Spring!

Happy Spring!



We grew a few heads of lettuce

It was Rebecca's lettuce. She planted it, read to it and loved it into existence!

You never know when they are listening

For a long time Rebecca was just repeating the same words over and over when she prayed. She would usually say at least 2 or 3 times in each prayer, please bless us to be safe, thank you that we can be healthy...
Lately she has been quite thoughtful and saying all sorts of sweet things. But yesterday I was blown away. In her prayer Rebecca stated: "Please bless us that we can have a house of learning, a house of fasting, a house of prayer and a house of God." Okay little scriptorian, somebody's been paying attention at church, because we haven't talked about that at home recently! She told me after the prayer that she had heard those words in primary.

Needless to say, I was impressed. I love my little girl.

March Moments

Some highlights from March

pajama day at school

homemade smiley face pizza (R's own idea)

hot weather calls for popsicles on boogie boards

R's leprechaun and a balloon umbrella

The story behind the balloon umbrella. We are living in an area where there are lots of Koreans. We even have Korean grocery stores not too far from us and all sorts of other things that I don't know what kind of stores they are because it's all in Korean! Anyway, we wait at the bus stop with several Koreans who have kids at Rebecca's school. The moms are very sweet, friendly and all in love with Joseph. Most of them don't speak very much English, so communication is difficult, but we all keep trying. One of the moms has brought a couple of balloon animals for Joseph, just randomly to be nice, and then the next week another mom brought him this umbrella. It didn't really come with an explanation, but we accepted it happily. We seem to have a thing going with Korea. My brother served a mission for our Church in Korea and in LA we made a very dear friend who has since moved back to Korea but comes to see us when she is in town. I wonder whether we'll ever go there ourselves!

Story Time

This is for the true Joseph fans (like his grandparents...). It's kind of long but really gives a good shot at his personality. This is Joseph reading his latest favorite book. Watch how he carefully turns the pages and reads each page out loud. He will do this over and over for a long time.

For my friends with twins

R: "Mom, are you going to have another baby?"

Me: "That would be fun."

R: "I hope it's a girl."

Me: "Wouldn't it be fun to have another girl AND another boy?"

R: "At the same time? Then it would be hard to milk them!"

Me: "Yes, it would be hard to milk them."

"Hi"

Yesterday Joseph was outside our front door . I heard him say "hi!" to somebody/something. He's always saying hi to people we pass on the street. (Unfortunately half the people don't return the politeness.) I turned around to look and saw him crouched down in front of the flowers at eye level with a beautiful butterfly. Unfortunately it didn't stick around long enough for me to get a photo, but I thought it was the sweetest thing. Who else do you know who takes the time to say hi to a butterfly?

Spelling Bee

I love when kids begin to spell things by sounding them out. Rebecca is just barely starting to do that. She has known her sounds for a long time, but never cared to make her own words. Today she was playing a computer game and decided to name herself

ULZBF

Can you guess what her name was?

Library Laughs

I don't know why it took me this long (well, I do, it's because I had company for three months) but I finally made it to our new library to check things out. Libraries make me feel more at home. I love books and especially children's literature with a passion.

I asked at the counter about getting a library card, assuming I wouldn't be able to get one that day. I was right, I needed two forms of things that had my name and address on them like utility bills etc. Oh, but your children don't need ID, they can get library cards today. They can? Yes, here, just fill out the forms.

So I filled out the forms, one for Rebecca and one for Joseph. I brought the completed forms back to the counter, leaving my children in the play area of the library where I could observe them easily. The man helping me said, the children need to write their own name on their cards. Okay, I say and go back to get my children. I drag Joseph kicking and screaming to the counter where the man looks at me and says: "I guess he doesn't need to write his own name." I put Joseph down and he runs back to the play area while Rebecca writes her name.

So I can't get a library card without forms showing that I really live where I say I do, but my kids can get them without any proof of anything whatsoever? I don't get it. But, I think I'll stick to using my kids library cards anyway. The fines are cheaper.

Grocery Store Stories

Why is it that when you're in the grocery store people seem to think they can give you their life story on child raising and inform you of things you are doing wrong whether it be in looks or words?
Yesterday in the grocery store Rebecca was playing with all the stuffed animals in the Easter display and telling me repeatedly: "I want that." With a cool demeanor I kept walking, saying, no, and continued my shopping. A woman passing by overheard my daughter's demands and informed me: "We don't get everything we want either! When we go to the car lot we want the newest car on the lot but that doesn't mean we get it!" I politely answered her: "No, we don't get everything we want either." She proceeded to tell me how she had 4 kids and used to take them all grocery shopping. I politely answered: "Well, I come from a family of 5 and my husband comes from a family of 7" so as not to be outdone by her because all I had with me were my two own children. She continued to praise her own past exploits of managing to take 4 or more children shopping with her as I continued to struggle with my two. She watched my daughter put groceries of her own choosing in the cart and told her: "You have to ask your mom before you put things in your cart. She doesn't have money for everything!" Thanks a lot for that advice.
Her comments wouldn't have been that bad except that I was already ruffled by Rebecca's asking for everything and Joseph trying to reach for everything while trying to stay completely cool, calm and collected, and trying not make unwise purchasing choices, trying not to give in to my children etc etc. But then I rounded the corner, made it to the back of the store where an elderly lady looked at my children, looked at me and said: "Your children are beautiful."

And with a completely sincere thank you, I melted.

The Little Lawn Mower

These 20 second movie clips are from a couple of months ago.



Little Joseph and the big steps.



Funny how when they're really little they still like to work...