The Superstar Club

We made sandwich sushi in Iowa with Elisabeth and Miriam!  Oh yeah!  Uh, don't write that, okay?  No don't write that, Mommy!  No, don't write that!  That's all I want to say!  Okay, stop writing mom.  BACKSPACE!  

(this post was told by Solei and transcribed by Mom.  Obviously.)

We love love

Back in February my mom came to visit us to cheer up our winter.  YAY!  And shock of all shocks, I had my camera handy!

 Solei made a phone thingy.  Can you hear me now?!

 Mom helped us make Valentines.  I really like the feel of a handmade Valentine - not that they were all that fancy, but I like Solei sitting down and making something for her friends.  I snagged the idea off Pinterest - hearts that you fold up into envelopes.

 Jared and Forster supervised.

 Solei decorated and addressed, Mom wrote the "Happy Vatentine's Day" and I folded.

 Cute, huh?

 I kind of hate the major influx of candy at holidays, so we played it cool by decorating a piece of sugar-free bubble gum and slipped it inside.

Then they took a well deserved rest.

 Another marvelous thing about Mom's trip was how much time she spent tickling, wrestling and loving on Forster.  If you've spent any time with him you know the way to his heart is touch and play, and Mom gave it to him in spades.  He walked around in a happy daze for a week and for the next week every time he woke up from a nap, he stood up and begged for Gamma.  She needs to visit again ASAP!

 I miss her too!

And one more random picture - I walked in on Solei reading Calvin and Hobbes to Forster and he was riveted!  He'll even sit down and read it to himself now, yelling "Oh no!" and pointing to Calvin's wagon riding disasters.  These kids are too dang fabulous!  I MISS YOU MOM.

march madness

So the last few months have been an insane ride.  There has been a pretty nasty storm brewing at Jared's work and he has been looking and interviewing everywhere like a madman.  Honestly, one big frustrating part (for me) was that we just moved here 2 years ago, and at that time the company seemed stable, but it has been bought and sold a few times since then and things have changed dramatically.  Ugh.

Anywho, our biggest preference was to head back to Atlanta.  We do dislike moving and selling houses - although our last 7 years would dispute that claim - but we were more than willing to do it to get out of the crazy situation and back to my band, family and the familiar.  But after a few offers, a LOT of prayers, Jared accepted a job in Madison.  The commute isn't good, and we are staying in Wisconsin, both things we don't really dig, but we are trying to follow the Spirit on this one.

One tender mercy was the fact that this was the mildest winter we've experienced since we moved here.  A good portion of the time there has been no snow at all!  I know this was a blessing just for me.  I've been a wreck, but not feeling like I'm trapped in a white tomb for 4 months has been seriously uplifting.

So now it is VERY March (for Colorado weather) - very windy but without a speck of snow.  Solei begged to go outside with the kite yesterday and Jared humored her.  As I watched them walk across the street, I felt very thankful for our home.  We live on a lovely street right across from a park with huge soccer fields.  It may not be my ideal place to live... far from it... but in the few sunny months, it's wonderful for the kids.  As I went snap happy, I felt deeply grateful for our bit of real estate, and also keenly aware of the love our Heavenly Father has for our little family.