The kiddo came in bed with us the night before last.  So Saturday morning we woke up to this:  "Mommy!  Daddy!  Wake up!  It's sun shiney outside, and I think the moon is asleep!"  Her smile was brighter than the sun.  What a precious moment.

We are patiently waiting for the smoke to blow out so we can go to the new Jastro Park spray park on Truxtun Avenue.  It looks great.  I am impressed with what our city is doing with our parks.  But before we go for some water fun at Jastro, we need water shoes. I don't want the kiddo running around barefoot out there just in case there is glass or whatnot.  Please tell me what you use for water shoes and where you purchased them.  We need to find some soon.  Thanks!

If you read the title and you have kids, you probably already have an idea of what I'm going to ask:  what do you do with all the toys kids accumulate????

Toys, toys, toys, they're everywhere!  I know it's time for a sifting through, but how do I approach the kiddo with that idea?  What do you do?

Also, how do you help your children learn to put toys away, and are you able to get your kiddos to put them back in the right place?

Are your kiddo's toys organzized, or  do you just throw them all in the nearest toy box?

Do you have your kids choose what goes, or does a "toy fairy" come in the night and clean things out that the kids won't miss?

I know some people rotate toys.  I do like the idea.  It would be great to bring out a "new" box of toys every few weeks, but that's not going to happen in our house - I'm not that organized, and we don't have that much room for storing boxes of toys. 

I also love the idea of a play room, but we don't have room for that, either.  And the kiddo's room is not nearly large enough to hold all her toys.  Hence we have toys in her room, the den, the living room, and outside. 

What has worked for you? 

larger view

For those of you who don't know, we are in process of adopting a child from China.  When we first started the process, we expected the wait time between submitting paperwork and receiving a referral would be about eighteen months.  We knew it would be longer than our first adoption (a seven month wait), but we were prepared.  However, the wait time has steadily increased, and we are looking at a four year wait approx.  I just want to say I Am Not An Elephant!!!!!!!  That long of a "gestation" period doesn't fly well with humans. 

I'm probably feeling this way because we just started renewing our paperwork - which we didn't have to do last time because the wait time was so much shorter.  There is no binder in the world large enough for all this paperwork.  It's funny, too.  %99.9 of the paperwork is exactly the same, and our answers/responses are the same.  The only thing that has changed is our age!  Our jobs haven't changed, our home hasn't changed, our health is the same, we still have the same educational background we did 18 mos. ago, our criminal records haven't changed (uh, that would be non existant), etc.  I wish all that was required was a new fingerprinting, just to reassure all those involved that we still haven't broken the law.   

I am praying that this will be the only time we have to renew.  I really want this process to speed up - warp speed, please!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

larger view

At the kiddo's preschool last year, the kiddo would make at least two projects a day.  She attended two monrings/week for about 40 weeks.  Do the math - that's around 160 papers/projects that were sent home!  I love my daughter, but there is no way I'm going to keep all this.  Thankfully, her amazing teacher put together a portfolio and sent it home at the end of the year. But what am I going to do for the remainder of the kiddo's school years?  I like the portfolio idea, but I know I wouldn't get around to doing it myself at the end of each year.  Hmmm, I have one year to figure this out.

What do you do with all your child's/chilren's school papers and projects?

larger view

I'm not really big on graduation ceremonies, especially graduation speeches.  They just take entirely too long.  However, if you read my blog, you know that our family did attend the C.S.U.B. graduation a little over a week ago because my lovely little sister graduated.  We are so very proud of her, and we were more than happy to attend to celebrate with her. We were more than willing to applaud the "you are the future" speeches, but to our surprise one speech was unique, unusual and bordering on uncalled for.

I'm not sure who invited Bill Thomas to speak, but I'm guessing he won't be invited back.  At least I hope not.  Or if he is invited back, someone needs to proof his speech.  Why?  Because he delivered a doom and gloom graduation speech.  Here's what many people I spoke with walked away with:  your future stinks; you're going to be poor as dirt; good luck 'cause you're going to need it.  Now, he might have sprinkled a few positives in there, but the negatives were so glaring!  Good thing most of the graduates don't pay attention to the speeches (instead they are busy messin' and goofin' and texting friends and family). 

The speech didn't put a damper on our party.  We had our lawn chairs out, drank our coffee and read the paper (that's for you, Bakersfield Californian).  We chit chatted with our friends, and I waited for my sis to walk across the stage.  It was a picture perfect day, and we celebrated our graduate.  B.T. can't hang a cloud over our day nor my sister's future.  Her future is as bright as the light that shines through her - that' pretty darn bright!

Recently I posted about the kiddo and her developing ability to express herself and ask questions that I sometimes don't know how to answer.  She's asked questions about reproduction and Granny's poor health.  She pretended her imaginary friend died after she heard that one of her friends had truly passed away.  I'm sure she's seen me shed a few tears this last week.  Sometimes she tells me she is sad.  Yes, circumstances have been a little tough lately, and the kiddo knows it and has seen it.

In the midst of all this, here is what we want the kiddo to learn. 

• We'd rather go through these times with God than without Him.
• We are called to heal the sick and raise the dead.  The kiddo didn't get to participate in the latter because she is young, but she saw her mama praying like a maniac this week - praying like I'd want others to pray for my family member.  And yes, I said raise the dead - we don't get to leave that part out.  We keep goin' for "on earth as it is in heaven" and we don't stop.
• It is not  God's will that her young friend is gone.  That might go against what some believe, but, heh, we just don't see a young life lost as somethin' Jesus would jive with.
• Questions are good, and it's okay to have unanswered questions.  But as our pastor says, we don't let those questions drag us down.
• Also, God can win with any hand; He can win with a pair of twos - another good one courtesy of our wise pastor.
• We don't live in discouragement.  It never helps us and it never will.
• We love and we love and we love.  We love those who are difficult, who are sick, who are mourning . . .. 
• We don't live in fear.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  So, we reside in our Father's love and operate out of that.
• We live as a community, a body, and we make sacrifices for each other.  We come together in times of celebration and sadness.  We help each other. 

 So, here we are.  Our little friend is buried, our Granny is recovering the best she can from her latest illness, and we keep on truckin' on together, with love and  hope and a whole lot of prayer.

Monday evening the kiddo tackled another milestone challenge.  She spelled a couple of words:  dad & bits.  Her furrowed little brows indicated her deep level of concentration.  Our wide eyes indicated our surprise!  Now ask her to do it again, and she'll mess with you.  And her enthusiasm to write her letters - zip.  She did this with potty training, too.  She knew how to do it, she was ready, but she just didn't want to.  The kid likes to tease us with a small demonstration of her skills, and then play hard to teach. 

larger view

Yep.  She's really smart.  Just a few months shy of 4, she's graduated from Cal State.

Well, at least she pretended she did.  And we went along with it.

My daughter is only a couple of months away from turning four.  And her little almost 4 year old self is processing losing a friend, the friend she had lunch with on Sunday.

A few days ago, a toddler church friend of hers drowned.  Now, I believe in miracles.  Jesus said that we would do more than he did.  I and all our church have been praying for that "more" in this time of need.  Yeah, we want to see life back in this little boy.  And so we've remained hopeful.  We're not ready to mourn yet.  But despite our hope, despite our focus on life and not death, the kiddo has still caught on that something has happened to her little friend.

(Note:  The kiddo has an imaginary friend, Eloise.)

As we were strolling in Target today, the kiddo, head hanging low, said,"Eloise is dead." 

"Eloise is dead, honey?"

"Yeah." (heavy sigh)

"How does that make you feel?"

"I'm really sad, Mommy," she says.

"I understand.  I am, too."

This is her way of coping, of processing what is going on in her life right now.  Of course she's not like this all the time.  Most of the  time she is her happy little self running around like a wild child. But there is no denying that she's been feeling a loss.

I do have to say, though, that she is also feeling God's presence.  She ended our tender discourse in Target with "But God cheers me up, Mommy."  Yes, honey, yes He does.  That is part of who He is - Comforter.

(If anyone has any experience here, please share.  Any ideas to help the kiddo share more of her feelings, express more of her thoughts, etc.   Overall, I think we do a pretty darn good job as parents, but we always appreciate the input and suggestions of others.)

Loading...

Larger Map

larger view larger view

Here's a little tip for those of you who don't know about this. 

This last weekend my little sis graduated from college, and to celebrate we had a big party Saturday night.  To add a little "somethin' " to the party, we called Fantasy Frocks for a singing telegram.  And although the telegram didn't include any singing, the ten-plus-minutes of a personalized telegram skit was top notch.  Everyone laughed, the graduate felt extra special, and we made a wonderful memory.  This was so much more than someone singing a generic song and delivering a balloon bouquet.  Fantasy Frocks makes sure each performance is unique. 

Two thumbs up for Fantasy Frocks!!!

I'm a digital photo addict.  There's no question about it.  And it's a good thing I have a digital camera.  I couldn't afford film enough for all my shots.  I average a few hundred a month (okay, maybe that's a really conservative guess).  And yes, most of the photos are of the kiddo, but not all.  I take photos of friends, kiddo's classmates, family.  I always take photos at our large family gatherings.  I just can't stop.  Somebody . . . help . . .me.

What do I do with all my photos?  Once upon a time, when film was the thing, I would stick my photos in albums.  Then in the late 90's I started scrap booking.  However, scrap booking is messy- trimming, trimming, trimming - that's all I have to say about that.  And I never had a plan for my scrap pages; I would just wing it and hope for the best.  A few years ago, my girlfriend turned me on to Shutterfly.com.  I do like it - great for storage and scrap booking online is certainly not messy.  i can start an album, save it and return to work on it more later.  I don't have to get supplies out, clean up, get supplies out, clean up (can't leave scrap booking stuff out with a preschooler running around the house!).  I do find myself a little frustrated when limited by their layouts, and of course, it is somewhat pricey.  But overall, it's working for me now. 

Anyone else have mass quantities of digital photos?  What do you do with them?  Please share your ideas and experiences.

My little girl loves to sing.  I've written about this before.  However, last night at Costco, we had an amazing treat, a double whammy, a surprising thrill, a memory to last a lifetime.

As we wandered the store, I heard music, a beautiful voice.  I looked up, searching for the speakers.  I thought, "I don't remember hearing music in Costco before."  (And I usually notice music in a store; in fact, I sing the songs in the grocery store - yep, there you have it.) 

I kept searching, and then I saw IT.  The kiddo saw IT, too, and she beelined ahead of me.  The siren's song was coming from the karaoke machine, and a most lovely young woman was demonstrating.  So, the kiddo sang her little heart out on the karaoke machine, and passersby would stop, smile and applaud.  I'm sure if we would've put a tip jar out, the kiddo would've made a few bucks.  We stayed there for a good 20-30 minutes.

Now, if that isn't enough of a treat, her comes the icing on the cake.  The demonstrator, the young woman who sang so beautifully, the angel who introduced the kiddo to this magical machine, well guess what her name is -  ARIEL!!!!!!!!!  The kiddo was stunned, shocked, wonderfied.  She wasn't sure what to make of it.  And then she said,  "I'm Ariel.  You're her sister."  Guess there can't be two Ariels.  :)

So, Costco delivered more than we expected.  The entertainment was out of this world.

Tonight at the dinner table the kiddo and I sang our entire conversation.  She loves to sing, as most of you know.  She just started singing instead of talking, and then I replied in song, and we just kept going.  I don't ever want to forget this.