They so funny

I just walked in on a funny conversation. Jillian said "Hey Baby. That's what people call their boyfriend." Peter was offended, "Mom, Jillian's calling me a baby!"

Are you ready for this? Are you ready for this? Are you sittin' on the edge of your seat? Okay, probably not after several months of my being away, and maybe not even if that wasn't the case:) We've been busy and life has been good to us. We ran a marathon last weekend (our first), Lucy turned one almost two and half months ago, Jillian has grown-up so much since starting kindergarten and Peter is coming out of his constant-scowl-because-I'm-three-years-old phase and becoming a real sweetheart again. Kevin is thinking he might like to work with kids, so that's exciting. He's on a crazy busy rotation and most nights we don't see him until 8:00 p.m. but he is also enjoying the constant activity and learning atmosphere after a few off-kilter months in F-ville. While we'd love to have him home, it restores confidence in my own abilities of holding down the fort okay while he's not around. I'm learning the ropes of elementary school and enjoying meeting people through the school. I feel SO MUCH more on top of life right now than I did this time last year. We didn't even put any ornaments on our tree or put up any other decorations. I guess having a teeny baby will do that to you. Over the past few months I've renewed my nursing license and been working at some flu clinics, okay only two, and have also taken pictures for several friends. We are getting to know our neighbors better and really enjoying this neighborhood! It never ceases to amaze me how many DIFFERENT people there are in this world, and also how GOOD people are. It's getting late and I'm waxing philosophical so I'll sign off but I'll leave you with a few teaser pictures. It literally hurts me she's so wonderful!

Jillian had the funniest stream of consciousness tonight that I wanted to record it before I forget. She started out by saying that today on the bus she say this yard that was "clear, and huge, and nicely mowed." She had more descriptors but I was distracted by those and don't remember the others. I interrupted to ask if her older friend on the bus, Nicole, had told her the lawn was nicely mowed. She looked at me confused as if to say, "Well, I think it was nicely mowed. Why, don't you?" It struck me as such a grown-up thing to observe, and then comment on. And then she didn't understand that I didn't understand her grown-up language. Is this indicative of many things to come? Well, apparently she likes her lawns nicely mowed. I'll have to get on that because our lawn is pretty long and scraggly. Maybe it was a hint. In which case her comment goes so much deeper.

She kept right on going after that and started singing a song that her music teacher, Miss Godfreid, had taught them. From what I was able to gather, she had a student teacher with her. Jillian said, "I don't know. Maybe it was her cousin with her?" Then she told us play by play how Miss Goddfreid's Mom, and then sister and then Dad had all tried to wake her up this morning. The song was very cute about a walk down the street, playing with a yo-yo, and then Jillian stops mid-sentence and says "I don't remember the worm's name." I love listening to her process her world. Everything is so fun, and there are no rules of normal and not in which to box oneself, in the eyes of a child!

Peter sometimes flashes the funniest smile. He'll be doing something and then, somehow knowing I'm looking at him, look up and give the biggest grin possible for his face. I wish I could keep that little grin in my pocket for when he is grown and lives far away. I love him so very much.

This sweet boy had his first day of preschool today! Dad is working in Fayetteville so I knew it would be a hectic morning trying to get everyone up and out the door, and have time to take pictures with the traditional "First day of school" sign. I made chocolate chip pancakes, which Peter usually loves. I think he was a little bit nervous, even though he wasn't saying so, becaue he ate literally two bites of one pancake and drank a sip of milk. He wore his Adidas basketball shirt and shorts that Grandma Zimmerman gave to him for his birthday with his Nike "running shoes." He wore his owl backpack. His teachers are Miss Stephanie and Miss Lisa, and they are both super friendly. They had a schoolhouse outside of the classroom with a bunch of buses that each had a child's name on them. The kids got to find their name and drive the bus into the schoolhouse and then ring the bell on top. Peter hugged my leg for less than a minute but then, when they invited him in, he ran right in without looking back. And that was that. Lucy and I were left in the hallway wondering what had happened. Well, then I had to have the director pull Miss Stephanie out because I forgot to tell her that Grandma was going to pick Peter up at the end of the day, I went to an orientation for giving flu shots, and that he had some bites from some red ants on his fingers that had caused his hand to swell but not to worry.

Grandma picked him up and she gave me the full report about how he got to play on the playground and that someone had chased him. He loved playing with the dinosaurs and also with the Mr. Potato Head. It was so funny because when I asked him about what he did that day he wouldn't say anything except "nuffing." Then Hadley called later, without realizing it was his first day, and he started chattering all about his class totally unsolicited.

Tonight Dad came home from Fayetteville so he can work at UNC tomorrow so he made us a special dinner of Navajo tacos. Then we got some celebratory ice cream from Maple View Farms to close out Peter's first official day of preschool in the three's classs at University United Methodist Preschool. He's going to have a great year!

A letter from Jill's Kindergarten Teacher

Dearest Kindergarten Parent,
Here is a little "gift" for you as you leave your precious one with me on the first day of school. As you hold this cotton ball in your hand, the softness will help you to remember the gentle spirit of your child. After you've gone home and dried your tears, make yourself a cup of hot tea. Put your feet up and relax. Remember that together you and I will work for your child to be the best they can be. Thank you for entrusting your child to me for the coming school year. I will do my best every day to be your child's guide in learning and exploring this bright, new world they have just stepped into.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Graves and Mrs. Warren

Heard recently around here...

Peter to Jillian while discussing their upcoming viewing of the Disney movie Spirit: Jill, I'll protect you from the bad parts.

Jillian totally out of the blue, but after Dad told her she was beautiful: I might get a boyfriend really easy. ????????

I tried to keep this day from coming, but it came...well, that sounds doom and gloom...how about...KINDERGARTEN! Yeah! She went, she did, she conquered! She was a little apprehensive the day or two leading up to her first day. She would say "I'm nervous" when asked how she felt about it. When we asked her what that meant, she replied "It means I don't know anyone in my class." Which was true, but only lasted for a little bit of her first day. She came home telling us she had made some girl friends, Lily, Mackenzie, Becca and Claire. It is a little scary for a kid if you think about it. I was trying to think to what it would be equivalent for an adult? Starting a really intense job in a completely foreign environment? Your first day in the mission field with all new rules and no one who knows you well? Well, kids are amazing and resilient and this super kid is no exception! She reported her teacher, Mrs. Graves, was very nice, as was her assistant, Mrs. Warren.

The whole clan

Before her first day of school, Jillian kept forgetting who her teachers were. She'd ask us "What are their names again?" We'd tell her and she'd repeat again and again under her breath "Warren, Graves, Warren, Graves, Warren, Graves." After a few times of this, Peter got it down so when she'd ask, he would respond "Ms. Warren and Ms. Graves." And what bus is she on, Peter? "The brown bus," exasperated as if he couldn't fathom why she couldn't rememeber.

I have this exact picture of me and my dad on my first day of kindergarten. For some reason I remember our blue pram in there too but Katie wasn't born yet so that doesn't add up. Maybe that was first grade? Kevin ended up having this day off without even asking for it! It was a neat to have him there to share the morning with us, and to morally support us all. I think we were all a little on edge. We kept thinking she had missed the bus, even though we had gotten there ten minutes early. We were all just stressed, I guess.

Her sign is covering up her adorable outfit from Grandma G in all these pictures, but trust me, it is adorable, and very grown-up. Perfect for kindergarten!

Peter misses his pal while she's gone all day. Thankfully Kevin was there that first day to keep us company so Peter didn't ask TOO many times "When is Jill going to be home?" I think it will be great for him to start his own school this week.

There she goes, walking out of our lives forever. Dramatic? Maybe. We did have a good cry though after she was gone. It's hard to grapple with the fact that now we have to wait until summertime to have her with us all day again. I keep reminding myself that it's going to be great because Peter and Lucy will have the chance to get closer and I will have a little one on one time with each of them every day. Peter will be our new fearless leader, until Big Sister gets home in the afternoon. He's such an energetic guy, I think the undivided attention will be great for him. Every day when she gets home though I feel like "Geez, I haven't seen you ALL day!"

The first day her bus got here 45 minutes late, so she didn't get home until 5 p.m.! She was beaming though and had loved the bus ride and getting to ride home with her friend, Brooklyn. She did tell us "I missed home. I was gone a long time." And when we were trying to get ready to go out for dinner, she started bawling over which shoes she was to wear. I think she was feeling so good and bad, relieved that her first day went okay and stressed that this is the new normal, that she just burst. We can't blame her though. We were feeling the same way. I had wanted to do a big fancy dinner, with the picture perfect meal and fresh flowers, of course, and between Kevin being gone the days previous, RS meeting one night, a RS activity the next night, getting her supplies, and on and on, it just didn't happen. Maybe I'll try again, with lowered expectations, for when Peter starts as well. He needs some hype too!
We did make it to Cinco de Mayo, and that was a fun memory. Kevin peppered her with pertinent questions that only he would know to ask (this is one of my very favorite things about him...his ability to remember what it was like to be a kid in specific situations, his emotions and all the details, and then apply it to our kids. it's awesome! ) He asked if she got to sit wherever she wanted in the cafeteria, she can. He asked who she sat next to on the bus ride home, Brooklyn. He asked where she sat in her classroom, we're still not 100% sure on this one. He asked where the bathroom was, it's right off of the classroom and her teacher has them do the sign language for toilet during class to communicate their need to go to her (which I think is brilliant). Who did she meet that day? Lily, Mackenzie, and someone else whose name she couldn't recall. Do they have a rest time? Yes, but she just lays her head down on the desk and doesn't need a blanket. I'll ask him later for more of their Q&A but he's drifted off.

I would say, over all, she's thriving. And her teacher seems great. What more can we ask for?

(I totally copied the title of this post from Amy's blog but I liked it. Props to her for her cleverity.)

my wonderfuls have been reminding me this week, on different occasions, that the inevitable is fast approaching.

jillian: mom, when i'm a lady, i won't live with you anymore.

peter: mom, you can't come with me on my mission. moms and dads don't come with you on your mission.

and while i will probably be relieved when my children have grown into productive, wonderful adults who do grown-up things like support themselves and go on missions, for now it seems so sad that i can't freeze them how they are. so fresh, and wonderful, and genuinely smiley. peter's grin right now is mainly mischevious, although he has also taken to big teethy, scrunchy-faced smiles that seem to say "we're sharing a secret." jillian's smiles are mainly reassuring, and so grown-up. i feel like Heavenly Father has literally given me a gift these past two weeks of noticing her grown-upness. so i can feel like i can handle it. putting her on the bus and not seeing her for eight hours of the day that we previously had together. several times i've caught her in the rear-view mirror just beaming at me. she seems so perceptive of the world around her. and when i take a minute to explain a reason behind why i'm asking her to do something, she just gets it. she understands we need to wait for x-y-and-z or why she should ask that person to join the game or whatever it may be. pppppppppphhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeuuuggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh we're going to miss her...but we can do it. i think. maybe we'll home school.

Last night we had a fun time skyping Kevin. It cracks me up that the kids use "skype" as a verb. I didn't know what that was until maybe two years ago. Jillian and Dad made a fort on their own respective ends and she thought that was hilarious. Lucy said "Da-da" over and over, enough to make me admit that maybe she knows what she is saying and that her first word is Da-da. She also waved and waved on command. This was one of her first times waving and it is so very cute. It's so surprising and delightful when babies all of a sudden respond when you ask them to do something! You realize their little spirit is so present, and ready to participate in life! This evening at the pool she was fussy until I realized she wanted to be independent and stand on the stair by herself, which she did for a good hour, jabbering in the sweetest, bossiest little voice. She definitely loves being in the thick of things with her big brother and sister. She'll crawl after them even after they have just finished tackling her to the ground. If she's talking and they're not acknowledging her, she'll just increase her volume and keep chattering until they look at her, which she rewards with a huge smile.

Yesterday I also decided to make about 10 loaves of zucchini bread, a pan of little muffins and a pan of big muffins. They ALL overflowed so that every time I opened the oven door a huge plum of smoke came out. There was no way I was wasting all that dough so I kept cooking them for about an hour. The whole house still stinks. Peter was funny though because he kept saying "Um, it smells good. Just like hamburgers." Later on we let the oven clean itself and I couldn't be more grateful for that feature! Jillian and Peter were fascinated by the fire that the dough on the bottom and on the racks caused.

I just looked at the calender and realized I have less than four whole weeks left of having my Jillian girl at home! It definitely made me want to cry. I will miss having her here all day with Peter, Lucy and I. She has been so helpful lately and I love to see her little beaming smile when she makes a right choice. Several times I have overheard her trying to help Peter make a good choice to obey as well. "See, Peter, you have to listen, and do the jobs mom asks you to do, like this," etc. Sometimes he follows suit and sometimes he is bugged but always he is observing. I pray that on this journey she will find friends who will help her make more good choices.

Kevin signed us up for the St. Jude's Marathon today! Wish us luck! I think I always felt this goal looming but wanted it to stay in the future as a far-off-in-the-distance-type goal. Then Kevin talked to a friend who does super marathons, you know, 50 and 100 milers! He was inspired and caught the bug! His current work schedule has made it a little bit easier for him to exercise as well. When he proposed it to me, I got excited because I have been thinking that if I were ever to do a marathon, I would want it to be together with him. This time when people ask me, as they pass me during the race:), "are you running the half or the full?" I can answer strong "Full!" And, yes, I hope to get one of those 26.2 stickers, even if I only run one in my life!

Lucy is now a crawler! She is in love with exploring and can play on the floor, if I'm nearby, by "herself" for quite a while. She's pretty cautious and pretty quick at the same time. She reminds me of when Ariel gets her legs in The Little Mermaid. (can you tell I have little kids?) I can see her little mind concentrating on each move forward as she tucks her legs beneath her. Then she'll see something she wants and take off for it.

She is also quick to laugh. Today she was in the high chair while I was making some cookies for book club. She was crying for several minutes as she waited for me to finish mixing in the last few ingredients and come give her some more bread. I think I made a sudden move that startled her and all of a sudden, she started to belly laugh. I did it again and she laughed more. We kept at it for a while and she remained in high spirits after that, even though I wasn't able to grab her from the high chair right away. I was impressed that she went from so sad to so happy so suddenly. It really almost seemed like a choice, even though that would logically be a thought much too advanced for one so little. I tell ya, the sparkle in those eyes! If she could just verbalize how it feels to be so childlike! What must it feel like to take everything at face value, with no hard feelings, no guile, so humble, meek and forgiving?! So unable to hold a grudge. So curious and excited for each new thing she encounters! I want to be like that! And in that realization comes the thought that this is just one more reason why God's design of families is so perfect! Once we reach adulthood and start to think we've got things figured out, we get to turn around and "teach" our children, through which very humbling experience we learn again that we really know nothing!

Proof we live in the Amazon Rainforest

Okay, so that's maybe a little dramatic but we have some of the biggest, craziest bugs (and other creatures) here. This one was way bigger than humming birds that have gotten trapped in our garage before. This Luna moth was also found in our garage. We weren't sure if it was alive because it stayed in the same spot for at least 48 hours but then I guess it just decided it was time to move on with its life. It's pretty, really. If I have to have a moth that size in my garage, at least it was beautiful. We live in a neighbborhood but we have woods behind us and a retention pond across from us so we often find bright green frogs on our front windows and door. We also have lots of skinks, birds, and snakes, which is a story for another day. Oh, and we just caught a mouse in our garage. Just keeping things interesting I guess!

And how about this villianous spider? I was totally freaked out when I found this! (the picture really doesn't do it justice) Luckily all three kids were sleeping when I found this, also in the garage, so I could dispose of it without worrying about it jumping on them.

Lucy Lou and I having a grand old time swimming at Grandma's house!

I'm trying to recall where the other kids were, as no one is loving on Lucy and she was able to sit up unencumbered for quite a while. I love those quiet one-on-one moments I occasionally get with each of the children.

Busy, busy Boy!

Jillian and Grandma at one of Jill's favorite sections at the children's museum- the fashion center where you can design your own outfits for paper dolls. She also loved the letter writing center and would always come home with lots of notes, signed sealed and ready to deliver!

YUCK, Peas!

pleasantly surprised

in the last few days my kids have delighted me by doing two things very well. (do they realize how happy they can make us and how easily? they, of course, might ask the same thing of us.) we went grocery shopping after swim team one afternoon. this, in and of itself was a mark of insanity on my part. three kids close to dinner time. three kids tired from swimming and playing all day long. one peter who i can't nap or he won't sleep until 11 p.m. i had very little snackage with which to bribe. but it went perfectly. they were ALL angels. the day before i had asked them to clean their room. it was COVERED in toys. wall to wall helter skelter, as Mama Bear would say. I wasn't really expecting much, which i guess is reaching a new low on my part:) when i went upstairs it was SPOTLESS! my chin dropped before i could catch myself. i'm not really sure why i'm recording this. they were just two tiny, little sweet moments when you're so surprised that something so small from your child can make you SO happy. these kids are awesome!

recording this reminds me of something Jillian said when she completed a task i had asked her to do. she beamed up at me and said "Mom, I like doing a good job and making you happy when i do it!" I was busy with something else and almost didn't hear her. It felt like time physically rewound and then paused so I could check in to my daughter.

and lastly, a peter moment. one night before family prayers we were trying to calm down the troops in a renewed attempt to invoke some reverence during such occasions. we posed this question to peter "what if Jesus were here, Peter? how would you act?" to which he responded matter-of-factly "if a dino were here...long pause while we anticipated the inevitable...He would EAT Jesus." then he calmly closed his eyes and folded his arms, so, i guess, whatever works.

Family Vaca 2011

Classic Dad picture

A friend Jillian made that week. She kept going up to people and introducing herself, and our whole family, in one sentence, and then asking if they wanted to play with her.

We loved this hot tub!

Nothing better than summer fruit!

Morning Yoga