The Suisse Family Robinson

3 years ago Lara joined our family and we celebrated by going to the Princess and the Frog in the dollar theater. She had a lot of fun with her friend, Alaina, and all the aunts and uncles. I can't believe that my baby girl is now 3 and will be attending preschool in the summer! She has grown so much and it's wonderful to see her develop talents. Lara is very gifted musically, and I'm not just saying that because she's my daughter. She can sing in tune, in different tonalities, and in different meters and she does it ALL the time.

She is also a budding artist which she gets from her daddy. I can't draw. Anyways, she recently received a compliment by one of the art teachers at school, saying that she could trace and paint better than some of her older peers. She also can "write" her name on lined paper, staying in the lines!

Lara is always giving us some cute quotes and making us laugh. Here are a few...

Lara: Mommy, I want to change babies.
Me: What do you mean?
Pointing to cousin Kaelyn (2 months), Lara: I want that one.

Pulling out my debit card: Just what I need!

After wrestling with her Uncle Jared: I want to see my daddy.
Uncle Jared: Why would you want that?
Lara: Because... I really like him!

Me: Lara, are you tired? If you're not, you need to take your thumb out of your mouth.
Lara: OK, I'm going to suck my finger instead.

We love you, Lara!

One thing I love about the Olympics is that I don't necessarily root for my home country.

For example, in the men's freestyle moguls I was happy when this guy won the first Canadian gold on home soil.
And in pair skating, I will be rooting for Shen and Zhao.

Don't worry, I am not anti-American. I am hoping that Davis and White will be coming away with the gold for ice dancing!

Lara, after watching the men's freestyle moguls: Mommy, I want to do that.
Me: Oh, really? It does look fun.
Lara: Yeah, I want to do it tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?

Sometimes I find this very annoying because he's always reminding me, through his example, about how to be more charitable.

We have this lady who lives a few doors down who is, for lack of a better word, crazy. The kind of crazy who doesn't drive, has 500 animals, complains about everything, including how the chemicals in the grass is giving her dog cancer (might be true, but still?), who has been evicted 8 times before (red flag there), possibly slightly schizophrenic, and altogether just gives off the loopy vibe. There is a reason why I did not go work in a psych setting. I just can't take this kind of crazy.

A few days ago this lady received a note on her door from the sheriff saying she had 5 days to leave the premises- she was being evicted. I've never known anyone who was evicted but don't you think that if you were given 5 days to leave, 5 days means 5 days? Today her days were up and the repossession guys came and put all of her stuff in the middle of the parking lot. In the snow. She didn't even act really upset or scared. Just mad. Saying things like "All this because I complained about my dog's cancer." I think there's more to being evicted than a complaint even if you are crazy. Things like signing a contract saying you'll be out in January and now it's February. Things like not paying your rent.

Reed ended up helping her call movers, let her and her animals sit in our car to keep warm, helped the movers load her stuff, drove her to CVS to buy a calling card, unloaded her stuff at the storage facility, and is now driving her to her new apartment which somebody helped her find. All of this has taken about 5 1/2 hours. He even missed his class for this.

Just a reminder to me of what a wonderful man I married.

Reed: Lara, it's time for scriptures.
Lara: And it came to pass?

Reed: Look, Lara! We made a snowman!
Lara: No, Daddy! It's a snow GIRL!

Melaleuca has awesome first aid products, Melagel being one of them. It comes in two forms, tube or disk, each having a different consistency. I've been using this product a lot lately because Vivi has very sensitive skin and she's chubby. Not a good combination. When she eats, food and drink gets in the folds of her skin and, no matter how hard I try, it never gets fully clean and dry. Plus she's teething now so she's a heavy drooler. Her poor chin and neck get red and sore-looking spots where the wetness has irritated the skin. I put Melagel on in the morning and try to keep some on during the day. It has really helped to protect her skin from the drool and has helped the healing process.

Melagel also helps to minimize scarring. My mom sliced her hand pretty bad once and now there's just a small scar where the huge gash used to be. I'm using it now on my incisions from surgery! Melagel contains Melaleuca Oil, of course, but because it is a solid it can help to keep straight Melaleuca Oil in a wound. This aids the healing process and helps it to heal faster. I'm all for that.