Seeing Colors

Something has got me seeing color...not that I have ever been color-blind or anything. It's just that lately I have really noticed all the beautiful color in the world. Maybe it was those rainbow cupcakes that were pleasing to the eye than they were delicious or maybe it is because spring has sprung (yesterday it was 68 degrees here), or maybe it is because Andrew is finally back to around 45 hours a week instead of double that. Whatever the cause of my new vision, I am grateful for it.

I couldn't, in good conscience, walk around appreciating the impeccably manicured lawns, well-groomed flowerbeds, and perfectly trimmed hedges of my neighbors and return to the long-neglected trees, flowerbeds, and lawn (now several inches tall in patches) without feeling just a smidge hypocritical...so on one beautiful afternoon, I put the kids in their room for a nap and busted out the lawnmower. After edging and mowing, I started weeding, and could have happily worked at it all day...but I thought I heard the laundry monster inside causing a ruckus. Oh well, there will be more beautiful afternoons and more naps (fingers crossed) and more weeding.

In honor of my visual cortex, I am planning to add some life to our bathrooms in the form of some "natural" pictures. Having been inspired by Aimee and Todd (a couple of fantastic photographers and interior designers with side gigs), I have comissioned some original works from Andrew. In addition to hosting Andrew's online gallery, I am selfishly posting these so you can help me choose some pictures to frame and hang. Send in your votes and then come visit us when they are hung!

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...And, just for fun here are the candidates for the other seaside bathroom:

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Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing

Yep, there has been a lot of that lately. Chloe has been getting four molars and some other teeth too, and she has not been too happy about it. I noticed that there was a problem when she stopped eating (she used to out eat Clancy and was much less picky). Then the unstoppable mid-night crying started. We tried every thinkable means to get her calmed down and settled (including the usually magical infant Tylenol) but nothing worked until we all went downstairs to watch an Elmo movie. As soon as the fuzzy red guy appeared, the crying stopped. Andrew and I catnapped through the movie periodically being poked back into awareness by our little daughter who didn't want to be the only one awake. Luckily we haven't had to resort to another midnight showing of Elmo again...yet.
At Stake Conference we decided to sit in one of the smaller side rooms and watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit television rather than take our chances in the enormous main hall. About 5 minutes into the meeting, Clancy decided to explore a bit and while running, tripped over the piano and gnashed his bottom lip. Andrew quickly extricated him blood and all. When he came back I could barely look at his lip, it looked really painful. Though it swelled and he got a fat lip, he also held it out artificially so it looked really swollen and yucky.

That same day we took a picnic lunch to the University of Washington quad where the famous Cherry Blossoms are. We were not alone there, there were hundreds of people vying for an opportunity to snap their photos with the blossoms. Luckily we were able to elbow our way to take ours (just kidding, it wasn't THAT crowded). There were few times during this experience that I saw Chloe crack a smile (teething) and I think most of them were when she was admiring one of the many many purebred dogs that the Seattle populous seems enamored with (I am not sure I saw even one purebred dog growing up, but here it is like the Westminster dog show every time we go outside).

St. Patrick's Day Greetings from the Emerald City by the Sound

This year we celebrated St. Patrick's Day not with corned beef and cabbage, but with rainbows and paper. On Monday night we had a St. Patrick's Day family home evening where we talked about the legend/maybe or maybe not truthful story that St.Patrick used a shamrock to explain the Godhead to a Pagan mob. I have never heard that story, but I think it is interesting...shamrocks have three leaves (or three lobes of one leaf?) united by one stem--just as the Godhead (Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are separate beings but so united in purpose that they are often confused as one being. So in honor of the shamrock we decked out our ceiling (after first cutting down the red, white, and pink hearts that were there).



Clancy saw me preparing the shamrocks before FHE, and of course asked about a bazillion questions about them so when it came time for him to say the opening prayer, he thanked Heavenly Father for the "what kind of rocks are they?" (imagine this question repeated several times until we could figure out that he was asking a question).



This little leprechaun showed up overnight, much to the kids' delight!

This morning when I burst through the door to wish the kids a happy St.Patrick's Day, I was, of course, wearing green and Clancy was wearing green pajamas. Chloe, however, was wearing her obligatory pink pajamas with no green. When I reminded Clancy that Chloe didn't have any green and asked him what we should do, I expected him to volunteer to pinch her. Luckily, he surprised me by saying "we'd better get her into green!". He reminded me to have her wear green in his most frantic animated voice when I started putting on her pink tights (with a green dress to follow of course). He also very thoughtfully included in his breakfast prayer a thanks to Heavenly Father that he can wear a green shirt and a plea that Heavenly Father would bless me that he (Clancy) can't pinch me today (Many Thanks Clancy).






The green eggs and ham and Irish Soda Bread didn't make it to our table this year, we had leftovers instead, but our big splurge was some rainbow cupcakes with a cloud on top. A friend saw this in "Family Fun" magazine and made it for ABC school. I thought they were so neat that I was excited to make them for Activity Days. It was so fun, but I think next time I'll save myself the trouble and make it a cake!