Heading down dark paths..

So Devon's current favorite song is "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor" which he loves to sing repeatedly. He was singing it on the way to church Sunday. Let me pause here and say that I love listening in on the kids conversations in the car. It's a great opportunity to be within earshot yet have them feel like we're far away in the front seat. (The front seat seems to be like a foreign land to kids, exotic and unreachable.) Anyway, he was singing "what do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor (made up word) morning." Julia interupted him at this point to say, "Do you even know what drunken means, Devon?" Kennedy pipes up, "Just don't say it Julia." Julia: It means when you take ac- er, alcohol and it does something to your body. Kennedy, with all the wisdom and all-knowing frustration she can muster: Great, Julia, now he's gonna do it! So I'm watching for his descent down the slippery slope.

And one more...

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Jesse Year One

I made a couple scrapbooks, then had trouble posting them so made slideshows. Now I think I've got it working so here it is. A lot of the same pictures, though.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

What a day!

Today was the big day. Jesse turned 1 and took a big step toward leaving babyhood behind. This morning I took him for his one year checkup. He tipped the scales right at 20 pounds. He got 2 shots but was pretty tough about it. We got the go ahead for turning his carseat around and starting him on whole milk. He is consistently standing independently but has not taken any steps yet. Julia was Star Student this week in her class at school so we went in today so she could show Jesse and Renie to her class. I brought cupcakes and they sang Happy Birthday to Jesse. Tonight we had pizza for Jesse's birthday dinner and chocolate cake and ice cream by default since he can't choose for himself. If I have to make it I get to choose!

Jesse is ONE!

Folding Laundry

Jesse's First Year

With Jesse's first birthday coming up on Friday, I thought I'd dedicate this week's posts to him. So if you really like my sweet baby boy, you're in luck! If you really don't care you might want to wait until next week to check in again!

Not just another weekend...

With the passing of President Hinckley suddenly the weekend became unlike all the others. I've prepared myself for this for a while. Seriously, every time I would listen to him speak I would think, "I will be so sad when he leaves us!" But I was not as sad this morning when I got the news as I thought I would be. I was disappointed that I would not have the pleasure of learning at his feet any longer, but I found myself immediately thinking of what a happy leg of the journey this must be for him. How wonderful to be reunited with his wife and to get a break from the hard work and travel involved in presiding over the Lord's Church. As with most twenty and thirty somethings, I have felt like he was My Prophet. President Kimball was the first I remember hearing at Conference, but President Hinckley was the first I listened to, learned from, served my mission under, and looked to for guidance in raising my family. His place in the church will be filled, but not the place he holds in my heart.

Just another weekend

As you may have noticed in the sidebar, Lincoln is the #1 Dad. This weekend we each had a date with one of the big girls. On friday night Kennedy and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner, then shopping at Walmart for Valentine's decorations, then to Culvers for Ice cream (brrrrrr Kennedy!) and hot cocoa (smart Mama). While we were gone Lincoln built a blanket fort in the living room for the kids to sleep in. He had their sleeping bags set up in there and he even ran extension cords for their nightlight lamps. They had a lot of fun in there, but ultimately only Kennedy and Julia slept in it. Devon very much prefers his own bed and Renie decided to sleep on the couch.
Also on friday, the kids and I decided to put up a Valentine's tree. We have a small artificial tree that we put in the corner of the dining room and decorated with Valentine's ornaments. We made a whole bunch of plain heart-shaped paper ornaments and put them in a basket near the tree. These are for little love notes we want to write to each other. If someone does something nice for you, you can write it on the heart and hang it on the tree. If you want to tell someone something you love about them, you write it on an ornament and hang it on the tree. Kennedy has been really taking the time to notice nice things people do for her. It makes everyone feel happy and it's lots of fun. I've often wished we did a little something more for Valentine's Day to make it special for the kids. This seems to fit the bill.


Fort Fun

The Valentine's Day Tree

What a process!