don't take it personally -- I haven't folded the laundry in 2 weeks either

The clean clothes were piled up high in the middle of my bedroom. Every morning as people got dressed they'd come in and dig through to find what they needed. Pretty sad. And of course the dirtying of clothes does not pause just because the previous batch hasn't been put away yet.

We haven't done our taxes yet. It's not quite as exciting to get them done early now that we usually owe money.

My maternity wardrobe needed a home. I was digging through boxes and suitcases every day while valuable closet space was taken up by clothes that couldn't be worn for probably another year (if ever?).

Brenden has to do a science fair project. He wants something with Legos.

Two birthdays have passed which required presents, plans, and celebrations.

The weeding and trimming of roses could not wait any longer. And fertilizing and rose feeding and aphid prevention.

Scott's been busy on a new album, which means lots of late nights.

And my work has been busy too. A big deadline approaching and projects finally finished in the wee hours of the morning.

They might sound like excuses, but nonetheless all these things must take priority over blogging. But finally now my head is coming up above water and it's time to make up for lost time. I've been taking pictures along the way to make the catching up possible. Here are a few notable occasions.

The Wasatch Elementary Kindergarten Program

The kids had been practicing for weeks. Everyone had either a speaking, singing, or dancing part. I was surprised how excitedly Oliver talked about it, fully expecting his anxiety to win out in the end. But even as it approached he talked about rehearsals and "dancing like a crazy man" and acted as if the show would go on. The night before, he announced that he thought he would participate in the morning performance and then sit out the evening performance. Yeah, ok, sure. Plans were made for Dad to attend in the morning. Then that morning he changed his mind and said he'd do the evening show instead. I made him go anyways (decided to avoid the fight about wearing nice clothes and let him wear his play clothes, which included black hoodie & war paint on his face that wouldn't quite come off), thinking maybe when the time came he'd just go along with the crowd. But remember how stubborn he can be? We watched excitedly as the kids filed onto stage to see if Oli was among them. Finally we spotted him:

Zoom in for a better view of all the other kids nicely dressed and obediently sitting in their designated spots. He sat in that spot with his hood up the whole hour.

But true to his word, he did participate in the evening performance, although still unwilling to change his attire. He kept his black hood up the whole time, even when he went up for his solo in the Wiggly Wiggly dance. We were so proud of him, and also proud that we had the one kid in the whole Kindergarten who all the parents could easily identify as "the one to stay away from" and the one to vote "most likely to bring a gun to school in the future." Poor guy. What kind of family life must he have at home?!

At Home

Here's what we've been doing for hours every day at home lately:










Building blocks. June has become obsessed and insists Scott or I sit down on the floor next to her. Oliver secretly likes an excuse to play June's "baby games" too.



Brenden has become an expert chocolate chip cookie maker. He's made about 4 batches so far and I can't even express how excited this makes me. Not only does it keep him away from the TV and video games, but he lets us all eat the dough and the cookies are delicious! He's even learned how to soften the butter in the microwave without melting it, and crack the eggs into a cup so he can easily fish out the shells. The flour-leveling mess on the counter is totally worth it. What a joy to have the kids actually becoming useful! (At this very moment, Oliver is entertaining June nicely in the basement and Brenden is making another batch of cookies!)

Happy Birthday Scott!

What a sport. To celebrate we took the kids to Tepanyaki, one of those Japanese steak-house places where they put on a little show on the grill in front of your table -- complete with dramatic flames and erupting onion-volcanoes. June thought it was much too scary so we watched from the other side of the room. Once she was finally willing to return to our table, she kept her hands over her ears the whole rest of the dinner -- just in case. The food was delicious. Creme brulee for dessert. The next day there was more celebrating with the Jacobsens and Tanners (well documented here) including the traditional ice cream cake. The celebrations are completely inadequate to prove our love or appreciation for this guy. We couldn't ask for a better husband, father, friend, example, leader, caretaker, play mate, or confidante.

Happy Birthday June

Moving on one week later we celebrated June's 2nd Birthday. What a princess. She loved the balloons and attention and presents! We decided to take advantage of the last year we could get away with a low-key celebration and just filled the day with little things she likes.









We went to the playground, fed the ducks, and ate DQ ice cream for lunch. (We'll skip the part about 3 trips to Walmart and a trip to Target.)

She got into the spirit of the day in her birthday suit while she enjoyed her new bubble maker. Guess that monstrous 8-foot fence is finally coming in handy.

Sunday we marked her passage into 2-year-old-girl-hood with her very first tantrum over what shoes she could wear to church.
















Once resolved, she showed off her new duds from Gma & Gpa W.
















Sunday night we celebrated with the aunts (& significant others) with dinner and cake and more balloons. Thanks to Christine and her noble effort to make this beautiful rainbow cake, which however lovely it might be, landed like a brick straight into the pit of our stomachs. (No, we do not recommend it. Something about using sprite instead of eggs & oil? Why do we need to mess with your basic perfect cake mix?! **POST EDIT NOTE: we thought the Sprite was for the color, not just to make it low-fat. Guess we should try it again using regular cake mix recipe.)

The End.

P.S. Tomorrow's our big day to find out what kind of baby we're having. Any bets? Scott's really lobbying for another one of these: