Dancing

Yesterday, Noelle and I had a really special moment. I don't know if she was aware of it but I was definitely trying to take as many mental and emotional pictures as I could so that I wouldn't forget.

I was home with the girls and was in the middle of making lunch so I thought it would be nice to turn some music on. I told Noelle I was going to put music on and she said I should put on "pretty music". I thought of Enya and turned on Carribean Blue. Noelle was already sitting at the table eating so I started a little impromtu dancing because it's next to impossible with a song like Carribean Blue playing. Noelle wanted us to take turns dancing so after I got a short little stint on our "stage" she informed me that it was her turn. She proceeded to dance for almost the rest of the song, taking her time with every move she made.

I have been able to watch her dancing evolve over the short amount of time she has been dancing around the house and even though I am her mother and therefore biased, her dancing continues to impress me. When I was sitting on my chair in the kitchen, watching my daughter very seriously move her arms and legs in graceful movements, I had tears in my eyes. She may be 3 1/2 but she already puts so much emotion into her dancing, I was captivated by her. It was beautiful to watch the way she moved her head to follow the movement of her arms, the way she would use every part of her body to do a "move" that was meant to impress. She dances a lot now around the house but this time was especially special because of the focus she had. Also, Noelle is very fickel about whether she wants people watching her so sometimes she is not happy to have an audience. This time however, she looked at me almost throughout the whole dance, smiling at times and looking for the joy she hoped to see. I did not disappoint her in this area. I don't think there could have been more joy or approval expressed in my face than at that moment.

After she finished her turn, she so graciously said it was my turn. As I took my turn showing off my moves for her, she very bluntly told me "that's not how you do it". After I explained that my dancing doesn't have to look like hers she was pretty much ready for me to be done and for her to have a turn again. She preceeded to dance again in the very serious, almost slow motion way that she had done before. Despite being shot down for my attempt at dancing, it really was one of those times I think I will always remember. I want to remember her little face looking at me and the beautifully serious manner in which she chose her steps.

Sometimes I feel like I have nothing to say, whether it be to update my facebook status or to post here, because nothing seems to stand out. But then I wonder why that would be since my life is so full. I am not just sitting around bored, in fact, I have quite the busy life I would say. So why the feeling of having nothing to say? I think it could be that I'm still battling with the belief that what I do is not really that important. I'm not trying to overcomplicate things...that just comes naturally, I don't have to try at all : ) Even if I do tend to look deeply into something that may or may not need to be looked at so closely, I usually come away from the inspection of myself a little more aware of who I am and what I want to change. So about having nothing to say...I also think some of it may have to do with being so busy and distracted by taking care of children and businesses that it takes time to really connect with my own feelings and thoughts about anything outside of children and our businesses. Time is a precious thing that I really don't have a lot of for myself and when I do have some spare time it has in past months been used to watch the couple of shows Josh and I watch together. Our shows are ending as of next week though so maybe I will start using more of my spare time to spend time with God, write, or do something else that's good for my soul.

As I keep thinking about this whole having something to talk about thing, I thought of another reason. I have a strong need to feel the emotion of what I'm writing or else it seems flat and boring. For instance, I was just thinking that I should have written more about our Hawaii trip since I only ended up posting once but since we're not on our trip anymore it doesn't seem like it will be very exciting to write about it now. That's weird though I know because it only happened last week. Well, I will write about some of the highlights soon because I know all my millions of readers are dying to hear about it. I also need to share some funny stuff about Noelle because that girl continues to amaze me.

Ok, so this was me thinking out loud but I'm tired and ready for bed so maybe I will write again soon.

Hawaii!!!

(I tried posting this last night but the pictures wouldn't load so here it is now...)

We are here in Hawaii and even though my eyes feel like they are going to close without my permission I am determined to put up some picutues of our trip so far. The clock says it's only 9:45pm but my body is telling me it's 3:45...that's a big difference.

So we got in yesterday after a very, very long flight in which we were delayed for an hour and a half on the plane in Atlanta. That delay meant we were on that particular plane for over 11 hours! I had to keep reminding myself we were really going land at some point and it really was going to be Hawaii. Yesterday after we arrived I felt so out of it that it all seemed sureal. Seriously I felt like we were in a place where they're trying to make you feel like you're in a place like Hawaii but you're not. No, I'm really in Hawaii I've concluded. This was confirmed today when we visited Pearl Harbor (Jess you would have been in heaven). I was a little distracted by my cranky baby and my cranky husband (he was sick...poor guy) but I did still get to take in the history and the beauty. It's always so neat to stand in a place you've heard about and read about and even seen movies about.

Tonight Jus had a reception for us at our hotel right next to the beach and it was such a beautiful setting. The weather was perfect and besides missing my husband who was in our room sick, it was a fun night. I really have to go to sleep so I will put up the pictures now.

Hanging out with Papa Ralph.

Maddie eating her first ice cream.

The USS Arizona Memorial we took a little boat out to. The remains of the ship are right below the memorial and part of it is sticking out of the water.

The view to the left when standing on a balcony on our floor of the hotel.

The view to the right when standing on that same balcony.