Lyla

I cannot believe that my baby turned 5 this month. We had a ton of snow that day so the other kids were out of school and we went sledding, built a snowman, drank tons of hot chocolate and cider and made rice krispie treats. Lyla wanted a backpack for her birthday so she would be ready for school. She has been waiting to turn five so she could start school. On her birthday she said she was excited for the snow to go away so she could start school. We had to sit down with the calendar to see that she wouldn't be starting school until next September and there is a lot of days before she will be going. We did get her some workbooks so she feels she is doing her homework with the older kids and she talks to Ms. Jones everyday when we get the kids from school to talk about kindergarten next year.

Lyla loves to get the mail everyday and had the best primary teacher last year that sent her a letter ever week in the mail so that made it ever more important to check the mail. She loves to wear her swim suit that she just got in the mail. She loves to sing and dance. She loves to answer the phone so she can talk to whomever is on the other end. She loves drawing and making cards for her friends. She is funny and makes us all laugh. She LOVES bags and putting anything in them. We are currently in "bag restriction" with all the bags in time out because she kept putting all of our stuff in her bag. She is currently busy turning things into bags so she can put stuff into them.

Robbi called to talk to me (days after her birthday) and Lyla answered so they talked about Lyla's birthday and somehow they got around to Robbi saying she wished she was here so she could sing her happy birthday and Lyla informed her that she could just sing to her over the phone. She makes a crazy good secretary and is always good about getting me my messages. We love her so much and can't believe how lucky we are to have her around.

Sledding

Snow Days

Monday we had a dusting of snow and the kids loved sledding and throwing snowballs. Since Monday we have had six inches of snow come and go then come again. Phil built a snowman with the kids yesterday and today we are getting ready to go out and do some more sledding and take a walk to the library for a movie for this evening. Lyla's birthday is today and she is enjoying having her brother and sister here at home with her and all the snow that came for her gift. I love having school out for the snow and enjoying time together outside.

Conversation

Last night Phil and I were playing cards with some friends and he brought up a conversation we had a few nights ago, when he said to me (not about me), "I wonder at what age you realize you are no longer attractive to anyone." Our friend responded with, "yeah, like women in their 30s and 40s because they peak in their 20s." I laughed as he tried to back out of that one because Phil and I were talking about 60s and 70s and coming up with women and men that we found attractive at this age that hadn't had any form of plastic surgery (or none that we were aware of) and that we didn't know personally so we could judge them based only on their appearance. I could come up with some men, but he could not come up with a single woman. He did say that it was easy to think of women who were older and beautiful if you knew them and that some women did carry themselves really well. I guess I am hoping I age gracefully and when I do realize that I am no longer attractive to anyone I am wrong because Phil will always find me attractive.

Talents

Phil and I have an ongoing discussion that started one FHE while we were teaching the kids about the parable of the talents. We have talked about how we continue to develop talents throughout our lives. Phil believes wholeheartedly that anyone can develop every talent if they work hard enough. Being a person that got A's in art class not because the apple looked so much like an apple, but because the teacher knew I worked really hard to make the apple look as close to an apple as I could. I am also the person that in O-chem had to use the 3D models in order to draw out the dash, line and wedge for the molecules. I cannot see things in my head and tell my hands how to put them down on paper. Phil believes that is because I don't take the time to practice and I believe it is because I do not have this capability. Sometime I wonder how I married an artist and a guy who really can do all things. I guess it is nice that he really believes I could do all things if I really wanted to, but loves me despite my half-hearted efforts to develop these talents.
I have been trying to help my kids develop their talents and since Phil is such an artist and I see the kids really loving drawing, painting and creating I have been trying to provide the opportunities for these talents to grow. We have taken our trips to the craft store for drawing supplies this Christmas vacation and Cannon is loving his sketchbook. Lyla asked me to draw a cat the other day...then she said that doesn't look like a cat and she would ask dad to draw her one when he got done with work.