Side Effects May Include...

...weight loss, decreased lethargy, and lower cholesterol. Results may vary.


Does this mean we have to keep them in a locked cabinet and administer them every 4-6 hours or as directed by our doctor? Cooper will not be pleased...

Meet Franklin

This is Franklin.

He's the main character of Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark's popular series of books. He even has his own television show.

And he's Peter's best friend.

Franklin has been a part of our lives for more than a year now. He joined us shortly after Cooper did. For a while it was very sweet, Peter would tell me that Franklin was eating dinner with us or going to the store with us. Then it took a darker turn. Whenever Peter did anything naughty it was because Franklin told him to. Franklin has been grounded and sent home from the park. Multiple times. It's been better for the last few months. Peter even told me that Franklin was a good turtle now.

Last week Peter told me something shocking: Franklin had died.

Me: Peter, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?

Peter: Uh-huh. We sang a song for him.

Me: Did you have a funeral?

Peter: No. We had a funeral song. We sang a sad song for Franklin.

Me: Oh. Well, do you need a hug?

Peter: No, but Franklin does.

This was in the middle of last week. On Saturday we were planting our garden when Peter pulled out his cell phone (one of Bryan's old phones) and started talking.

Me: Peter, who are you talking to?

Peter: Franklin.

Me: But I thought Franklin died.

Peter: He did. He was resurrected. Has Jesus come again?

Me: Not yet.

Peter: Oh. Well he was still resurrected.

Oh, of course. Why didn't I think of that?

Tether Ball Skills

Last night for Family Home Evening we read a story from The Friend (something we do for almost all our FHEs) and took a walk as a family. We watered our garden, got our mail, and ended the evening at the park. Our park is special, not just because it's across from our front door, but because it has a tether ball pole.

Peter and I have stopped at the tether ball before, but this was the first time that Bryan had been with us. Cooper and I sat on the sidelines as Bryan attempted to instruct Peter in the finer points of the tether ball. And by finer points, I mean to hit the ball and not swing on the rope. Bryan would hit the ball towards Peter and say, "Peter, hit the ball! Hit the ball!" And Peter would jump up and down and flap his arms while squealing with excitement.

I sat there watching, thinking, "Oh dear, I think he inherited my athletic ability. But wait, maybe I just don't try enough. We had a tether ball pole growing up. I can do this." So I hopped up, kissed Cooper in his stroller, and joined in the game.

Peter and I were on one team, Bryan on the other. Bryan grabbed the ball and gave it a smack. I told myself I was going to hit the ball. I reached my hand up and then pulled it back down. That ball was going really fast and I was imagining how hard it was going to hit my hand. I started laughing out of embarrassment. Then, still laughing, I kept jumping up, trying to hit the ball. After a few minutes of this I looked over at Peter and realized something. I was jumping up and down, squealing, and waving my arms as I tried to hit the ball. Just like Peter.

He really did inherit my athletic abilities.

Poor kid...

Thankful

I wrote last week about my family being in town, but I never wrote about why. Here's the reason:

My brother Ian, his wife Amanda, and their sweet daughter Clara were sealed for time and all eternity at the Salt Lake Temple. We've been looking forward to this since Ian and Amanda were married in 2007. I'm so thankful that they chose to become an eternal family.

I have a strong testimony of the importance of eternal families. I'm sealed to Bryan, Peter, and Cooper. I'm sealed to my parents. Having this eternal perspective reminds me of the necessity of building and maintaining relationships with my family. It helps me to stay calm on those days when my patience is running thin by reminding me of the big picture instead of the small moment I'm experiencing. It connects me to those members of my family that have come before me, and brings to mind those that will come after.

Congratulations Ian, Amanda, and Clara! We love you!

Drumroll Please

This is a momentous post for two reasons. Not only is this my 200th post, but tomorrow is my blog's first birthday. So, to commemorate this joyous event, you get a bunch of pictures from when my family was in town. Huzzah!

Cooper and cousin Clara bonding. Or he's trying to escape from his stroller. I'm going with the first.

The whole gang, minus the missionaries.

When Bryan's family is visiting, Peter's shadow of choice is Spencer. When my family is here, it's my brother Jordan. Neither uncle seems to mind much.

And here's Peter doing a jig.

Finally, I have to include this picture that I took of the Salt Lake Temple. I rarely take such good photos. It would have been even better if I had rolled down my window. Oh well.

Happy Birthday blog! Here's to another year of cleverness!

A Breath of Fresh Air

Every year I set a goal not to turn on our air conditioner until July. I don't like to spend money, especially on something that I can do without.

Our first apartment had a slightly scary, highly ineffective AC/heating unit under the front window. We learned that it was okay to be slightly, or very, warm all summer.

Our second apartment (Wymount) didn't have AC at all and I didn't want to shell out the $200 to buy a window unit. Most of the time open windows and well-positioned fans were more than adequate. I do remember walking home from campus and lying on my bed in front of the fan, hoping my body temperature would return to a normal level so that I could be somewhere other than right in front of the fan.

Our third apartment was where Peter joined us. I finally broke down and agreed that a window air conditioner was an important purchase so we could keep the baby cool. Bryan, who is ALWAYS warmer than I am, was truly thankful. But we didn't buy it until July, thus the July rule was born.

We had no control over the thermostat of our fourth apartment. We were at the temperature-mercy of our apparently over-heated landlords upstairs. The AC turned on in March. I remember very clearly holding a newborn Cooper and thinking how nice it was that I could open the front door and let in fresh air through the screen when the air conditioning turned on. And it stayed on. Until October. I would open the windows every morning just to warm the place up.

And that brings us to our fifth dwelling place. I am currently sitting in front of an open window, taking in deep fresh-air breaths and basking in the late evening smell of the out-of-doors. I'm also wondering why almost all of my neighbors have been running their AC for almost a month now. Do we get a different breeze than they do? Are we the only ones that open our windows?

Do yourself a favor, open your windows today, even if it's just in the morning or evening. Fresh air is heavenly, and totally free.

Sleepover

Remember how I wanted to move the boys into the same room? Well, they're in the same room, although it didn't go down in quite the way we had envisioned.

When Bryan's family came a few weeks ago we moved Peter's little bed into our room and we all camped out so that others could use Peter's room. We knew that my family would we joining us soon so we didn't move him back right away. In the few days between visits we would say goodnight to Peter in his room in his big bed and wake up to Peter in our room is his little bed.

Our nightly sleepovers.
Bonus: the incredible blanket my sister-in-law Amanda made for Cooper. She looked at a map and then cut out the continents for the earth. Amazing.

My family left on Sunday morning and we still haven't moved Peter's bed back. It might sound odd, but Bryan and I both kind of like having him in our room. It's much easier to check on him when he's right next to us. And we agreed tonight that this is a great way to get the boys used to sleeping in the same room. We'll move them into Peter's (or "the boys'" once they're both in there) room at the same time.

But not yet.

To Meat, or Not To Meat?

Bryan is a carnivore. Okay, not really. He's an omnivore, but he leans heavily toward the meat. Polish sausage, pork chops, salmon, anything in roast form. But his favorite is beef, specifically steak.

I didn't eat much red meat growing up. My parents usually cooked with ground turkey. There was also the lentil episode where everything that could be replaced with lentils was replaced with lentils. We ate steak occasionally when we visited my Grandma, but only because she would prepare it for us, we never actually requested it.

Cooper eats just about anything we put in front of him. Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, good. (We don't actually feed him custard, but can anyone name that quote?) He's not picky.

Then there's Peter. He our herbivore. The boy loves fruits and vegetables (just like his mom) and regularly refuses to eat the protein on his plate (not at all like his dad). Well, he does love beans, so not all protein is shunned. Just the kind that came from a cow and sometimes a chicken. We hope he's not anemic.

It's kind of hard on Bryan. His two favorite foods are peanut butter and steak and Peter can't or won't eat either.

The Cop-Out

Have you noticed a trend on my blog recently? I'll give you a few hints:

• Pictures with very little text
• Posting a video from YouTube
• All pictures, no text

That's right, I've been doing cop-out posts. You see, I made a goal for myself at the beginning of the year that I would post something every weekday. At first I would write sometime during the day and hope that I got the post up before midnight. Then Bryan suggested that I write at night and schedule my posts for the next morning, that way I would guarantee that something was posted instead of hoping for a few free minutes to write.

Most of the time this works well for me. I write after the boys go to sleep, which means I have the whole day to think about what I'll compose that night.

Here's the problem though: sometimes I'm tired. (Gasp! The mother of two active little boys, tired? No!) And sometimes my brain just doesn't want to work. On these nights I pull out my camera and click through to find something sure to be on there: cute pictures of the boys. They're always good for a post. I try to do this one, maybe two, times a week.

The last two weeks however I've made some exceptions. Bryan's family stayed with us the first week. I worked hard to have the whole week of posts ready to go before they got here. But I failed. I think I only posted two blog enteries while they were here, which is pretty good. I wanted to spend time with them instead of with my computer. My brother Ian and his family came out from Hawaii this last Tuesday and we've seen them off-and-on throughout the week. My parents, grandma, and brother Jordan arrived on Friday evening. My week has alternated between spending time with my family, and cleaning my house in anticipation of spending time with my family. And I probably spent a lot of time being a wife and mother too.

In other words, being clever has not been a high priority.

And so you get cop-out posts, easy posts, veering-dangerously-toward-mindless posts. Seriously, who puts the Golden Girls theme song on their blog? I do, apparently. The pictures of Clara and the boys were definitely worthy of posts, but they could have a used a little more writing.

Dear readers, I know there may not be many of you left after my last few posts, but know that I will do my best to limit the cop-out posts to only one per week.

Maybe two.

No promises.

Afternoon at the Museum