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.