april showers

I took pictures of my sister-in-law Anita and her prom date tonight. It was fun and we got some good shots, even though we had to shoot inside and I was really looking forward to an outside session. Oh well. I felt the need to document the "beautiful weather," though, and I am glad I did (even though it was a bit of an ordeal to hold my camera, my camera bag, my step stool, my umbrella, and my collapsed photo umbrella. Maybe that's why I liked the shots so much, it was quite an effort to get them.

kids

Family

So this is my family. We are missing a niece and a nephew, but for some unknown reason there are an extra guy (about my missing nephew's age) and some random girl (about my niece's age). I'm really not sure why they joined the picture. So the number is right even if the faces aren't!

It was pretty cool, though, as it is the most of us we've had together in a LOOONG time. We had Leif's blessing at church in the morning and then my nephew Spencer's mission farewell after that. My nephew Jason just got back from his mission (to Philadelphia) in February, my brother Eric's family just moved back to Idaho from Belgium in March, and Spencer went in to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) today (he'll be going to southern France) and another nephew and possibly a niece will be heading out on missions this summer, so we won't all be together again for at least two years.

itching to blog

I've been doing lots and lots of thinking lately...the kind where you realize you've been mistaken about some things for a long time, and you kind of feel like perhaps now you are ready to see the world through a slightly less smudgy window, but you're afraid that the new found illumination isn't going to last. (Okay, maybe that's just me.) Lots of thinking. But I've also been doing lots of working. I don't think I've told you that I've worked 30 hours every week since the first of the year. Yup, that includes the week that began the day after Sprout's arrival. There has been tasks available to do, so I've done them. It's been intense. I like to think that I'm developing self-discipline, and that when I no longer have this job I'll be able to put those 30 hours to good, productive use in other ways. I hope so.

Anyways, I digress. I really feel like sharing some of my thoughts as a way to help myself sort through them, but I just haven't found the time. I hope to find it soon enough, but with my sister and her family coming up later this week (yay!) I'm not sure how soon it will actually happen.

I seem to have missed the "obligatory" Easter post, but we had a very fun day. During the preceding week we read about the last week of Christ's life every morning as part of our devotional, and that was really neat. I think the kids even got something out of it, and I know I did. If I had my druthers, I'd move all the "egg/bunny stuff" (which I think is great fun) to the Vernal Equinox and have a big ol' pagan-inspired party and then save Easter for more spiritually enlightening activities. Unfortunately, David's dad is not so keen on the idea, and they are the ones who head up the family Egg Hunt each year. Oh well.

10 weeks old

Looking like a baby Clark Kent.

doggy drama

As if three kids don't create enough drama...

So my little fluffhound, Daisy, finally got over her grudge against me this week. Details: We got Daisy at about age 2.5, and from the beginning she was SUPER playful. Always delighted to play fetch with her plush squeaky toys or tug with her rope. It was one of my favorite things about her. Due to working a lot of hours and then Sprout's arrival, she wasn't getting played with nearly enough. About 3 weeks ago I started feeling up to "things" enough again and wanted to get back in the habit of playing with her. She would have NOTHING to do with it. In fact, she just gave me these looks of "I have no idea what you are doing," when I'd squeak or toss her toys. I have to admit I was worried and disappointed. What if I'd "broken" my dog? I tried every few days with no success. Then last Friday we had some friends over and she got really excited. She kind of forgot herself in all the excitement and ran to bring me one of her toys. I thought, "YAY!" and threw the toy. Nothing. It did seem like a baby step, though, so I was hopeful. A couple of days ago she played the game of "run around like a crazy fluffy demon" and then after that she ran off to find a toy, and we played fetch again. Today we had another great game of upstairs-hall fetch, so I think she might be back to her old, playful self again. And it makes me really happy.

And now a story about Rudy. He was having his crate time today (he doesn't "chill" very well, so he spends a fair amount of time in his crate so he can have some relaxed time) and we suddenly hear some "yowp yowp yowp" sounds. He whines on occasion when he wants out, but this sounded like pain. It stopped and Spud checked on him and saw nothing wrong. Then a minute later it started up again, and didn't stop. I ran over and opened his crate and he hobbled out, dangling his left front paw and yowping like he was about to die. I couldn't figure out what he could have done to it, but I took him outside for his potty break and he was still not putting weight on it. He stopped the crying, and after a couple of minutes gingerly put some weight on his foot. I think his foot fell asleep and it freaked him out, which is kind of funny once you get past feeling sorry for the doofus. :o)

i like this

2 months old!

I think one of the craziest things about having a baby is the effect it has on your perception of time. Babies grow so quickly and learn so much that two months is pretty notable. By the time they are two, though, two months doesn't mean quite as much. And when they are five or six, any change is almost imperceptible.