Sunday, December 30, 2007

happy holidays...

It's been a nice, vacation-y week. Tonight was my mom's surprise party for her 70th birthday, which I have been planning for a few months, and it went off very nicely. The book I put together for her of photos and memories from siblings, spouse, children & grandchildren was a huge success. Mom was very appreciative, which was the most rewarding of all. I'll post some photos later on.

We watched the movie Waitress tonight. I'd heard/read about it a few times, but didn't know much about it besides that it somewhat chronicled a pregnancy. It was a very good movie. It was gritty (a word overused in movie reviews, methinks, but entirely appropriate here) and real. Even if they make me squirm at times, I have a hard time not liking real movies that reveal the messiness of the human experience. A couple of other movies that I think merit such distinction are As Good as it Gets and Real Women Have Curves. There are others, too.

I gave my mom the boxed set of Stargirl and Love, Stargirl for Christmas, simply because the former is one of my all-time favorite books, and I wanted to share it with her. (I've not yet read the latter.) She told me that she read it and loved it, and that it really makes you think. It was odd how thrilled I was to hear this. I can't quite explain it, but I feel like the story of Stargirl is in some way my own story, or the story I wish I could have written about who I was growing up. I very often felt separate and apart from the group, while simultaneously never doing anything that didn't seem to be what everyone else did. That, of course, is the exact opposite of Stargirl. Perhaps it is better said that I felt my true self was someone like Stargirl. The story really resonates with me for myriad reasons. When she said she liked the book, it felt like some sort of bridge of added understanding between us. I've always had a good relationship with my mom, but in the past couple of years I have felt a stronger bond drawing me to her than ever before.

On a final note of late-night reflection, I have come to realize that I definitely suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I think I don't like to face the fact, because it is one of those "trendy" things that everyone and their dog seems to suffer from, but I am hoping that acknowledging it in my own mind will be motivation to pursue a course of activity to mitigate its effects. This past month it has been a real battle to get out of bed most days, and I think it is the toll of facing gray, cold weather day after day that really saps my energy. I am very grateful that we have passed the Winter Solstice, though, and that shorter nights, longer days and SPRING are in our future. I would definitely have been all for celebrating with the druids the return of more light. "Oh thank you, Sun, for not burning out and abandoning us to a cold, miserable death!" (Hey, Andrea, I guess I have a bit of drama in me, too!)

Monday, December 24, 2007

we wish you a merry Clivemas!







Spud was born 3 years ago tonight (11:14 p.m.)! We had his party today and he had a lot of fun. The dinosaurs (Imaginext by Fisher-Price, which I got on a screamin deal from Amazon -- all those dinos for $30!) are a HUGE hit with both the kids. And their aunts and uncles like them, too. Noodle keeps saying she wants to get her own someday. Fortunately, Spud has been good at sharing. They are really cool.

The pedal car is from David's parents. I think they said they found it at an antique shop. Pretty fun!

o tannenbaum



Here's our happy little tree.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

wild child



After their bath the other day the kids were hanging out in my office, wild wet hair and all. I got this picture of Noodle that I just love! She's such a little imp!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

the holiday spirit





These are from a couple of weeks ago. While we were out getting the tree from the garage, Spud unwound FIVE spools of ribbon. We think it was about 130 yards worth. As we unpacked the stockings, he was convinced that they were actually supposed to go on your feet, so we gave him a couple to try on. He was quite happy, tripping around the house.

THIS IS MY 300th POST!!!

Cool! I could do something super to commemorate it, but I just want to share an experience from yesterday.

We were driving around and Daisy was peeking out the front passenger window. This kind of rough looking fellow was walking in the cold, smoking a cigarette, and he crossed in the crosswalk in front of our car and saw Daisy peering out at him. He just stared at her, then a big grin broke across his face. When he passed over to my side, he mouthed "That is one cute dog." and he was still grinning so big. He didn't seem like the type of person to appreciate a silly fluffy dog, but I think it really made his morning.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Happy Holidays, from the Family Pets!


"See how we are waiting so patiently for our food? Well, that patience will soon run out!"



"We like to play in this paper. Isn't it great to have a mom who leaves junk around the house for us to play with?"



"This is where I hang out while mom is running her errands. Do I look sufficiently bored?"



"This small hairless one likes to hang out with me. I allow it."



"There seems to be a fat intruder in my house. Huh."



"Look, there's a reason there are no holiday tales about cats. We hate holidays. And this is why."

Friday, December 14, 2007

make your own flake

This is fun

I think the link will let you see my first snowflake (highlighted as "Your Friend" or something like that. It's a fun little thing. Thanks to Katie for sharing it with me.

In other news, I've been "tagged" by my friend Karen, so I'd better get on that. It's been one of those crazy weeks. Not too much of interest has been going on because I've been so busy with various small projects.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

okay, so the baby is now a month old...









But I wanted to share a few pics from my friend's "maternity shoot." She is a beautiful person, so it was fun to take pictures for her. Especially in fall, which is really her season.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

I've been busy




Trying to get my life a bit more organized (I swear this is a recurring theme) and getting ready for the Holidays and all that jazz. I did a quick photo shoot for my friend Shannon. It was quick because we were all starting to freeze by the end, but I think we got some nice photos. And heck, for a Christmas card or even for the wall, you only need ONE good photo. Mission accomplished!

Monday, November 26, 2007

the circle of life


I took some pictures of my sister Melody's family over the Thanksgiving holiday, and this is a silly pose I made them do, but I like it.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

da boy is back in town

I'm sure it's a weird, unjustified paranoia, but I can't post about David LEAVING town until he's back. I think in the recesses of my mind I imagine a stalker who would come harass me because they know I'm alone, and I just can't deal with that possibility. Anyways, we drove him to the airport early early (as in leave the house at 5 a.m. early) Thursday morning and he flew out to TN, where he packed up his computer programmer & his roommate, and then spent all of Saturday and Sunday driving across the country (and a lot of that time driving across Nebraska). He arrived late Sunday night. He was pretty wasted, because due to physical limitations, neither of the other two guys can drive.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

farewell, Orion


My sweet ratboy Orion died this afternoon. He has been doing poorly the past month, but was hanging in there until the end. He had been in a cage by himself for a while as he tended to start fights, but the last month we had him back in the big cage, and I think that really helped him last this long. He even ate some macaroni & cheese at lunchtime. Give your furry friends a scritch in his memory tonight.

Orion was named for the "star" on his face (more correctly called a blaze). Also, all of my rats have been named after cities, and Orion is a city, though off hand I can't remember where.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

literary Wednesday


David & I just finished listening to Stargirl, read by John Ritter of all people. We highly recommend the story. And I found out tonight that there is a SEQUEL, which makes me ridiculously happy. It was one of those stories I was sad to finish as I loved the characters so much. So, hooray! We have requested the CDs at the library.

Monday, November 12, 2007

movie review Monday

David & I went on a DATE Saturday (wonder of wonders!) and went to see Stardust. I give it double thumbs up. It's kind of a Princess Bride sort of movie--romance, swashbuckling adventure and humor all wrapped in one. I highly recommend it. I think it's one I'd like to own, as it is good family fare.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

finally...

another fabulous Mindy. I say this because all of the Mindys since Mork & Mindy tend to be ex-girlfriends or the known hoochie. What's a Mindy to do?

From Teen Girl Squad Episode 12:




It's a terrible thing to lose your Mindy cred.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

why you shouldn't leave your dog in the car with groceries



We went to Target to get some groceries and household items, including 3 cheese pizzas for our party tomorrow, and then I decided to go to Costco. I had the food in the back of the car, but since it's not a real trunk, there was nothing stopping Daisy from hopping back there and helping herself to the cheese. I discovered it when we came out of Costco and was not amused. At least they were $2.50 pizzas instead of $10 pizzas. And she only got into the one. So I cut off the doggy-half, and we cooked the rest for lunch.

sigh...

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

found in the yard today



Okay, so this isn't a picture of OUR garter snake, but it looks just like it. I was being a leafherd (which means I was corralling leaves into a pile) and I found him by the fence. Noodle was absolutely delighted, as she's wanted to find a snake since we moved into this house. David & I had each seen one in the yard in the past year, but Noodle hadn't. So now we're trying to determine whether we should try and keep him through the winter. I guess garter snakes like earthworms, which I would not have guessed (Thanks Dean!). So, we'll see. I have a tank that we could use, but we'd need a heat lamp, substrate, and of course determine an appropriate food source. If we can resolve the food issue, I'm not opposed to keeping him, as snakes don't require much in the way of cleaning, and that's my big issue with pets right now. Between a litter box, a rat cage, and a rabbit cage, I'm kind of at my max. Noodle really is enjoying the little guy, though.

Monday, November 05, 2007

dontcha love silly quizzes

I am Elizabeth Bennet!


Take the Quiz here!




Thanks Karen,for the link!

oh youtube...

you never fail to entertain. (Provided you are willing to wade through all of the UNentertaining junk.)

The Hauntening

(While adding the labels for this post, I had a fingerslip and typed "youtuber." I guess that would be videos done by potatoes, for potatoes.)

thought for today

I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. he can fill that tiny span with meaning,so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant...A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life. It is hard work to fill ones' life with meaning...A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here."

-The Chosen, by Chaim Potok

Sunday, November 04, 2007

so true

SNL

Saturday Night Live today was unusually funny. We tuned in because Feist was performing, but the whole show was hilarious. Brian Williams was the guest host, and it was fun to see him in a different environment. But our favorite part was a Publisher's Clearing House skit where they showed past (fake) winners, and one woman ran out her door and grabbed a shrub out of its pot and shook it around while screaming, "MONEY!!!" If I knew my way around the digital video world better, I'd find it and share it with you. Maybe David will find it later.

And I do, really truly love Feist. In a platonic, music-appreciation sort of way, of course. She rocks.

sweet little box car

We got our wonderfully fabulous Scion xB back from the body shop yesterday. (It had a run in with a tree branch in August...plus two loooong cracks and two small cracks in the windshield that had accumulated over the past year and a half). Our rental car for the past two and a half weeks was a Dodge Magnum, which, while being cooler than a sedan, was still an evil car. If you didn't open the doors ALL the way, they would slam back into you. The second day we had the car I got my ear slammed by the door. And, while I got better at remembering, I got slammed in the back the day before we returned it. Hmph. Also, the windows are really high and the visibility is poor. But the thing does have a sweet, ginormous trunk. The thing looks like a hearse, and if you fold down the back seats, you can fit a coffin, or a long folding table in there, which we did. The table, not the coffin. I kept hoping I'd have a need to haul more stuff, but besides a couple of boxes of food storage, I didn't get to utilize it much. Anyways, good riddance!

So, last night driving home from getting a movie, David noticed that the car was really pulling to one side. Weird, we thought. The shop must have messed with the alignment. This morning, it was really bad, so half a block from our house we pulled over and tada! The tire was flat. It had a screw in it. We went down to Les Schwab Tires and happily they were able to plug the hole, and did so for free! Yippee!

Oh, and on the way to Les Schwab, we were in one of the turn lanes of a two lane turn, and got ran into the gutter by some unkempt guy in an SUV. We blared on the horn and narrowly missed getting smashed. That woke the guy up enough to get back into his lane, and then he got into the center lane and turned into a restaurant. Pretty good chance he was drunk. Luckily we all came away unscathed.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

clouds

I love clouds. And I love cloud-printed stuff. One day, when I was single and interning in D.C. and had recently been dumped by the guy I thought I was going to marry, I was hanging out behind the Smithsonian being introspective and depressed and all that, and I looked up and the sky was filled with the most amazing clouds. I can't remember exactly what they looked like, but it was one of those moments when you feel like God and the universe are mindful of you and, more than that, actually care about you.

This afternoon before I made dinner, I went outside and looked up and saw this:

It stretched from horizon to horizon. Pretty incredible.

Halloween




Here's the kiddos at our homeschool Halloween party yesterday. They had a blast, but Spud was none too keen on keeping his costume on. Unfortunately the nose-picking one is the best of the shots before he started taking his costume off angrily. Actually, there was one other moderately okay one, but honestly, the nose-picking is more representative of his true character lately!

The kids had fun trick-or-treating, but Spud was not nearly as into it as Noodle was at his age. He made it a couple of streets, then asked David to take him home. And he had to be accompanied up to every door. And from the first piece of candy from the first house, he was never without something in his hand (& mouth) to eat. When Noodle was 3, she finally "got it" and ran from door to door, scarcely caring if we were even without view. Maybe next year.

cats do the strangest things



Here's Minnie (the same cat who snuck behind the dresser drawer) in Clive's desk. She hung out there for a good 15 minutes. Go figure.

why I haven't been blogging...



I washed this mountain of laundry in one day last week. Whew! Folding it was quite a herculean effort on my part, but thankfully David helped out. Amazingly, this pile didn't sit around for a couple of days waiting to be folded, as clean clothes are wont to do around here.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

i've come to understand...

why many mamas get so into crafts, especially scrapbooking and/or card-making. So much of what we mothers do every day does not have quantifiable results. Or, even if it does, such as doing 8 loads of laundry, at the end of the day (provided you got the laundry folded and put away rather than stacked up on the furniture in the family room), you don't have anything to show for it. But if you are a scrapbooker, you can feel a sense of productivity at the end of a day in which you completed 8 pages. Those pages are a tangible, permanent reminder of the fact that YOU GET STUFF DONE, by golly, and aren't just sitting around eating bonbons. So, while I don't have any plans to take up scrapping or stamping, I think I have a teensy bit more understanding of the appeal. I do get similar validation from homeschooling Zion, though. I keep a diary of what we do each day, and it's nice to be able to add things to it and feel productive in this very important area!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

a rough patch...

Things were going smoothly in motherland until just the past few days -- Spud has been a SERIOUS menace! To the point where you wish you could send a two year old out to do some manual labor for 8 hours a day. I'm certain it is from his rather erratic sleeping lately, so hopefully by the end of the week we can have him back on track in that area. Now if only we make it that long.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

ICHTHOBERFEST '07

Last night we hosted our annual Ichthoberfest party (pronounced "ick tho ber fest"). It was, by all accounts, a roaring success. We had some new folks who didn't attend last year, as well as most of those who DID attend last year. We had much food, of course, as well as fish-shaped sugar cookies to decorate, foam fish cut-outs to decorate, a fishy pinata, a fish "pond," and karaoke. David prepared his super delicious grilled salmon, which there is never enough of (it's SOOO good!) and we've been craving ever since the party ended. Since the weather was cold and windy, we opted to set up in the garage instead. We actually made it look quite festive, and it was a good forced reason to vacuum and sweep down the garage, so now you don't stab yourself in the feet with corn cob litter from the rabbit's cage should you happen to venture out there barefoot. (Which I frequently do.) It was a whirlwind three hours, as most everyone was gone by 8:00 and we started at 5. And that was okay, because we packed a LOT of fun into those three hours, and since most of the attendees were parents of children, people wanted to get home for bedtimes and other important things. And David and I were pooped after a day of cleaning, decorating, and other preparations. Our smaller parties with significantly fewer people (held monthly) usually last until 11 or so.

On Friday I was grateful for the shop vacuum, which allowed me to suck up dirt, pebbles, and even a couple of plastic bags accidentally while I was cleaning the garage.

Saturday I was grateful for good friends and good food. Oh, and for the invention of karaoke. You should have seen & heard me belt out "I will survive." Bet you didn't know I had an inner diva!

Today I am grateful for relevant lessons at church. In Relief Society we talked about "The Women of the Church," and the excerpts from President Kimball's talks were fabulous. He really mastered the whole "we appreciate & value women's contributions" without putting women up on some silly pedestal or going into the fluffy crap about how women are naturally so much more spiritual & better than men.

'puter on the fritz

So some sort of weird power surge or something else killed my computer on Friday. Waaah! David has valiantly been trying to resuscitate it, but to no avail. He is getting it going with a spare hard drive, and we're going to see if the original hard drive is recoverable. Fortunately, my photos & music and such are on external hard drives, but I have my homeschool stuff, household stuff & old graduate school stuff on the main one. So, hopefully it's retrievable at some point!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

weirdness...

So I was just putting the kids' pants away in their dresser. I put Noodle's in her drawer, and then put Spud's in his drawer, which is the bottom one on the dresser. The drawer wouldn't close, and I tried a few times. Finally I figure some clothes must have fallen behind the drawer, so I pull it all the way out. I look down there, and see a black sweatshirt. I reach in to pull it out, and two eyes turn to look at me. It was Minnie! She calmly walked out and went on her merry way.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

gratitude attitude

Today I am grateful for our cat, Minnie, who although she does NOT like being picked up and held, frequently seeks David or I out for some lovin'. Today I was upstairs reading the 7 Habits and she hopped up on the bed beside me and snuggled with me for a while and demanded affection. I think I'm genetically wired to like furry things, as I've loved both toy and real animals my entire life. But there is something extra fabulous about a living creature of another species seeking out your company. I feel it is such a privilege to have the trust of these small creatures.

I'm also grateful for David and his pragmatic approach to life. Even when I get bothered because he doesn't get emotional like I do about certain things, I think deep down I'm still grateful that he can hopefully balance me out. We're a pretty good team, I think. I'm grateful for that.

And I'm also grateful that the same week my monitor decides to give up the ghost, my neighbor sent out an email about some old monitors they were getting rid of at work for only $15. And while it's not nearly as beautiful as my "lampshade" iMac, at least it works.

But I'm NOT grateful that the lifespan of an LCD screen is about 5 years. Which is how old my iMac is. I'm also not grateful that they don't repair them for less than a zillion dollars. Because I don't really like the new iMacs nearly as well.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

antidisestablishmentarianism

I remember as a kid this was the longest word in the English language, but I don't think it is anymore. The kids are watching the cartoon A Pup Named Scooby Doo and it was the featured word on a game show. I wonder what the longest word is now. Whatever it is, English words can't hold a candle to German words when it comes to general length. Germans just stick several words together. I can't find my German-English dictionary, but here are a few words quickly chose out of a German textbook Vocabulary list:

die Gewerkschaftssekretaerin - union secretary
die Riesenschlange - python
die Nierenentzuendung - kidney infection
der Jugendherbergsausweis - owner/manager of a youth hostel
das Lebensmittelgeschaeft - grocery store
die Kopfschmnerztablette - headache pill
die Unterrichtsveranstaltung - organizing of a class
die Stirnhehlenentzuendung - frontal sinus infection
die Muskelschmerzen - muscle pain
das Meinungsforschungsinstitut - opinion research institute

I guess that's enough. So rather than have word phrases, Germans just make looong words. Which is pretty cool, considering when saying the words you also have to have a plenteous supply of phlegm.

But in all honesty, I love the German language. In high school I purposefully chose it rather than French or Spanish because French was too romantic and Spanish was too common. It served me well, as I got a two week, all expenses paid trip around Germany when I was 16, and then did a semester abroad in Austria when I was 20. I also got to be a student secretary in the Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages for nearly 3 years. Though now I'd like to learn Spanish because it is so useful, and French because it's fun to say only half the letters when you pronounce words.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

from the mind of Spud

Today he & I were eating lunch together at the table:


Spud: "Say 'Why are there faiwies [fairies] fwapping awound?'" (Referring to Noodle & their cousins upstairs.)

Me: "Why are there fairies flapping around?"

Spud: "The faiwies are fwapping awound because they WANT to!"


Then, he stabs a piece of his veggie sausage and points to it and asks, "What is in here, in the sausage?"

Me, not sure what to say: "Um, yummyness?"

Spud, apparently satisfied: "Oh."

highly effective me

For our homeschoolling parents study group we are reading Stephen R. Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This book is a classic example of my tendency to dismiss and/or ridicule things that are embraced by the masses, because, as we all know, "The masses are asses." And I think I've always been put off by the term "effective." What does it mean to be an effective person? And why would I want to be one? I can say that now that I'm about 1/3 through the book, being an effective person sounds pretty good. I know that I would really like to be an effective mother, with all that being such entails. The book focuses on what is necessary to develop true character in order to have success and happiness in life, and contrasts this character to just having a "winning personality." So, while a lot of the book has been excerpted over the years into soundbites and inspirational quotations, I'm finding much of merit in the text. So, I guess I'll have to eat my words. But hopefully I can do so in a highly effective manner.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Weekend Update

We spent the weekend in SLC with David's family. Joe (my FIL) rented a couple of suites downtown for Saturday night, so we spent the afternoon Saturday there, the boys all attended Priesthood meeting together, and we watched the other sessions from the room. Overall it was fun & relaxing, though I must admit I was disappointed that everyone spent the evening watching various TVs (there were 3 in each suite). I guess we should have brought some games or something, but I don't know t hat it would have done any good. I like TV well enough, but it seemed silly to arrange for us all to be together, then to divide up and watch various shows that you can watch any time. So I took the dog on a walk, went to the store and then went for a drive, then went to sleep. I did have some nice chats with my MIL, though, and it was good to see Tina for a bit. She seems to be enjoying college and keeping her grades up, so good for her.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

hooray for hand-me-downs!

So all week I've been thinking, "I need to get Spud some more long pants & winter clothes." Today I was thinking it again, then remembered that I should still have a box of 4/5 clothes somewhere. I pulled it out and was delighted to see loads of cute shirts (mostly long-sleeved) and several pairs of pants. Most were given to me during Spud's first year, so they've been stored for a while, but since he's such a big guy who grows like a weed, we didn't have to wait too long to use them. So I sent the friends who gave us their little boys' hand-me-downs a thank you again. Especially as I'm really trying to be wise with our money now, and sometimes it's easier if you don't have to go shopping to look for things. If I don't go in the stores (or shop online), it's that much less likely that I'll spend money!

Now if I could just get some girls' hand-me-downs, size 6x/7.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

smash!

Today for our homeschool field trip we went to a metal recycling facility. They recycle copper, steel & aluminum. We got to observe big machines doing cool stuff. By far the coolest was the giant pincher that could lift cars up, carry them over to a "poker" to puncture the gas tanks, then set them down and proceed to SMASH them flat using the "head" that weighs 14,000 lbs! The giant claw was also very cool, and according to the claw operator, much easier to use than the claws in those toy machines. His claw actually holds onto things. Sidenote: My father-in-law has pretty amazing toy claw machine skills, though. He frequently wins miscellaneous junk for the kids, some of which we've actually kept around. By far the worst, though, was a Gene Simmons doll. We kept it aroun d for a little while because David got a kick out of it, but finally I said no more, and banished the plush demon.

Monday, October 01, 2007

i'm not even a gamer,

but I love this t-shirt logo:

off to a good start

Hello October!! Well, since I'm FINALLY over my various illnesses, I decided that the first day of October seemed like a good day to get back on track. Already this morning I've exercised & read my scriptures. Yippee! And my goal for the week is to get my office and my bedroom closet in order, as well as to plan out how much food storage we need. And to get my weekly schedule revised. Hmmm... I'd better get busy!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

scenes from the week

Did you know that I make fabulous chocolate chip cookies? Well, I do. I can't take any credit for the recipe (that credit goes to Neiman Marcus), but I do take full credit for my perfect execution of the recipe, and I think that counts for a lot.

Here are yesterday's bites of heaven:


Earlier this week we finally released our hostage praying mantis back to his native habitat. Mantids are just so cool that you can't resist holding onto them for a couple of days. He did gut a grasshopper while in our captivity, which was interesting but kind of gross. We felt like it was cruel to keep him without giving him any food, but I think the hopper was much larger than what would normally be his prey. We'll have to do some more research next time.


Noodle has been a real crafter lately. This morning she made a set of stick puppets out of cardboard cereal boxes, and yesterday she constructed a small cardboard car for Spud. I knew those cereal boxes I'd been saving would come in handy! She is quite ingenious with her creations, and additional benefits are that it keeps her busy for quite some time, and she's really improving with her scissor skills. She does so much art on her own, I'm grateful that homeschooling gives her the time to do what she wants, and that doing "forced art" won't kill the joy she finds in it.

We tend a little girl 2x/week, and the kids really enjoy the diversion and having a built-in playmate. Noodle likes it because she gets to come up with more activities for MORE kids. I think she is a born event coordinator! On a walk this week, I took my camera along for fun.

And here's one of Spud, just being his cute self. Poor little guy has a cold now, so I'm hoping he'll pass through it soon.