Happy birthday Dad.

Happy 73rd birthday Dad. It's funny that I have more memories of your birthday than I do my own. We had so much fun on the 4th of July, but you never made it about you. I remember BBQ's and boat rides, air shows and swimming in the lake, and of course fireworks, lots and lots of fireworks. Mom reminded me the other day how we used to drive to the highest point in town and watch the fireworks show that they would do out over the lake, it was so fun. It felt like they did the show just for us. Tonight, I'll watch the fireworks on our street and just before they are over, I'll close my eyes and make a birthday wish just for you.

Photo Journal

Last night we went here

for our last one of these

then we watched her

give him this

then we we got to go outside and see them

do this

for the last time.

Lots of Love

Two years in the making. Katie cut her hair last night to donate to Locks of Love. So sweet, love that girl.

Happy Mother's Day

Inspiration

So I know that I have shared with you about a million times that my Nieces are the ones who got me to blog. They inspire me all the time with their creativity and I regularly steal ideas off of their blogs, either to use on my blog or to use in my real life. This morning I'm reading Rachael's page and I see the adorable photos of her kids hands and I instantly remember my most favorite photo of Katie's hands. I took this back in 2009 on a camping trip. Katie wanted a picture of the "first fish I ever caught". Never thought it would turn out to be one of my all time favorites! I always feel relaxed and inspired by the photo. Don't know why, I just do. That's my word for today, inspiration.

New Year

What I have learned about Christmas in the New Year...

Christmas takes longer to put away then it does to take out.

We only really want/need about half of what we bought.

My favorite thing hands down is Christmas at the Old Church.

Christmas trees die whether you water them or not (so save the water).

Xbox may not make a kid lunch, but it does have the power to occupy two men for hours.

I can stand to have my kids under foot for 16 days straight.

Store bought cinnamon rolls do NOT taste like Cinnabon no matter what they say!

The only thing needed to incite laughter is a ping pong table.

It is a magical time of year, in more ways than one.

Merry Christmas

And now another year has come and passed

Sometimes the time just flies by too fast

It seems that Christmas is already here

And that means 2011 is drawing quite near

But I must say I can no longer withhold

All the Christmas presents that are getting old

Books are boring

Legos are lame

And video games are all simply the same

Money's just money

iTunes is toast

Candy and chocolate are pretty darn gross

CDs are silly

And clothes are cruddy

Pocketknives and such will just make my hands bloody

Electronics are evil

And trinkets are trashy

And anything else is too horribly flashy

So you may be asking what on earth do I want?

Well I don't toys, knickknacks or nice restaurants

There's simply only one thing that'll suffice

And that's a Mom who's loving and nice

No Xbox will ever make me lunch every day

No album will care for me when I'm not okay

No Nikes will ever wash all my things

No toy can make creases that a lasting smile brings

So here's to you Mom

The best present yet

And the only one I actually hope that I get

So I wrote you this poem so you'd always know

Merry Christmas Mom, and that I love you so.

Picture Day

Katie says today is picture day, so I will post some pictures that I took this week. A random collection that's like a window into our life.

Pete brought home flowers for my last treatment day.

David's Court of Honor.

Katie meets her favorite author (at the moment) Rick Riordan.

My Mexican Orange bloomed.

Katie took a piano lesson from Michael Allen Harrison.

In between all these fun and beautiful things, there was laundry and dishes, homework and messy rooms, cars with leaking water pumps and banks that won't cooperate, but let's just sweep that under the rug. Like a friend of mine recently said, this is my "facebook" life.

In the Pink

First Day

It's the first day of 4th and 8th grades. So glad that only the kids are getting older!

Summer

Oh, why does summer have to end.

Wind Works! at OMSI

Pete's office hosted Wind Works! at OMSI on Friday and the kids and I went to check it out. They had a great time! Thanks Iberdrola!

David's ready to climb a tower.

Katie designed her own turbine blades, then got to test them in a wind tunnel. Her design generated so much electricity, that she won a t-shirt!

Sister's Day

Another successful Sister's Day.

BREAKING NEWS...

This just in from the newsroom...Whitford Middle School's Iron Horse Marching Band takes FIRST at The St Johns Parade. Let's go to the video...

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I want to let you, my loyal readers, know that something very special is coming to my blog! It's . . . wait for it . . . VIDEO! I got a new video camera for my birthday and guess what I can do with it, put video on my computer! I know, amazing! I have been stuck in the tape age for so long I hardly know what to do.

So, I have no idea what I am going to video, but I'm gonna video something and then I'm gonna share it with you!

I hate to admit...

The next blog challenge topic is "I hate to admit...", my nieces have all posted theirs but, I have to admit I am not sure I want to do this. Really, is admitting the things you hate to admit going to help? We shall see..

I hate to admit:

that I take my kids to the dentist regularly but only go myself if pain drives me there

that I eat a bowl of cereal in bed almost every night

that I never graduated from college and that it still bothers me

Oh, and this one is for Rachael, that I failed bowling in college because it was at 7:30 in the morning

speaking of mornings, I hate to admit that I am grouchy in the morning, it just sounds so cliche'

that I have wasted a lot of money buying things that I had good intentions on using and never did

that I get my feelings hurt really easy

that I love to do laundry and mow the lawn and throw things away (I'm afraid I have some sort of disorder)

speaking of disorders, I hate to admit that I go to the internet to see what disease I might have every time I feel a pain

that I only cook a "real" dinner a couple of times a week

that I have started to think about (and when I say "think about" I really mean "worry about") my kids leaving home

and I hate to admit that this is just a small sampling of all of the things that I hate to admit. But I think it's for the best if I stop now before I completely depress myself. I have an idea, next let's list all of the things we started and never finished or tried and failed. Wouldn't that be fun?

Looking Forward To...

Waking up this morning to our FIFTH straight day of sunshine, I find myself looking forward to...

Walking the dog

Lacrosse

Spring soccer

Playing with Katie on the new swing set

Barbecues

Gardening

Building a water feature

Mowing the grass (I actually really like it, don't tell Pete)

Swimming

Camping

etc., etc., etc...

I just hope that the groundhog was wrong!

Picture #8

So I have been in quite a blogging slump. I haven't felt like I have anything to write about or that I want to write about or that someone would want to read. My kids aren't little anymore, so the "firsts" are few and far between now. I could write about the first time my teenager gave me attitude, but I'd just get more attitude for writing about that. I could tell you about my vacation to Maui... it was awesome. Done. Now what? I have even been contemplating shutting the blog down (again). But then, right out of the blue, my most reluctant blogging niece starting posting again and challenging us to do the same. Finally (I thought) something to blog about! She challenged us to post picture number #8 from our December folder and write about it. Perfect! I can do that. I went right to my folder and...six, seven, eight. Oh great. Picture #8 in my December folder is not even a picture of a seasonal activity or a place we visited, it is a Christmas card photo I took for my friend. Another roadblock. Or is it? Maybe it's not a roadblock, maybe instead it's an opportunity.

I'd like to tell you about my friend in this photo. She's actually more than a friend, she's family. We met when our boys were in kindergarten, seven years ago. Volunteering in the classroom on the same day each week, we became quick friends. She is smart and strong, funny and adventurous and the trait I envy the most, she's nice. The kind of nice that I wish I could be. Over the years we have seen each other through the ups and downs, spent holidays and vacations together, watched each other's pets and kids, laughed and cried. I couldn't ask for a better friend. I'm forever grateful to the kindergarten volunteer scheduler, who's random act changed my life.

Ducks vs. Beavers

Not being "from" Oregon, when the Civil War comes around you kind of feel like Poland, caught in the middle. All of the back and forth, why can't we all just get along? We were reminded of this ongoing battle the other night at the band concert. See for yourself...