Bring on the Adventure and Bring on the Progress

Well Christmas has come and gone and it's now almost a new year. I was thinking about trying to sum up this years happenings but it's been a really long year! I think if I try to sum it up everyone who even glances at this blog will be fast asleep in 2.3 minutes. It was a good year with a lot of good changes for my family. It's kind of a catch 22 when it comes to improvement because you first have to find out that something is wrong. That happened a couple of times this last year and it was painful each time. The good news is that after a day or two of coping, or crying action can be made and progress can take place. I am and my family is in the midst of progress and I hope that I can report that for the rest of my life. So I guess when it comes to things of true importance this year can be summed up by growth and everything that associates with that. Anyway perhaps the better thing to do is to think about the year ahead. I haven't yet sat down and contemplated deeply on my hopes and desires for the year coming. I know I want to do great things. I know I want to do better at teaching my children. I know I want to keep up on photography even though my year with the photo blog is coming to a close. I know I want to help the young women feel close to their Heavenly Father through the music at girls camp this summer. I know I want to be a good friend. Time can only say what types of curve-balls will come my way as I try to do these things. Right now, standing on the edge of a new beginning, I feel ready. Bring on the adventure and bring on the progress.

Burnt Pull-ups

"Mommy, Daddy! You've got to come see this!" These were the ecstatic words that Braden was shouting yesterday afternoon as he ran into our bedroom shortly after Spencer had gotten home form work. "Jade and I made a talent show for you!" His eyes were huge and sparkling (a very common look for Braden when he is excited about something). So, what were we as parents to do? We just HAD to go check out this awesome talent show. Spencer made it up the stairs in front of me. As I approached the room, I smelled something quite awful... like burnt toxins. The concerned look on my face was met by Spencer saying, "Yeah, I smell it too." He was sniffing around in the bathroom trying to locate the source. I went in the bedroom to check it out and then I saw it! Jades floor lamp was leaning against her bed. I could see through the frosted plastic that there were objects around the light bulb. I also noticed that the tiny beginnings of a smoke plume were starting to rise from the lamp like a tiki torch that had just been put out. "Get away from the lamp!," I yelled at Jade who was next to it. Spencer came in at the sound of the commotion. I grabbed the lamp and quickly looked inside. There was no actual flame. Instead I saw smoldering pull-ups. What on Earth?!!! The dancing fairy princesses that adorned the side had transformed into brown goop which was now melted all over the light bulb. I flung the contents of the lamp onto the floor. Spencer quickly grabbed the pull-ups and ran them downstairs and took them outside. They reeked! While he was downstairs I was upstairs with the kids. Braden, looking a bit terrified said, "We were trying to make a spotlight. I don't think we should have done that." I agreed and told him I was glad he had called us up there and that we were lucky that it hadn't caught the house on fire. I asked why on Earth they needed pull-ups in the lamp. Braden said, "I remember you said the light bulb was hot and could burn us, so we put the pull-ups in there to protect our hands." Well, that was a horrible plan, but I am at least relieved that there was some logic involved... although it was dangerously off. We got an opportunity to teach them that lights are never toys and that things burn when they get too hot. Jade got the opportunity to have a sleep-over in Braden's room to avoid the noxious fumes that lingered in hers. Her window stayed open all night. Nevertheless, her room still has the tiniest hint of that nasty aroma of burnt pull-ups.

Kids are Loud!

I'm writing a blog post! And what topic have a chosen to break my long writing hiatus with? Answer: the topic that came to me this morning as I was lying in bed at 6:00AM with two kids tucked in on either side... that kids are loud. I don't know if I thought about this fact before having children and I'm sure it would have made no difference regarding my decision to be a parent, it's a tiny sacrifice. However, I'm also pretty sure that when Spencer and I decided to expand our family we had unknowingly sentenced ourselves to a home operating at four times the decibel level than we had with the two of us. Think about it. Babies... they come to you with all these built in noises of which include: grunting, snorting, gagging, sighing and screaming at the top of their lungs. These noises persist whether the infant is awake or asleep, happy or sad, bored or entertained. Noise. Then they grow up a little and start learning to make lots more sounds in addition to the other ones. They're really cute additions to their noise making abilities and louder than their previous gruntings. Finally, after much coaching and naivety from the parents, the child learns to talk. As far as noisiness is concerned, this opens a whole new world of being loud. Of course, it's absolutely wonderful to hear your child learning to express themselves verbally. Once it starts it will never stop. At a very young age they become parrots copying everything they hear. As they get to be preschool age they have so much swimming around in those little heads that they have to be talking almost non-stop to let it out! This need doesn't discriminate against nighttime. I often hear Braden and Jade talking in their sleep while I'm working on my homework. Preschool age is also about the time that imaginative play starts coming to the forefront of their daytime entertainment and along with it comes car sounds, sword sounds, vacuum sounds, pretend crying sounds, pony sounds, dramatic bad-guy sounds and also shrill screeching sounds if you're lucky enough to have a girl. This is the stage that our children are at now. It's funny because the more excited they are, the louder things become. If something is particularly thrilling, they will report to me at such loud volumes that it seems as though they are yelling in my face. The volume switch is broken! So, at first I began thinking that when they mature things will quiet down and there will be peace once again in the land, but then it hit me it won't get quieter! Who am I kidding? I think about our house when I was a teenager... if we were home each bedroom had different music playing all at once. If we had friends over, we were talking loudly and laughing or making silly movies together or Jacob was wrestling with his buddies in the front room. Things weren't quiet at all! Jacob and I would practice swing dancing to Glen Miller turned up loudly. There were blow dryers and stereos and sub woofers and bass guitars, flutes, trombones, violas, and pianos going every day. All good, but noise noise noise. Anyway, I was thinking about this as I lay in bed trying to catch one last chance of sleep. Braden was awake and talking in a half whisper. I was feeling threatened that it would wake up the little loud one known as Jade. When he wasn't talking he was fidgeting and making clicking sounds with his tongue. And Jadelynn, fast asleep was wiggling around and every time she turned over she would sigh loudly and flop her arms dramatically wherever they wanted to land (usually on my face). Then, comfortable again, she would smack her lips in sleepy contentment. Ah well... sleep is overrated. I've been deprived of it for years now and I'm still functioning. I am sure there will be a time when I am older and starting to shrivel when I will want for nothing more than the noises that I get to hear daily from my lovely children. Until then, I stand behind my earlier statement and declare to all those who may not have noticed, "Kids are loud!"