Where have all the dishtowels gone?

As I was reaching to wipe my hands on the dishtowel that is supposed to be hanging on my stove, I realized it was missing, again. In fact, I find myself putting a new dishtowel up a few times each day. Then my beautiful daughter walked in, wanting to know where the clip is. She had a dishtowel around her head. When she addresses me as "Joesph" or "Dear Husband", I know she is Mary. When she insists I call her "Super Ginny" , she has the dishtowel wrapped around her as a cape. Other times, I find a dishtowel carefully wrapped around her dolls as they are tucked into bed. Lately she has been wrapping them around her waist and using it as a ball gown skirt.
I guess I should be grateful that she gets so much use out of a simple dishtowel. I am always reminded that she doesn't need a lot of expensive toys. Her favorite things to play with are paper towel tubes, washcloths, dishtowels, pieces of paper, it could be anything. And of course if I accidentally throw away the precious treasure of the day, there is a big meltdown.
So parents of young children out there, don't bother buying toys for your children. A pot and pan and stacking bowls form your kitchen are just as entertaining.

Mothering Thoughts

I just finished my portfolio for my nomination for Utah Young Mother of the Year. I will go to a luncheon on Feb. 7 along with the other nominees. I will give a short talk to introduce myself, and I will find out who won. I really don't want to win. I just kept feeling that I needed to do this in order to promote becoming a mother through adoption. Or maybe through this we will be able to find our next baby. It has been an interesting process of reflection about being a mother. I had to answer 10 questions, write a biography and an essay, as well as get three letters of recommendation. I wanted to share some of my answers to my questions. I would love for you to read them and respond with your thoughts about the topic. So here's one of them:

On a daily basis, what do you feel is your most important function?
My most important function is showing love to my family. I try to do my daily tasks with this in mind.
I really don’t like to iron shirts. In fact, I don’t really like to do house work. I’d much rather read stories with my daughter, sing songs with her, go to the library or read a book myself. Before our daughter came, I didn’t do very much ironing, especially not my husband’s shirts, arguing that I was just as busy as him and he could iron them himself. My husband never complained, he just never ironed his shirts. When I became a full time mother and homemaker, I grudgingly decided to iron shirts occasionally. When Matt wore an ironed shirt the next time, I was surprised how nice he looked. It really did make a difference in his professional appearance. Since then, I have tried to be more diligent about ironing his shirts. I try to think about my husband and how much I love him as I iron. Then it doesn’t seem like such a drudgery.
I try to involve my daughter in housework and cooking as well. Although it is sometimes frustrating and much more time consuming to cook with a 3 year old, it is a chance for us to spend time together and for me to show her how much I love her. She is learning how to crack an egg or measure a cup of flour. She gets so excited when she learns a new skill. Nurturing my family and myself every day with love is my most important function.

Critical Analysis

Ginny and I have been talking about the different ways to tell a story using different media. As you know, she loves "Seussical the Musical". For Christmas she got the movie "Horton Hears a Who" and a book on tape version on Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches an Egg (read by Dustin Hoffman and Billy Crystal, respectively). At dinner last night, we asked her what was the same and different about each of them. So here is her critical analysis comparing these three forms of telling the story:

"Well, in the book, and the movie and the play, JoJo says "Yop". In the play, there is Gertrude and in the book and the movie there isn't. I like the movie the best".

So there you have it, her first scholarly paper. Feel free to post a comment in support or a rebuttal of her analysis.

Family Pictures

Here are some family pictures my cousin took of us. I haven't got our Christmas letter out,yet. I always seem to be sending out New Year greetings instead. We're all fine and happy. We have had a lot of snow lately, which has been a good excuse to just stay inside. Matt and Ginny made snow dragon last night instead of going to my family party in Salt Lake-too much snow. I'll post a picture of that someday.

Here are some pictures that my cousin Melese took. Thanks again, Melese.

Discoveries

I saw this on my cousin's blog and was surprised at how much I have done. If you want to do it, just copy it to your blog and bold all the things you have done. Happy discoveries!

1. Started your own blog...........................(Love it!)

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii.......(when I was a baby)

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity.......(does tithing count?)

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a Praying Mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped...no desire to, either.

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train...(from the South of France to Naples, Italy)

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping....(when I was little, at my Grandma's pool)

27. Run a Marathon.. I admire people who do and hope to have the desire to run someday.

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing... in a gym, does that count?

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted... had my "Cartoon" painted at Disneyland. Does that count?

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris- climbed all those stairs with my best friend, Melody.

51. Gone scuba diving

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie- I'm in a commercial about recycling.

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies... and eaten many of them, too

62. Gone whale watching....in San Diego

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving... scary!!! I'm afraid of heights.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check.. as a college student "How can I be out of money when I still have checks left?" : >

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.. I was just looking at my dolls and stuffed animals today, trying to get rid of them, but couldn't.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt......(no, but I've tied lots of them)

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone... never, just sprains

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car.. all our cars have been used

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper... when I was in Kindergarten

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox... all 3 kids in the car, moving from Boston to California. My poor parents!

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury.. almost. Was down to the last round of jurors before they picked the final one.

91. Met someone famous.. Henry Winkler -"The Fonz", at Disneyland.

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one.....................(more than one)

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake..... floated in it. Hard to swim in.

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Fallen in love.............(of course)

Halloween

Ginny was a "Wickersham Brother" for Halloween this year. For you non-Seussical fans out there, those are the monkeys that pester Horton the Elephant. When she said she wanted to be a Wickersham Brother, I bought her this cute monkey outfit from Old Navy. I may only have a few years left when I can get away with compromises like that with her.

From top: "Spudnuts!". Ginny is triumphantly holding up a home made spud nut that her Grandmother makes every year for Halloween. At the last minute, G put on this cowboy vest under her costume so she could have some verstility in her costume for the evening.

"Pappy" This is G and her Grandpa (Pappy is French for Grandpa) enjoying Halloween chili.

"Hugging a pumpkin" My parents grew this pumpkin in their garden.

"Visiting Daddy" We stopped by and visited Matt's class of 11th graders at Maeser Prep School in Lindon. They were very thrilled and all agreed she is the cutest little girl in the whole wide world. : > Matt talks about her so much in class that one of his students told me that she had a dream about Ginny.

Leaves Pictures

We seem to be spending most days outside raking leaves. Why is my daughter in a garbage can, you ask? We put the leaves on our "green waste" recycling can. Her favorite job is to be a "leaf stomper" so we can fit more leaves in there. Who knows all I needed was a garbage can to entertain my child? : >