Things That Make Me Smile 12/30/11

1. Spending time with family Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. There's nothing better!

2. Leighton had to work only a couple hours on Monday. It was a real treat to have him home with us. I loved watching him play with the kids. I'm not sure who was having more fun . . . or who laughed more.

3. Jake and Alyssa were filling the kitchen table with play dough toys to start making a mess, I mean, playing. Zac saw them and immediately cleaned up the toys he was playing with before joining them.

4. Jake: "What day is it?"

Me: "Tuesday."

Jake: "Oh, man. I wanted to go to church."

5. Zac has been on a big dinosaur kick for the past month or so. He likes watching Dinosaur Train on PBS (Netflix) He ran up to me, raised one finger in the air and said, "I have hypopisis!" (hypothesis)  He's been saying it ever since. It's just the cutest thing! "I have hypopisis!"

6. We were looking at some pictures from this past year. Jake saw this one from Father's Day and said, "Hey! That was in the winter when we had snow!" Nope, sorry. That was in June . . . when we had smudges on the window. Guess I need to clean the windows more.

7. I don't usually add things that Leighton says or does since it's probably not as cute as the kids. I could mention how it makes me smile when he walks in the door at home or when he comes off the platform to sit with me in church or when he reads to the kids at night. There are so many things that make me smile, but I will mention something he said to me this week. I cooked a ham for dinner one night. After he couldn't stop eating it he said, "You know, you're really good at a lot of things, but I have to say, cooking is at the top of the list." That made me smile.

8. Zac loves playing with Alyssa's baby dolls. He'll feed them, put them to bed, and love on them. Lately, he's been cradling a baby as he rocks it and says, "Shh, it's ok. It's ok. Shh, it's ok." I think he's going to make a great big brother. (As long we can keep him from tackling the baby like he does his other siblings!) 

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