The end of an era

Well, my husband and I have come to a turning point, and things will never be the same again. (Dramatic pause here.)

Yesterday, I bought a minivan. Yes, after a decade of being a 1 car family (except for a year right at the beginning of our marriage), and 18 months of squishing our 3 kids, baby seat, and booster seat into the back of our '97 Toyota Corolla, we broke down and did it. We are practically giddy with excitement, except for the part about actually spending money. Here she is:

We didn't tell the boys where we were going last night after I picked them up from swimming, which is why they are not wearing more. When we got to our destination, we told them that someone in our ward had bid on a car at the auction and we were picking it up. This was technically true, thanks to our friend, Randy, who did the bidding on my behalf. When I drove out in the minivan and parked next to the Corolla, Scott looked at it longingly and said, "Mom, we should buy this car."

"Well, someone already bought it," I told him. I paused. "IT WAS ME!!!!" Behold, the gleeful ones:

This morning as I lay in bed at 6:15 am, not wanting to get up yet, I heard Ethan open up the door from the laundry room into the garage and turn on the light. (Our garage light beeps when you turn it on; I don't have superhero ears.) I wondered aloud what he was doing out there. Michael got up to check it out and came back with this photo of Ethan and his selected homework location.

This car has so many features that I'm thrilled about. Nothing fancy, mind you. But who wouldn't appreciate power locks, an adjustable steering wheel, power windows, cruise control, a CD player, and a back seat that folds right into the floor?

Sunday afternoon

It has been a lovely weekend. I played violin in our stake performances of "Savior of the World", to commemorate the death and resurrection of the Savior. I have to admit that the production grew on me.  I especially liked the role of Thomas. Our small orchestra of 3 violins and a flute played along with the soundtrack, and I think it was fine.

Here we are in front of the tomb. Don't look at my hair.

Here are Thomas, Bro. Sandburg (real beard!), and a resurrected being aka Jessica.

Today we're taking things easy. It was a wild day in the nursery. We had 22 little people between the ages of 16 months and 3 years. After we got home from church, and had a visit from our home teachers, El Guapo made us popcorn and set up the projector in the front room, brought the bean bags downstairs, immobilized the boys, and fell asleep:

We watched streaming New Testament stories.

Happy boys, sleepy dad.

We're headed to the cousins' house for dinner:) It's a happy day.

A gift from my boys

I was awakened early this morning by a crying baby. My crying baby. As I lay in bed, telling myself to get up and take care of her, she stopped crying. I imagined her in her crib, settling down with her pacifier in her mouth and her hand across her nose, breathing deeply like she does when she is calming herself. I sighed a happy sigh and snuggled in under the blanket, with the joy of a mother who has just received the gift of more sleep. Is there any better gift? Perhaps, but not at that time of morning.

At 6:30 am, when I got up to see the boys getting ready, Scott told me, "Elizabeth was crying this morning, but we brought her into our room and played with her until our alarm went off." AAAAWWWWWWW. I am so happy to know that my boys love their sister. Getting up early to play with her, whether or not they did it with me in mind, is one of the best ways they have shown their love for me.

The boys, by the way, have been amazingly cooperative the last few days, thanks to the ingenuity of my husband and the boys' unswerving devotion to The Pigs (Harvey and Snortey). Every night, Harvey and Snortey send to-do lists to the boys via sewer mail. When the boys get up in the morning, on their LA Sewer Mat there is a list and a note to each of them from the pigs. The lists have things like say your morning prayer, eat breakfast, drink the extra milk in your cereal bowl, put your dishes in the dishwasher, brush your teeth, get dressed, put on socks and shoes, read scriptures for 10 minutes, have family prayer, catch the bus. It's no surprise that Ethan, my little clone, loves lists, but Scott! Wow! He is not a list man, but these lists are entirely different. He loves to check them off. The pigs also send afternoon or evening lists. The boys' room is clean. The upstairs is tidy. Their homework is done. They are reading their scriptures. It's amazing.

Now if such a thing would just work on me... I'm off to tidy for a few minutes before I go get my biopsy stitches out. Happy Wednesday!

Photo updates

We are all doing well, enjoyed General Conference, and are working away at our various projects and endeavors. More details on projects are on my other website; let me know if you need that blog address and I'll send it to you:)

Here's my independent girl, ready to make her way in the world by foraging for apple sauce left on the table.

Here are my 4 stitches from the biopsy. Still awaiting results, but the dermatologist suspects erythema nodosum.

Here's the girl again, dressed up in a "princess cape" by her older girl cousins. They paraded her around in the backyard like this until I intervened and removed the cape. She was much happier without it.

Here are the men, ready to head off to Priesthood Session. The Girl did not accompany them.