Speed Racer

Saturday Nicky and I took the little kids, plus Hannah, to the Baby and Toddler Expo at the Fort Washington Expo center. We entered Mary Elizabeth in the crawling races -- she's only been crawling for a few weeks, and she really made a pretty good showing. Food motivated that she is, she crawled to the finish line in pursuit of a strawberry/banana cereal bar and crossed the line third; however, the little boy that crossed the line second stood up part way through the race and, in my opinion, was disqualified, making her the odds on second place winner!!!

Obviously, all of this was a bit much and she decided to take a nap mid way through her first course of string cheese while I was fixing her dinner.

Everything I know I keep learning from my kids....

Last weekend the Youth Choir from our church got together after church for bowling and then a pizza party. This has been a great year for the youth of our church. The music director has taken a group of very dedicated teenagers (they get together every Monday night to practice) and turned them into a unified group that bring a lot to our church through their beautiful voices. I am very partial to ministry through music. My mother sang in the choir for a while when I was a kid, I sang in the choir, my grandfather loved to sing and Mallorie can bring me to tears when she is singing in church. It has been great to see all of the kids grow in the choir and as a group this year. They're all very different and who knows if they would have ever been friends at all if not for the common thread of this group. It is an amazing thing how your church family can do that with you and for you. These kids all came to church every Sunday, but until they all got involved in the choir together they didn't didn't get involved in each other. I think there is a lesson there somewhere. It is not enough to sit on the sidelines and wait for life, we all have to get in the game to be in the game.

Happiness Is....

I know I'm getting old -- it's one of the benefits of waking up every morning, but when my brother and I were young we used to stay at my grandmother's house and she had these Peanuts books -- Charlie Brown and Snoopy cartoons -- "Happiness Is..."
Happiness is a warm blanket, etc... I was thinking this morning as I was putting Mary Elizabeth down for a second morning nap (there's a Happiness is for you)

and jump starting the laundry, of my list of "Happiness Is..." Happiness is sharing cheerios with Rusty....Happiness is Easter Brunch with your neighbors who happen to be such good friends...Happiness is our monthly Jefferson Family dinners (it's April, so we are having another one tonight)...

Happiness is Wednesdays with the baby, Sundays with the whole family and Monday night dinners when we're all home.

Happiness is...watching Jason and Mallorie turn in to teenagers I enjoy being around, most of the time...Happiness is watching Hannah try to be more mature than her big sister, but still wanting to go outside and play with the younger kids...Happiness is watching Mary Elizabeth crawl and smile and play and laugh as she is growing in to a toddler (one who probably won't actually toddle for another six months)...Happiness is curling up on the sofa with my husband and over 200 pounds of doberman and trying to figure out how we're all going to fit -- Rusty has finally acknowledged that we don't all fit in the bed together and he has taken to sleeping on the floor until one of the human animals gets up in the morning...Happiness is...Spring flowers and bright sunshine and fresh cut grass...Happiness is family and friends and the promise of each new day, new week and new season. We are so blessed in our life and with Mary Elizabeth getting ready to celebrate her first birthday I truly appreciate that we are all together and healthy and happy and reflect on what a year it has been for all of us.

Happiness is.....

There she goes!!!

We're crawling!!!! Mary Elizabeth decided after teasing me for months that she would begin crawling on Friday, March 31 -- she apparently didn't want to be the only 11 month old baby we knew who couldn't crawl yet. She started out looking like one of those wind up crawling toys, but she seems to be mastering her new skill pretty quickly.