7:09 am, rolled out of bed
pulled on running clothes,
stumbled into a drowsy little figure in the dark
scooped him up, clicked the bedroom door shut behind us

Laid on the couch, its cool leather on my skin
Gazed out the wall of windows, sky light blue, brushed soft yellow along the mountaintops,
mountains still black and flat
Felt the familiar, comfortable weight on my chest,
his little body rising up and down with each breath
Warmed by the sound of the heater blowing
Listened to our beagle snoring in the corner
and the slow tick tick tick of the clock

No running, no scripture study, no cleaning this morning
Just holding my baby boy, my little boy, almost five
Wondering how long until adulthood brings awkwardness between us
Treasuring him and this moment
In my heart

So, the kids have been asking "How many days until Halloween?" since mid-September... and today it was finally here!!! Hooray! Eve woke up singing "This is Halloween" from Nightmare Before Christmas. She and Eldon were SO excited! Eldon wouldn't get dressed 'til his costume was clean, so he ran around in his underwear half the day. :) He was a black cat, and Eve was -surprise- a chicken. We watched the afore-mentioned movie, then headed out to Tanger Outlets for some day time trick-or-treating. SUCH a gorgeous day! The kids liked that, and hauled in the candy. Between that and the trunk or treat (which we went to tonight), I think they each have about 5 lbs of candy. Zoinks!
Jon made his costume like 3 weeks ago and was really bummed we didn't have a Halloween party to go to, so we dressed up today too (He's a zombie and I'm a sunflower from the game 'Plants versus Zombies'). That was actually pretty fun, b/c a lot of people got a kick out of our costumes. :)
Anyhoo, Happy Halloween!

Our kids LOVE science. It is Eve's favorite subject, and I have to pull Eldon down from the kitchen cupboards several times a week so that he won't use ALL our food coloring (because you just CAN'T do an experiment without food coloring, you know!). So I decided to set up a laboratory for them and just give them time to explore (with safe substances, of course) for themselves. They loved it.
Hey, if you want to try a simple, funky experiment for yourself, pour a bit of milk in a wide bowl or plate, then drop several drops of food coloring on the surface of it (don't mix). Now drip a drop of liquid dish soap in the center of the milk and watch what happens. And for an even cooler effect, do the same thing, except drop some hand sanitizer in instead of the soap. Crazy!

Eldon woke me up this morning asking very urgently for his pumpkin that he had chosen the day before when Nana took him to a pumpkin patch. I moaned that it was on the front porch steps. He said okay and fled off to fetch it, and I drifted back into a very light sleep. I woke to a clinking sound. It kind of sounded like a utensil being set down on occasion. I couldn't figure out what it was, there was no other sound, and besides, the kids use plastic utensils. Then it struck me what I might be hearing, so I crept to my doorway and peeked out to see this:


Sure enough, it was Eldon carving his pumpkin. By himself. Fortunately, he WAS using a safe pumpkin knife. I thought it was SO cute. Our little Bubba is a very focused artist. If ever it is quiet in our home, I can almost always guarantee that it's because Eldon is sitting on the kitchen floor, surrounded by a menagerie of papers, and drawing so intently on one.

Anyway, he carved the entire thing himself, without a sound (other than the occasional "clink" as he set the knife down to push out the cut pieces). That's our independent little boy!

After spending a nice day with the cousins at Nana's last week, we pulled out of her neighborhood and started towards home. As we were waiting at a light just a block or two down the road, Eve looked out her window and saw a TINY duckling running frantically back and forth in a part of the road that had been cut out and was under construction. I had no idea a duckling could run like that. Now, normally, Eve would have just said, "Oh! What a cute duck! I hope he finds his mama." And I think that's how it started, but it ended with her SOBBING for us to save the duckling. I was in traffic, and late for a dinner appointment, so I did the best thing I could think of: I called Eve's aunt Liz (Jon's sister). She and Eve are equals in their fierce love for animals, and she was at Nana's, so it seemed the best solution for the situation. So I called Liz and asked how she felt about doing a "Rescue effort"... and of course, she was out the door in seconds. So sweet. For the next 20 minutes, Eldon prayed for the duckling, I prayed someone else would save it before Liz got there, and Eve continued to sob hysterically.
Then the phone rang, and it was Liz, calling me on her walk home, with a microscopic duckling tucked into her jacket, asking me what to feed it. :) Eve stopped crying pretty quick. Thank you, Liz! Jon's parents took care of it all week, and we brought it home with us last night. We named him Dash because he's so fast! He IS adorable, don't you think? He must have been about 2 days old when Liz saved him. I'm hoping Eve can tame him b/c he is a feisty little fellow. Fortunately his bite feels like a tickle, but it won't forever. She's going to have to teach him some manners in a hurry. Looks like we're going to have a farm after all. Hopefully Eve won't find any pigs running loose any time soon. ;)

Eve is always asking me this question. So I'm trying to do better. We've recently made homemade pretzels (super yum!), army green ginger cookies (that was the nicest term I could think of for the color), hummus, and root beer popsicles.
My kids' favorite thing in the snack department, by far, is food coloring. Eve colored her cottage cheese pink the other day. Um, gross. And they got it out to paint pictures on their tortillas once (without me knowing, of course). They loved the snack pictured - you just mix a few tablespoons of milk into different colors, then use Q-tips to paint on white bread. Turned out SO cute! And the smiles on their faces are the best!
Do you have any fun snack ideas to share with me???

I've had the awesome opportunity lately do play photographer for some friends here... it has been such fun and I've learned so much!
You can see my favorites of each shoot by clicking on the links.
Senior portraits
Newborn portraits
6-month portraits

This looong winter has been a little much, so I decided to throw a party to cheer myself up! It was SO much fun! I chose to call it "My favorite things for Spring", and invited about 20 close friends and family to bring 3 identical gifts of something that they loved about spring. We had a super delicious dinner first, then did our gift exchange! There were so many cute ideas - everything from Spring cleaning, to pussy willows, to gardening, and spring decor... it was great! We all had a wonderful time (can't you tell by the picture?), and I felt SO much cheerier!
I'm so thankful for the friends I have made here in Wanship, and for my mom and sisters, who are my dearest friends.
This is definitely going to become a tradition... I might even do one in the fall, too. If any of you need a pick-me-up or time w/ your girlfriends - try it! It just may become one of your favorite things too!

Jon went to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks, so I started thinking well before he left of some projects I wanted to do in his absence. My favorite one was painting my dining room green! I wish I had a before pic - it was just white walls with a single light bulb in the ceiling. Pretty blah. I found the chandelier for $40 on ksl.com, and a nice man in my ward came to help me hang it. Isn't it so pretty? And then, I found that they were clearing out the Dutch Boy brand of paint at Walmart for $7/gallon! Holy cats! So I frantically searched 3 Walmarts for the sheen and base I wanted, settled for semigloss (I wanted satin, but it actually looks fine), and chose a gorgeous green.
I started painting after putting the kids down one night, and my sweet friend, Katie, came and helped me paint 'til somewhere around midnight. We took a stab at it the next day, and I finished it up that night. I am just SO happy with how it turned out! Cozy, happy, spring-y.
And guess what? Jon loves it! :)

Nana threw a LOVEly Valentine party for us this year. The kids were so excited, and the adults also had a wonderful time (how could you not have fun with delicious lasagna, garlic bread, and a chocolate fountain???). Everyone dressed in red and pink, combined with the Valentine's decor, made for a very cheery party.
Photos:
Eve's Auntie Kim made this adorable hat for her.
Eldon drew the fish that is on his shirt - so cute!
All the cousins - little lovebugs!