this socks

I caved and let Seth have a friend over after school this past week. Not that I don't allow this- I do, he has friends over frequently- friends whose parents I know well. But this was a boy from school, his mom called me up out of the blue and asked to arrange a play date. I immediately offered to have him over to our house. I'm just not sure I'm ready to let Seth go over to a friend's house where I don't know their family at all.

The afternoon went pretty well and the boys got along fine. The only problem was that this friend kept saying "this sucks". I kept telling him, "we don't say 'sucks' in our house". To which Seth said "Mom, it's okay to say 'socks' if you're talking about your feet, right?"

I wish he could stay this innocent.

okay, okay- I get it

I'm planning on being purposefully cryptic in this post because I don't want someone do do an internet search about this subject and find this.

The kids are learning a new song in Primary this month. It's an original song, written only last year specifically for this year's new theme. When I heard it for the first time a few weeks ago, I was very underwhelmed. I really like last year's new song (about the Savior) but this one is not even close to as good. The melody and rhythm are weird and the tempo is hard for the children to keep up with. Because the tempo is so fast, the kids jumble the words and it's hard to understand what they're saying. But the worst part about the song for me is the lyrics, they're super-cheesy. (And dare I say- a bit sexist and kind of exclusive.) So I had pretty much decided that I didn't like the song at all. I didn't tell anyone this (besides Jon) because, well I didn't want to put any ideas into anyone's head (especially the kids) that the song was stupid.

Fast forward two weeks to this past Sunday. I was singing the song along with the kids (yes, I still learned it) when all of the sudden I got choked up and had to stop singing. I felt a very strong feeling that the words I was singing were true- eternal truths even- and as much as I thought I hated the song, there was no way I could deny that fact.

So here I sit, chastised. I can't hate the song anymore, but it's still not my favorite.

p.s. After three weeks of practice, my little Sunbeam Maryn has learned almost the whole song and sings it while she's playing around the house. I guess that's supposed to soften my heart too...it's working.

the forgotten third child

(photos to accompany this post soon!)

It's sad, but you all know it's true- milestones and other cute developmental things for the poor third child frequently go unnoticed until they all start happening at once. Case in point- my sweet little Jonas. He has really had a language explosion in conjunction with a major growth spurt over the last few weeks since we've been home. It's taken me this long to actually put all of the pieces together and notice. This really makes it sound like he just gets ignored around here, but that truly isn't the case. He's just such an easy-going kid, doesn't make a fuss about anything that I'm not constantly worrying about him.

First- the growth spurt. He's been wearing size 12-18 month pants and pajamas this whole winter season so far. They are all of the sudden hilariously short now and probably way tight in the waist too. For the most part (except for this current winter season), I've been really lucky- in that I've been able to use Seth's old clothes for Jonas. The two problems are- 1. Jonas is way skinnier than Seth ever was, 2. We lived in AZ, so pretty much the only clothes I have for him are summer-wear.

Second- the language explosion. Keep in mind, all of these examples have been so sudden over the last few weeks. I'll do this section in bullet points to make for easier reading.

• he can identify 3 colors: "wed", "boo", "geen"
  


• he can identify all the little einsteins: "annie" (which is also conveniently his cousin's name) "doon", "we-o", "de-de" (Qunicy), and "wocket"
  


• he can identify most of the princesses: "Beow" (Belle), "Reh-rah" (Cinderella), "White" (Snow White), "A-e-o" (Ariel). We have 4 princess dresses in our house and whenever Maryn puts one on, Jonas has to have one on too- complete with shoes. Jon was mortified when he saw this for himself and insisted I find Jonas some sort of alternative- a prince costume or something. I looked around for a while and finally bought a Captain Hook costume from the Disney store online. We hope it does the trick. (I chose that one over the Captain Jack Sparrow costume because the Hook costume had sparkly brocade on it- hopefully Jonas thinks it's similar enough to a princess dress!)


• When we were walking through Target the other day, Jonas started yelling "paw-bwo"! At first I couldn't figure out what he was saying, then I realized he meant "Pablo" from Backyardigans. He had a seen a really cute little stuffed animal Pablo, so of course we had to get it for him.


• He's been able to hum and/or grunt the tune of 'Twinkle Star" for a while now, but recently, he's added in the word "star" and its rhyming words in all the right places. He's actually really good at singing (humming, grunting) along to all songs. Maybe he'll have an awesome ear for music like Seth.


• other new words: R-2 (R2D2) & "Pee-o" (C3PO), "Day-too" (thank you), "ulk" (milk), "nack" (snack), "Ni-neen" (Lightening McQueen), "icky" (Mickey Mouse), "Wah-ee" (Wall-E)

Jonas is so sweet. He is so friendly and will pretty much give anyone a hug if asked. Love him, love him.

p.s.- I am feeling much better, thank you. I was totally blessed this time around with very mild symptoms. I'm so ready to get back into a normal routine!

rockstar in training

Seth has always been a big fan of Coldplay.  His first favorite song was Fix You off of the X&Y album.  Recently, their new album Viva La Vida has been a hit in our house as well.  The kids love the title track and will sing along to the "oh oh oh" chorus.  But Seth knows all the rest of the words too.  Jon took this video over Thanksgiving weekend in Tucson.  

A: twice

Q: What is the number of times that Tina will get strep throat in a 6 week period?

What a way to start off the new year.  So this, coupled with the local weather forecast for tomorrow (high=0 degrees, wind chill= 30 below) makes for a very crappy upcoming 48 hours.

Those of you who currently have sunshine and health- enjoy it!

vacation brief

Here's the summary:
days away from home- 19
miles traveled (in a van with 3 kids)- 3200
states visited and/or driven through- 11

I just looked through the pictures on my camera from our vacation and as usual, I'm disappointed that we didn't take more. I always forget about it, especially towards the end.

I have posted highlights of the pictures we did manage to take here. My sister has posted a few that she took while we were visiting here (this includes some from my brother's wedding of which I took no pictures! dumb!). Jon took some pics from his cell phone while we were on the road (most of them while driving). All are really cool and show the changing landscape, they are here.

Despite the crazy amounts of car-time we put in, the trip was way fun and we were able to accomplish many important things during the course of it. We visited with a few old friends, spent many hours shopping for treasures at the DI, played lots of Wii, ate good food, spent lots of quality time with loving grandparents, saw my brother get married (on an 80 degree day in Mesa!), laughed a ton, and ate more and more good food.

The following pics are some of the highlights of the trip.

Jon and Seth shoveling on the first day it snowed. Those of you in Utah for that Christmas week know what I'm talking about! Many more inches were to come!

Our family Christmas evening. This picture was taken in an effort to show the kids' new pajamas (Jonas and Seth match). In the picture taken right before this one, Jonas is waving the sword in my face.

(in this picture, L to R: Uncle Dave, Grandpa, Katie, Jonas [in stroller], me, Grandma Jeannie holding Seth and Emily holding Maryn. Jon was taking the picture) We went to see the holiday lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake. It was beautiful! Cold and slippery, but really beautiful. The kids did really well considering they were hungry, cold and tired. (Jonas ended up falling asleep in the stroller.) Seth's favorite part was "the big Jesus statue" (in the visitor's center). Earlier that same day Jon and I were able to do a session at that temple. Interesting (because it's live- never experienced that before!). I love the history surrounding these old buildings (at Temple Square). What a feat of architecture in a place that was essentially, at that time, out in the middle of nowhere. They are beautiful.

The kids with Grandma B in more new Christmas pajamas. After my brother's wedding in Mesa, when we got to Tucson we got to have second Christmas! Hoorah!

Thank you to all our family (and friends) who made this trip so memorable. Thank you for taking care of us and showering us with gifts and love. We love you.

happy new year

As I have been for the past month or so, I'm still a little behind on everything- including celebrating the new year.  Here, on Jan 10, I'm starting to get excited about the prospect of a new year full of adventures, surprises and hopefully not too many challenges.

Our holiday vacation was epic in proportion.  We were gone for almost three weeks, made a large circle across 11 states and drove almost 3200 miles.  Jon started talking about wanting us to be be team truck drivers when we retire so we can see more of the country.  Not sure how I feel about that one.

I was excited to get the mail when we got home and read all the Christmas cards from friends and family.  On the other hand, it made me totally bummed because in the craziness of our holiday- I didn't get any cards mailed out to family and friends.  And now on Jan 10, I think it's a bit too late to send them out (even if I had them all done and ready to go, which I don't).  I think we'll send out an email with pictures and hope that makes up for my total inability to accomplish that task this year.  I guess I'll use the 30+ homemade cards I actually finished for next Christmas.  Now what to do with the 40+ holiday postage stamps I bought?  (Because I'm sure that by next Christmas, postage will have increased.)  And what to do with the 70+ copies of the holiday picture of my kids?  Wallpaper?

I'm hoping that this trend of being about a week late with everything is not an indication of how my year will be.