The Little Figs

I just took my son to junior high registration today. It is totally freaking me out that I have a kid this old! It was fun because Tyler is going to the same junior high school that I went to. When we got his class schedule, he has the same science teacher that I had, so we walked to Mr. Spring's classroom to say, "Hi." Mr. Spring remembered me... not because I was a fabulous student... not because I would bring him his favorite brand of Eggnog at Christmas time. He remembered me because I killed his turtle. One day in science he got out his turtles for us to play with while he left the room. The one I had suddenly took off running. (Yes, he was "running" -- for a turtle.) He fell off the desk and I panicked. Because I couldn't get him to come back out of his shell, I decided to drop him back in his aquarium to see if the water would "wake him up." Well, apparently the water didn't wake him up, but rather made him drown. Ooops! Mr. Sp...

The other night Matt and I were on a date. We went to dinner and on the way home I told him I needed to exchange some things at Kohl's, my favorite department store. Matt rolled his eyes and said, "Really? On our date??" Alas, he could not foresee that HE would be the one enjoying the date at Kohl's more than anyone else (or would he??? Bwaaaahaaaahaaa!)... Once we got there he started browsing. Matt does not generally enjoy shopping, but once he starts browsing, look out! He ended up buying a couple of new suits and several outfits. He really needed them, so it was a productive date. (And who doesn't LOVE a productive date?) At Kohl's the dressing rooms are not marked. They do not say, "Women's Dressing Room," or "Men's Dressing Room," or anything like that. I figure that if they don't spell it out, then it's a free-for-all for anyone who wants to try on items. We were in the Men's clothing section, but I went in th...

I have completely humiliated myself. Today my neighbor, Michelle called. She invited me to look through some hand-me-downs. Michelle is an avid shopper and her hand-me-downs are AWESOME!! I said I'd be there in a few minutes and off I went... I stepped into my garage. There sat my favorite mini-van and some bikes. Michelle does not live too far away, so I could've just walked, but I was in a hurry. I couldn't bring myself to use expensive gas on a trip down the street, so I opted for a bike. I looked over the assortment of bikes. All the bikes that fit me had flat tires, so I chose my son's bike. "It's just for two minutes," I thought. No one will notice. I hopped on his little bike and rode down the street. I guess it's that whole thing of how we still feel young in our brains, even when we get old. It wasn't until I had turned the corner out of my cul-de-sac that it occurred to me how utterly ridiculous I looked. Luckily I didn't run ...

Isn't it great that we have kids to make us laugh? Here are a few quips from this past week: Aubree (10) was tending the two little boys for about 45 minutes until I could get Tyler (12) home from piano institute. The boys had just gotten dropped off from swimming lessons and were supposed to change their clothes. Aubree had been grounded from watching T.V. She called me and said, "Mom, I don't know what to do with these boys! They are driving me crazy." I asked her what they were doing. "They are running around naked and chasing me with knives and stuff. If I could only turn on the T.V., I think it would help calm them down." Although I could read the lack of fear in her voice, I called my next-door neighbor, Donni, and asked her to run over and see if Aubree needed some help. She called me and said the kids were riding bikes, everyone was fully dressed, and seemed happy. Hmmm... They probably were naked at some point -- when they were changing. The knife...

We are not pet people. Matt is allergic to pretty much any animal (hamsters and horses top the list). We have made it very clear to our children that we will never own a pet with fur. Secretly, I like to use Matt's allergies as an excuse to say, "No" to my children. I know every mother hears the incessant whining for a pet, but the whining in this house doesn't last long with the whole allergy excuse. Matt and I get kind of freaked out by the thought of a dirty animal roaming our house. Now I know there are plenty of clean freaks out there who own pets. My friend, Kimberly, opened my eyes to this. I realize it can be done. Matt made a statement one day that solidified my pet stance. "I shower every day," he stated. "I am a clean person who brushes my teeth, wipes when I use the toilet, and even uses deodorant." He goes on, "If I ever sat naked on your furniture, you would burn it, so I can't figure out why people let their dirty animal...

Excerpts from my journal in 2006... In November 1997 I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl that we named Aubree Nicole. I felt so much love that Heavenly Father entrusted me with this little angel. Aubree was born perfectly healthy and we were thrilled to have this baby girl in our home. One of the things that her daddy said in her baby blessing was, “You will overcome and endure hardships.” I didn’t think much of that at the time, as most of us in this life have hardships of one kind or another. A few weeks before Aubree turned 2, we started noticing some strange things. Her walking became unsteady and she stopped running. Her strength in her arms seemed to be weaker, her speech became slightly slurred, and some of her small motor skills seemed to be lacking. We took her to the pediatrician wondering if she possibly had an inner-ear infection or some other ailment. When he couldn’t find anything wrong with her, he scheduled an MRI a few weeks after. I remember starting to worry th...

We have fun Easter traditions, one of which is to do the egg hunt. We have a whole plan to make egg hunting fair. We have plastic Easter eggs for each kid in their designated color. We thought we were so smart for thinking this up. Then the older kids don't find all the easy eggs that the younger kids were meant to find. Then nobody is yelling and crying because they didn't get as many. Then no one freaks out because someone started looking 10 seconds before they did. (Oh no, that has NEVER happened in our house!) Anyway, Aubree gets pink eggs, Tyler gets green, Marcus gets blue and Caleb gets yellow. What a great plan! Each kid has 23 eggs hidden this year. Wow, aren't we so smart for thinking this up? Well, my boys are all color blind to some extent. Mostly the browns, greens, and yellows look the same, and the purple and blues look the same. Apparently on Easter ALL the colors look the same. Matt and I sat in the family room watching them hunt. Every two seconds someone ...