Out of the mouthes of babes

Katie just took a Looney Tune DVD box out of our storage area and took it up stairs to her dad, pointed it at the tv and shouted "Wanna watch DDD's?" It was quite cute.

Lack of photos

A few weeks ago (right before TJ's Birthday. I managed to break the door on the battery compartment of my camera. I was downloading pix to the computer when I moved my legs around to grab something the caught the USB cord and . . . the rest is history. Since then I have tried duct tape to fix my camera as, duct tape fixes everything, but with all my fancy buttons I can not get the duct tape all the way around and therefore can not get enough pressure to get my camera to work consistently. As some of you may know I am an amateur photographer with dreams of going pro! We are now faced with the dilemma of weather or not to fix my wonderful camera, that by the way Scott doesn't like. So, right now it looks like we are going to replace it with a Pentax Optio for the time being until I can pick out/afford a nice SLR. The one he picked out looks really great though. It is water proof up to 5ft so we are going to get some great shots out on the jet skis this summer. It has a few other nice features too. It is small a durable for him to take rock climbing, kayaking, whatever. It should be able to stand up to what ever abuse he can dish out. So, once I get my SLR the new Pentax will still be in use on Scott's trips. Anyway, what I am trying to say is I won't have any pix up for a few weeks until I get a replacement. :-(

Pam's Gifts

My dear friend Pam has a website full of gifts for every occastion. Click here to visit her store. She is a mother of 3 wonderful kids and is trying to get some more traffic through her online store. Check it out, she has some neat stuff. Happy shopping!

Group Ski Weekend

Well, we all survived with no major falls. We had some fun at Sol Vista on Sunday. Mel and I took a snowboarding lesson in the moring, but it didn't go so well as we, along with at least 2 other people dropped out before the end of the class. I learned more from Scott in 20 min than I would have during the entire class. We have come to the conclusion that the instructor was filling in for someone since we saw him later in ski boots. Oh well, Mel is going to give snow boarding one more chance, I say skiing is ok with me. After lunch Becca let me borrow her shaped skiis. Wow! They are SO much nicer than straight skiis. I bought a pair today. Guess we will have to hit the slopes again before the snow melts. Oh, and stear clear of Colorado Ski and Golf. HORRIBLE service. They are more into gossip than sales. Worked out great for me though, because the service at Gart was OUTSTANDING. They really thaught me a lot about skiis and didn't just try to sell me the expensive ones. I still have to pick out my boots and they are holding the skiis for me until I do.

Take 3

The boy is up to 3 steps. He is now spending the weekend at Gramma and Grampa's house. I wouldn't be suprised if we came back and he was up to 5 steps or . . . more! He is such a quick little dude. I miss him already. Be good little dude; you too bear! Love, Mommy.

You look good...

"You look good for having 3 kids." Have you ever got that? I am lucky not to have so far, but this weekend I was reading a dieting ad and one of the "before and after's" quote was "I heard 'you look good for having 3 kids', but I just wanted to look good period." Wow! I never thought of it that way. I am lucky enough to be one of the ones that goes in for a 6 week recheck and the doctor says "You don't look like you just had a baby 6 weeks ago." That is nice, but you were there, right? If not I want my money back. Anyway, I have found new light on the "you look good for having x kids." From now on I am sticking with, "Damn, you look great!" Point. Blank. Done. End of comment. That is what we mean, right? Why bring 9 months and 80 extra pounds into it? Especially if it was 1, 3, 5, 10, 16 years ago.

End of the Spear

MOVIE: END OF THE SPEAR -
begins Jan 20 nationwide http://endofthespear.com/ http://www.daretomakecontact.com/
Endorsed by: Ted Haggard, Ron Luce, John C. Maxwell, Joyce Meyer

From a true storyMincayani is born into the most violent society ever documented by anthropologists, the Waodani in the eastern rainforest of Ecuador. As he grows he learns what every Waodani understands, he must spear and live or be speared and die. Mincayani’s world changes when he and his family kill five missionaries: Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming and Roger Youderian. This incident propels Mincayani’s family group down an extraordinary path that culminates in them not only departing from violence, but also caring for the enemy tribe they had once violently raided.Nate Saint’s son, Steve, was a boy when his father and friends were killed. He returns to the Waodani as an adult and finally learns from Mincayani what happened during the last minutes of his father’s life. Together Mincayani and Steve find that what Nate accomplished in this death gave them both a new life and Steve’s family becomes part of Mincayani’s family.Note: "Through Gates of Splendor" is a book by Elizabeth Elliot about the lives of these five missionaries. Go to: www.bestwebbuys.com to order a new or used copy. Note2: "Beyond the Gates of Splendor" is a DVD documentary about this story that came out in 2005 and can be rented at your local video store. For more info on any DVD/video or movie, go to: www.family.org and click on "plugged in" for reviews.To see where the movie is playing in your area, go to: http://www.endofthespear.com/index.html?deeplink=tribe&item=theaters

Crusin' with my girl

Here is TJ crusin' with his girl tonight at Chuck E Cheese. TJ is in the driver's seat and Isabel is sitting on "Chuck's" lap. They had a good time. TJ ate a whole piece of pizza and a LOT of his cake. Isabel did NOT like her birthday hat. Katie got pretty freaked out by all the lights and noises in there though. TJ thought is was all pretty fun though. His girlfriend (and her family) got him a gum ball machine toy and we got him some Little People toys. He loves Little People, he and Katie are playing with them now. All in all it was a successful birthday party. Happy birthday TJ and Isabel.

TJ is 1

Our baby is one today. Last night we celebrated with most of his God-parents and tonight we will go to Chuck E Cheese with his girlfriend and her family. It went by so fast! He took his first step the other night, he climbs on everything, and he is trying to make words. What a wonderful little boy.

Mount Hermon

We are studying Song of Songs chapters 3 and 4 tonight. Ok, in 21 min! Anyway, I was looking up maps for some of the locations mentioned and came across these pictures. I love seeing the bible come alive with pictures of actual locations. Being there is better of course! Mount Hermon (BiblePlaces.com)

He took a step

TJ took a step and a half last night. He got so exctied he just fell down. It was great. He kept trying again after that, but he was so excited he forgot to balance. Then he stopped stepping he was just face planting it and I had to keep catching him. Although, TJ and I were screaming and flapping out arms, Katie was totally not impressed. She was like look at me mom, I can walk all the way across the room, what is the big deal. Well, I am leading bible study tonight so I suppose I should use nap time to prepare that instead of blogging, huh?

Does this chick ever update?

Seriously behind I know, but I will catch up soon! Gotta get to a meeting so it won't be now.

My blog for church

His Lighthouse
This is a site I am trying to set up for missions at my church. A place for missionaries to tell supporters what is going on, ask for prayers, and whre I can mediate between mission oppertunities I hear about and possible missionaries. Go to this site and not knowing anything about it I would like to know what you think. Does it portray what I am trying to get across, look proffesssional, clean, easy to navigate, ect. I am pitching it at church next week. Any coments or sugestions before I take it in to them would be great.

Christmas 2005

Well, Christmas 2005 is over and we survived... mostly. We spent Christmas Eve with his Grandma, Grammie, Mom, and Brother. I made home-made pizza, we talked, opened presents, & watched a DVD I made for his Grandmas. After his mom, Grammie, & brother left we took his Grandma to church. With the exception of Brian sleeping away the day on the couch (he was very sick) the day was uneventful.

Then there was Christmas ... oh boy! Scott and TJ were the only 2 up so, Scott had TJ in on the bathroom floor while he took a shower. TJ decided he needed one too and came right in... head first. 7:30 bruised head, but no big deal. Eventually Katie woke up, not in the best mood, but she is not a morning person. The kids opened presents and it was very nice. 9:30ish I go to take the turkey out of the fridge (it took it out of the freezer Thursday) I want to get it stuffed and into the oven around 10:00. It was still frozen! AGH! MY FIRST CHRISTMAS RUINED!!! It wasn't frozen through, but it was frozen enough I couldn't get the giblets out. So, we gave the turkey a hot bath. Around 10:00 TJ went down for his nap so we took Katie outside to ride her new bike. She was having fun and her and daddy were picking up pebbles out in the cul-d-sac, when . . . she fell over her own feet and scraped up her head. Got her cleaned up took the bird out of the "hot tub" threw it in the oven was working on biscuits and a friend calls. TJ is crying, but he is just fussing Grandma has him his fine right? Wrong! I get the phone thrown at me because TJ's lip is busted open. He fell on their new folding table and bit his lip on both sides, so there is just a ton of blood and we can't tell if he bit all the way through it. Anyway, although there was talk of taking him to the ER everything after that point turned out fine. My first Christmas dinner was wonderful. Scott says it was the best stuffing he has ever had and that he was going to comment that I shouldn't put fruit in my stuffing, but with the bird half frozen he wasn't that dumb. I made turkey, stuffing, pasta salad, broccoli salad, green beans, and scallion biscuits with birthday cake for desert. His grandma, dad, step-mom, step-sister, and Katie's god-parents were there. We had a good time.

Then yesterday we went down to my parents. Completely uneventful day, very nice actually, until we tried to leave. They waved up back, because there was a big puddle of oil under where the car was sitting. It only took them a few minutes to figure out the the problem was that Scott never put the cap back on when he filled it up the other day. Add a half a quart of oil screw on the cap and we are good to go right? AAAHH! Of course not! Now the interior lights won't come on. So, the entire trip home Scott is periodically checking the speedometer with a flash light.

Is it over now? NO!! This morning (6:45) Eme is scratching at the baby gate and whining. A sure sign she is not going to make it until "out time" so, I get out of bed to let her out and Diamond is puking all over the kitchen floor with... well never mind. Anyway, 20 minutes later when everything is cleaned up I call the vet and set him up an appointment. $224 and they still don't know what is wrong with him. I was supposed to get a call this afternoon with the results from his $115 blood panel, but I haven't heard anything yet.

All in all, it was a good holiday, but I think next year we may have to cancel Christmas for the health of our family.

My Goofballs

My Grampa made this cradle for me when I was living in FL, so I must have been 6 or so. My mom gave it to me not that long ago and Katie never played with it to much it was more storage for her stuffed animals. So, I took a box I used for the clothes she grew out of one side of the closet and by the time I was back up stairs she was playing in the closet. I decided then that we could put the cradle in there as the "babies room".

Then one night we were watching a movie we rented ans Scott got up to check on the kids... "Honey, you have to come see this." And there were both of my little goofballs sitting in the cradle in the closet.

Wide World of Baby Wrestling

Welcome to the Wide World of baby wrestling. The best way to keep crazy screaming children under control during the busy holiday season is to throw them over your shoulder and tickle them.

If that doesn't work, go with the baby slam to the couch followed by rasberries to any expossed skin. This procedure should give mother enough time to wrap a couple more presents. (And yes all my posts will be red & green this month.)

Christmas humor

I received this in a forward, which I usually delete without reading so STOP sending them! Anyway, I liked this one and thought I would share.

This is the time of year when we think back to the very first Christmas, when the Three Wise Men; Gaspar, Balthazar and Hiram, went to see the baby Jesus and, according to the Book of Matthew, "presented unto Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh." These are simple words, but if we analyze them carefully, we discover an important, yet often overlooked, theological fact: There is no mention of wrapping paper. If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have said so: "And lo, the gifts were inside 600 square cubits of paper. And the paper was festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman. And Joseph was going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth unto him, she saideth, 'Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it for next year!' And Joseph did rolleth his eyeballs. And the baby Jesus was more interested in the paper than the frankincense." But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that the very first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because the people giving those gifts had two important characteristics:

1. They were wise.
2. They were men.

Frustration

I sit here waiting for a list of missionary addesses to send out Christmas cards. Of course the frusterating part is I asked for them a week and a half ago and sent a "friendly reminder" Friday. I was so excited to send out Christmas cards to the missionaries, but now I am counting down the days and knowing I am not going to have time to get these done in time unless I get those addresses SOON. I have 81 stamps 45 cards on my work table, but no one to send them to. On a possitive note, I finally got all MY mailing done this morning. The nice woman at the post office even said "have a nice Christmas" not happy holigrrr. Did I tell you the lady I gave the microwave said "happy holidays" as she was walking out and I nearly tackled her and took the microwave back. 96% of Americans celebrate Christmas, but golly, let's not offend someone in the friggin' 4%. If someone wished me a happy Haunakah I woundn't flip, I can hardly imagine someone else would, but grr don't wish me a Happy Holiday unless you want a foot up your hinie. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Parade of Lights

I took Katie to the parade of lights Friday night with Chase and his mom. The kids really enjoyed it and I did too. I have never been to a big city parade before. It was a lot of fun. There were so many people there. These were some of my favorite floats. They did an amazing job on the nativity float. When I played Mary I didn't get to ride on a float, I had to ride a smelly donkey. One of my favorites was a Looney Tune train that was going into a tunnel and in the tunnel was Wile E. Coyote. There were a lot of high school bands too. It was fun to see how they decorated their instruments. Most of them were not playing when they passed us though. But we got to hear some great drum lines. I would like to take Scott and TJ next year. I am glad we took the light rail, the streets were packed. I have never had to wait on a train so long though. We got in the stroller line and watched 4 trains go by before we could get on one. Can't wait til next year. Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Tree

We had our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving. Scott had his first experience with Black Friday buying this tree. He was at Linens and Things at 5 minutes til 6. They opened at 6 and he got the very last one. It was worth it though. It is beautiful and I just love it. I finally got it all decorated last week. Although, I prefer angels on the top of a tree, we had to get a star. Katie loves stars. She points to all the ornaments and tells you what they are, Simpsons, apple, star, it is very cute. I have the presents in the very back corner so they can not get to them, but just the other night TJ to a cruise around the tree, under all the branches. He didn't even look at the presents he just wanted to crawl under the tree. So much for keeping them out of the kid's reach. You can tell I don't have any ornaments on the bottom branches either. TJ chewed on the tree the first day we had it up. Good thing it isn't real!