James has it all figured out...

An excerpt from my conversation with James (six years old) this morning:

Tat: You used to be a little tiny baby. Now you're a big kid. What happened?

James: That's just the way life works, Mom.

Too true.

James: I can't wait to be old enough to not go to school anymore.

Tat: When you're that old, you'll have to go to work.

James: No, I won't. I'll go to my lab to study animals.

Sounds good. I like a kid with a plan.

In Passing

Doesn't she look like a movie star? I always thought this photo of her was ridiculously beautiful. This is my grandmother, Ada. She passed away early this morning. It goes without saying that no blog post could do her life, or any human life, justice. She was a remarkable woman, who lived through the Great Depression, who raised three children despite, at times, grinding poverty and the isolation of the farm, who had an astounding work ethic, and who had an endearing and sometimes even mischievous sense of humor. I will miss her, but I am relieved that she no longer has to live within the confines of a body that had stopped working. Losing her independence as she grew older, because of growing older, was very difficult for her.

Sometimes I get exhausted/annoyed/overwhelmed by my responsibilities as a mother, by the fact that people depend on me for so much. But, truth be told, I much prefer this to the alternative - to depending on others to care for me. I know Ada did, too. But she doesn't have to deal with that any more. So I guess that's a good thing.

Our Butterfly, Nemo

So I'm going to pretend that it hasn't been ages since my last post, and I'm not going to even attempt to catch you up on all that has happened in the last several months, but just do a regular, run-of-the-mill slice of our life. Here goes:

We (okay, Micah) ordered some caterpillars from the interwebs, and received them in the mail. We watched the caterpillars eat their caterpillar food for a few days, then - voila! - they became chrysalises! As per the enclosed instructions, we carefully moved the chrysalises to the "butterfly garden" habitat and waited patiently for the butterflies to appear. And appear they did! We fed our little "painted ladies" (that was the particular species, apparently) sugar water for a few days, and then released them into the wilds of Utah county (photos follow). But there was one little butterfly that was unable to fly away. He (or she - I have no idea) had a bad wing. It looked like part of the wing had just broken off, possibly when he came out of his chrysalis. So we decided to keep him and care for him and name him Nemo.

It seems like there's a lesson somewhere in there about the cycle of life, or respecting all of God's creatures, even those that are very small. I won't elaborate on that. I'll leave it to you, dear Reader, to take away whatever message you choose.

And now the promised pictures:

What Happens at 4 p.m. when Alex doesn't nap at 12:30

An Interview

I asked James a few questions back in November. I intended to do this post a lot earlier, but moving sort of hijacked our life for a while. I'm sure some of the answers would be different if I asked James again today, but I thought some of you might still appreciate this transcript:

What's your favorite thing to do? Color and paint.

What don't you like to do? I like to draw me, and baby, and I like to sing songs.

What's your favorite color? Blue.

What's the best thing about being a kid? To do good behavior.

What's the worst thing about being a kid, and not a grownup? I want to be a builder.

What's your favorite food? Noodles.

Is there a food you don't like? Onions.

Who are your best friends? Jamie.

What school class are you in? Reception.

What's your teacher's name? Miss Wilson.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a builder.

What's your favorite museum? Dinosaur museum!

What's your favorite TV show? Animal Mechanicals.

What is your favorite thing about our family? Good behavior.

What makes you happy? Singing songs.

What makes you sad? When someone hits me.

Is there anything that makes you scared? Pumpkins and skeletons.

Can you tell me about Heavenly Father? Heavenly Father helps us when we're sad and we broke our board. (Note: This was just after an incident at school when James had accidentally broken a small writing board.)

Did you feel better after you said a prayer? Mm-hmm.

Can you tell me about Jesus? We're thankful for Jesus.

Links to video of this interview: Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Frida

This is our new dog. She's a "Chorkie," or a cross between a chihuahua and a Yorkshire terrier. Naturally, we named her Frida, after Frida Kahlo (who was also half Mexican and half European).

She is very cute and lovable, which is good, because she chews on everything and also isn't 100% housebroken.

For the full set of photos Micah took on Frida's first day with our family, click here.

P.S. I apologize for not posting in a while. It turns out that being the mother of two preschool age kids is a full-time job (who knew?). The only time I can really blog is at night after they have gone to bed, which is the time I'm usually so tired that I'm just staring at the opposite wall, blithering.

It's in My Blood

My grandfather went back to Florida yesterday after a couple weeks' visit. While he was here, I got to copy some photographs his brother, Doug, had given him. These two are from a trip my grandpa's family made to Disneyland, circa 1960. The top photo shows the family in the center - my great-grandmother Ruth is in the blue-and-white dress, and next to her are three of her five sons. Thanks, PaPa, for the great visit and the priceless photos!