The other day I was up really early, I can't remember why. I was in the kitchen and Jane walked in and gave me a hug. She was smiling and kind of laughing. I asked her what was up and why she was awake. She said that Sadie kept laughing in her sleep and it woke her up. Then she heard Sadie giggle and say (in her sleep mind you), "I don't think blue hair was a good idea." Last night was our ward Christmas party. Jane played a solo on her flute, "The First Noel." She did a beautiful job, so calm playing for over 200 people. I am so excited with her progress and love of the flute. We played little Christmas duets (me on the piano) for about 40 minutes yesterday afternoon. Ellyn was watching a movie, but she kept coming over and pulling my head toward her and giving me big smooches right on the mouth. It was so cute and I loved it, but I also knew after a few such kisses that she had a motive. Ellyn gives kisses when she doesn't want you doing w...
Uneventful, but good. I include last night as well actually. Mike and I stayed up till 1 a.m. Something we never do these days. At about 11:30 Mike made us delicious Buffalo Wings. I think we broke the rule about eating after 8:00, oh, and it was so worth it. This morning at 6:00 I have to admit that I was kind of grumpy. I think I made it up to Jane when I didn't give her the third degree when she called to ask me to bring her gym clothes, yet again, that she had left at the back door. Sadie reminded us that today was College Day and so we were scrounging around for college gear. Mike did not want to send his UW baseball cap off to school with the girl that came home yesterday without her coat. We found a Georgia Tech cap. Phew. Mike watched Sawyer while Beth and I ran. We only ran 4 miles, tomorrow we are running either 10 or 11. Last week's ten was very tiring and besides a quick work out yesterday I have not run this week due to crazy schedules, Ellyn staying...
I have not been posting lately and I know I am going to regret it. These are the days when you blink and your little ones are all grown up. I am having quite the time trying to juggle all things important in life. Keep running, drop laundry. Do laundry, drop blogging. Do blogging, drop spending quality time with my husband. Spend quality time with husband, drop dishes. Do dishes, drop Tuesday morning with girlfriends. See where this is going? That is just the day to day. It does not include holidays or prep for the holidays, or anything out of the ordinary that life throws our way. So blogging has gone by the wayside. I am also in a quandary when it comes to my blog. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface, that there is so much more going on. This is supposed to be my means of journaling as well as scrapbooking but I feel like it's the cheese and crackers instead of the feast. Partly for time's sake. Writing takes time, and partly because I know that pe...
pics from the californ-i-a Thanksgiving I’m being spurred on here by Brooke’s post. Been meaning to do this all week, but life is crazy you know. it wasn’t really hard to know what we were thankful for this Thanksgiving… SUN! (or, at least temps in the 60’s). I, personally, have never spent any real time in this area, so this was an absolute blast. Brooke and Mike are a riot like always – seriously providing a home away from home. So needed. So grateful. Thanks so much for the fun. Anywho…. a couple snaps: trees like this actually do exist. absolutely unreal. Dennis the Menace grew up in these parts. Jack’s in serious heaven… stuff like this just ain’t growin’ in the backyard at home. Really?… did this happen in this life? The coast is amazing here. Benn pretending she’s an eclipse Yep. She’s still a cute niece from this angle too Hazel helping take care of little Ellyn… Helpful Hazel is her name. Lame sunset over the Pacific. Almost looked like it was in HD. Mike’s l...
I do not foresee any change of pace from now until we leave for Christmas and life is BUSY! This week I am attempting to catch up on everything I totally blew off while Meags, Cory, and kids were here. Laundry, bills, returning phone calls, cleaning, all that crap. My oh my did we have fun with the Allen family. The Lowdown- 1. Saturday night the Allens arrive and we visit and play 2. Sunday- We pack a picnic and go out to Lover's Point for lunch. Kids play on the rocks and down on the beach. We come home and go to church and then have a big pot roast dinner. 3. Monday- We take Cory up to see our house in the valley. We picnic at the meadow and then drive down to Asilomar to enjoy the tide pools (Mike had to work Monday and Tuesday). 4. Tuesday- I took Meagan down to Carmel and showed her around, we made a big trip to Costco, then I babysat (which Cory did in the morning) while Meags and Cory went down into Carmel. Game Night- Ticket to Ride. 5. Wednesday- We drive down 1 ...
1. I love his sense of humor. It is dry, I still sometimes don't catch it all. He makes me laugh all the time. 2. I love that his fingernails are ALWAYS short. There are benefits to nail biting. 3. I love that he has interests that he is passionate about. 4. I love his intelligence. He is always learning something. 5. I love that he is an intuitive cook. 6. I love that he is a really good driver. 7. I love that he is tall and buff. 8. I love that he is brave. I always feel safe and protected. 9. I love that he is a good leader. 10. I love that he is moral. 11. I love that he likes to hang out with me over anything and anybody else. 12. I love that he trained for the marathon with me. 13. I love that when he is deployed he makes a greater effort than any other husband I have ever heard of to call me and email me. 14. I love that he loves to read. 15. I love that he loves to travel. 16. I love that he makes the bed. 17. I love that he is a good kisser. 18. I love that he loves to ...
I am so happy that today is Thanksgiving! Our cousins are here, Christmas music is playing, and there is the smell of delicious food cooking! We have been having so much fun with the cousins here and I can't wait to go to Washington for Christmas. A few things that I am thankful for are, family, home, Christmas, friends, safe place to live, I am a member of the church, etc... I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!!!
Watching 3 thirteen year old girls (we added another to the crew) and a seven year old giggle their way through New Moon along with an audience doing the same was hilarious. This one was much better than Twilight, no comparison when it comes to special effects. A fun night had by all. Yesterday I cleaned the house and today I am just trying to keep it clean until tonight when the Allen arrives. Is that how you spell Allen? Is it sad that I'm drawing a blank on my sister's last name? I am going to try to put up Christmas before they get here, but right now I am going to take Sawyer and lay down for a little snappy nap. Mmmmm....Saturdays. My running buddy is ill and so we missed our long run this morning. I am hoping to go this afternoon. We'll see. I chopped Sawyer's hair today, it is cute but I'm a little sad. I know it will grow and he really likes it and so does Mike (Mike liked it both ways). I think I am growing it right back out. Okay, typing this o...
I am embracing the silliness and taking two teenagers and Sadie to New Moon tomorrow night. Mike has committed to babysitting the two youngest and it is a "Girls' Night Out." I was invited to two others but they are for Saturday night and I can't possibly go BECAUSE MEAGAN AND CORY AND ALL MY CUTE NEICES AND NEPHEWS WILL BE HERE. YAY!!!! We bought our tickets on Fandango. We will not be missing out. We are pretty psyched!
A while back I had to find a home for our trusty, solid, black stool from Ikea. Sawyer was taking advantage of the places he could go when it was left helpfully resting near "the canee cupboard." It is now tucked under my desk in the little office area outside my kitchen. I pull it out and put it back as needed. Sawyer can scooch it once it is out, he can however, only pull it out with great difficulty and only starts the pull to show me that he wants to help wash dishes. Unfortunately, Sawyer has discovered the lightweight footstool in the bathroom. He is also rapidly expounding on its many uses. Day 1-3, used to look into the kitchen sink. Today, set against the counter below the "canee cupboard," THEN Soy Boy proceeded to stand on the stool and then use the door handles on all of the drawers (nice and sturdy old drawers and handles) to scale his way up and onto the counter, open the cupboard and dive into the dried mango. So... I did not return the stoo...
The wind shakes the trees and howls in the night Birds fly across a huge blue blanket of sky that is turning dark with clouds Water splashes as it cuts through hills and mountains An ocean crashes on the sand roaring like thunder Rain pours down making mud of dirt The waves become rough and wildly toss themselves to and fro Thunder booms and lightning lights the almost black sky It rains all night. And all day It smells of moist earth And salty sea air Roses are dripping with water Grass grows taller, more green After the storm
There is not much going on around here. Jane recorded her audition tape for Honor's Band today, we hear back on Saturday. Sadie finally went back to school this morning after staying home Monday with a cough that will not quit. Mike continues to have sleep issues and woke me up at 3:30 am to show me an SNL skit of Firelight (poking fun at Twilight, the Cullens are Frankensteins instead of vampires). It was hilarious and I'm glad I saw it. Ellyn walked really well on our Sunday walk at Point Lobos on Sunday. She walked the whole time and we were very proud of her. Sawyer walked the entire time as well. He insisted on keeping his hands in his pockets for about a quarter of the trip. It was pretty funny. He is also adjusting to falling asleep in the jogging stroller while I run (Beth pushes because she is so much faster than I am and it slows her down a little). Luckily he wakes up early enough that he is ready for a nap. Nothing else too fabulous. I did go do downto...
The front is layered around her face but the rest is all one length. We are both pretty sick of layers. We've had them for too long, so we're trying to get rid of them, in style or not. Jane is not a fan of this pic so I'm sure I'll be posting more within the near future. She was so sick of the knots and tangles and dry mhblah at the bottom (her word, not mine). It's really cute and I'm so relieved that she doesn't regret cutting it.
Here it is. I'm so proud of my husband. He is amazing in more ways than I can count. The Army is dang lucky to have him and so am I. First I get to take off Mike's Captain Rank and replace it with Major Rank. I've just done this and now we are listening to Mike's new responsibilities. I get to give him a hug and kiss. Oath of Office Our good friend, Vince, standing between Mike and myself. Our other good friend, Jason, on the very end. The kids? Sitting in the van two parking spots away. We kept the sickies out of the pics. They will all thank us later.
Yeah, we are quarantined at our house. H1N1, although we have not been officially tested Jane's school made the news- 182 students home sick. There must have been quite a bit of spit swapping at the Halloween dance Friday night. JANE!!!! Ellyn is as healthy as a horse, but since the rest of the family is is down we thought we should be socially responsible and keep her home just in case. Jane is recovering, she still had a low grade fever last night and a cough and a sore throat this morning. Sadie seems better this morning but is still on meds. She was miserable last night, a high fever, having to take a warm bath (which did not feel warm to her)to break said fever, throwing up all over the floor while trying to go to the bathroom. Not a favorite Sadie day. Her good daddy took care of her and slept with her all night long, keeping an eye on her fever. Sawyer is all low energy and a mucky cold. He seems happy enough. So we are hoping that Mike had a version of this last we...
Jane is sick. She has a temperature of 103. Out of 368 ish students at her school 144 of them were either home sick or left school sometime during the day with flu-like symptoms. The CDC has not confirmed Swine Flu but has told us that we can all assume it is the swine flu. I'm thrilled and cannot wait for this to make its way through the fam. Jane is hating life. She has taken up residency on the chaise in the corner of the living room. She lays there and moans and drinks gatorade, orange jell-o, and chicken broth. She has been a sweetheart. Sadie came home sick from school today. They called while I was out running 6 miles(with my new running partner who is incredibly fast and smokes my butt). Jane answered, she had them call Mike. Mike was in class, he was none too pleased. He talked to Sadie on the phone, he told her she was not sick after listening to her complaints (she pulled the sick card on me last week, totally not sick). I was to call the school upon my retu...
Our shrunken heads. Gross huh? My front entry. I think it looks better in real life. Our mummy candles. I know, I can't believe I did multiple crafts with my kids all in one month. It is so unlike me. Jane and Edie get a little violent. Green pumpkins are not made for carving Daddy, Sawyer, and Sadie scoop. Sawyer loved working on their pumpkin. Ellyn chose to hang out in her jammies on the couch. She occasionally wandered over to check out the progress. Our finished pumpkins- we are not experts. What face is Sadie pulling? Oh, that one. We followed up the night with caramel apples and Rear Window. We had to finish the movie Saturday morning because we all fell asleep. We started carving the pumpkins at 9:20, after the girls got home from the dance. Sadie as Giselle. Call me a pageant mom, but she looks so pretty. Ellyn was Laura Ingalls Wilder, our little pioneer girl. She did not cooperate with pictures. She did love eating all the candy though! Sawyer made great ...