Hill Aerospace Museum, and first day of nursery

On Saturday we went down to Hill Aerospace Museum for the open cockpit day. They were also having a chili cook-off and car show, and one of Jeff's friends had entered the chili cook-off. Anyway, the planes were really neat. Michael loved climbing the steps to look inside (although he pretty much counted the seats, announced how many there were, and them climbed back down). Jeff enjoyed the chili. Other than a chili contestant dressed as a freaky monster/monkey/martial arts something, who terrorized Michael every time he came anywhere within sight, it was a good day.

The two cool kids, ready to go:There was an older man there who had built this little plane. He was letting the kids sit in it and push each other around. Here's Michael pushing Faith:
And some kid I don't know, pushing Michael around:Yesterday was Faith's first day of nursery. Here she is in her cute dress that she totally destroyed during the course of church:
Her dress had these layers of ruffles at the bottom. They alternate, one layer of fabric, one layer of sheer stuff. Last time she wore this dress, she ripped the bottom layer of sheer stuff to shreds, so I cut it off (making the dress one ruffle shorter). This was only the second time she had worn the dress, and she managed to rip the bottom layer of sheer stuff again. So we threw the dress away. It was already getting too short, and I just couldn't justify cutting off two more layers of ruffles.

Anyway, she was a champ in nursery. I brought her in there and found her a toy, and when the leader came, I left. I went back after Relief Society and peeked in, and she was sitting at the table with the other kids, just hanging out eating her snack. When I picked her up after Sunday School, the leader told me that she had whined just a little bit when I first left, but she didn't cry at all. I wasn't worried about her. She's pretty independent. It was really nice to attend my other classes without any kids.

Thankful Thursday

1. A night out with Jeff - with no kids! We went to see a move (The Proposal) for my birthday, and it was so nice to have a couple of hours without worrying about taking care of the kids.

2. Jeff's parents, for being willing to take the kids so that we could have the night out.

3. A savings account! We have been out of credit card debt for a couple of months now, and it has been nice to put money into savings and see it grow, and to know that if some emergency happens, we have at least a little bit set aside.

4. A little boy who is excited to go to school each day, but still excited to come home and see me.

5. A little girl who is learning so much every day. She is so independent and feisty, but it is so fun to see her personality develop.

random...

Today was Michael's first day back to school. He has one more year of pre-school before he starts kindergarten. This year, we're doing pre-school four days a week instead of two. He is SOOOOO excited. Here he is on his first day:
And here is the big bus he rides. He loves riding the bus.
Faith is learning the parts of her body. She now knows most of her facial features. Here she is showing us her tongue:Her favorite part is still her belly.
Yesterday I killed the biggest spider I've ever seen in my house. In my basement. I was totally freaked out when I saw it running across the floor. I hit it with a puzzle box, but it was still moving. So I hit it again. Then I picked it up with a LARGE wad of toilet paper and threw it in the toilet. Well guess what. The biggest spider I've ever seen wasn't dead. It started moving around and SWIMMING. I totally freaked out (again) and flushed the toilet. And you know what? It didn't go down! BAH!!! So I'm standing there flushing the toilet over and over until it didn't come back. Spiders don't really frighten me. But seriously, the only place I've ever seen a bigger spider was at THE ZOO!! It has made me re-think my plan to move our bedroom into the basement if we don't sell our house.

Jeff and I have finally agreed on a name for this new baby: Lauren Ann Sabin. Jeff's middle name is Loren, and mine is Ann, so we combined them. We both prefer the more feminine spelling of Lauren. We still have four months to go, but unless we find something that we both totally love more, her name will be Lauren.

Last month I did another wedding cake. It was for a friend of my cousin Amanda. They had a western theme, and wanted pink and green horseshoes on their cake. This was how it turned out:
They had a topper, and some flowers to put between the tiers, but they added those things after I delivered the cake. So I don't know how the final product turned out.

24 weeks

It's official, little un-named girl in my belly. You are now legally a "viable fetus." Did you know that if you had decided to come yesterday, the doctors would do nothing for you? But because that miracle hour of midnight has passed - and because some disinterested lawmakers in Salt Lake determined it - if you were to come today, they would do everything possible to help you. Such a small milestone, but so huge in my mind. Not that you'll be coming anytime soon. No, I get four more months of feeling you move around and watching my belly (and hemorrhoids, and arms, and butt) grow larger and larger. Aah, the joys. But I wouldn't trade it. You've actually been pretty nice to me, little girl. Aside from the frequent and horrible headaches, it's been relatively easy to carry you around. Sure, I'm starting to get the swelling and bruised feeling between my legs, but you've been kind enough to let me wait until now. Tori only let me have four months of pain-free walking, and Faith gave me less than three months. Michael let me have almost eight months, but you'll soon learn that Michael does everything on his own timetable. Everything.

So anyway, welcome to the age of viability!

Someone teach that boy about modesty!

I had one of those embarrassing mom moments this weekend. We were at Bear Lake, and the bathroom was really far away. Michael said he needed to go potty. He had been previously taught by someone (Dad, I'm pretty sure that's YOU), that he could pee in the lake. So I told him to go in the lake. (Okay, so some of you are grossed out. Fish pee in there. Did you know that? And so do most kids, I'm thinking, and probably plenty of adults.) I mostly just didn't want to walk forever through sand to get to a stinky port-a-potty with a kid who was sure he needed to go RIGHT NOW!!! Anyway, the next thing I know, I'm looking at his little white bum with his swim trunks around his knees, standing at the edge of the water, doing his business. I yelled, "Michael!" And he turned around and said (with a hurt expression), "You said go potty in the lake!" He then ran back to me, with his shorts still around his knees. I was laughing so hard I couldn't even be mortified like a proper mother.

So the following day, we were at the lake again. He said he needed to go potty. I had talked to him and explained that in order to go potty in the lake, he needed to get his bum in the water. He could either sit down in the water or wade out far enough. He was NOT to pull his shorts down. He waded out pretty far. He kept looking down at his shorts to see if they were wet yet. When he got to where the water was about to the bottom of his bum, he pulled down the front of his trunks, got himself out, and did his thing.

HELP ME!!!!!

This Last Week

Things I did:

1. Went to Delta for a couple of days with the kids.
2. Went camping with my family for a couple of days up Ephraim canyon.
3. Froze to death the first night, did much better the second night.
4. Finished the last of eight loads of laundry from said camping trip (and a few that were left at home).
5. Totally collapsed from exhaustion today. Hopefully, no one comes to see the house tonight, because it's a mess.
   

Things that I learned:

1. When I'm not home, Jeff can't go to sleep in our bed. So he sleeps on the couch.
2. Everyone thinks they can parent better than the parent, until they become a parent. Then some of them still think they can parent your child better than you can.
3. I have the best parents. Ever. (Actually, I already knew this. But I was reminded of it on more than one occasion.)
4. Faith has no problem being filthy, filthy dirty.
   

Things that frustrated me:

1. Someone getting angry at Michael for doing something I told him was okay to do.
2. My sleeping bags getting soaked by the neighbor's sprinklers when they were hanging on my clothesline.
   

Things that made me laugh:

1. Faith with a forkful of mandarin oranges, not putting it in her mouth until she opened her mouth as wide as it could possibly go. In fact, she stopped the fork just in front of her mouth to adjust her mouth even wider.
2. Keely's grins and Averie's expressions.
3. Michael telling me he wanted Daddy to be here "right now." When I said Daddy was coming as soon as he could, Michael told me that Daddy had to be here "before I sneeze." When I asked what would happen when he sneezed, he said, "I'll go 'A-choo!'"
4. Learning about a new medical condition: Stendhal Syndrome - a rare condition that causes erratic behavior when a person is exposed to artwork. HUH? No really, it's a real condition.
5. Jeff helping Faith walk on her hands in the dirt. She LOVED to be upside-down.
6. Michael telling me, "I didn't like the red four-wheeler. Then I rode on it, and now I like it!"
   

It's a pretty good week when there are more things that make you laugh than those that frustrate you.

Smarty pants

This is kind of a long video, but I love it. Michael is so smart. He has most of his books practically memorized. Sometimes he reads them to Faith, and sometimes (as in this case), he reads them to himself. Sorry about the fuzzy section - Faith was trying to get the camera.