Look for the helpers

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping'." -- Fred Rodgers

Luckily our kids aren't old enough to understand the horror that ripped through our little town yesterday, but they still have questions. They're curious about the sirens and the helicopters and the news crews. They know that some people were hurt in Hesston yesterday, but what we've really been trying to focus on are the helpers. We've been talking about the people who are helping and what we can do to help. My prayer is that Natalie and Max will always be able to look past the hate that they encounter in this world to see the good. There will always be good.

A friend of mine is an elementary school teacher here in town, and she posted this quote from a children's book that they read and reread at school today. What a perfect quote and what wonderful teachers (helpers) we have.

"There was plenty of sadness in the story, I reckon, but it wasn't sad all the way through. There was an awful lot of love, and an awful lot of together, and an awful lot of happy at the end. It was a good story. A good story." -- Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart

The Greats

We spent the weekend in YC and got to see my grandpa and grandma on Saturday afternoon. What a blessing that Natalie and Max get to know their great-grandparents!

Picassos

The three kings:

and a "cat":

We love the library

I know I've blogged about our love for the library before, but really, it's so great. So great that it currently holds the title of "2015 Best Small Public Library" in the state. We usually go every week or two, but for some reason or another we hadn't been for a while until today. The librarian was happy to see us because she and Max are good buddies. The kids usually play in the toddler area while I pick out our new stack of books, and today when I came back to check on them, I found the kids like this:

Hair Cuts and Lollipops

Max's hair cut was our excitement yesterday. Both of the kids love to go to the salon, and now they're going to love it even more because they got suckers as we were paying this time. Max's wish came true in that the girl used the electric clippers on his hair again. He loves anything that goes "vroom," and if you ask him about his hair cut, that's exactly what he says, "vroommmmmmmm". Natalie played the role of support person by softly saying, "You're doing a good job, Max," while gently patting his leg as he sat in the chair.

Note to self: please try to remember how cute Max looks after a hair cut, and stop letting him go so long between appointments!

Afternoon Fun

We spent this afternoon at the park and had the best time. These two are at such a fun age right now. They are the best of friends and genuinely enjoy each other's company 90% of the time.

There was a time in our lives when we had to get outside every day and usually as quickly as possible because somebody was bound to be cranky if we stayed cooped up all day. These days, the kids are having so much fun playing with each other inside that it takes forever to get them to go anywhere. They need to finish building their Lego farm, and then they need to play dog house with the new cardboard box, and oh yes, can we read another story? I'm absolutely not complaining! We're in a sweet spot right now, and I'm definitely soaking it up.

Independent Reading

Flipping through a huge stack of books is one of Max's new favorite things to do. I always ask him if he wants me to read them to him, and he always responds, "No. Ah me." "Ah me" is Max speak for "I'm so independent now, Mom! Let me do everything by myself!" We hear "Ah me" quite a bit these days, and I hope to always remember the way his little voice sounds saying it. 

Fat Tuesday

We made a king cake to celebrate Mardi Gras again this year. Natalie concluded that the king cake must be named after King Park, the biggest park here in town. This year's king cake was marked with lots of fingerprints by the time we ate it this evening. 

Bookworms

Mama

Lately Natalie wants to do everything just like I do it. The other day while getting dressed she told me, "Mama, I'm trying really hard to look just like you." It's incredibly sweet, and I'm trying to remember all of her little imitations because I know without a doubt that this won't last forever. She wants her hair to be long like mine, and she insists on wearing a cross-body purse like mine, and she loves to help me clean "because we're the mamas".

Here she is hanging her clothes like a mama along with some attempts at a nice smile. She knows that she is supposed to pose for the camera, but she still isn't quite sure how. These were the best of many many "cheeeeeeeeeeese" shots :)