Elliot Loves Queen!

At lunch yesterday, I asked Elliot what she had learned about in church that morning. She gave her standard reply, "Jesus." (Always a safe-bet answer to that question, I suppose.) I continued to pry, trying to get her to talk a little bit more. When I asked her what songs she sang, she became very excited and said "We sang Joy to the World!". Then a sad and forlorn look settled on her face before she said "But we did not sing We Will Rock You." Ah...well, I can see why she was so upset...it might be very uplifting to hear some Freddie Mercury during worship.

A Running Wannabe

I started running several weeks ago. I've always been a very active person and I exercise regularly, but I've never been much of a runner. If I'm going to be perfectly honest with myself, I'd have to admit that I generally stick to the cycling class or aerobics or the elliptical trainer because it's easier for me than running. But I've been so inspired by the people at the gym who seem to run forever and never slow down. So, I bit the proverbial bullet and I've been trying my darnedest to run. I decided to do a 5 or 10k in February (we'll see how I'm progressing!). Who knows, maybe this time next year I'll be preparing for the Rock n Roll marathon. (That's a pretty big stretch though...26 miles? That's the distance from my driveway to the Colter exit on the 51. Yikes!)

A couple of nights ago I was really discouraged with a setback in my progress and grumpily declared to Joel that I was going to quit running. He gave me the sweetest pep talk and told me to keep it up....he said he knew I could do it an I'd get better if I just kept practicing. I thought to myself...How sweet! He really believes in me! It turns out that he got me an armband for my iPod and a new running shirt for Christmas, so he either believes in me, or just didn't want to return my presents at the last minute. Either way, he's a sweet guy and I think I'll try to keep running.

Christmas Blessings

Don't you just love Christmas? Our fun started Sunday morning when Chad came home from Florida! Poor guy, his flight was delayed about 9 hours and he had to stay the night in Dallas, but better late than never. The kids are absolutely in love with him, and I know they will be heartbroken when he leaves. As soon as he left the airport he called to have us meet him at Chino Bandido's for some delicious food that you can only get here in Phoenix. And then (a Christmas miracle if I ever saw one) Chad and my parents came to Christmas Eve services with us.

On Christmas Eve we spent the morning decorating cookies to leave for Santa before we headed over to Bama and Papa's house. And since my kids seem to like running around the house without any clothes on lately, I didn't have to worry about frosting staining their shirts! The kids had so much fun playing with their cousin that I'm sure we'd have had trouble dragging them out of the house if it wasn't for the promise of Santa coming that night!

Early the next morning Elliot ran into our room to make sure we were awake and then asked if we could go see if the cookies were still there. She was thrilled that the plate only had crumbs left on it (clever girl)! But the real excitement began when she went in the living room and found her new princess bike (as far as Elliot is concerned, anything that happens to be pink gets affixed with the "princess" descriptor). She loved that even more than the illustrious Pink Guitar. I thought she might be a little nervous at first, but she hopped right on and hasn't slowed down since. Ethan enjoyed his sports-themed Christmas (he actually has a sports-themed life, I think). He got a variety of balls and sporting goods and has been chasing, throwing, catching, dribbling, kicking, batting, and bowling to his little heart's content. The fact that someone who shares even a fraction of my DNA has the slightest aptitude in sports proves that God can do anything.

We spent the rest of the day lounging about, opening all of the toys, eating queso and tamales, playing board games...our family definitely keeps it casual! It was a very Merry Christmas!

The long and fruitful quest for the perfect present…

Truly one of the greatest joys of parenthood is savoring the expression on your children’s face when they open their presents on Christmas morning. And as the kids are reaching that age when they really understand what’s going on, this year will certainly deliver lots of excitement and smiles from the kids. Joel and I hit the stores yesterday afternoon to do some power Christmas shopping while my parents watched Elliot and Ethan. And now that I’ve had the experience of driving all over town for that one elusive toy, I feel like I’ve really arrived as a mom. We were at a Costco about 2 months ago and Elliot saw a pink guitar and just had to have it. I told her that maybe she would get it for Christmas. But truthfully, since it was a completely age-inappropriate toy and her attention span is pretty short, I figured she’d forget about it. Well, the "Pink Guitar" has been the only thing she’s talked about since Thanksgiving! So, 3 Targets, 3 Costcos, and 1 Walmart later, I finally found the most beautiful pink guitar with yellow butterflies. (Why do I even bother going anywhere else? I should just head to Walmart first….they always have what I’m looking for and it’s usually cheaper anyway.) We picked out some other fun things for the kids as well, but I’m really excited to see her reaction on this one. I can just see her walking around the house, strumming away and performing for everyone. No doubt this is just the first step on the journey to our future superstar’s big break!