Keep Smiling (breathing optional)

I'm sort of freaking out right now. I've been spending the last couple of days dealing with way too many bureacracies and/or people who are out to take as much money from me as they can-- banks, the DMV, and auto mechanics. Plus, I found out yesterday that Kendra has pneumonia. Ryder is doing great, so I'm sure she will be soon, too. But still! She's probably had it for a while. The doctor assured me that without her running a fever or acting particularly sick, there was really no way for me to be able to tell, but I still feel terrible for not knowing sooner.

So rather than dwelling on all the things that are making me miserable and about to start hyperventilating, I'm going to blog about things that have made me smile recently. Maybe that will help me to keep breathing. Here goes:

-Kendra's birthday was on Saturday! She's my big 4-year-old now! For the most part she had a lovely day. At the very end, right as we were dishing up cake for her, she complained that her ear hurt and she wanted to lay down for a bit before she ate her cake. So we just put her to bed without cake-- sad, huh? And I'm pretty sure that was the pneumonia that I hadn't been noticing... (This was the reason that I took her to see the doctor, just for the record.)

Gotta love a big stack of presents from Grandma and Grandpa!

-A few months ago, Bentley asked me if I'd ever seen a tornado. I told him I hadn't, but that I wanted to. He immediately began spinning in a tight circle and waving his arms all crazy around himself and announced, "Well this is your lucky day! Because you get to see a tornado!" Tornado Bentley. I love it.

-Also on Kendra's birthday, she got a balloon from Red Robin, but it popped in the parking lot. This sent her into a crying fit (pneumonia? what? sick kid who cries over silly things? huh?), and I hurried back inside the restaurant to get her a new balloon. (Normally I'd be tougher and explain that sometimes balloons pop. But it was her birthday, so I didn't feel the need to be overly heartless.) Fortunately they had some more balloons by then, and all was well. Yesterday, Bentley set about on another one of his projects. This time, he made a paper balloon for Kendra, and attached it to the string of the popped one (which had been left in the car). He pointed out to her that this one was even better, since it couldn't pop. He's a good brother!

This picture just makes me laugh. That's the cake she didn't eat until the next day.

-And one more Bentley art project for you: a couple weeks ago, the kids got up and let me sleep a bit late. When they finally burst into my room, they announced excitedly that they'd made the Star-Spangled Banner! Sure enough, they'd been hard at work on an American flag for me! Bentley even taped 4 pieces of paper together to make it bigger. They were trying to replicate THE Star-Spangled Banner that is currently on display at the Museum of American History. I guess that trip wasn't a complete waste of time after all!

-I forgot to mention before, but one of the things Ryder likes to do is to scoot backwards. It's not that impressive: when he's crawling, he'll suddenly just switch to reverse and begin pushing himself backwards. But every time he does it, he'll just grin and giggle maniacally as if he is doing the trickiest thing in the world. That makes me laugh.

Phew. I'm feeling better now. What are the things that keep you smiling?