Theme Shirt

Behold, my theme shirt:

On grammatically correct days, of course. Screw you, fake Internet lingo!

Super Creature

Sky saw my previous platypus blog post and wanted to see more images of platypi. She said, "That is such a silly and weird creature! Aww, and it's also cute. I know what a platypus is, Mom. It's that!"

The search results included this wallpaper that really captures the impressive and inherent super creature abilities of the elusive platypus.

When I was a sophomore at BYU I was talking to my roommates about why I hate the ocean. No, why I hate being in the ocean. (Admire and fear from afar. This is my longstanding relationship with the ocean and all things of it.)

Back to ocean-hate reasoning. Sharks, naturally. All the dead things floating around that might touch me. Seaweed. Waste dumping.

The Sunfish.

It should be called the Deathfish. Or the Creepfish. I never want to see it again. It's eyes were like human eyes. I feel like this is not my first Sunfish hate post. It's not likely to be the last.

I conceded that yes, there are some cool animals in the ocean. Dolphins. Sea turtle. Otters. Starfish.

The narwhal.

A dolphin/unicorn hybrid. Cool.

My roommates did not believe that narwhals existed. Even after I Googled some images of narwhals, they doubted me. This doubt may have stemmed from previous pranks and to this very day, they probably think me a liar.

But this is not a hoax; the Unicorn of the Sea is real, and I'll not be impaled by it.

Sunshine Wishes and Platypus Dreams

There were platypus babies in my dreams Tuesday night.

I really love platypi. Partially for the opportunity they provide for me to pluralize with an i. Mostly because they are such weird, unique little creatures. They are egg-laying wonder mammals; duck meets otter meets beaver, plus--bonus!--venomous spurs.

Okay, I don't like the venomous spurs, but I'm proud of the little guys for trying to have it all.

They're ambitious, that's what they are. Go-getters. Always going that extra mile.

In my dream, five baby platypi broke through the cat door at my parents' house. I chased them around the house, caught them, played with them and put them back outside. I believe this dream was telling me something. It was telling me I was sleep-deprived.

While I'm bearing my soul here, you should know I also love hedgehogs. This picture came up in my search for "platypus babies," reminding me just how cute they are:

Berrylicious

We bought a basket of strawberries at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. They were AMAZING. I bought them with Harper in mind, as she is a strawberry fiend, but Mike and I ended up eating half the basket after we put the girls to bed.

Strawberry crack, I tell you! That's what they were.

Harper just finished the last berry. She thinks they were amazing too!

Slide Fun

Just a little video of the girls having fun at the park today :)

Rivals on my Doorstep

We were expecting two packages today. One from FedEx, one from UPS.

A few minutes ago there was a little thump sound and a double knock at the door. Mike and I both got up to get it and I said, "It's just UPS."

Two seconds later there was another little thump and a slightly louder double knock. Mike said, "Are you sure?"

I opened the door to see two packages and two delivery dudes walking away from my house. One to a UPS truck, one to FedEx truck. I wish I know which one knocked louder.

If only they weren't so busy trying to get away from each other I could have thanked them properly and asked who got here first! It's a mystery I'll never solve.

Tooth Dance

Poor, Harper. She just got a new tooth and has at least three more on the way, trying to break through those little gums.

She has been so sad all morning, so I laid her on the couch to check on the gum-breaking then walked over to the medicine cabinet. As soon as I opened it she clapped her hands and started smiling, laughing and dancing. One of the cutest and saddest moments of her little life!

If You're Happy and You Know It

I went into the laundry room tonight and heard Sky singing in bed. She was singing a lovely version of "If You're Happy and You Know It."

It started off with the "clap your hands" verse (complete with clapping), then moved on to "do a silly face" (the long pauses following each verse guarantee silly faces were being made in the dark). The next verse went like this: "If you're happy and you know it do everything that's nice for your mom and dad."

I don't know what verse came next, but I like the direction the song was headed.

April Harpisms

Here is Harper:

She is 15-months-old. She accessorizes herself. She used to say mostly "mama," but in April, this is what she had to say:

4.2
"Hi Harp!"
"Da da da."
"Aww, Dada."
"Dada! Da da da."
"Say 'Mama' Harper."
"Dada."

4.8
"Dada da da da."
"Say 'Mama.'"
"Dada! Dada! Da da dada!"

4.12
"Banana."
"Nana."
"Mama."
"Dada!"

4.15
"La la la la laaaaaaaaa laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Such pretty singing, Harp!"
"La la laaaa la la."
"Say 'Mama.'"
"Dada."

4.20
(Harper fell down and was crying.)
"Aww, what's wrong Harp? Did you fall down?"
"Mmmm--sniff sniff--mama."
"Yeah! Mama! Great job!"

4.24
"Awwwwwwww. Meow!"
"Oh, did you see Kitty?"
"Meow! (kitty noise)"
"Aww, you love Kitty."
"Dada."

4.25
"Say 'Mama' Harpy."
"Dada!"
"Ma-Ma."
"Da-Da."
"Mmmma-mmmmaaaaaaaaa."
"Daaaaa-Daaaaaaaaaaa!"

4.28
Me: "I love Harper!"
Harp: "Ahhhhh!"
Me: "I."
Harp: "I (or her version of 'I')."
Me: "Love."
Harp: "Lalalalala."
Me: "Harper!"
Harp: "A DADA!"

April Skyisms

Here is Sky:

She's three-and-a-half. She'll let you know that if you tell her she's three. And here are some funny conversations we had in April, by date:


4.2
"Harp, put on your sunglasses!"
Harper put them on.
"Hahaha! Mom, she looks like a library!"
"Like a what?"
"A library! Because of her silly glasses!"
"A librarian!"
"Oh, yeah. That!"

Harp the Librarian:

4.8
"Wouldn't it be funny if someone was holding an apple and they were going to eat it, but I ran up and TOOK the apple and ATE A BIG BITE?!"
"Did you see that on a show?"
"No, I just thought of it by myself and I KNOW it would just be so funny!"

4.12
"Wouldn't it be silly if the creature made a hole in our stairs and we just fell right in the hole?!"
(There is a mole or something digging tunnels around our backyard. Sky calls it "the creature.")

4.18
"Do you know how to say 'ten' in Spanish, Mom?"
"How?"
"Honey!"
"Hahaha! Nope."
"Oh. Well, what is it then?"
"Diez."
"How did you learn all these speakin' Spanish things?!"
"I'm just amazing."
"Mom. Did you learn it from Big Big Friend?"

4.19
"Mom, my babies are sick, so I'm bringing them some food."
"Your babies? You have babies?"
"Yes. They are sick."
"Aww, that's sad. I'm glad you're giving them food. How many babies do you have?"
"A LOT."
"More than one?"
"Ten. I mean, no, not 10. I have 20! Twenty of them."
"You have 20 babies?! Sky, 20 is really a lot of babies."
"Yes."
"What are their names?"
"Well. There's Sarah."
"What are the other 19 called?"
"I just know Sarah right now."

4.25
"I teach Harp everything."
"You do. You teach her a lot of things."
"But I don't teach her poking."
"Nope. What do you teach her?"
"All kinds of things...that are nice...to do for you."
"Wow, that's really nice."
"Harp is so cute. Let's keep her."
"Yeah! Let's keep her!"
"We should keep her, Mom. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because. She's just so cute."

4.29 (morning, while we are in bed)
"Um, hey, Mom and Dad?"
"Hey, Sky. What's up?"
"I'm just going to tell you the truth!" (overly happy tone)
"(groan) What's the truth, Sky?"
"I needed to go potty and I peed on the ground...but...I just CLEANED it ALL UP!" (extra upbeat)
"Sigh. Thank you for telling the truth and for cleaning it all up. Where did you pee?"
"Um, just a little bit. Just a little bit, all over the place. But I cleaned it all up!"
"Why did you pee all over the place?"
"Because I needed to go potty really bad, but I waited too long and it just came out!" (still happy)
"Okay. Well, you need to show us where you peed."
"And I also cleaned off my feet!" (beaming)
Mike, heroically: "I'll get it."
(We get out of bed.)
Sky: "Isn't it so funny if someone had to go potty so bad and the pee came out and it went on their head and all over everything?!"
"NO. Eww. That is definitely not funny. Don't ever do that."