Update on all parts of my life that are not adoption or Africa related!

Lately this blog has been full of really heavy things...babies being adopted, trips to Africa..... it has been less light and fun and there has been a serious lack of pictures of the other children (according to my family). So, from here on out..there will be more pictures and more fun..... Also, I haven't written down anything funny that the kids are saying or doing. That might not be a big deal to the rest of blogworld but so far, this is the only baby book my kids get so if it doesn't make the blog then it doesn't get recorded. And they have been saying REALLY funny things.

The baby is doing fine..she is getting positively chunky! Look at those cheeks. Yippe. She is about 8 pounds now and THAT means she should be able to start sleeping longer. The picture above is her in the swing. She seems so big to me, but then I catch a look at her in the swing and she looks SO TINY. The hat is on because she makes herself cry (and wakes herself up) by pulling her hair. Her little hand gets up in there and just yanks it out until she cries. The bottom picture doesn't do her hair any justice. It is so soft and curly and perfect to rub when you tuck her head under you chin... I know it will change soon and that is fine too, but I am enjoying the baby soft afro that she is sporting right now (and it looks remarkably similar to all the old ladies in my ward...but with a little bit of extra mullet).


We are finally getting into a bit of a routine with her. It helps that Lu has gone back to school. I am either getting the hang of this or learning how to function better on less sleep. Either way, things are slowly becoming easier. There is lots to be thankful for. Earlier this week my friend Suzi told me that her sister came home from church last Sunday to a message on the phone from the school district. Apparently the office staff was on strike and school would NOT be starting the next day as planned. Cancelled. If they had cancelled Lauren's school I might have offered to work the office myself. Thank goodness for school. (I am clearly not a home schooling Mom).

I can't believe that I have a first grader. This year Lauren is in a split class that is half 1st grade and half kindergarten. This is actually a pretty good thing for her because she can still get a bit of the "hand holding" that happens in kindergarten but still get to be a big kid in the class. We had a tradition in our house where on the first day of school you can choose to eat what ever you want for breakfast. Nothing is off limits. If she said she wanted a 10 lb bag of sugar w/ a spoon, it would happen. Do you know what she chose? French toast, hard boiled eggs and doughnuts. Silly girl. Last year it was cupcakes and fruit. She is her fathers child for sure. Here is her breakfast.

She also didn't want to wear a dress this year (sob). It was boots, jeans and a cool jacket. Oh, and a messenger bag. She just trotted onto the bus without a backwards glance. She is also bugging me to cut her hair. She wants it cut to her ears--but I think that she thinks if she cuts it that short it will be straight. The other day I did her hair and she looked in the mirror and said "this looks like a Jenny hair do" When I asked her what she meant she said "this looks like the hair a girl named Jenny would have." Every day since then she has told me who she looks like. Today it was Shirley. She has such an imagination. I think we will end up cutting it (the hair, not the imagination), but I can't bear the thought of cutting off her curls. She just turned 6 last week. It is unbelievable how fast they grow up. In many ways she is still my baby. In other ways, she is grown up and seems like she is already out the door (actually, yesterday she told me she had packed some things because she was tired of me being grumpy and the baby crying so she was going to move out.....). I feel like I can see a glimpse of the young woman she will become and (thankfully) there are still traces of my toddler. We celebrated her big day a week early with a traditional breakfast at McDonald's (we were traveling on her actual birthday....for the third year in a row...but it is also our anniversary that day and we haven't managed to celebrate that for a few years now....).

Next post...what is new with Cubby. He got a bad hair cut (from me....that was the last one, it is off to the barber shop from now on) and has taken a liking to Laurens pink cowboy boots while riding his horse.... silly kid.