A Week in Review

I hope that I get into the habit of this. There have been many times that I have wanted to write, but I always find myself saying, "in a little while" or "later I'll have more time". Of course "later" never comes. It has something to do with my kids now having a schedule of their own. When did that happen? I'm now the very same taxi service I've heard so many moms before me talk about. Plus I still have to fit in all the rest of my life in there somewhere-you know, errands and laundry and such. Josh has started playing basketball on Tuesdays at the church with some other guys from the stake. Maybe that will be my blogging time. So anyway, here's a few things from the last week or so.

We make sure that Eliza and Nicole have "quiet time" on Sundays. If we don't, they are completely out of control all day. Something about mom and dad wanting to have a day of rest just brings out the energy in the kids. They are allowed to color or look at books or pretty much whatever they want, as long as they are alone and quiet. Eliza chose to have her quiet time in our bedroom and when Josh and I decided that they could be done with quiet time, I went in to get Eliza and found her like this. How would it be to have a spot where you could sink into a bunch of pillows and take a nap?

We are being invaded. This summer has definitely been the summer of pests in our neighborhood. First it was a tiny little green beetle that no one had ever seen before called a shield bug. Apparently it's native to Utah (so am I and I'd never seen one before) but they were everywhere-the grass, every plant in the yard, the sidewalks, up the sides of the house. It was gross. But, it was only like that for about a week and then they were around still, but not like it had been. Then it was the wasps, next the grasshoppers (as I drive up the hill to our house I see them jumping off the pavement and smashing into my van-the garage floor is covered in dead ones that have then fallen off the van once it stopped-ugh), and now it's the spiders. Here's one of the small wolf spiders my husband has caught. I have two neighbors that have caught tarantulas. Yes tarantulas, like the ones that who knows who buys from the pet store, like 5-6 inches across tarantulas. Oh-and black widows. They're everywhere. Next to the front door, next to the front steps, all over the million rocks that we all have around the neighborhood being used as retaining walls, and my favorite-in my house. It was in the hallway going out to the garage door. I found it as I was on my hands and knees washing the baseboards. (As a side note, how do baseboards get that much dust on them?)

Three days after the hallway black widow incident Josh caught a mouse in the basement. I'm moving in with my mother, along with the rest of my friends up here.

One more thing to report, Porter is now crawling. It's the most adorable and the most infuriating thing. He is so excited that he can go wherever he wants to. He just coos with pleasure the whole time he's crawling. But, he is into everything now. I had forgotten what it was like to have a baby that crawls. Eliza is only 3 and a half years older, but I had forgotten. I had to move most of the plants into rooms that we aren't in as much-we'll see how long that works. The DVD's and CD's are all over the floor most of the day as well as everything on the lowest shelf of the bookcase. It's so funny to me that there is this tiny little person, who basically knows nothing about the world, moving around my house at his own leisure. There is nothing cuter.