My Own Masterpiece

It's been a long and tough week... all of the kids have had a stomach virus. The H1N1 flu is rampant in Austin right now. I'm sure we are all going to get it, but when we do, I want the kids to be healthy, so their immune system is strong. So, we've stayed home both to prevent the spread of our stomach virus and to prevent catching the flu while we are already sick.

Anyway... I've been thinking about something for a couple of weeks and I've been wanting to write a blog about. This week of staying in has allowed me some time to get to the pile of house projects and now this blog post.

I was sitting in church a couple of weeks ago, listening to the sermon. I don't remember exactly what it was about, but it got me thinking about how much I'm enjoying taking 30 minutes a week or so and reflecting on my direction in life and self improvement. I started to look around the room at all the different faces there. There was one woman that struck me. She is an older woman that I haven't met. She was singing in the choir and she was so happy! She was very expressive and enthusiastically singing with her whole body. She made me smile.

At that moment I had a new thought about aging. If everybody is spending 30 minutes or more each week working on self improvement, then by the time they are "old", they must be exactly the people they want to be. A product of their lives work. Their own masterpiece.

This new perspective has made me want to spend some time (hypothetically of course, my kids need my time right now) getting to know some of these people. I want to know which characteristics they have developed, what is important to them and why. I feel excited about the person I can become in my life. If I work hard at being a better person (whatever I think that means at the time), each week. Then maybe one day I will be my own masterpiece.

September Catch Up!

Ugh! I can't believe I haven't updated all month! We've been busy... Here's a collection of pics from some of the fun stuff we've done. Enjoy!

Patti turned 3 and Suzi turned 1!! Patti had a princess party. There was a giant castle for the kids to color on, beads and other princess party games. We had a ball!

Annette and Sakari brought their precious baby boy Mattais to visit us! Wyatt and Mattais are close in age and I hope will be great friends! Wyatt and Annette became good friends. He decided her lap was the perfect place to enjoy his morning milk with his favorite blanket.

Here's Scott with all of the kids piled on!

We took the girls to the ballet to see Peter and the Wolf. They both LOVED it. It was a little upsetting that the wolf ate the duck. We're still talking about it every day. Ballet Austin did a wonderful job with the performance. It was just perfect for the girls at this age.

Last week, I took the girls to a cooking class at Little Chef's Academy. They had a great time! They learned how to make pizza, even the dough!

Nature Night, Plants and People at the Wildflower Center. Fun crafts, games and educational booths. Awesome!

Smelling jars!

Birthday

Happy Birthday to me! My birthday was August 30th, but we celebrated a little early. I picked out a cake at Baskin Robins, but the girls picked the decorations :) I had a Barbie Ballerina cake (mint chip). I had to wear the princess crown too. We had fun :) My cute kids and my wonderful husband made me feel like the birthday princess!