Things

It bugs me when...

In church, the teacher says, "Get out your Book of Mormon" and everyone gets out their phones.

My kids completely ignore me and walk away when I ask them to do something.

I accidentally pick up a phone call from a telemarketer and it says, "Please hold. A caller will be with you shortly." What? YOU called ME! I'm not holding!

My kids are completely quiet until I get on the phone, then they all are as loud as possible.

People say "ex-specially."

My kids take off their shoes and socks in the car on the way home from church and I forget to take them out and my car smells like feet.

I smile when...

I hear my kids giving their toys a "time-out."

I see carved pumpkins on the porch.

My kids sing in the car.

People ask if any of my kids are twins.

Levi asks for a "chipmunk kiss."

My kids run for the door when they hear the garage open, signaling daddy's home.

Last Weekend

1. Levi's Speech Evaluation- So Levi met with the speech therapist last Friday. After a great meeting with the school district's psychologist, I was very happily convinced that Levi would make it into the program. Well, after meeting with the speech therapist, not so sure now. I felt like she wasn't very thorough with the testing, and that she gave him too many chances to get the right answer, then marked it on her sheet that he could do a certain thing. Maybe I'm just worrying too much or being overly critical. It's just that this is my third time going through all of this and I feel that she was a little easy on him. Yeah, maybe if you ask him to say "dog" he will say it perfectly. But ask him to use it in a sentence, good luck making out "dog" or almost any other word, for that matter. I felt like she was a little patronizing, which felt weird because she was probably only 24 years old. Whatever. He was a good boy at the appointment, and even if he doesn't get into the program, he scored a prize from the teacher's treasure box. He picked these glasses. See? Comedian.2. T-Ball- Well, no more lazing around on Saturday mornings. We are into the season now, which means a game almost every Saturday morning. I don't know what's going on with our kids; one day they love it, the next they hate it. Levi loved it for at least one inning this last weekend. Not sure about Eden. Maybe this Saturday will be her day. 3. Neighborhood Fall Festival- We went down to the fountain for the neighborhood party. The worst part? No free hot dogs. There were hot dogs, but there was no price list or signs anywhere, which led us to believe they were free like in all previous parties, which led us to stand in line until we realized that they cost money and we had no cash. Embarrassing. I don't care that the food wasn't free, but post some signs! Sheesh!

Eden went on this slide like twenty times in a row. Sorry it's blurry- that's how fast she was going!We got some balloons and free cotton candy. It was a prefect day to sit on the grass and watch people make fools of themselves doing the chicken dance. But the best part was the petting zoo! They had a cute little fenced off area with a bunch of cute animals- donkeys, ducks, chicks, rabbits, goats, a pony, and a cute little pot-bellied pig! Eden and Levi wimped out, but Jonah loved every minute. He didn't want to leave.

This little donkey was my favorite! The lady said it was only 6 weeks old? I think that's what she said. It was so cute and fuzzy.Eden and Levi did go over and see Snowflake, the pony. I can now understand why it's said that little girls always want a pony. Snowflake was adorable! I want one now :) Maybe for Christmas.

Fall Break, T-Ball and Our Commedian

I have figured out over the past few weeks that I like structure. I like spontaneity too, but I like me a schedule because that's how things get done around here. Without one, we are a mess. Case in point: Eden had two weeks off for Fall Break and Jonah had one week off for Fall Break. It is all a blur. My house has yet to recover. I don't think I washed a single load of clothes the week they both were off. Even though I supposedly had more time from not driving kids to and fro, I accomplished less. Wait, I accomplished nothing. At least when it comes to homemaking duties. I barely cooked or cleaned. You get the idea. The kids have had their toys out basically for the entire two weeks. Which means that you can't see their floors, and who knows what's in there, camouflaged among the cars and train tracks. Maybe food, maybe bugs, maybe broken glass... Ha ha, no it's not that bad. But still.

We did have fun and got a lot of playing in. I even played with the kids for most of the days.We've almost finished a week back into school, and it hasn't improved. My brain is in a real funk. I just can't get back on schedule! I have been going through the motions, but it feels so forced. Nothing is flowing like it did before break! I think I have a new idea. We need to get out of here during our breaks so things don't get this way!

On top of it all, Peter has been working crazy busy hours, which almost never happens, but when it does, you know it. He worked until 3 am the night before the kids' first T-ball game so he missed the game so he could sleep. Last night he was on a call working until 5 am! And he even went in today from 10am until 6pm and then came with me to an Enrichment activity for wives and husbands on good communication. Oh, I love him.

T-ball was difficult without Peter. Jonah had to be my helper since both Eden and Levi need encouragement on the field. He manned the camera, and like the true artist he is, snapped some pretty great shots.

I think Jonah got a little bored during the game, because I found these on the camera.I love this one he took of this cute little girl.

Good game, Pirates! Good game, Sharks! (That's us)

The kids are always cracking us up. Levi, though, cracks up the most at himself. He thinks that he is just the funniest guy alive. He says something to me like, "Hi, Daddy. You're not daddy! You're Mommy!" Then busts up laughing like it's the best joke ever. He does stuff like this all the time, then cracks up laughing. He came to me like this the other day. I have to admit, this actually was pretty funny.

Thank You

A few weeks ago, one of my old friends wrote a post on her blog about what she would have done differently for her wedding. In hindsight, she wished that she had "faux-loped" to the temple with only her parents and in-laws present. Her post was hilarious, and I thought that I would post something similar. I sometimes think about things I would have done differently. But I think that we all do that, and maybe you do that the longer you've been married as trends change over time.

I actually loved our wedding. We were extremely poor and couldn't really depend on our parents for too much help. My parents still had a missionary out, and I felt guilty asking them to pay for a wedding. I tried to do a lot of it on my own dime or homemade. In an ideal world, we would have had professional invitations, a caterer, a reception hall, etc.

I recently got my hands on some footage of our wedding and recption. I guess it had been lost, and this was the first time since we've been married (7 years!) since I had seen any footage from that day. As I watched Peter and me outside of the temple and at our reception held in a church cultural hall, my heart swelled with gratitude. I feel ashamed for wishing that things could have been more "perfect." As the camera swept around the gym, I noticed the many people who even made our wedding possible. I saw one of Peter's brothers manning the background music in the corner, my uncle and sister-in-law taking pictures, my aunts and cousins who helped decorate and arrange flowers, and Peter's brothers, who spent the evening before stringing a ton of twinkly lights overhead. I watched my parents and Peter's parents stand next to us and greet our guests. I watched some Relief Society sisters from my grandmother's ward serve food. And all this because my sister, Lexie, was willing to film it all. I know a lot of hands went into creating that evening for us. I loved our wedding. Seeing it happen before my eyes reminded me of how much I loved it then too. And as much as it would have been fabulous to have a live Big Band there, I didn't need it. Our day was special because of all those who loved us enough to make it happen.

So thank you to those who helped put our wedding on, those who came, and those who wished they could have come. Our wedding is what it is, and I loved it.

Little Update on Levi

Today Levi went in for his 3-year check-up. It's hard to believe that this guy just barely turned three. I guess he's been past the twos for me for a long time. He is still a hefty kid; even more so than last year. He's higher on both the charts, weight at 70% and height at 92%. He seems as healthy as a horse as far as that goes.

Today we also had a screening with the school district psychologist, part of the process for speech services. She tested him in all sorts of cognitive tests and asked me tons of questions that were hard to answer. But we got through it. Levi really charmed the psychologist. He was being really cute with her. She would have him do a little task and then reward him with a sticker, which he was supposed to put on a paper she gave him. He loved it, and was super excited when she showed him the stickers and there was a sticker of Prince Phillip! He quickly chose that one. As far as I can tell, he did really well cognitively. She even said that he is a really smart little guy. She thinks that he will definitely make it into the program for speech. I'm supposed to meet with the speech teacher on the 22nd, so we have a while until our next screening.

General Conference

Today has been great. Yeah, the house is still a wreck from the past week's hustle and bustle, but we got to watch General Conference today! I always look forward to Conference. As I listen, it becomes more apparent why I love it. I needed to hear some things today. I especially loved the talks given by Elder Holland, President Uchtdorf, Elder Cook, and Elder Anderson. There seemed to be a recurring theme of having a righteous character and withstanding the world and even the little vices that creep up on us. The choir from the afternoon session brought tears to my eyes! I have never seen a choir made up of families sing at Conference. I thought of my own kids and my little brother and sister as I watched the little boys and girls sing along with their parents.

Our own kids were surprisingly pretty well-behaved during Conference. Nevermind that as I type this, Eden and Levi are in a death-match over a Magna Doodle. During Conference the kids colored pictures from The Friend quietly and asked about the apostles. It still amazes me that my kids are growing up. For a long time, I never thought we'd get to that place when they'd be civilized kids, similar to how I felt when I was 5 days overdue with Jonah and I finally resigned myself to be pregnant forever. But they are growing up, and I am already feeling that twinge of sadness that the older folks talk about- that I might someday miss those smudges on the windows or the crumbs on the floor.

The kids have been really entertaining lately. Eden and Levi have started T-ball. Eden seems to have gotten the hang of it, but Levi, being the youngest on the team, doesn't really have too much interest yet. I'm sure most of it has to do with the fact that we practice right next to a huge playground. He wanted to go play so bad the whole practice. I'm sure once we start games and get our jerseys he'll be more into it. Jonah has been the prefect supporter on the sidelines. He yells encouragements to the other two- it's pretty funny.

Jonah has our whole family figured out. Apparently, we need a baby and a brown little dog named Rex. Then our family will be complete. I am fine with adding a baby, but I'll need some convincing on the dog.

Jonah has been on a big-brother kick for the past few days. It's kind of nice having him remind the other two to listen to me and obey. Today during Conference after the closing song, he told Eden and Levi, "Okay guys, we're going to say a prayer. Fold your arms and close your eyes." I'll have to make sure he doesn't abuse it, but right now, I'm just so happy to have someone else on my side!