If you have just a little to give . . .

If you've read my blog at all, you know that I don't do this kind of thing. But this is one of those causes that truly seems doable-both in the amount being asked ($10) and the project itself-building a house for a poverty-striken family in Vietnam. Can you believe $1750 (the fundraiser goal) could build one or possibly two houses? Amazing.

I don't know Heather-but she's trying very hard to raise this money and isn't even halfway there-so her blogging friends are rallying around her . . .namely Laura and Kelly

From Kelly’s Blog:

For the past month or so, I’ve seen a fellow adoptive mom Heather trying to raise $1750 to build a home for a family in need in Vietnam through the group Giving It Back to Kids. Her deadline is the end of this month and she is still not half-way to her goal, yet.

Unless you have been exposed to families in extreme poverty, unless you have seen how many live in third world countries, it is hard to understand the term “shack.” A “shack” here in our country is not a “shack” in my son’s homeland. A shack there is a 5 foot by 5 foot area built out of scrap that could house a family with several kids.

Imagine what we could do if everyone gave $10 to Heather’s project? Even if ten of you do that, and then post this on your blogs, and then ten of your readers do the same, and on and on, we can get her to her goal.
If you have a blog, won’t you help us get the word out? If you have food on your table, won’t you consider contributing $10 or $20 to a family who you will never meet, but whose world will be forever transformed by your generosity?

It may seem that a few people giving a few dollars can never make a difference, but that is just not true. If you put a bucket under a dripping faucet, it may seem like it would never fill, but leave the bucket for a few days and that bucket will overflow with countless “insignificant” drops.

Go to Heather's Blog and CHIP IN!


Me again: So-if you're able-please consider a donation of $10 (or more!). If you win the double-stroller and don't need it-you could always sell it or donate it or something. OK-I'm coming off my soapbox and heading over to Heather's blog to donate my $10. Wanna join me?

Pics of Princess Josie to come soon . . .

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” – Mother Teresa

I ♥ faces-laughter

Josie and her buddy Priya-they had so much fun that day! This is my entry for this week's contest on I ♥ faces-click on the button to see the other entries.

Those little moments . .

This morning I had one of those moments . . .the ones where you are so happy and content you almost cry . . .

Josie woke up this morning with tons of energy and was running around in a T-shirt and nothing else (in other words-the ultimate in comfortable for her) and we were playing with a balloon. And she kept coming over and hugging me before smacking me in the face with the balloon. It was good, really good.

I don't know how else to explain it-all you parents know what I mean.

Two Years Ago Today . . .

You came into my life and changed it forever. You've made me so happy and I hope and wish you are too.

I love you baby girl. Hard to believe how far we've come and how big you've grown since this moment (I've grown in many ways too-some good and some not so good!)

Silly Easter bunny . . .

This phrase is heard a lot at the house these days-as Josie continues to find eggs in random places. I sing in my church choir and Holy Week is pretty crazy for us-therefore I got a lot of extra babysitting help from Grandma and Great-grandpa Joe.

Since Josie was going to Grandma's on Saturday and staying overnight I decided the Easter bunny would make an early visit. So-Saturday morning Josie woke up to a basket in her crib (yes-she's still in a crib . . . .more on that at another time). She didn't see it right away due to the fact she woke up at 5:30am and it was still dark in her room. Then she hid her eyes when I turned on the light (Bright light! Bright light!). So-finally I asked her,"What's that?" and pointed to it. She thought it was all pretty cool-though she's still finding easter basket grass in her bed (silly Easter bunny!).

I had filled a bunch of plastic eggs with jellybeans and M&Ms and hid them in places I knew she'd stumble upon them. I didn't tell her to look for them-I just let her find them. The first one she found was in a bag of leftover popcorn from the night before. Yes-I let her eat leftover popcorn in the morning . . . .is it much different than Corn Flakes? Anyway-she got sooo excited! Until she tried the jellybeans inside. She spit it out. Thankfully-she gave me enough notice for me to get a napkin. So-she's excited to find the eggs-but really excited when they're the ones with M&Ms in them. Mama gets the jellybeans.

Then-at a chilly (but mostly dry) 9am we joined her daycare buddies at a park for the daycare's Easter Egg hunt. Josie didn't get it at first-she wouldn't hold her own bucket and couldn't understand why she was being asked to clean up the lawn. She was more excited about the Easter bunny-who made her friend cry- and all the balloons. And the playground-which we stayed on until I almost froze to death . . .

Sunday was Easter dinner at my mom and dad's-Josie was ready for the hunt (indoors) this time. She did so well she had to get a second bucket.

So-2 yr olds are like men . . . .

in the sense that they can never find anything. Seriously-i thought it was just a male thing-you know, you send your nephew into the garage to get something-and he comes back 30 secs later saying "I can't find it." So you go out to the garage and practically trip over said item, as it's so obviously right in plain sight. But with a 2 yr old-you have the added issue of short attention span. Holy cow-Josie can't keep her train of thought for more than 5 seconds apparently. And that may be a generous estimate.

So-yesterday I was going to the bathroom with Josie, as usual, being my audience (seriously, she pulls up her stool and sits down right in front of me). She even cheers me on, "you can do it mama!", "Is it coming?", "Good job, Mama!*clapping*).

Well-yesterday I ran out of toilet paper, but hey-it's not a huge problem, right? Josie's right here-I'll just send her to get some more. Yeah, right.

I asked her to go to the pantry and get some more from the bottom shelf. She's all "Okay-I'll be right back!" And then she runs WAY past the pantry (which is in the hallway right outside the bathroom). So I yell for her and say "The pantry, Josie. Where the food is. The kitty food too. The toilet paper is on the bottom shelf!"

"Okay-I'll be RIGHT back!" She makes it to the pantry and pulls on the door. "Help Mama! I can't do it!"

"Try again!"

"Help Mama!"

Sigh. Plan B.

"Josie-can you get Mama the box of tissues from the living room?"

"Sure-I'll be Right Back!" Pitter-patter. Silence.

"Josie?"

"Huh?"

"Can you bring Mama the tissues?"

"Huh?"

"The box of tissues! In the living room!"

"Living room?"

"Yes! On the table!"

"On the table?"

ARRRRRGGH! "The table! By the couch! Where you put your cup!"

"Oh sure! I'll be right back!" (yeah, right . . . .)

Pitter patter. Silence. Sing-song voice "lalalalalasomethingabout grandma'spicture". Oh-she's talking to the picture of my grandma again.

"Josie?"

"Huh?"

"Bring me the tissues, please!"

"Okay!" She runs into the bathroom, empty-handed.

"I need a kiss! An Ariel kiss!"

I give her a kiss. And then beg her to get me the tissues.

"I'll be right back!" Runs out of the room. Silence.

"Josie?

"Huh?"

"The tissues! "

"Huh?"

Sigh. By this point, I've dripped-dry enough to shuffle to the pantry to get the toilet paper. As I'm doing so, Josie comes over. "Watcha doin?"

A toddler's introduction to puberty . . . .

I had probably the funniest conversation (if you can call it that) with Josie this morning. She woke up before I was completely ready for work so she hung out with me in the bathroom while I put on makeup, etc. She got to put on some moisturizer and play with the makeup brushes so she was pretty happy.

So I hadn't put on a shirt yet and was just in a bra so this was fascinating to her. So far-she's asked what "those" were before and I tell her Mama's chest or Mama's breasts. Unlike SOME people (Natalie!), I don't want an embarrassing Target moment when she shouts out something about another woman's "boobies". As if she doesn't embarrass me enough with nose-picking, tantrums, eating food off the floor,etc . . . . . .

However, this morning when she asked "What's that?" and I gave my usual answer, she's all "No, that's an Ariel!" (Ariel=Little Mermaid who wears the purple clamshell bra).

She continues:

"That's an Ariel. And that's an Ariel. You have TWO Ariels. I don't have any Ariels." (I wish I had this on video because all of her hand motions were hilarious.)

"No sweetie. You'll get your Ariels when you're older . . . ."

Princesses!

We were at Disneyland for 5 days-Thurs-Mon. The weekdays were fine, though Friday was fairly busy. Saturday and Sunday kinda sucked in that the lines were ridiculous and it was hard to do anything. Plus it was 80+ degrees and it was way too hot for out Pacific NW blood!

But-we decided to stand in line at the Princess Faire-the new location that they have the princesses located for the "meet and greets". We stood in line for well over an hour and were all pretty cranky by the time we got to the front of the line. Josie is absolutely obsessed with Ariel-so I figured it was worth it. Besides-she had really gotten into seeing the characters by then. She wanted to see "a big Ariel".

When we got to the front though-we discovered that they only have 3 princesses at a time-and Ariel wasn't there. I could've cried. I did not want to have to stand in that line again. So we got to see Snow White, Mulan and Cinderella. The funny thing is-she hasn't ever seen Mulan-but she posed the best with her. Go figure. She went up to each princess and asked, "Where's Ariel?" When she asked Cinderella-Cinderella told her Ariel was swimming. Then, right at that moment-Ariel came up to take Cinderella's place. Praise the Lord! I wouldn't have to do that line again! I was almost happier than Josie-who was so amazed that she kept pointing at Ariel and telling everyone, "That's Ariel!" over and over again.

As annoying as it may be to dress up as those characters-it must be cool to blow little kid's minds like that on a daily basis.










The next day-out of hunger and the desire to get out of the sun-we ate a late lunch at Ariel's Grotto-one of those restaurants where the characters come up to the table and you pay an exorbitant amount to eat in their presence. But look! She got to see Ariel again! And then she ate about 6 goldfish that were on top of her $15 mac and cheese.

The first of many . . . .

So-I know some of you have been waiting patiently for pictures from our trip to Disneyland and with the exception of flying (see post below) we had a great time. My brother and his family drove down while me, Josie and Grandma flew. We met up in Anaheim and stayed at the same hotel. There were 3 birthdays during the trip-my brother, my niece and my nephew.

Here's Josie with my brother's family. Between my mom and I-we took probably 6 or 7 pictures-and this one was the closest to everyone looking in the same direction. Sigh.


Josie climbing while we waited in the first of a million lines!




Birthday girl Marina.



Josie was pretty much the happiest on this trip when she was being carted around by cousin Brady.

The teacups. Josie's in there somewhere . . .



Getting close to naptime. She took naps in the stroller the first couple of days.






On the first day-the first characters we took her to see was Tinkerbell. I probably should've waited until she'd met a couple others first. She was pretty overwhelmed. The first fairy she saw was Silvermist and she ran up and asked "Where's Tinkerbell?"



She finally gets to see Tinkerbell but won't crack a smile or talk to her or anything.

I heart faces-creative crop

This was from our recent trip to Disneyland. The photo was originally of my daughter Josie but wasn't any good-she had closed eyes. However-my niece Marina was in the corner and I liked the look on her face so I cropped out a little corner and played with it. Unfortunately, my iPhoto program didn't save the original image so I can't show the pic this one came from. Need to figure that one out!

Click on the I heart faces button to see other entries.

Sure-I'll take her on a airplane again-maybe when she's 20!

Scene: United Flight 666 to San Fran

2 women forcibly hold down toddler while stabbing her with hot pokers. Child screams bloody murder while other passengers wince and mutter to each other. Flight attendants pasted-on smiles started to wane as they ask if they can be of help. "Sure," says evil woman #1. "Why don't you start ripping her toenails out?"


Oh wait-those weren't hot pokers. No toenails were being ripped out. Worse. Evil woman #1 and #2 (otherwise known as Mama and Grandma) were trying to put said toddler in A SEATBELT!!! Oh-the horrors. Call CPS!

Seriously-I thought we were going to get kicked off the plane. We purchased an FAA-approved harness that slipped over the seat to use so we didn't have to bring the carseat. The straps, etc are exactly like a carseat. Just like the one she sits in nearly every single freaking day.

She was fine at first-she LOVES buckles. So she was very interested in the whole thing. For about 2 minutes. Then she wanted to sit in our laps. She summoned the strength of 1000 demons and wriggled out of the harness whilst screaming (oh yeah-she BIT me in there somewhere too!) as we tried to get her back in the harness (which became the most difficult puzzle of straps and buckles all of a sudden.) Oh yeah-and issuing all sorts of whispered threats and pleadings and maybe a few curse words.

In the end-she sobbed and only had the lap belt on. Repeat scenario (minus a couple of decibels and no harness) when we had to turn off the movie to land.

Return trip: I'll see you the hot pokers and toenails and throw in some scalding hot oil thankyouverymuch. It was even worse because we were on a smaller plane so only I was sitting next to her while Grandma, who surely wouldn't treat her in this inhumane way was across the aisle. So-I got to deal with her by myself while she screamed for Grandma to save her. Discarded twisted mess of harness again and just used lapbelt. After takeoff-she slumped doubled-over and passed out (sleeping, I swear!) for the rest of the trip while I recovered from the first catfight i've ever been in.


Oh yeah-we went to Disneyland. Pictures to follow. I need a sedative now just from mentally reliving that trip.

i'm kinda surprised she hadn't ordered a pizza and cracked a beer . . .

Worst morning ever. Ever.

Today is garbage day-so I let Josie watch Curious George while i took out the garbage and recycling. Roxie (the cat) was hovering near the garage door looking like she was going to make a break for it-so I was yelling at her to back away. My cats have never been outside and since the garage door was open I didn't want to let her in the garage through the inner door.

Josie came running when she heard the commotion so I told her to stand guard and not let the kitty into the garage. I closed the door-but didn't shut it completely while I took the bag of recycling out. Josie whipped open the door to see what I was doing and I saw the cat coming up behind her. So-I yelled at her to shut the door. She stood there staring at me-so I went over and shut it completely and said I'd be right back.

I guess she didn't appreciate that. She kept calling to open the door and I talked to her (loudly) during the 20 seconds it took me to separate the glass from the paper/plastic. When I went back to the door-she had locked it. It's one on those doors with the little knob in the doorknob that you turn to lock and unlock.

I tried not to panic. I was totally locked out of the house. The front door was locked. The sliding glass doors were shut and had those security bars pulled down. Not to mention the gate to the backyard was shut (and effectively locked from the outside) so I coudn't even get to the sliding glass doors.

I kept talking to her-trying to get her to unlock the the door or just plain open the door. But she can't turn the front door or garage door doorknobs yet. I spend about 5 mintues pleading with her to unlock the door. Then I had to rethink the situation.

I figured she could probably lift the security bar (though I've yelled at her many a time to NOT do that) and I was sure I hadn't actually locked the sliding door, figuring the bar pretty much does the trick. The only problem was getting through the back yard gate.

I grabbed an empty kitty litter bucket thinking that if I stepped on it, I'd be able to reach over the gate and open it from the inside. I yell to Josie that I'm going to the back door (she's totally quiet by now) and traipse through the wet grass and mud. I stepped on the bucket and reached over the gate but I was still about 6 inches away from the latch. So I tried to climb over. (Shut up! Stop laughing!) Uh, that didn't work.

So I ran back around to the front and tried again to get Josie to unlock the door. Silence. I pound on the door and yell her name. Nothing. I'm starting to really freak out now. I was picturing her inside crying.

Knowing the patio door is really the best bet I found a long handled rolling paint brush and figure maybe with that I could open the gate. Bingo! I climbed on the bucket and used the plastic brush cover thingie to spring the latch. Yay me!

I run up to the door and what do I see?

Josie. Sans pants and socks. Sitting on the couch with the remote in one hand and her juice cup in the other watching Sid the Science Kid. Completely oblivious to me pounding on the glass door.

I FINALLY get her attention and get her to come over to the door (she kept turning her head to watch her show) and convince her to push the security bar up. I open the door and get in the house and immediately burst into tears. She's all "What's the matter Mama?" So I told her she scared me.

"Sorry Mama. Sorry!" And went back to watching her show.

This independent thing is good right? Nevertheless-I'm hiding a key outside somewhere. It's 9am and my heart is still racing. Is it too early to start drinking?

While I try to chill-here's a couple pics of the little darling from last weekend.

Smoooches!

I always think it's adorable, of course, when Josie asks for kisses or hugs. I love the way she hugs-she pats your back while she's holding you.

Josie's really been into The Little Mermaid lately-so much so that I'm CONSTANTLY singing Part of This World both in my head and out loud. Normally when I sing, Josie tells me to "Stop Singing!" which hurts my ego a bit. But apparently, the exception to that is Little Mermaid songs. She actually requests them.

The last couple of days Josie runs up to me and asks for a kiss and she then grabs my head and turns it sideways and plants a HUGE sloppy kiss on me. She just came up and did this and it finally dawned on me what she was doing. We just finished watching Little Mermaid and I totally see now that she's recreating the Ariel/Prince Eric kiss at the end.

I'm waffling between cracking up and being slightly disturbed. But mostly cracking up!

I heart faces-Silly

This is my entry for this week's contest-the theme is Silly. I think this qualifies! Josie's wearing the Mr. Potato Head glasses. Go check out the other entries by clicking here http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/-amazing what you can do when you use more than a point and shoot camera!

Well-at least she's polite . . .

Grandma: "Josie-it's time for bed."

Josie: "No thank you."

I heart faces-Eyes

This is my entry for this week's contest on I "Heart" Faces-click on the button below to see other entries. The category for this week is Eyes.