10 Things Thursday

10 things I did today.

1. Woke up just in time to shower and dress before the roofers got here to fix our roof.
2. Listened to music while I cleaned house.
3. Made smoothies for the kids for breakfast and quesadillas for lunch.
4. Readied two special packages to mail.
5. Went to the post office to mail those packages.
6. Took the kids for haircuts...all three of them.
7. Almost cried when Julianna's haircut made her look more like a little girl and less like my baby.
8. Took the kids to my dad's work to see the new dump truck. Julianna was more than a little intimidated by the size and loud horn.
9. Washed Julianna's hands one thousand times while at my parents' house when she alternated between playing with the dog and cat and wanting to eat.
10. Had dinner with my parents and my kids and enjoyed it very much.

10 Things Thursday

10 things I've been doing instead of blogging.

1. Playing with my kids
2. Spending the day by the pool with my sister
3. Taking the kids to the free movies at Riverstone
4. Reading
5. Going to the park
6. Cleaning out closets
7. Planning healthy meals for my family
8. Playing pool and foos ball in our cool basement
9. Reflecting, renewing, reviving, recommitting
10. Laughing

Blessed Sunday

I'm not sure how many times my blessed Sunday post has been about Julianna, but I just can't help it. She is a joy. She makes me a better mom and person. If you've ever met her you know why. She is amazing and adorable and funny and smart. She is the sweetest little girl ever and I am truly blessed to say that she is my daughter. The daughter of my heart.

The last few days she has given me more than one occasion to laugh out loud. The first was Friday night. We had gone over to some friends' house for dinner and got home kind of late for her. She fell asleep in the car, which she hardly ever does anymore. When I got her inside I had to change her into jammies. In mid change she looked at me with those blue eyes of hers and said, "I love you soooooooo much." The sooooooo was complimented with closed eyes and shaking head. Oh my goodness. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen in my life. And I told her so and that I love her soooo much, too. I don't know how many times I smiled about that between then and when I went to bed. It was just precious. One of those moments I record in my mind and save for later.

Then Saturday morning we were the first ones up. Jules has taken to sleeping with books in her bed at night so usually she wants to read right away in the mornings. So we were sitting on the couch reading a book about all the things kids do during the day. Get dressed, eat breakfast, play, eat lunch, etc. When we got to the lunch page we were talking about what foods there were pictures of. Yogurt, banana, juice, sandwich, cookies. When she then said, "I love cookies soooooooo much." Turns out she loves cookies as much as she loves me! It was hilarious! I couldn't help but to laugh out loud. And I thought it was just me who merited that kind of love.

She's something else, I tell ya. And I love her all to pieces.

10 Things Thursday

My 10 favorite ways to eat peanut butter (preferably extra crunchy).

1. PB&J on whole grain white bread

2. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

3. peanut butter cookies

4. mini peanut butter cups inside peanut butter cookies

5. on a toasted English muffin

6. with banana

7. on apple slices

8. Darcy's banana and chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

9. with honey on wheat bread

10. by the spoonful right out of the jar

Red One!

My family, mostly the boys, have started playing the slug bug game. You know, the one where if you see a Volkswagen Beetle you can say what color it is and hit somebody. (Gently, of course. I would never allow actual violence in my presence.) Well, Julianna has decided to get in on the fun. But she doesn't really get the game. Instead of following the actual rules, she's made up her own. She says, "red one," and hits. In the car. At home. At the movies. At the dinner table. Whenever she feels like playing, she does. No car. Not even anything red. And guess what. She totally gets away with it. Because, well, look at her.

*Thanks to Kathy for the great 4th of July pictures including this one.

Blessed Sunday--Anniversary Edition

As of this afternoon, I have been married to my husband for 18 years. Which seems kind of crazy since I barely feel older than my 20 year old self that got married on that Saturday in 1992. Yet here we are. 18 years later. 18 years of a lot of life. Good times and bad. Sickness and health. (Relatively) richer and poorer. And through it all we've kept those vows that we made to each other that day. We've loved each other. We've laughed together. We've enjoyed the ups and survived the downs together. We've made a home and life and family together. And that, my friends, is a blessing.

10 Things Thursday

10 things my sister is good at.

1. Being a mom. She loves her kids more than I can put into words. I grow more and more proud of her in so many ways, but especially as a mom.
2. Storytelling. Especially if it's a story about something that happened to her. And lots of things happen in her life. Always interesting and entertaining.
3. Making me laugh. Since she was born she's made me laugh. She is fuuunnny.
4. Giving gifts. She gives perfect, thoughtful, amazing gifts. Always something that lets me know that it's just for me.
5. Crafting. She makes the cutest things. And she is an expert at giving old things a beautiful new life.
6. Singing. If you've never heard her sing, you're missing out. Beautiful. Just beautiful.
7. Loving. If she loves you, you know it. She loves with her whole heart. And it's a big heart.
8. Accessorizing. She's gorgeous and always looks lovely. And when she wants to, she can accessorize better than any fashion designer. Maybe she should give a class. I need it.
9. Cooking. Who knew she'd turn out to be such a good cook? She makes so many yummy things. Oooh, I wish I had some of her jalapeno poppers right now.
10. Being a sister. Since I was five she's been my sister. Through the years we have lived a lot of life together. And I know that no matter what, I can count on her. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, like a sister. And there isn't one better in the world than mine.

Bee Girl

Julianna and I had our first argument this morning. She asked for a marshmallow and I told her I didn't have any marshmallows. She said, "Yes, you do." And I said before thinking, "No, I don't." To which she replied more adamantly, "YES, you do." Really, I don't.

And in other news, I don't know where she gets her fashion sense.

But with a face like this, who cares what she wears.

Free At Last, Free At Last

For his birthday, Adam, my bug loving child, got a butterfly kit. There was a little netted cage and a certificate for caterpillars. When the caterpillars came in the mail, we watched them for a while in their little cup. After a week or so they started to build their chrysalises one by one. After all five of them were sleeping peacefully, we transferred them to the net. Where, lo and behold, they each emerged as a beautiful painted lady butterfly. We missed the actual emergences though, since they waited until night or when we were at school. For the past few weeks we have enjoyed having five butterflies fluttering around in their little home on the end table in our living room. Until yesterday, that is. Adam knew he would have to release them outside, but wanted to wait until Josh got home from his trip to do it. So yesterday was the day. The whole family went out to my little flower garden in the front of the house and Adam gently shook the four surviving butterflies into the breeze.

Be free, little butterflies.

I said, be free.

One finally takes the plunge into the wild. I think he liked it.
Josh and Jules getting a closer look.
They all found a spot to stretch their wings before taking off.

This one wasn't quite ready to leave Adam yet.
Which was just fine with him.

At last. Right where they belong.

10 Things--Weekend Edition

So I went to see Eclipse last night. And I enjoyed it very much. Kathy and I agreed that these silly Twilight movies will never make it on any American classics list, but they are entertaining. And we had fun watching vampires and shape shifting wolves for two hours...and making fun of the cheesiness of it all. And the little girls (well, okay, teenage girls) sitting behind us when they gasped the first time they saw Jacob on the big screen. But before I begin my 10 things, I must say that I know that there are Twilight moms out there who have crushes on Edward or Jacob in some kind of reliving of their teenage selves. I, though, feel only maternal about the whole thing. Or maybe it's a teacher thing. But, I can't help but to think of these characters from a mom point of view. Hoping that Bella makes wise choices. Proud of Edward for at least attempting to do what's right. Admiration for Jacob in handling his new life as a part time wolf. That being said, I am totally a wolf girl. Team Jacob all the way. And here's 10 reasons why.

1. He's warm. I do not like to be cold. Not one little bit.
2. He's soft. Really? Who wants to hug a statue?
3. He's tan. Edward's even more pale than Bella.
4. He has nice eyes. Not weird, and kind of creepy, vegetarian vampire eyes.
5. He's funny. He makes Bella laugh. Edward? Not so much.
6. His family is more fun. They joke and wrestle and enjoy being monsters. Edward's family sulks and complains and tries not to kill humans. (Okay, Emmett and Alice are kind of fun. And Esme is sweet in a vampiry mom kind of way. But Rosalie is not any fun at all.)
7. He can fix cars and motorcycles. That comes in handy when you drive a beat up old pick up like Bella's.
8. He eats. I don't think I could spend too much time with someone who didn't eat. I'd much rather share a pizza with someone than have them sit there and stare at me while I ate it.
9. He imprints. Who wouldn't appreciate someone being so very dedicated and loyal. Werewolves are a girl's best friend, you know.
10. His heart beats. When I lay my head on a chest, I want to hear something. Preferably a heart beating in a soft, warm chest.

So there you have my case for Team Jacob. And yes, I do remember that I am, in fact, a 38 year old mother of three who has been married for longer than Jacob has been alive. But still, I just can't resist a good love story.

10 Things Thursday

10 things in my salad at dinner.

1. lettuce
2. tomato
3. carrots
4. ham
5. turkey
6. swiss cheese
7. cheddar cheese
8. sunflower seeds
9. ranch dressing
10. olives (Okay, so I forgot the olives, but I had planned for them.)

Ramblings

I got a call yesterday from mom saying that they are heading home from their trip a day early. I can't tell you how happy I am about that. I miss my boy. Even more than I thought I would. I am so looking forward to holding him in my arms again. And not letting go for awhile.

During that same call, I had to tell mom about the little accident I had in her car on Monday. Just a few scratches on her front bumper. And on the little red car that mysteriously appeared in front of me at a red light. But she did laugh when I reminded her that I made it 38 years before scratching any of her cars.

I really didn't think it was possible, but Julianna just keeps getting cuter. Every day, more cuteness. And silliness. And wonderfulness.

I am loving summer. The sun. The light. The freedom. All the goodness of the season.

Adam had an orthodontist appointment yesterday. We were sent by our family dentist. It turned out to be much ado about nothing. Maybe a little work to be done in the future, but nothing major. I don't know who was more relieved, Adam or me.

I have 4 days before our annual 4th of July extravaganza. And at least 10 days of stuff to do to get ready. And yet here I sit blogging.

Blessed Sunday

Blessed Sunday posts are usually about the big things...family, friends, jobs, salvation, etc. But today I am feeling blessed by the little things. Here are just a few.

Flowers. Adam, Julianna, and I just planted a bunch of flowers out in our little rock garden in front of the porch. They are lovely. I don't know a lot about gardening and am known to kill most plants, but I can usually keep a few perennials alive for most of the summer. So we just bought a variety of sun loving plants and planted them all together in a mish mash of color. I can't wait to sit out on the porch tomorrow morning and admire our work in the summer breeze.

My van. Not only did my parents take Josh with them on vacation, they took my van, too. Since it's bigger than any of their vehicles, I volunteered to loan it to them for the long trip. This last week driving my mom's little Subaru has made me realize what a blessing my van is. You should see us in that little car. It's like a clown car when the four of us are getting out. All I can say is that it's a good thing they took Josh with them. There is no way all five of us could fit in there. And yesterday we went to Home Depot and Arrty bought an air compressor. We didn't even think about not having one of our cars that we could throw it in to get it home. Until we got it out to the car and the box was bigger than the car! He had to return it, go home to get his Explorer and go to Home Depot to buy it again.

Ice water. I love ice water. I would hate, absolutely hate, to live in a time or place where I couldn't drink ice cold water. I do not like lukewarm water or even cool water. Just wonderfully ice cold water.

So there you have three of the little blessings in my life today.

I promise...

...regardless of the previous history of me causing near riots at school, I had nothing to do with this.

10 Things Thursday

Since I've been on summer vacation, I have had more time to keep up with what's happening in the world. And to watch the Today Show. Well, only the first hour or so. Not the Kathie Lee hour. So here are 10 things about the news...

1. Okay, so I understand it's not good to say bad things about your boss. And I know General McCrystal knows that, too. But the media was all over this story. So he criticized the war. War should be looked at from both sides, don't you think? It's not a good thing...war. It's devastating. And frankly, I take the word of someone in the middle of it way more seriously than someone sitting in an office just hearing about it. Did he deserve to be replaced? I don't know. But I do think he was made to be the villain in this story when maybe he isn't so much.

2. There is an organization suing McDonald's trying to get them to stop putting toys in their Happy Meals. They say that the toys entice kids who in turn pester their parents to buy them unhealthy food. I have to say that I was a little offended by this. Yes, occasionally my kids think the toys are cool and want to go eat there to get one. (Not so much as they get older.) But I say "yes" or "no" based on what I want to do. They say that it's too hard for parents to say no and that the kids keep bugging them until they give in. Really?!? Really?!? If that's their concern they should be spending all those legal fees on educating parents, not fighting fights they'll never win. It would be so much more efficient. Plus we could still get our Shrek watches.

3. There was a mom in Ohio whose car got smashed by a huge falling tree while she was driving with her three little girls. The car was demolished. And they all walked away with just a few scratches. She said that someone was watching over them. After seeing the smashed car, all I could do was agree.

4. Right now the longest tennis match in tennis history is going on. An American and a French player just can't seem to finish what is being called an "epic" match. Now I have never in my life watched a tennis match. But "epic?" I may have to tune in. (Update: Isner, the American, won 70-68.)

5. The oil spill. I understand that it's a bad thing. Very bad for those whose lives are being affected because they can't make a living. I'm glad that BP is trying to fix things. But here are my two thoughts. First, they really need to come up with a way that if this ever happens again, they can stop the oil from continuing to leak out of the ocean floor. Duh. And secondly, the president can't take his little girl to a baseball game because of this disaster? Come on. What's he supposed to do? Sit in his office waiting for months for the news that everything's back to normal? I don't think so. Enjoy the game.

6. Jerry Seinfeld thinks Lady Gaga is "a jerk." She was moved to his empty box at a baseball game after making an obscene gesture and taking off her clothes down to her sparkly underwear. When he showed up for the second game of a double header, she was there. In his box. Apparently she made a bad first impression on the comedian who said something about if you drop the last "a" in her name you have "gag."

7. I guess the world cup is still going on, too. It's even making the news these days because America's team is still in it. That's all I know. Except that a lot of people are annoyed by the loud, and dangerous, vuvuzelas.

8. Twilight fans have been lining up for days in anticipation of Eclipse which opens June 30th. I readily admit that I have read all four books twice and have seen and own the first two movies. And I will be seeing Eclipse very soon after its release. But I will not be sleeping in front of the theater in a tent waiting to be first in line for the midnight showing. And honestly, I wouldn't have even done such a thing when I was younger. Even if my dad would have let me.

9. U.S. mortgage rates are at an all time low. But as much as I'd love to move into town from our house out in the boonies, we can't sell our house for enough to make it worth it. Sigh.

10. And then there's this for Marmitetoasty.

Julianna just said...

"I love you more than chocolate milk."

Now that's love.

Saturday

It's been forever since I've posted on a Saturday. I'm usually too busy doing everything or nothing. And if I think about it, the computer is usually being used by another member of the family. So here it is a Saturday and the kids are fed, the dishwasher is running, Adam's watching American Gladiators, Julianna is feeding cat food the the picture of the cat on the cat food bag, and I have a moment.

I guess the biggest news in our family is that Josh is gone on vacation with my mom and dad. All the way across the country. For more than two weeks. Dad called on Thursday morning to ask if he could go with them. (They were already planning to borrow our van so they had plenty of room.) They had considered taking more than one of the grandsons, but they are bringing two of my aunts and maybe even my grandma back with them, so on the trip back the van would be pretty full. So they decided to make it a one grandchild trip. They have the plan that when each grandchild is 10 years old, they will get to go on a trip with them by themselves. I think it's a great idea. All the kids, mine and my sister's, adore, absolutely adore their grandparents. They are easy to adore. And the kids know that they are adored by their Grams and Pappy, too.

So when the opportunity came for Josh to join them on their cross country adventure, I was excited for him. But nervous, too. What if the drive is too much for him? What if he gets homesick after a few days and is all the way across the country and I can't get to him? What if I miss him too much? But all of those things will be forgotten once he's back home. What won't be forgotten is the time he is spending with two of the people he loves most in the world. The laughter and the songs and the views and the once in a lifetime experiences. I am happy for him and can't wait to hear his stories and see his pictures.

But I do already miss him.* I just don't feel quite whole when any of my other parts are away. My heart isn't my own anymore, you know. It is divided into many parts, each one given to some special person in my life. So the Josh part is beating just a little quieter than usual since I sent some of myself with him. And right now that part is in Nebraska, laughing and singing and noticing that the corn is already knee high in that part of the country.

But in a few weeks he'll be back. Taller. Stronger. And full of treasured memories.

*Julianna misses Josh, too. With him gone, Adam only has her to bug. I've never heard, "A'amdee, leave alone!" so many times in one day as I heard yesterday.

10 Things Thursday

Wait. Is it Thursday? I haven't really been keeping track of the days since I'm on summer VACATION! Either way, here are 10 things I haven't done this week.

1. I haven't woken up to an alarm clock. Because as soon as I got up last Thursday, I turned it off and plan to leave it off until September.
2. I haven't slept any later than I would have with the alarm clock. Julianna has decided that waking up even earlier than usual is a great way to spend summer vacation.
3. I haven't gone to the beach. Too cold and rainy so far. Hopefully soon.
4. I haven't crossed anything off my summer to do list. It's only been 3 days so far, right?
5. I haven't walked in a line down the hall with 10 little people following me. Although I have led a line of one because Julianna follows me everywhere.
6. I haven't said the phrases, "inside voices, please," "criss-cross applesauce," or "there are two vowels in that word," even once.
7. I haven't completely finished everything at school. I've only been there a few hours this week and that was with the kids, so not a lot got done.
8. I haven't gone grocery shopping. But I have to today because we are now out of fruit, veggies, milk, and bread.
9. I haven't stayed up late. I think I've gone to bed before 10:00 every night but one.
10. I haven't danced my vacation dance yet. How could I have forgotten that?!...............Okay, now I have.

On being a mom...

Adam: Mom, isn't it fun being a mom?
Me: Sure it is, Adam. I have no idea what I would do with all my money and time if I didn't have kids. I guess I would just watch movies and read books all day uninterrupted.
Adam: I knew you would say something like that.


I did then tell him that being a mom is my favorite thing ever and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Books!

This morning Kathy and I made our annual trip to the Spokane Valley for the Book Man's* closeout sale and the Scholastic Book Warehouse sale. The Book Man's sale is out of his garage and when we got there 3 minutes early, there were already shoppers leaving with full bags. No fair being early birds! We'll never know if we missed something good. We both breathed deeply and pushed through the crowd to find a few treasures. Mine included a 3 foot tall Old Lady puppet complete with all the things she swallowed.** And a free stuffed fox for Julianna, a rain gauge for my mom for her garden, and a book called Hiking Idaho.

From there it was only about 6 miles to the book warehouse. We've been there many times for their sales and it's always fun to browse through the hundreds, maybe even thousands, of books. Today they had what they call "build a box" where you pay $25 for everything you can fit into a box that they provide. We went through that section and decided that there were enough items that we wanted that we could split a box. Just let me say that Kathy is my hero in the box packing department. You would not believe how many books she fit in that little box. Easily $300 worth and probably over 40 books. Amazing. After that we walked up and down the aisles and found many more treasures. I have enough books to last me the summer plus quite a few things for the kids including juggling books and balls for the boys and a stack of new books for Jules. We had a great time. Except for when I had to fight the old nun with a cane for the last copy of Animal Rainbow.***

After our almost 4 hours of book shopping, we went to Red Robin and had hamburgers and fries for lunch. I had the bacon melt burger. It was delicious. Kathy had the whiskey river burger. She said hers was good, too. And even though it had "whiskey" in the name, it luckily didn't have enough whiskey in it to cause her to act like a drunken monkey.

We always have fun on our book sale days, but today was especially fun. We laughed and told stories and bought a bunch of great books. It was a good day.

*The Book Man is the guy who brings his selection of books to school throughout the year for us to buy. His real name is Chris, but to us he's the Book Man.
**You know. "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly..."
***This did not happen. But there were nuns there shopping. And there was one with a cane. And I did get what I thought was the last copy of Animal Rainbow. And I did tell Kathy that I fought the nun for it. And she laughed knowing very well that that little, old nun could have easily taken me down if she wanted to.