Wednesday, May 31, 2006

How did you spend your Memorial Weekend?

Here's mine.

Friday: Bob Smiley does Comedy at Coffee House





Saturday: Hangin' out at Grandma's





Sunday: Todd preaches and then fixes van (with Jimmy and Bruce)

No picture available. :-(





Monday: Making waves at Alicia's house in Ennis





So here's the detailed report:
The kids were set free on Thursday and Hunter had a friend spend the night. Friday afternoon Ike and Josiah went to Grandma's to spend the night while Todd, Hunter and I went to the first Coffee House of the summer at the teen house at church. The "opening act" for the summer was Bob Smiley, christian comedian/Todd's roomate from our freshman year at ACU. He was awesome!!! Too bad only 10 people showed up. So many missed out on a great show! (It was good to see Bob anyway, regardless of lack of crowds)
Saturday Hunter and I headed to Grandma's to pick up the brothers and we hung out there for the afternoon so Dad could prepare his sermon. Saturday night we had dinner with one of our elders and his family....which was really enjoyable (seriously, it really was fun).
Sunday morning Todd preached both services again....I don't even have to mention how I feel about that :-D. My Mom and Sister and nephews came again and this time Todd's Mom and Step-Dad came too. After church we went out to eat with Todd's family and then headed to the house. Todd and Jimmy (the aforementioned step-dad) went and towed our van home from the parking lot in which it had refused to start Thursday and then we hung out for hours and hours just visiting.....until they decided to start work on the van.
Todd and Jimmy worked on the van for hours and hours until Bruce Painter (another one of our elders) came to help. A while after that Jimmy had to leave (it was late and they live an hour and a half away!). They took Isaac with them. Todd and Bruce finished up in the dark......which was a bad idea. I'll tell you why later.
Monday morning is a blur in my memory but I know that we headed out around 11 for Todd's sister's in Ennis for a backyard barbeque/swim/party extravaganza. It was fun......even though we counted 12 kids at one point. Alicia even managed to push Todd into the pool (photos later).We left Ennis and headed back to my Mom's for a bit, left Hunter to spend the night, then came home and crashed.
Yesterday is also a bit of a blur but I know Todd bought a scooter yesterday (again, photos later). I am very glad he did. Firstly because it will save us quite a bit of gas money and secondly because my van was blowing gas out the bottom today (see: do not re-attach gas tank in dark) and I could drive Todd's truck without any inconvenience to anyone.
Today was Wednesday. I dread Wednesdays. It just all adds up on Wednesdays. But it's over now and I survived and Hunter is spending the night with a friend and Todd's home and I even got to blog.

Anyway, it was a really fun weekend. I hope yours was too.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Because I'm a Mom


This blog is for me. It probably won't mean much to you, but I wanted to remember.....

Josiah's thing lately has been to climb into my lap (he's 9, so he has a definite presence in my lap), to curl up all sweetly and say,

"Kiss me, I'm not Irish. I'm so sweeeeet."
Then I, of course, am supposed to kiss him on the cheek. I was laughing about it while he was in my lap at the computer this morning and he said,
"Don't laugh at me."
I said, "I'm laughing because you're so cute."
"O.K." He said.
Then I told him he was a "Silly Booger-Toot"
and he said, "Don't call me a burger-toot."
"Burger toot?"I asked.
"Booger-toot," he corrected.
"Can I call you burger-toot then?"
"No. You can call me great."

I laughed pretty hard....mostly from the joy of the moment.

Todd's routine with Josiah in the mornings has been to ask him on his way to the bus,
"Are you gonna have a great day?"
Josiah replies, "Yes,"
and Todd asks, "Do you know why?"
Josiah seldom answers that one because he knows what's coming.
"Because you're a great kid!"
Then Josiah gets on the bus.

Apparently he's been listening.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Can you spell?

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

If enough people ask for a translation, I'll write one but I don't think you'll need it. I've heard people talking about this post but hadn't seen it until Heather posted it at MySpace. It made me smile and think of Instant Messaging. :-) Hi Gerliadne!

New Post

I forgot to mention yesterday that there are some new pictures up on my other blog: www.meltedcrayons.blogspot.com


My van wouldn't start again today. This is two times in one week and both times have been after grocery shopping. Is my van allergic to groceries? Two different stores. Two different towns. We think it's the fuel pump going out. The mechanic couldn't find anyting wrong (of course) but said that Chevy fuel pumps will just do that as they near the end of their lives. We're hoping it's just the filter. Whatever it is, I'm sticking closer to home until we get it figured out.

This should be easier now that school's out!!!!!!!!! Hooray for summer! This is the first summer I've actually been excited about it. Maybe it's because Josiah is doing so well that I can actually imagine us having fun all together at least part of the time. Can't wait!

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Quote of the Day




This is a quote from Donald Miller's book Through Painted Deserts. It's a great book and the quote is just a tiny part of a larger discussion that helped change the way I think about buying things. I don't seem to struggle as much lately with the desire to go buy something just to buy something and this may be part of why.

It makes sense, if you think about it. I mean we stood out in the desert this morning, and the chemicals in my brain poured soothingly through the gray matter, as if to massage with fingers the most tender part of my mind, as if to say, this is what a human is supposed to feel. This is what we were made for, to watch the beauty of light fill up earth's canvas, to make dirt come alive; like fairy dust, making trees and cacti and humans from the magic of its propulsion. It makes me wonder, now, how easily the brain can be tricked out of what it was supposed to feel, how easily the brain can be tricked by somebody who has a used car to sell, a new perfume, whatever. You will feel what you were made to feel if you buy this thing I am selling. But could the thing you and I were supposed to feel, the thing you and I were supposed to be, cost nothing?.......And maybe when a person doesn't buy the lies anymore, when a human stops long enough to realize the stuff people say to get us to part with our money often isn't true, we can finally see the sunrise..........and know......that life is being given to me as a gift, that light is a metaphor, and God is doing these things to dazzle us.
It was, of course, longer and the idea is alluded to many times in ways that make it clearer and clearer through the book, but you get the idea. It's a good book. You should read it.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Weekend Report

Not as in "a report made during the weekend" but as in "a report about the weekend". I know you were worried.

My weekend was fantastic all around. Every male in my household (that's everybody but me!) left town at about 4pm Friday. The silence was glorious. I made a date with my parents and ran to Blockbuster. After a decadent dinner with my Mom and Dad at Buca di Beppo I returned home and watched a French film that turned out to be really great (Amelie). I went to bed and slept like a rock until 6am when my dog began jumping up and down because he needed to "go". I took him out and returned to bed until 8 when the jumping was repeated. Note to self: find a sitter for the dog when having a "relaxing" weekend. Well, 8 was pretty good for around here so I got on up and enjoyed some more silence. Then I talked to my Mother-in-law for an hour. Then I surfed the web for an hour. Then I watched another movie......all the while cleaning here and there as the mood struck.

The boys didn't return until about 3 on Saturday and I've decided that 20-24 hours of peace is the perfect amount of time for refreshment. Any less and you feel cheated. Any more and you get so used to it that your children just annoy you when they get home. As it was, I was glad when everyone got back.

Todd got to preach Sunday morning, which I always love. He did a great job and the worship minister had even written a song. I don't know if it's appropriate to say "he wrote it to go with the sermon" but he was inspired by their conversations about what Todd was going to say and how communion was going to be approached and the song was really amazing. We sang it twice during worship. I won't transcribe the sermon here or anything but it was about "speaking words of life" instead of "speaking words of death" to one another. He spoke some out of Isaiah 6 when Isaiah was mortified when he realized how unclean his lips were. We approached communion as our way of participating in the sacrifice.....instead of the hot coals we take in the sacrifice.....it cleans our lips and now we can say "send me" and can speak the "words of life" to each other.

O.K. Maybe I transcribed it some, but it was pretty great.

My parents and sis and nephews had come to church so we all went to eat Mexican. On our way home, the boys and I went by the Elliots' and swapped kids again. This time Ike stayed there and David came home with us.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. The kind I like.

One more week of school! They get out early Thursday so we're down to 2.5 days!!!!!

Friday, May 19, 2006

Father/Son Campout

And all the mothers say, "YeeeeHaaww!"

Now the question is: What's a great chick-flick to rent?

And NO, I will not meet anyone for breakfast tomorrow. This is a real-live Saturday without kids. tee-hee

I'll spare you the video of me dancing the jig.

Another useless diddy for ya':

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away"

You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments.
And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.
There's also a fun quiz on that site about your sins. It asks questions and gives your percentage on each of the deadly sins then averages them into what your percent chance of going to hell is. It made me laugh out loud. I won't be posting those results, however. :-P
It's getting close to time to google myself again. I haven't done that in awhile.
I love blogging, don't you?

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Long long ago in a town far far away.....


100_0608
Video sent by motherteresa
Isaac's first slide at the indoor pool.
Long, long ago we took this video. Now, thanks to the Emersons, I know how to post it. Someday we may even graduate to sound, but that'll take a different camera.
We were just doing this same thing tonight....without the camera. We love swimming!

Just Because Todd did it.....





Your Dominant Intelligence is Interpersonal Intelligence



You shine in your ability to realate to and understand others.
Good at seeing others' points of view, you get how people think and feel.
You have an uncanny ability to sense true feelings, intentions, and motivations.
A natural born leader, you are great at teaching and mediating conflict.

You would make a good counselor, salesperson, politician, or business person.


And, yes, I have tried to post this before but it didn't work right. Sorry Heather. I think it's right now though. If you wanna see Todd's you need to check out his new blog....linked here over on the right.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

The Zoo

So my friend Ali calls me up this morning and says, "Hey, we're goin' to the zoo, wanna come?" Well, yeah. Partly because I've been meaning to go to the zoo but mostly because it was Ali....and Andrew, who is also starting Kindergarden next year. It was a blast! My personal favorite, as you can see, was the parakeet cage. How fun! I think Ike's favorite part was taunting the animatronic dinasaurs.

After a full day at the zoo, Ali and I swapped kids (Andrew for Hunter) until church. Somehow that just feels right...swapping kids with a friend on a Wednesday night. Maybe we're really settling in here.
Church was.....what's the word?.....mayhem? Maybe not that bad. I teach 2's and 3's and tonight I had 11 of them without an official helper. I say "official" because halfway through class two Jr. High girls were wandering the halls and I snagged them and pressed them into service.They were great! and they saved my bacon.

So now my feet hurt and I'm a bit weary. My dog does not understand this, he wants to play, but I'm bigger than him and I'm pretty sure he won't be permanently scarred emotionally if I ignore him this once. Despite the trauma to my dog, it has been a really nice day. I will sleep well, with a smile in my dreams. Posted by Picasa

Right Now

Right now, at 9:15am and 70 degrees, my back yard is glorious! The air is the perfect temperature, the sun is shining on about 1/3 of the yard and the trees are positively glowing that bright, young green of early spring. My four little sunflowers/weeds are smiling at the sun and the crickets are singing in the deep, lush central plain Todd left as a nature preserve there around the tree.

A really great book and a comfy hammock would make it perfection, but I'll settle for glorious.
Life is good!
Glory to the Creator of it all!

Posted by Picasa

Friday, May 12, 2006

Forwards

I just forwarded an e-mail to a large group of people and I thought it was a good opportunity to explain a little about my forwarding philosophy.

There are basically three types of e-mails I will NOT forward. They are:
1. e-mails that would get my husband fired from his ministry job.
2. e-mails that make me cry.
3. e-mails that contain blackmail statements like, "If you are a true friend/real american/human being, etc. you will forward this to as many people as possible/30 people/anyone you actually care about, etc." Those make me mad.

The one type of e-mail I will almost always forward is the type that makes me laugh out loud (unless they are the type that'll get my husband fired).

So. If you've sent me an e-mail that required some type of response if I truly love you, please don't feel rejected because I didn't reply....I do love you! I just refuse to be blackmailed by an e-mail. Please also note that I am aware that most of you already know that (Jenny, Becky, Heather, Aunt Rita, etc) but I just felt the need to cover my bases....

.....and explain that "politicians in drag" e-mail I just sent out.
;-P

Josiah's field trip.

Josiah's trip today was to a therapeutic riding center here in Keller. It was a lot of fun and I've got the paperwork to get him signed up. They have a six month waiting period for their scholarships so we'll have to see....

 Posted by Picasa

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

I bet I know who Josiah wants to be....and, no, I don't mean Mario.



 Posted by Picasa

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Flimp

I promised I'd write more later about our trip. It really was fun. We got to spend time with people we've been missing and the art festival was a blast. I had 3 volunteers at my booth helping folks participate in the art work so I got to paint all day (which was the original idea, it just didn't work out that way last year). The boys and Todd hung out together all day and then we had a family picnic with the Coyles and the Herzogs there at Shakespeare park after Flimp was over. We were all exhausted by the end of the day!
I only sold one painting but I really wasn't expecting to sell there. People come to Flimp to have fun, not to buy art. It was o.k., mostly because I was expecting it but also because the museum pays an "honorarium" to all the participating artists.....which almost covered gas there and back.
The trip home was painfully long but we made it early in the evening Monday and had plenty of time to gear up for the rest of the week....a week I'm looking forward to ending here soon. I think this time of year may be even busier than Christmas with all the end of school field trips and activities. It's nuts!

Did I mention that I've started a secondary blog? It's where I plan to post my paintings as they progress. The address is over there in the side bar. I just posted a Picasso I've finished. I'm exploring other art styles. Impressionism is getting old and even though my Dad's tulip painting drew the most interest at Flimp, I don't think pointelism is for me. Maybe I'll go cubist next, who knows?

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

The temperature

I would just like to point out that in Montgomery, Alabama, where we just came from, it is 76 degrees. In fact, weather.com says not only is it 76 degrees but it also feels like 76 degrees.

In Keller, however, weather.com says it is 96 degrees and it feels like 106 degrees. Not that I expect fairness from the weather or anything but......

Monday, May 08, 2006

Our Trip.

Flimp was fun!
I am exhausted.
We are home.
Sleep now.
More writing later. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Like the wind?

Let me just point out that this whole "paint like the wind" thing isn't working for me. Maybe a gentle breeze but I've got one more day.......and a gift to finish. arg. It's not because I've been putting it off either. It's all just taking longer than it seems it should. I guess that's the nature of art...oui?













We leave Thursday. I may need you to pray us through this.
I will not stress.....I will not stress............I will not............ Posted by Picasa

Peek-a-boo

 Posted by Picasa

Monday, May 01, 2006

My sick baby.

Isaac is sick today. He started complaining yesterday about his throat hurting and his head hurting and his tummy hurting. Because we all have the snuffles, I explained all about allergies and how they make you feel bad. I gave him some Benedryl and he fell asleep in the chair. As I moved him to bed, however, I noticed his temp. He was on fire! Bless his baby heart. 103.2
We sent Daddy for medicine but it was a rough night. He threw up for the first time since he was a baby and he DID NOT like it. "Mommy, why is this happening to me?" Sick babies break my heart. He is, however, very compliant and sweet. He may be my easiest "sicky" of them all. He isn't even whining.....which for Isaac means he really doesn't feel well.
We'll be missing both of our social appointments today and heading in for a doctor's appointment instead. I'm guessing strep. I'll let you know. Posted by Picasa

addendum: Yes, it is strep....really bad strep. A few days of amoxicillin and lots of motrin should have him feeling all better.