My inheritance from dear ol' dad

My father has many wonderful traits I could have inherited. So why is it that I have to be the recipient of the less favorable trait of insomnia. I don't have it everynight but I still have to deal with it more often than I would like. Last night was a typical insomnia night. This was the schedule of events:

10:30 - 11:00 Go to bed with dreams of a great night sleep. Fall asleep immediately.

3:15 am: toss and turn for 45 minutes pretending that you are going to fall asleep any minute.

4:00 am: Storm down stairs in hopes that doing something totally boring will induce sleepiness.

4:10 am: Update your facebook status to "having insomnia again" and wonder why zero of your 159 friends are not up too so you can chat with them. Not even they guy from your ward in H.S. who now lives in China.

4:15 am: Get bored and start reading mommy blogs that make you feel better about youself because "at least I don't do that". Read posted comments too.

5:30 am: Return to bed because certainly you must be tired now. Toss and turn and finally fall asleep ten minutes before the alarm goes off. Sigh! Another unproductive, tired, zombie-like day. There is always tomorrow night.

Thank you dad. I think of you every night I am up for no apparent reason. The only consulation? I know you are up too. I love you dad!

My dad and his dad.

What happened to spring?

I could have sworn that spring started just last week. We have been enjoying beautiful warm weather until last night. This is what we woke up to:

We received 4-6 inches of snow. By 9 am the sun came out and it was beautiful! Kate and Micah couldn't wait to play outside.

Micah fell and couldn't get up. Gotta love those snowsuits.

Kate was trying to figure out how to swing.

Lady loves the snow. She was frolicking in the snow all morning.

Lets start the bidding at $1. Do I hear $1?

While I was on the phone I heard the lovely trickling sound of water. No it wasn't a peaceful zen waterfall but a toddler pouring his sisters water onto the floor. Kate came to me rather upset about the whole incident. This was our conversation

Me: "I know, what are we going to do with that boy?"

Kate: Without hesitation, "We could sell him."

Me: "Hmmm. How much do you think we could get for him?"

Kate: "One dollar?"

Me: "Why just one dollar?"

Kate: "Because he is one year old."

Me: "But he will be two soon."

Kate: "Well, okay, maybe two dollars. Or five. Okay, ten dollars. But that's all."

Clearance sale on an almost two year old boy.

Cheap! Only $10.

The boy and his dog

Micah loves our new dog. He enjoys climbing all over the dog until she gets tired of him and gets up and moves to another spot. He has an annoying obsession with the dog's food and water. He especially loves to play with the dog food while she eats. It doesn't seem to bother Lady at all. Earlier today I caught Micah sitting next to the dog while she was eating with the empty water bowl on his head like a hat. I'm not sure where all the water ended up. It's too bad I didn't have the camera ready. It was pretty funny.

However, a dog and a toddler create a great challenge. Here are a list of things I said before 9 am this morning.

1. Don't put your sister's shoe in the dog's water bowl.
2. Don't sit on the dog, she is not a horse.
3. Don't pull the doggie's ears.
4. Don't try to feed the dog Mr. Potato Head's ear.
5. Don't drive your cars in the dog's water bowl.
6. No, the doggies does not need a pacifier.
7. Stop throwing your cereal on the floor for the doggie to eat.
8. Don't put your shoe in the dog's water bowl.
9. No, the doggie doesn't need a milk bath.
10. Stop throwing dog food all over the kitchen floor. (I left the room for only 5 minutes only to return to find an entire bowl of food scattered all
over the kitchen floor. It was like walking through a land mine.)

I can't remember how Micah entertained himself before we got the dog but I'm sure there weren't so many ways to get into trouble.

(Gasp!) Freshman Registration

This week Josh came home with registration for 9th grade. How could my baby be registering for his freshman year so soon? Wasn't it only a couple of years ago that I gave birth to him?

9th grade is still in junior high in Utah, but it still seems crazy that his grades will now go on his permanent record. He is already talking about colleges and scholarships. We have been fortunate that he has self been motivated to get very good grades. The last two terms he has earned a 4.0 GPA. This is especially impressive since he has four advanced classes including honors science and honors english. The two previous years he earned no less than a 3.97 GPA. We really hope that he will continue to be motivated.

He will have released time seminary (a blessing of living in Utah - no early morning seminary) but he wants to do marching band at the high school. This means getting a ride to the High School by 7 am everyday and then catch a school bus back to the Jr High. If he does that he would drop Jazz band. It will be interesting to see what he decides.

Josh we are proud of you. You are an amazing young man. It will be fun to watch you over the next four years. We love you!

A Lesson Learned

Several women and their kids from church came over today for lunch. After everyone but one friend had left, Kate and a 4 yr old boy were playing outside for a little longer. They didn't stay too much longer before they left. Later that day I stopped at my friends house where I learned that Kate told the boy it was time for him to go home because she was going to have another friend come over to play. (This was not part of the plan). She even told his mom they should go home. Back in the car I had a discussion with Kate. This is how it went:

Me: Kate, I am sad. You were not nice to "boy" telling him he needed to go home. If you have a problem with him or you are tired of playing with him you need to quietly tell me. It's not nice to tell "boy" or his mom that he needs to go home.

Kate: (Pause) My eyes have water in them.

(Looking in the rearview mirror seeing tears well up.)

Me: Oh honey, it's okay. It's just a lesson that you need to learn.

Kate: (still tearing up) Oh mom, I learn a lot of lessons at preschool but I have never learned that one.

Me: Well, now you know and I know you will be nice.

My heart just melted listening to her. She was so sincere in her remorse. If only all lessons could be learned so quickly.

I love you Kate, thank you for being such a sweet girl!

Zoo, Dog, and Hair

Zoo Trip

Kate, Micah, and I dropped off Bruce at the airport for his Washington D.C. trip bright and early (6:30 am). Since we were already up in Salt Lake I wanted to make it a day trip. We stopped at Paradise Bakery for breakfast then off to the zoo. We were the very first and only people at the zoo for at least 15 minutes. We had a great time. These two turkeys were guarding the ramp to the elephants. It was pretty funny. They seriously wouldn't let us pass.

Our New Dog

On the way home from the zoo we stopped to look at this cute little puppy. I had been considering getting a dog since Bruce is traveling more. We weren't planning on taking her home but I felt a little pressured (there were two other families that would take her today if we didn't). Her name was Fanny. I really didn't want to name my dog after someones backside, so the kids and I re-named her Lady.

So, Bruce came home from our nations capital to a new family member. I was a little worried that Lady would bark at him. But, she came to him like he had been here all along.

She has been fun to have. She is only 5 mos so she still has some training. Sometimes I love having her, other times I question my decision. For example, she loves to chase the cat. I know, cats and dogs, blah blah blah. But we have the sweetest kitty who loves to be with the family and cuddle with you on the couch. Now she is stuck in my bedroom all the time. It makes me kind of sad. Oh well, we will see how it goes.

Valentine Hair

I found a fun blog that shows you how to do very cute hairstyles for girls called hair4myprincess.blogspot.com. So I did this heart in Kate's hair for Valentines day. We tied a red ribbon at the bottom but I forgot to take a pic of the completed style. It is too much fun to have a girl.