Life Right Now

Surprisingly as the time passes and we get closer to lots of exciting things coming up, I am getting more and more calm about it all.  I am realizing that a lot of things are going to be changing, not necessarily for better or worse, just different (though let's face it, making money, even if it's not a lot, will definitely be better than acquiring more debt!)  With that in mind, I am getting excited about what the future will bring, but I'm trying to soak up all the little details of our life here and now.  So more for my purposes and not as much for your reading enjoyment( I warned you), I wanted to write down some of the little things that make up our life right now. 

-anytime we go anywhere, I try to give myself at least 5 extra minutes so Shane can fulfill his irresistable urge to "tromp through the snow" before getting in the van.  And so Marissa can fulfill her urge to get in her carseat by herself.

-dinner time can be crazy trying to keep everyone in their seat and feed themselves without spitting out food, complaining, or just generally being loud and obnoxious, but there are a few token meals I can make and know that they will be well received: meatballs and rice, enchiladas (barbecue chicken, honey lime, or regular), cowboy dinner, lasagana, and most variations of chicken and rice.  And on the other side, I pretty much know whenever I try to make any kind of soup, it is almost always not well received, much to my dismay. 

-whenever Josh gets home, the kids run to the door and Marissa shouts a very enthusiastic "Hiiiii!!!!" followed almost immediately by "Do be my baby!  Do be my baby!"  which means she wants to Josh to carry her like a baby, sing his little "be my baby" song he made up, and toss her onto our bed.

-on nights when he has to work, I usually try to distract us by going to the Y or out to fast food, or take advantage of the opportunity to make macaroni and cheese or something else cheap and glutenous. 

-our bedtime routine has evolved into this: around 7:30 or 7:45 the kids clean up all their toys, get pajamas on and teeth brushed.  Then they come sit on the couch and Josh will pull up a youtube video for each of them (this is something Shane insists that daddy is better at doing).  The requests go in cycles but for the past couple weeks Shane asks for a barracuda movie every night (thank goodness youtube has some of everything) and Marissa wants planes (the trailer for the new movie coming out soon).  After that they pick out a "scripture picture" and we talk about it.  Then they do "silly time" where they run around the house like crazy for a couple minutes and then we kneel and say prayer, get drinks, and head upstairs to bed. Marissa wants me to sing her "I Am a Child of God" and I put her in bed, then Shane says his prayer followed by whatever article of faith he is working on and usually requests me to sing ABC's or Once There Was a Snowman (after trying to ask about a bajillion questions in between). 

-Marissa pretty much always takes a shower with me because it is just easier that way, and let's face it, the girl can always use one:)

-Our favorite place to go for a treat these days is Culvers.  If it's a weekend and daddy is home and we have a coupon for buy one get one free concrete mixers, we will go and get two and Josh and I will each take a kid to share with (whoever gets Shane gets a little jipped because that boy can pound it in pretty quickly!)

-We try to go somewhere most mornings- usually Mondays are to the Y and groceries, Tuesdays and Thursdays are preschool, and Fridays are storytime at the library.  Marissa especially loves the Y and I'm sure glad about that, I try to go 4 times a week.

-When the kids wake up, they want to eat immediately and whenever I ask them what they want it's always "a bar! a bar!"  This is usually followed every morning by Shane asking me what he can have now and acting like it's the toughest decision of his life.  I think he's secretly hoping every morning that I will say "let's have cake!" or something like that.

-The kids are always pretending to be some kind of animal and I am usually included in this too.  They love the Bear series of books by Karma Wilson and have created longstanding identities for each of us: Shane is mouse, Marissa is badger, I am hare, Josh is mole, and Sadie is even involved in utero- she is raven.  We all have to go to bear's cave (our closet) or my burrow (the bed) and reenact scenes from the book.