Righters' Writings

We decided to throw an abbreviated church meeting of our own. As a reminder, our boys are 3.5 and 2. VERY cute ages, but not really known for being able to sit quietly for longer than a few minutes. It turns out for the little one, not even for a few seconds. I thought a 10-15 minute meeting was doable, but it was clear who the Almost Sunbeam is, and who has got a year of nursery to go.

H gave a lovely talk on the Word of Wisdom (taking care of our bodies), and each kid got to perform a special musical number. E didn't know the words of whatever he had chosen to sing, but it didn't slow him down at all. He stood at the ottoman (our makeshift pulpit) and sang his sweet heart out. I apologize for the lack of video, but is it really appropriate to video church meetings? Probably fake ones are okay, but I hadn't thought of it in time.

After E got put down for a nap he didn't actually take, H did a repeat performance of his special musical number which I did record, and have included below for your viewing pleasure:

Daddy: Wait, we call him AJ amongst those of us who know how to read. Whatever.

• Still contractor at the EPA
• Still looking for that elusive Big Boy Job
• Still working with the scouts
• Threw me the most amazing surprise birthday party this weekend. If you weren't there, I am so sorry. It was awesome.
• Still as cute as ever

H:

• Attends Joy School two mornings a week (co-op preschool), and finally loves it
• Starting to be obedient and helpful like I've never before seen
• Starting to pester his brother and be obnoxious like I've never before seen.
• Is developing the cutest imagination. He often assumes a super hero persona he calls "Dr. HAMMER!" who gallops around with a plastic hammer, but as far as I can tell, does not actually possess any super powers.
• Can distinguish between imaginary friends and real in theory, but still gets a bit irritated when I don't call up and invite his imaginary friends to go out with us
• Wonder of wonder, he has decided he will use the potty. We've had some successes this week already!

E:

• Has been under the weather this week, and you look at him and think, aw, he looks so sick! But then he starts acting really cute anyway, which gets confusing, because I at least expect sick behavior from sick children.
• Has got this budding vocabulary that is downright delightful. Mostly. The other day he looked around at all (his) toys on the floor and said to me, "Messy house." It was more of an observation, maybe even a regret, not a criticizm of me, but still, kid.
  
• Is getting really good at singing and praying, but not necessarily at appropriate times. "A-MEN!" when time's up, or "Ooooooh!" when there is no other music to be heard.

I'm doing better now. It's sinking in a little, and H is really cute about helping me pick a baby girl name. It's not that I never wanted a girl. I also cried when we found out H was a boy. But that was just subtle tears sliding down my face, nothing like this. But now I'm on the boy train, and I'm just so confused. Doesn't help that I'm pregnant and emotional and prone to excessive confusion anyway.

Just now: "I will help you keep the baby safe from E, so E doesn't destroy her." -H

Pink is my favorite color, and I love rufflebum tights, and outgrew them myself about 30 years ago. I'm not sure where all this NOOOOO!!! is coming from. I mean, I have some reasons, but guaranteed they're nonsensical and hardly worth putting on a blog. (I set myself up for some mocking, but let's not go overboard here.)

So I guess that's that. Yay! A girl! She'll be so great! And fun! And cute!

I blog so I don't forget all their childhood. These are longish, so I understand if you don't watch the whole things. But if you're my sister Karin, you can watch them over and over again. :)

Also, I want to apologize for the cinematography. They will only be videotaped if they can see themselves, so I have to turn the screen away from myself . . . whatever.

Our little E is turning 2 in a week or two, and some of you wanted to know what he wants for his birthday. The answer: not much. We live in a small area and can't handle too many more toys. HOWEVER. If you would like to get him a little something, this is what he and I discussed:

Feeding the cows at Uncle Bruce's, not long after the Righter Family Reunion in August:

The best for last: our cousins, the party animals.

We had joy school at our house last week (pre-school co-op). We were learning about the 5 senses. For hearing, we decided to record the kids making different noises then play it back. To warm everyone up, I let our pre-joy schooler (E) do some noises. That's where this came from.

Here I am with my boys at the Stewart family reunion at Zion National Park in June.

The reunion was loads of fun, and we especially loved staying in that giant cabin with my siblings and parents and nieces and nephews and favorite aunt and uncle and their kids . . .

I have had flitting thoughts about blogging our fabulous month in the West. Let's all just be grateful for what we've got, okay?

I swear I have more pictures of stuff other than what my sister Jill took on her phone and emailed to me, but those are on the camera, and so would require me a) finding the camera, b) hooking it up to the computer and all of that and c) blogging to go along with it.

I grew up with a pool in the backyard, this pool, in fact. My summer memories revolve around swimming. And here I have the joy of sharing that with my little family.

We all headed down to the OC to officially welcome a new little nephew/cousin to the world. Then of course, we had a huge barbecue, because if your dad happens to be my brother-in-law Bryan, there's no way we celebrate you without some incredible tri-tip.

I realize that I'm not recording our fun-filled vacation in order, but my cord is in a room with my sleeping babies, so I can't get pictures right now when the blogging bug has hit.

Thankfully, Jill took a picture with her fancy phone and emailed it to me.

This is my little guy on a rickshaw cooler carried by AJ and my dad, Papa. He is eating an oatmeal scotchie, one of the kajillion cookies I baked for the festivities.

Several weeks ago, I stepped out our back door to toss out some recycling. I didn't even shut the door, because it's about 5 feet away. I ended up having to break down a box, so it took a minute longer. In that time, H went ahead and closed the back door and locked it. He's now Sneaky Three, after all, and he wanted to wake up his baby brother. Since I wouldn't allow that while I was in the house, this was his big opportunity.

So here I am, about 2 in the afternoon, standing on my back deck hollering my fool head off. H had actually locked me out before, but always I had had a key. But that previous experience gave me the wisdom to not make threats. That's no way to get someone, anyone, to open a door for you. So I started with the promises. Capri sun, the park, candy, just come down and let Mama in!

Nothing is working. I heard a lot of screaming for the first 20 minutes or so (E being rudely woken from his nap), but then silence. Silence is scary when you can't get to your 2 toddlers.

Fortunately I had my phone on me. I tried calling the landlord to no avail. I got a hold of AJ and he had a really important meeting or something but would come as soon as he could. He asked if I wanted him to stop by and have some extra keys made on his way home. No way! I responded, we'll go as a family, just GET ME IN THERE!

Anyway, I met my new next door neighbor. Nice lady. And the guys who mow the lawn. And after like an hour and a half I was back in.

Ready for why H didn't come downstairs and let me back in? He had locked himself and E into their bedroom on accident! So all those horrible punishments I had been dreaming up got tempered a bit. He was definitely naughty and still got busted, but the hour and a half bit I let slide. Aren't I generous? But to teach him how horrible and scary it is to be locked somewhere, I closed him in our little half bathroom for about 2 minutes. I sat in front of the door silently and he couldn't open the door. I waited until he started to sound a bit scared and then I let him out and we had a talk about it. I hope CPS doesn't read this and get up in my grill about it. For either the crime or the punishment. Whatever.

After just 2 weeks on the market our house sold. We got to pick our favorite offer of 3. So our personal experience is that the market is recovering, but the banks hate our guts anyway. We sold because we couldn't refinance because AJ is a 1099 employee instead of W2 . . . grrr. Anyway, marvelous blessings amidst trials, so let's just focus on those.

Apartment shopping was almost fun with the boys, because it's so fun to run around in empty rooms and hide in kitchen cabinets and stuff. I was still relieved when the search was over. H still enjoys shutting E into closets these days. Sometimes E enjoys it for a few seconds, too.