As we drove home from Grandma and Grandpa's last night, we saw a pedestrian walking on the street to avoid the ice on the sidewalk.  Jake said something like, "Get off the road, you idiot!"  Alice replied, "Daddy!  Be nice to the idiot!"  Great...

It snowed last night--and has been snowing on and off today.  Alice raced out of her room this morning and in to see me.  She woke me up and said, "Mom!  It's snowing!  It's snowing!!!  We can go outside and play in it!"  Since she has been fighting a cold for a few days now, she accidentally let a few coughs slip--probably induced by the sudden burst of excitement.  Then she says, "Uh, I was just kidding mom.  I don't have any coughs.  I was just kidding."  She reassured me over and over that she was ok to go play in the snow.  Since we don't get to play in snow very often (and also that I feel guilty for not playing with her much lately and will soon have a newborn), we went outside this morning to play.  She had a good time, and I was ready to go in after about 20 minutes.  Luckily, she was ok with that too. 

As Alice and I were walking into the store tonight, she looked up at all the stars. 

 

Alice: Mom!  Look at all those sparkling stars!

 

Me: Yep...they're pretty.

 

Alice: And there's an alien space ship.

 

Me: Uh, I think that is an airplane.

 

Alice: No, it's an alien space ship.  But, shhh, don't tell anyone.  It's a secret...

Jake and Alice went with Brett and Will to the monster truck show in Tacoma on Saturday afternoon.  Since sitting for hours on a bench at this point in the pregnancy is slightly uncomforable, I stayed home.  Alice had been talking about it all week and was SO excited to go.  They had a great time.  Luckily they took ear protection, but Jake reported that there were a lot of young kids with out any.  What are these parents thinking?  I remember going to one show and barely being able to handle the noise.  Alice loved watching the demolition races and the monster trucks.  Her favorites were the Monkey Truck (Donkey Kong), the Moose Truck (? something with bull horns), and Grape Tigger (Gravedigger, my personal favorite).  At one point, she leaned over to Jake and asked, "Dad, is that Satan?"  Jake looked around and saw a man sitting behind them with multiple facial piercings.  He said, "No" and they started talking to the guy--who turned out to be very nice, just a little intimidating to look at.  She made all sorts of friends with the people sitting around her--including a guy who was feeding her popcorn.  Jake put an end to that after a while because he was a little creeped out.  Monster Truck Shows...does it get much more American than that?  I can embrace my roots, can you?

A couple of days ago I went down to Jake's school to purchase a parking pass for him.  He gets home too late in the evening to go to the cashiers office himself so I did him a favor.  Of course, I took Alice along with me.  I felt completely comfortable going there because I graduated from the UWB.  At least I felt comfortable until I noticed a lot of people staring.  Kids are rather scarce on campus--as are women who are nearly ready to give birth.  As I was driving home, I had to laugh as I thought about how things would be different if I were walking on the BYU campus.  It is not unusual to see kids running around.  It is also quite normal to have pregnant women in your class.  I remember taking a humanities class and a couple women actual had babies during the course of the semester and returned to class.  They would even bring a stroller to class!  Wow, BYU is a strange place.  But, I have to admit I would've felt more comfortable walking around on that campus.  But, I guess I probably would've gotten stares anyhow because I am older than most of the mothers at BYU--pregnant at almost 29 is practically senior discount material.