It's the little things

When you're down you have to look for the little things that make you happy. Luckily, some of them can be found by looking down. Bright socks make me smile and give me a little zing of happiness. Today I'm having a hard day. Thank goodness for the sunshine outside. Thank goodness my children are healthy and happy.

Thank goodness for rainbow socks.

Heaven

This is why I love living in California.

Just as a reminder, it's January, you know.




Somebody wasn't quite as thrilled as his mommy to be at the beach. Is this really my child? He got scared by the waves right at the beginning, but he was fine by the end. I'm not worried. If he has any of his mommy in him at all he'll love the beach eventually! :)





We had planned on meeting up with some of our old friends at the beach but were debating whether we had the time for the drive etc... But then last night I dreamed that we were at the beach and I started crying because it had been so long since I had been to the beach. That was pretty much all I needed to make my plans firm! It was so nice to be there. So nice to see everyone. The weather was perfect. It was a wonderful January holiday.

Conversations around the house

(painting with Opa, Christmas 2010)

These conversations are probably only funny to me (their mom), but I wanted to document them so I wouldn't forget them.

Rebecca one day: "Mom, I smell like lemon. I smelled my skin and I smelled lemon."

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Rebecca to Joseph whose piggy bank money was all over the floor:
"Can I have your money?"

J: "Sure. (pause)
But only for one day."


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Joseph to Mommy:

"I'm don't want a baby anymore."

M: "You mean you think we should give him back?"

J: "Yes. I want to be a normal family again. Just a mom and dad and kids. No baby."

Off to Neverland!

In December we went to see "Peter Pan" in Orange County. It is a brand new show from London, in a special 360 degree theater, with amazing special effects. They had a movie screen above the whole theater which changed with the scenery. My favorite part was when they flew to Neverland. The screen moved with them and flew all over London. You really felt like you were flying with them. The flying looked so amazing I almost cried. I really felt like a kid again during that part.

We took Great-Grandma Darlene with us. Joseph and Rebecca wore Captain Hook and Tiger Lilly costumes. I think they stole the show. We had a great time!

Men are from Mars, kids are out of this world!

We were looking at a book about space last night and so today we started practicing the names of the planets. Joseph would repeat after me.

Me: "Uranus."

Joseph: "Is that where the rain comes from?"

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M: "What planet do we live on?"

Joseph: "World!"

M: "Well, we call it earth."

J: "What's world?"

M: "Another name for our earth."

J: "Like it's last name?"

M: "Well, no, not really..."

J: "It's middle name?"

A new Sunbeam

Hard to believe, but my little Joseph started sunbeams yesterday. I was worried about the transition since he was very attached to his nursery leader, but he did fine and came out of his classroom singing "do as I'm doing" and "once there was a snowman" all the way home. He brought our famous "sunbeam hat" to church and wore it walking all the way from the chapel to the primary room and kept it on for singing time. Whatever it takes to make the transition smooth, right?

He proudly announced to Great-grandma Darlene that he is not in nursery anymore. We sang "Jesus wants me for a 'sunbean' " over and over last night. I think it's going to be a good year.

Happy New Year! 1-1-11

We welcome this new year with many hopes and great anticipation for positive changes in the future. We are grateful for our many blessings and the things we learned from 2010.

We have been busy enjoying family and celebrating Christmas and staying dry (it's been the wettest December on record in over a century).

May you find joy and peace this new year!