Thursday Night Follies II

For the ward Scout Cake Auction and Pinewood Derby, Mandy and I were the world's most enthusiastic Den Mothers. It was a chore, but anything for the Scouts!! So sorry you don't get the whole ensemble pictured here, waist down was pretty awesome, or should I say under the shadow of the mommy pooch.

Thursday Night Follies

November 13, 2008 was a Relief Society Talent Show.....
Mandy Sorensen and I decided that our talent was finding joy in simple household tasks, and this is what came of it.

Wicked Awesome Dude!

While in Boise, Faith enjoyed practicing her half-ollies over Grandpa Dan

catch the moment

There are some moments in life that you are able to catch on film such as these: Walking in the room to find your already angelic child perfectly highlighted by the celestial sunlight in a perfectly poised sleep.

And others you just hope to remember in your mental film such as this:
Josh has been wonderful about taking Faith out on a walk each day when he gets home. Each day she gets her shoes and hops about happily until Josh is ready to take her out. Josh takes her down the steps to the sidewalk and then asks which way she wants to go. I have taken to peeking out the window to watch their gestured discussion as to the merits of each direction. To the left is Broulims, where Faith has figured out has free cookies. To the right is the BYU-Idaho campus with plenty of buildings to explore that are heated. Of course the cookies have lately been the greater pull, so Faith will start edging steps toward the left, point with one hand emphatically while nodding her head yes (I can hear the little voice in my head say Yah!). Josh shakes his finger, takes a couple of steps to the right and gestures to her to 'come.' Faith generally wins out merely by taking a enough steps toward her desired destination that Josh has to follow. What a wonderful daily routine for the both of them, and what a cute conversation to watch every day.

May I have this dance?

This afternoon I had Faith watching a movie (she was having one of those days where she runs into things, or falls of them, or otherwise does herself damage inadvertantly). I was playing with Danny on the couch as Faith wiggled her little body around while still keeping fixed on the TV screen. She was watching "Enchanted" which has a lovely waltz scene. Seconds after Robert asked Giselle to dance, Faith came over to me and offered her hand to guide me to the dance floor. We got up and Faith continued to watch the dance sequence to make sure was getting the steps correct. When the music ended I asked Faith if she wanted to dance again. Her face lit up as she said "Yah!" and made a dash for her blankey. She had notised that there was something missing. She wrapped her blankey around herself in a splendid gown and then looked at me dismayed; she couldn't dance and hold up her dress! I quickly tied two corners together so we could have our encore dance. Well, by the fourth repeat dance, I had employed the handy dress-up clothing of my youth it replace the blankey gown with a fabulous black velvet gown with red throw. She was quite the beauty, and a lovely dance partner.

We're moving...

After reading this headline on CNN last night
"Obama may reverse Bush policies on stem cells, drilling, abortion" he seriously began looking at real estate on New Zealand. It sure would be pretty there, and peaceful.

What passes behind those perfect eyes

It is surprising to me how much Faith understands. Of course, she is brilliant enough to play dumb often enough that you still treat her like she is learning it new every time. Here are two examples of yesterdays intelligence leaks:

While at the grocery store, Faith began as a regular almost-two-year-old by refusing to sit in the shopping cart. I quickly put Danny in the cart as she made a fast sprint into the grocery store hoping to loose me. She quickly found some other kids to pester, which I was content to let her do until I really needed to get some shopping done. When I was prepared to shop, and the kids were gone on obeying their mother, leaving Faith to wander farther and faster from me, it was time to get her in the cart. I quickly caught her and she knew what was happening. She began to put out a screech when I asked her to "slow down a minute and listen to Mommy." I explained to her how I needed her to help me with the shopping and it would be easier to help if she was sitting closer to me and higher up to see things. I then asked "Can you sit up here and help Mommy?" She looked me in the eye, and happily replied "Yah!"

Once back at home, Faith was about and in to things. Her favorite aunt (by virtue of bribbery) had allowed her to use her flavored chapstick one morning while getting ready. Well, Faith knew right were Jill had left the chapstick. She moved the stool over to it, got the lid off and began to apply. Very proud of her accomplishment, she soon came to show me how 'pretty' her lips looked. I agreed they were pretty and took the chapstick away since she didn't need any more. That didn't go over very well. We began the mortal struggle for the pink tube. I got the tube, but Faith had the lid. Once I pryed the lid out of her hands and replaced it on the chapstick, she was super upset. A stroke of genius overcame me and I went to retrieve the clear tape. I secured the lid on the tube and handed it back to Faith, that was after all what she wanted. She was happy to have the chapstick back, but only for a moment until she realized that I had thwarted her plan. She turned on the fake sad as soon as she realized it and asked for "Mommy ophen pleeeeze." Well, I didn't open it and Faith tried with all her mental muster to figure a way to get it open by herself before giving up and playing with her ponies.