4 months.

Christmas

some of us dread shopping malls packed with people, ungrateful children, dinners spent with sour relatives, and possibly even Bing Crosby crooning about it 'beginning to look like Christmas.' Pacific north westerners don't have to worry about the latter, admittedly even I did allot of my shopping on amazon.com last year just to avoid the crowds...as for ungrateful children, there are times when its nice to be reminded how blessed I truly am even if its in the form of Donald trump Jr. calling all the shots to his bedraggled parents.
A select few of us think about Christmas all year long. According to my sister-in-law 's best friend who is some sort of psychologist, its not a disorder until it takes up two hours of thought a day. Whew! was I relieved. (joking) Last years gifts were so well thought out. I hope to repeat it. Hannah is still running around in the dress-up skirt from last year...maybe this year I will make her a puffy neon one. Thankfully her mother puts up with me, who knows why. My nephews will get pj.s and a book. The rest of the presents will remain undisclosed for now. This morning I clicked on the Christmas music play list. 10+ hours of festive inspiration and practically every Christmas album on CD. Poor Greg, its going to be a long 4 months.

the big score!

Generally speaking, I am not frequently found driving around the neighborhood looking for deals at yard sales. I do enjoy junk hunting...its just more complicated now. Kind of like smoothing peanut butter on a sandwich with a tooth pick. It can be done,but not enjoyably. Today was my exception. You could say I found a knife. The car was full of library books freshly picked and I didn't want to drive home just yet, I had the notion the house needed a computer desk. There weren't any desks, beds, or nightstands in sight, instead we settled on a giant box full of Thomas track and trains. Its really stinky-the lady looked kind of like an addict-but we washed it in soap and perhaps later the dishwasher. A good start if I say so myself.

The official track piece count is...

• regular curvy -16
• small curvy-24
• incline-10
• extra small strait-4
• small strait-1
• medium strait-35
• large strait-9
• extra large strait-5
• track splitter-5
• misc. track- 8
• building pieces-8
• vehicles-43

now if we can get over the stench..all aboard the $25 express!

slugs and snails

Starting from the age of 1 1/2 all three of my lovely children have adored the outside world and all the wonders its holds. Most children stop and stare in in awe, marveled by the beauty of Gods earth often missed by tired eyes. I have personally experienced, through my children's youthful gaze, a renewed love of sunsets, rainbows, and finding the moon during the day. I liken the three of them to hummingbirds, not only because they fly about the room and eat small portions but because they go from one thing to the next at a very rapid pace. Still their young life has a theme of sorts. It could have been '101 ways to peel an onion' but instead they chose 'Bugs, Slugs, and Uggs' (the uggs are mine) It's not really that bad most days, I too enjoy the intricacies of microscopical nature. Who knows, when retirement comes around, I could be the next bug whisperer. My qualm is with the slugs and snails. No other family I know has children so in love with snails they giggle with delight over one oozing up a bare tummy. Often wars are fought over the garden snail habitat bucket and who's slug is worthy of recruitment. It's not in me to tell them to stop. All my motherly instincts inform me they can not be harmed by it, and who knows in 15 years perhaps they will discover the existence of the great pink sea snail off of some far away coast line.
I do hold firm about one thing...absolutely no slugs in bed. When would anyone take a slug to bed? Over a year ago I went to kiss my middle son goodnight when I noticed his hands were clenched. I lovingly asked what he was holding. He thrust his skinny arms toward me and revealed two very squishy brown blobs. Only after prying them out of his gew encrusted hands did this particular rule came into existence.

I'm still curious, what is the best way to remove slug slime?

pickin' and grinnin'

I found a berry patch to pick in tonight. Silly as it sounds, berry picking is one of my favorite sports! Once Greg and I went out and had a royal berry fight after we had picked our share. Much to my chagrin, he won like always. (don't tell him I admitted to it) Was my face red!! his was too- kind of like newlyweds-except this was a berry induced blush. We also all went to the zoo today. How silly of me to think there wouldn't be many people because of it only being Thursday....of the last week of summer vacation! aaahhhh. Parking was INSANE! It was like soccer mom shoot out. Yes, I was willing to body block a spot if I had to, but Emily's eagle eyes saw just the right one. Whew. She parked her suburban in a compact slot. Apparently it must be a compact if it fits into the space. she did receive a fake-o ticket from some psycho environmentalist group about her vehicle being a high pollutant. If that was the only crime anyone committed, I think the world might be a better place. My guess is their green little body's couldn't hold up to the rigorous job requirements of being bounty hunters for the police so they decided to print out flayers on paper (often made from trees) wait until the vehicle was unoccupied and wham-o slap a ticket on the windshield..what a thrill. Too bad I'm so busy having a life, then maybe i too would find the time to put things on peoples windshields....maybe flayers about how cars kill bees and without them the whole world would cease to exist, because without bees there is no honey to put on toast.

my decision

so here it is, the official 'what has she decided to do' for homeschooling....I have decided to give the free online homeschooling from the state a try. I don't know anyone who has done it and I figured that someone was going to have to take the plunge sometime so, I'm plunging. We will still supplement with christian based approaches to science and history, but I am glad of the testing and teacher help provided by the web sight. so we'll see..and so will you.

berries

I am anxious for the blackberry's to ripen, I think I missed picking blueberries. The odd season has confused me exceedingly and my freezer is empty. Today I will keep my eyes out for blackberries. I am hoping to find a few otherwise we will be stuck picking hoards of huckleberries...and cleaning them. The whole fam likes huckleberry jam but I myself dread picking through all those pin head sized berries to make sure the stems are removed. *sigh*
Fall is coming, and I am really looking forward to sweater weather. Hopefully it wont rain the whole season through.

beauty quest

'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'

I'm not sure if it was a product of being home schooled and then going to school or if its just the nature of the beast, but I didn't realize I was plain until a 4th grade friend informed me of such. It was the seed of doubt that perhaps all those years my parents had been stretching the truth, seeing me inevitably through overly bias eyes. For years after that I struggled to find someone else who thought I was lovely beyond all in order to test my theory. I finally snagged a boy in 6th grade who, I thought, found me special. We roller skated every Saturday. On one particular 'skate date' we rolled around the floor of Skate World coming to a stop in the kiddy section. I had been having a thrilling time just skating and holding hands, occasionally having to wipe the sweat on my tapered jeans. Ill never forget his words, "everyone is expecting us to kiss." It was like lightning struck my brain, but doing things just because someone wanted me to was never my bag so I replied "who? and So What." We continued to skate a little longer before parting. That's when it happened. The next Saturday he couldn't go, the next week he wasn't answering his phone, then his mom told me he was too busy with other friends. The realization began to sink in..I had not been pretty enough to capture him, he only wanted my kisses. The rest of my dating profile is rather empty, thankfully. My gaining 20 lbs before high school and being rejected by all the boys for winter formal (most humiliating moment) only helped to solidify the fact I was not what people were looking for. It took years to work through being plain and ordinary. My only hope was for someone, someday to think I was beautiful, even if it was a product of poor eyesight. Now that I have been happily married for 7 years I have discovered the truth. It isn't the eye of the beholder that sees beauty, it creates it. Two loving eyes took my shriveled heart and brought it back to life. Greg,'s love revived my near dead self esteem, gently, with the truth. Had I really been capable of this transforming beauty all along? Was I desirable, a treasure to be sought and purchased at any expense? He answered yes and chose me above the rest. Its like a different person existed in those pre-greg years, she is plain, normal, and average.

My picture of earthly transformation enables these eyes to peer through the larger scope. I may be ugly and sinful and dirty here on earth, but Christ loves me enough to take the time and nurture this dying blossom until it is worthy of being placed into the master's garden.

looks like me..

A popular saying goes "you are what you eat." technically I would be a very sweet piece of toast. "cut from the same cloth" is another intriguing phrase. Weather I look like my dog or not is up to your judgment call, the thing I was really shooting for is finding myself slowly becoming my spouse. Rarely do I blog about my lover. Its not really intentional just a coincidence in the fact we are so much a part of each others lives. At times I forget to bring him up, assuming others see the obvious fact that we are slowly morphing into each other. Several days ago I found myself in a conversational lull with a friend, like usual I picked it up again. The strange part was not the fact I kept on talking to ease the awkwardness of silence, it was the topic I chose. I started a conversation about a car re-build....to a girlfriend...other than Nyssa. It was quite the 'twilight zone' moment. It didn't take long for the realization to reach around and smack me upside the head. "engine re-build! what am I talking about? This person probably couldn't find the oil dipstick in their own car, why am I telling them about the inner workings of mine????" That is when the heme song music floated by and I quickly changed the subject to something more girl oriented. Lip gloss, high heels, absurdly low cut jeans on BIG girls. You get the picture. He (my husband) must have known somehow, all that talk about radiators, air cooled engines, displacements, boost gauges, that it would eventually rub off into MY daily conversation. We seem to have separate lives at times, and if someone didn't know us it could be misunderstood, but on a whole we are through and through together all the time. If not physically then mentally. I have to wounder though, has Greg ever slipped up and told someone that he saw a great pair of pumps at Macy's last week? Some things I will never find out, for now I will remain your blogger friend who has a little too much knowledge concerning cars.

riding on the fast lane

Okay, I didn't want to get crazy and post this info right away without pictorial evidence but I cant wait!!!

My daughter rides without training wheels!!!

yeah I am a parent and she is my firstborn, but seriously I thought teaching her to ride solo would take allot more labor...and way more coaching. Wimpy mom did not learn to ride without those rolling beauties until she was 7 or 8. Daddy was 8 too. Three days ago she told me she was ready for me to take them off. I was surprised because all the other times I have taken them off she threw a fit. Maybe it was because it was her idea this time and she truly was ready. she is riding like a pro now and today she went forever on the black top and the gravel. good times good times. One down two to go!

unca dan!

we went and picked my brother up today from the airport! everyone was ecstatic to see him, especially the kids. Its hard to have him live his life so separate to us. Someday I will understand, for now Ill just pick on him. We were on our way back from the airport when a life flight landed right next to the highway! A policeman had stopped traffic and we got a shot with our cameras. He came down so smoothly it was like he was on his way to the shopping market and happened to find just the right spot puling in ever so slowly with the powerlines overhead. Amazing. with that said I am looking forward to a Dan filled week!

an easier tide..

ebb and flow. The tide of life comes and goes, sometimes revealing an unexpected treasure shiny and wet, half hidden in the sand. Other times it digs deeply taking something you love away. Mother hood has taken me to the beach more than once to experience this tide of life. in more clarity than imaginable. My treasures found are those little whispers at the end of the day, proclamations of unbending love and adoration, the piercing questions only innocence can ask, a sweet embrace wholeheartedly meant, and the chance to change the future. Many castles I have expertly built only to be crushed by the sea, precious stones sinking deep into the sand lost for an eternity, a life taken away. Still the ocean pounds its fists into the sand, unchanged by its surroundings unable to be manipulated, pushing, pulling. Though the howling wind and torrential rain drives even the sea birds inland I find myself glad of storms, if only to see what the morning light exposes in the sand.

blue jeans lament

tragity of all tragitys, this very expensive pair of jeans has become so tight its a crime. They arnt looking for a new home though just a better set of leggs. I cant remember the last time my thys became too large for my jeans other than pregnancy and jr. high. Am I going to take this siting down? Nope. I really like my designer denim...even enough to work out in order to fit (modestly) into them again. Hopfully in time to wear them on our next date night with a pair of bobbi blu wedges. Gotta go, my eliptical trainer is calling.

The Mad Hatter,...

I am enjoying a new set of notecards I ordered from amazon.com. They are paintings of the adventures Alice has in wounderland and are masterfully captured. Our little family has a tradition, passed on from my own childhood, of unbirthdays. Yes, years ago the disney movie imprinted and inspired me to take the tradition and make it my own, after all why do you have to wait a whole year to make a cake and blow out candles. Today the kids and I had an unbirthday party for everyone in the house, they wanted to be older 7,6,and im sure 5 where as I wanted to be younger...I chose 21 :) with 'presents' wraped and waiting we sang the song and ate the cake. The excitment of opening the packages was too much so the kids hopped down from the table and tore into the boxes full of toys allmost immeadiatly after licking all the frosting off of thier cake. The gifts were carfully selected toys.... from thier room. then after they unwrapped them,...we re-wrapped them again!! un-birthdays are much batter than real birthdays in my opinion. less money too. Maby when you are in the neighborhood next it could be your un-birthday too?

random pic

I put a blue cast in the pic to show the difference in his eyes more clearly...just in case you didn't believe me when I said he has different colored eyes.

its paying off...

today is my first day on the job in seven years. The district needed a new seamstress to hem garments and sew on patches (easy peasy) and they were kind enough to ask me if I wanted to do it!!! yes I am excited to finally be able to have a way to make a few bucks here and there, wouldn't you be???

starlight.

Every now and then I want to wake one of my sleeping angels from night time dreaming to spend just one more moment, one more second together. All parents know of the fleeting feet of time, I am especially aware of its cantor in the evenings when everything is finally still. A few times in my own childhood I was awakened on a dark moonless night and whisked away to gaze into the heavens with a sentimental parent. The cold fall snap nibbling at my fingers and toes, the stars lighting up the sky and my father perched in front of a flimsy aged telescope telling me what each constellation was and how they told a story together. I'm still not sure why I was hearkened from my bed for those few precious moments. Whatever the case may be I still treasure those nights away from much needed rest because it showed me how loved I truly was and am. Perhaps this is the real reason why when my world is finally at peace and most everything is in its place I want so badly to wake them, to hear their tiny voices just one more time in order that they should know as I did, how deeply loved they truly are and will forever be.

dividing line

Whatever outlook on life you hold, there are a few times when you have to choose one side or the other. Its fairly similar to dodge ball right down to the bruises received (emotionally or otherwise) Most critical thinkers try to see both sides of a situation before choosing 'their team' so to speak. I have recently found myself thrust into the 'captains' position of a game I don't really want to play. Whatever side I choose , the opposite will inevitably see some wrong in my choice and begin to pummel me with an emotional 'dodge ball' bent on proving a point. Some players will be aggressive pitching the ball to show strength and superiority while others like me dodge oncoming volleys wondering why on earth we have to play the game in the first place. Whatever choice I make will automatically draw an emotional line with someone and cause a divide. What choice should I make? How should I make it? This one will be made after allot of prayer, because after all only God knows what is best for my family and me.

summer days

I am amongst a shrinking community of people who can honestly boast that their childhood was truly happy. Not perfect, but tainted with enough bliss to cover the ugly stains humanity leaves on every mans life canvas. Oh the happy summer days walking to a secret fishing hole in hopes of scoring the 'big one' or the late breezy evenings slurping watermelon and spitting the seeds at each other. Northern California provided little shade and ample heat, the only logical solution was to picnic by the river and swim until even your eyes were prunes. Mid month my family would take the long and winding road from Adin to Redding in order to do the bulk of the shopping inexpensively. We would start out early hoping to avoid heat for the majority of the drive but alas by 11:00am the sun was searing our black vinyl seating to the backs of our legs regardless of the fact all four windows had been retracted as far down as possible. The 1980s version of hillbilly ac was a bucket of lukewarm water you could dip your t-shirt in. Some evenings we would sit on our front porch after an especially blistering day and watch dry lightning strike one of the nearby, bone dry hilltops. Of all the places we had lived, Adin California took the most of my sentiment and happy childhood memory's..my brothers too.

third row wishes (title of pic)

Yesterday I was riding in the car with my three perfect children and I thought of something to draw. Usually when I am inspired to sketch, I put the desire away and forget about it, but Tuesday was different. Both my kids wanted to doodle (on their own papers) and the third was playing happily by himself outside. when it was finished I thought it looked a little like the pictures you see in graphic novels-without the amazing super hero stuff. I hope you don't glean the wrong impression off this pic. My kids don't sing loudly, get angry or smear ice cream. It was merely my view of someone else and their slight resemblance to my children is just an artistic coincidence ....tee he.

slowing things down...

Now that our summer is coming to a close things are returning to normal. The west coast has provided a minimal and dismal summer from Juneuary to novaugust, with only two weeks total of sunshine. We are visiting my mother and father for a week while my husband puts a motor into his project car. Last night was the first time in quite a while that all three played happily together. It was so refreshing to see them all join in pretend play, taking turns, imagining, and treating each other with respect that I let them stay up late without regret. Today we attended my parents church, rather I went home. I have never been anywhere more accepting and loving here. After service we headed home to rest and eat lunch. The kids are happily playing in the yard discovering all the joys of salting slugs. My middle child hastily took the oldest aside and plotted the same fate for our youngest. Good thing he's not a slug!

at least somthing in our house is 'fair'

this year when we went to the fair everyone could finally ride the rides. The boys chose the driving cars, my favorite as a kid. My daughter (also obviously my HUSBANDS daughter) wanted to ride the yoyo, A very large set of swings. If you have ever been to the fair you've probubly seen it. I feared my fathers heart wouldnt hold up under the stress-he was breaking out in a sweat from my daughter talking about it, So because I love him we chose another scary looking ride we could go on together.

Cotton candy-only my sugar baby liked it, the boys threw it away

This is the comprimise ride we took instead of going on the yoyo,..I was amazed that gregory joined us concidering the individual units twirled while the entire thing spun and rose up and down. I guess I must have been a real weenie at five years old, because at the fair I only rode the carosell untill I used up my allotment of tickets, then acted like I would have gone on cooler rides but accidentally ran out.




last stop was the c.e.f. booth to get a story and face painting done.

dan style

I have allways loved the way dan draws this one he drew me quite some time ago

probubly more than 10 years ago....

this was my signature skater guy in highschool

fun at the beach

after a long day of fun the baby decided to take a nap on jamie
Its log riding at its best!

My girl the seagull feather princess

We really enjoyed all the people we saw this july and august. It helps the winter seem shorter when we can look forward to so many dear friends visiting us in the summer.

do you think they built it?

thrill ride.

Its seriously true that the third child in my household has re-arranged my thinking on the ease of parenthood. Take for instance his smearing ben gay in his mouth and eyes on vacation, standing on top of the dryer to get the oxy-clean (didn't eat that one) or yesterday when I found him casually walking around on our second story roof. He is rather like a theme park thrill ride. If you keep a fixed eye on safety and maintenance everybody has a good time, its when you turn around to get yourself a pop at the concession stand that disaster strikes, spontaneously burning the whole place down. Looks can deceive. By far he takes the cake for being the cutest toddler, always smiling and being silly. Next time you see him look past his pleasing appearance into those sky blue eyes and you might catch a glimpse of what I get to see every day, a very large spark of mischief hidden behind thick black eyelashes.

motivation

we needed motivation to brush our teeth...Im glad we live in the 21st centuary

that stinks!

Yes, today I am frazzled. The kids got up tired and aggravated at each other ever ready to poke and tease in just the right way to make their sibling scream. Days like this make me wounder weather I know ANYTHING about parenting and how I could have gotten this far without noticing. My exhausted state causes me to feel this way and in truth its just one of those days. The biggest reason everyone is so pent up and crabby is we ha vent seen manz. for a long time. All three have begged me for weeks to go visit Nana and poppie's house in order to see their friends. My daughter was even trying to dial the phone to talk to poppie. I would have gone sooner but the summer is the only time people are able to come and see us at our house. I wouldn't miss that for anything. Tonight was the last straw breaking a mother cammels back. After asking them to pick up there toys repetitively I went to see if they had listened. Sure enough, there were all the toys scattered across the room untouched. I pulled out the big guns and said " I'm throwing them away if you don't pick them up...and I'm setting the timer" Empty threats arn't my thing..tonight I would have thrown them all out no matter how much I like toys. I closed the door and sat in front of my computer screen listening with little hope in my threadbare body. Much to my surprise I heard my daughter explaining to my son what was going down if the toys didn't get put away, then I hear a loud "that stinks" but you know what? 20 min later before there time was up they came and got me...very proud of themselves for doing the job. A good end to a terrible day. I'm so glad of tomorrow.