Easter Uggs

Whew - I'm glad that's over with!  We had the combined excitement of Easter, along with the joys of the first science fair project, due today.

We spent much of Saturday wrestling with the project - which was to be a model of something.  Hunter was interested in why bears live in caves, so for the past month we've been mulling over it.  He tried cutting a cave out of cardboard (with my sewing scissors, no less) and it wasn't too terrible, I thought - especially since he did it himself.  I'm convinced that the "good" ones are done by the parents, just like the good pinewood derby cars are done by the dads.  It's a bunch of hogwash to me.

Dean googled ways to make a cave, and tried with the best excuse he could find for plaster of paris in Korea, but that didn't work.  He tried making a substance out of shredded newspaper and water, which also didn't particularly work...  Hunter didn't seem to much care about the whole thing.  Why would he, since his teacher showed me the class homework chart at parent teacher conference last week, and Hunter has turned in homework two times in the last 30 days.  Every day he tells me a different excuse for why he just can't do it (forgot it at school, already did it - but it doesn't get turned in, etc.)  But his reading comprehension is three times higher than necessary, because he spends the day at school and home reading.  That doesn't seem so bad, except that he doesn't do his classwork or think he should have to do anything else at home.  His teacher has to take books away from him all day. 

I ended up staying up until 1am last night finishing his three-panel presentation poster and cutting our last attempt at a cave out of some packaging material that came with a small appliance.  Of course the information that he came home with about the project used the example of doing an experiment to determine which metals have the highest heat capacity.  Are you kidding me?  In elementary school?  I didn't learn anything about that until college.  I don't know how people with multiple kids in school deal with that.  I vowed that I would never *do* my kids' homework, but there I was doing it for him.  In third grade he couldn't have possibly done all that.  He hardly knows how to use the computer - by my design.       

Anyway, I hosted an Easter lunch and had lots of lovely ladies over, most with kids, and we did an egg hunt behind the building.  Tristan caught right on after I showed him how; Kyler was busy bumbling below our balcony and missed the whole thing.  Dean dyed eggs with the boys late on Saturday and we put them out on Sunday morning, along with their baskets.  I didn't get pictures of any of that.  Dean and the boys watched The Testaments in the morning before church, then we had our home teaching group over for Easter Lunch, which is always nice.  Angela and Corinna are both fabulous, but Adam had other plans for the day. 

Tristan has learned some new skills of escape.  He can unlock and open our front door, then go through two sets of double doors to get out of the building and chase birds into the street, or whatever else he fancies.  He can open the bedroom windows upstairs with nothing between him and the clear blue sky.  I had the maintenance people come install a chain lock on the front door which worked for almost 24 hours keeping him in (to his dismay), but then I got home from a shopping tour of Myeongdong and proceeded to open the chained door, which promptly broke the chain...  Now we have a baby gate in the doorway.  Tomorrow I'll call about getting the windows locked.  He loves to dump out Comet/Ajax cleanser, and also dumped nearly 10 pounds of flour on the floor on Saturday.  He can get right out of his crib now, which means he won't nap or go to bed.  I'm weary to say the least. 



Always trying to get away, he is.

My belly hurts when I walk much at all, and Baby moves a lot and often puts pressure on me.  I have BH contractions frequently, especially after doing anything.  I have to make an effort not to waddle by the afternoon.  I am remarkably better off than I have been in all the pregnancies with the boys, however.  With them I had vicious carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms, hideous swelling of everything - particularly the nose and face, my voice deepened, near-constant heart burn, and new stretch marks with each one.  This time I have each of those maladies on a much smaller scale, like maybe three times have my arms given problems at night.  I don't have any new stretch marks - and am still crossing my fingers.  I am still wearing my wedding ring, and can still wear a number of my shoes.  I do have 7 weeks to go, so it's only going to get worse, but still it's not as bad as in the past.  It must be a girl, and already she's being nicer to me!!!  Still no agreement on a name yet.

This was at the beginning of April.  I actually made the skirt, as a challenge in the sewing group I go to.



Soldier Man

I haven't posted much about Dean's time in San Antonio at Captain's Career Course, so here goes.  He used his time well and went to institute classes weekly and went to the temple with other Latter-day Saints. 

This senior missionary couple really devote themselves to the soldiers and were involved with institute, Sunday services and so much more.   







They were responsible for all these pictures. 

Dean and Jay spent a lot of time together while there.

And then it was all over with a graduation.  We're so happy to have him home.  I can hardly believe it's been five weeks - the time didn't fly nearly so quickly while he was gone for 10+ weeks.  He had a bit of driving shock coming back to Korea.  The drivers here are still ruthless as ever.

The Name Game

It's that time once again to come up with the perfect baby name, and this time it is for a GIRL (fingers still crossed!)  In the past I have come up with lists of names and Darling Husband crosses off most of them until we can agree on something.  We discussed baby names a few months ago, and thought we came to an agreement because we both walked away from it with a name that we've been telling people who ask - only he has been telling one, and I've been telling another.  Today we realized the error, and both prefer our chosen name.

So, the name I (really really) like is Cambria, with a long a in the first syllable.  He thinks of dinosaurs, because apparently it was a geologic period between around 542 million years and 488.3 million years ago.   I've said all along that virtually no one knows that - I sure didn't, but he is a walking encyclopedia.  The name he likes is Cherise.  Any thoughts???  My second choice is Mischa ("Meesha").  We have no middle name contenders yet.  The due date is June 10.  There are some other names on our list that we both like.  The boy names are left over from Tristan's gestation.

Pray for Pokemon

Kids really do say the darndest things.  I came downstairs the other day to find Hunter and Kyler kneeling in solemn prayer.  They explained that they were praying for help to find the Pokemon (Game Cube) game.  Their pleadings were answered this morning when they found it shoved in the VCR (Tristan?).  No wonder it hasn't been working for a while.  Two birds with one stone on that one!

Hunter has brown eyes like me, Kyler has blue eyes like my dad, and Tristan has hazel eyes like Dean.

I picked up Kyler from preschool the other day and he went into a tirade about how long it has been since he has had crab to eat, and demanded to know why I haven't taken him to a restaurant to eat some.  I explained that Daddy and I have no intention of taking ill-behaved children to a restaurant.  So he said that Daddy and he would catch some in the ocean the next time we go to the beach, or why didn't we buy some in the store for him to eat...  Maybe when his birthday rolls around again.

Kyler recently lost his second tooth (both bottom middle).  He tried to get me to pull it out, but that's not what I do, so it came out on its own just fine. He trimmed his hair (again) a while back, so it's still in recovery mode for a while.

Tristan has been speaking a bit more, and understands quite a bit.  He used to say "nnnnnnuh!" for "no", but now he actually says "no".  He says "Mommy!" and "Daddy" a lot, and now says "hi!" and "bye!" to the gate guards every time we go through the gates on base.  He also says "MY!" for "mine", which he actually learned from me when I won't let him have something that is clearly not for him.  He says "nooo" for "nose" as well, and "go" when he wants to go somewhere (usually with shoes in hand and coat on).  His favorites are "baby" and "pee pee".  He identifies every infant and tot he sees, including himself in the mirror as "BABY".  The other is a result of having older brothers. He says "gaw gaw" for "I need a drink".  I love all his babyisms!  Now it's time to get going on the potty training.  I don't intend to have two in diapers at the same time.

We had these pictures taken recently on base.  We couldn't get Tristan to smile, but he's still a cutie!

Beware the Bean!!!

I LOVE the trap door on the back of Tristan's jammies.  I made the three big pillows that the boys play on daily from curtain panels and memory foam (leftover from a former home and a mattress topper).

A week ago I made my final district primary visit to Camp Humphreys Branch.  It is over an hour away and it was nice to be able to leave the kids with Dean, since he's HOME now (yay!!!).  It went well, and then this Saturday we had our semi-annual district primary activity at the chapel on the temple grounds - which enables the parents to attend  the temple (the district covers the entire peninsula) while the kids are at the activity.  I was released from the calling the next day, since I'm now in our own branch primary presidency.

Tristan enjoys riding on Daddy's shoulders as much as the other boys did.

So, we were having our home teaching group over after church for dinner, and I made chili in the slow cooker for an easy meal, since I would be getting home after the family/guests.  We always look forward to having them over.  Only Angela was able to make it this time - and maybe that's a good thing.  A few hours after eating, Dean mentioned that he didn't feel quite right.  Hunter said something about feeling like he could throw up.  I had the very same sort of feeling, and eventually I did throw up my two bowls of chili with fritos, and dessert.  Then I continued to have other unpleasant gastrointestinal anomalies and threw up some more throughout the evening.  I went to bed, and all was over with.

Family Home Evening - can you count four sets of legs?

Yesterday Angela asked me at church if we were OK last Sunday.  Apparently she had the very same issues and had looked up KIDNEY BEANS online, since that's what I used for the chili.  I usually use pintos, or black or red beans, but thought I would try these for a change.  I also usually "quick soak" them since I don't plan ahead, and if I decide to make chili for dinner at 4pm, it is still ready by 6pm this way.  But since I planned ahead for this I soaked them overnight, then changed the water and put them in the crock pot around 7 in the morning on low.  They were still a little "crunchy" when we had them at 2pm.  They were never boiled, and now we all learned a lesson!  At least Dean and the kids didn't have the violent manifestations that I did.  Lesson learned!!!

The post-FHE show.  It's no wonder that Tristan ends up with horrible bumps and bruises, but he loves playing with the brothers.