I die.

Hilarious.

Not too long ago, Shane and I caught Kina Grannis in Denver.  She was fantastic, talented, gracious and we were totally smitten.

Micah turns 3

Micah turned 3 on Friday.  We fed him all of his favorite foods. Coconut pancakes for breakfast. Hot dogs, potato chips, fruit leather and strawberries for lunch (cousins and Grandma joined us--hip hip!). Gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin doughnuts (that Micah helped make) followed lunch. Out to dinner at Zolo's where he enjoyed fresh tortilla chips, spicy chicken wings, and bacon wrapped dates.  After dinner we played around at Grandrabbit's, a cool little toy store in town. The gifts: a scooter, a wading pool (thanks Grandma Mia!) and lots of water toys (thanks Grandma Shelly!)

More about the Micah Man:

I recently read, The Five Love Languages."  I decided that Micah's primary love language is physical touch.  He is constantly hugging and kissing all of us.  He loves to be cuddled and will take every and any opportunity to sit in a lap.  If my legs are stretched out on the floor, he parks himself on them.When he's sad or hurt or for no reason at all he'll ask, "Mommy can you hold me?"

Shane says he'll make a great salesman...he never takes no for an answer.  If I refuse him something he goes straight to Sage or Shane to ask.

He is semi-obsessed with mechanical things.  In a store or a home the first thing he notices are security cameras, smoke detectors and other sorts of contraptions.  Nothing makes him happier than to be fixing something with daddy: screwing things in, climbing on ladders etc.

His most requested night time story is the story of he and Shane taking a trip to Home Depot and hearing an alarm go off.  Pretty boring story, but he loves it and never tires of hearing it.

He almost always wakes up from his nap crying.  Hope that changes someday!!!

He is potty trained but has an occasional accident, especially of late.  We were wandering around the back yard the other evening looking for his binky and I discovered a few surprises he had left.  I told Shane we need to buy a pooper scooper.  He leaves poopy streaks on the toilet seat and loves to watch himself pee.

He still loves to sing.  I sing a hymn to him every night (we change it monthly) and recently it was "You Can Make the Pathway Bright."  I wasn't sure how well he knew until one night, as I sang the second stanza, he pulled his binky out and proceeded to finish the song off with me.  My heart was just about bursting with joy.  It's pretty darling to hear your toddler sing lines like, "If there's sunshine in your heart, you can send a shining ray that will turn the night to day..."

He still eats a lot of meat, "mullet" (millet), lots of pears, fruits, veggies.  His favorites are freeze dried mangoes, gluten free bread, cheese (he only gets this when he steals it) and bananas (his one baby word left..."dee-yaya").

He LOVES girly things: necklaces, purses, dresses, hair clips.  The life of a boy surrounded by women.

Quotes of late:

A few months ago he pulled the cover off of Pres. Monson's biography, "Das President Monson, he's out paw-fet!" That was one of those happy mom moments when you realize that what you're teaching is sticking.

Said all in one breath: "I love you mommy 'n i love mangoes."

He doesn't just want to build a castle out of blocks, his request is, "I wanna build a castle foundation."

His question of late when he doesn't understand something, "What you mean_________?"

He's a pretty polite kid (maybe cause his mom nags him constantly about it!) so all through the day I hear: "May i please_______?"

"Where does Heavenly Father live?"

"We need to go to the rain store and get some rain."

Alicia (sternly): "DON'T kick Haven."
Micah: "May I please kick myself?"

"Can I see Havens cute-iful dress?"

"Can Heavenwee Father sing me a song?"

He went through his politician stage when he denied all wrong doing, as in:

"I didn't go peepee." 
"I didn't put my binky in dere." (dropped binky in toilet full of poo).
 "I didn't spill dat."

We had the house painted recently and he told the painter a few times: "Dat looks beautiful."

Shane and I were going to bed on Micah's birthday and we both agreed that a prayer of thanks for Micah's good health was in order.  He's come such a long way.

That photo above was taken just 15 months ago.  We are so grateful to Heavenly Father for restoring Micah's health.

We sure love our boy.  My mom once told me that a son has a special place in your heart.  Oh what true words.  Maybe it's because Micah is a mini-Shane, maybe it's because he's just so darn cute but either way I'm always mugging on him and I delight in his smiles and mischevious ways.

Shane took the kids for a walk tonight and let Micah ride his bike (anything to get his energy out on Sunday!).  I was at the kitchen sink as they pulled in and so I had a perfect view of Micah.  He was dressed in his white undies (and nothin' else), Keens, riding his little Strider bike and....there was a purple plumeria flower tucked behind one ear.  He'd picked it up on his ride.  Classic Micah.

Listen Up

Lennon & Maisy Stella have some serious talent.  I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I've listened to this song.

Listen Up

Gorgeous harmonies and creative percussion from Erato.

Miss Haven is 1

Please note the size of Sage's blueberry muffin pancake.  And yes, that woman in the background is having salad for breakfast. Only in Boulder.

This is what happens when we try for a family photo.  And yes those are rolls around my tummy...I'm working on it. 

Haven's one and only present from us...Sophie the Giraffe

We celebrated Haven's birthday at Snooze, a cute little diner in downtown Boulder.  Breakfast is more like dessert over at Snooze.  Makes me think of the Jim Gaffigan routine about pancakes: "Young man you're not having cake for breakfast, you're having fried cake with syrup."

I tell people that Haven is the best surprise I never planned.  A little about her for posterity's sake. She smiles and babbles all day long these days.  Her baby signs are just darling.  We love the sparkle in her eyes and those long, long lashes. She has what we call a "spicy" personality (spicy as in feisty).  She is always good for a snuggle, especially with Shane.  When she nurses she loves to pick on my shoulder mole (gross) and touch my cheek with her little hand (sweet).  She never stops squirming during her waking hours.  She gets very excited about dogs and Shane's homecoming.  We love her little laugh (it sounds a lot like Sage and Micah's laugh).  She loves being outside in the yard (always has) playing quietly on a blanket, observing the scenery.  Haven enjoys seaweed and beef liver among other things.  She is quite the carnivore and devours meatloaf and meatballs and lamb.

Haven birth was a bright spot in the dark days of Micah's illness.  We chose her name long before she arrived, before we knew how fitting it would prove.  In the first few weeks of her life the time she and I spent nursing and snuggling and sleeping together felt like a haven, a refuge in a tumultuous time.  I felt whole again after she was born, as if Heavenly Father restored to us the joy and peace that were missing.  Her birth is a reminder that, "...there is nothing lost, but may be found..." 

school daze

My sister Kassie has a knack for collecting unique words and phrases.  Her latest cool word is "redonkulous."  Think "ridiculous" plus "dumb."  I fell hard for the word and now use it a lot.  So much, in fact, that for a while Micah was running around saying, "Thas redonk-you-luss." 

Anywho, the emails we receive from Sage's school are the epitome of redonkulous.  I just had to share the latest email from her principal as well as Shane's response (A note: Shane mentions us being Conservative but in reality we fall more in line with the Independent crowd-but in reality we would like to wash our hands of all politicians and politics).

This bit of redonkulous-ness is for you Kass (extra special drivel is highlighted).

Greetings BCSIS and High Peaks Parents,

A collaborative group of parents from both of our wonderful schools has come together to discuss ways we can support a positive recess experience on the playground for all of our children. We have met as a group and have so far come up with goals, parent roles and a fabulous training opportunity for what we’re calling the Positive Playground Initiative. We welcome your input and participation to make this a success! 

Goals for the Positive Playground Initiative

   •  Increased parent presence on the playground – having plenty of adults on the ground during recess creates a more positive and supportive environment for our children.

    • Providing optional cooperative games and shared playground equipment between schools, e.g. an organized station of balls, hoops, etc. with laminated ‘game cards’ that describe playground games;

   • Bridging kids between both schools through positive experiences – i.e. finding ways for kids from both schools to connect and play together. We believe this will translate into increased positive play during recess.

    • Cultivate and sustain a positive playground culture, i.e. supporting important play principles such as respect, sharing, inclusion, conflict resolution, and sportsmanship.

Roles for the Parents- help out on the playground during recess!

The role of the parent volunteers would be to help support games and sport activities on the playground, support students who need help connecting with other children, and generally being a positive presence on the playground. Parents would not be expected to discipline children, nor to mediate in heated conflicts. Having more adult volunteers present on the playground would support the school personnel in dealing with discipline issues and conflict between children.

The games and sports activities we are proposing on the playground are optional for children.  We realize that some children are perfectly content with unstructured time. However, there are many students at recess who would benefit from the presence of even more caring, friendly adults to help them problem-solve and make connections.

Training and Volunteering

The Positive Playground Initiative launches with a training of core parents and staff. As a volunteer you will receive a 3 hour training from PlayWorks - a national organization whose mission is to promote positive play experiences on school playgrounds. The date for this Playground Workshop is Friday April 6, 2012 from 8:30-11:30 in the Gym. To participate in the training we ask for a commitment of one recess slot per week (30-40 minutes) as a parent volunteer for the remainder of the school year.  We hope that this core of parents will be interested in continuing their playground volunteerism next year as well. As the Positive Playground Initiative expands, we will bring on additional parent volunteers who will be trained in-house and recruited for playground volunteering this year and next.

Please contact Kael to sign up for the Playground Workshop as soon as possible. Space is limited.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing some of you at the training and on the playground. We believe this will be a rewarding experience for you and the children.

And Shane's response:

Phil,  

It's been a while since I've commented on your emails, which have been noticeably less frequent.
  
With all do respect Phil, this is the most ridiculous idea I've heard in a long time.  It may not be you personally, but someone is trying way to hard and it's going to back fire.  Kids know way more than adults.  They forgive and forget, they have way more fun, are more real, communicate way better than adults and are more sincere, generous and loving.  Can't you see that being around so many kids? 
 
Here's what you need to do.  Get all of the adults off of the play ground and just let them be kids.  Aren't you and many of the school leadership liberal in your belief systems?  It's so ironic to me, as a conservative, that liberals like to have more rules, more suggestions and more oversight then us conservatives.  We don't need more rules, especially the kids.

In a previous email, describing other playground rules, my wife and I literally laughed out loud as it described how kids can't play chase games unless all the kids agreed.  And that kids couldn't be mean to each other.  It's a joke.  Just let them play and be kids.

The adults should observe the kids to see how to behave.  What do adults know about proper communication?  Have you watched the news lately?  Do you honestly think that adults are good role models for kids?  It's the opposite my friend.

Phil, you guys try way too hard.  Too hard to make sure everything is fair, to make sure that no one ever has their feelings hurt, that there is a rule for every single thing.  It's a joke, really Phil and I'm sure that there is a better way to spend your time as the principle.  Have you checked the stats of our American school children do academically compared to other industrialized countries on our planet?  We're no where near the top.  But we definitely have plenty of play ground rules and plenty of other rules to make sure that no one is better than anyone else, that we're all the same, no one can excel because that would mean someone is failing, and that just wouldn't be very nice, that child might even cry.

And I already know your response.  You're going to be fair, thank me for expressing my opinion, that I'm an honored parent and you just want to do the right things.  I know you work hard and deal with a lot, but someone needs to stand up for standards, for right and wrong, and put a stop to the silliness that is represented in these ridiculous ideas that somehow, we need parents hovering over these kids during recess. 

These kids are not being properly prepared for the real world.  Ya, sometimes the real world isn't so nice, and it's not fair to try and create this artificial, perfect utopia while kids are in school, only to have them fail when they get out, or worse, become an entitled adult who can't be tough, handle failure, get up again and keep on trying until they succeed. The real world doesn't have recess monitors holding everyone's hand. 

It's silly Phil.

Enjoy the rest of your day. 

I'll be spending 9+ hours working my tail off to provide for my family.  I'll be fighting, overcoming weaknesses, working through fatigue, and doing everything possible to provide well for my family in an environment where if I don't try very hard, and keep on getting up after failures and disappointments, and never ever give up, I'll lose my business and have nothing for my family.  Fortunately, I didn't have people holding my hand while I grew up, and I learned to fail, and keep on going.