So Cute

When G saw this picture of our new Tenor Horn he said the same thing he says about bP "So cute!" Hurray!

So Mormon

I have this great friend MC in Jacksonville. We have so much in common because we both have the big family, 1/2 chinese family, deaf child, cooking, sewing, love God life. I think she is a baptist and she is getting to know that I'm a Mormon. For me this means getting to talk freely about my many blessings. It also means having a frequent opportunity to define being a Mormon. Sometimes it's saying "no thank you" to a cup of coffee. Sometimes it's letting them know why I always say "no thank you" to a cup of coffee.

MC frequently has appointments to do folks hair and she graciously lets us come and hang out even if she's got a client. So I have even more opportunity to practice introducing my Mormon self to these good Christians.

It's getting easier. I use to feel like I had to sort of avoid mentioning it lest they feel inhibited in their conversation of God's mercies. But since my friend hasn't asked me to stop coming yet I'm coming to accept it more myself. Telling them I'm Mormon and continuing with the conversation is working out just great.

My friend's daughter asked what we wear to church. MC told her that we wear bathing suits. I topped that saying it is a nude church. Then I had to laugh so hard and explain that I am the worlds biggest prude and that it is definitely not a nude church. "We wear our best clothes, but not like a wedding dress" I told her.

MC was telling me that at church as she watched 3 of her kids participating the music she said she felt "so Mormon."

Sleep over

We're visiting with Grandma for a few days because we need to get the keys to the renters. Renters! Hallelujah! 2 year contract!

We don't visit Gainesville often but when we do it's for at least 24 hours and packed with fun. Last night Grandma and I stayed up until midnight chatting, and then sewing.

G has figured out that Grandma's phones (all 5 of them) are connected. So last night when I was talking with P, G asked me if he could trick me. I thought this might involve sticking a hotwheels car in the fridge as it usually does. Shortly thereafter I heard him pick up the phone and roar at us. That kid. So many of the rascally things he does are tempered with gratitude that he's so smart, and alive. He is full throttle alive.

On raising kids: Teaching them to say Please, Thank you, and Sorry are the biggest things in the world. M has figured out how to say Sorry with such sincerity that it melts my annoyance at almost all of her antics. Yesterday at the store she and G had climbed up on
a table to better see our car. I was really embarrassed because in the previous store I had let them wander the aisles and someone told them "No running in the store, Where's your mommy?" They weren't running or screaming, but I was embarrassed, so ... Anyway, after the table incident I was feeling like a failure for not teaching them better and mad that they had revealed it to the public. Them M says "I know. I'm sorry Mommy." And my pride in their goodness returned, with conviction to teach them more deliberately... and not let them out of the shopping cart.

bP is cute. G and M adore her to dangerous levels because they just want to hug her to death. And that's a problem, obviously. Yesterday when we were playing with the slip and slide bP was so curious. She crawled right up to it and started feeling the slide, and putting her fingers in the sprinkler. She was soaked pretty fast, and just having a blast.

Grandma has a pan to make Danish Ebelskivers. So yummy. If you click on the link you might gain 5 pounds. Sorry. But you'll understand why I just made the link to the google search images page, rather than just put up 1 or 5 pictures of how yummy they can be.

Happy July!

Nobody Fell in the River!

That alone makes it different from last year when I, 8 months pregnant, fell in as I attempted get from the dock to my raft.
We got this sweet wet suit for G at a thrift store for $8. This would be awesome for the winter beach scene. The only problem was that we had to find one for M. Then I found that Sam's Club sold them for $20 so we planned to just do that. Then it turned out that you have to order it rather than just buy it from the store. So I checked on craigslist and found that a lady was selling this purple one, that is identical to what we would have bought at Sam's, for just $15!

Floating the river with the Ps is one of my favorite family activities. It's right up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving. It helps that C makes amazing lunches for the outing so it is a spectacular culinary event also. This year grandma brought a $20 assortment of cookies from Sam's Club.
The kids had a lot of fun slipping in and out of the water, hoping from one parent to another, to grandparents...

And we had a great ride on the tram to and from the river. Thanks for a great day.


That alone makes it different from last year when I, 8 months pregnant, fell in as I attempted get from the dock to my raft.

settling... in

Have you ever lost money to a vending machine? You put your money into the machine to pay exorbitant rates for food that is not even good for you. Last week G did a great job at his audiology appointment and for a treat we went to the vending machine. He promised he'd share his treat with M (who stayed home with Gramdma), what a sweetheart. We put the $1.00 into the machine and selected the plain M&M's. The spiral turned and froze. Oh no! Bummer. Then the spiral made another full turn and gave us not just one but 2 bags! Just thinking about it makes me happy. Sad really, I guess. But really this must be why people gamble!

So we're in our 900sq/ft mobile home and finally we have phone, internet, washer and dryer. It was a rough 2 weeks. P bought me the washer and dryer as a "bribe" (his words) for living in a mobile home. I went out on Saturday night after moving in to buy them. We had been searching for a used set on craigslist but came up with a set at Home Depot that was on sale. So we went with the pair on sale that included delivery and warranties, for about the same price as the used ones that we didn't get to buy because someone else did.

The washer and dryer were to be delivered the following Wednesday. "Are you kidding me!?" When the men came it turned out that he dryer had a huge dent, so they would be bringing a replacement the following Wednesday. "What!"
So it came finally and it was worth the wait. The dryer is huge! The front load washer is pretty nice. We can now wash a whole basket of laundry in one load rather than 3. Wow. But the dryer is capacious. It can dry a whole basket of laundry and not even be 1/2 full.

Even though we moved out of the condo on the 25th, we continued going up and using the pool until the 30th. What a treat. Both kids went down the slide again and again until bP was too tired and crying too much. Then we'd head back to town.

Hurray for cute kids enjoying Grandma's backyard.