funny ana-isms

One of my favorite things about having a toddler are the cute and funny things they do and say. Ana is no exception. Here are a couple from yesterday.

*We have Welcome gnome that we got when we were married and sits by our front door. (see picture)

Ana walked out onto our landing and started playing with it. Dave went out and told her to put it down and come inside. She started whining and said, "But I want to bring Jesus inside."

*Last night, she was in bed. I was laying next to her and I wouldn't let her go past my feet or else she could climb down. She was whining about it. She put her hand up to her ear like a phone and said,

"Daddy? I wanna go past Mama's feet..... Yeah, I'm upset."

*This one is just sweet. We were playing outside on the swings. She was holding a kitty who was meowing and wiggling. She said, "Its okay kitty." Then she propped it up on her shoulder and started singing, "I am a child of God."


My mom and I were discussing last night how a lot of people struggle with two-year olds. I absolutely love this age. My mom did too. Ana and I have fun all day long. Of course, we also have frequent time outs and frustrations (especially about bed time), but mostly we have a good time.

A good morning

I haven't been able to work during the mornings this week so it has been fun playing with Ana. She has been my little buddy every day so far, kind of like it was when I was in school and able to see her more during the day.

So, yesterday she asked me to read some books with her. These are the books:


They are all about 7 pages long with one sentence per page. We were laying down together on 'mommy and daddy's' bed for at least a half hour reading these books. She loves them. I was surprised by how long she was holding still and staying interested. I actually read EVERY book you see in that picture. Erin said it's something like 51 little books. It was fun and nice to not be stressed at all about needing to get anything else done.

Even though I will not get paid as much for this week it has been a great time with Ana. She has even been pretend calling me on her hand phone (she just holds her hand up to her ear) to tell me to come home from work and such. She called me last night on her hand while Erin was putting her to bed - she said, "Yeah, I'm upset."



Cute kid.

mornings

I really love mornings. One of my favorite morning sounds is Jack giggling at Ana, who has climbed in his bed. Usually, Ana has already run into my bedroom to announce, "Jack wake up!" She loves making him happy in the morning.

I love the quiet of the morning before the kids wake up. I love lying awake in bed with Dave feeling warm and cozy under the covers. I love the feeling of a new day.

I am definitely the most productive when I first wake up, and if I don't start doing things right away, chances are I won't be productive. We are into a routine of late sleeping that has been so hard to break, even though Dave and I have tried. My ideal morning would consist of me getting up before the kids, reading scriptures, running and getting breakfast before Dave leaves for work. I would love that. Some day. This week I've just decided to enjoy my time with Dave in the evening and save my chores til the morning, when I feel much better about it. Its made such a difference.

President Obama

Didn't have work this morning so I watched this in some of my extra time-


It was kind of fun to see. I like the openness that can happen post election. Especially the husband-wife comments.

Here is the clip that came first


This was the closing clip

a few good things

If I stay up too late, I often reach a point when I get worked up so much about something that I have this downward spiral of negativity and I can't get to sleep. So, here I am. Dave told me to cheer up and go to sleep, which he did, and I really want to sleep too. So, I thought of a few good things to cheer me up and since Dave wouldn't remember even if I attempted to wake him up, I will share them with my blogging world.

*I love the little person Ana is becoming. Today, we were outside and I, of course, was wearing sandals. I told her that my feet were getting cold and she leaned over and wrapped her warm little hand around my big toe. "Is that better Mama?" And you know what? It was.

*A friend of mine recently asked me about happiness in marriage. As I thought out and typed a very long response to her question, it gave me a new resolve to be a better wife. I feel very lucky to have the husband I do.

*Thanksgiving and my family holiday party is this week. I'm very excited for both. I love the Holiday Season and can't wait to decorate the house and finish up my Christmas shopping.

With those few good things in mind, I think I can go to sleep now...

almost there

Jack is almost crawling. He's been up on his knees for about 10 days now, and today he started trying to move his legs. He just needs to get his arms going and he's got it. He'll be crawling by 6 months for sure!



Ana is almost potty trained. She still has an accident almost every day, and I still have to remind her to go if its been a few hours. And she still wants a potty treat. But for the most part she does really well.

Also:
*the dishes are almost done for the night. I'm not feeling well tonight, so Dave loaded the dishwasher. I think I'll save the hand dishes for the morning.

*almost all the laundry is put away for the week. There is one stack that isn't because I don't reach the closet shelves very well.

*I am almost done making our living room curtains. I did all but the hem 2 weeks ago and still haven't taken them down to finish.

My Dad often says, "close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades." But tonight, close counts quite a bit. I feel pretty good about our "almosts."

yesterday

Yesterday this little girl was sick. She woke up at 7 throwing up, and threw up a couple more times before falling asleep on the floor at 11. She slept until 2 and felt better after that. Today she is back to normal.
There's something special about the comfort sick kids look for. She's usually very busy and independent. But yesterday morning she just wanted to sit on my lap. She'd get down occasionally, but then would climb right back up. When she curls up on my lap and wants to be near me, I am filled with love for that little person. I suppose that's how our heavenly parents feel when we turn to them to be comforted. They must be filled with love for us as well.

Make me famous

So, my new goal in life, now that all my secondary applications are done, is to be famous. By famous I mean have a picture I take selected for a jones soda label. I think I will be merging my weekly photo and my jones quest into the same feature here.

What should I call it? Weekly Jones? Please let me be famous? My baby can fly? I actually chose Jack flying for my first picture to submit. It seems like something they might choose.

I need your help. Each week when I post the photo I will also post a link like this one that links to my picture on the jones website. So, if you love me, or even like me a little bit, you should go and vote for it. Really. Help me be famous and I wont forget you.

Here is the picture-


CLICK HERE to vote and tell everyone how famous I should be.

*Note* Jones soda only allows one vote per computer.

200

This is a landmark post. I’m not giving anything away. I’m not writing more things about me. I’m just writing.

I’ve always liked writing. Especially hand-written things. I love hand-written letters – both sent and received. I have filled more than 15 journals. When I was about 7 or 8 I wrote a little story called, “The Train Without a Track.” It was a little inconsistent, but I had my dad type it up and I illustrated it and bound it and I still have it. I’m proud of it and protective of it. I’ve started countless “cheesy church” novels and I’ve gone through phases of poetry and song lyrics. I have never liked to read aloud what I have written. I suppose it’s because, though I don’t profess to be a good writer, I put my heart into it anyway and I don’t want it to be hurt.

I’m not a great writer. In fact, maybe my only talent is that I love to do things, even if I’m not what others might call “talented.” I love sewing, but I’m not a great seamstress. I love running, but am not a great runner. I love singing and playing the piano, but I’m just about average in both. And I love writing, even if I’m not a great writer.

I’ve really enjoyed blogging. It’s a little place of my own. Nothing really grand or adventurous happens here. Just life. And I like writing about it. My sister in law and a few other family members have started this novel writing thing. It’s been a long time since I wrote that much. One night last week, Dave and I sat down to come up with a story line and I started writing. But I just haven’t returned to it. I suppose it’s because what I really want to write is what I write about everyday here. My front porch looking in. I think it’s good to slow down and just write about everyday stuff. So often I rush through a post about random stuff that happens. But my favorite posts are always the ones full of inspiration and simple happiness. I want to take more time to be inspired, find more joy in everyday life, and write about it. Because everyday has something worth writing about.

Sunset

Time for another photo of the week. Man, I need to start posting more or all my posts will be weekly photos. The first two pictures were cropped differently and the third is the original picture with no editing.






I like the smoke from the factory looking at it full size.