Sponk!

This is going to be a random stream of conscious post here. It's been too long since I've blogged and even though it's getting late, I'm self-imposing a deadline for getting something posted TONIGHT. Come along for the ride as I unload my brain with a month's worth of information, anecdotes, and observations.

The past couple of weeks have been consumed mainly with "spring cleaning" and "trying to get the house organized." The impetus for such was manifold. First off, the house needs it. Secondly, there is a chance that we might be moving next month and I thought a purging before packing was in order. And finally the inspiration was given a kick in the pants when I attended a Stake Relief Society Women's Conference a few Saturday's ago and the last class I hit up was entitled "Organize to Your Heart's Content." For those of you who know me, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that I am not an overly organized or on-top-of-it kind of person and that I am also a bit of an extremist. The result? I get on a big kick of getting things organized and trying to create "routines" and "schedules" and "staying on top of things" until things begin to slide and then it all falls to pieces. It's pretty much all or nothing.

The most lasting piece of advice that I took away from this organization class was that everything you own needs a home. If it doesn't have a home it will always be dragging somewhere in the way and true order can never be achieved. Or something along those lines. This really made sense to me and like I said -- I came away motivated and inspired to try and get my house in order. MANY, many, MANY bins and baskets have been bought to give all of the things we own a home of their own. And even though the house STILL doesn't feel 100% done, we are slowly but surely making progress. So far several giant garbage bags have been filled with stuff that I have promised the kids we'll have a yard sale for, and several more bags have been filled with trash to throw away. I must say -- purging has never felt so good.

The contents of my closet strewn about our room -- the lady teaching the class was very right when she said that it will look worse before it will look better.

The kids are (as always) on another level. Sophie and Ethan are my twin freak-out children lately. They literally freak-out about everything all day long. Or at least it seems that way. Sophie's meltdowns tend to occur periodically through-out the day whereas Ethan's have been hitting with ferocity right around dinner time each night. And they're usually provoked by chores. He has an over-ripe sense of justice and apparently everything in his young life is just unfair. I'm trying to work with both of them on coping mechanisms for life, but so far I would say it's not working. Grace has been surprisingly helpful and grown-up lately (which I have probably just jinxed by typing it out) and Jane is my heart's blood. Hahahaha.

On a more light-hearted note, we've checked out a number of movies from the library lately that have been major hits with the kids. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the old school version) was Ethan's favorite and he was excited to find out that it is actually based on a book. We have since checked THAT out and he's actually about half way through it. Or so he says. Technically he's been reading it by himself each night at bedtime, but I KNOW there is no way he can read every single word without help. He must be getting the gist of the story though because he's been able to tell me all about what he's read so far.

The girls' favorite movie HANDS DOWN was Pippi Longstocking. Please tell me that you have seen this flick. It was made in like 1963 in Sweden or maybe Germany and the actor's voices are dubbed in English and it is fantastical. I actually remember watching it when I was a little girl and loving it and being Pippi for Halloween one year as a result. To say it struck a chord with Grace would be an understatement. Both girls were completely and utterly mesmerized by it. Riveted even. I can't even tell you how many times they watched it over the course of the week, but I was glad when it was finally time to bring it back -- although I do have to say that the funniest thing they've aped from the movie is the word "SPONK!" It's basically a nonsensical word that Pippi makes up and which Sophie has now taken to randomly yelling out at all times and in all places. Just kidding -- it's not quite that often, but it is hilarious nonetheless (Also hilarious? Sophie's declaration after watching one episode of a season 1 "Full House" that Uncle Jesse is "awesome." Should I be concerned that her taste in men will run towards the black-leather-wearing-biker-poser-wannabe types? Hahahaha. Hahaha.)

Grace was also excited to learn that Pippi was a book first, and we've checked that one out as well now. The other two movies that the kids liked were The Secret Garden and A Little Princess (the newer version -- not the Shirley Temple one).

The kids have all embraced our Spring Cleaning with various levels of enthusiasm. Ethan has probably jumped on board the most and took it upon himself to "organize" his room yesterday -- right down to putting labels on all of his bins (or "beens" as he spelled it. Hahaha. I had to get a closeup of his "miscellaneous bin" because the spelling was so hilarious.) Grace and Sophie have been helpful in fits and starts, and the video snippet I've captured below manages to catch them all working together at the same time on cleaning up the basement so that we could organize all the toys. Ethan took it upon himself to bring his radio down and with the music blaring they got to work. I have no idea what station it was on, but it went from playing Van Halen straight to Beyonce. And the funny part? Thanks to my siblings, they totally knew what song it was -- as soon as it started Ethan started screaming "It's all the single ladies!" and the three began jumping up and down and cleaning in earnest as they sang along (make sure you get a glimpse of Grace's tail as she's bouncing around).

Ethan's bins.

"miscellaneous bin"

Ethan even organized his closet into church shirts, polo shirts, long-sleeve shirts and T-shirts.

In other news Grace had her first field trip this past week to a farm. Let's just say it was right up her alley. I have no idea where she gets her love of animals, but it's not from me. Her favorite part was feeding a bottle to a baby goat, and they got to see all other kinds of animals, too. When I picked her up at school it seemed as if every other preschooler in her class had a parent come along with them. When I asked Grace if she wished I could have come, too, her response broke my heart for just a split second when she answered with a quick "No." However, my heart was quickly mended and then melted when I asked her why and her response was "because it would be too difficult with the baby." How cute is that? Out of all the kids I get the sense that she "gets it" the most as far as all it entails to be a mother to all these young children. Not that she's a perfect, model child -- because let's face it there is plenty of evidence against that -- but I think she notices more than the others all that is involved in taking care of a baby.

Getting off the bus.

This weekend resulted in the butchering of everyone's hair except for Grace's. I guess I was just on a roll! It started with Jane's (what was I thinking???) and ended with Ethan's today. Technically, I guess Scott's hair was spared and he looks quite presentable. All the others, however... Well, let's just say that I like to think the difference between a bad haircut and a better one is about a week. Grace was the lucky one who I actually took to Great Clips a couple of Saturdays ago to clean up the scraggly mess of her hair. With Jane I was just trying to even up some of the stray dark hairs that hadn't fallen out with the rest of her baby hair and even though she is still adorable and precious beyond belief to me -- she just doesn't look like JANE now that her signature dark hair is all gone. :( Sophie has been begging to get her hair cut ever since Grace had hers done, and Ethan has been adding the need for a haircut to his long list of other tragedies during his nightly meltdowns over the last couple of days. And while his isn't really all that bad, I feel like I kind of cut the front "bangs" area of his hair a bit too short. Unfortunately, I have no visuals of Ethan's or Scott's hair for you and I'm sure you're all devastated, but I'll let you be the judge of the girls.

{Mini-tangent: Before we leave the subject of haircuts, here is your chance to weigh-in -- I'm getting my hair done tomorrow night and I'm still trying to decide what I want to do with the cut. Should I keep trying to grow it out [think my college-era 'do] or should I just cut it shorter again in keeping with my more recent style of "mom haircut" proportions?}

Before
(please notice the heart buttons she made me sew onto this T-shirt -- she brought a bunch home from preschool one day and wanted me to sew them onto all her shirts.)

After --
it actually looks much cuter and more groomed than this in person (although we still have the continual problem of her hair being almost always in her face.)

Before

After --
it really just looks butchered.


Just tonight --
it looked slightly better today after I used the curling iron on it for church.


Before


After --
she just looks so different to me!

Also happening this weekend? Our 8th Anniversary -- we are a true success story! And even though we both felt like we were super lame for having no big plans for the celebration, we nonetheless enjoyed our dinner out at The Cheesecake Factory sans children.

Well, I guess we're wrapping things up now. This next month will probably be a bit of a whirlwind. If we do end up moving it will be a quick turn-around. The position Scott applied for with the company would have a start date of June 16th and we won't find out if he's gotten it or not until May 12th. I guess it's a good thing that I sub-consciously thrive on chaos. Hahahaha.

Before I close here's a quick video of my precious little lamb who is now 8 months old! Her gift to me? She started saying "mama." Of course I recognize she's just vocalizing strings of sounds. BUT, I really think she just might be making the connection that "mama" means ME!





And finally here's a funny picture from Ethan. Last Sunday I was reading a message called "Feed my Sheep" to the kids from the Friend magazine. I told the kids to draw a picture as I was reading to represent what the message was about. Here was Ethan's representation.


The funniest thing about it was that he first drew a literal sheep (and then scratched it out) but still didn't quite catch the drift of the figurative meaning of feeding the Savior's sheep -- even though I tried my best to explain as I was reading what the scripture meant. Here is a close-up so you can see what I mean.

[person on the left: "I'm hungry"
person on the right: "Here's some pears"]

Hahahahaha. Until next time, folks.