Journaling

I just got back from a RS night about Journaling with a fabulous speaker, Carol Adamson. She has a book called "Rachel doesn't live here anymore" all about journaling. Her stories were so good.  I came home and said to Derek I really had wanted to go, not because it seemed so super interesting, but because I don't write in a journal and I probably should. At this point, Derek looked at me and said, what do you think you are doing by all your photo history books, and your blog, and your blog book, and the kids scrapbooks (I only scrapbook the 1st year because I'm not that good at it). OK, he's right. This is like a journal of sorts.

But I still want to write in a journal - a paper one - that I don't put out on the internet.

So as a kick off, I'm going to NOT write in a journal but put some cute things out on the internet that are very reflective of my three children that happened today.

Joshua was invited to a friend's house today and he was so excited to go. But Abigail was NOT excited for him to go. Joshua felt bad that Abigail was so upset and so he suggested maybe Abby could come and play too. That was sweet of him. But what was so sweet of Abigail was her cute little voice, and her cute little frown, and her cute little tears after Joshua left. "Ich will dass Joshua hier bleibt!" "Ich moechte nicht, dass Joshua weg geht." (I want Joshua to stay here. I don't want Joshua to go.) She kept asking where he was, and I was say, Abigail, he's at Hazel's, he's playing at Hazel's, ok? And then five seconds later she would ask again. She was eating lunch at the table and I was picking up her room and I could hear her calling "Joshua? Joshua?" When it was time for her nap, she wimpered, "aber wird Joshua auch schlafen? Ist Joshua auch muede?" (But will Joshua sleep too? Is he tired, too?) Although she sometimes will hit him, and scream at him, and bite him (I know, that sounds bad, but she really is a sweet little girl, I promise) she just adores him. And she always has, from the very first moment she saw him. She loves her big brother. He is her very best friend.

And then Joshua has altered his new chore chart and added a little magnet we have that says "I can forgive" I think mostly he just wanted more magnets on his chart, but this now requires him to forgive someone every day. (Probably a good idea for a lot of us) Anyway, as he was working on finishing up his chores and moving the magnets into the appropriate spots, he took the "I can forgive" magnet and turned to me and asked, "Hat Abigail heute etwas boeses zu mir getan?" (Did Abigail do something bad to me today?" Honey, if you can't remember, you've probably already forgiven her (because she is two, and she generally DOES do something to bug him) But he loves her and he always forgives her. I am so glad he is so forgiving because he has me as a mom, and I need to be forgiven  A LOT.

And Lukas has come up with a new trick. Of all my babies, he is the one that mimics our facial expressions and our sounds. His new talent - no, it's not sitting up, or getting on his knees, or eating solid foods like other babies his age do - no, his new talent is smiling on cue. When I hold up the camera and say "Lukas, sag cheese" he pulls the most hilarious silly grin ever, including squinty eyes and wrinkled up nose. It is so funny and so cute and I just couldn't get the right smile but here are my attempts.

Happy Journaling.