Monday, November 15, 2010

Thankful

Since my Aunt Heather thinks that everyone's blog are too quiet and this is basically my way of journaling, I thought I'd just write tonight about what I'm thankful for, it being November and all:

  • I'm thankful that Aaron has a good job. Did you know that Las Vegas has the highest unemployment rate in the nation? This is a scary place to live right now. But we are so blessed that Aaron has a great job that makes us enough money that I can stay home with our babies. My dad likes to remind me of that when I whine about him being out of town or working a 12 hour day (like today). He tells me "But at least he has a job". And it's a good one. My dad is so right.
  • I'm thankful for prayer and fasting. I'm an awful, terrible, no-good faster. I eat about once every 2 hours on normal days so I'm prone to getting really low blood sugar, really fast when I try and fast. Yesterday was one of those days. I really didn't think I was going to make it. But I've discovered the key to fasting - fasting with a purpose. And not just a purpose, but a purpose that matters so much more to you than your own physical pain. A purpose for which you'd sacrifice food for much longer than a day if the Lord would just grant that blessing to the person for whom you are fasting. And then pray. Pray that you'll have the strength to make it. It works. My fast was physically easy yesterday after I got down on my knees and pleaded for His help. It's cool to see a physical blessing come from a spiritual plea. I was very literally physically sustained by the spirit. I wish I could have a fast like that every month. I guess I have time to get there, right?
  • I'm thankful for friends. My friends saved me two weeks ago from what could have been a very terrible, abnormally emotional (for me - if you know me you know I'm not very emotional), lonely week. But they were here. And they always are.
  • I'm thankful to be a mother. I have 2 amazing kids and as much as I want more, if I never got them I'd still be a mother to the 2 most amazing creatures I've ever known. I can't believe we created them. I couldn't ask for more.
  • I'm thankful for Target. Shallow, I know. But I really am. $0.74 hand towels for my kids' bathroom make me so happy.
  • I'm thankful for the innocence of children. They are so purely charitable and mine teach and remind me every day how much I often lack. I talked to Emery for 5 minutes about giving the money in her money jar to sick kids who need it more than she does and she jumped on giving it all to them. Would I give all of my money to them if I could?
  • I'm thankful that I found Van doing this today.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Happy Halloween!!

From Princess Tiana, the Frog and Ray the Bayou Firefly....




and from the annual Halloween sugar cookie sprinkle monster!

more of Van's birthday!

i'll spare you the 3 1/2 minute video of Van eating his cake. if you've ever seen the kid eat a banana you can imagine how it happened - he basically pureed it through his teeth. pretty funny. we celebrated with his friends Jack and Caden and families and Grandma and Pa. thanks for celebrating with us, all! :)


for the sake of journaling, i should document some of Van's favorite and milestones when he turned 1.

height: 33 inches (95%)
weight: 23 lbs 4 oz (50%)
head: big

favorites...

  • food - bananas and meat of any kind
  • song - In the Leafy Tree Tops (always has been)
  • game - wrestling
  • activity - climbing stairs (at home, at the park... anywhere...) and anything sissy is doing - making dirt soup in the backyard, taking a bath, etc.
  • toy - balls and your Buzz Lightyear push cart Grandma and Pa gave you for your birthday
  • attachments - blankey and Froggy (Froggy used to be Emery's, but I told her one day it would be nice if she gave it to brother - which she did! so cute!)
  • book - Baby Face, Pajama Time (thanks to mom's acquired "reading rap" skills from Auntie Bek) and Gallop
  • TV show/movie - his weird parents still don't have a TV but he sure gets giggly when sissy is watching Dora in the car on vacations - I think he has a crush on her
  • favorite person - mom. he loves me!
milestones...
  • words - mama, dad, sissss (for sissy), ba (ball), nana (banana), woof, bye bye
  • words he's said once or twice - "hi da" (hi dad), amen, potty
  • claps with music, dances to music (he's a crazy dancer!), feeds himself everything including oatmeal and cheerios with milk (holds, but doesn't exactly use, the spoon), climbs on things as tall as he is, mimics letter sounds really well, does "up and down" and "open and shut" in the wheels on the bus
and...
  • laughs the hardest - when he plays with Emery
  • dad says what he loves the most about Van is his laugh, how he always is exploring and moving, unless he's cuddling and how sweet he is

here he is doing what he does best - first, cuddling and then climbing stairs and laughing