So on Monday I was in Crandall Texas. Little place. Lots of country roads, fields, cows tractors, lots of beauty. I drive there once a week to see a home care patient of mine. The drive is beautiful, every time I drive it I think oh I wish I had my camera at least once on the trek, I never do and even if I did I would not have time to stop, cause lets face it I'm usually running late, I'm working on it. But this week as I was at this ladies house I couldn't wait for the visit to be over and to just be home. She lives on one of the beautiful country roads, with cows and sparkly light shining of the tall yellowing grass. I always see lots of great places for family photos. Anyhow, her driveway is long and also a dirt road. It had been raining, of course because despite what people say, it rains all the time in Texas. The road was all muddy and of course on my way out I got stuck. My patient, (after I had called and been charged for a tow truck) called a neighbor, Farmer Joe. For some reason I was so impressed with this man. We come from very different worlds, of that I am sure. He had a curly mullet, the tightest wranglers I have ever seen, and the bluest eyes. He came over in the middle of his day stopped what he was doing to help a total stranger. He got down in the mud to tie a rope onto my car. Then a few minutes later when he notice I was shivering in the rain, he came over to me, gave me his coat and said, "give the back to, ie my patient (HIPPA), next time you see her." He was sweet, a gentleman, and on a day when I just felt down, his kindness genuinely made a difference for me. Thank you cowboy Joe, with your tight wranglers, beautiful eyes, and curly thick hair. I will always remember you and hopefully find a way to spread the kindness onto the next person.

Thoughts from today

So tonight at dinner we were discussing nicknames. Lu Lu; Lu Badoo; Balou, which Lexie does not like being called. She informs me I can call her that on her next birthday. Andrew chimed in with,

"Call me sugar."

Me: "Can I call you brown sugar?"

Andrew "yeah, I'll pull your earrings, white sugar." in a teasing tone.

It was funny we all laughed.

The other darling interaction from dinner went something like this. We were playing the game "best part of your day" and idea we got from a family in our old ward. Each family member tells an event which was the BEST from the day. We were all going around sharing, and when it was my turn I said," the best part of my day was.." and Andrew finished it for me with, "picking me up from school."

I must say he is such a delight. We had parent teacher conference today and I'm happy to report he is doing well. On his testing his teacher said he did very well. He struggles staying on task, but we are working on this. I'm grateful he has a teacher who is so good. I can tell she genuinely enjoys having him in her class and I am thankful for this. I feel so lucky his first year of school is shaping up to be a positive experience. Some of the positive things he has picked up at school are: "Happy to do it," "Yes Ma'am", and "Yes, Sir." I think this is great and if there is one thing we can take home from the Texans is their great manners, I hope to continue to incorporate this into our family. School has been so good for Andrew. He has been more obedient and he is learning lots. It has been a big adjustment, some days he comes home and crashes on the couch. The other morning when I woke him up, he said, "Mom I'm tired, Miss Pemberton won't let me take a nap." He is always starving when he gets home, today he polished off a 1 and a half tuna sandwiches (with apples and diced onions in it. I got this idea form my friend Amy and work, thank you by the way. May sound gross or maybe it doesn't, but it was the best tuna sandwich I've ever had.) We are grateful for a great kindergarten teacher, family dinners together, and fun interactions with the kiddos. It really is the little things which mean the most. Although I don't always remember this. Thank you Andrew for the darling sweet boy you are and for the sweet spirit you take with you to school each day. You are a positive influence on those around you keep up the good work!

AHH!

So I'm starting the laundry. I know it is the Sabbath, but in the Larsen, household, the one I grew up in Monday is Laundry day and Sunday night around nine o'clock my mom would gather all the laundry up and sort and start a load usually the whites. It should be known my mother is a laundry genius. She does laundry on Mondays. There is probably not a Monday in all of my mothers married life in which the laundry is not been washed, folded, ironed, and put away. I wish I could say the same for myself. I'm not as dedicated as my mother and this cannot be said about me. I guess it is not too late to start. But back to my story. I am trying to get a jump start on the laundry. We have company coming to town this week and I really only have tomorrow to prepare, so hence starting the Laundry right after church, but I digress the point of this story is I am beginning a theme with my laundry: CRITTERS! So as am gathering all the clothes up from under my vanity, I pick up a handful of clothes and to my shock there is a tiny gecko under amongst the pile. Of course I dropped the clothes and called for Jeremy. He finished gathering and we found him after the last sock was in the basket. We caught him and showed him to the kids. I tried to get a picture but he was in an orange cup and the camerea did have enough contrast to focus. Anyhow I'm quite certain if my mother came across such creatures when doing her laundry she may not get it all done every Monday either. Then again, we all know she would. So I'm channeling my inner Kathy, calling upon the laundry genuis and going to get it ALL done, washed, folded, ironed and put away!

This is my Annie at two. We celebrated her birthday on September 7th. I can hardly believe she is two. Every time our baby has turned two we have had a new baby in the house. I'm grateful she has gotten to stay a "baby". She is so funny. Any nick name you give her she says, "I'm Anna." She is a sweetheart.
She loves Andrew so much, and imitates her big sister. Today I had to tell Lexie to quit whining about her burrito for lunch because Anna started whining when she heard Lex do it, and she had specifically asked for burritos. Thankfully Lexie stopped when I explained she needed to be an example. Lexie ate the burrito, Anna finished hers asked for a second one and polished it off as well.
She counts and skips numbers. She says she is six, because she knows it will make me laugh. She LOVES books. She would be happy if someone would hold her and read to her all day. Her favorite song is Child of God as she calls it. She also likes Rain Drops on Roses. She has big brown eyes that will melt your heart and the cutest pouty face. She always has her two fingers in her mouth, a habit which is going to be hard to break. At two she is getting naked all the time. She drives her parents nuts with this. She loves to get into my make-up. She needs to be potty trained as she takes her diaper off as soon as it is wet, and comes to be changed immediately after poopy ones. Any tips on this I am open to. We are spending more in diapers now than as an infant because she takes them off all the time.
Annie Banannie we love you so much and are grateful you are part of our family. She didn't cooperate super well when we tried to take pictures and these are the best we got. Happy 2nd Birthday little girl!

So the other night as I was reading my delicious book, there was a fly buzzing around in my otherwise quiet abode. Jeremy was snoring, the kids were nestled in there beds, and there was a giant fly disturbing my quiet time. I had the thought to myself, why don't butterflies come in our homes and fly around? That would be pleasant, I would love to look at them, and they are quiet.

Wouldn't you prefer a quiet butterfly to a noisy disgusting fly? I would but, I don't see this happening in the foreseeable future. Someday I'm going to have a world where butterflies are the pests you find in your home, children are tidy eaters, and never ever argue.

A few weeks back we had rain for about 10 days. Normally I would not have enjoyed rain for so long but I did, it was great. Here is Andrew making the most of the rain and having a great time, we were both soaked when we came in. Amazingly enough that night it let up and we went to Dallas to watch a pro bike race. Jeremy was in heaven and the kids enjoyed being outdoors. It has been said that is doesn't rain much in Texas but compared to home it rains tons and when it rains it really comes down. Maybe it is just global warming screwing up the weather everywhere I don't know but we enjoyed the rain! You'd think our lawn would be totally green after so much water, it's not. Haven't quite figured out lawn maintenance in Texas.