is this familiar to anyone else?

Setting: Our home, Sunday afternoon at 2:30 PM

Situation: Nap time. Supposedly.

What I shouldn't be hearing: Noises. From both kids' rooms.

What I find when I look in George's room:

Seriously. All by himself. I had absolutely no clue.

What I find when I peek over Pearlie's crib:

Could she look any less sleepy?

But wait! Great news! Someone in our house got a nap!

This really was all happening at the same time and it cracked me up. Though in full disclosure, I must confess that this isn't quite as funny as it seems because John's "nap" really was only like a 15 minute rest (though he did fall asleep) in between his post-church meetings and a home teaching appointment, but still. Babies not napping while husbands nap? Surely I can't be the only wife that this happens to, right? Love those not sleepy babes. And that very sleepy man. Lots and lots.

And since we are talking about Sundays, I'll throw these pictures from a couple of Sundays ago on here. I thought my kiddos looked sweet in their matching blues, so I snapped a few pictures while we were sitting on the couch.

Little Miss Blueberry Eyes. I could eat her.

George was happy to smile for the camera. That is, happy just as long as he could be upside down and look through his legs. Because that is totally normal.

Chubby little fingers that she cannot keep out of her mouth.

Pea is sitting by herself pretty well now. Oh, and if her little dress looks like a piece of vintage heaven, that's because it is. It was worn by her Aunt Lisa 28 years ago. Love little treasures like that. Next time I will try to get some pictures of G in which he is right side up. Or upside up, as he would say.

the students

It is not very often that you can say that every member of your family is in school, but that is the case for us right now. John is in his masters program (freshwater biology) at BYU, and G, Pea and I all started another year at the Elizabeth Academy a couple of weeks ago.

I wasn't planning on teaching again this year, but when it came down to it, things fell into place too perfectly for me to not feel like that was the right direction for our family. I feel so incredibly lucky that things have worked out this way because I really never planned to work after I had children, and if the stars hadn't aligned so perfectly I never would have.

When I left work last year right before I had Pearl, I knew that I wasn't going to be coming back to teach. I didn't want the stress and pressure of getting babies out of bed early and dragging them into school with me (because by some miracle I am allowed to bring my children with me). So I had pretty much thought that I was done. But then this summer the founder of the school (Gail Williamsen) offered me a position as a teacher mentor, helping the teachers in the classrooms plan for and know how to work with the students that have disabilities. That position basically gives me the flexibility to come and go when I (and my kids) need to. I try to be there Tuesday through Thursday for about 3 hours in the morning, but if I can't be for some reason, I don't have the pressure of a classroom full of kids that need me. It is the best of both worlds because I am still working with these precious little students that I adore, helping them learn to succeed, but I definitely feel like my number one priority and obligation gets to be to my own babies. It is such a blessing.

Like I said, George and Pearl get to come with me. Pearl sleeps most of the time that I am there (she has her own little room with her Pack 'n Play set up), and I wear her in a sling when she is awake. The kids LOVE her. George gets to go to his very own class this year (last year I kept him in with me), and he is loving it so much. I was really worried about this at first because I hadn't planned to put him in pre-school this year at all. I still felt like 3 was a little too young for that. But holy cow, he was ready for it way more than I was because he is sad when it isn't a school day (he is just there the same three mornings a week that I am).

Now that things have all worked out this way I have realized the enormous blessings that have come from this. What a blessing to have G in such a beautiful school, learning with the montessori methods and materials that I have come to value and love so much. The tuition for his class is $200.00 a month-- a price we could NEVER afford right now, and what a blessing it is that we don't have to pay for a dime of it since I am teaching there. What a blessing for me to keep up on my teaching skills and still have the opportunity to spend some time working with these little ones that truly brighten my life. What a blessing that I am able to contribute to our family financially and take a little bit of that burden off of my incredibly overloaded husband. And most importantly, what a blessing that I am still able to mother my children, to feel like they are getting all of me that they need, and to realize that this change of scenery is good for them. There are other parts of our lives that are challenging (and even this isn't perfect-- I still sometimes would rather stay in bed and cuddle than get up and get ready), but in this area we are feeling full of blessings and are so grateful.

Here is G, in all of his first-day-of-school glory. He was so excited and happy.

A little kiss before we left. Nevermind the fact that I look like I am in pain.

And then there is John. I do not know how on earth he managed to make his hobbies and passions his school and career path, but his classes this semester (things like aquatic entomology and limnology) cannot possibly feel like school to him since the homework involves things like this:

hi gross little guy!

Remember how he has been collecting and preserving aquatic insects for the past couple of years just for fun? Yes, well now he is required to. It is almost comical when he calls me up and tells me that he HAS to go on an overnight field trip to a river or lake somewhere with one of his classes. Last night I helped him sort and label some of the samples from his most recent gathering expedition. I decided that I was most helpful in the labeling arena-- picking up dead, squishy bugs with forceps really doesn't thrill me that much.

His job on the left, my job on the right, thank you very much.

I am glad I was paying enough attention last night to realize that John has been using our plastic food containers to sort bugs in. I asked in horror if he has always been doing that, and he never really answered, which means that of course he has. I kindly suggested that he could just go ahead and keep those little tupperware containers as his very own bug sorting ones. I am positive that before this conversation those had just been getting put in the dishwasher and then put away in the cupboard ready to store leftovers in. Ew.

As much as I dislike looking at the jumble of icky bugs floating in my tupperware, I have to admit that they look kind of cool once they are sorted into their vials.

Here was last night's finished products, all lined up and ready to be organized into the boxes of bugs that live above my computer. John said that I was talking in my sleep about something being "so gross and disgusting." Can you really blame me when this is what I did right before bed?

on solid ground

Someone please tell me that time doesn't actually go faster with each subsequent child. Because really, I swear my little Pear was a newborn yesterday, and here we are now, teetering on the verge of 6 months. SIX! I do not know when that happened and I have loved it all so much, but time is just slipping through my fingers and I can't believe how fast her first 1/2 year of life has gone. There are so many priceless moments in these stages, so many things I want to remember. She is the rolliest, chubbiest little ball of girly squish I have ever seen. I can't go anywhere without people commenting about those two things-- #1) her feminine, pretty features and face, and #2) how chubby she is. I get the comment, "She sure isn't starving, is she?" all of the time. Really, I am not sure a rounder baby exists.

Speaking of chub, this age brings along with it the rite of passage of starting solid foods. We have slowly dipped our toes (or tongues, I suppose) into this new pool over the past couple of months, and it is becoming more and more apparent that this little baby does NOT want to be left out of the culinary delights that the rest of her family gets to enjoy. She reaches for everything we eat and gets all squealy and offended if she is not offered a fair portion. It is pretty entertaining.

We started out with rice cereal, of course, about a month ago. I came home from a run on a Saturday morning to John and George making some pancakes for breakfast. I had purchased some rice cereal about a month prior, thinking I would introduce it to her around 4 months, but just never did. So that Saturday, with the boys making us breakfast, I decided it was time for us girls to get busy giving Pearlie her first taste of solids.

Of course as soon as Georgie heard what was going down he had to be front and center, wanting to give his little sister her first bite. This picture is blurry, but I love it because it is the only one we got of baby girl anticipating her first taste from her brother's eager hand.


Love Georgie's hand holding the spoon and Pearl's anxious little tongue.


She wasn't totally sure she was a fan at first. (Completely unrelated, but on my mind: I swear I don't look quite this freckly in person. I was shocked when I saw this!)


But she got a few good bites and swallows in. It was a good start, for sure.


I took these pictures of Pearl on my lap after she ate, not realizing how much I would love the picture of our family life feeling that I would get when I look at them. I love so much that you can see George in the background on the counter with his daddy's cowboy hat on, bruises covering his legs, the mess of magnetic letters peppering our fridge, and John over by the stove cooking breakfast. Just a little glimpse of a Saturday morning in our house, and that makes me happy.


A few weeks later (can you tell that I am not really in any hurry to push solid foods?) she got some more yummy goodness. This time in the form of applesauce, and she was definitely a fan, but she might have liked holding and chewing on the spoon as much as the actual food.


And then finally, this last week I let her try a little rice rusk. This was a hit. She loved being able to hold it in her hands and gnaw at it with those wet little gums. Oh, is there anything not to love about a six month old baby?!


Her tongue kills me.


Love the way she lights up and laughs at her funny brother. Also love that her thighs are so chubby that she could arch and arch all she wants, but she will never be able to squeeze them out of her Bumbo.


After she was sufficiently covered in rice goo she got to hop in the tub with her brother. These pictures are just fresh out of my camera, totally unedited, and I adore everything about them because it is just a pure image of my precious children. Seeing these two together makes me want to have about 10 more kids just to give them more of each other. Seriously.

last night 5 years ago

I broke out an old journal of mine last night a re-read the story of how John proposed. I realized that it had been exactly 5 years ago to the day (I knew it was close, but didn't remember the exact date). Sure enough, August 31st. A date that changed my life and made it infinitely happier and better than I could've ever dreamed. I scanned in the journal entry and will post it for your reading pleasure. This isn't nearly as painful to read as the last journal entry I posted, but it's still a journal entry from my barely 21 year old self, and I still cringed reading a few of the details. But it's a good memory, so here you go.

Best parts:

*I got engaged in a cemetery. Awesome, right?

*The fact that 3 "ghosts of dating past" called me as I was driving home to visit my soon- to-be fiance. I blurred their names out here. It was the least I could do. *shameful cringe*

*John just pulling a huge candle out of his pocket and lighting it. Hysterical to me for some reason.

*John had the ring box in his sock. Also hysterical to me.

*I really was completely oblivious. Looking back, I should have known something was up, but John did a good job of totally playing it cool. I was so fooled.

Sadly I did not religiously tote around my camera then as I do now, so there are not any photos of this awesome scene. You'll have to use your imagination :).