Roll Tide

Jonah dresses himself every day. It is a fact he is very proud of and something that is really great about having a 5-year-old. Today (like many days) he came out wearing a fairly ridiculous outfit. Normally I don't even bat an eye (you're only 5 once, right?) but yesterday's outfit was not only not matching but the shirt was way too small and so he tucked it in. He tucked his tight shirt into his not matching plaid pants and then wore argyle socks up to his knees! My poor child! Anyway. So today, I tried to trick him into changing clothes by pointing out that he would want to wear his Alabama shirt (the shirt he's currently wearing) tomorrow for the first game.

me: Daddy and I will both be wearing Alabama shirts tomorrow. Maybe you want to wear that tomorrow.
Jonah: No, it's okay. I'll just sleep in it and wear it tomorrow too.
me (holding up a perfectly good and also matching blue shirt): What about this one?
Jonah (having already left the room): No, thanks. Let's just do my idea.

Roll Tide!

the library

So we have these friends who recently moved. I've been checking their blog compulsively waiting for updates on the move and their son and the new house and ward. It does strike me as hypocritical as I haven't posted a single picture of the move or house here either. Sorry about that. It's much more interesting (to me) to write about the public library.

Today was not our first trip to the library here. This was our third trip since moving here a month ago, thank you very much. At story time (which was decent), there was a child with an Alabama hat on! Then, when we went to browse books, we discovered that our library is now shelving fiction books by topic instead of author's last name. I'm having a really hard time with this. It's hurting my head. It is nice to say "I liked this book so I'd also like..." but it makes it really hard to find things. Some books fall into more than one category. Besides the fact that popular series are shelved in a separate section as well. Ugh.

Jonah picked out a "Become a Star Ward Expert: What Are the Sith?" book that's long enough to be a novel. I expect I will be learning more about the Sith than I ever knew a person could know.

a completely predictable first sentence

I'm not very surprised that Caroline, the girl whose first word was "dog", would have a first sentence of "Hi, Dixie!"

our newest pride and joy (the choose your own adventure)

When Josh found me a piano in Tuscaloosa (our last year and a half there or so), I was excited. I'd been trying to learn some hymns whenever we made it to church early, and I thought it would be nice to have a piano at home. What I didn't expect was how much we would all love the piano. We really felt it's lack when we moved here without it.

Despite having drained more of our savings than we hoped on the move, it was almost an itch to get a piano as soon as we found a decent one at a reasonable price. And here she is! This piano sounded infinitely better than the other ones this size we tried. I know we were spoiled with our giant upright, but I didn't want it to sound too tinny either.

When Josh and Brandon (thanks, Brandon!) brought it in, Jonah and I both rushed to sit and try it out. I bit my tongue and let him go first. Sometimes I'm the most amazingly selfless mother. (That was said in jest. Sort of.) And now, both kids spend a good chunk of each day tickling (okay, it's more like slapping sometimes) the ivories.

For anyone who noticed the title of the post and is feeling ripped off, here's where the choice comes in. Is the piano our newest pride and joy? Or is it this baby?

Josh's brand new (made before he could get his driver's license) truck! This is the first time in our marriage we have owned two vehicles. What made us take the plunge? School starts at 7:00 am and Josh leaves an hour before that. Out of pity for his wife who would have to deal with children ripped from their warm beds, he bought a truck. Honestly, though, I drive it any chance I get. Stick shift is fun!

the tale of three ovens

Either ovens are fragile appliances, or I have incredible luck. When our oven stopped working a few days ago (and frankly, never worked well), I remembered that this is the third oven I've had break on me in a new (to us) rental. The first oven that gave us problems had no dial for temperature. I remember throwing myself on the couch and sobbing "Now how am I going to make cookies?!"

I'm getting decent at baking with the broiler, but I'm ready for a functioning oven. Baking bread at 185 leaves quite a bit to be desired.

old pictures to cheer up the day

I've been reminded recently how lucky I am to have these kids. I'm home with them full-time by choice. The fact that I even have the choice and a husband who not only agrees with but respects that decision is a blessing. Remembering those things and taking the time to slow down and do the best parts of mommyhood (reading books, making cookies, dancing like crazy people in the kitchen) have helped this be the best week we've had in a long time. Cut to today, which has not been so rosy. As I was repeating to myself for the umpteenth time today, "I love these creatures," Caroline decided to take apart her sandwich and finger paint with jelly. All over the table, herself, and the chair cushions.

So in honor of naptime, here are two pictures of the kids from a trip to the fountain park right before we left Alabama. Looking at these pictures, you'd never believe that Jonah loves the water park and Caroline was never too sure about it.

first day of school!

If sappy affection is not your thing, you might just want to skip to the video at the end. It's The Cosby Show, so you know you won't regret it.

Now that you've been warned, I can start. So today is Josh's first day of school with students. He's been in meetings for over a week, but there's something about having kids in the class that make it all sink in. I'm married to a high school teacher. Someone is letting Josh mold young minds! Ha! Actually, though, he's going to be great. I might be biased, but I can see him being a pretty awesome teacher.

As we got ready for bed last night and he worked on his slide show of pictures to introduce himself, I had a proud little moment. Josh's long-term plan is to end up at a community college or as an instructor for his old program at ASU. That will be wonderful, and I'll be very happy for him to reach his professional goals. That said, I think he'll be good at this too. The kids are lucky to have someone who knows his stuff, cares about them, but also has a realistic idea of how much they may or may not care about biology. He wrote up a getting to know you questionnaire last night that was intentionally open-ended to allow the students to get creative. After I read through it, I said in my nicest voice, "now, you realize you may have some students who give you one-word answers, right?" He laughed and answered all the questions as he imagined he would have in high school. The one that comes to mind is "In 10 years I hope to ... not have to fill this out again."

Want a sample of the sort of picture he's going to show the kids? His words about this picture were, "Wow, I look goofy in that one. Oh well, they'll probably like it."

We all got up early this morning, even the kids. I intended to get up and make breakfast for him (which happens twice a year on his birthday and Father's Day if he's lucky..I really don't enjoy making breakfast until after 9:00 or so). The kids getting up was not the plan. Still, I'm glad they got to see him off. All day I've been thinking about this episode of the Cosby Show. I love school. I've always loved the first day, and I'm frankly a bit jealous that he gets to be going to school today without me! I'm not sure which end of the spectrum really covers Josh's feelings about today, but we're excited for him. Happy first day of school!

I must have watched this a lot as a kid. Either that, or it was very meaningful because I think of the scene in Theo's room frequently: