piano

Two weekends ago, Micah had a piano recital! That was so cute! He is in a music program called Move over Mozart piano class. I found it through our parks and rec department. It is an excellent way to introduce kids to music and develop fine motor skills. Miss Pam, is very patient with the young ones. She starts by color coding their fingers and the piano keys. The music is with numbers and the numbers are colored as well (the kids color the numbers). She then transitions to music with the letters printed on the page (instead of musical notes). The kids then color the letters. He has learned about bass clef, treble clef, quarter notes, rest, and half notes. She also teaches them etiquette at a recital; bowing, listening and clapping when appropriate. The recital was so cute and yes, we video taped it. It was held in a room at a piano store, so they even had a grand piano to play on! When we first arrived, Micah said "WOW this place is cool! Look at all the pinanos! (that's how he says piano). Look how big this pinano is, just like Miss Pam said!"

Tonight, Micah said that next week he was going to marry Grandma. I said I thought he would marry me! He said, "oh, we already married you, right mommy?"

You know its a 2nd child when...

...he dumps all the cheerios on the floor and is eating them. You don't think its cute and you don't run to get your camera. You've seen this before.

Lunch Help

I need ideas for lunch. We sort of alternate between PB&J and chicken nuggets. With an occasional hot dog thrown in for good measure. What do you or your kids eat for lunch? Being pregnant has also made me bored with leftovers. I am blessed with two non-picky eaters, so that is not the issue. Just an uncreative mom.

BTW, according to Micah, we are having a girl, and her name is Hiking Sister. He's very adamant.

Weekend away

Okay, I really should be doing the dishes, but I'm procrastinating, again.

I was able to go to a ladies retreat this weekend with a good friend of mine, Kelly. Kelly and I have been friends for about 10 years, we met at Calvary Santa Ana. They sold out and moved to Spokane last year. Her oldest is only three weeks younger than Micah. Its been so nice to have them only 4 hours away!

Our church did not have a ladies retreat this year, so I invited Kelly to come to the Camp Gilead ladies retreat with me. Camp Gilead is in Carnation, about 30 minutes away. I attended camp there in high school and worked two summers there as a camp counselor. A good friend that I know from my counselor days is the program director there now. It was a great time to get away and catch up with old friends.

A unique thing that Camp Gilead does is leave the first day open with nothing scheduled, letting you do as you please. As a mom, you know how rare that opportunity is! We went on a walk, and even some garage saleing! Nothing bought for ourselves, of course, all for the kiddos! Friday afternoon the retreat program started. The topic was our identity and how it is found in Christ. Ironically, Susan is discussing the same topic.

In closing, I must comment on the Office finale. I think it was one of the best episodes I have seen! I had tears in my eyes at the end! (Must be those darn pregnancy hormones!!!)

TV observation

Have you ever noticed that having lived (or currently living) in Southern California ruins your ability to suspend reality during TV shows? Like last week when Aaron was watching Jericho and I was ironing (half watching). They were in "Kansas". Have you ever been to Kansas? I have. Its flat. Very flat. With trees. That stereotype is very true. They were having a gunfight supposedly in Kansas, but all I kept thinking was "Simi Valley", "Magic Mountain" and "Santa Clarita". Very hard to believe.

This even happens on The Office. It is set in Scranton, PA. Which seems like it would be a place that is very green with lots of trees. Whenever they do outdoor scenes, the first thing that pops into my head is "Studio City". Especially with the hard-to-miss smoggy hills in the background. The episode about the Beet Farm was the worst for me. It in no way resembled anything that I imagined the Pennsylvania countryside to be. In fact it looked alot like Little House on the Prairie.

Prayer for friends

Since many on this blog are adoption-minded, I thought I would tell you about my friends, Mike and Dana. They are adopting a little boy, Matthew, from Vietnam and they are leaving tonight at 2am (which is really tomorrow). We are so excited for them as we have seen the process with them. God has answered many prayers, including that of a mother's heart; that she see her baby on his 1st birthday! They have known about Matthew since December but have been waiting on immigration paper work to be able to travel. Just 3 weeks ago they were given word that they'd have to wait until July or later to travel; missing his birthday. Five days later they were told they were travelling now! It brings tears to my eyes!

Please pray for them as they travel, they have an older son, who is 2 1/2. Pray for safety as no one uses car seats in Vietnam (there aren't even seat belts!). Pray for bonding with Matthew and feeding issues as he has a cleft pallet.

You can see pictures at their blog.

The Office Finale

Update: I just realized I won't be able to watch the finale until Saturday! Eeks, how will I survive! So no comments or discussion on it until Saturday! =)

**spoiler for Susan!!***


I was SO surprised last Thursday night. I could not believe that Miss Pam Beesley found herself to confront Jim IN FRONT OF EVERYONE! It was great!

So what is your prediction for Thursday's finale? Who do you think gets The Job?

scenario #1 I think that Jim gets the job and that is the cliffhanger. We come back from vacation to find out that he passed on the job and passed it on to Karen.

scenario#2 Karen gets the job. Jim stays for Pam.

Do you really think Michael has a shot? I also really can't see Jim leaving the office yet again.

Discuss.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day from my two punkins!

Hope everyone had a fun day with their peanuts. My Dad came over and we went to the park for a picnic. It was much better than going to a restaraunt with the kiddos. Thanks honey for organizing it!

Works for Me Wednesday-Occupy a Toddler on an Airplane

One of the blogs I read, Rocks In My Dryer, sponsors a blog every Wednesday where you can share tips about kids, household chores, cooking, anything! I thought I would play along this week and share some ways I found to occupy toddlers on an airplane after our recent trip.

Joel is 19 months. I think between 15-26 months is the hardest age bracket to occupy on an airplane. Its not like you can reason very effectively with them. They just want to run around and play! TV is generally not effective, maybe 5 minutes. Here are some activities that kept Joel's attention for 30 min to an hour.

• Deck of cards. Bring a deck that you don't mind losing a few cards (obviously). Joel loved to put the cards in the box, one by one. He was very meticulous about it too.
• Sticker books. I would have to show him where they went, but he loved lining them up and putting them in the book.
• Pennies and a small can. Make a small can into a bank--maybe like a small peanut can that has a plastic lid. Since you're sitting right there you can regulate if any go in the mouth.
• Leafing through the inflight magazine and asking him to find things on the page, like the dog, a certain letter, a ball, etc. I let him "color" or circle the items too.
• Completed sticker books. My 4 year old loves sticker books too. Once he is done with them, I give them to Joel, who loves to take the stickers off, on, off, on, off on. Eventually they all end up on the floor. Who cares? They have both had their fun with it.

Of course, by the end of the 6 hours flight he was jumping on the seat, but these were a few things that kept my sanity.

Do you have your own ideas? Please leave a comment!

Hiker Joel

Today was a gorgeous day, 72--not too hot or too cold. Since its been awhile since we've seen this weather, we live outside when these days come along. Today we went to a new park/playground that also had trails through the forest. After playing hard on the playground we went for a walk in the forest. Joel refused to be carried. I let him walk, but then tried to carry him when I thought he was getting tired. No. Can. Do. What a little trouper he is!! He wanted to walk and do it himself! This was not a flat trail, either--lots of hills, some pretty steep. We walked a total of about 2/3 mile and he walked every inch.

Tomorrow we'll be tackling Mt. Rainier. 14,000 feet, what do you say?

In case anyone was thinking about...

....reading Linda Berdoll's book, Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, I have one piece of advice. Don't. Its a "continuation" of Pride and Prejudice and takes up where Jane Austen left off, with the courtship, wedding and 1st few years of marriage. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, Ms. Berdoll likes to focus on one aspect of marriage, and wash it up with Austenesque language. Berdoll is much more explicit than Austen would ever dream to be. So after two chapters, I refused to read furthur. The Amazon reviews I read all liked the book, so I thought I'd give it a try. Big mistake.


Has anyone else found any worthwhile "Austen continuation" storytellers? (for lack of a better word)

Less Stuff

I read this article today in the Seattle Times. Its about a groups of gals who have vowed to not buy anything new for a year, except for food and items related to health and safety. (So they do buy tooth brushes and deoderant). Its pretty interesting and one that I have thought often about. I try to go by the Children's Hospital Thrift Store every now and then to see if they have any kids clothes for the boys. While there I sometimes find a household item or gift wrap item that I need too.

BK, (that's before kids, not Burger King), I used to do more garage sales. Often I would just happen to find things that were on my list to buy at Target. Such an awesome feeling. I love the "thrill" of the hunt.

I think its interesting read and a good idea to scale down the amount of "stuff" that we have.

One more thing...

Forgot to mention... remember the shoulder injury? Well, another funny thing. Exactly the day after I finally decided, that yes, I would have the shoulder surgery done, I find out I'm pregnant. Whoops! Guess that won't get done!

Any guess on my ER bill on Maui? We got the amount today. Not a bill, thank goodness as it is going to insurance.

Birthdays

Micah's birthday is in December. I tell everyone, don't have a baby in December (as if you can control it!) It gets very hectic with the holidays and wanting to make his birthday still special. Then there is the whole present overload issue. I used to hide some presents and dole them out during the year. But now that he is older he knows everything, keeps track of all presents given.

God has a sense of humor. Guess who is now pregnant and due November 30? Yup, me! Since my babies have a history of staying put in the womb; another December birthday is in my future.

I talked a bit about how I was dehydrated when we were on Maui. The reason I was dehydrated was because of the pregnancy, flying and not drinking any water (only diet coke b/c of nausea). It also doesn't help that they don't allow water through security; you must buy it in the airport. It was the most horrific experience I have ever had, and I do not wish it on anyone. I thought I was going crazy, my muscles were spasming, my eyesight was blurry, my heart rate would skyrocket and jump around. I remember looking at the doctor in the ER and having to push up my forehead in order to be able to look at him because my muscles were cramping so bad and forcing my eyes closed. They put 2 liters of fluid in me and I did not need to use the bathroom at all! We've had 2 ultrasounds since and baby is doing great!

What You Know About Math?

The math teacher in me couldn't resist posting this video.

Joel's First Haircut

Joel had his first haircut today! We go to a great barbershop nearby. They have toys on the side to play with if we have to wait and a tv with cartoons to distract during the haircut. The owner knows us and recognizes the boys when we come in. She was even careful to save some of Joel's hair for me. Best of all their prices are great.

We also planted Micah's vegetable garden this weekend. Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, salad mix, onions, and peas were on the menu. We also planted strawberries in the backyard.

Jars Of Clay- Dead Man Carry Me

I have always thought this song sounded just like the OK GO song, Million Ways (posted below). What do you think?

Ok Go -Million Ways

From the guys who did the treadmill dance--this was their first video. I love the fact that they turn on the camera themselves. Try to catch the Matrix reference.

We're Back!

We just returned this week from spending 2 weeks in Hawaii! It was a great time with fun times had by all. We spent 10 days on Maui, then the boys and I went to Oahu for 4 days to visit Jodi and HER boys. =)



Highlights from the trip:

• The first day was spent in the ER because I suffered from severe dehydration. NOT fun, I would not recommend that for anyone. More on this later.


• snorkeling at Molokini, a crater off the coast of Maui and swimming with giant sea turtles


• Warren and Annabelles magic/comedy show in Lahaina


• Drive to Hana


• Swimming at "Big Beach" in Makena and Micah getting stung by bees 3 times!


• Relaxing and playing with Jodi's kids; Micah saying "I will miss Josh".


• Taking the kids on the Pineapple Express train.


• When the kids woke at 4:30 (b/c of the time change) having Grandma and Grandpa there who were already awake!!
• I got to get a Dole Whip TWICE! I love this pineapple soft-serve ice cream. The only place I've found it is in Hawaii and at the Tiki Room at Disneyland.
• Haleakala crater. At 10,000 feet, it looks like the moon up there! Its one of the steepest drives in the US going from sea level to 10,000 feet in just 2 hours.
• Dinner by ourselves (sans kids) at the beachfront restaurant, I'O in Lahaina. It was delicious food. Thai Curry Asparagus Soup---yum!
• I was so impressed with myself that I drove us from the airport to Jodi's house from memory with no wrong turns!

Here are a few pictures from Oahu. The Maui picts are on the other computer. I've done all the toursity things, so we just hung out and did mom things like take the kids on the train, McD's playland, and the park. Its so great to have a friend you haven't seen in a year and it feels like you live next door. Love you Jodi! I'm so bummed that I didn't get any picts of Daniel!! Head over here to see some cute ones.

Can you believe that Josh took this picture of us? He is quite talented!!

WOW!

If you know Daphne, you need to go here and find out the SHOCK of their lives! My jaw hit the floor!

Question of the Day

Today is a wonderful day. Why? Because today marked the official end of March Madness. WOOO HOOO! (ducking right now for pillows being thrown at me from a certain somebody) Every March my favorite shows are pre-empted or moved around for College Basketball. Basketball is a sport we have never learned to watch around here. Although Micah says he likes it. He is tall for his age....

On to the topic at hand. There is a new and much anticipated episode of The Office airing this Thursday. I thought I would throw this out there:

What is your favorite episode of The Office and why? If you mention an episode from Season 3, do Susan a favor and type SPOILER at the top for her, so she knows to skip it.

Here is my favorite:
Hands down, it is The Injury. Watching Michael wallow in self-pity is just too funny. The scene in the van when Jim drives Dwight and Michael to the hospital was hilarious!

Radical Reformission

We are reading the Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll in a small group. This week a paragraph resonated with me.

"Arguably most Christians and churches prefer the past to the present or the future, because the past is over, while the present and the future still require a lot of work. A naive romanticism in each of us desperately wants to believe there was a time after Genesis 2 when the world was a wonderful place to live, when things were better and easier than they are today. This powerful delusion enables us to excuse our laziness and failure to be about reformission because of the difficult days we live in." pg 50

Recently, this idea that things were so much better 50 years ago has become so tiresome to me. I guess its because there is nothing you can do about the past, and like the quote says, it distracts us from what God has called us to do for the present and future. We live in a fallen world and we always will until God redeems the land. How do you expect fallen people to act?

Another irritating idea out there is that, and I'm paraphrasing, "we shouldn't let the culture into church, be in the world but not of the world." Would you say this to Hudson Taylor when he went to evangelize to the Chinese? Most misisonaries will tell you that before you can be effective in reaching those for Christ, you need to learn the stories of the culture and then relate the gospel in terms they will understand. This idea applies today to our American culture. You need all three: church + gospel + culture, to be relevant.

Random links

If you haven't seen I am Facing Foreclosure, you need to check that out. Wow! Take a page out of his book for "What Not to Do, Ever!" Aaron doesn't believe me that this guy is for real, but he even has his own Wikipedia page.

Short story: Basically Casey Serin was making about $50K /year as a website designer. He decided that his true calling in life was to be a real estate mogul. So he fudged a bit (alot??) on some loan docs and bought 8 houses in 8 months with no money down, looking to fix and flip. Well, if you don't sell the house within 30 days, then guess what? The mortgage payments comes due. Now he is about $2-3 million in debt. Go here to read the full background. The funniest thing about this site are the comments. After all that has happened to him he still does not have a real job and continues to think he can "get into" real estate.

*****
We have recently checked out the Highlights (kid's magazine) website. Lots of games, stories and crafts. The best part so far are the interactive hidden pictures. They are addicting, even for me!

Now I know why...

Have you come to the point in your life when you realize why ... your mom made stir fry? I reached that point tonight. Don't know what's for dinner? Hmmm, lets see what I have in the fridge and toss it in the frying pan. What do you call it? Dinner!

(I think only Jodi and Richard will find this mildly amusing, but maybe Daphne too)

Glimpses

We had some friends over to play the other day, Josiah (age 5) and Luke (age 3 1/2). They also have 2 younger brothers which makes for a busy momma!

They dressed up as cowboys and ran around with the stick horses. I gave them sheriff badges which were left over from Micah's birthday party. Too cute! The had a good time together and I had a good time catching up with my friend.

When it was time to go home Josiah mentioned the he wanted a stick horse too. His mom said that he could save his money to get one. Micah ran to his room and got down his frog bank (it is NOT a piggy bank, don't try to call it one) and told me he was getting money for Josiah so he could buy a stick horse. How could I say no to that? He gave Josiah two nickels, one for him and his brother.

Micah's generosity reminded me of my mom because that is something she would do. If she heard of a need she would think of a way that she could help. And sometimes if Micah looks at me in just the right way I catch a glimpse of my mom; something I just noticed a few months ago.

Prayer Gratefully Accepted **UPDATE**

UPDATE:
I talked to Jodi this evening and they are all home from the hospital. No one really knows what is wrong, BUT there is nothing they can do for him at the hospital. His oxygen levels are at 100 and there is nothing wrong with his heart or lungs. They are under orders to just watch him. He continues to have labored breathing and an accelerated heart rate. Please pray for REST for the whole family and that Daniel's respiratory system would mature so the scary breathing noises would cease.
************************
Would you take a minute and pray for Jodi's new baby Daniel? I talked to her on Sunday when she told me that he was laboring to breathe and his heartbeat was elevated. The took him to the ER where they admitted him and ran all the usual tests which came back normal. They are still at the hospital and they haven't figured it out yet.

You can check her blog (link at the right) for more info.

In Wonder

Written by Ric Knott, Steve Taylor and Peter Furler

So much wonder carved in your coral seas
So much wonder shaded by ancient trees
I consider all that your hands have made
Every newborn’s eyes, every new sunrise
No power can tame your presence
No light can match your radiance

LET ALL CREATION SING IN WONDER
EVERY SEA, EVERY CREATURE, EVERY STAR
YOU OPENED UP MY EYES TO WONDER
WHAT A VISION, WHAT A WONDER YOU ARE

Such a wonder, ordering time and tide
Such a wonder, bridging the great divide
I consider all that you had, all you gave
And all that you endured from this rebel world
What a wondrous cross you chose to bear
What a wonder you would even care

LET EVERY ROCK CRY OUT
LET EVERY KNEE BOW DOWN
YOU OPENED UP MY HEART TO WONDER
WHAT LOVE, WHAT A WONDER YOU ARE

No power can tame your presence
No light can match your radiance
Such a wonder... Such a wonder...

LET EVERY ROCK CRY OUT
LET EVERY KNEE BOW DOWN
YOU OPENED UP MY HEART TO WONDER
WHAT LOVE, WHAT A WONDER YOU ARE

Weowna Park

We have a beautiful old growth forest with trails that is a city park and is just outside our neighborhood. Not in the sense of a park with a playground, more like a national forest, but smaller and the city maintains the trails. There is a waterfall there too. When we first moved here, I was so impressed that we lived down the street from a waterfall. Last summer while doing training for the 3-Day walk, I learned that it was not a "real" waterfall, but a man-made waterfall. I was crest-fallen. The City of Bellevue even won an award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the waterfall. Instead of paving over the ditch and making an ugly, normal drainage ditch, they made it into a stream with a waterfall. It looks very real!

Try saying Weowna Park out loud to yourself. Once I was telling a friend about the park down the street from us. She had this strange look on her face. Then she said, you own your own park?

Yesterday the boys and I went on a walk to the waterfall. I took pepper spray with me, just in case. Micah saw me get it out and wanted to know what it was and what it was for. I explained that it was called pepper spray and that it was in case any bad men came along. On the walk down there, Micah says "I think all the bad men are sleeping", because he was expecting to use the pepper spray since we were taking it along. We walked along the trail in the woods and an older man came running by us. Micah saw him and was scared. "Mama! Where is the pepper spray?" I was very embarassed until I heard the man laugh. At least he has a sense of humor!

Book meme

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? I don't think I care too much

Amazon or brick and mortar? Brick and Mortar... when I have time to get there.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? I would have to say library. I guess B&N (ducking from Jodi) since I don't know where Borders is here.

Bookmark or dogear? Depends on what you define as bookmark. I use random pieces of paper lying around.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? Okay, anyone that knows me at all would know the answer to this question. RAndom!

Keep, throw away, or sell? I keep it if it is written by Jane Austen. Most books I get from the library. I would never throw a book away, however. I would give it away.

Keep dustjacket or toss it? Toss it. Definitely. Especially for kids books

Read with dustjacket or remove it? I would read with it until it gets lost or torn. It makes a good bookmark! Then throw away.

Short story or novel? Novel. Short Stories are too short for me. I always want more detail. =)

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? see above.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? I'm proud to say i've never read a Harry Potter book. (gasp!) (Now I'm ducking from Julie) I've actually never read Lemony Snicket either. Not interested. Is that kind of like saying you've never seen Star Wars ?

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? tired.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Once upon a time. I used to like mysteries but haven't read any in awhile.

Buy or Borrow? Borrow, see above comments about library.

New or used? Used, whenever possible. Preferably from the library.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? recommendation

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Tidy ending. Cliffhanger if it is a series.
.
Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?Afternoon and Nighttime. I try to read the Bible in the morning but usually by the time I'm awake enough my kids are awake.

Stand-alone or series? I think series because I don't like a good book to end. I tend to read one book from an author I like then reading everything that author has written.

Favorite series? Chronicles of Narnia

Favorite children's book? Goodnight Moon-I remember reading this before bed when I was a child. Miss Nelson is Missing--this is a hoot! I love you Forever--always makes me cry. Dr. Seuss, because I remember learning to read with Green Eggs and Ham. Micah loves Dr. Seuss now.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? hmmmm...

Favorite books read last year? The Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll, one of the few non-fiction books that I have read. I highly recommend it. A Grief Observed by CS Lewis was also a good one.

Favorite books of all time? Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Least favorite book you finished last year? If I don't like it I don't finish it, or really start it. I can't remember any that I didn't like.

What are you reading right now? Maui Revealed. We're going to Maui next month, woo hoo! If you ever go to the islands, I would highly recommend this series. They have some sights in their books that even the locals didn't know about. Their candor about different things have led to their books being pulled from shelves at some island bookstores. The author throws in humor, local legend and history which makes it very interesting to read.

Movie adapted from a book that you enjoyed more than the book? I'd have to say the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I don't know how many times I've tried to read them. So many. I could never get into it at all. I loved the movies, however.

Consider yourself tagged!

We have a winner!

So Daphne was correct and she is now crowned Queen of the Blog for today. Aren't you honored?

Our state does not have state income tax. yay!
But since Aaron earned $63 for "being" on The Office, (for standing around a convention hall and taking picts with John Krasinski), we had to pay $1 in state income tax to California. It cost $1.10 to mail the paper work in!

Cookie Anyone?

Remember this? Well it has come back to haunt us. I'll give a cookie for the first person to guess how. Well, not really, but you'll get praises and lauds and be crowned "King of the blog" for today.

I'll give you a hint. It involves a dollar.

Here's another hint:

Maybe "haunt" is too strong of a word. A better description is "annoyance". Its not really a big deal, just wanted to see if anyone could figure it out.

Happy Birthday!!

And another round of congratulations goes to Jodi!

Happy Birthday!

I hope that you find rest soon from your little baby birthday present. I wish I was there to hold and rock him for you!

Another 2boysmama!

Congratulations to Jodi and Jay, proud parents of a new little boy!!



Can't wait to meet him!

Chinese Broccoli Slaw

I couldn't resist posting this recipe because EVERYONE in our family inhaled it. Joel (1 year old) had 2nd and 3rd helpings. I couldn't believe how big of a hit it was. It called for chopped cabbage (coleslaw), but I substitued a premixed bag of broccoli slaw. This is a great way to get those green veggies in!

1/2 T soy sauce
2 t fresh ginger, grated (or you can use the powdered ginger)
1 1/2 T rice wine vinegar
1 t chopped garlic
2 t sesame oil
2 t lime juice
2 T mayonnaise

Mix all the ingredients well. Toss together with :

10 oz bag of broccoli slaw or shredded cabbage or coleslaw mix
2 green onions, chopped

Cover and refrigerate (30min-1 hour) to let flavors meld.
Optional: before serving toss in some toasted almonds.

(source: Saving Dinner)

At Bedtime

"Do you want me to rub it in (my goodnight kiss) so I can keep it in my heart and then I will remember you love me?"

DaVinci Code, part deux

The director of Titanic strikes again. If you haven't heard, he has filmed a documentary that claims, among other things, to have found a box containing Jesus Christ's bones, and the bones of his son. Read here for the story and here for a short rebuttal.


The documentary airs March 4 on Discovery Channel.

Sad Day for the Tree

Before (The doomed tree is the one in the foreground)
During. They cut the branches off, then he climbed up and cut 3 foot sections off all the way down.
I couldn't resist slipping this one in. Cowboy Joel.


Yesterday we had to cut down a Theodora Cedar in the front yard. During the wind storm the trees that fell towards our house sheared off the limbs on the front of our cedar tree. The cedar was precariously leaning and it was on a mound that was welling up on one side. We had an arborist look at it and he said we could prune it to balance out the loss of branches. BUT... we would need to keep pruning it every other year and never let our kids sleep in their rooms during a wind storm. Sadly, we decided to take out the tree then take a chance on it falling on the house.

A Theodora Cedar should have never been planted there in the first place. We looked it up and their limbs get to be 40-50 feet....it really spreads out!

Pictures soon!

A book not by Dr. Seuss???

The Exodus by Leon Uris

Yes, its true. I have finally read a book that is not by Dr. Seuss. I'm sure you're all wondering if I read anything else.

I have been trying to finish this book for about 2 1/2 years now. I would get stuck in the middle where it bogs down a bit and not finish. This time I plowed through and made it all the way to page 626!

I am not very good at book reviews, so bear with me. In high school I watched the screen adaptation of this novel and loved it. Years later, a friend and I were talking about the book and she let me borrow it. I since have bought a copy.

The Exodus is the story of the re-birth of the nation of Israel. The story is told through the eyes of an American nurse and several Israelis. The book takes place in post-war Europe where millions of displace Jews have no where to go because no one wants them. They are placed in refugee camps that are only slightly better than concentration camps.

The first half details the history of the Jews. First the holocaust told through a German girl who escaped to Denmark, and then told through a Polish boy who survived Auschwitz. Next it discusses the history of the Jews in Russia during the late 1800s, told through two Jewish brothers. There is so much rich history of Palestine that makes one understand currents events so much better.

I highly recommend it, even if it is 626 pages. The history is so easy to read since most of it you read through the eyes of characters, and there is a love story! =) It made me realize how persecuted the Jews have been throughout history. It wasn't just the Holocaust, that was just one of the many tragedies.

One thing I found very funny. Remember during the fall of Baghdad just a few years ago, that Saddam's minister of communications ( I forgot his name) got on the TV and announced to the world how Iraq was "winning" and they were "blasting away all the US tanks". All the while Iraqi soldiers were surrendering en masse. In The Exodus, numerous battles are detailed between the Israelis and surrounding Arab countries. Almost every time the Iraelis beat them handily and the Arabs would be broadcasting about their "great victory" , even after everyone knew they had lost mightily. I did not realize this great pride.

Reading about how Israel became a country makes you understand the conflicts that continues today.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

We have been married for 10 years today! What a difference a decade makes! I love you now more than ever. Thanks for being my friend, confidant and love.

Micah's new glasses

If you'll remember Micah was diagnosed with esotropia. He says that he can see better with his glasses and he doesn't squint anymore. Doesn't he look cute!!

Public Service Announcement:

Esotropia and amblyopia can be hard to diagnose. The literature I received from the ophthalmologist says that all children should have an eye exam by an ophthalmologist by age 4.

Milestones

Today Micah had his first official away-from-Mom playdate. He's been at friends' houses before, but it was because *I* needed to go somewhere, like the dentist. Today he is at his friends house so that *he* can play. Without me. I'm not sad... just seeing him grow up. The other day he told me he was almost 5.

"What?? You just had your birthday!"

"It's okay, mom. When I'm 5 I'll still give you snuggles, 6, 7, 8, 9 , 10 , 11, all those numbers I will give you snuggles. 12 14, 14, 16, 17 all those numbers too."

Sniff.

Joel's favorite toy is now a Gordon train from "take-along" Thomas the Train. He carries it around everywhere. It *almost* rivals tiger blanket. Almost. When he finds tiger you can see the dillemma going through his head. "I don't really want to put the train down... but it is my tiger...how can I carry all 3 things... I know! I'll put tiger in my mouth!" Then he joyfuly toddles around carrying one train part in each hand with tiger in his mouth. He calls Gordon "my guy". I am trying to get him to say train or Gordon instead. I think its working. Today at lunch he would say "bye bye twain" (or a g-word, maybe gordon?) and then move it back and forth like it was going somewhere.

Two sweet boys!

Check THIS out!

Oklahoma City-based Rocketplane Kistler will launch Temple into space as part of his grand prize for winning "Vanishing Point,” an interactive online puzzle created by Microsoft and Advanced Micro Devices.
"I never even thought I would actually win,” Temple said Monday. Temple received word that he won last week, and after making sure the call was legit, he started celebrating.
"I Googled Aaron's name,” Temple said of Aaron Coldiron, Microsoft's senior product manager and the mystery caller. "When I realized it was real, I stared dancing around my office saying, ‘I won, I won... The Daily Oklahoman Feb 13


Aaron was in Oklahoma City yesterday giving away the grand prize of a trip to space for the Vanishing Point game.

Read the rest of the article here.

You have to get this on your blog!

After reading this post about what crazy internet people can do, I decided to get site meter on here. I didn't realize you could track who was reading your blog this way. It is super duper easy to put on your blog with blogger beta. I realize that maybe I'm the last person in the universe to know about this tool, but hey... if one of you didn't know, check it out!

Scary

Don't want to sound the alarm bells, but you should definitely read this post about placing kids pictures on your blog.

Its been one year

Today marks one year that I have been without my mom. Grief is such a strange thing. Sometimes there are so many words inside but I don't know how to say them. Sometimes there are no words, just impressions. I feel it most acutely while watching my kids play and knowing I can't share this with my mom. She loved them so much, just as much I do, and she got so much joy from them. I just hurts to know I can't share her with Joel and that he will never know her. That just seems so strange to me, that someone so instrumental in your life will never know your child who is a large part of my life. Life is full of changes and I don't always like changes. When I was a child I cried because my balloon lost air and I knew I couldn't keep it forever.

I miss my mom, but I also miss my friend. That unconditional friendship where you can whine and complain and now that she'll still love you and you don't have to worry about it.

Following is the speech I gave at my mom's memorial service last year. That was also a strange thing. I do not like speaking in front of groups ( unless it is a group of 30 teenager where I try to cram math into their brains...). But I knew right away I needed to speak for her . When I wrote this out, the words just poured out of me. It was like someone else took over and wrote the words for me. It must have been the Holy Spirit.

--------------------------------------------


How do you sum up a life in 10 minutes? A lifetime of memories. I want to express to you today what was important to my mom, and what she would want you to know about her. I want you to know why she was so special to me.


Loving
It’s only recently, since I have had children of my own, that I have come to realize the depth of her love for my brother and me. All of those poopy diapers, late night feedings, clean ups, and sicknesses that you never know anything about as a child. As a mother myself, now I appreciate all of those things she did for me. She used to tell me when I was a child that I wasn’t getting married until I was 35. Of course, I just rolled my eyes and said “whatever”. Now I understand what she meant. She just loved us so much she couldn’t bear the thought of giving us up. More recently she had a new role in her life: that of Grandmother. She cherished this role and loved Micah and Joel very much. She called Micah, “her baby” and treated him like she was her child. I would take Micah to the TSC to eat lunch with mom and dad. Micah would get paraded around to meet everyone. Anyone who knew Sharon knew Micah and saw 10-12 pictures. In California, every so often I would get a phone call and it would be mom announcing she missed her baby and she was coming to visit.

Giving
My mother is one of the most unselfish and giving people that I know. She had a true servant’s heart. As my dad said, he just came to accept the fact that she would just give away all they had. I remember her saying frequently “oh well, its only money”. If she knew someone was in need, she would help them out. This included the small ways. She would give you the last cookie or go to the restaurant you wanted. She was generous with her time as well. People always came first. We lived in Southern California for 12 years. During that time if I ever asked her to come help me she was quick to jump on a plane and come. Now I am so grateful for those visits. I also remember her attending every event in my life, big or small, far or near.

Strong:
My mother was also a very strong person. I remember her as a drill instructor as a child. Several times I was sent back to clean the bathroom for a 2nd or 3rd time because it didn’t pass “inspection”. Discipline was swift and quick! I didn’t appreciate it at the time but now I do and I try to discipline and train my children as my mom and dad did to me. She started and ran a preschool at our church in Hawaii. It became one of the best preschools in the area with a long waiting list—due to her planning and organization. My mom’s strength was very apparent when she was diagnosed with cancer. She never looked back, she just asked, “okay, what are we going to do to fix it this time?”


Faithful
We put together some pictures and music that you will see. One of the songs is called “Blessed be the Name”. When I first heard it on the radio last year I instantly thought of my mom. I believe God gave me this song for today. Here are some of the lyrics:
Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful, where your streams of abundance flow. Blessed be your name when I’m found in the desert place, though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be your name. Blessed be your name when the sun’s shining down on me, when the world’s all as it should be, blessed be your name. Blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering, though there’s pain in the offering, blessed be your Name. Every blessing you pour out, I’ll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say: Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be His glorious name. You give and take away, my heart will choose to say blessed be Your name. “
Just like the verse from Job that Richard read earlier: through all the tumors and sickness with cancer never once did she blame God. She saw it as an opportunity to show how faithful God was to her. She chose to bless God. Paul said in 1 Cor 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” We see this lived out in my Mom. She had such a great attitude and the only way that was possible was through the relationship she has with Jesus Christ. Her faith was not a crutch, no, the Lord was her rock. I know without a shadow of a doubt, that today, as we remember her, she would want the focus not to be on her, but on the work of the Savior in her life. She would want you to investigate her faith and to know Jesus.

Closing:
Loving, giving, strong, faithful. That is my Mom.

What will I miss the most about my mom? I’ll miss her smile, her contagious laughter. I’ll miss the way she would be so excited for any good news I told her. I’ll miss my cheerleader and the shoulder to cry on. I’ll miss the unconditional love. Most of all I’ll miss her voice at the other end of the phone saying “hi, doll”.

Many of you had not seen my mom in recent months. Please know that’s ok. Her body and mind were shutting down. She wouldn’t have wanted you to remember her that way. Instead, remember her at work: full of life, bounding around the building, wanting to know everyone’s business. Remember her at church: playing the piano or clavinova, singing her heart out. Remember her at home: baking special dairy-free cookies for Micah, laughing, cross stitching, sewing, doing crosswords. Think of her as she is right now: a new body, finally rid of cancer, running and jumping, nothing hurting. Praise God! And that’s exactly what she is doing: basking in the glory of her Father; praising Him:

“Day and night they never stop saying: Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come.” Rev 4:8

When I was a kid I would ask a million questions. I drove my mom and dad crazy. Just ask my dad. Why is the sky blue? Why is the water salty? Why did God tell Noah to use gopher wood? Who wrote Hebrews? Mom would always patiently try to answer as many as she could or take me to the library to get a book. But when it got to the point where she couldn’t answer or find an answer she would say “well, one day when we get to heaven we can ask Jesus”. So, Mom, make sure you ask those questions for me. When I see you again, I’ll be sure to ask you!

We're back!

I want to be consistent about blogging again, but we were in Oklahoma City last week. We had a good time. Aaron had to go for work. Kind of. He signed up to go to a Best Buy in OKC and demo Windows Vista for customers. We found cheap tickets, so we went along too. It was nice to sleep in until 8:30 every day. It did snow one day and it was cold cold cold! Just when we finally broke out of our cold weather here.

We made it to the zoo and the Omniplex (a hands-on science center) and the natural history museum. Aaron and Grandpa even took the kids for a day so my MIL and I could go shopping sans kids. Yippee!

Other than the 2 hour delay with the airline and conjuctivitis for Joel and me, it was a great trip!

Freezer Full

I have to share with you my newest accomplishment, because it is so not like me!

I love going to those "prepare and freeze" dinner places. However, the cost is somewhat high (although at times it is completely worth it!) and sometimes hard to deal with food allergies. So I decided to try it myself.

Saving dinner (click on "freezer meals" ) has a new menu mailer called .... dum de dum...."Mega Menu Mailer". Lame-o brain-o name, but but is great little cook books that you can download. All the shopping lists are made out and instructions are laid out for you so it makes it oh so easy. Last week I bought and prepared 18 main dishes and stuck them in the freezer. They are ready to defrost and throw in the oven. It has made meal time so much easier and faster. I highly recommend this. Also if you haven't picked up her cook book, Saving Dinner, I really like that as well. Great recipes and the shopping lists and menu planning are already done. No casseroles here, lots of fresh meats and veggies. Makes it very easy for us to accomodate to no dairy.

Good News/Bad News

Oops! In my earlier post I said there was several rounds (plural) of good news, but I only mentioned one. Seems as we have lots of health related news around here:

Good News: We took Micah to a pediatric opthamologist (eye md) because he would squint one eye when doing close-up work. Turns out we caught this very early and it hasn't progressed to amblyopia (lazy eye ) quite yet. He has estropia which is where the eyes muscles don't work together, so one eye turns inward. At first the doctor said he might need surgery, but after dialating his eyes, he said his problem could be corrected with glasses alone. We are off to Costco to get Micah glasses tonight. Bifocals, no less!

Bad News: After another round of blood tests for food allergies, the doctor doesn't think he will outgrow his food allergy. His numbers are unchanged after 2 years. 85% of children outgrow milk allergies, but 15% do not. I guess he is that 15%. This was kind of depressing for me to think about. BUT if this is the worst health issue I have to deal with for him, then I am very thankful!!!

Help on Vanishing Point

Those of you who are trying to play the vanishing point game; here is a site with help on the puzzles. If you want to check out, you only have until Saturday!

www.vanishingpointwiki.com

Have fun!

Good News

We have several rounds of good news around here.

I don't need shoulder surgery; at least it is not immediate! I injured my shoulder when I was 8 months prego with Joel by falling down the stairs and catching myself with an outstretched hand. I did that so I wouldn't fall on my belly. Baby was fine, but I dislocated my shoulder. It popped back in on its own. However, if I moved my arm in a certain way it would dislocate again. But with newborn baby and my mom's health, my shoulder was quite low on the list. In November Aaron convinced me to see a doctor after it popped out again.

After an MRI, turns out I tore the cartilege that keeps your shoulder in the socket. Doctor thinks that physical therapy to build up the muscles should work very well for me. (I have loose joints, apparently.)

Interesting blog I found

I found this blog after clicking through different links on some posts. Here is the original post I read.

This is the blog I found. It is a blog of a homeless man in Nashville. He writes it at the library, lest you think he has a computer. I think it is very interesting to see the story of a homeless person and read their perspective.

pictures!

Daphne and Dave with us in Vegas

Playing in the Snow

Micah and Dadddy sledding down the cul de sac. See that mass of snow/tree branches in the background? Yes, that still was the tree that fell down (before Christmas). They finally cleaned that up last week.

I highly recommend visiting the Ross on the strip. I found these brown cords for... can you see it? $2.99. The original price tag says $54.00. It is across the street from Circus Circus.

Vegas, Baby!

So I'm sure by now that I've lost all my readers (there are sooo many!). Here is a recap of where we've been.

Aaron's mom was nice enough to stay an extra week to watch the kiddos so that I could join Aaron at CES in Las Vegas. I was able to go Friday-Tuesday (after Tuesday). It was so nice to be able to relax and not do dishes or clean up after anyone except myself. We were able to stay at the Venetian which was a VERY nice hotel! All the rooms are suites, and the size of the room rivals the size of our first apartment.

We went to two shows: Tony and Tina's Wedding and The Beatles' Love. At Tony and Tina's wedding it was like you were really at a wedding complete with scantily clad stepmother and drunk priest. It was a improv show, so the characters interacted with us as if we were the guests at the wedding. It was alot of fun. The Beatles show was a Cirque du Soleil show. It had some great imagery to accompany the digitally remastered songs.

Aaron was very busy working, but it was nice for me to meet the people that he works with and to see first hand the project he has been working on for so long. He has been working on a viral marketing campaign for Windows Vista which launches the end of this month. It is an online puzzle game you can see at www.vanishingpointgame.com. It has some Myst-like puzzles. The grand prize is a trip to space! The kick-off to the game was during CES at the Bellagio fountain show. They "took over" the fountain show and used it to display clues to the puzzles. In fact every week since then there have been real-world events that have clues to the puzzles you solve online. Here is a link to the fountain show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4DYmsqq8ug It cuts out the beginning of the fountain show which looks like the normal show set to the song "This Kiss". If you go here you can see the rest of the events that have happened this month. Click on one of the puzzle boxes, then click on the button that says "puzzle box (1, 2, 3, 4) unlocked". There is one event left, next week which is the finale in Seattle.

It is so great to see what Aaron has been working on for the past year come to fruition. Its been getting some press. Yesterday Aaron went to the fox studio for an interview for the Sunday talk show. [Aaron's boss did the interview] The company that is providing the trip to space is called Rocketplane. Aaron researched and found this company which is acutually out of Oklahoma City. It is so awesome to see Aaron's hard work be shown and appreciated which doesn't happen very often.

While we were in Vegas, I unexpectantly was able to see Daphne and Dave! So fun to see them!So nice to see old friends. There is nothing better than being able to pick with old friends just like you had seen them yesterday!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Grandma should get "Grandma of the year award". Joel was coming off an ear infection and Micah came down with one while we were gone. Aching ear and dramatic 4 year old does not bode well even when mom is home. I guess he cried at the top of his lungs for 3 hours "I want my mama!". She said they got their prescription filled VERY fast!

The DAY after Grandma leaves,would you know it, I come down with THE WORST case of food poisoning. It was my own fault,which makes it worse, I ate something I knew I shouldn't . NOT FUN! Then a snow storm hits keeping us at home for the most part since Aaron took the 4WD to work. We have just been slammed with bad weather this year! The snow stuck around for more than a week. Our streets had a few inches of ice on them. It was fun at first, but cabin fever definitely set in.

So, here we are. My month in a nutshell.

Christmas Cards

Now that Christmas is over, what do you do with all your cards and pictures that you received in the mail?

I think I might try what a friend in California does with her cards. Each week (I'm not sure how often), the kids pick out a card and they pray for that family. Maybe write that family a short note letting them know that they were prayed for that week. I thought it was a good idea to use all those pretty cards that you receive and a good way to remember to pray for your friends and family!

What do you do with your cards?

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.