Pigtails!!!

For those of you who know me, this is a dream come true. Today my little girl's hair fit in two pigtails!!! And I think it's pretty cute.

Puddle Jumpin'

So the torrential rains that we've gotten this week have been absolutely magical for me. In fact, I think that it would take a seriously long time before I could grow tired of them. However, I realize that this is probably due to the fact that I can stay indoors and enjoy the view without actually getting personally soaked. When I was younger I loved to play outside in the rain but now I consider myself more of an indoor rain person. Kelsey has been begging to go outside all week and was quite upset that I wouldn't let her in the backyard. Well, yesterday we went to the graduation of a friend of ours from beauty school and consequently were forced out into the elements. I bundled us all up and brought the umbrella and cautioned Jeremy against getting his shoes wet in the puddles. All of a sudden I wondered why I was preventing my children from getting wet. It's water. They weren't in their Sunday best on the way to some important function. Clothes and shoes will dry and a warm home awaited us just a few miles away. I told them to go ahead and we had a ball all the way across the campus back to our car. And I fell in love with the rain all over again.

Rain

Rain

falling

drop by drop

rushing faster

coming down to earth

making everything new

alive once again

pitter patter

filling me

up with

peace.

Weekly Recap

Well, here it is, Sunday afternoon. David's out home teaching, the small one is down for her nap, Jeremy is playing quietly, and my pajamas are on! Time for the rundown on our week! Last Sunday we went to my sister's house to make aebleskivers. I loved them so much in Solvang that I bought some of the mix to make them since my BIL has an aebleskiver pan. We had dinner together and then made lots of the yummy little dough balls to dip in raspberry jam and powdered sugar. So Yummy!!! On Monday I was giving Kelsey her bath in the kitchen sink and noticed the paneling was separating from the wall, and termite droppings were falling out. I started to peel the paneling away and found this lovely sight underneath. I waited for David to come home and I told him I was ready to redo the kitchen. The next day I peeled the rest of it off and started thinking how I'll survive without a kitchen. It will be a long process as we'll have to do it little by little as we save the money, but it will be worth it!!! It's exciting and daunting all at the same time. Thursday we had my niece for a few hours. Of course I had to do her hair, cause that's how I roll, and then I gave her and Kelsey suckers. So cute! Friday we went to Disneyland. Jeremy had fun going on rides by himself for a while. There he is waving at me from the Golden Zephyr. Our friends came a little later and we had lots of fun with them! Our little girls are so cute together! The boys and the bumper bugs. The kids on the rapids. They got soaked!

While everyone else was on Tower of Terror, Kelsey bit into a sucker before I could stop her. So I had to buy it and take cute pictures. What else could I do? ;)

We had fun learning how to draw Grumpy the dwarf in the Animation Studio. We were all tired but we wanted to see the fireworks, so we went to the parking structure and watched them from the roof. They were big and beautiful and colorful!

Jeremy's 7th Birthday!

Last Friday was Jeremy's 7th birthday! It started out with a happy birthday phone call from Great-Grandma Parker. Then it was off to the donut shop with Daddy to get a dozen of Jeremy's favorite donuts for our traditional donut birthday cake! It was so yummy! Then we got ready and went to Disneyland! We got there right when it was opening and rushed to get on California Screamin', Jeremy's favorite roller coaster. It was so fun being there early, right when they were starting the rides up, and before all the crowds got there! Jeremy has been telling people for weeks that when he turns 7, he can go on the rides by himself. This was his first one, and he was so excited! Birthday boy on the carousel! Birthday boy's cute sister on the carousel. Jeremy and I on Soarin'. He wanted to go on it by himself, but I convinced him that it would be okay for me to go too. Love that ride!Special ice cream treat for his birthday! It was so fun for Jeremy to be chosen to be in the Jedi Training Academy on his birthday!

First he trained. Then he fought Darth Maul. Then he got his certificate and boy was he excited! While Daddy and Jeremy hit up some big rides, Kelsey and I went to go see Mickey and Minnie. Kelsey's having a love affair with them right now. She gets so excited whenever she sees their picture, and loves to squeeze the stuffed ones she has at home. Look Mama, there she is! Then we played in the fountain. Back with our crazy birthday boy again! He has always wanted to make a double lightsaber, so that was his birthday present. Here he is building it with Daddy, Uncle Jim, and the Disney helper. How did she know these two were lovers? She kept making their noses kiss; it was so cute! Walt and Mickey at sunset. I was so surprised and proud when Jeremy read this sign to me! He's learning!

We went to Mimi's for his birthday dinner and they gave him this piece of chocolate mousse cake and sang to him.

When we got home he showed us his lightsaber skills.

Happy birthday baby!