The Making of Buggle

On March 28, our Felicity turned 7. Anyone who knows Felicity knows that she is aptly named, at least when she's well rested and fed. You might argue that happiness is the natural result of being well rested and fed, but I know plenty of prime examples to the contrary. Felicity used to be even happier, but has given us a little more drama (if you can imagine such a thing) since starting school. I wonder where she gets it? One of my favorite quotes of the year is when Felicity came home from school and said, "Today we learned about being dramatic!"



Even with a well-fitting name, a new baby must have a nickname. If you don't believe me, check the owner's manual- page 14. And especially babies with 4-syllable names. We started by calling her Love Bug. We shortened that to Bug. In German, the diminutive form of anything has the -el sound at the end. Actually I didn't know that little factoid until afterwards, when Dad told me, but it works anyway: Bug became Buggle and somehow, it fits! The name Buggle is admittedly a little odd, but a suitable name nonetheless.


We didn't have a digital camera when she was born, but here are a few pictures of her:


Just outside the church, April 2005, Cambridge MA:


Dressing up as a pioneer, June '05, Nauvoo, IL:


Apple picking, Oct '05, Honeypot Farms, MA:



Flower girls, June '06 Birmingham Botanical Gardens, AL:

Shake mustaches, August '06, TX:


Felicity & Mrs. Hutton, Kindergarten Teacher, March '07:

As a matter of fact, I AM the boss of you.

So it's been a long time since I blogged. My computer is the big excuse, since let's face it, my writing is not that exciting and I couldn't put any pictures on the new computer we bought last month. Last week I sent it back (keys broke off within days); it's probably better I didn't invest a lot of time on it. But I finally downloaded about 60 photos (what can I say, I have a very cute baby), so you won't have to read drivel for long.

This was one of the most unproductive weeks ever. And I no longer have the excuse of a newborn, since Maxwell is now 3 months. He was sick though, and insisted on being held every waking minute. My other gripe of the week was misbehaving children, specifically Mr. M. This boy is full of delightful phrases, to which I silently answer little remarks such as you'll find in today's title. I guess it's all part of asserting his independence. He's pretty defiant and I just started a sticker chart for the first time in years, desperate for a new tactic. He was happy to get some stars on his traintrack though, we'll see if it works. I am convinced that motherhood is the great humbler in life...for me, anyway. Of course, it's all worth it, as you can plainly see:

Easter Sunday, after church:

This is probably my smiliest baby yet:

He's a real chunkster, too:


So with this jolly green giant for a closer, I promise to be much more cheerful next time.

Toot, toot!

No, that's not the sound of Matthew playing with trains. That's me, tooting my own horn after I finished doing some housecleaning. I am feeling very virtuous because this morning, I mopped the kitchen floor and even some exremely bad looking areas on the woods in the living, dining, and family rooms. It is now afternoon and I am still unshowered and the chairs are still lined up to play Train Ride, because I'm waiting for other family members to come home and Take Notice. That's because it was such a big job, since I haven't done it since Neil and Kristie and their 6 kids came... and the broom was broken (and used for Captain Moroni's Title of Liberty) and we had pizza for dinner. I think I felt pretty proud of myself on that occasion, too.

I also cleaned up the kitchen, but that is not really worth noting since it's done so often. And because we have a dishwasher, it's way easier when you can throw the dishes in there. Wow, all those years in Jersey City without a parking space, laundry machines, dishwasher, and disposal sure made me grateful for appliances.

If there is a more obnoxious chore than scrubbing the floor with a long, awkward tool, I don't know what it is. Except maybe sweeping beforehand and having the crud get stuck in the grout. As I was growing up, my mom tried many different forms of job chart rotations: a daily one, a weekly one, and all with creative names. But one summer, we had the same job (in addition to dishes and clean your room etc) all summer. That was a great summer. We all earned candybars at Sunday's family council (fruits of doing your job well all week), and the house was at its cleanest because we were cleaning what we liked. Some said it was kind of a communistic system but I believe one of my brothers said it was really more economical, since we were doing what we did well and liked to do.

I enjoy cleaning the bathroom because whoa, you really see and smell the results after not that much work or time. I think Heidi had the living room because she was Popular and wanted her Popular friends to think we had a clean house. I think Kurt did the garbages because they were fast and easy, take out the kitchen trash before dinner and all the others on Saturday, Kent had the toyroom because he could ignore it all summer and Brian had the Special P (project) because he enjoyed being Mom's minion. Meanwhile, the meeker members of the family left at home, Craig, Tyler, and Liesl, they had to just take what was left, the floors, laundry assignment, and family room. Actually I can't remember. So correct me. What IS your favorite chore, anyway? Least favorite?