It's okay to ruin the grass

Here is a picture of the kids on the new swings this morning. You notice Leah is in a princess dress and Samuel is still in pajamas. You should hear him laugh on this thing!

More pictures of our new playground coming soon. Stay tuned!

And to think, I didn't even use magic

Last week Leah announced that she wanted a Little Mermaid toy. So we made a deal that if she could go a week without having an accident, we'd go to the store and she could pick out whatever new toy she wanted (provided it was under $10). We then started marking a smiley face on her calendar for every day that she went without an accident, and then counted each consecutive smiley to see if we had reached seven yet.

Half way through the week, she decided she wanted a magic ("magzick") wand instead. "Okay--you can pick out whichever toy you want. But only one toy. Are you sure you don't want a Little Mermaid?" I asked.

Then on the way to Target today, she announced that she wanted a Little Mermaid Magic Wand. Okay--that might be harder. "I don't know if they have that. We'll have to look and see."

We went straight to the toy department. As we walked toward the girly aisle, lo and behold, there on the end display I spotted a basket with $4 magic wands. Princess wands.

And so, in less than 10 seconds, we found this:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is a Little Mermaid Magic Wand.

Leah-girl the songbird

These are the moments I want to savor forever.


I've noticed several things: Chris is always cooking in the background and my children are usually at the kitchen table or in pajamas when I make a video of them, but they are always so cute, anyway!

Daredevil Boy

What can I say? Boys will be boys.

My Easter Babies

As I froufed and poufed her in her white Easter dress, my heart thumped in my chest and I wished deep down inside that she would always stay this sweet, innocent 3 foot tall 3 year old. Every moment like this when "my heart takes a picture" I say to myself, "I'll never forget this moment and what she is like today. How can there ever be anything in life after this moment has passed? What could change that could possibly be better than this?"

I know that someday I will be froufing and poufing a white wedding dress on this same daughter. What will she look like? What will she have experienced in life? What will have happened in her life to lead up to that moment? How will I recognize that it is the same beautiful daughter? I will have one of those flashback moments in my mind and I will remember this image then. And I will take another picture and wonder how anything could ever be better.