thoughts on a sunday

So we kind of had a soup incident on Thursday.  I guess we're only familiar with the smoothie capabilities of our blender, not so much with it's soup limitations.  I thought it was quite funny.  But then I realized how many things we have sitting out on our counter that were completely coated with cauliflower soup and it was a little less funny as I cleaned them off.  

• I'm typing this with a little baby on my lap.  She's sick and is not about to do anything but be held.  I know it's just a cold. . .because I took her to the doctor, but she seems to be sounding worse.  A lot of people have been getting pneumonia around here and so I worry that this could turn into that.  She's quite snuggly though, which is nice.

• I left her twice this week and Brian planned to give her a bottle each time.  Guess who doesn't take bottles anymore?  He said she just got angry and would only eat about half an ounce.  We also gave her oatmeal cereal a couple times this week.  She was not a fan when I made it with formula, and enjoyed it a bit more when I made it with just water.  But then she got sick and I decided that I am going to hold off a bit more before we commit to oatmeal.  It makes me sad to feed her real food because she's growing up.  

• She's totally wiggling around and wanting to type.

• So the places I went alone this week were to a hair appointment and to the cub scout Blue and Gold banquet.  By the way my kids were sending me off it was clear that I don't go anywhere alone, ever!  They were kissing me and hugging me and looking at me longingly as I went out the door.  It's like I was leaving on a long, important journey, and they sent me off accordingly.  

• It's kind of sad how I enjoyed going to the Blue and Gold by myself.  A hot night down at the church with the cubs and cold spaghetti.  Okay, it's really sad.

• You may have heard because it was most definitely news worthy, but Portland had a snowstorm.  And not just any snowstorm.  It was like an inch and a half.  Maybe two!  School was cancelled, work was cancelled and there was not a trace of snow on the ground by noon.  It's so funny because the news people go absolutely crazy when there is snow and people freak out.  I was at the grocery store the day before the storm was to hit and the lady at the deli asked me if I was there preparing for the big storm.  It is ridiculous.  It was nice to have Brian home for the day, and fun to wake up to a world of white and have hot chocolate for breakfast.  The kids even got to play in it a little before it all melted.  

• We are fortunate enough to put our kids into classes at the local rec center, which is a huge blessing  in and of itself, and I had quite a tender mercy this week that I wanted to record.  We are signing Ellery up for a ballet class and she is dying she is so excited about it.  I pictured all the little girls in the class in leotards and tutus with ballet shoes dancing around.  I thought about how much Elle would love to look like a real ballerina.  But ballerina clothes are not in our budget right now.  I had to return something I had gotten (on clearance of course) at Old Navy, and I remembered seeing some ballet clothes there.  I looked at the racks of leotards and tutus and shoes and they were all marked full price.  Then, one bright orange sticker caught my eye.  It was a leotard in Ellery's size, in her favorite color, marked down to $4.99.  It was the only ballet item that was on clearance and it just happened to be exactly what I was looking for.  I decided to get it, and I was even more delighted when it rang up at $2.99.  I was able to get that and a pair of ballet slippers all for under five dollars!  I felt extremely blessed as I walked out of the store and I have one happy, dancing ballerina!  It makes me remember that the Lord really does bless us, even in small and simple things.

• In case you thought I was getting too serious, and Ellery was getting to elegant, let me share with you a little something that's been fascinating my daughter, as she's been observing it quite often lately.  "Poo poo is so, so quiet, isn't them Dad?  And pee pee is so, so loud.  Did you hear mine, Dad?!"

• Today McKay said the prayer and scripture in primary.  He did both completely by himself and I was impressed and humbled at the sweet prayer he offered.  It really set a reverent tone for primary.

• Church was very good for me today.  I had been in a grumpy mood on Saturday, and Brian and I were both sad to realize that it had continued on to this morning.  But I felt like a new person after being uplifted at church for three hours.  We talked a lot about faith and miracles and gratitude and fasting and it seems like each meeting tied into the others in a beautiful way.  I've since been thinking about the miracles in my life, and the blessings I have to be grateful for, which are so, so many.  In relief society we discussed as a group how sometimes it's so hard to see the blessings that are plainly in front of you when you are struggling, when you're just having a bad day, or a bad week.  It's nice to know that a lot of people have those feelings of unhappiness sometimes, and it's not because we're horrible people, it's just because we're human.  What's important is what we do when we have those feelings.  Do we pray, do we take a moment to pause and recognize our blessings?  Or do we wallow in our feelings of inadequacies and discontent?  It's all part of the process to learn and grow and recognize.    

• Sorry to bore you with all that, but I've decided I want to start recording those kinds of thoughts more, because if I don't, I will surely forget them.  That's kind of the whole purpose of my blog. So I can remember.   

• Brian started his new rotation in Silverton.  It's a little town exactly an hour away.  He thinks he's really going to like it there.  It's a rural hospital, in a small town and when Brian came home the first day he said, "It's kind of an anomaly.  The people there are really normal."  I guess that is something for a small town to have normal people.  I think he might like Silverton so much because a seventeen year old patient told the surgeon that she thought Brian was hot.  I was happy for him.  I have to agree with her, too.  I told Brian that it was great that he's almost thirty and teenagers think he's hot.  He said he might actually start wearing his wedding ring.  He doesn't like the attention.

• Just a little something about my girl Elle.  She prefers to drink water over anything else- even soda.  She still won't drink milk, unless it's chocolate milk.  She is kind of totally in love with water, like it's the greatest drink she's ever been given.  She also loves bread and could probably be content with eating bread and water for the rest of her days, although she can down fruit like you've never seen.  

• Brian and I have been marveling at how well McKay and Elle have been playing lately.  They are best little friends and can play for long periods of time up in their room.  Elle is certainly still girly and plays with her princesses, but those princesses can mesh really well with animals, Legos, transformers or any other boy toys that might come out.  I love standing outside their door listening to them play.  It makes me so happy that they love each other so much.

Happy Sunday!