Thursday, November 16, 2006


So sad. We just heard about Molly's passing. She lived in the yard before my mom's house, so that going to Gramma and Grampa's meant slowing down to see Molly. She had an angel's face and a quiet grace. Molly made it a pleasure to slow down and appreciate the goodness in life. Simple, sweet goodness. Even though she's gone, I will still slow down and look for something to smile about.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Disney Smile

Can this girl smile? She seems to have an idea in her mind about how to make a smile, and it takes a lot of concentration and effort, but if you ask, she will give you her very best smile. On this happy occasion we hardly had to ask. She was enchanted with the likeness of Daisy Duck painted on the parking structure columns.


Have you guessed? Yes, we were at Disneyland. Hey, it's Southern California, we had five kids and a day off from school. Tamsyn has been with us for an extended stay. We actually went for a full day with no lost, injured or disappointed children. Even the weather cooperated. I rode Tower of Terror, again; after the month we've had I figured I can handle anything! We all went to the animation studio and got Goofy illustration lessons. We brought lunch and picnicked on PB&J, carrots and milk, then went right back to riding and playing. We watched the parade. Alex loves deciphering the engineering of the rides. William likes sharing Disney lore and history. I loved the lights, music and flowers. Maria danced to the live music. I think Max had the best new experience... The vendors ran out of dye and were selling white cotton candy. Max, being allergic to red dye, finally got to enjoy the sinful magic and stickiness of cotton candy. It's a rite of passage everyone should go through. The parks were decorated for Christmas and in the evening when they lit up the rides and MainStreet... It was a Magic Kingdom.

We could use a little magic around here. It seems like we are living from crisis to crisis. Mind you these are the minor, suburban variety of crisis. Our washer was leaking and the dryer was dead. The dryer died again. The paint on the bed will not dry. The vacuum had to be replaced. The car stalled on the freeway. The kitchen sink backed up, so have 2 of the toilets. It rained all over the things we were still trying to make room for in the garage, so stuff got a soaking. Maria is teething. Oh, and I cannot find the hardware to assemble our bed... remember we lost some of it and it can't be replaced, but we still need the rest of the parts, so we can assemble it in our modified version. And the new landlord likes to come over to check on things.

Good stuff? While buying *medicinal spirits* I've been carded twice this month. Few words can cheer a mother of four like "May I see your i.d.?"