cuticles are cute

it's nap time for everyone at this house, so I best be quick. we are still trying to recover from a sleep deprived week. You know you're having a good time when you stay up past your bedtime EVERY night. Sometimes we crawled into our covers at midnight-- other nights it was 2 am-- and one night I was up until 4 am. I honestly couldn't even tell you when the kids went to bed because they were each sleeping at a different cousins almost every night. What a par-tay it was. I'm not exactly happy to be home.... but a long nap might convince me otherwise.

I have hundreds of pictures on my camera, but my aunt just emailed me this one of Simon. She took it on her iphone during my parents' farewell yesterday. We didn't arrive late, but by the time we got there, all of the seats were taken, so we had to sit on the front row. That was quite the "adventure" with our busy Simon. This shot must have been taken during the 2.4 seconds that he was sitting down.

My parents did a great job on their talks and made most of us cry. My mom said that her goal is to work as hard as she can so that her children and grandchildren are blessed for her service. I LOVE being the recipient of all of my mother's good works!! If she's going to do the time, I will gladly take the blessings :) My dad ended his talk by saying, "I was able to pick when to go on a mission and even where we would go. Best of all, I got to pick my companion!" We are so excited for this time in my parents lives. I know it will be a big change for all of us, but they will be excellent missionaries. I am so glad I was able to live close enough to be a part of this past weekend. They enter the MTC on May 2, but will spend the next two weeks in Georgia and Michigan saying goodbye to their grandchildren who weren't able to make it. We are all so proud of them!

During church Zack said a couple of funny things that I should record. I was keeping him occupied by carefully pushing down his cuticles (do you ever torture your kids during church?) He wanted to know what I was doing and I told him about his cuticles. He smiled and said, "That's cute that they're called cuticles. Hey mom, I have a joke. What is the cutest part of my whole body?" Before I could say the obvious answer, he raised his eyebrows and said, "My personality. Ha ha! Tricked ya!" His personality IS so cute. Probably even cuter than his cuticles.

A few minutes later, he was combing through my hair. I recently cut more bangs and he said, "Mom, why do you have all that hair just hanging down right in front of your forehead?" Instead of answering, I asked him if he liked it. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Not willy. You kinda don't look like my mom anymore."


This is not the cutest picture of my mom and I, but it was also taken by my aunt and it's easier to upload than the others. We hit the road after church... Simon was getting changed into more comfortable clothes before the long drive. Isn't his body humongous? My mom and I spent a long time talking out by the cars because we just didn't want to say goodbye! I am going to really miss her but know that there are many people in Chile who are going to be blessed by her service. She is my favorite mom ever.