What We're Up To

The second boy is saying things like: "Oh! my back hurts! Oh! my whole body hurts!" I don't know where he gets it.

The first boy is secretly a power ranger and is busy fighting evil forces.

The daughter played Jingle Bells at her Christmas recital. She did an excellent job! It is so rewarding to watch her practice something that is hard until she becomes good at it.

When the Man is not at work he shovels snow.

I am growing a baby. I am 36 weeks, and in case you haven't heard--the head is engaged.

Cancun

Toy Library

Last Monday for Family Home Evening we opened our very own Toy Library. Which means that we loaded up all the toys and put them into the windowless room which adjoins the boys' bedroom. We also put the boys' dresser in the "library". Finally the library was furnished with a lock keyed to our house.

The two older children willingly loaded up their toys because they were tired of cleaning up after the youngest child who recreationally unloaded bins of toys. Maybe he liked the sound of the toys crashing to the ground, or maybe the cause-and-effect factor thrilled him. No one knows. The result was a disaster area.

The Daughter liked the idea of her things being locked in a safe place that her youngest brother couldn't get to while she was at school. The First Boy liked the idea of the library being right off his own bedroom. They both liked not having to help clean up a mess they didn't make. The Second Boy kept asking why we had the library in the first place.

This is why I like The Library: The basement is SOOOO much cleaner. The upstairs is cleaner just because their aren't so many toys dragged up. The kids play with the toys they pick out. (In fact, Tuesday after school the First Boy asked me to let him check out some toys, rather than asking if he could watch TV. That was a nice change.) With the dresser in the library there is a lot less laundry--since the Second Boy can't change his clothes five times a day. I never knew if the clothes on their bedroom floor were clean or dirty. Now their aren't any clothes on their floor. Before they go to bed they pick out their clothes for the next day. Another bonus. I am no longer pestering the children to clean up the basement--everyone likes that.

So far, The Toy Library is a success. Ask me in a month if I still think so.

Quick Up-Date

The second boy enjoys "reading" books. He flips through the pages, discusses the pictures to himself, closes the book, says, "Amen," throws the book, and opens a new one.

The first boy likes television and computer games. Since he is not allowed to do these things until Friday, because he was naughty and I was mean, he has been "bored with nothing to do." When he tells me this it only makes we want to keep the TV and computer off longer. Instead, I told him that I needed his help running a machine--the food processor. I made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce and he manned the machine. He took his job seriously, enjoying every minute of it. After we finished he wiped his brow and said, "Whew, what a busy day! Now I am so tired." Today we are going to make an apple crisp. Guess who will be operating the Apple-Peeler-Corer-Slicer?

The Daughter rescued me on Saturday. I was so tired and the kitchen floor was overdue for a serious scrubbing. So, while I went downstairs and sewed, she moved out all the dining room chairs, swept the floor and scrubbed the kitchen floor. Then she enlisted the First Boy's help in scrubbing the dining room floor--I won't elaborate on his reaction to that suggestion. I'll only say that eventually he did his part. That's not all. After that she picked up the toys in the basement--all of which were strewn around by a certain 3 year old. I cannot even begin to describe what a wonderful gift her hard work was to me. She did it all on her own without me asking her to. That night Daddy took her out for a celebratory ice cream cone while I relaxed and watched Women's Conference.

1st Boy's Good-Time Spritzer

The 1st Boy found an empty sample size shampoo bottle. He filled it with water and told Daddy and me that the bottle was filled with "Sam's [named has been changed] Good-Time Spritzer. It will make you 10 years younger and make you strong enough to do anything you want--except fly."

He's been carrying his Good-Time Spritzer around for about a month. His brother and sister were happy to get a few drops on the head.

Today though, after explaining the magnificent properties of his potion he admitted, "It's really just a hoax. That means it doesn't really work." That's too bad--I could really use some of his Good-Time Spritzer.

Back in the Saddle

The Daughter started school and the First Son will start next Wednesday. After dropping the Daughter off I felt really sad and missed her. But after a while, I noticed how much I got done. I must say that it is really nice to be back on a schedule again. I can clean up breakfast at 8 am and be done until after lunch. In the summer, breakfast seemed to take aaaaallllllll morning.

I would send pictures of how adorable she looks in her new school clothes, but big surprise, the 2nd boy has broken my camera. Fortunately, he is not all naughty. He loves snuggles, hugs, kisses, books, and his big wheel. He likes pretending that he is getting ready to go to school and work. His latest phrase is "that's too simple." I don't think it means what he thinks it means. If he doesn't want to wear a particular pair of pants he claims that it is because they are "too simple".

Today the 1st Boy went to his kindergarten screening. He did very well and seemed comfortable with his teacher. To check for comprehension his teacher read him a story that happened to have a rabbit in it. The Boy took a break from answering questions to tell his own story about our pet rabbit saga--The Life and Death of Bunny Paul. He is so funny. Yesterday he asked me what euclidian means.

Orphelia Violet???

Yesterday I had my ultrasound and found out that I might possibly probably be having a girl. Her (?) foot was in the way so we didn't get a clear shot. I am having another ultrasound in 3 weeks so we can get a more developed shot of the heart and face. We will also take another peek to see it's an Orphelia or an Oliver.

Based on past experience--it's a girl. The daughter modestly kept her legs together during the ultrasound and we didn't find out that she was a girl until I was 7 months along. But the boys, during their ultrasounds, made their genders obvious.

And, according to the ultrasound--my due date it January 19th. What do you think of that Dad?