Baby Loves Disco

Moments to treasure:
*The kids use toy cell phones to talk to each other in the back seat of the van. They laugh and plan what they will be doing that day (they haven't started texting yet).
*Abigail has a toy Mad Hatter that she calls Uncle Justin (because that was the costume Justin made himself for Halloween this year). She cracks up as she yells, "Hey Uncle Justin, why are you wearing make-up? Is your hat barking? Where is Chowder (the dog that we joke is hiding in the big hat)?
*Isaac's new plan for his future: Moving to California, to a remote part on a big cliff where he plans to build a house with a long path of stairs down (and a house for Abigail next door). He plans to be a Realtor and sell houses for Centex (because Arbor Custom Homes is only in Oregon). His plans are to marry Aubree, but he now considers Kayla (and Claire is back in the running).
*In his nearer future: On his 10th birthday he expects his Uncle Justin to buy him a Chihuahua (because he insist that Chihuahuas are only in Mexico or Folsom, CA).

Now to our busy Saturday...The day started with the kids going to build periscopes at Lowe's. They love hiding behind things and yelling, "I can see you! Can you see me?" I don't think either of them are going to be spies or do well at undercover ops.

From there, we drove to Portland and hopped on the Max train. Isaac met a helper dog at the station who was "working," so Isaac couldn't pet him. It was really sweet when the man took his collar off to give the dog a "break." The dog knows that he is off duty when his special collar is off, so Isaac was allowed to pet him then. It was really sweet of the man to consider him. The kids laughed and talked to all sorts of people on the train. I was also very proud of Isaac who stayed close to me on the crowed train and the streets of Portland full of tourists and holiday shoppers. He is growing up! (We did this whole venture without a stroller, in the rain).

Our train venture took us to Baby Loves Disco (which was being hosted for free by H&M as a promo for their new store opening). It is pretty hilarious to see a real DJ and party host (who were 100X better than some of the DJs in Vegas) rocking out with a bunch of little kids. They were gettin' their groove on. Though Isaac is not a "natural," he was out there on the dance floor with passion. He can jump, follow instructions, shake when he needs to and do "cool moves" (which usually means standing on one leg). Abigail has much more rhythm, but was a little overwhelmed by the big crowd and kept getting her eyes fixed on the DJ. The kids also got their faces painted (Isaac sweetly asked for his snake to be purple so his sister would like it).

After all this, the kids went with me to wander around IKEA (which was my "fun" for the day). We finished the day picking up daddy from work and shopping at Costco where we enjoyed some fine food, hotdogs. Of course my kids have days where I don't think I am going to survive being their mom for one more minute; today was not one of those days. I was so thankful and proud of them. I appreciated their obedience, flexibility, stamina, joyful attitudes, belly laughs, ease and ability to make conversations with strangers, inquisitiveness as we passed interesting things on the train and just the fact that they are mine. I know the fun of being a grandparent is that you get to love them and send them back. Today I was especially thankful that they got to go home with me. I love these two precious ones that God has entrusted me to mother. It is an honor for which I am truly thankful!!!