Hockey?

Recently Jack has been very concerned about what Sean and I are going to do after he goes to bed. "What are you going to do, mommy?" he asks me every night right before I leave his room. The most common answer these days is "work." "Why?" he asks. "To make money," I respond. "Why?" he asks again. This could go on all night so I just say, "Goodnight, Jack. I love you. Don't get out of bed."

Saturday night we had a slightly different exchange... We had dinner at the Phillips' and put the boys to bed there. As I was leaving the room Jack asked, "What are you going to do, mommy?" "Play a game" I responded. "What game?" he asked. "I don't know" I said because we hadn't decided yet. "Hockey?" he asked. I assured him we would not be playing hockey (not sure two pregnant women could navigate very well on skates holding a big stick) and left the room.

Quick Update

I know it's been forever since I've updated, but I've been really busy. Things are changing quickly in the Starkey household and "baby sister" (as she is commonly referred to) will be here before we know it.


Speaking of baby sister...everything is good on that front. I had my glucose screen a couple weeks ago and they didn't call me so it's safe to say I'll make it through another pregnancy with no diabetic complications. She's moving around like crazy, kicking me all the time. My only complaint is the toll this pregnancy is taking on my body. I'm just a lot more sore than I was with the other two. The other two could have something to do with that...


Let's go youngest to oldest...Wesley is zooming into toddler-hood. He is starting to really be able to communicate with us and is even starting to put together syllables that, to eager parents, sound like words. He is pretty good at "hi" - we know it's "hi" b/c it's frequently accompanied by his Miss America wave. We think he knows "all done" or "ah da" because the few times he's used it have been at an appropriate time. The problem is that he is never really all done eating so he doesn't get much practice on this one. Wesley really likes his big brother and his big brother's toys. He likes talking on his cell phone and started holding it up to his ear a few weeks ago. No steps yet. He has ventured a few behind the walker, but he's still a little out of balance to stand or take any steps on his own. I'm anxiously awaiting that day because he's getting pretty big to carry around all the time.


Jack is busy. All the time. And we've entered into the "why" phase. I proudly admit that I have used the phrase "because I said so" more than a couple times. All parents have earned the right to have that kind of authority. I have started turning the question around to him and asking "why do you think?" I keep convincing myself that this approach is good for him and will help him learn to reason on his own...not just an easy way out for me. He's really been into reading lately. I attribute this to two things (1) he got a library card last week so he's been reading the new library books he got to take home, and (2) he has earned several new books as part of an incentive program (bringing my work home?) for memorizing Bible verses. Each time he recites a verse in a normal voice while sitting still (pretty low criteria, I know) he earns a sticker on a chart for that particular verse. Once he earns enough stickers for a verse he gets a "prize" (read new book). I've come to the conclusion that it's a behavior chart as much as it is a Scripture memorization chart. The Scripture he's got down - he often recites his verses throughout the day in different play situations. It's the behavior that is a little more challenging. Why do children always get a burst of energy right before bed regardless of what you do to burn it off in the evening? I'm glad God has a sense of humor - I'm banking on it when it comes to Jack's behavior during Bible verse and prayer time. Each prayer starts with (keep in mind that prayer time is right before we turn the lights out for bed) "Heavenly Father, thank you for this food and thank you for this meal and thank you that Grandpa could come and stay with me today" (whether Grandpa came or not).

My Giant

On Friday we say goodbye to the Durango and hello to MY GIANT. The Durango was in need of some major repairs, not to mention the air conditioning that would need to be repaired (at least once based on history) next summer so we cut our losses and traded it in for a Nissan Armada. With our growing family, we had two options: minivan or full size SUV. We opted for the SUV. It's huge and I'm sure I'm going to have to park in the back of parking lots for at least a year before I feel comfortable getting into a spot between two cars, but it will easily hold three car seats and all the stuff that comes along with three kids. I posted some of the dealership pictures below for a sneak peak.

Tag - You're It

I have been tagged by Sarah.
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. List 6 random facts about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog

Six Facts
1. For a long time I have wanted to learn how to pilot a helicopter.

2. My dream job is to be a meteorologist on TV with the name Autumn Deigh (pronounced "day").

3. When I was little I had a recurring dream that gremlins broke into our house and were chasing my dad and me. There was an adult gremlin and a child gremlin. The rule was that only I could defeat the adult gremlin and only my dad could defeat the child gremlin. I would always run into my room, hide on the side of my dresser and then jump out to attack the gremlin when he came near.

4. I once had one of those bloated-belly goldfish and I named it Oprah.

5. I really want a pink cell phone.

6. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Karaoke!!

I am tagging:
Lorie at Life in North Minneapolis, Lisa at Life with the Websters and Sarah at The GreeneHouse. (Sorry - I don't have three more).

Birthday Bash

It seems like the only milestones I ever post about are for the kids, but last Saturday evening we celebrated an important milestone for Sean...his 30th birthday! In honor of his long lasting love of video games, we had a Guitar Hero tournament complete with stage and costumed participants. Thanks again to everyone who attended and to all the good sports who come in full Rock Star garb. Below are a few pictures.

Lisa & John played the first round.
Sarah & Shannon...rock queens.
Brian & Scott...obviously concentrating very hard.
Heidi & Lorie...um.
Heidi & Sean...the final round.
Joel...scary.

Lisa...scarier.

Ribbit

We spent Labor Day weekend at the lake - probably our last visit until Memorial Day weekend. One of these years I'd like to spend some fall weekends up there. I remember that being one of my favorite times of year at the cabin when I was growing up (except for the hours and hours and hours of raking leaves). We had a full house...15 of us! We spent a lot of time just hanging out with the kids. We had a bonfire Saturday night that Jack got to stay up for. Wesley pretty much stayed on his normal schedule so he had to miss the fire.

One afternoon, my mom found a tree frog on one of the deck chairs and pointed it out to Jack.

He got to take a really close look at it.

Then he touched it. "It's sticky," he said.

Then it jumped on him.

He was telling my dad about it later and said that the frog jumped right on his coat...his boat coat.

What's in a name?

In an effort to find the perfect name for our little girl - and by perfect I mean unique, traditional, but slightly trendy and common, but not too common - I have experimented with drawing inspiration from the "Baby Name Inventor" on babyzone.com. Below are a few of my favorites:

Nindenda: if Sean was a bigger Super Mario fan, I think he'd be pushing for this one; all it takes is two letter changes to get Nintendo (maybe that's the male version).

Tyanannan: reminds me of an enormous flying dinosaur; not exactly the image I want associated with my daughter.

Rexatan: sounds like the prescription I'll be picking up for the next case of "bug bites" my kids come down with.

Dec: let's hope she's not more than two days late.

Garage: really?

Lynelamar: I think this may be a monkey-like animal only found in the Outback...g'day mate.

Zeseerch: maybe if I was Freud...or Sherlock Holmes...

Hanaure
Manar: these two appeared together and all I saw was "manure"...again, no.

Resicola: I have visions of German men in Lederhosen blowing into long horns on a commercial for Pepsi.

So far nothing has met the aforementioned criteria so I guess we'll keep looking.