That's Las Vegas For You

Tonight we were driving and there were construction cones on both sides of the car. Loredana said, "What are those for?" I said, "It shows us which way to go because they are fixing the road." Loredana replied, "It looks fine to me." YES. She was right, but what would Las Vegas be without road construction?

It Goes By WAY Too Fast

Three years ago I took Emma to Betsy Rhodes Elementary School for Kindergarten Round-Up. We hadn't moved into the big house yet. That night I was sick. I felt miserable the whole time I was signing her up and that night she got Loredana ready for bed-changed a diaper even! Three years....
Tonight I took Loredana to Kindergarten Round-Up. She seemed smaller than my memory of Emma. "You were born older" (name that movie!) It's such a little milestone-being old enough to attend elementary school. I can't believe Loredana is that old. Their little lives just seem to ZIP and suddenly they are older.

I like the ages my kids are now. I play this little game with them telling them they aren't allowed to get any older. I tell Emma she needs to stay seven and Loredana that she needs to stay four. Emma claims she wants to stay nine-when she gets there-because she doesn't want to go to Junior High (smart girl). Loredana keeps reminding me that she IS still four, but I tell her that I can see that she's trying to turn five because she is learning so much about reading and writing and she can do the monkey bars and she can whistle and.......she's going to turn five.
Someday they will all become teenagers and I am not looking forward to that at all. I hope when they are 17 and 14 and 12 that I tell them they have to stay THOSE ages too. I hope I always enjoy them as much as I do right now, it is a real blessing.

Easter

Last night we colored eggs then the girls and I made "Resurrection cookies". It was fun, but the cookies weren't the best I've ever eaten. This morning we woke up at 5:00, loaded the kids in the car and went to the park to watch the sun rise. I loved it! As we stood around waiting for the sun to rise as we were sure it would.......it occurred to me that the "Sunrise Service" can be symbolic for us-God's children-always waiting for the Son to rise-as we are sure He will. Greg read and we all "choral responded"-VERY traditional of us-the part we were supposed to say included "the risen Lord", but I kept stumbling because I wanted to say "the living God".........Emma and I talked quite a bit about the Resurrection this week which was cool.

The kids just kind of hung out for the rest of the day-it was relaxing. They did an egg hunt withg Jake and Gabriel and Sara. Then they hid eggs for Avery and gave her some not so vague clues about where to find eggs. They thought that was GREAT! We went to my mom's for dinner with the family which I actually treasure. So many people don't live by their families, I need to appreciate the geography of my family more.

I Wouldn't Want to be a Used Car Salesman

I actually wouldn't want to be anything having to do with car sales. We bought a used car tonight. It is cute and small. We needed to replace the little truck we've been borrowing from Doug's parents. We have spent most of our free time since Saturday working on this purchase in one way or another. We've been to so many dealerships and driven so many different types of cars and researched cars on Kelly Blue Book and Consumer's Report. In the end we ended up with a fuel efficient hatchback import that can squeeze our entire family in when necessary.

Tuesday night I actually felt sorry for this salesman on the test drive. I was sick of doing test drives on cars I pretty much knew I didn't want before we drove them. But it occurred to me that this salesman does however many test drives a week-the same route. His income is dependent on people liking and buying cars. That would suck.

It would suck a little worse to have the job of straight out lying to people. The test drive guys are usually nice and at least appear helpful. The guy inside the building has the responsibility of lying-lying good so people believe his BS and pay more for cars than they should. We had guys tell us we could buy a brand new Nissan Van for around $12,000-just let him show us the numbers-we walked out before he could come back with the nonexistent numbers. We had another guy INSISTING that our kids didn't need air conditioning in the back of van. He suggested that we just allow the van to cool off before we put the kids in. FYI cars do NOT cool off in Las Vegas in July without air conditioning, WITH air conditioning you can still be uncomfortable. Yeah, I wouldn't want the "lie to people" job. I'm pretty sure they would fire me anyway.

Stubborn

If you've spent any decent amount of time around Loredana you have probably noticed that she is stubborn. She is stubborn about most things. I find this very frustrating as a parent because often times she is frustrated because of something, but then refuses help. Stubbornness DOES have a positive side and I saw it first hand today

Emma had a birthday party at the skating rink. I wasn't planning for Loredana to skate because I had Jack with me and I wouldn't be able to help Loredana skate. Of course, Loredana INSISTED on getting skates. I had her practice on the carpet for a while and after about twenty minutes and a few falls I suggested she try the small portion between the the entrances of the actual rink. I watched as she inched her way along the wall in the front of the rink. When she got to the opposite entrance she just wanted to keep going. So then I watched for fifteen minutes or so as she made her way ALL the way around the rink, holding on the wall all the way. I convinced her to take a break and eat pizza and have a drink. Then she went right back. This time she spent part of the time holding on with only one hand and part of the time not holding on at all. When she wasn't holding on at all, she moved her arms back and forth like a speed walker. I was so proud. She kept at it. She skated around the rink four separate times today-her first day with a pair of skates on. When she fell, she got right back up. The girl WANTED to skate! I called Doug and had him meet us there so he could see. She was so very proud when she told her daddy that she was skating out there with the big kids. Yes, being stubborn can help you when the going gets tough. Yes, being stubborn helps when you really want to do something that's going to take some work to do. She really just needs a cause to get behind. I hope it's a cause I support.