Vitality Revisted

The master in the ART of living makes
little distinction between his work and his PLAY,
his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body,
his information and his recreation, his love and his religion.
He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does,
leaving others to decide whether he is WORKING or PLAYING.

To him he's always doing both.


by James Michener


I loved this qoute that I found on a scrappin blog. It reminded me of my keyword for the year....Vitality. This morning when we walked to school the sun was shining on our faces and lighting up the morning with the energy of a new day. Noah and I took a bike ride this morning as well. It just feels good to have spring winking at us. It felt good to be out, in the sun and ready to enjoy a new day. looking forward to the goodness it will bring.

Lost

Can we talk Lost for just a moment. I do love this show. I love the character driven plots, the character development, the redemptive quality to the show. I love that on the island they get to be what they were not back home. They get to step up and be a leader, be good, be an action taker, be a hero. I love that the co-creator is still involved and has an end to reach and you can see that they are still following that path.

I love trying to find all the little extras that they place in their for fans. I love that people go ape on the message boards over something that really has no significance. I have to say that this year I was highly anticipating the premier...I could not wait to see more flash forwards, which is brilliant....because we had almost got to the point where we knew their back stories, now we are eager and waiting for what happens in the future. I really did not care to know the 4 new characters (the rescue crew) stories, but the sayeed episode brought me back to feeling the love.

I am vested in this show. I love terry o'quinn. loved him alias. glad that they wrote this part for him.

I do not spend alot of time reading posts and playing all the games (find 815). I have kids that demand my time, but for a day or two after the show has aired I will look at the boards and see what people are saying and see if there was something I missed.

At least it gives me something to be happy about. I love a good mystery. I love the overall mythos of this show and I cannot wait to see where it ends.

L.O.V.E.

I am so excited that one of my favorite books has started filming...here in Oregon. I was super pumped to see pix on the authors site of her with the cast and how she thinks oregon is going to be a beautiful setting for her book.

At the end of the summer I started Harry Potter books again and finished those and felt lost...I had nothing engaging to read. Then my friend told me about this series that was really popular with young adults, she had not read it yet, but when she did she would tell me about it. Needless to say she read it in one weekend, brought it in for me to read and during Noah's birthday weekend, amongst all the parties, wrapping paper and cake...I read. I read until late into the night, woke up at 6am because I could not get my mind off edward and bella.

Itold my friend I was addicted and that I was so thankful that she had told me about these books. I ran right out and bought all three books. If you have not heard of them yet..........it is a series of books about a young teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire. It is beautifully written, engaging and full of wonderful character development. I hated vampires as a kid...they terrified me. So to read this was such a breath of fresh air, how she describes them is breathtaking.

My friend and I were joking around that we should go to the extras casting call last weekend...we thought we could certainly pass as one of the teachers in school. I wanted to be the school secretary that Edward sweetalks. But I will say that I am tempted to find out where they are shooting and just go check it out!! How fun would that be. I am super pumped about the cast. I love the girl they cast as Victoria...she is perfect and her name is rachelle!! I am very curious to see who they cast as Jacob, because he is so engaging and has such a huge impact in the second and third book.

The only bummer about this whole experience is I have to wait until August to get my hands on the fourth book. I think I will have reread them soon. The thing I love about these books is that they translate from young to old and they are still engaging, witty and wonderful. If you want to learn more here is Stephanie's website... http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html

The story on how this novel came to be is amazing and super cool.

Weatherman or President

OR

This evening while we were driving home from Costco, sydnie looks at me with all seriousness and asks

syd: who is that famous reporter?

me: I say what famous reporter? There are many

syd: the weather man, named george bush

me: you mean president george bush

syd: oh yeah, i just thought he was a weatherman, a famous one, on tv

me: no honey he is the president!

syd: oh yeah. president bush

i love conversations with little ones! made me laugh and probably still will for days to come.

thank u aunt shell

We had the extreme joy of having a play date all day with cousin ryen on monday and boy did we have fun. That little cookie is the smartest, precocious, adorable little kid out there! She is awesome. The kids had a blast with her on the trampoline, playing playdoh and riding in the little jeep. She has been on our trampoline many times and we have system to keep her safe...my kids have to sit down while she jumps and then she sits while they jump. Ryen would jump and imitate the big kids and try and land on her bottom....she would land, stand up , throw her hands in the air and say..."i'm okay aunt shell". I laughed everytime.

I will admit that I bribed her and told her if she took a good nap I would get her some ice cream. So she slept, a little, and we took off for basketball practice and mcdonalds. I pulled up to the window after I had ordered and just about fell out of my car when they handed me this ice cream cone as big as she was!!! Her eyes got real big and she squealed with excitement. She took that first lick, then another, then another....she looked at me with the biggest most adorable eyes and said "thanks aunt shell". Then after every lick, she would yell...."thank u aunt shell" Melted my heart it was so cute!

Tagged

So I have been tagged twice now and I have been putting it off, cuz well I just don't know what to write, there are too many things. ha ha. So here is my attempt:

6 Quirks About You Rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4. Tag at least 3 people at the end of your post and link to their blogs
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
6. Let the fun begin!


* I have an addiction to Target. I literally cannot walk in there without buying something. anything. I love it. If I don't go at least once a week I have withdrawels.
* The toilet paper must hang over the roll, not under. I will fix it if it has been put on the roll the wrong way.
* I will clean and pick up before my mom comes over, just to prove that I am not like her. Dishes put away, toys up, no clutter and dusting, vaccuming and clean bathrooms are high on the list.
* I go online and play webkinz everyday. I do all my daily activities and last week I won the hot air balloon and I bought the rare golf cart!!! ha ha.
* I drink my coffee out of the same cup for a week, then the next week choose a new one! Coffee mugs make me happy, so does coffee.
* I clench my teeth at night so I have to wear a guard so I don't wake up with headaches.

Jeans

a year of growth looks good on sydnie. she is a first born thru and thru. she has things that bug her, like:

socks not being lined up on her toes

does not like jeans

likes soft cotton clothes

has to always wear a belt, even with sweats

does not like tight clothes

has to have her bed made before she can get dressed

has to have her hair dry b4 she will get dressed

she has a bit of ocd in her, but we have been working for years to help her control her tendancies. I used to think it was so cute when she would line her little puppies up all in a row before she would go to bed. Now I see it for what it was and I can still appreciate it. She is who she is. She is still a beautiful little girl and someday these tendancies will be to her benefit, but in the time in between it takes a lot of patience and teaching. Some people do not do well in dealing with her, they get impatient and don't treat her so nice. Some people understand what is going on and work with her. Her teacher this year is one of later. She has been the greatest influence and encouragement to syd this year. I cannot tell her thank you enough. Syd has flourished this year. She has made a bunch of good friends. She has matured a ton.

At the beginning of the school year we searched all over for a pair of jeans that syd would wear...this has been an issue for us in the past (the not wearing). So over the course of the last 5 months we have slowly worked our way into wearing jeans. A couple of hours here and there, but the other day while she was getting dressed I asked if she would wear her jeans to school. She did not argue, she just put them on!!! (just asking used to bring about 1 hr screaming fits)!

So she wore the jeans to school...of course she counted how many girls in class were wearing jeans that day. but she made it through the whole day and then this morning..........

she put them on all by herself, no asking, no begging, no crying.........she wore them to school again! She told me that she put them on to impress me! She wanted to show me that she could wear them without me asking her to! WOW....that is some cool kid.

Happy Valentines

Started our morning off with some hugs and kisses. had pink heart pancakes and opened a little gift. headed off to school for a day of candy and parties! hope you enjoy this day of love.

Top Dog

I have to admit that when I heard that a beagle had won best in show at the Westminter show last night I threw my arm in the air in triumph. Finally, one of the most beloved dogs of all times had won the most coveted titles in the dog show world. Uno, the cutest 15in beagle howled his way to victory last night and he is so cute. makes me want to run out and get another beagle....i am not sure that maddie would appreciate that though.

I love our dog. she is almost 10 years old now, she is entering the twilight years of her life, but she is still here and we love her. I remember the day when I finally convinced Thad we needed a dog. We went to a friends house to go swimming and there was this adorable beagle puppy there and that was it. We went home and read up about beagles to make sure that it was the dog for us. We both loved their long ears, cute little black noses and their howls. We looked around in the papers to find some advertised and finally found a family around the salem area that was selling some. We drove down from Portland and I think we both knew that we would not leave empty handed. We arrived at the house and there they were, 7 little beagles in all their puppy glory. We watched them as they played in the backyard and found her!!! Our Dog. She had beautiful coloring, she had a lot of black on her and she had a ton of personality. She literally danced around the yard, our feet and begged for our attention.

We took her home that day. We stopped at the pet store to buy her food, water dish, a leash and collar. We were so proud that she was ours. She slept in the bathroom those first couple nights. She howled and clawed at the door and finally we let her sleep with us. It took us quite a while to name her, it was a tough decision. She was just too cute. Finally we decided on the name Maddie. She settled into our little house and family of 2 adults, one cat and her cuteness. Her and the cat chased each other around the house. They got into fights, but in the end they you would find them curled up together, sleeping soundly.

Maddie has been with us through the birth of children, three different houses and all the time has kept her undeniable beagle spirit. She is awesome with the kids, but she is still my dog. She is always in the same room with me. If I stand up, she is on her feet to with me. If I go upstairs, she follows. She still loves to play ball, but not for very long. She loves to walk to school to get the kids. She loves to ride in the car. She has to be part of the action. She still loves to steal food and begs me to eat every couple of hours. She finally loves to chase a stick into the water. She has a hard time getting up the stairs at night, but she can still make it. She snores....loudly. She even has a scrapbook about her. She is our most beloved pet! part of our family.

I actually scrapbooked

in between noah puking yesterday and sydnie's fever, i actually sat down and scrapbooked two pages yesterday. this is a huge deal. it has been f.o.r.e.v.e.r

i finally cleaned off my desk while they were watching a video and pulled out the suttle lake pages that had been sitting underneath the pile of junk and it only took me about 30 minutes to complete them. I have been "working" on these pages for 5 months and could never get excited about them. But I finally found the right color combination and viola.....

It felt so great to be creative and now i am totally pumped to work on the kids albums. What I really want to work on is our Disney album, but that is a little indimidating, so many pix.

wii would like to play

So I have to admit that I am the video game addict in our family. Blame it on my brothers old atari, but I love it. It could suck the life out of me, so we have not gone there yet. We have our old, old Nintendo 64 that we pull out and play together as a family. The kids love watching us get a ton of stars in the old Super Mario! But let's face it the graphics are not the same, but it is still super fun to play together.

This fall we debated on purchasing a wii for Christmas. We played it at my brothers house and loved it, but could not decide if our kids were old enough. We actually had one in our hands and decided not to get one and we even had the money saved for it. I know kids alot younger than ours have them, but we really want to keep them young while they are young. Plus my son would play it obsessively, especially if he had star wars lego. We would have to find one big timer to place in front of him to regulate how long he could play.

We decided after Christmas if we still had the money for one we would decide if we really wanted one. Now we cannot find one anywhere. I have stood in line for the lottery draws, I have called everyday to find one at a bazillion different stores and nada. I even entered PW random draw yesterday to win a wii and guitar hero, because in my opinion there is no better combination! Although mario party 8, star wars, HSM sing a long and so many other games look like so much fun.

Maybe I will get lucky (because that did not happen in any of the lotteries) and the people at nintendo will read this blog and decide that we really need one and suddenly a wii and guitar hero will show up on our door step.

HELLLOOOO, back to reality! Maybe, just maybe with any luck we will find one sometime in the next 50 years. Wish me luck!

The Fortune Cookie

Last night the family was watching a "how it was made" and they were showing how fortune cookies were made, it was really interesting and scary how much sugar is in those little things. I have a fondness for those lucky little suckers. Once during cheerleading camp someone brought a huge bag full and we gorged ourselves on fortune cookies. It must have been all the sun, workouts and spirit in the air, because they had never tasted so good.

But the real reason I love fortune cookies is because about 12 years ago Thad and I had just started dating and went to our favorite chinese restauraunt in beaverton with Thad's family. That evening we were still exploring how we felt about one another...did we want to continue with this or was it not something that we saw in our future. Towards the end of the meal we received our cookies. Thad broke his open, read his fortune and turned red. He would not look at me for quite awhile. I could not figure out what on earth he had read. It took the rest of the evening for him to tell me what it was that had freaked him out so completely! He showed me the fortune.......Stop searching forever, happiness is just next to you.

We both thought it was romantic and fun, so we kept the fortune. Two weeks later we had dinner at a different restauraunt with some friends. We shared lots of laughter and good food and got to the end of our meal and received our cookies. I opened my cookie and read the fortune inside......Stop searching forever, happiness is just next to you.

Seriously...........I am not making this up. I think that pretty much sealed the deal for us, well not really, but it is a really cool story to tell our kids! So that is our story of the ultimate fortune cookie fortune. So next time you crack open the sugary goodness, take a moment and read what the future has in store for you.