Thanksgiving Weekend

Hope that all of you out there had wonderful holiday weekends.

I was trying to think of a way to cleverly sum up our weekend, but as I have been Mrs. Scatterbrain lately, cleverness just isn't my thing. Other than that, I'm sure that Matt will tell you that I have been "nesting" to full capacity...at least until a week or so ago when I hit a wall...and now I've just been doing a lot of complaining.

But back to Thanksgiving weekend...

After watching my mom madly shop for and cook mass quantities of eats, we had a wonderful dinner with family. Bear managed to eat half of the grape tomatoes on her own and half a box of tangerines. As usual, she entertained everyone with her silly antics. Pictures will have to come later.

Saturday was Bear's first trip to Disneyland to help celebrate Auntie R's birthday. She had this look on her face most of the day:



Bear was overwhelmed and couldn't believe that she was seeing her cartoon heroes in person. She managed to give Goofy, Mickey and Minnie a kiss. She even shared Sonja with Mickey. That lucky mouse.

We managed to get on a few rides. Surprisingly, Bear can ride more rides than I can at this point. We stuck with the ones that we all could ride. Here she is "Finding Nemo" and riding the "Choo Choo."





That was our weekend in a nutshell.

Emotions

There are those people in life that no matter how angry or mad you get, they always seem to turn it around in an instant.

Bear is like that. She has this way of making anger and sadness melt away.

Like any human being, I do get angry...at her, especially when I've asked her 10 times in a row not to touch something, or when I'm trying to keep her away from something potentially dangerous and she just chooses to endanger herself again and again.

But she has this way of always turning those situations around...and somehow I end up laughing with her, hugging her, enjoying the moment where a few minutes ago I was ready to pop out a vein.

Throughout our day together, I have to keep myself from bursting out laughing because of all the silly things she does when she thinks I'm not looking. Her most recent antic is to yell "Abre! (is that how it's spelled?)" at the most random times, imitating her favorite tv character Dora when she wants things to "Open" like the door, a book, or even at laundry as she throws it up in the air.

Other times when I'm feeling blue, she tries to cheer me up in her own special ways. Often that means offering Sonja or her cup of juice to me. Sometimes if I have to cry, she sits in my lap and cries with me. Once she even offered Sonja's hand to me, because for her sucking on Sonja's hand is comforting.

And I feel for her when she cries...Somehow a broken dish or spilled milk all over the floor just doesn't matter when your child is whimpering and feeling bad for what she did. The comforting hug always comes first...clean up comes later.

So wiping up all sorts of biological messes, finding irreversible pen marks on favorite books, waking up in the middle of the night of an already shortened sleep, is nothing. Realizing that your child needs you and you love your child, is absolutely something.

Bear's Rules to Live By

1) TV Theme songs are for dancing.
2) When playing with toys, it's more fun to pour out the whole box of toys and then pick one.
3) Stickers are for adorning the front door.
4) When traveling from room to room, I must carry Sonja, a blanket, a cup of water, and Snoopy.
5) When I find something new to play with I will drop Sonja, blanket, cup of water and Snoopy.
6) If mommy does it, I must do it too.
7) If there's a mess, just leave it. It magically goes away when I wake up the next morning.
8) Food is more fun to eat when it gets all over the place.
9) Things that happen on Dor@ the Explorer are what really happens in life.
10) What mommy and daddy tell me to do are just guidelines, there's always a loophole.

Thankful for 30

Now that I'm thirty, here's 30 things I'm thankful for:

1) A wonderful husband who always knows when I need a hug.
2) Bear, who makes me laugh on a daily basis.
3) Waking up each morning knowing that it's another day God has blessed me with.
4) My family who knows all of my quirks and still seem to keep me around.
5) The friends near and far that have each touched my life in one form or another.
6) Baby Lee who we can't wait to meet in February (or possibly January).
7) Lots of pillows that I can wedge myself into bed every night.
8) A place that we can call "home" even if the ceiling falls in every now and again.
9) The fact that I always cry on the last scene of "M0nster's Inc."
10) My mom who taught me everything "crafty" as I was growing up...who knew they'd come in handy so often.
11) My artsy sister who if I didn't have her around growing up, I'd always walk out of the house wearing 2 different colors of black.
12) My brother who without I would not know anything about anime, Pl@ystation, or good cheesecake.
13) My 5th grade teacher, who encouraged me to be myself, and still remembers my name to this day when I run into her.
14) Binder clips...I like binder clips...they're so handy.
15) Avocados...yum.
16) Craft stores, of which I could spend hours perusing items I don't need.
17) My guitar, my piano, and for music that helps to soothe my soul.
18) Rainy days, because everything is always so clean after the downpour.
19) Bear's pediatrician, who really knows her stuff, and truly cares for Bear.
20) Quarters...of which without we wouldn't have clean laundry.
21) Noisy neighbors, who help me understand the joy of peace and quiet.
22) People who are extremely down to earth...especially when their position in life would generally cause them to have their head in the clouds.
23) My childhood memories of fun times that I think back on and hope Bear will have a chance to experience.
24) My church, all the good and the bad, and the things I learn week after week.
25) My memories of teaching, my memories of my students, and the things they taught me each week.
26) Those moments when I actually get a chance to brush my hair.
27) Books of all sorts...that I can read to learn or read to relax.
28) God's creativity, that I see everyday, in everyone and everything.
29) My fears, that keep me on my toes, but don't consume me.
30) The trials and challenges in my life, the tears and heartaches, and the joys and sorrows that made me into the person that I am. Thanks.

Of course, I'm thankful for a lot of things...but these are the first 30 that I thought of...I'll close with a picture from Bear's October 31st fun.

For Some Reason...

It's 11 pm and for some reason Bear is still up and running around.

She was fast asleep and then the neighbors upstairs made a horrific noise (sounded like a bookshelf fell over). Ever since then we've been wondering when she'll go back to sleep. She is currently running around the livingroom with a flashlight saying, "Yight Aw (Light On)."

Fun.