the end of the magnifying glass wars

thank you, amazon prime, for 2-day shipping.  and for points, so these boys each have their own magnifying glass, for free.

salt to saint

don't you make mounds of shu mai dumplings while your husband bikes an overnight-turned-all-weekend-long-vacation-slash-relay race?

look who's talking

max's newest phrase is "no hanks" [no thanks].  i don't know where he picked this up--he seems to learn things by osmosis!  it's hilarious how polite and sweet he can be saying this, but then also so insistent and stubborn when he yells it! 

• max, do you want a drink?  "ummmm, no hanks."
•  max, do you want to play with this truck?  "no hanks"
• are you hungry?  "no hanks."  
• let's get your shoes on and get ready to go.  "no hanks"
• (while tickling him mercilessly) "no hanks!  giggle giggle no hanks!  giggle giggle no hanks!"
• it's time for bed, max, let's go get pj's on.  "no HANKS!"  (while stomping a foot)
• if pace tries to take a toy, or drives up beside him blaring his emergency sirens, or pretends to be a grabber truck...max shouts "NO HANKS!" (and sometimes accompanies that with a hitting, foot-stomping, shrieking, and general banshee-ness)

pace has always been a thinker.  he has always loved learning about where things come from, how they work, where they go.  i think his brain actually never stops...you can almost see his gears turning.  pace has lately taken to sharing bits of trivia when he wakes up from his nap*, which makes me smile inside and out.

• mommy, when daddy gets home i want to tell him about gravity that makes things go up and down
• hey, mama, did you know bees need pollen and water and nectar to make honey?
• did you know lighthouses guide boats to shore to stay safe?
• hey mama, guess what?!  i can sing the whole song of puff the magic dragon!
• i will sometimes pick him up and give him a good squish and tease him, "pace, i think you grew during your nap!  pace, did you grow?!  are you getting bigger?!"  one day last week he looked at me and said, "but i'm only twelve inches long!"

*naptime is being redefined for pace.  i usually put the boys down between 130/2, and they wake up between 4/5.  pace definitely still needs a nap, especially on school days...but there are other days when i think he's fallen asleep because it's so quiet upstairs, and then 45-60 minutes later, pace will come down the stairs and tell me his "eyes are done being tired."  i will later find a huge pile of books by his bed that he tackled before coming down.  he's at the stage, though, where if he takes that much-needed nap, he then lays in bed, wide-eyed, staring at the ceiling, gears turning, until 11pm.  if he doesn't take a nap, he'll a) crash around 4pm and fall asleep sitting up, b) get really hyper, or c) get really ornery, unless we expertly read him and know exactly how to maneuver any given situation.  i'm glad he at least takes 45 minutes of "quiet book time", even if he isn't sleeping...getting bigger is hard!

bug catcher

meanwhile...pace came home from his preschool today with a magnifying glass and a bug catcher!  he came running out of school holding the magnifying glass, which max promptly saw and wanted to hold and check out, and pace promptly told max, "no, max, this is my mag-uh-fin-eying glass from my school.  you can't have it.  do you like bugs?"  "no?"  max responded uncertainly.  "see?"  pace continued, "if you don't like bugs, you don't need a mag-uh-fin-eying glass, max.  it's mine."  max screamed a lot at that exclamation, and screamed a lot throughout the day...often...anytime pace was holding the magnifying glass.  

despite his earlier declaration, pace willingly gave max a turn holding the magnifying glass as we were walking home (without my prompting!), and as soon as we got home he and max immediately got to work finding and catching bugs.  pace was actually really, really good at taking turns with his magnifying glass...max was the one who had staked his claim on this newest toy and didn't want to share.  i think i put max in time out for his temper and for hitting pace at least twice throughout the day, maybe more...all the screaming is blending together...   

hmmmm...not much here by the trash cans...let's look over by the fence...

jackpot!  a spider!

"ah ha!" pace shouted and caught the spider, and then successfully put the top on so we could examine it closer.

here's pace counting the legs...then we let it go back in the grass!

wee school--letter B

max and i hosted wee school this week!  (we are keeping a school blog, so i borrowed my post!)

Welcome to B Day!  We started day one practicing our B's on the easel! 

Then we played the "What is it?" Game...we filled the bag with items starting with the letter B (ball, bowl, bird toy, etc.), and we had to guess what it is by just feeling it with our hands, not looking at it with our eyes.

Then we read "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"...

and then acted it out with our own bears and dolls!  Yum that porridge is good!

We also made our own bear puppets, counting out one face and two ears, gluing them together, and coloring them!--Then snack time!

On day two we colored our letter B again, and sounded out all the pictures on the page--B is for bear, bread, broccoli, etc...

Then we learned some new skills:  finding "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" small, medium, and large chairs/beds/bowls of porridge, and trying to put them in order. (finding small and large was no problem--medium was a little hard; placing in order will probably be easier in the next 6 months or so!)

And patterns:  bear, goldilocks, bear, goldilocks, bear...who's turn is it next?  (I know this skill is a little advanced for this age group, but thought I'd give it a try anyway...I was pleasantly surprised!  They all [sometimes] caught on after a few tries!)

After snack we played with Balls--pass the blue ball and bowling!

it's official

so.  provided our house sells, we're building in spanish fork!

this year has been very interesting!  david and i both independently felt a very strong impression that we needed to prepare for a change.

so i ran a mental list of the changes that i wanted to have happen this year, because if a change is going to happen, you want it to be a change that you want...right?!  so, the first change:  we want to have another baby, and thought i would get pregnant right away.  i spent a little time and money finding some new maternity clothes, washed everything, got so, so excited... that change has not happened, for whatever reason.  i'm really, really disappointed about that one.  i think i spent so much time and effort and worry preventing getting pregnant when it wasn't convenient, that when it is the "right time," i expected it to happen right away.  you know, if you aren't preventing it, then voila, it's going to happen! 

second change:  david signed up to transfer to st. george.  so, naturally, we thought 'oh--this impression means we are going to get a call from st. george!'  i started looking at houses online, found one that was perfect, and spent 6 months watching it drop in price again, and again, and again. we visited a couple of times, and each time felt like we loved it, and that was where we wanted to raise our family.  we dreamt of warm winters and sunny runs.  we even stopped by the ups plant on one visit and talked with the manager to get the scoop on transferring.  we learned his next hire was a transfer, and that david was number 9 out of 10 on the transfer list.  i thought, 'well, i don't know how this is going to happen, but some stars are going to align, because we had that prompting!'

we saved money.  we had a yard sale.  we sold furniture.  we sold a car.  we were going to go on a mediterranean cruise for our 10-year anniversary...and said no in the name of "being responsible and saving money."  we "prepared for a change."

when the changes we wanted to have happen didn't happen, i started thinking, 'great, what's bad that's going to happen?!'  i tore my meniscus and put on 12 pounds when i tapered and then stopped running.  didn't like that one very much.  when i found out i needed surgery i thought, "maybe i'm going to get a blood clot and die...maybe that's the change we're supposed to prepare for?!" 

when my prayers started going along the lines, "please help the stars to align, and help 8 people to say no on the transfer list before david", i knew something needed to change--me and my perspective!  so i stopped mid sentence one day and said, "ok, heavenly father.  i know you know what's best for our family--where our family will best flourish, where our boys will best grow and develop, where we'll have great neighbors, great friends, room to grow.  if that means 8 people on the transfer list saying no, great.  if that means staying in utah valley, great--just please guide us."  

(i also think at this point, david was reconsidering the transfer due to losing seniority, maybe going down to a 2-3 day work week with the transfer, etc...and also finding out he really does love all the outdoor things he does in utah valley)  

we decided to make good on our end and start looking at houses here.  the guiding was immediate and constant.  it was amazing.  we looked at houses online, then took a drive to check it out.  we would drive up to a house and immediately feel "no".  there were some that looked perfect, that were in our ideal neighborhoods, that were right next to trails we love running on.  each time the feeling was very clearly and distinctly no.  one day david saw a short sale in spanish fork listed online.  we really liked the looks of it, and did our litmus test drive.  we drove through the neighborhood and felt like we loved it.  we drove past the house and felt like it we wanted to see it inside--this was the first place we drove by and didn't feel "no"!  we decided it was time to contact our old realtor.  on our walk-through tour we felt the same way--we had questions about the house (the owners were out of the country and unable to be reached...??), but we still didn't feel no.  we actually felt pretty great about it.  so we started the paperwork.

two weeks later, we still felt like we needed to keep looking.  labor day weekend we were looking online at houses "to be built" and found a model we really loved.  they were building in a community near us, and david drove down to check it out.  they were having an open house in one of the model homes, and he came back 2 hours later looking pretty happy.  they were beautiful homes!  we started talking about the building option, and we looked at each other and said, "well, if it's just the location on the hill in spanish fork we liked...can we build there?"  we immediately felt calm, cool, collected, and very, very excited.  we went back and talked with the builder's agent...turns out they build on scatter lots!  the neighborhood felt like home, has a little stream running through it, has running trails!  the schools are actually in the mapleton district instead of spanish fork, and they are excellent!  

so...we're moving forward...and we have gotten a big yes!  it feels great to feel a yes instead of no!  even if st. george does call this fall...we're going to stay in utah valley and build our dream home on a hill in spanish fork.  

cut to the heart, all the day, hey dee hey!

pace apparently doesn't need to "let it go", nor is he interested in asking max if he "wants to build a snowman"...when we watch frozen in this house, the favorite scene and sung-over-and-over song is the opening song with the ice workers sawing through the ice.  i don't even know the words, nor, do i think, does pace...but he sings "cut to the heart" with great gusto...then throws in some "all the day"s and "hey dee hey"s.  max has picked up and sings "day" here and there.  it's very hilarious!

sunday was so nice we decided to have a picnic dinner after church.  pace and max decided the serenade us with the ice worker song, and found some make-shift saws to cut through the make-shift ice.  pace really got into it...

and this is when max accidentally whacked pace in the head with his ice saw and we had a chorus of crying boys instead of happy ice workers...

preschool for pace and weeschool for max!

pace started preschool!  pace has been craving a social setting with friends, and although we do our workbooks and activities, it's really time to apply that knowledge with new and different people.  a friend in our ward does preschool out of her home--she's been doing it for years and i really liked the looks of her curriculum.  it's twice a week for two hours, and it's perfect for pace!--science time, letters, games, active time, etc.  pace has already come home with various new preschool songs memorized, and the teacher has sent home a september paper of things to work on and memorize.

today max started his "wee school"!  three other mamas in the ward and i got together and we're doing a little mama school two days a week for just one hour--we rotate houses, and focus on just one letter a week with various activities.  there are three 3 year olds, and max!  i am not worried about him keeping up with 3 year olds at all--he knows all his colors, counts to 10, and although he doesn't sing the abc song, he can identity all 26 letters!  today is super rainy, so i didn't get any photos of max coming out of school--we had to get all bundled up in raincoats in in our "tent stroller" (david's waterproof coats hung over the stroller to keep everyone dry)!         

so that's what's wrong!

last jan/feb i hurt my left knee.  i had parked too close to the garage wall and i couldn't open the car door wide enough to do max's car seat buckles.  so i hopped in the front seat and thought i'd just turn around from there to do it.  i used my left foot as a pivot to push and turn around, only i caught my foot and it stuck straight while the rest of my knee kept twisting.  i knew i did something to my knee, but it wasn't super painful right away.  i sort of shook out my leg and kept going on with my day.  by the end of the day, though, i was in sooooo much pain!  i couldn't walk, put weight on it, straighten it, or sit down and bend it without breathtaking pain.  i was running 3 days a week with a friend of mine at the time, and i took a break for 2-3 weeks due to the pain.  i started running again only 2 times a week, and something was definitely off, and some runs were definitely more painful than others, but i thought i had pulled something, and i just needed time keep on trucking.

i finally stopped all activity in may--well, i should say all impact activity.  i stopped running, but i started walking with another friend, started swimming (which was actually still painful, ironically!), i still did yoga, and i still did jillian's 30 day shred video (i just stopped a particular move if i felt pain).  then i went down to absolutely nothing for 4 weeks.  my knee still hurt.  and i couldn't do other movements--pivoting hurt, i couldn't squat down without pain, and then bear weight on it when getting up again, i couldn't cross my left leg over the right, and i couldn't sit cross-legged on the floor.  it definitely made life with 2 active boys a little more difficult.  so..after 8 weeks of rest with no improvement, i decided it was finally time to see a dr.  within 2 minutes of talking with him, he knew what i'd done:  i tore my medial posterior meniscus.  (the back inside side)  

i went in for surgery yesterday morning and have spent yesterday and today with my left leg elevated, iced, and "recovering."  (hence all the blog updates!  ha ha!)  the dr. sent some photos home with us...looking at them makes me feel like when you go to the car shop and they come out saying, "this is your filter, and this is what a clean filter should look like; would you like me to change it?"  

exhibit a: the outside of my meniscus, the good one.

exhibit b:  the inside, torn meniscus.  the top two show the jagged tear, and a portion sticking out from where it should be.  the middle two are mid-procedure, and the bottom two are at the end, all cleaned up.

exhibit c:  the diagram the dr. drew for david to show how much of the meniscus was damaged and what he cut off (the shaded in part is what went out the window).

all in all, the dr. said i should be running again by the end of the month!

back home!

david's aunt jan and uncle terry came up to camp nearby right as we were leaving.  so we met up for breakfast the morning we left!  we finally found the yummiest hole in the wall open!--homemade bakery treats, huge portions--i think we paid under $20 for 2 breakfasts, drinks, and a bag of treats for the road!

we made LOADS more stops on the way home than the way there.  pace frequently said that his "bobbem is hurting dairy, dairy well, mama" [bottom hurts very, very well], so we got out and ran around every couple of hours.  i think we finally pulled up around 845, and the boys immediately got to work pulling all their trucks off the shelves, wandering around the yard, and playing emergency.  

max's current favorite animal is his little yellow duck that he needs for nap time, bed time, and every time in between.  it came on a little walk with us.

goodbye, bison.  see you another time.

another stop somewhere park-ish

the boys fell asleep at the end of the park and into idaho.  when they woke up, they were ready for a break.  we found this cool little bridge and river area.  pace had to race laps (of course--wherever we go this kid runs!), and we threw rocks into the water before squeezing back into the car.

the last stop before finally making it home.  i think we were just outside of salt lake and we found a little horse property behind a gas station.  the boys spent a good amount of time playing in the mulch...the last 45 minutes home were the longest!  pace kept whimpering about his "bobbem", and instead of stopping, i told him to wiggle in his chair.  that trick worked until we found land marks he could recognize we played landmark scavenger hunt until we were home.