Surviving on love

This last week was pretty busy, but nothing super extraordinary.

Monday, we took advantage of the national parks fee free day and went to Zion. I didn't get pictures, so you'll have to imagine the blue, blue sky and the mild weather. And Oliver stopping every five feet to feel the sand on the trail. We hiked the lower emerald pool trail, then Kayenta, and had bread and cheese at the End.

Andrew is back in scouts and, now that he's a bear, the day of the week has shifted so he can go to Tae Kwon Do on Wednesdays again, which he seems happy about. I'm hoping some of the discipline will rub off on him.

Dan has been busy with work and serving on a hiring committee, but he did get to go to an Arts Insight program with a former chemistry professor. He said he wasn't sure what the audience made of all the chemistry (it was part of the Arts program), but he enjoyed it.

Oliver got to have a playdate this week (read: I needed a babysitter while I had an appointment on campus), and he was so excited to play with a friend, he spent the rest of the day telling me about it. Apparently, I need to get him out more.

Evelyn continues to be her charming self, though none of the big appointments this week were hers.

As for me, I'm still trying to keep on top of parenting, teaching, and writing. This week I had both book group and my writers group, so I got in extra socializing. (As an introvert, sometimes I forget that I do like being around other people--as long as they are people I like!).

I'm wishing I had something more interesting to write about.

Oliver continues to charm us with his language. This week's money line was, "Mommy, that's a helicopter flying!"

And he's learned from someone (I think Andrew) that the response to "No," is "Oh, why not?" in this plaintive voice that cracks me up every single time.

Birthdays

Growing up, the season immediately after Christmas was always about birthdays--all four kid had birthdays within a 3 week span, ending with mine. Because they were so close together, birthdays were never a big deal (though we had fun).

Today is my birthday--and I still don't have a big celebration. But I've had a good day--and yesterday was even better, since Dan let me run away to the library in the morning to write with my friends (we actually do write!) and then we had lunch together. Today we had a leisurely morning, church, and dinner with Bubby and Poppy, including a chocolate pie. :)

And thanks to social media, I've had lots of lovely birthday wishes. Mostly I'm just feeling loved today. (And a little wondering how I got so old).

To round out our pretty insubstantial post, here's some more Oliver cuteness (though you may have seen this on FB).

Yesterday, Oliver cracked us all up by making up a little ditty. It went something like this:

I got my boots.
I got my hands.
I got my knuckle hands.
I got my chubble cheeks.

Hard not to love a kid with "chubble cheeks."

And then there was this conversation with Evelyn when we picked Andrew up from scouts:

"A boy wanted to kiss me but the teacher wouldn't let him."
"Did you want him to kiss you?"
"No way! I don't want anyone to fall in love with me until I'm a teenager" (in a tone that implied that anyone who kissed her would be powerless against her charm).

even if I am getting older and have gray hairs, I'm grateful for these kids.

Alphabetically speaking

One the delightful things about toddlers is their emergent language skills. These days, Oliver talks about everything: he narrates his own actions, he asks incessant questions about books we reads, and chatters to himself and anyone who will listen.

At naptime today, he told me all about the story we were reading: Mama, him hafta go potty. Mama, him friends wait for him. (He's still working on pronouns, obviously).

And he sings the alphabet song, from start to finish. It's pretty adorable, but he won't let anyone sing with him. And when I try to catch him on camera, he wants to see the film as soon as he notices what he's doing. That hasn't stopped me from trying, though, so here's this week's attempt (you also get the very real ambience of Evelyn yelling at Andrew in the background):

There isn't a whole lot to report: we  survived the first week of classes (I survived despite my persistent cold), I got an ear infection on top of said cold, and the weather here as warmed even as the Eastern part of the US has plummeted.

Andrew got to go to a basketball game with his friend last night, where he saw Bubby and Poppy and generally had a great time. I took Evelyn to see Into the Woods--a major parenting fail, because even though I knew the basic plot, I underestimated how scary the second half would be on the big screen (there's a big difference between a film production and a stage production, I found). I still enjoyed it, but I felt badly that she clearly did not.

Ringing in the New Year

We really know how to celebrate a New Year!

We drove up to my parents' house on New Years' Eve, played a few games with the kids (Andrew got to stay up until the late hour of  9 pm), and then went to bed well before midnight.

Of course, I still managed to see midnight, but only because Oliver was up three or four times that night with, surprise surprise, croup. (I think we've seen the doctors at the Instacare near my mom's house almost as often as the doctors here.)

We still managed to do some fun things. My mom and I went to the Dillard's New Years' Day sale, which of course is Dan's idea of Hades, but we found some great deals on shoes.

And when the kids were feeling better, we met my brother Jared at the aquarium in SLC (it's pretty fantastic). We only lost my mom a couple of times.

Evelyn and Brielle terrorized in the jaws of the shark.

Oliver really liked getting up close and personal to all the exhibits.

One of our favorite exhibits was this one, which let us walk under a tunnel while sharks, rays, and other fish swam overhead. It was pretty crowded that day, on the last weekday of the winter break.

This picture's pretty blurry, but you can see the sharks in the background.

Evelyn contemplating the secrets of the universe--at least the ocean.

Saturday morning, Justin's wife, Lia, brought their kids over for lunch so the cousins could play before we headed back home. Oliver had fun playing sidekick to a cousin about his age and size.

 

 

Overall, a pretty great break. It will be nice to have some routine back--but I'm honestly not sure how ready we are for school to start!