America the Beautiful

This song made me cry in church today. I especially love the third verse. Happy birthday (more or less), America!

more words from the littlest

It's hard to know exactly when Caroline says a new word. Sometime babble sounds just like a word (like this morning, when Jonah and Josh swore they heard her say, "whatcha got?"). Or sometimes I'm pretty sure she's said one, but I can't get her to repeat it in the same context. That said, I think we've got a few more down, so here is her (not quite) definitive list:

The old ones:
dog (Not only was this her first word, but this is her most consistent word. We have a coloring book with a dog on the front, and she is sure to point out that dog at least 7 times a day.)
mama
dada

The new(ish) ones:
book
rawr! (Ok, it's an animal noise, but I'm going to count it. It always accompanies chasing someone around the house with a plastic dinosaur, so it has a consistent context.)
truck
done
doll

The ones I'm still not sure about:
Jonah (more like "donah"..the common tendency of his name to turn into "donah" is, incidentally, how Jonah got called "Baby Doughnuts" by a friend for years.)
more

surprise!

Apparently, Josh and I haven't been very good at updating folks with our plans. Sorry about that. It's a combination of plans changing, stress, and a reluctance to talk about moving because although we're excited, we're really going to miss this place. But all that said, we're still moving. So here's the plan:

Josh will be submitting his paperwork and thesis (though he tells me he's a non-thesis option, but he's writing a publishable manuscript, so I'm calling it his thesis anyway) for his Masters in Biology next week. He's accepted a job teaching dual credit Anatomy & Physiology (meaning the kids get both high school and college credit) at Dysart high school. He has to be at work at the end of July, so we're heading out of here in just a few weeks. We don't know where we'll be living yet, but most likely Surprise. My friends here really get a kick out of the name of the town. Surprise!

Considering we'll have a new niece in Las Vegas any day now, we're looking forward to living on the west side of the valley. We're also happy to moving next to some great friends who live there already. On the other hand, it's not any closer to Mom & Dad than North Phoenix was, but it's a whole lot closer than Alabama. Jonah has already decided he is really going to miss Tuscaloosa. We will too. But then I reminded him we could go visit the grandmas and grandpas any time he wants, and he decided this was a good idea after all.

the difficulties of having a baby sister and other wisdom

After a discussion about how to appropriately respond when Caroline ruins something Jonah is coloring (including a few stories about mean sister antics I got into as a kid), I said, "So let's not hit our sister when she makes us mad." Jonah said, "That's just how I tell her to stop." I was musing about how puppies teach each other by play fighting, but I opted not to tell that story at this particular moment. Instead, I said, "Well we'll have to figure out another way to tell her." Jonah burst into tears and said, "But she doesn't speak my language!"

Later tonight, while reading a book, we came to a part that said, "If you put your mind to it, you can be anything." Jonah said, "No, you can't be anything you want." I really wanted to convince him that he really could be anything! Before I could, he elaborated with, "You can't make yourself a monster OR a super hero." Poor kid. He's so young to have his hopes of being a monster (?!) dashed already.

little girl, eating

Caroline has decided she needs to eat at the table. She won't eat anything anymore from the high chair tray. As you can see, she's pretty proud of herself.

a few more Father's Day pictures

THE picture. Aren't they cute?

Still one of my favorite pictures of Josh's dad. He was so excited to have a baby to take fishing.

My dad graciously let me take a million pictures of him tying his tie. I love him.

Oh yeah, this guy's a pretty good dad too.

Happy Father's Day!

Until I can be sure that we've spoiled Josh rotten and that he's seen his pictures of the kids (remember how I stole the idea of taking their pictures in the shirts he wore when they were born?), all I can share is an outtake.

 Man, this would have been a cute picture.

This one too.

If I hadn't cut Caroline's face in half, you would see that she was crying. So I guess it's a happier picture as it is.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads, especially my own, my honey, and my brother (who will be a daddy sometime in the next few weeks!!).

dry heat and a few more comparisons

I had a chat with the clerk at the grocery store today about dry heat. As I drove home and crossed the river, I saw the beauty of Alabama spread out over the river (or in other words, it was so green and full of trees), and I knew I will miss this place. But then again, last night we watched a movie filmed in Arizona, and that sunset! I have missed that sunset. So I've decided (once again) to consider what I'll be missing and what I'm looking forward to.

I will miss the grass. I appreciate the beauty of desert landscaping more now that I've seen it done well (as a kid, I thought grass was the only way to go), but a lot of the "desert landscaping" we see looking for rentals is either just dirt or a whole yard of pink rocks. I'd like a tree of some kind, folks, even if it's just a palo verde. That said, Rosalyn met someone from Alabama the other day who told her that Arizona was beautiful. This lady loved the way the state decorates the freeways. That is lovely. It's also probably to make up for the fact that nothing grows there voluntarily. We love the grass and trees on the roadside here, but it does make me giggle when I see the mowers out or the tree trimmers cutting branches off that stretch towards the road.

I am not looking forward to dust. I am looking forward to less mold.

I will miss the rain. The humidity is a double-edged sword. I prefer a dry heat (while Josh has completely converted to humidity), but my hands and hair and lips are going to miss the humidity.

We have soft water here. We'll move to hard water city. I don't really know what the difference is, but people talk about it a lot. So I guess I'll have to figure it out. I can barely get the laundry clean as it is, so maybe this will make it better (but please no worse?).

They call it Alabama the Beautiful for a reason, but my blood speaks the language of the desert. Roll Tide and all that.

the secret to a tasty apple snack...

...is to eat it like so:

translation

A few things you might not understand if you didn't live here. Since the only person that reads this blog that lives here is Josh, I'll assume some translation is in order:

Caroline (with hand outstretched): "Mmm?" = I want that.
Jonah: How many do you think is enough? = Can I have another popsicle?
Caroline (hopping back and forth from one foot to the other) = I really want that.
Jonah: "Is it dessert night?" = I'm only eating that dinner if it is. Otherwise, saltines will suffice.
Caroline: "Mamamamamamama" = I climbed up somewhere and I can't get down. Come get me!
Jonah: "You think that was pretty great, do you?" or "I'm really good at drawing, am I?" = No translation needed here, really. The cute part is that he says "do you" for positive things and "don't you" for negative (as in, "Daddy doesn't like peas, doesn't he?")

It has been a long week. But it's Friday night, so I have high hopes for a calm night...though as I write this, Jonah is kicking a bucket through the kitchen while Caroline bangs on the washing machine. Oh the noise!

chicken pox

Both kids have the chicken pox, so we're laying low for a few weeks. Jonah's showed up yesterday and Caroline's today, so at least we don't have to wait two more weeks to see if Caroline got it too. They are very mild compared to what the internet says to expect (as in, under 30 actual blisters instead of somewhere around 300), but that's probably because they've both had the immunization.

Jo Anne said it best. "Those things still exist?" Yep. If chicken pox parties still exist, bring your kids on over!