Time to brush up on gospel doctrine?

This morning we've been building with blocks. It started as normal, building a bridge. Usually we just build bridges. Today we progressed, though, to building a library tower temple barn. It was pretty impressive.

But Nathan wasn't done there. To the best of my understanding of toddler speak, he started using his blocks to build Zion. That's what it sounded like. I really need to take a closer look at that nursery manual my mother in law gave me. What are they teaching my kid at church? 

When "Please bless the food" becomes "bwess food!"

Last week we started on cereal.

It was not her favorite. She hasn't yet gotten the idea that when the spoon comes, she should open her mouth. We'd have to put our fingers close to her mouth. And she, thinking she'd get to suck on a finger, would open and get a mouthful of...what? What is this? But she did swallow most of it. I don't think food will get exciting until we start on something that has actual taste, though. I'd probably make the same face if I had to eat a rice cereal/formula mush.

We've also been working on prayers. Nathan likes to pray. And he'll say about half of the words that you tell him to say. My favorite, though is "Thank you for..." Because Nathan's "thankyou" sounds like "give you." "Give you mom, give you dad, give you Clara." It sounds like he's willing to trade his whole family in exchange for blessings like "sleep good" and "have fun." Apparently family, the thing that should be most important, matters little. All he wants is a good night's sleep and a good time the next day. Little hedonist. It's funny and sweet to watch him learn to pray. And he pays attention a lot better when he's the one praying. Double good.

This baby

This baby is six and a half months. Can you believe it?

I can't. We took her in for her six-month visit a couple weeks ago. She's huge. At four months, she was still zero percentile for her weight. At six months, 14 pounds, she's skyrocketed up to the fifteenth percentile. I'm thinking the fourteen pounds may have something to do with the six ounces she consumed immediately before going to the doctor, though. Literally, immediately before. I lost track of time (I wish I could say I was doing something important) and realized both kids were asleep and we needed to be at the doctor in twenty minutes. So, supermom that I am, I fed Clara a bottle while putting shoes on Nathan and myself, changed Clara's diaper and got her overalls on. Yes, I fed a bottle and changed a diaper on the same baby at the same time. I'm a little proud of my multitasking skills.

She's working on learning to sit. And she loves to watch her big brother. Big brothers are the best, except when they trip and fall on top of you. That is sad.

This picture goes all the way back to June 1, when we first got the exersaucer out. Her feet barely reached the ground and if you didn't prop her up right, her arms would get stuck and she'd sit there with her chin resting on the seat. She's grown into it now and loves it. She especially loves the giraffe on it, which was also Nathan's favorite. He made the giraffe permanently bendy from pulling it down to chew on it.

And Nathan couldn't resist the novelty of a new toy. This is the only time he climbed in it, though. It's not fun to be stationary anymore.

All hands on deck

We've been a little preoccupied around here lately. Building will do that to you, I guess. Ever since we moved in we thought it would be nice to add some sort of patio to our backyard. Because seriously, how has this house existed for twenty-plus years without making the backyard space a little more livable?

So this year we took the plunge. It started as an impulse.  We went into the backyard to talk about location, size, etc., and the next thing we knew, we were ripping up grass to move a sprinkler line. Whoops, we started building a deck. I guess we better finish. Has that ever happened to you?

We got the footings, poles, and beams into place. Nathan called it a barn. And then my dad, wonder building-man, came to the rescue. Because we really didn't know what we were doing. And my dad, who built both of the houses I grew up in, thinks decks are "simple" projects. He helped us get it square, strong, and ready to plank.

 With a little expert help and innumerable trips to Lowe's, it's nearly done. Well, nearly usable. Once the planks are finished, I think we'll celebrate with an outdoor dinner. We'll still need to add stairs, railing, and some trim around the sides. Hopefully that won't go the way of all other projects I start, lose steam, and then wait a couple of years before completing.

But if you ask Nathan, it's already just right. Just right for dancing.

Only a month and a half late

We blessed Clara May 2. And here are the pictures. I wouldn't have bothered posting them so late, but I wanted to brag on my sweet grandma.

The dress Clara wore my grandma made in 1950, before the birth of her first child. It was worn by my mom, my two aunts, my sister, two of my cousins, and me. I ended up with the dress as the youngest female grandchild. And now Clara is the third generation to wear it.

The dress is slightly yellowed with age; our best efforts to whiten it got it to an antique white/cream color. 

But the delicate hand-embroidered flowers are as beautiful as ever. My grandma also crocheted the lace, copying the pattern of the lace that was used on her own blessing dress, from 1928. 

 My grandma is a crafter extraordinaire. She has made innumerable beautiful things with her hard-working hands. I didn't inherit the patience to learn those skills. I'm a reluctant sewer. An amateur crocheter.

But at least I did inherit the ability to appreciate the beauty and in this small dress, so painstakingly created. And I'm glad I could give my grandma and my daughter this gift, to pass along this small piece of our family's heritage.

Different ways of looking at a weekend

Imagine that you were strapped to a seat, unable to free yourself. Your only access to food and water depended solely on your captors' whims, and entertainment is slim to nonexistent. Your pleas to be released are ignored. This goes on for an interminable amount of time. It may, for all you know, go on forever.

Torture, you call it? My two-year-old would agree. Parents, though, call this a vacation.

We went to Moab last weekend. It's a four and a half hour drive. Nathan was capable of being good for only about half of that time. We went through a lot of snacks. The books we got from the library to take with us I now have memorized. And we had a lot of crying and "I'm done!"

But we made it. And we even had a little fun in between the torturous drives and too-long hikes.

We had a family reunion in Moab, so we figured, why not? I've been needing a vacation. I forgot that vacations with kids aren't really vacations.

We went to Arches and saw the sights. We did the requisite Delicate Arch hike.

We got to play with very fun cousins, who put up with us for the most part.

We had a great time at Sandy Arch. It started to rain just as we were making the short walk to the canyon. So as we started to run to the shelter of the cliffs, everyone started streaming out of the canyon, running for the shelter of their cars. Foolish people. Don't they know it only rains for about five minutes in the desert? Once the rain stopped we had the arch all to ourselves to play in the lovely piles of sand that give the arch its name. Nathan had a great time inching down the hill on his bum and calling it "sliding."

And we even stayed (mostly) dry through the crummy weather. Nathan had a great time climbing mountains and playing with all the kids. One day we stopped for lunch in Arches and Nathan started playing on a nearby rock. He climbed it for a while, and then he sat down and said "Sit the potty." and then pretty soon, "Flush it!" He has sat on the potty exactly twice. It's good to know he's got an imagination. None of the other kids wanted to play on that rock once it got named the Potty Rock.

Clara is less of an adventurer. Turns out she likes warm bottles and clean diapers, thank you very much. The campground had warm water, so that wasn't a problem, while we were out doing things we had to get creative. But she did have fun. Clara didn't smile until she was over two months, so when we played with her she would just look at us seriously. We used to joke that our solemn baby was looking at us disapprovingly, thinking that she was so much more mature than her silly parents. She smiles a lot now, but doesn't laugh much. It turns out though, that we're just not that funny. My cousin Paige caught her in a silly mood and had her giggling like I've never heard before.

So we made it, without any sunburns or major injuries. And we even had some fun. And I call that success.

Day Out With Thomas

While we were trying to decide what to do with our long weekend last Friday, Fate stepped in. I'll bet my sister-in-law didn't know that she was Fate. She called to say they had an extra ticket to ride Thomas, and would Nathan like to come?

Would Nathan like to come? Do mice like cheese? Do fish like water?

So Nathan went. His first big outing sans parents.

 They rode the train. They met, as Nathan told us, "Thomas Hatt."

 They played games.

This is possibly the best picture of Nathan. Ever. It captures his mischievous joyful busy self perfectly.

And best of all, he got to do it with his super-cool cousin.

While he was gone, we were left feeling a little bereft. And when, while driving, we saw a fire truck WITH THE LADDER FULLY EXTENDED, there was no one to enjoy it. We were like "Oh, wow! We never see that! See that, Nathan?" And he didn't. I guess you can never have it all, can you?

A big thanks to Mike and Erin, for taking our son for a wonderful time, and giving us pictures so we could enjoy it secondhand.