While watching a US men's figure skater, Jaxon exclaims, "Mom, he was so beautiful that my eyes glazed. I was almost about to cry."

--
-Jessica Steed

So You Say . . .

Before I forget them entirely, here are some funny things my kids have been saying.

Finn told me how he thinks I got pregnant (when I had my boys, not that I am now).

"Daddy buys a seed and puts it in your mouth and it goes to your tummy and grows into a tree and the babies grow on the tree."


Asher thought our Indian doctor spoke French. I told him he was had an accent like King Julian from Madagascar. Then Asher starts quoting the movie, "I'm a woman, are you attracted to me?"

Jaxon writes every day for me as part of our summer school.  Today I asked him to write a sentence about everyone in the family. 

Here's his paragraph.

"There is Dad he is our favorite. There is mom she makes us do chores. There is me I'm the oldest of 2 brothers. There is Finnly who is cute."

Finn's Girlfriends

So Finn has always had a thing for girls. When he was two, he had a crush on Mina, the girl down the street. One day we were visiting and he was smiling at her, unusually shyly, and I smelled something strange. "Finley! You can't come visit your girlfriend and poop in your diaper!" 

Yes, he's five now and still quite the little charmer. Tonight he met a little girl named April at the park and insisted I get her mom's phone number so we could have a playdate. On the way home he started telling me about his teenager girlfriend in New York named April (surprise) who was 12, but on her next birthday she was going to be 14. She was a scorpion make-betterer (doctor) who took care of people when they were stung by scorpions. That's because Finn was stung by a scorpion at the pool last week. 

He went on and on about April then told me he had another girlfriend in California. This one didn't like to talk so she didn't have a mouth. She was a hamster doctor and her name was also April. (He says all of his girlfriends are named April.)

I'm not sure quite what to make of this, but April looked a lot like Mina, blonde with bangs and glasses. I think he has a type. 

How are my boys able to make better sound effects than I am from day one?

No Wonder

No wonder Jaxon loves to do his homework on Grandma's desk. I just caught him in there on her electronic Yahtzee game. 

Jaxon in Love

Jaxon says to me, "Mom, go to the grocery store and buy me a black leather jacket so I can look smooth for Heather*."

Yesterday, Jaxon picks up an Arizona Parenting magazine. As he opens it, he tells me, "This is so I can figure out how to parent my kids after Heather* and I get married and have kids."

A few weeks ago, Jaxon found wedding ring and another ring Mark gave me when we were first married on the night table next to my bed. He brings them to me in the morning with one in each hand and offers this deal, "Mom, you choose one and I'm going to give the other one to Heather*."

Most adorably, Jaxon is trying to figure out how to get Heather to notice him when he won't talk to her, won't tell her that he likes her and is so secretive about his crush that he won't even mention it around his brothers (ages 5 and 7 who don't care at all!).


*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Lighting the menorah with the boys.

Labor Day 2012 Flagstaff

Click on photo for webalbum.


We went to a ranch with some friends this weekend and had a wonderful time.
The kids played on a zip line, rode horses, and slid down the stairs on pillows.

Thanks to our friends, Jen and Nate Babbitt for inviting us along!

(There should be a picasa webalbum with this post. fingers crossed)

We are alive

I can't believe it's been since September that I posted. I'm not promising that I'll post regularly now, but I wanted you to all know that we're all alive, kicking and screaming (well some of us).

Update-

Mark is doing great at work (still investing for AZ fund) and has started more seriously pursuing his second love, no not another woman, music.
He's in voice lessons and a big choir EVMCO (I can't remember what it stands for, but they're giving the Mo Tab a run for their money).
Mark has been studying voice with Jordan Bluth and is having a recital next month. He doesn't want a lot of people to know about it, so pretend you don't know when you talk to him.
Together with a friend of ours, Nate Curtis, Mark is starting an investment/economics group. I'm not really sure what they do yet, but their first publication is an overview of the US economy (think Econ 110).

I'm in school for the first time in, ahem, ten years exactly. (I graduated BYU in Dec 2001 and started a community college in Jan 2012). I'm taking anatomy/physiology and fundamental chemistry and I really LOVE both classes. It's like going home. School is something I've always been good at (not to mention I'm practically in grade 13 of high school at MCC). But really, it's so much easier than real life. You learn material, test on it, and move on. There's no pesky relationships to manage that require skill and patience, there's no complications that require nuance. It's just school. And I love it. I've got 2 more semesters before I'll have the prereqs met to apply to the Physician Assistant program at A.T. Still which is down the street. We've had some friends go there, so I'm excited to apply and I hope to be accepted.
I'm also still writing for The Exponent and working with LDS WAVE. I'm in my 9th and final year as a board member of the AZ Hemophilia Association and we are making great progress with the organization. We are ramping up for this year's Salsa Challenge, so if you're around Tempe on Sat April 28th, please join us! Lastly, I'm still teaching Zumba 3x a week and I picked up a Yoga class Tuesday nights in Lehi.

Jaxon, our 3rd grader, has found is new love since he outgrew trains. BEYBLADES. There is a TV show, and a bunch of toys that we have acquired. They are spinning tops with interchangable parts and I just hope that this means he will be fabulous at physics when he grows up :) Jaxon also has a new love for America's Funniest Home videos. He will watch this until the cows come home. He laughs hysterically at almost every video. During the school year, Jaxon read the entire Series of Unfortunate Events, 13 volumes! He loves to read and is working on the Chronicles of Narnia now.

Asher is our energetic kindergartener who actually kissed his little girl friend on the playground the other day. I asked him about it, he said, "Her face was just right there, so I kissed it! I kissed her nose!" He is just sweet and adorable with his little round cheeks and his beaming smile. He's so proud of all of his projects and the teacher calls him the class cheerleader because he encourages the other kids. Our friend teaches art in the class and she said that Asher has a very creative art mind and was the only boy to draw muscles on his life-sized self-portrait. He's learning to read and is persistent and devoted. I don't even have to remind him, he just gets out his book and works on it. Amazing.

Little Finn still stays at home with me most days, but goes to preschool 3 days a week. He's tons of fun and we call him, "Funny Finny." This morning Asher was arguing with me about saving a colored hard-cooked egg that he made. I said, "Asher, Easter is over. We are eating the eggs now. This is not a food museum (h/t Nate Steed)." Finn laughed while the others didn't even get it. Finn's favorite friends are girls. He loves to play pretend and yesterday pretended he was pregnant with a stuffed animal under his shirt. When Lucy told him he couldn't pretend to be a girl, he told her, "Yes I can!" That's my boy! Er, girl. I guess he's always known I wanted him to be a girl ;)

We have had a lot of fun as a family this year and have plans to see Disney on Ice this weekend (we got 3 free tix, otherwise we wouldn't go). Hopefully we'll make it out to Michigan for a few weeks this summer. We really enjoyed it last year.

So, in addition to not posting, I've not been reading blogs either, so if you make a comment I will go back to your blog and read it! (How's that for an incentive to maintain friendships?)