Lately

Our taxes are finished. My house is clean. I don't need to be cooking anything right now. Kids are all playing nicely together. Guess I have time to blog!

I've been reading a lot lately. Trying to chew through the top-reads on my list before I get too busy with moving stuff. I've enjoyed some of the books, but my most recent reads have all been slightly disappointing considering the reviews they have. I always make a point to finish my books before I pass judgment, though.

Sometimes that is really challenging, given that I have 5-6 books checked out from the library at any given time and it is oh-so-tempting to abandon a mediocre one in favor of the next!

I've been working on growing our workout group and feeling really good about the increased participation. I LOVE having friends to dance with, friends to grunt and sweat and agonize through the hard parts with, and friends to push me and encourage me to give it my all. I am really grateful right now for supportive strong workout sistahs!

 I love my dance fitness playlists and it has been exhilarating to try some crossfit workouts--- I think I'm going to need some resistance bands so I can keep progressing in my pullups! oh and it is a good thing I'm working so hard on the exercise side of things, because I'm definitely enjoying the food side of things. I love baking all the fun Valentine's treats!

I'm almost finished with a fun family history scripture project that I can't wait to share (but you'll have to wait til I'm finished)! I've also been sewing a TON, but I'm also saving that for another post.


Emmett has been expressing interest in sitting on the potty. He's never actually attempted to GO, but hey. Interest is interest. He amazes me with how he is growing up. He is such a little BOY now, hardly my little baby. He is loving magnatile 'airplanes' and 'rockets' for his animals.

And he also obsesses over the letter "o". The most trying thing he does right now is refuse to nap and then be a grouchy whiney kid for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The sweetest thing he does right now is sing along when I'm putting him to bed. He always requests, "Church, Temple, Child of God, A-di-dong, and Go To Sleep". and then we blow kisses to EVERYONE he can think of before he will consent to close the door.

Caroline is reading! A lot. And she wants to play Starfall and ABCYa every day after school. I'm so happy that she is learning names of her friends (finally!) and getting along so well with Emmett too. She is becoming quite the little "mommy" as she professes love for every single baby she sees. She asks several times a week about when we are moving, the kinds of things we'll do once we move ("will there be kickball in Idaho?"), and asking if we will bring items with us. I don't know if she is asking because she is excited or anxious or possibly both. She also thinks her birthday is really soon and I am constantly reminding her of the months between now and her big day. Caroline is obsessing about planes and rocket ships right now! She wants to be a pilot and also gets ridiculously excited when she spies a jet trail in the sky because she thinks a space ship is reentering the atmosphere, lol!

Conversation with Gwen today:
Gwen: "Most girls in my class are not interested in travel and adventure"...
Eric: "oh really?"
Gwen: "Yeah, they just want to stay home and do their hair."
Gwen thought that was riotously funny.  She is a beautiful blend of sparkles and dirt, adorable teeny fluffy animals and fearsome predators/squirmy bugs, twirly dresses and athletic sneakers, changing her earrings every morning to match her clothes and finding passing up adventures in favor of doing hair to be hilarious. I love that. Such a wonderful balance of femininity with practicality. :) Gwen's latest thing is origami. We'll see how long this interest lasts, but so far she has made about 50 projects for friends, teachers, and members of the family to enjoy. She even showed entrepreneurial ambition by charging a penny for a lesson on how to make an origami house.

Well, I think that is pretty much it! Stay tuned for a post about my sewing projects, our Valentine's festivities, and the scripture project!