Why we'll sell Luke with the elliptical...

On Friday, Luke learned how to open the oven door, climb up on top of the stove, and turn on the oven and stove by fiddling with the knobs.

He's gotten time outs, countless lectures, and spankings. I just don't know what to do to stop him.

Today, he did his trick while I was blow drying my hair. I heard the familiar sounds of little feet on the stove coils and knew what had happened. I ran in, and Luke said (yelled), "No, Stop, Hot!," pointing at me, tellingly.

Maybe I should just let him light his bum on fire.

For the love of Craigslist

If anyone has not yet discovered the best-of-craigslist section it is usually very funny, and often grossly inappropriate. Read at your own risk.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/

It is one of my lifelong goals to get a CL posts on said Best-of-CL. Here is my latest partial attempt.

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/spo/811119651.html

Scenes from a Marriage: Smartypants

This week...
Anna: Last night, Nathan and I watched an episode of this series we checked out at the library.

Emily: Oh, Nate and I do that, too! What are you guys watching?

Anna: It's a historical drama about the Napoleonic wars.

Emily: Whoa! I bet you're learning a lot.

Anna: (downplaying because she's nice like that) Oh, no, it's really more a drama than something that's historically-accurate. What are you watching?

Emily: Um, a sci-fi cowboy series.

Christian the Lion

My mom kept telling me I had to check out the Christian the Lion YouTube video. So, Asher and I watched it, and I cried the whole time (even with the music turned off).

Makes me think twice about just how much animals think and feel.

Scenes from a Marriage: Secrets

Out with friends circa 2001...

Nate: You know, Emily does (something embarrassing, I can't remember what because I do plenty of embarrassing things--I'm sure Nate will fill this part in).

Emily: Oh my gosh, I can't believe you just said that! It's a total secret!

Husband friend: That's ok, you know our secret about trying to get pregnant.

Emily: Oh...no, I, uh, didn't know about that.

Husband friend: We told Nate...you didn't tell her?

Nate: Well, no. You said to keep it a secret.

Emily: So, you'll keep secrets for your friends from your wife, but you won't keep secrets for me?

First Day of School

Today was Asher's first day of preschool (We hope Luke overcomes his depression that he, too, can't go).

The second picture is actually the first one I took. He was so excited to see his classroom (that we went to visit on Friday and left kicking and screaming) that he wanted me to stop taking pictures and take him to class. Sigh...

His teacher seems lovely, and she has lots of people to help her (good thing since she has Asher!). He'll also get to work with some specialists for his speech and do some occupational therapy.

But, lest you think we don't know what's most important...Asher is thrilled that he will be riding the bus to and from school. It's a major topic of conversation around these parts.

Hope you have/had a great first day!

Allergy tip: squeeze containers

When I make toast, I spread the butter first and then, dip my knife into the jam jar. I do the same with peanut butter, or mayonnaise and mustard. I figured the small amount wasn't a problem in terms of germs or anything. But, then, I had a kid with allergies, and I'd forget about the mayonnaise knife and stick it in the mustard jar, which meant I had to put a big X on it, so Asher wouldn't be exposed (I know, I'm a freaky allergy mom, through and through).

This tip took me 2 years to figure out...

After contaminating many Asher-safe* products with butter, mayonnaise, sour cream, etc., I started buying squeeze bottles of those products. Something about using the squeeze bottle reminds me to grab a clean knife for Asher's food.

*Asher is allergic to nuts, peanuts, soy, egg, and dairy, so anything without those items, I call "Asher-safe."

So Long, Elder Tom...

Yesterday was a big day...

Nate had the kids to himself, and I went up to Utah for a quick drop off at the MTC.

We said goodbye to my brother, Tom. (Here's Tom, Asher, and Evan at Tom's Batman-themed Rockband goodbye party.)

He's leaving on a 2 year mission for our Church. He'll be up in Oakland, California. I comfort myself by remembering that my college roommate and her family live around those parts--her parents are right by the temple! They'd watch out for Tom, and Tom could get a break from tracting and say they're investigators. We had Dave do the same thing with Nate's Aunt Gail in Vienna.

We won't be able to visit him, and we can only talk to him on the phone for Christmas and Mother's Day.

Frankly, sending a missionary off has left our whole family a little down in the dumps this week. We know it's a good thing, but it's still hard. We'll miss coming home and seeing Tom's car in the driveway--a perk of having the XBox 360. Tom would often come by after a night of teenage craziness, or he'd be by in a flash when I had a babysitting emergency. Sigh, two years feels like a long time...

While I said bye to Tom, Luke put his head through the living room window. Luke and Asher always enjoy sitting on the living room windowsill and banging their heads against the glass (nothing wierd about that, right?).

Luke must have guardian angels--he doesn't have a mark on him, despite falling glass, and you know, putting his head through a window or maybe Luke is already reaping the blessings of having an uncle go on a mission.

The Truth, the whole truth, & nothing but the truth

Asher asks to go to the library every morning because they have an extensive Thomas the Train DVD collection. I'm not sure he even knows that there are books there.

Asher has a close relationship with Jesus. He's always pointing out Jesus at Church and at the mall, the park, the dry cleaners because everyone with a beard is Jesus.

Luke is so verbal, talks all the time. He says things like, "Go away, NO, no, NOOOOO, No, yuck, go, NO." And, he's taken to hitting inanimate objects and yelling, "No" to them. Is this Unabomber behavior?

Luke loves to go to Grammy's house. When he realizes we're going to Grammy's, he starts his chant, "Wee-O, Wee-O, Wee-O" (which is actually, "Julio, Julio, Julio"). Then, he pushes people out of the way to get to his best friend, Julio, my mom's dog.

Asher, Luke, and I wake up at 5:30 am, ready to go. And then, I get them a bowl of Cheerios, their sippy cups and blankets on my bed so they can watch TV, and I can go back to sleep for another hour. Ok, maybe two hours.

And, this cute summertime picture? They're naked, and we have an apartment complex that looks right into our backyard.