Laughing for dinner

Any onlookers at Shari's last night may have assumed we make our girls laugh for their dinner. They were so beyond silly they had Ryan and I both cracking up. Between Lyra growling and Lisa singing and both of them giggling, we were a regular side show. There's something about that place, Shari's. Cozy, casual, family friendly, one of those places that serves any kind of food 24 hours a day, but somehow it still tastes pretty good. Last night I had butternut squash soup and it was delicious! Lisa even liked it. We love dinner at Shari's. :)

Last week's favorite reasons for smiling

1. Hearing Lyra sing "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair"

2. Listening to an NPR story on Richard Simmons, hearing his voice and knowing that he is still teaching classes and full of so much fabulous energy.

3. Watching SNL with Ryan late nights while we snuggle in bed.

4. Hanging out with Natalie for two days

5. Seeing my first live comedy show in Sun Valley with Ryan and Donna and Tony

Laughing: Day 20

Lisa and I auditioned for Fiddler on the Roof! It was such a proud parent moment to watch Lisa get up there and be so brave. Her first time performing for complete strangers and she nailed it. I guess you could say I'm a little biased. I hope this is a wonderful experience for her. The two of us will be members of the chorus. After the audition, we went out for pie and hot chocolate and she was all smiles and giggles. I asked if she knew the name of the musical we just tried out for because it occurred to me I might not have specified the name. In the middle of fits of giggles she managed to get out, "The fidd-er on the Rooth!". No, those are not spelling errors. Her slip of the tongue made us laugh even more. I feel so lucky I get to hang out with such a neat little girl.

Laughing: Day19

It has been a few days, but I'm not giving up! Today after going running, we stayed for breakfast at the Buffalo Cafe. One of my favorite breakfast joints in town. It was Donna and Sonja and me. I was telling them abut how I could not think of anything to sing for Karaoke last night at the Klover Club, so we started making a list. Donna used the voice recognition feature on her phone to store the list there and since it is not always 100% accurate at deciphering what she is saying, it came up with a rather amusing sentence. I don't know why I thought it was SO hilarious, but it felt good to laugh. I'm so glad that Donna has started this women's running group and kept it going even when it is near 0 degrees outside.

Laughing: Day 15

Cheers. Our Netflix sitcom reruns of choice these days. Ryan goes through phases where he will choose a sitcom from years ago and then watch it from the first season all the way to the last. Cheers was a funny show! "You wanna go where everybody knows your name." I gotta learn that song on the piano.

Laughing: Day14

Lyra singing "Nothing can go wrongo, I am in the Congo!" over and over. (from "Joshua Giraffe"sung by Raffi)

Laughing: Day 13

These past four days have been quite busy with Ryan doing the play and I felt very lucky I could go to three of those performances, very much thanks to our fabulous babysitter, Beca. She always has the best fun with the girls. They love her and are so happy when they get to hang out with her. When we got home tonight, she told us all about her day with them and one of her stories was about how they played doctor together. They used a small sunscreen bottle to do a temporal scan to check her temp and it was 30spf so Lisa told Beca she was 30% alive. ha! Beca said,"Uh-oh, that's not good." So Lisa took a piece of paper and taped it to the bottle and then wrote 99 on it. "Now you are 99% alive, Beca!" I'm so glad they have such a great time together. We love Beca!

Sick! but still laughing...

We have had a nasty 24 hour flu at our house the past 3 days, making the rounds through me and then Lisa and then Ryan. But I promise there was still laughing! I just didn't have the energy to sit and write about it. :)
Since Lyra did not get sick, she kept us entertained by running around the apartment doing absolutely whatever she wanted to. All of us were too sick to stop her. You can't help but laugh when your 3 year old is wild and naked, making a ruckus all day long.
On the second day, when we were starting to feel better I remember Lyra climbing into our bed to give me a big hug and then calling everyone else in to make it a FAMILY HUUUUG!
Also on the second night I was feeling better enough to go see Ryan in his play, which had some great laughing moments. I was amazed he made it through the entire performance without getting sick, considering he had been throwing up at school and threw up right before leaving our apartment that evening!
On the third day, we were all feeling mostly better and the girls convinced me to play dollhouse with them for a while. Lisa was cracking me up trying to talk like Dori from Finding Nemo, the part where she speaks whale. If you haven't watched it in a while, you should.
Dori speaking whale in Finding Nemo

Laughing: Day 8

For about a year now I have been watching a one year old little boy. He makes me smile a lot, especially when he giggles uncontrollably when I tickle him or play hide and seek. Today, he made me smile when he realized I was holding another little baby in my arms and became very curious. It took him a good while to make the connection that there even was something alive in my arms and then he tilted his head to the side and got this little crooked smile on his face. Then he slowly walked over to get a closer look. Such a sweet boy. Then he tried to grab the baby's face and we had to have a lesson on how to touch babies. :)

Laughing: Day 7

This wasn't a laugh out loud moment, but it really made me smile and feel close to a daughter who is growing up way too fast. Earlier when it was getting close to bedtime, Lisa asked if there was a time when we could talk together. I could tell she meant just the two of us, so I told her after they were in bed and Lyra had fallen asleep. A few minutes ago I went in and climbed up on Lisa's top bunk with her so that we could talk. She turned to me and asked, "Is it gross for someone to have a crush on someone?" She then proceeded to tell me about a boy at school who she likes hanging out with who might have a crush on her. Then she went on to tell me about some drama with one of her other friends and I felt such a pang of sympathy for her. This is her world and it is a big deal just trying to figure out how to be a good friend and also be true to herself. I hope I can give the kind of support and guidance that will help her be happy and love life.

Laughing: Day 6

Today we went out to lunch with the fellowship and it was a great time sitting and chatting with Don and Malcolm. The girls always make everyone smile. We got talking about food and trying to eat healthy and something I said made Don think of a funny SNL sketch he saw once, something about a family whose son couldn't chew his own food so the other family members would chew it up for him like a mother bird and then spit it into his open mouth. Eww, gross! But funny, too. :p

Laughing: Day 5

Watching kids try to get themselves and their sleds up a very slippery hill provides loads of laughs. (It also provided lots of extra exercise for me when I pulled them up the hill in the sled)

Laughing: Day 4

I laughed a lot today. It was mostly Ryan's fault. I am sad he is going back to school on Monday.
This morning he couldn't fall back asleep after I got back from working out at the gym at 6:30, so he turned on Portlandia on Netflix. When I woke up Lisa for school she came in to watch with us while she ate her muffins. The humor is so odd and when we started giggling, Lisa says, I don't get it. So Ryan starts trying to explain it to her and that makes me crack up even more.  This is probably one of those "Guess ya had to be there" stories...

Laughing: Day 3

With temperatures dropping to 0 Degrees the past few days, it has almost felt cruel to send Lisa to school, but I do have to admit I got a kick out of seeing all the kids climbing out of the cars this morning all bundled up. One kid looked like he had a ski mask on. Poor things! Lisa said they get to choose if they want to go out to recess. I let her borrow my ear warmer and it was way too big for her, which, of course, made it adorable.

Laughing Day 2

Since I am going ahead with the plan to follow a hand-written Five Year Journal idea seen on another blog, I decided to focus this blog's journaling on the original question from Lyra's story book that inspired me. "What happened today that made you laugh?"

I babysit a little boy who just turned one year old in November. He is a bundle of energy, with sweet shy smiles and intense moments of growling. This morning I handed him a small calculator to distract and amuse him and he held it up to his face and started humming away. He walked out of the room still humming and I realized he was pretending to talk on the phone. Pretty darn cute!

Laughing: Day 1

What Happened today that made you laugh?
That's a line right out of one of Lyra's bedtime story books that sometimes makes me stop to think. There is always something. I am going to make a goal right here, right now, to take a moment each and every day to reflect on what made me laugh. Or what made me cry, shout, feel proud, feel grateful. Being a homemaker challenges me in so many ways, but I must become more aware of the positive impact it has on me and my family. I must be more present in the moment.
What are some daily questions to ponder? One blog I came across had an interesting idea about keeping a five-year journal that I am thinking about trying.
Five Year Journal
While I am more inclined to just write thoughts as they come to me, there is some appeal to following specific questions because it gets me to think about things I might not otherwise think about. So I will probably do some of both. Now I need to decide whether I want to do it all on the computer or in my own handwriting. There is something special about being able to read actual handwriting recording someone's thoughts. So I think my primary journal will be in a notebook. But I also want to share here because feedback from loved ones you know care about you is a major boost and a priceless gift!
So, here goes. :)

DAY 1 
My favorite moments today were when I got to snuggle Lisa on the couch while we watched movies like "Brave" and "Charlotte's Web" and when Lyra was so exhausted that she would collapse into my arms after telling me "I NEED you, mommy." I had my fair share of losing patience and snapping back when the whining would start, but we also had moments of relaxing together. A post New Year's Eve recovery kind of day.