A bit about Addie- aka "Karen"

Addie is quite the funny child. She comes across as agreeable and cooperative, but hidden inside her is a complex puzzle. We're still trying to figure her out, because she doesn't like to express herself openly. Once in  awhile, we'll get a really funny gem from her.

1) She's been playing soccer this spring. She liked it for the first couple of games. She was excited to wear her pink shin guards, excited to go to practice, excited to have games. Last week at her game I noticed she wasn't too interested in what was going on. I asked how she was feeling about soccer, and in true Addie fashion, she responded, "So. Much. Running!" I think the novelty of the pink shin guards has worn off and she's ready to move on to something else.

2) This week she announced to us that she wanted her nickname to be changed from "Add", which we call her all the time, to "Karen". This is our daughter Addie. But you can call her Karen. Boy oh boy, we had a good old laugh about that one. She was insistent for a couple of days, so I started calling her Karen one morning. That also happened to be the day that the kindergartners were eating lunch at the school. I packed her lunch and wrote "Addie (Karen)" on the bag. She scribbled it out and said she wanted to go back to Add as her nickname. I respect her wishes, but if you see her, call her Karen and you'll probably get a satisfying reaction out of her.

She took it upon herself to read a chapter book in the last couple of weeks and she did it! She carried her book with her wherever she went and read it aloud until she finished it. She's super excited about learning and loves reading. Way to go, Karen! We sure do love ya.

(The book was "Magic Kitten", in case you were wondering. And I know you were.)

My life couldn't be more perfect. Just kidding.

It took me like 15 minutes to come up with that title.

So a couple of weekends ago we were in Nevada for a little birthday visit to Nils' mom, which was DElightful. After 18 of us surprised her at a Las Vegas restaurant and invited ourselves to stay the night at her house, my parents-in-law exhorted me to keep blogging. Exhorted me, I say! You know you have to do as your in-laws say, because that way you can show up at their house unannounced and invite yourself to stay for a few days and then they cook you dinner and comply with incessant requests from 3-year olds to print out pictures of mermaids. (Or in the words of our 3-year old, "Maymaids".) 

Our days and weeks seem to be running together lately and life feels sorta Groundhog Day-ish. Now, the last thing I want to be is a whiney baby, so I apologize if that's the way this sounds. We're learning how to deal with everyone having different schedules and activities. A1 &A2 are getting to the ages of having their own schedules to work around, and boy is it throwing a wrench into things. They're both playing soccer right now, so we have to divide and conquer when they have games and practices at the same time in different places. Nils is gone a couple nights a week, and I have a couple of callings that require two nights a week as well. One of those is to serve on the Stake Camp Committee, which is tons of fun- it's just a lot of time. Camp is at the end of June, so once it's over I think things will lighten a bit. But there are moments when we feel like we're drowning in the calendar and not spending a whole lot of quality time together. Blech.

With all that being said, I hardly leave the house during the day. From 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. I think, "Why do I feel so busy? Today was just like yesterday. And the day before yesterday. Etcetera." Then the kids get home from school and it's ovah! It's a weird and sudden contrast that throws me every day. You'd think I'd learn. 

Anders was accepted into the A.L.L. program in our school district, so next year he's going to a different school about 10 minutes away. We're very happy that he has this opportunity; but I'll have to figure out how to get him and Addie to 2 different schools at the same time. Should be interesting, me thinks. I was thinking about all of this on Mother's Day and remembered all of the driving my mom did. When I was in 9th grade, which was at the jr. high, I was on the high school cross-country team. So my mom would pick me up from school, drive me to the high school for practice. Then she would pick me up and take me home. Then when I was in high school she picked me up every day from swim practice. Not to mention all of the track, cross-country and swim meets she attended for 4 of her 6 children. I don't know if I ever thanked her back in the day, so I made sure to on Sunday. It was random and about 15 years late. 

 Okay, enough of that. On to some random factoids:

• Nils is growing his hair long, and it's turned into a battle of wills between us. 
• Aani fell asleep sitting up at the dinner table tonight.
• Ava continues to be my velcro child.
• I read A Tale of Two Cities and I think it was good exercise for my brain. Kind of a downer, though, that book.
• Tomorrow is Thursday. It is!

I'm going to stop before this digresses anymore. Good night everyone!

To Our Sweet Katrina