Play Date

Today my daughter had one of her Kindergartner friends over for a play date. It was such a joy to watch the two of them play. What simple fun children can have together. Here are a few of the things I enjoyed observing:

*They played out in the backyard. Asha and her friend were running away from Luke and Lana who were pretending to be the monster twins. Lots of screaming and laughing.

*They made pretty pictures with rubber stamps and markers.

*They played school and took turns pretending to be their Kindergarten teacher (whom they both love). Luke and Lana were students in their class, and Jeffrey would come in every once and a while pretending to be the principal.

*They had a tea party with real tea, cream and sugar (chocolate chips too).

*They played house with their dolls.

Oh, how fun to be a five year old girl!

Swing Set

We are looking for a swing set to put in our back yard for our kids. Now days everyone has these really big swing sets made out of wood with lots of fancy accessories. I remember when I was in Kindergarten we lived in California in a small rental home. There was an old metal swing set next to our house that my sister and I played on. It had one or two swings and maybe a slide, but nothing fancy. You had to be creative with those swing sets because there really wasn't much to them. I liked it! I would like to find something like that for our kids. The hunt is on!

Quote of the day: "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely....let your mind dwell on these things." The Bible - Philippians

Beauty Contest

A successful beauty product company asked the people in a large city to send brief letters about the most beautiful women they knew, along with the women's pictures. Within a few weeks, thousands of letters were delivered to the company.

One letter in particular caught the attention of the employees, and soon it was handed to the company president. The letter was written by a young boy, who wrote from a broken home, living in a run-down neighborhood. With spelling corrections, an excerpt from his letter read:

A beautiful woman lives down the street from me. I visit her every day. She makes me feel like the most important kid in the world. We play checkers and she listens to my problems. She understands me and when I leave, she always yells out the door that she's proud of me.

The boy ended his letter by saying, "This picture shows you that she is the most beautiful woman. I hope I have a wife as pretty as her."

Intrigued by the letter, the president asked to see this woman's picture. His secretary handed him a photograph of a smiling toothless woman, well advanced in years, sitting in a wheelchair. Sparse gray hair was pulled back in a bun and wrinkles that formed deep furrows on her face were somehow diminished by the twinkle in her eyes.

By: Carla Muir (A Second Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul)

What a reminder to me that true beauty really comes from the heart! I pray that our girls would gain a beautiful heart!

Chocolate Crazy

I'm crazy about chocolate! I'm starting to wonder if this may be some addiction that I have. Are there help groups for chocolate addicts? I hear a lot of my friends say the same thing. Is this normal for Mom's my age? Or am I just crazy? Anyway, I found this really yummy chocolate syrup that is fat free that you can put in your milk to make chocolate milk or on top of icecream. I also found some healthy hot chocolate that is also fat free. Does it get any better than that? I've also heard over and over that dark chocolate is actually good for you! Is that really true? I try to be healthy in my eating, so boy am I thankful that I can still eat chocolate and be healthy.

Really cute words that my little one year old is saying today: "Car, ruck (for truck), bir bir (for bird), wa wa (for water), Na na (for Lana), ball, ma ma, da da, and duck."

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007 Valentine's Day Memories:

-Going out for Indian food with my husband. We found a new place which we just loved. Had my favorite lamb curry. What a treat!

-Volunteering in Asha's class. Watching her make a gingerbread heart house and marvel over all the special Valentines from her classmates.

-Having a friend bring over some chocolate chip cookies and a homemade Valentine just for us. How thoughtful!

-Heart shaped french toast with lots of butter and syrup. Yum!


Quote of the day: "There won't be an end to love or a beginning to love. Love will be there your whole life." -Asha (Sharing her heart with us about love at breakfast this morning. Quite poetic if you ask me.)

It's that time of year

This is the time of year we always seem to get hit especially hard with illnesses. In fact, there is a nasty flu going around our area that actually closed one school down. We haven't gotten that yet, but we do have ear infections, coughs, fevers, running noses, stuffy noses, and sneezing. Oh boy!

A few good things about your kids being sick:

They snuggle with you more.
They take longer naps.
It makes you slow down.
Forces some good family time.
Makes you appreciate healthy kids.
Reminds you to eat a little bit more healthy.
Use less gas because you stay home more.
Makes you think of creative things to do at home.

Quote of the day: "Is it nap time yet?" Colette

Twins

Yesterday at the library I met a mom who had boy/girl twins like I do (they were the same age too). It was very cute to watch all four of them interact. It reminded me that I have twins, because sometimes I forget. Luke and Lana are so different, but I'm beginning to see how their differences help balance each other out. This morning Luke was crying and upset about something (which happens often at home), and I watched how Lana quickly calmed him and brought him back to his senses. Or, sometimes at dinner Lana comes alive and gets in a very talkative mood. I've noticed during these times Luke will just sit and listen to her quietly and patiently. Like he knew she just needed her time to talk. What a sweet pair they make.

Quote of the day: "Oh wow, I really love this place!!!!!!!!!!" Luke - as we walked into Starbucks.

Quiet all night

If you know me well, you know that most nights I am up and down several times with our little ones (anywhere from one to four times). Someone is always waking up for some reason - mostly Jeffrey. Well, I am excited to announce that last night all of our kids slept all night long without waking up once!!! Yes!!! Of course, I still got up waiting for someone to wake up. What a nice surprise that was for me when it was quiet all night. I pray that this will be a pattern for a long while!

Quote of the day: "Lana, I am a woman and you are a girl." Asha

Little Whistle

"Little Whistle" is the title of a book I have been reading frequently to my kids over the last few days. It is a very sweet book about a little guinea pig who lives in a toy store (I actually asked Matt if we could get a guinea pig yesterday because the character in the book is so cute). Anyway, because of this book I have started to call Jeffrey (our youngest son who is one), Little Whistle. Jeffrey loves to WHISTLE! No joke! Whenever he hears someone whistle or we say to him "Jeffrey whistle", he puts his lips together and starts to whistle. It is very adorable! Last week we were actually at the doctor with Jeffrey and he started whistling. The doctor thought it was so funny that she went and got her nurse to hear too. Maybe there are lots of infants in this world that whistle, but I certainly don't know of any. So, he is our "Little Whistle".

Quote of the day: "Some adventures were quiet - as when he found a lovely book about bears to read. And some adventures were loud - as when he discovered the trumpet. But whenever Little Whistle was awake, something was going on." -from the book "Little Whistle".

Let the blog begin...

Finally my own blog! Matt sat down with me tonight and helped me get it all set up. How fun! My hopes for this blog are that friends and family can read this so that it will bring them joy, laughter and inspiration. Secondly, that the words would be pleasant, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones (honeycomb). I also want to use this as a way to journal so I can look back on things that have happened in life. Life passes us by too quickly. Take the time to remember and enjoy.

Quote of the day: "Mom, can I take my Barbie purse with me to Heaven?" -Lana