a quick rundown of the past month and a half...

Michael works 40+ hours every single week. On top of this, he has to cover any extra shifts that come up that no one else can or will cover. This can sometimes turn out to be 40 hours of staff shifts, with 40+ hours of managing work on top of that. Also, did I mention that he is on salary? So that means that he gets exactly $0 extra for every extra hour that he works. Solution?: I now work for his company. Whenever a shift comes up that isn't covered, I work the shift. Michael stays home with the kids. Suddenly, we have more money, Michael has less stress (sort of), and the kids get to finally spend time with Daddy (which they are super excited about!). I only work sporadically, but every hour I work is an extra hour that Michael gets to be home and that we get paid for. 

Lilli has started a music theory class, and can now identify a quarter note, half note, quarter note rest, half note rest, and 8th note and the difference between all of them. She can read small books and spell out basic words. She'll be turning 4 next month, and Tenzin will be turning 2. Tenzin has started to speak in 3 and 4 word sentences (i.e. Mommy! Cup! Juice! Please!) and is also a very friendly little chap, greeting complete strangers with a big wave and "HI!". He also puts forth his full effort in the harassment of Lilli, as all good little brothers do. She takes it gracefully, explaining to him "Oh no, Tenzin, I will teach you how to be nice." and then she leans over and whispers to me "It's ok Mom, he's still just learning." Michael continues to work hard and will attend BSU again this fall. Also, after six years of being married, he still rawks my socks.  Well, I guess I should say that he rawks my flippy floppies, because I hardly ever wear socks or shoes. This is a weird place to end...

Today was long, and I am tired.

Last night Lilli announced that she wanted to sleep in her own bed. She had been sleeping in her own bed for a while before, but then her allergies hit again and her sleep apnea came back and she started sleeping with us again. Her sleep apnea has subsided as she has grown into her big tonsils and I guess she was feeling ready for some independence. Surprisingly, Tenzin decided he wanted to sleep in his own bed, too. So we set up his bed next to Lilli's in their bedroom and they both fell asleep quickly in their own beds and slept through the night. When they woke up this morning, they came into our room and slept for another hour or so. With so much sleeping going on, I felt really rested this morning.  I went visiting teaching this morning, and then had a friend come over and chat for awhile. We went on a walk, had lunch, then went on another walk. After that, we went to dinner at the park and then played on the equipment. Lilli saw the pool and wanted to go swimming, so we went and did that. Carting two kids on your hips back and forth through a swimming pool is not easy work. By the time we left the pool around 8:30 pm, I was really dragging. We came home and I did some housework and then we went to JCPenney so I could use a gift certificate thingy I had. Lilli fell down in the parking lot and skinned both of her knees pretty bad, so we did some First Aid in the parking lot and then got her home to finish cleaning out the scrapes. Michael doesn't get home until 1 am tonight, so that means I get to put the kids to bed on my own. However, the last thing I want to do right now is wrestle the kids into their pajamas, wrestle them into brushing their teeth, and wrestle them into bed. I pretty much just want to sleep. *Yawn* Maybe I'll just wimp out and we'll fall asleep watching t.v. together...

Chillin' wit' my hooooomies!

We're back! Michael and I decided to take an impromptu 3-day road trip down to Provo to see my Aunt Mike and Uncle Julie. Best.     decision.     ever. First of all, their house is amazing. It looks kind of like a Frank Lloyd Wright (sp?) house, with lots of huge glass walls everywhere and sunlight, surrounded by trees and flowers and stuff. It was nice just to hang out there and relax. They had some hummingbird feeders off the back porch that you could watch from the kitchen and there were many frequent visitors. The kids loved to see all of the birds come to eat, and they fed some left over pancakes to a scrub-jay. My aunt Julie was a very thoughtful hostess, and made the entire stay relaxing and enjoyable. It was a much needed mental and physical break for Michael, who has been extremely overwhelmed by work lately. Tenzin fell in love with my Uncle Mike and they were inseparable while we were there. Shout out to Uncle Mike-Thanks for taking care of him so much, it was nice to just relax and hang out while you played with him. Thanks for helping Michael get an iPad and geeking out with him over it! Shout out to Aunt Julie- Thank you for babysitting them while we went on a date for our anniversary, and making banana bread with Lilli, and cooking for us, and everything and everything!!! Shout ou to Austin- Thanks for giving up your room so we could sleep there. Shout out to Alex- Thanks for... stuff. You guys are awesome!  We went swimming at the rec center and shopping at the University bookstore, and Aunt Julie and I found an adorable new swimsuit for me at Downeast Basics. They babysat the kids while Michael and I went out to eat at Outback and shopped at the mall for our anniversary. Saturday morning we went to the local farmer's market and ate mango with sticky rice (yay!) and played at the park. We also just spent a lot of time sitting around laughing and joking (even though they're pretty serious and it was difficult to get them to joke around at all...). Anyways, did I say it was a great trip? Because it was a great trip.

A visit from Grandpa

Lilli came into the bedroom today as I was getting Tenzin dressed for bed and announced "Mommy! Grandpa's here!"
"He is? Where is he?" was my befuddled reply.
"There!" she shrieked and then tumbled to the floor giggling, with one finger pointed at Tenzin.
I had just slipped him into his pants as he was wiggling away in protest, leaving his pants pulled up to almost armpit level. If you've ever seen my dad wear pajama pants, you'll know exactly what she was talking about.

What it means to be adopted...

Michael and I have been thinking about adoption lately. I came across this little story in a book I was reading and wanted to share it:
"Teacher Debbie Moon's first-graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had different color hair than the other family members.
One child suggested that he was adopted, and a little girl named Jocelynn Jay said, "I know all about adoptions because I'm adopted."
"What does it mean to be adopted?" asked another child.
"It means," said Jocelynn, "that you grew in your mother's heart instead of her tummy."  --George Dolan"

Tha Zoo: where ya' dun learnt abowt aminals and stuff!

While on a recent trip to the zoo, the children where posing with the various animal sculptures. This is a picture of sweet baby Bella doing that which I have just described. As my children crawled into some prehistoric eggshells with grins all a-cheese, I heard an exclamation behind me, "Mom! Mom! I want to go sit on the hump-back mule!" I turned to see an 8 or 9 year-old girl run up and jump onto the back of the camel sculpture with a look of exquisite joy on her face. 

The humpback mule.

and Neils, Guin, and the mother.

Life is easier if...

you relax a little.  Also, eating cotton candy as an occasional meal replacement doesn't hurt either. I did both yesterday and was quite pleased with the results.