Wedding Plans Of The Toy Story Variety

The other night, Madi asked us when she and Trevor would get married.  To each other that is.

So Jimmy and I explained that brothers and sisters don't marry each other, but that one day Madi will marry a different boy and Trevor will marry a different girl.

Which was when one of them said okay then, no problem, Madi can just marry Daddy and Trevor can just marry Mommy.  And the wedding plans began.


Oh, and they were funny, let me tell you.  Some highlights...

Madi wants a Christmas wedding with the colors red, green and gold. (Okay, I like it. We are Christmas people in this home.)

But when asked what her wedding song would be she promptly replied,

The Cupid Shuffle.  And Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

And she will be going to Disney for her honeymoon.  (No surprise there!)

When asked what kind of dress I should wear for our wedding, Trevor said,

You can dress like Woody and I'll dress like Buzz.

Every bride's dream.

He said he is buying me a gold ring.  As for a honeymoon...

Trev wants to go to a dance party.  And Disney.  Probably the dance party we saw at Disney just recently.

One day when they are older they will laugh as we recount these memories (and probably be completely freaked out at the mere thought of marrying one of us!).  But don't be surprised if twenty-some years from now Trevor's Woody hat appears at his rehearsal dinner or that "old song" The Cupid Shuffle mysteriously ends up being played at Madi's reception.  

And we will laugh and cry and remember when.

You Know Who Else Is A Good Cook???!!!

We are under a tornado watch here.

So there you go.

After I taught piano lessons I retrieved my kiddos in the pouring rain and came home to throw a quick meal together....penne marinara, steamed broccoli, and green beans with a little olive oil and sea salt.  Fast, simple, and probably about $6.00 total.

My son is very funny about dinnertime - not as in haha funny, as in hard to figure out funny.  Many days he will eagerly eat breakfast and lunch, but will fuss and resist food at the dinner table, even if we are eating something he likes.  He is my pickier child to begin with, and he just has this thing about dinner.


Now, I know most modern experts would tell me not to worry about it, blah blah blah.  But I think he has to at least something of what I've cooked, no matter what.  So we are the mean parents that make him take a few bites even on his fussy nights.  And if he doesn't eat much, well, no snacks.  


However, he does has some nights where he sits down and happily and hungrily devours his dinner as if it's a natural, everyday occurrence. Whenever he does this my husband and I just look at each other in this mixture of why is our kid bipolar about dinnertime and hallelujah, it's going to be a conflict free evening meal for a change look.  


Tonight was one of those nights!  Maybe it was the tornado.  Whatever it was he ate three helpings of pasta and gobbled up his green beans with a smile on his face! After he was done, he thanked me for the meal and told me it was delicious.  He said I was a good cook.  


Then he said knowingly, "You know who else is a good cook?"  I waited for his response, expecting him to say Grammie or something.  

"Rata-tootie," he pronounced.

Which is his endearing way of saying Ratatouille, the Disney movie about a rat with aspirations to become a renowned chef.

He then said, "Yeah, he says that no one can cook."

(Make that anyone but yes, he does.)

All I know is my four year compared my cooking to that of a talking Disney rat.  And this momma knew that in his book it was the highest of compliments.  :)

Blah, Blah, Blah

Ever get a case of The Blahs?

Me too, on occasion.


Even though by nature I am a glass half full, sunny side of the street girl, life has its fair share of challenges and disappointments that can sometimes threaten discouragement or defeat.

Here's the thing.  I have discovered through the years that when threatened with The Blah's there is one definite way to help overcome them.  Here it is....

Do something for someone else.


That may or may not have been the answer you were looking for.  Notice I didn't say spa day or retail therapy (though I'm not opposed to gift cards for those venues! I will accept!).  And notice I didn't share some deep theological thought or magic formula.

It's just a simple course of action that I have found to work wonders in my attitude.  One of the biggest reasons we get The Blah's is that we focus too much on ourselves.  So sometimes all we need is a shift of focus.  Spending a little time doing something for someone else has an unbelievable way of cheering me back up or getting my heart attitude right when necessary.

Here are some practical examples...

Make a gift basket of inexpensive items that are just perfect for a friend.

Visit a nursing home.

Bake a batch of cookies and deliver them.  (Freshly baked cookies tend to be well received!)

Write an encouraging note or email to someone, or an uplifting blog entry or facebook status.  

Do a chore to relieve someone else's duties.

Intentionally share some genuine compliments with several people in your life.

Spend time doing someone else's favorite thing with them, even if it's not your favorite.

Make your family's favorite meal.

Offer to babysit your friends' kids so they can have a date night.

Make a handmade gift or card to give to someone.

Drop off a homemade meal to a family in your community or church.

These are all simple and doable.  Just little ideas I have used to intentionally do something for someone else instead of myself.  I just have this feeling that someone out there reading this has a case of The Blah's and my hopes are to encourage you to chase them away (or "throw them out the window" like I tell my kids) by a simple act of service or opportunity to give to someone else!  You can do this!!

Jesus. Others. You.

Joy.

Lovingly, Jennifer

Good News (Whoop!) and Paper Dolls

Guess what?

The doctor deemed Madi's ears and throat strep and infection free this afternoon!!  This is great news!  Yes, she was running a fever by the time we got to his office, but he thinks it's just viral - probably the beginning of a yucky cold or maybe a version of what her brother had this week.  Pretty much what I suspected. However, she is not near as sick as he was and will hopefully stay that way with the help of some over the counter meds and down time this weekend.  And of course a little extra attention and snuggle time from parents and grandparents!

On the way home we had to go to the store (in another downpour - this seems to be a trend with the two of us!) and on the way we ran into Michael's.  We found some masks for her to decorate which made for a nice Friday night in activity!

Earlier in the week when Trev was sick but getting antsy and bored of movies and laying around, we happened to have two gorgeous days in the high 70's - though I wish he could have spent them running around, I let him have a little time on the back porch with bubbles and sidewalk chalk.  I also broke out most of  the puzzles in the house which kept his little hands busy and gave him a sense of accomplishment!

What activities do you do with your little ones when they are under the weather?!


I have specific memories of spending a whole entire vacation in Florida extremely sick when I was about 7 or 8 - we even made a trip to the ER when my fever didn't want to budge from 104 - and I remember my dear mom spending almost the whole trip on the couch with me playing Princess Diana paper dolls.  She traced the Diana doll and made herself a Princess Sarah (Fergie) doll....I am definitely dating myself as a child of the 80's here!

But the thing is, I'll never forget how nice it was to have something to do - even something as simple as paper dolls - when I felt so miserable.  And I will always have fond memories of my mom doing that for me.

The Best Laid Plans (And Other Real Life Fairy Tales)

You know it's been an interesting week when you look up and see your four year old with the thermometer in his ear taking his own temperature.

And when you are trying to reach a sweater from the very top of your closet and you put just the tiniest bit of weight on a long shelf of dresses, shoes, etc. and it comes crashing down.

Because of course every mom's dream is to care for their feverish child by night and do a massive closet cleaning by day.


All while trying to cook each meal out of remnants from your pantry and fridge because while your husband did pick up milk, bread, and eggs for you when you were housebound with your feverish son and needed him to pick up some Children's Motrin (of course you were out) you still haven't made an actual grocery run since the alternator went out, nearly two weeks ago. And the options are getting slim.


Did I mention the way the inhaler and cough syrup are making my son wound up tighter than a tick?


Or that my daughter's teacher called this morning and said she thought Madi needed to be picked up  because she didn't seem to feel well and strep throat is going around the class so a test might be nice, just in case?  Guess where I'm headed in an hour.  I've got high hopes it's just the beginnings of a cold. We'll see.


Life could be lots, lots worse.  Truthfully it hasn't necessarily even been a bad week.  Just interesting.  Not what I had planned.


You know what they say about the best laid plans.

Needless to say, my son did not get to come along on our family day with his lovable little cousin.  The plans for the whole family to go to Disney and my mom's vision of getting a picture of all three of her grandchildren in Mickey Ears by the castle didn't quite happen.

My husband stayed home with Trevor, who was still spiking a fever and coughing like a 60 year old chain smoker at that point.  The rest of us got up early and hit the Magic Kingdom.

In a torrential downpour.  Which is putting it mildly.

The thing is, we basically had to laugh or cry so we decided to laugh - well mostly, anyway!  I'll tell you this - we parked in the second row.  No tram necessary.  No line for the monorail.  No line for anything really, except to meet the fairies which we finally got to do!!  We probably got to do at least triple of what we would have done on sunny, busy day.

We just got drenched beyond your imagination, even in those ponchos you pay $7.50 apiece for.

However, dreams can come true when you decided to stick Disney out in high winds and sideways rain. My daughter got to meet (drumroll)...

Rapunzel from Tangled!

You can see how wet our clothes and hair were.  And that was just the beginning.  We hadn't even been at the parks for an hour, and the rain got substantially worse.  But...no lines for the latest Disney favorite!!  How magical is that?

Another advantage of going in the rain was that a mere few minutes before the parade started we got curbside spots on Main Street - and at this point the rain had pretty much stopped.  My nephew was captivated by the whole entire parade, especially when Mickey walked by! 

And we all got tears in our eyes when he got to actually meet Mickey.  There is something truly special when a child meets The Mouse for the first time.  It really does feel magical.

In the end we went home completely drenched but also with an umbrella full of memories.  We were sad Trev didn't get to join the fun, and probably would have opted for less wet and more sun, but loved the sparse crowd and miniscule lines we got in return. 


 So remember, when the best laid plans don't work out, you can still make the most of things and maybe even make a little magic!  Real life fairy tales aren't perfect and definitely not scripted, but can still be lots of fun.  :)

I Am So Small

I was so tired last night.  As I was trying to go to sleep I had a major headache coming on.  I asked my husband to push on some pressure points on my sinuses and mentioned that there must be a change in the weather coming.  At 3:45 we were awakened by ripping thunder, flashing lightning, and a total downpour.

I think I am part barometer.  

But that's just a side note...here's the thing.  The storm kept me wide awake for a good 2 hours, until it was nearly time to get up anyway.  And as I lay there listening to the deluge of rain pounding on our roof and windows, for some reason I was picturing the size of the earth, the vastness of the universe, the greatness of God, and just how small I am in the scope of things.

A friend of ours came to speak at a ladies conference at our church two years ago, and she made the comment that after going through some extreme trials in her life, including the death of her husband, she now considers sleepless nights an indication that she and God must need to talk.

I liked that.

So since I was up, I decided to do the same thing.  And I kept talking to Him about how big He is and how small I am, that our little family is like these four little specks in His universe, and yet He cares for us.  I really believe that.  Luke 12:7 says God even knows the number of hairs on our heads, which is amusing to me because I have enough hair for at least three people - some days I think I look like Loretta Lynn, though unintentionally - so that's a lot of hair to keep up with!  But He's got it numbered.  He knows.

I trust and believe that even though we are tiny and He is great, that He is intimately acquainted with the details of our lives.  Even the smallest details.  His Words says it, and I've experienced it.


Sometimes I don't always "feel" it, but that's why my life is centered on faith not feelings.  Feelings change constantly.  But faith trumps feelings every time.


And I have faith that the great God of this universe knows. That He sees.  That He loves.  That he cares. Even for little old me.

I Peter 5:7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (NLT)

Photo from Louis Giglio's Indescribable message, which I recommend highly - it will blow your mind.

Oatmeal and Cinnamon Toast!!

Last night I had a major craving for oatmeal and cinnamon toast.  Are there any other cinnamon toast lovers out there?  Cinnamon toast brings back the coziest of memories from my childhood - snow days, Sunday mornings, late night snacks.  A spot of warmth and goodness on the coldest and dreariest of winter days.

I can remember my brother and I asking for something to eat and minutes later my mom would serve us buttery, sweet, crunchy slices of cinnamon toast, often with a bowl of oatmeal. I guess it was quick and easy and made from a few simple ingredients that are usually on hand.  An inexpensive but seemingly special meal or snack that filled us up just right.  My mom has always made it so perfectly delicious, I still prefer hers to mine.


I make it though.  I have fond memories from recent Christmas seasons of mornings watching Polar Express and eating gingerbread man shaped cinnamon toast with my kids.  There was no other place on earth I'd have rather been on those mornings.


But as I said, I was craving it so badly last night so early this morning, when the sky was gray and overcast, I made myself a nice bowl of oatmeal and two pieces of cinnamon toast.

Then for lunch, when the sun had burned off the clouds and sunlight shone brightly through the windows, I made round two.  Yes, I had oatmeal and cinnamon toast for both breakfast and lunch today.


If I have it for dinner you all know I am losing it.

But it was so good, just as comforting and warm as always!

What foods bring back memories of warmth, simplicity, and home to you?!  What foods just plain make you feel good inside?!