Little Royalty

Mei Li is betrothed.  No, not to S, but to J.  J goes to our church and his mother, Marci, is my visiting teacher and my dear friend.  Although it's much too early for marriage talk, I admit that I'm secretly hopeful that this union will come to pass (at the appropriate time and place).  

Mei Li confessed once that when she and J were sitting next to each other, watching the fourth graders perform a dancing scene in their play, it made her want to talk about marriage.  (Oh help me.) 

On Fridays, I watch J and send him on the bus with Mei.   One Friday, on their way out the door to go to the bus stop, J turned to Mei Li and said, "My mom told me that I need to treat you like a princess." He said it with a look of earnestness and duty.  My heart melted.  I wished Marci was there so I could hug her and thank her for teaching her boys from a young age how to treat girls with respect.  

This experience impacted me so much that I started telling my children to treat each other like princesses and prince.  Whenever there is any conflict, I remind them.  Somehow, without any additional explanation, they know just how to alter their behavior to reflect love and respect for each other.  I hope they'll always remember how to do this, but my reminders alone won't be enough.

When I became a mother, I realized that the best thing I ever did for my children was to marry Steve.  Mei Li will feel her whole life what it is like to be treated like a princess from her father, and Stephen will have a wonderful example of what a real man should be like-kind, gentle, faithful, humble, and selfless.  My children think I love Steve a million kazillion drillion, which is a lot, but not quite enough to describe how deeply I love and respect him.

The beginning of this video made me cry.  I hope my children will understand, recognize, respect, and seek the kind of beauty Sister Dalton talks about in this video.

Monday

On Monday morning, we met our friends at the farm. It was a beautiful day. I think the high was around 85 degrees. We got to see the baby lambs and pigs and they were very cute, from a distance of course.

Our kids touched so many animals. I came prepared with my own pump of antibacterial hand gel.

As always, Stephen wanted to play on these little tractors the most, which meant a lot of waiting and taking turns with the other twelve kids wanting to play on them too.

Mi Na, oh my sweet precious Mi Na. She didn't cry or complain once. She just sat in her car seat in the stroller and smiled at me.

We ate lunch with our friends by the playground. We left a little before noon, which gave me plenty of time to bathe the kids before Mei Li went to preschool.

Stephen napped while Mei Li was at school, but Mi Na wasn't tired after her car nap. I gave her some play time in her bed so I could clean up a bit.


I peeked into her room to see what she was doing. She was sitting and gazing out the window. I wonder if she was admiring the beautiful blossoms on our tree. What was she thinking about? I ran to get my camera so I could take a picture of my little dreamer, but of course she was not doing it anymore.

Stephen tried a mango for the first time in his life and he loves them. Mei Li does not. Mei Li doesn't seem to like anything anymore. It's frustrating to watch my girl, who as a baby loved to eat almost anything, narrow her diet to PB&J and cereal. Arggh. I am grateful that she will still eat many vegetables. Suggestions anyone?

Steve came home early for dinner and family home evening. I made katsu curry. Stephen and Mei ate the katsu (chicken tenders) without the curry. At least they had some carrots too.

We talked about honesty for Family Home Evening. Last Saturday, Stephen opened a chocolate bunny at the grocery store and started eating it. Steve was not happy. Steve bought it and then threw it in the trash. Stephen seemed to understand that he shouldn't do that anymore.

Steve worked more after the kids were in bed and will be working late for the rest of the week. We're almost done with tax season!

And speaking of honesty, let's end with some wisdom from Alfonso Ribeiro:




P.S. The Z sister update is on Christine's blog this week. It was on Rachel's blog last week.

The Lower Lights

I've been meaning to blog about this since my sister-in-law Sarah shared it with me. Her husband, Scott, is the mastermind behind the three amazing lullaby CDs, A Child's Prayer, Mary's Lullaby, and Baby Mine. He also recently produced a CD of hymns called Nearer.

His latest project is called The Lower Lights. I can't wait for this one. Check out more information here and watch the video below. If you'd like to read more, blogger Cjane just blogged about it here.

The Lower Lights // A Hymn Revival from The Lower Lights on Vimeo.

HBLL

Ie Ling showed me the following hilarious video and I watched it over and over again.



Speaking of the Harold B. Lee Library, I miss that place. I have some fun memories from there. I napped a lot with my head down on my textbook.

I learned quickly my freshman year that the periodical section is where you go if you want to get asked out on a date by a complete stranger. I stopped going there after a couple of interesting encounters.

The fourth floor was where I went to hang out with my Asian and Polynesian buddies in my freshman and sophomore years.

Junior year, Steve and I flirted on the third level, which I hear is now the "snack zone." Steve introduced me to texting that year. Unfortunately, my cell phone plan didn't have unlimited texting at the time. My parents weren't too happy after seeing the cell phone bill.

In my senior year, I made my way up to the fifth floor to where Steve was having a study group. I waited for him to be done, and that's when I whispered to him, "I'm pregnant." I will never forget his face or how he said, "that's amazing!"

Life was amazing then and it is now too. There is just so much to do and experience and to love in this life.

Tuesday

It was a beautiful day today. I took Mei Li to joy school this morning, and then went to Stephen's art class. I love having this one on one time with Stephen. The class is much to messy for my taste, but still fun.

Today, Stephen made a clown. Actually, WE made a clown. Stephen painted on the glue while I stuck on the eyes, pom-pom nose, and scrunched up tissue for the hair, mouth, bow tie, and hat. He wanted nothing to do with that tissue, just the messy glue.

We picked Mei Li up, dropped off a UPS package, and ate our lunch on the front steps. It didn't end up being a very sanitary option, but we all soaked up the sun and I shot some cute pictures.




These kids have been cracking me up with how they pose for pictures. Stephen or Mei Li puts his/her arm around the other when I'm taking a picture of them. It's very sweet.

Mei Li watched Strawberry Shortcake while Stephen napped. I took a break and talked to my sisters on the phone. When Stephen woke up, we headed over to the mall by Steve's work so we could have dinner together.

On days when Steve gets to work before the kids get up and doesn't plan to be home until they're asleep, we meet for lunch or dinner. The kids got so excited and yelled, "Daddy!" as soon as they saw him.

After dinner, Steve took the kids on the little train that rides around the food court. I watched and they all waved to me with big smiles each time they passed.



To top it all off, Daddy bought ice cream for all of us. What a treat. The kids weren't too happy when we had to go back home. Only a month left of tax season. At least spring is here and at least we get a meal each day with him.

Here's a video for your enjoyment from last night's Family Home Evening. I swear that shirt fit him two weeks ago.

Sweet Sounds on a Sunday

Sunday

Steve and I participated in the primary program today. Beforehand, Steve had to practice his part a few times to get it memorized, and Mei Li helped him. This song is called "The Family is of God." Go here for the full song.