Great Hair

Russell has a little hair fetish. He loves hair. He's usually not too picky about who's hair he touches, grabs, strokes but he typically will resort to his when he can't get mine. He's always trying to grab at my hair. When I'm trying to buckle him into the car he'll grab a strand of my hair and start stroking it. In this heat I don't want anyone touching anything - especially my hair. I worry if I chop my hair (like I've been wanting too for months) that Russell will freak out.

Russell with his tamed trusses. Also showing off squash we grew in our garden.

I should further explain that Russell will play with his hair as a means of soothing himself. He's done this for as long as he's had hair. This has created some pretty great hair styles when he wakes up from naps. I wish I had taken a picture every time he was sporting one of his self-designed dos. I would hate to think how he would react if we cut his hair!Lovin' the hair Russy. Just lovin' it!

Just for clarification because Clark thought I did something to Russell's hair. This is how Russell looked when he woke up. He's his own stylist.

Sick Day?

I got nailed by a pretty bad infection this week that had me essentially bed-ridden all day Wednesday. Clark sweetly took the morning off work. Mostly he was worried about the safety and well-being of our children. Hey, when I'm so weak it's hard for me to even stand I'm a little worried about my ability to hold my 17+ lb baby let alone care for anyone else.

So after Clark took Jaron to swimming and got my antibiotic I was left on my own to fend for myself and care for three kids. I mastered the ability to tend my kids while I laid on the floor and hoped that no one would need anything, touch me or even breath on me. They did quite well for afternoon. I pretty much crashed in bed that night at 8:30 after getting the kids to bed and was still feeling pretty lethargic yesterday. Today my house is trashed.

Everywhere I look there is a mess. Piles of dirty clothes in the laundry room, Eliza's room, the boys room, our bathroom. (Very atypical of me!) Leftover painting stuff in our room and the laundry room from the week-long paint-our-room project; not to mention putting the rest of the blinds back together and pulling tape off. Dishes, crumbs, sticky table - need I say more about my kitchen? Toys and lots of little toy frogs everywhere you turn in our house. Oh, and did I mention the missionaries are coming over for dinner tonight? I would keep listing things but it's getting depressing.

So as a mom and a woman do I ever really get a sick day? Sure, I can be sick but then I'm really going to be sick and tired when I see everything that's needs to be taken care of.

I ignored it today and went shopping for the morning (although not a real treat when you have to drive nearly an hour one way for decent shopping and take 3 little kids). And I'm ignoring it for the afternoon and blogging.

I think I'm gonna be sick tomorrow.

Hand-Me Down Snob: Part II

Russell has always carried a fascination for Jaron's underwear and would regularly swipe it when given the opportunity. He obviously wouldn't mind the hand-me down underwear.

Don't worry, it was just washed.
(These were taken when Russell was 8 months old.)

Hand-Me Down Snob

Clark and I have learned a few economizing tricks after living on a student income for eight years. We especially learned how to pinch pennies when it came to purchasing kids clothing. I love to shop garage sales, off season, clearance, and consignment. They aren't always the most stylishly dress but hey, at least they are wearing clothes.We were pretty happy when Russell came along only two years behind Jaron. That meant we then could do hand-me down clothes therefore avoiding another wardrobe for another child.

Clark is always good natured as I delightfully show off my finds and explain my deals. Maybe his eyes only glaze over a few times. I must confess though, I lately had one of my largest splurges. A 20-something dollar dress for Eliza. I've justified it however by only purchasing one dress for her to wear this summer. She'll just wear it every week and therefore I'll maximize my enjoyment out of seeing her wear it.

I've always been the one responsible for the clothes in our house. (Buying, organizing, cleaning.) However, I was reminded tonight of one law Clark has laid down when it comes to clothes. See, I was at a woman's house who was selling a lot of her sons clothing. Including some pretty cool car underwear. It really was tempting to buy. I know that my boys would love it and I'm not one to buy "cool" underwear. It's the cheapo white stuff for my kids. Anyway, I knew I would have been wasting my money because Clark won't allow any hand-me down underwear. I'm not even allowed to give Russell Jaron's old underwear. That's where Clark puts down his foot at being cheap. He's a little bit of a snob in that regard. I guess he is saving Russell from this one indignity in life.

Life is Beautiful

On Thursday, June 25 Clark's grandmother, Afton Miller died. The evening of her death I was outside my parents' home enjoying the beautiful weather with my three children. The boys were happily tooling around on their big wheels/riding toys. Eliza for the first time was discovering what the needles of a pine tree felt like. Of course, she was fascinated. Even if it poked her a little or made her fingers feel slightly tacky. Jaron and Russell had discovered an ant hill and were trying to figure out ways of capturing an ant. Or at least figure out how to look deeper into their home.

Russell trying to catch the sunlight streaming through the window.

Around that same time, 1,300 miles away, Grandma Miller was leaving the Mt. Timpanogos temple on her way home. In a bittersweet act of God she was killed in a car accident by an unfortunate mistake of another driver. She was practically "twinkled" as Clark's other Grandmother affectionately termed it. Her life on this earth quickly slipped away as I watched my children discover their world.

I have wept over this juxtaposition. I wish for a small moment of time our separate "worlds" could have merged for my children to meet and know this wonderful, amazing, adventurous woman. She said to me on several occasions, as she chuckled on the quirkiness of little children, "I really would like to know what they are like when they grow up. I'm sad that I'm not going to be around when it happens." I hope someday my children will come to realize the influence and effect that she had on their life. As well as their other grandparents and great-grandparents.

Jaron throwing rocks into a stream in Hot Springs National Park.

I would like to know what she was thinking that day. I would like to know what she pondered as she sat in the Celestial room of the temple that day. Did she realize how close she really was to going home and being reunited to her husband? Did she realize that she was perhaps making the best preparation possible that day for what was about to occur?

Eliza, about 6 weeks ago, discovering the feel of a rose.

Life is beautiful.

There are miracles everywhere we turn. I'm realizing more and more each day that we need to stand back and take in and treasure these moments and experiences.

We'll miss you Grandma Miller.

Breathing Room

We arrived home late last night after a wonderful trip to visit my parents in Minnesota. It was a nice two-week break from the monotony of routine. We immensely enjoyed escaping the heat and humidity of Oklahoma to soak in the beautiful weather, flowers, trees, soft grass and landscape of Minnesota.

I loved that the nights got cool enough for me to snuggle under the covers at night. A little about my quirky sleep habits: I'm not much of a heat person. I don't like being warm at night. I sleep best when my room is on the verge of being freezing. (I'm not sure how Clark puts up with it!) I love using a quilt all-year round. I hate just using a sheet or no cover at all. I love the feel of my quilt pulled up to my face. I probably drive my kids crazy because when I go to check up on them at night I like to pull the covers up to their faces.

The boys enjoyed playing, playing, playing. Outside, inside, in the water, in the sandbox, on the swing seat, on their riding toys, upstairs, downstairs and especially with Uncle TJ. Wow, does he have the best talent in entertaining two little boys for a good 20 minutes by just sitting in a chair and just periodically poking them. These little boys would just giggle, giggle, giggle. I wish I had the knack to do that. Eliza just enjoyed rolling, inching, and "eating" everything within arm distance. Oh, and smiling at whoever she could catch their eye.

We stayed busy (but never managed to take too many pictures). Visits with family, friends, to two different zoos, the Children's Museum, lakes for swimming or just throwing rocks, parks, walks, a train museum, garage sales, trips to the airport, shopping!, strawberry picking, cookie making, going out to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa, story time and just plain enjoying being in Minnesota. I had a long list of things I wanted to do and still didn't manage to accomplish it all.

Clark was pretty grateful that he got me to come home after two weeks. He was worried I might stay. I though about it . . .

All in all it was just a great time to just well, think. Sometimes I get caught up in what is or isn't going on in my life. Or what is or isn't happening how I want it to. For two weeks I felt like I had room to breathe. To remember I am who I am. I've been immensley blessed. Those blessings come by in large from the experiences I've had, the people I've met and the places I've lived. I feel like I'm ready to dive back into life. But I wouldn't complain if I could go to Minnesota again soon.