A very happy byproduct of regular visits to the library is that Jonah now adores books.  He’ll often run to one of us with a book in hand and eagerly ask, “wee? wee? WEEEEEE?!” (Translation, “read? read? REEEEEAAD?!”)  That last, insistent request is a bit louder because we sometimes are not as quick to DEAR (remember “Drop Everything And Read”?) as he’d like.  Because sometimes we are in the middle of making dinner when the request is made.  Or in the bathroom.  Or currently operating a motor vehicle.  Sometimes DEAR-ing is not that feasible.  Or safe. But it’s endearing and really cute all the same. Blurry, but I love this…

One of Jonah’s favorite things to do every week is go to the library for story time.  He excitedly says, “wi-bee, wi-bee!” when I ask him if he’d like to go.  It’s high on my list of favorite things to do with him because it takes just the right amount of energy from me (which is little to none), someone else does the reading/singing/dancing, and it’s free (well, sort of.  I like to think of our library fines as rather generous compensation).  So by golly, we make sure to go every week. We’ve gone so regularly now that he’s got his own little routine when we get there.  He runs…

Phil recently purchased two tickets for each of the remaining UCLA football home games.  I was puzzled.  Two tickets… six of us… I’m admittedly not the math whiz of the family, but this one surely did not compute.  He reasoned that it was way too expensive and not really feasible for all of us to go to all the games so he figured for future seasons that we could make it to one game all together, and the rest he could go for one-on-one time with each of the kids or sell the ones he couldn’t make due to work. I thought the one-on-one time was an especially great idea.…

I’m really excited to share today’s post with you in honor of Veteran’s Day and in honor of those who are currently serving our country.  For a while now, I’ve wanted to do something beyond just saying thanks to show our deep appreciation for those who willingly go to protect our country and the freedoms we enjoy.  Their courage and bravery mean so much and I wanted even some small way to be involved in showing our appreciation.  And I wanted our kids to know how important it is to show our thanks as well. The only thing is, I had not the faintest idea where to start. But last…

Whenever an opportunity to go out by ourselves presents itself, our answer is always YES.  Doesn’t matter if it’s just a quick lunch date, or errand running together, or catching a movie, or a whole weekend away, the answer is always YES. For this I am so grateful.  Because to be able to go out together means that we still enjoy each other’s company enough to want to be alone together.  It means that someone special is willing to care for our kids while we are gone.  It means we have enough to be able to enjoy a meal or activity together.  It means our marriage is still an important…