My Internal Calendar Is Broken

I was at a meeting last night when I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to return a key that I had borrowed. The key was due by 10 AM Monday morning. "I can't believe I forgot that!" I thought. Which was followed closely by "I'll return it tomorrow morning and at least it will only be a day late."

And then I realized it was Tuesday night, not Monday night.

Peter and Phoebe have had croup for the last five days. Prior to my meeting the last time I had left my house was when Cooper and I went to church (while Bryan stayed home and took care of sick children). Wow, I knew the days had run together, but that's a whole new level of mommy brain.

I returned the key this morning. The receptionist was very nice about the whole thing, especially when I mentioned having sick kids and not knowing what day it was.

The kids are feeling well enough that I plan on sending Peter to school tomorrow. Which is Thursday. Right?

Posing

Sometimes I take pictures of the creations the boys make out of blocks. Like this one.

Phoebe has seen me do this, and she likes to see the results on my screen. So it wasn't surprising when I walked in to the boys' room to see what Phoebe was up to and she asked me to take her picture. She showed me her block creation and I pulled out my phone. I'm not sure she actually made this, in fact I'm pretty sure that Cooper made it. But I took the picture anyway.

And I'm adding this one because you can't see her face in the other one, and that face is important.

An End and a Beginning

Today Bryan had his first day of his last semester of classes for the MBA program. This is only the fourth semester, which is much shorter than the time we spent as undergrads, but in some ways it feels like this has lasted so much longer.

I think this semester should be smoother than previous semesters though. Bryan went on six different job-search-related trips last semester. His traveling should go down significantly. The reason? Bryan has been offered, and has accepted, a job. A job! That was one of the scariest things going into this whole MBA adventure. Did it make sense to voluntarily leave a job when so many people were out of work? Would he find another job when it was all over?

Thankfully, he did. The job comes with new forms of excitement. The job is part of a rotational leadership training program and there's a strong possibility that we will move every year for the next three years. I'm focusing on the adventure that will come with the opportunity to live in new-to-us areas of the country. I'm trying not to think about changing schools and wards and homes so much. But you know, after living in Wisconsin for the summer, I think we can live anywhere.

So now we need to get through this last semester and then we can prepare for the next leg of our adventure.

Star Light, Star Bright

I've been working for a few months on Phoebe's name song. It would have fit into the rhythm of Cooper's song, but I wanted them to each have their own ditty for remembering how to spell their names. Then one day I started to sing "I Am Like a Star" to Phoebe and Cooper. I told Phoebe that her name means bright and shining, just like a star. Then I replaced the "I am" in the first line with Phoebe, and lightening struck my brain.

Today during lunch I finalized the words.

Phoebe is a star shining brightly,
Spell it P-H-O-E-B-E.
Phoebe is my friend,
Spell it once again,
Yes spell it P-H-O-E-B-E.

The song is simple and her name isn't spelled as many times as Cooper's or Peter's, but it fits nicely, and I love the reference to the meaning.

Come, Follow Me

A few weeks ago I was called to be the Mia Maid Adviser in my ward and I'm going to teach my first lesson this week. The manual that I used when I taught the Laurels over the summer was the same book that I was taught out of when I was in the Young Women program, which means it was time for new material. While we were in Wisconsin I heard that the Church was prepping new lesson plans for the Youth, and they recently rolled them out.

Have you seen the Church's new curriculum for the Youth? It's fantastic. No more point-by-point lessons full of case studies to be read and discussed. Now the lessons are taken from the scriptures and from talks by General Authorities. The Young Women (and Young Men in their classes) are encouraged to share their insights. The teacher is not a lecturer, but rather a facilitator.

Guess what? This is how I've always approached teaching in the church. I'm thrilled with the new curriculum. I think it's terribly exciting. Even if you don't have any kids between the ages of 12 and 18, or a calling to work with them, I encourage you to go poke around the site and see the lessons. They would make great Family Home Evening and scripture study material as well.

Ladybug Girl

For Christmas Phoebe got a big girl bed. Well, the bed is still in our storage unit, so I guess it's more accurate to say that she got a big girl mattress. We decided to start her out on just the mattress so that she could adjust to a bed without walls while she's close to the ground. The first few nights we found her sprawled out in the middle of her floor, but she's getting progressively better at staying tucked in bed while she slumbers.

Remember the amazing quilt my sister-in-law made for Cooper? Well, you can see part of the quilt she made for Phoebe in the picture below. I was thrilled when I found the (free) pillow pet to match. The quilt is big enough for my bed, put perfect for Phoebe's bed when folded and tucked. I'm glad it's big, that means she can continue to use it as she grows.

Dream Friend

Tonight while we were getting the kids ready for bed, I overheard Phoebe as she chatted away on her play phone. The side of the conversation that I heard went something like this, "Oh Ashley (laughter), I know! her baby sister. Ashley's baby sister. Yeah, I know. Oh, hold on a sec, 'kay? Okay, bye Ashley, I'll talk to you later."

I asked later who she was talking to. Ashley, of course. Except, the only Ashley she knows is her cousin who lives in Iowa, and that Ashley doesn't have a baby sister. Perhaps she is having a pretend conversation with her cousin. Or maybe she has an imaginary friend, a girl that she can giggle with on the phone and probably wouldn't tackle her just for fun (like a few big brothers I can think of).

I probed for details about Ashley and I only got one: she lives at Costco. That sounds like a fantasy indeed.

White Christmas

It snowed most of the day on Christmas Eve. The boys were thrilled that they would get a white Christmas. On Christmas itself the skies cleared and we had a lovely day, free of falling snow. I'm not trying to be a snow Grinch, but we had to drive to and from Bryan's grandparents' house, and I prefer the roads to be clear for such a jaunt.

Then yesterday the heavens opened. It snowed. And snowed. And snowed. Bryan shoveled our front walk five times yesterday. And then it continued to snow overnight and this morning. This afternoon we bundled up and the kids got to use their new snow boots (thank you Nana Shari!) as we jumped around in the fluffy white powder.

Can you see how tall the snow is compared to Phoebe? It was almost up to her waist. She had to be rescued a few times because she became stuck while trying to chase the boys.

Ballerina Fairy Princess

Phoebe had a very pink Christmas. It was full of ballerina-themed clothing, pink toys, and general girlishness. In fact, she spent part of Christmas day as a ballerina fairy princess.

And yes, I know the picture is blurry, but it's the best one I took. Two-year-olds move fast.

The Nativity

A few weeks ago the kids decided they wanted to stage their own performance of the Nativity. As a child I would try to wrangle my brothers into participating in Christmas musicals that I had put together, so their artistic attempt spoke to my soul.

Phoebe played Mary, Cooper was Joseph, and Peter had the dual role of director and donkey. I love the costumes and the improvised curtain. However, I'm afraid Peter had a hard time getting his actors to follow directions.

The play is in two parts. You'll know why I had to stop filming when you get to the end of the first section.



Once appropriate consequences had been doled out, the play was able to go on. Listen carefully to what Phoebe is saying, especially at the end. Her ad-libs are definitely my favorite part.



It's not the most reverent interpretation, but I love that they were trying to celebrate Christmas, and that their Holiday performance didn't include any elves.

Merry Christmas!