St. George 2013

Dear St. George,

Oh how I love your sparkling blue pool and hot summer air. I love your cute little town where the older (more logical part) is laid out in a quaint grid and the rest of the roads curve enough to send you south for two miles and west for three and then north for four and east for one. I LOVE your thrift stores (my heart still lusts for those tassled cowgirl heels at urban renewal...) I even love your outskirts where sushi and theater will live forever in my heart and stomach.
I also love your beautiful temple. I love that its foundation was built with lava rock and a cannon. Be proud of that. (Look it up if you don't believe me...)
But most of all I love that you are the place that brings us all together: my mom, Lindsey, her mom Linda, and brother Bryan and friend Dagen, and Amy and her kids. And even Mike (Amy's husband), for a few days...
But oh how I wish that you weren't so far away. Because as my sister will readily affirm, I am not a great traveler. Even Rus will concur with this one simple truth: driving long distances starts out as great fun with me, but eventually it is just grumpy edginess with a side of white knuckles and clenched teeth. My life long goal will be to change this, but until then...
Simple evidence of my mileage-induced temper flares can be confirmed by the campground host at Jacob Lake. We like to stop there both to and from St. George because they have the best cookies in the world. On the way up to St. George, we had stopped to get our cookies and then decided to pull off and eat our lunches at the campground picnic tables across the highway. We had done this years before and assumed it was no problem. This time, after pulling the kids out of the van (after a 3 hour drive), and handing them their lunches, the camp host woman (let's call her CHW for short), walked towards our table and stated, accusingly, that lunch at that table would cost us nine dollars and that I had driven into the park way too fast. A vicious exchange ensued and abruptly ended with me driving as quickly as I could (on purpose), out of the campground. Tears fell, a few choice words were said, and I determined that she had forever soured my delicious cookie stop. Anyway, more on CHW later...
The rest of the week in St. George was very fun, and quite honestly a little bit stressful. My kids are beautiful choice spirits, amazing creatures in a million ways. But they are not perfect. They can be trying to the most patient observer. They whine. They cry. They are irrational. Bossy. Picky eaters. They have to go to sleep on time every night because if they are sleep deprived they are all of the above, magnified. Sometimes they are not nice to each other and to anyone within a half mile radius. They ask a lot of questions. They are used to me, I am used to them, and sometimes, most times, I am the only one who can calm them down or set them straight. I find myself easily irritated by their non-mellowness and non-perfectness, especially when we're around other kids who are so mellow and closer to perfect. And I hate parenting in public.
Anyway, after that admission of guilt, here's what we were up to in St. George:
A whole lotta swimming!!
Jacob was a lot braver this trip than in times passed; he actually jumped off the diving board and did a lot of swimming underwater with his goggles.

Sarah and Bekah...

The kids had a lot of fun making up different routines where they all jumped in, one right after another. Luke and Joshua spent hours doing back to back flips into the pool. All of Amy's kids could do flips, so sometimes they would each flip into the water, one right after another.




Hiking. At noon. In 112 degree heat. Not the smartest idea ever.

Playing on the awesome splash pad and river in downtown St. George.
Momma Blau actually made the swimsuit Marianne is wearing for Bekah. Lindsey gave it to me as a gift for my baby shower!

My beautiful girls...
Yes, Bekah got a hair cut...a SHORT haircut! And she loves it because I never have to touch it.



Whip cream war!





Also, everyone but Beau and Marianne (and Bryan and Dagen their babysitters), went to see "Starlight Express" at Tuacahn one of the nights. It was awesome. The songs were great, and only became catchier the more you had them stuck in your head, the actors were terrific, the weather (it's an outdoor theater) was perfect...My favorite part was how Jacob's favorite part of the play was the bats that kept darting in and out.
Here we are, minutes before departing for home:



I spent the entire week reflecting on my awful encounter with the CHW in Jacob lake. By Friday I was full of guilt and remorse for letting her bring out the worst in me. I bought her some flowers, Impatiens, and stopped by her campground on the way home. I drove in very, very slowly. I apologized to her and she seemed to not even recall the encounter. I wondered later if it was even the same lady. She told me over and over that I didn't have to bring her flowers...but I knew I needed to and I felt so much better after talking to her. Maybe she didn't ruin Jacob Lake after all...

San Diego

The first time I met my future husband, he was with his cousin Tom. They had just moved up to Flagstaff to go to NAU as transfer students from Eastern Arizona College in Safford and were living with Tom's parents, Clay and Mary (my third parents after my own and Rus'). I thought, "now there's a scruffy redneck, but his cousin is cute..." I soon fell in love with and married that scruffy redneck, of course, but Tom has always held a tender place in my heart, too...I think because he likes my cooking so much. He's the type of person to "mmm" through an entire meal, not just after the initial bite. And he loves our kids, joining his place right next to their actual uncles as Uncle Tom. And he still makes trips to visit us, even after our numbers have increased and our sanity has plummeted. And he reads my blog. And he calls me for recipes. And he lets us visit.
Anyway, marriage has been a long time coming for Tom, a fact which Bekah remarked on several times after she learned he was engaged. "You and dad got married ten years ago! Why did it take Tom so long?" Well, luckily his new bride Suzy loved him enough to go to the San Diego temple to be married to him for forever.
We were so happy to be able to go to their wedding and enjoy beautiful San Diego at the same time. So after that lengthy intro, here are the details of our trip:
We left Albuquerque on Tuesday night. I had felt rotten for the previous two days and I was just praying to feel better before we reached San Diego. We drove that night to Rus' parent's home in Lordsburg and stayed in their trailer because the inn was full. It was a space meant for four and we crammed in six, which meant we slept horribly but were just grateful for a roof and bed. On Wednesday we hung out (me and the kids), napped (Rus), and then decided late in the day to go swimming at the Lordsburg public pool.
Now Lordsburg may not have much going for it, but the pool is awesome! It isn't huge, but it has a beach entrance on one side and a fun slide on another. The slide is probably two stories tall with a couple of turns and it empties into a four foot pool. Bekah was instantly a pro at the slide. Jacob took a little bit of encouragement, but before too long he was going down by himself and swimming underwater to the side. Beau wanted to go down but thought he needed to be on someone's lap. So Grandpa took him down the slide. I was at the bottom, waiting for him to make his big splash and I thought that maybe they were taking a little longer than normal. I tried to look past the curve of the slide and heard some squeaking - skin on plastic kind of squeaking - and then finally saw Grandpa's feet and legs and then his hands, pushing on both sides of the slide to help lurch him and Beau a little farther down the slide. It turned out the Grandpa and Beau put together were a little too much for the trickle of water that was supposed to carry the willing down into the pool. They inched forward, little by little until they finally made their clumsy plop into the water. Of course I thought this was hilarious!
A little while later, Grandpa finally convinced Beau that he could go down the slide by himself as long as Grandpa was there to catch him, and he did, everytime, and Beau would yell, "AGAIN!" and run back up the stairs to slide again.
Then Grandpa decided to try the slide again, by himself. He stood at the top and used the bar across the top to swing himself onto the slide with a little momentum behind him. Again I was in the pool watching, and this time I saw the water splash out of each curve of the pool and knew exactly where Grandpa was as he was making his speedy descent. We warned the kids to back up, knowing that Grandpa's reentry would come with a splash. He came out the bottom of that slide like a torpedo, making some serious tidal waves that grandkids and grown ups alike enjoyed!
I neglected to mention that we were the only ones at the pool that day, for some reason, and we thoroughly enjoyed having the whole thing to ourselves.
The next day we headed to San Diego, early in the morning, after having another rough night in the trailer because of a freak storm that had me convinced we were going to be struck by lightning. (It did hit pretty close at least once). The drive was looong. The kind of long that you only understand if you have traveled with four children, one of which looses her ability to speak in any octave lower than that of a screaming banshee for the entire nine hours.
We arrived in San Diego, found our hotel, moved into our hotel room (it felt like that, at least, with all the luggage and food we were carrying), and then immediately changed and made our way to the pool. Driving that close to Mexico (in a crazy dust storm) just makes a good clean pool sound inviting.
Later that night we headed out to Suzy's parents house for a fourth of July barbecue/wedding celebration. One awesome thing about Tom and Suzy is that they are both so laid back, and all they really wanted to do was be married, without all the stress and craziness of formal gatherings. So they had a barbeque and it was perfect. All of Tom's family was there (he's one of seven), and most of Suzy's family was there (she's one of nine, I think). Clint and Nicole came and it was so fun to see them and have our kids play together. And I got to hug and love their baby Maverick.
We watched fireworks that night at an elementary school and then headed back to our hotel, late.
We slept GREAT that night, everyone with their own bed!
Friday was the wedding! My uncle Bill and his wife Jeanne actually lived about five minutes from our hotel, and we conned them (actually "him", his wife was at work), into watching our kids while we went to the sealing. The San Diego temple is stunningly beautiful, both inside and out.

My favorite part of the whole thing was seeing Tom and Suzy kneel across the altar from each other...a close second was seeing all of Tom's family in the temple. Two of his siblings had just been married to their wives within the last four months.
Here are "the boys"

Some of the girls:

 

The Hartman Family:

Three perfect heads (that's why they aren't covered in hair...)

The happy couple: (I loved Suzy's dress!) Sorry, Suzy for your candid expression, it was either this one or another picture with half of someone else's camera in it...

Later, after all the pictures had been taken and we had picked up our kids (intact!) from Uncle Bill, we packed a lunch and headed to THE BEACH! I LOVED the beach! I had no idea the effect it would have on me, I thought I'd just be content to sit and play in the sand. But it turned out that the water was cool but inviting and the waves were delightful to dive and roll and wade through. Bekah and I, and Clint and Nicole's daughter Marcy were champions of the waves. Bekah hated how the water was so salty, but she enjoyed everything else about it. Beau and Marianne stuck to the beach. Beau was scared of sharks, and no amount of encouragement would convince him that our beach was shark-free. Jacob tried it out for a little while, but the water was a little too cold so he took to the warm sand for the rest of the afternoon.



Here are all of the kids, Hartmans, Mortensens and Paynes:

Hours later we were back at the hotel enjoying pizza and conversation with Clint and Nicole and the Hartmans. I love how the Hartmans can talk and talk and laugh and share stories...
The next day was Saturday, Beau's birthday, and suddenly we were on the "descent" part of our vacation. We checked out of our hotel and met up with Clint and Nicole, Dave and Stacey, Clay and Mary and Clay's brother Kern at IHOP for breakfast. Beau was turning five, so he ordered breakfast with five silver dollar pancakes and a side of strawberries and whipped cream. Bekah, my completely unadventurous eater, is not really a breakfast person (where did she come from?!), so she had chicken fingers. Our waitress knew it was Beau's birthday and so she brought him some ice cream and then she and and a bunch of other waitresses sang "happy birthday" to him while he hid under the table, embarrassed. We spent the rest of the day telling everyone within arm's reach that it was Beau's birthday, and he loved that.
After breakfast we said our goodbyes and then headed down to the harbor for a sailing adventure! I had found a place online, the Maritime Museum, that had a tall sailing ship, the Californian, that sailed out the San Diego bay every weekend on a four hour adventure...And I signed our family up.
This is actually not our ship...:

But this is:

Now here I must confess that I know the exact moment where our delightful family vacation went a little sour: I gave all my kids, and myself, a dramamine pill, completely forgetting the "noticable drowsiness may occur" and just wanting to avoid any sea sickness. And thus it was that I had four zombie children who only wanted to nap on our four hour sailing adventure. I felt okay, just a little tired, and Bekah actually enjoyed herself, and Marianne actually napped, which was great, but the boys kept trying to lie down like rag dolls. Rus loved every minute of it, thank goodness. He didn't take a dramamine pill, and he loved seeing how different parts of the ship were made and talking to the crew about various sailing subjects.
We don't actually look too bad here:

Beau got to help our very stern captain steer the ship:

Marianne coloring on the deck:

When we finished our adventure and buckled ourselves in the van we had four little sleeping angels within the first mile. We were headed the general direction of home, with hopes to make it at least halfway before holing up in a hotel somewhere.
And telling about the rest of the trip would be like watching the credits roll - boring and tedious. So we'll leave it at that...I'll just say that it's times like this - having survived a long horrible drive that really revealed my true character - I am so grateful that my husband still loves me!

May, June, July

Oh my, I might be setting a new record for myself with "days between posting" adding up and up... It has been a very busy summer so far! Here's what we've been up to since May:

May was a mad rush to finish a comic book that was commissioned by my friend Melanie as a gift to her husband for Father's Day. It was consuming, stressful, and made for many late nights, but it turned out awesome. Epic, even. His comment upon receiving it was "this is pretty frickin' awesome," which I guess is quite a compliment. This is a blurry picture, but you get the idea...

It was fifteen pages, including the cover, and the first panel of each page had Richard (a cow veterinarian), talking to the back end of a cow. I colored it with Copic markers, a new experience for me that I really enjoyed. I had it published at a local company called Subia. I love them - I gave them my finished drawings on Tuesday and had a proof by Friday (Father's day was Sunday).
In June I went to girls camp for a week as an assistant second year leader. I loved every minute of it. Except for being cold. But the girls were wonderful, as were the other leaders. My favorite parts were the zip line, archery, nephite/lamanite battle with pvc bows and arrows, the yummy food, and painting my youth leaders faces to look injured and sick for a first aid mock emergency. When I came home on Friday night, I seriously could have slept straight to Monday. You can imagine how my abandoned husband and kids made sure that didn't happen.
On the Tuesday after I got home from girls camp, Rus left for twelve days away at Philmont, a Boy Scout camp. I decided months ago not to mope and mourn through his long absence, and I planned a trip with my mother and mother in law to Pagosa Springs. And I posted already how amazing it was!
Rus came home on a Saturday and the next week and a half was filled with fun normal things like swimming, doing a woodworking project with DeAnn, and playing with kids.
The week of the Fourth of July we left for San Diego for Rus's cousin Tom's wedding to the beautiful Suzy. We left on the night of the second and spent two nights at Rus's parent's house in Lordsburg. Then we drove the long lovely drive on I-10 to San Diego. The kids really liked seeing Mexico from the road. They wanted to stick their arms through the fence. We were happy to finally arrive at our hotel and see numerous Hartmans. Beau said a couple months ago that he wanted to go on a trip for his birthday, so we said that he could go anywhere he wanted as long as it was to the beach. So Beau had his birthday in San Diego, at the beach, the day after Tom and Suzy's wedding.
Truly, the trip requires its very own post, so let me just say now that it was wonderful to see Tom and Suzy sealed in the San Diego temple.

We got home from that trip on a Sunday night and my sister Amy and her kids and my mom came to visit the following Tuesday. We played the whole week, going swimming, celebrating Bekah's birthday at Cliffs amusement park, and making a longboard with Joshua.

 

Joshua designed, cut out, and painted that longboard himself. He did an AWESOME job! He got home on Saturday night, and by Sunday afternoon he was riding it - that's how excited he was about getting it done!
When Amy left on Saturday she only took Joshua with her. I kept her other three kids for the next six days. We went swimming...and I would like to add here that swimming with seven children, four of which can't actually swim, and not having any of them drown, is in my opinion quite an accomplishment. We also visited the Rattlesnake museum and their dozens of live rattlesnakes, went bowling, went for a hike, made homemade ice cream, attended Apple camp (at the Apple store), made Luke and Bekah castles out of scrap wood, and did lots of lizard catching in the back yard.
Here are the kids in front of the Rattlesnake museum:

It was actually really fun to have seven kids for a week. We went to Target, just for fun, and got a couple odd looks...One older gentleman actually stopped and said, "I'm sorry, I just have to ask..." and I finished for him by saying, "No, these aren't all my children." (I figured out I could have actually had all of them, although three of them are just nine months apart and Luke was born a few weeks before I got married...)
And all of that brings us to this week, where I am finding that teaching paper making to seven children is a wet and messy experience. It's really fun too, but I've learned the hard way that deckles and molds are stronger when the wood is cut with the grain and the screen is a plastic pet screen and not an aluminum wire screen. And set-up and clean-up take a long time. And paper takes a long time to dry, which is not ideal for my back to back three day class. But the kids (ranging in age from seven to thirteen), have had a great time, and that's what's important! Here is our garage full of drying papers:

On Saturday I was able to volunteer as a face painter for Smilefest - an awesome celebration for families with at least one child who has a cleft lip. The woman who organizes it works all year to get a venue and coordinate volunteers and procure donations, so that the families are able to just attend and have a good time, free of charge. This is the second year I have been able to attend as a face painter and I LOVE it! Here is some of my handiwork:

Now it's one week of relaxing fun, one week of St. George, and then school starts!! AAAHHH!!! I'm not ready to be back on a schedule, but angels will be singing when I don't have to take all of my kids grocery shopping anymore!!

Treasure Falls, Pagosa Springs

 On Monday we took another drive (this one was much shorter - and earlier in the morning so it was cooler) to Treasure Falls. If you asked the kids about this waterfall they would probably tell you all about the chipmunks that ate sunflower seeds out of their hands. Bekah, Jacob and Beau all fed the chipmunks, but Marianne was equally fascinated and scared of them. She loved to watch them but didn't want them to touch her.
The hike was short but steep and Marianne did a great job of walking the whole way up. She rode on my shoulders down but would have preferred to walk, she was just too slow and distracted. Can you spot Jacob in this picture?

Piedra Falls, Pagosa Springs

 On Sunday, after realizing we had missed the only church meeting at 9am, we decided to go on an adventure to find Piedra Falls. It was a little bit of a drive to find, but the hike was short and manageable for all of the kids. I didn't have room to take the kelty pack for Marianne, so she rode a little bit on my shoulders but actually walked quite a bit. The drive to find the falls was beautiful, lush and green. A fire was burning somewhere in the distance and it made the sky just a little bit hazy. Louise spotted this regal hawk on a road sign, and he was kind enough to stay and pose so I could get a picture of him.

 Soon after that, Jacob yelled, "fox!" I looked off to the left of the van and there was a coyote running in a field. He was very proud of himself for spotting that first.

 Nana and Cutesy and Marianne made a good team. I loved how they laughed and marveled over every little thing Marianne did. I love Louise and my mom so much - there were some hairy times on the trip where I really lost my patience with the kids and then felt embarrassed to show my face to Louise and my mom. But they were always loving and kind with me, reassuring me that I wasn't the worst mom in the world.

 We stayed at the falls for about twenty minutes, playing in the water and enjoying the spray.

 Marianne's favorite thing to do was plant her padded little bum hiney on the ground and throw rocks into the water.

 And here we all are. If you'll notice, Beau is wearing an eye patch on his good left eye, a daily ritual that will hopefully help his right eye get stronger. I learned, though, after two days of hiking on trails with large rocks to climb on and narrow drop offs, that eliminating Beau's depth perception while hiking was not the brightest of ideas. He didn't get hurt, thankfully, but Nana, Cutesy, and I each took turns fearing for his safety as he blindly navigated the trail.

Pagosa Springs, CO

 Rus is a scout leader to the 14-16 year old boys in our ward. Last fall he found out that he was going to be able to attend Philmont scout camp this summer with the young men he is over. He was delighted, and when I didn't show adequate enthusiasm, he said, "It's like Disneyland for boy scouts!" I soon realized that an invitation to Philmont entailed the purchasing of hundreds of dollars of equipment, like boots and gear and more gear. I also learned that Philmont would be two weeks long...effectively draining Rus of any additional vacation time to spend with me and the kids. So, being the proactive person I am, I called up my Uncle Casey in January and asked if we could use his time share in Pagosa Springs this summer. I will love him forever because he made it happen, almost effortlessly it seemed, and within a few days I had an email in my inbox with my reservation. I guess I should clarify that I made the reservation for when Rus was going to be gone at Philmont (because he wouldn't be able to come with us anyway, no matter when I made it). In a stroke of genius I decided to invite my mom and mother in law, reducing the adult-child ratio to almost 1:1.

Anyway, enough of an intro...Our trip was really fun. Everyone was such a good sport when my air conditioning in the ManVan died the day before and we had to travel with the windows rolled down and warm wind in our faces. Rus could've fixed it, and he will have to next week, but he wasn't around then! But the trip went by fairly fast, only four hours, and before we knew it we were in Pagosa, looking for our vacation home. The section we were in was called "Eagle's Loft" and I think you can see why:

Would you like to hazard a guess as to what was in the bottom of that odd little structure? A gigantic whirlpool bathtub. Why not. The kids loved bathing in it, all four of them at once.
The unit also had two bedrooms with a queen bed in each and a loft with two more queen beds. It had a living room and a "full size" tiny little kitchen and dining area. It was perfect, really. The kids loved the loft...I mean they loved throwing pillows down and running up and down the spiral staircase...they didn't actually love sleeping there because Nana and Cutesy and I were "too noisy" at night. This picture is such an accurate portrayal of my children it's scary.

Right outside our unit (rental? loft? apartment?) was a little lake hemmed with geese and swarms of gnats. The kids really enjoyed chasing the geese, and watching a hot air balloon land just across the lake.

One great thing I have to mention about the place we stayed - they had a fantastic activities center. There were free activities everyday for the kids to take part in - like making "chia catterpillers", painting birdhouses, and making smores. There was also a miniature golf course and a badminton net that we took advantage of. And there was a pool, which was indoor and huge and not too deep. Marianne learned to love the water, Jacob proved he was a good swimmer - under water - and Bekah improved her swimming skills as well. Beau happily shivered and dog paddled wearing his life vest the entire time.

Pagosa was a fun town to explore - my favorite shop was the Choke Cherry Tree because the ladies there let you sample any or all of their delicious sauces, jellies, vinaigrettes and syrups. And they had the best caramels I have ever tasted. I don't even really like caramels, but these nut-packed ones were GOOD. We also ventured into a few antique stores and a great second-hand store. My mom somehow discovered a "blackmarket" turquoise dealer (a native american woman and her grandmother selling jewelry from their car), who talked me into buying an opal ring. I think opals are beautiful because they sparkle and capture light so well.

The other thing I loved about Pagosa was the river than runs through it. And the bakery. Whoops, that just slipped in there...must be the amazing molasses cookies I tried. Twice.

Anyway, the river was really fun. Louise, Jacob, Beau, Marianne and I played on the bank for at least an hour one day...scooping up sand and building little rivers and dams for a piece of bark to travel through. Marianne loved having her feet buried in the sand. We enjoyed watching people raft and inner tube past us. One day that will be my family...when they all know how to swim. (Bekah and Cutesy were busy at a delicate butterfly painting class.)

I'll have to tell you about a few other adventures...in another post...

Why not paint with your feet?

My kids are in bed - all of them - finally asleep. I realize that I haven't posted anything here for (what is today?) sixteen days, and this blog is in desperate need of being caught up. The last few weeks have seen the last hectic days of school, complete with teacher thank you gifts and parties. We also "celebrated mediocrity," to quote Rus, (because he's a pessimist/realist), by hosting a graduation party for Beau and his joy school classmates. I have to say that I am officially not a fan of joy school. I will spare you my soap box worthy thoughts on the matter, and instead just say that I will happily and diligently find a preschool for Marianne to attend when the time comes.
Beau, second from right, with a graduation cap that is too small for his off the charts head...

The other major thing that has been occupying my time and thoughts is a project I am doing for a friend. She is paying me to draw a comic book for her husband for Father's day. The comic book will contain "stories" of some of his greatest moments as a husband and father over the past thirty years. It is a really fun project, but also really intense as I am trying to convert memories into stories complete with humorous dialogue and pictures. When I'm done drawing and coloring everything I will take it to a company that will scan in all of the drawings and turn them into an authentic bound and published comic book. I am SO excited for the finished result...but I admit I am a little stressed about getting it from rough sketches to finished product. I just keep thinking, "this will be EPIC, this will be amazing, this will be priceless, I have plenty of time!" Positive thinking, right?
I guess I'll share a few random thoughts as I wait for the 300+ pictures on my camera to load. (Rus has been photographing the birds in our backyard so he can identify them with one of his two bird books. Nerd. I love it. And Jacob has been taking pictures of ants and lizards and rocks in our backyard. Junior Nerd.)
A few days ago Jacob came inside from the backyard with a 1"x1"x four foot long piece of wood. He said, "Mom, is it okay if just you and me go to the garage for a minute and use the sander and we sharpen the end of this to a point?" I replied, much to his frustration, that sharp, pointy sticks are dangerous. He countered, "But if it's not sharp it won't stick in the ground when I throw it!" And I reiterated that throwing sharp pointy sticks was really dangerous. This really mad him mad and he stomped out of the house with his dull, flat stick yelling, "you NEVER let me do things I want to do!" I'm afraid he's right. I never let him make wooden weapons, because I'm sure if I did he would somehow accidentally wind up maiming one of his siblings.

Also: Marianne's arms seem to be permanently covered in permanent marker. I am not sure how she does it - I can't seem to find a permanent marker to save my life when I really need one, but she finds them all over the house in random places. And then she colors her arms and her legs and if I'm really lucky, nearby books and furniture. My cousin watched her a few weeks ago and she was wearing long fleece pajamas. I changed her into cooler clothes later and found that she had completely colored one of her legs. I'm not even sure my cousin knew she did that because the pjs covered it up!

Here is Marianne "smiling" for the camera in the dress my mom bought for her when she was just a few months old.

Marianne is certainly the prime source of entertainment in our family. She loves to sing (it sounds more like an indian chant), and if you ask her, she'll sing you the happy song or the doggy song, where she sings that particular word over and over. She loves to twirl and fall on the floor, and her vocabulary seems to increase hourly. She still loves my ipad and I find myself hiding it from her all day long and sneaking away from her to check emails when I think she's distracted. If she sees it, she has to have it, and she has a disturbing ability to operate it as well as my other children.
Lastly, I have to admit that I am not afraid to get dirty. In fact I sometimes invite it, like when I ran the Dirty Dash last September, or when I laid out paper and dumped paint on it and let Beau and Marianne skate on it with their bare feet. We needed large sheets of painted paper to make collages in Jacob's class on the last day of school. So Beau and Marianne were my helpers and we painted three large sheets of paper with vivid colors and lots of texture. The kids in Jacob's class made good use of the paper and his teacher proclaimed it the easiest last day she'd ever had. Success.
(Note our finished raised flower beds and fountain in our back yard!)