Intellectual Property, Laundry, and Rocket Cruise-Control

The boys are cracking me up lately with the things they say. This morning as we cleaned the kitchen, Ethan and I had a very in-depth discussion about Intellectual Property and why it's not legal to copy music to share with other people. (I think he's been reading the fine print as he's updating his iPod or something.) He couldn't get past the idea that if you own a CD and you burn music on to it and then give it to someone else, what are you stealing? Of course he did understand what I was saying but was trying to find ways to justify wanting to ask his cousin to burn a copy of Weird Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy" for him. And of course he called me out and said, "But don't we do that all the time? Send people music CDs?" "Yes, we do, but we shouldn't." Our conversation ended with his statement, "You show me the rules, and I'll show you how to break them." Ironically, I'm sure he plagiarized that phrase from Calvin and Hobbes or some other mischievous comic strip that he's ingested.

***

I'll admit it, I've fallen out of a good routine of getting laundry done. I used to get it all done on Mondays. I think my subconscious is rebelling against routine, because although I know it is essential to the smooth functioning of a large household, it also makes me crazy. Or maybe it's just that if I always stuck to the routine, I would never get to do anything that I want to do. With that said, Reid noticed the laundry piling up in the hamper in his closet. (At least it's in the laundry sorter, which, by the way, is what has saved me-- I label each bag into Whites, Lights, Brights, Darks and color-code them and the kids sort them instantly, eliminating that tedious step. And p.s., it used to only be ~$30 so check your Wal Mart store.) Reid told me very directly, "Mom, you really need to do the laundry tomorrow. It's getting out of handle."

***

Luke and Reid were playing something involving driving a rocket. I heard Luke manning the controls, and preparing to set the cruise control, for which his command was, "Turn on the 'by-itself-button.'"

I love my little boys

At then end of a long day as I was putting sheets on the top bunk of the boys' bed (not a fun job) Reid said to me, "You know why I love you, Mom? Because you work so hard. Even when you're tired, you keep working."

***

Last night I was reading in bed when Luke came in because he couldn't sleep. So I let him crawl in next to me and I kept reading. After laying there for a while, Luke spoke up.

"Do you know how to clean out your feelings?"

"No, what do you mean?"

"Well, just like you wash your hands when they're dirty, sometimes you have to wash out your feelings. Mrs. Smith told us the tears come out of your eyes to clean out your feelings."

I also love Luke's preschool teacher, Mrs. Smith.

Luke, Reid, Ethan at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah

September 27, 2009

Just waiting for Christmas

It was my friend Leslie's plea to post some pictures because all she does is "nurse and look at blogs"-- that got me. I know, I've been slacking when it comes to posting lately. Ultimately, it's because I'm sick of my slow computer, that is bogged down beyond hope (I've taken it in to be cleaned up and had memory added, which only helped slightly). I'm basically just waiting until Santa brings me a Mac Book so that I can edit and post digital photos to my heart's content, without waiting on a frustratingly slow computer.

In the meantime, I've been:
* cleaning up the house
* celebrating the completion of our Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation (thanks to an awesome counselor and a fantastic music leader!) and now working out Primary staffing for 2010
* sewing! I haven't sewn this much in 7 years!
* cleaning up the house some more (Jane has turned into a mini-Tazmanian devil)
* cooking yummy dinners for my family to eat
* running on the treadmill (ran the St. George marathon with my great friend Jessi and my BEST friend Derek)
* this week-- tending to sick baby Jane :(
* cleaning yet again

That's pretty much my life in a nutshell, but I love it. I guess pictures are much more interesting to look at. :)

Peer Pressure

Jane hasn't taken a binky since she was a couple of months old. But when her friend Taylor (who is just days older than her) came to play, Jane dug her binky out of a toy box and decided to follow the crowd. Notice how it's upside down--I guess this would be akin to smoking the wrong end of a cigarette.

Betcha can't guess what's in our juice...

... or in our freezer.

A glass marble, a Lego-man arm, and a sticky-foamy letter "S"

A dismembered Lego-man frozen in a cup of water.

Do I have to explain this? Those of you who have boys understand.

This blog is going private

I'm sorry, I know it's a little inconvenient, but now that I've heard one instance of some creep doing some disturbing things with photos from a family's blog, I'm convinced it's not worth the risk. Please email me if you'd like an invite.