Super Sunday

Ethan came down with yet another ear infection last week. I think he's had about 5 since August so we have a referral to go see an ENT at Children's. Everyone I've talked to says that tubes are wonderful, so I'm wondering what the downside could be? A couple of days later, he's on antibiotics and still running a fever, then throws up. Great, a virus on top of it all. Guess who he decided to share it with? Why do they have to share everything with mom? So now I'm down for the count and have to miss out on the Superbowl. The thing I'm sad the most about is missing out on Micha's spinach artichoke dip. And pizza. Oh, yah and friends. :-) Three things I don't get very much . So Micha, you'll have to make it again when I'm not hanging out in the bathroom.

The time leading up to the superbowl makes me sad, because it was the last time I saw my mom. We had a huge superbowl party here that year because the Seahawks were playing and my mom was here. She died a few days later.

What is it with our kids?

When Micah was about 3, shortly after Joel was born I awoke to hearing him saying "I have poopy on me, I have poopy" Great, another poop accident to clean up. I reluctantly get out of bed to clean him up in the bathroom only to find him at the sink with BLOOD ALL OVER HIS FACE! Apparently, he didn't know what blood was and called it poopy. He had found one of my razors and was attempting to "do like Daddy does" and shave his face.

Well, fast forward about 3 years to tonight. I hear footsteps back and forth upstairs, but quietness. I'm cleaning up the kitchen, so I ignore him because he's quiet. 1st mistake. He is continuing to make noise, Aaron goes upstairs to put him back to bed. I go up a while later after I still hear him running around. Joel runs into the bathroom and he has blood all over his mouth. He had someone found a razor and tried to shave and cut his lip.

Geez, when am I going to learn to lock up my razors?

Vision Forum?

I'm reading a book called Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna. It is really good so far, although I've only read a few chapters. Its based on research on what works to raise kids who follow Christ. I'd encourage anyone to read it and then email me what you think!

Anyway... I was looking up reviews on Amazon and then on another book... etc... a rabbit trail later let me to Vision Forum. Have you heard of this? It definitely has cultish-like tendencies. There is a link on the main page to read their doctrinal statements. Sounds like they have mis-interpreted many scriptures. The big one I noticed is that women are to be silent. As in, never talk during a church service. Even to introduce someone who is visiting.

Anyway, I've probably opened a big jar or worms, but wanted to see what you guys thought.

Oklahoma

We've been in Oklahoma visiting family for Christmas. We left Christmas Day amidst a foot of snow. We drove to the airport so we could park in long-term parking. Well, we didn't even think about making a parking reservation. There was no room at the inn for us! We drove around for about 30 minutes and Micah became increasingly agitated. So I told him to pray for us. The next place we went to had a sign out which said "lot full", like the others. We pulled up and asked the attendant if there was any way we could squeeze in. Since we had kids I think he had mercy on us and found a spot for us! Thank goodness!

Our flight was uneventfull and we arrived about midnight on Christmas day. The kids were really very good on the flight.

We've had a good time visiting with friends and family and going to the zoo and science museum. It has even been about 75 a couple of days. One day it was about 73 and about 4 hours later it was 32. The weather here is so schizophrenic!

Yesterday we went to Seminole to a Children's musuem. The whole way there Micah was saying, "we are in the middle of NOWHERE!" I don't think he believed we were really going anywhere fun. We got there and the museum was very fun. We were the first people there and so I left my diaper bag on the coat rack. Two hours later we returned and I discovered my wallet missing. I know, I shouldn't have done that, but I have done that countless times in Seattle. I started searching through the garbage cans, looking to see if they just tossed it in. I'm not sure why I thought of that so suddenly, but I'm glad the holy spirit brought it to mind! I immediately found in the trash can. All that was missing was 2 credit cards and 2 debit cards. My license, cash, stamps and Starbucks card were still in there! The cash was in a separate compartment, so they must have been in a hurry. Since we realized it so early, we were able to cancel the cards right away with no damage done. I'm so glad I have my driver's license for the plane ride back!

One cute Micah story:
Micah: "Mom, what does 'fall in love' mean?"
Me: Where did you hear that?
Micah: "Oh, from Wall-e. I think I fell in love with Ethan."

Christmas Day

I got a Flip Video recorder for Christmas. It is SO cool, and I love it. Here is what Christmas Day looked like for us. Like a postcard.

Am I missing something?

Do you understand this? No, really, click on it.

Did I miss the boat on hot holiday gift items? Did Baby Einstein puppets suddenly become all the rage? Is there a logical reason why a pig puppet would cost $149.95????

I'm making a puppet theatre for Micah for Christmas. He loves Baby Einstein (still!) so I looked online to find puppets. I was shocked! Then I decided to look at the official Disney website, thinking that I wouldn't be able to find them there since they were so high-priced on Amazon. Maybe they were discontinued. No, they are $7.99 on Disneyshopping.com. What's the deal?

Advent Conspiracy

Many thanks to Karen for posting this. I hope you find this as inspiring as I did!

Random Stories

Ethan came down with a double ear infection yesterday. His fever spiked to 104.5! I'm so glad I had called earlier in the day and scheduled an appointment. Our clinic is open on weekends for urgent care. Its really nice that they have that so you can take your child to see a pediatrician and not some random doc. It also turned out our regular doctor was even working! I love our pediatrician. I love her so much its getting to the point where I might not tell you her name if you live locally. =) It's getting harder to get in to see her. When she examined Ethan she said she hoped he had an ear infection with a fever that high. If he didn't she would want to do more tests--she didn't say it but I suspect spinal tap. Whew, I'm so glad it was just the ears. She had me give him a double dose yesterday evening and by this morning his fever was completely gone! Gotta love Omnicef!

The other day Joel climbed into bed with us in the morning. He was holding Aaron's hand and kissing it. He gave Aaron a big smile. Very sweet moment. Then he reared back and hit Aaron on the mouth as hard as he could! So if you ever come over and Joel wants to wrestle, then you know that he really likes you!

We started a sticker chart for Joel. He is still tantruming and we think he's old enough to be tapering off, especially since his verbal skills are so good. If things don't go how he planned or someone messes with the plan he had in his head he will throw a huge fit. We're working on him verbalizing why he is upset instead of screaming/yelling/crying to get his way. So we told him everyday he didn't throw a fit he would earn a sticker. Once he earned 4 stickers we would have movie night. So tonight we're watching Finding Nemo. I'm sure once we're done with tantrums with Joel it will be just in time for Ethan to start up. Joel started at 15 months.

I just finished You'll Never Nanny in this Town Again by Suzanne Hansen. I found it at the library and thought it looked interesting. Its the memoir of a gal who was a nanny in Hollywood in the late 80s. It was an interesting, quick read but not one that I would recommend. Good for an airplane and you need a mindless book.

Election, smelection

There is a small event happening tomorrow. Maybe you've heard? There is an election going on here in our corner of the world. I'll be glad when its over and I stop getting so much junk mail. Really, does anyone read it? I don't even read it because I just assume its incorrect. Its goes straight in recycling. What a waste of money and resources.

Now for the important perks of voting: free cup of coffee at Starbucks (pun intended)!

Agathos

Last Saturday we had an opportunity to go to a dinner hosted by the Agathos Foundation. This foundation was started by a man who lives in the Seattle area, but is a native of South Africa. He was shocked at the crisis facing orphans in Africa because of AIDS so he decided to do something about it. Agathos holds conferences to educate pastors in Africa and teach them what the Bible says about the responsibility to care for orphans. The pastors then pledge to care for the orphans and widows in their village. The church is matched with a first world church that helps the village form an orphanage and help it become self-sufficient.

I was shocked at the conditions in Zimbabwe. Unemployment is at 80%. We get upset here if unemployment is at 6%. 10% of the entire population are orphans under age 18.

Agathos is also doing some exciting new things, including a for-profit venture. One of the problems is that the governments are very corrupt and don't provide basic services like keeping up the infrastructure. This makes commerce and business very hard. So they are starting a ferry service on Lake Victoria to help open avenues for business and trade. It seems so basic that you have to remind yourself this is the 21st century.

If you are looking for some year-end giving, I would urge you to look at this organization.

Tagged!

So I got tagged twice, by Rebecca and Karen, so I guess I'd better do it!

Seven Random Things about me:

1. I don't like to eat eggs plain. I must eat them with things added in like veggies, salsa, bacon, sausage, etc. Anything to take away that straight egg taste. The bacon and sausage don't even have to be cooked into the eggs.

2. If the floors of my house are clean then I feel much much much better. I'm very crabby when there are crumbs and cheerios on the floor (which is much of the time!) The rest of my house can be a wreck, but if my floors are clean, then somehow the rest doesn't bother me too much.

3. I ate a bologna/cheese/mustard sandwich just about every day for lunch from Kindergarten to Senior year. Now you couldn't get me to touch bologna with a 10 foot pole!

4. My Great-Grandfather on my mother's side rode with the Dalton Gang.

5. I've never seen a Rocky or Rambo movie in its entirety.

6. When I was a kid I never wore shoes outside to play. The soles of my feet were so tough I could walk across black asphalt during midday sun in summer without flinching. I totally get the walking on hot coals thing.

7. I've recently got into Thai cooking. Its actually very easy and fast!

I want to tag Jodi and Erin, just because I think they are entertaining to read!

Stressfull Dreams

I had a dream last night that I was voting. And I couldn't get the punch to punch out at the correct spot. And then the CHADs kept sticking. I was very stressed. Then I was thinking why do we still have voting cards with CHADs? Then I remember thinking I should have signed up to vote absentee so I'd have more time to do this. Ugh. I was very stressed. Don't you hate stressful dreams? I haven't even thought about voting, so I don't know why I had that dream, and we have the fill-in-the-bubble type ballots. No CHADs.

Then I dreamt that Aaron bought a foreclosed apartment-home for $1. It had a GORGEOUS view. Awesome view. It was disgusting inside. I was stressed in that dream too b/c of the mess.

Don't you hate it when you wake up stressed and not rested?

First Step!

Ethan took his first step un-assisted today!!! I couldn't get him to repeat his feat, but I did witness that first wobbly step!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

On Sunday we met up with our college friends Jun and Amy with their two daughters at a local farm. Their daughters are Micah and Joel's age, so it is very fun. The oldest, O, is in a Japanese immersion kindergarten, so it was fun to compare notes! =) Micah and O get along famously. We have pictures from when they were 2 years old, holding hands. Unfortunately, when we got to the pumpkin patch we realized there were no batteries in the camera. Jun took lots of photos, so we'll have to wait for those.

We've been to this particular farm for several years now. They have a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, a hay maze upstairs in the barn and a pumpkin trebuchet. What's a trebuchet you might ask? Glad you did. Kind of like a catapult. The farmer loves to give a physics lesson before setting it off. The pumpkin splatters into several pieces then the kids run over to pick up the pieces and feed them to the pigs.

We went to college with Jun and Amy at Biola (which is in LA). Now Aaron and Jun work together. And not just at the same company, because it's huge, but actually work together! Such a small world!

Joel-isms

I thought I would document these cute Joel sayings before they go away.

Why-come? "Mama, why-come we are going to the store?"

Goody "The candy is goody for me," or from Veggie Tales, "Pizza Angel, please come to me, sauce and cheese so goody!"

Chuck E. Jesus

Curried Pumpkin-Apple Soup

I found this recipe in Family Fun magazine. It is very yummy, filling and contains ingredients I normally have on hand. I usually serve it with biscuits. I sub the heavy cream with soy milk and it tastes great. The curry just gives it a great flavor, it isn't spicy. My kids love it! Great Autumn soup.

2 T butter
1 c onion
1 c chopped celery (I sub about 1 t of celery seed)
1/2 large apple, peeled, cored and chopped (i don't peel it--too much work)
2 t mild curry powder
3 c chicken broth
1 can pumpkin
1/4 t salt plus more to taste
1 bay leaf
1/3 c heavy cream
2-3 T honey or maple syrup

sour cream and chives for garnish if desired

Melt butter in a medium size soup pot. Sitr in the onion, celery and apple. Partially cover the pot and saute in the ingredients over medium-high heat until the onion is clear, about 8 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and saute the mixture for another minute. Sitr in 1 cup of chicken broth and cook it for 1 minute more.

Pour the content of the pan into a blender or food processor, add the pumpkin, and puree the soup until it's smooth. [OR use a submersible blender right in the pot--MUCH easier. If you like to make soup, this makes the process sooo sooo sooo much easier and less messy. I highly recommend this kitchen gadget. It also makes great, smooth pudding. ] Pour it all back into the pot, then stir in the remaining chicken broth, salt and bay leaf. Set the soup over medium-high heat and bring it to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

After 5 minutes, stir in the heavy cream (or other milk substitute) and 2 T of honey. Add more salt or honey to taste. Serve with sour cream and chives if desired. Note: Do NOT use soy creamer as a substitute. Soy creamer has extra sugar in it and makes the soup taste funny.

Seattle Marathon, here I come!

So, I did it. I registered for this. Granted, I'm doing the half marathon. AND I'm walking it to boot. But its a start, gosh darn it! I figure if I can walk 60 miles, then I can do a measely 13.1!!

Furniture Moving

Two weekends ago we moved rooms around. The office/guest room is now in the basement and the toy room is now where the office used to be. If you haven't been to our house, we have a room off of the kitchen that we have used as an office because that is what the last owner had it as. We have a small basement that until late was sort of a "catch-all" room, mainly filled with toys. We wanted it to be a rec room, but its not really large enough for that. Aaron also built in some book shelves/cabinets/sewing table when we first moved in, which didn't really go with the whole rec room theme. So we put the desk and day bed down there and brought all the toys upstairs. Wow. I don't know why in the world we didn't think of this sooner! It's quiet down there making it much easier for Aaron to work from home. Now we can sweep the toys into the toy room and shut the door. A remodel that didn't cost a dime.

The OKC Thunder

Am I the only one that when I see this, all I can think of is Chick Hicks? Ka-Chiga Ka-Chiga Ka-Chiga....

***enter deafening silence***

come on you mothers of boys who have the movie memorized like me (cough Jodi cough cough)

Sarah Palin

So I'm not going to talk about politics. More importantly, what is up with the accent? I know several Alaskans and none of them say "you betcha". Is she really from Minnesota?