natterbee: 4/12/09

Friday, April 17, 2009

To Be A Rock

"The rock feels nothing. No matter what you do to it, no matter how many times you kick it, or how loud you laugh at it, or what filthy words you write on its surface or if you lie about it and say awful things about it that are not true, the rock does not care. The rock does not hear you. The rock does not feel you. The rock sees you dimly and not well. You cannot murder the rock. You cannot wring out its soul as if its soul were no more than a dirty dishrag you'd used to wipe up blood off the bathroom floor. The rock has a soul but its soul is small and looks like mercury and moves like mercury and does not exist in time as we know it.

"The rock exists in slow time. One minute to a chunk of dull rock is one hundred years to you and me. The rock does not weep. The rock bakes in the sun. The rock gets hot to the touch, too hot sometimes to touch. The rock does not buy a candy bar to eat on the way home from school. The rock does not go to school. The rock sits wedged into the hillside. The rock waits. If you sit on it, the rock does not give way. You cannot knock the air out of it because it has no lungs and no stomach and no heart. It is good to be a rock, or, it is not bad to be a rock."

The preceding is an exerpt out of the book, Fat Girl by Judith Moore.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Dynamite is One of a Kind

Yesterday I was trying to get the bottom off my new electric toothbrush to insert the batteries. Dynamite went upstairs and found the "gripper" that helps open bottles and brought it down to me. I took the gripper, but then told him I would just have Dad get it off for me because I was fairly certain I wouldn't be able to remove it. Dynamite's response: "If you never try, you'll always fail!" A very good point, I must admit!

What could be better than a brownie with whipped cream on top?

The Legend of Little Bear

Confidence wrote an Indian legend for her 4th grade Spectrum (accelerated learning) class. It is called The Legend of Little Bear. The parents were invited to come to class yesterday to listen to the kids read their legends. Each book was 4-5 minutes long with illustrations and all were well written and original. Confidence's legend was wonderful and she read it very well.

After the legends were read, small groups performed songs and dances that were written by the group. I must say, Confidence's group's song and dance were the most "Indian". They did awesome!

This Spectrum class has been absolutely wonderful for Confidence. She is no longer bored at school and has interesting projects all the time. The teachers (she has one for the morning and one for the afternoon) work to make the classroom experience one that is fascinating. I think it would really help to have a classroom full of kids that love to learn, but the teachers work hard in a different way, by finding ways to teach that will inspire and interest the kids each day. I have been really impressed by both her teachers and her classmates.

Happy & Healthy

Cutesome (7 months) has been doing so much better the past week or so! He isn't needing his asthma treatments at all and is breathing just fine. He is sleeping better and is just an all-around happier kid. He is getting so fun now that he can really interact with us. He learned the fun game of drop-the-toy-and-someone-else-will-pick-it-up. And again....and again..and again...

Yesterday we went to Confidence's class for a 45-minute reading of Indian legends (written by the class) and Cutesome stole the show. I kept hearing people say in their high-pitched voices how cute he was. That is, until he messed his diaper. I had just thought I smelled him when the woman sitting next to us got up and moved to a different row! Ha! After that, I got up and stood in the back corner with him until it ended because I figured it must have been pretty gross. My nose isn't very sensitive, so when I'm wondering if maybe he smells other people are probably gagging and wondering why on earth I won't change the child! FYI: I won't ever get offended if you tell me he needs to be changed because I may not notice it on my own!

My Sister Aubrey

Here are a couple of pictures of my beautiful baby sister, Aubrey. She is 7 years younger than me. Yesterday we took a couple of pictures of her with her boys:

She keeps her blog updated really well. If you want to see it, click here. She is a stay-at-home mom (for now) who just moved back to Utah from Kansas. Although she wants to go back to school, she's waiting for her turn. Her husband finished his 5-year army service contract and is going to school. She is a good mom to her boys, Josh (age 6) and Asher (age 3). Aubrey is the one that helped me set up my blog background!

Monday, April 13, 2009

A Bunch of New Pictures

Cutesome and Auntie Jenny

Cutesome and Dreamer's Dad (but we like to call him Grandpa!)

Cutesome - Cuter Every Day!

This one shows his little birth mark. His cousins call this his "Broken Heart" because it is shaped like a heart with a break through part of it.

Cutesome and Confidence (this is Confidence's favorite shirt - that's why it's in so many pictures!)

Dynamite & Dreamer. Dynamite is very affectionate!

Coloring Cousins. Clockwise: Noah, Confidence, Vivacious, Liz, Emma.

Another picture of Cutesome. Have you noticed I take more pictures of him than anyone else? This is because he's a baby - there were tons of each of them when they were babies too!

Ice Skating at the Rec Center

My sister, her husband, and I took our kids (7 total) ice skating last week during Spring Break. The kids had a great time and got some physical activity besides. When I asked Vivacious and Dynamite if they prefer ice skating or swimming, they simply could not decide! It's convenient to have the new Rec Center just a few minutes from home.

Dynamite, taking a break

Emma & Vivacious

Vivacious, Emma, Fred & Noah

Noah

Vivacious & Confidence

Adam

Dynamite

Bangs?!

,
While Rob and I were in St. George, Confidence cut herself some bangs. We had talked about bangs and how I didn't think she should have bangs yet, but I told her the next time we get her hair cut we could talk about it. Consider for a second that I let her do pretty much whatever she wants with her hair and clothes - despite my wanting to control those things. Anyway, she has loved having bangs ever since and has kept them curled ever since. I guess she was ready.

Of course, Vivacious thought she needed some too. Dreamer and I both told her we didn't think she was ready for them (I still do her hair whenever it is done and did not want to have to do bangs too). Between conference sessions last week Dreamer took Dynamite to get his hair cut. Vivacious wanted to tag along. And guess who convinced her dad to have them cut her some bangs while they were there?! Dreamer made her promise that she would fix them every day, but she has absolutely zero experience with the curling iron so far so I'm a bit apprehensive.

It makes me mad that Dreamer went behind my back and let her have them cut without discussing his change in plans with me first. I was only a phone call away! Maybe he'll be curling her bangs before school from now on.