Desperate for Water

So a little Lucas antecdote for you all. Lucas decided that he wanted to play with an empty pop can that he had dug out of the trash. It was sitting on top and nothing gross was in there (in my defense). So he was playing with this thing like it was just the greatest thing EVER. Apparently the little guy got thirsty. He took the can to the bathroom and filled it with (clean) toilet water and proceeded to rehydrate himself. I heard the splashes and put a quick end to the adventure he had created for himself. I usually keep the bathroom doors closed because of the possibilities of such incidents, but sure enough I forget one time and my kid drinks out of the toilet. Oh well, at least it was clean.

Babies, babies, babies!!

Spring has sprung and it seems like babies are coming from every direction!! Congratulations to all of our friends who have recent additions to be celebrated. It is so much fun to see pictures and meet these new little playmates for Laney and Lucas.

I hope the sleepless nights are few and the love and joy endless for all of you!

And no, the plethora of babies is not really inducing any baby cravings. Thank goodness. Our little one and two year old are about all we can handle right now. =) We just get to enjoy our friends' and help them out anyway we can.

Out-numbered two to one

I must admit I was a bit nervous for my first major road trip by myself with the kids. I've got great kids, but something about car trips that make them demanding little beasts. However, our trip to Indiana was a huge success. Thanks to portable DVD players, pretzels and the Lion King Soundtrack.

We just got back from our whirlwind trip to Indiana. It was such a great trip. These pictures are from the Children's Museum in Indianapolis.

I wanted to get back to Indy and visit our friends before some started to disperse after graduation. To those we saw: It was so fun to see you all and we miss you so much. To those we didn't: We're sorry we missed you! We miss you! It worked out that I was also able to see some friends from grad school. My career minded other half lives vicariously through them.

We also got to visit Drew's parents. His sister happened to be in town with her kids, so the house was full. The kids had a great time playing together. Elena's cousins taught her hide-and-seek. She still has a bit of trouble understanding that you need someone to come and seek you before you hide. The kids had a great time at the Children's Museum and the Indianapolis Zoo as well. Elena's favorites were the penguins and seals.

The trip was great and it made me miss my wonderful, amazing friends so much more than I already did. Love you all!!

"Good Job, Mom!"

I have quite the little cheerleader on my hands lately. Elena is going through a phase where she tells everyone "good job" no matter what they have just done. She was cutting some paper with her new scissors and she handed me a piece of scrap paper and when I took it she told me "Good job, Mom." This little piece of encouragement is shared when I throw something in the garbage, make a right hand turn when driving, when Drew gives her a drink at dinner, when Lucas plays with a toy, the list goes on and on. She doesn't forget to include herself. Whenever she does something pleasing, like using the potty or cleaning up her toys you'll hear a "good job, lane-ah."

Everytime she says this I smile and laugh. I'm sure that is part of the reason this has been going on awhile. It makes me so happy that she is learning to be happy for other people and that she wants to encourage her family to keep up what we're doing.

Open wide!

One of Elena's favorite ways to help out is to feed Lucas. She is quite good at it. She always wants to share her food or give him his own. The bite of food is sometimes accompanied by a "here, brudder, brudder." (trans; here, brother, brother) He gets a kick out of his sister feeding him, too.

Service Ideas???

I teach the Young Women in our ward and we are trying to brainstorm service project ideas. If any of you have something that you have done in past or present ward, please leave a comment or email! I would love some help with this.

The choices we make

After reading my last post, Drew mentioned that I seemed awfully negative for someone who was so positive. I thought about this, and although I reserve the right to rant and rave as much as I want to I came to the conclusion that I was letting this silly test dictate my mood for the day. This led to some further thought unrelated to the test. We can all have bad days and be in bad moods for a bit, but have you ever met someone who is just kind of always in a bad mood or in a negative frame of mind? I don't want to be that kind of person.

A common theme that I have developed over the past several years is that of taking ownership of our lives. We accept responsibility for lots of our decisions. How fast we drive, what we eat, who we're kind to, etc.. So why not take responsibility for our attitudes? There is a lot that happens in life that we don't have control over or maybe something we did have control over didn't work out the way we thought. What are you going to do about it?

I have a friend who was dealt a really tough hand in life. She lost the love of her life a few years ago. This loss left her on her own with two small children. I admire her so much because she has decided to go on with her life in a very positive direction. She has accomplished incredible things with so much faith and positivity. Sure she gets discouraged, but she keeps going and I believe that she is happy. Sure she's not happy about what happened, but she has made positive things come out of her tragedy.

I truly believe that being happy is a choice that we make. We can make it everyday, or recommit ourselves to the decision occassionally. What is wrong with looking at the world through rose colored glasses? They make it beautiful. Is it natural to focus on the negative? I think it is natural to identify it, but it is possible to move beyond it and get on making something positive out of the situation.

Drew and I decided a long time ago to be happy no matter what life throws at us. We can be happy where we live, although it may not have been our ideal choice. There are lots of great things about our house and Morgantown to focus on. We are happy even though we hardly get to see each other as a family because at least we're not being separated by an ocean and desert. Lucas cries a lot, but I still love him. It's OK to vent out frustrations and dissappointments, but I really try not to dwell on them. I just hope we can all make the choice to be happy, at least for today. You can decide again tomorrow.