Fearless

Norah went to her first swimming class with Grammy the day after proving she wasn't afraid of the fireworks. She proved that she wasn't afraid of waterworks either! In fact, she was moved from the 6-24 month class up to the 2-4 year olds. I'd like to say that this was because she's a swimming genius, but mostly it was because she was the oldest kid in the class by about a year. Anyway, here's the visual!

Grammy demonstrating a deep breath in...

Making the "leap"

The point at which I (as a toddler) would have decided never ever ever to go near the pool again.

Up!

My little swimming genius.

Never Will I Ever

It was Thanksgiving break my junior year of college when I first mentioned something about Mark Jones to my mom. She perked up a little and asked, "Who's Mark Jones?" "Oh, nobody Mom. He's just like, my best friend at school right now." The first words ever out of my mother's mouth regarding Mark were as follows, "Be careful who your best friend is, Shell. We marry our best friends." I rolled my eyes and quickly informed her that she had no idea what she was talking about. "I would never marry that boy! We're absolutely just friends!" On July 19th we will be married for seven years, and best friends for almost ten.

From that time to this, there have been a lot of things I said I'd never do that I ended up doing. Not illegal or immoral things, mind you, just things that I was personally against for one reason or another. As it turns out, while I was playing Never Will I Ever, God was playing a little game called Wanna Bet?

Here's a list of a few of the major things that spring to mind that I said I'd never do:

Never will I ever ...

... move back in with my parents after college. I did, for eight months to save up for our wedding.

... live in my old home town. The first house Mark and I bought was less than three miles from the house I grew up in.

... move to Orange County. We moved out of my home town and straight to Orange County. We even bought and sold (just in time, thank God) a house there.

... attend a "mega church". The place that I thought would be so anonymous and impersonal was actually the place where we built some of our most enduring friendships.

Over the course of the last few years, God has repeatedly challenged my preconceptions, presumptions and prejudices to prove that He had a lot better plans for me than I did. I looked at my own circumstances and the circumstances of others and set about preempting problems by deciding not to do certain things. But I just don't have the same perspective on my life as He does.

I watched several friends here in snow country cart teeny babies around in the winter time, slipping on ice and bundling them against the cold wind. I quietly whispered to my husband, "Let's never have a baby in the middle of Winter."

So it was more with amusement than surprise that I discovered a couple of months back that we're expecting our second. Due, of course, on December 28th. But the farther along I've gotten into this pregnancy, the more I've realized that the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

So I'll never second guess the Man with the Plan again.

Wanna take any bets on that?

Letters of Intent

Dear Disney/Pixar:I don't typically thank giant corporations for very much. Truly, you (all) and I know that at the end of the day it boils down to money. Don't try to pretend it doesn't. Still, I would be remiss if I neglected to thank you for Finding Nemo. Not only does it allow the grown-ups in the house a few moments of uninterrupted peace, but it taught our little girl one very valuable lesson. She constantly tells us that Nemo got lost because "he no listen to Daddy". We have taken it upon ourselves, as responsible parents, to remind her of this when she's having trouble listening. She has even extended the object lesson to include listening to all pertinent grown-ups (Mommy, Grammy, etc.). So thank you. That is at least one valuable lesson that she's gleaned from TV. And yes, it was worth the money.Love,The Mom Who Appreciates Good Listeners
Dear City Parking Attendant:It was only when I saw the orange envelope on my windshield that I remembered that my parking pass was valid January through June... and it was July 2nd. Given our current financial situation, a ticket was not high on my list of things to spend my discretionary money on. My heart started palpitating like a southern schoolgirl at cotillion (I do declare). So I was pleasantly surprised that the ticket was made out for $0.00 and listed as a warning! I am beyond elated that in this tourist town, it's not only the cars with out of state plates that catch a break from time to time. Thank you for your decency,The Lady with a Newly Current Parking Pass
Dear Monsoon Season:You're late, but we're so glad you showed up! Now, if you could just go ahead and follow through with your threats to hose this place down every afternoon, I'd be ever so grateful. The sinus pressure is killing me.Love,Extra Strength Tylenol's New BFF

Helping Grandpa Feed Annie

A Fourth of Fun

A neighboring town opted to celebrate the 4th of July on the 3rd this year, given that the 4th was a Sunday. While there was much ado (on both sides of the issue) about separation of church and state, the validity of a holiday not celebrated on the actual day and the sanctity of the Sabbath... er... Sunday, I only had one thought: Sweet! Two days of community events! So we packed up and headed over on Saturday to see what the Town Next Door had to offer.

We left the house a little late and missed the annual pet parade. Fortunately for us, this year's participants were almost all dogs. In the past there have been goats, pigs, donkeys and (I'm totally making this up but it would be awesome) chickens on leashes. We made it there just in time for the actual people parade.

Here are the highlights:

Norah waving to the parade. Our pastor's sweet daughter gave Norah a sucker. I think she was half way down the street and Norah was still yelling, "Thank you LIBERTY!!"

A local church gave out water. It was a pretty hot day - in the low 90's, which is about as hot as we get around here. I was impressed that the church anticipated the needs of the community and worked to meet them. It was kind of like they were doing what churches are meant to do... which unfortunately, is not all that common these days.

I'm pretty sure Anne (Ellie's grandma, in the front there) got a better picture than I did. Still I thought this was SO cute of the girls. I captured this just seconds before they pulled each other over and fell to the pavement in a giant red, white and blue heap of arms and legs.

Toward the end of the parade a truck with a giant water gun drove by. Norah wanted to get wet, so we went and stood behind it. The H2O output was roughly equivalent to a height-of-monsoon-season Pacific Rim light hurricane. Here, Norah is demonstrating that she got wet "all the way to her button".

This red white and blue cutie sure had fun!

Spectacular Spectacular

This Fourth of July, we were a little worried that Norah might not enjoy the fireworks as much as she did last year. Given that we are told almost daily that the train "freaks her out" we figured she might not go in for loud noises. Mark spent quite some time prepping her. He explained that fireworks were lights in the sky and they make loud "boom boom" noises, but that they can't hurt you. He also said that they're so pretty it's hard to be scared of them just because the say, "Boom boom". We brought her little bunny from the car so she could hug him if it got too loud.

The net result was a small, very verbal child sitting next her Daddy giving him a play-by-play of the action. "Oooh Daddy! Big one. Green! Little one, blue." At one point, she even remarked, "No cry Bunny Foo Foo. No scary. Piddy!" We may have done an overly thorough job explaining, but I was super excited that she was so into the fireworks. They're her daddy'sabsolute FAVORITE part of the 4th and he was thrilled to be able to bond withhis little girl over the rockets' red glare.

Here are a couple of very poorly lit photos of the occasion:

See Bunny Foo Foo between their heads? She was showing him (yes, the pink bunny is a he) how pretty the fireworks are.

Heard Around the House

It's time for another edition of Heard Around the House. This I will call the Monkey See Monkey Do Edition. Norah's vocabulary s growing so quickly that she can basically understand (at lease the gist of) almost everything we say. She also enjoys repeating what we say. We have been finding ourselves more and more limited on what we can say in her hearing. Here are a few examples:

"Nonah growin' up. Need a big girl room. With Tinkerbell. Or ladybugs."

We will probably continue the "what do you want in your big girl room?" discussion until I go ahead and decide for her.

"Whatever Mommy."

She uses the right inflection and everything. She was immediately informed that this is not a nice or appropriate thing to say to people and it most certainly is NOT cute.

"Two in August"

When you ask her how old she will be on her birthday, this is her response. We don't remember ever telling her that her birthday is in August.

"Gramma comin' Wednesday. Stay our house."

I told her this exactly once and she repeated it for a week until Grandma came yesterday.

And my favorite.....

"The train freaks me out."

Her dad had just finished telling his mom that the train does, in fact, freak her out.