Sophie made it to TWELVE!!

To celebrate the girl who begs to be celebrated, I give you TWELVE reasons that I love my daughter:

1.  The wonderful thing about Sophie is that she's the only one -- the one daughter, the one sister.

2.  She can do anything she sets her mind to.  Write and perform a play at the school Halloween party?  Check.  Win the hoola hoop contest at the school EVERY year?  Check.

3.  She has a sharp wit.  If you have met her father, you know what I'm talkin' about.  She may look like me, but she thinks like him.

4.  She looks like me!  

5.  She has high aspirations (see #2).  At age three she asked, "Didn't you ever want to be anything besides a mommy?"

6.  She is both cute (see #4) AND smart!

7.  She has a style, a certain je ne sais quoi,  that I could never ever pull off.

8.  She is good.  Last year, her classmates told her that if a group was called back to speak with the teacher, everyone thought they were in trouble unless Sophie was in the group.  If she was called back, they all breathed a sigh of relief because Sophie is NEVER in trouble.

9.  She has taught me how to roll my eyes again.  I'd almost forgotten how.

10.  She is a wonderful sister and babysitter -- just ask her little brother.

11.  She has fantastic curly hair, just the opposite of mine.  People pay good money for hair like her's.  

12.  She is a dichotomy of sweet and sour, kind and sarcastic, serious and funny -- to know her is to love her.

  

 

SOPHIE, I LOVE YOU!!!

Ode to Andrew on his 15th Birthday!

15 things I love about Andrew:

1)    He makes me laugh.

2)    He is REALLY REALLY becoming quite useful.

3)    He mows the lawn (see #2).

4)    He takes out the garbage (see #2).

5)    He is smart and his grades show it.

6)    He is a hard worker (see #3, #4, #5).

7)    His favorite way of stalling bedtime is chatting with me : )  I pretend it’s annoying,     
       but secretly I love the time together.  Shhhh, don’t tell.

8)    When he is Captain Obvious, it makes me feel smart (see #1).

9)    He is a mini version of his dad, and I sure love his dad.

10)  He's fun to hang out with.

11)  He asks questions and listens (generally) to my explanations.

12)  He reads and watches Harry Potter with me.

13)  He respects the boundaries that I’ve set.

14)  He likes riding roller coasters!!!  (FINALLY!!)

15)  He’s really starting to get it.

In short, I really love this kid!  Happy Birthday Thing 1!

Happy Birthday to Me!

If I leave my daughter alone long enough (and fail to take her shopping), this is what she makes for my birthday.  I LOVE HER!!!

If you would like the REAL captions of the pictures, I'd be happy to share.  However, I think I might like Sophie's better.  She's so clever (and sarcastic).  Must come from her Dad.


And I'm not THAT old . . . yet.

It's been a long week (or so)

M finally turned seven, which is just one year closer to being baptized and becoming a Cub Scout.  Instead of giving him more Legos, we re-gifted him HIS Legos, not only assembled, but on the big conference table for his amusement until Sunday dinner.  It worked out pretty well.  He even scored a visit from Aunt Sheri, Uncle Dave, and Hayden (who spent most of his visit asleep on the floor).

We finished the celebration on Sunday with chocolate cupcakes.

The devastating earthquake in Japan on the day after M’s birthday gave us an opportunity to reflect on our own preparedness (nowhere near enough) and appreciation for the 72 hour kits that we finally assembled on New Year’s Eve.

M has been consumed with how to help Japan, fueled by my own obsession with the news.  I learned the hard way that too much news is really TOO MUCH NEWS for a seven year old.  He is ready to donate all of his birthday money to the Humanitarian Aid line on the tithing slip.  (Yeah, that didn't happen.)  

He has also been trying to be practical in his approach and started designing robots that can help with the recovery.  This is one of my favorites.

He was ready to send his drawings to President Obama for approval.  But he decided to go watch TV and forgot.

The Mom Teaching Moment of the Week came one night when he asked, “Mom, was the earthquake just Mother Nature or Satan?”

How I wished that I could blame it on Satan or divine retribution, but really, how does one explain to a newly seven-year-old that bad things happen to good people and it’s not Satan’s fault?  I think my answer was sufficient for his very tired little spirit.  I explained to him that good people go to heaven, even after bad things happen to them, and that is a good place to be.  He replied, “But what about the people who love them?”  It broke my heart.

M spent his birthday on Amoxicillin, I had finished my bottle by then, and S is working on her very own prescription.  She was lucky, too, since our pharmacy of choice was out.  OUT!  I guess you could say that we have something going around Boise right now : (  

Geoff and I have spent the last week trying to pretend we aren't sick, and are finally feeling better so maybe there is hope.

Meanwhile, Spring is springing and there is still so much to do outside.  Funny how it sneaks up on me every single year.  I really should get wise to it.  Now it's going to have to wait until after spring break.  I'm hoping I don't miss the entire forsythia show while we're gone.  

It can be soooooo pretty.