Holiday happenings

A lot has happened since our last post.
Talmage turned one and is walking around everywhere (and he has the bonks to prove it). He is such a fun, full-of-attitude, busy, little boy.

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in Colorado with Nate's family. Everybody was able to be there for the long weekend (except Hermana King). It was so good to be together. It got a little crazy at times but it was always a good crazy. It was great to be at the cozy King house in Colorado for the long weekend.

We have had a lovely December so far. Most of our Christmas shopping was done before the month began and so we have had lots of time for fun projects and finishing up our Christmas service for our exchange. We loved seeing Morgan and Emma in their school choir program. It was fun to see them perform with all their friends. We have visited with friends and eaten way too many treats. In a few short days we will be heading off to spend Christmas day with family. Lovely.
I am hoping that most of my belly expansion is due to the little boy growing inside. Yes! We found out that we will be having a third little boy in early May! I don't know if I am ready to be so outnumbered by boys but it will be fun for Talmage to have a little friend around to play trains and trucks and ball with. They will be just 18 months apart. We are excited to add another friend to our family.
Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas season as well.

PS. The next blue moon (the second full moons in the same month) is this year on Dec. 31st. A blue moon only happens every few years and on New Years Eve even more rare. So end this year on a wild note - cause there are some things you only do "once in a blue moon". Enjoy!

A Week in Paradise

In October I went on a pleasure trip to Utah. It was a whole month ago but it was so fabulous that i couldn't let it pass without writing at least a little.
I decided that it would be good for me to do something fun just for me, just because and it was great. With my older two in school all day i left them in the able care of their dad and took Talmage with me to see family and friends. (Unfortunately for Nate both kids got sick the day after i left so it proved to be a little more difficult than planned. But thanks to Nate and some really good friends here everything worked out fine.)
I spent a whole wonderful week at my parents house and had a lot of fun. Some of the highlights included: Attending a concert at Temple Square with my mom
Meeting our newest adorable nephew, Lochten.
Cutting off a good 7 inches of hair.
A magnificent girls weekend with my mom and all three sisters. My oldest sister flew in from California for the event (her kids got sick too). We went out to a nice, kid-free dinner and spent one night at a cabin. It was so fun to talk late (way too late) into the night. I highly recommend doing this with your own girls.
A beautiful drive up Millcreek canyon to see the leaves.
Making applesauce with my Dad.
Picking apples from Gramps' loaded trees and seeing some of his impressive artwork.
And the whole reason i went in early October was to see this little cutie, and his Mom. He was born a whole month before i came to visit instead of just days before as was expected. He is so sweet. I am grateful to have met him.
It was such a great trip. I loved every minute of it. I am sad that i didn't get to see more of my wonderful family and friends. The time went way too fast. (Sorry if I missed you, know that i love you anyway!)
Some big thank-you's are due.
Thanks to my dad for providing lots of baby care - Talmage loved being with you. And for picking so many apples and being a happy applesauce worker with me.
Thanks to my mom for providing such fantastic accomodations and food and for taking so much time to be with us.
Thanks to Katie for flying in despite sick kids and for talking late several nights.
Thanks Karen for knowing the cool restaurants to go to and for coming with us, even without your voice.
Thanks Holly for letting me sleep in your room and keeping me company all week.
Thanks Jill for giving me an excuse to come.
And the biggest thanks of all to my beyond marvelous husband who encouraged me to go and took such excellent care of things at home. I love you, always.

Treasures After the Storm

Well, we decided to go this afternoon and check out the stream now that the rain has stopped (it ended sometime last night after dumping a total of 5" on us). The water was getting back down to normal levels (but the "waterfall" is gone). While looking around in the water, Morgan found a couple of treasures. The first one I think someone will be missing...

The next one was more exciting, I thought...

Emma told me that everyone (whoever everyone is) wants to call him "Tiny Tim" because they don't want to call him just "Turtle". We did finally get him to come out of his shell when Morgan got an old margarine container to put him in.

After that he was just fine to let us hold him. We also liked watching him crawl around. He actually could get going pretty fast when we let him. He must not have gotten the memo about turtles being slow but sure, because he sped right off the edge of our little patio table. Good thing he has a hard shell!

Here's a picture of our two quite different treasures together:

We let the the moving treasure go back into the stream after taking pictures. Hopefully we haven't desensitized him to the danger of Toyotas, though (a lot of animals here in Oklahoma seem to have a problem with that).

Home in the Rain

Well, we're sitting here at home watching the rain come down outside. Leslie and Talmage are in Utah for the week, so I have Morgan and Emma. On Tuesday (the first day on my own without my sweet wife) I got the kids to school and I even did Emma's hair with a bow. (See, Leslie?)

Tuesday for work I went to visit a plant in Kansas. I found out that afternoon on my way back that Morgan had had to be picked up from school by one of our friends because he was sick. I took him to the doctor and, while we waited for an hour, Emma came down with a fever, too. Sure enough it was the flu. It has been pretty mild, but obviously they couldn't go to school. Wednesday was the one day I absolutely could not stay home with them because I was having a meeting with people who had come in from Indiana and Houston to hear the results of my recent research. So, our good friend Janna (who had picked Morgan up from school the day before) watched the kids for the day. (Thank you!)

Today I was able to stay with the kids and do some work at home. We have been amazed at all the rain we've gotten. It has been raining pretty hard for at least the last 12 hours. We have a (usually) small stream behind our house that we normally cannot see from inside. This afternoon, we noticed that we could see water rushing down it, so we went outside to take a few pictures. You can see the bridge our back neighbor built. It normally stands three or four feet above a small trickle of water below it. Not today!

The kids insisted we take a picture of the "waterfall". Our kids were just down here standing on the downstream side of the "waterfall" looking for hairy caterpillars on Saturday. There is usually no water there...

This isn't quite as much water as we saw a couple times last year, though, when the water actually came up into our back yard. Anyway, we are back inside enjoying our warm house and looking out at the rain again. Morgan did want me to take a picture of his hairdo, though, before his hair dried out.

Talmage's First Steps

We have been wondering when this would happen. Out of all of our kids, Talmage has been the most physically adept, but he just hasn't seemed to care about walking. He loves climbing up on the bricks by our fireplace and then climbing back down again (luckily we have taught him to turn around backwards). He loves crawling through any obstacle he can find (in fact, the tighter it is and the more it looks like we are trying to keep him away from something, the more he likes it). He loves throwing everything he can get to out of whatever it was in (think drawers of tupperware, bags of markers, bins of toys, racks of magazines, etc.). He even loves walking around the coffee table, walking along the couches, walking while holding our hand, and walking while pushing some mobile object (including his high chair) around. But we have not been able to get him to try walking on his own. He keeps dropping to his bottom and crawling. But finally, tonight, he took a few steps. Below is a video we got of him. Enjoy!

True stories of Morgan

I thought we better give Morgan a little of the spotlight here. Those of you who know Morgan know that he is, well, intense. But he really is a very good kid for so many reasons. We've had some fun experiences with him lately. Sometimes he makes us laugh with how wise he can be.

A few Saturdays ago as we were talking about the chores that needed to be done Emma started complaining that cleaning isn't fun. Before I could even say anything Morgan launched in to a great encouraging lecture about how cleaning is fun. "Emma, cleaning is fun. It really is fun. . . . And the most fun thing about cleaning is having a clean house after. Cause it is really fun to have a clean house. . . . It might not seem fun the whole time, but it is fun, and it is really fun to have a clean house." Well said, Morgan, well said! He does like things neat and orderly (including, he told me lately, getting all the wrinkles out of his socks - by constantly pulling them up to his knees).

Nate and I bought the Wicked soundtrack after going to see the musical. The kids have really liked listening to it with us. Morgan asks me to tell him who is singing and what is happening in each song. I was explaining that Fiyero sings about not liking to learn. Morgan got very quiet and thoughtful. After a minute he said "Mom, I think he really does like to learn. This must be a pretend story because everybody likes to learn." {pause} "Oh and probably no one is really green." It really cracked me up that the not learning was what made him know that it was pretend, nevermind the green girl, the talking animals, or the magic.

His anger is sometimes intense. So much so that he has to find creative ways of expressing it. Recently he got sent to his room for some infraction. As he stomped out of the kitchen he yelled, "I'm so angry I feel like I could throw pepperoni in your EYEBALLS!" And several months ago when the same thing happened he opened his door and yelled "Mom! I'm so angry I'm going to put my PANTS in my SHIRT drawer!" Oh the horrors!

He really is a good kid, though. We love you, Morgan!

Super models

Many (25-ish) years ago i had my first and only modeling opportunity. My sister, cousins and i modeled nightgowns for the Salt Lake Tribune. (please forgive the picture. it is a picture of the very old news print)

This afternoon i finished making this nightgown (her first ever) for my daughter. The modeling agencies should be calling soon. This girl is gorgeous!

First Day of School

Wednesday was the first day of school. Monday was the school open house and we had a special back-to-school family night. On Tuesday the Back to School Fairy visited and left new clothes and math flashcards for the kids (What? She didn't come to your house? Well I can help contact her, we're pretty tight.) Morgan and Emma were amazed and excited.
The kids have done very well at school so far. They are both at the Early Childhood Center that has just Pre-K and Kindergarten. They were ready the first day well before it was time to leave and they sure looked cute!
Emma got a little nervous the first morning just realizing that there were "important" things she didn't know like "How will i find my quiet time toys?" and "Where did my teacher put my purple folder?" and "Who will help open my applesauce at lunch?" All questions were easily answered and she went happily into class.
Morgan did just great and went into his new classroom with no hesitation. He really likes his new teacher. It's been a very easy transition for both of them. At the end of the first day i asked Emma what new friends she made and she said "I made everyone my friend!" So great.

The Pirate who Disobeyed

The other night i put the kids to bed and they were a little restless. I caught Emma up out of bed playing with blocks. I told her to stay in bed and said Good-night again. A few minutes later i heard a quiet but frantic "It's stuuuck! Mom, my finger is stuck!" I went to look and she had gotten a hold of this peace of an old lamp and her finger was stuck tight through the little hole. She explained to Morgan that "It went in real easy, but it didn't come out so good." We tried holding her hand over her head, icing her finger, buttering her finger, and oiling her finger, but she remained Captain Hook.
Nate was at a meeting and after my call for help he was able to borrow some tin snips. He came home and after much work got it cut off. She was so afraid that we would have to cut her finger off. I don't know how many times i had to explain, "No, we won't cut off your finger. Just the metal ball." After sending her back to bed she was still talking. Nate went in to check on her and she told Nate that now she was "Happier than everything."

So the lesson for Emma - Be obedient. Stay in bed when you are supposed to be in bed.
And the lesson for me - don't let the kids (or Nate) keep junk, no matter how cool it is.

Good Night All

Extra, Extra! Read all about it!

Morgan was quoted in a Utah newspaper a while ago! He was interviewed during our trip to Utah for Memorial Day weekend when Leslie and the kids got to go see the newly completed LDS temple in South Jordan - the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Whenever a new temple is built there is an open house lasting for several weeks during which anyone can visit the temple, walk through it, and learn about the purpose of temples in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Just a while ago, Leslie's mom, Grandma Chele as we call her, sent us a laminated copy of the article she cut out of her paper. She also rounded up a few other copies to send to us. Morgan was pretty excited to see it. We found out that it was posted online, as well, so here is a copy of the first few paragraphs that mention him and the picture accompanying the article:

Saturday, June 13, 2009
South Jordan, Utah

Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News

Five-year-old Morgan King issued his grandmother, Michele Brimhall, a reverent challenge as they began their tour of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple on the first day of the temple open house.

"Grandma," Morgan said, "see if you can walk so quietly that your feet don't make a sound."

Such respect and reverence seemed to define the day June 1 as visitors of all ages and backgrounds began touring the stately granite edifice that looks over the southwest corner of the Salt Lake Valley.

Walking through the placid halls and ordinance rooms of what will soon be the Church's 130th temple "was very peaceful and very sweet," said Michele Brimhall of Holladay, Utah.

What a cool experience for Morgan! The kids really enjoyed seeing the temple and being able to go inside. They could tell that it was a special place. It was neat to see from what Morgan said that he understood it was a place for reverence and a place of peace. When we go to the temple nearest to us, in Oklahoma City, the kids don't get to come with us, but they know how important the temple is to our family. They know that Mom and Dad were married in the temple, and that is why we can be together forever as a family. Emma often talks about when she will get married in the temple (and we even have an idea who she would pick to get married to if she had to decide right now...).

Temples are different from regular church buildings, or chapels. They are dedicated as houses of the Lord. The Church recently has started putting short videos online called Mormon Messages. For those of you who don't know a lot about LDS temples, here is a great video about why the Church builds temples. Our family loves to watch it.



Another short video that we really like that talks more about the blessings of the temple can be found here. Enjoy!

Independence Day

For the 4th of July, we were planning on going to a little hometown parade in a town just south of Bartlesville with an official population of about 500 people. We had heard about it from some friends who went last year. The kids were excited at the prospect of tractor floats and lots of candy. However, we woke up to several hours of rain. We decided instead to invite our friends over to have a parade inside our house. We put on some John Phillips Sousa and had the kids march around with flags. (Even though the kids were the ones in the parade, the adults were still the ones that threw out candy - that was the kids' requirement.)

That evening we went to see a fireworks show that is held every year by a family in our ward at their house outside of town. It's quite the event! They turn their field into a parking lot and everyone brings their camp chairs and some food to share. We didn't quite know what to expect last year, as we had just moved in before it happened. All of the sons and sons in law in the family have gotten their professional fireworks licenses and they put on the show themselves. There were probably one or two hundred people there this year. We usually run into several people that we know outside of church. Last year we even saw our next door neighbors there! We want you to see why so many people come. It's better than the fireworks the city puts on! Here are some of our pictures:

This picture doesn't do them justice, but you get to sit very close to where the fireworks are being shot off.

Even Talmage was impressed! (The yellow and pink things in his ears are earplugs that we picked up at the research center on the way out - a helpful tip some friends gave us. By the end he pulled them out and was, of course, trying to eat them.)

Morgan and Emma enjoy the fireworks and the treats. Morgan looked like he belonged in a barbershop quartet with his hat, given to him by the friends that came over for the parade.

Leslie and two of her boys. (Isn't she beautiful?)

The whole crew. The kids were really more excited than they look here, but it's hard to figure out exactly when to smile when someone is taking a picture of you in the dark.

Here is a short video so you can see just how cool these fireworks were. You can't hear it very well, but they are playing the 1812 Overture in the background. We had a great 4th of July and we hope you did, too!

The Answers (to Life, the Universe, and Everything)

...well, or maybe just to the Itty Bitty Bartlesville City challenge. Below are the original pictures from the challenge, along with corresponding pictures from farther back. Please also open up this map (it will open in a separate window so you can go back and forth between the map and the blog) to see where each one is located and to read what it is. Enjoy!

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