Randomn Rays of Sunshine

I am so far behind in some posts that I'm just going to make one post of all the random pictures and tidbits I want to be sure to include in my book of remembrance for this year...

We had a lot of thank you notes to write after Christmas this year. I've learned that if I get Lizzy doing two a day or every other day, then the task is much easier to accomplish without too much whining and complaining. On one of our "thank you note days", Lizzy presented me with the above two notes written to Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. She spells phonetically so it is tough to make out in spots but it is from her heart. I actually helped her address this and we personally gave it to the Main Carrier who said he didn't know if he had ever delivered a "thank you" note to Santa before but he knew exactly where to take it so that Santa would be sure to get the note. He didn't even make us put a stamp on the letter. :)

 That same day, Lizzy shocked me with this note thanking Daddy and me for her Christmas presents. Well, that made my day!! (This picture is not really on its side but for some reason every time I download it to the blog, it flips side ways no matter what I do. oh well.)

 On January 17, when the temps were somewhere in the upper 60's to low 70's, I dared Lizzy and her friend Hannah to jump in the pool. They were totally excited to try it out. The water was FREEZING! They are absolutely shivering in these pictures but they had fun for about 10 minutes. What kind of a mom does that? I'll think first before I issue another dare! :)

 On January 19th, my turn for preschool came again. We learned about the letter J. Here Dominick and Ben are painting a Jar to fill with Jellybeans. These two are a lot of fun together!

 While Grandma Love was visiting us, Ben and Lizzy smothered her with lovin'. They just couldn't get enough of her. Case in point...The above picture is of Ben sitting by the bathroom door while Grandma Love is taking a shower. He sat and called her name until I finally had to get after him pretty sternly to "give Grandma some space!"

 With Lizzy in all-day Kindergarten, my days have become very boyish. Our garbage is picked up twice a week and on at least one of those days each week, Ben will hear the garbage truck and run like lightning outside to see the truck do its thing. He and the driver have become good buddies. They wave at each other and the driver honks the horn for Ben. One of these days we are going to surprise him with some cookies or something.

 Ben loves to explore. We count each purple flower in our front yard to see if there are new ones each day. Our leaf-less tree gives us a good view of the 5 birds' nests in its branches and Ben is the master Potato Bug finder. He has one sitting on his thumb in the above picture.