Take Your Moose to Work Day

Nathan is moving back to Logan on Saturday. Although he has a job, has a calling, and has been going to an institute class, he really feels like he has kind of just been killing time until he can get back to his life. As such, he’s super excited to go back to school. Malia is less excited. She doesn’t say anything and it’s not like she’s super sad or anything, but she is going to miss him. She and her stuffed animals have been getting in as much big brother time as they can over the past week. Malia has been playing Lego videos games with Nathan as often as she can this week. Big Toothless has been sleeping in Nathan’s room, has been wrapping up in his blankets to keep warm, and has been spending as much quality time with Nathan as he can. Monty the moose has been getting in some Nathan time as well. In fact, he tagged along when Nathan went to work yesterday and again today. He stayed in the car, as Nathan didn’t want to expose him to all the germs and junk that accompany the vast amounts of mail that move through the mail room, but Monty was ok with that. Tiny Toothless, who has been enjoying his time with Big Toothless, gets to go to college with Nathan and I expect he will have a variety of brand-new experiences to share with Malia. Malia and her menagerie will miss Nathan, but since this is college and not a mission, he will be able to come home and visit from time to time. In fact, his first visit home will be next weekend for a Botox treatment (thank goodness!) a super exciting temple trip, so Malia can hear all about his first week back in school. 

I suspect Toothless and Monty will want to hear all about it too.

Puppy Love

Kev's mom gave Malia a stuffed puppy for Christmas. It is a super soft one with a cute little face. Malia has named the puppy Jolly (first name) Rolly (last name). She was very clear about the names being first and last names rather than all one name. She is also very clear on the fact that Jolly is a girl. If we slip up and call Jolly "him,"'Malia will firmly remind us that she is a girl.

Jolly and Malia have been inseparable since Christmas. Malia is Jolly's mom, Matthew is Jolly's dad, Nathan is Jolly's grandpa, and I'm Jolly's grandma. Don't ask me how all that works because I have no idea. But Malia is not bothered by the inexplicable family relationships and is a good mother to Jolly. This evening I peeked into Malia's room and found Jolly sleeping on her very own pillow, neatly tucked under two blankets I made for Baby.

I have a feeling that Jolly will be going to preschool on Friday for show and tell.

He Remembered to Feed It

As part of our zoo trip tradition, we usually let each of our kids choose something from the gift shop before we head home. They almost always choose a stuffed animal.  This year both Daniel and Matthew chose a snowy leopard. As we were getting ready for dinner, Matthew asked what snowy leopards eat.  After learning that they eat meat, he made sure that Snowy had a little something for dinner as well:

(FYI: that is a mouse drawn on the piece of paper.)