My friend Maureen recently tagged me on her blog to write about 5 wishes.  She didn't say that these were the only 5 wishes that I would ever get, or that the wishes would come true.  Since she's not a magic genie, I feel like I can wish for serious and not serious stuff, and not worry about the consequences.  Phew!

1.  I wish that I could stop worrying about things beyond my control.  I'm not a chronic worrier, but there are things that I think about more than I should- the health of my unborn baby, the safety of my kids as they go out into the world every day, car accidents, my sanity...  Well, that's not a very good list, but I fear things that are out of my control (although when I think of it, isn't everything basically out of my control?  Ahhh!)  I love Doctrine and Covenants, section 6 and often feel like it's speaking to me.  My favorite verse is verse 36:  "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."  I'm working on it.

2.  I wish that I had a magical fairy or housecleaner to keep my home clean.  Or maybe I should wish for less stuff or to be less lazy or have kids that are super-motivated.  None of us are neat freaks around here, and it shows.  But if I had that fairy that did care, well, I'd be a lot happier.

3.  I wish that I were better at serving others.  I feel like I have so many friends that alleviate my pain and suffering, but I do nothing in return.  I guess this is one of those "go and do" wishes.

4.  I wish for more time to be creative.  Maybe if that cleaning fairy visited I'd have more time (but not the energy?) to do all of the things that are pushing in my brain to get made.

5.  I wish that I was better at playing with my kids.  I'm lucky to have such independent little rascals, but their childhood is slipping away, and I need to stop and play with them.  I guess I should be wishing for more energy for a lot of these wishes.  What am I, pregnant?

So there you go.  5 relatively selfish wishes.  The end!

Celebees

Clark's favorite conversation topic of late is the celebee, an animal that he has invented.  He likes to interrupt others who are talking with the proclamation, "I would like to ask a question", and then, once he has every one's attention, start talking about celebees.  According to Clark, celebees have the following characteristics:

1. They live in the mountains.
2. They don't have arms or legs, so they get around by rolling.
3. They eat french fries that have been grown on french fry bushes.
4. They don't have eyes or ears, so they can't see or hear.
5. They make a sound like an elephant.
6. They are "zero" big.
7. The are soft and furry like a chinchilla.

Hopefully we will run into a real life celebee soon, so we can post a picture for our loyal readers.

A Christmas Wish

Having found the source of our cricket invasion (inside the frame of our sliding glass door in our bedroom) I wish for them to magically disappear.

Avoidance

Reading blogs about cooking dinner will not get dinner on the table.
Reading blogs about household tips will not get the laundry done.
Reading blogs about home decor will not spruce up the bedroom.
Reading blogs about cute kids will not make your own any cuter.

Unfortunately.

Some Stuff

 We went camping in our backyard one night.

 I think we've pretty much talked ourselves out of real camping with our kids.  It was that awesome.

 Grace and Camille one day looking all cute and twinlike.

 Clark has a cookbook with Thanksgiving turkey gobblers.  He and Brooklyn were excited to make these- and eat the treats immediately afterward.

 We got to visit my grandpa.  He's always nice to visit with!

 The girl's school had a Halloween parade this year.  Grace is the cute little bird behind the present and in front of the deflated stay-puft marshmallow woman.  (sailor girl?)

 Camille was too cool for school and wouldn't wear her costume, opting instead to wear Halloween colors.  Her teacher is some sort of cheerleader cat.

 Scared and scary Clark crossing the spooky threshold.  

 In front of the pumpkin house on our block.

Camille and Grace are in the chorus at their school.  I love this song that they sing for every concert.  It's so joyful, and actually brings me to tears every time, seeing all of those cute kids just singing about being happy.

What a Cutie

So I thought I'd try to update the blog.  Do you like this series of shots of Clark?  What a heartbreaker.

TP

I feel like I've written about this before, but I can't find the post.  Forgive me if you've heard this before- those of you who know me well know that I can tell the same story over and over again (while you patiently listen...)

When I was young my aunt and uncle lived in our town.  They had a lot of kids, both older and younger than me.  It was always fun to go to their house because it felt so different from our house and there was always a lot going on.  One time when I was probably 5 or 6 I got stuck in the bathroom with no toilet paper.  I yelled and yelled for someone to bring me more "TP" (our family word for toilet paper).  Finally my cousin Jared came running to see what I needed.  When I told him he went off and didn't come back for a long time.  When he finally returned, he was dragging a play Indian teepee tent behind him.  "That's not what I need!  Toilet paper!  To wipe!" 

It still cracks me up every time I write "TP" on my shopping list to remember my earnest cousin dragging that huge tent behind him. 

And, one more toilet paper story for you, because the young me was quite embarrasing, and the old me doesn't mind sharing these stories- now that I'm a mom it's nice to see the humor in things...

Our family used to go on vacation every year to this mountain resort town.  We stayed in this huge house, and all of my dad's sisters and their families would stay there too.  Those are some of my happiest memories.  Except for this embarrassing one: being shamed in front of all those people!  You see, I was using the bathroom, and there was no toilet paper.  Perhaps remembering the tent mishap of years ago, I didn't call for help.  Instead, I somehow tore off the cardboard roll and used that to wipe.  Needless to say, that didn't flush down the toilet.  My dad wasn't very happy about having to fish it out, and he let everyone know it.  And the rest, as they say, is history.