JOYFUL MOMENTS

I just needed to make a list today of all the joy I have watched or had happen in the last couple of days

1) Watching as Colton & Kaeli held hands and sang silly songs together (JELLO and Veggie Tales) as they walked back to the car from Kaeli's performance today

2) Watching as Preston straddled the wagon stuffed with kiddos and stuff and roll it DOWN the hill on the sidewalk during our walk back today

3) Listening as Preston and the big girls bantered back and forth with each other

4) Watching Ky put away 3 HUGE pancakes, mac & cheese, bacon, 6oz milkshake, milk for dinner and then say "Mom, I need something to eat" when we got home and watch him eat a whole banana and some water - sheesh! He will be good to go for a few days after this...

5) Receiving an "I love you" card from Kaeli just because

6) Having Kaeli get pineapple opened for me after I woke horribly sick this morning and after peppermint "tea" and Pepcid AC still werent working....uuuggghhh - remind me it is NOT a good idea to give in to emotional eating...no matter what

7) Having torrential rain up until 1/2 hour before the parade today, having gorgeous weather for the parade and to walk in, having torrential rain start again 5 min after we arrived at performance building, and continue until about 5 min before we needed to leave again....sheesh

8) Watching Preston and the girls in the Keizer Iris Festival Parade today and getting great picts

9) Watching and listening to little people scream and point as they watched horses, cars, etc in the parade

10) Feeling a very warm fuzzy "aaawww" moment when we were getting our check tonight at dinner to find out that someone had left money anonymously for our family because Preston was there in his uniform and they wanted to say "thank you" to him for serving....

11) Listening and watching Kels sing and dance "ring around the rosies" by herself in the kitchen

12) Listening and laughing as Kels sang her ABC's and "F is for FakeBelieve" with the boys in the car while watching one of our fave movies (THANX Uncle T!)

13) Being totally blown away as Kels said her ABC's with the boys while watching same movie

14) Seeing sunbeams streaming through dark storm clouds on the drive home

15) Helping Kaeli get on her CATS costume for her performance today - she was AWESOME!

16) Watching Ceana's reaction to a new food - I asked her to try calamari without telling her what it was first. She did fine and mentioned that it tasted kind of like fish and when preston responded "it should taste like squid" she threw her hands over her mouth and literally bolted to the bathroom.....I havent laughed that hard in a long time....after that I got lots of "how could you do that to me" glares from her....it was pretty funny

17) Listening to Ceana play in her Spring band concert (she ROCKED!) and then enjoying taking picts of her and Ana and capturing their closeness and laughter after the concert. Thanx girls for letting me share that time - picts are AWESOME!

18) Watching Kels eating a mozzarella stick for the first time and laughing as she tried to bite it and the cheese stretched from her mouth across the table as she pulled her hand away

19) Feeling like I accomplished something good by working off stress and steam at the pool

20) Knowing that everyone enjoyed their dinner out tonight as most of the kids sat with that "I cant believe I ate the whole thing" look on their faces

21) Eating a free hot dog lunch while sitting on the ground and tailgate of the Beast (I was very good and didnt eat one)

22) I know there are others - my brain is just on the fritz after a 12 hr non-stop fun day...will add more soon