Humidifiers, The Lion King Musical, and Pink Flowery Cars

Yes, that’s quite a title! Hello everyone and we hope you had a happy week. Here is a summation of ours:

• We are finally on the mend (fingers crossed) after battling yucky colds for two weeks. I am putting away the humidifiers (yes, multiple) tonight and disinfecting everything again tomorrow. We had some sunshine and bike riding yesterday and it did everyone good. Plus, we finally finished getting those Christmas lights down.
• My 2^nd Chorale rehearsal went quite well and I enjoyed myself. We mostly worked over the Requiem and I was so pleased that I didn’t get lost……no, not once! It should be a fabulous performance with two choirs and a full orchestra. Jason survived with the kids alone for the second week and I appreciate his encouragement.
• Jantzen is suddenly singing most of the words to all of these songs that we hear or sing frequently. It is awesome! Today he belted out “I Am A Child of God”, our intermediate hymn at church, and earlier this week he was singing the princess songs we have on CD in the van. I was amazed and have been complimenting him and he just keeps singing. Yay!
• On the theme of music, the kids performed their version of The Lion King, the Musical for me in our living room on Thursday night. Unfortuantely, Jason was in California and missed the action. It was really very good! They set the stage and turned off the lights. They did a story of good lions defending their territory from the bad lions. The girls took turns singing random songs they spontaneously made up while the other one accompanied them on the piano. It was quite musical and they made the piano sound appropriate for the songs……pretty cool and amazing to watch! Jantzen was sometimes a lion and sometimes just spun circles in the middle of the room singing Thomas the Train. What a hoot!
• Jason’s work has been quite demanding and it was tough for Jason to get through the week and some heavy meetings feeling the way that he was. He is a trooper to get up every morning and go in, regardless of how he feels.
• Jantzen loves to play “I’m a mean dragon!......I’m a nice dragon” with us. He loves to roar and attack while we scream and try to run away, then he turns on the charm with the nice dragon to get his hugs and kisses…..and on and on. It is a funny game and he knows that he is teasing and he loves it!
• I had to put away a bunch of Ainsley’s little baby clothes and bring out the 3 – 6 month sizes. Sniff, sniff……..actually, all of her jammies are 6 month size now because she is soooo long! What a sweet baby she has been, despite her pitiful cough and runny nose and eyes. She is a little lovey and brings such joy to all of us…..the kids are so great with her too.
• We found the lot (of land) of our dreams a few weeks ago and I pulled out all of my favorite house plans I’ve been saving to work on my master collaboration. It’s pretty good. Hmmmm……now we just lack some serious financing. (Ha ha!) I guess that’s why we can say it’s the lot “of our dreams”. It would probably be too scary anyway if it were really feasible, but it is fun to look and fun to dream together.
• All of that dreaming becomes gratitude for what we DO have, which is amazing, when we get the latest edition of National Geographic in the mail, or read up on the devastation that is occurring in Haiti. Our friends have been working on adopting a boy from Haiti for over a year, and they were able to bring him home yesterday! We are so happy for them. They flew down to pick him up and it will be interesting to hear what they have to tell about the experience. Two other families in Northern Colorado were also able to bring their adoptive kids home last week. They were working through so much red tape that it seemed impossible, and the events were a blessing in disguise for them, at least.
• Funny story from Ashtyn: We are driving in the car and see one of those PT Cruiser’s on the street with a bright pink, full car wrap, with flowers all over it. It was advertising their business, and it was quite noticeable. Ashtyn pointed it out and says, “Oh, Mom, I would never want that car in my life. Do you know why? Bees would be attracted to those huge flowers and that bring color and they would follow that car, and then they could get in that car when you opened the doors or rolled down the windows, and then they could sting you! That is why I would never want that car in my life!” Okay! It was pretty funny. She is quite methodical in her thinking and often cracks us up.