The Crafty H

2009-09-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

First day of fall Baseball season.

Daniel LOVES baseball. Ben would be happier if there was more action--too much waiting around for something to happen. I agree with him! But Ben, at least, it determined to be good at it and has been practicing his throwing and hitting. Daniel's a better natural athlete and hasn't had to work too hard at it yet. We'll see if he keeps with it when he needs to practice!

2009-03-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

But he's not competitive or anything...

2009-02-26T09:10:00.001-08:00

After only 10 days--look ma, almost straight!

2009-02-16T11:30:00.000-08:00

What can you get for $1700? Hopefully a straight smile...

2009-02-03T06:58:00.000-08:00

BAAA...

I've been tagged to do this 25 Things thing at least 3 times and TAUNTED about not doing it once (I'm talking about you Rochelle!) so here you go:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. [Yeah, I'm not going to tag people. Do it if you want to].

1. I'm annoyingly noise sensitive. I cannot STAND to have a lot of noise and chaos around me. I feel like a terrible mom when I yell at the kids to keep it down even when they're just making happy noises.

2. I'm terrible at facial and name recognition. I'm always talking to people who know me and I have NO IDEA what their name is, even if I've talked to them every day for months.

3. I love teen fantasy fiction. My life is drama enough--I want ESCAPIST, easy-to-read literature. Keep your depressing literary giants and give me Harry Potter, Charlie Bone, anything by Tamora Pierce...

4. I feel like my two kids drive me insane sometimes, but I really wish we could have had more.

5. I mourn the daughter I won't have.

6. As much as I believe that we all have a responsibility to help each other and especially those less fortunate than ourselves, sometimes I just want to smack some people upside the head and scream at them to do better (this one copied directly from Shannon's list. I agree!).

7. I am really afraid that my kids will grow up and not call me and I'll die lonely and alone. Most of the men in my life don't have good relationships with their mothers...

8. I really would like to lose weight but I never seem to be able to start. Every time I tell myself I'm on a diet I binge eat. I should probably get therapy.

9. I bought a WII fit for myself and have done it 3 times since Christmas. I blame my hurt ankle, but really I'm just not motivated.

10. Self-awareness sucks.

11. I miss my job, but not going to a job. I was good at my job and I'm a terrible house-keeper. It's difficult to be motivated to do a job you hate that will just have to be done again tomorrow anyway.

12. I wish the boys would sit down to pee.

13. I'm a crier. I cry at sappy commercials, I cry in arguments, I cry if I'm happy, I cry if I'm sad. I cry in therapy. I cry at the mall. I need stock in a tissue company...

14. I'm a total Joss Whedon devotee, but I don't think that Dollhouse is going to be any good. I hope I don't jinx it!

15. I'm not religious, but I do believe that if my sports team is doing a bad job it's 'cause I'm watching and I'll turn off the game so they'll win without me watching. I have amazing jinxing power!

16. I have never understood why people like shoes. I have 5 pairs of shoes--3 pairs of Birkenstocks and 2 pairs of sneakers. Last week I only had 4 pairs of shoes but the orthopedist made me buy a pair of expensive motion-restricting sneakers. They hurt my feet.

17. I hate living in a place where everyone is just looking out for themselves and no one seems to care about anyone else. People don't hold the door, steal your parking space, cut you off in traffic. Why can't we just get along?

18. I don't believe in god but I worry about raising moral children without the help of an established framework. I send my kids to bible camp but feel like a total hypocrite when they want to share what they've learned with me and the best I can manage is a "some people believe that". I wish I had faith, but I just don't.

19. I love rollercoasters but HATE spinny rides.

20. I love to play games but don't usually care if I win. I will cheat to lose if it means we can play longer. I usually let my kids win at games. But it ANNOYS me to lose at trivia. A 12-year-old beat me by guessing at trivia at Chuck-E-Cheese and I HELD A GRUDGE!

21. I'm a really picky eater, and don't want to try new things: especially if the ingredients are mixed up or it looks like it might smell bad (not that it DOES smell bad, just that it MIGHT smell bad). I can't eat soup at all, even if I make it--everything is touching!

22. I really think my oldest would benefit from homeschooling, but I don't think I could do a good job of it.

23. I really wish my family and friends were closer but I'm a terrible phoner/letter-writer/emailler and don't do things to keep in touch to make it happen.

24. I HATE HATE HATE to write, but I will do research all day if you let me. I love the satisfaction of succesfully ferreting out some missing piece of information...

25. I really wish I had stayed a librarian and not gone to law school. I wanted to know I was smart, wanted to save the world, wanted I don't know what. I basically crippled myself financially and wound up not practicing law anyway. I would have been happier if I had just stayed a researcher. I hope I figure out something to do that makes me happy in this next work incarnation...

There 25 things. It didn't kill me after all!

2009-02-03T06:43:00.000-08:00

Week 4--Hockey, SNOW, Pinewood Derby, and a little crafting.
So, guess what we did in week four? Yep, played some hockey! Outdoor pond hockey to be exact, in 20 degree weather. C-O-L-D. I had to give my mittens to Ben to wear under his hockey gloves. I still like the pond hockey games, and will miss them when the boys move up to squirt. Older kids lift the puck too much and have to play on bigger ice with a net. This is Ben's last year on the pond--Daniel has two more before he ages out. We also had Pinewood Derby this week. Both boys' cars were way under the weight limit, so they didn't win. Partially my fault--I decided that if they didn't want to work on the car WITH me, I wasn't going to do it without them. I knew they were light and could have put weights on but they weren't helping, so... Bad mom ALSO didn't even bother to GO to the Pinewood Derby--went scrapbooking instead. They'll probably be scarred for life. But at least I'll feel guilty! I also did manage a little crafting this week: finished these little fat book pages for a quilted page swap. Pattern is friendship heart. They're fiddly and need precision cutting. Paper is not as forgiving a quilting medium as fabric. But they turned out pretty. I look forward to getting the finished squares to make my sampler. And Finally, SNOW. Not much for us--about 2 inches, but it was enough for a snow day from school and a little sledding. Mom fell down on the ice and tweaked her knee, but I'll live. I wish I were brave enough to sled down the hill too--but I fear death and broken bones. No such fears for the boys!

2009-02-03T06:36:00.000-08:00

Project 365 update--

Yeah, so, I fail at this take a picture every day thing. It's PRESSURE to perform! I can't take it! But a friend last week told me I don't HAVE to TAKE a picture every day, I can CHOOSE a picture and just wind up with 365 at the end. Creative interpretation of the rules--I can do that! SO here are the images from week 3. This week was DOMINATED by hockey. Ben played in a tournament, Daniel played in a "Jamboree" (an 80 minute game!) and basically we just were all hockey all the time. Ben's team, coming back from disappointing start to the season where all their games had the mercy rule applied, WON ALL of their tournament games to take the trophy! Whoohoo! The tournament outcome literally came down to the last minute of the last period of the last game. I think I shall need a valium prescription to go to any more tournaments in the future! And look--in spite of all the hockey mom actually managed to finish something crafty. In this case a surprise ball for a swap. It's a ball of craft goodies all wrapped up in different ribbons and string. We will all open them together around Valentines and enjoy "sharing" the wealth. It was a fun, but expensive project. All those little things really add up! I hope my recipient likes hers...

2009-01-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

Bowing to peer pressure, I have been tagged

ANSWER USING ONLY ONE WORD! It's not as easy as you might think! Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to tag the person you received it from!

1. Where is your cell phone? LANDFILL

2. Your significant other? STRONG

3. Your hair? GRAYING

4. Your mother? AMAZING

5. Your father? TALENTED

6. Your favorite thing? CAMERA

7. Your dream last night? SCARY

8. Your favorite drink? TEA

9. Your dream/goal? LIQUIDITY

10. What room you are in? DINING

11. Your hobby? ART

12. Your fear? HOMELESSNESS

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? HOUSEOWNER

14. Where were you last night? HOME

16. Muffins? PUMPKIN

17. Wish list item? HOUSE

18. Where you grew up? VIRGINIA

19. Last thing you did? DITHERED

20. What are you wearing? CLOTHES

21. Your TV? DUSTY

22. Your pets? CATS

23. Friends? RARE

24. Your life? CHAOTIC

25. Your mood? TIRED

26. Missing someone? DOROTHY

27. Car? DYING

28. Something you're not wearing? HAT

29. Your favorite store? SCRAPBOOK

30. Your favorite color? BLUE

33. When is the last time you laughed? TODAY

34. Last time you cried? TODAY

35. Who will resend this? YOU

36. One place that I go to over and over? FACEBOOK

37. One person who IMs me regularly? DON

38. My favorite place to eat? REDLOBSTER

39. Why you participated in this survey? PEERS

40. What are you doing tonight? HOME

41. Favorite animal? CAT

42. Beach or Mountains? BEACH

43. Cake or Pie? CAKE

44. You? TIRED

2009-01-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what they have against food critics, but it was apparently a fun game. It's a "snow" day here, but the slushy ice is no fun to play in so I've got 6-10 kids in the house at any given time. Sorry about the bad lighting--they'd been playing for 10 minutes or so before I remembered I had Ben's vidster nearby, but it's a kid video camera with no lights. At least they're not fighting with each other...

2009-01-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

Mexico Night:

Ben played a Dr. who tries to save poor senior Del Gato, who falls off a roof after receiving a love note from a lady cat. Alas, in spite of excellent medical care, the cat expires. And yet there is singing and dancing--ole! Sadly, mom didn't realize the production would be in the gym and didn't bring a telephoto lens, so everything is grainy. Ay Carrimba!

2009-01-13T08:47:00.001-08:00

365 week 2

Well, I missed a day already--not so good! I thought I had taken pictures every day, but can't find any for Friday the 9th, so I either dropped the ball or my camera date got screwy. Honestly I can't remember! Everyone has been sort of sick the past few days and life just got away.

Monday--two pictures: Ben at the woodshop making his pinewood derby car and all the boys playing over. Why sit on the couch when you can hide behind it and/or sit on top? Using it as designed is just BORING!

Tuesday--annoying Roran cat being annoying. He doesn't like his food. He protests loudly. And then jumps on me in the middle of the night to protest...

Wednesday--finally got some crafting done. These are out of the box for me--ATCs for a Valentine's day letter swap. My letters were L (Love Lips) and N (Naughty). The Naughty guy stamp cracks me up!

Thursday--Ben had a program at school (Mexico night). Very boring for little brother. Good thing dad has such strong shoulders...

Friday--Who knows?

Sat--Hockey again. Two pics--Daniel being crazy at Ben's away game (so boring for little brothers) and Daniel pouding his goalie stick in frustration. Daniel's game was much longer than usual (80 minutes instead of 60) and the team he was playing against had some very good players. He made some awesome saves, but a lot of rebounds went in. He held it together well for about an hour, but those last 20 minutes were VERY frustrating for him. He still came back to the game and ended happy. I'm so thankful that kid can shake things off and keep his spirits up!

Sun--look, Hockey again! We had 4 ice times in 2 days--Ben had 2 travel games, they had one game together and they had pick-ups early Sunday. Daniel wanted to play goalie at pickups even though he hadn't dressed out as a goalie. Didn't matter to him...

So, that's another week down! Hoping this one will bring healthy kids and a clean house! (Where are those maid fairies when you need them?)

2009-01-04T09:14:00.001-08:00

Project 365--week one

Trying the project 365 this year. Hoping it will both get me using my camera again and doing some regular blogging.

First picture is minutes after the ball drop--annual New Year's party at our friends' house. For once I gave the camera to someone else so I could be in the picture. Don't love the double chins, but it's nice to have one of me and the boys for a change. And everyone was HAPPY, which is a big plus!

Jan. 2, after dinner. Don is multi-tasking: trying to finish his cheesecake dessert and acting as playground for the boys. They're using him as a jungle gym and throwing themselves around his leg like it's a pommel horse or parallel bars. It's good to have a strong dad...

Jan. 3--sweet Saffy cat. I think she's almost blind out of her left eye now (note the reflective difference from the flash). One thing about her going blind is that she both keeps closer to home now and has become much more affectionate. Last night she even crawled under the covers with me in bed--a first!

Jan. 4--Emo Boy Ben. Let Ben have a sleepover with friends last night--last big fling before back to school tomorrow. BIG MISTAKE! They SAID they were in bed by 930, but that kid is SERIOUSLY short on sleep today, and by 12 noon has already had several MAJOR meltdowns and even got sent to his room. Note to self: NO MORE SLEEPOVERS!

2008-12-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

Not just Squirrels, FLYING Squirrels...

So, we're having a terrible year for nuts in the east--there are no acorns, no hickory nuts, no tree nuts. Scientists aren't exactly sure why, but the lack of nuts means squirrels and chipmonks and other small critters are starving to death in droves which will mess up the food chain (i.e. things that eat those thing will starve etc.)

So, kind hearted woman that I am, I've been feeding the squirrels. You should see the cute little tree rats swarming all over the corn cobs and block feed I put in the woods.

So HOW do the darlings repay me? I have SQUIRRELS in my ATTIC.
And, just 'cause I'm special, do I have NORMAL squirrels in my attic? NO, I have FLYING Squirrels in my attic. if only they weren't so cute...They ran the squirrel olympics there from 2-4 this morning and kept waking me up. And now I have to seal up the entrances and also trap anyone who might be hanging out in the nice warm blown insulation.

INGRATES!

2008-09-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

Today the boys found a turtle. Eastern Box, to be exact, Terrepene Carolina. He sure was cute. They wanted to "rescue him", but I convinced everyone to put him back in the woods where he belongs. I'm hopeful he wasn't too traumatized by the enthusiastic boy-handling. They were respectful, but still picked him up before they told me about it. I'm glad they wanted to help him, but wish they'd understand NOT to touch without getting a grown-up first. At least it wasn't a skunk, right?

2008-09-07T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today is international rock-flipping day. So the boys and I set off to the woods. Soon we had an enthusiastic band of kids following along flipping rocks. It was difficult to get them to remember to put the rocks back exactly as they were, but I think they got the message. It's been raining a lot here lately, so mostly we found earthworms. And one big termite nest. But a good time was had by all...

2008-08-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Went to the mill today. Too hot by far. Interesting, though. Top left is the sluice leading to the water wheel. Ben with lump of coal on his nose (waiting for tour to start--blacksmith demo too which is where the coal came from). Top right--beams are hollow and have belt with little cups that rise up to the 3rd story--they take grain from basement up to the chutes above the millstones. I.e. "grain elevator". Daniel wanted to get in the grain scale (they wouldn't let him. Scale is also interesting because it lifts up to weigh with a balance, but it also is a funnel and there's a hole in the floor underneath to dump the grain into the holding pens in the basement). Old millstones make up the wall. It's a 200 year old mill, built all of peg-joined wood and all moving parts are wood too. They had three grindstones that operated 10-12 hours a day, six days a week for 150 years. Amazing. The tour guide said it was ironic because when it was a working mill the only day they had off was Sunday, and now the only day they operate is Sunday because that's when they have the most visitors. I thought it was really interesting. The boys just liked feeding the ducks.

2008-08-11T09:41:00.001-07:00

Boys went fishing for the first time last night. The weather was beautiful. The fish weren't biting, but that was OK by me...

2008-08-03T09:45:00.000-07:00

Day at the Loudon Animal Park

2008-08-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

Sigh. I really don't like to blog much. Goes along with that whole "she doesn't like to write" thing. Still, I'm going to try and at least update with pictures more regularly. Here are some summer pursuits (and yes, I really am that red. It was darn hot!)

2007-12-03T12:48:00.000-08:00

I've been in a black and gold mood lately. Images embossed with Judikins gold detail and painted with Twinkling H2Os. I like the stained glass look...

2007-10-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

SPEAKING of Cub Scouts, meet the Tigercub with the newest Bobcat badge...

2007-10-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

HOWDY MA'AM!

On the cubscout field trip to the farm, Daniel apparently decided to great everyone by sweeping off his hat and saying "Howdy". I was at a scrapbook retreat so missed the event, but at least there's a picture of the cuteness of it all...

2007-10-27T09:46:00.001-07:00

I didn't take this picture--Ben did. I think it's amazing. He was standing about 30 feet away, and had to zoom in and hold the camera steady and compose the shot. It's great!

2007-06-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

HAIL! We were in the car when this hailstorm hit. We don't get a lot of those around here, and boy was it scary! Marble-sized hail barrage on the car. Poor Daniel was screaming but the storm was so loud you couldn't hear him at all. Went on for several minutes and left almost an inch covering over everything--looked like winter! This picture is 1/2 hour after in the 80 degree weather. Two hours later now and there's still a good covering in all the shady spots. Tornado spotted about a mile away too. We almost NEVER get those. Lucky for us it didn't come any closer. Welcome to Summer?

2007-06-09T09:59:00.001-07:00

Finally scrapbooking again. It's been almost a year since I made a scrapbook page. Now six in a single week. Wonders never cease!

2007-05-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

2007-04-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

Weekend Getaway to the Jersey Shore...

Don had a hockey tournament this weekend, so we got to play...

2007-03-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Love Thursday 3-22-07

I love how little kids can make a toy out of anything. Here's Daniel in the good ship Laundry Basket. Oh No! The dragon is coming! Ahhh, capsized...
Happy Love Thursday!

2007-03-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

You know the really sad thing? I kept checking back to see if somehow, magically, the blog had updated itself while I wasn't looking. Sigh. Sorry for the delay, I just haven't been in the mood. I don't like to write on my best day, so if it's NOT my best day...
Anyway, lately I've kind of felt like the kitties here, just want to snuggle down and have a good rest. Haven't even taken any pictures of the kids lately. But I'll try to get better about updating the blog. Really. It's better than dusting, anyway!

2007-02-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

2007-01-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

Your Birthdate: February 23

You're not good at any one thing, and that's the problem.You're good at so much - you never know what to do.Change is in your blood, and you don't stick to much for long.You are destined for a life of travel and fun.
Your strength: Your likeability
Your weakness: You never feel satisfied
Your power color: Bright yellow
Your power symbol: Asterisk
Your power month: May

Wierd. It's true that I am good at many things and great at none and always waiting for more and the other shoe to drop. But I don't travel much, and I don't have a lot of fun. I also don't like yellow, and can't imagine why an asterisk would have any particular meaning for me. Still, like most of these things, it's fun. You can try yourself here

2007-01-18T06:42:00.000-08:00

Love Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007

I've never particularly liked to play sports. I'm not a very competitive person--I like to play a lot more than I like to win. Ben does not share that quality. And he's found his sport early--the kid loves hockey (that's him shooting the puck in the picture, I know, Hockey players all look alike unless you can see their number!). He played his first "real" game the other day. It was a tiny bit disappointing to him--I asked him why and he said "I thought it would be more exciting". He didn't like the rotation system--there were two lines, and they were on the ice for 2 minutes, off the ice for two minutes. He didn't believe me when I told him that he played 1/2 the time: he was convinced that they sat him on the bench for most of the game. Like all fun things, the time he was playing went much faster than the time waiting to play. When we love what we're doing, the time goes fast. Happy Love Thursday, everyone! For more Love, visit Love is All Around

2007-01-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

Love Thursday--posting just for you, mom!

Ben was home sick today with another cold. I blame other parents for sending their kids to school sick. Of course, that might be what I do if he keeps bugging me! Sick Ben is not fun Ben. But as he was moaning about something on the floor, little brother Daniel came and gave him a hug and they snuggled in together to watch mindless TV. Love is a brother who doesn't care if you're sick and will still give you a hug if you need it. Clearly I'll be home with him all next week when HE gets this cold. At least they're cute, and my mother can't be mad at me for not posting a picture this week! For more love, visit Love is All Around.

2006-12-28T08:40:00.000-08:00

Love Thursday 12/28/06

Christmas brought illness to our house--young son got antibiotics for Ear/Sinus/Eye infection, older son went to hockey rink yesterday for special one-on-one skate with dad (who took time off from work for the opportunity), fell asleep in the car on the way, and when they got there said "Dad, could we do this another time, Ben needs to sleep now". Then I woke up this morning with a head the size of a small nation. Yep, the sick bugs really seem to love us this time of year. But the cats haven't slowed down one bit. Saphira considers herself very lucky--we had no trash pickup on Christmas day so the exciting bag of wrapping paper trash has been in the house for THREE whole days! Cat Heaven! So, I had a love thursday point when I started this, but the cold medicine is wearing off and I forgot. Love is a big bag of wrapping paper trash? Or a cute cat playing in the wrapping paper trash? No, love is a nice warm bed with lots of covers. I don't have a picture, but I'm going there now. Happy New Year everyone! For more love, visit Love is All Around Us

2006-12-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

Christmas Card. From us to you:

2006-12-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

Love Thursday Dec. 21, 2006

It's been a wierd week. Lots of rushing around trying to get teacher gifts done, last minute wrapping (fortunately all my shopping was done a little while ago--thanks ebay!) dentist appointments, xmas cards to the post office, kitten to the vet, etc. etc. I decided that the relatives I've been remiss in writing all year deserved more than just one Xmas photo of the boys, so I spent a little time going through a years' worth. These represent at least one picture for every month of the year. I've been thinking that 2006 wasn't a very good year at all. But looking at these faces, I guess maybe I have to rethink that a little. Wishing everyone health and happiness in the new year. Happy Love Thursday!

For more Love Thursday visit Love is all Around Us

2006-12-14T05:21:00.000-08:00

Love Thursday

12/14/06--Love is:

RE-decorating the Christmas Tree. Every. Single. Day--sometimes TWICE.

Good thing he's so cute.

For more Love Thursday, visit Chookooloonks new photo blog, or the Love Flickr Pool.

2006-12-10T18:29:00.000-08:00

I'm so proud. Trying to take a decent Xmas card photo. AKA newest circle of Hell. At least the kids had fun--doing everything EXCEPT smiling nicely for the camera. Bah. Humbug.

2006-11-30T02:29:00.000-08:00

Love Thursday--Love is Having Someone to Spend Time With:

Grandma Dorothy moved in with us nearly two years ago when her last cargiving-capable family member died. My husband had been friends with her brother, and had grown to know Dorothy well over the years. The last few years with her previous caregiver she did not receive the best care, and we often ranted that we ought to just go get her and have her live with us. And then the opportunity presented itself. I think in hindsight I kind of steamrolled my husband into taking her in--it's a big decision to take in a disabled elderly person, especially when there's no blood tie--but I haven't regretted it. Still mentally active but completely bedridden, the only option for her would be a medicare nursing home, and I've been to enough of those in my time to NOT want that except as a last resort.

But, sometimes I wonder about the quality of life she has here. We have a nice yellow-brick-road-yellow room for her; she's surrounded with her own personal effects and family photos; she has her phone and her television and the sun comes in in the morning to flood the room with light. But ours is a three-story townhouse and her bedroom is alone at the bottom of the house. All of the living takes place above her head. Some days I manage to get down and sit with her for an hour, other days the only person to person interaction she gets is a couple of minutes three-four times again when passing on food. We moved her away from her church community of 60+ years to a place an hour away and she just doesn't get many visitors. She has her telephone friends, and a companion aide who comes in for 2 hours 2x a week, but--and especially at the holidays--it's still a solitary life.

Until this week, anyway. Roran was a Christmas present I got myself. But he's adopted Dorothy's hospital bed as home base. When he's not out exploring the house, he's on her. She's mom. He sleeps on her legs, rests on her shoulder, plays with her fingers, wakes her up by chewing on her glasses when he wants attention, and listens intently to all she has to say. I know as he grows older and becomes more indepenedent he'll probably not spend as much time with her (16 hours yesterday, by my calculations), but oh how I hope he does! Because she's SO happy to have a friend. And sometimes love is just having a friendly face to talk to.

For more Love Thursday Posts, visit Chookoolonks or the Love is all around us Flikr Pool.

2006-11-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

Introducing....Roran Kitty

He's one cute little bundle of fur! Eregon and Saphira's half-brother at least (who knows who the dad may be?), he's got Saphira's 6 toes and will probably have her soft fur too. 6-7 weeks old, we've only had him for 6 hours, so hard to know too much about him, but he's definately making himself at home. He's already had a nap with Grandma Dorothy, stolen all the food he could find, and been tearing around the house on a grand exploration. The boys have been fighting over him, but so far mom's been able to win the most time.

2006-11-23T08:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Love Thanksgiving Thursday!

Here's Daniel, singing you the "Turkey Song"

("The turkey is a funny bird, his head goes wobble wobble.

He can say, just one word, gobble, gobble, gobble").

We hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful, loving and stress-free day with family and friends.

For more Love Thursday, visit Chookooloonks or the Love is all around us Flikr Pool

2006-11-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

Love Thursday 11/16/06

Today is a gray, chilly, rainy day which started off with a bang when we had to take Miss Saphira to the Vet because her spay incision seems to have become infected. We've all been a little grumpy today. But the solution is clear--Love means having a warm place to nap on a cold rainy day!
Mom is going to join everyone under the covers as soon as this post is done.

For more Love, visit Chookooloonks or the Love is all around us Flikr pool. Stay happy and warm!

2006-11-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

Feline Friday--Anthropomorphism

The lovely Miss Saphira turned 6 months old today. We celebrated by having her spayed. It's funny, but I feel really sorry for her today: I struggled with infertility, and it seems really sad to me that she will never know the joy of having babies. OK, stupid, I know, but that's how I would feel if it happened to me! Thankfully, I retain at least one shred of sanity and never questioned having her fixed--we do NOT need to contribute to the excess pet population! This sane part of me knows she'll be happier, healthier, calmer etc. But the sensitive, sentimental side of me wonders if we've somehow taken something from her... The trials and tribulations of pet stewardship...

For more Friday fuzzies, visit the Friday Ark.

2006-11-09T03:21:00.000-08:00

These are a few of my favorite....

Ben turned six this week, and I've spent quite some time going through six years of photographs. Funny, Serious, Comical, Confrontational, Sweet, Six-going-on-sixteen-going-on-sixty...My big boy and forever my baby. Love personified. Happy Love Thursday, Everyone. To share more love, visit Chookoolonks or the Flickr Pool Page.

2006-11-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

SIX YEARS OF BEN

Ben is turning SIX. How on earth did THAT happen? For six years, we have watched him grow from a not-so-tiny baby (9 pounds, 6 oz at birth) to a strong-willed, curious, independent, funny schoolboy. How did the time go so fast? I can hardly remember his learning to crawl, or starting to walk and talk, or the "happy feet dance" he used to do. Now he's 2/3 my height, understands many of the words we used to be able to spell out to keep him from knowing what we were talking about, takes karate and even plays ice hockey (lord help me). Happy Birthday, Ben! Keep learning and growing (but take it easy on your mom, please?).

2006-11-05T15:37:00.000-08:00

A Fan is Born...

We took the boys to see a Washington Capitols hockey game. Ben is convinced they won because HE was cheering for them. I kinda felt sorry for some of the people around us--Ben kept chanting "Let's go Caps" over and over and over and over and over and... He had SO much fun. Little brother thought it was OK, but he doesn't quite get the whole thing yet. Next time he and I will stay home and watch it on TV, and let Dad and Ben have the long trek downtown. Both kids loved the metro ride, though. Boys and trains.

2006-11-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

Conflict Resolution

The other day Ben was really mad at me. I don't remember why--I think we probably laughed at something he didn't want us to laugh at. I happened to have my camera sitting next to me, and snapped the progression--from yelling, to threatening, to ignoring, to all is right with the world. It's really interesting living with a 5-almost-6-year-old sometimes. He's trying so hard to understand the world--to understand humor, to understand the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior, to understand where he stands in the family and in the world. There were, of course, many words exchanged between us at each stage of the above. The thing that finally won a smile was a contest between us--I was snapping pictures as he was moving his head back and forth--he thought he was moving too fast for me to catch his face, and he liked the fact that he was "thwarting" my efforts to catch a picture. By the end he was laughing and all was right with the world again. I love this series of pictures. It reminds me that, even though we have our (sometimes very) trying times, there's often a smile at the end.
Happy Saturday!

2006-11-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

Friday Cat Blogging--the Lovely Miss Saphira aka "Saffy Cat"

Miss Saffy sits in the sun--one of her favorite activities. She's almost 6 months old now, and starting to feel her hormones surge. She's been really crazy for the past few days. Earlier this week I awoke to find the bathroom floor covered in about 1/2 inch of SHREDDED toliet paper. I mean she absolutely KILLED almost an entire roll. I don't know how long it took her, but it took me the better part of an hour to clean up all the pieces. She's missing her playmate brother Eregon, I guess. She's also been spending a lot of time outdoors, and I've noticed a few male cats that I've never seen before hanging around. That will be short-lived (I hope)--she goes to the vet next week for spaying. She's our sweet little girl, and we love her.

2006-11-02T07:17:00.000-08:00

Love Thursday 11/2/06

Ben is not always kind to his little brother. He really doesn't like having the competition. But last week Ben's class went on a field trip to a farm having a fall festival. Daniel had a bad cold and wasn't feeling his best, and the weather was terrible (cold and rainy) but he was SO excited at the prospect of field trip that I was bad mother and let him come along. [Okay, really bad mother--he later came down with pneumonia]. Ahem, I digress. The POINT of this Love Thursday post is that Ben went out of his way to help little brother do all the hard stuff--like climb to the top of this Hay Roll Pyramid. And that's the kind of brotherly love that warms a mother's heart. Happy Love Thursday! Check out other entries at Chookooloonks, or the Flickr pool. And check out Mir's fabulous Love Thursday news and send her congratulations!

2006-10-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2006-10-25T17:54:00.000-07:00

LOVE THURSDAY 10/26/06

Love is...your best friend.

Younger son had a play date with his best friend this week. YS and Friend are 6 months apart in age (YS is older), but they're sometimes like twins. Friend's mother was my child care provider until I quit my job, so in some ways they have grown up just like brothers. But they get along with each other far better than either gets along with his brother. It really illustrates the differences between YS and older son too--my older son and friend's older brother are only 6 months apart too, and have grown up together, but MY older son has a terrible rivalry with friend's older brother. I'm afraid that my older boy is just a born competitor, and hates to have to share attention or anything else. Whereas younger son just loves everyone. Don't get me wrong--he can have his selfish moments, but all told he's really an easy-going guy. And I'm SOOO grateful! Happy Love Thursday. For more pictures of love, check out Chookooloonks or the Flickr photo gallery.

2006-10-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

LOVE THURSDAY

Older son finished up his current session of hockey and got a ribbon. The boy does like his rewards. He had to get out all of his immediately accessible bling to show them off. That look of joy on his face--priceless!

Check out more Love Thursday Entries at Chookooloonks

2006-10-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

IN MEMORIAM. EREGON KITTY. 05/06-10/06

Eregon was hit by a car this morning and killed. He was only 5 months old, and we only had him for 2 of those months, but I still feel like my heart has been ripped out. I loved him fiercely. He was so full of life--really an enormous personality for a cat. He loved to play with the boys. He loved to keep me from working on the computer. He loved to climb trees. He loved being outdoors. He loved people and kids and life. The lady who hit him feels really terrible too--she said that the other day she had been sitting in the car with the windows open, arguing with her husband, and Eregon jumped through her car window to see what was going on. He made them stop fighting. He was like that. I'll miss him more than I can express.

2006-10-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

LOVE THURSDAY

Younger child is SOOO dramatic. He has such an active imagination, and he loves to play dress-up and make silly faces. At Older brother's hockey game the other day he kept running in front of the camera with a new funny face for me to "picture". Love him!

For more Love Thursday pictures check out Chookooloonks or the Flickr Pool.

2006-10-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

LOVE THURSDAY KITTEN

Eregon and Sephira are amazing creatures. So full of energy! I confess that I am madly in love with this guy--I like his sister well enough, but this guy has a special place in my heart. He's such a playful personality. This is his favorite toy, and he LOVES it. The boys will run through the house pulling it behind them and Eregon will chase and chase and chase them--so far the kids have gotten tired of the game much sooner than Eregon. They'll give up, and E will carry the toy around by himself, stopping here and there to take another stab at "killing it". I dread the day when he goes after real game and start bringing in the birds etc., but for now I just love his feather killing play...

Check out Chookooloonks for more Love Thursday entries, or the Flickr pool or the new Love is All Around website.

2006-09-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

FELINE FRIDAY

Eregon is 4 months old now. He LOVES me. Loves to sleep on my lap; loves to suck on my ear; loves to sit on my shoulder when I'm at the computer; loves to walk with me wherever I go (OK, walk between my feet, but we're working on the "with" part); loves to "help" me with the chores--especially emptying the dishwasher and climbing into the dryer to make sure everything's out; loves to chase my feet; loves to trip me on the stairs; loves to remind me to fill his food dish 20 times a day...
With a face like that, who couldn't help loving him right back?

2006-09-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

Love is--have a brother and a best friend (when he's not your best enemy, of course).

Happy Love Thursday!
Boy this week sure went fast! I know I was planning on posting more in between the Thursdays. Maybe this week!

2006-09-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

LOVE THURSDAY. Safe in Dad's hands...

2006-09-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

Overheard....

We're driving to the dentist this morning, younger son and I, and we're playing a Laurie Berkner kids CD and singing along. Ice Cream" song comes on--pretty simple words, along the lines of "chocolate ice cream, chocolate ice cream, everyone loves an ice cream cone". Repeat repeat changing flavors etc. A couple of verses in I realize young son isn't singing the right words. Instead, he's singing "brain freeze brain freeze, brain freeze brain freeze, everyone gets a brain freeze cone...". Guess who had a bad experience with an ice cream cone recently? SOOO funny...

2006-09-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

OUR NORWEGIAN BOY.

Can't tell that there's any northern european ancestry in our background, can you?

2006-09-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

LOVE THURSDAY

Two different definitions for this week's Love Thursday (See Chookooloonks for explanation).

Love is: Having your older brother spontaniously agree to be loyal servant to the king...

Love is: Having your sister wash your ears...

2006-09-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Scenes from the first day of Preschool...

Little boy is growing up fast. Eldest son managed to pull my heart out and stomp on it that same morning too: we had to drop him off at school in order to get younger son to preschool on time. As he's leaving the car, I say "Bye honey, have a good day, I love you". He gave me a withering look and said, "Mom, don't SAY that here". Ah yes, 5 going on 15. I'm not ready!

2006-09-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

"I figured out school is fun"

Today on the way to school, Eldest Son ("ES") said , "You know mom, I figured out that school is fun".
Me--"That's great! What do you think is fun about school?"
ES--"When I'm at school I don't have to do all that work you want me to do at home".

Yeah. I'm sure his teacher will be glad to know that he thinks she's easier than home..

Picture from first day of kindergarten--fed up with mom and her picture taking already:

2006-08-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

We added two new family members this weekend--Eregon and Sephira. Not quite sure how they managed to come home with us, we were just going to see if we liked them. But they're fitting in very well. Well, not if you're the OLD cat, who doesn't like two young things on her turf at ALL, but the boys and the GrannyD love them already. I've never really had kittens of my own--my goodness they have a lot of energy! But oh so cute...

2006-08-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to do a blog for a long time. Don't know why, really--I'm not a great writer. Maybe having a blog will help me remember the important things that go on in my life. And allow me to post my pictures to the world. I love taking pictures. Mostly pictures of kids. Have to work out how to preserve their privacy, but I want to share things with the world. So here I am!