Things that Make Me Smile:

No pictures for this post. I was thinking about how this blog is basically the closest thing I get to a journal, so I thought it might be a good idea to put some thoughts down that weren't just pictures. Lately there's a handful of things happening around here that just make me smile. In no particular order:

1. Lily and her church purse dilemma. She has a small little bag that she takes to church with her Book of Mormon every week. In true Lily fashion, she also feels the need to take a pet with her. The rules for the pet are "if it fits into your bag, you can take it". This hasn't been a problem since she has about a gazillion little puppies that fit perfectly. But she's been getting more and more daring with her pet choices. They began peeking out of the bag little by little, each pet bigger than the last...until last week I walked by her room on Sunday morning and she was diligently trying to cram her stuffed "Thumper" (ya know, the rabbit from Bambi) into her bag. Thumper is over a foot tall and really, his little bum just barely fit in the bottom of her bag. His entire torso and big ears were sticking up out of the top. But Lily looked up at me in the most triumphant manner... I almost let her take him.

2. Connor's morning "cartoons". Most kids get up and eat cereal while watching cartoons. Connor gets up, eats cereal and watches "Quick Pitch" on the MLB network. For those of you who are wondering "what the heck is that"-it's the non-ESPN version of "Baseball Tonight". He is AWESOME!

3. Lily's morning "cartoons". Lily never complains that Connor is watching "Quick Pitch". She just goes downstairs with him, eats her cereal and reads....the Marvel Encycolpedia! Even more confused? This is a thick book that contains the pictures, stats and stories of every Marvel Comics character...from X-Men to Fantastic Four. She is AWESOME!

4. Music music music. My kids love music (and good music too!). Both of them are literally incapable of doing anything that's not accompanied by music. So whenever they are doing ANYTHING in their room, from getting dressed to making their beds to doing homework, even if it only takes 2 minutes, they absolutely have to turn on their cd players. It's not odd to wake up at 8:00 on Saturday morning to the strains of Julian Plenti, Interpol, Postal Service, Broken Bells or David Gray. They are AWESOME!