Funny lines from Megan

Me to Megan: Meg do you want some pie?
Megan : No. Thanks. I'm good.

Pete and I just looked at each other and tried not to laugh!

Saturday...

Today has been a very low key day. The girls and I have enjoyed our day together. (Pete is on a short trip). We decided today just to stick close to home. After our fun trip to Target yesterday that ended with pooh running down Madie's left leg while I tried to get her and Megan out of the car and up a flight of stairs without making a mess; a day at home seemed brilliant.

We started our day with waffles, covered with blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream. Yummy. Unfortunaley that was just after 6 am. But today we all took naps. We watched Dora. We played with Megs princess dolls. Listened to music. Read stories. Cuddled. Looked at homes for sale online, and we did watch "Stranger than Fiction." Meg and I love that movie. She loves to talk about Harold Crick and his wristwatch. (I edit it for her. It is PG-13 after all) Tonight I taught Megan to play Jenga. She was surprisingly good. Madie practiced sitting and not reaching for the tower of Jenga blocks.

And today I decided to do nothing that didn't absolutley have to be done. I ignored the pile of laundry, I closed my eyes when I went into the bathroom I should have cleaned. I pretended the vaccum was broken and I enjoyed the under 36 inches population that seem to get the shaft when mom is trying to hard to get "stuff" done. Productivity ZERO, but I wish all Saturdays could be this fun and lazy.

Back at home in Florida

We have been home in Florida for a little less than a week and all I can say is "It is good to be home." And it is even better to have Pete back from his deployment safe and sound. We are looking forward to a summer full of fun outings and good family time. I am also going to take a couple cooking classes and also continue my quest to get in shape. I have had a little set back...time in Utah was brutal on my waistline, but I am recommitted to my goal of being in the best shape of my life by October 25th, my 30th Birthday. I got 3/4 of my exercising done this morning before my girls woke up.

The girls are doing well. Madie is still pretty calm and sweet. Megan is still smart and sassy. They handled all our travels and time with family pretty well. And already Meg is asking when we get to go to Grammy's house again. This is good since we will be spending all of November and December there. I hope to get Meg potty trained this summer and wean Madie. We will see how it all works, I am hopeful, but flexible about it.

Hmmmm... I hardly know how to write this post. I don't know how to begin or end. All I know is that it's been almost two weeks and I am still reeling over the loss of Pete's cousin and my friend, Natalie. Natalie would have turned 34 today. I can't believe she is gone. She was an amazing person. You know one of those people you meet and think, wow, my life is better because I know her. And truly she scattered sunshine and smiles wherever she went. Her life was a legacy of love. I am in awe of the example she left for me to try to live up to. She had four children and was a fantastic mother, sister, daughter, and friend.

I met Natalie early in my courtship with Pete and was at once welcomed into the family as if I had always belonged there, as if she'd been saving a special spot just for me, as if we had been friends all our lives. I miss her and yet I know where she is. I don't grieve for her, I grieve for me, I grieve for all of us who will miss her. I feel sad that my little girls will never know cousin Natalie, that Madie will never be held by her, that Meg will have one less cousin she shares her beautiful red hair with.

When I grow up I want to be like Natalie. I am sure she never knew what a profound influence she had on all who knew her. I am sure she never knew what a profound influence she had on me. I wish I would have told her.

To know Natalie was to love her. I feel blessed I am one of the lucky people who knew her in this life, and that I will know her in the next. I know that families can be together forever, and that my cheering section on the other side of the veil just got one sweet redhead.

This weekend we had two visitors. Our friends Lael from Washington D.C. and Kara from Gainsville, FL. We knew them both at BYU. In fact they were both present the night we met. (Ahhhh) This weekend was a nice trip down memory lane, and it was nice to catch up with each of them and also hear updates on people we haven't stayed in contact with! Our girls were...themselves and I think that alone was enough to convince both our friends they never wanted children and might be even willing to pass up ever getting married. OK...maybe it wasn't that bad. But I failed to take a single picture. Sorry I am so busy living life I often fail to document it...at least that sounds better than the camera needed new batteries, eh?

Megan continues to entertain us with her amazing wit and intellect. Sunday during church as we were getting ready to take the sacrament. I was quietly talking to her about what we were going to do and why(mostly to hopefully get her to stop talking incessantly in her normal speaking voice...anybody know when kids learn to whisper?) And so I told her we were going to take the water to remind us of Jesus' blood and the bread reminds us of his body. And she replies, "We don't drink blood." She said it fairly loudly two or three times. Oh well, I am sure the sweet sister sitting in front of us was thinking why don't these people get a muzzle for their adorable child. Sigh.

As for my little Madie, she is a sweetie pie. Pretty easy going, sleeping almost through the night and already 17 lbs. She is already wearing clothes that Meg wore when she was crawling. She is a little cuddle bug and so smiley. She coos and babbles a lot, and even tries to sing if there is music on. She got her immunizations last week and was a pretty good sport about the whole thing. Now if we could only get her to take a bottle...tips anyone?

Yesterday we went to a strawberry patch and picked 5 quarts of delicious strawberries. Meg was very excited that we were picking strawberries like on one of her favorite episodes of Dora. I think we will go back Monday and get a few more to freeze or make jam or something equally domestic.

Two going on 13

Pete brought Meg the pink ukulele from Hawaii

What... do I look like I am on a diet?

Madie asleep in the bouncy chair.

You know you have arrived when you have this conversation with your child. The other day Megan was not happy with us about having to sit in her high chair for meal time. So I was trying to get the screaming and crying to stop and in the process I said, "Megan we love you." And she said between wails, "No, you don't love me. YOU don't love me!" My jaw dropped and I just stopped and stared. It was said with all the drama and angst of a 13 year old girl. I thought we wouldn't have this one come up for another 10 or 11 years, but nope, at two she already gets how to really punish her poor mom.

She has been so funny lately. She assigns us all character roles from movies and then calls us by that name all day. Today is a "Matilda" day and I am "Miss Honey", Pete is "Ms Trunchable", Madie is Matilda's friend "Lavender" and of course Meg is Matilda. On other days we are all characters from Madagascar, Pete is Melman the giraffe, I am Marty the Zebra, Meg is Gloria Hippo and Madie is Alex the lion. She woke up on one of these days asking "Where is Melman?" It is pretty funny, but sometimes I forget who I am, and what movie I am in. Meg is happy to remind us.

Madie continues to be a happy and smiley girl, but does have a fussy time in the afternoon, usually between 3:30-5pm. Otherwise she is a darling girl and its nice to have someone else calm around here.

This is not the post I intended to write this morning. But after checking out a few blogs and crying over the challenges of some, this is the blog I need to write today.

I am so blessed. I am so lucky. My life is good and full. I have so much to be grateful for and so little to complain about. I tend to forget just how good life is when there are toys and strewn all over our small space, when my toddler wakes up crying in the middle of the night just cause, when I find Pete has eaten the last of the ice cream, when our computer is infected with 26 viruses, when the folded laundry gets unfold for the 3rd time before I can get it put away, when Madie insists its time to eat only an hour after her last meal, when I look in the mirror and see the new wrinkles and the old lovehandles still going strong.

Life is all about perception and perspective. Today I am CHOOSING to see a home where the residents aren't afraid to live and make a little mess, where the toddler knows that even in the middle of the night Mom and Dad will come because they care, where my husband is supporting me in my weightloss goals by getting rid of all the temptations, where we have all the technology we need, where we are blessed to have a washer and dryer and the ability to do our own laundry, where there is a darling healthy chunky baby to cuddle, hold and care for, and where when I look in the mirror I see a daughter of God, made in his image, who gets to experience mortality and look forward to resurrected body.

I will write the post I was going to later. This is the one I needed to write for me.