Part of the Miracles

Monday, Monday

2012-01-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

Snow fell early Friday morning. We haven't had a ton of snow this year, but the "normal" amount we typically have is coming closer. I woke up at about 3:00am and the room was so crazy bright I thought my clock had been changed. A quick look outside reminded me to be thankful I wasn't driving the kids into school that morning.

It was so beautiful.

Later in the morning, I pulled on a coat and my boots and trudged outside to capture some white goodness. The sun was bright but not too high in the sky yet.

Winnie had destroyed most of our postage-stamp sized yard but had left the side yard alone. Unblemished.

It's Monday and this week proves to be just as busy as the past have all been. Oh, how I hate that word "busy". Everybody is busy, right? It's just life. We have basketball and playdates and gymnastics and haircuts. Bible study and cleaning and laundry and carpooling. Writing and photographing and surfing and playing.

So, Happy Monday! What's on your plate this week?

Gracious, it's Thursday

2012-01-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

I had a witty title for this post all worked out in my head. Something like "Wednesday Ramblings" (see, I totally told you it was witty) and then I realized it wasn't Wednesday anymore. It was Thursday. And Thursday, for that matter, is nearly over.

It's been a hard week, you all. Hard in the way that sudden and unlooked for tears are hard. The tightness in my chest making it hard to breath kind of hard. Hard like body-wracking grief can only be.

And I am only an outsider in this tragedy.

This year, way back on January One when I wasn't making 'resolutions' but 'goals' (yes, please, I know, semantics Beth, semantics) I decided to join in on Ann Voskamp's Joy Dare. I take time each day to actually write down at least 3 simple joys during the day.

Some days are easier than others.

Some days are difficult.

This week, until this evening, was impossible.

My notebook was left sitting on the shelf. I opened it a few times and stared at the pages.
They stared right back.

Then, tonight, after tucking my children into bed, I opened it again and began to remember. The week brought sadness, yes, but those simple joys, so easily overlooked, were there as well.

A walk with a friend.

That sweet reminder of love.

Listening to my newly-literate kiddo read and get excited about reading more.

Watching a boy write neatly and on the lines!!! without reminders.

Quiet snow falling.

Smoothies for dinner and the kids being thrilled about it.

The page filled without effort and I was so thankful for the simple joys in this life. God is good. Even when we don't understand, God is good. Life can be sweet. And the joys are there, often missed, but can be seen if we are able to look and see.

Wearing my heart around my neck

2012-01-24T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today I got dressed and slipped this necklace over my head.

Please excuse my snarly lip, I think I was asking what Puck wanted for lunch and the unch in lunch must make my lip do that. Ugh.

Sprite made this for me and gave it to me on Christmas Eve. I wore it that night, but haven't since. I wore this necklace for the first time in two months because I want my daughter to know she means the world to me. I want her to only hear guidance and love in my voice, even if it's spoken in a reprimand. I want her to know I love her, that I will always hold her tight to my heart. I want to laugh and joke with her. I want to be the first one she comes to with a joy, with a heartbreak, with a worry.

I want this for each one of my kids.

And I've always wanted that. But sometimes I need a gentle reminder.

Yesterday, a grief-stricken mother, who had just lost her precious son, looked me in the eyes and said,

"Go love your kids, just love them!"

And that is what I will do. What I have always tried to do. And will always strive to do.

And I know I will fail. There will be days of poor decisions, of heartache, of disappointment.

But, by God's grace, I hope to have more great days than not.

I love my kids, I love them with everything in me.

So, even though the necklace isn't probably what I'd pick out from the store, the flower doesn't quite say my name and the clasp itched my neck all day long, I won't wait so long to wear it again. I'll wear this gift of love from my daughter, knowing each time I touch it that she made it just for me. Because she wanted to give me something. Something from her.

Something that says, "I love you, Mom."

And it's absolutely perfect.

update on printables

2012-01-20T21:39:00.001-07:00

If you're thinking about trying your hand at this, now is the time. Picnik announced that they will be closing on April 19, 2012.

Boo.

Got an idea for a great printable floating around in your head? Want to play around with some awesome free edits of your photos? Have a collage or card you've been meaning to make? Well....get CRACKIN'!

I love Picnik and am sorry to see it go.....they claim Google+ will have comparable features. We shall see.

Creating your own printable

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Have you seen all the super cute printables all over Pinterest and the world wide web at large? I love printed words as art. Do you? A few days ago I was reading through my reader and found one of my favorite blog authors (Thrifty Decor Chick) had done a tutorial on how to create your own printable in Picnik. I decided to create my own using a verse I've had scrawled on a piece of paper and taped onto the wall above my sink for several years now. Periodically, I have to write out another one because the water splashes up and ruins it eventually. It's sort of grimy looking and not very nice, but I love this verse and often read it to remind myself of God's truths. I think a nice framed print of this verse would have better presentation in my kitchen!

So, here you go, my own tutorial (there are others out there that are great, but I thought it'd be fun {not to mention, good practice for me actually doing a tutorial--they are a lot of work!} to show you how I did my own).

Go to Paint from your Start button. Don't do anything there, just save it as a Blank Document. I saved this right onto my desktop so it is easily accessible, but you could make a folder for it, too.

Then open Picnik and upload this blank document.

Now you have a blank canvas to work with.
Go to Effects and find the Duo-Tone effect. Choose any colors you like.

Now go to the Basic Edits screen and first choose Rotate if you'd like it to be vertical. If you want horizontal or square, just leave it. Then click on Crop and choose the size you'd like it to be. I rotated mine to be vertical and then chose an 8 x 10 crop. The reason behind this is because when you go to print it, if you want 8 x 10, but only crop for a 5 x 7, the proportion on your page will be off and you'll end up chopping off some of your pretty words. You don't want that!

Next, clik on Text and type in what you want. There are a ton of great fonts there for FREE! Now it's time to use what you like, have fun and be creative!

The last thing I want to show you is the stickers. Click on that button and you'll see a lot of available stickers. I scrolled down till I found the Floralia line. Choose any you like and click on it, it will show up as black on your printable. Enlarge it or rotate as you like. Then, go to the Advance Blend Modes and choose Overlay. Cool!

You could do this with anything! And, what a great gift it would make, don't you think? Just print it off at home or your local copy shop, grab a frame and you're done! I, of course, have not printed mine off yet, I told you I'm a procrastinator.

Now go forth and CREATE!!

Winnie and Ruby

2012-01-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

These guys crack me up.

The big one on the left is my best running partner, keeps my feet warm and is great for taking care of crumbs left in chairs by children.

The little one on the right keeps my lap warm, entertains us with her feline craziness and is great for.....well....um, cuddling and that's about it.

They are quite good friends, even given their polar oppositeness. However, like most childhood friendships, there must be a leader and a follower. Ruby is the clear leader and bullies Winnie, despite Winnie weighing in at probably 10 times the cat's weight. And sometimes I think Winnie thinks she should mind....and then other times....

Clearly, Winnie could not care less that the little cat has taken over her enormous bed and she is left to sprawl on the hardwood floor.

Such is life at our house.

Wednesday

2012-01-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

Man oh man, it's Wednesday already. I've got whiplash just from the days flying by so fast.

We've been hunkered down here, it's been really cold. Today is warmer and the sun is battling the clouds for stage time.

Basketball is in full swing with both Sprite playing and Adam coaching (not the same teams, that would certainly have simplified things!).

I finally switched out our summer sports equipment and hats for mittens, balaclavas and hand warmers. I guess I was pipe dreaming that winter might give us a big ol' break this year. Like I said, a pipe dream.

I'm not great at taking food photos, they are so hard, but you have GOT to make these skinny chocolate chip buttermilk scones. Make them today for an afterschool snack. HOLY MOLY these guys are yummy.

Great time in the word this morning. I love when God gives words that literally feel like they were written for me--which I guess they were!

Time to leave so I can go get the kids from school. Have a great afternoon!

Simple solutions: silverware in the dishwasher

2012-01-17T12:49:00.002-07:00

This post comes courtesy of my friend Carrie who is so gosh darn funky and cute. I just love her.

We were chatting in the back of story hour while our sons were enraptured by Froggy and his antics. (On a side note, I can't stand that series of books and I'm so happy the children's librarian is willing to read them to the kids because if I had to read them I would surely tear my hair out. My kids have all loved them and they completely irritate me. Is it just me?) She told me her husband had finally come around to her way of thinking about loading the silverware in the dishwasher. I had to ask, what was this way.

Carrie loads all the silverware of the same make into the same slot in her dishwasher.

Huh.

Well, that is a seriously smart idea! I had never even considered it!

My goodness, we use a lot of spoons!

If you load it this way, which doesn't take any longer to load then just throwing everything in every which way (which was my old method), then all you have to do when it comes time to unload is grab the whole bunch and clunk it in your drawer.

Easy peasy.

Does anybody else already do this? Don't you love simple solutions to everyday tasks? I do!

13 on Friday the 13th

2012-01-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Last night's evening sky. Love the pink clouds. It was so cold I could hardly breath.

I didn't even realize today was Friday the 13th until a few minutes ago when I read a friend's comment on her Flickr photo.
I've never been superstitious about Friday the 13th. Are you?
I've been listening to Nickel Creek Pandora radio for 3 days straight.
I absolutely love bluegrass. At least the newer stuff, the old, twangy music can grind on my nerves a bit.
I don't usually get homesick. I've lived a lot of different places and will get itchy for home, but not exactly sick. Today I read my sister-in-laws post and immediately teared up with a case of the homesickness.
Puck had gymnastics this morning. When we got in the car at 9:30, it was 6 degrees. When we got back in the car after gymnastics, it was still 6 degrees.
When Adam got to work yesterday morning it was -24 in Vail. Crazy cold! Made the -8 here seem almost balmy.
But not really.
Thankfully, the sun is shining today.
The cat bullies the dog. It's really sad, and we try to stick up for Winnie when we can, but I sort of think a 100lbs dog should be able to hold her own with the 11lbs cat, and if she doesn't, well, then maybe she doesn't deserve our help.
Our school has had to cancel two Ski Fridays so far because there is so little snow on the mountain. The kids were super excited that today it was on. I am always a bit nervous when their out there--especially with a small amount of terrain open and an abundance of skiers out there.
I finally framed my two large photos I took of Denver a year ago. I'm a procrastinator. Now that they are framed, we're thinking we actually need a third to go where we want them. Oy.
Adam is coaching basketball this year. Tonight is their first home game and we're all going. Should be fun!

Happy Friday the 13th and I hope you ALL have an incredible weekend!

I told you, I told you they were changing!!

2012-01-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

The 4th grade at our school is piloting an iPad program. That means each 4th grader gets his or her own iPad for use at school. How very cool is that?

Sprite is in 4th grade. Technology is her thing, which it is mainly for most kids, right? Kids these days, I tell ya. Why, when I was in high school, the Internet wasn't even invented yet!

I'm just kidding, we did have the Internet, but it was weird, wasn't it? Just like a bunch of forums and such, nothing at all like it is today.

This morning I was going through my inbox, responding to emails, and checking out some favorite blogs, when up pops a new email.

From my daughter.

Apparently, they have an email address from the school now. My goodness, I won't lie and say it wasn't a little weird to get an email from my own child. I suppose I need to get used to it. It's the beginning of a new era around here. This was her first email to me:

The next email I got was in response to the one I sent back to her.

"Mwaaaa!" Did you get that? She just told me the other day she learned what that meant. This kid cracks me up!

The last email I got from her said she was going to stop emailing me now. So I now have four emails from Sprite, the first telling me she was emailing me, the middle two saying that yes, she did get my response and the last telling me she was done with emailing.

Love that. Pure and simple. At least, in this one instance, I do know what's going on in her head.

Do your kids have an email account?

Of food and horses

2012-01-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

One thing I'm trying to do for our budget and our health this year is eat fish once a week and to also eat vegetarian once a week. I guess that's really two things.

My kids are really great eaters for the most part and so when they saw the photo in the magazine of what was for dinner, they were actually really excited. It looked super good!

source

It was full of ingredients we all love: spinach, feta, couscous, tofu, topped with a tzatziki sauce. Yum!

Only I didn't have tofu. I completely blanked this week. I even looked at the tofu and I think I was thinking I could get it at Costco cheaper so I waited, and of course I haven't been to Costco this week. Oy.

So I thought of what I could add to create a binder and proteins and then OF COURSE--BEANS! Perfect.....or so I thought.

The patties were really pretty, and they smelled really good. But, unfortunately, Puck's description sums it up best:

"Mom, they taste like what horses smell like!"

And in case there is any wondering, that is not a compliment. Also, I asked him to please not compare my cooking to an animal's smell, but that he was welcome to think whatever he needed to and just please eat your salad, ok?

And, just for the record, I don't think it tasted like what a horse smells like. However, it did have a certain.......earthiness to it.

I'm thinking tofu might really help this dish because surely, surely the cooks at EatingWell haven't gone and lost all their marbles creating this dish. These cooks have never steered me wrong and I can't imagine that they would start now.

So, this meal will be going back on the menu. But I'll wait several weeks. Possibly even a few months. The goal is to give it enough time for the kids' memories to fade.

Oh, and for the record, when slathered with tzatziki sauce, these were edible and the other two plus this mama did pretty well with their plates.

A funny thing happened on the way to Kindergarten

2012-01-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

I got the email I've been waiting for. Not like excitedly waiting for, just, you know, knew it was coming.

And dreading it.

It was the email from our school about Puck's Kindergarten playdate. They do this every January, a time for the prospective Kinders and their parents to come in, see the school (if they haven't before), meet the teachers and staff and to get a feel for the school.

I thought I would get it and have a negative reaction. Not that I ever have a negative reaction--no never!--HA, not even close. I have to really fight negativity. So, needless to say (after that rather personal confession), I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not exactly unhappy about this playdate.

I cannot tell you how happy this not-exactly-unhappy-feeling made me! I can do this, you all! I can send my last one off to Kindergarten and know that he will be happy and safe, and I, too, will be happy and safe! And not sad.

And maybe be able to clean the house without a whirlwind destroying it behind me as I go.

These guys may not smell good, but they at least do not actively try to create mess.

Times, they are a-changin'

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

My oldest. My girl. She is a little girl. And, yet, she is also a young woman.

She and I have not always seen eye to eye. We have had our differences. I'm not sure if we are too similar or too different. Perhaps we are just two females and therefore, there is discord.

She is becoming a young woman now. I see such tenderness in her. Toward her brothers, her dad, myself. Sweetness coming out in simple gestures like getting a refill of milk for Puck. Or helping Scamp find a certain lego piece for his project. Making sure we have forks at the dinner table.

And then, I'll say something that causes a grumble, an eye-roll, a huff.

Oh my goodness, how this gets to me. It really, really gets to me! Immediately, I have a biting remark disguised as motherly-sage wisdom. Of course, another, larger eye-roll ensues.

And then, something clicked in the back of my mind a couple of weeks ago. A memory of my own mom and myself. I often think about our relationship when I'm lamenting my own quick temper with my eldest and only girl. We had (and, thankfully, still enjoy) a sweet friendship of the mother/daughter genre. I finally remembered what my mom would say when my smart mouth would show it's ugly head in an argument. She said the simplist words. The only words for which I had no comeback. She would say, "I'm not going to argue with you."

And how could I argue with that?

So I've started using those same words with Sprite. And you know what? It's working.

Long live peace, happiness and harmony between mothers and daughters everywhere!

If you have nothing more worthwhile to do this afternoon

2012-01-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

I have so many little things running around in my brain that I want to share with you!

But I can't seem to gather them into any semblance of order in writing.

SO....

In the interest of putting something on this little blog of mine today, here's a little hilarious video. Have you seen it? I may the last one in the universe to have seen this, but it made me laugh so hard I cried!

Have a great weekend!

 Have a

Out with the old....

2012-01-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!

I love Christmas. I really do. Until on or about December 27th. And then I am DONE. At least with all the decorations, the music and that tree dropping needles all over my living room floor!

I've heard that we should have a heart of Christmas-time all year long and that I understand. Peace and joy for the world? Yes. Family and togetherness? Yes. Jesus taking the form of a baby to be Savior to us? Yes. Absolutely.

But the needles? Nope.

So, the calendar has turned. It's another year. A time for a fresh start. Do you make resolutions? I don't. I used to and then I never kept them, so I stopped making them.

However, there is a way around the whole resolution thing that I can get into. Goals. Yep. It's basically the same thing, except that goals can be reached for, worked toward, looked forward to, and if they're never met, well then, that's ok. It was just a Goal. There's always next year.

But a resolution.....oh......a resolution just has a more grandiose ring to it. And resolutions are typically more extreme in their verbiage.

Take for example: "I resolve to work out every day in 2012."

Really? EVERYDAY?! Do you realize how many days that IS? It's a lot, is all I'm saying, and "everyday" doesn't account for the flu, your kid's flu, the dog's flu or a really cold/hot/rainy/humid day.

I do have goals, though!

Goal #1: To exercise (I took up running this summer and would like continue to increase my distance)

Goal #2: To serve fish more (I have a sub-topic goal of getting Sprite to not gag when fish is served--wish me luck with that one!)

Goal #3: To be intentional (with my kids, with Adam, in my work, around the house, with friends, with my time)

I will probably fall short of doing those things this year, but since they are goals I will not have failed, I will just have room to grow.

I like room to grow. I'm a whole house of rooms to grow.

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So what about you? Do you make resolutions? Goals? Plans?

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2011-12-22T08:04:00.001-07:00

Hi All!

Just stepping in real quick this Thursday morning. My parents are visiting and I always seem to neglect the ol' blog while we have visitors, I thought I give a quick update on happenings in this part.

The last week was insanely busy. I know schools must do all the holiday celebrations before break and all that, but my goodness it does wear on me! Between shopping, running up and down valley, wrapping, baking and cooking, we squeezed in the three last games of the season (one basketball and two volleyball) and a piano recital. Last, but certainly, not least, Friday afternoon after school let out Adam had surgery on his elbow to remove the hardware he had put in when he broke it on Memorial Day weekend.

Thursday afternoon we learned that what we had erroneously thought would be an easy, short 30 minute surgery, was actually going to be an extensive, long surgery (90min-2 hours). Gracious. With some string pulling and finagling, we were able to secure a babysitter for the evening and an awesome friend (which turned into TWO friends due to one other unforeseen event--funny how things work like that) took my kids for the afternoon. Adam was admitted at 4:00 and surgery was set for 5:00.

He didn't go in till 9:30pm.

9:30. PM.

The surgery did indeed last long: 2 1/2 hours. They called me back at 11:40 and we finally made it home at 3:00am.

Good golly, we were exhausted the next day. The kids were amazing, though, and we were both able to rest. The great news is Adam has complete range of motion back and he's feeling quite good.

Now here we are, a week later, and Christmas is in four short days. Snow fell last night and it really does feel like winter finally!

Merry Christmas! I'm so thankful for you who read this nonsense and for those who comment! Our Christmas card was another fiasco I didn't even want to touch, so three time is a charm and Costco saved the day (again!). Here's a fair rendition:

A cookie tradition

2011-12-14T08:34:00.001-07:00

My kids get it into their heads that certain activities we do around the holidays are “traditions”. I love traditions, I love doing the expected and creating memories of the same thing each year. I really do.

Each year we begin Christmas music on December 1st. Each year the kids make gifts for each other. Each year we put up a tree and decorate it. Each year we pull out all our holiday books and spend hours in front of the fire engulfed in the magic of a story. Each year we celebrate Advent with our Noel Nativity Story (I’ll share more about this soon).

And as fun as it is to create new memories with the same activities year after year, new things are also fun sometimes, too. I’m not really a person adverse to change, per se, but I certainly am a creature of habit and change doesn’t not always come easily to me. Fortunately, I married Adam, who loves change (in good ways) and encourages me to branch out of my little bitty box sometimes.

So I say all that to say that I completely understand when my kids come to me each new year around this time with their wishes of “lets do this again” and “when are going to do that (fill in the blank) thing this year?”

And you all know how much I love cooking. But baking is a different story. My mom is the opposite. She likes cooking just fine, but give her the chance to throw a pie together or bake a batch of cookies and she’s golden. So when my kids came to me this year wanting to “make and decorate cookies again, please, please, pretty please??!!” I may have shuddered and trembled a bit at the thought of more baking (why are the holidays filled to the brim with baking? Why do we need and crave sweets so much this time of year?) So, I caved and cheated and went out and bought ready-made cookie dough in that oblong package you find in the refrigerated section. Yeah, you know the one. It's got that fat, doughy-boy on it.

Please don’t cringe and smirk and call me names--not that I think you really would do those things, but sometimes I can be so insecure! Be gracious. We all have our strengths right? And I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one out there cheatin’ just a bit to get through this holiday season. Raise your hand if you’re a cheater!! Cheaters Unite!

So.

Anyway.

We rolled out that dough, cut out our shapes, popped them in the oven. I must have been asked 56.24 times in the time it took to do all this when, Mom, WHEN will be we be able to decorate them?!?

The package said to bake them for 10 minutes. It was a loooooooong10 minutes.

When they came out of the oven, my eyes widened and then I just had to laugh at these monsters. I completely forgot about altitude and baking and trying to alter the dough a bit to get a more normal looking cookie!

And you know what? The kids didn’t care A BIT. They thought it was funny and then used their awesome creativity to just make things up with the icing as they went. Because, let’s be honest, it’s all about the icing. And sprinkles. And the eating.

16 degrees and a perfect day for a photoshoot!

2011-12-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row, I've had the privilege to photograph my friend, Krista's, family in Beaver Creek. We had to plan and cancel our time together three times due to illnesses, conflicts and the like, but last week we finally got together! And it was SO VERY COLD.

I'm actually kind of glad we had to postpone because the day before our shoot, Krista as hiking in BC and found this awesome place with some old homesteader cabins and a barn. Wow--what a cool place!

These kids crack me up.

Not bad for a 16 degree day, eh? These guys were complete troopers and what an awesome job they did!

The T Family

2011-12-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

About a year ago I was talking with my friend Becky and she mentioned wanting some Christmas shots of her daughter. She was very pregnant and not wanting a whole family photo.

That never happened.

And then a whole year passed and here we are again at Christmas time! Becky and I finally made solid plans for a photo shoot with their beautiful family.

How precious are those lips? So cute.

Thanks, T Family!

oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

2011-12-10T08:50:00.001-07:00

Ah. Trimming the tree. Such a relaxing tradition we engage in year after year.

We were all set to get the tree decorated this morning after breakfast.

I started plugging in the lights to make sure they worked. The first one I tried didn't work at all. Then the next strand was half-lit while the other half stayed stubbornly off. Another half-lit, followed by two more not-at-all-lit strands! Only two of our previous strands lit up all the way. TWO. You can't have a fully lit Christmas tree with two measly light strands.

So, off to Target we went. I couldn't stand of the thought of Wal-Mart on Saturday, so we headed the other direction, through the Canyon to Glenwood Springs. Target is always a better shopping experience.

Adam wanted us to get the LED lights this year because they're supposed to last forever, be brighter and cost less to run. But Target didn't have LED lights in the colored variety.

Of course.

So we got what we "needed" at Tar-jay, got the animals some food and treats for their stocking at the pet store (pathetic, right?), hit our favorite lunch spot in town (Moe's Southwest Grill), Lowe's (who didn't have any colored LED lights either, sheesh!), Once Upon a Child (my first time there and can I just say OH MY GOODNESS JACKPOT), and finally, to Wal-Mart, where I finally found the LED lights that I had been searching for and the exact place I had not wanted to go.

Whew. How's that for a sentence?

Thankfully, the majority of Glenwood residents had decided to forgo their Saturday trip to Wal-Mart and it wasn't too crowded at all. Miracles.

Home again after several hours of shopping (oh, joy!), down for a short quiet time so ~~Mommy~~ the children could rest and recover. And then, finally, after much anticipation and some angst (they had been asking to decorate since they got up at 7am til we had to leave to get those lights at 9:30am), the tree was lit (with energy efficient, long lasting, bright LED lights, thankyouverymuch) and all our ornaments were hung.

The cat is a disaster. I don't think she has it in her to actually leave that tree alone. She just may spend the next three weeks permanently damp due to the constant squirting of water that is our only recourse for keeping her out of the branches.

(ps. I think I may have used my daily allotment of parenthetical phrases in this post.)

And just to prove that this was a true story:

Wow, that is one blurry photo. I'll blame my iPod.

For Unto Us

2011-12-08T14:48:00.001-07:00

Ah, my mind is a million different places today and this week and I can't seem to get posts up the way I'd like to. I've had two really fun photo shoots in the past week and am dying to show you all the results, but when I get time (i.e. the evening) I find I am so overwhelmed and exhausted and MY GOODNESS HOW DID 10pm COME UP SO QUICKLY? You know those nights?

And then my days....Well. The days fly as you very well know. Between carpool, conferences, gathering ski equipment, getting snow tires on, laundering so I can clothe and shopping so I can feed, and there's still Christmas shopping to do! Thank the LORD online shopping has been taken to the next level! Amazon take me away!

Christmas tree to get and decorate, homework to be helped with, dinner to make, sick children to care for (because, YES, we do indeed still have sick children--what on earth is going on around here?!). A cat to keep out from underfoot, a dog to psychologically counsel, a marriage to nurture and care for.

All the while remembering that this Season is not just about the tree and the gifts and the music and the I Wants.

It's the balance. It gets out of whack and I find myself wanting to shut down. Mentally, emotionally, physically.

Time to refresh. To pause. To take stock of what the basics are, of what must and need to be done. What can wait and what just doesn't need attention.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the Town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger." ~Luke 2:8-12

Oh, to have been a shepherd on that hillside. I think they probably had troubles of their own, a million different things on their minds, a to-do list that involved sheep and friends and family. What would have gone through their minds when those angels stood around them shining in all their Heavenliness? That to-do lists, all those mindless tasks, the cluttered thoughts would have quieted as they heard the Good News of Great Joy. Those things might even have gone away all together as they gazed on the Christ Child's face.

Oh, to have been a shepherd. Lord, let me have a mind that is focused on YOU and on the miraculous gift that You gave us in a baby, of all things, born of a Virgin--how radical and unfathomable is that?--for this Season of Christmas.

all the yumminess!

2011-12-05T21:12:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again.

Time for the red and green, the snowflakes, the sugar, the sprinkles, the laughter and games.

My friend, Krista, has hosted a cookie exchange for 13 years. I've had the pleasure of going last and this year. So.much.fun.

I made cake balls. Which, really, needs a new name. Are they close enough to truffles to be called that? No? Oh well, I'll keep thinking. Any ideas?

Last year I just put my cookies on a cute holiday plate, covered it with plastic wrap and called it a day. I showed up at the party and quickly realized I was about to be put to shame. These ladies can wrap a batch of cookies up tight! I stepped it up a bit this year, only enough so I wouldn't go insane with bows or tinsel or figuring how to get a flat box into an actual box. Those things are great, they were all there last night, I'm just not skilled in that way. But a paper back, a hole punch and some curly ribbon? Right up my alley!

The best thing about a cookie exchange is getting to spend an entire night with ladies that I might not otherwise see (sweet friends that live "up valley" and why it's hard to get together, I don't know, but it is) and getting to know things about them that shock this naive little girl enough to let my jaw drop just a little.

AND I'm just going to get this out there: The second best thing about a cookie exchange is the cookies.

Oh.my.goodness.gracious.yum.

Ginger cookies, powder day delights, peppermint cookies, cake balls, fudge, peppermint bark, cheesecake thumbprint cookies, peanut butter blossoms, chocolate chunk blondies, almond wedding cakes, sugar cookies, granola bars, citrus Christmas cookie, and lemon cookies.

We are eating fine here! Actually, a bit too fine. Is justifing a citrus cookie for breakfast--there's orange in there, man!--mean I have health issues? I did hear from several other ladies that similar justifications were going around town at the same time this morning. So maybe we're all in this together.

I could counter all this extra fat and sugar by a few good runs, if the temperature would just get above 20 degrees! But until it's warm enough so that my nose hairs don't freeze, I will not be venturing out.

Raise your hand if you do a cookie exchange where you live!!!

A quiet morning

2011-12-03T08:07:00.001-07:00

It snowed last night. It's still snowing right now.

The fire is on. Soft Christmas music in the background.

My girl is at a slumber party (of which I'm sure there was little actual slumber; I truly hope she's not a complete bear later today), so the boys slept in til nearly 8am. She's our insomniac and tends to not be able to be quiet when she wakes up so early, so, therefore everyone in the near vicinity (a.k.a her brothers) should also be awake. It was lovely to have the house quiet until so late an hour. Just me, the dog and cat.

My husband left early this morning to catch a plane. He's making a quick visit to his parents. I hope the snow doesn't delay his flight.

My boys are now sitting in front of the fire and Scamp is reading Christmas books to Puck. It is a precious sight. Gotta love Auntie Claus. Yesterday I switched out all our fall related books for the Christmas/winter related in our basket we keep in the living room. (That sentence felt convoluted, I do apologize.)

We still don't have our Christmas tree. Do you? Thanksgiving weekend was just too early to get it, our climate is so very dry that I would be sweeping up needles by the shovelful by mid-December and would most likely be left with an even more-than-usual Charlie Brown Christmas tree by New Years. And now Adam is out of town so we won't be doing the annual tree hunt this weekend. I'm slightly tempted to head down the street to our local pub and buy a tree off their lot but I'm a bit scared of the price tag. (Is that weird to anyone else, that a pub would sell trees? maybe it's just me.)

So while we don't have a tree up yet, and it doesn't look like that will happen til next weekend at the earliest, we might pull out the Christmas decorations and get started on the other things while we wait.

Are your decorations up yet?

Nativity Cat

2011-12-02T07:53:00.001-07:00

Annual Family Punishement, er I mean, Photograph!

2011-11-29T14:55:00.001-07:00

We had planned on doing this a couple of weeks ago, but with all the sickness and general malaise that infected our household, we had to wait a bit. Sunday was the day--it was gorgeous, sunny and not too terribly cold. The sky was clear and everybody was feeling well.

I set up my tripod, got everybody standing where they needed to be and started snapping away with my uber cool remote--man, I love that thing!

This is for our Christmas card, so these are some of the outtakes (unedited!), of which there were many, many, many.

Clearly, I forgot that my arm sticking out there in front of my body holding the remote would be seen by all. Silly.

So the remote is still showing in my hand, but I would be ok with this IF the kids had been looking at the camera and not trying to catch flies in their mouths. Goodness.

Adam finally commandeered the remote because it just wasn't cooperating with me for some reason.

While I had tried to think of fun and slightly goofy things we could say that formed our mouth into a lovely smile, Adam decided to have us say that someone (no names) had, um, well, I'll say tooted because this is a clean blog and I wouldn't want to soil it all up having something as course as f*rted.

We did end up getting a nice shot (not shown here because, geeze, it's our Christmas card!) Get a load of that backdrop! So pretty. We haven't had hardly any snow yet this year and our school is even trying to decide if there's enough to have our first Ski Friday, which is supposed to be THIS Friday. That snow in the background is about the most you can see in these parts and I am loving it! Call me crazy, but a good year is when the snow falls and then melts.

Here's the kicker on this year's photo--I even got them ordered last night. Whoo hoo for checking off the list!

sweet 39

2011-11-27T19:45:00.001-07:00

**Edit: I wrote this post a week ago and forgot to hit publish.

Today Adam had a birthday.

Yesterday, we braved the ice and snow-packed roads and headed to Denver for the day. He chose Hibachi (actually, the restaurant called it Teppenyaki, but I don’t really know the difference) for his birthday meal. Today we celebrated with cake.

Adam hates attention of any sort, so it was a laid back, but fun day. He is a much loved daddy and husband and we are so blessed by him in our lives!

Round three dingdingding

2011-11-17T15:20:00.001-07:00

I didn't even tell you about round two, did I?

After Scamp was sick all weekend long, Sprite came down with whateveritis on Wednesday and is still feeling pretty puny, although she is on the mend, just super tired.

This morning, Puck walked up the stairs at an unusually slow pace. That's never a good sign as this child typically wakes up with a pop and hits the ground with both feel moving. Sure enough, same thing.

Fever, stomach issues, ear and head pain, general lethargy.....is it the flu? Is that going around?

Now we just wait, wait, wait. Wait for Adam to get it. Wait for me to get it. Wait for us to get it here right before Thanksgiving. Oh, how I am just intensely praying that we just don't get it!

It's possible, even if it's not probable. But adults can throw off things that kids don't, right?

*********************************

I got my turkey today. I knew Sprite was feeling pretty badly when she was ok with me leaving for 30 minutes to run to the store. That is unheard of in this house.

I woke up last night worrying about getting a turkey. Woke up worrying about a turkey. Did I just say that? Sometimes I lose sleep over the weirdest things.

Now I need to plan what we'll have with the bird. There's been a little less enthusiasm in the past week over our meal due to the fact of The Illness. Do you all have your plans made?

**********************************

One more random thing: I'm really, really, really hoping to get our family photo taken this weekend if everyone can just stay healthy please! It's really beautiful right now and it would be great to capture something before the snow flies. **Edit to add: Shoot, just looked at the weather and they are calling for snow. Poo.**

**********************************

A last question for you today to either make me feel better about my weirdness or to just increase the feeling that my weirdness is my own:

Do you wake up worrying about food?

2011-11-15T10:35:00.001-07:00

Our house this weekend and yesterday.

Poor Scamp got hit with some sort of nasty virus. Whatever got to him last week seemed to take a few days off and then returned with a vengeance for the weekend. Those cushions that they’re all laying on are all off the couch today and are getting a good washing. It’s just been lovely around here!

Every time he laid down on the couch (which, like I said, was most of the weekend and yesterday) the cat would climb right up with him. She seemed to love pinning his legs down and he was so still she wouldn’t move until he got up. It was really quite sweet and he loved the comfort she gave.

Puck was just thrilled to pieces to have his brother home from school with him! Didn’t seem to bother him that Scamp wasn’t feeling up for any playtime, just his presence was enough to make him happy.

Here's hoping every one else can stay well!

Night Out

2011-11-13T14:44:00.001-07:00

Last night was our big fancy gala at school. Every year I am amazed at the transformation that comes to that gym. It is really wonderful! Even with the goal-keeper subtly flashing on the ceiling, it is hard to remember you’re in a school gymnasium at all.

And get this: I wore heels and survived! I didn’t trip, fall, wobble or otherwise embarrass myself or Adam in anyway. Miracles! Not only did I not do those things, I actually felt confident walking in them. Wow. Until by 9pm when my feet started to cramp up. Fortunately by then we were seated at a table and I could inconspicuously take them off. Praises for a floor-length table cloth!

The theme of the night was Arabian Nights or something of that sort. There were floating lanterns, candles, flowing silks, Mediterranean food and belly dancers. Did you get that: belly dancers.

Yeah.

Then this was on our table

Can you make out the name on the tag on the left-hand side? Mm, hmm. We ended up buying this guy. Scamp will be pleased and I’m hoping I can keep this real live palm tree alive. Any tips? Just so you know, I sort of have a brown-thumb when it comes to inside plants.

Our awesome babysitter took our picture. Adam just loves having his picture taken. Loves it I tell you.

Awesome background, don’t you think? We have nowhere in our house to take a nice photo unless the Christmas tree is up. And it’s not up—yet!

I even painted my nails. I cannot remember the last time I had my fingernails painted. Do you paint your nails? How about the toes—do you get a pedi every now and then? The last time I had a pedi was in NYC with my girls.

I think I really am that pasty white, too, although I did choose to use a lighter filter on Instagram (oh my, another subject for another post!), so maybe I’m not quite that ghostly white in real life.

Overall a very fun night. Certainly not a typical date night for us. I mean, belly dancers? The last time we had belly dancers within arm’s reach we were in Turkey. A lifetime ago, it seems.

A list a.k.a "Why I am so gosh darn tired this morning"

2011-11-10T10:32:00.001-07:00

Sounds that it is always too smack dab in the middle of the night to hear:

a smoke detector battery beeping--these always go out in the middle of the night--why?
the splat of dog vomit hitting the floor--a gross, but true, reality. Many of you are nodding right now.
the wail of the baby you just put down after feeding. This isn't in my near past; however, I still hear that sound in my head some nights. Does that make me mental?
the scrape of the snow plows on an ice-hardened road that's a result of snow that fell too early in the night to cause school to be canceled but not early enough so that the roads will truly be cleared and safe by the time carpool rolls around.

And I will now add these words to my least favorite things heard at 4:20 am:

"Mom, I just totally threw up."

Feel the burn

2011-11-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

It's cold outside. Therefore, I haven't run in awhile. I know they make cold-weather running pants and tops and all that, but honestly. If it's sub-freezing temps, I'm just not going out unless I have to, and that's just out to the garage to get into my soon-to-be warm car.

Any body else with me on this??

My awesome sister-in-law (Carrie) has started a great new blog: The Ready Set Go, Girl! It's all about being a mom, fitness, eating healthy and all the things that come with being a girl on the go. Head over and give her some bloggy-love! She posted the other day the photo of Carrie Underwood that's been floating around the interweb where she's all rockin' her song and looking fab-u-lous with her super toned legs. My goodness, that's some motivation to get moving.

So I did...I started with the lunges and squats she talked about. Coupled with ab and arm work, I was tired at the end, but felt good.

And then I went to walk upstairs. Um......

I was instantly reminded of my brief run-in with Tony of P90x fame. I only met him on the Tube, but boy will I never forget what my legs felt like after only an hour with him. Brutal.

Maybe I overdid the lunges and squats. Exercise is not my specialty, I'm not fond of sweating in general, but as my age goes up, so does the number on the scale and, more importantly, my jean size. ::sigh::

Today I went out with Puck to walk. It wasn't as cold as it's been and the sun was out and I knew I would need to stretch out my muscles because walking up and down stairs--oy! He road his bike and laughed when he passed me. Such a nice kid.

What do you do to get exercise? Do you belong to a gym or swap play dates with friends in order to get out? Do you drag your littles around with you in a jogging stroller or make them work it with you while you walk/run?

And, because I really hate the idea of posting without a photo to accompany text, here's something completely random and unrelated.

Day with our crew

2011-11-07T20:19:00.001-07:00

Saturday was my birthday. I'm just that much closer to 40 now. But I'll always be younger than Adam--a fact I never let him forget!

We headed to Glenwood Springs because, and this is really exciting, we needed dog and cat food. Woo! The weather was so cruddy but thankfully the canyon wasn't covered in snow while we traveled. We did our errands, had lunch out (so nice!) and headed home.

Adam cooked our dinner--seared scallops, lobster ravioli, Brussels sprouts and crash hot potatoes. In a word: YUM. I did help just a bit, cooking is, after all, one of my true loves, but he wouldn't let me touch the dirty dishes. A complete treat! Dinner was so amazing!

Adam made this day so special for me, what an amazing guy!

Lunch at Moe's

Friday

2011-11-04T13:26:00.000-06:00

Today is a non sequitur kind of day. It necessitates a similar post.

I survived last night, but not without tears. They were not induced by the thoughts of my and my baby's fleeing youth, however; the senior who spoke and has been there since Kindergarten herself teared up and I lost it. I am a sympathetic crier.
Thanksgiving is just three weeks away. Is it just me, or do things seem to pop up out of the blue these days? We don't have any specific traditions for Thanksgiving except to serve turkey--how can you not? I have, however, read about some fun traditions for Thanksgiving this week:

Michelle talks about her family's Thankful Three.
Meredith talks about their Thankful Turkey (how cute!).
and this post talks a lot about traditions in general this time of year.

My kids keep asking when we're going to get skis. The pass office (where you get lift passes) opened today. We had our first decent snow Wednesday. ("Decent" in this sentence is equivalent to "it's still here two days later", not "totally stinking awesome", although my opinion tends to not be the same as others who live here.) We have our flannel sheets and down comfortable on the beds. It's official: Winter is here. Waaaaa.
That video that I took of Puck the other day, that made me go back and look at the other videos of the kids got me thinking that I need more videos of the kids.
My cat is snoring in the chair next to me. I have never known a cat to snore.
We ran out of food for Winnie yesterday so I cooked a few eggs for her breakfast to tide her over until we got some real dog food. About two hours after she consumed the eggs, she scratched at the door and I did not immediately get up to let her out. She made me regret so many things about that morning.
The gala I was telling you about is next Saturday and I still haven't practiced in my heels. My friend Kim (who doesn't live here, but oh! how I wish she did and she and I could go to this thing together!) says she likes heels and I also wish she lived here so she could help me practice walking in heels. Any tips, Kim?
We have yet to take our family picture this year. Christmas card season is quickly approaching. Maybe this weekend I'll be able to talk the fam into a photo shoot. Maybe I'll pull out the ol' "it's my birthday and I can do what I want" card. Think it will work? Do you have your photo for your Christmas card? Do you do Christmas cards?

Have a great Friday, you all! Hope it's warmer where you are then it is here!

Be my, be my baby

2011-11-03T15:46:00.000-06:00

I have some fun Halloween pictures to share with you all, but they'll have to wait because I'm going through some pain right now.

It's called my baby is going into Kindergarten, you all.

Seriously. I know, I know, all mama's go through it. And I KNOW you all are tired of hearing me whine and complain and moan and groan over the fact that my baby is going into Kindergarten.

But he is. And, it's a way's away still, but, well, still.

My pain has been brought to the foremost of mind lately, specifically the past week. When I had to make arrangements for a babysitter to come here. For tonight, my friends, is the night of prospective Kindergarten parents night at our school.

Eee gads.

This is the beginning of the end.

And on a rather strange side note, I'm not really sure what I'm to wear to this little shin-dig, or if it even is a shin-dig, or if it is rather more of a slightly formal meeting to make mamas like me weep in desperation of their fleeing youth.

Also a side note: My birthday is on Saturday. Hence, the youth-fleeing.

So.

Yesterday, I taped my baby reading. Reading, you all. He's not supposed to be reading yet, not at pre-Kindergarten age, not when he's still supposed to be my baby. But, alas, he is. And I have helped him along in this venture called Growing Up, so I suppose I should be angry and exasperated at no one but myself.

When I uploaded this particular video to photobucket, lo and behold there were a bunch of other videos from our past. It was weird. Because I had forgotten I had an account and that these videos were there, it was made all the more surreal when I clicked on one and saw our apartment in Korea. Or our apartment in New York (dang, that was small). Or the Spectacular Musical Fountain Show we would go to in the neighboring province from Seoul some nights and eat sushi while sitting on a blanket watching a show that was aptly named (it really was Spectacular).

And in our apartments were (crazy obvious, be warned) our kids. But not as they are now. NO! They were little. Again, it was surreal because it was like I had forgotten they had been babies. And, in all honesty, Sprite and Scamp weren't babies in the videos, but they were little. And oh, so cute. But, Puck, he was a baby. And I cried a little because I couldn't hold him like that again. And then I sighed a little sigh of relief because he would never scream in some unknown agony where there was nothing I could do to help him again.

This is my pain. I am struggling with it. But struggling is good. It means I'm working on it, praying about it, wrestling with this thing that, if I let it, would eat me up inside and rob us of any pleasure that could come of our kids getting bigger. God gave them to us to raise, not to keep little.

And, really, where would the fun be in having a 5 year old permanently anyway? My goodness, but he can be stubbornly set in his ways. I am hoping that with time and maturity will also come wisdom and patience. And that time, I need to be reminded, means age.

Keep me strong, Lord, keep me strong as I send my baby to Kindergarten.

There. There has to be some growth in not putting that in italics again, right?

Past week

2011-10-30T20:52:00.002-06:00

1. This whole writing thing is really kicking where it hurts. I want to write, I want to get better. Yet I get the block. So I don’t write. Therefore, I don’t get better. It’s a real cycle. Melissa posted all month long on writing your story. I read every post. And didn’t write. Again, I want to write, I want to get better. So, I’ll continue to write even with nothing to say. Or, so it starts until I do start, because that’s often where inspiration strikes.

2. It was a good week to be a Missourian. I spent the first 26 years of my life in Ol’ Missouri, Fair Missouri. First, the Cardinals won the World Series. Then, the Tigers beat Texas A&M in a nail-biter of a football game. Last, the St.Louis Rams played ridiculously well against the Saints. I guess the Cards inspired greatness this week.

3. You know that friendship thing I was talking about? On the same note, I love our small group and the discussions we’re having about our current read: Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper. One of the most challenging books I’ve read. If you haven’t read it, please put it on your to-read list.

4. Have read some really fun books so far this year. A couple months to go. I haven’t updated my book list in a bit, but will this week. Next year I’m thinking seriously about reading mainly classics (War and Peace, Great Expectations, etc.), just to change things up a bit, to make me really think about what I’m reading.

5. Puck’s birthday was Thursday. Still, I am in shock I have all three children technically of school-age. One of his presents was The Jesus Storybook Bible that came with audio CDs. Every morning we have Bible time (a.k.a quiet time) and he listens and “reads” his Bible. He’s listened to the same stories told now for a year. This rendition has brought new life to his Bible time, and I’m enjoying it as well. This children’s Bible was recommended so highly and it hasn’t disappointed.

6. Our gala is coming up soon. Must practice walking in heels. I wobble so. Do you?

7. I’m glad Halloween is tomorrow night. It’s not my favorite. We’re having friends over, which is fun, but I’ll be glad to see all the scary house decorations replaced with cornucopias and Pilgrim hats.

8. Speaking of Thanksgiving, have you started planning your feast? Scamp just asked me today what we would be having. That kid is really starting to think with his stomach—he’s eating more than me these days!

Something that we were made for

2011-10-29T16:39:00.001-06:00

I have started this post a dozen times and have rewritten and edited and then just sat and pondered. It went from one thing to something completely different. Serious things, the things that aren’t things and that matter the most to me, they are so hard to write about. That deserves more pondering and staring into space, but will have to wait now so I can hit publish.

As I was planning my post about Puck’s birthday, I retraced his life back to his birth, and then from there, his birth country. A natural sequence. All from the viewpoint of my blog at it’s beginning and the photos taken then. This led to a huge bunny trail of reminiscence that eventually brought me to a friend’s blog who lived in Korea at the same time that we did. Teresa, along with our other American friend, Lis, were critical to our life as it was there in that foreign country. Critical as in essential, crucial, vital and seriously important. These ladies were our kids surrogate aunts, our confidants, our sisters, our sounding board. Our time there was short, just 18 months, but our deep friendship could have only come from God. They bond we formed was one that can take years to develop when lives are “normal” and easy, but it didn’t. It was quick and seamless and necessary. That’s the difference. When faced with the same ol’ from day to day of life that is America we are lulled into a sense that each day will come to us because that’s the way it should be. It’s a given, an expectation. The grocery store will still stock shredded cheese and I will always be able to communicate with my neighbor or the postman. My doctor will always understand my fears, my own speech will not be met with a quizzical gaze because of an unknown word or phrase. I don’t have a need for people to really talk to, who can know me at a core-level, who can ask me how I am and get an honest, not so pretty answer. I don’t need that.

Really?

Of course not! That’s not the way we were created, it’s not what we were created for! We were created to be with people, to really be with them. To have friends, to be a friend. To ask the hard, deep questions. To have the shoulder to cry on and also shed tears in the process.

In every place we’ve lived, God has been gracious in bringing people who are willing to get to know us, and then still like us, even love us! That is remarkable to me.

So I’m am thankful for my friends I grew up with. Thankful for my best friend that has hung with me even through my infrequent communication. Thankful for my deep friendships in that foreign country that brought my littlest into the world and my husband and I closer than we had ever been. Thankful for my friends in Iowa and New York, without whom I’m sure I would not have survived as gracefully. Thankful for my friends here in the mountains, who continue to support and love and advise and root for us.

For so long we lived near family, and they are friends, too. Maybe that’s you. Maybe you don’t have that close relationship you’re wanting. Maybe God has something for you—just ask for it. Who are the people God has brought into your life?

FIVE

2011-10-27T21:21:00.000-06:00

It’s funny how our kids age and we stay the same age, isn’t it?

I’m not sure how time works that way.

One minute you 22 and just married and then BAM. You’ve got three children running around.

Shirt made by Puck.

My, how time flies. Happy birthday to you, Puck!

Lovely family

2011-10-18T17:42:00.000-06:00

It was late afternoon and the sun was perfect! What a gorgeous night. Fall is the perfect time to take photos!

I love this family--they have given me such great opportunities and experiences. Thanks, guys, you are a joy to work with!

Night Game

2011-10-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

Scamp's game Monday was a night game. It’s starting to get dark now about 6:15 and is completely dark by 6:45. I was skeptical when I noticed Scamp’s game scheduled at 6:30, but figured it was a typo and would be changed. The coach thought the same, but we soon found out they were planning to turn on the lights. Wow!

Look at that moon!

The kids’ excitement was tangible. It was kind of thrilling. There was almost the feeling of a high school Friday night football game. I could almost smell popcorn and orange nacho cheese sauce. I wouldn’t have been surprised had the pom pom squad and marching band come out to the field for a pre-game show. Ahhh. I don’t miss much of anything about high school, but Friday night football games are on the short list of sweet memories from those years.

The mountains practically glowed under the full moon. Can you believe that snow? It came last week and will most likely stick till next May.

It was a great game. Scamp is in the blue pants up there. I don’t think the game had started yet. Only one more week of soccer left. I will not be sorry to see it go. It’s been fun, but I’m always ready for a more relaxed week and taking sports away for a few weeks won’t hurt anybody.

Until volleyball, gymnastics and basketball starts. Oy.

What sports are you shlepping stuff to and fro for this time of year!

A nuance

2011-10-13T07:30:00.000-06:00

If you poked your head in our front door on any given Sunday morning, you would probably hear either Adam or I reminding the boys to put on nice jeans (i.e. no holes) or khakis and a shirt with a collar. Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but that’s just the way it is. I just think it looks so nice.

Both Scamp and Puck came up this past Sunday, not only with khaki’s on and a collared shirt, but a tie and jacket to boot! I got such a kick out of it! Several friends at church commented and asked if there was a special occasion. I think they assumed it was my idea. Nope. No clue what got into them.

They sure are handsome, though, aren’t they?

Sprite always looks lovely.
Girls. Boys. I’ll never tire of the uniqueness and differences.

Sprite wouldn’t even do the “silly” photo any more. I asked her why. She told me she’s just not into those.

Oh. Well. Ok then.

I guess that’s the wisdom from the girl who’s a decade old.

Surfboards, sharks and sleepovers

2011-10-12T08:54:00.000-06:00

When Sprite turned 10 two weeks ago she wanted her party to be special. Like nothing she’s ever done kind of special. We don’t do birthdays really big in our house, the two oldest have each had one large-ish party in the past, but when it came to being a decade old, we figured it was as good as as any to let her have a big shin-dig.

Her “ultimate” party included a sleepover, with a Movie Theme, popcorn, pizza and candy.
Sleepovers are something we are also not too big on over here. We just don’t “do” sleepovers very often, but that’s a subject for another post. Maybe. It raises so many issues.

Anyway.

While the original guest list included every single girl she knew in our valley, we had to implement some guidelines. She ended up inviting a few friends (four, to be exact, a very reasonable number of girls, not quite large enough to be a gaggle) who live right here in our little town. That made drop off and pick up easy for parents.

Popcorn, pizza and candy. Check!

Then came the grueling job of picking the movie to watch. It was, after all, a Movie Theme Birthday Party. Again, we’re pretty particular about what movies our kids watch. What goes in that little mind will be with them the rest of their life. Somewhere in the past few months, she became aware of the movie Soul Surfer from some friends. We researched it and it made the cut.

I was a little concerned about the shark scene, but that toothy villain barely makes an entrance before he’s off the set again! I actually turned my back for just a moment and it was over before I turned around. The girls were fine. I think the anticipation of knowing it was coming was much worse than actually seeing the attack. This movie was great-a perfect choice for my girls Big Party! It had definite elements that were a bit girlie, but mostly I think boys would enjoy this quite a bit, too. What impressed me the most was that it had big stars (Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, Carrie Underwood) and yet the message about Christ was so clear! Bethany Hamilton’s love for the Lord is obvious and her trust that what happened to her was in God’s plan for her life is an awesome message to anyone.

The best moment of the entire party happened at the beginning of the movie. The first scene shows Bethany and her family at their beautiful outdoor church worship service. The choir and congregation are singing. It took a moment to realize I wasn’t just hearing the music coming from the movie. Sprite and her friends were all sitting on their sleeping bags in the living room belting out Blessed Be the Name of the Lord. THAT was sweet worship! I actually choked up (big surprise!) and ran up to share the story with Adam.

It was just beautiful.

A protector

2011-10-11T14:20:00.001-06:00

I used to have a schnauzer. Rilie. The sweetest little grey dog ever. I picked her out of the litter when she was just a few weeks old. I picked her because she came right up to me, curled up in my lap and laid there in a coma-like trance while I pet her. She couldn’t get enough. All the other pups were scrapping around and yipping and begging to play or be pet. But this one in my lap took my heart and held it still.

I thought there wasn’t another one like her. I thought I had used up my penchant for picking the right dog.

Then, I got to witness the birth of these guys.

There were nine in the litter, this is only a handful.

My first introduction to the breed that is Berner was through my first friend in Colorado. She had a female that was the biggest dog I had seen in real life up close. Then that dog was “introduced” to an even bigger Berner (and this one really is the biggest dog I’ve ever seen in real life. I think he’s upwards to 130 pounds!) and got herself a brood of fuzzy warm nuzzlers. (see above)

Over the next few weeks I got to know these dogs pretty well. We were offered one by my friend. The one we finally settled on was the one that would come right up to me when I stepped in the whelping box and crawl in my lap. She would lay there, belly up, while I rubbed and cooed to her. Her name is Winnie. You’ve met her.

So it would seem my charm, if you will, had stuck.

One reason we thought a big dog would be nice was because of the larger-dog-equals-a-bit-more-intimidation factor. We’re not one of those families that need a guard dog, nor did we want one. It’s just nice to know that when someone comes to the door, there’s a bit of reserve. When a large, black dog who's nose comes up to your waist greets you at the door, no matter what your feelings are towards canines in general, you pause. You think just a little bit twice about moving forward.

Add a nice booming bark that echoes off the walls and right through the door and you’ve got everything that’s needed. Just enough to create that hesitancy that might make a person reconsider if they had any bad ideas. And, of course it also makes friends give pause, too, which is an unfortunate side effect, but they are typically well-versed in Winnie’s contrarily affectionate behavior.

Today we had scheduled to have our car’s windshield replaced. (Who knew you could have it done at home?) The knock came, loud and clear. Winnie was on her feet with three loud barks. I opened the door and didn’t even try to block her way out, like I sometimes will if I know the person. The poor guy was standing five steps down, 10 feet from the door, in the middle of our sidewalk, looking ready to run. I immediately assured him she was very friendly which she proved by giving him one cursory sniff before moving on to more interesting smells in the yard.

I can’t say I mind it. Once she literally growled at the cable guy, and I felt safe and comforted that if there happened to be a problem, I would at least have a head’s up, and maybe even a protector.

All animals give their people something in the way of joy. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t bother to feed and keep them around. I love our pets, their not our “kids”, they have their place in the family and, for the most part, know what it is. What joy does your pet bring you?

And so it begins

2011-10-07T08:25:00.001-06:00

I know it will melt, but I was not happy to see this last night! Where, oh where, has our beautiful autumn gone?

Masking tape painting

2011-10-06T14:52:00.001-06:00

I've pinned more than 150 things on Pinterest in the last month I've been on. Want to take a stab at the number of ideas I've actually taken to completion? Four. And three of those have to do with food.

Puck needed something to do this afternoon after lunch, so I broke out an idea I had pinned earlier and we got busy crafting. He's so fun to craft with, his running commentary is something else.

In hindsight, I should have used our blue painter's tape or that white-out tape, but I didn't think of that until the whole craft was over. So, if you decide to do this, use an easy-to-remove tape. If you don't have blue painter's tape or the white-out tape, I read that using regular masking tape on your clothes a few times before putting it down on the paper works well, too. All I know is that regular masking tape on card stock did not work.

The simple how-to:

Like I said, at first I used card stock, but when the tape stuck so badly, I switched to finger paint paper. I think if you used card stock or water color paper and the other tape options, it would be fine and hold up better then the slick finger paint paper. We had some tearing when I wasn't being careful at first.

Then, get some tape, tape on your letter or name or picture. Artist's prerogative! (psssst. I didn't get a pic of that step.)
Then paint!

If you've got a kid who's a real rule-follower (not to be mistaken with the kid who always follows rules, just the kid who likes things just so-so), you might have a hard time getting him to just paint and not try to outline or exactly follow the taped letter. Encourage randomness. It helps if you get involved in the process, too.

Once it's all covered with paint, carefully peel off the tape.

The first picture is our first attempt with the inferior materials. The second shows how much better it worked on the finger print paper.

These are so fun and colorful! You could also use crayons, markers, watercolors, pastels, anything would work. Oh! I just thought of this: a mixed media project. I love mixed media! I might try that with all the kids together on one of these afternoons where we're stuck in the house.

So when is the last time you stopped pinning and started doing? My next hopeful to-do is an autumn wreath and I really want to spruce up my couch pillows.

What are you crafting lately?

A Decade Birthday

2011-10-01T10:34:00.000-06:00

Sprite

God's gift

Friend

Sister

Daughter

Giggly

10 years

Amazing

To many more happy birthdays, sweet girl!!

A bit MIA

2011-09-30T07:18:00.000-06:00

There's a reason for my absence.
Things on my heart and mind this week:

First, Adam had knee surgery Monday.
He had it checked out a couple of weeks ago and what he thought was confirmed: he had no ACL to speak of. Which was why things like playing basketball and running hurt so much. We don't even know when he tore it, probably high school. So Monday was the big day and it went well. Off to recovery.

Second, I didn't really take into account how much more would be required of me after his surgery. Please don't get me wrong: I love taking care of him--it's not something I get to do very often. He's hardly ever sick; when he is, I usually find out about it after the fact because he is so very self-sufficient. He's tough, that's all. I'm much more the baby. His doctor even dubbed Adam a "super-coper" and I agree. So between being his "leg" and all, there has been a lot of things to do, that's all.

Third, we have been so blessed by friends helping us out this week! Our neighbors and fellow-carpoolers, helped by switching around days of driving, being very flexible and even taking Adam to the hospital so we wouldn't have two cars up valley. Many, many texts and emails of well-wishers. Parents and friends praying and thinking of us. One of his colleagues brought us dinner Monday night. A friend just dropped off homemade granola bars. Nothing speaks love to me like food--it's true. Food is my love-language.

Fourth, I am becoming well acquainted with our convenience store's ice case. The Game Ready is an awesome invention. It makes icing a breeze.

Fifth, I continue to fall in love with where we live. This has been a slow process. There wasn't a lot of love at the beginning. Of course there are down sides--the big white one is coming, and that is an extremely big one. But the love is growing. Roots are being put down. Friends are genuine and real.

It's Friday and there is a birthday this weekend. A decade ago I had my first baby. How is that?
Happy weekend!

Fall Walk

2011-09-23T14:31:00.002-06:00

I had no idea today is officially the first day of fall. But it is! Welcome to the best season!

Puck and I read some "fall-ish" books. Poppleton in Fall is a goodie and I love Cynthia Rylant. Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night is one that speaks to kids and the mama alike. And then we threw in Where the Wild Things Are for good measure. A book that fits any season, don't you think? I'm a sucker for children's books with great illustration and witty verse.

We then decided to head out on a fall walk. I had deemed today the day to clean the oven, so it was doubly good to get out of the house to avoid a possible smoke/stink induced headache.

It was just 9:00am, so still a bit chilly when we started.

We found a worm.

We collected leaves, which Puck later used to create a collage on construction paper.

This is one of the only truly orange leaves I've seen in our area. Puck noticed that it matched his jacket. Boys in orange jackets--love!

Are the leaves changing where you live? I know these photos make it look like we're swimming in fall colors, but really we're not yet. There are just a handful of trees changing so far.

The reminders that our fair weather is short-lived are everywhere.

What are you doing to celebrate this first day of Fall?

This evening is our school's Family Fun Run. This will be the first year I've actually made it a fun run. It's always been more of a fun walk for me. Woo hoo for small steps-HA!

Real quick on a Monday morning

2011-09-19T10:35:00.000-06:00

I feel like we've been slammed since school started three weeks ago. Anyone else feel the same?
Oh, good, it's not just me.

This weekend we had two soccer games. In the rain. We also had two sick kids. Lovely combination there.
One kid is still home with me today. Thankfully feeling much better; however, I fear the red nose will continue for awhile.

It is so most definitely fall here, there's no mistaking. That low, clear light. The cool breeze that doesn't let up, even at the peak of the day. The leaves, just beginning to change. The garden beginning it's descent into hibernation. Pumpkins in stores. Reds, yellows and oranges peeking out from front porches.
Delightful.

I updated my reading list if your interested. Send me your recommendations, too! I'm always on the look out for a good new book.

And, finally, this little guy has entered the arsenal of irritating things about kids.

I just love 4th grade. I distinctly remember my own personal squeaks and squawks.
Oh, and just kidding about the whole irritating thing.
Mostly.

I'm off to clean! How is your Monday going?

For the love of....BOOKS!

2011-09-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

Puck and I have started Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I've known about this book for awhile, several years, in fact. Back in the day when I really was a homeschooling mom I would read on forums about other moms using this in their lessons and having success with it. Then when the time came for Sprite to actually learn how to read, I found she already knew. Weird. It wasn't anything I had done, other than help her along in her love of books and reading by giving lots and lots of read aloud time and access to a ton of books.

Then we moved out here to Colorado, Sprite went to school and I left all that teaching stuff to the teachers. They were very good, I had no worries. Except that when Scamp was ready to enter Kindergarten I suddenly realized (a bit too late, I'm not at all sure where my brain was the past 2 years) he didn't know how to read. I had somewhat eked out a few lessons here and there so he new the basics, and the bare basics at that. He barely knew how to write his name. And it was backwards or even up-side-down half the time!

How I had failed my poor, poor middle child! Thankfully, he also had that same love of books and reading. So, while it took longer for the kid, he eventually got it and now loves to read and is doing quite well.

So.

I mentioned awhile back that it dawned on me quite recently that this was Puck's last year before Kinders. (Oh my, still my heart beats just a little bit faster when I think of that!) I was determined not to fail him in teaching him how to read. And, please, before I move on, don't judge me because I'm wanting the kid to read before Kindergarten. That's the the way it is now. They practically ALL know how to read, so if mine doesn't, well, he's behind.

(And that's a whole other ball of wax I'm not even going to get into here on this blog. If you know me, we can chat, otherwise, this will be the full extent of my opinion on the matter on this here platform. I'm not here to pull out soap boxes.)

So.

My friend used the 100 Easy Lessons for her kiddo to learn by and it was a success, so I thought I'd give it a try. While we're only two weeks into things here, it is going really well! He's ready to sit down and learn, focuses on the lesson and continues to talk about all the sounds we're learning throughout the day. Hallelujah!

Ok, so this post is extremely long and drawn out, I just had to share how our little pre-homeschooling journey is going so far this year.

Remembering

2011-09-11T20:28:00.000-06:00

I know I've shared these photos before. They were taken about four years ago when we lived in NYC. But time makes us forget.....it always does. There is a blessing and a sadness to that.

Everyone has a connection of some sort to the tragedy of 9/11. We will always remember where we were, what we were doing, what we were thinking when we heard the news.

I was ironing shirts in our soon-to-be baby's room. Sprite would be born three weeks later. Like many of you, I first thought it was a theatrical production of some horrible end of the world film.

It wasn't. It was real and scary.

We will always remember.

And here we go again

2011-09-09T15:02:00.001-06:00

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's soccer season!!!

Soccer at this age is......entertaining. I'm looking forward to the games--ha!

This season we've got THREE kids suiting up a few times a week. Yippe-kay-a.

Sprite is playing again, hopefully, as soon as we get a coach. Hopefully by Monday!

In which we did not labor

2011-09-06T13:32:00.001-06:00

What a great weekend! Beautiful weather, hanging out with friends and family. Getting out for a run, some walks and a few bike rides.

Playing at the park and one last swim at the pool before they closed for the season. I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend, too!

Today the temperature has plummeted and fall is most definitely in the air We're gearing up for a short, but busy, week at school and I'm finally getting in the mood for it all. It does seem to take some time to get there, doesn't it?

Have a wonderful week everyone!

First days

2011-09-01T21:36:00.001-06:00

Our first week is nearly over. Apparently I didn't look at my calendar well enough because when I posted two days ago I said that the next day was September 1. Since today is obviously September 1, well, I'm just not used to looking at my calendar each morning yet. Summer is beautiful in that I can go days and days with my little family planner/calendar staying shut and put away. Autumn brings it out every single morning, often first thing.

Sprite and Scamp started 4th and 2nd grades, respectably. Or is it respectfully? I always get that one confused.

Puck has successfully completed four days of our home-preschool venture. (More on that later.)

But I know what you're really wondering about.....

Adam returned after three days communing with some of his upper school students, nature and the llamas.

Eh? What's that?

They hiked up to Booth Lake in Vail. I would dearly love to visit this amazing spot, but a 6-mile hike with about 4,000 feet elevation gain is just not what our kids are capable of yet. Some day, some day.

Adam came home singing the praises of llamas. They can pack something like 40% of their body weight. That puts us humans to shame. Fortunately, we have other talents to fall back on.

Booth Lake is at about 12,000 feet. That water, even at the end of August, would be crazy cold. See the snow? There were a handful of brave (or possibly deranged) souls willing to brave a swim out to that island.

Adam choose to hike further up the mountain. Smart man.

WOW!

Tuesday with the cat

2011-08-30T14:44:00.000-06:00

Rubes was lounging on the couch in such a ridiculous manner that I couldn't help but snap some shots of her. Some are an arieal view, some are down low, and in the final one I think she finally got tired of the click-click-click and stuck her head under the pillow.
I just have some random (shocking, I know) things today, so I thought some silly cat snapshots fit the bill.

Yesterday started downright cold. Today it has been sunny and warm and oh-so end of August-y. I love end of August. It's still summer, but fall is poking her head around the corner, just letting you know she's coming.

Tomorrow is the first of September, and I'm just sure I'll wake up to the whisper of leaves on the sidewalk. As much as I love summer, I love autumn just that much more. It's my favorite time of year, I'm always so sad it's so short feeling. Last fall was wonderful and long. I'm hoping for a repeat this year. But it will most likely snow on Halloween and not melt until May. *sigh* I hope I'm wrong!

I picked dozens and dozens of weeds out of flowerbed this morning before I realized they were actually off-shoots of one of our plants. Oops.

Have you discovered Pinterest yet? Gracious, I am in love. Facebook isn't a struggle for me (anymore) as far as a time waster.....but I could spend forever on Pinterest. Love it. Who else is on it?

I roasted garlic this afternoon. It's set to go into some awesome looking garlic with fresh herbs bread here in a bit. I'll be sure and let you know if it's as delicious as it looks. Roasted garlic smells absolutely divine, by the way.

I'm off to bake bread and plan for tutoring.

I love being able to bake bread and not roast the house. That's just one benefit of fall!

First day: check

2011-08-29T21:44:00.000-06:00

We all got off to a great start for this year.

Adam headed off on his llama after getting a thumbs up on his elbow progress from the Doc. (All that is speculation, I didn't actually talk to him after he left with his huge-o pack this morning at 6:30am, but considering I didn't receive a phone call from anyone, I'm assuming all went well.)

Puck and I had a good morning of pre-school, play-doh a walk and some well-deserved R&R.

Sprite and Scamp loaded up with our neighbor carpool and came home with reports of "awesomeness" and all, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

I managed to get them outside this morning before they headed out for some first day of school pictures. It was so gloomy this morning and just as we were headed in, we felt the first raindrops. I had high hopes, since I really loved last years photos, however this year.....let's just say they weren't into it.

It could have been worse......

I just have no idea.

Then I asked each of them to take a photo of me with the other.

Puck just isn't digging getting the photo-shoot right now. Obviously. But, he was digging taking the picture. At least that's what I implied when the tears came out when I said we were done.
Hence, the following, taken by Puck (which I really love, actually!):

All in all, day one was a success.. We celebrated with ice cream at our new little neighborhood market.

Don't they look just thrilled? They were honestly so tired they could hardly hold a conversation. Early bedtime tonight!

On the eve of a new year

2011-08-28T22:44:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow is the day.

The two oldest will run off with a hurried good-bye. Slide into their carpool seats. Fill their new desks with all their crayons, glue and pencils. Greet old friends and new. Fall in love with their new teacher.

The youngest will begin a new adventure. Cracking open a new book to learn the precious art that is reading. I hope to add him to our family ranks of fine readers. Oh, that he would share our love of books and the near divine relaxation of curling up with a great read.

The dad heads off on the annual orientation trip with some upper schoolers. He and group of students will lace up their hiking boots, slather themselves in sunscreen and bug repellent and head up the mountain. Packs loaded with three-days worth of gear. Llamas loaded with food, tents and cooking gear.

Yeah. You read that right. Llamas. How ridiculously hilarious is that?!

So many of you are sending your littles off to school tomorrow, too. I hope it's a great day for them and you as well! Happy Sunday evening!

Can this be me?

2011-08-24T21:53:00.000-06:00

We went to our little creek today. The kids had been asking to go in their swim suits (the photos here are obviously from a different day as the kids are in regular clothes). I would have thought it would be too cold, but they had the best time. I brought a book, no camera and just relaxed and enjoyed their laughing, splashing and the solitude that come from being immersed in a book even while in the midst of childish chaos.

A few weeks ago our school calendar came in the mail, and I filled in the events into my own calendar. I passed right by the New Kindergarten Parent meeting in December without blinking.

The next day Adam mentioned it, he said, "Can you believe the New Kindergarten Parent meeting is in December?" I said, "Yeah......(imagine blank stare)......Wait--that's US!"

Then I sat there dumbfounded.

Then I think I may have desperately mentioned the idea of us having another kid. Adam looked at me like I had just lost my mind. It's possible he even said out loud, "Have you lost your mind?"

Then I think I might have cried just a bit.

I am not the first mom to have this happen to her. I've read about it all over the blogdigity this week about mama's shedding a discreet tear as they drop their last one off at Kindergarten. Or the moms that manage to hold it together till they can rush themselves back to the car. Then they have a good old fashioned pity party and bawl-fest that they have just handed their last baby to some stranger who will have them more hours of the day than their own mothers. It's out there, people!

I have one more year with Puck at home. And the sentimental part of me (which, I'm the first to admit is far too big as it is) wants to look at everything as a "last" of some sort with him.

Example: This is the last time he will stay home with me while his brother and sister head off into the wild blue yonder that is school.

Or: This is the last year he and I will get ready for the Halloween parade at school at home and then go "visit" the big kids in school. Next year, he will be a big kid.

The sentimental part of me wants to clutch him tight, kiss his little round face and engage in disgusting baby talk conversations all day long.

Then the practical side of me gets a hold of that silly sentimental self, gives her a nice hard shake, maybe even says those two words I won't allow my kids to say: Shut up!

So, the question arises. If I consider myself a teacher by trade, and by that, I mean I have a certificate that at one time would allow me to teach several children at the same time if someone wanted to hire me to do that, but I've been a stay-at-home mom for the past 10 years, what does that make me now? Oh, sure I've taught in classrooms over the past several years, have been tutoring privately and am my own kids teacher. But, what does that make me when my own kids aren't around all day anymore?

You might think I'm crazy. You might be saying, Get a grip! Does the word freedom ring a bell with you anymore?

And you might be right. And I'm trying to grasp that, trying to figure out just what that makes me. Can that person, the woman who can voluteer without a little one on the hip, the mom who can have coffee with another mom without breaking conversation every two minutes to answer some all-important-life-changing question like "where is my juice?", a person who could actually go for a run without having a full entourage on bikes, can that person be.......me?

Are you pondering this question yourself? Have you already reached this point in your mommyhood and are now shaking your head at this poor, silly mama?

If so, can you come over for coffee?
Bring the tissues. That sentimental side is pretty sneaky and she just might pay a short visit.

Just stopping in real quick

2011-08-23T08:03:00.000-06:00

My parents were in last week and it was such a great visit. It's so fun when visitors come because they want to go and do things that we have started to take for granted since we actually live here.

Glenwood Springs Farmer's Market--typical mountain market: heavy on crafts, flowers and breads. Low on the actual vegetable and fruit varieties. Still fun.

My first time there. Another ski town, but so different from Vail. Much more "mountain" feeling, if that makes any sense.

Apparently, there's a Fuzziwigs candy store in our own little Vail village, but we have yet to find it (shhh, I haven't looked that hard), so the kids were super excited to find one in Steamboat and they talked me into going in. BUT, I stood firm and didn't succumb to all the sweet temptations.
Even though they had these....

That was hard. Seriously.

On the way home we stopped in an old mining town (honestly can't remember where exactly) and explored this HUGE scoop. Huge.

This is the very last week before school starts next Monday. I know so many of you are already sending the kids off to school, or have started into your new homeschool curriculum, but for us it just doesn't seem reality yet that it's so soon.

Chalk Paint

2011-08-13T16:52:00.000-06:00

Cornstarch + Water + food coloring = Chalk Paint

This was so much fun! I love sidewalk chalk, but sometimes it's fun to change it up a little bit.

Of course there had to be fighting. It is the middle of August after all!

I'm going to be one of those moms and just say it: I think I'm finally ready for school to start. I love my kids so much, but sometimes their bickering can really fry the ol' nerves.

But they loved this chalk paint. There were a few spills, someone not being careful enough and knocking it with his foot. Thus the wailing and gnashing of teeth. Fortunately it was towards the end of the paint so there wasn't too much lost.

The splattering was the boys favorite. Scamp splattered up and down the street.

We think Ruby might have Siamese somewhere in her ancestry, her meow is SO loud! She really wanted to be out there with them. She began as inside-only-cat and has gradually moved to inside/backyard-cat. She's a hunter. Hard to squelch that.

And Winnie. Always Winnie. Forever faithful dog.

My parents are arriving for a visit any minute now! The excitement is palpable in the house today. A nice way to make the last couple of weeks of summer fly by.

Screaming by at 90 miles an hour

2011-08-09T20:28:00.000-06:00

Oh my. A whole week without a post. That can't be good for blog traffic. Anybody still there?

Summer is like that, isn't it? I lose myself in it's lazy, warm days. Beautiful the way the time seems to float along at the beginning of the summer months. Taking it's own sweet time as I look forward to trips, time at the pool and park, slushies from the downtown store.

Then, suddenly, it's August, and I'm frantically grasping at the days as they scurry by in a blur. Less than three weeks and we'll be starting carpool, back-to-school nights and homework.

August, oh August, why must you be in such a hurry to be over and done with?

We bought school supplies last week. Always a surprise. Not just the cost (which wasn't too bad this year, actually) but the time in which it takes to pick out a simple 3-ring binder, a pack of pencils, the perfect pencil box.

Next week will be more of a challenge in the shopping arena: school clothes. Sometimes I wish our school required uniforms so I could just order the right size and not have to actually enter a store, see all the "deals", see the way the skin-tight jeans fit on my beautiful, yet still very young, daughter and be frustrated at the way our culture thinks little girls should look. Can anybody else relate?

When we went to bed last night, the house was at 78 degrees. We left our windows open all night, just like we have the past few months, and when we woke it was 61 degrees. That makes for some chilly toes on hardwood floors in the morning! Brrrr.

Yesterday I sat on the deck reading and a leaf fluttered down. A leaf. A friend today told me she saw some red topping a tree in our valley. Say it ain't so.

How will you pass the rest of the summer? I plan on relishing the warm days (because they do get there, it might just take until about noon before it does), going to the pool as much as possible, gobbling up slushies while we still can, and grilling and eating on the deck as often as we can.

Trip to the Big City

2011-08-02T11:58:00.000-06:00

We came home from camping, took a day and a half at home to do all that laundry--gracious!--and then packed up the car again and headed to the Big City. We LOVE the Big City. We have the.best.time when we're there.

We took the kids to one of those bouncy places. It was a blast!

We went to the newest IKEA. Always fun, although crowded.

We ate at so many yummy places. Sprite figured out we had seven cuisines: Swedish (IKEA, duh), Japanese (sushi), Greek (gyros, hummus, tzanziki, felafel), American (Chick-fil-a), French (quiche), Moroccan (various assortments) and Vietnamese (one of our favorite restaurants there). And I'm not sure what cuisine cheesecake is considered, but we had that, too.

We walked and took the bus.

We sat in traffic. I didn't say the entire time was fun.

We were together.

And I literally only took one picture with my big-girl camera the whole time we were there. It was on the way there in the car, and it wasn't even on purpose. I was seeing how dirty my sensor was when I accidentally snapped the shutter.

Nice.

However, at my prodding, Adam did put the Instagram app on his iPhone, so I played around with it a bit. What a cool app! I realize, I'm probably the last person on the face of the earth to use it, but I don't have an iPhone, or even a "smart" phone, so I have no way of really using it on a regular basis. Super cool though!

Ghostly Puck

Gotta love tilt-shift.

This was on the way home. We obviously wore them out!

It's August 2nd! I can't believe how the summer is FLYING. How about you? What are you doing to keep summer alive?

Easy breezy

2011-07-27T10:02:00.000-06:00

Camping.
It sounds basic. It sounds minimalistic. It sounds easy.

So I know I'm not alone in my realization that camping is, in fact, HARD. Many of your comments and emails alerted me to the fact that you already knew this.

And yet we still go. Every summer. Usually a few times. And it's fun! but it's not easy.

Packed to the hilt!

Bikes and all. Adam is busy getting the top rack ready for his bike. We don't have a second top rack yet so my bike got to rest at home.

What is not shown is the van hooked up with jumper cables to the other car. Apparently, two to three hours of doors open and interior lights on will drain a car's battery down. We'll have to remember that next time.

Home sweet home. At least for a few days.

Investigating the neighboring ants.

Morning sun.

First night's meal. There's nothing better than roasted rosemary chicken, potatoes and carrots after traveling, setting up camp, and swimming. Yum. Also, super easy.

We found an arroyo. I realized later that night that it is exactly what the heels of my feet look like. I need a pedicure.

Critters

Gorgeous sunset over the reservoir. We camped at Highline Lake, which is nearly in Utah. Beautiful spot!

I know it's been hot everywhere the past few weeks. It was h.o.t.-hot (as my dad would say) there, too. Our first and second day reached 100 degrees. We were thankful that it was dry-heat. Makes a world of difference. We were also thankful for the water to cool off and play in!

Despite how much work camping can be, we really love it. The time away from home, from the computer, from being plugged-in is refreshing. Being able to sit and read while the kids ride their bikes or explore nature is the perfect way to spend an afternoon. It's imaginative. It's real.

It's also good to be home.

Birthday Confessions with a little bit of camping mixed in

2011-07-23T14:12:00.000-06:00

Scamp had his bowling birthday party last night. It's the first time we've ever paid someone to do a party for us.

Typically, the food, the festivities and the clean-up are all on us. I can't tell you how amazing it was to just arrive at the alley, eat their food, and then LEAVE! That was it!

I did make the cake. I did not miss my calling in life. This looks easy and effortless.....it.was.not.
But it was yummy.

This is the card Sprite made for him. Super cute.

Remember his dinner request? Lucky for Scamp the mussels and crab were on sale, so we had mussels AND crab legs AND shrimp pasta. You can see how happy he was. I meant to get an after-photo of the carnage--it was immense and full of various shells, but a remarkably easy clean-up (which, related to what I mentioned above, is a bonus). What you don't see here are the green beans and corn on the cob he also requested. They had to be served from an off-site due to the magnitude of the main meal.

We leave for a camping trip tomorrow so today is full of frantic preparation. Camping is so fun, but such a chore. Our kids are so excited, though, so it's all worth it. At least I hope I'm still saying that come Tuesday.......I'll let you know.

For more Saturday (or ANY day, for that matter) Confessions, join in here:

Seven

2011-07-22T21:20:00.000-06:00

Wow.

Drained

2011-07-19T21:59:00.000-06:00

Last week, while Adam was gone, we got along by just doing the basics. And playing at the pool. And running around to various t-ball and softball games--3 games and a practice. Oy.

This week has already grabbed me by the shoulders, given me a shake, packed me in the car and driven around like a crazy mom.

Oh.....that was me to my kids.

Yep--it's CAMP WEEK and it's crazy.

Because, while I signed them both up for the morning session because that's what the little piece of paper said to do if they were the ages that they were, I forgot that we still had swimming lessons.

And also, because, while they were both in the morning session...yadda yadda yadda.....apparently they decided to switch it around and not let the parents know that apparently the older kids (ie. 9 year olds, ie. Sprite) should come to the afternoon session instead because the morning session is for younger kids.

So.

So. That means this: Scamp goes from 9-12. there is an hour break (of course) between the two sessions. Sprite goes from 1-4.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the little fact that this is all taking place not in my town. It's down the highway about 20 miles or so, give or take construction.

Gracious.

This is also the week of Scamp's birthday. It's Thursday, but the party is Friday. For his actual birthday dinner he has requested the following:

mussels as an appetizer
crab legs AND/OR
(as a back-up plan in case I can't find crab legs or they're too expensive) shrimp pasta.

The party will consist of the ultra-gourmet food: BowlingAlleyPizza. Oh yeah.

The bright part of today was that I found out that camp is only Monday through Thursday. Thankfully that will leave me time on Friday to bake and decorate a cake. I am not a great cake decorator. I always have grand visions and then reality hits and I am struck with butter-fingers (the figurative ones, not the ones coated in chocolate, because now that I think about it that would make a fantastic cake don't you think?)

This post has been full of the meanderings of my brain. I hope to post more thoughtful, insightful and intelligent posts like I usually do.

*winky wink*

I'll leave you with one question: This is the first year we've done any sort of camp. Some families fill their summer with them. What do you do?

Ok, so it's two questions: Do you like to decorate cakes?

Today was a good day

2011-07-12T21:53:00.000-06:00

Start with swimming lessons in 62 degree weather and it's all uphill from there. Fortunately, the water is heated to 78 degrees all the time. Here in the Rockies, that's niiiiiiice.

Adam is gone this week at a conference. We miss him. But things are going well. I'm keeping my cool (with the small exception when I yelled at Scamp to quit getting out of quiet time--Mommy needs quiet time, too!!) and we're having fun together.

As a complete knock-off of Meg at whatever we are having Treat Tuesdays. And, again with the knock-off, we tried her cute little Oreo pops. We stuck the sticks in the Oreos, but when I started dipping them into the white chocolate the black cookie kept separating from the icing and, even worse!, they were breaking.

After about three tries, I nixed the lollipop stick idea and we went for straight-up chocolate and sprinkle covered Oreos. And you know what? I don't think they tasted any different.

Meg--how did you do the stick thing? I'll have to ask her.

Sprite had softball practice. Supposedly. But after picking up a fellow softball playing friend, driving to the practice venue, which is NOT in our town, by the way, not a soul was there. Crickets.
So we packed up and headed to the spot where they sometimes play a game if we're at home. Again, not a soul.
I'm thinking an email went out and neither myself nor the friend's mom got it. Weird. And annoying.

Despite that, or because of that actually, we made it home earlier than planned and were able to have a somewhat normal dinner time. Sprite asked last week if she could make dinner one night and tonight was the night. Bacon, spinach and cheddar mini-quiches with broccoli as a side. (Thanks to my MOM for giving us Rachael Ray's kids cooking book!) I was acting sous-chef. They were really good and I could have eaten so many more but it's good I didn't because my stomach is hurting just a bit right now.

Could be the chocolate covered Oreos, though. I won't blame the quiches OR my daughter's cooking.

It's nearly Wednesday, at mid-week. How you all doin'?

Getting our summer back

2011-07-11T21:58:00.000-06:00

Tonight was the last game of t-ball for Scamp. He has loved the season. And so have I, but I have to be honest and say that I will be glad to reclaim summer before it's officially over in six short weeks. EEEK!

The game was in Edwards, which is up valley about 20 miles so it was fun to be in a different location than our typical spot in town.

There's a fantastic park there as well that we haven't been to in awhile so they were pumped to be able to play there as well. Pizza and cookies rounded out the evening nicely.

We were almost home when Scamp hollers, "MOM! Look at those kangaroos!!"
We all whipped our heads around, even though I knew it couldn't possibly be, but I suppose you never know. Escaped zoo animals from Denver maybe?

Then, I saw them. We quickly u-turned (probably completely illegal, so let's just keep that to ourselves, ok? I don't need any more points on my license) and pulled over with the hazards on.

Adorbs!

Sprite has two more games and then her softball season will be over. It really has been fun to see them doing something new and different and pushing themselves in a new environment. But I'm still secretly glad to have it coming to a close. Is that wrong? I don't know how my mom did all those years of all those sports!

A busy but great day

2011-07-11T08:58:00.000-06:00

Saturday started out with blueberry muffins.

How can it possibly be a bad day with a start like that?

The kids moved outside with some new bubbles, pjs and all.

A trip up valley finished the afternoon. We ended up with a fire pit-thing we've been wanting ever since we moved to this house. No firewood yet, but hopefully soon we'll be enjoying s'mores in the comfort of our own backyard.

An afternoon rain shower cleared quickly and there was a HUGE rainbow!

I couldn't even fit the whole thing into one photo.

There was even a portion that was a double rainbow.

Ok, have you seen it? No? Yes? You have to watch this, it will crack.you.up: Double rainbow all the way!!!

The Whole Truth

2011-07-09T09:39:00.000-06:00

I'm about to go full-confessional on you all here today.

There's no list.

No photos to back me up.

Just the truth.

If you know if me in real life, this may or may not come as a surprise to you.

But if you only know me online, you may think I'm just a really cool, uber-hip mama.

Not only would you be wrong *ehem* and probably not even think that--it's ok! I'm not!-- but you'll be shocked to find out that I am a....a.....a....

a TREKKIE!!

While I haven't dressed up as a Vulcan, memorized Klingon vocabulary or traipsed around a Trekkie conference (I have a bit of pride), just the fact that I didn't have to check the spelling of the word "Trekkie" is something. Although, in retrospect, one of those above facts alone probably disqualifies me as a true-blue in the eyes of a die hard Trekkie. Oh well. I have limits.

And, here's another confession, related but different. I have been known, in the past, to tease Trekkies.

There. It's out. So, if my college friend, Highley, is out there and happens to be reading this, I just have to say I'm sorry! I get it now--I'm a believer!

The whole thing started when I was in the hospital after Sprite was born. We were in this cushy postpartum room, just the three of us, and Adam started flipping through the hospital TV channels. Lo and behold, there was a Star Trek TNG Marathon running! (TNG stands for The Next Generation for those of you not in the know. It doesn't get any better than Patrick Stewart.)

And, ok, first I gagged because, I "hated" Star Trek, right? But Adam convinced me to give it a try and what do you know? I was hooked.

Here's where it all comes to a point in the present: You can probably only imagine my joy (oh, and Adam is pretty stoked about it, too) when we saw TNG on the instant queue of Netflix.

Sweet.

And if you are still anti-Trekkie, you should rent the newest Star Trek movie. You just might become a convert.

Live long and prosper.

Linking up with A Familiar Path.

Ruby and Winnie

2011-07-08T17:25:00.000-06:00

Ruby, the kitten, continues to entertain us. We need this, the entertainment part. But I'll be glad when she's old enough to go outside without me worrying if she'll come back. Winnie is learning all about cats. She really wants to play with Rubes but just doesn't get that she's so much bigger!

Can you find Ruby?

There she is!

Cats are freakishly acrobatic. The only way to that particular vantage point is by that window above that big plate. The window is across from the stairwell. There is a banister there that she has to jump through.

Like I said: freakishly acrobatic.

I like to call this one "Cat in the Hat". I know. I'm so original.

The kids are absolutely in love with her.

Adam and I are, too. Except when she's trying to climb our legs. Or pouncing on our toes. Or sitting on the computer keyboard. Or climbing inside of the couch via the underneath hide-a-bed part.

I wish I was kidding about that last one. But I'm not kidding about any of them.

Those of you who like cats know. You understand. If you don't, well, you've probably clicked away by now because you are disgusted that we have one now.

But if you did that, you would have missed this.

Too cute

2011-07-04T17:55:00.000-06:00

I loved getting to photograph this little cutie! He was all smiles; a sweet, sweet little guy.

Get ready to be bombarded with cuteness.

Ok, OK, I'll stop! Isn't he just precious?

Announcement

2011-07-02T21:35:00.000-06:00

I didn't know that when we left the house this morning, we would come home with a new addition.

We walked into the pet store for a glance at the leopard geckos. Sprite got it into her head this morning that she wanted a leopard gecko. I have no idea where this came from. So I suppose Adam was humoring her and being a good parent by not screaming NO and running from the room.

That's just what I would have done, I guess. I'm really good at saying no. I want to be a yes parent, I need work.

So, like I said, we walked in, and there she was. There were actually about 15 little kittens there, up for adoption from the local animal shelter.

We still looked at the geckos. And the hamsters, Guinea pigs, mice, fish and turtles. Not to mention the birds, snakes and ferrets. Trying to distract children in a pet store so you can have an adult conversation with your spouse about a potential pet is not as easy as I thought it would be. And we were busted when they found us looking at litter boxes. Totally gave it away.

There were squeals echoing through the store, I tell ya. Squeals! Three children squealing is a lot of squealing.

So, she's ours. And after much discussion, much, much, much, she has been deemed Ruby.

Meet Ruby:

Her expression is a little crazed here. She's quite affectionate and friendly and ready to hold her own with Winnie, who just thinks she's a new friend to play with. Which she will be. When she can stop hissing long enough to realize Winnie wouldn't hurt a fly. Or a cat.

made me laugh

2011-07-02T09:51:00.000-06:00

THIS had me laughing this morning.

It's so true. Adam says my laundry is his email. It's ever consuming, ever growing, ever THERE.

You know?

I'll just "finish" it, my laundry room baskets are empty, the clothes are folded, even put away. And then...and then....there's more. Both the kids' and our basket is full. Again!

How do 5 people wear so many things and get them dirty enough to require washing???

I just don't get it.

Not what it seems

2011-06-30T08:17:00.000-06:00

At first glance, this might look like an ordinary granola bar wrapper.

And THIS might look like an ordinary granola bar.

But it's not.

With a little bit of imagination and ingenuity, it becomes . . . . . a catapult!

Fantastic. Who ever said breakfast is boring doesn't dine with a 4 year old.

Wednesday

2011-06-29T15:22:00.000-06:00

I am drinking lemonade to squelch the desire for a Dr. Pepper. I've been off caffeine for over a month. There is a reason. I'll tell you about it soon. I'm just not up for lengthy rationalizations at the mo'.

VBS is going so well this week, I can't even believe how much fun I'm having. Even when the 25 preschoolers come racing to the craft station. 25! Wow, you wouldn't believe how that number can just make the heart race when glue and markers are involved.

Today was an Oriental Trading Company craft (for the big kids), a floating panda, super easy and fun. Yesterday was a kazoo. I wanted to pull my hair out. But I didn't! I smiled!

It's hot today. It's in the 90s. I'm thankful the humidity's super low as we have no A/C in this house to speak of. Well, we have it, but it's so pathetic and small it's not even worth turning on. Thankfully, there are only a few days each summer I sort of wish we had it. But, honestly, it's nice not having it. I feel more apart of the world in a way. With all the doors and windows shut and I'm inside and I can't hear anything going on outside, I feel a little cooped up on a nice sunny day. It eases the guilt of being inside when I think I should be outside. Anyone else have the love/hate relationship with A/C?

I think the songs from our VBS will be permanently stuck in my noggin for approximately the next 3.45 months. Or longer. Fortunately, they're actually good songs/music. Unfortunately, even good music can become bad when it's stuck in your head. Just sayin'.

I'm loving the random posts right now. Anyone else? Just me? It just takes the pressure off, ya know?

One more randomly random thought:
I re-registered for the no-call list today. I just answered another 1-888-number whose identity was "not provided" and I just about screamed. I didn't realize you have to RE-register for that no-call list every now and then. Did you?

happy Wednesday!

Monday

2011-06-27T21:03:00.000-06:00

Our weather has been just wonderful lately. Nice and hot, but not too hot. Perfect pool weather. Our snow pack was so crazy big this year that our rivers and creeks have been absolutely rushing. I have to get a photo and show you. I'm not sure how it will turn out on camera, but I'll try.

Last week we found a day for a hike. I hadn't been on this particular trail before, but we have so many you could pick a new one practically each day! And the wildflowers! Goodness! There are just NO words. Beautiful! (This hike is where these photos are from, taken all with my trusty point-and-shoot.)

I had a friend ask where I got the pizza dough recipe. It's PWs. You can find it here. Do not fear the yeast, it's easy! I've got some roasted red peppers just sitting in my fridge waiting to be made into pizza sauce.....I think that'll go on the menu this week.

Yes, incidentally, it IS Monday and I have still not made a menu or a grocery run. My fridge is so nice and empty, but it's also pathetic and empty. Do you have that feeling ever? That you love the way your fridge looks empty but know what that means: that you have no food and hungry people to feed? Yeah. I'm there right now.

Vacation Bible school is this week for our church. My job is crafts, it's super fun. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that this is this first time I've worked VBS in I don't know how long. In my defense, the past two summers we've been out of town during the VBS weeks, the summer before that we were in transition between New York and Colorado, the summer before that we were in Korea (where, looking back on it, I did work our summer camp, so maybe that counts?) and the summer before that my kids weren't old enough to go.

Whew. I don't know about you, but I feel sufficiently justified. Ok, so I'm glad I can help this year. Like I said, it's super fun. What's there not to love about crafts?

Both Scamp and Sprite had games tonight. I took the boys to Scamp's game because they were up past 10pm--excited about VBS--geeze--and I wanted to get them into bed a bit earlier tonight. Adam took Sprite to hers. He's such a sport, those games are looooong I tell ya. **They just got in and Sprite had a hit to first base and played catcher for a bit! SO proud of her!**

I am probably completley behind the times and a nerd and all that, but I have just discovered the most awesome music for running and cleaning and anything where you need to get your booty moving. Check them out: Group 1 Crew, their CD is really cheap-o right now, too. Bonus! It's a bit like a not-so-naughty Black Eyed Peas. I like that. They can be pretty naughty, but their music is dope.

I'm sorry I just said "dope". I don't know what's come over me.

That's it for tonight! Happy Monday! Hope your week is going GREAT!

Told ya they were beauts!

Barely making it on a Saturday night

2011-06-25T22:19:00.000-06:00

And by "barely making it" I mean my eyes are barely making it to the completely-open stage. It is 10:00, after all.
I've never been a night owl and I don't particularly like the mornings. I'm more of an afternoon-person, if there is such a thing.

This has been a great week of togetherness. Last night, Adam and I had a "home date" and as hokey as that sounds, I always really enjoy them. No money to be forked over at the end of the night, no money to be forked over for a meal and no deadline to get back home to drive the babysitter back. I made grilled pizza, and you should too.

Sprite had a softball game. She had fun. We traveled almost an hour to get to the game. At this age? Goodness, we live in such a small place, we have to travel to have teams to play.

Adam helped the coach catch as the team was warming up. Can you see the blue stuff on his right arm? That's some sort of compression strips to help with the swelling. They sound like a lot of hooey, but they work. He's gradually feeling better, but still, there's a lot of way to go.

Today was Eagle Flight Days. I'm not really sure what it's supposed to celebrate, but Eagle is the town we live in and the county's name, so the flight part probably stems from something when they started it 50 years ago. I was trying to get a shot of Scamp, he is impossibly hard to get sometimes. He either makes a weird 6-year-old face or his eyes are closed.

This was taken at Sprite's softball game and I LOVE it. I mean, really love it! It's so him. Just the way I would capture him every single time if I could. I think this one is going to need to be ordered in a large size.

We drove back from Missouri on Monday. It was so great to be there. That's my dad. He's in love with all three of these kids. I had the best intentions of getting a photo of the kids and their grandparents together. Total fail.

What's your weekend looking like?

******************************************************************************

For more randomness,

Extreme exhaustion

2011-06-23T14:37:00.000-06:00

We all have different ways of coping with sleep deprivation.

Grogginess, lack of concentration and focus, a general air of dazed-ness. Forgetfulness, grumpiness, sleepiness. Lot of other -ness-, too, I'm sure.

Summertime brings on lots of laziness (oo, oo, there's another one!), but also lots of business (stop me, please). And busy + late nights + kids-who-wake-up-at-the-same-time-every-morning-regardless-of-when-bedtime-was = exhausted kids. Not to even mention the exhausted parents.

Perhaps that would explain why, in the wee hours of this morning, I was awakened by a seething Sprite. All I heard was "screaming" and "middle of the night". That's all my very foggy mind could grasp before I got up and my just-waking-up ears registered that screaming was, indeed, coming up the stairwell. From two floors down, mind you.

I raced down and into Puck's room. There he was: sitting up in bed, crying and screaming his eyes out. I couldn't get a coherent word out of him, so I picked him up and took him to the bathroom. Typically, this will do the trick. Not this time. The sobbing continued. Adam came down to rescue me. He finally got Puck calmed down, with only the slight post-tears hiccup here and there. Back into bed, I sat with him until he fell asleep. It took 30 minutes. That's half an hour, people!

Puck still wasn't able to tell us why he was up and screaming. I can only chalk it up to extreme fatigue.

But the best part of the whole thing? Scamp, his roommate, his bed not 5 feet away, slept through the entire episode. Amazing.

The little stinker with his Grandpa.

Flox, the Library, Zip Lines and then some

2011-06-12T22:30:00.000-06:00

1. We worked in our yard this weekend. The seed we planted about 6 weeks ago, that was supposed to take 10-14 days to show up, actually took about 4 weeks. Unfortunately, we had stopped watering after about day 20. It was to our definite surprise to see new grass shooting up from the areas where we had strawed (is that a word?), fortunately, a pleasant surprise.

2. We're headed on a trip tomorrow. Winnie was in a need-wash state. Couldn't even pet the dog she was so stinky. Yuck. Why do I let her get that way? Anyway, this time the dog bath happened in the side yard, a much nicer experience than in the tub. Waaaaay nicer.

And even though she acted like she hated it the whole time, I think she secretly loved the cold shower. Maybe.

3. Because we are headed on a trip tomorrow, things will be pretty quiet around here, I mean Part of the Miracles, well, and our house. But, the blog has been fairly quiet the last 6 weeks, I'd say. Question: do you blog more when you're busy and have lots of blog-worthy things, or when things are dead and you have lots of time to think?

4. It amazes me that it is June 12 and our flox are still so pretty.

Please excuse the severe bokeh. Didn't realize my aperture was set so dang wide. Wide? Is that right? Geeze, it must be late......

5. I did a photo shoot for a friends little baby the other day and they had a zip-line in their yard. How cool is that? My kids had a ball!

6. Adam's elbow continues to heal. Thank goodness.

7. We stocked up on books at the library. Scamp is wanting to do an author study on Laura Numeroff this summer. I'm hoping to get some super charged writing experiences out of it!

I'm linking up to Melissa's Saturday Confessions. On Sunday.....night. Better late than never?

She's up to week 10--wow--way to go, Girl!

Think you don't like tofu?

2011-06-10T09:32:00.000-06:00

I admit it: I used to completely turn my nose up at tofu.
I mean, what was it anyway?
It looked icky, felt icky, had no smell. What could possibly be appealing about it?

When we lived in Korea, it was everywhere. We could have had freshly made tofu everyday, for practically pennies, or the Korean equivalent (Won), if I had just had the courage to try.
It wasn't like I didn't have the opportunity to try it. Like I said, it was everywhere, on every menu, on every deli counter, every street corner.

Soft, hard, semi-soft, blocks, chunks, large, small. Candied, raw, spicy, mild. Soup, stir fry, grilled, kimche-ed. You get the point.
But I didn't ever want to try it. Ever. Poor Adam, it's a good thing he was able to eat at work, his pregnant wife just couldn't stomach a lot of the smells, textures and tastes.

Thank goodness for Costco, where we stocked up on dairy and things like graham crackers!

But I digress....

So about a year ago, I finally, finally got over my mental food-hurtles and decided that since tofu was so incredibly GOOD for you, not to mention crazy CHEAP, I should try it.
We ordered it at a sushi restaurant as a soup. I liked it. Really liked it.

I was converted. And, I'm here to tell you, you should try it, too! Try it for the first time. Retry it if you have and hated it. Try it a different way then you did the first time.

And here's a recipe for you, if you're willing to jump over your food-hurtles. Even my picky eater loved it and had 3rds.

I got this last year from Rachael Ray's grilling magazine (mine is so dog-eared and covered in food stains. It's obviously one of my fall-back-on-favorites). I made some changes, so here it is!

Grilled Tofu with Veggies and Chili Sauce

What you need
In a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup of each of the following:

soy sauce
fresh lime juice
brown sugar

Add 3 Tbs water, 1 Tbs toasted sesame seed oil, 1 Tbs minced ginger, 1 finely chopped garlic clove and 1/2 tsp red chili paste (I used Sriracha). Your supposed to reserve half of this for dipping sauce but I always forget and dump all the ingredients into the bowl. No matter, since it's not meat, you don't really have to worry about it, no cross-contamination.

Cut one 16-oz block of tofu into cubes, size is your choice, pat dry. Add to bowl. Cut 2 Japanese eggplants into 1/2 inch rounds and add to bowl. (I can never find Japanese eggplants, so I use zucchini.) Add 1 cubed red bell pepper and 1/3 pound snow peas. Toss to coat, cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Preheat grill to medium to medium-high heat, depending on your grill. You can either thread all the veggies and tofu onto skewers, or you can just oil a grill pan and throw it all in (that's what I did, I'm all about easy).

Grill, turning every now and then, till veggies and tofu get those nice grill marks on them. Takes about 8-15 minutes, just watch it.

Make a big bowl of cilantro rice to go along side and you've got a great, super easy, healthy and cheap meal!

Are you a tofu lover?

interlude: things I've realized about myself and some photos

2011-06-06T22:18:00.000-06:00

I can't stand being busy when we're not supposed to be busy.

We are too busy for summer.

I don't need a maid. I just need a few hours of babysitting. Every week.

I love warm weather. note: this was not new information to me, just thought I'd share.

Given the choice between watching a soccer game and a t-ball or softball game, I'd take the soccer game every time.

I'm worried that some day my kids will come read this and think I didn't like their t-ball or softball game. They might be right.

**********************************************

Now here are the photos. They're from our weekend and I don't have the energy to type out descriptions for them. In a nutshell, it is Scamp's first t-ball game, the Black Hawk landing at "Opening Day" for our county's baseball season, and the Teva Games in Vail this weekend.

Did anyone else go?

Ending with a BANG

2011-06-05T21:06:00.000-06:00

Ah, we finished! It's nearly a week later, but I just haven't had the gumption to sit down and post about it. (***edit to add, it is now TWO weeks late. dang.***)

School ended, as it always does, with a half-day Field Day. One of my very favorite things about our school is that it's K-12, all in the same building, all interspersed throughout the halls. Kids of all ages will be walking down the halls, passing one another, having book buddies and such all together. Kindergarteners carve pumpkins with "their Senior". The 8th grade helps the 1st graders dissect frogs (ew). And all lower school has a book buddy in another grade. I love it!

Field day is full of the usual games and shenanigans. Teams consist of one or two kids from each grade plus a team-teacher. They choose a theme (tie-dye, orange, stripes, etc.) and get all psyched up about the day. It is so fun to watch!

Sprite was on the white team. Couldn't have been easier.

Scamp was on the rainbow team. That took a bit more work, but it was nothing a white shirt and some sharpies couldn't handle.

We finished strong, despite what his face might show,

loved on and by friends and teachers,

and then headed to Denver for the weekend.
We saw the Rockies absolutely demolish the St.Louis Cardinals . What a shame, we were hoping to see those Cards win. I'm serious, I'm a Missouri girl, remember?

We got a lot of shopping done, as well, which is what you do when you live in a ridiculously expensive area: you save up and get all the shopping done at once. But despite the hours spent in stores, it was actually a really fun weekend. We went to the hotel pool, ate lots of good food and were just together with no real agenda.

Monday, Memorial day, we came home and Adam got to go out on his mountain bike.
He crashed.
He broke his elbow.
Ouch.
Surgery was Friday and it was much better than the doctor had anticipated, which was wonderful.

Needless to say, the bike will, unfortunately, be collecting dust for the next few weeks. We'll just have to make it up with lots of family hikes!

It's Summer Time!!!!

One Day

2011-05-26T21:49:00.000-06:00

tomorrow.

tomorrow is the last day of our school year.

this year has flown.

they all do.

doesn't it seem like that?

each year gets faster and faster.

scenes from last week's Celebration of Learning at our school.

strawberry goodness

2011-05-24T22:01:00.000-06:00

We don't have strawberries growing here yet. We have a couple of strawberry plants, but I really don't see anything coming from them until mid-summer. If then. Our green thumb has yet to be tested.

But the stores have beautiful, big strawberries in right now. And, while they aren't small sweet Missouri strawberries like I grew up with, they are tasty and mighty fine. Not to mention I don't have to stoop over numerous rows of bushes to get a bucket full.

But I do like that, strawberry picking.

Here's a super easy and yummy dessert, snack, shoot--it could be breakfast if you want!

Here's the recipe. It was featured on The Pioneer Woman a few weeks back. Delish. Absolutely.
I didn't have any basil, so I just made regular ol' whipped cream. Ah-maz-ing.

And we had some of the last of our Korean Chrysanthemum tea that night, too. What a treat! Isn't it pretty?

You can find this in the States, but it's seems more special because it flew over with us on our way home from Korea. Remarkably, the taste hasn't diminished in the last 4 years.

I can't believe it's been nearly 4 years. wow.

What are you doing with all your strawberries?

some random randomness

2011-05-21T16:50:00.000-06:00

today was the last of the soccer games of the season. I didn't take any photos, I was afraid for my camera--the wind was crazy, the intermittent rain had intermittent ice in it, and it was so cold I wouldn't have been able to push the shutter release button. too bad, though, because Sprite scored her first goal! I couldn't believe how choked up I got! the smile on her face, I've never seen anything like it. amazing.

we have one week of school left. one week. that doesn't seem possible. I am so glad, so very glad. it will be so nice to have some normalcy to our lives. it's not just having the kids home and not having the drive up valley several times a week. see, Adam is also at the school (wasn't sure how many of you might know that) and this has been the busiest year we can remember. ever.

with the last week of school looming ahead of us, we have a lot to do this week. two class picnics, graduation, teacher's gifts to think about, field day at school. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't snow or rain for the kids' picnics. that just stinks. especially if it snows. rain is normal in the spring, snow is not normal (I know, I know, we live in the mountains and should expect but it still doesn't make me happy, not at the tail end of MAY).

a few days ago I mentioned thinking about literally covering the tv during summer break and only letting the kids watch for special movie nights or when it was raining. I think we're definitely going to do this. it seems like every time there's the least bit of lull in their play, they run up and ask to watch tv. I'm sick of it. sick of the way they fight over what to watch, sick of how grumpy they are when they turn it off, sick of the noise of it (kid shows can be so irritating), sick of the mind-numbing qualities it produces. amazing how an hour of vegging out doesn't give them energy, it actually seems to do the opposite.

I'm excited to see what kind of creative things they find to fill their time. we're going to be more intentional about schooling through the summer. we're going to take inspiration from Meg and have Craft Thursdays (or some other day). I'll be sure to post about them.

this is what became of them when I told them they wouldn't be watching tv this afternoon (already having had some cartoons this morning). in full disclosure, this totally makes me a nervous wreck. see that cup full of paint-water? totally nervous.

I'm linking up over here today.

The Cyclist

2011-05-19T07:32:00.003-06:00

This little dude

biked a solid 45 minutes today while his mama walked/jogged. He is a rock star. A few pushes up the hills were needed to get started after pausing to wait for me, but otherwise he was all about doing it on his own.
I love his stamina. I need to reach waaay down and find that inner-stamina. I know I have to have it somewhere!

Then we got home and I picked up the resistance bands (I love these things--no unsightly weights littering up the living room!) and, sure enough, Puck picked some up too.

I'd like to think my form was somewhat better than his, but I'm not completely sure.

When I commented on how strong he was, he responded, "Yeah, it's because I've got my workout clothes on."
Mm, hmm. That would be your birthday suit, buddy. Well, not exactly, but this is a family friendly blog here!

Whew! That was hard work!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alright, summer is coming (has to be, right?) and I'm hoping to get out there and have more photos of things other than my littlest. He's a cutie, but I know you all have to be a bit tired of seeing his sweet little mug all the time. Well, unless your the grandparents, and then you probably want more.

Adam and I sat down and made our summer plans. They're not wild and crazy, but I feel really great about them. It will be a great summer. Some camping, some hiking, some travel. A good mix of all-things-summer.

So, com'mon SUMMER!!!

I must make an amendment

2011-05-18T20:25:00.000-06:00

On May 16, 2011, I made the following statement: "I love their [soccer] games."
I said that. I did. And I meant it. But it was said in ignorance.
Now, after tonight's very wet and cold game, I must make an amendment.
Here it is....

I love their soccer games in the warm sunshine.

Yes I do.

In the rain, the cold, the grey, the nearly dark-because-it's-so-cloudy, I'm, well, I just prefer the sun.

Is that so bad? Can I say that and not be labeled a bad mom?

On a little bit of a side note, I just need to say the following also:

if you are not the coach but just a parent, don't coach.

Possibly more on that later. Depending on if I want to get the soapbox out of the closet, dust it off and step up.

Spring Wreath with Recycled Egg Cartons

2011-05-18T13:49:00.000-06:00

::apparently all the issues I kept hearing about with Blogger affected this blog, even though I wasn't on to notice it was down. hence, the additional post of this. if you've already seen it, move right along.....:

I saw this awhile ago and knew I wanted to try this with Puck. So I started saving egg cartons about a month ago. Little did I know it would take a snowy day, not being able to go outside and quite a bit of spring fever to get us going on this project.

I don't have any photos of me cutting all those little egg cups into shapes, but that is definitely an adult/older kid job.....my thumb was numb the rest of the night. That was weird.

We used the paint that comes in those little attached buckets, I think it might be acrylic. We found that the cardboard soaked up the paint quite a bit, so I don't think watercolor would work for this.

The more color choices, the better!

I finally gave into the pleading for a face-painting.

this isn't a low-watt glue gun, so I glued and Puck did the flower arranging.

oh! I forgot to show you what we used for the wreath base. as you can see, anything can be used. dr. pepper is an addiction.

cheerful spring flowers to bring color to our grey skis!

First hike of the season

2011-05-17T20:30:00.000-06:00

One of my very favorite things to do in the mountains is hike. I love being able to get outside, hike in beautiful, uninhabited country, and not be bothered by bugs or sweat. I hate sweating--and I grew up in Missouri humidity. Oy.

Our trails have been open since mid-April, but since our Spring has been anything but Spring-like, we haven't had an opportunity to get out there yet and enjoy our area.

Yesterday, Puck and I headed out to one of our local trails. I'm not sure of the name of this one, but I love it. It's secluded, but busy enough that I feel safe. There are wildflowers blooming right now. Gorgeous red Indian Paintbrush was in abundance with lots of little purple and white flowers thrown in for variety.

Plenty of sticks, too, so Puck the Knight was happy. He kept us protected from any dragons.

Winnie also loves to hike, but this dog is out of shape! She was huffing and puffing the whole time. I imagine that black fur coat can be a drag in the heat. We found a creek. They were both happy.

The view. Spectacular.

Is warm weather upon you? How are celebrating these first warm days?

You ask what I've been up to these days?

2011-05-16T21:11:00.000-06:00

it looks a little something like this:

And, if you asked if I was tired of it yet, I'd have to say yes. and no.

Yes. I am tired of the running around, needing to be two places at once, keeping jersey's and socks and shorts clean.

and

No, I love their games. I can't believe how much I love their games! Watching both of them try something they've never done before, really getting in there and using their bodies in a different way, I love that. I love their bravery, their excitement, their team-spirit.

I love listening to Puck sitting next to me with a steady stream of "GO POWERSHOTS!" or "GO SHOOTING STARS!"

steady. stream.

This is our last week.

And then it's baseball season.

::help me::

Pondering for summer

2011-05-11T14:13:00.001-06:00

media: covering the TV and leaving it only for rainy days and special movie nights

school: we do some school during the off-months, so what to use for each kid

food: what to grill each and every single day

exercise: I weigh more than I've weighed in awhile. i'm not overweight, I don't have a distorted sense of my body, I just want my jeans to not be quite as tight. I can't wait to be able to walk/jog after dinner each night.

pool: every single day we can!

camps: only a few, and only the cheap ones so we can miss every now and then and not feel too guilty

sports: tee-ball for Scamp and softball for Sprite (first time for both!)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I'm writing this on a day where many of you are considering if it's too early to turn on the air conditioning. this morning, here in the high country of Colorado, our fireplace was going.

because it was snowing.

so, I now ask you: what are you pondering for the summer?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

she's so hip

2011-05-10T13:15:00.000-06:00

my friend came over today. with Winnie's mom and two siblings. I don't have any pictures of the get together, which is too bad because it is really cute when they're all together.

here's one from last summer

it's not usually quite so wet when they're all together. unless you count slobber. yuck.
but it is always this impossible to tell them apart. I'm not even sure if that's Winnie in the front there, although I think it is, those are her freckles. they all looked equally distressed that day.

I think we've found a way now, however, to distinguish between all the Berners.

they all have different feathers. isn't that just so cool, so hip, so happenin'?

it seriously took 20 minutes just to get the thing in, she is such a wiggle worm!

I am a mom

2011-05-09T07:00:00.011-06:00

I was never one of those kids who fawned over all the babies in church.
I didn't help in nursery (partly because I was lazy, though, and I'm so sorry about that!), and I only babysat for a few select families and only every now and then.
I would help in VBS at church, but then that was because all my friends were.

I was the baby of the family and I would sometimes sorta kinda wish my parents had had another kid after me, but then I would realize that would mean my life would change and goodness, we wouldn't want that.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I was a spoiled little girl. Not a brat, though, or so my parents assure me and I'm choosing to believe them! Parents always tell the truth!

But, despite this, I always, always wanted to be a mom. I knew I would love my babies. And I did. I knew I would love my kids. And I do.

I am blessed with three children and a husband who makes it all possible for us to have this amazing life!

Our weekend was full of soccer games and lawn work. It was truly, truly spring! We now have a backyard full of dirt and grass seed. Our hope is that it will one day actually have grass. Because it didn't. I've never seen thatch like that. Wow.

AND NOW, for the pictures.....................

Sprite's first soccer game. They lost, but she almost scored a goal AND she was goalie for part of the game and she saved a goal! (is that the terminology? "saved the goal?" I'm so out of the sports thing. Fill me in.)

Puck spent a good hour stringing beads for his bandolier. All by himself. This child is the most persistent, focused kid. Crazy stuff.

There are things that moms and dads long for their children to do for themselves for years. Buckling their own seatbelt, brushing their own teeth, putting themselves to bed when you ask them to.

And this, THIS.
Playing a game. together. Without the need for explaining or directing! Heaven!
I love that they love Sorry! It was one of my families favorites growing up. That, and UNO. I have memories of sitting on my dad's lap while we played.

A grudging photo. I love you, buddy!!

And I want to end with this......

awwwww.
Wait. There's more.......
So if we open up the green one written in Spanish, given by my 1st grader, Scamp, you'll see this:

His favorite word is Mama--oh, how sweet!
And, what's that say......"taco?" Wha?

I truly hope all you Mommies out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!

P.S. I'm putting tacos on the menu this week.

Two Wheelin'

2011-05-05T18:22:00.000-06:00

Still working on the brakes.

wednesday

2011-05-04T08:48:00.000-06:00

It's spring. It's May. It's crazy.

I'm just going to resolve myself to that fact. Multiple drives up-valley during the week. Recitals. Concerts. Projects. School-visiting days. Soccer games.

Sprite's spring piano recital.

I know you get it. I know that you, too, are doing the crazy.

I washed the dog yesterday.

I haven't actually washed her myself in about 2 years. I know it's somewhat ridiculous sounding, but we budget for dog-groomings and the thought of washing Winnie at home just about does me in.

Fact one: Winnie weighs about 90 pounds. That's a lot of dog.

Fact two: Winnie sheds. A lot. All that fur that God gave her to protect her from the snow she loves to sleep in has to come out when the thermometer rises above freezing.

Fact three: Winnie's coat is also made to withstand water. Imagine how long it takes to just get the dog wet so the soap will suds.

Fact four: Now imagine drying the dog that has been wet so much that the water actually penetrates the water-barrier. That's a lot of wet dog.

Fact five: She stank. Stunk? Was stinky? Whatever....it was bad. This fact alone was enough for me to ignore facts one through four and overcome the fact that I am
Fact six: lazy.

Need a way to entertain your 4-year-old on a warm, sunny day when the yard is still a bit soggy?

Get some rice, a box and toys. Instant hour of play.
You should probably put sunscreen on the kid, but it's ok if you forget because you're not used to the sun being out.

THIS deserves a post of it's own:

and I'll leave you with this.....

Look at that face--it's exactly what I look like when I try to do a downward dog!
Uncanny!

Scamp's first soccer game with blur and all

2011-05-02T08:25:00.000-06:00

I snowed the night before both Sprite's and Scamp's first soccer games of the year. {sigh}
Sprite's was canceled but Scamp's was moved to an indoor facility. I had a baby shower to go to, so Adam was in charge of the camera. Being indoors meant there was glass surrounding the field. Glass=blur. Oh well, right? The show must go on, and, as this is the place where I record family memories, it's going up in the bloggisphere with blurry pictures and all. Yea! Needless to say, I didn't even attempt to edit these.

Warm up.

The other team had the exact same color jersey's (go figure!) so Scamp's team wore orange singlets. Is that the right word? For some reason that word conjures up high school wrestling images in my mind....hm. That's him, on the left, in the orange...thing.

Everyone got a chance to play goalie. Aaaaand, of course, Scamp is out there with his tongue out....we're working on that one.

They had the best time. Kudos to the coach, who was roped into coaching extremely last minute! He makes all the kids feel like #1. I love it.

Here's to being a soccer mom!

and yet another playdoh recipe

2011-04-28T10:26:00.000-06:00

There have to be hundreds of playdoh recipes out there, and I'm sure that that is an understatement.

So I'm throwing this one out there, as well!

Make this with your littles today. This is a perfect way to start 'cooking' with your kids if you're a bit nervous about actually ingesting something the kids have had a hand in making. ha ha.

What you need

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups salt
3 cups water
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 Tbs cream of tarter
food coloring, however much you desire

Throw all ingredients into a large-ish sauce pan. Start stirring with a wooden spoon till you can't stir it anymore. It will start coming away from the sides. Cool till it can be handled.

Play!

It might even allow you time to get all that laundry folded that you left in your basket for the last few days. Not that I would know anything about that [cough, cough].

This stuff keeps forever in a ziplock plastic bag.

Enjoy!

**********************************

Thanks to everyone who chimed in with the love (and the hate!) of Peeps. The results were inconclusive, with it being split down the middle as to whether or not there should be a national band on the sweet treat or whether or not they should be elevated to gourmet-status.

You all are so fun! Thanks for making my day. It's all about simple pleasures. {{grin}}

Do you Peep or not?

2011-04-26T12:51:00.000-06:00

Hot topic alert!

There seems to be a very distinct line drawn on this classic Easter candy treat. You either love 'em or you hate 'em.
I'm in the love camp. Especially when they get a little dried out.

When we lived in Korea, my sweet mom even sent me a package with Peeps in them. Korean's weren't big on Peeps, I guess.

Turns out, Sprite is in the hate camp. She took one bite of a pink chick Sunday, chewed for a minute, then declared she does not like them, and that I could have the rest of hers. I promise I didn't know of her dislike, and I promise I didn't mastermind the whole operation just so I wouldn't have to buy my own Peeps and yet still get some this year. I promise.

So my question for you today, on this very un-Spring-like day here in the mountains (more winter-like, if you must know), is what's your take on the sugar-laden marshmallow bunny/chick? You either fall into one of two camps: do you Peep or not? Love 'em or hate 'em?

A non-sequetor list of unrelated things I realized this weekend in bullets.

2011-04-25T14:57:00.000-06:00

There is an impossibly large number of yellow beans in a bag of jelly beans. Even the Starburst variety. I get it. I, too, like the way yellow is so sunny and adds a rainbowness to all those colors. But why must they make it lemon? why not...pineapple or mango? They finally got smart and changed green from lime to something less mouth-puckering. Who wants lemon and lime, I ask you. One really tart citrusy flavor in a bag of sugar is enough.

I hate Yo! Gabba Gabba. Stupidest show. Ever. It freaks me out. Like, totally.

I'm currently reading The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. It is so very good. Who knew how much I would love first-person-plural? I've had a string of good books to read lately. I'm so spoiled.

Getting a good photo of the kids, all together, on Easter, with their nice clothes on was...trying.

Ummmmm.....

Really?

"This is what we call the Muppet show!"

(actually, I really like this one)

There we go!

So here we have the boys, where there are soooo many issues coming to the forefront.
And among them, we have......

Sprite, nearly guaranteed to know how to tilt her head, open her eyes wide and ~~placate her mama~~ look beautiful in general.
Why, yes. Yes I do know I'm completely biased. I labored for 12 hours with no drugs for this girl. Some bias is to be expected.

This is our new favorite family game. have you played? you should, good for all ages. Shoot, the 4-year-old nearly beat us all! AND the oldest of us (ahem, ADAM, cough) liked it, too!

We played last night after our Easter feast. We had quite a bit of smack-talk going around the table.

AND the last bullet I will bore you with this afternoon is this:

Smack talk isn't as funny in real life as it is on TV.

That's IT

2011-04-23T09:51:00.000-06:00

We're moving to southern California.

Where avocados and artichokes and lemons grow in your backyard.

Where warm ocean waves break on white sand.

Where happy little blue birds fly....oh, wait, that's somewhere OVER the rainbow.

I'd like to just be able to see a rainbow.
because that would mean the sun was coming out.

come. on. summer.
!

Part of the Miracles

Monday, Monday

Gracious, it's Thursday

Wearing my heart around my neck

update on printables

Creating your own printable

Winnie and Ruby

Wednesday

Simple solutions: silverware in the dishwasher

13 on Friday the 13th

I told you, I told you they were changing!!

Of food and horses

A funny thing happened on the way to Kindergarten

Times, they are a-changin'

If you have nothing more worthwhile to do this afternoon

Out with the old....

A cookie tradition

16 degrees and a perfect day for a photoshoot!

The T Family

oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

For Unto Us

all the yumminess!

A quiet morning

Nativity Cat

Annual Family Punishement, er I mean, Photograph!

sweet 39

Round three *dingdingding*

Night Out

A list a.k.a "Why I am so gosh darn tired this morning"

Feel the burn

Day with our crew

Friday

Be my, be my baby

Past week

Something that we were made for

FIVE

Lovely family

Night Game

A nuance

Surfboards, sharks and sleepovers

A protector

And so it begins

Masking tape painting

A Decade Birthday

A bit MIA

Fall Walk

Real quick on a Monday morning

For the love of....BOOKS!

Remembering

And here we go again

In which we did not labor

First days

Tuesday with the cat

First day: check

On the eve of a new year

Can this be me?

Just stopping in real quick

Chalk Paint

Screaming by at 90 miles an hour

Trip to the Big City

Easy breezy

Birthday Confessions with a little bit of camping mixed in

Seven

Drained

Today was a good day

Getting our summer back

A busy but great day

The Whole Truth

Ruby and Winnie

Too cute

Announcement

made me laugh

Not what it seems

Wednesday

Monday

Barely making it on a Saturday night

Extreme exhaustion

Flox, the Library, Zip Lines and then some

Think you don't like tofu?

interlude: things I've realized about myself and some photos

Round three dingdingding