Among my hangups (and there are many) is that once I turn off the a/c or heat for the season, I can't bring myself to turn it back on. Maybe it has something to do with our $178/month electric bill, but I get very turned on by the idea of a few cheap months of electricity in the spring and fall.

It cooled down a few days ago, and I turned off the a/c. Our house stayed steady at 73 degrees, and I thought we had arrived!!!! Today it was 91 outside, bringing the main level of our house to 86. The "cool" night air has brought it to 85. Upstairs is probably a good 7 or 8 degrees warmer. I have no idea how I'm going to sleep, except that I will have to find a way because I CANNOT TURN THE AIR BACK ON! It's the end of September, for crying out loud.

I would consider sleeping in the basement, except our lives are plauged by irony. We have two problems in the basement: huge (I mean HUGE) jumping crickets, and mold on our baseboards. So here's the irony: while I was gone this evening, Jared sprayed the baseboards down here with bug killer. Twenty minutes later, I came home, grabbed a can of Lysol, and sprayed all the same baseboards with Lysol. As I was finishing, I was feeling a little lightheaded and confused. I know Lysol stinks, but does it stink this bad????

We didn't figure it out until Jared came downstairs, and ran upstairs again choking and with burning eyes. We successfully created a gas chamber down here. Note for the future: bug spray and Lysol DO NOT MIX! The computer is down here and I'm getting a buzz as I type. Maybe if I get high enough, I won't notice the heat when I go into my stove of a bedroom.

Note on kids: Joshua's job at school is line leader. He asked me today if he could quit, because he never notices the stop signs on the walls. It is embarrassing for him and is hard for me to see him suffer. He is just oblivious to things around him, and when he knows and can't fix it, it's hard. I told him to have the #2 person in line help him. Hopefully he'll take my advise.

Have to go now. I think my head is going to burst.

Today Jared played memory with the kids. I kept trying to help James, only to realize he remembered the cards better than I did. He got just as many matches (sometimes more) than the other kids. I am a little relieved, since he still doesn't recognize letters and numbers, and doesn't even care. I guess when he's ready, he'll catch up. Jared said he actually had to try to keep up with them. They are getting smart. The other day, Joshua used a word I didn't know. He had to define it for me. I wondered when this was going to happen. I wish I could remember the word.

During memory, Claire had her hands on two matching cards. James said "Not that one!" and pointed to the card next to it. Claire listened to him, only to find out she was right the first time. James, who fully knew what he was doing, laughed and laughed. Claire was really upset. She should have trusted herself more.

My smarty pants kids are growing up. I never, ever thought I would be the slowest one in my house, but I can see it coming. I am happy and horrified at the same time......

Quote of the day from Jamesy: "Heavenly Father made everything in the world. Except our swingset. Pa made that."

The kids are doing well. Daniel is crawling, has figured out how to get into a sitting position all by himself, and keeps straightening his legs and trying to walk on his hands with straight legs. I am thinking he'll be an early walker. It's just not fair - he was JUST BORN and he thinks that he can be grown up! Now that he can sit up, he sits in his crib, pushes the bumper down with his hands, and watches the other kids being crazy at bedtime. He will sit there and watch, then when he gets tired he lays down and goes to sleep (lights on, chaos abounding!) I wish all babies were like this.

First Day of School

Kid Talk

I need to record some funny Jamesy language:

hanitizer ...... hand sanitizer

clippernails..... fingernail clippers

band-aige...... bandaid/bandage (actually, Joshua says this one too!)

owkie ......... ouchie

papple ..... apple

pilpowe ...... pillow

Will add more later.

School starts again tomorrow!!!! I don't know how to feel; one one hand, school means freedom for me. On another hand, my babies are growing up at lightning speed! How am I already the mother of a 2nd grader??????

I have to admit that I am a little nervous for school to start. Will we miss the bus? Will I like their teachers? Will kids upset Joshua when they ask him about his head? I thought only kids were supposed to get nervous about this stuff!

Speaking of Joshua's head, he and I spent time today coming up with funny answers to the questions. Our favorite would be "What do you mean, what's wrong with my head? I don't know what you're talking about!" Joshua also liked "The doctor took out some of my brain because I was too much smarter than everyone else." His answer, that he thought of himself and frequently uses, is "I don't like to talk about it, you have to ask my mom." He finds that kids usually forget or lose interest when he says this. Yet, I am nervous for him, as I want him to not be tramatized by inquisitive kids.

Claire I worry about for different reasons. I don't want her to be a mean queen bee, but yet girls try to force her into this position. I was shocked by the politics of kindergarten girls. Betsy always said "We don't like Katie, right Claire?" And Katie would say "Let's not talk to Betsy." Is it always going to be like this?