NC Museum of Art

The first two days of track-out have been a lot of fun. Yesterday we went to storytime at the library, and today we took in a little culture at the art museum. You know, there are a lot of naked sculptures and paintings in the museum. Sheesh! We had a good time anyway.

This picture is contraband. I overlooked the fine print that said there is not supposed to be any photography in the modern art gallery. Oops. Nikki said this looked like Cookie Monster, and I think she gave a better interpretation than the artist who said she was painting a deer.


When we got home the girls made their own version of one of the paintings we saw that was made out of shapes and colors. Hannah's actually looks very similar to the one at the museum. Nikki added her own touch with a picture of an apple, a yo-yo, and a balloon tucked in there. I thought those were kind of random objects -- maybe she'll be a great abstract artist!

Tummy Time!

This baby is such a joy. Even though 5 months is a frustrating time when he wants to grab everything but can't get to what he wants. He cannot stand to be set down at suppertime. He wants to be in on the action, eyeing every bite we take, and trying his best to grab our plates. I guess there is a reason he's close to 18 pounds.

A Few Things Around Here

1. We have some hearing issues in our family. Nate says it's because I mumble, and I say it's because nobody listens to me. =) Here are two examples that I can think of right off the top of my head, but this happens all the time.

Me: Where are the clippers?
Nikki: Your slippers?

Me: It smells like you've been holding my hand. (Nate thought the lotion he used smelled too feminine)
Nate: I smell like a little old man?

The girls think it's funny and try to find as many rhyming words as they can. I guess that makes it an educational event.

2. "Set your goals—without goals you can't measure your progress. But don't become frustrated if the victories don't come quickly or easily. Remind yourself that striving can be more important than arriving. If you are striving for excellence—if you are trying your best day by day with the wisest use of your time and energy to reach realistic goals—you are a success, and you can feel proud of your accomplishments." -- Marvin J. Ashton, "Be a Quality Person," Ensign, Feb. 1993, 64

I like that quote. I'm currently taking a religion class from BYU, and I just love it! The textbooks are the scriptures and a compilation of quotes from prophets and other leaders of the church. You can't find better reading material than that. It's kept me pretty busy for the past few weeks. Nate is taking his first graduate-school course, so our evenings have mostly been study time lately.

3. Can I just give a huge shout-out to Pampers? I used Luvs for the girls and had no problems, but they just didn't cut it with Ryan. He usually just has one or two blow-outs a week, which makes them blow-outs. But when he got sick, it turned into a several-times-a-day event, and then his medicine just prolonged that. I think if those diapers had leaked every time he filled one I would have screamed and made him nap in the bathtub. Hooray for diapers that don't leak, and thank goodness the medicine is finished. He actually slept 10 1/2 hours last night, and I am confident it was because he didn't blow his diaper out at 2 am.

4. Track-out starts tomorrow. Weren't they just out of school? Yes, that's right, we were returning to our groove after Christmas break, and then we had a huge snow storm, and now my children will be out of school for another three weeks. I guess we'll just have to learn something at home because they don't seem to be at school very often. Today when they get home we're going to plan out a schedule for the next couple of weeks. I want to go to a couple of different museums close by, get my hair cut at the salon in the mall (the girls consider it a huge treat to go to the mall), try a couple of science experiments, maybe have a craft or two (not too many for Nikki's sake), make some cute Valentines, do some baking, hit the library (note to myself: find out when they have storytime). I'm still thinking about what else to add. Any ideas? The most important part of our planning will be setting up a schedule so that I can still get my homework done without my two girl kitties climbing all over me. For the summer we made a list of several different activities they could do on their own when they have some down time, and we will definitely make another one of those. Hopefully, we can make this fun.

5. I finally got a calling at church. I'll be helping out with the Sunbeams (the three-year-olds). We have about 20 of them, yes 20 three-year-olds. So, even though they are split into two classes, it is crazy. I'm not the teacher, I'll be more crowd control than anything else. Since I have to feed Ryan sometime during church, this will work really well for me right now. I love the Sunbeams. You can never guess what they're going to say next.

Snow day!

This was our attempt at sledding. We have a great hill behind our house, but it didn't seem to matter. For future reference, the lid to a plastic storage bin does not work well as a sled. I guess it's pretty obvious that we don't usually get all that much snow. We got pretty close to 6", and the girls went out three different times to play. It was too powdery for a snowman, so they're hoping it will work better today.

While I wait for that video to upload, I guess I can type up a few things that have been happening. Nate worked from home yesterday because of the snow, and I really enjoyed it. He wasn't very productive because of the slow connection getting onto his computer at work, but the girls were very good about not hanging on him and letting him work. I think the roads are probably more dangerous today because of the refreeze overnight, but he had to go in.

After Nikki got over her sickness, Ryan got it. It was so sad. Last Friday I took him in to the doctor and he had an ear infection along with some isolated crackles in one side of his lungs. On Saturday morning Nate let me go back to bed after feeding Ryan, and later I woke up to hear him actually crying. He had been so worn out and feeling so miserable during the week that he had only been able to wimper. I've never been so relieved to hear a baby cry. He's doing so much better now. Again, I am so grateful for modern medicine. If we lived 200 years ago, we could very easily have lost two of our children this month. It's amazing that these sicknesses really could be so serious, but with the medicines we have today they can clear up in just a few days.

Some good news: I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight. The bad news: it sure doesn't look like it. Gravity works. Why did Newton need an apple to fall on his head to figure that out? He could have just looked at his mother. The good news: I've been exercising regularly for the last three weeks, even when I've had sleepless nights with sick children. My goal is to go shopping in May/June for a whole new wardrobe and have it be a good experience. The day after Christmas we went clothes shopping for Nate, and it was so unfair. He took stacks and stacks into the dressing room and everything fit! Okay, there was one shirt that he didn't like how the collar fit his neck. I had done the same thing last October, and out of the stacks and stacks that I took into the dressing room I ended up liking one shirt. So, this year I will not be wearing the maternity clothes that I wore last summer. I will like what I see when I open my closet doors!

Oh, come on!

Okay, time for a rant.

I heard on the radio news yesterday that the man Obama wants to appoint as the Treasury Secretary avoided paying $34,000 of self-employment taxes until just a few days before he was going to be named for this position. Are you kidding me? We're going to have a tax evader for a Treasury Secretary? Come on, America.

Our homeowner's association in our neighborhood pays for the lawn maintenance of everyone's yards. Very convenient in the summer, I must say. But there are men out in the neighborhood today -- IN JANUARY -- with weedeaters and blowers maintaining everyone's yards. Now, I don't wish any of these lawn maintenance workers to be out of a job during the winter months, but come on! I'm sure our association fee could be put to some better use -- like staying in my pocket.

Speaking of the neighborhood yards, we have a neighbor who has a truck pull up to their house about once a week with the name "Doody Calls" on the side of the truck. The man spends some time out in their yard cleaning up after their dog and then moves on to another neighbor. What? You pay someone to do that? And are there really that many people who use that service to support a business? Do these people just have too much money, are they really that busy that they can't do it themselves, or are they even lazyier than me? Surely, there is somewhere better they can spend that money. Come on, America. No wonder we're drowning in debt and foreclosures.

When did I become busy?

Do you ever feel like you've run a marathon before 8 am? I look forward to this point in the morning when I can sit down for a minute. Yesterday, Hannah made me feel so good and she didn't even know it. I have a laid-back personality which leans towards laziness and procrastination. Yesterday, Hannah was looking through some old scrapbook papers that I had given her and showed me a picture of a beehive with the caption "Busy as a Bee." Hannah said, "Mom, that's just like you." It took me by surprise because I'm always concerned that I don't accomplish as much as I should each day. I guess it really is true that our weaknesses can become strengths. I don't have to be a lazy procrastinator for the rest of my life. It is possible that one day that temptation won't even be tempting to me.

I read this quote by President David O. McKay yesterday, "Your greatest weakness will be the point at which Satan will try to tempt you, will try to win you; and if you have made yourself weak, he will add to that weakness. Resist him, and you will gain in strength. If he tempts you another way, resist him again and he will become weaker. In turn, you become stronger, until you can say no matter what your surroundings may be, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.' (Luke 4:8) .... Remember, you cannot tamper with the evil one. Resist temptation, resist Satan, and he will flee from you." (David O. McKay, in Improvement Era, July 1968, p. 3)

Caution -- This will get stuck in your head

She's so cute, but I warn you that I go around singing these songs all the time. She has been learning these songs at school. The nurse in the ER told me that singing would be good to help her take deep breaths. Well, singing is not a problem for her -- she's always singing something. Can you tell she has pneumonia? We are so grateful she's feeling better.

By the way, what tricks do you use to convince a stubborn 5-year-old to take her medicine? This morning we promised popsicles, cartoons, chocolate, and I don't know what else, and she sat there for 15 minutes before making up her mind to down it. I even told her that if she didn't take it she would have to go to the doctor for a shot. Her response: "I didn't cry last time. I didn't look and I didn't feel it." Great, she's not even scared of a shot.

How you know your child is sick ...

When you're grateful that her fever has come down to 102.8.

Nikki has had a nasty fever this past week, and yesterday when she started complaining that her side hurt when she breathed we got even more concerned. After a trip to the ER we found out she has pneumonia. My poor little girl. She was so pitiful yesterday. This is the first time I have ever seen someone burning up with a fever but still feel cold. I've only seen that in movies about the olden days. I think the antibiotics must already be doing their job because she was actually able to sleep in this morning, and she has perked up quite a bit already.

Private

I'm thinking about making my blog private soon, but I think I'll wait a couple of weeks before I do it. I don't really know who reads my blog, so that should probably give me a hint that I need to do this. I have hesitated to do it because there are a couple of blogs that I like to check every once in a while of people that may be acquaintances, but I don't know very well. I probably wouldn't email them to ask to be invited to view their blog if they went to a private blog, but I like seeing how they are doing. I've decided the safety of our children is more important than that. Even though I don't have a profile saying where I live and my blog can't be googled, I think a crazy person could get what information he needed (like the names of my children and what they look like) if he really wanted to harm our family. So, if you are like me and think you just won't contact me -- don't be that way. Feel free to let me know that you would like to be invited to see my blog, and I'll send you an invitation.

My nails and my piano teacher

It feels very diffrint when I cut my fingernails.I had to cut them because I am taiking piano lessins.I love taiking piano lessins!sister Heath is a good piano teacher. by Hannah

Piano Lessons

Hannah had her first piano lesson today. She said she loved it! I can't tell you how relieved I am. About a year and a half ago she wanted to start lessons, but I didn't want to pay for a teacher because I didn't think she was ready yet. So I told her I would start teaching her. I knew better, but I did it anyway. And she hated it. I thought I had ruined her for life. I was so upset that she didn't even have an interest in going to a real teacher. Then, a few weeks ago she finally sat down at the piano again and said she wanted to take lessons. Hallelujah! Last week I was talking to a lady at church and found out that she had recently graduated from Meredith College with a degree in piano pedagogy. She is such a sweet and mild-mannered lady, which I think is just what Hannah needs. So Hannah has been looking forward to her lesson all week. I got a little nervous when I overheard the teacher telling Hannah she needs to cut her fingernails. She loves her long fingernails, but she told me afterwards that she's okay with it. Yay, Hannah! I'm so excited for her!

Ahhh....

Oh, Kellee, no! I disagree with your funny comment about showers so much that I have to make a post about it! I consider my shower to be my daily spa treatment. And our energy bill reflects how much I love that hot water, but Nate doesn't complain because paying that bill seems like a small price to pay for my sanity. Those moments of solitude. Ahhh. The phone can be ringing, the kids screaming, or laughing, or begging for a drink, or tearing the house apart -- and I don't care. For those few moments (and perhaps I take more than a few) I'm ALONE. I can think. Contemplate. Meditate. The massage of the water on my neck even on days when Nate is too busy to give me a massage. AHHH. If the baby wakes up before I get out, well, he'll still be awake when I finally turn the water off. Then I can love on him the way I should because I have been rejuvenated. And, by the way, I do find the time to wash while I'm in there, too.

Off to a New Year

Nate and the girls are off to work and school, and Ryan is down for a nap. What -- do I hear silence? While it does feel really good to get back into the groove of things and the girls were excited to go back to school this morning, I'm a little sad. I have enjoyed having so much family time over the holidays. No homework, no alarm clocks, just relaxing and playing games. It was great. However, it is a good thing that time doesn't stand still. We were planning some family goals last night, and I'm excited to accomplish those together as a family. Hannah was really into the planning and made out a schedule for what she is supposed to do each day. This morning she was carrying it around with her from the breakfast table to the bathroom to getting her shoes. It was really cute. So, I guess I should stick to my schedule and get a shower while I can. Happy New Year!