A day with Family...

I am finding if I keep up on my journal I feel so much better at the end of the day. It clears my mind and I am able to see how great life really is. I realize how blessed I am even though it may be stressful at the moment. I love writing. It is enjoyable and relaxing.

Well now back to the events of the day. What a wonderful day spent with Mike, Matthew, friends, and Grandpa & Grandma Taylor.

The fun began at 10:00. We went over to our town Easter Egg Hunt. Matthew took off with Dad and got the hang of it real fast. He loved it and wanted to keep on picking up eggs after our limit was up. But luckily they had plenty of eggs that they let us go once again. He was really good at picking up the egg and putting it into his basketball, Easter Basket. Grandpa Taylor was able to get some of his favorite gummy candy, a Hamburger gummy. He really enjoyed them. So it was fun for all. We were able to see our good friends, the Whites, Barretts, and Rogers with all their kids. Matthew loves playing with their kids. I am so thankful for friendships. You can learn so much from a person.I love this picture. Matthew was so cute and funny. He goes up to our friend Chris and grabs his hand and starts to walk backwards with him. It was so random and we were surprised by it because he hadn't see Chris for awhile but he was completely comfortable and serious about walking backwards. Chris was just laughing over it. Then we walked back to our house and loaded up the car to go to Baby Animals Days with Grandpa and Grandma Taylor. Matthew loved the baby ducks. They were his favorite along with the grown Chickens. He could have probably watched them for hours. He really enjoyed the train ride. He loves Grandpa Taylor's trains in his basement. He makes the sweetest train noise. I love the sound of it! He was able to pet a horse which he got really excited to touched. He would put his hand on the horse's face to pet her and then he would make a silly face and hurry to pulled back his hand from petting her. He did really great with all the animals as long as one of us was close by. The baby ducks he had to keep on running back to so he could look at them once again. We also took him on a wagon ride with Mike and I . While on the wagon ride there was a moment where he was kneeling to see his surroundings and then he lean over to put his head on my shoulder and just cuddled up. I loved it! I feel so much love from our sweet boy Matthew. He truly has a gift of love for others and for being happy. He wants to say hi, give kisses, or a smile to almost anyone as long as Mom or Dad is close by. He loved looking around at the horses, trucks, cows, and a Tractor while on the ride. After baby animals days we went out to lunch with the Grandparents. It was such an enjoyable time with everyone.
So we wanted to get Matthew a special toy to play outside in the dirt with. He loves to be outside and loves to play in the dirt. So we found him a digger at Cal Ranch and then brought him a penguin at IFA since he loves penguins because of watching Happy Feet; his favorite movie. He really loved seeing all the fun tractors and animals at both stores. He played with his digger the whole way home in his car seat. It was fun to hear him make all the tractor and playful noises. I am excited to see him play with it in the dirt.

Matthew and I had a sweet moment of just sitting by each other at the game table in our living room tonight. He brought over to me his Jack in the Box. Which scares me again and again every time it pops up even when I know it is going to pop up any second but without fail it still makes me jump. Crazy! So he has figured out how to turn the handled recently all by himself and gets the Jack in the box to pop out. He loves it! When Jack pops out of the box now Matthew will say, Pop. I love hearing him say words. It is so much fun and helps with knowing how to meet his needs in a much easier way. I am amazed already by what he knows, picks up on, and then imitates. It is incredible what he knows and how he picks up on things so quickly. I am fascinated by my little guy Matthew. We love him so very much! He is truly a blessing of happiness in our lives. What a tender, sweet, precious, and quiet moment that I wanted to freeze in time to just enjoy more of. Thank goodness there is many more of those sweet and loving moments to enjoy.

I was making dough for scones tonight so we could have Navajo Tacos for dinner. So I asked Matthew if he wanted to help me cook. He got all excited and had a big grin on his face. I told him to go get my cookbook from the toy room/sewing room. He ran to get it and he brought it back to me. Luckily the recipe was in the most common book I normally have him run to bring back to me. Next I told him to pushed the chair from his bedroom into the kitchen so he could stand on it. Right away he runs to his room. Next thing I know he is doing just what I told him to do. I had to help him slightly since it was hard to move from the carpet to the linoleum floor. He then pushes it up to the counter and then climbs up on the chair to stand to help start cooking. He loves to now cook. Every time he sees me cooking he wants to be part of it. This time I let him play with a measuring cup, teaspoon, and some water so I could make the dough so he wouldn't put yeast or shortening into his mouth. When normally if he helps me cook he has to always try it and of course lick his hand and I mean literally lick his whole hand because he will dip his hand into the batter and it comes out with thick batter on it. He loves trying it. By the way he loves to eat flour for some crazy reason. So we have to be careful to keep a close eye on the bowl of flour or else it is all over his clothes and in his mouth. He enjoyed playing with the water and drinking out of the measuring cup. He loves water. I have found this method works better then trying to have him play below me because he wants to see what is going on. So most of the time now he is my little Chef with me. I love having him beside me even though things get a little exciting at times. It is well worth it.

Tonight Mike and I borrowed a movie from his parents called, We Bought a Zoo. I loved it and would see it again. I liked how the Dad(Matt Damon) tells the son to take 20 seconds of courage. I will forever remember that advice when I am wondering if I should do something or not. I am just going to take courage and know within 20 seconds the awkwardness of the situation will be over with and done. We found out at the end of the movie it is actually inspired by a true story. It made me want to be a better parent. To enjoy the sweet moments of life more. To take time to enjoy nature and the creations of it. God's creations are so beautiful that children and adults can learn so much from them. To make an adventure become a reality (my photograpy). And to follow your heart. I haven't seen a movie for awhile that has uplifted me and made me want to do better. Also it made me appreciate Mike so much more and just enjoy his love.

(Some other favorite movies: Australia and Blindside; I love the feel good movies.)