too close for comfort

Confession: with every potty break throughout the night - we are peeking out the drapes.
Is the car still there? Have squatters moved into the shed? Is there a party going on at the Peoria Sports Complex? Is there a fire in the alley?
It was no surprise that there were popping noises going on somewhere west of us.

After my husband's two a.m. "break", he peeked.
He woke me up with a voice I have only heard once or twice before.

"Babe, the house down the alley is on fire."

I looked out the window and didn't see a fire truck, but did see a garage fully engulfed... a few houses down on the other side of the alley.

A blaze that big... surely somebody has called the fire department already.

But what if they hadn't (it took me a few minutes to realize that).

I put on something more suitable and ran downstairs. When I opened the garage there was a man standing in the alley.

The only other person that had woken up to all of the popping and cracking noises was our most trusted and beloved neighbor, Brother Danny Taylor.

Stone Cold Sober, he was on the phone with 911.

It was really scary. The Fire Engines couldn't seem to figure out right away where the blaze was... the alley complicating things. I stood from my garage yelling at Danny, "Should we start hosing your house down?" as the blaze got bigger and bigger.

When the roof blew off the garage with a little boom and a great big fire ball, I got really scared. The flames were at least as high as the two story house. Our houses are especially close together... being in Patio homes. Easily there were lots of others at risk. All sleeping soundly.

They parked the engine in front of our garage, hopped down and started pulling hoses. I felt relieved, but it took longer than I had hoped to put out the fire completely. They brought in a ladder truck parked in the front of the house, to see that the roof was completely out.

It is three hours later. I was supposed to wake up right now to start working on my big activity today. The big engine is still parked behind our garage.

I need a nap.

The Ton is Three

my dearest ton ton turned three yesterday.
we ate nachos and beat a Spiderman pinata to a gory paper mache pulp.

My son at three years old:
he is the consummate optimist.
He believes that we are going camping almost every Saturday. He never gives up hope.
Every single day he is again surprised and excited that we have decided to once again pick up Sissy from school.

He is a trendsetter. Diapers are for geniuses.
Diapers create an atmosphere where you do not need to stop playing in order to take care of business.
They provide a barrier between yourself and the blazing hot dirt, so that you can turn that dirt into mud.
and duh. Diapers cushion the blow if you are prone to getting spanked. (which he is not, but if kids were smarter, they would have already figured this out)

Joseph is a published author. Joseph is working on his first "how to" baby board book. working title: "The Quintessential Baby Brother for Dummies". So far all of his "publications" are actually just scribbles on things that have been published by other people. Chapters that JJ has worked on this week:
Revenge
If your sister ignores you by slamming her bedroom door in your face, quickly find the thing on the outside of her room most precious to her, and utterly destroy it beyond all recognition... but do this with a smile on your face in order to confuse the enemy, "he is just a baby, he doesn't understand how important that was to you".
Repetition
If it makes Sissy scream in anger, pain, frustration or pure delight... do it over and over and over... and over.
Refine
develop refined tastes. If ketchup tastes good on hot dogs... well then it must taste good on balogna, too. eat rolled up slices of balogna dipped in ketchup... who cares if it makes mom gag? She knows nothing of fine cuisine.

but seriously. JJ is the happiest, sweetest kid. He makes all of us laugh. He is hilariously funny and really cute.
He LOVES the nursery. He loves music time and snack time. His prayers are awesome, and if Heavenly Father isn't busy... we should all be going to Nursery every day, we should also all be blessed to have fun and be good every day. He has also gotten a year and a half head start on praying for "fun in school".
And I am going out on a limb here - but how many other people on the planet are praying for Sponge Bob? My kid is special.

He loves Daddy. He is trying so hard to be so much like him.
Recently he was being pushed along on his new bike. He was not looking at the road or even trying to pedal. He could not take his eyes off of the chain and how it turned - moving the pedals. He was figuring it out. Just like Dad.

He loves Sissy beyond words. He looks up to her, he laughs when she laughs, he hurts when she is hurt, she is his best friend.

My favorite thing about both of my kids is how much they look out for each other. Just try to give one of them a treat... they always need another to give the other.
Today Joseph ACCIDENTALLY bonked Sis on the head with the broom. She immediately burst into loud tears.
"Joseph - say you're sorry to Sis"
"I sorry, Sis."
Then he grabs her shirt and says, "come down here, Sis".
I gave her "the eye". Do it, Sis.
He took her face in his hands and said, "I give you a kiss, Sis"
Then he gave her a booger-y, probably slobbery kiss on the cheek.
Karina and I laughed.

My mom loves to tell people stories that embarrass us. She tells me how when I was born (the first) I made her feel like a great parent, so smart, like she knew exactly what she was doing...
Then my sister Danielle was born.

That is precisely how I feel about my kids. Karina makes me feel like I could totally do this whole "parenting" thing. Joseph keeps me humble.

We all love you, Ton boy. You are the best baby brother in this whole entire house.

at least not today

Next week I will have a three year old again.
but not today.
Today I have a two year old baby.
he has chubby cheeks and stinky diapers.
Yesterday at church, in an effort to get him to be reverent during the Sacrament,
I said, "Let's think about Jesus."
"ok"
"What did Jesus do?"
"He sang."
"Yes. He sang! What did he sing?"
"Jingle Bells!"
...
Then I was no longer be reverent either.