Pictures

Here's the foot injury! Poor guy! But don't feel too bad for him, its kinda exciting to have a big ouchie. Gotta milk it, you know. Lots of movies are being watched, ice cream is on its way and he still won't walk on it. (and no, we are not going to take the wrap off to show you the actual cut. That's gross, folks!)

Wren was loving that Judd was getting pictures taken. She kept saying, "And me, mom! and me, mom!" She's a silly girl but look at those cute pigtails poking out! Ok, She's the cutest.

Frequenting the ER

You know you're at my house if you have to sword fight your way through the front door, dodge flying missiles while trying to have a conversation, and "Hi-yah" is constantly warning you of incoming karate chops.

We have a full-time warriar/fighter-guy at our house. And he's very dedicated--for which we are grateful. We are well protected from poor sweet little girls who just want to play dolls and any of mommy's friends who just find it too hard to talk over constant battle. Thank heavens we don't have to worry about any of those threats.

Our fighter-guy, "Yoga" (as he calls himself if he's playing Star Wars), can take a good hard lightsaber thrust to the head and can wrestle/punch/shove (but NO biting!) with the best of the best but recently he has met his match on 2 different occasions in the last month. (He's pretty much wearing mommy out.) And the worst part? They weren't even when he was fighting.

Our most recent trip to the Emergency Room was yesterday. Judd stepped on something at the beach and now has a good inch and a half long cut on the bottom of his foot. It was cut at the river meaning no stitches because of the risk of infection. Boo.

And our earlier trip was due to the obligatory-childhood-cut-on-the-chin-from-falling-on-a-table injury. That one did get 4 stitches--resulting in some serious emotional scars. :)

I guess we officially have a real boy (or Wisconsin is way more dangerous then we prepared for). And we love every bit of him. Pictures to come!

Residency

We are officially headed to Wisconsin the 1st of July. And I'm currently shopping for some serious winter wear.

Change

I've been thinking a lot lately about improvement. Personal improvement to be exact. Do any of you have things about yourself you would like to change? I do. yes.

But you know what? I believe in change. REAL change.

I remember a conversation I had with my dad about change. The basic summation was that change, REAL change, is possible but not easy. In fact, I think the two main ingredients in real change are time and, because I believe in God, my Heavenly Father's help. It starts with a desire to do something different, usually involves messing up a few (ok, LOTS of) times and having to fight the temptation to just give up, and becomes finally becomes, as all good things do, work. Diligent, enduring work. Consistent work, to be that something different.

So how do you know if the change "took"? I mean, isn't the definition of change that you are in essence different. You no longer do what you did or want to do it. I have decided that only time will tell. And when I say time, i mean a life time. There is something about looking at a long positive tract record that really shows who and what you are.

What prompted all this thought? Well, it started with my reading of Louisa May Alcott's book "Little Men" and ended with me looking at myself (Little Women or really any of the books in that series always has a pretty similar effect on me. Try it--they're better than any self help book) And the result. I want to change. I want to be healthy, happy, rested, and better. Kinder. More thoughtful. I want to slow down and play with my kids. I want to really love them and teach them. I want to improve my little knowledge and talents. I want to be strong and supportive of my dear husband. I want to become the kind of person that is quietly serving and sees what needs to be done (thank you Tara for being such a great example of this to me!)

So, I've started my work and I feel good. Now come the diligence part. And sure, this is just now, the beauty of this life is in time, I will want to be better again. Hopefully,(and I do have hope) at that time, I will be building on the foundation I'm trying to lay now and not rebuilding it.

Well, moral of the story, I love LOVE getting inspired. No, even more specifically, I love encountering that spark of truly divine truth and goodness anywhere and enjoying the desire it gives me to truly change. It feels good.

Happy Valentines Day to you

Judd and Wren's Valentines....and the reason a good picture was impossible

Having so much fun with our toys

Finally got a Horray from Wren.....but Judd is still too into the firefighters.

I'm not that into Valentines day for myself. But I have to tell you, for my little ones we have had not just one day of love celebration but two. It is worth it though.

Judd blessed our lunch for us and included in his prayer, "and fanks for making cookies for our friends and for our sfecial Valentines breakfast and for our new toys." I think that just about covers all our fun things so far.

Tonight we have a Valentines party with some friends and their little ones. I'm hoping it makes it into the bedtime prayer :).

Happy Valentines to everyone! Sending our love to you!

Buzz and Bug

Cordially invite you to a delicious tea of plastic grapes and apples.

On any day of the week and at any moment.

Costumes requested.

my little wise man and angel

I was going through some pictures to make a post today (shocker, I know). This is clear back from Christmas.....(I know, I know. But c'mon. my last post is from Halloween.....)

We all had a fun Christmas Eve at Grandma Barbara's house. Aunt Mel organized a little nativity for the kiddos to act out. Judd and Wren were a wise man and an angel, respectively. I think I might have cried I was so proud. My kids are so sweet and beautiful. And really that's all I have to say about that.