The first words out of Amelia's mouth when she wakes up on this lazy Saturday morning:
"Mo.....oom, did you know that tigers are sometimes called The Beautiful Beast?"
She then rolls over and goes back to sleep.
I love this girl!
Jacob and I are sitting here waiting for some friends to swing by for airsoft and I decided to interview him now.
What makes you happy? swimming and playing airsoft and playing video games
What makes you laugh? funny TV shows
If you were going to eat pure junk food, tell me the menu? Doritos, Takis, Pepsi, Butterfinger shake, cheese pizza, sour gummy candies, beef jerky
(I can't allow him to continue. I am now feeling sick!)
If you were going to create a healthy enjoyable meal, what would it include? Brisket, snow peas, carrots, and spinach salad.
Favorite present ever? probably my football or bike
Someone you look up to? Dad
A few good friends? Leah, David, Isaac, Joseph, Brigham
Strong subject in school? PE
Favorite teachers? Ms. Mackey (Social Studies and English at Harmony-5th grade)
Mrs. Halprin (kindergarten at Purple Sage)
Ms. Lee (3rd grade at Purple Sage)
Mrs. Bone-Jackson (pre-k)
Coach Beardsley (Gym teacher at Harmony)
Things that make you sad? Not being allowed to play airsoft, getting grounded, moving away from Texas
Your favorite thing about Andrew? Playing airsoft with him, going on hikes together, playing football, and that he'll always play with me no matter how much of a jerk I am to him.
Your favorite thing about Millie? She's hilarious. She plays airsoft with me.
Your favorite things about Mom? She's patient. She rarely grounds me.
Tell me what you love to learn about. History - specifically wars.
What do you want to be when you grow up? U.S. Marine
How many kids do you plan on having? (freaked out voice) I don't know!!
Where do you think you'll serve a mission? Ummm, China?
Love you, Jake da snake!
Had to document my boy becoming a gentleman.
Jacob bought an airsoft gun a couple of days ago and it wasn't working right. He planned to get together with the kids in the neighborhood this afternoon and was in a big hurry to get to the store to exchange his gun for a new one. He hustled right up to the Customer Service area with Millie and I dragging a little behind. A woman approached the line around the same time Jacob was getting there and he immediately said in a clear gracious voice, "You can go ahead of me!"
I am so very impressed with how he handled himself while in a hurry and without me even really there yet. Way to go Jacob!
And then a funny tidbit: As we were driving home I snagged my nail and it ripped halfway.
Me: "Whoa Jacob, check this out."
Jacob glances and shudders and says while kind of laughing: "I know you're divorced now and don't have a man to show that kind of stuff to, but you don't need to use me as a substitute!"
Hahaha! As if I keep a man around to show disgusting stuff to!
millie and i are hanging out on an overcast afternoon. the babes are sleeping. the dog is sleeping. so let's do an interview, shall we? i mean who doesn't want to record the going on's of a 4 year old.
=my shift key isn't working so i am not going to worry about capitalization today.=
what do you want to be when you grow up? a ballerina. or a ninja. i don't know which one, but probably a ninja would be a better one to choose.
why? because jacob and andrew and david already trained me to be a ninja.
what makes you happy? uh, that they taught me it.
what is your favorite color? black
what is your favorite treat? gummy worms
what is your favorite vegetable? green beans and lunch carrots
who is your best friend? katie staines
do you like church? yes
why? because i like what they teach. it makes me feel good
what parts of church do you like? primary (primawee)
tell me about jacob? hmmm...let me think......that he doesn't like to go to church. that he teaches me how to be nice. i play games with him like "cat."
tell me about andrew? that he plays dog with me and likes to play a lot of games with me. he is quiet.
tell me about your mom? uh...that she helps me clean up my room. that she helps me get what i like for breakfast. she reads to me.
what makes you laugh? jacob
where do you like to go? to the park
who do you like to visit? sydney.
what did you do for easter? play games and play other games that i like. (she just pointed out that the word "like" has a silent e.)
what games do you like, amelia? cat, puppy, frisbee, ninja, and do what i like to play
what is your favorite room to hang out in? andrew's room, because it has lots of toys
what toys do you play with everyday? uh, mmm, phonics pad and dress up clothes, and stuffed animals.
tell me your favorite thing to eat for dinner? parmesan chicken and pancakes
where are you going to get married? in the temple.
which one? the salt lake one
are you excited to go to school? yes.
what will you do there? play games
i am sensing a common theme here. games.
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amelia has just demonstrated her amazing typing skills. are you amazed? i am amazed.
well that's that.
amelia love, i love you. just don't ever serve me parmesan chicken and pancakes at the same time.
Pooh. I am sad.
My really, really good friend is moving to California. I am SO sad. I could say that six times. Maybe sixteen times.
Grrrrrrrrr!
Since moving here there have been only two women in my ward that I have become close friends with. The first, Becky Staines, moved back to her home in England last May. Just this morning I drove by her house and felt a deep ache inside. Our family was really good friends with their whole family. That doesn't happen a lot for us. So I was thinking of our Sunday afternoons at the park with them, Friday nights hanging out and watching movies or playing Wii or whatever, hundreds of hours doing PTA work together. All over. And I felt empty inside.
Then tonight I find that my other dear friend, Selene, is moving with her family this May. It's not fair! They are the other family we hang out with. Amelia idolizes 10 year old Heidi and Heidi is more than happy to play dress up with her forever. Phoenix and Adam love to play with Jake and Andy, and I have worked with Selene in Young Women's for about three years and LOVE HER! She makes me laugh all the time. I can be 100% me, and we get each other. Cortis is always fun to talk to and makes me laugh too.
I wish that everyone didn't move all the time. I realize it is part of life now, but I wish things weren't so transient. Even with this though, I don't like feeling left behind. Maybe I will move. Pack up the kids and move to, oh I don't know, North Carolina? I'd rather seek out adventure with all new friends, than try to start making new friends with people who have always been around. Does that sound weird?
Ugghh. I'll be fine. Really I have lots of nice people around that I love chatting with and laughing with and even do stuff with, but still......IT'S NOT FAIR!!
Maybe I'll sabotage their move. Yes, I think that's what I'll do.
My sweet schnoogie doons (Andrew) has been really needing some extra love lately, so Jacob and Amelia were picked up by Poppy in his super cool Jeep and taken away for a sleepover.
We had such a fun night!
*Made a ding and dash delivery to our Secret Valentine family
*Went to his favorite restaurant, Kerbey Lane, where he can get a big ole pancake any time of day
(he excitedly announced to the waitress that he could down 10 pancakes at home, no problem). We discussed all that he is learning at school, he taught me how to do fractions, he explained his version of the perfect dog and he told me a lot of jokes and riddles in his one volume voice
*Stopped by the library to check out books on bald eagles, but they were closed! Never fear, Red Box to the rescue
*Watched Dolphin Tale. I enjoyed the movie, but I spent a good portion of it watching my sons eyes shine as he watched this sweet animal rehabilitate. What an animal lover he is. And such a tender heart.
*I told him he could sleep in my room tonight and I asked him to read the scriptures. He, of course, turned to Luke because that is the only place he ever seems to read. We discussed parables. He kept reading. In the middle of his last verse he started giggling. I was kind of falling asleep (shhh...)and didn't know what he was laughing at. Finally he said, "Mommy? We learned the weirdest song in music class and I can't get it out of my head!" He started singing Puff The Magic Dragon, so of course I joined in. He COULD NOT BELIEVE I knew the song too! His eyes were huge! "How do you know that song?!"
*I am totally crazy about him
*Again, such a fun night
I'm sitting here late on a Friday afternoon. Thankfully the sun is shining and has warmed things up enough that the children have been outside since they arrived home from school. All I've done is read the newest National Geographic cover to cover while laying on Amelia's bed.
I am tired. Really tired. I could cry - not a sad cry, just a "we made it another week" cry. I am thinking of all the mothers out there who are feeling that way, maybe at this same moment. Of the kids out in my yard right now, all their mothers are experiencing trying times.
My neighbor across the street has been struggling to support her family as her husband frantically searched for a new job due to a lay-off. Thankfully he just found work, but it is more than an hour drive from home and she is learning to do more than she's ever had to do before as he is gone first thing in the morning and does not arrive until much later at night. She's tired. I can hear it in her voice and feel it when she comes to pick up my kids every morning to drive them to school before heading off to her full-time job.
I am watching two other boys this afternoon as their exhausted mom tries to cram last minute bookeeping tasks before the end of the month. She is doing all she can to help support her husband and their beautiful family.
Another friend just drove up minutes ago in a rush to get her daughter and get to a soccer training. She thanked me for picking up her kids from school today as she had only had 5 hours of sleep. She mentioned with a sigh that her husband would be working all weekend. She's trying to help pay the mortgage by working the night shift for a cable company.
And I am now divorced. I've got all sorts of things I am trying to figure out. How can I stretch myself farther? How can I make things run more efficiently? What can we get rid of so we don't have so much to clean up all the time? (:
I'm not here to complain. Far from it. Mike has actually continued to be a great support. I am just surrounded by this wonderment of women. Who we are. What we do. Why we do it. I think of the four of us neighbors. We watch each others kids, we feed them dinner when we know their mom just needs to put her feet up, we take turns picking up kids from school, we go on a late night walk together, we drop off the occasional flower bouquet or birthday card or cheer up card, we give hugs, we don't ask "how are you?" when we know it's best to leave it alone. We don't even notice if we walk into each others houses and it looks like a bomb just went off. Sometimes we commiserate, lots of times we laugh. Lots of times none of these things happen, but we know that if we ask, they will come.
It's made me remember that wonderful 3 years we lived in Michigan. I will forever hold dear to my heart the wonderful friends I made while there. We had each others back. No matter what. We lived in family housing which consisted of groups of townhomes that all faced inward surrounding a courtyard. In my courtyard we had huge trees, grassy areas, picnic tables, a sand box and a playground. Everyone's kitchen window opened out onto that courtyard. I could stand there washing all my dishes while my baby slept and see my 3 year old run around and play with the other kids and know that all the moms out there had their eye on him. And then two hours later I might be the one out there watching their kids. We swapped ideas for dinner, pushed each others kids for hours in the swings, encouraged each other when we were feeling loaded down while our husband was busy studying for finals, helped the newcomers learn English, looked to one another for help with parenting, shared our thoughts on God.
A woman has so many responsibilities. So many. We see everything that needs to get done, and then all those extra things that we think should be done as well. It can be overwhelming sometimes, but we just keep going. Just keep doing. Just keep loving, and wiping, and washing, and teaching, and sighing, and crying, and yelling, and hugging, and encouraging, and taking deep breaths, and remembering how much it is all worth it.
I am so proud of all women. Ours is a tough gig. I really am so grateful to all the women who support me and, in turn, my family. Ours is a bond of sisterhood. May we have cheerful hearts and allow our load to be lightened.
On Andrew's actual birthday, AKA the Day before Christmas Eve, we went dowtown to go ice skating at Central Market and found to our dismay that they were booked through 5 p.m. So we went in to Central Market and got donuts and hot cocoa. All the pics this day were taken by Jacob.
An official complaint. To whomever it may concern.
I give. Uncle.
I am not a fix-it person. Never have been. I find it highly irritating to go through directions printed in small type and work with something I've had no experience with. I am not a pansy - give me a really hard thing to do (physically or emotionally) and I will do it. Tell me what to do and I will. I don't really like figuring things out. Using the old brain upstairs. I know. Not an awesome trait.
So "recently" (I use the term loosely) I discovered the upstairs toilet running constantly, even after my father in law did the basic whatever you do to stop that sort of thing. (I know it's been explained to me many times, but it hasn't stuck, and I couldn't do it right now if I tried.) So anyway....it's still running and I decided that was it. I AM GOING TO FIX SOMETHING MYSELF, darn it! I bought the replacement kit over Thanksgiving weekend. It's still in the Home Depot bag sitting in my garage. The toilet is still running.
But after today I don't even want to think about it. You wanna know what has gone down and out around here in the last seven days?
1. My garage door broke. Finally. Broke as in the gear from the motor flew out onto the garage floor and the door fell.
2. My kitchen sink sprung a terrible leak underneath the counter.
-In response to this (while foolishly promising myself I'd look at it this weekend) I have been scraping plates in the trash and getting water from the bathroom to soak them and then quickly tossing them all in the dishwasher. Thank goodness I still have that.
3. Oops. Spoke to soon. My dishwasher just broke.
4. To make myself better I decided, like any normal American, to make myself a chocolate cake. Ummm....my hand mixer broke.
(don't try to use one of these immersion blenders to save yourself. The motor gets really hot and the result isn't awesome.)
I've been learning so much lately (which I can tell you feels fabulous. I haven't made time for really studying ANYTHING in a long while.) and I just really want to share. So here you go. I love this. The last sentence especially struck me.
President Henry B. Eyring said in October of 2010, speaking of God, "You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference (I would add church meeting/personal study time), you will find it. And then if you go and do what he would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you.
I, of course, have added the italics.
Love you all. Goodnight.
