President Gordon B. Hinckley

I woke up this morning to learn the our beloved prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away last night. He was a truly amazing man and we will miss him. I am so grateful to have had so many opportunities to learn from this great man, as I listened to him speak in conferences and Temple dedications and read his words in the Ensign and in books.
I remember the time I got to sing for our prophet. He came to Virginia while I was at SVC, and the entire student body (all 200 of us) sang as a choir. He even asked the Chamber Choir to sing their signature song, "Oh Shenandoah," and they sang more beautifully for the prophet than ever before. I can still feel the love, joy, and peace that I felt that evening as President Hinckley, a prophet of God, walked into the room. I feel so blessed to have been so close to him.
At this time, as we mourn the loss of this great man, I am so grateful to have a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that he will live again, as will we, and that he will be with his family, and especially his wife who he loved so much. I am also grateful to know that there are twelve others who, together, hold all of the keys of the priesthood, so that they are not lost when we lose the prophet. I am grateful for the organization of the Lord's Church.

WARNING:

This post may contain some nudity.

But don't worry, I didn't have my camera with me...

So, our library here in VA is great, with the best story-time we've been to (and we've been to a lot of story-times in a lot of places). After story-time today, the boys and I were looking through the shelves for books and movies to check out. That's when I heard, "My pants are wet!" It was Camden, so without looking I simply told him that we should go pee in the potty. See, lately Camden has become convinced that if he feels the need to pee then he must have already done it...in his pants. He hasn't. This happens all day every day, and his pants are always dry. Okay, so back to the library. He's now whining that his pants are too wet because he peed. So I turn around to take him to the potty and go through the ten-minute ritual of convincing him that the pants are dry. That ritual usually ends in the threat that he will either wear the DRY underpants or go to time-out. Yeah, I'm a really compassionate mother sometimes. Well, what do I see standing behind me? My three-year-old with his (dry) pants around his ankles...and a very full children's section of the library. Yes, these are the moments I cherish.

Snow Day

We got a a couple inches of snow yesterday, and we had so much fun playing in it. Of course, this is Virginia, so the ice and rain came right after the snow, but the now-slushy snow's still out there this morning, so you can guess what we'll be doing again today...

I'll be working on my snowman-building skills. Jake thought mine looked like "a piglet" yesterday.

Go Skins!

"Hail to the Redskins!
Hail Victory!
Braves on the warpath,
Fight for all DC!"

Can you tell that we are die-hard Redskins fans, as in "I don't care how bad they are, they are still the greatest football team EVER!" And do you know what is the next best thing to watching the Redskins win? Watching the Cowboys lose! Yippee! I love the Giants...

I Miss You

I miss you, Baby Jackson. We all do. I know you were never really mine, and I couldn't have expected your mommy to leave you with me or anything -- you're way to sweet and cute -- but I still miss you every single day. And especially today. I don't know why, but today my heart aches and my arms ache to hold you.
You're almost 2o months old already! You must be getting into everything and winning everybody's hearts. I wonder what your days are like. I wonder what is your favorite food/toy/song, and I wonder if I will ever stop missing you. Probably not.

Poopy Tail

Some moms may get to play dolls and dress up, but they must have girls. I, on the other hand, have boys. And okay, we do play dolls and dress up, too. We wrap up the doll baby so he's all warm and snuggly, kiss his very dirty and crayoned (is that a word?) little face, and chuck him across the room like a football. We put on a fireman raincoat (it is so cute, and I found it at Value Village for like $2, but I digress), insist that Mommy lie on the ground, and then announce she's in a fire and the only way to save her is for two firefighters to jump on her like a trampoline, or we wear hardhats that look more like big bowls (sometimes they are) until the sweat is dripping from under them (that's really cute, and smells so good!). But my favorite game, or at least the boys' favorite game, is Poopy Tail. Poopy Tail is a small purple accordion-type thingy that came with a set of K'nex. But Poopy Tail does more than connect plastic pieces to create animals and monsters (though he's pretty good at that, too). Poopy Tail is involved in just about every aspect of our day. And he's always the bad guy. He chases knight and pirates, he hi-jacks police cars, ambulances and even fire trucks, he flies through the air landing in anything from the garbage disposal to behind the fridge to the pot of simmering pizza sauce (can you tell the playroom is right next to the kitchen?). And what is Poopy Tail's goal in all of this? He's trying to poop on his opponent. Yes, you read that right, he trying to POOP on his opponent. Don't you just love little boys? I do!

Puzzle-Mania

Camden does puzzles. Not just little-boy puzzles. Camden does PUZZLES. I guess he really is just like his Papa -- we already knew he looks just like him, now we know he's a puzzle-man, too! Over New Years Papa got out this totally cool globe puzzle (a gift from Amy and Josh) and Camden sat working with him on it for hours at a time. He even contributed by finding pieces that went together. The correct pieces, I might add, unlike his mother who kept thinking she was doing great only to find out that other puzzle-doers had to take apart the pieces she had put together... Oh well, I never said I was great at puzzles. So we were all amazed at Camden's attention-span and natural ability when working on this very complicated puzzle.
But then yesterday he astounded me yet again! He got out a 50-piece Spiderman puzzle (little tiny pieces), dumped it all out on the table, and did the whole thing all by himself! The child is three years old! Okay, maybe this is so cool to me because I can't do a puzzle to save my life (I'm still stumped by some of the little-kid puzzles the boys can do with their eyes closed), but I think the kid must be a genius! Or at least a lot like his Papa!

PS. Yes, Camden is shirtless in the picture. Camden is usually shirtless. He will use any excuse to take off his shirt, and then his pants... So far he keeps the underpants on, and sometimes has an extra pair on his head, too!

Caught!

So, what do you do when your children are being deliberately naughty? As in, they are well aware that you just told them not to do something, and yet they do it anyway, looking at you the whole time...? Well, around here I take pictures. And then we have to pick up everything they threw off the shelves...

Army Uncles

Today Uncle Clark and Uncle Tommy are leaving for Basic Training! We'll miss you guys, and can't wait to see you in May! Good Luck!

And Happy New Year to all!