Is that nature calling, or the fire alarm?

Claire sometimes tries to find reasons to get out of bed after the last "goodnight." We finally found a way to make it simple for her - the ONLY reason to get out of bed is to use the restroom.

The other night, she got up (again) and Erik got on her case. To make sure she understood the rules, he asked, "When is the only time you can get out of bed?"

"To go potty," she said.

He shut the door, paused, and then opened it again saying, "And if the house is on fire. You can get out of bed if the house is on fire."

She responded, "But we don't have that problem."


(smile)
Let's pray we never do.

Southern California Snowman

My computer broke down a few weeks ago, leaving me stranded without my photo editing software and easy uploading ability. We finally got another one in place, hooked up the external hard drive (where all of the recent photos are stored) and now I'm able to get back to work!

The hundreds of pictures I've taken in the meantime is leaving me a little overwhelmed, so I thought I'd start with this - the day our front yard hosted an unexpected snowman on a very warm day. Erik had gone to Big Bear on a men's retreat with the guys from our Sunday School class and brought back an ice chest full of snow!

Claire was thrilled and promptly ran into her room to find her "snow gear." When she emerged, she was sporting a stocking cap, fleece gloves, and a long knitted scarf - PERFECT for a 90 degree day.

They got to work. It's a little hard to roll out a ball for a snowman's body when you're working with partially-melted snow and warm grass, but they did their best.

All we had were dried beans for the eyes (I think anything bigger would have overwhelmed our little snowman's face), but Erik found a gen-u-ine carrot for the nose. Now the snowman's legit, right?

Pretty cute, if you ask me! (And the snowman's not too shabby either...)

I had to put this shot in too, because I love the look on both of their faces.

Yep, that thermometer says 90 degrees. Poor Frosty...never stood a chance.

So here he is in all his glory, but it didn't take long for the sun to win.

Going...

going...

gone.

A Dress-Up Bin Full of Love

Claire said to me just now, "Mommy, guess what? I love you more than my dress-up."

That's just about the highest compliment one can receive from a 5-year old girl. But THEN she followed up with this:

"I love you more than my BARBIES."

Now I know I'm loved.