New Dictionary Word

Here is a new word for the dictionary: "whobody"

Kind of like "somebody", or "nobody".

Used in context:

"Whobody will push me on the swing?"

I like it.

News from April

April began with a few attempts at April Fool's day jokes.  I tried making an April Fool’s Day dinner that I read about on blogs from last year.  Something like this, with cupcakes for dessert (mini meat loaf with colored mashed potatoes and a cherry tomato on top).  The kids were mostly just confused about what was going on, but it was still fun seeing their reaction and figuring out what things were.  Ashley’s reaction was the best.  She is a very picky eater.  So she was delighted with a cupcake on her dinner plate.  She went right to work taking off the wrapper.  When she finally discovered it wasn’t actually cake her world just fell apart.  She collapsed in a pile of tears and wails.  It took some persuasion to convince her to try her peas.  I never thought I’d hear myself say “Eat more of your cupcake if you want some more peas!”

Easter was nice.  On a whim I bought some material and stayed busy during the week making simple matching skirts for the girls.  We dyed eggs, had Easter egg hunts, and had a nice Easter dinner with two other families before Bryan took off for Washington D.C. for a conference.   

Dallin is pretty good at balancing and can take many steps in a row, but he still prefers crawling.  He loves being outside playing with push toys, chasing after balls, picking petals off pansies, eating dirt, playing in puddles, etc.   

Ashley is breaking out of her shell, bit by bit.  I had to drag her out of the car for her annual doctor appointment this week.  But by the end of the visit she was actually conversing with the doctor.  Progress!  

Colby loves playing on his soccer team.  He has also been playing a lot of basketball in our driveway and is getting pretty good.  I volunteered him for an education research study today at Vanderbilt.  He was supposed to wear this cap with a lot of wires and electrical nodes everywhere that measured brain waves while he played a computer game.  He liked the computer game, but not the cap.   

Sienna is learning to sing “Bring Him Home” from Les Mis, with Bryan accompanying.  She likes writing stories, poems, and songs.

Dallin turned one!

This week I celebrated my first birthday.  I survived a whole year!  Hard to believe with the brother and sisters I have.  I'm typically a happy kid, which is why Mom made me a Happy Face Cake.  She tried to represent my bottom two teeth with raisins, but when Sienna said it looked like nose holes in the wrong place she got rid of them.

In honor of the special event I'd like to share a few of my favorite things:

1.  Helping load and unload the dishwasher.  I sometimes get the two tasks mixed up.  OK, most of the time.  Mom thinks its a big help and she's trying to train me to work faster.  She often moves me to the far corner of the house to see how fast I can crawl back to help.  My speed is really improving.  The top rack can be tricky, especially when my feet get stuck on the poky things on the bottom.

2.  Emptying the sandwich baggie drawer.  Mom tried to trick me by moving them up a drawer.  I confess, it had me confused for half a day or so.  But it helped me discover the place mat drawer also.  Now I can really cover some square footage on the kitchen floor!

3.  Toilet water.  The closed lids used to be an obstacle, but not anymore.  I've been working out.  If I was any more manly I'd have hair on my chest already.

4.  Peek-a-boo with the shower curtain.  You'd think Mom would learn to not get me dressed until after she takes a shower.  She always has to change me into dry clothes again. 

5.  Toilet paper rolls.  (Bathrooms are just so much fun!)  Sometimes it takes me a little longer when the rolls are turned backwards, but I figure it out eventually. 

6.  Arts & Crafts.  Mom was so nice to vacuum the floor for me right before this picture.  I like having a lot of work space.

7.  Foam darts.  Dad keeps trying to take them away from me because sometimes the ends come unglued.  Mom has given up.  I just like having one hanging out of my mouth as much as possible.  I'm a chain-darter.

8.  Easter.  Wow!  What a great holiday!

9.  Exploring the upper range of my vocal cords.  I've heard that glass can break when you get up super high.  I'm trying to test the theory.  Dinner time is best.  I just don't like being left out of the conversation.

10.  Going up and down stairs.  Walking (short distances).  Eating and playing in mud.  Chasing balls.  Walking with push toys.  Swinging.  Emptying bookshelves.  Eating.  Sleeping.  Normal one year old stuff.

With all of these wonderful attributes is it any wonder my Mom & Dad love me so much?  Sometimes Mom goes overboard on the kisses and squeezes.  But I don't mind so much.  I love them too.

Family Home Evening

On Monday nights we have "Family Home Evening," where we spend a little time together as a family, have a lesson, scripture, activity, songs, prayer, treats, etc.  Often its crazy, occasionally there are tantrums, but for the most part we have fun together.  And every once in blue moon we have a lesson that really sticks.  Here are two examples.

Last Monday I took the kids outside and had them draw chalk circles around themselves on the driveway.  Then read this quote by Karl G. Maeser (first president of BYU):

"I have been asked what I mean by 'word of honor.' I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls--walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground--there is a possibility that in some way or another I may escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of the circle? No. Never! I'd die first!"





At first it took some explaining.  I got questions like, "Why was he in prison?"  But after talking about what it means to be men and women of honor, they started to get the idea.  


So a few times this week when I've asked Colby a question, such as "Did you brush your teeth?" or "Did you use the potty," I've heard, "Yes.  And I'm a man of honor!" A couple times I heard him start to reply falsely, then stop and think, and change his answer. 

So the lesson has stuck, at least for a little while.


Here's another one that stuck longer.  Over a year ago we had a FHE about bad words.  Sienna was in Kindergarten and we were starting to hear things in our home that we weren't use to.  Not terrible, just words like "stupid" or "dumb", but used in reference to people, which I didn't like.  So we had a FHE about it.  I looked up a story in the "Friend," then we wrote down as many negative words we could think of, wadded them into balls, and threw our "garbage words" across the room into the garbage can, trying to make baskets.


And we've rarely heard those words since.  I heard one this week from Sienna and called her on it.  Colby added the comment, "Yah, because once for Family Home Evening we threw those words in the garbage."  


Colby was three, almost four when we had that lesson.  It stuck!