I thought I'd be writing more....

but no brilliant flashes of inspiration have come my way. We are just into the school groove, and it is feeling pretty good. Here was our first "official" day of school.

We are loving having the cousins back to do school (and life) with. Here is a picture of all of us in my classroom. I don't know how much longer those boys will want to wear matching shirts, but for now they still think it is pretty cool. I imagine the girls will be matching forever.

Seth and Cade don't actually have any classes together, but it is just fun for them all to be together.

Here these silly kids are doing their salt maps of the Nile River. Aren't they charming. Today we all went on a nature walk scavenger hunt and I wish I had a video camera to record how excited they were scrambling around looking under rocks and up in trees. One of the things that I love is that when these five kids get together they are always doing something that I count as school and they don't even know it. They produce plays and write letters to the president and their favorite authors. They walk around singing goofy educational songs that they have memorized. They play games and read and they have formed a club. They pray together and manage their own "issues." They like to learn. I think if I have one educational prayer for my children, it is that they don't ever lose that love of learning. It took me a while to get it back as an adult and I hope they don't lose the years that I lost.

Food Co-op

Today I got together with my mom and my two sisters-in-law (one is my brother's wife, one is Danny's sister) and we planned our new food co-op. My day is Monday, so on Monday's I'll make a meal for all four families and deliver it cooked to their door. But, the best part is that on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday a cooked meal gets delivered to MY door!! I have always been skeptical of these kinds of food co-ops because I happened to have married a picky eater. I could just imagine Danny's reaction the first time someone showed up at our door with a meatloaf and potatoes. So, I have never payed much attention when people talk about food co-ops. But, a friend was saying that they get together and plan meals that they know everyone will like. Everyone knows the menu for the whole month ahead of time. No surprises. So, we'll start in October and it sounds just heavenly to me!! The cook provides a main dish and a side dish to go along with the meal. We are on our own for fruits and veggies. I can handle that!! Maybe I'll throw in some brownies just to be nice! :-)

September 11

Nation Of Survivors

In the bright September morning without warning to us all
A few thousand lives were shattered and we watched two buildings fall
And a billion souls felt empty, and the flags at half-mast fly
In the memory of the innocent which didn't have to die

We've lost brothers, sisters, cousins. We've lost family and friends
But we've made the choice not to forget their lives and tragic ends
Though we've had our share of troubles we have put them all aside
As a nation grieves we find ourselves defending them with pride

We're a nation of survivors, with one heart we share a tear
But we live to serve the memory, not giving in to fear.
Though they try to take security with the things they've done and said
All their acts of inhumanity bring unity instead.
So we stand here as a family. One heart, one soul, one voice.
We are challenged by this moment, and united here by choice.

--Jack Foshee Jr., Sept 12, 2001.

I'm amazed at how close to the surface the memories are and how quickly tears come to my eyes when I remember.

Harvest

I'm still a far cry from a farm girl! But, there is something delightful about pickin' peas and carrots at sunset at the property. The sun was at a terrible angle, but I tried to get a couple of shots.

This one above is Seth's pumpkin. It is actually bigger than it looks in this picture. It is one of many pumpkins. We are thinking about going out there on Halloween and standing in our pumpkin patch to wait for the Great Pumpkin.

If you look at this picture on the left you can see a teeny, tiny cantaloupe. That is about the best we could do with cantaloupe.

I love this picture of our watermelon because it looks huge. In reality, it is smaller than those little mini-watermelons that they are selling in the grocery stores these days.

We got four ears of corn tonight which was quite exciting (our first ears).

This makes all the work we have done worth it....I think. Please remind me of that next spring when I am complaining about how much work the property is!!

Guess what I did yesterday....

I think you know!! Go Hawks!!

I saw something in football that I have never seen before! The ref called a "do-over". The Tampa Bay punter stopped because he heard a whistle, but it turned out to be from the crowd. So, the ref called a do-over! I didn't even know they could do that!

After the game we had a fun dinner at my parents' house. My uncle and aunt were here from Seattle and I love being around my family. It was cute because Annsley is making that transition to the grown-up table. She want to sit around and listen to our conversation. She is at that age of making her first attempts at adult humor. Kinda cute! Seth, on the other hand, was completely happy to play with his 2 & 4 year old cousins.

First day of school....

We had our official first day of school today. You can call it enjoying the bennies of homeschooling....or you can call it brainwashing your children. I told them on *our* first day of school we got to sleep in, and I made pancakes for breakfast (which is something I do about twice a year). We had a leisurely breakfast and I presented them with their new binder and beautiful timeline books. (We are starting with Ancients again) I read Fellowship of the Ring for an extra long time, savoring the hot chocolate. I mentioned that other kids had to be on the bus a *long* time ago. We are only doing about half our subjects this week to ease back into things and so we were done at lunch today. So, we drove by the local school and literally shouted "SUCKAS!!!" and "HA HA!" on our way to swim the afternoon away. (Sorry Cath, it wasn't directed at your children, in particular. :-)) I know, I'm so mature! (The windows were rolled up.)

Truth be told, I am thankful that my kids love homeschooling. I am grateful beyond words that they still want to be with me as much as I want to be with them. Truly, I am!

Did you know that if you type "sucka" into your spell check, it comes up with "sicko" for a substitute. Maybe my spell checker is trying to tell me something!

We are ready.....

The house is clean. Every room (drawer, closet, blind, wall, etc) has been scoured this summer. There are 50 bags of frozen raspberries in the freezer.
There are 80 cans of canned peaches in the pantry.
There are 15 bags of frozen shredded zucchini in the freezer.
There are 3 bags of shredded carrots in the freezer.
The property has been thoroughly weeded (for now, anyway)
The lessons are planned and organized.

Tonight we went to the annual Labor Day symphony in the park concert at our local park. It is only a couple blocks from my parents' house and so we always swim and barbecue over there and head to the park for a fun community activity and some beautiful music. It was a perfect summer night. We always run into lots of old friends there. All the public schools go back to school tomorrow. We will begin a few subjects and hit it in full next week. I have some random back to school meetings that make it difficult to hit it full force tomorrow.

Just for you, LB....(Tuesday Ten)

Alright, I will give in to peer pressure (from needleroozer ) and actually post something today. Here are my reflections after about three weeks of summer with nothing hanging over my head...I'm ready for fall. I do better in a groove. I am more efficient when I have less free time. I get bored easily. I like structure. It has been a relaxing way to end the summer, but we are all excited about the fall.

1. It is so great having my sister-in-law and the kids home!! The kids absolutely can not get enough time together. The five of them play so well together and come up with the greatest games and plays and clubs and....you name it.

2. Tomorrow I go back to work and meet with families. Classes don't start until Sept. 11, but we have meetings and prep days this week and next. I'm looking forward to going back. I like my job.

3. Canning (and/or freezing) 150 (ish) quarts of peaches makes your back and feet sore, but it is amazing how three girls singing at the top of their lungs makes it more fun. They were making up peach-canning songs to the tune of Frosty the Snowman. Go figure!! The cousins have missed the annual peach-athon for the last two years so it was fun to have them back.

4. My mom, mother-in-law, two sister-in-laws (my brother's wife and my husband's sister), and my cousin took me out to lunch to celebrate getting my masters degree. I am blessed to not only enjoy both sides of my family, but that they like to be together as well.

5. We are enjoying the produce from the hard work of our garden! I'll have to take a picture of our pumpkins!! They are huge.

6. My reading has been as light as my schedule. Fun for a while, but I'm ready for something a bit more.

7. Seth starts soccer practice today.

8. Last night a young man called Danny out of the blue. This was a boy that Danny was a kind of big brother to about 10 years ago. He met him at church and really invested time into this boy. We have not heard from him in ages, but he called last night to tell Danny how influential he had been in his life. It was so amazingly sweet. Now granted, the boy still has spent a little time in jail but also had been in the military. We were so happy to hear from him. He told countless memories of things Danny had done or said that we barely remembered. It was a good reminder that an investment of self does pay dividends.

9. The kids go to Silverwood (amusement park) tomorrow with Danny. That should be fun.

10. Guess what is coming soon.......FOOTBALL!!

I'm still here. But I can't seem to drag myself to the computer as much this summer. I have lots of thoughts, but I don't have the gumption to put them into coherent blog posts. It has been rainy and chilly here the last couple of days and we have all enjoyed the change. Don't get me wrong, I plan on fully enjoying the last 2 weeks of my summer, but both the kids kept saying, "I love fall." "Fall makes you want to get cozy." etc... I agree. Maybe once we get cozy again I'll actually say something here.

Our vacation....

I have been putting off writing about our vacation because of two reasons. One is that I haven't taken the time to download the pictures from the camera yet. The second reason is that my heart is very full and I don't feel that I can do it justice.

The first week was traveling around the coast with Danny's parents. By the way, our new Impala has a trunk that will fit SIX suitcases with room to spare. Pretty cool, eh? It was very fun to see things I had never seen before. A couple of highlights were:

• finishing the final Harry Potter book before I read any spoilers. (The first couple of days on our trip I had my nose in the book every time we stopped the car. :-))
• The Newport Aquarium-this is not a huge aquarium, but it is VERY well done! I was mesmerized by the jellyfish exhibit.
• OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)-great museum and we didn't even have time (or want to pay the extra $) to see the body exhibit.
• driving along the coast

It was nice then to land at the Cannon Beach Conference Center, where my family has been vacationing for 31 years. This week was a time of amazing spiritual refreshment for me. I have heard the speaker, Walter Kaiser, many times before. He is a fairly academic speaker and I always enjoy hearing him, but for some reason this time, my heart was so convicted and encouraged all at the same time. I could go on and on about how this last two years of added commitments (masters degree, etc...) have sapped energy away from focusing on my relationship with God, but I'll try to just keep it short. God gave me a hunger for His Word that I haven't felt in a long time. He opened my eyes to what I have given up the last couple of years. I guess I can sum it up by saying I feel watered. My heart was like dry ground, not dead by any means, still fertile, but in desperate need of a good deep soak. That was what last week felt like to me.

My mom and I walk to Haystack Rock early every morning (one mile down and two mile back is the standard joke). This is very special time for me and I cherish it every year. It helped that the weather was gorgeous this year. I spent quality time with my Grandma this year. The kids were way more independent this year (they would take off to the park after meals) and I could linger after breakfast chatting with my Grandma. I was keenly aware of the privilege of having her there and talking with her about all manner of things.

The kids loved it and it was also a very spiritually encouraging time for Annsley. I could tell that she was both challenged and convicted and it allowed us to have some wonderful conversations on a much different level.

It was so fun to hook up with Patty and Diane. I honestly feel that I could talk to both of them non-stop for the whole week and not run out of things to talk about!! There were so MANY more topics I wish we had had time to discuss. It always makes me happy when Seth has a buddy because Annsley always makes friends wherever she goes, but it is harder for Seth. So Diane's son is a total gift. And the fact that our daughters also adore each other is an added bonus. And I was glad that Patty's son got to hook up with them too!

The Seaside bumper cars were as fun as always, the play we saw at the Coaster Theater was delightful, the weather was great, the food was good, and there was lots of time to read and relax. But, those all just seemed like things to me this week. It was all about soaking in God's Word and appreciating with my whole heart the family that God gave me.

Why does my head feel so light?

Because I have NOTHING hanging over it right now!! Last night I turned in my final assignment of my final class for my masters degree. I'm not sure it has sunk in yet. We are even almost packed for our trip. We leave tomorrow for two weeks on the Oregon coast. One week will be spent driving around with Danny's parents to places like Newport, Lincoln City, Astoria, Fort Clatsup, Tillamook, etc... The second week is our annual time with my family at the Cannon Beach Conference Center.

Oh wait, I forgot. I do have ONE thing hanging over my head. How am I going to get the new Harry Potter book before we go on vacation and read it before I hear any spoilers? I'm not going to go at midnight the night before our trip, but nothing is open early enough on Sat. morning. Alas, these are weighty issues.

Books....

I think we have enough library books to get us through our trip, eh?

If you like the shirt, you can find one here.

Happy reading, people! Speaking of reading. I just re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I am excited and ready for book 7. I wanted to order it from Amazon (only $18 shipped to my door on 7-21) but we are leaving on our vacation on the morning of the 21st. Now, I'm going to have to find the first bookstore with a copy and buy it. I am 52nd on the wait list at the library (I put myself on the list months ago) and I just don't think I can wait.

I LOVE my parents' house

I have mentioned before that my parents' backyard is one of my favorite places in the whole world. This week we moved in with my parents due to the fact that we have no air conditioning and the window management plan only works on the assumption that it cools down at night. But, this week it has been hot enough to abandon ship and take comfort in an air-conditioned place. We have been doing a lot of swimming and hanging out. It feels like a little mini-vacation for me because I have someone to cook with and there is no projects to be doing around here.

I really love my parents. I am thankful that they let us come stay with them.

Our houseguests are gone.....

When you think of a family with six children under the age of 11 coming for a visit, what do you think of? My cousin and her family just left after a quick two night stay and we all had a wonderful time!! Their six kids and our two played so well together allowing my cousin (a fellow Well Trained Mind junky) and I lots of great time to talk about what we are reading, what the kids are reading, and what new school things we are excited about. It was great. We swam at my parents' pool and ate outside. There were slumber (or lack thereof) parties and very early mornings. And, we had extra laborers for picking raspberries. (Dang! I KNEW there was a reason we should have had more kids!!!) And, what family gathering would be complete without a Latin lesson. Joe is a high school Latin teacher and he was trying out some of his new materials on our little classical neophytes.

This morning we went to see Charlotte's Web at the free summer movie. Then, I sent them off (in the wrong direction.....sorry Amy!!) and we were sad to see them go!! You know a trip was a good length when everyone is very sad for it to end. We decided this was definitely going to be a tradition!!

Raspberries, anyone?.....

Tis the season for raspberry pickin'!! This is the time of year where I curse my husband for planting so many blasted raspberry bushes. Of course, this only lasts for about three weeks, and the jam and frozen berries last ALL winter. That is the time when I kiss my husband's feet for planting all those blessed raspberry bushes.

But, if anyone wants to come help pick, bring a bucket and come on over!

Happy Anniversary (yesterday)

Sixteen years and going strong!!!

Wouldn't want to spend my life with anyone but you.

My Country, tis of thee....

sweet land of liberty.
Of thee I sing......

I am a patriotic sap!
I cry at the National Anthem.
I love our freedom.
I honor our soldiers.
I get chills when I see our flag blowing in the wind.
I appreciate the sacrifices others have made so that I can be free.

Let Freedom Ring!


Yesterday was GORGEOUS here. It was hot and perfect for swimming, barbecues, family and friends!!

My sweet boy

woke up early today and did his math. Then he did his chores for the day....and his sister's chores...all before 8:00. Some days you get a little glimpse of the adult they will become and today was one of those days. He will be a hard worker and a servant....like his Daddy!!

Love that kid!!

Good Morning

Doncha just love summer?!?

• We are deep into cleaning around this place. I set out a schedule for the summer and so far we are right on track!! I LOVE going into my kids rooms and seeing everything in its place and organized and so tidy!! The funny thing is that they like it too, so why don't they just keep it that way?
• We are doing lots of reading out loud. Right now we are into Fellowship of the Rings. In the car we are listening to Long Way to Chicago.
• We are doing lots of history reading this summer too. I would highly recommend Story of the World 4 for anyone who kinda gets modern world history but needs to put all the pieces into place. It has really done this for me.
• Do you think I would take better pictures if I had a better camera? We are toying with the idea of getting a super-nice digital. Or, could it be that no matter what kind of camera I have, my pictures will be mediocre? That is my fear.

Have a delightful summer day!!

What's that sound?

SILENCE!! The kids spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house last night and I have an empty house this morning. The number one change in my personality as I have aged is a strong need to be.all.alone!!!

• We got a new (used) car. It is your basic non-descript champagne color four door sedan. I know I will lose it in the parking lot because it looks like every other non-descript car and I can never remember where I park to save my life! It isn't fancy but it has all the features I need. CD player, powerlocks, and a good cup holder. What more do you need?
• We had such a great time in Seattle! It was too short, and yet it felt like such a nice get-away. I seriously kept wishing I could see more people (you know who you are!!) but it just wasn't the trip for that. After our long driving trips, Seattle just seems like a hop, skip, and a jump!
• Wednesday morning I passed my oral exam for my masters' degree!! :-) I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect, but it was just an enjoyable phone conversation with two professors. I still have to finish my last two courses (will be done end of July) and then I will be done!!
• I got my first pedicure yesterday. I had a gift certificate from Mother's Day. It was nice. (Not $40 nice, mind you, but if someone wants to give me a gift cert. I wouldn't turn them down!)
• Today I finish Annsley's room and start on Seth's. How can so many bags of garbage come out of one small room? We are putting the stuffed animals up on a high shelf and most of the dolls are getting put into a bin. (Sniff.....she is growing up!!)
• I'm off to enjoy my quiet time!

Dang, I love summer!!

Oh yah!! THIS makes me want to wear my glasses.

Without the glasses, I look like.....



And with the glasses.....


By the way....Elton John called, and he wants his glasses back!!

Now, I have a complex.

Is Anyone Out There?.....

I don't blame you if you have left for good, thinking I abandoned this blog project altogether here, but I'm still here.

• All the kids activities (they really only have one each, for a grand total of 2) are done for the year. Woohoo!!
• I taught my last classes of the year last week. This week we just have end of the year conferences.
• How did I get a 3rd and a 5th grader? Please tell me that!!!
• I finished my comprehensive final test for my masters degree and sent it off. I have to orally defend it on June 20. I still have to finish my last two classes, but then I'll be DONE!!
• Even in the spring, I still love homeschooling and my job.
• We are going to Seattle this weekend. Danny has a meeting and so we are going to drive over with him and do some fun Seattle-y kinds of things.
• I started my major cleaning overhaul. I usually take 1-2 weeks in the fall before school starts again and do this, but I decided I might spread it out over the summer this year. However, usually, once I get started, I can't stop. I have done our school room and my office (which are two of the rooms that needed it most!) I clean everything. Every drawer, every wall, every blind, every baseboard, every closet....EVERYTHING! I love the feeling of looking at a room and knowing it is so clean.
• How do laundry rooms and washing machines get so dirty?

I'm going to post more this summer since I will have more time! Unless, of course, I am enjoying my parents' pool and the sun.

American Idol chat....

Overall, I would give the results show a C- (and really, I think I am being generous). They tried to copy last years show, (which I gave an A for entertainment) but it just didn't quite work. The silly Idol awards seemed forced and just didn't work like they did last year. (Although the picture of that monkey was pretty funny).

The guests they brought in seemed so random. Bette Midler?!? Don't get me wrong, I like Bette, and back in the day, I can confess to weeping at the movie Beaches. (I went to see that movie in college with my three roommates after bra shopping. Talk about the ultimate girl bonding day. I'm sure there was chocolate involved, too!) But, come on, Bette.....you were waving your arms around like a bird. I get it....wings, but if you are going to impress me, you will need to sing your most famous song in tune, not flap your arms in an attempt to take off.

I LOVED, LOVED Tony Bennet. I would highly recommend his latest duet CD. It is great, and I thought he was a class act!!! I also liked the six guy finalists singing together. I thought they were good, and it was fun to see them all back.

The old idols just were not working for me. I didn't really enjoy any of their performances much. (Remind me again how Taylor Hicks got so many votes last year.) Carrie Underwood-gorgeous. Love her. Not so crazy about the song choice for last night. Kelly Clarkson-she seemed like she was shouting and I wanted her to stop.

I liked Blake's beatbox song last night. I think they should have made Jordin do that in the finals since they made Blake sing that ballad. I will never understand why they would take a song that was obviously written for someone like Jordin and expect Blake to sing it. But, I'm over it.

I'm happy for Jordin. You know, she just seems so darn nice. And, Blake was so classy in his defeat. I get the feeling that those kids are all good friends and they are going to love being on tour together.

But where does that leave me on Tuesday/Wednesday nights, eh?

Prom Queen?

I work with a crazy fun staff!! (Did I say crazy?) Every Christmas we have a bad sweater party. You know the kind? Red sweaters with kittens and gold stitching or pictures of Santa? This spring we decided to have a prom party. We planned it on the night that one of the teacher's sons had his senior prom so we could meet at her house and embarrass the heck out of him in front of his date!! But, we decided to go 80's prom!! So, I dusted off my prom dress from 1985 (junior) (that I can still fit into, I might add. Never mind that I didn't breathe much due to the expansion of my rib cage from birthing too children...it fit! That is my story and I'm sticking to it!) My friend's son told his parents he hated them....and then proceeded to call several of his buddies to tell them to *not* come see what his parents and friends had done. So, of course, they came.

We then went to a Mexican restaurant where people got a huge kick out of our strange party. After dinner we went to a place where there was dancing. (OK, it was a bar, but I don't really like typing that since I'm not really a bar kinda' gal!) There was a little dancing, but mostly just laughing at one of the guys who is willing to make a fool out of himself for our enjoyment!!

My dress is sort of Gunnysack (remember Gunnysack dresses?) meets Madonna circa 1985. There was LOTS of blue eye shadow involved. (I seriously don't think I have put on eye shadow in 15 years!) I also borrowed a hairpiece to add to the "up-do" look which gave me a little extra height! It didn't quite match my hair, but....oh well!

I did get a compliment from a woman (who I believe had been spending a fair amount of time in the bar before this moment) in the bathroom. She asked if I was in a wedding. I explained, "No, just some friends dressing up in prom dresses." She replied, "YOU are GORGEOUS!" (in a slightly gushing inebriated fashion.) But, I am not one to turn down a compliment, no matter where it comes from.

A good time was had by all!! I was home in bed by 10:30.

It really is all about attitude!

Am I bitter that I had to spend part of my Mothers Day WORKING at our property? Nope! Guess what? I actually enjoyed it!! (Shhhhh. Don't tell my husband lest he think I want to do it every weekend! :-)) Yesterday we worked side by side on the sprinklers and I just kept thinking how nice it was to work and chat with my husband. I chose this week to help Danny by going the extra mile at the property and volunteering to go with him and help him without complaint. His love language is "acts of service" so I knew that by doing this I was telling him I love him. And he heard it loud and clear! The most amazing thing was that by choosing this and choosing a good attitude I began to enjoy myself in the process. I know that lesson. I have learned it before, but sometimes I just needed to be reminded of it. Choose joy.

I have a good life and I know it. I have a lot to be joyful about and I don't take it for granted!! But, I still have to relearn that lesson occasionally.

Choose joy.

Maybe there is a little farmer's wife in me after all....

After all my whining and complaining about working so hard at the property lately, I have had the experience of working out there at sunset the last three nights. Let me just tell you that it is one of the most gorgeous place on earth at sunset. I was going to bring my camera last night, but I forgot. Here is a picture from last summer at sunset. I don't think it does the place justice, but until I remember to take some new pics, it is all I have!

Another discovery that I had to add to my enjoyment of the work is the fact that I could bring my MP3 player along. (Duh!!) You can't believe what a difference that makes in my mental outlook. How can you possibly be grumpy when you are unloading manure from the back of truck while you are overlooking a sunset and listening to the swelling exalted sounds of Josh Grobin? Huh? Or Randy Travis singing How Great Thou Art. Or Tony Bennett? Or....(confession time) the songs from High School Musical? (Yes, I know....I have extremely random and varied music on my MP3 player).

Well, I might never aspire to be a farm wife, but if you have to unload manure, I recommend sunset and good music!

Tuesday Ten

1. I am wondering if this afternoon will be the first "dip-in-the-pool day" at my parents. It is supposed to nice and my Dad heated the pool.

2. My parents' back yard is one of my top three favorite places in the world to be. All the relaxation and none of the responsibility!

3. I was not ever meant to be a farmer's wife. I know this because we have been working very hard at our property (six acres) and I am just not cut out for all that hard work!! I would consider myself to be a very hard worker most of the time, but put me out there with a shovel and expect me to clear out the trenches for the irrigation for six hours? That is not my cuppa!

4. The kids are learning how to work hard out at the property and that is a valuable skill. Danny was a born farmer. He can work from dawn until dusk out there without complaint. I know that at the end of this process we are going to have one "bitchin" garden, but honestly I'd prefer if someone else did all the work. (They can pick the veggies and weed too if they want.)

5. I am happy with my life.

6. Happy Birthday to two of my very favorite cousins!!! I love you, Pam and Krina.

7. I was just invited to be a part of leading a conference in Rhode Island this summer. I felt so honored to be asked-it was quite a compliment. However, I think I will decline because it is a big time commitment, and quite honestly, one thing I like about going to these conferences is my lack of having to be in charge of anything. I was still very flattered.

8. I love cell phones. What did we do without them?

9. Do you want to stretch your mind a bit? Play Sudoku here.


10. Time to get the day started. It is going to be a beauty!

Miming

If you think miming is as disturbing as I do, then you will probably be laughing out loud at this! (May 7th post)

This guy makes me laugh!! And think. Imagine that!

Cousins Chronicle

My kids were inspired to make a newspaper and so they have been planning with their long-distance cousins to put one together. We just published the first issue. It is called Cousins Chronicle and you can view it by clicking on the link and downloading it. There are a few typos and mistakes, but all in all, they did a great job. Through this project I learned how to use Microsoft Publisher, convert a document to a PFD file, and upload the file to www.savefile.com. This has been a great project for all of us.

Now listen, people....

I expect you all to blog every day. Some of you have been quite negligent, ignoring your blogs for several days at a time! I don't know why someone would do something so terrible. It just comes down to priorities, people. Don't tell me you are busy enjoying spring, teaching your children, going on vacations, or focusing on real life. Just get to blogging so I can be entertained!

(This goes for *all* of you.....but, of course, not for me. I'm really busy!)

Things that fall into the category of WHAT ARE WE THINKING....

Those of you who know me know that I don't whine much. I'm easy going and I pretty much accept things the way they are and don't spend a lot of time lamenting what could or should be. Today I was struck by a couple of things that really irked me and I want to tell you about them. So if you bear with me to the end of this post, I will teach you how to make a smiley face. *Ü*

First, I took Seth to a birthday party at a place called Wonderland. (Think Chuck E Cheese on steroids) They have mini-golf, play areas, laser tag, and games and tickets galore to spend on little piece of plastic junk that costs three cents to make and 600 tickets to buy. Let me say that I hate those kind of places. I hate seeing kids running up and trying to get more and more tokens. It just breeds greed and a desire for more. I don't like places where everything looks so fun, but they make you pay for everything you do. But, if someone else wants to pay to have their birthday party there, I guess I'll drive 40 minutes across town to drop him off. I wonder what message do we send our kids in a place like this? Blech!! What are we thinking?

Second, I went to the mall to kill some time. I am not a shopper. I wouldn't have even gone to the mall, but I had to return something. I went into one clothing shop because I had a $10 coupon, and I couldn't find one thing I wanted. I gave the coupon to two teen girls who thought I gave them the winning lottery ticket. They were excited, and I made a bee-line for Barnes & Noble, which is the only place in the mall I really like to be. I finally got my copy of this with the B&N educator's discount! Woohoo!! On my way, I passed a crowd of people watching some young girls performing their dance routines. The costumes these girls were wearing were terrible. The routines were sleazy and these girls were attempting to shake things they don't even have yet! They were caked with make-up and it disgusted me. What kind of message are we sending young girls when we dress them up like that and clap for them. Blech!! What are we thinking?

So, there is my whine for the month. My day got better when I picked up Annsley at her friend's house. They were filming a "talk show" project for one of their classes about the lost colony of Roanoke. They wrote scripts, researched information, and put together a nice presentation. They were so innocent (and properly dressed) that it warmed my heart!!

Good, clean, wholesome, educational fun, now THAT's what I'm talking about, people!! No need to overstimulate or underdress them.

In order to make the smiley face, you have to put the number lock on and then push "alt 0220" with an asterisk on either side. *Ü*

Top Ten things...

...that I haven't blogged about lately and think I should, but just don't feel like putting much energy into my blog, but know that pretty soon you will just stop checking if I don't post anything (I didn't think all that would fit into the subject line!)

1. My sweet daughter turned 10 last Saturday. Dang, she is a nice girl. And, she has nice friends. At her party they giggled and flitted and squealed as only 10 year old girls can do. They put on a little American Girl play for each other. They came in costume and they made me smile!

2. Spring is here, and my flowers are purty! The weeping cherry outside my kitchen window makes me smile.

3. We put water and electricity at our property (we own 6 acres about 5 miles out of town) and Danny has been working hard to make a huge garden area. This will be our summer family project.

4. I don't like yard work, but Danny does and the kids are excited about all the planting and growing, etc. Did I mention I'm not overly fond of yard work?

5. I only have seven more weeks of the school year (which translates to 13 more class sessions, plus end of the year conferences). This is going to FLY by!!

6. My parents opened their swimming pool today. It isn't heated yet, but it makes me excited to spend time in one of my favorite spots in the whole world, my parents' back yard!

7. I start my new masters' classes tomorrow. This is my LAST quarter.

8. I love homeschooling my kids. It seems that many people talk about spring burn-out, but I honestly rarely feel that. I love what we do at home. I love having a summer vacation from my job but I don't feel the need to take a summer break from homeschooling. However, I do shorten our days up to allow maximum pool time.

9. Today I learned how to make this symbol. *Ü* I think that is a cute smiley face.

10. My dear friend (who is 50 years old and never been married) met the love of her life on the internet and she is engaged to be married in August. I got to meet the guy this weekend, and the whole thing makes me smile. (like this: *Ü* ) She has been a faithful servant of God all these years, never settling for any number of guys who were less than God's best for her. This guy is a definite reward for her faithfulness. Not just because he is a fine Christian man, not just because the guy is loaded and bought her a gorgeous rock! Not just because he is a widow so she doesn't have to deal with the "ex". Not just because his kids (older teens)really like her and she will get to be a mother. Not just because he totally treats her awesome. Not just because he is a fine looking 6 foot 8 inch guy.

The guy has SEASON TICKET TO THE SEAHAWKS!!!!! Now THAT is my kind of guy.

Please keep coming back.

I just realized that....

my new classes don't start until April 30th. That seems like a long break!! You will not hear me complaining. I finished my courses a couple weeks early since the term ended while we were on our vacation. Guess what....this is my last quarter. And then, I will have my master's degree. I'm not sure what voice in my head told me I should get my master's degree while home-schooling my children and teaching part time, but I listened to it. And now, I can't believe I am on the home stretch! Getting my master's degree has always been a secret goal of mine. And, when I quit teaching there was never a compelling reason to go back and get it. But, since I have started teaching again, a $1200 dollar a year stipend seemed like a pretty good reason. :-) So, next year I will proudly deposit that check. Sure, it'll take a few years to pay for that tuition, but a personal goal satisfied....priceless!

Home Again....

When most people come home from a long vacation, they say, "It is good to be home." I can't believe that the people saying that are mothers. Being home means cooking, laundry, cleaning, unpacking, etc. Our trip was great and our sweet daughter said, "I want to give my children the exact same childhood that I have had." Talk about a compliment!!

We had the coolest experience at the Museum of Natural History in Jackson, MS. We were there early on a Monday morning and there weren't many people there yet. One of the employees came out and started talking to us about the different fish in their wonderful tanks. She then asked if we wanted to go back behind to the staff only area. She showed us the most amazing things. The kids got to pet the alligators (small ones), and feed the fish live worms. It was amazing and she spent about an hour with us just teaching us things and showing us interesting things. She fed a horseshoe crab a worm for us. The whole experience was one of the highlights for our family.

I can not honestly say that it is good to be home, but my bed is sure comfy!! And routine is a good thing in the end. We logged just over 3000 miles on the trip but it didn't feel like we were in the car all that much. Go figure! Next year....the mid-west.

Hello from Mississippi

Remember when you thought you were the coolest thing in the world because you could spell Mississippi really fast? Well, here we are in the capital, Jackson. This is actually our second time in Jackson, and we really like this area. The drive called Nachez Trace is an absolutely gorgeous drive that we took today.

Yesterday we went to the Space Center in Huntsville, AL. It was a neat place and we had a good time learning about rockets and space travel in general. Then we drove to Tupelo....Elvis's birthplace. :-)

We went to church this morning in Tupelo and the people were so friendly we couldn't believe it. It was true southern hospitality. We had many people come up and basically stand in line to talk with us. It was kind of strange, but very nice!! The music was beautiful, although I was amazed at how serious everyone on stage was. I'm sure they had the joy of the Lord in their hearts, but it wasn't coming out on their faces. It made me realize the importance of a warm smile from people who are leading worship!

He is risen!

He is risen, indeed!!

Happy Easter, friends.

Sweet home, Alabama....

I am sorry that I have not been more regular with the trip updates! Either we have arrived at the hotel too late, or we don't have a good internet connection, or....I have been too lazy!! We went to the Museum of Science and Energy, which is a GREAT museum in Oak Ridge, TN. Do you like my new hair-do?

There was a lot of great exhibits at this museum and we learned a lot!

We have done so many little things along the way, but I'm just going to touch on a couple of highlights. With our friends from Kentucky we went to a bourbon distillery. Since I know absolutely nothing about the difference between a bourbon or any other kind of beverage that tastes more or less like rubbing alcohol, it was very interesting and I learned a lot. I was really glad that our friends had kids the same ages as our kids, cuz' I don't think the bourbon flavored chocolates would have been enough to make the tour all that terribly interesting to the kids. (Although, they made me pretty happy!) The Kentucky countryside was gorgeous, and exactly like I always pictured it!

We also spent a little time hiking in the Smokey Mountain Range. It is COLD here right now. At the top of the 3rd largest mountain peek east of the Mississippi it was VERY cold! But, it was worth the hike to see the view.

There are many other things I could tell you about, but one of the highlights of the trip so far was the Cathedral Caverns in Alabama. They were absolutely breathtaking!! I don't always get how evolution (the billions of years stuff) works together with Creation, but all I know is that God is an amazingly creative God, and whether he made it 10,000 years ago or longer than that, it does not change that He has made some amazing things to see. It makes me stand in amazement of Him all the more!

We are off to the Space Museum in Huntsville, Alabama!

Hello from Nashville

We had a great time staying with my old college roommate in Arkansas. It was great to catch up, and for some strange reason her mom still had an old tape of the two of us singing a duet in her church 20 years ago. (That fact that she knew right where it was was scary indeed!) It was fun to hear it even though the quality was what you might expect from a dubbed copy of an old tape.

This morning we crossed into Tennessee and began the day in Memphis. Some of the things we had planned on doing were not open yet, but we got a feel for the city. We drove by Graceland although we just couldn't bring ourselves to drop $24 per person to go in and tour the place. My pilgrimage to Graceland ended at the gate! Blogger isn't letting me add pictures right now, or I'd show you my Elvis.

Next we headed to Nashville and toured the Grand Ole Opry. I can now say that I have sung on the stage there. Sure, it was only Happy Birthday, but I sang way louder and stronger than anyone else in our tour, and I'm pretty sure they wanted me to make an album. But, I'm pretty busy right now. I'd show you a picture, but it'll have to wait.

The kids had fun swimming in the hotel. They are such great sports!! How exciting can hearing about Minnie Pearl be for them? But, they make the best of it and count down the minutes in their heads until they can be in the hotel swimming pool. Annsley was pretty excited to have "performed" (Happy Birthday) on the same stage that Carrie Underwood has performed on. OK....I admit it, I thought it was kind of cool too. :-)

Tomorrow we will be crossing into Kentucky, bringing our grand total to 34 states. We will officially be 2/3 of the way to our goal of touching all 50 states. Did I mention that we literally spent 2 minutes in Kansas? No offense to anyone from Kansas, but we didn't have time this trip to spend there, so we drove up so we could touch the border of Kansas and Missouri and then headed back down. It counts!!

Oooooooook la-ho-ma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain...

Howdy (can you tell we've been in Texas?)

We arrived in Dallas yesterday to "severe thunderstorm warnings!" So, what do we do? We decide to go up to the top of the Hyatt Regency. Here is what it looks like on a nice evening...

But, it didn't quite look like that last night!! It was raining (although warm) and foggy, but that didn't stop us, no-sir-re-bob! Here is what it looked like for us. If you notice the terrified faces of my children, it is because we just saw the BIGGEST lightening I have ever seen in my life...right in front of our faces. And because we were up on the concrete observation deck, the thunder sounded like a major explosion. OK, I confess, it wasn't just my children that were terrified. Was there a reason that we were one of only two other people up on the deck?

Even though Danny wanted to stay a little longer, I put my foot down and got h-e-double-hockey-sticks off that tall building!!



This morning we went to the spot where JFK was shot and went through the Sixth Floor Museum. It was fascinating, and we learned a ton about what happened. I didn't really know much about it (other than knowing there was a grassy knoll involved somehow!)

This afternoon we drove to Tulsa and our hotel room has a view of.....this! This is the Oral

Roberts University Prayer Tower. Can I just say....Wow! I have never seen a gilded college before. It is quite sump'n! But, what do I know? Maybe people thought the same thing about that bell tower at Biola. (That joke is only funny if you have actually seen the small bell tower at Biola University. For those who have not seen it, think....small bell tower, no gold.)

The drive was about four hours and it was great to be together in the car. The kids had their organizers strapped onto the back of the seats in front of them, and they read, drew pictures while listening to Story of the World Ancients on CD, played the license plate game, etc...Great fun!! Tomorrow we'll be in Arkansas!

Happy Birthday to Me!!....

If anyone is still reading this severely neglected blog, today is the first day of the last year of my 30's. Today I turn 39. My birthday celebration is taking a little bit of a backseat to our trip prepartions since we leave for our 2000+ mile trip tomorrow.

We fly into Dallas, TX and we will make it to OK, KS, AR, MO, TN, KY, NC, GA, AL, MS, LA and back to TX. :-) I am going to try and keep a running journal of our trip here on the blog, so please check back soon. We will be adding 8 new states in our quest to touch all 50 states this trip. That will bring our grand total to 35 after this trip!

So sorry that I have been so absent!! Love you all!!!

My Mommy....

I love my mom....so much!

When I was sick this past weekend....
She took the kids to school on Friday, and picked them up and kept them until Danny got home.
She brought me chicken noodle soup.
She went to the store for children's Tylenol.
She brought me meals for the next couple days so Danny would have something to eat.
She sent over a bouquet of flowers to cheer us.

She is a very giving person! I'm so unbelievably crazy about her.

No matter how old you get, it is still nice to have your mommy near by when you are sick.

She's going down, people.....

I can't get sick.
I refuse to get sick.
No time for sick.

I don't feel good (insert best whiny voice here!)

I seriously have so much going on in the next three weeks before we go on vacation with work and my classes. Soon I'll post the itinerary for our trip. I don't know who is more excited, the kids or Danny! He actually wanted to get the suitcases out already. :-)

My dear, dear friend, Amy, brought me tulips and a non-fat, sugar-free cinnamon dulce latte today, just kuz. She didn't even know I wasn't feeling good today. What a nice treat! Thanks, Aim. Love you!!

Hey, Four-eyes!!!!

It is official. I got glasses. However, they are actually not only for vision. My doctor said that I am just borderline nearsited and he actually didn't put any nearsighted perscription. I got something called binary lenses which help the eyes to focus better and as a side benefit, (and the main reason I got them) it might help my car sickness problem!!

I can not read (or look at maps) when we are driving. I also can't turn around and look to the back seat. I also can't sit in the back seat without getting sick. Danny has mastered the art of driving a car-sick-prone wife around. He drives smoothly and starts and stops gently. But, it sounds so wonderful to not have to worry about getting car sick!!!

Here is the profile so you can see the wide arms of the glasses. Note that they are DKNY, which I am lead to believe is a brand worthy of letters on the side of my glasses. And they are my favorite color. RED! I figure, if I am going to glasses, I want them to be "cool" and "hip." According to my students, I suceeded.

I don't have to wear them all the time, which is nice. I guess this is just one natural step closer to 40.

You had me at Hasselhoff....

OK, I know I haven't really seen enough to make an educated decision, but this guy has my vote so far. He is charmingly funny and comfortable in his skin. Plus, he has a nice voice. I thought it was hysterical when Simon asked him why he wanted to be the next American Idol and he answered so that he could make David Hasselhoff cry. (This was followed by a clip showing DH tearing up at last year's Idol finals.)

Plus, I loved the quartet he was in with the bee-bop guy.

Did you know that if American Idol lost half of its audience it would still be in the top ten shows? Read this article to see exactly how huge this show is. All I know is that, I will be glued to my TV for 5 hours this week! And....I can't wait!!!

Teenagers.....

I LOVE teenagers. They make me smile. What a wonderful thing to not be a teenager anymore, and see with clarity the things that they can't yet see. I count it a privilege to be able to work with them and help them, in some way, find their way along this journey. There are two teens that have particularly given me great joy this past week.

The first is a 17 year old boy who plays guitar on our worship team. He is a silly-afro-hair-wearing-skinny-as-a-rail-comfortable-in-his-own-skin kind of kid. He went to a prayer retreat last weekend with our church. It was really an adult retreat, but he went to lead worship. He came back and was talking about the awesome things he learned and it literally brought tears to my eyes! (Yah, big shock....I know.) I was so encouraged to hear the younger generation picking up the torch and the passion for Christ.

The second is a girl in my advisory. This girl happens to be a girl I have known since she was about 9. We used to go to church with her parents. The other day she came to class and announced that she wanted to apologize to the other students for not being kind and apologize to me for talking when I'm talking. She is a sweetheart, and the other girls all told her she wasn't mean at all. (I didn't tell her she doesn't talk when I am talking because she does...:-) but I forgave her). She told me later that God had really convicted her to be a leader by being a kind person. I was so proud of her for doing that in front of her peers. And she proceeded to bring lots of treats and a Valentines gift for each girl in the advisory yesterday. So...we had a party...and it looked like Cupid exploded in my classroom.

Do they disappoint me? Sure. Do they look funny? Yup! There seems to be a high population of kids with hair over their eyes. (Don't even get me started with piercings :-)) Do they do the minimum amount of work they can get away with? Of course, don't we all? Is there drama? A homeschool co-op gives Days of Our Lives a run for its money. Are they funny? They make me laugh every day!

Can someone please save this post and remind me of it in 5 years when I have a 15 year old?

A Date with my Daughter....

Last night Danny and Seth went to a basketball game and so I decided to take Annsley on a mommy/daughter date. We went to Starbucks and hung out. This was the first time we have ever done this (for some reason!!) It was just a delightful time. I realized that I haven't been out alone with her for special time for a long long time.

She is the kind of child that you can't take too much credit for. She came out of the womb happy and easy going. She is thoughtful far beyond her years, and she is truly a delight to be with. We talked about friends, life, her classes at TEC, more friends, etc... I slipped in a bit of motherly wisdom here and there, but mostly we just chatted and laughed. She was in heaven.

Then, we came home and crawled in my bed and read our books. She paused to read me passages from Heidi with beautiful descriptive words. We were both in heaven.

Tall mocha frappacino........ $3.53
Grande sugar free, skinny, cinnamon dulce latte, extra hot....... $4.02
Two good books from the library.......Free
Daughter telling me she had one of the best nights ever.......priceless!!

I Never Realized.....

is one of my son's famous sentence starters. I love his brain-it reminds me so much of his father's. And.....his father has a good brain!

Today he said, "I never realized that space, you know, outer space, is just....space....empty space."

Keep thinking and learning, young lad!! Keep realizing!

Worry released....

My mom called me last Thursday to tell me that she was going in for a biopsy for a strange mass in her breast. She has had several of these before that have turned out to be nothing, but I could tell she was a little more worried this time. She, of course, waited to tell me until the last minute. In the past, she hasn't told me until it was over to protect me from worrying. Now I know why, because I have been worried all weekend. The results were supposed to be back yesterday, but of course, were late. So, this morning she called to tell me that it was nothing! I found myself crying with relief.

I feel so thankful today for her health. I am so thankful that she does not have to go through the hard decisions that follow a negative verdict. I am just so thankful for my Mommy!! She is an amazing woman.

I am also thankful for my Grandma (her mother). Today is her 87th birthday and I went and took her some flowers. We have a family chat room and it was so amazing to hear many of her 17 grandkids and spouses rise up and call her blessed. What an amazing tribute of a life lived for God. I am blessed to have this heritage of Godly women as examples in my life. And....I'm just crazy about them!

Thank you, God, for health!

Tagged....

My friend Cathy tagged me with this challenge....

{List 6 quirky things about yourself}

Only 6, you say? I'm sure Danny could come up with a few.

1. I am listening to my book on tape (David Copperfield) at a slightly higher speed than normal on my tape recorder. I figure if I can listen to it faster (for goodness sakes, it is 27 (that is 2-7) tapes long after all) then I can get to more books in the same time! It takes a little getting used to because the reader's voice is a bit higher (and more full of helium) than normal. Danny heard that and laughed at me. He said, "that is *so* something you would do." I think of it as efficiency!!

2. I'm going to copy Cathy in that I am compulsive about my laundry! I love folding clothes!! One time Danny suggested that the kids fold the clothes as a punishment for putting clean clothes in the laundry and I told him that was a punishment for ME!! :-)

3. I accidentally call alluminum foil "tin foil" even though I am quite aware that it hasn't been made out of tin for quite some time.

4. I am borderline OCD about multi-tasking. I never just do one thing at a time. I read while I blow dry my hair. I listen to books on tape while cooking. I can not sit and watch TV unless I am also doing something else. My very favorite thing is when I can do three productive things at the same time!

5. I cry at commercials.....and just about everything else sappy and sentimental! (I got tears in my eyes at the "goodbye to football commercial" that was played at the end of the Superbowl, and that was *before* they put Brett Favre on the commercial. That was the point that the tears ran down my cheek!)

6. I don't floss very often.

The Little Red Hen....

I love three year olds! My neice, Katie, is a particularly precocious child of three. She is a delightful little girl with a great sense of humor and a girl who always knows her mind.

Her mom was reading her the book The Little Red Hen, and Katie asked, "Mommy, what does reaping mean?" Erica went on to explain that it means picking. You sow, and you reap. You plant and you gather. These are the teachable moments!

Later that night, Loren (my brother) went in to say Goodnight to his daughter.

Loren: Goodnight Katie
Katie: Daddy, look......I'm reaping my nose.

You gotta love three year olds!!

Becky

This is Becky....

Well, actually that was Becky about 16 years ago. We were college roommates for close to 3 years. Becky had large bangs, a huge smile and beautiful eyes. She still has the smile and the eyes, but to the best of my knowledge, she lost the bangs years ago. We called each other soul mates because we just "got" each other. We never had a fight in all the time we lived together.

We were in musicals together. The shot on the top right is from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We were just in the chorus, but the amount of attention that we paid to our costumes would have implied we were the leading roles. Let's just say that we had more bling than P Diddy.

We were able to go to New York together and the top picture is Beck in one of our smashing outfits that we put together for the trip. Many of those outfits fall under the category of what-were-you-thinking, but hey, it was the 80's. The bottom shot is one of us skating at Rockefeller Plaza, but I included it because the look on her face is how I always think of her.

Just looking through the photo album to find pictures made me laugh. I did not include pictures of the time we put nylons on our heads and went out to spy around our apartment complex (for some reason mine were control top which didn't make for great vision) or the time we dressed up like....well....prost....hook...um....white trash and smoked a cigarette because we were bored. I think that was the only cigarette I have ever smoked in my life. But, I had fun re-living the memories.

Yesterday, when I talked to Beck, she told me of her struggles in her marriage and with life over the last ten years. I felt so sad to hear of the despair she has experienced. I knew that things weren't great, but I really didn't know the extent of what that meant. I feel bad that I didn't know, that I wasn't more available. I wish I'd prayed more.

But, I also felt great joy when I heard her talk of how God has changed her. He has totally rescued her, and I know he will continue to do His work in her life. I hear it in her voice how well she is doing, even in the midst of hard times. God is sustaining her. Becky told me about how at a low point of her life, God drew her to the book of Romans and used his word to speak to her and change her. I love that story!!

Please say a prayer for Becky and her husband. He needs the same miraculous transformation that Becky had. I pray God will open his eyes to the absolute TREASURE he has in Becky and their three beautiful children.

I love you, Beck!!!!!

Tuesday Ten

Did you miss me? I have been having bloggy thought lately, but haven't made the time to type them out. And, now, of course I can't think of a single one! :-)

1. My Rhode Island trip was wonderful! I went back to the school we model our program after to watch their students do exhibitions. It was very helpful to see and talk with others who are doing the same things. But, let me tell you that their budget is a little less "strict" than ours, because I (and the other 4 teachers from the northwest) ate at some of the best restaurants I have ever been to. This Italian restaurant Zoomas was so good I almost cried. The crab ravioli was ta'diefor!! I have not been that full in a LONG time. Honestly, I really could go on and on about some of the other food I ate, but I have 9 other things to get to.

2. Being in a nice hotel room by myself is a wonderful thing. I find it so refreshing. Silence. Ahhhh!

3. I watched the movie High School Musical while on my trip.....twice. I have a confession to make. I loved it!! I thought it was so cute.

4. One of my students (who has a strange and mixed up family life) has been coming over to work at my house on Mondays. She lives with her Grandma, but she basically homeschools herself. She keeps talking about wanting to come live with us. The girl desperately needs a mommy. Please pray that God will make it obvious if we are supposed to take her in or not.

5. SOOOO happy for Peyton Manning and Tony Dungey. Because of these two fine men, the Colts have been my second favorite team all year. If I can't be cheering for the Hawks in the Superbowl, at least I can get excited about them.

6. My children both had to have a filling yesterday. This is so surprising if you know the regiment of brushing/flossing/repeat cycle that Danny puts our children through. They brush after each meal.....and floss!! Can you imagine that? However, our dentist assured me that both of their cavities were due to flaws in their teeth, and not lack of dental care. They were kinda like no-fault-cavities.

7. Did you know that yesterday is called Blue Monday and it is the day when more people than any other experience depression. The Christmas bills are due and the New Year's resolutions are broken. I'm content! How about you?

8. There is beautiful, gorgeous snow here. On Saturday we had about six inches, and it is so gorgeous!! LOVE it!!!

9. I'm going on a date with Danny tonight! The kids are going to a basketball game with Danny's parents. I like my husband.

10. Philippians 2 is a great chapter, and we have been memorizing it as a family. There are a lot of gems in this chapter, but the verse that has been floating around in my head is verse 15, that talks about shining like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. Shiny things stand out to people. When we become blameless and pure, people will notice that and be attracted. Great stuff!!

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. Philippians 2:15-16a

Happy Birthday, Honey!!!

Today is Danny's birthday. Thus begins the first day of the last year that he will be in his 30s!!

We met when we were 18, and we have long-since crossed the bridge of having know each other for longer than we didn't know each other. Yet, we still look at each other sometimes and wonder how we got *here*! We are married, parents, responsible adults? Aren't we those college kids writing notes in Calculus class?

I have posted many times before about Danny and what a great father and husband he is. But, today I want to say it again!! 21 years ago he drew me in with his questions and theories, his laugh and his leadership. Today, he still makes me laugh. He still questions everything and comes up with new theories about life, society, and God. Sometimes they make me laugh and sometimes they make me cry, but they always make me think!

He is quick to apologize when he is in the wrong. He likes to be with his family and would choose being with the kids and me over anything else. He has high standards for himself and those around him. He spends time every night with the kids, teaching them, reading to them, playing games with them, and even (much to his chagrin) wrestling with them. We make a great team.

Words don't mean that much to him, but I want him to know how much I appreciate all he does!!

I love you, Danny! Happy Birthday!!

The only problem.....

with making your blog all Christmas-y and cute is that come January 9th, (when the tree is put away) the blog still has the Christmas stockings!! People, please promise that if I don't post much, you will still come visit me. I am having a serious lack of things to say these days. Last night

I went out to coffee with a dear, old friend. (Old in longevity, not age.....although she just had her 50th birthday.) If you knew Mary, you would not believe for a second that she was fifty years old!! I have known Mary since I was in high school, but we mainly became like family as we served together in the music ministry in our old church. We sang soprano together for close to 10 years!! We don't get to see each other nearly enough these days!! Maybe soon I can announce her new blog!! I'm trying to talk her into it. Love you, Mary!!

You know I can't let this post end without a little love for the boys in Seattle!! GO SEAHAWKS!!!!!!!!

They party's over....

The cousins left this morning. There were a few tears shed by all, but each time we have to say goodbye is one less time (Lord willing) that we will have to say goodbye. One year from now they will be home for good!! We love you guys!!!

This picture is the kids is the costumes that Grandma made for them. This is what they wore for the play. It was a wonderful play!!

My son is awake.....

I know this because I can see his booklight on and I can hear the lovely sound of George Winston playing on his CD player. He loves piano music and it makes me happy to hear it coming from his room.

I must share with you what this boy made for me. He and my dad started whittling together with my dad's whittling kit and he made this creation for me. Unfortunately, you can't really see the "intricate" hand-carved mouth, but he decided to place marbles with googly-eyes attached into the eye sockets. He sawed off the corners himself. I love the look of pride on his face. He was really excited to give me this treasure. I am crazy about it, because I am crazy about him!!

Merry Christmas....

I will post some pictures when I have some more time, but Christmas and Christmas Eve were wonderful times spent with people we love. Despite the very painful Seahawk loss (:-)), the days were full of laughter and eating!! Here are some highlight memories....

• The Christmas play that the cousins wrote and performed. It was truly priceless!! They all donned new costumes sewed by Grandma for the occasion.
• Opening the ornaments from my kids and their hopeful look as they asked it we could put them on the "downstairs" tree (you know, the one that matches and looks classy). They chose them especially because they thought I would want to hang them on *my* tree. So, I did!!
• The cousins sledding and building a snow fort.
• Seth and cousin Cade (Danny's sister's son) entertaining and playing with Sammy (my brother's son who is almost 2). It was so cute to see the big boys take Sammy under their wings.
• The smell of my Aspen Winter candle.
• Our Christmas Eve service.
• The fact that the wonder of Christ's humble birth still moves me to tears and doesn't get old no matter how many times I hear the story.

I am so grateful for these blessings and many, many more!!

Butter Up!!!

My Grandma is famous for her popcorn balls. Do you know how I know she is famous? Because she told me! Every year we get together to make them. Every year she frets that this will be the batch that doesn't stick together.

She is old school; no candy thermometer for her. She drips some of the goop into ice water and feels it. We all try to feel it, so we will know how to recreate the right touch when someday she is gone. However, in reality, the candy thermometer is much easier.

I had to get a copy of her recipe because it says things like, "boil to soft crack stage, or not quite" and "form into balls after adding popcorn. Don't form too soon, but don't wait too long." Nothing like specifics, eh?

Wherever my grandma is, there is laughter. She told me that she was just doing this for the money and that she feel that she deserves more than minimum wage since she has all the stress of making sure the mixture is exactly right. We, of course doubled her salary from last year!

My grandma made the mixture, my mom helped her, my grandpa buttered the spoons and bowls, my cousin and I formed the balls and the kids wrapped them.

For some reason, this year Iwasvery aware that four generations of family in the kitchen together was a treasure that will not happen forever. I savored the moments. I took pictures. I laughed. I listened to them tell of the old days. I soaked it all up!! The ironic thing is that I don't even really like popcorn balls!

Jammy picture.....

I wish y'all could hear Danny tell his bedtime stories to the kids. I find myself sitting close enough to the bedroom so I can hear them as well. I think I laugh harder than the kids. Their squeals of delight are the best!!

Oh, I have so much more to blog about our holidays, but so little time!! :-) Stay tuned for more holiday fun!

They're here........

Danny's sister & family arrived late Saturday night. We all drove to the airport to surprise them because they thought it was too late for people to come meet them at the airport. The kids joy at seeing each other brought tears to my eyes!! They are such good friends and it has been difficult to be apart.

They will be here for 3 weeks and you should see the calendar of events that the Grandparents have put together. They are putting on one of their "famous" plays again this year. They have been planning it over the phone for about 4 months now.

Yesterday it felt like the holidays. We just hung out at Danny's parents watching football, eating, and catching up. It was a nice day. We just got memory card fixed so I should be able to grace you with some pictures soon. Maybe when they come to spend the night tonight in their matching Christmas jammies.

I bow to peer pressure....

and post our family Christmas picture for the year. This is one of my favorite memories of our Northeast trip this past spring. We walked towards Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. It was such a gorgeous night, and the view was amazing. There were a couple other good pictures from Washington DC, but this was my favorite.

Can I tell you something really sweet?

WARNING: shameless mommy brag!

Today we were in the dollar store and Seth saw these really tall thick pencils covered in Christmas colored velvet. He got excited when he saw them and he said, "Mommy, I really want one of these on my Christmas list. This would be way up near the top." (Note: this is the kid who has an extremely short Christmas list and it includes....socks!!!) A woman my age looked at me longingly and said, "That is so refreshing. I wish something like that made my son so excited!!"

Danny always reminds me that "less is more" when it comes to giving the kids things. I'm pretty sure I would spoil them rotten if it were up to me. But, it is times like this when I am so glad I listen to his wisdom. For the most part (they are normal kids, after all) they are content with small things and thankful for the gifts they are given.

And you know what....I bought that kid a pencil right there on the spot!

Shhhhh.....I did buy him some socks for Christmas, too!

Choked up again?

Yesterday, my students started their exhibitions. This is a time where the high school students have 30 minutes to present their learning for the semester in front of family, friends, and teachers. They make an agenda, they prepare their projects, they bring artifacts to demonstrate the work they have been doing. I was so proud of my students yesterday. Many of them performed using their musical talents. The way these students can articulate what they are learning and *why* has grown so much over the last year!

But, one I was particularly proud of is a girl who was adopted from Haiti two years ago. She has now been in my Advisory since last September. When she first started her English was still very limited and she could not talk at all about her learning. She was always a fun, sweet girl, however, yesterday, at her exhibition, she spoke with such eloquence and poise. She talked about the books she had read, and she performed her clogging dance. She talked about her writing and the improvement she has seen in her own work.

My children think nothing of me getting choked up as I am reading parts of books to them. They just say, "Mom's crying again." or "Mom, why did *that* make you cry?" I was explaining this to my students yesterday and several said their mom did the same thing!

So, it should have come as no surprise to them when after Gladys's exhibition I was talking about how proud I was of her that I got a little teary. Gladys says to me in front of everyone (in her beautiful Haitian accent) "Are you crying, Mindy?" The students thought this was hilarious since I had told them only a couple of hours before that I get choked up a lot. I tried to tell them that I just had something in my eye, but they didn't buy it!!

I love celebrating the progress of my students, and sometimes gently pushing when they need a little nudge. Yesterday, the exhibitions were very validating. One girl said she liked me because I make her work when she doesn't want to. :-) One girl has started coming to my house occasionally to work. There are some days that I wonder why I am doing my job, but yesterday, I remembered!!

TIme out...

This seems to be the time of the year that all the things I said "Yes" to are coming due. I realized that I haven't been on my computer for pleasure since Friday!! That is like fasting to me. I feel out of touch with my homies and online buddies. I actually have things to say, but no time to write.

Missing y'all!!

Hot??

Apparently, there is a boy who thinks my daughter is the "hottest girl in school." I know this because my daughter heard it from this boy's sister, who heard it from her brother.

I prefer words like sweet, pretty, lovely, innocent....but HOT? How can a nine year old be HOT? How can a NINE year old be hot? How CAN a nine year old be hot?

Danny told her that no boy except *him* was allowed to notice how beautiful she was. She beamed under his praise, and she looked positively......lovely (and sweet and innocent.)

The Stocking are Hung by the Chimney with Care

The tree is trimmed.
The lights are lit.
The boxes are a mess in the guest room. (Thank goodness we never have guests during Christmas!)
The snowman is made (due to a nice little snow yesterday).
The sleds have taken their first run of the year.
The 4 foot snowball was rolled in the park.
The hot chocolate has been drunk (drank? dranken? drunken?) with extra marshmallows.
The Christmas music is playing gently in the background.

I love, love, love this time of the year!!

Excitement

Annsley: Mommy, you just don't know how excited I am for tomorrow.

Seth (at an earlier time today): I can't wait for tomorrow. After all, there's only one tomorrow each year.

(I couldn't help pointing out that actually there were actually 365 tomorrows each year...unless it is leap year....)

Why are my children so excited for tomorrow?

The Christmas decorations go up. The Christmas music comes out. We start out with Amy Grant belting out, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." The kids re-discover their treasures from years gone by. I re-discover my treasures from years gone by. Every ornament is filled with, "remember when..."

• The sand dollar ornament we got on our honeymoon on the coast.
• The beautiful blown glass ball that I got in France and treasure. (I'm trying to hold loosely because I know it will break one of these years!)
• The ornament that says "Daughter" on it that my mother-in-law gave me on the first Christmas after I got married.
• The ornaments that the kids have made each year

OK, so I guess the kids aren't the only ones who are excited!!!