Dear Dad,

A few things that made me think of you this week (more than usual, that is):

-I grabbed one of your old notebooks for a meeting today. Only one page has writing on it, and the entire thing is covered in tiny math problems. Most of them are multiplication. I have no idea what you were doing, or why, but I'm enjoying trying to figure it out.

-The Bishop was talking to the youth and asked who knew the name Paul Harvey. I was one of three people in the entire room. Thank you for that. I feel like I should make the kids listen to The Rest of the Story so they'll know his name too.

-Josh wanted to take Jonah to walk on the beach at low tide and look for shells on our vacation last week. I was planning on going with them, but when the morning arrived, I was much more interested in staying in bed. It reminded me of all the mornings you'd go shell collecting and how impressed we would be with your finds (but how unwilling to wake up with the sun).

Thinking of you tonight,
little k

some light reading before bed

Miriam has recently taken to "reading" herself to sleep. One afternoon, I found her reading a book to her baby. The next day, she was definitely not sleeping. She had climbed out of my bed, grabbed the book from my nightstand, and was busy reading. She was not pleased to see me (as you can see), because she knew I would take her book away. Life is tough when you're one, I guess.

Old Mom

Jonah, while swinging around this pole: Mom, too bad you aren't young so you could try this.

Why yes, I did impress him with my swinging skills. 

Two minutes later, he said: I hope I'm never that kind of teenager. They were too scared to try anything!

silence is golden etc etc

This week has been crazy. Anna-Lisa is moving from Indiana to Utah (new job: yay!) this summer, and we were really hoping to make a trip out to see her before she moves. When she told me she'd be leaving the first week of June, though, I kicked it into overdrive. Caroline and I packed up and drove the 8 1/2 hour to Evansville with our friend Emily and spent 3 days with Anna-Lisa. We packed the kitchen, stayed up way too late, and talked about all things from bilingual children's books to literary criticism. Meanwhile, Josh, Jonah, and Miriam finished the chicken coop and waited out a week of rain.

It was a great week, but I am so tired. After a long week away from home and with minimal sleep, I was feeling a little frayed around the edges this afternoon. Fast forward to this very minute when I am sitting and relishing the calm. The girls are sleeping, Josh is working on the couch next to me, and Jonah is reading a book. The house is clean and the room is silent. Thank goodness! I feel my emotional reservoir filling back up the longer I sit here. Give me two or three days of calm and I'm sure I'll be dreaming up new and exciting ways to exhaust myself again.

Dear Dad,

Jonah wanted to try your favorite lemon cake for his birthday cake this year. It was a huge hit! I imagine we'll be making it again in the future. I'm eyeing the last piece and wishing you were here visiting and I could split it with you. Also, I sang "A Blossom Fell" to Caroline tonight. I don't know what's come over me! I just miss you, I guess. She didn't bat an eye at the tragedy of the song, though she did inform me that it's not a very long one. (It brought me back to "There once was a calf" stories. I really had the best childhood.)

I guess I'll let Jonah finish off his birthday cake tomorrow, but know the piece is yours if you want it.

tomorrow

Tomorrow my baby turns 8. I just can't believe it.

Mother's Day (and what J & C have to say about me)

First off, let me just say that Caroline can spell exactly four words: Caroline, Mim, Abby, and JoJo. So even though the paper SAYS JoJo on it, she promises me it's actually about me. (That would also explain any letters she's sent to friends and family recently that have Abby written all over them.)

According to Jonah:

My mom loves to: cook

If my mom was a super hero she would be: clean-girl

because she is awesome at: she loves to clean

My mom makes the best: cookies

My favorite thing to do with my mom is: read

I love my mom because: she's my mom

According to Caroline:

My mom loves to: draw

If my mom was a super hero she would be: Wonder Woman

because she is awesome at: catching things with rope*

My mom makes the best: cake

My favorite thing to do with my mom is: hugging

I love my mom because: on my birthday she made me a Frozen cake**

*I teach the 3-year-olds at church, and this question confused them, too. They couldn't quite figure out if they should be saying something their Mom is good at or the superhero is good at. I had a nice chuckle when I read Caroline's answer, since I am most certainly not good at catching anything with rope.

**It was the most misshapen Pinterest fail ever, but she loved it. She tells everyone who will listen all about her Frozen cake and how beautiful it was, which makes me feel both happy and embarrassed every time. 

marital communication at its finest

Josh: Do you need me to work from home?

Me: You won't get any work done if you do. 

Josh: True. 

Me: But when you get home today, I am going to bed. So stay as long as you need to. Stay and watch a show on your phone in the parking lot if you need some downtime. When you walk in that door, I'm going straight to bed. 

They are exhausting little monsters, but aren't they cute?

cluck cluck chick!

I blame this whole thing on a trip to Tractor Supply for tomato plants (and then they didn't even have what I wanted!). If I hadn't taken a picture of the girls looking at the baby chicks, Mom would have never told me all about how easy chickens would be, and Josh would have never gotten that gleam in his eye.

Well here we are, a few weeks later, with a family of baby chicks. Two have names: one red one (Pecky) and one black one (Ginger). The others are still nameless until someone comes up with something awesome. Either that, or Josh says he is going to start calling them Enchilada, Pot Pie, Pillows, and Noodle Soup.

Now that the weather is so nice and warm, Josh and Byron rigged up an enclosed run for the chicks to peck to their hearts content in safety. Now we just need them to lay 75 dozen eggs to break even. Here we go, girls!