my little Lulu

 Today is Lucy's 14th birthday!  I can't believe that she is that old!  I remember that morning pretty clearly.  I especially remember how she wanted to nurse and nurse.  Iwthin a couple of days I was in so much pain -- and it didn't let up for a while.  I also tore quite badly so taht was pretty miserable, too.  I think that was the worst of all the babies.  But we loved her!  We loved the sweet noises she made and her chubby arms and legs.  Strangers loved her big, blue eyes.  I regret that I didn't just have her in bed with us.   Someone had given us a bassinet so I would get up off of the floor to get her and then sit cross-legged on the floor to feed her.  So stupid!  And I had a baby bjorn which hurt my back.  I'm sure they had some great baby packs there, but I didn't know!  There were so many things  id din't know.  Except for the obvious reasons, I'd sometimes like to go back and start all over with my kids.  Be more mindful, more aware.  But before the internet, if you didn't know someone who did a particular thing, you plain old didn't know about it!  Plus, we couldn't afford anything.  We were so poor!  But I should definitely spend less now.  Oh, yessiree!

But back to the internet thing.  We are completely inundated with information these days.  There is more information generated on the internet every two days than there was in the prvious... ever!  And we consume as much information every day than people did in their entire lifetimes!  It is crazy!  I'm trying to wean myself from it and slow down.  I really need to.  I have books and magazines to read.  I really just need to get off facebook.  What should my rules be?  Check once a day?  What time is best?  Morning. I should read scriptures, exercise, and write.  Afternoon would be okay, but I should set a time limit.  Night and evening should be for family, so afternoons it is.  Can I do it? 

Potty training and other updates!

Writing in my blog was first on my to do list today, but then I went on a walk with Clare at 9, Visiting teaching to Sister Clark at 10:30, met Sister Ames and Sister Dibble (with Sister Clark) at McDonald's at 11:30 then didn't get home until after 2:00 because Archie was having so much fun running around in circles with his friends.

The big news for the week is that Archie isn't wearing diapers anymore.  He was doing okay, but then today didn't do very well because we weren't just at home.  He is still insisting that he is a baby (we're going on 4 weeks of him yelling that to us at every opportunity) so it doesn't leave much for the incentive of being a big boy.  Chocolate is the only incentive that we have at the moment.

Charles is feeling much better now.  He was down and out for about 10 days, but then went back to school and has had 100% seminary attendance since the operation.  He has also started track practice so I think he is finally back to normal.  The main reason we did it was to help him sleep better, but he hasn't noticed if that worked or not because his throat still gets really dry at night and so that wakes him up.  Did I mention that he got on the fall/winter track at BYU Idaho?  He seems like he really might end up going there, which is somewhat surprising.  He is also still in contact with the cross country coach at BYU Hawaii so he might end up there.  Either way, he'll be with Mormons!  So we're glad that that seems to be the path he is choosing.  Perhaps he can get really inspired and be ready to go on a mission next year when he turns 19! 

Lucy's cheerleading season ended this past week with the big staff vs. student game.  It was a really exciting game and Mr. Christian and Mr. Reeves were the referees.  Mr. Christian always asks about Ella and Charles and never fails to tell me what nice kids I have.  Aaaah.  So I am so thankful for my kids  being wonderful so that I can get nice compliments like that.  Lucy is turning 14 this week!  That seems much older than 13.  She is planning a get together with some friends on Saturday afternoon so that should be fun.

Ibby is super sweet, of course.  Well, she is getting a little bit more saucy, but that is to be expected -- especially when she is being goaded by Lucy and Phin all the time!  I am leading her recess readers group at school so that has been fun.  They're reading the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events so last week I had them find a big word that they didn't really know.  We defined it and then had them write a haiku using that word.  Some of the kids thought it was boring and dumb, but our clever Ibby and her friend Kimmy wrote excellent ones!  I'm so glad that my kids aren't the ones that think everything is stupid.  Just try it, you'll like it!

Phin is adorable and says the funniest things all the time.  He has stopped stuttering since he started school so that is a relief.  He is very earnest and likes to learn about all kinds of things.  Last night on the phone he sang the alphabet song for Grandma Farnsworth, but in a completely random order -- it was so funny!  I love that none of them are too married to the idea of sequential order, it makes me happy.  He is slowly starting to read, but definitely isn't stellar in that department.  I think I'm going to homeschool him next year.  I want him to have more time to play!  And explore!  He is really interested in science and nature so I think it will be good.  We might just do it for a couple of years.  We'll see.

I need to go vacuum the house for my class tonight (with a real one) -- and clean the bathrooms! 

headache

I'm working on putting together a new dresser for Phin's room.  The instructions are clear and not clear.  In some ways, pictures ares easier to understand than words, but in other ways -- especially since it's all in black and white -- I can't tell what goes where. And I have an undermining lack of faith when it comes to Ikea so I always suspect they've made a mistake of some sort.  Right now I'm at a point where there are 4 slats.  3 are white and one is unpainted.  Does that mean they're different?  Or did they just neglect to paint the one?  Are we missing a 4th white piece?  Is it going to look crappy in the end?  So as these thoughts flow through my head I can't go on.  Complete and utter stand still.

I woke up with a horrible headache. I took some tylenol, but it's not dissipating.  I'm going to try to take it easy today.  Archie is playing with blocks at my feet.  The sun is sending playful shadows through my window, things are generally going very well, it is all good.

Happy Valentines Day!

My day started before the break of dawn when Archie climbed into bed at 4:30 or so.  I think he must have slept a little bit more, but it seemed like it wasn't too long at all before he was kicking off the covers, kicking my back, changing positions, and whispering to me.   Finally, at 6:30 I had had enough and just took him downstairs with me.  I wanted to make heart-shaped waffles so I started the batter.   We didn't have enough regular flour so I used the ultra expensive almond flour that I'd gotten at Schnuck's last week.  I also used almond milk and almond flavoring -- plus real butter instead of  vegetable oil -- yummo!  Well, the melted butter started clumping because it was too cold.  Then, when I put it in the waffle iron it just sizzled and came pouring out the sides.  I don't know why!  I thought that maybe the waffle iron was acting up.  We haven't used it for a while so it could be that, right?  So, like the brilliant person that I am, I decided to pull our the other waffle iron.  I know that that one works because I've used it recently.  Pour on some batter and -- voila!  Same thing.  A sickening sizzling sound followed by copious amounts of ooze bursting out of the sides.  I sighed as I looked at the results of my efforts thus far. Two completely messy waffle irons that will require huge amounts of scraping later and no edible breakfast yet.  By now it is 7:15 and Charles has left for the day.  Sorry buddy!  No Valentine breakfast for you!  So, next I added some regular flour and fired up a frying pan to make pancakes instead.  Ibby wanted to help with making lunches and various and sundry other things all happening at the same time, resulted in the first few burning!  Great!  It keeps getting better and better.  Finally, they started turning out okay after I found the perfect temperature, timing, rotating the pan, etc.  Everyone declared that they were melt in your mouth almond delicious-ness -- victory at last!  The next task was to tackle those bleeping waffle irons!  I scrubbed, scoured, picked with a knife, used a bottle scrubber, used a straw scrubber brush... blah!  And I probably ruined them both by running them under water.  The whole experience left me feeling deflated.  I didn't exercise, I didn't do my morning pages, I didn't read the scriptures.  I just wasted time until I had to get ready to go to Phin's class.  We stayed for almost 2 hours with the party and then our weekly centers help.  Archie was really well behaved, as usual.  He liked the treat, of course, and then played around on the computer.  The kids kept pointing out that he was doing it wrong, but he didn't care so neither did I.

Service Club

We held our first ever Kids Service Club meeting and no one came, haha!  But that is fine!  We had a really good time just with ourselves, simply because we are lovely company.  We made valentines and posters for people that we know that are widows, or single, or just might need a little extra love.

Tonsils -- who needs 'em?

Charles got his tonsils out last Tuesday and that kid is grumpy!!!  It is funny because he hits the table (or wall, or window, whatever is handy) whenever I talk to him and I remembered that he kind of used to be like that all the time!  It reminds me to feel grateful for how far he has come in the last few years.  He is quite a pleasant fellow, for the most part.  Clare says it is the pain medication and that it had the same effect on James.  She finally just hid it from him when he had surgery.  I am just not going to refill it, although he says his throat hurts a lot.  Sorry dude!  Alex Ramsay came to visit us for the weekend!  I was dreading it a little bit, because I didn't know if he would get into any trouble on my watch and also I knew he would be bored because Charles wasn't really up to doing anything.  We picked him up from the airport on Friday morning and they basically sat down in the basement until he left again this morning!  Not really, but almost.  First of all, it is totally freezing!  I think it is 2˚ right now, so it wasn't like he could go sledding or anything.  Then on Saturday it snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed so the roads were bad.  Charles couldn't drive anywhere because of the codeine and Alex wasn't used to driving in the snow.  We drove them over to the church to play basketball with some boys, but then realized that there was a Mexican wedding happening -- party!  So they couldn't anyway.  Then Sunday he went to church with us (Charles didn't come) and we drove him past his old house.  Whoop!  He was so pleasant and nice, though.  He didn't seem frustrated about anything.  He was helpful and nice to the little boys.  He said it was just nice to get out of Arizona and hang out with us.  Great!

On Saturday we went to the David Davis Mansion for Abraham Lincoln's birthday!  There wasn't anyone else there because of the aforementioned blizzard-y weather so it was nice.  We invited Eva and Millicent and Clare.  Clare had never been there.  Can you believe that???  It is funny how we ignore the fun things that are in our own backyard, as it were.  The guy who was playing Lincoln was really great!  He really looked like him and the stories that he shared were awesome!

Unearthed

I am sitting here with Archie feeding me fake strawberries -- they are delicious!  And the sun is streaming through the windows, but it is still freezing!!!  Right now it is 16˚ feels like 9.  I guess that is about 50˚ warmer than last Monday so we are good!  Tomorrow the chance of snow is 100% so that should be fun!  It snowed all day on Saturday, too!  I actually really like snow as long as I don't have to drive in it!  It is so cozy to be sitting inside and watching it fall so prettily.  And there is nothing like the muted stillness of an unplowed street.

Sorry that I was complaining last time!  My life really isn't hard.  It was totally just my period.  I bought an essential oil blend called, "Serenity" to help me with that, but it worked so well that I sent it to Janis to help her feel serene and haven't ordered any more for myself!  I bet Matthew wouldn't mind me spending that money, right?  So the girl came over to take my picture on Thursday and it really wasn't so bad!  I don't know why I get myself so worked up.  You just never know with those artistic types, though.  They could be the artist who thinks they are super cool and are a little patronizing to the uncreative peon masses, but she wasn't like that at all!  The second she came through the door we were friends, so that was really nice.  She told me that she has a lot of ideas for projects, but then doesn't do them and later sees other people do the same idea.  So now, even though she isn't quite sure where the project is headed, she just decided to do it!  I told her that I agree that if you ignore inspiration (the holy ghost) too many times, he will stop coming around, for sure!  She had me get all ready for the day with make-up on, hair done, etc.   She took a few pics and then took pictures while I washed off the make-up, took down my hair (I had it in a bun), and I changed into some comfortable.  And yes, I have yoga pants.  Then she took some more pics.  The boys kept coming around to see what she was doing and she took some shots of them, too.  She has four kids: an 18 year old named Lydia, and triplets that are 6 years old.  So she was very nice to the boys.  It was nice doing something I wasn't comfortable doing, but that wasn't too painful either.  I hate posing for pictures so she just had me talk while she took the pictures.  I filled out a questionnaire the night before, too.  What is an overarching theme of your life?  Um, dieting (lame!) Who is your role model?  My mom, aaaah.  What are your dreams? To be a night club singer and fifty million other things.  It was pretty fun.

I finally started the children's service club I've been talking about for four years!  I just went onto facebook and invited a bunch of people to my house and it took about two minutes.  Now, that wasn't so difficult, was it?  This month we are going to crank out a ton of Valentine's for lonely people in our ward and neighborhood.  I hope that it goes well.  We are just going to meet once a month so it shouldn't be too painful.

Archie keeps us safe at all times.