Where We've Been

Merry Christmas!!

I wanted to share with you some pictures from the Big Storm.

This is a view of the trees that fell across the street from our house. They fell in EXACTLY the right spot! The trees are probably 80 feet tall. They fell right in the street and stopped at our mailboxes. As you can see from the picture they fell with the barrel right in between.

This is a picture of a tree that fell on our power line and snapped the power pole in half. Close to this 2 trees fell on a house. (In the background). The trees stayed just like this for 5 days! There were so many trees down and powerlines that the utility couldn't get to all of them. They were too busy rebuilding the power grid from scratch. Down the street from us 2 house got hit with trees. In our immediate neighborhood, 4 houses were hit!

This is a picture from our landing. Down the stairs is the woodstove. Up the stairs are our bedrooms. We blocked off the rest of the house with the sheet to direct the heat upstairs. We had another blanket that hung from where I took the picture. That trick worked pretty well. The family room/kitchen was a toasty 46 degrees, but our bedroom got up to 54 or 55.

This is our make-shift refrigerator. We kept things in a cooler outside where it was around 37-41.

This is a picture of our house. As you can see the tree stopped right at the edge of our driveway. We know that God was certainly protecting our house. During the night of the storm, 100 foot trees looked like spaghetti! It was very scary. We have 2 huge cedar trees right by the boys bedrooms that did not even lose any big limbs.

Here is a picture of the trees from our driveway, just so you can see how long they are. This pict doesn't even get the whole tree in it!

Micah was very nervous when the power was out. He does not adjust easily to change and this was a big change! He was very excited when the power came back on! I became so accustomed to flashlights that when the power did come back on, when I walked into a dark room I would reach for a flashlight instead of flipping the light switch! I'm so glad that much of our house runs on gas! We have a gas hot water heater, so we had hot water. We have a gas stove so we could cook on the cook top by lighting it with a match. We have a gas furnace, but it needs electricity to get started and to blow the hot air around.

We spent Friday night at my Dad's house but unfortunatly Joel did not sleep well in the pack n play. (He would not go to sleep until midnight then woke at 6 am!) We were nice and warm, but Joel loves his own bed. So we came back home for church obligations on Sat and decided just to stay at our house Sat night. Sunday, our church remained opened all afternoon and night for people to spend the night. We stayed there for the afternoon and evening then went home to sleep. Monday we were able to borrow a generator to run space heaters and Tuesday Aaron wired the furnace to the generator. I cannot tell you how excited I was to hear a furnace blowing. Words do not describe.

It really was not too bad at night b/c you could get warm under the blankets. I filled water bottles with hot water and put them in the kids beds. I used hand warmers and put them in Joel's sleep sack. Joel slept great! Micah would sleep with us to keep warm. Thank goodness for a king size bed!

Having the power out has made me think and reflect on the conveniences we have become accustomed to. Its a whole new world when you wake up and your first thought is "Ohhh, I need to go chop wood and start the fire." We have it so easy! I am so grateful for all the inventions that make our life so much easier. All of our "servants" as a friend once called them: the dishwasher, the fridge, the washer, the dryer, the furnace." It also made me think about those who are homeless and must deal with the cold every single night. We had to make due for 5 days and we thought that was bad!

Needless to say, some Christmas events got the axe, so to speak. No Christmas cards, no gingerbread for the neighbors. I'm thinking of sending out New Year's cards, so maybe you'll get a card from us yet. Maybe I'll start a new tradition and send out Valentines cards instead.

WE HAVE POWER!!!

Hooray! Micah and I did the happy dance as we finally got the power back at 8:30 pm today. He had to turn on every light switch just to make sure. He was so excited that he had trouble going to sleep. =)

I feel as though a week of my life was taken.

So this makes a total of 5 days without power. We're buying a generator for next time.

update

So....no power yet. At the very earliest maybe Tuesday. But they think it won't be until Tuesday until they have an estimate as to when the power will be up! The main grid line to our area is down, the transformer is blown and the neighborhood lines are all down. We're heading down to my Dad's house.

Oh yeah, isn't Christmas coming soon??

Blown Away

Just wanted to let you know that we are still alive and kicking up here. We migrated down to my Dad's house in Puyallup because he has power and more importantly, heat.

In case you haven't heard, there are about 1 million people without power here. 80% of our city has no power. We had a major wind store with gusts up to 100 mph. About 12:15 last night we were woken by the carbon monoxide detector. Since it is hard wired b/c of power surges it was going off. Fortunately the kids didn't wake up and Aaron disconnected it. About 30 min later we heard a huge crack and a loud boom. Our entire house shook. It was very scary. Since we were already up... Aaron ventured outside to see what happened. Two trees about 75 feet tall across the street fell towards our house. That's when we decided to move down to the basement. I looked outside and 100 foot trees looked like spaghetti. Very scary. =( Then we saw a bright orange glow over the city. Then a power surge, loud boom, no power. Lights flickered that were turned off. Crazy!

There were about 4-5 trees that fell on houses just within 1/2 mile of our house! Countless trees are blocking streets --still--there are so many that the city could not get to them today. Downed power lines everywhere!

I took lots of picts that I will post when the power comes up... which could be 5-7 days!! I think we might have power tomorrow,though. I hope.

Snacks, anyone?

I was just thinking about food habits. When you travel somewhere to visit friends or family, what are the foods that you MUST have? For example, we must have crackers and fruit. We snack on them continuously. We would probably make a special trip the store to buy them if we had to. Another example: when certain family comes to visit I always get: 1) natural peanut butter 2) real maple syrup 3) ritz crackers 4)real butter 5) diet rite 6) hot chocolate. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those items, we just don't normally have them around. Just thought it interesting to see what other's snacks are. When some friends came to visit I felt so bad because we didn't have their snacks they like to eat. They really really like dairy products and we have close to none in the house. Is it reasonable to assume that one would have cheese in the fridge as a staple?? Now, if you don't have coffee in the house, I'd just assume you were insane. ;) (ahem.. Susan.. cough, cough)

So what are your "cannot live without foods?" If you are staying at someone's house, what would you go to the store to get?

Non Sequitor

I love non-sequitors from 4 year olds. They know just enough language to be dangerous. They can also explain what they really meant, so you know, yes, truly what they said makes absolutely no sense. Rather than just thinking they make no sense like you do with 2 year olds.

"Mom, I'm nervous."
With concerned mommy voice: "Why are you nervous honey?"
"I'm nervous because you took away my cars. That makes me nervous."
"Ohhhh, you mean you are sad."
"Yes, I am sad, I want my cars back."

Whatever!

Or this is my favorite:
"Micah, do you want the red or blue one?"
"Well, usually when I'm at home, well actually one time I put it in there and then usually in the car and...."

Happy Birthday!!!

Micah turned 4 today! Can you believe it? Yikes, I still think of him as "my baby". I guess he'll always be my baby.

Today we had all his friends over for a cowboy party. I will post some pictures tomorrow when I have more energy. Right now I am exhausted.

Monday Morning

Well its Monday, so time for a little football smack.

This one is for Karen:
The Hawks beat the Broncos! (thanks to our kicker...)

Oklahoma beat Nebraska to win the Big 12. As Aaron said if Oregon hadn't stolen won the game, then Oklahoma would be playing for the National Championship.

USC lost, always a good thing.

And finally, the Cowboys won too. (again, thanks to the kicker...)

So all is right in football land at our house.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging...

Repentance

I feel as though I must repent. I have said that transitioning from 1-2 was easier than 0-1. Now, it was definitely an easier transition in the beginning, but now that I have a 4 year old (in 1 week!) and 14 month old, why did I think ever having 1 child was hard???? Joel is also in the fun stage throwing things off the high chair. Don't want it? Down it goes. I wish we had a dog.

Whoever invented the saying "Terrible Two's" , obviously did not have an older child who was 3. For me its defintely been "terrible 3 1/2's" The 2's were a breeze. Well, on the bright side his birthday is coming up and I have noticed major milestones achieved after his birthdays.

I read in a magazine once that one child was an accessory. Two children makes it a lifestyle. Soooooo true! If I only have 1 I feel as though I have none! If I had 3 children and had to take them out in public, I think I would lose my mind!! (Not to mention that we'd probably have 3 boys !)

Enough gripes for today. Oh, wait 2 more things: did I mentiong teething and absent spouse were also fuel for this angst?

Rodent Attack

Can someone please tell me the connection between kids books, Christmas and mice? We checked out 5 Christmas books from the library and 3 of them have mice in them. Seriously, what is the deal with Christmas and mice?

They make is sound so cute... "Mortimer scurried around the Christmas tree picking up sweet morsels of cookies and candies". ( paraphrase) While reading this, I'm picturing a real mouse around my Christmas tree and I think I would be screaming not pondering Christmas joy.

Christmas Music

Since today is December 1st, I thought I would let you know about www.christmasstream.com where you can listen to Christmas music all day, all the time via the internet. Best part is there are very little commercials!

Christmas is coming!

So, I realize that the last picture was kind of lame. I thought you'd be able to see the snow coming down, but it didn't turn out too well. After it did come down I took some more photos.

Watch out, Dad! There was just enough snow to scrape together to make snowballs.

Joel wasn't too sure about this cold white stuff.
Although there wasn't much snow at our house, it was very cold! The high on Tuesday was 28 on our thermometer.

We got the Christmas decorations. It was so adorable to watch Micah play with the Little People Nativity Set.

Here is a close-up. He had the donkey carrying Mary who was carrying Baby Jesus.

We also made cookies this week!

Look what happens when I'm on the phone for just a minute!

Let it Snow!!

Now I know for some of you, this is no big deal, but we rarely get snow around here. If you watched Monday Night Football tonight, (Hawks won, woohoo!), you saw what is was like here. You might have thought it was Green Bay, but alas, no, it was our fair city of Seattle. It is now 11:20pm and traffic is still jammed. What a mess. All the freeways are ice rinks. Abandoned cars everywhere as people give up and walk to motels. I am SO glad the hubby works 4 miles from home. It still took him almost an hour to get home! Did I mention the hight was 37? That's cold for us!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

There is nothing sweeter than watching your baby learn to walk! Joel started taking steps on his own about 2 weeks ago. Yesterday and today he is getting bolder, taking 6-7 steps at a time. I just LOVE watching those first wobbly steps!

Happy 14 month birthday!

Yummy, Easy, Chocolate Cake from scratch

*** I almost forgot, make sure you combine the dry ingredients before you add the vinegar. The reaction between the vinegar and the baking soda is what causes it to rise. If the baking soda and vinegar touch before baking it won't rise!! I've done this before!

Here is a recipe for a chocolate cake that is super duper easy and you probably have everything in your pantry to make it with. It has no eggs and no milk, so its good for allergies. I think the origins of this recipe date back to WWI and II when they had rations on things like eggs and milk. It is very moist and tasty! It is not very "fluffy", but more dense. But for me and chocolate, that is not a bad thing!!

Wacky Chocolate Cake:
1 1/2 cups flour (or rice flour if you are avoiding gluten)
1 cup sugar
1/2 t salt
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder ( or more!)
1 t baking soda
1 t vanilla extract
1 T vinegar
5 T oil
1 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients into mixing bowl. **very important! Add vanilla, vinegar, oil and water. Blend well; pour into ungreased 9 inch square pan. (or round pan) Bake for 25-30 min. When cool, frost or sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

I frequently double the recipe to make 1 large sheet cake (13x9) or two round cakes.

Source: The Food Allergy News Cookbook and my Mother-in- Law =)

What is wrong with this picture?

Did you figure out what is missing from the ingredients list??

Here's a hint: Micah can eat this MILK chocolate frosting!

Halloween (at last!)

Finally have downloaded my pictures! We went to Microsoft for their annual trick-or-treating (aka showing off your kids all dressed up) Then we came home and trick or treated around the neighborhood. Joel didn't go...he's not walking...he can't eat candy... and it was very cold that night! We had a cold snap that week. The funniest story: When we came home from Microsoft, the doorbell rang and we explained to Micah that it was trick or treaters. So he opened the door and the kids dutifully said "trick-or-treat" while holding open their bags. Micah said "Oh, thank you, " and proceeded to take candy out of their bag! What do you think, Reader's Digest worthy?


Joel was a puppy dog. More like a stuffed animal puppy. He was might cute!

This is what made the costume super cute---crawling around in it! Yup, he's still not walking (at 14 months). See the blurryness? That's because he is so darn fast at crawling!! Who would want to walk if you can crawl much much faster?
The Friday before Halloween we had a party with play group, complete with apple dunking. Micah really got into it!

Public Service Announcement

Update:
I was able to get 10 boxes for free! They were $1 a box and if you bought 10, the manufacturer gives you $10 off automatically: no coupon required! Unfortunately I can't use them, (Micah's allergy) but hey, they were free! I'm sure the food bank will appreciate it.

Okay, I'm embarrassed at the lack of posts.

I want to post picts from Halloween, but my computer is sooo slow downloading picts that I haven't done it yet. Maybe tomorrow.

On to the PSA:

Run, don't walk to Safeway/Vons on Wednesday. Buy 10 Betty Crocker Supreme Moist Cake mixes. They will pay you to take them. Go here to see it. The prices vary... one friend paid $.30 for 10 mixes, one GOT paid $.60 to take them. Mail them to Tweedygirl, because she likes boxed cake mixes and she cannot get them. With the money you save on the cost of the mixes you can spend it on postage.

That is all. Back to the regularly scheduled blogging.

You Know You're From California If.....

So as not to be outdone by all the redneck, hillbilly, and Texan jokes, you know you're from California if:

1. Your coworker has 8 body piercings and none are visible.

2. You make over $400,000 and still can't afford a house.

3. You take a bus and are shocked at two people carrying on a conversation in English.

4. Your child's 3rd-grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is named Flower.

5. You can't remember . . is pot illegal?

6. You've been to a baby shower that has two mothers and a sperm donor.

7. You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are grown,and you can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian. (And that's abnormal, because....?)

8. You can't remember . . . is pot illegal?

9. A really great parking space can totally move you to tears.

10. Gas costs $1.00 per gallon more than anywhere else in the U.S.

11. Unlike back home, the guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney really IS George Clooney.

12. Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment.

13. You can't remember . . is pot illegal?

14. It's barely sprinkling rain and there's a report on every news station:"STORM WATCH."

14b. AND they do a story about (gasp!) someone who forgot their umbrella!!

15. You pass an elementary school playground and the children are all busy with their cells or pagers.

16. It's barely sprinkling rain outside, so you leave for work an hour early to avoid all the weather-related accidents.

17. HEY!!!! Is pot illegal????

18. Both you AND your dog have therapists.

19. The Terminator is your governor.

20. If you drive illegally, they take your driver's license. If you're here illegally, they want to give you one.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my Mother-in-Law and my Dad! What a coinky-dink, that they have the same birthday!

My Dad turned the big 6-0 this year and Aaron's mom is celebrating big number 33! (We told her she had to be at least one year older than us now.)

Leaking hot air

Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. The busy days are just flying by, I guess.

Today we had a company come out and do an energy audit of our house. Our house is always too cold and if we turn up the thermostat, then our bill is sky high! They taped off the front door with a plastic sheet with a fan. It sucked air out of the house so we could tell where the leaks are in the house. I could feel the air blowing out of the light switches and along the baseboard. They also took around the infared gun and could tell where the hot and cold spots were. Turns out our house is a leaky disaster. He said the equivalent of all the leaks is like having a 3 foot square window open all the time. Usually they like to see a -1 rating and ours was a -14. Now this would be okay if we lived somewhere like Hawaii, but not here, where we need to heat the house!! Turns out the duct work isn't even screwed together properly so hot air is just blowing into the crawl space. The return register wasn't installed correctly. Lovely. I'm glad to know I'm paying to heat the crawl space. All the little bugs must be toasty warm.

The good side is that they are fixing the leaks and hopefully we will be much warmer this winter.

Pray for some friends...

Just wanted to ask for prayer for our friends Eric and Heidi. Their daughter, Maggie, is having a blood test to determine is she has a chromosomal abnormality which may result in her not speaking. You fellow Biolans may remember Eric.

Please pray for them as they await results. I am sure the weight of this diagnosis is very heavy.

Heidi, our thoughts, prayers and love is with you!!!

My Answer of the Day

You probably have guessed which of my children is more cautious. Like everyone else, my firstborn, Micah, is the cautious one. I wonder why first borns tend to be more cautious. I seen this played out in several families. Some have said that as moms we are more protective with the first, and when the second rolls around we relax. I really don't think I was that protective. If anything I have forced Micah to do certain things; and when he does it he has fun. I don't have to force Joel to do anything, he just plunges right in.

For example: around 8 months, Micah started screaming every time I vacuumed because he was scared to death of it. Joel could care less. At the Blue Angels this year, Micah buried his head and didn't want to watch it because it was too loud. Joel pointed and cooed at the planes. I never had to close doors to rooms I didn't want Micah in because if the lights were off then he would never go in. Joel: yah, right! Anywhere is free game!

Its been harder with Joel at this stage because with Micah we just didn't have to babyproof that much. Joel is just everywhere at once.

I wonder what the 3rd will be like.

My Question of the Day

In following Tweedygirl's lead I have my own question I've been pondering. I want to phrase it in such a way as to not sway you in your answer.

To those of you with two or more kiddos: Which one is your more cautious kid; i.e. which one is more afraid of the dark, afraid of the Halloween decorations, more afraid to try new things, etc. I don't mean to compare them right now, but how they acted at the same stage.

Those with one kiddo; how do you perceive your child?

Most of you can probably guess my answer but I will give my answer after you have a chance to answer.

Baby to Toddler

Wow, now that I've probably lost all my readers due to lack of posts.... here I am!

I didn't go anywhere, its just been the beginning of the fall with Bible Study, MOPS, etc. I went from summer where I had relatively little scheduled to fall with having just about every day scheduled. Throw in a trip to California and a 1 year old birthday party and you have no blogging time.

Speaking of the 1 year old. Somewhere between Sunday and today Joel turned into a toddler. He isn't walking yet, but his personality just has blossommed. We went to story time today at the library. Joel wanted nothing to do with sitting on my lap. With chairs, AC vents and curtains to investigate, who would? He also has this high pitched screech that he does when he wants something. He started this the day he was born and we haven't been able to break him of it yet. All good things for story time at the library. Then today at naptime we heard a thumping noise on the wall coming from his room. Turns out he is reaching up to the picture above the crib and swinging it back and forth against the wall. Loverly. Then when he was in the high chair (we have one that attaches to a normal chair) he was rocking it back and forth on the chair because the strap undereneath was unbuckled. He cried alligator tears when I put a stop to those fun times.

Lately his favorite place to play is on top of the toy box or on top of the Little Tykes picnic bench. He fell off of that one and placed a nice scrape on top of his head.

You've all heard stories from a friend or a friend of a friend about how they found their toddler on top of the fridge? I'm afraid I'm soon to become that friend. I'll be sure to take picts and email it around to everyone. Along with the stern warning that if you don't forward this to 10 of your friends then this will happen to you too. While you're at it you can record your name because a 2nd grader in Poughkeepsie, NY is doing an experiment.

All Done

I get all these ideas for blog posts when I am doing the dishes or folding laundry. When I actually have the time to sit down and write do I remember any of them? Of course not.

I have one cute story. Joel has learned to say "All Done" at the table-- complete with hands waving and sing-song voice, "awwwww don, awwww don". The other morning I heard him wake up around 6:30 and he starting fussing. Pretty soon I heard him saying in his crib, "Awww don, awwwww don." It brought a smile to my morning!

His vocabulary is growing very quickly. I'm trying to teach him baby signs, but I really think he'll just say please before he acquiesces and does the sign. I think he has close to 30 words all ready. He mimics just about everything we ask him to, and he correctly uses the words later. (except for "please" and "more", of course...)

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Joel's Birthday. Every mom says this, but I can't believe it was 1 year ago that I was in the hospital getting to know this little guy. Wow! This picture was taken at 3 months.


Here he is with his first bite of cake!

Speaking of cake, here is his cake! No one ever told me that when your kid gets diagnosed with a food allergy, that not only will you be making HIS birthday cake from scratch, but his sibling's cake along with every other family member!!! We had a Baby Einstein theme, so this is the cat (or maybe it is a tiger?) from the Baby Einstein pictures. I was worried that it didn't look like a cat, but more of a bear, but I think the whiskers make it very cat-like. I used a pan that is a panda bear, but depending on the way you decorate you could make it a giraffe, pig, dog or cat.

I don't particularly like to bake. Decorating cakes makes me a frazzled stress case. But every year I give in to the mommy urge and make a cute birthday cake. I was out of control for Micah's 2nd birthday and made TWO cakes, a dinosaur and an elmo cake. Last year I made one cake; a giraffe. I did make another, but it was a sheet cake and I threw on some Dora cake toppers.

I'm getting tired of presents!

Part of the peanut gallery!

We also prayed over Joel and asked for guidance in raising him. I have also reflected on the meaning of Joel's name "Yahweh is God". What a powerful statement. Not any other man or thing, but the LORD. My prayer is that he will know Him and testify of his namesake.

Will they, won't they?

So the moment I've been waiting for all summer is finally here.

The season premier of "The Office".

(I'll duck now while you throw pillows at me)

Does Pam get married? Does Jim go to New Zealand? Is Dwight still crazy? What new insanities does Michael pull next?

So much anticipation!

Disclaimer

Just a disclaimer about Disneyland. Did you know that $63 only allows Disney to just about break even on operating costs per guest?? They only make money on merchandise and food. For years they lost money on the admission price. A used to be in finance at the parks.

That's the price to operate the Happiest Place on Earth!

Doing the Shamu Slam

We're back from California! We had a wonderful time visiting friends, The Mouse and The Whale. Micah can now successfully do the "Shamu Slam" as well as sing "Its a Small World". Fun times!! We even met Mickey at his house, so now that question is answered, "Where does Mickey live?"

We had so many friends to visit, from my Biola friends, his Biola friends, our Biola friends, Disney friends, Calvary friends, and UCI friends. Throw in 2 days at Disney and 1 day at Seaworld. YIKES! A week was not long enough! It was so great to reconnect, talk and catch up. It was also so fun to see how big all the kiddos have become. Micah had a blast between all the playmates and theme parks. Micah is at just the right age for Disneyland. Everything was real to him. The Tiki Room was on his list, so we went there first thing. As the birds were singing he leaned over and asked "Where were the flowers that croon?" HA! Another must-see was Mickey mouse. He wouldn't stop talking about it so we headed to Toon Town shortly after tiki room. The cutest thing was him wearing his golden mickey ears all day long. He normally will not wear any hats.

Micah is also tall enough for every single ride at Disneyland except for Indiana Jones! This includes Splash, Thunder and Space Mountain! I couldn't believe it, not that we took him on those, we would have one very scared 3 year old! I did take him on one of my favorites, the rapids ride at DCA (that's Disney California Adventure) aka "the circle boats". He loved it! We even braved Pirates with him so we could see the new overhaul they did to include Jack Sparrow.

The fireworks were outstanding. Those of you near S. Cal; its worth the $ to see the fireworks while you can during the 50th. Awesome. Okay, well I don't know if its worth the $63 ticket price; FOR ONE PERSON; but you could probably watch them for free from downtown disney. Talk about sticker shock. After not paying for a one day pass for umm, maybe 15 years, wow have the prices gone up. Fortunately we were able to call some disney friends for day 2 admittance.

I just realized that I haven't mentioned Seaworld at all! After going to Disney for 2 days I guess that just overshadows it! Micah LOVED it and there were alot of unusual fish there. Like we saw one fish that has no eyes. It lives in some caves in New Mexico so its pitch black in there anyway. We also got to touch batrays and sting rays.

As much fun as we had, we are glad we moved to Seattle. Its much prettier here, although we loved being able to drive fast on real freeways with 7-8 lanes on each side. We are also glad to be back. We were so exhausted that on Sunday afternoon we all slept for 3 hours! Micah slept for almost 4 !!

3-Day post is up

Scroll down and you will see my 3-day post .

So... the big news was revealed and I feel like I could just about hear a pin drop. Aren't you all excited that my husband was ALMOST ON NATIONAL TV??
=)

The Big Secret Revealed

So I'm a little worried about all the hype bursting the balloon out of the secret. Karen, unbeknowst to me started a little rumor on her site that I supposedly had some great news to share. I did not. Then a week later I ended up having some cool news to share but I couldn't. Until today.

Are you ready? Drum roll please....

Aaron was in Hollywood yesterday as an extra for the TV show, The Office! Sadly, he didn't end up on camera, but he did get a picture with John Krasinski (Jim), met Rainn Wilson (Dwight) and Steve Carrell (Michael). The plot of the show was they were holding a paper convention where Michael and Dwight go and try to get as much swag as they can. (Susan: swag is free stuff) The producers invited real companies to come and man the booths.

It was really hard for me to keep my mouth shut, as that is my favorite TV show. Somehow I did it!

FYI--I'm still working on my 3-Day Walk post. I started it and probably 2/3 of the way done.

3-Day

For those of you who are new to reading my blog: My Mom died on February 8, 2006 from metastatic breast cancer. That night I decided to participate in The Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk. I wanted to do something bold and challenge myself as well as raise money to find a cure for breast cancer. I had no idea what I was about to experience. It turned out to be very therapeutic for me.

This is a LONG post. Mostly this is for me to remember the experience. Thank you so much to those who donated, I couldn't have done it without you! I was able to raise over $4000 for breast cancer research!

Day1:
Opening Ceremonies were held at Marymoor Park in Redmond. We had to be there at 5:45, yikes! I loaded my gear onto the gear truck and met our team, "Thanks for the Mammaries". There were many awesome team names like: Warming Hut Hotties, Save the Ta-Ta's, Heart and Soul, Walkers for Knockers, Breast Friends, and Beyond the Breast. Think of a euphemism for boob and there was a team with a name. Here is a team photo:
Opening Ceremonies were very emotional. The head of the 3 Day Walk talked about the reasons why people chose to do the walk. "There is a man here who is walking with his 2nd wife. There is a daughter here walking for her mom who didn't survive her fight." I don't remember much of what she said after that because I was looking for tissues. Then they let us go 2-3 at a time so that it was a staggered start and so that there woudn't be a mass stampede of 3000 people. Here is what I looked like during the walk:
We walked through Redmond up to Kirkland and wound up at Juanita Beach Park for lunch. Along the way there are pit stops every 2-3 miles with porta-potties, water, gatorade, snacks, and medical. Every pit stop has a theme; one was un-BEE-lievable, another western complete with photo op. Lunch was themed and so were the sweep vehicles. Sweep vehicles picked up people along the route who couldn't walk for various reasons. After lunch we made a big loop through Kenmore and parts of Bothell. Some friends from church cheered us on at the 2nd cheering station in Kirkland. We then made it to Big Finn Hill park where we camped for the night. It was a mobile city! They had medical tents, mobile kitchen, dining tent, shower trucks, porta potties, and sinks. They provided 2-person tents for us to set up. It was tent city!

At night they even had entertainment. The first night was karaoke and the 2nd nite was a disco band. One gal made it through days 1 and 2 unscathed then twisted her ankle at disco night! What a bummer! I tried to take part in festivities but I was such a zombie having woken up both days at 5 am or so. Not to mention walking 20 miles each day.

Day 2: This day we made a loop from Kirkland up to Woodinville over into Bothell and through Kenmore, up Simonds Hill, which was killer. It wasn't that steep, just long; 1.5 miles up hill at the end of the day. And it was 85 degrees. And I had a huge blister on my toe. And I had tendonitis in my left big toe. But, as signs often pointed out along the way; "Blisters hurt less than chemo." Wow, that kept me going!


Here are some of my walking buddies on Day 2 in Woodinville (from left ) Sunny, Jenn, April, Michelle, Denise, her son Bryce and us. We're at a cheering station at our favorite spot, Starbucks!
We are now coming up on lunch and Micah was standing on the side cheering all the walkers on. Then he ran up to me and gave me a big hug. The best!!

We camped the same place on day 2. At camp that night I had a chance to sign the remembrance tent; we could sign a tent like the ones we camped in. There was also a book where you could write why you were walking. Again, very emotional. There was a picture of a 3 Day walker from 2005 who had died this year.

Day 3:
We woke early to break down camp. I think my now I was just numb from the lack of sleep. We left camp and headed west to Shoreline and then south into Seattle. It was a beautiful walk with gorgeous houses and views of Lake Washington.





Closing Ceremonies: all the walkers walk in together, with the walkers who have survived breast cancer walk in last. All of us saluted the survivors by holding up one of our shoes.

This was a great experience. I enjoyed challenging myself and seeing what I was capable of doing. I found out I'm capable of alot! Having a goal really helped me focus on working out and walking. The best thing that came out of the experience was all the friendships that I formed--something I was not expecting. People who have been touched by breast cancer in their life and could relate to what I am going through in grief. People who haven't been touched by breast cancer but just wanted to make a difference. Great, quality people--friendships that I wouldn't have made otherwise.
View of Lake Washington from Sand Point neighborhood in Seattle. (near the U)

And, last but not least, this one's for Tim: www.gotripoffs.com

I'm BAAACK!

I'm back from the 3-Day walk, and it was an amazing experience. Once I've downloaded all the pictures I will post them and give more details of the weekend. Thanks to everyone out there, I was able to raise over $4000 for breast cancer research! Thank you!! Oh, and yes I made it every single inch of the walk! 60 miles!

Here are some pictures of Cowboy Micah:

Unexpected Visitor!

We had a semi-unexpected vistor last week. We were thrilled to see Wendy and take her to lunch. It was great to see her and talk with her about her job.





Micah and Joel in their "boat".

Joel does this new thing where he tries to smile for the camera. I think it looks kind of like a horse trying to smile, but its cute, none the less!

Deception Pass

We went camping last weekend at Deception Pass with our church group. We had a great time and the weather was wonderful. We even got to go hiking. Micah walked the whole way, I was so proud of him. It was about 1 1/2-2 miles, but it was straight up hill for half of it. We had a big group camping site which is nice because we were the only ones there and there is nobody else around. You also don't have to worry about cars and the kids. Great place the kids to roam and explore.

Joel didn't sleep well for a variety of reasons and Aaron ended up driving him around again. Sigh. We'll make a camper out of him yet! Hopefully next year will be easier camping with him. It was hard because he is crawling and does not like to be held for too long. Finally I just gave in and let him get filthy dirty crawling around in the dirt. Just had to be careful about rocks and bark in mouth!

The above picture is of Deception Pass, which is really a bridge. The first explorers thought the area was a mountain pass between two hills on a peninsula. Turned out it is an island not a peninsula.

Joel's Room

I finally finished Joel's room. Just in time for his 1st birthday. Yippee!
Here are some pictures:





A friend of mine painted the surf scene on the wall. I used the same bedding that I had for Micah, but my aunt made a new crib sheets and a valance.






























My mom and I made the chair pad cover.

















My friend also painted the "honu" on the wall. She copied the turtles from the valance. Need I say she is very talented? See the surfboard on the shelf? that's actually a clock! (Fred Meyer strikes again.) If you look to the left, Jodi you can see the cork board!










OOPS! Well I said the room was done, but as you can see there is a big blank spot. Fortunately I have an idea for the spot.

I actually DO have something to tell you

Karen was right. I actually do have big news, but I only found out today. Are you a prophet or something?

But, as she did say, I am sworn to secrecy. I will be able to tell you in a few weeks or days. Speculate if you wish but I will neither confirm or deny said guesses.

Now, on to Karen. She has held some elaborate hoaxes in her day. Ask her about how her children were conceived. Or is is that TMI?

Tim on KROQ

For those of you who know Tim: he will be on KROQ tomorrow morning at 7am. If you don't live in SCal you can stream it at their website.

He's decided he is not taking his shoes off anymore for airport screeners because of this article.

Here is Tim's reasoning:

No More. Today news came out that sending shoes through an airport x-ray machine tells the security officials virtually NOTHING. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-14-xrays-airports_x.htm?csp=34 It serves ZERO purpose other than to give people the impression that all precautions are being made (even if they are meaningless). I’ve had enough of this inconvenience. Now that TSA confirms that it’s all a silly game I’ve decided I’m not playing anymore.

I will no longer voluntarily take my shoes off to walk through airport screening. If the good men and women with the TSA want to make me step aside so they can wave a wand over me, they are more than welcome to, but I’m leaving my shoes on. If in that process they want to force me to take my shoes off and are willing to carry my smelly tennies around and send them through the x-ray machine themselves, they are again more than welcome to. But I’m not doing it for them. I’ve been personally screened before. It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t take all that much time and you’re not in trouble.

“That’s just stupid”, you may be thinking. Why put up with 5 minutes of hassle when all you have to do is take 30 seconds to take your shoes off? Two reasons:

1) Principle. If they think I’m such a threat because I happen to be wearing shoes (heaven forbid), then I’m calling their bluff and demanding they do something REAL to make sure I’m not dangerous.

2) Strategy. If even 10% of the people on each of my flights take the same stand, they will not be able to fund the man-power it will take to screen us all. Eventually they’ll give up on making us take off our shoes because they already know it does NOTHING. I know it’s a stretch but I’m willing to bet that even a government agency, in the long run, is not willing to blow their entire budget for something they know is meaningless. Eventually the airlines will not appreciate the back up at the airports either and will apply their own high dollar pressure on the TSA to help us along.

For sure, I don’t want to take it out on the gate workers at the airport, I understand they are doing their job. I’ll be polite and cooperative and won’t argue with them. If they request me to take my shoes off, I will in turn politely suggest that they personally screen me. I hope you’ll think about joining me. This idea isn’t at all original to me, other people are saying the same thing. At the very least, pass on the word.

Theoretically, I agree. Practically will I do this? No. He's not travelling with 2 small children. A stroller. A diaper bag. A computer . Food and drink for small children. I'm already going to have to endure close scrutiny because I will have *gasp* liquid benedryl and epi-pens. Anything I can do to get by faster in the short run is good for me. The security check is harrowing enough without putting myself through the pat-down.

I've been outed

Well, I guess Karen outed me. Thanks alot.

eight-zero-zero

You may remember that we bought an alarm clock to help us keep Micah in bed until 7:00, or as he puts it; seven-zero-zero. Last night he asked if he could get up at eight-zero-zero instead. Ummm... sure! This morning he got up at 6:15 to go to the bathroom, then I put him back to bed and told him he had to stay in bed until 7:00. Micah said, "No! Its, eight-zero-zero". Sure enough, he got up at 8:00.

I guess I'm glad he hasn't quite figured out the order of numbers.

Heaven Help Me!

I thought it was innocent enough.

Yesterday I wore a skirt. When Micah saw me in it he said "wow.. Mommy you look pretty!" He's done that before when I have worn dresses or skirts. So sweet.

Today after swim lessons we were in the locker room changing. He was watching some older girls (age 5-6) get their hair done. He looks and me and says slowly, " Momma, they are pretty," with a tone of astonishment and wonder.

He's 3 1/2 ! He's still my baby. All I could think of was what it would be like at 16!

I didn't think we'd be out of the girls locker room and into the family bathroom quite so soon.

Thanks!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! It was very meaningful to me this year as I was not looking forward to my birthday without my mom.

In the morning, Micah and Aaron decorated the downstairs with Happy Birthday streamers. Micah also picked out yellow roses for me. Aaron said Micah was insistent on buying flowers for Mommy.

Micah picked out a cute photo collage/frame for me. Its hard to explain, but it will look great when I get the pictures in it. Aaron bought me a radio/cd player that mounts under the kitchen cabinet. Yay! I told him I wanted one several months ago and he remembered!

One of the best parts was going to McDonalds for dinner. No dishes! No cooking! {Aaron had already taken me out to a very nice dinner on Saturday night without kids--in his defense}

Disgusting

Did I keep you in suspense enough? =)

Here it is:
This morning I cleaned the kids toilet with one of those disposable toilet brushes. I usually throw away the cleaning part instead of flushing it so that it won't clog the toilet. For some reason that I can' t remember I left it on the plastic handle part and set it in the trash can. I think I was going to clean the other toilet, but at the moment I had to go dry off Micah from the shower in our bathroom. {you may see where this is going}

Joel was crawling around upstairs, playing in his room, or so I thought. After I dried off Micah, he goes running in to see Joel. Micah starts shrieking, "LOOK AT JOEL, MOMMA, LOOK AT WHAT HE IS EATING, GET HIM, GET HIM!!" I run in the bathroom to see him chomping on, you guess it, the toilet brush. EWWWWWWWW!!!!

I washed his mouth out with a washcloth with toothpaste on it. I thought about soap briefly but realized that would hurt him more.

Happy Birthday to me.

Disgusting

I have a really disgusting story to tell you, but I don't think I have the stomach for it yet. But I feel as though I must tell you.

Check back later

Would you like $20 with your Amoxicillin?

I have a new obsession.

Obtaining free gift cards from pharmacies.

A few weekends ago I was flipping through the Target ad and I found a coupon for a $10 gift card when you filled a new or transferred prescription. I did need to buy a birthday gift and I had been wanting to get some more epi-pens for Micah. (we have wonderful RX insurance) Made a phone call and off I went to get prescription and free birthday gift.

This got me thinking so I went home and flipped through more ads and I found more coupons! I found one for Rite Aid...tranferred Micah's antibiotics presciption and bingo! Free diapers! I had a sinus infection last week...what did I think about while in the doctor's office? Free groceries from QFC. (Never mind the excruciating pain and bloody snot)

In total I have received $60 in gift cards just for filling prescriptions. . . something I would have done anyway. I have a coupon sitting in my purse for another $30 giftcard. One of the kids is bound to get an ear infection soon, right?

Note: I have not abused my insurance and re-filled medications I have not needed. End Disclaimer.

Brothers

I have spared you the kid stories as of late, so I feel that I am due. I'm so excited because since Joel has learned to crawl, the boys are actually playing together! They were down in the rec room this afternoon and I heard Joel squealing and giggling. I asked Micah want he was doing and he said "I'm playing with Joel, my brother" (as if there's another Joel lurking around the corner, who is not his brother). Apparently they were shopping and Joel was helping him (Micah's words) by putting pretend food in the shopping cart!

Yesterday they were playing in the living room and were under the piano. I heard Micah say "okay Joel, now we get in here. All aboard! Now we're on the train. "

It warms my little Mommy heart! =)

Here's to hoping it lasts!

Laundry Woes

Okay, I'm up for new ideas on the laundry front. The way I see it people fall into 3 camps:

1. One load a day, no matter what.

2. One day a week, do all laundry.

3. Wait till the laundry is overflowing; or until clothes are all gone.

Presently I'm in the 3rd camp. I've tried #1, and #2, but I just have not been able to make it a habit. The problem with one load a day with me is that then every day I'm doing laundry. I guess I'd rather be in "laundry mode" and get it all done at once.

One organized thing I have going for me: we have a laundry sorter where we sort laundry as we put it in the hamper. Micah, not so much. I just want Micah to put his laundry in the hamper in the first place. We'll work on the sorting later.

If you have good laundry ideas that work for you, please comment!

A Grief Observed

I just finished A Grief Observed by CS Lewis. It is his journal that he wrote after his wife died from cancer. His insights and word pictures are powerfull. Here is one passage that I found to be helpful:

Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process. . . Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape. As I've already noted, not every bend does. Sometimes the surprise is the opposite one; you are presented with exactly the same sort of country you thought you had left behind miles ago. That is when you wonder whether the valley isn't a circular trench. But it isn't. There are partial recurrences, but the sequence doesn't repeat.

I can't say exactly why this is helpful, but it is. I guess its because it validates what I've been feeling...just when I think I'm over one part or feeling it comes back.

On Second Thought

Aaron pointed out one other thing we miss from Southern California.
Driving fast.
Or at least driving at reasonable speeds, according to us. Every posted speed limit around here is about 10 under what it should be. The roads outside the neighborhoods here are 25! The bigger roads are a whopping 35! On the freeways, the state patrol actually pull people over for speeding here. We learned that the hard way about 3 weeks after we moved. I don't think I've ever seen someone pulled over for speeding on the freeway in S. Cal unless they were doing, say 100. We were just used to driving there, where you just drive as fast as you can with traffic. The normal speed is about 70, who knows what the posted speed is.

I long for the wide, open roads in Irvine like Culver, Barranca or Jamboree where the speed limit is 50 or 55. Thirty-five on W Lake Sammamish drive is just NOT cutting it.