i'm probably a bad person

because i see lots of grasshoppers lately. lots. they have become first-rate pests (what good are ya, seagulls? state bird, shmate shmird), and i try to squash them with the wheels of my bike or jogging stroller, whichever i happen to be manipulating at the time.

that's not all, though. today i saw one kind of struggling in the crack of a sidewalk and i should've swerved to kill it and put it out of its misery but i saw it too late and to backtrack and do that would've taken more energy than my aging body could muster at the moment, and i jogged glibly by.

yes, glibly.


so, there you have it. i guess i'm a bad person -- and probably an even greater degree of "bad person" than the simple grasshopper-hater i've described because i don't feel guilty. i feel free and, well, downright glib.

that's a funny word. and this is a funny post. but the really-not-funny sort of funny.

miscellaneous good life

Addie's being particularly cute and funny lately. Paul and I are pretty sure she's the goofiest little kid we've ever met. She loves experimenting with silly faces and, although she talks much less than our other two kids at this age (translation: she doesn't talk at all), she "tells" jokes with her facial expressions that leave us all giggling, which in turn makes her bust up laughing, then she'll make a new face to try to make us laugh more, which usually works...it's a wonderful cycle.

She loves playing with Carson & Layla, especially with toys that "do" something (light up, make noise, etc.). The older two call her Booster and Tank (thanks to Paul for teaching them my brothers' pet name for me when I was a baby, which C&L LOVE and decided to bestow it upon their sister), and we hear lots of deliciously happy shrieks and laughter when the three of them play.

Sadly for babysitters, she's not as fun-loving and silly when mom & dad aren't around...in fact, she's downright ornery. Dah well. She'll grow out of that. But in the meantime, we hope she doesn't change too much -- we are loving who she is right now!

(You wouldn't think it's on purpose, but Addie loves to "pose" with her eyes closed [above, top left]. It's funny every time, to me. And she'll sit for extendo periods of time with her legs pointed back [bottom left]. In making her silly faces, she's developing an underbite [bottom right] that I hope doesn't become permanent.)

Lately, my kids have been such good playmates. Bathtime is a little crowded, though, and C&L often request that Addie be removed early so they can play better. I dunno, it's not always like this (and we still have our fair share of fights and tears), but the kids are just having a good time being a family lately. I don't think I need to detail how that makes me feel.

I've discovered that I'm a lazy home-body at heart (embarrassing to admit it, but I'm content, for the most part, to hang out at home in PJs all day given the chance), which makes me so grateful to have friends who are creative and proactive in doing stuff. One Saturday afternoon while the men were golfing, Amanda initiated a picnic to Ryan's Place Park. The kids had a fabulous time, and I loved hanging, as always, with Amanda (aka Mandy Norton).

Some highlights: (1) Carson and Macy were being "bullied" (their words) by a 6-year-old girl who kept coming up to them and, with a stupid grin on her face, waving and yelling "au revior!" They actually had a fun time trying to avoid this girl, and after the girl left with her mom, we all made a game of shouting "au revior" at each other. (2) Layla and Polly loved the Cinderella cement blocks; they ate their lunch on them and would touch base on them periodically during their play. (3) Carson wanted the camera to take pics of his favorite cement blocks. I told him that would be fine. I had no idea that his favorite blocks consisted of ALL the shooting stars ones... (My camera contained more than the three you see below.)

i couldn't help it

this morning on my jog, i was heading north around the time some cars were heading south. i could only imagine where they were headed at that wee hour -- toward the buses to head up the canyon to start the marathon.

i'm sure they hardly noticed me. i'm sure they didn't think twice about seeing my legs pumping in time with my tunes. but i couldn't help but feel like a loser -- plodding along in the opposite direction from the start of The Local Running Event of the year. i was very jealous of their future jogging journey.

but, by the time i finished my run, i was happy to call it quits a few miles (a "few," give or take 26) shy of the 26.2 mark.

ahh running. it's a strange, painfully addicting phenomenon.

spanish 101

layla: mom, do you know how to say 'dora the explorer' in spanish?

me: uh-uh. how?

layla: [very seriously] 'dora the exploruh.'


sweet. consider us fluent. next week: french AND italian.

hide-and-beep

on sunday, the kids and grampa larry were playing hide-and-seek outside. layla was searching and asked them to "give a beep" so she could find them.

to which, from the depths of the bushes, carson responded: "nobody gives a beep!"

think about it. it's funny.

1st day

sometimes i feel like a broken record. a broken record with no speakers. i find myself telling my kids what to say waaaay often: say 'thank you', tell her 'i'm sorry', say 'hi,' what do you say?, say 'you're welcome,' say 'excuse me,' tell him 'no, thank you,' say 'please,' tell them 'goodbye,' etc. can they be polite, thoughtful, or sweet without being prompted? and do they even hear what i say? because i repeat myself a lot. too much. i guess i've been feeling a little invisible lately.

so yesterday, layla and i walked together to her first day of "preschool." (in quotations because it's really just a little rotation thing that some friends and i are doing for our 3-year-olds who've been left behind by the oldest sibling going to school.) she was sooo excited about starting "stool" but clutched my hand tightly the whole way there. nearing her friend's house where preschool was going to be, she pulled my hand to her cheek and held it there a minute, then whispered, "mom, i love you."

it almost made me teary! as her little heart was mustering up courage to take the big step into school (she took this very seriously), she needed ME; i was her grounding force.

don't worry--i'll refrain from breaking out into singing "wind beneath my wings" here, but i will say this: i didn't feel invisible anymore. i allofasudden felt my role as a mother looming larger than life. mothers are desperately important in their children's lives, especially when they need support, strength, love, a little extra of whatever it is they're not feeling. isn't that strange and kind of sad that i forget that? but i do, in the day-to-day stuff.

anyway. here's the traditional front-step pic of layla on her first day of school. she carefully selected every last item of adornment you see before you, from her hairstuff to her favorite hand-me-down dress to her 3-sizes-too-big sparkly red shoes.


love this girl.

what's missing?

WAY TO GO, CARSON!!

two days after deciding he wanted to go training-wheel-less, he was doing awesome.

and the tears of frustration were minimal, by both carson and his dad. well done, boys.

end of summer picnic

i can't believe summer's nearly at a close. we've had a great time. pics of a celebratory picnic and play time at mack park with mortons and joneses.

the rocky slope was treacherous.

the rocks and water were a huge hit, and the kids wanted to bring home every last rock. we made them choose just one. decisions, decisions...

rock candidate #1 (or #100, who really knows).

cute girls in green.

another rock candidate, with a professional rock model (look at that pose/form).

layla & polly on the bridge. i don't know any girlfriends who are more opposite than these two... and both still so cute.

big man on campus

carson loves school. sincerely. except his disappointment that homework wouldn't start until the second week of school, it is "awesome." he's been totally excited about this step, with the first and only hesitation coming upon our arrival to the school for a one-on-one student/teacher assessment when all the other kids were out at recess -- he tightly squeezed my hand and drew quite close to my side as he watched them.

but he loves it, and i only had to swallow the lump in my throat a couple of times as i left him that first day. at least these pics of his first day of school are reassuring that he's not SO grown up yet...