The week

This week has had especially good comments, some of which included:

"Wow, you're busy, aren't you." (hear that one a lot)

"Did you buy all the strawberries in the store?" (bought 25 lbs to make jam)

"Are you done having kids? You should stop. They are so expensive." (who says that out loud?)


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Also, this week has been crazy. Every single night has been filled with meetings and activities and practices and fulfilling of church callings. I seriously cannot remember my house ever being this messy. It's exhausting. "Everyone" says this is easy, and my life will be chaos when I have teenagers. CAN"T WAIT! I'm going to crawl in a hole.
***fast-forward 48 hours to a better mood, and now I'm thinking, "Bring it on! I've got this!" Well, at least for today. 

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Grant just came and told me that "we have a mean baby." Together we look at Ammon, and Ammon just smiles sweetly.

Key Words

I was just thinking about how we have some key words at our house that help us all to understand without a lengthy discussion (blah blah blah) about what needs to happen.

Key Words we use include:

Good Listener (in reference to the decisions and choices we make, as in: "Are you being a good listener?")

Respectful and Responsible (in reference to cleaning up after oneself and to describe the way a person is acting, as in: what we say to someone who leaves the table without contributing to clean up.)

Acceptable (or Not Acceptable, as in: "this room is not acceptable.")

Appropriate (or Not Appropriate, as in: "your tone of voice {or the word you used} is not appropriate.")

I'm sure there are more. We use these words A LOT!

What are some key words in your family?

Sitting here

There is a nice breeze blowing through the window, and Ammon is crawling to me quickly, begging me to pick him up. Madison is playing the piano while Logan and Grant voices are playing outside, some sort of boy game I think they made up (Pokemon, I miss Star Wars). Joe should be leaving work soon. Marinara and meatball crock-pot smells are floating through the house.

Life is pretty good, it's pretty good.

Youth Dances

Going to them as an adult is not the same as going to them as a teenager.

I'm wiped out.

Just some things

*Last week I received an email about Logan's upcoming baptism and agreed to meet with the cub scout leader after church. I forgot. I then emailed the leader and apologized. She then emailed be back this message: "I heard you just moved out of the ward." What? I looked at the original email. Oops. It seems I had agreed to meet with the cub scout leader of the last ward.

*The house is a mess. . .and this time the only one I can blame it on is. . . me. After deciding that it was time to start pulling out fall clothes, I have pulled out 3-4 bins of clothes, which have been dumped out, refolded, and spread out around the entire house. There are a few things I KNOW I have for Ammon--among them a cute sweater from The Children's Place, a red Cars shirt (actually that one's for Grant), and a white t-shirt with an elephant on it--but I can't find them! I keep looking through the bins I have already gone through wondering if I somehow missed it. The next step is going through the other boxes of clothes that are packed away in the garage. I don't know why I am so stuck on these 3 items--he has plenty to wear--but it's bugging me that I KNOW they exist, I just don't know where they are!

*I forgot to mention that Madison was the student of the week during the first week of school. My girl!

*Logan can't do jumping jacks. We tried last night for about 15 minutes. Joe and I laughed pretty hard, but I think he ended up being a little embarrassed. It really is pretty cute, though. He does the entire jumping jack motion in the air and lands with his feet together.

*Grant's speech is improving by the hour! He is getting really good at starting words that have the "f" sound--fun, four, five, fish, etc. He is also getting the "oo" sound down--you and two. This sound has been the hardest one for him to make, and he is excited about it. He can also say "Darth Vador" and "Star Wars" very well. I used to worry that it would make him feel bad that we kept correcting him and asking him to say things over and over, but I think he is happy that people are starting to understand what he is saying. He will come up to us and say the words he has been working on--basically asking us to practice with him. If we don't understand him we say, "I'm sorry, I can't understand you," or "I don't know what you are saying." He then starts trying the words with different consonants in front of them because he doesn't know which one it really is... kind of funny. He goes in for another hearing test on Thurs (he's had 6-7 of these in the past 6 months). He's getting tired of the testing, even though it usually means he gets to spend the rest of the day at dad's office (I think even that is getting old). He has upper and lower level hearing loss. We are hoping they will decide on this visit to put tubes in his ears to see if it will help.

McGregor home: 10 p.m.

what the. . . ? is that. . . ? who drew this?!

*later*Madison confirmed that it is a bottom and legs "so that people would know what to do."

Super Saturday

*Madison's bed is (finally) now set up.

*The upstairs is clean.

*The treadmill is assembled.

*The highs for the next week are in the 80's and 90's; the lows are in the 60's!

*I hung some pictures on the walls.

*It's (finally) starting to feel like a home!

Thoughts of the Week

*Thank you, Logan, for letting me know that I "throw fits."

*If you want your 2 year old to poop on the toilet, reward him with McDonalds.

*Plan on going to McDonalds every day. (Note to self: Send McDonalds a thank-you card.)

*It's probably not the best idea to let your children crush hold the store-bought loaf of bread in the car.

*If this baby were Logan, I would have a brand-new baby in less than 24 hours.

*Thinking about how baby arrives: Scary.

*If you can't figure out why you have no options when writing a blog, check to make sure you're on "Compose" instead of "Edit Html." Unless, of course, you know Html.

*Google is a (mostly) wonderful thing.

Afraid to Look at the Scale

Maybe I need a new mirror.

Maybe I'm having twins.

Maybe it's because this is number 4.

Or maybe it's because I haven't been outside to exercise since it started getting hot in May.

No, I'm not trying to gather nice comments. I just need to complain.

Joe: will you be my hero and set up my treadmill?

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This is Joe.

First, yes Jenny, I will set up the treadmill.

Second. You are pregnant.

Question of the Day

My brother and sister announced last week that they are getting married. (Not to each other!) My sister has planned her wedding right before Christmas, and my brother is planning his wedding right after the New Year. In different states. No one in my family lives in either of the states. The holidays will be right in the middle. We're kind of not in the best financial spot right now. Maybe we could make it to one wedding... but definitely not both. And we can't choose sides--we'd start a family feud (they are already upset about each others' wedding dates).

SO... Here's the Question:

Have you ever not gone to a sibling's wedding? Was anyone upset? Did they get over it? Did you get over it? Is it really that big of a deal? 

We need some advice!!

**Pockets**

Do you remember how Tom Sawyer always carried his treasures in his pocket? My end-of-day treasure:

2 receipts, mine

7 beads from two different bracelets, Madison's

1 lady bug barrette, Madison's

1 broken something toy, Logan's

1 tissue, Grant's

1 candy wrapper, Madison's

2 pony holders, Madi's or mine

2 bobby pins, 1 mine, 1 Madi's

1 pencil, mine

1 Easter egg window cling, ?????

Random

Why is it that every time I comment on someone's blog I have the urge to tell them what the word verification is? I guess the real question is: why do I find the "word verification" choice of letters so humorous?

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I saw someone else who did this star thing to break up their thoughts. I thought it was a good idea.

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I would really like to get up at 5:00 a.m. and sit outside on the patio and drink hot chocolate while I watch the sun rise and write in my journal. I got up at 6:30 a.m. instead. Maybe tomorrow.

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I'm not sure if I should publish my random thoughts. You might think I'm crazy.

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Madison agrees.

 

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I forgot. Grant is showing signs of desire to walk. This includes pushing the walker toy and taking a few steps on his own. We're relieved.

Post 100

Today Logan had his second surgery in just over a month.  We will post pictures and details soon, but right now I am home missing him and impatiently waiting for him and Joe to return home. We were scheduled to have the surgery at 1:30 p.m., but the world is against us and he didn't actually go into surgery until almost 6:00 p.m. Let's just say I have been a little grumpy today.  But we have much for which to be thankful: a wonderful friend with a small baby of her own came over and watched Madison and Grant (for much longer than planned). I called the hospital a bit ago and learned that Logan was out of surgery and in recovery and VERY hungry (he couldn't eat anything before the surgery). Grant went to bed a little early and I got to spend some alone time with Madison.  We ate leftovers, she took a bath, we played Candy Land, drank hot chocolate, and read a book.  We probably read 5-6 books a day, and often Madison asks silly questions like, "Where's the dog?" or "What is she doing?" Usually I find her questions silly and annoying (she knows where the dog is!).  Tonight I cuddled with her and actually looked at the pictures and talked about what the characters were doing, etc. We both had fun.  I often get caught up in getting things done--instead of savoring every minute, even if it takes 5 minutes more. The five minutes are much more rewarding than the saving of that time.  Now she's asleep, and the house is quiet, and I am waiting (impatiently) for my son and husband to come home. 

Beijing Olympics... and memories, thoughts

Hello Beijing Olympics!  Some of you, many of you, know that Joe and I met in a Mandarin Chinese class and went to China to teach English after we got married.  We were in China, in 2001, when it was announced that Beijing would host the 2008 Olympics.  Everyone was so excited.  They immediately began printing out t-shirts, key chains, and other things with the Olympic symbol, and of course, they said "Beijing 2008."  At the time we thought it was kind of funny. It seems so far away....  And now, as the Olympics begin, I feel that pull to China again.  There's been a lot of controversy about China's policies.  Several people have asked me "why China?"  And I honestly don't know.  It's so fantastic.  Addictive.  Beautiful.  Different.  Walking down the city streets... riding a rented bike in Guilin.  Of course, part of loving China is knowing that we can return to the United States.... where we can attend the church of our choice, and openly share our beliefs.  I think that hosting the Olympics, and the criticism China has faced, will help their people and their country.  Even in the 8 years I have been interested in China and studied its history, people, and culture, so much has changed.  

One of the reasons Joe took his job in Cleveland is that his firm was excited about his minor in Mandarin.  We've always dreamed, hoped, that someday we could take our family over there to work for a few years.  We forget a little, each year, how much we want to go back.  But as I see the recent pictures of China and Beijing, I remember our goal.  So, yes, I'm excited about the Olympics.  But mostly because its in China.

p.s.  I wish I had some more personalized pics to post, but unfortunately we went before digital cameras were a big thing.  And we don't have a scanner.  

Going to the Zoo, Visiting With Grandma, and Randomness