Thursday, March 19, 2009

Another Try

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St Paddy's Day


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thad's creation! apparently he had some extra time on his hands yesterday and created this little diddy. but for some reason he had no pictures of his son, so instead he inserted our adorable little beagle into the mix! the kids rolled with laughter yesterday, so it was all good. have a great day!

Friday, March 13, 2009

a new favorite


i thought i would introduce you mama's with boys (that have a lego obsession) to a new favorite blog of ours:



http://legomyphoto.wordpress.com/



how adorable is that? super creative and fun. my lil' builder is all over it. every morning wanting to see what has been posted for that day. enjoy surfing the sight and have a great weekend.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Real Life.....

"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This persective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. "

as i was skimming blogs this morning i ran across this qoute. it struck me. that human side of me that continually wants life to just be. no hardships, no struggles. just life and happiness. i am human. i want to have an amazing life, spend time with my family building amazing memories and not worry about some of the bigger picture things. i would much rather take my kids to teh beach, than pay off that Old Navy bill. (trust me i have done that before),but that is not real life. struggles make us grow. hardships draw us closer to God. I still like the qoute that tells us to treasure every moment, because that is true.

then i logged onto facebook and saw this scripture! wow. it was a confirmation in my mind that we must always delight in the Lord, above all others. He is the reason we are here, to worship and delight in Him. Not things of the world. Life is never going to be easy, but with God on your side nothing is impossible. He will not give me more than I can handle. and as i struggle to be more like Him, hardships make that possible.


Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart's desires." Psalm 37:4


Tuesday, March 10, 2009

50 hundred millions pounds!

that is the phrase my daughter used to describe the amount of stress that she feels on a daily basis! wow....that is a lot of stress. you all know my precious adorable high strung daughter. i love her, but that girl has got to learn to chill a little. she quite frequently has stress issues and we have been working with her to teach her how to handle that stress and tackle one project at a time, rather than looking at the whole picture and becoming overwhelmed. she has really gotten so much better at the whole thing.

now if i could just teach her not to make lists for everything she has to do in a day. lol. like mother, like daughter. i secretly love lists. thinking of all the things you have to do and then listing them all out takes a huge bite out of the stress of everything that needs to be done. but the real benefit comes with actually sitting down and crossing off something that you have completed and when the list is all gone.........wow!!! but i digress again, this post is about syd.

on saturday we had spent a great day with friends in pdx, watching an upward league up there. then syd got to go to justice and spend her gift card! she was so happy, she had held onto that card for almost 3 months. i thought she had an awesome day, but once we got home and tucked into bed.........the breadown occured.

she was crying and would not stop, when i finally asked why she was so upset she informed me that it was the weight of stress. hum??? of course i am thinking, what stress? she finally speaks up and tells me that it is the stress of having a little, annoying brother that makes her feel like she is under 50 hundred millions pounds of stress. i secretly laugh, because i had a little brother....i know how this whole thing works. at least it was not school or something more tangible that was stressing her out. just her annoying little brother.

Friday, March 06, 2009

spoke too soon....

this evening after upward closing ceremonies a group of us from noah's bball team and from our auction table the night before, went out for ice cream. it was a great wrap up to a great year of upward and good friends.

as we were standing there both of my kids asked for another cone, because apparently they both felt that they needed more sugar. of course i said no. but then about 10 minutes later sydnie walks up and asks me what age she needs to be in order to order a two scoop ice cream cone? i of course don't think and reply that when she is double digits that means she can order a two scooper sometimes. well of course she immediately realizes my mistake and says " so that means in december i can order two scoops?"

oh no, what have i done? i was not even thinking when i said double digits, because in my mind she is still that cute little two year old eating ice cream for the first time, with gobs of it running down her arms and chin. that look of satisfaction when you reach the cone, the look of disappointment when you reach the last bite! she will forever be that in my mind, not a double scoop, double digit girl!

hum?

did anyone else see this news story today?
i finished reading it and thought to myself is that really something that he needed to share with the world and his millions of teenage fans. i am sure that he feels like he needs to break out of the "kiddie" roles, but why do it in such a way that could influence little kids? i was seriously disappointed with his choice to spread the word of his choices.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

i got leia'd


tonight was our PTA auction for our school. it was a great night, so much fun. the theme was a luau in paradise and it was decorated to the hilt. when i arrived i was greeted and received a leia and found our table. now here is the best part of the whole evening. my dear friend noel greeted me and told me to take off that fake plastic leia, because she had bought us fresh hawaiin leia's that had been shipped in just that morning. it was beautiful and amazing. i am so blessed to have such thoughtful amazing friends.



it really was an excellent eveing: we were served a fabulous meal and took in some hula from our fabulous teachers. several of us bought a table together and made a night of it. i bid on a couple of things, not too much considering our budget. i did win a lunch for noah with his teacher and a trip to a local coffee shop. i did not win noah's basket, but the woman who won it told me that i could have the quilt in it. that is all i really wanted anyway. the quilt is handmade and each child drew a picture of their favorite family road trip. it is adorable.

(noah's square on the quilt)

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Prayer

in january i posted my word for the year: release

it has been an interesting couple of weeks since then and i will tell you that i have come back to a starting point again. i know that this is not going to be an easy road to travel. that i will set back many times and it will take years to release. but i hate being back to the beginning. it totally bites. it can absolutely make my life miserable. and when i am tired and cranky, it gets worse.

i could really use some prayer on this journey. it is a reluctant journey, but one i must make in order to be me again. please just pray that i remain strong and do not fall back into old ways. that i can just take it one prayer at a time. that God will keep me strong and courageous.

thanks to all of you who are helping me through this journey. i love that you have come along side of me and are covering me with prayer.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

I survived the city bus!!!

i truly hate to admit this, but i have never, ever in my life ridden a city bus. i have taken max several times when i lived in portland, but never a city bus. too scary....too uncomfortable. i have always had a car, no need to take a bus. but today i had to take a bus. i rode from downtown to my house (there is a bus stop at my corner) and it was not as bad as i imagined it would be. but i really could not get over the thought of who had sat on these seats before me. i could smell the cigarette smoke off of several people. and well let's just admit it right now.........i am a bus snob!!!

i am not sure how thad does this everyday. he hops on the bus to wilsonville for his 40 minute commute, one way, and turns on his ipod and reads or falls asleep. then he turns around and does it at the end of the day. it has saved us so much money in gas, which is great. i am just not sure i could do it everyday. most of the people he rides with are business people, all headed to work. they ride together everyday. and i think that bus has cushioned seats!

i think that i am thankful for this transportation, but i will stick to driving my car as much as i can. i know........i am a total bus snob!

visiting with an old friend

this morning i reported to the courthouse with my starbucks, book, ipod, phone and bagel in hand. keep in mind that i have never done this before...new experiences are soooo cool. except when you sit in the basement for 4 hours with only a little bit of window too look through. he he.

anyway....so i walked in handed in all my paperwork and found out that my desperate email to defer had been accepted. i was not in the pool, but at this point i am already down there, so i just stayed to get it over with.

as i was searching for a seat i saw a familiar face in the crowd. a face that i had not seen in about 25 years. a face that had matured, like my dads. a face that was staring back at me, with a look of wonder? i sat down in front of this gentleman and i could feel him looking at me. it took me about 30 minutes to realize who it was and i approached him and asked if his name was roger. he replied yes and then i told him that i was dale's daughter. his old fishing buddy. his old camping buddy. i remember many camping/fishing trips with his family and the harris family. it was great to run into him again. to catch up. i called my dad, as he was on his morning walk break and told him that i was stuck in a room with roger. he said "tell him i said hi" that was it, that was all....except to ask if roger was going fishing with him and ken this spring. my dad, not a phone talker. good to see a face from the past.

you never know who you are going to run into at any given moment. it ended up being an interesting morning after all.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Jury Duty

WOW......i am a little shocked right now. i actually have to report for jury duty tomorrow. i guess that the third summons is a charm. i being the responsible adult that i am, did not pick up my mail last week as i was running kids to dr's appts and urgent cares and basically just trying to survive. so my jury summons sat in my mailbox for a week, waiting to see the light of day...as i am sure the mailman cursed me everytime he opened my box to fill it with more stuff. he he.


so needless to say that i did not get my summons until saturday afternoon. hum. i was pretty much stuck. i could not defer. i had to plan on going. but in my naive little mind, i thought, i will not report. i have never had to report. WRONG! so monday night i called in like a good little juror and found out that i was indeed going to go to the courhouse.


i scrambled to find childcare for my kids and then i moaned and complained for most of the night that i would have to ride a city bus downtown and home again! i eventually convinced my dear man to drive me downtown and drop me off with a stop at stabucks along the way. so wish me luck, hopefully i will be out by 10am and still get to go to work for some of the time.