The Oldest Child

This is our oldest child. We've had her around for a little over six years, and we're pretty sure we like her:


She is, by turns, serious and silly, but rarely can I predict which one it will be until the mood is upon us.



I was going to chronicle a day in her life through pictures, but that turned out to be impossible. (For a reason, see Child #3. He's so demanding!) I did get a picture of her first thing in the morning, right before family prayer:


She may not be happy that I have that picture--or that I published it publicly!--in a few years. Oh well. She can get her own blog then and complain about it. In the meantime, it reminds me that she doesn't like getting up in the morning, and she has a hard time falling asleep, just like her father. It's worse when she's excited or worried about something. We've gone into her room just before our bedtime and been surprised by a whispered "hi" more than once.



She loves her sister--they are best friends.



They do just about everything together. They tell each other everything. They play together for hours on end.



But The Eldest has her own time too. She gets lost in a book as easily as her mother does.



Picture books, chapter books, cereal boxes, Dum Dum wrappers--she reads them all.

Sometimes, though, she can be convinced to set the book aside to do the humdrum things in life--chores, eating, using the bathroom, playing with her brother.



She doesn't always find life easy, but she does make it sweeter. I love my beautiful girl.

The Boy part 1

DISCLAIMER: The next series of posts, in which I try to highlight each child individually but the baby STILL gets the lion's share of the attention, will probably only be interesting to grandparents and great-grandparents (hi Grandma!) of said children.

We'll start with a couple of videos of the baby. In the first, video proof that The Boy loves bathtime for when he turns on us and claims he hates it when he's about 2 (Miss Bubbly, I'm lookin' at you).



And here are the many faces and noises of the boy. Thankfully, he compressed them all into about a minute and a half of time for me. By the way, he never comes close to falling--the angle of the camera doesn't show my arm supporting him. I promise it's there the whole time!



By the way, the lighting is much better on my computer. I don't know why the intermanets aren't cooperating. Ah well. Enjoy it anyway!

New Blog

I started a new blog that won't really have any crossover posts here--it's more to document my (mis)adventures in crafting. You can find it here: The Hasty Crafter

And This is One of the Many Reasons Why Sara is My Friend

She has an excellent post on motherhood not being 100% sunshine and and rainbows and THAT'S OK. Read it here.

A Rumor-filled Easter

Rumor has it there was a major holiday last weekend. We celebrated it by lecturing the kids.

Kidding.

We did do our best to emphasize the Resurrection. We think the kids got it. Then we let them loose with some empty baskets.



We told them that they needed to find some hidden eggs.
They thought about it.



And did it, with some help from the parents:
"Hotter. Colder. No, hotter means you're getting closer.
Face the other way! NOW you're getting hotter!
*sigh*
No, that way is colder."



But finally they found all the treasure-laden eggs and were quite happy to share.



The Hub and I don't go in for egg-dying--we're Easter Grinches like that--so we decorated sugar cookies instead.



The girls were pleased with this substitute activity.
The Eldest doesn't like eating eggs anyway.





The artists with their works.
Miss Bubbly looks remarkably like her Aunt E here.



And here's The Eldest, hiding the gap in her bottom teeth.



Rumor has it that TWO MORE TEETH are loose.
We've asked her very kindly to knock off this growing up business.
She grins at us and says "no."
Defiant child.

AZ Trip 2010

I have an excuse for letting an entire month slide by without blogging--we were planning and executing a trip to Arizona! We had a wonderful time, saw many old friends, and generally enjoyed ourselves.

Because everyone asks, it takes 17 hours and change to go from doorstep to doorstep. We stayed with my dad and stepmother, who graciously allowed us to take up their spare rooms for ten nights. Thank you, Dad and Stepmom! The Boy especially thanks you for allowing him to cry loudly at 3am almost every night.

While we were there, we had playdates and dinners and activities galore. On Friday, we saw our friends the G----s. We lived just two doors down from them in Tempe for a few years and A--- and I would often commiserate on our lack of a *real* house with a *real* yard. She is now living the dream--she has a real house with a real yard of her very own! Lucky. The kids had a great time renewing their friendship while I showed off The Boy and we caught up on life.

On Saturday, we went to Goldfield Mine with Papa and Grandma (Dad and Stepmom). We put Miss Bubbly in jail, took a picture of The Eldest outside the jail she refused to pose in, and got a candid family portrait.





Sunday, we were able to attend our Tempe ward again after an 18-month absence. We left behind so many good friends when we moved! There's room in Euless for you all, you know. It was good to see and chat with so many people that we had served with and had fun with for the four years we lived in that ward. It will always have a special place in my heart.

Monday and Wednesday were spent at playdates and dinners with old friends. I got to witness my friend H----'s boy's fearlessness and energy in person, listen in on M-- and the Eldest talk about their imaginary pets, included some spotted dancing dogs. We spent FHE with my visiting teaching companion and her family, playing Fruit Basket Upset (and I forgot to take pictures), and met the Ami's newest addition to her little family, the hugely tall C---- (no pictures again! Slacker am I).





Thursday was our big event day. We went to the zoo with my friend Ruth and saw all the animals the kids wanted to see. I envied the orangutan her composure, so I took her picture. She remained composed. Perhaps when I turn 50, I'll share it.







Then we spent an hour in traffic to get into a Rangers' Spring Training game, which The Hub thoroughly enjoyed (the game, not the traffic).






Friday was a playdate with the R----s kids, but mostly it was an excuse for my bookclub partner and I to get together and talk. A lot. The Hub earned the patience award by sitting in the car for an hour beyond the time I told him we'd be done, reading Return of the King and not complaining about how long we took. Have I mentioned how fabulous my husband is? Because he is.

We woke up later than we meant to on Saturday to leave, and we had to go back to retrieve Miss Bubbly's spare insulin that we'd left in the fridge, but we still got home by midnight. It was a fantastic trip and one I look back on with a great measure of pleasure. With any luck and with a dint of good planning, perhaps we can do it again next year!

Sometimes Motherhood is a Big Confusing Mess

So we went to Arizona. (Blog post on that forthcoming.) And we went to the park or a playdate nearly every day. And it was easy and Miss Bubbly's glucose levels were some of the best they've ever been.

So The Hub has encouraged me to get the kids out as often as possible now that we're back. And I've tried. But we're home now, where I'm responsible for household upkeep and homeschooling and the weather isn't 100% sunshine. But we try. But today it was supposed to rain (it didn't), so we went to walk around the Mills mall. But we got held up by snack time (Miss Bubbly's tummy hurt. Usually a sign of low blood sugar. This time just a sign of hunger. Lesson learned: Test her blood BEFORE buying the snack), a little shopping (always a danger when one goes to the mall), and a potty break. I'm not sure we got any real exercise from it and I wore the wrong shoes.

Add that to the fact that I remembered the way to and from the mall imperfectly (always stressful) and that lunch was late and the baby was crying and I haven't had much time to myself in a while and suddenly I was snappish for no really discernible reason. Poor Miss Bubbly ended up in her room, crying, The Eldest stepped it up and entertained the baby while I finished making lunch, and I talked Miss Bubbly out of her bed and to the table. Finally we have peace. Maybe we'll get the laundry and our regular chores done today too. Maybe.

Who knew that a divine calling could be so noisy and messy and guilt-inducing?