Caterpillar

My friend Priya took photos of Lo Lo last week (more to come!). We were happy to find a Halloween creepy crawly caterpillar at the park where we did the photo shoot.

He was absolutely PROUD of himself to have this little bug crawl around on his arm.

But all good things must come to an end, and we eventually let the caterpillar loose so it could "go home." When I showed Lo his photos, that's the part he talked about the most, the caterpillar going home.

I looked it up and found out our caterpillar was a wooly bear variety, which will turn into this type of moth, forgot the name, but something like a tiger moth:

Amish opportunist

Friends

Lo begs me every day to have friends come over and play. "____play at my home?" he asks sweetly a thousand times. Fill in the blank with any number of friends' names. He says them with such funny pronounciation. Here he is with Leigha. He actually doesn't say Leigha's name that I am aware, but he asks if her sister Emma can come over and I know he means Leigha too. =) Here is how it sounds: "Emma bay my home?" He has to focus and furrow his brow to get out the "h" sound in "home." Oh, I LOVE all the talking these days! Seriously, people say they get tired of how much their kids talk, but I cannot imagine getting to that point. Give me time, I know... It cracks me up how kids this age undress themselves. Here we have Leigha in her diaper, and last Sunday there were 6 kids in nursery with their shoes off by the time class ended. Again, a fun age. :)

Random sampler

Our apartment has a field of horses adjacent to it. Sometimes we feed them carrots or grain. Also I have nightmares about Lo Lo climbing through that missing slat in the fence sometime when I am not watching and getting kicked in the head...=/ I love how this stage of Lo's development is marked by a desire to help and participate in all projects. Here is our helpful son putting away tables after a church activity a few weeks ago:

At that same activity, there was a woman there who wore a similar tie-dyed shirt to one my mom wore when we were back in Boise this past summer. The two women have similar hair styles/color, and from the back look like twins! Lo Lo kept trying to convince me this woman was his grandma; he has no idea how crazy that would be if his Idaho grandma suddenly appeared at our church event out here in Ohio. After we saw her face, he realized she was not his grandma. That night we asked him, "was grandma at the church today?" And he said with certainty, "No." Kids are so cute.

Sorry for the blurry shots. These were all photos from Jerry's phone that just got uploaded and I figured might as well post them.

Bao Bao

Stuffed animals have a way of accumulating, don't they. Here is Lo's collection after just the last two years: He kept making his animals give each other hugs, saying "bao bao" in the sweetest little boy voice. Note the puppy Lo is pointing to has arms full of smaller stuffed animals. (I helped him stack that many in the arms). And this is what we do all day while Jerry is at work. :)

Goals old and new

I have been basking in a spiritual renewal ever since this weekend's General Conference. I feel more motivated than ever to do good things. I am also glad to start again with my daily reading of a General Conference talk. Faithful readers of this blog may recall I had a New Year's resolution to do such a thing, but about 4-5 months in, I realized my reading of the usual monthly Ensign magazine had dwindled as a result of my focus on the General Conference talks. Anyway, since I had already studied all the most recent conference talks, and the ones from the previous conference before, I ended up just halting that goal for the most part as I focused on enjoying the cover-to-cover reading of the Ensign magazine. But now I'm ready to re-start that daily conference talk goal.

I also have another goal after listening to General Conference this latest time around. I want to memorize scripture verses on a regular basis. Still not sure what verses/how many, but I think I'll focus on relearning the seminary scripture mastery verses. Stay tuned. The reason I want to do this goal is because of Elder Richard G. Scott's talk that promised, "a memorized scripture becomes an enduring friend." After all the moving and ups and downs of my life over the past few years, I feel ready to revisit some stalwart friendships with key scripture verses.

Another goal developed from conference: pray for the prophet and general authorities on a regular basis. This one is a family goal. I feel remiss since we normally only found ourselves praying for these church leaders in the few weeks leading up to each semi-annual conference. President Monson gave a plea in the Sunday Morning session: "Remember me and all the general authorities in your prayers." Jerry and I especially are praying for Elder Robert D. Hales after noticing the transformation he has undergone in the past year. Take a look: October 2010:
October 2011:

Let's all pray for him to continue healing. His talk was touching to me as I realized how much of it must have come from recent spiritual lessons in his own life about having patience in mortal affiction.

Anyway, I could go on and on about all my favorite speakers but I'll just quickly report back how it went with Lo Lo and the Conference Sweets Bowls. For the most part we had to be the ones to point out what the speakers were saying. "Look, did you hear him just say 'Jesus' or 'temples'" etc. but ONE time Lo got excited all on his own when a speaker said "Jesus Christ." He pointed ardently to the treat bowl marked by a picture of the Savior, saying "Jesus, Jesus." We happily doled out an M&M. I can see how this project will be good to use as Lo grows through childhood. Lo Lo was also happy to join with saying all the "amens" and watched intently the first two speakers in the priesthood session on Sunday morning. We viewed it as a family because Jerry did not go to the broadcast the night prior.

I hope General Conference was as uplifting and fulfilling for you all as it was for us. Now lets all go and be changed for the better because of what we have heard and learned.

The Sweetness of the Word of God

How interesting it is that General Conference has become something like a holiday in my mind. I feel excitement as I think about it, akin to anticipating Christmas, summer vacation, birthdays, and such. It seems I see signs on every corner reminding me Conference is coming. I am thinking more and more of how to help that Lo get something out of this great upcoming weekend.

I remember hearing that in Jewish tradition, when a child begins learning from the scriptures they are fed apples and honey, so that an association can begin in the mind about the sweetness of the Word of God.
Enter: General Conference treat bowls. I picked up some M&M's yesterday and also dug out our leftover Nerds (Halloween candy from last year, lol).



Then, I placed a few pictures of important Gospel topics we are trying to help Lo Lo understand. When a speaker mentions one of these topics, we will let that Lo take a piece of candy. He is 1 year old, soon to be 2; we are talking BASIC principles here--Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and Temples. I figured even delving into "prophets" was a bit abstract, although I plan to print out a Thomas S. Monson coloring sheet for that Lo to use this weekend as well.

I found this awesome idea for the treat bowls from one of my favorite blogs (yes, I am addicted to an adoption blog...my heart has always had a soft spot for the whole process of adoption...and this blog author posts a lot of good stuff on raising kids in a multiracial home, so I think that's what keeps me coming back for more...)

My version doesn't look as pretty as Mrs. R's, but here it is. Thankfully Lo Lo is highly motivated by candy, so I think this activity might actually get him to focus on the speakers for a second or two while we point out that they are saying "Jesus," "Joseph Smith," or "temples."

Any other good ideas out there for helping kids get the most out of General Conference?

Back to School

We've always known Jerry would further his education. This past summer, he graduated from his company's leadership development program so it felt like a decision was around the corner. We were not feeling great about staying in our current area for a variety of reasons, including wanting to move closer to family. Originally Jerry got the OK to transfer next spring to one of the plant sites on the West Coast, which would have been a better location for us (though still not ideal). About a month ago, we got word that Jerry could no longer transfer to that particular position--just the unpredictable nature of the manufacturing world. We've gotten used to surprises during the past few years with this company...! So Jerry decided to make a break for it and quit his job. He plans to return to full-time schooling for a bit of a career change--afterall in his own words, he's "not getting any younger," and we have decided it is an important goal for him to be able to get employment that is both gainful and personally fulfilling. Thankfully in the time since we graduated from college a few years back, we have been blessed to be able to pay off our student loans and build enough savings that we feel the freedom to make this move. It honestly feels like a miracle and biggest blessing that we have such opportunities and joy in life. My parents have also been a big help in giving us the courage to have Jerry in school full-time, since they are letting us move in with them for the year that Jerry will take to complete his program. Perfect timing since my little brother enters the MTC in December and his bedroom will be available...=) We are happy to let Lo Lo spend at least some of his toddlerhood surrounded by extended family.

Jerry has been accepted to Boise State University, starting classes in January 2012. After one year he will be able to take the CPA exam and ultimately make his career something in the field of accountancy. Hooray for change! After this move to Boise, we will have moved SIX times since our marriage just FOUR years ago, with more than half of those moves being interstate. Life is crazy but good.

African Safari

For Labor Day we visited an animal park near our home. Though it is called an "African Safari," most of the animals there seemed more of the North American genre. But we did get to feed a giraffe! It stuck its nose right in our window. I'm only uploading the one video because I'm having issues with photo/video upload lately. We got a new camera; not sure if that's the problem. Anyway, enjoy.

I am making a pinata for Lo's birthday (yes, 2 months ahead of time, a tad excited), and I made the mistake yesterday of explaining to him what a pinata is. We watched a few Youtube videos of kids breaking colorful forms, followed by candy spraying everywhere, finishing up with laughter and joy. Lo talked about it nonstop eversince, even having trouble settling down for his nap because he was so looking forward to "break candy everywhere." (which he pronounces "pk nannee 'where."

So that night for our family home evening activity we made a makeshift pinata (handful of candy wrapped in a piece of tissue paper, tied to a string) so he could whack it open. It was pretty funny to watch him swing a stick around. And disturbing. Because now he says "hit, hit!" and loves hitting stuff, pretending it is a world of pinatas out there. This could be bad. Maybe the pull-string pinatas are more appropriate afterall...