Vacation Bliss

Ah, the bliss of vacation. A few days away from reality in our favorite spot... Sedona. It was Daniel's 2nd time (Violet's 1st) but he was too young the first time to remember. Everything from the s'mores to the sleeping bags were new and exciting to him.

Cold enough to require serious snuggling at night but warm enough to warrant some cold creek swimming, we managed to hit the "sweet spot" for camping up north. Our theme song for the trip ("Knee Deep" by the Zac Brown Band) was replayed so many times the kids ended up learning the words.

Daniel could have played in that creek forever... or rolled in that grass forever... or roasted marshmellows forever... or thrown rocks in the river forever... so he kept telling us. And he and Violet were absolutely inseparable the whole time. It's precious to watch them choose each other when they don't have to.

More artsy photos HERE... and more fun photos on Violet's blog, HERE... but here are a handful of fun Daniel memories from our favorite trip yet.

Four Haircuts Later...

We took Daniel to get a haircut and instead ended up with four haircuts.  He was actually really entertained by the progression.  (And we were really entertained by the mullet stage.)

We all love the resulting faux hawk except that he HATES having his hair looks crazy or stand up.  At all.  So, it just kind of lays there now.

Bike Night

Fernando went to "Bike Night" at a nearby mall... you know, hundreds of Harleys, lots of noise and lots of leather.

So we had our own bike night at home... you know, crayons, silly photos, and printed pictures of motorcycles just begging to be colored.

We are bad to the bone, baby.

Someone Special With Blue Eyes

Daniel will be an excellent writer someday.  His level of description and creativity astounds me, even in routine tasks.  He has begun to identify us in fun ways that we have to "figure out".  For example:  "I need someone special with blue eyes to turn off the lights for me."  I'm sure this has something to do with the way his teacher at school calls students to help with classroom chores, but I still love it.  Nothing like a 4-year-old calling his mom "someone special with blue eyes".  

But I digress.

Last week, I decided to try it in reverse.  I was cooking dinner and was elbow deep in a bowl of something.  

I said, "I need someone special with brown eyes to bring me a big spoon."

Daniel didn't hesitate, even though I was looking directly at him (and no one else was in the room).  "Daddy and Violet have brown eyes, too."  

He just stared at me, waiting for me to be more specific, I guess.

I said, "I need someone special with super hero undies to bring me a big spoon."

Without batting an eye, Daniel yanked his shorts down and cranes his head around to see who is on his bootie that day.  Spiderman.  

He began jumping up and down, yelling, "It's me! It's me!  The someone special is me!"  (As if he didn't see this one coming.)  He brought me the spoon and we proceeded with cooking dinner. 

I know this wide-eyed innocence won't last forever, but it's sure fun while it's here.  

The Baby Rohl Complex

So, after Violet's 2nd birthday party (Viomi), Daniel developed a tiny complex.  Tiny as in small and plastic, with a onesie.

Violet was given a baby doll (Baby Rosie) and fell in love with playing Mommy - she carts that baby everywhere and dotes on it.  Daniel immediately followed suit with one of Violet's other dolls (which he has now adopted as his own).  He even named the baby:  Baby Rohl.  Don't ask me where the name came from... we have no idea.


Update:  Baby Rohl is out and Baby Karate is in.  Very in.  I'm writing this update in OCTOBER, people.  Baby Karate (also named by Daniel for who knows what reason) has become his "child".  For months now, if Violet is playing with her dolls (and even if she isn't) Daniel constantly tells me that Violet is Baby Rosie & Baby Sydney's Mommy and he is Baby Karate's Daddy.  And together we are one big family.  They frequently put the babies to sleep and admonish anyone in the house (including Mittens) if too much noise is made.  I suppose this is a byproduct of having a little sister... and I don't mind one bit.  

Pure Joy

Pure joy takes on different forms on different days.

Yesterday it took the form of barefoot running on cool evening grass at the park past sunset.

Joy showed up under the moonlight, during an imagination game of rockets and monsters.

Joy leaked out of every squeal as they chased each other (and the ducks).

Joy crunched like their cheetoe snacks and floated across the lake like the apology bread we tossed the ducks.

Joy piled in the car with us as we headed home for a lights off movie night at home ("Just like the big movies, Mommy!").

Joy appeared in each "warm hot chocolate" mug and bowl of coconut popcorn.

My heart is so full of joy, it aches.

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day was special - MY Mother was visiting us.  And we got to see Fernando's Mother as well.  Maybe it's just because I am a mom, but having my kids and my moms together was just... special.  Lovely.

We snapped a few fun photos by the front door on the way to church.  Here's my favorite:

Church was fun, too.  The men decided to perform a (hilarious) flash mob dance to "Man, I Feel Like a Woman."  They finally figured out what women want at Mother's Day - not candy, not flowers... just a few more incriminating memories of their husbands acting ridiculous.  :)

This year Mother's Day also fell on Violet's actual birthday... there are more fun things on her blog about the day and the party that followed, but for the purpose of this blog, I'll just say we had a lovely Chinese take-out dinner at Fernando's parents house.  No stress... no mess... just a lot of family around a big table talking and laughing a lot.  Perfect.

Gramma Time

It's pretty fun to sing "Gramma Time" to the tune of "Hammer Time". Just sayin'.

We got to keep Gramma for nearly TWO WHOLE WEEKS. It was amazing, and Daniel is still in denial that she had to go.

To start things off on a fabulous note, we got stranded at IKEA.  (Not a bad place to be stranded, all in all.)  But the car wouldn't start so we improvised while we waited for Fernando.  We played for hours in the kids section, ended up eating TWO meals there, and watching an entire movie.

(And please don't ask me why the car wouldn't start... I'm still embarrassed.  Let's just say it was a user error.)

The rest of the trip was spent enjoying local splash pads... watching movies... going shopping... and getting crafty.

We created new hair clip styles for Violet while Daniel honed his counting skills with the "big shiny gold buttons".  Mom taught me how to make the kind of hair clips she used to make for me and Stacey as kids... so fun.

At the grocery store, we allowed Daniel to select a toy car to bring home, but he insisted on picking one for everyone - including Gramma.  She got the hot yellow sports car (and she looked pretty happy about it, too)... kitchen counter car races ensued.  

At the end of the visit, Daniel was extremely (extremely) sad to see her go.  But he kept consoling himself:  "Gramma needs to go home and see Tex.  Gramma and Tex are best friends."  It was a tearful goodbye, but so special knowing how much my kiddos love my mom.

Long distance family isn't ideal (I'd much rather them be close by!) but it's working, nonetheless.  And knowing that my kids will love my parents like I love my (long distance) grandparents is beyond priceless.  

Kid Thief

Daniel has pretty much grown out of naps. He doesn't need them most days, but if I know it's gonna be a long or tiring evening, we make him take a nap.

Today (Mother's Day and also Violet's 2nd Birthday) is one of those days. And since my mom is still in town visiting, Daniel has been sleeping in our bed. (You won't hear me complain about that... I still love it.)

He doesn't love the idea of naps, so in order to help persuade him, I employed the beloved method of "in on the secret" bribery. I showed him the "top secret" birthday cake in the fridge for Violet and explained that he needed to take a nap or he would definitely not be getting any birthday cake.

His eyes bulged at the cake... the temptation began it's work. But then he composed himself and very thoughtfully told me, "Mommy, if I eat too much food, my tummy hurts. And I don't want that. So I think I'll just color instead of taking a nap."

Let's all say it together: BACKFIRE. First time in history that this kid has passed up cake.

So plan B it was... I just told him to get in bed. He did as he was told with one request: A naptime story. He scampered to the bookshelf and selected "The Night Before Christmas".

On this day, Mother's Day and Violet's Birthday, it seemed an interesting request but it ended up being pretty fun to discuss sugarplums and concepts like "bowlful of jelly" in the middle of May. Daniel stayed interested throughout the dense language until the very end, when he became suddenly very bothered:

"He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the dawn of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight..."

He pointed to the dad on the page. "Mommy, what's the daddy saying?"

I said, "He is saying bye to Santa, baby."

"No he's not, Mommy. He's saying 'I WANT MY BABY BACK!'" And Daniel got upset, pointing towards one of the elves on Santa's sleigh.

I tried to calm him down, "Honey, that's not his baby. That's just an elf from the North Pole. His baby is safe in his bed. Santa doesn't take babies."

Daniel thought for a minute, then pointed to another elf. "What about THAT one? Did Santa take that baby?"

I hope this memory doesn't stick around until December or we might have a traumatizing Christmas on our hands, folks.

Best Part of My Workday

I could debate myself for hours on the pros and cons on being an "outside of the home" working mom.  Sometimes it just plain stinks, and I miss the minutes I'm missing with my babies.

But there is one giant perk that stays consistent:  The sheer joy and excitement on their faces when they see me at the end of a school day.  What follows is pretty fun, too:  Babbling, run on sentences full of that day's adventures... who they played with, what they ate, what they learned, what they did, how much they missed me, what they want to do at home tonight.  This conversation continues out the door and all the way home.

But it's that initial moment of recognition I live for.  The "drop everything fun I'm doing - MOMMY'S HERE!" moment.  I wait for it all day, and when it happens, it absolutely fills me up.

Easter Egg-citement

I know, I know. Sorry.  I could just couldn't keep myself from typing "egg-citement".

The day AFTER Easter was kind of a continued celebration. That's what happens when you work at a church... the big holidays are crazy workdays, and you have to reschedule the family stuff.

So did our first real egg hunt at our house.  It wasn't anything super crazy, but it was a lot of fun.  Some colorful plastic eggs (of course full of little candies) all over the backyard.  But here's the deal with desert landscaping:  You have to get REALLY creative.



The kids had a ball.  After they found all the eggs and ate the contents (of course) they insisted that WE go hide and they hid all the eggs for us.  In fact, for a few days afterwards, they insisted on letting anyone who came over have an egg hunt, too.

 This moment (above) was one of my favorites.  He REALLY wanted that egg.  He could see the candy poking it's little head out.  But it was a deep hole (we just lost a tree) and he was afraid of stepping IN the hole.  The maneuvering that took place was hilarious.  The dedication to the prize was impressive.

A Radiant Easter

Another Radiant Easter!  A huge community outreach combined with tons of services and beautiful moments made for a really fun weekend.  The kiddos were troopers and got to celebrate the following Monday with an egg hunt, but they also enjoyed the weekend at church.

The entire week leading up to Easter, the carnival was setting up outside slowly, piece by piece.  And Daniel just drooled every time we pulled up.  "What's that ride Mommy?!"  "What's that new machine?!"  "Look at that giant circle!!"  (Ferris wheel).  

One day was particularly memorable... Daniel asked why Easter was coming.  And I told him that we have a big party at Easter to celebrate Jesus.  And he said, "Why?  Is it his birthday?"  And I told him no, that it's the day Jesus came back to life and now he's alive!  The reaction was priceless.  Daniel's face registered nothing but pure excitement and surprise and he began screaming (a la Will Ferrel's Santa scene in "Elf"):  "JESUS!!! Jesus is coming!!!  Jesus is alive!!!  Violet, Jesus is coming!!!"

Fernando and I were working all weekend, and it appeared that there was no time to enjoy the carnival as a family.  So we kind of broke the rules.    

We snuck Daniel and Violet out on Saturday night for a snow cone (oh the joy!  oh the sticky mess!) and on Sunday, we snuck Daniel out of his class alone for a special treat he had been begging for all week:  A ride down the giant super slide (which I managed to not get a photo of!)  

It was at the very end of the carnival on Sunday, and Fernando managed to close a line while also standing in line.  Smooth.  

Daniel's little face was in awe of the towering slide - three side by side bumpy tracks, designed to race the people sitting next to you.  (And please notice his "Daniel Spiderman" name tag - this was in the middle of his "I will only respond to Spiderman" phase...)  The excitement was just adorable to watch, and the slide itself was a lot of fun.  He sat on the middle track (obviously) so he couldn't fly off one of the outside tracks.  We held hands and went down together.  

We continued celebrating the next day together as a family (read: Egg Hunt!") but thoroughly enjoyed Easter weekend itself at Radiant.  

Kind of a Ham

 Just a few silly photos from a very silly boy 

(who occasionally really enjoys being in front of a camera)!

The Sweet Side

Maybe all little boys are like this, but I only get to hang out with one on a daily basis. So I wouldn't know.

But it seems to me that Daniel has a very sweet side, especially when it comes to his sister.

Never Gonna Leave

Toy Story 3 recently came out on Netflix, and we have been so happy to have a "new" movie to watch (it's crazy how fast kid movies - even Pixar - gets old). Until today, I have managed not to get weepy during the emotional ending.

"Until today" are the key words in the previous sentence.

I guess I finally let myself really imagine saying goodbye to Daniel as he left for college. I completely broke down. My hands were wrist-deep in cookie dough, and Daniel was on the couch. He turned when he realized I was crying and kept repeating, "Why do you have a sad face, Mommy?"

His sweetness only made me cry harder. "Because I'm going to miss you when you leave someday!" (I'm pretty sure my tears went into the cookie dough at this point).

"Oh Mommy!" he said so earnestly. "I am NEVER going to leave you! Don't cry! I will stay with you forever!"

(More tears. Couldn't get it together. I washed my hands and sat with him on the couch. He curled up so close that it made me cry harder. I didn't realize that was possible at this point.)

He hugged me and kept saying sweet things like, "I want to stay like this forever, Mommy." And it actually calmed me down. I thought my bought of tears had ended.

But then a little flash-forward moment of clarity flattened me. Suddenly his demeanor shifted and it was as if I was talking to an adult Daniel in his little body. His panicked "need to stop Mommy from crying" voice went away and he spoke calmly but seriously:

"Mommy, when I go away I will miss you, and you will miss me. I love you very much. But I will visit you a lot."

And if you thought I was sobbing before, you should have seen me then.

In an instant, his sweet panic returned and he hopped up. "I know what will make you happy, Mommy!" He ran to his room and brought back his new blue camera. "Mommy - taking pictures makes you happy! Here... use my camera. I will show you how."

And between a few funny photos and a warm, fresh batch of cookies, I regained my composure.

It is impossible how much I love that little man.

Plagued by Nostalgia

Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only mom who is this nostalgic. At times I am acutely aware of how amazing the current moment is - it's like my senses are heightened and I recognize the moment as one I'll want to remember - spidey mama senses - yet I STILL cannot enjoy it because I'm already mourning it... when it hasn't ended yet.

Does that even make sense?

I have always been too nostalgic and it's not serving me well in motherhood.

I need to trust that each stage of Daniel's life will continue to be better than the previous, even if that looks differently in the future than it does now.  But so far, just out of pure love, my heart has been broken too many times to count.

He is only FOUR.  My poor heart is in trouble.  

Actual Conversations

Daniel has such a tender heart. At times he can be crazy, loud and even disrespectful. But at other times he is quiet, introspective and incredibly thoughtful. The fact that he is articulate only helps his case.

This is a real conversation (no lie) from the drive home last night, after he and Violet had been at a friend's house:

Me: "Daniel, Ms. Mikki told me that you made great choices tonight and were very respectful. That makes me so happy, baby. Great job."
Daniel: "Thank you. Thank you for saying that, Mommy. That makes my heart happy."
Me: "I'm so glad, honey."
Daniel: "Mommy, what makes YOUR heart happy?"
Me: "It makes my heart happy to be together with you and have fun."
Daniel: "Yes, but tonight we were not together. We were apart. That makes my heart sad."
Me: "I know baby, I'm sorry we were not together."
Daniel: "I told Mr. Michael and Ms. Mikki that I wanted you, that I wanted to be together."
Me: "But now we get to be together!"
Daniel: "Yes Mommy. And that makes my heart very happy."

Are you kidding me? I believe the phrase "old soul" is beginning to apply to my charming little man.

I Caved

He made it to four years old without me ever using one of those annoying shopping carts with the giant car attached to the front.

Today, I caved.

It was just me and him making a quick run to the store and, well, I don't know. He just lit up when he saw it and asked me so nicely... the next thing I knew I was pushing a stinkin' semi down the aisles. They should require a special driver's permit for those things. Ridiculous.

But little man had a blast. We unloaded our groceries into the car, he climbed up into his seat and said, "Mommy, that was SO much fun. Bye car! See you later!"

I suppose it was worth it. :)