Pictures of Andrew Sleeping

Ace stopped taking regular naps a year ago because I didn't want to fight him every day. I probably should have fought through it and at least made him do some quiet time in his room. Heaven knows I could use some quiet time away from him now. He still falls asleep in the afternoons sometimes, though, and in some interesting positions.

Too tired to get dressed

You know you're tired when you fall asleep on the wood floor.

I should put him in time out more often.

He might exceed the height limit.

These two can't keep away from each other. They were so happy to be reunited in the same room when Grandpa came to visit.

Next post:  Pictures of Grace Not Sleeping

Quote

I finally started reading Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. At the rate I'm going, I might have it finished by the time we start studying church history in 2017. It's a little slow right now. But I did want to share a quote I liked from Asael Smith, Joseph's grandfather. I went ahead and modernized the spelling and punctuation.

Wherefore, my dear children, I pray, beseech, and adjure you by all the relations and dearness that hath ever been betwixt us, and by the heart rending pangs of a dying father, whose soul hath been ever bound in the bundle of life with yours, that you know one another, visit (as you may) each other, comfort, counsel, relieve, succor, help, and admonish one another, and while your mother lives, meet her (if possibly once every year). When she is dead, pitch on some other place; if it may be, your older brother's house; or if you cannot meet, send to and hear from each other yearly, and oftener if   you can, and when you have neither father nor mother left, be so many fathers and mothers to each other. So you shall understand the blessing mentioned in the 133 Psalm. 


I think this was Mom's greatest wish for us. It's hard to do, seeing as the six of us live in six different states, but about whom else can you say that your "soul hath been ever bound in the bundle of life with yours?" Fortunately, we have more technology and easier means of communication and travel than was available in Joseph's day, and I hope we use it as much as is practical for us.

By the way, I don't mean this as a thinly veiled attempt to guilt you all into visiting us here in Boston, although I would be thrilled if you did!

Birthday Girl

We celebrated Lauren's 6th birthday quietly at home and it was very nice. She picked out a strawberry cake on Pinterest and I didn't cut any corners making it.  I made my own cake flour, sifted it, warmed up the eggs, and followed the directions to a T.

 I used a pie plate for one of the layers, and the cakes fell apart a bit coming out of the pans despite my cutting parchment circles and greasing and flouring them, but it was delicious anyway. It was also quite labor intensive.  A labor of love, of course.

 She requested pizza for her birthday dinner. Also delicious.

 Sorry about the diapers in the background. And the fly swatter.

We surprised Lauren by giving her a guitar for her birthday. Our goal is for both of us to be good enough to accompany a sing along at the reunion next summer. 

And now, six words that describe Lauren:  gregarious, precocious, boisterous, tall, creative, fun.

Kids Are Funny - Andrew-isms

About three years ago, I wrote a post called Lauren-isms, about some of the funny things she says. She still says funny things, but they're funny in a different way. Andrew says some pretty funny things now too, like the following.

- He frequently refers to a  "mystery bandit." Whenever we can't find something, he tells me "Maybe the mystery bandit took it."

- Instead of "yes" or "no," he prefers to say "yeperee" or "noperee."

- When I tell him something, he'll often respond with, "Huh? Me not know dat."

- He is somewhat obsessed with the number one hundred. Conversations like the following are common:

A: How long until we get there?
Me: Oh, two or three minutes.
A: Maybe one hundred minutes!


- He calls the cup holder on his seat in the car his "water circle."  That one's my favorite.

Friday Favorites

Just so that you have a something to read and a reason to leave a comment, here is a little favorites quiz for you.

What is your favorite...


1. Ice cream flavor?

2. PBS Kids show?

3. Harry Potter book?

4. Food blog?

5. Bathroom cleaner?

6. Type of M&Ms?

7. Quick weeknight meal?

8. Sacrament hymn?

9. Stain Remover?

10. Sister?





And here are my answers...

1. Cookies and Cream, unless we're at Peaceful Meadows, then Black Raspberry

2. Curious George, but I also like Super Why

3. It's close between #1 and #7, but I think #7 gets the edge. I cried.

4. Mel's Kitchen Cafe

5. My own homemade cleaner

6. Crispy

7. Nachos

8. How Great the Wisdom and the Love

9. OxiClean Max Force Spray

10. I love them all equally, of course

Word to the wise

This...

...leads to this...

Just in case you ever consider taking half a watermelon out of our fridge and eating the whole thing with your hands on the kitchen floor.

Kids are Funny - Part Two

Remember when videos of Lauren were cute, like these? Now they're more like this.

By the way, I have about 300 more videos just like this on the ipad. She is in her pajamas in many of them, has a dirty face in the majority of them, and her hair is a mess in all of them.