New Christmas Carol

According to Ollie:

Angels we have heard on high

Sweetly singing aeroplanes

And the mountains in reply

Echoing their joyous trains

I think it goes along nicely with the version of "I am a Child of God" that we taught them, which includes the line "with parents kind of weird". And the version of "Book of Mormon Stories", where the fathers of the Lamanites were "given the land if they went right to sleep". (It's a great song for bedtime.)

Primary is going to be awesome.

This Morning

Me: Come here, Ollie. Let's brush your hair.
Ollie: OK. Are we going to church?
Me: No. Church is not the only occasion when I brush your hair, Ollie. You do know that, right?

Beautiful (Out of Stock) Print

I have been in love with this print by Seb Lester ever since it came available about two weeks ago. Sadly, it sold out before I could get it. Or maybe that is a good thing, because we certainly don't have $106.55 to spend on paper, even if it is amazingly gorgeous paper. The print was made in a limited edition of 100, and there is another print in royal blue, that I think is still gorgeous, but less striking than the midnight blue. The royal blue is still available if you happen to fall in love with it, again in a limited edition of 100.

I could go on and on about the art historical implications of the quote, and it's beauty, but I won't bore you. The tiny stars, though, that make it were what won me over. Fabulous.

My heart aches.

Time flies when you're having... fun?

Quick(ish) update:

We are still alive.

I have been back at school since May. Full-time.

I will be mostly done with my degree by the time Evan graduates. I will have completed all my major credits.

I wish I had been as dedicated to my school-work last time around as this time.

Evan is still in school and will graduate in April. Full-time. Plus work.

Did I mention Evan is The Man and taking 22 credits this semester?

And next.

And we are both doing capstone classes next semester, too. Crazy? Why, yes.

We got a dog. Her name is Lulu. She is a 3 year old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. With a puppy brain.

The kids love the dog.

Oliver turned two.

Evan turned 26.

Alena turned 16.

Oliver joined the circus.

We saw Aunty Hayley in CA in August.

The kids got 'bikes'. And love them.

Potty training is complete. (The grand finale was last night as Oliver wandered into my room and proudly announced, "Mummy, I did poops!" at which point I had visions of poop trails on my carpet. But actually it was in the toilet. Alhamdulillah.)

We went camping. Twice.

We went hiking. A lot.

And saw four moose.

We beached.

And parked.

Yes, that is our dog jumping up onto the slide. And, yes, she loves going down them, too.

And I ran a 5k in this:

Then overnight it went from this:

To this:

Ah, well. C'est la vie.

On with finals!