A Little Update...

Life is busy in our neck of the woods. The trees have lost their leaves in anticipation of the snow, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. We have all had colds, spent some time in RI with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Dave for a long Veterans Day weekend, and trying to adjust to only having a few hours of daylight a day! I am busy planning Christmas festivities and gifts and crafting presents. I love this time of year! Although, is it just me or was Christmas just a few months ago? This year has FLOWN by. Todd is hanging in there at this busy time of the semester. He is pulling all nighters far too often and counting the weeks until Christmas break. He is also applying to internships, which is exciting, so stay tuned for an announcement on where we will be for 6 months! Thatcher and Tagg are getting used to spending most of their time inside, and learning how to share. Thatcher said the funniest thing. Todd taught him to say #1 and #2 in reference to bathroom matters, instead of the "other words". It got a little embarrassing when in the middle of church or a trip to the store Thatcher would scream, "I've got to go POO!". So, he now referes to his bodily functions as #1 or #2. Todd and I were talking the other day and we heard Thatcher yell from the bathroom, "What is #3? Is it take a bath?" I guess he figured that we are numbering all things related to the bathroom. Tagg is talking up a storm and comes up with the funniest phrases. We have realized that Tagg is no longer a baby, but a little boy. A hard pill for me to swallow. In short, life is good.

I stole this quote from my friend Jill's blog...

If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly . . .

Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us.

--Thomas S. Monson

I also love this one...

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

I want to vinyl letter part of that poem and hang it somewhere someday. I think about those lines almost every day. I sometimes beat myself up for stressing too much about this, or losing my patience about that. I am trying to have more joy in the journey. I often think about the day when Thatcher and Taggart will leave on their missions, and I hug them now a little more tightly.

On a less serious note...

For my mission friends...who knew that Uncle Gunnell was on Kath and Kim?? I didn't, until last night...

Love this show. It is hillarious. New favorite show of the Fall along with 17 Kids and Counting (Who has seen this? I still can't get over it every time I watch, the woman is a SAINT), John and Kate plus 8 (this isn't a new show, but I just discovered it and LOVE it), Chuck (very funny), and Biggest Loser (again, not a new show but the first season I have gotten into it, very inspiring).