Sleep

I love Brandon's post, esp. the first part, that's why I think he's a good writer!

So I pretty grumpy today due to lack of sleep, due to getting to bed too late. I think there are no morning people or night people, well there may be a litte of that going on, but I think we train our bodies either on accident or purpose and then think that's how we "are". If I get my behind in bed before 11:00 or even better before 10:00 I can pop out of bed the next morning, regardless of how many hours I've had to sleep. I think that even if you get the same amount and get to bed late and get up late, I'm dragging throughout the day. I could still be tired on less sleep, doing the early version but I feel better and am able to function and it's easier to be nice. So I'm vowing to get to bed earlier tonight. It's hard because that's the prime hours kid free, but it doesn't make the next day easier. I think Heavenly Father gives pretty good advice in early to bed, early to rise....now just need to follow it better!
Happy early dreams.

Dad Checks In

I was more than content checking the family blog occasionally, enjoying Jennifer's observations and humor. She eventually made me a contributor to the blog, but I ignored that in favor of continuing my role as a spectator. Then she had to go and make a bunch of ridiculous claims about me, and in true Jennifer fashion, fail to post a single nicety about herself. She has partially rectified the latter, but it is up to me to clarify information about us both.


First I'll dispute some (false) claims about me:

• I'm a "Financier." This is Jen's kind way of saying I'm a tightwad. She's kind--I'm accurate.
• "Father of the years past and years to come." This seems to put me on par with Father Time. If that was the case, I wouldn't be balding as I age.
• "Author." I'm pretty sure authors are required to write--at least occasionally--so I think I'm disqualified. I could make an incision with my pocket knife and poke around your abdomen a bit with a spoon, but that doesn't make me a surgeon.
• "His Worshipfulness." I'm not sure we're talking about the same kids. If somehow we are referring to the same children, there must be confusion regarding the definition of the word "worship." I'd be very happy with "Acknowledged by his children," and ecstatic with "Obeyed by his children."
• "Best boss." Is this a promotion or just a change in title?
• "Biscuit." I think most country folk would be more likely to drawl, "Looks ter me like yer scarecrow is gettin' a bit thin on top an' thick in 'is middle."

Second, I'll have to explain a few of the fine things about Jen that she's too humble to mention herself:

• She's devoted. Every day she remains committed to me, our family, and covenants she has made with God. Certainly it would be easier to let at least one of these go--just for a little while until [fill in the blank]. But she doesn't.
• She's self-aware. She's mindful of both of her shortcomings, and she works to overcome them.
• She is the expert on our children. I am pleasantly surprised at least once a week at how well she knows, how much she knows, and how deeply she understands each of our children. These are surpassed only by her love for them.
• SAHM. I just learned the acronym (and probably got it wrong as well), but I suspect this audience knows what I mean anyway. I'm good for a few hours. I could make it though a few days if I had to. But every day, all the time? Nu-uh.
• 10,000 acts of quiet service. I don't even notice most of them, and of the ones I do notice, I only manage to mention a few. But while I'm thinking of zeros and ones and databases and servers, she's thinking of me. That, frankly, is fantastic.

There's more of course, but I'm not too good with the food metaphors (and I'm paranoid at what you all might read into them!). Bottom line is I think I'll keep her--as long as she tones down the ridiculous things she posts here about me!

Now back to Hanna Nanna

She is so sweet, although she has gotten to the toddler tantrums at times, but she tries really hard to be patient. When I'm going to work or aerobics and she knows I'm leaving she tries to put on a good face and say bye mommy. She talks more than all of us put together. She can say clearly....
Cole
apple
caillou
up high
baby
guys, wait

not so clearly
where are you?
here i am
there it is
balloon
play
jackson

and lots more those are just the ones I can think of. She is not a sweet eater. She will eat ice cream sometimes, froot loops, and chocolate is okay to her, but she prefers spaghetti, broccoli, green beans, cheese. It is hard to find foods for her in the morning. She loves Cole and Laura.

She started to count. Today she was tryting to discipline Laura by counting .... uunnn, tooo, dree, adda (laura). So cute

Oh and side note tonight, Laura was sent to bed and was sad and Cole said. It give me a bad feeling when Laura is sad, I don't like it when she cries. awwwwwwwwww. So sweet. And Cole was having a hard time earlier today and Laura was doing everything she could to help him out. Oh and I have to blog about our summer home school. I'll do another post.

for the fans :)

So here's me in a nutshell, by request :). I'll skip the labels like with the rest of the fam cause it's hard enought to think of stuff for yourself.

I'm a good speller
I remember telephone numbers from the 80s
I adore my family
I try to be charitable/think of others
if I'm in the right mood I'm a hard worker (not afraid to get dirty)
I love to laugh
I play with the kids
I love word games/puzzles
and games in general
I'm pretty competitive
I'm a fairly decent cook, as the years have gone by
I helped produce some magnificent people
I married well
thanks for thinking of me, as with most of my posts I start on one thought and drift off. The previous post started off with wanting to update Hannah's growing up and I thought of the other kid's stuff that I haven't updated and then it made me think of the qualities each child received from Brandon....and here we are. This is good though, the whole point of the blog is to eventually make it into a book for the good ole posterity and they'll want to know where the craziness came from. :)