We're A-Leavin', On a Jet Plane

The countdown continues: 3 more days until our Disneyland departure!!

Keep Bouncing

Turn on your sound, and get your smile ready!

Photo of the Week

Claire and her cousin Lyla...about 3 years ago at their Grandma's house

5 Things about Julian

Five Snacks You Enjoy:
pickles
ice cream sandwiches
Sour Cream n Onion chips
pistachios
apples
Five Songs That You Know All The Lyrics To:
Something Beautiful (Newsboys)
Jesus Freak (DC Talk)
Secret Kingdom (Newsboys)
Jesus is Alright With Me (DC Talk)
lotsa kids worship songs...
Five Things You Would Do If You Were a Millionaire:
Buy a mansion
Go on tour with the Newsboys
Visit my grandparents in Florida and stay for a year
Subscribe to cable!!
Buy more money with my money
Five bad habits:
Hit my sister
Yell at my sister
Don't share with my sister
Tease my other sister
Wear socks all year round
(hmmmm...I think this list is self-incriminating!!)
Five good habits:
eat healthy food
love the Newsboys
don't say bad words
babysit Audrey and Ethan every day
do my chores with a happy heart
FiveThings You Like To Do:
to play soccer and whup 'em
to play baseball and whup 'em
to play street hockey and whup 'em
go swimming
Five Favorite Toys:
computer
Nintendo DS
army set
soccer ball
trampoline

A New Haircut..in Verse

I got a new haircut yesterday,

where I just wash it and go out to play.

Feels great to change,

but no ponytail sure is strange

Thanks for reading this silly pange.

Something Beautiful...

We got a new videocamera, and I captured Audrey preening in the mirror singing to herself. The song is a new favorite around our house, called "Something Beautiful" by the Newsboys.
How beautiful to see her singing this to herself, when so quickly girls grow up and start critiquing themselves.
How beautiful to hear her singing a song that was inspired by God, given to this band to create.
She sure is something beautiful to us.


I wanna start it over
I wanna start again
I want a new a new beginning
One without any end
I feel it inside
Calling out to me
CHORUS
It's a voice that whispers my name
It's a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Singing love will take us where
Something's beautiful
I've heard it in the silence
Seen it on a face
I've felt it in a long hour
Like a sweet embrace
I know this is true
It's calling out to me
REPEAT CHORUS
It's the child on her wedding day
It's the daddy that gives her away--Father
Something beautiful
When we laugh so hard we cry
It's the love between you and I
Something beautiful

Manic Monday

Of all the people you know, who is the best at getting to the heart of things in serious discussions?
Christopher, for sure

What is your favorite characteristic in boys/men?
Chivalry

In your family, who is the least like the rest of you?
Its an even split, I think. Dad and Claire, and Mom and Julian. Ethan is still pending...

Photo of the Week

I love a girl who eats her dessert with gusto!

It finally happened...

I have always been very prideful when it comes to my kids. I admit it. How could I not be when they are sooooooo gorgeous, sooooooo smart, and soooooooo talented? In addition to that list, I have always been very proud of the fact that my children weren't terribly mischevious as toddlers and young children.
But it has finally happened. Audrey unrolled and entire, brand-new roll of toilet paper into the toilet and proceeded to flush the toilet multiple times, wherein the toilet just wheezed, gasped and then gave up. I mean the paper had swollen up the size of Vermont, with no water left in the bowl so of course it wouldn't go down.
This information was, of course, gathered after the fact. The big kids had just come home from school and I was talking to them about their day, when I noticed the bathroom door closed. My very next thought was, "Hmm I wonder where Audrey is?" Being clever, I deduced she was in there and I think I did a couple of Matrix moves to get there as fast as possible. Too late though.
So...I've been humbled. From now on I will be checking the DVD slot for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before I put a movie in.

Manic Monday

Do you listen to music regularly? What's your favorite way to listen-- radio, CD, iPod...?
I listen to it regularly, in an irregular way. From the car stereo to the kitchen radio to streaming it in on the computer.

When listening to music do you tend to focus more on the lyrics or the melody?
What gets me first is always the melody, then I will listen to the lyrics. For the life of me I can't imagine liking a song just for the lyrics; the music is like the backing on a quilt that holds the pattern together.


If you had to pick a theme song to sum up your life right now, what would it be?
Boy is this a large question. To sum up my life? There's something about the song, "Does Anybody Hear Her?" by Casting Crowns that is a reflection of my life in many ways.

Christian vs. Christ-Follower: Part Deux

LOVE the part about the bumperstickers...that he ran out of room on his car so he put them inside his suit jacket!! Too funny. I don't put any stickers or fish on my car, not because I'm an aggresive, rude driver and don't want to "be a bad witness" as they say. It's more because I sometimes am an absent-minded driver or just do a lame driving move and people would see the sticker and think "OH WHAT A HYPOCRITE! Driving like a maniac with a christian advertisement on her car!!" Before I was a christian I used to say that about others...that's why I know. Anyway, that's just for me and not a statement about anyone else who chooses to do that.
A small rant: I will make a statement about people who put bumperstickers with swear words on their cars: I DESPISE THAT and GET IRRITATED that my kids have to see that. It's not like turning on cable, where you can CHOOSE what they watch. We are all sharing public roads (well, I guess technically it's a choice to drive...) and I don't appreciate being exposed to R-rated garbage when driving behind someone. The line can be drawn at the truck mud-flaps with the silhouette of the shapely woman on them. I think it can stop right there, busters. Anyway, I hope I don't get any comments with stuff about the First Amendment. I'm just ranting.

A point well made

Even if you aren't a Christian, it is still a good statement about hypocrisy, as well the tendency to try to keep up appearances.

Day(ton)dreaming

After a conversation with Christopher yesterday, I got to thinking. What hobby/pasttime/activity would I do if I could do ANYTHING?



If time wasn't a factor.

If money wasn't a factor.

If space wasn't a factor.

If lack of talent/lack of knowledge wasn't a factor.



One thing I'd love to do is have a vegetable garden, as well as a yard that's full of plants and flowers like you'd see in Sunset magazine. My mother-in-law, Jofannie, used to live in Yelm on a big piece of property and had fantastic flowers and a too-die-for vegetable garden. In addition, there were multiple fruit trees (co-owned by some pesky moles!!). Anyway, every time we would visit I'd be filled with desire, passion, ideas, and a lot of envy. Christopher offered yesterday to build me a raised bed for a garden, but alas, several of the above factors stand in my way at this season of my life. I am going to keep this day(ton)dream tucked away safely in my heart for when the right time comes along.

The other thing I'd love to do---NOW DON'T LAUGH--is become an expert dancer. Salsa, swing, tango, two-step, ballroom, line dancing...those kinds of dance. Not the ones where I'd be by myself on the stage in a leotard. HEY I SAID NO LAUGHING!

It would just be so fantastic to fly around the dance floor, lost in the music and the steps. And not to mention the fringe benefit of being totally in shape! Wow. I would love, someday, to start dancing lessons and stick with it no matter how many feet I stepped on, no matter how out of breath and out of shape I felt, no matter how long it took before I "got it down". Because eventually I would get better, get in shape, and get it down. An astronaut doesn't fly to the moon the first time he puts on his space suit, right?

So...now I'm thinking about the people I know. Just for fun, I'll list what I think they'd do if they could:



Julie: expertly sew and quilt; take Baton Twirling Lessons in the footsteps of her sister
Melissa: take a summer job as a cruise director on the Disney ships (free childcare all day, every day)
Christopher: be in a christian rock band
Ellen: stay at her second home in Everett, Washington frequently to spend time with her grandkids
Jofannie: travel, travel, travel
Lisa: start her own Women's Mission/Shelter

If you aren't listed, think about it and post a comment :o)

Photo of the Week

claire bear, 7 yrs old

Manic Wednesday?

Oops... I missed my Monday posting! How the days slip by, eh?


What celebrity crushes did you have when you were growing up?
Jill: I remember having posters of Leif Garrett and Shawn Cassidy on my wall (Who are they you ask? Teenie-bopper singers) Also--and this is SO embarrassing--Michael Jackson. Before he was into self-mutilation and baby-dangling, he was my idol and I could do all his dances.
Christopher: KRISTY MCNICHOL...and Justine Bateman from the show Family Ties.


What cartoon character best describes you?
Jill: I think I'll stick with my Rabbit-Eeyore combination
Christopher: He couldn't think of who he's like, but he said he always LOVED the Wonder Twins from the Justice League. Thought it was the coolest that they could transform themselves.

Complete this statement “I recommend…” (it can be a TV show, book, movie, website, activity, restaurant, etc.)
Both of us: We are watching The West Wing series on DVD, and completely love it. It is a smart show with clever writing, and has lots of interesting faith-based principles.

Orange Crayon

Why is it that when a crayon--hidden carefully in an unnamed toddler's pocket--goes through the washing machine, it is always a color like Orangeor Red?
Why couldn't it be, say, white or that light peach you always use to make skin color? And does it find its way into a dark load of laundry? Nooooooooooo sir, it prefers the LIGHT colored loads to show up on. It's just a Murphy's Law kind of thing, I think.
Oh my other favorite is when a kleenex gets left in a pocket and it goes through the wash. It ends up in BILLIONS of microscopic pieces that sticks to EVERYTHING. 'Nuff said.

Women in Art

This is so incredibly beautiful...You know the expression, "Poetry in motion"? Well this is it! Try to keep looking in their eyes (some are averted to the side). Didn't it feel like they were truly looking right at you? It makes me in awe that these people could paint something that had so much LIFE in it. What a gift that would be... I wonder what I would paint if I could paint that well. People? Animals? Scenery? What would you paint?

The Photo of the Week

Since I'm always on the lookout for a great picture to take, I thought I'd challenge myself to post The Photo of the Week.

Here's this week's fave!

Manic Monday

I'm starting a new thing on Mondays...it's called Manic Mondays where I get a series of random questions from this website (http://manicmondaymeme.blogspot.com/ ) and then answer them here. Sometimes they will be from/about me, and other times I will get the other family members to answer. I'm hoping it will be interesting and insightful....so here goes:


1. How do you learn best? Watch and learn? Participation? Reading directions or technical manuals?
I definately learn by seeing and then doing. Or if someone just reads directions to me, it's as if it goes in one ear and out the other. I need to look over their shoulder and read them too. Of course little pictures help ;o)

2. Is one of your senses more highly developed than another? If so, which one?
Oh my sense of hunger is VERY highly developed and.... what? That's not one of the five senses? hmph.

3. Summer is almost upon us here in the northern hemisphere. What says summer to you?

What says summer to me is when I see the fruit stands/open air produce markets start to pop up for the season. I love buying fresh, local foodstuffs.