A Small Note to all the Young Ladies of the World

Dear Young Ladies of the World,

There has been much talk of late regarding this:

And this:

So this evening I'd like to throw a little reality check  into the discussion.

Eleven years ago, I fell in love with this incredible guy. I could go on and on about all the reasons I fell in love with him (and I even have proof...a list I made of 54 spectacular things I liked about him that include happy eyes and the fact that he made a great BLT sandwich) but we will stick to a language we can all understand. Among some of the reasons that I think this man is amazing is that:

a) he does not show up every day with a terrible, pasty make-up job

b) he is not freezing cold

c) he knows how to carry on a conversation

d) he doesn't want to eat me or drain my bodily fluids

e) he doesn't get all hairy and wolf like when he gets mad

f) he doesn't clench his jaw muscles continually

g) he doesn't have a mullet

h) he is real.

Hmmm...reality. Let me tell you what REALLY makes me fall in love with this delicious husband of mine every day:

a) This morning I woke up to a sink and a kitchen that looked like this:

There is nothing more wonderful to me than a man who sees something that needs to be done, that KNOWS how happy it will make his wife, and does it. It sparkled, the dishes in the dishwasher were clean...it made me smile all day.

b) Last night my husband made 2 dozen of these:

My daughter was having her birthday party and wanted cupcakes. And so my husband who understands his little girl made cupcakes with her. I love watching this man with his children. He understands perfectly when it is time to stop and play with them, when they need extra tickles or a story or even when one of his children just needs him to sit on the floor next to them until they fall asleep.

c) And he also put together 16 of these:

Please try and marry a man who knows how to whip up some icing and put together "gingerbread castles" for little children to decorate at a party. Are you amazed? I'm not even done.

d) On Monday, we had a party scheduled for 16 princesses and knights. The party was supposed to have been the previous Saturday but the princess who was hosting the whole affair threw up, we figured it was better to reschedule. That afternoon I started not feeling well...and by 2:50 p.m. I was lying in bed wondering if I was going to die. I had to go pick up the boys from school...I grabbed a green plastic Barnes and Noble bag and headed out to the car. Deep breathing, deep breathing. I got to the school, pulled up in carpool line and called my husband sobbing. What were we going to do? The kids are coming, I'm going to throw up, help! Then I called my sister-in-law and she got the same sob story. I finally got the boys and started driving home. We only had to stop 2 times on the side of the road with the hazard lights blinking so I could throw up in my green plastic bag. It wasn't pretty. But seconds after I got home, my husband and sister-in-law showed up. They sent me to the bathroom to go "do my thing" and my darling husband ran a princess party. They danced, they played, they decorated gingerbread houses, they ate cupcakes, and had a wonderful time. He didn't ask me to cancel the party, he didn't argue about coming home, he didn't give me a sob story about not knowing how to run a princess party, he did it. And he did a fabulous job!

When I met my husband, I knew there was something very special about him. I fell in love with him because he was physically, spiritually and emotionally strong and at the same time, gentle and patient and loving. I wasn't smart enough to know all the things I needed or would want in a husband. (I do have to admit I thought he had beautiful eyes and a great bum.) But the Lord knew...and he is a gift. There isn't anything he won't do or try. There is no chore or job that he won't pitch in or help with. He loves his family. He is a devoted and kind husband and father. And I adore him...crazy about him.

I went and saw New Moon with my husband...and I held his hand and we laughed at the fact that Edward always talks in that breathy voice and that Jacob can't seem to keep his clothes on and everyone has terrible make-up jobs and Bella still can't give me one lousy reason to like her. And I walked out still thinking I was the luckiest woman in the world to be married to this man.

So Young Ladies of the World...enjoy the lmovie love story. But don't believe a word of it. Real love stories don't happen like that...they are so, so, so much better. Good looking is truly skin deep and pretty words are just that...pretty words. What a man does, how he treats others, how he treats you...those are the things that count. Real love stories are deeper and last longer and are more beautiful...you're just going to have to trust an old lady on this one.

Ewww...

Here is the funny thing about life...9 years ago I put my career on hold because I had this darling little baby that was followed by 2 other little darlings and I think somewhere in my mind I just thought it would all be on hold until someday I went back to work. I don't know what I thought I'd be doing...hanging out at home, changing diapers, feeding small people, doing dishes?? OK, so I do lots and lots of those things but please appreciate what I will be doing in my 3rd grade child's classroom next week...really, check it out. And if you think you have the stomach for it, PLEASE let me know. I'm having serious doubts about my ability to do this...


Cow Eyeball Dissection


And you know what is even stranger? I just ordered 3 cow eyeballs that said they will be delivered in a pail in 5-10 business days. Isn't the internet amazing? Just googled "cow eyeball" and ordered myself 3 gorgeous eyeballs. (I'm really trying not to be utterly disgusted by the fact that every time I googled it, I got some link about whether or not McDonalds really uses cow eyeballs in their hamburgers. Like I needed another reason to shun the golden arches...Cow eyeball hamburger patties)


So step right up...have a child or two and get yourself a whole lot more than you bargained for! What an adventure. Really. I had no idea how gross it would be or how much fun...on so many levels.


Oh, and if you need some eyeballs or a lamb brain hop right on over to Cow eyeballs for sale.

Just a strange P.S. to this random post...I was reading the customer reviews on this cow eyeball product and found a customer had the following to say regarding this product...

EYEBALL

Date: February 18, 2009

Pros: Effective, Engaging, Grade Level Appropriate

This item is perfect for just about any age! Came with step by step directions that helped us understand and observe each part of the eye. Our 4 year old liked to play with the extra tissue, and the older girls enjoyed learning more about how their own eye works by having a "super sized" eyeball to investigate. Of course all our friends like to hear about what we do in science at our house. I liked it so much I donated some to our local school. I will be ordering more of these type items! 

 

Um, could someone explain what mother is letting her 4-year old play with the extra eyeball tissue...whatever happened to Fisher Price toys??? Gross.

Joy

 

From the day she entered my world....

she has made me happy. Truly, deeply, insanely happy.

 

 She is my friend. I love being with her.

 

She is so girlie. She loves fancy and pink and dress-ups. She plans excellent tea parties.

 

HB loves adventure. She loves to giggle and play and dance.

 

 She is beautiful inside and outside. She has her father's happy, happy eyes. 

 

 But don't be fooled...she is also incredibly sassy, fiesty, independent, and fiercely determined.

 

I'm so grateful to be a part of her life. 

 

 I love being her mother.

 

Happy, happy birthday my sweet daughter.

 

All of you are perfectly perfect.

Like I said...joy. Pure joy.

Fall in the Valley

Oh, I'm a fall junkie. There isn't one single thing that I don't love about this time of year. I love looking up at the mountains in September and seeing that first glimpse of color. And every day it creeps further and further down until it spreads itself out over the valley and turns our world into a fantastic, breathtaking world of color. And they are all my very favorite colors in the whole world (as my new red living room will attest). Reds, oranges, yellows, greens, browns...and they aren't shy colors. They are big and bold and beautiful. It feels my heart with such wonder and joy that I feel like I could burst into a fall firework show every time I walk outside.

Fall confetti lining the gutters with such gleeful festivity!

More fall confetti...

Outside my very own front door...

In the leafy treetops...

My front lawn...there will be no raking in this yard.

They are so elegant and stately. Love these colors!

Another strange fall occurrence...the appearance of a mermaid in our bathtub. She is in there frequently just floating serenely in the water. Truly, she would just lie there for hours if I let her.

And then I walked in the family room the other day and found Santa Claus and his reindeer flying through...HB and her best friend were watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and just had to try it out. JR is Santa and HB volunteered to be the reindeer in front!

Friends...in any season!

So if you are in the area, stop by. I'll be sitting on my front porch with a cup of orange hot chocolate admiring the leaves and mermaids and other miracles of fall!

Alive

Just a little note to say we are all alive and well...just very computerless. Our archaic, dark ages computers have all died. I can't say it was unexpected...they made it far longer than I thought they would. Chris has a laptop he brings home from work but he is usually very busy on it in the evenings. I did discover that if you happen to wake up at 4:00 a.m. in the morning because your daughter has had a bad dream, then the computer is available. I've been out here catching up on emails, Christmas shopping, Scholastic Warehouse sales and such. This little jaunt on the computer is definitely going to catch up with me today...let's hope it isn't during the preschool field trip or 1st grade massive projects on Ancient Egypt or date night with hubby.

Yeah, this might be a long day.

But all is well in our little corner of the world. We are busy as always. At the beginning of the school year I vowed that this would be a stream-lined, slower paced year. And then I spent the first 2 weeks after the kids went back to school crying on the phone to my husband every day because I was lonely and bored. I guess I thrive a little on the busy. I like having places to go and things to think about and projects to work on. For me, it is a matter of finding the right balance. I'm not very good at that but I do love what I am doing. I love being at the kid's school, I love planning projects and activities for their classes, I love being in the Young Women's program at church, I love playing with HB and having adventures. I'm trying to find more time to read and take naps during the day. I've been getting up at 6:00 a.m. to work out. I'm up to 4.3 miles on my running days. Too bad I still love food. I love hanging out with friends and discovering new places to get fabulous cupcakes. I still love Target. I still hate cooking dinner and cleaning the house but I'm learning to suck it up and do what needs to be done. I've discovered a passion for making pendants. Can't get enough of it...a 10-minute project from start to finish that turns out so very cute every time with very little effort. I'll post pictures when it isn't 5:44 a.m. in the morning.

If I go to bed, I can get one more hour of sleep. Or I could finish reading my book. Or I could look up "Madrid, Spain" and dream about the fabulous adventures Emily and Spencer are going to have. At 5:45 a.m. the possibilities are endless.

Good morning!

Halloween 2009...And a New Camera

After missing out on 2 months, we are finally back in business. Chris spent hours and hours looking for the perfect camera that fit all our photography needs as well as budgetary limitations and it finally arrived. It is cute and black and takes fantastic pictures...if I could learn how to use it right. So everyone give a great big shout-out to the newest member of our family...the Canon Power Shot SX120. (I just copied that right off the box...no idea what it means.)

So Halloween was appropriately documented. Although as I was looking through the pictures tonight, I realized we have NO pictures of JC in his costume. Not one. I promise he is still in good favor...don't be alarmed by our embarassing lack of documentation. And he looked so cute...

Halloween festivities started a week early with Maryn's amazing Halloween party (This will show you pictures from the last couple of years worth of parties...no pictures from this year but we are anxiously waiting!) (And she is one of the artists at his company...she does amazing work!) And when I say "amazing", it doesn't begin to do it justice. She is a co-worker and friend of Chris' and every year she throws a big Halloween festival...her house is decorated from nook to cranny with fabulous trinkets and toys, her parties always have a "theme" (this year was fortune-telling...even had a real, fake fortune teller who was amazing!), the food is delicious, the activities charming, and she pulled all of this off after being sick with kidney stones for a week. As we were leaving, JC mentioned he wasn't feeling well, and by morning we had ourselves a sick boy. MC was close on his heels and HB and I joined the festivities the next day. We all had a variation on the fever/cold/cough. And maybe sometime I'll tell you how I tried to take my 3 sick kids and 1 sick self to the county building to get H1N1 shots and how the line wound all the way through a parking garage and down the street. We waited for 10 minutes and after listening to HB hack away and watching MC's little teeth chatter, I packed them back up and decided I'd rather go home and suffer.

We missed lots of school, watched 2,000 movies, and drank enough hot chocolate to give Stephen's hot chocolate a serious financial boost. (I simply must recommend the Pumpkin Spice and Orange Creme flavors!) We braced ourselves for Halloween...

By Saturday, we were all feeling lots better and ready for some serious fun! JC and MC both chose to be Harry Potter this year. Neither one seemed bothered by the other one choosing the same thing...and they had a fabulous time waving their wands at each other and casting horrendous spells. HB was a pink fairy. Not a princess fairy, not a queen fairy, just a pink fairy. She was very specific. Halloween afternoon we attended a lovely soup lunch and caramel apple party at CeliAnne and Josh's house. It was an amazing fall afternoon. We took the new camera out for a spin in their front yard...

I was Alice in Wonderland.

HB as a "pink" fairy.

MC as a fantastic spell-casting Harry Potter.

More pink fairy...now don't think I'm prejudice because there are a million pictures of the pink fairy. She was the only one I could get to come out and take pictures with me. The boys were too busy fighting off dementors with their cousins to be bothered with a photo shoot.

Magical fairies in the forest...

Looking down the rabbit hole.

One of the beautiful surprises I found in Wonderland.

Alice and a little pink fairy.

My girl.

Daddy's little girl.

One of the handsome Harry Potters.

Cousins. Glorious cousins.

My beautiful niece.

After a lovely afternoon, we headed home to attend our next social engagement...our neighbors across the street threw a great Halloween party complete with bobbing for apples, sugar cookie decorating, a little spooky house, yummy food, and games. It was really fun! Hooray for energetic, fun neighbors!

Well, the time had finally come. I loved that daylight savings was late this year. It was still light outside when we headed out for trick-or-treating and it was perfect. The lighting was perfect, the trees were perfect, the weather was perfect...I had an amazing time going out with the kids. Usually Chris takes them out but he was kind enough to stay home and pass out the treats and fix the chili while we covered the area. It was so fun! I felt like I was in a movie...all the kids and parents out, the fantastic houses that are decked out, the people sitting out on their front porches and around fires, seeing all the kids in their costumes, watching Thriller and drinking hot chocolate in one neighbor's front yard, walking up to the "Haunted Mansion" with its decor and fog creeping over the grass, going to the "spooky" house and seeing the blow-up houses and hearses, getting King Size candy bars and using the potty at our dear friend's home...it was magical and wonderful. My 3 children walked further than I thought humanly possible. And by the time we got home, they were wilting. But their bags were full and the candy flowed freely. It was a great Halloween!

And to make it absolutely perfect, Superman showed up at our house.

I have such a crush on the man of steel!

And on a side note to the Halloween festivities, JC earned his wolf badge/award last night at Pack Meeting as well as one golden arrow and 4 silver arrows. We are so proud of him! He has worked hard and accomplished so much over the last year. He loves scouts and I'm so glad! Plus who can resist a handsome boy in uniform??

Me getting my wolf pin from my son.

The newest Wolf recipient.

And the customary wolf being stamped on your back with flour...there are some elements of this program that are still a huge mystery to me!

Annual Carving of the Pumpkins

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

More Cupcake, Less Laundry

My new philosophy for living a good life.

More of these...

Less of this...

Today I threw a very impromptu birthday party for a dear, wonderful friend! Her birthday was last Saturday and it just hit me this week that this was a woman who needed a party. And party we did.

I got on the phone. I called friends...wonderful friends. I told them to drop everything they were doing and come eat lunch. And they did. I went to Costco and got croissants, chicken salad and big, huge, enormous cupcakes. Friends brought salad, apples and caramel dip, pumpkin bars and macaroons. And by golly...we got ourselves together and had ourselves a feast. HB gave everyone sparkly, rhinestone crowns that we found in the Halloween box and I broke out the leaf cups, plates, and napkins. It was a delicious lunch for a Thursday afternoon. And it was a party. A party for a spectacular lady...a party for a group of spectacular ladies because who couldn't use more parties and less housework? As I drove off toward the school to go read to a class of adorable 1st graders, I felt so full and satisfied...not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. I once asked my dear friend, who was born and raised in Bolivia, what she missed most about her country and her response has stuck with me for some time now. Of all the things to miss, she said what she missed most was the relationship women enjoy there. Every day her mother would prepare lemonade and a treat of some sort for the friends that would stop in to visit. Not scheduled, not planned and yet expected and welcomed. Everything would be set aside for a friend. And the day would be a total success...not because all of the housework was done and the "to-do" list checked off but because the most essential, important things in life had been attended to. Your relationships...your friendships...your life lines secured.

I wake up every day with a calendar FILLED with things that need to be done. I have endless to-do lists taped to cupboards and cabinets and the refrigerator. I'm always jotting things down. And sometimes I feel like if those lists aren't completed, then I haven't succeeded in my day. If someone stops by or calls, I've been interrupted. Time is ticking and my list is waiting. But do you know what is funny? My lists are always there. And they aren't good friends...they cause me stress and make me ignore things that are really more important and once I cross something off the list, it usually goes right back on because it needs to be done again. I go to the grocery store and as I'm unloading the groceries, I think of something I forgot and then I start a new list. The laundry gets washed, folded and put away and before the day is through, there is new laundry to be washed. Do you see what I mean? The list is endless.

But today my friends and I had a party in the middle of the day and it changed my whole attitude for the rest of the day. I felt happy and relaxed. I'd eaten a cupcake at 1:00 p.m. and it was pure delight! Lunch only took about 90 minutes but what a gift. I laughed, I listened, I talked, and I felt truly uplifted. So here is my new motto...more cupcakes, less laundry. Maybe not literally but metaphorically. Every day I want to sit and really talk to a friend. I want to talk to a friend with nothing but my friend on my mind. I want to sit as long as she needs me to sit and I want to walk away feeling like I've really listened. I don't want to care about what didn't get done. I want to care about what REALLY got done and how it changes me. I want more cupcakes at noon and more parties on a Thursday and I want to care less about how clean my house is. I want to care more about people than errands. I need better balance.

So to all the women who came and ate cupcakes today, thank you. I appreciate all of you. I'm so blessed by your friendship. I'm so blessed to live in this neighborhood. I'm so blessed by your joy and many gifts. Please feel free to stop by anytime...I'll have the lemonade and treats ready.

Leaves and Laughter

Today my husband took off work and our children were out of school.

Today we slept in and woke up to the excited giggles of children with no school and a whole beautiful day ahead of them.

Today we all put on our "running" clothes and went out for a run around the neighborhood. HB rode her bike and the boys were so tough and we made it. The air was cool, the neighborhood so quiet. It was still and beautiful.

Today we went and played miniature golf as a family. It was silly and fun and we laughed and cheered our way through the "ghetto" golf course. I won. It made it even sweeter.

Today our family ate Cafe Rio burritos and salads up the canyon at a picnic bench surrounded by beautiful autumn trees and a bubbling river. We played hide n' seek and ate chocolate chip cookies. The sun was warm, the air touched with a tiny bit of autumn chill, and the colors brilliant. How could you not believe in a Supreme Creator as you look at a landscape that fills a soul with so much peace and joy that you can't do anything but stand still and be amazed.

Today my husband and 3 beautiful children held my hands as we walked down a path surrounded by trees of brilliant greens and yellows. We threw the leaves in the air and collected autumn specimens. We played at the base of a waterfall and explored rocks. Shoes got wet, feet were cold, but hearts were happy.

Today we drove up a canyon to a beautiful resort where we stopped for a moment to look again at the mountains and hear the river and smell the air. It heals. Something in me was made whole again today. My little inner teacup was filled to overflowing.

Today we drove through the mountains...in one canyon and out another and we marvelled at where we live and what we have been given.

Today I played a board game with my husband and oldest child. I won...again. Today has definitely been my day. I also beat the whole family at our game of Quaker at dinner. I'm on a lucky streak...

Today my oldest son and husband fixed the whole family a big pot of chili for dinner. It was delicious. Then my husband did the dishes. He is amazing.

Today was perfect. Absolutely perfect. I wouldn't have changed a single thing. I spent a day celebrating the people I love most in the most ordinary ways. And yet today did not feel ordinary. It felt magical and uplifting.

Today I saw beauty in its purest form...beauty created by divinity. Pure, untouched, inspiring, gentle, brilliant, breath taking, awe inspiring. Today I didn't do housework or run carpool or go grocery shoppping.

Today was a miracle.

Thank you.