Hopefully, I will find some of my pictures to go with some of these "articles" later, but for now...
each moment is precious, and I want to cherish them all :)!
Papaya in the Buff
Papaya has officially decided that “buff is better,” and
streaks naked regularly through the house and yard. We also lost her again once this week, until
we found her at the park with her brothers at their early morning
work-out….apparently they had decided it wasn’t worth the fight of leaving her,
and had left us a note we had missed.
Going back to Papaya's "free-ness", when we realized her “state in the buff” was her
official new modus operani, we resorted to duct tape for the diaper last night. Before the duct tape, she would come up to us, naked, and say,
“Poopy!” pointing to her cute little cheeks, and we would have to find the
poopy diaper wherever she had left it. Not so fun! She also thinks she know how to go potty, so will start stripping in public, if she finds a public bathroom to "try out." Ah, me.
Hiking Mt. Olympus
Avot and the Goob (aka Mountain Goat boy) hiked Mount
Olympus yesterday with their Aunt Shara and some of her friends. The Goob would take short breaks with
everyone and ask, “Are you guys ready to go again yet?”
Avot said she had a nice, hour-long conversation with Zeus at the top,
so the two of them are on great terms now.
Watch out, world! (Thanks to Shara for the pictures!)
Lek--Eagle, Patriarchal blessings, and male bonding
Lek has been madly working on his Eagle this week, trying to
get it before we go. Famous words, “I
wish I had worked harder on this during the summer,” remind me of his mother J. It’s genetic, I’m sure. He’s made great progress so far, and should
finish, if not get awarded it, before his father leaves in two and a half
weeks. Lek also is getting his
patriarchal blessing today…I am so excited!
He wanted to get it in English, and the Bishop suggested it, too, so it
is all good to go. He also got to see a
couple great friends this week from our old area, which filled his friend cup. The icing on the cake of his awesome week was
football scrimmaging with his dad and uncles yesterday, and a fun time watching
the big rivalry game last night while eating some of the fresh salsa his dad
and Uncle Aaron made…yum!
Go BYU!
We had a fun BYU/Utes rivalry this week with Aaron and
Niesha. Monday night, we left the old,
broken and bleached toilet seat we replaced in the upstairs bathroom on their
doorstep, open, with a sign that said, “Utah Football is Poopy” and a plate of
no=bake cocoa cookies (we call the “pooh cookies” at our house, thanks to
Q-dawg). Saturday morning, Avot came in
and said, “Aaron has been here.” Sure
enough! We had a bunch of red duct-taped
“U”s up the front steps of the house, a huge one in the driveway, and a bunch
of “loving” messages scribbled all over Q=dawg’s car window. (It was fun to
hear the comments about “Go Utes” and “Graffitti!” during the day when we drove
it places.)
Pipalicious added the perfect finishing touch to Aaron's families decoration of our yard (check out the
better details on Q-dawg’s Facebook page).
We went to “the castle park” yesterday, where they have a tire, spinning
swing, and she spent too long on it and, when we arrived back home, "lost her breakfast"... all over the
steps….and, all over the U’s J. Nice timing, Pipes!
Move to Hungary and pregnancy update:
I packed up most of the bags this week, and all of the
backpacks are set with treats and entertainment for the airplane ride…and I
think they can all even carry their backpacks except for Papaya, whose pack
also includes the family supply of Legos.
Legos can be formed into guns…do you think they will let us check those?
J
We have found a couple houses that we are interested in renting in Hungary, now; Q-dawg’s job arrangements for working online for his current appraisal company are solidified; and I have started deeper cleaning and restoring the house we are in now to its previous state (I had put away towels and dishes, etc. when we moved in to keep them nicer). We have dental appointments set up, we have some last days planned for visiting family and friends, and I have my final OB check here in the US scheduled (we found participating providers and a hospital in Budapest….go figure! What a miracle!). I found out, after a 3 hour glucose test, that I do not have gestational diabetes—thank goodness!—so now I just need to keep my blood pressure down.
I just need to not have any stress in my life, right? What could I have to be stressed about J?
Exercise!
Chugger-dude and the Goob went out on their own several
times this week, running and exercising.
Speaking of running, we had a break-through for Avot to help with her
painful running…she runs in first position, a ballet position with the heels
together and toes at 45 degree angles out from that! She said that it is like learning to walk
again, but has already cut 15 minutes off her 3-mile time after just two runs. Go Avot!
For one of our exercise times this week, we went to the Jordan River Parkway and biked/walked along for a ways. Liliputian and the Goob had fun trying out their heelies they bought at the DI. The Goob would go sailing by on a speeding bike, heelies extended and rolling on the ground, yelling, "I can't stop! The brakes don't work!" Liliputian was a bit more reserved, walking by me, and holding onto the stroller whenever the heelies threatened to fly out from underneath her.
Papaya loved the park...she takes delight in swinging in the most dangerous places and causing me, even after years of dealing with her adventurous father and all his and the other kid's daredevil schemes, to have my breath catch and my heart stop. I thought I had developed nerves of steel, but, apparently, this latest edition of our family, is going to test those in every way she can. She knows nooooooo fear.
Liliputian brought a book to read at the end: "I always read how in stories, people read by the pond, and now I get to do it!" We need to do that more :).
Boys and Girls Nights out
The boys headed out on Friday night for Fathers and Sons
camping with our LDS Stake, armed with marshmallows and catapults…and a huge box of firewood. They came back tired, happy, and smelling of
smoke, with tales of victory at the tug-of-war and other manly conquests and, of course, no sleep. (The firewood was completely gone, surprise, surprise.)
The girls, at home, walked up the street to
the Macey’s tailgate party, had 25 cent snow cones and hotdogs, free samples,
and the younger ones bounced on the bounce houses and slides they had
there. Papaya wouldn’t get off the
slide, throwing herself off headfirst, Superman style down the tall slide. Pipalicious wouldn’t go down after getting
smashed into accidently in the bounce house, only trying once with Liliputian
the brave with her, and deciding “I am shy” and not doing it again. Hava had no such reservations. Of course, Hava is the one who will “jump
hug” to Q-dawg from 8 steps up the stairs every morning with him at the bottom…footage
to come! Anyway, we walked home, the
girls watched a Veggie Tale movie while Avot made chocolate cookies, I read to
the girls, and then Avot and I watched the fourth sequence of “North and
South,” a Pride and Prejudice-type movie not
about the Civil War J. Ahhhhhh…..so romantic! I watched the last 10
minutes at least 5 times this week, probably more J. What a great girl’s night out!
Library, biking, and donuts
The Goob, Liliputian, and Chugger-dude had a great time
looking at books at the library while I was at a friend’s house for a couple
hours, looking at books. We rode our
bikes there, so the ride home was hard, laden as we were with all our new
picks. My tummy is getting a little too
big, I think, for bike riding, as my legs start getting numb from having the
circulation pinched :S. Oh well. I wanted to pack all our books up, to see how the weight would fit in our suitcases
(close, but I think it will work!), so the current plan is check out a new
bunch of books each week from the library, hopefully not lose any, and keep the
bags packed.
On the way home from the library, I marveled at the kids' endurance--a summer of bike riding has really gotten them in shape! We stopped by for a snack at Macey's, and, due to a sale, I decided to get a whole dozen donuts instead of just the few we were going to get. Boy, did my kids think they had died and gone to heaven! Chugger-dude has decided, somehow, in our "coconut-less" house that he loves coconut and went for the toxic-dyed hot pink coconut topped one. Weird. He is his Grandma Susan's grandson, to be sure! Hava is taking after her sister...anything chocolate. Scary. I asked Avot the other day if she really likes chocolate that much, or if it is just fun to be that way. Without hesitation, her answer: "I really like chocolate that much." Crazy.
Hava and Obedience Practice...a match made in heaven
Hava has taken to saying “definitely not!” as her
phrase. She also has had a huge transformation in listening
after we incorporated some of the Dugger method called “obedience
practice.” I had often heard of people
having their kids “practice obedience” after being disobedient, typically a
painful process of bending wills. Well,
the Duggers make it a game: the parent
asks the child to do something fun or silly: “Go and jump up and down on the
chair and say, ‘I love you, Santa!’” The
child says, “Yes, ma’am” or “Yes, sir” and runs and does it. The instructions are fun and quick, the
children are applauded for their obedience, and, typically, they keep asking
for more until I say, “just one more, okay?”
Well, Hava, this week, was having a hard time sitting still and being
quiet during devotional. Normally, all the kids except Avot have a
little difficulty here and there with sitting still and listening, but Hava had been singing and humming all
through it on that day. So I sent her to "time out" on
a chair in the kitchen. Her usual storm
clouds gathered around her brow as she prepared to battle, and then, magically,
it all vanished as she said, “Wait! Yes,
ma’am!” in the same happy way she does during obedience practice and
practically flew to her "time-out" chair.
Wow. Awesome!
Family fun
Yesterday was blessedly filled with grandparents, cousins,
aunts and uncles at football, the park, and hiking, and we also had a surprise
visit from Misty and her family for the afternoon and evening…it was
awesome. We are soaking up all this
family time and loving it!
Silly mommy
I was foolish and stayed up until 3:30 am reading another
book—something about those calm, late night, early morning hours and a good
book are so calming…I just have to work really
hard the next day at being nice and coherent J.
Fortunately, it doesn’t happen often. I
hadn’t read “Seer and the Sword” for a while, a fantasy book, and I missed the
genre, apparently, from my inability to set it down last night. Ah, me.
Music notes
Avot has been working hard on a violin-harp duet for the
past month and a half with another girl in our ward for Standards Night
tonight. With that, her violin
performance last month in Sacrament meeting, a beautiful trio with two other
young women of “I know that My Redeemer Lives” last week, and her harmony vocal part
on “Maybe I Will Be There” when the YW sing in Sacrament Meeting in two weeks,
she is getting some great chances to enjoy her musical talents…as are we J!
Too bad the other kids are going to miss out on their chance
to be in the Primary Program…we leave for Hungary a week or two before they perform—and I’m
the senior primary chorister….oh, well.
Didn’t plan that one too well, did I J?
Hava sings all day long--through dinner, quiet time, while playing, during prayers--and does it quite well. Her exuberant, exact singing reminds me of her cousin, Teyla, which is awesome, since Teyla is such a cutie. And they are both determined that they know what is best :). Some things are pretty strong in the gene pool, I guess.
