cute things

So I keep thinking of things to post on facebook, and then I realize that I need to be putting them in here as well so they'll be saved forever electronically (hopefully!) and printed in family blog books.  And so, here are a few cute moments from the last couple of days/things I've been thinking about.
     Katelyn told me how much she loves to play the song she wrote on the piano because it has all her favorite sounds in it.
     Katelyn did her music-reading flashcards in only 49 seconds- shattering her old time of 57 seconds- and she was jumping around saying "YES!!  YES!!  YES!!"  So cute.
     Her class played Red Rover in PE and she broke through 2 girls' arms.  Big for her because it means she's strong and fast. :)
     She set up a pizza shop with Whitney called Pizzas Galore.
     I love the time I get to spend with Katelyn in the morning from 6:45 to 7:35 when her bus comes.  She's always talking about funny things or singing while she does her math homework or intently reading the cereal box, and the other kids are usually still asleep so it's peaceful.
     The other day on a walk Katelyn kept picking Owen up around the stomach and carrying him for a minute, and he didn't look comfortable at all but he didn't complain at all because he ADORES Katelyn.  That same day he had just gotten dressed by Eric and he saw Katelyn and practically ran into the bathroom where I was doing her hair and just stood there hugging her legs for a minute!
     Whitney says so many funny things every day that I should just keep a camera rolling and we'd become rich and famous with our own TV show.  Not that I would want that, AT ALL, EVER.  But let's see if I can remember a few-
She still calls Family Home Evening "Hamly Foam Eveling" poor girl just gets it mixed up!
 A few weeks ago she told me it was George Lincolnham's birthday.
She frequently says "why are you ruining my LIFE???"  and "why do we have these WICKED RULES???"  (or wicked poo-poo rules)
And she's so cute, some things really stick with her and she's always thinking about and talking about gospel principles, such as:
"Mom, in Primary, we learned about suffering.  Like how Jesus suffered." (led into a great conversation!)
"So all of the people who followed Satan, they don't have a family, so they can't GROW!"
"I thought in heaven it would be great, but we're going to have to be an old lady FOREVER???" ( a little misunderstanding about Resurrection: our spirits re-joining our bodies on earth-- I cleared it up! :) )
     And Whitney does her little 4-year-old best to be a good big sister.  Most of the time things go wrong between her and Owen it's just an accident or she's being too rough!  But she does make him laugh a LOT, like the other day she kept sneaking up behind him in his high chair and slapping the bottom of it with her hands and saying boo! and he thought it was the funniest thing ever.  They also play chase a lot, and she tries to read him stories (which he's NOT good at holding still for!) and she's good at helping me keep an eye on the little troublemaker.
     Owen's best new cute trick is saying "uh-oh" when something falls, but he's started using it for other purposes too, like when anything goes wrong in any way.  Or when he's stuck up on a chair and can't get off and he dropped the sharpie he just wrote all over his hand with. :) Or when he's slipped while climbing up the bunkbed ladder and is sitting on the third rung unable to go up or down.  I'm learning to come running when I hear his cute little voice saying "uh-oh!"
     Owen's face was the best the other day when, for the first time, I left the back door open and said "go ahead!  you can go outside." he just kept walking in and out, in and out, like "really???  I can come and go with no restraint??"  Then today he grabbed the tree trunk of one of our smaller trees and started walking around and around it holding on, he thought it was so neat.  And I gave him and Whitney a couple of bowls full of water on the deck, and some cups and paintbrushes, and they were happy for over an hour!  Now we'll just see if I can survive the MANY hours I'll be spending outside with him the next few months!  I'm never going to get anything done inside!!
     Owen has started getting a book, coming over to me (I'm sitting on the floor), then turning around and backing into my lap- so cute!  He will only spend about 25 seconds on each book, but hey, we are establishing the connection that reading is fun and cuddly and happy.

Okay now a couple of random thoughts.
     We started watching Downton Abbey the other day (not part of the craze, just curious!  and it was Eric's idea I swear!) and I was thinking about how weird it would be to have even just ONE maid or cook, let alone MANY servants to do everything for me- so strange!  Nice though!  Also Eric and I were talking about what I will do when all our kids are in school (a long way off!), and I hope that one thing I will do is actually clean my house every day- sweep, mop and vacuum much more often, not to mention washing walls, windows, or blinds, which I NEVER do!  (Don't even mention cleaning the bathrooms...)  Not that I really care about having a totally clean house-- my priorities are elsewhere and I settle for picking up clutter and doing dishes and I'm fine with it for the most part.  BUT, I will be pretty proud of myself if I someday have a little chore list and actually do them daily and have a cleaner house. :)
     Also, we are coming up on the end of Whitney's preschool years, and I'm so excited to have a break from preschool for a while!  Don't get me wrong, I have LOVED having a preschool group with anywhere from 3 to 5 moms and taking turns teaching our kids.  I really love teaching my own kids in a more "official" preschool setting, seeing how they interact with their friends and getting to know the cute, hilarious kids we've had in our groups.  We have had SO much fun.  I LOVE the other moms I've worked with in this over the years-MelanieCrystalHeatherCindySaraJanaeSusieLanaJamie-they have become such good friends to me.  I wouldn't change a thing about how I've done these last 4 years of preschool- 2 for Kate and 2 for Whitney.  BUT-- it has also been a little exhausting at times!!  Dealing with a crying baby or a nursing baby or a tantruming 2-year-old while teaching several curious 3 or 4 year olds is tough!  And that year when there were only 3 of us moms in the group, teaching our 4 year olds twice a week?  We had to teach really often and it was a lot of work.  I could never be a real full-time preschool teacher!  Or an elementary teacher!  I just can't handle the chaos and my patience with other people's kids is shorter than it should be.  And so, until Owen is ready for preschool in about 2 1/2 years, I am so excited to not have to worry about it. :)
      Healthy eating is going pretty well for me.  It's crazy how just one food choice (a piece of whole wheat bread vs. a cupcake) can make the caloric difference for that day.  For me the margin between losing weight and gaining weight is not very big.  So I really have to make the decision EVERY day (hour) to eat healthy.  It's crazy to think that since I'm trying to do something that's sustainable for the rest of my life (no, I'm not going to be so meticulous for my whole life, I'm hoping healthy eating will become a habit that I won't have to check so carefully) there are things I may NEVER eat again.  Like hot dogs.  Or mozzerella sticks.  Or even cheezits! I'd like to save my empty calories for something delicious like ice cream, thank you!  There's other things that I LOVE that I know I shouldn't eat, like a 900 calorie large Blizzard from Dairy Queen (900 calories??? NO ONE should be eating that!!)  that I'm sure I'll still indulge in from time to time.  And I'm definitely still eating candy almost every day.  Just not a whole bag in one day. :)  And often I get annoyed that I can't just eat whatever junk I want.  But then I remember this- I do FEEL better like this.  Physically and emotionally.  So... hopefully the logical side of me will stay in control. :)

That's all for now...