The Piano Guys

A friend sent me a link today, and of course, one link lends to another on YouTube. This makes me so happy -- must see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyPDQpel8bI&feature=relmfu

Starpower

Yesterday, one of the leaders in my church congregation emailed me to ask if I'd say the closing prayer in services to be held today.

Fast forward to today, during my church meeting, I hadn't told my kids I would be praying. No big deal right? Well, when the person conducting announced I would be giving the closing prayer, it was as if I'd won the lottery. Each of my three kids were patting me on the back and giving me these huge cheshire grins. My daughter said, (with all kinds of pomp and circumstance) "Mom, you get to pray. They said your name." The person in front of me turned with a huge smile, as if to say, "This is your 3-minutes of fame sister, enjoy."

Reunion

This weekend I experienced true joy and happiness. I reunited with my friend Sonia after almost 25 years' absence. With the help of social media, we connected and if that is the only reason I ever give for creating a facebook account, it would be worth it.

Meno, Me, Sonia

She and her family lived next door to mine long ago at a time in our lives when all we had to do was wake up and eat occassionally. We played from morning till night, it seems, and relished in the freedom of small town living. She shared stories of our picnics, where she was always in charge of providing the cheese because she had the best kind and cooking "in the ground" and jumping on a trampoline full of holes. I loved sharing memories of her pink banana seat bike and going on the windy trails down the street or down to the store (watch out for that pothole!). She remembered watching "Bo-ie" for a 4H project. Her basement was haunted and part of mine was (not the part with all of the colored sheets hanging from the ceiling - that was where Melissa, Curt, and I slept). She had a white "Wonderbread" t-shirt and my family had so many cars. She never knew my mom had a food storage business in our home, she just thought we had an enormous pantry.

She asked me to bring books and pictures - so I did, this shows Sonia and Meno :-)

As you can tell, we had the best visit. As soon as I saw Sonia and her sister, who even after all these years, I could only call by nickname - Meno, memories just flooded back and we went back in time for three hours. I've come to the conclusion: our families must have known each other long before we came to earth. That's it. That's how I can describe this happy feeling.

My girls begged to come and meet my friends - I told them we'd probably talk for four hours, so they better have stuff to do. By the end of our visit, there were Barbie dolls covering our booth

It's That Click-Click Sound That Gets 'Em

Something about mom's shoes simply fascinates little girls. I was the same. I am not sure what prompted my little girls to go in my room and pick out my high heels this morning, but sure enough, both girls show up ready to practice violin all decked out.

I had just long enough to snap a picture before one of them tripped and fell, including the very expensive instrument (I think the girl was OK too). Needless to say, we finished the practice on solid ground.

And Please Help Ken's Pants to Stay Up

Little girls are so easy and their birthday parties are too -- unless of course, they (girls or the parties) aren't (like last year when it rained on my daughter's JULY birthday party). That sounds like a Yogi Berra statement to me.

My little girl mostly just wanted her babysitters to come to her party, but luckily two of them were out of town. So, the remaining "lucky" babysitter came along with two other 3 yr olds.

Here, we were making rainbows with fruit loops and gold coins - thanks to pinterest for the idea, it was great

The hit of the party was when Aidyn brought out a mass quantity of barbie dolls that she used to play with her sisters. She got right down on the floor and played with them and the girls all LOVED it. I was cracking up as I listened to them. Apparently, some of Ken's wardrobe was seriously and permanently malfunctioned. The elastic was no longer elasticizing (made that word up, can you tell) around his waist band. The girls were so concerned about Ken's pants staying up and just couldn't figure out why his pants were always falling.

The little girls could've played like this for hours, no other party entertainment needed

We had lunch during the party and when my older daughter said the mealtime prayer, she was sure to include a requested blessing upon Ken that his pants might stay up.

Amen