reasoning with her, she simply refused to part with her prize. Lydia is definitely an independent spirit!

Saturday afternoon we returned home--we fully enjoyed our trip and were sorry to leave family, but, it must be confessed, we were rather pleased to be sleeping in our own beds again!

We hope that all of our readers also enjoyed a happy, hopeful Holiday season.

Entering the final stretch

I love this time of year--crisp, cold mornings; hot chocolate; the anticipation of Christmas and my smug enjoyment in having already bought all my presents . . . oh, yes, and finals. I have to say, being the one to *give* a final is much less stressful than taking one (even if this year I'm doing exit interviews/portfolio evaluations in lieu of a final). Much as I have loved teaching this semester (and I have loved it), I'm looking forward to a break!

This last week was pretty crazy--mostly for me, I think, since finals don't really seem to interrupt the rhythm of Dan's research-oriented existence, and they barely register on Andrew's perceptions (with the possible exception of a crankier-than-usual because more-stressed-than-usual mother). And Evelyn is pretty uniformly sweet, although she's developing a new bad habit of wanting to be held all the time--more specifically, wanting to be held by me if she can see me at all. While it's undeniably flattering to be the center of her little universe, I wouldn't mind sharing some of that glory some of the time!

So, this week. (And I have to apologize for the lack of pictures--last week's photo-fest was due to my parents' generosity in loaning their camera. We apparently left our camera in Cedar City over the Thanksgiving break). I held my last two sessions of class. I somehow had this naive idea that, since my students were doing presentations in class all day Thursday, this week would be a light work load. I'd forgotten that I still had to meet with some of the students I supervise (still do, in fact) and that I was largely in charge of our closing social, which, due to stricter regulations of how university funds ought to be spent, was a bit trickier to plan than usual. (I was under the impression that we would have to do this mostly pot-luck, because of the new regulations, only to find the day before our party, in talking with the woman in charge of the budget stuff, that they're not going to crack down on implementing this policy until next semester. . . which resulted in a rather embarassing breakdown on my part right there in her office. I find that unlooked for kindness when I'm stressed out is often my undoing). But the party went well, despite its irregular set-up: we picked Hawaiian Haystacks as one of the easiest, cheapest things to prepare, but this meant setting up crock-pots and rice-cookers in three different rooms in two different buildings on campus (one was our office, the other two were rooms we'd reserved for our party) so that we didn't blow the fuse in any given place. I'm sure people looked at us strangely as they saw us setting up, but it all worked out okay in the end. And I found myself feeling a faintly maternal sense of pride as I looked over the collected group of students I supervise. They really are a pretty amazing bunch.

At any rate, we survived the week--shopping for the Writing Fellows closing social, for the few unpurchased presents we need for family, and for the two names I picked off the angel tree at the local Macy's. I thought that by choosing names of kids close in age and gender to my own kids, it would be easier to figure out what to get for them, and easier for Andrew to understand the concept of giving Christmas presents to a little boy like himself. That part worked out okay, I think, but the whole process did have one unintended consequence: this little boy was enough like Andrew that Andrew thought *he* needed to have the same kind of book and movie (Diego) that we got for this other little boy. Maybe next year we'll pick out a girl his age instead.

On Saturday we braved a snowstorm to go up to Salt Lake to see family--most especially Dan's sister Sarah. If I'd known how bad the snow was going to be in the morning (most people were going 35 on the freeway) we might not have gone. But we went and we had fun, despite the dismal weather. Andrew was in heaven running around with his cousins. After Evelyn went to sleep, Sarah and I (mostly at my instigation) abandoned the crew for the lace store where I stocked up on ribbons to make accessories for Evelyn. We came back and Sarah made some yummy coconut-lime cupcakes w/ sour cream frosting. About mid-afternoon, once the snow had stopped falling, we headed back home and spent the rest of the day at home, in pursuits mundane enough not to need mention here.

Andrewisms #379

Today, while I was on campus, my mom let Andrew help her wrap Christmas presents (I never knew my mom was so brave!). Then tonight, as I was getting Andrew ready for bed, he recounted to me the events of his day: wrapping presents was apparently one of the big highlights.

He told me, "Mommy, we wrapped some shoes for you and some chocolates for Daddy."

Since I knew about the shoes, this wasn't too big of a deal breaker. But I told him, "Andrew, you shouldn't tell people what you wrap in presents. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"But I didn't tell you what's in your present. I just told you the words."

I had to stifle a laugh. "Don't even tell the words, then."

"Okay. I'll just tell you the letters."

Needless to say, I don't think he quite gets the idea of Christmas surprises. Family, beware! (And don't let Andrew tell you what we're getting you . . .)

Rue is for Remembrance

Today would have been my grandfather's 88th birthday, had he lived. It's also the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. On that day, my grandfather turned 21--not a good time to be 21, I might add--and shortly thereafter enlisted in the U.S. Marines.

But despite the somewhat somber remembrances with which we open this blog, our overall interest here is in preserving some happier memories: yesterday, we poached Jake's real birthday to celebrate Andrew's birthday (we're hoping this way to give him some separation between his birthday and Christmas).

Although the planning and execution of the party took a lot of time and effort, I'm rather pleased with how things turned out. Since one of Andrew's abiding loves has been animals, we decided to go with an animal safari theme. I picked up cheap plastic pith helmets at the local party store, and between the dollar store and Michael's dollar section, I managed to put together some safari bags with coloring books, fruit snacks, magnifying glasses, little books for field journals, and some animal stickers. Dan and I also put together a pretend safari--we scattered all of Andrew's stuffed animals (and some of my mom's) throughout the upstairs and added a tent and tunnels, along with a mini trampoline (snake pit), slide (mountains) and blanket (swamp). To help the kids follow the safari, I posted signs with arrows and I also put together a map. On the flip side of the map was a check-list of animals (with pictures) that they were likely to see on the safari.

It took us probably an hour to actually put the safari together--it took all of ten minutes for the kids to go through our mini obstacle course and identify the animals.

Here are our little explorers, outfitted and ready to depart base camp.

First, we had them push through the "jungle vines" to climb the "cliffs of insanity" (Dan's choice--I'm sure I don't have to tell you the reference).

A couple of our explorers emerging from the caves.


After getting out of the caves, we stopped in the "savana" portion of our safari to take stock and identify the animals (for me, that meant trying to keep Andrew from actually collecting the animals).
Although Brielle wasn't officially part of the safari, she still enjoyed going through some of the obstacle course. (Like our "alpine slide" here).


My friend Karin's youngest, Nolan, preparing to embark across the Okey-Dokey Swamp. (At one point, there were actually some large bugs in the swamp, but I think Andrew absconded with them.)
Winding down the safari.

Once we arrived back at base camp, the kids used their stickers to decorate their field journals and "record" the animals they'd seen.


I think the universal favorite item in the safari packs I put together was the $.30 magnifying glasses I found. Here, our exhibit of "Monkey see, Monkey do."


Evelyn slept through the first half of the party (thankfully!) but she woke up just in time for lunch. Dan (who was conspicuously absent from these pictures b/c he spent the time in the kitchen) was our chef, and he made Andrew's favorite: pasta and meatballs. I think most of the kids enjoyed their lunch (Jacob ate an impressive four meatballs--possibly to make up for Joshua not eating any), so score one for us.


After lunch, we had cupcakes. But the camera decided to malfunction at that point, so you'll have to use your imagination. The cupcakes were actually about as easy as they could be. I bought a bunch of miniature plastic animals, colored the cupcake frosting bright green (initially I was going to use my Wilton grass tip, but the frosting was too soft and I realized it would take way too long, so I just covered the cupcakes. I guess it worked, because Jacob's excited exclamation upon seeing the cupcakes was, "Look! The cupcakes are covered with grass!"), and put an animal on each cupcake. The kids all liked the animals, and if they all seemed to like the frosting more than the cupcake, at least the adults actually appreciated my cream-cheese filled chocolate cupcakes.

Andrew precipitated the present-opening by, well, opening a present before we'd actually gathered everyone together. He seems pretty thrilled by all his presents: he's already played with all of them: my mom gave him a set of games (Candyland, Hi-ho Cherry-o, Chutes and Ladders, and Memory), and this morning while I slept in, Andrew insisted on playing every single one of them with his dad. As penance, I had to play a long-ish game of Hi-ho Cherry-o with Andrew later.

Although I'm not in a hurry to put on a party like this again, I was glad that everyone (with the possible exception of my dad, who's peaceful domain was invaded by squealing children) seemed to enjoy themselves. And now, I'm being summoned by my daughter, so I'll close!

Jekyll and Hyde

On Thursday I underwent a transformation. For most of the morning I was a reasonably even-tempered (not perfect, of course) mom humoring her toddler and playing with her baby. And then we went to the grocery store. Andrew wanted to sit in the car in front of the cart--which was fine, great even, because it had a strap. But not very long into our trip he started whining to get out. And I, foolishly, let him out, after reviewing our rules for good behavior in the store (i.e., if he touches anything or runs away he has to go back in the cart). And of course, it took all of thirty seconds for him to start breaking rules. I warned him, and then, after the second infraction, I tried to put him back in the cart. Since he is now approximately 40 inches and 38-9 lbs, trying to stick him back inside the little car so I could strap him down (Evelyn was occupying the other set of straps, and there were too many groceries in the back of the cart) involved a lot of straining on my part and a lot of screaming on Andrew's part. In fact, he screamed so long and so loud that I was afraid he would start puking, so I consoled him that, if he was good, I would let him out again. He calmed down, swore he would be good, and I (foolishly, again) let him out (again).

And thus began my transformation from a mild-mannered Dr. Jekyllish sort of person to something more resembling Mr. Hyde (but not this one, thank goodness!). I was already frustrated because of feeling humiliated as I tried to force a reluctant toddler into the car/cart (I'm sure there were people in the store wondering if they needed to call child services), but after Andrew got out of the cart again he began to flout our rules again. While I was trying to evaluate which brand of sauce to buy, Andrew wandered down to the end of the aisle, started taking things off the shelf, and then, before I could catch up with him, skipped around the corner--which meant I had to temporarily abandon Evelyn to grab him. I saw red. Hot, surging, unreasoning anger. I wanted--quite literally--to strangle him. I refrained, but the force of that sudden rush of anger was a little frightening. What is it, I wonder, about this child whom I love more than my own life, that makes me so spitting angry? How is it that I can have reached adulthood with a reasonable self-control (again, not perfect, but most of the time I manage to control things), and yet have this two-almost-three-year-old undo all of my good intentions so fast? Are all children like this? Or we just peculiarly blessed (or am I just peculiarly weak)? I've talked with a few other moms--enough to suspect that I'm not alone in this transformation, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating, or challenging.

But at least I've learned one thing: next time we go to the store, Andrew stays in the cart!

hymn of thanksgiving

I'm reminded (especially looking at these pictures) of how much we have to be grateful for:

Two beautiful, healthy children
A good marriage
A home to live in and plenty of food
Jobs that not only pay our bills but actually bring us both a measure of intellectual challenge
And, in my case, a job that still lets me spend most of my time home with my children
Education
Membership in the church (and the spiritual benefits we reap when we actually try to do what we're supposed to do)
Family members that are not just family, but also our best friends
Citizenship in a country where we're entitled to our own opinions
(Dan adds, "Experience living somewhere besides Utah . . . for a little perspective")

And of course, our list could go on, but we'd probably lose most of our readers by then. But I think these are the most important.



Once again, not a lot to report from our end. We laughed (and cried!) at Sarah's post about Lydia's new artistic abilities. (And I have to admit to being a little worried when Dan tells me that this artistic ability may run in the family . . . he did something similar as a child). We've somehow muddled through yet another week. I spent more time on campus than usual because we were interviewing new candidates for Writing Fellows--which has been an interesting experience. Some of the candidates are exceptionally well qualified--some of the best BYU has to offer (including a young man who's a member of Vocal Point, for all you acapella fans out there). And some have been, well, interesting. We ask all the students to come prepared to teach us a five minute skill, and this week I learned, among other things, how to tie a figure-eight knot for rapelling, how to make a peanut butter sandwich (twice!), how to take someone's blood pressure, how to fold a shirt, how to stand at attention, how to meditate, how to make pipe cleaner animals . . . and I can't remember the rest. It's been a good experience, but I'm glad it's (almost) over.

Dan had a phone interview with SUU this week--a promising sign, but we're not sure how well the interview went, since Dan (apparently infected by long acquaintance with me) has spent the intervening days over-analyzing what he said and what he *should* have said. We're still hoping for at least the next level of interviews, but we'll keep you posted.

Andrew continues to be alternately endearing and frustrating. (We talked in Relief Society today about being grateful even in times of trial, and I realized that right now, the biggest trial I face is only about 3 ft 4 inches tall . . .). While I was on campus this week, Andrew had my mom call me so he could talk to me. He picked up the phone and said, "Mommy, you left me! . . . And you left your baby! . . . Okay, bye." With that heart-rending message, he hung up. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

This morning, while Dan and Andrew were playing together, Dan started to sing "Manamana" (from the Muppets). Andrew apparently didn't like it, because he turned to Dan and said, very seriously, "Daddy, don't you know it's nice to be quiet in the mornings?"

I am so smart: S-M-R-T

So, apparently we're developing a name for ourselves here in the ward. Or something. Dan had a PPI this afternoon, and while he was waiting for his interview, one of the guys in the ward told Dan that we had the reputation of being "the smart couple" in the ward (?). This might be flattering, if I hadn't taught a lesson today in Relief Society on gaining knowledge of eternal things, and wasn't therefore quite so aware of how little most of the things I know are worth. Of course, this reputation may stem largely from the fact that I was (apparently) the only one in our Sunday School class that knew what "opprobrium" meant.

There's not much to report from this week (that we haven't already reported). Andrew had his last swim lesson yesterday, but lest he repine too much we've signed him up for the next round in January. That boy sure likes water.

After his swim lesson we headed up to Salt Lake City to see Dan's sister, since his parents were in town for a visit. Half-way up, I was tempted to turn around: not because I dreaded seeing my in-laws (far from it), but because our children's behavior was rather inauspicious. Evelyn was screaming in her car seat and I was trying, ineffectually, to calm her down from the front seat. Andrew chose that moment to have a coughing fit. For Andrew, coughing, on top of all the rootbeer he had downed with lunch, had a disastrous effect: he proceeded to puke up his lunch. The only bags I had were our Wendy's bags from lunch, and, unfortunately, I grabbed the paper one first (the other bag at least had some kind of plasticky lining), so it promptly sprung a leak. Gross. At least Sarah was able to provide clean clothes for Andrew upon our arrival.

We hung out for most of the afternoon before having dinner at Olive Garden and heading home. Andrew missed his nap in favor of playing with his cousins, and by dinner time he was so tired that he was actually pretty well-behaved. A minor miracle in and of itself. All in all, a nice day and a nice week.

We leave you with pictures of our growing girl. I *finally* got a decent picture of her smiling. And check out the video--there's something irresistible about her giggles.

Six months and counting

So, Evelyn's six month appointment can't compare in excitement with the arrival of a new cousin, Katharine Elise Collings (congrats Justin and Lia), but it was probably the second most exciting thing to happen today.

There's not much to report--she continues to be healthy and happy, although her growth curve has slowed down a bit. She's now 16 lbs 12 oz (67th percentile), and 26.25 inches (69th percentile), with a head circumference of 17.25 inches (85th percentile--yup, she's a Collings). For a preemie, that's not bad. I was just a little amused (although maybe I shouldn't have been) when the doctor told me that some recent studies have suggested that "late premature babies" (i.e. between 34-37 weeks) tend to have reading delays. I wasn't amused by that possibility, but by his grave suggestion that maybe we ought to read more with her (!). As if any child in our house can help but be surrounded by books. . . . Let's just say, I'm not too worried.

an historic occasion

Although the election of the nation's first African American president will probably be recorded in history books for decades to come, our few firsts for the week are unlikely to find themselves recorded anywhere but in our homely little blog.

Aside from doing our patriotic duty by voting (where, incidentally, Dan and I cancelled out each other's votes. We'll leave you to guess who voted for whom.), this week has been remarkably incident free. While this could be construed as having a "boring" week, we manage to stay busy and interested in most of our lives. Andrew spent the first part of the week recovering from his stomach bug (we took him to the doctor on Monday, and the doctor, gravely sympathetic, said that Andrew had the stomach flu and an ear infection--and the first meant that he couldn't get oral antibiotics for the second, but to come back if Andrew's ear infection seemed much worse and he'd get a shot). I managed to spend the second half of the week sick myself--not, thank goodness, with the stomach flu, but with a cold that was miserable enough for all that.

We rescued Andrew's old Graco jumper from the piles of stuff in the boys' room and tried it out on Evelyn. She seems to like it, although she was pretty bemused by the camera when I tried to take her picture (this is the least deer-in-the-headlights of the pictures I took). Her head has a tendency to list a little to the right. I'm not sure if this is because she's still developing strong neck muscles, or something I need to worry about--at any rate, I'll ask the doctor on Wednesday when I take her in for her six-month check-up. (Hard to believe that tomorrow she'll be six months old! Unless Lia's in the hospital right now, there's also a chance that she might be exactly six months older than her cousin Catherine . . .)


We also dug out some of Andrew's old toys for her to play with, but so far, Andrew seems more interested in the toy than she is. (Ironic, that, since he didn't show that much interest in the toy when it was exclusively his . . .). This is a little worrisome, since we bought the corresponding animal zoo for Evelyn for Christmas . . . . At least it's a toy that Andrew can enjoy playing with her!

Speaking of toys, we took Andrew to the toy store on Saturday after his swim lessons (an outing that Dan has vowed will not be repeated--the toy store, that is, not the swim lesson). On our way there, Andrew made us both laugh. We'd asked him what we should get Evelyn for Christmas, and he said, quite consideringly, "Well, let's wait and see what they have and then we'll decide" (a phrasing that was so nearly my own that I might have said it!). Andrew's got a pretty good ear for mimickry--earlier this week, while we were outside, Andrew crouched down by one of Grandma's dying petunias and said, "It's such a beautiful day, Mommy! The birds are singing and the flowers are blooming . . ." (the latter two phrases are ones I use every time I tell him "Little Red Riding Hood").

In other news, Dan is still applying for jobs and I'm entering into yet another hectic phase at work, since we're actively recruiting Writing Fellows for next semester--we had an info meeting this week and applications are due next week (which means the week after that will be *CRAZY* as we try to sort through the 50-60 applications we're expecting). If any of you know good writers currently at BYU--encourage them to apply! (You can send them to http://writing.byu.edu).

One last first for the week--we fed Evelyn rice cereal for the first time, thus beginning her long, slow process towards weaning (though she doesn't know that yet!). I initially tried mixing the cereal with formula, but she did not like that at all, so we resorted to thawing some of the frozen breast milk from when she was in the NICU. She seemed to like that much better.

On a totally different tangent, I feel like I ought to share an unexpected "tender mercy" of the Lord that I experienced this morning. I've noticed that some of the more recent lessons in Sunday School (particularly today's lesson on the Second Coming, but also the lesson a few weeks ago on Trials) have had a darker edge to them--and given the worrrisome state of the economy right now, I think it's easy to get a little depressed about the future. I know that I was feeling worried--and guilty for feeling worried (where was my faith?). Not so much about the economy, because history has shown that will eventually right itself, although it may be a painful process to get there, but more about the possibility that the worsening economy could lead to the collapse of governments predicted before the Second Coming. That, combined with this secret fear I have of something catastrophic happening to my family (after all, since every one must bear some kind of trial, what's to say this won't be mine), has been weighing on me quite a bit recently.

But this morning--in what some might call a "happy accident," but I prefer to think of as a "tender mercy," I read Elder Uchtdorf's talk on hope and Elder Wirthlin's talk "Come What May, and Love It," one right after another. What I took away from those two talks was the comforting reassurance that though our lives will be difficult at times (and though we don't want to trivialize those difficulties), our hope, rooted in Christ, can carry us through these difficult times. And that, no matter what happens to us in this life, if we are faithful, we will reap joy in the life to come. I just need to remember not to have such a short-sighted perspective on things!

Andrew's New Songs

Tonight, Andrew graced us with three new songs that he created. The first is more of an oratorio, "The Tall Hippopotamus Song":

First you lift your head up out of the water,
open your mouth and then you swim away.

Next was his dancing song. While he twirled and skipped down the room he sang (but not to any tune you'd recognize):

Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast

Finally he was able to combine his two favorite primary songs "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" and "Once there was a Snowman":

One there was a popcorn, popcorn, popcorn
Tall, Tall, Tall

I wonder if he's bidding to become a musician--he likes to climb on the piano bench and play songs of his own composing (sometimes while shouting as loudly as he can, "Fortissimo!" Clearly, he watches too much Little Einsteins).

The promised video

Here's the video that didn't make it up last night. (See our last post for more info).

Not with a bang, but a whimper . . .

You'd think, on the face of things, that we were all set to celebrate All Hallows Eve in style--we were (nearly) kid-free (Andrew was home with Grandma) and we were in Las Vegas for the weekend, with nearly all our expenses covered . . . But in fact, we were in Vegas for an academic conference (the International Writing Centers Association *and* the National Conference for Peer Tutors in Writing, aka IWCA/NCPTW--try saying that ten times fast) and Halloween slipped by us mostly unobserved.

We did, of course, briefly attend our ward's Halloween party on Wednesday evening (a chili cook-off, ostensibly, but without any prizes for best chili--what's up with that?). Andrew was thrilled to prance around in his elephant costume again, and of course, Evelyn was an adorable rhinoceros (see last week's post for pictures). One woman saw Evelyn and immediately started laughing, saying, "Have you ever seen anything so cute?" And of course, I haven't. :) But we had to leave before the festivities really got started, because the dinner had started late and by the time anything besides dinner was underway, it was Andrew's bedtime.

But we have full reports from Grandma that Andrew loved Halloween, and, far from being frightened by the skeletons on the neighbors' lawns (as he was last year), he insisted on exploring every single one of them. After going around the neighborhood, he helped Grandma hand out candy, bouncing up and down on the steps with excitement at each new arrival. Now, I think he's counting down the days (or would, if he knew how many there were) between now and Thanksgiving when he can go see Bubby and Poppy.

Dan and I left town early Thursday morning with a van full of students and Evelyn. Our ride down progressed smoothly, if uneventfully. We overheard one of the students comment on how leisurely the ride was, and Dan commented somewhat ruefully that he thought we were actually making pretty good time (compared to our usual time with both kids). Apparently stopping every couple hours was a luxury for them (a necessity for us, if we want to forestall cranky, hungry children). Anyway, we got down to Vegas Thursday afternoon with just enough time left to check into the hotel and still make it to the final session of the day.

Thursday evening we took the students to Maggiano's, our favorite Italian restaurant in Vegas. (It helped that we had a per diem--otherwise I'm sure we couldn't have justified the splurge). We had lots of food--all of it good. We ordered the family menu, which allowed us to get two appetizers, two salads, two pasta dishes, two meat entrees and two desserts. We sent most of the left-overs home with the students.

On Friday, I went to conference sessions in the morning and early afternoon (checking in periodically to feed Evelyn--it was a good thing our room was so close to the conference!). Robert and Trisha showed up around 2 p.m. to visit with Dan and the Baby. Having by then had my fill of the conference, I went with Dan and his parents to Trader Joe's and Fry's (the Costco of electronics, as Dan puts it). We had intended to do a group dinner again, but the students bailed on us--whether because they were tired, had too much homework, were disinclined to try Japanese food, or all of the above, we're not sure. So it was just a small family party that went to Osaka's for dinner. We ate in one of their tatami rooms (specially modified for Americans, of course, so we didn't actualy sit on the floor). Robert ordered lots of sushi, which was pretty good, but I preferred the teriyaki chicken and tempura that I had. Afterwards, we went to Toys R Us so Trisha could work on whittling down her Christmas list and then wandered around in one of the local malls and enjoyed seeing all the little kids in costume.

Saturday, we went to the first session of the conference and then headed back up to Provo, arriving in the early evening. All in all, I think it was a pretty successful trip. I think the students all learned some useful things about tutoring, and I came away with some good ideas about things to try with our Writing Fellows. Of course, I was also reminded that my profession seems composed of equal parts earnest, sincere folks trying to make a difference for others, and wacky individuals with obscure motivations (but seem to a large degree self-interested).

I also enjoyed the conference because it meant I ran into my former boss from Penn State, Jon Olson, who was presenting at the conference (and, it turns out, the recipient of IWCA's major award). Because he won an award, his wife, Cheryl Glenn (my dissertation director) was also there. It was wonderful to see both of them again, and to have the chance to introduce them to Evelyn. It was typical of Jon, too, that when he got up to accept his award (his big moment in the spotlight), he shared that moment with about twenty other people, having Cheryl stand up, having all his peer tutors come up to the stand with him, and mentioning all his former tutors (myself included) by name and having them stand. (He also embarrassed me quite a bit by adding, when I stood up, that I was one of the best rhet/comp students to come out of Penn State. I was flattered [and skeptical, but that's another story], but very, very embarassed).

Here's the view from our room in the Alexis Park hotel:


And here's a view of part of our suite (we had another room with a small kitchen unit and living area).
The picture of Evelyn made me laugh because it's so nearly the twin of a picture we took two years ago, at RSA in Memphis, when Andrew was the age Evelyn is now. I apparently have a (bad) habit of dragging spouse and children to academic conferences.

The rest of our weekend has passed pretty unspectacularly. We came home to find that Andrew had been sick (throwing up, diarrhea, etc. but we'll spare you the details). Because he still hadn't recovered this morning, we kept him home from church and Dan and I alternated attending our meetings. From the energy he exhibits, though, you'd never guess he was ill.

Evelyn, of course, remains a real sweetheart--one of the biggest things I appreciated about this conference was what a placid, malleable traveller she is (in sharp contrast to her brother at the same age!). As you can see, she's slowly starting to sit up. She can now sit more-or-less unsupported (she tends to topple over easiliy) if we prop her up on her hands.

And I keep trying, unsuccessfully, to capture her smiling on film. She has this huge, open-mouthed grin (Sarah calls it a verticle grin) that just splits her face when she's smiling. I'm not sure why she thinks she has to open her mouth so wide to smile, but it's sure cute.

Finally, in the spirit of the season we offer Andrew with his own unique musical take on Halloween . . . (Lest you be too impressed with the lyrics, we have to confess that they come from his Little Einstein's Halloween book. The tune, however, is all Andrew.) (Editor's note: We had trouble loading the video--check back, we'll have it up soon. We hope.)