Snow Day

When Amelia saw it snowing the other day, she got very excited - she actually did the sign for "snow". So, I bundled her up, and we headed outside to play.

"Amelia, what do you think of the snow?"

"I give it my thumbs up, Mom."

Amelia can't walk yet, but she seemed as happy as could be to just crawl through the snow.

"Are you having fun, Amelia?"

"Yeah Mom! Let's do this again!"

And on a side note, I have decided that the locals here are baseball fanatics. I thought they were crazy when they were playing baseball/ softball in the rain, but this morning, their craziness went to a whole new level - they were playing in the snow . . . and it's only about 20F outside. Crazy!

Random Acts of Kindness

One of my favorite books is "Love is a Verb" by Mary Ellen Edmunds. Every time I read it, I get all pumped up about doing random and not so random acts of kindness/ service, etc. And because I'm looking for ways to help/ serve others, I tend to notice acts of kindness done on my behalf. Sometimes I think we are the recipient far more than we recognize - we're just not paying attention - and that's probably the same reason that we miss out on helping others.

The other day I was lugging Amelia and her car seat into a store. (I say lugging, because as small as she is, she's still getting heavy . . . and I don't usually carry her in the car seat much, but I was in a hurry . . . anyway, I digress.) So I'm in a hurry, and awkwardly trying to open the store door, while carrying Amelia's car seat. A lady coming out of the store said "Oh, let me get the door for you." But by the time she got there, I was already through the door. I told her "Thanks anyway" and hurried into the store. It seemed odd to me that I felt bad that I hadn't let her serve me.

Today when I came out of Costco, it was snowing. And of course, Amelia's hat was in the car - because it hadn't been snowing when we went in. As I'm hurrying through the parking lot, Amelia is laughing at the snowflakes falling around and landing on her. She doesn't even seem to mind the cold wind blowing through her hair. I get to our car, literally throw my purchases into the front seat, and turn around to get Amelia out of the cart. She's just grinning like she's having the best time in the world - who cares that it's snowing on her? While I'm getting Amelia into her car seat, I hear someone ask if they can return my cart for me. I turn around and gratefully accept the offer. To which the man replies, "it looked like your daughter was sure having a good time". Perhaps Amelia's smiling, despite the snow, made this man's day, just as his offer to return the cart made mine.

It's official

I dislike shopping for clothes for Amelia as much or more than I dislike shopping for me.

* We got a lot of new/used clothes for Amelia when she was born, but she has outgrown almost all of them.

* The clothes that are bigger than her are summer clothes. And even though it feels like Spring somedays, it's still cold outside.

* Buying a new wardrobe every 6-months or less is exhausting. No wonder future children get hand-me downs.

* To make matters worse, clothes her size seem to be non-existent in 2nd hand stores - perhaps because kids wear that size longer and are less likely to make it to a 2nd hand store? And in stores with new clothes, well, they are now carrying their Spring line of clothes - I'm still looking for warm clothes.

* Poor Amelia. Some days she looks less than put-together - hair down in her eyes because she won't let me pull it up, sleeves up to her elbows and pants up to her calves because she's growing faster than I can keep up. Sigh.

Laughin' in Lacey

It's all fun and games until Mom shows up with the camera.

Random Thoughts

* I have traveled to the edge of the "big city" twice in the last week. It reminded me how much I do NOT miss driving in freeway traffic.

* Valentine's Day street vendors make me laugh. I mean, if my husband ever came home with a giant teddy bear or a pre-made basket of goodies, I'd know for sure that he had forgotten, and this was his last ditch attempt to make good.

* I am working on a Primary lesson on temptation. The other night I had a dream that Satan kept calling me on the phone. If only it was that easy to know when we were being tempted :)

* The weather has been so warm and wonderful here lately, I am having a hard time believing that we're in the middle of February - it feels more like the end of March. Flower buds have even started coming up in the yard - I can't wait to see what blooms.

Musical Expressions

Amelia loves music . . . and we think she's picked up a bit of talent from her father . . .

(Amelia had a little shaker in her hand - in case you couldn't see it in the video)

. . . and her mother.