Adam--The Kissing Monster

Adam has become a kissing monster. He just learned how to really kiss--pucker up, gaze deeply into your eyes, move in and then smack the lips. It is hilarious and makes me laugh really hard. And he really likes it (he must take after his father, but that's an entirely different story). Last week when the kids stayed at my mom's, my mom said he kept tackling Mary, pinning her down and kissing her while she laughed.

On Friday, my visiting teachers came over and Adam was on one. He was fussing a little and was really tired so I picked him up. Immediately he started the kissing monster. He must have kissed me like 10 times in about 5 minutes. All the time I was diligently trying to keep up a conversation with these ladies. No matter how I moved my head to see my company, he would grab my face, line us up and move in for the kiss. Finally I couldn't help it and bust up laughing. They were laughing too. I have to say that I love my girls, but my little boy is sweet, sweet, sweet.

Equal Opportunity

Some friends of ours that live down the street had their 4 year old granddaughter visiting yesterday. I guess she got bored and asked if they knew any friends for her. Dick said he knew just the house and brought her down. She was immediately welcomed into the fray (especially by Ruth) and she seemed to be having fun. Then she decided she needed to go back to her grandparents' (she said, "My mom gets worried about me when she doesn't know where I am") but she invited Ruth and Lily to come along. They stayed for a while and seemed to have fun and then came home. Later Dick reported this conversation with Ruth as she was putting on her shoes to come home.
Dick: (pointing to her shoes) What are those?
Ruth: My rainbow shoes.
Dick: Oh, did you have fun?
Ruth: Yea.
Dick: Do you like Allison and her brother (his grandkids)?
Ruth: Yea (Still putting on her shoes)
Dick: Which one do you like better?
Ruth: I like both my shoes just the same.

Dick said he laughed all day about it. I'm glad we can provide entertainment for the neighbors.

Spider Love

A few days ago I had a conversation with Lily that went something like this,
Lily: Mom I love doggies, do you? Or do you love kitties?
Me: I love doggies and kitties. Can't I love both?
L: Yea, I guess. But I'm afraid of spiders.
M: I love spiders.
L: (incredulously) You do?
M: Yep, I love them because they eat all the bugs and flies and wasps and stuff that I hate.
L: Doggies make me happy and kitties too.
M: That's great!

The next day Lily came up to me and said, still a little incredulous, "Spiders make you happy, huh mom?"
I don't remember saying that but I'll say anything to decrease the fear of spiders in our house. "Yeah, spiders make me happy."
Lily: "Well doggies and kitties make me happy." (She was just trying to reinforce that she wasn't buying into the whole spider thing.)
I love Lily.

Why I Love the Beatles

I was probably first consciously introduced to the Beatles by my brother. My brother was a music maniac. He had hundreds of albums and 8 huge speakers hanging on his wall. He would crank up his music and the whole house would shake. I think you could hear his music at least a block away. At first he was mostly into various 80's music but eventually he started to listen to more classic stuff like the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. When he left on his mission, he left a black box of cassettes in my capable care. Among these cassettes were several Beatles albums. I listened to them every day on my paper route. I loved them. He also left me an easy piano book of the Beatles' music. I learned a few songs on the piano and played them a lot.

And then there was the night when I was struggling to do my trigonoetry homework. It was a free Disney weekend on cable and they were playing the Beatles movie HELP!! It seemed oddly appropriate. As I struggled to wrap my mind around some proof that I had no idea how to do, I watched the crazy antics of the Beatles. I thought it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen. And somehow, amidst all the craziness, the trig proof fell into place and I had an epiphany. All I needed to understand trig was a healthy dose of the Beatles.

When I started talking about the Beatles to my parents, I got mixed reactions from them. I found that my mother loved them. They were one of her favorite groups. She knew all the words and had great memories of listening to them as a teenager. She was just the right age.

My dad on the other hand hated them and couldn't stand hearing them. He was a little older. He said that when he was in the military, there was a boy that had barracks underneath his. He said the boy listened to the Beatles night and day. After a while, he couldn't even hear the Beatles without cringing. At the time I thought such opposite reactions from my parents was, well, cool. I was a teenager.

Over the years, I have continued to love the Beatles. I got my own copies of their albums (Ron took his back). I must have listened to them a lot because I know almost all the words to all of their songs. The Beatles are definitely one of my favorite groups ever.

John knows I love the Beatles. And both of us love active Wii games. So for my birthday John bought me Rockband Beatles. It came yesterday FedEx. And John and I had one heck of a jam session. I realized that I really do know all those words. I loved singing and watching John play the guitar. Lily even dug out our little guitar so she could "play" along. It was awesome. And the whole scene just added one more reason as to why I love the Beatles. Thanks, John. I love you.

Random Comments from Ruth

Some kids make up for all their craziness in sheer entertainment value. Ruth is one of these. Here are some examples:

"When Grandma Oaks lived in a barn, she had lots of pigs and chickens."

"I'm afraid of spiders and heights."
John:"What about spiders on high mountains?"
Totally serious: "That would be terrible!"

Confessions of a TV Addict

My name is Tara and I am a TV addict. They say acknowledging your addiction is the first step on the road to recovery, so there it is.

I have been a TV addict for as long as I can remember. I actually remember thinking that the only bad thing about going to kindergarten was that I would miss The Price is Right in the morning.

Later, when I was 9 or 10, I became addicted to watching pro football. The year the Bears won the Superbowl, I watched every minute of every game. Go Bears!!

I used to schedule my paper route every day so that I could watch Scarecrow and Mrs King reruns (my favorite show ever). I either did it right after school so I could be done before it started, or wait to do it until after it ended.

I couldn't wait to get home from church when I was a kid so that we could watch Wonder Woman reruns.

In junior high, my friends and I used to get together every week so we could watch Saturday Night Live. I ran home from school each day to see what was happening on Days of Our Lives. I also tried really hard to make it home on Saturday nights so I could watch Remington Steele reruns. And every night I fell asleep to The Arsenio Hall Show.

My addiction waned a little in high school and college because I was pretty much never home. And my apartment didn't have a TV for a while when I was single.

But now it is back again. I found that I could watch all the old shows that I love online, anytime that I wanted (my favorites like Scarecrow and Remington Steele). And now that I have my own laptop and wireless internet, it is hard to resist. Then if you throw in Netflix and my DVR that I love, I am in some real trouble. Admittedly, I hardly ever just watch TV. I am usually doing indexing on my computer, or folding laundry, or doing some kind of household chore. It also helps me get my projects done. But when I find myself dreaming about the shows I watch, I wonder if maybe I'm going a little overboard. Do you know how disturbing it is to dream about being a character in MASH (another show that I've watched a lot of in my day)?

Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, I married a TV addict. John loved watching TV when he was a kid and I know because he knows about lots of old shows that I've never even heard of. Together we watch Smallville, various Star Treks, and anything superhero related. When we were first married we watched a lot of Mad About You and Friends. We also love the Food Network and I am happy to point out to John good ideas to try for meals. We love Netflix and coordinate our selections. I'm trying to talk him into watching Babylon 5 and he tries to spice up my life with things like Samurai Jack (which I could only take one season of).

So what am I prepared to do about this addiction? I'm not sure. I really like my TV. I am going to try and not let my addiction get in the way of my parenting, my marriage, or my scripture study, but that is about as far as I'm prepared to go. I've taken the first step, and I'll think about the next one while I'm watching the next episode of Babylon 5. Dang this series is good.

Goal Update Sept. 2009

For what it's worth I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to my goals lately. So, in an effort to get myself back on track, I thought I'd do an update so I'd know exactly where I am on the road to accomplishing them. Here goes:
Read 100 books this year --I just finished my 59th book so I think this goal is doable if I stop watching so much TV and get back to reading.
Finish my 200 projects by August 15--I failed at this one. I made it to 100 but I will try again for next year. I did really good for the first half of the year, but faded in the home lap. This year it will be Sept. 1, 2009- Sept 1, 2010. I guess I need to pull out my sewing machine again (John said he will build me some shelves for my sewing stuff). My first project of the new year is to make some toy bags to organize the toys that are everywhere in our house.
Complete the $200 DMBA health challenge--I have done all the health challenges they have had so far. I think they've had 3 maybe. I like doing them. For the last one I finished, BYU gave me a little MAG flashlight that John stole immediately. He'll use it more than me anyway. A new challenge starts on Tuesday so we'll see how it goes.
Post on my blog once a week--Here it is. And I think I've been doing pretty well on this. I don't make it every week, but I think I've made up for it other times.
Write in my journal at least 5 days a week--Total catastrophic failure. I really need to find a time to write because I think it helps me keep perspective on my life. I'll think about it.
Finish reading the Book of Mormon by February--I did it and am currently trying to read it again for this year. I am in the middle of Mosiah. I also would like to read the D&C this year but haven't made it much past Section 1. (Although, we're on like Section 79 for the fam and 90 as a couple. I guess that counts a little.)
Get A's on all the beginning level songs on DDR--Haven't worked on this in months. I am now forced to split my time between DDR and Wii Fit. It's a hard life I lead. I'm thinking about starting some kind of routine including both, but that's about as far as I've gotten.
Make bags and organize toys--This will happen soon, maybe this week. I am tired of all the chaos with toys in my house and I think this is a good solution.
Try to be nice to my kids and have fun with them--I try and I try but sometimes it just doesn't happen. I did take them school shopping and we had fun doing that. And we did have a pretty good FHE last week. Oh, and Kate, my mom and I went to one of the Friday night events at the Timp Storytelling Festival. That was awesome and it was fun to see Kate enjoying herself so much. I guess I'll keep trying.

So, after doing that, I feel a little better about my life. That is what I like about goals. They make you feel a sense of accomplishment and push you for the future. Life is good.

Playing By Her Own Rules

Last Tuesday I took Lily for her Tuesday night out. We went to the library and then to Maceys for ice cream. On the way out of the library, I grabbed Lily's hand to walk across the parking lot to the van. She put up her usual fuss. I'm pretty strong and it is not an option to not hold hands when we cross the street so her hand stayed firmly in mine. But, trying to teach her a lesson, I began lecturing her on why she needed to hold hands. "It's the rule that you have to hold mom's hand when we cross the street. I don't want you to get smashed by a car." Lily responded, while still trying to yank her arm away, "Well, it's my rule that little girls don't have to hold hands in the street." I laughed in my head, so typically Lily, and said out loud, "Well we're going to go by mom's rules today." I think 2 year olds get more than you think.