What I love about Steve

Got this idea from my brother. Not that he made a list about Steve, but he made a list about his beautiful wife and, hey, it was a good idea, bro.
I love Steve because:
* He can say he loves me with his eyes.
* He tells the truth.
* He turns his head to the side and laughs when the kids say something outrageous.
* He just found out that he loves the color red even though he's a BYU fan.
* He looks good with a shaved head.
* He has a sexy walk.
* He likes it when I buy him clothes.
* He is loyal to his company.
* He is a good boss.
* He knows how to make anything that has a tortilla...
* He won't wear gloves when he works because he says he can't feel the medium.
* He loves to play football although the odds are that he will need to be rushed to an emergency room (after stopping at Wendy's because he's been playing and he's hungry....)
* He loves basketball enough to get up at 6:30 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
* He doesn't speak guile.
* He likes Andy the best on "The Office."
* He loves the smell of a construction site.
* He believes the best about everyone.
* He gets me dark chocolate when he goes to the grocery store.
* He calls my mom "Mom."
* He loves Toyota trucks.
* Animals love him.
* He makes me laugh.
* He thinks he is lucky to have married me.
* He is ambitious.
* He calls his little sister Mish.
* He is kind.
* He calls broccoli "a vile weed."
* He loves retro music.
* He plays the trumpet...still.
* He drove a dump truck when he was 12.
* He calls pajamas "bed clothes."
* He doesn't like nuts because they leave little bits in his mouth.
* He does what is right even if it is hard.
* He prays and believes he will get an answer.
* He asks Topher for some "Toph love" when he wants a hug.
* He loves Glen like he's his own brother.
* He forgives.
* He looks nauseous when he sees needles.
* He passed out when he got an IV.
* He turned green when he saw my epidural.
* He got me a burrito from Morelia's each time I had a baby so I wouldn't have to eat hospital food.
* He's named all of our dogs after Star Wars characters.
* When we are apart and I see him, I feel like I can breathe again.

Being a mother of 4

Sometimes I come across something while I am reading that is so well worded and perfect for my life that I have to put it somewhere. This excerpt is from "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver:

"A mother's body remembers her babies--the folds of soft flesh, the softly furred scalp against her nose. Each child has its own entreaties to body and soul.... A first child is your own best foot forward, and how you do cheer those little feet as they strike out. You examine every turn of flesh for precocity, and crow it to the world...But the last one: the baby who trails her scent like a flag of surrender through your life when there will be no more coming after--oh, that's love by a different name. She is the babe you hold in your arms for an hour after she's gone to sleep. If you put her down in the crib, she might wake up changed and fly away. So instead you rock by the window, drinking the light from her skin, breathing her exhaled dreams. Your heart bays to the double crescent moons of closed lashes on her cheeks. She's the one you can't put down."

I've read this over and over and it still chokes me up. Love it, love it, love it!

Someone call Stacy and Clinton for me, please....

Has anyone ever woken up, gone into their closet, and come up with an outfit that they later found to be hideous? Yesterday, I thought I'd rock my new camos, an olive colored hoodie that is at least two sizes too big, and some stripy socks that I used to wear to brighten up my third graders' outlook on life. I even wore said ensemble to a get together with some teacher friends. Bless their hearts. They didn't even mention that I was going a little too uber grunge for a public place. Today I wore the same hoodie and happened to come across a full-length mirror and a mirror placed behind me so that I could get a good look at the back of me too. Yikes! I think we really need to replace our 3 bathroom lights that have gone out and haven't been replaced yet so I can accurately assess the damage in the morning before I leave my house....

Is it already March?

Today has found me very grateful. Grateful that February 2010 is over. Grateful that I am not feeling as bruised. When I first was home with the kids again, it was sadly intimidating. Just putting Topher in the car gave me a twinge when I realized that I couldn't get him in his carseat without hitting his little head on the inside of the car. I wasn't used to the heft of him--how much strength it took to get him in the car and in his seat without bonking his head somewhere. I am grateful that I carry him so much now that I can get him in and out even when he is asleep.
I am grateful because Josh seems to be stronger with me just around. He doesn't yell at his brothers and sister as much. I think worrying about when he would see me next gave him some anxiety. An 8 year old shouldn't have anxiety like that.
I am grateful because I can talk to Mikayla. She likes to talk. A lot. And when every moment of a teacher's day seems to be scheduled out and accounted for, sometimes the details of a child's life can be put to the side or even the cause of some annoyance. I want her to be able to talk to me. I have time for her now.
Cole. Little Cole who reminds me of a young Glen (my brother.) Quiet now as he was as a baby. Tough. Observant. In tune to my frantic nature and affected by it. I can read to him now. I can go over his homework. I can just sit.
Teaching is what I always wanted to do. I never doubted. Never changed my major. I raced through college as if pursued. I never would have quit my job. No matter what. I think such tenacity can be a good thing, but at what cost? My kids are all very young. I don't want them to remember their mother as someone whose job meant more than they did. And so I have been given this chance to be with them, read to them, re-memorize the pancake recipe, be there when they wake up, be home when they forget something and need me to run it to them. Maybe Heavenly Father knew I needed to be with them and this was the only way to get to me. As horrible as the break from my job was, maybe this is where I should be right now.