This Present Joy

It never ceases to amaze me how toddlers are sponges--SPONGES--when it comes to the words they hear and the actions they witness. They pick up on every little thing--and drive it into the ground with repetition. Just tonight, Carly was running through the house and yelling, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." (the cutest part was the last two words--"your hair" had a bit of a southern drawl to it--so it sounded like hay-er) Where did she hear that?? Your guess is as good as mine. . . Over the past few months, she's picked up on the words "best friends." She's already told her friend Lola that she's her best friend. She was leaving their house one evening after we had been over for dinner--they were both in their jammies, saying goodbye multiple times, clasping hands at one point--and she looked at her and told her, "You're my best friend, Lola." It was a Kodak moment. So, the other day I was feeding Hannah while Carly was...

A few weeks ago, a sweet friend brought us a meal one evening, and to top it all off, she gave us this: Isn't it the cutest little flowering plant you've ever seen? I don't know what it is--but I just think it's the sweetest little thing. I think part of my infatuation with it is the burlap wrapping (who knew burlap could be so attractive?) AND the orange bow tied around it. This brings me to a recent self-realization that I feel compelled to share. Tie a bow around just about anything, and it automatically ranks as a "sweet little thing." I think you could give me a small bag of Cheetos with a bow wrapped around it, and I would "ooh" and "ahhh" over it for a good 5 seconds. Ok--so that's not really what I'm blogging about today. The cute plant--we've had it for a few weeks, and at first, I had it on our kitchen table. Carly liked looking at it during meal times, and frankly, so did I. After a few days, I started to think, ...

I have a love-hate relationship with paper. Since I can remember, I have always loved paper. Whether it's reading, writing, getting "fun" mail, looking at magazines, working on the newspaper staff in high school--I like paper, plain and simple. I even like the smell of some paper (does anyone know what I'm talking about? the smell of a new magazine or a new book?) I get excited about the blank paper in journals, and I don't care how many notepads I have around the house--I can always use one more. But, paper has started to get on my nerves, too. With each day, more paper comes in the mail--bills, medical statements, financial statements, advertisements, magazines, catalogs. . . .and while there is quite a bit of junk mail, there are also those "important" documents that I can't just toss in the trash. Ever since I graduated college (and that was many moons ago), I've kept some file folders of stuff . This includes bills, medical records, tax docu...

Have you ever been driving in your city or in your neighborhood and wondered what it might be like to drive through the streets as a first-time visitor? Wondered what it would be like to see your neighborhood or surroundings with a different set of eyes? Sometimes when I'm driving through town and the streets that I've been down countless times, I try to see everything as if I'm driving through for the first time--I just get so used to my surroundings, that I don't really see what's around. Whenever I go on vacation, the first few days it's completely "foreign territory"--where is the closest grocery store, where is the Starbucks, where is the quaint little restaurant on the corner with the yummy pastries? But, after a few days, it starts to feel like home (or as much as a vacation will allow that) and I get accustomed to where I'm going. Part of the joy of having an-almost-three-year-old in the house is seeing the world through her eyes. . . As w...

Carly woke up the morning of the 4th and this is what she asked me: "Wanna go to the beach, Mommy?" We live 100s of miles from the closest beach, so that had to have come from a cartoon that she has watched. We are a somewhat-spontaneous family, but not that spontaneous--especially on a holiday and especially when gas prices are near $4 a gallon. So, we had to settle for the pool instead. We trekked over to a friend's house and spent the afternoon outside. This was our beach for the day. Carly seems to be unaffected by the hot weather (it has basically hovered around 100 degrees for the past week). And, she's just like J--slather that girl with 50+ SPF sunscreen and sit her in the sun for one hour--and it looks like she's been tanning for months. We were only outside for a few hours, until a nap beckoned (it was beckoning Mommy and Daddy more than it was beckoning Carly. . . ) But, those few hours were packed full of water fun. . . . Carly kicked. . . . She jump...