Outgrown

Us: Sophie, we really want you to finish potty training so you can finally earn your big girl bed.

Sophie: I don't want a big girl bed. I like my little bed.

Us:

April Showers

Some sweet friends in my ward threw a baby shower for me last weekend. I felt a little awkward saying yes when they offered since it's our fifth baby and third boy. But when we found out Sophie was a girl nearly five years ago, we gave away almost all of our boy stuff. So it's a lovely thing to have boy clothes. We also received lots of diapers in various sizes, and I know we'll use those. Unfortunately, I totally spaced on taking pictures.

Then on Monday Sophie and I went to a neighbor's house for a play date. We walked in to calls of "Surprise!" and balloons. They had put together a surprise shower for us. It was delightful. We had lunch and opened gifts while the kids played. Thankfully, I remembered to take a few pictures this time.

April showers bring May babies, right? Isn't that how the saying goes?

Part of the Crew

Peter has been working all year as a member of the stage crew for the Intermediate School play. Tonight we went and saw the fruit of his hard work. The set looked great and Peter did a good job inconspicuously moving set pieces on and off stage. Bonus, Bryan's brother Spencer is in town for a quick visit so he was able to see the play with us.

Afterward Peter pointed out his picture on a big poster that highlighted each kid that participated.

Here's the entire stage crew. Just to give you an idea of how tall Peter is compared to his peers, he's slouching in the group picture.

Cankles

I have a super power. I can change shape. It's true. When I wake up in the morning my ankles look like regular, human ankles. But by bedtime my ankles resemble tree trunks, or elephant legs. And then I go to sleep and they look normal again in the morning. That's got to be some kind of special ability right?

Still Learning the Dictionary

One side effect of encouraging our children to read is that they come across words they don't know. Sometimes they ask us what those words mean. Sometimes they try to deduce the meaning based on context. The latter happened a few days ago when one child attempted to pay me a compliment using an unknown word.

Keep in mind, this was said in a most charming voice.

"Why hello Mom, you're looking very corpulent this evening."

I'm certainly currently more corpulent than usual, but I don't think the correct meaning had been guessed before the word was employed. I just laughed while Bryan defined the word. Sure enough, that was not what they thought it meant.

Little Drummer Girl

Friends have the best toys.

Petting a Tiger

Phoebe participated in her school's Reflections competition this year. From what I understand, all the kids at the school created an art project to submit and some of their parents filled out the appropriate paperwork. When this was happening I got a text from a friend that was helping with the competition telling me that Phoebe's piece was really good and I should make sure I entered her. Then my friend brought me the paper and had me fill it out one morning at the bus stop. Otherwise, it probably wouldn't have happened.

And that is how Phoebe came to tie for 5th place in the 2D/3D Artwork category for Kindergarten through second grade. We attended the awards ceremony tonight. Phoebe was delighted to go up to the front of the auditorium and receive her trophy.

Here's the winning artwork. It's called Petting a Tiger.

Jump To It

Premature Aging

Yesterday, due to a tantrum and a poor choice, Sophie earned a timeout. At our house kids sit in timeout for one minute for each birthday they've had, so a four-year-old would have a four minute timeout. (The grownups aren't so lucky, we don't usually get timeouts.) Now you have the groundwork for the following conversation.

Sophie: (still throwing a tantrum while in timeout) Can I come out yet?! I've been here for eight minutes!

Me: No, you've been there for two minutes. You still have two minutes to go.

Sophie: No I don't! I'm done!

Me: No, two plus two is four, and you're four-years-old. so two more minutes.

Sophie: (in a know-it-all tone) I'm not four. I'm five.

Me: Oh, so you should actually have another minute of timeout?

Sophie: (without pausing) I'm four.

If I Only Had a Brain

Curious about when a specific event happened, I looked up my blog posts from five years ago, knowing that would jog my memory. I quickly found what I was looking for, then spent some time reading through the things that I wrote about as Bryan completed his MBA. I made an interesting discovery: I actually wrote.

Yes, I realize that I write now, but I also have so many picture posts and conversation posts. And those are great, but I have come to rely on them much more than I used to. And the purpose of this blog is to attempt to maintain my ability to form coherent sentences. The cute kid pictures are a nice bonus. I don't spend as much time actually writing as I used to.

I wonder, is this a measurable difference between having three kids and having four kids? Most nights I finish bedtime and my brain feels fried. I stare at my computer in a confused stupor. Then I wander over to Google Photos and find a suitable offering.

If this is my brain on four kids, what on earth will happen in a few weeks when we graduate to five kids?