(At) our house

Frankie is as awesomely strange as ever. He has recently been getting our money's worth out of a dollar store bug catching kit Many a potato bug has lived it's last moments inside of it.

(I don't really know why he had the sticker on his forehead. I think it was giving him super powers or some such. 

And I'm happy to report he got a much needed haircut last Friday. )

My hard drive has been infected by some terrible, unrepairable virus not once but TWICE in the last two weeks. That means two formats. (Luckily I keep most of my data on a secondary hard drive and I have a genius husband, so I didn't lose any data, just programs.) When it happened the second time last week I had just installed itunes, which was the last program I was missing. Now I'm starting over again, with a newfound fear of browsing the internet. We think the weather underground website may be the culprit, but it seems like a pretty legitimate site, so who knows. I wouldn't recommend it just in case.

Jerm is working hard. Often all through the night. Have I mentioned that on top of all the clinicals and ambulance ride alongs he has scheduled he also has class 2 evenings a week, and some Saturdays, and he is still working 30-40 hours a week. To say the least, he is tired when he is home. 

Do not overlook the glorious fatness of the Bingley cat in this photo.

I've been working on a portrait which is good fun. I painted almost all day yesterday. Check out my art blog, the post from today is from earlier this week, I'll post yesterday's session as soon as I get the ambition to take a picture. Which will probably be before the next time I paint.

In February there were 2 weekends I wanted to make note of. The first was when we had a family reunion of sorts with Jeremy's family. His sister and her family were here from Reno, and Aunt Kathy and Grandma.

We visited pioneer park for a picnic, photos, and much exploring:

Frankie was exhausted afterwards, and fell asleep on the floor even though he was excited for Angie to come over to our house that day. It turned out she had fallen asleep as well, so they came to visit the next day instead.

The kids had so much fun playing together and with everyone else.

There was much card playing by the adults. A little bidding game called Shitsky. I have no idea where this game originates, but I'm pretty sure I've never heard of anyone besides Jerm's family playing it.

Everyone took a turn trying out the Moon Sand. I think the grown ups were more fascinated with it then the children. It is crazy stuff.

I really wanted to get some cute pictures of Frankie and Angie. I made several attempts, and got a few cute ones this day and on the red rocks. My camera has a hard time with cloudy weather sometimes. It's probably something I had set weird, but the pictures get this weird pink glow to them. Any fellow Canon users with some tips? My point and shoot does this too.

The next weekend, as is tradition, I hit some parade of homes with my Mom and sisters. This year Laurie's kids Hunter and Mayzie wanted to come too. I was skeptical and thought they would hate it, but they actually seemed to enjoy themselves. This picture was taken after Hunter had tried to sneak this sign from one of the booths in the garages, but the lady saw us and gave us her whole speech. Even pointing to Mayzie for dramatic effect when she talked about all the exhaust getting in children's lungs. She said he could have the sign he posted it somewhere. I must confess I have made more of an effort to be "idle free" since then.

And of course we must have lunch.

Frankie says relax

I realized recently that it's been a long time since I recorded the general traits and happenings of my handsome, wonderful Frankie. As I look back through my blog, it seems that I tend to do this at about this time of year, very close to his half birthday.

He's going to be four and a half! That's nuts. Four has been the hardest age for us. By us I mean me and Frankie. We've had a harder time with each other these last six months. But the last few weeks things have started flowing better again. I doubt it's him, I think it's because I've been studying my scriptures consistently during that time. Makes me a happier person. And a better Mommy. That's all there is to it.

I made a little handwritten list to go from, so I will now warn you: this is going to be long.

All about Frankie at 4.5 years:

-He is an amazing helper. Really. And it's to the point that his helping is actually helpful.
  He helps with:
      Laundry (Matching socks and putting them in a pile for me to fold. Putting clothes in and out of the washer and dryer. Folding clothes: one day he folded an entire basket of whites without me asking him to.)
      Dishes (Helps unload the dishwasher and put away the dishes. He likes to climb up on the counter to put away the bowls and plates in the upper cabinet. It makes me nervous, but I remember being up on the counter all the time when I was his age. Also helps load the dishwasher.)
      Cleaning his bathroom (The first time he helped me, we were finishing up and I said "you just cleaned your bathroom for the first time." He said "I will always remember this day!" Such enthusiasm. His future wife will thank me. The only problem is I have a hard time convincing him the toilet brush does not need to be dried off with a rag after use. Gross.)
      He is in charge of getting the kitties their water, and he likes to brush the cats
      Helps me wash our sliding glass door. I do the spraying, he gets his own paper towels.
      Dusting
      Sets the table
      He loved helping me water the flowers outside.
      If he's done the other things I've asked him to, he can earn a quarter by running the little vacuum we have in the kitchen. Every time he does it, I help him learn to be a little more thorough.
     Probably the most difficult chore for him is picking up his toys. Since he still mostly plays by "setting things up" he always wants to leave them set up. It's a tough concept.
      He sometimes makes his bed. We need to work on that one a little more.
      He likes to help me gather items when I'm making Jeremy's lunch in the morning. He will sometimes hide a fruit snack in the lunch sack, and then tell Jeremy where it's hidden.

-He is extremely articulate and has a vast vocabulary. He always wants to tell anyone who will listen about his favorite toy at the moment, the trip we took to California last fall, Lightning McQueen, or anything else that's on his mind. When we are with a group of people, he will often say "Guys! Guys! I want to say something!" To try to get everyone to stop talking and listen to him. It's not that he's ignored, it's just that the social grace of waiting for a lull in the conversation is not something a four year old grasps.

-He gets dressed/undressed on his own. All except for buttons which remain elusive to him when he can't see them. I still pick out his clothes. He hasn't cared yet, so I figure I'm not going to open that door until I have to. He usually picks out his own jammies, though. We are also working on teaching him to shower by himself.

(As you can see, Manny and the tools eventually came to live at our house.
Frankie used his Christmas money from Grandma Pat to buy them. )

-Daddy is still the hero, but right now he is Mommy's boy. Probably due to the fact that Daddy has been gone a lot. And Frankie misses him much. But even when Jerm is home he usually wants to go with me, or have me be the one to take him up to bed. He is always giving me loves, and he is so sweet to me. Giving me compliments and asking if I'm okay. A certain ailment I was dealing with a month or so ago had gotten better. He asked me about it one day, and when I told him it was better, he said "I will give you a hug for that."

-He always wants to pack toys out with us when we go somewhere. He has done this since he was 1, I think. I thought he would grow out of it. Even if he is going to Grandma's or a cousins or friends where there are plenty of toys to play with, he insists upon bringing along some of his. Often they don't even get touched when we get to where we are going. He also likes borrowing toys from others, but he is good about returning them. We've packed much of Aunt Laurie's toy stash back and forth over the years.

-Frankie's favorite thing to play with us is the "present game." It has many forms. But the basic gist of it is we take turns setting up or even pseudo wrapping some his toys. The person who is receiving the gifts has to pretend to be asleep. Frankie usually goes upstairs, Jerm and I usually make it to the 3rd step. Then the person setting up the present says "cock-a-doodle-do" and it's time to open everything up, ooh and aaah... etc. Sometimes he pretends Santa brought the stuff. Repeat 12 times, adding to and changing the setup every time. We have been playing this game A LOT since last summer. I would be lying if I told you that I still thought it was fun and cute. When he asks to play now I usually want to poke out my eyes.

-He likes to paint, cut/glue, and use stickers. He is not as much a fan of drawing or coloring. He used to draw all the time, but now he usually doesn't want to. Along these same lines, he hasn't been too interested in writing yet. He can do his name if he's in the mood, but he'll often pretend he doesn't know how. Stinker.

-Frankie loves riding his bike, and playing with the kids outside. It took him a while before he wanted to ride the real bike instead of his trike. He is such a cautious little soul. But he has finally realized it is a much better deal.

-Frankie spreads joy wherever he goes. When we are out and about it amazes me how people light up when he talks to them.

-He knows the phonetic sounds of most of the consonants. He's already irritated with the English language. He'll be over playing, and he'll say "Cat. Cat... Mommy, cat starts with K!" I'll say, "No actually cat starts with C, sometimes C can make the same sound as K. Or it can make the same sound as S." Then he looks at me in complete betrayal.

-Frankie says many funny things. My current favorite is "holy-moly-hecker-man." Yeah, I have no idea. Along the same lines is "what the heck in the world." Whenever he tries to come up with a number that he doesn't know (such as "how many degrees hot is it outside?") he will say "sixty-ninety." He often tells us and others that he is "super fast!" He also speaks with a drawl. Have I ever mentioned that? Just on certain words, and it has gone down the last few months. But it has always baffled us, where did he pick it up? His buddy Kennadi did too, so they somehow picked it up together.

He makes awesome sound effects. Airplanes, animals, lasers shooting, cars driving, etc. He always makes this little musical sound when something is a "mystery." He has a signature "that's wrong" beep and a "that's right" bell ring sound. Perfect for playing game show or the like.

-He still naps. Usually for 2 hours plus. I still get to snuggle him at nap time. I love it.

-He is obsessed with holidays. As soon as Valentine's Day was over he was begging to get the Easter decorations out. Every now and then he will say wistfully "I just wish it was a holiday everyday." It's going to be a long summer with only the fireworks on the 4th of July to get us through.

-Frankie loves learning about animals (especially sea animals), dinosaurs, and bugs. He equally loves his little figurine toys of these things. We keep accumulating more and more.

-Current Favorites:
Song: Real Gone from Cars
Movie: Cars (since the first time he saw it)
Color: Blue or Green, usually
Food: Spaghetti and pizza
Board Game: Boo Who, Cranium Hullabaloo
Holiday: Whichever one is coming up. And he will literally tell you that if you ask him.

-Frankie is a little photographer. He thinks our point and shoot is his, I have to remind him it's not. (It probably will be someday.) I love looking at the pictures he takes. Random shots of our house, often when it's messy. Self timer photos of himself. Jeremy and I during the morning grind & evening wind down in our pajamas, or cleaning house, or asleep on the couch during General Conference. (Caught, AND preserved for prosperity.) I laughed until I cried when I was looking for pictures for the collage below, and I discovered a shot of our cats by their empty food bowls. With Bingley staring into one forlornly.