Ripe Strawberries, Ripe*

My Grandma and I have been busy. We took these

and made this:

*Anyone know the musical?

Bonding

My Grandma is visiting and she and Phoebe have gotten tight. Phoebe will walk up to Grandma with a book in hand, reach up to her, and say, "Hold me, Nanma Bonnie." And who could say no to that?

Pretty Please

During Sacrament Meeting on Sunday we sat in front of a sweet family with three kids. Their youngest is a darling little girl. Early on in the meeting Phoebe noticed the baby, smiled lovingly at her, and said in a loud voice, "My baby sister!"

And then she proceeded to say it several times throughout the course of the meeting.

Is that a request?

Persist

We've done it. Bryan is done with his first year of the MBA program. Yesterday, while reveling in the joy of being done with finals, Bryan looked at me and said, "I didn't know we were capable of so much."

I understand what he means. We've both been going non-stop for the last year, especially the last four months. In fact, the time between last Christmas and now is a blur. We've both pushed ourselves far beyond what we thought we were able, discovering new skills and resources with ourselves. I no longer think I'm disorganized or lazy. Yes, I would love to lie in bed and read most of the time, but I rarely do. And I'm shocked at how organized I have become, with time and belongings and space.

That feeling of realizing we can do more than we previously thought is how I feel each time we add another child to our family. It reminds me of the quote from President Heber J. Grant.

 "That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased" (in Conference Report, Apr. 1901, 63).

On My Nightstand

I'm currently reading:

And soon I'll be starting (the abridged version, this cover is misleading):

Fire In the Hole

As I was getting ready for bed on Saturday night I noticed a burning smell. It was a melted plastic scent and I could really only smell it when I stood in the doorway to my bathroom. I mentioned it to Bryan. We spent a good while sniffing around the room, trying to determine the source. The smell seemed to go away so we gave up and went to sleep.

I stayed home sick on Sunday morning (this cold will not go away) while Bryan braved church with all three kids. I woke up briefly when they came home and noticed my bedside alarm clock was blinking. My germ-addled brain knew that was weird (there were no small children at home to push the on/off switch on the power bar the clock was plugged into), but didn't give much thought beyond setting it to the correct time and going back to sleep.

When I woke up later, the clock was blinking again.

Sunday night after the kids went to sleep Bryan sat down at the computer to prep for Finals. The desktop wouldn't turn on at first. With some finagling he finally got it on. Moments later I came out of the bathroom and was again hit by the smell of burning plastic. But this time it was much stronger.

I told Bryan about the sudden intensity of the smell. Thinking it must be coming from the wall behind the computer, he quickly shut down the machine and set to sniffing. A few minutes later we heard the circuit breaker pop and the lights went out in our room. We inspected the wall between our room and the bathroom, thinking the burning must be the result of some wall-mending foam Bryan had applied to a hole a few days earlier. After much investigation we discovered that yes, the foam had landed on electrical wires, but we could find no signs of burning.

While this was going on I was busy folding and sorting laundry that the kids have recently outgrown. Two baskets full of clothes had been next to my bed for a while and I wanted everything put away. I would check on Bryan periodically, then go back to folding. One item in my pile was a pair of Peter's jeans that had some discoloration near the cuff.

They were scorch marks.

At first I couldn't figure out where they had come from. When I went back into the bedroom next, I looked at the where the laundry had been. The outlet on that wall was melted.

I called Bryan over. I had found the real source of the burning smell.

We spent the rest of the night with the power to our room turned off.

An electrician came to inspect and repair today. He told us the wire had come disconnected on the inside, probably the result of a distracted installer when the house was first built eight years ago. The electricity for the whole circuit went first through that outlet. It had been having trouble (which accounted for the blinking alarm clock and Bryan's computer not turning on) and finally come undone and arced. He also told us that if it wasn't for the newer type of circuit breaker we have (Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupter), our house would have burnt down last night.

I am extremely thankful that it didn't.

Immune Response

Yesterday was Bryan's last day of class. He has two reading days (study days) and then final exams begin on Saturday. That means we've almost made it through one year, which blows my mind a bit.

I think my body got the memo that it's almost over. I woke up yesterday morning with a burning throat and ears and horrible aches all over. Apparently I've given it all I could and now my body is demanding a break.

You might think it's funny that I'm talking about how hard the semester and year have been as if I'm the one who took the classes and did the homework. No, Bryan did all of that, but I've been doing pretty much everything else.

I am so thankful that Bryan went back to school, for the things he's learned, for the friends we've both made. But wow, I will be happy to get back to a regular schedule, at least for a few months before school starts up again.

And now I think I'll go take some medicine and pray my immune system gets back on track.

Easter Sunday

I tried to capture photographic proof of the kids in their Easter finery, but my subjects were less than willing. Rather, two of them were game, one just wanted to run around and look in her Easter bag (bags can be folded, reused, and put away; baskets cannot).

These are the best:

I have no idea why Peter's eyes look blue in this picture. They are definitely brown. 

This makes me smile because 1. it was all Cooper's idea and 2. it's ridiculously cute. 

Do you like Phoebe's dress? I got it for free at a clothing exchange I went to on Saturday. Yes, as in the-day-before-Easter-Saturday. 

Would you like to know what came in those Easter bags?

A few peeps.

A chocolate bunny. (Peter: Mom, it's as big as my hand!)

And my favorite, a picture of Christ leaving the tomb on the original Easter morning.

The kids gave us the best Easter gift of all. Bryan and I both got to take a two-hour nap after church and everyone was still in one piece and happy when we woke up. It was swell.

Almost Halfway

Bryan has a week and a half left in the semester.

We're both completely exhausted.

I hope we both make it.

Goodnight.

Follow the Light

Cooper turned four a few weeks ago. The happy occasion was celebrated by eating whole grapes and popcorn. He got

• his own box of big-boy Legos, 
• lots of books, 
• the movie Hugo (which Peter thought would be too scary, but Cooper enjoyed), 
• and a new-to-us Spider-Man scooter that was free except for the two hours I took in the wee hours of the morning on his birthday to clean it up and make it look cool.

He also got a new pair of shoes. Bryan and I have never been fans of shoes that do tricks, things like Heelys, or light-up shoes. When I was shopping with Cooper he found a pair of Lightening McQueen shoes that called out to him.

And they lit-up.

I told Cooper that we would get the shoes that fit him best. When it came down to the flashing shoes and another, less-seizure inducing pair, I was stuck. They both fit him well. Should I stand by my arbitrary dislike of battery operated shoes and buy the regular footwear? Or should I let him make his own choice?

We called the McQueen shoes a birthday present.

He loved them.

And I have to admit, the few times I had to chase him down in the dark, he was much easier to find.

This morning we went to a duck pond that we've been to several times before. When we arrived we discovered the pond had been drained (for cleaning, I assume) and was now a large bed of rocks and dried mud. We were there with friends and many of the kids took the opportunity to go running around the dry pond bed.

The mud wasn't as dry as it appeared.

A little girl a few months older than Phoebe was the one who discovered it. She sunk in to her calves and her poor mom had to use a long tree branch to dig her daughter's sandals out of the mud and lost one of her own flip-flops in the process. I gave the boys a warning to stay out of the mud. I pointed to the lost shoes and reminded Cooper how much he loved his light-up shoes.

You can tell where this is going, right?

Peter heeded my warning. Cooper did not.

I now have a pair of extremely muddy light-up shoes sitting in my bathtub, waiting to be thrown into the washing machine. And that means they'll probably never light-up again.

So much for being able to find him in the dark.