questions

*How did my family of 4 manage to use 27 cups in 1 day?

*Will Ana ever stay in her bed and fall asleep before 10 pm?

*How does Ana come up with some of the things that come out of her mouth? (For example: "I guess the world drinks rain.")

*Is there anything in the world cuter than Jack saying "I love you, Mama" and needing kisses for his owies? (I think not.)

*Where did my housecleaning motivation go? Did I ever have it?

*Will I be able to run that 5k on Saturday and not get dead last?

*Have you found your spot? (Mine includes Fort Collins, Colorado, which was already on our list of places we could probably live when we grow up.)

Any answers?

family gathering

My brother - the mighty military man - had a few days leave from Iraq this month. So yesterday we had a family party at my parent's house. All but 2 siblings were there (we missed you, Wendy and Teri!).

We had an Easter Egg hunt in which Jack totally caught on and picked up as many eggs as he could and Ana taught the younger kids that there was candy inside them.






(I thought this picture was really cute! Some of the grandkids ages 2, 3, 5, 4, 2, almost 2)



(this one includes my brother being his normal, crazy self and his 2 year old, who somehow was missing from the picture above)

And what is an Easter Egg Hunt without a snowball fight?




We always have lots of fun, food and NOISE!

a little anxious

I don't like March.

It teases just enough to want to do this:



and wear these:


But it is still too cold and windy most days. So we end up doing this:


Of course, I still wear my Chacos even if there is snow on the ground. And we did get to go to Boise to visit my sister over Spring Break. So I guess March isn't all bad.

Is it summer yet?

kids

Yesterday we had a quiet afternoon. Most Sundays we would come visit Dave's parents, so it seemed wrong to leave their house. But it was weird not to go anywhere. I looked up at the clock while we were all playing in the family room after dinner and thought, "is it really only 6? This day has been so slow." About 20 minutes later I realized that we hadn't changed that clock yet.

This transition has been hard on Jack, I think. He's been grumpy and contrary this week. But the other night the kids put on a couple of Aprons like capes and ran around the house saying, "Super Why to the rescue!"





(they had just got out of the bathtub and hadn't got their jammies on yet)

Its weird to think that Jack is the exact age Ana was when we moved here, into this house, 2 years ago. I usually don't remember this because Ana and Jack are like night-and-day, but today when I told Jack he could have a bath and he went to the cupboard and got all of Grandma's boats, I remembered that Ana used to do that too.

Ana says funny things. She's been into big words lately, like:

"Oh look, mom, that doll is adorable."
"Mom, stop being so enormous." (??)
"Uh, this is so disgusting!" (usually she says this when she is frustrated about something??)

She's also been talking about how she wants to marry her friend Carson. Last night she was "on the phone" with him.

"Carson, we're going to get married. (pause as she listens to his response). Uggh, Mom, Carson said no."

She also talked on the phone with Nemo ("Hi, Nemo, I was thinking about how wonderful the world is.") and Jesus ("Jesus, how did you make the world?") Incidentally, Jesus said he just "put all the pieces together."

Oh, and one more. The other night when I told her she had to stay in her bed or she would get a spank she said, She cried in a most teenage worthy dramatic voice, "Mom, you don't love me." I didn't think I'd hear that for another 10 years.

Today I have a list a mile long of stuff to do, so I better get busy.

weird week

Last Sunday Dave's parents left on their mission to West Virginia.

On Monday we took Ana to the dentist. Her teeth are rotting, basically. *two thumbs down*

On Monday we also learned about Dave's placement on the alternate list at our #1 school of choice - University of Washington. Basically that means "you get to wait even longer."

We've spent the entire week slowly moving over to the in-laws house. Our old house is a mess trying to separate what we want to put in a box until July and what we want to be able to use for the next 4 months.

Yesterday I cracked. I yelled, I swore, I cried.

This morning I woke up with an eye infection. Ana had one last weekend and Jack started to get one in the week, but we staved if off with Ana's left over eye drops. At 6:00 this morning I woke up and couldn't even open my eyes. Nice.

So this morning I cried some more. Then I got into a sock fight with the kids. (A fight in which we throw socks at each other.) It was very therapeutic.

Maybe I've just gone crazy.

On a positive note: having a dishwasher makes my heart happy.

this morning...

(unrelated picture of Ana at dance, taken by my phone)

This morning I made recycled cryaons with the kids.

Correction: this morning I made recycled crayons for the kids.

I thought Ana would LOVE taking the wrappers off of the old, broken crayons because I usually have to tell her to keep the wrappers on. But she wasn't that into it.

Mostly it was her sitting there watching me do it (and asking a million why questions like "why do you have to take the wrappers off?") and Jack throwing all the other crayons around.

After they were all done and cooled, we colored with them for about 10 minutes and moved on to something else.

And I thought to myself, "wow, that was pointless." Especially because half of them cracked while they cooled in the freezer. (I should have let them cool longer on the counter, I guess.)

But then I remembered that while we waited for them to cool Ana snuggled on my lap and we watched youtube videos on how crayons are made and she got to ask another million "why" questions.

And that at least she wasn't watching TV or playing on pbskids.org like she has all day the last two days.

So I guess it wasn't pointless.

In fact, I think it was worth it.

why do i have to get so darn emotionally attached?

I just read this book for book club.

It was a good book.

I will recommend it to you, but I have a warning - it is sad. Or maybe I should just say that it is full of sorrow. But its happy too.

Its the story of a girl's life from ages 18 to 38. And she lived in the "wild west" so naturally there were all sorts of sorrowing that happened during those days.

The problem I had with this book is that I saw myself (and Dave) so strongly resembled by her (and her husband). So that meant that everything that happened to her I felt like it was happening to me.

I spent all day (literally) yesterday reading. I gave Dave a big hug after it was over and I was crying and he was like, "I really don't get this" but he gave me a hug back and smiled at me anyway. He is one who doesn't get emotionally attached to stories like I do.

This is how I am with most books that I read. Or movies that I watch. I just get so into it that I can think about nothing else. Which is why I can't put a good book down. (When we were reading the Harry Potter books together I thought of nothing else for weeks. I even dreamed about Harry.)

Anyway, I'm trying to think of something to cheer me up. I think I might need some peppy music. Or reading Pride and Prejudice (at least my favorite parts).

What I really need to do is practice the song I'm playing in the adult session of Stake Conference on Saturday. (yikes! I totally agreed to accompany someone without realizing where she was singing.) I also need to continue packing.

march means...

*my in-laws are leaving on their mission in one week.

*we finally hear from University of Washington to find out if we're accepted.

*we move into my in-laws house after they leave. I feel like I should be more stressed about this.

*spring is coming! (hopefully)