Laughing

There is nothing more pure and sweet than the laugh of a small child. While my personal favorite is the belly laugh where they can hardly breath, even the small giggles can brighten your day. A child's laugh shows their pure optimism and their untarnished views on life. Their laugh contains no sarcasm, no pretense, no restraint, no sign of hurt or pain. It is the expression of sheer joy in it's most undefiled form. I'm grateful for the many laughing voices I hear everyday. They remind me that life is good and that no matter what happens, there is always something to laugh about.

Many reasons to be grateful!

• Picky child once again ate something she has never tried before. And this time she took a big bite and swallowed it!
• Went in search of a basic white lace long sleeve shirt today that I was going to have to sew and fancy up to make it look right for my costume. Found the perfect blouse instead that was just the way I wanted it, no sewing required, AND it was twenty percent off because it had a makeup spot on it! AND I found it in the first store I went into
• My costume for the final scene of the show makes me feel like Miss Adler from Sherlock Holmes. IT IS GORGEOUS!

El Dia Domingo!

Many Reasons to smile today

• It's Sunday and I love Sunday
• My hair looked awesome today!
• Oscar party at the Walgamott's (one of the best parties I've been too in a long time)
• I got to sleep in! I feel like I haven't done that in a long time. Even on the days I've had off from work recently, I've gotten up early.

All the colors of the rainbow!

Brightly colored coats make me smile! This was at my friends birthday party last night. Love you HOLLY!

no soy Chilena

So yesterday at work I was working in the special needs evaluation center doing Spanish translation. I said a word that the mother didn't understand "matricularse" which means to enroll yourself, (in this case enroll in school) she corrected me by saying "registrarse" which means to register. Really they both work but I guess in mexico they don't ever use the word matricularse. When I mentioned that that must be a word that they use in Chile she said, "Oh! You are Chilean!" Can I just say that after being home for 9 months and not speaking Spanish constantly it did my heart good that she actually mistook me for a native Spanish speaker.

"If I could change the world"

So today I got one of those warm fuzzy feelings you get when you know that what you do actually has an impact for good on the people around you. Today I had parent teacher conferences. One family in particular stood out to me. I recently started teaching their child in January. He's a tough one but oh so adorable. I sat in awe as they told me that before I started teaching their child they were scared to take him to the grocery store with them because he would get lost, or knock things off the shelves or a myriad of other problems. "It's amazing!" they said. "Since he's started coming to your class, he is so much more obedient and we can take him grocery shopping with us now without being so nervous." Such a little thing that I think many parents take for granted. Something so small but something that brings so much normalcy to their lives. It just made me realize that what I do really does matter to these kids and their parents, and that they can lead more normal lives because of it.

A mi me gusta la musica!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiRNzIUkDuk

This makes me smile. 'Nuff said

a bailar! dia cuatro

DANCING! I love dancing. The part I'm playing in the musical right now is a huge dancing part. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to stretch my legs and twirl around. The last show I was in I hardly danced at all. While in my own opinion, I'm a far better singer than dancer, I still love the feeling of kicking high and leaping and twirling. Because "[dancing] gives you endorpines, endorphines make you happy! Happy people just don't shoot their husbands." Name that movie!

Dia tres

So I'm already failing on my goal. I didn't write yesterday, but I had some problems with my internet and figured, meh, it can wait until tomorrow. ANYWAYS, Yesterday what I wanted to write is that I have conquered the cranky child! Or at least I'm on my way to it! I have a student who after a lot of hard work is so compliant and so well behaved. One who has increased her attention span and begun talking while in my class. However, the child is going to give me gray hairs with one issue...EATING! She is the pickiest eater I've ever met and none, I mean none of the tricks I've used for any other kid work with her. Well we devised a new plan recently and yesterday SHE ATE CHOCOLATE PUDDING!!!! You may think that that's no big deal. I mean come on! It's chocolate pudding. To this child you might as well be asking her to eat food laced with arsenic. But she ate it! Maybe only two bites but she ate it! And she didn't throw up, or spit it on my face or cry or even whimper! And that my friends is a huge reason to smile!

Thank you Mr. President

So this lovely Presidents Day weekend I've been sick thanks to the darling children of the elementary school I teach at. This may sound like a negative thing but I would like to point out the positives. It was a holiday today which means I didn't have to find a substitute (huge blessing considering how hard it can be to find a sub.) Also my cold hasn't effected my singing voice which means tonight at play rehearsal I could still sing. And because it was Presidents Day, I could sit around and rest all day so that I would have enough energy to dance in tonight's rehearsal as well. So THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT for making my sick day as inconvenient as possible!

DIA UNO

Here it goes! I would like to start out with a new app I discovered for my phone. It's called family search indexing. I think it may just become my new obsession. Even more than Dragon Fly. HA HA. Anyways, what indexing is, is they show you census records from all over the world from sometimes centuries ago and you have to decipher what the name is. Sounds simple enough right? WRONG! Reading the handwriting of these records from the early 1900's is crazy hard! But you know what? When you figure out what one is, you feel like a detective who has just solved a mystery. Once you get started it's hard to stop! I love it! Check it out for yourself. Just look up Family Search indexing on your iPhone or Android phone. Trust me, you'll feel just a little bit like Sherlock Holmes, and if that doesn't make you feel cooler, I don't know what will.

https://www.familysearch.org/volunteer/indexing

BIENVENIDOS!

Welcome everyone! Who knows if anyone will ever even read this, but it's something that came to my mind today and I'm going to see it through. I think I have a pretty amusing life. In fact everyday I have some reason to smile. I don't think I give those gratifying moments the attention they deserve. So it is my goal to write down something that made me smile, everyday, for the next 30 days. There is so much to be grateful for in life, so join me in seeing how amazing my life is, and who knows, maybe you'll realize how grand yours is along the way.