sing out strong

It's been an emotional day. Of course just saying that feels cheap of me; what right have I to break down into sobs when my dear friend who has lost her husband is so stalwart? But this morning on my way down to Salt Lake I was listening to our Kid Stuff CD, and in particular "Sing, Sing a Song." It starts out with organlike hums, and then Phil's smooth, warm voice comes in with the lines

Sing, sing a song.
Sing out loud, sing out strong.
Sing of good things, not bad.
Sing of happy, not sad.

Then the song continues as Richard takes the solo, then John Luthy, then Mike Bearden, then my John, then Mike Willson. And by the end of the song all of our kids are singing and laughing; as Superman said it, "All the kids are singing, including me and also [Pinga]!" The song embodies all that we love about this group that has enriched our lives and given us experiences, opportunities, and relationships we would never have had otherwise. We are a family. The boys are like brothers, and the number of jokes the girls have made about our being sister wives couldn't be counted; but the feeling is real. We take care of each other. And to hear that feeling of joyful communion distilled so perfectly into a children's song is a tender experience. I didn't realize that the music would change my life.

he was brave

We just got some very sad news. A close friend of ours has been battling stage IV cancer for a long time, and he passed away this evening, leaving behind his wife and two-year-old daughter.

He was a kind, gentle man. A good man, and a good example of what a husband and father should be. We are better people and our lives are richer for having known him. Words are inadequate to express what a loss this is for us, exponentially moreso for his beautiful family. We are grateful for the circumstances that joined our lives to his for so long, and grateful to know where he is now.

but it doesn't taste good enough to be candy!

Superman: Can I have a Tic Tac?
Me: Remember how you said you didn't like candy and you weren't going to eat it anymore? Besides, you already had candy.
Superman: Tic Tacs aren't candy!

pictures of our snowy weekend in all their infinite variety

Can you believe that we got these people to hold still and not act like goobers for a single photograph? It was a tender mercy.

She's still single, fellas . . . she is a fast runner . . . she is very nurturing . . . she is tall and pretty with straight, white teeth . . . Hey, back off! She needs to graduate from college still!

We did finally get a decent one, though, see:

Making sugar cookies, spurred on by Aleece. She likes her cookies to be thick and soft, sick!

He took forever putting each pistachio carefully in its place, making sure not to shell them first.

See what a good job he did on that inedible cookie?

Lucy likes her groceries. And I think that the Bumbo is one of the coolest baby inventions ever.

He's just smiling because he feels smug about his baby.

Some video clips of our many festivities:

We also shot off homemade rockets and it was the mostest fun, but I haven't uploaded the video yet and the camera is way over in the kitchen, and the cord is in the office, and I'm in the parlor, so . . .

Thanks to my parents for being freaking awesome and paying for the whole shebang. And the formatting on this post is so screwy it makes me crazy in the head.

the miracle eater

A success story: Pinga went for some shots at the doctor yesterday (for some reason we haven't gotten any of her shots since she was six months old . . . not sure how that happened) and she is in the forty-fifth percentile for height and the thirtieth for weight. For a girl who was in a nosedive away from the growth chart, that is great news.

She also likes to steal shoes. And try to open medicine bottles to drink them.

it just hurts so much!

I love Captain America, I do. I think he is a griffin pup. But if there is anyone out there who is more melodramatic I'd pay good money to see it.

He's doing super in school, though, and pantsed everybody in his class in the spelling bee today--eat that, other fourth graders! He can spell rudimentary! Probably!

I fancy them shiny shoes fer me booty

Daniel and Sarah gave us a grundle of cool art supplies for Christmas, and the boys could hardly wait to bust it open and extract the gooey innards. This is what they made on New Year's Eve.
Here is our party. We ate food that I loved and most everybody else thought was good, but not great. Well, that's what happens when I plan the menu. I think it might be fun to do a crepe bar next year.
We went bowling this afternoon after we chopped a cat's leg off in our fan belt, and they had the cutest little shoes for Pinga! Captain America beat the pants off everybody with the impressive score of 122.

At the Hansens' house yesterday I Wii boxed Amanda (she cleaned my clock), and that, on top of shoveling, with bowling on top of the lot, has I think permanently damaged my rotator cuff.