Butterlicious

Lauren asked for a sippy cup this morning.  "I don't want milk Mom, just fill it with butter." Hmmm....a little early in the morning for that I think.  In case you're wondering, I said no.  After I stopped laughing.

summer's over

School started last week!  This year round schedule takes some getting used to. Sarah is in 2nd grade and Abbey started kindergarten.  She's been waiting for this since she was three, so to say she is thrilled would be understating.  I can't believe how the time has flown!  I don't care how old they get. To me they'll always look something like this.

In case you're wondering, they were playing "dress-up".  And three years later, it's still the game of choice at our house.

Sarah and Abbey's "first day of school" picture.

proposition 8

Brent challenged me this morning to write about proposition 8.  My knee jerk response was to say "Well, it's complicated".  My feelings about it are complicated.  In reality, they aren't complicated at all. I just needed to educate myself on the issue at hand.  Prop 8 is actually simple and very straight forward. It reads as follows: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California."  That's it.  Amazing that something so simple can cause such contention.  And have such far reaching consequences.  I'm only just beginning to grasp the potential for change that will come if this proposition, or something like it, isn't passed. 

To write about this is actually very difficult for me.  I tend to avoid politics when possible.  I tire of double meanings, hidden agendas, and contention in general.  I appreciate honesty and integrity, two things I don't see much in the political arena. So I search for the candidate that is the least dishonest and that person gets my vote.  Not exactly my idea of great leadership.

But the definition of marriage is something I cannot, in good conscience, leave to the politicians.  I care too much.  I have to become involved and support what I know is true. There is a line in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" that sums it up better than I ever could.  "The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan.  Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity."  This is so straightforward and so absolutely true!  I know some people say that truth is a relative term. Meaning what is right and true for one person is not right and true for another.  That may be when you're choosing a career or a new car.  But in regard to the laws of God, there is no grey area.  There is a right and there is a wrong.  To fight against that only leads to unhappiness. You can hate me for saying that, but it won't change the truthfulness of what I said.

I know the desire to love and be loved is innate. We need emotional and physical intimacy like we need food to eat and air to breathe.  I wouldn't want to deny that to anyone.  But same-sex marriage is not a solution.  Our sexual orientation is not the same thing as the color of our skin and can't be treated as such.  We came to this earth with gender intact.  We are male and female to our very core and that is the way it has to be.  Now truthfully, I don't understand the challenge of same-sex attraction.  I can only imagine how difficult that would be.  I DO understand that we have a loving Heavenly Father who will help and support us through our trials.  I also understand that there is great strength in numbers.  I for one, am committing my support to the passing of proposition 8.  I hope, and pray,that you will do the same.

Toes for lunch

So in the interest of time and convenience, I fed my kids costco hotdogs for lunch today.  I know, I KNOW, but there are times when convenience outweighs childhood obesity.  No pun intended.  The place was packed but we finally got a table and settled into the business of eating.  Tyler was in my lap and I was trying to eat my pizza despite the handfuls of cheese he kept grabbing off my slice of pizza.  The kid has hands that strike like a cobra.  I look over, and Lauren has taken the dog out of the bun and replaced it with her adorable, albeit dirty, little foot.  It fit just right with her little toes sticking out of the top. She had it up by her plate and was eating the bun  from around her foot like it was the most natural thing in the world.  I may not have noticed except for the table of middle aged, asian, businessmen busting a gut at the table next to us.  Foot long anyone?

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I didn't have my camera.  But here's another cute picture of little toes.  Can't say I'm a fan of grown-up feet, but those baby ones sure are cute!

A day in her life

A few of Lauren's antics the last couple of days.  The house has been a little chaotic since the move and she's making the most of it.

• sneak the five gallon tub of butter and eat half of it with a spoon.
• use the other half to paint her little brother.
• sneak the butter again and paint the grate of mom's new floor fan.
• cut up her sun dress with mom's kitchen scissors.
• decided using the toilet just isn't fun.  She now goes on the floor in front and cleans it up with the bathroom towels.  (I'm hating laundry)
• find the scissors again and shave a section of the new carpet.
• dump a full bottle of shampoo into her bathtub.  Instant bubbles.
• later paints the dry tub (and the wall and herself) with a full bottle of new shampoo because it "feels really fun and slippery".  It did, actually, look fun and slippery.  I almost joined her.  But the adult in me prevailed because cleaning up that thick soap takes about....oh....three hundred rinses.  All in good fun right?