Mothers' Day 2016

Just wanted to digitize some of the things the kids wrote to me for Mother's Day.

From Levi:
What is your mom really good at? cooking
What does your mom do to relax? sleep
Where does your mom shop? Shoprite
How old is your mom? 29
What is your mom's job? Takes care of me
What do you love most about your mom? That she cooks the best spagetti
If you could buy you mom anything, what would it be? a book
What does you mom do while you are in school? play with my sister.
(written inside of a heart) Always in my heart! Love Levi
My mom is a Star Because... She cleans up
My mom is sweet because... she loves me
My mom is...beautiful
My mom is...smart
My mom is...the best

My mom is...nice

My mom is...a good cook

My mom is... a good singer

The funnest part of getting these two little cards from him was his adorable face beaming up at me and the way he jumped up and down with excitement as I read. Also how he read for me when I couldn't quite read what he had written. :) 

From Benjamin:

My mom is...from Arizona

My mom is...a normal human

My mom is...happy

My mom is...good

My mom is...mostly likely to receive celestial

My mom is...not mad

p.s. open the pettles 

These were flower cards, with something written under each petal. 

When I read "my mom is not mad" Benjamin laughed and said, "See? You're not mad!" It was so funny. Especially because so many of his other petals were very factual, he thought it was very clever to say I was not mad and have it be true in the moment that I was reading the card. Also it's good to know that he thinks I'm headed for celestial glory, hahaha. :)

Jacob took some silly pictures of us on Mother's Day, while I was teaching the kids how to play Scorched Earth. Ah, the games of my childhood, now available free online. :-D

Getting Braces...Again

So this happened yesterday. Oh man, I have such mixed feelings about it!

Happy -- that I can fix the problems with my "deep bite" before they become really bad.
Grateful -- that I can afford to fix them now!
Regretful -- that I didn't prevent them in the first place by wearing my retainer or by getting a new retainer years ago.
Grouchy -- because OUCH!

When I came home with braces on, Jubilee had the funniest reactions. I was hoping to do Invisalign, so I didn't tell them I was getting braces. When I saw Jubilee, she just kept sticking her tongue out and feeling her own mouth. Then she said, "You changed."

Then throughout the afternoon she would occasionally ask, "Can I see your braces again?"

I was reminded of my little sister, who used to call braces "bracelets," and now has braces of her own. :)


This morning Jubilee asked "Can I get braces?" To which I answered "Yes. When you're older, you'll get braces, too." Because it's highly probable.

Benjamin and Levi didn't say much about my braces, but this morning Levi asked, "Can boys have braces, too?"

I assured him that they could. He said he thought more girls had braces than boys.  

Anyway, I didn't do Invisalign because it was a little more expensive and it was going to take half again as long (18 months, instead of 12). Let's just get this over with!

And I solemnly swear to wear my retainer every night for the rest of my life. 

Quotes from Connecticut episode 1

Jubilee:

"I can want this?" meaning 'can I have this?'

"I a lamby frog!" hopping around.

"Whose name?" meaning 'what's his name?'

She didn't want to get out of her carseat and go inside, so I told her a story about a girl named Jubilee who got out of the car. She gave me the stink eye and said, "I don't like dat story."

Alysa: Wow you are getting to be so big!
Jubilee: I not so big. I so tiny. Sooo tiny.

Alysa: Where do you live?
Jubilee: Pink Playground!

We had some friends from out of town over, and I was trying to get all the kids' attention. I said, "One, two, three, eyes on me." All the school-age kids immediately stood attention and said "One, two, eyes on you." Jubilee was struck with the response I got, and once the kids went about their assigned task she marched around chanting "One, two, eyes on me! One, two, eyes on me!"

"It's cocoa dots!" describing her polka dot leggings.

I was making Jubilee a burrito. I had just pulled it out of the microwave and was letting it cool a little before I rolled it up. Jubilee was ready to eat and asked, "Can you burreet it?"

Alysa: Do you want to say a little prayer [on your breakfast]?
Jubilee: No. I say a BIG prayer.

We went to the library and as I was signing us in on the parking sheet she asked, "I can go in the alligator?" I was so confused. She meant elevator.

 

Levi:

I was making a sandcastle at the beach, and someone (Jubilee?) asked me to make it a "sand church." Levi took an interest and when it was a pretty big pile of sand he said, "I'll put the Angel Moroni on top!" He cast about in the sand for something to top it with, and I glanced over to check on Benjamin. When I turned back to the sand church Levi sat on it.

We were playing "soccer with hands" in the back yard, boys vs. girls, and the boys beat me and Jubilee (who repeatedly scored on our goal). Benjamin was pleased with how well they'd done. He did some mental calculations and said, "You're a mom, and we're eleven, comvined!"

I was looking back at old pictures and saw that Levi's birthday cake last year said "4 so happy" upon his request. This year he had brownies for his cake, and I didn't write anything on them. But I asked him, "If we had written on it, what would your cake say this year?" "Feliz Cumpleanos." Levi has got into the bilingual immersion program, and is now learning Spanish.



Benjamin:

"Instead of playing with 10 cards, we're playing with ALL the cards!" playing Dominion with his friend Alistair.

We were trying to skip rocks on the river, which devolved into throwing rocks in the river. Benjamin picked up a rock bigger than a brick and said, "They don't call me The Big Skipper for nothing!" and chucked it in.

Jacob:

Jacob and I were asked to accompany the Primary children on our clarinets, during the annual Primary Program. We had been practicing our parts and the kids had been practicing their singing. On one song they were to sing the final verse in Spanish. Jacob affected an Eeyore voice and said, "I'll be playing the clarinet in Spanish. But no one will probably notice."

We played the song "Follow the Prophet." I did the melody, and Jacob did some fun and fancy harmonizing written by Tara Haglund. Afterward we got many compliments, and two or three people independently told us we gave the piece a snake charmer feel.

Alysa:

I went to the church building to watch the General Women's meeting. We were chatting beforehand when Sis. Weseman, the RS president, dropped a bomb: "the satellite is broken."

We were all worried about how we would watch the broadcast, but she told us she had called the Bishop, interrupted his shower, and he had told her that his counselor had it all taken care of. Since there was no evidence of this, we were all a little concerned. One sister offered to text message the counselor. Another sister asked if we should go get the TV and try to test it out.

"Well, we have 45 minutes." said Sis. Weseman.
I turned and looked at her. "That's what the five foolish virgins said!"
It all worked out fine.

Egg Hunt and Spring Break Fun

I thought I'd pop on here and share a couple of fun videos from the past little while.  The first is from when my sister Rachel and her family came to visit over their spring break.  Even though it was a couple of weeks until Easter, we decided to do an egg hunt and I recorded this fun video while we were doing it:

We did this for a family home evening activity and everyone had a lot of fun!

The second video is from our trip to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History today.  I got three free tickets from one of my students who had helped out at their poison exhibit.  His research group studies monarch butterflies, which are poisonous, so they were invited to help out at a special night at the museum.  He got the tickets as a thank you and then passed them on to me when I mentioned that we hadn't been yet.  So, thanks Kevin!  This little video just has some photo highlights from the trip:

Anyways, that's a couple of fun things that have been happening around here lately!

-Jacob

You may have noticed...

Hi! You may have noticed how few posts have been going up here lately. That is due, in large part, to the increased number of posts going up on Everead! They are good posts, too. Some of them even have pictures of the kids in them. (Whaaaaat?!? I know. But I was blogging over there! Not over here. So over there the pictures went.) See here and here.

But you know what has not gone up over there yet? Pictures of my haircut. The haircut I got, like, forever ago. And I promised Rachel I'd post some more of those. I've taken quite a few, in an effort to figure out what, exactly I look like. Here ya go! These are most recent then go back in time.

yesterday

sideways selfie

selfie stuck in the car at stone mountain with a sleeping baby

epic bedhead

dentist visit

BLT. So yum.

Jacob on his way to interview at Connecticut!

most epic bedhead

Selfie while i look at the camera and kiss my daughter who may be picking her nose.

After bath I pick her up and hold her to the mirror and always say...
"Who's that baby?!?"

Selfie while reading! (or should i say "reading")

Selfie with the woman who planted all our blueberry bushes!
And Jubilee, who doesn't like strangers, even if they are nice old ladies.

current facebook profile pic

Date night!! Watched The Fault In Our Stars

you can't tell but I was just stickin' my hand over the ends of the hair there.
Zane cut it a bit long at the neck (for my taste), first time around. 

The before and after pic

Benjamin, you will notice, does not permit me to take selfies with him.

I used to be a bit self-conscious about taking self portraits and sharing them online. But then I heard a great quote (I should find out who said it) and it was basically like, "I like it when my friends take selfies. Then I get to see my friends. It's nice. We can all go out and see a sunset or whatever, but I can't just go see all my friends." So. Was it nice to see me?

Do you think this post was self-indulgent? I will refer you to one of my very first blog posts. Wow. That's a blast from the past.

Fun pictures

So Alysa and I recently got new phones, with significantly better cameras than our previous phones.  As such, we've been having fun taking lots of pictures of our kids, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites on the blog, since Alysa keeps reminding me that there are people who read the blog but don't see the pictures I share on Google+ from time to time.  (If you want to follow me on Google+ to see those pictures, you can do so here: https://plus.google.com/+JacobStewart or follow me on twitter if you're interested: @jacobtstewart).  Google does some fun things with pictures that get automatically backed up, like make animated .gifs which you'll see below.  Enjoy!

Here's the view of our front yard, 360 degrees style.  I tried out this new feature on my camera phone yesterday while we were raking the yard and I think the result's pretty cool.  As you can see, the weather in November is great in Georgia!

Benjamin was pretty excited about doing the raking yesterday - here's a picture of him doing some yard work.

Here's a .gif of some pictures I took of Jubilee sitting up in the back yard.  She thinks the grass is pretty interesting.

Here's Levi and Benjamin play fighting on the driveway.

And to finish it off, a self-portrait of Alysa and me at the Robert Randolph and the Family Band Concert.  Thanks Jared and Camille for the birthday present!

Relief Society General Broadcast Recap, 2013

Here's the cliffs notes from conference, Alysa style. (Direct quotes not included.)

Sister Linda K. Burton: What is a covenant? You should make covenants. Are you keeping your covenants? Keep your covenants! Are you keeping your covenants?? Keep your covenants!!

Sister Carole M. Stephens: You are keeping your covenants and you don't even know it! You are richly blessed. Bless others.

Sister Linda Reeves: Hard times are hard. They're hard for me, and hard for you. Keep your covenants and you'll be blessed.

President Thomas S. Monson: Relief Society is awesome. Pray. Pray, pray pray. And read your scriptures. And keep your covenants.

update: I forgot to mention this, since I posted it so quickly, but I loved the broadcast! My favorite talk was probably Sis. Stephens's. Here is a link to all the amazing talks, plus music!

Missouri Trees

I came across this little list I made in a notebook. I want to toss (I mean recycle!) the paper that it is on, but save the list. So here it is. A list from the first time I drove through Missouri, on my way to Arkansas, to see my new nephew Thomas. I remember being like "what is up with these wacky trees?!?"

Missouri Trees 
fluffy green sticks
fake
a prop in a jr. high play
pole draped in a green boa
projections, hands, fingers.

Mosquitoes

So, it's not that the mosquitoes in Georgia are that much bigger or more abundant, particularly (though there are plenty of them). No, the thing is that they are fast. All the other mosquitoes I've chased with my two hands and clapped to death have been fairly easy targets. Here in Georgia, I find myself clapping in all sorts of weird rhythms, trying to kill those fast little blood suckers.

Thank goodness for the internet... (envy=bad)

Alysa: "Okay, now that* reminds me of the other talk by Jeffrey R Holland. The one where he was like, '...If you have to eat...a poopcake...every time something good happens to anybody else...that would really stink.'... I am pretty sure those were not his exact words."

Jacob: "Yeah, let's look that up. Yeah, I'm certain those were not his words."

Here are his words, by the way, from the April 2012 conference talk Laborers in the Vineyard:

...envy is a mistake that just keeps on giving. Obviously we suffer a little when some misfortune befalls us, but envy requires us to suffer all good fortune that befalls everyone we know! What a bright prospect that is—downing another quart of pickle juice every time anyone around you has a happy moment!

Pickle juice! I knew it was something yucky, and not lemons... thank goodness for the internet.

*that here refers to this talk by Jeffrey R Holland, which Jacob and I watched together after he turned on this video.

Mooooooving!

Why did the cow cross the road?
To get to the mooooo-ving truck!

Benjamin and Levi tell variations of this joke all the time (the most popular being "to get to the moo-vie theater).

Anyway, we're actually moving! Loading the truck in less than 7 hours. Outta here for realsies on Friday morning.

Our new address is now available on request, and it is not too soon to send me a letter at my new place! yippee!

First visit to Georgia

Jacob and I visited Georgia about a month ago. We went to meet his colleagues and adviser, see the campus at Emory, and try to find a house to rent. The following comes from an email that I sent to my sister after our trip:

Atlanta is crazy. All of the streets are curvy. I mean seriously. All of them. Ok, a couple of the freeways are straight(ish), but here is my theory. The area was once heavily wooded, and so people just took the cart-path of least resistance through the trees and eventually those got paved and ta-da! Curvy streets everywhere. For instance, a street, let's say Clairemont Ave. will intersect another street, say Lavista. Then they'll both wind around for a bit, and intersect again, a couple miles later. Yeah. That's not confusing. 

Also confusing is driving down Clairemont Ave and seeing the cross streets: Clairemont Rd., Clairemont Place, Clairemont Ct., Clairemont Way, etc. All of these one right after the other, little residential dead-ends. 

Third confusing thing (though maybe not as unique to the area): Two roads converge and one is just swallowed by the other, so you were on Briarcliff, and now you're on, say, Clairemont. But you don't always know (because you don't live here yet) which name the street will take. 

Oh, and don't forget how Clairemont Ave is sometimes posted, within the same few miles, as Clairmont Ave (no e), and how Lavista is La Vista when the signs feel like it. 

Emory seems nice. It is strikingly small. I guess I didn't realize how big BYU and University of Illinois are, but they both have reputations for large campuses, whereas Emory is a small private school instead of the big private school that BYU is. The buildings are gorgeous white stone, some with accents in red marble, which is native to the area. It's all very hilly, especially compared to Champaign. 

Very hilly and very wooded. I felt like I couldn't see anything. When I moved from AZ & UT out to IL, I was like "hey, I don't get a view of every city as I come down into it. This is tough" and Georgia, man, whew! Many, many more hills and trees and you don't even get a view of the street you're on while you're on it, let alone the city as a whole. If you drive in a neighborhood, there's probably a sign warning you of a "blind drive" just ahead. Watch out for cars backing out!

The weather in Atlanta was gorgeous while we were there. Oh, so lovely! I'm looking forward to Atlanta weather. Even though it is reported to be despicably hot in the summer, I'm looking forward to it. 

We did NOT find a place to rent while we were out there. Boo. :-( The rental market is moving too fast and everyone's like "oh, you want to move in in 3 months? well if you pay us $250 we'll hold this place for you for 3 weeks..." it's much more geared to people who are moving inright away. Probably in part because it's a bigger city than I've ever lived in before. Thankfully we found a realtor we like, we were just guided right to him, like it happens when you're praying your guts out. Probably he'll help us find a place long distance and we'll move in without first seeing it in person. Cuz, you know, he's like "you'd want to come back in late April, at the earliest." and I'm like, "yeah, I'm having a baby then..."    

Jacob is getting serious about writing his dissertation, and plans to defend it before his committee in the first week of June. 

We still haven't found a place to rent yet, but it is still early (for the Atlanta market, anyway. Here in IL I've seen signs advertising rentals that open in August). Wish us luck!

Perching in a Peach Tree

Perching in a peach tree
To see what I can see,
Cuz there ain't nobody anywhere
Exactly like me.

I have composed the above especially to announce that We Are Moving to Georgia!

There's peach trees there, I'm told. (Millions of peaches, peaches for me. Millions of peaches, peaches for free.) Also, I'm hoping to record here some of my observations about our experience. We'll be alighting in Georgia for two years or so, we expect. I've never lived in the South before -- in fact I think the only time I've been to the Southern states was a quick weekend trip to Arkansas, most of which was spent in close proximity with Jacob's family, who are the same no matter where they get together.

Anyway, I figure I'll be surprised and interested by some things, and I'd like to commit to writing those down. Because anybody can go to the South, but I am the only me, and I can only move there for the first time once.

Jacob will be working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Emory University, beginning in July. (Yay, Jacob!) Being a postdoc at Emory will give him both research and teaching experience he needs in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a professor of Chemistry. That Jacob is always headed toward his aspirations. He's an achiever.

I've heard they have cockroaches in Georgia. I don't think I've seen one since my AZ days. I don't remember seeing any in my UT time (though maybe I just saw fewer?), and there are none here in IL. Illinois has cicadas, which I did not know about -- could not know about -- until I lived here.

I've heard it's hot and humid in Georgia. That doesn't really scare me (yet?) and I was looking longingly at the Atlanta forecast (60 degrees) as I watched light snow fall all day today.

Other rumors:
Atlanta traffic is horrible
People in the South are nice (but sometimes it is fake-nice)
They have these things called hurricanes?
There are loads of counties in GA. Atlanta itself is in 2 counties, to say nothing of the metropolitan area. I think there are, like, 15 counties in all of AZ. I can probably still name most of them.
It's only 6.5 hours from Disneyworld.

My first ever trip to Georgia will be in late March. (We've got to go find a place to live! Preferably before I go into labor!) I will let you know what I find out. Anything you want to know?

Enjoyed reading this...

It is an interview on Gretchen Rubin's blog. Rubin wrote The Happiness Project, and ever since my book club read it I have been following her blog. Here, she interviewed Sonja Lyubomirsky. An excerpt:

An experiment we just published in PLOS ONE showed that when 9- to 11-year old kids were asked to do acts of kindness for several weeks, not only did they get happier over time but they became more popular with their peers.  And another big intervention we just finished at a company in Spain showed that asking some employees to be generous to a randomly chosen list of colleagues (we called this our “Secret Santa” manipulation) produced huge benefits (for increasing happiness, connectedness, flow, and decreasing depression) not just for the givers, but for the receivers and even for observers.  The recipients of kindness “paid the kind acts forward” and even acquaintances of the givers became happier and were inspired to act more generously themselves.

I also liked the bit that dispelled the myth of "random acts of kindness" -- saying that any acts of kindness have a positive effect. I don't know about you but I just cannot do a random act of kindness. I'm always one step ahead of myself, premeditating kindnesses and thwarting the spontaneity. Turns out I'm validated in my belief that the "random" part doesn't matter. :)

Coming Soon: an Ultrasound!

On December 14th we get to go for our ultrasound! Yes, we plan to learn the gender of our baby. Do you think we'll have another boy, or a baby girl? I have created a poll for you in the sidebar, so you can vote.

If it makes a difference, both Jacob and I think we're having a girl, and that's what Benjamin is hoping for. Levi does not believe we will be having a baby. "No baby," he says in the tone of voice that means "silly, mom!"

That said, we will be happy to welcome this soul into our family, boy or girl. In fact, I had a dream last night that I went to the ultrasound and (among totally crazy dream-things like the fact that the tech took no pictures) the dream-ultrasound showed the baby to be a boy, and we got to see his smiling face. He was so adorable (and somehow looked more like a 6 month old than a fetus) and I was so excited to meet him. But anyone that heard we were having a boy was like "oh, too bad, you wanted a girl..." and I had to try and convince people to be happy for us.

So, be prepared to celebrate with us, no matter the outcome!

Announcing a Pregnancy!

Hello! Here is something exciting: On May 4, 2013 we are due to add another person to our family! I thought it would be pretty fun to announce this with a Halloween costume, at our church shin-dig, so I did.

The shirt reads:
Stewart Family Bakery
since 2006
Famous Cutie Pies
Now in stock for delivery May 2013

In hindsight, I think my costume was just too subtle. At least two of my friends spoke to me, and then later I mentioned I was pregnant, and they were like "Wow! Congratulations!" but, yeah. I sort of had visions of friends congratulating me without hesitation and saying thinks like "What a clever costume!" instead of  "So, does that mean you're pregnant?"I should have known, right? You never assume someone is pregnant, even if their shirt seems to be announcing the pregnancy. If you're not sure, you don't say a word. Lesson learned.

How do you feel?
Ah, the question of the moment (or, of the next 26 weeks). I'm feeling good, with more energy and less nausea now that I am into the second trimester. Emotionally I'm feeling well also -- Jacob and I planned this pregnancy, so I didn't have to get over any shock. After my first visit at the clinic I'm feeling good about the midwives that I've chosen to work with.

What do the kids think?
They're hoping for a sister! And who could blame them? Personally, I've had to catch myself and replace "she" with "she or he" and "the baby."

Benjamin is interested in some of the details of pregnancy, which is fun and sometimes hilarious. Like tonight at dinner. Out of the blue he said in an accusatory tone, "Mom, you told me a man could get pregnant, with the seed."
Jacob and I couldn't help but laugh.
"No," I said, "I told you that a man and a woman work together for a woman to get pregnant. The man has the seed and the woman has the egg."
"Oh yeah," Benjamin went on. "And the egg groooows,  and hatches! Right before the baby comes out!"
"Eeehhh, that's not exactly how it works..."

Levi hasn't seemed particularly aware that we will have a baby in the spring, but then again springtime is quite some time away, in terms of his current lifespan. He and the baby will be 2 years and 8 months apart, if the baby is a few days late. I'm looking forward to when he will be able to feel the baby move, and I think that will be a milestone in his comprehension.

So that's the exciting news around here! I am absolutely horrible at blogging at the beginning of a pregnancy. I feel somehow that to blog without mentioning it would be impossible. (Silly, I know. I only share bits of my life on here anyway.) But now, it is announced!

Music At Our House

I forgot to mention, in my music related post yesterday: I wrote a piece for my friend Emily's blog: Five Tips for Using Music to Make Life Easier. I had a lot of fun writing it and put lots of stories from our house into it.

Emily's blog has just started. She's gathering all kinds of great tips for moms of young kids. French braids and freezer meals are some of her personal strategies, and I was so flattered to be asked to contribute.

One other quick thing: I loved watching this video on Design Mom's site today. Benjamin sidled up to me just as I was starting it, and we had a great conversation about Paralympic athletes that blew his mind:
Me: “If there was someone with two legs, and someone with one leg and one false leg, who do you think could run faster?”
B: (smiling like he knows this) “Two legs.”
Me: “There are some people with only one leg, or with no legs, who are faster than people with two legs! Like this guy.” We looked up a video of Oscar Pistorious. “They are some of the fastest people in the world.”
B: “I’m one of the fastest, too, right?”
Me: “No. These guys are way faster than you.” 
B: “. . .” 
Me: “They’re even faster than me, and faster than daddy.” 
B: “Whoa.”

Ankle Update

So... it seems like it's getting better? Except that last night it was swelling again? I seriously have no clue what to think. Three steps forward, one step back.

The x-ray came back saying there was no break or misalignment. A couple weeks later it was still bugging me when I went in to meet my new doctor. He seems nice. He said sometimes they can see a fracture that's healing that they couldn't see in a first x-ray, so the offender had another little photo shoot. Nada. His words at the appointment were along the lines of "if it's still bothering you in two weeks I'd send you to a foot specialist. Maybe you need a special orthodic or something." Hmmm.

Everything was peachy for the last week or so, but here we are again. Except not as painful. And the red spot has disappeared and now it's sensitive to touch in a different place. The wandering ailment. I definitely think of it as an ailment rather than an injury.

Gout? Arthritis? Effects of a spider bite that I don't know about? Ankle cancer? Blood clot? Curse from a witch that I offended on the forest path?

On Everead:

We got a logo, can you believe it?

We discuss building a website 

(except Fri night is a horrible time to try to start an online discussion)

Benjamin talks about Knuffle Bunny

A non-fiction book for parents of preschoolers

Aaaand....

Until April 23 you can vote for me to go to NYC!

Winter Quotes

Happy Easter! Spring has sprung and winter (mild as it was this year) is over!  In my spring cleaning yesterday I found the page of winter quotes that I collected last fall and then lost around Christmas time. I was so sad to have lost them that I thought I'd better type them up here, so that I have them next time I want them.

Winter: December 22, 2011-March 20, 2012

"Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius." Pietro Aretino

"There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you . . . in spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other, only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself."

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape -- the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show." Andrew Wyeth

"During the winter my attention was attracted to the changes in the stars and planets in the sky." Paul Nurse

"Even in winter an isolated patch of snow has a special quality." Andy Goldsworthy

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer."

"Snowmen fall from heaven unassembled." Unknown

"Snowstorms are God's way of saying 'You've been working too hard.'" Bern Williams

"This dirty puddle used to be pure snow. I walk by it with respect." Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

"To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring." W. J. Vogel

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again
Bill Martin Jr.

"The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination." Terri Guillemets

"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." William Blake

"Blow, blow thou winter wind, thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude." William Shakespeare

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." Edith Sitwell

"One kind word can warm three winter months." Japanese Proverb

"Winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where you look for it." Henry David Thoreau

"The tendinous part of the mind, so to speak, is more developed in winter; the fleshy in summer. I should say winter had given the bone and sinew to literature, summer the tissues and the blood." John Burroughs

Happy April!

On the night of March 31st, under cover of darkness, I eye-bombed our house. That's right.

kablam!

nneeeew-pshhh!

what the? putting googly eyes on some of our framed pics was my fave.

i think this little guy is super cute.

Australia is alive!

the peephole is a worried mouth

"what are you plugging into my face?!" said the t.v.

Jacob's contribution. "Clocks have faces" he said.

almost looks like an elephant?

on april fools we watched General Conference. And Pres. Monson watched us, too.

Benjamin LOVED finding all the little eyes. He had found 90% of them by the time we sat down to eat breakfast and was so preoccupied with the hunt that at one point he spit out some of his cereal saying,

"I think I just ate an eye."

"No, honey, I didn't put any eyes in the cereal box."

You know what I loved? That I got to take credit for it. So many of the cool things we do on holidays get handed to Santa or the Easter bunny or whatever. This one? All mine. And I was a very cool mom.

I also dyed the toilet water purple with a few drops of food coloring.

"What's going to happen when I pee in it?" Benjamin asked.

"I don't know. I've never done this before." I said.

Benjamin's preschool spent the week prior to the silly holiday discussing how this Sunday was for playing jokes on people. He definitely wanted in on the action. So while Dad was downstairs we stuffed the toes of his shoes with tissue paper. Unfortunately Benjamin was so excited about it that he didn't really let the joke unfold organically and ruined it just a little. Still. It was fun and harmless and easy.

By about noon Benjamin was hounding Jacob to play a joke on him. 

"Play a joke on me, Daddy! Play a joke on me!"

"We'll see," was about all Jacob would say. I could tell he was uninspired. So later in the afternoon when Benjamin was grouchy I poured a few Teddy Grahams into an opaque bowl and told Jacob to take them to him.

"I brought you some raisins for a snack!" said Jacob. Then, the reveal. 

That one was a big hit, too. 

I have a tradition of writing something untrue in my journal on April 1, and this year was no exception. I like to make these things fit in seamlessly, so I wrote about our day and how my ankle was feeling better until the evening. I stood up after finishing giving the boys a bath and felt a painful twinge (true). This twinge knocked me off balance and into the tub. I was soaked etc etc. (not true).  The joy of this tradition is that at some unsuspecting moment, far from April 1 I will reread this and totally fool myself. It's pretty fun.  

I hope you had a fun first of the month and if you didn't pull any pranks on your family here's a good one I read about -- just slip a raw egg in amongst the hard boiled ones this Easter. Someone will get a little surprise! :)