Aidan's 4th Birthday

You have grown into such a big boy! Last week at Kindergarten pre-screening you cooperated very well. You were measured in the 95th percentile for height, and 60th percentile for weight. You are taller than all of your brothers were at your age, and you weigh the same or more than they did. In fact, you are just as tall as Benjamin was when he was 5 years old!

You are a very good helper, Aidan. When mom is busy cleaning, you often join her in sweeping or wiping surfaces. You regularly empty all of the trash containers in the house and throw them out in the can in the garage without even being asked.

You were also the most attentive helper on Saturday when we filled our new raised beds with topsoil and peat moss. You helped to smooth out the dirt and break up the chunks. You tended to the fire that we had going to warm up the soil and the area a little bit, as well as to get rid of the pallets that the soil came on and take care of some of our yard scraps. You also helped mom to remove the leaves and stems from last year's hostas and transport them to the fire.

From Stef's Sweethearts

We had such a fun time on your 4th birthday, Aidan. You were such a good boy getting ready for church. You didn't need much help at all. You got to open one present before church, an Aqua Doodle mat. It folds up and has handles on it so you can take it along with you. You were very well-behaved at church. You wrote on your new mat in sacrament meeting and stayed very quiet, and didn't cry at all when I took you to Primary, where you went right to your teacher and behaved well. You enjoyed your treat from the Bishop, didn't you?

From Stef's Sweethearts

We had a fun afternoon, as well. You got a very funny e-card from Grammie and Grandpa that you played over and over again, as well as a paper birthday card (remember, we do birthday gifts from them in a big party each summer with your cousins). You were very excited about your presents. Your brothers were so nice to spend their own money to give you gifts. Although the rocket from Dallin and the balloons from Grandma and Grandpa were really fun to play with for the rest of the day, and the candy treats from your other brothers were very yummy, and you loved getting birthday dollars from Great Grandpa and Grandma Burnham, you were the most excited about the seeds and gardening tools you got from Grandma and Grandpa. You shouted, "Growing Things!" and were very anxious to plant them. We planted the sunflower seeds in pots the next morning to help contain your enthusiasm to plant all of your seeds in the garden right away.

We had Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner, by your request. Mom and Dad picked it up on Saturday night, along with some Sierra Mist, A&W Root Beer, and Fanta. Mom baked two 13x9 cakes on Saturday, and Dad turned them into a castle cake - very much like Katie's, as you wanted it to be, but with blue frosting with M&M's on it, which was much more boy-ish.

From Stef's Sweethearts

Mom and Dad had wanted to buy you a bike - in fact, we did, as you will learn some day when you read this. However, it was defective. I took it out of the box to assemble it on Saturday, and found that the handle bars, when turned, made a scraping sound and didn't turn smoothly at all. We took it back for an exchange, but two different Target stores were all sold out of bikes your size. Since we have a bike that you will fit into at home, as well as a couple of scooters, we decided to pass on the whole idea and find something else (if we get a new bike for either Ben or Brandon's birthdays later this spring, everyone can move up one bike, and you will get your own, which probably makes more sense, as you are the last boy in the family). We settled on the aforementioned Aqua Doodle mat, as well as some Color Wonder paint brushes and paper, and a new Dora game for the Leapster, which will help you learn some Spanish words. I think you were pretty pleased with them, and besides, not getting a bike yet will give you one less reason to go play in the street when you are supposed to stay in the yard.

I love you, Aidan! Thank you for being such a sweet boy!

Seven Things Tag

1. I quit listening to country music when Aaron stated his distaste for it when we were dating, and allowed him to believe I didn't like it, either.  I can't say I like all country music, but there are some country singers I like, such as Martina McBride, as well as some others.  A few years ago I found Aaron singing along to a country song, but he explained that it wasn't really country because it had crossed over to the pop station.  At that point, I admitted I did enjoy a bit more country music than I had let on...
2. My musical interests are really quite narrow.  I enjoy listening to music that I can sing or could play - even if I don't have the time to practice, or wouldn't ever have the opportunity to play it.  If it isn't something I could participate in, had I the time or opportunity, I probably don't like it much.
3. I still dream of being in a Broadway musical.  Or even a community theater musical.
4. I have a hard time starting projects that have to be set up and put away between work periods (such as sewing).  I also have a hard time stopping, once I've started.  If you want me to get something done, give me enough time to do it all at once, or it may not happen.  Or, dedicate a space for it that no children will ever have access to so I won't have to put it away.
5. My bedroom is messy most of the time.  So are the other bedrooms in my house.  I am trying to fix that.  We have thrown/given away many, many things lately, and continue to get rid of everything that doesn't have a home, in hopes that we will be able to live in a clean house at some point.  I anticipate my bedroom to be clean once Katie is about 4 (when toddlers will no longer bring their stuff into my room, and I no longer have to put things in my room to keep them away from children), and the kids rooms to be clean once Katie is about 6.  One can hope.
6. I dislike throwing children's birthday parties.  Not the kind where family comes over, the kind with friends.
7. I am trying to figure out how to go to Florida in order to be there for my 86-year-old grandmother's baptism on April 11th (yes, that's living, not proxy)!!!!!  It is Stake Conference/Easter weekend, and Aaron has technology responsibilities that could make this hard on him.  I would probably have to go out on Friday and come back Saturday evening.  It is Spring Break for my kids, so maybe I can figure out something for them to do on Friday.

P.S.  Tag, you're it!  Oh, yeah, the rules - it's seven things you probably don't know about me.

Flashback - My #1 Sweetheart

May 11, 1997

Okay, okay, I haven't written in two months!  But, I do have some excuses.  I am in the church sesquicentennial musical, "Footsteps of Faith."  I have one of the leads, that of Caroline.  I have rehearsals every Thursday night and Saturday morning.  Also, I teach cello to Emily Howard on Wednesday nights.  Plus, I have my first church calling.  I am the Anoka Stake Sunday School Secretary.  Add all of this to my 8-4:30, Monday-Friday work schedule, and my regular church functions, and I am pretty busy.

Now, for the bitter truth.  I only now have the desire to write because I want to put my feelings about Aaron Pratt on paper.  It seems nothing before now could motivate me.  So, I'm breaking the rule of my journal (referencing the first page of it, saying that I wasn't going to write about any of the guys I date until I'm engaged).

By the way, Aaron is not the first guy I've had interest in and/or dated since my previous entry.  I hope that serves to clarify that Aaron is significant to me.  I feel that if we do not stay together, even for long, I will never look back on this as a bad reflection of my judgement.

Aaron is amazing.  He grew up in the church - yes, he is a descendant of Parley Pratt, one of the original 12 apostles.  He is a returned missionary.  He has a strong faith in the Church.  Spiritually speaking, I am very comfortable with him.

As far as his personality goes, he is hilarious, in a very intelligent way.  He is a bit eccentric - I can't really explain how, but he is.  He is also what I consider to be a stable person, and so intelligent!  More so than any guy I've ever dated.  He is also a musician.  He plays the piano, cello and French Horn (coincidence)!  He also has a very nice voice - perfect pitch, in fact.  He has the kind of voice meant to blend - I wish I were so lucky!  He also composes.

Aaron is 21 - 22 in August.  He graduated in '93.  Sounds like a good catch, hey?  Well, I haven't completely hooked him yet.  He seems a bit nervous with our courtship.  Heck, I am, too!  I've never met anyone I've enjoyed being around so much.

Here's one amazing thing for me; I've never been in a relationship with a guy I didn't find attractive at first sight, until now!  Aaron is certainly not unattractive, but I'd categorize him as very plain.  However, I became interested in his personality anyway, and then I started to find him very attractive.  He's adorable.

Now for the hardest thing to put on paper:  I am falling in love with him.  If I'm not in love yet, I'm on the verge.  This scares me!  Especially since I don't think he's quite there yet.

Move forward to today - 

Aaron was super underweight when he came home from his mission, and hadn't really filled out much in the 9 months before I met him.  When we were married, he weighed about 165, and was just over 6' tall.  That puts him about 20 lbs. underweight.  His face was very angular, and his hair cut was atrocious.  After I fell for his personality, I fell for his eyes.  Then, I commented to someone - I think my sister - that he was the type of guy who was going to become more and more attractive over the years.  I was right.  And, yet, it doesn't really matter.  He is still the one I would rather spend my time with more than anyone else.

Katie's Bathtime

I know most of my posts are about Katie.  It's not that she's a girl, it's that she's the baby.  If I had started blogging years ago, you'd see that I would have written about all the boys when they were babies, too.  Maybe I'll do some flashbacks - that's an idea.

Katie loved her bath the other day.  I made it a very bubbly bath, and she had so much fun!  I realized I hadn't taken any bath time pictures yet, so I took some.  Katie has such a bright smile, and this picture captures it really well.

Strep and Dinnerware

On Monday, Ben threw up. On Tuesday, he was fine, but I couldn't take him back to school yet. Tristin had been complaining of a mild sore throat, but it wasn't bad. Since Dallin had come down with strep last week, I decided to have them both cultured. The rapid cultures came up negative, and I took them both to school, as Ben hadn't thrown up for 24 hours, and neither had fevers or any symptoms that would normally keep a child from attending school.

Today, the 48 hour cultures grew out positive. They both have been feeling fine, are active, eating well, and have no symptoms of strep. But, I had to take them out of school and put them both on antibiotics. They will also have to wait until noon tomorrow to go back to school.

I hate strep.

On an up note, I went to the Target pharmacy for the antibiotics, and stopped for a few groceries while I was there. There is a new section of plastic dishes next to the grocery section. They are exactly what I have been looking for for months! There are seven different sets, all coordinating with each other. Four are more grown-up, with square dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, and matching cups (the cups are round). Three of the sets have dinner plates shaped as a monkey (which looks like Curious George), an octypus, and a frog. Their salad plates are round, and so are their bowls. Their cups are the same cup with all three characters on them. There are also a boyish and a girlish tray-style plate with the character theme. I bought the girlish one for Katie.

Tristin and Aaron will have to have the same set, and Katie and I will also have the same set, once Katie grows out of the tray. But everyone else has their own, and they all coordinate with each other, so the table will look very festive. There are also pitchers and bowls and large serving trays and baskets (for clearing dishes?). We'll see whether I get carried away enough to purchase any of those. I think I might get a pitcher or two. I am so excited to finally have dishes that won't break when dropped, that are dishwasher safe, and that I can tell who has cleared their place properly and hold them accountable. Yay!

Beautiful Day

Today it is gorgeous outside.  I spent my morning cleaning up toys and filling a container with stuff to get rid of.  Call it a spring cleaning bug - I just need to declutter.  Once we had lunch, though, we were ready to go outside.  Lunch is pretty early in our house, as Dallin leaves for school at 11:45am.  When he left, I got Katie ready to go outside, too.  Aidan insisted he wanted to finish playing with his magnetics first.  He had made ice cream cones out of them (they are the large variety), and he had to eat them all first.

Katie and I waved at Dallin as he left on the bus.  The bus driver waved at her, and she smiled.  Then, we were off to the back yard.  Katie tried out her swing, which she loved last summer.  I could tell she didn't remember it, as she was a little frightened at first.  She seemed content after a while, but she never giggled like she used to when I pushed her.  

After a while, I took her out and let her run around.  She played with a soccer ball for a little bit, and then Aidan wanted some help getting his shoes on, so we went in.  She was not happy about that.  But we were quick, and got back outside to the sunshine in no time.  

Aidan and Katie played on the deck for a few minutes, then headed to the grass again.  They played with the soccer ball again, then headed for the swing set.  I helped her slide down the slide a couple of times.  

Then, I went to work moving the rain barrels to the deck while they played.  They have been along the back of the house in the rocks, but we decided they looked like a mess last summer, so we're putting them on the deck instead.  One of them is full of ice, so I'm hoping it will all melt by this evening so Aaron can help me move it up.  It just needs to be lifted a few feet, as it is just on the other side of the deck rail from where I want it.

Anyway, I got off track there.  While I was moving rain barrels and dumping some hot water in the icy one, Katie found the garden.  Aidan kept hopping onto the stepping stones, and I asked him to stay away a few times, as I didn't want him covered in mud, and Katie was looking pretty interested in trying it.  Well, Aidan did eventually go back to the swing set, but Katie thought she would see how mud tastes while my back was turned.  I found her kneeling down in the mud, stuffing some in her mouth.  She didn't like it much, so I don't think she'll do it again.  I set her back in the grass, and she wiped her hands off and went back to the slide for a while.  Then, I saw her about to stuff something else in her mouth.  Right over by the sand box there are a whole bunch of little round pellets.  Yes, I think they are of the rabbit variety.  Luckily, she didn't put any in her mouth.  She didn't do more than squish one between her fingers and wipe it off in the grass.

We had a good hour or more out there, and it was past Katie's normal nap time, so I figured at this point I ought to take her in and put her to bed.  She had a nice kitchen sink washing, then happily went down for a nap.  

Ben came up and asked to go out at about that point.  Yes, he's home sick today.  He threw up this morning.  Not surprising, after Tuesday's choir concert.  Luckily, he saw it coming and had a bucket handy, so there was no mess for me to clean up.  I let him sit on the deck for a little while.  Then, he asked for food.  This bug seems to be really mild.  He asked for chicken broth about an hour after he threw up this morning, and kept it down fine.  Two hours later, he had applesauce, and then at 1pm he had a scrambled egg.  He is doing great.

When we heard that we'd hit 60 degrees today, William and I thought we'd do a campfire tonight for FHE.  He was assigned the activity, and I knew I could easily persuade him.  We have a lot of lilac branches to get rid of, so I'm anxious to have a fire.  I'm looking forward to some more time outdoors this evening, as well.  Welcome, Spring!

A Sick Week

What a winter for illness! I've had a cold for over a week now. It was really bad for a couple of days, including last Thursday-Saturday, when Aaron was out of town. I'm mostly over it, but for some sinus congestion.

I had to miss Ben's second grade concert, which made me sad. Aaron managed to get out of work to go to it, though. He said it was very exciting. A girl puked on the risers right away when they were just starting, and she kept puking all the way out the door of the gym. All of the teachers ran to get a janitor, and nobody kept guard of the trail she made. Then, due to the snowstorm, parents kept arriving late and walking through the unattended puke. Aaron thought it was hilarious.

When a classmate has strep, the school nurse sends notices home to everyone in the class. I've seen notices from at least two of my three elementary kids. Then, the nurse sent a special notice to let the entire school know that it has been worse than she's ever seen it, as far as how many kids are getting it. She encouraged us to take kids who complain of headaches or stomach aches in for strep cultures, which is why I took Dallin in. I had assumed his headache and tiredness was just a precursor to coming down with my cold, until I got that notice. So, I looked at his throat, and sure enough, it looked like strep. I had him cultured yesterday, and the rapid came out positive.

I'm hoping the headache I'm getting now isn't strep-related. I am singing at Stake Enrichment tomorrow in Kim Dray's class on creativity, and I'm also in charge of a carpool for people in the Waconia area, so I don't have time to be sick right now. My throat is a little red, but my tonsils are not swollen, so I'm just going to attribute it to the post-nasal drip and hope it goes away.

Katie has my cold. It is very sad to see. Her cheeks are very pink, and she is very whiny. She's also a snot monster. I think she might have a headache, but with the cold, I don't know whether I should be concerned about strep. Doctors would tell you that at her age it is unlikely, but since she's had it twice before, I don't think I'd listen. If I could just look in her throat, I'd probably be able to tell.

Well, Aaron is in Dallas at the temple right now. He had nothing else to do this evening, so he called me to see if I could get him some names to work on. I had some ready for ititiatory in my new.familysearch.org file, so all he had to do was print them off and go. What a cool system.

I'm going to watch a hokey Disney channel movie now. What a way to spend a Friday night.

Tagged - 6th picture, 6th folder

Jessica tagged me.  I had to post the 6th picture in my 6th folder.  I'm sure this is very exciting for you all.  This picture is from the scanning party my family had last fall to copy my grandma's photos.  This is from a photo album.  The top photo is my aunt Irene with her husband, Denny.  The little girl is their daughter, Rue Ann.  

Irene passed away in 2004.  She was a great lady.  She was also in the Navy.  Here is a picture of her in her uniform:

I think my great aunt Irene was pretty neat.  Don't you?

Comments

Yes, my comments are working again.  Apparently, if I select the Comment option, "Embedded below post," it won't work.  So, I chose pop-ups instead, and they work (as long as your pop-ups aren't disabled).  I thought maybe it was my new template screwing things up, so I changed it three times this morning, and it still didn't work.  Oh, well.  Now I have another new look!

Picture

I remembered to take that picture of Katie yesterday.  I had to be in it, as she wouldn't stay far enough away from me to get a good picture of her.  It is now at the top of the post called "Katie 'Baby.'"