PERSPECTIVE

A few days ago I was playing on the floor in the hallway with Kelly.  She crawled away and I was just laying there watching her and Max play in his room for a bit.  Then I looked up at Max's window and saw these beautiful green trees.

I'd been feeling so impatient with the weather.  I wanted steady sunshine and warmth.  I had been waiting for what felt like months for the tulips we planted to pop up and my trees to get leaves.  I'd been feeling especially grouchy about it that day.  But then I saw these trees and realized that they look just like that all winter long.  I live in the evergreen state, for goodness' sake, and here I'd been complaining that I wanted some beauty to return to my part of the earth.  Beauty has been here all along - it is super green and lush all the time - but because it is always there I don't notice it much.  I said a little prayer of gratitude in my heart for the beautiful place I live in...and vowed to appreciate it more.  What do you know, just when I did my first tulip showed its colors.  Nothing like laying on the ground in your hallway to give you a little perspective!

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Last Saturday we headed out to lunch and then a park since the weather was decent.  We had no idea that the park in Poulsbo *a little town north of us with Viking heritage, thus the plethora of vikings in our pictures* was holding an easter egg hunt!  Score for the parents who look like they planned it. AND we were there just 15 minutes before it started.  We armed Max with a ziploc bag we were lucky to find in the van (good thing I don't clean it out as often as I should!) and sent him out to run around like a crazy man with the rest of the 3-4-year-olds.

FABULOUS day...and not just from the *almost* 3-year-old's perspective.  Oh, and can you believe that that (center, above) is how Kelly sits the entire time she's riding on shoulders?!  We can't get her to sit straight.  It cannot be comfortable.  But it makes us laugh.

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These pictures just make my heart happy.  Here sits a woman content with her world.

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Decent Easter-dressed-for-Church-photos?

How about a little perspective?

Now you think those first pictures are AMAZING, don't you?!  Welcome to the world and mind-set of a mom with toddlers.

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From my naive perspective, I thought that since this little lady refuses to walk, I surely wouldn't have to deal with climbing just yet.  So wrong.  She makes me nervous and climbs on everything she can.  We try to leave this bathroom door shut now because I hate to think of her falling on the hard ground in there.  But anytime we forget, she bee-lines in *laughing/squealing because she knows we're coming after her* and climbs on up.  In a matter of minutes the other day Ty found her up by the sink on the counter.  Aaack!  She still seems way too little.  But, really, who wouldn't love to play with that little girl in the mirror?

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"Mom totally thinks that I just took all of the cereal boxes out of the cupboard.  Little does she know...oh wait, Mom, don't come any closer or you'll see what I've really been doing whilst sitting here quietly for the last ten minutes.  Darn, she saw!"

A few feet can give a lot of perspective - an emptied box all over her lap.

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So for my FIRST EVER sewing project, I thought I would start by buying $50 worth of material and gettin' down to business to make myself some curtains.  Ty thought that I should start on some scraps of material :), but that's just not how I roll.  Now, from the perspective of a seasoned seamstress, I'm sure these would be laughable...but from where I sit they look pretty darn good!  A tiny bit crooked on the bottom, not-super-straight lines on my final stitch on the edges, but still a lasting product that I thoroughly enjoy.  I am pleased and no longer scared of my sewing machine.  Thanks again to the Momma who gave me a 1-hour crash course on my machine when she was here in March!

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From a bird's perspective, wouldn't this totally be the place you would choose to get your grub?!  I have a little boy who is REALLY counting on it!

So if you know any hungry birds who are looking for a free meal...we're open for business!

Sunshine!

We are FINALLY getting some warmth accompanied by glorious sunshine. I am in heaven. I love the sun. I love to wear short sleeves outside. I love to BE outside. It's not going to last for more than a few days, but we are soaking it up.

Some funny things about us sun wimps in the Pacific Northwest:

• Today my kids and some neighbor kids were out back playing for, like, 5 minutes before they were totally sweating and standing at the back door, begging to go inside. I made them stay out for a few more minutes before finally feeling bad for torturing them. But I did insist that we play out front where it was shaded for another 1/2 hour or so. It's only in the mid-60's, by the way.
  
• The other day I took Kelly with me to run errands and as soon as we stepped into the sun, she closed her eyes and kept turning her head violently, trying to find a position where she wouldn't be assaulted by the sun. I know that most kids avert their eyes from the sun because I lived in Vegas and have nieces and nephews...but kids here are more extreme about it because they don't see it as often. We got a kick out of it with Max last year and now Kelly. Poor, sun-deprived children.
  

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Sunshine brings another joy, and that's seeing above my kids ankles. Kelly wore her first capris of the season today and Max to the Max is in shorts. He totally had to pose just like his sister. "Mom, take a picture of me too." I got the camera ready and then looked up to see him like this (left). "Whatever, goofball." And then we laughed.

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Speaking of sunshine, Max is one of my brightest rays. He has been cracking me up lately, so I want to record some Max-isms:

• At dinner a few weeks ago, out of the blue: "Mom, who has a bigger head - you or dad?" *in case you're wondering, the answer is most definitely DAD!*
  
• In a very sad, pathetic voice, "Mom, I have a headache." I sympathetically replied, "You do?" "Yeah, I have a headache in my tummy."
• After being reprimanded for going into Kelly's room during her nap and waking her up, Max was in tears and through the tears he said, "I was just singing her a song...but then she woke up." *sob, sob, sob* I soon realized that the tears were not because he got in trouble, but because she woke up crying when he was just trying to sing her a song in her sleep. I asked what song he sang and through the sobs he responded, "I have a fam'ly...but then she woke up! I was just tryin' to sing her a song." *sob, sob, sob* "That was so nice of you to sing for her, just be sure to do it when she's awake next time. That was very nice, bud."
• At lunch, out of the blue: "Mom, I'm medicine." Me: "You are?" Max: "Yeah, I'm medicine for you." Too true, dude, too true. You ALWAYS make me feel better...even if it's your craziness that's made me feel a little bad. :)
• Max: "How old have you to be (yes, in that sequence) to go to work?" Me: "Sixteen." Max: "Oh. We have to get me BIG!" After a short pause and very inquisitively..."How do you get me big?"
• Recently Max pooped on the potty for the third time (it's taken two months for this achievement...aaargh and hooray!) and we've been telling him for two months that once he poops on the potty three times then we can go to Chuck E. Cheese's. After he did the deed and we were talking about the reward I asked, "Are you excited to go to Chuck E. Cheese's?!" He said, "Yeah!!! I'm doing excited shoulders!" :)

*excited shoulders pictured below, in case you were wondering what they look like*