Welcome to my evening scripture study thought process. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I was reading in the Book of Mormon about Zeezrom.  If you don't remember, it's a great bad guy repents and turns good guy story, along with a little miraculous healing.  I like it.  But I had the thought that if I met Zeezrom, maybe if he knocked on my door as a missionary or was asked to give a sermon in church, would it bother me that he had been so conniving and mean and hateful towards men of God, and who knows what else he did that wasn't kept in the record?  I hope not.  I don't think so.  Anyway, it got me thinking about other "good guys" who live less than perfect lives.  Well, that's everyone.  But for some reason it bothers people a lot more if a spiritual leader sins.  (Nate was devastated when he found out Martin Luther King Jr was an adulterer).  One time my sister and I had a completely irreverent conversation that I guess I could call "what if the prophet" which started when she heard something negative about a President of the LDS Church, and we then began asking each other questions that mostly started with "would it bother you if he.." and "what if he had done....".   The conclusion?  A resounding NO, our faith is not based on the sins of the prophet, past or present.  (Besides, after our conversation we realized that most of the sinful scenarios we had come up with could be found in the scriptures, often done by the prophets themselves).  So why, then, is it so difficult to look past the wrongdoings of spiritual leaders?  I think of poor Joseph Smith.  A lot was asked of that boy.  And since most of his history is written by people who either adored him (positive stories) and those who distrusted/hated/wanted him dead (negative stories) then there are a lot of mixed messages about his life.  But the point is that even if every terrible sinful story were true, Why should it shake my faith?  If anything, the adversary would have been working overtime tempting the man, and nowhere in the scriptures does it say prophets are sinless.  The only personal choice I know he made that affects my life is the decision to pray in a grove of trees.......pretty much everything else is between him and God and the same goes for every prophet before and after him.  But it is so common for people to glorify spiritual leaders that it can be crushing to find out the possiblity that they just might spank their kids, yell at their wife, have an addiction, or a bad temper, or a deep dark secret.  Often people get so carried away by the wonderful stories....like boy Joseph refusing alcohol as a pain killer when he had to have surgery...and they think he must have been super amazing every second of his life and forget that he was human.  We all are.

Aaaannnnnyyywwwaaaayyyyy.  Now that I have ranted, here is how my day went:  Avery cried all day.  Teeth or ear infection, only time will tell.  Grayden cried all evening. (Poor thing, his loving mother cooked him a nice hot meal for dinner, so of course he had to tantrum for an hour and a half.
He has a hard life).  I spray painted the long wooden handle of a former rake to look like a light saber so we can use it to hit his birthday piñata.  I spray painted his headboard that I am going to decorate with a vinyl Star Wars logo.  I went to visit teach a girl in my ward who I had never met and who is moving tomorrow.   I.....fed my kids.  Remember how I said Avery cried all stinking day?  There wasn't much time for anything else.  Grayden learned how to skip and snap.  But not at the same time.  I ordered a ridiculously overpriced light saber ice pop contraption for the birthday.  (But seriously it is so cool, I got it at thinkgeek.com).  Now it is all of 9pm and I am exhausted.  So as soon as I clean my house, I'm going to bed :)

Thursday.

At dinner Grayden held his fork close along his pointer finger and said, "Mom, I wish we had fork fingers.  It would make eating so much easier."  When I agreed he sighed sadly and said (rhetorically), "Why did Jesus make us with just normal fingers..."

My brilliant answer was that people would get stabbed if we tried to tickle them.  He thought that made a lot of sense.

Last night I went to mutual to plan the girls camp skit with the Laurels.  After that, (and after eating a cookie and a piece of cake, oh why do I have zero self control) I went grocery shopping by myself which I have decided is my new plan.  Never grocery shopping with children?  Yes, please.  It was blissfully quiet and unrushed.  And since I am gone every Wednesday evening anyway, it's a good two for one.  Peaceful and efficient, two of my favorite things.

Speaking of self control, today I went to a pizza buffet with a friend for lunch.  Pizza and buffet, two words that should never have been allowed to be put together.  I am not a health nut in the least, but Nate is so dedicated in his exercise routine and diet that I feel like I need to do something, if it just means slightly pay attention to what I eat.  Yesterday I jokingly pushed Nate with both hands flat on his stomach, and to be honest his abs are rock hard.  I just don't have the motivation to be that amazing.  When I do a show that requires dancing I get a lot of exercise, but that is pretty inconsistent.  Maybe once we join the YMCA I will go and take a class or two.  They watch your kids for free, and that is motivation enough.   Now someone else can play tag with him for a bit :). Today while playing tag for the 20th time, he fell and rolled his ankle a bit....and then he looked up at me and said, "Mom, I think I may have too much energy."   Smartest thing I've ever heard him say, before I realized.....he has probably heard that said in reference to him before.  Like, multiple times.

Four months from today our family is going to Grand Cayman on vacation.  I always feel like I desperately need a vacation about three months before we have one scheduled, but I guess I am a little ahead of the curve this time.  I think the roller coaster of last year that culminated in moving to Houston and then getting used to things here while my son acts like a deranged monkey on speed has made me want to take a step back from life and...I don't know, breathe a bit.  Recharge.  (even though the monkey is coming with us). Hopefully I have enough battery left for at least four more months.

Tips on how to raise a four year old:

Totally kidding.  I have no idea whatsoever.  Besides, mine won't be four until the 27th.

Today he ran past me and said, "Mom, did you feel that air when I ran past? That's called the Wind of Death."
Today he begged, literally begged me multiple times to be able to sort and fold the pile of clean laundry I had put on my bed.
Today he tackled Avery with a little too much gusto and she cracked her head on the tile. (She's fine)
Today he asked to have quiet time instead of nap time and so I asked him what the rules for quiet time are.  He was able to recite all of them entirely on his own, and they are: no going into sleeping Avery's room, no loud stomping or pounding that makes the floor and entire house shake, no going to the top of the stairs and yelling if it is time to come down, and no tantrum after quiet time when I ask him to clean up the play room.  An hour and a half later he had broken every single one of those rules.
Today Nate got home after 7 and I lasted until 6:35pm before putting on a movie.  I was quite proud of myself.
Today he hid under the play room rug pretending he was a dinosaur fossil and commanded that I discover him.  39 times.
Today he told me that if I were a cake he and Avery would eat me.
Today he was a chef and cooked up some plastic waffles on his play grill.  Then he used a fork and knife to cut it up and fed all of his pretend bites to Avery, which thrilled her.
Today he read 32 of the 35 kindergarten sight words.  (When he can read them all he gets an ice cream cone)
Today he left three different flashlights in the on position scattered throughout the house.
Today he told me he loved me three times (awwwwww)
Today he went to timeout once for throwing ice at the dinner table and once for waking Avery up.

Today Avery somehow unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper in all three bathrooms.

As a side note, I took the kids to the local community college library yesterday.  Today 14 people were stabbed on the very same campus.  I am quite happy we weren't there.

Late Night with....Me

Nice!  I can blog on my iPad.  Maybe I can even attach pictures from my camera role.  This may be dangerous, because at night after Nate falls asleep (at 9pm) and my insomniac self hangs out on the bed in the darkness, all sorts of randomness enters my mind, and I may be tempted to share it.  Is this blog public?  I don't even remember.
 I went to my blog tonight, the first time in a pretty long time, to look over the drastic change that has taken place in my children.  What they say is true, the older you get the faster time goes, and I am only 30 for crying out loud.  My son has lost all of his sweet toddler ness and grown into a crazed little boy.  He is so hilarious I could post daily entries that would send you right past giggling and straight to guffawing.  He is strong and hyper and handsome and brilliant and kind and rough and naughty and silly and curious and stubborn and mischievous and he talks nonstop.  He amazes me with his many talents and his ability to go from tantrum thrower to genius to cuddler and back again in less than five minutes.
 My daughter is knocking on the door of toddler and it terrifies me.  I have never been super crazy about babies, but I already miss the baby version of her.  And what if we don't have more kids?  Then she is the last sweet baby I will have, and I think about that every single time I put her in her crib. First I sniff her....yes, I take a big deep breath through my nose right at her neck.....and think, one day soon she will walk herself to bed and get in it without my help.  With my first kid I was counting down the days, but it is different this time.  Every milestone she reaches causes a little bit more heartache.  But at the same time it is so fun to watch her personality develop, and to see the differences and similarities between her and her brother.  It is fun to watch her do something new and be so completely thrilled with herself.  It's funny how young kids learn pride in their accomplishments.  You can see the look of self satisfaction in their eyes at just months old....wouldn't it be nice if that confidence stayed with us throughout our lifetime!
Life has been really good to us lately, and I have been thinking a lot about how much we have.  Then after listening to General Confence last weekend, it is just abundantly clear that life is wonderful.  Not perfect, but I would rather have it the way things are...... a little messy, a little challenging, a little murky......than worry constantly about the little things.  The most important things are in check, so it's all good :)

Let me e'splain. No, there is too much. Lemme sum up.

We moved to Houston and we love it.  The job, the house, the ward, the friends, the weather, love, love, love.  Does that sound sarcastic?  It really isn't meant to be, because we honestly love it.  Grayden seems to be happy, too, which is a big gigantic bonus.

Gray started a little preschool taught by the stake primary president that only has four kids in it and is only twice a week for two hours, and if you know this child at all, you will understand me when I say it is exactly what the doctor ordered and he is in heaven.  The teacher is great and even sometimes alters the project or lesson just for him to make it more challenging when it involves things like letters and spelling, which I appreciate since he is already starting to read a little and I want him to keep progressing that way.  It pains me that he has to wait until the fall to go more than two days a week.  But he'll live.  And I will be patient with his incessant asking if it is preschool day....every single day.

I put the house together (kind of) and have been happy getting accustomed to life around here.  (Groceries cost how much???)  I got called to the YW presidency which is mostly super awesome for the following reasons:  the other three girls in the presidency are the coolest people ever, all three of them have a three year old kid for Grayden to be friends with, and I pretty much think the Young Women organization may very well be the most important in the Church.  Not to mention this specific group of girls is truly amazing, and I've only known them for two weeks.

Nate is so excited about his job and the company he is with, that sometimes he just likes to happily discuss how wonderful it is.  Even though one of the guys affectionately refers to Nate as "choir boy" (they don't see many construction managers who don't swear, drink, smoke, or tell dirty jokes), they all really like him and he is making good friends.  He put together a wooden swing set and then stained it, and I consider that my Christmas present even though it is supposed to be for the kids.  (As a side note the three guys who came and helped him were the husbands of the three women who are in the presidency with me.  See.  Told you they were cool).  Nate is working later than he ever has in our marriage and with traffic he is getting home after 6pm sometimes!  Gasp!  I will have to accept that fact that the days of him being home at 4:30 are over.  So sad. 

Avery is nearly seven months old and is already high maintenance. She hates baby food and will only eat real food, much like Gray did at this age, so I am having to get really creative with feeding her toothless self, since she mostly just wants to eat food she can can pick up by herself and get into her mouth, which is a very short list.  But, she sleeps 10-12 hours at night and LOVES her big brother.  The crazier he is, the more she laughs....which is really unfortunate for me.  She also loves Daddy.  And he loves her to death, too.

We are getting ready for Christmas, tree up, decorations all around, advent calendar ready to go.  Grayden is very concerned Santa will not come because he was made aware of the fact that it does not snow in Houston.  According to his logic, Santa and snow go together and therein lies the problem.  We are doing our best to explain that one. 

I am going to try to do better at blogging, but I can tell you right now it will probably be mostly about the things Grayden says and does, because the entertainment NEVER ends around here.  Aside from counting everything and trying to sound out all the words he sees, he is, like all children, very literal and so I have to set things straight for him all the time, but on a three year old level.  Today, for example, he was singing The Wise Man and the Foolish Man.  After he finished he said sadly "I will be so sad when our house gets washed away on the sand."  I said no worries, we built our house on a rock, so it won't wash away.  That led to him hopping up and down on every surface of our bottom floor trying to feel the "rocks".  Yes.  Our own little safety inspector.

 

 Above is the wall advent calendar I attempted.  Gift bags and gift tags.  So original.  Grayden will love doing all the little activities, though.  Below is what I saw at the top of the stairs today when quiet time was over.  He loves to dress up, and usually it is peter pan or a wizard costume.  This one was a first.  Here he is asking me where is Little Peep's hook.  I think he means crook.  But knowing him, he might mean hook.

Our swing set. It's a craigslist Christmas!  I love it.

July and August! Chicago, Camping Football...

 Somewhere Nate and and I have a picture of just the two of us in this exact spot when we were engaged.  When we find it, it will be fun to compare the two :)

                                                           Sadly, this frog didn't make it. 

The Fourth