People Will Say We're in Love

Have you spent much time around someone who is in the infatuation stage of love?  All they want to do is talk about how happy they are and how wonderful their love is.  It can be really annoying.  Forgive me-- I am in that stage.

I've always loved him, but I have fallen in love with this little guy lately.  It feels so good to have him happily eating, sleeping, and playing after almost a year of not such a happy baby.  He is so much fun, so cute, so smiley, just delightful.  I am happy when I hear him wake up from his nap rather than dreading more fussiness.  He is starting to make sounds that are the beginning of words.  Right now we can distinguish "fish", "dog", "Jesus", "Mama" and "Dada".  Clearly, he is gifted.   I don't recall the other kids verbalizing this early.  We are just charmed by him. 
Truthfully, I'm feeling a bit like a bionic woman-- in that, I've been working so hard and struggling to get things done around the house while dealing with a seriously cranky baby.  And now all of a sudden, Peter is happy and requiring much less effort, but I'm still going full speed and I'm able to get SO much done.  The effect probably won't last too long, and yet I suppose that is how we grow and increase our capacity.  We struggle through hard times and get stronger.  
  He is almost ten months old and he got his first big boy haircut on Sunday.  It was my handiwork, and I will only say that it looks better in this picture than it does in real life.  I tried.

And it's not just me.  The whole family is more anxious to hold him and snuggle him now that he's not screaming at everyone all the time.  Do I exaggerate how bad it's been?  I don't think so.

I love his two little bottom teeth.

Okay, that's enough.  I'll try to move on to another subject, but I'm afraid I'll just keep thinking of this little face.  Lucky, lucky me.

The kids had a "Slop-Sleep" last week.  Isn't summer grand?  Sadly, one glorious part of summer will be missing this year thanks to child sloppiness.  As much as I love them, I will not buy any more Otter Pops this summer.  Too many wrappers and clipped tops left on the floor.  That's sad.

Now, this is impressive, is it not?
This is the play dough cell Clark created in preparation for the biology camp he is teaching at a small private school up in Bountiful this week.  Last year my dad did some volunteer teaching at the school and had Clark come one day with his reptile and amphibian menagerie to teach the class.  Apparently, the principal thought Clark was great (and I concur) and asked if he'd be willing to teach a biology camp for 2 1/2 hours a day for a week in the summer.  Clark was happy to volunteer, but was thrilled to discover he'd be paid!  Today was his first day and he said it went well.  It is rather far, but fortunately he can ride the Front Runner train to and from so we won't have to drive him.  My oldest baby, all grown up-- riding public transit and teaching biology!

Faith's final softball game was this evening, and although they lost, it was so exciting to watch because she always gets great hits and gets on base.  Here she is with her neighborhood friend Gracie, who was baptized along with her three older sisters last Saturday. 

Faith was third baseman this evening.

This was just before she smacked the ball so hard she nearly took out her coach.
It has been a joy for me to watch the kids out in the backyard playing softball this spring.  They set up their bases and there are enough of them to get a good game going.  And it's good practice-- makes me feel better about not getting them to all their regular practices. 

The real story of the night is Elinor's team.  They are playing for the league championship tomorrow night!  Oo-de-la-lee! How exciting!
I guess this officially breaks our family tradition of only being a part of losing teams.  Well, technically, it was broken last Friday night when Bethany's team won their championship for the 14 and under league.  However, Bethany wasn't at the game and wasn't really a big part of the team.  As much as she loved playing in the backyard with her siblings, she was pretty far out of her league on her team.  Hey, its hard to be the best at everything!  She missed a lot of games that were at the same time as orchestra rehearsals and I admit to being an absolutely terrible softball parent this year.  Three different teams of games and practices were just too much for me.  She agreed that she might actually have helped her team win by not going to the game.  Ouch!--She took it in stride and has decided not to pursue softball in college:)  Even still, she can always say she was part of a championship softball team.

 Here is Elinor's team, "The Dark Knights", doing their team cheer in celebration of making it to the championships.

This is a fun picture I had to throw in.  This is the after-BBQ for the four sisters in our ward who are baptized on Saturday.  Just as we arrived at their house there was a torrential downpour, the likes of which we've never seen in our city before.  It just poured for hours.  Abe saw what was coming and raced over with his tents he uses at his events.  It was actually quite fun and memorable to be crowded together in the storm.  Sorry about the photo bombing hand.  Obviously, our children do not get enough positive attention.

One more picture of Pete.  He let Abe feed him and put him to bed tonight.  Miracles never cease.