multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2555. the warm weight of a sleepy toddler snuggled on my chest
2556. a fabulous start to the school year
 
 
2557. terrific teachers
2558. long-overdue shelf paper replacement in our most-used corner cupboard
2559. a fun, unexpected meeting while walking home from preschool {it's a long story involving meeting Sara Groves' bass player and having a nice chat}
2560. a morning in Buffalo with my mom and "the littles"
2561. a new craft
2562. the glorious blue of the sky paired with the pure white of the clouds
2563. trampoline soccer with Anna
2564. coffee delivery from jenn
2565. fresh cucumbers picked, cut and immediately packed in lunches
2566. the stillness and quiet of daybreak on a Sunday
2567. a HUGE flock of birds overhead
2568. perfect day for a trip to the orchard
 
2569. finding a really fun new park
2570. kids climbing trees
2571. post-workout shower
2572. 23 months of Sara
 
 
2573. the sound of coffee beans grinding
2574. Sunday afternoon nap
2575. laundry out on the line
2576. things crossed off the never ending to-do list
2577. a toddler jumping on the trampoline in nothing but a diaper
2578. a walk around the lake
2579. spotting "the monkey man" {the guy who walks around Como with a monkey on his shoulder} and chatting a bit. so interesting!

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2475. yummy brunch and a walk in Stillwater with my fabulous Bible study ladies
2476. witnessing a group of older ladies {70's, 80's even, maybe} leaving their weekly coffee date. ALL on bicycles. complete with helmets. totally made my morning!
2477. kids playing in the rain
2478. a cool breeze
2479. free back to school haircuts for 3 of our kiddos {thanks JC Penney}
2480. finally getting the word on Ev's surgery after a long morning of praying and waiting and praying and waiting and praying some more
2481. seeing Ev up and around again
2482. impromptu visit from out-of-town family
2483. glorious, amazing weather. i LOVE it!
2484. wearing jeans again
2485. feeling the warm sun on my back on a cool morning run
2486. life-long friends
2487. Carbones pizza {my favorite!}
2488. my 20th HS reunion
2489. how 2 decades can level the ground of life for everyone {or nearly everyone, anyway}
2490. organizing school supplies for another year
2491. Redbox {and free redbox codes make it even better}
2492. kids and oragami
2493. book club
2494. a 2 hour nap following a late night at the reunion
2495. Anna chasing a bunny in the our yard trying to catch it so she can keep it as a pet {thankfully the bunny was quicker than the preschooler! I'm not really a pet girl!}
2496. another good preschool home visit {our 10th home visit from Roseville Lutheran Nursery School staff. I can't believe it's our 10th time with a kiddo starting a year of preschool there! Yikes}
2497. 2 years of life for my nephew, Schaeffer
2498. 32 years of life for my sister-in-law, Jenn {Happy Birthday!}
2499. Monday morning coffee
2500. state fair week :: the fair starts in a couple days and we LOVE the fair! we love watching the preparations {since we drive by the fair grounds all the time, living so close and all}. gates closed off. trucks arriving. food stands going up. so exciting!
2501. a blessing-filled envelope from a friend in the mail last week
2502. a nice article about my dad in the paper on Sunday

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday {or maybe the one after that} for the next installment.

Joey!

Yesterday was Joey's preschool program. He was excited {actually we all were}:
Here he is doing his "big" line:

Walking to preschool

. . . and back home again::

Mom's Night

Last night was "Mom's Night" at preschool. Twice a year things are a little different at preschool. There is no class in the morning and instead you come in the evening with your parent. {Dad's Night is in the fall and Mom's Night is in the spring}. I've been to enough Mom's Nights to know the drill: Free time at the beginning, then a snack and circle time to round out the night. It was a fun night. We walked there and held hands {the roads were dry, though, so no opportunities to make footprints} The theme for the evening was Hawaii. Joe has a mind of his own regarding clothing these days, {see here if you want just a teeny little idea of what I'm talking about} so we didn't come dressed in themed apparel, but Joe did wear these: {and took the picture of them himself!}
They aren't super Hawaiian, but I image there are probably ladybugs in Hawaii too . . . although I've never actually been there to know for sure {on the way to the Philippines in 2004, though, our plane landed in Hawaii to re-fuel. Unfortunately we weren't even allowed to get off the plane and it was dark so really all we could see out the windows were some runway lights. We were seated in an exit row, though, so when they opened the doors to take out some trash I was able to breathe the smallest little bit of Hawaiian air . . . but I don't think all of that qualifies as much of a Hawaii experience!}

The classroom theme {at preschool} for the month in the "big room" where they have their imaginative play time is a big sailing vessel. Joe LOVES boats in case ya didn't know! So he is thrilled. We didn't leave the ticket window and big boat all night . . . he even passed on the ice cream! and we stayed in the ship fishing and selling tickets to board the ship and reading books in the ship and whale watching and running from the {big & scary} sharks {two of them} that somehow got aboard our ship and going up to the top deck {loft} to get a better view and selling more tickets and fishing a little more and . . . you get the idea. We did this ALL night! Didn't play with the volcano in the other room. Didn't make a craft. Didn't play in the sand box or water table. Didn't play games. Didn't visit the book nook. Didn't eat our snack for cryin' out loud . . . ALL boats, all night! I pretended to row the boat once but got scolded. {It's got a motor, Mom! Just start up the engine! No need to row.}

in case you didn't know how big the boat is . . . now you do.
It was "this big".

Joey's Ama came to surprise him. That was fun! He wasn't real keen on giving her the tour of his classroom though because that required leaving the boat! She got there just in time for a little playin' and then was able to join us for circle time. So Joe brought his mom and she brought hers . . . so fun! 3 generations. Here's a picture Joe took of Ama at circle time: {sorry for posting it, Mom, but I couldn't resist.}

Well, that's it for Mom's night. Aloha! We'll "see" you later!

Footprints in the snow

It snowed this morning. Big, huge, enormous, beautiful flakes. It was unbelievable! Good thing it was so pretty, because snow is not at the top of my "things I want to see" list on March 31st, that's for sure. Joey wanted to walk to preschool . . . as he often does. My dad {who is back from his trip to Connecticut} stopped over this morning, so he stayed here with Anna while Joe and I had a little mommy-little guy bonding time on the walk to school.

You can't see your own footprints if you are walking . . . they are behind you. I gave no thought to the fact that we were even making footprints as we walked down the block holding hands and chatting about important things like how it would be better if my coat had a hood {it had stopped snowing and now was dripping huge drops of wetness on my head from the trees above . . . Joe had a hood and was able to stay dry}. We chatted about some other stuff too . . . stuff I don't even remember, but if you know Joe {and me!} there wasn't much silence on the way. We got to school, shed his coat, pinned on his name tag, I asked for a kiss that I didn't get {some days he LOVES kisses, some days he tips his head down and will only let me "kiss the hair" and some days I just get nothin' at all! It all depends on his mood}, said I loved him and I'd see him in a couple hours and headed back down the block to our house.

About halfway down the block where the snow was still in tact and hadn't yet turned to slop you could still see our footprints. Two of his for every one of mine! It made me kind of happy and sad {and other feelings I don't even have words for} all at once to see those footprints. Side by side. I was kind of flooded with thoughts . . . he had to make 2 steps for every 1 I made: did I go slow enough? or was I kind of pulling him along . . . in a hurry to get him to school and then back home again to get some stuff done? How long will he want to walk with me, holding hands? {I'm hoping at least 6 more years, since Jacob still likes it . . . but Joe isn't Jake so you never know!} One day he will out stride me! The "Footprints" poem came to mind too. It was a "moment" for me. I don't know what else to say about it than that. I wish I had had a camera so that I could have snapped a picture of our footprints there together in the snow on Ryan Avenue. But I didn't and now they are all melted. I hope that I will be able to keep the picture of those footprints . . . of that memory . . . in my mind.

Here are his sweet feet
{they weren't bare during our walk though, don't worry!}

I love my little guy so much these days. He is funny, VERY cute, loving, imaginative and says the best things. I'm so glad that I'm his mom! I'm so thankful to the Lord for allowing our footprints to stay there for those extra 10 minutes or so so that I could see them and be reminded how thankful I am {today, anyway} that I get the privilege and honor of parenting this wonderful little man-to-be!

my sweet Joe:

Preschool Parent Helper Day!

I had tons of fun at my parent helper day at Joe's preschool today! You sign up to volunteer in the classroom 3 times during the year and today was my day! It was super fun to be there, even though it was extra work to figure out how I'd pull it off with Lydia home sick . . . but it all came together just fine and Joe and I enjoyed our morning together.

Free play when we first arrived:

Circle time: welcome song, counting how many friends are at school today (no one was sick . . . all 20 kids present and accounted for!), surprise bucket (a.k.a. "show & tell") . . . all while sitting on a cute little mat with your name on it!

Nice job paying attention, bud! That's impressive!

Playdough . . . need I say more?

Getting ready to go home. They all have "magic glue" on their bottoms and can't get off their chair until their grown up taps their head . . . how sweet is that? Amazingly, 98% of the time everyone is cooperative! Those preschool teachers are like miracle workers, I tell ya!