Soccer

Abby started soccer classes at the Rec Center today. She had so much fun. We've been looking forward to this for weeks! She got a new ball and soccer shorts and decided to sport her BYU Football shirt (yes, we're training her young...in fact, we've been working on the Fight Song for several weeks now!). Here's Abby in all her soccer glory!

Quotable Quotes from the Week

Today during lunch, I was explaining to Abby that my cousin's husband was coming over for dinner. He's in DC going to school, but his family is still in CA. I told her that he missed his kids so she needed to remind him how fun it was to have kids at home. She responded that she would be fun for him and then added, "I'm the cutest kid in town."

Five minutes later Roy looked over at the bottomless pit of the family still shoveling food from tray to mouth and said, "I think you are seriously gaining weight." I thought Roy was talking to me for a minute. Don't worry, it was Sam who was the subject of the weight-gain comment.

Sam and Abby enjoying the swings at Busch Gardens. I promise Sam had fun too!

I found one of my old necklaces with Orange Blossom from Strawberry Shortcake. Abby wore it to church today. We asked her if her friends were excited about her necklace and she said didn't share it with them. Of course we jumped right on it and reminded her it was good to share with friends. She clarified that she showed her friends for a minute "but then I got so tired."

Sam is starting to talk more and more. His favorite thing to do with me is come barreling into the kitchen and say, "Mama. AH!" My job is to act surprised. We play it every time I do the dishes. Even though we play it three times a day with multiple rounds each time, it melts my heart every time I hear his sweet "mama" and see the huge, delighted smile as I act surprised.

Today in church someone made a comment that made everyone laugh. Sam is just starting to laugh because other people are laughing and today was no exception. But today he just couldn't stop laughing for close to two minutes. He just kept laughing and looking at me. I'm glad he enjoys church so much.

Frumpies

A conversation from an hour ago shortly after talking about the word sibling. Abby frequently requests that 5 babies come the next time we have a baby. One at a time is quite enough for me! Note to my parental unit and sibuwings, this is not an announcement.

Abby: Mom, when I have 5 brothers and sisters, I won't call them siblings. I will call them frumpies.

My thought: Nope, that's what you're going to call me.

That's What Little Boys Are Made Of

This morning, 2 minutes into my shower, Abby and Sam came into the bathroom to show me that the children's chewable tylenol bottle was empty. Abby told me that Sam dumped it on the floor and ate all of them. After a hurried rinse-off, I asked Abby to show me exactly what happened. According to her first story, Sam ate them all (about half a bottle). In later tellings, she admitted she ate four or five. Today marked my first call to Poison Control. I am so grateful for Poison Control! They did all the math and told me that Sam would be fine as long as he didn't ingest more than 27 pills, which he didn't. Thank goodness! A visit to the ER was not on my list of desired activities for the day.

I was talking to an old friend today and told her this story. She said she thought he was this sweet guy who basically didn't get in much trouble. One of his nicknames that Abby has caught on to is Troublemaker. He's not a bad kid by any means, but he is just naturally so curious. He has to see if all balls bounce down the stairs just like the first one did, if driving cars on his sister's face makes her mad every time, and loves to get as close to the edge of the stairs or the playground as he can without falling off. But, as I explained to Shara earlier today, his curiosity and adventurous side is perfectly balanced with his ability to love. I get hugs constantly, he always has a kiss to share, and when he is feeling especially loving, Sam will pat our backs with his two-armed hugs. Sam is definitely a troublemaker at times, but he is affectionate and loving. And despite the headaches and worries his capers cause, those are forgotten with one of his back-patting hugs.

A month in Pictures

Sorry that it's been a while. Enjoy.

Fun Pictures

Here are some of my favorite pictures and family happenings from the last two weeks.

We had a really fun week with lots of time outside. It got up to a blessedly beautiful 70 degrees and we were all really happy to enjoy being outside. We hit up parks, went on walks (or dinosaur-seeking adventures depending on who was in charge), jumped on the trampoline, and tried to soak up as much sun time as possible.

We sent Roy off to New York for 36 hours so he could take notes for a work meeting. He was happy to wake up his birthday morning at the Waldorf Hotel--that will probably be the fanciest place he'll ever spend his birthday. He got home just in time to celebrate with chicken tostados, cherry chocolate birthday cake, and presents. Abby gave him a bright green lunch bag. I'm not sure if that was upgrading his current panda bear lunch bag, but Roy graciously said thanks. Abby picked out the lunch bag weeks ago and was anxiously counting down the days until his birthday. We wrapped the present a couple weeks ago and she kept showing Roy the gift and it's hiding place.

Sam has recently gotten really into dressing up. The poor kid doesn't have many cool boy options of dress-up clothes. He loves to wear Abby's tiara, necklaces, and her fancy red church shoes. He loves to have things on his head. He's not a fan of hats, of course. Just headbands and girly stuff.

Abby attended her first big kid birthday party (meaning parents didn't have to stay). It was Fancy Nancy-themed and she came home decked out in a crown, feather boa, necklace, and rings. This is her pre-party picture. Can you see the excitement? She was so tired when she got home that she crashed on the couch.

Roy has the Bar this week. We'd appreciate any extra prayers for him on Tuesday and Wednesday. We are proud of him for sticking with it a second time around and quite excited to be done with all the studying. I have a to-do list waiting for him!

Chocolate Mud

We went to storytime at Barnes and Noble yesterday and met another 3-year-old girl. Abby and the other girl enjoyed talking about what they had in common. You know, the important things like blue front doors at their houses, My Little Pony toys, and the fact that they were both princesses. Then the other girl came to me and said, "I have brown eyes." I responded, "Yes you do. They are brown like chocolate." With a pleased smile, she asked, "What color are Abby's eyes?" "Abby's eyes are blue like the sky." The conversation quickly changed to other important things like going potty on the toilet and fancy hair-dos.

Five minutes later as we were getting into the car, Abby said, "Mom, her eyes weren't brown like chocolate. They were brown like mud."

Thank you for not saying that out loud in front of her, Abby. (But you have provided many laughs for me in the last 36 hours.)