Flashback

I have a fuzzy memory of being 3 or 4 and getting out of the car after going grocery shopping and having a gallon of milk drop on the driveway. I can't remember if it broke and spilled or just bounced, if I did it or it was one of my siblings. I just remember that awful feeling of "Oh no!"

As I was leaving a grocery store today with an extremely full cart, we hit a rather large hole in the parking lot and several things came shooting out of our cart. Including a gallon of milk and a big bottle of Gatorade, both of which immediately exploded and gushed liquid through the nooks and crannies of the parking lot. Abby felt guilty and upset and started bawling, which I later found out was mostly because her favorite skirt was now wet with a strange mix of milk and purple Gatorade. So I am halfway to our car with our cart filled to the brim with groceries and stuck in a pothole, Abby is crying hysterically and apologizing, and Sam decides to join in with sympathy tears. A nice gentleman who saw what happened yelled over to ask if I needed anything. I'm not even sure what I said, but I must have sounded like I needed help because he dislodged our cart, cleaned up the now-empty bottles, and laughed with me. I needed that. Even 5 minutes later during the obligatory retelling to Roy, my tired body and mind were ready to cry over that spilled milk.

It's still not funny, but it's getting there.

Moments That Matter Most

We watched this video last night several times. It is a nice reminder of the tiny moments that make happy memories. I especially enjoyed the reminder that, "Diligently doing the things that matter most will lead us to the Savior of the world."

Don't Be Captain Hook

We all learned some important things this week:

• Abby started drawing faces and bodies this week in her pictures--this is a big deal to no one but me and her, but I'm excited that she's moved on from scribbles to drawing people. And yes, I am saving her first picture because I'm proud and because it's of the five cousins at the farm.
• Sam learned how to yell, not just say, "MINE!"
• I learned that super glue can put wheels back on toy cars (it was Mater so ultra-important that he be working) and if you're really careful, the wheel can still even turn. That's right, awesome mom right here.
• Roy learned how fun it is to take 2.5 hours to get to work and still get work done while creeping along in the HOV lane. He wasn't driving, in case you were wondering.
• While we were sitting in church today, Sam was looking through our Sacrament meeting book and said "Jesus" and "temple" while looking at the appropriate pictures. So proud!
• Abby taught us all a new thing this week. While we ate lunch yesterday, she looked across at us and stated, "Captain Hook doesn't follow Jesus."

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to dads, grandpas, and father figures! We're lucky to have you in our lives!

Funny Conversations

This is a sampling of what came out of Abby's mouth during a 10-minute time period. Our mornings generally start out with funny stories of dreams, questions about the day, etc. But my Abby was on one the other morning.

• "Clara doesn't follow directions."
• "There's a BUG IN MY CEREAL!!!"
• "What day is it? Friday? DADDY COMES HOME TODAY!!! How many more minutes until dinner and Daddy comes home." (I told her about 10 hours--Roy was in Montreal on business for the week.) "How many minutes is that? 2 minutes?"

The following are stories written by Abby that we sent to Roy while he was on his trip to Montreal.

• Once upon a time Sammy had bubbles. No, he had bubbles and they had stairs in it. Once upon a time Sam had bubbles and stairs and then we were getting dressed and then Sam falled down the stairs. All of them. And then he crashed and he bonked. The end.
• Once upon a time I was playing up between one of the stairs and then I falled down them and my toys breaked and I was so sad and cried. Because my toys breaked. The end. That was a sad story, huh?

Williamsburg Extravaganza

This post is my excuse for not writing over the last few weeks. I had way too many pictures to sort through and no time to do it. Plus Roy went to Montreal for work last week so my brain and hands were otherwise engaged for the whole day. But excuses aside, here's the low-down on our vacation to Williamsburg over Memorial Day weekend (plus a couple days)!

We went down to see Roy's parents (of course), but the big motivation for the trip was to see Roy's sister and her family who were en route from Peru to Columbia (they are State Dept people). They have 2 girls: a 4-year-old whom Abby adores (in fact, we get a lot of hand-me-downs from Mika and Abby lets people know all the time that Mika gave it to her) and a 1-year-old who Sam loved to play with. We were lucky enough to be able to witness her first steps while we were together and I give myself complete credit for the event. :) While in Williamsburg, we went to

A Bouncy House:

Yorktown Beach:

Busch Gardens:

4-D Pirates movie

Guess who won the favorite uncle contest?

Ode to Soccer

For those who know us very well, you will know that Roy is the soccer player and I am not very skilled in the sport. Nonetheless, we did a soccer class with Abby at our Rec Center for just over 2 months. Abby had the greatest time. She started out with 2 other girls in the class and soon ended up the only one who kept coming. But she could hold her own with 7+ boys each week so I was impressed. Abby had the best time learning some soccer skills, getting dressed in soccer clothes, and going to class. I'm glad we did it, but I'm also glad it's over. It was getting a little hard to keep Sam away from the action.

Abby & Sam Update

Sam now says all the important words: Mater, car, ball, dog (which is always said with 200% enthusiasm and usually is proceeded by running after the dog), water, duck, Jesus, dada, mama, daddy (which really means Abby--she's less than thrilled about that!), go, doctor, uh-oh, baba (grandpa), etc. He is really good at communicating what he needs: he pulls his highchair out when he's hungry, pats his diaper when he's convinced it's time to be changed, grabs food from the pantry and pats his belly when he's hungry (he's hungry constantly), brings books when he needs some cool-down time, has no problem coming over and letting me know that there has been some unfairness while playing with Abby, and goes and knocks on the door when he's ready to go outside. His favorite books are David Shannon's David books. He tries to climb on everything; he pushes Abby on her trike while we walk around the neighborhood; he loves to tease; he loves the dishwasher, trains, cars, and balls; he cries because of an injustice but doesn't cry over a skinned knee or forehead (yep, we've had that twice now). When people are sad or crying, he cries or whimpers with them and pats them on the back. Sam is all boy. My Sam is a loving, cuddly boy with a wild, mischievous streak. I love this boy!

Abby is becoming more and more girl. She loves to have her nails painted, collects princesses and fairies, calls friends on her pretend phone just to chat, loves to be called by her full name, asks for people to tell her how beautiful she looks, wants to plan play-dates and sleepovers for friends, and lines up babies and animals on the couch and takes care of them. Abby says funny things every day; sometimes she just surprises me with the words she uses correctly, other times it's how she describes her feelings. Yesterday we were out on a walk where we had run up and down our "big hill" several times and decided to head home for otter-pops. Abby said with a sigh, "Whew! I'm exhausted!" Then, without missing a beat, "Oh! A butterfly!" which she ran after immediately. Occasionally she's quiet for a few minutes. Inevitably, the few minutes of quiet is followed by, "So, Mom..." where she then tells a story, asks a question, makes a comment about what's going on in her mind, etc. I give her 5-minute warnings before it's time to leave so she can wrap up her games at the park, be prepared to leave a friend, etc. She always says very pleasantly, "Okay, Mom!" and then turns to her friend, "My mom says I have 5 more minutes to play." Maybe I still warn her about the short time we have left because of the pleasant way we can leave places, but it's more likely that I just love the way she says okay: o-KAY. So cute! My Abby is so sweet and caring, has a wild imagination, and asks to cuddle several times a day. I love her!

Both my kids are some of those innately good people. While every day is not one of those dream-come-true days, we have moments of perfectness and I feel so grateful. We love each other, we try hard together, we have fun laughing and playing, we cuddle up together to watch shows, we have fun taking goofy pictures and making crazy movies, we joke around together...we're a family, perfections and imperfections. I really do feel blessed.