After going to the opened back door at 8:00am and belting out, “JASON! JASON!” Livia settled in my lap this morning while I read the newspaper. On the front page, she finally located our neighbors.

“Jason!” she said, and pointed to a small pic of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq. Mmm, y-e-a-h.

“Nae Nae?” she questioned, while pointing at Cindy Lange-Kubik’s photo near the bottom of the page. I found myself saying, That kind of looks like Renae; and then upon closer examination, Uh, she doesn’t look like Renae at all, but okay…

Touching the colored picture of Marg Helgenberger, native Nebraskan and a star of the tv program CSI, I asked Liv, “Who’s this?”

“Mama.”

What a sharp, observant two year old I have. What can I say? It’s good to be a celebrity.

What a difference a year makes! Who is this sweet pudgy baby???

I just looked over at my daughter, playing on the yellow pine floor with her mama’s latest pair of sunglasses, a small sparkly purple clip pulls her golden-brown hair over her right ear, the rest of the curls and waves rest on her shoulders. She’s wearing a colorful, striped t-shirt and hot pink pants.

“Be careful with the glasses, okay?”

“‘kay,” she nods.

Suddenly she seems like she’s five years old. And I want to squeeze her and forever recall this time when she’s not yet two.

…because we are back!

Happy Easter, everyone. I look forward to rejoining Blogland in coming days.

I am luxuriating in my occupation.

At 4pm yesterday, the time when some cubicle dwellers are looking at their clocks and thinking “Only one more hour…”, I sat outside and watched my almost two year old blow bubbles. It was a shining moment, clear and full of meaning, where the beauty in my world almost overwhelmed me and I couldn’t help but be thankful for where the Lord has placed me. Blowing bubbles on a gorgeous Monday afternoon is definitely a perk of my job.

Another perk is the ability to throw out all the rules and have a little fun. This morning Livia ate Alpha Bits off the living room floor, joined me in eating a small mugful of M&Ms, and then got into a little summer fun on the last day of February. Results posted below.