Sunday Night Forts

The girls had a grand old time playing school and building huge forts all over the house.  I was dreading the mess but they were playing so nicely I let it be.

I can remember playing big games with my sisters (Do you remember Hole?!- where we would go to wonka land and the book that we would pretend to tear pages out that would turn into food- or am I making this up?).  I am sure we made a mess or two.

I'm Back Again

I decided to change the title of my blog.  I have been thinking a lot about the small and simple things in my life.  Right now I am at a stage where my days are filled with small things.  Cleaning up breakfast, laughing with Katie, putting coats on, practicing piano, trying to get to bed on time (for all of us).  I wanted to start sharing the small and simple parts of my life because they bring me a lot of joy and someday I hope they will add up to a great thing. 

This week Paul got sick.  Although I felt badly for him (I really did!), I was a little happy that I got to go for my favorite run after the kids headed to school.

I call it Blue Silo Run.  Because I run past the blue silos.  It was beautiful. 

Still Missing You

This week I have been searching for words.  A poem, a hymn, a scripture that would express my grief on the second anniversary of Allison's death.  And I have found that there are no words. 

So I would like to share two memories.  These are not big events- just small images in my mind.

The first memory is visiting Allison as a baby in the hospital.  She was the sweetest little baby and I was amazed by her beautiful color.  I will always remember holding and loving our little china doll.

The next memory is a short visit Allison's family made a month or so before her death.  I was waiting- excited for a family visit- and so when the doorbell rang I was right at the door.  Allison walked in first and said "Hello, Aunt Becky."  I can remember how tall she looked and the sound of her voice. 

I know that someday I will be able to see Allison again and I look forward to hearing her say "Hello, Aunt Becky." 

But for now there are no words.

Ode to the new IKEA plate

Oh new IKEA plate
I do love you

Your untippyness
       the rice stays on
       the shredded cheese stays on
       the syrup stays on (unless you are sitting almost sideways on a stack of piano books- don't ask because I don't want to talk about it)

Your six bright colors

Your $1.99 price because I can totally justify retiring all the old plates- who am I kidding- most of the old plates are in the sandbox

Just like your cousin the oval IKEA plate, you will shortly take over the world (see last month's Ensign for evidence)

Your round shape because somehow the food fits better

And in a pinch I think you could be used as a Frisbee

FHE isn't fun without you

Does anyone love auto correct?  I actually greatly dislike it (we don't use the H word in our home).  It takes over and if you don't watch closely it sabotages simple messages. 

However, tonight I sent Paul (working in Portland for a few days) a quick note to say we missed him at FHE tonight.  Right before I sent the message, I saw what auto correct had done for me:

Me: Ghetto isn't fun without you.

And for once auto correct was right. 


PS the donuts were our fhe treat and were the only non ghetto part of our night.

One step forward, a thousand steps back

First of all, I need to apologize if you have talked to me in the last 3.5 weeks.  I have undoubtedly thrilled you with the blow by blow account of how potty training was going for the day.  Which is riveting conversation, I know. 

25 days ago we started potty training Nathan for the millionth time.  I would say that he had the system down in January with the small problem that he does not take himself to the bathroom.  We didn't sweat it too much and tried again after we ran out of the next box of diapers and the next box of diapers and the next.  OK so the box of diapers in August was the last and we decided that we would keep going no matter what. 

The picture above shows Nathan's potty sticker charts.  We are making progress but here is the clincher.  He has never taken himself to the bathroom once.  Which means that for every sticker, I remind him or physically walk him to the bathroom so that he will go.  If I don't remind him it is like he has never seen a toilet if you catch my drift.  Without warning he will go the bathroom.  Even if he is sitting on my lap in the middle of Sacrament meeting and has gone 20 minutes before.  Sigh. 

And now I have dedicated a whole blog post to potty training.  But it is rather on my mind. 

Because it was easy and looks Awesome

I made this simple cake for Paul's Birthday this year (hello, old man;-)  Do you remember when the cake mix companies made an orange flavor cake?  It was my favorite flavor when I was little and one day during a random discussion I discovered it was Paul's favorite flavor too!  We both are quite a bit sad that it has been years since you could buy an orange cake.  Then I decided to use my little gray cells (Poirot on the brain) and added orange extract to a yellow cake.  Hello orange cake.  I loved this birthday cake because it took me .4 seconds to make and looked pretty awesome if I do say so myself!