Hearts Full of Joy

silly reading

gracie is a funny girl. a really funny girl. not in a baby-ish sort of way, but in a quirky, surprising, wise little adult-ish sort of way. she has been from day one, and friends and strangers comment on it constantly.
i took these photos on our lawn in october.

one of our family's favorite books is a favorite becasue the heroine, trixie, reminds us so much of gracie.

and not just because of the hairstyle, nose, and teeth....

this is gracie's favorite activity, except it is underpants on her head, and the bra goes around her neck.
she's been doing this since she was 10 months old.

gracie is also expert at this.

not to be outdone, noah is also a funny boy (as previous posts attest) this is noah's favorite book. if we only mention the title, he giggles.

for those unfamiliar with this book, the reason for the giggles are these favorite pages:

missing japan...well maybe

i miss japan, i do. at least most of it. these first two videos are here to remind me that there are things that i don't miss. we lived on the train line in the first video, the denentoshi-sen, for our first two years in japan. we didn't own a car, so it was our main means of transportation. brock took it to work every morning, we all took it to church. we took it anytime we went further than our own neighborhood. this video is for real.... the second video is tokyo summerland, a water park that we visited once, and only once (heather & family were there that day too). this is also for real... and the last video is just plain silly, and very enjoyable if you have spent time in japan. it is not for real, but is very good. you have to wait through a commercial before it starts. thanks to two friends (daisie & aimee) who shared japan with me for also sharing this video with me...

feeling crazy!

lexi, tashi, and their cousins, mother's day, may 13, 2007

lexi took this silly close-up shot of noah in the yard, may 2007

brock took this photo yesterday, june 13th

i'll take my car in a nice sickly shade of infection

this morning as i was driving brock to an early morning church meeting (living in Japan, we have never owned more than one car at a time), we passed a shiny new car parked along the road, in a sporty shade of, well.......

after we had passed the car I commented, more to myself than to brock, "that is a terrible color for a car, or for anything else." brock asked me what the color was and i tried to explain it....."it was a creamy color with just a hint of green"......he replied, "oh yeah, the puss colored car." and he was right, it was indeed the exact color of puss. now the reason this is so intriguing to me, and worth taking the time to post about, is the complexities involved in selecting a color for a car. someone, or a team of someones, had to choose this exact color, then they had to get it approved by another someone or group of someones. someone else had to actually mix the paint and someone had to pour it into the machine on the assembly line that sprays paint on the cars. there may be several more somebodies involved, but finally, somebody had to see that car at the dealer, and choose to pay money for it and drive it home. maybe they had seen their folly, and that is why it seemed to be abandoned on the side of the road. it was still there later when i brought my kids to church, so i was able to share it with them. but was gone after church. the neighbors may have complained about the eyesore, and asked that it be towed away.....in any case i am extremely sorry for the owner of that car, but appreciative of the sunday morning laugh it gave us.