November Birthdays

For years the only birthday in our family was that of our son Chris.  As our family expanded, new November birthdays came along.  In the last three years we have added two very important birthdays.  Lily turned three on November 18th and Turk turned 2 on November 30th.  Both grandchildren are a source of joy and delight in my life.

On Sunday, December 2nd we got together to eat cake and ice cream and to celebrate these two little ones' birthdays.

Turk loves his puzzle and is already an expert. He wants to give me a high five and a fist bump (like grandpa taught him) after every piece. He's going to go crazy when we put the batteries in. He also loves his little dinosaurs and wants me to give them kisses.

Little Helpers

At ten months, Tek gives every sign that any moment now he is going to take off and walk.  When I went shopping for his Christmas present, I knew that he was already walking around the furniture.  A baby carriage or stroller is not very masculine for a boy to push around, so I decided on a shopping cart.  There are many of them on the market.  Finally I decide on this Little Helper's shopping cart.

It was delivered one day and I simply put it away out of sight.  I knew that one day soon I would have to face the reality of putting this toy together and I kept putting that moment off.  Finally the other day when Tek's mother was here, I said, "Let's do it.  Will you help me?"

Carefully we opened the large box and Tek's mom leaned over and pulled the cart out.  "There," she said, "all done."   Both of us were completely surprised that no assembly was required.   Vastly relieved too.

Later that same day, Tek's older brother noticed the box with this great picture on the side.  He opened the top of the box.  We knew that Turk wanted to get the cart out so that he could check it out.  He reached into the large box and tried to lift the also large shopping cart out of the box.  Turk's mom was ready to whisk the box away, but I asked her to wait.  "Let's see how his

Sunday Morning

I still have three very Finnish looking reindeer sitting on the kitchen windowsill.  When I close the blind at night one of the ears sticks through the slats.  Last night Tarzan stared at it for a long time.  Finally he tried jumping up to get the brown felt ear sticking through the white slats.  Unfortunately he couldn't get far enough off the ground to grab it.  He gave up very easily.  

On the other hand, it is very apparent that he loves to torment Rex.  Rex slept for a really long time this morning.  When he finally got up, he headed for the back door to go outside.  However, every step of his way there was a big mean cat right in front of him.  I finally swished Tarzan away with Rex's towel and Rex ran outside.  

The sun is shining gloriously today.  We've had inversion so it is lovely to see the sun.  However, it is after noon and the temperature on the windowsill is only  20 degrees.  Brrrr  I don't think anyone will really want to play outside.  

Tek and Turk are here while their mother is at a Church meeting.  The bishop of her ward emailed a message to ward members saying that if you do not have 4 wheel drive, you cannot get up the slope to get into the parking lot at their church on Foothills Drive.  Ugh.  The Professor and I would be staying home or hitching a drive.  Apparently there have been accidents in the lot this morning.  What a way to start the Sabbath...by wishing you had stayed in bed.  

Steve's Last Official Day

Chasity Fry

Dec 26 at 10:34am near Pensacola, FL · 

Well yesterday was not only Jesus' Birthday and Christmas, it was also Steven's last official day in the Marine Corps so today he is officially a civilian, it's bitter sweet BUT I am extremely happy that we will not have to be separated anymore or have to deal with anymore deployments with the military :-)

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Little Helpers

The professor's and my grandson Tek has been working on walking alone for a month.  We expect him to take off across the room solo any day now.  He is only 10 months old but is a very determined little person.  And a very sweet, mellow baby.

When I thought about what we should get him for Christmas, I decided that he needed something to help him reach his goal of walking alone.  A baby carriage or stroller just did not seem like the masculine approach that we needed.  I started searching for a shopping cart that was really sturdy for him.

It arrived several weeks ago in a large box.  One of these days, I knew I would have to open the box and put the cart together.  Finally the other day with less than a week until Christmas, I asked Tek's mother to help me put the shopping cart together.  She is brilliant at lots of things including putting furniture together and writing poetry.

She opened the box, reached in and pulled out a completely assembled cart, "There you go, Mom.  All done."  Neither of us could have been more delighted.

While the box was still sitting in the living room both Turk and Tek came into the room.  Turk spotted the box and immediately went to open it up.  When he looked into the box, he decided to reach in and pull the shopping cart out.  It had been a breeze for his mom, but impossible for a 2 year old boy who was just a bit taller than the box.

Tek's mom thought that we should immediately take the box away, but I suggested that we leave it there for a moment to see if he could solve the problem.  Even though he looked into the box again he could not come up with a solution to getting the toy out.  I wonder when he will be able to solve the problem.  Maybe we should have showed him that if we turned the box on the side, he could pull the cart out of it.  I think that he probably would remember that approach next time he met the problem.  He is a very smart little guy.  However, neither one of us wanted him to start playing with the cart.  He will have lots of time in the future to take it away from his tiny brother.  Sigh.

  

Lost 113 Pounds

The BYU Wellness challenge this month is gain no more than 2 pounds over the holiday season.  I think that I need the Pickles' scale this year.

Thank you, Brian Crane for years of laughter.

Broken Branches

After the snow storm last week, many of our neighbors' yards as well as ours had broken branches from the weight of snow and ice on the boughs and leaves.  The professor and I worked to cut up branches and stuff them into our garbage can on Wednesday.  Fortunately all of the branches fell out of the can into the truck when it came by on Thursday.  However, we still had a very thick branch that the professor  was struggling with a hand saw to cut up.  

As I was sitting here by the kitchen window this morning, I saw two trucks with a load of branches each.  They stopped across the street and the drivers talked for a moment.One drove away and before the other could leave, I ran out into the street with my slippers on and asked if they could haul away the huge branch we had left.  Like magic it was gone.  

I think that the good Samaritans were the ward scouts with their leaders.

When I got up at 7:30 this morning, the professor  told me that we were going outside at ten to rake leaves in the backyard.  So when he came to the kitchen around ten, I told him that I had done my yard work for the day already.  I told him that I had got rid of the branches.  Of course, he did not believe me.  He was ready to go deal with the branches.  

By the way, it is raining out and the professor has a cold, so I told him to go back to bed and watch TV and grade papers.  He is still out in the garage.  I don't know what he is busy doing.  At least he has not suggested that I go to rake leaves.  Phew!  

Oh, I spoke too soon.  Do you have any idea how much heavier wet leaves are than dry?  Where is my math genius when I need her?

Can it really only be a week since we were walking on the beach in Sarasota?