danana banana

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Monday, March 23, 2009

Escape

Reasons I love a road trip:

:: escaping our condo after being cooped up with a sick kiddo for over a week - the walls were quickly closing in on me

:: driving through the mountains during the only three weeks of the year that they are lush and green - for most of the year they are brown and drab, but last week the mountains were simply beautiful

:: being able to just pack up a couple of snacks and hit the road - I love being out of the diaper bag phase!

:: all the "new" toys at Grandma & Grandpa's house, riding a three-wheeler in the back yard and swinging on a hammock watching the clouds

::being away from my compter - no constant refreshing my email to see if there are any updates about our refi or if new jobs have been added to craigslist

:: visiting Granny Karen at her "office" - a nursery overflowing with flowers

:: a constant stream of chatter from the back seat

:: doing something spontaneous - it was seriously fun!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

:: a 75-degree jeans-and-t-shirt day

:: every single window open as far as it will go

:: new lip gloss

:: an empty laundry basket and clean sheets on the bed

:: Janie's scratchy throat that makes her sound like an 80-year-old-smoker-lady

:: a $1 magnifying glass from Target providing hours of entertainment

:: long nature walk, looking at every flower, leaf and rock up close (see above)

:: throwing rocks in the pond

:: forgetting to be prissy and getting dirt under our fingernails and grass stains on our jeans

:: Knuffle Bunny and Amanda Pig

:: wearing flip-flops with cute springy nail polish on my toes

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Making rough places smooth

Here's the verse I'm trying to memorize this month...

Isaiah 42:16

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.

These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The world is her oyster

Throughout my Janie-filled day, I observed several future occupational choices for her:

City Engineer - After seeing an example in one of her magazine, she proceeded to build a very intricate race track out of blocks, including bridges, tunnels and "really bumpy parts"

Track Star - During our afternoon walk, she took off at a speed I could not believe. She was halfway down the block before I was out of the starting gate!

U.N. Negotiator - Judging by the way she talked me into buying her a bag of Cheetos, she just might be able to negotiate world peace.

Teacher - I peeked in her room during her quiet time just in time to see her sitting on her bed, surrounded by every stuffed animal she could find, reading a stack of library books aloud.

Architect - A Duplo castle (built with blocks in rainbow order, of course) provided about 45 minutes of fun for her little prince and princess figurines.

Hair Stylist - Janie's new favorite thing: brushing my hair. No complaints from me - I love it!

I have no idea what she will choose to do when she's all grown up - but it's sure going to be fun watching her figure it out!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

A Jolly Holiday

My baby is 4.

(Insert sobs and sniffles and sighs here.)

(Seriously. How has it been four years already?)

So today we celebrated our big grown-up girl with a supercalifragilistic Mary Poppins party.

Mary Poppins herself made a surprise visit.

Here she is with her good friend, Bert.

Fortunately, Janie was there too and had a great time eating cake, opening gifts, playing with the Grandmas and the Grandpas and Aunt Susan, and just generally being the star of the show.