Highlights and lowlights

1. Patty came over for lunch last Friday. She told me not to fuss, though she's definitely worth fussing over. We at PB&Js at her suggestion. After the prayer, Stephen confessed, "I wasn't reverent." She laughed. She can do that now that her kids are all grown. I think I should laugh more. Thanks for the fun, Patty.

2. Last Friday night, we met Steve at Tysons for dinner. It was a fun family event.

3. Last Saturday, two Beehive girls came over to watch our kids as a service while we went to stake temple day. We dropped Mi Na off with Ken and Rachel so we wouldn't be separated for quite as long from her. We had a wonderful time, although I think Mi Na cried the whole time. Sorry, guys.

4. I completely forgot about two appointments this week, one doctor's appointment and one visiting teaching appointment! Where is my mind, people? I'm losing it!

5. I can feel the top of Mi Na's lower left front tooth. She seems much happier these days now that it has broken through. She sometimes makes this funny face that looks like she's getting used to braces. So cute.

6. Busy season is starting to get bad. I had this idea that I should go somewhere warm and rent a beach house for the next couple of months with a patio that goes right to the sand. Mi Na could take her naps in the house and Mei Li and Stephen could build sand castles. I could make sure all my babies were safe and happy. Perfect, right?

7. Sleep is just not happening for Mi Na and me. It seems like it's getting worse each night. It's hard when you wake up in the morning already feeling like you've had a long bad day. She was such a great newborn sleeper, but I knew it had to end some time. Too good to be true, you know? What to do, what to do? The answer was once obvious to me. It's not anymore.

8. Our workout routine is going down the drain. On Monday, we start anew. We're going to do this!

9. Stephen is happy to spend time outside in the cold practicing his glider biking skills. He once showed me how he could balance for a second or two.

10. My soul feels good in the middle of the winter/tax/no sleep season. Sometimes I look at it this way:

I can't believe I've managed to stay this happy.

Sometimes I look at it this way:

It is no wonder I am this happy. I am so blessed.

I hope I can maintain this through April 15.

Fun Wednesday

(In order to get this shot, I had to remind the kids twice that there were cupcakes at stake.)

We enjoyed a nice morning with Steve. We ate breakfast, read scriptures, and had a little dance party. Later this morning, we joined Mei Li's old joy school group for their field trip to the temple.

It got off to a rough start because Mei really wanted to smell the flowers with her friends, but it wasn't on the agenda right then. We toured the visitors' center with them and Mei was very grumpy at the start, but only slightly grumpy by the end.

We watched a short film, looked at the Christ sculpture exhibit, and took a group picture.


She never did get to smell the flowers with her friends. We stayed at the temple after her friends left so we could take a walk around the temple and enjoy the beautiful sunny day.

Mei Li smelled every type of flower she saw. Stephen, who referred to himself as "Chest" for most of the day (his new friend's name is Ches), pretty much did exactly what Mei Li did. Mi Na slept in the Baby Bjorn.

We ate lunch on a bench behind the temple and we talked.

After lunch, we made it the rest of the way around the temple. I asked the kids if they wanted to touch the temple. We missed the "Touch the Temple" primary activity because we were in New York at the time, and I was sad about it. When they touched the marble of the temple, they remarked that it felt smooth and cold. And that was that.

We walked over to the flower beds in front so Mei could smell the flowers, but the flowers were gone! Mei Li mourned her loss for a good five minutes. That little girl just loves flowers. She looks forward to smelling them every time we visit the temple.


So that was pretty much the end of our trip to the temple.

Since we were in Maryland, I took the kids to get cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake in Bethesda.

We are a spectacle everywhere we go. "You've got your hands full!" "Wow!" "You're brave!" People like to stare at us.

One woman at Georgetown Cupcake struck up a conversation with me:

Woman: None of your kids are in school? Your oldest looks like she's five.

Me: She's four.

Woman: Wow. If it makes you feel any better, my friend had three kids really close together, and now her baby is three and it's much easier.

Me: Awww, thanks.

She was a very nice woman and I know she meant well, but I'm not complaining about my situation. I chose it. I'm sure I make it look hard to take three young ones out and about, but I am happy to take them places with me. There is usually a bit of whining and some screaming from Mi Na, but overall, we have a great time.

I had the idea to take them to Wolftrap to eat the cupcakes, which is what we did when Ie Ling was here last, but Mi Na fell asleep in the car and I didn't feel like waking her up. So I decided to drive all the way home. For the last twenty minutes of the drive, all three of my children were asleep. I was grateful to have them rest their tired bodies. It was a busy day.

I woke up the kids and we ate our cupcakes together.






Sleepy-looking Mi Na was there too.


The rest of the afternoon, the kids played nicely together while I made dinner for a friend.

Steve came home and we played "Hello Animals." Steve readied the kids for bed while I fed Mi Na in my comfy chair.

We read books, looked at pictures of the latter-day prophets, prayed, and sang lullabies.

I told Steve, "Tonight, I want to blog about my day and do some laundry."

Steve replied, "I should do the laundry while you blog." What a nice boy.

So there you have it. We did lots of stuff today.