Ava's Dance

A number of blogs that I read, have made mention of their children dancing recently. I've had this post in my mind for a little while and I keep seeing the topic pop up. I think that it's a very well liked activity. Our family is no exception.

Sometimes, to make it through the hour or so between nap time and Daddy Arrival time, all we can do is dance.

Luke loves music. I love it when I glance at him in the rear view mirror and catch him boppin' along to the radio in the car. And we have to be careful at what times we turn on the music. He has been known to forfeit his dinner, crying to get out of his highchair, just so he can get down and dance. He'll need his own dancing post for sure.

Ava is very much into ballet right now. She wants to be a ballerina.

I got her a "ballerina outfit", as requested for Christmas. And I went against my better judgment when I bought her a leotard with 3/4 sleeves. In my heart I knew that would bug her and I was right. We never even took off the tags.

So finally, yesterday I got around to exchanging it. And of course Ava picked the one that I knew I should have bought in the first place.



Yeah, the one with the princesses on it.



She danced her heart out yesterday. This song has become her favorite. Anything that has to do with sunshine is about her. (Remember spreading sunshine?) And seriously some of the lyrics of that song really could be about her.




I got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine,


I got a love and I know that it's all mine.


Wish that you could but you ain't gonna own me,


Do anything that you can to control me, oh, oh no!

Oh, I may be the only one who thinks that at all funny, but oh well!


And then Ava discovered the magic that could happen when she put on tights underneath the new leotard. I haven't seen her more thrilled with herself.




She slept in that last night. And she's sleeping in it right now.

Confession, Children's Museum, and Crawfish

Well, I am back. I didn't go anywhere per se, but I feel like I've been absent from most things in my life recently. And here it is, my confession: I have been totally absorbed in silly vampire books that I swore I was never going to read. And I liked them. I now feel the ability to take care of my home and family returning. I can answer emails and comment on blogs. There, I said it. It's over, done. Moving on...

Two weekends ago, our friends, the Redds came down for my birthday. As always it was so fun to get together.


The Houston Children's museum was having a discount for the month of January so we took a little trip down there.



The kids had a really good time. The outdoor area had been under construction the last time we were there, but it was finished this time.



Everyone, including the dads had a great time in the water exhibit!


Luke was drenched AND happy!




Ava's favorite part though, was probably the face painting station, where she insisted that she do her own.


Her escapade in my makeup later that week (see previous post) probably had absolutely nothing to do with this.


Corbin was quite the architect with these building materials.




As soon as they were gone, it started, "Mom, I just miss Corbin!" So please, come again soon!! We miss you!

And by the grace of some other great friends, we feel that we have made another step to becoming true southerners.

I stopped by the Marcks for a little Cajun Night (Dan was unable to attend). And if you read their blog, then this post might sound oddly familiar. Anyway, I pretty much stood there at the table while Jordan dissected crawfish and left little shrimp nuggets on a plate for me. Val kept telling me to try and do it myself but I just couldn't. I just could. not. do. it.

Yeah remember this guy? I just kept seeing him in my mind.


It actually tasted pretty good if you could forget the fact that it came from a water-loving, cockroach-looking creature.



And they sent some home for Dan to prove his manliness.


He tried the ones they had so kindly peeled for him,





And then he even hyped himself up enough to peel?, dissect?, correct terminology anyone? a crawfish himself. Under my direction of course.


He didn't like it, but he did it.

You're my hero, Dan!

Be Still My Beating Heart

I opened my front door yesterday for arriving guests and found this:



Do you know what is in that box?!





Happy Birthday to me is in that box!






This past December, I made Mom's Christmas present per her request. And I never posted it's picture. So here it is. A bag to carry her stuff for church.


And then I worked on some matching pajama pants for some of my friends kids. And as I worked, I really, really, really wished for a serger. And I thought about many of my sewing escapades in the past when I really, really, really wished for a serger.



And so without further ado, let me present my birthday present from my husband and in laws (THANK YOU!!)



My new serger.




And now I must go see if I can figure out what this means.

Betty's Bein' Bad

Some days I think Ava might literally put me over the edge. What she brings to the table now only fuels my fire of anxious worry of the future.

She changes clothes on average, 5 times per day. Sometimes dress-ups and sometimes outfits. She has an affinity for anything "new". It doesn't have to be new with the tags, just new to her. Her cousin Marin's hand me downs are especially helpful for that.

And it used to be that her clothing issues were all fit-related. Like "this is too tight", "too short", "too long", "too scuzzy", "too squeeby", it was always too something.

Now our tussles are over fit as well as style, color, match, princessness, and warmth. Oh yes, and frequency. I just get so tired of changing her outfit so often. I kind of came to the conclusion that I would let her do all the changing herself. She can do most of it, but not all. She has trouble with putting shirts over her head and has been known to literally go bananas after approximately 1 second of not seeing out the head hole.


Anyway, she's all girl. And it's nature. Not nurture. I'm positive.

So here is how I found her yesterday afternoon after a short period of neglect.



This is the tame version. Later that night, as her revenge on us for ignoring a hysterical fit, she sneaked quietly to my bathroom and put on her "evening look". Double everything, including lipstick all over her cheeks. I wish I had a picture of that face but I was a little too upset. She had promised to never touch it again, without my help and it was all part of her master plan to get our attention.

I scrubbed and scrubbed at her little face successfully removing everything but the mascara. She keeps apologizing and saying she'll never do it again, and I am sure that is mostly due to the difficulty in the removal process.

She went to preschool today with a "smokey eye". As she drew an imaginary circle around her own eyes, her teacher asked me, "Her eyes?"

"Mascara."

And if this is the 3 year old version, what in heaven's name is 13 going to be like?

I'm not sure I want to know.



And one little story I would hate to forget--

During Sacrament meeting a few weeks ago, I quietly reminded her to "think about Jesus" as she took a piece of bread.
She whispered back, "I don't like Jesus"

And I said calmly, "Yes you do. He loves you and you love Him."

"No, I don't."

I continued, "Yes, you do. He gave you everything. He gave you your mommy and daddy and He loves you."

"No, I love Mommy and Daddy, but I don't like Jesus."

"Yes, yes, you do Ava." (Why are we both so stubborn?) "We wouldn't have anything without Jesus. He loves you so much and you love Him, right?"

And she said to me, "If I say yes, will you go away?"

Berfdays

So yesterday was my birthday and I was planning on it being a day like any other. For the most part it was, aside from the fact that we awoke to a screaming Ava at 5 am. She had thrown up in her bed. After a little TLC and clean up she woke about 30 minutes later to do it again, this time luckily, she made it to the bathroom.


The fun part about this early rise was that she wanted to give me my presents and sing Happy Birthday right then. So she ran and got out the little presents she and Dan had purchased the night before and I opened them up and they sang a duet of Happy Birthday. She was excited about the jewelry I got and so was I! But I must admit, that my favorite part was the picture she drew of me inside the card. She couldn't stop talking about the hair she gave me.


Then we all went back to bed.

In light of the morning's events, Ava skipped school and we hung out at home the rest of the day. Ava felt fine the rest of the day and it appears to have been some quickly passing bug. Some sweet friends called and dropped off presents. At mutual last night, many of the girls were so cute and made me a card and sang to me once again. It was a pretty good day for being, "just a regular day". Now this weekend we hope to do a little more celebrating and I have to say, I sure am happy to be alive!


And I also have to say Happy Birthday to my big sister, Chandra!
So without further ado-

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHANDRA!


I love you! And I hope this year has some wonderful surprises in store for you!

And as a final unrelated note, to anyone of you anxiously awaiting our Christmas cards (yeah right) you can stop holding your breath. They're not coming! I have given up and may or may not revisit the card/letter idea later this year. But for now, I truly hope that your holidays were wonderful.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

So while there's not too much new going down around here, we've been getting back into the swing of things. Over the past few months, I had been having a build up of an idea, I guess you could say. It was kind of like the same thoughts kept coming in my head over and over, so much so, that I began to accept those thoughts for fact. I just knew I needed to start doing some things differently. Like I needed to give my little life a makeover.

And then after diagnoses hitting the ground all around me, but never falling directly on my shoulders, combined with one really scary moment, not only did those thoughts become what I MUST do, I really felt that I COULD do them.

And it all coincided so nicely with the start of 2009. I had no intention of making resolutions, because I usually only keep up with those until around February. So while we are starting 2009 off on a good foot at the Colton house, these things had been brewing long before Dec. 31 and I hope they'll stick around past February (more like forever).

I am feeling so much better it's silly. What's really silly was that I wasn't even aware of how not good I was feeling. I have more energy too and that helps me manage the other parts of the Colton Family Makeover. I think I was in the throws of a vicious cycle. And lest you think there have been crazy changes going on, we've really undergone only 2 smallish changes. But it's amazing how much those 2 things have affected so many other little things. In that way it feels like a big change.

Change 1: Be healthy.
Change 2: Clean better.

See, smallish. And simplish. Ish because small and simple doesn't always equal easy.

I am thinking in terms of one day at a time. And realizing that the reverse is also true, that if I fall short, then I can always fix it tomorrow.

Not the Christmas Post

So it's the 9th day of the new year. I took down the Christmas tree today and while I should be posting about our Christmas, I just don't have it in me to write what should be written and upload what should be uploaded. Cause that's gonna take a long, long time.

So instead, I will get to that another time, and today I will share some stories and pictures that are cute and simple and also one happy discovery that will have a very large impact on the world today (not really).

So first up, Ava went to Primary for the first time this past week. Luke also had his first week in Nursery. He did marginally. When Dan picked him up he was asleep in the arms of a worker. She said, "He sure is heavy." But back to Ava, we were a little worried how she would do because she has been the Queen of the Nursery for the past year. She loves it and is loved and it's been a great situation all around. But, Sunbeams was very good to her on Sunday. She loved it.



And now she sings, "Jesus wants me for a sun-BEEP! A sun-BEEP! I'll be a sunbeep for him."

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The other day, riding home from preschool, Luke began crying (what's new these days?) And Ava said, "Mom, I'm gonna let you put Wukey down for a rest when we get home."

I said, "Oh do you think he needs a rest? Maybe he needs to eat some lunch?"

"No, he needs a rest and I'm gonna let you put him down, cause I'm habeen (having) enough fussin!"

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And one day this week, after his nap but before Ava had woken up, Luke and I were hangin' out in my room. He shimmied off the bed, grabbed his beloved blanket and climbed into his rocking chair next to the window. I thought he looked like the son of a mom who likes to take pictures as he rocked there, strategically placed next to the window for some natural light, in his studio-prop-looking rocking chair, with the blankey. I ran to get the camera.



Ava never cared much for any certain lovey, toy, or blanket. She has things she likes but nothing she was ever really attached to. I really tried to push her to love her stuffed lamb but she was fairly indifferent.


Luke on the other hand loves his blanket. He pulls it out from between the slats in the crib and carries it around the house when he gets tired, or sometimes when he just feels like it.

Where's Lukey?



There he is!



And then he got off the chair, walked over to the edge of the bed, crouched down, peering into Sophie's lair, and pulled out the dish scrubby wand that has been missing for weeks. Full of cat hair? Yes, but found just the same.



Happy Friday!

Long time...

no blog. Right now I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with the catching up that needs to be done on Christmas and New Years but that's not where my heart is right now.

This weekend I went to my parent's for a kid-free "mommy vacation" which was Dan's generous idea. I was so happy to be able to go.

I took my time driving up, relishing the fact that I was alone in the car. I stopped to photograph a church that I've always wanted to, but never had a convenient time to do so.


Mom and Dad and I hung out. My first night there we sat in front of the fire and I listened as they each told stories of growing up and stories about some of their relatives. That is not our usual scenario. There is usually alot more TV and kid noise. It was so pleasant and I went to bed thinking, "Every child should be so lucky" to have a night like that one.

We slept in, worked, shopped, ate, etc.

And then Saturday was a beautiful day. We decided to take a "photography field trip" as I like to call them, since dad got the new Rebel for Christmas. He suggested a bridge by a river near their house.


When we got there, we had a good time trading notes and settings, and we discovered a trail that went all around the river. We just kept strolling and taking pictures.

And it was on the way back to our car that Dad started having trouble breathing. We stopped to rest but it became clear that something was wrong, when every time he continued to walk after a rest, he'd have to stop again after about 10 yards.

We made it to a field adjacent to a road. Dad and I went through a hole in the fence while my mom ran to get the car so she could pick us up.

I hadn't really felt scared until I was there alone with him. He was perched on some rusty farm equipment struggling to breathe and then he started coughing and choking. For that moment time stood still. I have never felt so helpless.




Mom arrived quickly and we went to the emergency room. They tested him for everything from heart attack to asthma. It turn out he had a large blood clot in each lung. He was immediately started on blood thinners and was admitted to the hospital.

He is doing well. Just as he said he was. From the beginning, he insisted, "I feel fine! I just can't breathe!". He'll probably be going home soon and continue on blood thinners for 6-9 months. They also discovered that he has diabetes

It wasn't until I got in the car Sunday morning to drive home, that I came down off my "high" of adrenaline. What had happened started to sink in and I drove home in a puddle.

It's been a wake up call-of health,of preparation, of expression of love, of Providence, of many things. God's hand is in every single thing.




And I love my dad.