Late Night Lessons

She was in bed, and supposedly sleeping, but from down the steps I heard,

“Mom, what is this?”
“What is what, Sis?”
“This. Come see.”

She was pointing to the bones on either side of her ankle.

“I don’t know, sweetie. We’ll ask Dad in the morning, okay?”

I went back downstairs but soon heard little feet on the steps.

“Daddy? Daddy? What is this called?” Again, she pointed to her ankles.

Chad ably replied, “Those bones are your medial and lateral malleolus, honey,” and he pulled her up on his lap while working on the computer. Now she started pointing at him.

“What is this?”
“My clavicle.”
“What is this?”
“My mandible”
“What’s this?”
“It’s time for bed.”

Daddy carried her back to bed, tucked her in “like a taco,” and headed for his own covers. A while later I went upstairs, too, and to my surprise, found Miss Question cuddled in my bed, next to a sleepy-eyed Daddy, still asking body part questions.

“What’s this?”
“Zygoma”
“And this?”
“Thyroid Cartilage”
“What’s this one, Daddy?”

I interrupted the anatomy lesson to say, “Wow, honey. You really like to learn about the body. Are you going to be a doctor when you grow up?”

Then, she gave me “the look” --- so typical of my girl; a look of disgust, disbelief and sheer growl! And, she said, exasperated, “No, Mom! I’m. Going. To. Be. An. ASTRONAUT!

Oh. Sorry.

Thank You to My FABULOUS Neighbors!

This is the snow that God sent:

swirling and whirling
falling and flying
down to the ground at my house.

This is the driveway, long and wide, that caught the snow floating out of the sky;

swirling and whirling
falling and flying
down to the ground at my house.

This is the drift, 6 feet deep, made by the snow plow that pushed the heap;

blocking the driveway, long and wide
that caught the snow floating out of the sky;
swirling and whirling
falling and flying
down to the ground at my house.

This is the shovel, lowly and small, put to the task of clearing it all:
the monstrous drift, 6 feet deep,
made by the snow plow that pushed the heap
blocking the driveway, long and wide
that caught the snow floating out of the sky;
swirling and whirling
falling and flying
down to the ground at my house.

I am the mommy, cold and wet, plowing and digging, but not done yet;
wielding the shovel, lowly and small, put to the task of clearing it all.
Oh, look at that drift, 6 feet deep, made by the snow plow pushing the heap.
It’s blocking the driveway, long and wide
that caught the snow floating out of the sky;
swirling and whirling
falling and flying
down to the ground at my house.

BUT, I have GREAT neighbors, good and true, bringing shovels and blowers to my rescue.
We worked, we three, and together made light
of the craziest, snowiest storm in sight,
as we wielded our shovels, lowly and small
clearing and pushing, but smiling through all.
Many hands do light work make.
Thanks for your help…you take the cake!

Thanks so much, Rachael and Amy!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Favorites

favorite activity

getting the mail

favorite production

I love my little play actors

favorite surprise

thanks, Sweetie!

Do you Believe?

I believe in Santa. To find out why, check out my post at Segullah.

Atta Girl!

I have this fun sister-in-law who is the epitome of "girl power." (Yes, Ree...talking about you!) Maybe her independence stems from being in the middle of an 8-kid family or maybe it comes from living on her own as a single young adult. Whatever it is, I'm impressed with her determination to do anything she wants to do.

I remember one night at my mother-in-law's home: someone needed a mattress moved from the basement up the steep stairs and out to a waiting truck. I'm not sure where everyone was, but M. said to our niece (who was probably 10), "Come on! We can to it! Who needs the men anyway?" Sure enough, the two of them pushed and pulled and managed to get that thing up the steps. I was watching them and thinking "I do! I need the men! Who wants to do this kind of thing when the men are available?"

I used to be more independent, more capable (at least more mentally able), of doing hard labor. Then, I got married and quite enjoyed the luxury of always having someone around to open jars, reach high shelves and do all the lifting.

One day last month I watched the weather report on the news and noted that the last warm day was upon us. I didn't yet have Christmas lights on my house. I really, really, really wanted lights. It was a Saturday, and Chad had patients all day. The snow was expected to fly on Monday. I couldn’t bear the idea of making Chad risk his life on the slickery roof just for lights. “I can do this,” I thought, “How hard can it be?”

So, after a few trips to the hardware store for more supplies and an afternoon spent up on the roof measuring and reworking the lights to get them to fit just right, our house was officially ‘decked.’ (Okay, the 'expert at home projects' DID have to help with one small part when he got home from work, but even he'll tell you that I did the lights.) As I climbed off the roof, I thought, "M. would be so proud!"

It was pretty funny that several ward members drove by, waved to me on the roof, and left looking confused. I hope Chad didn’t feel like I ousted him from his manly decorating duties. Actually, it was kind of fun. I had faced the fear of roof walking and recovered a bit of my premarital independence.

I think Chad was kind of proud of me, too.

Oh, Come Let Us Adore Him!

I just love the way my girl sets up her Nativity.