I’ve heard that song a bunch because I listen to that particular album about 79% of the time in the car. Only yesterday, I thought about that last three words of that lyric… WHO YOU ARE.

I have so many reasons to be grateful. Part of being grateful is looking at the whole situation i.e. see the action, give thanks, done… right? How often, though, are we thankful for the ACTIONS of God but not for WHO HE IS?

For example, when I go get my car washed, I see my car go in dirty and it comes out clean… I watch the man vacuum it, put it on the tracks, then a couple other guys chamois it, the a guys parks it, and another man dries it and cleans the windows and the inside of the car. Then I go over and give him a tip, say thanks and leave. Do I ever think about WHO that guy really is? (I think if you did the tip would be much, much bigger.)

Same thing with other relationships… How do you treat your family and friends? Do you know them so well you have them “pegged”? If you already know them well (like you surely do), do you allow them to grow/change in your mind/life so you can learn to know them differently and authentically?

Did you ever consider the possibility that the problems in your relationships aren’t because you know them too well but that you don’t know them for who THEY are, but rather for who YOU THINK they are?

Maybe our efforts to change the way we relate to each other should be more along the lines of, “Who are you?” and less, “You are so _____.”

The BEST way to have a good relationship is to foster it through DIRECT communication. Have a conversation… be open and honest. Make your conversation about getting to know the other person/people. Once you learn more about them, you can love others from a place of honesty. Then you can be thankful and grateful for who they are.

If you are thankful to God but you don’t know who HE is, the best way to start is to read His truth, by reading your Bible.

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The day started early (or in my case normal time).
Here are Kurt and I rocking that “just woke up” look. And “the duckface” by Kurt. niiiice.

We allllllllll walked the 5k before the parade.

Some kids wore crazy outfits. Hey, have fun kids.

After a rest and some showers we went down to the parade. Here’s a picture of Kurt standing in a sea of bikes. The 4th in HB is like “little Holland” with all the friggin bikes.

Here’s Peter wearing his flag shorts and a big smile.

He was practicing some walking with Grandpa before making the trek to PCH to view the fireworks. Almost immediately after he was placed in the stroller he fell fast asleep.

I am excited to show you the pictures and tell you the story of Peter’s first birthday party. Here it is:

It started with a HAT I made.

We chopped veggies, made dough, made sauce, baked cakes, made icing, cut fruit… we made many things in the kitchen…
Goggles and a lab coat were integral to the onion chopping process.

Kurt let Peter borrow his goggles.

I didn’t relish using the red food coloring but I only used a few drops for the icing. I think it looked sorta pretty when it’s swirling into the icing.

Frost the cake, but not all the way to the edges.

Sprinkle coconut, er, I mean cheese…

Place the toppings: blueberries for olives, bananas for mushrooms, squished up little pieces of squaw bread for sausage. This one is Peter’s cake!

While Mom and Dad were working in the kitchen Grandma and Grandpa got to play with Peter! What fun!

Place it in a pizza box.

Here is another pizza cake with strawberries for red bell peppers.(No strawberries for Peter yet.)

Here are two varieties of the other pizzas…

I also made him a number ONE! Here is Peter investigating it. (It is supposed to stand up behind him.)

Grandma Sharon brought him BALLOONS! Overjoyed!

He got a Panda named Parker from Sally, Uncle Blair and Aunt Christie… Can you tell he loves it? He loves Pandas and it was his first word!

Blowing out the P candle.

Jazzed about the whole thing! He was probably thinking, “Yes, I get to tear paper, wear a cool hat, dig in to cake and everyone is watching me! This day is rad.”

Later on we played with bubbles (a first!), looked a the rabbits in the park, and made our parachute men fly! More pictures here.

Here are some pictures of the two loves of my life. Their relationship has only just begun and we are looking forward to so many fun things in life.

Let me know if you want to participate!

So you can imagine how excited I was to invent a HACK! So I submitted it…
Then you gotta know I was super jazzed to have it be posted!
w00t!

Check it out for yourself.

http://www.parenthacks.com/2010/06/strawberry-huller.html

I called the kids salon for an appointment and we took him in for his first professional haircut.

It was a super cute place and he did pretty well.

Here he is in his little car, motoring. This is at the very beginning. Note the hair over his ears.

This is the nice lady who go to do the job. She was a NINJA. He barely even saw her. She was fast and quiet. …Not her first rodeo.

Then with the smock on amidst the snipping, still motoring.

The look of apprehension set in with the clippers over his ears. Then, he lost it, and he cried until we did our parental distraction techniques.

She put gel in it. That was a first. He looks much more neat and clean with his new haircut.

“Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you?
Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you? ”

(Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid will eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?)

Peter, being a tiny person loves to grab stuff and eat it. He is particularly fond of Kleenex, paper towels, paper napkins, the paper on the doctors table, and writing paper. He likes to rip it into pieces for the loud noise value and then he will eventually try to eat it. I know it isn’t great for him to eat it because its not food and its a safety risk (choking). I let him PLAY sometimes while I watch with a finger sweep ready. How else is supposed to learn things? When he starts eating it – I call him my little goat kid. Then I am reminded of my dear Grandpa. And this is how my mind works. (Yes, women are spaghetti.)