Dear March,

What's your deal?

Didn't you read the memo?

IN like a lion...
...not OUT like a lion.

Sheesh!  There's snow in today's forecast.  I had no intentions of waking my coat from it's summer hybernation.  Yet the weather has been requiring it all week.

Come on March, it's spring.  Get with the program.

The difference between Parker and Reid

I make the boys put their own clothes away.

Parker and Reid share a dresser.

And again:

Parker came out of the womb with these intense organizational skills.  I remember a time when he was still crawling (so younger than 9 months).  He pulled out all my mixing bowls and lined them up by size in an orderly row.

I don't know where he gets it.  Because if I'm being honest, my drawers more closely resemble Reid's.

I need to put Parker to work on the rest of my house.



For those of you wondering, Gray is somewhere in between.

Who knew...

...cardboard could look so good.

I followed THIS tutorial.

Stutzneggar

But we just called her Stutz.  Her first name is Carrie, but with 2 Carrie's in the group we preferred to call her Stutz.  She preferred to be called the Queen of Everything. 

(Funny side story...I thought her last name was Stutz for like 6 months.  When someone told me it was actually Stutzneggar I didn't believe it.)

I think the thing I admire most about Stutz is her work ethic.  She was the first one of my roommates to get out and get a job; a "custodial engineer" at a nearby middle school.  That job had great perks...like free toilet paper.  She's always been hard working. But besides that, Stutz is adorable, devoted, spunky and tough.

It took me a little longer to get close to Stutz.  You see...she had a boyfriend back home.  She did whatever she could to catch a ride home with someone every single weekend for a little extra time with the BF (despite our best persuasion efforts to the contrary).  I guess it paid off. After he served a two year mission he came home and married her. 

Now she's just as hardworking, adorable, devoted, spunky and tough to the benefit of her cute family.  She supports that same man as they've moved around the country while he goes to law school.  She has an adorable little girl (named Bentley...is that cute or what?) and another coming soon.

I'm a little sad at my limited number of pictures of Stutz.  But if you recall...she was never around on the weekends and she worked during the week.  I love her just as much, there's just less photographic evidence.  Looking back, I'm pretty impressed.  It must have been hard to go off to work day in and day out while we all begged her to come have fun with us. That girl has always had a good head on her shoulders.

Our lovely rendition of "My Little Buttercup" from the Three Amigos

 

A trip to Temple Square

 

We all had various places to go that night, but felt it necessary to take a group picture.

 

I think I might have realized at this point how few pictures I had of Stutz and I made her take a picture with me then and there.  I'm not sure how happy she was about that.

What college apartment was complete without an inflatable couch?  Just thinking about that one makes me laugh.  

Sophomore year (while her BF was on a mission and we saw a little more of her) Stutz's mom gave her a HUGE turkey.  She brought it back and slaved away all day to serve the whole apartment complex. 

Riding the LTD.  

None of us had a car freshmen year and we rode the bus to get anywhere.  The boy is only vaguely familiar...somebody's high school friend maybe?  It seems like his name was Brett? Did we run into him on the bus?  Why is he in my picture?

 

Picnic on the Quad

 

No better way to celebrate the end of finals week than a slumber party! (Preceded by the best apartment dance party ever!)

 I had to swipe a current picture off her blog to show you just how adorable Stutz and her family are.  My pictures don't do her justice.  Cute right?

Stutz has a busy couple months ahead of her...with a new baby due soon, a husband taking the BAR, a move a few states away, and a little visit with her family in the mix.  I have no doubt she'll handle it with ease.

Miss you!

You guys know Jeff, right?

Last night I was giving my kids the healthy eating spiel.  You know...healthy food is good for your muscles and good for your bones... (blah, blah, blah) ...eating healthy helps you grow.

Parker: So if we only eat healthy food, we'll be as tall as uncle Jeff?

Me:  Not necessarily.  That has to do with your genes.

Parker:  That's why uncle Jeff is so tall?  He wears skinny jeans so he can just squeeze his body up taller and taller?

I went on to explain the difference between genes and jeans with my 7th grade knowledge of genetics.

And I used to think learning about genes would never help me in the real world.

To see Jeff in all his skinny jeans glory and to get a sneak peek at his strikingly beautiful fiancee, Olivia, you can check out their engagements HERE.

Hell Week

I'm talking about finals week. 

As hard as finals week was when I was going through it myself,  I think it's even harder when Spencer goes through it. And by harder, I mean harder on me.  I'm selfish like that. 

I'm not sure if I really need to refer to it as finals week.  He doesn't have any professors giving actual tests.  It's all about the papers.  And papers when you're getting your PhD in philosophy are not a walk in the park.  Spencer has been on campus until 10 or 11 every night only to come home and work on the computer until 2 or 3 in the morning. 

I'm exhausted (because I'm selfish like that). And I kinda miss Spence. 

It's all over tomorrow (though he still won't be home for bedtime).  If I'm this worn out from the past week and a half, I can't imagine how tired Spence must be.  He has a break on Thursday.  Then the poor guy has a scout camp out to be at on Friday night.

Next week we have one blissful class-less week before spring quarter begins.

High Above Me

This is the entry way between my kitchen and family room.

Zooming in...

And we have chocolate milk.  On the ceiling. 

I can think of numerous possibilities for how chocolate milk ended up in that unreachable spot; each possibility involving any combination of three crazy boys.  I'd love to give you a humorous account of what they were doing to get the milk to it's final resting place.

The thing is, all three boys have alibis for when this incident took place. 

That, my friends, is the work of Chief.  My dog.  Please explain that one to me because I can not quite figure out how a dog managed to get chocolate milk so high.

I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeves...

Pet Peeve:

Image from GAP.

Dark shirts with white sleeves. 

We have at least two navy blue shirts with white sleeves at our house. (And several white baseball T's with navy sleeves.)

How in the world am I supposed to keep these sleeves white?  Can't wash it with the whites.  And washing it with the darks turns white sleeves less-than white. 

Advice?


(RubyAnn...are you reading this?  You're the queen of clean laundry.  I need help.)