Jumping Cousins

We had lots of fun the week after Christmas when our cousins were in town.  Malachi and Alex are the best little friends!  I was amused at this series of pictures of them together, alike as two little peas in a pod (right down to the stuck-out tongues).

My other favorite picture: Daisy adoring Andy

0

Random Thoughts

--Some time ago I saw a Halloween flag (banner?) flying at half-mast.  What does it mean??!

--Being surprised about the weather is sort of a thing of the past, isn't it?  Because of the pervasiveness of the forecast (phones, etc.)?  Don't you kind of miss waking up to a totally unexpected snowfall?

--Having kids often just gives me an excuse to do the things I would have wanted to do anyway, e.g., keep to myself at parties, leave meetings early, keep refilling my plate at the dessert table, etc.

--I read about a baseball player whose kids' initials spell out his last name ("Barajas," I believe it was---I'm sure you read it on Laura's post, Melissa!) and became nostalgic for the days when our kids' initials spelled "ASM."  "SAM," I mean.  My determined brain has spent an inordinate amount (unauthorized by my consciousness, I might add---who's in charge here, anyway?)  of time trying to see what all of us could spell now.

• Damms SJ (an independent South Jordan engineering company, specializing in dams, of course)
• Ms. Dajsm
• Ms. Jadsm
• Sad jmms (the jams are sad because they were spelled "jmms")
• Jams MDs (What it does when I take all 5 children in for a checkup)
• Ms. Sam, JD (I really ought to get a law degree)
• Or, if we are creative with our directionality, perhaps a message to the Social Security Administration: "WWJD, SSA?"

--I really hate the way most people sing the National Anthem.  Not YOU---I mean, not you normal audience singers, but the "soloists."  I also hate the way people clap and whistle when they hit their (inaccurate, unjustified) high notes.

--Niels Bohr said, "The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement.  But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth."  What do you think of that?  I think it applies to much of the seeming "paradox" in the gospel.  (Sam and I always look for paradox when preparing to teach something---as we were taught by my uncle and my dad, both physicists---so we have considered this often.)  Justice and mercy, to take the most obvious example.  I also think that someday these apparent contradictions will become clearly compatible, not contradictory at all, under the light of our greater understanding.

4

Things Ky says

This four-year-old just keeps saying cute things.  Some recent gems:

Calling highlighters "Delight Markers"

(Smacking himself in the forehead while reading his Bird Book): "Ohhhh!  I forGOT about the Painted Bunting!"

(Recounting an earlier conversation with Daisy): "First we started talking about coliseums, and then we went straight on to cranes!"

"Because my tummy hurts, I think I'm just attracted to drinks right now!"

Everyone loves him.  We just can't help it!

0

Velvet

Seb has always been a Monkey Man, as you know, but in his school class this year he has a pet bunny named Velvet.  (Seb's teacher reminds her class that Velvet has very sensitive ears and that things that are loud to us are extra loud to a bunny.  If the class is too loud, Velvet can't come out and hop around the class.)  Sebastian LOVES Velvet.  When he comes home from school he tells me all about what Velvet did that day, he plays Bunny, he builds bunny cages with his blocks, he hops around the house and nibbles things, etc.  It's really so cute!

We got him some little toy bunnies for Christmas, which he loves, but best of all is:

His own little "pet" Velvet (puppet)!  I love to see Sebby stroking him and snuggling with him and hopping him around the house.  So sweet!

0