Hurray for Sunny Days!!!

Now, let me explain myself, lest you think my love of the Pacific Northwest has grown cold. Today was a sunny day only in relation to the rest of the days this week. Really, I should say that it was partly cloudy instead of fully cloudy. It was still mostly overcast and reached a high of a “warm” 43 degrees. But, the sun did peak out every once in awhile, and it was dry enough to take all our outside toys with us to the park next door. We painted on the side walk, played with our cap guns, slid down the slides, raced across the black top and held a rousing game of hide-and-go-seek (during which Natalie “hid” behind a bench. She couldn't see us, which apparently is enough in the mind of a three year old). It was gorgeous outside. Blue skies, big fluffy white clouds, a cool, crisp breeze. Just perfect. I love where we live. I'm pretty sure this is what my corner of heaven is going to look like!

I love my kids. I'm sure all moms do, but I really, really love my kids. They are so much fun to be around and are constantly making me laugh. My life would be so drab without them! Natalie is three. She is sassy, confident and absolutely fearless. She has an amazingly huge vocabulary. I can't remember a time when she couldn't talk. She loves to dance. Give her a semblance of a beat and she will move to it. She has a victory dance that makes me chuckle every time I see it. She takes great pride in passing gas and will loudly declare “I ripped it” anytime wind breakage occurs. Mikey is her best friend and her hero. I can't say I blame her. Mikey is 6 and nearer to perfection than I think I will ever achieve in this life. He has a huge heart and a sensitive conscience. He genuinely wants to do the right thing, whatever that entails. He is a genius. He soaks up information faster than I can give it to him, and then he retains and processes it better than most adults. Science is his absolute favorite subject, especially biology. He wants to know how things work and why they do what they do. Music is in his blood. I'm convinced he will be a rocker like his daddy. He has a very quick sense of humor like his Dad too. I see Chad in him a lot. They are both amazing kids and I am so very grateful that they are mine.

Zoo Day!

Today I went to the Woodland Park Zoo with the kids. I love the zoo. It is just amazing all the different creatures you see there. Today we met a female orangutan named Melodee that is fascinated by women's jewelry. All the regulars remove their mittens when they walk past her enclosure and hold their rings up to the glass. Melodee sits right up against the wall and inspects each piece of jewelry as it is presented to her. The zoo keeper said she also likes purses, lipstick and compacts. We saw an eagle's nest. Did you know that their nests are 6 feet across in diameter? They're huge. We heard a tiger growl. The sound shook my chest and gave me a nervous knot in my stomach despite my sure knowledge that the tiger was safely enclosed on the other side of the park. It was a new sound. A powerful sound. A sound I wasn't accustomed to. I think that is why I love the zoo so much. It makes me feel small and insignificant to be in the midst of so many incredible creations. Huge animals that dwarf me. Animals that are completely foreign to me, that I wouldn't believe existed if I hadn't seen them with my own two eyes. It reminds me that the world is large and my little life is such a small percentage of what is out there to experience. And it humbles me to know that all this was created for us. We weren't given just enough to survive—a few cows, a couple fish, some trees and wheat. We have so much to experience and take in. So much that was made solely to bring beauty and diversification to our lives. And that is what I'm feeling especially grateful for today.

Snowy Day

Natalie's favorite movie is "Frosty the Snowman." We watched it just shy of five million times this Christmas. Seriously, it was a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Frosty the Snowman marathon at our house. And when she wasn't watching it, she was acting it out. So, when it snowed last weekend she was absolutely ecstatic. Finally, we could build our own Frosty. Which we did. Sure, it was only 8 inches tall, but it was fully decorated with a pebble face and a leaf hat and twig arms. Then Natalie insisted that we hold hands and dance in a circle around it while singing the "Frosty the Snowman" song. She was positive that it wasn't a song, but a mystical chant that would magically bring our snowman to life in all it's Frosty glory. I didn't see the snow man move once, but she was convinced that the spell worked. We played outside until our fingers were numb and our noses were runny. Then Natalie started crying. She was upset because after we went into the house, it would warm up, our snowman would melt and Frosty would die (her words, not mine). It was more than her poor little heart could handle. Why am I telling you all this? Well, you need to know, just in case you ever find yourself rummaging through my freezer and come upon a plastic bag with a dirty little clump of ice and wonder to yourself why in the world I would preserve such a disgusting specimen of frozen H2O. I'm telling you so that you'll know that it isn't trash, or the strange remains of some long ago frozen leftovers, but Natty's frosty little friend that picked our freezer for his retirement villa. That's right, my friends, Frosty lives in my freezer, right next to the ice cube tray.