Rockin'

This conversation took place in our car today:

sydnie: "i cannot wait to be a rockstar for halloween"
sydnie: continues to describe her costume in great detail.....noah tries to say something, but cannot get a word in!

noah: "When I get older and I am a rock star, I am going to name my band Christians, because we are Christians" he smiles and his eyes sparkle, he thinks he is all that!


You can tell it has been a lot of guitar hero and jonas brothers around here lately!

what time is it??????

it's time to get lost in the last adventures of bella and edward. to see what she decides. to read about her fate. to know what this strange and weird power that she has. it's twilight time.

hello out there.........

has anyone seen the ticker over here on the right? are you anxiously awaiting? are you counting down the seconds until friday @ midnight? is anyone else trying to quickly read thru eclipse to get ready for friday? is anyone else ignoring workout, housework, children?

on a separate note, the love of musicals has hit me again and i have been listening to mamma mia, phantom of the opera and le miserables since last friday. oh, don't forget about grease too. I love phantom and le miz. they are some of my favorite musicals. i have seen both several times on stage and julanne and i are anxious to go in the next couple of weeks to see phantom in pdx. when i worked at nike, there was this whole time period where we all listened to stage music, it is forever ingrained in me, part of who i am. and everytime i listen to mamma mia, I cannot help but smile everytime pierce brosnan sings! it has been written over and over (and not very nicely) that the man cannot sing....but he is still 007! i of course remember him from scarecrow and mrs king (have i told u that i am old)! there are some very unflattering scenes of pierce with no shirt on, colin firth with a gut hanging over his skinny legs......but in the end who does not love a man that will dress up in horrid costumes for the finale and sing like you have never heard singing before!!

that is really all i have to say. nothing new. same old boring stuff. except that yesterday while it was rainy i made some cookies (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/09/marlboro_mans_favorite_cookies_oatmeal_crispies/). i am also proud to say that most of the batch is left, good girl, you don't need 5000 cookies to help with your boredom!!!

technology

oh man. i have been without my main computer for a couple of days now and i did not realize how addicted to it i am. we have a second computer that i could use, but all my pix and blogs and everything is stored on the main computer!!! it was really eye opening. i literally wake up everday, grab a cup of joe and head into the computer room for some news reading and catching up on blogs. i did not do that this morning! i actually read to my kids for an hour and only had a half a cup of coffee! HUH? maybe i should leave the computer off for a couple of days and see what happens? so just a quick post to tell u that i am alive and well......

Brilliant!

Yesterday was the perfect end to a great week. I dropped the kids at the bus and then Julanne and I went to lunch at Wild Pear. We both could not stop saying yum with every bite! and to think that we almost went to Olive Garden!!! ha ha. I love the OG, but this was sooooo good. Not a meal that I would take a husband to very often, so it is fun to have friends who like to go there.

We also went to see MAMMA MIA!!!! I just have to say that I loved it! I love musicals! I love it when people just break out into songs in the middle of climbing a roof to peak in at old boyfriends!! I love it when goofy hotel staff pop their heads up on the roof top to look at said lady singing and dancing on said roof!!! It was really well done. It was a touch campy, not all the voices were perfect, but when you walk out of a movie smiling.........it is a hit. I am just sad that I have never seen the broadway show yet. I know that we had the option to go in vegas a couple of years ago, but instead we went to see cirque de soleil. This scene was one of my favorite parts of the whole movie....



But I did like this scene as well...classic song!





My next confessions is that I love, love ABBA. I grew up listening to their music. I had their records!! ha ha. I know I am old. Real Records!!! It was so fun to listen to the music in the movie, I did not remember all the lyrics, but the songs were all there, stored in my memory! I was always fascinated that they could sing in english, but not speak it very well. I think at one point even my barbies would sing along on a stage, with the record cover in the background, like she was on tour. The original Hannah Montana!!! ha ha. Oh man!!! It brings it all back.

The best part of this whole story is that the ads have been running during wipeout and everytime I saw one I would say that I could not wait to go see the movie. So Sydnie and Noah both have been asking me if I liked it and Sydnie will run around singing.......mamma mia, here i go again, my my, how could i forget ya!!!

$$$$$

So this week has been a bit of an expense to our family! Not only did we have an amazing opportunity to hit the columbia employee store, which could have been terribly expensive, but I was able to keep it somewhat on the lower end......but I also had to sign noah up for Football and football camp. Plus somewhere along the way, he has managed to lose his entire wardrobe at day camp this week. Seriously, the brand new columbia shorts that I bought monday are now either at someone else's house or lost at the camp. Plus two shirts, a pair of socks, a sweatshirt and who knows what else! This day camp ended up being a lot more expensive than I planned on. Plus I have to go buy him new jeans for Back to School and the ones that we love are on sale this week at Fred Meyers! Can they just stop growing for a few years, to let us parents catch up on the clothing budget? At least he has come home everyday in one piece, that is a blessing in itself.

Canyonview

I have been looking forward to this week for several months now!!! My week of freedom. My week to be with my friends and go shopping, watch some movies, eat out at girl lunches!! I dropped this kids off this morning and I have not been home until late this evening! Julanne and I drove up to pdx to the columbia employee store, went to lunch at Cheesecake factory, walked the square, and finished our day with a yummy cheesecake selection!!! Of course there was starbucks as well!!! It was a jam packed day and the rest of the week is looking about the same! So much for being at home and taking advantage of a quiet house!

The kids had a great first day. noah kept changing his mind..........I had a good time, I was bored. But he was anxious to go back. He did that paddle boats and they got so tired that they got stuck in the middle of the lake and had to be rescued! He thought that was pretty cool. He is super excited to try creek walking as well. Sydnie took her bf and they l.o.v.e their group, because everyone is in love with the jonas brothers!!! They talk about them non-stop!

I cannot wait for the rest of the week!!! I think that going to see mamma mia and batman and more shopping and of course starbucks is the perfect way to spend the week!

Friends

last time we were all together september 2005

Today. minus one. July 19th, 2008

We had a great time in pdx today with some friends from the not so distant past! It had been a long time since we were together with husbands and kids, because we usually reserved our time just to be together as girls! We were missing a valuable asset, named debbie who was in india at the time! (Hi deb, we missed u)

Our friends Jim and Krista were in the country with their little one Joah! How adorable is he! I was a little disappointed though, I need his thighs to be a lot bigger for me to love on him. ha ha. we all agreed that no one's thighs were ever going to be as big as my little noah's! (when noah was 4 months he was in 12 month pants just to fit his booty in)

I am so grateful that throughout the past almost 18 years that we have known each other we have all been friends. My hope is that when we are sixty, that even distance and changes in our lives cannot break that girlfriend bond. Our lives are different than they used to be. Three of us do not live in the same place anymore. three remain. we are families. we are missionaries. we are cultural tasters (we envy krista's coffee and chocolate). we are believers. we are strong women. we are time tested. we are friends who molded and shaped the women we are today.

ps - krista i did not post a pix of u in your flashdance ensemble!!! although maybe someday when u least expect it, i will. he he.

Whew!

picture by noah

i am exhausted right now! it is 8:42pm and I am ready for bed! Having a 2.5 year old around is like a major workout all wrapped up in a cute, huggable, kissable little person. okay, i confess it is not that hard to have her around! i am just amazed at how easily we forget what it is like. i think the worst part is my own two kids who have been fighting non-stop since monday! i have more patience and joy with my niece, i let her get away with more and i don't have to correct as often! although when i told her she had to her dinner tonight, her lip was almost touching the ground, she was working it! ha ha. but she ate it all, because i scooped it and told her too! so funny.





she is upstairs reading right now, hopefully she will settle in a little earlier tonight. today was a full day for her. we had pancakes for breakfast, walked to school for school library, listened to the story, played on the playground, ate lunch, watched the tigger movie, took a nap, went swimming, made crafts, jumped on the trampoline, ate dinner, drew with sidewalk chalk, "rode" a scooter, played golf, blew bubbles, painted toenails/fingernails and read books!





now if that is not a jam packed day, then i don't know what is? so tomorrow we deliver her back to her family and she gets to experience the joys of being the firstborn child, the ruler, the dominater, the i have a little brother to contend with! Her world is gonna be rocked, but i know that she loves her little brother already. she keeps telling everyone that she is a big sister now! she loves it. sooooooooooo cute. okay, seriously i am off to bed.

He is finally here

Meet Luke Mitchell Goodman!!!

My very handsome and might I say absolutely perfect nephew!

The Facts:

July 16th

3:10pm

8lbs 6oz

21inches

Which means we have a very excited little 2.5 year old with us for a couple of days. More to come later.

Secret Agent Man

My little guy has always had such an imagination and he has always been a little paranoid about robbers. If he sees a red car, it is a robbers. If he sees someone walk by our house, it is a robber. So two weeks ago we were in the car at a stop light and noah says "mom, that guy is pointing at me, I think he wants to come and take me away!" A week later we are in the living room, the shades are down and noah says "mom, that guy who was pointing at me is in our backyard, he is a robber and here to steal me!" Two days later he runs down from the playroom and says "mom, that guy who pointed at me is in our driveway, he is here to take me!"

So we started playing spy games to see if we could beat the robber at his own game! His friends are totally into spy gear right now too. Plus he got to go to his friends bday party that was all spy!!! Which totally rocked his world to go play lazer tag....good job jeananne and erik. He came home with this awesome tshirt that was custom made, SPY GUYS! He has not taken it off. We went to target and bought a bunch of their spy gear stuff. So he has been setting the alarms everywhere, listening on his spy ear and causing basic mischief.

So yesterday he logged onto lego and what do they have right now.......spy legos! They even have a bunch of games online to play! He is such a happy little boy and there has not been talk of robbers invading our house anymore! We have answered lots of questions about spys and what they do and if he could be one someday. So if you find yourself at my house and we are in the middle of a conversation and suddenly you hear a little giggle around the corner.............know that their is a little spy guy just around the corner, listening in! But don't fear, he is only there to protect us and keep us safe from all the bad guys in the world!

GAS!!!

who doesn't love a post that starts with GAS!!!

So last night we were out on our patio with my in laws and i could smell gas. We walked over towards the barbeque, it was not really stronger there, but we turned off the propane just to be safe. The smell kind of went away for awhile and we thought maybe one of the neighbors had their bbq turned on. We checked inside the house also, just in case one of the kids turned a knob on the stove. We eventually stopped looking and went to sleep. This morning I was sitting at the computer and could smell the gas again. This is the opposite end of the house that I had smelled it on last night. Now we all know, living where we live that the cow farms and the water treatment plant do give us some lovely smells! But this was different. So I decided to call NW Natural, the gas smell line (open 24/7) did not answer!!! ha ha. of course. I waited a few minutes and called back and they finally answered and sent a guy out. He brought his 2,000 dollar sniffer and could not detect anything. Weird right. I could still smell something, but not as strong. His "sniffer" did not detect a thing. Apparently my "sniffer" is on the fritz. So I now have missed my workout, but at least I have peace of mind and no leaky gas!

Sudden Wake Up

Last night I had just fallen asleep, probably snoring since I am really congested with allergies right now, when I suddenly heard noah crying. This is a common occurence in our house, since he has experienced night terrors and sleepwalking. I slowly opened my eyes, put on my glasses and rolled out of bed. I am use to finding noah throughout the house, in weird places when he is in the middle of sleepwalking or in the middle of terrors! So last night, I realized as I reached his room that he had went downstairs to our family room. I ran down the stairs, just in time to reach him as he threw up all over the hardwood floors! I called upstairs to thad to come clean up as I attended to noah, which works out very well for me!! hehe. After I got a bowl, small sip of water and a wet washcloth for noah, I put him back to bed. He rolled over and went straight to sleep! That was a little more elusive for me....it took me about a half and hour to go back to sleep. I am pretty sure that we are not dealing with the flu, although my stomach has been upset as well. I think it was more to do with the two bday parties back to back......staying up late, cake, cake and more cake! I am going to keep him home this morning and make sure we don't have any repeats of last night!

Excitement

This morning the kids and I ran up to starbucks for a coffee, no creamer at home.....ha ha good excuse. As we were coming home I noticed a huge plume of smoke back behind our neighborhood. The smoke was billowing out into the sky, it was ginormous! My friends hubby and son had gone out to investigate and I found out it was at a nursery. They said they felt expolosions happening. I finally found an article online and found out that it was a 3 alarm blaze and that it took 8 fire departments to put it out! wow. that was some fire. at least no one was injured and they were able to contain it relatively quickly.

The Great Pizza Hunt

alright people...........where can u find great pizza with a great price??? I will admit that I am a pizza snob, I love a good pizza.....veggie, garlic chicken, too many to name. But since we had children and went down to one income our pizza days have been relegated to figaros and now costco. more bang for your buck on that last one. But they are just not good. Yesterday was a very long day and all of our go to meals (ones I always have the staples on hand), I was missing one key ingredient.......so I totally bagged it and decided to go to Round Table. It had been a couple of years and I knew that they had good pizza. I pre-ordered our pie so that it would be ready when we go there..........i ordered too early! It was cold! I had my trusty little coupon with me and thought it was a joke that I was ordering a large for $16.99. The whole pizza was consumed and my kids and husband were still hungry.I know it is decent pizza there and to feed the family on under $20.00 is pretty good, but then they came home and ate more. This morning I pulled the receipt from my pocket and saw that pizza we ordered and barely fed us was originally $23.00!!! What? I am mean What??

Oh well.......I guess it is back to costco or figaros for now. I am not willing to pay for paddington's, which is sooo yummy but at least $25.00. So where do you go when u want a good pizza for cheap?

The Zoo

Refreshing treat on a hot day
I want a hippopotamus for christmas...well it is july

this was a huge croc. the shot actually turned out really good

Pele the painting Parrot

This elephant gave us quite a show: splashing in the water, eating bamboo, throwing water up in the air with his trunk.

The three amigos!

The lone girl, she rocks

Picnic at Washington Park afterwards. this is right before he turned the bottle upside down and spilled rapsberry crystal lite all over my white shirt!

We had a great time yesterday. It was 2$ day at the zoo. Crazy. But we powered thru and we were done by 1opm and off to a picnic at the park. We did not last too long there....too hot! Afterwards Julanne and I went to starbucks to enjoy a blended lemonade!! YUMMY. After that it was home for the night and watching a little wipeout as a family!

What is your sign?

I saw this video a couple of weeks ago and really cannot get it out of my head. It has been around for a while, but I love the simplicity. Our old church in pdx is doing this skit this weekend and a friend of mine is in it! What would your sign say? There are probably so many things mine could say, but what is that one thing that continues to draw me away from God? What is the one stumbling point that drags me down every time? I woke up at 5:30 this morning dreaming of going to bsf this year. I think that is an answer to prayer...no matter what else is going on, job no job, workout not workout. I will attend bsf. I crave time with my Savior, but life gets in the way. This life that He created. I need that time with him. Not surfing "church" blogs, reading daily posts......His word! Day in day out, that is the solid rock on which we stand. There is no other "thing" that can compare, nothing that can takes it's place. Wow......who knew that at 6:19am I would be so passionate and emotional! I guess when God places something on your heart, it is cemented there. So I ask again, what would your sign be?

Another One BITES the..........

love of Twilight. I finally convinced Angela to pick up the book and read it!!!! She has had twilight for about 2 months and picked it up the other night because she was bored. Need I say more. She loves it. wahahahahaha!!! (my evil plan worked) I asked if she wanted to borrow my other two and she said that she was just going to go buy them!! Plus yesterday at the pool a mom from school was reading them too. Next is Julanne........get ready because you won't put them down!

Isn't this true!

I admit that I am raising a BOY. He is not completely wild, but he is definetely different than raising a girl. I have been struggling with how to teach him responsibility and initiative. He could honestly care less. He is a great kid, very generous and compassionate. But do not ask him to clean up his room, take something upstairs or put his clothes in the laundry! His idea of cleaning his room is to shove everything under his bed and then take it all back out once the vacuming is done! ha ha. It has been quite a struggle. It is to the point now that if he hears the word responsibility, he cowers and will not do anything that you have just asked him too.

for example: "noah take these toys up to your room"

no response

"noah, we need to clean the house up for daddy"

a small look and then he hides his head

"noah you have go to learn some responsibility in your life and learn how care of your own stuff!"

sounds of little feet running away as fast as they can!!!

Now this is not because we are horrible parents and have never made him obey or taught him respect. This is part of his make up. He will learn it eventually. A friend of mine suggested that we read "Wild at Heart" together this summer (how is that coming J?) I have made it into the first half of the book and already I feel like I am gaining a new respect for the male species! I now try to make his "responsibility" lessons something that he can relate to. His new love is spy stuff. So now we go on missions to return things to base and search out the next object to retrieve! Night vision goggles and all. When he helps me clean I find tasks that make him happy...like standing on the bathroom counters to squirt the glass cleaner! It is all about being creative in making them think they are not doing what you told them too....boy style!

The benefit from all of this research has been that I know view Thad differently! I respect his need to sit in front of the computer for days on end playing some war game that I would not have the patience or desire to do! I respect that he needs to claim the yard as his.....his property, his house, his work. It has been eye opening to view men out in our world who are no longer men. They dye their hair, do their nails, dress like metro's. What happened to the real men? Do we put them down for wanting to conquer, to invade, to just be men. I was listening to Brad Paisley the other day...'I'm still a guy" and thought that he hit that song right on the head. Men are not Men! Then as I was blog searching today I saw this post http://praiseandcoffee.blogspot.com/2008/07/july-giveaway-and-tsbo-tuesday-let-your.html

I know that many of you already read her articles, but this one really spoke to my heart. everything that I have been pondering. I know this has been a long post and I could go on and on. Thinking back to women's retreat several years ago where suzee spoke about loving our men and the prayer list that came from that. which i did for several years, but have stopped. This is on my heart right now and I just wanted to share it. Thanks for listening.

A New Friend

This little guy was found in the grass under the tree swing at grandma and grandpa's. Noah was swinging and started yelling for us all to come over and see this little guy. The three kids were a little freaked out and excited all at the same time. No one wanted to touch him, because grandma told them they would get a disease! ha ha. So thad came over and picked him up and put him in the tree. At the same time that was happening a rabbit hopped into the yard and there was more yelling and screaming. unfortunately there were dogs in the yard and the rabbit was too fast for pictures. It was a animal type of day. Of course syd wanted to keep the frog in a canning jar! I was half inclined to let her, but I think it is a little cruel to keep something so cute in a jar on a counter. In the end the kids used sticks and tried to make the frog hop up the tree so that they could play with him. We lost track of him...not sure where he ended up. ribbit.

The day after

this was their favorite firework, Kung Fu Fighting
these two crack me upa little white trash golf

waiting for this little one to enter the world

a little bocce ball tournament

like father like son

a little track ball with father and son

incoming!!!

ready and waiting to watch the show

our fun little fireworks show

had a great day yesterday. hanging with family. we started the day with a barbeque, sydnie made red velvet cupcakes for us, played some games and finally watched some fireworks. It was a totally relaxing day to just be. we drove home and watched a ton of big firework shows from the road. I am not sure how much sleep we actually got, which accounts for not much of a post. I am ready for a nap. sounds like a good day to spend a saturday!

Stolen Moments

i love my sister, will he ever leave me alone

this is the don't smile or look at the camera pix...she looks mad, he looks like he did something to make her mad. haha.

The other day on our farming adventures, we stopped at a stand to get some fresh strawberries. I decided to stop at this little stand that has this beautiful barn on the property, I admire it everytime I go by. I want to stop and go knock on the door to ask if I can pose my children in front of it to take pictures. I love the old wood. I love that half of the barn is not there! So when we stopped I bought the overpriced berries, just to get the kids to run to the barn and pose for a few shots. Of course, we were stealing this time with the barn...so it was a quick photo shoot. Now we all know with kids it is hard to get them to be natural and to what they are told when you are sweating and thinking the whole time that the owners are going to come barreling out their front door and sick that cute little beagle puppy on you. ha ha. Noah is such a ham that I could get no serious looking shots. Sydnie just loves to pose for the camera, so she was all smiles, until daddy told them to not smile and just sit there. I got a couple of great shots of syd individually, but noah just laughed the whole time. We made it out alive, even though the beagle howled the whole time alerting his unsuspecting owners that someone was stealing time with his barn! I think I will have to find another fruit stand with a barn next time and bribe the kids with ice cream if they cooperate!

Awake

Did anyone else hear the storms last night?

I was woke up last night by our beloved beagle who was obviously sensing something, because she would not lay down and was pacing back and forth. Suddenly I heard the first rolls of thunder move in and our bedroom was lit up by lightening. It was beautiful and very loud. It must have lasted about an hour, because I was awake for every lightening bolt and roll of thunder. Poor maddie would not settle down and kept running around the house, looking for somewhere safe to sleep. She only gets like that on the fourth of july, with all the noise. It is amazing that animals can sense changes in the weather and the earth. Before the chinese earthquake the zoo animals in that specific region were giving signs of something to come and we have all heard many stories of animals that have saved their owners by getting them out of the house before something devastating happens. I do love a good storm in the summer, especially when it is early evening and it just dumps buckets of rain then clears off to reveal the most amazing sunset! The golden rays reach your senses and you recall the beauty and promise of God's unending love for us.

Lucky

We are pretty lucky to live in place where we can dash up the street to get some fresh fruits and veggies! No need for farmers markets, when you can go straight to the farmer! Yesterday we went to pick cherries at a local farmers. The kids had a blast. Noah really got into it and was picking all the cherries he could get his hands on. Sydnie was more adventerous and wanted to climb the ladders to get to the good ones. In the end we left with $5.00 worth of cherries and the kids begging to go do it again, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.