TWO MORE TEETH!

No. 2

Rebecca lost tooth number two on Friday and another one on Saturday. The first one wasn't even as lose as the second one, but came out when Joseph pulled a spatula out of her mouth that was covered in rice crispy treats.
So now she is missing three of her four front teeth! Hope she can still bite enough to eat.

No. 3 (now both bottom teeth are missing)

Thanksgiving Week Activities

We had a wonderful week of Thanksgiving Activities. Rebecca had the week off school, which was perfect timing.
Our Thanksgiving Events began Sunday night with an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service. It was our Church's turn to host this year, which meant we were in charge of the venue and the accompanist: me. Six different choir directors and their choirs came together an hour and a half before the service and jointly rehearsed the pieces they had been practicing individually. For me as the accompanist this meant one run through with each conductor-a quick lesson in their style and how they wanted to conduct the piece. I was switching back and forth between the organ and the piano for the whole service and was playing some challenging pieces. Musically speaking it was the most challenging thing I had done in years. From an audience's point of view it went fantastically. From my own perspective there were a couple of minor things I wish I had done differently, but it was a great experience and overall it went well. It left me exhausted though. So it was good Rebecca had the week off.

We began our own activities with a Family Night lesson on gratitude and painted turkey hands and wrote down things we were grateful for.

I'm extremely grateful for my husband and children: the greatest treasures in my life. I love that Rebecca and Joseph are great friends. Here she is reading his favorite book to him, one he has been requesting day after day after day.



Next we went to a friend's house and made "Native American" vests, headdresses and necklaces.






We also spent a fun morning at Disneyland, exploring Toontown, Tom Sawyer's Island (or Pirate's Lair as it is now called) and taking the train around D-land.

Joseph is the one who insisted we wait to see Mickey Mouse. When we got inside he was too shy to say hi to Mickey or interact with him at all. But when we got out of the room he was all smiles. When asked what his favorite thing was that day he responded: "Mickey Mouse!"

Thanksgiving Thursday we were on our own. We were going to go out to a restaurant for steak, but the ones we were thinking of were all closed. So we had leftovers: ham, mashed potatoes and vegetables. It felt festive. The weather was beautiful and we spent a fun afternoon at the park. I made my first ever batch of orange rolls from scratch and also some rice crispy treats with the kids. Somehow the baking made the day feel like a holiday.

Thanksgiving Friday we had the full-blown turkey dinner with all the trimmings with our cousins the Brashears. It was great to visit and get caught up with everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for all of you! Hope you had a wonderful week, too!

I'm grateful for...

Teddy Bear, teddy bear...

The other day Rebecca was watching a movie on the little DVD player. I walked by and saw her with her bear on her head like this:



Then, tonight I went in to check on my sleeping babes only to find her like this:



What's up with the teddy bear on the head syndrome?

Life with 2 and 6

Who needs a pregnancy workout DVD when all you have to do is take your kids to Souplantation for dinner without your husband present, and chase your 2 year old around the whole restaurant, including looking for him after a few sudden disappearances only to have friendly people (upon seeing your face-even without words) say: he went that way. You proceed to find him circling the salad bar, darting between the hoards of people with trays full of food. And yet he miraculously didn't cause any accidents. It was the 6 year old who for the first time ever actually had the accident-her plate slipped off her tray, disposing an entire plate of food onto the floor, but luckily onto carpet so there was no broken glass.

I was prepared for this emotionally however, due to an incident we witnessed last time we were at Souplantation. The 3 or 4 year old at the table across from us spilled his completely full glass of red juice onto the floor and bench. It was an accident, he wasn't misbehaving or doing anything wrong. He said to his mom: "I made a mistake!" The mom proceeded to lecture him in a foreign language. Then the dad returned, saw the mess and said very loudly: "You stupid!" and also lectured him in their native tongue. Warren and I had been mildly laughing at the cuteness of the little boy's sincere "I made a mistake" apology, but were saddened once we saw how mean the parents were to him. You don't tell a kid he is stupid when you were the one who gave him the tall drink in the first place. Anyway, this time it was my kid and remembering the scene from last time I was able to smile and say, "it's okay, it was an accident" and just go find someone to help me clean up.

In other events of the day, Joseph and I were talking about how big he was, and how he will grow up to be as big as his daddy someday.

I said: "You will even BE a daddy someday!"
Joseph answered (emphatically) "YES, like MOMMY!"
I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that, but it still made me laugh.

And from Rebecca: she accidentally drew on my only currently nicely fitting, good looking pair of maternity pants with dry erase marker. I of course responded: "Rebecca, you need to be more careful when you're using markers. These are the only pants I have that fit me right now."
She was very sorry and asked me if I would be able to forget that the mark was there. I tried to get it out as much as possible and later that evening showed her that it looked much better than before. She was very happy about that and asked me again: "When we were at Souplantation did you forget that the mark was there?" It almost broke my heart. What impression have I been giving my kids? That I can't forget a mistake? I hope not. I will try to do better.

The best job

Rebecca: Mom, when you were a little girl did you ever want to be an astronaut?

Me: Yes, I did.

R: I think that would be fun, too. At school they have this book where they have pictures of all the things you can be when you grow up. Except they don't have everything.

Me: (thinking) I wonder what she might be talking about. I wonder what she wants to be.

R: They don't have 'Mom.' That's what I want to be the most.

There are some moments in life that truly melt your heart and make you feel like you're doing something right. I love my girl.

BLUE!!!

In keeping with tradition (Warren and Joseph's birthday's are in April), we are having another April boy! Now let the name game begin. We're excited!

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween, with school and church activities and fun with friends.

Walking off the stage at the school parade. Look at that hair.
That was the crowning glory of her costume.
Thank you dollar store!

Our little Buzz Lightyear.
(I've had this costume for 2 years, just waiting to be worn!)

The decorations

After trick-or-treating: do NOT take my picture, he says.

Some of our little rascal friends.

Sharing some of my Halloween story collection.