This picture in my inbox brought me SMILES. My sister Katrina is having a baby and here is the first picture.
On one of the last days of school I pulled up to the school to drop off my kiddo's. I smiled as I watched the vehicle in front of me. A father climbed out of his car walked around it and then opened the door to let out his daughter. He then bent over and gave her a hug. It felt good to watch a family love each other.
When I saw this sign I smiled and laughed my head off. Acne Awareness Month. Like it needs a special month. Seriously??
Our day at Six Flags was an entire day of SMILES!
See the cute little guy with the blue striped shirt hanging over the fence? That's my Porter. I love him SO much. I smiled when I saw this picture posted on their blog. See that shirt on the cutie? We actually own one just like it that my little Matthias wears.
I've been a wussy complaining Utah Mormon. When I lived in Utah I could drive to the temple in 5 minutes. Okay, I could walk to the temple in 30 minutes. I even ran to a couple different temples when I lived there. Here in WI our closest temple is about 40 minutes away. I know I'm totally a whiner. So here's the smile and the learning moment.
I came across this headline in Church News about the Cebu City Philippines Temple. 30-hour boat ride reduced to minutes to attend the temple. I was terribly excited to think that this temple was now close enough to people that they could get there in just minutes. Mere teeny tiny minutes. Just like in Utah. I went on to read the article and came across this statement, "from our house, it is about 40 minutes of travel," Elder Perez said. That short distance, he declared, is a tremendous blessing.
That's a smile because talk about an aha moment with a smile!
Watching Matthias play like a big kid is smiles for me.
I've been waiting for these flowers to bloom. The Taylor's gave us some of their flowers offspring and we planted them in our yard. I was certain that we would miss the blooms because of our trip to Utah. This one opened just in time and brought me a smile.
The last day of school! SMILES!! Unless you're Nic who is sad that school is out.
I love taking pictures of these cuties.
When our tripped to Utah got postponed we had to do something fun on Friday to make up for it. So we went to the beach. It was wonderful. We all LOVED it.
I smiled about it again when we got home and I unpacked our day bag. Check out the bink!
This week of smiles would not be complete without smiling about a birthday. Not just any birthday but a special 1 year old birthday. Happy Birthday to Matthias.
Last year the night before Matthias was born there was a crazy storm. The storm continued into the next day and then little guy joined us. Matthias got his middle name, Torbjorn (Thor's bear, or thunder bear) because of the storms. It was only fitting that the night before he turned one we got a good thunder/lightning storm. Happy Birthday Thunder Bear.
I wouldn't normally post a pic of my bum.
Nic made me this sign, stuck it on my back and I smiled so the picture gets posted.
A SUPER BIG SMILE OF THIS WEEK is that I'm now unemployed!!!
Oh yes that's a smile for being unemployed.
A couple years back our family made a decision that required me to find temporary work. I floated through some nasty work at the post office. I also did some tending of my niece which was actually tons of fun. I still look back on the days when Kjerstin was with us and smile. I got lucky to be able to quit the post office when my dear friend, Lynne, told me her company was hiring transcriptionists. What could be better than a job at home working whatever hours I want?
In the situation we were in, nothing was better than that. I loved the years I worked for Primary Intelligence. It was truly a blessing and a joy in my life.
I developed many new skills that I didn't even know I had.
This week Kjel got a promotion that covered the income that I was bringing in. At some point we knew this would end. It was a difficult and easy decision. Easy because keeping track of five kids, one who is now into everything, being in the RS presidency and working is not such a simple task. Difficult though because I could have kept the job and we'd have even more money with which we could pay for the stuff that comes up when you have five boys. It was time to cut the ties. It was time for me to be unemployed!
I love when I find my baby asleep. I smiled to see him so restful.
I've been teaching myself a new trick. I'm learning to cut the boys' hair. I spent some time getting some instruction and then went to work on my own. The first time I chopped their hair it was great. The second time not so good. I left a mess. I was pretty much ready to quit. I know that makes me such a quitter. I just didn't think I could figure it out. Yesterday, I sat in front of YouTube and watched several tutorials on cutting hair. I gained some insight and begged Clayton to let me have another go at his head. I smiled when we completed the task and it looked like this...
Let's not look too close. That would be bad. I should have posted the prior to picture of what I did to his head last week, then you'd be super impressed with my progress. Anyhow, cutting the boys hair will save us a major chunk of money and you know how I am about saving money! SMILE!!