Little Serving Hands

Charlotte's little hands often pass Cheerios or raisins to her little brother to keep him awake if we're driving home close to little brother's naptime.  I know it's a little thing to do, but it's a big help for me when I can't be back there to keep Jonas awake so that he will take a good nap in the afternoon.  And despite it being a small thing, I know it's a big thing because I know that really it means she will one day be there to help me with bigger things, and she will be able to help people with harder things.

Those little hands remind me "that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass...And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

-Alma 37:6-7

Today, I am grateful for little serving hands...not just my daughter's, but all those hands that have reached out to me throughout my life and showed me the love of the Savior.  I pray that I can use my serving hands to teach someone else about the love of Christ.

Jonas - 11 months

So I'm about 2 weeks late on this post.  Jonas turned 11 months the day Charly turned 3 so I put off his post so as to not take away from her.  I didn't mean to let almost 2 weeks get away from us.  Not much has changed since 10-months.  He's still busy.  He has however switched over to one nap (as of this week).  It has made all the difference for this little guy.  For some reason 2 naps just weren't working for him.  He would wake up from both of them just crying and grumpy.  I would have to hold him for at least 30-40 minutes after he would wake up, and it wasn't sweet, snuggly holding.  It was fussy, mom can't sit down, squirmy but don't you dare put me down holding.  He was also waking up earlier and earlier each day...like 5:15 am.  Now he takes one nap in the afternoon for about 2 hours, and he is the happiest little guy.

Also, if you missed my last post, our little boy is walking now.  He grew this past week (okay, it seems like 11 1/2 months is a busy week for him).  I had to bump him up to the 18 month clothes.  Sigh...they grow SO fast.  Poor big sister is having to learn the hard way.  Jonas has started trying to "play" with her, but since he's so clumsy and so close to her size (there's only a 5 lb. difference between them), he's always knocking her over.  He's also quick to volunteer her to share snack with him.

He's also been real interested in books lately.  Sometimes I'll hear him just giggling, and when I walk over to see what's so funny...it's always a book.  It reminds me of my brothers Dario and Josh.  I always remember them giggling when they were reading, and it makes me happy.  And a little bit homesick for my brothers.

Borracho

We now have a little drunk walker at our house!

The Good Stuff

I don't ever buy sugary cereals.  The most sugary cereal we have is Multigrain Cheerios.  We do however have very generous neighbors.  They give us food all the time as gifts for the kids.  Recently they gave us some Cocoa Puffs.  Saturday morning Adam pulled it out, and I said, "Oh, the good stuff."  Now C refers to it at "The Good Stuff."  She does't even know it's real name.

Charly-Bean is Three!

Saturday our little lady had her 3rd birthday.  It seems so strange to me that I have a three-year-old.  I came across a great deal at a yard sale on a play kitchen that I just couldn't pass up.  It was a big hit...she's been playing with it non-stop for the past 2 days.  She was so excited to open all her presents in the morning.  Gotta love that hair in her face!

A couple months ago I asked C what kind of birthday party she wanted.  After a little thought, she informed me that she wanted a strawberry party.  I thought it was just a whim, but when I asked her a few weeks later what kind of party she wanted (I thought for sure I would get a differet response.), she replied, "Ugh, I already told you Mom, I want a strawberry party. "  Well, I guess that settles it then!  Oh, and when did the attitude show up?

We were looking through some old pictures a while ago, and she saw a picture of her going to another birthday party in a tutu that we borrowed from a friend.  She excitedly asked me if she could wear a tutu to her birthday party, and I just couldn't resist.  So, I made her one.  She was feeling pretty silly when I tried to get a picture of her.  She was pretty excited about it being her birthday...



 She had four of her little friends come over to help celebrate.  She was in heaven!