Whoosh...he's off!

Michael LOVES his nursery leader, which is understandable. She is very nice. He asks about her all week, "I go class with my teacher?" I like when Sunday comes around and I can answer in the affirmative, "Yes. Today you get to go to class with your teacher!"

I gave him the good news this morning at breakfast and he asked about her at least three times during sacrament meeting, so when I saw her go up onto the stand to give the closing prayer, I pointed her out to Michael. My mistake was not getting a good grip on the waistband of his pants before I did.

He was gone so fast, that I would have had to go up the steps to the podium to catch him. I decided that Michael, without his mother waddling after him (believe you me, I waddle these days) was enough of a spectacle, so I let him go. He pulled on her skirt halfway through the prayer, got a big hug from his teacher and a big smile from the bishop when it was over. Life is sweet when you're fast enough to get away and cute enough to charm everyone when you misbehave.

Every now and then...

...Michael makes us smile. Like today after snack, when he was practicing his burping noises. Since he is such a polite young man, he made sure that he said, "Sorry" after each burp.

URP, sorry...URP, sorry...URP, sorry...

Too Long!

Michael was hungry for his "ball-y cereal" this morning and I guess he thought I was praying for too long. During our morning family prayer, I was about a third of the way through when I heard a voice from the cheap seats saying, "The end."

Speaking of breakfast, when Michael woke up, he asked for "oatmeal with a bowl on it" and "milk with a cup on it." I guess we need to work on the spatial reasoning :)

Summer's Growing Up

We have evidence that the inevitable is happening - she is rocketing through teenagehood with adulthood on the horizon.

Clue #1 - She has big plans. Today in the car, she informed us all the when she grows up, she will own, "a mint green convertible Volkswagen Bug, a pink Motorola RAZR, a white iPod, a cello, and a little fluffy white dog." I guess the dog is supposed to match the iPod.

Clue #2 - She shows signs of hormones wreaking havoc on her reason. She admitted with a slight smile (wondering at her own insanity) that she had a sudden urge to throw her, worn for a week, stinky to the hilt, PE clothes at people (strangers that she admitted to having nothing against) while we were in the parking lot at Sears.

While the years ahead are looking like they will be full of surprises, we are confident that most of them will be pleasant ones. Summer is a great girl and we are glad it is her breaking us into parenting a teenager.

We are trying something new.

Inspired by the cousins, I found myself this morning with an urge to put videos of Michael on the blog. I put him back to bed and proceeded with the first of three interviews, all before breakfast. He developed a case of camera shyness, so I had to bribe him to talk about the stuff in his crib with the promise of candy, which led to the second video. Finally, we went to get him dressed and filmed the last one. Enjoy :)

In Bed

Michael Interview # 1

Eating Candy

Michael Interview # 2

Getting Dressed

Michael Interview # 3

Our Weekend

Before we get into the weekend, we all want to say, Happy Birthday Aunt Sara!

I started off Saturday by making pumpkin muffins for breakfast. Michael wanted to be with me, so I hefted him up onto the counter and let him watch the birds eat their breakfast outside while I made ours.
We like to do something physical together as a family Saturday mornings. Sometimes we play soccer, sometimes badminton, but today we decided to go for a walk. I wanted new scenery, so we drove a few minutes to the riverbed. The kids had fun collecting sticks...


...which they used to play in the sand in the riverbed.

I had Stan take a belly picture which we were there - 6 and 1/2 weeks to go!
Rachel and I went out to get my hair trimmed and then to lunch. She is a fun lunch date. When we got home, we were in the mood for more dessert than fortune cookies, so we all had ice cream cones. What a weird way to eat a cone...

Saturday night after baths, I got ambitious and put foam curlers in Rachel's, Heather's, Gwen's and Kelly's hair. Summer was too busy catching up on homework she missed while she was sick last week and Michael was jealous. He gets left out of things around here. Last night, while Stan and I were on the phone with his parents, the girls were playing dress-up and Summer was putting lip gloss and mascara on Rachel , Heather, Kelly, and herself. Gwen was pretending to be George Washington, her new hero, and we could hear Michael in the background yelling, "I want makeup!! I want MAKEUP!!"

Rachel's hair is too thick and straight to have held the curl all the way through church, but her three younger sisters still looked like Shirley Temple when we got home, only cuter. And I'm not biased as their mother at all.

Pretty, Pretty Please?

The other day, Heather, Gwen and Kelly were trying to get Summer to pretend she was a robot. They each begged her, "Pretty, pretty please? I'm kneeling on my knees." It inspired poetry in Heather (age 8), who wrote the following:

Pretty, pretty please?
I'm kneeling on my knees,
The opposite of ease.
Pretty, pretty please?
My knees are getting sore,
Hard, hard on the floor.
Pretty, pretty please?
You are such a tease.
Will you just stop,
Or else I will pop.

I wish I could guess
That you would say yes,
And be as right
As the sun is light.
I wish you would see
And respect me,
In all of my wishes
From horses to dishes.
Pretty, pretty please?
I'm kneeling on my knees.