egg.

We walked down the road to see the neighbors chickens.

All the kids got to keep a souvenir egg,

which they were real excited about.

Some more so than others.

After we'd been home for about negative 2 minutes

Andy walks up to me with a little smile on his face.

He says, "Mom, I found a nice comfy pillow

and I sat on my egg. But it didn't hatch."

no. no it didn't.

hi.

I'm in Canada, eh?

We drove.

and stopped in some pretty awesome places.

Of course, I'll post more pictures.

later.

clubhouse.

We're trying to sell our house, you know, so we cleared everything out.

The armoire in the living room was supposed

to go to Grandma's, but it's so heavy we couldn't move it alone.

And so it sits.

Empty.

The beautiful clubhouse making kind of empty.

Dani quickly dubbed it her space, and filled it with personal effects.

It's strange to start doing dishes and hear the faint music of

a Nintendo DS coming from who knows where.

Oh yes. The empty armoire.

Turned awesome clubhouse.

I keep a notebook by my bed. And a dictionary.

Whenever I want to feel smart I read the dictionary.

And whenever I think I'm smart, I write it down in my notebook.

So I don't forget.

When I go places, I like to take my dictionary and my notebook, in case I hear or see something I want to know more about, or someone wise says something I want to remember. Then I have somewhere to put it.

I don't trust my mind to remember.

Sometimes when I feel tired, or impatient, or distracted, or selfish, or hungry, or weak, or grouchy, or greedy, or confused, or sad, or worried, or busy...I like to read my notebook.

This last Mother's Day Lara gave a talk in church and she spoke about her mother. She said, "My mother was joyful. She sang while she did the laundry..."

I wrote that down.

I thought that was wise, and I wanted to remember; so I could read it months later in a tiring moment when I kind of wanted to cry, so I could feel again how I felt when Lara talked about her Mom. The joy and gratitude I felt for the job. The love I felt for my children and for my Heavenly Father. and for laundry.

So in that moment, I could brush it off and remember

to sing.

I'm glad I wrote that down.

a dress for kacie.

It feels good to make clothes for her.

Today her name is Marlo Bay Sarah Marie.
tomorrow she'll be Hannah, she says.
My name is Don Oh Lulu Mom.
for today.

I'll be sad when she grows up.