A witty title which fits this post perfectly.

So, I was thinking.

It is the silliest thing.  So often I find myself appreciating some random character trait in someone, or I'm admiring their really great eyebrows, or I'm wishing I could be so composed in front of people as is the girl in church, or I read a blog post that really resonates with me, or the girl in front of me with the screaming toddler is sticking to her guns even though it'd be easier and less embarrassing to give in, and I  a l m o s t say something.  I formulate a compliment inside my head, but then I swallow it for fear of seeming weird or insincere.

What a selfish thing for me to do!  Good, sincere compliments are the stuff of star dust and fairy glitter, and I'm sure I could live off of one for at least two weeks.  5 year old compliments still ring through my brain every so often and give me a little boost on a difficult day- and I'm sure their givers have totally forgotten their kind words.

What a better place this world would be if we were all verbalizing the good we see in others.
(Even if it's only about someone's fantastic hair, which is probably the number one thing I notice on people walking around.)

I'm going to try it.  At the grocery store, at church, with my friends, and total strangers.

And now I'm going to tell you a totally unrelated story:

A couple days ago, Olivia woke up and told Isaac (I was at school) about this amazing dream she'd had where she built a basketball hoop out of Legos.  She was so enthusiastic about her dream that when I came home two hours later, she told me all about it, too.  So finally she pulled the Legos out and recreated her dream.  It barely took her five minutes; she knew exactly what she was doing.

I mean, yes, you may not have known what it was without me telling you first, but here is her dream come true.  And why does she even know what a basketball hoop is?

Mustachioed Olivia. Don't mind her tired eyes, we had some DRAMA the night before.  Bed-wetting, nightmares, screaming, all of it.

A carousel at the mall.  I am not given to spending $1.50 on 2 minute rides, but she had such hope beaming when she asked and I just so happened to have the exact change, so I let her.  She thought I was the coolest mom ever for about 20 minutes until she asked for a milkshake and I told her no.  

I am doing a February Photo A Day thing on Instagram; it has directions for a picture to share for each day of the month.  I'll share some of those here every so often.  The directions for the photo above were "your view today", so I took one of the snowy mountains and my school as I walked in for a Micro lab.  It's terribly blurry because I didn't want to stop walking long enough to take a picture.

This day was titled "hands", so here are Olivia's hands holding the tiniest speck of Play-Doh.  Apparently, it was a baby orange. 

Today's was "10 AM", but I missed the deadline, so here's an 11 AM photo as we walked out the door for church.  The dead winter foliage really adds to the picture, I think.

And you're going to be really proud of me because I FINALLY figured out a way to keep my eyes tear-free while onion chopping!

Voila!  My physiology goggles still have some use PLUS the extra bonus of GORGEOUSNESS!  I mean,  really.

Ok, I was going through my pictures from our family party tonight, and I came across this gem:

I was trying to get Thomas to walk to me; you can see from his disinterested stare that this was not going to happen, BUT!  The real gold of this picture is in the background.  My family's faces are priceless.  Especially Emily and my dad who are on the edge of their seats like they can't believe what's happening and Cameron's cynical smirk from the corner like he doesn't really believe that Thomas can do it.  

And then Thomas, who could not care less.  

Babies (who will soon be toddlers)!  Am I right?