Oh Joy!

Toddler + preschooler = fun. Joyful moments are easy pickings for Sophie and Ava. Bubbles, popsicles, balloons, flowers - they all send the girls over the moon. It's like the first miners that got to California - dip in your pan, scoop out some gold. But, of course, as kids grow older balloons lose their luster, popsicles are old news and bubbles don't really do much for my boys these days. For them the easy pickings are gone and they are mining now for the rare but really good golden moments. I think that is why this is one of my favorite pictures of the summer:

Now, to coax a smile like this from Ava - all you need is a 10 cent glow in the dark bracelet. Sophie will beam at you this way if you let her pet your puppy. But Sam is a tougher customer. He's a happy kid but he's seen alot in his pre-teen years and he is harder to impress. The smile of pure joy in this photo is somewhat a rare gem. Sam is smiling because he designed his car all by himself and this year cut it out on the scroll saw by himself. He sanded and painted it on his own. Then (5 min before race time) his dad helped him put on the wheels and axels. But the derby gods were smiling on Sam that night and his car didn't lose. He won the pinewood derby. (what?!) I don't care much about the winning. ( I was actually kind of worried about the other finalist and wanted to make sure he was happy, which he was) But for 45 minutes I soaked in the pure unbridled joy of a 10 year old - which I wouldn't call extremely rare but felt like finding the mother lode nonetheless.