Random Thought #4

Today we went to Barnes and Nobles. While there Viana and I read Brown Bear, Brown Bear. You know how it goes..."Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me. Red bird, red bird, what do you see?" Etc, etc, etc. Very easy book for a child to learn to repeat. Viana caught on quite quickly and enjoyed "reading" this book. Well, tonight we were reading scriptures, and she had pulled out our picture book of Jesus Christ. Pretty soon I hear her chanting, "Jesus, Jesus, what ta to du see?" Then she would turn the page. "Jesus, Jesus, what ta to du see?" (It was a picture book of Jesus, so there wasn't a lot of variance!) It was so cute. It just made me think about how attentive little children are to every detail of the day. I need to make sure that I am teaching Viana correct principles, and even more importantly being a good example to her.

Random Spot #2

Here is a dollar five store that cracks me up!

Honk's used to be just your average dollar store. Back then their awesome motto was "Always an adventure...Always a dollar!" Whenever we drove by we would read this out loud and laugh! Then one day we drove by and Honks had become the $1.05 store. Not wanting to get an entirely new motto, the just shortened the old one.

Ah man, I just love how you can still see where they ripped off the "a dollar" part. I guess Honk's didn't really grasp the meaning of the word 'always.' I'm skeptical even now about it being "Always an adventure...Always!"

Random Spot #1

This little structure has always dazzled me. It's located on State Street in the parking lot of Bona Brazil (talk about yummy!). The random thing about what I assume is a sno-cone type shack is, I've never seen it used. It just hangs out in the parking lot there to make people smile. Too bad there's not a For Sale sign hanging on it--I could totally look into an investment like that!

Random Thought #3

Today Viana asked for her first father's blessing. Earlier in the day her beloved Aunt Charina had come over and had sat in our computer chair while Eric laid his hands on her head to give her a blessing. Viana sat with her arms folded patiently through the whole thing. She only began to say "Amen!" "Amen!" "Amen!" near the end of the blessing when Eric was about to wrap up anyway. Several hours passed and it was Viana's bedtime (that's been sort of a shady area lately, and one that has not come with ease). We had just started reading our scriptures and Viana insisted on sitting in the computer chair. Then she got down and started pulling Eric off the couch and telling him "Chair!" He tried to sit down, but she got frustrated and said, "No Daddy, Nana chair!" The she stood behind the chair and put her hand on top of the backrest, "Daddy like this." So, Eric stood up and went behind the chair. She quickly scrambled up onto the chair to where Eric had been sitting and folded her arms. It was then that Eric realized what she wanted. "Do you want a blessing like Aunt Charina?" Her arms stay folded. "Ok, Daddy will put his hands on your head." Her eyes closed as Eric laid his hands on her head. Then, Eric utterd the simplest, yet sweetest father's blessing to our beautiful little daughter. She was blessed to sleep well, and to remember how to fall asleep on her own. It wasn't but 5 minutes later that Viana was tucked in and fast asleep in her very own big girl bed. I thought, "Wow, now there is a little girl with awesome examples to follow (Aunt Charina), an awesome father (Eric), and an even more loving and all knowing Father in Heaven."

Random Thought #2

Today Viana, Brooke and I sat at a round table for lunch with our friend's Lori and Lucy. Did I mention that we chose a round table that already had 3 freshman boys sitting at it? I thought it was funny that during our lunches, the boys talked about their new Netflix subscription and about how their preference dates had been this past weekend, all the while enjoying every scrap of their lunch. Lori and I on the other hand, tried to convince our toddlers to eat their lunch and stay in their chairs and act like big girls and be nice to each other, etc. etc. etc. I can't really remember, but I think I snuck some food in amidst all of that! But who needs to enjoy food when you can enjoy being a mother?

Random Thought #1

Sometimes in life it's ok to eat 14 Halloween cookies in 1 day. Like around Halloween. That's an ok time to do it. And when you begin to feel guilty you can just rationalize and say, "But hey, Halloween only comes once a year...no biggie"